Google news and Yahoo news attempt to provide a glimpse of local news. Some of the bigger cities in the country seem to be covered pretty well. But they do a poor job with Columbus, OH. A great link from Research Buzz provides a MUCH better alternative, Topix. Just type in a zip code and be impressed. Our local zip pulls stuff from everything from local newspapers to The Lantern (the newspaper of Ohio State University). This is great.

The day after. This weekend we became members of the land of a thousand wagons zoo, had a little party for our girl, patted ourselves on the back for surviving a year of parenting and wound down with a lovely dinner at a friends.

And the icon, thanks for the idea Andrea. Thanks to all for the suggestions. It absolutely killed me to change it. But I kind of like it. It's changed but, she is still a baby. So there.

One year ago, we had a meal at a cool place nearby called Tapatio. We ate slowly. We had an appetizer, a drink, a main course and, as usual, we split a small dessert. I believe the meal took 2-3 hours. When we left, the floor beneath our table was pretty clean (maybe a few crumbs below my seat). The next morning, Trish was to go in the hospital and Frankie was to come out. All went to plan. It's been a while since we dined leisurely. A small price to pay for our girl.

GroupHug - addictive yet disturbing isn't it?

The weather in Columbus is cooperating the past day or so. I think we're ready for the season's maiden voyage. About 6:00 this morning, I cleaned up the Weber and may sacrifice a chicken to her tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Social experimentation. There's awesome creativity expressed via the web. I suspect over time, web enabled devices will become more commonplace than ever. Eventually, we'll all be in some wireless network or another and almost every handheld device will be enabled (hopefully the price will come down too). Then experiments like this will be even better. But it's still pretty cool.

Not quite sure if I'll be visiting Starbucks soon though.

Bloggers commune. People who keep web logs participate actively in communities. Some participate in community blogs, e.g., like Cam's watchblog which presents simultaneous opinions on issues related to the upcoming 2004 presidential election. The majority of bloggers blog alone. But, by linking to others with similar content, they form communities. My personal favorite community is comprised of food bloggers.

These linked relationships can be determined on technorati, or as Eric Meyer calls it, egorati. One of the strongest blogging communities is linked by, surprisingly, geography. Chicago Bloggers have a growing and apparently vibrant community. Recently, Gapers Block, even sponsored a public event where area bloggers read their best stuff. Cool. What have I learned lately from this community? Well, from KIP and me3dia, I am preparing for National Corn Dog Day, tomorrow, March 20.

Also from Chicago, 'N' is for Neville, who died of ennui. I love the Gashlycrumb tinies.

Not eating? We were beginning to suspect a switch in the hospital (although she's short, nearly bald and has a limited attention span). But, last night Frankie indulged in peas & brown rice, a couple crackers, mushroom and pea risotto and yogurt. She ate for nearly a half hour. The only one disappointed was Suzi. There wasn't as much food launched to the floor.

Davesbeer.com did not win a bloggie. It wasn't even nominated. I'm not trying to make anyone out there feel especially guilty for not nominating this site in this publicly-chosen award ceremony, I'm just highlighting a fact. Anyway, if you ever asked "What's a blog anyway?", here are some great examples.

The auto show yesterday with Grandma KC, Trish, Frankie and I! Frankie had a great time and seemed to be fascinated with the shiny new cars and their spokesmodels (or maybe that was me). Frankie got to sit in a behemoth Hummer H2 and a couple sports cars. And this morning, NO FEVER!!

9:30. The kid sleeps. She had a decent night. We survived.

New food blog I just started reading. She made spaghetti with meat sauce just to watch the Sopranos.

Jon stumbling through early stages of Fatherhood.

We're back!! After about 18 hours of email exchange with the folks at Dr2.net, my site's host, we have regained access to our information and files. Most of the exchange happened yesterday during my exhausting daycare effort with the Frankster. She had a fever for about a day (looks sick huh?).

Friday found Columbus in the 70s. The kids in daycare were roaming about with no pants it was so warm. Today the brutal reality of a Monday set in at about thirty something degrees with no sun or warmth in sight. The weekend is unfortunately over.

Exhausted. I don't know why, but coloring in several hundred ovals over 5 hours was pretty exhausting. Reading and Math were easy. The writing, under the gun, was more difficult than I expected. Only squeaked out about 150 words. Hopefully it's coherent.

Oh, and I'll have what he's having.

It's Friday. Time for viewer mail, Mark writes:

I followed your instructions last night and I'm now a hero in my family. My wife and daughter loved it, thanks to you. I've had many pizza making disasters over the past (broken teeth, etc:) but this was delicious. It was similar to Bertucci's which was my goal (well close enough).
Thanks again for converting an Irish man into a dedicated pizza maker. I can pay the favor back if you need a good bacon\cabbage recipe? ;)

Davesbeer, making people happy, one pizza at a time.

If you want to teach anyone in grades K-12 anything in this country, a Ph.D. is inadequate. There are gatekeepers and they pose a series of challenges to anyone who dares become a low paid employee of the state. One of the gatekeepers is ETS. A testing "service" in New Jersey. Teachers in training are required to pass 3 exams before they can be state certified. The first of these exams is given this Saturday. I thought I'd take a stab at it. The first exam is a silly one. They'll ask a series of questions on subjects like grammar, reading comprehension, algebra, geometry and I'll have to write something more than my name. It will last 5 hours and I'll busily fill in the dots to prove to them I can take a test. Armed with only a few Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2s, off I go. Wish me luck.

Consistently in the 50s in Columbus these days. Not exactly tropical, it's good enough for some serious wagon time. Pics to follow soon.

And the huge football type dude to the right is my nephew Anthony, who sent me some pics and I never responded. Hey Anthony!

Il Forno is a new (new on my list) food blog I've been reading. Check out the impressive post on naan. I'll be taking a shot at that for sure.

And, inquiring minds want to know.