Too Many Pictures

I am quickly running out of disk space on my laptop. I was looking for a way to visualize my disk usage to see where I needed to focus on cleaning things up, and ran across JDiskReport. It's written in Java, and thanks to Java Web Start, is simple to get running.

It turns out that a little over 50% of my hard drive is filled with pictures from my digital camera! This tool allows me to take a closer look and see where all that space is going. I found out that the amount of data from pictures I took in 2005 is greater than the years 2000-2004 combined! Also, I accumulated more picture data in 2007 than the previous 7 years combined!

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, in 2005 I upgraded from a 2.1 megapixel point-and-shoot to an 8 megapixel DSLR. Second, I started shooting exclusively in the RAW format in 2007. All of this increase in image quality comes with the obvious cost of having to store all this data. So I guess I'm in the market for a new hard drive.

Looking Back at Rian's Surgery

I put together a little video about Rian and the days leading up to his surgery. I mostly put it together for myself, to help me remember that time, but also for Rian so that maybe when he's an adult he can look back and see what he was like when he was 4 1/2 years old and preparing for eye surgery. By putting it on the web I'm not only giving you a chance to watch it, but also increasing the odds that it will be around in 10 years when Rian might appreciate it.

Anyway, enough of that. This video is pretty long. Believe it or not, it was actually a lot of work to get it under 10 minutes, which is the maximum length that YouTube allows.

Cousins!

We had some family visit recently, which is always fun. We tried getting a group picture of all the cousins together, which can be quite a challenge since they are all so young and have such short attention spans. Joshua didn't make it into this picture, but maybe I can photoshop him in later. There isn't a lot of room though. Maybe I'll just give Ethan a 2nd head.

Joshua was pretty interested in Ethan. I think they're going to be friends. Joshua wanted to touch Ethan's skin and face, but he hasn't quite developed the gentle touch that Michelle so effortlessly employs so we had to keep an eye on him. :)


Ruby was beautiful, as always. I know Amy gets tired of hearing that, but I think that is a good problem to have. If you don't know Ruby's story, it's a fascinating one. Much of it is detailed at my sister's blog, Finding Love in Liberia.


We sat down with the kids and watched one of my favorite movies, Ratatouille. Well, I guess not everyone actually sat down to watch it. Reid preferred to stand about 2 feet away from the TV. Perhaps he has had a look at this chart and was just trying to appreciate the film in all of it's 1080p Blu-Ray glory.


This last photo shows Ruby and Ethan holding hands. I think the contrast in skin color is interesting, but the other thing you'll notice is the contrast in body fat. Of course, this shouldn't come as any surprise if you've seen pictures of Ruby when she lived in Africa.

Now We're Rollin'

Our chubby little baby turned 2 months last week. He had a checkup where he was weighed and measured. The doctor confirmed what we already suspected: he's big. And fat.

Just how fat? He is the 90th percentile for weight, and the 75th for height. And his head is ginormous. It ranks in the 95th percentile for that category. We could have another John Madden on our hands. But cuter. And a little younger. And without the unhealthy fascination with offensive linemen's butt sweat.

Today Ethan rolled over for the first time. I wasn't home at the time, but Lacey snapped the picture below mid-roll. She tells me he was lying on the sun when he started. Sadly, the monkey was caught completely off guard and was hurt badly. We're trying to teach Ethan to "look, then roll," but he's just not getting it, no matter how loudly I scream.

Taxes!

I just filed my taxes! Hooray! I guess you can call me an early bird. Now I can kick back and relax as all you procrastinators scramble to get things together. I can't believe you waited this long.

Of course, we owed again, but not as much as last year. This year I had to pay a little over $100, but last year it was nearly $500. What a rip off. TANSTAAFL? Can't we pass a law to ban that?

Because I don't have anything interesting to show you besides my kids, here is a picture of how we found Rian last night at 3 am. Poor guy. He falls out of bed quite regularly. When Ethan outgrows his crib, I plan to get them a bunk bed and put Rian on the top bunk. Then I figure the problem will just take care of itself.

Romo, Cars, and Fatty McJude

Cameron visited recently and surprised us all with a gift from his friend: a TONY ROMO jersey! Romo of course is the Cowboys quarterback and a weekly guest in our homes each Sunday between September and January. Here is Rian modeling his new threads in our barren back yard.

Earlier on Sunday he quietly stacked all of his cars onto his Thomas the Train (am I the only one that hates calling him "Thomas the Tank Engine"?) track.


I was amazed.


Ethan is gaining a ton of weight. Lacey must now take great care to wash between each roll, lifting each flab and getting in there. Check out those thighs.


Here she is demonstrating what she calls Ethan's "armpit rolls."

Ben Is Jammin

During my freshman year at George Fox University, I lived across the hall from a guy named Benjamin Hawkins. We weren't really good friends, but we talked a bit and saw each other almost every day. He was the kind of guy that was always happy. He had a great sense of humor, and always had some little thing to say that would make you smile.

We both graduated in 2004 and I remember talking to him several times over our 4 years together. Talking to Ben wasn't like talking to most people, though. Whenever I talked to him I was always surprised because he always listened. I'm not sure how he did it, but whenever someone was talking to him, you could tell that he was really listening. He was a genuinely caring guy.

This was a guy who I never, ever saw do anything selfish. He was very interesting to talk to, an outstanding musician, and one of the greatest guys I've ever met - cheerful, honest, and trustworthy. On Sunday, he was struck by a car and killed in what is being called a freak accident. He was 25.

This simply couldn't have happened to a better guy. Keep on jammin', Ben.