Today is my wife, Michelle's, birthday. So far all she has asked is that Claire and Abby don't bicker with each other. We've been rather busy catching up since our return, I don't know what we'll do to honor this special occasion.
A stomach bug has been going around. My mom had it after Chris' wedding reception. I got it the next day. Michelle had a touch of it afterwards. Michael had it in a big way and is currently very uncomfortable because of the wicked diaper rash it gave him.
Because Southwest Airlines had another price sale, my mom is coming to visit from September 1st through the 10th. That's generally a nice time of year, not July/August hot but typically not as cool as autumn. This will be our first time having a guest in the new house.
Earlier this week I ordered the latest version of Mac OS, 10.2, nicknamed Jaguar. Tech writer David Pogue had great things to say about it here. (NYT registration required, blah, blah)
“...Don't be fooled by the small increase in the version number. This is a polished, innovative and -- if such a term can be applied to something as nerdy as an operating system -- exciting upgrade.If you have Quicktime and the bandwidth (or some patience), I highly recommend the movie trialer for Comedian. It is a riot!Apple says that Jaguar has more than 150 new features, including a few returning favorites from Mac OS 9. But especially for people with older Macs, speed is the only one they really care about, and Mac OS X has it in spades. It's generally as fast as Mac OS 9 was, and often faster.”
Last night I got back some prints from PhotoGraphix of our vacation. They did an awesome job with the shots! Exposure and color compensation was near perfect, much better than I've had from ShutterFly and dotPhoto. I'll get an online album up in the next few days. Did I mention that I also ordered the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 when I placed my order for Mac OS 10.2? It's part of the reason I'm holding off doing an online album. I want to do the touchups (red-eye, cropping, etc) in the new tool. I'll be sending a few of the raw photos to Christopher, Alyssa, and Suzanne to use as computer screen “wallpaper”.
I heard the strangest story on the way into work this morning. A company called LifeGems will take some of the ashes from a deceased loved one and convert them into a blue diamond. Now you can wear a bit of your loved one as jewelry. I'm not sure what to think about it. Read more about LifeGems here.
I mowed the lawn Wednesday evening. I got home later than I wanted so toward the end of the mowing I got to use the tractor's headlight. As long as that grass was getting, I was glad the engine was a 16HP model. It cut right through it!
If you've followed the moanings of the recording industry (RIAA) about music file swapping/sharing, you'll love the following parody:
William Ford Jr., CEO of the Ford Motor Company testified before Congress about the nationwide problem of ride sharing. Ford cited ride swapping as the number one reason for the the company's declining revenue. "These 'pool pirates are depriving Ford of rightful income. Three sometimes four people are sharing rides. Less wear and tear on the cars means fewer new car purchases. That's revenue that's being robbed from Ford."