konzie.com :: blog

Anatomy of a Surprise Party

2008-05-19 08:07:00.0

I am a person who prides myself on being prepared, being calm cool and collected, and knowing enough about what's going on around me in order to avoid being surprised. I've always enjoyed the saying that chance favors the prepared mind. This Saturday, that all went out the window when I was taken - hook, line and sinker - completely by surprise for my 30th birthday party.

Let me say that, after careful analysis and with full benefit of 20-20 hindsight, the pieces of this clever web of deceit seem to fit ever so carefully into place - and just right. I have newfound respect for my wife and her scheming. While thinking back on all of the clues I completely missed, I feel like Truman on The Truman Show when he looked back on his life after learning the whole thing was a sham - that he was an unknowing cast member of his own life story living in a movie set. Had he just looked a little bit closer, he would have realized, plain as day, what was happening around him. Oh, the humanity.

I've never had a surprise party up until now. I had a suspicion that Dina might try something so I had my guard up a bit. My birthday came and went. I had a small party last Sunday which was a gathering of a few friends and some of Dina's family. I knew my family was coming the following weekend so the fact that they wouldn't come up two weekends in a row seemed perfectly normal to me. I was happy with my party. I was very happy (and surprised) by my birthday gift. I was perfectly happy with my party. It was normal. It was comfortable. It was routine. Afterwards, when it was over, I bid farewell to my twenties and stood ready to face my 30s. Somewhere in the process, I completely let my guard down.

Fast forward to this past weekend and past even more clues to the point when my parents arrived Saturday at noon to spend the weekend with us. Sure enough, they arrive right at noon as I was getting out of the shower. Dina and I had nearly concluded our routine last minute cleaning - sans bedroom and 2nd floor (why would they go up there?). All of it was perfectly normal. Our plan was to split up with my Dad and I headed out to CT to test drive a motorhome he's been eyeing for some time and my Mom, Dina, and Colby would head to Christmas Tree Shoppes for the purchasing of some non-essential trinkets. Colby went down for his nap at about 2 so my Dad and I headed out then. It was just north of Hartford, so the trip took about an hour and change. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and the ride was beautiful. We took all back roads to get out there and drove through some beautiful towns - particularly Stafford Springs. We arrive at the dealership and my Dad got to test drive the rig, we looked all around the place, looked at different layouts, different campers, talked to the dealer, talked about different deals and why he should buy sooner rather than later, yada yada yada. We left there to head back at about 4:30, stopped for some ice cream in Stafford Springs, took a leisurely walk around the town, got back in the car and continued the drive back through beautiful country roads. My mom called my dad to confirm that we had reservations that evening for shortly after 7. We were eating at an Italian place in Douglas. Once we were nearly home, we then stopped at a Toyota dealership because my Dad wanted to look at purchasing a new vehicle - something more fuel efficient. So, we looked at model after model, checked the stickers for the MSRP and the fuel economy estimates... looked at more of the same model... opened the hoods, opened the trunks.... Then, we got less than a mile from my house and stopped for gas and to get my Dad cough drops. Finally, we drove the last mile to my house, pulled in the driveway and, to my wondering eye, saw Dina's father merrily strolling down the side of my yard towards the back of my house. He glanced over at us and smiled and kept walking. Strange I thought and exclaimed to my father, "I think that's Dina's father!? Wait, it is. What the hell? What the hell is he doing here? And what is that goofy grin he's got on his face? Why didn't he come up to say hi? What's he doing here, working in the garden? Wait, where's his car?" All of these thoughts ran through my head and/or were vocalized to my father. My father's response? "Looks like he's had too much wine." And then I walk in the door to get completely and thoroughly surprised.

Now, without going into any detail about how great a time I had or how good it was to see everyone who came or how awesome it is to be truly surprised, here is my Truman Show relevation where I outline the clues I realized I had overlooked once I began to piece everything together:

Dina asking me for an export of my Gmail contact list. Preying upon the way I meticulously (anal) keep everything organized. I didn't think much of that.

Dina visiting me at work and Renuka mistakenly saying to Dina how she now had her email.

Having one of my co-workers (Arlington) swap his on-call shift on a Wednesday / Thursday so he could take my weekend. That almost didn't happen as I didn't think it was fair to him to give up his weekend for a mid week. I even think I remember saying something like "Rookie mistake". Well, look who's laughing now.

Dina coming home from BJ's with $500 worth of food. "Just stocking up, dear!" And missing the fact that the receipt and list of "things to make" was in plain sight on the counter.

Accidentally seeing an email in Dina's GMail titled "Surprise 30th!" and thinking that last week's party was supposed to have been a surprise which she messed up somehow.

Seeing an event in our shared Google Calendar called "Ladies' Night" for this past Saturday (a cover).

Dina having intimate knowledge of my on-call schedule.

Dina's mom offering to take Colby on Saturday (to give Dina time to prep), but instead taking him on Thursday night (for "date night") so Dina could shop on Friday.

My Dad's numerous stall tactics on Saturday afternoon: Driving an hour + to CT to test drive a motor home, spending quite a bit of time after the test drive looking at motorhomes and campers which were of no interest to him, stopping for ice cream on the way back (my idea, ironically) and then proceeding to walk all over the town, stopping at the Toyota dealership to look at some models, and then proceed to look at the same models on the other side of the lot, stopping at HoneyDew for gas and "cough drops" and him taking longer than it would normally take someone to purchase one small item.

Having the address of the motorhome dealership miraculously show up automatically in the "to" field of Google Maps.

Dina asking on numerous occasions what we wanted to do when my parents came up.

Dina insisting that we buy a new patio set. "Wouldn't it be nice to sit on the porch and enjoy it when your parents come up?"

Dina purchasing a new fire pit when we already have a perfectly good circle of rocks.

Dina not giving me too much of a hard time when he went down for his nap and she was "stuck with him" when my dad and I went to look at motorhomes.

Possibly more....

In any case, as you can see, the writing was on the wall and I still had no clue. My hats off to all who helped in these shenanigans, but mostly to Dina who did an amazing job pulling everything together. Thanks everyone! I had a great time and am now officially ready to head into my 30s.

Ethan & Evan and Grand Cayman Island

2008-04-12 09:48:00.0

Before I get to talking about the little trip we have planned, I'd like to congratulate my cousin Erin and her husband Joe on their newborn twins - Ethan Edward and Evan Joseph, born yesterday at UMass Memorial. Now, Emma has some baby brothers to take care of for a while =)

In a couple of weeks, I'm headed to Grand Cayman for a long weekend of diving with my dad and my brother. We're staying at Cobalt Coast, one of the highest ranked dive establishments in the Caymans which, by the way, happen to be one of the top places to dive in the world as well...

#6 Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Known as the king of all Caribbean diving sites (and there are many), the Caymans boast all the features scuba divers demand. First, the weather is pretty much beautiful year round, with rain occurring only in spurts during the summer months. Second, the water is warm and clear, ideal for exploring Grand Cayman's reefs and watching stingrays and angelfish in their habitat. Third, visitors have access to both well-known and untouched scuba areas. A little research will lead you to operators who are willing to take you to the most secluded spots... if you're into that.

Peak tourist times -- when you're likely to kick another diver with your flipper -- are mid-December to mid-April. The summer months are quieter, but rain and hurricane threats tend to scare visitors away.

We've been talking about this trip for years so I'm floored that it's finally going to happen. I just hope Delta Airlines doesn't have wiring problems like American Airlines did. That would pretty much be a big steaming pile of you know what on our fun little trip.

Cobalt Coast Dive Resort is right on the ocean so you literally can roll out of bed, put your gear on and go out to the end of the dock for some diving.

Just off the end of that dock is a very large wall which goes to depths I'd rather not go.

That's where you get those weird fish with the lightbulbs hanging off their heads anyway.

Lastly, I'd like to congratulate my brother for finally getting out of the nest. Yep - he purchased a house and is in the renovation process, but will be moving out shortly. Thank god it's close to my parents' house otherwise, I think they might actually go over the deep end of empty nest syndrome. My brother's always been one to buy POS vehicles and miraculously put a little bit of money and effort into them and then turn around and sell them for more. Well, he applied the same logic to his house, purchasing a foreclosure fixer upper and, with a little help from his friends, seems to be increasing value already.

Nick's New House Fits 26 People from Jim Konz on Vimeo.

Recovery Nearly Complete

2008-02-25 17:59:00.0

Well, it's been nearly three weeks exactly since the New England Patriots lost to the New York Football Giants. They just couldn't pull it out. Couldn't stop the Giants on that last drive. Couldn't give Brady enough time to hit his vaunted receivers. Couldn't keep their undefeated streak alive. It's hard to describe the feeling that's left after a loss like that. I didn't think the previous year's loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship could be eclipsed by anything more heart wrenching - more deflating. My stomach was in knots the entire game, but on one side, I knew they were going to pull it out - just like they did all season, by hook or by crook. On the other side, I knew they were going to blow it. I knew they were going to pick this lager than life stage - one of the most watched Superbowls in history - to find a way to lose. I'd like to say the Giants were a better team. I'd like to say that there is some logical explanation that they lost. I just don't know. It doesn't make sense. I'm sad. I was sad. I still am. I'm getting better though. Really, I am. I had to tell myself after the game, that there are bigger things in life than sports, that I have a great marriage, a great family, an amazing little boy, a great life overall. Sadly, I had to tell myself that. I realized that I need to be less invested emotionally in sports going forward. No matter the expectations or the success, I need to keep the sting of this loss in close proximity. I need to do this to prevent gray hair and wear and tear on my ticker. The fact that I had to pay for my TV didn't matter. I would probably have paid twice that to see the Pats win and to avoid the emotional distress I've suffered. It's time to put it behind me. It's time to focus on other things. It's time to focus on... the NFL Draft. Yep, not much longer before the Pats start retooling for next season. I still plan to follow this team very closely, but I also plan to expect the worst. I have to. OK. I feel better now. Thanks for reading.

A/V Mumbo Jumbo

2008-01-19 23:40:00.0

With the recent announcement by Sony BMG that they would be dropping DRM on all of their music downloads, all of the major record companies are now offering their content in .mp3 format. What does this mean? Well, I've never had a huge issue with DRM. I began purchasing music legally a while ago now (although I still do borrow music from close friends). I use iTunes as my primary music management software and I'm ashamed to admit that my collection is an absolute mess. I have music in wmv, mp3, aac, and m4p formats in a chaotic array of folders with even more chaotic filenames. I've been meaning to organize it, but the thought of going through 5,000 plus files is simply too daunting a task for me. What I have decided to do, though, is convert everything over to mp3 - essentially stripping out all DRM. This way, I can burn mp3 CDs (for my car) and load songs on my iPod or basically any other device which supports mp3 rather than Apple's proprietary DRM. Also, unless iTunes begins selling their songs in mp3 format, I don't plan to purchase any more music there (unless there's something I absolutely can't find in mp3 format elsewhere). I'm thinking Amazon.com will be my new source, but that remains to be seen. I know they've lined up the major record labels, but I'm still not sold on their breadth of content.

Anyway, stripping out the DRM was easier said than done, but after a little bit of research today, I found the answer. It required that I download two programs - one called dBpoweramp Music Converter and another called QTFairUse6. I also needed to run the second program in conjunction with a slightly older version of iTunes so I had to uninstall my most current version and find a slightly older one. Here was the basic process:

Run QTFairUse against my entire iTunes library. This effectively searched for any music files with DRM (.m4p format) and converted them to .m4a
Run dBpoweramp batch converter against my music folder converting all .wmv and .m4a to mp3.
Review the aftermath and delete all remaining .m4a/mp4 files (after testing the mp3s to make sure they work).
Eliminate duplicates.
Reorganize folders (Artist >> Album >> Song).
Enjoy.

In other technology news, I received a TiVo HD (Series 3) for Christmas. It required that I get rid of my Charter cable box and instead insert a cablecard into the TiVo itself (to handle the duties of decoding the cable signal that were previously handled by the cable box). The downside of this is that I no longer have access to Charter's On Demand service. However, since the TiVo has a broadband connection, I'm able to hook into Amazon.com's Unbox service and have the ability to download (rent) hundreds and hundreds of movies - including new releases that just recently came out on DVD. Sweet. We tried it out last night with Bourne Ultimatum and the quality was great. Also, now that my TV has a VGA input, I can hook up my laptop and watch other broadband TV services like Joost, Hulu and all the other major network offerings. Well, good thing it's cold out and I have an excuse to watch so much damn TV.

No Bare Bulbs

2007-12-20 22:31:00.0

Just a few days to Christmas. It's going to be Colby's second one already. I can't believe how much time has flown by. As much as everyone told me it would go by fast and as much as I tried to will him to grow up more slowly, it just hasn't happened. He's enthralled by nearly every aspect of Christmas - the snow, the lights, and anything that looks like Santa Clause. His vocabularly now includes two new words - "wow" and "ho ho ho" - the first he says whenever he sees Christmas lights and the second, well, any time he sees something red and white.

Last week, Dina and I finally got our butts in gear and made a major push to get our house to feel more like a home. This meant installing blinds, hanging pictures on the walls, getting rid of the bare bulbs (there were still about seven of them) and lots and lots of cleaning. After the cleaning and various installations were complete, it was time to decorate. We got the tree, hung the lights, inflated Santa, hung up the Shalom sign (thanks, Uncle Don), and put up the stockings. I have to say, it looks very cozy and Chrissmissy.

This past weekend, we had a Christmas party at our place. The second of two big snow storms was enough to keep away about half the guests, but not everyone. There will be more opportunities in the future, so don't feel bad if you missed out this time!

Oh, did I mention that Colby was walking? Well, if you've been checking out the pictures on my site, you obviously would have noticed already, but yeah... he'w walking. He started on Thansgiving morning at my parents' place in Norwich. He's getting pretty good at it too. Very quick. Too quick :) Here you can see him not helping with the cleaning efforts.

OK, now how about those Patriots, huh?!?!?!? Hot damn. Fourteen and oh... wow. This has been a truly historic season for us up here in snowy New England. I knew we were going to have a good season when we landed Randy Moss and acquired Wes Welker, Dante Stallworth, and Adalius Thomas, but this has been beyond compare. The expectations are just through the roof, and I'm no exception. This team simply refuses to lose. First was spygate, then the string of absolute blow outs and recently some close games. They just find all kinds of ways to win. With eight players named to the pro bowl, we're even getting recognition at the individual level for once. Well, two more games to go in the regular season and then it's off to the playoffs. Let's pray they run the table so I get my free TV :)

One parting shot... damn he's cute =)

Adobe MAX 2007 - Chicago

2007-10-03 02:28:00.0

I'm currently in Chicago attending the 2007 Adobe MAX Conference. I'm one of two representatives from Shareholder.com in addition to the other six from the Nasdaq Data Products group. This is the second "Adobe" conference I've attended - the first being Macromedia DevCon in Orlando back in 2002. It's truly a different atmosphere from that '02 conference, that's for sure... very high energey and quite an unbelievable set of new technologies being rolled out and talked about. Adobe really seems to have the pulse on their development community it's showing. This is the first conference they've sold out - with approximately 5000 attendees.

I'll send out a more in depth analysis of the conference later, but here are some of the highlights (in no particular order):

New Adobe Developer Center Adobe finally consolidated their development support assets into one spot. This site includes community feedback, documentation, employee blogs, etc. Looks like it could be a pretty good reference.
AMP (Adobe Media Player) Flash player has always been something embedded within a browser. Now that it offers native support for video, Adobe decided it was time to jump into the media player market putting them in direct competition with technology like Windows Media Player. Some of the key differences seem to be the ability to completely skin the application and put the content in the forefront. It also has built in support for HD video - all the way up to 1080p. Looked very sweet on the demo in the keynote.
CF8 This has been out for a couple of months now and I'll try to write a more in depth overview of the new features, but here are a few:
- Built in AJAX support - bind forms to AJAX datasources with a simple line of code.
- CFIMAGE - tons of new support for image processing (including EXIF extraction, CAPTCHA, borders, etc.)
- Native support for RSS / ATOM reading / writing
- CFTHREAD - spawn multiple independent threads from within one cf page (in case you're calling multiple web services or something)
- CFPDF - create PDFS, merge them, add watermarks, delete pages, generate thumbnails... lots of cool stuff here. Should be pretty useful.
- Exchange integration - new tags to pull down public / private calendars and interact with them, full email support, tasks, filters, etc.
- Server monitoring - still not sure if this is only in the Enterprise version, but there's a full API as well so you can write you're own custom monitoring
- Flex integration using CFCs
- Debugging support in Eclipse (step through, breakpoints, all that cool stuff that other languages have)
- CFZIP - read, modify items within a zip, create, extract, etc.
- Native support for Javascript operators (&&, ||, ++, etc.)
- CF tags to get at database metadata (list of tables and their structure) - could be used to dynamically build CRUDs based on table structure
- Create breeze presentations on demand - full access to create slides. Could be pretty useful for reporting.
- and more...
Buzzword acquisition - Adobe acquired a Flex based word processing software company. Not sure what the overall goal here is, but it's definitely pretty cool stuff.
Award winner - Agile Agenda This was a contest for which individual could build the best Flex application. This guy wrote a full project management application. It's really nice. He was awarded with a trip to Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti. Not bad.
Sneak Peeks
- Visual Communicator - interesting concept here. It's a video editing tool which is not timeline based. In fact, there is no timeline. It's meant for presentations - newscast style - so it integrates a video capture system with a teleprompter and image overlays. Pretty cool stuff. They gave us all a copy of the software in our swag bags so I'll have to try it out.
- VOIP integration w/ flash player - the next verion of Flash is going to hopefully support rich voice like VOIP. They had a demo where they actually called a guy's cellphone in the audience from the flash app. It worked great.
- Flash mobile - I thought this was one of the coolest things. The presenter showed us his Verizon phone which had its OS overwritten with a new Flash based interface. Very clean. It actually looks like it has the capability to extend smart phone like capabilities to a normal device like a RAZR. He showed us a quick example of it showing a different background based on the city of the person calling. The code for that was pretty simple.
- Photoshop express - web based Photoshop. Pretty cool and still powerful, although not meant to be a substitute for the full blown PS app.
- Thermo - Fireworks - WOW. Converts a PSD to MXML (Flex). Designers meet developers. Very very cool and potentially revolutionarly stuff here.
- Flash player integration into PDF - They're trying to push the extended functionality of a PDF - actually embedding the flash player capabilities within the reader. Pretty interesting possibilities with that.
- Flex Builder on Linux - I guess they need this? I don't know much about the Linux community, but I guess Adobe is trying to make more friends.
- C/C++ --> AS3 (Doom Demo) - Another wow thing. It takes C or C++ and converts it to ActionScript 3 (Flash). He took Doom and ported it to Flash. Then, he overlaid the game with Flash based pop out style messaging.
- Content Aware Image resizing - You may have seen this incredibly cool image resizing technology a little while back. Everyone raved about it. Well, apparently Adobe thought it was a good idea to hire the guy that invented the technology. So they did.
- CoCoMo - also very cool. Full programmatic access to breeze-like collaboration - including video / audio and whiteboard functionality. We need to take a good look at this for our webcasting platform. Who knows how it scales though.
Adobe Experience Design Site - this site is to be a showcase for interface design and best practices by the Adobe team and the community at large.

One cool thing - the voting for the "people's choice" apps was done via SMS. People in the audience would text their votes in and then the realtime results were displayed on the ginormous screens in the main presentation room. Very cool.

For a full run-down of the conference check out Jen deHaan's live blog from the event.

After the conference this evening, I got outside to take some pictures from the waterfront. It poured while I was out there so I had to cut my photo safari short, but here are some shots:

No More LDTV

2007-09-03 23:05:00.0

I received a promotional email the other day from Percy's - one of the local appliance and electronics stores in the area. I bought my receiver there a while back and we almost bought our appliances there for the new house. The promotion was short and sweet. Buy a TV on Labor Day weekend and, if the Patriots win the Superbowl, your money is refunded in full within sixty days of the game.

Two things caused me to take this to step two (convincing Dina). One was that we eventually wanted to get an HDTV anyway. Considering I've often been an "early adopter" of new technology in the past, you can imagine that not having HD to this point was killing me. Secondly, the Patriots, this year, have the best odds of any team since they've been keeping track of odds. I'm not typically a gambling man, but I figured the odds were in my favor. Besides, what better way to make the season more interesting?

So, with those key points cemented in my mind, the next critical step was to secure the go-ahead from the wifey. It wasn't easy. Ultimately, I had to pledge to not talk about wanting a new camera for a period of two years (September 1st, 2009). Each time I do automatically tacks on another 3 days. Something tells me she's sick of hearing about what camera I want next. However, I did finally manage to convince her and we bought the following:

I must say... it's glorious.

Prepare yourself for a world so wonderful, so different, so completely new your senses will need to adapt in ways never before imagined. Its a world built on uncompromising attention to detail in an extraordinary, beautiful new way. Where black levels are so black, they disappear into an infinite abyss. Where colors are so pure, they gush with their own emotions. Where emotions are built with feelings so deep&tears fall like lead, fear flows like wildfire and passions swell with the rising tide. Its a world so intense, so rich, so real, it will change the way you look at TV forever.

Open your eyes and prepare your soul for the KURO PDP-4280HD 42"(Diagonal) High-Definition television. Turn on a television that takes you in a completely new direction. Experience a flat panel so stunning, so completely different it inspires you in ways never before imagined.

Explore a universe beyond the living room. Discover a world where years of technological innovation have created a home theater experience that takes you straight into new uncharted territory. Find yourself lost in a world where your senses are awakened and your soul lifted to a whole new level of consciousness. A place where unmatched contrast is an everyday occurrence and colors gush in a burst of emotions. Experience a picture so stunningly clear... you recognize faces in a crowd. Watch motion so pure, so utterly clear& it feels as though you are part of the action.

See for yourself how a revolutionary new video processor takes the most demanding scenes, the fastest fast break, the most furious action, and renders every scene with a clarity that has never been seen before in a home theater. Its a world where everything you see, hear and feel is so completely real, so beyond anything youve ever imagined, so totally consuming... youll quickly find yourself lost in the journey, unable to tear yourself away.

Bye Smugmug

2007-07-28 09:46:00.0

I've decided to discontinue my SmugMug account. What's SmugMug? It's a site where I can post high res versions of my photos and offer them for sale (and even turn a profit). I don't know if it was because I didn't advertise it, my pictures weren't very good, or perhaps a combination, but I can't really justify the cost anymore. So, if you're interested in keeping it afloat for a while, browse on over to pix.konzie.com and order some photos. I've just posted a couple of new ones. Unfortunately, most of my photography has not been on anything other than Colby for the past 9 months, but there's still plenty of other stuff out there. Or, if you do want pics of the boy, let me know and I'll post them in a private gallery.

Webster Fire Department Pays a Visit

2007-07-12 23:38:00.0

The other night, at about 1:30am, all of our smoke detectors went off. They're all wired together so you get this wonderful make your ears bleed want to jump out the window melody which makes it impossible to even think. After finally realizing it wasn't the alarm clock or the pager or my phone, I went to go see where the fire was. Dina got Colby out of the house and I proceeded to see exactly which smoke alarm had been tripped. It's kind of hard when YOU CAN'T THINK BECAUSE OF THE REALLY REALLY REALLY LOUD NOISE. I figured it had to be the one in our room - or the one in Colby's room, or the office, or the guest bedroom, or the one at the top of the stairs, or the one at the bottom of the stairs, or the one in the garage - oh wait, maybe the one in the basement??

Jesus. I really thought I smelled smoke when I was in the basement and the garage. To top it off, I had just put in ceiling fans so I thought maybe I crossed the streams or something. Well, after substantial hearing loss, I finally gave up, selflessly rescued my cats from the non-inferno and proceeded to the driveway to be with Colby and Dina. We warmed ourselves with the lack of flames. After giving up on finding the trigger for the auditory splendor, we called the Webster FD. Skyview Lane - meet your newest residents - yes the ones who called two fire engines - lights aflicker and sirens ascreamin (and yes, you could hear our smoke detectors from the end of the freaking driveway).

After about 10 minutes, the six fire fighters who entered our house found the problem - a faulty detector in Colby's room. They detached it completely so now I need to find a replacement. Of course it's the one that no major stores carry so it'll have to be special ordered. Love it.

Americade 2007

2007-06-12 22:15:00.0

I took Thursday and Friday off last week and went to Americade with my father and GVO (Gary Van Orden). Americade is a huge motorcycle gathering in Lake George, NY - actually billing itself as the largest touring motorcycle event in the world. I don't know if it's the biggest, but there were certainly a lot of bikes there. The thing that's so nice about the area is the pristine - and I mean pristine - roads sweeping through the mountains and farmland around Lake George and Lake Champlain. It really doesn't get much better as far as riding goes.

Our big ride took us north along a fairly circuitous route around (and across) Lake George and Lake Champlain all the way up to the customs house on the Canadian border. Here's a map:

The only downside to the whole affair was the loss of my camera. I installed an undertail kit on my bike (basically removes the hideous factory installed plastic fender on the back of the bike and just gives you a clean license plate mount and flush blinkers. Well, unfortunately, I had some custom duct tape holding it in place which happened to lose its adhesiveness in the hot sun - subsequently allowing the thing to open and cause my camera to spill out somewhere on the street. Either it was run over by one of the thousands of bikes on that street or it was snagged by some lucky person. I'll have to keep my eye out for some of my pics.

In other news, my brother in law graduated from high school last week! Congratulations, Dan! Also, congratulations to my cousin, Chris for the same thing. Both parties are this coming weekend.

That little fella you see there with Dan is my boy. Getting big, isn't he??? He started officially crawling this weekend. By official, I mean he is now officially recognized by the International Institute for Infant Mobility (IIIM) for his prowess at plying the hardwood floors of our house. Honestly, as fast as everyone told me he was going to grow up, it's happening even faster. If I go away for two days, I feel like he's advanced by leaps and bounds in that small amount of time. I can't describe how amazing it is to have him react and smile back at us. I know I'm biased, but he's sooooo damn cute.

Life in our new house is going pretty well. Of course, we're still unpacking, but that's to be expected. I feel like we've made significant progress as of late - installing ceiling fans, curtain rods, lighting fixtures, etc. I even bought a lawnmower the other day - a Honda of course - and mowed it for the first time on Sunday. Is it retarded that I was so looking forward to doing yardwork??? I mean, I used to hate that crap growing up - every day in the summer my brother and I would wake up to our chore list - which inevitably was comprised of some yardwork component.

I feel like I have more to say, but I'm spent. Dina's off helping Jenn & Mike get their place in order for thier impending little one. I had the rare occasion of watching Colby tonight - feeding, changing, bathing, and ultimately putting him in bed. I gotta hand it to my wife, it's no small task. I love him very much, but I think I'll take my day job =)