The green cards came. The day after I got home from visiting my mother and waiting almost four hours to be "paroled" back into the US. Oh well. Now I just have to deal with a visit-starved grandmother who suddenly wants the kids every weekend starting on Tuesdays. She's got to learn that they have established lives here now. My son isn't going to miss, say, his belt testing so she can have them. We're not paying $60 a day for daycare while they sit in her living room eating candy and watching TV.

We had my son reading from the approved grade 3 list for a while. He was tearing through the books faster than we could buy them. In an effort to test his limits we gave him the first Harry Potter book. Other than initially thinking it was called the Soccerer's Stone (why do the Americans replace Philosopher with Sorcerer?) he did fine. He was able to follow the story and report the major plot points when he was done. He's reading number two now. We weren't going to give it to him yet, but he asked for it.

I have embarked on a new plan of diet and exercise at the beginning of July. I've spent the last decade or so fluctuating in a roughly 30 pound range. Since I moved to Buffalo I hit the high end of that range and there was no sign of slowing down. Gone are the fatty Buffalo foods, in are lighter and more nutritious fare. Daily exercise and a weight training plan are in full swing. Gone are 15 pounds, in is a noticeable difference in stamina and muscle mass. My motivation: The Wife will kill me if I stop using the equipment I bought. Plus, I feel damn good.

I'll spare you the story about what I found in the cupboard.