...is the best I can do this week.

- mike lee - washington, dc - try the rasterbator

My last three days and a Toddler's Activity Report in haiku:

Staff retreat. Rah, rah!
Stomach flu traps me in bed
Clients prod, staff strong


Learned the color blue
Sang sweet songs at circle time
Diaper wet three times



- mike lee - wheaton, md

...by Metro to downtown D.C. where baby Cianna goes to day care today, and then daddy goes to work nearby. Mommy is at a meeting in Baltimore. This was two-year-old Cianna's first subway ride since she was an infant. Today she was excitedly pointing out and naming the trains and escalators and having a great time. Less can be said of our arrival at the classroom where she imploded into tears again. We've got several more days of dealing with this change in routine.

- mike lee - washington, dc

We took a walk in Patapsco Valley State Park late this afternoon with the Carters.

- mike lee

We toured Trixie and Monkey's new studio space in the old Lombard Office Supply building at the corner of North and Howard. They have about 2000 sq. ft. on the second floor and just got electricity yesterday to power a space heater. Each of the three floors has about 8000 sq. ft. T&M will use their space as a dance practice studio, and to store their stage props. Elsewhere in the building are band practice spaces, painters' studios. I'm so excited because I'm going to be doing some photo shoots there in the coming months.

- mike lee - baltimore, md

- mike lee - wheaton, md

Our 2-year-old daughter Cianna went to daycare for the first time today. My mom had been watching her full time during weekdays. Cianna predictably cried (as did others) when we walked away. When we picked her up at the end of the day (last pic) we learned that she cried a lot all day, looked out the window for us, didn't nap, or eat. She did have some milk. Shock of the new and unfamiliar no doubt. She's back to normal tonight. We'll likely have another week of child trauma and parental paranoia.

- mike lee - washington, dc

...on my desk this week:

From the Media Lab Simplicity Consortium:

ColorCalm(tm) by Design a DVD of ambient works by three of the world's legendary creatives set to music, John Maeda nature the Foundation Cartier Paris show catalog, RFID -- Applications, Security, and Privacy.

Suggested pre-reads for the upcoming TED 2006 conference which I will be attending:

Nonzero - The Logic of Human Destiny, The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable, Humble Masterpieces - Everyday Marvels of Design, Cranium Big Book of Outrageous Fun! : The Write-It, Draw-It, Sculpt-It, Act-It Game-in-a-Book-in-a-Game!.

And from eBay, a copy of MIT Media Lab Professor Tod Machover's Symphony Painter for the Pixter Multimedia Learning System.

- mike lee - washington, dc

The first day of 2006 had us hunkering down at home or on errands to take care of lots of things left undone while we were out last week.

Mostly unrelated to today's mundane: 1) Times Square looked great on HDTV. 2) We finished off the sparkling wine. 3) Senseo coffee pods smell heavenly when you pull open a new bag. 4) Painting trim throughout the house. 5) Deploying the "mobility" module for Cianna's Lego Duplo set. 6) Cianna and I had to return something to Toys 'R Us. We had a nice walk through the store in which she behaved so well. She just picked up a scrap of yellow ribbon off the floor and was happy with that. This will probably be the last I'll see of baby's simple pleasures. 7) The family is always on the main TV, so I'm using a Pelican Gameglass on my PS2. I love its thin design and large screen. DON'T BUY the Intec 5.4" LCD--it's crap. Spend the extra $29. 8) And lastly, my four-fingered Robosapien V2 does the shocker!

One more day of freedom before we dive into the new work year...

- mike lee - wheaton, md

From the Lee Family...

- mike lee - wheaton, md