Colemania.com

We recently went to see The Wiggles at an afternoon concert in the middle of DC. That means a forty minute drive to the city, navigating through crowded, unfamiliar city streets, finding the concert venue, and then finding a parking garage near the concert venue. Then we watch the show and, afterward, return to our parking garage to discover it’s jam-packed with other families trying to leave at the same time. So, thinking on our feet, we drag everyone back out of the garage to find a toddler-friendly restaurant and supper before returning to our now-empty parking garage just in time to enter DC evening rush hour traffic. It took us 2.5 times as long to get home as it took us to enter the city.

The day after the concert I was hoping Cora would bubble over with excitement about how she loved seeing The Wiggles. Fishing for one of those smiles that would make the previous day’s adventure worth the effort, I asked her what she remembered about the concert. Her answer was, “We parked inside a building.”

I posted some images from Halloween of Cora dressed in her Boohbah costume. This has caused more than one person to ask, “What’s a Boohbah?” By the standards of this website, anything being seen by more than one person constitutes great traffic–a veritable groundswell of interest!–so I’m going to address that question here. Thus will my loyal readership (yes, both of you) gain enlightenment.

Here is a picture of five of the six Boohbahs known to exist: Humbah, Zumbah, Zing Zing Zingbah, Corbah, and Jingbah. It should be noted that Corbah is not widely known outside of the Coleman household, with most fans instead referring to the blue Boohbah by the name Jumbah.

Boohbah is a kids show on PBS that involves a lot of exercising and running around, and Cora loves to dance and run around right along with it. She started slow at first, but now she tells me, “Daddy, dance!” when Humbah, Zumbah, Zing Zing Zingbah, Jumbah, and Jingbah start running around.

The best physical description of the Boohbahs from a news organization comes from the AP via CNN: gumdrops clad in Astroturf. My impression is that the Boohbahs look like visitors from a planet where the dominant species had evolved from shag rug and then grew exceedingly obese and sparkly.

Cora, however, does not judge by appearances. The Boohbahs make fun sounds and do fun dances and have a cute little dog named Fido. And, especially now that she has her Boohbah Halloween costume, she’s becoming one of them.

I’ve added some late-October photos — including Halloween photos — to the photo gallery here.

This is Cora in an outfit that Uncle Brad sent to her while he was stationed in Korea. It’s not a kimono, which is Japanese, but probably an example of the Korean formal dress known as hanbok. However, if I had titled this article “The Hanbok” you wouldn’t have known what I was talking about, would you?

When Uncle Brad sent this outfit Cora was much too small to wear it, but she seems to have grown into it pretty well in the intervening year, yes? The outfit ended up hanging in a closet and was only recently retrieved: these pictures show the very first time she’s tried it on.

Cora just loved the new outfit. It’s silky, it looks cool, and we say “Uncle Brad” a lot while she’s wearing it, which she likes. The shimmery smoothness of it reminds me of something worn in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, so I tried coaching Cora in some basic martial arts moves. The picture to the left shows her balanced on both feet ready for any attack Master Li Mu Bai and his sword, the Green Destiny, might throw at her. (Not really. It just shows her standing there. But dream with me!)

The last image shows Cora making a scary face when I told her to look tough. Nice try, kid.

I’ve added some photos from October to the Image Gallery. They include shots of cute children and a trip to Camden Yard to see the Orioles.

Callie turned one year old on October 10, 2004. We had a party in honor of the event.

You can find pictures of candles, gifts, and face-stuffings here.

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I’ve very recently added both August and September albums to the Image Gallery. There are sub-albums within the September album that focus on our vacation trips to Eliok Farm, Rocky Gap, and the Baltimore Zoo.

I’ve been a fan of the comic strip Bob the Angry Flower for several years now. The strip incorporates theoretical science, philosophical conundrum, and outrageous personalities in a way that just does it for a guy with a background in math and philosophy. (That’s me!)

The Time Looker-Forward Tube is a good example of a philosophical conundrum, but don’t read it if coarse language makes you break out in hives.

Another of my favorites (because of my interest in both beer and quantum physics) is Schrödinger’s Fridge.

Well, my wife managed to get a gift for my 30th birthday that not only provided me with something neat but also shows that she knows something neat about me. She managed to have BTAF creator Stephen Notley draw me into a BTAF cartoon, and the cartoon deals with beer and quantum physics!

Before I give you a link to my cartoon, let me send you to one more BTAF cartoon that will provide a little more background: Or Anything.

Okay, now you have enough experience in Bob-world to maybe get what this cartoon is talking about. You can follow the adventures of Jason the Angry Barfly in the cartoon Overhearing

Tina’s lifting dumbbells. Cora says, “Put them down, Mommy.” Tina asks, “Why should I put them down?” Cora says, “Because they’re so heavy.”

I’ve moved all images over from the old CMS. Enjoy.