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1. Monday, July 22, 2024:
   Tree Day  An ancient, long-dead tree in the common area forest behind our house fell in a storm on Monday the 15th.     The tree fell perfectly to avoid all damage to surrounding structures, like the beautiful shed my Dad and I built in June 2015. First, the barkless trunk fell straight down the woodchip trail towards our house. On its way down, it hit something that cracked the trunk in half.     The bottom half from the base up landed harmlessly in the middle of the trail. The top half was caught in the branches of a too-resilient Japanese honeysuckle tree, pinwheeling it and driving the sharp, cracked end one foot deep into the ground  inches away from the corner of the shed .    ...
2. Monday, July 08, 2024:
   Easy Photos Day    A little loopy after dancing with sparklers all night long.      7th Birthday Party!      Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, handmade.     Meow's Corner. 
3. Friday, July 05, 2024:
   Wildlife Cam Day  In the spring, we moved our wildlife camera so it would cover a major woodland thoroughfare. The trail is regularly used by squirrels, cats, a skunk, a fox, a raccoon, chipmunks, and our resident herd of deer. While downloading the pictures from June to my computer, I came across this chilling entry:     This spot is a good 50 yards from any public road. After cartoonishly proclaiming, "What in the Blair Witch Project is going on back there?!" I applied NCIS ENHANCE! techniques to the images and sent them to my next-door neighbour, whose back fence can be seen in the images. The mystery man returned again a few weeks later, having quickly evolved legs and the ability to walk in bipedal fashion.    &n...
4. Monday, July 01, 2024:
   Mid-Year Check-In  We're already halfway through 2024! This year has been the most productive for me since before I had kids -- those halcyon years where I could just decide to code an open-source library on an  esoteric subject  for no good reason and then abandon the effort months later.   Here's what I've been up to:      Health : Still exercising daily and only eating steaks at restaurants. Doing, at a minimum, 20 minutes of Beat Saber or 1.5 miles jogging on the treadmill every day. Sometimes as much as 45 minutes of Beat Saber or 3 miles of jogging. Unfortunately, my blood pressure remains consistent.    Language : Still maintaining my Spanish on DuoLingo although I've gotten...
5. Friday, June 28, 2024:
   End-of-the-Month Highlights Day  New photos have been added to the  Life, 2024  album.       Events   Rebecca's old friend, Michelle, came to town on S 6/1. They hit the Lake Anne farmers market in the morning and we had a gathering with Fire Works pizzas at our house in the evening.    Impromptu date night at Local Provisions on M 6/3.    Family trip to Ball's Bluff Park on S 6/8. Dinner at Bungalow Lakehouse.    Solo dad dinner at Local Provisions on M 6/10.    Ian went to the grandparents', W 6/12 - F 6/14. Dinner with the grandparents on Friday night (hamburgers) to celebrate Maia's last day of First Grade.    Rebecca and Ian went to Ryd...
6. Monday, June 24, 2024:
   Lake Anna Wrap-up  We went down to Lake Anna last Tuesday with friends and kids of friends. The house was generally nice but trending away from a modern, working state. Our bed was super uncomfortable. However, I did not receive a single mosquito bite until the final day of the trip even without wearing any bug spray so that's a plus.   We mostly ate dinner at home, but had one dinner out at the Lake Anna Taphouse, which featured overly fried foods and giant lawn games.     Ian loved playing Hot Wheels: Let's Race on the tiered stairway down to the water, while everyone else was swimming or boating. He did go out on a kayak a couple times though.     On Friday, we went to the State Park to enjoy t...
7. Friday, June 21, 2024:
   Lake Anna Day  
8. Monday, June 03, 2024:
   Book Day  This chonky 842 page tome arrived last week.     This is the 4th time I have been in the Acknowledgements of a book (the 3rd if you don't count books written by members of my own family about agriculture and conservation tillage).     The shelf is now at max capacity!   
9. Friday, May 31, 2024:
   End-of-the-Month Highlights Day  New photos have been added to the  Life, 2024  album.       Events   Solo dad dinner at Local Provisions on W 5/1.    Got in touch with my old band director, Mrs. Shearer, on H 5/2.    Family dinner at Miller's on F 5/3.    Rebecca and Maia went to visit Char for an early Mother's Day on S 5/4.    Took the kids to Lake Anne on M 5/6.    Solo dad dinner at Local Provisions on W 5/8.    Rebecca and Maia flew to Minneapolis to see Sara and Karl on H 5/9.    Ian went to the grandparents' for his very first weekend away on F 5/10 and I had a whole steak for dinner.   &nbs...
10. Monday, May 20, 2024:
    Easy Photos Day    New bathroom color.      Happy and full of popcorn shrimp after Ford's Fish Shack.      Walking in Claude Moore Park.      Amber, 19 years 7 months, just after a mandatory bath.      Maia goes to the American History Museum with the grandparents.      Maia tours the latest in playground technology in Alexandria.      Newest gift from the grandparents, a mixed sand + water table with a valuable theme.  
11. Wednesday, May 01, 2024:
    Ian Year 3 Battle Report  Ian has finally made it to the age of 3!      Primary stats:     Height: 36.25" (23%)   Weight: 28.4 lb (17%)     For scale, he is as tall as 6.042 standard hot dogs end-to-end, and weighs as much as 284 standard hot dogs.   Not much has changed developmentally since the  year 2 month 11 update . He knows his shapes, months, colors, and other trivia, reads the weather report in our Sunday paper, and recites books and songs from memory. He always wants a book at dinnertime but feels like he cannot make the choice himself.   His favourite catchphrase right now is "LET'S PLAY!" -- he doesn't always want to play Duplos by himself, ...
12. Monday, April 29, 2024:
    End-of-the-Month Highlights Day  New photos have been added to the  Life, 2024  album.       Events   Belated Easter dinner with Char on T 4/2.    Solo dad dinner at Local Provisions on W 4/3.    Visited my mom for an early birthday celebration on F 4/5.    Went to Riverbend Park to see the bluebells, saw a kestral and owls at the Nature Center, and had brunch at IHOP on S 4/6.    Dinner at Fire Works Pizza on S 4/7.    Went to the optometrist on Eclipse Day, M 4/8. Discovered that my current glasses were actually 1 prescription behind in history which is why my eyesight was so poor. Saw the eclipse from home in the afternoon.   &...
13. Monday, April 22, 2024:
    List Day: Labelled Years        1979:  The Year I Was Born    1980:  The Year I Came to America    1981:  The Year I Lived Next Door to the Fishers    1982:  The Year I Was Naturalized    1983:  The Year Rosa Started Babysitting Us    1984:  The Year I Started Kindergarten    1985:  The Year I Started First Grade    1986:  The Year I Started Second Grade / Skipped a Grade    1987:  The Year I Started Fourth Grade    1988:  The Year I Started Fifth Grade / Was a Lunchtime Dungeon Master / Played the Cornet    1989:  The Year...
14. Monday, April 15, 2024:
    20th Work Anniversary Day  Last Friday was my 20th work anniversary. I've worked at one company (through renamings and acquisitions) for my entire career apart from a brief experiment at a commercial startup followed by some stay-at-home-dadding back in 2017.   Career highlights include:      2000 : As an intern, optimized a database load process by over 200% by creating a SQL-to-Java conversion language.    2008 : Accidentally deleted all the rows in a production table but figured out a way to regenerate the data from other tables before anyone noticed or was affected.    2011 : Convinced two diametrically-opposed ontologists to compromise on the definition of "Physical Entit...
15. Monday, April 08, 2024:
    Weekend Wrap-up  On Friday (a day off of school), we took the kids over to my parent's house to celebrate Grandma's 83rd birthday.     On Saturday, we went to Riverbend Park to view the bluebells, arriving in the perfect early sweet spot: trails had been flooded and closed the day before, and a $12 "Bluebell Viewing" festival started 2 hours after we parked.       Here is a zero-effort, no-post-edit picture of bluebells taken with the camera on my new Samsung Galaxy S23.     There was also a raptor demonstration occurring in the nature center with two owls and a loud kestral.     Afterwards, we stayed in the park for a bit so Ian could play in the sandbox, then had I...
16. Monday, April 01, 2024:
    Spring Break Wrap-up: Bethany Beach   Tuesday      Made the trip to Bethany Beach from Sterling in about 3.5 hours with 1 stop (at Wawa) and minimal traffic. Took a quick, cold walk to the beach access and dug in the sand for a few minutes before Ian's nap time. Got groceries and then made tacos with our travel buddies, the Smiths, in the evening.        Wednesday      Went back out to the cold, empty beach to dig in the sand in the morning. Had crepes for lunch and then poked around the boardwalk shops (especially the bookstore). Went to Bethany Beach BBQ for dinner (I had deliciously moist baby back ribs). Ended the day with a game of Splendor.        Thursd...
17. Friday, March 29, 2024:
    End-of-the-Month Highlights Day  New photos have been added to the  Life, 2024  album.       Events   Date Night at Local Provisions on F 3/1.    Rebecca and Maia went to see a middle school production of Seussical Jr., while Ian and I went to Wegmans to watch the train run around the ceiling on S 3/2.    Our old neighbors (Vanessa and Chloe) came for a visit in the afternoon on S 3/3.    Maia spent a weekend with the grandparents (and went to the Aquarium), F 3/8 - S 3/10.    Ian and I rode the Metro from Innovation Center to Ballston and back on S 3/9.    Solo dad dinner at Local Provisions on W 3/13.    Family trip to the ...
18. Monday, March 25, 2024:
    Ian Year 2 Month 11 Battle Report  Ian is just 1 month shy of turning 3 and, jokes about "half his life" aside, it feels like he's been 2 for longer than 50% of the dynasties in imperial China.     Ian is full of big emotions and very aware of how he feels, but struggles to adapt when things don't go exactly as expected. We can be having a perfect afternoon and then he'll fixate on something that isn't quite right and have a tantrum. He averages 1-2 tantrums per day at the moment. We're working through it patiently and we hope it improves in year 3.   He naps well and sleeps well. As soon as he's up, he runs to the living room to recite scenes from his tractor DVDs while driving trucks around. He likes to play by himself until he reali...
19. Monday, March 11, 2024:
    Easy Photos Day      Guys on the Silver Line, heading to Ballston and back.      Ian mixes and matches some vehicles.      Maia goes to the Baltimore Aquarium with the grandparents.      Maia's new bud, Dolphinita.      New playground in Alexandria #5 of 7000. 
20. Monday, March 04, 2024:
    List Day: Currently...      Currently listening to...   Formentera II  by Metric.     Currently reading...   Children of Memory  by Adrian Tchaikovsky.     Currently playing...  nothing since last November.     Currently considering buying...  a new couch.     Currently creating...  an online art print shop using OpenCart.     Currently planning...  a permanent migration away from GoDaddy webhosting to AWS for parts of the modest web empire I manage.     Currently watching...   Shogun  and (rewatching)  Fargo, Season Two , both on Hulu.&...

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