Emmie edited

We have been messing around with some of our digital images on the computer. We're not very good at it, but its fun to mess around. Here are some results.

Some new Emilia Pictures

Julianne has been on a photo-snapping spree. Here are some of the latest results.

(full album here)


Emmie has been really fascinated by her fingers lately, like she just had an epiphany - "Oh my goodness! What ARE these things attached to my hands?!?!" She chews on them quite a bit and likes grabbing at your face.




Julianne likes this one for some reason. Maybe its the chubby cheeks.




Emmie laying on the living room ottoman.




Emmie's toes.





Emmie laying on her back. We had a few scares when she tucked her knees to her tummy and almost rolled right off the thing.

NW friends

Dear NW friends,

do you live in the Pacific Northwest or within driving distance of Portland, OR? Are you in dire need of convincing the world that you are indeed attractive? If so, I have a great friend that is starting a photography business in Portland and does some great stuff. Also, his prices are VERY good. Check him out at You Look Nice Today Photography.

B.

4 months old Tomorrow

Can you believe it?! We can't. Emilia will be 4 months old tomorrow. On one hand it seems like she just barely arrived, but in another way it seems like she's always been here. She is starting to laugh and squeal. She is also start to intentionally grab things and play with them. In the words of Grandma Jody, she's gifted. Well, she certain is "special," if you know what I mean. So far we've identified one major talent - spitting. Wow. She has that one mastered. Its her super power. We'll call her Spit-Girl. Or Captain "I just ruined 3 of my mom favorite outfits in one day" Woman. Despite the prolifically of her projectile drools, we love her. Lots.

Here's a few new pictures.

Check out my awesome torso.

My quacker PJs

"My dad is just a goober."


Just lounging on the lawn

Presidential Debate reactions from my class

So, I told my students that they could get extra credit for watching Tuesday's Presidential debate fi they turned in a short paper listing 3 things they liked and disliked about each candidate. Out of the ones turned in so far (about 40), there were 2 things that almost everyone said in their responce, or during our short Q&A in class today.

1. They didn't like when either candidate talked negatively about the other. Many disliked McCain's snide comments and sarcastic attempts at humor directly negatively at Obama. They also didn't like Obama talking so much about past things that McCain had done.
2. When asked if the debate changed their mind about who they were voting for, only 2 people raised their hands.
   

Make what you will of this, but I found it interesting.

My MA Thesis got Wordled

That's right, Wordled. There is a great free website that creates word clouds for any text you enter in. Here is what my MA Thesis popped out. The bigger the word, the more frequent it was in the text.

Other Misc. Pictures

So, we haven't been very good at posting our new pictures. Here's some samples from the latest batch (whole album here).

Emilia in her exersaucer




Emilia in b/w contrast




Emilia squealing




Oh my word! Julianne is so gorgeous!




Family pictures at the Sunken Gardens here in Lincoln.




Me playing with Emilia after work (hence, the super snazzy duds)

A Redhead?!?!

Yes, from the get go, it has been looking like Emilia will be a redhead. Well, maybe a strawberry-blond-head. Here's the latest photographic evidence:

Here's a closeup of her slowly growing peach fuzz.

Where does the $ come from?

It just struck me that amassing a killer vinyl collection seems somewhat incongruous with the starving grad student budget. "How then," some of you may be asking," Does Brenden fund his unhealthy vinyl habit?" I'll tell you my secret. I have been taking all of my old CDs and lots of old books I don't want, and selling them online. Also, I have done some wise investing in certain vinyl titles which I have been able to resell for profit. So there you have it. No, I haven't happened upon large sums of cash with which I'm buying these records, I'm just trading in all my old stuff for them. Also, quite a few were given to me as gifts. So far, I think it has worked quite well.

Ahoy!

A happy International Talk like a Pirate Day to all!

Here's some tunes to celebrate the occasion.