Matt | The Connolly Family

Roundup

Okay–there are a lot here, so settle in for a while…

Ready to run:

Hoo-ah!

Toddler Thought Process:

#1: Hmmm…I wonder if I could reach that…

Yes, Yes, I Can!

Aftermath

Visit with Mo and Pok:

Off To Work

Can’t forget my calculator:

Got it!

Commuting is such a drag.Â It’s so nice to finally be in my office and able to close the door.

Seriously, Mom!Â Can’t I just have a minute to settle in?

Aftermath of a day’s worth of food skirmishes (found underneath the tray when it was removed to be cleaned):

SNOW!!!

Look, Ma!

At The Gardens:

Fric and Frac:

Liam: See, you just gotta put the thingamajiggy in the whoziwhatzit

Walker: Umm…I’m not so sure the the whoziwhatzit doesn’t go in the woogle

Emotional Evolution

Playing on the deck:

We just had a new banister with newel post installed on our stairs leading to the basement. Not only does it look great, but Liam is now far less likely to break his neck falling off the side! (Not to mention some of our more “mature” relatives…) Of course, Liam is still not allowed on the stairs.

From the basement:

From the landing:

From the top:

The 6th Challenge

1. Go to the photo folder in your computer

2. Go to the 6th folder of photos.

3. Go to the sixth picture.

4. Put the picture on your blog along with a description of it.

5. Invite six friends to join the challenge (I am tagging anyone who reads this – leave me a comment if you post one on your blog.)

6. Think about why this challenge only has 5 steps instead of 6

20 Questions

For Christmas, Santa gave me an electronic widget that plays “20 Questions.”Â For those of you that are not familiar with this game — you ask yes or no questions until you figure out what the other person has in mind.Â It’s called 20 Questions because the idea is that you have to guess what the other person is thinking of in 20 questions or fewer.Â If you don’t guess what they’re thinking of after asking your allotted 20 questions, they win.Â If you do guess what it is in 20 questions or fewer, you win.Â The electronic version of the game that I got from Santa (called 20 Q) bills itself as being so good that it’s spooky, but so far it has never guessed correctly.Â Among the things we have thought up that it has not guessed: a black lab, a regular dog, and a spoon.Â I think we may have thrown a celebrity in there, but it doesn’t do famous people.Â By the way, in case you missed that, we did say “spoon.” We tried it twice to make sure we’d answered the questions correctly, but it was still too stupid to come up with “spoon.”

At any rate, I decided to challenge Shannon to a regular game of 20 Questions (sans 20 Q) with me asking the questions. Here are the highlights:

Matt (question 1): Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?
Shannon: “Mostly Animal”

…

Matt (question 9): Is it a hot dog?
Shannon: Yes
Matt (celebrating, then realizing…): Wait, I didn’t win?

Shannon: No.

Matt (question 10:) Is hot dog one of the ingredients?
Shannon: Yes

…

Matt (question 14): Is it a chili dog or something equally ridiculous like that?
Shannon: Yes, something as equally ridiculous as that

…

Matt (question 18): Is it a chili dog from the Varsity?
Shannon: Yes
Matt (celebrating again): Take that, machine!
Matt (question 19): Shannon, did you realize you were married to the John Henry of 20 questions?
Shannon: No, no I didn’t.

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Pok!

Â From Spidey and Steve Prefontaine(and Shannon as Annie Leibovitz, too)

Â UPDATE: Another shot of “Pre” at work:

Half-Marathon Training Update

Let me tell you, you do not want to run across one of these guys at mile 3 of an 8 mile run. The guy (copperhead) that I found I think was dead, although you couldn’t tell unless you poked him with a stick and then dragged him out of the road using that stick. For those of you that don’t know, Shannon and I are training for a half-marathon on Thanksgiving. As part of our training, we run a “long run” each weekend that has been steadily building in length. A half-marathon is 13.1 miles, which seems possible now that we have each run an 8-miler. I track my runs using a somewhat buggy website, butÂ here is a link to the route I ran today.Â

Liam at the Beach

Today Liam had a few firsts:

First time in the pool
First time at the beach
First time in the ocean
First time in the Gulf of Mexico
First time touching/tasting sand

Here are a few pictures (click to enlarge):

Joyful Jazz

Do you own an LP of Joyful Jazz by Father Tom Vaughn? If so, click here.

Spoon!

I have a set of silverware that I keep at work: a fork, knife and spoon from IKEA. They are decent and do the job. I am particular about my spoons, however. Recently my spoon seems to have disappeared. I’ve looked through my office, my desk, and even at home, but I cannot find it. That doesn’t mean it’s not on my desk somewhere anyway, as my desk can be messy sometimes. I alerted my side of the office via email:

I am missing a spoon. It is silver, and should have IKEA stamped on the back of the handle. Itâ€™s highly possible that I accidentally took it home or that it is actually in my office somewhere, but hopefully someone else just picked it up after I forgot it in the sink. I am very particular about my spoons, please let me know if you have it.

After a few days and some humorous comments, I posted this on my door:

A few days went by, and then the following was put below my picture:

I was very impressed with the note, so I wrote another email to my office mates:

Dear Creator of the Spoon Ransom Note on My Door,

I appreciate the effort. Really. However, I canâ€™t even tell itâ€™s my spoon. It could be just some spoon that looks like mine. Unless I can actually talk to the spoon and confirm that it is mine, there is no deal. Also, ransom notes generally list details like where I should leave the money, but still, A+ for effort.

We’re planning to go to IKEA in a few weeks, and I think I should just buy a dozen spoons in case my replacements are stolen.

Matt the Web Designer

For my 28th birthday, my sister and her band (Banjo Mando Bando?) wrote me a song, and then played it! It’s a rewrite of a folk song, which explains some of the lyric choices…

Author: Matt