Too Close For Comfort

Okay, 1956 was a little before her time, but Dara enjoyed this anyway.

Making Stuff

One of the blogs I've started reading is BoingBoing. It's an eclectic collection of techie pointers and comments. From there, I saw a pointer to the National Association of Manufacturers blog aka coolstuffbeingmade.com. This is the kind of thing that could convince Dad to get into the Internet. I don't know how the guy who convinced Missy to visit the plywood factory and us to check out the fish ladder while on vacation could resist a factory tour of Peeps being made or the video that shows how aluminum cans are manufactured. C'mon kids, it'll be fun!!!

F**k 'em If They Can't Take A Joke

You know I enjoy the Onion sometimes. I occasionally listen to the fake presidential radio broadcast, but it's not my favorite part. Apparently, the White House doesn't see the humor.

"It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site," Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28.

But here is the line that even the Onion could not have made up:

Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal "is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement."

I guess it is actually getting hard to tell parody from reality when it comes to [censored for the sake of the no politics rule, but still funny nonetheless].

Rambling

I have no particular subject to focus in on here but felt like saying something. Last weekend was bad for Fla. but it gave us a nice opportunity to visit with Mom Dad Missy and Mike it was short but lots of fun. As usual as hunting season begins I find myself overbooked at work so my time seems to be spread thin. I also took on the duties of HBI accounting after some unfortunate guesswork by my former accountant. IRS.com actually has made it easier than I thought it would be and I think I'll be better for the experience. We have Fall Family Weekend next weekend at RMA, its an event they plan for parents teachers and students to get together and check up on one another. It is also timed with the 1st report card so some students are sweating it, Dan is playing it close to the vest so I'm not sure what to expect, his work I see looks very good.

Hot Yalies

We're looking forward to seeing Kyla and Shannon both at Thanksgiving. Here they are all dressed up for a screw. I never thought I'd find myself typing those words.

No Storm Surge

After listening to a voice message that consisted of a minute's worth of Mom and Missy discussing whether to leave me a message (thanks to Cingular's snazzy new voicemail service that leaves you wondering if it's working at all!), I did get a message that no water came into the Naples abode. Great news. Selfishly speaking, it's also good that we won't have to bring our bucket and shovel when we visit soon.

Bad Sign

As Dara noted to me, it's a bad sign when Anderson Cooper is reporting from Naples. I am glad Mom and Dad are not there.

Dude, That's My Leg

I liked the dog story. Here is one about a local surfer encountering a 16 foot white shark. The surfers out here where the water is so cold look amazingly like sea lions, but I suspect they don't taste as good to the shark. The part I liked was this, where she talks about getting back out surfing again:

"Well," Megan said with a smile, "I figure, it's happened once, it won't happen again."

"The odds are the same as they were before this happened," Megan's mother, Mary Halavais said.

"Less likely," Megan replied.

"No, no," Mary said with a chuckle. "She'll be fine."

"Plus," Megan added, "if I get bit twice, it's Guinness Book of World Records."

A War Dog's Faithful Friend

A War Dog's Faithful FriendWith all the animal lovers and animal rescuers in this group I thought this might be of interest. I thought it was a little ironic though that a lawyer would be so compasionate.

Projected Paths

It's amazing what kind of stuff you can find on the Internet these days.

Paris Posting

No, this isn't about Paris Hilton again - it's the real Paris this time. As you guys probably know, I went to Paris at the End of Sept with my friend & neighbor, Claudia. While I've always wanted to see Paris, there were many other places I would have gone first. Having been, I can't wait to go back. It was wonderful! I was afraid Paris would be like an overrated movie where you end up disappointed because it doesn't live up to the hype. Quite the contrary, pictures just don't do it justice. This picture is the Pont Alexandre - the most beautiful bridge in Paris.




















Claudia & I got a personal tour of the Louve & Notre Dame from a friend of a friend that is actually a national tour guide. Thierry was a delight! He was funny, insightful, full of amazing factoids, and knew what to see and how to move through things. The Louve is so overwhelming that you could get stuck in one hall of paintings for the entire day. Notre Dame has so many hidden details that you just can't see them without someone pointing them out. It's just too much to take in. This picture is at the Louvre. The people were wonderful, contrary to popular belief. Have phrase book, will travel. The food and wine definitly lived up to the hype.















Versailles was mind boggling in it's mass and decadance. This picture is barely a 3rd of what you can see from this view. The back is really huge. The fountains and gardens are so beautiful and spectacular. No words can describe. At one point 20,000 people lived in this little "hunting lodge." Just looking at the the ego driven mostrosity made me want to storm the Bastile.




















On Sunday we rode bikes along the Seine and up the Champs-Elysees. We walked for miles & miles & miles and never felt like we entered a bad section of town - though I'm sure there are some. Shopping - well that's a blog posting in its own right but the shortened version was that we had a wonderful time wandering the back streets and shops. Here I am on Sunday on my Tour de Kuzma at the Arc de Triomphe.

Another Frozen Bozo

I just had to blog this for Steve, perpetual fan of "Frozen Bozo," stories.

Watch Out

An old joke, but it seemed worthwhile warning you, Keith, in view of your experience so far.

Broken Bookshelf

I just thought this was cool. In our house, with more books than shelves, maybe this will appeal to the resident architect. On a semi-related note, Kepler's did open back up, thanks to a bailout from locals and a renegotiation of the rent. I've only bought two books there since.

Deer-1 Keith-0

Saturday was a day I had set aside to Bowhunt. This is an activity I truly love and wish I could spend more time doing. Time always seems to work against me in this though, the season is only 4 weeks long and it takes place during my busiest time of year. The day started off all wrong, 1st I had to switch trucks on a jobsite, as I aproached the highway near my house a big buck jumped out of the woods right in front of me, with no time to react the next thing I heard was the sound of breaking plastic and bending metal, yea I hit him ,but apparantly only hard enough to hurt my truck as the deer was nowhere to be found. The rest of the day followed the 1st part, at least the part about not finding deer. It was a beautifull day to spend in the woods and one of the guys I hunt with killed a 300 pound black bear. I'm hoping to take a day off this week for another excursion as the season ends Saturday.

Some Parents Weekend Pics

I am calling this picture "Dara The Brave". This was taken outside of the Schubert Theater, present home of Spamalot.

Here is Kyla on Mowgli. She rode Mowgli in the polo exhibition the team put on the for parents.

Mother and daughter, taken waiting for Kyla's roommate Lauren to perform in Dwight Chapel. Unfortunately, the timing was a bit mixed up, so we never did get to see Lauren perform. Note the wet jeans. Kyla said it finally stopped raining today!

Two Days in October

I haven't seen this yet, but it's a PBS show that follows the book They Marched Into Sunlight that both Keith and I read and liked so much. From the review in the Chronicle, it seems to follow it very closely.

Happy Birthday Harris Blog!

I've been looking for an excuse to post directly, instead of just commenting all the time, and seeing the Birthday announcements, and a newsy post from Kyla ... and lest I be accused of "lurking" ( I caught that in the birthday cake post! ), I figured I'd leave the skeletons behind in the closet and come on out.

Here's me, Jane and Danny with my Dad at Bennigans before he moved to Florida. Alex is taking the picture.

Alex is eighteen and taking his apprenticeship test tomorrow with the Local Electrician's Union. He's currently working full time and taking a couple of classes (welding and engineering math) at a local community college. Danny's in eighth grade and playing in a soccer tournament this weekend.

We'll be jetting down to Glen Ellyn after the soccer tournament to celebrate my mother on her birthday. Actually, we'll probably go down in the Camry, but for the prices I'm paying lately I think it must be running on jet fuel!

Extreme Blogging

Cyber-Catharsis: Bloggers Use Web Sites as TherapyI thought this might be of interest on the 1 year B-Day of our Blogg. Fortunately for all of us we don't need or use it for these purposes. An occasional post with sports or politics seem a little edgy at times on the Harris blogg, this stuff is over the top.

Ancient Raman

If Garrett were left alone, he would live on Raman noodles. Somehow I knew he would not want to miss this fascinating discovery. I am wondering if maybe this is an ancient ancestor of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Kyla mentioned when we saw her that she was becoming a Pastafarian. Maybe she could come up with some genetic evidence in support of the theory.