Solar Show

For those of us on the Mid-Atlantic coast of the US it is a beautiful spring day, but for people in a small strip of the world, running from Brazil to Mongolia, today brought a toatal eclipse of the Sun. This image is from Egypt.



Read more about the eclispse here.

Monday, Monday

It's back to work today after a good weekend. I watched the entire George Mason vs. Connecticut basketball game. It was a great game and it is fun to see Mason advance to the Final Four.

Seth is picking up new words every day. He will repeat anything. He says so many new things that I can't keep track of them all any more. His vocabulary may be hundreds of words by now. He is still using one word at a time; there have been no real sentences yet; I'm sure that's not far away. More and more he can handle two syllable words: Hello, pickup, dipper, itchy (when he sees squirrels).

Seth Has Been Visiting

Debbie went off to Cake class this evening so Seth and I had a little time at home. We did the usual stuff: played with trucks, read books, gave him a bath, read more books. He went right to sleep. I think he was pretty tired. He has been doing some travelling lately. Here is a picture of him at Nana's house in Washington St.




And here he is at Joe's house in Baltimore.

New Computer - Part 2

I have gotten a little further with the new computer this evening. I moved the drive out of the old one and it started right up. I have been able to move some of the profile information over. I've got the email client set up so Debbie can check her mail.

They're Coming Home Today

Debbie and Seth are coming home today! I am very excited.

I will leave for the airport at about 8:45 this evening. Their flights are pretty short: 2 1/2 hours from Seattle to Denver and 3 hours and 11 minutes from Denver to BWI. That is about a quick as it can be done unless you go non-stop.

New Computer

I finally went out and bought a new computer last evening. It is an HP Pavilion a1350n, whatever that means. It should be plenty of machine to last me a while.

Things have changed since I built my first PC. It was a 286 with 1MB of RAM (who would ever need more than 640k?) and a 40 MB hard drive. It also had two floppy drives: a 5 1/4 inch and a 3 1/2 inch. Oh, and it operated at 4.77 mhz and, if you pushed the "Turbo" button, 10 mhz. It was a speed demon compared to the PC X/T.

Ivory Billed Woodpecker Update

David Sibley, a well respected ornithologist, has made a statement about the status of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. He doesn't think the video that was released last year shows an ivory bill. He thinks it is a Pileated Woodpecker. Here is the article from NPR.

Click here to see the video for yourself.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It seems like there should be something serious and enlightening to say about St. Patrick's Day. However, the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the feast of Saint Patrick is not about religion or Irish heritage, but just about having some fun in the Not-Quite-Winter-but-Not-Quite-Spring month of March. In the US at least, it seems that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's day. Which is possibly true if you go back about 2000 to 3000 years. This article from Slate explains one person's theory of how we are all descended from pretty much everyone who was alive and had children that long ago. "Go back a few millenniums, and we've all got the same ancestors"

The Ides of March

On the Ides of March (the 15th) in 44 BC Julius Caesar was assasinated in the Roman Senate. 60 Republican Senators, led by Brutus and Cassius, joined the conspiracy. His last words, to Brutus, in Greek, were "and you too, child?"

From Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare
Mark Antony:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interréd with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar…. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it….
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral….
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

Home Alone

Debbie and Seth left last Thursday morning and it already feels like they have been gone a whole week. I have read more in the last couple of days than I have in the last few months.

I just finished a book called Darkest Jungle about a 19th century expedition to find a route for a sea level canal across the Isthmus of Darien in Panama. The expedition was successful only in that it proved that there was not a good route across that region. For various reasons, not the least of which is the extreme environment of the jungle, it took two months to make the crossing. The entire expedition team (21 men) nearly starved to death and 6 of them died either on the trail or shortly after they were rescued. It was a brutal trip.

Debbie and Seth in Richland

I talked with Debbie last evening and it sounds like the trip from Seattle to Richland went well. Seth slept for a while. He was busy running around the living room when I talked to them. He is going to have a fun time exploring.

It was very quiet at home last evening. I did get several calls from family to check up on me and make sure that I wasn't withering away. I finished "The Planets" by Dava Sobel. It is a pretty good read. I learned a few things about the solar system.

On the Ground

According to the SEATAC arrivals listing, Debbie and Seth are on the ground in Seattle. The Cresses called me this morning to say that the pass (Snoqualmie) over the Cascades was getting a lot of snow and that they might stay in Seattle tonight if it continues to be bad.

Neither Debbie or Ted and Peggy are in the habit of turning their cell phones on (even though they carry them) so I haven't been able to get an update directly. Eventually Debbie will remember that she has a phone and will call me. I guess I will just have to wait.

Back Just in Time

I had to go to Raleigh this week. I came home last evening so I could be home with Debbie and Seth for a little bit before they go off to Washington on Thursday. That is going to be a big adventure.

Seth is talking about everything these days. That doesn't mean that I understand everything that he's saying, but he is really doing well. This morning we were playing "where is" with the grocery store ads in the paper. "Were is the tomato?" "Where are the peppers?" "Where are the bluberries."

We are getting some two syllable words, but no sentences yet.

First Haircut

Seth got his first haircut today. He did very well. We have video and pictures. Here is a before and after:

Another New Look

Every once in a while I get the urge for a new look for the blog. I think this one is nice and tidy.

It must be like rearranging furniture, or painting the living room. Sometimes you just need a change.

Quiet Evening

Debbie is at cake decorating class, Seth is sleeping and I am having a quiet moment at home. Right now, it's pretty enjoyable. Next week Debbie and Seth are headed to Washington State for a two week visit with the Grandparents there. I am not sure how much I am going to like the quiet evenings after they are gone for a few days. It really is good to come home to a house with the lights on every night.

As for now, I think I will just go on enjoying my quiet time.