Easter 2008

Had the classic Easter at Nanny and Grandpas house in Carson City, brunch and an Easter egg hunt. Here's a few pictures from it, the rest are on flickr...

Little skier

And then on Saturday, Julien got to go skiing. He took the Rosebuds class up at Mt Rose, and progressed from a Turtle to a Squirrel in his first lesson. Next step is a Fox, then a Bear...

Little Golfer

Julien had an "Early Release" day at school today, so I picked him up and, for a special treat, we went to a driving range to hit some golf balls. He had the little Nike club that he's been swinging at wiffle balls in the back yard, and finally got to hit some real balls with it. (I tried to find him a wood to go with his "mid-iron, but Target didn't have them anymore...) Anyway, here are some photos of him in action:


Setting up (Remember your grip, Julien...)


At the top. Pretty nice form, there.


Coming down. Feet got out of position there, somehow...


And the follow through. Also nice form.

He didn't really get any up in the air, and none very far (I think he rolled one out to about the 75 yard range.) But he seemed to enjoy it, and was getting the hang of it a little better toward the end. Might have to look around for a couple more clubs for him...

Recent photos

Haven't emptied out the camera for a little while; here are some fun shots from last weekend up in Vancouver...


A shopping list on the fridge at some friends house; I was excited to see that capers are an important part of someone else's kitchen, too...


Sofia's artwork. Looks to me like a Viking ship, with a colorful masthead, coming out of the fog...


One of Julien's noggin bumps. He banged his head HARD at least three times in the day and half that I was there with him. This was the first time; basically running full speed into a wall.


Sofia, excited about something. Kinda hard to argue with that smile...

A Piano in the Pyrenees

This was a pretty good find. I was glancing through the "Travel Essay" section at the bookstore, to see if there was anything I'd missed recently, and A Piano in the Pyrenees caught my eye for a few of reasons. 1) I try to keep my eyes open for piano related books for Mich. 2) I've driven through the Pyrenees and thought it was a pretty cool area. 3) I've read and enjoyed almost everything else by Tony Hawks.

The couple of Hawks' other books that I've read centered around obscure bets he's made with drinking buddies: whether he could hitchhike around Ireland with a refrigerator in less than a month, or whether he could beat the entire Moldovan soccer team at tennis. Funny stuff. This one was a bit different; the classic story of Londoner buying second home in some part of France and dealing with the culture, bureaucracy, people, etc. Yeah, I know it's been done before, but this one sure was fun. Hawks' sense of humor and comedic timing had me giggling an embarrassing amount on the plane ride I was reading this on. Excellent.

Book 14

2010: Odyssey Two

Started this quite a while ago as a "gym book" , but since I've been running instead of using the stationary bike, I haven't been able to read there. Decided I needed to finish this up, though...

Not a lot of answers in this book. 2010 was written in 1982, 14 years after 2010 2001 (1968.) It seems like in that time, Clarke had planned a few more books to follow, and only revealed a little at a time. Better move on to the next one...

Book 13

The Royal Nonesuch

Picked this up off of the Advance Reader copy shelf at work. It had been there awhile; it was published about a year ago. Started reading it thinking it was a work of fiction, even after reading the introduction. Soon realized it was a memoir of this guy, Glasgow Phillips, basically his story of trying to make it in a combination of Hollywood and the internet boom of the late 90s. I found it funny, tragic, and hard to put down, BUT I only know of one other person who would be at all interested in it, so I'm giving it to my brother-in-law. Need a good read, Nathan? Coming your way...

Book 12