The Becks Abide

Deep Fried Happiness

2010-10-30T07:46:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, Ak and I braved the insanity that is the N.C. State Fair in search of some artery-clogging, deep-fried amazingness. The Fair boasted record-breaking attendance everyday, so we will definitely NOT be attempting the Fair on a weekend again, ever.

Ham biscuit #2 -- delish!

Deep fried mac & cheese. Winner winner, chicken dinner.

Deep fried everything.

Seriously, everything!

The famed Krispy Kreme burger!

Proof that he ate it! (He claims it was delicious.)

We went through a petting zoo, and Ak fed goats, cows, camels and a llama.

Court feeding Mr. Camel.

Our dog, the pig

2010-10-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

Just dropping a quick note in here to share a video of our dog being adorable. I know, everyone thinks their pet/child/elderly transient is particularly adorable, but if you don't find her adorable, perhaps you'll find her disturbing! She makes the weirdest noises whilst she's grooming her paw/chewing her fingernails (I know they're claws and not fingernails, stop correcting me). So we caught the elusive Flame-pig on tape and thought we'd share it with the whole wide world. What do you think?

A Week at St. Somewhere

2010-07-29T17:58:00.001-07:00

We've been accused of being slack bloggers -- this is not an unfair statement. That's really all I've got on that. Now, onto pictures of our recent beach trip! We spent the first week in July at Ocean Isle with a bunch of friends, old and new, and two dogs.

Our home for the week, St. Somewhere.

"I've gotta fly to St. Somewhere, I'm close to bodily harm..."

Where we spent our evenings.

Where we spent our late evenings and wee morning hours.

Best part -- early a.m. dog walks.

Flame didn't care for the way the ocean kept chasing her.

Happy puppy!

The gang, heading down to the beach for a late night walk.

Our Kitchen is Finally Complete

2010-05-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

So after a little blood, a lot of sweat, and a handful of tears (hey, I'm sensitive, alright?), our kitchen appears to finally be finished! Thanks largely to Ikea, our kitchen now looks awesome, and I'm not ashamed to say that it was all because of me. Or, rather, because my wife has good taste and I know how to mount blinds to the wall. So I guess I could share some of the credit.

But behold! Gaze at the beauty that is the red kitchen! Note the kickass red lampshade chandelier!

Marvel at the crumby lighting as it's still very sunny outside!

Revel in the gloriousness that is the white pull-down shades over all of the windows!

Truly, this is a place of beauty and of peace. We're super excited about how the kitchen has turned out, and hope that you've enjoyed humoring me talking on and on about it.

--Ak out

Garden Drama

2010-05-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

For Tina and Mike -- what's eating my garden??

Okra Transplant! (And other garden updates)

2010-05-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

So I'll try to keep this quick & to the point as to avoid boring people who honestly don't give a flying fig about our garden:

1) We transplanted okra seedlings into our garden today! They didn't have the broadest of root structures, so some of them wound up kind of laying down, but I suspect we'll get a few survivors out of the ordeal...

from this

to this

So that's exciting!

2) I'm pretty sure one of our cucumber patches contains absolutely no cucumber, but our tomatoes are doing terrific!

3) Our basil plants are looking a little worse for wear in some spots

I'm beginning to wonder if they caught a disease because I pinched them back too roughly (I should've probably pruned them with shears instead of pinching off the top with my fingers, I think)

But I guess we'll see -- this year is a big learning experience for us, so hopefully we'll come away from it more prepared for next year!

--Ak out

Two Shameless Plugs

2010-05-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

So, as the title says, this post will contain two shameless plugs:

Ak and I just signed up for the Race for the Cure, a 5k which will take place June 12 in downtown Raleigh. We're running with my former colleague Danielle, who lost her mother in 2006 to breast cancer. Click here to donate.
I'm excited to announce my new blog project. This blog is designed to be the "business-and-occasionally-personal" side of me rather than the Becks' day in the life. It's mostly an experiment in personal branding and social media, but would love for you to check it out if you're so inclined and offer an opinion.

That's all for now -- will offer more shameless plugs soon I'm sure!

Garden Project Update

2010-05-10T18:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we blogged about planting our very first vegetable garden. Tonight, we're pleased to report that it is flourishing (photographic evidence below). The okra didn't fare so well in the wild, but it's growing nicely in our bathroom and will be transplanted soon.

Herbs, still hanging in there. Does the basil look like pesto to you yet?

Cucumbers, hopefully still hanging in there.

Peppers.

Squash (or maybe zucchini). I'll tell you in a few weeks.

Baby tomatoes!

Scenes from the SPCA K9-3K

2010-04-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Ak, Flame and I participated in the K9-3K, a fundraiser for the Wake County SPCA. There was something like 1,500 dogs and 3,200 people there. In a word, insanity, but for a good cause -- the walk raised over $214,000!

Flame with teammates Riley and Roxie.

A whole mess of dogs waiting for the walk to start.

Once we were actually walking, Flame started to find the whole excursion tolerable.

Lots and lots of dogs!

Team Beck!

Garden Project

2010-04-02T14:35:00.001-07:00

What a gorgeous spring day! Ak and I both had the day off, so we decided to spend it working on a new project -- our first ever vegetable garden!

After visiting Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware (twice), Page Road Garden Center and Gunters Greenhouse, we were ready to get started.

The first project was an easy one -- a mini herb garden that can be brought into the house over the winter (assuming that we figure out a cat-proof solution -- the attic maybe?). We planted thyme, oregano and two basil plants for lots of lots of pesto!

Then we moved onto the fun part. Fortunately, we moved into a house that already has several spacious raised beds. Unfortunately, they hadn't been maintained. Here's a picture of what we started with:

One hour and one snake later, we had the large, L-shaped bed cleared and ready to plant.

This little bucket contains what we hope will be the secret ingredient to our garden -- compost. For almost a year, we've been dutifully composting all manner of fruits and veggies, not to mention egg shells and coffee grinds. This was my first peek at the result, and I'm quite proud of our beautiful black compost. Go us!

Finally, the finished product. We planted two varieties of tomatoes (Big Boy and cherry), cucumbers, green peppers, okra, zucchini and yellow squash. Now we just sit back and hope things grow!

K9-3K Dog Walk

2010-03-02T19:12:00.000-08:00

Ak, Flame and I signed up to for the K9-3K Dog Walk to benefit the Wake County SPCA. We're sorta suckers for animals; you might know this about us. Want to help us help animals? Click here to donate.

Snow Day

2010-01-31T12:45:00.000-08:00

We, along with the rest of NC, got quite a bit of snow this weekend. The official count at RDU Airport is 5 inches, and that's right down the road so we'll go with that. Our puppy, we learned, loves the snow! She got a taste during the flurries a few weeks ago, but this weekend to her was the BEST WEEKEND EVER. Check back later for a video of Flame frolicking in the snow.

Watching the snow. (We normally don't allow her to do this, but she was so darn cute we let it go. Yes, you should be concerned about what that statement implies for our future parenting.)

SNOW!

Eww, snow.

SNOW!

Our street.

And the front of the house.

A Partial List of Things We've Broken since Sunday

2010-01-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ak's car
The bedroom door
Living room bench
Marty's bed
My car

The great irony? None of these were animal-related!

Mocking the Dog Never Gets Old

2009-12-24T14:01:00.000-08:00

Flame's favorite sleeping place. Ding dong, the bitch is dead!

Day in the Life

2009-12-20T04:45:00.000-08:00

As Flame dearly loves squirrels (preferably in the form of kabobs), we got her a stuffed, squeaky squirrel for Christmas. Guess where I found it this morning?

Christmas for change? Yes please!

2009-12-19T05:09:00.001-08:00

Ak and I exchanged presents yesterday (because we suck at that whole patience thing), and I have to give a shout-out to my husband for giving me a pretty awesome gift. He gave me a hand-made pursue from Global Reach, a company that exists solely to liberate men, women and children from sexual slavery and other types of bondage and abuse.

The stats on this are pretty staggering:

12.3 million people in forced labor and sexual servitude
800,000 victims trafficked across borders, and half are minors
2 million children exploited in global sex trade

If you have any to buy for that it's into hippie stuff, check out the site and shop for a good cause!

My New Favorite Web Site

2009-12-14T15:37:00.000-08:00

Absolutely brilliant.

Bird is the Word

2009-11-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

Some pics from the Becks' Thanksgiving feast!

As part of our CSA, we got a whole chicken, and it's been hanging out in our freezer for several months. So, we decided to enjoy that free-range, organic, dandelion-and-rainbow-fed chicken for Thanksgiving.

Flame was very helpful in guarding him/her and making sure it didn't run away.

Hey wait, it ran away!

Straight into the rotisserie! Drat, foiled again.

Tasting the veggies and making the obligatory Friends "Umm!" face.

Our Thanksgiving table: rotisserie chicken, candied brandied sweet potatoes, garlic ginger green beans and a bottle of Chianti. (Don't judge, we were out of chardonnay.) Needless to say, it was delicious and we were quite pleased with our culinary skills. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Drum Roll Please...

2009-11-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here you go kids -- pics of the great kitchen renovation!

Before:

And after:

You may have noticed that we did not end up going with black and white tile. I have several very grown-up reasons for this, so let's just call the idea tabled for now.

I have to give a shout-out to Empire for being all-around awesome throughout this whole process. I know, you want to hate them because their commercials suck, but I thought they were pretty fabulous. So if you're in the market for new floors, I say check 'em out.

The horror (or the cuteness)

2009-11-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

So we went dog walking today, but it was kind of chilly! So what do we do? We put our poor, defenseless puppy in a coat (because she doesn't have very long fur, you see...)

What's that look like? Glad you asked:

While that alone probably makes us horrible people, the real pain came when we were (quite obviously, in our opinions) silently judged by little 8 year old girls as we went around the neighborhood.

In other news, Thanksgiving is nearly upon us. While that means a lot of things to a lot of people, it primarily means candied yams, pumpkin and pecan pies, and delicious macaroni and cheese to me. Anyone else out there dreaming of food while the day creeps up on us?

-- Ak out

Wherein the Becks Catch Y'all Up On What's Been Going On

2009-11-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! So we don't blog here so much. We each have our reasons, and here they are:

Court -- While I don't blog here, I'm the blog editor for NutriDense.com, where I blog 3+ times a week about the latest in ag and animal nutrition. Rock on.
Ak -- While I don't blog here, I'm a huge slacker. (The end.)

So here's what's been up with us over the past month or so:

We are now an iPhone packing family -- So now we don't do anything without an app. Want to see if it's raining? App. Want to check what's on Tv? App. Walking the dogs? App. Need to open a door? App. Let me tell you, apps everywhere in this family!
Court went part time at her job. She then proceeded to continuously bill 40 hours per week. So now she's got the ball rolling on going back to full time, but with more time working from home than before. Huzzah!
Flame got herself a shiny new collar. Said collar gives her a little buzz when we hit a button. This collar has single-handedly made her a much, much better dog. She no longer chases cats everywhere, she listens to us on the first try almost all the time. Honestly, we don't put that collar on most days any more, and she's still remarkably good. She's quickly rising to take the mantle of perfect dog from Marty.
We made a Hathaway family traditional chili the other day. Court's very proud of the recreation of her grandmother's chili, and I thought it wasn't half bad.
We went to Smiffield for the annual Christmas shopping trip to the outlets. 'Twas a good outing that had us hitting all of Court's old haunts. Including Mucho Mexico.
Work has been going well for me, but there's been a lot of it. Several nights now, I've had to crawl into bed early the next day... Court's been really supportive of it all thus far, so that's awesome.
After repeatedly watching Flame pop over over 6-foot fence, it was determined that perhaps she was in need of more exercise. Flame has since been enrolled in Camp Bow Wow, a day camp for dogs. Yeah, yeah, we're aware of the yuppyiness of it all, but see below for why it kicks ass:

That's all for now. We're preparing for the holidays and hopefully a mega-home renovation project (oh, teaser!), so stay tuned!

Hug A Ginger Day

2009-11-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

That'd be tomorrow, Nov. 20. I expect lots of hugs.

Halloween -- the live blog!

2009-10-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

While I doubt many people will be following this as it goes on, Court and I are currently sitting outside of our house, waiting for trick or treaters with our two faithful mutts. Last minute costumes were in order, so we picked up a couple of dog costumes from Target for Marty & Flame (pics soon to come) and then we cobbled together (what I think) is a pretty respectable Jay & Silent Bob from what we had around the house. So far, no trick or treaters have yet stopped by for the goodies we're providing. But stay tuned here for updates as they happen! (Court would like to express her excitement over live blogging about something over than cows. Not that cows aren't fascinating.)

Dogs!

We just had our first trick or treaters! We had a clone trooper, some sort of nazghul with a spear, and... Something else. I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention... Either way, success!

They just walked back by -- Hannah Montana!! Mystery solved!

Now things are in full swing... We just had a rash of trick or treaters come by, including a girl dressed as the game Twister! Much props go to her for an off-beat costume... More to come...

Us:

We've obviously moved inside by this point, but the logistics of managing a hyper puppy whilst answering the door has proven to be a Herculean task. With this in mind, we wound up just putting the basket of candy outside with a note.

Lessons learned from tonight's adventure:

• you're officially old when you start trick or treating before the kids
• never underestimate the value of dressing as a pop culture icon
• NC autumns are too freaking warm for toboggans and trench coats
• dogs don't like hats

Good night, and good luck

-- Ak out

A PSA from your Friendly Ag PR Girl

2009-09-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

Check it out: a testimonial straight from the, er, pig's mouth. H1N1, please!

Idealism, Meet Reality

2009-09-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of debate about the food supply lately, sparked in large part by Food Inc. I won't lie: the movie has had a huge impact on the way the Becks buy food. One of us, despite years of work in the commercial agriculture industry, is really wigged out and will only buy meat from the Farmer's Market or the local hippie grocery store. The other one, bless his carnivorous heart, doesn't really care where the food comes from as long as some of the protein comes in the form of cow.

For those who have a horse in this race, here's some food for thought. What does sustainable agriculture look like to you?

Raleigh's Mad Men

2009-08-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Check out these photos from the early days of the advertising agency I work for.

Damn the man, save the empire!

2009-08-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Interesting article about urban sprawl and one man's reaction. Something tells me the Town of Cary is going to frown on this.

High in the Rockies

2009-08-01T07:33:00.001-07:00

We went to Colorado last weekend to spend some time with my folks. Here are some highlights (the only lowlight was that it took 6 planes to get there and back! Geez).

Nature. It's sort of everywhere in Colorado. This was taken in a residential neighborhood (yes, this is what a residential neighborhood in Colorado looks like).

We went to several museums, and Ak petted a sheep. This was the best part of the trip for him. City boy.

Chainsaw art is a big deal in Craig, CO. Here's an example.

Hiking in Steamboat Springs, CO.

We hiked to this waterfall, which was featured on the original Coors beer packaging!

View from where we had lunch in Steamboat Springs -- a deck on the top floor of a ski resort.

How we got there -- I was very brave.

The New Girl (or, One Toke over the Line)

2009-07-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, we decided it was time to adopt a puppy. Meet our girl -- Flame Carson Jersey Beck. Flame was her given name, Carson is the Shag girl she reminds me most of, and Jersey because she's spotted and she grazes, like a cow. Weird, right?

Flame is a rescue pup. She's almost a year old, and she's a Brittany/Terrier. I got so excited about the Brittany part that I completely overlooked the Terrier, which means a strong chase instinct! Living with a Terrier and cats is, um, interesting. Alex, in typically Alex form, marched right up to Flame as soon as she got here and smacked her in the nose to let her know he was in charge. He later bit her on the ear, and now that they've established some boundaries, they get along famously (and by famously, I mean Alex chews on her tail and she no longer tries to hunt him). Flame and Ben are still discussing their boundaries. Ben hisses at her, but she's too distracted by the fact that he looks like a squirrel to attempt to overcome the language barrier. Good times. Fortunately, Flame gets more responsive every day and she's awesome with people, even tiny ones, so we think with more training she'll be a pretty awesome dog.

The first of many exciting dog walks (nature is a Terrier's buffet). Note pretty Brittany coat!

Snout.

Love my pups!

The House Unveil

2009-06-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

This post is mostly for my mom, who keeps asking what I've done to our house and to whom I keep promising pictures. I've also got some pics of the house when it was empty, so I can do sort of a before and after thing. And by after, I mean after Ikea, of course!

Living Room Before -- Large and In Charge

Living Room After -- This room has met its match with the large and in-charge Expedit bookcase! Other newbies in this room: couch from the Ikea as-is section, end table and coffee table. Papasan is also new but not Ikea. I'm thinking of painting this wall yellow, as in sunshine. Thoughts?

Another shot of the living room. This wall is going to be the same blue from the game room (next set of pics). The lamp was my grandmother's and is the color I'm thinking of for the back wall.

Game Room Before

Game Room After

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bedroom After

Guest Bedroom Before

Guest Bedroom After

Dishwasher Before

Dishwasher After

The Becks Do Disney

2009-06-11T12:10:00.001-07:00

Just downloaded our pics from the Disney vacation. Yeah, yeah, two months later, but better late than never, right?

I like the way this pic turned out -- it's the organ from Pirates of the Caribbean!

One of us is trying to get ready for a day of Disney fun. The other one is lollygagging and taking pictures. Guess which is which.

Just one of the many pieces of Lego awesomeness at Downtown Disney.

We're having fun, dammit!

A much more believable set of having-fun faces.

Ask about the day my mom shut down the bat exhibit.

Happy tourists in front of the Tree of Life. I took about a million pictures of this tree -- it was covered in amazingly detailed carvings of animals.

Entrance to Dinosaur, my favorite ride. My poor niece didn't like it so much; this was the second dinosaur-themed ride to make her cry in about the span of one hour.
And finally, and this one made me laugh. Two months later, and I'm not quite sure we decided to take this particular picture. Maybe it was because every time we turned around there were more singing and dancing animals, so the sighting of something normal like a cat doing normal cat stuff demanded a picture. I have no idea. But it still makes me laugh.

CSA Week 1

2009-05-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

We received our first batch of delicious local goodness from our CSA last week!

In addition to sausage and eggs, here is a list of the produce in this week's allotment:

Arugula and mixed salad greens
Green garlic
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Parsley
Radishes
Strawberries
Sweet Potatoes
Tatsoi

Suffice to say, we have been feasting this week! Our CSA membership came with a cookbook as well, so we've been trying new and exotic recipes to go along with our new and exotic foods. Last night we had sweet potato risotto, and tonight we had fresh greens over pasta. Later this week we're making a sausage pizza, and we're enjoying plenty of fresh salads and berries as well.

So far we're big fans. My only concern is that we may have too much food and not be able to eat it all! Oh, and the occasional garden slug, but I guess that's the price you pay for going organic.

First of Many Posts on Food Inc.

2009-05-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to view the documentary Food Inc. a few weeks ago and was deeply impacted by it. So deeply impacted that I haven't fully formulated my response to it, as I feel that the issue at hand is just too serious and far-reaching to be reacted to impulsively. For example, is corporate control of the food supply a necessary evil? Can an organic and local food movement be sustainable, and can it feed a hungry world? I have no idea.

But for at least one post, I'm going to defend big agriculture. Know what's more cruel than milking a dairy cow? NOT milking a dairy cow. This week I was privileged to spend quite of bit of time with some Wisconsin dairy producers. I was hesitant going into this... given my love of cheese and my current distaste for some of the policies utilized by corporate agricultural, this had the potential to go badly. Food Inc. hyped the animal cruelty that undoubtedly exists in the ag industry, particularly where animals are treated as commodities instead of well, animals. What I found, however, was a group of farmers who respect their animals deeply. On these dairies, animal health and well-being was always top of mind. Part of this was from an economic standpoint -- an upset cow doesn't milk -- but I don't think money was the only motivator. One producer talked of the disappointment of losing a calf, but said the most important thing was that the cow was OK. Another told me that if a cow was upset, it wasn't her fault -- it was indicative of something he (the producer) was doing wrong. I saw the inner workings of milking parlors and learned all the steps that are taken to ensure cow comfort. Large animal and agriculture producers get a bad rep sometimes, but in Wisconsin, the dairy cow is queen.

Many more thoughts to come on Food Inc. to come, but for now, this hippie is enjoying her cheese in peace.

Your Kitty Don't Dance and Your Puppy Don't Rock n' Roll

2009-04-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

Meet Marty's new pet sitter! That's right, kids, three times a week the lead singer of the Canadian band Toronto whose video was once on MTV and can still be seen on VH1 will be coming to our house to give the perfect dog his potty break.

Here's more band info from their Wikipedia page. Pay special attention to the first bullet point -- they wrote a freaking Heart song!! And since she's still an active recording artist, here's her current site.

Far out man. Far out.

One Last Dig Before I Let It Go

2009-04-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Saw this on another blog today and it made me giggle. Chortle actually, almost to the point of falling off my chair. A more mature person might have abstained from continuing to circulate this image; however, if you read my birthday posting, you're probably not expecting maturity out of me.

Congrats to Ty, Tyler, Wayne, Danny and the rest of my boys! (Ty and Wayne, come back. Please.)

It's Birthday Season!

2009-04-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

Some people dread birthdays and view them as annoying reminders of their mortality. Then there are people like my husband who can't be bothered to care one way or the other. I, fortunately, don't fall under either of those camps; I'm one of a minority of adults who shamelessly celebrates birthdays with the enthusiasm of an 8-year-old.

My birthday is very special because it's not just my birthday. The day before my birthday is the birthday of one of my oldest and closest friends, so this birthday thing isn't just about me and hasn't been for a long time. Last night we celebrated our birthdays together for the 10th consecutive year, which is a pretty awesome thing. 10 years of birthday shots (even the year we had to do it over the phone because I was in San Diego) and trips to Bubs and mega parties. It's really a pretty sweet coincidence.

A quick rundown of the birthday celebrating thus far:
It all started a week and a half ago when my doting husband got my present and couldn't wait til the day of my birthday to give it to me. He gave me a second fondue pot and one of my favorite movies, so now we can have chocolate and cheese fondue at the same time while we watch the Big Lebowski. Did I marry an amazing man or what?? The birthday celebration continued with an almond-flavored pound cake made by my mother-in-law (yum), pedicures and martinis with my birthday partner in crime, and an office covered in confetti and balloons. My colleagues also left a note saying they had hidden eggs in my office. Of course I had a moment of Gilmore Girls induced panic and thought they meant REAL eggs, but fortunately they're of the plastic variety and contain candy. The bummer is that I have only found 5 of the 6 eggs, so my productivity has suffered as I go on Monkesque fits of OCD searching. (My colleagues find this hysterical, by the way, so you can't accuse me of being selfish with the birthday thing -- this is very clearly for them.)

And the best part? It's not my birthday yet! There are 3 more days until it's time to celebrate for real! Man, I dig birthdays the most.

They Gave Me an Inch

2009-03-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

Check out my company's blog. It's highly entertaining and occasionally even educational. BTW, I'm a contributing author and have been given free rein to write regular columns about all the spelling and grammatical errors that get under my skin (insert evil laugh here). So if you come across anything particularly asinine that deserves a public flogging, send it my way!

This post has nothing to do with moving day

2009-03-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

Tag teaming off of my lovely wife, I've decided to pop on here with some of my own news! Unfortunately, Uncle Scotchy couldn't join us today, as he's napping quietly in a box for the new house. Also, it's not even 10:00 yet, so there's that. At any rate, there has been a small flurry of media activity around my company recently, so I thought I'd share some of it with all of you!

First off, there's a cross-promotion going on regarding the Dexter iPhone game, which isn't a huge deal, but I thought it was kind of neat: http://kotaku.com/5185951/check-out-this-bloodspattered-iphone-case

Secondly, X-Play apparently interviewed Lee (our lead designer) while he was up at GDC this past week. It's a pretty standard piece on our game, but it's more exposure than we've seen (or at least I've seen), so I think it's pretty cool: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/694364/GDC-09-Fallen-Earth-Preview.html

Anyway, I don't have anything really funny or witty or insightful to add, but I took this opportunity on today of all days to share that with you.

--Ak out

It's House Packing Day!

2009-03-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, we had a lovely date at Olive Garden, in part because our waitress exploited our wine knowledge and made us sample things and report back to her. Being exploited is not always such a bad thing! Came home, watched some ball (GO HEELS!), got good and grumpy so we went to bed, and then... we didn't sleep. I have no idea why. The cats slept. It was dark out. We were tired. And yet, I was awake at 3 so I got up to get some water and check the scores. Then I was awake at 4:30 when a friend from Cali pocket-dialed me. And I was awake at 6 when the cats woke up and started to play.

But I can't be upset... not on house packing day! In a little while some friends are coming over to help up pack pretty much the whole house. For our next meal, it's paper products all the way. It'll be weird to go a week without our cooking stuff, wine glasses, etc., but it's just for a few days. A week from right now, there will be movers putting our stuff on a truck to cart it to our new house!

So without further ado, I'm off to do my morning chores so the packing party can commence!

One Step Closer to Hippietown

2009-03-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

I was all set to post a quick update when I logged on and saw that it has been exactly one month since our last post! Now I feel pressured. Well, since I'm concrete-sequential to the max, here's the down and dirty on life right now. Ak is working for the man to the tune of 58+ hours per week, and I'm still showing up everyday and learning the ins and outs of office politics. We're T-7 from closing on our house and T-10 from moving! Now, don't you feel bad for judging us? Oh wait, no one was judging? My bad. Add paranoid to our list of flaws these days.

Because we didn't feel like we had quite enough going on, we decided to try something new this year -- we joined a CSA! CSA, for you grocery store purists, stands for community-supported agriculture, defined by Wikipedia as "a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution." Nobody panic, I think that makes it sound much more extreme than it actually is. Basically, we pay a local farmer, who in return provides us with weekly produce and meat and bi-weekly cheese and eggs. I'm psyched about this on so many levels. Assuming nothing crazy like a drought happens, this will save us tons of money on food. I'm also pretty sure that local food will taste better than stuff that was picked weeks ago and shipped in, and the environmental side of me likes buying local. I'm also a pretty big fan of Durham, thugs and all, so I like that we're doing something tangible to support the Durham economy.

Now, those of you who know what I do for a living may be scratching your heads a bit here. Yes, it's true, my day job is promoting the biotechnology side of an agribusiness giant, so perhaps there's some irony that I choose to get my food from a CSA. Honestly, this wasn't so much a political choice for me as a general distaste of food that is supposed to be fresh but was grown in Chile or California. I'm too tired to going into all the ins and outs of this... so let's just say eat local, but feed your cows and hogs genetically-modified corn!

House Buying And You

2009-02-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

Hi kids, it's been a long time since your uncle Akbar sat down and talked to you, but me and my friend Scotchy would like to take a moment to tell you about the joys and perils of house buying. House buying is a perilous journey, fraught with... well, perils... Some of those perils are obvious: financial ruin, humiliating exposure of one's ignorance, getting shot at while you shop for houses in the neighborhoods you can afford.

But less known are the other burdens you'll face: erroneous MLS sheets, lackadaisical bankers, and best of all, inconsistent sellers! But despite all of these, there are benefits. Shocking, I know!. Uncle Scotchy tells me I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the key benefit, which is that you get to be a home-owner. Landed gentry. To quote an incredibly wise man, "you ain't no kind of man, unless you got land." So true. So poignient, yet so true.

The long and the short of our current situation is that we've got a signed contract in on a house. We recently had said house inspected by a licensed inspektor general, which was pretty cool. He found lots of things that didn't sound so bad when he found them, but read like a laundry list of things that are about to condemn the house once committed to his inspektor's report..en...stag. Ok, I may give up on making the house inspector sound more german. He wasn't really germanic at all, to be honest. All the same, the inspection was pretty cool, we got to see all of the things we'll need to work on, and a few things we'll need to have fixed before we can move in (one in particular will be a requirement for our loan to be approved).

Needless to say, things are pretty exciting over here... Court's been talking to our bankers, and generally being a really good people person (networking, making sure things move on the financial end of things), and I've been trying to coordinate with vendors (inspectors, other kinds of inspectors, our agent) and make sure we have all of our bases covered for the impending closing (April 1, no joke!).

So while we're busy, and a touch stressed, I think we've both calmed down a lot, as we approach home ownership with glee and the utmost readiness. Oh, and the afore-mentioned scotch.

--Ak out

Cattywampus

2009-02-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Cattywampus is a great word. The first time I heard it was in the description of a young horse that was trying to figure out how to carry itself. If you've ever ridden a two-year-old that's trying to figure out how to balance itself and your weight while loping, you get why it's such an apt description. The horse is trying to figure out where it's feet are and appears to be having some issues staying upright, so you just try to stay out of its way and keep one leg on either side of the horse.

Cattywampus is the best way to describe our lives right now. We have completely lost our groove. Our previous lifestyle involved waking up somewhere between 8 and 9, me doing most of the house and animal chores while fitting in my freelance work, and more spare time than we could shake a stick at. We had lunch together everyday, and generally spent our weekends in blissful nothingness. It was really not a bad gig.

Things are a little crazy around the Beck house these days... we knew it was going to be a change for me to start working full time again, but I don't think we had any idea how to prepare for it. Now, we have to get up much earlier to do animal chores, we pay someone to walk Marty for us and weekends are spent either running errands or blankly staring at the TV. My new job already involves some working from home after hours as well as business travel. It's definitely a shift from being a freelancer/stay at home pet owner.

For extra stress, we're in the midst of house buying! We fell in love with a house last week, and now we're working on an offer. We keep telling ourselves that life will slow down soon, but I'm wonder if maybe that's just a cosmic joke? More updates soon, but for now, we're pretty slammed being cattywampus.

If this is the Calm Before the Storm, We're in Trouble

2009-01-27T09:08:00.000-08:00

It's the day before I start my new job, and I'm feeling pretty stressed out. I expected yesterday and today to be fairly relaxing days, with lots of house cleaning and lounging on the couch. No such luck -- yesterday was spent wrapping up a freelance project, meeting with a bank to discuss mortgages, several hours worth of errands, and finally some chill time before book club. Thus far today, I worked on a V21 volunteer schedule, met with a pet sitter who's going to help us out with Marty (forgot she was coming, oops), and did some random house chores. Later today, I'll pick Ak up from work so we can go visit with another bank, then I have to pick up my clothes from the tailor and swing by the pet store. Today's tasks are compounded by having a baby kitten shadow who's torn between his deep love for me and his discovery of a new plug under the TV that is apparently lots of fun to bat. That's definitely a perk of going back to an office -- a cat-free work space. Have you ever tried to type while a cat chases the words on the screen? It's exciting.

I think most of my stress is stemming from the sheer volume of tasks I see before and around me. I feel like it's the day before vacation, and I'm frantically rushing to get everything done. I grant that this line of thinking is fundamentally flawed. Yes, going to the pet store and the grocery store on my days off is a good thing to do because that's one less thing I have to worry about this week. However, those things are going to need to be done again... and again... until, well, pretty much forever. And if there're things I don't get to before I start work, then I'll just get to them over the weekend. There's definitely a mindset change that needs to happen here.

Another stresser -- house hunting and all the fun that goes along with that (see above conversations with mortgage lenders). We had a really successful outing last weekend and found several houses we were interested in. We're heading out again this weekend, and the tentative plan is to pick our finalists after that and start narrowing down to THE house. This is all very exciting; we've seen some houses that we would love to live in. But picking a house and finding a lender and all the other bazillion processual tasks associated with this is definitely stressful.

I have a feeling things will be a lot better next week and even better the week after that. Until then, there's yoga and red wine!

SNOW!!!

2009-01-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the weather people promised me snow, but I didn't quite believe it til I woke up in the middle of the night to find... SNOW!! And more this morning with much more coming down. No idea how much we actually got, but it lasted until about 3:30, and I read a WRAL article saying the area average was 5 inches. Here are a few pictures from the Beck family snow day.

Ben watches the snow from inside.

Marty seemed to enjoy himself frolicking in the snow. He ran and played and acted like a young pup. Look how deep it is on his legs!

"Oh, snow in my eyes..."

After he frolicked, he sat, which made me laugh. Dude, isn't your bum cold??

My dashing husband, shortly before he initiated a snowball fight. My aim's better.

View from the street looking at our house.

Careful Kids, This Could Happen to You

2009-01-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

Do you think maybe I've read so many Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella books lately that I actually turned into one of their characters? Kinda like when you're little and making nasty faces and someone says your face is going to freeze like that?

Less than two weeks ago, I was just getting into the swing of 2009. I was stoked to not be a student and had finally decided to embrace that I had a job as a freelance writer. When people asked how my job search was going, I told them that I wasn't looking, which was an honest answer. I had just finished my third chick lit read in a row and was pondering the recurring message of a simple life. All the books were about a girl who thought her life would be complete if she just pulled off one more business achievement, only to find that true happiness (and true love, of course, this is chick lit) was often found in the most quaint of places. Now, this was a message I could get behind. I was working, contributing to the household and feeling the fuzzy glow of entrepreneurial success. I was also sleeping late, working in my PJs, being a stay-at-home pet mom, and taking frequent breaks during the day to have coffee with the girls or walk my dog. All in all, not bad.

Then, last Wednesday, I stumbled upon a job opening and sent in a resume on a whim. That night I was called for a phone interview and a few days later spent an entire morning in their office interviewing. Two days later, another interview, and the following morning a job offer, which I accepted this morning. In less than two weeks, I will begin my new job as a Senior Writer and Public Relations Account Executive at a Raleigh-based agency. Um, wow, how did that happen??

In true Rory Gilmore fashion, let's do a pro-con list:

Pro
1. We have just become DINKs (dual income, no kids). This doesn't elevate us to wealthy, but we've certainly achieved comfortable. And since I haven't been there in a long time, I'll take it.
2. New business-woman clothes!!! (Getting the Keyes/Kinsella character connection more now?)
3. This isn't an entry-level position. It even comes with an intern!
4. A job. A career. A reason to leave the house every morning. A company that will accept what I have to offer them and has something to offer me in return. That feels like coming home and makes me want to cry, in the best of ways. I had no idea how much I'd missed that.

Con
1. Man, I'm going to miss my boys. Sure, they drive me nuts sometimes, but I like being with them all the time, laughing at them when they do stupid things and knowing the right time to pick up baby Ben for a hug. I grant that it is rather challenging to get anything done during kitty hyper time.
2. Losing the flexibility and autonomy that comes with working from home will be difficult. I trust that this agency will be less rigid than places I've worked in the past, but I still doubt they'll be cool with mid-morning yoga and People's Court at 4.
3. We've gotten pretty spoiled around here what with me staying at home. Right now, we eat home-cooked meals almost every night and have as much hang out time in the evenings and on weekends as we want. Things are going to get busier, that's for sure.
4. House hunting just got a lot more complicated too. If we move to Durham to be closer to our friends and church as we'd originally planned, we'll both have longer commutes and probably be forced to eat out everyday and pay someone to let the dog out. If we stay in Cary or move to Raleigh, we have to find a new community group and perhaps switch back to the Raleigh church. Sacrifices either way.
5. No use of my Master's degree in sight. Course at the moment I'm still so disgruntled that it's hard to call that a con.

So I guess it's good that we didn't make the decision to accept the job the Rory Gilmore way, as the cons appear to outweigh the pros. I think I probably rolled several pros into one for pro #4 though. This is definitely a weird de ja vu moment for me, what with going back to the same line of work I left to go to school, in the same building even, just one floor up. I anticipate many awkward elevator moments in my future.

Anyway, as Dylan says, "You'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are a changing!" I've still got a solid week and a half of freedom, so until then, it's hamster suits and People's Court breaks for me.

The Becks in: "Bellyachin'"

2009-01-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

This week's story involves potty humor, near-tragedy, and some infantile language (such as "potty humor") Parental discretion is advised.

So this morning two of the Beck boys had a Dr's appointment. Those two boys would be our very well behaved black cat (Alex) and our loyal, yet lazy dog Marty. The morning started about as normal as can be expected... The mother in law was staying the night with us, but all-in-all, it was a normal, bleary-eyed morning. My plan was to swing by the vet with the boys (and Court) in tow, and then head to work a bit late. Boy was I in for a surprise...

So we mosey on into the vet, convinced that we're 10 minutes late, only to find out we're 5 minutes early (the appointment was for 8:45, not 8:30, apparently). We then proceed to saunter back to the exam room where they do the normal stuff (shoving random objects up poor cats' butts). After a while, our vet drops in and proceeds to do the normal check-up stuff for the boys, when he gets to Marty, he stops, asked if he had a full breakfast, and looks generally concerned. After some discussion, it turns out that Marty's abdomen was more swollen than normal, so the vet suggests we have him x-rayed, which we dutifully do. After two sets of x-rays and a lot of sitting around (positive that our dog is deathly ill), the vet determines that there is, in fact, nothing wrong with Marty, but that he had a huge breakfast. Why was his breakfast so huge, you might ask? Well, it has something to do with our perfect dog availing himself to some... {ahem} "sand brownies". If you don't know what a sand brownie is, let me just point you to the cookie jar they come from...

Yum.

But in the end, Court & I were just super-relieved that our venerable old farm dog didn't have something seriously wrong with him. We would have preferred not to have had to spend all the money and time finding out he was fine, but we're glad he is. Man, dogs can be disgusting.

A Rant, or Damn the Man

2009-01-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a link that irked me a bit this morning and see if anyone else had any thoughts on the matter. It appears that Durham has decided to enforce the collection of a pet tax. While I am not currently a Durham resident, I may be within the next few months. Also, I do not have buddies who died face down in the muck for our rights to own pets, but I'm channeling Walter too: "This affects all of us, man! Our basic freedoms!"

Anyway, here are my problems with this idea, as it relates to our animals. We own two cats, both indoor-only and neutered. We paid the adoption fee for each animal and pay all other expenses (vet, food, etc.) out of pocket. Since the cats never step paw out of our house and onto county property and the county does not contribute to their upkeep, why should I pay taxes on my animals? What benefit am I getting from paying those taxes?

The dog tax makes a little more sense to me, but not much. Perhaps the argument is that the dog does go outside and may make use of county recreational facilities. This argument seems to fall in line with people who don't want to contribute to public education because they don't have children. My question on the dog portion of the tax is this: if I pay a dog tax, does give me free use of public dog facilities, such as dog parks? It seems unfair for the county to continue to collect a fee for park usage as well as charge a dog tax. Also, why should I have to pay an animal tax on top of property tax and HOA dues?

I understand that $30 a year is not much in the big grand scheme of things, but this strikes me as an unnecessary and unfair tax.

In Which I Attempt to Sum Up the Last Few Weeks, Inverted Pyramid Style

2009-01-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

December was a busy time for the Becks, as they celebrated graduation and the holidays in their trademark Mach 3 style.

Graduation day was much anticipated by some (Ak) and merely tolerated by others (Court, who, in true Grinch style, spent the preceding week trying to figure out how to stop graduation from coming. Despite her attempts, graduation came anyway). Flanked by her supportive husband, parents and in-laws, Court arrived at the ceremony in her cap, gown and tallest stiletto heels. When the time came, she haughtily teetered up to the podium, shook hands with the department head, accepted her diploma cover and said her piece with nary a trace of sarcasm or foul language. The Becks and Hathaways then retired to the house for an afternoon of champagne and Scattergories, followed by an amazing dinner at Hayes Barton Cafe where they feasted on Boston Creme cake, Bailey's tieramsu and eggnog cheesecake. When asked for a comment, Court said, "All in all, I'd have to say this day was not bad." (Off the record, this reporter later learned that the sometimes aloof Courtney is in fact very grateful for the support of her friends and family and felt honored to have so many people present at the ceremony.) Days after the ceremony, Court was spotted sporting a stylish short hair cut. Despite rumors, a link between graduation and her hair cut have not been confirmed.

Never ones for downtime, the Becks moved straight from graduation into the holiday season. Christmas began with a quiet celebration at home, complete with holiday nachos, Humbug wine, A Christmas Story and early Santa-ing. Christmas Day was spent in Salisbury where the Becks enjoyed oyster stew, a Christmas Eve service, a visit from Santa Claus and lots of family time. The Becks concluded Christmas in High Point with more family time and a screening of Cat Ballou, a Hathaway family favorite.

The Becks celebrated New Year's at home with their second annual throwdown. They continued in their traditions of making entirely too much food, serving signature martinis and playing board games before ringing in the New Year with a champagne toast. A good time was had by all attendees, and the Becks are already making plans for the third annual throwdown. But it was not a good night for everyone in the Beck household. This reporter has uncovered proof that two housemates were not allowed to attend the party. "My brother and I were locked in a room all night," said a blue tabby who declined to give us his name. "We cried and cried, but no one would let us out." When asked for comment, the Becks retorted that it was the cats' affinity for party food and not their own cruelty that resulted in the cats' eviction from the party. At press time, no charges had been filed.

The New Year holds many challenges and anticipated events for the Becks. Today, FIRST Robotics kicks off for the 2009 season, marking the beginning a busy build season that will culminate with a competition in late February. With graduate school behind her, Court plans to spend the first quarter of 2009 expanding Purple Pony Communications. It is rumored that the Becks plan to leave Cary soon and will begin searching for a new home next weekend. Whatever the future may hold, one thing is certain: the Becks will approach 2009 with their own special idiom.

Waiting for my Fish to Poop

2008-12-16T07:27:00.000-08:00

The title really has nothing to do with anything I'm going to write about today, but it was the subject of one of the most random and hilarious conversations I've had in a long time, so I felt obliged to share. Last night, my friend and former roommate Tina was late to book club because her beta fish was sick. Apparently the poor fish is constipated, and the solution is to feed it a pea and hope that gets things moving. So, scout's honor, the conversation went a little like this: "I'm sorry I'm late, but I was waiting for my fish to poop." At which point my mind immediately went in two different directions. Being an avid animal lover and fostering fond memories of my own dearly departed beta fish, Quincy, I was very sympathetic. However, I might not have expressed my sympathy as well as I meant to because "waiting for my fish to poop" triggered Jason Mraz's "waiting for my rocket to come," and I had a hard time focusing after that. Needless to say, it was a very silly conversation, but I do hope her fish poops soon. And that I eventually get a different song stuck in my head.

Last night was the kickoff of book club! I'm very excited about this new venture. My brain has spent the last two years in a perpetual state of worn out, probably because school forced me to spend all of my waking hours either reading or writing research. I love to read, but I was too tired to read anything of substance so it's been nothing but Harry Potter and chicklit for a long time. I know this sounds a little backwards, but since I've finished school, I've longed to read books that made me learn. Our first book club read was The Kite Runner, which deals largely with politics in Afghanistan. It was a tough read, but also a beautiful story, and I highly recommend it. Then the best part... last night, 4 of us girls got together, discussed the book, discussed lots of other things, drank two bottles of wine and laughed a whole lot. Pretty close to a perfect night, and I can't wait for our next meeting in January. We're taking it easy and reading Marian Keyes next -- one of my fave authors!

One more piece of news -- this morning I signed up for the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. It's in Washington, DC in April. Pretty excited about this too. It will definitely be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to being in training again. I did a half marathon a few years ago, and that was definitley the time in my life when I felt the healthiest and most in tune with my body. This time around, I resolve to condition my whole body, so that means lots of strength training in addition to the running. (In case you haven't noticed, I'm a very goal-oriented person.) Ask me how the training's going periodically, k? I may be in need of a sharp kick in the rear by then. The race registration actually says that if I run slower than 14-minute miles, I'll be asked to leave the course. Wow, harsh! So, there you go. Must be able to run at least 10 consecutive 14-minute miles by April in order to avoid embarrassment and wear my race t-shirt with pride.

Well, busy day so must get back to it. First I'm going to hit the treadmill and take the perfect dog for a walk. Then, lunch with my favorite husband, followed by more work, and tonight, I'm going with a friend to see A Christmas Carol. Fun stuff! Until then, "I'm just a drug store prophet with my hand in my pocket and I'm waiting for my rocket to come... well, it started way back in NYC..."

The Sick Girl Speaks

2008-12-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

After a very long couple of days, I have finally made my way back to the land of the living! Despite the unpleasantness of being sick, it did make me realize several things.
1. My cats are really nice to me when I'm sick.
2. My husband will make soup for me if I cough a couple of times, make the "it's hard to talk because my throat hurts" gesture and give him sad eyes.
3. Lindsay Lohan was really cute before she went skanky.

As of Wednesday, I'm off the couch and back in business. Good timing too, as this is a busy time of year for Purple Pony Communications. Last week I made a few investments in the business. I registered a domain name (www.purpleponycommunications.com). It's not a very informative web site yet, but this does allow me to have an official business email, which I'm pretty stoked about. And having committed to an email address, I also committed to new business cards. I have had several opportunities to network in the last few weeks, which is also very exciting. There seems to be quite a demand for what I do. For those of you who don't know what it is I do, I'm a freelance writer, focusing on marketing and public relations writing. Some of the conversations I've had recently involve work in the education field, which I'd be all for, seeing as though I have a Master's in that field and all!

Speaking of my Master's, it just occurred to me a few days ago that I needed special attire to make the trip across the stage! Apparently the whole point of being hooded is having a hood with which to be hooded. Oops. Fortunately, I called the bookstore yesterday and after a very confusing conversation (I asked the sales girl if gowns were on sale -- she thought I was trying to get one cheap, but I really just wanted the option of bringing one home), I learned that my slacker ways had not in fact managed to get me out of graduation. This morning I headed over to campus, paid to park, then paid $70 for my graduation finery. Yowza. Now, I think I need new shoes to go with my fancy new gown, and probably a new dress to match the new shoes.

You're probably wondering what it is that I'm going to do with my new shiny Master's degree. Well, in addition to hanging it on the wall and throwing darts at and adding it to my resume to make me look cooler, I am now a professional pet sitter with Fetch! (The exclamation point is part of their title. The grammar nazi in me wants you to know that I know the proper use of exclamation points.) I got my first client this week -- a little pug that I'll be taking on walks three times a week starting in January. The transition has been a bit rocky, but I think I'm settling in to my new role as an entrepreneur and housewife. There are days when I think I would feel more significant if I left the house to go to work and could give a more concise answer when people ask what I do. But I know me, and I know I'd be bored to tears with the same old routine everyday. Plus this way I get to take off on Monday mornings to do yoga. All in all, I'd have to say my current lot in life is not bad.

Fun things on tap for the next few days: two Christmas parties, church in the new Durham facility, and after many failed attempts, a screening of High School Musical 3! Stay tuned!

Now with 100% less pictures and 400% more germs!

2008-12-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

So Court's been sick for the past three days, which is a real bummer. I kind of sat around and poked her occasionally, if for no other reason than to make sure she still mumbled something incoherent after the pokes. Good times. The good news is, she's feeling much better, which means I can go back to being a lazy slug. Or not.

I have to train people this weekend. Me! Training! Granted, they're high school students, so that has to count for something, I guess. I'm teaching these guys a little bit about programming. It's pretty awesome, it's for the robotics group I mentor. You can learn more about the program at www.usfirst.org, or hang around me for about 10 minutes and mention the word "robotics." It's a pretty awesome gig, and I'm happy to be doing it, but what it really boils down to is the time I'm sitting here typing this entry, I should probably be making pretty slides. For that matter, the hours I just spent on my weekly game session should probably be spent on making slides. Really, when you get down to it, I should be making slides. But I'm obviously not at the moment, so what's that say about me? Oh yeah, that I'm a slacker.

Random shout-out time! So my best friend got engaged tonight, which is pretty spiffy... Being married for all of 3 months, I think I can attest to how awesome it is... Naturally, I can't really swear it'll always be awesome, but since Court has since walked into the room and is watching me type this, I'll do my best. Ahem: It'll always be awesome. (I actually believe that) ^_^

The only other exciting news that actually directly pertains to me that I can think of is our new tv! Well, new to us, anyway. A friend of mine needed some help doing manual labor, and at the same time, he was looking to get rid of his old tv. Being as how I love his old tv, I promptly agreed to do so, and now our poor tiny living room is dominated by a mammoth floor model rear projection tv. And I'm the happiest girl at the dance. ^_^

I think that's about all of the news that's fit to electronically publish, so I'm going to scamper off to do something pseudo-productive. Like floss my nightstand. If anyone needs me, I'll be doing that. Exactly that.

--Ak out

Tis the season

2008-12-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcome to the inaugural post of the Beck family blog! It's a year of many firsts for us... first ringworm epidemic, first marriage and now our first holiday season as a family. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, amidst weak protests from Tracy (aka Ak) (aka The Grinch), we decorated the house for Christmas. The boys were, as always, quite enthusiastic and willing to help.

Last year, Woot offered this wine as a symbol of holiday good cheer. Ak, being known to utter a few humbugs of his own during the holiday season, immediately had a case shipped to Court's house. While initially dismayed to see 6 bottles of the same wine, Court did appreciate the irony. Fortunately, it turned out to be pretty good wine, and has become a Beck holiday tradition (perhaps a short-lived one, as we only have one bottle left).

Court hung the first ornament on the tree -- the Holiday Armadillo! Which could be risky, because everyone knows if Santa and the Holiday Armadillo are ever in the same room for too long, the universe will implode!

Baby Ben helps with the rigging of the holiday disco ball. This was a wedding present. By the by, Ben "helping" went about as well as Ralphie helping his dad change the tire in "A Christmas Story." Oh FUDGE! He looked appalled when he was informed that his help wasn't so much helpful.

Alex, on the other hand, was quite an asset. "No, wait, tie the twine to that piece, see? That will work as a stabilizer plus improve the equilibirum. Good work today, person who brings me food. Now, go hang it, not too high because I intend to hunt it. When you're done with that, bring me food."

Meanwhile, back on the piano, Ben bravely wards off the tissue paper, thus ensuring the safety of the nativity scene and restoring order and justice to the living room.

Marty missed the decorating of the tree, the hanging of the holiday disco ball and the attempted nativity scene heist. He did, however, keep that pesky bone from troubling us. He's pretty close to a perfect dog.

Our stockings were hung by the bookcase with care, in hopes that no cats would find their way up there.

Ben inspects his big brother's handy work and studies the jump for later.

Alberto, our tree. This lovely little tree was purchased from the TROSA lot at the Streets at Southpoint. Great trees and a great cause -- check it out if you haven't already bought your tree. We have since added some garland and a star. However, due to the destructive nature of cats (especially little silver tabby kittens named Ben), we thought it best to leave ornaments off the bottom half. After a hard evening's work, we retired to bed, leaving our perfect angels to guard the tree.