A scary Halloween pumpkin.

Am I at my desk?

Click here to see live video from my office.

Video of Nathan catching a fish

I posted a new video of Nathan catching a fish on a riverbank in Leavenworth, Washington.

another video here:

streamed.

Best sushi in Seattle

Shiro's in Belltown is the place.

Historical Fiction: Medieval Food

Slate reviews Medieval food and says the themed restaurants get it wrong. Europeans ate heavily-spiced dishes, with their hands, on "plates" of stale bread. From the sound of it, the royal feasts were pretty tasty -- not the bland, rugged simpleton chow served on pewter plates that the Hollywood sterotypes suggest.

Maven reviews

Kevin Kelly is a Wired editor who wrote this helpful summary of the best review sites on the Web. Look at all the geeky details for new products ranging from coffee machines, bird watching equipment, etc. etc.

Nathan found this fish at the river's edge, near our hotel in Leavenworth. He picked it up by the fin and it swam away!

Strange...Nathan has been finding "body parts" around the house: a head, an ear, and an eye. Something funny going on.

Spoilers: parental reviews of movies, with details

Here's a site that shows, in great detail, what's in popular movies so that parents can decide whether or not it's okay for their kids to watch.

For example, take a look at this review of THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

Martha got a new purple dress today!

Leah had her first Japanese class today, with Itou-sensei (phone 206-230-5725). Two girls in the class already studied Japanese last year and annoyed everyone by showing off how much they know, but I think Leah will quickly outshine them.

Nathan attended Sunday School this morning, which began a new school year for pre-school kids like him. He learned the parable of the mustard seed, by drawing a picture of a tree.

Permitting his devout mother to enjoy some time of religious reflection (while his father snapped photos)

Catch me if you can is made up

IMDb :: Boards :: Catch Me If You Can (2002) has a summary of what was made up about the movie.

Martha and Leah had fun playing pirates today. 

NYTimes list of book reviews on the web

The NYTimes offers a list of web sites that review books. Most of the sites are for serious book lovers, like those interested in the publishing industry.

One that might be good is The Complete Review which gives a grade (A through F) to every book they review. They only have a few thousand books, though. I couldn't find Da Vinci Code or Steven Pinker, for example.

Trading Spouses and Wife Swap

There are two new reality shows about wives/mothers who swap homes with each other for two weeks: Trading Spouses and Wife Swap. Apparently both are worth watching, though Wife Swap adds interest by requiring the wives to live by their new family's rules for one week before changing anything.

The Slate review concludes that these shows demonstrate post-feminist values well, and offer stay-at-home moms a taste of what it's like to make different choices than those they are stuck repeating day in and day out.

Family Values - Dr. Phil's opportunistic parental-advice franchise.

Dr. Phil has a new prime time show about how to raise children, and Slate helpfully provides a summary of the basic idea:

Dr. Phil has a new book, Family First, tied to the show. He claims families are "systems" in which each member plays an important role, and he lays out a 7-point "toolkit" that includes things like setting up a "discipline" contract between parents and children. But his ideas don't live up to their claims, because he uses it all to create a reality show with underage kids confessing their secrets to parents in front of cameras. Sick.

Sister Johanna came to the Pulokas house this morning to give her blessings to the newlyweds. 

Grandma gave this section of the basement to Grandpa's health food workshop. He grinds his own flaxseed and prepares numerous healthy foods in his high-powered blender every day.