Little pudges has taken to imitating everything we do. We put our head in our hands. He puts his head in his hands. We walk with our hands behind our back. Likewise. We sit down with a sigh. So does he. While it’s lots of fun, it means that his parents need to be more than a little bit careful.

Last week, he helped his Grandma Roach at the yard sale. While it might not seem like a little guy can help out all that much, he followed everyone around (keeping the shoplifting to a minimum) and was the official greeter. I’m pretty sure we have a future McDonald’s host on our hands!!

In other news, it’s official. Heidi and I are moving to Resolute Bay up in Nunavut. While the chill might seem like a little much, at least I won’t have to be out mowing my lawn in April. April! I’m sure there’s something about that in the Constitution. 🙂

“Well the updates were good for about two weeks. Then two weeks passed. And if I knew who my hero was (the person who complained you don’t update enough) then I would ask them to file another complaint. However I guess I have file my own now. How in the world am I supposed to know how my big brother and sister in-law are doing? As well as that adorable kid I love to bits? haha Danny update! Although I must say. Your last update although short was amusing cause I get a kick out of people who forget shreddies. pleeeeease update with a cherry on top? And if you hate cherries then I’ll send down andres pizza. And I think it was Heidi who loved ice-cream so i’d send her yummy yummy ice cream. but that means you have to update every week for an entire year.”

– Another anonymous reader

Danny and Heidi drove to the frozen north.
Danny forgot his Shreddies.
Danny is a little bit sad.

“I would like to officially file a complaint. There is a web site danberall.com that had been of interest. But of late, ……..bore……….. I have been checking faithfully for over a month and NO updates, NO pictures, NO anything! What’s with that!!?? If you see the administrators of this web site, could you find out when I can expect an update and some new pictures of Jake. I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.”

It seems as though some of our readers are upset about the time periods in between each update. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. It is not our intention to keep you in suspense of our lives, or to hold back pictures of our growing boy or our adventures. If you are still unsatisfied, feel free to call our complaint department between the hours of 12:00am and 12:01am. Oops, looks like you missed it for today! 🙂

There hasn’t been much exciting happening in our lives of late, so updates didn’t seem needed. Danny’s travel has slowed down considerably, basically to nothing, but work still keeps him busy. Jake is running all over the place, trying to talk but mostly sounding like a seagull! And the baby is now making its presence known to the outside world at 21 weeks.

The pictures should be pretty self-explanatory of our recent escapades. We had a truly marvelous time with Shawn and Lynn. Getting snowed in so our flight was delayed was great as we got to spend extra time with them. Now we have to go back when it’s not winter…which month is that?

🙂

Same old news. Read May 9, 2004.

A week of extremes! It began down in sunny San Diego, where warm weather, huge surf and beautiful sunsets all came together for three days. With temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s, shorts and t-shirts were the order of the day.

Jump forward just a few days and we’re getting hit with a 2 foot snow-storm up here in New Hampshire – burying everything in a blanket of perfect white snow. You ask me which one I prefer? No contest! I’ll take the the fireplace and snow any day of the week because I get to be with my most wonderful wife and little Jake. Smile. 🙂

So you know that it is very rare that I talk about work related research that I do on my website … However, I’ve been researching a hot topic for security purposes recently called AJAX (part of the Web 2.0 initiative). I’m not going to get into what it is and the potential vulnerabilities associated with it, but I thought I would share some of the visuals of the mapping technology built using AJAX. You’re familiar with Google Maps, yes? If not, you can see that you can zoom, drag things around, and generally have fun with it.

So in my research on this topic, I was comparing the usage of AJAX between Google and MSN by using some data points from the danberall world. Take a look at the following maps:

I like the way that MSN presents the data. For example, take a look at the Satellite photo of the apartment in Waltham that Heidi and I lived in. It’s so incredibly detailed that I can know exactly whose cars those are in the parking lot.

Typical for MSN however, you can’t host the pictures on the client side like you can with Google. Secondly, you are limited to only pushing a pin in 10 spots because of URL length restrictions. Still, it’s a neat way to bookmark locations and send them to people.

If you want to go whole hog, you really need to use Google. Check out this map which shows all the domestic airports I’ve flown into in the last few years. That’s a lot of flights! Smile.

Some new pictures there from an interesting event that Heidi, Jake and I were at this past weekend. Every year here in New Hampshire, they have a massive conference called Birka. It’s put on by the Barony of Stonemarche and everyone is in costume relative to a certain pre-18th century time period. A friend of ours introduced us to the group and is a very accomplished fighter in the Heavy List. Fighters are allowed to fight with their choice of weapon with the greatest numbers wielding sword and long shields. Very fascinating …

Attendance is more than 500, with everyone dressed in very authentic looking period clothing. In fact, you’re not even allowed to attend the event without making a “reasonable attempt” at the correct garb. People pay very close attention to even the most minute details of embroidery and style.

When it comes to fighting, people wear helmets of more than 15 pounds and armor totaling an additional 20 – 30 pounds. It’s incredible to see the style and effort that goes into into both the form and dress. This particular event only featured individual fighting in the “Bear Pit”, but some other annual events re-create particular battles with battle formation and fighting groups of several hundred.

Thankfully, there were no fatalities, only minor wounds. 🙂

Did you know there is an inverse relationship between the outdoor temperature and the amount of time I spend on travel sites looking for trips to somewhere warm? Brrrr.

Heidi and I spent some time up in the White Mountains and in Maine over the Christmas holidays, but I find myself still searching for some vacation. It seems crazy when I had more than two weeks off in a row, but for some reason I need to travel for it to feel like a holiday. And not work travel …

This month finds me in Washington, Oregon, Arizona, California, Ontario and DC. It’s too much … and I know that Heidi would agree. Thankfully, it will be changing next month, but it still seems like a lot to make it through in the interim.

Thanks to Ted and Julie who made the effort to come up and visit us this weekend. You know, there used to be a time when I could beat my little brother in ping-pong. 🙂 Perhaps I need to spend more time with the robot. In the plus category, they just got a new table at work so maybe I’ll be getting more practice in the months to come. Watch out!

Smile! 🙂