Weekend of 8.18-20 and beyond for a couple weeks

Programming note: Brian Jones will be on vacation for a couple of weeks...Miller's here next week, and will be on vacation the week after that. The complete Morning Mix returns the day after Labor Day.

Hope we see you at the Hudson Valley Rib Festival this weekend in Highland...and if you're ever in Philadelphia, you can find the same ribs at the Down Home Diner at Reading Terminal Market - which is one of Mr. Jones' most highly-recommended road-trip destinations. (Also in Philly, our guest rib genius Jack McDavid from the Down Home is also the founder of Jack's Firehouse up by the art museum.)

To hold you over until the Morning Mix's return, here's a gigantic pile of games and time-wasters from our extensive vault:

Thu 8.17

All you ever wanted to know on how to change your baby's diaper in public, whether you've got guests at home or you're on the road.

Wed 8.16

Ping-pong timewaster. We couldn't beat 18.

Weekend of 8.11-13

It's been documented - office workers spend just under two hours a day wasting time. And we at the Morning Mix are happy to make our own little contribution to this valuable statistic!

Introducing the pink barbecue grill. That...that ain't right.

Thu 8.10

Flying, are you? Can't take the liquids with you, can you? Here's a good workaround or two - ship the toiletries and whatnot to your destination, but be sure to include your reservation number so the hotel can assure itself you're legit and can get the items to your room. Alternately, order stuff online and have it shipped that way. (Hat tip to Morning Mixer Wendy from IBM/Poughkeepsie!)

Tue 8.8

For more on the "Taste of the Nation" event coming up at the Culinary Institute of America, click here. Yum.

Family Site of the Week: www.momsminivan.com - which comes with hundreds of things for the little ones to keep themselves usefully occupied. Nothing yet on what to do for dad to keep himself usefully occupied.

Mon 8.7 - NEW "MILLER TIME" COLUMN IS UP!

The Pattern Clock is an alarm clock you can't just turn off and go back to sleep with...UPDATE: they don't have any for sale just yet, but we're securing a few to give away late this year or early in '07, so stay close. We have an experiment planned. Mwahahahaha.

Thu 8.3

Got a road trip with the little ones coming up? Here's some great tips to head off the meltdowns.

Speaking of melting, if you've been wondering what all that A/C use has been doing to your electric bill, here's a good rundown from howstuffworks.com.

Tue 8.1

Maybe the hottest day of the year isn't the best day to unveil this bit of news, but if you're serving watermelon the guys in the fancy lab coats say the best way to do it is to leave it at room temperature rather than keeping it in the fridge.