My apologies for being absent this week. It’s that time of year I suppose.

1. Guilt By Association mix - Stream the mixtape (or buy from iTunes). Really digging Matt Pond PA’s cover of My Chemical Romance’s “I’m Not Okay”. Francis and The Lights might steal the spotlight with the Kanye cover, though. A good Friday morning listen whilst working.
2. Brand work for small UK coffee franchise - Designer and illustrator Jim Smith produces playful, smart work for Puccino’s coffee. Brilliant stuff.
3. Cold weather - Though not a fan of actual temperature drops, I’m a homebody who enjoys the “hunker-down at home” effects that winter brings with it. Yesterday’s first (brief) snow dusting was a welcomed introduction to this time of year.
4. An inline lightbox alternative - For the web geeks, but a nice adaptation of a popular javascript implementation. Once I put it through the accessibility paces I can already tell once immediate use for it.
5. Nation Bike Path - This would be awesome. Then again, so would having sidewalks in my town so that could more safely ride to the bus stop 3 miles away. But I’ll take a national path instead! [via]

1. USB 3.0 finally arriving- 25GB transferred in 70 seconds. Compare that to 13.9 minutes and 9.3 HOURS for USB 2.0/USB 1.0 respectively…Guess I’ll hold out on getting backup storage now.
2. A new twist on pipe design - I miss smoking a pipe on late summer evenings, sitting on the roof of our old college house. If I had this wicked pipe I probably wouldn’t have quit. [via]
3. Headtracking with a Wii - The title does not do this video justice. If you’ve got four minutes of your day to spare, watch this and just try not to be amazed at how cool it is. And how smart people are. I dare you.
4. Beer bottle holder sweatshirt - Okay, so say I buy this…then I need one that holds a highball glass of Scotch too. Why do I have to I make choices in life?
5. The Wire - I’m probably the last person on Earth who hadn’t yet seen this drama, but damn if it isn’t addicting. I’m only halfway into season two and I’m addicted. I love Andre Royo’s character Bubbles.

Since about his third month, Liam has been “talking” at an increasing rate. Past the coos and squeaks of typical infancy, he now honestly believes that he’s speaking to us in a language that we can fully understand. And at the center of his didactical focus is my hair. Don’t ask me why, I don’t get it either.

All it takes for him to launch into a fit of babbling is to see my hair. Just my hair. This is disconcerting because if you’ve ever had a conversation with someone who has a lazy eye appears to be looking just past you, you’ll know how off-putting it can be. This is Liam when I’m having a discussion with him. His eyes are always glued to my hairline. Judgmental little baby.

A few weeks ago, as I finished vacuuming the living room I finally caught him on tape having a very earnest 15-minute conversation with a piece of furniture in which he tires himself out completely. No one else was in sight, except Jonas. And his reaction? Well, it’s worth watching to find out. (video is edited to feature only the highlights of the debate)

His first dissertation from Brian Faust on Vimeo.

The cold has begun to settle. Space heaters have been flipped on to fight back the creeping ice in fingers and toes. I can feel myself mentally preparing for gloomy weather becoming a daily occurrence. This does not make me a happy camper.

Nor, for that matter, does starting a Monday, eyes bleary from still-confused sleep patterns, with a baby’s diaper of truly epic proportions. In his first week of life we had a pact, a sacred agreement that he must wait until Mom changes him to deliver dirty deeds. This morning he violated my trust with a diaper so heinous that I almost put him and the diaper in the washing machine on rinse cycle. When your kid does not pass solids for more than a day, BEWARE and TREAD LIGHTLY for what is to come is spectacular.

I hope that all the crap I’ve been neglecting over the past five months in Non-Baby Life hasn’t built up to a similar explosive breaking point. ‘Cuz if it does? I’m hiding in the washing machine.

Administrations come and go. Half feel inspired and half feel let down every four years. Dramatic statements about moving to another country fly freely and self-righteous gloating swells living rooms and office buildings alike.

But whomever you voted for, whatever the outcome, the real proof of this election’s success is in how motivated people in this country finally were about presidential politics, about government. For the first time in my adult life I feel like the democratic process worked. For one day we were all united as a collection of free people to support the cause of lending our voices to be counted. For once, on the morning after an election, I feel pride instead of shame when looking at voter turnout reports.

As with any relationship, finding out that the other person still cares enough to try…that’s just the shot in the arm you need to continue to believe in the relationship as a union, to keep on working for it yourself.

And really, the real prize has nothing to do with the White House. The future is now. Holograms have arrived:

Halloween didn’t go so well. But then again we figured as much. Maybe he didn’t like being dressed as an obese chicken? Who knows.I knew I should have added his baby wig to punch it up a bit.

Next year dad is picking out the Halloween costume.

Update: video