The Weatherman

Professor Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University gave his last public lecture entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” (click title to see Google video of it).

Although Professor Pausch has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer (see his blog), he gives an excellent lecture on living your life to its fullest and achieving your dreams. Be sure to take the time and watch it - it’s definitely worth it. It’s amazingly upbeat and inspirational.

Pay attention to the “head fakes”.

I wonder if he saw the biggest head fake of them all…One of his themes is enabling the dreams of others. He spends his career striving to make it easier for anyone to become a programmer. He first enables the dreams of 1 student, then 50 students, and now with Alice he will touch potentially millions. But, he will never instruct or touch more than he will with this lecture. This lecture is something everyone can take something from…not just wannabe/potential programmers. Anyway, maybe I’m looking too much into this irony (or ‘head fake’) but it is definitely there.

Yep, looks like we will get a good soaking tonight and tomorrow.  There even calling for flooding in the Olympic Mountains…that probably means we’ll get close to an inch when it’s all done.  We’ve had a bit of rain the last few days.  The weather has definitely turned up here - very fall like.

The boys are doing good.  Zach is playing with his toys after getting coffee with mommy and Nate is snoozing in his vibrating chair.  Here are some photos of Nate…

Nate sitting up!  Well, sort of, he is wedged between two pillows.

Still trying to photograph that elusive smile…not quite there yet.

I’m awake!

The whining, the laughing, the crying, the fussing, the eating, the not sleeping, the screaming, the pooping, the peeing, the spit up, the hitting, the spitting, the burping, the not listening, the moods…and then they smile and give you a hug.  It’s amazing to think that it’s worth it.  Now Steph and I may kill each other…but that’s a story for a different day.

Things have definitely been tough since Steph has had a cold and I’ve had cold/allergy symptoms.  In addition Nate has been irritated with something - probably the same sore throat we’ve had.  So there isn’t much sleeping going on in our household.

This weekend we took a quick trip over to the Seattle Aquarium - this is our first visit since the new section has opened.  While it’s very nice it wasn’t dramatic as one would hope - they basically added two exhibits.  Afterwards we went to the Skylark Cafe for brunch - best pancakes and tater tots in West Seattle.

On Saturday night, we actually had a babysitter.  Steph and I went to Jak’s Grill in West Seattle - arguably the most underrated restaurant around.  It has some of the best steaks in all of Seattle.  They don’t take reservations so the wait is usually about 90 minutes - which is nice for extending a date night.  We were there for 3 and 1/2 hours.  Steph had a New York steak and I had their ribeye - everything was excellent.

Nate sleeping on the floor.

First, I hear from my wife that some people don’t like the run updates…TOUGH!  My blog so live with it.

Now back to the kid photos…these are from the Puyallup Fair.

Nate just takin it all in.

Nate causin trouble

Zach is watching a ride

Zach on his first ride ever

We have decided to take a quick trip down to the Bay Area (Oct 10 to Oct 13) to see family.  We are not planning on doing too much else  while we are in town since these trips are rough on the kids if we cram too many things into them.

Last night was our first night where the low was under 50…It dropped to 47 degrees…the first signs of fall have hit…well, that, and the rain we are getting.

I tried a new run from our house…a bit longer at 4.56 miles but the hill climbs are more steady (ie, less steep).

Here is a long movie showing Zach dancing to the Wiggles…and a few shots of a sleepy Nate. Enjoy.

What happened to the blog updates? Paul’s been busy - this is definitely the busiest time at work so the updates/photos/videos are very few.

Last weekend I did a fair amount of gardening in the yard. I cleaned up and planted some items in the planters that run along the back of the house. I planted some autumn mumms, salvia, hebe, and huckleberry. I even planted a tropical canna which can grow in almost any condition. We’ll see how this turns out.

Zach had his first swim lesson of the year on Thursday. He had gone thru swim lessons last fall also - but he was a little too young for it to be helpful. So I took him to his first lesson this year. He couldn’t wait to get in the water, but he did he wanted to get out. The pool had been refilled a few days earlier so it was still on the cool side and Zach, like his mom, likes warm water. He really liked it when I through him high in the air and he really enjoyed going underwater. He did not like swimming on is back - that freaked him out.

Nate has been a great little baby.  I held him for over an hour the other night at PEPS and he just stared, smiled, and hung out.  He’s definitely getting bigger - no longer that little 8lb kid that we had in early July.  he’s easily in the 13lb range now.

Today we are going to attempt to go to the Puyallup Fair…this will be Zach’s first chance to ride some amusement rides (yes, they have rides for two year olds). Otherwise, we’ll probably do house cleaning, yard stuff, and watch football.

Nate went to the doctor today for his 2-month check-up.  He is eager to catch up to his big brother.  He has grown nicely since his last appointment.  He weighed 12 lbs, 15 and 1/2 ounces - putting him in the 80% for weight.  He was 23 inches long (53% for height).  He should be smiling and starting to coo and make noises at any time.  Grandma thought she got a couple smiles on her visit a couple weeks ago but it could have just been gas.  You can tell he is growing well since he was only in the 25% for both height and weight at his last check.  He needs to pack on the pounds to be able to handle his older brother.

Tonight we had our PEPS gathering - we met at Jack Block Public Shoreline…very interesting place.  It’s basically a thin park hugging the shoreline where the Duwamish hits Elliott Bay - it sits between the water and the freight yard on Harbor Island.  So you get good views of the longshoremen doing their work.  Here are some photos from tonight.

Getting ready to role down a big hill.

Fishing boat in Elliott Bay.

Looking into the container yard.

We are in the middle of our largest T-storm this year. I was just starting to fall asleep as I heard the thunder in the distance. I opened the blinds to a light show that I haven’t seen in years - bolts and flashes every 10 to 20 seconds. I saw one bolt dance up the western sky which seemed for miles. What a beautiful sight.

I love getting thunderstorms when they are not forecasted…that’s usually when they happen around here. The only odd thing was a jet flying low directly over our house. I watched it from a distance and I couldn’t tell if it was attempting to land at SeaTac and diverted or had just taken off from Boeing Field. In any case, jets never fly that route at that altitude over our house…strange.

Update: Check out these photos by a West Seattle person last night.

So I finally recovered from my caffeine binge. On Thursday afternoon, Marla, Simon, and Sopie flew up to stay with us for 3 days. This would be the first multi night stay over for a friend of Zach…and things went very well. Zach and Sophie played well all weekend. In general, they had their terrible two moments but usually not at the same time.

Also, the minivan paid for itself this weekend. We had 4 adults and 3 kids (in car seats) all in the minivan! Very impressive.

On Friday morning we took a quick trip to Lincoln Park where Zach and Sophie played on the swing and slides. We also strolled down to the water so they could throw rocks into the Sound. We returned home for lunch and naps. A nap that Zach didn’t take…at least not during his nap time. Once Sophie woke up we went to the zoo. They were both very good as we checked out the animals. Zach and I went ahead of everyone else since he maintained a different pace. After about an hour there Zach crashed in Sophie’s stroller. Ahhh, nap time. He slept in the stroller, in the car on the way home, and at home.

That night we had Thai take-out and also had the Alessi’s over (ie, Dominic and his parents). Lots of drinking going on! On Saturday morning we went up to the Ballard Locks to watch boats and fish. Lots of Chinook salmon heading into the lake right now. After the afternoon naps we went over to the Highpoint Playfield (park within walking distance of our house). All was good until about halfway home - Zach lost it. I think he had too much playing. Anyway, he and I hung out at home (he was very good and mellow) while everyone else went to the brewery for dinner.

On Sunday we hung around the house. Marla, Simon, and Sophie flew home that afternoon. I decided to tear up a portion of the backyard - finally finished that job earlier today. Overall a very busy weekend. I did get some photos but unfortunately my shots of Sophie were blurry…so I only have Zach and Nate photos. I find that I haven’t been taking great shots with my Tamron 28-300mm lens - probably because I try to do too much while handholding. And it’s not the best action shot lens.

Nater patater sleeping at the park.

Zach navigating the play structure at Lincoln Park.

Looking into Salmon Bay from the locks. This would have been nice shot if I didn’t get the cable in the middle (I know I can always PS it out).

And a nice long movie from Lincoln Park and the Ballard Locks.

BTW, for all you non-Seattleites…Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer. While today was mostly cloudy we did see our high hit 77 - it was actually warm and muggy. Anyway, we probably will not see anymore temps in the 80s. September tends to be pleasant but the nights will start to really cool down. As for rain, it’s hit and miss. On average, September is not much wetter than July and August, but you never know. We are expecting rain tonight/tomorrow morning - good thing since my new plantings will like the water…and so will the lawn.