Happy Birthday Maia!

It's very belated, but Happy Birthday to our little Maia. She's now four years old and I can't comprehend that 4 years have passed since this little, loud, spikey haired baby came into our lives. To celebrate, I thought I would note 4 things about you that have brought immense joy into our lives

4.) The permanent natural fauxhawk that you had for your first year of life

3.) The day we asked what you wanted to be when you grew up and you replied "A doctor, so I can tell the babies I'M GONNA GET YOUR BUTT!"

2.) Christmas Eve mass when you were trying to spell words and came up with a long line of nonsense words like b-f-o-p-x-t-e and c-b-f-a. Frustrated by the lack of word invention you went to the old standby, p-o-o-p.

1.) That deep belly chuckle that erupts at least once every day. It brings a smile to my face and makes my day every time I hear it.

We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving

I was lucky enough to share a couple of great beers with my brother yesterday. Unibroue's Maudite was our pre-meal beverage. It is a great example of strong Belgian beer. A very malty brew that disguises it's alcohol well. I've never had a beer I didn't love from Unibroue.



Just before the bird was carved, we cracked open the North Coast Brewing company's Brother Thelonious. This brew has a little more noticeable alcohol presence, but it's got a great combination of roasted malts with fruit from the belgian yeast. This brew combined with the triptophan in the turkey to put me in a coma shortly after lunch, but it was well worth it.



In a nutshell, you can't go wrong with high octane belgians and holiday meals. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Santa Needs Love Too

This weekend, Cindy took Maia to the mall and the two stumbled upon old St. Nick and his elves. They decided to have Maia sit on his lap (oddly disturbing tradition in this day and age) and tell him about all of the dresses, webkinz, and other toys that Maia is hoping for this Christmas. While waiting, Maia told Cindy that she is going to do something nice for Santa since he always does something nice for everyone else. As Maia gets her turn to sit on the old guy's lap, she starts belting out "YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, YOU BETTER NOT CRY..." as her nice gesture for Santa. I think it's pretty obvious that my little girl gets her selflessness and compassion from her mother, but it amazes me to this day how much I've learned from her and Payton. Here's a pic of mutual joy between 3 year old and 60 year old:

Personal Blogage

I've decided to separate my personal and technical blogs as I think there are very few people who are both interested in the Spring framework and my kid's latest bowel movement. This is the spot where my family and beer related posts will reside. If you are looking for technology related posts, go here.