Humble Tidbits of Vacuity

So blogback commenting is going away. Drat. Now I'm charged with having to find a way to import all of my comments into a different commenting program. I've already exported all of my existing comments into a .xml file using blogback's handy-dandy export feature.

Anyone know of a way to import this .xml file into, say, Haloscan? I'd be most grateful. Or, if not Haloscan, is there some other commenting system you have a particular loyalty to? And would you know how to import the .xml file into the suggested commenting system?

Thanks.

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 8:53 PM | 0 of the live studio audience members commented already

So, we did the Boy Scout overnight thing. Z had a great time. Not in the sense that he was really into the whole “boy scout” experience, but he like being outside ALL day long and playing around with his friends, especially running around playing tag or whatever they were doing at night. He enjoyed shooting the bow and arrow, but after a couple of shots he was done with it. He caught his first fish, which was neat. But after that, he was more concerned with running around and left me to do the fishing (something of which I have VERY little experience and really don’t care about in the least). I enjoyed watching him enjoy himself, and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. But it was, personally, the longest 24 hours I’ve had in a very long time.

Funny story time: One of the first things we did was go on a nature hike. We walked through the woods, stopping at marked spots so the leader could point out a few things and tell the kids a little bit about what he’s pointing out. “This here’s a sycamore tree. How can you tell? Anyone? Yes, they grow in the summer. Anyone else, yes they have white bark. Anyone else? Anyone? Bueller?” Well, while we were on this walk, I got a call from work and spent about 15 minutes handling that while the nature hike continued. I missed the part about the buckeye tree, so this next part was told to me on Sunday by another parent who was there and was commenting on Z’s vocabulary. When the leader was asking what are some characteristics about a buckeye tree (they have 5 leaves on each twig), Z popped up with, “It’s deciduous.” I asked Z where he learned that. He said, “School.” I asked what it meant. He said, “It means the tree loses its leaves in the winter.” And then, to help me further understand the point he added, “Like your head and your hair. Only your hair doesn’t come back like the leaves do.”

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 1:12 PM | 0 of the live studio audience members commented already

OK. So, Z signed up for Boy Scouts and the two-hour "Welcome To Another Year of Boy Scouts" kick off party was last night. It was nothing special. Kids were playing on the playground, parents were sitting around chit chatting, and the leaders took about 10 minutes to talk about stuff such as the popcorn fund raiser and where to get the uniforms and patches. That meant, there was about an hour and 45 minutes of "mingling." If you're an avid reader of HToV, you will know how much I abhore "small talk" and "idle chit chat". If you're a new reader, you should know that I abhore "small talk" and "idle chit chat." It was fairly easy for me to avoid, though. I could just walk away from the crowd, sit on a bench, and keep an eye on Z while he was on the playground. Even though I was hungry, I made sure to stay away from food tables since that's where everyone was pretty much congregated. Anyway, it was at this little even that I learned of the camp-out sleepover on Sept 10. Leaving Saturday morning at 9am, returning Sunday morning at 10am.

Of course, Z wants to go. He doesn't care that it's a boy scout thing. He's just excited to be going on a sleep-over. There are places for tents and such, or you can stay at the indoor lodge. Considering that we don't own a single piece of camping equipment, we'll be staying in the lodge. Anyway, my point is that even though I'm sure I can do it, 24 hours is a long time to avoid "small talk" and "idle chit chat." I'm totally looking forward to participating in the activities with Z. There's supposed to be fishing and archery and some other things like that. Hopefully, he'll enjoy himself. If he will, I know I will.

This post was hand-crafted especially for you by Kevin at 3:15 PM | 0 of the live studio audience members commented already