April 2007 Photos
The galleries for April 2007 are now closed. The pictures have all been posted here before and consist (for the most part) of pictures we took while vacationing in Little Cayman. You can review the pictures at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's April 2007 Gallery ... (4 years, 9 months old)
Eliana's April 2007 Gallery ... (3 years, 1 month old)
Olivia's April 2007 Gallery ... (9 months old)

Symphony Review: Bobby McFerrin
About 10 months ago I mentioned to my friend Dan that Bobby McFerrin was coming into town to conduct the Seattle Symphony and do some of his trademark voice improvisations at Benaroya Hall. I was told by Dan that the event should not be missed. So I bought a couple of tickets; tickets that have been in my symphony file folder for a long, long time... until tonight.

The program tonight consisted of two classical music selections that Mr. McFerrin conducted, followed by McFerrin's vocal improvisations, then an intermission, and lastly Mr. McFerrin conducted the symphony in Beethoven's Symphony No. 8.

As Dan noted, the improvisations were extremely entertaining. Had either Kristy or myself been consulted beforehand, we would have recommended to the event planners to simply have Mr. McFerrin do his vocalizations only. The rest of the program was enjoyable, but not unforgettable. The Beethoven Symphony, though very good, was still a let down after hearing McFerrin's vocal performance for 45+ minutes.

The style of the vocal improvisations is jazz-influenced a capella. McFerrin has an incredible range of four octaves. There were several songs where he showcased this range by alternatively hitting high and low notes while he carried on two melodies simultaneously. He also used his voice to create percussion-like and trumpet-like sound effect by singing while tapping on his chest. For example, listen to this sample selection of "Thinkin" (which was one of the songs he performed tonight). Mr. McFerrin also displayed an incredible control over the volume of his voice... during one of the songs, he self-faded his voice to a whisper as he closed the song while holding the microphone pretty much as the same distance away from his mouth. We were both blown away. Here are a couple of additional sample to enjoy: "Drive" and "Blackbird".

Not only is Mr. McFerrin an incredible talent, but his is also an exceptional entertainer. For example, he did a selection that boiled down the Wizard of Oz into a 10-minute song. It was very humorous. His program also involved the audience quite extensively. For example, while he vocalized a selection from Bach, the audience voiced over "Ave Maria". For another song, he split the audience in half and had each side repeat a series of four notes on his command. The result was beautiful and it was fun to participate. We were very sad when his part of the program ended.

Dan was right... McFerrin is a talent not to be missed.

Restaurant Review: Gelatiamo

Just before we stepped into Benaroya Hall tonight to see Bobby McFerrin perform, Kristy and I visited nearby Gelatiamo, an Italian Ice Cream and Pastry store, that is located on the Northeast corner of University and Third (kitty corner from Benaroya). The concert started at 8pm and Gelatiamo closes at 8pm (even on the weekends), so the schedule seemed to dictate that we stop in and have a small bite.

I had one scoop each of the coconut and dulce de leche gelato. It hit the spot. Kristy had a hazelnut tart. It was well prepared, but far too dry to consume without a scoop of gelato to accompany it. Since Kristy did not order any gelato with her tart, she had some of mine (I had plenty to go around... the scoop size at Gelatiamo is very generous). The service at Gelatiamo is very prompt and the restaurant is clean and bright.

Summary: Good place for a quick dessert.

Restaurant Review: Harvest Vine

This evening Kristy and I had tickets to see the performance of Bobby McFerrin at Benaroya Hall. Before the show, we stopped by the Harvest Vine restaurant for dinner.

The Harvest Vine is located in Capitol Hill away from downtown Seattle (near the wonderful Rover's). The table layout of the restaurant is split between two floors. The open kitchen is on the main floor and includes some bar seating (around the open kitchen) and some limited table seating. We were led downstairs to a room that was decorated in the style of an old wine cellar. We sat on a long slender table opposite each other; there were three other parties seated at the table, but there was plenty of distance between us to make us feel like we had our own space.

The Harvest Vine is a Spanish restaurant known for its tapas (or small plates). I really didn't know what that meant until tonight. When we ordered, I figured that the Kristy and I would get our salad at the same time, followed by our main course. This was not the case. The plates are served "family style" and brought to the table sequentially one after another. Salads and cold tapas are served first, followed by any hot tapas. We ordered two salads, and three hot tapas. The first salad served was the one that Kristy ordered; a green salad that was tossed with a light vinaigrette composed of olive oil, honey, and this marvelously sweet vinegar made from Spanish Pedro Ximénez grapes. Oh, it was fantastic. The salad I ordered came second. It was a golden and red beet salad with garlic, sherry vinegar, and lagrima olive oil. The beets were firm and extremely flavorful by themselves, but the oil/vinegar/garlic treatment enchanced the delicious beets.

Our first hot tapas was a plate of lovely spinach. The spinach was sautéed in garlic and olive oil and finished with a creamed sherry sauce. Exceptionally well presented on the plate and very, very tasty. Our next dish was some delightful scallops that were perfectly prepared (medium rare). And our final dish include three small tender venison filets that were incredibly yummy.

We didn't stay for dessert, but instead ventured over to the Gelatiamo (located kitty corner from Benaroya Hall).

Summary: The small size (and cost) of each of the tapas allowed us to build a surprisingly filling five-course dinner for just over $10 per course. The quality of all the food was top rate.

Truck Ride
I have wanted to plant some trees on the southern side of our house for many years; some big-leaf trees that would grow up and provide some shade for Berkeley's room (which gets miserably hot during the summer even with the A/C cranked up). Costco is selling some maple trees of decent size at a decent price, so I borrowed a truck from one of our neighbors and, accompanied by Berkeley, set out to buy them and haul them back to our place.

Berkeley loved riding in the truck. So much so that he stated that "When I get old enough, I'm going to buy a truck." Berkeley had previously remarked that he was going to buy a convertible and he points out any convertible he sees on the road with giddy enthusiasm... so the truck made an impact on him. I'm planning on keeping the BMW or the Mercedes for the kids to use (which will both be more than 20 years old by the time Berkeley turns driving age), but maybe a big 'ol beat up truck wouldn't be such a bad idea either.

Back Home
I flew back home today. I arrived kind of late (9pm-ish). Kristy was there to pick me up. Berkeley and Eliana were still awake but Olivia had crashed. The kids still seem to remember who I am, so that is good. It was fun to see the kid's faces break out into big smiles when they saw me standing on the curb.

Restaurant Review: Harry's

I was invited to lunch and dinner today by two separate parties; I had lunch with some friends and dinner with my in-laws. The arrangements were made independently from each other but coincidentally were made at the same restaurant, Harry's, albeit at the two different Harry's locations. Kind of funny.

For lunch I ate at the South Jordan branch. It is located in a newly completed building in a small upper-scale strip-mall type of facility. The restaurant, with 20-foot ceilings, was spacious but at the same time felt somewhat empty. It was clean and the service was prompt and attentive. I had the Sashimi Tuna Salad. It was delicious. One of my friends had the "Triple Spread" (Herbed goat cheese, hummus, and sundried tomato pesto with warm pita triangles); I sampled a bit... it was very good. I'd recommend either. For dessert I had the white chocolate bread pudding which was very fine.

For dinner I met my in-laws at the Sugarhouse branch of Harry's (which is located just down the street from Robert and Jessica's home). The occasion was Karen's graduation from BYU. I ordered the Roasted Pork Prime Rib with roasted red pepper mashed red potatoes. The menu stated it was a "double cut" chop; instead I was served two "single cut" chops. I had visions of JaK's Double Cut Pork Chop, but it wasn't nearly as good. The potatoes were quite tasty. I had the "Apple Crunch" for dessert, but it was not impressive.

Summary: Decent eats. The menu provides a variety of options for many different tastes.

Another Day in Utah (4)
Like most business trips, I spent the day doing two things: working and eating out. Work is going well, I am getting some training, interacting first hand with the team (and my boss), and enjoying seeing old friends that have been at Verio for almost as long as I have.

I ate out for both lunch and dinner, coincidentally at the same restaurant, Harry's, albeit at two different locations. I ate lunch at Harry's in South Jordan with a couple of old high school chums who are also on the committee for my Skyline High School Class of 1987 Reunion. And I ate dinner at Harry's in Sugarhouse with my in-laws to celebrate the college graduation of Karen (my wife's youngest sister). I also spent some time in the evening playing some games with Robert, Jess, Karen, Dick, and Bertha. We played Phase 10 - Dick cleaned our clocks (so lucky!).

Restaurant Review: The Metropolitan

My Mom, Dad, and I met for some dinner at The Metropolitan this evening. They probably would not have done so were they not already going to be downtown to see the broadway production, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Mom/Dad are avid theater-goers). The restaurant is very attractively decorated and the ambient music was excellent (I made inquiries about several of the tracks but I have misplaced the information... doh!). It was nice to sit and pass the time with Mom and Dad in a very lovely restaurant.

Each of us ordered the house salad for an appetizer - it was ordinary, but solid. In addition I ordered the "foie-berry shortcake" - which was composed of a seared piece of foie gras served on a small piece of dense shortcake and drizzled with a strawberry balsamic reduction. The foie gras was quite tasty, better than most I'd say. I was able to get the parents to have a taste (I should mention that my Dad's favorite restaurant is Wendy's), they both said it was "good" but they didn't have a second bite.

For dinner I ordered the scallops and Mom/Dad both ordered the chicken. My scallops, served with cauliflower couscous, were tender and splendid. Dad enjoyed his chicken, but didn't care for the spring beans that were smothered with a cumin-flavored yogurt sauce (Dad, like my brother Bryan, is not a fan of green-colored food). Mom was pleased with her dinner with the exception of the chicken, which was undercooked.

For dessert, we all ordered the wonderfully intriguing sorbet combination. I also ordered a Gran Marnier chocolate soufflé (I couldn't resist!). The sorbet flavors were fresh kiwi, cactus blossom pear, and mango papaya. The colors of each sorbet scoop were vividly beautiful - the kiwi was a medium sea green, the cactus blossom pear was a bright fuscia, and the mango papaya was a dark orange. All were exceptional to the taste. My personal favorite was the cactus blossom pear. The soufflé was very good; so light and puffy - perfectly cooked. It was served with a small pot du creme au chocolate. Yum yum.

Summary: Very good. I'll go back not only for the food, but for the music as well.

Another Day in Utah (3)
When I wasn't at work today, I spent time with family. Brent, Mark, and I had lunch together (Apollo Burgers) and I met Mom and Dad in downtown SLC for dinner at The Metropolitan. After that, I motored over to Bryan's house and hung out.

Olivia at 9 Months
Our baby girl turned 9 months old today. Kristy took her in for a wellness checkup. She now measures 28 3/4" in height and 16 pounds 9 ounces in weight... this puts her in the 90th percentile and 10th percentile respectively. Tall and thin - not a bad combination.

By comparison, Eliana was 30¼" tall (97th percentile) and 19 pounds 13 ounces (75th percentile) at 9 months. Berkeley at the same age was 30¼" tall and 22 pounds 3 ounces. Both Berkeley and Eliana weighed more at 6 months (by more than a pound) than Olivia does at 9 months. I'm not complaining by any means, as a lighter baby sure is easier to carry.

Another Day in Utah
Today was not much different than yesterday. Only my company during lunch and dinner changed. I had lunch with my new team (and boss) and travelled down to Woodland Hills to have dinner with my team member and friend, Dan.

First Day in Utah
I spent much of my day here in Utah in a small cubicle at work. Not quite as posh as my office back home... in fact, it isn't even close. But it is good to be here with the rest of my team members. With a recent reorganization at work, everyone on my team is now located in Utah. My new boss is also located in Utah... which hasn't been the case since early 2001.

I didn't have any plans for lunch, so I dialed up Dr. Jones and arranged an impromptu meeting. Jeff happened to be on-campus at the time so the three of us shared some adequate-tasting Thai food at a location within walking distance of BYU campus. I wish I would have had more time to chat, but demands at work called me back to the grind.

In the evening, I met with an estate lawyer we have retained to set up our wills, trusts, guardians, etc. Not that we plan on dying anytime soon, but given that Jen lost her parents when some of her siblings were teenagers, we figure it is a good idea to get those ducks in a row... just in case. Afterward, I had some dinner with Dave and family and then I stopped by Robert and Jessica's place on my way back home to Mom and Dad's. My mother-in-law and father-in-law, Dick and Bertha, are in Utah this week as well (for Karen's graduation on Thursday). We played a game of Phase 10 (Dick's favorite) before I finally made my way back to Mom and Dad's place. It was a long day.

Back in Utah
I'm in Utah all this week for work - both to train and to be trained. I arrived in the afternoon today. I spent my time in the terminal, on the plane, and whenever else I had some free cycles devouring a book my friend Dave bought for me by Cormac McCarthy called "The Road" - an excellent read.

In the evening, I went over to Krueger's house for a Skyline Reunion Committee meeting. This is the first I had attended in person; I had only participated via phone previously. Most everyone from the committee was there - including my dear old childhood friend Gretchen. Also in attendance were Sue, Chris and Lisa (of course), Kevin, Kay, Suzy, Kristi, and Dave C. The meeting was more laughing/chatting than planning, which is typical, but it was fun to be there in the room and enjoy the company of old friends.

I talked with Gretchen at length (she lived just a few doors down from me while growing up). We reminisced about the neighborhood, the people, and the activities of our youth. We were very fortunate to live in such a place that allowed us to forge deep and long lasting bonds during our pre-teen and teenage years. Even though some significant events changed the composition of our peers, Gretchen and I were constant. We never dated, we were always just there for each other as friends. Good times.

Book Review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy
My friend Dave sent me a book a couple of weeks ago titled The Road by Cormac McCarthy. He sent it to me for no other reason than he thought I should read it. Dave is a good friend, so I listen to his recommendations. And he doesn't send me books that often.

I began the book while waiting to board a plane to Utah and continued reading during the flight and then stole 15 minutes here and there to consume pages until I was able to finish it late tonight. I was riveted to the beautiful imagery and symbolism from beginning to end.

The story is that of a nameless father and his son surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. They begin their journey on "The Road" at the town where his father was born. The goal is to travel down the road to the coast where the hope is that they'll find some respite from the depravity, bleakness, and nihilism that has enveloped the world.

The fact that the journey starts at the town of the father's birth and proceeds linearly toward an end goal (the coast) is an obvious symbol of our journey though life. The father and son are propelled forward on the road, never able to backtrack or to rest long during their journey. Each day is a struggle for survival. Some days are easier than others. Some days are hell on earth.

How they face the challenges to their survival is telling. The father, clearly embittered by the harsh living, acts swiftly from the emotions of raw survival and street justice. He performs his actions repetitively and instinctively. The son on the other hand reacts to situations in a much softer manner, and is far more prone to distribute mercy to others they encounter. On the one hand, you can't help but empathize with the father and the actions he performs and the choices he makes. On the other hand, the son's appeal for mercy and kindness cannot be ignored. It is a beautiful contrast.

Another strong message delivered over and over in the book is that of the "fire" within. The father and son carry the "fire" (e.g. love for each other) and that alone is worth the struggle to survive. The closing message of love (and hope) is all the more vivid after reading the previous 300+ pages of the cold, gray, harsh journey along "The Road".

Recommendation: Exceptionally well written, highly recommended.

Virtual Temple Square
I wrote the other day about a Virtual World called "Second Life" which for all intents and purposes seems like one big singles bar for folks that have way too much "First Life" free time. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Many companies have established a virtual presence inside of Second Life including IBM and one of my favorites... BMW. It got me thinking, wouldn't it be a great idea to have an LDS presence inside of Second Life?

I envision a virtual "Temple Square" in Second Life ("SL") complete with all of the landscaping and buildings. The more detail the better (well, except the SL Salt Lake Temple itself, which could just be one big 100' tall room on the inside). The roaming missionary avatars that would populate the area could do exactly what they do now at Temple Square ("Hi, can I answer any questions you have?").

The missionary possibilities of SL are extremely attractive because there are no geopolitical boundaries inside of SL. Therefore, a citizen of China who may not be able to take the lessons from missionaries in his or her home could instead visit the virtual Temple Square inside of SL and learn about the Restoration from the on-line missionary avatars, get a virtual copy of the Book of Mormon, etc.

To drive people to the virtual site, there would have to be some giveaways or freebies. Since Temple Square is renowned for its gardens, then they could possibly make all of the bushes, tree, flowers, walkways, paths, water features, statues, furniture, decorative items, doors, windows, wall textures, etc that they will have to create in order to build the virtual Temple Square as the freebies that they give away, e.g. "click on this crate for 50 types of bulb flowers", or "click on this crate for 25 types of flowering trees", etc. In the wintertime, you can add some giveaways for the prims in a manger scene, and another for different kinds of Christmas lights. The possibilities are literally endless. Also, include in each "crate of goodies" a note that would include an official message from the LDS Church. The note may include some scripture, instructions on how to get more information, a link to teleport back to the SL Temple Square, or all of the above.

Furthermore, it is possible to write and attach scripts to make objects perform different tasks (like, for example, tulips to open when the sun is shining and close when it is not), so the more clever the objects that are given away the more appeal they will have... and thus the more people will want to own it - driving more traffic to the SL Temple Square. Make the objects non-copyable so that everyone must get it from the source... i.e. where all of the virtual missionaries are.

You can also set up guided tours of any virtual landscape in SL, for example... see what has been done on the island of Svarga, where a complete ecology runs autonomously (including clouds, rain, sunshine, bees, birds, trees and flowers). On Svarga, there are little "hover discs" that will take anyone who sits on one around the island and explain different aspects of the virtual site. It would be trivial to re-create the same functionality at a virtual Temple Square inside of Second Life.

Actually, if you make the SL Temple Square picturesque enough. People will just show up at the Virtual Temple Square to have their virtual picture taken at the site... just like people do in the RL Temple Square.

Anyway. It would be cool to get in now while there is still press spotlight to be had for companies and organizations that are joining in. It could be huge.

(Update Mon May 14 14:46:39 PDT 2007 // Larry Richman, the Director of the Internet Coordination Group for the Church posted a blog entry about Second Life.)

Olivia Bites a Hanger
This evening we drove down to Factoria as a family to do some shopping, have some dinner, and play at the children's museum. While Kristy took Berkeley and Eliana to the museum to play, Olivia and I went over to the Rack to look various items. While I was shopping I had to keep Olivia busy with something to keep her from screeching.

One item she liked was a clothing hanger. This particular hanger was typical for any clothing store - it was composed of a clear plastic body with a metallic hook. The hook was made of stainless steel and the end was bent back on itself making it very blunt and seemingly safe.

Well, while I was thumbing through some shirts on a rack. A nearby lady got my attention and stated that the hanger appeared to her to be stuck in Olivia mouth. When I flipped Olivia around (I was holding her in one arm with her back against by chest) I could see that she had bit the hangar with enough force to cause the blunt end of the hook to penetrate the soft tissue beneath her tongue. I struggled to free the hook with one hand, so I had the lady hold Olivia briefly while I extracted the hanger from her mouth.

Of course, as soon as I freed the hanger from her mouth, blood quickly poured out of the hole the hanger had made underneath her tongue filling her mouth. I stuck the pacifier in her mouth so she would swallow the blood and raced her out of the store and down the mall hallways to the children's museum. We collected everyone and then set out on the road with the intent to visit the Bellevue's branch of Eastside Pediatric. The office closed at 6pm, we were there at 6:15pm.

Meanwhile, Olivia has cried herself to sleep, her mouth was no longer bleeding, and I had spent much of the driving time on the phone with nurses and my friend David (an ER doc). The advice was just to take her home if the bleeding had stopped and watch her for signs of infection. There would be no need for stitches.

Olivia woke up about three hours later with a very swollen tongue. We decided to take her to the urgent care. So we took Berkeley and Eliana out of bed and placed them in the care of Tracy and Jerrod and then drove to the urgent care in Issaquah. The doctor on call recommended Motrin for pain and gave us a prescription to fight of infection (just in case). She is asleep again now. The doctor said she will be sore for the next three to four days.

Root Root Root for the Home Team
We took advantage of an afternoon starting time for the Seattle Mariners today and attended a ball game (tickets courtesy of my work). The kids like to go to play on the kiddie playground and for the snacks (peanuts and candy). Berkeley did seem somewhat more interested in what was going on in the field today. He asked some questions about the numbers posted out on the board and about baseball game play in general. We stayed for just over two hours, or about 7 innings of play. It was a nice family activity on a beautiful spring day.

Bologna
I bought a couple of packages of Oscar Meyer Bologna the other month (buy one get one free!) and shoved them in the freezer. When I bought the stuff, my wife gave me a kind of sideways stare - I can't say I blame her. I forgot about the packages in the freezer for awhile but pulled one out last week and let it defrost in the fridge. I tried the round uniform pre-cut slices out on the kids the other day... they are hooked, especially Berkeley and Olivia. I had a bologna sandwich myself today with a bit of basil-flavored mayonnaise and a slice of medium cheddar cheese. It has probably been 20+ years since I last had a "baloney" sandwich. Yum, good stuff.

Eliana's Cakes
It is Eliana's turn for one-one-one special time this week. She got her turn by herself with Kristy tonight and asked to bake a cake (despite the fact that we baked some cakes last Thursday). She loves to cook. Eliana asked to have pictures taken of her cakes after they were baked. A picture of the cakes and the cook is included below (click to enlarge):

Service Review: Mercedes Garage

We have owned our 1999 ML320 since we bought it (brand new) back in late 1998. After many many years of living here in the Seattle area and trying three or four different service centers, I have finally(!) found a shop I can recommend - that being the Mercedes Garage, located in Bellevue.

The owner/mechanic Adam is a former Barrier mechanic that left the dealer to start out on his own about two years ago. I discovered him independently, but Jerrod's brother Tad (a Mercedes mechanic himself) thinks very highly of Adam (Tad used to work with Adam at Barrier but now works down in Arizona). I have taken the ML to Adam for the ML's yearly service last year and again this year (today in fact). The service is prompt, thorough, and very affordable. Adam has gone out of his way to provide me with a personal level of service on both of my appointments, which have been a little more than a year apart. This speaks to Adam's commitment to customer service in general, and not to me personally. If you own an out-of-warranty Mercedes and live in the Puget Sound area, then you should consider the Mercedes Garage.

New Dentist
Last June I visited my dentist for my regular check-up, or to be more precise, I visited by dentist's office for my regular check-up. It turns out that my dentist was on vacation, but had not bothered to close down shop. I'm of the opinion that if I make an appointment with my dentist, that I have a very good chance of seeing the dentist. So, I'm not going back.

Instead, I figured out via my work on the Skyline High School Class of 1987 Reunion Website that one of the Tanners is a dentist right here in little old Issaquah. Leanne Tanner, who graduated with me and lived just four doors down the street from us, has an older brother, Robert, that has an office in the same building as my insurance agent. Small world.

So I set up an appointment a couple of months ago with Robert Tanner for today. I didn't know Robert well growing up (he is 8 years older than me), but I was able to get the low down on Leanne and David (and Donna and Barney) while we chatted. It was fun to catch up. He seems like a good dentist. He is out of network in the eyes of my crappy HMO dental plan, but oh well. *shrug*

Easter Outfits
Because of our travel schedule, today was the first time we have been to Church in three weeks. So we wore our new Easter outfits to celebrate. Here are the pictures:

Yard Work
I am sick of yard work. I spent all day doing it today and would have rather done something else... like go to the gym or play with the kids. I'm going on hiatus until Berkeley is physically capable of doing it with me. It's settled.

New Special Time Schedule
We started a new special time schedule to include Olivia today. We will alternate weeks where one child gets one-on-one special time with both parents. So while Kristy spent some one-on-one special time with Olivia this evening, I made a Coconut Cake with Berkeley and Eliana.

After the cakes were frosted. We sang "unbirthday" songs to both kids. When we sang to Eliana, she got all shy on us. Check out the pictures:

(I used the recipe found in a Williams-Sonoma Cake recipe book I have... it produced a great cake!)

The Screecher
Olivia is one of the sweetest babies you'll ever meet. She loves to laugh and socialize and play. She is starting to jabber and will even wave from time to time. However, one very annoying habit of hers is that of screeching. I guess when she feels she lacks a certain level of attention, especially at the breakfast or dinner table, she'll let out this very high pitched screech at a very high volume level. After about 10 of these screeches in 5 minutes time, it is time to hit the Tylenol... seriously.

Second Life: First Impressions
A friend of mine has been sending me several articles over the past few weeks about Second Life, a virtual world that has received a fair amount of media attention lately, including the announcement of the first person to make 1 million dollars (US) from transactions made in the virtual world. The entire concept of a virtual world with virtual property that can be bought and sold (or rented out) in a virtual currency (pegged in value to the US dollar) is nothing short of fascinating.

Tonight I signed on to Second Life (it's free for non-land owners) to check things out. I teleported to IBM's HQ inside of SL as well as a NASA museum thingy. Interesting stuff. But by and large, I must admit that SL is rather boring. The virtual world is vast, open, and strangely... seems largely abandoned. People do congregate in certain areas, yet the vibe I get is that of an on-line singles bar... and everyone (except me it seems) has a custom set of clothes, hair styles, and animations. From a personal standpoint, I'm not sure exactly where people find the time for their second life. However, from a business standpoint, I can see the opportunity for creative entrepreneurs that sell virtual items to the persons controlling these on-line SL avatars. Supposedly there are millions of SL users, each with his or her own stash of Linden dollars.

Tax Facts
I have been catching up on some reading since I've returned home. Of course, I hit my favorite on-line haunts first, namely AntiWar.com and TownHall.com. One notable article I read tonight is authored by Bruce Bartlett, the subject matter is Tax Facts and contains several bits of trivia. Here are some excerpts that I found interesting:

Just in time for tax filing season, the Tax Foundation and Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation have compiled some useful facts about the federal tax system. Following are a few worth thinking about as taxpayers write their annual checks to Uncle Sam.

-- In 2005, the federal government took $2.4 trillion out of the pockets of the American people. To put this number into context, it is about the same as the size of the entire U.S. economy in 1959 in inflation-adjusted terms. Only two other countries on earth have economies as large as our federal government: Germany and Japan - and Germany just barely makes the cut, with a gross domestic product of $2.7 trillion. China, which everyone is so alarmed about, has an economy significantly smaller than the federal government, with a GDP of $1.9 trillion - about equal to what the U.S. raises just from taxes on individuals.

-- Contrary to popular belief, the vast bulk of federal taxes are paid by the wealthy. According to the JCT, in 2006, 53.7 percent of all federal income taxes were paid by those with incomes over $200,000. Those with incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 paid 28.3 percent of all individual income taxes. Thus those with incomes over $100,000 paid 82 percent of the total. They also paid 44.4 percent of all payroll taxes.

-- Those with incomes below $40,000 paid no federal income taxes at all in the aggregate; the positive liability for those who paid anything was more than offset by tax rebates from the Earned Income Tax Credit for many more who paid nothing. In total, the EITC put $41 billion into the pockets of low-income workers in 2005, 91 percent of it being paid to those with no income tax liability. However, according to the Tax Foundation, three-fifths of Americans believe that it is wrong for anyone to pay no taxes at all, that everyone should pay something to finance the government.

[...]

-- The Alternative Minimum Tax is a rapidly growing federal tax. Originally designed to tax only the rich, increasingly it is a tax on the middle class. In 2005, the AMT affected only 1.3 percent of those with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000. Unless Congress acts, this percent will rise to 42.8 percent this year and over 50 percent next year. This illustrates the problem with all soak-the-rich tax proposals - eventually they end up taxing the middle class, too.

Back at Home... Happy Easter!
We got back at home late last night (or more accurately) early this morning. We had a bit of an adventure once we arrived back at the Seattle Airport... we arrived at our car to find that the battery was dead. Not exactly the welcome gift we were looking to receive. After I pushed the car from our spot down next to the taxicab pickup area (which wasn't far from where we parked), I managed to find a taxi driver that had some jumper cables. We got a jump (for a small fee), and made it back home. Whew!

After the kids woke up this morning, we had them open their Easter baskets and engage in a very small plastic Easter egg hunt in the living room. I snapped a few pictures of the kids with some of their Easter goodies (click to enlarge):

Cayman Islands: Traveling Back Home
We left Little Cayman this morning at around 10:30am. We were scheduled to leave at 11:20am, but our flight (unbeknownst to us) was bumped up by almost an hour. Fortunately, we were already set to go when our hotel called us with an updated schedule. No big deal... the earlier start was welcomed.

We arrived at Grand Cayman with plenty of time (2 hours) to make our plane back to Miami - all we had to do was check our luggage and clear security... no problem right? Well, we barely made it. For as many travelers that Cayman sees and for as much money as must pour into that place, you would think that the airport would be built to sufficient international standards. I'm very sad to report that this is not the case. Long story short: we are glad to be back in the good 'ol US of A.

We spent some time in the Miami terminal waiting for our connecting flight to Las Vegas (and then on to Seattle). After grabbing some pizza, we set up camp in the Miami terminal and watched "Mary Poppins" - I snapped a picture:

Cayman Islands: Little Cayman, Day 6
Today is our last day on Little Cayman... we leave tomorrow. Our day was spent in much the same way as all of our other days here. I started the day with a swim, then we played at the pool for a little while, then we travelled with the Sons and the Sharps up to the Sand Point for lunch and snorkeling. Kristy saw a shark today while she was snorkeling; Dave and I found some rays and lobster to play with while we were snorkeling. After dinner, we spent the evening packing up.

Movie Review: Seabiscuit

Summary: A bit campy, but worth the rental price.

Cayman Islands: Little Cayman, Day 5
Another day, another swim... this morning out to the reef and back. After some morning pool play, the five of us went out to Point of Sand for some snorkeling and swimming. Some locals were there celebrating Good Friday. They had motored over from Cayman Brac and anchored just off shore. They caught themselves some grouper and some conch and were preparing a barbecue and conch stew on the beach.

Despite the fact that they had arrived first, they let us borrow some table space in the shade and use their hammock so we could put Olivia down for a nap. They even gave me a bit of their stew - nice folk.

We played on the beach for a couple of hours and did some snorkeling and have some lunch. At one time I just sat on the beach and watched my three kids playing in the sand. All of them were just sitting there, playing independently of each other and were all perfectly calm and happy. They seem to be fascinated with the sand.

Here are some random pictures:

After lunch we returned home, took naps, and just stayed out of the sun until dinner.

Dinner tonight was on the Southern Cross Club dock. Our table was placed next to one of the dock edges. There are no rails, so we placed the kids on the interior-facing edge of the dinner table; that is until the Club dog starting walking around the tables. We moved Eliana from the inside edge of the table (next to me) to the outside edge of the table (between Dave and Kristy) to make her feel "safe" from the dog. Eliana does not like dogs at all.

While Kristy was up getting plates ready for Berkeley and Eliana at the buffet, I busied myself feeding Olivia. While I was doing this, out of the corner of my eye I saw Eliana tipping her chair back. As I was telling her "Ana! No! No, no, no, no, no, no!", she lost the balance of the her chair and tipped over backward. Her chair hit the deck and the momentum caused her to catapult backward over the edge of the dock and down to the water 8 feet below.

I lept from my chair from the other side of the table and jumped down into the water immediately. I was there not one second after she hit the water. The water depth was greater than her height; about 3½ feet in depth... or up to my belly button. I don't remember much of anything from the time I saw her tip over to the time I was in the water searching for her, and finding her paddling and struggling to keep her head above the water with the most desperate look on her face you have ever seen. But once I was there I scooped her up and held her tight. She was terrified. I reassured her, "Daddy keeps you safe. That's Daddy's job."

There was no harm done. There was one large coral rock next to the dock where she fell... but she missed it when she fell in (as did I when I jumped in after her). I strolled back to our room with Eliana in my arms. We were both soaking wet. As I walked, I played back the events in my mind in slow motion... when she tipped, I didn't even think. I reacted; I jumped. I wondered to myself, how high up would the dock have had to have been to force me to hesitate. A curious question.

Before long, we were back at the condo. I dried her completely off and laid out some dry clothes. While I was changing her into her new dress, she asked me: "Will there be fireworks tonight?" I guess she had already put the matter behind her.

Later in the evening, after we had returned from dinner, I put Eliana and Berkeley to bed. Outside their bedroom, I lingered and listened to the two of them talk to each other from their beds:

Berkeley: "I'm glad you're ok when you fell. Were you brave?"

Eliana: "No, I wasn't brave. I was scared."

Berkeley: "I think you were brave. I didn't her you cry."

Eliana: "No, I cried."

[She didn't cry, she whimpered a bit is all. Berkeley would have bawled!]

Berkeley: "I didn't hear you cry."

Eliana: "I cried Gerky!"

And then they argued about whether Eliana was scared or brave or whether she cried or not. Berkeley gave up after a little while. And then they were both quiet.

Cayman Islands: Little Cayman, Day 4
Another morning swim started out my day. I decided to swim along the coast out to Owen Island. I saw a few rays and tried to swim along with one very large one, but I was soon left behind.

Later, after breakfast, we decided to kayak out to Owen Island to play on the island beach and have a picnic. We split the kids between two kayaks that I tied together, then I paddled the kayaks out to the island. It as a good workout. Here are some sample pictures taken while we had our picnic on the island:

This is a great one. Same place... Owen Island during our picnic:

It is Stacey's 40th birthday today. To celebrate, Val arranged for us to eat dinner on a boat while motoring around the bay. We arrived a bit early and watched the crew make their final preparations for our dinner cruise. At first Berkeley was content to sit around and wait with us, but once Sammy arrived he wanted to explore the dock and play (see below, click to enlarge).

Here are a couple of pics taken of the kids once we board the boat. The first if of Berkeley, Sammy, and Eliana. The second is of Berkeley, Olivia, and Eliana. Val gave them all little candy necklaces.

After we had our dinner, we stopped off at - you guessed it - Owen Island(!) for some snorkeling and swimming. So I visited Owen Island three times today in total... once by way of my morning swim, once by kayak for lunch, and once by boat. I guess I should have planned my day better. Here are some pictures snapped on Owen Island:

	Here is Stacey, Val and their family. That is Stacy's oldest daughter Melissa, and Val's oldest daughter McKay. Stacey and Val are holding their son, Elijah. Happy Birthday Stacey! Oh, and thanks for the invite Val.
	This is our entire party. Front: Eliana, Sammy, Berkeley, Olivia, and myself. Next Row: McKay with Elijah, Melissa, Lisa, Kristy. Third Row: Stacey, Val, Dave, Chris (from Southern Cross Club), Mike and Erin. Fourth Row: Lauri and Mike

Here are some pictures of us on the beach and in the water:

On our boat ride back to the dock, we ate some birthday cake and watched an impressive fireworks show that was displayed for Stacey's benefit. The kids loved the fireworks... so much so that Eliana even replaced "Thank you go Church with Jenna" in her evening prayer with "Thank you for the fireworks."

(Mon Apr 30 23:15:29 PDT 2007 // Lori -> Lauri... oops!)

Cayman Islands: Little Cayman, Day 3
Started the day with another morning swim. Swam out to the barrier reef and back - about a mile. I saw quite a bit of sea life on the sea floor during the swim... some starfish, about a dozen or so conch, and some barracuda (which was kind of freaky).

We spent the morning doing pretty much nothing... pool and sand play. We decided last night to visit Sand Point over on the eastern point of the island. We packed up some lunches and left at around 11am. Sand Point is about a 10 minutes drive from our resort.

Sand point is a very nice beach - probably the nicest on the island. Here are a couple shots of the beach:

The sand at Sand Point is extremely fine, the kind of sand that is so soft that you can't help but pinching it between your toes. It also has a subtle pink hue if you look close enough. This is because there is some fine pieces of red coral mixed in with the silica. I snapped a picture of the sand (and Olivia's feet):

Some pics of us at the beach (including one of Lisa and Sammy):

After we returned home from Sand Point, the kids immediately went down for a voluntary nap - they were exhausted. We had to wake them all up for early dinner (5pm). After dinner, the kids went to bed and we stayed at our room and made some chocolate chip cookies with freshly toasted coconut (that I husked myself). Mike came over and taught us some dice games... the rest of our party went out on a night dive.

Cayman Islands: Little Cayman, Day 2
Today was a nice relaxing day... no bags to worry about... actually, no worries whatsoever. I started out the day by having a swim parallel to the beach for about 800 yards toward the west against the wind. The wind made the water pretty choppy; it was a bit like swimming in a bathtub. It probably took me about 15 minutes to swim against the current and the wind, but only about 5 minutes to swim back.

We spent the morning just lounging about and exploring our own resort.

	Here is the ocean view from our master bedroom, looking out onto the veranda. The units at the Conch Club Condominiums are each individually owned, so I would imagine that the decor and the state of repair varies from unit to unit. Our particular unit (#9) is not in great shape. For $400/night, I expect much much better. I guess the location is supposed to make up for the sub-par condition of the condo.
	This is the view of the pool looking down from the master veranda. Our unit is in a good location, right next to the pool. This shot was taken during low tide. Because the water is so shallow on the inside of the barrier reef, the low tide water level is about 40 feet away from the shore. This exposes the underwater grasses that are all along the shore here. The beach is not very pretty during low tide.
	This is the Conch Club dock. There are a couple of hammocks out there. However, there is no ladder to use to climb down into the water. So I used the dock to the west (a floating dock instead of a dock on piers) to do my open water swim this morning.
	This is one of the two docks located just east of us that belongs to the Southern Cross Club. You can see the second dock just through the palm tree frond. The SCC pool is up by that second dock, as well as the SCC dining area. We either walk there or kayak.

We went up to Sammy's pool at SCC yesterday, so Sammy came down to visit us today. Here are a couple of shots of the kids playing in the pool.

There was another little girl, about age 9, that was also playing in the pool with the kids. Her name was Ella. She showed the kids how to crack open a coconut. The kids stood there and watched her for about 15 minutes until she finally got the husk off. Then she drained the milk and let each of them have a taste. As rowdy as they had been all morning, I could scarcely believe that they were capable of standing there, almost motionless, for so long.

After the coconut entertainment, the kids returned to their play. Berkeley at the pool and Eliana and Olivia on the beach hammocks. You can see from Berkeley's red cheeks that he has already (on Day 2) had his fair share of sunshine.

We spent the afternoon inside out of the sun napping. Here is Olivia after she woke up.

Then we biked with the Sharps down to an ice cream parlor for some hand cranked ice cream. The kids enjoyed the bike ride more than the ice cream. The parlor is located on the west side of this wetland reserve, a red-footed booby pond... it smells really bad. Phew!

After the bike ride it was time for dinner. We ate and then retired early.

Cayman Islands: Little Cayman, Day 1
Our vacation began on somewhat of a sour note yesterday, as only one of our bags of luggage made it all the way to our final destination of Little Cayman. Our first order of business today was to track down our bags; both of us would be pretty miserable if we had to wear the same clothes every day - the clothes we traveled down here in. There were six flights due to arrive throughout the day. I biked down to the airport for the first flight (at about 9am). The first flight did not have any missing bags. But the second flight of the day (at 10:30am) had every bag that was missing (including all of the Son's bags and the one missing Sharp bag) except for Kristy's bag. This caused no small amount of stress throughout the rest of the day, causing Kristy to be very creative with her wardrobe. She wore one of my speedos, one of Berkeley's baggier t-shirts (baggier for Berkeley - it was snug on Kristy), and her bra. She looked pretty hot. I should have snapped a picture (for my own personal use) to preserve the moment. Opportunity. Missed.

In the morning, in between phone calls to the airline and bike rides down to the airport to check on the status of Kristy's bag, I did a bit of food shopping for breakfast and lunch items. Groceries are expensive here to say the least, about 100% more expensive than US grocery store prices. For example, Horizon organic milk runs $8.40 per half gallon... the same milk sells for about $4 per half gallon at the Pine Lake QFC. I guess that is the penalty for vacationing somewhere that is so remote. Oh well.

Kristy played with the kids at the pool at Southern Cross Club (SCC) in the morning with Sammy and took them out on a sea kayak. Everyone else went diving. She snapped a few pictures (click to enlarge):

Then in the afternoon, I took a break from my luggage hunting efforts and spent some time with Berkeley while the girls all napped. We kayaked over to a small island in the bay called Owen Island and walked around exploring the area. We wrote Berkeley's name in big letters on the beach ("for the airplanes to see") and then kayaked back to SCC and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. Berkeley got a little sunburned.

The Daniels and the Clarks were scheduled to arrive on the last flight of the day (at 6:30pm). I was there waiting to see if Kristy's bag would make it - and it did. Whew... what a relief!

The entire party (us, the Sons, the Sharps, the Daniels, and the Clarks) shared the evening together over dinner at SCC. We are all here at the invitation of Val who decided to surprise Stacey for this 40th birthday. Val kept it secret from him until yesterday, our travel day. So we spent the dinner talking and catching up while the kids splashed their feet in the water and played on the sand.

I left early from dinner with Olivia asleep in my arms (Kristy lingered). The kids and I walked along the beach back to our condo. The moon is full and cast a lot of light on the beach illuminating our way. There was no one else on the beach, just me and my little ones. While we were walking, Eliana and Berkeley decided to hold hands. I walked a bit behind them and watched them and their little strides as they walked barefoot in the sand. They were both quite tired, as they made very little noise. All three of them are down now. Everything is quiet.

Cayman Islands: Travel Day to Little Cayman
Last night at about 8:30pm, we drove to SeaTac to catch the first of four flights that ultimately brought us here to the Cayman Islands. We met the Sharps, and boarded the 10:45pm flight to Charlotte. The kids all slept the whole way... so did I. At Charlotte, we changed planes and flew on to Miami. Because we had to change airline carriers for our flight to Cayman Islands, we had to wait for our bags and then recheck them. After we collected our bags, we made it to the reservation desk with about 45 minutes to spare.

We were informed that the baggage doors close one hour before departure and that our seat assignments had been released... all because we were 15 minutes late! The <sarcasm>very helpful</sarcasm> clerk asked us which of our three bags we wanted to travel with us; the other two would would be delayed (did I mention we were only 15 minutes "late" and that there was still 45 minutes before our plane was to take off?!). We picked the kids bag. At the time, we weren't as concerned about the luggage as we were about our seat assignments. Our reserved contiguous block of seats had been raided and we were instead assigned 4 middle seats on 4 different rows. Uh... thank you Cayman Airways!

Fortunately, several people traded and the kids and Kristy were able to sit together, but I was placed a couple rows forward from them. The flight from Miami to Cayman is only an hour. So it was not as bad as I feared it would be.

Once we made it to the airport, we were delighted to find out that only the one bag did make it. My bag and Kristy's bag were back in the US. The Sharps checked in with Cayman Air at the same time we did - they got 5 of their 6 bags(!). The Sons barely made the flight because of a delay out of Dallas - none of their bags made the trip. Needless to say, we weren't very happy travelers.

But, we were assured that all of bags would eventually find their way to us. I wasn't so confident... we still had to fly from Grand Cayman to Little Cayman. But first we had to take all of our bags through customs and then check them (again) to get them on the plane to Little Cayman. So who will grab our bags tomorrow at the Grand Cayman airport, put them through customs, and then ship them out to us? Those were my questions for the baggage claim attendant that I asked while I was filling out the paperwork. Again, I was assured that the bags will eventually find their way to us.

We'll see.

Our fourth leg of our travels was on a little twin otter turbo prop airplane. The cabin held about 15 passengers and wasn't pressurized. Despite the fact that it was pretty noisy, Berkeley crashed hard. Even after we landed and had deplaned, he still didn't wake up. I laid him down on a bench outside the airport office. Check it out:

Berkeley woke up during our transfer to the place we are staying (Conch Club Condominiums). He was still in a bit of a daze because he was wondering "Why does the airplane have wheels now?"

So, here we are, after a crazy day of travel... with just one of our three bags. Our place is very roomy (1700 sq. ft) and includes 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms upstairs. There is a full kitchen, a dining room, a living room, a half bath, and a washer/dryer downstairs. The decor is a bit dated (my estimate is the mid 1980s), so these condos must be about 25-30 years old. The decor definitely could stand to be refurbished.

The Sharps and the Sons are staying at Southern Cross Club which is just 250 yards up the beach. We will eat all of our dinners at SCC... including a very fine buffet tonight that included some delicious barbecued ribs. After dinner, I stayed up late with Dave and Stacey catching up.

We'll be in Little Cayman for the next 7 nights.