loveless.net

... Right back where we started from...

This picture is of Wade, on Weds., 9/7/2005, at the Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, just across the Embarcadero (street) from the Ferry Building. I thought these two huge heads were interesting, and so did he... After I posed him in front of them, he kept twisting around to see them, and this was the only picture I could get of his cute little face! Click on the photo to see a much larger version of the picture.

BIG NEWS!!!! We're going back to San Fran! Clay was made an offer he couldn't refuse to go work for an up-and-coming dot-com, Feedster.com, in the city. Wednesday was his "first day," meeting the whole company, sitting in on some meetings, getting issued his laptop, signing papers, and getting official about the whole thing.

This all came about pretty quickly, a recruiter first found him and started trying to woo him on 8/18, and here we are, just three short weeks later, already signed on the dotted line! It seems as though it was meant to be.

I (Kendra) am going to need to finish out the psychology class I'm currently taking at the local community college, since it is a definite prerequisite for any master's program I'd be applying for, be it in Fresno or San Fran. BTW, I really like the look of the Masters/PhD program at UCSF/SFSU, I hope they'll like me as much in a couple/few years when I'm ready to apply!

So, when exactly will we be going? Not sure just yet... Clay needs to be there by Oct 1. Either we will have found something (an apartment) that works for all three of us (plus our 3 pets) by then, or Wade and I will follow him up there as soon as we do. One way or the other Wade and I will be commuting to and from the Bay Area once a week; either up there for the weekends, or down here for my one day per/week of class and to see Buzzy and Janny.

So the next few weeks will be a little Crazy, I'd guess! That's the update for now... I'll keep you all posted with the latest as best I can!

I've been "saving" this entry for a few days...

This picture is of Wade on 8/18/05, hamming it up while exuberantly using his spoon all by himself. Right-click to download or open a larger version in a new window or tab.

Wade now has 9, count 'em, NINE, teeth! Clay doesn't actually believe #9 is in, but I believe it is either already in, and or in the process of breaking through. It is a little hard to tell, as it would be top tooth number 5, and Wade is pretty good about keeping those top teeth hidden (which I just think is more proof of action on the top gum). Even when I brush his teeth, he doesn't let me actually LOOK at them, I have to do it all by touch.

We know that there were only 6 teeth, 4 bottom and 2 top when we left for West Fargo. We didn't think to keep too close an eye on it while there because he wasn't interested in sharing that info with us, and there had been no action for so long, we just assumed all was quiet. Well, maybe that was what some of his trouble sleeping was about, and it wasn't just sensory overload.

Last weekend, Jan asked if he still only had six teeth, and I said yes without checking. Later that night, I got a rare glimpse at his top gum and there were definitely two more there! Then a couple days later, I got another glimpse, and thought I saw another tooth bud eruption in progress on the top left.

On Onions... Well, he certainly didn't get this from me! We took him to In-N-Out for his first actual burger there, and as I was tearing it up into Wade-sized pieces, he reached out as I was discarding the onion. So I figured, "Ok, you can try it, but you won't like it!" The last part I did not say out loud. It's a good thing too, because he loved it!

He ended up eating the whole outer ring of a less-grilled-than-not onion throughout the course of his meal. It was not a mild onion, either, it had lots of "character," as did his breath for the rest of the day!

The part that amazed me was that he would have a little, toy with it (he LIKES that wierd texture/taste combo -- ew!), go on to something else, and then come back to the onion. He did this repeatedly, so he knew what he was doing, and was doing it purposefully.

Clay and I figure this is a taste that must skip generations now and then...

Yep, he's done it again! The same magazine, php|architect has published his second article Release Your Next Project as a PEAR 1.4.0 Package in its August 2005 issue, which just hit news stands and technical book stores everywhere, and the internet of course.

So I sit here and gush oodles and oodles of proud-of-my-honey-ness (pride).

Wade thinks it is cool to have such a smart and twice-published daddy too.

Well I've finally put up another new slideshow -- a whopping 40 pictures in this one! -- of our first trip to Armour Park in West Fargo, ND, with all the great-grandchildren on 8/5/2005. We had a picnic lunch, swang on the swings, and frolicked in general. It was also a dry-run of sorts for the big full-family picnic/hymn-sing/Baptism of Wade planned for Sunday the 7th.

Not only did we have a lot of fun, but we also tried to get a portrait-like photo of the four youngest great-grands, who were born every third month, over a span of just nine short months. Needless to say we had fun in the trying, and got about a million cute candids, in various combinations of the four.

Here, as usual, are a couple of teasers:

The four youngest great-grands, 8/5/2005 (right-click on photo to open a larger version of the image, or save it to your computer)


Wade loves to swing! 8/5/2005 (right-click on photo to open a larger version of the image, or save it to your computer)

PS: Some of you saw the funky bruises I got from whatever bit me while at the park. I am happy to say that they are almost completely gone! When we got back, Jan had the idea they might be an allergic reaction, and suggested I take some Claritin, which I did. By golly, wouldn't you know it, they stopped itching and started clearing up immediately! Now, if I only knew what it was that bit me so I could avoid it in the future!

We are back from our wonderful trip to West Fargo via Minneapolis.

The occassion was a family reunion, focussed around Kendra's Grandma Goodie's 90th birthday. Other noteworthy events were Cindi's Birthday, Melissa's birthday, and Wade's Baptism.

All of the grandkids were there, except for Karl, whose leave schedule from the Marines did not permit him to be there, and whom we had the good fortune to shout a group "Hi, Karl!" to when he called.

I'll be posting pictures and slideshows as I go through and sort out the digital mayhem that is 273 digital photos taken over 10 days!

There are two new slideshows in the gallery so far, one of our stay in LA with dear Christine Jack and Keith, and the other of our time with cousins Melissa Shari James and Zach in Minneapolis.

Here are a couple teasers....

Jack and Wade, 8/1/05 (right-click on photo to open a larger version of the image, or save it to your computer)


Zach, Wade and James, 8/2/05 (right-click on photo to open a larger version of the image, or save it to your computer)

We had a blast with Wade in the pool a couple days ago, July 22, and I've put about 16 pictures from it into a new slideshow in the slideshow gallery.

At one point Wade was standing at the side of the pool in the shallow end and walked all the way around, holding on to the side of course... but still, it was definite shades of things to come! It was very cool. We caught it on a video clip with our still camera, and are just trying to figure out the best way to put it up for everyone to see. Its current filesize is HUGE, so we have to play with it.

Here are a couple pictures from the new slideshow:

Wade poses in the "shallow end" of the pool. 7/22/05 (right-click on photo to open a larger version of the image, or save it to your computer)


Wade had a lot of fun with the "sprinklies" that were spraying on him... until they turned cold! (right-click on photo to open a larger version of the image, or save it to your computer)

It certainly has been an exciting week for our little unit...

Along with being published, Clay also launched his new work website, at long last! It can be found at http://www.killersoft.com. This is something he's been working on and wanting to get just right for a long time, and I think he's pretty happy with it. Of course it's a work in progress, but it is also meant to be a living site, with new stuff all the time. I think it will be a great tool for him. Already the blog portion of it has been added to Planet-php which will really help get his writing about PHP out into the community.

Also this week, Clay passed the Zend Certified Engineer Exam (sort of like the bar exam for lawyers, except for PHP developers). That makes him one of less than 600 (at the time of this post) Zend Certified Engineers, which is pretty cool.

So, lots of good things professionally for Clay this week! We're very proud of him!

The title says it all! Except for how thrilled we are for him and excited about this new chapter in his professional life!

Ok, the title also doesn't mention where he was published: in the July issue of php|architect, "The Magazine for PHP Professionals." The title of his article (a feature article) is "Change Your Life with Version Control: An Introduction to Subversion."

One other little thing the title of this post doesn't mention: The issue just came out yesterday, to about 20,000 subscribers, and already there has been a post about Clay's article specifically.

Yay! Anyways, just wanted to share and document the good news.

It's the little things that make me happy...

Last month I heard this ad on a local radio station, turns out to have been a national ad campaign. It was promoting girls' interest in science and a website about encouraging such.

Well, in one of the ads, they had the cutest rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, with new lyrics about stars (what they're made of, etc.). I tried to remember it until I got home so I could write it down and sing it to Wade, but alas, the heat must have steamed it out of my brain. I've been looking for it ever since.

Today, with a little help from Google, I found it on a fellow blogger's site. THANK YOU SO MUCH, fellow blogger!

Here it is, so you all may enjoy too:

To the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
You're a ball of gas that's very far
Thirty-two light-years in the sky
Ten parsecs which is really high
Helium, Carbon, and Hydrogen
Fuse to make our starry friend.
When it enters supernova stage
It explodes with bursts of rays
And if the star's mass is big and bold
It will become a big black hole

And a little recent visual of the one I'll be singing this to:

Wade goes for the camera, 7/16/05 (right-click on photo to open a larger version of the image, or save it to your computer)

On 7/7/2005 and 7/8/2005 there was some excitement in the foothills that we can see in the distance from where we live.

There was a brush fire, in the hills, and helicopter tankers were flying over all day to put it out. We later learned, from friends that live in the valley nearest to the hills in question, that the speculation was that it wasn't arson since it started up on the ridgeline and burned down into the valley. Apparently, arsonists don't typically like to hike up that far to have their fun. So say the fire crews that asked our friends to move their horses.

Luckily, we live surrounded by many many many acres of frequently irrigated orchards, which should serve as more than adequate firebreak between us and any dry foothills.

I must say, the golden hills of sunny CA are beautiful to look at, but can be a tinderbox. People who drive through them, camp and play in them really have to be very careful. Even just metal striking a rock in a field can send up sparks that can start a devastating fire.

Here are some pictures of this event:


The fire, 7/7/2005


The helicopters that were trying to put the fire out 7/7/2005


The hill that burned, 7/9/2005. This hill is normally the same color as the one in the foreground. Note: there were no clouds in the sky that day, that is not a shadow.