The technology that delivers our important news continues to evolve. Ten years ago, Sandra called me on my cell phone to tell me about Joe's birth; I was driving on Interstate 495 at the time. A few years later, I learned about Tess while I was driving Route 101 in Silicon Valley, California.

So, it was expected that Mike would call me on my cell phone with the announcement of Cassandra. What's new is that much of the news spread via instant messenger. Matt was online at the time and sent the news to all of the people in his buddy list. As a result, some kid named Tony heard about the baby before Michael Francis did. Michael Francis was at football practice at the time. He informed his friend Erin via IM as well.

After visiting at the hospital, Matt rode back with me. We talked a bit about music and stuff. I was gratified to learn that I wasn't totally clueless. I knew the names of his favorite band (Linkin Park) and radio station (Kiss-108). A supra-middle-aged guy trying to be hip about music isn't always the most attractive sight in the world, but Matt was polite.

Cassandra Joan Hakkarainen (http://www.queenlake.com/pictures/Cassandra/) was born at 3:30PM on Wednesday, 3 November 2004, eight pounds and 20 inches. She and her mother are doing fine, with all of her family delighted beyond words.

Marley came upstairs and settled down on the floor at the foot of our bed, something that he typically does only during bad thunderstorms.

At the time of this writing, we're waiting for final election results from Ohio that will give President Bush the victory. Senator Kerry hasn't conceded and there may be a court fight. There's little doubt, though, about the outcome.

Texas football coach Darrell Royal used to say, when you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before.

We're due to get a new grandchild today. Sandra's father has gone to Mike & Lynn's to get the other kids off to school. M&L needed to be at the hospital by 7:00. Sandra and I will pick up the kids this evening and, we hope, take them to the hospital to meet their new sib.

Election Day. Finally. Sandra and I will vote this morning on our way to work. I recently learned that the New Hampshire towns of Hart's Location and Dixville Notch started the tradition of voting at midnight because so many of the people in those small towns work for the railroad and wouldn't be able to vote during normal hours. Those two towns typically vote Republican. This year is no different.

Our seventh grandchild is due tomorrow. Lynn will go to the hospital in the early morning. We'll feed the other kids in the evening and then go to the hospital to meet the new little one.

Over the weekend a friend gave me a pound of Roaster Boy coffee. It's a rich and smooth blend, strong enough to rally the troops at the start of the day.

Morning frost is routine now. The weekend forecast suggests that we may see a bit of snow. Our snow blower still needs a tune-up.

At work I'm handing off old assignments so that I can work full-time on my new project. I have a meeting this morning with another writer to discuss the transfer. After that I will try to find a conference room with a big white board where I can sketch out my ideas. It's a time of creative thrashing.

Sandra gave me a mirror so that I can see behind me as people come into my office. I've read that mirrors are the aspirin of feng shui.

"I should have listened to my mother."

"About what?"

"I don't know. That's why I should have listened."

In font sizes typically reserved for moon landings, the newspapers proclaim the good news. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series. At quarter-to-midnight the neighborhood kids were outside, yelling for joy.

You can bet that this will be a tired day at the office and a distracted one. We'll be ok. We're happy.

From the world of weird science comes a story about hypoallergenic cats. The scientists use RNA interference to inhibit the gene in cats that produces the allergens. Here's the press release: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041026/phtu021_1.html. At the company's home web site, http://www.allerca.com/, you can find out more and even place your reservation.

Great joy is held back by a thick dam of trepidation. The Red Sox are 3-0 in the World Series, winning last night 4-1.

Our edition of the Boston Globe has to go to press before the games are complete, so the front page and sports sections carry incomplete reports, through about the fourth inning.

One of the most ambitious and interesting projects on the net is Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.net/. There's more aboout its history and philosophy here -http://www.gutenberg.net/about/history - but, in brief, they are making public domain books available in electronic form. They also have audio books read by a speech synthesizer. I have to admit that it takes a bit to get used to the voice.

This morning, under a waxing gibbous Hunter's Moon, we have a thick frost.

Starting with AltaVista nearly 10 years ago and continuing with Google a few years later, search engines have become my standard method for locating information. At one time I might use a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and technical manuals. Now, it's generally a whole lot easier just to check Google. (There are some other search engines that I'll check occasionally, such as AltaVista, Yahoo, A9, and Clusty, but Google is still the best.)

The other day, for example, I was working on a script (a small program) that would help us automate some repetitive tasks. I needed some examples to help me with a certain problem. Rather than tracking down a manual or even reading the online help, I found easier, faster, and better to search the web using Google. I had my answer in seconds.

Of course, a search engine is only as good as the information that's out there. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find something that, I finally concluded, just didn't exist. (Anyone know how to select and copy the text in a Java applet?)

Search is also only as good as the question you pose. If I need to look up common words, such as select text, I can be overwhelmed with a large number of irrelevant results. For example, among the results of a search for "select text java applet" is a link to a page that describes binomial probability histogram. There are people who care what that means, but I'm not among them.

But, the Red Sox are still playing baseball this late in October. It will be interesting to see which Pedro shows up tonight.

We've been fired. During a phone yesterday afternoon, my father indicated that he no longer needs our help around his house. We'll take it as good news. We'll still stop by from time to time.

There's a baby shower for Lynn today. Many of the men will gather at Mike's house for the duration. I'm going to go to the camp and work on closing up the place for the season. We bring much of the food home, anything that can freeze or which would be too tempting for the mousies.

Game 1, 11-9. A game like this might be called winning ugly, playing just well enough to overcome mistakes and miscues. Unlike some other sports, baseball isn't scored with style points, just runners who cross home plate.

The game got over after 11:00, so the scores didn't make it into the Sunday papers. Bill Lee used to deliver those wonderful two-and-a-half-hour, 75-pitch games.

My manager confirmed yesterday that I'd be taking on the new assignment that I'd mentioned the other day. (For those who care about such things, I'll be rearchitecting an information set on multiprotocol authentication and authorization.) I will spend the next couple of days getting my current projects to good stopping places.

We went to a nice party for Matthew last night - takeout Chinese food and an ice cream cake. Starting a couple of years ago, Mike added a second story to their house. The kids moved into their new room at the start of the school year. One of Matt's gifts was a new desk for his room.

We watched a bit of the St. Louis-Houston game, scouting our new opponents. The Red Sox and Cardinals have some history going back to 1946, so the matchup is good.

It must be confusing for the people who plan advertisements that will run during the playoffs and World Series. Because they're dealing with different age groups, we get ads for acne cream to AFLAC, video games to Viagra.

The World Series games will be played at night. Interestingly, the weekend games are scheduled to start a half hour earlier than the weekday games. The later start on weekdays gives the west coast folks a chance to get home and watch the game. The communist government in China has a way of dealing with time zones; they don't allow them. With a country wider than the US, they have one time zone, UTC+8. They don't even bother with daylight savings time.

Bleary-eyed and happy, New Englanders awaken to find that it's still true, that we really did beat the Yankees in the 7th game and that we're going to the World Series. It will be a fun winter as we analyze the decisions and performances that got us this far.

The newspapers are late this morning, no doubt delayed by the ball that finished after midnight.

Today is grandson Matthew's 13th birthday. He's a superb athlete, very funny, and not a little bit fresh. He doesn't know this yet, but we're taking him to see Blue Man Group as his birthday gift.

In the past couple of days, friends have sent me pointers to job prospects. I've followed up and have had one rejection already.

There are lots of tired, but happy folks around the office these days. The Red Sox, with their mix of superstars and Joe Bag-of-Donuts players, have captivated even the most casual fan. Even when one of the stars stumbles, someone else will find enough talent and strength to keep the team in the game.

Now if only they could do something about these late night games. When I was a boy (oh, geez), the World Series games were played in the afternoon. A friend had the first color TV of anyone we knew. The kids in the neighborhood would gather at Ron's home (a trailer on top of a small hill) to watch the games after school.

Sandra, her father, and her siblings will go to her aunt's funeral in New Hampshire. Sandra's brother's wife will stay with MRM and daughter-in-law Lynn will visit mid-day. We observed that we now have just one aunt remaining, my mother's sister.

I may be picking up an interesting, but gnarly project at work. Yesterday I reviewed the state of my work so that I could hand off my current projects in order to take on this new one. I should hear more next week.

I've been listening to news on NPR during my (much shorter) commute. Last week Sandra passed along a recorded book that she'd found to be very funny - Carl Reiner's My Anecdotal Life. Indeed, Reiner is a very funny guy. See http://tinyurl.com/674yx for more info.

This weekend is notable as much for what didn't happen as what did.

Daughter-in-law Lynn is having a baby, due in early November. On Friday the baby started to give signs that it was on its way early. Mike and Lynn went to the hospital on Friday evening, but returned home later in the night, the baby deciding that the time is not yet.

The other thing that didn't happen was that the Red Sox weren't swept by the Yankees. After Saturday night's football-score loss, the mood was grim. They may not always win, but they never seem to give up.

Over the weekend, Sandra called son Mike:

"Hello, this is Michael."

"Hi, Mike. This is Mom. How are things going?"

"Buppy, this is your grandson."

So, our teenaged grandson's voice now sounds like his father's.

The house still smells a bit of the New England boiled dinner that we made on Saturday. Some parts were over-cooked, some under-, but it was tasty overall. We brought a plate to my father yesterday. The remaining leftovers are on their way to becoming hash.

Sandra's mother continues to improve. She walks around the yard and occasionally up the street.

My father is getting better as well. We still stop by to help with the cleaning and firewood, but he's able to do lots of other things. Last week he took the plow off the Jeep so he could bring the Jeep into the garage and work on it.

The winter lockdown continues. We turned off the water at the camp yesterday. At home, the wood is ready for the cool weather. We have a rack outside the back door that holds a face cord (4x1.5x8) that we'll cover with a tarp and keep at the ready. We'll get some more wood for late winter and early spring.

It's very easy to from house to car to work and back again, barely feeling the outside world. Stacking and carrying wood brings me into the outside world.

Yankees are up, two games to none. The friendly confines of Fenway will heal and energize this team.

We switched from the ball game to watch the debate last night. Acrimonious bickering between a couple of white guys from Yale is easier on the mind and soul than the Red Sox in October.

Here's something to agitate the tin-foil hat crowd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinfoil_hat): the FDA has approved implantation of a chip that will assist medical personnel in retrieving a patient's medical records. The chip doesn't contain medical information, but does uniquely identify the individual and allow the medical staff to retrieve medical records from a database. Its initial application will be for patients who cannot communicate, such as Alzheimer's patients. It's interesting from this corner because MRM had to provide her medical history repeatedly for each medical crew that was providing care to her. It would have been nice for all to have access to the same information. There are serious privacy issues, to be sure. The risks of providing incorrect or incomplete information from memory are also great.

This week marks three months at this new job. The projects are interesting and the people remain nice. The pace of the work has picked up. I still don't focus as well as I'd like, but I'm getting along.

Sandra's aunt, Marie, died yesterday in Florida. Her family is arranging for services in New Hampshire. Marie was Sandra's father's sister. Woody and Marian each observed yesterday that they are each the last of their siblings.

Yankees 10, Red Sox 7. 'Nuff said.

We've passed another milestone on the way to wherever. This weekend, I requested services for us from AARP. I've been a member for a while and have read their publications, but this is a first. As Mel Brooks observed, we mock the thing we are to become.

The 'rents continue to improve. MRM was able to climb the stairs to the second floor on Sunday. The physical therapist came to the house over the weekend and will return tomorrow. The goal is to increase the walking distance, first around the yard and then around the neighborhood. The doctor prescribed a gadget that's supposed to strengthen the bones. Marian is handling all of this attention and hullabaloo with grace and good humor.

Huck went grocery shopping on his own last Monday, the first time in a couple of months. He got his Jeep back from the repair shop and is tickled with the quality of the work on the steering and plow hydraulics. He arranged to have a new top made for the Jeep. The plow is hitched up and he's ready for winter.

We visited with Adam, Jennie, and Lily on Saturday. They've remodeled their kitchen and it looks wonderful. They're a fun family. They were very happy.

Lynn will have her baby during the first week of November. The excitement now centers on names for the baby. We don't know if it will be a boy or a girl.

Yesterday was a holiday for which, as a contractor, I didn't get paid. There are a missing benefits, such as paid holidays, vacation time, insurances, and 401-Ks, that are starting to become more significant. I am grateful that the checks clear. It may be time, however, to start looking again for a permanent position (as permanent as anything can be).

The Red Sox and Yankees start their playoff series tonight. The Red Sox have the edge in pitching. Both teams can put up a lot of runs at any time. It's going to be fun.

Sandra's mother returned home early yesterday afternoon and is doing quite well. She's been able to navigate the house and back deck well. Sandra's sister and brother will come up from the Cape this weekend. There are still a few items to clarify with the doctors, but those things can wait until Tuesday. (It's Columbus Day weekend here, Thankgiving in Canada.)

These long weekends are good because they give us a chance to rest and restore ourselves. They can also be frustrating because there are things that we want and need to do that have to wait until we get back to the work week. And while we're waiting, the anxiety can build. There's a saying along the lines of accept the things I cannot change ....

As the Brits would call it, the weather today is dull, low clouds with a chance of showers or drizzle. We'll take a ride to see Adam, Jennie, and Lily today. We weren't able to attend her birthday party last week and missed having a chance to talk with them. Sandra and I will also enjoy the ride. The fall foliage is coming along nicely.

The second of the presidential debates took place last night. The rancor from both sides is wearying. I know who has my vote, but I wish both candidates would behave more like presidents and less like trash-talking basketball players.

Ah the sweetness of a Red Sox victory. They'll get a few days of needed rest before continuing their quest.

Marian will be coming home tomorrow afternoon. We'll all be learning things as she adjusts to these once familiar and now new surroundings. Their apartment wasn't really designed for someone with limited mobility, so we'll have to improvise, but carefully.

As I've mentioned before, when we are in need of health care, our lives are much more open to many more people. We've had conversations with MRM's doctors, nurses, physical therapists, case workers, and others. I guess that it's true anytime that you need help, but it seems more so in times of medical need. Pregnant women experience this a lot. We are familiar with more intimate details than we have any right to know because child-bearing is such a public event. When we are caring for our parents, we wind up talking about things that may be new areas of discussion. This has been true for me as well. Recently I talked candidly with daughter-in-law Jennie, a physcian's assistant, about my current roster of medications, their benefits, and their side effects. It's good that we can trust those close to us because it lets them help us and love us better.