I blinded her with science

I wish I had photos to share.

Snowbird and I had an eventful day yesterday.  We took some folks to the airport in exchange for use of their minivan for the rest of the week (Yep, I'm rollin' in an Odyssey.  Play on, playette).

Then we hit the Costco to return some jeans that didn't fit Troubletron (his thighs are too muscular for the pants of a regular man) and to trick Snowbird into buying herself an iPod Touch (she currently carries around two iPod classics .  Two.  For unknown reasons).  I am excellent at trickery of Snowbird.  I've made a lifetime game of it . . . a game in which, if I'm successful, everybody wins.

I took pictures of her getting the iPod on my phone, but the phone just saved a white box with an error sign on it.  So, I have no photographic proof of Snowbird's technological leap into 2008.

She's playing thumb skeeball as we speak.

Today on Photo Blog

Check out the ONLY

picture from Costco

that worked.

If It's Good Enough For Barrack . . .

Snowbird has one goal while she visits us here in the DC area:

Meet The President

While I am very important in my own mind, I don't actually know the Obamas.  I'm not ballsy enough to throw on my reddest sari and try to sneak past the Secret Service.  So, I knew if I was going to be able to help Snowbird meet her goal, I'd have to try to think of some other way.

And, then it hit me.

Mr. President likes to eat.  And, I know where he likes to eat.  So, we went there.

"Ray" of Ray's Hell Burger is the Soup Nazi of the meat world.  If he doesn't like how you want him to cook your meat, well, he just won't cook meat for you at all.

But, he prepares an amazing slab of beef.

We took Stevetron with us.  He ordered "The Mack"

Snowbird liked the sound of that.  So, she got one too. (Return of the Mack?)

They are brother and sister, you know?

After considering the B.I.G. Poppa and the Fat Joe, I went with a Big Punisher.

"Big Punisher . . . still got whachu lookin' for" (I know my rappers).

Jalapenos and demon sauce.  Deliciously spicy.  Best burger ever?

Maybe.

Lanabot met us too, but she didn't eat a burger.

She sneaked sushi from her purse.

Purse sushi = even grosser than regular sushi, in my opinion (IMO?).

Alas, Barrack and Michelle must have gotten their burgers from Ben's Chili Bowl, because they were nowhere to be seen.  Don't worry, Snowbird.  We have 4 days to meet the Obamas.

Today on Photo Blog

How I made my Big Punisher

into the Perfect Meal.

Snowbird Likes to Party

I don't know how much you know about my mom, Snowbird.  But, one thing you should know is that she does NOT like to have her photo taken.

But, she does like to have dinner with me and Troubletron!  And, that's what we did last night.

I was definitely there.

Troubletron and I wisked Snowbird away from her conference to the delights of Cafe Asia, where she enjoyed a dragon roll while all her friends were stuck at the Hotel bar on Capitol Hill.

I enjoyed some yellow curry.  But, I was looking too forward to enjoying it to remember to take a photo before I ate it.  So, this is what it looked like when I finished.

Troubletron had General Tao's.  Troubletron always has General Tao's.

And, he NEVER eats the broccoli.

Snowbird will be with us until Sunday.  I bet sooo many hilarious mom pics are in our future.

Today on the Photo Blog

Who loves this Obama:

Rebuffed

My mom is in town.

I had hoped to be able to share some wild and crazy tales with you today about what sort of insane adventures we dragged her on during the nights of her conference in DC.  However, last night, when she called from her hotel room after a long day of lawyer conference meetings, she informed us that she was too tired to hang out with us, and that she was going to bed.  At 7:30 p.m.  (And, where she is from, it was only 4:30 p.m.)

Fishy?

Yes.  Very Fishy.

When your mom comes to town, doesn't she want to hang out with you because she loves you and misses you and doesn't get to see you very often?  Yeah.  Mine too.  Usually.

Why do I (kind of) suspect that my mom gave us fake yawns and exhaustion sob stories so she could go out with her work friends?  Is she afraid of me finding out that she tells dirty jokes and is a (gasp) regular person?

Whatever the case, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow to hear any (non-made-up) Snowbird adventure tales.

Family Chess on the

Photo Blog today!

Teenbot Turns 14

We celebrated Teenbot's 14th birthday over the weekend, giving us further confirmation that Troubletron and I are extremely old.

All the family came to celebrate, including Teenbot's two favorite teenage aunts, Catiebot and Toribot.

And, Meemawbot and Littletron, of course, were there.

(Littletron had no choice)

Proud Troubletron brings out the cake.

Teenbot requested a cinnamon crumb cake for her big day.

Time to sing.

Wind up.

Blow.

(with cousins closely watching the spit content in the blow-out.  Wise cousins.)

Of course, that tiny crumb cake wasn't enough for all our guests to enjoy. So, I took the liberty of buying a back-up cake.

It had so many layers of delicious red.

You know what came next.

The barrage of presents began.  Meemawbot got camera shy.

At first, everyone was interested.  But, that faded.

Teenbot maintained focus on her goal.

On the other side of the room, a different drama played out.

It's very hard to pay attention to teen-type gifts when you are Littletron.

After ample celebration, the extended family departed, and we were left to ride out Teenbot's birthday with some relaxing couch-sitting.

Though, one of us had some homework to finish up.

(One of us is so cute with our glasses on)

But, Teenbot wasn't ready to let the fun die.  So, we rallied our remaining energies and threw them into a late-night game of Fluxx.

During which, I lost every single hand.

Well played, Teenbot.  Well played.

Check out the photo blog

to see how the bot-tron

family does wrapping.

Dashed Dreams

So much for my dream of having over-the-knee boots.

Troubletron saw me admiring these in a catalog just before Christmas time.  They were on a mega-sale, so he ordered them for me.

I should have known better.

I'll just bury this dream in the same hole as my old dreams of being able to sit on a plane comfortably and buying jeans off the rack in a regular store.

See the top I was married

in on our photo blog today!

 

Things you've been asking about

Here are the answers to a few things you've been wanting to know (or have been asking about).

1) A "professionalism" conference, for lawyers, is a large event in which older lawyers tell young lawyers to be nice to each other.

First, they tell you to be nice to each other by putting you all in one room, sitting too close to each other, and have speaker after speaker drive home the same message: be nice.

Then, they break into smaller groups where we have to do cutesy introductions ("introduce your neighbor and tell us what her favorite job from her past was!") followed by hypothetical lawyer situations about whether or not to be nice.

Then lunch.

Then a judge speaks to remind us that we have families--so be nice to them too.

More break-out groups follow with more cutesy intros (what's your name and your favorite movie?) and more niceness hypotheticals.

A simple "you get more flies with honey than with vinegar" would have sufficed.

2) The Redskins Room is real.  And, it's SERIOUS business.

I'm addressing this topic because many of you asked, in person, about the Washington Redskins Room that was featured on our photo blog a few weeks ago.

Troubletron's family, immediate and extended, are die-hard Washington Redskins fans.  Over the years, one of his uncles has accumulated an impressive collection of Redskins memorabilia.  All of this merchandise is displayed in The Redskins Room.

It starts in the hallway.

And erupts into this large basement family room.

Ceiling.  Walls.  Carpet.  It's all covered.

Don't try to give Troubletron's uncle anything Redskins-related, because he already has it.

It's impressive, even for a non-sports-fan like me.

I didn't even get any pictures of the bathroom.

3) Several of you have wanted to know who has been doing my new banners and buttons.

This is an easy one to answer.

ME.  Sparklebot.

I have been making all our lovely new banners and buttons.

Photo blog today:

Possibilities

 

Professionalism

Today I am attending a course on "Professionalism" that is required by my Bar Association.

This required course lasts 8 hours.

So, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, I'll be learning about how to deal with my imaginary clients, keep my personal and nonexistent client funds separate, and what shade of suit would look most professional while sitting on my couch.

I'll definitely Tweet any gems of info I receive.  So, feel free to check it (my Twitter is linked on my sidebar).

And, don't forget to vote in the new robot poll!

Today on the photo blog:

My new hair color!

Deja Vu. You Too?

Yesterday marked the second Monday in a row when Troubletron and I were lucky enough to have a couple of wonderful friends willing to come over to our home to enjoy a delightful dinner followed by healthy competition.

I slaved over a pot of homemade tomato sauce to make an extra special bowl of pasta for our friends.

Troubletron eagerly waited to help stir it into the noodles.

I never get a picture of the finished dinner because I'm too focused on eating it.  But, it turned out quite well.

We then moved onto the gaming portion of the evening.  Being very gracious hosts, we always let our guests decide on the game at which they would like to lose.

Shonsbot and Rohantron chose Cranium (yes, this is where your Deja Vu may be setting in).

Rohantron had never played Cranium before.  I suppose he was curious.

They made a good effort.

I made a good effort to eat all the fruit dip while no one was looking.

People always think the sculpting-out-of-clay part of the game will be easy.  And, they are always wrong.  Can you guess what she was sculpting?

Sleeping Bag.

She was sculpting a sleeping bag.

Rohantron didn't get it either, so don't beat yourself up about it.

Troubletron gloated.

In the end, Troubletron and I gathered all our final-brain Cranium cards first.

And we shamed the losers.

Rohantron took it out on the clay.

They may choose to never play with us again.  But, we hope not.

How did you spend your holiday?

See more pics of the food

on our photo blog today!