The new addition

We've all been through birth at one point or another, but it still amaes me that something that complicated can actually work and everybody walks away happy. That's a perfect design if you ask me.

Anyhow, here is Otis. The latest in a long and glorious list of highly unprobable success stories in the history of birth. More info and eye-candy over at owenico.com.

Watch the belly grow

There's a bit of a Belly Watch developing over at our sister (actually wife) site.

We're getting dangerously close to having a new critterto add to the clan out here in Venice. Chili is going to be green with envy.

build your own vans

For all of you Vans Old Skoolz aficionados out there, check out this new feature on the Vans site. Now you can customize your own shoes. Sweet. I'm gonna order me up a pair of yellow ones like this.

The only bummer is that they are 60 bux. That's a bit hefty compared to what you can get them for at Zappos. But hey, what truley groovy retro dude wouldn't pay an extra 10 bux to fly thier own colors?

i am not left-handed

shifty pete knows me too well. it was indeed tyler hamilton's fall from grace that drove me, in wild despair, from my barely visited blogmeister console. well, it was that, and this blistering critique of my year-long effort to make citizens out of hipsters.

but the sherlock award goes to genius-boy blog9, who, by reaching back into the foul archives (and receiving a wee bit of insider privy), pieces together my real dilema.

that's right folks. not only am i heartbroken for tyler, but i'm all broken up about something else too.

yep, that's my pride and joy. going to the highest bidder. you may have noticed, she's missing a vital piece. that piece is laying somewhere on the west end of the queensboro. and that's why i'm blogging left-handed.

The last train to washington

This week began as most have for the past five months - on a train at 5:30 in the morning. This week ended as most have for the past five months - on a train at 5:30 in the evening. I like trains, but not that much and I'm very glad that this will be my last two train weekend for a while.guy.

I'm on the train now, crossing what I think is the Susquhanna River, trying to think of a pithy way to recount my week. Nicole is working feverishly to wrap up her third and final paper - The Comparative Morphology of the Hyoid - before I get to the station at 8:50. Mom and Dad are somewhere on I-68 heading east. Beth, my oldest sister, is hanging out over at her neighbor's house in DC. Ruthie, my middle sister, is getting ready to go see a movie with some friends. Catie, my youngest sister, is out at a little horse farm near Columbus giving riding lessons to little girls. I guess it's a pretty rare thing that I know where my entire family is at any given time.

My bike gave me troubles all week. I've had three flat tires on my new rear wheel. I've checked the rim strips for uncovered spokes, checked the tire for errant objects and tried three different air pressures. Nadda. So my bike is sitting in the TRL props room with a thouroughly flat tire. I just can't imagine what it is that brought this spata-flats along.

I spoke with the County of Ventura - nice people those Venturites - about getting a marriage license. Seems pretty straight forward. Showing up is 80% of the job - Woody Allen would be glad. I didn't intend any dark joke about Mr. Allen's married life (lives) but I suppose I could take credit for anything you are inferring.

Well, Baltimore is outside my window. Time to pack it up and call it a week - the last train week.

Ready or not

Ready or not on two levels. First, the website is close but not quite done, however since we sent the invitations out yesterday there's no reason to keep it a secret. Second, in just under six weeks time Nicole and I will turn our two adventures into one adventure.

We've been working on an adventure consolidation plan for about a year now and now it's time to implement. How romantic.

The 23rd page

Here's an interesting snapshop idea. Doug complies with the following request, as do I.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

Here's what I got:

The President saying, "Go find me a way to do this."

Would be a great study to see what people have at hand. Maybe you should cruise back through the referring links, starting with Doug.

Doug does it again

Douglas Bowman unveiled a new design on his site today - another oasis for the eyes. Over the years he has brought us many beautiful things to look at on the web. There's the Wired site and Adaptive Path redesign or my personal favorite, his entry at the CSS Zen Garden called the Golden Mean.

Doug is also super helpful and if you are trying to learn CSS design or thinking about how hard it is to design beautiful things using the language contstraints of web programming, I would suggest reading some of his articles.

I remember sitting in a fine local establishment in Columbus and talking with Doug while he tweaked his website and took joy in the little details. That's inspiring to me - someone who takes joy in the little details.

Off to the races

Ben talked me into racing with him this weekend and I'm always game for racing without any preparation. It was pleasant weather in Central Park (a bit windy maybe), of course that doesn't make it any less painful. I'm moving a little slower today.

Nicole (the wonder-fiancee) and Henry (the wonder-dog) were up for the weekend and we all went over to Ben's after the race to eat, recover and drink entirely too much coffee. Too much coffee which came in handy as Nico and I (and Henry of course) left shortly thereafter to drive back to Washington. Which was followed a few hours later by a hopping of the train back to NYC.

Random entry

I'm feeling pretty good right now. Went to the pool and had some sushi this evening. I rode straight from work to the Y. The wind on the QB bridge was strange as usual. It was gusting in so many direction that it would blow me hither and yon - kept me guessing. Once I got under the bridge I noticed (or didn't notice) just how quiet this bike is. It doesn't make a lick of noise and sometimes I even foget that I'm on it.

I walked over to the sushi place (The Wasabi Boy) with my laptop open to see if I could pick up any wireless signals around the block. There was one place that had a weak signal. I may go sit outside there when it warms up a bit and I need a change of compu-scenery.

Roland is out in California and blogging up a little storm with a side of photos - lots of photos.

Ben is doing the same thing as me tonight. Eating sushi alone (happily) and looking into his G4.

Interesting . . .

OK, I promise to stop talking about comment spam here. But one more interesting thing happened. After I installed Blacklist and there was an initial burst of spam-denied, the spammers left. I checked my site logs and nobody has even tried to comment spam for nearly two days. They must just give up when they see Blacklist. So there's some promising news - a civically-minded product that the bad guys are scared of.

On another interesting note . . .

If you drink a lot of water (i.e. you are hydrated well) it feels totally different when you get hungry. The hunger feels cleaner for some reason, it's almost pleasant. Just thought I'd mention that.

SK8erhood

I went to the pool this morning but the kids had taken over with swim lessons. Four hours worth.

So for the first time since I've moved up here, I set out aimlessly to cover some ground in LIC - on my trusty skate. If you've never been to the LIC that isn't Jackson Ave., it's pretty much all paved and industrial - skate paradise. Lots of stuff that I'll have to come back to when I get me board-legs back.

I hear tell of a cutsie little place out the 7 train. I'll have to hit that one some other day.

I was suprised how those muscles hurt after only an hour aboard. Did manage though to get one really good feeling float on an ollie over a small gap. That's some good stuff.

Out after dark

It's kinda late over here. Just got back in from changing the battery on the car. Made the mistake of letting it sit out on the street for three weeks without so much as a glance in that direction. During those three weeks we got about a foot of snow and barely saw the top side of thirty degrees. So not only was my battery comatose, but the car is about half-way encased in frozen black snow rock. I think they were once contemplating adding this stuff to the table of elements, but it only occurs in New York, so they were waiting on corroboration.

I just popped over to Ben's journal. Interesting observation there about a homeless fella juxstaposed against the thoughts that hold the national mind captive. Sometimes those sorts of realities make me think that people should never leave their neighborhoods or watch what other people do for entertainment - unless it's one on one. Everything is ridiculus at a scope as big as the super bowl and the national budget.

Over-civilization and barbarism are within an inch of each other. And a mark of both is the power of medicine-men.

David Archer

Late last week David Archer, one of my younger sister's and our family's good friends, fell to his death while hiking in the beautiful hills of south central Ohio. David was a good egg and I can't tell you how sad his death is to many many folks. The last time I saw David was when I played opposite him at the annual Thanksgiving Day old men vs. youngsters football game at Grace Presbyterian Church in Columbus. It was sleeting for most of the game and David and I were enjoying the two hand tackle state of affairs which every good football game degenerates into. I really enjoyed knowing that character.

The Lancaster Gazette had a story about David's fall which was typical of the coverage. I went through what many people must go through when folks whom they love die. I read the papers and was upset at the coldness with which they treated the situation.

The bulk of the stories were about how David was off the marked path and let that be a warning to the rest of us. Well, I think that was the wrong advice for two reasons:

1. To react to a personal tragedy with an admonition to follow the rules better next time is cruel and wrong. It's like telling someone to look both ways next time before crossing the street while you are poking them in the eye.

2. Many folks die in accidents in cars and in bathtubs for that matter. I think we take risks every day that we don't even know are risky. We're never too awful far away from dying, but we sure are good at thinking we can avoid it if stay inside the lines. Following rules doesn't insulate anyone from the unexpected. It may satiate an actuary or two, but God takes us when he pleases.

Anyway, below is David's obituary. This is the David who the newspapers, and their readers will never know. They will never know the truth. Isn't that a strange thought? Scores of thousands will read those papers and they will really have no idea what it meant.

ARCHER David L. Archer, age 20, of Worthington, died Thursday, January 8, 2004. Survived by parents, Paul and Cynthia Archer; brothers, Michael, Timothy and Nathaniel; grandparents, E. Robert and LaVerne Derr Jr. of Pittsburgh, PA., Betty Archer and Willis (Greta) Archer, all of Randolph, NY.; great-grandmother, Odessa Arrance of Steamburg, NY.; many aunts, uncles and cousins. David was a college student who was preparing for a mission trip to Uganda, East Africa as a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He was a 2002 graduate of Northside Christian School and was an active member in church programs at Grace Presbyterian Church. He loved the Lord and loved people as well. He was particularly gifted with children. He enjoyed many outdoor activities and sports. Friends may call 6-9 p.m. Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday at SCHOEDINGER WORTHINGTON CHAPEL, 6699 N. High Street, (1/2 mile South of I-270.). Funeral service 7 p.m. Sunday, January 11, 2004 at Grace Presbyterian Church, 5099 Postlewaite Road. Pastor William Kessler presiding. Graveside and interment service will be held Monday at Kingwood Memorial Park.

Sprint was good to me

It's not often that you get to say how well you were treated by a large multi-national organization. I suppose that sort of scale doesn't lend itself to the personal treatment. But I must say - I didn't feel like just a number today at the Times Square Sprint store.

A few days ago I had dropped my nearly obsolete Treo 300. I do this on a regular basis, but this time it was fatal. I was just picking up my McDonalds #2 meal - no cheese - when that phone flew out of my hand and hit the floor. The flip part went flying and I dropped some fries into the mix while I was trying to catch it. End result - earpice was broken but the rest of the phone worked fine.

After about 36 hours of being paralized by the fear of having to shell out a few hundred dollars for a new phone, I got up my gumption and went into the Sprint store. Much to my surprise, the nice young gentleman with crooked gotee told me to go to the service counter and they would replace my phone. That was strange because Sprint had recently kicked me off of thier hardware insurance plan because I break so many phones. I wasn't going to argue, and after about an hour in line the nice lady behind the counter told me that my new phone would be ready in two hours.

So away I went, but certain they would change their minds by the time I returned. It was not to be. Two hours later I walked out of there with a brand new Treo, a new phone for Nicole and a few new friends. All for 29.99. That's service, and maybe that's why they are getting more folks. Goodness knows it isn't the stellar call-drop rate.

Getting there (and back) is half the fun

I've just returned from a two week holiday safari with my fiancee. The plan was simple: I drive from New York, pick her up in DC, drive to Columbus and fly to California the next day. Ten days later repeat, inversed.

So here's what actually happened.

While rushing to get out of NYC, I stepped on and demolished the alarm clicker for my car. I had to open the car, set off the alarm, pop the hood and cut the horn wires. That worked, but still left my lights to blink for about 90 seconds every time I open and close the door.

So I'm out of NYC and four hours later into DC. Sleep for a few hours, run errands all day and head for Columbus with fiance and dog at 8pm. 11:54pm, realise that I left my wallet on the roof of car while pumping gas just outside of DC. Turn around and drive back. 2am, searching in the rain for my wallet. Surprise hotel for the evening. 6am, searching for wallet in the light. 10am, driving back to DC to get a new drivers liscence.

So we took a brief nap and then set out for Columbus, take two.

By this time we had missed our flight to OC so we rescheduled for 7am the next morning.

Spent the first few moments of Christmas 2003 on i-70 and arrived in Columbus at 12:30am. We had a fine, but foggy-eyed visit and present-opening session with my family until 2am. Up at 5:45 and off to the airport.

Things started to look up when our flight (which had a stop-over at ORD) was oversold and we took the two free RT tickets and the first class upgrades. But we accidentaly threw away one of the free tix with our lunch wrappers. After that the trip out was pretty uneventful.

The return trip was pretty uneventful. We only got one flat tire about two hours outside of DC. I must take this occasion to put in a shameless plug for my fiance - that girl is good with a tire iron. These little surprises are always wonderful.

The occasion did afford me the opportunity to put two new Pirelli tires on my car. The ride is much nicer now.

All I have to say about the whole affair is that between my fiance, her family and friends and mine, there are some great folks. I was the only one who ever got frustrated with myself. I suppose these things happen. And as always, there's no substitute for having good folks around.