Lucy's Boyfriend

Lucy has a new boyfriend on the street. He is a Weimaraner named Brew, and she loves him. Who can blame her? The breed is very handsome when not crazy. Here is Grayson showing off his moves hoping to impress Lucy when they meet:


However, I am not sure she is playing it cool with Brew. This is her reaction him going by on the street for a walk...


Luckily, Benson is there to calm her down like only a brother can...
(He must be using telepathy)


How does Benson learn to exude such calm?
He meditates for hours every day...
(note the 1 ear movement as a car drives by)


How does he learn such focus?
(Notice the Gremlin like ear position and the crazy eyes)

Dewey Readmore Books

I was starting to think about how my hobbies have changed over time.
Now, I read a lot more and almost never play any video games. I probably stopped around Play Station 2 and Guitar Hero (aside from beating Tom in Wii Tennis over the Holidays).
Karen's parents got me a Barnes and Noble gift certificate for my birthday.
I do enjoy reading, but I spend a lot of time in the car so I like books on CD too. I did see a tempting book on 1,000 games to play before you die. I used the gift certificate to buy a book on CD Dewey Readmore Books

Dewey Readmore Books (aka Dewey) (November 1987-November 29, 2006) was the library cat at the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa, United States. Due to his lovable, comforting personality, Dewey became famous across the world, and his story, which was first published in 2008, has become a best-selling book.

When I got home, Benson got jealous and tried to help out with my books.

Too Soon

My iPhone at 6am this morning while out with Lucy:

High Paying Jobs

Congress gets paid pretty well, I wish more normal Americans could get these jobs.

Rank-and-File Members:
The current salary (2010) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year.

Senate Leadership
Majority Party Leader - $193,400
Minority Party Leader - $193,400

House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $223,500

Benefits

Members of Congress are not eligible for a pension until they reach the age of 50, but only if they've completed 20 years of service. Members are eligible at any age after completing 25 years of service or after they reach the age of 62. Please also note that Members of Congress have to serve at least 5 years to even receive a pension.

The amount of a congressperson's pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of his or her salary. By law, the starting amount of a Member's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary.

According to the Congressional Research Service, 413 retired Members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service as of Oct. 1, 2006. Of this number, 290 had retired under CSRS and were receiving an average annual pension of $60,972. A total of 123 Members had retired with service under both CSRS and FERS or with service under FERS only. Their average annual pension was $35,952 in 2006.


During the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin considered proposing that elected government officials not be paid for their service. Other Founding Fathers, however, decided otherwise.
From 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6.00 while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year. Members began receiving an annual salary in 1855, when they were paid $3,000 per year.

Benson

Last year Benson lost a few whiskers while investigating a candle.
So I bought a candle cover so try to protect him.
Here is a video of him checking it out.


Or try here if it doesn't work

Also, Benson likes to spend some time in the garage hanging out in his man cave. Karen jokes that he must be working on a secret birthday present for me. I think I may have found the first cut of what he has been working on...

Traveling in Pictures

I finally downloaded some photos off of my phone from my recent travels.

We went to a Wedding on Lake Logan for Karen's cousin. The weather was perfect.

We went home to see my Parent's new dog Daisy (looks like she'll be a boat dog).

Went to Provincetown to check out the shops.

Took a ferry over to Nantucket.


Quick Genealogy update.
Found a book on the Marble Stone cutting history of New England with a whole chapter on our ancestor William Sturgis b1772, 6 generations before me. It includes this ad for a shop he opened in Nantucket in 1834.

Here is a picture of my Dad at 41 Orange St, 5 generations later.

And my Dad at our ancestors home which he bought in 1838 for $1,900. Zillow says it was built in 1780 and has taxes assessed at $2.2M in 2010.

Nantucket is a little expensive.

Luck

Going back through some photos on my phone, I found a streak of luck I had last year.

During Poker at Kenny's, I hit a Royal Straight Flush on the river:


Hit 3 Jackpots in Vegas:


Bet on the 50:1 winner of the Derby:

Genealogy

I've gotten back into researching our family history. It is very interesting and a lot of fun. I am going to prepare a big presentation for my parents when they come out in November. So I won't go into great detail on some of the interesting things I have found, but I have learned a few things so far during the process.

1. You can got back a lot farther in time that I would have expected.

It is easy to link to other people's research and trees to add to your tree which makes it quick to get a lot of information.
I have traced the Sturgis family back to 1552 in England, and another part of the Austin side to 1374. I was also able to link my Mom's side back to 1500's France.

2. People lived a lot longer than I had expected.

As early as the 1600's, members of our family on both sides have regularly been living into their 80's. And even 70's in the 1500's. I did not expect people to live so long almost 500 years ago.

3. The New World was dangerous.

The History Channel had a special on the history of America. They said 50% of the settlers from the Mayflower died within the first winter at Plymouth. You can see the impact of that on the number of kids people started to have as soon as they came over.
Our family in England in the late 1500's had about 4 kids on average. As soon as they moved to Cape Cod in 1634, you can see a significant increase in the number of children and it lasted for about 100 years.

Year of birth, number of children
1578- 4
The next generation moved to the US in 1634
1613- 8
1659- 13
1686- 8
1722- 9
1754- 5

There are still many links and details that need to be confirmed, luckily I am going on vacation to Cape Cod this month and luckily it is the home of one of the oldest public libraries in the US.

Tour De France and Running

The Tour De France is over, which is too bad but gives me more time for reading. But after 3 weeks it does feel like it was just long enough. I purchased a couple cycling jerseys inspired by the tour.
This is the jersey awarded to the King of the Mountains:

Tom has talked about doing some sprint trials, since I am not too fast yet it might be fun to show up in this jersey.
This second one is from my favorite team this year, Saxo Bank. This exact jersey would be worn by Fabian Cancellara who is the Swiss Champion.

There were 12 of us in our Fantasy Tour De France league. Karen came in first and I came in 2nd. Not too bad for only knowing a few names at the start of the tour. I'm tempted to try and see next years tour while my friends Brad and Amy are in France for a 2 year assignment.

Good News:
I am doing a 5K this Saturday. It is the Glendale 5K and runs by all the nice houses. I remember seeing it last year while driving by and wanting to try it.

Bad News:
Despite my 1/2 Marathon retirement after a successful Flying Pig, it is sad to know that the first annual Disney Wine, Dine, and Run 1/2 Marathon is sold out. It included some of my favorite things. EPCOT at night (starts at 10pm) a Wine Tasting after the race (until 3 am), and a 1/2 Marathon. Ok 2 out of 3 isn't bad.
It is Oct 2nd which is also the same day as the Little Miami Fall Triathlon.

Blogging

I'm behind on my blogging, mostly for very good reasons.
I got an iPad thinking it would replace my laptop, and it can replace about 90% of my laptop except for intense excel and little things.
One of those little things being blogging because I like to add photos to my blogs and the blogger interface doesn't allow that for an iPad (maybe with some updates?)

Finished the Flying Pig 1/2 Marathon (plenty of energy left to high 5 the pig)


Bought a new bike (White Lightning) for triathlon training.


Finished my 2nd Triathlon


Also see my blog update on Benson below.

Benson Updates

Benson is a busy little man. I knew some things about cats before having one but not too much. I knew cats didn't like water, but that makes it hard to explain these pictures...

Benson why are you in the sink?


Benson why are you in the shower?


Why are you in the tub?


How did you get to the top of the closet (at 2:30am)


What are you planning to do when the vet comes back in?


What's wrong with the cable box?



What are you watching on TV?



Why are you watching me get ready for bed?



But I do love it when animals snuggle together, luckily Lucy and Benson love each other. Lucy will even look around the house for him when he is hiding (maybe she should check the shower)

Updates

It's been a bit since my last blog.
I'm running the flying pig 1/2 marathon this weekend.
I've been behind in my training but did get a good run through Glendale the other day.

I also bought a new bike for my triathlon training:

I call it White Lightning. Tom and I went for a good ride yesterday in Lebanon.

The animals are good, here is a typical morning picture when I am looking for volunteers to go to work:

It's that time of year...

Tip #1: Read the machines before you play, so once they start spinning out of control you'll know why.

Olympics / Pandora / Lists

This Olympic commercial reminded me how much I like Pandora and how I haven't used it too much lately. The song is Breathe Me by Sia (I love the piano).
Here is an Eric Weeks style list of artists/songs I have discovered on Pandora that I may have never found.

Sia
"Breathe Me"
"Day too soon"
"Little black sandals"
"Soon we'll be found"

The Cure (apparently I like The Cure)
"To the sky" (my ring tone)

Katie Melua
"Just like Heaven" (as made famous by The Cure)

Damien Rice
"9 crimes"
"Delicate"

My favorite Idol audition

In response to Tom's blog, here was my favorite audition so far:
Maybe I'll take her in our work Idol pool this year.

Animal Update

So far today, Benson has turned on the air purifier and the Bose radio all by himself.

This looks like a cat/dog stare down but it's actually a sleep off.

On the hunt for a squirrel.

Sometimes Benson is too busy for Lucy and she needs some alone time.