Valorie published Why is Hypoglycemia on the Rise?

After considerable research, Valorie published an article on Hypoglycemia in her Gaia's Pen blog. Whether you know what hypoglycemia is or not, you will likely find this article to be interesting.

Tai Chi Ch'uan (also spelled Taijiquan) Class in Central NJ

For about two years I've been attending T'ai Chi classes. If you are in the Princeton area and are interested, a new class is starting on September 25 for beginners or those who desire reinforcement in their training. See details at classes in classical Yang Style T’ai Chi Ch’uan.

Another Tree Mangler Hits Princeton

After quite a dry spell, late yesterday, a heavy thunderstorm hit Princeton. The tree damage observed afterward suggests there were quite a few strong micro bursts. These photos show a tree whose trunk was cleanly severed right into the ground!

Congrats to KDB on her first Blog post at The New Yorker

It's great to see that KDB's first blog post at The New Yorker has been published: "On and Off the Walls: Suburban Knights".

Summer Recipes by Local Executive Chef

Valorie has published summer recipes that have recently been presented by local Executive Chef, Christopher Albrecht. To see what Chef Albrecht presented using produce locally grown in the northeast USA, see Gaia's Pen.

What is your Best Internet Access Option?

On Friday, May 21, Joe Budelis will again give a presentation to help one explore and find the best Internet Solution Provider for their location. This presentation on Internet Access will be given at the Brookdale Computer Users Group May meeting and details are available at "Comparison of Internet Access Options such as Satellite, DSL, Cable, FIOS, T1, EoC, 3G, 4G".

Some material on this topic is available at "Comparison of Cable, DSL and T1 Broadband Internet Access Options."

Cherry Blossoms in Princeton

The spring brings beautiful blossoms on the Japanese Cherry tree in front of our home. Here is a photo of Valorie framed by the cherry blossoms draping down from the tree.

Comparison of Internet Access Options to be presented at Trenton Computer Festival

Joe Budelis, owner of Persimmon Telecommunications, will present "Comparison of Internet Access Options - How to Compare, Shop for, and Choose the best Internet Access option" at TCF-2010, the Trenton Computer Festival in Trenton, NJ. Options such as DSL, cable, FiOS, T1, DS3, OC3, Fast Ethernet OCx, and GigE will be compared. The PowerPoint slide presentation is available at How to Compare, Shop for, and Choose the best Internet Access option.

More info is available at TCF Talks, Forums, and Exhibitions.

Plucking of White Pine from our Home

Since their climbers decided it wasn't safe to do otherwise, Well's Tree Service used a crane to remove the white pine from our house. At the top of the tree there were two leads. Here you see one of those leads being carried from over our home. I estimate it's less than 1/8th of the tree. However, it in itself is as large as a good sized tree!

Below is one of the last pieces being carried away from our home.

Saved By a Tree

Now that it's light out, I see that the damage to our home by the white pine would have likely been worse except that it's fall was hindered by a black locust tree on the other side of the house. If the tree people were to just cut off the top of the pine tree, the weight of the pine could move it further into the house. The tree company says their approach tomorrow will be to trim everything they can to reduce the weight before they cut the locust support.


You can see the tree guy on the roof. He's installing a tarp to provide temporary protection from the rain.

The reason that the pine tree went down is that white pines have shallow roots and the wind was able to pull the roots out:


Here's a closeup of where it was uprooted:

Rain, Wind and a 130 foot Pine Tree

This is the 130 foot pine tree that had stood 10 feet from our home. It had seemed sturdier than trees still standing around it!

Snow Blizzard in Princeton, NJ

The holly tree in the above view out of Val's second floor office window on February 10 is leaning, not because of the wind, but because of the weight of the snow on it's branches. The next day, with much of the snow removed, it looked as shown below.

KDB to Israel and Ski Slopes

This winter break, KDB joined a college trip to Israel. She really enjoyed the introduction to the country given by the tour. She also made good use of her new Canon 5 d Mark II professional camera. Here's one of the photos that she took in Israel with the new camera: Trees.

Now that she's back in New York, she's joined the ski club and, on many weekends, is skiing slopes in the Northeast US. This week she has actually skied in Manhattan's Central Park.