Sweet Site for Mapping distances SueandPaul

This is a site I was told about a while ago, and Hung'r just reminded me of itwww.sueandpaul.com

I wanted to blog it so I'd know where to find it when I need it.

Grant's "Elmo" Party

For those of you that were out of town (or live too far away) and missed "The Event," here's a picture of the setup for Grant's B-day party.

Allison carefully orchestrated it and chose the Elmo theme. She did a very nice job.

The Thomas' can fill you in on the details. I wouldn't quite call it a "rockin" party, but I think the kids had fun. After all, who doesn't like Elmo?

Fun at North Carolina

Hi, Boys!
I just wanted to say a few things about the trip to the beach, myself. Alex says he has no confidence that I will actually blog since I don't blog very frequently, but the minute I take my eyes off my kids, I find my 10-month old leaning over the edge of the toilet squooshing poop between her fingers that my 3-year old didn't flush. Seriously, be very glad you are not stay-at-home dads!

At any rate, the trip was fun. It was beautiful weather, almost like Northern California, huh Alex? The pool was great, the company was funny. In fact, I wish you could have all been there. Austin and I learned many interesting things about the Romeros, Alex in particular. At one point, I actually heard him say, "Where's the scrapbooking magazine; I haven't read that one yet." He enjoys the movie, Sound of Music. He overpacks, and he changes diapers. But, I would be misleading you if I didn't mention that he's still the manly boy you knew in highschool. He took Jayde out almost everyday on some sort of adventure. Her favorite was being pulled with Grant in a trailer off the back of Alex's bike. That might not sound like a big deal, but keep in mind that he was pulling (or pushing in a stroller) these kids through sand that SUVs were getting stuck in. That's why Jayde has a crush on him. And that's saying a lot because she has started comparing guys to Tom Cruz lately.

Anyway, these are just a few details about the trip from the Thomas family. Have a great day!

virginians get fatter

no joke. read the article for yourself!

more from the googleplex

OK. So you're probably tired hearing about all of my Google talk, but a quick update on a few things. One, Google Desktop Search 2 was released today and it's the bomb. Download it at http://desktop.google.com. Two, GMail launched a feature today that allows you to reply to all emails with any email address, assuming you have POP access to that email address. What I mean by this, is that for those of you that were turned off by the thought of creating yet another email address, now you should have no excuse to user your gmail account, because you can send/receive email as if you're using your non gmail account. Check it out and rock it!

Update: Also, just launched ... http://www.google.com/talk/

Too Many Taxes!

Just got my Personal Property Tax bill from the beloved County of Fairfax. What does this money go to?? And what is this BS about Personal Property Tax Relief? Seems ridiculous that we must be RELIEVED of this tax burden, and how can I get more RELIEF!! Because I don't want to pay $242.99 so Fairfax County cops can ticket me for going 38 MPH in a 35 MPH zone through the Fast Toll Booth Lane.

There should be some moratorium amendment to the US Constitution that we can't be taxed more than 5 times or something like that. It seems ridiculous that we're taxed on our income, then on our car, and our house, and on that darn Toll road, and on the gas we put in our car, and by the county, and by the state, and the list goes on, and on, and on. What next, a Tax to the UN??

Yes, Hung, I'm bitter about this, and I think everyone else should be too. And what about the Social Security TAX!! Why is it a Tax you may ask? Because I'll never see it. How can they call it Social SECUREity when it's the farthest thing from secure. Arrrgh.

DC Tri Club Practice Tri

I did a mini practice Tri today with the DC Tri club. My full run down of the event is posted on my blog for your reading pleasure.

Here is a picture of the aftermath of my transition area. Bike thrown down along with helmet, shoes, gloves, etc.

The next event is the Reston Century Ride next Sunday.

Thank Goodness for Closed Circuit TV Baby Monitor

This picture brings a tear of joy to my eye. It marks the day that Grant moved to his own room. This was a long hard battle fought with my wife, but finally little Grantster moved from our bedroom to his own.

Now we'll keep an eye on him through this video monitor, and perhaps finally we'll be able to sleep and function as a normal married couple in our room.

Coldplay @ Shoreline

I was at the show on Friday night, having been to their show 2 years ago when they visited Shorline. The link below is a good review of the show, and the camera trick he talks about was really slick. The only time I've seen so many flashbulbs like that was when Barry Bonds was hitting home runs, with every pitch, the stadium would light up.

A+E Interactive: REVIEW: Coldplay Heats up Shoreline

Baby G Walking on the Beach

The best part about the beach trip for me was watching Baby G discover the beach. Here he was practicing walking.

Jayde and Grant

Jayde and Grant especially enjoyed playing with each other. They kept each other amused for many...many hours which was incredibly helpful to all parents.

Simone and Katherine

Simone was very good during dinners. During our dinner out Simone especially enjoyed knawing on the table (which was specially cleaned by mommy prior to the knawing).

Austin's Lobster Dinner

On our one venture back to the mainland for dinner, A.T. chowed down on a Lobster / Steak combo. We hope Jayde wasn't traumatized by seeing the live happy lobsters in the tank, before one turned up on Austin's plate.

Grant and Simone at the Beach House

Outer Banks Kid Report - The kids certainly had a great time playing with each other. Here are Grant and Simone in the house.

The Long 4W Drive

Outer Banks Drive - At first it sounded like fun, to drive on the beach to reach our beach house. And at first it was fun for the first mile and first 10 minutes. However, A.T. booked us quite a ways out. So it was 8 miles on the beach, at about 10 MPH which equals 40 minutes each way to get from our beach house, to the main road. Needless to say there was no quick "I'll run to the store." In fact, we stocked up on groceries at the Food Lion on Sunday, and didn't head back to town until Wednesday, and our final trip out will be upon departure, tomorrow, Saturday.

Vacationing in Outer Banks, NC

Trip Report from Outer Banks, NC - The Thomas' and the Romero's have been enjoying themselves here in the Outer Banks. We've had great weather with a constant breeze around 80 degrees. Here's a picture of the beach house and the pool. It's been great to have our own pool and be right on the beach.

Google Island anyone?

Or should is be called the GoogleIsle. Looks like the perfect publicity stunt, now that they will have some more cash at hand for day to day operations. Check it out!

I like to be Efficient

When I can, I like to avoid waiting in any line. Especially a food line at lunch time. So if possible I'll call in my order ahead of time so I can just pay and pick it up. Well last time I was in Five Guys (which has good burgers) I saw and advertisement for WaitLess.

Today I tried it out and overall it worked pretty good. Because I didn't have to pay for my food at the register like I usually do when I call it in. Instead I paid for it through Waitless, then just went to the pickup area.

Since the price of the food was inexpensive (under $7.00) they charged me $0.50 for the transaction, however they gave me a $1 off coupon, so I still saved $0.50 net. To avoid the $0.50 fee they offer a prepay package, but I didn't want to do that on the first go of it. Not sure I'd do that unless I found myself using it A LOT.

Anyway, check it out, I thought it worked well.

Reston Century Ride

I can't believe it is already the middle of August. Where oh where has the summer gone? Well finally I have made good on my promise to signup for an event. I just signed up for the Reston Century Ride.

The Reston Area Triathaletes club will be informally sponsoring a Tri around this event so I'll be doing that also. It's an informal swim before the Bike Ride, followed by an informal run after the ride.

We'll see how I feel after 100 miles. I've never actually done a century so this should be exciting! Wish Hung could join but he'll be at a wedding.

If anyone else is in the area and interested please sign up and let me know.

Sleepless Nights?

One of the purposes of the blog is for us bloggers to share our thoughts about what is going on in our lives. Well right now there is not a whole lot of sleep going on. Unfortunately the Grantster has decided to wake up consistently at 1AM, 3AM, and at 5AM he's pretty much up for the day.

At 1AM and 3AM we've tried every trick in the book to get him to sleep. From letting him cry it out for 1 hour plus for numerous nights, to giving him a bottle with water in it (oh yea, he REALLY loved that one), to just giving in and giving him a bottle, which will usually get him back to sleep (and allow us to sleep a bit).

So now, the wify (pronounced wife - ee), is at wit's end, and I'm not far behind. We're openly accepting suggestions from EXPERIENCED parents. That means no wise ass suggestions from the Peanut Gallery (e.g. Hung).

Thought this was pretty wicked! I used to jog down to this point all the time and watch the surfers. In this case a little boat got overtaken by the waves. I've sailed that exact boat all over the bay, but always stayed away from under the Golden Gate exactly for the reason in the picture.

those freakonomic guys

Not to push you all to the googleblog twice in one week, but based on our previous thread, thought you'd find Steve Levitt's guest blog entry amusing. Unfortunately I wasn't in attendance for his talk since I was actually back east for my 10 yr high school reunion. I'd tried to see him the previous Friday, but there were only three other Googlers there. After asking around a little, we soon realized that we were one week early for the talk. :-)

Google Looking for new Chef

It's a rough life for Allen at the Googleplex HQ. Google is lloking for a new Chef for their cafe to keep fattening up the new Googlers.

welcome gav

What fun would this blog be if it only included the banter of a few like minded conservative individuals. That's why I've invited my friend, the one time staunch Democrat, now surprisingly more conservative, Gavin to join in on the nonsense that is 'Big Al's Friends'

Welcome Gavin! Apparently I struck a nerve, but sending him this link. :-)

games in your head

These things both freak and interest the hell out of me at the same time.

Posting an email forward is most likely bad blog etiqutte, but in this case, I'm willing to go against the grain.

The pictures attached are used to test the level of stress a person can handle.

The slower the pictures move, the better your ability of handling stress.

Someone said, "I felt like they were all moving...but slowly. Kinda like they were breathing."

Alleged criminals that were tested see them spinning around madly; however, senior citizens and kids see them standing still.

None of these images are animated - they are perfectly static.

Winebago in SF!

Hmmm. What in this picture seems out of place??

It's too funny to be driving around San Francisco in a Winebago. It's even more ridiculous to be looking for a place to park it in the Marina...and even more ridiculous for this to be the second time in my life I've chosen to do this!

Well all that riduculousness made for a lot of fun both times. Although it may be a while before we do another RV trip. I think we got our fill of it for a while.

PS, Do you think the French would be upset that Winebago has chosen to call this model the Chalet? Not exactly what comes to my mind when I think Chalet.

Taken from Allen's Blog

This Strongbad Email is great!!

I poached it from Allen's Blog Entry.