Last night was Family Game Night.

For Jaden’s birthday, he got a Monopoly Transformers Collectors Edition.

For the most part, it’s still Monopoly – the prices are the same, the board layout and property colors are the same, and the rules are the same.  It’s just Transformer-ized.  I haven’t ever played any of the “branded” Monopoly games, so I didn’t know what to expect, but it was enjoyable.  To save us from dragging the game out into the wee hours of the night, we played the accelerated rules — hand out 4 random properties to each player at the beginning.

Jaden did well, especially with our guidance of when to buy houses (called Energon Cubes) and hotels (called Anti-matter).  He also was able to purchase the two dark blue spots, the most expensive and sought-after properties in Monopoly – Boardwalk (called Cybertron) and Park Place (called Earth).  He’s very good with money, and that made him quite a talent (called lucky) at this game.

However, there was one specific turn that really stood out in our minds.  Mom had landed on her own railroad (called Transports) on a previous turn, and was looking forward to passing Go to collect her $200.

What does she roll? Doubles. But not just any doubles.  She rolls 1-1, and lands right on Jaden’s property Earth, with Anti-Matter (hotel) on it.

For those of you who don’t recall what Park Place’s rent is with a hotel, let me remind you

$1500 dollars.  Mom had to pay her son $1500.  This mother, who painstakingly brought him into this world, fed him, nurtured him, and is always there to protect him from the nasties, has to turn around and pay her own son rent. HER OWN SON.

Jaden’s eyes went big and LOVED the whole thing.  He was beaming with the big $500 bills and all those yellow $100 bills.  The kid loves money of all kinds, and Transformers cash is some of the best of all.

Well, as you know, in Monopoly, rolling doubles mean you roll again.

And she rolled another set of Doubles.

And you already know what’s coming, right?

Ouch.

She rolls the absolute worst roll out of 36 possibilities.  Twice.

If you thought rent on Earth was bad, wait until you see the cost of living on Cybertron:

In one turn, she’s out $3500.

Amazingly enough, she was able to survive for a few turns after that.  However, she was the first one out, and Jaden ended up with all of her properties, hotels, houses and cash.  I was the next casualty of the Autobot/Decepticon battle, and it was left to Caitlin and Jaden to duke it out.  They kept playing for a while and decided to leave the board overnight to continue this morning.

Another game we play is Trivial Pursuit on the PS3.

Got any suggestions for our next Family Game Night?

Wow.  Jaden’s now eight years old.

We had a great birthday weekend.  Instead of the typical invite-a-dozen-friends-and-host-a-party thing, Jaden thought it would be cool to just invite one person and then go do a bunch of stuff all day.  And stuff we did.  8 hours we spent at Austin’s Park and Pizza, where he and his friend rode go-karts, bumper boats, games, pizza, and all-out-fun.

I was able to work for most of this time, so that was an extra side benefit for me

He got an authentic Magic wand, some incredible Transformers toys (boy does he LOOOVE Transformers), Star Wars Wii Remote Converter thingies(boy does he LOOOVE Star Wars) and a few other special gifts from friends and family.  He even got some cards in the mail (boy does he LOOOVE getting mail!), and Mom is bringing cupcakes at school today for his class to celebrate (boy does he… wait, actually he’s not that hot on cupcakes).

However, I must brag a little.  The BEST gift he got was from me.  Jaden loves Iron Man (boy does he LOOOVE Iron Man). In honor of Iron Man 2 coming out (the trailer was released this weekend I believe), I contacted Tony Stark and was able to have him fund a surgical implant of a little Arc Reactor into Jaden’s chest.  That way, he could fire his repulsor transmitter at anyone who gets in his way.

It was a lot of fun, but I gotta say, the most excruciating part of it all was teaching Jaden not to fire the repulsor cannon at just anyone.  Save it for the real big bullies, I told him.  Save it for when someone is mugging an old lady.  Save it for when the machines rise up against us and need to be subdued.  Save it for the stupid counter clerk who can’t get off a personal call on her cell phone as she jabbers “am I coming over to your house tonight or what, oh my GAWD I can’t believe he said that to you and do you think this color looked good on me last night and oh hold on oh em gee these customers keep coming in and I swear I shouldn’t have to put up with this crap but my dad is being a total doofus by keeping my trust fund away from me. I know, right?”

You know the comic book saying: With great power comes great benefits, but if you overdo it, people will eventually get sick of you and come take your power away.

I love you, buddy boy!

Chances are, you know someone affected by Diabetes.  I personally know a few people close to me who suffer with it, and the numbers of people who succumb to its grip are increasing every year.

Recently, the American Diabetes Association visited Jaden’s school and taught them all about Type 1, Type 2, foods, risks, the importance of exercise, and some great information to help the kids NOT be at risk.  In fact, evidence suggests that as much as 90% of certain forms of the disease are completely preventable, and are largely caused by lifestyle and behavioral choices.

Well, let me tell you – Jaden is super excited to raise money for the American Diabetes Association, with the School Walk for Diabetes fundraiser.  He’s walking and raising awareness for the disease and he’s hoping you can help him out.

There are three ways you can help

1. If you know me and trust me, you can send me the money directly via paypal, and then I will include that in my donation.  This will double your effective donation because my employer matches 100% of all donations to tax-exempt organizations.   Normally, employers require a minimum donation (usually $25) in order to qualify for the match, but because I’ll be combining multiple donations, we can all be twice as giving.  I’m happy to provide a receipt showing your portion for tax deduction purposes. (update: the deadline for the fundraiser is over as of Friday 3/5/2010, so I’m not accepting direct donations any more)
2. You can go straight to Jaden’s fundraising page.  You can donate anonymously or publicly and be listed on his page.  Be sure to check if your employer does matching (it’s part of the contribution form).
3. You can send people to this post to raise awareness.

Thank you!  Your participation is greatly appreciated.

My daughter Caitlin starts 10th grade next month (OMG!).  She’s Drill Instructor as well as Flute/Piccolo Extraodinaire in the Vandegrift High School Band.  I’ve written about her Band accomplishments in the past, and you just can’t get much prouder than I am of her and what she does with her spare time.

Why am I telling you all this?  To get money for her band, of course!

You see, Caitlin and her fellow band members are doing a March-a-thon, a 4-hour long marching concert throughout one of the neighborhoods. 

The March-a-thon is the band’s biggest and primary fundraiser for the year.  Anyone who donates to this will get something special from me.  I’m going to be completely subjective and possibly weird when I select something for each of you, so don’t miss out!  You might get an impromptu song, you might get a guest post, you might get a CD in the mail, a book, a thank you note… who knows? 

So if you can, click the donate button above and donate something.  (note: if you go to the March-a-thon website and donate from there, be sure to mention “Caitlin H” in the “special instructions” so she gets credit.)

This is Vandegrift High School’s first year of existence – it’s brand-spanking new and will only house 9th and 10th graders for this coming year.  A number of the freshmen that went to Cedar Park High School were re-zoned for the new Vandegrift school.  Because it’s only 9th and 10th graders, it’s a significantly smaller band.

The school board chose to name the school after Lt. Matthew Ryan Vandegrift,
a Leander High School honors graduate (Class of 1999) and athlete – who was killed in Iraq in April 2008.  They also chose a mascot of “Vipers” which was put up to vote to the students, faculty and school board. 

Isn’t that cool?  It’s got a snake head to make the “V”.  I guess “vipers” is better than “Vandegrifters.”   Or Vandal Grifters. Or Van Wilder Grifters.

What I find most interesting about the new school is that as a 10th grader, Caitlin will be a “senior” three years in a row.  She and a few of her fellow sophomores hold leadership positions in the band, and they essentially run the band.  I can’t believe how much they have the students be responsible for.  It’s so cool that they’ll be able to hone their leadership skills for three years, instead of what usually happens, which is having Juniors and Seniors fill the leadership roles.

A few of the leaders were up at the school at 5:15 this morning painting the parking lot with dots and lines.  They knew it was going to be a looooong assignment, and with the heat the way it is, they wanted to get an early start.  Talk about dedication.  The teamwork and friendships they’re forming is to be heralded, and I feel so glad she’s able to be a part of it.

What are you waiting for?!?!?!  Go get in line to get something totally whallsome, and donate. 

UPDATE: There’s no time limit for the donation, but by August 15th would be preferable, since that’s when the Marchathon is. However, students can collect pledges towards the Marchathon throughout the school year.

When confronted with the title of this blog post, some people might think “oooh, that’s the Italian word for ‘beautiful’! Wayne is finally becoming multicultural!”

Others might sound it out and think of an Austin Powers movie or two.

Get in mah bellah!

But after last night, I can say that when *I* hear “Bellah,” I will be thinking of Mickie Bellah Art. 

A few months ago, our family attended the Austin Psychic Fair.  We first saw Mickie’s art there at her booth and were fascinated by the Astrology Birth Chart Paintings.  However, what intrigued my wife even more was that Mickie hosted art classes where up to 4 students at a time could learn her techniques and just play around with making custom art. Mickie supplies the space, the canvases, the paint, supplies, prep and cleanup.  As a student, you just show up in clothes that can get a little dirty and start creating.

My wife and daughter went to 2 consecutive classes a month or two ago and really loved the experience.  They both strongly suggested I attend.  Clearly they see a budding artist within me.  Either that, or they hated it and wanted me to suffer along with them.  Fortunately, I can say that I’ve ruled out the latter.

Being someone who rarely passes up an opportunity for some easy blog fodder, I signed up. I also invited my mom along because A) she lives within walking distance to Mickie, B) they have the same massage therapist, C) they had the same hairstylist, and D) my mom is a great, wonderful and creative person to be around.

Mickie’s really great with enthusiasm, encouragement, tips and making sure you feel “open” enough to just be artful.  Always available with answers if you ask, she doesn’t proactively direct your actions, techniques, methods or even style.  We mixed our paints for a while.   I ended up watching Mickie do one, and watched two of the other students start on theirs before I decided to splash my first blobs of paint on my canvas and get to work.

WHALLART #1
click to embiggify

Not sure what i see in there.  You really need to enlarge it to see more, and of course there’s lots more detail in person.  I’m thinking maybe it was Dr Suess inspired (see the white Whosizit leaning out from the right?)

I went, undeterred, to create my second masterpiece:

WHALLART #2
click to embiggify

Now that I was getting the hang of it, I knocked out a few more:

WHALLART #3
click to embiggify

WHALLART #4
click to embiggify

WHALLART #5
click to embiggify

Other than looking like I had sniffed in a bunch of paints and sneezed them out, what do you see in them?

I finished out the session with this last piece:

WHALLART #6
click to embiggify

This concludes the first of two sessions – my mom and I go back again next month to do another six or so pieces.  Now that we have a little experience, I expect to make some art work that will be made available for sale.  I’m sure the prices will be reasonable; it’s not like I’m expecting to pay off the house with the income.  Maybe I can pay off a car or a timeshare or two, though.  You never know what people will pay for!

My wife’s knee surgery was 2 weeks ago, and she still needs assistance getting up and down from the bed, chair or wherever she’s resting and healing.  I’ve been working from home for that period, and will continue to do so for about another week, depending on how she’s able to fend for herself in this wilderness we call home.

I call it a wilderness because A) the kids are home from school now and B) just look at these weeds!

Now if you’ve ever worked from home (I mean really working from home not “quote” working from home “quote”), then you know that there are tons of potential distractions.  Not everyone is cut out for telecommuting.  It takes a special type of discipline to avoid the perils that await.  Most of them are right there, available to you at any time in any capacity.  There’s TV, Wii Fit, food, blogging, Guitar Hero, reading blogs, movies, commenting on blogs, youtube, organizing your closet, general video games, lottery scratchoffs, home computer, playing with wireless settings, testing the fire pit, household chores, reading books, roller skates, taking DITL footage, snacking, converting VHS to DVD, testing older pantry food for freshness, experimenting with new dessert recipes, working on super secret blog projects, finding things to sell around the house, and filing.

The ability to resist these temptations is a learned habit; one is not born with this talent.  It takes years of practice and constant refinement.  Being raised with a good work ethic is an important factor, as is a hunger for excellence.   

Fortunately, all of the above items have something in common.  Can you spot it?

They are passive interruptions.

It’s not like the TV walks up to you and pokes your shoulder and nags you to turn it on and watch it.  The pantry doesn’t cry at you from across the house saying the fridge is being unfair and besides, is too cold.  The books don’t throw themselves at you in self-defense from the guitar hero controller.   To put it in scientific terms, these interruptions are potential energy.

Contrast that with kids.  Kids are kinetic energy.  They *do* walk up to you, poke your shoulder and proactively nag you to watch it.  Dogs can also be proactive with expressing their needs, but with dogs you can plan ahead, walk them before work and they leave you alone for hours on end.

Kids represent active interruptions.

Knowing this, I sat them both down ahead of time.

Me: Kids? come here, I need to discuss something with you.
Them: *collects themselves*
Me: Ok, I need you to understand something. Daddy’s going to be working from home to help Mommy while her knee gets better.  That means I actually need to work here like I work at work.  It means I need to be free from interruption all day.  Do you understand that?
Them: Yes
Me: I need you both to take care of yourselves as much as possible and not ask me to do things while I’m working.  Don’t ask me to play with you, don’t ask me to help you, and don’t ask me to feed you.  I’m supposed to be dedicated to my job and Mommy is the only one who can interrupt me.  Got it?
Them: Yes
Me: And something that’s also very important – while I’m working, I don’t want to hear the two of you arguing or fighting.  I might be on the phone, or I might be working on something important and the distraction is something I don’t want to have while I’m working.  If I have to stop working to break up an argument or whining, it’s going to be bad for you.
Mommy: Don’t just tell them it will be bad, tell them what will happen.
Me: I don’t know what it is now, but it will be bad
Jaden: You mean, like you might take something away from us?
Me: Yes, definitely.  At the very least, that will happen.
Jaden: Can you take away something, like a toy, that we don’t like?

What’s cute is he was completely serious with his question.

Today I decided to do some of those “stumper” questions on Jaden.  It’s how I teach my kids valuable lessons, like I did with Caitlin and the word “gullible”.

Play along!

Me: Hey Jaden, what color was George Washington’s white horse?

Jaden: I don’t know. What?

Me (repeating with emphasis): What color was George Washington’s WHITE horse?

Jaden (smiling): Oh, White!

Me: Good job.  What do you put into a toaster?

Jaden (thinking): Toast!

Me: No, you get toast out of a toaster.  You put bread in a toaster.

Jaden: Oh… (smiles again)

Me: What do cows drink?

Jaden: Uh, milk!

Me: No, you get milk out of cows.  Cows drink water.

Jaden (pauses): Baby cows drink milk…

Me: (stumped)

Dangit.  I hate losing this game.

(side note: those of you who follow me on twitter know that my wife underwent major knee reconstruction surgery on Friday, so my online presence and blogability has been hampered a bit while I help her out with her healing process.  As a result, I’ve reduced the housework she’s responsible for by about 7%.  I know. I’m a saint.  And I told her to just skip mowing this week. Sure, it might be harder on her knees next week, when the grass and weeds will be much higher due to the recent rains, but what’s important is that she heal safely)

Jaden adores Fred.

You’ve seen Fred, right?  He’s one of them thar “Internet Sensations.”  He’s also called “Youtube Fred.”  He’s kind of like Star Wars kid, but on purpose and not nearly as sad, once you know Fred Figglehorn is NOT really a 6yr old pumped on on drugs and pining for a fictional girl named Judy.  Or Wendy.  Who knows.

You either love Fred or hate him, kind of like Rush Limbaugh or Ben Stiller.  Wait, I take that back.  I like Ben Stiller in some things but hated him in others.  But wouldn’t it be neat if they married and had a kid and named it Rush Stiller?  Because that would be like an oxymoron – stand still while rushing?  Or Ben Limbs? Sounds like you’re flexing your muscles.  Heh, or Stillbaugh Benrusher.

Wait a second, where was I?

Oh yeah, Jaden, my 7yr old son.  He loves watching all the Fred episodes.  He watches many over and over, like the one about going to the dentist.  I’ve heard it said that Fred was the first to hit 1,000,000 fans on youtube.  Jaden just sits and watches and laughs and laughs and entices us to come over and watch the hilarity.  I guess if I’m going to introduce my son to the dangers of  medications, this is the way to do it.

So.

One morning Jaden told me he wrote a letter to Fred.  And sure enough, in MARKS-A-LOT, there it was – a big 8.5×11 sheet of paper holding Jaden’s letter to Fred:

click to embiggen

In case you’re having trouble reading it, here it is transcribed:

Hi Fred, this is Jaden.  I am your biggest fan.  I like you.  You’re really funny, so I am going to watch your videos every day.  I like the part when you said “Oh My Gosh! I just peed inside the pool!”  So write back, Fred.  From: Jaden Wayne Hall

I told him we could mail it to Fred.  We got an envelope, folded it up, and found a stamp.  I taught Jaden how to self-address an envelope.  Then I told him I’d take it to work and mail it off.

However, try as I might, I couldn’t find a snail-mail address for him at any of his websites.  I didn’t want to let Jaden down, so I PDF’ed the letter and found an email address for Fred. I haven’t heard back yet, but I’m hoping there’s some kind of response for Jaden, even if it’s canned and cheesy, like cheeze whiz because, well, who doesn’t like Cheeze Whiz?

We also bought Jaden a Fred T-Shirt, which he wears as often as he can.  It’s his favorite shirt.

Who did you write a letter to as a kid?

I’m going to say “holy cow” again.  Quick aside: I now realize what I did to completely and accidentally blow away this post earlier today, and that was to go to edit it, change the time of publishing, and then click “update” before the post edit box filled itself back up.  My tip to you?  Don’t EVER do that. Not only do you lose your post, but you lose all the post revisions!  I had to go into my Firefox cache on the disk, do some creative searching and editing, and here I have the post back.  What an ordeal!

And now… for your viewing pleasure, the original post.

I had tweeted recently that I was looking for a decent getaway vacation spot with my rapidly expiring frequent flyer miles.  I got a great reaction, and for that I’m thankful.

My first impulse, before sending the tweet, was to go to Vegas, the all-time gambling have-a-great-time what-you-lose-here-stays-here staple of the US.

But as I tried to piece together a 2-3 day vacation to Vegas with my miles, it was a losing prospect.  I’d either need to fly out one day and come back the next, or stay 5+ days.  Neither of those options fit into my schedule.

I’ve been to Vegas many times and have always enjoyed my visits.  Some visits had more gambling than others; we’ve traveled there for pool tournaments; I’ve been there for work; my wife and I spent a late honeymoon there back in 1992; some visits had a lot of shows like Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil; and even some where I didn’t have any money at all and just had to sit and watch other people win the money *I* was supposed to win.

Then I started thinking of some of the other enjoyable places I’ve visited over the years:

• 2wk trip to Russia, with my high school band
• Short stop in Shannon, Ireland (on way to/back from Russia)
• Mexico
• Puerto Rico
• New York (I basically worked there for 4 days a week for 6 months)
• Seattle
• Denver
• Pittsburgh (we lived there for a short time)
• Bay Area
• Los Angeles / Costa Mesa area
• Atlanta
• Orlando
• Lived in Minnesota and Louisiana
• Arizona
• St Louis
• Massachusetts

As I kept thinking about all these trips I’ve made, I realized that I’ve never – EVER – taken a vacation by myself.  I’m almost 40 years old, and I’ve never gone just to go.  For all the above jaunts, I was either with my family, with school, or going for work-related purposes.

Sure, I’ve always had fun (travel is what you make it, after all) but the gist is — I’ve always been on someone else’s schedule.  I either had a class I was teaching or taking, a spouse or kids to coordinate schedules with, boatloads of work to do, someone to meet, or some responsibility here or there.

I’ve never actually had my own vacation.

So that’s what I decided to do this time – use the last bit of my frequent flyer miles to go do something for myself – Just for Wayne.  And while I’m at it, I should probably do something for those two hotties attached to my legs – oh my, one of them seems quite frightened.  There, there, hottie girl.  It’ll be ok.

As I mentioned, valid dates for a Vegas trip were coming up dry.  I started thinking of other places I could go, and the only logical thing for me to do was to see if I could meet up with other bloggers (hey, isn’t that another responsibility? I thought you said you wanted to relax SHUT UP NO-ONE IS LISTENING TO YOU).

Cissa from cissafireheart.com spoke up about Connecticut and Foxwoods and this and that, and as it turns out my company has an office there so actually it would be pretty cool for me to see that campus and knock out some relaxing times up there.  I’ve been in the NE a couple of times and always liked the many colors, so maybe that would work out well.  I see Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun all the time on ESPN for 9-ball tournaments, so there was that.

As I searched for valid hits on my award miles, NOTHING could get me up to CT.  Not any of 3 different airports within the area were showing up on my award search.  It wasn’t looking good.  American Airlines just didn’t want me to go to CT.

I searched some of the other vacation destinations and they too were slim pickins.

Until I got to Reno / Lake Tahoe.  It was like I hit a jackpot!

All that green – that’s good stuff!  Those are days that I can depart (on the left) and arrive (on the right).  There were so many to choose from!

So I chose April 5th – 7th for Reno / Lake Tahoe.  YAY ME!

Now here’s where you come in:

• I want a cheap place to stay – I’m not picky on junkets like this.  Any recommendations?
• I’m looking to do more gambling than sight-seeing — I figure I’d wait until I could take my wife to see how beautiful nature is and stuff.  Any recommendations?  I like poker, craps, and table games.  I’d prefer non-smoking if they have it (I’ve done ZERO research on Reno/Tahoe as you can tell)
• Anyone else going to be in that area around that time? (not that I’d want to burden my busy schedule not scheduling anything, but hey, you never know…)

oh wow.  Holy cow.  I wrote up this long great post last night and scheduled it to post today and here it is, BLANK.  I’m editing it now to put at least this much in and open up the comments but what the heck happened??/

Hopefully I’ll have the post back up later tonight.  Sheesh!  There aren’t even any revisions listed, either, and I saved six or more drafts.