Andrew and the Shark Story

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I feel like the past few posts have been mostly about Zana and Elira and not so much about Andrew. On our way home from The Dells (because once you’ve been there you have to say it like that as if everyone else knows what you are talking about), Scott and I were cracking up at some of the stories Andrew was coming up with. We were trying to get everyone to go to sleep in the car, but he was keeping the girls awake with the following.

Andrew: A long time ago a shark came out of the water and ate Zana’s hand off like this “arrrrgh.” And Zana you cried like this “waaaaa.”

Zana: Oh, waaaaaaa.

A: Mommy where we put Zana’s hand?

Catherine: Ummm, probably in the fridge, so it would stay good and we could have a doctor put it back on her.

A: But then her hand would be cold and she would not want it.

Z: (Pretending to shiver) Col, col, col.

C: Oh, maybe we put it in our backpack.

A: Then long time ago, the bad guys came and tried to die (i.e. kill) the shark. Some sharks and crocodiles are nice and some are mean.

Ellie: (Thinking that she wasn’t aware of that fact.) Ooooh.

This story really went on for like 10 minutes, but that was all I could capture of it. Some parts got repeated but changed and jumbled too. I think some mean crocodiles came and tried to die the bad guys, or they all went to the doctor to get Zana’s hand put back on or for someone to get un-died (because that’s what happens when you get killed around our house, you go to the doctor and get un-died). I’m guessing we just spent too much time in the water the previous two days, because you know, The Dells will do that to you.

 

Going out

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Zana and Elira are talking more and more. They love to copy each other and repeat everything 50 times, and every day they remind me more and more of this (Scott was freaked out by this as kid, so sorry if I bring back any childhood nightmares):

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After lunch the other day, the girls and I had a funny conversation. They had me put their backpacks on, then they had me put their shoes on them, which they always do, so I didn’t suspect the mischievousness they were up to.

Then both walked together towards the door waving bye to me and saying “layni,” which is their word for “see you later.” Playing along, I asked:

Catherine: Where are you going?
Elira: (pointing outside and opening door)
C: You’re going outside?
E: Yeah, cah (which means car).
Zana:  Cah, cah.
C: Oh, you want to go in the car?
E: Yeah.
C: Just you guys?
E: Yeah, (pointing to Zana and herself) Nana, me, Nana, me, cah.
C: Are you going to drive the car?
E: Yeah, layni (waving goodbye).
C: Where are you going to go?
E: Cah.
(She didn’t understand this line of questioning.)
C: No, where are you going to drive the car to?
E: Cah. Pack pack (i.e. backpack).
C: You’re just going to go out to the car, the two of you, and drive it somewhere?
E: Yeah.

At this point I thought we were all just playing pretend, but then they opened the door and started outside again, so I jumped off the couch and ran to them real quick and was like, “no, wait. You guys can’t actually go out to the car without mommy, (plus it was snowing out).” They were like, “Cah, cah, cah, cah,” a hundred times. Then they resumed with:

E: Pack pack. Cah.
Z: (showing me her backpck) Pack pack, pack pack.
C: Oh, so you just need a backpack and you can go to the car on your own.
Andrew: Yeah, the babies want to go to preschool, like I just do.
Z: Pack pack, cah.
E: Yeah.

I guess I wear my backpack diaper bag around too much. In the end, I managed to convince them to take their backpacks and go on a trip upstairs instead of out to the car.

The DDR Pad is Alive!

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The recent bad weather here in Illinois has been no fun. It is too cold and too snowy to go outside very much, and we have a car stuck on top of a block ice in the parking lot. The university canceled classes one day last week due to the snow, which is a very rare event here.

All of this has been making us a little stir crazy. Probably as a result of this, last week I was struck by a sudden desire to fix the DDR Pad.

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It’s been years since I last mentioned the DDR Pad on this blog. I built it initially in 2001, during my first year in college, so that I and my friends could enjoy some arcade-style Dance Dance Revolution in the convenience of our dorm (and not have to pay $0.75 for each play).

I built it like a rock so that it could withstand the continuous beatings that a building full of college students was sure to inflict upon it. As a result it also weighed as much as a large rock.

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Being the trusty DDR Pad, initially it did its job well, registering millions of footsteps with only infrequent repairs. Thousands of songs were danced to on the DDR Pad.

Over time though, things began breaking more frequently. Being built to be extremely durable also meant that repairs to the DDR Pad were cumbersome. I began to tire of the frequent repairs, and ultimately the DDR Pad fell into disrepair, collecting dust in the garage.

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Sporadically over the years I have pulled the DDR Pad out and tried to get it working again. But always my efforts to repair it were half-hearted. Unfortunately, half-hearted repairs lead to only a semi-functional pad, and playing DDR without a well-functioning pad is very frustrating. The DDR Pad would usually head back into the closet after only a few songs.

That is, until last week. For the first time in almost 10 years, I had the desire to fix the DDR Pad. And, I decided it was time to go all the way.

Over the course of the next few days I gutted the entire inside of the pad. I rebuilt all the buttons, and rewired everything. (I have duct tape on the buttons to make them more durable, hopefully.) Catherine helped me put in some new, bright, arrow graphics, because the old ones were dirty and faded. I finished it all off by polishing the grayed steel across the face of the pad to a beautiful shine.

The end result? The DDR Pad is alive! It is back in all its DDRing glory. Ten years after its birth, it has been resurrected. It’s a miracle!

Post Script:

The DDR Pad was initially built as a PlayStation 1 controller. I still have a PlayStation that is functioning, as well as DDR CDs, but there is a much better option available today: Stepmania. Stepmania is a DDR like computer game with a large community of enthusiasts who are making their own songs and dances for the game. I bought a PlayStation-to-USB adapter on Amazon.com, and we are now DDRing with every DDR song ever produced, all on our computer.

Post Post Script:

I made a video about the pad back in 2006, featuring pictures of Catherine dancing in an Albanian flag shirt. I’m embedding it here for a trip down memory lane:

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