Samantha

Finally, I’m making a post. Hopefully, I will be better at making posts. My last post may have been prior to Samantha’s birth. So much to share.

Samantha is nearly twenty months. Every day is a new adventure and very rewarding and exciting. Milestones: She’s now walking. She’s had a professional teeth cleaning in February and her next scheduled appointment will be in July. We walked to Ruby’s for dinner this week. We’ve dined there several times with Samantha, as it a fun place and kid friendly. Samantha gets an activity book and crayons. Samantha has been coloring for several months now. Her favorite activities are going to story time at the library and playing at the park. My mom takes her to story time twice a week; they both enjoy the outing. Our library is adjacent to a lake, so Samantha has an opportunity to see lots of ducks there. Actually, a couple of ducks are regular visitors to a neighboring condo, so she’s very familiar with ducks and other bird types. She likes pandas. She was the cutest panda for Halloween last year and will be a panda again this year. She has a panda stuffed animal and our 2010 calendar has only panda pictures. We are looking forward to the summer months. The beach club lagoon will be a fun experience for Samantha. The lagoon has a sandy shore and water slides. Depending on when we sell our condo, we will be moving at some point soon. We have a holiday weekend next weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, which will be so nice! Thanks for reading.

Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

One box for everything
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.

Thumbnails of your top sites
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Shortcuts for your apps
Get desktop shortcuts to launch your favorite web applications.


Michael Phelps – 2004 Autographed Trading Card (sold for $500)

The talented Michael Phelp’s – the shining star in swimming shattering multiple records.

Stats on the Phelp’s 2004 trading cards in circulation:

about 5,000 “common” cards not bearing the American swimmer’s autograph

300 are autographed Phelps cards – the market value could potentially exceed $1,000.

The non-autographed cards have enjoyed a spike in market value too, going from $2.50 to about $20.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/swimming/wires/08/14/2090.ap.oly.swm.phelps.trading.card/index.html

Beijing Olympics – Faked ‘fireworks’ at opening ceremony

Pre-recorded footage was used to showcase the dramatic opening ceremony fireworks show.

From CNN –

Fireworks that burst into the shape of 29 gigantic footprints were shown trudging above the Beijing skyline to the National Stadium near the start of the ceremony.

Though the footprint-shaped fireworks were real, some of the footage shown to television viewers around the world and on giant screens inside the “Bird’s Nest” stadium featured a computer-generated three-dimensional image.

“It was confirmed that previously recorded footage was provided to the broadcasters for convenience and theatrical effects — as in many other big events,” Beijing organizing committee spokesman Wang Wei said. “On the day of the ceremony there were actual footprints of fireworks from the south to the north of the city.

Check out the link to get the full story.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/12/fake.fireworks.ap/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

LA Galaxy News

Coaching transitions – hopefully will conclude the seven game winless streak. Cobi Jones will be stepping in as the interim coach.

The strongest players on the LA Galaxy are forwards: David Beckham and Landon Donovan.

Ruud Gullit has resigned as coach of the slumping Los Angeles Galaxy for personal reasons, and president/general manager Alexi Lalas also is out of a job.

The Galaxy play Chivas USA on Thursday night (Aug. 14).

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=561992&cc=5901

Beijing Olympics | August 8 – 24

Looking forward to the Beijing Olympics.  It’s exciting to see the US Athletes breaking records, especially in my favorite sport of swimming.  Michael Phelps is continuing to master his technique and setting records he’s constantly breaking.  Plus, Dara Torres, at the age of 41, secured her spot on the US Olympic team and in the process set records too.   It will be exciting to see the athletes compete in a few weeks.  Go team USA!!

Official Website of the Beijing Olympics >>>  http://en.beijing2008.cn/

San Diego State University – Drug Bust

“A drug ring operating out of San Diego State University was broken up today after a five-month sting operation, resulting in the arrests of nearly 100 people, many of them college students accused of selling drugs to fellow classmates, the Drug Enforcement Administration said.

Value of the drugs exceeded $100,000.

Drugs found included: cocaine, ecstasy, prescription drugs and marijuana.

Weapons found included:  a shotgun and four handguns.

The oragnized drug ring included 75 students and 21 non-students.

One of the students arrested in the case was about to graduate with a degree in criminal justice, said Special Agent Ralph Partridge. Another was studying homeland security.”

 Data Source:  NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/us/07student.html?hp

>75% of new mom’s breast-feed their infants

CDC: 3 out of 4 new moms in US now breast-feed their infants

Positive news considering the health benefits to infants that are breast-fed.  The increase is up in ethnic categories as well, most noteablely the African-American population.

Tropical Smoothy – Blender Fix

So I broke the blender, then with the help of Jason and a screw driver fixed it. Looking forward to more delicious smoothies. They are definitely tasty.

Nalgene to phase out hard-plastic bottles

Yikes, we have a Nalgene water bottle. I won’t be using it anymore. Containers made with bisphenol A chemical linked to health risks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24200402/from/ET/