Monthly Archives: July 2006

Authors: Z-A

I am constantly on the lookout for books to read. Sometimes I read whatever the ‘hot’ new book is at the time. More often than not, however, those books are already checked out of the library when I go looking for them. How then to find something to read? I’ve gotten recommendations from friends and family; I’ve gotten recommendations from strangers; I’ve judged books by their covers; and I’ve randomly pulled books from the shelves.

This time I’m going to be a bit more systematic. I’ve decided to read books alphabetically based on the author’s last name. I booked it up towards the “A” section at the Beverly Library. Upon finding it roped off (due to repairs?) I decided that fate wanted me to start at “Z”.

Hopefully this little project will expose me to new authors, genres and stories. I’ve got 26 chances to find something new to love.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Z-A. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.

We’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania

fff|ppp|Johanna and Dan

Johanna and Dan

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Well, to be more precise, we’ve got Family in Pennsylvania. And we went to visit them last weekend.

The ocassion? Cousin Johanna’s Wedding. (Congratulations Johanna and Dan!)

It was Catherine’s first long road trip and she did very well in the car. We didn’t have to stop any more times than usual; we just timed our stops according to her schedule. The drive did take a little longer than normal because our stops were longer than we’re used to. As always, Peter and I loved the drive, and the ‘us’ time that it allows us.

Before the wedding we had the opportunity to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Wood and Aunt Kirsten and Uncle Mark. We even took a nice swim in the hotel pool! The warmer water and more quiet atmosphere made the experience much better for Baby Catherine. She really enjoyed being in the water, and Mom and Dad had fun with her there, too!

Johanna and Dan had a lovely wedding. The torrential rain was nice enough to taper off by noon leaving a bright, sunny day! By a stroke of amazing luck everyone from Peter’s side of the family was in attendance. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, grandkids and great grandkids! (See Catherine with her [great](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/johannas_wedding/before_the_wedding/P1100648.JPG.html) [grandparents](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/johannas_wedding/before_the_wedding/P1100649.JPG.html)!) The wedding photographer got a large group photo. What an opportunity!

To everyone in PA (see all pics from the weekend here) it was great to see you (or to meet you in Catherine’s case). We hope to see you again soon!

Two Months!

Happy Two Month Birthday, Catherine!

ppp|Then

Then

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ppp|Now

Now

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Your mom and dad have had a wonderful two months, and we are looking forward to spending the rest of our lives getting to know you.

All of your friends and family can see [some more photos from the photo shoot Mom did for you on your exciting two-month birthday](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_at_two_months/)!

By the way, you are a very expensive baby. We received our bill for your one-week stay at [Brigham and Women’s](http://www.brighamandwomens.org/) just the other day:

* Total Charges: $75,035.14
* Amount our health insurance paid: $74,535.14
* Amount we owe: $500
* Having a healthy, happy baby: priceless

Thank goodness for health insurance!!

Island Girls

fff|ppp|At the Beach

At the Beach

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Catherine and I had a splendid week on Martha’s Vineyard with my Mom. We missed Peter, of course, and were very happy to see him when he came back down on Friday night. Here’s what Catherine did during the week.

*Waved the Dads off on the “Daddy Boat”

*Bought some zucchini with Mom and some limeade with Peter at the West Tisbury Farmer’s Market

*Belted out some songs at the Community Sing with Mom and H

*Watched glass bowls being made at Martha’s Vineyard Glass Works.

*Ate her fair share of an “Oink” with some family members

*Attended her first parade: the annual Festival of the Holy Ghost parade

*And she took a dip in the Ocean.

*She was so lucky to get to spend time with a ton of people! Grammy, the Delisles, H and E, Allison, Cindy, Auntie Marcia, Uncle Kevin, Matt and Christine, the Homoleskis, Uncle Corey, Beth, Auntie Susie, Nancy and Casey, Grandpa, John and Roberta, Craig and Edie, many, many others, and, of course, Mom, and Dad!

A multitude of photos from the week can be found here.

Backup Strategy

Somewhere within the first two weeks after Catherine was born, I found the time to implement a (mostly) comprehensive backup strategy for our website data and our home computer data. We’ve actually been operating without any type of backup for a while now, living dangerously as it were. So I decided that with all of the changes we’ve been going through recently, and the exponential increase in the amount of data we’ve been collecting (web and email content, images, video, etc), it would be smart to implement a good method for backing everything up.

If you’re interested in how I set it up, please read on.

Continue reading

First Vineyard Weekend

This weekend, Becky and I went down to [Martha’s Vineyard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha’s_Vineyard) for the first time this summer. It was definitely a lot later than we usually head down – normally we’re down by Memorial Day weekend… but we were just a tad [busy](http://prwdot.org/2006/05/27/a-dramatic-arrival/) then, and have been in the weeks since.

For the benefit of those who have just recently started following our blog, let me give you a little background on Martha’s Vineyard. Becky’s parents own a cottage in the [MVCMA](http://www.mvcma.org/) campground in [Oak Bluffs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Bluffs%2C_Massachusetts), a town in the northeast corner of the island of Martha’s Vineyard. It has been her family’s tradition for over 20 years to come to “The Island” during summer vacation to rest, relax, and play. Up until the summer Becky and I got married, Becky would go down to the island every summer for the whole summer, along with her brother and mom. Her dad would come down on weekends on the “daddy boat”. After we got married, Becky and I would regrettably go down only on the weekends.

It’s hard to explain the Lowe Martha’s Vineyard experience. It’s not the typical tourist experience, which involves coming down for a weekend to see the sights, eat at restaurants, party at night, and stay at the inns. The Lowe experience involves relaxing afternoons sitting on the swing in front of the cottage… walking down to the beach for a swim… having a home cooked meal on the picnic table in the yard… taking the kayak out into the pond. I didn’t get it when I first came to the island – I was looking for the typical tourist experience, and that just wasn’t what the Lowes were about. Eventually I grew to love it for what it was… a retreat from the bustle of the real world.

You can see [photos from this past weekend](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_july_7-9/) on the island. Becky and Catherine are staying down there all this week, and I’ll be joining them once again, on the “daddy boat”, this coming weekend.

Star-Spangled Baby

Some of you already found [these](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/july_4_2006/), but on July 4, Catherine wore a one-time-only onesie:

ppp|Star-Spangled Baby|ppp

You can see the rest of her photo shoot [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/july_4_2006/). 🙂

Dinner With The Rainvilles

On Wednesday evening of last week, Becky, Catherine, and I drove up to York, Maine to have dinner with [Jenny](http://raingirl3179.livejournal.com/) and her parents. They were staying at a condo which they rent for a week every summer. The Rainvilles treated us to a delicious dinner at a local Chinese/Japanese restaurant, as well as lots of good conversation. I did take some [photos](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/dinner_with_the_rainvilles/), but alas, none of them prominently featured Jenny or her family. I really must get better at remembering to take photos of *everyone* when we go places.

Recent Acquisitions

Things wear out, things stop working. So I’ve recently made a couple of acquisitions.

First, new shoes: [Hi-Tec Multiterra 2 Sport](http://www.hi-tec.com/category.php?styleId=3744&colourId=11009) (color as pictured), for everyday and summer excursion wearing. They have a system of criss-crossing shoelaces that allow me to tie them up tight. And they have squishy rubber soles to minimize bone-crushing impact when I am walking. They also have convenient pull-tabs on the heels to make it easier to put them on. Finally, they are made of a breathable material so that my sweaty feet do not suffocate as they would in, say, a sealed neoprene sock. Oh, the wonders of modern footwear.

Second, a new cell phone: [Sanyo RL-4930](http://www.sanyo.com/wireless/handsets/index.cfm?productID=1219). Towards the end of last week, my trusty [Sanyo SCP-8100](http://www.sanyo.com/wireless/handsets/previous_models/index.cfm?productID=946) suddenly lost its ability to receive a signal. I took it over to the Sprint Store, and they said that they couldn’t fix the problem (their first question was “Did you take it out of the country?” Um…. nope! It was sitting on our counter one night, and all of a sudden it stopped working!) They offered to give me a reconditioned replacement SCP-8100, which would cost me $50. The other option was to get a $150 rebate on a brand new phone, so I decided to take that. I liked the RL-4930 because it was small, rugged, and feature-packed… it does cool stuff like recording up to 130 minutes of voice memos, speech recognition (you can say “Dial Number 555-1212” and it will dial it), and speakerphone (not a groundbreaking feature, but a feature that I’ve never had on a cell phone). Also, should I ever decide to sign up for Sprint’s “ReadyLink” push-to-talk feature, this phone is compatible. (Anybody have Sprint ReadyLink?) It continues to have the excellent user interface that I have come to know and love in Sanyo phones. It doesn’t have a camera, but that’s okay… I’ve never met an affordable camera phone that I liked. I ended up paying $30 for this new phone. Good deal!