Fun Puzzle

So, I was up way too late with Owen last night letting Katalyn get some sleep, and I found this puzzle online. It took me about 30 minutes to figure it out, but if you get it right away, it was the middle of the night, so cut me some slack. Anyway, good luck...

A certain computer scientist has designed a remarkable machine which gives a correct answer to any yes no question typed into it via its keyboard. The machine answers by flashing a blue or a yellow light, one of the colors signifing "yes", the other "no". The machines come with no instructions nor are the lights labeled. Worse, a given machine in stores now has equal probability of having been manufactured in either China or Malaysia, and it is known that the two different countries have selected opposite conventions for which color means yes, but it is not at present known which country signified yes by blue, and which signified yes by yellow. You have just unpacked a machine, plugged it in, and turned it on. Each of the choices below is a separate question. In other words, in answering (d), assume you have not tried any of the questions appropriate for (a), (b), (c) - in other words, assume in each case you are going to ask only one specific question, and have asked no questions previously. (a) What one yes/no question could you ask the machine which would allow you to determine whether it was made in China or Malaysia? (b) Suppose instead of wanting to know which country your specific machine was manufactured in, you just want to know whether it was the Chinese or Malaysian machine that means "yes" by blue. What single yes/no question could you ask your machine to determine this? (c) Suppose all you want to know is, for your specific machine, which color means "yes" and which color means "no" (d) What yes/no question is such that the machine, no matter what country it is manufactured in, is bound to answer by flashing yellow?

Your daily dose of Owen

This one's for Nana:

6 weeks old

Saint Patrick's Day

Yes we realize that St. Patrick's day was a week ago, but we thought we'd share our festivities anyway. For this holiday we had a splendid dinner that, while decidedly not Irish, was definitely green. (I also found out that the original color of St. Patrick's day was blue, not green!) This dinner consisted of guacamole, fajitas, and brazilian limeade (colored green). Yum!

Brazilian limeade was introduced to me by the Pickett family, and I would highly recommend you try it, it's DELICIOUS. Here's the recipe:

Place in blender

2 1/2 c. water

enough ice to bring it up to 3 1/2 c.

1/2 c. sugar

3 T. sweetened condensed milk

1/2 t. vanilla

Blend until smooth

Add two limes (skins and all) cut into eight pieces each and blend for a count of five seconds (one one thousand two one thousand etc.)

Strain drink through a fine strainer into a pitcher and serve over ice!

Enjoy.

Home Improvement

We've finally adjusted to life as parents enough to actually get things accomplished. Here's what we've done:

1. Replaced this awful fluorescent light that used to be in the kitchen, with a lovely track light that matches the dining room fixture splendidly. Here's the light from before (sorry no pictures of it before in the kitchen)

and here's the new light. Yay! (I hate fluorescent lights)

2. We weeded the front garden. Again we have no before picture, but trust us, it was BAD. Many weeds and big brown dead tree plant things. We left the daffodils and the pretty little yellow flowers in the front, and now we just need to fill in empty spaces.

Side note about daffodils, they are my mom's favorite flower, so the weeding the front garden reminded me of my mom. Love you mom.

Lessons learned

Parenting Lessons Learned

1. Always, always, always have a burp cloth with you, EVERYWHERE
2. Don't skimp on diapers, unless you want to be scrubbing poo stains out of baby clothes and changing wet outfits every few hours
3. Learn to let things go, like a not always clean kitchen.
4. Have fun

After a month and two days, these are the lessons I've learned.

In honor of Owen's one month birthday (two days ago), as well as his becoming the proud owner of a belly button, we have some tub pictures for you.

As you can see, he really likes to stick out his tongue. A lot.

He also really likes his hands in his face.

Here we have some perspective as to relative sizes. :)

Post-tub. Clean and happy.

And all dressed.
I was once told I'd make a good pig for Halloween. I think Owen takes after me in that regard.

Owen update

As per the request of his loving grandmother, here are a few new pictures of Owen, who is now almost a month old. Crazy! Time has really flown, and we've been having so much fun with Owen, although being parents can definitely be exhausting. Evidence: this picture. A totally impromptu daddy/son nap on the couch. So tender.

Here's Owen having just woken up. I wish I could look as cute when I just wake up! He makes great faces, and really seems like he loves observing the world. He's quite the alert and focused little guy.

This outfit was given to Owen by Casey's Grandma Lucy. So cute! It really makes him look like a little man. He's growing very fast, and has already almost outgrown a few outfits.

Well, that's all for now. We sure do love him. :)