Plagiarism 101. This is a great article from InfoWorld.
Dominica and Liesl had so much fun at the Fort Worth Zoo yesterday that they decided to go back again today! Our annual membership is starting to pay off. We saved roughly thirty-two dollars yesterday and another seventeen dollars or more today. So half of the cost of our membership is covered in the first forty-eight hour period. And that does not take into account the tax advantage – the cost of admission is taxable but annual membership is considered to be a charitable donation so just coming close to break-even on the price is well worth it.
The train at the zoo was not running today either. Very disappointing. Dominica really want to take the train.
They didn’t put in a really long day today, just another three hours. One of the benefits of being members is that it encourages us to use the zoo for more appropriate lengths of time rather than trying to squeeze as much out of every trip as we possibly can. Now we can use the zoo much more casually than we would otherwise.
Today, the crocodiles were active and swimming about. Liesl had fun watching them from under the water but she was scared that the crocodile was going to try to steal her sippy cup from her to get her water. She kept telling Dominica “Oh no mommy, au jus, oh no!” So cute! She still calls her water “au jus.”
The weather continued to be great today. It has been a gorgeous week so far. Dad emailed this morning to ask how it is going to be when he is down here because it is looking like it might be in the forties while he is here! Some introduction to Texas that he will get. Barely warmer than New York.
I went into the office pretty early this morning knowing that I was going to need to run out for a while in the late morning to take care of some things so I got up at six thirty to get a jump on the day. I got completely caught up in the office but had to leave early because I had taken Dominica’s car today so to get her able to go to the zoo I had to run it back to her. Brian dropped me back at the office later, after he, Donnie and I had grabbed lunch at Jersey Mike’s. They have the best northeast-style subs around.
The afternoon wasn’t too bad at work. Pretty slow, really.
Everyone felt like Waffle House tonight. Dominica, Liesl and Brian picked me up at the office and we drove out to Northgate to Waffle House for dinner. Liesl was in rare form tonight – very excited about getting a waffle. We still had to be careful about mentioning the crocodile or she would get concerned and she appeared to think that a crocodile might be lurking nearby trying to snatch her waffle when she wasn’t looking. Maybe she is somehow connecting her experience with a crocodile while holding her sippy cup at the zoo with the Swiper the Fox character from Dora the Explorer. It is a weird reaction, to say the least.
After dinner Brian wanted Dairy Queen so we drove around looking for one. It took about half an hour but we finally tracked one down far north on Beltline. At the Dairy Queen they had an outdoor play area of exactly the kind that Liesl just loves. So we all sat outside with her eating our soft serve while she played. At first she was very cautious and just kind of looked around it. Eventually she figured out that she could climb through the tunnels and get to the top of an enclosed slide. It was a pretty neat setup for a two year old.
Liesl has not been one for slides thus far. She is mostly disinterested in them but likes the play gyms normally associated with them. She prefers to try to walk up the slides rather than sliding down them. That changed tonight.
I was standing at the back of the gym with Liesl as she worked to figure out how to get into the slide chute. She very gingerly put her feet in and slowly allowed herself to back into the tunnel on her stomach. It was so adorable watching her suddenly slide away backwards. The look on her face and her waving “bye bye” to me as she went down the slide was incredibly cute. It was a rather steep and long slide so she went pretty fast.
Well once she figured out the slide, it was all over. Then it was a matter of running back through the gym to get to the top of the slide and do it all again. She slid down several times before we had to pack up and head for home – which did not go well as Liesl was really exhausted and not happy that we were leaving the slide. She did not get a nap today and is overtired.
Once we got back to the apartment, Watson came over and the Brians and I worked for three or four hours doing some systems analysis before everyone headed off to bed. Even Liesl, who was way too tired, stayed up until after midnight!