I saw this picture of a 25' high boulder that was blocking a road in Southern California. Its hard to believe that thing is real!

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Published: (2005-01-10 21:36:16.0)

Well, I'm sure you've heard plenty of the tsunami. But have you seen the images of the aftermath? Digital Globe has a page of satellite images of the before and after. The amount of destruction is most evident in the Banda Aceh images. The images are powerful - moving me to silence, reflection and prayer.

I've heard the tsunami described as a wave - but its more like a wall of water as the ocean suddenly rises. The Phuket Tsunami Photo Gallery shows this in a dramatic and sobering fashion. Also NBC Channel 10 (Philadelphia) has a page full of images and video of the tsunami.

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Published: (2005-01-07 10:22:39.0)

Well, this is probably the first year that Christmas is at the forefront of my thoughts. Last night we rearranged the furniture and I brought the tree in. The tree actually went up quick, surprising me. None of this "no no now it's leaning left. Well now it's leaning right ..." My daughter buzzed around us in excitement, and as a result took a long time to fall asleep.

I was pretty tired, and not really in the mood to decorate the tree. However my wife was in go-go mode, and would have none of my curmudgeonliness (yes I had to look that word up). She put on the Christmas tunes and set about opening the boxes and pulling out the decorations. So I sat down and starting pulling out all of my snowmen. 7 out of the 10 Christmas boxes were for my snowman collection. Pretty much all of my family has clued into the fact that yes, I do collect them. So the collection is sure to grow this year.

So the cool part was when my daughter woke up and saw the decorated tree - she clapped and laughed with excitement. A little later on she looked around and saw all the snowmen, and her eyes got big. With a bit of awe in her voice she said "snowmen everywhere!" That definitely made my morning - and then it hit me. Christmas is here!

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Published: (2004-12-13 17:04:57.0)

Via Yahoo!, I came across this caption for a British hooligan:

The typical Briton is polite, witty and phlegmatic, but lacks a certain style and has a dental hygiene issue while having an occasional drinking problem.

On the hooligan thread - I'm a big soccer nut. A friend and I used to watch soccer games on the Spanish channels since frankly the American commentary left something to be desired. Whenever the games featured England, and there were crowd shots, the word "hooligans" would leap out of the stream of rapid Spanish. Seems anyone rooting for England was considered a hooligan.

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Published: (2004-11-20 22:12:38.0)

Song of the day: Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths

A note about this song - when we're in China for our adoption, I sang this song to my daughter as I carried her around the hallways of the hotel at night. Why? Because I really didn't know any lullabies. And besides, the words fit what I had been feeling for so long.

and it's hard to believe the world won't stop
or even offer a polite nod
when I'm feeling so ugly and tired
a yearning to be young and beautiful
just until I can find my coffee smile ...

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Published: (2004-11-11 14:26:50.0)