Bye bye Bro-die

We took the little brother to the airport this morning. I was about to write that he’s in the air now, but having just rechecked the flight status, I can only say that he’s probably sitting on the runway in the plane.

He visited for three weeks. I wish it had been longer. He’s a good kid. He did all the work I asked him to, without audible (heh) complaint: help around the household, go with me to my work and help around, assist with camping supplies/setup/food/cleanup, walk the dog with me, etc.

I think we had some really good conversations. I got to know him more, not just as a little tiny tot in my head that I see for a few days every year, but the real teen-aged kid that he is. It was really, really nice.

I got to show him around to some of my friends’ companies and give him some exposure to things he might think are interesting, for now or for later when he thinks back on it. I got to spend time with him and discuss politics, current events, music, animals, and any number of other ordinary things, which to me was extraordinary because this is exactly the kind of run-of-the-mill ordinary interaction that I have never really had with him in the past.

And he’s got a wacky sense of humor. 🙂

Thanks to all my friends who were kind to him and showed him around! You guys rock!

I miss him already.

Whoosh!

I’m thinking it’ll be awesome to combine one of these dual-flushing toilets [video link — warning: autostarting video] and one of these grey water reuse systems [Thanks for the link, Holly!] to reduce water waste at home.

Sorry to blog about toilets.

Guest Brogger

Get it? Bro-gger. My brother will guest blog. 😀 Ok, Little Brother, heretofore referred to as LB, I want you to write a couple of sentences about what we did everyday you’ve been here. Everything from here on will be written by the LB.

Saturday, June 30th: Uh…… *Searches deep into mind* Got on the plane, got off the plane. Ate somewhere. Did something. Got renamed to Manuel Labhor. Ate with strangers that my sister apparently knows at a Japanese place, which had some rather interesting curry. O_o.

Sunday, July First: Went to help make sammiches for the poor. Uh… hmm… The civic broke down 3 blocks away from the prison cell home. My sister also made some cupcakes that were honestly TERRIBLE,(cough) I THINK SHE’S TRYING TO KILL ME. (cough).

Monday, July 2nd: Tried to play Arkham Horror by myself. Two hours later, my head was pretty much fully recovered. Resorted to StarCraft (yaaay). Saw Ratatouille and swore to get a small mouse and teach it to cook, along with a small monkey to ride horseback on my chihuahua with chainmail and a knife. What?

Tuesday, July 3rd: Ate Belgian waffles. :D. Passed out after continuous beatings. Ate some Korean BBQ with some other strangers O_o.

Seppo made some brownehs after this conversation:

Seppo: So I guess we need to get some cake.
Sis: … But I didn’t want cake, I wanted brownehs…
Seppo: ZOMG (horrified gasp)

Narrator: So the three set off to bake teh brownehs and fulfill teh wishehs of teh sis. By teh three, I mean one baked em and teh other two helped eat em.

Wednesday, July 4th: Went to the rotunda and listened and ate ice cream, and met with those strangers again and saw the Transformers movie, and came out the theater with some extra corny jokes in our heads. Saw mediocre fireworks and ate brownehs and mo ice cremies.

Thursday, July 5th: Went to work with sis, which meant reproducing bugs via childlabor @ $5 an hour (under the minimum wage >:o) watered plants. exciting.

Friday, July 6th: Uh… LOOK KIRBY! (>”)> <(")> <("<) Saturday, July 7th: Helped Seppo with the car. Sunday, July 8th: Worked on weeding the yard for $3/hr… for 1 hour… Monday, July 9th: Work. Tuesday, July 10th: Work. Went to feed some stranger’s cats. Wednesday, July 11th: Work… Went to a fire show. But not JUST a fire show! Oh no, it was a..(drumroll).. HORRIBLE fire show. Thursday, July 12th: Stayed “home” and did nothing… Nuthin. A stranger disguised as a cousin came here today. Friday, July 13th: Went foodshoppin in teh morning, ate at Dreamworks(r), went to feed those cats again, which I then found out that I had a horrible reaction to, stopped at Safeway to grab some Claritin(r) D(tm), got some Beard Papa’s and went to Malibu Grand Prix, and went home. Went to the campsite and after 90 minutes of a bitter battle fought tooth and nail with the tent, we got it up. Dinner was great chicken and potatoes and corn, and smores. Was a costume thing going on? ‘Cause there was this guy in a hockey mask running around with a red chainsaw and machete. Does this happen a lot? And I wonder, how did he get such a perfect shade of red? Saturday, July 14th: Woke up (due to Mobi) after not so great sleep (due to Mobi). Ate smores for breakfast, while sis broke the code of humanity by eating instant ramen for breakfast. More strangers invaded our area, along with bready goodness. And some “bold grown-up cheesy potato chips” which tasted more like “shy adolescent bland food-substitute recycled waste”… not that I know what that tastes like… Learned that, according to Apples-to-apples, that elephants are indeed soft. Take THAT wikipedia! Had stew and rubber-like bread for dinner. Sunday, July 15th: Woke up (due to Mobi) after Mobi-induced sleep. Ate and left the site. Stepped inside house door and collapsed after watching Meerkat Manor (woot!). Monday, July 16th: Woke up with a head that hurt for some reason, sat on the couch. Worked on some stuff for my sis’s new T60. Tueday, July 17th: Work. Now I’m writing this… thing…

I’m dumb, and my butt smells, like a butt…

— Sis

(bonus ficticious(tm) points for whoever gets the reference)

My bro

He smells funny. Please put that in there for me.

— Seppo.

My little bro, born in Philadelphia, raised near Atlanta, GA took the accent test. These were his results:

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Midland (“Midland” is not necessarily the same thing as “Midwest”) The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it’s a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn’t mean you’re from the Midland.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

My results were entirely consistent with my former accent test results:

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) Mid Atlantic Also known as a “Philadelphia accent” but also heard in south Jersey, Baltimore, and thereabouts.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

I am going to try to have him guest-blog sometime before he leaves. Heh.