Summer Readin'

I finally this year have become a regular library patron, so sorry mom and others that I circulate my books when I am done. It is nice to just check them out, especially after buying books I did not like. I am currently reading a fascinating book that I checked out on a whim (Animals in Translation by Temple Gradin). I was interested in reading her book since I learned about her in continuing education courses I attended. She is an adult with autism who is a PhD in animal sciences. She changed practices in slaughterhouses to make them more humane. It is a great read, and I am driving Mike crazy with my constant comments. I am sure he will never need to read it since he is getting a running book report. I always get in trouble with him reading a paper, because I have to brief him on what I find to be notable. We now have a rule that I can only interrupt him 3 times.

Orrin makes a good point

Mike and I watch this old fogey show on the weekend in the morning sometimes. I think it is called Sunday Morning. Anyways, they had Orrin Hatch on Sunday with a piece where he ended up backing up the stem cell bill that Bush vetoed. I never thought that I would agree with him in a million years. Anyways, it was nice to see the other side of people that you did not know existed.

movie teaser trailer

This is a trailer that we saw at the movies that I found to be hilarious for reasons they did not intend. This is a real movie believe it or not.

(TheBlueState.com) Bush gropes Merkel

This is pretty stellar too.

Jon Stewart on Net Neutrality

Here is the video from the Daily show. Enjoy!

Don't Worry about the Government

I think that they should require an IQ test to serve in the senate and congress. I heard this quote from Sen Ted Stevens on the daily show, and it is extremely entertaining as well as frightening. This is who is making decisions for us!!!
http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/?entry_id=1512499

More random pics

Here are some more pics from up north. Nicky is taking serious flight from the dunes. Mike is going to jump with a passenger (Anthony) who became a frequent flyer. And presenting our gracious hosts, Ann and Kevin. Their cottage is really great and will see a lot of activity in the years to come.

Tri again

Mike and I muddled through our first tri this summer. We have been lax in our training, and Mike has been sick. I think he has only swam twice so far, so he is the king. My poor running preparation is not too bad compared to his swim prep. It was a nice race only a half hour away (that was a bonus since the start was at 6:30). When we race and are done before 8 in the morning, it is really weird since we do not get moving early in general on the weekends. We saw our hardcore friends Margaret and Monty there, and we talked until 10 AM. We do not always see people we know at races since they are getting so big and numerous. It was the flattest race I have done out here, so that was nice.

Twister

We had a tornado touch down in some nearby towns yesterday afternoon. It is really rare around here, and there is the most overdone news coverage I have ever seen. All the reporters who interview witnesses all ask, "...so what did it sound like?" I guess that you are supposed to answer "like a train". There is a fair amount of damage, but nobody hurt.

Head Butt heard 'round the World

I know everyone is sick of hearing about the french world cup player, but I thought this link shed some light on the situation.
http://solutionsxt.blogspot.com/

Skipping Stones

When we were in Michigan recently, there was a great deal of stone skipping going on when we were up north (at a cottage with 6 boys there has to be stones flying!). It was great fun searching and trying out stones to skip. Pat claimed that he could skip anything you could give him, and he nearly did. I got a kick out of this story when I heard it yesterday. Maybe we can send a team out next year!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5549680

Da Moon

Did anyone see the moon tonight? It was full and very orange here. Very cool.

Newcleus - Jam On It

This video makes me want to get a bass. Again, this is for Pat. I tried to find the "I sing the body electric", but I did not have luck--just a lot of weird hits. I also dig the outfits and the backup singers with the keytars. Those boys have not hit puberty yet!

poppin' J.. electric kingdom

Another blast from the past. It reminds me of listening to WJLB and the electrifying Mojo. I used to have this record.

Kraftwerk - Mini Calcolatore (live in Rome 2004)

This is for Pat. I hope that he enjoys it as much as I did. I did not know they were touring in 2004.

Extreme Sports - Unicycle

It makes mountain biking look tame!

We are family

Here is a group shot of the family. It is rare that we are all together at once.

We're back

We had a great time in Michigan. I was commenting about the tree and sand smell in my earlier post, but I suppose fish smells count too.

Coming home turned out to be an adventure. Mike developed a bad ear infection on Sunday and was told by the doctor that he should not fly (could rupture his ear drum). The doctor also told him that it would hurt a great deal during landing, so we were also concerned about getting stuck in Chicago (when Mike refused to board the second plane due to the pain). So we ended up returning our car in Detroit (instead of Traverse City) and changing to another one to drive home. We did not hit a lot of traffic thankfully, and we were able to see the second half of the Germany-Italy soccer game (boo hoo!!!).

Here is a typical leelanau sunset.