Texas trip 2009

Texas trip 2009

Karate 2009 video -check it out!

If this viewer does not work, you can see the video here.

Hello from the Netherlands!

Well, I'm in the Netherlands this week on business. It's a bit of an unexpected trip, but I'm happy for the opportunity. Here is a quick picture of me in the hotel. Not very exciting, but I'm too jet-lagged to do anything else. Whee!

First Baseball Game

I put together a little highlight film from Samuel's first baseball game. It's a little over 3 minutes long, and there is sound. Thanks to Pop Pop Mast for the footage.



Click here for a larger version.

Deep Zoom Experiment

It has been over a year since I first saw a demo of some image viewing and zooming technology called SeaDragon. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought it was cool -- Microsoft bought it, and they have finally made a version available for us regular folks to use. Here is my first experiment with it, using photos from a visit to Seawolf Park on Galveston last year. Samuel was getting ready to lose both front teeth, which gave him a bit of an odd look.

You will need to install Microsoft Silverlight, a small multimedia download that you can get with the link below. It's benign, so don't worry.
When you get the viewer going, click on the fullscreen button to get the full effect. You can move your view around by left clicking and dragging. Zoom in and out with the mouse wheel. Let me know if this viewer works for you.

UPDATE: The in-blog viewer appears to be broken, but you can still view the pictures at this link:
http://deepzoompix.com/Album.aspx?alias=cgmast&album=4

Houston 1/2 marathon

It was an amazing day.
Starting saturday night we headed to the hotel. While heading to our room we ran into a teacher from Samuel's school that was also running the 1/2. She and I set a 6:30am meeting time for the following morning to meet and walk to the start line together. The boys and I had IHOP for dinner and then off to bed. Please note I did not say sleep. It was a restless night!

Benjamin woke briefly at 5am- so I took that opportunity to eat my pre-race granola bar. Then up for good at 5:45am.

To the start line by 6:45am- start temp of ~55 degrees. The excitement was amazing. Gun time was 7:10 for me. The crowd support was so awesome- our names were written really big on the bibs so people would yell out your name as you went by. There were bands and just tons of people encouraging you. I typically run with an IPOD but didn't need it- the atmosphere was just too cool.

As I turned the final bend- there was my favorite support crew in the whole world. The boys were holding up a sign and yelling for me. I ran and gave them quick hugs and kisses which confused Benjamin. "Why mommy stop running to kiss us?"

Crossing the finish line was awesome.

Truly an amazing experience- one I plan on repeating.

Houston marathon

Christmas 2008

We are done!

Another great morning. The kids finally got up around 8am for the morning. They were so intrigued with their stocking gifts that we cooked breakfast while they played. Then the fun began. Both boys did a great job taking turns. We all were spoiled rotten once again.

The best part of all was having Grandma here with us.

Thanks once again for a great Christmas!

Christmas 2008

5 am- Christmas Morning

The eldest comes downstairs just to check. "Is it time yet? I heard the kitty up!" Not yet son, go back to bed. Believe it or not- he did so willingly. It is 7am now. All are still sleeping. Will post updates as time allows and photos at days end. Merry Christmas to all.

Galveston

More later- too tired, but we headed to Galveston for the first time today.

Here are some pictures.

Galveston and IKE

It's Back!

As of last night around 5 pm, our power is back on. That makes a total of seven days without power, five of which we spent living in the house. We were actually just a bit sad this morning when all the usual noises greeted us instead of the relative silence we had grown used to.
That said, it's really nice to have the juice on again. I had fun just pulling cold milk out of the fridge for breakfast.

Update -- We're Back

Well, we are back at the house. Thankfully we sustained little damage. There was a lot of debris in the backyard (about twenty bags worth), and a little bit of water in the kitchen, as well as some missing roof shingles (maybe 30 or so) but otherwise we were largely untouched. We have had no power since the night of the storm, but the weather has been very nice so we are doing fine. Others on our block have power, so we have been able to charge cell phones, wash clothes, and keep some perishables cold. I am using our neighbor's computer to do this update.

Other neighborhoods in our area have taken more damage, from extensive roof damage to flooding in areas closer to the bay. And Galveston is a mess. Estimates from UTMB range from 2 weeks to 8 weeks until we will be seeing patients as usual. They are still not letting anyone on the island who are not essential recovery personnel.

As with the last hurricane, the hidden benefit here has been some quality time with the kids and our neighbors. We spent the morning cleaning out the yard at the house of a neighbor's elderly parents -- good exercise, lots of fun, and a great lesson for the kids.

We are putting things back together little by little. Our next hope is to have power restored as soon as possible, and maybe to get the roof patched up before the weather decides to turn.

Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers. More updates later as we are able.
-Chris