Raindrops keep falling on my head
Since migrating the boy to a "big-boy bed" for safety reasons... He was scaling the walls of his little prison and while it is pretty cute to watch we were sure that he was eventually going to break his neck. We now have another problem... He has discovered freedom and he likes it. We have had a little visitor each night for the last week. Not such a bad thing - I'm sure he'll grow out of it. And that he likes to snuggle is kinda nice too. The problem is that he isn't fully potty trained and when he hops into bed there is an unmistakable smell that comes with him.

The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen
I counted 12 dead animals on the road on the way to work this morning...
1 Mule Deer
2 Fox
1 Dog
1 Opossum
5 Skunk
2 Unknown

The foxes and the dog were a related incident...

Brutal day for wildlife in the East Bay.

Working from home
I've been working from home all week and the workload is light so I've been trying to get through some of the bigger projects that have been on my plate. I was certain that I could get the Marketing Plan put together for 2004, file my expense report after reconfiguring my laptop, and then back up all my data. What really happened is quite different.

Yes, I kept up with the emails and voice mails while working to keep a few projects on track... but just like when I'm "in the office" other things popped up... like trying to get my son potty trained, keep the house clean (or close to it) and keep the kids busy.

In a model of efficiency, I decided to go with the carrot and stick approach to potty training. Alex gets as much candy as he can eat each day until he has an accident. Then he gets none. This plan worked out great for the first couple of days then he had an accident and I had to cut him off... this is tough stuff. He knows the rule and even recited it "no accidents for candy" while pushing another Reeses peanut butter cup towards me. Not only did I have to tell him no, I had to clean up the mess.

Overall, the plan is successful. He has eaten about 4 pounds of candy per day, but he's only had one accident... he sleeps regularly, and his poop is OK... there are the bouts of mania that make me think of crack addicts, but all-in-all nothing that concerns me too much. The big question is what will happen next - I'm going to run out of candy and he is not going to run out of piss. I need to get an end game to this deal before the last lollypop stick hits the trash can.