Nattyman Blog

Long time no see

2011-05-11T22:23:00.000-05:00

It has been exactly 2 years and 2 days since I posted last. Not much has happened. I still work at the same job. Still have the same kids. Still live in the same house. Still go to the same church. Still have the same wife... you get the point.

Just thought I would check in and say hi. Hi

Fixing The Water Leak

2009-05-09T23:22:00.006-05:00

My yard! My beautiful yard!!

Two years ago they were digging up my yard for a gas leak, now it's a water leak. Next time it better be because I struck gold.

...and up from the ground came a bubblin' crude...

2009-05-06T00:20:00.006-05:00

Heavy Machinary & Little Kids

2009-04-30T20:58:00.005-05:00

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I posted anything. There has been a lot going on and I haven't had time to keep up with blogging much. One major development in our lives is that Jenny has decided to begin a daycare. Her website is here (shameless search engine plug)Daycare in wichita kansas, home childcare (end shamless search engine plug).

Because she has decided to be a licensed daycare located in Wichita Kansas, instead of just registered we have had to make some changes around the house in order to pass the inspection. Nothing major really, put up some plexiglass around the railing on the stairs, install a gate at the top of the stairs... and build a frame around the playset in the backyard and move 11 tons of pea gravel into it! Thankfully I didn't have to do it with a shovel and wheelbarrow!

Driving this for four hours was even more fun then it looks. No really I am not being sarcastic.

Jacobs Piano Recital

2008-12-22T18:58:00.008-06:00

This was Jacob's 2nd recital. You can see how much he improved from last May here. Now he is doing both the treble and bass clef, and the notes are not labled on the sheet music.

Bush Shoe Incident

2008-12-16T12:31:00.002-06:00

Who throws a shoe? Honestly?

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T12:09:00.003-05:00

There is one thing that I really love about Halloween and it is the sense of community that you get walking through your neighborhood in the evening and stopping at all of your neighbors houses. The rest of it I don't really care for... We always get home way too late, and with way too much sugar. Overall we had a great time though. This year we went with 2 other neighbor boys (Jacobs best friend who he also sits next to in class), his little brother who just happens to be 4, the same as Ethan and their dad.

Darth Vaders holding Superman captive for a picture. Yes, they both wanted to be Darth Vader and they were both okay with the other one wanting to be the same thing.

Here they are at the neighbors house right before we head out together.

Super Sammie :-)

Conversation Piece

2008-10-10T23:33:00.000-05:00

What do you think when you see this?

Thank you NBC

2008-10-10T22:32:00.008-05:00

Last night we watched Heroes online because our DVR is not cooperating. They have a few short commercials throughout it. Here is what they consisted of:

1. Little girl neatly packing up the contents of her dollhouse. Mother comes in and says "come on Anna it is time to go". Camera pans back to see the room full of packed up boxes. Deep voiced man explains how "When you go through a foreclosure it doesn't just affect you".

2. Different little girl laying on her bed with images of pollution, deforestation and toxic waste being projected across her and the room. The girl sternly says "You promised me the world... Is this what you had in mind?"

3. Three young adolescent boys sitting around an old station wagon, with several other old cars parked next to it. The film quality is reminiscent of the early 80's. They are obviously bored, sitting in different positions, one on the ground one reclined on the hood and the other leaning on the wagon. They are completely disengaged with each other and fidgety. After 10 seconds of only hearing the basketball that one of them is apathetically bouncing, another man with a deep voice says "The community almost built them a community center... but almost is as close as they got". Then more quiet idleness and slow basketball dribbling.

So I just wanted to thank NBC for wiping that silly naive smile-of-life off my face and putting me in my place by reminding me that we live in a world where little girls are evicted from their dollhouses, we are destroying the planet for our children, and our teenagers are teetering on the brink of violent crime due to boredom and not building them a community center is sure to push them over the edge.

I thought I was just going to get an hour of fun entertainment, but instead I got a fresh outlook on life.

Introducing Peter...

2008-09-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, so maybe I am almost a month late, but he sure is cute... err, I mean, he looks like he is going to be a football player or maybe a firefighter.

That's Going To Hurt In The Morning

2008-09-25T21:57:00.001-05:00

Poor guy "fell"* off a neighbors trampoline and landed face first on the patio. He spent a few hours laying pathetically on the couch, took a short nap, then got up, ate chips and salsa and ran downstairs to play video games with Jacob. The bump is actually a lot worse than you can see in that picture. He is attempting, unsuccessfully, to pull his hair back for the picture.

*I say "fell", but actually he was pushed by someone whose name will go unmentioned.

Completely Lost

2008-09-11T19:40:00.003-05:00

We finally finished the 4th and most recent season of Lost. We started Netflixing the first 3 seasons last spring, but the fourth season we watched online because it isn't out on DVD yet. We were able to watch it in HD online which was very impressive. No lag time and short 30 second commercial breaks.

So for all of you who have so rudely talked about Lost in front of me and I have shushed you, or held my hands over my ears while loudly singing "LA LA LA", you may now speak freely in front of me or better yet to me about Lost and I will gladly listen.

For those of you who haven't watched it, I highly recommend seeing Lost, it is one of the best TV series of all time. I fought watching it for a long time because I thought it would be like the X-Files and just break my heart with a major let down by ending with some guy sitting in a cave smoking a cigarette and saying that the world was going to end in 2012. I was worried until lobiwan informed me that the producers specifically said it was not going to end in disappointment like the X-Files and that they have had the story line mapped out from the beginning.

Thank you lobiwan I will never doubt you again. I just can't believe that we have to wait until "early 2009" for the 5th season to begin.

Bad Day Addendum

2008-09-09T23:11:00.004-05:00

Before reading furthure please be sure to read the post "A Really Really Really Bad Day or One Good Thing is...." first, as this is an addendum to that.

This afternoon things were going better. I started to get hungry and we didn't have anything to eat so I went to Quiznos and got a sandwich with soup to go. As I pulled out of the parking lot it sounded like my back passenger tire was flat. So I pulled over as soon as I could and parked in front of this nail salon. Sure enough it was completely blown out. No problem though I have a spare and everything I need to change it. I tried calling Jenny and noticed that my cell phone was was almost out of batteries, strange I just charged it. She didn't answer. Oh well I figured I would have it changed in 10 minutes and be home in 15 anyway.

I took everything I needed out of the trunk, yes it was all there. I opened the side door so I could listen to NPR news while I took care of business. After placing the jack I removed all of the lug nuts, then I jacked up the car. A news story was on about ball jointed dolls. Aparrently they are all the craze now in Japan and gaining interest in the US. So I gave the wheel a good yank to pull it off and it didn't budge, no matter what I tried I could not get the wheel to move at all. I wiggled it, I kicked it, I spun it, I cursed at it. Nothing worked. I tried calling Jenny again, still no answer. I double checked the wheel to make sure I wasn't missing anything, no everything looked right, it should slip right off. These women spend thousands of dollars on these silly dolls that I guess look like real people, sounds like the setup for a B horror movie to me.

Oh I forgot to mention that this entire time I am working on this, two women where sitting 10 feet away from me in front of the nail salon talking about me in Vietnamese and laughing. I am sure it was a great time for them.

I still hadn't eaten my food, so I sat on the parking lot curb and ate my sandwich with my fingers black with grease and dirt. With what I am sure is the last bit of juice in my phone battery I eek one more call to Jenny, still nothing. So I called my Dad and it went something like this:

Dad: Hello.
Me: Dad, real fast I am almost out of phone batteries. I have a flat tire and I am parked next to Hollywood Video, try to get a hold of Jenny and let her know. I haven't been able to get a hold of her. I am trying to change the tire but I can't get it off. I have taken off all the lug nuts and it won't move, I think it is rusted on. Any ideas?
Dad: Well you haven't jacked the car up yet have you? You have to do that before it will come off.
Me: Yes Dad (In my mind that was a given, but apparently he has little faith in my automotive knowledge), I of course I jacked the car up...

We then discussed how I should walk to a nearby automotive place and see if they can help. Which is what I did. A nice man at the Jiffy-Lube gave me a can of "ZAP", basically WD-40, with the nozzle broken off so I had to push the spray stem up against what I wanted to spray. At this point it has been at least an hour since I left the house to get a quick sandwich and come straight home. On my way back to the car Jenny called, I told her what was going on. She felt adequatly sorry for not having heard my prior calls. I asked her to bring my hammer and a good can of WD-40. She said she was on her way.

Back at the car, one of the nail salonists (posibbly a made up word) started asking why I wasn't able to get it changed yet and I explained about it being rusted on, but not to worry because my wife was bringing me a hammer. She went in and brought out a big heavy hammer, perfect for what I needed. Did you know that a really nice pair of eyes for one of those dolls could set you back several hundred dollars.

I sprayed down the lug nuts as best I could with the broken spray can and started hamering away. It still took a surprising amount of whacking, but it eventually came out and I was putting the spare on when Jenny arrived. I finished everything up, we returned the can of "Zap" to the friendly people at Jiffy-Lube and went home. I stopped at QT to get a Coke on the way back. Jenny had asked me to get a pack of stamps while I was there. They were out, but gave me my drink for free.... maybe the day was turning around.

Some people go as far to treat the dolls like their children. One woman interviewed explained how she had a 17 year old girl with dark hair and an 8 year old boy with blonde hair... What a stupid news story, I don't think I really like ball jointed dolls.

A Really Really Really Bad Day or One Good Thing is....

2008-09-09T10:38:00.009-05:00

Well the one good thing is that he had only had water and saltines since last night, but let me start from the beginning. Three weeks ago Jenny came down with this strange mystery virus. It doesn't cause a fever, or runny nose, or coughing, any of the usual things that indicate that you are sick. It just made her feel bad; body aches, tiredness, general malaise. Stay at home mom's don't really get sick days so for the most part she still had all of her regular duties in child care. I think I went in late a couple of days so she could sleep in and I took at least half a day off. After about a week of this you start to wonder if the person is faking it, that is, you wonder until you come down with the same sickness. Fortunately she started getting over it as I came down with it.

So for the next week I felt horrible with no visible signs of sickness, then on the Friday of Labor Day weekend we had a trip planned to Buena Vista Co. I was pretty hesitant about it since I was still getting over being sick and I was still very tired. But we packed and hit the road. I had a sore throat and was exhausted the whole time, but it was okay otherwise. Even after getting back on Tuesday I still was not feeling my best. Finally after a few days I came down with a full blown cold, missed another day of work some where in there, I think... it is all pretty foggy, and slowly everyone else in the family has come down sick now too. Except Ethan.

I wish Ethan was sick because right now he is screaming "DADDY, I AM TALKING TO YOU" while I ignore him. He has been crying for me to put on a show for him for the last 10 minutes and I told him not right now, but that I would do it for him later. That isn't good enough though, he wants it "NOW!". Before that he was throwing a fit because he wanted his yo-yo back, before that he was throwing a fit because he was frustrated with the yo-yo because he couldn't get it to do what he wanted it to.

Jacob came home sick from school yesterday with a fever and since he absolutely refuses to take any medicine he suffers through his high temperatures with no relief. At about 4:00 this morning Jenny got up and went to Dillon's and Walgreen's because her ears were hurting so bad that she wanted to get some ear drops. After she got back and laid back down, around 5:00 Samuel starting crying. I put a shirt on him, covered him up better and gave him some of the ear drops (Finally Ethan went away... wait he is back... Jacob threw up in the toilet, he is okay though), so after laying Samuel back down in the middle of the night I checked on Jacob and he was burning up. I took his temperature and it said 106!! I freaked out a little bit, brain damage begins at 105 (or so I have heard). I woke Jenny back up and ran to get some ice water. She took his temp again several times and it only came to 103, whew, that was a close call. So Jenny laid back down and I finally convinced Jacob to take some Ibuprofen. That is the best he has ever done with taking medicine and he slept until after 9 this morning because of it.

Samuel has this 6th sense of knowing when I lay down. After finishing with Jacob at around 6:00 I laid down and as soon as I shut off my lamp, WHAAAAAA. Samuel was crying for something again. This time I held him for a little bit and gave him some Ibuprofen too. He slept fine after that.

After we got up this morning things are mostly a blur. I remember laying on the couch and Ethan and Samuel fighting over who could lay where on top of me. I remember Ethan bulling Samuel several times and whining because he was hungry (yes I did get up and feed him). Then he started with the aforementioned yo-yo at about 8:30 and hasn't stopped whining or crying or throwing a full blown fit ever since.

Jenny's ear problem was only getting worse. She already had a scheduled appointment this morning that she went to and when she came back she was obviously in extreme pain. She took some Ibuprofen, some more sudafed to help clear up her sinuses and then she even took some percocet left over from when I had my wisdom teeth removed (I am sitting on the deck right now and Mason, our dog, just chased a squirrel from out of a tree onto our house. He is looking down at me and for a moment I actually feared that he was going to pounce on me. I could see it in his beady little eyes. Whew, he is gone now. Off to hatch another evil plan). Still the pain was not letting up for Jenny. So she called her Dr. and scheduled an appointment for about an hour later at 10:50. She wanted to leave right then, and since she was in no shape to drive herself I loaded everyone up in the car to take her. The kids were mostly still in just their underwear, I had to carry Jacob from the couch out to the car. We pulled out of the driveway and drove up to the stop sign at the end of our street and Jacob said, "I feel like I am going to puke". I put the car in reverse and started to back up to our driveway again and BLAAAAAH.... BLAAAAAH... too late. The one good thing is that he had only had water and saltines since last night.

So Jenny took my car while I cleaned out the van. Ethan then threw a fit because we weren't going with Mommy. Jenny called about 45 minutes later and sounded horrible, I could barely understand anything she said, just that the doctor had given her some prescriptions that she was waiting to get filled at Walgreen's. When Jenny got home later, Ethan had thankfully calmed down and she was feeling a little better. She said that she got in to see the doctor early after they saw her putting finger dents in the armrest of her chair in the waiting room and that when the doctor looked in her ear, she gasped in surprise to see how swollen the inside was and that her ear drum was bleeding a little bit. There was a pinhole in it that was draining fluid and it might get bigger which would actually be a good thing because then it would drain faster. She gave Jenny a steroid, antibiotics and some oxycodone.

Things seem to have calmed down for the time being. The kids are quietly watching TV, Samuel is playing nicely, Jenny is resting in bed and now I have to figure out how to feed all of us . I really don't feel up to cooking anything and fast food sounds terrible... maybe I will just lay down while I have the chance.

I am sick of being sick!

Icon of Christ

2008-09-06T23:54:00.000-05:00

Tonight I took pictures for a friends family that was being chrismated into the Eastern Orthodox Church. St. George's Cathedral was already beautiful but this last week they put up this mural icon of Jesus made from thousands of little glass tiles. This is a huge mural up above the front intrance and they are working on St. John the Forerunner (John the Baptist) to the right of him and then they will start on the "Theotokos" (Mary the mother of Jesus) on the left, and around the corner facing the main street will be St. George (Saint George). They had to hire some guys from Italy who specialize in this sort of thing to create it. Unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice.

If you stare at the tile on the top left corner of the Bible and twist your eyes just right you will notice a picture of the Last Supper coming out at you in 3D.

Buena Vista

2008-09-06T23:36:00.001-05:00

We spent last weekend in Buena Vista, CO. It's very beautiful; completely surrounded by some of the tallest mountains in the world. Above is a composite of 6 pictures of one of the ranges. Mt. Princeton is the tall one on the left. The picture is more dramatic if you click on it to view a larger size.

"Mount Princeton (14,197 feet high) is one of the fourteeners of the US state of Colorado. It lies in the Collegiate Peaks, in the central part of the Sawatch Range, just west of the Arkansas River. While not one of the highest peaks of the Sawatch, it is perhaps the most dramatic, as it rises more abruptly from the Arkansas valley than the other peaks of the range."

-Wikipedia

Life of a Web Designer...

2008-08-27T14:30:00.001-05:00

I have been designing websites professionally for over 8 years now.
You would think that I would have thicker skin than I do by now, but
it never fails to get a nasty response from a client on a website and
it throws off the rest of my day. Here is the scenario: customer
asks for a website, they give you little to no direction. You create
a rough draft of said website and email them a link to preview it. As
expected it isn't what they envisioned. Customer then sends you a
nasty email about how disappointed they are and, if you are lucky,
they then give you all the detail of how they expected it to look in
the first place, but didn't bother to tell you until now. You are
then left with the mixed feelings of frustration, anger, and
insecurity. Frustration that they didn't tell you how they wanted it
to look to begin with. Anger that they would have the nerve to put
all the blame on you rather than saying something like "This is a good
starting point but we were looking for something more in this
direction...". Insecurity about the fact that I should be able to
read their mind.

My first reaction is always to get mad, then I think, "I am
professional and above this, I am not going to let it get to me". Then
I start blaming them for not communicating better with me or not
giving me enough information. The best solution is always to give
myself time to cool off before responding in any way. Finally after
some time, rather than trying to defend my self and accusing them, I
settle on accepting it and send them a professional email explaining
how I will work with them until they are happy with the end product.
It is a somewhat humiliating process because I have to take the Burger
King philosophy of "Your Way, Right Away", the customer is always
right.

I suppose I am much better at taking this sort of criticism now than I
was 5-8 years ago. It only bothers me for an hour or so now, and it
used to pull me down for a few days. I guess that is progress.

The Fastest Decade of My Life, or Time Flies When You Are Having Fun, or Spending 10 Years With Your Best Friend

2008-08-08T01:08:00.004-05:00

Today Jenny's and my marriage to each other turns 10 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARRIAGE!!

If you have some spare time you can read about those 10 exciting years in Jenny's newest post here.

No Line On The Horizon

2008-07-31T14:56:00.004-05:00

November 14!

Team Rip Your Heart Out and Shove It Down Your Throat

2008-07-16T00:16:00.004-05:00

When we first started the season and they were assigning us to our different teams and coaches, I gave the lady Jacobs name and she said ""Ok, he is on Team Caring". "What?", I said. "Are you serious? Team Caring is the name of our team? That has to be a joke! Why not just call us Team Lame, or Team Rainbow Lambs and Flowers? You name your ball team after some kind of ferocious or noble animal like, The Lions or The Stallions, not Team Caring!!" Ok, I didn't really say that to her, but I did think it.

We never spoke of that name again. I don't even think the boys ever knew that was the name of their team. How could I reveal such shame to them. They enjoyed the season though, and as you can see they "won" medals. I don't know what they did to win the medals, seeing as everyone else received one also, but I think it has something to do with paying the $55 to play T-Ball. Now I only wonder if later when they actually accomplish something and win a medal it will mean just a little bit less because of this.

Last Game...

2008-07-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

Ok really they have one more game. A make-up game on Saturday.

T-Ball

2008-06-10T22:12:00.001-05:00

Jacob and Ethan started t-ball this year. They are on the same team which makes things easier for the whole family. I forgot to bring a camera to the first game so these pictures are from their second game. This week there was much improvement about not running to get the ball if it is on the other side of the field and then tackling everyone else in order to get the ball first. You can see an example of that in the bottom picture.

The games are pretty simple. We only play 2 innings. Everyone gets to bat each inning and everyone plays the field (it gets a little crowded). There are no stikes or outs and we don't keep score. I guess if we did keep score the team with the most players would win since everyone gets to run the bases.

Mr. Intense

The ball went right into his glove.

Jacob Batting

2008-06-10T22:11:00.001-05:00

Ethan Batting

2008-06-10T22:10:00.001-05:00

Not much to say

2008-06-07T22:26:00.002-05:00

I remember a Seinfeld episode where Jerry walks into his apartment and hits play on his answering machine to hear "It's George... uhh, I don't have anything to say" Click.

Thats me. Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything.

The Rise of the Rest

2008-05-05T17:55:00.001-05:00

Here is a rather long article but well worth the read. If you are depressed about world news give it a try b/c it is very optimistic. If you can take the time I would love to hear what others think. I am sure for some it will raise red flags about a one world government, but that isn't what globalization is about and I think it is very sad and disheartening when Christians end up on the other side of supporting billions of people rising out of abject poverty! Below is a quote near the end of the story that gives a good summation to conclude the article. Mainly I like his optimism and talk about the "growing pie".

‘The Post-American World’ or 'The Rise of the Rest'

Americans—particularly the American government—have not really understood the rise of the rest. This is one of the most thrilling stories in history. Billions of people are escaping from abject poverty. The world will be enriched and ennobled as they become consumers, producers, inventors, thinkers, dreamers, and doers. This is all happening because of American ideas and actions. For 60 years, the United States has pushed countries to open their markets, free up their politics, and embrace trade and technology. American diplomats, businessmen, and intellectuals have urged people in distant lands to be unafraid of change, to join the advanced world, to learn the secrets of our success. Yet just as they are beginning to do so, we are losing faith in such ideas. We have become suspicious of trade, openness, immigration, and investment because now it's not Americans going abroad but foreigners coming to America. Just as the world is opening up, we are closing down.

Jacobs 1st Piano Recital

2008-05-04T22:24:00.005-05:00

Jacob started piano lessons with Calana in January. Today he had his first recital. This was the first time he has ever done anything in front of a large group (about 50 people) by himself. I was very impressed with how he handled himself. Later he said he really liked it and when asked said that he wasn't nervous at all.

Here are the 2 songs that he did.

512 Ahhhhhh!!!!

2008-04-30T12:45:00.004-05:00

Possibly the coolest license plate ever!!!

The Waiting Place...

2008-04-26T13:33:00.003-05:00

Waiting for a train to go
or bus to come or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a YES or NO
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting."

Nuclear Power & The Environment

2008-04-25T12:16:00.003-05:00

I have liked Patrick Moore for a while now. I think for an environmentalist he seems to have a pretty level head and realistic attitude towards how we should balance energy needs and protecting the environment.

Greenpeace founder now backs nuclear power

"Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore says there is no proof global warming is caused by humans, but it is likely enough that the world should turn to nuclear power...." more >>

The Good News: I didn't cut my arm off

2008-04-23T23:50:00.003-05:00

Welp, I survived another tree trimming season. Every spring I have to get out my chainsaw and take care of the jungle in our backyard and every year I am afraid of cutting off one of my own limbs. Last year while I was working in the backyard a neighbor two houses down was in his backyard using his chainsaw. I just happened to look over and see him cut off a branch and his later fall out from underneath him. I jumped up on one of the kids toys and yelled over to see if he was ok. I didn't hear an answer right away so I ran over to climb the fence when I saw his wife come out of the house and another guy who must have been with him frantically yell up to her to go get some towels. Now, any time someone is using a chain saw and there is an accident where someone yells "Go get a bunch of towels", that is not a good sign. Soon the paramedics arrived and he was taken to the emergency room. I never did find out what happened but the incident did nothing but confirm my fear for my chainsaw.

This year I just took care of some minor trimming myself and we hired a professional service to "lift the skirt", or whatever dirty metaphor it is called, on our 2 big maple trees. My goal is to be able to grow grass in our backyard. Right now all we have is dirt. you know the growing conditions are bad when even the weeds can't take root. If you remember, last year I planted grass and it came up nice until we got about 8 inches of rain in a month. It flooded the yard for too long and the grass died. Apparently swamp like conditions are not ideal for grass. This year I decided I would give it another try. I have a 2 fold approach. First, I realized that a raised garden bed along the back fence was working as a dam, so I removed the railroad ties and leveled the ground. Second, we trimmed the trees quit a bit yesterday morning and hopefully that will give the ground the sunlight that it needs.

It is amazing how hard it can be to recover just a small piece of land from years of neglect. It has taken us 3 Spring/Summers to finally have the backyard in what I would call respectable shape. Mostly it just needed A LOT of pruning and trimming. Even though I had already done a lot over the last 2 years, the entire ground was covered with branches when the trimmers were done. It took 2 of them at least 30 minutes just to load what they cut and the brush pile I already had onto their flatbed.

I hope to plant the grass in the next few days. I will keep you updated on the progress or lack thereof, but the weather doesn't look like it is going to make it easy for me.

Water Fight After the Rain Tonight

2008-04-23T23:18:00.001-05:00

"Ethan don't shoot me I have my camera!"

"Can you hold still for just 5 seconds so I can get a picture of you that isn't blurry."

Shooting the spider on the back of my car

Wishing he could run with the big boys

Cow Town Field Trip

2008-04-23T23:12:00.001-05:00

A Flying Cow
...and you hate it when a bird poops on your windshield!

Virtual House Fire

2008-04-17T14:34:00.005-05:00

Several months ago the processor on our computer went bad. The computer had lived a good life and was in need of being replaced anyway so then I finally had a good reason. I ordered the parts to build the new computer, but when I removed the hard drives I placed one of them on the desk with the intent of adding it to the new computer later. This was the drive that had all of our pictures and music on it. I am talking thousands of songs and tens of thousands of pictures! Then a magnet was accidentally set on top of the drive.

The drive was quite a mess. To make a long story short I was sort of able to recover most of the pictures and luckily I had all of the music and most of the pictures backed up elsewhere. I suppose we may never know for sure how much was lost. It was like a virtual house fire. One of the things that people fear most with a house fire, other than the loss of life, is losing those irreplacable things like family pictures.

The digital age we live in comes with pluses and minuses. The negative thing is that rather than taking a rare fire or flood to destroy 10 years of family memories it can take one simple little magnet. The advantage is that it is easy to have multiple copies of these digital items like music, pictures and documents. But of course you have to take the time to make sure you actually back them up. After lots of searching I think I have found a pretty good and inexpensive solution. Its called iDrive. You install a small program to your computer, configure the settings and it backs up all of your files, and this part is important, to an off site location! You aren't just backing up files to another hard drive in your house, which is better than nothing, but still vulnerable to theft and fires, but you are backing up to a secure server located somewhere else. It uses 128 bit encryption both in trasmitting the data and in storage, you can access the backup from any computer with an internet connection and you can have 2 GB of storage for free! If you need more than that, it is less than $5 per month. A great deal if you ask me.

Remember it is not a question of if your hard drive fails it is just a matter of when. Keep in mind that most hard drives have a life of 2 to 5 years at the most. Please, please, please take my advice and make sure that you have some kind of backup system, it will save you a lot of frustration and heartache later on.

The Big Three-Oh!

2008-04-15T10:13:00.005-05:00

Well I completed my 30th year of breathing today. Of course such a monumental occasion makes one contemplative of their life. Hmmm... so let's see, professional things are good (maybe more on that later), family life is great. I have 3 perfect little boys, and I am in love with Jenny more than ever! Spiritually... that one is a bit tougher. Either I am closer to God than I have ever been or further than ever. To say that I have gone through a sort of spiritual paradigm shift over the last year and a half would be an understatement. While the essentials of my faith have stayed the same, I have taken a critical look at nearly all of the beliefs that I have embraced for the last 20 some years, and changed many of them to one degree or another. Some of these new beliefs have left me at odds with the majority of mainline Christianity.

At times this growth has been fun and exciting and other times it has been remarkably painful. Last night was one of the painful times. I meet with a group of Eastern Orthodox guys on Monday nights. As the only "Protestant" (I don't really like that term b/c I am not protesting anything) in the group they normally know what to expect from me. Of course I am not going to agree with praying to saints, venerating Mary, or submitting to the Eastern Orthodox hierarchy (limited though it may be), but last night I surprised them. Last night against my will, and better judgment, I espoused an idea that not only went against the Orthodox Church but most of evangelicalism today. And although all of these friends were earnest and polite in their discussion of this issue I still couldn't help but feeling beat up, defeated and heretical when I got home. It was bad enough that two of them had to call me directly afterward to make sure, first that I was okay and second, to further express their concern.

Even if I am very wrong, this could be a good experience, right? I once heard someone say that everyone should be involved in a heresy at one point or another in their life that is so great that they will forever be more forgiving and gracious to others (or something like that). Still it is hard to be in the minority. It is hard to have everyone around you think you are crazy. It is hard to not have the majority of Christian thought or Christian history to fall back on. There is great safety in numbers. On this point I envy my Orthodox friends. It seems very comforting to say "this is the way things have always been and greater men than I have already made a decision on this issue so who am I to question it."

I suppose in some small microscopic way this is how Peter and the Apostles felt when they declared that Christ had risen, or how Paul felt when he completely reversed course and started preaching the Gospel that he had persecuted, or Martin Luther when he nailed his points to the Church door. On the other hand this is probably how all of the "great" heretics of history felt too. Is the only thing that separated them from the great champions of the faith that they were wrong?

Anyway, I am going to try to forget about this for now and start enjoying my birthday, I have taken the day off work and we are going to go eat lunch now.

Have a happy tax day :-)

Chucky Jesus?

2008-04-13T11:44:00.004-05:00

This morning Jacob has been asking me to give him words to spell on paper. So we went through things like "run", "jump", "sun", etc... Then he rolled out some play dough and wanted to spell words with it. So I asked him if he could spell "Jesus". He asked if it had a "Z" in it and I explained to him how the letter "s" makes the "z" sound sometimes. As we were sounding out the word "Jesus" several times, Ethan said "Chucky Jesus". I looked at him and he said "I want to go to Chucky Jesus". At this point I realized that in 4 year old language "cheeses" and "Jesus" are pronounced virtually the same. So I asked him if he realized that it is "cheeses" not "Jesus", like what we eat on Pizza. He looked up at me and smiled with a sheepish smile that told me that all this time he thought his favorite place in the world to eat was "Chucky Jesus".

The Mirth Mobile

2008-04-11T09:19:00.004-05:00

Only 10 hours left to to own an excellent piece of Wayne's World memorabilia.

Wayne's World AMC Pacer Up For Sale on Ebay

"You are bidding on a 1976 Amc Pacer, this car is the coolest of the un-cool and the most famous pacer ever. This is a rare chance to own a real Paramount pictures built Wayne's World Pacer. This car was built by Paramount as a prop for the Paramount Kings Island ride, Stan Milenkos."

"Party on, Wayne", "Party on, Garth!"

Samuel Meets Johanna

2008-04-08T22:50:00.000-05:00

Johanna is Samuels new cousin.

Samuel Falling Asleep.

2008-04-08T22:45:00.000-05:00

Samuel after a long hard day. He couldn't even stay awake to finish his pizza crust.

The Boys on Easter

2008-04-08T22:22:00.002-05:00

Just catching up on some picture posts. These are hip shots (meaning that I wasn't looking through the lens so they are more candid b/c the boys weren't expecting it) taken on Easter day.

3 kids = Showoffs :-)

2008-04-07T11:32:00.002-05:00

Funny, I don't feel like a showoff, but I thought this was an interesting article in the Washington Post. Reading about the snobby and neurotic lives of the "upper-middle class" is enough to make me agree with Obama's crazy ex-pastor about avoiding "middle-classness". I did enjoy the below quote from the article though.

Three Kids? You Showoffs.
As for my husband and me, we hardly have unlimited resources, but we're still planning to go forth and multiply in the big city. The way we figure it, one day our children will be grateful for what we didn't give them -- and what we did for them instead.

My One Pet Peeve

2008-04-02T17:54:00.001-05:00

I am normally a pretty laid back kind of guy. Not easily offended. In fact, you would typically have to go out of your way and put special effort into it in order to offend me. There is one thing that gets me every time though. Our email at work displays our names as "Last name,First name" so everyone glances at that and, without thinking, assumes that my last name is my first name so they call me that. I am cursed to be the man with 2 first names. When someone calls me by my last name, thinking it is my first name, it drives me crazy! I don't know why it bothers me so much. Of course I don't say anything to the offender, I just bottle it up inside and let them call me that over and over and over.

The End Of A Rope - Update

2008-03-28T21:52:00.003-05:00

(Reference Here)

There has been an amazing turn of events for my friend at work who's wife has been very sick for the last year. She has started to recover! She is learning to walk with a walker, so she is regaining movement and feeling in the side of her body that wasn't working. She is also getting her memory back. They found a dead spot in her brain that might have been the cause of everything, but the brain is an amazing organ and is apparently working around the dead tissue and "re-wiring" itself. She still has a way to go before things are great but she is now at home with I believe minimal supervision during the day and over all things are looking up. Chris was able to go ahead and sell the house with just enough to pay of the mortgage and Realtor, but at least it didn't destroy his credit.

Chivalry, Anyone?

2008-03-26T09:55:00.001-05:00

I have always believed in being polite and even chivalrous when it comes to the fairer sex but there is one thing that has always been kind of a gray area. Of course when you are with a lady you open the door for her, that much is simple, and if a woman is right behind you, going into our out of a building you hold the door for them also... but how far does that courtesy extend? If they are five feet behind you, yes get the door. If they are ten feet behind you, yes get the door. But what about 15 or 20 feet? This happens all the time at my work and I still don't know what to do. If I just open the door and walk through letting it close behind me I feel like a jerk, but if I stand there and hold it open, what always happens is the woman then feels rushed and has to hurry to get through the door so that they don't inconvenience you too much... and I end up feeling like a jerk. It seems like a no win situation.

This is just one of the many moral dilemmas that face men on a daily basis. Another would be should we put the toilet seat back down in a public bathroom? My feeling is, if it is a male only bathroom leave the seat up but if it is for men or women put it down.

Lost and Found

2008-03-24T17:21:00.003-05:00

Mason (our dog) slipped out of the house on Friday afternoon while my mom, sister and brother were here. He used to run away at every chance but about 2 years ago he spent a night in the dog pound and then stopped running away... until the last few weeks. He ran away twice 3 weeks ago but he had on his tag which had our address and phone number on it so people found him and brought him back. When he ran away on Friday Rachel was pretty upset but Jenny and I said someone will just bring him back like they always do. We didn't bother to go looking for him because that has never worked in the past. Later that night my stomach sank when I put the boys to bed and found his collar sitting on their dresser! No one would be bringing him back that night.

Rachel and I went looking for him for about a half hour with no luck. Then I came back and made the above missing poster and Jenny and I put about a dozen of them up along the nearest major road. All that was left was to sit around and wait.

The next day I saw him come trotting out of one of the bedrooms, where he had presumably just fallen asleep and not heard us call for him... but alas I awoke to find it only a dream.

The dog pound would open at 1:00 and we could call them then but thankfully right about 1:00 I got a phone call from someone that had found him and saw one of our posters at the same time. He was still out roaming the streets almost 24 hours later. They picked him up and brought him to our house within a minute of calling us. It was a big relief for the whole family.

Sorry it has been so long.

2008-03-24T12:13:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures from the zoo last Saturday.

Not sure why Rachel is not in this picture.

The End Of A Rope

2008-02-05T11:44:00.001-06:00

I have a friend at work who's wife has been very sick for the last year now and in the hospital for most of that time. For a long time she was in a lot of pain. They have "cured" the pain but at the expense of losing the ability to use the leg where the pain was coming from. I'm not sure what the problem was or still is but I don't think the doctors know either. Now she can't take care of herself at all, she can't walk, and she has no short term memory, she can't even tell you what she had for lunch earlier that day. Thankfully she is no longer in pain and for the most part I think she is comfortable and content. However the insurance has run out! She can't stay in the hospital anymore but she requires 24x7 care. She is only in her late 40's so Social Security can't help. She was supposed to leave the hospital last Friday but there wasn't anywhere else for her to go so they still have her for now. He has to "walk away" from one of the houses they own here in town and hand it over to the bank with the hopes that this will allow them to qualify for help. This foreclosure will destroy his credit but he can't sell it b/c the money might disqualify her from Government help. She has no living family and they have only lived in town for about 2 years.

Please be praying for Chris and his wife. If anyone knows of any kind of service that can help with this please let me know. He is at the end of his rope with no safety net.

IM Gaffe

2008-01-10T21:58:00.000-06:00

Jenny said I had to post this within two days or she was going to. (Are there any other couples out there that argue over who is going to get to post something on their blog?)

So my co-worker/cubicle neighbor/friend at work told me this morning that someone had offered him a job interview down in Houston. He loves his job but kind of feels like he needs to get out of this town. So, later that morning, I heard him talking on the phone and actually setting up the hotel and car rental for this job interview - yes, while at his current job. I teased him over IM (Instant Messenger for the less computer savvy) about how tacky and inappropriate it was. That afternoon, he came over to my cubicle with his eyes wide open whispering about how he was trying to ask me over IM if he should tell our boss, or if I thought she would just fire him... I think you see where this story is going now... Haha. Of course he had accidentally typed it into her IM window!! Now he didn't know what to do. Quickly, we figured out that he should say, like he was finishing the sentence, "...about how I bawled out a customer and about that big wart on her face." Thus making it look like it was a joke done on purpose. Unfortunately, it took too long for him to come over and talk to me, so in the meantime she said, "I am assuming that wasn't meant for me." Oh man, even now that makes me laugh. I think he did what he could to cover it up, but I am pretty sure she saw right through it.

Another quick story about this same character. In a noble effort to save money on eating out, he decided to turn his cubicle into a kitchen. He now has a fairly large-sized mini-fridge in his cube, along with a toaster with one of those little egg cookers on it, some kind of newfangled meat pocket toasting device that looks like a cross between a toaster and a crock-pot, an actual crock-pot and some kind of thing that looks like an oven-toaster but is actually a microwave I guess. Today for lunch, he had Hamburger Helper cooked in his crock-pot. And yes, each of these devices is against company policy.

R.I.P. DRM!!

2008-01-10T16:57:00.001-06:00

This is very good news for music!

Sony Drives Another Nail in the DRM Coffin - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Post Christmas Videos

2008-01-04T21:40:00.000-06:00

He really wants to get the camera. I'm sure to put it in his mouth!

Extreme Close-up, Ethan Style

Help Wanted!

2007-12-11T10:01:00.000-06:00

Do you need a job? Considering a career in computer technology? Then do I have the job for you!

Systems Analyst (aka Web Designer)

Plus you get to work with me! What more could you ask for.

Seriously though if you know webpage design then this is a great job. It is with a good solid company with great benefits. What you really need to know is Dreamweaver and html. Knowledge of ASP and javascript are important and experience with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash would be a good plus.

Frost Bite

2007-12-10T22:02:00.000-06:00

And yet so far the roads are just wet and not icey.

This one is out of focus but I thought it just looked kind of cool.

Samuel

2007-11-25T20:22:00.000-06:00

I saw the sun set over the ocean last night.

2007-11-05T19:30:00.001-06:00

Last night I saw the sun set over the ocean from about 20,000 ft. I was unexpectedly on my way to Torrance CA (LA area). It all started... (begin blurry picture taking you into a flash back sequence). Friday morning my manager asked to meet me in one of the conference rooms. I knew something was up because normally we schedule meetings in advance and they usually involve our whole team or at least more than just me. As I walked to the conference room I had to remind myself that there wasn't any reason to fire me I am just being paranoid.

In the meeting I was informed that a gentleman in Torrance had just handed in his resignation with one weeks notice. He was in charge of a certain portion of our company website and they wanted me to take on his job. I guess they were planning on moving this position to our department sometime down the road, but his quiting had forced their hand. They were going to try to fly him out to train me but by lunch I was told that more people than just the guy I was replacing were needed in that task. So the rest of the afternoon was spent negotiating how long I needed to be here for. The "higher-ups" wanted me to come on Sunday and stay through Thursday, but in the end we compromised with me coming home Wednesday afternoon (by compromise I mean my manager and I decided to just buy a ticket for Wednesday afternoon and they would just have to deal with it).

The website I will be handling is here: http://prosystemfxsupport.tax.cchgroup.com/ It is the support section for all of our software and includes over 13,000 pages. It is a great opportunity because every department in the company will send me the updates they need for their portion of the site, so it will get my name out there more. It is also a great opportunity for elevating the stature of my department...

So I just found out that the meeting I was waiting around for got canceled. Time to get something to eat. With the time change being this last weekend on top of the 2 hour time difference I feel like everything is 3 hours behind. So right now it is 5:35 but my stomach is telling me it is 8:35 and I should have eaten hours ago.

Purchase wedding pictures

2007-10-24T09:53:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to a web album that you can order pictures of the wedding from.

http://nattyman.shutterfly.com/

More Katrina/Joe Wedding Pix

2007-10-23T16:37:00.001-05:00

I have never seen Katrina as embarrassed as she was at this moment

Lovely Anna

Waiting for the Bride

Thanks for looking at the camera Chelsea

A few more pictures here...

Congratulations Katrina & Joe!!

2007-10-21T23:08:00.001-05:00

more pictures to come...

In Rainbows

2007-10-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

I took this with my cellphone leaving work tonight. It was the biggest brightest fullest rainbow I have ever seen. I could clearly see both ends of it and everything in between.

Speaking of Rainbows, you may have noticed I added a little music player over on the right hand side with 3 songs in it. These are from the latest 3 albums that I have bought.

Alexi Murdoch's Orange Sky from "Time Without Consequence", I think everyone will like. It is kind of folksy laid back music. The entire CD is very simple and peaceful both musically and lyrically.
Radiohead's Bodysnatcher, is my favorite song from their latest album "In Rainbows" (fitting for the picture above), their experimental project allowing you to download the entire album for whatever price you want to pay. The CD itself is nothing ground breaking on their part, but if you like their last few albums you should like this one too.
Emery is a band whose first 2 albums I bought because Aaron Sprinkle produced them. Then when I listened to the full songs they had screaming in parts of them. I was pretty disappointed at first but I really liked the rest of the music so I thought I would try pushing through. After listening to the songs several times I not only liked them in spite of the screaming but partially because of it. This is the only band with screaming that I have ever liked. Their newest album "I'm Only a man" has very little screaming in it but I would also say it is not quite as good as the last 2 either. This particular song, "The Movie Song" doesn't not have any screaming so listen at ease :-)

My favorite of these three is the one that I only discovered because iTunes recommended it to me and it also has the greatest mass appeal to those of you who read my blog (I think), Alexi Murdoch's "Time Without Consequence".

I don't normally ask questions. Probably for fear of nobody answering them and then looking stupid, but I will take a chance today and ask what are some of the recent albums you bought and did you like them?

Second Chances

2007-10-17T18:17:00.001-05:00

Does anyone else have someone from their past that they feel like they could have been a better friend to? Monday I saw someone here at my office that I have known since 6th grade. He was with a big group that was going through orientation so I didn't approach him and I don't think he saw me. I figured I would see him around and catch him at a better time but I haven't seen him since. We were pretty good friends in 6th grade and that carried over some into Jr. High but started to taper off and I barely even saw him in High School. Later on he had some trouble with the law. His mother started going to my Church and I think she really wanted me to pick up my friendship with him again... but it never happened.

The last time I saw him before Monday was probably at least 5 years ago when he attended that same church for a few months.

I have been looking for him for the last 3 days with no luck, but just a few minutes ago I walked past the empty training room and noticed that the computers had paper name placards on them. I found the one with his name and left him a short message to call my phone number, not telling him who it was though.

He is one of the people in my life that I always regretted I wasn't more intentional with. I can't name any one specific incident where I was a jerk to him or anything, just an overall negligence.

Perhaps this week I have a second chance.

Samuels Super Smile

2007-10-14T22:47:00.001-05:00

Its all about the mustache...

2007-10-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

This is the true reason for growing my beard!

I had fun with this at work today. I like how it makes me look continually mad. I am actually smiling in this picture.
RELEVANT Gentleman's Society

Bonus video of Jacob on his bike!

Bonus video of Ethan on his trike.

Irony... perhaps?

2007-10-10T16:18:00.001-05:00

Here in my department at work we just lost one of our 3 phone support guys and another one has been sick all week. This means that me and the other graphics guy have been having to help cover the phones (sounds worse than it is).

I just took a call from a nice Indian gentleman...

Guess what Jacob learned today?!!

2007-10-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

see more here >>

Flying X-Wing Style!

2007-10-03T14:55:00.001-05:00

Man, would I love to be there when they launch this thing... not too close of course.

Rocket-Powered 21-Foot-Long X-Wing Model Actually Flies

Andy Woerner and his crazy rocketeer friends have built a 21-foot long X-Wing model that can actually fly. Yes, this is a real X-Wing powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines complete with radio-controlled moving wings. It blasts off in California next week...

Redefining the music industry!

2007-10-01T12:17:00.001-05:00

...and it is about time. Record labels have proven to be the bane of the music industry for years and now we are at a point where we can cut out the middle man. Thank you Radiohead for taking this first step!

How Radiohead killed the record labels

"The announcement in the early hours of this morning of the imminent arrival of In Rainbows, the seventh Radiohead album, is hugely exciting for the band's millions of fans. In Rainbows, boxed set Potentially though it's even bigger news for the music industry. Released in ten days time, the album is available as a digital download for whatever price you want to pay. Radiohead may have done irreparable damage to the industry's traditional business model."

I can see a future where the major record labels are either dead or are vastly smaller than they are now. With computer technology for recording and the internet for distribution and marketing there is no longer a need for these juggernauts that cater to the lowest common denominator, stifle music, inhibit creativity, and rip-off artists! The RIAA has made their bed by alienating their clients with scare tactics and now it is time to see them reap the benefits of their unholy army of lawyers.*

(*if none of this makes any sense it is because I am highly medicated)

A little less wise...

2007-09-28T23:05:00.000-05:00

I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed this morning (Friday). I have been putting it off for a good ten years now and I was a little nervous going into it. I would have to say it has been worse than I imagined it would be. The first 4 hours afterword were extremely painful and miserable. The first Percocet didn't do any good, finally I took a second one about 2 hours later and it helped. The worst part now is that I can't read without getting nauseous! Even now I am looking off to the side as I type this to avoid looking at the screen as much as possible. So I am extremely bored. Also I have been having problems getting them to stop bleeding. Right now I am sitting here with a tea bag crammed into the back of my mouth because the acid in it is supposed to help stop the bleeding. Well that is all I can handle for now or I am going to go puke.

*

2007-09-26T09:18:00.001-05:00

Baseball Barry Bonds hit for home run No. 756 to be branded with an asterisk - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

"The ball Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756th home run will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame, its owner said Wednesday."

I love it! An asterisk, it's brilliant! I love the sign that I saw in the stands at one point that said "Babe did it on beer and braughts!". That pretty much says it all.

Avast ye mateys! Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

2007-09-19T09:17:00.001-05:00

Arghhh, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day - Telegraph

Hit the rum, shout "shiver me timbers" or "avast, ya scurvy varmints" and integrate the following words into your lexicon: Matey, booty, Arghhh, buried treasure, plank, scoundrel, plunder etc.

If ye be havin' trouble this may be o' help: http://www.syddware.com/cgi-bin/pirate.pl

The Biggest Loser - Season Preview

2007-09-11T08:45:00.001-05:00

Jez is going to be on TV tonight! Don't miss it. 7:00 Central time 2 hour special.

Here is a note about the above clip from Karen on Aug. 2nd:

He is SO embarrassed! The one time he cried was when they told him he did not make it on the show after he thought he had - and he really had (it was part of the story line). But that is what they showed on the teaser clips. Needless to say he did not have a very good day yesterday after he saw it. That's Hollywood. They use you how they want to. Never the less he is about 100 pounds down so I think that is worth a little public humiliation. As Pastor Kent used to say "You can't humiliate a humble guy". Stay tuned to see the manly man emerge

Jatropha: From Weed to Biofuel

2007-09-10T14:08:00.001-05:00

Since I have several readers who know considerably more on this subject than I do, I would be interested in what you have to say about this. It seems like about every month or so we read about some new possible energy source. This one sounded unique and promising being a fast growing weed that is a natural pesticide in itself and drought resistant. We hopefully wouldn't see the problems that we do now with rising corn and other grain prices.

Mali’s Farmers Discover a Weed’s Potential Power - New York Times

...a plant called jatropha is being hailed by scientists and policy makers as a potentially ideal source of biofuel, a plant that can grow in marginal soil or beside food crops, that does not require a lot of fertilizer and yields many times as much biofuel per acre planted as corn and many other potential biofuels.

jatropha can grow on virtually barren land with relatively little rainfall, so it can be planted in places where food does not grow well. It can also be planted beside other crops farmers grow here

Manhattan MAdGwICk

2007-09-05T10:43:00.001-05:00

Georgia Grace

"Mountain" Climbing

The "Tubes"

more...

Jenny talks about our trip some in her latest post.

U2 News

2007-08-29T14:17:00.001-05:00

Rolling Stone : U2’s Next Album Is “Making Itself,” Says Daniel Lanois

In June, Rock Daily reported that acclaimed artists/producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were starting work with U2 on the band’s next album, the follow-up to 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Here’s a status report, straight from Lanois, who has produced a handful of albums for the band, including 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire, 1987’s The Joshua Tree and 1991’s Achtung, Baby...

I am just excited to hear that they are working on the new album!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prayer of Saint Francis

2007-08-27T23:48:00.001-05:00

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

more...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!

2007-08-24T00:12:00.001-05:00

Now I am not one to give away a ladies age but this is a big one and lets just say it rhymes with "dirty".

She is an amazing wife and a great mother and I am very blessed to have her in my life. She wouldn't believe it but I am always impressed with how she is able to handle 3 kids 5 and under all day by herself.

Everyone be sure to flood her Inbox with Birthday wishes.

Relevant

2007-08-09T16:29:00.000-05:00

I have been listening to the Relevant Podcast for about 6 months now. It "features the editors of RELEVANT magazine discussing the news, issues and entertainment that matters to your life—with in-studio music performances and interviews thrown in for kicks."

The show is usually about an hour long with no commercials, just fun. It consists of 3 guys and a girl sitting around and chatting just like any of us might do with 3 of our friends. The only difference is their discussions are recorded and include having a band showing up and playing a few songs. Sometimes they will also interview a Christian author, like Don Miller.

The podcast is released late Friday nights, but it leaves me with something to look forward to listening to at work on Monday. I highly recommend at least giving it a try for a few weeks. The magazine, which I just subscribed to, is also great and the website has a plethora of interesting articles as well.

Stan Revealed

2007-08-09T15:30:00.001-05:00

By the way here is a picture of Stan for those of you who were wondering.

The Ascent of Stan

Colorado Springs

2007-08-09T14:56:00.000-05:00

Thanks everyone for your ideas. Last night we ate at The Blue Star Which was excellent. The Halibut special was amazing. Then we went and saw a late movie of Live Free or Die Hard, which I was glad to catch before it left the theatre. Wichita is truly privileged to have the Warren Theatres. The movie theatre we went to last night, Tinsel Town USA, was nice and well kept but the screen was small and the sound was terrible. I suppose it was probably on par with most movie theatres around the country but when you are used to watching things at the Warren it sets a standard that no one else can meet.

This morning we slept in and then ate lunch at a nearby Denny's, blah. Do not eat at the Denny's at I-25 and Lake View. Now we are sitting and relaxing in Agia Sophia in Old Colorado City. It was recommended by Josh at Eighth Day Books, and is a cool little coffee chop and Christian book library.

9 years

2007-08-08T11:49:00.001-05:00

Today is our 9 year wedding anniversary. We are in GC this morning dropping the 2 elder boys off with family and we are about to leave for Colorado Springs. Does anybody know anything fun to do there? We have Internet at our hotel so I will check back later.

Vote Yes!

2007-08-07T09:29:00.001-05:00

Vote Yes to:

Increase bankruptcy in our community
Increase crime in our neighborhoods
Break up homes and families
Send an open invitation to the mob to move into Wichita
Increase "taxes" on the poor and middle class (The upper class are less likely to gamble)
Make a portion of our local budget dependent upon addicts
Prey upon the weak willed
Hear things like...
"Mommy mommy I am hungry. What are we going to have for dinner today?"
"Quiet, mommy blew all the grocery money this week at the slot machines. Now eat your stale bread"

These are just some of the reasons that I think it is important to Vote Yes, Yes today!

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/8962217.html

Thank you for your sacrifice

2007-08-02T11:40:00.001-05:00

I received a call from my dad yesterday telling my that my cousin Ambers husband had been killed in Iraq yesterday morning by an IED. If you live in GC you have probably already heard about it. Travis Bachman was only 30 years old and left behind 2 children with Amber. I just wanted to say something on here in order to honor his service to our country and the ultimate sacrifice that he and his family made. I ask that anyone reading this will take a moment to pray for those he left behind.

Here is the news story including some video and an interview with Amber.
http://www.kake.com/news/headlines/8858862.html#

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In other news I am thankful to say that my aunt and uncle safely drove over the I-35 W bridge, like they do every day, just 2 hours before it collapsed yesterday.

The Ascent of Stan

2007-07-31T16:35:00.001-05:00

I first met Stan in our Kitchen. He was different than the others... quiet and calm. I decided right away that I liked him. His uniqueness drew me to him and I decided to let him stay.

The next day I found Stan in the hallway. The kids thought he was cool too. That evening he had moved to the stairs coming from the entryway. I rarely saw him move, he would just appear in different places. The next day he had relocated to the dinning room.

Then I didn't see Stan

Until later in the shower. I was singing a Ben Folds song in my mind. That is when I saw him staring down at me again. After the surprise I laughed out loud. That is when I decided to name him Stan, after the Ben Folds song I was singing.

He seems to like it in the bathroom off of our bedroom because he has stayed in there for several days now. He will never find his purpose in our house though and so soon i will set him free.

Real Life or Scooby Doo?

2007-07-23T15:21:00.000-05:00

I did very poorly on this test.

Scooby Doo: Ripped from the Headlines?

Score: 50% (5 out of 10)

The Blue Angels

2007-07-19T23:07:00.000-05:00

My family came to see the Blue Angels on Sunday. Quite a show I must say, but man it was hot! Unfortunately I accidentally had my camera set to 1600 for the ISO(film speed) so the pictures are really grainy and not much good for anything except sharing on the Internet. I have to remember to always check the stinking ISO setting. I have done this more than once, but never that high.

Yes that is Rodrick on the left.

See if you can figure this one out?

Independence Day

2007-07-19T22:16:00.000-05:00

We spent Independence Day and the rest of the week in GC. I would like to say 'thank you' to whoever at the city or county that decided to outlaw firecrackers in the 3i parking lot. I was just telling Jenny before hand how that place used to be like a war zone. Then when we were pulling into the lot past some policemen, I overheard one of them use the exact same wording about how before firecrackers were banned from the 3i parking lot it was like a war zone.

One year in Hike School a family friend had bought 10,000 of those long glow stick necklaces to sell on the 4th. He told Travis and I that we could split the profits with him of whatever we sold. So we spent the evening dodging firecrackers from what would ordinary be sane people driven mad with the lust of loud bangs and bright lights. We went home that night shell shocked with an extra $100 bucks in the pockets of our ruined shorts and ruined shirts full of burn holes.

Here are some pictures I took of the fireworks...

Blue Angels

2007-07-12T12:56:00.000-05:00

We got to watch the Blue Angels practice some for their show this weekend from our driveway. If anyone from out of town is interested in coming to see them the show is free both this Saturday and Sunday.

McConnell Air force Base Open House

777

2007-07-09T12:56:00.000-05:00

God promised...

2007-06-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

God promised never to destroy the world with a flood again, but after 4 days straight of rain it sure feels like we're all going down. I know we aren't getting it as bad as a lot of places and I am thankful for that, but here is my backyard. That can't be good for my grass! Maybe this is just some shameless movie promotion for Evan Almighty, which I hear is a decent family friendly movie.

Going to GC

2007-06-21T11:36:00.001-05:00

BTW, to everyone in Garden we are going to be in town this weekend and sometime around Independence Day.

Blubber Bots

2007-06-20T17:22:00.001-05:00

Blubber Bots

"Blubber Bots are DIY robotic species that navigate autonomously and intelligently. Blubber Bots float, dance, seek and sing. They are light-seeking helium-filled balloons that graze the landscape in search of light and cell-phone signals. If you make a call and wave your phone near a Blubber Bot, it will go into a flocking dance or sing you a special tune. They bellow sounds similar to a whale’s song and serenade you with melodies. When not being played with, they rest for awhile, awakening periodically and seeking attention...

...They propel themselves using helium buoyancy and two directional motors...."

-Geekdad Wired Blogs

Originally they used hydrogen for buoyancy, but as you can imagine, that did not end well.

Super Parents?

2007-06-14T22:38:00.001-05:00

Jacob has now made several references to how Jenny and I can see through things. I asked him why he thought that and he told me a story about how he was doing something he shouldn't behind a wall or something and we new what he was doing. That is on top of the fact that we have told him things like how we can always tell if he is not telling the truth and how we always know when he is doing something wrong. Yesterday he wanted me to help him come find a moth in the basement because I can see through things. I haven't had the heart to tell him that I can't. The sad thing is that in reality he can probably see better than I can.

My Nerd Score

2007-06-14T22:33:00.000-05:00

Thats about what I expected.

Today at lunch Jacob and I were telling Jenny about a Super Massive Blackhole show we watched on the Science channel. When we were finished Jenny just looked at me and said, "You realize after saying all of that your Nerd Score just went up a few points."

More pictures of "The Fam"

2007-06-13T17:41:00.000-05:00

The Howards

2007-06-10T23:54:00.000-05:00

The Howard Boys

The Howards

...and a sunset :-)

A Samuel Homecoming

2007-06-07T00:06:00.000-05:00

Resting up to head home.
(You can see some scratches on his face from his long fingernails. The scratches aren't as bad as they look in that picture though)

First time in his car seat. Really what he wants is to be fed again.

Right before we leave.
(Jenny looks nervous b/c the nurse is waiting for us while I insist on taking some pictures)

Samuel arrives home... and there was much rejoicing!!
(That is Bonnie, Jenny's mom, on the left)

Samuel Settles In

2007-06-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Jacab and Ethan were both excited to hold him. Ethan is obsessed with "helping" Samuel with his binky. The new rule is that Ethan isn't supposed to touch it. Jacob, as you can see in the picture is very helpful with the binky.

Samuel shows off how strong he is by lifting his head after only being out in the big world for about 36 hours. At one point I laid him on his stomach then I went to get my camera and when I turned back around he was on his back. Thanks Betsy for the great blanket!

**He really doesn't cry that much. Just when I am taking pictures.

Samuel Meets Jacob & Ethan

2007-06-06T16:23:00.000-05:00

Ethan kisses Samuel

Samuel Joseph

2007-06-05T14:26:00.000-05:00

Samuel Joseph
Born on June 5th 2007 around 2:30 AM
6 lbs 12 oz
19 1/2"

See a few more pictures here: Slideshow :: Album

Jenny and Samuel are both in perfect health and doing great in the BirthCare Center at Wesley Medical Center

This might be it!!

2007-06-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

We are heading to the hospital.

Beautiful Jenny

2007-06-03T16:52:00.000-05:00

More pictures of Jenny: Slide Show | Album

Playing in the rain

2007-06-02T01:09:00.000-05:00

Fighting in the rain

Losing in the rain

Crying in the rain

Staring in the rain