This is the first time I have tried my hand at gardening and all is going well. I have pumpkins, carrots, chives, cucumbers, and zucchini growing well. On the flower side we have morning glories, irises, marigolds, and sunflowers going strong. We also some have other plants from last year which are still going. Everything except the irises were grown from seed. To top it all off my lawn is finally coming together after 3 seeding events.

We are all looking forward to a great summer. Hopefully we will see you all soon for a hotdog and a beer (or a juice box). There are 113 new photos in the gallery for you to enjoy this time around.

Merry Christmas everyone!  We sent out a few hard copies this year, but I would like to be as environmentally friendly as possible and send you this holiday note.

So here is what’s happening:

We were all sick the last few weeks with the girls getting the worst of it (RSV).   We had close to 20″ of the snow the last few days which made shoveling our 20 degree pitch driveway a whole lot of fun.  Hampton ended the first half of his preschool year with a very 4 year old skit which included the teacher singing and the kids wondering why they were not able to eat cookies until she was done   Gavin is coming into his own and is a very talkative 2 year old (though he takes a bit of time to warm up to people unlike his brother).  Work is going very well for me at MathWorks and Carrie is meeting lots of new moms here in Milford. We are looking forward to having Dolly and Rick for our first ever Christmas at home.  We are also expecting some old friends to join us at New Years.  All in all this has been an exciting and busy year for our family and with a new house and two new children it has been nothing short of eventful.  I will get plenty of pictures up by the new year, but until then have a very happy and safe holiday.  I wish you all the best! You deserve it.

OK, so short but sweet. The next big event is twins in 2 weeks! Yep, thats just two weeks away. I will post again as soon as I get a moment to breathe.

Schools should not sign software licensing deals with Microsoft because of the computer giant’s alleged anti-competitive practices, a government watchdog has warned.

I started to email this article around to people and then I decided to let you all know. Its a short blurb, but as always the comments on digg are worth a read. Its also a good time to bring this up to people, there are a million better/cheaper ways to equip your school then MS (or any other group/individual without unlimited resources); especially in a time when that money could be better spent on books, supplies, and needed programs. Just my 2c though.

The article is about our current state of economic affairs. Bascially its says Gen X’ers like myself are struggling to stay afloat while we watch our parents live it up (a terse summary I must say); the exact opposite of what life used to be like. I can relate completely to this article. Why must I have to make so much money? Why can’t I just manage a small forest someplace like my degree would have me do, or teach like I would like to do? The answer is society and it has gotten out of hand. Anyway a good read for anyone concerned about where this is all going.

Canadian, European and Australian cities continue to dominate the rankings this year, which saw little significant movement among the top 50 cities.

Zurich, Geneva, Vienna, Vancouver, and Auckland remain the top scoring cities on the Quality of Living index. One of this year’s biggest improvements has been in Osaka, rising 8 places to 42 from 51. Improvement was also seen in Oslo, which climbed five places from 31 to 26.

Boston comes in at 36 so I don’t feel so bad living here. However the other places on this list make me really want to travel.