With the end of summer comes the start of another school year. Beatriz and Ava asked to have their photo taken on the stoop and here’s the shot. Ava’s pose cracks me up–I expect the agency sourcing for JCrew to be calling any minute now. Beatriz’s color and pattern choices are beyond Punky Brewster crazy.

Welcome back to school everyone.

Pumpkin Pirate and Bea, originally uploaded by skidgel.

Allison, Ava, and Beatriz came to the Googleplex on Halloween. We listened to a concert by Asheba, decorated this pumpkin and a trick or treat bag, and Bea managed to go away with a pretty decent haul of Halloween treats. Bea was a princess and Ava was an angel.

The First Day of Pre-School, originally uploaded by skidgel.

It’s hard to imagine that Bea started pre-school today. Since I’m on vacation, I went with Allison and Bea to her first day. She had no trouble saying “kthanxbai” to mommy and daddy once she saw the big blob of play doh on the table inside her classroom.
The preschool is located in downtown Piedmont. It’s a cooperative which means Allison or I will need to volunteer one day per month at the school and help with fundraising etc… We find the amount of parent involvement really attractive and we think the teachers and other parents are great.

It’s been a very busy 3 months for me and the family. I’ve been a lame blogger, but I’ve always been a lame blogger I guess. I took a new job, finished a book, and Allison and I have had a million small house projects in addition to raising our two wonderful girls Beatriz and Ava.

I finished building these bookshelves with carpenter Andy Hahn. We now have room for our art, design, and travel books. Allison also bought these nifty ottomans which make reading books on the barcelona chairs a bit more enjoyable.

Our big project for the summer is a bathroom remodel. We’re tearing the place down to the studs and putting in 1″ inch hexagonal tile in the floors, and subway tile for the walls. It’s going to be very 1920s and I think it will look appropriate for the house-a small California bungalow. Anyway, we’re excited at the prospect of not having a leaky faucet.

I’ve posted more photos of Bea and Ava on Flickr. I’ll probably post some more of the yard which is turning out quite nicely to Allison’s green thumb!

Abstract

An apparatus and method of generating a visual representation of an image based product. Where the image based product is a picture image, the method produces a framed prototype image showing the picture image framed within a frame. The method includes providing a frame image showing the frame in a perspective view. The frame image has a picture portion corresponding to the portion of the frame used to view a picture mounted in the frame. The method includes mapping the picture image to the picture portion of the frame image in order to generate the frame prototype image. The method also includes presenting an enhanced edit set along with the frame prototype image. The enhanced edit set includes user manipulatable tools for editing either the picture or the frame in the perspective view.

Many thanks to Paul Haeberli for collaborating.

Bea and Marc Jacob’s Chicken, originally uploaded by skidgel.

This is the chicken that saved my Saturday afternoon. We had left Hayes Valley and were on way over to Fillmore Street. Beatriz had tuckered herself out at the park and was high from eating a chocolate cookie (a sugar sandwich essentially) from Miette. Tired kid on a sugar rush is like those zombies in Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror—unfit for human consumption.

She was screaming and kicking as I carried her up the street when a nice woman, most likely a grandmother, approached us and told us there was the most amazing chicken in the Marc Jacobs store. I was too tired to look at her cross-eyed, and Bea immediately calmed down when she heard “chicken.” (Our neighbors Matthew and Arley have three chickens and Bea loves to watch them). Thanks to Marc Jacobs’s monthly gimmicks and the kind soul in a chicken suit, Bea went from cranky to angel in less than 60 seconds. Transformational.

And the photo is damn good for one take. :-)

Sisters Beatriz and Ava Hanging Out!, originally uploaded by skidgel.

Our morning routine begins every day at 6 or 6:30. Ava wakes up in her co-sleeper, is fed, and then begins to coo and be social. We then hear Bea from her room start to sing and eventually she asks for momma or dadda. Eventually the two are on sitting on our bed and chumming around while Allison and I get ready for the day.

Brompton on the BART, originally uploaded by skidgel.

If had a dollar for everytime someone asked me about my Brompton, I could buy a few more of them. Typical questions:

• How much does it weigh? (~25 lbs)
• How much does it cost? (700–1800 depending on options)
• How fast does it go? (how fast can you pedal?)
• Can you take it on BART at all times? (yes, all times)
• How many gears does it have? (6)
• How long does it take you to fold it? (30 seconds)
• Where can I buy one? (google brompton or go to: Brompton’s buying page)