In nine days, we’ll be a family of four, having welcomed a new baby girl into the Gradin household on the 24th of this month…at 6:00am. That’s how we role. My wife likes to plan for the unplannable. However, she has made certain assurances for this life-event, and I have little doubt [...]

The meme is apparently now a lost word; used only by uncool dads and hipless (as in the lack of being hip) half-wits.  I’m getting on in years, relatively speaking, and am inclined to use such lingo as to embarrass those who would be so easily offended.
For lack of better alternatives, I bring to you [...]

An associate from work recently pointed out to me that the likelihood of the names, “Fox, Olaf, and Balthazar” from Gainesville being someone other than my family is a losing bet. A bit like solving the geometric theorem that three points make the line, I presume.
It turns out that a picture of my wife [...]

Friday night I haphazardly tossed the contents of the evening’s milk shake off the back deck down 14′ feet or so into our compost pile. Much to the utter surprise of a large-ish opossum, the milky-sweet goodness splattered loudly as it found its mark on the possum’s back. The possum made short work [...]

I just bought a new DVD player to replace our perfectly working existing version. But this one is so much cooler! It has a USB port on the front, which most people gloss over at the mere mention of interrelations between household electronics and computer technology. However, I see the potential here. [...]

Answers.com has this to say about phatic:
phat·ic (făt’ĭk)
adj.
Of, relating to, or being speech used to share feelings or to establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas.
I don’t know how Web 2.0 missed this most appropriate word for the new wave of Internet stickiness, but it’s a lost opportunity in marketing. [...]

A List Apart asked for readers to post their professed love for the Internet on Valentine’s Day. I did so, and found a spot among many within their post of the same. It’s an interesting group of blurbs to read through. It made me recall a lot of things that I might [...]

Today, for the uninitiated, is Christmas Adam. As many of you know, Adam came before Eve ergo today’s celebration. I’m not sure when in history we collectively decided to end our recognition of the first homo sapiens, but the choice to embrace this *truth and honor it for a day can be made.
Since [...]

Today we visited Barbara Elise, the previously mentioned, unnamed, baby girl. It turns out they didn’t pick one of my names, though Tina did say she had up to two weeks to decide. She’s a beautiful specimen and only days old.

Some good friends of mine, Drew and [Ba]Tin[n]a, just had a baby. They already have a boy – eight or nine I think – so they’re not new at this, just rusty. The girl was born by force Monday. She’s 7lb some-odd ounces (pretty much a perfect weight). Drew, in his sleep-deprived state, has either [...]