My God, bowling has gotten expensive. Sorry to speak of the costs of things so much but hey, this is a getting a little ridiculous. One game cost me $17.00. $17.00 and I don't get to take anything home with me. Sure it was fun but for that kind of money I want a case of scotch to go with it! Three games for the four of us would have cost $40.00 not counting the shoe rental, but Olivia was done after one. We came home after the one game which took an hour because of Olivia's slow play. She's still at that legs spread, two-handed pendulum kick start stage of bowling. Lauren was so proud of herself for getting a better score than Brenda did and Brenda tried to use the excuse of the girls taking advantage of the gutter bumpers. I told her the bumpers were there for her too, so she could have used them. She threatened to put a certain part of my anatomy in the ball polisher, if you know what I'm saying.

After lunch, it was time for a couple hours at kiddie heaven - Chuck E. Cheese's! The girls are hilarious there. Olivia throws the skee balls over-handed when I'm not looking. Lauren crawls throught the tunnels and stops at each window to wave and/or make sure I'm still watching. We took turns in the Chuckie sketch booth and the results weren't bad.

Me & Lauren


Brenda & Olivia


Lauren opted for these goofy glasses as her ticket collection reward.


Olivia wisely opted for a lollipop. Hershey Park tomorrow. God give me strength.


Web Junkie

Steve West scours the Web searching for interest or absurdity and then shakes his head ruefully when he finds it. Read more »

Great Moments In Sign Hacking

If only I had had my camera... The Washington Beltway is similar to other major national highways in that it has several LED signs displaying messages to commuters. Silver alerts, orange alerts, missing children BOLOs, etc. Go »

A Christmas Story for Christmas

Definitely early for Christmas, but there's an interesting item for auction on ebay that closes in a week or so. Spend Christmas Eve and morning in the house used to film A Christmas Story. I suppose there could be other events to make it a Christmas Con like a movie viewing, a shoot your eye out contest, and stick your tongue to the frozen pole game. Go »

Passion

Recent conversation with Brenda: me: I've been thinking about our love life lately. Brenda: Have you been drinking? me: I think the best comparison would be to the cockroach. Go »

Renaissance: Everything Old Is New Again

The Maryland Renaissance Festival is an annual event that takes place on eight consecutive weekends each year at an outdoor site in Crownsville, MD. It usually starts right around when school does so Brenda and I have been distracted away from going for several years. We promised the girls we would absolutely go this year for their mini-vacation. Go »

Killer Home Decor (Literally)

From chalk outline welcome doormats to dead horse head pillows à la The Godfather (with protruding tongue, no less), this website features decorations to give your home that perfect serial killer feel. I especially like the pooling blood carpet. Go »

Real Baseball

I took the girls to a minor league baseball game last night. It was Autism Awareness night at the Bowie Baysox game which was the incentive for Brenda and I to go. The girls actually enjoyed the game for the first few innings but were more interested in the foods, carousel, moon bounce and face painting. Go »