Point-Counterpoint

Since we have vowed to stay away from political topics, I thought maybe this controversial Point-Counterpoint article might stir the blood of you Harrises. I know that we will have to come down on the side of Shambles the Puppy on this one. Go ahead, throw the mud! We're ready for all comers.

White Christmas

The winter wonderland on Christmas day. Finally some snow. It was depressing to be in Canada and find out they had more snow in Texas, but this cheered us all up.

Injury Update 2 -- Decorating Your Knee for Xmas

No pain, no gain. Kyla did not want to be outdone, so she had to display her scars as well.

Injury Update 1 -- Concussed Ass

The injury that shall not speak its name. I fell so hard on my ass that my ears were ringing. I told the kids I had a concussed ass. When I got back to the bottom and changed, I found I had literally blown out my underwear. Dara has made me promise not to show this picture on the classier Beatty blog, but I knew the Harrises would not want to miss out.

The Man in the Neoprene Mask

Kyla and an anonymous ninja snowboard master. Hmmm, that might be Garrett under that mask, come to think of it.

Cloudy Below 2000 Feet

Kyla standing above the clouds. It was like this for two days, where at the base it looked like a cruddy day, but up above (this is around 6,000 feet) it was just beautiful.

She Still Loves Me!

The happy snowboarders. Dara is thinking, "He used to like sailing in warm places when I met him. Jeez!"

At The Top

Kyla and Dara ready to shred the slopes.

Great Yale-Stanford Polo Pics

The Stanford Polo team posted their pictures of the game Kyla and local Yale friends played against their Stanford friends. Kyla's the one in the white shirt, wearing a blue helmet with red stripe. There are a few pictures there that are downright scary for a parent.

Nothing Broken for Christmas

We're back from our splurgy week at Whistler. Kyla met the three of us at the airport. The wait to get through customs was 1 1/2 hours! Yowie. It's a two hour drive to Whistler from there, so we were glad to get nestled in when we finally arrived. Dara had found us a great place, about 100 yards from the slopes and a little uphill from two major lifts to Blackcomb. The only thing we were missing was snow. It was raining when we got there, and it rained on-and-off all the next day (during which we stayed cocooned away). The next few days were gorgeous and a little below freezing. Below freezing is good. The mountains and views are really fantastic. Blackcomb and Whistler mountains are each larger than any of the resorts we've ever been to, so there was no shortage of choice in what to slide down. Still, the conditions were pretty brutal for snowboarding. It was mostly man-made granular stuff on top of a sheet of ice. As we were exploring around a bit, we heard from Dara on the walkie-talkie that she was at Horstman's Hut. She was at the top of the mountain in the warming hut drinking hot chocolate!!! Dara really earned her snowboarding credits this time. We spent three days on Blackcomb and two days on Whistler. Christmas day we woke up to find a couple of inches of snow on the ground and opted to spend the last day on Blackcomb again. The village at the bottom was wonderful -- many, many nice stores and restaurants. A great time was had by all. Pictures coming soon.

Holiday Slacking

Well, I've finished my school drama for the season and am now starting in on catching up with some holiday slacking. I see AJ and Thomas have a head start. Surprisingly, we find ourselves with all of our holiday obligations behind us and clear sailing through the Christmas/New Year's Eve calendar. What a break!

We have already had our 25th annual Friends Christmas Dinner. We alternate dinner from house to house each year. That person is the Kitchen Nazi and coordinates the what the others bring to ensure we have enough appetizers, entres, side dishes, and desserts to feed an army. One tradition that has morphed out of this is, "The Craft." One person makes a craft for all the others instead of cooking something. Over the years the craft has taken on a life of its own. (I have it next year and am already keeping my eyes open for a new idea.) For the crafty in the crowd it's great. For the not-so-crafty it's sheer misery. However, as Eleanor Grizwald says, "It's the holidays, everyone's miserable." So we never relent and we have a great collection of Christmas keepsakes as a result. This year, the party was at Jackie & Steve's Cove House, on the St. Mary's River in Southern MD. Stevie got the best oysters I've ever had out of the river next to the dock that morning. Dad would have loved them! The kids and adults alike RAGED on Stevie's golf cart until Cole (Rick & Sue's 11 year old) got it on 2 wheels and hit a tree when he promptly started crying.

Mike & I got tired of hearing Mom talk a digital camera to death so we sent her one for Christmas. They are a bit wierd to get used to so I wanted her to open it before Christmas to get some practice. She had it opened, plugged in, and charging by the time she called. Dad says she's been taking pictures of everything and now she's a woman posessed. She sent this photo today and it was just too good to pass by. I'm anxious to see the Christmas photos with the Callaway, Harrison, Harris, & Pepper clans.

These are my friends of 25 years at our 25th annual Friends Christmas Dinner. Left to right: Danette, Missy, DeDe, Shirley, Sue, & Jackie.  

Here is Mom at Margaux. It was such a great picture I thought it was "Bloggable." 

Surf's Up

We need the Hawaii locals to post the surf report:

Waves up to 40 feet high crashed onto the Hawaiian coast yesterday, leaving sand and debris on roadways and prompting officials to close beaches.
Amid the debris, world-class surfers gathered at Oahu's Waimea Bay for a competition that occurs only when such enormous waves sweep the island's coast. It has happened only six times in the past 19 years.

I'm glad Thomas isn't surfing yet.

It's a Tough Job

From Ursula. A.J. seems to be doing a good job of living up to his fatherly obligations: passing nap training down through the generations.

Cookie Party!

Since Dad kindly posted a couple pictures from the cookie party we had last week, I thought I ought to tell the story that goes with them. My freshman year I was very sad that I would be missing out on decorating holiday sugar cookies (a fine tradition in the California Harris household) so Mom offered to send me some along with some homemade icing and decorating supplies for my roommates, friends and me to decorate ourselves. We of course made a fine time of it that year and the tradition of Kyla's Holiday Cookie Decorating Party has continued, this year being our 3rd annual. The cookies of course are non-denominational (wouldn't want to offend anybody), but usually run on a wintery theme. This year Mom got creative and at my request included a number of animal shapes including horses, frogs and monkeys (or squirrels, depending on who decorated them). My friends and I had a wonderful time decorating and then stuffing ourselves with cookies (as we always do). The plate of cookies shows the remnants of the decorated cookies that were left at the end. Unfortunately for us all, we now have to find time to go to the gym to work those cookies off and time to study for and take finals!

Dogbells

Since this is D'Or's favorite Christmas carol, she wanted to share it with you.

Kyla and Phillipa at the cookie decorating party.

A tray of non-traditional Christmas cookies from Kyla's 3rd annual cookie decorating party at Yale.

A little time to kill

Ordinarily I'm very busy with things like football or restoring my poisoned home but this weekend I have few commitments so Dan and I have been chilin out playing video games and doing nothing important. I'm always looking for something that Dan might take a serious interest in other than beating me at Madden football or NASCAR thunder. I was shocked at his interest in cooking after his first attempt at a simple cake he was gung-ho to bake a pumpkin pie then it was onto a venison stew all of which turned out quite good! He later revealed to me his new career choice is to be a chef, a great relief to me as it is a huge upgrade from his previous choice of Highway Flagman. I know I'm singing to the choir for the most part here but the joys of parenting seem to have no boundries. I would be negligent in my report if I didn't point out he has quite a bit of interest in eating too.

This Old House.....The Reality Show

I think everyone on the blog has been to my home some more recently than others but still the image is there, and if asked to describe it no matter how distant the memory unanamously the first word would be "old". I could embroider on that description but someone might read this to a small child. Let me just say at times its a challenge living with that old world charm. Throughout the 20 years we have lived here I have genuinely loved the environment, old house and all. I have done more improvements and repairs than I could begin to count. Some have been very rewarding and provided a great sense of accomplishment, others have been things you don't even want to remember (mostly things having to do with sewage) still they have instilled a sense of pride few could appreciate. A few weeks ago I was contacted by a Historic Property Consultant who claimed to be researching historic homes in the county and would like to see my home and offer some insight on remodeling and improvments focusing on the historic nature of my home. In return for that wild ride he would provide me with a free appraisal and a sales pitch for his real estate firm. Fair enough I thought lets see what he thinks and I can show off my handi work to someone who can really appreciate it. The guy was nice enought at the start of the meeting we extranged pleasantries and he told a few stories of old homes and history in the area. Then the tour started it was downhill from there. From my decidedly 70s decore (thats 1970s) to the post ww2 woodwork he spread his insults evenly throughout the entire house. When he saw the new porch and deck I recently installed his final comment was That I have "poisoned" the historic posture of a potentally fine historic home. Further more any more improvements I am considering I should show more "reverance" to history. Comming from a historian of such prominance I suppose I should listen more open mindedly but he was really getting to me. I took it all in without much comment and accepted his critique with a smile on my face. Obviously more historian than salesman his efforts to list my house fell short. Even if I was selling he would not be getting the call for listing. After all that I still can't help wondering what Norm Abrams would have done.

More Redwood City News

I told you the penalty phase would get weird:

REDWOOD CITY, CA—Scott Peterson, convicted in November of murdering his wife Laci and their unborn child, was issued a Lifetime Channel sentence during the penalty phase of his trial Monday. "Mr. Peterson's story shall be re-enacted in Lifetime movies and miniseries for a period of no less than 10 years," Judge Alfred Delucci told a packed courtroom Monday. "His story shall be remanded to Lifetime's custody until the network determines that public interest has waned sufficiently to allow airings on Oxygen." Delucci ordered that Peterson's team of lawyers be present for the casting.

Book Review - They Marched Into Sunlight

Since I am on a blogging blitz, and I won't be posting much next week with Oracle World (Oracle's big conference for the year), I thought I'd tell you about a book I just finished. I've read a bunch of Vietnam stuff over time, probably the best being A Bright Shining Lie. I also liked We Were Soldiers Once... and Young. They made a Mel Gibson movie of that one. The latest was They Marched Into Sunlight. It has a very interesting twist, which is to blend together a major battle (or rather ambush) in Vietnam in 1967 with the story of antiwar protests going on at the same time in Madison at the University of Wisconsin. Sounds a bit convoluted, but it is done very well. I really never knew much about the war protests (being all of 11 in 1967 of course). It's a fascinating story. When you read one of these books, you get the up close and personal story from the individual perspective, but it's mixed in with the reality of history as seen in hindsight. Of course, the people going through it at the time are just experiencing it in real time. To me, I see these guys in Fallujah, and you know they're just a bunch of kids just like these guys in 1967 in Vietnam. They're all there for different reasons, and they come from incredibly different backgrounds. They all sure as hell want to get back! The flip side, the protesters' story, is similar in surprising ways. They're organizing protests to prevent Dow Chemical, maker of napalm, from recruiting on campus. They're just kids, coming from all kinds of different backgrounds, too. Many have never seen anything outside of their parents' hometown and world. The administration, which is by and large antiwar also, still has to run a university. At the same time, the book brings you into Johnson's kitchen cabinet meetings, where these two events intersect. Johnson is telling Westmoreland and MacNamara to "pour the steel on," and these guys in Vietnam end up being the grunts on the ground to do it in their "search and destroy" missions that were popular at the time to up the infamous body count. Still, Johnson is incredibly bothered by the unrest at home, and the events in Madison played a big part in it. We know the rest. In 1967 there had been 13,000 Americans killed in Vietnam, 55,000 by the time it was over. Johnson resigned.

Anyway, it was a good book. It's an appropriate thing to read and think about as you see the realtime events and decisions unfold in Iraq.

Around the table from left to right: Garrett, Chris, David the Elder, Lydia, The Confused Blogger, Kyla, David the Younger, Brian, Regan. Taking the picture but not shown: Dara.

Playing "Apples to Apples" at Thanksgiving. This is a simple but very fun game for a large group.

I Have Been in Software Too Long

Dara and I have gotten in the habit of text messaging. Turns out it's actually pretty convenient and unobtrusive at work. I can text her back during a meeting and not be too blatant about it. Today I am in a meeting, and she sends me "Last chance for hardware." Hmmm. I'm thinking, "What do I need from Fry's?" For those Fry's deprived individuals, it's the original place to go in Silicon Valley for computer hardware -- disk drives, motherboards, computer parts, whole computers, oscilloscopes. And don't forget the Jolt cola you can pick up at the checkout stand to keep you on that perfect caffiene high while programming.

Took me a few minutes to realize she was at Orchard Supply.

To busy to blog

I havn't had much time for blogging lately but I have enjoyed everyones entries. The Thanksgiving reports were great I love hearing what happened on the west coast sounds like a great time. I was particularly touched to hear mom read my accounting of the hunt club dinner I attended to Ken and Sharon. I was somewhat surprised in Miss's replay of dinner at Davids there was no mention of her olive appitizer it was really good but it somehow got tagged with the name of "Plate of Barf". It did look the part but it was delicious Miss. She brought a more attractive appitizer also Crab Dip that was great too. We all had a great time as reported.