...:::mikecpeck:::...

Latest Happenings in Picture Form

2006-10-17T21:30:00.000-06:00

Bonsai is now an outside-ish cat. Meaning that she goes outside when she feels like it, or when we feel like it. When she is inside.. she is a much happier cat. She no longer flops on us at night, and is overall quite pleasant. Should have freed her sooner. Cassie and I stained our porches finally. And once you have a nicely stained deck you certainly need a new BBQ to put on it. My previous BBQ was a Walmart special back from the college days and it has been through a lot. This time.. stainless steel! Bam! I signed up for some architecture mags awhile back and I just finally started to get Dwell in the mail. I love it. We haven't had TV since we moved into our new house... 9+ months. We talked about signing back up, but in the end we decide it is for the best. Then, I get this in the mail. Not only do I want TV back, TV wants me back too. How can I resist? Honestly... How can I? And what post is complete without the latest happenings of Ampersand. Well.. this is what he's doing. That and sitting in front of the wood stove. Toasting.

My Day Off

2006-10-09T22:14:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful day off with the cutie.

Bayview Idaho

2006-10-05T11:33:00.000-06:00

I found what I thought was an amazing blog yesterday: Bayviews. It made me realize I don't blog much about the town I live in. My town.. Bayview. I spent nearly every summer in Bayview as a "kid" visiting the grandparents and the family ranch. I looked forward to those visits for weeks ahead of time and have many fond memories of building hay forts with cousins, boating with Grandpa and waking up to Grandma's breakfasts. Amongst the numerous memories, I don't remember too much about the town of Bayview during those visits, but I was able to recognize when we were getting close to the ranch. My sense of direction and landmarks as a child (and to some extent as an adult) was lacking. I didn't know town names or highway numbers so I relied on my parents to answer my questions of "Are we there yet?". But I didn't have to ask once we rounded the traffic circle and proceeded down Lemon's Hill to Perimeter Road. I knew we were close because of the trees. The trees seemed to tower up both sides of the road, massive trees and thick thick forrest. We were close. Years later when Bayview became my home and the beginning of my own family, that drive looks a bit different. Bayview is changing. For the better and for the worse. Those trees lining the road no longer seem to tower as high as they used to. Logging and the influx of trailer homes set along side the road have removed many of those massive trees. Lemon's Hill is more bitter sweet now with the addition of a large Shooting Range sign placed on the other side of the Farragut State Park fence hinting at the future of the area. And even the town itself has changed, it has grown newer. The quaint fishing trailers on the main street are being replaced with condos or manufactured "trailers" modeled after summer homes. The small original family homes with large lots are being replaced by vinyl siding clad larger homes on smaller lots with pretentious landscaping (much like our new house). But.. is all this bad? There are some absolutely beautiful house on Cape Horn. I have extremely fast cable internet. The boat launch in the park can handle the new found traffic with ease. But, I can still go to the Mercantille wallet-less and still come home with the much needed Dr Pepper or Ice Cream. I can still get French Fries after swimming at the Lake. I can still win the raffle at the 4th of July Bazzare and come home with a quilt that my Grandma and her friends spent the last year putting together. The postmaster still ensures we get our mail in the correct post office box no matter the address on the envelope. My next door neighbor Tom can still drive his riding lawn mower down to watch the 4th of July Parade.. so who really cares about the rest? Bayview is still Bayview. Sure it is getting a little bigger, as we all do with age, but it still remains as personable to me as it always has. But I still think I should get a bit more involved in the Community happenings... just in case.

A classy wedding and farewell

2006-09-25T18:25:00.000-06:00

Zach and Danielle were married Saturday by the infamous Charlie Packard (who also married Cassie and I) at the City Beach during a spectacular afternoon. Danielle was absolutely positively stunning and Zach looked quite cleaned up. (Cleaned up in the sense he wasn't wearing his green army sweater, not in the drug rehab sense.) Charlie delivered what was essentially the same ceremony as my own from what I remember, but it was interesting to hear it as a spectator. Zach composed himself only briefly before delivering his vows saving himself my slightly embarrassing voice breakup episode. Danielle delivered hers quite elegantly as well, all while staring into Zach's true smile (not his infamous upper toothed grin). One touching difference in their ceremony was the handing out of flowers to their family members as a thank you. I think there were several tears shed when Danielle placed a flower on the seat meant for her mother. Very touching. Witnessing the wedding was a bit different than I thought it was going to be when he originally told me he was getting married. Not in the sense that I expected shotguns, Nazi propaganda or bottles of gin, but in the fact of how I felt about it. Zach and I seemed to have grown apart over the past couple years. I hope it wasn't something I did or said, but I suspect this isn't due to that or distance, but rather lifestyle. In college, we were roommates, essentially experiencing a bit of each other's lifestyle. For me, he made my college experience. I would have never done half the stuff I did in college if it weren't for his influence. He was a completely different person than I, different life experiences and different attitudes. It was eye opening for me, life shaping I suppose. For him, I think I might have given him a different experience than he might have originally thought. I expect I was a bit more "grounded", and he might have been slightly less crazy because of Papa Mike. I enjoyed the simple easy activities, Star Wars and M*A*S*H, and I believe he learned to enjoy those as well. Now, no longer roommates, I think we might have migrated back to our original habits. At least I have. I took a fairly safe route acquiring a steady job, purchasing a house, acquiring animals and going to the Grandparents weekly for family breakfasts. He struck out on his own in a more daring move and started the paper. The college experience still shapes my daily activities, and the activities I did with Zach and the conversations we'd have are a major part of that. I'm not sure if it works visa versa, but when I first met Zach and during the hundreds of conversations with him following, he was not the type to marry. Now, he did it. He didn't exactly "settle down", but he chose. Well, maybe not even chose, but Danielle and him agreed with each other. However unique they remain, they are now uniquely each other's. They fit each other, they cancel out each others faults, or at least understand them. Regardless of any ring "incidents", they are what appears to be forever joined and I cannot be happier for them, regardless of the distance of friendship. Zach can't be more lucky to have the perfect companion for him, and Danielle is quite special to be able to enjoy the rest of Zach's life.. where ever that might take them. Wherever that might take them... I guess that was/is the real surprise. They are moving. The ceremony was essentially a good-bye for me. Not quite a good-bye in the same level as the Hawkeye/BJ good-bye in the finale of M*A*S*H, but really close the more I think of it. I didn't really say good-bye after college, because we were going to move back to the same town eventually. Now that I think of it, I didn't really say good-bye at the wedding either.. I'm no better at it than BJ in M*A*S*H finale. So, instead of rocks on the heli-pad, here's a blog post. Good-bye Zach. Farewell and Amen. Enjoy Danielle, and Danielle Enjoy Zach. You guys aren't "lucky" because luck wasn't involved, but you are quite special. So very special. I will miss both of you so very much, but I will keep the memories closer. Thanks for everything. Good-bye dud. -------- Extra Notes: The reception that followed the ceremony was quite enjoyable. I liked catching up with many college friends that have spread out, I liked the cocktail weenies and the spanikopeta (sp?), I liked the majority of the speeches including Sara's and Rueter's, I liked the happiness expressed during the dances, and I snickered quite excessively during the garter belt show... Classy Zach. Classy.

57.03125 Gallons per year

2006-09-20T12:23:00.000-06:00

Not nearly as much as this hard core fan. But probably seen more cans than this. Found out I'm not the only person who's tried Dr Pepper with lime and liked it. Found out I'm a 7up person, but I went back and changed my answers until I got to be a Dr Pepper person.

You Are Dr. Pepper

You're very unique and funky, yet you still have a bit of traditionalism to you. People who like you think they have great taste... and they usually do. Your best soda match: Root Beer Stay away from: 7 Up

What Kind of Soda Are You?

There was no real purpose to this post... so let me try to make it a little bit more interesting. I'd like to hear your favorite story involving Dr Pepper. Perhaps the first time you had it? Or anything you can think of. I'll start. Week before finals, Freshman year in college. Albertsons had a sale on Dr Pepper. Zach and I each purchased the max amount of 12 packs allowed (6). Those 12 12 packs did not last through the following week.

If daydreams could become reality...

2006-09-14T17:01:00.000-06:00

I'd be in a large covered shop working on restoring a beautiful old wooden boat. Not just any wooden boat, a particular one. A 1963 28' Chris Craft Constellation. Not just any 1963 28' Chris Craft Constellation, but the 1963 28' Chris Craft Constellation on Hwy 54 in Bayview, Idaho. This very boat was put up for sale today on Craigslist. I drive by this boat nearly every day and the day dreams begin. I always figured the owner of this boat would have some sort of special love for this wayward vessel and never part with it, but I was wrong. He is selling it. That boat is in pretty rough shape, all the paint has been stripped exposing the bare mahogany. Perhaps that's why I like it, I can see its underneath, its skeleton that could be turned into a spectacular vessel with the right kind of love. They don't make boats like this anymore. They don't make much of anything like that anymore. It is so solid, study, engineered. I've been in communication with the seller this afternoon and he turns out to be a family friend.. well a family friend in the sense he went to school with my dad, uncle and cousin. He claims he doesn't have enough time to finish the project and had a couple people interested in buying the boat. I'm hoping he fails, and I offered him my assistance this winter in the restoration project he plans to undertake if the sales fall through. It wouldn't be as nice as owning it, but it would better than no. But, only if I didn't have to work. Only if I had $4000 to purchase this beauty. Only if I were able to restore her. Only if I were able to put her back in the lake only once she was complete. Only if day dreams could become reality...

One Sweet World

2006-09-11T18:08:00.000-06:00

Ahh Senor Matthews and Band. Thank you for last weekend's concert. This being my first concert, I have little to compare it to, yet I feel overall it had to be one of the best. For weeks before, I made several Dave playlists, listened to other live performances, and constantly reminded my friends it was coming up. I was ready and I was excited. We arrived early to an entire city full of camp sites filled with Dave Matthews fans. We nestled out a spot near the back fence and started walking the 2+ miles to the Gorge to see the man and the band play. The amphitheater has to be the perfect venue for a concert likes this; holds crap loads of fans, has a great view, and the sounds resonate up the valley. After sunset, Dave and friends arrived on stage. Over the prior 30 minutes, the crowd mass increased about 2x, filling every empty spot of grass with blankets and butts. Those butts didn't find their way to the blankets for the following hours, and were often engaged in some serious gyrations. I felt a very physical rush when the band started the first song. One Sweet World. Being around that many people all interested and focused on one particular cause was quite invigorating. Although I'm have difficulty describing that feeling in words, it was... intense. The feeling was only elevated at the start of the 2nd song: Crash. I've heard that song hundreds of times before. On the radio. On the iPod. On repeat. But, never have I heard it like that. Dave was fueled by the rush of the crowd. He really sold it. Hook like and sinker. Sold it. Over the next few songs I began to realize something I had previously disregarded about his music. He has a band. It is the Dave Matthews Band with a capital B. During those songs there was some amazing solos by several of the musicians, but the ones by Boyd were downright incredible. That dude is SERIOUS. Was nearly exhausting watching and listening to him. I won't soon forget that it as much about the Band as the man. I don't dance. I might have wiggled slightly, but never danced. Yet, there were several dancers in our near vicinity. On the far left was a couple that liked to shadow box the entire evening. Didn't matter the song, they were boxing. Some fast, some slow, but they were amazing boxers. On the near left were two young blonde girls that had quite a bit of energy and gyrated the entire evening. In front was an interesting married couple and the mother.. well.. she could SHAKE IT. Didn't know hips were jointed that way, even the likes of Shakira would be proud. Whoha! She was quite polite too, as was the husband who took a few steps away before he lit his joint, and later his pipe. Quite hospitable. There were a few songs I wanted Dave and Band to play, yet he didn't play any of them. That is until the final song (well.. before the encore). He thanked us all for coming then slammed into the intro to Ants Marching. This song has become a recent favorite and the version they played as the concert ending was spectacular. A perfect closer. The weekend was really One Sweet World. It took me awhile to get to writing this post, but I was having a hard time thinking of which parts to write about, and how to write it. It was something to experience, not really something to rush home and write about. I am beginning to understand the reason behind groupies, concert freaks and engaged fans. Not sure I'll be hitting more concerts now, but I know for sure I'll be attending the Gorge again next year. Words to listen to (today and everyday) Nine planets round the sun (oops, has to change that) Only one does the sun embrace Upon this watered one So much we take for granted So let us sleep outside tonight Lay down in our mothers arms For here we can rest safely If green should slip to grey But our hearts still bloody be And if mountains crumble away And the river dry would it stop the stepping feet Take all that we can get When its done Nobody left to bury here Nobody left to dig the holes And here we can rest safely One sweet world Around a star is spinning One sweet world And in her breath Im swimming And here we will rest in peace

Am I right side up, or upside down?

2006-08-29T15:39:00.000-06:00

I will be using Dave Matthew's lines from now until this weekend (and sometime afterwards I'm sure) in preparation for the concert at the Gorge in George Washington. I really appreciate that someone named a city George. The fact that it is located in Washington is another plus, but still.. George. Where are you from? George. What if your name was also George. Ya, the possibilities are endless, so congrats to the name-r of that city. Crush is my new favorite song of Dave's. It changes almost daily, but this one has caught my attention more the past few days. The ultimate love song... Things I'd like to be able to say to Cassie. I hope he sings it this Saturday. Along with: Oh, Dreamgirl, Ants Marching (last week's favorite), Old Dirt Hill, Smooth Rider, Warehouse and of course Crash. Anyway.. the point of the post. Work and the weekend. First: Right side up. Work. Last week I had my performance review. At my last job, they happened yearly, here, every 6 months. I was really looking forward to this review given my new sparked enthusiasm about work that I spear headed last June. How was that going to be taken into account? Well.. not as well as I hoped. For the 3rd or 4th straight review I received a "Meets Expectations" rating. I was marked down for my time management skills and my ability to participate in a team environment. Not being overly pleased with the rating, I don't think it was unjustified. Yet, it was still frustrating. No longer will "Meets Expectations" be acceptable. No longer will they question aspects of my work ethic, technical ability, or team participation. No longer will they question period. Since June, they have no reason to. I am completely right side up and they know it. Best of all, I enjoy this orientation (right side up). It suits me. Second: Upside down. The weekend. Weekends are more enjoyable when you don't have to suffer through the week to make it to the end. This weekend was one of those.. quite spectacular. Most of my waking hours were spent aboard the boat. Saturday was fishing with a couple coworkers. We pulled out 3 Mackinaw (a member of the Char family, also referred to as Lake Trout) from the deep depths of the lake. Pretty good sized fish, but we can do better next time. We spotted plenty of fish on the finder, and need to get everything just so before we can pull out that 20lbs lunker. It'll happen. I know it will. Sunday was a family affair. Had the 3 Peck vessels out on the water zooming across the lake in formation. The lake was calm, the sun plentiful and the family perfect. Tubing is a blast. Only one bit of advice: Keep your butt clenched and out of the water during high speed unless of course you need a good "rinse". *********** And just for good measure. Here's another picture to brighten your day. Whooha!

This day 3 years ago

2006-08-23T18:02:00.000-06:00

About this time 3 years ago, I was waiting outside my parents house waiting for our "Marry-er Dude" to show up. He was late. Not only was he late, he was also a banjo playing, chain smoking, card carrying (not sure what card.. but I'm sure he was packing something) "Marry-er Dude". Why did we pick this unique dude to marry us? Well.. We couldn't find a ship's captain and we didn't have any bodies of water present, thusly, we picked him. We wanted something different, something uniquely ours. Girls are said to dream about their wedding day from a horrendously young age, picking out every perfect detail, defining every bit of perfection, and lusting over the dress, or the flowers, or in Cassie's case, the perfect flip flops. Well, I had absolutely no preconceived notions, I started thinking about it only after I popped the question. Yet, after the fact, I think of that day often. I think of the details, the friends and families, the flowers, the mowed grass, the short rain shower in the morning, the sunset, the picture taking, the vows I spoke through a horribly cracked voiced caused by emotions that normally don't surface, the speeches, the turkey dinner, the general splendor. There hasn't been an event like it since. It was our wedding. It was our day. Now, 3 years later, through the ups and downs, the craziness called life that we must go through, we are still married. More importantly, we are still together, we are still uniquely us. The little pieces that hold us together have changed or shifted when our lives have shifted, yet they have shifted in unison. Not farther apart, not closer together, still uniquely us. We are still.. us. And for that.. I am so very happy. Emotion cracking and all. happy. Happy Anniversary Dear.

New Boobs!

2006-08-09T17:37:00.000-06:00

I saw someone today that "got" new boobs and I'm unsure about appropriate boob etiquette. What can you say? Say she purchased a new sweater or an outfit that made her look nice or uniquely peppy.. sure you can mention it. Great sweater! Looks great on you. I'm pretty much convinced that discussion would not happen about the boobs. Yet, this person most likely spent more on the boobs than all her outfits combined. I'm guessing it was a more difficult decision to make as well.. Should I get new boobs?? Should I buy this sweaters? So, given the expense of the purchase and the corresponding difficult decision making process, why can't you talk about it? Were they not meant to be noticed? Wow! Those boobs look great on you. Quite tasteful. Ya.. Not going to happen. Oh the world we live in.

Dave telling stories

2006-07-31T00:17:00.000-06:00

Cave crickets. Ha. Feed them to the ants. This video is 45 minutes long, yet very worth it for Dave fans. The last 4 minutes of the video has the most amazing version of "Ants Marching" that I've found. Perhaps it helps to have the little story before it. Take these chances. Place them in a box until a quieter time. Lights down.. you up and die. Cutting the corners. Loose end, loose end, cut, cut. Words to remember. Perhaps it is time to stop stashing the chances in a box and actually fix the loose ends instead of just cutting them. I plan on walking around the corners for a bit.

Lessons from fishing

2006-07-31T00:15:00.000-06:00

My family went fishing again this weekend. Grandpa took his boat out for the first time in a couple years, and I took mine. My dad and I fished from my boat while my mom and grandpa fished from his with the help of my grandma operating the net. My dad and I were shocked at the number of fish we could see the other boat pulling in. We'd troll closer to them and ask what they were using, what lure? what depth? what bait? how many? It seemed like the fishing was certainly better on that boat. In between those thoughts, my dad and I pulled in our fish. In between those thoughts, we caught fish.. we didn't keep track, but we were doing alright. After we were done, it was time to clean the fish. The other boat caught 25 fish (and my Mom will gladly tell you she caught 12 fish. She never caught 12 fish before). Our boat: 25 fish. Why does the fishing always seem better on the other boat? Why do I question my own actions while watching others? The space between watching the other boat or the other people, I'm doing my thing. Why don't I focus on that? I seem to be catching plenty of fish.. plenty of fish for me.

How to Handle Disappointment V.2

2006-07-27T17:12:00.000-06:00

Version 1. You need to binge, but then stop. You need to drink, but don't become a drunk. You need to eat crappy food, but don't get fat. You need to be angry, but don't become hateful. You need to question, but then move on. You may need music, loud music, but turn it down after awhile. You need to throw your hands up and say Fuck it, and go fishing.. but then go back to work. You need to remember what you have and use those for recovery. You need family and friends, rely on them for a short time, but then stop. They should be your main vice. You need to remember that time helps. Time heals. But.. don't let it go too long. Don't become stagnant. Then, after that is over, refuse to settle. Get crazy foolish. Demand something of yourself and find what you love. Don't settle. You are soo much better than that. You kick ass.

Recovering from a fun induced hang-over

2006-07-25T17:37:00.000-06:00

Two amazing friends came up to visit us this past weekend. I had been looking forward to their arrival for much of the last week.. making preparations where needed and planning for an overall good time. The weekend didn't disappoint. I have a pain near my left temple. The pain is most likely the ghost of fun.. the memory of the past 4 days catching up to me. In short pictorial fashion.. here is what is causing the pain. But.. Most likely the headache is caused by the 2 - 2 liters of Dr Pepper we finished in record time and the 2 empty cans I downed today. But like the Dr Pepper, the rest was SO worth it.

Thoughtfulness with age

2006-07-25T10:35:00.000-06:00

I forgot my dad's birthday. Well. I didn't forget it, but I thought it was on a different day.. Unfortunately the day after his real birthday. It was a horrible feeling when I recognized what I had done. You see.. I actually like my parents and feel lucky to have them. They treated me nicely for the most part (there was that whole "cheap black shoe" phase during my childhood). Now that I'm older, I wish to treat them nicely as well. My dad deserves to be respected.. and certainly remembered on his birthday. Yet, I apparently am not able to be remember these type of events and plan for them. I often wait until the day before to buy a gift, or send a card, or sit down think about it. My life is not busy enough to use that as an excuse. I'm old enough to be considered responsible. Youth is no longer an excuse. I should be able to handle it. I Need to be able to handle it. Maybe now I will.. Cassie and I have a neighbor across the street.. an older gentleman who lives by himself named Tom. We've had friendly chats with him every now and then where he'd claim that we are "good kids". His definition of good kids must include the ability to build a house, plant a yard, walk the dog, etc. He doesn't know I forgot my dad's birthday. But, this neighbor has inspired me. While we were packing up for our fishing trip this weekend (on my Dad's real birthday.. crap), he came over with a couple boxes. They were fishing rod holders for our boat, ones that clamped on the side (or the gunrail for the nautical minded). He claimed to have them laying around, but somehow he knew we needed them. It was such a nice gesture from someone I hardly know. He then told us to stop by one afternoon because he had a "bunch of tackle" to give us. What came that afternoon was the real amazing gesture. You see, Tom is a true fisherman. He used to go out on the lake daily and catch 50+ kokanee. What he did with all those fish was another question, but he had the equipment for some serious big time fishing. And now, he gave us all this stuff. 2 tackle boxes full of pristine lures, and 5 complete rods and reels made for trolling. It wasn't necessarily the actual objects or their monetary worth that was inspiring (although I plan to get much use out of them and they are worth quite a bit), but it was the giving. He handed them over to someone he hardly knew. Just to a couple "good kids". I plan to thank Tom for his generosity, maybe offer to take him fishing., but I doubt he knows what that giving meant. Maybe I'll tell him I forgot my dad's birthday. Maybe I'll tell him that like my parents, he is the kind of person I strive to become. One that gives without prejudice, and one that doesn't forget his dad's birthday. A fisherman.

A spirit lake weekend

2006-07-16T23:10:00.000-06:00

Corn, tackle, newly purchased fish finder, grandpa, dad and gps. Check. Fun, adventure and fish. Check. Repeat on Sunday with the bro's family. Check. Repeat next weekend with a couple friends. Check!

Death of MySpace

2006-07-12T11:45:00.000-06:00

3 months, 13 friends and 4 comments later, I left MySpace. I already feel cleaner.

Daily Life in a Large Corporation

2006-07-12T10:01:00.000-06:00

My password is set to expire in 12 days. I've run out of possible alpha numeric combinations of Ampersand (up to and including www.ampersand.com with and without the http://), anyone have any suggestions? Received an email from the "trenches" that was sent to a distribution group far too large for its intended audience. Now, hundreds of people are reading about this poor gal's issue with a submit button, printer and fax machine. If she only knew the joy that brought us. Breakfast table discussions could include a formal interview, or they could just be talking about car parts. Regardless, the breakfast sandwiches were in short supply.. but the scenery was in prime season. Automatic toilets, faucets and new paper towel dispensers were installed in our bathroom. Now, there is only one thing I have to touch in the bathroom (and you know what that is :)). Also, I now catch myself at home no longer feeling I need to flush the toilet.. I figure it'll just happen somehow.

I have a song for you

2006-07-11T15:55:00.000-06:00

I wish I was musical.. many feelings are better expressed through song. Yet I am not musical, nor really "into" music, but I come across a song every now and then that describes exactly what I wish I could describe as elegantly. 3 days ago was Cassie's birthday. The past few days have been a little busy for me to sit down and write her the Happy Birthday post she deserves, but while writing some C# code at work (the last bit I'll be writing for awhile), a song came on my iPod. A song that I heard on the radio awhile back and instantly felt it captured what Cassie means to me. I came home that day and said to Cassie, "I have a song for you". I didn't write it, I didn't sing it, but I really felt it was meant for her. I played her that song, and she smiled. The smile was all I needed. I've said "I have a song for you" a few times since, and she to me. The 2-3 minutes that follow after that phrase when we are listening to the song together are perfect. Perfectly Perfect. We don't say anything to each other, we sit quietly looking lovingly at each other while an artist sings that song to us. Now, every time we hear one of those songs, things are perfect. I'm transported to that quietness, together.. alone with her. It helps me through the rough times, and it enhances the perfect times. I should probably thank Mr. Matthews (and the others) for writing the song for me, but really.. what would the song(s) be without Cassie? So.. Thank you Cassie. Thank you for making music meaningful. Thank you for making everything meaningful. Thank you for being here with me (while the world is blowing up/caving in/losing her way). Thank you for making it okay. Thank you for making the hours easier to bare. Thank you for laughter, the smiles, the hope, the giggles, barrels, bunkies, feetsies, smooches, gorgs, hair thingies, porches, grass, candy, fresh snow, sheets, tickles, eye crinkles, showers, love, steps, socks, garbage cans, small boats, gossip, ampersand, bunnies, and you. Thank you. Thank you for everything. And.. Happy Birthday. I have a song for you.

Just lucky I guess

2006-07-10T15:28:00.000-06:00

I wanted a boat. I got a boat. I wanted a different boat. I got a different boat. In the past month, I've been to Mirror lake several times renting a small boat to fish for small fish. Having so much fun, I thought it would be best to purchase a small boat to venture around all the other small lakes. One problem: $$. Certainly wasn't in the budget. I had a couple conversations with a friend about potential ideas for raising $$. We tossed around the idea of asking people I knew for $1. Then maybe a $1 a month. Thought about donating fluid (I have very rare blood [AB-]), but couldn't really find a place local to take it and pay. Porn was recommended (stealing and reselling..not producing nor starring). Finally the answer came to me. Gambling. Cassie and I ran down to the casino with $40 in hand. Put my $20 into this: We pushed a few buttons, picked a few crocs, found a few treasures and walked away with a boat. Well, not directly, but we walked out with enough $$ to purchase that small boat I found in the Nickelsworth last Thursday. This evening will be the maiden voyage of the soon to be named vessel, I will update with pictures.

Shoe Fetish

2006-07-10T11:36:00.000-06:00

Cassie has a shoe fetish (well, more like a sandal/flip flop fetish). I went shoe shopping with her for her birthday (above and beyond I think :)), but instead of finding her the perfect sandal, I came across this. I never found myself thinking much of shoes, but when I tried on these, my feet were happy.

Becoming a man in the microwave generation

2006-07-06T17:44:00.000-06:00

I want things now. I like fast food, fast internet, fast cars, fast women [;). I want to push a button, preferably one button, and "Ding" the fries are done. I know life wasn't always this ways, nor believe it should be; one needs to learn the basics. I took apart a doorknob a few weeks ago after Cassie broke it by using the deadbolt as a doorstop while unloading groceries. I've never installed a doorknob before, but the mechanism was pretty simple and got it working again in only a few minutes. But if the problem was larger and required the door to be re-hung or something, I would have most likely asked for help. Who would have helped? My dad of course. He grew up without a microwave.. as they only became popular in the household in the mid 70's. But I know for sure he had one for most of his "adult" life. I remember what I believe was my parent's original microwave. It even had a dial thingy. But this isn't a post about my parent's microwave, it is a post about "knowing things". My dad knows things; as I'm sure most dad's do. People who know things are respected. People who know things can accomplish what others cannot. For example, I remember a time where my dad and I drove home from some sort of event in Moraga and saw a sign on the side of the road for free firewood. The wood was in large "rounds" that were impossible to lift into any vehicle. So, we went home and he changed (most likely into some sort of long sleeved shirt and jeans), found his gloves, maul and wedge. We sped the Plymouth back to the scene and he began to work. The rounds didn't stand a chance against the power of the maul and wedge.. he split each round into 4 pieces that were small enough to lift into the back of the van. I wasn't the only one watching Dad split the wood, there was an older gentleman standing on the other side of the tall fence watching him work. After a few rounds were split, this older man opened a gate and came and talked to my dad. He was the owner of the property we were standing next to, and the wood came from a tree on his lot that had to be cut down. He had no need for the wood, so he had the wood placed out there for anyone who wanted it. He told us we weren't the first to come get it, but the others weren't able to take any away. He snickered when he told us how they came with ramps, hatchets and chainsaws trying to get the pieces down to movable sizes; yet they all failed. He was impressed with Dad's ability, he said it was obvious he had done this before. I don't remember the rest of the conversation they had (I'm sure they talked about the Ranch, my grandfather, and the good old days), but I remember the respect. This old man had nearly instant respect for Dad, enough to come out and talk to us where he had previously hid and snickered at all the previous attempters. Now, I'm not saying that I don't know how to use a maul and wedge, I can make due (although my chainsaw skills are questionable at best). But, my natural instincts and willingness to do "hard" things are no where near my dad's (or the rest of the pre-microwave generation). I look for the easy ways, the quicker solutions. I'll sit and ponder the problem for far longer than it should take, in hopes reduce the hard work part to the bare minimum. I Google things. I expect others have spent time pondering the very same problem and came up with the best solution. If it isn't on Google, then it most likely hasn't happened and it probably for the best to just avoid it. I don't want to become some blogger t-shirt wearing hipster carrying around his macbook pro searching for free wifi access so I can answer questions or get things done (look at the dude in the new mac ads). I also don't want to become some shaven head, cargo van driving, tobacco chewing, sunburned insulation installer heading home to work on his jacked up Chevy truck and make crap loads of babies(was next to this very dude yesterday at the stop light). What is the right balance? I can code javascript. I can drive a skid-steer. I can develop my scrolling muscle. I can lift my share of rocks. I can build a table out of 100 year old wood, but only with the help of my dad.

Evans Landing Bear Chase

2006-07-02T23:34:00.000-06:00


Went on a little hike today and brought the video camera along. Couldn't resist doing a little chasing.

I need a Web 2.0 Shopping List

2006-06-28T12:13:00.000-06:00

"We" forgot to buy toothpaste again. I talked about getting it, but when Cassie called from the store, I forgot to remind her. I need a Web 2.0 shopping list where I can create a list from my machine, phone, whatever and I can also retrieve the list via my phone using sms or email. Does this already exist? Or is this another one of those ideas I should pursue? Would anyone else use this?

Balance Restored

2006-06-27T20:02:00.000-06:00

Another weekend, another trip to the lake aboard a small boat. This time I went with my parents and Cassie back to Mirror Lake. It was our lake that day, not another boat on it for most of our stay.. just a few kids giggling on the dock. The sun was out, the fish were biting, and I was ever so calmed. 16 fish later we left the lake to head home and cook what we caught. We had the family down to our house for dinner that night.. all sitting around our newly built solidly constructed table. No need for coasters, the table and the family were built to last.. and besides.. the water marks only archives the event for posterity, it doesn't destroy it.

The Real Stephen Colbert - 60minutes segment

2006-06-27T09:49:00.000-06:00

Managing Me (A post about work)

2006-06-23T17:45:00.000-06:00

I haven't written about work for awhile. Partially for fear of retribution, but mostly because I don't often blog of boredom. Work has been stagnant lately.. well more than lately.. for far too long. I like to go to work to fight the good fight, solve issues, innovate, etc. Sometime during the past few months, there wasn't anything left to fight or was it there wasn't anything left in my fight. Regardless, it became stagnant. It became just a paycheck. There were a few glimmers of hope that things might change, but they fell through and I was back to mr. paycheck man. I then started to look outside of work for feeling accomplished. I did yardwork, I found a little brother, I brainstormed for ideas. This would get me through the slower times, but heading to work for 8+ hours a day feeling unmotivated and unnoticed continued to wear on me (at work and outside of work). Then I re-found a speech given by Steve Jobs at a Standford University graduation. Jobs told these graduates to find what you love. I shall quote what part got to me.

You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

I was settling. Work is filling a large part of my life, but leaving that large part empty. It was time to fix that. A few weeks ago I went to talk to my boss about what I have been feeling. I was under the impression he knew much of what I was going to say because we have had similar conversations previously, but this time it stuck. I was more straight forward.. I was more hungry.. I was more foolish. In a couple days, I noticed I was a bit less blah and even more hungry. My boss and I had a couple short term ideas to fix the meaningless feelings and a more long term solution. The short term fixes was enough of a change to get me out of my slump and I could start thinking of ideas. I came up with a brilliant idea (what I feel is brilliant) I plan to pursue outside of work and will talk about more later. I started to enjoy accomplishing something at work as well. Then, just yesterday, the longer term solution came to fruition. I had a meeting with my boss and his boss about the potential to move to a new job. The job is for a UI (User Interface) Designer. Ahh. Something I could become passionate about. Something I could believe in and do "great work". There was a small hitch in the road. My boss's boss had a concern or two about me. He had "perceptions" that needed explaining and defending. He saw that I became stagnant. He wanted assurances it wouldn't be the same with this new position. It really wasn't an issue giving him the assurances he needed, but I felt a bit befuddled about it later. When an employee becomes stagnant, who's responsibility is it to light a freakin' fire under their ass? I didn't want to become stagnant. It just happened. I wasn't foolish enough to inflict change earlier when I just started to settle. I just let the slide happen.. became sluggish over time until it finally became too sluggish. I should have talked to my boss sooner. But, how long would it have been before my boss would have talked to me? I don't want to be mediocre, I don't want them to accept mediocrity from me. I just need a little poke every now and then.. that is until I figure out how to successfully do it myself. I want to be an employee where the company comes to me when there is a need and has Complete Confidence that I will succeed at it. I don't want to have to debunk concerns and battle any negative perceptions. That must stop. I start my new position in a few weeks. I hope it will be what I need. I hope I don't carry any baggage or bad habits with me. I hope I find what I love and I hope I get just the small amount of help I might need along the way.

In search for solace aboard a small boat

2006-06-19T22:55:00.000-06:00

With the right mix of the appropriate sunscreen, perfectly sized bobbers, large enough night crawlers, a mix of family, and a small aluminum boat one can find solace. Solace for whatever ails you. I spent the last 2 weekends fishing. Since then, I've spent the last few days thinking of fishing. The calm lake, the whirr of an electric motor and the fight of an extremely small rainbow trout. That isn't a complete sentence.. but this IS a blog after all. So, if I am not online via MSN, Gtalk, AIM, Jabber, Skype, MySpace (I hate MySpace), Cell or VOIP.. I am on a boat. A small boat on a small lake searching for small fish. Easy silence. Peaceful quiet. The world kept at bay for me.

Sparkling Off-White

2006-06-12T15:23:00.000-06:00

Went to the dentist today for a cleaning. It has been about 5 years since my last one, so in celebration for a cavity-free mouth with just a hint of gingivitis (because I despise flossing), I'm having a 20oz Dr Pepper. Hhoo--haa.

Lawn Mowers

2006-06-09T22:30:00.000-06:00

Went to 3 different stores today to browse through their lawn mower sections. Didn't purchase one... just browsed. I liked the Yard Machine. I can see myself behind one of those beauties.

A post in order to gather comments.

2006-05-29T23:56:00.000-06:00

Video might not be "safe" from work. Shakira can really shake it and you might have coworkers flocking to your screen to see what the hell is happening.

I Hope

2006-05-26T12:22:00.000-06:00

What are people hoping for lately? Let me do a little searching. (I know none of these people, but Google blog search does) Rusty: I Hope You're All Enjoying Work, Suckers Respectable. Bragging about a day off might aid him in his feelings the day off is well deserved. Melissa: In her post, Kickoff of Summer! hopes to have some time for a little fun too. Indeed. There should always be a little time for some fun. It shouldn't have to be planned, but these days it seems like it "has" to be. She Falters To Rise: In her post D-Day hopes she doesn't say "crap" during her slide presentation. Ahh.. anxiety. There are times where it would be inappropriate to let out a little expletive. shit. Extramsg: In their post Simpatica Dining Hall Events This Week hopes that their message finds everyone well. I often say something like this in message I send people I know enough to care about. "Hope this finds you well" or "Hope this message reaches you in good health and happiness". Has this become too superficial? too over-used? And when would you send a message to someone hoping it reaches them when they are not well? This should be a standard greeting, and we should mean it for all. Mark: In his post Prayer for Guidance hopes he has the desire in all that he is doing. Well, not being a churchy nor religious person, I have a feeling that Mark's "desire" is different than mine. yet, desire in any sense would be a welcome addition to anyone's life. Enough of this half-assed poking along. Decide what you want to do, and have desire to finish it. If only it were that easy. A Military Mom: In her post Oh no!!! hopes no one was hurt and they get it (a burnt barracks) it up back real soon. I'd imagine A Military Mom relies on nothing other than hope, since things like reasoning, respect and thoughtfulness don't seem to be prevalent in ending a war... or deciding to start a war for that matter. Hope in this case... is all one has. Hope is all she has. Jo: In her post my TRAMP-oliney CHESS hopes the following 11 months were as memorable and sweet for everyone as they were for her. Ahh...hoping others are as happy as oneself. Is this thoughtfulness or bragging? Did Jo make any efforts to ensure others were happy as well or just rely on others to make her happy? I don't know the answer to that one, but the hope here should really be lost. Don't hope...desire it to be so and make it be so. Hope seems cheap here. Hope should only be a stepping stone to action. ShrinkWrapped: in their post I Declare the War is Over quotes a song (Draft Dodger Rag) where the lyrics hopes someone dies. I'll quote.

I hate Chou En Lai, and I hope he dies, but one thing you gotta see That someone's gotta go over there and that someone isn't me So I wish you well, Sarge, give 'em Hell Yeah, Kill me a thousand or so And if you ever get a war without blood and gore Well I'll be the first to go

The line "I hate Chou En Lai, and I hope he dies" taken out of context and read by itself is alarming. I read it that way at first and started to write my reaction... but I read the rest of the post and the rest of the lyrics. Was Phil Ochs (the musician behind Draft Dodger Rag) a fool? Did he not believe in war because it was dangerous and he was "above" such violence? Or was he just a crazy drunk who later hung himself after acting like.. a crazy drunk. Were these just a few choice words out of a movement that I am too young to understand? More than likely... but it sounds like he did a bit more than just "hope" we'd end the war. He traveled, he sang and well.. he went crazy and well drank a lot. By the time he ended his life, the FBI had a 401 page file on Mr. Ochs. What was Mr. Ochs really hoping for? Speaking of music and Politics aside, I listened to a song of the Dixie Chicks off their new album. What do they hope for? Dixie Chicks: In their song "I Hope" hopes For More Love, For Joy and Laughter. I second their hope. Strike that. I second hope. Yet, my hope will only now lead to desire. I desire to make it happen. And I am to see this through. I am. Now there must be a way to change what's going on. Now I don't have all the answers... but I hope.

Stuff On My Cat

2006-05-11T14:27:00.000-06:00

20 pages later, and I'm still enjoying Stuff On My Cat. This site gets my vote for the best use of the Internet.. Ever.

Just around the corner there's heartaches

2006-05-05T15:39:00.000-06:00

down the street the loser is you. If you cannot wade in through the tear drops you'll find me at the home of the....greens. 2 days of Bobcat Rental scheduled 48 yards of top soil scheduled for delivery 6 yard dump trailer connected to 1 ton pickup x lbs grass seed 2 labor-ers + 1 anxious puppy ____________________ 1 new front lawn Our yard is gravel. Anything resembling dirt does not currently exist in our front yard, it was taken away months ago during the Big Dig. But, we've had enough. We are ready, we have planned, we will win! No more embarrassing dips and holes, no more blah, we will have lawn! Let there be lawn. Stay tuned for pictures, and perhaps video of yours truly going crazy with a Bobcat Skid Steer. SHA-ZAM!

Thank You Stephen Colbert.

2006-05-01T12:20:00.000-06:00

I'm speechless. Thank You Stephen Colbert.

Izzie Reads Books

2006-04-28T10:24:00.000-06:00

Katherine Heigl (Izzie) loves to read trashy books too. How slightly arousing :) And here is a pic for good measure.

Keeps Spinning

2006-04-27T16:14:00.000-06:00

I was at a coworker's desk during lunch chatting about things. He, like others, has a few desk toys. One is a globe that magnetically levitates between two metal magnets. He mentioned, "If you can get it spinning, it'll go forever because there is so little resistance." I got to thinking, isn't that the case with teams as well? Consider a team that works well together, doesn't bitch and overall has little resistance to things. Give them a spin (project/task/etc), and they just keep going. Wouldn't that be something...

My Firefox Extensions

2006-04-27T13:10:00.000-06:00

In order of importance: Gmail Notifier Bloglines Notifier del.icio.us Livelines Google Calendar Notifier Google Calendar Quick Add Can't really live without any of these. Which ones do you use?

New Desk

2006-04-24T22:03:00.000-06:00

Been awhile since I've last blogged. Been busy editing photos, cleaning the house, and this... building a new desk. Our "Zen Den" hasn't been quite finished since we moved in. We had two *gasp* Walmart desks and an Old PC taking up room and messing with the Feng Shui somethin' fierce. So, this had to be fixed. We used wood from the "old house" on the ranch (a close up of the wood from last summer can be seen here). Fired up Dad's shop, a little planing, sawing, gluing and we had a desk top. 6 coats of finish, 4 galvanized pipe legs and some screws and we had a desk. Cleaned out all the old funk and now we have found inner peace. Nice old/new desk, 2 Macs and a rug for the puppy. Finally.

Trip Around the Water Coolers

2006-04-19T10:52:00.000-06:00

Water Cooler #1: Short, slightly angry looking fellow: "I jacked up their load balancer but the processors are still pegged" Slightly taller, dopy-er looking lad: "Daaaamn." Water Cooler #2: A slender young lady dressed in "designer" clothing and pointy shoes: "Did you see the sample that came in today? Looks like Marci's ugly skirt she like always wears." A more portly young lady who's clothes aren't quite as hip and apparently adores the previous young lady: "Daaaamn." Which building do you think I work in? Ahh... now there is diversity.

Easter Butt Humor

2006-04-17T09:36:00.000-06:00

Please take off your pants.

2006-04-14T18:00:00.000-06:00

Skip towards the end if you are inpatient. Go ahead, no one is looking.

Fix Aim Connection Issues with iChat AV

2006-04-10T19:47:00.000-06:00

Now that I have my MacBook Pro with a built in iSight, I have started to use iChat AV for video conferencing. I had trouble connecting to AIM with iChat ever since I got home, I had a feeling it was a network issue. After some digging around, I wasn't able to find a real solution until I came across a post on the Apple Discussion Forum that mentioned some VOIP adapters would interfere with the connection. So, I plugged my Lingo VOIP adapter in behind my Linksys router and assigned the Qos to that ethernet point to High and rebooted everything. Now, I can connect to AIM! Haven't tried the voice or video yet, but I'll wait for a few peeps to login and give it a shot.

Digg-ed

2006-04-06T10:31:00.000-06:00

2 days ago, I submitted my first story to digg. I wrote up a little post on how to play XviD movies natively in Quicktime on my MacBook Pro because it took me a bit of effort tracking down the solution and I felt others might benefit from my findings. My post stayed in the digg queue for nearly a day before yesterday morning at 9:00am, my post came out of the digg queue and went right to the homepage! Then, the hits came flying in... nearly 2,000 the first hour and before the day ended, I had over 6,000 visitors to my site. The reaction from those visitors was mixed to say the least. Some thanked me, some criticized me, and some even took the time to read a few of my other posts and then question my sexual orientation. Splendid. I do believe the power of digg and other social websites are the future of the internet experience, I just hope some of the future users will also gain some maturity in the mean time.

Play XviD Movies on Intel Mac

2006-04-04T16:01:00.000-06:00

Had a bit of trouble watching a video I downloaded last night on my new MacBook Pro. The video was encoded in XviD and Quicktime wasn't able to play it out of the box. After a few searches and a few attempts, I finally found what I needed. First, download XviD QuickTime Component and make sure to get the Intel Version. Then, download the AC3 Quicktime Component and also make sure to get the AC3Codec_bin_intel version. Open both of the BIN files and put the components in your library/quicktime folder and log off and log on again. Start up your Quicktime video and enjoy. I was able to get the video to run just fine, then copied the file into the /Movies folder and lauched Front Row and enjoyed the movie at a distance (the preview in Front Row even worked).

G-O-L... G-O-L... G-OOOOOOOO-LLLLLLL

2006-04-02T15:04:00.000-06:00

I arrived in Seattle Friday evening. The journey was clear, see a couple great friends, and purchase a new toy. Walking around Seattle yesterday with Arzhang and the MacBook Pro made me realize 2 things. One, I need a new bag for my MacBook Pro (any suggestions) and two, I need to get out more. I used to think of myself as a traveled person, aware and used to many different environments, but I have become sheltered. North Idaho has a reputation of doing that, and I believe I might have fallen into it a bit. There are so many people in this city. Take the slightest slice out of it, and it is still much more diverse than NID (North Idaho). Walking through the city near Pikes Place Market (where Arzhang bought 1 can of tomatoes and I purchased a Beef and Cheese pastry from a Russian Bakery) revealed all different types of people. There were the large Mercedes drives (the car and the people), the street musicians (one group of acapella men were where quite impressive), the beggers, the shoppers, the foreign tourists and us. I'm looking left, right, up, down at all the sights and sounds, the faces, the expressions and the people. Arzhang is darting left, right, up, down to maneuver through all the different expressions and people. He is used to it, I am not. At times I clutch my backpack to see if my new toy is still in there, other times I am smiling at the kids on top of their parents shoulders. Other than I, the only other people actually looking at other people were these kids. The majority of the others were like Arzhang, just moving through. Wonder how long I'd have to live here before I could just move through... Hmm.. Back to watching Futbol on Spanish TV while watching Arzhang iron his pink dress shirt. G O L. G O L. G O L!

Yet another Geek Test

2006-03-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

In case there was anyone wondering.... Your score is 69 61 to 102: Seriously Nerdy

Arriving to a home near me

2006-03-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

Did something a little crazy today. Arriving next week :)

Officially...Bill and Sarah

2006-03-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

You two were oh so happy and it was a really wonderful experience to witness. Congratulations you two. (946 more pictures to come :))

Adaptation

2006-03-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

I believe I am adapting. I looked down at my arm a few days ago during my carpool and noticed something a bit odd. I had a muscle on my right forearm that looked like it was sticking out a bit. I started moving my arm around a bit to see what caused that muscle to flex and I believe I made a very unique observation: I have a highly developed scrolling muscle. It is no surprise, I spend the majority of my day in front of a computer. Much of that time is spent either viewing or developing web content. And to browse through this content, I am no longer flipping pages, I am scrolling vertically. This muscle, which I believe is the Pronator Teres seems to be tied to the action of scrolling with either my middle or index finger. I am currently asking a friend with some medical knowledge to see if this could be a possibility. I also believe I have a highly developed Abductor Pollics Brevis on my left hand that is used for Alt-Tabbing my way through my work Windows Machine. It is a bit odd to think that my profession and "hobby" could be effecting the physical structure of my body to this extent. A little bit humbling... a little bit scary... I'm not really sure. This might seem like a weird post, but I've been recently told, "The curious will rule the earth", so save a little bit for me. That's all for now, that is until I find another enlarged muscle to post about.

How much am I worth?

2006-03-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

My blog is worth $7,339.02.
How much is your blog worth?

A Sad Day.. my visits take a turn for the worse.

2006-03-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

I am no longer #1 (or even included) for the once famous search jessica simpson's boobs. There goes my readership. Damn you Google.

More Geocaching

2006-03-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

Does anyone care about these posts other than me? Oh well.. I'll keep doing it. Went to Round Lake this weekend with Cassie, the bro and his family. Found 3 caches. One particular cache was quite difficult to find, look at how much I walked around that one. But we (Cassie) found it. Want to see our other geocaching adventures? See my public box.net share and even add it to your RSS reader. Also included is the Google Earth file you can download to see the path yourself. If you don't know what any of that means, then never mind and stay tuned for your regular scheduled program.

Another Geocaching Experience

2006-03-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

From the picture you can see the path I took from work all the way to the "incident". I was after the "Hole in the wall" geocache on my commute home when I turned off the road and proceeded down a dirt road. Since it was a bit wet outside, the dirt turned into mud and then into quick sand. My beloved car sunk up to its axles. There was nothing to be done except to call a coworker that lived close by and get pulled out. Next item to purchase for geocaching? A 4x4.

A New Gadget and Hobby

2006-03-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

Bought a new toy this weekend. Another thing Cassie and I have been talking about for awhile. Now, why a gps? Just to take around? Nope. GeoCaching!. Treasure hunting for geeks. Excuse to leave the house. Fun for the whole family. That's the basics of geocaching. A quick look at the Geocaching site reveals there are several caches close to the house. So I called up the bro and his fam and we headed out to 3 caches. The first one was Disc course cache located near hole 16 of a very cool looking folf course and had lots of goodies in there. Next was a very funny cache that had to make you smile. The last one was on a road that we drove over for over a year every day. Had no idea that there was a cache there. And, what a view! Got back to the house and download the gps info in to Google Earth. Here's an overlook of our trip. Stay tuned for more geocaching adventures!

2007 Audi RS4 Avant

2006-03-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take this moment to tell you how much I want you.

Splenda!

2006-03-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sweet, but not too sweet. Or is it sweet, but fake? I'm hoping to be more like the first than the later. I typically pick a pseudo New Years resolution that I make a real effort to ignore the rest of the year. This year I felt a bit more settled than previous years, so I suppose I didn't get to ignore the resolution as much as the previous ones. I decided to loose a bit of weight. 10 lbs by March. Well.. it is March and I'm 15lbs lighter. Woo! It was actually pretty easy to do. And no, I didn't start using Splenda. I just grabbed that for the picture. Granted I feel the difference physically, it didn't really do all that much for me. I just stopped acting like I was hungry all the time. But the hunger has returned. Not a hunger for food, or the hunger to loose weight, but a hunger to actually better myself in other ways. So, yesterday I signed up for Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I've been thinking about doing that for quite some time, just finally did it. I'm still waiting for the phone call from them to figure out what's next, but I'm excited. A bit nervous, but that is a good thing. Haven't been nervous about anything for awhile. While I wait for their call, I decided to do another small good deed. Hope he enjoys it.

Apple Rumors

2006-02-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

I figure everyone else is making up rumors about tomorrow (Tuesday Feb 28th), so here are my top 5 predictions for tomorrow. 1) I will be horribly excited tomorrow morning during the build-up to the event. 2) Apple will release "new and fun products" 3) Steve Jobs will present 4) There will be "One More Thing" 5) Steve will make fun of Vista We'll check back tomorrow to see how close I get to predicting the rumors :) What are your thoughts? *Update*: I got #1 and #3 right. Crap. And I thought I was playing it safe.

A Shakira Parody

2006-02-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

I laughed, I cried, I snorted my drink into my nose. Please enjoy for yourself.

Pork and Mechanically Separated Chicken

2006-02-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Look what they are starting to sell at our wonderful cafe. Being a connoisseur of strange meat products, I had to purchase one. After squeezing the liquid encapsulated meat back and forth, I decided I could not be the one to eat it. Thusly... I will apply a few postage stamps to said meat product and will be sending it to some lucky person. So, keep an eye out for some Pickled Sausage w/ Mechanically Separated Chicken on its way to your mailbox!

Ugly Professions

2006-02-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

Walked through our Finance/Accounting Department today on the way to get my daily fruit smoothie from the cafe and noticed I saw only homely looking people. I stopped, looked around, made another pass around the cubes, and I was right. Not an attractive person there. Then I got to thinking about my other financial/accounting dealings. Accounting professor, ugly. Mortgage Agent, not the most attractive person. Are there any attractive financial people other than your rogue clerk at your local bank? Now, I'm not saying they are physically ugly people. Just don't pay attention too much to their dress, their hair, their overall appearance. One guy had a curly haired fro and a jacket that looked like that 70's brown. Another dude had HUGE eye glasses to match his dopey look. Why aren't these people able to take care of this? What am I missing here? Are these accountants and such really that odd? Are there other professions like that?

What did your $$ get you?

2006-02-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

Not to pick on this guy twice in 1 day, but I can't resist. year ago kottke quit his job and asked his readers to support him. Now, he reflects on his year in a post titled: Oh, what a year. He earned nearly $40,000 in 3 weeks from his readers and promised to deliver more content on a more regular basis. His blog was going to be his 9-5 job. From what I've seen, he's posted about once per day, and linked to 4-5 other sites per day. Many of his posts are about the traffic he receives on his site. Many charts and graphs. So what. Yes you get traffic, yes people paid you for year, but that is the best you have? Why would people that supported you care about post after post about how many hits you got on a particular story? What have you provided your readers? Little to nothing from what I see. Thusly, you are off my rss reader list. Now, what do I give my readers? Not all that different from Mr. Kottke? I post somewhat frequently. I link to other sites. I comment on things I find interesting. What do I ask for? Nothing. So, thanks for taking advantage of your readers for a year. And thanks for quitting on them this next year. Congrats.

Cleaning "House"

2006-02-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

Another week, another need to tighten focus. I just listened to a podcast from the dude who writes for 43folders.com. He writes and talks about productivity tips and tricks. It struck a bit of a nerve. Here's a couple good quotes. The first one is what you are supposed to tell your "stupid boss" if you aren't feeling productive.

This is fucked up. This is just as fucked up as if someone was shooting speedballs in the next cube. We need to make some really serious changes. We need to stop assuming that everyone who just shows up will be able to learn by osmosis and how the team works and acquire the skills they need to just keep their head above water.

Seems reasonable. I get HUNDREDS of email at work each day. I filter most of them, and I keep my email program open at all time waiting for more email to come in. I will now close my email program and only check them once per hour. Now, I do need to talk to the boss about our "meetings" and our love of email. Here's the next one.

But I do know, if we want to make any type of progress, we are going to have to start to get a lot smarter. About teaching people some basic skills in communication, about how to deal with the technology we use. And to just get a basic liberal arts under pinning that teaches people how to teach themselves.

Word. And, my change for the day: Reduce my RSS subscriptions by 1 per day until I can no longer feel I can remove any more feeds. That means if I subscribe to 1 new feed one day, I need to remove 2 others. So look out people, you could be next. Today's chopping block:

http://www.shahine.com/omar/
Dogreader
Removed 3 Flickr Contacts that post frequently, but have really crappy pictures.
Techbargains (I don't need to spend more $$)
dl.tv podcast (Patrick Norton makes me angry anyway)
kottke.org. Used be cool, now he just rants.

Not bad for the first day, Down to 153 Feeds. That, and I will no longer type www in front of any website addresses. Why do we need it anyway? How'd you save time today?

Just a little weekend project

2006-02-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

So, Cassie has been complaining she is cold lately, so we fixed that this weekend (or at least started the process of fixing it). We bought a wood stove. We planned on installing a wood stove into our new house, but thought we might wait until next year, but given the last week of below 10 degree temperatures, now is better. We picked out a Vermont Castings stove, because they are made of cast iron and her parents have one that has lasted quite well. And, I always want to please the in-laws :) We'll pick up the stove from the shop tomorrow, but before the stove comes the hearth. We did a bit of tile work when we built our house, so we aren't as green as you might think. For the hearth, we decided to either do slate, or this terra cotta tile. Everyone and their mother has slate, so we chose the later (plus it was 1/3rd the price). The next question to decide, how far up to build it. I had the crazy idea of going all the way up. Cassie said.... "Sure". Off we went! First step to any tile job is installing a high quality backboard. Here I am with my trusty new hammer and fine looking toolbelt (I don't quite have the upgraded version like the dude next to me, but I'm working on it) The tile we picked out had some boxes that were marked "Special". Since we think of ourselves as special people, we bought a couple. These were the type of tile inside those boxes! We like them. Our ceiling is 15+ft tall in our living room at the peak, so it isn't necessarily an easy job getting up there. But, a borrowed extension latter from my parents and some healthy direction from her dad and we made it that far. Looking good Mike! Grrrowl. This handmade earth baked Mexican tile is easy to cut. No tile saw needed, all you need is a father-in-law with a skill saw and a masonry blade. Piece-o-pie! Going to do the grout tonight and install the stove tomorrow. Then it is time to break out the marshmallows (or the cup of cocoa next to the fire). Job well (nearly) done.

I wanna be social

2006-02-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

This post might sound pretty nerdy if I don't handle this right, so if it starts to get that way, please forgive me. "Back in the day" when I first started using the Internet, the experience was a mad dash, jumping around links found on search engines (remember Webcrawler.com?). Now, I expect more. I don't necessarily want to rely on my searching to find out new and interesting things, I want them recommended to me. Now, recommendations work best when they come from people you know. Algorithms work sometimes, but I'd rather trust a friend. This is where the social aspect of the Internet comes into play. Now, don't get all huffy. Social and Internet aren't supposed to sound funny together. Take this for example, there are a few friends that I believe I know more about and communicate more with socially via the Internet than when we lived near each other. I know more about their interests and activities via their blog, email and instant messaging than I ever knew before. But, that isn't enough. All the services I use on the Internet need a social aspect. Okay, perhaps not all, but most. Photo sharing, that'd be horribly boring if it weren't social. The whole act of "sharing" demands a social aspect. But, I want this information easier. For example, when I browse through Flickr, I "favorite" the photos that move me or include a cute golden fuzzy puppy. Now, I want to see what my friends are favoriting. To do this, I'd have to browse to each of their profiles and view their favorites individually. Bah! I want a pool of images that my friends recommend for me to see, one click. Now, how about interesting sites on net or small tidbits I find intriguing. Currently, I use del.icio.us. Now, even if it has a horrible name, it does provide mostly what I am looking for; quick entry and categorizing. I find something on the net, I click a button, it gets added to my list. But, what about my friends. A couple use it, but there is no direct linking, again I'd have to browse to each one individually. Digg.com does a pretty good job of handling that problem. They have friends built in. One page, one feed, all the interests I can get. The problem is, the news is only tech related and I only have 2 Digg friends :( How about Movies? Netflix offers a social feature in their service. Apparently I can get recommendations from my "friends" on which movies they enjoyed. Perfect! Only problem is, I have no friends signed up for Netflix (if you subscribe to Netflix, let me know, add me a friend, I'm always looking for good movies). Blogs. The "old fashion way" to keep up on someone. But I don't comment on enough people's blog, and I don't know when they comment back because I read them in my RSS reader. There isn't really a 2 way communication going on. There still isn't a good answer for this problem yet. So, take all these sites, all the social aspects of them and you can start to get an idea of the person. But, it takes too much to manage. Too many services to sign up for, too many feeds to subscribe to, and apparently too much effort for all my friends to deal with. Imagine this, one rss feed per friend. One page per friend. All their activities, all their recommendations, all their insights in one place. If someone can solve this for me, that'd be great! (and take care of the privacy concerns as well for the somewhat squeamish peops out there). But, in the mean time, friends... sign up for digg, sign up for del.icio.us, sign up for flickr, add me a friend in netflix and group all your feeds together using feedburner.com so I can keep in touch. I really am interested in you. I want to know more. That, or just send me actual mail. I like that too :)

Where's my mail?

2006-02-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

So, we signed up for Netflix. I've used the service twice before and always liked it, and now they have more distribution centers to make the delivery even quicker. But, there is a problem. Since we've moved, we lost our mail box. We have to go to the post office to check our mail. How horribly inconvenient! What I'd like to know is; how big of a city do you need to live in to actually get mail delivered to your house? We live in a world of modern conveniences, why am I being left out? And why did I not care about this before I signed up for Netflix (damn bills anyway).

Video of the Day

2006-02-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

Snapshot

2006-01-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

I don't post many "snapshots" any more. Here's a keeper. Doesn't he look mean?

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

2006-01-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

One great thing about meeting Cassie was this cake. Sure there were others, but this one stands out tonight as I make the cake. Couldn't find the recipe very easily, so I figured I'd put here, never to be lost again. Egg-less Chocolate Cake Recipe: 3 cup flour 2 cup sugar 1/2 cup cocoa 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt mix together dry ingredients 2 cup water 3/4 cup oil 2 tblspn apple cider vinegar 2 tsp vanilla pour into dry ingredients and beat away. Transfer to a normal sized greased cake pan and cook on 350 degrees for roughly 40 mins (until it passes the toothpick test). Let cool a bit then frost with your choice of chocolate frosting. Enjoy! *Updated with picture and more details in the comments*

A Gift from a Friend

2006-01-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

Cassie took the pup for a walk this morning to the post office. The trip is made mostly for the pup for he needs his daily exercise. The mail only means bills for Cassie and I. But, not this morning. Inside the small metal box was a bonafide piece of mail. A padded envelope which the handwriting of such a person I recognized immediately. We received actual mail. Inside the envelope was perhaps one of the nicest notes we have ever received. The gist of the note was one of congrats for us building/moving into our new home. Also inside the envelope was this little guy pictured here. A hand crafted snail fellow and a little story about where he came from. In the end, it is small gestures that makes a difference. It is the physical piece of paper with actual ink, ink that smeared when I touched it with my finger wet with Dr Pepper. Thanks so much for the little note, and the snail fellow. Thanks so very much.

My New Flash: 580ex

2006-01-25T00:07:00.000-07:00

These short days of winter have been getting to me. I come home from work, it has been dark for hours, not a chance to take many pics. So, I solved that. I purchased a flash. I'm horribly exicting to learn about the lighting aspect of photography, and here's the first step. I have some to learn before the big event in March, but also have plenty of ambition. My first model: More to come...

General Tso Facts and Bloglines Email Subscriptions

2006-01-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've started my research, mainly reading though the Wikipedia article on him and browsing through a few different receipes. If anyone else happens to know a good receipe for his chicken, or knows any interesting tidbits about him, please feel free to email my bloglines subscription about him at mikecpeck.23566628@bloglines.com.

Four

2006-01-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

Four jobs I've had

Sandblaster
Husband
Web Geek for some company that hired a Nazi
Intranet Developer for a company that sells dresses to rich women

Four movies I can watch over and over

Braveheart
Pianist
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Love Actually (okay, I'm a softy)

Four places I've lived

Moraga, CA
Caldwell, ID
Okinawa, Japan
Pennsicola, FL

Four TV shows I love

M*A*S*H
Coupling
This Old House
Star Trek TNG

Four places I've vacationed

Hong Kong
Some Small Island in the South Pacific (I forget the name)
Canada
Parents' House

Four of my favorite dishes

Spaghetti
General Tso's Chicken
Charbroiled Pork and Special Rice Noodles (good god)
Tacos

Four sites I visit daily

Bloglines
Digg
Google IG
Flickr

Four places I would rather be right now

In a Camera Store
In an Audi
On a lawn with a dozen puppies
Sleeping

Four bloggers I am tagging

That is all.

General Tso's Chicken

2006-01-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've never met General Tso. I only know the man from his chicken. I know that might sound weird. I have been thinking about the General for quite a bit this last week. I tried to think about other dishes that are named after people (famous or not), and I drew a blank. I could think of a few drinks, Arnold Palmer, Shirley Temple, Roy Rogers, Dr Pepper, etc; but food dishes were tougher. One could only conclude that either it takes a person of considerable stature to have a food named for him, or the dish is that damn tasty and out of respect for the dish, it requires a powerful name. Now, not knowing the history of the dish, I shall hypothesize about General Tso the man by only knowing about his chicken. General Tso must have been an ass-kicker most of the time, yet he had a softer side when needed¹. I'm guessing he was raised poor, during some sort of revolution². He made his way through the ranks of the Chinese Army by being stubborn, demanding his way with every step³. Then, once he was ruling his large army of fellow peasants, he sent the army out to slaughter his oppressors⁴. He was victorious of course, and for his victory dinner, he demanded a modest dish in celebration⁵. This modest dish could not be called anything but "General's Chicken"⁶. Now, how could I say these things with such confidence without knowing the man, the history, nor the legend? I shall provide explanations for each sentence by providing evidence only related to my experience with the dish; not the man. 1. Go to Safeway, order General Tso's chicken extra spicy, and you will understand the ass-kicker part. That is some fierce product, and it kicks all the way to the End. Yet, if you venture to Bonsai Bistro in CDA, Idaho (a fairly upscale joint) and order the General's Chicken, you'll be greeted with a very mild dish. 2. I can tell he was raised poor because of the type of chicken typically found in the dish; dark meat. Dark meat is reserved for the poor. In difficult times (such as a revolution), people are forced to cook and eat every part of the chicken. This explains the occasional appearance of chicken bones most likely from the neck, back or other unsavory parts of the bird. 3. When I eat the typically spicy version of General's Chicken, I can't pause when I'd like and just savor the moment. It demands that I not slow down because during that pause, the spicy-ness catches up to you. You can only calm the fire by eating more. 4. The dish is served with rice. The rice is small, numerous and white. His chicken (his army) dominates over the top of the dish, spreading the sauce over the rice, suffocating each kernel (his enemies). 5. By requesting a modest dish after his victory, the General could remember his roots. He was a man of the people, and he demanded people to remember that. 6. By reading points 1 - 5, you can tell this dish is indeed based on the very soul of General Tso. A name that didn't reflect that would certainly be in bad taste. Now, over the next few weeks I will be researching the history of General Tso to see how close I am with my character sketch. I plan to scour the internet, perhaps ask a friend for his historical perspective. I'll be sure to post any tidbits I find. At the end of my discovery, when I feel that I know the General by sources other than his dish, I shall attempt to cook said dish on my own. Perhaps invite a few people over and share what I've learned about the man, and the dish. *update* Before anyone gets snippy and says there are additional food dishes named after famous people, I will counter with the fact that neither the dish nor the person is of the same stature as the General. Sure there is Baby Ruth, or Beef Wellington, but who wants to be a baby or have a dish with the ingredient first and the name second? You'll have to do better than that.

I took a walk today...

2006-01-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

and here is what I saw.

Get with it!

2006-01-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Out of all the available beginnings for posts, I'm sure I've used just one phrase more than any other. "It has been awhile since my last post". If Blogger were to analyze what the most popular first sentence of posts from their users, I'm sure it would be something similar. I want to do better. I want to have my front page just display posts from this month, not from the last 3. That means I need to post more! Well, here goes yet another attempt. Recap: Since my last post, quite a bit has happened. Bill and Sarah came to visit and were our first house guests. Many of weekends were spent with these two fine people, the kind of people I have yet to meet again. It is rare for me (us) to become such great friends with people, and it is harder to think of a better example. They are so easy to just sit with, or get motivated enough to do something strenuous. We enjoyed good food, good games, and much much good conversation. I only wish we could do it more often. Now, to the house! We finally are "un-packed"! Okay, fine, sure there are a couple boxes marked "junk" that are in the closet or garage, but who cares. Everyone has those! We are unpacked enough to park BOTH cars in our garage. How splendid! I took some pics tonight of some of the favorite places around our house. Here they are in no particular order. Our bedroom is painted "Mother Nature". It is a very similar color to my car (Hilda, German for "Battle Maiden"), which I love. It is a very peaceful color, a color I like waking up to. This "Window" is something we got from the parentals. It is a new fad in interior design (just watch HGTV) to hang old windows up as art. I think it is perfect :P In our dining room we have a HUGE window looking out to the street. When I start dancing around in any suit (birthday no excluded), I need to make sure the neighbors don't join in. Here is a velvet curtain we purchased for just that task. It goes quite well with our brushed nickel/stainless steel motif. Our last rental house had a horrible bathroom. It was dirty, grimy and dark. I hated it, quite strongly. Now, we have a wonderful bathroom. 2 sinks, 2 mirrors and 2 faucets that don't drip. Everything is so clean, and we plan to keep it that way. In college I used to throw pottery. One of my favorite pieces was a gravy boat. And what gravy boat is complete without Port Holes? This thing was horrible at holding gravy, but oh what a looker. Now, our bathroom has these mirrors. Something completely different, but they always remind me of that gravy boat. We have trim. I never noticed trim before. I'm sure we had it, just never thought about it. Now, we painted every foot of it, and our wonderful contractor nailed every inch of it up. We decided to paint it "Popped Corn", which means off-white. It goes great with our "Rustic Maple" floor. Cassie thinks I'm the bedroom wind-machine, but I beg to differ. This moves much more air than I could ever muster. I lived in Japan for 3 years. I was young, but I do remember quite a bit. One of things I remember is the furniture sales what would happen on the base. The Exchange (think Walmart or Fred Meyer of the Military) would get shipments of furniture on a routine basis would would have these huge sales. Mom would make sure we arrived before it opened and would use my brother and I as sold signs that she's place on the stuff she wanted. We'd sit/hold/stand/grab anything she told us to and look cute/threatening to the other ladies that were after the merchandise. This screen was one of those items I'm sure my brother or I grabbed. We have a tall bar in our kitchen. Too tall for some, but we like it. And with that bar comes bar stools. I purchased 2 of these at an unfinished furniture place. They are still unfinished, but we will take care of that this weekend. Many of meals will be eaten atop one of these beauties. That's all the house pics for now. More will be posted soon, but not before I give you a little birthday update. Cassie is splendid. She knows what I like, and knows it well. There is a place that I've blogged about before that still holds true to its roots. It makes Dr Pepper the way the Dr ordered, with real sugar. You can order bottles from this place full of that sweet authentic nectar, and Cassie did just that. 24 of them to be exact. I am in heaven. In more ways that just the Dr Pepper as well. Thanks for everything buns :).

My Trip to Germany Will Include:

2006-01-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

A stop here.

The Perfect Nap

2005-12-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

How Long Is A Good Nap?:

THE NANO-NAP: 10 to 20 seconds Sleep studies haven't yet concluded whether there are benefits to these brief intervals, like when you nod off on someone's shoulder on the train. THE MICRO-NAP: two to five minutes Shown to be surprisingly effective at shedding sleepiness. THE MINI-NAP: five to 20 minutes Increases alertness, stamina, motor learning, and motor performance. THE ORIGINAL POWER NAP: 20 minutes Includes the benefits of the micro and the mini, but additionally improves muscle memory and clears the brain of useless built-up information, which helps with long-term memory (remembering facts, events, and names). THE LAZY MAN'S NAP: 50 to 90 minutes Includes slow-wave plus REM sleep; good for improving perceptual processing; also when the system is flooded with human growth hormone, great for repairing bones and muscles."

That's the ticket. Less than 20 minutes, or more than 50. That dreaded 30-40 minute nap will mess you up.

Google-Mart

2005-12-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

Not sure how I missed this before, but this is a great article. Imagine a data center that can be trucked/flown/trained? anywhere. The data center contains penta-bytes of data, 5000+ processors and can be connected up at all the major internet hubs. Take hundreds of these things and spread all over the country/world all connected by Google owned fiber. What does that get you? Google-Mart. Read the article. Worth your time.

Merry Christmas etc

2005-12-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

Just got done watching our standard Christmas Eve movie (Love Actually) with my cutie. Only a half hour until the big day. The day means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Yet, for me, it is a day of realization and thanksfulness. I realize how lucky I am to have wonderful friends and family. And I'm quite thankful for them all. I hope your Christmas is at least half as good as mine plans to be. Sleep well, and may your dreams be merry and bright.

Final Episode Nearing

2005-12-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? It has been awhile since my last post, even longer since I participated in the photo group. Whoops. We have been busy lately. Our house is consuming the majority of my free time, energy, thought and $$. The process as a whole has been quite positive, yet with the positives comes the surprises, the let downs and the unexpected-s. Just 2 days ago we found out the insulators didn't insulate the floor. There were "done" over a month ago it seems, yet they sort of missed just a small part of their job. Although the problem was fixed this morning (after 4 phone calls, 2 of them through relatives, the problem still sort of captures how we are dealing with the project. I like to think I'm a fairly competent individual. I like to think I have things under control. Yet, I have been a chicken without a head running all over the place, crapping everywhere, for the last 3 months. No matter the number of HGTV and DIY shows I watched prior to the project, I knew very little about home building. I don't know I'm supposed to crawl under the house to check for insulation, I don't know the correct elevation for a septic tank, or how to cut the kick-boards in our kitchen (more correctly called plinths) so the 45 degree angles match up correctly. I'm learning, but I'm so very far away from being the homeowner I thought I could be after watching Steve Thomas and Norm on This Old House. The house still seems like a project, a TV show that I have a small part in. It seems quite unreal that we might actually be moving in to OUR home Wednesday or Thursday. Cassie and I go to work, stop by after work and see bits of pieces done. Repeat for 5 days, then we get to play our parts on the weekends. Floorers, painters, cabinet installers, volunteer recruiters and moral supporters. It is so amazing to see the progress after those weekends, and especially all the help we had. Yet, it still seems a bit unreal. All of our belongings are in the garage; cold and wanting, waiting for us. Only today will we have running water and working bathrooms. Our front yard is a hole, our back a gravel pit. It seems too soon to move in, too sudden. Our house is a premature infant: a touch naked and a borderline lifeless. Yet, even if parts of that premature infant are ugly and scary (aren't most babies?), we can't disown it. It is OuRS (and the banks'), and we will love it, and make sure it (and ourselves) turn into something we are proud of. Come on Thursday, we are ready.

Now we are talking!

2005-12-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

View a few others as well.

Thanks for all the help. Families are wonderful.

Today in Celebrity Gossip

2005-11-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson's Face Falls Off Karate Kid Old Guy dies And the saddest of them all, Nick and Jessica split. There you have it. Tune in some other time for some more meaningless trivia :)

Myth: Eating turkey makes you sleepy

2005-11-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well, there goes that excuse. I guess we are all just lazy...

Vegas: A tour through the characters.

2005-11-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

The problem with a trip to a place like Vegas is the massive amount of content one has for a blog post. I have so much that I could write about and so many different ways to write it. But, I have decided on a theme: characters. Vegas has them all, here's my experience with some of the better ones. The Nice Guy: I came to Vegas for work, training on Microsoft Sharepoint (Yipee!). They didn't think it was a good idea to send me alone (I don't blame them), so they decided to chose a co-hort to tag along. Elliott can easily be described as a nice guy. He's a father of 3, church go-er, hard worker and overall quite thoughtful. The Airport Dude: We arrived at the airport Sunday evening and made our way through the gi-normous airport terminal to arrive outside. Elliott and I (to be stated from now on as We) both stepped outside the door and were greeted by two Airport Dudes. One was louder, so we listened to him. He asked us where we were headed, we responded "Sahara" he then said "Over There!". We listened (not knowing any better). "Over There" was a ticket booth for a bus ride to our hotel. So far so good, only spent $4 to ride down the strip and arrived at the right place. The Bus Driver: Crazy-ass mofo driver. It wasn't a large bus, and it wasn't a short bus (har har), but something in between. You'd swear it was a 2 door coupe the way he drove it. And, he did it all with one hand. The other hand was on... his... microphone (perv) telling jokes I cannot remember. He was quite helpful in describing all the different methods of transportation in the city though. The Hotel Check-in Chick: Never saw her, or at least I can't remember. We waited for 45 minutes to check in, the line was huge and the service slow. There was a butt load of people. What were they all here for? Continue reading. Smut Card Models: Yes, Smut. On every corner, on every street, there was smut. Not live in your face smut, but rather just the promise of smut delivered directly to your room in 15 minutes of less. The first time I saw a smut stand, I thought it was your typical free publication stand full of realestate ads or perhaps a cheesy weekly ;). I was wrong, the stands are full of smut models, in baseball card or paperback form. I picked one up (strickly for research). On the front was Tania, a healthy looking brunette that seemed eager to please, yet not in a completely dirty way. On the back listed her phone number, website and specialties. Apparently if I call up that number, Tania would be delivered to my door for only $39. Having no idea what I could expect for $39 (other than the promise of fulfilling fantasies and specialty in multiple women experiences), I decided to ask a native about it. My first question, "What exactly is Tania's profession?". Her response (in typical lowercase yet perfect punctuation form), "hooker." Well, glad that was cleared up. I then asked her what I could expect for my $39, "probably not much." was her response. Of course there were many more questions in my head, but I'm sure she had better things to do than answer my questions about hookers. So I asked her about restaurant recommendations. Not much help there. Smut Card Peddlers: After the first night, we decided to get out of the Sahara and the north end of town, so we headed to the South End of Town on the Casino funded Monorail. After arriving at the MGM Grand, we decided to walk down The Strip a bit. The south end of town is much more fancy, much more ritzy, and much to Grand to have smut card stands on every corner. Instead, they had the hordes of Smut Card Peddlers. Mostly hispanic groups of 4-5 men, women, and children standing on each busy corner snapping these smut cards in their hands and hand them out to people walking by. Whether you want them or not, they don't care. I have no idea of their business model, how do these people get paid? Why were motherly looking women handing these cards out? And, most importantly, how do they make that snapping sound only using one hand? Incredible. I didn't pick up any of these cards, I already had Tania's back at the hotel. The Guy who Goes Pppbbbttthhhh: So, what's in between the Smut Card Peddlers and the Smut Card Stands? Well, that's where the guy who goes ppppptttthhhhh stands. We were walking back from training one evening and saw some dude standing on the sidewalk. So what? There are plenty of those dudes around town. We passed him up, giving him no more thought or recognition (the standard practice in Vegas). Once we passed him, we heard a pppbbbttthhhhh. I had eaten beans for lunch, but knew it wasn't me, and figured it wasn't Elliott so I turned around and looked at the guy. He did it again. Stuck out his tongue and went ppppbbbbttththhhh. Odd. He wasn't selling anything that I could see. Elliott turned around to look at him, he did it again. Quite odd, but the longer we stayed there, the more we knew it was just par for the course. The Ladies with Back Boobs: Old ladies travel in herds in Vegas. They go everywhere together. They sit next to each other at the slots, they dine together at the restaurants. We (remember, that's Elliott and I) were at a Mexican diner having the worst dinner of the trip and I was awe-struck by this one particular old lady. She was your typical pear shaped lady, plenty of extra flesh around the middle. But this lady most recently bought a bra several dozen pounds ago. Her current brazier was causing her back flesh (and there was plenty of loose stuff there) to be pushed up over the back of her bra causing from what I could tell to be around a set of C cup sized breasts on her back: cleavage and all. Made for some fine dining. The Monks: We stopped at Treasure Island on one of our trips down the strip to watch the Sirens (more on them later). In the crowds gathering for the show, a very large herd of monks walked past us. Yes, monks. The short bald variety with their funny little shoes. What were they doing in Sin City? Meditating? Calling Tania? Who knows! But what seemed to be the head monk (only guessing by his age and aura of wisdom) seemed to enjoy the Siren Show. I was inspired by their openness, their dedication and their spirit. Goes to show that finding the meaning of life and connecting with the human spirit can involve more than just painful meditation or blind faith. Bravo. The Sirens: Treasure Island used to do a show of the Pirates fighting the British. Sound boring, so they dropped it. Now, in the spirit of the city, they do a free show titled "The Sirens of Treasure Island". The Sirens are a dozen of some very attractive women in very small pants (or no pants at all). They sang, danced, and did some very fine gyrations. Yes, some very fine gyrations. The Drink Givers: Park yourself at the slots next to the Ladies with Back Boobs, and stay for any length of time longer than 2 minutes (if your money lasts that long) and you'll be approached by a drink giver. The typical drink giver is a lady that most likely played a Siren about 20 years ago and 20 lbs lighter. You can ask for whatever you'd like as long as it is a cocktail, a beer, wine or Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite. No Dr Pepper was spotted in this city. Feeling quite partched after an hour stint at the nickel machine, I asked one of the drink givers for a coke. She delivered it promptly, but in that short time, I had spent my $$ I had reserved for the tip. She handed me the drink, I said "Thank You" quite sincerely, but had nothing to give her. She offered me a puzzled look, stood around for a few moments, but I'm sure she had seen it before. Yet another stiff not offering a tip. I felt bad, those shoes she was wearing did not look comfortable, and her lungs must have been completely coated in second hand smoke. But, what could I do? I couldn't give her my 400 nickels, those were mine. The Pink Suit: It was in New York, or MGm Grand, or the Luxor (I can't recall), but there was this dude in a pink suit. Big deal, just another weirdo, but it gets better. After walking out of the can adjusting his fly and seemingly his package underneath, he caught out the corner of his sun glass covered eyes a PINK BELT in some fancy store I was standing next to. I could see the dim light bulb go off in his head, he needed that belt to complete his outfit. He walked over and attempted to wrap the belt around his waist, it only went half way around, it was a girls belt most likely a size 2. He was not a size 2. No fear, in the same section were the cutest little pink socks with a small bow on the side. He picked them up, held them next to his pink suit to check the color match, it was perfect. Feeling happy with himself, he struted over to the cashier plopping down $30 cash for the socks. Shortly after, he took off his shoes and current socks (that were a touch too red for his suit) and put on his new socks. They were very pretty, although his hairy leg kind of ruined the elegantness of the bow, but what do I know? The Big $$ Winners: You can hear the winners in the casino. They roll the dice perfect, get that Ace to mate with their Black Jack, or score a nice pull on the slots. Instantly they let out of a whooo! and high five whoever is closest. They are in the spotlight, the crowd around them look over their shoulders, turn their heads to get a glimpse of the action. They don't stare long, they are now freshly motivated to put more $$ in the slots because they know the next win will be theirs. I was one of those glancers, appalled by the showmanship of the winners. I don't want to hear any whoo's, any high fiving. It was just tacky. Then, my co-hort hit triple 7's on the nickel slots (in the correct Red White Blue order) scoring him 2000 nickels. Instantly, my hand shot up for a high five and we both let out a Whooo! Go figure. The Guy Who Stares: There is a dude right across me in the airport who is staring at me. I know I am a fairly handsome fellow wearing a funny t-shirt, but damn, it is freaking me out. Alright, he's still staring. I'm going to stare back. Wish me luck. Aack! He didn't look away. Freak. I'll try again. Nope. Still staring. Ahh! Whew. I looked behind me and there is a TV. He is just watching TV. Thank god. That weirded me out. Kitty: Coldwater Creek opening a new store in Vegas last week. We had to stop to see it, it was the thing to do. Elliott might have bought a few things for his wife (hope she doesn't read this) and I picked up the only item cassie would actually wear (she isn't exactly in our target market). The service was quite good, although the check out process was a little rocky. During the checkout we asked the fellow employees about recommendations for dining that night. They weren't much help, but a fellow customer offered up her suggestion. She was an assistant General Manager for an Italian restaurant (can't tink of the name at the moment) and said we should check that out. She handed us her card and I gladly accepted it. Her name was Kitty. Thanks Kitty. We took that card and headed to the restaurant, opening the doors and walked in. It was quite busy, she told us we'd have to wait. Ha! I said, I pulled out Kitty's card and handed it to them and said Kitty said we could get a table (Hey, I always see that type of things on TV and it works, so why not). Well. It worked! We were ushered past the other sorry saps waiting for dinner and were seated in the corner. Not only was that a very cool moment, the food was quite fantastic. Thanks Kitty. Thank you very much. Coldwater Customers are really the best. And the last characters of the story: The Not so Nice Guys: My co-hort and I (Read We), have aged, become bitter, and are horribly tired. We have breathed more 2nd hand smoke in the past week, nearly dodged more accidents, witnessed more horror, greed, smut that ever before. We came from a small town looking for training a little fun, but left tired, destroyed, sick of excess. Elliott isn't as nice as he used to be. He has gained an air of cynicism that he didn't have before, a little less "okay" with life. Sure he hit the jackpot on the nickel machine, but perhaps that's just it. The city wore on us, we soaked in a bit of the city. Our clothes smell of smoke, and our souls drained from the excess. Las Vegas hurt us. Sure, it was an experience, it had its moments, but overall, it just hurt. Thanks Vegas. Thanks for everything.

Viva Las Vegas

2005-11-16T00:17:00.000-07:00

Holy Hell. Look where I am. Las Vegas. I survived 2 days so far, many stories to report. Check back soon.

Photo Contest Entry: Serenity

2005-11-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

After a very busy (yet productive weekend) of house stuff, I didn't have too much time left over for pictures. But, I'm never too tired to take pictures of Ampersand. I was greatly inspired by the message and theme of this great photo. Hope he doesn't mind me borrowing. View the others that have chimed in thus far. Some great ones there! Next week's topic: Who knows?

Oh Counselor Troi

2005-10-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here I am again, finding myself watching Star Trek TNG. Last time it was about Data's mom, this time I can't believe how useless counselor Troi is. She has had 2 lines in this entire show. They are as follows: "Like a message in a bottle?" and "We need to get out of here, Now!". Horribly obvious lines, adding absolutely nothing substantial to the show. Like she isn't even there... why bother? Now, anyone who can guess the name of the episode, or what it's about will win a gold star. Okay, one more hint. 3, 3 of a kind. That's the message in the bottle. And, Frasier makes an appearance. Come on nerds... don't disappoint. Update: An Incentive! The person with the correct answer gets this. (yeah right)

I belong to a culture of whiners.

2005-10-28T15:03:00.000-06:00

Originally I was going to generalize and claim that everyone I'm around is a bunch of whiners, but there are a unique few that are not, so I will make sure not to generalize and instead just criticize myself. I wake up in the morning, complaining I'd rather not get out of my nice warm bed. I want to hit the snooze button, a minimum of 4 times (36 minutes). That leaves me 3 minutes before I am supposed to leave the house to pick up my carpool. I don't want to cook breakfast, I don't want to walk the dog, I don't want to pack a lunch. I often brush my teeth hap-hazardly and rarely worry about shaving. I just stumble out the door, leaving a mess behind (although I have added a new 5 second step of squirting myself with Old Spice Body Spray before leaving, perhaps I got sucked in by the hopes of the Axe Body Spray commercials) I grumble when I have to move Cassie's car because it is parked behind my own, sometimes I just skirt around to get around it instead of moving it. I have 2 minutes to make it 8 minutes to my carpool. I know they are outside waiting for me, so I speed. The road isn't that safe, I shouldn't speed, it is dumb. Then it is off to work, the whining gets fierce. The IT building is going through some serious renovations at work, causing noise, dust and some nasty fumes. I was notified through email that we are advised to find a different desk location for the day so we all wouldn't become intoxicated and numb (too late I think). The whining grows. I am so inconvenienced by this event, it is impossible to get my work done, the work I am being paid to do. I have to walk all the way across the parking lot in a torrential drizzle to find a new home in a freshly built conference room in a new building. I have to work on my laptop instead of my dual 3.0 ghz workstation. I don't have my gel wristpad. I don't have my mini fridge. I don't have my brand new comfy chair and I'm bitching about it. I only find solace when I plug my $200 headphones into my iPod and turn on my "Chillin'" playlist consisting of soft beat techno (I'm currently listening to Life's So Sweet by Moby, how ironic). My solace lasted 5 minutes, enough time to check my email for the 20th time so far, I needed more. So I walked 5 minutes to our Cafe and bought a 20oz 2% Chai - no water. That seemed to fix things for the next 5 minutes, until my Chillin playlist tossed on another soft beat techno song (In the Waiting Line by Zero 7)... Jeez Mike, had enough hints yet? What have I become? Not something I'm pleased with. I'm sitting in that stark, clean, horribly comfortable conference room drinking my Chai, listening to my iPod, hearing others like me whine. Whining about how put out we are. How this isn't in my job description. Damn right it isn't in my job description. Whining isn't mentioned anywhere. I'd like to change. I'd like to think I haven't always been this way. I'd like to think this is just a phase, a phase of gluttony, whining and procrastination. A phase that everyone goes through, just to get it over with. Well, this phase is over. Spent. Complete. Done. Finished. On to a new one, one lacking procrastination, whining and wasting. I'm ready, I'm excited, Look out. New phase... starting......... Monday (nothing too sudden here.. My Chai is still warm and my Chillin playlist is only half way through).

For Research Purposes Only

2005-10-27T12:00:00.000-06:00

Care to see where you pee? Check out the amazing collection of snapshots of urinals from around the world. urinal.net. They range from classy to quite scary. Hm.

Google, just like any weatherman.

2005-10-26T12:23:00.000-06:00

First: 1 Minute Later: I see Google has no clue about the weather either.

Photo Contest Entry: Gravity

2005-10-25T23:09:00.000-06:00

I get an extra day because I was sick over the weekend :) I wasn't able to get away with not posting, so I gathered all I could tonight to take a photo. Had some fun with the flash (and just a touch of photoshop [the orginal])... Many thanks to bonsai and cassie for all the help. Alvin's, Chad's (Saweet!), Chris' and of course, Phil's. Welcome Jessie. ~~I think it is Chris' turn this week for the topic.~~ Topic: Incognito

Introducing Aperture

2005-10-19T12:33:00.000-06:00

Good golly miss molly I want this. Finally it seems someone has solved the RAW workflow issue. And of course, it was Apple. Whooo-HA!

Ready, Set, Procrastinate

2005-10-18T10:50:00.000-06:00

Email Checked Bloglines Empty Playlist Created IM Status Set to Busy Chai Ready Headphones On Ready, set, work! 30 mins until my next meeting.... Update Damn it. 4 3 new emails in the time it took me to post this. No wonder productivity is at an all time low. Perhaps I need to switch professions to construction or something.

Photo Contest Entry: Black and White

2005-10-16T23:08:00.000-06:00

Others: Wasn't quite ready for bed after a long day's work, so I setup for a couple shots. These were quite fun to take! I'll updated with links to the others when they post. Next week's topic: Gravity (hmmm) ~~Dave.. you choose.~~

House Update

2005-10-16T21:45:00.000-06:00

More pics!

Just iPod

2005-10-14T15:11:00.000-06:00

Apple didn't release a video iPod yesterday... they released an iPod. Music first.. or so they say. The event once again proves that Steve Jobs is a puppet. He baits us with a small upgrade, just expecting people to rush to the store to fondle his latest toy. He disses the idea of portable video, then releases an iPod with video as an "extra". If the video sucks, he'll just remind you it is just a perk, and to wait 6 more months for the real vPod. Ha, I saw right through that! Yeah right. Now, where is the closest Apple store? I have some fondling to do. Damn you Steve Jobs.. Damn you!

Apple HAD a branding dilemma

2005-10-14T15:02:00.000-06:00

37Signals' blog just posted a post claiming that Apple has a branding dilemma with their iTunes Music Store. Apple no longer sells only music in iTunes, so how are they going to handle this? I think thier newly filed trademark Vingle has something to do with it. You don't just buy music in iTunes, you buy Vingles... Music, Movies, TV. How's that for detective work?

Kitchen Cabinet Time

2005-10-14T11:30:00.000-06:00

It is time to order cabinents. Cassie and I decided which door style we liked (#2,#4,#7), but layout is still a little open. Anyone have any little tips or must-haves? All the "inspiration" ideas from IKEA have a neat back-splash from tile or stainless steel, I really dig the small gray tile in #1, or even the blue one in #3. So, help us out would ya? What do we need to include?