New things

I posted about 100 new photos and video to Flickr today.

Also, I have discovered a way to insert photos into this blog's RSS feed.  If you are an e-mail subscriber (sign up now!), you probably already noticed this, with a few hand-selected photos appearing in your most recent Garblog e-mail update.  I was initially unsure whether or not these photos would post to the blog as well, but it now appears that they will not; they will only be in the RSS feed / in the e-mail updates.  Of course, you can always go to Flickr to see them, but if you sign up for the e-mail updates, they will just come to you, no fuss, no muss!  Do yourself a favor...

GJS

Someone is almost 5 months old

A seriously cute photo, originally uploaded by gardahsam.

This little fella will be celebrating 5 months in a couple days - yay! To mark the occasion we took him in for a check-up and I though you'd be interested in hearing about how big he is getting. He's 14.5 lbs and 25 3/8 inches long. In case you were wondering about his head circumference, it is 42 cm. (Now you can buy him a fitted hat.)

He's indicating that he'd like to begin crawling soon, now that he is getting pretty good at rolling over and can support his own weight standing like a champ. (Stability is another thing entirely - he's pretty wobbly still, but all in good time.) He can get his knees under his hips while on his tummy and his arms are getting stronger by the day, so it probably won't be long at all until he is truly mobile, and not long after that he will become HIGHLY mobile. Things will become much more interesting then!

GJS

Bike ride, take two

Bike ride, take two, originally uploaded by gardahsam.

This is the video that I meant to have show up here the other day when I posted the bike ride picture.

GJS

This post NOT brought to you by...

From Wikipedia

That's right folks, I hope you are sitting down.  It's been nearly 3 weeks since my last coffee.  I know, I know, hard to believe, but in the midst of our visit to Beijing, I decided to take a break from caffeine for a while.  Just to prove to myself that I can do it.  I used to semi-regularly take breaks from caffeine, maybe 5 years or more ago, but since I got back into the "gun club," let's just say there hasn't been much of an occasion to do it.  What was the catalyst in Beijing?  Nothing in particular, really, I just felt like it was time.  Well, actually, it was a little bit inconvenient to get a decent, affordable cup of coffee where we were staying at, and so I just decided to go without for a few days...and that carried over to after we got back to Taiwan.  Of course, here I have easy access to my own coffee machine, beans, and all other necessary materials required to brew a fine and affordable pot of coffee...but I just felt like I wanted to go with no coffee for a while and see what happened.

Sure, I was a tad edgy at first, but since then I feel like I have slept better, gotten out of bed in the morning easier, and had more even energy levels throughout the day, without having to suck down a pot of coffee to keep myself going!  It's been pretty nice.  I have even been able to get out and do my workouts in the mornings (well, most mornings, anyhow - look for an overdue post on my July and August workouts coming before too long) without ingesting any type of caffeine beforehand, something that for a long time would have been a bit of a joke (and not a funny one).

My intent is to regain being able to use caffeine on a select basis as a performance enhancer / ergogenic aid for exercise and sport.  Caffeine's performance-enhancing properties for endurance sport are well-documented and I have known of them for a long, long time - but it only really works if you don't customarily use it.  I plan to break it out when I run the Taiwan Ironman 70.3 triathlon at the end of October and perhaps for select long training bouts before that, but not too often - I want to see how it helps me when it is "go time."

These 3 weeks have not been entirely without caffeine, though - I've had a few sodas (I like to drink soda with my burgers, that or beer, and it's not always appropriate to knock back on the 'ol "wheat juice" any time of day, you know?) and a milk tea or two, but compared to coffee, these drinks are poor sources of caffeine.  It's been a lot easier than I feared it might be.

GJS

Bike ride

GJS

Recent breakthroughs in child-rearing

Home from school

We have a couple significant developments on the child-rearing front to report.  First, John has recently begun 5-day a week, full-day pre-kindergarten classes.  This school, unlike the one he had attended since last October on a part-time basis, teaches in English. (John likes this much better.)  Week one was successful, and John even told us that staying at home was "kinda boring" compared to all the fun stuff he gets to do at school.  You go, John!  Keep that attitude forever, son!

我喜歡吃crackers!

Lance is also hitting the developmental milestones.  Like I mentioned in a recent post, he is just a week shy of 5 months old right now, and this past week he began limited non-breast milk food trials, a first for him.  One evening he dined on a cracker (pictured) and since then he has begun regular evening servings of rice cereal while sitting in his high chair.  It took but a few days of this for him to develop quite a gusto for the stuff, pulling the spoon into his mouth and celebrating each mouthful.  This new food's "staying power" seems to be allowing him to go longer without feedings in the middle of the night, sleeping for a solid eight hours the other night.  In non-food related updates for Lance, he is edging ever-closer to becoming mobile, perfecting his ability to hold his head up high while on his tummy and beginning to get up on his knees (but not the essential hands and knees that he needs to figure out to crawl).  He's also working on being able to sit up by himself (actually, maintaining a sitting position on his own after being helped into it by Mom or Dad).  But he likes being in a standing position more than anything (photo).

Only a little help!

The boys are getting big!

GJS

Ahoy! Time for some organization!

CIMG2529, originally uploaded by gardahsam.

Due to popular demand, I've added a new degree of organization to the photos on Flickr. Yes, it was high time to make separate sets for each of our boys so you can find the latest (and not so latest) photos straightaway! John's page, still a work in progress but mostly complete back through February 2010, can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gjsamps/sets/72157624603371555

Lance's page, which is pretty much complete for his entire life (he'll be celebrating 5 months of life in a week!), is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gjsamps/sets/72157623559413763

So sail on over and take a look, me hearties!

Ahhhrrrrrr!!!

GJS

4th MAW Change of Command: New commander plans for challenges of the future

My old boss in Hawaii just took over as the commander of the 4th Marine Air Wing in New Orleans, Louisiana. Congratulations!

Here's a newspaper story about the change of command, which took place last week:

http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2010/08/brig_gen_rex_mcmillian_now_rei.html

GJS

The Funniest Thing I've Ever Heard a Child Say

Hippos in the New York Zoo

"Your sandals are the same color as hippopotamus poop!"

About those photos...

There have been some technical difficulties uploading the "trove," but I think things are working OK again now. However, only a little over 100 photos and video have been uploaded so far; never fear, the balance of the "grand" are on the way again now.

Thanks for your patience.

GJS

Sent from my iPod

Massive photo upload has begun

You had to be expecting lots and lots of photos from our China trip! They are being uploaded to Flickr right now, but it's going to take a while, since there are over 1,000 items total, comprising nearly 3.5 GB of media. It's an upload only a mother (or grandmother) could love, too large for easy consumption, that's for sure. At any rate, take a browse at your leisure. Or you could always have look at the highlights I posted a day or two ago. Your choice!

GJS

Best of China, July - August 2010

Howdy folks. Just finished looking through the 1000+ photos I took on this trip to China and I have culled some of the best for you here. After we get back to Taiwan I will upload the rest. For now, enjoy these photos!

Best of China, July - August 2010

GJS

Week Three - Beijing

Our China trip is winding down.  Here are a few photos from our visit to Beijing.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from gjsamps's posterous