A Steely Dan moment with Rose in the car - March 9th, 2012

(from the I guess she likes Gaucho the best department)

Hi everyone,

Tonight, while driving home from dinner, I was playing Steely Dan's "Gold" compilation in the car CD player. When the disc got to Babylon Sisters - this happened:



How cool is that? Rose is a Steely Dan fan!

(And - although this is from my smart phone - I did not film it. Dana did, since I was driving.)

Cheers,
Paul

National Pancake Day - February 28th, 2012

(from the It's better with Blueberry Syrup department)

Hi everyone,

Last night, Rose and I went to IHOP's National Pancake Day celebration. They hold it every year on Shrove Tuesday to rasie money for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

We went to the IHOP on Madison in Seattle. We got there about 7:30 PM or so, and although the place was insanely crowded, we were seated in a very reasonable amount of time.

Of course, Rose's Happy Pancake Dance may have helped too.

We sat down at the table, and each of us got a stack of three pancakes. Rose immediately attacked her... glob of butter in the center of the pancake. In time lapse photos, here's Rose eating her butter - I mean - pancake:



















We had a great time, and hopefully, IHOP raised a lot of money for their charity.

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. The subtitle of this post comes from Rose's syrup preference. Normally, she's all about the strawberries - but when I asked her if she wanted strawberry syrup, she said "No - I want blueberry!"

Merry Christmas from Santa and Rose (Part 5)

(from the How can she have 5 photos when she's only 4? department)

Hi everyone,

Here's our 2012 Christmas photo:



Rose was a little nervous prior to meeting Santa, but once she sat down for the picture, she was excited about it. She told Santa exactly what she wanted and then we took the picture.

NOTE: Unlike previous years, we have digital copies of two out-takes. They're not quite as good - but I'll post them here anyway:


(taken just before)


(taken just after)

Cheers,
Paul

tsclient for Fedora 15

(from the RPM department)

Hi everyone,

As most folks know, I do like to dabble in Linux. Lately, I've been trying Fedora 15 on a virtual machine - just to see what a cutting edge Linux is like.

One thing I miss from previous versions of Fedora is the old rdesktop GUI front-end called tsclient. That package has been deprecated in favor of newer RDP clients. But - I miss it anyway.

Well - I was able to take the SRPM for tsclient from Fedora 13, and add patches to get it to build in Fedora 15.

(Side note: Normally, I run Yellow Dog Linux on my PS3.)

I don't think this will build on YDL per se - since it's based on RedHat Enterprise Linux - but the patch system is interesting. You basically unpack the SRPM, add your patches in the form of diff files to the SOURCE directory, edit the spec file to include them, and re-package and re-build the RPM and SRPM.

No muss - no fuss.

Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't allow me to add attachments, so I've posted the files on the Yellow Dog board: tsclient for Fedora 15

Cheers,
Paul

Rose, the artist

(from the I am an Artiste department)

Hi everyone,

We went out to brunch today at The Cheeky Cafe. (Highly Recommended!!)

As per usual, Rose got a children's menu and some crayons. She proceded to go to town on the menu, and insisted that we give it to the restaurant to put it on the walls.

The restaurant happily obliged:



Rose was beside herself with glee:



(Rose's drawing is the one with a lot of purple!)

The cool part is that we actually got two menus - and Rose drew on both. So - we had some art to take home as well!

Cheers,
Paul

Pumpkin Hunting - somewhere near Snohomish, WA - Friday, October 21st, 2011

(from the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown department)

Hi everyone,

Today, Dana, Rose and I braved the mud and rain to head out to a farm and pick a pumpkin!

We went to The Farm at Swan's Trail in Snohomish, WA. Incredibly well run - very family friendly - and great for children of all ages. We got to see a duck race, pet some barnyard animals, ride on a hay bale cart pulled by a tractor, and wander around a big field looking for a pumpkin.

Soon - Rose had found what she was looking for:






This was an event sponsored by our pre-school; King Street Co-Op. It was nice to go in a group instead of just by ourselves - farms are more fun with a bunch of people - and the kids were great.

Rose finished the day with ice cream - an orange creamsicle - which she ate instantly. She apparently doesn't mind the wind and rain when ice cream is involved.

Cheers,
Paul

A Note To Daddy From Rose

(from the I can't make this up department)

Here is a note from Rose to me as transcribed by Dana. I present the entire text verbatim, without any editing whatsoever.

Dear Daddy,

Please be careful. Please be safe and I like you. Every time you have to be careful with my jewelry and with my Merry Go Round and you get a prize.

Don't be angry unless you're the Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy is angry because he wants to keep all of his teeth.

I really like getting milkshakes with you. I like him playing my Princess video game and my Lightning McQueen video game.

Daddy loves me very much. I love Daddy's very much too because I love him.

I love you, Rose. Thank you for the letter - it made my day!

Cheers,
Paul