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If anyone wants to get me a good Father's Day present, I'd like some more of these notebooks. They rock. They're high quality so I don't lose them, they don't fall apart, and they have that cool elastic band thing that keeps them closed. Plus I think Hemingway and some other dead famous people used them, so that adds to the coolness factor.

I'm out in Seattle today for work. I'm doing a one day trip which I don't think I'll ever do again. In the world of business travel, I realized today that I am a wuss. You have to get up at 4AM and you don't get home until midnight. I will sleep well tonight...

I think I need to give a "shout-out" as the kids say, to my friend Andy, a man of legendary quality assurance skills and the provider of donuts today at work. Not only was he assuring quality this morning, but he also took time out of his busy schedule to assure that I received a fancy shot donut. So, Andy if you're reading this, this Bud is for you. Actually, come to think of it, you don't drink. So this Coke is for you man. Thanks for the donuts. And thanks for "always provide us with best service" (as another famed colleague of ours is fond of saying).

By the way, you have to stop lurking and post a comment now that I've officially given you props on national blogovision.

Mom, if you're reading this, thanks for the Omaha Steaks. Tonight, Elly, Tova, and I went down to the grill and laid out on the lawn while we cooked up some great filets and burgers. I think I ate the eqiuvalent of three small cows tonight. It was a good old American beef-fest.

Since we had to sit down by the grill for about 45 minutes for the vegetables to finish cooking, I had plenty of time to show Tova every little feature of our apartment complex's courtyard. She is quickly becoming a mini-botanist. Every tree or flower that we look at is subject to the Tova Scientific Method, which includes:

1. Pointing to the bark, leaves, flowers, etc.
2. Scratching the tree trunks until there is no room for more bark "samples" underneath her fingernails.
3. Feeling the bark to gauge texture.
4. Grabbing any leaves, needles, pinecones, flowers, or seeds within reach.
5. "Patting" the plant or tree (as if it were a good dog or a friendly stuffed animal).

We went through this process for about a half-dozen trees and bushes this evening. When the novelty of her arboreal research project wore off, I had to resort to the simpler entertainment of tossing her two or three feet in the air over and over again. Her teeth must have been hurting pretty bad because she was shreiking so loud and so high-pitched that I thought either my eardrums were going to burst or all the neighborhood dogs were going to come running and attack us. And this was outdoors. Everytime she opened her mouth it was like a supersonic jet flew by.

One funny thing was Tova's aversion to grass. We had her out on this picnic blanket, about 10 feet away from the grill. She was separated from us by nicely mowed green grass, but to watch her freaking out on the edge of the blanket you'd think she was on a rock island in the middle of bubbling lava. She would get right to the very edge of the blanket and then wave her hands around like she was warding off the grass or gesturing for it to part in two. When that had no effect, she would shreik even louder. I worked pretty hard trying to convince her that the grass was not our enemy, but she still refuses to crawl on it. It's the one thing that immobilizes her. It's the kryptonite to her superman crawl.

I don't think I've ever had a more annoying cold in my life. I mean, what the heck, it's frickin' May. Colds are for the fall and winter, not spring and summer. Oh well.

At least it didn't stop me from going out with Elly and having a great time on our 2nd anniversary. We hung out at BJ's and had pizza and ribs. Then we went to our first in-theater movie this year, millions. We both thought it was pretty cool, except for the scary parts, especially since we were literally the only two people in this big dark theater. I guess Monday nights at 9PM are not a cool time to go to the movies in this town.