It isn't as innocent as the melody would suggest.
This afternoon we're going to a birthday party at a place that is a bunch of bouncy houses in a warehouse. Hawaiian Punch is going to absolutely be in heaven, and I've been looking forward all week to seeing her go nuts.
I would have my birthday there. I'd also like an arena full of human-sized hamster balls. Not even remotely joking.
Near us is a drug store converted into a child play area, but they only have one bouncy house. They do have a giant climbing structure, like Chuck E. Cheese without tokens or beer.
We went to a birthday party like that! They split the area in two and each party got to play in half the area for 90 minutes and then switch so there were entirely fresh bouncy/climby structures for the delighted kids. I went up one with Mara while she was still freaked out, threw my back back out, and couldn't even really hobble the rest of the time. She enjoyec it, though.
I'm all for recycling 70s pop love songs to sing to kids. "Songbird" is nice.
Also, a friend just sent me a photo of a collaboration between one of my kids and one of his. It's the cover of a yet-to-be-written book, The Vapire [sic] Baby of Arabia.
My territory. Back off!!!
3: My school had an all-night graduation party in a center that is a giant gymnasium filled with trampolines embedded in the floor, a big foam hill you have to trampoline onto and then use a rope swing to drop into a ball pit. It was very fun, even if I tore some tendons that made piano-playing impossible afterward.
I couldn't play the piano after my graduation party either.
7 sounds awesome. Flickr group? Sounds more like a Florence Marryat novel.
3: Nobody likes a blonde in a hamster ball.
9 sounds awesome
3: there was an episode of um _the amazing race_ where one of the challenges was a race across rolling new zealand (i think) hills in human-sized hamster balls. they were like "this is a popular national sport". made me want to do it.
whoa i guess it's called zorb and you can do it in the smoky mountains. http://www.zorb.com/smoky/
road trip?
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NMM to Milton Babbitt. If you want to put on some Babbitt and get busy with a partner, that's presumably still okay.
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15: Love it. Is that the baby with the beard and turban?
3, 14: Aw, man. I could have rented a car and visited Rotorua last spring. Zorbing looks ridiculous sublime jolly good fun, what? highly Facebookable, which, after all, is soon to be the sole significant criterion qualifying the experiences, inner and other, of the Western bourgeoisie interesting.
It reminds me of when Milhouse's mom left his dad for an American Gladiator, and they rolled off down the street in their hamster ball.
17: I assume so. I'm looking forward to asking her about the concept development.
The local fair near my parents place had giant hamster balls in a big kiddie pool. It was really the highlight of the fair for the kids. We paid $5 and they put the kids in these separate huge plastic bags (I know, I almost said no just because of that--putting your kids in plastic bags feels like you're violating a basic parenting rule) which they filled up with an air blower. When the bag was full they zipped it up and pushed them off, and they got to roll around in the ball on the water for 5 minutes. It looked a tiny bit claustrophobic in there, and a couple of kids did get freaked out, but mine really loved it.
If you want to put on some Babbitt and get busy with a partner, that's presumably still okay.
All set, boss.
Since you are not around much neb, let me report that when I recently had need of Gorey's tot-impaling Zouave panel, that I gratifyingly found it via kenko at MeFi.
Back from the party. The birthday girl is our friend's kid, and a little older than Hawaiian Punch, and therefore is Hawaiian Punch's favorite celebrity. But since there were a bunch of kids, she was always a little out of reach. Poor Hawaii. Plus a lot of commotion and sugar and jumping. Glad to be home.
21: (I know, I almost said no just because of that--putting your kids in plastic bags feels like you're violating a basic parenting rule)
There's probably a large-scale general reverse-parental anxiety play area that could be put together. The things you describe, Oldenburg's plug, lots of otherwise chokable parts blown up 50x, other dangerous things I can't think of.
So, my parents are leaving the country tomorrow to go to Punxsutawney for Groundhog Day. They'll have a few hours in Pittsburgh - wondered whether Moby or anyone had any MUST SEE suggestions? My father is skeptical that there are any.
26: Be warned. The entire eastern third of the country is expecting some kind of storm of the century for Groundhog Day.
My father is skeptical that there are any.
Says the man crossing the ocean to go to Punxsatawney for Groundhog Day?
If it is just a few hours, I'd say do one of the two inclines to the top of Mt. Washington. And if they are so inclined, the Warhol Museum.
I imagine Primanti Bros. would both impress British visitors and confirm a few stereotypes.
27: Don't worry all of the moisture coming up out of the Gulf is gonna push off to the east and hit Altoona.
I enjoyed the Warhol museum. My only regret was trying to park there when Steelers fans were pouring into the area for a (pre-season!) game.
The entire eastern third of the country is expecting some kind of storm of the century for Groundhog Day.
This is the third or fourth time they've been saying that this winter, and only one of them really panned out.
This is the third or fourth time they've been saying that this winter, and only one of them really panned out.
Yeah, but it panned out in different places at different times.
26: Really, Pittsburgh doesn't lend itself very well to that type of tourism. I like the Carnegie Museum, there is not "thing" there that you can see like dashing into the Paris and seeing the Mona Lisa. Plus, I mostly go because of a dinosaur-happy child. I'm not a fan of the Warhol Museum, possibly because I've never seen the penis collection. Feel free to send an email or something if you have more details on their interests, but if I were going to Punxsatawney to see a rodent with only a couple hours in Pittsburgh, I'd spend it eating somewhere nice like Eleven.
30 cracks me up. I didn't know you could ice sculpt.
This is the third or fourth time they've been saying that this winter, and only one of them really panned out.
Well, there's usually just the one Groundhog Day per winter, so what do you expect?
36: My father was a piano mover.
Pittsburgh has lots of B-level stuff, but no A-level stuff except the Steelers but that isn't really an option now. (I can't understand why the tourism board won't hire me.)
I guess 39 is right in terms of classic tourism stuff, but P'burgh does have a truly beautiful setting and is kind of amazing in its way. Stormcrow is basically right -- the thing to do would be one of the inclines to the top of Mt. Washington.
In fairness, I have odd tastes, though, and really like industrial-era tourism -- I would happily spend a day driving through the Mon Valley. Someday I'll do my "British Midlands" tour.
26: I am a bit gobsmacked that someone would undertake this trip. Punxsutawney is about the most unmemorable town (the film was shot in a town in Illinois) in an unmemorable region with Groundhog Day falling during an unmemorable time of year, and the festivities as shown in the film are very tasteful and understated compared to what actually takes place. but apparently they are of the mind.
Probably would not work, but Fallingwater is beautiful in the snow (~2 hours south of Punxsy).
So, my parents are leaving the country tomorrow to go to Punxsutawney for Groundhog Day.
This just seems delightfully eccentric to me.
40.1P'burgh does have a truly beautiful setting
I sometimes tell my visitors to scream real loud as we come to the city end of the Fort Pitt Tunnel, especially at night. Adds to the moment for some.
40.2: Yes, I like that stuff as well. The Cleveland flats, Buffalo, the oil refineries east of Houston, Wilmington & Long Beach (that's how I'd bring visitors from LAX to where we lived in Orange County). Places like this around New York City
41.1: Everybody needs a hobby?
41.2: That is nice.
Also delightfully eccentric: naming a place "Gobbler's Knob".
Knob Gobblers would be perhaps too eccentric.
They are quite delightfully eccentric. My dad loves the film, and my mum thought it would be a good Christmas present.
They stay in Pittsburgh tomorrow night, and then drive up to Punxsutawney on Monday - will be hoping for not too much snow as my mum's not the best driver. And then they are back in Pittsburgh Thursday night and fly out late Friday afternoon.
Primanti Brothers and Eleven both look good!
Primanti Brothers and Eleven both look good!
Yet so very different.
Zorbing! Zorbing. That is going on a list somewhere.
This afternoon we're going to a birthday party at a place that is a bunch of bouncy houses in a warehouse.
I'm going to be so very sad when my youngest child reaches the age that I can't plausibly claim to be climbing into these things with him just to make sure he's okay in there.
Bouncy houses are more interesting, but:
The entire eastern third of the country is expecting some kind of storm of the century for Groundhog Day.
Really? I'm supposed to be picking up someone from the airport that day.
Pittsburgh's forecast has a storm coming in, but Tuesday, not Monday. So, that would be good for Allison's parents drive.
Major Snow/Ice Event!
i'm super in the mood to watch Groundhog Day now.
also, the vaunted kenmore dryer just broke down in a long squeal of agony! landlords are out of town. laundry is damp.
The joke in Pittsburgh is the news people go to the store and show people stocking up on bread, milk, and toilet paper. Apparently, the area's defecators have a "just-in-time" inventory process and the possibility of being 48 hours without access to a store requires forethought.
53: zomg! I love this David Foster Wallace style sentence:
"If the storm develops to its full potential, parts of the Plains will experience life-threatening AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures."
If our meteorologist ever asks me if I want an AccuWeather RealFeel, I'm running away as fast as I can.
Meanwhile, here's the National Weather Service's take.
56 is the best.
I'm on the west coast at the moment, where I've acclimated enough over the last week that today's light rainfall seemed like some kind of awful weather disaster.
The contrast between 53 and 58 is excellent.
As for 53's linguistic style, yeah: some weather reporting is marvelously florid. I like how the writer is the "Expert Senior Meteorologist."
Also from the link in 53, note that AccuWeather's chief meteorologist is Elliott Abrams. Will the man's depredations never end?
56 IS the best!
a few years back my ex and i went to this young people in science event and meteorologist mish michaels was the featured speaker. she explained that the hot new thing in meteorology was the NowCast. it's like a prediction of how the weather will be in 10 minutes. we adopted the jargon with some glee. "can you give me a NowCast on dinner?" etc.
In this part of the west coast, it was unseasonably grey and not raining for a couple of days, but now it's back to rain.
56 IS the BEST!
63.2 is pretty great, too.
it's like a prediction of how the weather will be in 10 minutes.
This is like Amanda Seyfried's weather predicting ability in Mean Girls. "There's . . . [squeezes left tit] a 30% chance that it is raining *right now.*"
AccuWeather is sort of the FoxNews of weather and should generally be ignored with extreme prejudice. Their most flamboyant and well known personalities are generally dicks, cunts or reproductive genitalia of nonspecific gender. Founder and many of them are (or at least once were) respectable meteorologists but the craposity of their sensationalistic approach to the weather is matched by their real politics. Founder is a wingnut and many of them are anthropogenic global warming deniers and most notoriously they were intended to be the beneficiary of this attempt to limit the NWS from providing information to the public about the weather for free:
On April 14, 2005 U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced the "National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005" in the U.S. Senate. The legislation would have placed into federal law a definition of the duties of the NWS similar to its stated mission and would have prohibited the NWS from providing products or services for free that the private sector is willing and able to provide (S. 786). The bill, which did not garner a single co-sponsor, did not come up for a vote. AccuWeather received criticism for its support of the legislation.Santorum received campaign contributions from AccuWeather's president, Joel Meyers, a frequent contributor to Republican candidates.What weather prediction would look like in Grover Norquist's world. But perhaps I overstate my case
47: They are quite delightfully eccentric
I probably sounded too negative up there. I actually will be interested in a trip report. And it does look like they might sandwich their driving around the worst of any weather this week. There are a whole bunch of Primanti's these days, if they go they should shoot for the original in The Strip (very close to downtown).
58 also has a linguistic style all its own: "HOWEVER...AFOREMENTIONED GUIDANCE VARIABILITY PRECLUDES CONFIDENCE IN /AND SPATIAL DELINEATION OF/ A 30 PERCENT EQUIVALENT SEVERE RISK AREA AT THIS TIME."
68: Yes, the NWS discussion lingo is its own thing. Getting access to them sometime way back in the day (I think you could FTP them from a UIUC supercomputing center site) was one of the things that first excited me about the potential power of the internet. Here it was, the real guys talking to each other (admittedly quasi-publicly) rather than getting some Phil Connors buffoon on TV (A bit unfair as many markets had at least one good meteorologist--but still a much more processed product). I usually whip through the discussions of half-a-dozen or so different stations if there is any serious weather in the offing.
That bodes well for my upcoming plane travel to Cleveland. Blah.
Blinding upslope snow!!! Time for french toast.
I just had some delicious huevos rancheros from a new breakfast place. However, it's not snowy here but rather something like 46° and sunny. I have seen no groundhogs today.