August 2005 Photos
Berkeley's and Eliana's photo galleries for the month of August are now available. We didn't take many pictures in August, so the galleries are somewhat sparse.

Here are some sample images:

You can review the full galleries either by accessing the "August 2005" links on Berkeley's web site or Eliana's web site or you can access the galleries directly:

Berkeley's August 2005 Gallery ... (3 years, 1 month old)
Eliana's August 2005 Gallery ... (1 year, 5½ months old)

Designer Mortgages
I recently received the King County official appraisal of my home's value; the value which will determine how much property taxes I will have to pay in 2006. The valuation of my property and improvements has risen, in one year, by almost 10%. Sure, the increased valuation is great news if I was interested in selling my home in the near future, but since I'm not moving, it only means I'll pay more taxes.

I don't mind paying taxes, I would just prefer to pay as little as possible. And so, as a faithful steward of my talents, I had been using the 2002 sale of my neighbor's house as a "real-world" example of home prices in my area. After my original neighbors were forced to relocate, their house languished on the market for about 1½ years and finally sold at auction after foreclosure; at a price below that of the original purchase price paid (and below what we paid for our smaller home). This helped me lower my property tax bill (and keep it unchanged) in each of the last two years.

Unfortunately, last year a house up the street (that is just slightly bigger than our own) sold for $650k. Thus, it will be impossible for me to use my former comparable (the house next door that sold for less than $500k) now that this new data point is pegging prices upward. Sigh.

I've long thought home prices are rising too fast in much too short a time, creating a "housing bubble" that eventually must burst. I've determined that the root cause of this is the proliferation of "Designer Mortgages" such as the piggyback and interest-only loans which came into vogue only a few years ago.

From the link to the Bruce Bartlett article above:

An important reason for the increasing loan-to-value ratio is the proliferation of what are called "piggyback" loans. Basically, a borrower takes out two mortgages simultaneously - a first mortgage and a second, piggyback mortgage on top. The first mortgage will be what is called "conforming," which means that it can easily be resold on the secondary market. The balance might be in the form of a home equity loan or credit line that is used to make the initial purchase, rather than taken out afterwards.

The effect of breaking the total mortgage into two parts like this is that it allows people to borrow more money with lower incomes than would be possible if they had a single "jumbo" loan, as would have been the case in the past. According to a recent report from PMI, a mortgage insurance company, in many hot housing markets 60 percent of home sales are financed with piggyback loans. The size of piggyback loans is also increasing rapidly, from $37,757 in 2001 to $51,617 in 2004.

Such loans are riskier than traditional loans because there is less equity backing the loan, making lenders more vulnerable to loss in the event of an economic downturn or falloff in home prices.

Further adding to the risk of default is the proliferation of interest-only loans. Historically, mortgage payments included a payment of principal that reduced the outstanding loan amount. In 2004, a third of new home sales were financed with mortgages having no payment of principal, according to LoanPerformance. As with piggyback loans, interest-only loans allow people to borrow more and buy more expensive housing, but with less of a margin to protect lenders from default.  (Emphasis mine.)

The high "loan-to-value" ratio basically has created a false demand for housing for what should otherwise be unaffordable to a typical borrower. As this false demand has gone up, so have home prices. But as Bartlett (and Alan Greenspan) have warned, it will likely not last.

The 0fers Revisited
I mentioned previously that I have been playing softball every Monday night for most of July and all of August. Our team is called the 0fers (pronounced oh-fers) because we didn't win a single game last year. Going into tonight's doubleheader, the 0fers (at 0-10) were on pace for yet another winless season.

We came really close to winning the first game of the doubleheader, losing in seven innings by one run. We typically will lose after 4 innings by virtue of the 10-run rule... so getting to 7 innings (and not getting beat by a margin of 10 or more), was an accomplishment in and of itself. The second game also went to seven innings, but this time we managed to: 1) somehow score 17 runs, and 2) somehow hold the other team to 16 runs. So we finished the summer with a stellar 1-11 record... a new high water mark for wins in a season.

In One Tent Door and Out the Other
This afternoon, after a rare nap, Berkeley melted down when Kristy told him he had to go potty before playing outside (he hadn't gone for some time... so it was quite certainly a justifiable request). But instead of just taking the minute that the task would require, Berkeley cried and made quite a production of every step involved in the process (dropping the drawers, getting on the seat, washing his hands, etc). The net effect was to delay his playtime outside by probably ten minutes instead of just one.

Now even though I work at home (in my plush corner windowed office), I can pretty much ignore most of the comings and goings that happen elsewhere in the house. But this little outburst, 1) occurred in the bathroom right next to my office, and 2) as I mentioned, lasted much longer than what you could call my "I can ignore that" length. So I peeked in and expressed to him by displeasure at his tirade (and the accompanying noise).

Later, Berkeley appeared at my office door (which is windowed). I motioned him in.

"I moved the tent on the grass.", Berkeley said.

"Berkeley, I would like to talk to you about your outburst.", I began. "When Daddy or Mimi ask you to do something, then you are to do it, despite the fact that it may not be what you want to do at the moment..."

I probably went on lecturing him for a couple of minutes like that. Then I gave him a big hug and told him I loved him. When we separated, he stood there, paused in deep thought (I presumed), with his eyes half-glazed over.

"I moved the tent.", Berkeley repeated.

I cracked a smile, shook my head, and told him to go outside and have fun.

July 2005 Salt Lake City Trip Photos
We spent the last few days of July and the first few days of August down in Salt Lake City (as noted previously in blog entries during that period). Here are some sample images from the trip:

Since it has been some three weeks since we returned, it may be helpful to provide a link between some of my blog entries and the corresponding trip sub-galleries.

Jul. 29: Berkeley Birthday   (blog, gallery)

Jul. 30: Utah County Fair and Mark's Pizza   (blog, gallery #1, gallery #2)

Jul. 31: Sunday Dinner   (blog, gallery)

There are some sub-galleries which I did not directly blog about, but they can still be accessed by reviewing the complete Salt Lake City Trip gallery here:

July 2005 Salt Lake City Trip

Here Comes the Rain
The Sorensons came over tonight for some leftover pear and cherry crisp (and vanilla ice cream). After we had just taken our seats around the kitchen table, we noted that it started to rain outside... in fact, rain was pouring down.

It had been threatening to rain for the better part of the evening, but the rapid amount of rain that gushed down still came as quite a surprise to us... because, 1) it hasn't rained for quite some time, and 2) when it does rain, it is rarely such a heavy downfall as it was tonight. I propped the back door open and we ate our dessert while chatting and listening to the rain fall down. I love the smell of the fresh air during a rainfall.

Later, after the Sorensons retired to their new home, Kristy and I played with the kids before putting them down. It was still raining and Eliana was fascinated with the sound of the rain falling on the house and the plants and trees outside. In fact, she led me to an open window upstairs, pulled on my arm and indicated that I was to sit down. She then commenced to chatter on about what I can only assume was the rain, since she kept pointing outside. After she went on for about 10 minutes, I decided that I should really try and preserve the moment in picture. So I called down to Kristy, beckoned her bring up the camera, and snap some video.

Eliana chattering about the rain

Too cute!

(Update Wed Aug 31 23:24:08 PDT 2005 // fixed a grammatical error )

I'm Making a Train for Berkeley Berrett
Berkeley's favorite pastime is, without a doubt, playing trains. Specifically, playing trains with his Thomas the Tank Engine trains and train tracks. Though he can make his own train tracks and play with his trains by himself, he strongly prefers having either Kristy or myself assist in train track construction and then linger to participate in the train narratives he creates.

A couple of months ago, I was ripping some of our older CDs into mp3 format (most of our CDs are pretty old actually). After I would rip an album or two, I'd queue up the songs and listen to a few of them. For whatever reason, the song "Sweetness Follows" on R.E.M's Automatic for the People stuck with me throughout that day. Later that evening, as I was assembling a new train track layout for Berkeley (with Berkeley present of course), I ad-libbed the following song to the tune of "Sweetness Follows":

I'm making a train for Berkeley Berrett
I'm making a train for Berkeley Berrett
I'm making a train for Berkeley Berrett
Just a little one, so he can play with Thomas
Whoa.... whoa....

The song became an immediate all-time top-10 request ("Daddy, sing the Making a Train for Berkeley Berrett song"). Not too long after my original improvisation, Berkeley started singing the song to himself (complete with the "Whoa, whoa, whoa"). It is quite humorous to hear his rendition.

Not long after I made the song up, I loaded up Automatic for the People in the ML's CD changer because of Berkeley's repeated requests to hear it. On the way to church today, out of sheer coincidence, "Sweetness Follows" started playing.

"The Making Train Tracks for Berkeley Berrett Song, Daddy! The Making Train Tracks for Berkeley Berrett Song, Mimi!", Berkeley exclaimed.

The sudden declaration made by Berkeley came as quite a surprise to both Kristy and myself; the volume of the audio was so low that we had both presumed that the stereo was off completely. But it was audible enough for Berkeley's very sensitive ears to pick it up. And so, for the remaining few minutes it took to drive to church, the three of us sang "I'm making a train for Berkeley Berrett" with the requisite "Whoa... whoa... whoa".

Fruit Desserts
When the wife and I eat out at a restaurant (just the two of us), we rarely will split a dessert... no matter how full either (or both) of us are. Kristy is a chocolate-dessert eater; I'm a fruit-dessert eater. One isn't necessarily better than the other; "that there is just the way it is" (as they say).

Yesterday, I was able to secure about 10 freshly picked pears from Khan and Christine after attending their pool party (they said I could return and pick more off their densely packed and visibly burdened pear tree; an offer I may just seriously take them up on). Today, I decided to make the best use I could with my harvest. I didn't have enough for a pie, nor did I have enough for a tart (what I picked transformed itself into 3 cups of thin pear slices when all was said and done). But after searching a few cookbooks, I stumbled across an "Old-Fashioned Pear and Tart Cherry Crisp" recipe in the Better Homes & Gardens New Baking Book.

I had completely forgotten about Fruit Crisps... my mother made then quite often for us (Apple Crisp, Pear Crisp, Peach Crisp) when we were growing up (perhaps therein lies the roots of my affinity for fruit desserts?). After quickly scouring the ingredients list and mentally noting what I lacked, I set out for the grocery store. I returned and whipped the crisp up in about half of an hour and then had to wait another 40 minutes for it to bake.

Well, the result was quite fantastic (I had it with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream). The pear and tart cherry combination was very complimentary. I wasn't particularly overwhelmed by the topping that the recipe produced, so I think I'll have to improvise one of my own and then combine that with the fruit mixture from this recipe. I'll post my final recipe here when I've completed it. Stay tuned.

Let's Go Storm
The four of us attended the last home game of the Seattle Storm this afternoon. Berkeley seems to really enjoy the games (provided we remember to bring ear plugs for him), and will chant and clap in unison with the crowd (he especially likes to cheer "Let's - Go - Storm!").

Eliana isn't really to the point where she will actually sit and watch an entire half (like Berkeley does), but she does watch in fits and spurts. Despite the need to constantly provide Eliana with some form of secondary entertainment, we really enjoy attending the games as an entire family unit.

The WNBA game is a clean game; both from a "basketball fundamental" point of view, and from a "game atmosphere" point of view. Make no mistake, the WNBA game is not the above-the-rim high-flying me-me-me game that the NBA game is; instead there is a lot more ball movement and team involvement. It is not uncommon to see every player on the team get a touch before a shot is attempted. Where the NBA is very much a sport about individual performance, the WNBA is very much a sport about team performance. The WNBA-style is how the game should be played in my very humble opinion (i.e. how the NBA game used to be played).

Furthermore, the "game atmosphere" at WNBA contests is much more family friendly. Noticably lacking from WNBA games is the abundance of alcohol (and the bombardment of alhohol-related advertisements), the scantily clad female "cheerleaders", and the obscenities yelled by fans seated in the immediate vicinity. The NBA game is no longer a game for the kids; and that is a great loss as I have many fond memories of attending Utah Jazz games with my brothers and my Dad at the old Salt Palace.

By contrast (and by virtue of how the WNBA markets itself), the majority of the folks attending the WNBA games are not the beer-drinking profanity-yelling adult males you find at NBA games. Instead you find that the majority of the fans at WNBA games are kids (and their parents). I find this thoroughly refreshing for a professional sport. Also, consider the Seattle Storm Promotions for the month of August:

Aug. 27: Fan Appreciation Day
Sponsored by Peter Pan (as in Peter Pan Peanut Butter)

Aug. 25: Back to School Night
Sponsored by Dora the Explorer

Aug. 9: Faith & Family Night
The Storm invites all local church groups out for Faith & Family Night. During a post-game event, Storm players will give personal testimonials about how their faith has positively impacted their lives and athletic careers.

Enough said.

The Storm WNBA games are the best value for your family sporting entertainment dollar in the Seattle area. Nothing else even comes close.

Pool Party
I'm not ashamed to admit that I have very few friends, and I have even fewer friends with a pool in their backyard. So when my good friends Khan and Christine invited us over for a party to celebrate the completion of their pool renovation project, we graciously accepted. I can state quite candidly that all of us enjoyed the evening. The food was fantastic (well prepared and quite attractively presented), and the pool was emminently enjoyable. I spent most of the time at the party in the pool (as did many of the other guests).

The kids had a fun time in the pool (they both love the water). Berkeley and I played a game where he would start counting (to ten or twenty) and I would dive and position myself at the bottom of the deep end. After he was done counting, he would doggy paddle over to the deep end and wait for me to come up for air (either in front or behind him). He chuckled pretty enthusiastically each time I surfaced.

(Update Sun Aug 28 19:05:57 PDT 2005 // fixed some grammatical errors)

Eliana's Two Favorite Words
Eliana is developing quite a vocabulary. One of her two favorite words is "stuck" (which she pronounces "stuh" with a short "U" sound). For example, if she can't get a toy out of the toy chest, then she'll repeat "stuh" over and over, until Kristy or myself will come to her assistance.

Her other favorite word is "no" (which Eliana pronounces "moh" using a long "O" sound, like "oh" prefixed with an "M" sound).

"Eliana, would you like anything else to eat?", I asked her this morning during breakfast (after she ate a bowl of Life cereal, a scrambled egg, a biscuit, and a glass of OJ... she's a big breakfast eater).

"Moh.", Eliana softly responded as she shook her head slightly.

Of course, Eliana doesn't always use her "moh" to respond to questions. She'll use it to respond to polite requests as well.

"Time for your medicine.", I said today (she has had a little cold lately).

"Mooooh!", Eliana vehemently retorted (she's not a fan of the taste I guess).

She does know "yes" too (which she pronounces "um-hmm"), but she just doesn't use that as much. Heh.

"Seben-Eleben"
Berkeley loves slurpees, so much so that he can easily pick out a 7-11 sign out of a crowd of other roadside advertisements and signage.

"Look, Daddy, a Seben-Eleben!", Berkeley will exclaim.

"Where?", I'll respond, craning my neck to and fro.

"Can Berkeley get a slurpee at Seben-Eleben Daddy?", Berkeley will inevitably wonder out loud.

Honestly, sometimes I'll not see the 7-11 for several seconds after he makes his sighting.

Today, Berkeley had his last swimming lesson for the month of August. He has been struggling to keep it together during swimming lessons recently; he'll burst into tears for seemingly no apparent reason (poor little guy). It may be because during his July classes, he had an adult in the water with him the whole time. But, since he did so well in his July sessions, the instructor bumped him up to an advanced class where the adults don't get in the water with their children.

So, I made him a deal that if he didn't cry today and would "swim happy" during his lesson, that we could go to 7-11 afterward and get him a slurpee. I even primed the pump last night during story time, telling him a story about how Berkeley went to swimming lessons and didn't cry and was happy, etc. ("Great story Daddy" was the response.)

He did a pretty good job today. He did lose it once while clinging on to the side of the pool (seemingly for dear life). But when he started crying, he buried his mouth into the inside of his elbow in an attempt to cover up his sobbing. I could tell he wanted that slurpee pretty bad. His tiny episode ended after about a minute, and he was quite happy for the remainder of the lesson. He jumped off the diving board three times (cutting in line each time) with obvious glee.

On the way back home after the lesson was over, I stopped by 7-11 and got him the "red" slurpee (cherry flavour)... his favorite.

Movie Review: The Aviator

Title:	The Aviator (2005)
Rating:	5/10

Kristy and I rented, and then slowly watched The Aviator over the past couple of nights. I knew going in that the film was of "epic" length (almost 3 hours long), so my expectations were somewhat low. The Aviator was not as boring as I thought would be; it was actually quite entertaining (at least entertaining enough to make it worth the rental price paid). But other than the entertainment value, I really didn't take anything away from the film.

July 2005 Photos
I have just now completed Berkeley's and Eliana's photo galleries for the month of July 2005. The galleries only include those pictures taken before our family vacation to Salt Lake. I'll post our vacation pictures later this week.

Here are some sample images:

You can review the full galleries either by accessing the "July 2005" links on Berkeley's web site or Eliana's web site or you can access the galleries directly:

Berkeley's July 2005 Gallery ... (3 years old)
Eliana's July 2005 Gallery ... (1 year, 4½ months old)

Uniquely Eliana
A few weeks ago I alluded to an observation about how different my kids are at a very young age. Of course, I would expect that their personalities would be quite different, and indeed they are... there will be no other Eliana and there will be no other Berkeley. But what I didn't expect is the seemingly innate perception they hold of their own sexual identity, something I had heretofore believed was wholly learned from cultural influences (that is to say, a girl is taught to be a "girl", and a boy is taught to be a "boy", at least in the context of the environment in which that child is raised in).

Of course, cultural influences do have a tremendous impact on sexual identity and gender roles, influences which not only vary from nation to nation but from household to household. But if cultural influences can be independently isolated (i.e. presuming those influences are equivalent from child to child... like say, for example, two children raised in the same home), they simply cannot account for some of the behaviors I have observed in Eliana at a very early age, before any opportunity to reinforce gender roles and sexual identity presented itself.

One behavior Eliana seems to have brought with her is that of playing the role of a caregiver, specifically in the role of playing caregiver to a baby doll. Eliana's exposure to baby dolls was roughly at the same age as was Berkeley's exposure, and in similar circumstances... outside of our own home (we only got Eliana a baby doll to role play with once she showed a seemingly innate interest). It is quite curious to note that Berkeley has never shown even the slightest bit of interest in role playing as a caregiver (but I should note that Berkeley did go through a phase where he was quite interested in princesses, but that was more as the result of the influence of his [all girl] cousins than anything else). If the nurturing environment can be considered to be identical (or, if not, then extremely similar), wouldn't I expect Berkeley to have shown an interest in role playing as a caregiver also? I should think so.

The second behavior I have observed is not as compelling, but I think it deserves mention. Eliana has long been quite fond of playing "dress up", well before we even thought to encourage such a behavior. I'm quite sure that Eliana learned this behavior from watching her mother (I must emphasize that even before her first birthday she was wrapping clothing items around her neck and strutting about in an "I'm-so-pretty" type of walk). However, Berkeley exhibited no such tendency after watching his mother "dressing up" (as it were). All things being equal, then I would expect that Berkeley would have gone through his "dress-up" phase; but he never did. This is because (I believe) Eliana wasn't so much as "dressing up" as she was identifying with something her mother was doing; identifying with her as a woman, even if she was only a very little girl.

I realize that I have a pretty sparse dataset to work with, that my observations can be subjective, and that my presumptions may be false. But by own reckoning, these observations go a long way to confirming some of my own philosophical beliefs. Namely, that our lives didn't start here on this earth, but that we carry some stamp or imprint of our identities from a previous life.

The Failure of the Iraq Experiment
Dan has the goods on the failed Iraq experiment and where we should go from here.

(Update Wed Dec 21 09:19:01 PST 2005 // moved to new category)

Restaurant Review: JaK's Grill

Restaurant:	JaK's Grill
Cuisine:	American, Steakhouse
Rating:	My Favorite Steakhouse
Price:	$50-$70 for salad and main course for two (tip not included)
Locations:	14 Front St, Issaquah 4548 California Ave SW, West Seattle
Website:	www.jaksgrill.com

I probably shouldn't even write this review, as I will become part of the only problem with JaK's Grill (with locations either close to our home in Issaquah, or in West Seattle). And there really is only one problem with JaK's Grill... and that is the unbelievable wait times required to be seated at what has to be, if not the Best Steakhouse in the Seattle Area, then unquestionably one of The Best.

Kristy decided to take me out to dinner tonight for my recent birthday; my choice of restaurants. I decided to go with my favorite: JaK's Grill. We dropped off the kids at the Thurmonds in Snoqualmie and then buzzed by Jak's on the corner of Front and Sunset (the two main streets in Issaquah). I dropped Kristy off and circled the block. When I made it back around to the corner in front of JaK's, Kristy was there waiting. She hopped in and informed me of the wait time; 1½ hours... drat!

We already had one errand planned, which we completed in only 45 minutes. After which we called around at some of the other steakhouses (such as DC's Grill in Sammamish and Daniel's in Bellevue) to see if any had some immediate seating available. DC's had tables available (they always do), so we decided to head over... but I convinced Kristy to stop by JaK's on the way "just to see" where we were on the waiting list.

After I dropped Kristy off, she returned with the news that, much to my astonishment, we were next on the list! So I hectically found a parking spot and dashed to JaK's, where I found Kristy had already been seated. Splendid!

The dinner menu at JaK's is beautifully simple. There are about 12 choices (iirc)... half are beef, but all are meat (there is one prawn dish that I'm counting as meat). Typically there are two specials every night. One special will typically be skewers, which is generally a medley of steak, vegetables, and sometimes cheese; the other special will typically be fish, such as swordfish, halibut, salmon, or whatever fish happens to be in season.

But I've never ordered anything but beef (or the double-cut pork chop) at JaK's. After waiting so long to get seated, I'm not going to waste my JaK's dining opportunity on some flimsy fish dish (as good as it may theoretically be). You go to JaK's to eat a nice big cut of beef (or pork, as I noted). Vegetarians need not apply. And in my very humble opinion, fish-eaters may only waste seating space at JaK's if accompanied by one (or more) real-meat-eaters. Look into my eyes when I say that last statement... I'm not kidding.

Of the handful of beef menu items available at JaK's (the Sirloin, the New York, the Filet Mignon, the Prime Delmonico [bone-in New York], and the Porterhouse), I've tried all but the Porterhouse. I've also had the double-but pork chop, which is most excellent (and at $15, is probably the best value on the menu). But tonight, I opted for the $35 Prime Delmonico and ordered it medium-rare (anything cooked past medium-rare is a sin... again, in my very humble opinion, don't waste JaK's precious seating space if you prefer your steak "well" done... go to Sizzler or Outback instead). Kristy ordered the petite-cut (8 oz) filet... a solid choice.

The steaks, of course, were mouth-watering. I ate every bit of my 16 oz entree with equal enthusiasm from the first bite to the last. But don't let this review encourage you, please stay away from JaK's Grill. It really isn't as good as I think it is... instead, check local listings for the nearby Sizzler or Outback.

(Update Sat Jan 7 22:19:17 PST 2006 // fixed a spelling mistake)
(Update Thu Apr 27 22:35:14 PDT 2006 // qualified favorite, added url)

Product Review: Chariot Carriers Cougar 2 Child Carrier
I tried out the jogging stroller today that the kids got me for my birthday: the Chariot Cougar 2 Child Carrier with Jogging Kit, (which Kristy purchased from the local REI). As I mentioned previously (see here and here), I have been taking the kids out for jogs quite regularly (almost daily)... albeit in a stroller (the Peg Perego Aria Twin) that is not specifically designed for jogging.

I didn't shy away from putting the new stroller through its paces. I selected a few horse trails that are located in our neighborhood and set out for a short 2-mile jog. These trails have been all but impossible for the other stroller to navigate (the Peg Perego only really functions well on clean asphalt or concrete), but the Chariot gobbled the trails up and never showed any sign of getting stuck in the loose dirt, high weeds, or rocky terrain. I was actually quite amazed at how well (and effortlessly) the stroller performed.

Summary: Remarkably efficient; performed outstandingly well on both road and trail settings (but performance comes at quite a price... almost $500)

(Update Sun Aug 28 19:03:15 PDT 2005 // fixed some grammatical errors)

Biff's Blackberry Coffeecake
I took the opportunity this morning to make use of some of the fresh blackberries available in the blackberry patch behind our back yard. This coffeecake is (more or less) a combination of a couple recipes I found in some of the cook books we have... plus a wee bit of improvisation of my own.

Fruit Mixture
3 cups fresh blackberries
2 tbs cornstarch
1 tbs sugar

Cake Batter
1½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp salt
4 tbs butter
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Crumb Topping
½ cup flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cardamom
4 tbs butter

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 8x8x2-inch glass baking pan.

Fruit Mixture. In medium-sized saucepan, combine fruit, cornstarch, and sugar. Toss gently until blackberries look evenly coated with cornstarch and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until bubbly. Cook and stir about 2 minutes more, then set aside.

Cake Batter. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt. Cut in butter. Beat egg and combine with buttermilk and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and stir until moistened.

Crumb Topping. Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Cut in butter.

Spread half of cake batter into bottom of baking pan. Pour fruit mixture on top of batter. Drop remaining batter onto fruit filling in small mounds. Sprinkle crumb topping over batter. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Swimming Across Pine Lake
I've now been swimming every morning in Pine Lake for a week. Heretofore, I had just been swimming about ¾ of the way across, stopping (and resting for about a minute), and then returning to the dock. Today, however, I finally felt like I had the strength to swim across Pine Lake and back which, by my estimation, is about 1¼ miles. Using maps.google.com, I prepared a simple representation of my swim path (click to enlarge):

I felt really good after I made it back to the dock; almost good enough to convince myself to swim across and back again.

Babe Ruth was a Lefty
While playing baseball with Berkeley tonight, I discovered that he prefers to bat left-handed. I tried to "correct" him and turn him around (and rearrange his hands on the bat), but he insisted that he liked "the other way" better. His swing is, in fact, more smooth batting left-handed than it is batting right-handed. Curious.

Halfway to 72
This evening, we used the excuse of my 36th birthday to invite over the Thurmonds, Sorensons, and Corays for some birthday pie. Kristy picked up a Triple Coconut Cream Pie from the Dahlia Bakery for the occasion. It was a low-key event; my birthday was more of an excuse just to get together and let the kids play while the adults chatted. I did get some wonderful presents (the kids got me a new jog stroller; Kristy got me an iPod Shuffle; and Matt/Kathy got me an iTunes gift card). Thank you.

The pie was simply outstanding. It was quite obviously hand-made. The price paid for the pies at Dahlia Bakery includes a $5 deposit for the Pyrex glass pie dish that the pie is baked in; refundable, of course, on return. I could only eat half of a piece... it was quite rich and dense. I'll have to investigate what other pies they bake there when I take the baking dish back.

Surmounting the McDonalds Playland Obstacles
I accompanied the kids to the local McDonalds today for lunch. We go for the playland, not for the food (the kids would much prefer to eat Mac-n-Cheese at Sherm's or at Pallino). After the kids picked over their happy meals, they were set loose in the playland area.

Heretofore, Eliana could do nothing more than play in the ground area of the playland. But today, for the first time, she negotiated her little body (with great effort) up and beyond the obstacles designed to keep the smaller kids from ascending to the higher levels. To say that she was elated by her accomplishment to reach such great heights would be an understatement. Berkeley was quite happy to have her up there as well; in fact, he conducted a small tour and showed Eliana every nook and cranny of the private fortress they could now share together.

Dave/Richard Barnes Channel Swim in the Media
Two weeks after their channel swim, my friend Dave Barnes and his brother Richard are getting some cycles in the media; see Deseret News and KSL. My archived copies of the original KTVX newscasts are still available: see here and here.

On a personal note, Dave has inspired me to start swimming again. I've been swimming about ½ to ¾ mile (in 70° water) every morning this week.

(Update Sat Dec 22 02:52:44 PST 2007 // changed link location to videos)

Sheer Driving Pleasure
A friend tipped me off to a video of a 2004 BMW M3 GTR (a $350,000 car) driven on the Nurburgring track (requires Flash Player 7... sorry).

Yowza!

Motorcycle Maintenance
As I have mentioned previously, I own a metallic blue 2000 BMW R1200c cruiser. It's a wonderful machine. Back when I was commuting to an office for work, I rode everyday. But now that I work from home, I rarely get the bike out for a drive.

However, during my most recent ride, the bike turned 15,000 miles and is now due for a checkup. I've been toying with the idea of doing it myself; only because I feel like I should be able to do it myself I guess. I found this BMW Cruiser Tech Page while surfing the net just now. Looks pretty useful.

Tucking In Eliana
It's been well over a month since we moved Eliana permanently into her big girl bed. She'll be 18 months old on September 8th, and I just can't believe she has grown so fast.

Tonight I put Eliana down while Kristy tucked in Berkeley. I said prayers with her (while she jabbered her own incoherent version), and then helped her clamber up into bed. I gave her a few kisses on her toes, hands, tummy, and head... told her that I loved her and that she was to "stay in bed and go to sleep". Then I left the room, turned off the lights in the bonus room (which is right outside her bedroom door), and laid down on the floor.

We went through this same routine with Berkeley for a few months after he moved from the nursery into his bedroom. He wouldn't stay in bed, and, well, neither does Eliana. Not one minute passed by before the noise of her hand fiddling with the door latch was heard. She opened the door, walked into the bonus room and scanned the dark scene. Eventually she noticed the big lump on the ground as something recognizable and ran over and laid down on my chest. Cute.

I got up, took her back into her bedroom, put her in bed, and repeated the routine - kisses on her feet, hands, tummy, and finally her eyes and forehead while telling her I loved her and to stay in bed and go to sleep. But this time, when I gave her kisses on her forehead, she wrapped her little arms around my neck and give me a big squeeze, pulling me downward somewhat unexpectedly. Then she tugged at me in the direction of the other side of the bed. I got the hint and climbed in, whereupon she flashed her big toothy smile, rolled over into my arms - her back against my chest - and pulled my hand over her stomach.

Then she fell asleep.

The Hunter/Gatherer Can't Always Be Expected To Share
While putting the kids into the car after swimming lessons, Berkeley hunted/gathered (i.e. found in the cracks of his car seat) some day-old remnants of french fries... two to be exact.

"French fries!", Berkeley exclaimed.

"Looks yummy.", I said in jest.

"Why don't you share the other one with Eliana?", I suggested.

Berkeley quickly stuffed the second stale french fry into his mouth.

"Maybe next time Daddy.", came the reply.

Heh. Ok then.

Sigur Rós
While driving home after my Monday night softball game last night, I was listening to one of my favorite radio presets... the always unpredictable, yet often quite pleasurable, KEXP 90.3 FM (non-local listening to KEXP is available over the net). Perhaps because I was partially exhausted (or perhaps because the E36-based 328 is possibly the smoothest consumer-level car ever manufactured?), but I became quite entranced by the music KEXP was playing (which seemed to be a set of pieces by the same artist). After the set was over, I learned the artist's name was Sigur Rós, a band that hails from Reykjavik, Iceland.

I've downloaded a bunch of their free, full-length mp3 files and have been listening to them all day while at work. The closest equivalents I can think of are Radiohead or Björk. Be sure to give starálfur, untitled #4 (a.k.a. njósnavélin / the nothing song), and streamside a listen... they are all quite good.

(Update Thu Nov 10 09:42:20 PST 2005 // mirrored songs and updated links)

Swimming in Pine Lake (Revisited)
I got up this morning at 6:30am, put on my speedo, a robe, and some sandals, grabbed my goggles and a towel, then drove over to Pine Lake Park for a swim in the lake. I noted that during the drive around the lake to the park that the car registered the ambient air temperature at right around 65°F. Even if it was a bit chilly up on the dock, the water felt about 10° warmer and was perfectly suitable for a good swim. I estimated I swam about 1000-1200 yards in about 20-25 minutes. I was back at home by 7:15am. Not bad.

Blogroll: The Improvist by Dan Brian
If you have paid attention to my blogroll, you will have noted that Dan Brian's blog, The Improvist, has been there since the beginning. Dan is a friend, and so all of his posts (including the ones about his life, his kids, and his music) are interesting to me... your mileage may vary (of course).

I know Dan through work (NTT/Verio). If I recall correctly, he started in about 1999 or 2000... I didn't work with him until later, when he became my immediate supervisor (2001?). We now work on the same software development team as associate colleagues. Dan is quite an adept programmer. I have worked with (and currently still work with) many of what I consider to be great programmers, but Dan clearly stands out. Not only does he have tremendous ability to conceptualize new products and software, but he has the tremendous skill and ability to implement his vision.

Nonetheless, if you don't know Dan, you may find his technical and political insights on his blog to be intriguing. And so, for my benefit and possibly yours, I've included the link to Dan's blog on my blogroll.

Enjoy.

Blackberry Season
The blackberries are in season and are especially good this year. Kristy and I made some blackberry coffeecake for dinner tonight and took what remained to some of our neighbors. I have the paths carved out through the blackberry patch behind our house. If you live nearby, come over and visit and pick all you want.

Movie Review: Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Title:	Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Rating:	4/10

Kristy and I finally made time to drive down to the Cinerama and catch Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith tonight. The fact that the movie has been out almost 3 months already should give you some indication of my enthusiasm to see the film.

I turned 8-years-old in 1977, the year the original Star Wars came out. I grew up with the original trilogy and they were, without a doubt, the most memorable movies of my youth.

But since then, I've grown a foot or two, and my tastes have matured quite significantly. I can't say there still isn't a lot of "little boy" in me, and, in fact, I really wanted to love this film (and the other two prequels) like I loved the original three Star Wars movies. But a bad film, despite all its eye candy, is still a bad film (and I must admit, without the impressive eye candy, I would rate Episode III a meager 2/10).

The dialogue is just plain lousy; but especially between Anakin and Padme (it doesn't help that Hayden Christensen is even more of a cardboard cutout than Mark Hamill ever was). And because of this I never had buy-in with Anakin turning to the dark side because "he loved his wife so much he was willing to slaughter a few dozen 8-year olds to protect her from a couple of bad dreams he had." Maybe if Lucas had spent a little more time developing the depth of the Anakin/Padme relationship I could have taken that logical leap, but I guess Lucas seemingly had more important items to address (like the eye candy).

The Anakin-Skywalker/Darth-Vader character is the only one of significance that appears in all six Star Wars Episodes (I'm not counting the throw-away R2 and C3PO droids... or ghost Ben Kenobi in Episodes V and VI). So I believe that it goes without saying that the transformation from Anakin to Vader should have been the most deeply explored (and finely tuned) aspect of the these prequels, and most specifically, Episode III. But it wasn't, or at least, if it was, it was certainly poorly executed; possibly due to poor writing (Lucas), poor acting (Christensen), or both.

Such as it is, without the buy-in for the Anakin to Vader transformation not only does the film fall apart, but (I'm very sad to say) the entire series falls apart... even, I'm afraid, the original trilogy that I grew up on and loved. Without a legitmate antagonist (Darth Vader), there can be no legitimate protaganist (Luke Skywalker).

And so, these prequels (in my humble opinion) have only served to detract from the greatness of the original trilogy. A grand shame to be sure.

Downloading Media from MMS Servers
A good friend of mine, Dave, and his brother recently attempted to swim across the English Channel. The ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City travelled with them to England, documented their attempt, and broadcast a couple of vignettes per day about their endeavor.

The video broadcasts were also made available on-line, albeit in a way that isn't very friendly to my operating system of choice (FreeBSD); specifically, the electronic broadcasts are windows media video (WMV) streamed using an MMS server. Furthermore, it doesn't seem possible (with Windows Media Player at least) to save a local copy of MMS streams after you watch them (so I could archive the broadcasts for my own personal and private use). Argh.

Fortunately, I found a handy little program, mmsclient, that will download video streams using Microsoft's MMS protocol. It will probably compile on any platform (there are even ifdef's in the code for cygwin) as it doesn't use anything but standard libraries. If you are running FreeBSD, you can easily install mmsclient from ports; just nav to "multimedia/mmsclient" and make install.

(Update Thu Aug 18 00:14:39 PDT 2005 // fixed some grammatical errors)

Swimming in Pine Lake
This evening (about 7pm) I was outside in the front yard playing with Eliana and doing some weeding. At the time I was feeling pretty good, after having slept most of the earlier part of the day recovering from a loathesome illness. My neighbor Ken just happened to walk by and said hi. He stopped and we talked about some yard care concerns, but I noticed that he was wearing a sweatshirt, swim trunks, and flip-flops.

"Headed over to the club for a swim?", I asked.

"No, just over to the lake.", Ken responded.

"Pine Lake?!", I exclaimed, completely surprised.

"Yep.", Ken confirmed.

He explained that he is training for the upcoming Beaver Lake Triathalon which includes a quarter-mile swim. As part of his training, 2-3 times per week (over the last month or so), he walks behind our own homes (Ken and I are immediate neighbors), across a private road, to the homes situated on the Pine Lake waterfront. One such homeowner has given him permission to launch his training swims off her lakeside dock (the alternative would be to travel to Pine Lake Park which is located the other side of the lake... about a 5 minute drive).

Well, call it inspiration from my friend Dave's recent attempt to swim the English channel (see here and here), or call it just plain stupid and crazy after having recently been pretty much confined to my bed for the past two days, but I decided to have a swim with my neighbor Ken.

I hurried back inside and upstairs... got the speedo on, found my goggles, grabbed my Tevas, and threw on my robe. I then accompanied Ken to the dock of one of the waterfront homes behind our house (we waved to the occupants inside the home as we passed... this made me feel somewhat awkward, but Ken reassured me that it was all ok). Ken shed his sweatshirt and flip-flops and then eased into the water. He observed that the temperature was a bit colder than it had been in the past few days. I stripped down to my speedo, put on my goggles, and decided to dive in off the dock; if it was cold, I didn't want to take it gradually.

And so I put my toes to the edge of the dock, reached down, and into the water I plunged. Wow... the water was fantastic! At least seventy five degrees, if not warmer. Ken was already swimming toward a set of blue and white buoys which looked to be about 250 yards out. His plan was to swim out and back. I had told him that I would try to keep up as this was the first time I had swam any distance in many years... and I told Ken not to wait for me.

But the water felt good, and I felt good... I extended my arms and put my kick into low gear. I took a breath every fourth stroke and glided through the water... just taking it easy and getting warmed up. However, soon I was well past Ken and I was still feeling great. When I reached the buoys, I circled back and started to really push it... kicking hard, and pulling each stroke through strong and fast (and upping my breathing to every second stroke). My arms, legs, and lungs were burning when I got back up on the dock. It had been an incredibly invigorating swim.

I shall definitely have to make time to do that again. It was only 450-500 yards, but it was still fantastic to be out in the water.

Berkeley 3-year Measurements
Berkeley went to the doctor today for his 3-year checkup (despite being quite sick). He is 38½ inches tall and weighs 33 pounds. His weight is probably about a pound or two low because of his sickness. According to the growing vine (which Kristy painted on one of the walls in our bonus room to track our kids height as they grow), Berkeley has grown 3 inches in the last year (he grew 3¼ inches between his 1st birthday and his 2nd birthday).

Sick Day... x2
The whole family came down with something yesterday... and its lingering effects are still being felt today. Kristy showed symptoms first (vomiting, dizziness, and lethargy) early yesterday morning, followed by myself late yesterday morning, then Berkeley early yesterday afternoon... Eliana finally succumbed at about 1am this morning.

The kids left a trail of devastation. Berkeley's first episode occurred in the car and ended up all over himself, the car seat, and the seat in front of him and the car upholstery. He also took out a set of bedding and several outfits. Eliana took out her own set of bedding and a pair of jammies. I just finished cleaning and washing everything that was soiled just now. Yuck.

On one occasion yesterday, I was holding Berkeley over the sink while he was dry heaving (this after I had just given him a bath after vomiting all over himself, his car seat, and the car). Because I wasn't feeling so well myself (I could barely stand up), after he was done and after I had laid him down on the bathroom floor, I white-knuckled over the toilet myself. It was quite a scene... Kristy almost came in to help after my own collapse, but I think that would have just continued the chain reaction. Not a father/son moment I would care to repeat any time soon.

One might think that Berkeley and I got the worst of it, but Kristy got hit the hardest (and carried on with the most dignity). Eliana seemed to have escaped with the least impact. She did have a rough couple of hours very early this morning, but other than that she has been quite chipper; perhaps because she sleeps about 14-15 hours out of the day(?).

It was painful to hold the kids over the sink/bathtub/toilet while they were vomiting, and then dry heaving. Their little bodies retching in between screams was pretty hard to take. But when it was all over they would collapse into my arms, close their eyes, and be perfectly still; most likely scared and bewildered. Berkeley has been this sick before, but it has been about a year and a half since that time. Eliana, to my knowledge, has never been that sick.

(Update Fri Aug 12 12:35:28 PDT 2005 // fixed the sickness relativity scale)

Busy Day... x2
I stated previously that the busiest day on vacation is inevitably, the last day of the vacation... the day you try to squeeze everything in that you just couldn't find time or energy to do previously.

I jumped the gun somewhat because I forgot about the first day after you get home from vacation. The day when you have to unpack all the clothes (both dirty and clean), sort through the mail (and pay bills), remedy any problems that occurred while away (like, uh, forgetting to turn on the sprinklers... oops; or cleaning up the putrid mess that leaked out of the garbage can in the garage and stunk up half the house)... not to mention the personal e-mail and, more specifically, the massive amounts of work e-mail that stacked up while left unattended.

Well, We Made It
After an interesting day that began at the Mercedes dealership in Boise (Idaho) and included a detour to the Mercedes dealership in Pasco (Washington), we finally made it back to our home here in Sammamish at around 8pm Pacific. Ugh.

Just before our trip to Utah (back on 27th of June... and I mean literally just before we left... like two hours), the Check Engine Light illuminated on the Mercedes dash. At the time I didn't worry about it too much, I had driven on an illuminated CEL for quite a few months in early 2004. Back then, the car seemed to drive just fine despite the warning light (which turned out to be a bad Mass Airflow Sensor that I had repaired in June 2004 to the tune of $800).

We drove through the night with the CEL brightly illuminated (I found out that the dash control dimmer has no effect on the CEL). No problems whatsoever. I decided that since the car needed a regularly scheduled service anyway, I went ahead and made an appointment with a local SLC-based Mercedes shop for last Thursday (the 4th). However, on the day before the appointment, the CEL "de-illuminated" itself. Wierd.

The SLC-shop performed the service and pulled the engine codes. But, because the CEL had turned itself off, I didn't have them act on any of the codes (there were several). Nonetheless, the car drove just fine for the next two days... that is until our trip back to Seattle on Saturday (the 6th). As I noted previously, the car seemingly barely made it to Boise.

The following day (Sunday the 7th), we drove the car around town and didn't experience a single symptom of the previous troubles. In fact, the car was driving so well, we almost decided to throw caution to the wind and set out on the road. But we spent another night in Boise with the plan of taking the car to the Boise Mercedes dealership the next morning.

So, this morning bright and early, I drove the ML over to the Boise dealership and instructed them to give the car the once over... despite the absence of any lingering effects of our previous troubles and no indication of engine malfunction on the dash (i.e. the Check Engine Light was not illuminated). The dealership contacted me later and told me that the Mass Airflow Sensor was to blame (yes, the same one I replaced not less than 13 months ago). I green-lighted the repair order with some reluctance (for only $500!) and after it was replaced, packed up the family and hit the road.

About two hours outside of Boise, the same problems re-surfaced; sluggishness when climbing hills or during acceleration. A quick glance at the map of Mercedes dealerships in the US (helpfully provided in full and living color in the owner's manual) indicated that we were closer to the Pasco Washington Mercedes dealership ahead of us (albeit not on our direct path to Seattle) than to the Boise dealership behind us. But it was still about two hours away... arrgh.

When we were getting close to Pasco, we called ahead and made arrangements to have the car checked out. They were very kind, worked us into their schedule, and checked out the car immediately once we arrived. After about an hour, they said "it's all fixed" and gave us the bill for $50, which included a $3 part charge for a blown 30-amp air conditioner fan fuse (which I presume is the fuse that runs the two fans in front of the condenser... but I could be wrong about that).

The rationale behind the blown fuse being the cause of the problem is that the air conditioner was working extra hard (since it was very hot both during our drive today from Boise to Pasco and on Saturday from SLC to Boise). The sluggishness of the engine occurred because of the abnormally large load placed on the engine by the air conditioner... which had to work harder to function at full capacity without the cooling fans being in operation. Once the car cooled down after stopping, the car would behave normally... which is exactly what we observed in Boise.

Well, I don't know, I would think that in the scenario described above (as best as I can reconstruct it... this is all second hand from Kristy's conversation with the Pasco Mercedes service manager) that the AC would just blow out warm air, not slow the engine down. And certainly the engine is powerful enough to shred the belt that connects the AC to the engine before the engine would lurch under the load placed on it by the AC system (but perhaps there is some kind of safety mechanism in place to slow the engine down if the AC is struggling?).

In any event, we drove the ML back from Pasco to our home without any further problems... the car was solid and showed not even the slightest hint of the previous difficulties. The ambient air temperature was about 10 degrees lower from Pasco to Sammamish, but I pushed the car hard up every mountain grade, in some cases accelerating to speeds of up to 100 mph (I would have pushed harder, but the non-electronic governor [the wife] inhibited the full throttle). All seems well... but I still have my doubts.

After all that, we made it... and it's nice to be back home.

(Update Wed Aug 10 09:13:07 PDT 2005 // fixed some grammatical errors)

Restaurant Review: Smoky Mountain Pizza

Restaurant:	Smoky Mountain Pizza
Cuisine:	Pizza, Italian
Rating:	Extremely Good
Price:	$15 for medium-sized specialty pizza
Location:	Boise, ID (and Sandy, UT)
Website:	www.smokymountainpizza.com

While hanging out in Boise, we took the advice of the hotel concierge and decided to order the "best pizza in Boise" (direct quote from the concierge) made fresh and delivered to our room by Smoky Mountain Pizza. Now, at the time I was thinking, "Yeah, best pizza in Boise... that's must be a really high bar to set." Ignorance is bliss I guess.

Now, maybe we got the best item on the menu (the Caribbean Specialty Pizza - Marinated grilled chicken with feta, red onions, red bell peppers, pineapple and cilantro), but the pizza was spectacularly good. Good enough that I searched out the website to see if they possibly had a branch in Seattle (and good enough for a blog entry!). They don't have a branch in the Puget Sound, but they do have one in Sandy, UT (1850 E. 9400 S., 801-523-7070). Next time we're in Utah, we'll have to drop by for some take-out.

Hanging Out in Boise
We spent the day in Boise mostly indoors holed up at the Marriott Residence Inn. We attended the local LDS Sunday service in the morning and Kristy took the kids to the park in the afternoon. The highlight of the day, however, was the pizza we ordered from Smoky Mountain Pizza... delish.

On The Road
We left Salt Lake for Seattle today. However, not long into our journey, the Mercedes sputtered and struggled to stay in gear... "lurching" down the road. After slowing down and limping along for about five minutes, everything returned to normal and we sped along.

But about 45 miles outside of Boise, the lurching behavior returned and did not diminish. So after looking in the Owner's Manual out in desperation, we found that there is a Mercedes dealership in Boise. We decided that we would bed down in Boise for the weekend and get the car looked at on Monday. We called our travel agent (in this case, Bryan) and got the phone number to a hotel nearest to the dealership. We made the arrangments hoping that we would in fact make it to Boise... and, after some tense moments... we did.

Busy Day
The last day of vacation always seems to be the busiest... not sure why. We hit the Murray City Pool water slide in the morning (with Jess and Rees again). We shopped at Gateway (while Eliana napped at Mom/Dad's house) and then rode the "white train" (UTA Trax).

After Eliana's nap, we made a quick trip down to Utah Valley to say goodbye to Mark and Jen (before they embarked on their road trip to California), and stopped by Iceberg in Alpine for an egg-nog milk shake. Then back to Mom/Dad's for a barbeque with Brent and his kids and Bry/Jess/Rees. Kristy, Berkeley, Brent, Amanda, Tyler, and Brielle went bowling while the rest of us played Ticket to Ride around the kitchen table. Fun fun fun.

Dr. Kristy
Kristy went back to Seattle for a day of work yesterday (there is no vacation for the self-employed); we picked her up from the airport today. Dr. Kristy has a nice little practice going... she is booked out well in advance, and turns away clients. Not a bad situation to be in. And even though she had a rare day of multiple cancellations yesterday, she still managed to make the trip worthwhile (i.e. she paid for her round-trip ticket).

Dr. Kristy worked very hard to get where she is now (a PhD clinical child psychologist with her own private practice in which she can meter the amount of work she does). Furthermore, it has been especially gratifying to see her accomplish all of the professional goals that she set way back before we got married... some 11+ years ago.

I was thinking about this today in the context of some help she is providing to a child of some friends of ours (pro bono of course). Not only is Dr. Kristy highly trained (due to her education), but she is also highly accomplished (due to her natural talents and intellect). In short, she's got Dynamite-like skills.

"20-10", "30-10", "40-10", ...
I spent today with the kids while Kristy went to work (she flew back to Seattle yesterday and will return to Utah tomorrow). But while Eliana napped at Mom/Dad's house (and for a few hours after her nap), Berkeley and I headed to downtown SLC to do a couple of things: 1) to ride the train, and 2) to buy Kristy a birthday gift.

During our train excursion, Berkeley counted to 100 while we waited for a train to arrive at a station (and while he nursed a red slurpee). I noticed that while we had been riding he counted sequentially past 20 for the first time; from 21 to 22 to 23 to ... 28 to 29 to "20-10" (usually he will count past 20 using random numbers, a la ...18, 19, 20, 24, 22, 27, 26, etc). So after I corrected his "20-10" for "30", he continued counting with 31, 32, 33, ..., 39, "30-10". He repeated this all the way up to "90-10"; at each "dash 10" I would instruct him that "30-10" was "forty", "40-10" was "fifty", and so on. A little more reinforcement on the 10s and I think he will have counting to 100 down pat. Now, I'm not one that is prone to gush, but that's not half bad for a three-year old.

We used every minute of the two-hour UTA pass I purchased (for $1.40... cheap!); we rode down to each end of the two spurs (Sandy and the UofU). After that we walked around Gateway Plaza looking for birthday presents for Kristy. Our first stop while at Gatway was the Ben & Jerry's. Berkeley was looking a little flush (it was a hot day), so I got him a kid's scoop of "pink" ice cream (strawberry) and I watched him eat it while we wandered. Or more correctly, I watched him eat what he didn't spill on the sidewalk (or in the sporting goods store... oops). We got Kristy some gifts (which I can't disclose now since she won't open them until tomorrow) and then made our way back to the folks for dinner.

Like the last time Berkeley and I spent the majority of the day together, our major activities today centered around trains and eating ice cream. And like last time, we both had a grand day out.

PS. Happy Birthday Kristy!

PPS. Happy Birthday Brent!

Iceberg Milk Shakes
During my formative years at 3201 East 3925 South, the thick delicious milk shakes at the Iceberg Drive Inn on 39th and 9th were the most coveted prize/award/treat for a task well done. Later, when I had my own means of transportation and my own source of disposable income, I was able to enjoy an Iceberg milk shake on demand. My favorite flavor is Egg Nog (the same as my Dad's... chip off the old block I guess).

Now that I live away from Utah, I truly appreciate how good I had it. A good milk shake is extremely hard to find... and I've tried more than a few establishments up in the Seattle area. None have even come close to holding a candle to an Iceberg milk shake.

And so, each time I visit Utah, one of my "must do" items is getting a milk shake from Iceberg. Today for lunch, I had the raspberry milk shake at the Orem Iceberg. Raspberry is a solid choice; but I should have gone with the Egg Nog.

Working Vacation
I spent the day working in Orem today. I've concluded that there is no productivity drop-off by working at home. I seem to be just as effective at home as at the office. What is funny is that even though I'm just a few cubes (or just one cube) away from some of my co-workers while in Orem, we still IM back and forth as if we were miles away... actually it's not that funny, it's kind of eerie.

It was fun to see the kids faces light up after not seeing me all day long, although I much prefer seeing them from time to time throughout the day.