Three years later, now four of us

We've been in the East Bay for three years now. We moved in August 1, 2005, and the photo on top was taken that day or in the next couple of days. The second photo shows that the front of the apartment is pretty much the same, but now Ellie is a whole lot bigger, and she has a baby brother, little Benjamin. Here we are together in what may be the only picture of all four of us together so far.

The new kid

Here he is! Our new son was born this morning at 12:21am, weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and measuring 21 inches. He and Maile are both doing very well.

A lot of bowling

Due to the exorbitant holiday price at Albany Bowl today, I only bowled a single (inglorious) game. Still, it was noteworthy occasion. I've been keeping track of my bowling scores (and those of some of my bowling buddies) since August 2003--almost five years. 256 weeks to be precise. As veteran users of Excel (2003 or earlier) will now, each worksheet has up to 65,536 (2^16) rows and 256 (2^8) columns. With each week inserted in a new column, the oldest week has now finally hit the rightward wall: Column IV.

Where to go from here? I've known for quite some time that this day would come, but I haven't been looking forward to it. I now have to completely revamp my bowling spreadsheet, which in addition to storing the scoring data also graphs the games and averages and outputs the relevant statistics for my bowling website. The most likely solution is to store weeks vertically instead of horizontally. It will take a bit of work to reprogram the macros, but there will be an upside.

With 65,536 rows, I won't have to overhaul the new spreadsheet for another 1251 years. :-)

Potty Story

Today Ellie told me a story while she was sitting on the potty:

"Once there was a kitty who didn't have a daddy, so she was all alone and lonely when her mommy went to a meeting. But then, the babysitter showed up...and she was a bride who was just about to marry the prince, but then the prince was actually a bum, so they didn't get married after all. Instead she and the kitty danced at the ball, but then the clock struck twelve and she ran and ran until she got to her house and she was so, so sad because her stepsisters ripped up her pink dress. Then, when the clock stopped, her beautiful dress and the coach and the coachmen and the wheelchair and her glass slippers disappeared. The end."

No, that's not a paraphrase. That's EXACTLY what she said. I know, because I repeated it back to her and she corrected me on everything I got wrong...including the wheelchair, which was apparently integral to the plot line. What a bizarre and fascinating make-believe world my daughter lives in!

How preschoolers listen

On the way home from church today we asked Ellie what she learned in her Sunbeams class. She very excitedly and enthusiastically told us the following:

"We learned a story about the Lamanites who planted their seeds, but then the seagulls came and ate up all the bugs, and then they all prayed to God that He would say thank you to the seagulls and give them some food to eat!!"

Hmmm....

Dancing Queen

At the recent University Village Health & Wellness Fair, Ellie really got into the music. I love her interpretive dancing!

A different phone farewell

I was on the phone with my brother the other day and Ellie really, really wanted me to hang up and play with her. She kept repeating (loudly), "Say goodbye! Say goodbye! Say goodbye!" Finally, in exasperation, she said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!!"

Guess that means closure to her--the end of waiting for something to finish. We'll have to work on the patience skills...