Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Nicholas in preschool sitting beside his favorite friend - in the vest.
posted by Nick 12:27:00 AM
Christmas vacation coming quickly
In about 48 hours we should all be in Seattle driving towards Vancouver. I like to visit my relatives in Vancouver. Almost all of our extended families, on both sides, are there. We'll be out for about 9 days. Not much time to do much ther than visit close friends and relatives.
See my Christmas Letter for some background on this year
-->Christmas Letter <--
A friend of mine lost his father this fall. I had occasionally met the man several times over 35 years of friendship. So sorry. I liked the extent of the obituary they put in their Christmas letter and posted on their web page. Life is short, and we are back to the big questions of why and how we are here and what it all means, and why in the end we care most for each other.
posted by Nick 12:26:00 AM
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Sarah's soccer team near the end of the season - after the post game snack goodies are distributed
posted by Nick 2:22:00 AM
The hallway is two tiles wide but they don't line up with the room tile pattern. I will cut a couple of segments to put between the different pieces here, and move the tile pairs farther into the hallway.
posted by Nick 2:11:00 AM
Spacing adjusted so the last tile wraps around the post at the bottom of the stairs.
posted by Nick 2:09:00 AM
Carpet has a tendancy to move so I nailed down a metal transition strip at the natural edge of a carpet in front of a door.
posted by Nick 2:08:00 AM
The post, and weird changes in the the perimeter. Neither the Dricore floor tile or Milliken Legato carpet tile tapes and instructions go into detail when talking about obstacles. Here I changed the starting point of the carpet tile to make the edge break of the carpet tile wrap around the post on the stairs. This was typical of the edge pieces - they need to be handled multiple times to place, measure, cut, recut, clean and leave them in place. It is not so effortless as the dropping of an original tile in the middle of a large room.
posted by Nick 1:57:00 AM
The kids started to play as soon as the major flat area was done. Learn to live with shifting tiles, and small gaps. Can cut edge pieces slightly wider to pack tiles tighter and keep them from separating. I have lots of left over tiles and may need to do this in a few places.
posted by Nick 1:45:00 AM
Note the long thin extension to get past obsticles. The floor needed to be washed otherwise the dust stops the tiel 'tackiness' from working. Also the tiles at the base of the stairs tend to shift - washed floor and wet wiped tiles, and fitted the tiles quite tight together to reduce shifting at that point. Had to break into a new pattern in front of stairs to avoid small broken segments.
posted by Nick 1:43:00 AM
The carpet tile grid - so far so good - note the small dull knife for running between joints to lift trapped fibers - also need to vacuum loose fibers and debris occasionally. Lots of debris from tile cutting process.
posted by Nick 1:40:00 AM
Starting carpet tile layout - Milliken Legato
posted by Nick 1:39:00 AM
Hand built and 50+ years old. Quite complex but we don't really want it. Intricate and maybe lead paint. So another home or a trip to the dump?
posted by Nick 1:35:00 AM
Doll house left by the previous owners of our house
posted by Nick 1:33:00 AM
County fun run - a mile for a medal
posted by Nick 1:31:00 AM
Sarah at a soccer game - late in the season
posted by Nick 1:29:00 AM
Welcome to the brand new Museum of the American Indian
posted by Nick 1:14:00 AM
Duck boats - what duck boats ~2001 in Boston with Mary-Catherine
posted by Nick 1:02:00 AM
Our family in 1999 - before Nicholas, Sarah was sad for most of this picture session
posted by Nick 12:57:00 AM
Christmas letter for 2004
Christmas Letter for 2004:
Hello everyone
2004 was a good year in the philosophical sense. We're all here and doing well. We got to travel and see our families and got free tickets because we were bumped from oversold flights. Twice. I'm still at home looking after the fort, while Nancy slaves away in her downtown high rise office building. In March Nancy spent about two weeks in India on business. She took a brief side and got to see Delhi and the Taj Mahal. Lots of jet lag. I've met a few other fathers who have stayed home. Despite the nominal amount of 'free' time I am supposed to have, I don't get much technical work done. I took a course in the spring and much to my chagrin found out how far behind the state of the art I am in computer programming. On the other hand this fall I started to put in a floor in the basement made with interlocking wood panels and carpet tiles. I'm almost finished. The kids are playing down there already.
This year's stresses are not unlike last year's. As of February, Nancy was officially a CPA, having written an equivalence test for Canadian CA's last year. Both older kids are playing violin at school and privately. The need to do music lessons and practices and homework continues. At school there is more homework than there was when Nancy and I were kids. Even 4 year old Nicholas brings home exercises from preschool. I expect he will be reading by this time next year. Still the kids have more of a routine this year, and are more able to handle it. Peter played fall baseball. Sarah played fall soccer, and had a great time with her friends.
Peter and Sarah spent the period from the end of June to mid August in Vancouver. The rest of us joined them in July for a couple of weeks and met all the cousins from both sides of the family. The kids are already looking forward to going back next summer. They did a lot of swimming and bike riding, and we all got to meet Hilary and Randy's baby, Hannah, the newest member of the family. She was just starting to walk. At the end of the summer we went to Massachusetts to stay with Reid and Mary-Catherine at their Westport beach house. My cousin Nick, his wife Mary and their kids came down from Boston to see us. Its been 10 years since we've seen their son Peter and we've never met Thomas before. The weather and water were beautiful at that time. This summer Sarah got good at swimming, and Nicholas learned to like the water. All three kids loved time in the pool. Over the Labour Day weekend we camped near the Atlantic Ocean, and drove to Asseteague Island for a short ocean stop before we came home. See the pictures on my web site.
The kids including Nicholas have grown noticeably, both over the summer and through the year, especially compared to last year's Christmas picture. Peter is now 12, Sarah 9-1/2, and Nicholas will soon turn 5. Nicholas looked at one of our old family portraits and asked where he was. Well, in that portrait Peter was just five years old, so Nicholas wasn't around. We recently took a new family portrait and this one will include our youngest. Peter got braces, and Sarah just removed her retainer /spreader. Nicholas, with his thumb in his mouth, will probably get them when he is older.
Don't get me started on the election. As a new citizen I got to vote on one of those unauditable electronic touch screen machines. I'll admit I don't understand my fellow Americans' choices. At least those by people from the less populated 'RED' states. We share concern for those mostly young people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are many houses and cars sporting yellow and red-white-blue ribbons, indicating moral support for those sent overseas. It troubles me when I hear that parents are sending flack jackets to their kids over there. You would think the whole enterprise would be more organized. But sadly it is not. Surely we went in too light, without enough people to provide basic policing. Now we pay in hot battles, bombings, general violence, and the sheer slaughter going on over there.
It was good to see everyone this summer including our parents on both sides. We look forward to our Christmas trip to Vancouver.
Cheers
Nick and Nancy, and Peter, and Sarah, and Nicholas.
posted by Nick 12:48:00 AM
