create your own personalized map of the USA

Guess I need to make a point of visiting Kentucky, it just looks odd there all alone.

These family photos were taken during June.

I made Joey a little blank book today and he wanted to fill it with a story. When I asked him to think of the beginning, ending and what happened in between, he looked at me funny.

“Well,” I said, “how does your story begin?”

“Once upon a time,” he replied.

“Okay. How does it end?”

“The End.”

Not much I could do at that point…

Earlier today, my kids were playing with their rubber stamps and I was explaining the purpose of the exclamation point and question mark. After I explained that the exclamation point was to show excitement or surprise Maggie created this:

Think she’s trying to tell me something?

In memory of George Carlin, his classic bit on “Stuff”:

Your result for The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test…

Elf

Take The What Middle Earth race do you belong to Test at HelloQuizzy

These photos were taken of Maggie and her brand new pink and purple bicycle.

Please enjoy these family photos taken this month. The photos taken on the swing set are from a visit to New Jersey early in the month.

The New York Times has an interesting article suggesting that disorder may not be as bad as the “professional organizers” have made it out to be:

An anti-anticlutter movement is afoot, one that says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder. Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds who reap higher salaries than those with neat “office landscapes” and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and cooler than their tidier counterparts. It’s a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands.

When I was a kid, I always felt sorry for my friends whose parents always made them put everything away, because they often decided not to undertake a project for fear of the mess it would create. Now that I’m a parent, I allow my own kids to create what could only be described as a mess. For example, they have been very creative with their mixing of different toys: Duplo creations cavorting with Thomas the Tank Engine layouts while Little People on building blocks stand nearby watching. If I made them put everything away all the time, this creative mixing might never occur.

According to this Breaking News from the local paper, our cable provider, Charter, has been filtering out notices from the public library:

Madison Public Library patrons who use a Charter e-mail address likely have not received any messages about books that have become overdue or hold requests that have been filled.

Librarians say that the problem lies with Charters spam filter. The automated messages sent from the library and its LINKcat online cataloguing system are blocked from those with e-mails ending with @charter.net.

“Charter servers see our e-mails as spam because so many e-mails are sent to Charter subscribers from our address,” a statement from the Madison Public Library said Monday.
“Our automation staff is working with Charter to resolve the problem.”

Meanwhile, they recommend using an alternative e-mail address or, if necessary, temporarily signing up for phone notifications at a local branch.

False positives scare the hell out of me. We assume that those creating these algorithms know what they’re doing and thus have anticipated every circumstance. We need to be vigilant, especially when these algorithms are employed for reasons other than library notices: “I’m sorry sir, but your name appears on the no fly list. Please proceed behind this curtain. Oh? That sound? Just snapping latex, nothing to be worried about.”