www.chrisvonsimson.com

Finally got the domain, and the site to work.
All the news is now at www.chrisvonsimson.com  - enjoy :)

Rural Retail

A vision, from Seth Godin, of a retail experience so wonderful that you might actually pay a dollar just to be in the space for a while.

Yes, it's a rural bookstore/lifestyle concept in Massachusetts, and how lovely it looks...

Here's what the blogger at Publishers Weekly thought of it:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/ShelfTalker_A_Children_s_Bookseller_s_Blog/28758-A_Photo_Tour_of_the_Montague_Bookmill.php

A link to the place itself :)
http://www.montaguebookmill.com/

Alex at 3 months

OK, so it's almost 3 months, and this is written on the eve of his lovely mother's birthday... but anyway...

He's great. Life-changing and life-affirming. He has a ready smile that makes us glow as a family.

He's really good at letting us know what he likes, and what he hates, and there's not much in between.

Every day I see more going on, more love, more happiness, more everything.

Now I'm inspired to do more dad-blogging, or whatever it's called.

Inspired by more great writing by Ta-Nehesi:

http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/earning_the_hatred_of_your_children.php

Lisa and I are Pregnant!

We are expecting a little boy on about 13th October 2009, which means this post is on about week 22.

Lisa is well, happy that the first Trimester of Tiredness is in the past.

So am I :)

Name, TBD. We are trending traditional, especially with family names (much easier to remember thanks to Geni), and with names that have many derivatives.

We are of course doing the literature review and goodness me there's a lot. Special thanks to Jane and Bob Maruszewski for the super hand-me-down of "Be Prepared"

As you probably saw in the last post we are moving to a bigger place.

We have done some keeping the global economy going too, by buying some furniture for the new place: a lovely comfortable chair for those 2 in the morning wake-up-calls, and a crib.

Our next adventure is Daycare choices and costs. Yikes!

The best bits though have been feeling the bump, and the first kicks, and reconnecting with family and old friends on a new plane, and making new friends too.

OK, back to work for me, but next I'll be posting the usual crazy ultrasound pics, and the sounds of the heartbeat.

Happily yours,

Chris

We're moving to Reston in July

At last a decision. Today we heard our application to rent a new place has been accepted.

It has been quite wearing to spend hours searching the listing, driving around town, viewing places, and making applications. Our "Rental Realtor" has made things much easier for us. Her name is Sharon Sheldon and she works with Long and Foster in McLean.

And now at last it is decided. Reston.

Our new address will get distributed once we sign the lease.

Pictures and a general map are on twitter (and facebook, got them sync'd).

It's a super place, and we really liked viewing it with the owners, who seem very nice and helpful.

I suppose this means Lisa and I will be doing more packing in the evenings to come.

Now, WHY are we moving? That's the next post :)

Inauguration

We saw it on TV at home. It was freezing, and very hard to get anywhere near on the mall.

At least we didn't jouney down there, and end up crammed into a McD watching it on a tiny B&W old tv!

Yay for the USA!

Getting Rid of Cables

Via David Pogue, a new standard called Transfer Jet. Jochen might like this. I certainly would: Cradles and cables are annoying.