Snowpocalypse Parking Lot (too much fartsy - not enough artsy) (1 of 4)

Snowpocalypse Parking Lot (too much fartsy - not enough artsy) (1 of 4), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

Spent a few minutes out in the parking lot with my shutter release getting a few snaps of the snow while it is here. It's been coming down lightly, but all dang day. It's starting to turn to ice and I can hear cars sliding around and down Simonds road including the occasional crunch. But mostly I hear the slithering of tires on the ice trying to find traction on too high a grade on ice that is polished smooth.
Henry is feeling much, much better tonight. He's elected to sleep in my room with me tonight, so he must still be ill. This evening we watched There's Something About Mary. I told Jackie that this evening and she commented that it is probably only a matter of days before I get the boy a hooker. Henry said he prefers Asian. Well, we all do at your age, young man.

New Passion or Flushing Money Down the Toilet?

B&W Camping Photo, originally uploaded by seattleforge.

Every time I go on a camping trip I know I want to do more of it. But time away from the family is a big commitment. I can tell myself that I'm a better person when I come home, but I'm good at telling myself things like this.
I'd definitely need my own gear. Much of it is borrowed when I go. Something to consider after the holidays.

My family is good at knicknames..

Alaska 2010 (39 of 151), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

You might think to yourself, "why did Scott keep this picture of Henry that is obviously distorted, his eyes are half closed and he looks special needs?"
The answer to your question is.. check out the couple in the background. The woman is perhaps the creepiest person we met on this cruise. She is French, dresses like a teen-tart from a Disney kid's show, she's had a massive amount of plastic surgery and she was at LEAST 75 years old. Henry dubbed her "Nana Montana". This either proves that he's my son or that nurture dictates talents and behaviour.

Vacation Anticipation

Every time we travel there are some predictable behaviours. Jackie packs, re-packs and frets over what is packed. If she discovers she's forgot even one thing she damns herself to hell for the rest of the trip. The dog knows something is up and doesn't like it. She's been doing her usual and throwing up all over the carpets this morning. Henry is underfoot, playing with the DVR and not paying attention to what he should bring. There will be tears.
I'm packed. This isn't hard. Socks, undershirts and pants for every day I'm gone. Two collared shirts, a cardigan, 25 gold guineas, a pair of jeans, a pair of chinos, a rain parka, cap, wine opener, pocket knife, ipod, headphones, chargers, two bottles of meritage, cufflinks, nail trimmers, orc bait, lens wipes, camera, lenses, short sword, mobile phone, mail shirt, lembas bread, 3 torches, tinderbox and some lip balm.
It couldn't be easier.

Sometimes I forget that my 10 year old isn't my buddy

Traffic in this area is a fickle mistress. I leave work at 4pm on days that Henry has soccer practice so I can get home, get him in uniform, put some food down his neck and drive to the practice field. Most days we get there just in time. On Wednesday we were 30 minutes early.
On those days we chat. Sometimes I say too much. Henry is an only child who spends most of his time around adults and in many ways behaves like an adult. He's also pretty smart with a fairly sophisticated sense of humour. But these are all excuses. Most of these conversations in the car are pretty benign and he'll talk about something some kid does at camp, but once in a while he asks some pretty serious questions. This week he asked me about condoms.

"You just buy them at the store?"

"Yep. You can buy them loads of places. You can buy them online now, but that wasn't around when I was of condom buying age."

"OMG! GROSS! You bought condoms?"

"Yah. And I found it mortifying. You had to ask for them at the till. As a matter of fact this one time I was buying them at a Mac's Milk in Windsor and the guy behind the counter was a middle aged Chaldean and his English wasn't strong. There was a huge line behind me and I was trying to be discrete. So I said very quietly,`I'd like to buy some condoms` and the man behind the counter said, `You want to buy my gar-r-rbage?` (I said rolling the r's as best I could). `No!` I exclaimed and then more quietly added,`I want to buy condoms`. `WHAT? Garrrbage?` the man yelled. `No!`, I said, `Rubbers! Johnnies! Sheiks! A sheath for my ole fella!` `Ooohhhhhhh!!!` the man spat, `Cr-r-ream or no cr-ream?`"

Cassoulet

Cassoulet, originally uploaded by seattleforge.

I sauteed a little trinity, garlic with sea salt, smoked paprika and some smashed white peppercorns. Sauteed some chicken and linguisa, added some soaked white beans and par cooked brown rice. Topped that up with some stock and popped it in the oven for a couple hours.
Voila! It tasted much better than it looked.

With one year left on my lease I have to start my OCD car buying process.
I quite like my VW GTI but it is known to be QUITE problematic maintenance-wise after 3 years.  I don't think I'd like it so much then.  I also have guilt about not sticking with the family when Ford has soo many good offerings on at the moment.  But where am I at?  What is most important to me? Who am I if I have these cars?  These are the contenders:

2011 Ford Mustang
The V6 (the only engine I'm considering) has 305 HP, pretty great mileage, a very small backseat and my folks can't get in and out of it.  It's fantastic, but does seem sad for a fat, bald, middle-aged telecom manager to be driving around in. The insurance is also ridiculous.



The 2011 Ford Taurus
I think it is actually quite handsome.  I think it was a mistake to name this car the Taurus as it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Taurus of the past. It's much larger and QUITE luxurious. I was actually stunned at how nice the interior was, how good the drive was for a large car and how many great electronics it had.  The SYNC features were amazing in this car. I could actually see myself going out to sit in this car and listen to music it was so nice inside.  I'd have to spend an additional $40k to get this level of luxury in a Euro-car. The insurance would also be dead cheap compared to the Mustang. It also goes like stink for a big car.  My folks can get in and out of it quite comfortably. No one will ever sleep with me again if I buy it.  I think I'm okay with that.