The Lightning Round

– Reverse Culture Shock. Last week we discovered Onesty pool at Meade Park in C-ville. It’s a great place for kids, but a strange experience after living in Iceland for a while. In Iceland there is a lone pool monitor in a tower with one-way glass. When you walk in you think, “wow it must be my job to watch my kid.” Which is wonderful because then your child can ride the big slide even when they’re two years old. Here in the grand republic the pool has one lifeguard per child and security station zapping children that are too short to go up the steps to the slide. The girls didn’t get to go down the slide, but they were really, really safe.
– Weight Watchers Strawberry Yogurt Bars. Ever since I limited myself to 2500 calories a day I’ve had to try and find some low cal snacks. Once you get past buying something called weight watchers, these little bars are great. It even says the serving size is 2 bars. Now that’s low cal.
– Side Job. Now that I am a new dad again I have moments where I think I know what it’s like to work on a dairy farm. I remember my cousin use to give his father-in-law (a dairy farmer) a day off from the work for Christmas. If you don’t understand it, just move on.
– Taste and See: For the past several weeks I’ve been reading some daily devotional thoughts from a book by John Piper of this title. Some of you are probably raving fans, and others of you don’t know who he is. Either way, I think Piper is most interesting and insightful in these daily snippets. I have often found his longer works a bit…how do you say it…long, but I really njoy his short game.
– If you read, buy a kindle. The Kindle is now $139 without the 3G wireless feature (which I do not find all that necessary). With book prices at $9.99 you cover your cost after about 14 books. I still love mine and would buy another one in a heartbeat.
– Gracie’s doctors. I saw Gracie’s cardiologist at the gelato shop this evening and was reminded just how personable and compassionate the medical staff at UVA has been (yes, I ate some gelato and may have cheated my calorie limit just this once). With surgery coming up on Tuesday we feel as great as two parents can with a little one going into open-heart surgery.