all up in the chrismizz

How was your Sunday?  Christmassy?  MaxiChristmassy?  MegaYule?  Marjorie and Avery hung out at home today while I combed the Upper East Side for gifties and stocking stufferage.  By my estimate I walked about ninety blocks.  No giant ass Snickers, though I could have used the snack/meal/enough to feed a family of four for a week.  I had a good time on the hunt, but I wasn’t sad when it was over.  Bit of a sore knee.  I did find some goodies, but I think I’m going to have to go out there one more time… there’s a lot of New York.  Or at least there are a few more blank spots on the checklist.

I am probably a pain in the ass to shop for.  True story.  I tend to have everything I want already.  Beautiful family, good friends, fantastic job in the greatest city in the world.  All the toys a man could want.  The toys I don’t have but want are prohibitively expensive.  A new monitor, maybe.  How about a new lens for the ol’ point & shoot?  Time to upgrade the camera too?  A new set of wheels maybe.  A new car would be nice… or should I be thinking more like a family man?  A nice family vacation?

See?  A bit disproportionate to my current economic status.  Perhaps just a new t-shirt then.  Oh, which reminds me:

If you’re looking for the fun way to throw some support at the victims of Hurricane Sandy, these shirts will do that.  Every dime will go to relief efforts – I’ll publish the details on the Chaos Complex website at the end of the tax season.  We hoped to have our own silk screener for this, but that somehow wandered away.  So, we made a Zazzle store.  Lots less profit (donation) but also no overhead.  Here’s the flash window, maybe, if it works, and in case you’re not on an iOS device:


View more gifts at Zazzle.

And if it there’s nothing there, just click the link.  I’m too tired to mess with the html right now.  I’m sure you’ll hear more about the shirts over the next few days.  We really want to do something fun but meaningful to help out.  And hey, that shirt is fun.

Meanwhile, kids, it’s time for bed!  May your Monday be shiny.  Hugs and such.

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pound o' snickers

xmas really satisfies

Wawaweewa!

Woo woo!

What’s she so excited about?  Lunch?  Nap time?  Shiny thing?

pound o' snickers

How about a giant ass Snickers?  Kablammo shazammo.

I didn’t bring it home with me.  Seemed excessive.  But one had to admire a pound of candy.  I bet it really satisfies.  And eventually nauseates.

Yeah, that’s little Avery Peppermint strapped to my chest in the background.  Slept through the whole thing.  It’s what she does.  But that’s cool.  There isn’t much you can say about the K-Mart experience that’s really worth being present for.  Which probably explains why so many K-Mart Shoppers™ seem like zombies.

Why aren’t there more baby clothes consignment stores?  Why isn’t there a baby clothes recycling operation online?  Baby Gap clothes are made well enough to go through at least three babies.  They only wear them for three months, then they’re up a size.  Premium brands would go even further.  Look, here’s the model, for free.  You don’t have to give me a dime.  Build a nice simple searchable interface.  Let people sell for free.  Let people buy for free.  Buyers pay the shipping, all flat rate USPS.  Colour photos welcome.  Add a forum for product reviews.  The whole site is user-moderated.  What’s the revenue model, you ask?  Where do I start?  Sidebar ads.  Embedded links.  Premium services like storefronts and priority notifications.  Build it and they will come.  I know because we’ve been looking.  Huge blue ocean market.  Used frickin baby stuff, dude.

The last thing I need is another business idea to work on with all my spare time.  So this one is up to somebody else.

It’s now December 9.  In ten days we’re Canada-bound for the Xmassing.  All sorts of things happening between now and then of course, but it’s bright on the radar.  You can hear the sleigh bells jingling.  Actually, you really can.  We bought some for the Christmas pillar.  I heart xmas.  My girls do, too.  Sigh.  Happy.

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happy face

merry baby

happy face

However it happened, I got to spend a lot of today with an adorable baby in my arms.  Sure, she was squawking for some of it, but it was all quality time.  She’s very communicative.  In the sense that she talks a lot.  What she’s saying is a bit of a mystery, but I’m sure we’ll work it out.  Video shuts her up.  Doubly so for video of her being talkative.  Interesting.  I wonder if she knows what she’s saying in them.  And yes, we played some Christmas music, and we liked it.  So screw you, Scrooges.  It’s all good in moderation.

She almost rolled over today.  From her back.  She hasn’t quite negotiated the shoulder yet, but the days of safely stepping away from the changing table are fading fast.

When I wasn’t holding a baby, I worked on CBcom a bit.  I set up the next newsletter for premium subscribers, but I’ll hold off sending it til Monday to give Chris a chance to include a personal message.  The site is doing really well now that it’s been rebuilt from scratch.  Can’t even tell you what a boondoggle the last site was.  Enough said on that subject.  The new site is great.

The meeting I was supposed to have with the tech/design school didn’t happen – I gave her the wrong number.  Proofread, people.  For the love of all that is holy.  Proofread.  So we rescheduled for Monday, no worries.  Dang it.

That did free up a few minutes to tinker with a new Twitter account – Voicemail From God.  Check it out.  I suggest starting at the beginning.  There’s a bit of a narrative there.  Wait til you see where it’s going.  Such nonsense.  Irreverent, unapologetic, all in good fun comedy nonsense.  You have been warned.

Marjorie said earlier that she wishes she could get paid to cruise Facebook and write tweets.  Not even a week ago she was talking about starting a mommyblog, and you can make a comfortable living doing that, so, to her I say, en garde.  On the other hand, we haven’t actually made any money as Chaos yet.  Not with our own creative work, anyway.  We’ve contributed to all sorts of wonderful work by other people.  Nevertheless, one feels a certain pressure to validate.

It’s coming.  And it’s frickin awesomecore.

Speaking of amazing creations, I should resist the urge to put my daughter’s adorable face to work, right?  She’s a gorgeous girl, and I (like every parent, I suppose) am sure she could do well as… I don’t know… the next face of Gerber, or Baby Gap, or whatever.  I just don’t think I want to put her on that ride.  Or us.  Celebribaby parents can be horrible people, subjecting their kids to all sorts of unhappy conditions, not least of which is the schedule.  Or the utter abandonment of routine.  Kids need a certain amount of routine.  Structure.  It makes them feel safe and gives them room to grow.  So… I don’t think I’ll submit too many pictures of her to too many contests.  Not too many.

What a doll, though.  If she keeps these eyes I am going to have to lock her up in the attic until her 21st birthday.  If they do change to brown I will settle for sending her to school with a bag over her head.

I wonder if that’s how it all started out there in the Middle East?  Being facetious, of course.

Well, here’s hoping your Friday was super great, and that your weekend will multiply your happiness.  Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  May the spirit of the season infuse your loins with the passion of thirteen storms.  And stuff.

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