Thursday, November 18, 2010

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?

Monday, November 15, 2010

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!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Laughing

Try and watch this video and not laugh.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Hurt

Sometimes a song has more meaning when it is sung by a particular person. This post has two videos of the same song sung by different people. Each one portrays the song in a little different way. The first video is by the writer and original artist, the second by a legend. Both the video and voice change the song for me. They contain the same lyrics (mostly) but the feel of the song is so different. Check it out...

In the original video Trent Reznor stands on stage behind a screen of images of war, animals, death, art, Jesus and whatnot. This video is interesting and portrays an artistic and global feel for the song.

Hurt - Nine Inch Nails (Original Song)


In the version below Johnny Cash gives a heart felt rendition that just grabs me. The video images on top of his voice adds a ton more emotion to it. I've never heard or read what Trent Reznor thinks of Mr. Cash's version but I bet he thinks it's awesome.

Hurt - Johnny Cash cover version

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Nice Fall Day

Today I'm enjoying a nice cool fall day in my garage. I've got the radio tuned into some good classic rock and some beer brewing on the burner. A Scottish Ale was the choice for today. We'll know in about a month how it turned out. One thing that brewing beer will teach you is patience since nothing comes in a hurry.

Last night I enjoyed a night out with Kathi. It is nice to have kids old enough to watch and fend for themselves. We went out for burgers at a place called Killer Burger in NE Portland. We both choose their popular Peanut Butter and Pickle Burger. I know it sounds like a pregnant lady burger but it was surprisingly delicious. It had an Asian mojo going for it. The burger joint was a bit crowded but a nice young couple let us share a table with them.

After the burgers we went to see Inception. I have to say, this was the best movie I've seen in a long time. The story was captivating and the special effects were awesome.

A good weekend thus far.