Book Review

So I have a lot of extra time while nursing Brooklyn,so I thought I'd share my thoughts on some excellent and crappy books I've read. Please let me know if there is any good books you've read- because I always looking for more!!!

Scoring System
****** What are you waiting for? Go get it today!
**** Recommended
*** OK
** Could be missed
* Don't even bother wasting time to read the title!


****Fablehaven- Rise of the Evening Star
2nd book in the series- better then the first. Juv. Fiction. Kids stubble into a world of Fairies and Magical Creatures- very fun and short.



***** Thirteenth Tale
One of the best books I've read for a long time. Amazing, Go get it today.



**** Other Side of Heaven
Re-read this. Enjoyed as much as the first time. Memoirs of Elder Grogberg's mission to Tonga. It's makes you feel all spiritual and stuff.



****The Bartimus Triolgy
Only read first two. Harry Potter meets Aladdin. Juv Fic. Very Fun.



***Shopaholic meets Manhattan
Chick Lit, (Book version of Chick Flick). It's "Devil wears Prada" meets "Bridget Jones Diary". Not for boys.



***** Glass Castle
Wow! Memoir of a White Trash Family. Couldn't stop thinking about it for days.



**** Teacher Man
By same guy who wrote Angela's Ashes. Memoir of him teaching high school in New York. Really Funny! Anyone who has ever taught teenagers at one time or another, it's a must read.



**Peace like a River
Too Sad



*Widow of the South
Boring!!!!! Couldn't actually get past the first 30 pages.



***** Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse
LOOOOOved it!!! For all you ladies out there, Go get these books right now! If you haven't heard about the Vampire craze, you are missing out. I know it sounds silly, but you won't regret it. Please I'm begging you, it's for your own good.



**Mutant Down Under
Lady takes a walk with Aborigines. Makes you grateful for food.



****A Great and Terrible Beauty
A Victorian Girl School with Mystical things going on.



******Harry Potter 7
Don't need to say anything.



****For One More Day
Touching story about a suicidal son remembering his mother. For anyone with a mother.



** The Keep
Erie castle story with too many F words.



**** Persuasion
Typical Jane Austen book, not as good as others but still romantic.



*** Memory Keeper's Daughter
About a Father who gives away his down syndrome daughter after birth without the mother knowing.



**** Water for Elephants
Interesting Circus Love story with a twist and an awesome elephant. Watch out,there are some dirty parts.



Brads Book Reviews. (Notice how he is a much more detail oriented person then I am.)



**** The Club Dumas
A thriller where a book hunter finds himself in the middle of a novel by Dumas. Meanwhile, people around him are dying. What is the link between Dumas and the occult? Read this book to find out.



**** His Majesty's Dragon
Are you tired of the Eragon syndrome of most dragon novels? Fantastic realms, magic and the like? Welcome to Britain in the nineteenth century. Napoleon wages war with all of Europe. Only the British Navy and the Aerial Corps can stand against him. In this fantasy series, the author introduces a fantastical element to regular British history. Along with the uncanny excellence of the British Navy, lies the Corps: an air force division made up of dragons and their crew. This book takes a new look at the concept of dragons that you will enjoy. I particularly enjoyed it after watching Horatio Hornblower. You really get a feel for the Naval life in that era.



** 1421: The Year China Discovered America
This book is one man's hypothesis at rewriting history. It is a very interesting read if you enjoy non-fiction. His theory is quite compelling, although it is widely controversial.

Again, always looking for more suggestions.

"O the weather outside is frightful"

September flew by and we're in the gut of October already. Things have been super busy at the Baillio residence this month. When things get hectic, and you're burned out from taking care of kids, or studying all day long, there's nothing more soothing than a mind-numbing trip to TV-land. We found a great new show that we enjoy watching after the day is done. It's not super-addicting, or crazy violent, or intensely passionate....unless you call a love of math intense passion.
Numb3rs is the show, and it's really fun to watch (especially for me, the nerdy engineer). It's about this family where one brother is an FBI agent, and the other is a genius applied mathematics professor who consults for the FBI. So they work together on all these cases, and the math is the star of the show. It's great!


Brooklyn has been a treat this month. She's 5 months old now and so we decided to start her on rice cereal. She loves the experience of eating like Mom and Dad, but I don't think she fancies the rice cereal. I'll tell you what she LOVES though, is an apple. Celeste eats an apple, and then lets Brooklyn suck all the extra juice out of it. It's hilarious to watch her. She adores apples now. I think that's what made her dislike the rice cereal...it just can't compete to fruit.

I have had a crazy October. It's the month of midterms and I'm feeling it. I've never been busier trying to balance research, grading papers, doing homework and being a good father and husband. But I am surviving. I have two exciting things happening right now. I got new glasses this weekend! I'm so excited. The frames I've been using are about 8-9 years old. I don't even know how reliable the lenses are anymore. So it was definitely time to get new ones. I was able to use my vision insurance through the school, so that helped with the cost. (I have EyeMed and went to Sears Optical...sorry Dad, :( I know they're the enemy). But at least I'm gonna look good in my new specs. Celeste hates my current frames, so needless to say, she's ecstatic about the change. The other cool thing is that Geir (my research advisor) is trying to connect me with a good internship this summer. He has vested interest in this company called Kiva Systems. It's a cool robotic company that specializes in warehouse management. It's in Boston, which would be a fun adventure. So we'll see if that happens.

Celeste has been taking her new career as homemaker seriously and has gotten tons of ideas on how to make our home that much awesomer. She got a new rug for the living room, and she also painted a power-wall in our kitchen. It's wonderful.
She even busted out our china and is putting it to good use...as wall ornaments! One day we'll get around to eating off it, but for now I'd much rather have it out and looking good, than crammed in a box in storage.

You may have noticed the random mummy hands on the table. Celeste is anticipating the upcoming holiday with lots of decoration and craftiness. We're excited about Halloween! We bought this really cute lady-bug costume for Brooklyn, and so we're gonna try to dress theme. I'll be a spider (that's an obvious choice...) and Celeste is gonna be a butterfly. So it'll be fun. I'm pretty sure we're going to a Halloween party, and there's the ward Trunk-or-Treat...not to mention Halloween night! So we're enjoying the crisp fall weather, and anticipating the frightful holiday night just a few weeks away!

A Myrid of faces: by Brooklyn

Note: No hair gels were used in this photo shoot. All hairs standing straight up is the models natural talent.

Fall is Here

The day began with a chill wind blowing through the flat Illinois fields. The sun began its arduous climb to the apex in the sky. The Baillio family awoke and started picking up their belongings. Having finished rounding up the lost and forgotten articles of the house like wayward sheep, they walked outside to face their destiny...

GARAGE SALE!


We had a community-wide garage sale today at Winfield village and we tried to get in on that goodness. We set out some clothes that we didn't need anymore, including some of Brooklyn's old, or out-of-season stuff, and our old computer desk. We sat out for about 2 1/2 hours, with little luck. Our biggest sale was the desk which sold at the very end for a measly $20. I wanted a bit more, but it was better than nothing, and we didn't need it anymore. So that was great. Celeste sold some of Brooklyn's clothes and made about $3, but then she turned around and spent $2.50 on a gate and other sundry items. It was such a beautiful day with that crisp wind blowing and the sun shining. It was a great morning and great intro to a fun weekend.

End of Summer

A few highlights of this week.....



The need for quarters no more:
After two years of of marriage we finally have our own washer and dryer!! It only took us 6 weeks and 11 trips to the store for parts, Brad finally got our used washer and dryer working. O happy day!



A new friend that lived in our walls:
I heard some scratching and whining in our kitchen wall. So we called the maintenance people,they warned Brooklyn and I to go upstairs- in case the wild animal got loose and bit us. They cut a 2 foot hole in the wall and chased a friendly squirrel out! Oh the gladness that our wall wasn't the final resting place for our little friend!



The game that was boring:
BYU football team was so good yesterday that it wasn't that exciting to watch. Except for the tackle that faked out Arizona, and eating with good friends. Oh BYU, keep being good!



The toy that entertained Brooklyn:
Brooklyn laughs at anything new that she hasn't ever seen before. Oh the joy when our daughter is entertained by cheap toys!

First Week Back

So this week I started school for the Fall 2007 semester. Boy am I going to be busy. I have 3 classes, a TA position (~10 hours/week), and an RA position (~10 hours/week). And we all know that the assistantships say 10 hours/week, but both will be pulling at me for more time (especially the RA). So I am stretched thin to say the least. However, I am excited to be back in the throngs of school. I really do enjoy learning new things and applying them (especially since I have cool robots to work with).

Two of my three classes are going to be very tough. They are crazy math-intensive classes. They are creating the fundamentals of my Control Theory pursuits, though. So they are very important. One class is called Control Systems. The other is Linear Estimation, Kalman Filtering. They will help me use math to model the Hovercrafts and Autonomous Vehicles I work with. They will help me to make them move properly and control their internal forces that govern how they operate. Also the classes will help me in my SLAM endeavors. The third class is primarily a lab-driven course about Sensors and Instrumentation. This is a convenient class for me because all my robots employ the use of sensors to help them navigate and control their actions. So it helps to understand how those sensors work on a deeper level. I know, I know, it all sounds very complicated, and tre boring. But, that's my academic life!

Celeste is finally taking a breather from her choreography work in Beauty and the Beast. The show went really well according to reports from friends and acquaintances. We never made it to an official show because we were a little tuckered out, and decided to finally spend a good weekend together as a whole family. Now Celeste is just looking forward to staying home and caring for our cute Brooklyn. She's getting herself involved in tons of home projects, sewing things, and crafting things, and organizing things. It's what she loves doing these days. And I must say her creativity is boundless. She just picks up a new idea and runs with it. Now I can't wait until that puppet idea finally takes off. That will be a fun one!

Brooklyn is cute as can be. She's loving those little feet of hers. She grabs them at every opportunity. I can't believe that she'll be 4 months old soon. Time sure goes by quickly.


This weekend we took a quick trip to the pool because I got off school early. It was really fun. Brooklyn just stared dazedly at the water. I don't know what was running through that little brain, but I think she liked it. We also saw the movie "Stardust". It was one of the best movies we had seen in a long time. Written by Neil Gaiman, I knew the story would be fulfilling, and to top it off, there were plenty of fun special effects to flesh out the magical kingdom of Stormhold. It was a really great action/romance movie.

Another fun thing we did this weekend was go out to lunch with my friend Shu. Here's a back-story. Shu was working in a lab in China during his Master's degree at Peking University. About November 2005, their lab received some free hardware that included some FPGAs. He started tinkering around and realized that you could put an Operating System on them. He tried doing it himself, and quickly figured out that he was in over his head. So he Googled the process and guess what...my name came up from a web page detailing the same work I was doing that previous summer. Linux on FPGA. I was only too intimately familiar with that process. Anyways, he saw that the first name on the page was a professor and figured, "That guy is probably way too busy to bother with my questions." So he googled the next name on the list, Brad Baillio, and realized I was a Gmail user. He added me to his GTalk. He attempted the process we detailed on our web page and he got stuck. A day or two later, I was on GTalk and he started IMing me. Well ever since then we've been keeping in contact. He successfully got Linux on his FPGA and did some amazing stuff with it. He finished his Master's degree, and applied for a PhD program here in the states. He was accepted at UIUC, and so he moved here this Fall. We were finally able to meet after almost 2 years of contact! It was really nice. He took us to a Chinese restaurant and ordered for us. It was really good food, and it was great to talk to him in person. We mostly talked about China.

Anyways, it was an interesting week, and I'm sure the start of a busy yet interesting semester.

All Spruced Up

As every parent fantasizes over decorating their first nursery in their home, we had a bit of a late start because Brooklyn was born while we were in a 1-bedroom dinky apartment. Now that we have moved, and Brooklyn gets her own room, we decided to go "Crazy-go-nuts" on the decorating. Here are some pics. The room is supposed to have a Velveteen Rabbit theme.

Also, we've included a couple toy "action shots". Bryce and Marcia got Brooklyn her first official toy, and she's really taking a liking to it. She's developing to the point where she reaches out to grab things and touch and suck. Just a curious little cutie.

Here's a closing shout-out to Grandma Barrand for sewing the cute quilt/bumper pads/wall hangings. And Momma Celeste for sewing the window seat/pillow ensemble.

Family Fun

After an awesome weekend with the Baillio family, we took off for Winter Park, Colorado. The Barrand family had their annual family vacation and this year we weren't going to miss out. So after a 7 hour drive through UT and CO, we arrived at the condo in Winter Park early afternoon Monday the 6th. We mostly sat around that afternoon, but little did we know the craziness in store for us that week.

On Tuesday we set off for a quick "family-friendly" hike to a small waterfall. That was a lot of fun. Brooklyn had a marvelous time chillin' in her baby front carrier. I didn't think she would be so calm, but she took it like a pro. It was a nice hike, and when we got to the waterfall it started to rain. Luckily, it didn't rain too bad, so the hike back wasn't miserable, but we did travel back to the cars with some haste. Brooklyn enjoyed the trip immensely. She broke out in giggles as soon as we got back to the car. She's definitely her Father's daughter. :)




Wednesday we did a couple mountain biking trails. Those were wicked fun too. Celeste and I got to go together near the end of the day, and we spotted this sweet view and grabbed some nice pics. It was tons of fun splashing through mud puddles and careening over rocks and roots.


Thursday we drove up into Rocky Mountain National Forest. We drove the highest paved road in the US. It gets as high as 12,000 ft. That's high! And that gave us more photo ops. We enjoyed the brisk mountain air, and the wildlife.



Friday was Sammy's birthday party. It was fun to watch him open presents that he could identify and get excited about.

That concluded our Winter Park vacation. There was so much to do, and we had so much fun. We played board games, and some fierce Wallyball. We soaked in the hot-tub, and spent an evening talking till midnight. Celeste, Me, Mom and Dad Barrand had an extra adventure, however. We returned to Denver on Saturday and prepared ourselves for the pre-Broadway run of Disney's The Little Mermaid. It was definitely a fun show to see. It wasn't as scrumtrulescent as some other Disney shows, but it was definitely worth seeing.

Needless to say, we had a full vacation, with lots of fun, and even more family. We will miss them all (Baillios and Barrands) until December when we see them again!

Baby Blessing

The first weekend in August, we finally took a summer vacation! We were really psyched to get away and see our family again. It had been a long time since we last saw them. So, first things first, the Baillio family gathered in Park City starting Aug 3rd. One by one we trickled in until we were all there, minus Aaron and his family :(. We all had a great time showing off our kids, and catching up on plans and events. I just love my family! They're the best.


The baby blessings went really well. Brooklyn was blessed at the condo, with all the Baillio/Barrand priesthood holders participating. It was a great experience. I felt a bit like a ninny since I got all teary-eyed during the singing, but it just added to the experience and brought the Spirit. Hallee's blessing went really well too, especially after a certain individual helped diffuse the cranky baby syndrome Hallee was going through.

As an added bonus, Celeste and I decided to stay an extra half-day to spend more time with my family, and to chat with Joseph and Melinda. So it was an all-out wonderful weekend.

Celeste's B-Day

So to celebrate my sweetie's 28 b-day we had lots of friends over and a great BBQ. It was so fun to have our friends come to our new place. We were plagued by some flies which was pretty lame, but the food was too good to complain about it.

We played some Scategories which is Celeste's favorite game. Sadly I don't think we won...but we played pretty well. We also played some fun Wii games with up to 4 people! Ooooooh... That Monkey Ball is one crazy game. And whoever thought up Rayman Raving Rabbids was a bit raving at the time I'm sure.
Here are some pics.

Got Harry Potter?

We've been Harry Potterizing ourselves for the last week. We saw the "Order of the Phoenix" (5th movie) and enjoyed it. At the Midnight Harry Potter Party at the local bookstore, Brad figured out the incredibly hard crossword with other crazy Harry fans, while Celeste shook her head and said over and over again "How did you know that?". And all day Saturday and Sunday Brad read "The Deathly Hallows " out loud while Celeste entertained Brooklyn. We finished it at 1am completely satisfied. Thank you J.K. Rowling! You made our weekend!

Moving on up!

Man we feel like we're on Cloud 9! We finally moved into Winfield Village and it is SO much better than any other place we've lived during our married lives. Almost 1000 sq. ft. over 2 stories. Washer/Dryer hookups, 2 bedrooms, a little backyard, community pool and exercise room, rentable garden plots, roughly 30 Mormon couples reside in the community, city bus line, cheaper rent, and equity that builds interest while we stay. We've definitely "moved on up"! Take a look for yourselves.

Giggles

Nauvoo Pageant

So we took a quick trip out to Nauvoo to see the pageant. It was really fun. It's crazy that we live so close to so many Church History sites. It was fun to bring Brooklyn to see all the sites. I know she won't remember any of it, but maybe it'll make an impression on her somewhere deep in her subconscious.

So we started out with a trip to the visitors center where they had some small performances and the Christus statue. Then we went down to the Browning gun smith shop. It's kinda cool to see that all the modern military firearms are based on this mans work. He (and his lineage) was a genius in rifles and gun making. And he was a Mormon to boot! Then we went to the brick-makers and got a Nauvoo brick. It was amazing to see the devotion and adoration of the presenter to the people of Nauvoo and their sacrifices. He probably gives dozens of presentations every day for weeks and weeks, and he still got emotional talking about them and testifying of the Savior. It was really touching.

After a small picnic for dinner, we headed over to the pageant area. Because of Celeste's extensive Utah Theater connections, she practically knew every core cast member in the show. They were all so glad to see her again and meet Brooklyn. The pageant itself was actually really good! It reminded me of the old Legacy movie that used to play in SLC, just a stage version of it. It was chock full of doctrine and the spirit. It was like cramming the discussions into a 90 minute theater presentation. It was a great experience.

Driving home for 3 1/2 hours at 11:00pm was the hardest part of the day. We finally got back at 2:30am and dragged our sleeping frames into bed. Unfortunately we had an early day at church on Sunday so we didn't get very much sleep. :( But it was worth it to see Historic Nauvoo one more time!

bath time fun

Truck-tacular

So this is a little splice of life here at the "Networked Autonomous Vehicles" lab at UIUC. Currently we're trying to get SLAM working on the truck, as well as a decent motion/path planner. That way it can be truly called autonomous, instead of an extremely expensive and unneccessary replacement remote controlled vehicle.

Soccer Country

I am SO out of shape. It's incredibly ridiculous. After a brief excursion on Memorial Day playing soccer, a few snappy movies on the subject, and a 2 year mission in Spain as an undercurrent, I finally capitulated and bought some cleats with one objective -- wake up and play soccer at 6:00 am, 3 times a week.

I know, it sounds crazy. But I did it. On my first day out on the field I pushed myself to be the best teammate. I don't remember all the rules, and I am a clumsy dribbler, but I played my best...for 20 minutes. Then I was wheezing with every breath, and seeing spirals dance through my vision. I kept up this pathetic state for another 40 minutes and we finally quit.

I just about died that day. Syler stopped by and split my head open...well it felt that way at least. My insides wanted to be my outsides for a change. OK body! Lesson learned. I won't jump in full throttle after years of inactivity and expect to shake it off. I'll go easy next time.

Camp Robert Drake

I have the pleasure to serve as the Assistant Scout Master in our church-chartered Scout troop. Because our ward is in such flux right now, I was also the only leader available to go out and stay for the whole week. Let me tell you, I was initially nervous to leave behind my fledgling family and my recent research for an entire week. Two days into the camp, I didn't want to leave.

I love Scout Camp! More to the point, I love Scouts! What an awesome program. I hear tell that some church members don't like it. I hear tell that they wish it wasn't "pushed" on us and our children. What these people lack is a clear vision of all that Scouts can do to mold young men into powerful, resourceful, honorable men...and have fun while doing it!

We had about 20 boys altogether in our campsite. They were a composite "troop" made up from 3 different wards/patrols. There were 8 from my troop. I really got to know most of these boys really well. They are a rowdy crowd, but I enjoyed being there to lead them and push them to take advantage of all the opportunities at camp. I, for one, took advantage of serveral things myself, including some kayaking, and a river canoe hike. The boys were able to take lots of merit badges, ranging from Wilderness Survival to Cooking to Sailing to Golf, and everything in-between.

My favorite moments of camp:

1. Watching the scouts try to start a fire by smothering the flames


2. Teaching the scouts the proper way to start a fire


3. Using the Scout Law as a standard of conduct, and reminding the scouts to live by it


4. Attending the classes to inspire the boys to enjoy themselves and participate


5. Kayaking for my first time


6. Waking up at 6:00am to the sounds of a forest coming to life


7. Going to meals where I didn't have to cook or clean up afterwards


8. Learning how to lead

Step Aside Ann Geddes!

Back Off! I'm a Princess!
Straight from Heaven
Trying to balance the bow
Only picture I got with a half smile
Lil Froggy

Go to this website for the whole Photo Shoot-
http://picasaweb.google.com/brad.baillio

Weekend with 'cuz

Danica and Jensen dropped by for a little weekend fun. It was a surprise and Celeste loved it! We haven't seen those 2 in a while and we loved having them here. Plus, the cousins got to meet and greet!

Check the pics to get a feel of our weekend!

weekend