September 2010
13 posts
Totally 80s, and a fondue friday.
We had an eighties party at the office, and some brave souls—notably, abigail and arvind—dressed the part. And today, we had a little fondue party, in part because my paterinty leave starts now, in part because it’s friday, and in part because there are few foods that can’t be improved by molten cheese or molten chocolate. See and download the full gallery on...
Bea's room, and also her bath.
Kelly recently hung Bea’s quilt on the wall, and i put up the alphabet cards (a-z, don’t be fooled because you only see three), and today i gave her a bath. See and download the full gallery on posteroustaken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Playtime with daddy!
At almost six months old, little bea is reaching the age where daddy making a funny face is an occasion for a smile and might even call for a giggle, if accompanied by an appropriately timed round of Mirror Peekaboo or Pendulum Baby. The spitting image of her father as a newborn, i think she’s looking like her momma a little more every day.taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see...
mmm... Roasted chicken...
Kelly roasted a chicken tonight, and it was very good. She did some things with garlic and butter. i’m not feeling great today so i’m not sure how it all happened. Beautiful wife, yummy dinner. The end.taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Lightroom! Lightroom! Lightroom!
Here is something you probably already know: i spend a lot of time on photos. For the last few years i have used exclusively free tools for editing and organization, but after another bout of crashing with a free tool, i recently bought the high-end photo development software i have wanted for years: adobe lightroom. It arrived in the mail today and it is glorious, a sort of digital darkroom in...
Friday night lights!
We have been watching the television program “friday night lights” on netflix and have been eagerly awaiting the next chapter in the saga taking place in dillon, texas. Well, that chapter arrived in the mail today and erik came over and we kind of watched the entire thing in one go. it’s riveting! taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on...
Rubber duckie!
Now that beatrice can sit up for a few minutes, we have been letting her do so in the bath. Recently, we introduced rubber duckies to the bath, and she loves them. When she sees one, she will gasp with excitement and practically dive-bomb for it (pictured). Sometimes she will faceplant in the water, but this never seems to faze her; she blinks and keeps on splashing.taken with my cell phone for...
Boy, did i fall off the wagon.
Hey, what happened to the picture of the day? Well, i’ve been taking them. But, you know, the cardboard boxes were a surprise. And our wireless network was down. And… Well, you know how it goes. This is a nearly a week’s share of pictures, including that time when we packed bob’s office full of boxes, and when Bea and i hung out together almost all day, and how we invited...
My turn to feed the Bea.
Tonight i fed beatrice for the first time! I have given her a bottle before but this was our first time together with the solids. She likes to lunge for the spoon and chew on it, but i’m not sure she’s figured out that she’s supposed to eat its contents yet. today’s picture brought to you by the lovely and talented kelly. <3taken with my cell phone for project 365,...
My turn to feed the Bea.
Tonight i fed beatrice for the first time! I have given her a bottle before but this was our first time together with the solids. She likes to lunge for the spoon and chew on it, but i’m not sure she’s figured out that she’s supposed to eat its contents yet. today’s picture brought to you by the lovely and talented kelly. <3taken with my cell phone for project 365,...
Dinnertime for little Bea.
Beatrice is eating real food now! And by real food, i mean rice cereal mixed in with her normal food. It dribbles down her chin and she is fond of trying to overturn the dish, but she’s definitely eating some of it!taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Jeeves in the offing.
Today a lot of swell things happened. I moved into my new office, which is delightfully sunlit, and we celebrated national toasted marshmallow day with our friends tami and jr. But did i take a picture of these photogenic, memorable events? No, i did not. I neglected the picture of the day until bedtime, so you get a photo of the book i just finished reading. It is by p. G. Wodehouse and it was a...
Sourcery.
Another picture of the day fail by yours truly, so you get a picture of the book i am currently reading. :( in better news, we had a date night tonight and we saw inception! It was awesome, even though traffic jams left us with three minutes to eat dinner, which lead to movie theater pizza as our meal. taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the...
August 2010
27 posts
A weekend at kalaloch.
This weekend, we went camping with our friends the potters. It was a perfect weekend for camping, sunny and occasionally cool, and beatrice got to sleep ina tent between her parents and see the pacific ocean for the first time. Each member of the party volunteered to make one of the meals, and so we ate like kings all weekend; i made bacon, coffee, and french toast, and all i will say about it is...
Sitting at the table like a big girl.
Beatrice likes to join us at the table, even if she only uses the time to gnaw on a spoon or throw her giraffe on the floor. She watches us eat with great interest and we’ll start her on solid foods next week… Wish us luck!taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Castoffs.
Today a lot of people are changing offices at a small computer company i will not name, and when this happens, they inevitably purge their offices of unused materials and equipment, which pile up over the week like snowdrifts until the hallways are nearly impassable and one considers enlisting the services of a sherpa to reach the summit. Workers less fortunate in rank or equipment scavenge the...
Auntie rachel is here!
Here is beatrice with her auntie rachel! Beatrice’s baby pictures look an awful lot like auntie rachel’s, so we will not be surprised if she grows up looking just a little like her too. taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Waiting for auntie rachel.
Here are my girls waiting for auntie rachel! Rachel is Kelly’s sister and has been in england for some time; she returned today and we met her here at the airport. taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
A weekend at chuck and cindy's.
This weekend, we drove to idaho to spend some time with Kelly’s aunt and uncle, who live there and are also very hospitable. It was a long drive, about 6 hours down, during which we saw trucks of all kinds (picture one). Picture two is the world’s most beautiful wife with beatrice at a farmer’s market in idaho, and picture three is grandpa roy and cindy just before we left to...
Water babies!
Today i used my lunch break to visit my girls at a pool near our home, where they were attending a water babies class. Beatrice loves the water and was smiling and splashing seconds after i lowered her into the pool. taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Three forks per meal.
The cafeterias here at microsoft now have new compostable serviceware. It is more rigid than the old compostable serviceware and therefore more effective at piercing and cutting, but this performance comes at a price: exposure to even moderate warmth causes it to warp and melt, imagining itself to have reached its destiny in the compost heap. Needless to say, this makes it an ineffective tool for...
One last panorama of the office as i will remember...
In about a week, i am moving to a different office. This is what my office looked like this morning; tomorrow i will begin packing it up in preparation for next week’s move. Offices have a reputation as cold, soulless units, but i have always tried to inject a little life into mine. I spend more conscious hours in that room than i do in any other, and i like those hours to be pleasant. This...
Family dinner, with blackberry pie for dessert!
Tonight we had my local siblings over for some summer dinner; i barbecued some chicken and kelly made a lovely pesto and pasta dish and some vegetables. Dessert was homemade blackberry pie—with blackberries picked on sunday and homemade crust, no less!taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
she's sitting up!
Beatrice is learning to sit. She can now sit unassisted for several seconds before slumping forward or, occasionally, toppling sideways. And in this photo, kelly is wearing a dress because we were about to leave on a date! We went to a pub in phinney and heard carrie play the fiddle with jeff greer and his band. I had trouble hearing the band’s name in the loud pub, but it sounded like they...
it's too darn hot.
Today was a scorcher by seattle standards and we spent much of it indoors. The afternoon found us headed to ron and linda’s for salmon burgers and good times. taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Good morning, girls!
Today, an estimator was supposed to come in the morning to tell us how much it will cost to have our siding replaced. We waited and waited but he never showed up. On the plus side, i got extra morning time with my girls!taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
What are you reading, building 36 floor 3?
It is with mixed feelings that i must announce the approaching end of the microsoft whiteboard pictures. In a few weeks, my team is being moved from the third floor to the first, a floor not without its strengths but also not endowed with a large communal whiteboard. What are *you* reading?taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole...
Happy root connection day!
Every wednesday, we receive vegetables from the root connection. Kelly and beatrice often pick them up during the day, but tonight we went as a family! Beatrice was not impressed with the flower we gave her to hold… But she did enjoy watching the chickens. Here we are by the coop, in a rare and collectible picture of the day taken by the lovely and talented kelly.taken with my cell phone...
Beatrice's newest trick: pulling her own hair.
In the last month, little Bea’s manual dexterity has vastly improved, and because of this her hands roam about even while she is eating, feeling for new textures and investigating everything she can grab. Today her hands found her hair while i was giving her a bottle and she began to gently and absentmindedly grasp and pull tufts of it as she ate.taken with my cell phone for project 365,...
Beatrice and a goat!
Today, we went to a potluck at the home of a family with a nice plot of land, on which they raised chickens and goats and had a thriving garden. Beatrice was alternately delighted by and terrified of the goats, who were several dozen in number and ate everything that came near them, including one unwitting little girl’s hair. i’m not gonna lie— there’s a small part of me...
Peach-basil crisp.
There are many days when i sit down to eat dinner and immediately feel like an unfairly blessed man, and today was one of those days. Kelly had partially hollowed out fresh summer squash from the farm down the road and filled it with bulgar, feta, and almonds; she served it with a salad filled with kale, chard, wild rice, fennel, and spicy edible flowers. After dinner, she and a friend whipped up...
Strawberry jam and a full scrabble board.
Today was a relaxing saturday! Kelly’s mother came over and a lot of strawberry jam was produced; we said farewell to my brother rusty, who is moving to dc in about a week; we played scrabble and used every letter except the j; we enjoyed a new beverage created by the beautiful kelly. See and download the full gallery on posteroustaken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the...
Beatrice and the wind-up bird.
One of Beatrice’s favorite toys is this little bird. It hangs from the handle of her car seat from a string; when wound by pulling the string, the bird vibrates as the string retracts. I don’t remember having this variety of mechanical toy when i was young, but they seem very popular now. This one reminds me of a book called “the wind-up bird chronicle”, in which a bird,...
Andrew and amanda have hearts of gold.
This is my friend andrew. He and his wife amanda watched our baby while we were out this evening. They have hearts of gold: beatrice is a friendly baby but she is not at her best in the evenings. Thank you andrew and amanda!taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Beatrice has learned to jump.
Download now or watch on posterous VIDEO_015.mp4 (1599 KB) Picture of the day presents… Video of the day! Please enjoy this shot of little Bea’s new skill and think about how delightful it must have been for me to come home and see my girls dancing and laughing in the kitchen.taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original...
Catching fire.
When i began the first book in this series, i inwardly scoffed at the simple prose and unremarkable premise. I did this until i tried to put the book down and was completely unable. I am now in for the series and am currently ruining my bedtime to stay up late with this sequel, “catching fire”. taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the...
Eating at the table! Sort of.
Little Bea loves to be part of mealtime. She watches us with rapt attention and sometimes wants to be put on our laps, where she turns her head to follow the food from plate to mouth and often makes a two-handed grab for it along the way. Now that her neck is getting stronger, kelly had the idea to put her in her bumbo seat, and she really liked it! By the end of the meal, however, she had found...
The first seed is planted in the new bed.
Today i spent a long time in the yard, almost six hours sifting and shoveling dirt, sorting out rocks and weeds, mixing peat moss with native hard soil, backfilling the retaining wall. it’s been more than a year since i started this project and so it brought untold joy to my heart to finally tell kelly that the new bed was ready to plant. Here she is inserting the first seed into the...
Spent most of yesterday doing heavy hardwork. It’s days like today that I’m grateful my job involves sitting in a chair all day.
Happy first birthday, elizabeth!
Today we woke up in a tent and beatrice was as happy as a clam. Later we went to a birthday party for a little girl turning one… A little sneak preview for us in about six months! taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
July 2010
29 posts
Welcome to eskewood!
Today was supposed to be the family reunion at ramblewood , but about twenty minutes before departing, we got a call informing us that the reunion site had never been reserved and, well, there wasn’t really going to be one. So we packed the car up anyway and headed down to auburn and we are about to camp in the backyard; in the morning we will have coffee and ron’s famous potatoes...
A visit from my girls!
Today was office picking day at microsoft (except not for me yet because i don’t have lots of seniority) and i got a visit from kelly and beatrice! Everyone loved them and i was a very proud husband and daddy. You should see the intense chatter and planning during office selection time—there are deals, calculations, measurements, approximations, and factors. In about a month i will...
My co-workers just finished off the 7lbs of M&Ms I brought in on Monday. By my calculations, they ate about 2 M&Ms every minute on average.
Carrot and fennel soup!
Tonight kelly made a delicious summer soup out of fresh summer vegetables, and after dinner we visited with a neighbor and tried to get our overheated and teething child to sleep. It was a real challenge and kelly was the winner! taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.
Goodbye dinners for patrick.
Patrick is returning to south carolina soon, maybe as soon as you are reading this, so the last couple of nights we’ve had family dinners to spend some time with him before he goes: first at the taphouse in bellevue and then at katherine’s new place. Bon voyage, patrick—come back to us soon! See and download the full gallery on posteroustaken with my cell phone for project 365,...
Totally roasting in my office today. It’s my six year anniversary with Microsoft and my celebratory M&M’s are melting!
Weekend wrapup!
Patrick was here this weekend! We had some pretty great times, including pizza and a movie and also a car wash and some good conversation. I have the coolest brothers. Also this weekend i worked on the yard project of doom, which is still going strong! See and download the full gallery on posteroustaken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole...
Signing office, and an outdoor movie.
Here is another little glimpse into the microsoft empire: sometimes, after a product’s release, everyone on the team gets their own copy, and then we get together in a meeting room and pass the boxes around and sign them. I now have an autographed copy of office 2010, and i am very proud of it. This evening we took beatrice to the outdoor movies in redmond, but we had to take her home...
Superheroes.
This morning, instead of working, i volunteered with kelly at Overlake’s vacation bible camp (not school! camp!). Fact: those leaders work really hard. I didn’t have to do any prep and i was tired and almost hoarse after just a few hours. My hat’s off to the folks who make that event happen, and especially to my wife, who is amazing.taken with my cell phone for project 365,...
Uncle patrick!
This is Bea with her uncle patrick! We were at her uncle david and aunt megan’s house when this was taken. Bea has a lot of uncles and aunts, but she loves them all!taken with my cell phone for project 365, 2010. see the original photo on posterous, or the whole collection.