Long-time readers of the Empire will recall that some years ago we discovered that the site was banned in Vietnam. "I grew up being afraid of Communists," I wrote at the time, "but now it turns out that Communists are afraid of me."

Well, it seems that more Communists are afraid of me than I thought. About a billion more.

An excellent new website, the Great Firewall of China, lets you test to see if a given website is blocked by China's censors. Despite the Google-like steps I took a year ago to placate the Chinese authorities, the teeming masses of the middle kingdom are prevented from looking at pictures of my daughter with a Lego bucket over her head.

What did we do to cause such offense? I always refuse the leaflets the Falun Gong people try to hand me as I get off the subway. Is General Tso angry that I ate all of his chicken? It is because we're Far-Flung Media Imperialists? Can't we work this out?

Attention citizens of China: this photo merely documents the adorable hijinks of a playful two year-old. Please do not consider it a commentary on your government's response to the 2002-2003 SARS crisis.

Isabel tries her new potty on for size.

"I'm wearing a cuckoo hat."

Amid her babbling in the back of the car this afternoon, Isabel said "pbskids dot org". Barney can get her to do anything.

We're home now, and boy does that feel good. Even Isabel is clearly glad to be back, despite the painfully apparent lack of a slide in our living room. I'm planning to take most of the week off of work.

Thanks again to everyone for their good wishes.

Bobby plays with the impromptu mobile in his hospital bed.

Bobby was released today. He seems quite comfortable. He's sleeping most of the time for now, but we'll get him back on some light chores when we take him back to Arlington tomorrow.

Bobby looks great today and his oxygen was finally removed. His lung x-ray looks "perfect". The night nurse rigged up a makeshift mobile which he's enjoying playing with. They need to keep him under observation for 24 hours without oxygen, but we expect him to be released tomorrow.

Bobby continues to do well and is seeming a bit more like himself. We saw a few more smiles today. He's on nothing stronger than Tylenol. There is some talk that they could release him as early as tomorrow, but we plan to spend tomorrow night in Philadelphia in any case.

Bobby's doing well with no signs of complications. He spent most of yesterday sleeping, and even gave Julie a brief smile. We expect to be able to take him home Monday or Tuesday.

While he had a little difficulty breathing this afternoon, Bobby is now breathing well on his own and is resting comfortably with just a little Tylenol(!) for the pain. There are no signs of complications so far and we hope to have his more obnoxious tubes removed tomorrow. Julie will stay with him tonight (only one parent is allowed at bedside overnight).

After an incredibly fast surgery -- less than two hours -- Bobby is done and on his way up to cardiac intensive care where he will spend the next day or two. We're told it went very well and the surgeon said that based on the echocardiogram, he would be surprised if Bobby needed any further surgery later in life. Thanks again to everyone who has sent their good wishes. More later.

Isabel and Bobby enjoy some quality time together at the Ronald McDonald House, while Isabel demonstrates the pernicious effect that Britney Spears has had on the culture.

Bobby's surgery has been rescheduled for 6:45 AM on Thursday.

This week Bobby is going to have surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to correct his atrioventricular canal defect. The survival rate for the procedure is better than 99%, and the prognosis is generally very good.

We had originally expected to have the surgery today, but a newborn needed complex emergency surgery, and we got knocked off the schedule. While we're disappointed, we certainly want the newborn to get the best care possible, and we want the surgical team to be rested and ready for Bobby's procedure. We don't yet have a new date, but expect it to be in the coming days.

Bobby's doing fine. We're staying at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, which is great and has lots for Isabel to do. And Julie's sister Anne has very kindly come here to help us with Isabel this week. We're very impressed by the hospital and the care that Bobby's getting, and we feel good about the decision to come to Philadelphia.

A lot of people have asked us if there's anything they can do for us, but we're really OK, thanks in no small part to the Ronald McDonald House and its staff, volunteers, and donors. While you may not be able to help us directly, if you wanted to donate some food or take some time to volunteer at your local Ronald McDonald House, you could help a lot of families that are in similar situations.

I'm very fond of NPR, but I do get tired of the constant fundraising. If you've never given money to public radio or television, you may be unaware that in addition to the tote bag, Car Talk CD, Morning Edition mug, or other tchochke you get as a reward, you are also signed up for an eternity of junk mail and solicitous phone calls. One of the two NPR stations in the DC area, WETA, sends me something about once a week.

Recently, after endless hounding on and off the air for money to support "the kind of programming you've come to depend on", WETA quite suddenly changed formats from news to 24-hour classical. This is a bit like Amnesty International soliciting donations from you in desperate tones and then declaring that they've decided to devote all of their efforts to restoring historic houses.

So today I sent WETA a donation with the following letter:

Dear WETA:

Please accept my enclosed contribution of $500 as a token of the esteem in which I hold your programming.

Sincerely,

Robert Ryan-Silva


P.S. You may notice that while my past contributions have been denominated in US currency, on this occasion I am enclosing Monopoly money. I hope you will join me in celebrating this exciting change in format.