photos from the weekend

Cool weekend trip

This past weekend we went to the Virginia mountains with some friends of ours, Allison, Etienne, and their baby, Beck.

They rent a small house in the middle of a field right at the foot of a mountain range that is simply beautiful. The place is really in the middle of nowhere (actually, Syria, VA), which is fantastic when you're trying to get away from it all. The place doesn't have a TV, which was great for conversation and ghost stories. At one point in the '60s, some farm worker murdered his wife in the house's living room (or so the story goes), so we were freaking on that for a while! :-)

We also discovered that Allison and Etienne are huge Buffy freaks, just like us, so we compared favorite episodes while listening to the soundtrack from "Once More, With Feeling." (Allison had it on her iPod!)

Sylvie and Beck had fun playing together, as usual, with the only bummer being that they both had colds (as did Allison and I) and so couldn't really romp that much.

All in all a great trip and we hope to go back if they'll have us! Jenny will post pix soon, I'm sure.....

Happy Friday

It's Friday. Yah! Here are some shots of tulips that were given to me by my cousin Jane.

Need more $$$ from the Internet

I've decided that the Internet needs to be generating more money for us. How to get it to generate that money, I'm not sure. I have a Web site that sells custom-made amplifier plates (Amplates), but it's not bringing in the killer flow, so I need something else. A money machine like this one, if you will.

But how? Adsense? Click-throughs? WTF? Self-help e-books? I'm at a loss here, people.

Nite out!

We went on our first nite out since being back here in DC. We ate dinner (at this neat place in Silver Spring called, Jackie's and had a drink (at the Quarry House) with our neighbors and friends, Bill and Kim. They are cool as they put up w. our constant Sylvia talk! Though we really tried to keep it in check tonight.
My mom's in town and babysat for us...
Here's a photo our petite fashionista wearing a handknitted hat and sweater, made by my mom.
Sorry this is a random blog but I am tired.

Blog slacking

Just wanted to apologize for the slack blogging lately. Things have been pretty crazy at the homestead and office, and honestly, we haven't had time.

Jenny's mom is in town this week to get some Sylvie time, which is nice.

Can I just say that I don't know how I lived without DVR capabilities for so long? When we got the DISH Network installed (including butt-ugly satellite dish on our roof...bah!), our package included DVR for two rooms. Now I have it set to record EVERY televised English Premier League and Spanish La Liga soccer game! OH MY GOD I'M IN SOCCER HEAVEN NOW!!!! :-)

Wee Ones

In our neighborhood we have all these playgroups for the kids (and for the moms) so you can get out of the house and meet other people.
I went to Wee Ones yesterday but decided that I will wait before I go again...the kids were way older than Sylvia and it was quite chaotic. Sylvia, though, was a star and just sat on my lap and smiled at everyone. I found it a bit brain jarring with all the kids yelling and playing and trying to not let them paw at Sylvia...Everyone there was really nice and hopefully I can get to know them better later.
Luckily there is a 'mini' wee ones group that formed for those of us with the infants...I may try that one next week. I also joined a neighborhood walking group of all moms. We're going to try to meet up at least 2x per week.
That's the report from my end.
Here's some cute snaps of my favorite human being:

Happy New Year/Christmas wrap up

Well, we got back from our Christmas/Channukah trip to St. Augustine, FL on Tuesday. What a wonderful trip! If you've never been to the oldest continuously occupied city in North America, you're missing out! From the old Spanish quarter, where you can see how the Spanish colonists lived, to the old Fort, which is replete with real, live cannon fire, the whole town brings history to life.

Sylvie was showered with grandparent affection the whole time, naturally, and it was fun to get together with my cousins for Christmas.

Jenny got a new Canon digital SLR for Christmas, so be on the lookout for Sylvie shots that are more glorious than ever!

Happy Christmakkahwanzaa!

We would like to take this time to tell everyone how much we value your friendship, especially at this reflective time of year. We feel very blessed to have so many loved ones all over the world, and we sincerely hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday season!

Love, Joe, Jenny, and Sylvie

Holy crap! A CEO deferred a pay raise!

I just read an amazing story over at Wal*Mart Watch, a site dedicated to opening people's eyes to the corporate shitpile that is the world's leading retailer.

It seems that a CEO for a small firm called the RiskMetrics Group actually turned down a raise and recommended that the board give his bonus to his underlings. Amazing!

According to the article, the CEO in question, Ethan Berman,"...took the highly unusual step of sending his board of directors a memo that recommended that he receive no increase in salary and a reduced annual bonus from 2004."

In Berman's own words:

“The banker J. P. Morgan once said that he would never lend money to a company where the highest-paid employee was paid more than 20 times the lowest-paid, as it was in his view unstable...the firm’s stronger than expected performance was driven by a large number of employees in other roles, and therefore I would like to see the bulk of my direct reports, and in fact many of their direct reports, paid greater bonuses than I receive."

Ethan Berman, you fricking rock. My hat's off to you, sir.

Rough night, Santa?

Looks like Ol' St. Nick had a little too much holiday cheer the night before this scary ass photo was taken. The kid is probably crying to keep from passing out from the Vodka fumes....

More at the Scared of Santa Gallery. Thanks, Sarah, for the link.

Diesel Sweeties

Warning: Addictive Web Comic alert.

I found Diesel Sweeties from a link at the super-cool Questionable Content web comic's site.

If you could get into the smart-ass exploits of indie rock poseurs, heavy metal vegetarians and former porn stars (and their robot lovers), then Diesel Sweeties might just be for you. Three words: Crush. All. Hu-mans.

Holiday fun

Tonight we attended Woodmoor's Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. It was a crack up. The whole neighborhood gathers (with SO many kids, it freaked me out), and at 7p they flick the lights on this huge tree in the center of our neighborhood. The lights were a bit sad... but it's the thought that counts, it's a sweet idea and the kids love it. Santa comes too. There's also supposedly a Hanukkah menorah that they light up, but I did not see it.
We put up our tree and we re-arranged the furniture so it could be in the center of our picture window. I decorated our front lawn/azaleas/rose of sharon bush/banisters w. white pin lights. We also have a reindeer on the lawn who is made of twig and pin lights (he's super cute). I heart him.
I think it's going to snow tonight which will make it all seem quite official.
What else, Sylvia now has the beginnings of TWO teeth. They began to emerge in the last few days and she has been quite a trooper. She's still eating a ton but just has moments of pain. Carrots are her new favorite. She told me.

And we have success

The turkey was so juicy, Joe thought something was wrong with it.
Here's the listing of final food mania list:
- 11 pound free range organic turkey -- check
- homemade gravy
- canned cranberries (sorry couldn't make anything else at this point)
- mashed yukon gold potatoes
- Stove Top stuffing
- baguette
- salad
- sweet pototoes
- homemade apple crisp
- pea cassarole
- Fetzer wine
I feel like I forgot something.

A Snowy Thanksgiving

It's snowing here in DC (well, Silver Spring, Maryland) and I am about to prep some of the dishes for our first official mini-family Thanksgiving. It's weirding me out not being in La Jolla. I associate warmish weather with Thanksgiving, not snow!
I will also miss my mom's totally yummy cooking. In honor of my mom (who LOVES Thanksgiving), I am about to make an apple crisp. She's the pie master-ette but I don't have the energy to make a pie, so I will make the crisp instead. Our friends Bill and Kim are coming over to join us and that will be fun.
Will report back tomorrow with the food news....

New Song on MySpace

Just wanted to let y'all know that I've added a new song up on my MySpace site. It's a jazzy type thing called "Standards Firmly in Place," about a lady on a rather unfortunate trip south of the border....

Check it out here

Long time no post....

Sorry to all for the delay in posting. I was away in NYC for a business trip, the folks were staying with Jenny, and things got hectic. What can I say? :-)

New York was cool, as it always is, and the weather cooperated well, with temps in the 60s the whole time I was there...nice. I had some yummy expense-account food, with a highlight being a fusion restaurant called the Mesa Grill. It was the best food I've had out in quite some time. I had the venison, which was Bambi-tastic.

This weekend I worked on storm windows, both making and reparing them. I am manly man. Grrrrr, as Jenny says.

Autumn is rad

It's so pretty here in DC right now. Our neighborhood is looking beautiful due to the trees all turning amazing colors. Sylvia and I took our walk yesterday and I told her about the trees and why they turns colors. She also got to wear her coordinating velour sweatsuit for the first time (thanks Grandma Joan)!

Deregulation sure is great, huh?

When the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) decided in 1978 that airline regulation was a bad thing and stripped pretty much all goverment regulations on fares and service, it was touted as the be-all, end-all to "save" the aviation industry.

The theory, not unlike most deregulation arguements, is that the increased competition would drive down fares and economic pressures would force airlines to provide better service to compete in the open market. And like most degregulation policies, that ideal has proven to be unattainable, due to the seemingly unquenchable corporate greed so cultivated in the American business culture.

So far as I can tell, fares have dropped, no doubt. So that part worked. But what else has fallen by the wayside in the name of corporate profits? Pay for pilots, mechanics, and flight attendants has fallen, service has certainly declined (when was the last time you got a free meal on a domestic flight?), and, most troubling, smaller markets have seen the number of service providers plummet.

With yesterday's announcement of Independence Air's Chapter 11 filing, many small cities, like Charleston, WV, where I fly often, will be left with few options and higher prices. Large cities will avoid this problem, but New York, L.A., and Chicago aren't the only places people want to fly in this country.

Poor Flyi, we barely knew ye.

I accept my nomination...

...to be the president of all babies for nations near and far. If you don't vote for me, I will squeeze your "you know whats" with my oh-so-powerful vice grip.