What a fun day yesterday. After getting some work done in the morning, I dropped Abbe off at The Carriage Trade Cheese Shoppe for work, and I got home hopped on my bike and had a great time at Bub’s soccer practice.

Viv and I were running the bases at Brooks Field and Viv held the camera on herself to some hilarious results…

That afternoon, after getting more coding done, I picked up Abbe from work, we headed to Jo Ann’s to get her some materials to make hats that we plan on selling to raise money for the Disney Marathon, stopped at Target for school supplies for Van and Viv, and then rode our bikes to PJ’s for dinner. After dinner, we headed to the Sand Stand for ice cream, walked across the bridge to stare at Lake Aetna a bit, and then started to pedal over to visit our friends LarryMac, Sharon, and Tim. Hanging out at Tim’s place was a blast! Tim has a little tiny puppy named Angus…

See? He’s a dainty 160 pound (not yet full grown too!) English Mastiff – so darn sweet. And here’s Abbe vs. Angus in a tug of war… I think Angus wins this one.

Larry brought over his conga and Tim got his guitars out for an impromptu jam – what a blast!

Here’s the three of us making some noise…

Movie reviews…

The Runaways – this movie was decent, and really only flawed due to the acrimonious departures of some of the members of the band. Joan Jett and Cherie Currie’s characters were great, Kristen Stewart did an awesome job as Jett. The shortcomings of the film were the performances were dumbed down a bit (based on the raunch I’ve heard actually took place) and the other members of the band (most notably Lita Ford) were nearly absent from the film entirely. That said, this film was based on Currie’s book about the band and her relationship with Jett and Lita Ford apparently would not be involved with the film.

• RIP Robert Schimmel
• Icebergs at Night
• How to Meet Someone
• Who Needs Evite?
• The “i” in Team Has Been Found!
• The Least Intimidating Goalie Mask Ever

Small Business/Tech Links…

• Funny 404 Pages
• Small Businesses Can Offer Location Based Deals Too

Bubs has his first soccer practice of the season last night. He lost his love for soccer a few years ago. He attended a soccer camp that consisted of great one-on-one training for the kids that really wanted to play soccer. Unfortunately for kinetic 5 year olds, it was a hot bed of bad behavior – lots of one-on-one training surrounded by 50-60 5 year olds sitting around on the grass with soccer balls and crap to play with. Ergo, he ended up getting in trouble, not paying attention, and hating soccer.

But this was not soccer camp, this was practice for his team filled with all of his buddies and he had a blast. He even… wait for it, scored a goal during the scrimmage! The only disturbance during practice was a deer that came sprinting along the side of Brooks Field(the boys loved that). I was hoping to have lots of pics and video of the practice, but my iPhone was absconded by Viv so she could get her fill of Talking Carl and Pocket God. Prior to the game, Viv did Abbe’s hair and toenails… so pretty….

And Abbe helped Viv get dressed up as a cheerleader…

And here’s the lone picture I got of the team (Bub’s is in a Raul Ibanez shirt behind a bunch of kids, can’t even see him)…

Movie reviews…
Crazy Heart – first off, you know I’m going to love a film made in New Mexico, but this film is a perfect example of how effective a character study with great acting can truly be. The only discount I would place on this film is I really did not find Colin Farrell believable as a country music star.
L’Eclisse – Criterion Collection – I’ll admit it, I had to go read a review of the film to really get it. And to me, that’s the mark of a nice piece of art, but not a great film. The extremely well-respected Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni creates this statement of society’s disconnect from itself mostly through technology (very much ahead of it’s time) and how sexuality was the last real grasp humanity truly has for feeling human. See what I mean? I absolutely appreciate anyone attempting a statement like that, the problem is it tends to become more a lesson and less entertainment.

• xkcd : Orbiter
• Fat Jew Nude on Shrooms in New Mexico – thanks Adam
• It’s Time to Get Laid
• Also, I will Shoot You – thanks Justin
• Pulp Ravioli
• This is How I Feel About Buying Apps – thanks Justin

Small Business/Tech Links…

• 5 Essential Elements Every Business Website Should Have
• Build an iPad-Themed Image Slider with jQuery – thanks BLP

Pardon the plug here folks, but I need to pay some bills…

Have you squared away your back-to-school shopping? Well, Halloween isn’t that far off either, so it’s time to go get yourself, your significant other (or cat), and kids (or more cats) some costumes! Here are a few of the latest sexy costumes for the ladies…

• Zombie Dildos
• Awesomeness Reminders
• Katrina: Then and Now
• The SlipQuit
• The Beauty of the Power Game
• How Grammar Police Became Single
• Hot Drinks – yes, a Wendy’s training video

Small Business/Tech Links…

• 6 New Mac Apps for Designers and Developers
• Google Brings Voice Calling to Gmail
• Meet Yeti : The YUI Easy Testing Interface
• Meta Tags Are Still Gold
• Building Brand Identity Why Your Blog Needs a Ghostwriter

Well the countertops are done and I can’t believe how great they look. Huge thanks to Masterpiece Kitchens, Solid Surface Designs, Fessenden Hall, and BEN FM/Greater Media! I updated the Picasa album during the day yesterday, but here it is again (with before and after shots)… I still can not believe that this was all done (aside from some prep work the day before) between 9am – 3pm. Amazing work! I’m not sure when, but the videos of me and all the great folks I mentioned above being interviewed and the entire process will be posted soon.

Books We’ve Been Reading…

Hot Rod Hamster – both kids liked this one, little below both of their reading levels, but fun.
Russell and the Lost Treasure – kids love Russell, great illustrations and a sweet message.
Marley: Strike Three, Marley! (I Can Read Book 2) – Viv loved reading this one to me and Bubs at bedtime.
Zoomer – funny, both Van and Viv enjoyed this one, Zoomer reminded me a bit of my son too

• Problem Solving Flowsheet
• xkcd : Falling Asleep
• Kodak 1922 Kodachrome Filmtest
• How to Take a Photo Like Terry Richardson

Small Business/Tech Links…

• Social Networking with the Over Share Generation

Sometimes when I fold laundry, I’m a pirate…

So the countertops folks (Masterpiece Kitchens, Solid Surface Designs, Fessenden Hall, and BEN FM/Greater Media ) are here! I did my first interview this morning, big thanks to Kelly and Jay from Greater Media for helping me through that. Here are some before pictures…

I wanted to mention that Abbe got our Disney Marathon team donations page up. The name of our team is All For Layna, named in honor of Abbe’s cousin Alayna (who was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this Spring – and she’s doing awesome). This allows anyone to donate towards both of our goals.

• Flamebone – f yeah
• I have no idea what is going on here… but I love Japan

Small Business/Tech Links…

• 20 Cool Twitter Accounts for Fun and Inspiration
• 8 Bit NES Harddrives – thanks Marty
• Using RSS Feed To Increase Traffic
• 6 Ways To Kill Your Servers – Learning to Scale the Hard Way – thanks BLP