Ice Sculptures and Geeks

Pictures from the 2004 Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships. And for those that are interested, an article on Most Ambitious winner, which was created by a team lead by a math professor.

There is great hope.

I really need to get back to work... but I just read several of the teen posts. I may comment on them later, because they really are worth commenting on. But not enough time right now.

But basically what I wanted to say was:

After hearing Nichole speak on Sunday about being real with God and just being raw with him (wow... what an awesome way to put it) and then reading some posts by Pippin'sGirl, ArdentFueler and Is40Chick, I can say that my hope for the future has never been brighter. We have some an awesome group of youth and our church. And the thing that makes the future so bright (as a father and "pastor") is that our youth are GETTING IT. And they are getting it on their own terms and their own way. They aren't regurgitating what they've heard from some adult. They aren't worshipping God and building their relationships with Him based on our rules. Most of it I totally agree with, some I don't. But whether I agree or not isn't the important thing. The important thing is that they are figuring it out for themselves... And that gives me great hope that when they are out on their own that their own relationship with God will still be there. And that is just awesome.

Advice for expectant dads in the birthing room.

DefectiveYeti has a post about birthing films today. A large number of comments are advice from readers. Made me think of the advice I got from Millie in BigTimber MT when Tiffany was about to be born:

"If you start feeling faint, move out of the way and sit down. If you happen to faint and crack your head open... we're just going to let you lay there bleeding until the birth is over. It isn't about you."

I never actually felt faint, but I thought it the whole time.

Analogies, similes & metaphors found in high school essays

From TellMeAJoke.co.uk... These and others:
~ She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

~ Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

Sometimes I feel like that last one...

Jaime update

Jaime is home from the doctor's office. Tina said that the actual surgery went really well (Jaime is very brave), but she almost fainted and almost threw up leaving the office. They had to stop a couple of times. Turns out she does have some of my genes.

She is home, in bed, watching TV and petting the puppy. Love you kid!

Free will

The brother of a person I know died in a car accident yesterday, leaving behind a wife and child. At times like these people tend to either reach out to God, or get mad at God. "Why did God do this?", or "Why did God let this happen?".

Unfortunately God is not in control of everything. Blasphemy? No. Truth. Many people believe that God is in control of everything. It helps keep them sane. Gives them comfort. The truth is, God is in control of what you let him control. That is how he set it up. We have free will. Us having free will (the will to make the choices we want to make) is at odds with God being in total control of everything.

Our relationship as parents with our children is analogous to God's relationship with us, to some degree. As our kids get older and older, they get more and more "free will". The ability to make their own choices. When they are very little, we don't let them leave the yard. No matter how much they want to. As they get older, they get the ability to go places, drive, etc. Now if we never let them out of the yard, they'd never get in trouble - or at least get in a lot less trouble. But they also would have no free will.

I have no clue how this person died, and this post really has nothing to do with that... other than it made me think about people's relationships with God and how people tend to blame God when bad things happen. Bad things happen because there is a devil who loves to see them happen, and because sometimes we as people just mess things up. But why would such a wise and loving God set up such a system? Why would he have given up such control? Why didn't He keep control and keep us safer? The same reason we let our children grow up and move out. Because we love them. Because we want them to love us (based on their own free-will choices) and we want to see them grow up to be loving, producing, awesome adults. We don't want slaves. And neither did God.

So... He loved us enough to trust we'd do the right thing the majority of the time, that we'd love Him back, and He gave us the ability to do that... or to mess up our lives and the lives of those around us. And most of the time we don't want to accept that and take responsibility. We want to blame Him. But His only fault in this is that He loved us enough to give us free will and be responsible for our own actions.

Isn't that cool?

Jaime is going in to get a couple of moles removed today from her back. Not a big "deal" surgically, but still, not a fun time. So she is a bit worried about it. We were talking about it last night:

J: Well the one good thing is that I'm going to be able to look at something that has been on my back for years.
M: What?
J: Well they are going to cut them off my back and then stick them in a bottle. I'll be able to look at them. Isn't that cool?!
M: Well it would probably make me throw up... but I guess that is why you are going into nursing and I'm not.

She definately gets that from Tina and not me.

An example of what I do for work

As I've mentioned before, what I do for work is fairly uncomprehensible to most people. So... when I get a "real world example" I always like to share it.

Oprah's show on Monday is "Oprah's Pop Star Challenge with Simon Cowell" - Simon of American Idol fame. I don't have know all the details of the show... but it appears to be kind of like American Idol - with contestants and people calling 800 numbers to vote for their favorites.

Well, MCI is handling those calls (the traffic) and the system I work on is being used to help monitor some of that traffic. I won't bore you with the details... but our system will be receiving a record of every call made to those numbers and doing some analysis of them. (We aren't the system that is actually tallying the vote).

So hey... watch the show and call in. And my system will see your call. How cool is that? :-)

Trip report

Several of the previous posts are my trip report from the We Still Kiss cruise. Experiences, thoughts, revelations. I think that is about it. Other than I took quite a few pictures and will be posting some of them on my web site, with pointers to them here.

And there are several blogs I've read in the last week that I want to comment on, just haven't had the time yet. And since I've been blogging for about an hour, I probably should go do some other things that need getting done.

Hope you enjoy reading about the trip... and mostly I hope that some of the things make you stop and think and help you to grow in your walk (like it has hopefully helped me).

We are all in the same family

I'm done with the galley tour and Steve is upstairs in the Tahiti lounge doing Karaoke again. (There is a Karaoke spot in the talent show). I figure I'll see if it is still going on and give him some support. I head up the stairs, head down the hall way, and I start hearing what sounds like a bunch of people signing gospel songs. As I get closer to the lounge, I see this large group of people outside of the lounge, gathered around the piano. Steve and Lana are with them, and everyone is really going for it, singing hymns.

I ask what's up, and Steve says that this guy just started playing piano and people just started gathering around him. So I join in.

WOW. This was an awesome experience.

There are about 50 people gathered around the piano. The piano player is a black pastor who just sat down and started playing. The main guy leading us is a black guy with an incredible voice - maybe late 30's to mid 40's? I only mention they are black because sometimes... white guys just can't sing black gospel songs with *soul*. Don't give me your PC flames... you know its true. :-)

Anyway, this guy is leading us with HEART and PASSION. It was incredible. Here I am, on a cruise ship, standing outside a bar... and I'm worshipping God. I mean I can feel HIS presence and I'm entering in. If you aren't a Christian, this sounds like a lot of Christian lingo... Everything around you disappears, you aren't worried about what other people are thinking... I just kicked off my sandals, raised my hands, and went for it. It was awesome. And as it got closer for us to head for dinner (there are set dining times if you are eating in the restaurants) someone said, "We should get back together at 9:30 after dinner" and everyone agreed and we did.

One of the coolest things about it, to me, was the makeup of the people. Here is a group of about 50 people... Most of them older. They are singing songs most of which I've never heard. Yeah, I've heard Amazing Grace, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and Battle Hymn of the Republic, but not many of the others. These are hymns. Not what I'm used to playing on a Sunday morning! And it was awesome. It didn't matter what songs we were singing. It didn't matter what church we went to, what denomination we were, what race, age or background. Our common bond was Christ and we were worshipping him and singing praises to him. It was just incredible.

And it made me think, just like it did when I was worshipping in Costa Rica. We are all one body, one church, the bride of Christ. And at times like this, it shows.

We hear a lot lately about reaching out to "the lost". About not judging them - "They are sinners... they sin." That Christ came for the sick, not the healthy. That is all good and important stuff. And I think we are learning and growing. But I think one area we still need to grow in is with each other. We ARE one body. We ARE one church. Yes, we have been hurt by each other. Yes, we have been hurt by the church. But we are still ALL God's children. There is so much tendency to judge other churches and Christians. To cut our old churches no slack because they have hurt us. To forgive the "sinner" but not our "brother" because - hey... they should know better. Get over it! We are all people. We all make mistakes. And we are all His children, trying to love Him the best way we know how, and walk our walk to the best of our abilities. Some in different ways, some through different methods. Feeling that you have found the "true" way, the "better" way isn't a bad thing... Just don't use it to look down on your brothers and sisters and make you think you are better than them. You aren't.

Something I need to remind myself of. Like they say, "I'm preaching to myself here." It is just so crystal clear in a situation like this. Yes... we are different... but are we all that different? No. We are all His children. And when we cut off all the junk and just focus on Him and worshipping Him, it becomes so apparent.

In Heaven there isn't going to be the "black gospel" group of people, and the "hymns" people and the "rock" people... there isn't going to be the "charismatic" and "baptist". There is just going to be "His kids" and we are all going to be joined together worshipping Him. When you experience that here on earth, it is a great reminder and so awesome.

Thanks Dad for bringing that together. I know you were looking down on it with such joy. And it brought us so much joy too. Love ya!

So... how's that working for ya?

Dr. Jim Richards, "One of our sayings we use quite a bit around the ministry and in counsoling is So... how's that working for ya?. A guy will come in and say, "My wife doesn't like sex. I opened the bible and showed her where it says "don't withhold yourselves from each other" and told her we are going to have sex and she is going to like it by GOD!" and I look at him and say, "So... how's that working for ya?"

We all cracked up. But it is so true.

"Why do people do something over and over that doesn't work for them, and insist that it is the way to solve the problem and continue to do it?"

If something isn't working... don't insist that it is the right thing to do. That you are right and it HAS to work. Find something that will work.

A great thing to keep in mind. Not only in relationships and ministry, but in every walk of life: in your job, school, etc.

If you are trying to accomplish something, and you aren't achieving the goal you desire, at some point you just need to stop and ask yourself, "So... how's that working for ya?". If it isn't working... maybe you need a different approach!

Seminar thought - its not about them, its about you

And on the other side... Point: Angel Curtis (Eastman's wife) was talking about how you can get so wrapped up in it being the other person's fault. They were going through a hard time and Jim came to counsel with them for a few days. He kept saying to her, "You aren't getting it. It isn't about Eastman. It's about you." and she kept saying, "NO. YOU AREN'T GETTING IT. IT IS ABOUT HIM". He did this. He did that. You don't understand. After a few days, it all of a sudden sunk in. "Oh... it isn't about him. It is about me." :-)

You can't always change the other person. The goal of a healthy, happy, marriage isn't to "train" or "mold" the other person until they are exactly what you want. Sometimes you have to look at yourself. Why do I respond to them that way? Do I have some issue that is making me feel this way? Is it fair for me to have this expectation, this desire, etc.

I'm not going to recap the seminar word for word, and I'm not a counsoler. But basically this point caused me to try and look at things in a new way. As I said, sometimes you just have to hear this stuff over and over before it sinks it. But what is starting to sink in is: look at my side, look at my responsibility, is there something I can do to change things.

Again, good stuff.

Seminar thought - its not about you.

Point: Sometimes our mate may say something to us in a really mean, angry, or hurtful way. The think to remember is that it isn't about us. Its not necessarily that they are so mad at us. It might just be their personality... how they handle things. It might be how they would speak to anyone they were mad at, had a confrontaion with, etc. What you have to do is listen to what is being said... not how it is said.

Realization: Good point. Sometimes (especially if you are a non-confrontational person like myself - and get easily lost in "how" something is said, rather than "what" is being said) we get all wrapped up in "that was mean", "you didn't say that every nicely" and miss the entire point. And sulk. Different people have different communication styles. If you can get past how something is being said, "They aren't being mean... at least in their mind. It isn't something personal against me. That is how they would say it to anyone", and concentrate on what is being said... you'll get further. You'll understand better and be able to better solve the siutation.

Also, a good thing for me to remember is that my wife is a pastor. That means she has to deal with people all day long... and depending on their personalities she has to treat them with kid gloves, walk on egg-shells, etc. In other words, worry about how she says something, as much as what she is saying. And the last thing she wants to do (or should have to do), when she gets home and something arises is have to go through the same thing with me. So she just lets me have it. ;-)

This isn't a whine. This isn't a "we argue all the time" (we rarely do). But I thought this was worth posting. Other people have spouse that are pastors, counsulers, etc. I thought it was a good revelation and something I took away from the cruise.

Get over yourself. Its not about you. Don't concentrate on how it was said and get all hurt over that... be mature and look into what is being said.

Good stuff.

We Still Kiss Seminar

The seminar part of the cruise was very good. There were some really good speakers. I always love hearing Dr. Jim Richards and Eastman Curtis. There were some others there as well that I'd never heard from before.

The thing that I've noticed before, and that really struck me again, is how wise Dr. Jim is. You sit there and listen and just realize how much wisdom he has. It is very cool. I also realized that, unlike most my college classes (or technical classes and seminars), I don't actually learn some logical fact, new way to do something, etc.; by hearing it and then thinking "Oh, that's how you do that". For instance, how to use a programming language, how to write a paper, use a tool, etc. This kind of teaching is different. It is something that causes a life change and a change to the heart. As such, it takes time to sink in. And some times it takes hearing it over and over.

That is why I like going to seminars with Jim Richards so much. Not because I can come home and say "Here are the 10 points to doing ...", but because it just keeps planting seeds. It just keeps putting something deep into my mind and heart that causing me to start looking at things and seeing things differently. It is an investment in myself and my relationship with not only my wife, but all those around me - in my family, work and minstry.

If you ever get a chance to hear Jim Richards speak, do it. And if possible, multiple times. Sometimes it takes a while for us to get it!

And Eastman was great as always. He is such a great speaker, so funny and entertaining to listen to... but not just that. He always has some great nuggets for you to pick up on and think about.

Cruise Food - gotta love the soup

The food on the cruise was the best food I've had on vacation. The place we've been going to in cancun lately is very good... but the cruise was even better.

Soup
The biggest surprise was the soup. I don't eat a lot of soup, and I pretty much only make creams soups, although I've been thinking I should branch out and try some others.

The menu on the cruise was different every night, and usually consisted of two or three soups. At least one hot and one cold. I love cold soups and "different" soups. I had one soup the first night and from then on had two with every meal. I had:

• pumpkin soup - room temperature with some asia seasoning
  
• chilled zuchinni in cream
  
• chilled leeche cream
  
• chilled strawberry cream with mint
  
• wild mushroom
  
• cream of broccilli and cheese

Argh... I knew I'd forget if I didn't write them down. Should have got a menu. If I remember more I'll add them.

Anyway, the chilled cream soups were excellent. Some very light and refreshing, some just a very cool combination of flavors - either from the main ingredient or from the spices they added. I looked forward every night to what new soup they'd have.

Pizza
There was a galley tour the last day and I went on it. There was about a 20 minute talk ahead of time, and then we went through the kitchen. The actual tour was someone interesting... but I've seen big kitchens before and they weren't doing anything that interesting (prepping plates for dinner mostly). But the talk was cool. Learned that cruise ships have the highest health regulations and they are surprise inspected 3 or 4 times a year. Also that all the food comes out of the US and is very fresh.

Besides the normal reastaurants and the buffets, they have a little pizza kitchen where you can get a slice of pizza (or a whole one if you want). I grabbed some pizza a few times late at night. It was pretty good (nice cornmeal dusted crust), but not gourmet or super spectacular. Someone asked, "How many pizzas do you make on a cruise?" and the answer was: "Well this cruise is pretty much a vacation for the pizza cook. There are only about 100 under 20 year olds on this trip, so he has only made 2500. During spring break when almost everyone is under 20, he makes... 50,000."

50,000 pizza... for 1700 people on a 5 day trip. Wow. Thats almost 6 pizzas a day per person.

NOLA - the food was great, finding it was a different matter.

We went to Emril's restaurant NOLA on our return from the cruise. It was EXCELLENT. Wow... everything you'd expect from watching Emril cook on TV.

We had reservations, arrived on time and were seated within a few minutes. It ended up being about $40 a person, without alcohol or desert. We all have appetizers and two of us had salads. We didn't get desert (although they looked great) because: a) we had been eating all week like pigs, and b) we were stuffed from what we had already eaten.

I had a mussel appetizer that was great and then a duck, spinach and goat cheese salad and then swordfish. Quality of food, uniqueness of flavors, and presentation was great.

Yahoo maps had stated something like "we aren't exactly sure of the address, but it should be close to the red star". Yeah... right.

We got off the boat, picked up a rental car, and then headed into the French Quarter. We walked around, had some beniegs(sp?) and at about 12:00 figured we better head to NOLA for our 12:30 reservations. Lana navigated and Steve drove. Looking at the yahoo map along with a local map, Lana got us closer and closer to the red star... which took us out of the French quarter, and into a side of town that looked seeder and seeder. At one point we were like, "Are we lost" and right then, in the grass median were a series of signs:

- You aren't lost!
- Keep going!
- Look around!

and so on. Turns out we were in a part of town that was getting renovated. One side of the street is new and the other condemned. At point Lana reads off the address, which is on Saint James Street. Tina remarks "Isn't that in the French Quarter?". I look at the paper laying on the console, notice that it says "cross street Chartres". At that point we head back into the French Quarter, find the restaurant is about 2 blocks from where were parked about 25 minutes ago, and get to the restaurant right on time.

It was quite the adventure. A good laugh and we ended up on time.

So... if you look at the address, figure out the cross street, you'll have no problem finding it. If you go based on yahoo... forget it!

That's my baby brother

First of several trip reports from our vacation last week on the We Still Kiss cruise with Dr Jim Richards.

So one of the things there was to do on the cruise was Karoke. I've done this once before (as reported on this blog) and that was enough. Tina made that fairly clear. :-)

Anyway, we went up to check it out because Steve said, "Maybe I'll do it." He has a really good voice, and is quite the extravert, so we told him to go for it. But he was a bit nervous... never done it before, what if I don't know the song well enough, etc. So we are up there and several people are "performing". Most of them weren't very good but a few were ok. Pretty much the atmosphere is people drinking, having a good time, talking and whoever is signing has a few friends clapping for them, people laughing, etc.

So Steve finally decided to do it, submits his form (here is what song I want to sing, what CD track it is on, etc.) and they call him up. He is doing James Taylor's Fire and Rain. He gets half way into the second line and everyone stops talking and starts clapping. He did excellent. I was very proud! He sounded so great. (Hey... at least one of us can sing).

Given that great encouragement he ended up signing probably 5 songs about 7 times over the next few nights. It was great fun.

This is the title

Blogger supports titles... probably has for some time, but I just noticed it. I usually have to put the html around my title. This makes it a little easier because it is in my template. Plus if I ever change how I do my titles, it will automatically change. This is even more helpful with my recipe blog!

Is this how people really get elected?
A spoof (perhaps) by DefectiveYeti. Unfortunately (IMO), people probably really vote this way... but that just means you end up voting for who you *think* other people will elect... I'd perfer to just vote for who I want.

Slow cooker Pot Roast
Made slow cooker pot roast yesterday before work. Turned out really well. Give it a try!

A holiday for leap day
The latest initiative from DefectiveYeti.

Freaks and Geeks
And in case any of you are Freaks and Geeks fans. They are releasing a DVD boxed set.

New recording studio software
Just saw a link to GarageBand. Looks interesting. A Mac is the recoding computer of choice... but I don't have one. I'll have to look into this more. Figured I'd post the link, cause I know there are some readers who are into recording.

Trying to get caught up
Back from a week off... so I've got two weeks of work to do. Just always seems like it takes a while to get caught up. I've got plenty of blog material (what with the trip, photos I took and some good blogs I've read recently)... but just no time to post. Maybe tomorrow.

Belle
A couple of pictures of Isabelle's Elfin Magic (the puppy). One of her on the bed, and another where she seems to be saying, "Huh?" :-)

I'll probably post some more later, but I've got stuff to do to get ready for the trip, so the others will have to wait till we get back.

See ya
Last chance I may have to get on for a while. Leaving tomorrow moring at 4:00 (or some ungodly hour) for the airport. Probably be busy most of the day. Up getting my last on-line connected to work, just surfing around, fix before getting ready for church. Well... have a good week if I don't see ya again before I leave! Oh... and we got our digital camera replaced (we meaning Tina got it replaced), so I *might* get on later today and post a few pictures of the puppy... if not, then when I get back, along with the obligatory "here I am by the pool, here is our room, here is tons of shots of the cool food I ate", trip photos. :-)

Answer to pray
So last night I discovered that I had lost my wallet. This upset me to the extent that I was up most of the night worrying about it and I left for bible study early so I could stop at church and see if it was there. No such luck.

I had it yesterday morning, but not last night after practice. I checked the: car (which I had driven during the day), jeep (which I had driven last night), house (where I last had it), office (where it may have fallen out of my coat); all with no luck. Tina suggested I pray about it and see if God would tell me where it was. I did this... but again, no luck. I was feeling quite paniced about it. We are going out of the country and a) no license or credit cards didn't seem good and b) I didn't want to arrive back home to find out that someone had run up my limits. Plus, as I have mentioned before, this kind of thing drives me nuts. The thought of reporting them, getting a new license, etc.; just makes me sick.

Luckily Tina is my answer to prayer.

T: I found your wallet!
M: Really! sigh of relief, where was it?
T: In the jeep.
M: What!? I looked there!
T: Yeah... I know you did. I was praying about it and thought "You know, he never looks for things very good... I should go check again."

I checked twice! Luckily Tina (and God) know me way better than I know myself and didn't let the fact that I had already looked stop her from checking again. :-)

God... please tell me where my wallet is... "OK... but why don't I tell Tina who hears better, and she'll let you know." ;-)

Mountain climbers, window washers - same thing
Its a nice day today, here in the Springs. In the 50s.

I'm sitting in my cube coding, listening to the window washers tapping on the window as they swing back and forth. I turn and watch them for a minute. (They soap up the window and then swing back and forth with a squeegy.).

Nice day for it!

AP: Ohio Cops Add Twist to Booby-Trapped Car
Cops with a sense of humor. Very cool idea, imo.

Modem Hijacking
FYI: Guinea-Bissau seems to be the lastest country involved in modem hijacking. If you end up with big phone bills to Guinea-Bissau, you'll know why.

Classic Game Programmers
I was googling around the other day and found that a friend of mine, Steve Bittrolff is on The Giant List of Class Game Progammers. Cool!

Yeti update
Hey... I got 307.1 - took a few good bounces.

Who says science can't be fun!
Flash Laboratories on the Cheap: Building a Mini-Edgerton for $40.

Things that geeks do for fun on vacation. I thought this was pretty cool. Kids... don't try this at home!

news.telegraph.co.uk: Atkins diet works simply by 'filling you up'
Yeah... protien is more filling. Makes sense to me.

Yeti batting practice
I got 205.4. Give it a try! Ah... then I got 220.3 on a low bounce and 276.4 on a high bounce. Hitting it high into the air seems to just cause a face plant. :-)

Now I'm getting excited
Steve, Lana, Tina and I are going on a cruise next week. Its the We Still Kiss cruise with Impact Ministries. I usually don't get excited until I'm off work and about ready to go. But since we are going to be in New Orleans when we get back for most of the day, we decided to eat at one of Emril's restaurants. I went on-line and used OpenTable to book a reservation at Nola. Can't wait!

What someone deserves vs what God wants
Commentary on Erika's post about The War on Terrorism and Food for Thought. Speaking about what does Saddam deserve - in quite stark terms. She ends with

However, I am a Christian, and mercy is something I do consider quite frequently--which is the Biblically-correct, God-loving thought process for us Christians? Life or death, hatred or compassion?

Yeah, I've wondered that too. Trying to put aside personal feelings and all that, and just go with "What does God want", I think I have to go with "God desires that every man be saved." And so on that basis, I think the death penalty is wrong... purely on that basis. If you don't kill someone then there is hope. They could come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, which is what God wants. If you kill someone, and they aren't saved, then you have ended all hope for them. This has nothing to do with what they deserve, how I might personally feel, etc. It just has to do with what I believe God would want. As the Word says, we all deserve death. It is only because we have accepted what Jesus has done for us, and have become children of God, that we have eternal life!

Hopefully I will never personally be put in a position to make such a decision or worry about such a decision.

CNN.com: Army deployed in beer rescue

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian troops have retrieved 10 tons of beer trapped under Siberian ice, the Itar-Tass news agency has reported.

Way to go guys! ;-)

Mail subjects
FYI: Never send me email with a subject of "Hi" or no subject. Unless I've gotten email from you before and have you listed as a "friend" - I'll pretty much immediately blacklist your address and bounce the mail. Both of these are well known SPAM subjects.

What to do with $500K
Michael mentioned this story. Yeah... hard to imagine what you'd do with $500K in a strip club. I've often thought of what I'd do if I won this kind of money in the lotto too. We have some close friends who are missionaries that we support. I've always thought it would be so cool to just send them a check for $500K. Not even tell them. Just imagining the look on their faces when they opened it is priceless. Weird that it was the same amount. Me - send $500K to missionaries. This guy, spend it in a strip club. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

State of the Union
I watched the state of the union last night on Fox. I thought it was pretty good. Nothing earth shattering perhaps, but still pretty good. I also watched the Democratic Response. Nothing against her personally, but Nancy Pelosi's response (House Demcratic Leader) is exactly the kind of reason I'm not a democrate. I must admit that I don't follow politics all that much, so I don't know the congress and senators. But I liked some of what Tom Daschle had to same. It was much more positive than what Ms. Pelosi had to say.

Some highlights from Bush's speech:

• Last month, the leader of Libya voluntarily pledged to disclose and dismantle all of his regime's weapons of mass destruction programs, including a uranium enrichment project for nuclear weapons. He doesn't want to be another Hussien
  
• Some critics have said our duties in Iraq must be internationalized. This particular criticism is hard to explain to our partners in Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, the Netherlands, Norway, El Salvador, and the 17 other countries that have committed troops to Iraq. A frequent democratic response is that this was a US only show. OK... so that isn't a list of every country in the world, maybe not even a majority, but it isn't like ALL our allies thought this was a bad idea.
  
• We expect third graders to read and do math at third grade level, and that is not asking too much... This nation will not go back to the days of simply shuffling children along from grade to grade without them learning the basics. I refuse to give up on any child, and the No Child Left Behind Act is opening the door of opportunity to all of America's children.
  
• So tonight I propose a series of measures called Jobs for the 21st Century. This program will provide extra help to middle- and high school students who fall behind in reading and math, expand Advanced Placement programs in low-income schools, and invite math and science professionals from the private sector to teach part-time in our high schools. Cool - I'll be interested in seeing the details of that program.
  
• I propose larger Pell Grants for students who prepare for college with demanding courses in high school
  
• What the Congress has given, the Congress should not take away: For the sake of job growth, the tax cuts you passed should be permanent. The democrats hated that. The 'we don't want to give money back to the rich' rethoric. Hey, I'm not rich and I'd like to keep my money please.
  
• Younger workers should have the opportunity to build a nest egg by saving part of their Social Security taxes in a personal retirement account. We should make the Social Security system a source of ownership for the American people. No kidding! Again, the demoracts respond with 'the republicans want to give away all the old people's money and gamble with our future.' If congress thought that Social Security was so great, than why aren't they apart of the program? Why do they have their own fund? Because they know it doesn't work.
  
• We will double federal funding for abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. I think it is quite a stand for him to state these kind of things. Again, not earth shatterning, but it will draw some real opposition.
  
• A strong America must also value the institution of marriage. I believe we should respect individuals as we take a principled stand for one of the most fundamental, enduring institutions of our civilization. I thought this was a great way to state it. Said No to same-sex marriage - but that people should still have rights and we should be compassionated, etc.
  
• By Executive Order, I have opened billions of dollars in grant money to competition that includes faith-based charities. Tonight I ask you to codify this into law, so people of faith can know that the law will never discriminate against them again. That is what separation of church and state is all about. That the state doesn't discriminate against religion... it has gotten so twisted.

One of the commentators did mention how much the President's faith seemed to drive what he said. Like it was a bad thing. It is one of things I liked.

While I don't follow policitcs closely, I usually try to catch this. I think it is important to see what the President has to say. It kind of shows where we'll be going. And personally, I liked quite a bit of what he had to say. And as a high-tech professional - in a math and science sector, with a teenage daughter who plans on going to college, a wife who is a pastor, and a tax payer - I think the plans he outlined could effect my life. So I'm glad I took the time to watch it.

Eyes
I'm working on my computer today w/o reading glasses. I'm psyched. (If you follow my blog, this is just one of the things you have to put up with. The continuing saga of my vision fluctuations. ;-))

Weird things
As you may recall, I redid my home page. It is now using frames, the top one containing links to all the sub-pages. I checked on this over the weekend and the ads that AngelFire are putting on my pages seem to be showing up in both the top and lower frame. I had it fixed at one point... and when I first checked today it was fixed, but not right now. Oh well, I think I'll leave it for a while and see if it settles down. If not, I'll have to either hack it some more, or as some people have told me, got buy some web space and have a site I totally control... which has its good points!

Comfort zones
Erika has an interesting post on stepping "out" of your comfort zone.

My daughter, the nurse
Jaime has been wanting to go into nursing "when she grows up" for quite some time. One of the local hospitals has a volunteer program where juniors can get involved, see what nursing is all about, etc.

Jaime signed up a while back and had her interview on Saturday. Cool stuff. I took her down and we talked about it on the way. It was supposed to be a 20 - 30 minute interview. About 10 minutes after going in she came out, "I got it." She has orientation on Friday and Monday and starts the Tuesday of the following Week. (Feb... 3rd I think).

Very cool stuff. I'm so proud of her. She really did this all on her own, calling the hospital, getting the paperwork, filling it out, etc. She'll be working in the NICU for 6 months and then can transfer into pediactrics... which is what she really wants to do. She's pretty excited and talked about it some on her blog.

My baby is growing up... more and more all the time.

So much for not being involved
So we got another dog. OK... I'll wait for you to stop laughing.

As with all our animals, I have been told that I don't have to have anything to do with it. It isn't that I don't like pets. I do. Its just that I know we will end up giving it away within a few years... so wants the point? Why spend the money, take the time and effort to love it, train it, etc.; just so we can give it away.

Anyway, we got it yesterday. This morning, I'm up working on the computer, it hears me and starts whining. I have two choices: a) ignore it and let it keep whining, waking up Tina and Jaime, or b) go get it.

Its sitting on my lap, coughing, as I type this.

New Blogger
Michael, the Fusion Worship Leader, has started his own blog, ArdentFueler. I've mentioned him here before and have talked about him quite a bit on FusionWorship. He just started it, so there isn't much there yet, but he did say,

Just to let everyone that ends up reading this one day (all three of you), I am a very intellectual person. God gave me a brain, and so I like to work it out and think about things that are a little bit deeper than say talking about what happened in school or something. So If you read my blog, I will challenge you to think hard, and question things.

Cool. I look forward to it.

Cool pics
Best Photos of The Past Year. Some cool shots.

Geek Happiness
Grabbed the Spread kit today. Unpacked it, configured it, made it and installed it. Then ran several tests. Its working. Very cool.

I now have open source middleware that I can wrap to give me publish/subscribe. I'm psyched.

President Bush Offers New Vision For NASA
Press release on the 14th. Going back to the moon and then on to Mars. Very cool.

On the other hand, this article talks about shutting down the shuttle and the space stations in order to finance it. I kind of understand why they are shutting the shuttle down, but not the space station. In my limited understanding, the idea would be to create long range vehicles on the space stations and launch them from there. This allows one type of vehicle to launch from the earth (which is costly due to breaking free of the earth's gravity pull) and others to launch from the space station (which is much cheaper).

But then again, I don't follow this much, so what do I know? Guess I'll have to read up on it more.

CBSNews.com Bush Sought 'Way' to Invade Iraq?

“From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go,” says O’Neill, who adds that going after Saddam was topic "A" 10 days after the inauguration - eight months before Sept. 11.

That is sure to have people up in arms. Frankly I just don't get it. So Bush was out after Hussein. So there have been no WMDs found. So what. Was the guy a tyrant? Did he kill tens of thousands of his own people? And the list goes on. Iraq and the world are better off w/o him in power. To me, that's the bottom line.

Helping Hands
Monkey Helpers for the Disabled. Wow.

eXcite: MCI planning to lay off 3 pct of work force
Heard this might be coming. Well 3% isn't too bad (although it is 1700 people). Our group should be pretty safe.

QotD
There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary numbers, and those who don't.

Government at work
Yesterday I went down to the local IRS office to pick up some tax forms. Took me quite a while to find the building (I won't bore you with all the details). So by the time I get there I'm stressing because I need to get to work and what I thought would be a 20 minute drive turned into about 45.

So this Other Guy and I step into the elevator. IRS is on the 7th floor. When the door opens he lets me out first, so when I get to the IRS door I hold it open for him. He walks in and there is a Security Guard sitting there, a couple of posters with things like "Don't bring weapons into this office" (kind of like an airport), a machine against the wall, and a counter off to the left behind which is a Lady at a window, 3 people talking about something around some office desks, and rows of shelves (like a library) with forms on them. There are no other "customers" in the place besides the two of us. The Lady is looking kind of bored, because nothing is going on.

OG: I need to pick up some forms
SG: Take a number
OG: Looks around What?
SG: Take a number! Right there - points to this machine against the wall
OG: Walks over, looks at it for a minute, pushes a button and a computer written number is spit out. He takes it
M: I see this, walk up to the machine that has about 6 green buttons on them: Tax forms, Tax assistance, etc. I push the Tax forms button and the computer inside prints a 307 on a paper and spits it out to me. I take it.
L: hears something on her computer, pushes a few buttons and says 306!
OG: Walks forward to the window. I'd like some 1099s and W2s.
L: How many?
OG: 30 and 10
L: OK. walks over to the shelves, gets the forms, returns and hands them to him.
OG: Turns and leaves.
M: Being the only person on this side of the counter - besides the security guard, step up to the counter
L: Looks up at me - raises her hand Just a minute!
M: Oh sorry. steps back
L: taps on a few buttons on her computer, glances at the screen, says 307! and glances around.
M: steps foward
L: Looks up at me, gives me her best customer service grin:How can I help you?

If I wouldn't have been so stressed from trying to find the building I would have cracked up. I've only seen this kind of thing in a movie before. But then again... it was the IRS.

Pippin's Girl
I usually don't check PippinsGirl too much, because she rarely writes. But I'm sitting at work waiting for a process to finish so I can head home, and so I clicked and WOW - she has actually written something.

Of course it is somehat ironic - "I haven't written for a while. I'l try to write more often" - which was her last post... over a month ago. But hey, at least she wrote something! ;-)

No good deed goes unpunished
So then I'm heading into work and their is an accident on the highway. Big large sign "Crash ahead. Merge right" Of course everyone ignores this because, hey, if you stay in the left lane as long as possible you might gain 2 seconds of trip time on everyone else. So I of course stay in the left lane along with them.

So we are going slower and slower - waiting for the last possible - OK... I guess I REALLY DO have to merge over second. And there is the occasional Hey look, there is no one in the left lane up ahead, why don't I just tick everyone off by zooming down it right up to the crash and then try to squeeze back in.. When all of a sudden the cars in front of my kind of surge forward and then all pull right. Cool. Someone is letting us in. So I move foward and there is this guy on his motorcycle just sitting in the right lane - holding all the cars up, and letting us merge over. Cool. What a guy!

Of course the car right behind him fails to see the nicety in this and rewards him by laying on the horn and yelling at him, to which he replies by just sitting there and yelling back at the guy.

Last I saw the motorcycle was cutting the guy off and not letting him pass. I figure there is a good chance they got in an accident as well... so much for being nice I guess.

Blow their minds
I'm standing in the post office this morning (so I can ask them if they have 1099 forms - which btw they don't because there is an IRS office in town. Apparently the fact that there are at least 5 post-offices in town and only 1 IRS which is way across town failed to convience somebody of the need of a duplicate source of forms :-() - anyway, I digress.

So, I'm standing in the post office and I'm 2nd in line (the guy in front of me being helped by the post office person).

P: That will be $22.30
G: $22.30?
P: Yes
G: Sighs... - I only have $20 and stares at her
P: Well you can ship just one package and bring the other back later
G: reaches into his pockets, searching for money - stands there with the same look I get on my face when something like this happens to me
M: Excuse me, how much did you say $22?
P: twenty two 30
M: reach in my pocket and pull out $2.30 - There you go

They both just look at me. She says, "Well that is mighty nice of you". The guy just looks at me... looks around, she takes his packages and he kind of wanders off in a haze.

It was well worth the $2.30 just to see the looks on their faces. Besides... I hate feeling helpless like that... kind of like "OK... I'm on my way to work. Now what.... go home and get the 2 bucks and be late for work. Or maybe just not send it now and hopefully it will be ok or ..." Given my personality type this throws me into a stupor where I just kind of freeze up... wishing the problem would go away. So I decided to make his go away. Maybe someday someone will help me with some similar "great problem." :-)

Defective Yeti
Defective Yeti is one of the blogs I read frequently. His pushing daises post on the 12th was great. :-)

Eye update
Check-up #2 was today. I'm still seeing about 20/30, but it is correctable to 20/15. Apparently that means that they may heal to 20/15 and/or with glasses they can get me to 20/15. That is cool. My near vision is getting better, its just taking time.

Comments from the Dr.

D: Looks pretty good. Your vision before was, lets see flips thru the chartWOW.
M: Yeah.
D: We must have worn out a lazer on your eyes!

D: OK, well your eyes are doing really well for being that bad. Still a little astigmatism, flips thru the chart, wow, that was pretty bad too.
M: Yeah.
D: OK. Well that should improve over time as well.

Its fun to be a medical curiosity. ;-)

Basically, my night vision and close vision will improve over time, with spells of getting slightly worse now and then, until my eyes are totally healed. Given how bad my eyes were, this will take approximately 10 MONTHS! So... for 10 months I can keep thinking, "Hmm... not as good as I'd like, but it should get better". He also said they can do an enhancement if they don't improve enough.

All in all, very cool. Again, kind of a drag to wear "grandpa" glasses at work, but hey, if I can see this well after 10 days, then in 10 months I should be seeing excellent.

Will wonders never cease?
Tina never wanted to go get Vietnamese food, because it was "too weird". Now she loves their egg-rolls and we usually go a few times a month.

Last week I asked her if she wanted Thia food. "No - too weird". So I stopped and got her and Jaime KFC twisters and I got Chicken Satay from the Thia place and some veggies from the Korean place. She loved the Chicken Satay.

Today is her birthday.

M: Do you know where you want to go for dinner?
T: I want you to stop at Saigon Springs and get egg-rolls and then go over to the Thia place and get Chicken Satay with peanut sauce.

Who would have thought when we celebrated her first birthday together, that 25 years later she'd be wanting Thia and Vietnamese for her birthday dinner! Cool.

Mars
The Mars Exploration Rover Mission site, on the JPL site. Cool stuff.

World-Wide Sushi Restaurant Reference
I was googiling AI Sushi in Colorado Springs and came up this link. Wow... a world wide listing of sushi restaurants. How cool is that?

BTW: I was googiling AI Sushi because I had forgotten that their menu was off of LetsEatOut. Turns out LetsEatOut had their menu, while AI Sushi's own web site does not... and LetsEatOut is currently ''under construction''. Drag.

newsgroup readers
Google groups is another tool provided for free by google. Not only does this give you access to newsgroups, but it provides google search capabilities as well. Nice.

BBCNews: What the net did next

The internet is set to become the basis for just about every form of communication, according to net pioneer Vint Cerf, and he should know what he is talking about.

NEWS.scotsman.com: Crocodile Hunter Snaps Back over Baby Stunt
Blogger was down when I tired it yesterday, so I didn't post this then.

Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin is getting all kinds of flak for this. I believe he is on Larry King live tonight. Tina and I were watching TV and saw a clip of this when it happened. Tina said, "Oh man. This is going to be just like Michael Jackson". I said, "This is totally different. This is his environment. I bet his Dad and Mom did the same thing with him when he was a kid." As usual Tina was right and I was wrong.

You'd think people would have better things to do. Sigh.

Tackling hunger
Tackling Hunger raised their 5 million cans of soup. Broncos came in 12th... which is better than they did on the field the other day. ;-)

Get Well card contents
A co-worker had his gall bladder removed on New Year's Day. (What a drag). A card is being passed around to send to him. This was printed on a printer and contained the following two pages, which got a good laugh out of:

The patient awakended after the operation to find herslef in a room with all the blinds drawn.

Why are all the blinds closed?, she asked her doctor.

Well, the surgeon responed, They're fighting a hugh fire across the street and we didn't want you to wake up and think the operation had failed.

Top Ten Things You Don't Want To Hear During Surgery:

1. Don't worry. I think it is sharp enough
   
2. Nurse, did this patient sign the organ donation card?
   
3. Damn! Page 84 of the manual is missing!
   
4. Everybody stand back! I lost a contact lens!
   
5. Hand me that... uh... that uh... thingie
   
6. Better save that. We'll need it for the autopsy.
   
7. Accept this sacrifice, O Great Lord of Darkness
   
8. Whoa, wait a minute. If this is his spleen, then what's that?
   
9. Yah know, there's big money in kidneys. Hell, he's got two of 'em
   
10. What do you mean "You want a divorce?"

Sara's Secrets - The Nightgown
had to get up early to check the weather, just in case we cancelled church today. It was snowing pretty good when we went to sleep last night, but looked OK this morning. Turned on Sara's Secrets and she was making The Nightgown. Looked really good. I'm going to have to give it a try. It kind of looks like a Chicken Cordon Bleu, only made with veal, prosciutto and mozzarella, and then additionally wrapped in deep-fried eggplant - covered with a tomatoe sauce.

I can see... sort of
Surgery was as easy as everyone said. Kind of weid, but went very smooth. They put some numbing drops in your eyes, "clamp" your eyes open, which really just feels like they put some tape on your face, and then tell you to look at the flashing red light. Which is the lazer. "You aren't going to be able to see for a minute"... which is a little scary to hear. Rather than everything going black, it all went white with colored lights everywhere.

They don't really explain what they are doing (which is good for me), but you can kind of tell. Hmm... that must be them cutting the cornea (or whatever) and folding it back. Now the lazer is zapping my eye... Now they are putting the flap back down.

The lazer was about 38 seconds (which is long than most, but my eyes were really bad). All in all pretty simple.

I can see at a distant now pretty good, but my up-close vision isn't great. I'm having a hard time making this out as I write it. I can see the letters... but have to concentrate, and this is a good size font. Not as big as most the stuff I look at. So, I'm hoping my vision improves (which it is supposed to over a few days). I really don't mind if I have to have reading glasses for reading papers up close, but it would be a drag if I can't see the computer w/o glasses, since that is what I pretty much look at all the time.

But it is very cool to be able to see the clock in the middle of the night, wake up and see, etc. How amazing!

2 hours and counting
3:05 PM I go in for my eye surgery. No more contacts... maybe no more glasses (may have to have reading glasses). Yeah... I'm nervous. But everyone says it is great.

Have to leave work a little early because they said to make sure and eat a good lunch and the cafe is closed here and the store only had 2 sandwhiches left... neither of which I was too impressed with.

Next time I blog it should be with my "new eyes"... or maybe a better term is reshaped eyes... slightly modified eyes... I don't know. Anyway, my different eyes. :-)

Rose Bowl
Well we lost :-(, but it was fun watching the game anyway:

• We just got a 55 inch TV, so that was cool, and more importantly
• Jaime was home to watch it with me

Nope, I didn't have to play the "I'm the dad" card. I discussed it with her, and although she really wanted to stay home and watch the game, she had committed her D*group function and felt she should keep her committment. I totally agreed with her on this, and was very proud of her integrity. But then her D*group leader caught a cold and couldn't go, so Jaime ended up not having to go anyway!

Erika and Laura spent the night, so the four of us watched about 20 minutes of the game, then the other girls had to get home so Jaime and I watched the rest.

Lots of food (tuna dip, guac, subs, nachos, salsa), Vernors (Michigan Ginger Ale - which I always have to drink when watching a UofM game - not so much because it is a U of M drink, but because it is from Michigan) and yelling. We lost.... but it was still very fun.

For Elizabeth
Elizabeth asked for my Tuna Dip recipe. So I blogged it.

bed time
It is New Year's Eve (and we may go to some friend's house), so I guess since I've been up since 3:30 I should get some sleep or I'll be dead by 8:30 and look like I'm old or something. :-)

Sushi - the list
And because I save EVERYTHING... here is the list of the sushi that I made:

• Nigiri
  
  • Shrimp
    
  • Tuna
    
  • Salmon/Avacado
    
  • Braised Beef
  
  
• Hosomaki
  • Tuna/Chive
  
  
• Ura Maki
  • California w/ Smelt Eggs & w/ White Sesame Seeds
    
  • Shrimp/Asparagrus w/ Black Sesame Seeds
  
  
• Maki
  • Shrimp/Asparagrus/Avacado

I also made Grilled Terryiaki Beef & Grilled Curry Chicken (because not everyone likes sushi perhaps, and everyone likes these - even if they like sushi) as well as Edamame and Rice.

On a lighter note
Speaking of kids... and stories. OK... maybe I wasn't speaking of stories, but I'm thinking of blogging, which is telling stories (kind of), so it ties in.

I've been thinking I should blog some "life stories" every now and then. Not everyone may find them interesting, but I told Jacque this one yesterday and she cracked up.

Jacque mentioned that Bobby has always loved different food, every since he was little.

Tiffany also. Before she was two she was eating shrimp cocktail and stuffed mushrooms. We used to have people stop at our table and tell us how they were watching her and how well behaved she was. This 18 month old, sitting their politely muching on stuffed mushrooms.

But she always loved to eat everything. She was never one of those kids who only eat a few things. One of her favorite things to eat at that age was fresh mushrooms dipped in blueberry yougurt. How she came up with this I don't know... but she was always asking for it. At 18 months old!

When she was born I was part owner of a reasturant in Montana. I'd take her into work with me and put her in my apron. Head out the top, arms out the sides, legs haning out. She'd just kind of hang there and watch as I was closing up. And I'd stick her in her bassinet on the counter as I was making sandwhichs, tacos, etc. Once she was old enough to sit, I'd just plop her down at the back of the counter and she'd sit there and smile and watch me cook.

But I always had to keep and eye on her because she'd always be getting into the food. I'd get a full wheel of tickets and be cooking away and grab a hamburger bun and there be'd these little tooth marks in it. "Tiffany... don't chew on the hamburger buns" - or I'd look up and she'd be reaching into the butter and sticking it in her mouth - "No!". She was always pretty good - just curious about what everything tasted like. Happy, smiling and watching. Usually one NO was all it took. But then I'd get an order for sauteed mushrooms and I'd reach into the cold table and pull them out... and I always had to check them. Sometimes there would be four or five of them with little nibble marks. She just loved mushrooms. I never knew why she'd put them back. Maybe she was worried about getting caught. Grab one, take a few nibbles and throw it back and get a new one.

Some things you just never forget. This 12 month old, sitting there, kind of like a weeble in her diaper. Nibbiling on mushrooms while her dad was cooking burgers.

And we still love to cook together. Love you sis!

Rose Bowl
And so the question comes up... do I play the "hey... you aren't going to be living at home that much longer" dad card one more time?

Pretty much every year since I went to UofM, I watch the Rose Bowl (or whatever Bowl game they are in). Tina is not a sports fan and so we don't watch much football. But I usually try to catch at least the bowl game every year. And every year I watch it with one of the girls. (Used to be Tif when Jaime was really little, then both of them, then lately just Jaime). Its usually kind of a big thing. I make Tuna Dip & Chips, Guac and Chips, usually sub sandwhichs, and some kind of Stewart's soda or something. We get the food all ready and then eat, watch the game and yell at the TV.

Jaime has always been a funny kid when it comes to loyalty. She used to turn the TV off when AT&T ads would come on, once I started working for MCI. And she'd always yell at the other teams. It cracked people up when she was little. We may not follow the sport all year long, but come Rose Bowl day, the other team is the hated enemy! It really makes it fun :-) If you are going to do something, you might as well be passionate about it! So we always watch the game with a great deal of enthusiasm and fun.

Well this year she isn't going to be home. She is supposed to be leaving on Thursday for a D*group outting. (Youth discipleship group). Her group (about 5 girls and the leader) are going up to a cabin in the woods and then coming back on Saturday in time for Jaime to make it to worship team practice. So... she isn't going to be home to watch the game this year. And we just got a 55" TV for Christmas.

So... do I let her go, or do I pull the "Hey... you're not going to around for ever, and I want you to stay home and watch the game with me." dad card? I know... kind of selfish of me... but she isn't going to be home forever. And she'll enjoy it too. Plus it is a tradition and it always kind of marks the end of the holiday season. After that its back to work, school, church, etc. So... I've got a few more hours to think about it before she gets up. (Which is one of the things I was thinking about at 3:30 when I woke up).

Children
A reflective post...

This Christmas was pretty hard on all of us (Tina, Jaime and myself). Tif wasn't home this year. Her and Brian went out to his mom's. Jaime was crying off and on all Christmas Eve day, sobbed that night, and starting crying once when she opened one of Tif's presents. Tif wasn't home the year before last (without this effect)... so what made this year so much harder?

I think it was a combination of Tif not being home... and realizing that Jaime is getting close to leaving too. Tif's leaving kind of snuck up on me. I knew she was getting older, I knew she would leave home eventually... but I didn't fully appreciate the impact. With her gone, I'm well aware of it. I think we all are. So I think it wasn't just Tif not being her, but it was that along with the realization that Jaime may only be home one more Christmas.

Its really weird, but I think about it quite often. Jaime is the kind of person that really doesn't like people staring at her... and she'll frequently catching me just looking at her and say "What!" - "Nothing... I'm just looking at you".

Jacque and I ran into a store yesterday (I was picking up a couple more sushi plates and she was getting something for Bobby's birthday.) She mentioned that Bobby and David were over at CBC registering for classes and she couldn't believe he was 18. "Yeah... I know. I can't believe how old Jaime is either." We both started to choke up... said, "OK... well see ya later" and walked off. I feel kind of old... like a grown up or something, writting that. When you first have kids it is hard to believe that you'll ever have these kind of feelings and that they'll leave home. That is something "way down the road" - but here it is. Faster than you think.

I am so thankful for my kids. I have been lucky to really become good friends with both of them in their later teen years. Not just a parent, but friends. Jaime and I go to the movies together, listen to some of the same bands, go out to eat. At this point in my life (and her life) the time we have together is precious. I just realize how fast she is growing up, and how soon she'll be leaving the nest. And I cherish the time we have left. I know it is sometimes hard on her, as she doesn't like to be smothered and has a VERY ACTIVE social life. Which is very cool. She does a lot at church and hangs out with her friends a lot. Tina and I try to balance our desire for her to be home with her need to be with friends. She is just so cool that everyone wants to be with her. ;-) So... she probably doesn't get to do EVERYTHING she'd like to, but all in all I think we share her pretty well.

Anyway... kind of rambling (hey... its 5:30 AM - what do you expect?). Really all I wanted to say was how great she is. How much I enjoy her. How much I'm going to miss her (even though she won't be gone for at least another year and a half), and that if you have kids... enjoy your time with them. As everyone always says (and as I have learned), they grown up way faster than you think.

Sushi
Tina got me some sushi stuff for Christmas. I of course had to try it out! And as Tina says, I had to "go off the deep end" and do it in a big way. Spent Monday driving around getting ingredients (that I could get the day before) and looking for oriental stores. Found a couple off of Academy and Pike's Peak. Then went to Par Avion yesterday to get fresh salmon, beef and tuna. Spent a couple of hours cooking and preping stuff and then about 30 minutes to an hour making sushi. I of course had to try different kinds, so made Nigiri (just fish and rice), Hosomaki (small rolls), Uri Maki (inside out rolls - of which a California Roll is a type) and then just a normal maki or roll.

I found some Black Sesame Seeds (as well as normal ones), so had all kinds of different colors and textures... which after all is part of the point of sushi. All in all it turned out pretty good. Not the best sushi I've ever had, but considering it was the second time I've every made sushi, and the first time I've made most of these kinds - it was pretty successful.

My favorite, from a "wow - that's a cool new taste" was a Tuna & Chive Hosomaki. I used a small julienne of tuna and 3 chives. The chives gave it a very nice bite.

The overall favorite (and one I almost skipped) was a Nigiri beef! Yes, beef! I had seen a recipie for nigiri beef and thought about making it... but then decided it was a little too weird when about 1/2 the people coming weren't too thrilled with the idea of eating anything raw in the first place. Then when I was at Par Avion and looking at their meat - and figuring how easy it would be, I just couldn't resist - but figured I'd braise it, rather than servering it totally raw. I bought 1/2# of filet, trimmed off all the fat, marinated it in a mixture of olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper for about 3 hours then braised it on the grill. Then refrigerated it and sliced it just before serving. As a number of people said, "wow, melts in your mouth." I braised it for maybe about a minute of each side. Just enough to brown it maybe paper thin.

I got the filet at Par Avion because their meat is local and free of hormones, etc. If you decide to use raw beef, I'd make sure and buy it somewhere similar!

Pastor Joe came over and Michael was going to be home alone, so he came too. Jaime and Michael helped serve and then cleaned up the mess (for a couple of HOURS - lots of sushi plates, etc.). They were awesome. I love this kind of thing so much (going and buying all the ingredients, prepping, making it all and then presenting it). And it was such a blessing to be able to finish it up, go eat with everyone and then by the time everyone left to have it all cleaned up! The "kids" did an awesome job. Thanks much again to both Jaime and Michael!

And speaking of "presentation" - Tina got me sushi plates and "dipping dishes" for Christmas. Hand glazed, very cool. And then she went and bought bamboo place mats and a cool boat yesterday and some other cool dishes. So it was all very beautiful.

It was a blast! I'll have to do it again!

Leeks, Tarragon and Morels
Erika made a comment on my Tarragon & Chicken post, "Please define: leeks and tarragon. Thanks!". A picture is worth a thousand words, so I figured I'd google it and see what showed up. One site that showed up was Wild Leeks/Ramps. I had never heard of ramps before. Very cool that they also mentioned Morels. Morels are a wild mushroom that cannot be domesticated. We used to go "hunt" them in Montana. Once you found where they grew, you closely guarded the location - keeping it a secret lest everyone come and pick them. I spent many an afternoon out hunting along the rivers looking for morels. I'm going to have to buy some now that I've found an on-line source for fresh ones! (Hmm... I"m not sure it is a good sign when you go to a food web site and it says "Free shipping with orders over $125" ;-)) - Wow... just took a look at the page, which also has recipies. Yeah... I'm definately going to have to remember to order some Morels when they come in season. (Almost makes me think a trip to Montana is in order -- just to see if I can find some. Fresh morels and wild asparagrus. That was always cool).

Anyway... ramps are wild leeks - and don't quite look like the ones found in stores. This site has a nice picture of a domesticated leek (as well as a discussion). This is the type I've always used. Always available at Kings Sooper.

Tarragon is an herb - Herba Dracunculi - or the dragon herb, because it was thought to drive away dragons in medevil times. I just learned that on Gernot Katzer's Spice Dictionary. Very cool info. Emeril mentioned the other day that tarragon was a less fashionable spice, not currently in heavy use. I've always liked it and first ran into it in a French Chicken Casserole recipe (which I'll have to post some time). Besides that dish, I mostly use it in scrambled eggs and lately in a chicken sauce as well.

Thanks for asking the question Erika. Led me to some cool sites!

Christmas programs
In my experience of doing "Christmas programs" at two churches... I pretty much find them to put the people involved into a most un{spirt of the season} type mood. At least for me.

Easter programs are usually way more work... and because of that, started way sooner, involve way more practice, and come off smoother.

Christmas programs (probably because of the time of the year) are done with less people (everyone is off to the relatives), far less practices (usually only a few weeks) and therefore more stressful. I remember at an old church they'd usually start the first week of December... at the earliest. And we'd always vow to start them in Nov the following year (which we never did).

I had to laugh Sunday morning. I'm behind my congos... practicing, messing up the timing, not coming in right... starting to stress a bit, and the kids are running everywhere screaming and making noise and I feel like ripping someone's head off. It was then that I realized "the reason for the season" and decided that maybe I just needed to lighten up a bit. :-)

It all came off great, as it always done because:

• kids are always really cute, no matter what they do
  
• the Holy Spirit covers much
  
• most the musicians are performing, i.e., most the people in the congregation are not musicians and don't notice minor mistakes.

All in all it came off great, was great fun to do, and I'd do it again in a second. (I usually place stuff I don't traditionally play in normal services which is always fun). It just seems a bit ironic that in celebrating His birth, we usually are more stressed than at any other time.

Tarragon Chicken
I made Tarragon Chicken with sauteed Leeks and Garlic Saturday night. Jaime was off doing something and Tina and I were home alone for dinner. It was really good. Easy, quick, tasted great, nice presentation. A pleasent sauce with some nice accompaniments. But then again I really like tarragon.

Tackling Hunger
Up to 4,365,681 cans.

Happy Holidays
That's it for me at work... on-site anyway. I'll off till the 2nd. I'll be working here and there from home, although my off-hours working generally decreases over a break. The further out I get, the less desire I have to get on and work "just for the fun of it". Too busy playing X*box, cooking, etc. :-)

Anyway, based on that I may not be posting as much over the next two weeks.

BTW: If you are in the neighborhood this Sunday, you should stop in at ICC. This Sunday is our Christmas service, and we are doing some special music. I was at practice last night, again tonight, and maybe Saturday morning. We are doing some cool drum stuff and I'll be making the floor rattle with my "big drum." That is always a blast. :-)

Human contact
A group of people, sitting in 6'x8' cubes, head-phones on, listening to blaring music, talking to each-other on the computer. Getting up and walking 10 feet to talk to someone is just way too much of a pain. Besides... its intrusive.

/me goes back to tappin' & hackin'

Its a good day
Sitting in my cube, Evanescense blaring, hacking CLIPS to generate code and drinking Diet MtDew. Yeah, life is good.

JoelOnSoftware: Biculturalism

By now, Windows and Unix are functionally more similar than different. They both support the same major programming metaphors, ... There's not much about the core set of services provided by each operating system to limit the kinds of applications you can create. What's left is cultural differences.

A good discussion of programming cultures. And yeah... I most program for programmers.

It was worth it
What a great movie. It was well worth getting up at 4:00 to get some work done, and then standing in line starting at 8:00.

Doors opened at about 8:15, so we didn't have to stand outside long, and they were seating immediately. I had to hang out in the lobby waiting for everyone to show, but we were in around 9:15, and by then the place was packed. Jaime and Nat had gone in at 8:15 and saved seats, so that was good.

I think it was the best in the series. They all have their good parts, but this one of course finishes the story. Peter Jackson was great... but how to you do something as good again? Where else do you get such an epic great story that you turn it into 3 movies that take 2 years to see?

Anyway, awesome movie. I can't wait for the extended DVD to come out and see the extra scenes. I'll probably go see it again during break. Even though there are other movies I want to see too, it was so good I just have to see it again.

And fyi: It is 3 and 1/2 hours long, combined previews and movie.

Woo hoo
Hey, it's 28 degrees outside. Maybe by the time we get to the theater to stand in line it will actually be above freezing. That would be nice. :-)

Isn't it ironic?
And then I find, February 8, 2002 Health journal: Tanning booth dangers, on the Ladies' Home Journal site, with a sub-title of, To stay healthy, steer clear of tanning booths.. And the "sponsored links" are:

• Tan Discount Central
  
• Discount Salon Lotion
  
• Fake Bake 1/2 off Special

Close to home
Women who use tanning booths at least once a month increase their
risk of malignant melanomaby 55%, according to a recent study by the Journal of the National Cancer Institue

• CBSNews.com
  
• seattlepi.com

Prayer
NicholeR goes in for an MRI at 8:30 tonight. Please keep her in your prayers.

Today is the day!
Girls up at 6:30, have to leave at 7:45, because we HAVE to be at the theater by at least 8:00 to get in line. Not for tickets (we've had those for close to 3 weeks), but for good seats. Movie starts at 10:00. 2 hours early should be good enough.

I'm psyched. :-)

Lighten up folks
Getting on the highway at Woodmen today. 2 lanes merge into one on the on-ramp. Which then merges into 2 lanes that are packed. Moving slowly, but moving. As I'm coming on (and watching my rear-view mirror... 'cuz you always have to make sure someone isn't cutting you off as you "merge in") I notice this woman behind me start freaking out. She is driving some good size SUV (I think it was a Jeep) and she is just really ticked off. She starts waving and screaming. Hmm... guess someone didn't let her in quick enough. She just keeps making all these gestures to someone behind her.

I keep watching this as I'm merging in - still on the on-ramp. She is about 3 cars behind me. We are in about 1.5 lanes, and now she swerves onto the shoulder and cuts this guy off. More yelling and gesturing. I'm starting to get a bit nervous. You can never tell when two people's battle is going to spill over into the surrounding cars.

I'm now into the merge section of the highway, trying to pick a spot to merge into the highway traffic... but she's getting closer. Uh oh... her she comes. Even though we are down to one lane of merging on traffic, she decides she better take the shoulder to make SURE the guy behind her doesn't beat her onto the highway. Now she comes up behind me and is right behind me... We are talking maybe 2 FEET. So now I'm watching her and not paying much attention to the other traffic. She is right on my tail and won't let up. Great... now I'm getting pulled into this mess. I'm now in about 1/2 a lane of traffic and realize that I'm merging into the highway without paying much attention, so look in time to let a car get by me and merge in. And she just keeps coming. Good thing is that she is close enough that I get her plate number. She then blasts past me on the shoulder and pulls onto the highway in front of me. I double check her plate number. Now the other guy merges into the fast lane and is going with the flow, which passes her (since her and I are in the slow lane). She takes this oppurtunity to flip him off one more time and then jerk into the traffic behind him and follow him down the road.

I take this oppurtunity to call 911 and give them her license number. Luckily no accidents occured.

I proceed on to work, getting off at Garden of the Gods Rd and traveling up it to work. Witnessing much sliding and packed traffic, and one more occurence of someone trying to merge into a lane which results in them blocking two lanes, rolling their window down, and screaming at the car that didn't let them in fast enough.

All this on 5 shots of espresso. Yeah... some days its just a fun drive in.

Jitters, what jitters?
Stopped at Starbucks on the way in and got a triple-Venti. Yeah, that's 3 shots of espresso. But the guy messed it up and only made a double - so he then made the triple and asked if I wanted the double as well, since he'd throw it away otherwise. So yeah, 5 shots on the way in.

Guess I won't be having that MountainDew at lunch today.

Ties
Need to get a tie for someone this holiday season? How about one of these infectious ties? Perfect for the artist or scientest/geek amoung us. :-) I think the plauge (#1224) is kind of cool looking.

Quote of the Day
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails! Bertha Calloway

Is this really a witness?
I don't agree that this guy should have been arrested and fined... but I also don't think that getting people upset is really spreading the good news and being a true witness. Show 'em the love, not the hate.

AdBlocker
Tired of all those annoying ads that are always popping up? If you've are using a Mozilla browser, you can use AdBlocker. Which is downloadable via this link.

I just installed it. Pretty nice. I do wonder if enough people use these things, will free web services go away? Things like Blog*Spot, free web pages, etc. exist because of the ads they run...

Countdown

• 2 days until the King returns!
  
• 10 days till Christmas
  
• 11 days till I no longer wear contacts
  
• 18 days till I no longer wear glasses (at least all of the time).

BTW: Jaime will be wearing her Pippin's Girl shirt opening day. :-)