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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.