Barry’s Daily Web News

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I really must thank Cortney for fixing a delicious dinner. I had a long day, arriving home late, but Cortney still served dinner. I think she’s terrific.

The weather was hazy today, and I think it is affecting Cortney and me with allergy symptoms. We were both too tired to take Sean to story time tonight. He still had fun playing with us though.

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Today at work I attended a class on export control. I think if our company followed all of the regulations, we wouldn’t be able to stay in business. Part of the problem is that the government thinks the flight controls we develop can be used to guide missiles. The reality is that anyone with a freshman level college course in physics could design most of our algorithms. We are even restricted in talking about our software development process, which affects the work I do. Oh well.

Sean was in a really good mood tonight. I got him started laughing when I dressed him for bed. He was even laughing when I was brushing his teeth, which made the job go much faster. He’s a terrific kid.

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Today was the race for the cure (breast cancer). You can find my race time here. I was hoping for a better time, but I shaved more than a minute off of last year’s time, and still left some room for improvement for next year.

Sean had it easy. He did the entire 5k in the stroller. After the race, we all went out for brunch. I ate a big meal, and was pretty well wiped out for the rest of the day.

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We had to buy a new TV today. I was watching the Miami vs. Florida State football game this morning. I left the room for a minute, and when I came back, the TV was off. As I was trying to cycle the on switch, I smelled the distinct odor of fried electrical components. I then quickly pulled the power cord to prevent any thing else from happening. I gave up on any thought to fix the old TV and decided it was time for a new TV. We had kept the old one for twelve years, and the tuner had burned out several years ago, requiring us to use the VCR tuner to watch TV. I had hoped to keep the old TV until the HDTV sets came down in price, but no such luck. We ended up getting a Sony flat screen 32 inch TV. So far, I am more impressed with the flat screen than the picture quality. The flat screen really does reduce glare, which we have a big problem with both during the day with the sun shining through the windows and in the evening with the recessed lighting in the ceiling.

After we bought the TV, we went to a couple of furniture stores to look for a dining room table. Sean had a blast running through the furniture stores. Unfortunately, I spent more time chasing Sean than I did looking at tables.

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At least someone in government today had some integrity. Check this article for details. I would think this would create a big scandal, but it looks like the incident will just be blown over. And for government at its worst, someone tried to sneak in a ban on internet gambling into the terrorist legislation currently being proposed. Supposedly, profits from internet gambling could be used to fund terrorism. Give me a break.

Sean had some new firsts today. We all went out to dinner at one of Cortney’s favorite restaurants, the Red Lobster. Sean ate his entire meal off one of the appetizer plates. I was afraid to do this at home, knowing Sean would likely send a plate flying, but he never tried to pull the plate off the table.

After we got home from dinner, we went to the park. The park closest to our house has a fairly steep hill near the play area. I wanted to see if Sean could go up and down the hill. At first, he would only go down the hill if I was holding his hand. Pretty soon, he started running down the hill. The first time he ran down, he was out of control, and fell down near the bottom. But he wasn’t discouraged, and soon was able to run down the hill as fast as his legs would take him. I think we found a new way for him to get rid of his excess energy.

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I figured I would show Sean how the big boys use the bathroom. Actually, I’ve been doing this for a while. Normally Sean stands and is fascinated by first the flow of urine, then by the flush of the toilet. Tonight, for some reason, Sean decided to try to “grab” the stream of urine. That sure did make a mess. I’m thinking he will have to learn to do a number 1 on his own.

Sean has learned to do a dance maneuver. He will be standing still, then he will shuffle his feet quickly. I don’t know where he learned that, but it is cute.

At work, they announced that paid overtime has returned. The catch is that the overtime must be worked for a 2 hour minimum. That means I will have to work a ten hour day to get paid overtime. I talked it over with Cortney, and we tentatively agreed that I would work an hour later than I had been (after working 1 hour of casual overtime), and we would shift Sean’s schedule by 1 hour, so I can spend the same amount of time with him and we can continue to eat dinner as a family.

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After dinner tonight, Sean brought me his shoes. He knows he has to have his shoes on before he can go outside. We had fun playing outside. The weather is pleasant now. The high today was around 90, but it was dry and we had a nice breeze. Sean rode on the regular swing for the first time today. It took him some convincing that he needed to hold on to the chains or else he would fall off, but he got the idea. He swung back and forth for a couple of dozen times before I was worried he would tire of holding on and fall off. He had a good time.

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It seems like Sean is easier to deal with now that we know his problem is his teething. Cortney took Sean to family story time at the library without me. I was feeling a little run down, so I didn’t go. Cortney has done a really good job of steam cleaning the carpets in the last couple of days.

I wonder why the government is asking for increased surveillance powers. It seems to me the problem is that they have too much information, and too little resources to act on it. There have been many reports on tips and information that would have led to the discovery of the planned terrorist attack if the information had been followed up on. If I were a lawmaker, I would demand the justice department, FBI, and CIA clean up their act, before they gain any increased surveillance powers.

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Cortney took Sean to the doctor today, thinking he might have an earache. It turns out he is not sick after all. He has some minor congestion, which might be due to allergies. His real problem is the teething. The second row of molars and all his eye teeth have all broken through the gums. The bad news is that he will probably be cranky for the next couple of weeks. His weight is holding steady at 28 pounds or so. I think his legs are starting to thin out from all of the running he does.

I’m not sure what to think of the bombing in Afghanistan. I hope we are hitting worthwhile targets with our million dollar cruise missiles. Since we definitely seem to be going after the Taliban, I don’t know why we haven’t issued a formal declaration of war. I think we should declare war, with the only terms being an unconditional surrender. This worked just fine for us during WWII. I also don’t think much of our so called alliance. I wonder what we are promising to Russia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt for this so-called alliance. If we declared war on the Taliban, we wouldn’t have to go the alliance route. Any other country could choose to join our side, join the Taliban, or remain neutral. I guess only time will tell if we are making the right decisions.

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Sean had a good time today, even though he still isn’t feeling well. He had fun watching me mow the lawn. When I was done, he came outside to run around in the grass.

We went shopping for a dining room table. We narrowed our choices down to a southwestern style table and a french-style oak table. The hard part is picking a table that both Cortney and I agree on. The fact that we possibly agree on two tables means we are making progress. The dining room table is the last piece of missing furniture we need to fill our house. Of course, Sean will have to give up some of his play area to make room for the table, but I don’t think he will mind.

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Sean still isn’t feeling well. He didn’t have much of an appetite this morning, but he started eating better at lunch and dinner. He did okay until we put him down to bed, then he woke up screaming a half hour later. He has all the symptoms of an ear ache.

Sean rode in my BMW for the first time today. We had to drop off the minivan to have the door repaired, so I put the car seat in my car so that I could pick up Cortney after we dropped off the van. I put the car seat in the middle of the back, and I think he got a better view while traveling. He seems to be fascinated by cars and trucks. Maybe he will be an engineer when he grows up.

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Sean wasn’t feeling well today. He barely touched his evening milk (with instant breakfast), which he usually devours. So we gave him the 3 in 1 formula (maalox, benedryl, and water) and sent him to be early.

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We had a really nice day today. It was sunny, with a high of 92 degrees, but dry with a breeze, so it was very comfortable. We took Sean to the park tonight. He still likes stepping on and off the sidewalk more than playing on the playground equipment. Sean was definitely feeling good today. After a his trip to the park, he enjoyed playing with his big green ball, which is about a foot and a half in diameter. He can bairly get his arms around it, but he likes picking the ball up and carrying it.

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Today was very tiring day at work. Cortney went to the gym tonight, so I had a chance to teach Sean to dance to some real music — like fat boy slim and the pet shop boys. Sean had a really good time.

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The whole family went to story time for the first time since I started my Italian class over two months ago. Sean has now graduated from baby story time to family story time. Sean was able to sit still for almost ten minutes out of the 25 minutes of story time. The story room has a stepped seating area, so Sean got in some practice going up and down the steps when he was tired of listening to the stories. He has learned the up direction fairly well, but still needs some work on the down direction