Best holiday wishes from all of us to our family and friends!

For the rest of the readership wondering why the fuss, it’s probably better to not inquire too closely.  Just accept this was an item of importance rivaling that of global warming and banking reform to certain highly-motivated individuals.  What may be of interest to you includes:

• The closest thing you will find to a biography of me.
• A brief rundown of what can be found here (or, more interestingly, what I hope to put up and you to find in the future.)
• For the two techno-nerd readers (you know who you are, gentlemen) an overview of the various tools I use to prepare the site.

Highly-observant readers will notice some not-so-subtle changes to other parts of the site.  Finding these is left as an exercise to you.  Enjoy and you’re welcome.

Hopefully this will occupy you all long enough for me to prepare some actual insightful content.  Which I shall do my best to provide sometime before 2011. Thanks for your patience during a nearly 2-year absence; your faith in my eventual return to authorship is simultaneously inspiring and baffling.   I’ll labor to reward your repeated visits.

To reward you, I’ll point you to new pictures of the kids from this fall, under the usual “Pictures” link.  A teaser is provided for your enjoyment below. [fa:p:a=72157608250296110,id=2962684655,j=r,s=s,l=p]

Within the next week, look for a post or two describing one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve had: a week in Israel.

Thanks again for keeping with me.

• Josh’s birthday–a great time at home, with a magician and fun in the yard.
• Vacation! Down to visit Grammy in mid-August, including a trip to the Wheels O’ Time museum (aka: the “car museum”), swimming, a paddleboat ride, and general enjoyment for all.
• Various shots of the kids, including a most unforgettable ballet partner for Valli.

Hi all:

It’s been a very long autumn and winter here, with my father’s illness and passing. I appreciate everyone’s continual re-visits here in the hopes of getting the latest/greatest on the family goings-on. I’ll try my best to make up for lost time and keep everyone current going forward.

The short form summary:

• As many of you already know, my father passed away in December after being diagnosed in late summer with pancreatic cancer. This has been a rough slog for all of us, but my family and I appreciate all the support, kind words and thoughts that have been directed at us. Dad’s memory is a blessing to all of us; we miss him terribly, but remember him fondly.
• Kids are doing great–Josh in kindergarten and tae-kwon-do (ask him about “tushie karate” sometime for a giggle), Noah finishing his last year in preschool and dying to get into “big boy school” (he’s complaining that he doesn’t get homework like his big brother does…), Valli dying to get into any kind of school, but enjoying her brand-new big-girl bed and refurbished bedroom.
• Other than the obvious sadness with my dad, things are going pretty well personally. I took a new job in October, with the College of American Pathologists, in Northfield IL. Great people, interesting problems to solve, and a 10-minute commute…hard to argue with that.

More coming in time. As a appetizer, click on the thumbnail above for some pictures of the kids, taken during the last big snowblow in December:

Best to all, and take care of yourselves.

On the ground around midnight 7/30 local time. Customs went smoothly, luggage took quite awhile (apparently they’re scanning everything coming in.) Hotel ride there just as promised–a quick jaunt and in. I have some pictures of my room up in the Pictures section. Yes, I’m badly lagged and have way too much time on my hands…

All the good stuff in the pictures section…take a look!