Heard about Philip Johnson in a short peice on NPR. He died recently and they mentioned this as his favorite building. His profession was that of an architect. I've often wondered about living in a house with glass walls. All cliches about throwing stones aside, I'm finding this part of my life is about tearing down the walls. A house such as this fits my mood. No secrets. No lies. No defenses. I imagine myself in a Japanese robe laying on the bed with a cup of steaming green tea, reading Salinger's 9 stories. The Glass House.

I frequently get asked to solve little computer problems that people are having and more and more frequently lately the problems come from spyware. In the past I have always recommended www.lavasoftusa.com and their AdAware Personal Edition. I've been using this software for a while now and love it. I stumbled across a beta release of an anti spyware software from microsoft this morning. It's free for now, but it has a real time component that always runs in the background and catches spyware as it is being loaded onto your system. So I'm going to give it a go and see how it works. You can find it here.

I try to keep on the mailing lists of my senators and representatives. Will I got this e-mail from Barbara Boxer on Friday: I thought you would be interested in the following message. ============================ Dear Friend: Late December and early January brought record rain and snow to California. Sadly, 28 people lost their lives, and thousands more still suffer the consequences of the storm. I wrote to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledging my assistance in gaining federal assistance should the Governor ask for an emergency declaration. Under both State and Federal law, damage assessments are necessary to tell whether the scope of damage triggers the federal damage assistance. I invite you to visit a feature on my Senate website that provides valuable links on ways to prepare for more rain, including a United States Geological Survey site that allows you to monitor streamflows while they happen. You can find this feature at http://boxer.senate.gov/flood.cfm Most of us have seen the incredible film footage of our public safety heroes and family members as they have waded into swollen streams to save victims, flown helicopters into rough terrain, and in hundreds of other ways risked their lives to save ours. I hope you will join me in saying a big thank you to these heroes. Sincerely, Barbara Boxer United States Senator So I followed the link (I got sucked in by the realtime stream information). I'll save you the political stuff and post the link directly http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ca/nwis/rt It reminds me of the earthquake map. Raw data rules. Enjoy

Flea pointed out the Wellness Community as a good place to support cancer patients and survivors.

We finished up the weekend by strolling (actually running and roleplaying) the gardens of the Huntington museum.

The next day it was off to the Los Angeles County Arboreteum where the flowers are starting to come out and play...

Mommy journeyed eastward to the Carolinas for her grandmothers 90th birthday (happy birthday!) so Conrad and I headed to the zoo looking for mischief...

Tim Banthrum, Human being Son of Janeen, Brother of Jason, Husband of Erin, Father of Josh, Friend of mine, goes into surgery in 10 minutes... and I'm scared

um...2005 is what, 10 days old? I've had my fill of tragedy and pain already. This last weekend for me was one of shock and cuteness and hope and lack of hope. The tone struck last last week was one of shock and tragedy at the illness of a dear friend and their family. Still reeling from that one friends. Mixed in with that was strolls in the rain with Conrad dressed in a slicker and galoshes, a Sunday morning in a rain suit with work gloves and a shovel, making sand bags and trying to divert runoff to save the "rest" of a friends home, reading Tintin novellas to Conrad, practicing my massages on Adrienne. Somedays I just don't know where to begin...Think good thoughts about our friends today, especially at 2:00pm when a physician determines the course of their lives.

An updated picture of young Luke Duncan, well before the age when he confronts his father's evil.

Well, it looks like we are in for another couple days of record rain. For the record, I love inclimate weather. Generally the more inclimate the better. Weather in So Cal rarely gets life threatening so it's just kinda fun and different. On another note, the ground rumbled this morning. Did you hear it?

A venture to Mt. Baldy to frolic and play the eskimo way...

Some Winter Solstice photos...