Mid-Year Update

July 1, which is halfway through 2012 already!

Nineteen days from today my capstone final report for my masters program is due.  It's hard to believe it's gone so quickly - I started last June and it feels like it's just been a whirlwind.  I am fortunate to have met so many great people and professors through this program, and am honored to have had 4 other outstanding colleagues in my year-long study group.  Now I just need to get the report done....

I saw my niece today, a few days after her first birthday.  Already toddling around everywhere - but still as happy as ever.  I hope to get to see them more in the coming months when school is finished.  I also dropped Erin off at the airport after seeing the family, for a few days visit to Vermont.

Work - I still like my job.  People are still surprised when I say that.  I will hit 15 years on July 7th.  Hard to believe it's been that long, I've been fortunate to have been involved in some great projects.

Carb update - well, I haven't been paying as close attention as I should the past few weeks, there have been some weddings and other events and it's hard to resist some of those things you don't get to have very often like wedding cake.  Still, I'm staying within reason.  Today wasn't quite so good, just due to a lot of driving around and the need for convenience, I ended up having McDonalds breakfast, Caribou on the way to the Cities, Wendy's lunch, and then the one I should have passed on, DQ with the girls.  When I got home I decided to see if the nutrition information is available for all of those places.  It actually is - I commend restaurant chains for posting all this detailed information online, although I fear it's because they know no one really pays attention or cares anymore.  I was, however, disturbed to find out that my Blizzard Mini (yes, smaller than a small size, it looks like a bathroom dixie cup) still had 61g of carbs, 45 of which are sugar.  That's more than even a large full-sugar white chocolate mocha.  OK, so no more DQ :(  It continues to amaze me how much sugar is in our diet EVERYWHERE...you have to make a real effort to avoid it unless you make everything you eat at home.

Misc - I got my new Galaxy S III phone on June 21st when it was released, and I love it (and I love that I was able to give Erin my 2-year-old EVO, which HE loves!)  I have to say the technology in these phones is now pretty amazing - I hold a palm-size powerful computer, which is probably more powerful than my current work laptop, and arguably has a nicer display.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July, and that somehow we can at least take one day to forget about partisan politics and elections and be a "United" States.