Eli is a wild man. The only time he is still is during sleep and well, that’s it. Even then he sleeps like a wild man, all over the bed with the tossing and the turning and the rumpling of covers. So we have had a hard time coming up with things to do this summer. Especially since it’s been so hot and we’ve had Liza to lug around too. So here’s the list I’ve compiled of things that we’ve done that has taken the edge off this summer. Feel free to steal some ideas if you need them.

Build the tallest lego tower.
Go to Will’s house.
Get up at 5 a.m. to play on the swing set in the backyard.
Build a piano fort.
Invite Hallie over to entertain us.
Start a parade around the house.
Go to McKenzie’s house.
Jump in the kiddy pool. Before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. so we have some shade.
Build the tallest block tower.
Daddy’s shoulders.
Get Mumsy or May to come and entertain him.
Go to Sci-Quest.
Chaaaasssseeeee!
Go to Josh’s house.
Build something with magnetic balls and sticks.
Cook something. Mamster taught me that.

And if all else fails there’s always movies to watch. Sometimes he even sits for one.

It all started with Tasty Planet. Eli wanted to play it all the time. We worked our way through it, but its charms wore off quickly. Every day he would ask to play Tasty Planet again, and every day I would dread playing it even more.

Finally I snapped. “Hey, Eli, let’s not play Tasty Planet today. Let’s play Katamari Damacy!” He wailed and gnashed his teeth. How could anything be better than Tasty Planet?

The next day, he demanded more Katamari Damacy. He couldn’t say the name, which led to us practicing it. He still will occasionally tell Misty and me, “Say it with me. Cat. Aahh. Mah. Ree.”

We played through both Katamari games on the PS2. We collected all the royal presents. We found all of the cousins. We even spent some time rolling up roses on the final, nearly-never-ending level of We Love Katamari.

And in the process, Eli had made me hate the Katamari games.

Sunday, I snapped again. I rooted around in my stack of PS2 games until I found Lego Star Wars. “Hey, want to try this game?” I asked Eli. Again there was wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The last two days, the moment I’ve gotten home, he’s asked if we could play Lego Star Wars. He’s tried to explain the game to his teachers, with little success.

Maybe next month we can move on to Bioshock.

I have been looking at these pictures of bentos all day! I cannot look away.

Don’t start looking at them until you have at least half an hour to dedicate to reading all her notes on how she’s prepared things.

These are so fun now I want to start making them.

James Rigney, who wrote under the name Robert Jordan, died yesterday from amyloidosis. He’d been ill for a while, but his death still came as a surprise.

I never read the Wheel of Time books. Somehow I missed starting the series, and only found out about it some three or four books in. At that point I thought, well, I’ll just wait until he’s done to start reading them.

My favorite reminiscence I’ve read so far is from George R. R. Martin, who was the Toastmaster at a convention where Jordan was the Guest of Honor. In introducing Jordan, Martin pretended that “Robert Jordan” was really him and took credit for all of the Wheel of Time books.

Godspeed, Jim Rigney.

Things have been quiet since Fred Thompson surprised no-one by announcing his candidacy for President. In fact, it’s been too quiet.

These are the words of Alan Keyes as he declared his candidacy for president on Janet Parshall’s nationally syndicated radio program, “I will be participating in the Values Voter Debate on Monday as a candidate, and I will be trying my best — as I forever have, in the course of the years that I have been involved at this level in politics”

Oh, thank goodness. Andrew and Joy lived in Illinois when Alan Keyes ran against Barack Obama, so we got to hear from them about how Jesus Christ wouldn’t vote for Obama and how Obama’s views on abortion were “the slaveholder’s position”. Then there was that time he criticized John McCain for going to a Nine Inch Nails concert with his daughter, saying that McCain was “aiding and abetting the cultural murder that is taking place”. To top it all off, he provided empirical evidence for the Crazification Factor.

I will admit to a perverse fascination with train-wreck politics. I know, I know, I should rise above such things. And yet, I can’t help but think, Is there any way the Republican Presidential field could get even more entertaining?

One of the most divisive figures in American politics during Bill Clinton’s presidency is contemplating a ‘wild-card’ run for the White House in a desperate bid to oppose his old enemy’s wife – Democrat front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Republican Newt Gingrich is so unimpressed with his own party’s ‘chaotic’ line-up of candidates to replace President Bush in the 2008 elections that he has threatened to make a dramatic late entry into the race.

Eeeeeeeexcellent.

In 1906, 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

80% of the people use 20% of a given software’s features.

80% of sales is generated by 20% of your salespeople.

80% of computer processing time is spent running 20% of a program’s code.

80% of your business should come from 20% of your customers.

80% of the work is done by 20% of the people.

80% of the quality comes from 20% of the effort.

80% of users’ information needs are served by 20% of a website’s content.

80% of delays in schedule arise from 20% of the possible causes of the delays.

80% of horse races are won by 20% of the jockeys.

Web analysts should spend 80% of their time doing analysis and only 20% reporting.

Ideally, 80% of what a videogame is about is shown in the first level.

Eat until you are 80% full and 20% empty.

20% of the references to Pareto Principle will incorrectly apply it in situations where there is not a corresponding 80% input or output, as shown in the last three examples above. Considering the previous sentence to be an application of the Pareto Principle would be another example of that error.

A while back a friend of ours, Matthew, did an all call for some t-shirt designs to promote his website, Roots & Grubs. I made something up and sent it to him and now the shirts are available for purchase here. So go support Matthew by buying a cool shirt.

Hey I can say the shirts are cool because there’s another designer’s work up there too.

Live Granades has been invited to join an ad network. I have no idea how we got onto these people’s radar or why they thought we had the readership (outside of the LOLTrek juggernaut) to support ads, but there it is, we’ve been approached. It creates a dilemma for me that I had no idea we’d ever be faced with: whether or not to make this site more commercial.

Stephen is to blame for whatever traffic we get, what with the aforementioned LOL addictions, the toilet disassembly and the flash video instruction guide. I’m just here for the kid commentary. And the photos, the shiny, shiny photos. So on one hand, I’m sorta flattered that someone thinks we have what it takes to rake in some dough and on the other hand, I think, what the…? ads on a blog? that’s crazy talk. I know people do it. And I’m happy for them if that’s what they want and double, extra happy if they can make a living doing it. I’m just not sure that it’s right for us.

I’d love to be able to recoup some costs associated with the site (thanks to Geof the rates are low, low, low) but don’t want to have flashing, blinking things up all over our page. I’d love to have a wider readership, but that’s an ego thing talking. I guess the real ego here is thinking that they didn’t just send that email specially tailored to make a blog feel special to thousands, or tens of thousands, of other “selected” blogs. Or maybe it’s that ol’ fear of failure rearing its head. The voice in my head that whispers, “No one reads this drivel. Why bother to put ads on a page that no one looks at?” And beyond that, what would we advertise here? Breastfeeding Support Services? Guitar Hero Merchandise? Craft Supplies? Scott Westerfeld novels? Actually, that one isn’t a bad idea. I mean, I’ve read them and love them so I could be a spokesreader of sorts.

So Stephen and I have talked about it. He’s looked at some figures and we have an idea of what it means to put ads on the site in terms of redesign and also what sort of money we’re talking about here. It ain’t much, let me tell you, but all big things start small. We’ve made our decision but wondered what others think and if some of you have been approached in the same way. Maybe this is just the latest in spamming techniques and I’m slow to catch on. Regardless, we’d like to hear what you guys think.