We were outside at the playset one afternoon this past week and Eli requested I tell him a story. He’s always making up stories so I guess he decided he needed a break from all the work and wanted to hear someone else’s made up stuff.

I might be crafty with a glue gun and paper or even upon occasion fabric or other materials. I think I can cook decently and do a few other things nicely but I am not a storyteller. I guess it is the practical gene in me. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read. I just don’t seem to have the ability to make this stuff up.

So I started telling him the story of a boy named Kreeli who fought a dragon and saved his friends, LukeDuke and Burwill, and his sister, Bliza. Yeah, after that story I was out of juice. I didn’t have much to begin with but I was tapped out after the dragon.

But as in all things with kids, the thing that you most want to disappear becomes the most favoritest thing they can imagine.

Every night this week I’ve had to tell a Kreeli and Bliza story. Sometimes I slip and say Eli and Liza and he reminds me that these kids names are Kreeli and Bliza. I guess he has to maintain the wall or something. I’ve tried to keep the stories fantastical but the last couple of nights they’ve deteriorated into rehashes of the day or previews of the next day. He doesn’t seem to mind as it netted him pancakes this morning since Kreeli had pancakes last night in his story.

The nicest part of this is that it allows me to reinforce stuff we’ve discussed during the day. Kreeli never kicks other kids on the soccer field. He’s kinder than that. Kreeli always watches out for Bliza and takes care of her. Kreeli always does the brave thing, the kind thing, the smart thing. So while in the beginning it was annoying for me to do, it’s starting to grow on me.

My birthday occurred during Dragon*Con this year. I mentioned it to some of my friends, and said that I wanted to celebrate somehow.

Friday, when the convention is getting in full swing and all of my friends are, like me, crazy busy trying to keep things running, they showed up in the room I help manage.

They brought cake.

(Pic courtesy of Tito)

And this is one of many reasons why my friends are awesome.

This year’s theme: Stephen’s big ego.

First, I was recognized by so many people. I blame Brian Richardson. Sure, he’s had me doing videos for DCTV, but this year, in his role as director of videography, he started broadcasting panels on the DCTV in-hotel channel. Viewership jumped, and people began recognizing me and several other DCTV actors. I gave autographs and had people take their picture with me as if I were Captain Tightpants. That was deeply weird, but in a good way. I got a lot of compliments about DCTV as a whole, which I hereby pass on to Brian and the rest of the DCTV crew.

Second, the DCTV spots I was involved with went over well. The bumpers were a hit, and for the first time we had a video done entirely here in Huntsville. I borrowed Rick and Jessica‘s camera, got a friend to convince his workplace to let me film there one weekend, and got a lot of other friends to be in my video. The result was DCTV’s second music video, this one for a remix of Jonathan Coulton’s Code Monkey.

But wait, there’s more! This time I was an honest-to-goodness convention guest, which meant I could go up to the green room and eat free hors d’oeuvres. It also meant I was on four panels. The Evil Geniuses panel was a blast, as I and my fellow panelists Richard Altstatt and Jan Osburg revealed our plans to take over the world and answered questions such as, “What’s the difference between a minion and a henchman?”

My talk about on-orbit docking and how it’s nearly killed a lot of people went well. My PowerPoint slides from my talk should keep you entertained, though not as much as the forthcoming audio.

The quantum computing talk was standing-room only, so anyone who was standing in the back should find the three people who fell asleep during my presentation and kick their asses. After the talk a couple of people asked me where they should go to learn more. If you’re one of them, hi! Take a look at the unfortunately-named Quantiki and at Scott Aaronson’s blog and links. And here are my PowerPoint slides, with the audio to follow.

But those weren’t what truly proved that this convention was all about me. Our live panel for our WhatTheCast podcast did that. The show itself was fun enough, with excellent riffing with the audience, but after some friends pointed out that my bald dome was the one under the only light above our table, we had to create a tableau.

That’s Chris Lloyd, Patrick Jarrett, and Brian Richardson basking in my radiance. Photo courtesy of Amy and her fine, fine camera.

Really, is it any wonder that my head is three times as big as it was before the convention?

And boy are my dragon wings tired. I had a fabulous time, my panels went well, and people asked me for my autograph (!) and took their picture with me (!!). I bet you can’t wait to hear all about it.

Remember the bad old days? The bad old days weren’t so long ago. That last part of sleep training was posted May 20th, so only a few months ago.

In the past week we’ve had another step forward in Liza’s sleeping. She is now able to tell on her own when she needs a nap. She starts grouching and putting her head down on every available surface. I ask her if she needs a nap, if she wants to go get her baa and blankie (pacifier and blanket) and take a nap. She all but runs to her room and waits for me to get a baa down from where they hang. I ask her to close the door. She shuts the bedroom door. I turn on the music and close the blinds. I rock her for about 30 seconds and sometimes not at all. I put her in the crib still awake. She does a face plant on the mattress and waits for me to cover her up. I sneak out of the room. Liza goes to sleep on her own. And at night, she stays asleep all night long.

Those last two sentences are not ones that I thought I’d ever get to write down.

Shhhh.

I’m going to take a nap now too.