The Towns

This blog is soooooooooo boring!

2011-11-01T18:30:00.002-04:00

We need to add some excitement to this blog. Suggestions?

Four!

2009-09-15T19:25:00.003-04:00

Can you believe it? We’re pretty excited, though the morning sickness (which actually manifests as evening sickness, or maybe even somewhere-near-Brad sickness) is never one of our favorite things.

The thumbs are returning!

2009-06-11T22:45:00.002-04:00

Hooray! There's going to be a new show called Talking Movies with Richard Roeper, Michael Phillips and Christy Lemire. Roger Ebert talks about it here. I hope it's on broadcast TV.

Allan's 18 month check-up stats

2009-03-31T19:48:00.005-04:00

Weight: 31 lbs. (95th percentile)

Length: 34 1/4 inches (90th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

Who watches the Watchmen?

2009-03-06T03:18:00.009-05:00

I do. That is, I did.

I liked it. Complex, visually stunning, and pretty darned faithful to the original graphic novel (thanks go to Rob McMillan, a coworker at Autodesk, for loaning it to me a couple of weeks ago).

Meet the new site, same as the old site

2009-02-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

I've finished most of the migration of our site to Blogger. There might be a few things broken here and there, but for the most part I think we're okay.

Where in the world is Brad?

2008-10-02T04:58:00.000-04:00

I am in a cubicle on the third floor of the building opposite the Tesco in Děčín in the Czech Republic.

My television at the hotel in Hřensko had only ten stations available: two in Czech, eight in German. I watched an episode of Scrubs dubbed into German this morning. I don’t think the people doing the dubbing were adequately replicating the speech cadences of the actors; in particular, the Dr. Cox character lost a little something. Had I not needed sleep, I might have watched an episode from the first season of Prison Break in Czech last night.

It’s very difficult trying to eat well here. Wait, scratch that. It’s very difficult to eat correctly here. It’s no trouble at all eating a sufficient amount. I just wish they’d serve Coke in something larger than the lilliputian size; I think the bottles are 250 milliliters (about eight ounces).

I’ve driven twice this week. That’s a bigger deal than it sounds because our car has a manual transmission and I don’t know how to drive one. I understand the concepts, but the techniques aren’t in muscle memory yet.

Tonight we drive to Praha (Prague) to stay at the Marriott at the airport. Our flight leaves at 9:20 AM for Amsterdam. After a little more than two hours there, we leave at a quarter after one on our eight hour and forty-five minute flight to Detroit. We’re scheduled to arrive at four.

(Comments from old site:)

That is a big deal.

Submitted by Amy Town on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 6:30am.

It’s a bigger deal if you’re in the car with someone else that might judge you, even just a little. Are there coworkers with you, or did you travel alone?

I think you drive a little worse with new people in the car. At least I did. George Piskorz was (I think) the first person I drove with after Lisa taught me how to drive her manual transmission truck. Plus, it was in Texas. My experience with the hills dwarfs, I’m sure, (Is that an insensitive cliche’? I apologize if it is.) in comparison with driving in another country in a vehicle not your own.

Driving in the Czech Republic

Submitted by Brad Town on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 10:27am.

Yes, I’m here with a coworker, but he knew I didn’t know anything about manual transmissions. The different signs and the various widths of streets are a little disconcerting.

Heading to Děčín again

2008-09-26T22:30:00.000-04:00

I’m going to Děčín again. I’m leaving late Sunday afternoon and returning Friday afternoon. Then, Friday night, I’m taking the girls camping with my family. I might be a little sleepy at that time.

Where was Sarah in 1787?

2008-09-18T10:01:00.000-04:00

Article 1, Section 10, paragraph 2.

There shouldn’t be an apostrophe. See the misspelling for yourself on page 2 of the copy of the Constitution at the National Archives.

Happy Constitution Day!

2008-09-17T19:04:00.001-04:00

Constitution Day resources at the Library of Congress web site

I can’t believe I forgot to get out the Constitution Day decorations.

To celebrate, why not download the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, Pocket Edition [PDF, 416kiB] from the U.S. Government Printing Office?

Please, oh please, don’t let this suck

2008-09-17T14:43:00.000-04:00

“Hitchhiker’s Guide” series to ride again

LONDON (Reuters) - Children’s author Eoin Colfer is to write a sixth novel in the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series, seven years after the death of its creator Douglas Adams, publishers Penguin said on Wednesday.

Addy gets new glasses

2008-09-10T22:43:00.000-04:00

“Now, see, with these glasses, you won’t get any older and you won’t ever die.”

Brad’s contribution to the English language

2008-09-08T22:17:00.001-04:00

col•lins |ˈkɒlɪnz| informal
verb [ intrans. ]
move in a predictable manner until a particular time or until a particular event occurs : he chose to collins around until his wife came out of the store.
ORIGIN : named after American astronaut Michael Collins (1930–), member of Apollo 11 crew who orbited the Moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the lunar surface.

Won’t someone please think of the children?

2008-09-08T09:13:00.000-04:00

Oh my God! What are they doing to this baby! Someone help!

You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have babies with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads!

Allan jammin' to the beat

2008-08-08T23:45:00.000-04:00

Ken Jennings’s alphabet mural

2008-08-08T20:57:00.000-04:00

It took him over a year, but Ken Jennings (the guy that won all that money on Jeopardy a few years ago) painted a beautiful mural on his daughter’s wall.

A-C D-G H-L M-P Q-V W-Z

Buying the correct scissors for the Oval Office

2008-08-06T14:30:00.000-04:00

From The Economist:

WHETHER Barack Obama or John McCain triumphs in November, the victor will be the eighth left-handed president of America. While making up just 10% of the general populace, 18% of American presidents have been lefties, perhaps given extra drive by centuries of persecution. Of the past six presidents, four have been cack-handed.

Those four were Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Both Elena and I are left-handed. Or cack-handed, but only when we’re in Britain.

Allan crawls

2008-08-06T06:57:00.001-04:00

Helen saw Allan crawl for the first time yesterday, and she captured some of it on video. You can see a larger version of the same video here.

“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” available again at Hulu

2008-07-31T22:40:00.001-04:00

Here’s the entire video I mentioned in this post. It’s forty-some minutes long, but I recommend you find the time. Neil Patrick Harris as a wannabe supervillain. This is the one. Lots of singing. Dr. Horrible. Tell your friends.

(Comment from old site:)

You're right.

Submitted by Amy Town (not verified) on Tue, 08/05/2008 - 7:42am.

That was worth the time. I especially enjoyed the damp guy bringing Dr. Horrible the mail. And Bad Horse’s letters. He was funny. Made me laugh. That was it. I’ll tell my friends. :) ~A

Randy Pausch, 1960–2008

2008-07-26T15:15:00.000-04:00

From an article on Carnegie Mellon’s web site:

Randy Pausch, the professor at Carnegie Mellon University who inspired countless students in the classroom and others worldwide through his highly acclaimed last lecture, has died of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

I posted the video of his lecture entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” back in October. Pausch died Friday, July 25.

Moon Day 2008

2008-07-22T00:45:00.000-04:00

Happy belated Moon Day, everyone! 39 years ago, on July 20, 1969, we landed on the moon. We haven’t been back in over 35 years.

Will Ebert and Roeper create another show?

2008-07-21T16:11:00.000-04:00

I saw via a Reuters article that Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are officially leaving their eponymous show. Roger Ebert, my favorite film critic, hasn’t been on the show for a year or two. The thumbs left the show earlier this year, leaving the two critics (typically Roeper and Michael Phillips) to offer “See It”, “Skip It”, and an occassional “Rent It” recommendation.

Maybe — maybe — they’re preparing to start another show, perhaps one that gives them more of something (control? money? visibility?). The evidence is circumstantial but compelling: they announce within a day of each other that they’re leaving the show, and as I mentioned, the famous thumbs have already left; they each reference the standards or tradition of the old show in their statements; in Ebert’s statement, he states “the thumbs will return”.

My favorite off-the-cuff jokes

2008-07-21T15:09:00.000-04:00

“They’re in the Missing Shriner formation!”

Jerry Montgomery, at a parade in Brazil, Indiana, when the Shriners appeared with their Mini Cars

“There’s always room for cello.”

Me, when we were trying to put Helen’s nephew Paul’s cello into a car and someone said it wouldn’t fit

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-19T00:24:00.000-04:00

Joss Whedon has created yet another enjoyable show. This one’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and for a very limited time you can see it at http://www.drhorrible.com/. I highly recommend it. It’s short (about forty minutes in all), it’s funny, and it’s a musical. What’s not to like?

For the record, the members of the Evil League of Evil are:

Professor Normal
Fake Thomas Jefferson
Tie-Die
Dead Bowie
Fury Leika
Snake Bite
Bad Horse

Not counting Dr. Horrible, who may or may not get in by the end of the three-act episode.

UPDATE: The limited time is up. You can see previews or buy it from iTunes, or you can ask to watch it on Helen’s iPhone when you see her next. It’s forty-some minutes long, but it is worth it.

Videos from Helen’s Two Weeks Notice concert

2008-07-18T02:01:00.000-04:00