Keeping Dishes Clean

Our dishwasher seems to not be cleaning the dishes very well. I bought some Jet Dry to see if it would help. Momoko thinks not. The solution is to buy a new dishwasher.

We have a weird setup in the kitchen. The new floor drops off under the dishwasher. The counters above the dishwasher are particle board which are falling apart. Therefore installation has been a problem in the past. Uneven floor plus no good way to secure the dishwasher equals trouble.

Momoko, Little Kat, and I went to a local appliance store. The salesperson wanted to talk our ear off. When we got a chance, I told her that we needed to study the dishwashers in private. We wanted a standard dishwasher handle to open the thing. The tricky latch on our current model broke down twice. We also need a front panel display.

It turns out we chose a model that is recommended by Consumer Reports. The thing was on sale 30% less than retail price. I decided to go pick the thing up from the warehouse, and hire our handyman to do the tricky install.

BBQ Weekend

Today is our yard work day. We got the grass cut in record time. This was due to Little Kat and Momoko starting the job yesterday. They mowed the lawn around the area in the back yard where Little Kat wanted to pitch a tent for the weekend.

After the mowing, we did our normal shopping. Little Kat and I braved Walmart. They had some hard to find items such as Peanut M&Ms in fun sized bags. They also had soft soap. Nobody seems to have the hair conditioner that Kit Kat wanted us to buy.

I was famished when we got done shopping. All I had eaten was some leftover pizza for breakfast. The local roast beef fast food store provided me with a snack. Kit Kat then produced a feast by grilling up all our meats. I had a few burgers for dinner, and a hot dog for dessert. We are set for the weekend.

Kung Fu Falling Apart

Kit Kat had made plans to see Kung Fu Panda with her friends this weekend. She was going to have Momoko drive some of her friend to the theater. Others were to get a ride there. Today was the movie day.

After breakfast, Kit Kat came down and said all her plans were falling apart. The people getting rides were unable to arrange them. One friend suggested they all just walk to the pool. Momoko approved this change of plans.

Little Kat suffered a bit because of the changes. He was going to tag along to see the movie. Now his plans are up in the air. He might go visit one of his friends, or perhaps eat dinner with Momoko. The only part of the plans that has stayed the same is that Kit Kat's friends are sleeping over at our house tonight.

Laundry Fail Again

This week I had a large amount of laundry to wash. Had a lot of work to do, and work clothes add up in the hamper. Momoko also needed her clothes washed. Little Kat has that job.

We had Little Kat do the laundry first because I stay up late. I told Little Kat to set a timer to make sure the laundry he was doing got done. He used his iPhone for the timer. I checked up on Little Kat and he said he got this.

A few hours later I asked Little Kat if he was done with the laundry. I needed to get started. He told me he forgot, and that he must not have heard his alarm. Then I found out that the clothes never made it to the dryer. These clothes were just not getting done that night.

Now Little Kat is in trouble. Momoko is cooking up some plans to help Little Kat stay on task for laundry and other work. If not, Little Kat will just have to stay in the laundry room until the laundry is done. Harsh. But it will work.

Do The Walk

Normally we play tennis on Mondays for exercise. However Kit Kat suggested we go for a walk instead today. She had done a walk to a carnival this weekend. Then she walked to her friend's house. If Kit Kat could do that, we could walk around the block.

After the walk, I got to work repairing the back of our house. Last week I found that some wood on the house was damaged. It was either water damage or termites. I tore out the weak wood and needed to patch it up. I attached some wood pieces and sealed the gaps.

These days I am busy working on my computer program that I intend to sell some day. Instead of playing iPhone games, I am writing my own game of sorts. I plan to get Kit Kat to test it out for me.

Ants and Rain

Today was tennis day. After tennis we went to the library. Kit Kat had an anime book come in. She also got some previous issues of the manga. Then Momoko suggested we eat some BBQ. All were in favor.

Little Kat had a kids meal. It allowed him to get a soda to drink. Momoko got a double catfish platter. She could not finished all her sides. We chipped in a helped her out.

At home we found ants coming in the kitchen. They headed into our pantry. We spents hours cleaning everything up. Outside I found our wall rotting or termite infested. Then the rain gutters started overflowing because they were clogged. When it rains, it pours.

Computer Parts

This past week Little Kat's laptop overheated. We need this laptop working 24 x 7. Little Kat uses it for his homework. He used to have some external computer fans which kept the laptop cool. Little Kat said they broke.

Today we took a trip to Five and Below. They had a bunch of laptop cooling fans for $5. Little Kat chose one of them. We will see if it keeps his computer cool. Then Little Kat talked me into going to Best Buy. We went in search of computer parts to build a computer ourselves.

Everything seemed a bit expensive. They did not have any motherboards or CPUs. A guy who worked they told us they did not cater to computer builders like us. He referred us to New Egg on the web. We priced a bunch of hardware. Total cost would have been $320 without the CPU or motherboard. But we found some cool stuff for that price. Next stop is New Egg.

Rained Out

Yesterday I raced home from work for our scheduled tennis session. There was some rain on the way home. Momoko advised us to stay at home and exercise with the Wii. I said we should be hard core and go for the tennis. We drove to the tennis court, and it looked a bit dark.

We got the rackets and tennis balls out. There were some rain drops coming down. Kit Kat was chirping about the rain. Momoko complained that she was going to get wet. Duh. By the time we finished out first set of tennis, the rain was coming down. Momoko was complaining before the rain came down. So I did not object to us going home right then and there.

Little Kat was surpising in that he did not complain about the weather. He said he liked rain. He also had a ball cap that protected him from getting water in his face. Today we also had tennis scheduled in the afternooon. However Momokok and Little Kat did not come home on time. I wonder if this had anything to do with the weatherman calling for rain again today.

Shopping Cart Fail

Little Kat and I went shopping at Target today like every Sunday. We had a short list. That made us happy. The checkout lines were long. As we got close to the register, an employee came and unloaded Little Kat's shopping cart. That seemed odd. Then she tried to pile some other stuff in the cart and take off with it.

I looked at Little Kat, and he seemed to just be remaining quiet. Therefore I shouted at the employee saying, "Hello? We still have cokes on the bottom of our cart." The employee looked like she was taken aback. She asked if we still needed the cart. I felt like responding with a "duhhhh". However I remained respectful and said we needed our cart.

It seemed a bit rude that an employee would steal our cart without asking first. Now if we could only get Little Kat to be assertive enough to prevent shopping cart theft, we will be all the better. It is okay though. I think he learns by watching how Momoko and I handle outselves.

The iPad Adventure

Momoko had wanted to buy an iPad. I thought that was too expensive for such a toy. Then the iPad 2 came out. Momoko really wanted to get one of them. When the iPad 2 went on sale, Momoko tried to get one. They were sold out everywhere.

So Momoko put in an order for one of them. It seemed an eternity for the thing to come in. I advised Momoko to cancel her order. However just this week the thing came in. At first Momoko was suspicious. The box only said "iPad". She wanted the iPad too. A little research showed that she had in fact purchased an iPad 2.

Little Kat says that the screen of the iPad 2 is high definition. He also said it was 9 times faster than the original iPad. Looks like he got confused with some of the marketing hype. Momoko's games show a whole lot more on the iPad 2. It works seamlessly with out wireless Internet in the house. However Momoko found that the version she bought does not work with our cell phone 3G network. Outside the house she has no connection.

Science Materials

Momoko found a physical science teacher that had recently retired. He had all kinds of contraptions that let you demonstrate science to the students. And he was willing to give all these goodies to Momoko. Last week she and Little Kat tried to transport the materials to her class. They failed. Kit Kat and I came to help them out.

This week we planned it out right. I brought my truck. Momoko got Kit Kat. We all met Little Kat after school and went in search of treasure. There was a whole garage full of science equipment. The route to the guy's house was treacherous due to traffic. But I think it will be well worth it.

The first load filling my truck and Momoko's car took 45 minutes to get. Momoko had a parent/teacher conference that evening. So only Little Kat and I returned to the guy's house for a second load. We packed the truck tight. It took a very long time to unload it and cart the stuff to Momoko's classroom. There is still more stuff left in the guy's garage!

Napter Inspired

I recently read a book about Napster. Do you remember? It was a program that came out 10 years ago. It let you find and trade free MP3 songs. The great thing about the force behind Napster was that only a few programmers created the first version. The founder was a high school student. I was inspired to read about them.

That gave me an idea. I am a programmer. I should be able to create something myself. So now I am going to try to come out with my own program. I discussed the plan with Little Kat. He had a lot of input. He thought I should write a game for the iPhone. He had ideas on how I should prive the app. Little Kat also had ideas about the name for the app. Good stuff. Let's see where this takes us.

Gun Paint Fail

Little Kat has a toy rifle he picked up a few years ago. He got it while we were on vacation. The thing is made of wood. But it started to break apart. The paint on it is also messed up.

Little Kat and I bought some Gorilla glue and brown spray paint. Little Kat was able to use the glue to secure the gun. Today we planned to paint the thing. We spread old newspaper over our patio. A bunch of rocks held the paper down to prevent the wind from moving it.

Little Kat started spraying the brown paint on the gun. The blast from the spray paint can made the newspaper fly up. I moved the rocks to surround the gun. We painted both side. Later when we went to get the gun, we found the outside newpaper had blown up and covered the gun. Fail. Little Kat had to repaint that side of the gun. We have now secured all sides of the newpaper.

The Chemist

Today I drove home and got there just as Kit Kat was walking up. I went up to my room to read my new book from Grand Kat. Kit Kat's phone rang. It was Momoko. She needed our help.

A chemist was retiring and donating all the science goodies to Momoko. We though that Little Kat and Momomko could transport the load to school. We were wrong. Kit Kat and I brought the truck and a dolly. We helped carry the stuff from Momoko's car to her classroom. There will be more trips in the future with the truck.

At home, Little Kat unpacked a few chemistry treasure he got for himself. Then he went outside to pitch his tent. He is spending the weekend in the back yard roughing it. He might be a boy scout at heart after all. Kit Kat is cooking us up some fried chicken. She and Momoko might even go see a movie tonight if everyone gets their work done.

Tennis Interrupted

Kit Kat had to stay after school today. She became an officer in her club. That made our tennis game start an hour or so late.

After we played a tiny two sets, Momoko said she wanted to go home. What what? I fully expect Little Kat to be slacking. But not Momomko. It was a hard day.

On the way home, Momomoko talked us into celebrating cinqo de mayo. We got some party packs of tacos. Little Kat made us some daquris. Delicious. I guess we will have to have a double long tennis session next time.

Season Opener

Today we started our outdoor exercise. It was the first time since before last winter. We hit the tennis courts. Little Kat was hoping for rain.

Now I know why. Little Kat was slacking big time. He had a tough time keeping an eye on the ball. He did not move his legs to get to where the ball was. Terrible.

Little Kat said it was because he played a lot at school and was tired. Plus he said it was Monday. He begged us to end the session early. Momoko granted his wish and we hit the road before we were out there 45 minutes. Normally we try to play at least an hour of tennis.

Oh well. We will have to work our way up to the regular exercise regiment.