Modeling picture of Jude, too

I couldn't leave Jude out...

This is a picture from a photoshoot he had last year when we were still in Virginia Beach.

Modeling

Yesterday, a friend from work told me that when she was at Babies 'R' Us with her family, she saw a display with Jude and Kerrigan on the packaging and couldn't believe it.

About a year or so ago, the kids had a photo shoot with a company called Swimways, and as it turned out we were told they were selected to be on the website, catalog and packaging for one of their products, the Swim Sweater. We've been keeping our eyes open in the stores, but never saw them until this week.

I'd attach a picture, but the site is having trouble uploading at the moment, so you'll have to look in the stores for yourselves. Jude is on two packages (the yellow & orange Swim Sweaters) and Kerrigan is on one (the pink one). They are at Babies 'R' Us, Toys 'R' Us, and Bed Bath & Beyond (I think also at Target & Wal-Mart, though I am not sure). It's funny how much younger they look in those pictures.

If this site gets its act together soon, I'll post a few pictures of them.

Later,
Doug (proud daddy)

Kite Flying

This was taken a few days ago when we were out in the backyard flying kites for the first time this year. The kids were having a blast! Not enough wind to keep them up yet, but they have fun running around the yard with them...

Wise Thoughts on: Beer

Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."

- Humorist and Saturday Night Live writer Jack Handey

Kennedy's Dog

Funny thing I heard on NPR today...

Ted Kennedy has a dog named "Splash".

Not only that, but it is a Water Dog of all breeds. The Portuguese Water Dog's origin is thus:

The origin of the Portuguese Water Dog goes back many centuries, where stories of rescued fisherman evolved. Because of their unusual capabilities in the water, the Portuguese Water Dogs were used as couriers between fisherman's boats and became part of the crew, very often taking their share of the profit.

Maybe Ted wishes he had one in '69 on Chappaquiddick.

Hmmmmm.

Post Script:

To his defense, I must say that I did a bit of research on this and found that "Splash" was the name given him by the breeder, but regardless... I must say that it is still an ironic and unfortunate coincidence...

Getting bigger...

Amy brought these pictures home today when she picked up the kids from pre-school... I almost cried, I can't believe how big they are! [sigh]

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Doug

Radiant Vista

I figured since I've been in the mood of recommendations recently, I'll refer you to a site I visit often: The Radiant Vista. It is geared towards Digital Photographers & Photoshop users.

It has many excellent recourses including The Daily Critique. Each day you can download an mpeg video clip (each critique averages about 5 minutes) where Craig Tanner critiques an image submitted by a beginner, intermediate or advanced photographer.

The other slick spot on the site, which is my favorite, is The Photoshop Workbench. Once a week, a 15-20 minute mpeg video is available for download and features a similar format as the Daily Critique, but Mark Johnson gives his input on what he would do to further enhance the chosen submitted photograph, and along the way pointing out tips, tricks and processes that make the seemingly difficult enhancements easy.

Besides them are other video tutorials, pdf tutorials and other information. It really seems criminal that all this is free. If any of you are photographers or Photoshop enthusiasts, I think the resources on this site will take your hobby to a deeper, more professional level.

We Don't Speak Great Things...

An excellent book that I would like to recommend is "We Don't Speak Great Things - We Live Them" published by Scrool Publishing. The title is a quote within by an early Christian named Octavius. The book is merely a translation and republication of two second-century letters written by Christians. The first letter 'Octavius' was written by a Christian lawer named Mark Felix somewhere between 160-250 (according to scholars in that field) and the second is titled 'The First Apology of Justin Martyr' said to have been written between 150-160.

I specifically wanted to comment on the first letter, Octavius. It is written, as I said, by Mark Felix from his point of view about a discussion held between himself and two friends, Octavius & Caecilius (Octavius a believer, Caecilius a non-believer). The three walk on a beach of Ostia on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It being the first time Octavius & Caecilius meet, Felix has an uncomfortable moment when Octavius gives Felix some sharp spiritual criticism when failing to say anything to his unbelieving friend Caecilius when he blows a customary kiss to a statue of a Roman god they pass on their walk.

What follows is a fair, yet heated debate between Caecilius and Octavius, with Felix as the mediator. Caecilius delivers his argument first, criticizing Christianity in many ways making many strong arguments and even perhaps slightly shaking Felix. Felix interjects briefly to ensure that both sides of the argument are heard and Octavius tactfully yet sharply and convincingly retorts and answers the questions and accusations laid down by Caecilius.

I'll save the ending for you. You don't even have to buy the book to read it... Since it is an early church writing, you can find it online at many different places. I'll put a link to it here to one resource I found if you're not able to find it on your own, but be aware that it is very King James-ish in the language department. For a more modern translation that may be a bit more readable, the Scroll Publishing one I originally recommended is excellent. Enjoy the reading and maybe we all can do a bit more of the 'Living' part.

Post Script:
One of the main reasons for this post was a paragraph I ran across while re-reading this book tonight. I'll quote a bit of it for you:

(Mark Felix, in regards to hearing a convincing argument from Caecilius)... "I fear that most listeners are swayed by the beauty or power of words rather than by their truth. Something can sound very logical and still be false. Or something may sound unbelievable and be true. Unfortunately, people tend to accept something as true simply because it's boldly asserted. So they are deceived both by the cleverness of the speaker and by their own foolishness.

"Others would rather leave all questions unanswered, instead of pondering over matters that aren't clear. But surely we don't want to become like them and reject all teaching. Nor do we want to end up hating and distrusting everyone. For those who are gullible are often deceived by those they trusted. Once they realize this, they begin to suspect that everyone is a deceiver. They then reject people they would have otherwise viewed with respect."

This hit me because I know I have felt this way. I am admittedly gullible in nature and have been hurt and felt deceived by some. I know that this has caused a feeling of general distrust in many, though subtle. I certainly do not want to distrust everyone, because I know that there are so many people who care deeply for me and my family with genuine concern, and to shut those people out would be the real tragedy.

Updated Settings

I've edited the comments section so that you do not have to be a registered user or a team member of my blog to leave a comment.

I had changed this last week when I saw that I was getting random spam in my comments... lame. Hopefully it won't become a problem.

Thanks for the heads-up, Rob.

Sports Thoughts

The big news today is Edgerrin James signing with the Arizona Cardinals. I'm not a big Colts fan, but I like them and have been pulling for Peyton to get a championship under his belt. Obviously, this is a hit to the Colts' organization, but I think they still have a solid offense even without the Edge.

Still eagerly waiting to hear news about Favre and his decision to stay or call it day. The whole state of Wisconsin has been collectively holding its breath for the past few months and we're all getting a bit blue in the face waiting. C'mon Brett! I know this is a tough decision for you, but throw us a bone, eh. The good news is the plentiful amount of cap room the Pack has... 35 million, which is tops in the league.

Today, Duke won it's 16th ACC title. Good one guys!

Bonds steroid allegations... here's my take: I don't know the guy but where there's smoke, there's fire. If he is guilty of what he's being accused of, I just hope it comes out before he passes Ruth & Aaron. I will be truly digusted with baseball if it comes out later. With Palmero going out ugly last season and Sosa retiring with a whimper in the offseason, this will be a big fat sticky cheery on top of scandelous baseball. Where are the heroes? Wish Mattingly were still playing.

Later

Spring Is Coming!

Even though this picture doesn't covey it, the weather here is outstanding. The picture of Amy and the kids was taken in January near a trail behind the house. This morning, Amy and I were able to sit outside in the warm sun and enjoy a cup of coffee while the kids were inside playing. It was in the high 60's at 9am and promises to be in the mid 70's mid-day. Ahhhhhh, I love North Carolina.

Oh Yeah... We Moved

After I made my last post, I realized something... I didn't mention that we'd re-located from Virginia Beach to Raleigh. So, there it is...

We moved in October of '05, but the ball started rolling early September. Friends from Virginia Beach told us they were moving there to take a job and had brought up how the housing was much more affordable there. As it were that we were looking to find a bit of a bigger house anyway, we thought we'd take a look at the Raleigh market ourselves and keep it open as an option. In fact, the housing market was radically more reasonable in Raleigh than Virginia Beach, so we decided to put out a few resumes to some Raleigh Arcitectural firms. After some trips to look at houses and a couple interviews we found that this was going to be a very good move for us.

As a bonus, we are now attending the Triangle Church. We have made many wonderful friends and look forward to making this our home for a very long time, God willing. Speaking or churches, I recommend visiting the Maple Ridge Church's website, it is the church that my friend Henry is now minister of. Even though it is over 3,000 miles away in Vancouver, Canada, the website looks like it will be a great place to access some great spiritual resources for those who are so inclined to check it out.

See ya

At this rate, we'll post two messages a year. Lame.
Hopefully I can become more disciplined with this and make it a bit more of a normal and natural place to converse.

Life in Raleigh has been amazing. Amy and I are so happy here... so are Jude & Kerrigan. They both go to pre-school three times a week and Amy is working hard in both her Mary Kay business and also for her parents' business, Equissage. I now work at an amazing Architectural firm, Phillips Architecture, PA. Not only am I doing design and drafting there, but also a fair amount of rendering and image enhancing with Photoshop. Everyone in the office is amazing as well, I am very grateful to be there.

Just got off the phone with my brother Ralph about an hour ago and he is recovering from surgery. Had a 1/2" bone chip in his shoulder so they had to go in and fix him up. The thing is, he's so tough, he could -still- beat me in arm wrestling with his bad arm. Glad you're okay, Ralph!

Till next time,
Out