Mad Men & Metrics

The boys and I were up by 5 a.m. so we could be on the road to school by 6. Lukas got to experience awakening to Carter's atomic alarm clock. Like us, he could not comprehend how Carter how could sleep through such a loud sound. He had to shake Carter awake so Carter could shut it off before his hearing went!

Thank goodness for Lukas. I realized when I heard one of them in the shower that I had set my alarm for 4:45 PM not AM. They would have missed the bus!

They had a great time in Mad Town today. Got to tour the state capital, the governor's mansion and the University. Lukas liked the capital, thought the mansion a bit old and boring but was quite impressed with UW. He could not believe they have 42,000 students there. That's more than our town and his town put together!

For food treats, they got to eat on State Street. They chose Noodles & Co. -- not exactly unique but they enjoyed their lunch. They all got ice cream or gelato later.

When we picked them up at school at 5:45, we took them to Polito's so Lukas could experience the plate-sized slices of unique pizza flavors there. He opted for a Philly Steak & Cheese slice, Carter had his usual Steak & Fries, Jim had the Philly, too, and I had my usual Chicken Bacon Ranch. Thumbs up all around.

We had an hour to kill before we had to take Lukas for his tuxedo fitting. So we toured around town a bit, showing him the river, paper mills and our State Firefighters Memorial. It was too cold to stop and take any pictures there. Probably the fastest tour on record. Will go back on a sunny day sometime.

Got to the tux place and had to wait for another customer to be done. Then our turn took awhile...

If only we had listened to Metric Man back in the '80s... The fitting could have been done in half the time.

Tux Guy: What's your shoe size?
Lukas: 44.

Us (thinking): Uhm, ok.

Tux Guy: How much do you weigh?
Lukas: 62 kilograms.

Us (thinking): Oh boy.

Tux Guy: Do you know how tall you are?
Lukas: In centimeters?

Us: LOL

Needless to say, on behalf of Americans everywhere who love their teaspoons and cups and pounds and feet and miles, we apologized for being such a bass-ackward country! And we sure hope the suit actually fits next weekend!

All four of us did get a pretty good chuckle about it on the way home. Trying to explain to Lukas he was much better off -- and smarter than us -- for knowing and using the Metric System.

Of course I ACCIDENTALLY took our stupidity to a new level when I asked, "OK, Lukas, then how many kilometers do you weigh?"

Oh, Metric Man, where are you?!