Kate has been wondering what this horrible motion that the baby has been doing recently is. In fairness to her, it is repetitive, obnoxious, and makes her feel ill.

Today she figured out (she thinks) that they are hiccups. That is DEFINITELY NOT the cutest thing ever.

But it’s close.

While I wouldn’t qualify myself as an “avid” reader, I certainly enjoy a good book. I have a hard time falling asleep at night if I don’t pick up a novel or a magazine and read for at least 15-20 minutes. I recently finished The Kite Runner, and really enjoyed it. Well, I enjoyed it as much as anything that depressing can be enjoyed. It was a fascinated story, and educated me on many aspects of Afghan culture.

There are a couple of books that are coming up on my list. I’m going to try to hit some of the “classics” (what makes a book a classic?) that I either haven’t read, or read incompletely (i.e., nearly everything I read in high school). My list of books that I want to read includes (classics and non-classics alike):

• Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
• Catch 22, by Joseph Heller
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell
• The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
• The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
• Flyboys: A True Story of Courage, by James Bradley

Of course, these will all just be time-killers until the next Wheel of Time book is released. Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan is the second-to-last book in a looooooong series. Kate and I are waiting with much anticipation. So that will immediately take precedence over any book that I’m reading at the time.

Oh hey, here’s an idea: use the comments to suggest books that I should read that you’ve enjoyed.

Kate and I went through a mad period of movie watching during June and July, thanks to Lou Ann, who lent us her Netflix subscription while she was in Europe. It was really nice of her, and we got through several movies we’ve been meaning to see for a while.

Down in the diversions on the sidebar, you can see I’m now reading The Kite Runner, which was a birthday gift from my mother in June. I’m just now getting around to reading it, and so far, it’s really engaging. The DVD of the moment is the first season of LOST, which Kate and I enjoyed immensely last season. Check it out and get caught up in time for the second season!

I also wanted to mention that I have been SO REMISS in updating my links to people I know. Jackie has started writing Live from London, and I’m just now linking to it. I know, I’m a sad, sad, blogger. Also, Ken has made some improvements and migrated to a new domain name, as well. My apologies to these two deserving blogs, and their authors.

Okay, I’m signing off until I have something worthwile to write about. And the peanut gallery can just keep their snarky comments about that last sentence to themselves.

My dad had 4 tickets to the first quarterfinal session of the Legg Mason Tennis tournament in Washington DC. Naturally, I couldn’t resist free admission to a sporting event, so I took Friday off and joined him at the facility right next to Rock Creek Park to take in some tennis.

I’ve never seen a real tennis match live before, and DAMN. They hit the ball hard! The first match was between two folks I’d never heard of before, but they were really entertaining. The second match of the day featured Andy Roddick and some fellow named Karlovic. Karlovic was 6-10, and sent absolute bullets over the net on his first serves. Roddick prevailed in the end, though, to the delight of the crowd.

We really enjoyed ourselves, despite the heat, and given the opportunity, I would definitely go back for more tennis fun.

I have been urged over and over (and over) by Amy to use Movable Type as my blogging tool of choice. When my hosting company recently decided to start supporting Perl, this became an option (I think). Ken has recently moved to Moveable Type and has confirmed everything Amy said. You know, sliced bread and all that.

So I’m thinking about tinkering around with it some. The license fee is $70, but that apparently includes any future updates, so I’m thinking that’s not too bad. It also allows for 5 users, so if my lovely wife wanted to use it as well, she could do that. Her site might be due for a redesign soon, anyway.

But before I go and shell out the moolah, Ken is going to temporarily let me use one of his licenses to try it out. There are several key features that I’d like to incorporate. My two big ticket items are:

• Categorical Posts
• A Photo Blog (which will eventually lead to the return of the photo albums)

This is in no way an indictment of Blogger or the services they have provided so far. For a free publishing tool, I have been thrilled with what they’ve provided. But Moveable Type has more features that I’m ready to use. So it may take me a year, but eventually you’ll see some changes and improvements here.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Rafael Palmeiro is due to serve a 10 game suspension after testing positive for steroids. Unfortunately, I really don’t have a lot to say on this.

Palmeiro’s response today said that he has “never intentionally” used steroids. There are any number of reporters and pundits that are writing much more eloquently than can as they lambast Palmeiro. And rightfully so. Let him have it.

As a life-long Orioles fan, I am deeply disappointed in Palmeiro, who I always thought was a terrific role model for kids. Unfortunately this development puts his whole (and until this point impressive) career into question. He has shown himself to be one of two things. He is either a very convincing liar, or colossally stupid. Neither is something you want your kids to become. Well done, Raffy. Well done.

Update: I have heard some speculation that Palmeiro’s medication for type I diabetes may have caused him to test positive – a fact that he doesn’t want to reveal. If this is the case, I wish he would come out and say this, as it would make me take back everything I just wrote. Which is something I desperately would like to do.