TheCalabrias.com

Paolo had his first haircut this morning.  It took both Ashley and I to keep him “entertained”, but he was very good — barely cried at all. Now he is more adorable than ever.

Hello There!

I hope everyone had a great Summer, a great Thanksgiving, etc.

Obviously I haven’t been able to keep up with our family posts this year. (What a difference an extra bundle of love makes, eh?)  But I’m not giving up. I’ve decided  to change to our posting style and try the twitter approach: several short and quick messages.

Let’s see how that works…

Summer is almost over, and I’m falling way behind on my posts…I will try to catch up in the next few days.

Starting with the Spring Soccer Season and the “Every Goal Saves a Life” challenge…the kids did not disappoint us! The Gladiators had another undefeated season, scoring a total of 75 goals:

• Game #1: Gladiators 15 x 2 Athens United (Green)
• Game #2: Gladiators 9 x 0 AU (Gold)
• Game #3: Gladiators 15 x 2 YMCA-Team 2
• Game #4: Gladiators 6 x 0 AU (Gold)
• Game #5: Gladiators 13 x 2 YMCA-Team 2
• Game #6: Gladiators 9 x 2 YMCA-Team 1
• Game #7: Gladiators 8 x5 YMCA-Team1

And, being the proud “Soccer Dad” that I am, I must add that Lorenzo received the “golden boot” honors once again — scoring 23 goals this season.

Cute story:

As I mentioned on my last post, Coach Matt and I struggled with giving all kids a fair share of time on the field, while trying to keep the scores from not reaching double-digits.  So, the “bigger” kids ended up getting more bench time and “defense duties” than last year — which, of course, they didn’t like it.

By mid-season, Lorenzo started getting frustrated and even a bit upset at the end of the matches, even after winning big.  He got especially upset after being told we were going to skip his rotation and keep him in the bench on the 4th quarter of Game #5.  He kept saying that he wanted to score a couple of more goals.

Later that day, I talked to him to find out what was going on.  I explained that we had a very comfortable lead, and that coach Matt and I just didn’t want us to score any more goals. Then, he finally told me why he was so upset. He just needed to score a couple of goals to bring his total to 20.  This way he could save the life of two kids.

Since we were donating $1 for every goal the team scored, and since it took a $10 donation to buy a mosquito net, he had set a target to score at least 20 goals for the season.  I finally got it. So sweet!!!  I gave him a nice hug, and I promised to let him play his fair share the final two matches.

In the end, the Gladiators scored 75 goals, and the Calabria Family ended up donating $120, or 1 mosquito net for every kid in the team.

I found out the other day that Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) is donating $10 for every goal they broadcast towards the “Every Goal Saves a Life” campaign against Malaria.

After checking the campaign’s web site (http://www.malarianomore.org/), I decided to get involved by challenging the Gladiators – Lorenzo’s soccer team.

At the end of last practice, I explained to team what FSC was doing; I told them a little bit about Malaria; and I explained how easy it should be to prevent it – given the means.  Then I told them The Calabria Family will donate $1.00 for every goal they score towards the same campaign.  In other words, for every 10 goals the Gladiators score, we would be donating one mosquito net which could save a life of a kid in Africa.

Since we had 5 matches left,  I challenged them to score 50 goals between now and the end of the season. The kids were pumped!

Given the first two matches, I must admit that I did hesitate a little before announcing the challenge.  Even with four new “novice” players, the Gladiators have outscored their opponents 24 to 2.  And coach Matt and I have been struggling with giving everyone a fair share of time on the field, while trying to keep the score from getting too out of hand.  We have been playing the “older” kids on defense and sitting them on the bench more then usual…but the goals keep coming.

Game #3 was no different: Gladiators 15 x 2 YMCA…so much for a $50 donation, eh?! All for a good cause.

Hello There!

Just in case you have not noticed yet, there is a link to “TED Talks” under Blogroll. I’m an avid follower of their presentations and podcasts (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks), and I really don’t know of a better way to keep a pulse on cutting-edge ideas being developed right now.

In many ways, I really miss being part of the Institute of Ecology at UGA and being part of the Scientific community.  Keeping up with TED helps me fill this void, while getting the full benefit of keeping abreast on the latest ideas in Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED). For instance, I first heard about the touch-screen interface — now synonymous with the iPhone — in a “TED Talk” presented by Jeff Han, three years prior the overwhelming success of the iPhone launch.

In my very humble opinion, here are a couple of technology presentations which will, no doubt, be as influential in their own industries:

1. Tim Berners-Lee: The next Web of open, linked data
(http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html)

About this talk

20 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. For his next project, he’s building a web for open, linked data that could do for numbers what the Web did for words, pictures, video: unlock our data and reframe the way we use it together.

My comments:

Being the “Data Manager” for the Institute of Ecology for over 9 years, I can easily get excited about the potential here.  I also understand the “resistance” of many scientists of releasing “their” data. I did live it every day at UGA. I was right in between NSF (National Science Foundation) wanting the data to be made public, and the Principal Investigator requesting time to analyze and publish the data BEFORE making it public. Connecting all these databases will have a massive impact on the way science is done, and the kind of questions that can be asked/answered.

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2. Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry: Unveiling the “Sixth Sense,” game-changing wearable tech (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html)

About this talk

This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some.

My comments:

I still can’t get used to seeing folks wearing their BlueTooth headsets.  This technology will push the “mobile” industry to a whole new ball game.

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3. Ed Ulbrich: How Benjamin Button got his face
(http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ed_ulbrich_shows_how_benjamin_button_got_his_face.html)

About this talk

Ed Ulbrich, the digital-effects guru from Digital Domain, explains the Oscar-winning technology that allowed his team to digitally create the older versions of Brad Pitt’s face for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

My Comments:

Computer visualization takes massive computational resources.  After watching this amazing presentation, I can’t help but wonder about the systems architecture behind it. The technology is obviously already impacting the movie industry — but still at a very high cost.

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4. Willie Smits: A 20-year tale of hope: How we re-grew a rainforest (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/willie_smits_restores_a_rainforest.html)

About this talk

By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans — and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.

My comments:

No more excuses…here is the “recipe” to getting it done.

Enjoy!

After last week’s snow storm, we are back to a more typical and absolutely gorgeous early-spring weather.  In fact, it was so beautiful this past Saturday that Paolo simply refused to stay inside — so much so that he even skipped his morning nap.

We started the day with a nice walk around the neighborhood; he had his bottle on a rocking chair by the front yard; and he played his first game of soccer, chasing the ball up and down the driveway on his walker. (I was thrilled!)

Soccer 101

The afternoon was not much different. He would not play with any of his toys, and he would only stop fussing once I brought him outside.  We played another round of soccer; we played “hide and seek” with a couple of small lizards; he had a great time crushing dry leaves; and he had another snack and bottle while rocking on the front yard’s rocking chair.

As you can imagine, Paolo always reach the perfect state of bliss after a good feeding.  We were just rocking and enjoying the sun and the bird songs, when all of a sudden a flock of 20-30 Tufted Titmouse landed in the American Holly right in front of us.  Paolo was fascinated by them.  What happened was that a Red-tailed Hawk was patrolling the area, and the flock of Titmouse landed on the Holly to get out of sight.  To our enjoyment, they were pinned down for quite a while. They were finally rescued after a group of crows harassed the hawk way.  Then, as fast as they landed, the whole flock flew away as a single bird.  It was quite special!

We ended the day with another walk around the neighborhood, followed by a nice bath, and lots of captial ZZZZZZZs.

Sunday was just as glorious, and we enjoyed a very similar routine — although we went to feed the ducks and geese at Memorial Park, instead of playing at the yard.  And did I mentioned we played another game of soccer in the afternoon? 

It was not as nice as being with Ashley and the kids at Disney, but Paolo and I  certainly can’t complain.

(More Flickr photos)

March, 01 2009 Snow

We haven’t had any “real snow” here in Athens for 4 years now.  But, this past Sunday (03/01), we got a little taste of winter, and at least 8-10 inches  of beautiful, fluffy snow.  The conditions were just warm enough and humid enough to make the snow flakes to bind into HUGE clumps; and just cold enough to make it stick.  In fact, you could see cable lines, which are only about 1/4 inch in diameter, with 3 inches of snow miraculously piled on it.  Amazing!

Needless to say, with so much snow the kids were ecstatic! They would go outside and play  until their lips would turn blue, then come back in to warm up just enough to hurry back outside.  They had a blast! We had a blast!

But I must say it was also a little scary.  By late afternoon, everything had a nice think layer of snow, and we started hearing quite a bit of tree limbs cracking, and even a few trees falling…  A couple of  years back, we had a very large Pine tree just miss our neighbors house during a wind storm.  That same week we hired a logger to cut all the big trees from around the perimeter of our house (and the neighbors). The loggers were extremely precise on dropping the trees, but extremely clumsy getting them out. Thus, until this past weekend, I had always felt a bit of guilty for cutting them.  Not anymore. Several of the neighbors now wish they had.

Next morning Lorenzo and I surveyed the neighborhood, and we found quite a mess.  I guess after over two years of drought, the trees were not ready to bear all the extra snow/ice weight, and they simply snapped.  Luckily no one got hurt, and a lot of the threes did fall towards the street…which explained why we were out of power for 24 hrs.

As a bonus the Unversity was close the next day, the kids’ school for two days.  More snow ball fights!!

(Link to Flickr photos)

This morning Paolo was baptized at the St. Joseph Catholic Church — the same parish that supports the St. Joseph School the kids go to.

We had been trying to schedule his baptism for a couple of months now without being able to sync up everyone’s schedules. We were trying to get the family and friends together for a nice lunch. But, being true to Paolo’s “surprising nature,” we received a call from the Church just a couple of days ago asking if we would like to get it done today. We hesitated a bit, but being fully aware that school, work, piano, sports, etc, will start again tomorrow, we bit the bullet and got it done.

It actually turned out very nice and quite intimate; only Paolo and another little girl were baptized, and we had to share the ceremonies with only one other family. Best of all, Lorenzo and Chloe were able to be Paolo’s God-Parents. They had been “lobbying” for it since Paolo’s birth, and Ashley and I were more than glad to let them have the honor. They have been wonderful with Paolo, and we, of course, want them to be as involved as possible. They were thrilled!

The photos have been posted into  Flickr.

Much Love…TheCalabrias.

2009…Amazing!!!  So much to be thankful for, and so many wishes and expectations for the new year…

The Calabria family wishes you a brilliant 2009, filled with much love, health, and peace of mind; many travels; and quality time with family and friends.

Happy New Year!!!