The Odyssey

Pete asked Dad if he would like to go to his FUTURA classroom to watch his group performance of "The Odyssey". Or, to put it another way, if he would like to get to work at 12:30.

Dad enjoyed watching three plays presented by Pete and his classmates. This was at the school in Sterling where Pete goes on Mondays for the gifted program.

Pete played Odysseus, who apparently has a prominent role in the production. Dad recorded the entire 18 minute affair, which is available upon request.

After the play, Dad took a picture of (l-r) Pete and his friends Albert, and Alonzo.

If you look carefully, Albert can also be seen in the background of the photo below of Sam (taken yesterday) shooting at the Dominion Trail playground:

Albert was practicing by himself, preparing for his playoff game the next evening. He is on Pete's team, the Trailblazers. They won the game, and advanced to the semi-final game on Friday night against the Heat.

Chat Madness

If you ever happen to chat with Pete on Instant Messenger, with Mom mixed in once or twice, it might go something like this:

Snowboarding

Dad and Pete went to Whitetail on Sunday for some snowboarding. This is the same place the family had been tubing a few weeks earlier. Pete and Dad were supposed to go on Saturday, but there was a 50 MPH wind advisory, so they decided that Sunday would be better. Sam was supposed to come too, but he came down with the flu so he stayed home with Mom.

Once they made it through the utter misery of the rental shack, they hit the slopes. Dad was on skis, and Pete was snowboarding for the first time. It turned out to be a bit more challenging than Pete was expecting, but by the end of the day they had been on 4 different lifts and were starting to do some of the steeper runs. It turns out that the most dangerous slope is the beginner run with the conveyor belt - this is where Pete and Dad witnesses several unfortunate injuries over the course of the day.

Pete's strengths were going fast and turning to the left. His weaknesses were turning to the right and stopping. Dad would follow Pete down the runs. He couldn't keep up with Pete, but eventually he would come upon a poor soul with body contorted in all directions.

This person would be Pete. Dad would help Pete to his feet, and they would continue down the mountain.

IHOP Argument

Sam argues about everything. About half the time he is wrong. The other half of the time the whole discussion is some sort of obscure technicality. There are myriad examples.

Dad and Sam went to IHOP Wednesday night, since Pete was home sick. Sam had also been to IHOP with Mom on Sunday morning, since he had wanted pancakes and Pete was still at Alonzo's house from the past-midnight Laser Tag sleepover fiasco. Anyhow, Dad told Sam that it was pretty cool that he got to go to IHOP twice in the same week, Sunday and Wednesday.

Sam quickly pointed out his pointed out his opinion that (a) the first time was Saturday and (b) it's not twice in the same week, since a new week starts on Monday.

Misplaced Credit

Dad returned to the car after running in to Bloom for some lemonade. Sam had been thinking pensively.

Sam: "There's a song in our patriotic show that isn't right. It gives credit to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dad for all the things that he did. They always leave out the "Jr." part. The song says that Martin Luther King gave the speech 'I Have a Dream'. He was probably dead years before that speech took place."

Bagg Balm

Bag Balm is Pete's mortal enemy. It is supposed to be some kind of soothing ointment, but whenever it touches Pete's face it burns like acid on plastic. Now reading the product description for the first time, it does seem curious that it says "Treat your pet's chapped or brush-burned area with Bag Balm for soothing, moisturizing relief."

Anyhow, whenever Dad wanted to scare Pete in the bathroom he would whip out the container of Bag Balm and sing "B-A-G-G B-A-L-M Bagg Balm". After all these years, tonight Dad revealed to Pete where this reference comes from. See if you can figure it out before clicking on this link to reveal the answer.