Randman's World

This weekend, I will be playing Mr. Mom, while Kim is in Florida with her girlfriends. She is finally getting to go on one of the "girl trips" that her former co-workers from the Jones Store Company advertising department go on each year. They are meeting one of their former co-workers, who has a winter home in Orlando, and will be there until Tuesday!

So, it's just me and Charlie. Ideas for the weekend?

• Charlie's first trip to Hooters?

• Charlie's first hangover?
• Charlie's first time shooting a gun?

No, probably just an uneventful weekend, with a trip to the mall so Charlie can run around, and lots of playing ball in the hall, climbing stairs, going to the park, and watching Teletubbies! It should be a lot of fun!

Artist's Re-Creation

I spent last week in Las Vegas, attending an Advanced Interview/Interrogation school. For those who don't know, that is my speciality at work, conducting interviews of persons suspected of stealing from the company, and obtaining a voluntary confession and written statement. It's something I enjoy doing, and have had quite a bit of success at. And no, it does not involve bright lights, backhands across the mouth, bamboo shoots under fingernails, or any type of pain or humiliation.

What it does involve is a knowledge of psychology, kinesics, and communication techniques, along with an ability to develop rapport, rationalization and giving a person a way to safe face. Often, after an interview, I have had the suspect, who has just admitted to a felony, shake my hand and thank me.

Anyway, I spent the week studying under Don Rabon, an instructor from North Carolina, who is very knowledgeable. While I don't buy into all of his theories, I learned quite a bit from him during our daytime sessions.

But then, night time came. Derek, my co-worker who also took part in the course, and I enjoyed Las Vegas. We gambled, checked out the sights, drank a few beers, and generally walked our legs off. I ended up losing only about $40.00 over the entire week, thanks to a hot streak on the roulette table on our last day there.

Highlights of the week?

**Riding the X-Scream at the Stratosphere, as well as the Big Shot.


**Seeing Joe Montana and his wife walking across one of the walkways,
and then seeing Ted, the cooking guy from Queer Eye.
**Hitting a 6 out of 8 Keno Pick at the Rio

**Watching the Fremont Street Experience.

and the beautiful Bellagio Fountains, which never fail to impress.


Low point of the week? Getting out of the taxi at the Stratosphere, and Derek realizing that his digital camera had fallen out of his pocket in the cab. The driver gave a bogus receipt that didn't have his cab company name on it, so we couldn't call them. We tried several companies, but to no avail. We lated asked the Flamingo hotel security to check on their video to see if they could find the cab company we got into. They did a facial recognition scan of us,

and than ran video IQ on us, and found out which cab company, and which cab number we got into. But, of course, they claim it was never turned in, and so, Derek was out a digital camera. Thus, the reason that these photos are "stock" photos.

Overall, a good week. But, the best part was coming home on Friday to my wife and son. I missed them both a lot while I was gone.

as in I just made the last payment on my student loan. 17 1/2 years after graduation, I have finally paid off my college education! Woohoo. It's a day I have only dreamed of.

But, now, I have to save up for Charlie's college education.

If anyone would like to help pay for Charlie's education, you can help through Upromise. By purchasing certain items at certain retailers, Upromise will credit a portion of the purchase to Charlie's 529 plan. If anyone would like to help (and you don't have to do anything, just give me some information to enter into the Upromise database), please let me know. It's totally legit. I've been doing it for a couple of years, and alone have earned almost $200.00.

This week has been a fantastic week for Charlie. His accomplishments?

1. Charlie decided that he had enough with Mommy and Daddy spoon feeding him. He grabbed the spoon, dipped it in his fruit puree', and began feeding himself. The satisfaction on his face was priceless.

2. Then, at Grandmama's house, he decided he didn't want to drink juice like a baby. So, he grabbed a cup full of juice and drank out of the cup like a big boy. And, not a sippy cup, but a regular cup. He enjoyed it so much he downed 2 glasses.

3. Lastly, while we were playing with him in the living room, he started walking toward Mommy saying "ba ba ba ba ba". Mommy didn't hear him, so I told her, "I think he wants a baba (bottle)." Mommy asked, "Do you want a baba?", to which Charlie enthusiastically clapped his hands, and downed almost the entire baba. Our first purposeful verbal communication.

It's so much fun seeing the accomplishments and the milestones of our little angel.

I love James Bond movies. If one is on tv, I watch it (often to the chagrin of my dear wife). So, I'm somewhat eager for the new Casino Royal, staring Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. "Somewhat" eager, for many reason

- He doesn't look like James Bond. He not particularly handsome, suave, debonair, sophisticated, or any other adjective used to describe Bond.
- He looks like a Bond villian.
- He's following Pierce Brosnan, who was a great Bond (IMHO).

But, I want to give him a chance. Maybe he will be amazing! Maybe, he will bring a new level to Bond.

But, my enthusiasm is waining, as I see more and more of the photos from the set. Apparently, Mr. Craig has one look. And it's no Blue Steel.

Next week, I'll be in beautiful Las Vegas, for a Advanced Interviewing Techniques workshop. It should be interesting . . . 8 hours a day of classwork on interview and interrogation techniques, then the evenings free. Derek, my co-worker, is attending also, so we should have a good time.

However, 5 days in Vegas will surely be exhausting. Way too much visual stimulation. When Kim and I went a few years ago, I was so overstimulated from the flashling lights, noise, etc.

Sunday in Kansas City was what we might call a "bad weather day". Tornadoes, storms and hail. Lots of hail. Hard, wind driven hail.

Needless to say, my car was not in the garage when the massive hailstorm hit. So, I now have a car with oh, about, 100 hail dings on it.

And, the hail was so fierce that it broke the strapping on our patio furniture. So, I guess I'm going to learn how to restrap patio furniture.

I don't yet know about the roof. I'm guessing there is some damage up there.

What makes a Charlie smile really big?


Is it seeing Daddy?

Is it a funny song?

Is it watching the dog?

Is it seeing his Elmo do the YMCA?

No, it's


The Teletubbies.

Charlie loves them. It's the only tv show he watches. Today, there was an episode where Lala (that's the yellow one) has an orange ball. She loves her orange ball, and plays with it. Charlie laughed so hard while watching Lala play with her ball. It was very sweet.

Now, let's just pray he never sees a purple dinosaur!

A very fun part of the trip was that Kim, when she was around 5, went to Penguin Park with her parents. At the time, the Penguin was hollowed out, and you went up inside and slid out. Kim got scared, and her father had to go get her out. It was very neat that Charlie got to slide in the same park on the same penguin that his mother did.

The Simpson's Intro, done by live actors.

Very fun.

EDIT: And a somewhat out of sync PIP version of the cartoon and new version

First, MC Hammer has a blog.

Second, a quick picture of the new James Bond.
To quote iwatchstuff.com, "After rumors of casting problems and a public outcry against Daniel Craig playing 007, there were some that doubted if this whole thing would work out at all. I'm happy to report that after seeing these images, I'm sure skeptics will finally see that Craig can pull-off standing awkwardly next to a car, looking schlumpy."

Lastly, Charlie has loved swinging and sliding so much, it would appear he has this in his future.

Thanks to Pete for pointing out my misspelling. Tsars is much funnier