Holy Tornados, Batman!

We had a pretty good storm blow through tonight as I was leaving work. When I got home stuff was blown all over my driveway. The basketball standard was blown down (again), our little garden trailer was blown over and junk was strewn everywhere, but I didn't think much of it and couldn't assess much damage because it was dark by the time I got home from work.

I took Cooper out in the backyard to play catch for a while (in the dark), not really noticing anything amiss. I had to run inside to get the phone and it was my neighbor. "Hey", she says, "Do you want to come get your trampoline out of our pond?" Huh? "Yeah, did you notice your trampoline is missing? It's in our pond."

Ladies and gentlemen, they have a six foot fence around their yard. Our trampoline is the biggest you can find. It went aerial, over the fence and landed, vertically, in their pond, so now they have a 16' disc sticking up against to their house, right in the middle of their new pond. Holy smokes, I hope it hasn't damaged their house. We'll try to remove it tomorrow evening, after we get some pictures. No clue how we're going to lift it back over the 6' fence.

Let that be a lesson to you - her kids have been praying for a trampoline!

Day One of Two - A Pretty Boring Birthday

Now complete

Gushing

I don't do movie reviews. I don't generally gush over actors. Dumb physical comedy is great acting from my point of view.

That said, Heath Ledger wins my all-time award for greatest villain, stolen directly from the iron fist of Darth Vader. Wow. Wow.

I liked this movie enough to give it space in my right nav - Harvey Dent for Mayor.

If you haven't seen it, wow.

Happy birthday, Katie!

Somehow it is frequently the case that I have to be away from Katie on her birthday. However, this birthday seems particularly lonely. I think it is because usually when I've had to be away on her birthday, it is me that's away, not her. This time I'm the one at home.

This is definitely one of the lamest birthdays ever for her. We had a great time on her birthday last year, driving scooters and looking at iMacs. Her 30th birthday with friends on the patio in Stockholm was really good too. This time we're apart and my gift to her is about 2mm above a vacuum cleaner.

I hope that the smile you see in this picture is something I'm able to give her this year. I'm not able to be there, but it is because I'm here making sure I can pay for the things that make her smile where she is.

Katie, I hope you and the kids are having a wonderful time with family and that this reprieve from the stresses of life here and the Texas heat is enjoyable and peaceful.

I will think of you all day tomorrow.

Jag ma du leva ett hundrade ar. Jag alskar dig.

LA Times joins the Pigou Club

Thanks, once again, to Greg Mankiw for the link to the insightful article. That spiraling noise is my home equity, btw.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein11-2008jul11,0,6314598.column

I Miss You Already

Proud Dad

As a dad I needed something to feel proud about this week and Porter gave it to me. He's been a complete wimp in the pool, which is aggravating as all get out particularly since I was exactly the same way. But suddenly is the bomb and swimming without issue. We just had a relay race in the pool with him on my team and he swam three laps end-to-end by himself. I'm so thrilled for him that he didn't wait until he was 35 to get beyond his fear of water. Four down, two to go on the water safety front.

What London looks like on business