Unbelievable!!

I simply can't believe this. When I had first made this post, I had thought it was a foregone conclusion that Jill Carroll would not survive her kidnapping. Tish called me this morning with the news that, wonder of wonders, Jill Carroll had been set free. Amazing. I am so happy and relieved for her. It also seems like that she came through this fairly unscathed.

Right now I am sitting at the bus terminal at O'Hare airport. Without a car, I am relegated to finding creative ways of getting around. I missed the bus by five minutes, so now I have to wait around for an hour before the next one gets here. Thanks to my iPod and wirless access, I can at least while the time away. The really sucky part is that I won't get to see Priya till tomorrow evening now. Aaargh. The torture.

I pulled up this interesting statistic on my Google videos. Take a look at the picture:

See that? The most popular videos that I host are the short clips from Buenos Aires. I should dig up more stuff from Argentina!

Almost there

Greetings from Minneapolis. I've been here for a few days already. The trip is going well, but not too exciting. So far I've eaten at a Red Lobster and a local steak house. Fun stuff.

This whole video thing with Google needs some rethinking in my part. It's incredibly easy for people to see the videos once they are online - all you need is a Flash player. But it takes so doggone long for Google to verify and approve the videos. There are some other sites out there that will host videos, and I might investigate them sometime. In the meantime, Google it is.

The first video is of Priya coming to a standing position by herself. It's the first time she did it, and we were lucky to get it on video. She can stand in place now for sometime, but steps are still a challenge.

The next video is of her waking up in the morning. She has taken to sleeping in this strange position with her butt up in the air. Doesn't look too comfortable, but seems like she likes it. I wish I was this chirpy when I wake up in the morning.

Family Day

This past weekend we went to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier. We had first gone there a couple of years ago, and had really liked it. So I took a day off on Friday, and we decided to make a family day out of it. We had a really good time, and Priya thoroughly enjoyed herself. Her favorite time was at the end when we sat by the vast carpetted area outside the exhibition hall. Priya was crawling all around, going up to people and letting out her characteristics squacks. It was so cute, and everyone loved her.






Here's a short video of Priya enjoying herself.

This past Sunday Priya took her first official step. Now let's not get too excited because she hasn't shown any interest in repeating the feat. But at least both Tish and I were there to witness it. The funny thing is that earlier in the day I caught her playing with her walker. I grabbed my phone and shot a video of it. In the first attempt (unfortunately not on film), she had walked all the way across the breadth of the basement. Here you see her stumbling a bit, but still - the mechanics are all there.

A Hiatus

I know I have been a little quiet lately. Not a lot has been going on, so there's not a lot to say. I still don't have my car back after more than two weeks. Don't ask me for a referral. Last night I spent some time video-conferencing with David Swart on his new iMac. He has the sexiest legs I have ever seen. Hehe.

I bought my tickets for my trip to Germany in May. To be honest, the only reason why I am excited about going is to refill my dwindling number of German wine bottles. I love to share my collection of Franken wine with friends - especially the spätlese (late season grapes) kind.

I will be heading out to Minneapolis for a week at the end of the month. Fun. The best time to visit Minnesotta is early fall. Upper-state Minnesotta has probably one of the best midwestern foliage after the north-east.

Ok. Now some pictures.

Priya with Grandma Reay

Hangin' out with papa

Her favorite thing is to reach into drawers and pull out things

Not quite ready to climb up on the bed

One of my favorite bath pics

Not Quite Ready For Primetime

These are some pictures our friend Sherry took with Priya and her daughter Skyler. Notice both have the same outfits. Sherry ended up using the wrong flash setting, so all you see is the foreground. Also, Priya wasn't having her best of days. Still, I think the pictures turned out interesting...

Light entertainment fare

Fridays... Yea.. We love Fridays. In the immortal words of Loverboy, we're "working for the weekend"! More bad news on the car - it's gonna take more time, and it's gonna cost more. Great. Break out the credit cards.

Ok. I found some short clips that I took with the camera when we were in Argentina. Street life is so fun over there. Move over Drew Lachey. Enjoy.