October 27, 2014: revisiting Papa's age

During the work day, the way that my beloved and I tend to communicate is via instant message.  Google's Hangouts, which are integrated with their Voice service (so you can get IMs or texts on your computer, tablet or phone) makes this a lot easier when we're out and about and not at our computers.  I married a funny guy, which may be why we have such an amusing kid.

At the 4th of July, The Girl asked how old my dad is (he's about to turn 80 in January of 2015) and if he had been around to sign the Constitution. We'll see them in a few weeks at Disney World and we're going to spend at least one dinner celebrating his impending 80th birthday, since both of his kids and all his grand kids will be around (okay he's got 2 kids and we each have a kid, so it's a relatively small gathering).

N is my beloved, who likes to pass along The Girl's commentary on life when they're hanging out together.  Here's today's lunchtime IM (The Girl is with her dad at his shop today, as it's a teacher work day and there's no school).

October 13: The Browns

We were at the beach for a while, it was awesome.  One of the best things about the beach is seeing the people who come from all over the country to hang out with us there.  It's an annual thing, and this is the 12th year we've done it.  One of my favorite things is that several of the peeps who come with us love football as much as I do, so they don't mind when the morning TV is set to Mike and Mike on ESPN2.
One morning, The Girl was watching Mike and Mike with my friend, Annie, who is originally from Cleveland.

E(watching Mike & Mike): Oh, Pittsburgh… Yuck. Cleveland better win!
Annie: They did win!
E: Wait, Cleveland is the Bears?
Annie: Nope, the Browns.
E: The Browns.
E: Are they named that because all the players are brown-skinned?


--As an aside, The Girl watches a lot of football (not by choice).  She often comments on the colors of the uniforms, the players with long hair, the players' celebration dances, the cheerleaders' outfits.  She pointed out to me, fairly observantly, that many of the players are brown skinned.  She goes to a school with a very diverse student population.  Contrast her class which is divided fairly evenly among white, black and Latino kids with my school experience of pretty much all white kids and an occasional Native American.  Granted, she goes to school in Hillsborough, NC, and I grew up in Billings, MT.  The base population was much different.  
Around about the time she was in 1st grade, The Girl started describing her friends as brown skinned or cinnamon skinned or white skinned, just as one might describe a friend with brunette hair and brown eyes.