Julie & Chris & Graham

Let’s try this again

chris — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:41:16 +0000

I have (obviously) gotten away from this blog. Julie opened a facebook account, and starting keeping people informed through that medium, and I lost interest in redundantly posting stuff. I have decided to try and make this site active again, as I have family who do not have facebook accounts, and I would like to provide a way for them to stay updated.

To start things off, I would like to announce that Julie and I are expecting our second child on Jan 7th, 2010. We found out at Monday’s untrasound that we will be having a boy. I will do my best to post status updates here.

Graham in the kitchen sink

chris — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:58:41 +0000

Here is a quick video of Graham splashing away in the kitchen sink.

Aunt Leanne and Uncle Dave came to visit

chris — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:23:22 +0000

In early April, Aunt Leanne and Uncle Dave came to visit. Uncle Dave has an awesome camera and he took these pictures for us. Enjoy!

apple tree update

chris — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:26:57 +0000

I checked the website to see if the apple trees had been shipped yet, and found the order had been cancelled. When i called to find out why, the short answer was they sold more trees than they had. This happened because their website does not keep track of inventory, and they sold way more trees than they expected to sell. This worked out for the best, since I can get the same trees from Miller’s for about $10/tree cheaper. I used the lower prices as an excuse to buy some other things and picked up a Montmorency Cherry tree, a Kristen Cherry tree, and a Reliance Peach tree.

Spring in Cherry Valley

chris — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:53:49 +0000

Spring officially arrived twelve days ago, but we are seeing very few signs of it here in Cherry Valley. Four days ago, we had a snow storm that dropped 8 inches of wet, heavy snow on us, and this past weekend we saw high temperatures around 30 degrees. Fortunatelly, most of the snow has gone in the last 24 hours because it has warmed up a bit and it rained a lot over night.

Yesterday, we ordered apple trees from Seeds of Change. The trees are all heirloom varieties, and certified organic. We ordered Cox’s Orange Pippin, Northern Spy, Snow Apple (also known as Fameuse), and Spitzenburg Apple Trees. We look forward to planting these trees with Graham in a couple of weeks.

April – National Autism Awareness Month

chris — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:02:39 +0000

April is National Autism Awareness Month.
From http://www.autismspeaks.org/:

Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. Autism impairs a person’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

Some videos taken by Aunt Leanne

chris — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:36:56 +0000

Graham Relaxing

chris — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:39:25 +0000

Here is a video of Graham relaxing on our bed.

Baby Graham

chris — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:57:31 +0000

Name: Graham Christopher Barown
Born: Dec 13th, 2007 at 7:43pm
Weight: 8lbs 4oz
Below is a video of Graham from this morning. Sorry for the delay in updating the site.

-chris

Book Review: Uncle Tungsten by Dr. Oliver Sacks

chris — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:38:12 +0000

Dr. Oliver Sacks is an English neurologist and well known author. His most famous book is Awakenings, which was later adapted into a film. He also wrote The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a book that describes the cases of some of his patients with more obscure neurological disorders.

In his memoir, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Dr. Sacks writes about his childhood and his interest in chemistry. This interest was fueled in part by his Uncle Dave (Uncle Tungsten), an uncle who owned the incandescent light company Tungstalite. While the book is clearly Dr. Sacks’ memoir, for me it was more a book on the history of chemistry. I found the book to be quite readable, informative and entertaining. I would highly recommend this book to everyone, not just fans of Dr. Sacks or those interested in chemistry.

This book can be purchased here.