Good Bye Roadrunner

After 4 years of service with Roadrunner we are giving up. Service outages have gradually become untenable.

If you email us at houston.rr.com our new email addresses are:
bpasta@gmail.com
dpastalaniec@gmail.com

Thanks!

Due to Popular Demand...

The first PastaNoodle registry has been created. Aunt Joanne helped us begin to register today at Babies "R" Us.

Click Here and then enter "Pastalaniec" or code "61747972"

If you should be so kind is to purchase something at the store you DO NOT have to give them your telephone number at the register - just politely decline.

If you are an experienced mother feel free to let us know we are smokin' da ganja by what we select or don't select.

Cheers, Pasta Parents

Houston Ozone Progress

HOUSTON OZONE EXCURSIONS SEEN ON ORIGINAL 9 MONITORS V. ALL 44 EXISTING MONITORS

Half as a hobby, half for work, I keep pretty close tabs on ground level ozone in Houston. While updating excursion data for the year I had a question - How does progress look if you look at only the 9 original 1997 ozone monitors? There are now a whopping 44 ozone monitors in the Houston area.

Using original monitors only the number of days in Houston with ozone excursions is down 48%, v. a 17% increase looking at all 44 monitors from 1997 to 2005. More of what you would expect given the dramatic emissions reductions at refineries, chemical plants and power stations.

PastaNoodle Week 18

Today PastaNoodle had his/her teir II ultrasound. The doctor said it is "perfectly fine" - which at this age means alot!

The picture is hard to see, I know. The face is easy to spot. The doctor measured all limbs and the skull and everything is A-OK.

Ted Boyce Birthday Weekend

On Friday Ted, Kathleen and Tadd came into Houston so we could celebrate Ted's birthday. We started out by going to an Astros' game on Friday night (hint: the Astros' lost.)

Saturday we took the day trip of Ted's choice, to the Sabine-Pass Battleground in far east Texas. Here, First Lt. Richard Dowling and 50 men defended Texas from four boats full of Yankee aggressors without losing a man - capturing 350 men and killing 61.

Dowling is the subject of the first public monument in Houston, dedicated in 1905. Besides the battle at Sabine Pass, Dowling was famous for his Houston bar, the Bank of Bacchus. Houston streets Dowling and Tuam (after his birthplace town in Ireland) were named after him.

We then visited the Sabine Pass Cemetery, the oldest continually used cemetery in Jefferson County. The cemetery had many folks killed during the 1886 hurricane and several Woodmen of the World tombstones, carved to look like tree stumps.

On the way back home we stopped at Valero's Pt. Arthur Refinery - one of the oldest refineries in America (and site of some of the biggest environmental remediation projects in Texas.)

Saturday night was BBQ time with Nick, Heather and Elissa. Drama insued when Barbara cut her hand while slaughtering an innocent avocado. Many thanks to the St. Lukes Clinic for a quick stitch in time.

Sunday, after brunch at Baba Yega, we toured the new addition to the Buffalo Bayou park systems west of Downtown, between Sabine and Bagby.

After Mass at the Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral we dined at Brasil.