Monthly Archives: December 2007

What Meghan got for Christmas…

Wii Chores in shrink wrap
Wii Chores, shrinkwrapped

Peter Laura and I (but mainly Laura) faked up the packaging for a Wii game, modelled after one of the ones Nintendo itself created. Erik contributed great hunks of the promotional copy for the back. We inserted the label into a spare DVD case, labelled a DVD inside and added a little instructional handbook (that acutally contained a gift certificate), and with that we had Meghan and Austin hovering between belief and skepticism for a good three minutes. The coup de grace was that I had carefully removed the shrink wrap off of one of Jon’s DVD presents and more or less seamlessly got it on the fake, adding that extra bit of verisimilitude. (Jon was sold; he wanted to play it before we gave it to Meghan.)

Wii Chores front and back cover
Click for larger image

Patti (Meghan’s mom) was right though: the top right chore gave it away. We should have put one of the other chores there, no one would send this to market with the scooping of dog poop so prominently featured.

Wii Chores disk

Photon

Jon I love my doggy Photon. I like to give Photon some kibbles and I also like to give Photon a kiss and a hug. When I see her I say, “Photon kisses for me”. I like to play ball with her. On Saturday, December 15/07 my daddy is going to help me video tape the ski conditions and the highway conditions.

Jon

The Boy in the Moon, Part 3

Peter Wow. The final part of the The Boy in the Moon is up, and once again Ian Brown sums it up with grace. This time he touches on the future for his boy, and frankly, maybe our boy too. Get out the Kleenex, but read it.

I’ve been wondering about Jon’s adulthood for his entire life; Laura has too. We’ve never discussed it directly, but have occasionally touched—just grazingly—on it. When I’ve alluded to it in converstation with friends and colleagues, without fully broaching the topic, there’s often a knee-jerk response: “Every parents worries about their kid.” I don’t know how to respond. Is this an attempt to soothe my fears, or do they genuinely not understand the situation? Or not want to, perhaps.

Brown even touches on the Latimer case with very similar thoughts to ours—so much of the analysis I’ve seen over the years strips the case of the context, and the context is the key.

A superb series. Thanks for this, Ian. Give Walker a hug for us.