Da Punkins

We carved pumpkins last night 'cause it's fun.  Here's what we came up with.

Alex's is a vampire and Brianna's is French.  I'm not sure what she meant by that but that's what she said she was making - a French pumpkin.

Here they are all a glow.

Mine is the cyclops that looks like Mike from Monsters Inc.  Kathi's is the happy one.

I don't take Halloween very serious.  Actually if it wasn't for the kids I wouldn't do anything for it.  The pumpkins are the only part I like and I think it's because it involves knives and fire - two very manly things.  The candy was the draw as a kid but as an adult I can have candy anytime I want, which is most all the time.  I love me the candy.

Be safe out there tonight everyone.

Teshy Dreams

Last night I dreamt that I was travelling with John Tesh.  You know, former host of ET, piano playing, John Tesh.  Yep, the one and only.  I don't know where we were going or why I was with him, I just was. 

Besides the oddity of him being in my dream, nobody knew who he was in my dream.  He would get stopped by people because they knew he was famous but he would have to explain who he was to them.

After navigating through the airport we arrived at our gate and boarded the plane.  After getting in the air the pilot announced that celebrity Sean Astin was going to come up to the cockpit and fly the plane for a bit.  So I'm sitting next to John Tesh and Sean "Rudy" Astin was flying the plane.  What can I say?  When I dream, I dream big.

The hobbit turned out to be a terrible pilot and repeatedly flew threw powerlines and skimmed buildings.  At one point I was concerned for my life. Not John's.  Just mine.

Many dreams I have I'd love to know the meaning behind, this one I'd rather not.

HaHaHaHAHAHAha

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Really.  For your debut this is what you came up with?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!

I can hardly stand it.

Toupee or Not Toupee

Last night before turning in for the night I caught a bit of The Jay Leno Show. Michelle Obama had a charming little question session via satellite before Jay brought out his main guest, Colin Firth. I don't really know much about Mr. Firth nor have I seen many of the movies he's been in, but once he appeared from backstage my toupeedar was screaming.

Check it for yourself. Is it or isn't it? Let me know what you think.

Tree Time

I love watching the changing trees during the Fall.

There is one particular tree that I just love. It is next door to our office and I watch it change every year. It changes very fast so I only get to enjoy it for about three weeks.

This is what it looked like last week

This is what it looked like this afternoon

This is one of the many many reasons I love living in Portland and why I love the rain.  This is what beauty the rain brings to this area.

Movie Top Ten - Actors in a Leading Role

There are a number of actors (male) that I love and will see in just about any kind of movie.  I'm going to share my top ten.

These are not tabloid-junky stars.  These are men of the screen and I love their movies.  They have classic faces, memorable roles, and have stood the test of time.

 

Clint Eastwood - This man puts the 'man' in manly. With the exception of Pink Cadillac, I'd sit down for just about any Eastwood flick anytime.

Denzel Washington - Happens to be my wife's favorite guy. I am really looking forward to his upcoming movie The Book of Eli.  One of my favorites of his is Man on Fire.

Gene Hackman - The intensity he can bring to bear on the screen is amazing. Sometimes you just love to hate his character which makes him just brilliant.

Michael Caine - Hello. Don't need to say much about this guy. One thing I'll say is that his voice helped put him on this list. I love to hear him talk.

Gene Wilder - Two things put Mr. Wilder on the list - his comic genius and the love he had for his wife, the late Gilda Radner.

Bruce Willis - Say what you want but I love his movies.

Christopher Walken - Hey, he's crazy and scares the heck out of me. What's not to like?

Alan Rickman - From his first scene in Die Hard I knew I'd like this guy. When he brought Snape to life in the Harry Potter movies he confirmed his spot on this list.

James Woods - He's smug, arrogant, and a bit cocky. So. That's why I like him.

Gary Oldman - Last but certainly not least. If I have to explain why he's on the list you've never seen one of his movies. If you haven't start with Leon (aka The Professional)

Alex the Comic Genius

Last night while I suffered through an agonizing loss by the Angels, Alex was diligently working on a comic for me.  He knows my affinity for pirates so that was his theme.

We've got swords, planks, guns, canons, pirates getting eaten by sharks,  "aargs" - what more could you ask for?  Oh yeah - total annihilation!

*** Click on the Image for Full Size ***

Kids Say...

Brianna:  "Some of the men at the race today were wearing really short shorts.  They just shouldn't wear those."

Race Time

Most Saturday's are sleep in days for us.  Today we were up early.  First, we had to take the van in to have the power steering looked at and our appointment was at 6:30.  AM people!  A frigging M!  On a Saturday!  What can I say it's what we could get.  After dropping the van off we grabbed the kids to be at Cook Park by 8:30 in order to help with the Catalyst Challenge 5K/10K run.  This was a first for us.

First I have to say that the weather was a total blessing.  It's October in Oregon so the forecast was for rain on and off all day.  We showed up the same time the blue sky did.  It was awesome.  We donned our race shirts and folded up our hoodies and put them aside.

We've participated a couple times in charity walks and fundraisers but never a run.  It is way more official and serious than a charity walk.  These runners take it very serious.  Some more than others but they were into it nonetheless.

Our role was to help at the end of the race by collecting the runners tags after they finished the run. A guy was set up with his three laptops and a printer to track and post the results and we stood off to the side to wait for the runners to come in.  As they came in we gathered the tags and put them in order on a tether.  I guess this was to help the time keeper verify the order later but I'm not really sure. Some runners knew what we needed some we didn't and would have to chase them down.  Others had tore off the tag or left them elsewhere.  So much for verification.  All in all it was interesting to see and be part of the process.

The weather throughout the race was awesome.  Everyone was just loving it.  Towards the end we got word there was only a couple people left on the course we began to tear down the equipment.  Right then a couple sprinkles came down.  The second to the last runner came in and a few more drops came down.  We moved the electronics under cover.  Then the rain started and the last runner came in.  We grabbed her tag and BAM!  Thunder and lighting.  It was spectacular.  The change from the earlier blue skies to this massive rain was amazing.  We stood under the shelter debating if we should walk through it or wait.

As we debated I hear Alex calling me as he was running down the path.  Leave it to the eight year old to get the most out of the rain.  He and his buddy were soaked and loving it.

We decided to not wait it out.  We grabbed our things and booked it to the main area.  Not long after we get there the rain lets up.  So were a little wet - we had a good time, met some great people and helped a good cause.  Kathi has been inspired to train to do a run next year.  I think I might join her.

Stair Fun

I found this very clever. But maybe we could just take out the escalators. That would guarantee 100% stair usage.

Now... further down the road

After writing this post, I googled "itchy chin" because I was just wondering.

The number one link contains this from Yahoo - UK:

Question by sarahlou212
Itchy Chin???
you know when you have itchy feet it means new ground, and itchy hands mean you are going to lose money or come into money, well my chin has been itching like mad, any ideas what that means?

Answer from jugglermatt1
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
We used to use the expression itchy chin when I was at school.I think it means that we dont believe what someone is saying,or they are exagerrating too much.It comes with its own mime(essencial).Maybe , someone is telling you porky pies.

Porky pies? Well that calls for another google...

From WordWeb online we get:

Noun: porky pie
Usage: Brit

1.A trivial lie
"he told a porky pie about eating his spinach"
- fib, story, tale, tarradiddle, taradiddle, porky [Brit]
Derived forms: porky pies

Type of: lie, prevarication

Gotta love the Brits.

Now

Right now I just poured myself a fresh cup of coffee, my computer is not protected from a lightning strike, my chin itches, Ghost Train is playing on my Marc Cohn Pandora Station, I have eleven cents in my pocket, my back hurts, I've got a Word document to edit and an email to send to some tardy-pant Brits. And I don't think this would fit on the Twitter account that I don't have.

I'm living in the NOW.

Watch This - Please.

Manning Overload

Don't get me wrong, even as a Raider fan I love Payton Manning. He's an upstanding guy, good at his job, and has a sense of humor about himself. The question I have is - why is he in the Sony commercial for their book reader product? Why? He just sits there. No lines, no dialog, nothing. He is just present. Sitting there. Being Payton. I just don't get it. How much was he paid to sit there, say nothing, and be Payton Manning? The speed reader talks, the lady who wrote a book talks, even Justin Timberlake talks. Why not Payton? Is it his accent? Is he so floored by the awesomeness of this product that he's speechless? What?

I'm mystified.

Uhg! It's Begun...

In parenthood there are certain milepost's along the journey that are inevitable. Today the inevitable arrived on somebody else's time frame.

Alex is eight. Eight year old boys start to hear things from other boys. Today I overheard in our front yard another boy who was playing with Alex saying "this is a vagina and here is my penis... uhn... uhn.. uhn...". It has begun.

We knew that the "talk" would soon be coming and I knew that I would be the one to handle it with Alex. Kathi had the "talk" with Brianna about the time Brianna was eight.

Upon hearing the above I called Alex in the house and had an introduction conversation to the topic of sex and sexual nature. Let's just say it was Sex Talk 101.a with a side discussion about lewd talk and decency. I finished up by telling Alex we would talk more about it, which will be Sex Talk 101.b through Sex Talk 401.

The poor boy just looked at me with his jaw on his chest and his arms folded just under his chin. I think he was mystified by my ability to hear through solid walls in addition to the fact that I used the words sex, penis, erection and vagina all in the same conversation.

This will be an interesting milepost to get through. I want to do it right and do it in a way that doesn't scare Alex in way that keeps him from talking to me about it whenever he has a question in the future.

For my mom

Mom,

In reference to your facebook comment on this post I submit the following.

I know you'd never buy the CD or download the song so here is a link that you can listen to it: just click here.

Love you,

Brian

Rain / Sun

Tonight I got to experience one of my favorite things. Rain and sun at the same time.

Since I've been laid up all day with a sore back and bursitis in my elbow I decided a walk was in store. I can't let myself atrophy on the couch can I?

I decided to walk. The timing was perfect. Above me were dark cloud dripping their moisture on me as to the right was the sun leaving us for the evening. As the rays passed through the droplets, the droplets sparkled. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, and one of my favorite things.

Because of the beauty the walk was extended. I went all the way to the used bookstore and the game store. I say my friend Joe drive by on the highway - Hi Joe! He honked. Then I hit 7-11 for a PowerBall ticket. Who knows? Maybe I can travel the world looking for rain and sun.

The Bag Man Cometh

Last night I had a dream that I was a bag man for a drug runner. It was one of those highly detailed dreams that seem to last a long time.

The dream started with me and my partner pulling two bags out of the trunk of our car. We had a backpack and a rolling carry on. With the bags unloaded we headed into the hotel. We bypassed the check in clerk and headed straight to the room. Inside the room we were met by two others. My job was to empty out the contents of the bag and refill them once the exchange was done.

Much to my surprise, we were the buyers. I had to load the bags with pouches stuffed with drugs. In this case I think it was cocaine as it was solid white. Once the drugs were in the bag I then began covering the drugs with clothes and other items to help disguise them in the case of a search. In most dreams there are points of the dream the become weird and make little sense. This was the first part of the dream that had the weird moment. While I was putting the clothes in the bag I looked under the bed to find more and under the bed were a couple knit hats I knew my daughter had made. What those hats were doing in this hotel room I had no idea. I stuffed them in the bag and zipped them closed.

As I got the bags up on the bed ready to go there were only three of us in the room. Me, my partner, and one of the sellers who was now putting on gloves. After he got his black leather gloves on he pulled a gun and pointed it at my partners head and asked him a question. My partner shook his head and the gun swung towards me. The seller then asked me a question, of which I don't remember hearing. Taking the cue from my partner I also shook my head and the gun went back into his jacket and we were free to leave.

I had the bags walking through the lobby when a tour guide stopped me and said, "Brian, the police are at the car because somebody saw something in it." He warned me. I didn't know who he was, but he was in the know. At this point I was still calm. I knew they didn't know who to look for, just that something had gone down because somebody saw something in our trunk. What that something was I had no idea.

I calmly walked out of the hotel and was thinking I had to dump the red bag. I guess the red bag had the drugs. I stopped by some bushes and dropped down pretending to tie my shoes. My plan was to stash the bag. As I scanned the area I noticed that there were police all over looking through the bushes and garbage can for something. I guessed that they were looking for what I had. My plan had to be scrapped as they'd see me dumping the bag.

When I saw the car we arrived in it was surrounded by police cars and police personnel. I saw no sign of my partner. At this I decided to just walk on. With bags in tow I turned the corner and headed towards some fast food restaurants. I decided the best course of action would be to hide the red bag in the ceiling of one of the bathrooms. I had a choice between Wendy's and Burger King. This is the point which the dream faded.

Anyone want to analyze this one?