More House Pix

Here's T.Roosevelt's room in the attic. Imagine walls, high speed computers, wall-to-wall guitars, and a lock on the door.

Here's J.Roosevelt's room with all the plaster pulled out to make way for insulation and smooth dry wall:

Go UCLA

The Onion said it all.

Spare the Rock

Shamless plug this morning for our friend Bill Childs' kids' music radio show Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child from 8-10 am (eastern) Saturdays on Valley Free Radio (streamed live over the internets).

Bill hosts the show weekly with his daughter Ella (and sometimes Liam, Ella's junior sybling). The point of the show appears to be to play the best in kids music, and by best I mean the most tolerable to adults.

Oh, and to Rock.

So click here, tune in, and rock on.

Chillin

Happy Saturday

Ringtunes

My new phone claims I can use any song as the ring tone. As with everything in my life these days, this presents the torture of seemingly unending possibilities. (To wit: apparently 3,000 choices of faucet style is not enough in modern America?)

So, what is the perfect, oh-so-cool, yet not-trying-too-hard song that could be my ring tone? It should have some connection to the phone, it seems. Also it should not be overly embarassing when it rings in a business setting.

I admit I am terrible at this type of puzzle. My brain immediately refuses to think of anything phone-song related as soon as I need to think of one.

So far, all I have come up with (which I admit to kind of liking) is "Hippy Johnny" by Jonathan Richman, which starts out:

I, called this number three times already today.

But I got scared, I put it back in place. (I put my phone back in place)

I sure don't know if I should have called up.

Look just tell me if I'm out of place.

Or maybe, "Dignified and Old," also by JoJo:

My telephone never rings

She'd never call me

I hate myself today

But I can see through this bitterness and sadness

And so I won't die

Someday I think I'll be dignified and old

I'd have to answer quickly on that last one . . .

What do you think? What is the perfect Ringtune?

Happy B-Day J. Roosevelt

It's J. Roosevelt's 11th b-day!

Tullycraft at SxSW

If I were in Austin for SxSW, I would surely go see Tullycraft at some club called Parish II at 1 am Friday.

Tullycraft are purveyors of excellent indie-pop, filled with hooks, clever turns of phrase, and stories about people you might have known. And they have a good website (though it has been promising a new record for a long time now).

Of course, if I really were in Austin, I would probably only say I was going to Tullycraft, and instead I would go to bed.

Billy Goat Trail

Saturday, J. Roosevelt, B. Roosevelt and I hiked the Billy Goat Trail. This is a fairly difficult hike, just on the other side of the Potomac on the Maryland side of Great Falls Park (technically the C&O Canal National Historic Park).

Here is a video from the New York Times describing the trail.

The BGT meets the hiking criteria that the kids have laid down: a hike must involve scrambling over rocks and traversing precipices that make it impossible for a mother to watch, for fear that one of her children will plummet to an unfortunate end. No walks in the woods for these maniacs.

We made it through relatively unscathed. B's face did become intimately familiar with the shape of one boulder, and J's stomach similarly planted itself on a rock. But all in all, it was a great hike.

greenlight Greenlight

Did you get this month's Greenlight Bite from your friends at Greenlight Magazine? If not, here's your chance.

As you know, T. Roosevelt's sister's company publishes Greenlight Magazine, Your Guide to Earth Friendly Living. If you have not yet checked it out, you should.


You can subscribe to Greenlight (currently free) right here.

What Are The Odds?

OK, math wizards, ponder this one:

Tonight we dined at the Taqueria Poblano. While there, I noticed over the din that they were playing Camera Obscura's "Let's Get Out of This Country." Not particularly unusual, as this was a popular song from a popular record. The restaurant speakers then offered "Sunday Morning," the great Velvet Underground song, performed by Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet.

Now, loyal listeners will note that not only are both of these songs on THLS 2006, but in that order. It's a musical exacta.

When I got home, I confirmed that these two songs were in fact next to each other on my cd. This seemed too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. Convinced I was finally achieving the musical influence I have always deserved, I headed back to the Taqueria, with J. Roosevelt in tow (so I would look less like a lunatic).

Turns out the very hip (at least now I think so) bartender Brian had put together a mix to play at the restaurant that tracked THLS 2006 for just a brief moment. I must admit I was disappointed that they were not playing a bootlegged THLS 2006 obtained in the vast Arlington musical underground.

So, math wizards out there, tell me: What are the odds?

House Update -March 3, 2007

You can see the back porch and the addition and the two giant windows in the master bed and bath:





...and here's the view from our new bedroom:





...and our new dining room window and the giant holly tree:

I got your blog right here!

My favorite blog is right here.

Happy D-Day

Did I mention it was just D-Roosevelt's b-day. She's one.