Z is for Zombie, that’s good enough for me

Bad Uncle Nathan has promised for a long time to turn Evie into an evil genius so I assume we can be expecting a set of Young Mad Scientist Alphabet Blocks from ThinkGeek.

The full block list is as follows, and I think you will agree that it covers all the bases your future Evil Genius needs to know to help her grow.

A – Appendages
B – Bioengineering
C – Caffeine
D – Dirigible
E – Experiment
F – Freeze ray
G – Goggles
H – Henchmen
I – Invention
J – Jargon
K – Potassium
L – Laser
M – Maniacal
N – Nanotechnology
O – Organs
P – Peasants (with Pitchforks)
Q – Quantum physics
R – Robot
S – Self-experimentation
T – Tentacles
U – Underground Lair
V – Virus
W – Wrench
X – X-Ray
Y – You, the Mad Scientist of Tomorrow
Z – Zombies

And if that isn’t enough of a learning experience for your little one, you can also get a nice plush pirate which will help teach skills like shoe tying, snaps, buttons, etc. I assume you can also practice eye patch application and sword buckling, so your little one will truely be prepared to face the day.

Here’s hoping Evie can be the first to cross mad genius and pirate!

(Pirate link courtesy Meg)

New words

Yesterday Evie learned a very important word: Pirate!  So, maybe it comes out like “Pie-rop”, but she can still say it when she points to a pirate (thanks Uncle Nate for the bath toys!)  Too bad she didn’t get it out in time for Talk Like a Pirate Day.

You can also see the video of her saying “exercise” which I think is an impressive word for a not quite 14 month old.

There is also another video of her in her favorite new shirt.  This was the first time she’s worn it, but every time we open her closet she says, “Cat! Cat!” and points to it.  She was very proud to wear it all day and kept showing it off to everybody.

This is starting out to be a weird week

So, in case you missed all the unintentional humor on the previous post, I will now spell it out in excruciating detail.  So I had two unrelated topics to talk about, Pickle Pops and the fact that if I were a disease, I would be Rickets.  Naturally, I made a nice title that tied the two together, and perhaps a long the way might have implied that Pickle Pops may be linked to a certain horrible disease.  Now you’d think I would have learned my lesson with the last brush with the magic that is Google Alerts, but apparently not.  I certainly never expected someone from the company to find my blog.

Let me set the scene for you.  It’s Monday morning, a man comes into work all bright eyed and bushy tailed.  He sits down at his computer.  “Aw great!” he says. “Another blog talking about this awesome product we’re selling!  We’re really starting to take off!”  He then looks at the title of the post mentioning his product.  “Do Pickle Pops cause Rickets?”  His smile slowly fades off his face as he blindly gropes for his antacids with one hand and his lawyer’s phone number with the other.

I mean, I don’t know if that’s how it happened or not, but just the thought caused several fits of hysterical laughter throughout the day.  Oh man, even now I’m laughing!  Too funny.  I changed the title of the post even though he was a good sport about it.  I mean, even without the title, I didn’t exactly give a glowing review there.  I mean, I can’t conclusively say Pickle Pops do NOT cause Rickets, can I?

Along those lines, I decided to go on over to Bob’s Pickle Pops and order a case to give them a fair shake.  I mean, I shouldn’t really dis them without a fair trial.  And I love pickles, I’ve been known to eat a jar in a sitting, so if I’m not their target audience, who is?  However, before you get excited, I have to say I will not be putting my money were my mouth is after all.  Sara convinced me not to buy them as even the thought of them sends shivers down her spine.  Unlike me, Sara hates pickles.  How much does she hate pickles?  Well, legend has it that when Sara was little her parents asked her what she should name her little sister when she was born.  Sara, having no desire for a sibling, said “Pickle” on account of how much she hated pickles.  So anyway, no pickle pops will be coming my way (despite their reasonable price).  So if anybody has tried them, please let me know as my curiosity has now been greatly peaked.  And, at the same time, if I could manage to get my hands on some Synsepalum dulcificum

Finally, in completely unrelated news, we have not had any updates on a subject near and dear to my heart; Pirates!  Well, just because I haven’t been talking about them doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy.  4 tourists taken hostage, although what they were doing in pirate waters in their yacht to begin with is beyond me.  They are just lucky they were taking hostage and not forced to walk the plank immediately!

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day

Yar, it be September 19th, I suggest ye navigate over to talklikeapirate.com or else walk the plank!

Robert Jordan, author of the *extremely* long winded Wheel of Time series died last weekend without finishing the last book in the series! This was a set of 11 enormous books, some in excess of 1000 pages, each one more boring than the last. All the time I invested in those books and now I have no closure! Plus I met the guy in person and he was a jerk.

Do yourself a favor and go listen to Chris Cornell covering Billie Jean by Michael Jackson. One place you can hear it is here. I like Michael Jackson, but I think Chris Cornell’s version is better!

Pirate Day


Pirate story #1: Council bans boy, 6, from flying Jolly Roger at pirate party
Pirate story #2: The French are afraid of pirates (as they should be)
Pirate story #3: I didn’t know dogs and pirates were natural enemies
Pirate story #4: Pirate fort raided by local police
and finally
Pirate story #5: Pirate myths busted

Although I’m glad to see they posted a correction at the bottom saying Pirates did say “Arrrgh” and make people walk the plank!