DJElectricDaddy
A place to document the incredible life of The Sprite. Shot either on a Panasonic DVC80 miniDV camcorder or a Samsung t509 cell phone. Al...Video Episodes:
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01:35:40 12/31/08
A Monochrome Christmas
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 06:35:40 12/31/08
The Sprite explains why, contrary to popular belief, traditional Christmas colours of red and green are in fact incorrect. Instead, he proclaims black and white to be the colours of choice.
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00:30:37 12/31/08
Building Christmas Cheer
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 05:30:37 12/31/08
The Sprite lends his hands to help ElectricMommy decorate the Xmas Tree. The whole house is given the seasonal sizzle in an effort to bring some yuletide cheer to one and all.
As you shall see, the little elf is quite deft at fetching and hanging. And his enthusiasm knows no bounds. Yahoo! This year has certainly been the most fun with the little fella, as he has been into the whole idea of it like never before. Christmas Eve he was wound up and ready to explode with excitement, he could barely contain himself.
We hope you all had a lovely warm and happy holiday season.
Wishing all the best for the New Year!
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15:15:01 12/23/08
Kidz Soccer
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 20:15:01 12/23/08
Back in May The Sprite was signed up for the 5 and under soccer league at his preschool. It was a pretty good idea, get him out there and runing about with all the other kids. He's half Brit so naturally I was hoping his latent footie skillz would surface and he would run rings around all the Yank kids.
Sadly this was not to be the case. The latent Brit soccer skills will remain dormant for a while longer. Our little Becham wanted nothing to with the kids or the league. He wanted to ball, but got very frustrated when it would not come to him. He was fine in practice when he had a ball to play with. But come game time it all got a little overwhelming for him. Most of the other boys and girls were happy to get in there and battle for the ball. But The Sprite was one of several kids who didin't want to, er, play ball, as it were.
It was frustrating at first, but he got a little better a the 8 game season went on. I ended up going out there and running around with the kids. The Sprite kept close to me and ran about and got a couple of kicks of the ball. To be fair, he was one of the younger ones and the bigger boys were fast and dominated the control of play. A bit daunting for the little guy to compete with.
We'll try again in the future when he has more interest in doing it. And when he can bend a free kick around a 10 man wall into the top left corner of the goal.
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17:44:10 11/15/08
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21:25:09 10/22/08
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15:27:20 10/22/08
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12:01:18 10/22/08
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11:42:06 10/22/08
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01:15:29 10/16/08
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00:51:04 10/16/08
Hulk & The Movie Theatre
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 04:51:04 10/16/08
"Beginnings and Endings (GE Feel for More mix)"
by George_Ellinas
http://ccmixter.org/files/George_Ellinas/16309
2008 - Licensed under
Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)
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13:26:55 08/25/08
The Day We Tried To Ski
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 17:26:55 08/25/08
Every year, in late February, we make the only trip of the year up mountain to find out how much we suck at skiing compared to last year. On my father-in-law's birthday the whole family meets up at Snow Summit in Big Bear . At Snow Summit you can ski for free on your birthday, hence the occasion. We rent a cabin for a couple of nights which makes for a nice comfort after beating oneself up all day on the slopes. Driving back down the mountain exhausted and your body hurting was miserable when we did it.
Typically, Southern California ushers in a huge storm the preceeding night, which usually means; 1) treacherous driving conditions, 2) great skiing.
This year, right on cue, a storm swanied into town late Thursday night. So as we do each year, we arise with some trepidation at the crack of dawn, or earlier. Pack up the car with all our warm clothes and snow toys. Grab a coffee. And try to beat the commuter traffic on the 91 freeway, then ultimately wind our way up the San Bernadino mountain range via Route 38.
It was clear, however, that as soon as I got up and looked outside the day would be less than great. It was grey, damp, cloudy and no visible sign of land above 150 feet. As we sloshed our way toward the summit it was obvious we would not be needing the snow chains in the trunk. The rain had melted any snow on the road and luckily the cloud cover kept the temperature above freezing so damp was all we got.
We stopped for coffee and breakfast at Running Springs, just before Big Bear on the 38. Here, The Sprite got his first snow play of the weekend, climbing the ploughed-snow verges with Everstian determination. Unfortunately we only had wool mittens for him, unable to find toddler sized snow gloves anywhere. Unbeleiveable I know. He did have some good thermal undergarments and snow pants and jacket and the cold did not seem to bother him.
Once we met up with the rest of the family it was almost unanimous that skiing was out of the question. My brothers-in-law both decided it was worth a try, but they are significantly younger than the rest of us, and as such clearly willing to suffer for their cause. Or their thrills. As it turns out, despite visibility being alsmost nil at the foot of the ski slope, the fresh powder was outstanding, and the dampness did not make the snow 'sticky' at all. Basically, the conditions were incredible. I went out for a walk to shoot some snoe photo's in the afternoon, and the snow underfoot was like tiny little ball-bearings. Crump crump crump. It sounded as good as it felt. I felt a tinge of regret as I walked along some deserted back alleys, breathing heavily in the thin air.
I kinda wished I had sucked it up and gone skiing.
Especially as the next morning, a Saturday, the road outside our cabin that led up to Summit resort was bumper to bumper with eager skiiers and snowboarders, hungry for some action on the fresh snow. To add insult to the situation, the sky was clear blue. It was going to be a GREAT days skiing. If you could weave your way through the masses on the slopes. My father-in-law swore years ago he would never ski on a Saturday again for the very reason there were just too many people for it to be any fun. He's skied there for 50 years and seen it grow to it's current scale. He's earned his right to be picky. So, after breakfast, everyone packed up and left. A bit of an anti-climax to all that great powder.
Next year. Just hope I don't suck doublefold for having missed a year.
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01:14:00 08/23/08
The Muddy Tike
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 05:14:00 08/23/08
What started as a simple hosing down of the Mommy Wagon (also known as the Dani Doom Machine), quickly turned into filthy mayhem. Not one to turn down a chance to play with or in mud, The Sprite saw his window of opportunity and seized it with both hands.
A small (and I mean small, but it doesn't take much) puddle formed from the hose-down overspray, and quicker than a Republican legislator can erode your human rights, Mad Mudd McGuiness dives in bringing Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater with him.
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02:19:12 07/29/08
Semanal08 : Week 21 - Quadzilla : The Sprite Rides Free
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 06:19:12 07/29/08
It was way back in December, in Arizona. The kid got his first real wheels. He'd had a tricycle for a while and had gotten pretty deft at pedalling up and down the street. But this was different. This time he was motorised. He had the power.
Grandma, or Mama-G as she is known, had the crazy notion to buy the little fella his very own Yamaha Raptor Replica Quad. This thing is no toy either. It's as big as a full size 50cc Raptor and looks every bit the part. It runs off of a 12 volt battery, it has hi and lo speed, forwards and reverse. It also makes authentic 2-stroke ringningningning throttle sounds, which to anyone who's ever riden a 2-stroke knows is like a 100 peice symphony to motor-geeks ears. Of course it has none of the environmentally unpleasent side effects like the thick blue smoke of 2-stroke premix burning out the exhaust. I use the term unpleasent loosely, again, anyone who has ever riden a 2-stroke will know what i'm talking about here.
Well, it didn't take long before our 3 year old headcase was tearing up and down the street at full speed, locking up the rear wheels, skidding on opposite lock to get the thing turned around. He wanted no part of lo-speed, once he found out what that switch did it was full tilt. That is indeed my boy. It was near impossible to get him off the thing. And as equally near impossible to get the fantastic plastic into the back of the Chevy to bring it back to California.
Since he's had it, we ride regularly. Here, we take it out to the local park where he can ride up and down the path, terrorising the other lame, foot-propelled kids. See them turn and run when Quadzilla hacks down the tracks. Lately The Sprite and I have been taking rides around the block, he on the quad and myself on my mountain bike. Its a fun way to spend a few minutes these warm summer evenings.
Pretty soon, he'll be moving up to the real thing and heading back out to Arizona and the sand dunes to rev up a real 2-stroke. Ringdindinningningdingning!!!
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01:04:00 07/29/08
I Know. Keyboards : A Sprite Wordgame
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 05:04:00 07/29/08
It's strange, the odd little things that amuse and entertain a three year old.
Gathered around the evening meal, The Sprite invented himself a new game. We titled it Keyboards for reasons which will become apparent immediately watching this clip.
It went something like this:
He whispers "I know" several times in faux anticipation of the climactic surprise when he yells "KEYBOARDS!" when we all jump in faux surprise. The number of "I knows" would change each round as he tried to catch us out, unaware of the impending "KEYBOARDS". And this went on for many many minutes until the nutty three year old to my right was in a hysterical stupor.
Oh the hilarity we have at the Fort Mercado Mess Hall.
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02:08:11 07/01/08
Semanal08 : Week 20 - Einstein's Revisited
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 06:08:11 07/01/08
A couple of weeks ago, on A Saturday morning, The Sprite and I were trying to figure out what we would do for a couple of hours while ElectricMummy enjoyed her turn to sleep in. Our little Early Bird is up to get the Weekend Worm promptly at 6:30am every weekend like German clockwork.
So we take turns to get up with him and find ways to keep him occupied while the other gets a couple of bonus hours of sleep. This usually entails sitting him in front of Playhouse Disney on TV whilst the unfortunate 'parent' sneaks some shut-eye on the couch.
But on this particular weekend The Sprite had his mind made up that he wanted to step back in time and watch some of those Baby Einstein's. you know, those DVDs of toys and toddlers and primary colors. These were great when he was an infant, we'd set him up in his swing and he'd sit engrossed watching these mindless (to adult eyes) video's.
We thought these DVD's were ready for the yard sale by now. He had grown and his tastes were more mature. We own every Pixar movie under the sun and they get played in steady rotation. Little did we know there was life in the puppet dog yet. We'll see if this weekend here was an anomaly or if Baby Einstein's once again become a fixture in The Sprightly Playlist.
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23:01:30 06/10/08
Semanal08 : Week 19 - A Rant About Timekeeping
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 03:01:30 06/11/08
Time.
Where does it go. The sands in the hourglass.
"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day" as David Gilmour sang.
Today, I rant about time and the management and keeping of it. it's been a recurring theme around these parts for some time now that we are always late. For everything. Since The Sprite was born it has only gotten worse. And now he is off to pre-school in the mornings, there are added complications and distractions to deal with.
Subsequently I have been getting to work later and later. The little fella just loves to help out. In fact he insists. Whether it is making my tea or taking the trash out, The Helping Hand of Sprite is there slowing me down. Trying to get everything done and get out the door in time without tripping over Little Monster has revealed an epic weakness in our system. We are all lolligaggers.
So it did not go unnoticed by the Power Behind The Door at work and I got a stiff talking to, well actually quite a limp talking to considering. ElectricMomy and I have tryed to work something out, some kind of system that works for everyone. With her off to full-time employment again it's tough getting a schedule where we can satisfy the needs of Corporate Amerika (which feeds and clothes us), yet allows us to deliver The Sprite to and from school safely and timely.
I'm sure it is nothing new and families the world over have to deal with exactly the same problems. It is also someting Corporate Amerika is fully aware of, it being nothing new to them either, so one would expect some level of understanding on their part. But also, I know that when The Sprite starts 'real' education we will have to be much more disiplined. School starts earlier and the stakes are higher than simply missing sandbox time.
I'm hoping these early years tune us to the fina art of getting up and out at a decent hour in the morning.
And with that being said, I'll leave it to Mr. Gilmour to take us out.
"Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say."