(Also reposted from my geekgal.vox.com account — hint, hint)
In California, you apparently have a legal right to sunlight.
Thus, a man won a lawsuit against his neighbors that requires them to cut down their redwood trees. Why? The trees are blocking his solar panels.
Oh, the irony…
Reposted from my geekgal.vox.com account, which you really ought to join (it’s free!) if you want to keep up with Sara updates; like our decision to put most Sara photos behind Flickr’s “friends & family” security, vox.com lets me do the same on a per-blog entry, per-photo basis.
She said “Hi, Momma” (I had just said it, so she was mimicking me, but still… Awwwwwww!) It’s not the first time she’s said it, but it was just cute in the context of her sitting there “reading” her book.
She is not yet walking, but she can stand up and balance for nearly a minute even when she’s flailing her arms or “bopping” to music (which she loves–we need to buy her more musical toys!) She doesn’t need any help getting to a standing position or picking up objects she’s dropped while standing, and she’s starting to get the hang of a single step up/down in my folks’ house, although without baby gates installed at our house I’ve not yet introduced her to our stairs at all.
Her vocabulary, that we recognize so far anyway, includes: Mom (Mom, Momma, Ma, MomMomMo…); Dad (Da, Dada, Pa, and most recently, PaPa); cat (which usually comes out as “dat” or “datdat” or “keykat” said really quickly and followed by a happy shrieking yell, which sends all cats within a two-mile radius fleeing for cover); dog (we don’t have many dogs around, nice ones anyway, but she has said “deeee” when I say “doggy” about a toy or doggy in a book); and “Hello” (though this one is the least frequent of all; usually she just waves, vs. verbalizing it.)
There are of course many words she cannot say yet that she understands, like “more?” If you ask her, “Where is your table?” or “Where is the cat/kitty cat?” she will scan her environs, and if she’s able she will head on over (crawling) to the table or nearest cat. She also will come to me sometimes when I ask her to “Come to Momma.”
She’s gotten really cuddly this past week, although she’s also gotten more quick to cry. I suspect more teething (evidenced by redder cheeks, more drooling and more hand and toy munching than usual), but perhaps also just a new stage in her development/expression.
Reposted from my geekgal.vox.com blog (Dept. of Redundancy Dept.):
I love technology as much as the next geek, but when my potted plants start having the capacity to call me and demand to be watered or provided with better light (more here; don’t miss the newsreel and sample audio from an unhappy moss), I’m going to have to relocate them all to… a quiet porch somewhere.
Found on: Twitter.com (User Pothos, via Botanicalls)
Clearly, CNN is employing a former TheOnion wonk because lately their top headlines have read more like TheOnion stuff than Corporate News Network (er, well, yeah). It was funny, at first, like the “Being Declared Dead Ruins Life” one I blogged last week…but now I feel dirty, like I’m being used. Why?
What in the hell is this headline doing on CNN’s top news stories? The story itself is notable, I’m not discounting that, but who uses the word “teeny” except a child or a love-struck parent of a newborn?
CNN, apparently does:
Teeny fire starts Murphy’s Law, darkens Florida 24 min
It’s bad enough to read what some parents and child care providers are doing, but to hear a “veteran teacher” talking this way to 4 and 5 year olds? Sigh.
And while a little different, in that the teens involved did bear a small bit of responsibility (skateboarding where they shouldn’t have been), this 17-year-veteran of the Baltimore PD also needs a refresher course on proper conduct.
I rode 14.89 miles with Justin and his BIL, David, this afternoon, and am feeling great. See the ride’s stats from my Garmin Forerunner 305+heartrate strap at http://tinyurl.com/2xaywq; you can compare my heartrate to Justin’s (his stats, here). He’s in far better cardiovascular shape than I am right now.
We even swung by Bulverde Airpark where a former co-worker (former executive) has his home-built aircraft (RV9) hangared. She (all aircraft, like ships, are female) is a beauty–I was trying to be polite, so I didn’t snap a Blackberry photo… only to have Justin confide to me that any owner of an aircraft would be thrilled to have someone take photos of his baby. Point taken.)
With the installation of my indoor bike trainer not happening until Tuesday (it arrived late Monday), and all the yard work on Thursday, I only got two bike trainer sessions in this week and today’s outdoor ride, but that’s nothing to sneeze at given all the weeks prior.
My cadence sensor didn’t behave so I don’t have cadence data for today’s ride, which doesn’t matter to me outdoors but is a PITA for the bike trainer sessions (because MotionBased sucks for GPS-trackless activities.). I hope to get the cadence sensor issue resolved ASAP. Tomorrow’s a recovery day from the bike, though. I feel great but don’t want to burn myself out.
