A letter to Jackson on his 6th birthday.

Well, buddy. This has been a heck of a year!
You finished up your last year of pre-school, and have open up like a flippin' lotus flower. Last year you played by yourself in the corner at play time. You participated when called upon, but were not likely to initiate much. This year was a complete reversal. You made friends, did great work and even asked to be on the soccer team. And that brain of yours! So smart.
It has been a bit trying to find you a new school. We thought you were going to Eisenhower because you aced the test and a lot of kids from Channing go there. Then they ran out of room. Same story with Zarrow, and with TPS reconfiguring everything, we didn't know if you were going to this new school they came up with or if we could afford a private school or just regular public school, which would have been fine. So finally we found out that you made it into the dual-language school, and I think you will do really well there. You have a really good grasp of language and grammar, so you should do fine.
Your brother sure is something, isn't he? He got to go to your school this year, didn't he?
He's got big shoes to fill.
You found out that you're going to have a sister this year! You should be happy. You have been lobbying for one ever since you found out Joe was going to be a boy. It's been awesome seeing the two of you wrap your heads around you mom's pregnancy. There was on night when this happened:
Jackson: Mom? Can I listen to your tummy?
Jen: Sure.
You put your head on her stomach and listened.
Jen: What do you think she's doing in there?
Jackson: Just swimming around... I wish I could control her mind.
And then you walked off.
This is what I love about you. Your imagination seeps into every day occurrences. I hope you keep it up.
You got glasses this year, adding to your Nerd cred.
You have been helping your brother a lot. Just kind of teaching him about the world and what not. He really looks up to you, but I think that once he figures out what his "thing" is, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

This next year will see you starting at a real 5 day a week school, welcoming a sister, and mentoring your brother. It'll be a good one. Crazy but good.

I love you.

-Dad.

Pottery

As anybody who knows me knows, I am a very big fan of British film, TV and literature. Actually, anybody who even vaguely knows me, or has read any of my blog posts over the past year or so would know that.
So here's the deal: I don't really care about Harry Potter. There. I said it. Feels good, actually.
Let me qualify this a little. I think Harry is fine. I love that a very English character has made it on a world wide level. Some may argue that Doctor Who did this way back in the '60s, but his following was always more cerebral and cultish rather that the all encompassing brand that is Harry Potter.
I put my time in. I read all the books. Or, more accurately, I read the first three, and listened to the rest as audio books. I thought they were okay. Not the best, but mildly entertaining. They are kids books*, but I don't really care about that because I read a lot of books aimed at younger audiences. Still read the occasional Hardy Boys book if you insist on knowing what kind of Nerd I am. So I give the HP books some slack. Perhaps because of over exposure, or because the blind fanaticism leaves me feeling a little icky(which is no small feat given my love of Sci-fi, and the fact that I have been known to frequent the conventions), or perhaps because I think that while good, the franchise isn't as wonderful as all the hype would suggest, but these days I'm more meh than anything else about it.
Maybe that makes me a poor Nerd, but I have to pick and choose what I can be fanatical about.
I don't have enough disposable income for everything. My kids still gotta eat.

-JP

Tardises? Tardi? Everywhere!

So I've been all about Dr. Who my whole life. I've written about it a lot here, so you all know that.
But something is happening. Something awesome.
It seems the whole world is jumping on board. I know this because it has reached rural Oklahoma.
Observe:



Is that not awesome? The fact that people(nerds) from all over the world came together to get this girl a Tardis of her own is just adorable.

On a similar note, I have fulfilled a lifelong dream to make a door in my house into the Tardis door. I've wanted to do this since I was seven, but never had the guts to ask my parents if I could. Now that I have kids of my own who are following in my nerdy footsteps, and a wife who is awesome in that she will indulge me in my eccentricities, I was able to get it done. It is by no means perfect and i have a little more work to do on it. I fucked up the lighting on the panels because I was working on it upside down for no good reason, and my brain didn't reconcile that fact, but it still looks cool. And I have to make the "pull to open" sign, but on the whole, I'm pretty happy with it: