Phil Gerbyshak & I

Phil Gerbyshak & I Originally uploaded by shersteve What defines a great vacation? For me: 1 - some time reading (in this case on the plane) 2 - some time writing (here and elsewhere, of course!) 3 - some time with family (my brother Bob's in this case) 4 - some exercise (how about those long walks, Lisa?) 5 - exploring new places (Milwaukee, WI) 6 - meeting good friends (Phil Gerbyshak and his wife, Kim in this case) Yes, Phil and I got to take the "blog off the blog" again when we managed to rendezvous with his wife at Alterra's along the Milwaukee waterfront on Sunday. There was some trepidation about taking my wife, brother and his wife to meet with Phil and his wife; but I already knew enough of Phil that I KNEW it was going to be a good time. As short as the time was together, there were very little breaks in the conversation as we discussed gardening, solved half the world's problems, and oh, yes spent a little time talking about blogging and this Web 2.0 thing. Making connections, extending the relationships, sharing and exploring, all goodness. Kim and Phil, thanks for taking time from your Sunday to meet with us. It was a pleasure!

Birth order raised again

The findings suggested that the mechanism behind the birth-order effect is not biological but related to social interactions within families. He surmised that older children are showered with attention early in life and treated as leaders in the family. They are handed more responsibility after younger siblings are born and live with higher expectations from their parents. The recent study on birth order will spark more discussion. The key points in the article I read are boldened for emphasis. "Surmised", the researcher is making sense of the data in his own terms. "live with higher expectations", would it hurt to have great expectations of someone? What do you think?