September 04, 2003 - 1:15 p.m.

Blackout

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time! It is a satellite photo taken at night during the huge blackout up here in the Northeast. Somehow, the photo makes the extent of the problem much more comprehensible than all the news reports and colored in map graphics that circulated at the time. Wow!

Back on Earth, M had a great day at school yesterday, as I figured she would. She likes her teacher, loved art class, and already made a friend. She was eager to go back today. Phew. H, meanwhile, had a blast catching up with old friends, meeting new classmates, and getting used to the idea that she is a third grader.

While the girls have been enjoying the back to school excitement, their poor little brother has been pretty much knocked flat by a nasty virus. He's been running a fever as high as 104 degrees since Sunday! He's lethargic, congested, and had been throwing up earlier in the week. While the more disgusting intestinal symptoms seem to have passed, the sluggishness, fever, and lack of appetite persist. Poor kid! He's usually a bundle of energy, but we've done nothing but read, play a few board games, and watch TV for the past three days. Once in a while he'll summon enough energy to build with blcoks or legos, but soon he'll be curled up on the couch again, falling asleep. Bless his heart, he hasn't even been cranky; I don't think he has the energy for it!

He did get a little excited about the arrival in the driveway of the family's brand new Toyota Sequoia last night. They decided it was time to trade in the minivan for something a little less soccer-momish. The Sequoia, I think it is safe to say, is staunchly soccer-dadish. It is on the scale of a Ford Explorer, complete with running boards. It has individual seat adjustments, many different seat configurations, and all sorts of gadgets. Unsurprisingly, since the dad I work for is a tech junkie, it also arrived with a drop down DVD player and wireless headphones, a six CD in dash changer, and individual audio controls. Today when B and I went out to do the grocery shopping, I got to drive it for the first time. Other than how tall it is (I have to use the running board to help me step up into the thing, it is so high off the ground), it isn't that much bigger than the van was. I'll be pretty cautious pulling into and out of parking spots for the next couple of weeks while I get used to its dimensions, but I wasn't uncomfortable driving it.

It'll be interesting to see how long it keeps the new car look and smell. Within days it will probably begin to accumulate all the detritus of busy family life, stickers, crumbs, muddy footprints, homework papers, etc. :) What new cars for families really need is a self-vacuuming feature or individual trash chutes!

today's project:breaking in the new car

musing about: how lucky the rest of the family has been (knock on wood) not to contract B's illness!

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flutter back - fly ahead