interesting zen question (called a Kōan)

What did your face look like before your parents were born?

Books about Russians, Czechs and Elephants

Last night I finished reading The Brothers Karamazov. It was a great book and I'll probably read it again. I'm passing it on to Nikki to read next. Next on my list is The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Im looking forward to reading it and I really like the book cover of the version I have, its a derby floating in mid air over the Charles Bridge in Prague. Zoe just finished Elmer's Colors, for the 107th time.

Our other 2 babies

We haven't posted anything about our other 2 babies to this blog yet. They are doing great. I was taking a photo of Miro and she told me to talk to the paw.
Napoleon was very curious when I was taking her photo, she wanted to sniff the camera lens.

Zoe is walking!!

Zoe started walking today!! She has taken some steps here and there before, but today she just took off!! We are very proud of her.

Playground

Here is a video we took a couple of weeks ago on the playground at the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano.

Toast with purple dreadlocks and some ducks

We went to breakfast this morning at Cafe Brazil in Plano. For those of you not in Dallas, Cafe Brazil used to have a restaurant in a part of Dallas called Deep Ellum, which is where the alternative crowd hangs out. You would go there late at night to have some coffee and maybe dessert after going to listen to bands play or whatever you where doing that night. But now the restaurant has a small chain going. They have a cleaned up version in Plano, still with the artsy decor, still with the waitresses with purple dreadlocks and nose rings, and still with great desserts...but the clientele is what you would typically find in Plano, which is definitely not purple dreadlocks and nose rings, but more suburban church going types. So it was an interesting mix to see all together, definitely not the same place Nikki and I used to go to in Deep Ellum years back. But they do serve good breakfast. Zoe had 2 big pieces of toast, mmmm.

After breakfast we went to a nice park, with a pond/mini-lake and a side of ducks (Zoe loves ducks). We played on the playground, it was nice. There was a somewhat chilly wind blowing this morning, plus Zoe was ready for a nap so we called it a morning and headed back. Overall it was a great Sunday morning.

mmmmm, soy chocolate pudding!

nepotism?

VP Dick Cheney, and presidential hopeful Barack Obama are distant cousins. This isnt that suprising, really. Franklin D Roosevelt was related to over 10 other presidents. It seems a lot of presidents and other high ranking politicians, not all, but a lot, have a branch of the family tree that leads to another president, another senator, another whatever. Is there a hint of nepotism in national politics? Hillary Clinton with her husband, GW Bush with his dad and brother in Florida, Obama with his distant cousin VP Cheney? Look at this photo of the last presidential hopeful John Kerry and the guy on our $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton and tell me they aren't related!

With our two parties most likely to be nominated, republicans AND democrats, is our choice really that varied? Whats wrong with a 3rd or 4th choice? Why not un-simplify our Hobson's Choice a little and get some other parties in there, different voices? Maybe look outside the presidential gene pool a little? You know what happens when cousins marry, right? The children are a little on the dumb side. And it only gets worse as generations go by. Hmmm, look at our political leaders today.
Ok-Im done with my monthly political rant, sorry. I really should be at work right now.

3 ears are better than 2

Im really close to finishing The Brothers Karamazov, less than a hundred pages to go! Its a great Russian soap opera and I'll have to read it again some day.

I recently read a story about a guy in Australia that had an ear grafted onto his forearm in the name of art..this has nothing to do with art! He looks like the grandpa on Everybody Loves Raymond, only with an ear growing on his forearm.

Zoë says hi

Hi, this is Zoë. Im 15 months old. I was born on July 3rd, 2006 in New York City. I like elephants, moo-cows, dogs, and ducks. My favorite foods are hummus, mac & cheese, and strawberries. I like exploring, watching Teletubies and pulling kitty cat tails even though mommy and daddy tell me not to.
I lived in Hoboken, NJ my first 7 months. Then my parents moved to Texas, thats where I am right now. This week I said "mama" for the first time, and mommy was very happy about that.

If your looking for something interesting to listen to checkout radio lab

Taking our Wild Cous-Cous Eater to the Park

We took Zoe to the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve yesterday and today....maybe I should start this another way. We just moved from Grapevine to our new place in Plano. Nikki and I are both very tired. There are a lot of boxes sitting in the living room and we still have a lot of to-dos to do. Nikki and I thought, "Hey why dont we start a blog, that makes sense, we can unpack and sleep later". Zoe has been a little upset about the move, probably because of all the change. Right now we are trying to get into our new routine and get everything set up. After our 15 trips a day to Whole Foods across the street we thought it would be fun to get out and do something that didn't involving buying tofu, so we went to the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano. Its a park that has big playground, trails, very nice. Its about the only part of Plano that isn't a McMansion village or a SuperTarget/SuperWalmart/SuperWhatever. On Saturday we walked around for a while until Zoe decided it was time to go. She must have been tired because she is likes to be outside. Today we decide to go again, this time we spent all our time on the playground, Zoe climbed the jungle gym, swung on the swings, or swinged, swang, however you say it, and had a great time. After that we came back to our place and fixed some cous-cous, and Zoe had a grand time eating and decorating herself, mommy and daddy with it. All in all we are starting to get settled into the new place.

Video of Prego Nikki from June 2006

Playing in the Grass in Grapevine