Month: July 2008

Jeremy’s been enlisted by Cogito, a website for “academically talented youth”, to answer questions about biofuels. So go ahead and ask away!

On a side note, I have been blue about blogging. I have been having soul seaching issues with my camera equipment and I have had some terrible issues coming up with stuff to say because the things that are taking up most of my time and energy are subtle patenting issues, subtle parenting issues and subtle purchacing issues of which are all not very interesting to anyone except me. I must remind myself that this means that life is good and to be not in turmoil is a good thing, as our friend Martha always says.

An article from the International Herald Tribune where Jeremy talks about algae. Can we turn the slimy green stuff into an energy source? Beijing would like to know, since apparently the whole boating area is covered by a huge algae bloom.

Did you notice a strange dog in our house? That’s Magic, our neighbor’s doggie who stayed with us for 3 weeks while his parent’s were on vacation in jolly old England.

As a “thanks for taking care of the dog” gift, the kids got this:

Which I am thankful is hard to find in the States. Because, although it is a lot of fun, creates a large, slippery, gooey mess.

Jeremy hasn’t read it before, so we are all having fun working through the first book.

I’m thinking that in a month or so, I’m going to bike to the Metro. But where to find a bike? I need a bike that can be rained on and perhaps stolen, so I didn’t want to spend more than $20 – $50 on it.

I had heard in that in hipper places like NYC and SF, there is a cool bike called a fixed gear bike, it’s a bike with one gear and no brakes. I figured now that’s gotta be a $50 bike because it doesn’t even come with brakes, but noooo, it’s like $800! People, come on, that is just silly, it doesn’t even have brakes!

And then I remembered in the basement, Donald’s old BMX bike. Dusty and forgotten, it needs to be loved again!

OK, Donald, so what do I do now? Both the tires are flat, I guess I’m going to have to find the bike pump. And it’s missing the front brakes…

As America celebrated its 232nd birthday, I spent the day working. Since Jeremy’s been out of town, I’ve been shortening my hours to not make Yvonne watch the kids for 13 hours straight which is how long I’m away from the house each day on a “normal” day. So I’m making up the hours today and tomorrow.

Since I work for the Department of Commerce, I thought it was fitting that I spent the day working, chugging along and doing my own part to make America great. OK, kind of silly, but I had to give myself a little pep talk, I was at work while the rest of the country took the day off to BBQ and go for a swim.

I’m still liking my job, which is incredible because I have never really liked a job before. Can you see that I have the periodic table tacked to the wall? I get to refer to it every other day or so.

I also took this opportunity to to hunt down office supplies; today I found this filing rack for my folders (pink – first actions, red – amendments, blue – restrictions, black – abandonments, grey – advisory actions!). I work for a self-funded agency, we get no taxpayer money, my salary is paid from the fees collected when a company files/maintains a patent and I think because of this, there are very few office supplies to go around. I basically get some pens and pencils. I don’t even get a pencil sharpener or a three hole punch, so I go find office supplies in forgotten, dusty bins in the Xerox room.

Jeremy packed me a sandwich which I ate at 9:45 am.

Jeremy’s out of town this week. Lucky guy, he gets to go to San Francisco and eat good cheese. I will not deny that I was a bit miffed on Sunday when he was scheduled to leave from Dulles – Jeremy really stabilizes the house routines – without him, I’m content to serve peanut butter, a bag of chips and some flat Coke for dinner. I’m not an inspired homebody.

At Port Discovery last weekend, I got my face painted: