Well, God has a sense of humor I suppose. That's the only way to explain that my son is likely going to be an athlete. The boy spends all day throwing balls around the house. It's his favorite word, and he's getting to be a pretty good shot on the mini basketball goal we bought him. What's a non-sport playing, geeky father to do?
Last night when I put him in his crib, I left a small rubber basketball in the crib with him, which he was cradling next to him when I tucked him in. This morning, he woke us up over the monitor saying "Ball! Ball! Ball!" over and over again, where he usually just starts off babbling or saying "Daddy!" until someone comes and gets him.
I'm so pitiful I didn't even know what the game of "Horse" means for basketball until Marissa explained it to me. Jack basically plays Horse by himself, and moves to different positions around the living room to throw the ball towards the hoop. He even crouches down and shoots the ball up with a fling on the wrists like real basketball players do. For an 18 month old, he has a pretty good technique, or so I've been told.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
The Past Weekend
We had a good time over the last weekend. Saturday morning we got up earlier than normal and headed out to the zoo to meet up with Uncle Paul and Aunt Ferlie and cute little Rani. Jack and Rani both love to ride in the Radio Flyer wagon we recently bought that has a built in awning, and lots of people at the zoo would ask us about it.
I would post some pictures of the zoo visit, but the camera is starting to mess up and didn't take many of the pictures that I thought I was taking. Maybe it made a few too many cave trips.
I would post some pictures of the zoo visit, but the camera is starting to mess up and didn't take many of the pictures that I thought I was taking. Maybe it made a few too many cave trips.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Book Review - The Plot to Save Socrates
I recently finished reading The Plot to Save Socrates, which was a book I picked up at the library in the recently added section. I needed to find a book quick, and I saw Socrates and Time Travel in the blurb on the back cover, so I grabbed it and checked out.
I've been burned in the past by choosing books like this before, but I'm a sucker for Time Travel stories and this one didn't disappoint. It reads a little like The Davinci Code, being a page turner and keeping me up to 2am the first night I had it. However, it's not quite as skillfully written as the Davinci Code, and sometimes jumps the story along abruptly. In one section the characters set up a plan and said something to the effect that "they hoped it worked." Then the next sentence was "It did."
Still, examples like that are not common in the book, and it's a fun read. It introduced me to some historical figures like Alciabides that I knew little about, and prodded me to look up more about them, so any book of fiction that prompts further historical study can't be all bad. I'll give it a 7 out of 10.
I've been burned in the past by choosing books like this before, but I'm a sucker for Time Travel stories and this one didn't disappoint. It reads a little like The Davinci Code, being a page turner and keeping me up to 2am the first night I had it. However, it's not quite as skillfully written as the Davinci Code, and sometimes jumps the story along abruptly. In one section the characters set up a plan and said something to the effect that "they hoped it worked." Then the next sentence was "It did."
Still, examples like that are not common in the book, and it's a fun read. It introduced me to some historical figures like Alciabides that I knew little about, and prodded me to look up more about them, so any book of fiction that prompts further historical study can't be all bad. I'll give it a 7 out of 10.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Pokemon Wayward Cave
Wayward Cave is located at the very back of Route 206. The entire cave is
pitch black except for a small circle of light around you. It's recommended you
get the TM "Flash" before attempting this area, as it will make it much easier.
There are a few items in the cave, you can find the list below. At the
back of the cave you will find a trainer named Mira. She will ask you to
escort her to the entrance. You cannot use Dig or an Escape Rope to get there.
Once you get to the entrance she will thank you and leave. When you finish this quest and you visit the Battle Tower, Mira will then team up with you.
==Items==
Rare Candy
Escape Rope
TM32 (Double Team)
pitch black except for a small circle of light around you. It's recommended you
get the TM "Flash" before attempting this area, as it will make it much easier.
There are a few items in the cave, you can find the list below. At the
back of the cave you will find a trainer named Mira. She will ask you to
escort her to the entrance. You cannot use Dig or an Escape Rope to get there.
Once you get to the entrance she will thank you and leave. When you finish this quest and you visit the Battle Tower, Mira will then team up with you.
==Items==
Rare Candy
Escape Rope
TM32 (Double Team)
Monday, June 18, 2007
Genealogy Frustration
The genealogy project I've been working on lately is to find as many of the descendants of my 2nd Great Grandfather Andrew Jackson Hatcher as possible. He had 11 kids with two women, so the number of individuals could get fairly high in the end. I've had pretty good luck finding descendants of his younger children, but I've hit complete dead ends so far trying to find anyone descended from Hester or Della Hatcher, who were the oldest children of his second wife, Sarah Ann. Hester married a man named Bayless Joshua Moses, and Della married James Thomas Jones.
My cousin Tommy Hatcher in Tuscaloosa gave me a clue about Della's youngest daughter, Mabel A. Jones. Tommy's father was her 1st cousin and he visited her in Mobile several times, but the last time was back in 1996 and she was in poor health at the time.
I did a search on the Social Security Death Index and found a Mabel Cochran that died in 2002 in Mobile. The birth date was in 1912, which matched up with what her date of birth was thought to approximate based on US Census records. I tried to find her obituary listing online, but apparently the Mobile Register has a gap in their obituary index around 2002.
Finally, I contacted the genealogy department of the Mobile Public Library, and a very kind lady there looked up the obituary and faxed me a copy. It listed all of Mabel Cochran's children, and I found one in the phone records for Florida. Her middle initial was even "A" for Anderson, so I was getting excited thinking I had finally found one of Della Hatcher's children.
I called the number tonight and spoke to a nice gentleman in the Florida panhandle, but it turns out this was not the right Mabel A. who was born in 1912. He had never heard of the Hatcher or Jones surname in his family history, and he had done some research himself recently. Argh!
I'm back to a complete dead end on the children of James Thomas Jones and Della Hatcher at this point, except for the one young son named Toney who is buried next to them in the Friendship Baptist Cemetery in Tuscaloosa County. My only other clue at this point is that Tommy's mother remembers them always pronouncing her name as "May-Bell", so I guess I'll have to search for alternate spellings.
My cousin Tommy Hatcher in Tuscaloosa gave me a clue about Della's youngest daughter, Mabel A. Jones. Tommy's father was her 1st cousin and he visited her in Mobile several times, but the last time was back in 1996 and she was in poor health at the time.
I did a search on the Social Security Death Index and found a Mabel Cochran that died in 2002 in Mobile. The birth date was in 1912, which matched up with what her date of birth was thought to approximate based on US Census records. I tried to find her obituary listing online, but apparently the Mobile Register has a gap in their obituary index around 2002.
Finally, I contacted the genealogy department of the Mobile Public Library, and a very kind lady there looked up the obituary and faxed me a copy. It listed all of Mabel Cochran's children, and I found one in the phone records for Florida. Her middle initial was even "A" for Anderson, so I was getting excited thinking I had finally found one of Della Hatcher's children.
I called the number tonight and spoke to a nice gentleman in the Florida panhandle, but it turns out this was not the right Mabel A. who was born in 1912. He had never heard of the Hatcher or Jones surname in his family history, and he had done some research himself recently. Argh!
I'm back to a complete dead end on the children of James Thomas Jones and Della Hatcher at this point, except for the one young son named Toney who is buried next to them in the Friendship Baptist Cemetery in Tuscaloosa County. My only other clue at this point is that Tommy's mother remembers them always pronouncing her name as "May-Bell", so I guess I'll have to search for alternate spellings.
Back from the Beach
My uncle Eugene and my aunt Naomi invited us to stay in a condo that they had rented for the week last week in Mexico Beach, Florida. This happened to coincide with the 4 extra vacation days that work gave out the week before, so we took them up on the offer and left Nashville on Tuesday afternoon.
We stopped in Columbiana for the night, then left the next morning for the beach. I thought it was going to take us about 5 hours to get there, but it ended up taking 7 with all the stops we had to make for Jack. He was good for about 2 hours, then he wanted out of that car seat for a while.
Last year when we went to the beach near Daytona, Jackson didn't care for the sand and the water too much. This year he loved it. My uncles had set up big tents down near the water, and he spent hours out there playing in the sand, or in the small inflatable pool that Marissa set up for him inside a smaller tent. We let him run around in the buff for a while, but his 10 year old cousins seemed to be scandalized by the wanton nudity. Maybe uncle Bull will send him a thong for next year.
Vacations are never long enough, and this one was no exception. We all cleared out of the condo by 9am on Saturday morning, then we took 9 hours to get back to Columbiana. We detoured through Ft. Walton to visit Beasley Park, where Marissa and I got married almost 5 years ago. I get frustrated driving on the coast, since it's soooooo slow and every little town has got a speed trap set up.
We eventually made it back to Nashville. We're going to plan on renting a smaller condo near their's next year and spending the whole week down there since I'll have more vacation time by then.
Check out the pictures on Jack's Blog.
We stopped in Columbiana for the night, then left the next morning for the beach. I thought it was going to take us about 5 hours to get there, but it ended up taking 7 with all the stops we had to make for Jack. He was good for about 2 hours, then he wanted out of that car seat for a while.
Last year when we went to the beach near Daytona, Jackson didn't care for the sand and the water too much. This year he loved it. My uncles had set up big tents down near the water, and he spent hours out there playing in the sand, or in the small inflatable pool that Marissa set up for him inside a smaller tent. We let him run around in the buff for a while, but his 10 year old cousins seemed to be scandalized by the wanton nudity. Maybe uncle Bull will send him a thong for next year.
Vacations are never long enough, and this one was no exception. We all cleared out of the condo by 9am on Saturday morning, then we took 9 hours to get back to Columbiana. We detoured through Ft. Walton to visit Beasley Park, where Marissa and I got married almost 5 years ago. I get frustrated driving on the coast, since it's soooooo slow and every little town has got a speed trap set up.
We eventually made it back to Nashville. We're going to plan on renting a smaller condo near their's next year and spending the whole week down there since I'll have more vacation time by then.
Check out the pictures on Jack's Blog.
Addiction
Warning, don't click on this link if you don't want to lose time playing a simple little flash game. Desktop Tower Defense is one of the best little games I've played in a long while. I may even try to pick up some Flash skills myself and put together a TOL simulator.
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