Updates

Having closed the book on July, we now head into August, which has good prospects. May/June was a bit hectic with grading, locking in the job, beginning the packing, and July started quite ugly with the move. Now, however, we are getting a bit more settled.

Today was my SAHD day, and I had Sam all day. We (the two of us, not Emily, who worked all day and squeezed in the 90 minute commute to work and back) woke at 10, goofed off some, and did some more unpacking. Sam took several extended naps during the day. We skyped with Mom, which I loved because Sam is occupied by the screen and I can get caught up with family. While he was napping I watched comcast's web tv service, fancast. We decided not to get cable for several reasons, but I have found that I can watch a fair amount on the internet. I've been into 30 Rock the last week or so, and have watched the first two seasons. I think being on the east coast makes the series a lot funnier.

We also took a walk around town. H-Town is pretty interesting. There's a large hispanic area, including a small grocery store, several restaurants, a bakery, and some shops. I like that there's some diversity here. It is also pure small town. No fast food or big stores in the town proper, but there are lots of antiquey, consignment type stores, and also a guns and ammo store, multiple little hardware/appliance places, and some cafes and delis. So far so good. We had a nice walk. I always get a lot of attention with the baby. Cars stop for us. Old people smile. Families talk to us. It is a different experience from when I walk by myself.

I also cooked dinner tonight. I like summer because I have time for these sorts of things. I was able to have Sam bathed by the time Emily got home. However, he didn't eat great off of the bottle today and was too distracted when Emily got home today to feed well. He is a very good natured baby and he smiles a lot. Emily and I are also realizing that he is HUGE. I told Emily that even if you are a very nice boy, it is not easy being big. He'll get bumped into higher little league groups based on weight, if there are playground accidents he'll get blamed because he's the biggest, people will assume he should be more mature than he is, etc. Well, who knows, just because he's big at 4 months doesn't mean he will be at 4 years or 10 years.

This week Emily's family comes and they'll all go to the beach together. I'm passing on the beach, in favor of staying home and working on little article projects. I need at least a little time to hole up and get things cranked out before the start of the year. I'll be teaching three classes: a first year class on the theme of mass violence, and then western civ 1 and 2. It will be a substantial shift from the work I've done in the past, but I think that CH will actually be a big help with all of this. And I like working with college students. They have a lot of possibilities and a lot of ideas and I'm always good at helping people generate options.

Not much else here to report. Here are some older pictures that didn't make it onto the blog before.