TRYING OUT "HELLO" PHOTO POSTING PROGRAM

Below is a photo of Gabriel on the day he turned 7 months. I posted the photo with a new program called "Hello" (click the quotation box icon below the photo for details) and I'm pleased. The photo is hosted for free, they resize it for me and when anyone clicks on it, a larger version comes up that you can print yourself.

The program also has a messenger service intalled so that people can share photos instantly. I also recommend another program in Google's empire, Picasa2. It's free and a really nice way to store, organize and edit/enhace any photos you have on your machine. Anyway, enjoy!


Gabriel at 7 Months 

WATER BABY

Mom generously contributed these photos of Gabriel and Jill enjoying swim lessons recently. Apparently, her digital camera has a better flash.

I'd say they were enjoying themselves!

7 MONTHS OLD

This past Sunday, Gabriel turned 7 months old. It's astonishing that it's already been 7 months.. I'm going to blink and he'll be asking me for keys to the car.

But his seventh month was indeed a busy one. I already wrote about his first meal of rice cereal. Here's a bit of an update of latest developments:

-He enjoys a variety of fruit and vegetables now, including pears, apples, bananas, peas, sweet potato and avodado. He's not a big fan of squash.

-He now has his two bottom teeth. They're still emerging, but they flash when he smiles really big. He touches them and has started to get used to them.

-He sits up marvelously, though isn't able to pull himself upright from laying down yet.

-He enjoys time on his tummy far more now, propping his head and shoulders up high off the ground. He's not yet figured out how to move his knees up under himself to crawl - all in good time.

-He's presently in swim classes twice each week. No underwater swimming, but he's learned how to kick his legs and enjoy floating around in the water, even submerging his eyes. He's also learned how to keep his mouth shut under water and not gulp. I hope to have photos of this soon.. mine were all too dark as my flash is weak.

-He's babbling more and more now, copying noises and sounds. The other night, Great Grandma Charlotte was over playing cards and exchanging noises with Gabriel. Her oxygen unit makes an occasional puffing sound and he began imitating it.

-He's now sleeping for 7 or so hours each night reliably, though he does occasionally wake up hungry.

-He enjoys going outside and playing on his blanket when it's sunny.

And finally, he's grown to have an interest in the cats. Here's a succession of shots of Gabriel sitting next to Sundaye. He sat there for a while clinching her hair with slobbery hands - and she remained pretty calm. But clearly here, she gets a bit tired of his enthusiatic affection.

ME-MA UPDATE

Me-Ma has been out of the hospital and back in Pahrump for a while. She is able to take new heart medication and apparently is gaining strength every day. She still gets tired more frequently, but with a new wheelchair, she's getting around and feeling better about each day.

I haven't reached her yet, but we'll be visiting her in Pahrump from March 17th to 19th. I'm sure she'll enjoy seeing Gabriel - he certainly enjoys visiting.

GRAMMA UPDATE

I talked to Gramma Reid yesterday and she sounded like she was feeling better. She does get more exhausted during the day, but she seemed happy and we had a good conversation. We'll be visiting Farmington from March 19th through the 21st.

Tom and Kate will be joining us on that leg of the journey apparently.

TOM & KATE: NOT TOO EXTREME MAKEOVER-HOME EDITION

It looks like Tom and Kate will soon be proud homeowners. After shopping around in the Sacramento area for a house, they found one in an established Fair Oaks neighborhood and made a slightly low-ball offer. Here's a link to the listing. A photo of the house with the pool and spa is found below.



The current owners are going through a divorce and wanted to sell quickly and it looks like they're getting their wish. Interestingly, the house is just a few blocks away from Kate's parents' home.

It apparently will have fixer-upper projects, mostly updating, but they're excited to get in and make it their own.

Congratulations on the big step!

*SPOILER* (highlight after the dash with you mouse) - I predict a cousin for Gabriel within two years.. there's just something about owning a house. Nesting is inevitable!

MARGAUX JOHNSON ARRIVES

The Johnson True family welcomed their third addition on Monday, February 21st. A roughly 7 lb. baby girl, Margaux Johnson is happy, healthy, and apparently sleeping much better than Gabriel did at that age. Here are a couple of photos of Margaux, the first with her big sister Emma and the second with her big brother Henry.

Congratulations! It looks like the balance of power has shifted back to the ladies.

PASS THE MAALOX TO MT. ST. HELENS

Mt. St. Helens put on quite a show yesterday afternoon around 5:30. After several months of small steam plumes barely escaping its lava dome (see the VolcanoCam in the left margin), the mountain emitted a rather grand "ash burst" - an apparent vulcanology term (link goes to a photo of a fascinating team of French vulcanologists).

The plume reached over 36,000 feet.. or roughly 6 miles high! Photos of the event are below. Both are from viewers of the local TV station KATU via their website. Viewer descriptions of the shots are included in the .jpg.





As you can see, it was quite an ash burst. I guess this means St. Helens is currently the biggest ash hole in North America. Sorry - I couldn't help myself.

TOM TAKES THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM

Tom took the California bar exam last week, beginning on Monday the 2nd I believe.

Good luck, Tom! Sounds like you were more confident this time based on your studying.

WORD FROM BRYAN MOORE

I heard from Bryan Moore, my old Baylor friend and roommate. As poor graduate students, we managed to attend each others weddings in Dallas, Texas and Eugene, Oregon, respectively. I'll quote him directly:

We (Bryan and Renee -ed) have a 2.5 year old little girl named Sydney. She was born in Chicago and since then we have lived in many states like Maryland, California, and now Indiana. I took a new job last year with Roche Diagnostics and it is going very well. I think we will be here for a number of years. We like the town, our house, and my job...a rare combination.

Sounds like things are going well for him. I did some digging and he has a website. Pictures aren't up (yet).

LEANER, MEANER ME

After two-and-a-half weeks on the Atkins diet, induction phase, I've managed to lose 13 pounds. I still haven't reached my target weight yet (195 lbs.) but I'm only five pounds away.

I work out in the exercise room in this building every day for an hour to an hour and a half. Most of it is aerobic training on a machine that looks a little bit like a stairmaster crossed with an x-country ski machine. It works is the bottom line.

PAUL THEROUX: 1994 EYEWITNESS TO GERMAN VIOLATION OF IRAQ SANCTIONS

I'll admit that I'm a big fan of Paul Theroux's non-fiction writing about travels in various parts of the world. Many who are not familiar with him might be familiar with movies made from at least two of his fictional works: The Mosquito Coast and Half Moon Street.

I've read nearly all of his travel books, starting with The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific. His body of nonfiction work basically starts with The Great Railway Bazaar: through Asia by train, chronicling his journey by train, ship and caravan round trip from London over to Japan via India and Southeast Asia and then return through Russia. His most recent, Dark Star Safari, is about his travels from Cairo, Egypt to Capetown, South Africa by any means available except airplanes.

I got the latter from Jill for Christmas and I just cracked it - he's wandering through Cairo waiting for a visa to Sudan at the present moment.

But in the The Pillars of Hercules, his tour of most of the Mediterranean in the early 1990s - foreigners were being robbed and executed in Algeria at the time - Mr. Theroux makes an interesting observation while held up at the Syrian/Turkish border while trying to get into Syria.

The delay at the border today was caused by a group of Syrians smuggling shirts and pants in large suitcases. The absurdity of it was that while these smugglers opened their cases, revealing stacks of shirts in plastic bags, huge trucks rumbled past. They were German, and they were loaded with crates of German machinery, from a firm called Mannesmann. The crates were stamped For the Ministry of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq. Six of these vast flatbed trucks. They were headed towards Iraq, through Syria-and they were waved through by Syrian soldiers. It seemed to make little difference to anyone that Iraq was subject to U.N. sanctions and such a shipment of German machine parts was illegal. In the meantime the shirt smugglers were bullied and denounced.

Theroux is a stickler for honest observation - if sometimes characterized as cranky. But I'd say this is extremely reliable documentation of German and Syrian complicity in Saddam Hussein's abuse of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program. I suppose it isn't if you dine on military telecommunications equipment.

The book was particularly fascinating for these observations, as well as others as he sees activities and hears reports along his travels that provide foreshadowing of the names and events all too familiar since September 11, 2001. His account of travel through Croatia, Slovakia and Albania during the Serbian war is worth the price of the book alone.

SERVER BACK UP - PHOTOS BACK ON LINE

Jerry got the server online this afternoon, so as you can see, Gabriel's photos are also back on line again. Huzzah!

I'll update with more info and photos at my earliest opportunity.

JOHNSON GARDNER SERVER DOWN

My company's server crashed yesterday, Tuesday. Why is that notable? Well, all of our personal photos that are posted on this website are hosted on the company server. As you can see, the photos are temporarily gone. Things will hopefully be back to normal soon.

ME-MA UPDATE 2/16

Me-Ma was moved out of the intensive care wing of the Spring Valley Hospital yesterday and is now in the normal care wing of the hospital. She's still recovering slowly, but making progress and the doctors are satisfied with her condition that she doesn't need constant monitoring. Any progress, even slow, is greeted happily. The doctors continue to discuss her ability to go back to Pahrump after she's stabilized a bit more and her heart treatment details are worked out.

Everyone will be happy about that, but certainly no one more than her.

JOHN KORYNASZ'S EYE SURGERY TODAY

John, or Koke to many of you, will be having eye surgery today to continue to improve his eyesight. His vision hasn't quite been the same after his cancer treatment, but good doctors in Medford, and seemingly here in the Portland area, seem to have helped his vision with various surgeries over the past few years.

Prayers for success and a quick recovery are with him.

BIG SEATTLE PRESENTATION: ECONOMICS & HOUSING BUBBLES

I'm headed to Seattle to co-host a major presentation tomorrow morning at 7:30am. I'm starting off, to be followed by my employer Jerry Johnson and then Seattle partner Matthew Gardner will finish up. I'm to talk about the national and Seattle regional economies, current and outlook.

One of the points I will be making tomorrow has to do with whether or not we have a housing bubble. By housing bubble, I mean whether or not housing prices nationwide have escalated due to normal market forces or by a bubble - "irrational exhuberance" by homebuyers and speculators - sort of like the internet firm stock market bubble that "burst" in 2000.

The issue has been of much interest in the press off and on, really for no better reason than a irrational prices driven by irrational buyers, seems to be one of the few concepts journalists seem to think they understand.. they don't. The following link is to a .pdf copy of an economic research paper out of Harvard University's Institute of Economic Research, which basically finds that when you control for land values, one of the major recent drivers of higher home prices is actually regulation, zoning and other government hurdles to development and construction - only making housing affordability for first-timers and lower income people all the worse.

In other words, planning, smart growth and growth management polices have become a larger and larger tax on actual construction costs, thus making home prices escalate nationwide, substantially in some areas known for aggressive land use policies.

Oddly enough, Seattle is one of the worst according to some of the statistics they employ, and I plan to make the point tomorrow!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Don't forget to give your sweety a big smooch!



ME-MA UPDATE

Me-Ma has had a series of good days lately and has made progress, though quite gradually. The doctors are now talking of her being able to leave the hospital fairly soon as her systems are stabilizing to their satisfaction.

On the fun side, she's had her sodium-restricted diet ended so that she can raise her sodium levels. She now gets to salt all her food, so the enhanced flavor has definitely helped increase her appetite.

All in all, she's progressing and gaining strength, so that's great news.

GRAMMA REID UPDATE

I spoke to Gramma and she's feeling better and, in her words, "behaving herself." She's taking it easy, putting her feet up and feeling alright. Betty went to Farmington for a week to help out - I got to speak with her for a while. It was good to catch up.

Steve and Jim are expected to visit soon, as are Kathleen and my father. That should be a shindig if they all visit at the same time.

SOLID FOOD

Well, after a 6-month Well Baby checkup at his pediatrician's office, Gabriel was given the green light to try solid foods. Here are a couple of the photos of his first non-milk meal: rice cereal.

He started off a little awkwardly thinking the spoon was something to just chew on for relief of his gums; he has two little bumps from growing front teeth on his bottom jaw.

But once he tasted the rice cereal, he quickly got the idea and ended up eating quite a lot of his food. Some dribbled onto his bib, but surprisingly little actually. As you can see in the second picture, he got a bit impatient with his mom, grabbed the spoon and sucked the food off all by himself.

He's now eating two to three tablespoons of cereal at a time. He's tried little bits of banana mashed up, so we'll do that soon in larger quantities with the spoon. He's sure to love it.

So begins the gradual snowball effect on our grocery bill. It's a good thing Costco is building their largest store ever about three minutes from our house!

ME-MA UPDATE 2/3

Dad called today and reported that the doctors are getting a better idea of the various issues keeping Me-ma's recovery on the slow side. Apparently, she is having complications with low blood pressure, weak heart rate, and low sodium levels.

Different combinations of treatment are being used, though she's been taken off of the heart medication because it was having advere effects on her blood pressure.

Meanwhile, she's visiting with family that have made it to Las Vegas as she rests when not prodded by the doctors.

GRAMMA REID UPDATE 2/3

Gramma Reid is home from the hospital, since Monday as I am aware, and seems to be doing alright. She's more comfortable at home, but is still being monitored carefully by her nurse for any sudden changes in her heart rate or other systems.

We keep both of them and their recovery in our prayers.

GABRIEL AN INTERNET PHENOMENON

It seems Les Hardison has posted a photo of Gabriel and his great-grandmother Charlotte on his estimable website. Scroll halfway down for the entry if you click the link.

It seems Gabriel's penchant for singing has raised Les's eyebrow - and while Gabriel's not yet following in the footsteps of his grandmother Judy in ably singing Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod, not Schubert), he certainly impresses us with his jazzy riffs on melodies whose identity only he knows. Here's a copy of the photo on Les's site.

ME-MA UPDATE

Leigh (Marquez) emailed with an update about Me Ma:

Rick and Libby called me last night after getting an update from Sue on how Me-ma is doing. As of 10pm last night when Sue was leaving the hospital she said that Me-ma was feeling better, the nausia is easing up a little as well. She found out that the reason Me-ma's cardiologist hasn't made an appearance is because he doesn't have a contract to practice at that hospital, but has been contacted by the cardiologist that is currently treating Me-ma and the two of them are working together to care for her. They feel that her heart rate is a little slow so they have given her a medication that will increase her heart rate to help the blood flow a little faster to carry the much needed fluids and help bring her sodium level up. They are going to monitor this closely as they don't want to over work her heart or cause any other problems.

Sounds like things are slowly improving - good news - despite hospital red tape.

ME-MA ADMITTED TO LAS VEGAS HOSPITAL

Me-Ma has been admitted to a Las Vegas hospital due to serious health complications resulting from flu-like symptoms over the past several days. Upon arriving, it was determined that her fluid and sodium levels were shockingly low, apparently to the extent that she had a mild heart attack.

I'll just post the contents of the email Mother sent earlier today. She and Jim Ed are driving down to Las Vegas beginning this evening.

hi, just heard from sue. here is the latest.
they did a ct scan on her stomach this morning. seems they were able to get the dye to stay down for 15 minutes. no results back yet.
her urinalysis came back okay.
dr. seems to think her infection is in her lungs, but not certain, as no tests have been taken to confirm. meanwhile he is treating her with an antibiotic that takes care of pretty much all infections.
her sodium level is up to a whopping 115, from a 102. remember that the lowest level is a 139. this new count is after two days,(of a faster drip, not enough to cause any brain problems). they have since slowed it down today. before they can run an angiogram on her heart, the count has to be up to 140 at the lowest. has a ways to go in my opinion, unless this last day really adds up.
she is talking, but rests most of the time. i did get to say a quick hi to her this a.m. on the cell phone.(and i mean a quick HI)
seems cell phones are allowed in her room.Sue monitors that pretty good.
according to the doctor that sue talked to this a.m. the heart attack was brought on from dehydration, and not the low sodium count. guess those two dont go hand in hand. now, on the other hand, the cardiologist that told sue the heart attack was brought on by the low sodium count. sue will be seeing him later on today, and will tell him what the other dr said, and get to the bottom of the difference of opinion. she is also going to contact mom's cardiologist and find out why he is not making an appearance. seems he just wants to take her money in his office, and not make hospital calls. will keep you posted on that attempt.
they are waiting till they get mom's blood count stable before attempting to put in the central artery "tap". dont want her to bleed profusely. guess they have to numb the area before inserting the needle.
sue has an appointment tomorrow with kilpatrick. she will be asking him to have mom's file pulled so she can go over all of the misdiagnosises with him, and ask why fremont hires incompetent drs.
will keep you posted as soon as i hear from sue. hope this is clear enough for all to understand.
love, dianne

Our prayers for a speedy recovery are with you, Me-ma.

UPDATE: GRAMMA REID NOT YET RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL

My information the other day was not accurate; doctors in Farmington had not yet released Gramma as her heart rate did not stabilize as soon as I originally thought. She is expected to be released today. I have heard that Jim, Betty and Kathleen will be making visits to Farmington in the next few weeks.

GRAMMA REID HAS EMERGENCY TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL

An accelerated heart rate was alarming enough to Gramma's nurse that she was escorted to a clinic (incorrectly it later turned out) and then to the local emergency room. She stayed there for a couple of nights to be monitored, but now all seems to be doing better.

We're glad to hear that things are going better and keep your health in our prayers.

NOISY NEIGHBORS

Well, it's odd, but my boss Jerry was right about becoming a father. One suddently gets an incredible protective instinct that causes one to be more bold than expected.

Take just ten minutes ago. It's 12:20am Saturday morning (Letterman's on and I'm also surfing websites about the TV show LOST - two new episodes we've missed due to baby massage classes). The neighbor across the street, the one that bought the two-story that Glenn lived in, has thrown a party and his friends are outside drinking and smoking and being entirely too loud.

Now, before I would likely have sat inside and groused about the noise knowing that they'd eventually go home or be quiet. Not this time. I put my shoes on, walked over into his yard and confronted a group of about 8 of them about their noise being inappropriate for the neighborhood. I didn't want Gabriel and Jill to wake up.. Gabriel for obvious reasons, but Jill because she suffered a headache most of the day and she really needs her rest.

Anyway, goofy little experience. Funny.. the information St. Vincent's hospital sent home with us didn't say anything about testosterone surges. But then again, there's a lot that it didn't say anything about.

BABY MASSAGE - YEAH RIGHT!

For the past three weeks, we've taken Gabriel to a baby massage class Wednesday nights. The class is sponsored by Providence Health Systems and is taught by an occupational and physical therapist named Ruthanne.

We and eleven other babies and family sit in a circle and learn different massage techniques for different parts of our littel bundles of joy. Some help with relaxation, all help with circulation, some help with digestion and cholic. Gabriel truly enjoys the class, but only because he's the class clown. He's the oldest by two days, though all the rest but little Ian are fewer than 12 weeks old. They lay there like rag dolls and submit to their parents awkward massage techniques.

Well, not Gabriel of course. He's too busy squirming, wiggling, turning, trying to sit up, fussing, cooing, yelling, laughing, staring, grunting and smiling to be bothered with lying quietly and being massaged.. oh, no, indeed. The rest of the parents, and the instructor, chuckle at him and his boundless energy. He's just very stimulated during the process, even though he's supposed to relax.

Well, the class ends at 8pm and all the stimulation keeps him up until well after 10pm those nights. But this past week, he slept all night Wednesday night and we're hopeful the class helped.

One interesting aspect of the class is getting to meet Melanie & Karl and their son Ian. He's just four days younger than Gabriel, born August 10th. The truly fascinating thing is that she's from Indonesia (Jakarta - family were unaffected by the big earthquake) and he is from the Czech Republic.. and teaches tai chi. They met here and romance blossomed. ONLY in America. They're a very nice family.

LOTSA GOOD FAMILY DINNERS

There have been some very good meals had lately. Mom started it off a couple of weeks ago with Moroccan Halibut at her place. We were joined by John, Judy and Charlotte. Then, when Dad got into town, we went to Jin Wah for more great Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. Last night, Mom and Dad came over for Alaska Coho salmon filets on the grill. And tonight, we went to John and Judy's for pork chops and rice.

I'm never going to lose weight.

ISLAND AT WAR

I know most folks out there aren't quite the PBS fiends that Jill and I are, but I encourage everyone that remembers to catch "Island at War" on Masterpiece Theater Sunday nights to do so. It's a five-part fictionalized account of the Nazi occupation of Britain's Channel Islands, the only British territory to fall under German control during WWII. As can be seen in the map below, the Channel Islands are actually far to the southwest of the English Channel and look more like they should be (and were) French territory. Jersey and Guernsey are major islands there.



The movie is not gratuitoiusly violent, but it certainly doesn't pull punches about attacks on civilians by the Nazi Luftwaffe prior to invasion. The locals are also particularly upset about the fact that Britain left them high and dry before the Germans overran the place.

Anyway, the first episode was exceptionally good.. check it out.

BIRTHDAY & WEDDING CONFLICT?

It's rumored but unconfirmed that Chrissie Happe has set her wedding date for August 6, 2005. Congratulations, Chrissie. But that makes it likely that Tom and Kate will not be able to be up here for Gabriel's first birthday party. I would think, unless Ron hands her a check upon condition of eloping, that Tom and Kate would figure prominently in the ceremony.

So, we'll see how things evolve. How much does teleconferencing cost?

HOW DEAD IS HE?

I personally think Carson would have liked that joke. I like this cartoon, as well.


(By Daryl Cagle of Slate.com)

UPDATE - COMMENTS WORK, THOUGH NOT AS EXPECTED

If you care to make a comment, you need to go to the end of the post in question to the data stamp and "Posted by Bill." Click the pound sign - # - and it will take you to a page with that post alone. You can then add a comment on that page, which will display later.

Good luck!

UPDATE - NO COMMENT FUNCTION YET

I guess we'll get it figured out. All in good time..

UPDATE - OKAY, NOW COMMENTS ARE WORKING

I think comments are working.. are they?

SUSPICIOUS HACK JOB

It seems that yesterday, someone - Jeff K? (warning: site frequently NSFW) - hacked my blog, though didn't do any damage. I think I might have left access to the blog editing function open by accident and someone had fun.

COMMENT FUNCTION ADDED

Assuming things go correctly, I've added a comment function to my posts. From now on, one should be able to add a comment to one of my posts.

Comments must be SFW-Safe For Work/Family Friendly and appropriate. I'll delete anything I deem profane or inappropriate.

So, if you stop by, say hello and make any comments you like.. such as how cute Gabriel is!

OREGON ICE STORM

We're in the middle of a big ice storm in the Portland area, but nothing as severe as last year.

Local news is all over it - to excess, as usual. Here in Hillsboro, the ground isn't cold enough to have allowed much of an ice glaze, but a lot of objects such as outdoor furniture, cars and other cold objects have a slight layer of ice. Apparently, closer to the Columbia Gorge, ice has been far more severe with major traffic closures.

But, with the National Figure Skating championships here in Portland tonight, the show must go on. Maybe there'll be coverage during the show. It's always fun seeing how clueless most Oregon drivers are.. or stoned, rather.

WELL WELL WELL, IT SEEMS AS IF A CERTAIN SMARYTY MAN DID NOT PROTECT HIS COMPUTAR MACHENE FROM A CLEVAR HACX0R, ADN NOW SI PLAYING TEH PRICE!!! HELO MY NAEM SI JEFF K. AND YUO MAY REMAMABAR ME AS A INTARNET CELEBRIDY BECUASE MY AWARD WINNIING WEDBSITE HAS WON MANEY AWARDS FOR QUALIETY IN A FIELD OF EXAMPLES!

I GOT TIRED OF WRITEING FOR MY WEBPAEG SO NOW I HACKED INTO THIS WEBSITE AND DECIDED TO WRITE HEAR BECAUSE I AM A RENISANCE MAN!!!

UPDATE: NOT HEADED FOR ORANGE COUNTY

I just learned that I will not, in fact, be headed to Orange County tomorrow AM. The project had the plug pulled, though I may have to go at a later time when the client decides the new format and scope of analysis they'll need.

In N Out will just have to wait.

(IT'S NOW A) HAPPY NEW YEAR

Though things are now going well, the new year did not have an auspicious start. Jill, Gabriel and I all contracted a strain of the Norwalk virus on New Year's Day. We're not completely sure of how we got it, but we have theories. The critical issue is how frighteningly quickly and stealthily it passed on to others. I can see how this virus would wreak serious havoc on a cruise ship, the commonly associated venue for infections.

Gramma Judy, Gramma Dianne, Andrea and Jim Ed all contracted the illness due to their contact with us, most likely Gabriel, immediately after our New Year's Day exposure. The virus is passed through vomit or feces and, well, Gabriel is quite the manufacturer of both. Contact with him and his spit-up is what likely passed the virus onto others. Luckily, Charlotte and John were spared the malady.

In all, it took roughly three days to near-fully recover from most symptoms. Dehydration was the longest-lasting problem with associated headaches and weakness. Some have reported residual intestinal distress several days following, but mildly so. I missed two (and a half) days of work and worked from home another full day just so I wouldn't possibly pass it on to coworkers, particularly Jerry because Sue is in her third trimester, plus Emma and Henry are particularly vulnerable.

All is much better now, though, and things seem to be normalizing. We're now hand-washing Nazis when it comes to contact with food (we were that way before - 3rd world travel!) but particularly before and after playing with Gabriel.

Happy New Year!

MOM & DAD MOVE INTO HILLSBORO

The move from the Vancouver apartment was quite a success and a day early to boot. The biggest bonus, however, was the fact that Jim Ed and Andrea volunteered to help with the move and contributed greatly to its speed and ease.

Between 9am and 3pm, about 95% was loaded and moved to Hillsboro, though we did run into heavy rain during the drive over. Unloaded was a cinch, but we did get the tail end of the showers moving through. The wettest part was loading our nice, Tigard washer and dryer set into the UHaul. All in all, it was a great success. We had a barbecue dinner (Reo's Ribs - good pork ribs, shoe leather chicken) that night, but unfortunately, that is likely when the virus was passed. Sorry!

Mom's still moving in, just got her Dish Network yesterday and is waiting on Dad's return for more heavy lifting. Congrats on the new home!

I still don't have the new address (SE Maple in Hillsboro, OR 97123) and neither have I their new phone number immediately handy.

FAMILY DINNERS

We had a very nice dinner Monday night at Jin Wah in Beaverton courtesy of Charlotte Wachdorf. Jin Wah is our favorite Chinese restaurant.. The owners are an ethnically Chinese couple from Vietnam, so fresh Vietnamese and Cantonese style food, particularly seafood and all day dim sum (yum cha, actually), is on the menu in addition to standard Szechuan and Hunan cuisine. Their dim sum is the closest in quality and variety to what we enjoyed on our trip to Hong Kong last year.

After dinner, we returned to our house for a game of Rummy Dum-Dum (Wachdorf tradition). Koke managed to win, apparently his second in a row "Boston Redsox win again!"

We'll likely all return to Jin Wah in the near future: Charlotte admitted that even though they didn't have Egg Fu Young on the menu, she enjoyed everything about her meal. That's saying something.

Last night, Gramma Dianne came over for Shepherd's Pie (Cottage Pie, technically) and to visit little Gabriel. She had endured an all-day satellite TV installation - was he union?

We had a nice dinner and Gabriel enjoyed his Gramma's visit. He giggled and laughed quite a bit for her, so that was fun.

HEADED TO THE O.C.:
MAKE THAT A 2X2 ANIMAL STYLE WITH A SHAKE

I've been given a quick job to do in Santa Ana, Orange County and will be down there at the end of the week. I'll overnight Thursday and head back on Friday evening. I'm looking at the residential market in Santa Ana. Should be fun, though I'm interested to see how many stops at In N Out I can make.

JILL HEARS FROM VANESSA

Jill's old friend and matron of honor Vanessa called last week to chat and catch up. She's starting a new career in Los Angeles working her way up to do make-up and fashion design, a long-time ambition. Jill was quite excited and hopes to talk to her more in the future and do more catching up. They go way back, the extent to which there are photos from high school that Jill won't even let me see.

Congratulations and best of luck on your new endeavors, Vanessa.

ANOTHER ROOT CANAL

Tom emailed to say that pain and suffering have not been monopolized in Hillsboro. He had to have a root canal redone because of infection risk to his jaw. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say he's happy it's all over with and recovery is ensured.

GAY MARRIAGE AND PARENTING

Although Mass. and San Francisco get a lot of gay marriage press, the fact is that Oregon, specifically Multnomah County (Portland) issued many gay marriage licenses prior to the November election. Our own Measure 36 abolished the practice. People flew in from all over the country to take part in the County's politically corrupt experiment.

Who marries whom is an important debate, but I find it a bit of a distraction from the real issue: children and child-rearing. I firmly believe that a male father and a female mother is the God-ordained and biologically-intended family structure for reproduction of our species. Arguments to the contrary are, in my opinion, nothing more than self-absorbed claptrap disguised as a humanist, egalitarian civil rights movement (ask the Black community what they think of the civil rights comparisons!) that has nothing to do with the welfare of children and everything to do with the politics of homosexual self-esteem.

But aren't there studies that suggest homosexual parents are either just as good or better than heterosexual parents you say?

Why yes, but as this article so ably explains, those studies have come under harsh criticism from not only conservative critics of homosexual family structures but also noted social scientists that support alternative family structures.

The bottom line is that respected social scientists from both camps on the issue find previous research on welfare of children with gay parents to have no real scientific merit (read: not objective, not reliable, likely designed to have a pre-determined outcome) and must be viewed with strong skepticism.

In fact, "research" to date has focused on male-female parents where one was actually gay and pursued that sexuality after marriage and the children came along. Disclosure, participant bias, absence of control groups, unreliable data and unreliable resulting analysis predominate. There is also little to no real study of the effects of out-and-out same-sex couples, the hot topic of the marriage debate.

Check out the article and decide for yourself.. at the very least, the real debate is in extremely early stages and pro- arguments have extremely little merit even in the eyes of sympathetic scientists.

WE MAY LIKELY HAVE BEEN KILLED

Images and news from the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami have been horrific as I've witnessed them. Devastation in Thailand has particularly hit home due to the fact that Railay, Ao Nang and Hat Pra Nang on the Andaman coastline were places we visited in August of 2003. We stayed in bungalows not five feet above sea level, all near the beach. If the waves had hit when we were there, we were particularly vunerable at Railay because there isn't really a road back to Ao Nang, the biggest nearby town with highway access. Railay and Hat Pra-Nang are at the end of a roadless peninsula flanked by towering, verdant limestone cliffs.

The most wrenching testimonial I have read is from an Anchorage, AK college student vacationing at Railay with a friend. They were rock climbing in the area when the waves headed for the shore. His friend snapped some photos, both posted at the Anchorage Daily News website.

Below are three photos from our own vacation 16 months ago, each of places mentioned in the Alaskan's account, followed by two photos of the tsunami taken by his friend.

Railay/Hat Pra-Nang


Jill at Railay/Hat Pra-Nang


Beach at Ao Nang


Railay Tsunami (Anchorage Daily News)


Yachts Enduring Railay Tsunami (Anchorage Daily News)


The best updates about how to help tsunami victims everywhere around the Indian Ocean are found at The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog.

The American Red Cross is also taking donations via Amazon.com. To date, they've raised over $2.6 million with no overhead costs reducing the amount actually helping those in need.

Sue Frye, frequent contributor at the Johnson Gardner office, came in to say that a friend of hers that lives in Thailand half of the year to teach diving was unscathed by the tsunami due to his higher elevation home on the coast. However, his diving skills are being called upon to help extract the numerous bodies trapped underwater in coral reefs lining the Thai Andaman coastline.

Prayers and money are all most of us can do for them now.

(IT WAS A) MERRY CHRISTMAS!

...Until about 8pm, that is, when Gabriel had a complete meltdown, which then triggered an acid reflux attack.

But before that, Christmas was quite pleasant and Gabriel clearly enjoyed his nearly five-month-old self. Below is a photo similar to our Christmas card this year, but Gabriel is fidgeting, though smirking. It was a close second.



The plan was to have breakfast ready for everyone by 9:30-10am.. but we have an infant, so what were we thinking? We were up until after 3am overnight Christmas eve wrapping presents once Gabriel finally fell asleep and we were able to get to work.

9:30am came very early. We didn't even notice Tom and Kate knock at the door, having just arrived from PDX with a sweet Volvo rental (heated seats!). We later found out they went to Shari's for coffee and a snack before swinging back by.

By 10am, we did hear the doorbell ring and through the front window noticed nearly everyone gathered outside the front door - include Charlotte.. even she was up and ready to go - and we weren't. So, we let everyone in - many wearing Hawaiian shirts in anticipation of the Hawaiian Christmas dinner - and fired up the stove for pancakes and bacon. By 11am, everyone was eating.

By 11:30am, Gabriel was ready for his pre-noon nap (he's getting quite regular about it), so we handed out everyone else's presents and began to open them. By 12:30, he was up and the major work was to begin.

Gabriel received all sorts of neat toys and other gifts, too many to comprehensively list here. But the immediately big hits were:

-A plush palomino rocking horse that makes galloping sounds and whinneys from Uncle Tom & Aunt Kate;

-A musical train with flashing lights from Gramma Judy and Grampa Koke; and

-A toy aquarium with moving fish, bubbles and soothing music (link goes to a demo - play with the aquarium on the internet!) from Great Aunt Suebee and Great Uncle George.

Presents for Gabriel that Mom and Dad especially look forward to are a cd/clock/radio with a soothing nature sounds CD from Gramma Dianne and Grampa Dave, and some lullabye CDs from (Great Gramma) Me-Ma.

But that isn't to say gifts from everyone else weren't appreciated or enjoyed; we just listed the ones Gabriel took an immediate shining to and those that we hope will help coax Gabriel into sleeping. All three of us thank everyone for their generosity in making Gabriel's first Christmas exciting for him and memorable for us. Thank you all!

Everyone able to be here:
Uncle Tom & Aunt Kate
Gramma Judy and Grampa Koke
Gramma Dianne and Grampa Dave
Great Gramma Charlotte
Gabriel & his Mom and Dad.

POST CHRISTMAS STRESS DISORDER

All the well-meaning stimulation definitely took a toll on poor Gabriel. He didn't show signs of problems during the afternoon while the Hawaiian dinner was being prepared. But by 8pm, right after I left for Judy & John's (?!) to finish preparing the Kahlua pork and get the ribs going, Gabriel apparently snapped. Nobody could console him, including his mommy.

Deciding to give him some peace and quiet, all but Jill and Gabriel arrived at John & Judy's for dinner. But the tempest continued, so I left for home to help calm him. By nearly 9:30pm, Gabriel had calmed down enough to eat, so I spun back by to grab some food for Jill and myself. They were waiting for us - and they didn't eat until 10:30pm (!!). The food was a hit, and apparently they all had a great time, though it was late and fatigue had set in for everyone.

Sunday the 26th was low-key to get Gabriel back into a normal pattern. In between naps, he played on the floor with me for quite a while, I helped him walk around the living room, and he went for a walk with his Mom, Dad, Gramma Dianne and Grampa Dave. All was well.

TRIP TO TILLAMOOK

On Monday, while Gabriel and his Mom stayed home to rest, everyone else piled into the Volvo and we headed to Tillamook for a visit to the cheese factory. Everyone stocked up on curds, ice cream, cheese and other goods after a hearty round of samples.

But after that, we visited the Blue Heron cheese factory, which has many more samples of foods and is, in my opinion, a more fun place to visit as a result. Cheeses, sauses, jams, jellies, spreads, and wine are among the many things you can try. Plus, they have a cafe where they serve everything and they have a large collection of farm animals that are quite entertaining in and of themselves. I picked up a jar of sugar-free black raspberry preserves and a small stilton with cranberries, sealed in red wax.

The weather was most agreeable, and the evening was only sullied by the surprise closure of the Bavarian Sausage & Delicatessen in Metzger between Christmas and the New Year. Oh, well Tom, better luck on the next trip!

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS

I never understood the desire to have a photo with Santa. I didn't enjoy the experience, really, so my parents were wise enough not to put us through it more than once. Besides, I never really got a satisfactory answer to the question "why are there so many Santas at the different malls?"

Looking at the photo below, you can see what happens with Santa more often than not. Carefully note the look on Santa's face.. No doubt about where his paycheck goes when he's off the clock!


(Source: Chicago Tribune)

Enjoy this link, which provides a nice slideshow of other photos in the same spirit as the pic above. Happy shopping!

FOUR MORE SHOPPING DAYS…

Oh, my does time fly when you’re so busy you have to stay up all night working. Well, it is December again, after all. And, unfortunately for me as I gather my thoughts for finally updating this website, much in fact has happened.

So, without further ado..

CAN I HILLS-BORO A CUP OF SUGAR?

Mom and Dad did find a home they liked here in Hillsboro, Orygun. I was at the house when it was inspected, and it is indeed a good find. Below is a photo, but to sum up it was built in 1995, over 1,500 square feet in floor area, 5,000+ square foot lot and right near one of Hillsboro’s better natural area parks with trails.

But after the extensive search for a home with some acreage, it is a bit surprising to see that they’ve purchased something where you might see what your neighbor is eating for dinner. A few walls or hedges and all should be better, though. I’ll have the exact address on here after they take possession of the home on December 31st.



Good news for Gabriel: he has two cookie-baking grammas to run away to when he gets mad at us! But, here’s Gramma Reid’s off-the-cuff take on all of the nearby family: ”Bill, you sure have a tough row to plow.” I told her that if it doesn’t work out well, we’re moving to Hawaii! Why not?!

CHARLOTTE IN OREGON

Gram Charlotte Wachdorf arrived in Portland on the evening of Thursday the 16th escorted by her second daughter, Sandy Nemeth, who resides in Connecticut with her husband Jack. Char and Sandy both flew in from San Antonio where Charlotte is staying with her youngest son, former Air Force Colonel Art Wachdorf. I posted a photo of the two of them on here before.. here’s the link.

Sandy had to leave for Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon where her eldest son Mark and his wife are expecting their first child, a daughter, with a due date of Christmas day. Beware the low pressure system – it has a tendency to cause early labor! Here’s a photo of Sandy and wee Gabriel on Saturday.



Charlotte will be in Oregon for several weeks, or until she gets absolutely sick of all of us. So far, however, it seems Gabriel has charmed her as well, so she’s not likely going anywhere soon. We’re very happy she can be here to visit and see G.F.

GABRIEL ENCHANTED BY THE GROTTO

The Grotto Festival of Lights has come to be a family Christmas tradition with us over the past seven years. The Grotto is actually the Our Lady of Sorrow retreat center, among other things. It’s a beautiful sanctuary in Northeast Portland that at Christmastime decorates their trees and paths with all sorts of lights, the main of which has a decorated narrative of Christ’s birth. It’s like walking through Linus’s answer to Charlie Brown’s famous question.

We all met for early dinner at Gustav’s, but Charlotte wasn’t feeling well so she and Judy went home. That left Gabriel, his Gramma Dianne, Jill and me. So, the three of us took Gabriel to the Grotto, where the poor little boy was overwhelmed with lights to look at. He had a wonderful time, even talking to some of the lights – a very good sign. He even enjoyed sitting still in the church listening to both the St. Stanislaus Polish Choir and another local, high school choir. Though, during the latter, he fell asleep during a song and would be startled awake by everyone's applause.

We especially enjoyed returning to the Grotto since last year. It was there, though earlier in December, that we learned that Jill's pregnancy would continue all the way through to August. And now we have Gabriel. That's what inspired his name.. the Archangel Gabriel.. deliverer of the most joyous news.

SAD NEWS FROM NEW MEXICO

We recently learned that Marge Proffitt, Terry's octegenarian mother in Farmington, passed away. She was able to attend Terry's wedding earlier in the Fall and reportedly had a wonderful time seeing much of her family.

Jill and I pass along our heartfelt condolences.

QT-P2T

Okay, I've waited long enough. Here are a few photos of Gabriel that I personally find to be among my favorites, all taken quite recently.

CHRIS BLAKNEY ENGAGED

My co-worker Chris Blakney recently proposed marriage to his girlfriend Jessica and was greeted with a resounding yes. Congratulations, you two!

JOHN'S SURGERY A SUCCESS

John (Koke) Korynasz's hernia operation went well this past week. A 1.5 hour procedure and a three-day stay in the hospital was successfully endured. John got to go home yesterday (22nd) and he's much happier, of course. The doctors found no signs of a return of his colon cancer, so he's a happy fellow.

The Demerol he was taking did cause some odd side-effects (mild hallucinations), but nothing harmful to him by any stretch. Welcome Home!

ANITA BUTCH GETS HITCHED

Anita's wedding was in Tempe this past weekend, where she tied the knot with Mr. Sam Means. Sam's daytime (and nighttime) job is with the duo rock group The Format. Here's a link to MTV's website with a bit more information. Apparently, attendance at the wedding was considerable.. many family members made it, though Gabriel, Jill and I were unable to attend.

Congratulations, you two. Here's to many happy years of royalty checks!

HAPPY TO BE WHEAT-FREE

Gabriel (and Jill, of course) is wheat-free for a couple of weeks now and it appears to be helping with his acid reflux. Jill's naturopath recommended the change in diet given that wheat can be a huge allergy problem for some people. Well, it seems both Jill and Gabriel have enjoyed improvements. It can be a bit inconvenient planning for meals sometimes, but it is definitely worth it given Gabriel's general improvement in demeanor and disposition in the evenings.

NEWPORT TRIP A SUCCESS

I was holed up in Newport, Oregon for the second half of last week. I'm working on the City's economic development strategy. Regular readers will recall a photo and newspaper article link a couple of months ago.

Well, now I'm nearly done with the project and I gave a presentation of findings to date last Wednesday. This link goes to the article itself.. I'm quoted quite a bit in the second half of it. Tom thought I actually sounded professional after he read it

The photo is of Al Benkendorf of The Benkendorf Associates, a frequent collaborator on projects like these. We're about to kick off another similar, though smaller, study in LaGrande, Oregon.

TOM AND KATE TO VISIT FOR CHRISTMAS

Tom and Kate are arranging for a Christmas morning arrival to the Portland area for a roughly three-day stay. Should be fun. This is Gabriel's first Christmas, so he'll be happy to see his only uncle and aunt!

UPDATE: GMAIL SUCCESS WITH FIREFOX

Wow.. I can do all three now in a consolidated manner and I don't have to use Microsoft Explorer ever again! Amen!

UPDATE: SUCCESS WITH FIREFOX

There, I reported. It worked like a charm. Now on to see if Gmail works with it as well...

ANOTHER EXTREMELY QUICK UPDATE

I'm creating this post with Mozilla's new Firefox 1.0 web browser. It seems a lot like Opera, except I can edit this blog with it (or so it seems) while Opera won't let me.

I'll report soon enough on its success...

EXTREMELY QUICK UPDATE

The website World66.com allows you to map the countries of the world you've visited as well as map out all the U.S. states and Canadian provinces you've visited.

Here's my world map:



Here's my U.S. map:



Here's my Canadian province map:



Here's Gabriel's U.S. map.. he's off to a good start:

BUSH EASILY WINS NASCAR NATION

Websites are tracking actual votes and called races now, so exit poll results are winnowing. I'm finished with reporting poll results as a result. It's not looking good for Bush at this point. But then again, it didn't look good for him last time, either.

More news in the morning. Good night!

ELECTION SPOILER SPOILER **5:25pm Pacific UPDATE**

I'm updating the following list of States all day, so check for the time stamp above for the latest updates. Anything in italics denotes the change or new information since the last post.

As of 5:25pm Pacific Standard Time, Exit Poll results...
Bush - 108 Votes Kerry - 77 Votes
Bush States: West Virginia (5), Georgia (15), Kentucky (8), Indiana (11), Oklahoma (7), Alabama (9), Tennessee (11), Mississippi (6), South Carolina (8), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13)
Kerry States: Vermont (3), Illinois (21), Maine (3), Massachusetts (12), Connecticut (7), New Jersey (15), Delaware (3), Maryland (10), DC (3)

Arizona: Bush 55%, Kerry 45%
Colorado: Bush 50%, Kerry 49%
Louisiana: Bush 56%, Kerry 43%
Michigan: Bush 46%, Kerry 52%
Pennsylvania: Bush 46%, Kerry 53%
Ohio: Bush 46%, Kerry 48% Bush Up 2%
Florida: Bush 49%, Kerry 51%
New Mexico: Bush 48%, Kerry 50%
Minnesota: Bush 46%, Kerry 52%
Wisconsin: Bush 47%, Kerry 52%
Iowa: Bush 49%, Kerry 50%
New Hampshire: Bush 44%, Kerry 53%
Nevada: Bush 48%, Kerry 49%
North Carolina: Bush 52%, Kerry 48%
Missouri: Bush 52%, Kerry 47%
Arkansas: Bush 54%, Kerry 45%
New York: Bush 36%, Kerry 62%

GABRIEL'S FIRST HALLOWEEN

Gabriel looked smart in his Tigger costume for Halloween Sunday night. However, due to a bad bout with reflux, we got a late start and only made it over to Grandma and Grampa Korynasz's house. His photo is posted in the left margin of the page.

Grandma and Grampa Reid visited last night (Monday) and Gabriel donned his orange and black costume just for them to everyone's delight. We went to the Helvetia Tavern for dinner and had cheeseburgers and onion rings. Yum!

His lazy father didn't carve his pumpkins, so we'll just have to have Mexican pumpkin soup or something like that.

ELECTION SPOILER SPOILER

To the extent that I can, I'll post Associated Press exit poll results for different states and territories today BEFORE the networks report the results tonight. But I won't use the invisible font type, so you're just going to have to avert your eyes if you don't want to see the results.

First Up: GUAM
George W. Bush - 64%
John F. Kerry - 36%

CECILIA WACHDORF VISITS PORTLAND

Cecilia, Judy's cousin from Florida, was in Portland for the better part of last week for a Midwifery convention. Cecilia recently earned her Ph.D. in public health with focus on midwifery practices nationally and internationally. She's been delivering babies for a few score now, including in ABQ and Papua-New Guinea, and her research has been well received in various speaking engagements she's had nationwide.



After the conference, she stayed at John and Judy's for a couple of nights visiting and touring the area. Apparently, a visit to a historical graveyard was a part of the tour, interestingly enough. Gabriel got to meet his third cousin that was an invaluable source of advice to his Mom and Dad during the pregnancy.

Thank you, Cecilia, we all very much enjoyed your visit and look forward to another chance in the future.

ACID REFLUX AND EVIL ZANTAC

Sweet Gabriel boy, whose photo was updated in the left margin as you can see, has been diagnosed as having infant acid reflux. He's creating too much stomach acid and can't keep it all down sometimes, so it irritates his little system and interrupted his sleep - not to mention Mom and Dad's sleep.

But Dr. Snyder figured it was likely acid reflux which is surprisingly common in infants. So now, Gabriel gets a 1.5ml of mint-scented Zantac twice a day. The stuff is horrid and Gabriel's shrieking reaction to its flavor is completely understandable. I tried the stuff and it'll be a miracle if he doesn't develop a phobia for mint because of it.

It also turns out that Jerry and Sue's son Henry also has acid reflux, though he's better than four years old and likely takes the meds a bit better. Poor fellow.

But, things are better and the future's so bright, Gabriel's gotta wear shades.


OFFER MADE ON YAMHILL COUNTY RESIDENCE

Mom and Dad made a lower-ball offer on the house and five acres, but we'll see if it's received and accepted. Meanwhile, Dad is now on a three week-on/one week-off schedule in Tulsa. Mom has been in Las Vegas & Gallup over the past 10 or so days and will be back up here this weekend with Me-ma.

PACKERS-'SKINS GAME TO DETERMINE PRESIDENT

I've been beating this drum a bit too much lately, but whoever wins the Oct. 31st game between the Packers and the Redskins will determine the presidential election.

Madness! you say?! Well, it's true that for every presidential election since 1936, the outcome of the last Redskins home game before the election determines who wins the White House. It goes like this:

Redskins Win = Incumbent Party Wins White House
Redskins Lose = Challenging Party Wins

So, if you're a Democrat, you're a Cheesehead on Halloween. But if you're honest with yourself, is this really what you want to align yourself with?


TRIUMPH AT THE THIRD DEBATE

You have to have a slightly crude sense of humor to appreciate Triumph the Insult Comic Dog - he can be inconsistently funny/crude - but every now and then he scores dramatically on assignment for Conan O'Brien.

This link is to Triumph's appearance in the "Spin" Room after the third presidential debate in Arizona. He actually gets to encounter and provoke actual pundits and party hacks, some of them with serious political power.

It's a big download, but very much worth the wait. Warning: Marginally SFW... keep the volume low Just click on the photo of Triumph, wait and enjoy!

UPDATE: ERUPTION PHOTO

Here's a still-shot of Mount St. Helens from the USFS VolcanoCam I've linked to the left. It was off for a while, but back on now.. for a while.



To clarify, Mount St. Helens is apparently blowing off steam according to this article in the Seattle P.I.

I suppose this proves that volcanos release tension with methods other than those recommended by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as reported by The Guardian UK newspaper.
Warning: Link NSFW, apparently unless you work for the Supreme Court.

UPDATE: MOUNT ST. HELENS ERUPTS

You wouldn't know it from my live WebCam link because traffic to the original USFS site is so heavy, but Mount St. Helens indeed has erupted. I'd guess that the eruption is a "medium" one given the fact that a sizeable plume of ash extended a few thousand feet straight up (by my estimate) and then drifted west and then south.

The four of us here in the office headed up to the roof of the building and got a pretty decent view of the volcano, though visibility is marred by haziness despite a beautiful, sunny day. No loud explosions or anything else to report. Local traffic helicopters were taking off and flying towards the crater when we arrived to the top of our 12-story building.

I don't think air traffic will be too affected, though commuter flights between Seattle and Portland are the most likely affected. Winds are pretty calm, though if they pick up, Portland International Airport is right along the south bank of the Columbia River and could get a faint dusting.

As soon as I get a good webcam photo, if possible, I'll perma-post it and update with more info.

UPDATE: MT. ST. HELENS LIKELY TO ERUPT

This story from CNN.com indicates that U.S. Forest Service geologists believe there is a 70% chance that Mt. St. Helens, located 40 miles north of Portland, will have a small or medium eruption.

That's far more likely than I originally heard, so in the left-hand margin of this blog, I have posted a live feed to the US Forest Service VolcanoCam at Mt. St. Helens. To update the photo, all you have to do is click your "Refresh" button in your browser tool bar every so often and the most recent photo will appear.

Ah, will miracles of the internet never cease?

DANGER WARNING: MOUNT ST. HELENS

There's been considerable news lately about how the frequency and intensity of earthquakes under Mount St. Helens have picked up. Volcanic activity warnings have been issued, particularly since the lava dome inside the crater has grown. These are all classic signs of pending activity.

But today, on the US Forest Service's Mount St. Helens webcam, the true threat at the mountain was discovered:

Giant Fly Attack!

GABRIEL'S DAD IN THE NEWPORT PRESS

Last week I was in Newport, Oregon giving a presentation to the City about the local economy as part of a larger economic development strategy and planning study we are conducting. A newspaper reporter was there to do a story on the study process, but when giving my talk, I didn't even notice that the guy had a camera. If I had, I would have kept my top chin up higher so as to not reveal my second one.

Well, it turns out that Al Benkendorf and I were in Newport's News Times September 24th edition. Al is President of The Benkendorf Associates Corp., a planning firm that we work with frequently on assignments throughout the State. Immediately below is the photo.



The story itself can be found here. A different client pointed out that an associate saw me in the paper, so I figured there was only one possibility... my mugshot from this weekend likely won't be printed.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO JILL AND ME

Jill and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary over the weekend. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Monteaux's Public House. Jill liked the Nicaraguan food (ropa vieja) so well a few nights before that we returned for an encore. Again, all was exceptional. Gabriel barely lasted to the end of dinner before registering his displeasure with having to wait for his meal. Jill slipped out with him while I waited on the check.

A bottle of Broadley Vineyard's 2002 Pinot Noir and new wedding bands will be enjoyed in the many days to come. I love you Jill.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MOM

Yesterday was also yet another 39th birthday for Mom. How many is that now? 16? We took her and Jill's parents out to dinner at Newport Bay restaurant for fish.. South Beach dieters in the group, after all. Everyone enjoyed their meals, except Gabriel. Well, Judy's oysters were fried in oil that tasted too strongly of fish. They remedied with pan fried oysters that were met with her happy endorsement. Gabriel, however, decided he was hungry not too long after we sat down. But then he changed his mind, preferring to fuss and stare at the parking lot lights rather than actually eat. Little stinker.

We returned home to enjoy a brownie cake made by Judy for the occasion. Thank you!

AUNT KATE AND UNCLE TOM VISIT

Tom and Kate were in town from Thursday night to Sunday evening. While they were here, they visited with Gabriel (while he and Jill were awake), went out for dim sum, looked around the area and went wine tasting with Kate's friend Meika (sp? sorry if I misspelt). Kate started her visit here with a meeting with one of her law firm's clients in Portland.

Since Gabriel's sleep schedule is still so irregular, our waking hours made it feel like their visit was incredibly brief. But we had a good time and all three of us look forward to their return.. before Gabriel's 6' tall - you two better hurry and book new tickets!.

CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER

Well, our clothes dryer finally keeled over this weekend. Tom and I tried to disassemble it to see what was the cause of the burning smell (the duct was clean as it was new). Well, Amana dryers are not built for repair as we soon found out. So, it's kaput.

But Mom & Dad generously agreed to give us a new washer and dryer combo for our Christmas gift(s) this year, so we went shopping with her and found stackable front-load washer and dryer at Best Buy. Great deal and Consumer Reports rated the models as Very Good quality. In return, she gets from us the slightly used Kenmore washer and dryer we so very much love, but have had to store in the garage since we moved into our house. The space for the washer and dryer is too narrow for both of those wonderful high-capacity machines to fit.

Win-win for everyone! Particularly Gabriel, who goes through clothes like nobody's business. Thanks, Mom & Dad.

SPOILER SPOILER: THE FORGOTTEN

No, I haven't forgotten I had this blog. Yes, I've been rather busy. I'll update more substantively soon enough.

But really quickly, I managed to track down the Suprise Ending to the upcoming movie, The Forgotten, starring Julianne Moore. It's the spooky mystery movie about a mother who grieves her dead son that everyone else claims she never had. So she tries to find the truth behind the big charade.

So here's my Spoiler Spoiler* (highlight the invisible text below with your mouse to read it):

After spending most of the movie trying to uncover the conspiracy theory behind why no one remembers her dead child, it turns out she never did. Aliens, interested in studying human behavior, have toyed with her reality and memory until she discovers the truth in the last few minutes.

*This is a slightly speculative spoiler. Unlike other movies, this one has kept a pretty tight lid on the surprise ending. But between bitter reviewers (bad reviews) flirting with letting the cat out of the bag AND some reliable website forums I scan, I'm confident that 2+2=4. If I'm wrong, so what.

More photos and more news around the corner.

SELF-PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN

Gabriel wasn't too pleased that I posted photos of his bare self last time, so he insisted that I hold him while he snapped some of his own photos. Whichever one you, dear readers, like the best (email me with your vote), I'll put in the left margin on Friday.

Classical, Avant Garde, & Blue Period

EYE CONTACT

After many attempts, Gabriel finally allowed me a photo of him with eye contact.. here it is, the cute little devil. Enjoy.

QUICK UPDATE

I've made some modifications to the website that I'll call out:

New Links (In Link-O-Rama)
Snopes.com - The definitive source for debunking urban legends, annoying chain emails, etc.
National Review - This conservative magazine replaces The Weekly Standard, which I feel has slouched in quality since David Brooks migrated to the New York Times editorial page.

Babel Fish Translator
In the left margin, I've added the Babel Fish translator from Altavista. If it works correctly, you should be able to click the flag of the representative country's language and this page will be translated - rather roughly - into the desired tongue.

GABRIEL WITH GRAMMA JUDY

It seems Les Hardison linked us again with the news of Gabriel's arrival, so here's a photo of Judy with her precious, new grandson Gabriel for any family members that stumble into our page. HI! from the three of us.



Les and Dolores have had quite a trying few weeks with Hurrican Charlie, Dolores' sudden illness - and gradual recovery, the purchase of a new winter home in Carefree, Arizona, and the discovery that someone had charged thousands of dollars to Les' credit card in Turkey. He put a stop to it quickly, thank goodness.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

CHARLOTTE AND SANDY TO VISIT

Charlotte Wachdorf and Sandy Nemeth, Gabriel's great grandmother and great aunt, respectively, are slated to come to Portland in about a month to see Gabriel. Once some health care issues are sorted out for Charlotte, they'll be headed over to enjoy the baby and Oregon's lovely Autumn weather.

AUNT KATE AND UNCLE TOM TO VISIT

Kate emailed to say that she and Tom are eager to return to Portland to visit Gabriel, likely at the end of September or early October - the date is not yet cast.

CLOUD FAMILY GENEOLOGY HOMEWORK ALREADY DONE

While MeMa was here, I asked her questions about the origins of the Hays, Chambers, Harris and Cloud families for the purpose of making a family tree for Gabriel. I won't go into all of the the juicy details here now, but maybe later.

However, I will say that there is a website out there, Cloudweb, that has already traced the geneology of the Cloud family. As a reminder, Lela Harris, the mother of my grandfather J.C. Harris, was Lela Cloud before marrying James Lester Harris.

Well, at this website link, you can trace Cloud family geneology from her (my great grandmother - you have to scroll to nearly the bottom of the page for Lela's entry) all the way back to William Cloud, born in July of 1621 in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. It seems he was the first family member to cross the Atlantic and begin life in the New World. He died in August of 1702 in Chester Co., Pennsylvania Province.

It's rather fascinating what a few simple questions and Google can do!

BACK TO WORK

Starting today, the 25th, I'm back to work full time after taking some time off to be with Jill and Gabriel in the daytime during this fun but challenging transition we're going through. Gabriel (see the new picture in the margin to the left) is getting better about sleeping each night.. marginally.. and so Jill is better able to get along by herself. Judy has come over a few times with either cooked meals or just to help with some chores, though, and it's been greatly appreciated.

HEALTHY BABY - FATIGUED MOM

Gabriel passed his two-week check-up with flying colors at Dr. Snyder's office. He's better than birth weight - gaining nearly a pound in ten days - and everything else checks out fine, including the slight irritation in his left eye that likely occurred during birth. The appointment ended with a handshake from Dr. Snyder and a congratulations on a healthy son.

Jill, on the other hand, did not fare quite as well at her own two-week medical check-up with her midwife. Physically, she seems to be healing just fine. But Mary Popkes, her nurse midwife, said she was not getting enough rest given the stress and adjustment that a new mom must undergo, particularly after an unmedicated birth. So, Jill's now doing a better job of spending more time trying to sleep during the day when Gabriel is napping.

GABRIEL MEETS MORE FAMILY

I apologize right now for not having photos prepared to go with Gabriel's introduction to other family members.. hopefully when I get some time...?

Grandpa Dave got to meet Gabriel on Thursday the 19th. Both enjoyed the visit very much it seems. Dad returned to Oklahoma on the following Sunday.

Last week, Leigh and Teri flew up to Portland to visit, take a short vacation and meet Gabriel. They returned to New Mexico on Saturday. Friday they all went on a trip to the coast, which included stops in Astoria and Tillamook.

Jim Ed, Andrea, Jim, Laurie, Tyler and Drew drove down from the Spokane area over the weekend to visit everyone. They came to the house on Saturday for a few hours and got to meet Gabriel. It was a very enjoyable visit. And I nearly sold our 1950's dinette set.

I do have a photo of our own family.. mom, dad and Gabriel altogether:


THANK YOU FOR THE GIFTS

Gabriel has received a number of thoughtful gifts recently for which he and we are very grateful. Just as soon as we get a bit of a break, Thank Yous and/or birth announcements will be sent. Thanks again!

We're also grateful for hot meals prepared by our very generous neighbors Greg & Sandy and Vassam & Sahar (and Grandma Judy already mentioned), as well as a bounty of local farm produce from Mom.

Thank You All!

BABY BOOM AT JOHNSON GARDNER

Something very clearly is in the water here as a new announcement was made this week. My employer Jerry and his wife Sue announced that they are expecting their third child in the Spring of 2005. Emma, their oldest, was overjoyed with the news and apparently lost sleep over her excitement. Henry, their four-year-old, was happy also, but he's all new to this; Emma is a veteran.

Congratulations Johnson True Family!

HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL

We were officially discharged from the hospital on Sunday the 8th, so we've been home for some time. But our departure was a day late due to a mild case of jaundice he exhibited shortly after birth. The carotin color extended from the top of his head to his belly button. On all of his early pictures, including the one in the left index of this page, he has a tan color with a slightly orange hugh - note how his hands have a normal color and his face is tan in his first-bath-at-home photo. With exposure to indirect sunlight, much eating and, well, getting rid of what he ate, the billirubin is gone and his color is now normal.

Gabriel had his first visit to the pediatrician - Dr. Kelvin Snyder - on Tuesday the 10th, where he checked out quite healthy and beginning to gain wait due to his growing appetite. His jaundice was confirmed to be on the mend.

Saturday the 14th, we visited the postpartum care center at St. Vincent's hospital. Gabriel has been a bit fussy when it comes to beginning a meal and every now and then he expels the majority of what he did consume. But after checking him out and seeing his eating technique, Gabriel is actually a voracious eater who is prone to overfilling himself and triggering reflux. His initial fussiness was deemed normal and, it does seem, it has gotten better over time. Our own theory now is that he's not too keen on the foremilk (the skim milk that he gets at first) but strongly prefers the whole milk that follows. I wonder how he got to be so finicky...

All in all, he's a healthy little guy with a mild and sweet disposition. His mentioned fussiness is gradually waning, he's gaining weight, beginning to fill out and as all the nurses at St. Vincent's said, true to his name Gabriel. We couldn't agree more.


GABRIEL'S VISITORS

It almost goes without saying that Gabriel has had frequent visits from both of his grandmothers lately. But in addition, he's also gotten to meet other family and friends.

Since Thursday night, his great-grandmother MeMa, great aunt Sue, Toni and Terran have been in town to have some fun and visit. Below is a photo of Granny Reid (is that the name you want to go with?), Sue, Toni, Terran and Gabriel.



MeMa has enjoyed the gliding rocker, particularly when she gets to hold Gabriel. He seems to enjoy it very much as well.



Earlier in the week, Gabriel got to meet Davon, his first friend and playdate buddy. Davon and his mother Diana are in the photo with Jill and Gabriel below. Interestingly, Diana is a fellow alum of Robert Service High School in Anchorage, but graduated four years after me. She, her husband and Davon just returned from visiting their family in Anchorage and brought us back some frozen red salmon.. very thoughtful of them.


Note the beautiful basket of flowers in the table from my colleagues at Johnson Gardner. Thank you!

LARRYMOBILE RECOVERED

As part of the birth story last week, I noted that the Larrymobile, our backup car ('89 Toyota Camry) was stolen the night Jill's water broke. Well, last week, the Portland and Hillsboro police departments sent John and Judy a letter informing them that the car was recovered and towed to storage in the Gateway area of Portland - as if that was a safe place for it.

No one called us, so the storage fees racked up over the weekend.. turns out they knew of its whereabouts since Saturday the 7th. How on earth is a towing company going to make money if everyone is informed on time? Of course we have no recourse in the matter. Anyway, we went to inspect and drive the car home, John, mom and me. And for the first time, I got to see what car-stealing cretins leave behind in stolen cars once the fuel tank is emptied.. mind you this has been in the middle of a 90 to 100 degree heat wave:

1. Empty beer bottles and bottle caps;
2. Cigarette butts and a lovely cigarette aroma;
3. Empty chip bags;
4. Dog hair in the back seat; and the clincher,
5. A bag full of raw chicken meat and half-eaten polish sausage.

Remember, the car was stolen and abandoned in the mentioned heat wave apparently with the windows up. So, count your blessings that the internet cannot yet transmit neither aromas nor odors. The flies were in heaven, though, I can assure you. I nearly emptied a can of Lysol in the car before rolling down all the windows for the drive home. In my travels, I have slept in some very interesting places.. In Guatemala alone I've slept in flea-infested shanty towns that miraculously hug the walls of ravines and rat-infested government housing "colonies." But never there did I feel even remotely as filthy and disgusting as I did for the 40 minutes driving that car home. I took a shower immediately upon return.

The car continues to air out in the driveway a week later.

HURRICANE CHARLIE AND THE HARDISONS

Les and Dolores Hardison, Judy Korynasz's uncle and aunt, have a winter home on the Gulf side of Florida. Well, it turns out that Hurricane Charlie did indeed cause some damage to their home, but apparently not as devastating as Les had initially feared. I won't go into it in full detail but I invite readers to check out his accounting of the story at his website: Hardison.info. (Click either Current Newsletter or Work In Progress on the main page).

We all wish you both a quick return to normalcy - and more importantly, a competent, efficient contractor.