Well, I'm back, as Sam Gamgee once said. I've been back in the Basin for a few days, but haven't had a chance to blog about my adventures in Pennsylvania. The last time I was back, in 2005, I went on quite too much, so I'll try to keep it (relatively) brief. We'll see!We took the red-eye on Thursday, 19 June. The kids were fine, which was nice. We got into Newark at about 6 in the morning, and then...

It's been a busy week, because we're getting ready to go to Pennsylvania for a week. Norah's third birthday is on Sunday, and a few months ago we decided to spend it with the families. My mom has been planning a huge party for a while, so that should be fun. In honor of this pseudo-vacation, here are my ten favorite vacations. Some might not count, but I don't care!1. Australia, February-June 1992....

Pontius Pilate by Ann Wroe. 412 pages, 1999, Random House/Modern Library.I've always been a sucker for Pilate, so when I saw this book, I had to have it! Wroe doesn't write a biography, as such, because there's hardly anything that we actually know about Pilate, but it's still a fascinating book.What Wroe does is write an imaginary biography of Pilate. She delves into what the life of a Roman soldi...

We got our front yard landscaped. Krys always hated the lava rock we had there (it was there when we moved in), so we decided to change it. We also decided to install fake grass, because what's the point of having real grass in a desert? The initial cost would be quite a bit, but we figured the money we'd save on water would make up for it. So we did some research and found a good place and put the...

In June 2001 I received my Master's Degree in History from Portland State University. Okay, that's not exactly true. My degree, which is hanging on my wall, says that I received it in December 2000, and that's strictly true. But they had no graduation ceremony in December 2000, so I had to wait until June to get my fancy "hood" and walk on stage while my name was called. Oh well - it gave my parent...