avablog

I walked to work this morning, since Fridays are the days Leah stays home with Ava, and those two are usually still dressing and getting breakfast by the time I have to head out the door. For all its bluster and low, gray clouds, the morning was warmer than one might expect for the middle […]

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Leah’s a big fan of taco pizza. It’s all right. I never really ate it at all before I met her, though I knew it existed. Now, we get one every couple weeks or so when our schedules don’t allow a home-cooked meal. Happy Joe’s is an interesting chain, at least insofar as they’ve really […]

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Kevin’s home sick with strep today, so I thought I’d give him something to read while he sips his Edel Pils and browses the ‘Net. Get well soon, dude! (And save me an Edel Pils!) A while back he asked me to take some pictures of this house that’s being renovated across the street from […]

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I was perusing my Webalizer logs today and saw seven referrals from someplace called IowaBlogs.net this month. I looked them up and see they’re a kind of clearing house for Iowa-related blogs (well, they call themselves a “hub” of Iowa blogs). Or at least for blogs that originate in Iowa or mention Iowa or have […]

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I really dislike shopping for cosmetics. When Leah adds an item of makeup to my shopping list, it’s pretty much assured that I’m going to screw it up somehow. When I go shopping, I’m used to buying items with simple, typically one- or two-word identifiers: “Soap;” “Bread;” “Extension Cord;” “Lightbulb.” So when I see a […]

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Last night we had our first dodgeball game. I play on a team with some people from work and some of their friends and spouses. It was fun to let loose some aggression in a controlled environment. We did OK. The play format is five games in an hour, though last night we ran long, […]

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I got my first real hug from Ava today. Just this evening, in fact. Thirty minutes ago. And then she gave me two more before she went off to bed. I think up until tonight she was giving what she thought were hugs. I’d pick her up and give her a squeeze, and she’d drape […]

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Drug addiction has always been a mystery to me, mainly because I could never wrap my head around the idea that a person can’t find any better sensation than what they’d get out of a line or a pipe or a pill. Which is not to say I don’t understand having a moment of weakness […]

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There is absolutely no way in the world to ever get used to stories like this.  It was bad enough before I was a father, but now…the thought of something like this befalling my wife and daughter is bone chilling.  You hear about these homicide detectives with  30 years in who’re able to chomp on […]

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Mike Evangelist is writing a book about his time at Apple.  I mean, it’s just too close to Mac Evangelist.  I ain’t going to fault the guy his marketing skills. He has a good piece in the Guardian today about the behind-the-scenes preparation for a MacWorld keynote event.  Since I’m waist deep in MWSF hype […]

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Leah and I have been getting a big kick out of the local dustup over NBC’s new show The Book of Daniel. The other night we took a couple minutes to watch a roundtable sponsored by our NBC affiliate in Waterloo that brought together area clergymen to watch an episode of the program and comment.  […]

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Via BoingBoing: A group of researchers have used a functional MRI to map out the parts of the brain that respond to brand identity, showing how Pavlovian conditioning generates response to a brand-mark. If you’re like me, you’ve spent at least a couple minutes considering why logos like the Nike Swoosh or the Coke can […]

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I just remembered a very disturbing episode from our otherwise-splendid New Year’s Eve celebration. At 11 we tuned in to the  New Year’s Rockin’ Eve celebration just in time to see the fancy ball drop for NYC’s new year.  I was surprised to see Dick Clark sitting behind his usual table somewhere over the crowds […]

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Parents have all sorts of aspirations for their kids. As far as Leah and I are concerned, our daughter is a genius. Ava’s aunt and grandparents concur. But it’s too early to even guess as to what kinds of aptitudes our little girl might have. I hope she’s good at everything I’m terrible at. Math. […]

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For the past three years Leah and I have had our families to the house for a big dinner and celebration on New Year’s Eve. It’s pot luck, and I usually do the main course. This year Rachel suggested a French theme, which turned out fantastically well (if I do say so myself). Without further […]

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I’ve let the last couple MacWorlds slip by without too much notice. I really haven’t been in the market for any new kit, and I didn’t have the time to play with it even if I did somehow manage to shop for it. But I’m pretty excited about this month’s show, mostly because of the […]

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So all y’all recall the conversation I was having with my friend about Christmas letters, yes?  Well, I did receive hers in the mail right before the holidays hit.  As expected, it included a picture of her with her new husband.  Very cute.  The letter itself was a page and a half, single-spaced, pretty small […]

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When Kevin was in town this past weekend for our New Year’s celebration, I decided it might be a good time to upgrade Ubuntu on my PC (a PC which, I’ll note here, doesn’t get used a whole lot ). Kevin’s a real guru when it comes to this Linux stuff. And thank goodness, because […]

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Next time you’re attempting to pour an entire pot of boiling water into a bowl, don’t hold that bowl; set it on the counter or in the sink. Otherwise, you’re bound to drop the bowl and spill the scalding water all over your hand, resulting in a nasty burn that causes the skin on your […]

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