The Dutton Family Weblog

I’m in IMDB :)


OK, so I went to get contact information for guy who directed my brother’s band’s music video, and followed his ant trail to IMDB. Joey and I were extras in that video, and lo and behold… because of that, I am now in IMDB. Cool (Sorry, Joey… for some reason you’re not listed! Doh!) [...]

It’s coming…


I can sense something in the wind… *grin*

Stress Test Results


Well, the meeting with the doctor today was fairly uneventful, which is good. Results from the stress test were normal - “no blockages.” In fact, the BP today was great - 118/78
So, I “just” have a mild mitral valve regurgitation. Cause is not known - could have been congenital, but who knows. The [...]

Home thoughts


I have been a hobby-level househunter for going on 15 years now. It’s taken me from the outskirts of Ft. Bend county where a very early boggy version of Sienna Plantation was under development in the mid-1990s, to now around and in the Heights area of Houston (where we currently rent).
Along the way, marriage and [...]

Ivy’s First Baseball Game


The day after her birthday, we all went to see the Astros host the Mets at Minute Maid Park. It was Ivy’s first baseball game, and she did fairly well. A bit wiggly, but with all that energy in one little body, who can sit still THAT long. The Astros won the game (complete with [...]

Stress test


OK, so yesterday I took off the afternoon to go get my scheduled stress test out of the way. This consisted of different types of breathing into a tube (with and without a snorkel-like mouthpiece) in a “rested” state, and while on a stationary bike of increasing levels of resistance.
The tech was a young, good-looking [...]

German ingenuity


Have you ever wanted to drink while riding your bike around, but you were afraid you’d:

Spill your beer
Get too blitzed to drive?
Well, Germany has the solution (of course).
Not sure if y’all can tell, but the patrons at the “bar” there, all pedal, which is what makes the thing move. There was one tooling around the [...]

Life on the road


For those who might think it’s all glamorous having an overseas assignment, take a look at this photo. See the time this was posted? Add 6 hours to it from NYC, and that’s when I’m uploading this. Yup, 2am. I’m sleeping with/in/on my workpapers. Literally. Pretty swanky, eh?

Bildern (Photos)


OK, by popular demand, here are some early photos from the trip to Germany. I couldn’t get a good position for setting the camera up for fireworks photos, so those were taken while holding the camera “by hand” and hence they are not too good, but… it’s what I got from that night. The rest [...]

In Koeln


Well, after 12 hours on planes, and a quick 1-hour train ride from Frankfurt to Cologne I’m… in Cologne. It’s actually COOL here right now, and raining. My immediate impression was one of “whoa” - stepping out of the train station at the cathedral was literally AT the cathedral. Really. Right there at the steps [...]