Happy Birthday To Myra Jeanne!

She officially turns one today! Can you believe that? A year ago today, she came into the world, and blessed us yet again. What a terrific family we have!

My University Teaching Debut...

Who'd thunk I would someday teach at a university? Ok, so I won't actually teach tonight, but I will give a presentation on the IMPACT Model at UNC-Chapel Hill for a fellow colleague's class. Should be interesting!
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We're also enjoying our time with Nana and PapPap. The girls are loving it! They are exhausted from all the fun! (-:

Funneee Video

But kinda scary, as this is not too far off...

The Search--aka Google's Attempts to Take Over the World

Ok, so I will be cautious, lest any googlebots are probing my blog. If so, they are probably the only ones to view my blog. Anyway...just finished Battelle's The Search, which discussed web searching, with a heavy focus on Google.

Many interesting things throughout, especially just reading about Stanford and the whole Silicon Valley area and how so many of these great tools began there.

Just a few tidbits as well:

-35% of all internet traffic is commercial in nature

IBM's Webfountain that is trying to be the 'end all' in search

Big Weekend for Myra J!

Can you believe it--my youngest will turn one this weekend, actually Monday. I cannot believe it. How old I am! (-: Nana and PapPap will arrive tomorrow for a nice, long weekend. Grammie and Grandpa will arrive Saturday for the party. We will definitely enjoy it, especially Sunday, when Kerry and I can go on a date! Do you believe it!

Hurricanes Game

It was a hockey night in Raleeeee! Unfortunately the Canes did not get that memo, as few of them showed up. Seems like that is occurring more and more these days. I think half the team is either out hurt or sick. Lots of good experience for the AHLers though--so hopefully that will help down the year. It was teacher appreciate night, so I actually ran in to many old teachers I taught with, which I appreciated!

I Know What You're Thinking...

And yes, we did wash Myra's sweater before letting her eat it! (-:

First Hockey Game Tonight!

Ok, so we are halfway through the season, but tonight will be my first game I attend. Can you believe it? After a stretch of seven years attending every opening night, January 10th will be my first game of the year.
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Switch to the North Central has gone smoothly so far. I am excited, as I get to work with a school I previously taught in, systems I worked in, so I do know a variety of folks.

Go Seahawks!

Woot--on to Green Bay. A good day, about gave it away to Washington, but they recovered nicely. If they play the entire game like they played at times, we can go far. And I did not tease my father in law too much!

More From First Night

Welcome 2008!

Enjoyed the First Night celebration last night. A lot more people showed up this year, though. Made for some cramped quarters, but all four of us enjoyed it! Another year began earlier to fireworks from our neighbourhood pieros and fireworks in the form of screams from our Little Bear.
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Now, we're sitting here watching the Pens play the Sabres in the outdoor game in Buffalo. Looks cold!

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!