For future posterity

We're about to paint over the kids' growth chart timeline. I jotted down the data points we've collected and knowing what our paper and storage situation is like, I'm going to post them here so we won't lose them.

Colleen (DOB April 28, 2005)
Dec. 16, 2005 25-5/8"
March 19, 2006 27-3/8"
Aug. 19, 2006 28-3/4"
April 9, 2007 32-5/8"

Robert (DOB June 4, 2002)
Oct. 6, 2003 29-1/2"
March 13, 2004 32-3/16"
June 11, 2004 32-7/16"
Sept. 6, 2004 34-1/2"
March 19, 2005 35-15/16"
Oct. 15, 2005 37-3/8"
Dec. 6, 2005 38-1/4"
Jan. 29, 2006 39-1/4"
May 31, 2006 39-5/8"
Aug, 19, 2006 40-3/8"
Jan. 20, 2007 41-1/4"
March 1, 2007 41-7/8"
April 9, 2007 42-1/2"
Aug. 25, 2007 43-1/4"
June 10, 2008 45-2/8"

Elizabeth (DOB 11/24/97)
Oct. 6, 2003 44-1/2"
March 13, 2004 45-3/4"
June 11, 2004 46-1/4"
Sept. 6, 2004 46-7/8"
March 19, 2005 48-3/4"
Oct. 15, 2005 49-3/4"
Dec. 6, 2005 50-7/16"
Jan. 29, 2006 50-3/4"
Aug, 19, 2006 51-3/4"
April 9, 2007 53-5/8"
June 10, 2008 56-7/16"

Interesting how we have a bit more data on Robert and a lot less on Colleen. Who was in charge of data collection? We'll try to do a better job from here on out.

Counting down the hours

No idea how many hours left before we get out, and I'm still supposed to be "at work" today, but we have at least a half a ton of stuff to do.

Plugging away. Living room is full of boxes. Ceilings in bedrooms still could stand to be painted. Car needs to be inspected. I need a trip to the bank for the business. And all sorts of offloading items from the house to the storage POD.

Sigh.

Bookending the D.C. experience

We were all 17 years younger then: Carlos, Steve, Catherine and I, residents of Ryan Hall, that Halloween night of 1991 when we piled in Catherine's parents' car for the drive to the Capital Centre for George Michael's concert.

Though I don't remember many of the particulars I doubt we made any sort of pact suggesting we would all meet at the next one. And heck, as it turned out, he didn't even come back to D.C. until last night.

Until about a month ago, hadn't seen Catherine since Cate and I went to an Orioles game with her and her husband in 1995 or 1996. Haven't heard from Steve from forever, though he's Google-able, and Carlos, well, his last name is too common to make a search engine of much assistance. But when we met for lunch recently (she works a couple miles down the road) she mentioned she had George Michael tickets for one of my last nights in town.

We were in just about the back row: section 410, row P, with one row of seats behind us. That is, until the usher came around and started handing out upgrades to the floor! So we got bumped up (or down) to section 4. As other fans started filtering in around us, Catherine kept asking, "Did you get the hookup?!" (Two whole rows of us got $230 seats for our $55 tickets. Ticket price in 1991 was $27.50.)

They had cameras in the house last night, so we're thinking maybe they didn't want to have empty seats on the floor with "tape" rolling.

So as not to further embarrass Neil I won't wax poetic about the concert. Let's just say it was a fun time.

It seemed like a good way to cap off the D.C. thing somewhat the way it started. And Cate either didn't mind or has bit her tongue. I'm not sure I got enough work done on the house over the weekend to merit a night off but I got one anyway.

Gone in 48 hours ...

Some people need practical advice

I had a great time at the George Michael concert last night with Catherine S., a friend from college. More about that later. However, one of the best parts about riding the Metro is the people-watching. We saw a prime example of it last night, when a woman standing on the train right in front of us was holding a paper with a Google maps printout.

I didn't see the exact start and endpoint, but no lie, it was just like this.


View Larger Map

There are so many ways this could have been avoided.

1. When you plug in your two endpoints and you see the simple one block-by-one block right angle pop up on your screen, you could simply commit it to memory and close the browser.
2. If you're not paying attention and print it out anyway, you could recycle the sheet of paper.
3. If you are so inept or insecure that you must carry a piece of paper to tell you how to go two blocks, for goodness sakes, fold the paper inward so the rest of the train can't see.

Thanks. That is all.

Equal time to the other cousins

Neil has just an incredible picture on his blog of our three kids and his daughter, Amelia. I suggested that we make this an annual event and he has added an alert to that effect.

I, for one, love alerts -- I have one on my phone for 2031, only because my phone calendar doesn't go any further out. If I still have Sprint service then, or TerraTelCo or whatever global megaglomerate handles whatever passes for "telephone service" then, I should get reminded.

But in going through my laptop this afternoon I stumbled on the other side of the family, a picture taken at the Brennan family reunion back in June that Cate never got a chance to blog about. Here it seems to be Colleen sporting the sad face among all of her second cousins, the children of Cate's cousins Nicole and Chip. Doesn't look like Joey's kids are here, or at least, not his oldest.

My apologies for not being Brennan-savvy enough to recognize who's who or remember everyone's name. Abby is sitting on the bottom step with a baby in her lap and Sydney is sitting next to Elizabeth and Colleen.