Last night, Meredith's sister Valerie called her to tell her that we were just on TV. Just after Valerie called, my old roommate Shane called to tell me the same thing. Last March when we were returning from our honeymoon in Colorado, we had a bit of a security issue that got recorded by ABC for their "Homeland Security USA" show.


This was a novelty belt buckle made to look like a .45 caliber 1911 style gun. We got it in Estes Park, and we accidentally packed it into carryon luggage. So when it went through the baggage screening, we were in for a bit of a surprise. The even bigger surprise was the camera crew who showed up. We thought it was part of TSA, but instead it was ABC networks. We got interviewed. It's not surprising that they included my lovely wife more than me. :)

-Brent

Pictures of Brent's car with Christmas lights as requested by Stefannye.

Brent used several hundred suction cups to attach Christmas lights to his car. He used a 12 volt sealed lead acid battery that weighed 130 lbs, kept in the trunk, to power the lights. He also had some fancy light sequencing thing that he controlled from a box he made. All engineer stuff that I can't quite explain clearly. Anyway it was quite a sight to see. He put them on last Christmas 2007 which may be his last year. He started this Christmas car lighting tradition in 2002, also doing it in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

See, now we're like the parents who show pictures of their kids. Only, in this case, it's pictures of our little ratties. The first two pictures are of Maxie and [unnamed yet], the two new additions.



Oh, they're so cute!



And here is Patty with the other two.



-Brent

It has been an expensive weekend full of new things. Meredith and I have both been in need of new cell phones. Hers has gotten the Meredith treatment (sitting on it, dropping it, dropping it in water) and shows signs of age. Mine has been flaking out a bit. So it was time for new phones.

After careful consideration, we got crackberries, I mean Blackberries. Yes, that's right. We have joined the ranks of those email-checking, mini-typing, this-party-is-boring-so-I-will-check-my-Blackberry jerks. Well, I hope that we don't go quite that far.

Then on a different note, Meredith and I had to fulfill the need for companionship that Patty, our hairless rat, has. We got two more rats--the more furry kind. While Patty is 5-6 months old, the new ones are maybe 2 months. We thought Patty was cute; these little things have this sort of adorable cute-as-a-button thing going on.

Patty is not so happy though and does not get along with them. She is playing the part of the alpha female, and the new ones are squeaking in fear as Patty asserts herself. I sure hope that they get along. Meanwhile, the two little girls aren't as potty trained as Patty and mess up the cage. We have a little work to do. The personality of these friends makes it worth it.

-Brent

From The Ratty Dictionary:

Metamorfuzzus: A conditional response to spending too much time with one's rats, which results in the gradual transformation from human to more rat-like tendencies. e.g. stealing food out of other people's mouths, bruxing during romantic moments with your partner, and peeing on the sofa.

I sure hope we don't start peeing on the sofa.

-Brent

I've been working on the same product at work for the past three years. It's a microchip that will go onto products like this one:



This picture is of the last product I developed -- the first PCI Express multifunction data acquisition card. The new microchip goes on cards like this, but integrates a lot of cool features. Well, the chips came in today, and it made for quite an exciting day! We got the chips in the early morning, put them on some prototype boards, and fired them up. The design was set, and it would be really expensive to change it. So it was quite a nervous time to see if the chips would perform as designed, not to mention the question of whether the design was right. Well, it was really easy: the microchip talked to the host computer, and we had it running with a few minor road bumps along the way. By 1 PM, we had the boards doing their thing, and the CEO even came by to see the impressive display.

What a good way to end the year!

-Brent

I've always grown up with pets around the house. When I went off to college, I missed having one but never got one. I guess it was a good thing because Meredith has allergies to cat dander and other unknown things in the environment. If I had had a cat, it would have been a little fluffy, and Meredith probably could not have handled that.

So when we became a family, it was natural to want to have a pet. Our first one was Swordbeak the checkered garter snake. We found Swordbeak in a nearby park as we were building a campfire just for fun. We spotted her in the water and caught her. When we brought her home, we placed her in a cage, and we feed her worms and fish. We almost got a pit bull, but we realized that it would have been too much for our family.

Then I got a fish tank and filled it with fish -- Pristella Tetras, Colombian Tetras, Cherry Barbs, a Bristlenose Plecostamus, and a Synodontis ("upside-down") Catfish. The Synodontis Catfish has gotten the biggest due to the amount of food that ends up the floor. These fish have various names -- Blacky, Mr. Grumply, Romeo, Juliet, and Tybalt come to mind.

Sadly, none of these pets were particularly glad to be a part of the Roberts family. Or at least, none has expressed joy in interacting with us. Swordbeak the snake just tries to get away. The fish look at us and freak out when we get close. Despite the number of pets we have so far, there has always been something missing. So we've often thought about what to get next. Specifically, we had hoped for something mammalian -- warm-blooded, furry, and glad to be around. But Meredith's allergies were always a concern.

When we were passing out cookies to our neighbors before Christmas, we met Mary down the street. She has pet rats and introduced us to one hers. She said that rats make great pets. (See this page for more information.) Her furry friend was very friendly and crawled onto my shoulders. It would sit in our arms and just enjoy being around us. Later on that day, we had some friends over who told us that they also had pet rats. What are the odds? I've lived for over 31 years without hearing about keeping rats as pets, but in one day we talked with two people who did just that!

So it was just a matter of time before we would look into getting one for our own. Meredith called me last Saturday while I was leaving a practice. She and Ethan were getting to know the newest addition to our family: Patty Snowflake Roberts. Patty (the ratty) was the name I came up with. Ethan wanted to name her Snowflake.

Patty is a hairless hooded fancy rat. "Fancy" is another way of saying "pet". She was bred in captivity from what is probably a long line of domesticated rats. She is very friendly. When Meredith and Ethan first met her at the pet store, she stood up to meet them. When I first met her later that day, she sat on my shoulder, where she likes to hang out. We knew we wanted to buy her that day, but first we had to get a cage for her. We did that yesterday and brought her home.

She considers her cage to be a safe place. The one we bought has four levels plus a hammock and a wheel. You can see her climbing on the side of the cage in this picture. We turned a used tissue box into her home. When we went to bed last night, I left a halfway used roll of toilet paper in her cage. During the night, she tugged on it and teepeed her home, wrapping her little home with it and pulling some of it into the hole. The toilet paper was still attached to the roll below.

Patty does love to be around kids. When we first brought her home yesterday, Ethan's cousin Savannah was on her way soon after to play with Ethan. Savannah liked to pet Patty, and Ethan likes to hold her too. Patty scurries around on me while I lay or sit down on the floor. She has even cleaned herself on me, a sign that she is comfortable.

Since rats are sociable animals, we plan to get more, and soon. Patty is 4-5 months old, and we will get another one that is young too. We were told that hairless rats get picked on by their hairy friends, so we want Patty to be the oldest and most established in her home before bringing any more home. It seems like we could easily have 3 more of these and not crowd the cage.

-Brent