IHA

We had an emergency alert from our school system because two bears were seen crossing a road near the school.  Don’t they know the bears are always there?  After all, the school borders a large watershed area and there are several thousand acres of undeveloped forest in the area.

And these are only black bears…what would they do real aggressive bears like polar bears or grizzly bears???

Well we won’t have to worry about polar bears if Palin becomes VP.  Speaking of Palin, Vanessa Van Patten has a great post about all the reasons about why we need to be worried about Sarah Palin.  Here are some of my favorite reasons to hate actively campaign against Sarah Palin:

*Palin opposes stem cell research
(Source: Boston Globe, “A valentine to evangelical base”, p. A12 Aug 30, 2008)

*Palin approves “abstinence-only” programs (Source: Alaska 2006 Governor Debate: AP coverage of public TV debate Nov 3, 2006)

[IHA Note:  Maybe she should have spent more time having dinner with her family]

*Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools (Source: Boston Globe, “A valentine to evangelical base”, p. A12 Aug 30, 2008)

*Palin tried to use taxpayer money for a state program to shoot wolves from the air (Source: Alaska Governor’s Office: Press release 07-197, “Wildlife” Sep 26, 2007)

[IHA Note: If she is going to shoot wolves, she should at least have the guts to look em in the eye]

*Palin chose not to spend money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation. (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,7915118.story)

*Palin doesn’t believe in global warming. (Source: New York Times, pp. A1 & A10, “An Outsider Who Charms” Aug 29, 2008)

[IHA Note: Of course not, she doesn't believe in science.....see the note above about creationism]

Vanessa has a long list of reasons that Sarah Palin would be really bad for this country.  Alaska was one of the areas that I wanted to take Spincerely and the little agents on vacation.  It is a beautiful state.  Too bad they elect such losers.  Well my tourism dollar are not going there.

The one item not listed is the reoccurring theme of Palin seeking (or family members on her behalf) to get people (librarians, ex-brother-in-laws) fired when they cross her path.  Do we really want someone in office spending their energy (and resources paid for with our tax dollars) on such trivial matters????

For the record, as far as I’m concerned, Sarah Palin is a menace to society.  Sorry McCain, but you are forcing me to do something I really don’t want to do…vote for Obama.

Anyone want to design me an “Anyone but Palin” logo I can use for my website?

IHA

Egads, it has been a while.  Blogging is a habit that keeps slipping away from me.

Last night we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing (I’m actually watching women’s saber, a soccer game, an equestrian event, and badminton as I write this via NBC’s live video stream.

During the opening ceremony, the Chinese symbol for harmony played a big roll in the show.  It didn’t occur to me that while they were displaying harmony, I was “tying” harmony

#12 Harmony Sulpher

As I may have posted before, Spincerely got me fly fishing lessons for my birthday.  Back in June, LFB and I went on the lessons with our guide S and spent the day in frigid cold water trying to tease trout into taking our little bits of feather and thread.  I caught a good size trout that day.  LFB had a monster on the line, but unfortunately the fish snapped the line in a spectacular leap into the air (and no, I’m not going to let him forget ).  LFB had so much fun, he didn’t even realize that his feet went numb within the first five minutes.

I’ve been able to go out a few times after that, and was able to catch another brown trout in the trout management area a few weeks ago.  So fly fishing has also led to the new hobby of fly tying.  The above fly is called “Harmony” because the white fibers in the tail come from my friend Harmony…the llama.  Harmony gratiously donated some guard hairs.

Another fly that came out well is my wooly worm.

Wooly Worm

Doesn’t it look yummy :)  The wonderful photos were taken by Spincerely with her lightbox.  All that fiber photographing comes in handy when taking a picture of these tini-flies.

This is a good hobby as I can do it while watching TV with Spincerely (while she spins or knits).  Also, just as knitters have Ravelry, fly fishing has its assortment on online social networks, such as the FTF Network.  So, assuming that this habit continues for more than a post or two, you are likely to see more delicious looking flys (up next is the blue winged olive and an Adams).

That’s it for now.
IHA

Ok, its been a while.  But, Spincerely’s site got hacked because we were using an old version.
Upgrading was a bit tough because the new security suite requires everything be ftp’d in “active” rather than “passive”.  It took a little while to realize that not only did the security suite need configuring, but so did windows explorer.  Yikes.

Here’s a picture of the super-secret vacation we just went on.

IHA

Most of the time parenting is challenging, exhausting and lets face it, rather frustrating.  There are moments, however, when it puts you in a very high place.

Agent J had a softball tournament this weekend.  The first game was disappointing, the girls played inconsistently and they lost 6 to 5.  Agent J didn’t get on base, but she made good contact with the ball. Between games we talked and I told her that as long as she keeps making contact, something good will happen.  Little did I know….

The second game started off well, Team Blue had a good first inning and went up 3 to 1.  However, the other team (the 76er’s) tied it up in the second inning and the inconsistencies from the first game started to plague them again.  Then in the third inning, it fell apart with the 76er’s scoring four runs.  It was difficult to watch as the girls were not mentally in the game and they were making silly errors.

To their credit, the Team Blue rallied back in the bottom of the fourth, which was good as they were running out of time.  Since it was a tournament, all games are time limited to 1.5 hours.  The umpire called the game at 1.5 hours even if it was the middle of the inning.

Team blue rallied scoring three runs (making it 7 to 6).  There were runners on second and third, with two outs when Agent J was up to bat.  This was likely to be their last opportunity to score as there was only ten minutes left.   Agent J took a strike and then fouled one off.  This was almost too difficult to watch, they were so close to making a come back.  Then, it happened.  The pitch, there was a crack and the ball was heading down the third base line.  Next thing I know, the two on-base runners are crossing home plate and Agent J was standing on second!  They re-took the lead on J’s hit.  Team Blue was up 8 to 7

Unfortunately, due to the rules of league limit the number of runs that can be scored in an inning (5 max).  So the 76er’s were going to get the last at bat.  The parents on the sideline held their breath (and kept checking their watches).  However, J’s teammate C pitched a great inning retiring 3 batters out of four to secure the win.

For batting in the go ahead runs, J’s coach awarded her the game ball.  Like I said, sometimes being a parent is worth the exhaustion and frustration that goes with the territory.

J has one more game tomorrow, and her great-grandmother is coming to watch.  It should be fun.

IHA

It is not everyday that you walk down the street and run into your daughter.  Well, not exactly run into…  Agent B’s class went on a field trip to the state capital and a couple of other different sites in Hartford.  So I went on a walk at lunch hoping to cross paths with them.

After striking out on the walk to the capital, I decided to swing one more time by the old state house.  Sure enough, as I was walking up, their bus was pulling away.  Fortunately they got stuck at a light and Agent B and I were able to wave to each other.  It’s kinda fun having 20+ kids waving at you while  you walk down the street.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t walk back to the capital to take the tour with them.  That would have been fun.

IHA

Another weekend is just about history…. Need to write a post to keep Spincerely up todate on what we did this weekend.  I know I keep saying that we’re busy, but really, honestly, I don’t think it could much more so than yesterday.

It started off with a Girl Scout Earth Day program at the local town conservation area with K & B.  They were only supposed to stay until 11, but they *really* wanted to stay for the rest of the programs, which ran until 2.  Fortunately, the organizer of the event, L, gratiously agreed to take them home after the program.  While this should have made life easier, it also involved going and getting lunch, stopping at home to see Spin, and then back to drop off lunch, then run home to feed agent J before we had to leave for her softball game…phew, are you tired yet?

During lunch, Spincerely’s uncle stopped by to pickup his girl scout cookies (yes, we were way deliquent in the delivery).  At least during the softball game, I was able to sit.  The game went really well, team blue won and agent J had two hits and a walk.  Good way to start off the season.

We went home and got J in the shower since she had to leave for a birthday party.  During this time, Spincerely came home from the wedding shower she attended with LFB.  A quick run out to pickup K and B, bring them home get them started on a dinner (potato chips…a well rounded dinner…right) as Spin was taking a nap.  Then off to the birthday party. While J was at the party, there was time for a quick run over to Home Depot to use the gift card Spincerely’s parents gave me for my birthday…time for a new toy.  A Porter & Cable compressor and nail gun combo!  After dashing back to pickup J, we bopped home…….good night.

Well, it would have been a good night if the fox hadn’t woken me up at 3:30AM.  So much for a good nights sleep.  At 5AM, it seemed like a better plan to get up rather than risk waking Spin with my tossing and turning. 

Today, fortunatlely was a bit more calm.  We cleaned house in the morning before Spin went with her sister to see the Yarn Harlot.  What?  You haven’t heard of the Yarn Harlot?  Well, obviously you don’t live with an internet obsessed knitter.  YH is an internet knitting celebrity, a blogger turned author turned public speaker.  So Spin, her sister and half a dozen others were off to Massachusets for a book signing.

On our own for the afternoon, the agents and I went fishing (once again, a salamander was the prize catch), a quick run to the store, back to Home Depot and then home.  B & J helped me plant chili pepper seeds for this years salsa garden.  Unfortunately, the day was not over yet….one last trip after dinner to bring J to a short girl scout meeting, then home for the night.

See Spin, you didn’t miss much this weekend ;)  Here are some photos

Crisis averted.  This morning I tried to be productive before work and upgrade wordpress to version 2.5.

Well, the antivirus programs (or at least I think it is the antivirus/firewall) was playing tricks and the ftp failed…of course it only failed after the files were over written on the server.  Anyone (and by “anyone” I mean Chauffer J) know why or how a firewall would screwup an ftp transfer?

Anyway, problem solved.  I was able to transfer the files at work, and since you are reading this, it must have worked.  And yes Spincerely…next time I will backup the database and website before doing a major upgrade.

If you are on the east coast, take advantage of the sun today…it looks like it is going to rain for the next week.

IHA

They say that time flies when you are having fun . . . well then I must be having a lot of fun.  I can’t believe that the last post was on April 1st and it is already the 25th!

It has been a busy couple of weeks and the next month looks to be as busy or busier.

Well what have we been up to?  This week was, of course, Earth Day and last weekend was opening day of fishing season (do these things really go together….hum).

On Sunday, the little agents and I went to the fishing store to get licenses for Spin and I and pick up some needed supplies.  While there, I was able to meet the fly fishing instructor who is taking LFB and I out in June.

With a fresh license in hand, the little agents and I went fishing.  We were able to keep our opening day tradition alive….meaning we caught nothing.  At least Agent K got to show off her freshly done nails.

As the fish were uncooperative, some of the agents defected and started catching water bugs of all sorts.  Each of the bugs was properly named (I think there was Wendy, Fredrick and Pedro among others) and given a life story.

After a quick lunch, Agent B was off to a Junior Audubon Earth Day event that involved flying kites, hiking trails, talking about beavers and digging in the pond.

B brought her mud boots (which she seems to think are hip-waders) so she could get out deeper into the pond than everyone else.  She’s getting quick.  By the end of the day, she could catch salamanders without a net.

On the reading front, I finished listening to John Adams by David McCullough.  Excellent book, it portrays the characters that we all learned about in elementary school as real people.  You definitely leave this book with a perspective about some of the founding fathers, and not all of them were “good” (based on this and other reading, I definitely hold Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton in less high regard).

Currently I’m listening to  The Pillars of Earth by Ken Follett.   Currently about a quarter of the way through.  A good book so far, somewhat depressing though.  The story takes place in medieval England.  Let just say that lots of bad things happen to good people (especially when they are poor) in the “good old days”.

The only problem with listening to audio books is that it is ruining my podcasting habit.  Both John Adams and The Pillars are over 40 hours in length!  That’s almost 3 weeks of commuting plus an occasional lunchtime walk.  Egads!

ttfn,

IHA

This has been quite a whirlwind week. It’s taken until Tuesday to recover.

It started last Thursday, when the firm had a grand opening for the Hartford office. 250 clients, local firms and government officials stopped by the offices to enjoy some food and spirits. It was well done, a jazz band played on the top floor, while sushi was served on the lower floor. It was a good chance to show off the great new offices we have. While many of the people stayed around until almost 11pm, I had to check out early to pickup the tuxedo for Friday nights affair.

If the firm reception wasn’t enough, Friday afternoon was spent driving to New York City for the 86th Annual Dinner in honor of the Federal Judiciary hosted by the New York Intellectual Property Association. This black-tie event took place at the Waldorf-Astoria. The evening started by making a round of the suites sponsored by a number of firms (there were about 30 spread over 3 floors). The appetizers included shrimp, crab claws, lobster-things-on-a-spoon, sushi, veal ribs, and a variety of things I was too stuffed to eat. The suites were followed by dinner. The firm had two tables, I was at the kids table (i.e. not in the main hall) and we watched the keynote speakers, James Carville and Mary Matalin, on a large screen tv. It was a bit difficult to hear as many of the tables in our room were filled with younger associates from other firms (meaning they were sampling the bar selections in the suites rather than the food ). Dinner was very good, helped along with some very good wine and friends. After dinner, it was back to the suites for desserts and wine. The evening ended about 1AM (at least for me, the rest of the crew kept going for a couple more hours).

Saturday morning started slow (go figure…) but I managed to get on the road by 8:30am. Why so early? Because Agent J’s softball coach asked that I be the team-parent representative to the seminar the league was holding with the Positive Coaching Alliance. Generally a good clinic, they are trying to teach the coaches to make sports a better experience for kids. Basically, coaching without yelling and how to make sports more about teaching life lessons. Having witnessed a fair amount of bad coaching over the last eight years, this is a good thing. My job is to set the example on the sidelines for the other parents.

Sunday….well, I might as well admit it….I went over the hill, i.e. officially middle-age. Sunday was IHA’s 40th birthday. We started off the day going to a nature walk at the Hill-Stead Museum. The walk lasted about an hour and we managed to find a few signs of spring in spite of it being just above freezing. After the walk, we took a tour of the museum. The house was designed and lived in by Theodate Pope who designed the house around her fathers extensive art collection. The tour was awesome, the museum has many events and you could easily spend several days just going through and studying the various collections of paintings and drawings. After the museum, we headed for home for a little bit of rest. Later in the afternoon, we were off to Senior Panchos, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Litchfield. Here we had good food, and I got to wear a giant sombrero while the staff sang happy birthday.  I can’t wait to use Spincerely’s and the little agent’s present…fly-fishing lessons!  I’m so psyched! (LFB better get his hipwaders ready!).

A nice way to end a really busy week.

 
Many more photos are available on Flickr.

IHA

I was doing so well for a while…blogging that is, I guess life keeps getting in the way.  That and my office is in the basement, so if the wood stove isn’t going, it is pretty chilly down here.  Not feeling too great this morning, nothing earth shattering, just a slight cold.  So there’s no rush to start working.   It’s been a busy week, but I’ll write about that this weekend.

Two more book reviews.

Finished listening to Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.  An excellent book (a 4.5/5.0 on the IHA scale) and highly recommended.  Its definitely in the sci-fi genre with many very interesting and creative twists.  The story revolves around the lives of three characters who witness the stars “go out” when they are children.  Later on they learn that something or someone has put a membrane around the Earth.  One of the characters goes on to be the head of a government science agency that is in charge of studying and understanding the membrane.  The membrane has some unusual properties and the story is more about people’s and societies reaction to it.  However, it is not a space sci-fi by any means.

I have two main gauges for books, 1) do I not want to put it down (or in the case of an audiobook, get out of my car), and 2)  does the story end on a satisfying note and leaving you wanting just a little bit more (to find out what happens the next day) .  Spin scores very well in both of these categories.  Spincerely thought something was wrong one day because it took me so long to get in after pulling into the garage.

The second book was “Strong Fathers Strong Daughters” by Meg Meeker.  Unfortunately, this book gets only a 1.0/5.0 on the IHA scale.  The book had promise, tips for fathers on how to raise daughters by an MD with 20 years of treating children and teens.  Unfortunately, while Ms. Meeker wraps the advice in her scientific background (giving it credibility), she also very clearly and methodically inserts her religious beliefs as well.  While this is not a bad thing in and of itself, her beliefs seem much more to the right/conservative side of the spectrum.  For example, there are certain right-wing so-called Christian groups that believe the father is the center and leader of the family and that he should be the focus of the family (sorry, I thought marriage was a partnership).  There are numerous references within the book that make me think Ms. Meeker shares these views.

I came away from the book with the distinct impression that the book was heavily edited by the publisher to make her views a little less extreme.  For example, she clearly does not like pornography, ok that’s fine.  But she awkwardly inserts it into a chapter on keeping secrets from your family (a bad thing…I agree).  Then goes on into this diatribe about how P is “snakes its way into your life, is more addictive than alcohol, and more easy to get than drugs.” Huh?  I simply chalked this up as another pet peeve of hers that she needed to get out into the world, even if it didn’t fit.  To her, the internet is a necessary evil, needed for work, but should otherwise be avoided because of all the temptations it has.

These types of little tantrums also hurt her credibility since you can’t always discern whether her advice is based on experience, or her religious doctrine.  Be that as it may, while the book could have gotten a 0.0, it did have some interesting chapters and insights into the differences between how men and women think and react (which often leads to difficulties for fathers).   However, my recommendation is that you give this one a pass.

IHA