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We had a ton of pics from his first birthday, so I hope that will hold "Mercer's public" for awhile! Todd and I have both been pretty busy lately -- he has a big proposal he's working on at work and he's studying for a test every night. I'm holding down the fort for the most part and have also been working a fair amount.

Last night, my company had their annual fund-raiser dinner. It was at the aquarium - and - it's SO COOL to sit / have dinner / catch a glimpse of the huge, graceful whale sharks swim by the big viewing window! The food was good - local / organic "farm-to-talbe" 5 course meal with 5 "local celebrity" chefs each preparing a course. This year, we didn't have a wine vendor, so the wine wasn't as flowing as in years past, but there were still "tastings" that were paired with each course. We had a speaker from Central American Progress who talked about business, the economy, up-and-coming industries, and a shift in the work force to these new industries. ie: There are 1,000,000 construction workers who have lost their jobs since the recession started in Nov / Dec 2007. There is, however, a need to work and expand the labor force in the clean energy / green building industry... he showed a schematic of a wind turbine and images showed folks installing it with the tools that they are accustomed to using from their experience in the construction industry. He showed young adults in South Bronx learning to install green roofs. He talked about government incentives for power companies and how (in the past) they had no choice but to buy coal and nuclear power... [those were subsidised and they're businesses - so they choose the lowest cost]. He talked about how it's up to gov't to subsdise clean energy sources.

He also talked about obligations that folks without jobs have to their families and how "greening" of their homes is not a part of the equation when they're concerned about putting food on their table. That's what they're hoping to change so it can become a part of the dialogue in the American famiy structure. It was pretty interesting.

We were allowed to bring our spouses this year (b/c we didn't sell the event out like we normally do), so Todd came with and Mercer hung out with 2 different sets of neighbors. The "first shift" hung out with him / played / swung with him on the porch while he took a little cat nap. They had a nice time. The "second shift" played a little with him (and their children did too)... but they had the pleasure of putting him down to bed in a pack-and-play I took up earlier. Both sets of neighbors said he was great and a pleasure to be around. It was a relief to know he was in great hands!

Mercer had some bumps on his face when I took him to daycare this morning... I thought they were due to a reaction to food... so far, we've noticed that he broke out a little when giving him peaches and mangos. I was thinking the same would be true for raspberries b/c he's had those the past few days. But - when I got to daycare tonight... most of the bumps are redder... and they're on his belly and back. I am wondering too if his vaccinations he had a couple of weeks ago is causing this rash. (The Mumps / Measles / Rubella (MMR) warning says that within 1 - 2 weeks of the shot he could have fever or rash. He has a rash for sure, but - of course - acts great otherwise. I will take him to his doc tomorrow to see what they say. I had started to take him to a children's clinic tonight, but got there and found out that there was a 2 1/2 hour wait... and at 8:45 pm when I was taking him...the idea of sitting there 'til close to 11 pm was just not appealing! I'll blog what it's all about later when we find out more.

One other (random) thing that I thought was pretty fascinating about the Aquarium and Ga Tech's Center for Music Technology: they have a program called "accessible aquarium" in which they're adding sound to the aquarium experience to help the visually impaired. Check out: http://gtcmt.coa.gatech.edu/?p=634