Filed under: parentDish Laughs, 5 years, Movies, DVDs and VideosLast Monday, Jared stayed home sick. The night before, he was coughing so hard that he threw up, so we kept him home for the day. It’s just as well, I think. We took Sara to school and then came home. He watched Singin’ in the Rain, then wanted to lie down with me in our room. He fell asleep almost immediately and slept until about 4pm.When he woke up, he was still kind of lethargic, so I had him and Sara play in the living room for a while. After a bit, he asked me what was the silliest movie. (He seems to have a fascination for superlatives lately.) I have to say, it was not a question I was really prepared for. What I came up with was the Marx Brothers’ movies, so I put on Animal Crackers.Animal Crackers is a zany film that features the famous Captain Spaulding (for whom our Land Rover is named) and an equally famous painting. Groucho plays the Captain, freshly arrived from Africa, while Chico and Harpo are musicians who make more for not playing than they do for playing. Margaret Dumont plays the gracious but easily-confused Mrs. Rittenhouse who hosts a grand party for the Captain and for the painting.In one scene, Chico and Harpo are getting ready to replace the painting with a copy. Chico asks Harpo for a flashlight, but with his pseudo-Italian accent, it sounds more like “flehsh”. Harpo can’t understand and produces a host of items such as a flask, a fish, a flute, etcetera. All during this, Jared was laughing hysterically. It is, of course, a hilarious scene.But now, I want to find more of the same — silly, funny movies that will have him rolling on the floor. So, what are your suggestions for movies that get you going? I think I’m going to pick up Bringing Up baby for sure — it’s one of my favorites. There have to be other, light-hearted follies out there, yes? What makes you laugh uncontrollably? Or, perhaps more relevantly, what makes your kids laugh out loud?Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Network Security Staff
Network Security Staff A Social Engineering Accessory Of Sorts… Wear our official looking ‘Network Security Staff’ shirt just because you can. Have fun with it. Use it to pretend your network is larger than it really is. Or use it to pretend somebody elses network is yours. Pretending is fun. Just don’t forget to [...]

When is it considered bullying?
Filed under: Public school, Going to school, 6-7 years, BullyingEver since Ellie started first grade, she has been coming home telling me about a certain boy on the bus who has been giving her a hard time. He’s a third grader and sits in the same row with his second-grader sister and Ellie. In the beginning, the complaints were general remarks about him saying mean things to her and some of the other girls. When pressed, she admitted that he called her a baby, told her to shut up and directed his sister not to talk to her.My husband and I have been giving her advice on how to deal with him. Basically, we have told her to ignore him. Generally, it seems to me that kids like this will grow tired of the game if the other person won’t engage. That tactic seemed to be working until yesterday. Obviously I wasn’t there, but Ellie tells me that she was having a pleasant conversation with the boy’s sister when he reached across and slapped Ellie on her hand and told her to shut up.With tears rolling down her face, she told me how she hid her face in her backpack and cried all the way to school. The school bus code of conduct is clear about the consequences of bullying, but pretty vague about what that actually means. I have felt she was being somewhat bullied from the beginning, but was hesitant to step in and fight her battle. Now, I am angry. I have a call in to the school bus supervisor and plan to inform the school as well. To my mind, what he was doing all along was wrong, but he crossed the line when he became physically aggressive. I know at least one parent who thinks I am overreacting. What would you do?Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Buying a car
Filed under: Gear, Lifestyle, Infant / First year, Outings, Environmental So we’re buying a car. It was a hard decision to make, given I’ve lived in New York City for so long without one. Considering how expensive both gas and insurance are, a car wasn’t an additional cost I was looking to add to daycare and diapers. I’d also shunned a car because they seem so environmentally unsound these days. I know hybrids exist and that was an option ( very expensive one) but I liked the feeling of being able to walk everywhere or hop on public transportation. That said, getting a car really is the right thing at the right time for us. I’d always said to my husband way back when before we even thought of getting pregnant that if we had a baby we had to get a car. It wasn’t a choice, rather, his agreement was a prerequisite. Although it is possible to get around the city without one, whether taking the baby in your arms, in a baby bjorn or in one of the myriad types of strollers available, having a car makes life much easier in some respects. The day we had to take Mr. Pickles in for his first set of shots when it was a torrential downpour would have been much easier, faster, and dryer, in a car. The days when I’ve had to walk the baby to daycare, then walk to work, then walk back to daycare for an errand at lunch, then back to work, then back to daycare at the end of the day followed by walking home up nearly seven avenues of hills would’ve been a breeze in a car. Things like going to the grocery, which people do no matter where they live, would be easier with a little more storage space than what I can carry or fit under the stroller. Visiting family out of town will be a snap. We won’t need to rent a car or have to pay exorbitant amounts of money for insurance because we’ll already have it. Rather than spending hours trying to find decent airfare we’ll just hop in the car and head out. Friends who live just far enough away will finally get a visit from us (watch out!) On the other hand, trying to find parking can be a nightmare. Alternate side of the street parking rules, which are always in effect, will land you trapped in by other vehicles or with a nice fat ticket. No one in this town can parallel park worth a darn and they bump cars on either side without even bothering to care. Gas is more expensive than gold. Insurance is outrageous even though my husband and I both have excellent driving records. Also, and I have to be totally honest here, I HATE dealerships. I hate being sold to the second I walk in without even being able to look at a car or sit in it or whatever. They’re like harpies and they will wheel and deal you until you don’t remember what you wanted in the first place. So we’re thinking about doing the test drives, etc., then ordering our car online and having it delivered. Sort of like the ultimate holiday present. It depends on who will offer us the best financing, of course. Cheap = better. After all, I may be getting a new car, but I still have daycare and diapers–and solids and toys and clothes and a new crib and braces and a college education and all that other stuff to think about. Next up: what kind of car we’re getting. At least what we think we’re getting. For now. It’s constantly changing as we learn more…. Pic of totally rad brand new CR-V (can you tell what kind of car I want?) by redjar. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Doctor Who - Day of the Daleks
Doctor Who - Day of the Daleks Customer Review: an eye sore and a bore to boot. Like a lot of the 1972 pertwee stuff this was flat and had a lot of extra scenes of running around and Pertwee action which was lame and snoozer boring. The Three-wheeler(3-wheeled motorcycle called a “rover” [...]

School shooting in Finland
Filed under: High school, Monitoring your kids, In the NewsAn 18 year old student turned gunman killed 8 people and injured at least 10 at a Finnish High School today. Hours before the massacre, Pekka-Eric Auvinen posted a video on YouTube titled “Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007″. The clip, removed by YouTube after the shooting, reportedly showed a picture of the school that disintegrated to reveal an image of a man resembling Auvinen against a red background, pointing a gun at the screen. The clip was accompanied by the track “Stray Bullet”, by rock band KMFDM, whose lyrics were also quoted by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the students behind the 1999Columbine High School shooting. YouTube also removed prior videos posted by Auvinen who went by the user name, “Sturmgeist89″ (German for “storm spirit”.) However, a quick search revealed that he had a great interest in terrorists, Nazis and the holocaust, the Columbine massacre, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, and violent movies like: A View to Kill, The Untouchables, Falling Down, and Reservoir Dogs. Jokela High School attended by more than 400 students, aged between 12 and 18 in Tuussula, Finland. Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments