Happy 4th Bday!

Tina turned 4 this week. Yea! I get the feeling that she seems very proud of it as she always looks forward to being considered as a grownup. Undoubtedly, she does mother her younger siblings. In fact, Mindy -- our 2nd oldest -- calls her 'mommy' when they're playing together.

We celebrated Tina's bday early on July 4th with my wife's and my families (or should the grammar be "...my wife and my families" without the possessive in wife?). The town fireworks are held right across the street in the park so we get a great view from our backyard just by looking almost straight up. It's that close as well as loud. (Note that this year's show was aweful as it was cut short due to some likely mishappening -- we heard fire trucks halfway through and the cumulative showy ending never happened.)

Nonetheless, we still had our traditional Carvel icecream cake (with bonus crunchy chocolate sprinkles in a cup).

I miss my daughter.

My oldest one is on vacation away from her immediate family (ie, me and my blood posse). She's staying with her relatives, a half hour's drive south of our home. She's been gone for 2 days and I do miss her very much. I see it as a sign, though, to focus my love on my other 2 kids. So tomorrow we'll go shopping, visit the playground, and get some nice edible treats.

Back From Vacation

Finally returned early Monday morning from a trip to the Philippines. Wow, what a nice experience. I'm currently suffering from some jet lag and have been awake since 2 am. It's best that I try to get some sleep now in order to return to my normal hours.

On Vacation

Hey there, all. Gonna go on a long trip trip in the South Pacific. See you back on the 28th. Bon voyage!

Who created the Web?

The founder of the World Wide Web (WWW) is Tim Berners-Lee. It's interesting to read what he has to say about then, now and tomorrow. What I find even more attractive is his writing style. It's very appealing to me--simple, but not condescending. I have this narrowminded preconception that physics guys, visionaries and other 'high level' thinkers can't jive on the same level as the commoner such as myself. Tim seems the exception. Anyway, here are some links to FAQ's on his website:

Questions from Young People:
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Kids.html

Questions from Older People:
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ

Recently, Sir Tim was recognized for his Web contribution:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5217598/

Stereoscopic Moon

Stereoscopic images are very interesting. Here's a sample using the moon. It's easiest for me to see this in 3D when I'm very tired since it requires the ability to NOT focus--kind of like crossing my eyes.

http://www.moon-phases.com/3d/3d-pairs.html

Ray Charles (1930-2004)

Ray Charles died yesterday morning (6/10/2004), and I couldn't help but keep thinking about him throughout the day. You see, he was one of the celebrities that stuck in my head as being someone whom I would've liked more had it not been for some insight into his personality through reading articles and another musician's opinion.

In my college days at the School of Music quite a ways back, I'd often talked with fellow music students about other celebrity musicians. It seemed like a natural topic to always touch on since our future careers would likely have some connection to our instruments. Ray Charles was one of the topics.

I remember sitting at the student lounge with two friends, one of whom had played a little with Ray Charles on one of his tours. He commented on how much of a dick he was to the band members and how he treated and talked so much trash of women. Of all the stories on how Ray was a dick I honestly can't recall (I think I remember one having to do with a plane flight). But I do remember strongly feeling very disappointed in Mr. Charles's personality since I had equated it with his talent. I certainly shouldn't have made such an assumption, although I do think many people do the same with celebrities. But since that day, I've always been reminded of that feeling whenever I see or hear him mentioned.

For reference, here's a link to a summary of Ray Charles's life, which also mentions him as being a legendary womanizer.

I never tried to expose myself to any of Ray Charles's music ever since that lounge conversation. But perhaps I should put his personality aside and give his talent a try, as I should with all people, yes? After all, it was just someone's opinion, right?

May Mr. Charles rest in peace. And may his family and friends find comfort swiftly in each other.

Pomp and Circumstance

My oldest one graduated from nursery school today. Ceremony, cap and tassle (ie, paper and string) and all. I was very touched and so very proud of her.

It's only nursery school and of course, there aren't any report cards. Nothing but fun fun fun. Nonetheless, any step is a big step.

(I'll edit this post and add more later. I need to hurry and watch "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" downstairs with my wife. The kids are finally asleep and we desperately need some quiet time alone before the zzzz's get the best of us. After all, it's 11 pm and it is a 3 1/2 hour movie. Finally, a date. Yahooooo!)

I likes my new pad.

I finalized my blog-move today from my home page to getwell.blogspot.com. I didn't like having my original blog url associated with my domain name. With things like automated search engine spider crawlers and such, I envisioned my family name being googled and showing a link to my blog because of our domain name (www.ForExample.com). I prefer the almost anonymity of using blogspot.com.

Blogs are Nice Reminders

I kept reading my previous GRRRR! post. It bothered me incessantly throughout the day that I had been such a jerky dad. So today, I was more mindful of any potential stressful moments and tried my best to keep things upbeat. Seemed to work quite well. Geez, these journal logs do offer a more effective reflection than just keeping things in memory.

So my lesson learned: never forget to be good to those I love, especially the younger ones. Duh, that goes without saying. But to those that have had their 'bad' days, I guess they must have forgotten.