Talking to Myself Again

Zoolie Ghoulie

mood: tired
music: shh!

On Sunday we went to the Zoolie Ghoulie at Henson Robinson Zoo. This is their annual Halloween event, with lots of stops around the zoo where kids are given candy. Lando dressed in his knight costume and seemed to enjoy saying "trick or treat" and getting candy. He was a bit freaked out by the occasional adult dressed as (for example) a giant Elmo. Seeing the happy little guy on your TV screen is one thing. Seeing a 7-foot-tall version looming over you is something else entirely! Whenever we would come to one of these giant TV characters, I would pick Lando up and carry him, which seemed to help.

And of course, when you have a young kid, every trip to the zoo ends at the playground near the exit.

Baby Shower, Absent Father

mood: depressed
music: silence is golden

On Saturday we went to Decatur to a baby shower for a friend. This is generally a happy occasion, but there was a bit of a cloud over this one.

She is 8 months pregnant and has a 3½ year old son. Unfortunately, her husband is out of the picture. They are getting a divorce and he has moved over 2000 miles away, to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Let's back up.

His life has been tumultuous in recent years. He got married, they had a baby, and they bought a house next to his parents. However, he became unemployed, his dad died, and then his mom died. In addition, an uncle that was supposed to be managing his mom's estate apparently was not doing so properly (possibly deliberately). As a result of all of that, he became clinically depressed. I think he was getting treatment at one time, but then stopped. And to top it all off, he became addicted to online video games.

The result was that he pretty much withdrew from everyone. In the spring we went to Bloomington to go to the Miller Park Zoo with them, partly as a birthday outing for their son and partly just because we hadn't seen them in many months. He stayed home. We drove over an hour to get there, but he stayed home.

I have some experience with addiction to online games. I flunked out after 3 years at the University of Illinois in large part because I spent my time playing computer games on the Plato system and the CDC Cyber system. One of these was one of the very first multiplayer computer games, a dungeon game called Avatar. Another was a single-player game called ADVDND that I wrote on the Cyber system.

My parents managed to help me recover from my mistake by getting me enrolled in Western Illinois University. Most of my credits from UIUC transferred over there (grade-free) and I refocused on studying and attending classes during my 3 semesters at WIU. As a result I graduated magna cum laude.

So recovering from a life-changing mistake is possible.

But he has screwed this up very badly. He moved to Vancouver because that's where some of his online friends live. That's nice that he's close to his online friends, but he's over 2000 miles away from his son and unborn daughter.

I hope he gets his life straightened out, but I suspect by the time he does it will be too late to recover a relationship with his children. I just can't imagine anything that would make me leave Lando, but I guess that's what mental illness does.

Memories Going... Going... Gone!

mood: nostalgic
music: baby monitor

They've sold my old high school! Ack!

For no real reason that I can remember, I decided to check out the web site of Centralia High School, where I went to school. I poked around to see whether any of my teachers were still there and came up with just 2 -- Mr. Amason (biology) and Frau Wilimzig (German). There were a few photos of some outdoor activity of some sort, but I was having trouble placing where the photos were taken because the background didn't seem familiar.

Then I saw a link to the Centralia High School Alumni Association. And right there, under "What's New", I saw this: "See the last pictures taken of Trout Gym before the new owners took over!"

What?! Trout Gym was sold?! Sure enough, there they were: Photos of Trout Gym, complete with a sign out front saying "SEE YOU AT THE NEW C H S".

It wasn't just the gym that was sold; it was the entire high school campus.

Ack! They can't sell those buildings! I've got too many memories there! Why didn't they ask for my permission first?

This news really bummed me out!

I checked the web site of Centralia's newspaper, the Morning Sentinel. A search of the archives revealed this March 6 article, Old high school finds new owners.

The Centralia High School Board sold the old high school facility during a special meeting on Monday to local entity United Land Corporation.

The only entity to have submitted a bid on the property at 1000 E. Third St., United Land Corporation purchased it for $150,003. Board President Keith Kessler noted on Monday that the bid was signed by Ronald Edwards, president of the corporation, and John Stuehmeier, director of the corporation and also mayor of Centralia. According to the Illinois Secretary of State's Web site, United Land Corporation was incorporated on Jan. 22, 2004, with Edwards listed as the agent, and the company is in good standing.

"Our project goals are basically to use this facility to the benefit of the community," said Stuehmeier on Monday. He added that Dan Ramey is a third party in the corporation and that he will be acting as the developer of the property.

Citing three main goals for the building's usage, Stuehmeier said it is the corporation's hope that it foster "economic development and jobs," that it "act as a catalyst for growth and improvement in the entire area," and that it "satisfies those people who want to preserve both Trout Gym and the auditorium."

Okay, so apparently they're at least not planning on knocking down the old school and building apartments over the top of it. It sounds like they're going to try to come up with some other use for the buildings. One possibility that they discussed was creating some sort of national high school basketball museum there. (CHS has the distinction of having the winningest high school basketball team in the country.)

Here are some other articles about the new high school (which are unlikely to be of interest to anyone who didn't attend CHS):

• $35M will go to new CHS (July 27, 2004)
• Council broaches new CHS’ needs (Aug 17, 2004)
• State funding for new CHS is coming (Mar 2, 2005)
• State issues initial $11M to CHS (Apr 12, 2005)
• Project manager details progress of CHS (Apr 26, 2005)
• Group gets OK to save Trout window (May 24, 2005)
• CHS building progress on target (July 26, 2005)
• New CHS facility ‘ahead of schedule’ (Nov 15, 2005)
• New CHS gymnasium (Jan 24, 2006)
• Council annexes new CHS property (July 11, 2006)
• Annies to begin play in new gym (Nov 21, 2006)
• Debate continues over CHS gym name (Nov 28, 2006)

Un-Stompable

mood: cheerful
music: "Peep and the Big Wide World" on Discovery Kids

One thing we didn't do last night was go see Stomp perform at Sangamon Auditorium. Wait, let me back up a bit.

Last Christmas Lando's Grandma & Grandpa Bowman bought him a drum, which he loves.

This summer we went to the Jubilee Olde English Faire and bought Lando a small hand drum called a djembe (as well as a larger one for me). Again, Lando loved his drum! Okay, that's not true. He loved my drum. Bigger is better, after all.

Later we went to the Bristol Renaissance Festival. While we were there, we saw Tartanic perform. Lando particularly enjoyed the massive drum played by David Macejka.

With his interest in drumming on the rise, we played for him the DVD of "Stomp Out Loud". Lando loved it! He immediately divided the world into two halves -- drums and drumsticks. Then we happened to catch a PBS special about the Blue Man Group. Lando loved that, too!

Then we learned that Blue Man Group would be performing at the Prairie Capital Convention Center on October 20 and Stomp would be performing at Sangamon Auditorium on October 23. (Later they added an October 24 performance because tickets were selling so well.)

We figured the Blue Man Group's concert ("How to be a Megastar Tour 2.1) would be too loud and intense for Lando, but we thought we could give Stomp a try. We would get seats on the aisle, so that Lando could get up and dance in the aisle a bit if he couldn't hold still, and we could make a quick getaway if he became too disruptive.

However, as the time for the concert got closer we began having second thoughts. First, it would be a little expensive (well over $100 for 3 tickets). Second, we could well find ourselves leaving 15 minutes into the show. Third, October was already turning out to be very busy. Lastly, as the show date approached, Lando had a long-lasting cold that was making him crankier than usual.

In the end we decided not to buy the tickets. If we had, we would have gone to last night's show, right after the Funshop Halloween Party.

Oh well. Maybe we can catch them someplace next year. :-(

Funshop Halloween!

mood: calm
music: Gypsy Guerrilla Band - Mason's Apron Reel

Today is Wednesday, which means Funshop night. Lando still has a nice bump on his forehead, but he seems to be feeling fine, so we took him to Funshop.

Funshop, for those who don't know, is a pre-preschool program offered by the Springfield Park District. Once a week, all of the kids and their parents play together in a large room filled with toys. There's a "circle time" with a snack and a song, but mainly it's just playing for an hour. This gives the kids the opportunity to get used to the idea of playing with other kids, as well as spending time with "teachers". It's just 75 minutes once a week, but I think it's good "practice", both for the kids and for the parents.

This particular Funshop night was special, because it was the Halloween party for his class. Lando was dressed in his knight costume (complete with foam sword). I saw other kids dressed as witches, princesses, Buzz Lightyear, Tow Mater, a robot, Chewbacca, etc.

Lando had fun right up until it was time to cleanup and go, at which point he had a meltdown. He wasn't able to go to Funshop last week because he was sick, and the week before everyone went on a field trip to the fire station instead of to the Funshop room, so this was the first time in 3 weeks that he had been able to play! I think he was suffering from withdrawal. He really likes Funshop!

(Don't tell him, but there's no Funshop next Wednesday because it will be Halloween night and everyone will be out trick-or-treating. Shh!)

Virtual Gifts on Facebook

mood: confused
music: Gypsy Guerrilla Band - Rota

Here's something I just don't get it. Consider this bit about virtual gifts on Facebook:

"To date, users have exchanged more than 20 million virtual gifts, paying up to $1 for each, making them one of the site's most successful revenue streams."

My mind just boggles. People have apparently spent $20 million in real money to electronically send people little drawings of things. Why? What's the point? I don't get it. If you're a friend of mine, please don't waste money sending me drawings of balloons, brownies, or bunnies. Just send me an email with the words "Here are some brownies!" They'll taste just as good as the drawing would have and you'll save some money.

Sierra Club Potluck and Emergency Room Visit

mood: nervous
music: Gypsy Guerrilla Band - Seneca/June Apple

(No, it wasn't food poisoning.)

Last night was the Fall Potluck of the Sangamon Valley Group, the local group of the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club. Dawn and I have both sent money to the national organization in years past, but I've been wanting to get involved with the local chapter. This seemed like a good opportunity, since we could bring along Lando rather that trying to find a babysitter.

The event started off a bit slowly. We went to the council ring nearest to the Lincoln Memorial Gardens Nature Center and found that we were the first ones there. However, there was a pile of firewood and a jug of water nearby for the campfire, so we figured we were at the right spot. Lando climbed up on the stone ledge and began walking/running around it, as he does whenever we come to a circle. (It seems likely he'll run track, unless he decides that ovals don't count.) Eventually, of course, he fell of of the stone ledge and onto the stone floor of the circle. Ouch! However, he caught himself pretty well and was okay.

A few minutes later, just as the first people started showing up, he tripped while running and sprawled onto the rock floor. Double ouch! This time it was several minutes before he finally calmed down.

There were a few problems with the evening. First, it was dark and cold. Second, nobody had brought matches with which to start the campfire! Someone eventually located an ancient book of matches in their car, and they managed to get the campfire going in just one try, so we finally had a bit of heat and light!

Eventually about 10 people showed up. Sustainable Springfield was putting on an event that same evening (a "tour of the first US Green Building Council Certified Silver LEED building in Springfield"), so it is likely that some people were there who would otherwise have been at the potluck.

Dawn had made broccoli cheese casserole and caramel brownies, both of which are excellent! We had a good time chatting with the Sierra Club members, talking about (among other things) "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and the Illinois Clean Car Bill. I bought a 2008 Sierra Club desk calendar (I'm always blown away by the photography in their calendars) and grabbed a membership form. (I also did the photography geek thing and took a group photo, which I'll try to post soon.)

Update: Here's a photo of the group:

When we got home about 8:30 or so, Dawn looked at Lando and saw that he had a huge bump on his forehead! Apparently, when he tripped and fell that second time, his head thumped pretty hard on the stone floor of the circle. We hadn't noticed it because it was so dark out there. That had been 2 hours earlier and he still had a big lump, so we decided to take him to the emergency room, just to be safe.

Lando went to the ER 3 times in his first 14 months of life, but we had managed to go 20 months without a repeat visit, so I guess we were due.

Lando was very good during the various examinations at the ER. He let them take his temperature with a thermometer in his mouth (hurray!). He let them check his pulse and blood pressure. He let the doctor look in his mouth, nose, and ears. He was perfect while they were examining him.

It was during the waiting time that he ran around like a madman! It was way past his bedtime, and when he gets tired, he gets hyper.

Eventually a doctor examined him and asked whether he had blacked out or vomited, etc. He said that the only way they could do a CAT scan would be by sedating Lando. Since he didn't show any signs of serious injury, it wasn't worth the risk of sedating him. The doctor said just to partially wake him at some point in the middle of night. If we could do that, then that would mean he was fine.

As a result, we got home well after 11:00 PM and Lando didn't go to sleep until well after midnight. Zzz.... Dawn checked on him about 3:30 AM and he was fine. Unfortunately he didn't sleep in this morning, waking up about 7:30. Zzz....

A Name from the Past

music: The Dubliners - The Sick Note

Well, this is a pleasant surprise! I just learned that Anca added me as a friend on Flickr. The surprise part is that I didn't know Anca has a Flickr account. Unfortunately, I've just looked at her photos and have discovered that she's a far better photographer than I am, which is particularly annoying because I appear to have a much better camera than she does. I'm going to have to get better!

Actually, we had pretty much lost touch with each other. Then I recently did a "find friends from my email address book" search on Facebook, which turned up Anca's Facebook page. She then presumably discovered my Flickr page from my Facebook page.

That's one annoying thing about all of these social networking sites -- they aren't integrated. I've got some friends on MySpace, some on Facebook, some on LiveJournal, some on Flickr, some on Yahoo! 360. There doesn't seem to be any easy way to set up a page on one service and keep updated on your friends on all of the other services. Oh well.

Goodbye Summer! Fall is Here

music: Clandestine - Miner's Lullaby

Well, the nice weather seems to have ended. Today was cold and rainy. Tomorrow is forecast to be cold and rainy. Wednesday is forecast to be cold and rainy. Thursday is forecast to be cold and rainy. Friday... well, you get the idea.

Actually, I just checked weather.com and they're forecasting no rain for tomorrow. That would be nice, because tomorrow evening we're planning on going to the Fall Potluck & Hike of the Sangamon Valley Group, the local chapter of the Sierra Club. We've never attended a meeting of the local chapter of the Sierra Club, but this seems like a particularly good opportunity to go, since we could bring along a 2-year-old without causing too much disruption, which means that we won't have to get a babysitter. Assuming that it doesn't get rained out, there will be a potluck picnic, hike, and campfire at the Lincoln Memorial Garden & Nature Center. (Incidentally, that's where Dawn & I were married back in September 2000, although it was at a different fire ring.)

Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular

On Saturday we went to the 2nd annual Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular in Washington Park. The weather was perfect, and we parked in front of Eric & Patty's house so that we wouldn't have to deal with traffic. They had hundreds of jack-o-lanterns on display around the carillon area, along with a toddler-friendly trick-or-treat area called the Garden of the Goblins (set up inside the greenhouse).

This was Lando's first opportunity to go trick-or-treating, wearing the knight costume that Dawn made for him. He carried a little bag and went from stop to stop getting candy, as well as looking at the ghosts, spider webs, skeletons, and other spooky stuff. (They had a light turned on at each spooky thing, to make sure that it wasn't too spooky.) Last year he was a little too young to really get much out of it, but this year he was old enough to enjoy the trick-or-treating, as well as looking at all of the jack-o-lanterns. He also particularly enjoyed the glowstick that we bought for him - in part because it was a ring that he could skewer with his sword!