A Thorn in my side

It's always bugged me when people try to be cutesy in an old-town way by putting up signs saying things like "Ye Olde Coffee House" or "Ye Olde Cinema" or something equally silly. For whatever reason, something always seemed wrong about it to me, and now I know why. It's because... well, it's because it really is wrong.

That "y" is supposed to be the letter Thorn -- Þ (uppercase) or þ (lowercase). Over time, the way the letter was written changed, until eventually it looked more like a backward "y" with a thin line on the top part. Easy to see why people copying old documents got confused and just wrote it as the letter Y, since Thorn was no longer in use in the English alphabet. So when you see a sign that says "Ye Olde...", just pronounce the word as "The" instead. That's how it was originally intended.

Jeez, I love the Internet for learning stuff like this...

Gnome Invasion

Birthdays are fun. Take this year, for instance, when these two new friends were graciously bestowed upon me. Marvel in their wonderfulness.

Garden gnomes on my desk.

Priceless.

I'm silly-happy about these guys...

Shamu is Awesome

Sherah claims the Shamu in Orlando isn't the original Shamu, but the big whale (whoever he may be) is still pretty incredible. We spent the day at Sea World last Monday, and it was a perfect way to spend the afternoon. We walked through almost the entire park, and we got to see both the Shamu show and the sea lion show, which is a pretty funny comedy act. Check out the grainy video I took of the most awesome thing Shamu did -- it was taken from my cell phone, which explains the horrible quality, but the stunt was great!



This was my first time in Florida, and after avoiding Florida like the plague for the past 34 years, I guess I'm glad I went. It was nicer than I thought, and it was greener than I thought, and I liked that the temperatures stayed in the 90s all week. Good thing, too, since we'll be making one more trip to the Sunshine State later this year.

Although I didn't see a single crocagator. Very disappointing.

Why "gh" is Weird In English

Holy cow! This has been bugging me for a long time, and for whatever reason, I never bothered to look it up. Why are some words spelled with a "gh" in them, but you rarely pronounce them like they're spelled? The "gh" is almost always either silent or pronounced like "f". Does that make any sense?

Turns out, and this should've been obvious, that "gh" is the English equivalent to the German and Gaelic "ch" sound, like in "loch" (Scottish for "lake") or "lachen" (German for "laugh"). It's that same throat-clearing sound you hear in Hebrew, for instance, or when Germans talk about themselves ("Ich"). Again, holy cow! It used to be pronounced in English, but as modern English lost that sound, the pronunciation became silent or changed a bit, usually to an "f" sound at the end of words.

That's... awesome.

I just happened to search Google and found this article. It's a great piece, and everybody should read it. Sorry if this is old news to you, but it was pretty exciting for me!

:-)

Okay, now go back to whatever you were doing...

Memorial Day Weekend at Lake Michigan

It has become a tradition in our little family to spend Memorial Day weekend out at Sherah's parents' cottage on Lake Michigan. We love it out there, and the kids always have a great time playing and running around and enjoying themselves. You know, there are hundreds of miles of beaches along Lake Michigan, but I think this stretch is probably the most beautiful of them all. It helps, of course, that there are mostly private cottages in the area, and no huge public beaches. It's relaxing, it's peaceful, it's scenic, and it's just an amazing place to be.

Plus, Sherah and I have so many memories there! It's where we first became reacquainted, it's where I proposed, and it's where we were married. Some of the most important moments in our lives, and amazingly, they all seem to revolve around that place. Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's good to have those memories tied to a special spot.

And don't forget about the sand dunes! Where else in the world can you experience this kind of natural phenomenon? As you can see in the picture, the dunes are enormous out there, especially in the area a mile or so north of the cottage, where this photo was taken. It's incredible to think that these huge, sloping mountains of sand were created by nothing more than the wind blowing off the lake! When looking down over the back side of a dune, it always strikes me how steeply the sand drops off once it's out of the wind's reach. It's truly an amazing work of nature, and it's one thing that makes this part of Michigan so special in the world.

Congratulations, Doctor!!

So my wife's a doctor.  That's pretty awesome.  It's hard to believe she's finished with school already -- it seems like just yesterday when she was accepted into the program!  These last 4 years have really flown by, and it's been a crazy ride.  All the studying, all the papers, all the clinic work and presentations and patient logs and board exams... she made it through everything. Holy cow! She's finished!

I must say, though: it's been a great 4 years!  So much has happened, so many changes, so much personal growth in Sherah, and in me, and especially in the kids.  4 years ago was a different lifetime, and I've just had the best 4 years of my life.  It's amazing what happens when you find your soul mate, and it's even more amazing when everything that's important in your life feels like it finally clicks into place.  I love Sherah more and more every day, and my heart fills up so much with it each day that I'm surprised it hasn't burst!  That's the thing about love: you can take it in, and you continue to soak it up, and you feel it in greater and greater abundance, and yet there's always room for more. Likewise, you can give it to others and share it out more and more -- to everyone you know, even -- and you'll never run out. There will always be more to give.

Happy (early) mother's day to my wife, and to every other mother out there who has a never-ending supply of love for her children.  And congratulations, Sherah, for an amazing accomplishment!  I'm proud of you!!

LTP Presentations Today

Tyler got to show off his Long Term Project (LTP) work today during a special presentation session at his school.  He had lots of family there to support him, and he received many compliments on his work.  As you can see in the picture, his project was on cartooning.

The LTP is a pretty cool thing that's only done in the PEAKS program.  The kids get to pick a different topic each year, and then they research the topic for months throughout the year, writing letters to people and places that have something to do with the topic, making charts and graphs of data related to the topic, reading dozens of books and articles, and generally becoming experts on what they've chosen.  It all culminates at the end of the year during this evening event, where all the students have their topics on display, and they stand next to their displays answering questions and discussing things with whomever walks by. It's a pretty great experience, both for the kids and for the attendees. I like it.

Emergency room excitement!

So this was an interesting afternoon. Sherah and I were supposed to meet Joe after church for lunch, but instead, he called and told us that he fell into a bush and got poked in the face. Nothing serious, but Sara thought he should definitely get checked out, so down to the ER he went. We took pity on him and brought him some lunch.

Again, this wasn't a serious injury, and it kind of sucks for Joe, but for us... oh, this was just so cool!! We got to watch the doctor pull a big chunk of branch out of the side of his face, and (this is the best part) we got to watch him get sewed up! Awesome!! There's nothing better on a Sunday afternoon than sitting around the emergency room watching minor surgery. Woohooo!!!

He's fine. And we got to watch cool medical stuff.

Life is good. :)

I am so insanely bored right now

I'm incredibly bored right now. So bored, in fact, that I'm playing with the features of this blog instead of doing something useful like cleaning the house, or reading, or studying, or sleeping. One thing I'm playing with is kind of cool though -- did you know you can take pictures from your camera phone and send them straight into your blog? It's easy, and I might need to start doing it on a regular basis. I could give a visual element to my new blog that way.

Speaking of visual elements, what do you think of my first blog photo? Yes, they're the light switches at the top of my stairs. Did I mention I was bored?

Maybe I'll sleep now. Heck, it can't be any worse than taking pictures of light switches. By the way, I do not normally sit around taking pictures of light switches when I'm alone in the house. That would be weird. This is an isolated incident. Seriously. I swear.

First Post!!

This is the first post on my newly redesigned (again) blog. I decided to go with Blogger for the back-end this time, just because it's easier, and because Google does a great job with the interface. But mostly, of course, because it's easier. I'm lazy that way.

I'll be playing with the template and the blog's general look-and-feel, and I might even bother to post this time around (the last version ended up being... seldom-used). We'll see what happens.

I guess I should probably share a couple of things right off the bat, since this is a blog and all. Let's see... how to sum up my life in as few words as possible... okay, here's the quick news:

• Dr. Sherah graduates next weekend! Woohoo!!
• I'm leading a construction mission trip to Biržai, Lithuania in late July / early August.
• We're expecting a new baby this fall -- due date September 28.

Life is good!! And so is this blog, so far... :)