The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth

Have you seen this ad? It's my new favorite ad -- what an awesome message. It seems to go perfectly with all the geeky little things going on in my head right now.

I haven't been blogging very much because instead of going on my laptop, I've been using my iphone. I'm amazed by how much I use it -- despite yelling at Rob constantly for using his. It's just so much more convenient for nap time, when Maddie is asleep next to me I can easily use an iphone with no major disruption. However, I have yet to find a good blogging app -- and that means blogosphere silence.

I have however been playing Civilization Revolution -- the most awesome game ever. Not that it compares with the other Civ levels, but ever since we got out Mac, we haven't been playing Civ, and I have missed it. For those of you who don't play Civ, it's a world history game in which you rule as a famous historical leader and recreate a civilization to dominate other civilizations cultural, militarilly or economically. For those of you who know me really well, it will come as no surprise that I obsessively (seriously, obsessively) must play this game with complete historical accuracy -- settling my cities in proper historical order, building great wonders that go with my civilization and of course geographically plotting my development with the correct topographical features. Yeah, that's why I'm a geek.

Lately I've been playing as the Romans, and it's put me in a complete ancient mood. I have such a strong desire to read ancient history books, and have really been considering rereading some of the best books I've ever read, which I'm going to recommend to you again (in case you still haven't read them.) First Man in Rome and the Grass Crown both by Colleen McCullough still move me when I think about them. Despite being an ancient history buff, I never really got into Roman history. And I certainly never got in to the Roman Senate period -- if anything I always vaguely appreciated the Caesars or the bizarreness of Roman kooky emperors. But these two books made me fall in love with this period of history, and I've found myself mourning it ever since I finished reading them. They are long, but after you've gotten about 200 pages in, you'll wish they were longer.

Springtime

You know it's Springtime when you see those white things sticking out of the bottom of that baby.

Wish List

Every year people ask me what I want for my birthday and for some reason I never have an answer. This year I've been thinking of a lot of things I really want. So although my birthday isn't for two months yet, it seems a good time to write out my birthday wish list. And with no further ado...

My Wish List:

Mama wants a good vacuum, and I've heard this one is pretty awesome.

2 of these little storage footstools or one of these.

2 more bookcases.

3 sets of these awesome photo boxes in orange.

6 of these picture frames for my Maddie gallery.

I'd also love some dish towels, a great big photo album, anything from Ann Taylor Loft and some plain writing notebooks (unlined).

And if that still doesn't give you any ideas, I also have an Amazon wishlist. And if you don't want to get me anything -- well guess what, I would be perfectly happy with the pleasure of your company.

P.S. Rob, my birthday is on May 29. Don't say I didn't warn you.

A Few Random Thoughts

I'm fascinated by this show on NBC called Who Do You Think You Are? It's an ok show, pretty different from most things out there -- that tracks the genealogy of celebrities. I'm fascinated by the production side of this. It seems like every celebrity is related to some famous person, and clearly has no idea of it. So does the production crew pick a bunch of celebrities and then winnow most out by telling them, "hey, yeah, so it turns out your kind of boring"?

At any rate, I just put Maddie to bed for the night -- Rob's working tonight and tomorrow morning. These turn and burn shifts are always AWFUL, because it means that he doesn't get to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning, and therefore can't do his usual 5 am shift. Maddie's been sleeping weird lately too -- all of a sudden she just started getting up at 5 am every morning this week, and not going back to sleep. Which means she's not getting enough night time sleep (most nights) and is tired a lot during the day.

With the nice weather this week, I've been taking her for nice long walks, hoping that the fresh air will help her sleep more soundly. That theory did not work last night. I took her for a walk this morning and it did nothing for her day except making her cranky despite a nice long nap. She did seem like she was pretty soundly asleep when I put her down, but eh you never know.

As soon as I put her down I started thinking of all of these things I should be doing right now -- like dying my Easter eggs -- but I'm always leery of starting something, particularly when I'm home alone. Interruptions are plentiful!

Chick-a-dee!

The Easter season is upon us and I must say I love Easter. As I say every year, this holiday is particularly important to me because of my associations of the holiday with my Grandma Kogler. This year has of course added the charm of an adorable little girl.


This week has seemed to be full of feathery delight! Yesterday, Mom and I took Maddie to see the chicks at the conservatory at the Falls. She seemed fascinated by them, but was very tranquil. It was only when she saw the bunnies that she got animated and called them "Cat." Here she is in front of the Easter flowers.

This week has been so beautiful out that this morning we took a nice walk to the Japanese Gardens, where surprise! We saw ducks!! Maddie got so excited she threw her own duck. Sadly, we didn't expect them to be there so we didn't bring any bread for them. Next time we'll know better.

Now it's nap time. Maddie is asleep next to me on the couch, curled up as she always does. But perhaps the outfit is a little appropriate for our topic:

Today, I've got Easter baskets to stuff (I'm doing the Easter Bunny a favor), birthday presents to wrap, and Onion Eggs to make.