For the last post of 2009, I'll leave you with pictures of our three kids, which we took today as we finished up a round of disc golf at the park. Congrats again to all the 31-Day Challenge winners. Remember to email me your snailmail addresses.

I have a friend at work whose daughter died today in childbirth. I was especially affected by the news because the situation sounded so familiar to me and Brooklynne--a decision to induce, followed by heart-related complications, which led in this case to a catastrophic stroke. I had to call Brooklynne to tell her that I loved her, because I couldn't stop thinking about how that could have been us.

I used to take pregnancy for granted, but I have come to realize that it is a violent and dangerous process, even with the availability of modern medicine. Just one more sign that the broken world we live in is not as God intended.

Sorry this is such a downer. It's just what I keep thinking about tonight.

Hey guys. I know you've all been working hard to keep up with the 31-Day Challenge, and I've been impressed by the outpouring of blog entries that have come out of this thing. I'm actually pretty impressed that so many of you have stuck with it despite tight holiday schedules and occassional bouts of blogger's block.

You've done so well and you only have 2 days to go! Keep working hard to the end of the week. You can make it!

If you are one of the challengers and you have kept up well, I will need your home address. I have info for most of you, but either way, please send your snailmail deets to iamawinner@31for31.com. Prizes will take some time to get out, so look for them in mid-January.

If you read Brooklynne's blog, you already know that I got a Wii for Christmas. No joke, my arms and back are sore.

But here's what I really love about the Wii right now: the Wiiware and Virtualconsole features.

When I got the Gamecube 7 years ago, I thought I was in heaven. But it turned out that it was very difficult to collect games to play on the system. Most of the titles were at least $40, if not $50 or $60, and I just wasn't ever in a position to drop that much cash on more than a few games over the years. Fastforward to this year and I wondered if it would be a long time before I would have a good mix of games to go with the new Wii.

However, I was happy to discover that with the Wii's built-in wireless, I could easily connect to the Nintendo website and download games any time of the day or night without leaving the comfort of my own couch. Granted, these games are not the full-blown blockbuster hits that most people think of in connection with the latest, most powerful gaming systems. But there is a good mix of classic titles from past systems as well as new, innovative games that might be too quirky or unorthodox to win the backing of the big budget developer studios.

And perhaps the best part of the whole thing is that these lightweight games only cost $5-15. If you stay on the cheap end of the spectrum, you can get 10 of these games for the price of one full-sized title. This mix of nostalgia and fresh ideas at bargan basement prices makes me even more excited about the Wii.

Sure, I'll still splash out for a few big games this year, but in between, you'll find me playing a lot of Wiiware and Virtualconsole games and having a blast.

Ryan Wade and Jon Drennan were in town for the holidays, so we made a trip to the Federal for some beverages and some catching up. People change after high school, but somehow, Ryan and Jon seem to always be the same good people they've always been. I met Jon the summer after third grade at rec-league baseball try-outs, and Ryan was in my fourth grade class the following fall. Other than Walker Robinson (third grade classmates), I think they are the oldest friends I've had any interactions with in the last ten years. How many people can say they have friends that old that they still enjoy hanging out with? I don't have any pictures of Ryan or Jon in a digital format, so the Federal logo will have to suffice. Tomorrow, my schedule gets back to normal and you can look forward to more substantial entries. Until then, good night all.

It is always a sad deal when family starts heading out of town again. Ben is leaving for Louisianna tomorrow.  Whenever we get to see him again, it will be too long.

Tonight we did the second biannual Grandmother white elephant gift exchange. I had my eyes on the clucking chicken egg poacher. Obviously there was intense competition and Evan walked away with the prize. He totally owes me an egg bennedict.

Shopping is done, kids are in bed, time to get down to business. I would give you a better post, but situation as it stands, I need all the time I can get. Plus, tomorrow promises much blogging bliss.

Merry Christmas!!!

I feel like I've done this list before, but I can't find it and since D9 was such a flop, I thought I would suggest some alternatives (this list is in order).

10. Hot Fuzz
9. Rambo: First Blood Part II
8. Aliens
7. Enter the Dragon
6. Predator
5. The Matrix
4. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark 
3. The Bourne Identity
2. Terminator 2
1. Die Hard

Last night, I finally saw District 9. I had been waiting to see it since the beginning of the summer, but I just never got the time to go to the theater. So I put it at the top of my Netflix queue about a month ago, and I received it in the mail yesterday--the first day of its DVD release.

I had been excited because the movie had gotten such high reviews from just about every source I read (Yahoo! movies- A-/B+, Rotten Tomatoes- 90%, Metacritic- 81/100), and the trailer and premise were interesting.

Now, after watching the movie, I am baffled by how bad it was. If you plan to see it and you care about possible spoilers, stop reading. But I would just say you should skip it and spend your time doing something more worthwhile.

Basically, the script is poor, the directing is bad, and the fake documentary style doesn't work. The worst defect of the movie, though, is that it bills itself as having been inspired by the conditions and events in South Africa's District Six, while portraying the aliens almost universally as unintelligent, animalistic, expendable, flat, and undeserving of the viewers' sympathy.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time writing about this (even though I strongly feel that the overwhelming praise for the film deserves a well-developed response), so here are just a few of my suggestions to the filmmakers for when they start on the inevitable sequel:

• if alien technology/guns are entwined with alien biology to the point that you need alien DNA to operate them, then please use creative artistic design to come up with props that appeal to our imagination and are new and different rather than digging up old Robocop memorabilia and asking us to accept that an alien trigger can't be pulled by a human finger.
• When the evil corporation's ruthless CEOs are weighing whether to murder and harvest body parts from the main character, perhaps they could do it somewhere other than next to the operating table where the main character is strapped, and where they will soon attempt to cut out his heart without sedation/anesthesia. Also, it would be nice to see some debate beyond a flippant "let's do it."
• When basing the experience of an alien species on the real experience of a tragically oppressed group of actual humans, don't portray 99% of the aliens negatively, and don't make the agent of the oppressive government the hero.
• Shootouts and roid-rage bad guy meatheads have been done before (and better), so give us a better enemy to fight.
• Action and sci-fi are ok; action and sci-fi + believable emotional responses, moral/ethical complexity, and well-developed relationships between characters = better.

Did the magi wear mullets? (Via TSK)

The Senate is now poised to vote on its version of the healthcare reform bill, and I am fascinated by the incredible differences in opinions about if and how to do it. The factors involved are mind-boggling, but one thing I am sure of is that something definitely needs to be done now, and here is one reason why (via UC-Santa Cruz):

Granted, this chart does not reflect quality of life (which should influence any measure of healthcare worthiness) and the spending numbers probably include elective procedures such as non-essential laser vision surgery or boob jobs, etc. (which would likely skew the US numbers), but still, this seems ridiculous. 

So this is an appeal to congress: please pass something substaintial. When in doubt, err by being more aggressive. Let future congresses fix the cracks or roll back the excesses.

If you want to read about the reform bills, here are some links:

• The full text of the House bill - get comfortable because this baby's almost 2000 pages!
  *** There will be no final text of the Senate bill until it passes a vote ***
• The short summary of the House bill
• A good comparison of the House bill and the likely provisions of the Senate bill

Here are some other ideas that I would have liked to have seen in the bills:

• Penalties on insurers that have a high rate of reversed coverage denials (i.e. if a company repeatedly denies coverage, only to eventually cover claims upon appeal or resubmission)
• Greater incentives for more holistic approaches to medicine
• Cost control ideas ranging from lowering the cost of medical school and malpractice premiums to limiting the cost of essential presciption drugs

I would love to hear your views, especially if you feel strongly that health reform is a bad idea.

Ths morning, I saw this picture on Tarheelblue.com. It was with an article about the Jimmy Johnson coaching tree, which interestingly includes both Butch Davis (back left with sunglasses) and Dave Wannstedt of Pitt (back right with moustache). Now, I don't often get envious or think that I would like to be doing what some other guy is doing, but these guys were my age when they were building a staff that would eventually win a national championship at Miami and two Superbowls. How would it be to have a job doing something that you loved and that you were good at, and to be doing it with a group of highly talented and motivated people that you honestly enjoyed  working with?

That is my goal in this life. Sure, there are other goals that are important to me--some that are much more important. But I can't think of many things that I desire that resonate as deeply wth me right now.

Now let me get some sleep so I can go sit in my cube tomorrow....

Something awesome.

Brian challenged his readers to post a "best movies of the decade list," so here's mine. Obviously, this is not a top ten (there are 15 + 1 movies here) and this does not represent anything about how well-made (or not well-made) these films are because I don't know anything about that. This is simply a list of movies that come to mind when I ask myself "what movies from the 00s would I recommend to a friend with similar taste?" I'm also listing these not in the order of best to worst, but in the order I would tell someone to watch them if they had not seen any of them. And BTW, Christian Bale must win Best Actor, because he's the lead in 3 of these.

15 Movies of the 00s:

Bourne Identity
Zoolander
The Departed
Fellowship of the Rings
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Ring
Hot Fuzz
Terminator: Salvation
3:10 to Yuma
Beautiful Mind
The Village
About a Boy
Stardust
The Prestige
Hotel Rwanda

Bonus: The Top Movie I Wish I Had Seen in the 00s:

District 9

...if we had a fire it would be delightful!

The blizzard of '09 has come and gone, it looks like. We got maybe an inch and it has already stopped. I'm sure Kroger did very well on bread and milk this week though.

In other news, Halleigh left her new taggie blanket at my grandparents' apartment this afternoon. Anyone who regularly reads Brooklynne's blog already knows that last week HJ lost her original taggie, which had been her comfort item almost from birth. Well, what you may not know is that HJ was just about potty trained. She has been out of diapers for a while now during the day, but we had kept her in pull-ups at night until recently. But she suddenly started asking to wear panties to bed, and when she lost taggie, she had been about a week wearing panties to bed without an accident.

The night she lost taggie, she wet the bed, and she had accidents (sometimes two) every night for the next four days in a row. I'm no psychiatrist, and maybe this is just coincidence, but I had a strong feeling that the two were connected. Anyway, we gave HJ a new taggie (which she has warmed up to, though she still "misses my taggie"), and she has been a couple nights without an accident again.

We realized HJ had left taggie at Grandmother's as we were putting her to bed tonight and she couldn't find it anywhere. So, I was faced with a delimma: to go out in the snow and ice to retrieve the new taggie, or to tell HJ (again) that she would have to sleep without a taggie.

Well, I decided to brave the elements rather than risk a bed wetting episode, but by the time I got back, HJ was already fast asleep. So I laid taggie next to her in bed, and I have my fingers crossed that she will somehow sense its presence.

Only time will tell.... 

First of all, let me apologize for the totally lame effort at posting yesterday. While the bowl schedule is useful to have at my fingertips (without cluttering up my bookmarks with links that will be obsolete in a month), I should not have been so lazy.

Actually, I planned to post a video of the Stella scooter I'm hoping to purchase this year, but I got distracted in my search by other videos of scooter crashes, panda attacks, and people farting. Isn't youtube a fascinating meeting place of all things base and disturbing (and therefore grossly funny)? (Update: more Stella news and even more. Guess what color I want.)

Anyhow, last night, we finally initiated our Christmas shopping. Pop and T had the kids, so we were free to shop for Halleigh, and we got some other gift ideas for the sibs, which made the search a little easier.

We kept running into a problem though: what would we get Beau that Halleigh doesn't already have. I mean, we can get him some clothes, but we kept seeing toys that are already available at home. Blocks? Got some. Shape-sorter? Got it. Bath toys? Got those too. Books? Sooo many. etc. etc. etc. We can always buy new and different varieties, but it's hard to find stuff that isn't really similar to what we already have.

Have other parents of multiple kids run into the same issue?

In case you care, here is this year's bowl schedule with TV listings (via ESPN).

 

As many of you know already, my interest in history has recently turned more toward historic preservation. in the past few years, I've worked on a couple projects in that vein, and more and more I feel like that's what I want to do with my degree.

Which brings me to an article that a co-worker loaned me from the DAR magazine. Apparently, Benjamin Rush's country estate (which he called Cottage Farm) was denied inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places by the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission because "even if Rush did build or occupy the house.... what did he do at this property that contributes to his importance?"

The article points out that the house was promised to his wife as a wedding gift, and when he was forced to sell the property to settle bad debts, he destoyed all records of owning it and refused to talk about the house ever again. The article also notes that the 12 years in which Rush occupied the property correspond with his most important professional publishing efforts.

So what is historic? What deserves preservation and what doesn't? The issue raises other questions also, like whether a potential restoration should preserve or reverse an 1830s-era addition to the front (seen in the pictures above), which has no connection to Rush at all. I haven't decided what I think. Just points to ponder.... 

Thanks Barak!

I haven't heard or read the transcript of Obama's Peace Prize speech, but I did listen to a commentator talk about it the morning after, and since then, I've been meaning to dig up a copy and read it for myself. The two things that piqued my interest were the commentator's assertion that it was Obama's best speech so far as president, and his analysis of the way the speech was structured as a reply to MLK's Peace Prize speech.

So here are the two speeches. I would love if you read them both and told me what you think. As I said before, I have not read them yet, but I will, and I will post my feelings either in the comments here, or in a separate post later.

MLK-Nobel-Speech.pdf

Obama_Nobel_Speech.pdf

Kids say the funniest things.

Brooklynne and I realised that from time to time it becomes necessary to talk about Halleigh's nap while in her presence. Unfortunately, that usually led to mass hysteria and fits of kicking and screaming. So we developed a code language in which we refer to her nap as "going to Mexico." A common exchange might go something like this:

B: I'm supposed to be at Kelly's at 2, but Halleigh needs to go to Mexico.

M: I'll take care of it.

This has worked well for the last year or so, but we think she's catching on. Today, we had this exchange.

B: When were you thinking of taking Halleigh to Mexico?

M: I was planning to read her a story first.

H: I want to go to a different Mexico... one with TVs.

Tonight is Blacknall's annual Carols and Coaco celebration when we gather to sing carols before heading into the fellowship hall for cookies and hot chocolate--all of which makes me wonder what is my favorite Christmas carol? Right at the moment I'm feeling like "Hark the Herald."

Here is another one that I like alot. Cory Cavin turned me on to this video a few years ago, and I dug it up again since I'm getting in the singing spirit. After watching the video, click through to the comments and let me know what's your favorite Christmas tune, either secular or Christian.

Possum alerted me to this article. Check it out.

Today was packed. Halleigh woke me up at 7:15 this morning (she usually sleeps until about 8:30) and told me that she needed a bagel with cream cheese. So I got up, got Halleigh a bagel and decided to try a new bread recipe, since I was up and we can't trust HJ enough to go back to sleep and leave her alone to burn the house down.

I made the No-Time Bread that I read about on this blog (which should be called the One-Hour Bread because that is how long it actually takes). The loaf came out great, but I burned my fingers pretty badly because I forgot to follow the number one rule of bread baking: when you take the lid off a hot loaf pan, leave the oven mit or pot holder on top of it, or you WILL try to pick it up and burn the hee-yah out of your hand.

I ran in the Reality Ministries 5K at noon. As I mentioned before, I was going to be happy with any time under 30 minutes, and I came in at 27:23, which I am very happy with. I was second in my age group (30-39), with the winner running the course in about 21 minutes. I think I did so well because I got a psychological boost from a fellow runner who stuck with me for the first 1.75 miles and helped me keep pace.

After the race, I kept Beau while Brooklynne and HJ went to a cookie decorating party at Jen Hagin's. While Beau crawled all over the house, I watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which earned a solid B.

When Brooklynne returned, we packed up the kids and Katie and headed over to the Hayes' for our Sunday school class's Christmas party. We were there from 6-8, and then we went to our second party of the day (Brooklynne's third)--Kate's cereal and Nintendo birthday bash. That was alot of fun. I made it to the finals of the Super Monkey Ball tournament before losing horrificly due in part to mid-race HJ interferrence ("Dad, let me help you....What does this button do?...Let me have it....") We didn't get the kids in bed until after 11, but they were really quite good as usual.

All-in-all a very good day, but not one that leaves time for great blogging opportunities. So I'll pick up with a less listish post tomorrow.

I just got a (another) marketing email from Wyndham Rewards.

Brooklynne and I stayed in a Wyndham this summer, and I signed up for the rewards program because they offer their Rewards members free WiFi, which was ~$10/day for non-members. After enrolling as a member, however, I booked through Orbitz, because there was a $30/day difference in the price.

When we arrived, I found that the WiFi was not included in my rate so I gave the desk clerk my rewards number and asked her to add it to our account. She said that she would do it "just this once" and explained with a slightly annoyed tone that the free WiFi perk was intended for loyalty customers who booked directly with Wyndham.

I almost asked her why loyal customers who booked directly through Wyndham were charged so much more than disloyal customers like me? I also wanted to ask her if her attitude was a reward for loyal customers too, and if she was giving that to me "just this once" also.

Clearly, I'm still irritated by this exchange. I should let it go, but I'm not planning to book with Wyndham any time soon. If I end up staying at one, I'll pay the $10/day for the WiFi and put the other $20 I save through Orbitz into my future Marriott vacation savings account.

*** After posting this, I realized I may have heightened sensitivity to this issue due to my days working for CI Industries. I should really do a whole post on "The Many Jobs of Miles Travis." ***

On Saturday, I am running in a 5K. It will be the first race I've run in since college. When I started running again last February, I could barely run a mile without stopping to walk. I was 30 pounds overweight and in the worst shape of my life.

Now, I'm still 20 pounds overweight and I'll probably run the course 10-15 minutes slower than I would have in high school or college. But it feels good to have a purpose or destination to work toward.

On another note, Durham's annual Freeze Your Balls Off Scooter Rally is quickly approaching. I liked the images from last year's rally. Maybe, if I run well enough, I'll celebrate by buying a scooter in time for the rally, and then I'll never have to run again!

No really, I do like running.

Ever since our days in Bozeman, where we often ate at Cafe Zydeco, Brooklynne and I have both loved various New Orleans-style foods, so finding a indigenous cookbook was high on our priority list when we visited Ben in LA last September.  

We ended up getting Cooking Up a Storm. When Hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans, alot of people lost their recipes and cookbooks to water damage. So, the Times-Picayune decided to create and publish a cookbook of recipes that were submitted to its local cooking column over the years. A portion of the profits apparently go toward hurricane relief, and the book came highly recommended by the guy who runs the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (whom Brooklynne and I met when we visited earlier this year--and BTW, he is a big Allen & Son fan), so we bought it.

Monday night, we finally had a chance to try a recipe, and since it was Monday (the traditional day for this dish), we made Red Beans and Rice. Oh man, it was good! I altered the recipe a little for ease by substituting a few ingredients such as bacon instead of smoked ham hock, canned beans for the dry ones, and parsley flakes for the fresh stuff. So I'm posting our version of the recipe after the break.

I usually have a twang of hesitation when I post a recipe out of a book (kind of like when I burn a mix CD), but I think I can justify this because we tweaked the recipe enough, and because once you try this dish, you will want to buy the book for the rest.

***Also, this recipe happens to be dairy and soy free for any nursing mothers who may be interested.***

Tomorrow's forecast:

For a long time now, one of HJ's favorite games has been to make me or Brooklynne lay down and let her give us a full medical examination, including rather unorthodox procedures such as injections in the head, listening to our elbows with her stethoscope, and hitting any exposed body part with the reflex hammer. Last night was a new one though.

Brooklynne was laying on the bed, getting a pretty routine checkup, when Halleigh asked her to open her mouth. HJ proceeded to examine her tongue with the ophthalmoscope, pronounced the tongue "broken," and then conducted a tongue transplant operation with an organ donated by Mr. Potatohead.

Priceless. Oh, what I would have done for a video of that interaction...!

In light of the previous post, I also thought it was worth mentioning that the US is bidding for the 2018 or 2022 World Cups. You can sign an online petition showing support for the bid here, and you can specifically support Charlotte as a host city here. Current city vote totals are listed after the cut (as of this morning).

I should have posted about the World Cup as soon as the draw came out, because I love watching/following international soccer and I wish it got more attention in the media. I feel like soccer is constantly stuck in a self-perpetuating cycle in which lack of mainstream interest breeds lack of coverage, which breeds lack of mainstream interest, which breeds lack of coverage, etc. etc. etc. The only hope for a change in this pattern is some sustained success, especially in the only event that does draw some wider public interest: the World Cup.

That's why the favorable draw in the upcoming tournament could be really important to making soccer a little more consumable here. The openning game against England will be hyped beyond anything US soccer has ever seen because of the history, and you better believe Engalnd won't be caught sleeping again. But a respectable showing in the openner followed by a push through to the knockout rounds could do alot of good in raising the sport's profile in America.

On a side note, if I were Bob Bradley, I would secretly put in an order now, and have the team dress in the old 1950 jerseys for the openner as a tribute to that team's effort, and to get in a jab at England before the first whistle.

While Brooklynne was away, I loaded up the Netflix queue with "guy" movies. I'm feeling pretty tired and uninspired, so here's a list of movies and a grade just to keep my momentum.

Shaolin Soccer: B+
Be Kind Rewind: D-
Hot Fuzz: A
Alien: B+
Aliens: B+
Shaun of the Dead: B
Donnie Darko: C-
1408: D+
Out Cold: B+
Waterworld: B-
THX 1138: C
Man on Wire: B-

Hot Fuzz was an unexpected surprise, and if you love kung fu movies, Shaolin Soccer is a fun take on that genre. Donnie Darko came highly recommended, but I was not impressed. If you know me well, then you know that party movies are a guilty pleasure of mine, so don't give me grief about Out Cold.

When I have more time, I'll do a full review of Benjamin Button and Up, both of which deserve more than a simple letter grade.

We never posted Halloween pictures, so here are a few. HJ was a bunny and Beau was her carrot. Kudos to Brooklynne for making both costumes. You can click the images for a view of the full-sized pictures. 

PG-13, 1h 58m

Critics: C-

Miles: C+

Brooklynne: C

Brooklynne and I watched G.I. Joe last night. Brooklynne saw it while she was in Utah, so it was nothing new to her, but I was seeing it for the first time. All in all, it was a fine summer flick, which was entertaining, especially if you checked your expectations at the door, but it was only a mediocre adaptation from the cartoons that I grew up with and the potential for a really good action movie was mostly wasted.

I guess most of you would say, "what did you expect from a movie whose main purpose is to boost toy sales?" but I'm going to share my two main gripes anyway. First, the action and special effects were really cartoonish. That's not my issue. That would have been fine, and the movie could have been great by hailing back to its cartoon roots. But the cartoony action made the movie seem like a kid movie, which clashed with the ramped up violence compared to the animated series. In the original series, people didn't die (or very rarely at least). Things blew up and the bad guys ran away in a rain of bullets, but people's heads did not explode, people weren't run through with knives and stuff, and there wasn't an explicit disregard for human life. My suggestion to filmmakers is to go one way or the other. A realistic, violent, shoot 'em up would have been great for an adult audience, and a cartoonish, mild action movie for younger kids would have been fun. But a mix of the two seems both uncomfortably violent for the young kids it seems designed to appeal to, and annoyingly lame excuse for a more mature action movie.

Secondly (and perhaps predictably), the writers murdered the characters of the original. While Sienna Miller plays a great Baroness, her relationship with Duke is an affront to boys who grew up loving the series. Everyone knows that the Baroness is Destro's woman. Destro, on the other hand, comes off as weak character and incapable of being a convincing partner for the Baroness, which ruins any potential future for those characters in the inevitable sequels.

Duke's character was alright, as well as Ripcord, although the banter between Ripcord and Scarlet was lacking something. The pacing was good--you never felt like the story was bogged down in details. And the Zartan character did lend the audience something to be curious about in the next installment.

So there you have it... enjoyable movie, but far far from great, and not a movie that will satisfy your old G.I. Joe nostalgia. Did anyone else see it?  Thoughts? 

I liked what This Classical Life had to say about Advent.

Our small group has been following up on the Sunday sermons, and this first week of advent, we studied Isaiah 11. My main impression from the passage was the image of the lion, lamb, wolf, kid, cow, and bear all laying down together in the peace that Jesus brings. I've always recognized this image for the absence of violence, but this time, I was struck by the absence of fear as well. The lion does not devour the lamb, and at the same time, the lamb rests without fearing that danger.

I'm going to mediate on that image this week. While we eagerly await the transformation that Christ will work in the world, how great would it be to share that kind of peace with our community today?

Brooklynne and the kids get back today. It has been a long time. I know HJ will be glad to see me, but it will be fun to see if Beau reacts at all. They are actually in flight as I type, somewhere over Colorado. I'm not sure if other airlines have this, but it's always fun when Brooklynne flies on Delta because I can track her exact position through their website. The flight status page has a google maps app. that shows the flight plan, the actual flight path, time in flight, altitude, and ETA. Pretty cool--way to go Delta. The screenshot I've pasted here is from about 10:15 est, when the family had just passed only a few miles north of Brooklynne's Mom's house in Black Forest. I just checked again, and in the time it took me to write this post, they have already crossed into Kansas. Air travel is amazing, no?

As of now, we have seven eight nine ten eleven challengers including myself, but it's not too late to join in the fun (as long as you post something to your blog today). All of these folks are linked in the sidebar, but just for convenience sake, here is a list of the other participating blogs.

• Our Own Little Happy Place
• The Spicy Redneck
• In Medias Res
• The World According to Kristy
• Uncle Moustache
• Still Waiting for the Dawn
• The Travis Skinny
• b-u-r-l-y-f-a-m-i-l-y
• The Gearys
• This Classical Life

Happy blogging!

I'm not usually a candy person, but there is a girl at work who has a pile of pixie sticks on her desk. Apparently, someone was unloading old halloween candy and gave her a bunch (even though she claims she doesn't eat them). Now whenever I walk by her desk, I grab a pixie stick and I get my entire day's sugar allowance in 30 seconds. Awesome.

In looking for a picture to include, I stumbled across a couple of fun facts.

1. The stuff in the pixie stick straws is actually a drink mix that was rebranded as a snack when kids started eating it straight from the package.
2. Fundip (with a licking stick and in a larger package) and SweeTarts (compressed) are the same candy in different forms.