Congratulations to my cousin Derek and his wife Kris on the birth of their first child, Alexis Marie Kieffer (5lbs. 10oz.). Alexis is the second girl born to this generation of Kieffers along with my sister's newborn daughter Kari.

Yes, much to Amy's disappointment, it's almost football season. Soon Amy will be battling my 8 hours of cursing on Sunday afternoons and 3 hour on Monday evenings. I may be in the house but I won't really be "present".

The first thing I need to say is that it's so nice to see so much green. Portland's downtown is beautiful with big maple and oak trees lining the downtown streets. The riverfront park that separates downtown from the Willamette River stretches quite a ways and provides the path from the hotel I'm staying at to the conference location. It's hard to believe that Portland and Oregon have the highest unemployment rates for US cities and states. It's such a great town, who wouldn't want to locate a business here?