Personal

Viva le Difference I made a quiet resolution last December to get in better shape this year, partly spurred by the fact that I was tired of avoiding the scale in fear of finally having crossed the 200lb tickmark. Also, I wasn't wearing more than a third of my wardrobe because I didn't like how most of it fit and I refused to buy the next size up, but was getting to the point where it was becoming unavoidable. First, I quit smoking; completely this time. No more social, only-when-drinking, it's-not-really-smoking smokes. Next, earlier this year, I had Salomé put me on a high-protein, 1500-calorie…

The Good News: According to standards, India's early intervention and ABA therapy over the past two years have resulted in remarkable improvements in her speech and sociability, and she is ready to move on to a less restrictive environment for Kindergarten in the fall. Effectively, she is no longer considered autistic. The Bad News: According to standards, India's early intervention and ABA therapy over the past two years have resulted in remarkable improvements in her speech and sociability, and she is ready to move on to a less restrictive environment for Kindergarten in the fall. Effectively, she is now being considered a tempermental kid with a speech delay who…

Presidente InterContinental Cancun Resort The last time Salomé and I took a real vacation (without the kids), a long weekend in New Orleans back in 2005, we missed a devastating hurricane by about six weeks. Back in 1992, when I was still in the Army, Hurricane Andrew derailed a planned Labor Day weekend trip down to Miami Beach.  Katrina hit New Orleans on August 25th, Andrew tore through South Florida on August 24th...so the timing of our trip to Cancun this summer is just a tad worrisome: August 25-29. It took a couple of weeks for us to finally decide where to go this summer -- looking to…

last.fm Because there aren't enough distractions online, I've signed up for yet another one: last.fm. It's a social networking site that links people through their musical tastes, not via hyperlinked entries in an "interests" box, but by tracking everything you listen to on your computer and creating a personal radio station that others can listen to, potentially discovering new songs and artists. It also allows artists to upload their own music and make it available for preview and/or download, offering the potential for reaching new audiences in a way that's more organic than MySpace. So yeah, I signed up, set my Windows…