Melissa and I enjoed our week in Maine this year. Especially since we missed going last year. Pictures are here.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

We are watching my step-sister’s dog, Gizmo, for a little while. He has fit right in, sleeping on Melissa’s side of the bed just like our two dogs.

From posting to pickup in less than an hour!

The house refurbishment project is almost done. To recap, we repainted the middle floor, ripped up the wall-to-wall carpet, and put down Pergo (laminate) flooring. That had the right balance between cost, style, and durability. I have been told that this laminate flooring holds up to paws and claws better than real wood floors.

Anyway, here are a few pictures.

Glenn graduated from Middlebury last weekend. Pictures here.

We are in the midst of repainting the middle floor, and putting down some laminate wood flooring to replace the wall to wall carpet. The before and almost after pictures:

Erica had her baby shower in New Jersey this weekend. Melissa, my mom, Jennifer, and Mary Jo drove up to participate. Along with Carla they also created a wonderful basket filled with baby clothes. Melissa got the idea a few years ago and it's always a hit! All the pictures can be found here.

Lorenzo had his first birthday a couple days ago.

My mom and I made him a cake based on Yo Gabba Gabba characters, which he enjoys watching. I think the parents enjoyed the presentation more than he did, however! But he did like his cupcake. And it was good cake. The downside was, unlike last year when we did a Dora the Explorer cake, I had to be careful about frosting intake and eating cake fragments during the making of the cake. The final product came out nicely. The green "fur" is coconut, and the red dots are those terrible tasting cinnamon thingys. The flavor leeched into the frosting and gave it a mild cinnamon taste, which I did not like. It might be better to use either red M&M's or just make frosting blobs with the frosting gun.

And for reference, here is what the characters look like. We got pretty close, considering our medium was cake. Note we gave Brobee a smile, instead of the frown. And made them both a bit squatter, for more cake. There are gaps between Brobee's arms and body, but the coconut obscures that. In the future, we would probably do better to exaggerate the space, so it frosts better.

And just for reference, because I don't think it is on the site anywhere, here is the Dora The Explorer cake from Mary's birthday party last year.

Melissa and I have a ritual every other week or so. We take the dogs and go hang out in the basement together. This might seem odd, but what I am not mentioning is we do this so we are no underfoot when Nilu is cleaning the upper two floors. Anyway, when you are stuck in the basement with nothing to eat, it's a bad idea to turn on the food network and watch it. I was close to wrestling Mac's nylabone away from him!

I am wishing everyone a belated happy Thanksgiving, and an early Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday should Christmas not be the celebration of your choice. Also, I really like this commercial. Very subtle.

I have been meaning to post for a long time. Lots of inactivity on this blog, not a good thing.

First, congratulations to Rick and Jenny. They got married in September. Yay to them!

Second, this article on the dollar auction and Iraq seems pretty interesting. It makes sense to me.

And finally, OS X 10.5 comes out tomorrow. Very excited about that. Installing that and playing with it pretty much describes my weekend plans.

Melissa thinks I am crazy for even considering this. What a career change that would be!

It turns out the bumps are probably lipomas. We will need to keep an eye on them to make sure they do not change in size or shape, but they very rarely do. So some good news for a change!

We took Macintosh to the vet this morning before my doctor appointments to have three lumps under the skin looked at. Two of them she was "concerned" about, so she took a fine needle aspirate to check for cancer. Hopefully it is a lipoma, and not anything more serious. But this was not what we wanted to hear today.

Melissa lost her phone, and Cingular was fantastic in resetting her eligibility so we could qualify for the really reduced rates on a replacement. I was prepared to purchase an unlocked phone from Motorola or some other place, but this turned out to be better.

Anyway, kudos to Cingular for their hassle-free experience!

Melissa and I got back from vacation this weekend. I am in the process of going through over 1,400 pictures for posting on the website. We took about 850, and the rest were taken by Melissa's parents. Digital cameras are great, but they sure do encourage an over-abundance of pictures to go through.

I am not revealing the destination, but here is a hint:

Melissa and I have a new nephew. Lorenzo arrived on Saturday, and there are some pictures here.

First, the DogCam/CatCam is not functional right now. Long, boring story why, but I have fixed the problem with our home network, so it should be running in the next day or so.

Also, for those who use my asmr.com email, please remove that from your address book. Sometime in the next week or so I will no longer be working at ASMR. I have left them (voluntarily!) for a new position with DataLab USA. The final exact end date is TBD, but better to use my bickley.org email to be on the safe side.

Finally, it is snowing here, and actually accumulating, possibly up to an inch. The DC area does not deal well with snow, so hopefully we will not succumb to mass cannibalism or anything like that. And I went to the store this afternoon to pick up milk, bread, eggs, and toilet paper with a minimum of chaos and mayhem. So for all those reading this in areas like Philadelphia, you can be smug at how everyone there deals with snow.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! Or, Felines Navidog!

One thing I don't miss about school is staying up late to get things finished by the deadline. Hello 1:30 AM!

Melissa and I just got back from our Maine trip. Lots of pictures here.

I like this. The idea that the best way to plan and deal with an uncertain future is to have strong opinions, weakly held. As described:

A couple years ago, I was talking the Institute’s Bob Johansen about wisdom, and he explained that – to deal with an uncertain future and still move forward – they advise people to have “strong opinions, which are weakly held.”  They've been giving this advice for years, and I understand that it was first developed by Instituite Director Paul Saffo.  Bob explained that weak opinions are problematic because people aren’t inspired to develop the best arguments possible for them, or to put forth the energy required to test them. Bob explained that it was just as important, however, to not be too attached to what you believe because, otherwise, it undermines your ability to “see” and “hear” evidence that clashes with your opinions. This is what psychologists sometimes call the problem of “confirmation bias.”

Be passionate, but flexible. The world could use a good dollop of that thinking right now. I think religious faith and how people think about it could use an infusion of this perspective. The problem, it seems, is when the immovable object of one person's beliefs come up against the unstoppable force of another person's.

I admit right off the bat I do not "get" a lot of religious practices. If you PowerPoint the important beliefs among the various Christian denominations I would be hard-pressed to identify which set went with which sect. I grew up with an Episcopal background, and like their world-view. If you are called to serve, woman, married, in some cases gay (although they seem to be backing off of that), then you are given that opportunity. Structures and rules that exclude whole segments of the population from becoming priests seems like they do not represent their congregation fully. God's creation includes all different types of people, they should all be able to equally preach their thoughts and message.

That being said, I do NOT appreciate having people try and "save" me or convert me. Convert is a funny way to phrase it, like I'm switching myself from English to Metric. I am happy to discuss my faith when asked, because it forces me to examine my beliefs and really think about them, but please don't try to push yours on me. I don't think anyone has ever converted because they were swayed by the superior logic of a given argument. Faith is not something that can be proven. It is not a theorem, wrapped up with a Q.E.D. at the end. You cannot flow-chart it (I should know, I have been flow-charting like crazy these last two weeks), or neatly outline it. Faith is messy and ragged around the edges. I think of it like a puddle of water, always flowing, changing shape as your understanding of the world changes. It should not be frozen like an ice cube, ever static and rigid. Which brings me back to my original point. If two puddles collide, you get one bigger puddle. If two ice cubes collide, you get a mess.

To sum up: More puddles, less ice cubes! That's all I have to say about that!

Melissa and I spent an enjoyable weekend with her friends. We went to the Baltimore Aquarium on Saturday. I will give them a plug here. Go! You will have a good time! The frog exhibit is pretty interesting. And their new Australia building is also very nice.

Melissa is almost halfway done with her "Summer of Classes". She is taking 4(!) classes this summer working towards her Masters, two during the first Summer session, and two during the second one. So that is keeping her busy. I am slacking this summer, no classes. Melissa is moving to a new school next year (by choice) so our house is currently filled with her classroom, all in about 30 million boxes in our basement.

The site has been updated with a few new features, and has twice the cleaning power as the next leading brand. So enjoy. And have a great Summer!

Pictures of our London trip are up! And videos. What a fun city. We are ready to go back for another week.

iTunes is now selling Volumes 1&2 of Schoolhouse Rock. Conjunction Junction, what's your function? Now we all know.

For Christmas, I surprised Melissa with a trip to London. Her first "hint" gift was a package of english muffins. Her second hint gift was a package of english breakfast tea. Her final gift was the itinerary and pictures of the hotel printed out and wrapped in a clothing box. Needless to say, she was very excited.

So, we will be there for a week. I have been once, and know the major attractions to visit. But I welcome suggestions for other things to do or see.

The month leading into Christmas is a typically hectic time for Melissa and I. Shopping for presents, finding places we can hide presents from each other AND not have them covered in cat hair because the cats are sleeping on them, etc. It gets pretty crazy. But then the reward is spending Christmas with family, and having a calmer time of it.

It started a little differently this year. As some of you may recall, last year (Sept. 15, 2004 to be exact) Melissa's mom had a very mild heart attack. The doctors found some blockages, put in a stent, and thought the rest could be treated via medication. From that point on, Brenda gave up smoking (cold turkey!), started going to the gym 4 times a week, and totally changed her eating habits (except for a little indulgence around Thanksgiving, so nothing major). Basically, doing everything the doctors said to do.

Fast forward one year. The week before Thanksgiving this year she went in for a stress test. And a few weeks before that had a mild pain in her jaw when exercising. The doctor looked over the result, went "hmmmm..." and then would not tell her what he saw. The Friday after Thanksgiving, he called her at home and told her she needed to go back too the hospital to get a catheterization to look at her heart, because the stress test came back with some problems.

To make a long story short, the three blockages that they thought could be treated with medication had gotten worse, and the area right after the stent had also developed a blockage. The good news was there was no other new areas with problems. So the doctor said they could do four stents, but the way she reacted to her existing one made her a poor candidate for them. He recommended quadruple-bypass surgery. That was the week after Thanksgiving.

A week after that, Brenda was back at the hospital, and went in for the surgery. I am happy to say she came through with flying colors. She was very discouraged that even after all her changes she still needed the surgery, but the surgeon told her she should be happy she had a year to get into shape for the procedure. It has dramatically helped her recovery time.

She came home on Monday of this week, and will be recovering for the next 4-6 weeks. I will not get into the procedure or limitations here, for those that want to look them up, WebMD is a great resource. But suffice it to say, she will be keeping Jake company for a little while at home. Melissa also took this week off to help her mom come home and cope.

Everyone is doing well, and the prognosis looks good. As the doctor said, hopefully this will last 20-30 years, and if there are problems after that she can come in and take the pill that will fix it all that they will have developed by then.

But it does put into perspective what is really important in the holiday season. So everyone give your family members a hug, or tell them how important they are to you. Take a moment and appreciate your family...

OK, that's enough. I hear Bed, Bath and Beyond is having a 20% off sale now. Go go go!

My friend Beth had a blog item about nostalgia today on her site. I was thinking about that as I was at Costco today and saw the big tub of biscotti that they sell. I have not had any of that since I did the Costco shopping for Cambria. It brought back a lot of memories of the office in Philly, and the people who worked there. Miss you guys!

Have a great holiday everyone. And to those who are traveling, be safe. This blog has few enough readers, it would be a disaster to loose any.

Jake seems to be doing well at his new house. Yes, he is completely extended, and sleeping over two chairs.

I meant to post something earlier. I hope that I would have similar courage and fortitude to fight for what I believe in.

For the last month, a little white cat has been hanging around our house. I have been calling no-kill shelters in the area to see if they had room for him, with no success. I made a deal with Melissa that once we started getting frost, we would take him in and keep him in our spare bedroom until we found a place for him. Our neighbors had been feeding him, and providing an outside place for him to sleep, but they were not able to take him inside.

So last week, we put the word out that it was getting cold, and to let us know if the cat showed up. That night, we got a knock on the door, and were told that the cat was in the house next door, ready to be picked up. So I went over to get him. That was Wednesday. On Friday, he went to the vet, and was given his vaccines, tested to make sure he was healthy, and also neutered. The theory was once the initial expense was out of the way, shelters would be more likely to take him.

We had no luck for a few days, but I am happy to announce that Melissa's parents decided they wanted him, and will be coming to get him the weekend of November 11th! It did not hurt that i had the DogCam pointing at the cat for the last few days.

We have named him Jake, and Melissa's parents like the name, so he will keep it after they adopt him. Pictures of Jake can be found here.

UPDATE: We took Jake up to PA this weekend. They couldn't wait until the 11th. So Jake is settled into his new home, and enjoying it immensely.

Melissa says I have crazy taste in music. At the risk of baring my soul, here is my current exercise playlist on my iPod. I start out on the treadmill for 20-30 minutes, depending on the day, then move on to a weight circuit, just so you know which music is playing when.

It is now official. I have been accepted into graduate school at University of Maryland University College. And even better, ASM is paying for it. Time to get me some of that fancy-pants book learnin!

Happy October everyone. I saw Christmas stuff in a store today, so everyone get that shopping in now!

Melissa and I had an interesting debate on evolution last night, and I think our perspectives were colored by our backgrounds. Neither of us is particularly religious. Our relationship with God is pretty low-key. But we found ourselves arguing about the issue from opposite sides, and pretty passionately.

I went to a private school, which was affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Melissa went to a public school. Since we were not bound by church/state issues, we were able to have Bible classes, and a class that looked at religious philosophies. Our biology class taught evolution as How Things Happened. But our religion classes taught us about Why Things Happened.

Melissa did not have that option. Public schools have to tread a very fine line on religion. Which is a shame. I think people could benefit from a Comparative Religions class, which looks at different religions and belief systems from all over the world, and discusses them in a philosophical way. If you give a good sample, then it seems to me the state would not be promoting "the one true religion", and thus the church/state issue would never come into play.

The one flaw in this plan is that some people take extreme positions on both sides. So you have a group of people who want NO religious philosophies taught or discussed, and then you have others who are OK with that, as long as you limit it to their particular religious beliefs, and no others. There is no way to satisfy everyone here, which is a shame. Intelligent Design or Creationism would fit in nicely with a religious philosophy class. It would be painful to teach it as a biology subject.

And does anyone really want to use themselves as the poster child of proof that a higher intelligence directed our evolution? I mean, come on, you are not that fantastic.

Further reading: Darwin Goes To Church, Washington Post, Sept. 18, 2005

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