Saturday, September 25, 2004

Papa's Big Truck

Today was one of the days that you don't look forward to. Well, your glad it's saturday and all, but you just know that you are going to have to work your butt off. You know, that's the thing about being an adult, you just don't get to spend your saturday watching cartoons till ten o'clock and then playing till dinner time. Don't get me wrong it was a good day. I got a bunch accomplished. I helped my friend move some of her stuff. Worked on the car. Helped the Folks set up and teardown for the yard sale they were having. It was a full day. There definitely was a highlight though.

You see I had to borrow my Dad's very cool Dodge truck. It's got the extend cab, lift kit, dual exhaust, bumper guards, light guards, the whole shot. Basically it's like the "Walker Texas Ranger" truck. Dad's got factory tires on it right now, instead of the off-road ones, and you still look down in to other trucks. A cool truck! Anyhow, my Beautiful Wife, and the Little Boy, drop me off, so that I can get the truck. Well the Little Boy loves going to my Mom and Dad's house. He calls Dad, "Papa". So the Little Boy wanted to go to "Papa's house", and didn't understand why he wasn't getting out of the car too. So I explain that I am just borrowing Papa's truck to do some work, and then when I come home I will give him a little ride in it. He was disappointed, but not crying and they drove away.

So, I get my business taken care of, and get home. I didn't park the truck in the drive way, but on the street. My Beautiful Wife and the Little Boy are outside, Max the wonder puppy is running through our yard as well as the neigbhors at lightining speed, when I pull up. Of course, all puppy dogs love truck, so he runs over to it, and we get him inside rather quickly. When I come out the Little Boy has clawed his way in to the passager's side and is ready to go. You could tell that getting him out of the truck was not a fight that you wanted to take on. Well, I still have some errants to do, so my Beautiful Wife and I decide he'd just go with me. (actually the Little Boy decided and we agreed) My Beautiful Wife followed me to our first stop, that way if the Little Boy was done, well he could ride home with her. That's not what happened. I get to the auto parts store, and the Little Boy says, "I'm staying here, okay, I stay in the truck, you go and come back." So I smile and say okay. My Beautiful Wife stayed with him  and I got what I needed. He was staying with the truck. 

So my Beautiful Wife, has some errants to do, I have some others to do, so we decided to meet up a little later and then take the truck back to my Dad. She pulls away, I get in the truck, and start it, of course, I didn't have my seatbelt on so, the little light thing on the dash yelled at me. So without thinking, I respond to it with, "I know, I know, I know" as I put my seatbelt on.  The Little Boy picked this up immediately if not sooner. Now, every time the truck would make a sound he would lift his little arms up, half way, and say "I know, I know, I know". I had to smile every time he said that. Anyhow the Little Boy simple loved riding in the truck. He would see other big trucks and say, "He look, a big truck like us", and I would agree. we had a great time. Well now it was time to take the truck back to Dad's and of course the Little Boy was happy to be at Papa's and they of course where happy to see him. However we were all mesmerized and mystified by his energy level. I believe it had to do with testosterone levels raising in his little body just by being in Papa's Big Truck.

It was time to go home, so we said our goodbyes and we had to break it to The Little Boy that he was going to have to ride home with us in the Camry and not in the Truck. He was disappointed and gave us his trademark "Ahhh mann!". I kind of felt the same way to tell you the truth. I had really enjoyed driving that big ol' truck all afternoon. Anyhow the Little Boy reluctantly gets in the car, and we head for home. We stop on the way home and get him a hot dog to help ease his disappointment. All in all a great saturday, don't you think?

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Rembrandt's Eye for art

There is a very interesting article in the International Herald Tribune that suggests that Rebrandt may have been well, a little bit wall-eyed, and that is not being about to see things in true stereo vision is part of the reason he was able to paint scenes from real life to the canvas so well. It also mentioned that this would of made him more attuned to shadows and light.

Being that I was born fairly crossed eyed, and after a surgery when I was three, now slightly (especially when I am tired) crossed eyed I found this fasinating. I've been told that I see 80% of the world out of my right eye and 20% from my left. And that because my vision has been that way since birth that my brain just wired itself to get depth preception. I imagine it was the same way for Rembrandt.

Monday, September 20, 2004

Pow Pow Power Wheels

The Little Boy has one of those powerwheel jeeps that we got at a yard sale. It needs a battery, which of course, we haven't gotten yet. But that doesn't stop him from lifting up the hood and trying to figure out what the issue is. Of course he believes that hitting the battery with a hammer will get it to work. So, I told him that hitting it, isn't going to make it work. To which he reply, "It already doesn't work!", I found that hard to argue with. Anyhow, about 10 minutes later, he has most of my tools on the fenders and in the battery bay of his jeep. He, just knew that ones of those tools was going to fix it. So, I'm thinking I need to pick up the battery for it, and have him help me put it in. And just maybe hit with the hammer once for good measure.

Learning

Today I learned that The Little Boy teaches me more then I teach him. In him I can see my bad and good habits. He teaches me that hating traffic is something you are born with and is not learned. That a 4 year old can drive better then many adults. He has taught me that there are many more uses for a cresent wrench than I originally thought including, pry bar and dispilinary tool for the dog.  I've learned that when I'm in the garage working on something, that he wants to be there too. And more importantly, that he really wants to help work on whatever I am working on, be it a car or a cutting a piece of wood. I've learned that it's hard to argue with the logic of a strong willed 4 year old, especially when they think they are right. I've learned that starting the morning by watching cartoons and not the news is the best way to start your day.