The Oz-man Cometh!

I feel a bit bad that I haven't mentioned the new offspring residing within K8 yet. We already know he's a boy and we're calling him Ozzi. No we are not Ozzy Osborne fans. Anywho, he will be getting ripped out from the warm and cozy world that he knows on Dec. 14th. We're as ready as we can be and very excited to see him. Even Q seems pumped.

As a special pre-push present for K8 I just reserved two tickets to a special local premier of the new film Juno at The Walker on the 13th. Juno was written by former City Pages writer Diablo Cody, who will be there to speak after the screening.

Being that the movie is a comedy about a Minneapolis teenager being knocked up, I figured it would be a whole lot of fun to bring a super pregnant K8 (not a teenager) the night before the baby is born. It's not like we would be able to fall asleep anyway. Plus, Q will be at Grandpa's so it's probably our last chance for a date night for a very long time. The movie looks awesome and I can't wait to see it.

Arty Pants at The Walker

Today we made it to The Walker for Arty Pants. Despite it being damn cold outside there was a really good turnout. Q's Homeboys Max and Carter even showed up with their moms in tow. All in all it was a great time and we managed to leave all the priceless works of art relatively unscathed. In Carter's defense that sculpture totally looked like park equipment.

The List... and I'm not on it.

Emily McManus over at TED recently put together a phenomenal list of "100 Websites You Should Know and Use". I have to admit that I haven't heard of most of the sites listed here until now. Of course there are a few that I can go without, www.ge.com, but a vast majority of them are fantastic, informative, beautiful, fun, useful, and/or surprising you've managed to go through life on the internet without them.

A few standouts of what I've looked at thus far:

thomasedison.org
papertoys.com
matthewmahon.com
curiosityshoppeonline.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

Livin' La Vida Local: Art

There is so much out there for artists these days that it's rare to find someone that really presents something you can genuinely say that you love and be able to leave it at that. So much of what we see being produced today, though amazing, moving, thought provoking it may be, is hard to simply enjoy. It's even harder to find something that your entire family can enjoy. Well look no further than the Twin Cities own artist/athlete JAO.

GO! The Walker Art Center: Arty Pants

Next Tuesday is yet another installment of Arty Pants at the Walker. We haven't been there for quite a while. Unfortunately we missed this months First Free Saturday, another awesome regular event. This month they were celebrating the new Frida Kahlos special exhibit. For December it looks like First Free Saturday will be everything Hip Hop.

Any-who, I think we are a bit over due to get our art on, so we will be doing our best to make it to the Walker next Tuesday (Nov. 27) at 11 am. That's really the only downfall of this program. It starts at 11am. This kinda forces you to either leave after only an hour or less or to have lunch with the kids at the 20.21 Wolfgang Puck restaurant upstairs. But doing that is like having a perfectly good date night dining experience wasted on the food flinging product of a similar date night from the distant past.

One Laptop Per Child

I know I linked to the One Laptop Per Child site in a previous post but with only 11 days left in their buy one, give one offer I felt compelled to mention it again. I absolutely love this program. In todays world giving a poor child a computer of their own is one of the greatest gifts you can give. With that tool the possibilities are endless.

Polizia Italia Tragedia

Q: walking around the house holding a 1st generation ipod to his ear like a phone. "Hi." Long pause (listening). "Yeah. It's burnt. Yeah. Broken. No work. Police car tires melted. Yeah."

DK: "Who are you talking to buddy?"

Q: "Fire Station."


Rewind to two days prior. I'm making gnocchi for dinner. Q is "helping". I turn the burner off and take the big pot of gnocchi off the stove. I turn around and start draining it. Q is standing on a stool playing with a little toy polizei Smart Car that we picked up in Italy a few years back. He is not within arms reach of the stove.

While straining the gnocchi I hear Q say in a calm non-attention grabbing tone, "Car slow down. Car stop. Papa. Car slow down. Uh oh."

After several other incidents around the house my ears have become very acutely trained to pick out Q saying uh oh. I quickly turned around to see Q still a safe distance away from the stove top but apparently a high speed pursuit of an unknown assailant across the kitchen counter had come to a very abrupt end after jumping onto the burner that was previously boiling water.

Luckily he wasn't burnt and molten rubber comes off of the stove top easier than one might think. The gnocchi was very good.


DK: "Who are you talking to buddy?"

Q: "Fire Station."

DK: "Oh yeah?"

Q: "Here Papa. They wanna talk to you."

Q's favorite songs... for now.

I know that there are a lot of "hipster" parents out there that constantly talk about how cool their kids are because they like Interpol, The Sex Pistols, Wu Tang Clan, etc. I try not to dictate Q's musical tastes. I prefer gently influence. He certainly likes some stuff I can barely tolerate and some I can't stand.

When he's in the car with me we listen to The Current where he managed to take a liking to MIA for a while. Jack Johnson seems to be his regular fall back music thanks to the Curious George movie soundtrack. At the moment he has two favorites that he constantly wants me to play. Here they are:

Thanks to the video ipod ad, he has taken a serious shining to Feist's 1234 song.



Then there's his other current favorite. Lately I've been listening to Brother Ali while cleaning up or making dinner. I'm pretty proud of the fact that he likes this one since in my humble opinion Brother Ali is one of the best new Hip Hop acts on the scene. Maybe I'm biased being that he's from Minneapolis but...

Picture Perfect Twin Cities - The Weisman

From time to time I will be posting about places around the Twin Cities that I have found to be great locations for taking photographs of children.

Today, The Weisman Art Museum. Located on the U of M campus overlooking the Mississippi River, The Weisman was designed by world renowned architect Frank Gehry. I'll spare any attempt at an architectural review by simply saying that it is an amazing building, an explosion of angles and shapes all covered with shimmering stainless steel.

Inside you will find a few small galleries that are definitely worth walking through, especially since admission is free. There are an assortment of paintings and sculpture that seem to appeal to kids. If, while inside, you plan to take any pictures make sure your flash is off and its best to check with the front desk for any other restrictions they may have on photography in the galleries.

Now it's time to get the really good pictures outside. Take the elevator down to the parking garage entrance level and walk outside toward the river. You will find a nice patch of grass right in front of the building. Let the kids run off some steam while you start snapping as many pictures as possible. Don't worry too much if they don't want to "pose" for you. Most of the pictures that I really like that I've taken there of Q and some friends are of kids being kids. Remember that the building is reflective so it can be just as much a subject as your child. Showing up at just the right time of day could make a nice picture spectacular! The following pictures were not taken in ideal conditions but they give you a good idea of the potential.

London 2006

In the summer of 2006 we took Q to London for a week and loved it. Outside of the cost it was a great trip and we would love to go back again.

The highlights of the trip were:
The Princess Diana Memorial Playground. A must for anyone with kids. By far the coolest playground I have ever seen. Worth the tip by itself.

View Larger Map

Q and I getting kicked out of Westminster Abby. Long story and it's getting late so I'll have to tell that one some other time. I'll just leave you with the little montage of pictures from the trip I put together. Enjoy!

Karma

The Holiday Season is quickly approaching once again. This inevitably brings about a feeling that I have let yet another year go by without doing enough to better the world around me. So, with the onset of winter, I again am scrambling to find ways to score as much good karma as I can. With that, here are a few organizations and ideas I have found that can help you help the world:

Heifer International
UNICEF
Kiva
Grameem
Idealist
TOMS Shoes
One Laptop Per Child

Q's going the distance. Q's going for speed!

Here's one of many videos of Q I had put together for family in the past that I will now be slowly adding to the blog.

A COOL COOL ROBOT!!

After reading "My friend is Sad" by Mo Willems, the best children's book author alive today, for the hundreth time we decided that a robot would be a great halloween costume for Q this year. So after a quick trip to Home Depot and just a little time with a scissors and some spray paint here's what we came up with.