Jack O'Lantern

Since we got the pumpkin on Friday, Kate wanted me to carve it this weekend, so I did that this evening. Jack insisted on helping. It turned out great I think.

A little off the top.

Cutting...

More Cutting...

And more cutting.

Showing his "Scared" look.

Jack and the Jack O'Lantern.

Ethan's 2nd Birthday

Cousin Adam and Thai Phi's kid (Ethan) had his second birthday this weekend, so we went over to celebrate today. We haven't seen them much this year so it was good to catch up and check in. Janine made the trip down from Providence an Reet showed up for a few minutes, even though she wasn't feeling 100%. (Hope Jim gets better soon, too)

Mmmmm, Cake.

I was trying to get him to smile, he will but only if you tickle him.

Ethan playing with his toys.

Ethan and Jack playing well together.

A Visit to Cox Farms

As a new tradition, we take a half day on a Friday in October and visit Cox Farms, out in Centreville and spend a few hours celebrating the Fall Festival.

We usually get our pumpkin there and pick up some apples as well. But the "funnest" part is the slides, rides and animals. They have Goats, Calfs, Chickens, Cows and great people-watching. The goats are fun because they are really interactive since you have some food and they are really into food. Any kind, they will eat it. One of them jumped up on me like a dog with its front feet up on my chest/stomach.

We also fed some calfs that were in a pen. They were very tame and not too skittish, so if you wanted to pet them, they would let you.

There was the Cornundrum, which is a maze cut through high stalks of corn and had fun diversions and surprises. The Hay Ride was fun as well, even though it was the exact same as the year before, but there is fun in that.

We stopped for a few minutes and had a huge cupcake and a soda before we tackled some of the larger slides. Jack loved those and went on nearly all of them at least once. He did this thing where he would go down sitting, but then turn and slide on his tummy a third of the way down.

I let him sit on my lap for the larger slide and I am glad I did, it was fast and steep. That first drop we accelerated fast, so much that it took my breath away for a second. I heard him let out a little squeal, but then he was fine the rest of the way.

It was a good time and a great way to spend a half a Friday. The weather held out perfectly, too. It started to rain as soon as we got to the car - perfect.

Lots of Pumpkins - Lots.

One of the more easy-going goats in the petting pen.

Jack walking just before he spotted the Big Slide.

One of the wooden trains around the kids play area.

Smilin' Jack G.

The Hay Ride.

One of the fun mirrors in Cornundrum -

Getting lost in Cornundrum.

The BIG slide.

The castle at the top of the hill, one of the medium-sized slides.

One of the calfs we got to feed and pet.


Looks like he's over three feet tall now...

But still a little man.

iTunes Library Updated

I spent nearly the whole weekend sorting out my iTunes library. Since I got my new laptop, I have transferred all of my old files over and updated all the software as well. Everything went well, or so I thought.

I played a few songs when we were all outside sitting next to the fire pit and the software kept stopping. It was running into doubles of the songs, one of which would play and the other had a broken link. The broken link would stop the songs from playing.

So I went through the entire library, 5 days worth of songs and got rid of all the duplicates with broken links, updated the missing songs, of which there were plenty and then tried to figure out why it didn't import some of the album artwork.

I am disappointed in Apple's "Migration Assistant", which had some holes in what it decided to bring over, namely the MP3s that were left out of my iTunes database. I even paid $29.95 for a special firewire cable that would transfer the files faster than using the network option. I had to eventually move the files over by moving them onto an external hard drive and then taking the files back off of that external hard drive and onto my laptop, not the best way to transfer files.

I am still having trouble getting the hard drive to recognize some other MP3s that for some reason, will copy onto the external HD , but when that same external HD mounted onto my laptop, the files do not show up. They are all Lynyrd Skynyrd MP3s. The Beatles I could understand, but Skynyrd?

Naked Coffee Guy

So a few months ago, the Fairfax County Police made national news when one Officer charged a guy for stopping traffic so that some geese could safely cross the parkway. The judge ended up letting the guy go with a warning.

This last week, the Fairfax County Cops made the national news again, for arresting a man for making coffee in his own home while naked. A woman made a complaint after she was cutting through the yard of this guy at 5:30am with her 7 year old in tow. The cops come and they eventually arrest him saying they THOUGHT he was trying to be seen, from his kitchen, at 5:30am, while making coffee.

Here are a few of the links to this story;
Fox News Story
UPI Story
News 7
Metro.UK

Did they skip common sense in academy training?

Halloween Shirt

Kate has subscribed to this weekly blog all about crafty stuff. They send out cool stuff to do and give you ideas on how to do it. This weeks was making a Halloween shirt that is embroidered with a simple design.

I had to draw a quick sketch for her and she did the rest, made it in only a few minutes and it looks really cool.

What do you think?

Another Loss

I have resigned myself as of a few weeks ago, that the Redskins were not playoff contenders this year. What I did not know was that they would become the doormats of the entire NFL. I knew when we lost to Detroit that the low point of the season was yet to come.

We still watch and hope, we still wear our "uniforms" on Sunday, but we are not emotionally involved as we were in years past. Its getting pretty old, this rut they have found themselves in.

Its the owner. Everything else has been changed, but the ownership. Thanks for taking such a proud franchise and fan base and demoralizing them, Danny.

Awwww Mannn...