Congratulations Jesse and Brandy

It has been announced that my good friend Jesse is recently engaged!

Jesse and I originally met in 1999 while we both worked for the same company (a company that monitors pharmacutial studies). Jesse quit there before I did, but while we were there, we learned a lot about HTML and wanted to try and turn that into some sort of "career." I soon learned about an opportunity to do just that, and we both went to a .com startup in 2000 and that's where he met his future bride, Brandy.

Congratulations to both of them!

On a personal note, Jesse asked me to be his best man, which — of course — I was honored to accept. Their wedding will be in April 2005.

Brian/Katie Wedding Update

I spoke with Brian today and we talked several different things, not least of which was the men's NCAA basketball tournament. However, the real thrust of the conversation was that Brian wanted me to be part of their wedding party. I, of course, was thrilled and enthusiastically accepted the honor of being the second member of our house to be in their wedding (remember, Aidan is going to be the ring bearer)...

Camping Trip: Kerrville

We went camping in Kerrville, TX over the weekend with Kathryn (aka Kaki) and Silas (aka Si-Si), two of Aidan's best buds (Renee and I like 'em just fine, too). And we brought the new digital camera with us! We got a lot of great images, which have been uploaded to the Web site... by the way, I still need to reorganize the Web gallery. So I won't link to the gallery itself. Instead, you will get a link directly to the camping images.

You would have had more wonderful pictures to view had I not been a total idiot: We went on our first hiking expidition, and I took the camera along with me despite impending rain (we had rain each of the three days were were there). I took some pretty nice shots and once we got back to the camp site, I reviewed them via the preview feature. Curious about what other features the camera had, I thumbed through the different menus until I reached an interface that said "format."

"Huh," I thought to myself. "I wonder what different image formats I can save use." So, I clicked on it.

"Reformating Disk ..." was the answer. I had just inadvertently erased all of the images in the camera.

Well, at least I did it on my first day with the new camera, and I really only lost 20 or so pictures....

As far as camping goes, it was pretty fun. It rained a little (as I mentioned already), which caused us to break camp a little early on Sunday (actually, we broke down camp early and fast; we ate a leisurely breakfast, cleaned up a bit, walked around the camp grounds with the two kids and then packed up the cars in a hurry as the rain came down.... we were on the road and on the way home by 8:30 a.m. By then it had felt like noon. Oh yeah, and the rain stopped for good (and it turned out to be a beautiful day).

Despite the rain, camping was still fun. And despite the fun, I don't think that I would go back to Kerrville to go camping. It's kind of like camping in the middle of town. Survival skills here are of the drive-five-minutes-to-the-hospital variety. And if things get really rough, order pizza. They'll probably deliver it for you, too.

New Pictures Are Here

Better late than never, right? We've finally uploaded some pictures. I think two of them are from January, the others are from February, and capture the bit of snow that we had on Valentine's Day. A lot of these pictures aren't very good, as the quality of our camera seems to be fading fast (as if you haven't read that here a hundred times already). You can check out all of the "new" pictures in the photo gallery (which needs an overhaul, by the way). The picture you see on the right is from said Valentine's Day, which also featured a trip to see Sesame Stree Live! Aidan was very happy to meet Elmo. However, Elmo seemed a little ... well, vacant.

Anyway, the image quality issue is all going to be rectified very soon with the purchase of a new camera!

One of the reasons we're upgrading to the new camera (in addition to the "old camera is bad" mantra) is that I really miss taking pictures, and I really miss using my old film SLR camera. Recently, all we've been using is the film camera, which has been great; however, I've never been happy with the quality of the scanned film images, so those rarely get uploaded to the Web site.

Basically, what it boils down to is that I want to have a good, solid camera, with film-quality images, only digital. And I do prefer the feel of the SLR camera over the point-and-shoot digital camera that we have (rather, had).

At this point you are probably reading this, and if you haven't closed the browser or moved on to another site by now, you are probably thinking "but what does this mean for me?" This means that you, dear reader will be getting more picture updates, and they will be of a much better quality (in terms of resolution), and they might be of a much better quality (in terms of aethetics). But I wouldn' t hold my breath on that last point....

They Might be Giants

Toshiba has announced that they have found a way to artificially enlarge humans. This image on the right shows the size of their "giant" next to a normal-sized hard drive. Side effects of this enlarging process include bloodshot eyes and huge pupils.

At least, that's what I think the story said....

Rewrite the Textbooks

What are the statute of limitations on a "fact"? Do they have expiration dates? At one point in my life, I felt relatively secure that if I learned it in school, it was a "fact." Oh, how times change:

Apparently, and of course this makes sense now, the Great Wall of China is not visible from space.

And there aren't 9 planets in our solar system. There's 10. But if you don't like that answer, then the only other acceptable answer is 8.

And the kicker? Not all bubbles float.

The Eye in the Sky

Scientists photographed this image of a Helix Nebula with the Hubble telescope. Not long after this discovery, there were back-room discussions on canceling the Hubble project. But, at the last moment, the Captains of the West drew the gaze of the Eye and Hubble was saved....

In Search of ...

My old hiking boots are falling a part. And we've planned a couple of camping trips this spring, so I figure I'll need a new pair. The problem is, I can't find any. Actually, that's not entirely true. I can find hiking boots and some of them even look like boots that I would want to wear. The problem is finding boots without leather....

I tried to buy "regular" hiking boots, and I even had them on my feet. But as it came closer to decision time, I couldn't do it. Buying leather just goes against what I believe in. But I do need a good hiking boot. But finding exactly what I want is not quite as easy as going to the local outdoor outfitting store.

But the next best thing might be going to Google. [By the way, how did people find information before the Internet? Card Catalog at the library? That seems like another lifetime!]

One of the first search results I get, directs me to a Web site that has a sort of FAQ on vegan shoes. Here is that section, in it's entirety:

For "serious" hiking boots, your best bets are probably the Ethical Wares (available from them directly or from Aesop) or Vegetarian shoes (direct or from Pangea or Heartland) lines, or the Garmont Vegan.

• Aesop and Heartland both carry quality leather-like hiking boots.
• REI carries the Garmont Vegan, made with synthetic leather and Cordura nylon.
• Rugged Outback: Leatherlike hiking sneakers. Available at Payless Shoe Source.
• Your mother can wear combat boots even if she's vegan. There's an Israeli desert combat boot made of canvas. One surplus catalog I've seen them in is Mass Army Navy.
• In the U.K.. Michael Traub says that non-leather hiking boots are available from Cader Idris Outdoor Gear, Eldon Square, Dolgellau, Gwynedd LL40 1PS, Phone +44 (0) 1341 422195.
• Kim Laurie told me about Ethical Wares, who carry heavy-duty hiking boots.
• Vegetarian Shoes has several models of hiking boots; I had a pair of Doc Marten "Rangers" which were quite nice until my dog ate them.

I have no idea how old this post is (such as it is, the Internet is full of wonderful, searchable information, but it isn't updated frequently, unlike a card catalog); a lot of that information is erroneous. Or, at the very least, very difficult to verify.

Case in point. I went to the REI Web site and found no such thing as a Garmont Vegan. I also couldn't find it at the Garmont Web site. Some of the other mentions, such as Heartland and Aesop, either don't have much selection or don't seem to exist anymore.

The last mention on that list is Vegetarian Shoes. So far, that's the front-runner and I think I may have a pair picked out, although there's another pair in the running from Ethical Wares. One other (pricey for me) possibility is a selection from No Bull. I guess we'll see who this online buying process works out ...

The downside to this process is that I can't try on the shoes, and I have no idea what they feel like, look like, etc. except only by an image on a computer screen (and a short marketing description that I can only partly believe).

So, if anyone out there in Internet Land has any suggestions or comments or product reviews or anything, please feel free to let me know!

[UPDATE 3/16/04: I found the Garmont Vegan. It looks really nice, too. It'll likely be the boot that I get. You can find it on the Garmont Web site, and soon on the REI Web site -- see the comments associated with this post.]

What Counts and Who Hops

Aidan is progressing at such a rapid rate, it's really hard to document all the things that are going on. But here are two things that have become quite obvious as documentable achievements:

We have a book called Who Hops. It's very short, with only two word on a page (for the most part), and basically just tells you "who hops." That is, on the first page, it's a picture of a frog, and the text says "frogs hop." Except that they throw the proverbial curveball every fourth page or so, and say something like "cows hop." On the very next page, they'll let you know what's up: "No they don't. Cows give milk and moo, but they don't hop."

Well, Aidan can pretty much read this entire book. He goes through the hopping, flying, slithering and crawling sections with ease (although saying "slithering" is really hard for him, and in general, it does take a certain amount of interpretation). The last section of the book asks, "Who hops, flies, crawls and slithers?" The answer in the book is "you do," but Aidan says "me do!" Aidan also always finishes the book by closing it up and saying "he en" (the end).

The other thing that Aidan is doing remarkably well is counting. Sometimes you have to spot him the "one" (sort of jump start him), but he can count to five, for the most part. He occasionally gets really excited to get to five, so counting might go like this:

me: Aidan let's count. Ready? One.
Aidan: Woo (that would be "two")
me: Two
Aidan: IVE!
me: Three
Aidan: IVE!
me: Four
Aidan: IVE!

But usually, he does it very well. Renee and Aidan have been counting as they walk up the stairs, and he can easily get past five, although he has more of a tendency to skip numbers (or stay on the same one for a couple of beats) when counting to 17 (yes, we have 17 steps). But to see it in action, it is very impressive.

A New Diaper

Yesterday Aidan did the most precious thing. While I was making dinner, Aidan wandered down the hallway to the bathroom and came out holding a diaper. I thought "wow, he's never asked me to change him before by going and getting a diaper." So I asked him whether he wanted me to change him and he looked up at me with a puzzled look. Instead of giving me a yes or no, he went back into the bathroom and got his wipes, which he carried out to the living room. Then he took his Hokey-Pokey Elmo and lied him down on the floor and took out a wipe. He wiped between Elmo's legs and then his hands. I sat back and giggled the whole time, but then I was asked to help. Aidan needed my help putting Elmo's diaper on his bottom....