Earth Day
It’s April, and Earth Day is coming up – not really a holiday – and certainly not a vacation day
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Huge success
Callum spent a good chunk of Saturday searching for various tips, tricks, and exploits to do speed-runs of different Portal
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Mindfulness
It is amazing all the simple beauty that surrounds us every day that we don’t notice when we aren’t paying
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Raccoon cubs
The other day I was on a morning walk with Lilou, our Shetland Sheepdog, when I came across a neighbor
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Stopping the madness
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is a fascinating book. In it, psychology professor Dr. Robert Cialdini explains the way people
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I’m not at the Disney World marathon
But Yvonne is. She’s been sending me pictures of herself at the race since five o’clock this morning. It has
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Christmas lights in Celebration
It’s Christmas Eve! I have to admit, I love the holiday season. People are generally filled with excitement and anticipation,
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LED lightbulbs
I don’t often talk about lightbulbs. But when I do, I do it on this blog. Nearly eight years ago
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The American Civil Rights Movement
A few months ago I read through several books for kids about the Space Race. Now I’m reading about the
Read moreUnderstanding
A world in turmoil There’s a lot going on in the world today. Syrian refugees, ISIS, illegal immigrants, Donald Trump,
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Only in The Villages
… would UPS drivers deliver packages in golf carts!
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Those kids
How awesome are they? This was from Spain two years ago.
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Disney’s Glass Slipper Challenge
Halloween is this weekend, and it’s got everybody talking about costumes and what they’re going to wear. It also reminded
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Scooping cookies
So the other day we were at Jan’s house for a get-together, and she started to make us some chocolate
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The Space Race
I’ve been going through all sorts of kids books about the United States space program for a project I’ve been
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Guarding Gringotts
The Gringotts dragon at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter never fails to turn heads! Here are some crowds getting
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Raspberry Pi
Callum got a Raspberry Pi late last year (just before Christmas – I’m not sure if Santa would have been
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Back in Riyadh
When I was in high school, my family lived for a while in Saudi Arabia. My father was working for
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Birds and dragonflies
My father got himself a new DSLR camera just before his cruise along the scenic rivers of Germany and the
Read moreFirst draft completed – check!
It’s time to edit my book. Editing is tough. When you’re initially writing your manuscript, people will tell you, “Just
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Running Disney
In a previous post, I mentioned that we’ve been getting into running as a family. It’s a great way to
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Ukrainian Easter eggs
Today is Easter Sunday, and Yvonne and the kids have been busy decorating Ukrainian Easter eggs (pysanky). Creating them is
Read moreHiking in Florida
Lately we’ve been venturing outside for frequent family walks. We’re big fans of nature (especially Callum – he loves checking
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Out and about with the mouse
How often can one family go to Disneyworld? We may be in the process of finding out. We live quite
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Celebration Half Marathon
Lately, Yvonne has really been getting into running. A few years ago she ran a half-marathon in Alaska with Team
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When we were in Spain
There are a few pictures of the family that I meant to post to this site late last year, but
Read moreMore people live in California than in all of Canada
The other day someone shared a post showing a list of the various states (and overseas territories) of the United
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Walking in Auvergne
Back in 2005 and 2006 I completed a Masters program at ESC Clermont in Auvergne, France. This week, I’m back
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Sailing southern Spain
Back in college I took a sailing course. Yup, I got college credit for cruising around Charleston harbor on sunny
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running when you aren’t even being chased
For the past few years I’ve been running for exercise. I try to get out there every day, or at
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from France to Spain
It has been a busy couple of months! During May, June, and July I managed a six-week project in Paris.
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out and about in the springtime
I’ve been sharing plenty of nature photos lately… pictures from leisurely walks in the woods, from lazy afternoons spent wandering
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Memorial Day in Normandy
Today is Memorial Day, a day to remember those men and women who died while serving in the United States
Read moreSaint Hilaire du Harcouët
Amelia and I took a walk around our local town of Saint Hilaire du Harcouët, in Basse-Normandie, France. We shot
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what’s in the cards
So here we are in France, and it’s been great! But we never planned for it to be forever… our
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on blogging
So after several months of not blogging, I’ve returned to updating my blog every now and then during the early
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the tale of the teeth
This evening, Amelia lost her third top front tooth. She’s been missing one of her two front teeth for several
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the hiking trails of Monthault
This past Saturday was one of the nicest days we’ve seen here in northwestern France in 2013. Today is certainly
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micronutrients and more
lately, I’ve been getting into the habit of making good habits. And of all the habits that I’ve been making,
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a cold and foggy morning
the weather this past week has been bizarre. Saturday afternoon it was warm and mild (as evidenced by my previous
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Mia at the park
yesterday we went on a walk through the public park in the center of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët. While we were there, Mia
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self-published book reviews
For the past two weeks I’ve been subscribed to BookBub, a free service that delivers daily deals on digital books
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seeds and bulbs
it’s that time of year again… the time when the persistent nip leaves the air, the sun starts lingering in
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gluten-free rice cake pizzas
while Callum and I spent some time outside doing a little gardening, Yvonne and Amelia made some gluten-free rice cake
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trees in Fougères
today was a pretty nice (albeit somewhat chilly) day, so we spent the afternoon at the forest of Fougères in
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a walk through the woods
It’s the middle of February, and the rainy, gloomy days typical of winter here in northwest France are winding down.
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snow in the French countryside
I just got back from a run in the countryside. It was a bit chilly out there – the snow’s
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almost winter in Normandy
the reason I say almost winter in Normandy is because technically winter doesn’t start until December 21st. I always get
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about cows
I live in farmland, where I get to learn a lot about cows, if only because they’re my closest neighbors.
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here and there
another year has passed, and we’re still living in Normandy. The kids are well on their way to being bilingual
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adventures in France and England
today I’ve started using the WordPress Image Uploader to upload and manipulate images. Up until now I’ve resisted doing so
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back from near death
positives and negatives I tend to try to keep my blog positive – people generally don’t want to read about
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a week in Malaysia
for the past week I’ve been staying in Penang in Malaysia, working for a client located here on the island.
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spring has arrived
spring has arrived in Paris, and the flowers are in bloom. I don’t recall having been to Paris in the
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life in Paris (so far)
today marks the day that we’ve officially been living in Paris for a month, so it’s about time for a
Read morethe elderly French lady
This evening I took a quick trip to the Carrefour, the local grocery store here in our (temporary) neighborhood in
Read morethe cab driver
I spent my last two weeks in Toronto, completing some training for my new position at Varicent. I had a
Read morevive la you know where
exciting news – we’re moving back to France! I’m going to be working for Varicent, a software company based in
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snow in the mountains
as I mentioned in my last post, we spent Christmas in Johnson City, Tennessee, with Yvonne’s older brother Robert and
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Christmas in Tennessee
we’re in Johnson City, Tennessee, visiting with Yvonne’s brother Robert and his roommate Gerry. It’s a five and a half
Read moreI like traffic lights
prepare to be amazed, my friends. okay, so only slightly underwhelming. this is a traffic light electronics kit I bought
Read morewrite with others!
Last night I went to the local Barnes & Noble to meet up with a group of local writers here
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back to Florida
last week we returned to Disneyworld for a week – the first time around we bought annual passes (which are
Read morethis! No, that! No, wait…
There are two polarized schools of thought when it comes to writing novels. School of thought number one’s followers believe
Read morewhy write?
Writing is a lot like tennis. Actually, writing is not much like tennis at all, except for the part where
Read morewriting again
lately I’ve been getting back into writing fiction, something that for many years was part of my daily routine, but
Read morethe vegan diet
lately I’ve lost over 7% of my body weight in an almost embarrassingly short period of time, and I am
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faaaaaaaabulous
for the past several months we’ve been letting Mia’s bangs grow out. As such, her hair’s been looking like that
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who’s your princess?
here’s a picture of Mia at the Princess Dinner at Norway in the Epcot World Showcase. You’ll notice that Mia
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a trip to Disneyworld
the week before we took the family to Disneyworld. It was of course pretty fun, and everyone had a great
Read morethat about sums it up
yesterday morning was Bring Your Child to Work Day here at Blackbaud, and I brought my eldest son for half
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Azaleas at Middleton Place Plantation
here in South Carolina one of the nicest times of year is that short window during the springtime when the
Read morehow to get kids to do their chores
how to get the kids to do their chores in the Crawford household: Issue the order something like this: “Autobots,
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Callum and his violin
Callum, who is 6 (now almost 7), has been taking weekly violin lessons since last fall with some music teachers
Read moreVancouver 2010 Olympics medals per capita, final tally
a few days ago while the 2010 Olympics were in progress I posted this tally of how many Olympic medals
Read morewho has the most medals per capita?
Edit: I’ve updated this list – see the final results for the 2010 Olympics medals per capita. currently, the United
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Chimay Cinq Cents
this afternoon I took the two eldest kids to the Charleston Beer Exchange (don’t worry, we also took a nice
Read moredo kittens eat popcorn?
Mia chats with a pretend friend on her plastic phone. happy Super Bowl Sunday!
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memories of western Europe
while mucking around in my web directories, I found this page that I made seven and a half years back,
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spread thin
this afternoon I created this page on my personal web site, with links to my various profiles online – LinkedIn,
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high fashion
“let’s go to the Aquarium,” I suggested to the kids. “Why don’t you guys go pick out some clothes, and
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a kids update
the kids are well. (don’t worry, the update is not quite over yet!) Here is Callum, doing some reading on
Read moreanother short story
so if only because I don’t really have anything of interest to say right now, I thought I’d post another
Read moreJohnson City
for Christmas and New Years the gang and I are in Johnson City, Tennessee, visiting Yvonne’s brother Robert. When we
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narcissism at its finest
I find it sort of interesting that when you do a Google image search for Brian Crawford, the first image
Read moreautomatic updates: Restart now, or later?
perhaps the most annoying dialog in the world is the Windows XP (and potentially elsewhere) dialog that pops up once
Read moreover there
at a party last night I met a pretty tough looking guy who, in conversation, mentioned that he had just
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