Canada, Stonehenge, and Hill Country

What do Canada, Stonehenge, and the Texas Hill Country have in common? This week, it's me!

On Thursday I got this adorable package from Bridget. It made its way all the way from the cold weather in Halifax to hot Houston!


On Friday the Dude, his mom and I headed out to Hill Country for a wedding. The wedding was outside of Kerrville and was further west in Texas than I have been before. It's a really beautiful area that reminded me of Pennsylvania in some ways: the rolling hills, abundant greenery, and cows. However the cows had long horns and the hills had flat layers instead of the broken and slanted layers typical in PA.

The wedding was held at a ranch turned camp and there was lots of fun stuff to do! We swam in the river and the pool, went canoeing, and I went off this huge slide. You haul a wooden sled up to the top (an effort in itself) then slide down and watch your life flash before your eyes. It was fun but once was enough.

(notice how small the people are next to the slide)

(the view from the top)

On the way home today we stopped at Stonehenge. No, not the one you're thinking of...Stonehenge II! I had heard of this place before and some of you may have seen it on Friday Night Lights*. Imagine my surprise when we went around a bend in the road and there it was. The whole thing shows how crazy Texans are. Two guys found a big piece of limestone, decided it reminded them of Stonehenge and set out to replicate the whole monument at 75% size. It was pretty impressive!



After we left Stonehenge we stopped at the Riverwalk in San Antonio for lunch. There were lots of people out with their mothers for Mother's Day. I hope all the moms (and moms-to-be) reading this had a great day!

All in all, it was a busy couple of days but next weekend I should be able to relax somewhat. I'll be looking forward to it!

*If you are not already watching Friday Night Lights, start immediately. It's one of the best shows on tv.

The Love of My Life

Based on the title of this post you probably expect it to be about the Dude. Or reading. Or eating. But it's not, so maybe I should have titled it "One of the top 10 loves of my life" but that just doesn't sound catchy.

So today's post is about one of the top ten loves of my life: sloths! I first learned about sloths in one of my favorite movies, Ice Age. One of the stars of Ice Age is Sid the Sloth!


Handsome fella, isn't he! For my birthday Erin and Heather got me my very own Sid the Sloth! He accompanied Erin and I to the premiere of his second movie, Ice Age 2. Sid (or "Shid" as it is more properly pronounced) is quite a guy. He's funny, good looking (see above picture), likes babies, and enjoys eating salad just like me!

This year for my birthday the Dude and and I went to the zoo and one of the requirements was to look for a sloth. We found one! In true sloth style he napped the whole time we were there. Sloths aren't exactly known for their work ethic but that's ok; who doesn't like an afternoon nap? Here's a picture of the sloth from the zoo. He's the furry lump in the middle.


Today I read an article about a baby sloth that was born in Costa Rica. He's adorable! Sadly from what I can tell sloths are not good pets but if I ever end up living in the Costa Rican jungle I will definitely have a sloth as a sidekick. He'll keep me from working too hard and we can take afternoon naps together. I can't wait!

Local Wildlife

There's a pond in the center of our neighborhood where we walk Max. We've been impressed by the variety of wildlife we've seen. Unfortunately I can't manage Max and the camera at the same time so I haven't gotten pictures, but every morning I see multiple white egrets (the record is eleven at one time!). There are a few turtles who usually stay in the water but occasionally venture out. The most unusual animals we've seen are a pair of roseate spoonbills. These pink birds are really striking and there's a pair of them which comes around. Last week we were out in the backyard and they came to a tree behind our house. I tried to get a picture but it wasn't great. Can you see them?


Max himself helped us discover this visitor last week...a Texas brown snake right next to the patio. We were relieved that the snake let Max sniff around and just stayed still!


This weekend we went camping at Stephen F. Austin State Park. We've been there once before and had been impressed by how much wildlife we saw, including one very persistent raccoon. Unfortunately this weekend the most abundant wildlife was mosquitos! Max dealt with this by spilling all his water to make a mud pit to roll around in. It was cool to see how his instincts kicked in!


Happily we did see lots of other non-blood sucking animals. The highlights were seeing a pair of male cardinals which flitted around the campsite all weekend, an unidentified yellow breasted bird, and most amazing of all an owl! We saw it as dusk was beginning...he must have just woken up! I wonder what we'll see the next time we go camping...

Pandemic or Flash in the Pan?

The news coverage in the last few days has been all about swine flu. Despite the hysteria I'm not yet convinced that this is going to be as bad as the 1918 epidemic. However, as an engineer I understand how quickly numbers can get huge when they're growing exponentially.

I think this mashup someone created on Google Maps is an interesting way to get an overview of what's going on. We will see what happens but in the mean time everyone wash your hands!

View 2009 H1N1/A Outbreak Map in a larger map

You're Kidding, Right?

If this was truly "Philly style" it would be covered in Cheez Wiz and sold out of a truck on the street.

Why do you read?

Just last week when I reviewed a Jodi Picoult book I had enjoyed, I alluded to the fact that some literary critics are not her biggest fans. Newsweek must read my blog because they published an article about that very topic this week!

When we talk about tv shows, we all have trashy favorites or guilty pleasures, whether they be reality tv like "Pirate Master" (tragically canceled before even one season was completed) or pre-taped shows like "Gossip Girl." But are books the same way?

What this article asks is an issue I have thought about before. Are extremely popular mass market books like Jodi Picoult's work or the Twilight series just low brow reading that is no better for you than a bad tv show? Is any reading good reading? And more importantly, does it even matter?

I'm of the opinion that any time someone is reading it's a good thing. I definitely enjoy my share of chick lit and Jodi Picoult but I tend to intersperse those books with more serious fare. I get a different type of satisfaction from different types of books. There are classics I have loved (please go read The Great Gatsby and Atlas Shrugged immediately!), those I struggled through (everything by Dickens), and those that I finally gave up after many false starts (Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment). But I have the same range with lighter reading. I'm glad I have read a lot of the classics because it's fun to understand allusions in movies and tv. Lost fans, I'm talking to you!

So in the end if you come to me asking for a book recommendation you never know what you might get. I'm interested to hear what other people think about this. Give me your opinion in the comments!

Max Attacks!

Max has a nice bed in the living room where we keep his toys and where he actually does sit and play with some frequency. But once in a while he decides that it is an enemy which must be attacked and shown who's boss. I was able to capture some pictures of this exercise in futility for your viewing pleasure.

Once he feels the bed has been thoroughly subdued, he can relax.