BilikFamily.com

Good morning! Happy Independence Day! We've got a brief thunderstorm passing through at the moment, but it should be nice the rest of the day. 7:44am

YouTube video: The Evolution of the Hipster. Michelle and the kids got a kick out of this! 7:50am

YouTube video: Commodore OS Vision Trailer. Sure, it's a modified Linux Mint, but they did a nice mashup of the old Commodore theme with new 3D compositing graphics. 7:49am

Been doing more planning for our trip to Michigan. Michelle and I booked a pair of overnight hotel stays outside of Buffalo, NY. On our first trip to Michigan we had stopped in Erie on the way out and Syracuse on the way back. In both cases the kids were too antsy from trying to make the first travel day a bit longer. Buffalo seems to be the half way point so we'll stay there on both trips (to and from). 10:03am

The kids watched Ramona and Beezus this morning. The rain has passed through and the sun is coming back. 10:04am

Did some chores around the house and some computer updates. Claire helped Michelle make lunch by making stuffed burgers on the grill. Now we're off to Keyes Field... 12:32pm

Been having a great afternoon at the pool. Just had one of those moments when you really appreciate having mobile 3G. I confirmed Abby's flight from my phone while sitting beside the pool, submitting it within seconds of the 24 hour window and getting her an "A" boarding ticket. I thought I might have to drive back to the house to login and confirm her ticket. 3:41pm

Back home from the pool. It got warm enough (88°F) that eventually even Michelle went all the way in the water. See snapshot below. 5:59pm

I attempted earlier today to incrementally update Michelle's cute little red netbook to Linux Mint version 13. (from version 12) As nice as Mint is, it almost never does major updates well. The regular minor updates are always fast and pain-free, but not so for the overhauls. They always recommend clean installs. So after the Fail of incremental earlier today, Tim downloaded and burnt an installation DVD (all by himself!!) and I installed v13 from scratch. Luckily it went smoothly — even the WiFi setup, which is often a laptop sticking point on Linux, unless you have Qualcomm/Atheros brand WiFi chips in your laptop. 8:16pm

Got the boys tucked in bed with their prayers. Claire, who always nags us about missing the 4th of July fireworks, suddenly changed her mind and went to bed before the town lit its fireworks. The boys were able to see a few fireworks from their bedroom window. Abby just returned home. She did stay out to see the fireworks with her friends. Good night all! Tomorrow it's back to work... 9:55pm

“Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts,
be with you as you claim!” — Amos 5

Snapshots I took today: