Heat Miser

I'm Mister Green Christmas
I'm Mister Sun
I'm Mister Heat Blister
I'm Mister Hundred and One
They call me Heat Miser,
What ever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch
I'm too much!



Link to full lyrics

Cancelled Flight

My flight to Nashville has been cancelled. I guess I won't be going into the storm today.

Hurricane Katrina

Once again it appears that I am travelling into the path of a hurricane. I did this last year with hurricane Ivan on my trip to Asheville, and now I am headed to Nashville for hurricane Katrina. It looks like we will probably get soaked tomorrow. Hopefully Katrina will have slowed down some so that the aiport stays open and I can come home tomorrow evening.

Here is the projected storm track as of 4 am today.

All in all, a good weekend

We are just wrapping up a good weekend. Seth is busy finding things to do so that he doesn't have to go to bed. Debbie is folding laundry. I am not doing much. Tomorrow I go to Nashville in the afternoon and return Tuesday. Other than that, it looks like a normal week ahead.

Great Falls

I took the afternoon off today and we went for a walk at Great Falls. We walked out to the overlook to see the falls; the river was really low. On the way back Debbie spotted a black crowned night heron fishing, or looking for fish. It didn't seem to be seeing much. We also saw a great blue heron and several kinds of turtles.

Seth rode in the backpack and had a great time. He really likes to be outside.

black crowned night heron

The New Look - Once Again

As you can plainly see I have changed the blog template once again. Good Lord! Will it ever stop? I think this one is sort of Ralph Lauren-ish, or maybe Sophia Loren, or Lauren Hutton, or maybe even Lorne Green. We'll see how this goes for a while.

I'll probably keep working on it. Thoughts?

Poaching Add Space

Well, some smart-alecks have figured out a way to plop adds into people's blogs. They leave comments with links to their websites. That's not a problem if it links to another personal blog, but when it's an un-solicited un-paid for ad for a business, it's just like painting a sign on somebody's house without asking. I've had a couple pop up here, and I will delete any that appear in the future.

I'm happy to have comments from readers by the way. I'm just grousing about people trying to market their junk on other sites for free. If you want to advertise, pay me!

The Stove Has Arrived!

It's a Kenmore radiant range. That means it has a flat top with no coils. As you can see from the picture Debbie and Seth are very happy with it. Seth really liked the delivery truck the best though. I was home for lunch when it was delivered.

It makes good brownies! (Are there bad brownies?)

We're Getting a new Stove

Over the weekend we ordered a new stove. It will be delivered tomorrow. Tonight we are going to pull the old one out and clean under and behind it. That should be interesting! Debbie has been wanting a new stove for a while.

A family day

We spent the afternoon over at Mom and Dad's today. Things are good over there. Seth's teething seems to be a little better so he was pretty happy all day. After dinner we decided to go over to Ede and Ed's for a little visit. They haven't seen Seth very much, so it was good to go.

All in all we have had a very family weekend. Not exceptionally busy, but nice just the same.

Panda Cam

On August 2nd a baby Panda was born at the National Zoo in Washington. You can't see Mama and baby at the zoo yet, but can check out the Panda Cam. This is a live feed.

I also added a link to the panda cam over on the right side in the "Cool Stuff" Section. ---------->

New Vacuum Cleaner

Today we did something I've never done before. We bought a new vacuum! All of the ones we have had in the past were either second hand or belonged to Debbie when we got married.

Debbie was so excited she had to put it together right away.

Thanks to Ted for the Consumer Reports analysis. This one was a "Best Buy"

Unusual Activity Burst

I am not sure why this happened today, but I have had an unusual amount of traffic on the blog. Usually I get 4 or 5 visitors a day. The interesting thing is that it is not only a high number of page loads, but also a high number of unique visitors. Click the graph to enlarge it.

Drooling and Teething

Seth has begun drooling a lot, so I think he is trying to cut some teeth. Last night he didn't sleep very well, and consequently, neither did we. I suppose this is just the beginning. Of course this morning Seth was cheerful as usual. It was like he had slept all night. I don't know how he does that.

One Year of Blogging

I just realized that I have had this blog running for a year now. The original post was on August 6, 2004. I looked back at some of those original posts. My intention was just to capture my thoughts or moods at the time I was writing and I think I have succeeded in that. In fact, when I looked at the post for August 19th it reminded me how exciting it was to be expecting a baby. I suppose I will continue blogging for a while longer.

Quiet House

Debbie and Seth have been visiting Friends in PA the last couple of days. They are coming home tomorrow. Although it has been nice to have some completely free time, my house is too quiet. I am ready for them to be home.

The Boys

Dad sent me a picture of Will and Seth.

Interplanetary Internet

NASA sent another orbiter to Mars last week. It is going to work with the existing orbiters to collect data and transmit it home. It looks like they also have big plans for an interplanetary network.
Here is a breif article from Federal Computer Week
Mars orbiter takes broadband to space

Click here to go to the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter home page

Party Recap

Well, the party was a lot of fun. I went out sailing with Tom R right after we got there. We sailed out to the bay and then came back. Seth did well with everyone. He was completely worn out when we got home. Debbie had a good time too.

All in all it was a fun afternoon.

Mt St Helen's - Eruption Update

Mount St Helen's continues to erupt. It is extruding a new dome at a rate of several meters per day. Here is a cool time-lapse video that was made between July 31, 2005 and August 12, 2005. Click here to see the video It takes a little while to load, so be patient.

A Party Today

Today we are going to a party at my cousin's house in Annapolis. It should be fun. They have a very nice place on Mill Creek. There will be lots of people and food. Seth will even get to see some kids.

Quality Time

Seth is sleeping, Debbie is puttering, and I am playing with my new computer.

2003 UB313

It appears that there may be a tenth planet out there; way beyond Pluto. On Monday a couple of astronomers announced that they have found a Kuiper Belt object that is apparently 3 times as far away from the sun and larger than Pluto. There will be some discussion, of course, about whether it is a planet or not. Some folks don't think Pluto really qualifies.

Here is the BBC news article:
BBC NEWS - Astronomers detect '10th planet'

New Laptop

Well, I'm trying out my new laptop. My little Vaio was getting a little out of date, so I got a brand spanking new ThinkPad. It weighs less than 3 pounds! And it has a bigger diplay than my last one.

In Raleigh

I am in Raleigh today and tomorrow. Debbie and Seth rode along and are visiting with Jo Ellen in Durham this afternoon. I will go over there this evening and have dinner with them.

They were Yellow Jackets

Some dead guys on the window sill.

The Bee Hunter

Today I had to get rid of a bees nest under the eave of our house right outside our bedroom window. Sounds like a big deal doesn't it? Actually, all I did was climb up on the ladder and spray hornet and wasp killer into the hole that the bees were traveling in and out of. Four or Five hour later the bee traffic seems to have stopped. Rah!

Pitching and Defense

The Nationals have been on a losing trend for the last couple of weeks. I attribute this mostly to pitching and defense. I suppose an argument could be made that because many of the losses have been by one run, that a little offense wouldn't hurt either.

One encouraging sign is that John Patterson pitched 13 strikeouts in a complete game on Thursday night. If he can keep that up it will certainly help Washington's play-off hopes. Unless Atlanta slows down, a wildcard race with Houston is coming up.

The chef at work

Daylight Saving Time

As part of the energy bill approved last week, Congress included an extension of daylight saving time for four weeks. At first glance, it sounds like a good idea. Who doesn't like longer evenings.

However, there is a hidden problem here. Every PC in the country is programmed to automatically adjust for daylight time in the last weekend of October. That means that everyone's computer will be wrong twice. Once when the computer changes itself in October and has to be reset, and once when the computer doesn't change itself in November, and has to be reset again.

It looks like a lot of extra man hours for the IT staff of any business or federal agency. Did nobody point this out?

There are other issues as well. Here is an article from the Washington Post.
Some Parents Worry About Daylight Change

Monday, Monday

It's Monday again and I am back in the office. Actually this is only the second Monday that I have been here since the last week of June. Hmm, not bad! Now if I can just get it so I am out on Fridays as well!

My travel schedule is lightening up a little. This month I go to Raleigh on the 8th/9th and Nashville, TN on the 29th/30th for a national trade show.