Hard to believe Y2K was 10 years ago. Back then, I was one of the computer room shift supervisors. Amy had done some work with Herb and Gordon getting us ready for the thing. The director, Ferrell, was a little off by then, I think. A couple of days before the 31st, he brought in some really long extension cords and some tarps for us to have on hand. He seemed to think we could just run the cords over to the next building and plug the servers in if we had to. I asked him what the tarp was for, he thought it would be useful if water started coming in from the ceiling. I still don't know what he thought would happen to the structural integrity of the roof... At around 10pm, one of the campus police officers came over, Ferrell had him over just in case we needed him. (We didn't, but I think he enjoyed sitting there all night eating snacks just as much as we did.)
Anyhow, at the time, I was still an hourly employee. I hit 40 hours before the 31st, and worked about 14 hours or something that day. We were incredibly bored the entire day, watching New Year's celebrations on TV from around the world, and watching the reports of nothing else happening.
No worldwide computer meltdown, no alien invasion, no natural disaster. Just a very big paycheck from all the overtime...
Happy new year everyone.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Gadgets of 2009
I've gotten a few new gadgets this year:
- New laptop - Dell Latitude E6500 - My old one was a Dell Precision M90. The laptops are about the same size. This one is a bit smaller and lighter, I didn't realize it was so heavy until I started carrying the new one around. MY backpack feels so much lighter these days...
- New monitor at work - I went from a 20 inch monitor to a 24 inch monitor. This was a 'pecking order' acquisition... The 24 inch monitor is pretty nice. Lots of room, and plenty bright.
- Logitech VX Nano wireless mouse - This thing is really nice, it's very sensitive, seems to move much faster than any other mouse. You can really tell the difference when you go back to another mouse. It's got a scroll wheel, with fly wheel mode that will let you scroll through pages super fast. I use it all the time when I am on the DNS modification page for work, scrolling through subnets. The mouse is definitely a winner. The usb interface for the mouse is a short little thing that only sticks a quarter inch out of the laptop. I haven't removed it since I got the laptop.
- Droid - so far I like it. I'm not posting to this blog for it yet, it sounds like the two primary apps for blog posts from the droid need at least one more release to be ready. That's ok, I'm not looking to release my laptop with the thing. Turn by turn navigation, google sky, and all the other integrated google apps is very nice... If I find any phone number on the web browser, I can select it, then call it. This is very nice for someone that calls lots and lots of people in the Stake.
- Roku Netflix player - Tara got this for Christmas, not what she was expecting. Mailing it to Drew's house did the trick. So far, it seems really nice. It streams a little better than a laptop streams, and goes through the TV. On Saturday, I asked Tara what she wanted to watch, she said "anything". I played an episode of "The Incredible Hulk", I'm not sure that was what Tara was expecting, but we watched it anyway...
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Christmas pictures
All the girls seemed pretty happy with the stuff they got for their Grandma. Any non-smiling pictures are a result of poor timing with the camera, not an indication of what they are currently thinking about the gifts, except for maybe Adam...
Friday, December 25, 2009
Game time - Where I lose mostly everything I play...
Last week we had a work Christmas party at a cabin up Springville canyon. We took a Wii up there. I lost at MarioKart, Bowling, and some other thing, but beat Karl at fencing. Tara and I played horse at the basketball court up there, Tara beat me by several letters.
Two days ago the Garretts invited us over to play Cash Flow. That was an interesting game. It ended up that four of the five of us were in a position at the end to win. Jared won, and seemed pretty happy about it in the end.
Today Tara and I played "Star Trek Scene It?", which she got for Christmas. I won, but only by a little. It was answers to questions about the Star Trek movies that did Tara in. (Tara is watching the first episode of the original series right now to start getting caught up so we can play again. Good thing she's got the Roku box now.)
We also played Ticket to Ride, the 1910 expansion, which I got today. The bigger cards are easier to use, that's for sure. Tara won the game by 12 points, she was able to get more trains down than I was...
Maybe I'll race the girls in MarioKart tomorrow, just to prop up my ego a bit.
Two days ago the Garretts invited us over to play Cash Flow. That was an interesting game. It ended up that four of the five of us were in a position at the end to win. Jared won, and seemed pretty happy about it in the end.
Today Tara and I played "Star Trek Scene It?", which she got for Christmas. I won, but only by a little. It was answers to questions about the Star Trek movies that did Tara in. (Tara is watching the first episode of the original series right now to start getting caught up so we can play again. Good thing she's got the Roku box now.)
We also played Ticket to Ride, the 1910 expansion, which I got today. The bigger cards are easier to use, that's for sure. Tara won the game by 12 points, she was able to get more trains down than I was...
Maybe I'll race the girls in MarioKart tomorrow, just to prop up my ego a bit.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Some thoughts a Christmas rapidly approaches
- Emma was asking if Santa would bring "Santa Stew" ingredients. Looks like she won't be disappointed.
- The problem with finishing Christmas shopping a while ago is forgetting needing that one thing for Tara's present. 10:30pm is not the right time to be looking for this particular thing. It turns out Walmart closed at 8pm. I know this because I went over there tonight. So did lots of other people. There's quite a revolving door of people going on over there, with people driving up checking the close time, and leaving. I wonder if Walmart checks their recordings to see how many people drive up from 8pm to 1am on Christmas Eve. They might end up being opened next year.
- The only places in town that are opened at 10:45pm on Christmas Eve around here are McDonald's, In-N-Out, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. (The thing I need is a little about the level of what's available at any of those four places.)
- Rite Aid and Walgreens is currently doing a very brisk business. A very, very brisk business. The Walgreens parking lot was full. One guy had all kinds of gifts, and was trying to get someone to open the perfume case. (Seems like I was once like that, anyone remember stories?)
- We used to let the kids put out cookies and milk for Santa. When did we start to go wrong? There were no cookies and milk out for Santa.
Gingerbread house
We bought a gingerbread house kit from Costco this year, it was cheaper than any of the others we saw around, and tons nicer.
Emma fashioned herself a little spearmint snowman/animal/something...
The house in process. Ruth was busy overloading the front path with icing and round candies. She likes that it's a very sturdy walkway.
The crew hard at work...To Droid, or not to Droid
A couple of the guys at work turned in their ENv's for Droids last week. They seem pretty happy. Feature happy. Jess let me look at his twice in the last two days. Yesterday we turned bluetooth on, I started playing with it, and the thing hung. Today he was showing me the SSH interface, and after I tried connecting to one of the machines, the app crashed. I think Jess' phone hates me.
Anyway, my phone is an old Sansung flip phone, I was due to get a new phone in Aug 2008. I guess it's time. I've logged 440 hours on this phone Other phones I've had in the past have started losing charge way before now, or dropping calls all the time, or wearing out in some other way. This one seems to be holding up ok.
I want to stay with Verizon, I've never had a problem with Verizon's coverage, pretty much anywhere but downtown New Orleans, and then only in my hotel room. Nothing in the current advertising campaign AT&T is running would really lead me to believe their service is all that great. I've heard people complain, and the Stake President doesn't get service in his office unless he leans forward in his chair. (That might be an exaggeration...) I don't spend tons of time in our Data Center anymore, but they get Verizon only down there. These reasons pretty much kept me not jumping on the iPhone until they got themselves on the Verizon network...
Back to the Droid. Lots of interesting features. The most important thing for me for a phone is how nice the 'conversation experience' is, meaning talking to people on the phone. I asked Steve E at work about this today, who has had his Droid for a while, and he said it was the best phone he has ever had in that respect. He had glowing reviews for talking to people on it, and even better things to say about the speaker phone.
Turns out those might have been the Droids I was looking for after all. I ordered one this afternoon. I should have it Monday, maybe Tuesday. I expect my productivity to go down by quite a bit for a while that day after it shows up...
Anyway, my phone is an old Sansung flip phone, I was due to get a new phone in Aug 2008. I guess it's time. I've logged 440 hours on this phone Other phones I've had in the past have started losing charge way before now, or dropping calls all the time, or wearing out in some other way. This one seems to be holding up ok.
I want to stay with Verizon, I've never had a problem with Verizon's coverage, pretty much anywhere but downtown New Orleans, and then only in my hotel room. Nothing in the current advertising campaign AT&T is running would really lead me to believe their service is all that great. I've heard people complain, and the Stake President doesn't get service in his office unless he leans forward in his chair. (That might be an exaggeration...) I don't spend tons of time in our Data Center anymore, but they get Verizon only down there. These reasons pretty much kept me not jumping on the iPhone until they got themselves on the Verizon network...
Back to the Droid. Lots of interesting features. The most important thing for me for a phone is how nice the 'conversation experience' is, meaning talking to people on the phone. I asked Steve E at work about this today, who has had his Droid for a while, and he said it was the best phone he has ever had in that respect. He had glowing reviews for talking to people on it, and even better things to say about the speaker phone.
Turns out those might have been the Droids I was looking for after all. I ordered one this afternoon. I should have it Monday, maybe Tuesday. I expect my productivity to go down by quite a bit for a while that day after it shows up...
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...
The one in the middle is mine...
It didn't get as big a reaction from the girls as I thought it would.
It didn't get as big a reaction from the girls as I thought it would.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Lily's birthday
Yesterday was Lily's birthday, she's now officially three. Lily wasn't feeling very well yesterday, and woke up at something like 2am. Tara and I tried to take her to lunch, but it didn't work out all that well, Lily just wanted to get back in the truck and go to sleep.
We opened presents for her today:
We opened presents for her today:
Thursday, December 17, 2009
I would use it ALL THE TIME...
If I had a personal teleporter, and other people really didn't have one, I would be doing the following all the time...
I would sit in a meeting, and while talking in the meeting or something, teleport out, change clothes, and maybe put on a wig or something, then teleport back in. Then I would say "Space/Time Continuity problems. I'm up to speed."
I would do that all the time. Maybe it only seems funny to me.
I would sit in a meeting, and while talking in the meeting or something, teleport out, change clothes, and maybe put on a wig or something, then teleport back in. Then I would say "Space/Time Continuity problems. I'm up to speed."
I would do that all the time. Maybe it only seems funny to me.
Like an Indonesian sneaker factory
The girls need to color a bunch of Christmas cards tomorrow. Tara might line them up, have them work all day long, and not give them any pay... It's getting late in the month, but Christmas cards will be on the way soon, assuming we have your address.
Just thought I'd mention it, while I'm thinking about sweatshops.
Just thought I'd mention it, while I'm thinking about sweatshops.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Communication Breakdown
Saturday evening I got a call from the guy on my team that was oncall. Something silly was happening at work. I was in the kitchen with Adam at the time, feeding him junk food. I brought my laptop in the kitchen and was poking around at things. A short time later, I knocked a cup of Diet Dr. Pepper into the laptop. The thing powered itself down.
I drained the laptop the best I could, the thing would not power on. I left it overnight. No power on. This morning, I went into work, put it on my docking station, and the thing powered up. Tara mentioned the laptop in our morning prayers, that must have been what did it. I'm just telling people it had a caffeine overdose.
This morning I built myself a Linux install on my backup drive at work. That way if the laptop fries later in the week, I will have something I can plug into some other computer and get work done.
Tara bought a Dr. Pepper t-shirt at the store the other day. I toyed with wearing it today, but figured that was a little too close to home at the time. Maybe tomorrow.
The worst part about dumping the drink into the laptop? That was the last of the Dr. Pepper in the house.
I drained the laptop the best I could, the thing would not power on. I left it overnight. No power on. This morning, I went into work, put it on my docking station, and the thing powered up. Tara mentioned the laptop in our morning prayers, that must have been what did it. I'm just telling people it had a caffeine overdose.
This morning I built myself a Linux install on my backup drive at work. That way if the laptop fries later in the week, I will have something I can plug into some other computer and get work done.
Tara bought a Dr. Pepper t-shirt at the store the other day. I toyed with wearing it today, but figured that was a little too close to home at the time. Maybe tomorrow.
The worst part about dumping the drink into the laptop? That was the last of the Dr. Pepper in the house.
C is for Cookie
C is also for Christmas. Put them together - Christmas Cookies!
This week's cookies:
This week's cookies:
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Root Beer cookies
- Banana bread
- Pumpkin chocolate chip bread
- Sugar cookies - chocolate filled
- Sugar cookies - jelly topped
- Macaroons
- Chocolate dipped almond butter cookies
- Truffles
- Candy Canes
- piroulene sticks
- Snow
- Campbell
- Harris
- Stookey
- Duffin
- Blackham
- Bird
- Heftel
- Keele
- Werner
- Turner
- MacDonald
- Shields
- McWhorter
- MacKay
- Huddleston
- Olsen
- Lott
- Anderson
- Rencher
- Bussio
- Kovacs
- Bell
- Weinheiner
- Champagne
- Pope
- Rose
- Rose
- Daniel
- Daniels
- Harper
- Fromm
Thursday, December 10, 2009
When the Levee Breaks
It's still cold. Definitely cold. Single digits still at nearly 11am. Last Thursday night when I went out to plug vents, I got three of them closed up. I had no gloves on, after the third one was closed, my hands were getting a little too cold, I went inside. The next morning the back bath sink was working, but the truck had a flat tire and the front bath tub backed up.
If fixed the truck, went to the store for some Liquid Plumber, and poured it down the tub. A few hours later, the thing drained. Hair and some sort of sticky paper came up from the drain before the clog unbound.
Yesterday the tub backed up again. Back to the store for Liquid Plumber. I dumped it down last night, this morning there was no difference. I dumped another bottle down to see if it would bring anything up. The stuff was foaming up, but not bringing anything with it.
I went and did a load of laundry, a load of dishes, and took out all the trash. Finally the inspiration came - Maybe there was a fourth vent over by where the bathtub was. I went out there, and sure enough, an uncovered vent, right behind one of the bushes. I plugged the vent with insulation, and went back inside. The water in the tub was ice cold.
I scooped most of the cold water out of the tub, and loaded it up with hot water. This made it end up as sort of warm water. An hour or so later, and the tub has drained. Now I can take a shower. Getting inspiration is so nice...
If fixed the truck, went to the store for some Liquid Plumber, and poured it down the tub. A few hours later, the thing drained. Hair and some sort of sticky paper came up from the drain before the clog unbound.
Yesterday the tub backed up again. Back to the store for Liquid Plumber. I dumped it down last night, this morning there was no difference. I dumped another bottle down to see if it would bring anything up. The stuff was foaming up, but not bringing anything with it.
I went and did a load of laundry, a load of dishes, and took out all the trash. Finally the inspiration came - Maybe there was a fourth vent over by where the bathtub was. I went out there, and sure enough, an uncovered vent, right behind one of the bushes. I plugged the vent with insulation, and went back inside. The water in the tub was ice cold.
I scooped most of the cold water out of the tub, and loaded it up with hot water. This made it end up as sort of warm water. An hour or so later, and the tub has drained. Now I can take a shower. Getting inspiration is so nice...
Monday, December 07, 2009
2010 Christmas cookie project - Week 1
People in our ward, and surrounding environs, knows by now we are coming around in December with a plate or cookies. (Or they should, at least.) In school recently, Kate's class was telling each other their favorite Christmas traditions. Delivering cookies was the one Kate picked.
Anyway, this week's cookie lineup had some or all of the following:
Rob, I've got your request. Stay tuned, you never know...
Anyway, this week's cookie lineup had some or all of the following:
- Oatmeal raisin
- Small sugar cookies with sprinkles
- larger shaped sugar cookies - chocolate dipped
- peanut butter cookies - chocolate dipped
- chocolate raspberry chocolate chip
- root beer
- candy canes
- microwave popcorn
- truffles
- piroulene sticks
- Johnson
- Niccoli
- Salazar
- Sawyer
- Brimhall
- Chambers
- Christensen
- Corless
- Egbert
- Garrett
- Garvin
- Howell
Rob, I've got your request. Stay tuned, you never know...
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Cookies - Tara stops 'Evil John' - And more
I'm making cookies right now, for our traditional Christmas cookie plates that we give out this time of year, mostly to people from church. So far I have only come up with sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies, nothing fancy yet today.
I do have some extracts I might try to find something to make from, I have raspberry, cherry, almond, and mint extracts. I wanted to get the imitation run extract, just to make a batch of cookies from it and see who from church comes up and says "those were the best tasting cookies I have ever had!" Tara stopped me.
Any suggestions this year?
Also, Drew just gave me three bottles of wing sauce. I think it might be time to go to town on some homemade beef on weck and wings...
I do have some extracts I might try to find something to make from, I have raspberry, cherry, almond, and mint extracts. I wanted to get the imitation run extract, just to make a batch of cookies from it and see who from church comes up and says "those were the best tasting cookies I have ever had!" Tara stopped me.
Any suggestions this year?
Also, Drew just gave me three bottles of wing sauce. I think it might be time to go to town on some homemade beef on weck and wings...
Mary's Baptism
Mary got baptized yesterday. She was very excited that so many family members could be there. She asked me for 10 minutes if I saw Missy, who was sitting next to my Dad with a different hairstyle...
I don't know what else to say about it, there were 11 total kids getting baptized, so it was kind of crazy at the church. I spent some time thinking about what I would say in the confirmation, but nothing I really thought about ended up in the blessing. I hope it was ok.
After the baptism and confirmation, we all went to Chuck-A-Rama for lunch. We ended up beating a majority of the 'Saturday morning baptism crowd' there. (My Mom and Dad paid for us, thanks by the way.) We didn't get a big giant table all together, I ended up sitting next to 3 of the kids, Drew ended up getting Lily and Ruth with Anson. Maybe I should have thought that all the way through better, but I think they behaved themselves...
Friday, December 04, 2009
Conversation from the summer
Chad: I am leaving openings in the siding for your basement vents. It will help keep the crawlspace from being damp
Me: (In my head: I don't ever remember the crawlspace down there being damp) OK
What's wrong with this conversation? It's very cold out there tonight. One of the vents is right next to the tubing that feeds the washer and back bathroom sink. There is definitely frozen water in that tubing.
I went out and plugged up the vents with insulation for tonight. In the morning I will have to check the sink, if it's running by then, I will have to go back down and make sure the tubing didn't crack and start leaking. If it has, we will have some dampness in the crawlspace...
Me: (In my head: I don't ever remember the crawlspace down there being damp) OK
What's wrong with this conversation? It's very cold out there tonight. One of the vents is right next to the tubing that feeds the washer and back bathroom sink. There is definitely frozen water in that tubing.
I went out and plugged up the vents with insulation for tonight. In the morning I will have to check the sink, if it's running by then, I will have to go back down and make sure the tubing didn't crack and start leaking. If it has, we will have some dampness in the crawlspace...
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The BYU vs. Utah football game is bad for my health
Scores for games I have either been at or watched on TV:
I have highlighted the games that were close, usually these come down to the last play of the game. (Like today's overtime game)
I stopped getting season tickets years ago, after it started getting too expensive to get more than two sets of tickets. (Kate always wanted to go when she was little, but never wanted to stay for the whole game, which was a problem if Tara and I wanted to go. It started getting easier to just not get season tickets.) Since that time I have gone to a couple of games, wither buying tickets off someone, or having Drew give me tickets.
I wasn't planning on going today, but one of the families I home teach called 30 minutes before the game started and asked if I wanted tickets to the game, someone gave him some, but he had another commitment. I ended up taking their 11 year old boy, Isaac to the game. (Rich was telling me that Isaac was excited to go, and all our kids were in their rooms 'taking a nap'.)
We ended up sitting about 30 rows up in the North East endzone. Not bad seats at all. (Much better picture from those seats than the picture you get on TheMtn TV.) Directly in front of us were 6 Utah fans, one of which was pretty obnoxious. The dude took a drink cup, tore out the bottom, and was using it as a megaphone all night long. Late in the third quarter, I got tired of him turning and yelling at me, and almost snatched the cup out of his hand. I very nearly did it once, then stopped myself again. I figured there were 6 of them, and although Isaac may have made an ok wingman, he was only 11...
The guy had been chanting "cheater, cheater" all game long when BYU got a penalty, after I resolved not to take his cup, I started shouting over his 'cheater, cheater' chant with "Dirty Ute Fan" as loud as I could. Everyone around me liked this, and the guy stopped his 'cheater' chants after two of my 'dirty' chants over his, which was nice.
How did the game end this year? Utah scored three times in the fourth quarter to tie the game and go to overtime. Utah scored a field goal in overtime, then BYU scored a touchdown. Thousands of BYU fans stormed the field. The annoying Utah fan high fived all of us behind him after, congradulating us on the win, so I guess it was a good thing I didn't snatch his cup. (But it would have been funny.) Isaac and I didn't storm the field with everyone else, we walked back to the car.
Sometimes I don't know why I watch the BYU/Utah football game. It's bad for my heart... If I ever develop some sort of heart condition I will definitely have to stop watching.
1993 - BYU 31, Utah 34
1996 - BYU 37, Utah 17
1997 - BYU 14, Utah 20
1998 - BYU 26, Utah 24
1999 - BYU 17, Utah 20
2000 - BYU 34, Utah 27
2001 - BYU 24, Utah 21
2002 - BYU 6, Utah 13
2003 - BYU 0, Utah 3
2004 - BYU 21, Utah 52
2005 - BYU 34, Utah 41
2006 - BYU 33, Utah 31
2007 - BYU 17, Utah 10
2008 - BYU 24, Utah 48
2009 - BYU 26, Utah 23
1996 - BYU 37, Utah 17
1997 - BYU 14, Utah 20
1998 - BYU 26, Utah 24
1999 - BYU 17, Utah 20
2000 - BYU 34, Utah 27
2001 - BYU 24, Utah 21
2002 - BYU 6, Utah 13
2003 - BYU 0, Utah 3
2004 - BYU 21, Utah 52
2005 - BYU 34, Utah 41
2006 - BYU 33, Utah 31
2007 - BYU 17, Utah 10
2008 - BYU 24, Utah 48
2009 - BYU 26, Utah 23
I have highlighted the games that were close, usually these come down to the last play of the game. (Like today's overtime game)
I stopped getting season tickets years ago, after it started getting too expensive to get more than two sets of tickets. (Kate always wanted to go when she was little, but never wanted to stay for the whole game, which was a problem if Tara and I wanted to go. It started getting easier to just not get season tickets.) Since that time I have gone to a couple of games, wither buying tickets off someone, or having Drew give me tickets.
I wasn't planning on going today, but one of the families I home teach called 30 minutes before the game started and asked if I wanted tickets to the game, someone gave him some, but he had another commitment. I ended up taking their 11 year old boy, Isaac to the game. (Rich was telling me that Isaac was excited to go, and all our kids were in their rooms 'taking a nap'.)
We ended up sitting about 30 rows up in the North East endzone. Not bad seats at all. (Much better picture from those seats than the picture you get on TheMtn TV.) Directly in front of us were 6 Utah fans, one of which was pretty obnoxious. The dude took a drink cup, tore out the bottom, and was using it as a megaphone all night long. Late in the third quarter, I got tired of him turning and yelling at me, and almost snatched the cup out of his hand. I very nearly did it once, then stopped myself again. I figured there were 6 of them, and although Isaac may have made an ok wingman, he was only 11...
The guy had been chanting "cheater, cheater" all game long when BYU got a penalty, after I resolved not to take his cup, I started shouting over his 'cheater, cheater' chant with "Dirty Ute Fan" as loud as I could. Everyone around me liked this, and the guy stopped his 'cheater' chants after two of my 'dirty' chants over his, which was nice.
How did the game end this year? Utah scored three times in the fourth quarter to tie the game and go to overtime. Utah scored a field goal in overtime, then BYU scored a touchdown. Thousands of BYU fans stormed the field. The annoying Utah fan high fived all of us behind him after, congradulating us on the win, so I guess it was a good thing I didn't snatch his cup. (But it would have been funny.) Isaac and I didn't storm the field with everyone else, we walked back to the car.
Sometimes I don't know why I watch the BYU/Utah football game. It's bad for my heart... If I ever develop some sort of heart condition I will definitely have to stop watching.
Friday, November 27, 2009
The trees
The house was still relatively clean today, so we set up the Christmas trees. It might be a record.
A couple of years ago we got two trees for $5 from Sears. (90% off after Christmas.) I made space for both of them this year, so the girls were able to hang all the ornaments we have on the trees. (They didn't all fit last year.)Lily and Adam have already tried going after the trees, hopefully we can condition them to stay away soon...
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Surviving Thanksgiving
We appear to have survived another Thanksgiving. Tara's Mom took care of the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pies. (Emma said that Grandma's pumpkin pie is best, mine is number two. I use 'real' pumpkin, not canned. It's just nice when Emma eats...)
I made less pie than last year. In addition to pumpkin, we had chocolate, banana cream, apple, and berry pies, and a pistachio cake, that you can see below. I also made a savory butternut squash pie that was pretty good. (No one touched the apple or berry pies yet, I assume they are good, but sometimes you have to wait to see with Thanksgiving...)
Tara's parents came over, Tom came over, and my cousin Emily came over. It was the first time meeting her, even though she's been here in town for 3 1/2 years. She seemed nice, she's an English major, and works in the same English writing place Tara used to work in. Hopefully she enjoyed the visit, the kids were a little crazy a couple of times. Anyhow, it was good to meet her.
If I was hungry at all right this very minute, I would load up some mashed potatoes, corn and gravy int he microwave. Good thing it will still be there tomorrow. The kids are looking forward to "pie for breakfast." Skipping naps, and making them play outside for an hour before dinner, resulted in them all going to bed and going to sleep tonight. Added bonus.
Also tomorrow - the annual "cursing at the Christmas lights."
I made less pie than last year. In addition to pumpkin, we had chocolate, banana cream, apple, and berry pies, and a pistachio cake, that you can see below. I also made a savory butternut squash pie that was pretty good. (No one touched the apple or berry pies yet, I assume they are good, but sometimes you have to wait to see with Thanksgiving...)
Tara's parents came over, Tom came over, and my cousin Emily came over. It was the first time meeting her, even though she's been here in town for 3 1/2 years. She seemed nice, she's an English major, and works in the same English writing place Tara used to work in. Hopefully she enjoyed the visit, the kids were a little crazy a couple of times. Anyhow, it was good to meet her.
If I was hungry at all right this very minute, I would load up some mashed potatoes, corn and gravy int he microwave. Good thing it will still be there tomorrow. The kids are looking forward to "pie for breakfast." Skipping naps, and making them play outside for an hour before dinner, resulted in them all going to bed and going to sleep tonight. Added bonus.
Also tomorrow - the annual "cursing at the Christmas lights."
I call it "Exhibit A"
My pistachio cake skills need a little honing. Anyone here by 2:30 or 3:00 today can have a piece...
Heaping helping of Shepard's Pie
We ate it last week. And the leftovers are gone, sorry. Does this classify as teasing?
Proof that the boy can stand, if no one is watching him...
...but only when "Go, Diego, Go" is on TV...Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Tithing Settlement - 2009 edition
Tithing settlement last year was - shall we say, 'interesting'... The Bishop was telling me this morning that he recently re-read the blog entry remembering that interview.
We went today, things went a little bit better this year than last, I think. Maybe it was because Lily and Ruth spent the hour before chasing each other through the house and were tired. Maybe it was because they had something to eat before we went over. Or maybe, just maybe, for once this weekend they listened to us when we told them we wanted them to behave...
Anyhow, the Bishop asked Ruth if she was a full tithe payer. Ruth told him she was four. At one point, he was talking to all the girls, and Lily's shoe fell off. She said "That was just my shoe". The Bishop didn't hear her, and asked what she said. Lily's response? "Just kidding."
Whatever. At least they enjoy the opportunity to pay tithing.
We went today, things went a little bit better this year than last, I think. Maybe it was because Lily and Ruth spent the hour before chasing each other through the house and were tired. Maybe it was because they had something to eat before we went over. Or maybe, just maybe, for once this weekend they listened to us when we told them we wanted them to behave...
Anyhow, the Bishop asked Ruth if she was a full tithe payer. Ruth told him she was four. At one point, he was talking to all the girls, and Lily's shoe fell off. She said "That was just my shoe". The Bishop didn't hear her, and asked what she said. Lily's response? "Just kidding."
Whatever. At least they enjoy the opportunity to pay tithing.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
An Evening with a bored (or boring) guy
We have a standing babysitter every Thursday night. This is kind of nice when we want to go out to eat, or to the temple, or to a play, etc. The problem is that Tara sometimes has things on Thursdays that leave me out on the street. (Book clubs, things like that, where men are not exactly welcome.) I think I have gotten boring, I have a hard time figuring what to do. One week I took Lily to the library and an ice cream. One week I sat at a buffet reading magazines.
Today was one of the days where I went out looking for something to do. We have someone in our ward moving to China in about two months, I sent him a message earlier in the day, to see if he needed help with his house, he didn't.
Tara and I went out to get something to eat, but she had a limited time to get something. There is an In-and-Out that opened here today, we drove past there, there was a giant line out the door, and an even longer line to the drive through. (I'm guessing more than 50 cars.) Tara got something from Teryaki Stix, I passed and took her to her book club.
I went to a furniture store to look at recliners. My recliner is starting to show it's age. (It's kind of falling apart. I'm thinking about starting a "John Payne recliner fund") The place I went had a bunch, some were nice. I texted Tom to see if he was hungry, he was on a date, eating.
I left the furniture place, and drove around looking for a place to eat. The Smokehouse was closed. Are they permanently closed, or just early? I went to Tommy Burger, they were open, and I waited in the place, but no employee showed. It's a really small place, no room to hide really. Not sure what the deal is, but I didn't rob the place while I was there. Or get any Chili fries. There were one or two other places I thought about, but the next was closed, so I gave up.
I drove up to Orem, and decided to stop at Kohl's. I have been sort of looking for a particular type of pie plate for about 3 years. I found one in New Jersey 18 months ago, but my luggage was too full already. No deal at Kohl's, either. Anyone use a silicone baking mat? Are they nice?
5 Guys Burger and Fries is near there, I drove by, there were something like 300 people all standing around the movie theater. I didn't know what the deal was, but just kept driving by and stopped at Costco. I got pistachios and olive oil. (That's what I am thinking about having for dinner at this point.)
After Costco, I thought about trying 5 Guys again, still people all over the theater, the signs around them said "New Moon". I avoided the first movie, (was there a second, or is this it?) I plan to avoid this one. 5 Guys was full of people. I kept driving.
Am I a boring person? I used to have friends around I could hang out with anytime, but they are all gone now. Maybe I should try harder with some of the people I know, but there is also the possibility that there's just nothing around here to do. I can stay plenty busy sitting at home, or sitting at work, or sitting at the church, but outside of that, not so much.
Maybe it's time for a mid-life crisis...
Today was one of the days where I went out looking for something to do. We have someone in our ward moving to China in about two months, I sent him a message earlier in the day, to see if he needed help with his house, he didn't.
Tara and I went out to get something to eat, but she had a limited time to get something. There is an In-and-Out that opened here today, we drove past there, there was a giant line out the door, and an even longer line to the drive through. (I'm guessing more than 50 cars.) Tara got something from Teryaki Stix, I passed and took her to her book club.
I went to a furniture store to look at recliners. My recliner is starting to show it's age. (It's kind of falling apart. I'm thinking about starting a "John Payne recliner fund") The place I went had a bunch, some were nice. I texted Tom to see if he was hungry, he was on a date, eating.
I left the furniture place, and drove around looking for a place to eat. The Smokehouse was closed. Are they permanently closed, or just early? I went to Tommy Burger, they were open, and I waited in the place, but no employee showed. It's a really small place, no room to hide really. Not sure what the deal is, but I didn't rob the place while I was there. Or get any Chili fries. There were one or two other places I thought about, but the next was closed, so I gave up.
I drove up to Orem, and decided to stop at Kohl's. I have been sort of looking for a particular type of pie plate for about 3 years. I found one in New Jersey 18 months ago, but my luggage was too full already. No deal at Kohl's, either. Anyone use a silicone baking mat? Are they nice?
5 Guys Burger and Fries is near there, I drove by, there were something like 300 people all standing around the movie theater. I didn't know what the deal was, but just kept driving by and stopped at Costco. I got pistachios and olive oil. (That's what I am thinking about having for dinner at this point.)
After Costco, I thought about trying 5 Guys again, still people all over the theater, the signs around them said "New Moon". I avoided the first movie, (was there a second, or is this it?) I plan to avoid this one. 5 Guys was full of people. I kept driving.
Am I a boring person? I used to have friends around I could hang out with anytime, but they are all gone now. Maybe I should try harder with some of the people I know, but there is also the possibility that there's just nothing around here to do. I can stay plenty busy sitting at home, or sitting at work, or sitting at the church, but outside of that, not so much.
Maybe it's time for a mid-life crisis...
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Restaurant Review
Chuck-a-Rama
On Friday night, Tara had an all evening Relief Society activity. For Halloween, someone at work was giving out free kids meal passes to all the kids. After Tara left for her thing at 4:30, I marshalled all the kids together, and told them if they had all three of their bedrooms cleaned by 6pm, I would take them out to eat. Off they went. This gave me time to do a load of dishes, put away some laundry, and watch the day's recording of PTI before I had to do much, kids wise.
The kids got done at 5:30pm, so off we went. (It turns out this was a perfect time to go, when we left the restaurant at 7pm, there were about 75 people waiting in line to get in. There wasn't a line at 5:45pm...) With the free kids meals, the total bill came to under $12 for 7 of us, which is quite the deal.
Anyhow, some people might think one guy taking 6 kids ten and under to a restaurant by himself was crazy, and maybe it was. Turns out the kids were very well behaved. It was amazing enough to the people around us that all the old ladies kept coming over to comment. I like to think the kids were just hungry.
The funny thing about being there was the looks some of the people around me gave as I was getting the kids food. I would go up and get a heaping pile of fries, and six fried chicken legs, and take it back. Funny looks from people because of the volume of fries and chicken. Go back and get a full plate of potato salad, and six giant rolls. More funny looks. It was kind of humorous.
I am not sure I have ever been in the place on Friday night, but they had a Friday night Fish fry thing going on. I really liked the seasoned fries, fried shrimp, and fried fish they had out. It was the majority of what I ate that night. I would definitely recommend the place for a Friday night. (Every day they have a different speciality. Thursday is Taco Taco Thursday, or something like that.)
I think the girls enjoyed it. Tara and I had planned all week to take Mary out to lunch for her birthday. (Mary actually demanded it. Her sisters got the same treatment this year for their birthdays, and Mary is not one to let that kind of thing slip by unnoticed...) Tara asked Mary where she wanted to go Saturday morning, Mary told Tara she wanted to go to a different Chuck-A-Rama than the one the night before. I braced myself for a trip back, and off we went.
Saturday is Italian day. I think Mary enjoyed it. I watched for the people piling on huge plates of food, then going back for more a few minutes later. There were at least two people doing that then. I guess you can always pick the parents of little kids out of a crowd at the buffet...
On Friday night, Tara had an all evening Relief Society activity. For Halloween, someone at work was giving out free kids meal passes to all the kids. After Tara left for her thing at 4:30, I marshalled all the kids together, and told them if they had all three of their bedrooms cleaned by 6pm, I would take them out to eat. Off they went. This gave me time to do a load of dishes, put away some laundry, and watch the day's recording of PTI before I had to do much, kids wise.
The kids got done at 5:30pm, so off we went. (It turns out this was a perfect time to go, when we left the restaurant at 7pm, there were about 75 people waiting in line to get in. There wasn't a line at 5:45pm...) With the free kids meals, the total bill came to under $12 for 7 of us, which is quite the deal.
Anyhow, some people might think one guy taking 6 kids ten and under to a restaurant by himself was crazy, and maybe it was. Turns out the kids were very well behaved. It was amazing enough to the people around us that all the old ladies kept coming over to comment. I like to think the kids were just hungry.
The funny thing about being there was the looks some of the people around me gave as I was getting the kids food. I would go up and get a heaping pile of fries, and six fried chicken legs, and take it back. Funny looks from people because of the volume of fries and chicken. Go back and get a full plate of potato salad, and six giant rolls. More funny looks. It was kind of humorous.
I am not sure I have ever been in the place on Friday night, but they had a Friday night Fish fry thing going on. I really liked the seasoned fries, fried shrimp, and fried fish they had out. It was the majority of what I ate that night. I would definitely recommend the place for a Friday night. (Every day they have a different speciality. Thursday is Taco Taco Thursday, or something like that.)
I think the girls enjoyed it. Tara and I had planned all week to take Mary out to lunch for her birthday. (Mary actually demanded it. Her sisters got the same treatment this year for their birthdays, and Mary is not one to let that kind of thing slip by unnoticed...) Tara asked Mary where she wanted to go Saturday morning, Mary told Tara she wanted to go to a different Chuck-A-Rama than the one the night before. I braced myself for a trip back, and off we went.
Saturday is Italian day. I think Mary enjoyed it. I watched for the people piling on huge plates of food, then going back for more a few minutes later. There were at least two people doing that then. I guess you can always pick the parents of little kids out of a crowd at the buffet...
Sunday, November 01, 2009
A perfect example of what the day after Halloween looks like
She's actually crying because she's missing some sort of toy, but I am sure it is enhanced by lack of sleep and too much sugar...
One good thing about a big pile of Halloween candy - the crash after the sugar high. We are on our second day of children actually going to sleep when they are put to bed. Perfect way to break up the daylight saving time change problem... Some people ration out their kids Halloween candy, we let them at it, it gets it out of here, and you don't end up with little wrappers all over the house for the next two months...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Hair today, gone tomorrow
"Give me all your candy!"
The boy needed a haircut. It was getting a little crazy.
Someone mistook him for a girl yesterday at my office. I think because of the curls.
The giant head of curls
I cut his hair tonight. Tara tried evening a few places out. Some people call it confidence, bravery, or boldness when you barrel on ahead and do things you don't know how to do. Others call it stupidity. I don't think we did a terrible job. And his hair will grow back.
All the curls are gone. We'll see if they grow back or not. Adam behaved himself pretty well for his first haircut...Friday, October 30, 2009
Things a sleep deprived mind thinks are funny
AKA: "Just wait until they are older"
Tara I am sure has more to expound on this and more, I will let her talk about them in detail on her blog. (Coming soon, I think, at sparbowl2.blogspot.com) I've gotten some sleep this week, but not enough, five things that strike me as funny:
Tara I am sure has more to expound on this and more, I will let her talk about them in detail on her blog. (Coming soon, I think, at sparbowl2.blogspot.com) I've gotten some sleep this week, but not enough, five things that strike me as funny:
- Abbott and Costello. I just finished watching "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein". Tara declined to watch.
- Yesterday morning (Late morning) I woke up to go to work, I couldn't find my sneakers. I had to wear my boots to work, covered in dirt. Last night I couldn't find the sneakers, and again this morning (not so late), I couldn't find them again. Day two of boots to work. Tonight I was making dinner, Lily was in the kitchen bugging me, I asked her if she knew where my sneakers were. She told me they were in the closet. I told her to go get them, she took off running, and had them for me in about 2 minutes. Turns out she put them away for me in the closet with all the kids shoes. Who knew?
- Emma lost her winter coat a few weeks ago. Tara was pretty sure she left it at the school, but couldn't get the girls to look very hard for it. They claimed it wasn't in the lost and found. It has gotten cold here, this was starting to be a problem. The other day Emma brought her coat home from school. It's location? On the hook in her classroom. They didn't think to look there...
- We have a friend that was co-owner of a jewelery store here in town. A couple of months ago we went over to look at rings, Tara lost another one. We asked for Rian, the owner guy only said "Rian doesn't work here anymore." Kind of weird. While we were there, other people came in looking for Rian, same response. Rian ended up leaving to open a new store, which he recently got going. I drove by the old store dropping off the Netflix tonight, the old store has a bus stop in front of it. Today, on the 7x5 foot ads on the bus stop, on both sides of the thing, was a giant picture of Rian advertizing his new store. Very nice touch, Rian...
- Tara bought some halloween costumes on the internet. Two of them were Star Trek uniforms. (Original series. What parent would like their child wear a red original series uniform???) Anyway, they opened them today, the costumes were pretty big. Tara tried one on, asked Emma how it looked. Emma's response? "Captain Kirk is climbing the mountain. Why is he climbing the mountain?" Absolutely hilarious.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Mary's 8 year birthday party
When the girls were little (or at least littler than they are now) I established that they could have birthday parties where they invite friends over when they were 8 and 16. (We still do cake and ice cream for family every birthday.) This idea seems to have been taken without complaint. Frame of reference can be a wonderful thing.
Mary is turning 8 soon, and had a party on Saturday. It's taken me this long to recover to post pictures. She invited 16 friends, we only gave a few days notice, and figured a few wouldn't be able to come. No dice, they all showed. 16 kids, plus our 6, made for a crazy pile of kids.
Tara had all kinds of activities for them lined up, pumpkin decorating, haunted house crafts, that sort of thing. My job - running to the store for more pumpkins, making home-made root beer, and buying 7 pizzas.
Anyhow, I think we did ok, Mary indicated that the party was better than she expected. Some pictures:
Mary is turning 8 soon, and had a party on Saturday. It's taken me this long to recover to post pictures. She invited 16 friends, we only gave a few days notice, and figured a few wouldn't be able to come. No dice, they all showed. 16 kids, plus our 6, made for a crazy pile of kids.
Tara had all kinds of activities for them lined up, pumpkin decorating, haunted house crafts, that sort of thing. My job - running to the store for more pumpkins, making home-made root beer, and buying 7 pizzas.
Anyhow, I think we did ok, Mary indicated that the party was better than she expected. Some pictures:
Monday, October 26, 2009
Book Review`
Tarzan of the ApesEdgar Rice Burroughs
I have a confession. I have never watched an entire Tarzan movie, no matter what format. I have watched parts, but never a whole thing. I know the basic story, but that's about it.
Having said that, I picked up this book on a deal. (Dover Thrift Editions are great.) I read the book on my way back from Oklahoma. I thought it was pretty good.
Tarzan grows up among apes, fights cannibals and pirates, and has a wild time. It was an interesting story, even though it clearly showed some of the prejudices of the day. (Cannibals and gorillas are bad. Rich American dudes are jerks. Pirates are stupid. That sort of thing. Maybe not much has changed, I guess.)
I thought the book was good, lot of action, a well told story. It is clear that the author intended to write more books after this one, which he did. Again, maybe things haven't changed that much.
Will I read more Tarzan books? Maybe, but not right now. For one thing, there are no other Dover Thrift editions in the series right now. I would have to go down to the library and look for them...
Monday, October 19, 2009
Restaurant Reviews - Because what good is a vacation away from the kids if you don't eat like you are on a per diem?
Three restaurants from Oklahoma - but first - My Mom is at our house watching the kids for us, which is very nice of her. This time last year, she came out to watch them so we could go to Orlando. (That was also nice.) The kids got her sicker than a dog last year, this year we were hoping everyone would stay healthy for her. They even got sick two weeks ago, so we were hopeful. No dice. Adam got sick, and got her sick. What's wrong with those sicko kids, anyway? It's the curse of having 4 kids in school...
Also, just about everything out here in Oklahoma has a drive through. I'm not sure what the deal is. Little Caesars Pizza - drive through. Ice Cream and dairy - drive through. Flower shop - drive through. barber shop - drive through - just stick your head out the window, they will take the sides down and a little off the top. Why so many drive throughs? It's not necessarily a bad thing, just not something I've seen before.
Golden China Buffet - Moore, OK
Tara's brother John was supposed to work late tonight. We decided we would take Jani and the kids out to eat while he was gone, we decided on Chinese food. Then John came home early, we decided to take him with us anyway.
This place had a smallish buffet, John and Jani were most impressed with the potstickers. Tara and I liked the Mongolian BBQ (called a hibachi here, but not what I would concider a hibachi grill.) All in all, the food was pretty good, it would have been a lot better had the soups been a bit fresher, but it wasn't bad.
Our waitress was very nice, she even went and had them cook up more potstickers for John when he asked, and brought a pile of them to him when they were done. John left saying they would come back again, I think Jani should hold him to it sometime...
Vans Pig Stand - Norman, OK
Eat the pig. Be the pig. Love the pig.
That's not really their motto, but it would add to the charm if they added it. Maybe I should suggest it. Tara saw this place on ESPN one time, and thought it would be a good place to try out. I was thinking we would go to a Soul food place that served 'fried chicken and waffles' and 'roast pigs feet', but Tara decided the Pig Stand was the way to go. Plus we could drive through Norman and see what the Home of the Sooners was like...
This place was pretty good. I had the 2 meat plate with brisket and ribs, and had fried okra and curly fries as sides. All the food was good. I also liked their "really spicy" sauce, which was more spicy than sweet. And it has been a long time since I had fried okra.
The 2 meat plate was a lot of food, we ended up having to wander around several store to work off some of the food. A really good meal if you ever find yourself in Norman.
{Norman appears to be a small Southern town with nothing in it but houses of various types and tons of churches. Until you drive right next to the University, which is smack dab in the middle of town. I'm not sure there is anything else out there. Tara says maybe that's why they are so crazy about their football here. I could be off base. Any Oklahoma people can feel free to post a comment flaming me for my comments...}
San Marcos - Oklahoma City, OK
This is John and Jani's favorite Mexican place. The food was good, I had a burrito, Tara had the beef taco salad. (Tara would try something different than the salad next time.) I think I ate 3+ baskets of chips by myself, the salsa was really good. They also put little cheese dip things down, I ate too much of the cheese dip.
I tried to order creme filled churros for the group for dessert, I was shot down because every meal comes with sopapias, a fried bread with cinnamon and sugar on them. All in all, it was a ton of food for not a lot of money, really.
I think I would pass on the cheese dip next time. I had a gut ache for most of the day the next day. I am blaming it on the cheese dip, not the 3 baskets of chips I ate...
Also, just about everything out here in Oklahoma has a drive through. I'm not sure what the deal is. Little Caesars Pizza - drive through. Ice Cream and dairy - drive through. Flower shop - drive through. barber shop - drive through - just stick your head out the window, they will take the sides down and a little off the top. Why so many drive throughs? It's not necessarily a bad thing, just not something I've seen before.
Golden China Buffet - Moore, OK
Tara's brother John was supposed to work late tonight. We decided we would take Jani and the kids out to eat while he was gone, we decided on Chinese food. Then John came home early, we decided to take him with us anyway.
This place had a smallish buffet, John and Jani were most impressed with the potstickers. Tara and I liked the Mongolian BBQ (called a hibachi here, but not what I would concider a hibachi grill.) All in all, the food was pretty good, it would have been a lot better had the soups been a bit fresher, but it wasn't bad.
Our waitress was very nice, she even went and had them cook up more potstickers for John when he asked, and brought a pile of them to him when they were done. John left saying they would come back again, I think Jani should hold him to it sometime...
Vans Pig Stand - Norman, OK
Eat the pig. Be the pig. Love the pig.
That's not really their motto, but it would add to the charm if they added it. Maybe I should suggest it. Tara saw this place on ESPN one time, and thought it would be a good place to try out. I was thinking we would go to a Soul food place that served 'fried chicken and waffles' and 'roast pigs feet', but Tara decided the Pig Stand was the way to go. Plus we could drive through Norman and see what the Home of the Sooners was like...
This place was pretty good. I had the 2 meat plate with brisket and ribs, and had fried okra and curly fries as sides. All the food was good. I also liked their "really spicy" sauce, which was more spicy than sweet. And it has been a long time since I had fried okra.
The 2 meat plate was a lot of food, we ended up having to wander around several store to work off some of the food. A really good meal if you ever find yourself in Norman.
{Norman appears to be a small Southern town with nothing in it but houses of various types and tons of churches. Until you drive right next to the University, which is smack dab in the middle of town. I'm not sure there is anything else out there. Tara says maybe that's why they are so crazy about their football here. I could be off base. Any Oklahoma people can feel free to post a comment flaming me for my comments...}
San Marcos - Oklahoma City, OK
This is John and Jani's favorite Mexican place. The food was good, I had a burrito, Tara had the beef taco salad. (Tara would try something different than the salad next time.) I think I ate 3+ baskets of chips by myself, the salsa was really good. They also put little cheese dip things down, I ate too much of the cheese dip.
I tried to order creme filled churros for the group for dessert, I was shot down because every meal comes with sopapias, a fried bread with cinnamon and sugar on them. All in all, it was a ton of food for not a lot of money, really.
I think I would pass on the cheese dip next time. I had a gut ache for most of the day the next day. I am blaming it on the cheese dip, not the 3 baskets of chips I ate...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Wings
We introduced John and Jani to wings last night. I think we made converts, although they aren't ready for anything incredibly spicy...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Book Review
700 SundaysBilly Crystal
Tara bought me this interesting little book about Billy Crystal's childhood. I read it on one of the planes I was on the other day. (I slept the rest of the time, one flight was only 25 minutes one was 70 minutes, both seemed like nothing with the nap...)
Anyway, Billy Crystal's father died when he was 15. He worked 2 jobs the better part of his life, and spent plenty of time on Sundays with his boys. This book was about Billy's years growing up.
He had an interesting family. (I think that could sum up any comedian's family. Interesting.) His dad and Uncle were big in the Dixieland Jazz scene in New York back in the day. The family owned the "Commodore" label, and produced lots of Jazz music. He has some pretty funny stories about the rest of the family.
He once wanted to be a baseball player, which is no surprise to people that know a little bit about him, and ended up playing a lot of baseball with his brothers. He talks about how his dad threw curveballs to him every Sunday for months until he learned to hit them.
The book is funny, interesting, and just a little bit sad (The sad part when his dad dies and the effect it had on him.) It was a quick little book, worth the read if you come across it. I guess there is a play of the same title that Billy Crystal wrote, I think the book is based on the play, or both are based on real life...
Friday, October 16, 2009
Oklahoma City National Memorial
We went into downtown OKC this afternoon to to see the memorial down there.
It was a nice little thing they have done there. There are little chairs to symbolize each of the people that died in the explosion, a reflecting pool, a little orchard, and things like that. Tara was inpressed at how thoughtful the memorial was.
I wonder how many people really member the Oklahoma city bombing. It has been more than 15 years now since it happened, and 9/11 clearly dwarfs it in scope. Do people out there really member what happened? They had a bunch of ceramic tiles that little kids had done and sent, some of the kids were as little as two years old. Do those kids even remember making those tiles and sending them?
I remember where I was when the bombing happened. I was on my mission, serving in Saugus, California. All the missionaires in the apartment decided to go down to Shakey's pizza for lunch. (All you can eat pizza.) When we got there, the TVs were all on CNN, which was showing the coverage of the bombing. It was kind of shocking at the time. We all went first thing the next morning to the Red Cross to give blood. One of the missionaries in the apartment had never given blood before, and was kind of nervous about it. He was a motormouth to start with, and jabbered non-stop the whole time he was giving blood. He had everyone in the place laughing, which was kind of good, because the only thing anyone else was thinking about was the bombing...
Tara's brother told her that the memorial was almost shut down a couple of years ago because of a lack of funding. It sound like the place is on their own for donations, and don't get any federal money. (They do have two National Park rangers on site, but it sounded liek the site itself was on it's own for upkeep.)
Anyway, the site was interesting, those who find themselves in Oklahoma City in the future should stop for a few minutes to look around, even if they are just driving through. 30 minutes total would do it, unless you want to go into the museum too.
It was a nice little thing they have done there. There are little chairs to symbolize each of the people that died in the explosion, a reflecting pool, a little orchard, and things like that. Tara was inpressed at how thoughtful the memorial was.
I wonder how many people really member the Oklahoma city bombing. It has been more than 15 years now since it happened, and 9/11 clearly dwarfs it in scope. Do people out there really member what happened? They had a bunch of ceramic tiles that little kids had done and sent, some of the kids were as little as two years old. Do those kids even remember making those tiles and sending them?
I remember where I was when the bombing happened. I was on my mission, serving in Saugus, California. All the missionaires in the apartment decided to go down to Shakey's pizza for lunch. (All you can eat pizza.) When we got there, the TVs were all on CNN, which was showing the coverage of the bombing. It was kind of shocking at the time. We all went first thing the next morning to the Red Cross to give blood. One of the missionaries in the apartment had never given blood before, and was kind of nervous about it. He was a motormouth to start with, and jabbered non-stop the whole time he was giving blood. He had everyone in the place laughing, which was kind of good, because the only thing anyone else was thinking about was the bombing...
Tara's brother told her that the memorial was almost shut down a couple of years ago because of a lack of funding. It sound like the place is on their own for donations, and don't get any federal money. (They do have two National Park rangers on site, but it sounded liek the site itself was on it's own for upkeep.)
Anyway, the site was interesting, those who find themselves in Oklahoma City in the future should stop for a few minutes to look around, even if they are just driving through. 30 minutes total would do it, unless you want to go into the museum too.
Friday, October 09, 2009
The problem with superpowers
Having some minor annoyances with technology in the house this today. I've been sick, only worked about 4 hours today. I had about 12 to 16 hours of work I could have done. It would have gone lots faster if I could just communicate directly with technology. I am sure it would go faster, even though I type fairly fast. Tried spending a lot of time watching baseball today. I was worried about lunchtime, because TBS kept cutting out. Seems to have been fine during the games. If I could have talked to the DVR, it might have been able to explain it's failure to record Smallville tonight. And the wireless could explain to me why it keeps dropping. I could tell my cell phone who I don't ever want to talk to, and when to go straight to voicemail because I am sleeping. Diagnosing problems would be sweet. I am sure there would be some drawbacks, but you really could curse out a server properly...
Other potentially useful superpowers, and the problems with them:
Heat Vision - I think Superman uses this ability way too infrequently. It doesn't seem to bother him any. I would really say I have a short fuse, just a fast burn rate. I am sure there would be a couple of accidents at work. I would also not be able to drive, because if I got cut off, the lights would light right up, and I would end up melting my wind shield. It would be fun to melt some knuckle head's tire at a read light, though.
Super hearing - I have six kids in the house. It's too loud as it is. Super hearing would be a big, big problem.
Mind reading - Sometimes I really don't want to know what other people are thinking... I have enough problems with the things I think.
Super speed - This would have to be coupled with super healing I think. For one, I hurt bad enough as it is. For another, I am sure that tripping at super speed would cause a number of divots in the ground, not to mention what creating the divots would do to me.
Teleportation - I think about this every time I drive across Wyoming. It would be nice to just pick the things up you need, and teleport to the other side of the country. Makes vacations a little easier... In Wyoming, I tend to think that it would even be nice to teleport the car to the top of the next rise. (Like some sort of line-of-sight ability) The problem I see with this kind of thing? Teleporting a van with all it's contents must be pretty tiring. Would you be able to drive? What about all the other cars on the road? How would you maintain your speed, and ensure that you didn't drop on top of someone else? What about normal teleportation? How do you ensure the landing site is clear? I am also sure that teleporting into a wall is pretty painful...
Time travel - Lots of benefits, but way too many paradoxes involved...
Flight - Not likely to be fun in cold, wet conditions.
Invisibility - What happens if you turn invisible, then fall asleep somewhere inconvenient?
Super strength - Hurting people the the problem with this one, even accidentally. And smashing my desk. And I don't think typing would work very well. All my keyboards would get bashed up.
Telepathy - I speak my mind enough, I don't need to be transmitting things wirelessly.
Spiderman's abilities - This might not be bad, but there aren't too many tall buildings where I live. Wouldn't be any fun.
Iceman's abilities - I always thought they ended X Men 2 wrong. The dam was bursting, they had Ice Man there! Make him freeze everything, they get away, he is left looking like ice. Much better ending. Tara gets cold, she wouldn't like me as Ice Man. She would never get warm.
Shape shifting - I am sure this one would hurt, but it might be kind of cool to turn into an elephant once in a while, or a mouse, or an old tire. You really could be the proverbial fly on the wall...
I'm sure there are others. What have you got on your list?
Other potentially useful superpowers, and the problems with them:
Heat Vision - I think Superman uses this ability way too infrequently. It doesn't seem to bother him any. I would really say I have a short fuse, just a fast burn rate. I am sure there would be a couple of accidents at work. I would also not be able to drive, because if I got cut off, the lights would light right up, and I would end up melting my wind shield. It would be fun to melt some knuckle head's tire at a read light, though.
Super hearing - I have six kids in the house. It's too loud as it is. Super hearing would be a big, big problem.
Mind reading - Sometimes I really don't want to know what other people are thinking... I have enough problems with the things I think.
Super speed - This would have to be coupled with super healing I think. For one, I hurt bad enough as it is. For another, I am sure that tripping at super speed would cause a number of divots in the ground, not to mention what creating the divots would do to me.
Teleportation - I think about this every time I drive across Wyoming. It would be nice to just pick the things up you need, and teleport to the other side of the country. Makes vacations a little easier... In Wyoming, I tend to think that it would even be nice to teleport the car to the top of the next rise. (Like some sort of line-of-sight ability) The problem I see with this kind of thing? Teleporting a van with all it's contents must be pretty tiring. Would you be able to drive? What about all the other cars on the road? How would you maintain your speed, and ensure that you didn't drop on top of someone else? What about normal teleportation? How do you ensure the landing site is clear? I am also sure that teleporting into a wall is pretty painful...
Time travel - Lots of benefits, but way too many paradoxes involved...
Flight - Not likely to be fun in cold, wet conditions.
Invisibility - What happens if you turn invisible, then fall asleep somewhere inconvenient?
Super strength - Hurting people the the problem with this one, even accidentally. And smashing my desk. And I don't think typing would work very well. All my keyboards would get bashed up.
Telepathy - I speak my mind enough, I don't need to be transmitting things wirelessly.
Spiderman's abilities - This might not be bad, but there aren't too many tall buildings where I live. Wouldn't be any fun.
Iceman's abilities - I always thought they ended X Men 2 wrong. The dam was bursting, they had Ice Man there! Make him freeze everything, they get away, he is left looking like ice. Much better ending. Tara gets cold, she wouldn't like me as Ice Man. She would never get warm.
Shape shifting - I am sure this one would hurt, but it might be kind of cool to turn into an elephant once in a while, or a mouse, or an old tire. You really could be the proverbial fly on the wall...
I'm sure there are others. What have you got on your list?
Friday, October 02, 2009
Case in point
Tara talked about "Adam the waddling penquin" today on her blog. I got it on camera tonight.
He has also decided that sunglasses are best worn under the chin. This is one confused little boy. I think Lily is feeding him bad information when we are not paying attention...
He has also decided that sunglasses are best worn under the chin. This is one confused little boy. I think Lily is feeding him bad information when we are not paying attention...
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Restaurant review
Tonight Tara and I went out to dinner. We have this babysitter locked up for every Thursday night since the school year started, which has been kind of nice. This was the first Thursday we didn't have anything planned, so we went to grab something to eat, and then went to Walmart to buy diapers. We live an exciting life.
Anyhow, the first place we went to was a place called "Communal" in downtown Provo. A guy that lives a block or so away from us just opened the place. We went in, they have an a la carte menu, it appears it is family style. The problem was that there were only like 4 veggie dishes, 4 main course dishes, and stuff like that, but they all seemed to be too fancy for my tastes. (Really, most of them seemed to have something in them that I couldn't eat.) The squash had apples, a couple of the entrees sounded like they had stuff in them I shouldn't eat. The owner wasn't there, so we left. I figuere I can always talk to him about his menu sometime soon, and see what is really in those dishes, and maybe come back another time.
We ended up going to "Pho Noodle House" up in Orem. They had a 'normal' bowl, and a 'large' bowl, you could choose from about 18 different beef combinations to go in it. I had "steak, brisket, flank". Tara stuck with "steak". (We both passed on tendon this time.) The soup was good. I added hot chili sauce to mine, which helped to clear the sinuses. The 'normal' boup was a very big bowl of soup, the 'large' bowl turned out to be more along the lines of a vat of soup.
Anyhow, the Pho there is just the the Pho I had the last two trips to NYC. We'll have to go back again. The place was sort of busy, at least for an out of the way soup restaurant, but I am sure a big bowl of Pho will sound good sometime during the Winter, when it's absolutely freezing out.
Anyhow, the first place we went to was a place called "Communal" in downtown Provo. A guy that lives a block or so away from us just opened the place. We went in, they have an a la carte menu, it appears it is family style. The problem was that there were only like 4 veggie dishes, 4 main course dishes, and stuff like that, but they all seemed to be too fancy for my tastes. (Really, most of them seemed to have something in them that I couldn't eat.) The squash had apples, a couple of the entrees sounded like they had stuff in them I shouldn't eat. The owner wasn't there, so we left. I figuere I can always talk to him about his menu sometime soon, and see what is really in those dishes, and maybe come back another time.
We ended up going to "Pho Noodle House" up in Orem. They had a 'normal' bowl, and a 'large' bowl, you could choose from about 18 different beef combinations to go in it. I had "steak, brisket, flank". Tara stuck with "steak". (We both passed on tendon this time.) The soup was good. I added hot chili sauce to mine, which helped to clear the sinuses. The 'normal' boup was a very big bowl of soup, the 'large' bowl turned out to be more along the lines of a vat of soup.
Anyhow, the Pho there is just the the Pho I had the last two trips to NYC. We'll have to go back again. The place was sort of busy, at least for an out of the way soup restaurant, but I am sure a big bowl of Pho will sound good sometime during the Winter, when it's absolutely freezing out.
Fall Harvest Overload
This is always the time of the year when the girls start getting a little tired of {Tomato Stew, Spaghetti, Chili, Taco soup} meals that we make to try to keep ahead of the tomatoes we are pulling out of the garden.
Yesterday afternoon, I was pulling tomatoes out, Emma came out to help. I asked her what she wanted to eat with the tomatoes, she replied "Tomato Pie".
I had never heard of tomato pie, but my good friend Google had all kinds of interesting things to say about tomato pie. Turns out it is something made in the South. (Emma's just showing her long lost roots.) I made tomato pie for the girls for dinner tonight. They also had chocolate chip zucchini bread and noodles. (I figured I could sneak in tomatoes and zucchini into the dinner if I made bread out of it...) They seemed to like it. Wasn't all that complicated, either.
Yesterday afternoon, I was pulling tomatoes out, Emma came out to help. I asked her what she wanted to eat with the tomatoes, she replied "Tomato Pie".
I had never heard of tomato pie, but my good friend Google had all kinds of interesting things to say about tomato pie. Turns out it is something made in the South. (Emma's just showing her long lost roots.) I made tomato pie for the girls for dinner tonight. They also had chocolate chip zucchini bread and noodles. (I figured I could sneak in tomatoes and zucchini into the dinner if I made bread out of it...) They seemed to like it. Wasn't all that complicated, either.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Midnight Snack
Buckwheat pancakes, peaches, bananas, and cream. We didn't share any with the little girls who came out of their rooms way past their bedtime...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)