What a great punchline.

They broke ground on a new 150,000 screen megaplex two blocks from my office yesterday. I didn’t go, but I have to wonder about the business sense of it. Movie theatre attendance is down, and there are already lots of screens in Saskatoon. Admittedly, I have never been a big moviegoer, but the times that I’ve gone on a regular night, the theatres have been virtually empty. “Cheap” Tuesdays and big premiere weekend shows being the exception. Maybe I’m missing something, but to me it seems like building an expensive buggy whip factory after the automobile started making inroads.

I feel sorry for those poor buggy whip people - they always get trotted out as an example.

In William news - he’s nearly potty trained. If he’s not wearing a diaper or pants, he will go to the bathroom himself, lift the lid, and sit down to do his business. The only problem is that if he’s wearing clothes, he doesn’t always bother to make the trip. He’s still doing really well though — When we got home after the movie on Sunday night, he was still wearing a dry diaper, and made a mad dash to the bathroom.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Why do I get the feeling that someday I’ll be describing this to a psychiatrist?” - Lisa

Friday night was my Dad’s birthday, and my brother was in town from D.C. so we stayed there later than we should have playing Bohnanza. William fell asleep fairly early, but woke up before we left, which is never a good sign. Anyway, we had a bit of a rough night because of it, and were all tired on Saturday.

Erin took the kids to the Farmer’s Market Saturday morning, and I took William to the Forestry Farm in the afternoon. William liked the zoo, but he was just as interested in the sprinklers, stairs and railings as he was in the animals. I think he liked the peacocks, even though they’re losing their fancy plumage at this time of year.

Last night we went and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Rainbow (oddly enough, the same movie was playing across the hall in the first run theatres - I don’t imagine they’re selling many tickets.) Since William seems to like the Gene Wilder version quite a bit, we thought we’d take him to the new one. It was ok, but I don’t think it holds a candle to the older one. The sets were beautiful, but the effects seemed to take over the movie at the expense of character development. The kids seemed like props that were only there to move from one visual spectacular to another. There were certainly aspects of this movie that were better than the other one, but overall, I don’t think it will stand up nearly so well 30 years from now.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “If you don’t start making more sense, we’re going to have to put you in a home.” - Homer

We’ve been working on getting William into a bedtime ritual lately, and it seems to be working somewhat. He loves his baths - when the last of the water drains out of the tub, he invariably asks me if he can have another bath… Anyway, part of the new routine is that Erin takes William up to bed, and I stay downstairs with Julia, and wait for the “all clear” signal. While I was waiting last night, I started looking for music for the third annual kids’ slideshow. I think we’ll have lots of photographic ammunition, but it gets harder and harder to find appropriate music with each slideshow.

That reminds me - I was supposed to make copies of the rehearsal slideshow for people, and I totally haven’t done that. Whoops.

It’s a little hard to believe that Julia was born five months ago already. She still just a tiny little thing - especially compared to her brother, who will soon be carrying blondes up the side of the Empire State building if he keeps up his pace. I think we need to post more pictures on the kids site.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “And now to open, uh, this year’s festivities, here’s our grand marshall, the prophet of love, Larry White” - Mayor Quimby

I watched the football game last night, and was shocked that Levingston ran that missed field goal out of the end zone. He’d killed enough time that Damon Allen could take a knee and run out the clock (ie 100% chance of a win) but instead of running out of the endzone, he ran it back for a touchdown. Now, nothing bad happened, and he scored, but if there’s even a 0.001% chance that he fumbles, the Stamps recover and kick a fieldgoal….That’s a silly play - sells tickets though.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “So Laddie, thank you for your heroic rescue, and baby Gerald, we can’t help but wonder what mischief you’ll get into next.” - Mayor Quimby

William comes up with some gems every now and then…

John took us out to Miramar for supper last night - the food was awesome. I think the last time I went there, Erin was just pregnant with William, and we were celebrating. Maybe I’m misremembering though.

Looks like rain will wind up finishing off our ball season for us. It’s not a great way to wind things up, but as Jason says, we’ve got nothing to hang our heads over this year - 17-7 is a respectable record, especially after our inauspicious league debut season of 6-22.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Please get out of my store, and thank you come again.” - Apu

We went out to Bareass Beach to pick up some sand for William’s sandbox over the weekend. It was a gorgeous day, and there were a lot of cars in the parking lot. I’ve never been to that beach before, but despite the name, everyone seemed to be wearing their swim suits. Anyway, we got a lot of really really nice sand, and filled up the sandbox.

Then Saturday night, we went to Jess and Ryan’s for an official unveiling of their new paint job/first anniversary celebration cookout. The walls are really striking - orange with blue trim - I don’t think I could live with it, but it really suits them, and their place. William played pretty well with Ryan’s one year old nephew. It was a pretty quiet weekend overall though.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Ha ha ha that’s my nephew. Displaying the Quimby wit that’s won the public’s heart. Happy birthday Freddy, and may all your disgraces be, uh, private.” - Mayor “Diamond” Joe Quimby

Jim, Judy, Mike and Calida all came over last night for supper. After supper we had some fresh apple juice for dessert, and then played some poker. Calida busted me out when my flopped 9♦ 6♦ flush was beaten by her J♦ 2♦ flush (I had a straight flush draw even…)

So that’s what we did last night.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “But this comes out of my salary! If I had a girlfriend, she’d kill me!” - Pimply faced youth