Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

12 Monkeys, Season One:
Based on the classic movie starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, this first season takes a while to get away from the source material and discover its own voice. It drags a bit in the middle and there is too much explanation of time travel for the sake of dumb network audiences. However, when it finally does strike out on its own, it becomes an intriguing, watchable example of high-concept sci-fi. The last 3 episodes in particular do a great job of tying everything together. I liked this enough to buy the remaining 3 seasons all at once.

Final Grade: B

Reset by e-dubble:
Clocking in at just 7 songs and 26 minutes, this hip-hop EP left me wishing it was longer. Songs like Down are catchy and pleasant to listen to. It's equally as good as the album that follows it, Two Tone Rebel.

Final Grade: B+

Jim Gaffigan: Noble Ape:
The first half of Jim Gaffigan's latest comedy special is stronger than the end, but we enjoyed the entire thing. You generally know what types of jokes you're going to get from a special like this, and he doesn't stray far from the template. Free on Amazon Prime.

Final Grade: B

Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB:
I only upgraded phones because an S8 was part of my 15th work anniversary loot bag. Otherwise, I would have been happy using my S5 forever. The S8 is taller but narrower, making it easier to pocket but harder to browse content on. It's also incredibly slippery, making it the only phone I've ever bought a case for. The phone functions just fine although it's weighed down by the typical bloatware from Samsung that I can only partially remove / disable without rooting the device. Ten years ago I would have done this, but years of Windows and Firefox updates destroying my careful curation of customization has worn down my willpower to stray far from the factory settings. Overall, this is a nice little phone that satisfies my limited phone needs (texting, Reddit, the Washington Post, and Instagram).

Final Grade: B

Chad Darnell's 12 of 12

12 pictures of your day on the 12th of every month

4:57 AM: Showered and ready for work.

5:41 AM: Sunrise in the office.

8:09 AM: Writing about THE CLOUD.

11:33 AM: Safeway wings for lunch.

12:42 PM: Freshly mowed grass, the mortal enemy of interesting jigsaw puzzles and JPEG compression.

1:13 PM: Instilling new luxury into Maia's bath and shower routine.

1:36 PM: Maia is home from the park.

3:33 PM: Watching the last season of 12 Monkeys during nap time.

4:26 PM: Learning about shadows from Grandma.

4:44 PM: Trying on a new dress.

5:04 PM: Helping Grandpa fix the sidewalk.

7:19 PM: Swiss and mushroom burgers for dinner.

List Day: 10 Imminent Events

Within the next 90 days:

1. Our little family (sans Amber who will stay home sleeping on the big bump in the bed) will fly up to Rhode Island to visit my sister's family.


2. We will spend a weekend a (brief) distance away in Lovettsville at a farm rental house with sheep for Maia to baa at.


3. Rebecca will turn 36.


4. We will book October plane tickets for a 10th Anniversary Weekend in Montreal.


5. We will go to another barn dance in Taylorstown.


6. I will earn another Amazon Web Services certification (#7).


7. Maia will turn 2 years old and have a party with all of her little friends.


8. We will spend a weekend with Elisa and Sayak in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania.


9. We will go to a wedding of Rebecca's mom's sister's brother's son in St. Michael's, MD.


10. We will figure out what I should do for my 40th birthday in September, besides probably dying.

Maia Month #23 Battle Report

Maia is almost 2! A couple weeks ago, she weighed 21.8 pounds though she feels much heavier when she goes sack-of-potatoes on my arm. She enjoys assisting with our routine, from putting away the clean dishes to watering the plants outside with her own personal watering can.

Her brain continues to word associate -- when I pointed at a bench, she mentioned the statue of frogs sitting on a bench drinking coffee at the grandparents' house. When I said Rebecca was tall, Maia said "long neck giraffe". She also likes to remind us to finish unfinished tasks or rectify unresolved situations by saying things like "shoes off", "put shirt on", "close gate", "put back". Other recent likes include riding on my shoulders, The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners, the lawnmower, and fountains.

With 2 rapidly approaching, the first signs of tantrums are on the horizon. She will make the continuous "whiny noise" instead of applying her English skills when she wants something. Her two true tantrums to date resulted from not getting to walk through a fountain while clothed and running out of chocolate milk. If a lack of chocolate milk is the worst thing in your life, you're living a pretty good life.

Naptime is roughly 50% effective right now. She goes down to nap around 2 PM and if she hasn't fallen asleep in two hours, I get her up. It takes her much longer to settle into sleeping nowadays and she still recaps her entire day to her stuffed animals before calling it quits. When she does nap, she'll do a house census upon waking up -- "Mommy at work, Daddy at home, Amber sleeping on the big bump in the bed"

Memory Day: Snapshots

These pictures were taken 15 years ago today, on June 5, 2004. The occasion was a housewarming party for my newly-purchased Sterling house. The basement was quite cheery and had not yet been made over with bachelor jazz posters and a pool table. There may have been twenty different types of cast-off chairs furnishing the room.

The guest list was roughly 20% people related to me, 30% people related to Anna, 30% people I went to high school with, and 20% coworkers. Evil Mike (then known as Jaood) got me a clock shaped like a billiards rack which still hangs on the wall today even though it permanently stopped working around 2006.