Pickled Rainbow Chard Stems

Picked up a bunch of rainbow chard the other day, partly to make for dinner, but mostly for this. I cut way back on the sugar because 2 cups just seems like way too much and I like sour more than sweet. Not exactly sure how much sugar I used since a big clump of it fell out of the jar as I was pouring it into the measuring cup. I threw in a few pepper corns too. Now the hardest part, waiting. And waiting. Has it been three days yet?

Wine cork iPhone stand

This morning I noticed that my wife was using a cork to prop up her iPhone at the table. I don't know what inspired me but I broke out my x-acto kit and started cutting away. I shaved a little down one side so the cork wouldn't roll side-to-side and then cut a channel for the phone to sit in. It was a little trial and error but luckily we've been saving corks for a long time so I have plenty of material.

A conversation imagined

Setting: Office water cooler
Date/Time: Monday morning

Richard: Morning, Avi
Avi: Morning, Dick, didn't expect to see you here.
Richard: Yeah, well, I guess that whole "Rapture" thing wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Avi: Well, you know, the end of the world is a little hard to pin down.
Richard: About that, I know I might have said a few things on Friday that were a little out of line.
Avi: The whole "you're going to Hell" spiel was a little much, but I can understand, you thought the end of the world was upon us. Besides, you did give me your stapler and three-hole punch
Richard: Speaking of those, I don't suppose there's any way I could get those back?
Avi: Sorry, I gave them to Prasanna in IT.
Richard: WHAT? That Paki?
Avi: Well, you did give them to me and I already had a stapler and three-hole punch so I gave them to him.
Richard: How could you give them to that heathen?
Avi: With an attitude like that it's no wonder you weren't taken up.
Richard: oh, F*ck you.

R:

From my son's future autobiography:

Chapter 12: The day my cruel, evil father didn't buy me the M&M Easter Bunny in the checkout line and how it scarred me for life.

PSA

Thumb drives can survive a trip through the washer and dryer. Not recommended, but possible.

New phone app

My son just discovered the teething phone app. Works on any phone and you don't need to download anything.

Spring haiku

Days lengthen, buds appear, buy Kleenex.

The little boy in me

kind of wants to go here: CONEXPO-CON/AGG http://tinyurl.com/4jz4366

I <3 technology: just sent my cousin MLS tix via email

My son, the dictator

I imagine this might be what Mussolini was at age 3

H: Daaaadddddyyyy, Come here!
Me: Yes?
H: I'm going poo-poo. Just put your head in and turn on the fan. It's stinky.
Me: OK
H: Now can you go away?

five minutes later....

H: Daaaaaddddd. Come here!
Me: yes?
H: Can you pick up that toilet paper?
Me: OK.
H: Now go away.

three minutes later....

H: Daaaaaaadddddyyyyy!
Me: yes?
H: Can you get me that book?
Me: OK.
H: Now go away.

One minute later....

H: Daaaadddddyy!! Pick up this book.

Just a day in the life.

A good day:

Mom: how was pre-school?
H: good. I didn't hit anybody.

Can't stop watching:

Punkin chunkin on the Science channel.

Recent Statement Regarding Online Gambling

Sen. Margarita Prentice
PO Box 40411
Olympia, WA 98504-0411

Senator Prentice,

I am writing you regarding recent statements you made to ESPN.com regarding online gambling in the state of Washington. I was deeply disappointed by your apparent lack of empathy and concern for those Washington state residents who would seek to participate in online poker playing. Your apparent contempt for poker players and disparagement of gas station attendants is particularly upsetting. Your inability to understand and show concern for online poker players begs the question if there are other constituencies that you are out of touch with or fail to understand.

I am a stay-at-home parent of two young boys who enjoys playing poker as a recreation. As a parent I do not always have the time or luxury of traveling to a casino to play poker. Online poker allows me to put in short sessions of poker as time permits without needing to drive anywhere. Unfortunately I do not have the luxury to leave my children unattended and go down to the gas station and "go pump gas" as you suggest.

According to the law you sponsored I am a felon simply for playing poker online in the privacy of my own home. I must respectfully disagree.

Sincerely,
Tyler Moriguchi
Seattle, Washington

For sale:

3 year old boy. Make offer. All sales final.

Good/Bad soccer

Good: had a guy who looked like Tyrone Marshall play on our soccer team tonight. Bad: he didn't play like Tyrone Marshall.

If only

3 year olds and two month olds understood daylight savings and slept in for that extra hour.

Things I never thought I'd say

"no H, we don't lick frosting off other children's faces."

Winning feels good

Except for that barely being able to walk thing after the game. Rowdies Blue 5-1 (maybe 6).

If I may say so......

God damn I make a good Vietnamese house-husband.

SAHD Math

One 2 year old + one 6 week old + one pulled groin + one wife at work = one scared father + one long day

Who knew?

According to T my car "smells like boy" and apparently that is a bad thing.

QOTD

"Daddy, when I am older will you share your alcohol?" I can't make this stuff up. Mind you, he will be three in November. I guess there's no question who's child he is.

Fashion faux

Sounders jersey, grey shorts, and ................ Pink socks! Auntie QP would def not approve. That's the risk you run when you let your son choose.

Culinary adventure

The impulse buy of frozen boiled and salted broad beans was sadly a disaster. It would have helped if there were instructions on how to prepare on the package.

I wish

I didn't have to apologize to other parents for my son's behavior so much.

Friday night, parent style

Get child number 1 to bed by 9:00 while infant sleeps so we parents can spend some intimate time together paying bills online and read about our coop's new bed bug policy. We are crazy like that.

Milestones:

Just gave MMM his first bottle, which he killed in one sitting.

Haiku

Autumn rain/ falling in Seattle./ Too bad it's still summer.

Introducing

I would like to introduce everyone to my son, Minh Moriguchi.

Pretty awesome

Thanks to Julius Goat over at the Goat Speaks for this.

An open letter to dog owners

(especially the one who's dog took a shit at Woodinville field #2) I like dogs. Big ones, little ones, yappy little lap dogs, dogs with funny haircuts, you name it. I don't even mind the slobber or the bad breath. And I don't mind them running around off-leash in the park or on the field. And even when your dog takes a giant dump in the middle of a soccer field, I don't hate them. Because let's face it, they're dogs. But when you, as their owner, leave that shit on the field, I hate you. I despise you. I want to cause bodily harm to you. And if I ever see you leaving shit on the field it will not be pretty.

And sure, I've been in your situation where I only brought 2 bags and you've already used them up. But maybe you can look in a garbage can and find something to use to, at the very least, remove said shit from the middle of the field.

Thank you.

Happiness is...

Coming home and having your son run up to you and saying "hi daddy, I missed you!"

TMWS

(things my wife says) "I knew one of us was going to give in and it wasn't going to be him"

SMDT

(Sh*t my dad texts) "I'm in the beer g"

This is interesting on several levels.
1. That my dad is texting me in the first place
2. Where he is texting me from
3. That he is using shorthand and not spelling out "garden". Next thing I know he'll be using "idk" and "lol"

With respect to Mr. Cosby

Son: "why it not working?"
Me: "it's not plugged in"
Son: "it plugged out?"

A typical day at the office

me to son: "do you have to go poo?"
son: "No, I'm just shaking my bum-bum."

WWYW answer

If you answered pink you are correct! If you didn't, you don't have the same fashion sense as a two year old.

WWYW?

(What would you wear?) If you had to pick a pair of socks to go with this outfit, what color would they be? Answer in a little bit.

TYDWYaP

(Things You Discover When You're a Parent) The best thing to keep you warm on a cool day is a little boy snuggled in your arms.

Two days in the 90s, two in the 80s, and just like that, it's Fall in Seattle.

"everybody bleeds burgandy," really? #coloradorapids fail.

Hwy 99 haiku

Mount Rainier,/
always present, and yet, every day/
a pleasant surprise.

File under "duh"

Over heard a conversation on the street. Apparently Mother's day weekend is a slow time for the people who hand out the cards for strippers. Who would have known?

Why, yes

I have already been to the spa and am already looking forward to going
back. Do you have a problem with that?

Luckiest man alive

If you are going to ask your wife if you can go to Las Vegas for a soccer tournament over Mother's Day weekend either are very stupid or you have a very understanding spouse. Luckily for me, my wife loves me despite my stupidity.

It's not fair

Most mornings our son wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30, which means that we get up at the same time. My body is so used to it that here on one of those rare days where he's sleeping in I am wide awake. And I don't really want to start moving around for fear of waking him since his sleeping in must mean he's tired and needs the sleep. No, there's no question who rules this house.

I wonder ...,

if our son grows up to be famous will he write about how cruel I was
to force him to drink apple juice from a cup with a straw instead of
from a juice box?

Things I learned today:
1. The shrub next to our house is called sarcococca.
2. My son thinks it's a blueberry bush.
3. All those talks about asking an adult before eating anything outside were for naught.

like a phoenix rising from the ashes....

I know you were all waiting for this... Guchi.com is Back!!!! If I was so inclined I might make reference to Spring, Easter and rebirth, but I'm not. It's been fun working in Joomla to create the site. I'm going to add more bells and whistles when I have time to play around with Joomla, but at least it's not a blank site anymore.

I've traded in the stay at home dad outfit for business attire. Just for the evening.

LOST

The first episode I ever saw of LOST was the Season 1 Finale. I remember thinking "what the hell is this?" And yet, here I am, watching the final episodes religiously. At this point I feel like I've invested so much time what are a few more hours? I guess part of me just needs to know how it ends; what this whole island is all about.

At times I see the grand metaphors that others see and at other times I think the people who created this show probably should seek psychiatric help.

I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have stuck with the show for so long had it not been for the Goat Speaks. Almost immediately after watching an episode I go over and read his take on what happened. Not only are there little things I totally missed but reading his perspective is almost as entertaining (if not more) than the show itself.

So don't bother trying to get a hold of me on Sunday, May 23, I'll be busy.

Andrew Zimmern would be proud

Just watched my son polish off a plate of Annie's Bunny Graham Friends dipped in ume (plum) salad dressing. I don't think there's anything he won't eat if given a sauce to dip it in.

Test Drive

Let's see if this works. I'm going to publish a blog post and using twitterfeed, push this out to twitter and facebook. Why in the world would I need to do that? That's a very good question. But then do any of us really need Twitter, blogger, facebook and the like? That is an excellent question indeed.

PDA: I am putting on shorts. Prepare to shield your eyes from the ghastly sight of paleness.

Sounders are undefeated at home this season when I attend the match. #justsaying

"thank you come in my room mommy, that was so nice." #thingsour2yearoldsays

Led our team in scoring and fouls. Unfortunately the other team scored 5 times as many goals as me.

Can't wait until H can wipe and blow his own nose.

Go @soundersfc! Never have I had so much riding on a game.

Wife: you're lucky I'm not easily offended or I'd get violent. Me: that would make you a Republican.

Trying hard to get my son to come out of the closet.

Feels dirty on so many levels.

Really needs to read emails more carefully. This is the second time in two days I've been an hour early.

SIGH!!!

is unhoarding.

Met a man who said he has dinner w/ his whole family (4 kids, 10 gkids, 6 ggkids, 31 ppl) every Thurs. Truly enviable.

My wife asked me to pick up her books at the library but neglected to tell me there were 16! Sadly this is not an April's Fools except maybe on me.

Saw a little turtle today.

Website Changes

So my web hosting company had a fire in their data center and the server that housed my website got hosed. The other day I got an email saying that they weren't able to retrieve the data from back-ups (did I mention that apparently the back up servers were in the same location?). Not that I had much on the website anyway, but I'm too lazy to even try and recreate the site. So now I've just slapped on my twitter feeds and will probably add links to other places.

Working on my website in vi!!!!

Dark, rainy days/
give way to sun and blossoms,/
Time to refill the allergy meds.

Woo hoo! Sounders tickets just arrived![

I'm pretty sure I've violated a few fashion rules today. I know QNP would not approve.

Father of the year candidate? Get wife & son sick, stay out playing poker tourney Fri, and then leave town for the wknd the next morning.

Listening to NPR story about college admissions and already dreading 16 years into the future.

May I confess that I feel slightly emasculated that I have no idea (or interest in) what's going on in NCAA b-ball? #marchmadness

I am a sputum machine.

Um, yeah it's snowing

Thank goodness my wife is here to care for our son while I battle the flu. Once again, props to single parents.

Yes, the sun is out, but that doesn't mean it's shorts & t-shirt weather people!! #crazyseattlelites

Wondering what % of Americans watching curling have any idea what's going on. I'm guessing > 10%

Sitting by the side of Market street w/ H watching all the cars and trucks pass by.

Someone please let me know how the Olympics are going. Apparently we can on watch Bob the Builder in this house. #lifewitha2yearold

Broke CNY taboo by cleaning the bathroom. Luckily my people don't observe CNY and wife isn't complaining.

LOST!!

Vodka shot w/ fish sauce chaser #icantbelieveijustsidthat

Geaux Saints!

Rediscovering play-doh

My son=snot faucet.

Mom: "do you know your farts stink?" Son: pause, big grin "yeah!"

It may not be Zagat, but when my 2yo son says "like it" about something I cook, well I feel pretty f*cking good.

Was enjoying a slice of combo pizza until his son came and picked off all the toppings. Now I'm eating a slice of cheese pizza.

Good: deciding to make hummus. Bad: no tahini. Miraculous: remembering I bought some 6 months ago and finding the jar in the pantry.

Did I need a 3Gs? Not really. Did I get it anyway?Hell yes. Thank you Venetian poker players.

God damn second-hand smoke.

Must. Sleep.

But seriuosly, my wife rocks.

H is happily playing by himself. Doesn't want me to play or read to him. Guess I'll go clean.

making more no knead bread

Survived NYE despite attempts to sabotage me with Maker's Mark and Canadian single malt whiskey (or whisky?)