Turns out I didn't even bother to test my blog template in Internet Exploder. Apparently, the template did not play well with IE, so I reverted to an even simpler template. I guess I like it, but I was in the mood for some centered pill columns. Oh well, at least this version is just a simple and clean.
I am still waiting on my slice of lime.
Seems I neglected to put a link up for the pictures from Devin & Maya's birthday. So, without further delay: Enjoy the pictures.
Just thought I’d spread the love with some sites I’ve started reading. Be forewarned – they are political in nature.
You probably noticed I changed up the blog layout again. What can I say, I like change. Anyway, I think I’m pretty satisfied with this template. It’s clean, smooth, and unobtrusive. The only remaining item needed is to do some photography work with a lime, some seltzer water and a light box. I might have completed that last night, but I forgot to get limes from the grocery store, and once home I did not want to go back out again. So, perhaps in a few days when the list of groceries warrants a trip… I’ll have my header image shot and the site will be completed. Until then, just bask in the simplicity.
The AquaDoodles are a big hit. So much so that we went out and got a second one to alleviate any device contention.
Devin really loves playing in the balloons!
Valerie gets a demonstration of Maya’s skill in relieving lower back pain.
I know, I know, a form of personal expression and whatever, but really -- do you need to put a spoiler on your 1998 4 door sedan? Yeah, right. It's a sleeper. I'm sure you have a nitrous system, and could blow the doors off of a shopping cart here in the Target parking lot.
I realize it's been quite a few days since my last post... about 4 if I count correctly. So what's been going on? Well... not a whole lot, and then again, quite a lot. We listed the house again, so there was an amount of work to get some things photographed, set up virtual tours, etc. That's out of the way (now sell, you!)... then there's the constant cycling that we're doing. We've reached a bit of a groove with our routine that includes cycling everyday (so much so that my Achille's tendon is a little sore).
Things at work are pretty exciting. Today marks the 1-week-until-assimilation-begins countdown. That is, on August 1 I will become an Oracle employee. We've had a few meetings about it, and from what I can tell, this transition will be well-managed and the end result should be a fantastic organization. I'm happy to be a part of this company as you can probably tell.
The kids are doing well, and we are prepping for their 2nd birthday which we are celebrating a few days early on Saturday. We've invited their friends (ok, really our friends who happen to have kids about the same age) to Kangazoom for some jumping, cake and juiceboxes. Yummy! Vicki is flying up from sunny Ft. Myers to hang for a week while Chris is working in France, so that will be nice to have some additional adult company. I also have a quick jaunt out to Orange County as well.
After that, we've got a trip to the Georgia Aquarium with Shelly, Paul and their clan, which should be really fun. We haven't been for about a year and a half, and we just got annual passes so that will make the trip quite easy. On a side note, they just announced a swim/dive program where you can pay some coin ($300!!) to dive in the big tank. I'm not sure it's worth $300, but I may ask for this for my birthday + Christmas + Father's Day gift, hint hint if you're reading this.
Then, we finally have a trip back up to Charlotte to celebrate multiple birthdays and see everyone up thattaway.
I guess now you can see why I haven't posted recently!
When we stopped biking after lunch, I spotted this feller harvesting pollen on a flower. Neat!
Flowers in the Park
Maya eating peanut butter
Devin eating cream cheese
So, um, what is it?
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Our morning ritual involves feeding our dogs, Cooper and Stella. To begin the ritual, Cooper & Stella must sit and lay down in the doorway to the kitchen, while I prepare their food. Usually they stay put, but occasionally Cooper will inch his way up to the bowl as I'm working, or Stella will simply stand up.
If it happens that I feed the doggies after the kids are done with their own breakfast, they are inclined to assist me by helping scoop food, or pour food in the bowls, or pour food on the floor, in the cabinets, pick up the intentionally-poured food and then redistribute to the dogs or [[gasp]] to themselves.
This morning, Maya decided she wanted to sit with the dogs rather than help out. Fine then, have it your way.
We’ve been having intermittent problems with the reception on our HD20 DirecTV HD DVR, but since I’ve been on vacation for 10 days and then business traveling for a few days, I haven’t had a chance to look at it. Normally, we just attribute problems to the quirks of the HD DVR. Today, after a lot of rain, we were not able to reacquire the satellites and I was finally getting pissed off about it. At 9:30pm this evening, I was fed up and went outside to physically inspect the dish. Turns out with all the rain we’ve been having, the bushes along the side of the house were overburdened with the water weight, and were bent far over the dish. It was dark, and I actually had to poke around in the bushes to find the dish! After 15 minutes of Scissorhandian artistry, I have hopefully exposed the dish yet again to the Southern Skies.
On a side note, all the plants are just bursting at the seams. The Leland Cypress in our front yard is pushing 15’ in height – probably 4’ of growth in a year! The rain this season is just fantastic!
I posted previously about the decor changes Stephanie has planned for the kids’ new rooms. Devin is getting an air travel motif as he is currently obsessed with airplanes. Maya is getting a nature motif as she is currently afraid of large animals in love with naming things, and flora/fauna scientific nomenclature should prove a challenge for her. To whit, I present Stephanie’s latest creations: an airplane clock with rotating propeller/second hand and a whimsical flower clock with pendulum.
You can get deep fried peanuts, roadside. And surprisingly, this was not in Georgia… where, you may ask? South Carolina.
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This is a large, fantastic, expensive condo building going up across the street from my office. Traffic is going to get worse. I can't wait!
We’re back home now, but I thought I’d round up the vacation with some parting shots from Sanibel. I may have a few more as I’m working on some panoramas of the beach. More on that when I get some free time, which should be in the next few months.
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| Maya does a headstand on the beach. | Devin watches the fire trucks in the parade. |
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| Maya watches the police cars in the parade. | Posing with the neighbors on Sunset Circle. |
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| Sand monkeys at the beach. | Comparing tonsils, or tongue-scraping prowess, or just being silly. |
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| Swinging at the park with Uncle Chris. |
In Which I Change the Title, Description and Template of My Blog
1 comments Posted by Andy at 12:08 AMI decided it was time for a facelift here on the ol' blog. And, I dropped the moniker "valence". Nobody really got the Chemistry 101 reference unfortunately, and presumed I was running some sort of blog on variations in window dressing and decor. So, in honor of Independence Day, I celebrate my independence from my previous template and welcome my new Blogger template overlords!
Happy 4th everyone!
I have some new joys in life thanks to our vacation here in Sanibel.
- Plocky’s Three-Grain Corn Chips – yeah, you’d better believe it. I’m a huge fan of chips & salsa, and these are, by far, the best chips evar! Low in fat (no saturated fats!), no cholesterol, low sodium (90mg/serving) and 1g of fiber. Ingredients: all-natural corn, cracked whole wheat, brown rice, non-hydrogenated corn oil, natural turbinado sugar, sea salt. I’m ordering some from
Amazon[ed. Amazon was out of stock of my favorite flavor] SnackAisle right now so they are at home when we get there. Note: in Sanibel, you can get these from Bailey’s. - Bailey’s Salsa Grande – it’s a trip to Trinidad in a jar! I’ve been searching high and low for a high-heat/high-flavor salsa. Hot sauces aren’t the way to go, because heat ain’t where it’s at – it’s heat and taste. I found some “pepar” sauce while in Trinidad, but as luck would have it I haven’t found nearly the same complimentary flavors and white heat in anything this side of the Caribbean. I managed to bring back a few bottles, but it’s not the same as that stuff you get in the local Trini eateries – you know, the kind that’s made by hand by some old lady in the back who has a dozen kids running around her ankles and she’s using local peppers grown out back of the shed next to the highway using a recipe that was passed down from her mother’s mother’s mother’s mother from back-a-de-i’land. Yeah, that stuff. Anyway, I was traipsing through Bailey’s, trying to find a sauce to compliment the fantastic Plocky’s tortillas and I found Salsa Grande. It’s made with tomatoes, habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, onions, salt, vinegar, garlic, cilantro and “spices”. Humph - “spices”.
- Added via Stephanie: Publix Premium Cool Mint Cookie Low-fat Frozen Yogurt. Apparently, it’s like heaven on a spoon. Or in a large bowl – a very large bowl (isn’t there any way to fit more into the “large bowl”). This stuff is so good, you have to restrain yourself from downing the entire quart in one sitting. We were sitting around the table playing Uno last night and the game had to go on “mint ball delay” while Mom and Steph savored their ribbons of chocolate and minty goodness. Steph informs me that she has yet to find a comparable balance of flavor, mintyness and chocolatization, and creamy heaventasticity in any freezer, anywhere.
- The Hungry Heron / Island Cow. These are two of my favorite restaurants here in Sanibel. If you know Steph, you know she doesn’t eat anything that comes out of water (except maybe an olive), so my chances of getting to eat really good, fresh fish are few and far between (hello, work lunches!). These two restaurants specialize in local fresh fish, and have a super-large menu with everything from pasta to burgers to, well, fish. So it’s good for the whole family! Plus, they are locally owned and operated so that’s great too.
A Florida Ivory Millipede (Chicobolus spinigerus) and what I’m guessing is a fiddler crab (I didn’t see his claws to be certain). Both from Bowman’s beach on Sanibel.
You probably knew that Maya takes care of herself pretty well. What you likely did not know is that Maya quite literally can take care of herself and any ne’er-do-wells that may seek to do harm.
We’ve done a few bike trips now around Sanibel, both with kids and without. Suffice it to say that the rental bicycles are not up to par with our home bikes. I miss my FCR! That plus riding into headwinds trailing the Chariot doesn’t make for an all-too pleasant ride: there are almost no downhill runs at all. Anyway, the biking has been pretty fun. We’ve even done a few night rides – which can be a bit weird, especially down Tarpon Bay Road. You can hear the alligators bellowing in the swamps on either side of the ride (not the least bit disconcerting).
If you’re interested, you can see the map of the various cycle trips we’ve done. I doubt we’ll add too much more to this – perhaps a ride over the causeway.
View Larger Map
