Today's damage

Wow. I need shinpads. One other thing that bugs me...hills are all there are around here and hills are really really hard to manage on one wheel. I can now freemount to a standstill about half of the time and have gotten going to a regular pace from that position about 3 times.

First successful freemount

Freemount AND kept going. I skinned my shins in the process of learning it though.

Glow sticks and housing

Housing, housing, housing.

1. Our rental has been pretty decent, but it is missing some important characteristics: sidewalks, friends, garage, kids, and community. Ok, I miss the garage too.

2. Anne and I made up a big list of every variable that is a consideration and then labeled each consideration with the minimal and optimal characteristics. We came up with child-centric essentials and the parent-centric optional "nice-haves." It looks like we are headed toward another suburban community with a predictably puffy name and lots of kids. We are steering into a few neighborhoods that are all near each other--they are around the Loveland Jr High, Loveland elementary, and Symmes Park. One even has its own swimming pool.

3. The Oak Knoll house in Perrysburg is still for sale. Over the past few weeks, Todd and Ryan have been going crazy on it and making it look a hundred times better than it did. Peel-and-stick faux marble flooring is amazing. It is cheap, beautiful, and easy to apply. It also appears extremely durable. Since we have owned it, every room has been painted at least once, all wallpaper has been removed, every light fixture, light switch, and electrical outlet has been changed, all carpet except the newest 3 bedrooms has been replaced (since we moved out, actually), the basement has been entirely painted, the unfinished side of the basement is now half-finished, has switched lighting and electrical outlets, networking installed to dead zones in basement, basement professionally waterproofed and walls professionally braced, glass block windows for all of the basement, gutter filter installed over every gutter, installed 4 ceiling fans, new dishwasher, new range hood, new plumbing to basement sink, new sump pump, new whole-house humidifier, new toilet, installed paver brick patio, landscaped, mulched, and and waterproofed around nearly the entire perimeter of the house (including making a beautiful mixture of soil/peat/sand for the front beds), built a grape arbor (mature as of this year, darn), installed trellis for the rose garden on the south side brick wall (it will be spectacularly full this year, darn again), new perennials, tore off and reroofed (correctly, and with iceguard this time) the screened-in porch roof, new doorbell, cut down ash tree, removed stump, and planted grass....and probably a whole lot more. I seriously don't think there is much left that one could do.

After a whole lot of money and a TON of time we will likely sell it for about what we bought it for. We are giving away what would normally be 20-25k in improvements for the privilege of getting a seller. I really want to hate home ownership and swear it off forever, but rentals don't work well with kids and Anne is going crazy with being lonely while I am at work. This time, though, we will be getting a house that is already DONE. I will keep the miter saw, but I don't want to use it on a weekly basis anymore.

Work is fantastic. I really like what I am doing. At times, it feels like graduate school again. Everyone is brilliant. The work we are doing is ground-breakingly creative and darn insightful. Also, it feels right. I have a lot of learning to do, but (rather than feeling incompetent) I am embracing that requirement. I would rather have challenges than boredom.


Kid/camera stuff:
We got a new camera (an SD770IS to replace the SD300). It is an updated version of the one we have been since early 2005. We have taken 15,663 pictures with that SD300 camera, so I think it was worthwhile to get one that is a little faster, has slicker image processing, higher resolution, a new battery, and (most importantly) image stabilization. Anyone need an SD300 that is in great shape?

Joel got some glow sticks. I wanted to test out the new camera. I loved how these pictures turned out once I pushed the fill light up on them (that is all I did). Joel's expressions ranged from goofy to sad, which made them look artsy. These were taken on two separate days and the stick color differed slightly between them.

Sunny and 70

This was a great lunchtime!
Asher is doing everything.

Drums,countries, and Asher.

Joel loves drums again. He is happy as a lark to be drumming in his
own little drum corp now.

We are exploring a country a week as a family. This week is Algeria.
I really like the food so far.

Asher now vocalizes (ba ba ba), stands for as long as he pleases,
walks alone for 10 steps/3 feet and walks assisted all over. We
discovered that he can open the top on the liquid laundry detergent
all by himself (yuck).

Testing out mobile posting

We live a block from a preschool that has a small playground.
Things are good. We will look at some open houses soon.