Amazon Kindle

Well, I can finally say that this is what I've been helping to build for 2 and a half years. It's been a long time coming -- at times it seemed it wasn't going to happen. But Amazon put the device up for sale this morning, and the orders are coming in now. Already a lot of press has been given the Kindle -- Jeff Bezos and the Amazon marketing folks really did a good job of getting early positive press coverage. It even looks like it will be on the cover of Newsweek this week. So for better or for worse, my work is now going through the grinder of hi tech criticism. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks and months. It is quite nerve-wracking.

Halloween 2007

This Halloween, Emma decided to go with what worked well for her last year: Little Bo Peep. Bryce, however, did not want to be her sheep again. In fact, I doubt that little sheep costume would even fit anymore. Besides, that costume was so hot on him that when I took him out last year he was drenched in sweat. Instead, he decided on being a monkey, no doubt in honor of his favorite action hero, Curious George. He especially liked the little banana that sticks out of the right pocket.

In other news, I finally ventured down under our house in the crawl space (see above) to pull out the surround sound system the last owners had manually installed. I sure hope we don't decide in the future that we actually want the surround -- that area under the house almost made me claustrophobic. Some areas I had to turn my head sideways and squeeze between the dirt on one side and pipes on the other. Emma could hear where I was underneath the house, groping around, avoiding the sewage pipes and inhaling liters of dust. She would keep screaming, "DADDY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT.....? Mommy, daddy sounds very bad under there. I think he's probably stuck" I told her afterwards I was doing my yearly spelunking -- I don't think that's the right word, but if she ever mentions it, now you'll know what she means.