Old Fence, New Fence (almost)

Exciting day! The fence that was falling down when we moved in 10 years ago is finally being replaced. My fear of home ownership started on day 1 after moving into our house (10 yrs ago) when my doorbell rang at 9:00am. My neighbor behind me wanted to tell me my fence was falling down! Well 10 years went by and I never have seen, nor spoken with, that neighbor. That is until this morning at 9:00, about an hour after the fence crew started tearing down the old fence. I didn't recognize him until he started talking fence.

This time however he was in a good mood. He offers to go halvsies (his word) with me on the fence. Really caught me off guard and being from NY I'm immediately thinking what's his angle. Only a quarter of the length of the fence is along his property so half would be way off base. In the end I said thanks, but I've already got it covered. Hope you enjoy it. Here's to another quiet 10 years ;-)

Bring In The Water Cannon

Got home a bit early today to set up one of the kids many new water toys that they got for their birthdays. After struggling for awhile to put together a volleyball water game, I gave up and blew up an inflatable firetruck with water gadgets. And as they say in the movies... hijinks ensued.

New From The Onion... Oh wait this is true!

At first I thought this story was an hysterical creation of the The Onion, until I realized that this was a true story. Apparently, Fox News picked up on the original critique of the ad and ran heavy with it. The spin of course was that dunkin donuts was of course being un-American. To me this is insane! On my way home they were talking about the story on NPR and likened the reaction to a call to ban hooded sweatshirts because they celebrate the unibomber. At least someone has common sense; its too bad that Dunkin Donuts was forced to drop the ad.

Dunkin' Donuts scarf ad flap "silly"-Islamic group
Thu May 29, 2008 6:44pm EDT

By Marcy Nicholson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A move by Dunkin' Donuts to pull an online ad featuring Rachael Ray after a blogger dubbed the celebrity chef's scarf "hate couture" was an "incredibly silly situation," a U.S. Islamic lobby group said on Thursday.

The ad, online for two weeks before Dunkin' Donuts removed it last weekend, showed TV host Ray wearing a black and white scarf that some critics likened to a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress.

Columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin said it was "hate couture," after which others made similar criticisms.

"It's sad that Dunkin' Donuts pandered to that kind of fear-mongering. They have businesses in the Middle East, in the Arab world. It's interesting to see how that will affect business there," said Ahmed Rehab, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Dunkin' Donuts, which calls itself the world's largest coffee and baked goods chain, said in a statement Ray had been wearing a silk scarf with a "paisley design" selected by a stylist with no intended symbolism. It pulled the ad due to the possibility of misperception, the company said.

Ray hosts morning lifestyle show "Rachael Ray" on ABC, also appears on the Food Network and has written recipe books.

"Our comment is no comment whatsoever," Ray's spokesman Charlie Dougiello said when asked about the ad's removal.

Steven, Tracy, and Nathan Visit

The life and times of a caterpillar

The kids got butterfly kits for their birthday...



This is how they arrived.


The hungry caterpillars ate and ate.


And soon made cocoons around themselves.


We then transferred them to the butterfly houses to wait for them to leave their cocoons as...


butterflies!




We did have one casualty, which was quite upsetting (though obviously a fake pout).

Sunnyvale, CA - Best Western (Mathilda Ave)

Had a quick visit to our Mountain View office for a meeting with the Army. A very successful meeting. I can't say as much for the hotel.

On to the review...

Bed: C
OK mattress, though basic. Bedding thin, but clean. Blanket not enclosed in a sheet or a laundered duvet.

Cleanliness: B
Room was clean, carpet looked new.

Media: C
Average size TV (25"). Basic cable channels; all the basics, no premiums. I think free Wireless throughout the hotel, but it was a secure network and they never gave me the WPA security string. By he time I wanted to go online it was already late and I din't feel like calling the office.

Breakfast: C-
Free breakfast was offered, but the area to eat was three feet from the checkin desk and the tables were tine round tables not big enough to even seat two. It was also a small area. I opted to go across the street to McDonalds.

Towels: B-
Average towels, not super thin, but not soft either.

Overall rating: C

Faith before the recital in the dressing room

Faith's Dance Recital

Because I had to sit through it...

The whole recital was about 2 hours and Faith's group was third from last. And the seats were uncomfortable! But in the end it was well worth it. She was great. From the video it may look like Faith is off from the others, but in reality she was the one doing it right. The parents sitting next to us told us they were trying to will it into their daughter's brain "to follow Faith's lead."

Faith is also much improved from last year's performance.



At the bottom of this page is a scrolling list of all hemmerworld movies and the links will provide access to a player that allows a full screen viewing

Sunny Saturday

Nice calm Saturday.

This morning I woke up with the kids and took them to IHOP (using my birthday coupon) while Mommy slept in; a belated Mother's Day Gift. We had a great breakfast and then came home to work in the front yard. I trimmed several hollies, my barberry bushes, and then cleaned a lot of dead wood from my laurels. The scale is still taking a toll on them. The boys and Faith actually helped and for the first time their "help" was actually helpful! After cleaning up, I sprayed some horticulture oil on he laurels and my ornamental cherry tree to try and fight the scale.

In the afternoon, the kids opened more of their birthday presents and then played with them outside.

RJF Birthday Party 2008

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Last night was my birthday gift of a game at National Park. The place is awesome a really great stadium to enjoy a baseball game. Unfortunately we weren't watching a baseball game, we wee watching a slaughter!!! The Nats lost 11-0.

Still we had fun and will have to be back for more.

Some Family Gift Giving

Several of the grandparents are here this weekend for the blowout triple birthday party tomorrow. So before the hoopla, we opened some of Faith's family presents as well as a few early gifts for the boys.

A great big box with Minnie from Uncle Mark and Aunt Jessica.


Andrea sent Faith a beautiful purse filled with makeup. Faith LOVED it.


Of course what birthday could pass without princess gloves.


General chaos!

And the bugs.... We've been watching these caterpillars grow on our kitchen table for almost a week now. So today the boys opened their butterfly house.

Happy Birthday Faith

 

Air Travel Woes

Yesterday I flew to Seattle for the week. As usual these days the plane was completely filled and as usually the person sitting next to me was far from ideal. On this flight the person sitting next to me, in the middle seat, was a 30 something, 250+ pound woman wearing the above Hustler sweatshirt (though filled out very differently) with legs covered in tattoos.

In the end it turned out she was friendly enough. And, she tried in earnest not to overflow into my seat and armrest, although the attempt was ultimately unsuccessful.

Vacation Look Back - Part 4 (The Beach)

We went to a great little beach right next to Briny Breezes, called Gulfstream beach. The sand is starting to erode, so hopefully the replenish the beach soon.

Vacation Look Back - Part 3 (Butterfly World)

On to Butterfly World, where you pay through the nose, but in the end seems worth it. The butterfly below really took a liking to Jacob.
But the highlight of the day was in the lorikeet house. This was where a crazy looking old bird (kind of like the john Belushi of the bird house) relieved himself on Jacob's hat which happened to be on Grandpa's head :-)