The Welcome

Until today I've never been in a Whole Foods grocery store.  Living in the Portland area that probably puts me in the minority.  Alex and I were out and about when I got the call from Kathi asking me to pick up some leeks while I was out.  Whole Foods was right down the road and I thought who better to have leeks than a place called Whole Foods.

We park and walk to the entrance when about ten feet from the entrance I felt something hard hit my head. I look up and around but see nothing and nobody but Alex.  Then I look at my shoulder which is covered in green grasslike clumps.  It was then I realized that I was pooped on.  I could then hear the geese flying above sqauking "welcome to Whole Foods sucker!"

We continued into the store and Alex asked what happened so I told him a bird crapped on me.  He of course laughed and a lady who overheard smiled at me and said "that's nature in all it's glory."  Yep, forty two and a half years living on God's green earth and nature finally hits its target.

Friday Night Excitement

Elizabeth Taylor as the shrew on TV.

Digital SLR Camera's being reviewed on the internet.

Fringe being recorded by the DVR.

Beer in the glass.

The dog is puking.

The kids are munching popcorn.

That's our Friday night at this moment. Kathi and the kids are watching Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. They recently studied Shakespeare so this is how Kathi is wrapping that study up. I'm half paying attention. My other half is reading about digital SLR's. I'm finally (with the help of a nice tax return) going to plunge back into my old hobby of photography with a new camera. It's been years and I've been patient.

The problem I have now is deciding which one to buy. At this moment I'm torn between the Nikon D300s and the D7000. I wish I could blend the two to make a single camera with the features of each that I like. I know Nikon will do it someday by putting out the D400, but like anything electronic these days the moment you buy it it is obsolete.

I hate being torn. I think tomorrow I may take a trip to the camera store and do a little touchy-feely and see what the salesmen say. For now I may turn my attention to the movie and Elizabeth Taylors enormous cleavage.

Blogging on the go

I know I don't post much anymore but it isn't because I don't have anything to say.  Sometimes time gets away from me.

Today I discovered that I can post from my phone. So here I sit by the river digesting my lunch and putting a post up.

I'd probably say more but typing on this keyboard is just not very efficient.  I just wanted to post because I can.

The Force

With my immense love for all thing Star Wars this commercial spoke to me. My inner geek is alive and well.

Idol Winner

I don't care if anyone else sings better than this guy because he is already the winner in my mind. What a story. Love this!



"What kind of guy would I be if I walked out when she needed me most?!" That is the manliest statement of the year! We need more men like this in our world.

Closer... Closer...

Watch this video and tell me how he does it! I must know!!!

High Surf Warnings

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Due to high surf all week our time in the water has been very limited. Despite that we are having a great time. Today is our last full day here and we are going to meet up with my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Kay who are also on the island.

Since we couldn't get in the water we modified our time in paradise with other activities. Here's a few of the fun things we've done this week.
Alex and I went with Sue and Jim to explore a lava tube. We climbed and crawled back as far as it went. Alex was loving it, my knees were not.

Here's the boy at top at the end of the journey.

The lava fields look like Mars.


We cooked some yummy dinners. This was ka-bob night with chicken, peppers, onion and fresh Hawaiian pineapple.

The kids discovered the macademia tree. Uncle Jim let them use a hammer to crack them open so they could be eaten.

We met with the king.

We explored valleys.

We watched a rescue.

We teased the ass-horse.

We witnessed His art.

... and more of His art. This is the surf at the bay we were scheduled to tour.

We got in touch with nature.

This poor critter was patient with the kids.

More to come...

Waipio Valley

We weren't sure what we were going to do yesterday. The island has been on high surf alert and most of the beaches were closed. At first we thought we heard them say that the Waipio beach was closed but we found out it wasn't. Off we went.
Here's the troopers that walked with me down the mile long 25% grade road. The walk down was a challenge and I'm very glad we had a ride back up. The blue book we use as a guide to many things said that it's a mile down but will feel like five miles going up. I believe it.
The water was great.
We came across some of the wild horses feeding. They were beautiful animals.
Here's Capt. Jim driving us back up the hill. You can see the car ahead pulled over to wait for us to pass. The road is steep and narrow.
The sunset from the lanai is just wonderful.

Today will be more beach and snorkeling. It's rough I know.

Hawaiian Wildlife

As you may know Hawai'i is full of wildlife not common to the mainland. On our first day out to the beach we spotted two of the rarest species.

The first was the black-billed flycatcher. She was so still and patient waiting for her prey. At one point I thought we might need to check for a pulse.

The second sighting was of the purple breasted oompah. What was unusual was that she was accompanied by the black chested oompah male (unpictured). They were off for a water hunting expedition.

There were many others but we were not fast enough with the camera to capture them.

We entered the water and snorkeled for a while but I had an equipment malfunction which cut my time short. Today the waves were too high for snorkeling so we spent the day out and about.

We hit the farmers market in the morning to find some local fruit but ended up with other items like baked goods, beads and other items.

We hit a coffee farm for a tour and found some more wildlife. Here is Brianna with the chameleon that Kathi found in the orange tree. We all took turns holding the little guy. We also saw two pigs that were roaming but again they alluded the camera's eye.


After the caffeine fest we headed for lunch and then to a market that was on the main street through the center of Kona. We had the obligatory shaved ice and the kids picked up some souvenirs.

We spent a little time watching the waves and letting the kids play on the beach before heading home to grill some steaks on the lanai.

STD MFN

On our way home from church this weekend I spotted a license plate that read "STD MFN". My first thought was that you've got to be pretty self assured or narcissistic to have a license plate like that. At least the guy was driving a black Nissan Pathfinder and not a VW Bug.

We drove along laughing and making fun of the term "stud muffin". It was not something the kids had ever heard. I told the kids that I was not to be referred to as a "stud muffin" because although I may be soft and warm I am not filled with fruit.

Bringing In 2011

Just chillin' today anticipating a New Year. And I mean NEW! I'm looking and praying for some change and hope that I get it.

For now I've got beers getting bottled and Rush on the player.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Making Math Interesting...No, FUN!

Don't like math? I bet there is somebody out there that doesn't. If it's you and you don't think you'll ever find math fun you should check out this blog I found.

vihart.com

A self described recreational mathemusician Vi puts together her mathematical interest into some wonderfully fun videos. Whether it's on paper or balloons or music she takes math to a level I challenge you to not find interesting or fun.

She has a thing for Harry Potter too. So if you don't like math maybe you'll find her musings and music on Harry interesting.

Digital Nativity

This is a fun look at the Nativity through todays technology.

Perfect

I challenge you to watch this video and not cry.

You'll laugh for sure. But let's see if you don't cry.

Kevin Bacon's Biggest Fan

I love people who have a good sense of humor. Especially when they can have a good sense of humor about themselves. Kevin Bacon moved up a notch with this ad.

A Double Rainbow

Today my kids saw a double rainbow...

Finger Magic

Look off into the distance then hold your pointer fingers horizontally in front of your face about a foot away and touch your finger tips together. What do you see? A third finger pinned between the other two?

Tonight we were talking about illusions at dinner and this one came up because I had shown it to Alex a few nights ago. Brianna hadn't yet seen it so I taught her how to see it.

I instruct her to look at me and at the same time touch her fingers in front of her face. She does it and sees the third finger. She then proceeds to look over at Kathi and does the same thing. Then she looks at Alex and touches her fingers together again. In an excited voice she exclaims "It works on all of you!"

Laughter ensues.

She finally gets it and explains that she thought I was doing a magic trick with her and didn't think it would work looking at other people.

Can you see the third finger?

Touch Me Once Shame On You

I'm in a quandary.

In January we are traveling to Hawaii. I want to go so bad I can taste it. The warm weather, clear water and a visit with my brother and sister-in-law. The perfect trifecta for a vacation. The problem is TSA.

I want safety in my travels. I want terrorist stopped. What I don't want is a nude image of me for anyone to see or my junk touched. More than that I don't want it for my wife and children. What I do want is the terrorist who want to do me, my family and my country harm stopped.

Where is the line? I don't like the full body scan, I don't like the genitals being touched and I surely don't like terrorists blowing things up. In the news there is much a do about what the TSA is doing, or touching for that matter and I'm not sure where I stand on it.

As technology changes and the terrorist become more bold our line of defense must follow suit. The TSA is a fledgling group who is in a Catch-22... damned if they do, damned if they don't. One guy gets all the media attention today because he doesn't want his junk touched but if the TSA missed one guy with a bomb strapped to his dick the whole of the country would come down on them. Where, as a country, do we stand? On privacy or security? In some circumstances I don't think you get both.

In order to protect my body against hernia's and cancer I'm willing to let a doctor grab me in places only me wife is allowed to touch. Am I willing to let some no-named security officer do the same so I can go to Hawaii? I'm thinking about it.

Online Find

In my experience through my life dealing with excema, mostly on the face, I've found few medications that have helped much. A couple of years ago I found an over the counter topical that helped more than anything I've tried. Recently it has been harder to find at the local stores and this time out I couldn't find it anywhere. I opted for a substitute that does not work nearly as well.

I decided to check online to see who carries it around here and ended up on Amazon.com. Amazon listed it as available and gave the price for about ten different online sellers that had it. So, I ordered two bottles. No need to drive all over Portland looking for the elusive lotion as it will now be delivered to me. Thank you Amazon!

Laughing

Try and watch this video and not laugh.