BilikFamily.com

Has it really been ten days since I've written anything? Things have been a bit busy. Or maybe it just seems that way.

DS - On Friday the 9th I ordered a Nintendo DS Lite from Amazon. I should say that I "pre-ordered" it because they were officially to be released on the 11th. When you order something that's somewhat commodity from Amazon, they usually have plenty of suppliers who can fulfill your request. When I ordered the Nintendo, Amazon said it would ship when it's available from Toys R Us.

The weekend passes and Monday morning I log into Amazon to check the status of the order. Status shows it backordered with an estimated ship date of... August. August?! From Toys R Us? Are you serious?!

Meanwhile I go back to the front page of Amazon and ask about buying a Nintendo again and they say they have them in stock, this time from GameStop, shipping in 1-2 days. After a little thought, I cancel my order and reorder it. I even ask to pay the premium for overnight shipping. It left GameStop's inventory that evening and arrived the next morning, along with a separate order of two games I ordered for it. August? Yeah right!

Timothy speaks - Of course I didn't see the packages until that evening. I waited until the boys went down to bed and played Mario Kart DS with the girls. My intention for this Gameboy is that the boys not use it. I've seen how they use theirs and it makes me wish I could boil the Gameboys in water. They cough all over them; they sneeze on them; they eat while playing … I'll stop now as it only gets more gross.

The next morning arrives and the girls ask if they can play once they finish getting ready for school. Michelle gives the boys their Gameboys anticipating that once they see their sisters playing, they'll want to play some video games as well.

Timothy, although very sharp in many, many respects is behind in his speech. We're not sure if he's just a late talker or if it's related to his hemifacial microtia. When he saw the girls playing with the new model, he started crying. Michelle offered him a Gameboy but, clear as a bell, he said, "No! I want that one!"

Amazing what he can do when it matters, eh? Is it a coincidence that last month we heard him say, "No, that's mine!" But at least his sentences are getting longer. *grin*

Boys - For those who've asked, Michelle has been taking the boys for a bunch of tests and evaluations lately. The twins are a bit behind for kindergarten but my concern has been to get Timothy evaluated for his speech. He has been going through a few tests for that and we should get some results soon.

Claire - Wednesday evening Claire joined the members of her 4th grade band for a performance for the parents. Every student is a first year player having only started last fall. If you use your imagination you can imagine how it went: a room full of beaming parents proud of the progress their son/daughter has made in just one year. Meanwhile I'm sure the terrorists in Guantanamo Bay would break down and give us useful intelligence if we just played recordings of our kids' band in a non-stop loop. It would certainly work better than playing Christina Aguilera music. "Okay, okay! I'll talk! Just turn of that band music!"

If you've ever tried to play a clarinet you know that if you don't blow just right, they make a horrible squeak that sounds like a goose that's been run over. Claire was embarrassed because the boy playing right behind her squeaked a few times and it tended to sound like the squeak was coming from her.

Today promises to be busy. In addition to the usual Saturday gymnastics (which ends this week), Claire has her piano recital. She'll do two solos and one duet with me. Practicing the duet has been part of the reason I haven't written this past week. She and I did a duet at last year's recital. Hopefully this one goes as well. I'll be glad when it's behind us.

Jetta - It's been 2 months since we purchased the Jetta to replace my Accord as the daily commuter car. Yesterday I crossed the 5000 mile mark. So far so good. It's mileage has been consistently above my expectations. With the efficiency it's had, I'm willing to put up with the fact that at idle it sounds like a diesel. At highway speeds, it actually sounds quieter than many similar sized four cylinder cars, perhaps because it's typically only doing about 2500 RPMs. Below is a summary of the data (calculations courtesy of Google Spreadsheets)

Price	Date	Trip	Total	gallons	MPG
$2.85	4/21/06	628.6	656	13.30	47.26
$2.87	4/30/06	631.3	1288	12.85	49.13
$2.87	5/7/06	591.9	1880	11.64	50.85
$2.99	5/15/06	644.5	2524	13.00	49.58
$2.85	5/22/06	611.5	3136	12.23	50.00
$2.85	6/1/06	621.5	3757	11.89	52.27
$2.85	6/8/06	666.0	4423	13.29	50.11
$2.83	6/16/06	651.1	5075	12.68	51.35

Humor - I'll close with my favorite video of the week. I mentioned it briefly on the link sidebar, but it deserves a little more attention. Jay Leno did a spot on the Tonight Show talking about the Pope's iPod and Apple's new ad based on it:

Click to play...