He takes after his Dad

Just like his bonnie sister, me boy be a salty chip of the ol' block:

Cooking 4 Four

Even though my blogging has slowed down considerably, especially in terms of actual scientific content, I've decided to launch another blog - Cooking 4 Four. This second blog is going to be a more personal and focused space, reserved for food-related topics and issues. Food in general, and healthy, local, organic, sustainable, home cooked food in particular have become an increasingly more passionate subject in my life, especially in terms of providing a healthy lifestyle for my family. Cooking 4 Four is an attempt to capture and share that passion.

At the moment, there is just a single, "welcome" post over there, but hopefully in the coming days, it will begin to fill up and take on the identity I have envisioned for it. Hopefully "from A to Z" will shape up soon as well - perhaps the focus I give Cooking 4 Four will help me re-find the focus here. Anyways, since there's nothing new to read here, why not check out the new place. And leave a comment in the welcome post to let me know you stopped by. Thanks!

"Not so cool for the robin"

Sometimes, timing is everything. Earlier this week, I was driving with Emma to go pick up Jack at his pre-school when Emma notices a large bird in the neighbor's yard as we drove past. "Dad, I think I just saw a hawk." I took a quick look over my shoulder, and sure enough, Em had spotted a magnificent Cooper's Hawk (note: I'm pretty sure it was a Cooper's and not a Sharp-shinned, but not 100%). Not only that, but Em had caught the raptor in the middle of a meal. We're not sure, but Em thinks the hawk was feasting on a robin. Feathers were flying everywhere. I slowly backed the car up and Em and I watched the hawk take apart the smaller bird - a natural spectacle in its rawest form.

After a few minutes we needed to get going so as not to be late picking up Jack. We were hoping that the hawk would still be there when we returned, but I knew that in the 15 or so minutes we would be gone, some dog/person/car would spook the hawk away. Unbelievably though, when we drove by on our way home, the hawk was still there, and the three of us sat and watched the hawk devour its dinner. When I commented on how cool it was to be seeing this, the kids agreed, but then Jack added, "But not so cool for the robin though." Poor robin. But I like to think that witnessing these sorts of real-life events helps the kids gain a better understanding and appreciation of the natural world. And that is really cool, robin's opinion notwithstanding.

Fall Beachcombing

The beach isn't only for the summer!

(click on image for larger version)

Fits two people? Really?

I meant to post this photo weeks ago, after our D.C. vacation, but had forgotten about it until now.

Here's Jack peering into the bathysphere on display at the National Geographic Society:

Does Sarah Palin know the difference between icing and offsides?

Granted, Jack has only been playing hockey for a year now. Still, Linda is technically a "hockey mom", so this is entirely appropriate (and funny)

Hulkamania?

So, I'm eating breakfast at the hotel in D.C. last week and I see on CNN (or MSNBC or Fox or *insert cable news channel*) that there was going to be an "evangelical rally" on the Mall that day. Turns out The Call was in town. Great.

So, the kids and I take the metro down to the Mall and sure enough we're bombarded by pamphleteers as we leave the metro stop. I managed to fend off the hoard without taking a single "You're going to burn in hell" flyer/newspaper/brochure. As we move away from the crowd I see a monstrosity of a stage set up by the Capitol - it looked like a Def Leppard concert (no offense to Def Leppard) - and we hear someone on stage yelling and carrying on about something. Honestly, I have no idea what the guy was saying, but the tone and rhythm sent chills down my spine - it's hard to explain, but it was some combination of anger, insanity, and overacting (I hate to suggest this, but check out the video on the right side of the Call's website I linked to above to hear what I mean). I suppose, unsurprisingly, evangelical is the best word to describe it. The guy could have been reading directly from Isaac Newton's Principia and it would have sounded just as scary-insane.

Actually, now that I think about it, the whole thing reminded me of something like this

So, what did the kids and I do? Walked straight across the Mall to the Museum of Natural History, of course, and took part in, among many other things, the Mammal Family Reunion.

Run away! Run Away!

Lincoln Memorial

D.C. Vacation

The whole fam damily is headed to D.C. for a few days of vacation before the school year starts up again. Here's a short list of things we'll hopefully be getting to:

National Aquarium in Baltimore

National Zoo

Smithsonian Natural History Museum

various monuments (Emma really wants to see the one with "Abraham Lincoln sitting down")

The White House (as opposed to say, a beach volleyball match in Beijing)

I'm open to other suggestions if you've got them (remember, we'll be dealing with a 4- and 7-year old). Em heard from a friend who heard from a friend that the Spy Museum was fun - anyone have first-hand experience and care to corroborate this?

Big Bugs!

A couple photos from our visit to the Big Bugs exhibit at The Garden in the Woods:

Friday Dial Stopper - Anniversary Edition

Tomorrow is Linda's and my 10-year wedding anniversary. Yes, I said 10 years. We've actually known each other for 16 years - since our first year at Bowdoin. In 16 years, we've helped each other through the good and the bad of our undergraduate years, med/graduate school in Iowa (yes, I said, Iowa), residency, two kids, living on the Hopi Indian Reservation, my numerous "career" changes, two George W. Bush terms (no good, all bad), and countless family crises (large and small, real and imagined) and celebrations (often one and the same depending on your point of view). We drive each other crazy, we keep each other sane. If that makes sense to you, you "get it", much like Billy Idol...

Ti amo, mia lumaca!

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Jack and Jellies

While visiting the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History:

Dicky B and Cookie

In the car this morning a song by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones came on the radio. My daughter was fascinated by the lead singer (Dickey Barret). First she commented that his voice sounded strange. Then, after listening for a while she came to the conclusion that he sounds just like Cookie Monster. As I listened more closely myself, I think she might be on to something.

(for those of you unfamiliar with the Bosstones, I'll have something up on Friday to help make the Cookie Monster connection)

Mistaken identity

While driving my kids to school this morning (actually while driving to Dunkin Donuts before dropping my son off at daycare and then my daughter off at the bus stop) I noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. It was rather faded so I was having trouble reading it.

My first glance: I love...something something...picture of someone

Next glance: I love...German something with an 'S'...picture of someone

3rd glance - I thinks to myself: "hey that looks like a picture of Albert Einstein. Oh cool, it says I love German Scientists...picture of Einstein"

Me: "Hey kids, there's a really cool bumper sticker on the car in front of us,"

I'm now thinking of how best to describe Albert Einstein to an almost-4 and almost-7 year old.

Kids: "What does it say?"

And then the car in front of us slows down and I get a complete look at the sticker. It doesn't say I love German Scientists it says I love my German Shepherd. Now, that makes no sense with a picture of Einstein...wait a minute, that's not Einstein...it's...it's...

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That's right folks, I confused a picture of Pope Benedict for a picture of Albert Einstein. Ugh.

Emma: "Daddy, what does it say? What does the cool bumper sticker say?"

pause.....pause....

Jack: "Daddy? What does it say?"

Me: "It says, I love my german shepherd."

Kids: "What's a german shepherd?"

Me: "It's a type of dog"

Emma: "Daddy, that's not a cool bumper sticker. That just means they have a dog."

Jack: "Yeah."

Me: "You're right. Let's go get a donut."

Chuck D, Emma G, and spineless socks

Had to share some recently-acquired gifts. Yes, I'm showing off and want you all to be insanely jealous.

First up, a pair of finger puppets from my sister-in-law. That there's Uncle Chuck on the left and Auntie Em, "The Most Dangerous Woman in America", on the right:

These and much much more can be found at The Unemployed Philosopher's Guild. (and no, it's not entirely a coincidence that my daughter is named Emma. My son? Oh, he's named after a seafaring captain of course).

Second, a pair of home-knit socks from my mother-in-law that will make all you invert fans envious (yes, I'm talking about you, KZ). Besides being stylish and super-comfy, they're made from crab and shrimp chitin! (actually, from a yarn called TOFUtsies, which contains chitin fibers)


So, I've got radical, free-thinkers on my fingers and crustaceans on my feet. What could be better?

digital cameras - blessing or a curse?

I got my first digital camera just over a year ago - a Pentax K100D. Since that time I have taken nearly 3,000 photos - mostly of the kids with a smattering of other family. Unfortunately, most of those photos are sitting on my computer's hard drive. When I was shooting film I took fewer photos, but at least I had really nice prints that went into albums and that I could give to family and friends. Now I am simply overwhelmed with digital files.

So, I recently plunged in and formated a small subset of these pictures and got them online and had prints made. I decided that I should start with the most recent (Jack on skates) and work my way back through the summer. I'm rather proud of myself and these images and what good is taking pictures if you don't share them. So, if anyone is interested, go check out my online photo albums. (you'll need Flash Player to see them)

She takes after her dad

Today is "Pirate Day" at my daughter's daycare.

I think this is the Book of the Day.

(BTW she does a great "Arrrrrrrr". It brings tears to this old salt's eyes.)