Amy's sisters came to visit our new house for the first time, so we fired up a Weber for the first cookout on our deck. We had a selection of salads from eatzi's deli along with burgers and dogs from the grill. Both Aunties work professionally at an architecture and interior design firm, so we got a load of good ideas for decorating the house.

In the last photo, it may appear as if I caught a firefly tonight, but it's actually store bought. While shopping for home stuff at Target this afternoon, I saw the new display for Firefly mobile phones for kids 8-12 years old. I decided to buy one to see if my 73-year-old mother will use it. Unlike normal cell phones, which my mom won't use because she thinks they are all too complicated, the Firefly phone only has five buttons, and I will configure it so she can call my brother or me from the "mommy" and "daddy" speed dial buttons. For $99, the phone comes with a Cingular SIM and 30 minutes of talk time. More time, at 25 cents a minute can be bought at Target as $25, $50, or $75 cards which are activated at the cash register. The Firefly is pictured here running its animated lights in its creative plastic jar packaging.

- mike lee - wheaton, md

Here are some photos of a Redbox DVD Rental kiosk in front of the McDonalds at the corner of Rockville Pike and Marinelli. Read the CNET story...

- mike lee - rockville, md

After ten years of hearing about "the last mile" and "fiber to the curb," Verizon arrived at our new house today to install FiOS high-speed internet. Now we have an optical fiber (1) coming off the telephone pole on our street directly to the side of our house into an Optical Network Terminal (ONT, picture 2) to bring us 15 megabit download speed. The ONT also processes our voice calls. Not even running under optimal conditions, I can now pull down a 10 megabyte file in 1 minute! The tech also installed a Battery Backup Unit (3) and Power Supply Unit (4) inside the house in the basement. Unlike standard phone service, which is self-powered, FiOS requires AC to power the ONT, and if the power goes out, the Battery will keep phone service up for another 8 hours. A standatd CAT5 cable comes in from the ONT through another hole in the wall to our office terminating in an ethernet jack (5). Then a patch cord goes from there to a D-Link router (6), which has a hub to connect to our desktop and laptop computers. Now I have to figure out how to make use of our wireless router or upgrade to Verizon's wireless D-Link. We may achieve nirvana later this year when Verizon begins to offer cable TV through this system to compete with Comcast. Then Comcast will get a big f-you from us as we cancel the service we don't even have yet after three botched appointments.

- mike lee - wheaton, md

I was a little apprehensive about commuting to and from work via the subway after today's sad news on the bombings of busses and subway stations in London. But at both the Wheaton and Judiciary Square stations and on the trains in between I saw absolutely no sign of increased security. It stands to some reason that terrorists are not likely to hit suburban locations.

On Google, I discovered the fact that the Wheaton Metro station escalators I've been riding are the longest in the western hemisphere. It's a 4-minute ride across the 230-foot structure. That's a noticable addition to my commuting time.

- mike lee

After 10 months at "grandma and grandpa's" house in Ohio, our dog Cody returned yesterday to complete the curiousLee Family again. This evening, we had our first triumphant walk together in the forest behind our new house. As Cianna chases Cody around the living room tonight, I can still say it feels good to have the family whole again.

- mike lee - wheaton, md - thanks "grandma and grandpa"--see you soon!

The best tip I got for seeing the Wheaton fireworks was from Neighbor Adam, who suggested going to the roof of one of the nearby parking garages which overlooks the downtown shopping district.

So I'm five floors up on the roof of the Amherst [Street] Garage (1, 2) with several hundred other people. Mommy and Cianna stayed home for bath and bedtime stories. It's clear with a cool breeze--perfect night for a light show...

The fireworks, which originated from behind JCPenney, lasted exactly 20 minutes, with a big finale in the last minute (4, 5). It was a good, but basic show.

What's really great is seeing about four other fireworks shows along the southern horizon. I'm pretty sure one of them is the National Mall in D.C.

And now for the easy walk home through the surrounding traffic jam (6).

- mike lee

We walked deeper into the park behind our house this morning. Along the two-mile path, we passed the year-round ice skating rink (1), the fenced-in dog play area (2), five-arce Pine Lake (3), the playground (5), and the miniature train (6).

- mike lee

After lunch at the Broadway Diner on Rockville Pike, we stopped into a couple large furniture stores to look for a flat screen TV cabinet, but no luck. Today we'll try the Big Screen Store. Then, our first pilgimage to the local Home Depot to start amassing the necessary tools to maintain 1/2 acre of landscaped property. Not pictured was the visit to Adam's house down the street where we met a bunch more neighbors there for a cookout. We wound down the day with a screening of the Finding Nemo DVD. It was fun running the Virtual Aquarium feature on 37" of HD-LCD glass.

- mike lee

After buying a couple books for Cianna in the FOL Bookstore, we went upstairs to explore the Wheaton Public Library. First task was to sign up for library cards. We were issued the fancy new two-part, lenticular surfaced MPower cards, which work at library branches all over the state. One part is a wallet card, the other is a small tab with barcode that fits on your keychain.

Cianna surveyed the kid's area with mommy while I logged into the free WiFi to check hiptop Nation and file a change of address with the MVA.

- mike lee

On our way to sign up for library cards, we stopped into the Friends of the Library Used Book Store in the basement of the Wheaton Branch. The place is huge--reminds me of the basement of the Strand in New York City. The Children's section is pretty well stocked.

- mike lee - wheaton, md