Simone Is Two!

She turned two today. Pretty amazing. Just thought I'd write down a couple of memories before old age gets me.

We had a lovely day working on the chicken coop and in the yard. Simone fell asleep in Mary's lap on the back deck while nursing - which she doesn't do as often as she used to. She woke up for some reason, so we transferred her into the Burley for a nice long ride - where she got the rest of her nap.

The grandparents and god-parents came over at 2 for some cupcakes, which Simone loved (apple sauce cakes with cream cheese frosting... I'll have 3 please). She got some lovely gifts, and had a great time bouncing from person to person. Of course the blue balloon was the hit gift (I chose it just for her - it matched her dress).

After dinner (her first grilled cheese sandwich - I missed the picture with the cheese stretching from mouth to sandwich), we headed over to Matti's house (our neighbor to the south), to meet her new bunnies. She raises angora rabbits and spins the fur/hair into wool. One of her rabbits just had a litter of 6. They were pretty sweet, I held one for 20 minutes (the longest I've ever held a rabbit), and Simone liked them all.

So, what is she doing now that she's two? She sings songs a lot, especially Raffi and asks for his music by name. She walks around constantly, pulling one or all of her 4 pull toys. The mermaid (we're trying to name her "Frida" - but so far "mermaid" is still winning) follows her everywhere - she feeds the mermaid most everything she eats herself.

Simone loves broccoli, french fries, yogurt (a whole-body experience), apple sauce, gold fish, goat milk, spiced baked apples, and recently enjoyed a crusty baguette. She feeds us tea and cupcakes and bagels and cookies (all imaginary). Oh, and salt and pepper - we pantomime that on most everything. I do draw the line on peppering yogurt.

We read a lot, she picks books out. Her current favorites are, Girls Hold Up This World, A Lot Of Otters, and Once Upon A Potty, with the Peace Book a close runner-up.

Simone wiggles her eyebrows up and down, still likes butterfly kisses, loves playing on playgrounds (going down slides on her own at times). Bath time is full of her toy frogs and fish dancing around, and hopping (frogs and bunnies hop - which Simone is trying to do herself).

Probably my favorite single memory of the past two years was waking up one morning next to Simone, she woke up turned to me and said, "Papa!" Very sweet moment. Most every day is like that, whether it's "blastoff" (she said that for an entire day after I threw her up in the air counting, "1 2 3 ... blastoff!"), or her just greeting me at the door, or watching her and Mary fall asleep together, petting Jupiter, everything.

Looking forward to the next two years (and more).

Detailed Proof of What We Knew All Along

From: Iraq: The War Card - The Center for Public Integrity

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses.

935 lies in two years is an average of 2.5 a day. Oh, and of course these are just the lies about Iraq. There's the missing email from 2003, the Valarie Plame incident, torture, warrantless spying on Americans, the list goes on and on.

So incredibly frustrating.

Beautiful photographs of a thunderstorm meeting the plume of an erupting volcano

Check out the slide show: Fotos Tormenta eléctrica en erupción del volcán Chaitén - TERRA

Forgive my geekiness, but it looks exactly what I imagined the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog looked like had it happened in real life. Here's what others think it looked like.

XPilot

I've no idea what brought this memory up, but back in grad school we found the XPilot game and became addicted. You could play people all over the world, any time of the day. We hosted our own, local, games, and enjoyed seeing who would join (sometimes we got players from Germany).

The XPilot craze lasted a few months, but many of us first-year grad students lost days to playing this. I'm glad to see it is still an active game, though I doubt I'll play it again.

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand - New York Times

NY Times has a story on the Pentagon's use of retired Generals to bolster the case for the war. A telling quote from Di Rita (one of Donald Rumsfeld's closest aides can be found on page 7:

New York Times: "Mr. Di Rita, no longer at the Defense Department, said in an interview that a “conscious decision” was made to rely on the military analysts to counteract “the increasingly negative view of the war” coming from journalists in Iraq. The analysts, he said, generally had “a more supportive view” of the administration and the war, and the combination of their TV platforms and military cachet made them ideal for rebutting critical coverage of issues like troop morale, treatment of detainees, inadequate equipment or poorly trained Iraqi security forces. “On those issues, they were more likely to be seen as credible spokesmen,” he said."

The contents of the article is not very surprising, what I find surprising is how "shocking" this appears to be. Some of the media is now waking up and "realizing" they've been "snowballed."

Right.

They knew it all along, spinning the war in a positive light sold advertisements, it got you in good with the powers that be. This just reaffirms that we don't have news, we have entertainment. Real journalists would have found their sources, as opposed to just unquestioningly welcoming experts who appeared, as if by magic, on their doorstep.

Driving Directions from Google

How cool is this? Google's driving directions show you what to look for on the street:

YouTube - Driving directions with Street View on Google Maps

David Lebovitz Hits Another Home Run

I don't recall who turned me on to David Lebovitz's blog, but I must certainly thank them.

Last week I tried yet another recipe of his: My Killer App Candied Peanut Recipe and I must say, it rocks. I chose to candy almonds (not peanuts), and they turned out beautifully roasted, and coated with just the right amount of caramelized sugar. I added a hint of cinnamon and salt, and will probably bump the salt up next time (I love salty sweet, which is why I dig Kettle Corn). The recipe was, just like the others I've tried, just as easy as he explained, and had results that looked just like his. Wow.

I had to give away about half of it at work because I slowly snacked on the nuts at home.

Lebovitz's recipes for hot chocolate, butterscotch pudding, and the easiest chocolate ice cream ever all worked out beautifully. The one recipe I've tried that didn't turn out amazing, Clotilde's Very Chocolate Cookies, produced decent results, just not what I wanted.

I do look forward to trying the Chocolate Idiot Cake, Chocolate-Cherry Fruitcake, Dulce De Leche recipes (and probably some others too...).

He's not making my diet easy, that's for sure.

GM Crops Yield Less

I've been chatting with a friend off and on about farming, organics, GMO, and other related topics. One question he had was about yields, and I didn't know if GM crops had better yields or not, but figured Mansanto (and other seed companies) would have marketed them as having higher yields. But I would obviously question what Mansanto said since they are trying to sell their own product.

Turns out, GM crops yield less: Exposed: the great GM crops myth - Green Living, Environment - The Independent

Simone In Action

Nearly 23 months old, she's changing every day. Here are a couple of videos we've made on little walks. Notice her use of the sign "please" when talking about looking for the horses.

Coop update

I spent a little bit of time working on the coop again this weekend. It doesn't look that different, but there are a lot of small changes. The roof beams are now cut to the proper length (they were about 3 inches too long), the 2nd floor now has horizontal beams, and there are a number of triangular supports providing stability.

Jupiter lookin gout the north end, pretending he's in the nestbox.

Jupiter is startled he didn't lay an egg. Or maybe he's afraid the chickens saw him scoping out their pad.

We don't need a stinking truck! Just throw it on top of the Subaru! That's 8 sheets of 3/8" plywood.

Simone isn't so sure Jupiter belongs in the coop.

Odd Weather

I don't normally care that much about the weather, things are hit and miss until May or June - that's pretty standard Oregon weather. But this past weekend was really odd.

Check out the snow we had Sunday morning:

When was the last time you saw snow on top of tulips? And on our walk it hailed, one of the 6 times it hailed on Sunday. It was crazy hail, the size of split peas, coming down hard:

Clip Art House

Mary and I walk a loop past the duck pond, around the country club, and up over the hill. We walk through some new developments, and one house stands out. Take a look at it:


Does anything look odd to you? I'm not sure if the picture conveys what you see in person. Take a look at the rock facade. Does it look funny? Perhaps like it was taken from clip art? Or perhaps is from some 3-D video game in the late 90's?

That's exactly what it looks like in person. It's unnerving, it looks artificial from every angle. Really bizarre.

Diet, Month 3

Fit bowl has finished its third month - I don't yet know the standings, but I imagine I'm at the bottom of the top pack (i.e. in the middle). I'm down 25 pounds or so, and things feel pretty good.

This week was a bit tough. I was in Wilsonville 4 days for a class. Good class, but I was stuck in a room for 8 hours a day with brownies, cookies, muffins, etc. Two of the days I completely blew my calorie limit. It also didn't help that I didn't fit any exercise in.

But all is well, I'm back on the band wagon. I ran 4 miles today with Simone, and we had our now standard pizza night. And I even had enough calories left for a couple chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk.

The milk is from a local farm, raw cow milk. I've never had raw cow milk before - it's pretty yummy. I'm not sure if the milk is yummy because the cows are happy, because the milk is raw (not pasteurized), or if it's because it is whole milk. But I approve.

One of the benefits of my weight loss is that my snoring has (apparently) ceased. Mary says she doesn't hear me snoring any longer, and that's a good thing. Also, my heartburn is much less frequent - so perhaps my GI tract is happier. (Remember, I've got a stricture in my esophagus, and gall bladder inflammation (and stones).)

On a related note, some guy changed his life by hopping on a bike. Anyone can lose weight, you just have to change your life.

On another related note, this is Jared's 10th year of eating right (Subway fame). The quote I like the best from that link is:

"If you don't like the life you're living while you're losing, you're much more likely to gain it back"

Words to live by.

Chickens

We got some chickens.

"What?" you say.

"Yeah, chickens."

I mean, Who doesn't like eggs? No, we're not going to eat the chickens - I mean they're gonna have names and everything. I certainly am not looking forward to telling Simone that "Gladys" went to the big coop in the sky.

So we got some chickens, 3 in fact. I believe the breed is "Buf Orphington." Mary actually picked up 11, eight were for a friend who couldn't make it to the store the day the chicks arrived.

Mary has been wanting chickens for quite a while - I never fully understood the attraction, but now that we have them, I'm getting pretty stoked. We'll get eggs, probably over a dozen a week once they get going (next year, they'll reach laying age right when winter starts to set in and egg production drops). And they'll turn all our kitchen scraps into nice fertilizer. Plus we'll get some friendly pets to follow us around the yard.

Currently, they're living in a big Tupperware bin, eating, drinking, sleeping, cheeping. They're a hoot (guess that'd make them owls). Simone loves to say "hi" to the chicks.

Longer term, they'll obviously grow out of the Tupperware bin, heck at this rate they'll probably be too large for the bin in another two or three weeks. In the first two weeks they've at least tripled in size. They've transformed from cute little fuzzy balls into mangy-looking small chickens. Why are they mangy looking? Their feathers are coming in, and the initial feathers aren't completely full - they kind of look like what you would get when putting a pinata together.

So what do chickens live in? A coop of course! Where do you get a coop? You can buy them... Or you can make them.

Being the handyman I am, we chose the decision to make one.

There are all sorts of different variations, but none quite fit what we wanted, namely bigger than small, with storage underneath for the bags of food and bedding.

Perhaps at some point I'll put up the plans (it was disappointing to see the lack of detailed plans available on the web). But the basic plan is a 3'x5' base, the bottom vertical 3 feet is storage, and above that is a floor for the chickens. We bought a linoleum remnant and are putting that down to ease cleanup after the chickens.

Here are some pictures of progress so far, Simone helped quite a bit.

The base and the initial frames for the walls. The whole thing will sit on those cinder blocks you see on the right.

Simone sitting in the framing for the storage door. She's making sure everything is square.

Simone is verifying all the screws have the same number of threads, and the threads all go in the same direction (nice to be sure which direction to turn the screwdriver).
Finally you can see the overall framework, including the roof line. I'll be trimming the the vertical and roof beams appropriately this coming weekend.

And here are the chickens:
This is all 11, ours are the yellow ones. See how small they are compared to the feeder?

At age 3 days (well, one week? dunno, this is three days after we got them).

And here they are after two weeks at home, notice they're about the same size as the feeder now. They let you scratch their chest now if you're real gentle.

Button

Beaver Freezer 2008

So... how'd I do?

I placed 86th out of 270 people, 63rd out of 128 men, and 8th out of 21 men ages 35-39.
I'm pretty stoked with the results, especially considering how little I trained. Looking at the overall results, the field seems a little weaker than in the past. I finished faster than in 2007, but slower than in 2005, yet placed much higher than both years.

But, when just compared to myself, I'm happy with the results. The run was my fastest yet, and my T2 time rocked. Here's the breakdown:

Trey's 2008 Beaver Freezer

Stage	Time	Pace	Place in Stage	Cumulative Time	Cumulative Place
Swim	8:26	1:41.2	93	8:26	93
T1	2:39		96-T	11:05	89
Bike	38:59	18.5	69	50.04	71
T2	1:31		98	51:35	68-T
Run	25:31	8:13.9	123	1:17:06	86

The race started off fairly smoothly, my swim felt smooth, and not at all rushed. I passed a guy, who then passed me back and but didn't swim very fast - so I just relaxed and swam a little slower. I felt great getting out of the pool - after having to wait a few seconds for the guy to get out.

The first transition felt very rushed - it was very difficult getting the socks on my wet feet (gotta remember to get loose socks and to dry feet off), and I had trouble putting my race belt on. But off I went.

The bike ride felt great - I could totally tell I'd lost some weight because I could comfortably use the drops. My legs felt a little tired, but I passed a number of people, and played leap frog with #80 about 5 times (she beat me in the end).

The 2nd transition was great, I knew exactly where to go, and changing into my shoes was easy.

The run was similar to last year's: the first lap felt horrible, the second lap was bearable, and I had to keep reminding myself to push it on the 3rd lap. The last 100 yards felt good and I crossed the finish line pretty spent.

Sam and Ingrid came down to cheer me on, which was nice. Sam has some pics here. Mary's mom (Gin) came over from Albany and gave support too. And, of course, Mary and Simone were there giving it their all - soon Simone will be running along with me.

Things to remember to do next time: get there early - Simone and I took the Burley around 2 hours before my start and got an excellent spot on the rack. Dry feet off well after the swim. And run like hell.

Looking back at my goal from 2007 which is to finish in 1:12, I'm thinking I might push for 1:10 because it's a nice round number. Of course, to do that I'll have to run 7 minute miles (gasp), and kick up the swim (sub 8 minutes) and riding (20.5 mph) a notch. The run is the key.

Results of Beaver Freezer 2008, April 5, 2008

Just Say "No" To Irradiated Food

Sign the petition to let the FDA know you're against them allowing irradiated being labeled as simply "pasteurized."

OCA: Take Action

Triathlon in Two Days

I've got two days (not even 48 hours) until my Beaver Freezer triathlon. I've not trained quite as much as I'd hoped, but I'm pretty happy with the shape I'm in all things considered. Heck, just tonight I finally fixed my road bike seat I broke 3 months ago.

But running is feeling good - my distances are still pretty short (finally got new shoes a couple of weeks ago), and the swimming picked up well (I've swum maybe a dozen times this year).

My last two results were 1:18 and 1:15, and I'm hoping for 1:20. We'll see.

Probably the best training so far has just been losing the 20+ pounds I've lost during the fit bowl.

As long as I don't lose to the oldest guy (66).

True: No Impact Man: Why I'm fond of saying wisdom trumps science

I read this the other day and it rings so true.

No Impact Man: Why I'm fond of saying wisdom trumps science:

"And to my mind, the debate over the science is pointless. All over the world, countries are going to be increasingly buying renewable energy. The question is, does the United States want to be at the forefront of the renewable energy sector or not? Do we want to be exporters of the new green tech, and create green jobs in doing so, or not?"

Whether or not you think global warming is real (it is), or if preserving the environment is worthwhile (it is), or if it's better to spend money on schools or jails (schools), or if healthcare is a right (should be in a "civilized" society), or if supporting local/organic food sources is healthier/better (it is), there's often something to be learned by taking a step back.

No Impact Man sums up the issue about climate in a way that even the corporate-shills-we-call-our-elected-leaders should understand - should we (the U.S.) lead or follow?

I've often argued that even if you're a "conservative" you should support programs to help dis-advantaged families/children, provide basic health care to all, and support public education. If for no other reason than to ensure these people don't become a drain on society. Sure, that's a negative way of looking at the problem, but I think it's one that could be compelling to those who are fiscally conservative and against "government handouts." In other words, would you rather spend the money up-front to make these people productive/healthy? Or would you rather spend much more money housing/feeding/caring for them in jail, and paying increased health care costs to cover the un-insured who go to the ER for services?

Of course that argument totally ignores the fact that it's the Right Thing to do (WWJD?).

Clueless Guys Can't Read Women

Um.... duh! Clueless Guys Can't Read Women

Embarrased To Be American

Bruce Schneier finds Science Fiction authors advising Homeland Security embarrassing. I don't know that it's any more embarrassing than Crichton advising Congress on Global Warming.

Either way, it's yet another indication this government has no clue what it's doing (executive or legislative branches)

To Open A Frozen Car Door Lock

We're experiencing some non-spring like weather (it actually snowed yesterday and today), and as a result, the Mazda's locks were frozen up. What worked like a charm was heating the key up with a match. Gotta remember that in the future.

Sigh... And We Still Have 10 Months Left

Simply galling... Bush intervention led EPA to scale back ozone limits

Social Security Explained

I used to have a great article explaining Social Security and how it wasn't in trouble - but that was hosted on a friend's web page which is no longer available. The short version was that folks use the most pessimistic analysis results - which have always been wrong - to "show" that Social Security is having problems.

This is a nice explanation with the politics thrown in. I suspect the issue really is this simple.



Hat tip to Quentin, with other similar videos.

What Did I Eat?

I use CalorieKing to track my calories. I was too lazy to check out the free options before I started, and I knew CalorieKing was decent because Mary had used their software for the Palm (which worked pretty well).

Turns out, one of the "benefits" is that my food diary can be made public, so for all my adoring fans, check out what I have eaten since January 18, 2008: CalorieKing Community - Public Diaries - Bigfaceworm

Fit Bowl at 9 Weeks

Fit Bowl '08 has been going for 9 weeks now, and how are things shaping up? Rather nicely.

As a group, we've lost 92 pounds, and Sam is leading the pack at -11.15%. And everyone except Tim has lost weight. Not bad. I'm about the middle of the pack (-7%), but that's not counting the odd initial weigh-in (it's my "secret" weapon, a 13 pound bump the "official" scale gave me).

To date I'm down 23 pounds, and it's easy to see the clothes fitting more loosely. Some days my wedding ring even feels a little loose (it's been snug for quite a while).

The plan of 2000 calories + exercise has been working well. My intake has been a little erratic the past two weeks - way high two weekends ago (up in Portland), and low a couple of nights this week, but on the whole it's been pretty consistent. I don't usually feel too hungry, nor too full, and the smaller portion sizes are becoming more habitual.

I've started running again (only two weeks until the triathlon) and it feels pretty good - I definitely notice not having the extra 20+ pounds on my frame. My joints feel good. Plus it's nice having that exercise as an option - it's a lot quicker than a bike ride and Simone still appeases me by hanging out in the Burley while I jog.

Here are the graphs of my food intake for the past 2+ months (ignore the bars on the right, the graph only allowed 1 or 3 months to be displayed). The first is my net calorie intake (that's the 2000+exercise allowance):
And here's the total calorie intake - which hasn't been too crazy even without exercise. I'm hoping I can sustain my weight while eating around 2500 calories a day (counting exercise), because it's been straight forward to eat less than 2500 calories:

Of course, as my weight drops, so does my basal metabolic rate, and by the time I weigh 220 (if I get there), I'll have to eat 300 fewer calories a day than I was eating at 265. So 2500 calories might be more than what I can consistently eat w/out gaining weight. In fact, I'm expecting my weight loss to taper off at some point because of the dropping BMR. The question is, will it drop off before I get to my goal weight (whatever that is)?

Yeah, so what is my ideal weight? No idea. The plan was to reach goal weights decreasing in 15 pound increments. I've passed 250 (woo-hoo), and am well on my way to 235. I definitely want to be at or below 235 - which was my weight when we got married. I pretty sure I'll try for 220 after that, and the experience of getting to that weight will help guide me in choosing my goal weight.

I love eating, and while I've been able to change how I eat so far, I'm a little scared of what I'd have to (not) eat to remain at 220. Maybe it'll be no big deal, it might just be what I'm doing right now (220#, 6'3" and 36 years old supposedly has a BMR of 2140 calories). If that's the case, I might hang out there. But maybe I'll have difficulty with the portions required to sustain that weight.

So far I've been able to simply monitor (and cut) my portions, and I haven't explicitly cut anything out of my diet. I have dessert semi-regularly, just small portions. I even had a bag of crunchy Cheetos a couple of weeks ago on the drive home (they totally weren't worth it). The goal is to find a lifestyle I can maintain.

Of course, once I reach 220, I might try for even lower. Heck, I might even try for some Hip Hop Abs!

David Lebovitz: Taza Chocolate

Mr. Lebovitz hits another home run. I've tried his chocolate ice cream and his butterscotch pudding and both rocked. This idea (not so much a recipe) turned out awesome.

David Lebovitz: Taza Chocolate

I don't have Taza chocolate, but I do have some Mexican hot chocolate bars that I brought back from Mexico way back when. I go in spurts of drinking Mexican hot chocolate - it's tasty, but usually falls a little short of what I get in Mexico. Senor Lebovitz simmered his hot chocolate for 5-10 minutes and was rewarded with a silky, chocolaty drink. So I gave it a shot.

3 ounces of chocolate, one cup of 1% milk, simmered for nearly 15 minutes, and mmm.... almost pudding like. it reminds me of the (no longer available) Starbucks Chantico drink: it was so rich and creamy, I'm gonna have to do it again.

Bananas

We have a bunch of bananas (no pun intended), so what do you do?

Mary already made banana bread. I've eaten several. I could make the easiest chocolate ice cream.

But what's on my mind is banana cream pie. Of course with the diet, I'd rather not have an entire pie tempting me, especially with a yummy crust. So what about banana pudding?

We have a couple of recipes for banana pudding in various cook books, but I was curious if I could find one that didn't call for cream/condensed milk. A "lite" recipe.

So I turned to Google which resulted in a bazillion (well, 85,500) matches. But look at the recipes people put up!!!

banana pudding lite recipe - Google Search

99% of them call for a pudding mix and some bananas.

Um, duh. Absolutely no help there.

It reminds me of Steve Martin's bit:

You, too, can be a millionaire and never pay taxes. First, get a million dollars.

Chicken Stock

A while back I took Caprial and John's cooking class. One of the things they said was best to do was make your own stock. I didn't ask them why they sometimes used the boxed stuff on TV (answer: sponsorship).

Anyway, they recommended getting a pressure cooker and throwing a pound or two of wings in, with some water, carrots, onion, bay leaf, celery, etc. In an hour you've got stock.

Well, we're already a little gadget happy in our house (not all are mine, but I have to admit to owning 20 or so bamboo utensils), so I didn't really want to get a pressure cooker. Plus, I'm kind of slow in the kitchen, so "whipping up" stock to use for that meal seems like yet another impediment.

I decided to make a big batch of stock and freeze it. So I ordered a "case" of wings from the co-op (which is 20 pounds) and waited. It came as a single block of frozen wings - kind of difficult to deal with.

I started thawing the wings in the oven, and when possible, I split the bunch in two. I used half the wings for stock, and roasted the other half for making stock later. Five pounds of wings, a chicken carcass from the night before, two onions, four carrots, four stalks of celery, and some bay leaves simmered in the 10 quart pot for most of the day. After straining off the solids, I had nearly 7 quarts of stock.

I did want to compare this process to buying stock from the store. Turns out, on sale, a quart of organic, free-range chicken broth will cost around $2.29, regularly nearly $3.29 - and the google search shows cases selling for $3.50 a quart. The wings cost $22, plus the carrots/celery/onion, and the cost is about $2 a quart - even cheaper than the lowest sale price I could find.

Not to mention, the homemade stock is miles better than the store bought. The store bought stuff is pretty much just colored water, and the homemade is so thick with goodness that it has the consistency of jello when cool.

Cooking tasty meals is a lot easier when you have some good staples on hand, and stock is certainly one of them.

Obama and race

So Geraldine Ferraro resigned from Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign because she said something people deemed racist, namely that he was where he was in part because he was black.

I picked up the Oregonian this weekend and saw an editorial (one of many similar editorials and opinion pieces around the country) calling Ferraro a racist and concluding "good riddance." There are some other articles (like the one at slate that spin the story claiming Ferraro is hiding behind the "they're unfairly calling me a racist" defense.

But few people actually look into whether or not what she said was racist. Are not people saying similar things about Hillary Clinton? That she's where she is in large part due to her formerly being a First Lady? Does noting that make someone a sexist? By noting that are you discounting her record in the senate? No, and it's disingenuous to say so.

Of course, being a white man, I can't "safely" say that Obama is where he is because he's black, so I'll point you to someone who can. I heard him on CounterSpin the other day: Glen Ford on Obama-Clinton. If you don't want to listen to the mp3, you can read an article by Margaret Kimberly (which sounds very much like what Glen Ford was saying on CounterSpin). I think the quote I put here is a good indicator of the article:

blackagendareport.com - Freedom Rider: Why We Write About Obama: "Not only did Obama praise Reagan, but he used racist, conservative code words from the GOP play book to do it."

Flatly put, Barak Obama is where he is because he is black - a white man/woman would never be in his position after the overtures he's made to the powers that be. And Obama is playing the race card at every turn. When Clinton made the remark about King's movement needing the support of Lyndon Johnson, she was vilified. The truth is, she was correct, but the Obama campaign (and the willing media) immediately played the race card.

As Glen Ford says in the CounterSpin piece, neither Obama nor Clinton are staying true to MLK Jr.'s vision because after the Civil Rights Act (heh, one of the "excesses of the 60's and 70's" Obama was referring to) King immediately began railing against the military establishment:

(from a BAR story by Paul Street):

"The evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together," King said, "and you really can't get rid of one of them without getting rid of the others."

And neither Clinton nor Obama have any designs on changing the militarization of this country, and as a result (in King's eyes), the inequities in this country will persist. You can kiss the promises of health care and education good-bye, Clinton and Obama will both keep spending all our money on the military.

Corned Beef

We were up in Portland this weekend: Mary had a conference. Mom and Dad had everyone over for dinner, which was corned beef. I'd never made corned beef before, but it's pretty easy. I found it interesting that Ruhlman talks about brine (and corned beef) today.

ruhlman.com: Brine, an extraordinary tool: "The above image is from the corned beef soon to simmer in a spicy liquid. I used a five percent brine along with chilli flakes, mustard seed, coriander, ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, garlic and importantly, pink salt (which gives the meat its distinctive piquant flavor and rosy color). Home-cured beef is fantastic, easy, and enormously satisfying (there’s a complete recipe in Charcuterie)."

Grow Your Family Healthy

Yeah, odd name, eh?

It's the brand for a non-dairy, non-soy "ice cream" (they call it "Ice La Crème"). The co-op had a tasting on Friday and I did my duty to taste each of the 6 flavors (I care that much).

It's pretty darn tasty stuff, and I'd definitely eat it again. My favorite flavors were the Strawberry, Vanilla Espresso, Rich Chocolate, and Amaretto Chunk. The chocolate was surprisingly chocolaty. The texture is more of a sorbet than an ice cream, so go in with your expectations set for that.

So, if you know someone who can't eat dairy or soy or sugar (they use agave syrup), this is an awesome choice. Here is the ingredient list for the chocolate:

Ingredients: Purified-Filtered Water, Organic Agave, Almond Oil, Blend of Dutched & Natural Cocoa’s, Almonds, Organic Brown Rice, Tapioca Starch, Slippery Elm Bark Powder, Guar Gum, Xantham Gum & Celtic Sea Salt.

Of course, I prefer the coconut milk ice cream, mmmm... coconut.

Their web page is: Grow Your Family Healthy

Shoes

Simone quickly follows up her trick of putting on socks with putting on shoes. Occasionally she tries to put shoes on shoes, but only Mary has mastered that (wearing my shoes while wearing her slippers - for quick errands outside like picking up the mail).

Today Simone helped us with some yardwork, pulling (her first?) weeds and moving compost around. Very helpful.

She also repeated her first swear word (if you call "crap" a swear word), though the offending teacher shall remain nameless.

Each day is better than the last.

AlterNet: Noam Chomsky: International Terror Most-Wanted List

I really need to read more (some!) Chomsky. He's got a new book out, and this is a plug for it (including an essay of Chomsky's): AlterNet: Noam Chomsky: International Terror Most-Wanted List

It reminds me, again, of how little we know about what our government does around the world. We would be ashamed.

NPR: Shooting Kills 8 at Jerusalem Religious School

I've read a couple of articles that talk about the bias in our news showing bias for Israel. And though I respected the sources, I was still a bit skeptical. I figured I'd just keep their point in mind, after all, it's easy to make a point if you only need to give a couple sound bites.

This morning on the radio I heard this AP story: Shooting Kills 8 at Jerusalem Religious School

I don't really care who is "right" or "wrong" in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. But read the story. The headline is about the 8 who died in the shooting. The wording in the rest of the story talks about how the Israelis are thinking about not continuing with peace talks, how this was the deadliest attack since 11 were killed in April 2006. Contrast that with the way it states what motivated this killer of 8: "120 Palestinians and three Israelis died in the clashes, which were sparked by an increase in militant rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel."

So let me get this straight, one crazy guy kills 8 and the horror is described in detail ("a bullet-scarred Jewish seminary", "victims were between ages 15 and 19 except one, who was 26") and Israel is graciously continuing with peace negotiations. But the attack of a nation on Gaza killing 120 (what ages? what was the damage to the neighborhoods?) gets a brief mention.

Ok, so perhaps it's just this one story. Let's do a quick search on the AP stories of the last week (during which the attack on Gaza happened). Notice there are no headlines saying Israel attacked Gaza, nothing about anyone mourning the 120 killed in Gaza. Just headlines about rockets going into Israel. There is the one headline about Syrians protesting the attacks (10s of thousands by the way).

Israeli warplanes fly over Beirut	Mar 7, 12:22 PM EST
Israelis mourn 8 killed at seminary	Mar 7, 12:11 PM EST
Hamas backtracks on attack claim	Mar 7, 10:53 AM EST
Libya blocks UN from condemning violence	Mar 7, 3:56 AM EST
Egypt walls up Gaza border	Mar 6, 9:49 PM EST
Quiet US support for Egypt's Gaza effort	Mar 6, 6:33 PM EST
7 die in shooting at Jerusalem seminary	Mar 6, 4:42 PM EST
UN rights council condemns Israel	Mar 6, 2:32 PM EST
Egypt presses Hamas on Gaza truce	Mar 6, 11:21 AM EST
UK rights groups: Gaza in severe crisis	Mar 5, 8:41 PM EST
Palestinians say peace talks back on	Mar 5, 6:52 PM EST
Lawyers work to free Israeli soldier	Mar 5, 12:38 PM EST
Abbas says no talks without Gaza truce	Mar 5, 6:04 AM EST
Father misses children's Gaza funeral	Mar 4, 2:31 PM EST
Palestinians call drones a deadly weapon	Mar 3, 7:22 PM EST
Syrians protest Israeli attacks in Gaza	Mar 3, 4:20 PM EST
Egyptian chopper strays over Gaza	Mar 3, 1:38 PM EST
Israeli city shocked as rockets hit	Mar 2, 4:48 PM EST
Israeli says comment manipulated	Mar 2, 1:32 PM EST
Egypt to treat wounded Palestinians	Mar 2, 7:07 AM EST
Analysis: Mideast talks a mixed bag	Mar 2, 3:45 AM EST
King calls for US help in Middle East	Feb 29, 10:31 PM EST
Girl killed on Egypt-Israel border	Feb 28, 6:56 PM EST
Israelis debate rocket defense	Feb 28, 2:58 PM EST
Rice says Hamas rocket attacks must stop	Feb 27, 9:16 PM EST

The message is clear: Palestinians brutally murder Israelis, and if you read closely Palestinians happen to die in "clashes" with the Israeli military. Palestinians are to blame.

It Took A Week To Negotiate With The Fisherman For The Body

I keep plugging away at the headline contest, and I'm a runner up again.

I thought my headline sounded vaguely humorous when I wrote it, but I don't think so any longer. I guess they found it funny (or were hard up for headlines).

Check it: Overheard in New York | Beats Waking Up in Jersey

(my headlines) "It Took A Week To Negotiate With The Fisherman For The Body"
Girl #1: Her brother died.
Girl #2: Oh.
Girl #1: Yeah, they found his body in the Hudson last week.

Socks

Simone can put her socks on all by herself.

Macadamia Nuts

While in Hawaii it was difficult to resist eating a ton of macadamia nuts.

Of course, the bags of nuts are just as expensive on the island as they are on the mainland.

And, while in the natural food store there I noticed you could buy them in bulk, raw and organic, at over $19/pound. Hmmm.... I thought. But it seemed a little expensive.

I come back home and see at our co-op they have the same macadamia nuts for $12/pound. jeesh

I bought a small bag - they taste pretty good raw, but are even better after you roast them: Roasting Macadamia Nuts

Butterscotch Pudding

What's for dessert tonight??? This is. Yum!!!!

David Lebovitz: A Butterscotch Pudding Recipe, Without Losers:
"Butterscotch Pudding
4-6 servings

Adapted from Ripe For Dessert (HarperCollins)

4 tablespoons (60g) butter, salted or unsalted
1 cup (200g) packed dark brown or cassonade sugar
3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2½ (625ml) cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons whiskey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract"

True

This is well worth the read.

ruhlman.com: Food Rant: America's Fat Problem: "Americans need to be better educated about the food they eat, what’s truly good, what’s harmful, quantities that are necessary, and super-sizes we don’t need. Until we find out for ourselves from reliable sources the answers to these questions, instead of relying on knee-jerk media alarmism and marketing hooey, we’re not going to eat the food that both satisfies our souls and our bodies, and will perpetuate our fat and salt dysfunction."

Mary's been telling me this all along, so it's not new news... but you can now read it on a blog!

Fit Bowl Facts

So I started to think about the numbers. I've been tracking my calorie intake, and barring the over-eating of the past couple days:

I've been staying pretty consistent at eating 2000 calories a day (allowing for exercise).

So what was my calorie intake before the fit-bowl? Well, if 2000 calories a day leads to 3 pounds of weight loss a week, then I'm eating 1500 calories less than I was before the contest. (3 pounds == 3*3500 == 10500 calories a week, divide by 7 and get 1500 calories extra a day)

It's been relatively easy to eat just 2000 calories (plus exercise), so this gives me a lot of hope. Not only do I think I'll be able to maintain this in the long-run, but I can very likely eat a fair amount more and still maintain a weight of only 230 (or 220). I find that encouraging because a part of the problem I had with starting a diet/lifestyle change was the mental block that I'd have to starve myself. This is proof I won't starve (as though I've ever really had to worry about that).

5 Weeks of Fit-Bowl

So I've been at it for over 5 weeks now. I'm down 15 pounds, woo-hoo!

What I'm happiest about is the fact that I lost 7 of those pounds while in Hawaii - where I ate ice cream and pudding and other things. Granted, I was walking 1 or 2 hours a day (or more), but it was nice to see.

Unfortunately at Mary's birthday party I pigged out, and the two days following I over-ate. So I need to reign things back in.

Hawaii

So... we've been gone. On the 4th, we hopped on a plane and spent 16 days in Kauai. What can I say, it was awesome.

We did nothing but eat lots of fresh, tropical fruit and fresh fish, we swam almost every day, we walked lots, and we hung out watching the whales/dolphins/tortoises. Our place was right on the water, and the last day we were there we saw the full moon set, the sun rise, a baby humpback breech 30 or 40 times, and a beautiful sunset. It was a pretty awesome day.

The highlights of the trip were probably (in no specific order):

• surfing lesson (I stood up and rode the wave onto the beach 5 or 6 times)
• Simone in her bright pink swim suit and hat, sitting in the bright pink inflatable boat just squealing with joy (wish we had a picture of that)
• shrimp marinated in soy sauce/sesame oil/ginger - huge and delicous
• nearly a papaya a day
• just hanging out with Mary, Simone, and Elizabeth
• Simone learning new words every day (she said "angst" the day we flew to Hawaii

Here are some pics:


Simone's first day on the beach:

A random sampling of our fruit selection:

Simone and Mary playing in the sand:

A pretty typical sunset, with waves splashing up. This was taken from the condo:

Simone, a very sleepy baby:

Sybaris February 2008

Mary and I went to a restaurant in Albany for her birthday. I know, a nice restaurant in Albany, my pre-conceived ideas were about to be challenged. Still, the menu looked intriguing: Sybaris February 2008

The atmosphere was pleasant, especially as the light dimmed (which helped make the large space feel more intimate). The restaurant rotates art from different, local, artists every month, which is nice. But on to the food:

First of all, we loved our waiter. He was the only waiter there, and has worked for the chef for 14 years (including the 6 years Sybaris has been open). He loves his job and it showed. He explained a number of the dishes very eloquently and accurately (as the menu sometimes had brief and/or mis-leading descriptions). The only problem with service was there was only one of him (a hostess showed up about half-way through dinner), so he was a little short on time at each table. Our water was always full and empty dishes were promptly whisked away, I'm not sure how he did it all.

Then there was the food, I started with a Manhattan which was nice, nothing fancy, though the martini glass had a curved stem which I found awkward. Mary really enjoyed her Cabernet (I don't remember the vineyard).

We were both pretty hungry so we started with the appetizer:

smoked pheasant quesadilla with chipotle cheddar
and a toasted cumin sour cream

It was small (we were forewarned), and tasted fine. I personally couldn't tell the difference between pheasant and chicken. The smoked meat was moist and tender, it didn't taste very smokey. The cumin and chipotle flavors blended well. Overall, it was nice, but it certainly did not stand out.

Our waiter thought tis salad was their best (of all the salads they make through the year), and he described it well enough to pique our interest:

romaine with a passion fruit vinaigrette (for 2)

I know, sounds mundane, but wow. The salad was large enough for 4, and while it looked like slightly wet romaine lettuce, it tasted vibrantly of passion fruit. We both really enjoyed the crisp, watery snap of the romaine and the bold passion fruit. A big thumbs up from both of us, this was a dish we'd both love to have again.

Mary chose the

roasted partridge breast with oregon mole and
leg meat tamale tower

and I had the

buffalo and wild boar meat loaf with wild mushroom
sour cream gravy on hominy mashed potatoes

The mole was slightly sweet (made with prunes) and just a bit spicy (from the peppers) but very rich (from the cocoa), and it paired beautifully with the salty tamale. Mary wasn't very inspired when she first read the description, but she decided hers was better than mine.

My meatloaf was the size of my fist (large), and very tender and tasty. The gravy blended with the meat flavors well, though I had hoped for a little more mushroom flavor (and a few actual mushrooms). The mashed potatoes were delicious, but I couldn't tell there was hominy. I did enjoy the dish very much.

Because it was Mary's birthday, they brought out a little dessert (on the house) with a candle - the

butterscotch pudding

. We thought the flavor excellent, but the texture a bit grainy. We were also hoping for the peat smoked shortbread that was mentioned on the menu, but it was not to be found.

We did order the

chocolate ice cream, peanut butter ice cream terrine with bananas foster

Mmmm.... the ice creams were divine, and the bananas foster delicious - the caramel was perfectly sweet. I wanted to lick the plate.

I think we'll be heading back to Albany in the future - the menu is probably more interesting than anything we've had in Corvallis.

Oregon Distilleries

There are some fine distilleries in Oregon, and they're making some very nice alcohols.

Two favorites of mine are from the www.bendistillery.com">Bend Distillery - two gins made from real juniper berries (just checked, I only see one gin on their web page, interesting - I've got two different bottles). Turns out they also make hazelnut coffee liqueur - so I bought a bottle of that, very tasty.

There are a bunch of other distilleries in Oregon. Here's a list I found from Oregon Distilleries: Clear Creek Distillery, McMenamins Edgefield Distillery, Brandy Peak Distillery, Ransom Spirits, Dolmen Distillery, New Deal Distillery, Rogue House of Spirits, House Spirits (Medoyeff), Bend Distillery, Hood River Distilleries, Indio Spirits, Sub Rosa Spirits, Highball Distillery, Sidepocket Distillery, Integrity Spirits.

I've had whiskey and gin from McMenamins, and brandy from Clear Creek. Only 12 distilleries to go.

I think I'll try to find some from each of the distillers that make small batch liquers. I've a feeling I'll find quite a few gems.

The Clear Creek Distillery came out with a Douglas Fir Eaux de Vie (brandy), which is a bright green like the new shoots on a fir tree (from which it's made). Very interesting sounding, but not quite enough to warrant buying a whole bottle. I took a tour of Clear Creek 12 years ago, the guy was real nice. At the time he just had the cherry and pear brandies, and was still working on his whiskey. He's got a lot of different liqueurs now - many that I'd like to try.

Why I Eat Grass Fed Beef

Supposedly the beef tastes better, I dunno about that.

I buy locally grown, grass-fed beef because:

1) it's local (supports local businesses)
2) it's grass fed (better for the cows, orders of magnitude less chance of them growing dangerous levels of E.coli)
3) it environmentally friendly
4) it doesn't support the big-business meat industry

I'm not going to watch the video, I imagine it is sad, depressing, disturbing and all that. But the write-up around it was informative.

U.S. Food Policy: Humane Society video of workers abusing "downer" cattle: "Beyond the cruelty evident in the video, the Washington Post explains that putting downer cattle into the food supply is dangerous."

Not Your Standard Obligatory Obama Post

I read some technical (programming, math, science) blogs, and for the most part they remain on-topic. Lately, as the presidential race as gotten more "exciting," they often post a "Don't usually do this... but vote for Obama, and here's why" post.

Pretty much all of those kinds of posts say to vote for him because he's a uniter, he's charismatic, because he's a good face for international relations, because he's young and not spoiled by Washington politics, because he's black, because Clinton is divisive, etc.

He may be all those things, and Clinton may be divisive (though is she only divisive because people keep parroting the news stories?). But none of those reasons address actual policies. What is he going to do as president? That is why you should (or shouldn't) vote for him.

Obama apparently doesn't want a fight, but if you look at recent politics, the Republicans have done nothing to help the Democrats - they've consistently filibustered the Democrats. How is Obama going to change that? He isn't, and if he's not up for a fight, then either 1) he's not going to get much done, or 2) he's going to work for things Republicans want (and Democrats generally don't).

He is sounding more and more like a Republican - which if that's what you want, fine. He thinks there's a crisis with Social Security (there isn't, it's with Medicare), he praises Reagan's fiscal policies (which began the rich-getting-richer trend that's left the bottom 95% of Americans with no real income growth over the past 20 years (so much for a rising tide...)), his approach to health-care was the weakest of Clinton/Obama/Edwards, he's completely fine with the free market system we currently have (which continues to further the rich-getting-richer), he bashes unions, and the list goes on.

My point isn't that Obama is a bad guy, he's probably just as magical as he appears. My point is that people seem to be jumping on the bandwagon for the superficial reasons. The thing is, the current power structures are not going to be wowed by his charisma, politicians are not all going to get along just because he is president.

It all depends on what you want from your president. If you want a charismatic leader, Obama is clearly the choice. If you care about the issues, you should see what the candidates' stances are.

Here are some articles I've read in the past that shed some light on Obama's policies:

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/12/krugman_speaks_about_his_battle_with_obama_campaign.php

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=472&Itemid=1

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2007-10/31street.cfm

http://www.correntewire.com/obama_stump_speech_strategy_of_conciliation_considered_harmful

Read them, see what you think. Try not to react with, "but Obama is a good guy" - instead look at the issues raised.

Note: I'll probably vote for whichever Democratic candidate is chosen, but I don't believe for a minute I'll have any effect on which one is chosen. I'm just saying that there's a lot of hype around Obama, when we should really look at what he's advocating. And if you believe he's going to find the middle ground in Washington, is that what you want? I believe great leaders don't find the middle ground, they lead on principles.

Huh?

I was listening to NPR on the drive to work yesterday and heard a sponsor I'd not remembered hearing before: Go Nitro Tire.

They sell a system that inflates tires with 99% pure nitrogen. Like I care.

Sure, Formula-1 racers might care, but seriously, do every day folks care? No, they can't keep their tires properly inflated whether it's with normal air or nitrogen. What a scam.

Diet, Week 1

So, it's been a week. Things have gone fairly well. I know that both Sam and Ron have lost a bunch (10ish and 6 respectively), and that Ingrid isn't having much luck with her plan (my uninformed opinion is that she's not eating enough, but it's too quick to judge). I've no idea about the others.

Anyway, I've not weighed in this week, so I have no idea how well I've done in those terms. I do know I've cut out a bunch of food, and while I'm not deprived, I definitely think about all the food cravings I'm ignoring (or satisfying with a carrot or orange). Exercise is the key for me.

See, I'm targeting 2000 calories a day, plus whatever I exercise. I figure my basal rate has got to be at least 2500, probably more. So I'm cutting out 500 calories * 7 == 3500 == 1 pound a week. 6 months == 26 weeks, 26 pounds. I'd like to lose more, but I also want to end up with an eating habit I can sustain.

So, 2000 calories isn't really enough to satisfy me mentally, but if/when I exercise I can pretty easily tack on another 300-600 calories, and 2500 calories is pretty doable. Today, for instance, I ate 2650 calories - and that included a bunch of home-made pizza and 2 (yup, count them, one... two) whole cookies. Sure, I'm not eating my standard dozen cookies, but I'll live.

Anyway, here's how I fared with respect to my target eating goal this past week:


The big negatives are because I exercised and didn't eat enough during the day. Come dinner time I didn't want to just stuff myself, so I ended up a bit shy. I'll get better at planning that.

One problem both Sam and I have had in figuring out how much to eat is that all of the online calculators give different caloric measurements for both basal rates and for activity. Sam got some basal rates that differed by 1000 calories! So it's confusing and difficult to know where to start. As with most things, experience is what really can guide you.

Mary has been great - she's planned and cooked some great meals. I've just limited portions. So far, so good, I think.

Update: Sunday, Jan 26, 4:30pm. Down 4.5 pounds.

Cheney Said He Approved Water Boarding

(forgot to post this when I first saw it)

Simply mind-boggling.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

While I can understand if (that?) Obama doesn't want to start a bunch of partisan bickering, the only way to heal the wounds we have in this country - the only path to truly fixing what was broken over the past 8 years, is to bring the truth to light. Obama has taken some good steps in just the past few days with respect to how his administration (and the government in general) will act. We need to know what just happened as well.

3 Days Down, 180-ish to go

Fit bowl has begun. My plan is to eat 2000 calories a day (give or take 200), allowing more for exercise. The first day was a little challenging, the last two have been easier due to the fact I've been real active (Mary and I walked nearly 9 miles). Surprisingly, I've eaten about the same amount today as the first day, but today I feel stuffed - and I exercised today.

Today was very nice actually, we walked 4.5 miles with Simone in the Burley (napping). Then, after a nice lunch, Simone and I biked to the gym for a swim. I'm glad the fit bowl has helped motivate me, because this is the kind of active life I wanted anyway (Mary too). I do want to win the money, but the real goal is to get to a comfortable weight.

Who knows how long it'll take to adjust to eating smaller portions, but I've already noticed actual feelings of hunger and fullness. Who would have thunk?

Fit Bowl '08

So, my buddy Ron decided we were too fat and needed to lose weight, so it was time for a competition. And since he won our money last time, he upped the entry fee to $100.

The weigh in was last Friday (I did it Thursday because of scheduling).

I'll let the picture do the talking (though I think his scale is wonky - it said 10 pounds more on the wood floor).

Simone Is Walking

So it seems she needed special shoes to really get her walking. There's a pair of shiny black shoes that she first liked, then we just got a pair of sheep-fur-lined boots 2 sizes too big, and she's racing around the house. It's pretty fun.

Her latest words are "teacher" and "happy" though "shoes" is still very popular.



Here's a picture of her at dinner where you can really get a good look at her favorite boots:


Yup, they accentuate her skinny little legs.

It just gets better every day.

Simone, growing like a ... beautiful flower

Well, she's 19.5 months old and weighs nearly as much. Shoes are a big hit with her, she really wants to put them on - including the bright pink croc that someone gave us (just one, kinda awkward). Simone has been sleeping through the night pretty regularly, which is a nice change.

Her vocabulary has picked up dramatically, but some of her old words have changed into new ones, so we're missing some of the things she says (at least I am). She still thinks everything is "soft" - including my stubbly face, and loves to pet Jupiter.

We haven't been riding in a couple of weeks (that's soooo last year), but have gone on several walks and played on the playground equipment. She likes the slides, stairs, and the suspension bridges. Just today, she and Mary went to a Gym On Wheels class - basically a tumbling/walking/play class, and she loved it.

Here are a few pictures of her - one with her very handsome father.




And she really likes her sunglasses, she's getting all geared up for our Hawaii trip.

Gah, Commercials, They Conspire Against Us

So... we switched to Comcast for our phone, and the bundle of phone/internet/tv was cheaper than not having TV, so we've got it.

A couple of times, Mary and I have decided to flake out on TV after putting Simone to sleep. Most of the time there is nothing of interest on (70 channels, nothing interesting), but occasionally there is a movie or show worth watching. However, we're spoiled by watching TV shows off DVD, and the commercials are annoying. So, like any child of the remote, I begin switching channels to find something else.

But all the stations are showing commercials at the same time!!! It's not chance, it happens every time.

I do realize the answer is DVR, but we're ditching cable as soon as the introductory plan is over.

Technological Advances in Crayons

Just found out this weekend that you can erase crayons. It's true, go buy yourself some. Now, I'd prefer an actual eraser to go along with the standard crayons (less packaging than the erasable ones that are encased in plastic). But still, erasable is way cool.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

News item for the day is the "cruel and unusual punishment" case in front of the Supreme Court: Supreme Court takes up major death penalty case

Now, I'm still up in the air on the whole death penalty. The jail system doesn't rehabilitate, so for lifers that have done really heinous murder/rape crimes, perhaps it's better to just apply the death penalty. But the system is also brutally unfair to minorities and has some very obvious cases that have been turned over by DNA, so I question the practicality of putting anyone to death.

Either way, I don't understand why any of the states stick by the 3-drug cocktail used to put people to death now. At least use the same thing we've deemed best for our most cherished pets - an overdose of a barbiturate.