BilikFamily.com

After watching Willy Wonka with Abby this afternoon, she helped me work on this photo album. It's mostly pictures of the younger three. We had especially been running low on pictures of Abby. She now seems to understand what happens when you take pictures and is getting better at smiling naturally most of the time.

I worked on assembling the glider/swing yesterday with occasional help from Claire, Abby, and Michelle. I made a “doh!” mistake and will probably work next week's evenings in the basement to see if I can correct it. After the kids went to bed last night, we watched Gattaca on DVD. Interesting movie. Much like when we saw Brave New World last week, I could see society sliding toward the path premised in the movie's theme — a caste world of genetic haves and have-nots. Many thanks to Will and Suzy for the movie recommendation.

We went to the Timeless Diner for breakfast after Mass this morning. While I've been there for lunch and dinner before and found it rather bland, the breakfast this morning was great. Maybe the morning cooks are better? Tonight we have a sitter coming so that Mom, Michelle, and I can go out for dinner one last time.

Tomorrow is the first class in swing dance for Michelle and I. We'll see if any of that rhythm from the past eight years of step aerobics can carry over to dance. I plan on dropping Photographix a CD with the hi-res pictures from this latest album for double 4x6s and some extra 5x7s.

On the serious side I read an article in this week's issue of The Wanderer syndicated from CNSNews warning that some elements of the proposed bankruptcy reform being debated in Washington seem to be targetted at pro-life protesters.

On the more humorous side I got a pointer from a co-worker to The Dialectizer — a website that will translate arbitrary English text into Redneck, Jive, Cockney, Elmer Fudd, Swedish Chef, Moron, Pig Latin, or Hacker dialects. Copy a paragraph of text and paste it into their website, pick a dialect, and click “Dialectize!” . It's quite funny. I'm surpised I had not seen it before. Here's an example.
Before:

The girls and I picked up mom at the airport yesterday. My goal was that Michelle would take a nap during our trip. On the way back from the airport we stopped at Quikava for drinks, BlockBuster for movies, and we showed mom Claire's school. When we all got back to the house, I was surprised to find that Michelle did not nap but rather used the time to straighten up. The kids watched Peter Pan in DVD while Michelle and I caught up with mom. Mom hadn't had much sleep the night before so Michelle and I took the kids on a walk and played on the backyard playground. Later we ordered in dinner from a nearby Italian takeout. After the kids went to bed Michelle and I watched Dragonfly with Kevin Costner. It was pretty good. The suspense was rather on-the-edge at times. I also rented Rat Race and Gattaca. I was interested in Gattaca after seeing the PBS Nova special, Cracking the code of life. It's a rather disturbing show, highlighting the promise and decisions involved in utilizing our knowledge of the human genome.

De goats and ah' picked down mom at da damn airpo't yesterday. Slap mah fro! Mah' goal wuz dat Michelle would snatch some nap durin' our trip. Jes hang loose, brud. On de way back fum de airpo't we stopped at Quikava fo' drinks, BlockBusta' fo' movies, and we showed mom Claire's farm. When we all gots back t'de crib, ah' wuz surprised t'find dat Michelle dun did not nap but rada' used da damn time t'straighten down. De kids watched Liva' Lips Pan in DVD while Michelle and ah' caught down wid mom. WORD! Mom hadn't had much sleep de night befo'e so's Michelle and ah' took de kids on some walk and played on de backyard playground. Lata' we o'dered in dinna' from some nearby Italian snatchout. Man! Afta' de kids went t'bed Michelle and ah' watched Dragonfly wid Kevin Costner. Ah be baaad... It wuz there. De suspense wuz rada' on-de-edge at times. ah' also rented Rat Race and Gattaca. WORD! ah' wuz interested in Gattaca afta' seein' de PBS Nova special, Crackin' de code uh life. It's some rada' disturbin' show, highlightin' de promise and decisions involved in utilizin' our knowledge uh de human genome.