bonnie & jason

Alissa finally tall enough for her tricycle

It was actually kinda nice late this morning so I took Alissa to the park with my mom. Alissa is finally tall enough to reach the pedals on her tricycle so we rode there. She still isn’t tall/strong enough to go up any sort of hill, but on the flats, she goes pretty good!

Ashley practically running!

Ok, she’s not running. But from the video, you can see she’s gone from taking a few tentative steps at a time to really getting a move on. They grow up so fast… *sniff*.

Amanda is ready to take her first steps, but she’s kinda chicken. Won’t be long though before they’re all doing laps around the house.

Ashley’s first real steps

Ashley has been taking single steps here and there for a couple weeks now. But today, she did eight steps in a row so I think I would call today the day she really started walking. Alissa was at this stage right at her first birthday so Ashley seems to be tracking right about the same as her birthday is only a couple weeks away. Amanda has started taking a step here and there as well so I’m sure she’ll be walking right around her birthday as well. Great… thankfully, we bought a gate to contain the madness!

Random pictures from the little camera

I did a purge of the pictures from our little camera and thought these were worth sharing.

Daddy pedicure.

Not bad form!

Chunky legs.

Chicken legs.

Daddy’s girl.

Mommy’s girl.

Amanda presiding over daddy’s gut.

Alissa’s POV.

How YOU doin?

How a three year old and almost one year old’s play.

Too cool for school.

Amanda and Alissa at my desk

This is just one of those random moments in my day. Thought I’d try a little black and white for a change. Also, to capture the documentary style of Alissa’s first “good” picture. (The one of my fat, wrinkly face… getting old!) I’m not sure she actually looks through the view finder… it seems like she squints the wrong eye. In which case, all the more impressive I guess. =)

Alissa’s first school picture

She’s sporting her fake smile and she’s too short to reach the floor. For some reason she looks kinda pudgy to me. And we thought it would be a 3/4 length picture so she’s still wearing her play shoes… oh well. But as far as school pictures go, not bad.

A few random Ashley pictures

Another Beta 22 done

This one is for head-fi forum member Xanthos. Here are the specs:

3-channel Beta 22 with a gain of 5
1 sigma 22 with 100VA toroid
Nichicon Muse KZ caps used throughout
Single RCA input
DACT stepped attenuator
Neutrik locking headphone jack
Bulgin power switch
Vampire wire used for input and outputs
Dual enclosures from par metal
Neutrik Speakon locking power cable

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. At this point, I’m getting more efficient at both the case work and the trouble shooting and have enough experience to just build these without putting too much energy into the detailed layout and planning. And of course, it sounds fantastic!

Archive of “Biggest Loser” Page

New year, new “resolutions” page. So I’m archiving the old Biggest Loser page here.

May 2, 2009:
In the months since dropping my weight down to nearly 150, I’ve relapsed a bit back up to 157. I blame the twins. And Bonnie’s penchant for chips that I seem to have no will power against. In any case, it’s time to publish the new goal like I did last year. This time, however, I’ve managed to lasso in two others into the fray… Dennis and Eric.

So what’s the deal?

By September 1,
– I will be at or below 145 lbs (about 12 lbs less than I am now.)
– Dennis will be at or below 160 lbs (about 25 lbs less than he is now.)
– Eric will have a six pack (He’s already lost 30 lbs… now looking to get all cut up!)

And on September 1, we celebrate reaching our goals by hitting up a prime rib place. (House of Prime Rib, Broadway Prime, or San Mateo Prime.) Whoever doesn’t reach their goal gets to pay a little extra as penance.

So there you have it. Consider the gauntlet thrown. See you all at 145!

5/3/09: 155.5 lbs
Went for a run around Lake Merced. About three miles. Felt pretty good. Went really slow though.

5/5/09: 155.5 lbs
Same 3 mile run around Lake Merced. Went a little faster, felt much worse.

5/10/09: 156 lbs
31.6 mi bike ride with Eric.

5/21/09: 155 lbs
Kinda been slacking lately on both the exercise and diet thing. Stalled out… need to get remotivated.

5/24/09:
Another ride with Eric:

5/31/09:
Another ride with Eric:

First time up old la honda road (1500′ of climbing over 3.3 miles.)

6/27/09:
I seem to have plateaued at 154. It’s pretty difficult to find time to exercise more and I don’t think I can eat too much less. I guess this is a good weight to be at considering the other priorities in my life at the moment.

Whew… what a trip!

We got back late last night from our family reunion of sorts in Vegas centered around my parents’ place. Growing up, we used to do this many times a year with my mom’s side of the family in Pennsylvania. Of course, it’s a little different now with my cousin Anna with a family of four (plus their au pair, Linda… who speaks six languages BTW!!!), my brother and his wife Jen, and my party of five. Nowadays, we’re spread across the country with ever increasing demands on our time and resources so I was happy to see everyone make it together. Also, my grandmother isn’t getting any younger and frankly, her memory isn’t what it used to be so I hope we can continue to get together at least once a year and spend as much time with her as possible.

Anyway, we spent time doing varying things from buffet to shopping to watching football to the “traditional” Christmas hot pot meal. And of course, with three young kids of my own plus Anna’s two, we all had our hands full most of the time. All in all, a very nice trip. Although we will likely not be making that drive again any time soon. Of the 1200 miles roundtrip (~25 hours), about 1000 of them were uneventful. But the remaining 200 were painful enough that we may be scared of driving any farther than the San Francisco Bay Area for quite some time.

Anyway… without further ado, here are a bunch of pictures that I took over the week:

Ashley and my grandma got along just fine. As a matter of fact, Ashley fell asleep in her arms for like 2 hours! (The stuffed pineapple was a big hit too.)

Amanda also was a big fan of her great-grandmother.

And they were both fans of the center of this tall swivel chair:

We re-celebrated Alissa’s birthday while we were there with a little cupcake:

Ashley didn’t take long to explore the entire house.

BTW, she’s standing on her own quite reliably now (if not happily in this particular instance).

Amanda can stand as well and has surpassed Ashley in outright crawling speed. Here she is getting ready to take in some calories to fuel that speed.

Mmm… lip smackin’ good bananas. Ashley’s calories are not for speed but rather for her thighs.

Babes with their newest toy.

Amanda in laundry with a rare “good” smile.

… and with Ashley.

Alissa and Chloe putting sprinkles on cookies:

Ashley and Amanda tucked in their car seats at the Green Valley Ranch district shopping area.

This does not bode well.

With grandma.

and with cousin Katherine (whom I remember being an infant herself…)

Stopped at the Mad Greek on the way home to feed and change and eat. Ashley is here hanging out waiting for Alissa to come back from a pee break.

Here are a few pictures from Christian’s camera: