Wednesday, May 31, 2006


Emily's last day of school was on Wednesday, concluding with a "Character Traits" ceremony where the teacher recognized their best qualities. Emily was recognized for Excellence, as she always wants to do her best. Emily was sad to leave school, but she knows she'll be seeing her friends again soon. But she sure will miss her teachers... Posted by Picasa

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Claire's Baptism 2006 003


Claire's Baptism
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.

Our beautiful baby girl was baptized on Sunday. She was perfect during the ceremony- not a whine or a whimper. Emily and Alex were good, too. Emily did a very small wave at one of her friends, and at one part of the ceremony, Alex got curious about what was in the baptismal font.

You can see other photos at Flickr.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Steves Digicams - Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital ELPH - User Review

We just got this camera yesterday. I'll post pictures from it soon.
Are We There Yet? - AutoWeek

Oh No!


The Prius gas mileage has been beaten - by a German!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Claire & her tongue


Claire & her tongue
Originally uploaded by Grand_Vizier.
Don't you love it when children discover new things?

Monday, May 01, 2006

Discovery Channel :: Vegetables Fight Global Warming
Eat your veggies and save the world.

Hangers

Bales of plastic hangers to be recycled. Something I saw back in February but forgot about.

Go figure.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

AA Again

(That's American Adventures)

E&A rode Crazy Bus (not pictured) five times- in a row! The girl running the ride thought they were cute- how each time they told her (again) that they had just ridden the bus. The thing is, they were just about the only people riding it, so they were hard to miss!

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Angels Over Atlanta

The Blue Angels are visiting Atlanta this weekend. We parked at the Walmart diagonally across from Dobbins Air Reserve base, and it was a great location. We might not have seen every move, but they flew RIGHT OVER US multiple times. It was great- and loud!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Homestar Runner
Have I mentioned this before? Some really goofy videos about some very odd characters. Don't forget to stop in and see Strong Bad answer user emails.
Free Comic Book Day 2006
Check the website for a store near you that is giving away comics from a list of 28 special editions. The comics range from Archie to Star Wars to Donald Duck and beyond to the "not so recognizable" names.

Monday, April 24, 2006

FairTax on Wikipedia
It's crazy but true - I never even thought of checking Wikipedia for information on the Fair Tax Act!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

MMFA Artworks

In Montgomery

We're in AL today visiting Amanda's mom, who's not feeling well. I've taken the kids (well, E&A) to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, where they have a section just for kids. It has numerous "interactive exhibits", some computers, and an area with books, pillows, and a puppet theater. The kids are enjoying it, but I believe Alex was hoping for something more on the scale of the Georgia Aquarium. Too bad for him. :-)

Friday, April 21, 2006

BOOK TV.ORG
More Fair Tax Discussion, this time on Book TV. Neal Boortz debates Michael Graetz. It's long (1-1/2 hours) but if you have the time and want to hear both sides of the argument, this is a great way to get educated.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

American Chronicle: The 'Fair Tax'
Congressman Linder makes a mistake in referring to the tax as 23% (it is only 23% when viewed "tax-inclusive"; the sales tax amount is 30%), but overall a good article.

With regards to "tax-inclusive" vs. "tax-exclusive": if the amount is considered as part of a whole, we say it is "inclusive". For instance, if you make $10,000 and pay the government $2,300, you have a 23% "tax-inclusive" rate (since the 2,300 is 23% of the "whole" 10,000). If you thought of it as $7,700 take home + $2,300 tax, then the $2,300 is ~30% (2300/7700) from a "tax-exclusive" point of view. You can see how this translates to sales tax- the latter would be the price ($7,700) + 30% sales tax ($2,300).

BTW, "$10K" was used in the example so I didn't have to pick up a calculator. There is also the matter of the prebate, which lowers the effective taxable base, but you should investigate that at the Fair Tax website.

Understand now?

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Happy Easter!


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Sunday, April 09, 2006

Who Wouldn't Be Happy?

And the Fun Begins

This year I purchased season passes to American Adventures. After all, we live about three miles from the place- and I had never even been there! So far we've only been to the Foam Factory, but I imagine that we will easily get our money's worth.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Where Is Everybody...Really?
Good summary of some answers to the question of "are there intelligent species outside our own planet?"