Blowfish

My kids have discovered the joy in the humor of the window blowfish face.

The first time they showed me they acted like it was a new thing. I thought I may have deflated the moment a bit by telling them we did that as kids too. It wasn't intentional just stated the facts. It didn't matter much, it's still high-larious to them.

Call Waiting

Today a customer called me with a problem. Not a new problem but one due to their own issues and the weather still plagues them. A problem that I was probably more familiar with than he was. He proceeded to rehash the problem and the steps they've tried and the ones they've ignored. That was annoying enough but I was patient and let him go through the steps he needed to.

At 4 minutes and 23 seconds into the call I hear a phone ring in the background. He says it's his cell and he needs to grab it. Whatever. You called me buddy. He proceeded to take the call. I watched the time tick away on my phone which records the length of calls. Thirty seconds... forty five... a minute... a minute ten... patience... a minute thirty... patience evaporating... a minute forty five... ahhhrrrggg... my fingers on the release button... two minutes and he's still yapping... click! I'm out.

He calls back ten minutes later asking for me and I'm on the phone. He leaves his number. I'll call him tomorrow.

I was irritated. Not without good reason. First, he called me. Second, in the past three weeks this has happened to me five times. All five times it was somebody that called me and proceeded to take another call during ours. Not once in each of these five incidences did I have the opportunity to even tell the person to call me back when they are done. All five quickly said "I need to grab this" and then proceeded to take the other call.

What this shows me is a total lack of respect for me and my time. I'm all for customer service and giving the customer my best but I draw the line at disrespect. There was a day when I would have been mortified to hang up on a customer. I guess those days are gone.

Shooting

Today Alex and I took off in the Jeep to explore the back roads of the Tillamook National Forest. Our ultimate goal was to find a place to shoot. Despite the fact that all his play time and toys revolve around fire power and weapons, Alex has never fired a real gun. We gave him the opportunity to buy a .22 rifle last year but he chose instead to get a bow and arrow. So this weekend I borrowed a .22 rifle from my co-worker and out we went.

We drove along for quite a while before we found a place that looked safe. The problem with that forest is the amount of dirt bike and four wheel riders there are in the area. I stopped and asked a few about good places to shoot but none were too helpful.

Once we were settled and the target was in place we went through a number of safety points. That done I fired a few rounds so Alex could see and hear what it was like. His turn. After a few moments of reluctance he finally fired a round. His face lit up. He was hooked.

Since the gun was a bit heavy for him I let him rest it on a stump. The target which was about 30 yards away didn't stand a chance. Most shots were low and to the right but they were all hitting the target.

At the end of the day his hands were cold and tired, the Jeep was muddy and it was time to head home. His last words before leaving the forest were "Dad, I think I like shooting more than the bow and arrow." Not surprised.

Taekwondo Tournament

Last month Alex competed in his first taekwondo tournament here in Portland. He had a great time and we had fun watching him. He took a silver in his form and a bronze in his breaking. I had the pleasure of holding for him during his breaking.

The competition was long but a lot of fun to see. Outside of The Karate Kid I've never seen a tournament like this. Next year Brianna and I will probably compete as well.

Here's Alex with Brianna and Kathi after receiving his first medal. Kathi's shirt is proof that she loves me.

Alex performing his competition form for the judges.

Alex breaking two boards with a flying side kick, me sweating profusely.

The girly. Ain't she cute.

Patiently waiting for his turn to compete.

Here's a picture of the team published in the Hillsboro Argus. Although the photo was submitted by Molly Frazier I must let you know that it was taken by yours truly.

Spring Girly

The end of Winter has given us record amounts of rain and a depressing lack of sun. So far Spring hasn't treated us much better. Thankfully the plants understood we needed a change and began to bloom.

Brianna loved the blossoms so she collected a bouquet of cherry blossoms to display in the kitchen.


Dear Lord, please bring us some sun. We could use a ray of sunshine and a little vitamin D after this long wet and dark winter.

twin baby boys have a conversation - part 2 ORIGINAL VIDEO

Can someone translate this for me? It appears to be a friendly disagreement of some sort based on the hand gestures. Maybe it's over sock etiquette and whether or not it's acceptable to have only one sock or two of a different color. Not too sure. A little help people?

Art with Salt - Eric Northman

Just when you think that every art medium has been used along comes something like this. Salt.

The simplicity of the white on black is striking but what really gets me is how the salts texture perfects the face.

Big Heads

A couple weeks ago I sent my brother a photo of a Charlie Brown squishy that he had dropped off at my office about ten years ago. For ten years this Charlie Brown figure has graced my office without much notoriety, however, someone had come into my office that day and asked about it. This reminded me of my brother so I sent him the picture and a text from my phone. He had returned the text asking if it was still squishy so I sent him a response photo showing that it was. This Darth Vader bobble is another nick-knack that floats around my office. Darth holds a prominent position atop my computer where he can keep a watchful eye on things.

Seeing these two figures got me thinking. What is up with the oversize craniums? Are we obsessed with big heads? I for one have a larger than normal head at 7 5/8" but nothing compared to these two. My boss has an irritating habit of calling attention to my head. Irritating not because I'm embarrassed or bothered by having a big head but because it's not the least bit funny and his point of bringing it up is that he thinks it is.

What would happen if the world was destroyed and aliens landed on Earth and all that was left in the rubble were a couple of bobble head dolls and images of Precious Moments figures? Would their report back to the home world consist of ideas that humans were large headed beings with incredible balance to be able to stand with that melon on top? I'm sure they would.

We are taken in by things over-sized. Even McDonalds knows this, just look at the Hamburgler and Mayor McCheese.

What would I look like if I took my 7 5/8" head to the proportions of the bobblehead?

Well no need to leave it up to the imagination. Here it is. Huge Noggin' Brian. "Like an orange on a toothpick".

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.