Track Comments

This is genius! I knew this technology must be out there, but I'd never seen it. Here's the problem: When I read a post on a blog and comment, I rarely remember to go back and see what follow up comments are. This technology allows you to tag blog entries to be tracked and then view any additional comments via an RSS feed or their web site.

Here's how you do it:
After registering with Co.mments, drag the Co.mments bookmarklet into your bookmark toolbar, then hit it any time you're on a post you'd like to track. If you don't like tracking your comments through their site, you can also subscribe to Co.mments' RSS feed of all the posts you're tracking.

Tags: Co.mments, Comment RSS Feed

Bush Sings U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday

I thought this was a cool mix. Thanks to Marko.

The Science of Siblings

This is a very interesting article on your siblings impact on who you become. My brothers and I have said for a long time that my sister Susan wouldn't have turned out nearly as well if it weren't for the kind and loving feedback (constant teasing and telling her to stop whining all of the time) of her older brothers. My brother Dan feels that he is completely responsible for the way all of us turned out:

"Siblings have a socializing effect on one another," says psychologist Daniel Shaw of the University of Pittsburgh. "When you tease out all the other variables, it's the play styles that make the difference. Unlike a relationship with friends, you're stuck with your sibs. You learn to negotiate things day to day." It's that permanence, researchers believe, that makes siblings so valuable a rehearsal tool for later life.

You can read the summary here or the full article here.

Will's on Phil

A number of people called me today to tell me that my friend Will was on the Dr. Phil show today. According to the show's description, Will's name is actually Matt and he destroyed their family with his conning and stealing. He stole Libby's Social Security number and racked up $6,000 worth of debt. Will (Matt) says he's ready to come clean, but Libby doesn't know what to believe.

I don't know who Libby is or why Will/Matt is stealing now, but I can guess where he racked up the debt.

July 4th Fireworks

Last night we went to the Fireworks in Okemos. We got there around 7ish and hung out, ate pizza and watched the kids play while we waited for the fireworks show. At the last fireworks, Dan shelled out $15 for a few glow lights, so in the true Kurt fashion he went out and bought 100 on eBay for $30 for the kids to play with. I brought my camera and took a bunch of pictures, messing around with different exposures and settings, not for myself, but for Susan, who loves Fireworks. She loves watching them, looking at pictures of them - but most of all she loves to have people describe what the fireworks looked like after the fact. She likes deer and birds too.

Ever since he got his first puffy shirt, my brother-in-law Kevin has always loved pirates. What he loves most is fighting them, and he was lucky he'd brought his sword, but sad that he hadn't brought his pirate or jedi outfit.

It was a little chilly, so everyone was bundled up. Em and my Mom cuddled up to watch the fireworks together.

My Dad and brother brought their pink blankys, which they don't go anywhere without.




You can see all of the pictures here in the Kurt Family Photo Gallery.

Kurt 4th of July Gathering

We had our annual Kurt Family Fourth gathering at my parents yesterday. We grilled out and the samurai-griller (Dan) did a peach cobbler in a dutch oven. Instead of the usual squirt gun fight, my Dad set up a big three-lane slip and slide on the "Stroller Racing Hill" next to the house.

Since the kids were little, every year my Mom buys the kids matching shirts and we take these two shots - one of them loaded in the hammock and one of them in these chairs. I was able to weasel in an hour nap, in the Kurt Men tradition of sneaking off and crashing before anyone finds you. My brother-in-law Kevin is the ninja-master of this art, and was jealous that he didn't get one in. This was also the first year ever that my Dad had decent beer, so we did not have to continue the tradition of the "Kurt Men Beer Run". My Dad spent most of the afternoon explaining how Superman is what's wrong with America while Dan and I tried to explain to him what Globalization is all about.

You can see more of the pictures here in the Kurt Family Photo Album.

Fireworks

After having a big party at my parents, we headed over to the fireworks in Okemos. These guys in pirate and Jedi costumes started sword fighting in front of us, so we sent Gabe over to get their autographs. My brother-in-law Kevin and I were watching and they invited us to battle. Kevin got in the act and fought the pirate, and pulled a muscle in the process. Pictures to follow.

Our First Family Camping Trip

We went on our first family camping trip this weekend. My brother Dan invited us to join them on their annual July 4th Camping trip back in December, so we decided we'd give it a try. I'd grown up camping when I was in the Boy Scouts, and Cathie and her family used to camp all of the time, but we'd never done a family camp out like this. I was a little hesitant, but I was very pleasantly suprised in the end. We went down to Maumee Bay State Park near Toledo, OH. It was right on Lake Erie, and the camp sites great, with a nice view.

I could not believe how much stuff we had to take. Even with stuff loaded on my roof-rack (which Brad said I'd never use when I got the car), a bike rack on the back and two seats taken out of my van, we barely had room for the kids.


Part of what made this whole thing so enjoyable is that Dan and Kris camp quite a bit and have all the good stuff you need to make it even better. They had a cooking fly, a screened in eating area, shelves, dutch overs, stoves, a grittle and everything else you can think of. I bow to my brother's mastering grilling skills. He was able to cook the 6 racks of rips you see over an open fire and have them turn out to be some of the best I've ever had.

The camp had all sorts of activities, including outdoor movies, bike parades and ice cream socials. The camp hosts would ride around in these golf carts, with these creepy guys dressed in animal suits, telling you what the next activity was.

We had great weather on Friday and Saturday, but Saturday night we had a wind storm that I thought was going to cause our tent to take off. I didn't sleep a wink as I woke up every 20 minutes to see if the tent had fallen over. Sunday was rainy, so we hung out in the dining tent as the kids sung songs. Sounds cheesy, but it was great. In the afternoon we went over to COSI science center to play, then to Tony Packo's (made famous by MASH and Klinger) and finished it off by seeing the movie RV. 16 of us went to RV in a pretty empty theater, and we laughed until we hurt.

We headed home on Monday morning, all of us having had a blast. One of the best parts about it for me was hanging out with my older brother Dan. Dan and I had a lot of time to hang out just he and I, which we don't often get.

Dan's brother-in-law Bob and his VERY pregnant wife Amy were there also. Bob is a very large man, about 6'5". This picture of Bob wearing Matthew's baseball cap deserves a caption. Any suggetions?


You can see more of the pictures in the Kurt Family Photo Gallery.

July 3rd Fireworks

On the way back from camping, we stopped at the border and picked up some fireworks. After Superman, the Niemi's came over. The highlight was the Roman Candle fight Mark and I had in the back yard. You haven't lived until you've done this. Your in total pitch black, launching balls of fire at another person. As the shot goes off, you become completely blinded. You try and aim at the last place you've seen the other guy shoot. The odds of actually hitting the guy are pretty slim, but the adrenaline rush is there.

Everyone had fun except Riley, who found a way to buy herself under the end table and behind a bunch of boxes.

Superman Returns

Nate and I met up with Dan, Shabadu, Drew and Steve-O at the IMAX in Ypsilanti to see Superman Returns in 3-D IMAX. The entire experience was mind blowing, from the opening previews to the screen resolution and audio quality, not to mention a great story. I've been reading comic books to Nate since he was tiny, so we go see every comic book movie together.

During one point in the movie, Superman and Lois are together, Lois gets done telling Superman: "The world doesn't need a savior. I don't need a savior." Superman takes her up above the world and tells her "You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one." Nate turned to me and said, "Dad, the world does have a savior. It's Jesus." The movie is the classic story of a hero and has a bunch of allegorical references to the Gospel story, which was cool to see, and as Nate and I talked after the movie, it was cool to see that he caught some of them.

Tags: Superman Returns, IMAX

Camping

We're camping this weekend with my brother Dan and family down in Ohio at Maumee Bay State Park. This is our first time camping as a family, but it should be fun. There's rain in the forecast, which adds to the experience.

NYC Cabbie

I'm in the back of a cab, sitting between two guys, stuck in traffic, all of us about to vomit from car sickness. This guy drives, brakes and weaves like he's drunk.

Pickle Phobia

My brother Jon posted this cute video of my niece Libby eating a video.


After seeing this video on Maury of what a real pickle phobia can lead to, I'm a little worried about Libby.

NYC

I got up about 4:30 this morning to get to the airport to fly into New York City. I worked during the day and then went to one of my top 3 favorite restaurants in the world. It's a Brazilian restaurant call Churasaca Plataforma. It starts with the most amazing smörgåsbord's, followed by 30 skewers of meats that they keep bringing until you tell them to stop. I didn't know there were that many kinds of meat in the world. They start with the cheap stuff, so you have to stay strong and resist until skewer #20 comes out with the good stuff. Full and bloated, Bill, Ron and I walked around Times Square for a while watching the lights and the people. Some wild people and sights to see out there. I brought my camera gear and got a chance to take some great pictures which I'll post when I get home on Thursday.

Maddie's Birthday

Today is Madeline's 8th birthday. She was greeted this morning by a roomful of balloons and her favorite breakfast of carmel pancakes with whipped cream. I took her to lunch and then she and I went clothes shopping, which was fun. I asked her who was better to shop with and she said, "Mom, because she doesn't have a budget." We finished it up with a visit to Cold Stone Creamery for Ice Cream.

Faith

Faith leads us beyond ourselves
-Pope John Paul II

The Larger Story

The great use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it
-James Truslow Adams

Jay

I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith, his writing, his storytelling and his movies. This is a very interesting 7 part story from Kevin's blog on Jason Mewes's (who plays the Jay half of Jay and silent Bob) journey in and out of drug addiction told in a pretty graphic way. The story is told from Kevin's perspective and it shows a pretty amazing friendship, one that sticks by a friend in some very tough times and shows some very tough love.
(Warning: Kevin Smith tells the story pretty graphically and the story's content is not for everyone. The message of the story is phenomenal, but you may not be able to get past some of his language.)

Backyard Campout

We're going camping with Dan and Kris next weekend, so we decided to setup our tent to make sure we had all of the parts and could actually fit everyone into the tent. Cathie and the kids decided to sleep out there last night for the fun of it. At one point two raccoons (Cathie told the kids they were cats) were screaming and fighting in the yard, but otherwise, it was pretty uneventful. Doing things like this is reason #333 that my wife is the best Mom in the world.

Swingset Olympics

Nate wanted me to make a video of him doing a back-flip on the swing. Not to be outdone, Madeline wanted to do it bigger and better. Emily and Nate's friend Austin figured he would contribute his own talent: