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This week marks Mary's 1st birthday. It feels like she has always been
a part of the family. I guess I felt the same way about the girls,
though since they were our first, we were still new to the parenting
thing when they had their first birthday.

We had family in both this weekend and last. Everyone here but me is
healthy and everyone is happy. We haven't been doing much. I've been
busy with work. I have a good many projects going on and I'm finding
that the weeks fly by pretty quickly. Jenny is busy with her website
and with her group of friends - working out, bowling, play dates, and
the like.

I've taken up a new hobby - home brewing. Hobbies with me are a come
and go type of thing. I've been roasting my own coffee beans for a
little over a year and it may be the one hobby that I have stayed
consistent with - because coffee is essential to life. Its work
juice. You could give me an IV. I should start finding new and
exciting ways of using coffee. Chocolate covered espresso beans are
good. Caribou Coffee's granola bars have a coating of ground Arabica
on the top that makes it one of a kind. So, something similar to
that. Maybe infuse oatmeal with it so that you're getting caffeine
while you lower your cholesterol. Its my idea quaker-man.... can't
steal it now.

What else have I been doing. Its been so long since I've posted. I
took a trip in January to Ottawa to meet with a vendor about the
specifics of implementing VPLS in our environment. I had a little fun
while I was there. It had snowed before I got there and it stopped
before I had to really leave the hotel to go anywhere. So, I got to
see some flurries the first night. The second night I experienced the
coldest weather in my life - we went to a hockey game - Senators vs.
Capitals. On the way, the sales-person that took me was driving. I'm
not used to driving or riding in the snow. She drove like there was
no difference. I guess that was what concerned me. She hails from NC
so I figured that she should drive like she was slightly concerned
that the roads weren't quite the same as they are in SC. When the
game got out, it was 1 degree out. That's F not C. Too cold for my
blood. I was prepared though. I may have looked like a red-neck
ninja with my mask on, but I was warmer than everyone freezing their
normal looking faces off. I got what I came to Canada for though. One
thing of note, I had never thought about evaporation working
differently in cold climates. I just expected that snow melted up
there like it does down here. It doesn't. It goes straight from
solid to gas. I should have known from what happens to old ice cubes
in the freezer, but snow just slowly sublimates up there.