Personal
updates, random thoughts, and stuff that I resist emailing to everyone
on my contact list so I'll just post it here.
06.29.2009
Today is Bruno's first birthday. We considered baking him a dog
bone-shaped cake, but we opted for a mini-shopping spree at Petco
instead. We picked up a few new toys for him, but that didn't stop
him from tearing apart a cardboard box while we were at work. Oh
well... could have been worse.
He also got a couple walks in today, including one with the girls
from Vermont
Paws, who he has a date with twice a week.
But
the best present was the birthday card that Anna drew for him in
preschool today. It depicts her and her dog, with hugs and kisses.
I think Bruno liked it.
06.14.2009
Today marks the start of our home-renovation work week, something
that's turning into a kind of annual event for us. Anna left today
for a week-long visit at grandma and grandpa's house, very eager
and excited for the time she gets to spend with them. While grandma
and grandpa were here to pick her up, we were all able to soak up
the sun (and the music) on Church Street for the final day of the
Jazz Fest before she left.
Karen
and I are hoping to make maximum use of the week, and we have a
long list of tasks we hope to get done. They include: new lighting
and electrical; shelving and millwork; finishing the attic floor;
exterior lighting; and a lot of painting. (We may sneak in a movie
in there.) We're also having someone sand and refinish the wood
floor in the baby's room. We actually did this ourselves at our
last house, but we opted to hire this work out this time.
Since
Karen is less than 100 days from delivery, I will be doing any of
the work that requires lifting, hammering, cutting, or inhaling
fumes. This leaves the electrical work for Karen to take care of,
something she's been doing well ever since our first house in Massachusetts.
This photo is
from May 2002 ... over seven years ago. I guess after all that time,
some things still haven't changed.
05.25.2009
I built a stone wall this weekend. With my bare hands. It was my
memorial day weekend activity.
We
also went for a hike, our first hike with Bruno. It was a short
1.3 mile walk up to a nice overlook. Not a very difficult hike,
but it was enough for our crew: a girl who's 5, a mama who's 6 months
pregnant, and a dad who's back is recovering from building a stone
wall.
What
else did we do this weekend? I cleaned the grill. You know it's
time to clean the grill when its use sets off the fire alarm inside
the house.
04.27.2009
We survived the big birthday weekend, with Anna turning 5 and Matt
turning.. more than 5. On Saturday, Anna had a party at the Burlington
YMCA, and the highlight of the event was the big red bouncy castle.
We invited all her preschool classmates to join us, and the kids
had a blast running, riding, and bouncing around the gym, (supplemented
with frequent trips to the water fountain). It was a big group,
with 17 kids. After an hour of gym time, we all went upstairs to
have cake, open presents, and make eggshell planters.
Everything went off without a hitch, with one minor exception: it
was so hot that day, that the birthday cake melted in the car on
the way to the party. The temperature reached 89 degrees, much too
hot for an April day in Vermont. We didn't even benefit from the
nice weather, since it was an indoor party. The chocolate and peanut
butter frosted cake looked beautiful when we picked it up, but by
the time we got it to the party, it was a sad looking blob of sugar.
But the kids didn't seem to mind.
What
better way to spend your 5th birthday than bouncing around an inflatable
castle. Check out more photos from
the birthday bash.
04.12.2009
We had another ultrasound this past week, and we can now definitively
say ... it's a girl! Anna is very excited about having a little
sister. I can only imagine how she's going to want to dress her
up in all her doll clothes. Anna came with us this time to see the
pictures of the baby, and got to see some pretty clear images. It's
amazing how much more developed she is since just a month ago. Here's
a peek:
And
yes, um.. it is a girl. That's the umbilical cord there.
Here's
a few more images from
the ultrasound.
04.05.2009
After 18 months of development, my office's new website is now online.
It's a huge improvement over the old site, which was a relic of
the 90's, complete with flash movies and flying text (which was
all the rage at the time). The new site is clean, cool, and fun
to drive. And soon enough, I'll be working on that office blog.
Check out the new site at: www.truexcullins.com
03.22.2009
As I write this, there is a stready stream of flakes falling from
the sky, blanketing the ground with white for what might be the
last time this season. The temps are expected to reach 50 by next
weekend, but for now, I'm enjoying this spring snowfall, and hoping
that we can hit the slopes one more time before the end of the season.
I just may have to call in sick one day this week.
03.19.2009
People often ask us what we get for mileage with our Prius. As it
turns out, we have been diligently recording the total mileage and
MPGs each time we fill the tank. The dashboard display screen is
constantly telling you what kind of mileage you're getting, so it's
easy for us to jot this number down in our little notebook with
each fillup. After 3 years of record keeping, I finally entered
all the data into excel and this is what it looks like:
2006
Toyota Prius
This
graph is actually charting three variables: the total mileage is
a constant scale along the bottom, and the months of the year are
spelled out along the top. (The winter months are shaded blue and
the summer months red for easier reading) You can see we drive more
in the summer than we do in the winter. And we drove the most in
2006, especially in the summer when we were commuting from St. Albans
every day while we were renovating the house.
So
this tells us that our mileage is the best in the warmer months,
when we usually hit around 48 miles per gallon. Our best tank was
in August 2007 when we hit 51 MPG on a road trip to Pennsylvania
that brought us across a lot of state highway.
The
prius doesn't do as well in the colder months. Looking at this chart,
you may think that the mileage is decreasing as the car gets older,
but the recent decrease in MPGs might have more to do with the fact
that this was a colder winter than previous years.
Click
the graph above for a larger version.
03.16.2009
Bruno is almost 9 months old, so I guess you could still call him
a puppy. He certainly still acts like one, always looking for a
playmate and full of childlike energy. But he's getting big. We
had his hair cut last week, and he came back from the groomers looking
like a much smaller dog. Now that the weather has suddenly turned
springlike (sunny and in the 40s!) Bruno seems to really enjoy not
having that thick coat of fur to carry around.
We
went to the golf course over the weekend. We're expecting that they're
going to close it to dogwalkers soon, to get ready for the golf
season. So we're trying to get in as many golf runs as we can while
it's still open.
Click
through for more photos
of Bruno (and Anna) goofing around.
03.05.2009
Tuesday was Town Meeting Day in Vermont, and in Burlington we went
to the polls to vote for the city council, the school board, and
bonds to fund various projects ... but the most interesting vote
was the race for mayor. Burlington uses Instant Runoff Voting, and
is one of the few cities (if not the only) in the country to vote
this way. Instead of simply voting for one person, you rank your
choices. The low-vote getter is eliminated and his second-choice
votes are tallied until someone hits the 50% mark.
It
sounds complicated, but I think it's actually quite fair, and I
would even say more democratic. (with a small d). This kind of system
encourages third-parties (increasing citizen participation), because
it eliminates the concept of a spoiler. Imagine if we used IRV in
the 2000 presidential election: the people who voted for Ralph Nader
would have had their second choice counted - most likely, Al Gore
- and he would have won the election. It also prevents ticket-splitting.
We tend to elect Republican governors, for example, because the
left-leaning vote is often split between the Democrat and the Progressive.
(For you flatlanders: know that Vermont is a three-party state.)
IRV
was first used in Burlington in the mayoral election of 2006. This
year, it was basicly a 4-man race: a Republican, a Democrat, an
Independant (who I recently learned is a conservative in disguise),
and the incumbant mayor, Bob Kiss, a Progressive. A winner was declared
after 3 rounds. Here are the results:
Round
1 voting:
Kurt Wright (R), 2951
Bob Kiss (P), 2585
Andy Montroll (D), 2063
Dan Smith (I), 1306
Round
2 voting:
Kurt Wright (R), 3294
Bob Kiss (P), 2981
Andy Montroll (D), 2554
Dan Smith (I) (defeated in 1st round)
Round
3 voting:
Bob Kiss (P), 4313
Kurt Wright (R), 4061
Andy Montroll (D) (defeated in 2nd round)
Dan Smith (I) (defeated in 1st round)
In
the end, Bob Kiss won with 51.5 percent of the vote, even though
the Republican received more 1st choice votes. The Progressive party
has held the mayors office since 1981, when Bernie Sanders (now
Senator) was elected mayor, and it looks like the streak is not
over yet.
03.01.2009
In the midst of an economy that is crumbling around us, we actually
have some GOOD news to share with you all: we're expecting our second
child. Anna is thrilled at the prospect of being a big sister, and
we can already tell she's going to be a great little helper.
The
ETA for the newest Bushey is about 6 months away: late August /
early September. It's still early, but we already have the first
photos of the little creature:
She's
so cute, isn't she? Check back in a few months and maybe she'll
have grown a face.
When
Anna was at this stage, the 3d ultrasound was available, but was
still somewhat of a novelty. Back then, the standard 2d ultrasound
pictures looked like this,
but you could buy the 3d scan as an additional service if you wanted.
Now, they just throw it in for free. Another example of the superiority
of the American health care system.
We
don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, but by the spring we should
have a pretty good idea. Just in time to pick a wall color for the
new bedroom.
Continue
reading to see a couple more
photos from within the womb.
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