In which the Mom had recently remarked to the Dad, "It's rather quiet in here..."

A Small Boy (no more than 17 months old, mind you) had, for the second time in one day, helped himself to a rather large scoop of petroleum jelly. This might not have been such an entirely bad thing, for the Small Boy does have patches of eczema that can benefit from such a substance in reasonable doses, but said Small Boy didn't apply it to said affected areas, instead focusing more on places like his tongue, lips, and eyelids. The Mom, upon discovering her greasy Boy (and scarcely recognizing him), yelled for the Dad to come straight away and take the Boy to the bath. With no concern for the mess his parents were facing, the Boy found a bathtime hobby with which to amuse himself. Despite her great irritation, the Mom took a few moments away from the fury of cleaning the greasy carpet and greasy pacifier (which must be suitable for use by bedtime) to document the Boy as he entertained himself. The Small Boy is now clean, dry, dressed for bed, and still slightly greasy. The Mom is inclined to believe that this was all a plot devised so that the Small Boy would slip easily from her grasp when being pulled away from forbidden objects.... Nah.

you've gotta fight for your right to [protect the constitution]

We interrupt this regularly scheduled display of kid cuteness to inform you of your rights. If you watch no other news segment today, watch this.



With all this talk of Big Bad Obama, keep in mind that these particular rights being trampled are courtesy of none other than (your favorite politicians and mine...) - neoconservative Republicans. We can thank them for the Patriot Act and other such constitutional nightmares, all enacted in name of "Homeland Security".

Benjamin Franklin knew what he was talking about - anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.(my paraphrase)

blue for the sky, and the color green...

For some reason, blogger is no longer uploading pictures for me. I'm not sure if its the movies I've posted lately or if the system is just fruitlooping. Either way, I've posted new pics on Facebook and you can see them there.

The weather was beautiful today, and Virginia Tech had their big international festival this weekend so we took the kids over to try some exotic food and just enjoy being outdoors. Caleb got a plate of red curried rice and vegetables at the Thai booth (VERY good) and I opted for sweeter fare - Guarana and brigadeiros at the Brazil booth. Gotta represent, right Dad? It was a fun afternoon and the kids got plenty of time to run around and wear themselves out.

Caleb is still plugging along at school and doing very well, and I'm working part time at the University for the Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences department. There's about a month left before classes end, and hopefully by then we'll have a better idea of what we're doing next. Life is always exciting!