This is my 2 year 9 month old preschooler. He eats real food and counts and puts his shoes on himself and does everything himself including even sometimes peeing in the potty and he is all grown up! (Until next week when he will learn a new skill and then I will say he is all grown up again.)

Max is past the crying at school drop-off phase and into the I-don't-want-to-leave phase. We've been cycling as the main method of getting there and back and it is excellent. I biked from the Sunset to Ft. Mason three times this week. He is very talkative on the bicycle. He is very social in general. Come visit!

More iPhone pictures of him are up at Flickr.

I am eagerly waiting for 12:34:56 7/8/9, though to what end, I'm not sure. I'll probably say "woo."

Quote from this article:

"I did not put Hitler forward as a positive example, but simply noted that, before his appalling crimes, he acted successfully against unemployment and the economic crisis," Ecclestone was quoted as saying in the Bild article, which noted that Hitler created jobs through rearmament.

Ecclestone said that it was never his intention to "hurt the feelings of a community," the Bild reported. "Many of my closest friends are Jews."

. . .

Okay, so forget the whole "I can't offend this group of people because I know some people who belong in that group" part.

1. Really, it is surprisingly easy to not bring up Hitler in most conversations. Even history majors manage to go a day or two without discussing Hitler.

2. It takes a significant brainwashing of anti-semitism to think that any of Hitler's actions were not part of the process that ended with the Holocaust. Hitler did not sit around and think "well, the trains run on time, and gun control seems to be working, guess there isn't much else to do. Oh well, heck, if I'm not busy I might as well start annihilating people."

3. Most people who actually don't hate Jews would have said "many of my closests friends are Jewish" not "are Jews". See: http://www.google.com/explanation.html

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2009/06/even-obesity-paradoxes-cant-excuse.html

● being overweight (BMI 25 up to 30) was associated with a 25% lower risk of dying

● being obese (BMI 30 up to 35, which includes about 80% of all obese people) was associated with a 12% lower risk of dying.

And the increased skinnification of celebrity: http://infamousqbert.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/when-they-were-curvy/#

Between Max's first preschool visit, and work news I got today, I am drained.

Max seemed overwhelmed by preschool. I should have brought him when the school was empty. So many colors and kids and toys! He had fun playing with blocks. He tried to paint but burst into tears when some paint got on his hand. I stayed the whole time... we'll see how he does on Friday when I abandon him.

6/28 - We're skipping brunch to attend the San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration.

7/5 - Regular brunch. Come on by! Jim has been making some delicious whole wheat pancakes.

7/12 - I probably have to work, but everyone else will be around.

7/19 - Brunch, then Renegade Craft Fair!

7/26 - I probably have to work.

I'm going to the dark side. It's not like Verizon has been perfect, but I still think of AT&T as pure evil.

But there's this new phone I want. And it comes out on my birthday; surely that's a sign, right?

I don't remember when I became a Verizon customer, but it was a long time ago. What really cemented my relationship was a beautiful little red phone from Nokia. I remember telling Byronium that I didn't think I deserved such a cute little sexy red phone. He assured me that I did. It was the first phone I ever owned that I wanted, coveted, got, and did everything I wanted. (I think I had that on Verizon, I've been with them through at least four two-year contracts.)

I bought that phone because I worked at Yahoo! where it was a perfectly normal thing for people to go to Great America for lunch. One day a group got stuck on a roller coaster for a few hours. I decided then and there that I needed a phone that could entertain me if I ever got stuck somewhere. My phone had Snake on it and I RULED at it. Standing in queues was never again torture to me. I still miss playing Snake. Maybe it'll be on the new phone, but it probably won't be that simple square pixel game I adored.

I'm going to miss my current phone - an LG ENV. I like the keyboard. Makes it easier to text while driving.

But I think my new phone will help me get over that. And I pledge to up my donation to the EFF to atone for my sins.

I'm a bit squee, but won't be real squee until the new phone is really in my hands.

- I've switched from no-poo to a low-poo product. It actually says low-poo right on the bottle. Also, my hair is burgundy now. I think I like it, but it's really hard to tell if you have a good hair cut/routine when you ruin it with a helmet every day. We'll see how it does in Cleveland.

- I'm going to Cleveland! Tomorrow! With Max! I feel comfortable sharing this information with the internet, because there will still be four other people in the house. I'm looking forward to the trip and the flight, but not really looking forward to my 20 year high school reunion. I'm not even sure why I'm going. I'm going to miss the Haight Ashbury Street Fair and RoboGames and Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon and the KFOG baseball game, but I will get to a baseball game in Cleveland, as well as Tommy's and the West Side Market nom nom nom.

- I'm probably going to pack Max's formerly favourite stuffed animals. Now that he is sleeping in his room, he has ignored them. The routine is that he runs around for a while, then sleeps through the night. Actually he wakes up once, has a fuss, then goes back to sleep without any intervention. He is such an independent kid. But I thought a little lovey would be nice on the plane. I'm hoping to run him around instead of pre-boarding, and then maybe he'll nap.

- I cannot understand why Obama is wussing out of destroying Don't Ask Don't Tell, but it's pissing me off.

- I think I'm going to buy an iPhone later this month. I hate AT&T and will miss the keyboard, but the delightful new features are overshadowing those minor annoyances.

"The National Rifle Association has filed suit against the city of San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong, taking aim at city laws it contends violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The NRA filed the lawsuit in federal court Friday on behalf of six residents and the San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association. It challenges three provisions of the city's police code that it says interfere with their right "to defend themselves and others ... within their own homes."

Ever wonder who those mysterious, nameless residents are?

Well this time, one of them is me!

So far it has been an interesting experience.

I know that Max spends his days with someone else, but sometimes his behaviour makes me thinks he saw something on television, and has decided that this is how human children should behave.

He's been sleeping in His Own Room for a few nights now, and for a few nights now we put him in bed, go downstairs, and immediately hear him running around. Then after a while he gets into bed and goes to sleep until morning. Seems a good trade, and it is nice to know he doesn't need a specific ritual to fall asleep.

Last night he was still romping way too late, so we went up to check on him and as soon as he heard a grown up on the stairs he got into bed and pretended to sleep. Adorable! Conniving! Who is teaching him these tricks?

The pattern seeking animal that is the human child continues to impress me. Even the worst drawing of bananas or a penguin or whatever is still recognized as bananas or a penguin or whatever.

Work is going to suck until I leave town because I am leaving town and therefore have to do too much work. But once that part is done, I'm really looking forward to spending a week with Max.

I just donated to http://naral.org/ and hope you will too if you can afford it.

I'm real sick of conservatives getting away with this shit. Of claiming they are the side of families and values and then murdering people. If my friends get married the children will be DOOMED but murdering a doctor? Oh that's just dandy.

Fuck that.

This weekend's brunch will be on Monday, followed by a BBQ. Come!

Sunday we'll be at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Next Sunday we'll be at Maker Faire.

Max is going to be 3 in a few months and I STILL get completely utterly totally physically actually grossed out when I think about the tick bite I got while I was pregnant.

Ewwwww!

I've lost many other memories, sure wish I didn't recall so many details about that night. Ugh.

so I wanted to bring doughnuts in to the office today, because everyone has been working so hard, but no one in the office wants fatty carbs.

What is a more healthy alternative? Berries? Carrots? Donuts are nice because they are cheap, and can sit out for a while.

What would you be delighted to find in the office as you arrived at work?

What are your thoughts on Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco?

I had them before I became a Ranger and I liked them well enough until I got pregnant and then I hated them with a hate of a thousand hateful things.

Max is insured by Kaiser now. (I am sad, as I adore his first doctor so much, but not so much as to pay the extra money it would take to keep him on my insurance. Sigh.)

So I'm thinking of switching just so I'm on the same plan as him. Is that pointless?

(I'll probably end up cross-posting this.)

Max reading Goodnight Moon to me makes me like Goodnight Moon.

There will be a public celebration of Brian's life later this month. I'll post details when I have them, or you can keep an eye on this site:

http://incelebrationofbrianoneill.blogspot.com/

Just visiting Crissy Field or any part of the park would be an excellent tribute.

There are new Max photos up on my Flickr page.

I think he looks about 5 years old in this photo. He's half that old and starting 3 days a week pre-school at the end of the summer. (He still looks like a toddler when he is in footie jammies.) I'm trying to change my schedule at work so that I can bicycle him to and fro.