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Walking Man

Ethan's been taking a few steps on his own lately! Take a look at a few videos of him standing on his own and walking a little. Ethan also loves to go to our neighbors and play with their two...(more)

We got together to celebrate Marin's birthday. Afterward, we used some sparklers and time-lapse photography to trace pictures. We experimented a little with flashlights as well. Then on the Fourth, I got some fireworks photos, which didn't turn out all that well. Marin's Birthday and Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day

This one's for you, Susie: ...(more)

Twitter: Hot... Blogging: Not

That's how I personally feel right now, anyway. I'm just having a hard time coming up with anything interesting to say that could fill a whole blog---which is why my usual weekly entries have been...(more)

The Benefits of High Gas Prices

Since the recent increase in gas prices, there has been a lot of talk about how terrible it's been for the country. To demonstrate, here is a map of gas prices per county in the US. However, the...(more)

Problems with Perfection

Recently. Alyssa and I watched a movie about a font: Helvetica. The documentary was fascinating, and it was interesting to see how ubiquitous the font is. Now we see it everywhere. Which is...(more)

We decided to go on an impromptu picnic today to Bridal Veil Falls. We all had a great time, especially Ethan, who loved the water. Picnic at Bridal Veil Falls

We went to a couple of reunions this month, one for the Rocks and one for the Whipples. The one for the Rocks was in Idaho, just outside of Rexburg. We rented a lodge and had a great time. The Whipple reunion was at Marin's complex's clubhouse. We had a great time swimming with Ethan. June '08 Reunions

Hawkeye

While at the recent family reunion in Idaho, I went for a walk along the grounds of the lodge we were staying at. I heard a loud screeching call and looked up to see a hawk circling me. I circled...(more)

The Ants Go Marching

Fortunately, the ants are only marching one-by-one at this point, but it's still not something we want to say "Hurrah! Hurrah!" about. We found the ant in the picture crawling through our house...(more)

Put Down the Credit Card and No One Will Get Hurt

As a good liberal, I pride myself on being an anti-consumerist. It's fairly easy to do since I strongly dislike shopping. (Maybe I should just go ahead and say that I hate shopping. After all,...(more)

College Level Writing: My Teaching Philosophy

I'm warning you that this blog entry is going to be pretty boring. I wrote out my teaching philosophy this week because I was interviewing to be a writing instructor at UVSC. It was also inspired by...(more)

My sister Marin gave me the film Little Fugitive for my birthday. This is a classic that I've wanted in my collection for a very long time. Come read my review of the film!

Related film reviews:

• The 400 Blows
• A Hard Day's Night

For a full list of our film reviews, see the hyperlinked items in our DVD Library.

Ethan 1.2 - The "Happy Father's Day" Edition

Dear Ethan, Well, we've been trying to teach you sign language since you were 6 months old with only moderate success... Until now! This month your use of sign language increased dramatically....(more)

Awesome Snopes Entry

If you're like me and you have one of those friends who forwards you every "interesting" email he or she receives, you better bookmark Snopes.com right now. It's a website devoted to verifying or debunking...(more)

Mormon Cinema in Three Lines or Less

I absolutely loved this piece called "Film School in Three Lines or Less" on McSweeney's a few months ago. This week I felt inspired to make my own---Mormon movie style. Hope you like...(more)

Games, Games and More Games, Part 3

The latest in a series (see part 1 and part 2) describing the games that we've purchased. Citadels We first played Citadels with the Madsens. The Gist of the Game - Players pay to build...(more)

New Apartment: Orem

Now that we've moved in (finally), got everything unpacked (almost) and finished decorating (mostly), we decided to put up some pictures of our new place. Alyssa wanted to add some new colorful...(more)

Why I didn't post last week...

I turned another year older on Monday and I gotta tell you... I dread my birthdays. It's not because I don't like getting older or anything...(more)

Looks Like I'm a "Superior" Wife, Circa 1939

I came across an interesting quiz posted on the Marriage Blog at Families.com. It's a test from 1939 that will determine your "performance" as a wife. Let's see how you measure...(more)

Back on the Soap Box... Again

It's been a little while since I put up a post about the environment, so I figured it was about time. I want to get on my soap box and talk about two great environmentally-friendly things that I've...(more)

Ethan 1.1 - The "License to Pig Out" Edition

Dear Ethan, This month started off with a little bit of a scare when we took you in for your 12 month checkup. When the nurse put you on the scale and told us that you only weighed a little more...(more)

Salt Lake City on the Move

Forbes Magazine recently named Salt Lake City the second best city for commuters. (Buffalo, N.Y. was first.) I guess it's a good thing that we moved since San Francisco was voted #10 on the top...(more)

Perspectives on Inactive Single LDS Women

Shortly after General Conference weekend, the Salt Lake Tribune held a press conference with the new church leaders that had been sustained. In their report on the conference,...(more)

The Budget of the Average American

I'm an avid fan of the blog Get Rich Slowly. The author, J.D. Roth, brought my attention to a really great interactive chart published by the New York Times last Saturday. Check out this very...(more)

SEO for Newbies

While Chris's parents were here visiting a few weekends ago, we had a conversation about how search engines work. They were surprised to find that the order in which Google/Yahoo displays search...(more)

Playing Catch-up

It's been over a month since the last Today's Special, but it's not because of a lack of things to post. Here's a collection of interesting things from the web that I would have posted if our...(more)

Ira Glass is My Hero

Chris and I have been fans of the radio show This American Life for a very long time. So, when Ira Glass announced that they would be broadcasting one of their shows live in movie theaters across the nation, we knew we had to go....(more)

What Chris Will Miss About California

Top 5 Things Chris Will Miss About California 5. Beaches/Mountains Although we didn't go that often, I really enjoyed going to the beach. This was the first time I've ever lived really lived...(more)

What Ethan Will Miss About California

Continuing our three-part series about California (see my entry from yesterday), Chris and I developed a list of the things we thought Ethan would probably miss about California. So, without further...(more)

What Alyssa Will Miss About California

Yay! The Rocks are FINALLY back online. Sorry we weren't able to update in a while. We had some technical difficulties on our website that made it so we couldn't login and update our site. Plus, we've been pretty busy....(more)

Grandma and Grandpa Rock came over for a visit so we spent the weekend with them at Nathan's house in Tooele.

Although we've been really really busy with the move and everything, we also haven't posted recently because the server our site was on changed and it left us unable to update our site. No worries now though because it's all fixed!

Ethan 1.0 - The "Let Them Eat Cake" Edition

Dear Ethan, You turned one year old today. Congratulations! You've come a really long way in just one short year. That was then and this is now...(more)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I turned 30. The big three-oh. To celebrate, Alyssa bought me this cake from a Japanese bakery located near the Japanese grocery store we always go to. The cake is beautiful. I was...(more)

Late Night Conversations With Chris

Chris: What should I have for dinner tomorrow when I go to school? Me: I don't know. Is there anything we need to get rid of? Chris: Ramen. We have a ton of it. Enough to fill a swimming pool...(more)

Say Dada

Ethan is getting a little better with his words. Check it out. ...(more)

April Fool's Day Round-Up

April Fool's Day is probably my favorite day of the year to surf the web. Here's a round-up of some of the April Fool's Day jokes that were out there yesterday (and our rating of them)...(more)

Ethan's First Steps

It's not "officially" walking yet, and he needs to use support, but he can take a few steps on his own now! (more)

Hodgepodge Developmental Steps

Ethan had his first taste of ice cream this week. As with all things, he made a face when first trying it, but he soon got used to it. Ethan is also crawling all over the place now. He hardly...(more)

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Yay! Tomorrow morning Sounding My Barbaric Yawps Across the Rooftops of the World will officially turn three years old. To celebrate these past three years on the blogosphere...(more)

18 Again

Alyssa tagged me into writing "6 things every person should accomplish before they turn 18". I tried to come up with an interesting list, but because i wasn't a very interesting person, the list...(more)

The Dark Side of the Internet

This week's topic: internet communication (e.g. emails, comments on blogs, electronic guestbooks, etc.), specifically between strangers. I've always been a big champion of the comment feature on blogs. The main reason I decided to switch my blog over to caferock...(more)

Photos from a St. Patrick's Day visit to the duck pond and of his new Easter outfit. St. Patrick's Day and Easter

Playing with the Keyboard

66666666 ffff d cc cccccccccccccccc ccccccccccccccc cccccccccccccc ccccccccccccc mk7777 7777777 77777777 77777f zx zzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz xxxxxxxxxx Dad's Note: Ethan loves to...(more)

When I'm 64---Errr, I Mean, 18???

My good friend Kathryn tagged me a little while ago. Since it was a new blog tag thing that I haven't done, I figured I'd respond to the call. My task was to come up with a list of Six Things...(more)

Ethan 0.11 - The "No Animals Were Harmed In the Making of This Blog" Edition

Dear Ethan, T-minus 1 month until you're 1 year old! Yay! This last month has been fun and busy. I was worried we were going to go another month without any "real" crawling (as opposed to army...(more)

We recently went to Utah for some job interviews and while we were there we visited family. While we were there, we took lots of pictures.

A Happening, Busy Kind of Week

Unlike Chris's brother Nathan who has the most uncanny luck of anyone we have ever known, I don't win contests or drawings very often. But this week, I won a seriously cool prize: an autographed...(more)

A photo collection with pictures of Ethan in places that you wouldn't normally expect a baby. Hey, You're Not Supposed to Be There!

Disaster at the Circus Peanut Circus

I have a real soft spot for photo blogs of people's artwork. Today I found a really funny artwork blog called Bent Objects by a guy named Terry. He typically makes his art using food and bent wire....(more)

Ask the Readers: Does Rich Equal Righteous?

I've been having a discussion with a friend of mine about the status of wealthy people within Mormon culture. My friend feels that Mormons tend to equate being wealthy with being righteous. His argument is...(more)

Ode to Rube Goldberg

A while ago, a friend of mine from DI sent me a video of this cool Rube Golberg contraption that inspired me to create this Today's Special. Since I now have a copious supply of free time, I spent...(more)

The Truth About Economic Mobility

A few weeks ago, Chris and I got into an online debate with our well-meaning fellow ward members about the virtue of paying taxes for public education. As a home-schooling family, they felt that it...(more)

New Do; New You

The big news this week is that Ethan got his first hair cut. Chris needed one too, so we went to Great Clips to get one together. As you can see, it was getting a little shaggy. Mom sat on the...(more)

Star Wars Summary and Darth Vadar Tribute

This is incredibly cute! "Don't mess with Darth Vadar, he'll get ya!" Speaking of Darth Vadar, NPR did a short segment on him for their series about famous fictional figures called "In...(more)

Instructions for the Care of Your Baby

I don't know if these educational graphics are meant to be serious or not, but Chris and I thought they were pretty hilarious. You have to check them out...(more)

A Lovely Visit From Grandma - A Photoblog/Travelogue

I have this little application on my computer called Ding! that lets me know about cheap flights on Southwest. A couple of weeks ago, Ding! came up with a great deal: Salt Lake City to San Jose...(more)

Ethan .10 - The "Pandora's Box" Edition

Dear Ethan, It's official! This month you started crawling! Uh... sort of. You've been doing this thing that we call "army crawling" where you drag yourself forward on your belly with your...(more)

The Mystery Spot

While Alyssa's Mom was visiting us, we decided to take her to the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. The Mystery Spot is a place where things don't behave like you think they should, as explained in the...(more)

I finally have some real news to report!

Looks like I'm one of the lucky thousand whose number got picked. Yep. I got laid off at Yahoo today. Even though I kind of had a hunch that this was coming, it's still been a pretty emotional...(more)

Valentimes

Latest rumor on the Yahoo-Microsoft deal: Yahoo expected to say "no deal" on Monday...(more)

Peek-a-Boo

Ethan's really gotten into "Peek-a-boo" lately. He's even been able to initiate a few games himself. Ethan Fan Club Bonus Video: "No Camera's Please" ...(more)

MindTrap

Our ward recently had a swap meet, so Alyssa and I took it as an opportunity to get rid of stuff. While going through our games, Alyssa suggested we get rid of MindTrap and MindTrap II....(more)

Why I'm a Democrat

So, I'm a Democrat. It's shocking, of course... but I've known I was a Democrat since high school. First, it started out as just a way to "rebel," to assert my identity as a...(more)

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We've included a few of the photos we've taken over the past month or so. There are a lot of cute ones in this set, so we hope you enjoy them! Ethan at Nine Months

Green Jello

Here's Ethan showing off two of the new skills he learned this week...(more)

Some news to report, still more rumors

Proof that Yahoo's home page is increasingly relevant... Not sure if that was someone at Yahoo's idea of a joke, but it seemed a little too funny not to share. In case you hadn't heard, Yahoo...(more)

Each Life That Touches Ours For Good

Of course everyone has since heard that President Gordon B. Hinckley has passed away now. I thought I would mention a few interesting tributes to him that are out on the web right now. First of all,...(more)

Come on Baby, Do the Locomotion

Ethan has finally figured out that he can use these new pushing and moving skills to get places that he wants to go. He can't technically "crawl" yet, but he can "creep" or "army...(more)

No definite news to report, only rumors

From the Onion this week... FYI, one of the main editors/writers for the Onion has a brother who works for Yahoo, so he's probably naturally concerned. Well, just to set the record straight...(more)

I Never Thought I'd Want to Learn to Knit.... Until Now!

Aren't they cute? They're from the new They Might Be Giants podcast for kids. (Technically, it's a vodcast. Oh well.) I really wish I knew how to make cool puppets like this! If anyone has a...(more)

One Thing I Miss About Utah...

In addition to being in the thick of the Sundance Film Festival, I really miss attending the annual LDS Film Festival. For those of you who weren't able to make it (like me), one of my favorite...(more)

Is this too much to ask?

Even with his big win in Michigan, I'm still confident in my original prediction that Mitt Romney is not going to make it past the primaries. And to be honest with you, I won't be all that upset about it when that happens. (more)

Exclusive Entry for Ethan Fan Club Members Only!

This entry is full of cute videos of Ethan, but they're kind of long and might be a little boring to anyone who isn't a hard-core Ethan fan. First up, we have Ethan's attempts at crawling around....(more)

If You're Happy and You Know It

Ethan Learned to clap this week. At his most recent doctor's visit (no shots!) we were asked if he could clap yet. I had noticed him banging blocks and things together, so I knew it would only be...(more)

I've been inspired by my friend JP to write more film reviews, so here's a few from our DVD Library to whet your cinematic appetite:

• Buster Keaton's "Sherlock Jr." (silent film)
• The Fog of War (documentary)
• Heima (documentary)

The Pocket Snails in Review

At the risk of my single friend accusing me of having now become an "old married person whose only joy is to...(more)

Ethan 0.9 - The "Reluctant Crawler" Edition

Dear Ethan, Another month older and you are no closer to crawling! What's up with that?! You often get up on your knees and rock back and forth. You can swivel your body around on your stomach to...(more)

Marathon Man

You'd think that after 3 years of marriage that you'd pretty much know everything about a person, right? Apparently not...(more)

Secret Admission: I Like Old-School Computer Games

If you are a child of the eighties like me and you happened to have a personal computer back then (or, as in my case, a friend who had one), then you surely must remember that the first really cool...(more)

Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends

This week's picture is a little older, but I thought it was appropriate given the common New Year's Resolution to lose weight. It's entitled "Only in America": As for me, I have two...(more)

Alyssa overhauled her links page to include links to some of the websites and blogs for the (gasp) 57 RSS feeds that she reads. (Not all of them---just the best.) Plus, she's updated her list of "Sleek Websites."

California Christmas v2.0

This was our second Christmas in California and our first Christmas with Ethan! These are a set of bubble lights that my brother got us for Christmas. I loved the set that we had growing up (we...(more)

"You've Been Razzed!"

As I mentioned in my Christmas post last year, my family has a tradition of giving each other "Razzie gifts." Every year we draw names out of a hat and give our assigned family member a Razzie...(more)

Pic Tac Toe Winners!

SPOILERS ALERT! If you are still trying to figure out the answers to the Pic Tac Toe I posted last week, this blog entry contains the answers...(more)

The Bee's Knees

Ethan is fast approaching mobility. He's figured out how to get up on his hands and knees. He's been doing it for about a week now, but we've finally been able to capture it on...(more)

That's Sick!

Ethan has had a pretty bad cold since last Saturday that gave him a raging fever and put him in a sour mood for several days. On Thursday he started to smile again. Yesterday he started to sleep on...(more)

Japanese Drama Reviews

As promised, here is a review of some of the Japanese dramas I've seen. You can download them at D-Addicts.[1] or you can email me and I might be able to make a copy for you. 鉄板少女アカネ...(more)

We decided to go digital with our Christmas newsletter this year. You can check it out by following this link: Christmas 2007 Newsletter

Reasons Japanese TV is Better than American TV

I've been watching a few Japanese dramas lately and I've been really enjoying them. It's interesting to compare to American TV. The biggest difference is the format. American shows are created...(more)

A Christmas Puzzle: Pic Tac Toe

As part of our family's Christmas traditions, my parents always put together a jigsaw puzzle every December 25th+. In honor of that tradition, I thought I'd post a fun "puzzle" that I made. I'm...(more)

Wired

Recently, I discovered a way to download Japanese television dramas from the internet. Watching them is a nice way to pass the time while I'm feeding Ethan or eating lunch. I really enjoyed some...(more)

Musings on Men's Journal

So, this December hopefully marks the last issue of Men's Journal that we're going to receive. Why do we get Men's Journal? Well, last December two enterprising, yet utterly evil high school girls came by...(more)

Ethan 0.8 - The "Give Peas a Chance" Edition

Dear Ethan, Yesterday you turned 8 months old. Congratulations! In terms of big milestones, this month you started eating solid foods exclusively. You like just about everything we've given you...(more)

Nothing to Say...

This is a sculpture by Kacey Wong entitled "Writer's Block." And, incidentally, that's what I have this week, so...(more)

7 Facts For 7 Months

My mom tagged me a little while ago, so now it's my turn to share 7 facts about myself. 1. My Aunt Marin and Uncle Ammon came to visit me this month and so we got out the blow-up bed for them to...(more)

I pity those poor reindeer that have to play Monopoly

Chris and I are writing joint blogs this week about Christmas music. So, I've developed a theory about the reason people like Christmas music. I came up with this hypothesis when...(more)

Killer Christmas Carols

Like I said in my last post, I hate Christmas songs. It's not that I hate all Christmas songs, but most of them are cheesy, sappy, and some are downright dumb. Here are a few of the things I hate...(more)

The Christmas Jibblies

That's what Chris gets every time he sees this video of the Rock Family as elves: Come see us as elves! You can make yourself and your family an elf too at Office Max's Elf Yourself. ...(more)

Seven Habits of Highly Chris-like People

Alyssa challenged me in a blog she wrote a while ago to write seven little-known facts about myself. Here they are, in no particular order....(more)

30 Things That Change When You Have a Baby

Okay, this was admittedly cheesy, but I'm a mom now, so I now have an "Enjoy Cheesy Stuff Guilt Free" card. From babycenter.com, here's 30 Things That Change When You Have a Baby by Rebecca...(more)

I'm Thankful for the Internet. No, Seriously, I Am.

I just found the perfect t-shirt for me from Despair.com: So, I love Instant Messaging. I've been regularly chatting with friends since 1998. IM is probably my favorite way to communicate...(more)

Ethan's First Day at the Beach

On the day after Thanksgiving, Alyssa's coworker Bob invited us to visit a beach house that he and his family were renting for the weekend. We stopped by and got to spend some time on the beach...(more)

The Beatles Cover Project

I was in high school when the Beatles Anthology came out. It caused a renewed interest in the Beatles (especially among the younger generation). My high school friends caught the Beatles fever and...(more)

Complete Redesign

On a whim we decided to rearrange the furniture. Here are some pictures showing the new layout. As you can see, we've completely rearranged everything. This arrangement makes the...(more)

Ethan 0.7

Dear Ethan, Today you turned 7 months old and it's amazing how far you're coming along. In terms of big milestones, you've learned how to sit up all by yourself. What was really sweet was that...(more)

Little Known Facts

My friend Lori tagged me last week, so I'm going to answer the call... Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged: Link to your tagger and post these rules. Share 7...(more)

That's Some Serious Sit!

Ethan's getting better and better about sitting up on his own as evidenced by this video. However, he's not quite perfect. ...(more)

I took Ethan out for a Fall Photo shoot to test out the new camera. You can view some of the pictures at this album: Ethan Six Months

Lights, Camera!

Alyssa and I have been saving up for a nice camera ever since Ethan was born. The video one is good, but we wanted a nice still camera to capture some of Ethan's cutest moments. This year we...(more)

Wow! He Found Her!

Okay... you gotta go to the site is site today before it disappears, just because it's a cool love story... Yesterday during my idle surfing, I stumbled upon the site NYgirlofmydreams.com where...(more)

Hallowethan

We had big plans for Ethan on Halloween. We picked his costume out a while ago. In case it's not immediately apparent why we chose a lobster, listen to the following song. Alyssa's costume...(more)

I Often Go Walking

This cartoon by Matt Groening pretty much sums up my week... But I don't want to dwell on negative things, so I'd like to write my blog this week about something that is a source of happiness...(more)

They Might Be Halloween

First of all, check out this amazing pic: So, if I were to choose a band who represented Halloween, I would definitely say it was They Might Be Giants. They recently came out with a...(more)

We had to leave town unexpectedly for a funeral, so there might not be any updates for a few days. We'll be back soon!

Is My Vote For Sale?

So, as promised, this is my follow-up to my previous blog. I've thought about it long and hard. I think I would never, ever sell my vote for...(more)

Is Your Vote For Sale?

I realized the other day that I have developed a pretty rigid daily routine. I wake up at around 6 or 6:30, leave home precisely at 7:35...(more)

Ethan 0.6

Continuing with last month's tradition... Dear Ethan, Today you turned 6 months old. Milestone-wise you got your first tooth a couple of weeks ago and today your second tooth should break through...(more)

All Hallow's Eve Speedily Approacheth

Looking for unique ways to carve your pumpkin this year? Why not carve one of the presidential candidates using the templates from Des Moines Register!...(more)

Sometimes Behave So Strangely

I've recently been listening to a really neat radio show called Radio Lab. I enjoyed one of the programs so much that I had Alyssa listen to it as well. Here's a clip from it. To listen to...(more)

A Conference-Inspired Memory

People often associate Conference Weekend with flowers. I think I can see why... Prior to the weekend, I felt like I was a wilted flower, head drooping with my many...(more)

New Tooth and Sushi

Ethan's got his first tooth recently. We thought that two of them were coming in (and one is still one the way) but only one has broken through so far. Here's a picture of it. Another...(more)

On This Lovely Conference Morning

According to the LDS Web Guy, the Church Public Affairs office has created a new YouTube channel. To inaugurate the new channel, they've posted eight short videos of Elder Ballard answering some...(more)

'Dem Bones

Okay, folks. I've been seriously saving this very awesome Today's Special for several months for the Halloween season. Now that it is officially October, I can finally share one of my favorite...(more)

This Monkey's Gone to Heaven

Do you find that when you know someone long enough, you begin to develop your own language that is specific to the two of you? Like a simple phrase becomes shorthand for an event or concept that would require more than 5 minutes to explain its background...(more)

Sitting Up and Eating Solid Foods

Ethan's reaching some new milestones lately. He's getting better at sitting up all by himself (but he's not perfect yet). We also introduced him to solid foods. Here's a video clip of his...(more)

Ramadan

Our neighbors are Muslim and they invited us to a Ramadan feast last night. Ramadan is the month (on the Islamic lunar calendar) in which the Qur'an was revealed to the prophet Mohammad (peace be...(more)

Just Another "Meh, Meh" Monday

The beautiful blog entry that I had planned for this weekend just isn't going to happen. We stayed out a little late with friends last night, so my blog didn't get written. I was going to do it...(more)

The Art of the Book

"Brian Dettmer carves into books, revealing the artwork inside, creating complex layered three-dimensional sculptures." Pretty amazing. Check it out: Brian Dettmer: Book Autopsies I...(more)

Games, Games, and More Games - Part 2

It's been only five months since my last entry about all the games we've bought. Since many people ask us about game recommendations, here are the games we've bought since...(more)

Avast, Ye Land Lubbers!

Arrr! Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, scallawags! Would you bilge rats like ter know yer Space Pirate name? Then take a gander at: The League of Space Pirates. My name is...(more)

Fight for Kisses

Fight for Kisses This is apparently a game that's recently come out. You can view a trailer for the game at the link above, which is hilarious. I imagine that most of marketing will start...(more)

That Darn Ethan

Ethan's been going through a few changes this week. He's starting to take a long nap in the morning (which is nice), but he's fighting every bedtime in between (which is frustrating). One of the...(more)

All Creatures of Our God and King

Last night Alyssa started working on her lesson for Young Womens: The Importance of Life. It starts out talking about how wonderful nature is and how God has given us such great natural...(more)

Month Five

I regularly read a blog by dooce. Every month where she writes a letter to her 3-year-old daughter.* I think I'm going to try doing this for Ethan, so here's my first stab at it. Dear...(more)

Japanese Hornets vs. Honeybees

Bringing a foreign species into an area is rarely a good idea (see Cane Toads for another good example of this). Japanese people brought European Honeybees to pollinate their crops, but didn't...(more)

Laughing Till It Hurts

Ethan's becoming more and more responsive to our efforts to make him laugh. He loves when we talk to him by going "Huh-huh-Hi" over and over, as you can see in this video: He also likes being...(more)

Roll the Bones

This week I wanted to write about the new method that Chris and I now use when deciding how to spend our evenings. Since we're pretty much house-bound after Ethan goes to bed every night, we've gotten a little crazy...(more)

So THAT's Mr. Whipple!

Before I was a Rock, my maiden name was Whipple. As my Whipple elders are constantly fond of reminding us "young'uns," in the 70s or early 80s there was a series of Charmin commercials about a...(more)

It's the Devil! The Freakin' Devil!

I've chosen to do a nutrition theme for one of my classes, so I made a graphic that I thought would be appropriate. I recently listened to a science podcast in which the interviewee was saying that...(more)

It's Fun to Charter an Accountant and Sail the Wide Accountancy

In honor of the Labor Day (yes, I know I'm a day late), here's a delightful little film I thoroughly enjoyed about the mass revolt of hard-working British accountants: The Crimson Permanent...(more)

Blogging Along, Singing a Song

As you can see, I've redesigned my blog page. I did this for a number of reasons. The title was obsure - The previous title (tail life.txt | grep interseting) was a Linux command that...(more)

Monkey Shines!

I know that I just posted something about monkeys (chimpanzees rather) but I came across some interesting videos involving primates. The first is of a robotic arm that has been attached to the brain...(more)

Three Views of Ethan

We had three quick videos of Ethan I put them all together in one video montage. The first is of Ethan stretching. Every time we unwrap him he does a cute little stretch. The next shows his love...(more)

In the Warm California Sun

California weather, tired of being called "boring" has punished me by raising the temperature of boring to 90° plus this last week (the forecast above is for next week, which looks like it...(more)

Love on a tin can string telephone

Today's blog is about the (lost?) art of the email. For some reason yesterday, I found myself sifting through my archives reading old emails that I had thought were good enough to save as separate Word documents. And it's got me thinking about how much my use of email has changed...(more)

Heima Trailer

So, are any of you fans of Sigur Ros---the indie rock band from Iceland? (Hollow sound of crickets chirping.) I guess not. But you SHOULD be. They're a great band and there's a new documentary...(more)

Short-term Memory in Chimps

I can't help it, I love documentary science videos! Here's an interesting one I found from Slate.com which talks about research involving short-term memory in chimpanzees. ...(more)

I Can Touch My Toes 1-2-3

On our walk this morning I noticed Ethan playing with his toes. It looked so cute that I had to take some pictures. You can see the pictures on our photos page here. ...(more)

Gerald McBoing Boing

The other day I was playing Scrabble with Chris and it reminded me of a charming little Canadian animation short called The Big Snit. I looked to see if it was on YouTube and, sure enough, there it...(more)

I Am Your Father!

Partially inspired by my friend Bruce's blog in which he includes his daughter in a Star Wars scene, I thought I'd try my hand at a little image editing myself. Mouse over the image to see the...(more)

Ethan Video Extravaganza!

Three videos of Ethan today. The first is a short video of his "Tummy Time." He's getting really good at holding his head up when he's on his tummy. This second is a vocal performance...(more)

The Cost of Bringing Up Baby

Happy New Year, everyone! This weekend marked the end of our fiscal year. That's when I get all freaky with the spreadsheets and make a very detailed analysis of how we spent our income over the...(more)

Fleep

This is a link to a long comic sequence titled "Fleep": http://www.shigabooks.com/strips/fleep/scrollindex.html The comic series is a little long a takes a while to read, but I found it...(more)

Mom Sells Pokemon on Ebay

This eBay action for a set of Pokemon cards was really amusing. I've copied the entire text here because I eBay things don't stick around for long. You can read the original post here. I'm...(more)

Gifts from Grandmas

Here are a couple of pictures of Ethan wearing some of the clothes that he got from his Grandmas. A wiener dog onesie from Grandma Whipple. A Curious George sleeper made by Grandma Rock. ...(more)

My Brother on Television

For those who might be interested, you can catch glimpses of my brother Nathan on this Fox News report on the demolition of the Key Bank building in Salt Lake City. Watching the Rise and...(more)

More Audiobooks

Here's an update of the books I've been listening to while I'm watching Ethan. The Assault on Reason by Al Gore - This book talks about the American culture's drift away from logic and reason. ...(more)

Many Me's

I just got back from a four day trip to Milwaukee for Destination Imagination. It was really hard to be away from Chris and Ethan. I missed them so much. It's good to be home. Due to the trip, I...(more)

My Life as a Cartoon Character

There are a couple of places on the web where you can create an avitar for yourself as a character in that show. Here are a couple of mine: Chris as a Simpson's Character Chris as a South Park...(more)

My Week as a Single Parent

Alyssa left for Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon. By Saturday, I was going crazy. Most of the week was fine. I took care of Ethan, I baked bread, I cleaned the house, I even got a couple hours of...(more)

Today's Blog is Brought to You by the Number 1,537,920

Why 1,537,920? That's the number of minutes Chris and I will have been married at 9:30 PST (10:30 Utah time) tomorrow, August 13th. ("1,537,920 minutes" just sounds cooler than "3 years.")...(more)

Ethan Tubeyhands

Fun with trash! For some reason, he really liked this. ...(more)

Developmental Milestones

Ethan has been a busy boy lately. He's learning to manipulate objects with his hands and he's learned to roll over to his stomach. Here are some videos showing his progress. ...(more)

Meta-Internet

For Today's Special, here's two pieces that self-reflexively play with the culture of the World Wide Web we all know and love. The first is for all of you who love Instant Messenger and chat...(more)

The Great Midwestern Ice Cream Story

I found Fred Gratzon's blog (called The Lazy Way to Success) because Fred wrote an entry singing the praises of Destination Imagination and a friend pointed it out to me. It was a cool entry, so I...(more)

The Different Types of Environmentalists

What does it mean to be an Environmentalist? I've considered myself to be an Environmentalist for a long time, without really stopping to think about what that word meant. Environmentalism has...(more)

Envrion-mental

It's been a while since Chris and I wrote a joint blog (a blog where we both write about the same subject), so we thought we'd do it again. This blog's topic: a hodge-podge of my recent thoughts...(more)

Tree Watchin'

I had mentioned before that one of the things Ethan and I do to pass the time is do go outside and lie under trees. We do this because the bright bright sun bothers Ethan, and the trees shade us...(more)

Shiny Happy Baby

Ethan is just full of laughs lately, making him a lot of fun to be around. Here's an example of him laughing at Dad's funny faces. ...(more)

It Took Me a Whole Week to Finish Hary Potter... Sheesh.

But now I'm finally done! I enjoyed the last installment immensely. Did you?... A while back, Chris's mom gave us an LDS-themed card game called "Split the Ward" because she knows we collect novelty Mormon games. Most LDS games are pretty lame,...(more)

The family went to see the 7-11 converted into a Kwik-E-Mart. It's done as a promotion for the new Simpsons Movie. There's only eleven converted stores in the country so, we were excited to have one close by. Check out all our photos!

Rolling Rock

Ethan has started to do a sort of half-roll lately. I caught this on camera for those who would like to see, although it's really boring. Ethan is becoming more and more high-maintenance. He's...(more)

Post-release Harry Potter Items

This is a video from the opening of The Colbert Report, a news show on Comedy Central. Normally the host introduces the show and gives a few quips on what the topics of the night will be. Here is...(more)

From My Inbox

A few people have been sending me interesting stuff via email that could be considered "Special." Here's a fabulous video my Dad pointed out to me. Talk about hidden talent: And here's...(more)

Can't Blog... Reading

This week's image is the Yahoo Hawk. Last Wednesday I was walking back to my desk from the cafeteria when I noticed a bunch of people were milling about watching something. I looked and saw that...(more)

Sad Songs and Etch-a-Sketches Aren't Selling This Year

More Harry Potter coolness... If you like that, check out the etchasketchist's Flickr album for more. And here's another great link I found this weekend: please check out Fredo Viola's Sad Song...(more)

Gifts from Aunts

Ethan's Aunt Noelle brought this hammock back for us from her mission to Brazil. We've been enjoying it a lot so far. Yesterday, Ethan got a package from his Great-Aunt Lanita. More...(more)

It's All Gone to Potter

In honor of final installment of Harry Potter being released tomorrow, we present to you a collection of humorous and interesting links related to Harry Potter. Enjoy! First is the collection of...(more)

Squirrels

While growing up my mom would go walking at a park while my siblings and I played there. There were squirrels there that were fascinating to watch. Ever since then, I've had a soft spot for...(more)

Charlie Brown Meets Japanese Manga

I found some interesting drawings while surfing the web today. I really like the Japanese art style and the Peanuts gang has special childhood nostalgia for me, so these drawings are especially interesting. All artwork done by gNAW. My favorite is Marcie. ...(more)

Well, it took a little while, but I rewrote the comment code so that it would do a better job at fooling spammers. The quiz questions may look a little strange now, with accents and stuff over some of the characters, but don't worry, that's just to fool the spammers.

Parent Envy

As most of you know, the family arrangement Chris and I have worked out for now is I'm the one who's working and he's the one at home taking care of Ethan. We did that mostly out of necessity. I had a contract with Yahoo...(more)

Ooshy Gooshy Mushy Mush

Alyssa and I were snuggling with Ethan one evening and he was enjoying it so much that we decided to get it on film. ...(more)

This Is What Happens When Your Religion Forbids Drinking Coffee

As a diligent Beehive teacher, I was doing an Internet search for object lessons about prayer for my lesson tomorrow. I randomly stumbled upon this audio recording that Chris thought was funny enough...(more)

Someone beat our rock, paper, scissors trick (not that it was that hard). Rather than figure out something better, I just used some code from someone else. That worked for about an hour. So I reinstated our old one, but now you have to type in the correct answer.

They'll probably break this one soon too, so I'll have to come up with something else. Grr.

Fluffy Zoo

I took out some of Ethan's stuffed animals to see what he'd think of them. He had so many that by the time I was done, he was surrounded by them, and I knew I had to take this picture. He...(more)

I Love to Laugh

I was playing around with Ethan and I got him to start laughing. It was so cute! Luckily I was able to film it later. ...(more)

I Want My MP3

I recently purchased an mp3 player. Now that Ethan's here, I spend a lot of time holding him and walking him and feeding him. I figured this time could be put to good use if I had something to...(more)

Swimming and Sleeping

This week we took Ethan for his first swim. In the end, he wasn't too excited about it, but we hope that he'll get used to it soon. Doesn't he look so cute in his swim trunks? WARNING: This...(more)

Some Weeks Are Like That

Throughout each week I usually think of several different topics that I could potentially write my blog about on the weekend. Well, this week I'm feeling kind of exhausted. So, rather than write an...(more)

Baby Geniuses: The Gentle Revolution

I've wondered about how to help Ethan learn and I've been interested in the development of the brain in these early stages, so I've been reading some books on baby intelligence. One series that...(more)

This Week in Ethan

This week we left Ethan with a babysitter for the first time. This is a picture of Ethan with Sarah, who watched him while Alyssa and I went to a movie. She did a really good job. Life with...(more)

This One's for Ammon

So, on this 4th of July week, I want to dedicate this week's blog to my brother-in-law Ammon who is serving in Iraq right now. We all miss him a lot, especially my sister Marin. I knew Ammon many years ago, long before Ammon had even met my sister...(more)

Alyssa to the Internet: Stop Being So Interesting!

Some of you may have heard that Yahoo's CEO resigned the day after my last blog entry (Monday). So here's the way the Yahoo chain of command looked before I left for maternity leave a little more than two months ago...(more)

Ethan Cooing

Ethan is starting to get more and more vocal. His attempts at communicating with us are so cute. Here is a video of him making his cute little sounds. ...(more)

Microsoft Surface: The Future?

Okay, I found this to be really interesting. Microsoft is going to release a new method of computing. It seems to be focused on computing as a more public, shareable activity. Check out the...(more)

I couldn't help myself! They were just too cute! These are photos of Ethan with Alyssa's stuffed panda, Tai Shan.

Alyssa's cousin Shana took some excellent photos of us while we were in Utah. We were really pleased with the way they turned out. Thank you Shana!

Utahoma!

So, remember how a month ago I was talking about how the changes at Yahoo were making me nervous? Uhhh... unfortunately, things have gotten worse. In December, our COO resigned. Just before I left...(more)

Amen Brother

I had Alyssa listen to this after I had found it. We both thought it was interesting and we're including it as a Today's Special because we keep referring to it. It's quite informative and...(more)

The World's Healthiest Foods

I ran across an interesting site a while back entitled The World's Healthiest Foods. I especially like the site's "Food of the Week" which showcases a particular type of food and talks about...(more)

Welcome Home!

Alyssa and I just returned from our two-week vacation to Utah. We went for the wedding of my sister-in-law, Noelle. While there, we did Ethan's blessing, so everyone came down for a visit. Whew!...(more)

My Evil Twin

So, we've been in Utah for a few weeks (which is why we haven't been updating our website very frequently). We came for my sister Noelle's marriage to the wonderful Clayton Toone + we blessed Ethan in my parent's ward...(more)

My New Favorite Site

Oh my gosh. Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency is a hilarious website. Why have I only now discovered it? Chris and I stumbled across it as a result of Ken Jenning's recent blog entry about a...(more)

"Photoshopping" Should Not Be a Verb

I've been playing around with image editing tonight. Thought I'd share some of my creations. This one was created from a picture of me and Ethan. I was playing around with color, but couldn't...(more)

Bad Timing

The year was 1997. The British returned Hong Kong to China. Princess Di was in a fatal car accident. Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to win the Masters. And I graduated from high school...(more)

We've finally updated the banner for the "kid rock" section. It now has a cute picture of Ethan's toes.

Ethan's First Sacrament Meeting

We took Ethan to church for the first time today. Everyone in the ward was excited to finally see him, and we got lots of comments on how cute he was. Here's a photo of Ethan and Dad taking a...(more)

We've added a favicon. Check out the tiny cocoa cup that should appear at the left of the address bar. Also when you bookmark our page, it should use the new icon for it. We've also created an RSS info page, although we're not sure where to link to it, so if you have any ideas, email me.

Teacher for Hire: Homeschooling Update

I just finished teaching another science lesson to the Homeschool kids. This will be the third 'official' lesson that I've taught, so I thought I'd put up some of my thoughts and...(more)

Here's something for everyone who's been begging for more pictures of Ethan. Grandma and Grandpa Rock took lots of pictures while they were here and so we've uploaded some of the best. We hope you enjoy Ethan - One Month.

Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence

I was feeling strangely unsettled about working at Yahoo earlier this last week. This sense of unease was caused by a couple of different things that have happened lately...(more)

Mom Gets a Raise in 2007

In honor of Mother's Day, Salary.com has released their annual Mom Salary. Based on its survey of more than 40,000 mothers, Salary.com determined that the time mothers spend...(more)

The Answers, My Friend, Are Blowin' in the Wind

Here's the answers to the game I posted on my blog last week. Sorry this is kind of a cop-out blog entry, but I devoted the bulk of my allotted "blog composition time" this week to writing reviews for these films.(more)

Our photos site now has AJAX capabilities. The site looks exactly the same, but now when you click on a specific photo, it will change the photo without reloading the page. Trust me, this is really cool.

Also Smiled Ethan

Like I mentioned in our last post, babies first "learn" to smile and giggle in their sleep. We were lucky enough to get one on film. He's doing really well. He eats a lot and sleeps a lot....(more)

Like Asking Me to Choose My Favorite Child...

Alrighty, for this week's blog I'm totally going to borrow from a fun blog entry that my friend Maryanne posted this week: “Head to IMDB.com and look up ten of your favorite movies....(more)

What do you dream about?

I'm sure that you're all wondering where the latest updates of Ethan are. Well, we've been pretty busy with taking care of him, and all he really does is eat and sleep, so there's not much to...(more)

Not By the Hair of My Cheney Chin Chin

Wow! It's been a long time since we put up a new Today's Special. This is a photoshopped image of Vice President Cheney as The Penguin. Many of you are aware that Vice President Cheney delivered...(more)

Labor Dabor

A few people have been asking to hear the story of the labor and delivery, so I figured I'd devote my blog to it this week. Well, I had to be induced on Friday the 13th because my blood pressure was still high when I went into my doctor's appointment on Thursday...(more)

Fun Time with Ethan

Grandma and Grandpa Whipple just left yesterday and now it's just the three of us. It's nice to be able to spend time as a family, but because Ethan is so small, we're limited in what we can...(more)

Splish Splash

Ethan had his first bath a couple of days ago and I recorded part of it for those who would like to see it. His next bath went much better, although he still didn't like it very much, as you can...(more)

Dr. Mario and More Hiccups

Alyssa chose her OB/GYN based on the recommendation from a ward member. We've loved having Dr. Medina and we're so grateful for everything that he's done for us. He has a great bedside manner...(more)

The Ethan Channel

Ethan and Alyssa came home today. We're excited to be home, although Ethan has been just sleeping and eating the whole time. He's been a really easy baby so far, let's hope that it...(more)

Here are just a few more photos of Ethan. He's such a great little guy!

Ethan's Third Day

Ethan Report: Day 3

Just another video that describes what's been happening with Ethan and Alyssa. He got his picture taken by the hospital today, a well as getting circumcised (ouch!). ...(more)

Hiccups: The Rock Family Curse

For some reason, our family has been cursed with severe hiccups. My Dad would get really bad hiccups and each of the three kids would as well. We're also noticing that it's been passed on to...(more)

Rock A Boy

It's a Boy! Chris and Alyssa are proud to announce the birth of Ethan Christopher Rock. Birthdate: Friday, April 13, 2007[1] 9:53pm Weight: 6 lbs. 5 oz. Length: 20 in. Description: Brown,...(more)

We've uploaded a few of the photos I took of Ethan the day that he was born. We're so excited to have him here. He looks a little strange in some of the photos, but that's because all babies look strange when they're first born. Ethan's First Day

Games, Games, and More Games

Alyssa and I love playing board games. When we lived in Kansas, our apartment was often used as a tour apartment for those who wanted to move into the complex. The management mentioned that almost...(more)

Linux Lessons: My Attempt to Help Out

Like I mentioned in my last post, I've been working on a website that will contain lessons/articles/HowTos about Linux in general and Kubuntu specifically. Well, I've finished it and it can now be...(more)

Clothes, Glorious Clothes!

The Young Women leaders in the ward threw a very thoughtful baby shower for me yesterday. The food was excellent and so was the company. We had a very nice time and some good laughs over the games....(more)

A Visit to El Camino Hospital: Sorry, No Baby Yet

On Thursday we went in for the routine weekly doctor's visit. It wasn't with my normal OB/GYN because he was out of town all week. Anyhow, we tested my blood pressure and it came out pretty high. So, the doctor ordered me to be on bed rest all day Friday and to come in and check my blood pressure again.(more)

Just as an FYI, we were playing around with our website and we accidentally deleted some of the comments from our blogs. If you made a comment after April 4th, it unfortunately got lost in the interweb. Our apologies! Please keep commenting!

Samurai Sword in Action

I came across these films from a blog entitled TV in Japan. The following clips are of samurai swords slicing through various things in slow motion. Pretty amazing. An egg A bottle A...(more)

Ethan's Latest Haul

We just got a package from my parents today containing a number of baby-related items contributed from friends and family. Here's a picture of most of the items. This kid is going to be...(more)

Chris says, "Yay!"

I've been using Linux for about three years now. Along the way I've picked up a lot of information and a lot of experience in dealing with the operating system. It's an exciting time to be a...(more)

Provo Temple Liftoff Successful

So, I hope everyone enjoyed Conference Weekend as much as I did. General Conference is awesome. As my boss at the BYU Telefund used to say, "What's better than church in your jammies?"... (more)

Of Ninjas and Mormons

We're overdue for a new Today's Special, so here's a pretty good one: the Ninja (of AskaNinja.com) interviews Jon Heder about his upcoming movie Blades of Glory. Oh, and I guess Will Ferrell's in it too...(more)