If you can read this, then the new web server is working. Please excuse the cobwebs while I get everything set up.

Dear Fairfax County Public Works Officials,

I would like to congratulate you on your excellent planning and execution of the road work this evening on Gallows Road. 1am is an excellent time for extremely loud trucks and construction equipment to be patching sections of road in a residential area. A particularly thoughtful touch was the drilling machine, which produces a tremendously loud noise and causes houses within a half-block radius, including mine, to shake violently.

I also notice that you had the foresight to park a large construction vehicle and a police car in front of each exit to my driveway, making departure extremely difficult and entry completely impossible. As fortune would have it, my favorite 2am leisure activity just happens to be yelling over a raucous construction equipment din in order to convince a police officer to move his car so I can get into my own driveway.

It is exemplary work like this which reassures me that my tax dollars are well-spent and that the local county officials are both competent and qualified for the job at hand.

Admiringly,

Paul Duncan

Here are some videos I took in Hawaii. All are in XviD format, so you'll need the right codecs for your video player.

The first two are from the Luau. Both of these came out pretty well, including the audio. Be sure to check out the Dads and Grandpas dancing.

<a title='Dads and Grandpas at the Luau' href='http://paulduncan.org/files/200703-hawaii_movies/mov00330-xvid.avi'><img src='http://paulduncan.org/files/200703-hawaii_movies/thumb/mov00330-xvid.jpg' width='320' height='240' border='0' style='border: 1px solid black;' title='Dads and Grandpas at the Luau' alt='Dads and Grandpas at the Luau' /></a>

Here's a panorama video shot from one our road trip on the last day:

Jeannie's car had a problem with the passenger-side door, so Alonzo had to do things Dukes of Hazzard-style:

The creators of "Shaun of the Dead" were at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse a few weeks ago to show off their latest project, "Hot Fuzz". The movie was great! At the end they did a Q&A session, which I managed to snap a couple pictures of:

Here is a quick movie (AVI/XviD/MP3) of one of the answers. Unfortunately, I didn't get the funniest stuff on film, and the lighting conditions in the Drafthouse weren't particularly conducive to cameras.

Last weekend it was beach weather. Here's what I woke up to this morning:

Screwy DC weather...

I'm back from Hawaii. I have the pictures uploaded, but I'm still sorting through them. Here are a couple to appease everyone until I've finished separating the wheat from the chaff:

The subject says it all. Yesterday I went flew from the snow on the ground in DC to Hawaii, in all it's 80 degree, 80% humitidy glory! Pictures are forthcoming; I arrived at 2300 local time — 11pm for you non-military folks — so there wasn't much in the way of light for picture taking.

With any luck I'll have some great picture for you later this evening. Speaking of later this evening, that's when Alonzo and his buddy Frank are flying in. They're both in the Deleware Air National Guard so they can fly here for free (subject to flight schedule and space availability, of course). It's the "available space" bit that's been giving them grief; they've been waiting in the Air Force equivalent of standby for two days, and they finally got a flight this morning.

Until then I suppose I'll just have to enjoy the glorious tropical weather on my own...

John and his wife just had their kid. The name is still undecided, but here are the pictures:

Since I've already violating my monthly update policy, I'll add this as well: I repaired the Books and Gallery sections. Both are out of date, however.

Apparently Dennis Hastert (R, IL), the Speaker of the House, now has his own blog. It doesn't have the dry, sanitized tone of a ghostwriter or a PR drone, so I can only assume he's doing the writing himself. Even though I don't agree with several of the points in first post, I think the idea is great; more politicians should be doing this sort of thing. According to the comments on Slashdot, Senator Barack Obama (D, IL) also has a regular podcast.