Reagan put together a pretty sweet party today, so that Piper’s friends could come celebrate her birthday with her. It really turned out great. I didn’t take nearly as many as photos as I should have. We have such an awesome group of friends, who were willing to spend such a nice Saturday driving up to Westchester to come to Piper’s party. Reagan made cupcakes with custom little decorations in them. I’m sure that she will write about it, so I don’t want to steal any of her material. Anyway, we weren’t even sure if we were going to be able to have a get-together because of Piper’s recent illness. Everyone scrambled on very short notice. We had a blast. I hope that everyone else did too.

Alexa updating Piper on the current noteworthy items concerning cute little girls, etc..

Getting some quality time with Grandpa Baker.

Opening presents with Addie and Stella. Go here for some more photos.

I can’t even believe that she is 2! Reagan’s parents are in town today, for the rest of the week. It should be a pretty good time. I won’t be working today or Friday. So if the blogging gets a little sparse. You will know why. For those would like to join us in Westchester on Saturday afternoon, give us a call. Reagan is trying to get an idea of who is coming.

Happy birthday, Piper!

Reagan and I had a very enjoyable weekend. In addition to the Piper visits, we paid a visit to Brooklyn Industries, so that Reagan could exchange one of her Christmas presents (above). Then, Saturday night we had a little get-together for Reagan’s birthday. It was a lot of fun. I ran to grab the camera, so I could get a picture of Reagan blowing out the candles. Let’s just say that the pic didn’t come out so great. I’m not going to post it on here. But you can check it out here, if you would like to see some photography skills at their finest.

The weather was absolutely beautiful on Sunday, which didn’t stop me from taking a 4 hour nap after church. We went for a quick walk in the evening then watched a movie. Pretty much textbook.

Reag, Piper called and wanted me to tell you she says happy birthday. Oh yeah, and one more thing: I want to say Happy Birthday!

I’m not really sure when the whole digital v. analog debate began, but it has certainly gone the rounds. Vinyl v. CD/Mp3; tube amp v. solid state; 35mm v. 12mpx; Super8 v. HDvid; and the list goes on forever. Something that I have found interesting is the way that society has clung to the analog format, refusing to let it disappear into obscurity. The fact that one can still purchase LPs and turntables is one example of this. I thought that for sure, after Pioneer first developed the jog-wheel CD player that turntables would go the way of the dinosaur. Then, there was Marshall, bringing back the tube guitar amp. For whatever reason, you just can’t digitally imitate that tube sound with solid state amps. In the last couple of days, I have been reading about a VC group that bought all of the the old film making equipment from Polaroid. They are going to try to develop a new type of instant film, to keep the format alive.

I personally try to enjoy the benefits of both digital and analog. I am a huge fan of vinyl records and tube amps. But I have found myself on the opposite side of the argument when it comes to photography. I have been wanting to get a really good DSLR for a while now, and I think that Adobe Cs3 is pretty much the coolest thing ever invented. Good thing I have Reagan to balance me out. Her birthday is just around the corner. One of the gifts that she has been asking for was a Polaroid camera. I talked her out of it. Then she started asking for a Holga. I didn’t even know what that one was at first. She had to educate me about them. They are cheap plastic Chinese built toy cameras, that produce funky images. I couldn’t wrap my head around why she would want to waste money on such a piece of crap, especially since it requires a weird format of film and you have to go through all of the trouble of getting it developed etc.. After she educated me a bit, I understood why she wanted one. We watched a couple of podcasts last night about the different mods that you can make to them and some of the different effects that they can produce. I got really excited for her to try it out. She ordered it last night.

Despite the diverging opinions that Reagan and I have stylistically, I feel like our personalities complement each other enough, that we will most likely never become bored with life. Hooray for that. Thanks for bringing it back to the roots, Reag.

I received some pretty awesome email messages on my birthday. Here are a few of my favorite:

-Hello Jesq, We at Toyota FJ Cruiser Forum would like to wish you a happy birthday today! If you do not wish to recieve this message anymore, go to your forum profile options (URL) and then uncheck “Receive board greeting on your birthday”

-Hello Bootysmak, We at Beastie Boys Message Board would like to wish you a happy birthday today!

-Happy Birthday from ING DIRECT!
We want to help you celebrate your October birthday with 15% off at the ING DIRECT Shop.
You’ll save big on items like:
The QuickFinish Shredder — protects your identity as it quickly shreds documents, credit cards and CDs.
The Savings Machine — a great learning tool that works just like an ATM machine and teaches kids how to save.
The book, Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck — a simple and easy to understand guide to financial success by Michael B. Rubin.

And last, but not least–