2Dolphins

Breakfast With Santa 2009

2009-11-14T21:41:00.000-06:00

Today was our company’s annual "Breakfast with Santa" which should really be called breakfast before Santa.

We arrived as they opened at 9:00 A.M. and were still number 71 (think Southwest Airlines boarding passes). After we had our sausage biscuit breakfast and juice, we waited for the arrival of Santa and then began listening for our number group to be called so Liam could go see "The Man."

We finally made our way to the stage about 10:30 A.M. where fearless Liam hopped right up on Santa’s knee and told him what precisely he wanted for Christmas. It’s a short list this year — Mack the truck (from Cars) and Play-Doh.

It was a fun morning and Liam had a chance to catch up on some playtime with some of friends he hadn’t seen in awhile.

Click the photo above to see more pictures!

Snoopy vs. Red Baron Redux

2009-11-12T06:51:00.000-06:00

If you know anything at all about me, you know that I love Snoopy. So you can imagine how jazzed I was to learn about the eye-popping upcoming videogame Snoopy WWI Flying Ace. *

Autumn always rekindles fond memories of the great old Peanuts animated holiday "specials" we always watched as kids. Snoopy’s heroic World War I fighter waged aerial battle and crossed imaginary wartime France as a downed pilot in Charles Shulz’s "It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in October 1966.

Smart Bomb Interactive’s new game, scheduled for release in the 1st quarter of 2010 for all major consoles, once again pits Snoopy against Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. the Red Baron and the rest of those dastardly wartime Germans. From the sneak preview trailer, it looks like they’ve certainly met their match!

If you can’t get enough of the Flying Ace, there’s even a Snoopy Flying Ace USB hub for your desktop. Just plug the hub into your PC’s USB port and watch Snoopy & his faithful Sopwith Camel come alive!

And though you’ve probably seen it countless times, just how well do you know "It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?"

* Okay, never mind that we don’t even own a game console — I can still get excited about a game, right? Maybe this will push us over the edge?

Halloween ’09 Highlights

2009-11-02T21:06:00.000-06:00

Our 2nd Halloween with Liam was another eventful holiday! It was the first time either Rob or Liam had ever carved a Jack-o’-Lantern. The results were pretty good for a rookie effort:

Here are more photos of the pumpkin carving.

For Liam’s costume this year, we pieced together a "Bob the Builder" outfit from borrowed work boots (Thanks Katherine!), a new pair of denim overalls & a flannel shirt found on eBay, and a toy toolbelt & hardhat from Amazon.com. Then for his daycare’s "Barnyard Day" theme day, we just omitted the hardhat & toolbelt and renamed him "Farmer Kirby." (Actually, the "Kirby" part was purely his own invention and we’re still not sure where it originated from.)

And you can see more photos from our ’09 Halloween here.

Finally, I never did get our pictures from Fiddlesticks Farms last weekend posted. So just in case there weren’t already enough pictures in one post, here are a few shots from our fun October ’09 trip to Fiddlesticks Farms.

iTunes Hero

2009-10-26T06:33:00.001-05:00

Thinking back on the song "Juke Box Hero," I started wondering if that has any context with today’s music fans. I mean really, a jukebox? In this age of white earbuds, how many Gen Y or Zers have ever even touched a jukebox?

I fondly recall plunking coins into a flashy old Wurlitzer, watching the machine magically come to life, clicking and whirring as the Rube Goldberg-esqe mechanism whisked the 45 RPM records off the rack and plopped them gingerly down on the turntable, and finally hearing the slight hiss & crackle as the diamond needle met the black vinyl. Man, that was something special!

(And who didn’t envy Fonzie’s special gift for knocking a temperamental jukebox into action with a quick, cool snap of the wrist?)

What got me thinking about this is a new album by Foreigner called Can’t Slow Down that was released just a few weeks ago. It’s another Wal-Mart exclusive 3-disc set like last year’s Journey "Revelations." Like the Journey release, this one features one disc of new material, a disc of 10 refreshed versions of some of the band’s classics (including "Juke Box Hero"), and a live concert DVD.

But the parallels don’t end there. Foreigner’s new lead singer Kelly Hansen is to that band’ s original frontman Lou Gramm what Journey’s new Arnel Pineda is to Steve Perry. Really. He’s that close. No he’s not exactly Lou any more than Arnel is a true Xerox of Steve, but the vocal style & flavor is so strikingly similar (especially on the studio recordings) that it’ll easily pass as the original singer’s sound for casual listeners. Don’t believe me? Compare the following classic hits as performed then vs. now:

Hot Blooded - 1993

Hot Blooded - 2009

Urgent - 1993

Urgent - 2009

Yeah, it is a little freaky for a guy who looks like he could be Steven Tyler’s cousin to sound like Lou Gramm. And in continuing the comparisons to Journey, doesn’t rhythm guitarist & sax player Tom Gimbel (who coincidentally, used to tour with Steven Tyler’s Aerosmith!) look an awful lot like Neal Schon?

Anyway, the new material is good! It may not be quite as punchy & raw as the late 70s / early 80s stuff when Foreigner first landed on the radio (and in jukeboxes!), but the new songs are certainly on-par with much of the group’s mid to late 80s stuff. Several of these could easily be hits if the label works them right. If you were a fan of Mick Jones & the boys back then, you’re going to air-drumming & whistling along with most of the songs on this new album. Of course, it might’ve made more sense for them to remake "Juke Box Hero" as "iTunes Hero" — except that you can’t get the new album on iTunes...

If you give the new Foreigner a listen, post a comment!

By the way, bonus points go out to anyone who saw Foreigner’s original tour in ’85 that actually featured a giant inflatable jukebox. Were you there?

Pumpkin Patch 2009

2009-10-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

We finally had a chance to go to the pumpkin patch today. We had originally planned on going last weekend but the weather didn’t cooperate. It was a great opportunity to get some camera practice in on my favorite subject and Liam loved running around through all the pumpkins.

We bought a pumpkin to carve — which will be a first for both Rob and Liam — and we also bought a baby pumpkin.

We followed up our trip to the pumpkin patch with a stop off at Barnes and Noble for some complimentary hot chocolates that came with our pumpkin purchase.

Here’s a shot of Liam in the pumpkin patch.

Dolphin-Safe Tuna - Anything But Safe

2009-09-28T06:23:00.003-05:00

"You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t."

There never ceases to be good examples of just how true Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote is.

Via Jason Kottke’s blog, I discovered marine biology grad student Dave Shiffman’s interesting debate The Ecological Disaster That Is Dolphin-Safe Tuna that sheds some unique perspectives on the concept of "dolphin-safe" tuna, its effects on sustainable commercial tuna fishing, and the impacts of bycatch.

The gist of the article is that we’ve blindly allowed activists to recklessly prioritize the well-being of one group of aquatic animals at the expense of many others. This is largely because it’s easier for our collective conscience to identify with smart, friendly dolphins than other species that aren’t as easily empathized with because they seem less cute or intelligent. As a result, government-mandated dolphin-safe fishing practices have unintentionally had devastating effects for a much broader range of oceanic creatures.

For every 1 dolphin saved, 382 Mahi-Mahi, 188 Wahoo, 82 Yellowtail & other large fish, 27 sharks, nearly 1,200 smaller fish, and a number of sea turtles and various other sea-life.

(To make matters worse, dolphin-safe fishing methods result in far more young tuna being caught rather than the more mature tuna who have already been reproducing, thereby making food supplies even more scarce for the very dolphins we’re striving to save.)

So the thorny ethical dilemma is whether it’s worth saving dolphins at the expense of sea turtles, sharks, and many other endangered fish species. Should we protect dolphins — who we have reason to believe are sentient mammals with intelligence that rivals our own — even if it means fishing some other sea-life right into extinction?

Gitar

2009-09-20T16:36:00.008-05:00

We often fondly think back to our time in Moscow in Dec. ’07 when we first met Liam. Our driver / translator / guide for that first trip to Russia was a great fellow named Pashe (pronounced Pasha). Among other things, I got a big kick out of his ghetto cell phone ("Bluetooth?! No, my phone doesn’t have Bluetooth; it has duct tape.") that he used almost continuously. When we met up with him on our 2nd trip to Moscow in Feb. ’08, he was quite proud of his new cell phone and the funny ringtone he had at the time. In fact, Pashe and Liam danced to the ringtone.

I asked Pashe to write down the artist & name of the song and a few months later finally remembered to look it up. "Gitar" is a homemade handicam video by 26 year old former architecture student Peter Nalitch. We haul this out to show people from time to time, so I finally decided to just post it here. Rob calls it an "earworm," because it’s so cheesy-fun & infectious that you’ll have it stuck in your head for days. So, in honor of Pashe, enjoy:

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

9/11 Memorial Gardens Park

2009-09-12T22:10:00.001-05:00

Each year, three thousand American flags line the sidewalk — one for each victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack — around our local Memorial Gardens Park and it’s quite a moving sight to see! This year there were six additional flags placed for each of the local police officers that’ve been killed in the line of duty.

We took the opportunity to stop by and take some photographs this cool cloudy morning.
Click here to view some of the photos.

Lost Library

2009-09-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

A recent blog about beautiful libraries triggered some old memories. As a kid, I loved going to the public library — and still do. Our library wasn’t elaborate or grandiose, yet it seemed immense. People spoke in hushed church-like tones. There was that nameless scent. The obscure Dewey Decimal System held untold secrets just waiting to be decoded. The shelves just dripped with potential. Yes, going to the library was a rich & wondrous experience!

But it’s an experience I fear that my son may never know...

Booked-filled libraries are becoming a thing of the past. But while virtual libraries of e-books are certainly more accessible, I don’t think they’re as appreciable. There’s not the same sense of vastness nor do they inspire the same reverence or wonderment. Digital books seem less tangible and substantial. You can electronically duplicate the content, but not the context or sensual aspect, the smell, feel, heft & texture, of actual books.

I’ll admit that even in spite of my love for real, physical books, I’m not immune to the hype & allure of e-book readers. The idea that in a matter of seconds, you can download a new book rather than ordering it and waiting days or weeks for it to arrive make devices like Amazon.com’s Kindle really attractive. But several factors — not the least of which is the price — have held me back. I’ve seen a Sony e-book reader and the screen was surprisingly easy on the eyes, but deep down I’m still suspicious that the e-book reader experience just wouldn’t be as satisfying or comfortable as reading a book.

But sadly, the trend of replacing actual books with digital versions is only accelerating. In fact, Cushing Academy near Boston is one of the first schools in the U.S. to abandon traditional books in favor of virtual ones. In lieu of a library, the academy is instead creating a media center, spending nearly $500,000 equip it with with flat-screen TVs, e-book readers, and a coffee shop.

Is it just me and this is just nostalgia rearing its head once again? Do you think there’s anything lost in the transition from physical to digital books? Have you considered making the move to e-books? Are libraries all but lost as we plunge ever deeper into the cyberworld?

Labor Day Weekend 2009

2009-09-07T23:50:00.007-05:00

We went to Brady, Texas this weekend to visit friends and go to the 36th Annual World Championship BBQ Goat Cook-Off. A big thunderstorm moved through Friday night, which left Richards Park really muddy for the big event, but that didn’t seem to slow down the crowd. I had to figure out how to get a shoe on to wear since my new tattoo is still healing. So I ended up wearing a sock and a loose sandal, which as you can imagine, was quite the fashion statement. Of course, my friends didn’t let me live it down but it worked out pretty well. By some miracle, I managed to still have a white sock after I left (I can’t say that much for Rob’s mud-caked shoes).

Liam was immediately drawn to the air jumpers when we first got there. He of course picked the tallest one to play on. From there, we got him interested in the petting zoo although he didn’t much care for the animals eating out of his hand. After much hand sanitizer, we moved on to check out some of the local arts & craft booths. After we made our way to the back of the park, Liam spotted the bungee trampolines. I really didn’t think he was big enough to get on them so I was going to let the workers break the bad news to him but they unexpectedly agreed to let him jump. So, Liam got strapped into the harness and headed for the skies! Most 3 year olds would have probably been terrified at the prospect of bouncing 15 feet in the air, but not "Mr. Fearless." I can only imagine what’s in store for us in the future!

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

We had some fair food for lunch — but no, we didn’t eat any goat — before we left the event. What is it about food on a stick that you wouldn’t ordinarily cross the street for, but is the most wonderful stuff ever invented when you’re wandering around at a fair? The weather was perfect, it was overcast the whole day and never did get too hot. Liam insisted on a second round at the bungee trampolines on our way out of the park.

Back at the house that evening, Sladyn & his friend Nick "Nickaroo" were riding their dirt bikes and I got several great shots of them doing jumps as the sun was setting.

Click here to view some of the pictures from our Labor Day adventures in Brady.

Food For Thought: Wrapup

2009-09-05T23:56:00.000-05:00

I hope the food-related topics information & ideas covered during this series have been revealing, thought-provoking, or maybe at least sparked some discussion. Some of these topics have certainly dominated our dinner table conversations this week!

As promised, I’ve had an impartial participant draw the names of two people who’ve posted comments this past week to award the free books. And here are the results:

Brian T. — Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.

Mark & Sinziana — The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

So please send me your mailing addresses and I’ll USPS ship ’em right out to you! A big "Thank you!" goes out to all of you who left comments and helped make this blog series more interesting!

Articles in this Food For Thought series:

Of course, I’d like to encourage you to take a few minutes to peruse through some of our previous food-related blog posts too!

Food For Thought: Loco For Locavore

2009-09-04T02:40:00.001-05:00

One of the focal points in The Omnivore’s Dilemma is the value of eating locally-grown food and although I don’t believe the term is specifically used in the book, author Michael Pollan clearly supports the principles of the "locavore" movement.

What is a locavore? Well, much like a carnivore is someone who eats meat and a herbivore is someone who eats plants, a locavore is a person who eats locally-sourced food. The locavore movement has sprouted in the past few years to encourage people to consume more food from regional farms, area farmers’ markets, at stores which carry local products, or even to produce some of their own food.

There are several reasons in makes sense to favor locally-grown food:

Regarding food quality, even if local products aren’t formally certified as "organic," chances are still very good that they’ve been grown or raised using much healthier methods. The result is better quality, fresher flavor, and more nutritious food.

Locally-sourced food is "greener" or more environmentally-friendly. It has a smaller carbon footprint due to the lower "food miles" — or how far food has to travel from the farm to the fork. Importing non-regional and international foods can sometimes require vast amounts of fossil fuels & non-renewable resources.

Locally-grown and/or produced food is often likely to be the result of more Earth-friendly & sustainable practices. This translates to fewer unwanted chemicals making their way into your family’s plates.

There’s also the satisfaction of knowing that you’re supporting your local economy when you purchase from regional farmers & growers.

Green Blog Diaries offers a bushel-load of great locavore-themed blogs to chew on. The blogs featured in that roundup are an excellent starting point to discover lots more about the local food movement. There’s also a great new group blog called Civil Eats that strives to promote critical thought about sustainable agriculture & food systems.

Of course, there has to be a balance struck between lofty ideals versus what’s practical — buying local is far easier in fertile regions than in other, more agriculturally-barren areas. Some people will be discouraged by the radical narrow-focus surrounding the locavore "movement" and its 100-mile limit. And there’ll even be the wacky few who drive gas-guzzling SUVs all the way across town to buy locally-grown tomatoes because they’re more environmentally-friendly.

So, what do you think? Have you already been focusing more on local food? Do you believe efforts to be more local-minded can make a difference or do you dismiss this as just another pointless yuppie fad?

Remember to post a comment by midnight (P.S.T.) so your name will be entered for a chance at one of the two food-related books I’m giving away to commemorate this Food For Thought series.

Food For Thought: Kids Cuisine

2009-09-03T08:28:00.000-05:00

Inspiring & passionate, Chef Ann Cooper (a.k.a. the Renegade Lunch Lady) has spearheaded a dramatic overhaul in the school lunch programs in Berkley, CA. She’s on a mission to change the way children eat and transform cafeterias into culinary classrooms. Don’t be put off by her intensity — she’s just very outraged and committed to getting the word out about how our childrens’ nutritional needs are being so poorly addressed in school.

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

Check out Ann Cooper’s blog and also follow Ann Cooper on Twitter to keep up with all of her latest happenings.

Of course, some of Ann’s ideas may not work universally. Sure, fresh regional veggies & fruits are abundant in California, but locally-grown, organic produce isn’t necessarily so readily available in other parts of the country. Still, consider the benefits for children of applying even a few of Ann’s progressive changes.

What’re your thoughts on school lunches and kids’s nutritional needs? Do you believe schools are doing enough already? To be entered in the book drawing at the end of this Food For Thought week, just leave a comment!

Food For Thought: Fast Food Nation

2009-09-02T06:29:00.001-05:00

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser is an in-depth look at how the fast food industry has revolutionized the landscape, culture, & health of America — and ultimately the entire world.

Not quite what you’d expect, Schlosser’s book doesn’t demonize fast food as it pertains to health — in fact, the author plainly states that his family still does eat some fast food — but rather, it’s more of an indictment of the corporate entities behind the drive-thrus.

This is a revealing look at sanitation & food safety that’s very often far from the primary concern of the big fast food chains. It’s also a disturbing investigation into some of the deplorable ways in which these companies commonly, almost criminally, (mis)treat their employees.

But as much as slam many of the major fast food companies for their unethical practices, but I’ve got to commend Schlosser for also making a point to highlight the few that do it right, like In-N-Out Burger, for example.

This book is also packed with details and loads of interesting backstory, so it’s not an quick & easy weekend read. As broad a topic as fast food cultural is, Schlosser’s points wander appropriately across a very wide range. But "Fast Food Nation" is definitely well worth the time! Just a few of the persuasive nuggets:

The fast food industry has aggressively lobbied against improved health and safety practices in the meat-packing industry, while pushing for lower product costs, faster production and more uniform product. One result of this is that any single hamburger patty may be comprised of ground bits from hundreds, sometimes thousands, of cattle rather than a single cow.

The meatpacking industry has become totally industrialized. Cattle are fed a continuous diet of corn — something which cows would not naturally eat in volume — laced with massive amounts of antibiotics to counteract the devastating effects that solely eating grain has upon the bovine digestive system (resulting in ever more resistant pathogens). In addition to being unhealthy for the cows, corn-fed beef is comparably higher in unhealthy saturated fats than that of grass-fed.

To comply with international standards, the quality of meat being processed for shipment to non-American locations of the big fast food chains is several times higher than that of the meat used domestically. That means that a Big Mac in Dubai has better & safer meat than the same burger at a McDonald’s in Dallas.

Fast food has infiltrated every corner of American society and is now served at restaurants & drive-throughs, at stadiums, airports, zoos, public schools & universities, on cruise ships, trains, and airplanes, at retail stores, gas stations, and even in some hospital cafeterias. In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion.

To make a strawberry milkshake at home, you’d probably use ice cream, strawberries, milk, and maybe a touch of vanilla. But the ingredients in a typical fast-food version include milkfat & nonfat milk, sweet whey, high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, guar gum, monoglycerides & diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, citric acid, E129, and artificial strawberry flavor. That elusive "strawberry flavor" isn’t even derived from actual fruit, but rather an elaborate laboratory where "flavorists" perform wizardry with chemicals such as amyl acetate, butyric acid, dipropyl ketone, methyl heptine carbonate, and undecalactone.

This book has certainly changed the way I look at the food I’m putting on my family’s table. And it’s the second of the two books I’ll be drawing a name for at the end of this Food For Thought week, so be sure to leave a comment so that you’re entered to win!

Has there been anything that’s changed your opinions about fast food? Do you still eat fast food as often? Do you ever veer away from the big chain restaurants and instead get burgers & such from "Mom & Pop" fast food places?

Food For Thought: Smorgasbord

2009-09-01T05:23:00.005-05:00

Today’s entry in the week-long Food For Thought series is a veritable smorgasbord of assorted food-related topics:

Finding locally-produced foods can sometimes be a bit difficult, especially if you don’t live in an agriculturally-diverse area. Two websites that can make locating local farmers & growers much easier are Local Harvest and Eat Well Guide. Both are online directories of sustainable food suppliers, searchable by location, where you can just enter your Zip Code and get a list for your area.

Did you know that the crust is the best part of bread? It not only contains 8 times more antixodants, but is also rich in dietary fiber, which can help prevent colon cancer. So, don’t trim the crusts off of your kids’ sandwiches!

The typical American breakfast of cereal, lowfat milk, & orange juice — often recommended by dietitians & doctors alike — is a nightmare! According to some, the processing involved with the manufacture of much of our food riddles it with oxidants known to cause degenerative diseases such as cancer, heart disease, brain dysfunction, and cataracts.

For example, naturally-occurring cholesterol in fresh dairy products is used by your body to build & strengthen cell membranes, muscles, brain & nerve tissue. But the drying process in making powdered milk — which is commonly used as a thickener in skim & lowfat milk — oxidizes the cholesterol which, once oxidized, can longer be used but instead collects along the walls of arteries.

If you cook, you’ll want to bookmark the Cook’s Thesaurus right now! It’s a kitchen encyclopedia that covers thousands of ingredients & tools with pictures, descriptions, synonyms, and pronunciations of each. But what’ll bring you back — and just may save a holiday meal — are the suggested substitutions.

(Who knew you could substitute 3 tbsp. mayonnaise, ¼ cup of applesauce, or half a mashed ripe banana plus ¼ tsp. baking powder for each egg in a recipe?)

Honey can be a surprisingly effective, easy, & inexpensive solution for some allergy sufferers. Ingesting small amounts of the airborne pollens that are also contained in the honey helps your body to build up a natural resistance to the allergens. So adding a couple of teaspoons of local, pure, wildflower honey into your daily diet can decrease (and possibly even prevent) seasonal allergies.

However, this is typically not what’s found in the cute little bear-shaped jars in the supermarket because mass-produced honey is stripped of its medicinal value via processing & heat sterilization. And commercial bees are often fed corn syrup rather than their own honey, which diminishes the health of the hive as in addition to decreasing the nutritive benefits of the honey. So look for locally-harvested (try within a 50 mile radius of your house), unpasteurized, unfiltered, 100% pure wildflower honey — the kind that you commonly find at farmers’ markets or produce stands.

For complete nutritional data on honey and a whole host of other health-promoting foods, visit the World’s Healthiest Foods. This website, run by The George Mateljan Foundation (a not-for-profit foundation with no commercial interests) aims to discover, develop, and share scientifically-proven information about the benefits of healthy eating.

Foster Farms, a California poultry company, created the Say No To Plumping campaign. Plumping is the practice of needlessly injecting chickens with saltwater, stock, seaweed extract, or other fluids to radically increase sodium content, weight, and price — which the USDA estimates costs Americans up to $2 billion annually!

High fructose corn syrup has become so abundant & incredibly cheap that manufacturers sneak it into practically everything. HFCS is used liberally even in foods that have no need for any sweetener in them.

But if it isn’t bad enough that so much of our foods are secretly loaded with the stuff, we now we find out that HFCS is contaminated with mercury. Two studies recently found significant traces of the toxic metal in 30-50% of sampled foods containing HFCS. So if you weren’t sufficiently convinced of the evils of HFCS before, it’s high time to reconsider!

Do you have some interesting morsel of food-related goodness to share? Be sure to leave a comment to be entered in the book giveaway at the end of this Food For Thought week!

Food For Thought: The Omnivore’s Dilemma

2009-08-31T04:59:00.000-05:00

To start this Food For Thought series off I’d like to highlight one of the best, most compelling books I’ve read about the food we eat & its origins.

Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a fascinating exploration of the origins of modern food and the implications that our choices have for the health of us — and our planet. Pollan’s account of his stay at Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farms was especially fascinating.

This is a bit of a dense read, because it’s so packed with information, but it’s an incredibly eye-opening & thought-provoking book. A few takeaway points that stuck with me:

If we are what we eat, then we are corn. Corn is in everything, from frozen vegetables to sandwich meat to yogurt to pasta sauce to bread to grape juice and even cough syrup, most often in the form of high fructose corn syrup or modified corn starch — or both.

Corn fields have become little more than a very inefficient means of converting petroleum (in the form of fuel, fertilizer, & pesticides) into food. And corn seems "cheap" at the consumer end because we’ve already paid for it once via tax subsidies that support the Farm Bill.

Industrial farms often use sketchy loopholes to qualify for using the "organic" label on their produce. When buying produce, it’s far better to shop for locally-grown or regional items first, organic or otherwise.

It’s worth understanding the distinctions between organic, free range, hormone-free, etc. Some of these terms are used more loosely than others. For instance, "free range" animals are often provided only the opportunity to roam in a small open area but not necessarily given any incentive to do so. They typically live no differently than non-free range animals.

If farms were to switch from monoculture (only one crop grown) back to growing many different crops and raising a variety of animals as well, not only would the farmers benefit, but so would the livestock, environment, and community as a whole.

Pollan’s "The Omnivore’s Dilemma" is one of the two books I’ll be drawing a name for at the end of this Food For Thought week, so be sure to leave a comment so you’re entered to win! I’d love to hear from others who’ve read this book or if you’ve read another book that made a real impact upon how you view food, please share that!

Food For Thought

2009-08-30T05:18:00.000-05:00

Over the past few years, I’ve become very intrigued by food and much more mindful about the quality of what we eat, where it comes from, and how it affects us.

Having never written a consecutive blog series before, I’ve been eager to try. So each day this week, I’ll be featuring a food-related article in the hope that sharing these nuggets may inform, inspire, incite, or at least interest you as much as they have me.

I’ll post the first in the series tomorrow, but until then please browse through some of our past food-related blog entrées.

And there’s more...

To commemorate this blog series, I’ll be doing a giveaway of two of my favorite food-related books. Simply leave a comment on any blog post here on 2Dolphins this week to enter the random drawing. On Saturday, I’ll select the names at random and promptly ship the books to the two lucky winners!

Articles in this Food For Thought series:

Big Boy Bed

2009-08-24T19:36:00.001-05:00

Liam made the transition from his baby bed to a "big boy" bed this past weekend. He was so excited when they delivered the bed on Saturday morning! We temporarily moved the baby bed to other side of his room (just in case) but he kept insisting that we get it out of there because he’s a big boy now.

He did really well with his nap Saturday afternoon and then slept all that night (with only one roll-off mishap). Luckily his giant, fluffy bear Hugo "caught" him when he rolled off the bed at 5:30 on Sunday morning. Rob bought a couple of swimming pool foam noodles that we put under the fitted sheet on each side of the bed to create bumpers for the sides and that seems to have solved the rolling off problem.

After naptime yesterday, we decided to take the old crib apart and Liam even helped remove screws with the cordless drill and bag up the little pieces.

The headboard is still in transit and we haven’t installed the bedskirt yet so I’ll update this post with another picture when all of that’s in place.

Update: The ready-to-assemble headboard finally arrived so here’s the completed bed with headboard, noodles and bedskirt all in place:

We’ve also finally updated the Liam’s bedroom page with some photos and details of his room. Be sure to take a peek!

My Birthday Gift

2009-08-21T08:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I’m a day late on posting my birthday gift photo but due to scheduling conflicts, I had to move my appointment for tonight. Without further ado, here it is — and YES, it did hurt! But it was worth it!

Thanks to Anita’s great recommendation, I made my tattoo appointment with Calvin at Blue Collar Art Co.. What do you think?

Update: I found this excellent tattoo care video by Pat Fish in Santa Barbara that offers fantastic advice on the care & maintenance of a new tattoo. Tattoo aftercare varies widely from artist to artist (and with some, it’s barely even addressed) but Pat provides more detailed instructions & explanation than any other artist I’ve dealt with.

Tax-Free Insanity

2009-08-21T06:38:00.001-05:00

The annual, three-day Sales Tax Holiday begins today in Texas. During the "holiday" weekend of August 21—23rd, back-to-school shoppers get a break from state & local sales taxes on most clothing, shoes, backpacks, & school supplies priced at less than $100 purchased for use by a student in an elementary or secondary school.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for being frugal and realize that even small savings can add up, but just as I wondered how did shopping become a holiday? a couple of years back, I continue to question this insanity. There’s little doubt as to our government’s underlying motives for this "holiday" — oh sure, we get a little relief from sales taxes on a few select items, but they get a massive shot in the arm from the influx of taxes on incidental purchases — purchases we’d be much less likely to make if not for this artificial incentive.

And really, unless you’re spending hundreds of dollars, an eight percent savings isn’t a tremendous net. (C’mon, we’re talking about less than a Frappuccino or two.) In fact, I suspect that if instead of this pay no sales tax all weekend event, retailers advertised a take 8% off on back-to-school purchases sale, the response would be, um, "yawn."

Rapacious retailers are, of course, banking heavily upon this "holiday" to lure budget-crunched consumers into the stores and help pry open their wallets. These annual sales tax holidays have become a huge event that extend, in many states, well beyond sensible school supplies to include big-ticket items like large electronics, major appliances, & furniture.

And the tax-free insanity doesn’t end there...

Some states also have separate sales tax holidays just for firearms. Firearms? Yup, you can get your weaponry & ammo tax-free in Louisiana on September 4—6th and in South Carolina on November 27—28th!

29 Again

2009-08-16T23:11:00.001-05:00

Each year, Dede’s birthday is kinda overshadowed by the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death and this one was no different. It was a low-key birthday, but still we did manage to get out to a restaurant for a nice dinner — something that’s a bit rare these days.

Dede’s birthday "gift" was delayed a couple of days due to scheduling, but she has an appointment on Wednesday evening so stay tuned for photos of her "gift" later this week...

Five Little Monkeys With a Tragic Ending

2009-08-15T22:30:00.007-05:00

Since moving up into Ms. Gloria’s 3-4 Year Olds class at daycare this month, Liam has been learning a whole new set of songs. I think we’ve heard Five Little Monkeys Swinging In a Tree about 20 times every day this week. And the practice is paying off, because he’s nearly got all the words memorized — and has even started embellishing it with other details as you’ll see in the video below. Enjoy!

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

Living On the Edge

2009-08-05T06:02:00.007-05:00

Over at The Art of Manliness blog, Brett & Kate McKay recently capped off their "30 Days to a Better Man" series with an article extolling the manly virtues of getting a straight razor shave that tapped into a soft spot I’ve long since had.

Y’see, the day before my wedding, my brother Rich (whom I hadn’t seen for several years prior due to him being stationed at a USAF base in the Philippines) & I went to get haircuts together. We scoured the town trying to find a barbershop that offered old-fashioned straight razor shaves but we were advised that (at that time) nobody was doing them out of fear of AIDS. So I just kinda dismissed the notion and never really looked back.

That was 13 years ago...

On a whim last week, I phoned around to see if I could find a barbershop that does this now and on Saturday, I took the plunge and finally got that elusive straight razor shave I had backburnered for so long.

Was it everything I’d thought it might be? Well, my usually-stubbly face felt as soft & smooth as a baby’s bottom and my moustache & goatee has never looked more neatly & precisely trimmed. And to be sure, it was a distinctly masculine-feeling thing to do. But...

I’m not sure I chose the right barber to do the task.

There were no hot, moist cotton towels or fancy facial prepwork to soften my whiskers. No ceremonial stropping with that ominous schtick, schtick sound of the cold, glinty steel razor being dragged across a timeworn piece of leather to finely hone its edge. No bushy badger brush clinking in the old ceramic cup of soap to whisk up a warm soapy lather. Nope, my first ever old-fashioned straight razor shave sadly featured none of the quintessential rituals that would’ve made it so much more of a momentous venture.

There were, however, lots of nicks that stung like fierce little rattlesnake bites when the barber hit me (without warning!) with the thankfully unscented, but nonetheless very potent post-shave astringent.

Still, if you were to ask me if I’d get a straight razor shave again, I’d say "Yes!" Now that I know that some barbers do offer this service again and I’m past the initial apprehension of having someone come at my tender face with a big, gleaming piece of sharpened metal, I do think it’ll happen again — but with a different barber next time!

Lucky Thirteen

2009-08-03T08:03:00.000-05:00

To those who are superstitious, thirteen is a number to be feared, but I’ve never felt luckier — today marks our 13th wedding anniversary!

We played Mary Chapin Carpenter’s "Grow Old With Me" during our wedding ceremony and those opening lines, "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be..." have never, ever ceased to be true. These have, without question, been the most amazing, eventful, rewarding, & blessed years and I continue to eagerly anticipate whatever comes next...

And I discovered that there are quite a few interesting things associated with the number 13:

The American flag has thirteen horizontal stripes, six white ones & seven red ones, to commemorate the 13 colonies that originally formed the United States.
Considered a special number in Pakistan, 13 is tera in Punjabi, which means "yours" (as in, "I am yours, O Lord").
NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain and NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino both wore number 13.
The expression "baker’s dozen" dates back to 13th century England where bakers would give an extra loaf when selling a dozen to avoid being penalized for selling short weight.
There’s a formally-recognized phobia for those who dread the number 13: Triskaidekaphobia.
A mid-mission technical malfunction (explosion of an oxygen tank) forced the Apollo 13 lunar landing to be aborted on April 13, 1970 — 39 years ago (39÷3=13).
There were thirteen participants at the Last Supper, with Judas Iscariot (the disciple who betrayed Jesus) believed to have been the 13th to sit at the table.

Can Apple Save Handwriting?

2009-07-29T20:08:00.000-05:00

Over the past few days, two seemingly unrelated topics converged upon me and sparked some wishful thinking.

First, there’s a mounting roar of media buzz about Apple working to get a tablet PC to market by the Christmas shopping season. It’s speculated that this book-sized, 3G-enabled, 10-inch touch screen tablet computer will have more in common with the Mac than iPod Touch or iPhone at the operating system level.

Apple’s new device is said to feature only an on-screen keyboard rather than a physical one, so it’s seems a given that this device will offer handwriting recognition, which is a mature user interface technology that’s been employed in Windows-based tablet PCs over the past few years. Despite being a surprisingly accurate means of entering text, handwriting recognition really hasn’t found its way out of the niche market because tablet PCs have never been widely adopted.

The second topic, the death of cursive writing, has been talked about for the past few years, but has been getting lots more buzz in the blogs just recently. Increasingly, the news media continues to forecast the demise of cursive writing, calling the once-essential skill now something as quaint as, well, using a telephone to actually speak to people.

I’ve long since been concerned that the loss of handwriting could mean a loss of cognitive opportunity for kids and I’m a big advocate of kids being exposed to analog technologies. So, the ideas of Apple’s forthcoming device and handwriting recognition sort of snapped together like perfect puzzle pieces for me and I’ve become kind of excited considering the possibility...

Maybe Apple can save handwriting!

And why not? Apple has certainly revitalized & catapulted other languishing technologies in its wake. The iPod was by no means the first MP3 player. The iPhone wasn’t the first touchscreen PDA — it wasn’t even the first multi-touch device, although they spun that little-known user interface into mainstream gold overnight. Album art has been around since the invention of the record, but Cover Flow made it cool again. Yup, Apple has a distinguished history of reusing & breathing new life into overlooked or underestimated technologies.

So maybe Steve Jobs & Co. can take handwriting recognition out of its obscure little niche and elevate it to an attractive, mainstream user interface element too. Perhaps Apple could reinvent cursive writing as a valued technology once again.

What do you think? Is handwriting worth saving? Will Apple’s release of a tablet with handwriting recognition have similar far-reaching ripples to bring handwriting back from the brink of extinction?