Little Bear

Currently Reading...

An interesting read. More since it was written in the mid-90s, before the 9/11 attacks and the huge growth in global economies.

May Old...Be Forgot...

Never did quite understand that song, but anyway, happy last day of 2007! While we will attend the First Night Celebration with the Girls downtown tonight (ok, so we attend the 'children's ceremonies which end at 7, shesh!), I started thinking about just how busy of a year it has been!

1. Myra Jeanne came into the world in January! Much to our delight. Now my Little Bear is walking all over the place.

2. Started new job in March. Still throughly enjoying it. Making a change in regions for 2008, but good things are ahead.

3. Ran my second marathon, the City of Oaks, in a new PR-4 hours 50 minutes. Could've been faster, will work on it for next time. Hot, hot summer of training, but found the Falls Lake Trail--beautiful!

4. Had my first two flights--to San Francisco and Pittsburgh. Cannot wait to get on a plane again.

Ok, so it was pretty busy. I am sure (famous last words, right), 2008 cannot rival it. We shall see!

Merry Christmas. 2007!

A great big Merry Christmas to you all! We enjoyed a fun morning--see the pic! Santa was good to all of us (I scored some professionally framed Canes things--including my SCF Game 7 ticket!). Now we begin our Northern travels to VA and PA.

A Successful Year of Reading...

While it did not feel I read much this year, with the new job, chasing after L and M, and the usual 'life,' looking through my journal, I did read quite a lot. My only resolution was to finish Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which I did. I read some good books on the future of business and education, including Freakonmics, Wikinomics, and A Whole New Mind. Some good history reads also, including Andrew Jackson and Poland (which took forever! but was a good read). A ton of audio books and podiobooks too, including The 7th Son Series, The Rookie (Scott Sigler is just messed up!!), and Shadow Falls. All in all, a good year. Looking forward to another good year of reads in 08!

LB or RB?

Which one are you? Right brained or left brained? Interesting to think of how as over the years industrials jobs were shipped overseas, now the left-brain related jobs (accounting, medical, logical, linear) are making their way overseas as well. We discovered this in Friedman's The World Is Flat, and now I just finished reading Wikinomics and am in the middle of Pink's A Whole New Mind. The creative types (R-directed) seem like they will come to power, and I think we see that with the focus on product-based learning, collaboration (wikis, shared docs, flickr). That's good, as I feel I am on the fringe of being totally R-directed, with some L-directed tendencies. Definitely will foster R-directed in the girls--although Lucy B is already quite the creative girl!

Ho, Ho, Ho, Who Do You Know...

Christmas time approaches. What a quick month! What a quick year! Hard to believe that Myra will turn 1 shortly after Christmas. I think we will so enjoy ourselves this year at Christmas with the girls. Myra has shown some instances of good paper ripping, and we all know how well Lucy opens gifts. I just need to make it through one more site visit tomorrow morning, then home free! We will enjoy the holidays, then venture to the frozen tundra of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
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Looks like we will continue our New Year's Eve tradition of going to the First Night celebration Downtown Raleigh. They put so many interesting activities together. What a great time we had last year!

Christmas Really Excites Me...

What a fun time of year!! Lucy helps me each night get the Christmas Lights on. She shut the door this evening, and said, 'Uh-oh, Daddy, light out.' So we fixed it. Then she made me so proud--she had her hands on her back, and I, sensing her concern, asked what was wrong. She thought for a second, and said, we need more lights! Is she my daughter, or what!
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Myra continues to grow. She really walked all over the house tonight. Between that, and the two new teeth, she finds herself quite busy. I think Kerry and I are both excited to see her reaction to Christmas!

What's Going On in December?

Well, we're continuing on with the work as usual. My travels, although still some day trips, will slow down somewhat over the winter. Thank goodness! Now we can get back into the routines we all appreciate so much. Myra is walking--if you can believe that! At less than 10 months, she is hobbling around the house, getting into even more trouble! (-: Lucy is not quite sure yet how she feels about it. Speaking of Miss Thing--her preschool is going well. She comes home each day to draw more pictures for 'Miss Kay and Miss Ell-ooo-weeze.' So cute!
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Went to the new Marbles museum on Friday. We met Jenn Woody and Graysen there. Too fun! By the end, Lucy and Graysen were holding hands and running around. Fun!

Christmas Time Is Here...

I guess that's why the lack of recent posts. Don't worry, I will continue to post soon, but after the crazy busy November, I am slowly getting back in the swing of things.

Another Busy Week...

So, last week I completed a marathon, flew to San Francisco, and spent time with the girls. This week promises to be just as busy. After enjoying a calm day today (changed oil in Kia, vaccumed, cut my hair), I will travel for work the next three days then fly to Pennsylvania on Friday. Sounds like they will keep me busy up there (sorry Dad, not going to the TSO concert!!), then I will fly back Tuesday, participate in a conference call, and drive up to Vienna that evening for Thanksgiving. Phew!

Gutsy Gibbon Takes The Scene

Ok, you may not expect this, given my new Red Hat wardrobe (thanks to Kerry's cousin Kiely and her husband), but I am a huge Ubuntu Linux user. Gutsy Gibbon just recently came out (version 7.10) and I finally upgraded our personal laptop. Unfortunately, I still had some Windows crud on it, so I decided to totally wipe the hard drive and reinstall 7.10 with an iso disk. This worked fine, and the new work put into having the machine recognize the video card came off without a hitch this time. I did struggle with the dumb Broadcom 4328 wireless card once again, but I just got that working yesterday with ndiswrapper and a well timed update on the ubuntu forums. Now I am enjoying the beauty of the Compiz Fusion effects. Pretty sweet! Will update this XPS machine soon. That's the beauty of Linux and the Open Source movement--you can do things in your own time and things will still work. Try that with upgrading one machine to Vista and keeping the rest at XP. Do you think that would happen?

Back From San Fran--And Brought My Heart Home!

Well, I am not sure I even took it--I missed my girls pretty much! (-: I did enjoy myself. San Francisco is a neat city with tons to do. The last evening I rode the cable cars down to Fisherman's Wharf, saw Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, and just hung out. Then I rode back and did some shopping in Union Square. How great to have all of those stores right there, all within walking distance. I really thought that if we were single, we may be living out there--how great to not need a car--everything would be within walking distance.
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The flights home were booked, so I did not totally enjoy that, but everything, except that little turbulence over Utah, went smoothly. We were delayed in Charlotte for a little while, but I made it back to Raleigh and back in the arms of my 3 girls! (0:

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Now I look forward to flying up to PA on Friday to visit with everyone up there. Just a small little puddlejumper of a plane, so look out! (-:

A Few More From Halloween and the Marathon...

My Cheerleaders...




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And a little bit of rest...




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Doctor Mommy, Dora Lucy, Strawberry Myra, and Hockey Player Daddy

City of Oaks Marathon--FINISHED!

Woohooo!! The marathon is over, I finished, and actually have a new PR of 4 hours, 50 minutes. It was a tough tough run though, while I knew the 2nd half would be, the first part, coming back from Raleigh kicked by butt. I did not expect all the hills along Clark. But I finished, so yeah to me!
Now I head to San Francisco tomorrow morning for a few days. Whirlwind November continues!

Christmas Music Time!

I will post some Halloween pics soon, but it's CHRISTMAS MUSIC TIME!

Appropriate For the Time Period...

Although I thought I was going to be Boots (from Dora!)

You Are a Werewolf

You're unpredictable, moody, and downright freaky. You seem sweet and harmless, until you snap. Then you're a total monster. Very few people can predict if you're going to be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. But for you, all your transformations seem perfectly natural. Your greatest power: Your ability to tap into nature Your greatest weakness: Lack of self control You play well with: Vampires

What Kind of Monster Are You?

Who I'm Voting For in '08...

Of course, it's more for the VP than the President.

Two Weeks and Counting...

until the City of Oaks Marathon. Today was my last 'long' run--a ten miler. Unfortunately it happened after a long night with Myra, but overall it was a pretty good run. It will probably be my last Falls Lake Trail run for awhile, but what a beautiful trail. I spent a lot of time on it this summer. Especially now, with the leaves down, giving additional padding, I really enjoyed that run!
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So, why did Myra give us a long night? Well, to correct myself, she gave me a long night. Kerry participated in the Flangian girls trip to Wrightsville Beach. She left at 6 Saturday morning and returned around 10ish this morning. And I made it through the weekend with the girls! We actually had a lot of fun--we went out shopping (BJs, Running Store, and Borders), then went to the park in the afternoon. Lucy goes down all the slides by herself now! What a big girl!! Jumpin' Beans did a lot for her confidence! Anyway, Myra did well throughout the day, but I think last night she just grew tired about taking a feeding from the bottle and from me. We had many 'scream-fests,' but we made it. My run actually turned out pretty well. Although, I think I will lobby Nana to fly down next year!

We Got Rain!

I have never seen such commotion. I went in to work early this morning (early as in leaving at 5:55). I like to do that sometimes so I have the office to myself. I can catch up on my podcasts, get comfy, and work. Today, it stayed pretty dark right through the early morning. Around 10, I began to hear something, looked out my 5th floor window, and saw RAIN! Now, considering the severe drought, I quickly called my co-workers. They rushed to my window in an excited commotion. After staring for a few moments, we returned to work until a phone call interrupted my thoughts. I heard our administrative assistant say, 'Yes, it's raining here too!' Only in Raleigh can we get so excited for rain!
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Went to the NC State Fair on Monday. The crowds were smaller, but there were still a large number of folks. I enjoyed sharing this with my girls: the games (we won three prizes, including a COOKIE MONSTER!), the PBS tent, rides, and of course the carnies! In the words of my wife, 'The fair brings out all types of folks, huh!'

Jumpin' at Jumping Beans

What a great weekend! With Nana and PapPap down, cool weather, and a birthday to celebrate, we enjoyed quite the fun times! Today Lucy had her 3rd birthday party at Jumpin' Beans. It was great to see her interact with the other kids, especially her good buddy Anna!

My Daughter Turns 3 This Weekend!

Kinda mixed feelings on that. On the one hand, it is incredible to see the neat little person she is becoming. Preschool makes such an impact on kids--she sings songs all the time (especially the Vowel Song!), pretends more, and just seems to enjoy learning. On the other hand, Lucy getting older means I am getting older. She does not need our help as much and is beginning to want more independence in playing on our own. Well...we always have Myra!

One Month Until Christmas Music!

Those who know me, know also I being playing my Christmas Music (and quite the large collection) on November 1st. Can you believe October will begin Monday? What a quick Summer, and now Fall. Had an awesome time this morning with the girls. It cooled down, so we decided to visit Blue Jay Point Park near us, on the banks of Falls Lake. We hiked down to the water, threw rocks, waded through the water, then had a picnic. Awesome, awesome time!
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The Mountains were gorgeous as well. I had two good runs through the Great Smoky Mountains Park. Cool morning! Then the town of Bryson City was so nice. I can definitely see taking the family up there sometime soon!

Off To Another Trip...

And I will leave this sweet face...But I will spend the next few days in the mountains at an IMPACT Schools Visit. Those not privy to what IMPACT is all about, basically in a nutshell, is federal funding provided to schools to implement a model, NC's IMPACT Model, which stresses technology and collaboration in schools. Those of you keeping scorre at home will remember I worked at one of the original IMPACT schools, Williford, a few years ago. We reaped the benefits of higher student achievement and better teacher retention, so here's hoping this will continue across our state!

But it will be tough without the girls!

Lots of Fun With the Girls

I just continue to enjoy my daughters. Life is so simplistic and real when I can leave behind my work, my running, and everything else to enjoy time with them. We enjoyed this weekend with Grammie and Grandpa. They definitely enjoy spending time with the girls as well!
I look forward to the times I share with them, as they both are growing so quickly! Myra crawls and stands everywhere. Lucy surprises me with her knowledge and 'street smarts.' Just fun times right now!

Peaked Out Today

Had my 26 miler today. I did it along the Falls Lake Trail. Unfortunately, we're back in a heat snap (91 degrees now), but I had to run. The run itself was not too bad--I definitely see the need for some ultra-wicking socks and MORE water.

K12 Online Conference

How Cool! Make sure you attend!

My Daughter, the Tree Hugger!

Gotta love this picture from a park near Laura's in Durham. My girl, well on her way to becoming a liberal! Makes me proud!

Action Figures, 2.0

Ok, back in the day of Castle Grayskull, My Little Pony, GI Joe, and MASK, our toys never associated with each other. Come to think of it, besides my MASK figures taking over my sister's My Little Pony stable for their 'secret' headquarters, I never thought that He-Man could enlist the help of GI Joe to overthrow Skeletor. Well, in this picture, you see our smart daughter already figured out how to make things better--have them all visit the 'Dora Store.' You see Dora, Homer (of the 'Simpsons People, Daddy'), and Strawberry Shortcake. She makes me laugh!!
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Went on a 10 miler today that I put off from yesterday. I guess, with about 6 weeks before the marathon, I am tired of the constant attention of it. The training, while not rough physically, is weighing on me psychologically. It is tough to be on a road trip with the thought of a long run in the back of your mind, or knowing that every weekday has a long run (I am getting to the 7, 8, 9 milers during the week). I did finish the run today, the weather was gorgeous--70, but I am ready for the marathon!

Another Speech

Ok, not really sure why we have yet another speech this evening. I guess to announce the long overdue trip withdrawal. Off course, that comes with the caveat that whoever (GO OBAMA!) wins the presidency next year, we will be in Iraq for the next several years. Why? Oh, the Iraq government asked us. Forget the fact we are lagging in education, technology, common sense, our requests go unanswered.

You know, I really did believe at first that the intelligence of our fearless leader was not quite up to par. But I stand corrected. It all fits. Our 'grand old party' focuses on what? Military and oil. So how do you keep the intelligent, creative, and technological folks down? Bring down the schools. Do not provide any funds, but require unattainable goals, then allow students to transfer if their current school fails to meet the criteria.

Wow...a definite d'oh moment.

Maybe its Due to Lack of Water...

Went on my 18-miler this morning along Falls Lake Trail. Beautiful area to run--soft, pine straw floor, trees blocking out the sun, and a nice lake view for most of the run. Unfortunately we are in a drought and the lake is 3-4 foot below normal, but still a nice view. Only two long runs left-26 and then another 18 miler. Then the taper begins for the Raleigh Marathon in November. While excited about the marathon, boredom from running already showed it's ugly head. Coming home from work everyday and going out for a run is exhausting me. That said, the next four weeks contain weekly runs of 7-9 miles after a full day of work. Don't know how that will work.
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And here's where the title of this blog comes in--I LOVE this song!

Our Lucy's First Day of Preschool

Can you believe it? Lucy got dressed, carried her big blue backpack, took her orange kitty, and went off to preschool this morning. I think her Daddy had a more difficult time with it than she did. We attended an orientation Tuesday night (yeah, nice to be on that side for a change!), and I cannot believe how much preschool now mirrors school. She will only have 10 students in her class, but two teachers, a schedule, art, music, PE, etc. *Sniff, sniff*

Gotta Love Technology...

Check this out--I will have an overnight in Charlotte soon. I need to do an 8 mile run for my training. I go to mapmyrun.com, and voila, I have over 600 possible runs.

Myra Wants to Skip Crawling and Go To Walking...

Labor Day, 2007

Enjoying a nice, relaxing weekend. Shannon visited today, we went for a nice walk with the girls, and just enjoyed the day. I figured I would add some pictures before the busy September commences.

And We Come to September...

So, what's on the agenda for this month? Hopefully some cooler weather. After our PA trip, we're definitely ready for fall. We'll see if that becomes a reality, as at least the first week still has us in the 90s. What else will we do?
-some trips for work--seems I need to do a variety of tech plan visits for charter schools
-a trip to Vienna. Now that Kerry's folks ok'ed everything with their builder, they will probably be down here next year at this time
-hopefully some good runs--this is the big month for marathon training with an 18, 20, and 26 mile run.

Lucy Rides the Trike

It is so neat to see your child get better and better at a skill. In this video you can see how well Lucy is doing on her tricycle. Of course, she is trying to run Myra down, but hey--whatever you can get for inspiration, I guess...

Back To Normal...

Well, as back to normal as things can be! We returned from a great trip to PA. Awesome weather. One day was 72, 30% humidity, so we spent the ENTIRE day outside. The girls loved it! Hopefully fall will come to Raleigh soon--we are so ready for it. Had an awesome 16 mile run along a new section of the Ghost Town Trail in the big 'burgh of Hesbon, PA. Not even sure if they have a post office, so it may not be an official town. The girls enjoyed all the spoiling from Nana and Pappap. We're excited for them to come down in October for Lucy's THIRD birthday. Phew, I'm getting old!

Our Dancing Girls

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

My Two Adorable Girls...

Lucy is becoming the tricycle master, complete with BABAB in the backseat. Myra just loves to watch her big sister!

I Am Back Home!

Phew! What an insane two weeks. I pretty much went from one side of the state to the other. My culmination was a trip to Hickory Wednesday, including an overnight. Boy, how I do love the mountains though. A good presentation on web 2.0 and advocating for those tools, especially with elementary teachers. They all seemed engaged, so we hope we hear some interesting projects they begin to develop.
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Girls made it without me too. Boy, Lucy and Myra really both continue to grow like two weeds. Myra takes a few tentative steps/crawls, then throws her legs on the floor and cries. It will happen any day now! Lucy does such an awesome job in helping Mommy, Grammie, Aunt Shannon, or whoever may be helping at any given time. Such an awesome little girl!
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Two trips this week, then we'll head to PA either on Wednesday night or Thursday. Will be good to visit with everyone up there!

One Week Down...Two To Go...

Well, I am one third of the way through my busiest portion so far. Last week I travelled a bit, but this week is the big travel week--4 days, then two days the following week before heading up to Pennsylvania for a little rest.
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Fifteen mile run yesterday. Pretty smooth, as the weather was a little more cooperative, as opposed to last weeks 104 degree days.

Lucy and Daddy's Veggies

Despite the hot weather, we did get some vegetables before the plants died. A handful of peppers, some tomatoes, and even a pumpkin! Lucy is a great gardener!

Hazy Days of Summer

Well, we are in the long days of 90+ degree heat with no end in sight. We stay in pretty much most of the time, save early morning trips to the playground, or early (6 AM for me) long runs. Went out to Umstead State Park again today for a 10 miler. I think the end will be difficult, but I feel confident now, seeing the end 13 miles.
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Myra had some problems after starting rice and oatmeal cereals and sweet potatoes. We had some nights of walking the floor with her-->yes, me too--no playing possum!! (-: So we stopped food for now. It really is neat seeing the girls begin to interact. Lucy loves making Myra laugh. It is so cute! They actually play together now (somewhat), which is pretty neat to see too.
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The next three weeks will make or break me. I travel pretty much everyday, before heading up to Pennsylvania for a nice visit. Hopefully *hopefully* September and October will slow down, less the marathon training.

Do You Have an AMEX Card?

This won't cost you a sent if you do, but it will help a great program, DonorsChoose, provide funding to individual teachers across the country. I used DonorsChoose successfully in the classroom to fund a variety of proposals including cameras, hockey equipment, books, and so much more. Now, American Express will provide one dollar for each vote on the DonorsChoose site. If you or anyone you know possesses an AMEX card, please click here and vote for DonorsChoose. Thank you!

We Went On a Date!

Wow! Aunt Shannon (YaYa to Lucy) came up to watch the girls to allow Kerry and I to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Great time. I, of course being the Potter geek I am , had plenty of comments/opinions on the movie, but we totally enjoyed the opportunity just to get out and enjoy each other's company. And that's our moral of the story to all of you. Yes, we love love love our girls, but it is so nice for the 'adults' to get out and enjoy themselves.
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July will end and another busy month will begin. I will criss-cross the state for two weeks on a variety of workshops, then we will head up to PA for a nice visit. Feels so good not starting the 'I don't want to go back to school' dread.

I Didn't Want to Be Batman...

You Are Batman

Billionaire playboy by day. Saving the world by night. And you're not even a true superhero. Just someone with a lot of expensive toys!

What Superhero Are You?

Where Does Time Go?

Wow! Hard to believe we head into the last weekend in July. What a great month! All these things seem like they just happened though. Nana visited for a week while I attended my IMPACT Academy. We visited the Aquarium, Pullen Park, and Aunt Shannon'. Lots of fun. That's really what we try to do with the girls--just come up with lots of neat activities and places to remember. In August I will be tied up with my August Workshops for two weeks, but then we will go up to Pennsylvania for a nice long weekend and visit everyone up there. Maybe some Eat-N-Park. Mmmmmm....chicken fiesta sandwichhhhh. (-: And yes, The Simpsons' Movie comes out soon, too! Then the next month, September, my little girl will attend pre-school. *Sniff, sniff!

Ahhh....the 80s

You Are 88% A Child of the 80s

There's hardly a moment of the 80s that you missed out on. Was there ever a better decade? As if!

Are You a Child of an 80s?

Continuing the Open Source Cause

Open Source, Open Source, Open Source. I continue to get head-scratching looks when I mention this or Linux. Family and friends cannot understand why I gave up Windows in place of something free. "Surely that cannot be as good, since it's free," they tell me. What a sad state of affairs when this thought process happens. I would think the same thing. We are conditioned to think that you must pay (and pay handsomely) for software to work properly. You are also then locked into that publisher of the software to their 'vision.' Have an idea to use it better? Too bad. Maybe they will implement that in the new version, of which you will pay once again, but too bad for you in the immediate future.

That's where all who do not know about Linux are wrong. Linux just gets me. I definitely cannot see all these huge amounts of paid software. For instance, working in just one school, to purchase one piece of software for approximately 100 computers totals $30,000. I could buy a car for that. And do we receive training for this? Nope. Ways to integrate? Nope. Do they come and install? Nope. They send a disc, and even a file through email these days, and that's the end of it. Well, Linux does not give you any of those things either, but then they don't charge you either. Come to think of it, the communities for the different OS distros (operating system distributions, think Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows NT, etc for Linux: examples of Ubuntu, Edubuntu, SUSE, Fedora, etc) provide more and better support. Many have call centers to use for FREE, forum boards, email lists, and even support groups in major cities.

Then software. You can pretty much find a comparable piece of software in a Linux version. Want Photoshop? Use the Gimp. Want Dreamweaver? Then check out Quanta, Screem, or nVU. Inspiration? Look at Dia. And that's the power of open source. Yes, these are free, but open source means that the source code is available to you. You can make changes to the code for your own benefit. The question becomes can you do that? Yes, but make sure to provide a copy of the revised code to the developers, and allow others the possibility to use your changes.

How cool! I will continue to update you on this in the future!

Chris on the Simpsons

So, what would I look like if my dream came true, and I appeared on the Simpsons? Well, enjoy this image of me, with my Linux t-shirt on!

The End of Harry Potter...

So I finished the book. Received it yesterday from the UPS guy (don't know why Mr. Larry, our mail carrier did not bring it). The UPS guy, a closet comedian says, "Let me tell you how it ends...he finds out he's a Jedi Master." Funny UPS guy! (-:
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Finished it in one day, or by 12 AM the night I started. Overall, I enjoyed the book. It nicely tied up many of the dangling issues, but at times these explanations seemed forced. One major thing that bugged me was the need for so many pages. I think we could get by in the story with 200 less pages. The whole middle, with Hermoine and Harry camping across the British Isle really leaves a lot to be desired.

I enjoyed the final battle scene, which when made into a movie could rival the final LOTR battle, if directed correctly. JK definitely left herself an out if she wants to have another book. The 19 Years Later epilogue was pretty basic as well.

Fishies and Trains

Had a good two days. Yesterday we met some friends at Pullen Park. It was hot (90s by 10 am, it is July afterall), but we still played, rode the merry-go-round and train, and ate a great lunch. Today we went to the Fort Fisher NC Aquarium. I love spending time with my 3 girls!

I Miss My Girls!

Who would think a week away from my three girls would be this difficult? Here I sit at a conference in Sunset Beach, NC. It's Thursday, and I've been gone since Sunday. Tomorrow is the big day that I get to go back home, and I cannot wait. When you look at these pictures of my girls, you see how tough it would be to leave them for any extended time. I know what will happen this weekend though--a FULL WEEKEND OF DADDY TIME!

Enjoying Our Summer!

Lucy, Mommy, and Myra (those are her legs in the blue chair) enjoy the 'mega-fort' Daddy built.











Lucy's Bling

Today (or actually Tomorrow) We Celebrate Our Independence...

July 4th--the traditional middle of summer. We have been enjoying the recent coolness in Raleigh. The past two days' highs were 84 and 87 respectively. That just does not happen in Raleigh in July. This morning I actually shivered on the way into the office (65 degrees). The girls and I spend a fun day together last week. We stopped at my office, then went to the Natural Science Museum. Tomorrow we may visit Wake Forest for a parade.
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The marathon training goes well. I run 8.5 miles out in Umstead State Park on Saturday. About 6 of the miles followed the 'actual' marathon course. Pretty tough--some long, steady hills. I continue to get excited about it though. My right calf is a little tight and sore, so I will try to move it around gingerly and see if it can heal some. Figures I would finally get an injury after years of no running...
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And the big news--NANA FLIES DOWN ON SATURDAY! We're so excited!

How Embarassing...

You Are Speed Skating

You're motivated, aggressive, and willing to work hard to win. You have what it takes to be hell on skates!

What Winter Sport Are You?

End of Yet Another Month...

Can you believe we are almost into July? Since summer is here, we planned a variety of 'one day' vacations throughout the summer and fall. Today we went downtown to the NC Museum of Science. Lucy loves seeing all the animals and dinosaurs. Myra actually enjoyed herself too--she slept most of the time! Other trips this summer include the NC Aquarium, Fort Fisher, the NC Zoo, and trips to PA and DC. Should be fun!