Flat tires suck

In the last week I've had three flat tires, two on the Scion and one on the Vue. Now normally you'd think that some kids were running through the neighborhood slashing tires, but all of my flat tires were caused by FOD, or Foreign Object Damage. The Scion had one flat caused by a a screw and the other by a nail. The Vue had a flat by a screw again. I don't remember driving both our cars through a construction zone any time recently, and I don't think kids are going to go through the effort of driving a screw in to tire.

The only good thing is that Discount Tire fixes flats that can be repaired for free. Go Discount Tire!

Our First Texaversary

One year ago today Jill(still pregnant with Jackson) and I arrived in Austin, Texas. We had to spend our first couple of days in the La Quinta Inn while we waited to pick up our keys for the house we would rent. It was hot, muggy, and a very strange place for us. However, over the last year we've explored a lot of the city. We've found the great parks, some good restaurants, a few good bars, and the good shopping(for Jill). Just like any city it has its good parts and its not so good parts but overall we've come to really enjoy Austin and all it has to offer.

People ask us what we think of Texas, and we don't really have an answer to that because we haven't traveled anywhere else in this state except one short evening trip to the outskirts of San Antonio. So, we don't really know what Texas is like. But, Austin is fantastic.

Jackson's first pseudo-words

One of the signs of Jack's continuing development is his ability to begin vocalizing. At first he just coo'd a lot. Then he started to make raspberries ( where you blow bubbles with between your lips). Next he started to giggle (which is amazing).

Next on his list is to make vowel-consonant combinations. Things like BaBa, DaDa, or GaGa. He just started doing this a couple weeks ago, but it wasn't until this last weekend that he really started stringing together long combinations of these sounds. They are not words, more like pseudo-words. Almost words. He's babbling. Here's a clip of them I recorded in our car on Sunday:




To give you context, he sounds so fussy because he was in his car seat when we were stuck at a stop light and he does not like it when the car stops moving.


Jill and I have talked a lot about how fast things change in Jackson. Sometimes he'll start doing something new everyday. Things that you would never even consider significant, but when you see them happen it amazes you. Jackson is the most fantastic thing that has ever happened to us.

iPhone fever

I've given in to the iPhone fever and I received mine in the mail today. All I have to say is that this is an absolutely amazing device. It really delivers on what Bruce Stirling said at his 2006 SIGGRAPH keynote, that mobile phones are no longer just phones. They are computing platforms from which you can deliver an entire experience to. We'll be picking Jill's iphone soon. :-)

This is a short post but it's the first from my iPhone.

Monthly update

Here is our monthly update for the blog. :)

Let's see what's happened in the last month or so.

My mom came out to visit for a long weekend. She got to see Jackson and spend some time with him. Here are a few pictures of that visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/NanSVisitToSeeJackson

Nan's visit to see Jackson

We also went to Livermore, CA for Jerin and Kim's wedding. It was a wonderful event all together. The rehearsal dinner on Friday was at a place called Stacey's at Waterford, and the food was fantastic. Saturday had a picnic at the Concannon Winery, which was held under a trellis of grape vines. The ceremony was on Sunday at the Wente Vinyards which was absolutely beautiful. Many congratulations should go to the bride and groom, who are at this moment enjoying Hawaii.

Again, here are many pictures of the event:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/JerinSWedding

Jerin's wedding