Another Trip to the Zoo ....

Yesterday myself and the girls decided to brave the cold and head to the Zoo again. This time the plan was to see the kiwi at the bird house. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 AM they have one of the zoo personnel bring out one of their kiwis and you can get a chance to see one of these nocturnal creatures up and close.

So first of all I had no idea that these birds were so big. I guess I always imagined a kiwi being a small bird but they definitely fall into medium size. This one was bigger than my head - and I have a big head. I actually learned quite a lot. Kiwis lay VERY large eggs - the egg is at least a third of the size of the bird. To see it in the bird (they have a skeleton with one in it) you cannot help but think - "How the hell does that thing lay an egg that big?" To me it looked like a woman carrying a 30 lb baby. I also learned that the new born, once it hits 4 weeks old, is chased out of the burrow and they are on their own. The lady at the zoo also said that there were only 3 dozen kiwis outside of New Zealand and 4 of them were at the National Zoo It was actually a very fascinating talk.

As we walked through the Zoo we did manage to catch a number of new videos along with lots of pictures. I need to get the pics from Tika so keep an eye out for those but in the meantime here are links to a few videos we took:

• Barple remembered Sammy and to prove it - a quick video update 
• While in the bird house we did see a male hitting on a female - Do not worry "G" rated video 
• and finally a trip to Meerkat Manor - DC style 

OK - back to work for me. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years!

.... cu

A Great Christmas Break ....

Wow - it has been a busy week but a great one at the same time.

This time last week I was getting ready to head to a work Christmas party with one of our partners and some of the customers we work with together including the Department of Labor, Homeland Security, State and Energy. After meeting at a local bar in DC we headed to the Verizon Center to a suite we had reserved to watch the Wizards-76ers game. It was the first professional basketball game I have been to. The crowds were not huge - not sure if that was due to the fact that it was December 23rd and people still had Christmas shopping to do or if it is because of the Wizards record (now standing at 10 and 19. In either case it was a fun night and the Wizards did win so the local crowd was happy.

The day after the game myself and the girls headed down to the National Zoo. The panda that was born at the Zoo is due to return to China early in 2010 and the girls had not seen him (I know - we live 30-odd miles away we should go more often). Normally the Zoo is so full it is hard to get in to see them but with the combination of recent snow and the cold it meant that there were very few visitors so we got to visit the Pandas and then went to the bird house (mainly to get warm). While at the birdhouse Sam met a friend. Well sort of - more like made a friend - and not really a friend in that it was a bird. I guess the video shows it better (click here for it). Now do not be mislead - this was not a one off occurrence. Every time Sam walked by this part of the exhibit and called out this birds "name" it came running over no matter where it was. And yes it was the same bird - very identifiable within the exhibit. It was actually pretty funny.

Friday we got up and did our Christmas thing and then the girls came over after lunch. The pretty looking tree did not look like this after they opened their presents. I will say that they were very happy having had Christmas morning with their Mom and spending Christmas afternoon and evening with us. The big things were a new telephoto lens for Tika's camera, a pair of Doc Martens for Kris and games and DVDs for Sam. They also had other things but those are the highlights. I cooked a Roast Beef Tenderloin with Potatoes Anna and Garlic Broccoli and made a spicy Cuban Black Bean Stew for Tika.

Now with Christmas behind us (or I should say with Christmas 361 days away) we are looking forward to New Years, then Sammy's and Laura's birthdays. Tomorrow I am taking the girls to DC again so we they can see the Kiwi at the zoo.

We hope you have a GREAT new year.

.... cu

Happy Holidays!

OK - I am not being politically correct here as it is not Christmas yet and since Hanukkah just finished I figured I get both with one phrase. But that being said I am looking forward to a white Christmas and given the pile of snow we got this past weekend I am figuring it will be white. Tika said she measured 20 inches on the table on her deck. As you can see from the picture it was more than deep enough for La to bury her boots and she is standing on a couple of feet of snow at least. I know I shoveled a couple of feet from the front of our garage (and our neighbours) since they did not plow our back street very well.

We are all ready, I think. Well we are waiting for a couple of weather delayed packages but I expect they will show up on time. We are looking forward to having the girls over for Christmas afternoon/evening. And I know I am looking forward to seeing some excited faces when they open gifts.

I did see a cool Seasons Greetings picture and I have to share it. It is the worlds smallest snowman made at the National Physics Laboratory in the  UK. It is 1/5th the width of a human hair. Hope you like it and I hope you all have a GREAT Christmas

.... cu

Is it really only 10 days to Christmas?

Wow - I never realized it was getting so close. Still so much shopping to do.

We did get out this past weekend and got a tree. We decided it had to be a real tree for our first Christmas tree so we went out Saturday and found a nice balsam fir - we threw it on the Mini and took it home. Sunday the girls came over and we all decorated the tree after myself and the girls went out to find some lights for the new tree. The girls had hot chocolate and tea, we played Christmas music in the background and tried to combine two sets of Christmas ornaments. I will post a pic of the decorated tree after.

Afterward Tika wanted me to watch a movie with her so she put on the very Chritmassy (????) "Pineapple Express". OK it was not all that Christmassy but it was funny. This weekend Laura got tickets to take us all to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. It is supposed to be a great show and since her sister had been in it before I think it holds a special place for Laura as well - I know I am looking forward to it.

OK - back to work for me - have a GREAT week before Christmas

.... cu

Winter running .... it has challenges

I got up a little after 5 this morning and saw that the Accuweather temperature was well above freezing - woohoo! I had run 6-1/2 miles on Saturday AM and wanted to go out for a nice run this morning and seeing that the next couple of mornings was to be nice I figured a couple of nice warmer runs before the cold comes back in Wednesday AM. I threw on my shorts (Yes I said shorts) and my long sleeve shirt and a technical jacket, grabbed a pair of light gloves (I have now also lost one of my good running gloves along with my hat).

Now that I was ready I stepped out

Well I was about six steps into my run when I realized that EVERYTHING was covered in ice. The air temperature seemed ok but I guess the fog we had last night and early this morning had coated everything and with the ground being colder it froze. There was ice on the grass! It was too nice to be out in shorts and not run so off I go with half strides - no running on the balls of my feet - just very flat footed (but sure footed) running.

After only 3 miles I gave in to common sense and went back in. The good news was I did not fall and I did get a short run in. I guess next time I will have my skates by the door for days like these.

Aaaahhhh - the joys of winter running.

.... cu

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

A big congratulations to Laura.

Yesterday she signed the patents for her work on the chemistry and also for the instrument design for the test that she has been working on for the last number of years.

I know very few people that have patents and none of the people I know have used their patented work to help in the creation of a product that will literally save hundreds of thousands of lives a year.

Laura, I am so VERY proud of you.

(and obviously Elly is as well)