The Brighter Side

The Big Change

2011-07-29T19:57:00.001-05:00

So, you might have noticed that I haven't updated in a while. But there's a good reason...I promise. My wife and I had a baby about three weeks ago, and in the weeks and months leading up to the birth as well as the time since, updating my blog hasn't been high on my priority list. However, I do like taking time to pen my thoughts about various aspects of life, so I am going to do my best to post the occasional update every now and then even though my free time has shrunk significantly.

This post, then, is a little different than usual, since it is going to focus on just one topic: cloth diapers. Sure it might seem like kind of a silly topic for this blog, or most blogs, but since my wife and I have become parents it is something that we have worked hard on, and it is also a topic about which we have received many questions. So I thought I would take some time and explain a few things about our cloth diapering methods, successes, and failures since we have started it with our little boy.

First things first: why cloth diapers? Aside from the sheer environmental impact that disposable diapers (even supposedly environmentally friendly versions) have, there is a rather significant cost benefit as well. We haven't worked out the math exactly, but a one-time purchase of diapers was around $275, versus a weekly expense of around $20 for disposables. Granted, cloth diapers also carry added expenses of detergent, energy, and water (especially with near-daily washings) but in the long run the cost benefit should be fairly significant. We also wanted to try cloth diapers just because it seemed like it wouldn't be much of a hassle, and we had heard stories from friends and bloggers who have been able to make it work. What we can say for sure is that cloth diaper techniques sure have changed from a few decades ago. Long gone are smelly ammonia-filled diaper pails, plastic pants, and giant safety pins. Today's cloth diapers are vastly improved over their baby boomer-era forebears, and if you haven't investigated the concept in a while you might be pleasantly surprised at what's available nowadays.

As of the writing of this post we have been using cloth diapers for one week, and even though that is not much time to really come to grips with the big picture of how it is going to work out, it does provide some preliminary data on whether we will be able to make this happen. Let's start with the basics. Here, in no particular order, is everything we purchased to make this cloth diaper experiment come to fruition:

12 Bum Genius Elemental One Size Fits All cloth diapers. It seems like if you ask ten people about cloth diapers, you will get ten different opinions, so don't take this as a universal statement of what will or will not work. My wife read some very encouraging remarks about these diapers on a blog called Young House Love, so we decided to give them a try. We have also heard good things about a brand called FuzziBunz, and some friends of ours gave us some cloth diapers by a company called SunBaby. This might be a case of finding out what works for you and going with it, but I must admit it is a bit of an investment to just try something and hope it works. I can say that the BumGenius have worked extraordinarily well for us, and the few mishaps we have encountered have been largely an issue of sizing--it's taken us a few tries to figure out which combination of snaps on the diaper fits our ten-pound baby the best. You might want to think about getting more, like 18 or 24, depending on how often you change your baby's diaper, but for now 12 seems to work fairly well for us.

Bum Genius Diaper Sprayer. If cloth diapers are the shotgun, this thing would be the ammunition. It is easy to install, and works exactly like the sprayer you might have in your kitchen. Unfortunately it is also the weakest link in the whole system, since the build quality is not exactly stellar. Still, it works well and by adjusting the flow rate (i.e. by only turning the water valve halfway instead of full-blast) we have learned to minimize drips along the hose and still get the dirty diapers very clean. Installation, for the less mechanically inclined out there, was a breeze and took about 10 minutes. It comes with very clear instructions and I am fairly confident that anyone could do it.

Charlie's Soap Laundry Liquid. Like the diapers themselves, opinions on the soap in which to wash them are extremely varied. We found a list online comparing various laundry soaps for cloth diapers, and to be honest it probably doesn't matter which one you use as long as it's free of dyes, perfumes, etc. Some friends of ours have had good luck with Rockin' Green detergent, and we have heard good things about various other brands too. We actually called a store that specializes in cloth diapers to get their opinion, and they also recommended Charlie's Soap. We also priced it out and the Charlie's Soap was actually cheaper (by anywhere from 5-10 cents per load) than buying regular Tide at Wal-Mart. (We are washing our diapers about once a day, and a small load is plenty of water to take care of them all.) It does a great job with the diapers, and using a half-squirt of liquid (roughly equivalent to 1/2 ounce) in a small load of laundry gets the diapers plenty clean. We have noticed a few stains on the cotton, but I don't think that impacts the effectiveness at all. And from what we have read, these stains basically disappear if the diapers are dried in the sun, which we plan on doing (see below).

Planet Wise Wet Diaper Bag. We bought two of these (one large and one medium) and they work great so far. After we spray down the diapers we drop them in the large bag and zip it shut. When we do laundry we just wash the diaper bag along with the diapers, and use the small bag in the meantime if we need to. I'm not sure how well these will hold up after several months, since the plastic lining seems a little thin, but we'll just have to wait and see. At least they're not super expensive.

Seventh Generation Wipes. I'm not sure if these are directly related to cloth diapers, but we use them so I figured I might as well include them here. They seem to work as well as any other wipes, and apparently they're better for the planet or something like that. I've read about some Seventh Generation products that are more marketing hype than anything, but for now they work fine and we'll probably continue to get them.

Minky Retractable Clothes Line. As I write this post the thermometer reads about 102 degrees outside, and shows no signs of abating. So we figured we might as well make use of the heat and try to dry the diapers outside. Keep in mind that some of the laundry cost involves drying the diapers, and we have found that we can get these dry after two cycles in the dryer by essentially turning them inside out before sticking them in. Also, drying outdoors is not nearly as fast as the dryer, so you might need to purchase some additional cloth diapers to make up the difference in drying time. And we have not actually tried drying them outside yet, so this may or may not even work at all. We have the clothesline itself installed on the side of our house, but we won't have a post in the ground to which we can attach the line until tomorrow (hopefully). So take this with a grain of salt, and try at your own risk.

So that's everything we started with, which brings the up-front cost to somewhere around $500. I know that seems like a lot, but buying disposables will cost that much in about 4 months. We also put several of these items on a baby registry, so a lot of them were given to us at baby showers. As for the actual usage of everything, it's been mostly positive. For two weeks we used disposables since our baby was still a newborn and the cloth diapers were so big they would rub against his umbilical cord. But since switching to cloth, the most notable difference (other than not having to throw away dozens of disposables each week) is that our baby's bum is a lot cleaner when we go to change him. The uber-thick cotton lining of the diapers absorbs way more liquid than a disposable diaper, and changing our baby is simply a lot less messy than it was before. But I should also note that the diapers don't fit as snugly around his legs as disposables did, and we have had two incidents of some unexpected messes. But since we got the adjustable-size diapers we are pretty sure we just need to find the sweet spot with the sizing options. To be honest, I have been surprised at how much stuff these diapers do catch, and the couple accidents we have had have been pretty minor.

The actual diaper-changing process isn't much different either, and I find the snaps to be a lot easier to deal with than the sticky/velcro tabs on disposables. It does take about 1-2 minutes longer per diaper change to rinse out the diaper with the sprayer, but I don't see this as a big hassle. There have been a few times when our baby was really fussy and we had to let the diapers sit folded in half for a little while before we could spray them down, but again, this is by far more the exception than the rule.

Cloth diapers also have the added side effect of essentially increasing our baby's clothing size by a couple of units. There's definitely an added bulk to work around when putting on onesies or other clothes that go over his bottom, and we have found that some of our 0-3 month clothes just don't fit anymore when he's wearing cloth diapers. I don't know that this is a bad thing in and of itself, just something to be aware of if you are planning on using cloth diapers. Also, our baby was nearly 10 pounds at birth but as I have mentioned a couple times, the diapers are a bit tricky to find the right size on him. Even though our One Size Fits All diapers claim to fit babies as little as 7 pounds, I wouldn't recommend it.

After all that, what's the verdict? I give the cloth diapering a solid A-. It's not perfect, but it's not bad at all, though we still keep some disposables on hand for when we're away from home or if there's some kind of emergency. The few hiccups and bumps in the road have been easy to overcome, and we really like that we're not shelling out money for disposables all the time. The energy cost is something that must be considered, though, and if you're a hardcore environmentalist you might argue that the electricity to run the dryer so much (especially since most of our electricity in the United States comes from coal-fired power plants) negates the environmental and cost benefit of disposables, but if our idea to dry them outside pans out I think this will be less of a concern. And since we live in Oklahoma, the temps are mild enough for most of the year to make outside drying more feasible. As with all baby-related issues you will get 20 different opinions if you ask 20 different people, but for my part I'm solidly siding with cloth diapers. At least for now. We'll see how things go in a couple months, and whether or not I change my tune by then. :)

Holding it over a barrel

2011-05-10T22:01:00.000-05:00

While my parents were here a couple weeks ago my dad and I took the rather bold (for me, anyway) step of planting some grass in the yard. Prior to their visit I had gone to Lowe's and purchased, on the recommendation of a store clerk, a bag of something called Turf Builder. At least I think that's what it was called. I do know it was specifically not called Grass Seed, which is what I was wanting, but the guy said this was better. Way better. So I snapped up a bag of this so-called Turf Builder which was, like, a million times better than regular grass seed and stuff. And you know, it might actually be. But when my dad and I spent the evening in the yard raking and sowing and watering, all I could think was "Hmm...there's a lot of stuff here, very little of which actually resembles grass seed."

I watered it vigorously each night for a while, then let nature take over, and even with somewhat sporadic rains to keep things all properly moisturized and whatnot, the results have not exactly been promising. True, a some verdure has been spotted in the formerly lifeless dirt patch on the western side of the yard, but it's more along the lines of weeds than actual grass. I'm keeping hope alive, though, and someday we'll get things to grow out there. Which brings me to the project my wife and I embarked on last week: the construction of a rain barrel:

It was my wife's idea, and I think she's really on to something here. We like to water a couple shrubs and one specific tree each week and we think it would be kind of cool to do it with water that just kind of shows up out of the sky from time to time. The barrel we're putting together isn't exactly like the one in the video, and so far all we have is the barrel itself, but I think we're on to something with this. We need to figure out a good way to divert water from a downspout, but this one looks promising. Hopefully we can get it finished up soon and test it out with some of the spring rains.

I should also mention that while my parents were here we got an incredible amount of stuff done around the house including, but not limited to, the painting of three rooms. We made sure to take time for some fun stuff too (which is not meant as an implication that painting with parents isn't fun, but you know what I mean...) like going to an art fair downtown and playing some cards. It's cool having a place for friends and family to come visit, especially now that we have a place with a proper guest bedroom and bathroom. :)

These things don't grow on trees...

2011-04-07T21:36:00.000-05:00

One of the curious things about owning a home is how much there is to know about all sorts of situations in which I never previously found myself. Before owning a house I had not given much thought to the concept of cleaning a dryer duct, figuring out paint colors for a given room, or pulling weeds from the front yard. But these are just some of the joys that come with home ownership, and yes, I use that word intentionally. I try to not think of the various processes and odd jobs around the house as chores, but as learning experiences (even though when it comes to choosing paint or hanging pictures I just as often as not get kind of frustrated with the whole ordeal) and, yes, a chance to buy tools. Hey, I'm a dude. ;)

One thing about which I am almost entirely clueless is yard care. I get that there's grass out front, along with some tall green things like trees and shrubs, but I don't really know what to do with them. A couple times a week we put the hose under one of the trees that's not looking so great, and in the summer I mow the lawn often enough to keep it from looking unsightly, but a lawn just isn't something in which I really want to invest a lot of time. That's partially (ok, mostly) what led to our weird bagworm problem last fall, and what also led us to finally call in a tree-care professional to come take a look at our situation this week.

Turns out our friends Jon and Sarah were right: the bagworm-infested pine tree is, sadly, dead. The good news is I now have an excuse to get a nice shovel and spend an hour getting rid of it. We also have a couple other trees that Nate, from Nate's Tree Service, said could use a bit of trimming. Fortunately I can do a lot of it myself, but not on the big one out back. That'll take a professional's touch, along with more equipment than I could reasonably purchase. We're now in that do-we-go-for-it-or-leave-it-alone phase of the decision process that seems to be common with a lot of homeowners, and right now I think we'll stay in a holding pattern for a while and just wait and see. And in the meantime we'll keep watering the cypress tree out front and hope it starts looking better soon...

400 Posts

2011-04-02T15:11:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I made a list of things I wanted to get done this weekend, and updating my blog was one of them. My dad told me that people are more likely to accomplish their goals if they actually write them down, and I don't know if this serves as evidence in favor of that or not (correlation does not equal causation, as we all know) but here I am, updating my blog. So that's gotta count for something, right? Anyway, this marks the 400th post on this blog and even though I don't update it nearly as often as I used to I plan on keeping it going for quite some time. Maybe I'll hit 500 posts someday too!

A few weeks ago my wife and I took a trip to Washington DC to collect data for her research at the Library of Congress, and just like the first time I visited DC a couple years ago I was struck by so many things about it. The history, the locations, the buildings, and the people all add up to a confluence of so many aspects of our country that really is unique. Add to that the singular trait that the district is the seat of our country's government and you have a place that is quite like no other. As we strolled down the National Mall and walked past the Supreme Court and Capitol buildings, we sort of marveled at the fact that whether one agrees or disagrees with the individuals in power, and the policies they are enacting or laws they are debating, it's pretty remarkable that it all happens in such an open and pedestrian fashion. Congressmen and national leaders dine at the same bars and restaurants, just up Pennsylvania Avenue, as firemen, policemen, and even the custodians that clean the very buildings in which they work. The halls of our government buildings are, for all intents and purposes, fairly accessible to the public. And should one choose, he or she can stroll right up to the offices of their representatives and present an opinion or offer advice. Granted, our government can be a mess of inefficiency and gridlock, not to mention partisan bickering and stonewalling, but seeing the National Archives and reading the very document that was signed by 39 representatives over 200 years ago which lays out the foundational tenets of our system of representative government helps restore a bit of faith in the overall system.

Not sure what this was, but it's right next to the Capitol.
I like to think it's a secret fort some congressmen use
for playing Cops 'n Robbers.

We were able to attend a Wednesday service
at the National Cathedral.

On my birthday my wife took me to the Air and Space Museum.
(That is the real Space Shuttle Enterprise)

A row of houses near the Capitol. You don't really
see houses like this in Oklahoma :)

The Metro--the only way to travel in DC. It looks
almost exactly how it does in Fallout 3, too.

Overlooking the National Mall.

Last weekend I was in Nebraska for my dad's 60th birthday, and it was cool seeing lots of relatives, playing cards, and pretty much spending the day just hanging out with family and friends. At night I went to see my buddy Nick's show down at Knickerbocker's, as it was his band's final gig with their drummer Matty who is moving away to Phoenix for college.

Still one of the best venues for local shows in Lincoln.

Along with posting on my blog, I have a lot of other things on my list for today so that's gonna just about do it for now. :)

A tad bit chilly...

2011-02-10T09:29:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to share this photo.That's Stillwater, Oklahoma...not Stillwater, Minnesota. :)

2011...so far, so good

2011-01-09T22:28:00.000-06:00

Christmas was a bit different this year, since we only visited one side of our family whereas in years past we have, as I recall, managed to visit both my side and my wife's side over the Christmas break. But this year we did things a little different, spending time only in Montana over the break with my wife's mother and stepfather. We had a very enjoyable visit, and helped them with several projects around the house too. It's cool to go from the relatively flat plains of the midwest to the mountains of the West, and seeing them covered in a blanket of brilliant white snow made the view even more impressive. It is probably the last visit we will make to Montana for quite some time, as her parents are hoping to move a little closer to home in the coming year. But life has a way of changing things when you least expect it, so as always, we'll just have to see how things pan out.

After we got back from the visit we managed to take care of one little project that has been on my wife's mind for a while: frosting over the bathroom window. We have a big window in the master bathroom that is almost always covered by (hideous) pink blinds (that were there when we moved in). But my wife found some information on covering existing windows with a pane of frost, similar to how one might get windows tinted in a car, without having to buy an entirely new window. So last Saturday we went to Lowe's and picked up a bunch of supplies to try our hand at adding a little privacy and lot of light to the bathroom.

Not pictured: ugly pink blinds fully extended.

The hardest part about the project was doing the initial measurements, as the bathroom window was pretty large which made cutting the piece of frosting kind of difficult. After we had everything measured we went into the bathroom and doused the window and frosting treatment with this adhesive solution and then set out to actually apply the whole mess to the window. The only difficult part of this process was smoothing out all the bubbles in the frosting, which we did with a couple squeegies and a lot of elbow grease. The final result actually looks halfway decent, and it's basically impossible to see in or out of the window but it still lets a ton of sunlight in.

We like this version much better.

While we were in Montana we helped my wife's parents change out four light fixtures and a chandelier, which gave us a bit of confidence in replacing the chandelier in our dining room too. I'm not sure when we'll get around to that project, but like so many home improvement ideas, I'm sure it'll happen one of these days...

This weekend I took down our Christmas tree and all assorted decorations, which was kind of a bummer since I think the tree just adds a nice bit of decor to the living room. But it's gotta come down sooner or later, and even though in college my buddies and I left the tree up until March (or whenever Evan's girlfriend took it down) I figure we might as well get it taken care of now rather than putting it off for months. I should have taken a before and after picture of this too, but, well, the "before" picture is a Christmas tree. I mean, there's not a whole lot of variety for an indoor fake evergreen tree. I thought the "after" picture was kind of funny though.

When fully assembled it's actually pretty cool.
And yes that is a rack of VHS tapes.

Even though the tree is down, though, it's just a decoration to begin with and not that important in the grand scheme of things. The real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our savior Jesus Christ, needs no tree or ornaments or neatly-wrapped presents to be felt throughout the year. And so as we forge onward with all the new trials, challenges, joys, and celebrations of the new year, we must not forget the rebirth and renewal that comes now from a simple advancing of the calendar, but from the surpassing greatness of the grace of our Lord and His sacrifice for us.

So here's to 2011.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

2010-12-21T21:00:00.000-06:00

Since I was a kid I have had somewhat of a passing interest in astronomy, and even though I don't look up at the night skies nearly as often as I ought to, I still enjoy watching celestial events when I think to do so. My brother Andy and I used to have cheesy cardboard star maps when we were kids, and haplessly hold them high as we struggled to identify various constellations that managed to poke through the lights of Lincoln: Cassiopeia, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Orion...were fascinated at the big balls of gas burning brightly so far away even if we could barely distinguish one star (or planet) from the next. It was fun, though, and one of the nice things about living in a small town now is that there's a whole lot more stars visible at night than when we lived in Minneapolis, and even if I couldn't for the life of me explain which planet is which or how to find the north star without some sort of sky map, I still enjoy casting an upward gaze in the wee hours.

And so last night I set my alarm for 2:30am in order to get up to see the lunar eclipse, even though I had heard reports that it might be too cloudy to see much. This one was to be kind of noteworthy because it took place on the winter solstice, a confluence of events that has not happened in nearly 400 years. Did that make either event any more noteworthy? No, not really. But it was a good excuse to drag myself out of bed and go snap some photos. I snapped a couple 15-second exposures from our driveway near the edge of town, and then drove a couple miles east and set up the ol' tripod in order to get some better pics. Our trusty point-n-shoot camera (with a humble 3x optical zoom) was ill suited to capture the magnificence of the event, but all in all the photos turned out rather well considering the circumstances. I ended up with about 15 and only posted a couple here, and you can click each one for a full resolution version.


The belt of Orion is visible on the lower-left corner of the picture. (No magnification in this photo.)

Zoomed in as far as our little camera would go! :)

Just for funsies, a long-exposure shot of the horizon.
(it's a porch light, not the moon, btw)

I was probably out there for maybe 15 or 20 minutes, and by the time I got back home around 3am the shadow of our planet was creeping slowly away from the rim of the moon, making way for the full white brilliance to become visible once again. I was a bit tired at work this morning, but I think it was worth it. (If you're interested in some really cool pics, National Geographic has some excellent shots.)

Looking up at the sky, even for just a minute, is a really cool way to experience the wonder of the Lord's creation. Even on a regular night you're liable to see some cool sights, and maybe even catch a glimpse of a meteorite, aurora, or just a cool-looking constellation too. Even if you have no idea what it is you are actually looking at. :)

Music in the Aire

2010-12-16T16:48:00.000-06:00

One of the things I enjoy most about this time of year is the music. It might sound a tad silly, but I just can't get enough of Christmas music. I have four Pandora stations soothing my ears with various Christmas tunes all day at work, and there's a great Christmas broadcast over the FM airwaves when we're driving too. I dig the classics, the hymns, the modern rock stuff (Gary Hoey does an amazing rendition of "Linus and Lucy"), and especially the carols. Even though we can get these tunes any day of the year, there's something special about combining Christmas music with the palpable anticipation of the celebration of Jesus' birth. Anyone can raid the pantry for a spoonful of sugar, but combining sugar with chocolate chips, flour, eggs, and butter makes for an entirely new creation far greater than the individual parts. And so it is with the music of the season--it's best enjoyed with decorations in the home and neighborhood, presents under a tree, and Salvation Army bell ringers at the stores. Besides, reserving "The First Noel," "Joy to the World," O Night Divine," "Silent Night," "What Child is This," and dozens of others for this one time of year just makes them a little more meaningful.

On Sunday my wife and I went to a Christmas music celebration put on by First Baptist Church right near downtown, and even though we have been to a fair number of choral performances, this one was really special. A massive assembly of choir singers from congregations around the city, augmented by an orchestra, sang Christmas songs and hymns proclaiming the birth of our Lord and Savior long into the night. We sat in the balcony and had an excellent view of the proceedings, which included Bible readings between each song to give a context for how many classic carols fit into the Christmas story and, ultimately, the Lord's plan of salvation for all mankind. From time to time the audience was asked to join in, and hearing the voices and music soar far beyond the old wooden church rafters was a pretty incredible experience. Afterwards we met up with one of my wife's colleagues who was singing in the choir and it was cool to talk about the rehearsals and the final performance. Even though there's no snow on the ground here in Oklahoma, it's stuff like this that helps make the Christmas season seem all the more real.

On a completely unrelated note, this is a picture I took last week as the sun was coming up right before I left for work. I brought our little Canon point-n-shoot out into the backyard and attempted to catch the majesty of the sun beginning its daily ascent as its beams shot through the morning mists and frosty air. The picture doesn't exactly do the scene justice, but it's better than nothing. You can click it for a larger version, but really, you kind of had to be there. :)


Minnesota residents: note the lack of snow. Any time you want to come down, Oklahoma welcomes you with open arms. :)

Not-so-Black Friday

2010-12-01T09:40:00.000-06:00

Last year I embarked on my first real Black Friday experience, getting up around 3:30 to stand in line outside a Target store in order to get an Xbox 360. It wasn't even one of the big sale items, but it did come with a $50 Target gift card, so I was worried they might sell out anyway. My sister's husband and I waited in line for an hour and a half, braved the surging crowd to get inside once the store opened, and then calmly went about getting my Xbox and a couple other items on our lists. It was a pretty good time and I enjoyed the cosmopolitan atmosphere, friendly crowds, and yes, the good prices. Was it worth getting up so early? No, probably not. But it was a fun way to spend time with relatives and friends, so that probably makes up for it.

This year my wife and I refined our tactics a little bit, scouring the black Friday ads well in advance and taking note of a couple items we wanted to pick up. Nothing more than $20, and all things we had talked about getting anyway, so it was a good way to keep our post-Thanksgiving shopping in check. We woke up around 3:30 again, and she went with a friend and some of the women in our family to hit up the clothing stores and the local mall. I spent the morning with my brother, whose wife went with my wife, going to a few hardware stores and a couple other places looking for my part of our short shopping list. We actually braved the crowds at Best Buy which, despite the headlines and news stories people may have heard, were casual and easygoing and not at all violent or angry. Even the employees at most stores were cheerful and happy to help when we needed it. After a couple hours we headed back home and I met up with my wife and her friend for some Amigo's and a bit of Shopping Part Two before calling it a day.

Much of the weekend was spent in the company of friends and family, which is just about the best way to spend a holiday. Aside from playing with the nieces and nephews, we boring old folks watched Nebraska beat Colorado on Friday, and then played some cards while OSU got shut down by Oklahoma on Saturday. Earlier that afternoon we were at my brother Phil's to help him and his wife celebrate the first birthday of their son, and like he said, time sure goes by quickly. Seems like just a few weeks ago little Noah was just a big pink raisin in a baby carrier, and now he's this close to walking. Keep it up, little guy!

Me and my one-year-old nephew. Aww.


My brother Andy made this. It was some sort of recipe that involved cooking a whole pumpkin.

Eagerly anticipating Thanksgiving dinner.

My brother Tom doing card tricks with the kids.

Grandpa and granddaughters, waking up with
a Mountain Dew and carrot cake.

Other highlights from the weekend:

Thanksgiving dinner. My mom makes some really good turkey!
Going back to Russ's Market for the first time in about 5 years, and seeing some former co-workers who are still holding down the fort.
Watching Mega Piranha with my brother, his wife, and a bunch of their friends on Friday night.
Hanging out with our friends and 1.5-year-old daughter on Saturday afternoon. Wow, she loves to jump on the bed!
Staying up late on Saturday with my buddy Gavin, watching speed runs of Super Metroid.
Lunch at Valentino's on Highway 81 on the way home.

And so this Thanksgiving we were indeed giving thanks. Thanks for family, for friends, and for a savior who loved us enough to die for us. May we find rest and peace in His arms this Christmas season.

Light the way home

2010-11-23T20:00:00.000-06:00

My wife and I aren't much for decorating with the seasons around our house, but this winter we decided to kick things up a notch or two by putting up Christmas lights outside. We purchased about 200 feet of glowing white LED lights on clearance last year and I was eager to get up on the ladder and hook 'em to the gutters, mostly because I had never done it before. And so last Sunday, with temps hovering around 75, we hustled to Wallyworld to buy an outdoor outlet timer and some gutter clips, and I set out to putting up our first outdoor Christmas decorations ever.

The project actually went pretty smoothly, with a few hiccups here and there due to snags in the lights and some poorly-placed bushes around the perimeter of our house. My wife had a lot of schoolwork to do, so I called up a neighbor and he was gracious enough to take time out of his Sunday to help me hang the lights. We spent around an hour and a half fumbling with little plastic clips, stringing lights, and crab-walking on the roof in order to get the job done and had a pretty good time overall if I do say so myself. And it's my blog, so I just did. :)

It's not much to look at, but it's
our first time putting lights up :)

The lights are nothing special, and we don't plan on turning them on until after Thanksgiving (except to take that photo), but it was fun to spend the afternoon hanging 'em on the gutters and chatting away with my neighbor.

Last night my wife and I were going to go to an OSU women's basketball game, but there was a problem with the tickets (they were given to me but there was a mix-up regarding the seat assignments, or something like that) so we ended up heading to McDonald's for some ice cream and then back home for the evening. No fire in the fireplace, but we did catch a few episodes of one of our favorite TV shows on Netflix and then just kind of took it easy for a while. With the busy holiday season coming up those kind of evenings are going to be kind of in short supply, so it's nice to enjoy 'em while you can.

Kayak Water What?

2010-11-08T22:34:00.001-06:00

A few days ago my brother Tom called me up, more or less out of the blue, with a somewhat strange proposition. Knowing my wife and I would be in town for my sister's wedding, Tom invited the two of us to join him and several others a game of Kayak Water Polo. Having only briefly heard of this kind of thing, and not really sure at all what to make of it, I gave him a cautious affirmative and figured I would let the chips fall where they may. Tom has, apparently, been doing this for a few weeks now and was eager to bring us along for the experience. I figure it can't hurt to try, so why not give it a shot?

And so last Friday evening I found myself in the swimming area of a local gym, donning a life jacket and helmet with over a dozen other people ranging in age from 13-ish to 50-ish. There was only one opening for that night's game, so my wife elected to bow out and let me have at it, which turned out fine for her since she got to spend an hour chatting with Tom's wife while their husbands flailed around in a swimming pool in tiny plastic boats chasing a ball with paddles. I have been for-real kayaking once before, and funyaking on several occasions, but it was nothing like spending an hour paddling my arms off in a somewhat vain effort to chuck a ball through an elevated square goal. These people were serious about their kayak water polo, dude. Super friendly, but super hard core too.

Tom and I, T-minus one minute to all heck breaking loose.

For the first 20 minutes or so I did OK, holding my own with the rest of the blue team as we battled it out for aquatic supremacy with the red team. I was ably paddling back and forth across the pool, chasing down the ball and getting in a few good passes here and there too (the rules are very much like Ultimate Frisbee). But after that my arms turned to jelly and it was all I could do to just keep up. David, the proprietor of the Lincoln Kayak Water Polo Club, mercifully switched my place on the blue team with the best guy on the red team, a move that really did even things out for the rest of the game.

It may look like chaos, but really...ok, well, it's chaos.

The object is to toss the yellow ball through
the net. And yes it's harder than it looks :)

I was by far the most inexperienced person ~~on the field~~ in the pool, but it didn't matter. I had a great time, and everyone there was super cool about the fact that there was a total n00b playing with them. There was even a young kid (the aforementioned 13-year-old) who was incredibly helpful and encouraging throughout the game. He continually gave me tips and pointers as we played, and even went out of his way to pass the ball to me a few times too. I even scored once, but the best part about the whole game was that no official score was kept at all. It's all played for fun, and even though the players are pretty intense about their game, everyone was really there just to have a good time.

Basically you do this for an entire hour without stopping.

As a bonus, I ran into an old friend afterwards I had not seen in years. Turns out his wife plays Kayak Water Polo regularly, and he was there to cheer her on. Imagine catching up with a buddy because of a game of Kayak Water Polo. That's Lincoln for you. :)

The Great Pumpkin (Patch?)

2010-10-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

I learned to ride the unicycle when I was about 16, if memory serves me correctly (though seeing as how I recently turned 30 I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in the ol' grape anymore), and since then I have picked up a few tricks here and there but mostly my unicycling has remained more or less at a comfortable plateau. Advancing one's unicycle skillz isn't so much a matter of going farther or faster, but learning tricks and finding ever more crazy ways to ride the one-wheeled contraption. Even though my repertoire of stunts is basically limited to riding with one foot, I was thrilled to be able to ride in the annual Homecoming parade this past weekend. Especially since my sister was able to ride in it with me.

She, her fiancèe, and their respective daughters were down for a visit and I asked the lady who owns the local bike shop (the organization with which we hooked up in order to ride in the parade) if she minded me bringing my sister along for the parade. She didn't mind at all, and so at 8am last Saturday the two of us met up with a dozen or so people on all sorts of strange-looking bikes and multi-wheeled contraptions for the big parade ride. Everyone was exceptionally friendly, even though my sister and I had never met any of them before, and around 9:15 we started down the parade route along with the music of high school marching bands, honking horns, and cheers from the crowd.

Neither my sister or I have ridden in any parades for years, though when we were younger we took part in a handful with the rest of our family. It was fun to learn routines and put on a show for the crowd, and even though the Homecoming parade ride didn't involve any specific routines or patterns, it was fun to just ride for a while. There was another lady from the bike shop who rode with us, which made us a trifecta of one-wheeled entertainment the likes of which Stillwater has never seen! Well, not since the last parade anyway. :)

My sister and I, desperately searching for handlebars
or at least a second wheel.

This guy could ride a wheelie all day.
Not even kidding.

We had fun riding in the parade, but the best part of the weekend was spending time with family. No, seriously. Watching the homecoming game, going to the park, hanging out at our house, going to the pumpkin patch...it was so fun to be with everyone. Especially my niece and soon-to-be niece, who were excited just to be on vacation.

Thank goodness our visiting family members
didn't get lost in the hay maze at the pumpkin patch.

Blame it on the Drain

2010-10-17T10:13:00.001-05:00

It's too bad I didn't take any pictures today*, because it would have been a good day for it. Things got off to an interesting start when I set out to tackle our first real plumbing challenge here at home. We have lived in our house for just over a year without having to deal with a whole lot of plumbing issues, and in that respect I consider us fortunate. In terms of house problems, water can be a biggie. Anyway, a few days ago we shut off the water supply valves on our toilets in order to clean them, but discovered that one of them would not turn back on properly. Along with that, the float inside the toilet tank was also not working right, which resulted in a slow but steady drip into the toilet tank for the past few days. Not exactly the worst thing that could happen, but something that should be fixed nonetheless.

While I have tacked a handful of home repair projects before, plumbing is not one of my favorites. If we mess up while painting, the worst that happens is we have to re-do something or clean up a spill. But if something goes wrong with a plumbing operation, you're basically sunk. Leaky pipes and dripping valves can cause all kinds of problems, and attempting to fix them can often make things even worse. Nevertheless, I figured the toilet was something I could fix on my own, so armed with a couple video tutorials and a healthy dose of prayer, I set out to bring new life back to the ol' commode.

The hardest part of the whole operation was actually getting the house water supply shut off. The valve outside was incredibly difficult to turn, and it took several tries over the course of at least 10 minutes to finally rotate it into the off position. After that it was kind of a trial-and-error operation with the valve that involved a crescent wrench, channel lock, drip pan, and two trips to Lowe's to find a valve with the correct fitting diameters. It actually wasn't that difficult to install the new valve, but it was kind of tricky figuring out just how to go about getting it done. The intake line and new float were honestly a piece of cake, and soon enough the toilet was flushing and refilling properly without any leaks or drips. Hooray!

The master shutoff valve for our house. See how close it
is to the sidewall? Yeah, that made it super hard to operate.

Our new high-tech $8 float shutoff. Whee!

New valve and intake line. To leak, or not to leak.
That is the question.

Only downside was I had no sooner fixed one toilet when we discovered basically the same problem with the toilet in our hallway bathroom too. Thankfully I kind of knew what to do (and what parts to buy) so it wasn't too hard, but still...

Later in the day we went out to help one of my co-workers at her farm property a half hour north of here, and after doing some weed-whacking and shoveling, my wife and I got to feed a baby calf with a bottle. Having grown up firmly within the city limits there's a host of farm-type activities I have never done before, and it was fun helping the two-week-old calf with its dinner. My co-worker's husband warned us about the calf's tendency to basically head-butt the bottle from time to time, so my wife had to wear these big puffy utility pants over her jeans to keep her clothes dry. And yes, I may have to trade in a few points on my man card, but it was pretty cute when the tiny little cow let out a tiny little "moo." :)

And so with a plumbing problem solved and some yard work finished, we capped off the day with an episode of Star Trek: Voyager and some ice cream. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday (even if Nebraska lost their game against Texas...).

*I went and took some photos anyway, ex post facto, as I wrote this blog post.

14 Feet to the North

2010-10-12T22:41:00.000-05:00

My parents came for a visit last weekend, and even though their time here was brief it was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. It's always nice to go visit the fam up in Nebraska, but it's great when they can make the trek down to Oklahoma too. Saturday was mostly spent doing two projects at our house, along with a trip downtown to a car show and capping the evening off with some cards. During the afternoon my wife and my mom worked on painting some borders along the top of our bedroom while my dad and I installed a cable jack on a different side of the living room. And surprisingly (or perhaps not, since we often start these projects with prayer) there were very few hiccups or problems during the operation.

The goal: move this mess from behind the couch
to under the cabinet. And straighten it out, too. :)

Installing the new cable jack junction box.

About half of the installation project involved going down into the crawl space below the floor to move some wires, drill some holes, and of course, take some pictures.

My dad, doing his best Steve McQueen impression.

'Twas a tad cramped below the house...

A couple hours and one bottle of cream soda later we had finished, and the results, while not exactly worthy of the Sistine Chapel, weren't half bad.

Best part of the whole picture: Mexican Train Dominos.

Meanwhile, my wife and mom did a stellar job of painting, and even though the color we chose looked a little different on the walls than it did on the paint sample, it's much better than the original off-pink color the borders used to be. But that's kind of the nature of home improvement projects--one gets completed and another takes its place, or one gets finished just enough to be put aside for now until it can be revised and changed even more later on. And hopefully, like it was with my parents, it will be a fun process along the way.

The chair and the needle

2010-10-08T18:00:00.001-05:00

While I respect the dentistry profession, I have always had a somewhat irrational fear of going to get my teeth examined. When I was a kid I didn't mind it so much, but about 12 years ago when I got my wisdom teeth pulled in one grueling hour-long session I started to develop a real aversion to getting my pearly whites examined. I'm a good brusher for the most part, and floss almost every day, so there's really not much for me to worry about. But even so, when I went to the dentist for my semi-annual checkup in September the hygienist informed me that despite my best efforts to the contrary, I had developed two cavities on the surfaces of two adjacent teeth.

Major bummer.

She assured me that it wasn't exactly my fault, though--my teeth apparently have surfaces that are just hard to clean. So a few days ago I bit the bullet, went in, and got the cavities filled. All in all it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and certainly a lot easier than the wisdom tooth operation of yore. I think it's the anticipation that's worth than the actual operation, as is probably the case with most medical procedures. But with my iPod in hand and the laughing gas going straight to my brain, it wasn't all that bad.

Now about that mouth guard the dentist says I'm going to need...

In other news, my parents are coming for a visit this weekend and I'm pretty excited about it. A year ago they helped me and my wife move in to our new house, and it'll be their first visit since then. It's going to be cool showing them all the changes and updates we've made to the ol' homestead, and if all goes according to plan my dad and I will be able to move the cable internet hookup across the room while my wife and my mom paint the borders in a few rooms too. And yes, there will be plenty of popcorn and card games too. :)

Bagworms?

2010-09-28T22:11:00.000-05:00

I was out in our back yard a week ago and struck up a conversation with the guy next door. He was out playing ball with his young son and I was on a mission to inform a particular spider that he would have to build his web somewhere other than our back porch. We got to talking about work, the weather, church groups, and other sorts of neighborly subjects that are fairly commonplace for backyard discussions here in Oklahoma. Soon he looked at our pine tree that is adjacent to the fence bordering our yards and made a simple observation.

"Looks like your tree's got bagworms," he spoke with all the confidence of a guy who's had his own yard for more than a little while. Not even certain which tree he was talking about, I just sort of agreed more out of politeness than anything. He pointed to the evergreen (you will notice, no doubt, that in referring to it by such a generic term that I obviously have no idea what particular type of evergreen it actually is) and, specifically, to the brown pinecone-like things that were hanging from the branches.

I had noticed these things before, but being the not-gardener that I am, figured it was just a bunch of pinecones. I mean, they looked like pinecones, but the fact that our tree was also kind of dying never really made any connection to me between the two phenomenæ.

Not a pinecone. Who knew, eh?

Our neighbor said that they weren't so bad, really, and all we had to do was pick them off and throw them away. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, turns out it kind of was. :) This evening my wife and I were out in the yard for an hour or so with gloves on, picking the little buggers off our tree like it was the week after Christmas. They were kind of gross and a tad squishy, and even though I didn't see any actual worms, I didn't exactly go looking for any either. We're also supposed to spray the tree with some stuff called Sevin, which my dad used to spread around the yard when I was a kid to keep the bugs at bay. That'll be tomorrow, though, and hopefully in the coming weeks and months our little tree fella will find new life once again.

Don't worry, little tree...soon you'll be good as new! (hopefully)

I didn't do an official Bagworm count, but it was probably over 100. Yech.

Ponca City, here we come!

2010-09-14T07:00:00.002-05:00

So over Labor Day we decided to take a trip to Ponca City, the (formerly) booming (not quite) metropolis 45 minutes north of here. I mean, when you got a whole day off and a full tank of gas, where else are you gonna go? We spent most of the afternoon at the Marland Mansion, the home of a former Oklahoma governor and oilman extraordinaire. This was the second mansion my wife and I have toured--the first being the James J. Hill House (by "house" they mean "ginormous castle") near downtown Saint Paul--and like before, it was cool to see how rich dudes rolled back in the early 20th century.

44,000 square feet = 1 cool house.

Pulling up to the mansion itself was a tad intimidating, and kind of gives one a sense of perspective. I thought, and still do think, that our house is pretty nice. It's got a couple bedrooms, a decent yard, and a kitchen roomy enough for two people to cook dinner at the same time. What more could a guy want? A lot more, it turns out. Like a T-shaped swimming poll of olympic proportions in the backyard. Or seven bathrooms. Or a boat launch accessible via tunnel from the lower-floor dining room. Or owl statues built into the walls. I guess when you own 1/10th of the world's known oil reserves, you can pretty much buy a house that puts the house of your dreams to shame. And hey, why not? Mr. Marland was also quite the philanthropist who was also known for giving his workers free stuff like food and health care, and took very good care of the town of Ponca City too.

Not pictured: gigantic piles of cash.

The tour was pretty fun, and I cheered a little bit on the inside when our tour guide gave a bit of a verbal smackdown to a couple of emo-type high schoolers who were tagging along in the group. Mostly it was just a nice way to spend a gorgeous afternoon. After we moved away from Minnesota my wife and I realized there was a lot of stuff to see and do that we never took the time to experience, so we have tried to make a conscious effort to get out and see more of Oklahoma while we're here. Not that we plan on leaving any time soon, but whenever we do we would rather have lots of marks on our mental checklist rather than empty blanks waiting to be filled in.

Me, experiencing about 0.001% of the property.

So between the mansion and the Cann Memorial Gardens, we had a pretty nice time up yonder in Ponca City. Next up? Who knows. Maybe Enid. Maybe Ada. Maybe Picher (the most toxic town in America!). Or maybe we'll find someplace here in town to check out that we haven't yet seen. Like Calvin and Hobbes said, it's a magical world...

Pork Paroxysm

2010-09-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hosting my brother's bachelor party, and even though the phrase bachelor party probably conjures images of somewhat questionable conduct on the part of all involved, that sort of thing was not at all what this one involved. Mostly it consisted of a dozen or so guys watching the Huskers beat the snot out of Western Kentucky while eating far too much chips, salsa, bratwurst, popcorn, and the like. Afterwards we played a few rounds of Rock Band and called it a night. And while a good time was most certainly had by all, the highlight (or lowlight, depending on how you look at it) of the evening was our attempt to create and cook a Bacon Explosion. Part meat, part spice, and part artwork, the Bacon Explosion was to be our Sistine Chapel--the piece de resistance on an altogether excellent night. And while the final result was somewhat open for debate, at least we got a cool story out of the whole deal.

Things got going with the initial preparation of the Bacon Explosion itself, the foundation of which is a layer of woven bacon. I actually wasn't present for the weaving of said bacon, but I must say, my brother Andy did a fine job if I do say so myself. And I just did, so there.

After that came more layers of bacon, seasonings, sausage, cheese, and more that combined to form a gigantic roll of meaty meat-ness. Like I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't exactly classify this whole thing as delicious, but it sure was an experience to put together.

After finishing all the preparations, we headed out to the grill to slow-cook the meaty monstrosity for a couple of hours. Technically it should be prepared in a smoker, but absent that instrument of culinary confectionery, we resorted to the old standby of a propane grill. And while I wouldn't say that idea didn't work, I would be hard-pressed to say it actually did work. What we ended up with was part carbon, part meat, and part gooey cheesey meat-like substance in a malformed log shape.

Ready for grilling. Mmm...delicious?

Several of the guys tried eating this, and a few actually succeeded in downing their portion. Me, I was content to nibble on a scrap of bacon and call it good, as was my friend Evan. It was a fun thing to try, but I think next time I'll stick to the plain ol' burgers and bratwurst that are more typical cookout staples. At the end of the day, though, we all had a great time--especially my brother, which is really all that matters anyway.

My brother, the lucky bachelor, with his bacon trophy.

Changing Colors

2010-09-03T01:00:00.004-05:00

One of the things we have learned since moving in to our house last year is that no improvement project is ever as simple as it seems, or takes as few trips to the hardware store as we think. And for the most part it's all good, since even the biggest problems we encounter pale in comparison to the problems that a lot of people have to deal with in this world. At least we have a house, and we try to keep that perspective when something doesn't work out quite like we hope it will. Same goes for our cars too. I mean, we have not one, but two, fine automobiles in good working condition. So if a door handle breaks off and it takes far longer to put the new one in than I thought it would, well, no big deal, right? Anyway, even though it's not always easy to keep that sort of attitude when things don't work out quite the way we hope, we try, and I guess that's all you can hope for sometimes, eh?

Painting In Progress. New light fixture
will go above the mirror, which
takes up most of the space on this wall.

Anyway, we've been doing a re-painting project in the bathroom that has become a little more complicated than we would have liked, but hey, it's all good. Having never painted a room of our house before, it was a little daunting getting everything in order before we even lifted a hand for the first brush stroke. What color paint? What size drop cloth? What brand of blue painter's tape? Latex or oil? Rollers, brushes, or both? That's not to mention the prep work that had to be done in the bathroom itself, like removing fixtures and taking things out. But a few days ago after everything was in order, the borders taped over, and the circuit breaker shut off*, we carefully began Painting Project Numero Uno.

All in all it was a success, despite a few misplaced drops of paint here and there and a couple bits of blue tape stubbornly stuck to various surfaces yet. The room looks much better than it did, and we are slowly putting it back together the way we want it too. And so all's well that ends well? Yes, but not as such--or at least, not yet anyway. The light fixture above the mirror needs to be replaced, and this is where things are starting to get complicated. It's going to involve some drywall cutting, a tad bit of re-wiring, and the installation of a new junction box too. And like the time I installed the mount for our TV in the brick fireplace chimney, I have no real idea what I'm doing here and will probably just figure things out as we go (with more than a few phone calls to my dad, who could probably build an entire house with his eyes closed). Oh, and we also need to find a new light fixture, which is a daunting project in and of itself.

Anyway, I think we're in pretty good shape and I'm sure in a few days we'll have a new-looking bathroom all painted and re-lit and everything. And besides, even if things don't quite work out, what's the worst that could happen?

*note: grabbing bare wires without performing this step is not recommended, as I found out firsthand :)

One Fair Day

2010-08-29T09:31:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was one of those days where the stuff we did in the morning seemed like a week ago by the time we finally made it to bed. Just listing everything that happened would take quite a while, but there's a couple highlights I wanted to write about instead. To start with, we spent the morning going around town to more than a dozen garage sales looking for nothing in particular except a good deal or two. The thing with garage sale hunting is that you can't really plan ahead to look for specific items--it's really more like looking for coins on a beach. Most of the time you'll find nothing but scrap or garbage, but every now and then you'll come across a quarter or even a half dollar, and so it is for garage sales. For three hours we scoured the city, taking a pre-planned route we devised the night before in order to maximise efficiency yet deviating often when we saw additional signs for sales along the way, and even though we only made one purchase we had a good time nonetheless. Our find? A nice desk chair for my wife that we got at an estate sale. It looks like it has hardly been used at all, and is so far making a very nice replacement for the IKEA chair we've had for a couple years. But much in the same way that hunting for coins on a beach is enjoyable for the sights of the ocean, the feel of the sand, and the wind in your hair, going garage sale hunting is fun (for us, anyway) even if we don't land any huge deals. Kind of a thrill-of-the-hunt sort of thing, I guess. :)

These women were serious about the pie judging.
And even more serious about baking with
butter instead of margarine.

After we got back home a friend of ours called and invited us to the county fair, and even though neither my wife or I have been to a fair in years, we thought it would be fun to check out. And boy, was it ever. I recall going to the Minnesota State Fair in the summer of 2004 and not being particularly impressed because it was so crowded and sprawling. But the county fair yesterday was just our style. We wandered among the indoor booths and exhibits, and I had a great time talking to a guy with a sprawling N/HO/O scale model railroad and another who was manning a HAM radio booth. The best part by far, though, was the pie contest judging. It was an intense affair, with pies of all shapes and sizes being inspected, tested, tasted, and ingested. The two judges were as serious as prison wardens, and left no flake of crust overlooked in their criticisms of the baked concoctions. A first place ribbon in this contest was a hard-won and well-deserved honor, let me tell you. After that, we went to see some of the animals and wandered among the chickens, rabbits, horses, and cows, but the goats and hogs were nowhere to be found. Even though I grew up in Nebraska I have spent very little time around farm animals, and I still think it's cool to hear a rooster call out his famous cock-a-doodle-do cry, or a horse let out a giant neigh. But the crème de la crème was the horse competition. Not necessarily for what the riders were able to do with their horses, like maneuver in specific patterns or race around barrels, but the age of the riders.

Who knew a girl so small could ride a horse so big.

I was amazed at how young the people were and what they were able to do on the horses. The barrel riding competition had an entire category for children ages eight and younger, and even though they weren't exactly equestrian masters, these kids were incredibly competent at horse riding. I have ridden a horse maybe three times in my life, and the amount of skill it takes (for someone like me, anyway) to even get the big animal to go forward or turn from left to right is fairly high. But these kids could command the horses to turn on a dime, sail around a barrel, and break into a sprint for the home stretch. There were other age categories too, but it was these little kids who impressed me the most. After that we strolled to the tractor museum and finally made our way back home. Later on we looked at some paint samples for a couple rooms in our house, which we hope to get working on soon, and I finally replaced the faulty fluorescent light fixture above my workbench in the garage.

As for today, we're heading to church in an hour and then back to church this evening for a welcome-back event for the college students. Should be fun. :)

Boxing Up

2010-08-24T21:47:00.000-05:00

One thing I've learned since we bought our first home last autumn is to never underestimate the complexity of what seems to be a simple household project. For Exhibit A, allow me to submit our mailbox. The one we had outside since moving in has been in a slow and steady state of decay for the past several months (probably years). The box has been loose on its pole for quite some time, it has leaked as long as we've lived here, and a few weeks ago the door started falling off. So we finally bit the bullet, went to Lowe's, and bought ourselves a shiny new mailbox.

End of story, eh? Well, not so much. The First Law of Home Improvement clearly states "The perceived simplicity of a project is inversely proportional to the number of trips to the hardware store required to complete it." When we went to set up the new post receptacle we found out that the mailbox itself was too big to fit on the post. So we made our way back to Lowe's and returned the post, only to leave empty-handed with more questions than answers. Do we get a wooden post instead of a metal one? What about polymer? Do we mount the box with brackets or on a piece of wood? Do we return our new mailbox and get a smaller one? And what about those weird plastic mailboxes that look like they're made by Fisher-Price? It was all getting rather out of control, and still our rusted old mailbox continued to waste away by the roadside, doing everything in its power to hold our alumni association solicitations and JASNA subscriptions without collapsing under its own sorry self.

So a few days later back to Lowe's we went, looking for a stout mailbox post the way our grandaddies used to make them: from good old-fashioned wood. Soon enough we settled on a nice cedar post that would look appropriately regal and surely be the envy of the neighbors (we're suburbanites, after all. Isn't that the goal of every home improvement project?). But then came a new set of problems: removing the old mailbox pole, digging a new hole, mounting the box, securing the post in the ground, and all kinds of new complications that continued to turn what I thought would initially be a half-hour Saturday project into a weeks-long ordeal with government-style budget overruns.

But finally, after much digging, cementing, drilling, hammering, and sweating, we have a brand new mailbox sitting proudly by the curb performing its duties as admirably as one could hope for. But, come to think of it, the cross-beam does seem a tad loose. I bet I could find something to secure it just a little. Oh, and it could a nice staining job too. And perhaps a coat of sealer. And maybe a little flowerbed....

Falling Up

2010-08-18T22:16:00.004-05:00

Without a doubt this is the longest hiatus I have ever taken on the ol' blog, and while I can't promise it will never happen again, I do have to admit it feels good to be typing here again. :) I'm generally not a fan of people giving the excuse of being too busy, and that rings true here also. It's not that I have been too busy, because I have consistently found that we will make time for the things in our lives that we deem as priorities. If I was too busy to write in my blog I would have not found time to beat a couple video games, watch so many movies, and waste so much time on Facebook. But nevertheless, the fact remains that I haven't updated The Brighter Side in a while, so I'm going to try to rectify that situation. Will it work? Well, like my dad says, "We'll have to see once."

This summer has been exceptional, but then, summer pretty much always is. It was my first summer since 2005 that I had to work a consistent 8-5 shift at my job. Every year I was teaching I just sort of got summers off, and even though I worked as a maintenance dude on campus from June through August, it was so much fun it could hardly be called work. But clocking in and out at the usual working man's time these past few months has been pretty nice. It's kind of good to maintain a schedule throughout the summer, and I really like my job at the university, so working there has been pretty cool. We even found the means to take a few trips, as is pretty usual for us. We drove to New York for a wedding and back in the span of six days, and along the way got to see a whole lot of family and friends. We only stayed in a hotel one night thanks to my wife's exceptional trip planning abilities and the prominence of family and friends in cities along our route. Our new car Charlie handled the drive very well, and is currently taking a well-deserved break in our garage too. :) We also got to make it to my family's annual reunion this year up in northern Minnesota, which was awesome as usual. And since it was our first trip up north since moving to Oklahoma we made sure to see some friends in the Twin Cities as well.

I'm telling ya, all in all, it was a great summer. And not just because of the trips and the warm weather. It was just a good time in general, and even though the leaves are starting to show the first signs of their fall colors I can look back on the last several months with satisfaction and no regrets. Which is generally the best way to live life anyway. :)

The seeds of summer

2010-05-21T18:30:00.001-05:00

Before we bought a house we would often hear from friends and family about how much work they are to maintain. And as I have said before on this blog, this type of work isn't really that big of a deal to me as I kind of enjoy putting work into our house and yard. Between mowing, vacuuming, dusting, swiffering, and the occasional fix-it job, owning a house can be a lot of work but it always leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment. Last night after going on a walk we spent a while in the front yard performing the rather unglamorous task of...weeding. Not stylish to be sure, but a task that needs to be done from time to time. And even though we lifted a trash barrel full of leafy pests from the ground it feels like we hardly made a dent in ridding our yard of them. But there are several noticeable improvements already, and we're even thinking about getting our lawn treated next year. Yeah, it's a bow to suburban lifestyle that we would rather not take, but dude...it's tough keeping up with all the weeds. Who knows. :) We have also successfully re-caulked the bathtub in the past week, after an initial attempt that was foiled due to my use of expired caulking (which is no fun at all to get off once it's applied). Someday we'll get the back screen door replaced, the wallpaper taken down, the rooms painted, and a handful of other projects, but for now we're content with the small accomplishments. :)

A few days ago a giant weather system blew through town, which marked the first time as Oklahoma residents that we were subjected to the mercy of a big ol' tornado-spawning spring thunderstorm. Having grown up in Nebraska, on the northern end of Tornado Alley, we weren't exactly freaking out or anything--in fact, we spent most of the evening moving office furniture on the OSU campus. But when the sirens sounded it was nice to be able to head to a lecture hall in the basement of the building we were in, and wait out the storm with lots of good people and three LCD projector screens keeping us updated on weather conditions. Even though the tornadoes mostly passed our town without incident, it was another sobering reminder of the power of nature and the weakness of even the strongest buildings. Hopefully next time we will be just as fortunate!

This spring has also brought several visitors and mini-trips for us. Between out-of-town work conferences, friends from Nebraska coming down for a weekend, and a bridal shower that my wife put on for her friend back home, it's been a busy couple of weeks. (or has it been months? It all runs together...) We were going to have some family come for a visit this weekend too, but circumstances changed and they are postponing their trip for a few weeks. In a way it's nice to have a free weekend to just be around the house and take it easy if we so wish. And of course play some Xbox too. :)

The great semi-outdoors

2010-04-12T14:17:00.003-05:00

I hear a lot of people complain about yard work, but after renting an apartment for years I'm glad to finally have our own lawn to mow (and our own mower with which to cut it too). Cutting the grass, raking the leaves, keeping weeds at bay...I guess it all goes back into the idea of taking pride in a job well done. I'm no lawn manicurist, but I do like having a house and a yard that looks decent from the outside, and I also enjoy the chance to put on my headphones and catch up on a podcast or two while I'm out mowing or raking or whatnot. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's fun to get outside and do yard work, but I would say I enjoy it in a comfortable sort of way. It's supposed to rain in the next few days, so maybe tonight I'll head out and attack the latest round of dandelions with our push mower and see who emerges victorious. :)

Last Friday my wife and I sat outside on our porch eating ice cream with a fire burning in the outdoor fireplace we got from some friends as a housewarming gift a while ago. I don't know why, but I have always been a sucker for a good controlled burn whether it's a big bonfire, a small fireplace blaze, or even a charcoal grill. And so it was nice to enjoy the evening on our back porch while stoking a fire and listening to the birds in the back yard. And yes, there are many birds. Lots of them, in fact, and far more than I would have imagined. It makes for some very musical mornings and evenings. :)

My brother and his wife are coming for a visit this weekend, which has inspired another round of indoor fix-ups like hanging pictures and vacuuming the hallways. I think we hung up nine photos on various walls, along with a clock in the living room, and even though it's kind of a slow process it's nice to get those sorts of decorating things done. When we first moved in I wanted to get a lot of stuff taken care of right away but it has been nice to settle in over time. In fact, I almost prefer it this way, since each improvement, whether it's a new piece of furniture, a new picture on the nightstand, or just rearranging a room to look better, makes the place seem a little more like home.

The big three-oh

2010-03-28T08:48:00.002-05:00

Since turning 30 a week and a half ago, not a lot has actually changed. I was worried I would need a walker, a back brace, and one of those SMTWTFS medication containers by now, but thankfully such has not been the case. In fact, things in thirtyland have been great thus far. Thanks to my wonderful wife and her endless powers of sneakiness, along with the help of some of my relatives, I had a really cool surprise party when we went to Lincoln for a visit. It was great to see lots of my friends there, stay up late playing board games, and talking with my cousin and his wife who came down from Minnesota too. We actually were in Lincoln for my sister's graduation from nursing school, which is how my wife was able to pull off the surprise aspect of the party without me suspecting anything. It was a great visit in general, as visits to Lincoln usually are, but seeing all the people that weekend made it extra cool.

Back here in Oklahoma we are heading into the stormy season (which I guess is probably the same for most of the midwest, not just Oklahoma, but still...) and have been taking some steps to make sure we're prepared. We are putting together a little kit with things like batteries, a flashlight, water, and stuff like that, which won't stop a tornado from taking our house apart, but will hopefully help us out a little in case it happens. Or at least it will give us peace of mind in the meantime. :) Anyway, yesterday we went out and bought a second weather radio to keep in our bedroom too, which again just helps out with peace of mind. I was never really concerned about storms like this when I was a kid, but there were times my family huddled in our basement storage room during tornado warnings and, not having a basement in the heart of tornado alley makes me want to take just a couple extra steps to be ready.

Yesterday we also went to a 5K run/walk for charity, and had a great time making the circuit around Boomer Lake with about 350 others. Even though we go on walks several times a week, and have been to Boomer Lake many times, it was kind of neat to be there for a good cause with so many other people too. Kind of a we're-all-in-this-together mentality, you know? There were door prizes too, but even though we didn't win we did snag some free cookies, so all in all it was a great success. :) I also mowed the grass yesterday, and by "grass" I mean "weeds." Mostly it was a preventative measure, since the grass is still generally brownish and not growing much yet, but there are all kinds of little purple things, that look a bit like clover, taking over the front yard. But not anymore! Bwa ha ha! Or, at least, not for a week or so.

Time to finish my OJ and get ready for church. Happy Palm Sunday! Allelulia!

Riverwalk?

2010-03-14T15:53:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a bit uncharacteristically cosmopolitan day for the two of us. We live in a fairly small (but vibrant and interesting) town, with two major cities an hour away. It's pretty nice, actually, because even though Stillwater isn't a bustling hub of urban activity, we prefer a more, shall we say, peaceful existence. It's nice living in a place where a five-minute drive can take you pretty much anywhere in town, but there are times when the big city amenities are nice to have. And that's when a short drive is in order to Tulsa or Oklahoma City. Yesterday one of my friends was in Tulsa to see some of his family, so my wife and I drove out to meet them all for lunch at a local Oklahoma chain called The Hideaway (basically some of the best pizza you can get around here). We had an outstanding time at lunch catching up on things, getting to know my friend's family members a little more, and talking a lot about movies. And yes, the food was delicious, especially the cheesey bread. Oh yeah. :)

After that we figured we would take a stroll down at the Riverwalk, an area down south of town that's kind of a combination of a small outdoor mall, some apartments, and a bike path. We ended up on the wrong side of the river on a separate path that kind of went away from the waterfront, and it was also a tad chilly and windy, but the three-mile walk ended up being a nice way to burn off some of the pizza from lunch. So in the end I'd call it a win. :) We met up with some other friends for coffee and dinner later on, and caught the Hull/Arsenal soccer game on TV too. I don't follow soccer at all, but one of the guys we were with sure does, so it was nice having him around to explain everything and help us know who to cheer for.

My brother Phil let me borrow The Orange Box a few months ago when I bought my 360, and it didn't take me long to join the legions of gamers enthralled with Valve's concept/tech demo/DigiPen Student Project/game Portal. I beat it and unlocked the Developer Commentary version, and I am currently about five minutes away from beating it again before giving the game back to my brother this coming weekend. All in all, one of the most clever and ingenious games I have ever played, and the only game I have ever played with commentary, which is an incredible bonus for anyone interested in peeling back the layers behind a project like this.

It's time to take one final sip of my strawberry milk, wrap this up, and head out for a walk to enjoy the extra hour that was given to us last night. Aw yeah. :)

Springing

2010-03-07T17:35:00.003-06:00

A few days ago my wife and I pulled in our driveway and lo and behold, what should we see poking up from the ground just to the west of our garage but scores of little yellow daffodils! Or, at least, that's what I think they are. The dude who used to live in this house was a professional landscaper, so there's a lot of cool plants around the yard, but this was the first really unexpected blooming we have seen. Each day it seems like the clusters of yellow flowers grow a little bit more, and today we noticed some more plants joining their ranks near the southern edge of the little alcove. Not sure if the latter are going to result in any blooming action, but it's cool to see the new life of spring showing up around here. Yesterday we did some more pruning on our Crepe Myrtle bushes in the back yard too, and I took an electric hedge trimmer to one of the bushes out front, which now makes it look like the fauna equivalent of Kid 'n Play. So between the yard work and the mid-60s to low-70s weather this week and last, I'd say Oklahoma is a pretty cool place to live. :)

Tonight I'm planning on watching the Academy Awards for the first time ever, and to be honest I'm kind of excited about it. Ever since starting Walking Taco last June I have tried to pay a little more attention to not just movies, but the connections between movies, filmmakers, producers, writers, cultural phenomenæ represented in moving pictures. I guess the Academy Awards are one way for me to experience the metaculture (is that even a word?) of the movie scene, but we'll find out tonight. One of our writers, MJV, is doing a liveblog of the event so I'm looking forward to that too. My wife told me about a site that offers free liveblog services and integrates with Wordpress, so hopefully things should go off relatively pain-free tonight. But I guess we'll find out in an hour or so...

Since getting my Xbox and a subscription to Xbox Live (thanks to my in-laws!) I have enjoyed playing games online but have mostly restricted my online play to me-vs-everyone, or in gaming parlance, free-for-all deathmatches. See, I'm a decent gamer but there's an entire culture of online gaming that I don't really understand because I'm new to it. A lot of online games have team options, but I was always a little wary of playing on a team, due in no small part to my general lack of skill when compared to most online gamers. I figured a team deathmatch would be an exercise in personal futility, but a few nights ago one of my friends showed me that such games are, in fact, quite the contrary. We spent an hour and a half playing Call of Duty 4 in various team deathmatch games, and it was really really fun. The thing is, people of all skill levels play these games--some good, some not so good. And as long as you're not being a jerk like targeting your own team members or just standing around, people are pretty cool. You might not be the best person on the team, but if you're at least trying, the other players will respect you for it. So basically I have just begun experiencing an entirely new layer to online gaming on Xbox Live. And it is most certainly awesome. :)

Ok, time to shut this down and find something for dinner...

Lead Change

2010-02-28T08:53:00.003-06:00

Despite growing up in a fairly rural midwestern state, my life has mostly been that of a typical city dweller. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have been to a farm, the only tractor I know how to drive is a John Deere Lawn and Garden model, and the closest I have ever come to harvesting anything was when my mom gave us kids a penny each for all the weeds we could pull from the yard. I had a great childhood, mind you, it's just that here in small-town Oklahoma I am getting to experience a lot of things that are pretty new to me.

Yesterday, for example, we went to our first ever horse show. I have seen horses a time or two, and went riding for a few hours last year with my wife, but have never experienced anything like an actual equine competition. We figured it would be something cool to try out, so we drove down to the giant indoor arena (around here they just call it "the barn") on the edge of town, walked in, and watched the horse competition for a few hours. We didn't know a whole lot about what was going on, but the three events we saw were called "Horsemanship," "Reining," and "Fence Jumping." It wasn't action-packed like a football or basketball game, but I can appreciate the skill it takes for the riders to control their horses as they ride around the arena performing various moves and patterns. The fence jumping was probably the coolest part, but we enjoyed the whole event and hope to go to more of them especially now that we know a little more about what they actually are.

After the horse show we also spent an hour or so out in the back yard pruning some of our crepe myrtle bushes. Yard work is actually one of my favorite parts about owning a house, and I actually tend to enjoy time spent mowing, cleaning, weeding, trimming, pruning, or any of the other physical-labor aspects of maintaining our little plot of land. I'm not sure if we pruned the bushes exactly how they are *supposed* to be done, but we had fun doing it and will probably have healthier foliage as a result. And if not? Well, we learned something new and will hopefully do it better next time. :)

Progressively Dining

2010-02-21T09:57:00.005-06:00

Since getting an Xbox 360 a few months ago, our movie/tv/netflix habits haven't necessarily changed, but they have been enhanced to a surprising degree. And running the 360 to our new TV has made a good thing even better. Case in point: Netflix streaming has always been nice, but every time we wanted to watch something we had to plug my laptop into the TV by way of an adapter and two cords. No remote also meant every time we wanted to pause, rewind, or start something new meant a short trip from couch to laptop. Now, this is not a complaint: I grew up with no VCR until I was about nine years old, and fully realize that the modern conveniences we have, like the ability to watch movies instantly through Netflix, Hulu, and the like, wasn't even fathomable as recently as ten years ago. So when I say that I have to walk all the way from our couch to my laptop (a laptop! Ten years ago laptops could barely run video games, much less instantly stream movies from the internet) it's not a complaint. It's an observation, and nothing more. The point is that watching DVDs, Netflix streaming, and playing video games required a series of cords, cables, and button presses on Radio Shack switchboards in the days before our Xbox 360.

Now all that is possible through the game console, and in every case, improved by leaps and bounds. Netflix is amazing on the 360--we can sit back on the couch and with a flick of the remote, peruse our Queue and stream HD movies right to the TV. Video games on the 360 are awesome, and DVDs look better than ever thanks to the 360's upscaling capabilities. In short, Microsoft's little console has been a great addition to our living room...

...until it died last week. After humming along great for three months, the 360 stopped recognizing discs and I had to send it in for repairs. :( From the online repair tracking page it looks like things are going well and we might have it back in as little as a week or two from now, but in the meantime we're left back in the dark ages of regular old DVD players and playing video games on the Wii instead of the 1080p goodness of the 360. It's a perspective lesson, really, and in some ways I'm glad the 360 died. My evenings have been spent reading a book my wife got me for Valentine's day, working on Walking Taco and its new subsidiary Walking Taco Box Office, writing for my brother's video game web site Inside The Console, and tinkering on projects around the house. I'm sure we will enjoy having the 360 back, but in the meantime it's been kind of nice to put the brakes on things for a little while. :)

In a completely unrelated matter, last night we went to what I guess is called a "Progressive Dinner" through our church. Around 25 people met at the house of one of our congregation members for appetizers, and then we broke up into three smaller groups for the main course at three different host houses. After that we all met for dessert at the house of another congregation member on the north side of town. Even though we signed up a little late for the event, they made room for us and there was plenty of food at all the stops throughout the evening. We had a great time meeting new people, getting to know others better, and just hanging out with church people in a non-church setting. Not that going to Lenten dinners and post-worship meetings are bad (far from it, in fact), but it's nice to get to know people in a different environment too.

The dinner was also a nice way to get away from the rain, which has been coming down steadily for a few days now. And I gotta say, even though it's kind of dreary out, I kind of like it. Rainy days like today are a good excuse to say inside, bask in the glow of a good fire in the fireplace, and catch up on some blogging. :)

iPad

2010-01-29T22:21:00.006-06:00

Soapbox time, folks! This is a bit of a departure for me here on the ol' blog, but I wanted to get this off my chest. :) If you're not really interested in Apple computer stuff or technology in general, no prob. I'll keep blogging like usual, but I wanted to say a few things about the generally negative reaction to Apple's new iPad device.

Leading up to the announcement of the iPad, the internet was buzzing with all kinds of news, hype, leaked photos, and plenty of outright speculation and conjecture. But now that it's been officially announced and we've all seen the coverage, or better yet, watched the Keynote itself or at least some of the hands-on demos, many people have formed their own more-or-less informed opinions on Apple's "magic" new device. So far my own reaction is fairly positive, but I'll get to that in a minute.

First off, I need to address two issues that seem to be raising the most controversy in the popular media regarding the iPad, the first being its name. Within hours, nay, minutes, of Steve's announcement, teh internets were squawking about the name. "iPad" was a stupid name, and borderline inappropriate for casual conversations, so spake the masses. Why not something like iTablet? MacTablet? iSlate? Anything but iPad!

Oh, how quickly we forget the lessons from tech history. Let's step back a bit to 2006 when the Nintendo Wii was announced. Leading up to the official press announcement, the Wii had was bestowed with the codename "Revolution." It was clever, daring, and indicated a shift for Nintendo, a company traditionally seen as one that catered to families and children with colored consoles and kid-friendly games. But Wii? People liked the technology, but hated the name. It was met with well-nigh unprecedented ridicule and scorn throughout the internet and mainstream press, and many claimed the name of the console would lead to its demise. The worst part, though, was the onslaught of sophomoric jokes and halfhearted attempts at humor at the expense of the Wii. Even Matt Casamassina, one of IGN's most prolific Nintendo standard-bearers, said the Wii made him think of urine, and that was one of the kinder things that gaming pundits said of the console's name back when they first heard about it. It was like the entire gaming press took a giant leap back to junior high, making fun of the weird kid in class with a funny-sounding name.

Fast forward to 2010 and the Wii is doing just fine. In fact, it has consistently outsold its rivals, the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, every month since its launch. And the name? All concerns about it have faded into obscurity, and no one thinks twice anymore about Nintendo's once-oddly-named console. The same goes for all those kids we knew in seventh grade who had funny-sounding names. We grew up, and so did they, and hopefully we are now a little wiser and can get past the whole name thing.

My point? The same will happen with the iPad. Right now people are having a seventh-grade-level heyday with the name of the product. For people to malign Apple's latest creation simply because of its name is short-sighted and downright silly. If you have some real criticism to offer, then fine. But if all you bring to the table is a few jokes about its name, then please leave the discussion. And in the meantime, remember that the iPod was also maligned because of its name when it was first released, but people have moved on from that as well.

The second issue that needs some perspective is that of the iPad's capabilities--in short, what it actually does. And to get the needed perspective, let's take a brief trip back to 2001 and the introduction of another Apple gizmo, the iPod. Nowadays the little-mp3-player-that-could is not only ubiquitous, it has entirely changed the way we approach music. Remember making a mix CD for a trip? Remember buying an entire CD instead of picking and choosing songs at will for 99 cents each? Remember *not* having thousands of songs at your fingertips? But back in 2001, people hated the iPod. It was too limited, it didn't support enough music formats, it only worked on Macs, and on and on. Come to think of it, pundits also predicted the failure of another of Apple's devices that changed the world, the iPhone. Some even refused to give the iPhone a chance and branded it a failure long before it was even released. But Apple understands the concept of user experience better than any other technology company, and as time passed it was clear that despite the limitations of the iPod and iPhone, the devices sold like gangbusters because they were simple, easy to use, and actually did have plenty of features that people enjoyed.

With that in mind, would everyone who is currently criticizing the iPad who has actually used the device please raise your hands?

Anybody?

My point exactly. Very few people have seen the iPad in person, much less used it. And those who have used it are pretty darn positive about it. Sure there are legitimate gripes to be had: the lack of multitasking, the lack of a camera, no actual keyboard, no USB or other readily apparent connectivity features, limited battery life compared to the Kindle, no Flash support for the browser, and so on. But let's remember the iPod and iPhone and their laundry list of limitations for a second. But would anyone deny that these devices have not only been entirely successful, but single-handedly altered our perception of their entire respective device categories? No, I don't think so.

And so at the end of the day, I have to give Apple the benefit of the doubt on this one, simply because history demands it. Not every one of their products has been a success, and several were honest-to-goodness failures. But to dismiss the iPad because of what it can't do (rather than giving Apple credit for designing a device that actually does do quite a bit) or criticizing the product because of it's name doesn't really help the discussion at all.

Time will tell, and that's all I ask. Let's wait until the iPad is released before we start calling it a failure.

At the cabin

2010-01-24T08:56:00.002-06:00

Last weekend was our annual trip to Camp Moses Merrill, and while in and of itself the trip might not be especially noteworthy, this year just happened to be the ten-year anniversary of our little outing. And in all those years only three people have been there every year: my friends Evan, Brian, and myself. That's not to say we will always be attending (Evan has a daughter, and everyone has new obligations and other considerations as they grow older), but it's cool that we have been able to make it every year so far. And this year was, like every year, a really good time and a great way to spend a cold January weekend.

We decided to do two things differently this go-round: we went from Friday evening to Sunday evening, and we also had actual meals instead of frozen pizzas by the dozen. While that might seem kind of insignificant, it actually helped immensely. A weekend of junk food and frozen pizzas can be nice, but knowing that actual meals were being prepared (Evan kind of doled out the food duties to various people, and everyone was responsible for a lunch or dinner) was a welcome change from simply wondering if anyone would want to split the last four-meat Red Baron after sledding. Als, in past years, most people left Sunday night and the handful who hung around until Monday morning were left with cleanup duties. This time, there were almost least a dozen of us still there on Sunday to do the cleanup, which made everything go a lot smoother.

New things aside, we had a great time watching movies, playing cards and board games, watching the Vikings/Cowboys game on Sunday, and of course much time was spent on the sledding hill (with more than a foot of snow on the ground!) even though most of the snow tubes were shredded by the end. So thanks to everyone who showed up again this time, and hopefully we can all make it again next year!

Before heading up to the cabin last Saturday I also got to go out to breakfast with some friends from college, and it was great to see them again. We keep in touch on facebook, but it's always nice to see people and catch up in person. So mega bonus on that. :)

Here at home things have been much warmer this past week, and today we will probably get to go for a walk without hats and gloves on, what with the high being forecast in the mid-50's. Not too bad, I say. :) Maybe we'll snag a garden hose at the hardware store and give our car a little wash, too. It sure could use it.

Fireworks

2010-01-10T08:18:00.002-06:00

I mentioned a few weeks ago that one of our projects here at home was to mount the TV above the fireplace, which we completed right before Christmas break. It wasn't too hard, actually, except for deciding which mounting hardware to use in the masonry. My dad, my brother, and two guys at Lowe's all gave me some very good suggestions, and in the end I used a combination of a few of their ideas. It looks pretty nice up there, and when augmented with a nice fire below...well, it's tough to beat an evening at home with a good movie (or video game) and a fire blazing. And thanks to our ample supply of firewood on the back porch, we'll probably be set for the rest of the winter. :)

Since getting my Xbox 360 a month ago I've had a great time exploring lots of things in the world of video games that might be old hat to many, but brand new to me. And now that I have Xbox Live, which I got from my wife's parents as a Christmas gift, it's like a curtain has been pulled back on an entire world of new things to experience. One of those is a trivia game called "1 vs. 100" where you play against other people, often numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands. It's not unlike other video game trivia experiences: a question comes up with three answer choices. You have a few seconds to choose, and the press of a button locks in your answer. At the end of the round, the person with the highest score wins. But something about playing against real people, rather than the computer, gives the experience a whole new dimension. It's fun to see how many people got a question right, or who got fooled by a tricky one, or how your score compares to thousands of others around the country. One of the downsides of Xbox Live is the cost: $35 for a year of membership. But if that membership includes experiences like "1 vs. 100," I'd say it's well worth it.

One thing that's been the topic of many an online discussion forum lately has been the weather, and I would almost feel remiss if I did't mention it here. It's been very cold here in Oklahoma the past week or so, but every day my wife and I would check the temperatures in different locations and see that it was always much colder up in Minnesota. And to be honest, I never liked this kind of weather when we lived up there but I do appreciate having been through five years of bitter winters now that we live in a warmer climate. I feel as though we have earned our warmer weather. :) Forecasts are predicting warming trends across the midwest this week, but there should be plenty of snow left on the hill at Moses Merrill this weekend. Awesome!

Ringing In

2010-01-03T08:59:00.002-06:00

I don't know that I've ever been much for New Years parties. I think in college I might have gone to a few, but mostly on New Years I can be found at home with just a few people as opposed to a giant party somewhere. It's not to say I don't like the giant parties, but somehow I just never really got on board with the whole New Years Celebration thing. It seems like kind of an arbitrary event to celebrate, but then, over-thinking these kinds of things isn't really the point. Anyway, this past Thursday evening my wife and I celebrated the onset of 2010 with her parents and a neighbor friend who lives down the block from us, and we just chatted about things in town, had some sparkling grape juice, and a few snacks to boot. It was a really good time, even though the whole thing was pretty low-key. So far 2010 is doing great, but it's a lot like 2009 except maybe a tad colder. Hopefully things warm up soon around here, but whatever the temp is, at least we're not in the 15-below weather of Minnesota. My hats off to y'all up north...

Speaking of celebrations, we spent Christmas ~~down~~ up in Lincoln, and even though we were just with family, it was pretty gigantic. :) We made it to the 3:30 Christmas Eve service, and it's a good thing we chose the earlier one as many churches around town cancelled services that evening and the next day. Later that night there was something like 16 people over at my parents' house for dinner, photos, presents, and prayers. Most were family members, but there were a few friends over just for fun. All in all, a great time and certainly my idea of how to celebrate a given occasion.

After spending the past few days with my wife's mom and stepdad, who came down for a visit just following our return from Lincoln, it's about time to get things around here back to normal. We started taking the Christmas Tree down last night, and tomorrow it's back to work as usual. In some ways it's kind of nice to be back to a routine, though, and as the days are now getting progressively longer, it's a good sign that something great (i.e. Spring) is coming soon...

The Warm Side

2009-12-20T08:56:00.002-06:00

Today, as I look out the window onto our front lawn, there is frost on the ground. I don't recall a day since moving here that this has happened. Just yesterday my wife and I were talking about how it doesn't really feel like Christmas yet, even though the celebration of the birth of Jesus is just five days away. I'm sure it will happen eventually, but right now living in Oklahoma where, for instance, the high today is supposed to be 60 degrees, it's just not the same as being surrounded by snow up in Minnesota. So yeah, another difference about living here that isn't necessarily good or bad, just notable.

Last night we had some friends over for cards, and I don't know about you, but spending an evening playing Spades, Pitch, 500, or even Hearts is a great way to pass the time. Sure I like me some video games, movies, going on walks with my wife, working on stuff around the house, and other things like that, but getting some friends together and playing some good old-fashioned card games is where it's at. I'm not into poker, because though I understand that the financial element of the game adds a certain level of intensity and engagement to the proceedings, it also elevates things just past the point to where the game is a little too much about competition as opposed to just having a good time. Last night our game of choice was Spades, which I used to play religiously on the weekends in college, and it was great to sit around the table, munching on junk food just playing some cards. In a few days we're heading up to Lincoln for Christmas (where there is snow, from what I'm told) and I'm sure there will be plenty of evenings that involve card games until the wee hours of the morning. Awesome. :)

We've been doing lots of little improvements around the house lately, and it's nice to not only have the sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done, but it's just cool to be able to fix things up here and there. Even little things like the towel rack we put in on the bathroom wall, the mantle we installed above the fireplace, or a lamp that we fixed up with a new shade and new table to set it on, are nice to get done because each one makes this place feel a little more like home. I guess it could be that when we have more of ourselves personally invested in our surroundings, those surroundings begin to take on a more personal and familiar air. Next project is mounting our TV above the fireplace, and the mounting bracket should be here sometime this week, so let's hope that works out.

Stepping Out

2009-12-13T08:55:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we went down to Oklahoma City with some friends and spent time at an honest-to-goodness art museum. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I have been to an art museum, and most of those were at the Sheldon Art Gallery in Lincoln. It's not that I don't like going, it's that art museums don't really enter into my daily consciousness. So when a friend of ours asked if we wanted to go see the Dutch Italianates exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, we both thought it would be something fun and different, so we decided to give it a shot.

And you know what? It was pretty cool. I don't know Monet from Manet, or Impressionism from Surrealism, but I did have a good time looking at all the (very old) paintings, probably because they were all nature scenes. We took out time, reading all the descriptions and even trying to dig a little deeper into the meaning of some of the paintings. Mostly I just liked how the artists were able to create such vivid nature scenes, including animals and people, with nothing but a paintbrush. Today these kinds of things could be banged out in no time in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet, but those artists had nothing but unadulterated skill and tenacity--no computer sketching, no Google image searching, and no [undo] button.

We also spent time looking at the rest of the museum, and even though I didn't really get some of it (a giant blue square with an orange stripe down the middle, a small red square matted inside a frame...do people really pay for this stuff?) it was different and interesting, so that was nice. They also had dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of works from a guy who is famous for glass creations. A lot of it was blown glass, and in the lobby there was a tower made of hundreds of pieces of blown glass that stretched nearly three stories high. With all due respect to the dutch artists, the glass was definitely my favorite. :)

One of the cool things about living in our own house has been putting things together in such a way that the house feels like a home. From mowing the yard to decorating the walls, rearranging furniture, and even buying a few things here and there, it's nice to watch this place come together. This week we should be receiving a mounting bracket for our TV, which means we will get to rearrange the whole living room, and I'm looking forward to it. One more step that makes this a place we really feel like we live in.

Time to get working on my review of A Christmas Story for Walking Taco, and the it's off to church. Aw yeah.

English/Country?

2009-11-22T09:13:00.004-06:00

Last night my wife and I tried something rather new for the both of us. When she was out of town a few weeks ago for a social event with her work, she met someone who teaches English Country dancing. By "English," I mean "England," and by "Country," I mean "Jane Austen-Style." Since my wife is an ardent fan of Jane Austen, and dancing features prominently in several of her novels, we decided to go down to Oklahoma City for some lessons and dancing last night. It was a lot of fun, and an altogether entirely singular experience for the both of us. To wit: this ain't dancing like the kids at the clubs today.

For starters, most of the people (of the roughly 25 or so total) were not exactly in their youth. But they sure were having a good time, and were delighted to have some of the younger generation there last night, and the way these folks danced you would have thought they were all in their 20's as well. Some were dressed up in period clothing just for the fun of it, and one dude wore a kilt. We got there at 7:30 for some lessons in basic steps and maneuvers, and learned how to change, cross, circle, step, and a lot of other little moves that serve to make up an entire dance. Then around 8, as more people got there and the live band had finished tuning up, we started up the real dancing.

This type of dancing eschews traditional definitions of the word, though in some respects it is in fact far more traditional than the dancing we think of today since it has been around much longer. A typical dance involves two lines of people, one made of men and one of women, standing a few feet apart and facing each other. The individuals facing each other are partners, but partners change with each dance. At the front of the room is a "caller," who first tells the particular moves that make up the dance, and it's up to the partners and their neighbors to make it all happen.

The video above is not from last night--it's just something I found on YouTube that exemplifies the dancing we did. It might not look like much, but it was super fun. I'm not kidding, I had a blast with it and people were super friendly and helpful when we forgot what to do. I also had to be extremely focused the whole time, as things were happening to fast that if I lost my concentration for a few seconds things would break down.

We hope to go again soon, and maybe check out the Ballroom Dancing lessons offered here in town too. In any case, it was at least something different for the both of us, and we had a great time.

There will come soft rains

2009-11-15T09:09:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since there's been a day like this around here. I woke sometime last night to the sound of rain and thunder, and today the lingering after effects are working to craft a Sunday that is one of the perfect kind of days to be inside at home. It's just a little chilly, just a little rainy, and just a little foggy, with a little over an hour until we leave for church. Great way to start the day. :)

Last night we went over to a friend's house for dinner, and it was fun just hanging out and talking for a while. I watched the OSU football game too, and realized that the more I watch football the more it makes sense to me (though actually playing it is something else altogether). I went through a somewhat informal football education in college thanks to my roommates (mostly Evan) who would try their hardest to explain the onscreen Nebraska Cornhuskers action in language that my computerfied, quiz-bowling brain could understand. He did an admirable job, and his efforts served to prepare me for a few years of Vikings football-watching up in Minnesota, and now I really enjoy watching me a foo'ball game here and there. I don't always understand everything that's going on, nor do I always know why a given penalty is called at any one time, but I do like watching nonetheless. So it was pretty cool to see the Cowboys beat the, uhm...Red Raiders (had to look that one up just now) last night. But of course a good deal of that is due to the company, too, and I enjoyed not just watching the game, but watching it with Mark and Jesse. Good conversation, good times. :)

Last week I went to two different conventions with my work, though one was as a worker and one was an attender. I have always enjoyed the behind-the-scenes aspect of any type of production, which is partly why I enjoyed being the Technical Director for so many plays at MCCS, and it was cool to be part of the team that put on the convention. I suppose you could describe it as small, because only a few hundred attendees were registered, but it was really cool nonetheless. We had to set up the giant banner behind the stage, make sure the projectors and laptops were all ready for the speakers, take care of setting up the exhibitors' booths, and deal with a few audio problems that popped up during the course of the afternoon. Nothing too serious, and thanks to the Crowne Plaza's head tech dude Richard, things went great. The speakers were interesting, and from what I could tell the attendees enjoyed coming, and I like knowing that I was part of the team that made it all happen. Awww. :)

We had planned on going out to chainsaw up some fallen trees for firewood today, but the rain might mean we'll be at home instead. It's all good, because there's plenty to do around the ol' house. So here's to a good start to the week.

The colors of all

2009-11-08T08:30:00.004-06:00

Being homeowners has been pretty cool for the most part, with the exception of a few hitches here and there that aren't really worth mentioning in the grand scheme of things. There's the psychological element first and foremost--that feeling of security that comes from knowing you wake and sleep in a place that is entirely your own, on a piece of land that belongs exclusively to you. After living in rented homes and apartments for so long, it's nice to finally have a place to call home that actually does belong to us. Beyond that, though, have been the improvements both large and small. We have slowly been populating the walls with pictures and artwork, replacing some oft-used lights with CFL versions, and organizing our possessions in such a way as we see fit in order to turn this house into a home.

There's some bigger things too, like the leaves in the yard. Oh, the leaves. Our yard is full of them, partially from our own trees and partially from the neighbors, but however they got there they aren't leaving (har!) anytime soon. So yesterday I spent a while raking and mowing and generally chopping the leaves into tiny bits that will stay in the grass, decompose, and help our lawn be just a tad bit healthier in the long run. Or so I hope. The thing about fall down here, though, is that it tends to last for a while, so even though it's November I doubt it's the last time we'll have to go out and do yard work. It's a good kind of work, though, because I know in the end that it's our own place we're working on, and sometimes that makes all the difference in the world.

I also went on a short geocaching mission yesterday, though objectively speaking I suppose one could say I was unsuccessful. I located one out of three geocaches, though I didn't spent a lot of time searching for the final one on my list, so I suppose I could blame my lack of success on my lack of time spent doing it. :) I count the journey a success, though, as it gave me the opportunity to be outside on my bike enjoying the fall weather.

Time to head for church in a bit. This is indeed the day the Lord has made. :)

Skipping Halloween

2009-11-01T08:08:00.002-06:00

One thing about moving to a new town...about 80% of the integration is pretty easy. Getting to know the places to get stuff, people at work, neighborhood you live in, where to eat, and those sorts of everyday things aren't too difficult and for the most part just come naturally through the act of existing in the new location. You need to stock the fridge? You gotta find the grocery store. Need to fill up the car? You have no choice but locate a gas station. It's the minutiae of a new community that's a bit more tricky, especially in a smaller town like where we live now. There was a big Homecoming celebration a few weeks ago, and we weren't sure if we were going to go or not. It sounded kind of interesting, but in just hearing about it we weren't exactly thrilled to go, nor did we understand what the big deal was. But when we went for a walk down the main drag on Homecoming night, saw the amazing displays outside the frat houses, and moved our way slowly through the thousands of people checking out said displays, as well as street vendors, carnival rides, and parade floats...we finally got it. And next year we'll know. :) But we weren't so lucky with the trick-or-treating situation...

Last night was Halloween, but not around here, since it was apparently moved to Thursday night. Neither my wife or I are really into the whole Halloween thing, but we thought it would be a good chance to meet the neighbors around here: pass out some candy to the kids, talk with the adults, and work our way into the neighborhood consciousness. But alas, due to the OSU football game on Saturday, and another game the night before, trick-or-treating was bumped back to Thursday and we didn't even know it until Friday morning. :( Lesson learned: keep our eyes peeled and ears to the ground, and maybe read the local paper a bit more. :)

In our quest to make our house more of a home, we have been doing lot of little things that, taken as a whole, are serving to turn this place where we exist into a place we really live. One of the most useful tools we have discovered, though, is patience. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor are house projects completed all at once. But our list of things to do is slowly decreasing, as is our list of stuff to buy from Lowe's, and yesterday we finally took care of the light bulbs (replacing some oft-used incandescents with CFLs), blinds in the dining room, and a few other miscellaneous items. Today we are going to go get some wood for the fireplace and maybe do some yard work too. And my goal of having our moving boxes unpacked by the end of October was mostly accomplished: everything is out of the boxes, but there are still a few items that need to be actually put away or hung on the walls. We're getting there, though, and it's a fun ride along the way.

The little things

2009-10-25T20:26:00.003-05:00

In many ways, living down here is the same as living any other place: I get up, go to work, come home, have dinner with my wife, spend the evening working on projects (or playing on the computer), go to bed, wash, rinse, and repeat. That's not to say it's boring, though it may sound uninteresting. Far from it, in fact. I enjoy living in Oklahoma, I like my job, and I like finding joy in little things as well as big things. But recently I've become keenly aware of how different things can be just based on location alone. To wit: it's been cold and snowy up in Minnesota, whereas down here we've had weather in the 70's with a bit of rain on the side. As such, I have continued to bike to work, which I have not been able to do for a long, long time. My wife and I also went on a nice 3.5-mile hike yesterday, with a blanket of yellow leaves underfoot and a big lake just to the west of the trail. After we got home, we spent an hour or so doing yard work--nothing entirely too interesting, but very different from the environment I have been used to for the past five years. And it's not necessarily better or worst, just different, and a difference I'm learning to appreciate. While my Northern counterparts have wintertime ameneties like skiing, snowmobiling, and white Christmases, down here we have...I'm not sure. Because this is my first winter as an Oklahoman. :) So whatever it is, I'm looking forward to it.

I spent a while playing Rainbow Six 3 the other night, and I realized it was the first time I had sat down to play a video game in months. I enjoy video games, but find it difficult to keep up with the newest trends and games mostly because of the amount of money it requires (one game is about the price of three months of Netflix, and we still have the same DVD player we've had for years) to not only buy games, but buy the newest hardware as well. But my old Xbox is still alive and kicking, even though I don't play it that often, so when a new friend offered to let me borrow his copy of RS3 I was pretty stoked. I also realized how not-good I am at games that require a learning curve, as I prefer the Halo-style of game where you run around, guns blazing, and take out all the bad guys in sight as quick as possible. RS3 is pretty cool though, and it's a nice change of pace from the usual, so I'll probably give it some more time before going to bed tonight.

Ok, time to hit up some internet tubes and maybe read some Dune before heading to bed.

The Big Picture

2009-10-18T09:00:00.003-05:00

Trip to Sedona was awesome. I've only been to Arizona once before (well, twice if you count the time we drove to Nevada and barely grazed the northwest corner of Arizona on I-15) and when I was there the first time we pretty much just hung out in Phoneix. Everyone said that Sedona was beautiful, though, and seriously...everyone was right. It was probably one of the most breathtaking locations I have visited in a long time, if not ever. From the house at which we stayed, just outside the edge of town, you could look out and see a vista that included massive rock formations touching the edge of the sky, skirted by green valleys that ran as far along the horizon as the eye could see. The best part was that almost everywhere we went, whether in town or not, included similar views of deep red peaks rising hundreds or even thousands of feet into the air. But aside from the scenery, it was just a really fun weekend with lots of good people to see and talk with. The bride is a longtime friend of my wife, and the two have known each other since freshman year of college, so it was really good to be there with her and her family to celebrate such a wonderful occasion.

But alas, the duties of a husband-of-a-bridesmaid are often not pressing, and so there was little to do while the ladyfolk were scurrying about, giddy with wedding preparations. So one afternoon some of the other guys and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon which, I gotta say, was pretty grand. Having never been there before, and only seeing pictures in books along with the occasional educational video, I was more or less unprepared scope the scope of the canyon. The drop was so deep, and the expanse so wide, that I had to just stare for several minutes before even realizing I was actually seeing a place on this island earth. It's phenomenal how huge this thing is, and the scale of it all is just overwhelming. We took turns sitting on a cliff edge that dropped a few thousand feet to a rocky slope below, and holding mortality in our own hand like that was an experience I will not soon forget.

The rest of the weekend--the natural wonders, the conversations, the dancing at the wedding reception, it was all a blast. So C and M, if either of you two are reading this, thanks for a great weekend and I wish both of you a blessed married life together.

Since getting back and slipping back into our more-or-less daily routine (which in many ways has yet to even be established, since we're still new to this town and this house) it's been nice to have a place of our own to hang our coats in the evening, and do our part to take care of it too. Yesterday my wife and I did some yard work, today I changed the oil in our car in our own garage, and we got the programmable thermostat figured out too. Always a nice bonus. :) Time to sign off for the night, though, and head for bed.

Moving Day

2009-10-05T22:25:00.002-05:00

As of last Thursday we are officially homeowners, and I'm writing this post from the very comfy living room of our very own house near the edge of town. It's been a long time in coming, and like all home purchases this one was accompanied by its share of questions, anxiety, uncertainty, and ultimately elation as we moved closer to the actual date of purchase and then finally to the signing of the papers. We probably looked at close to 30 homes during our search (a big Thank You to our very patient realtor, btw) but this was the only one on which my wife and I were in wholehearted agreement. And so far it's great. We have a surprising amount of stuff unpacked already, and this afternoon our new washer and dryer were delivered, which marks one more item off the checklist of home ownership. My parents and big brother came down last weekend to help us move in, along with two of my coworkers, and this was also when we realized firsthand one of the nice things about a ranch-style house: the lack of stairs is of significant advantage when moving heavy pieces of furniture. :) We've got a list of small improvements to make, and a few long-term goals as well, but right now it's cool to know that we finally have a place to call our own.

The new house also means I have to find a new way of getting to work, since we only have one car and it's a little too far to walk now. But thankfully I discovered this morning that it's only a 15-minute bike ride to campus. Not having biked to work since my days of living in my parents' basement and working at Russ's Market, it's pretty cool to be able to revisit the tried-and-true method of human-powered two-wheel transportation once again. And the general absence of winter snowfall means I should be able to bike for most of the year. I've been trying to exercise more regularly too, and this will also help things in that respect. So yeah, major bonus. :)

This weekend we head to Sedona, Arizona, for a wedding, and I've heard it's really pretty up there. I also plan on loading up my GPS with several Geocaches to find when there's downtime, and hopefully I can locate some near the place we're staying. Right now, though, it's high time I got to bed. *yawn*

Praise the Lord. :)

The Big Game

2009-09-27T08:47:00.003-05:00

Last night I went to my first-ever college football game. Despite having a degree from UNL, and attending school there for five years (not because I was a slacker, but because my program required it), I never went to a Huskers game. Back then I worked most Saturdays and I liked being at my grocery store job during a football game because the place was pretty empty and we got to dress down a little. Even when I had a Saturday off I just wasn't really interested in football. But since graduating and living with my cousin and his friend who are pretty hardcore Minnesota Vikings fans, I've come to appreciate the game a little more. So when we were offered the chance to go to see OSU play Grambling State, I was pretty stoked about it. And it was a really good time. We helped set a new attendance record at the Boone Pickens Stadium, even though fans were pouring out after halftime because an OSU win was pretty much a foregone conclusion at that point. My wife and I stuck it out to the end, though, and I hope we get the chance to go again someday. Come to think of it, I hear we play UNL next year...

One thing I've liked doing since moving to Oklahoma is figuring out more about the town--where to eat, how to get around, where to walking and biking trails are...you know, the kind of stuff that transforms a location from a place where one resides into a place where one lives. Last Friday one of my wife's colleagues took me to breakfast at a place called Mom's Cafe, and whatever images you might conjure up with a name like that in a town this size, they are probably spot on. It was a little way out of town and shared a parking lot with a place called "ABC Used Appliances." But man, when I pulled in on Friday morning, the place was jammed. Mostly working dudes catching some grub before their shift at the mill/factory/construction site, it was the kind of place you hope to stumble upon one day (sort of like the Brass Rail) and maybe even get to know the workers and/or owner. The pancakes were huge, the service was fast, and the air was genial contentment all around. That same night we went to a place called Aggie's, which is a local steak house, for dinner with some new friends. It was outstanding food, and we probably sat there for over three hours talking, laughing, and joking around about all kinds of things. So yeah, I'd say this town is becoming a little more homely.

Got the blues

2009-09-19T21:15:00.004-05:00

This morning we got up at 6am, for the second week in a row, to go garage-sale hunting and see what kind of stuff we could pick up for cheap. Last week we grabbed some great deals, like a shop-vac and a reel mower, both in really good condition (an old lady owned them and never used them) for $25 total. Not bad, I must say, and a nice vindication of our efforts to get up early and give the early birds a run for their worms. So in today's sequel outing we got started even a tad earlier (and avoided shifty dirt roads too) and though we didn't pick up as much good swag as last week, I did snag a set of halogen garage lights for $10. I don't know if we'll go again next week, but even if we don't, I'm good with what we got. I usually have pretty bad luck at garage sales, but I guess it pays to go through the listings the night before, map out a route, and (most importantly) suck it up and get going early. Now if only we could find a rocking chair, a table, a desk, some recycling tubs...

Tonight we hit up the 12th annual Stillwater Blues Festival, which is a free event held in the parking lot of the community center. It was really cool seeing some good blues bands, drinking some soda, and enjoying the nice Oklahoma weather. I was just thinking today about how I miss being in Minnesota partly because of the lakes and trees (call me a hippie, but seriously, it's beautiful up there), but after five winters up there I'm glad to be in a part of the country where it'll be a little more bearable during the darker months of the year. And tonight was a nice reminder of why I like this kind of weather. And why I dig live blues music.

This past week I started doing some more aerobic exercise, and so far it's going well but wow, I'm worn out right now. Monday I went for a run--the first time I've done that since my Healthy Lifestyles class in college--and nearly passed out by the time I had done my two miles. But it's a start, right? The next two days I rode our exercise bike about 11 miles each day, and Friday I hit the trail behind our apartment for another run. I'm doing this in the morning when it's nice and cool out, and I hope I can keep it up for a while. But today I took my first nap since college too, probably thanks to the exercise. :)

Oh, and check this out: I reviewed a show called "Man vs. Food" on Walking Taco a few days ago. Not only did the host of the show find out about my review and post it to his Twitter page, but his mom left a comment on my review. Awesome.

Back and at them

2009-09-08T20:37:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure exactly what Labor Day is for (I assume it's a holiday in honor of the blue-collar labor force, hence its name), but I'm glad we have it. And if it is in honor of those folks, then I heartily tip my hat to all of the unsung heroes who keep this country running, like my dad who works for the railroad and my brother who works for Kawasaki. But whatever the reason for labor day, it's nice to have the three-day weekend. We spent ours back in Nebraska visiting family, which also included a baby shower for my brother's wife (my wife went to this while I went to see the mind-blowing District 9), a baptism for which my wife and I were sponsors, and a bonus from my big brother: he's officially engaged to his girlfriend now. So yeah, all in all a pretty sweet weekend. No Amigo's, though, but my mom was nice enough to buy Valentino's for everyone on Saturday night when people were over for my other brother's birthday. Definitely an acceptable substitute.

I started watching a series this morning called Man vs. Food, and I think I'm intrigued enough to stick with it for a while and see what happens. Apparently it's about this dude who goes to various locations around the country (possibly world, but I've only seen one episode), susses out the local food lore, and tackles the sorts of eating-based challenges that most of us would never dream of doing. The episode today was about going to this place in Texas that serves a 4.5-pound steak, and the guy actually finished the whole thing in under an hour. But it's just a TV show, so why mention it on the ol' blog? It reminded me a little of how I like to experiment with food by trying odd combinations of stuff just to see what happens. Tonight we made homemade burritos, and I saw some parmesan cheese in the fridge, so I figured "why not?" I couldn't really taste it in the end beneath the salsa and ranch dressing, but it sure didn't hurt.

Before I close out this post I wanna mention the storm we had tonight, and how cool it was. Being a midwesterner by birth and by trade, I enjoy me a good window-rattler, and this evening's storm handled that in spades. :)

Caching In

2009-08-30T09:59:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I went geocaching in the big cross country course just behind our apartment, and while I have a few battle scars in the form of bug bites and scrapes from thornbushes, and even though I did not actually find the final cache I was looking for, I still deem the hunt a success. Since getting my Garmin Venture HC GPS about a month ago I have taken it on a handful of geocache hunts, most of which were successful, but yesterday's solo trip was a bit different because I had to go it alone. I did not have the wisdom or experience of my brothers Phil and Tom to guide me--only the GPS and a few basic hints from geocaching.com.

The cache I set out to find was a multi-part cache, which means the first find is actually a set of coordinates for another find, which is a set of coordinates to another find. After finding the location of Part 1, I spent nearly 10 minutes looking for the coordinates marker, and finally saw it--a 2" square piece of wood attached to a tree branch by a piece of wire. The second destination was a little trickier to get to, but the coordinates marker was brilliant: a decoy pigeon attached to a tree branch, 50 feet from the cross country trail. No way passers-by would ever find it, and if they did they would just see a bird sitting in a tree and think no more of it (that's what I enjoy the most about geocaching: finding things hidden, like autobots, in plain sight).

The third and final marker was a little more tricky, and I didn't actually locate it, though I do have the coordinates and will try again when the weather isn't so hot and the mosquitoes aren't so hungry. So all in all I spent at least an hour walking around some beautiful countryside and found two out of three things I was looking for. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

Before going to bed on Friday night I purchased an ad on facebook for Walking Taco. So far nearly 4,000 people have seen it and 0 people have clicked on it. :) It's a learning exercise for me, though, and because I don't pay unless someone clicks, I'm out nothing. Not a bad deal, really, and who knows...maybe something will happen before the ad runs its course by the middle of the week. We'll see.

Corn for popping

2009-08-23T21:05:00.002-05:00

Tonight for dinner I had a giant bowl of homemade popcorn, my first since moving to Stillwater and, come to think of it, my first in at least a month. I wouldn't say it was worth the wait, because the wait itself wasn't a deliberate decision on my part, but man, was it delicious. :)

But anyway, here's a dilemma my wife and I are facing now that we live in a small town with fewer choices for these kinds of things than Minneapolis offered. Since we've been married we have gotten most of our groceries at Cub Foods, even though it was a tad more expensive than some other places (but not as bad as Rainbow). Mostly it was out of convenience, but it was also a small way of sticking it to the man--the Mega Store man, that is. The one who is rearing his ugly head here in the form of not one, but two, Wal-Marts in town, both a short drive from our place. But not only is Wallyworld omnipresent, the competition really does have higher prices and not as much selection.

So what to do? Do we give in and follow our wallets, thus contributing to the ever-growing chokehold that the Walton family is placing on small businesses in places like this across the country? Do we stand on a veritable financial soapbox and, with our hard-earned dollars and a sense of duty to the people who built this town from nothing, shop for groceries instead at one of the few local stores, knowing we're paying more for the same thing?

Well, we've sort of come to a stalemate over all this--going mostly to the Food Pyramid, but also getting a handful of things at Wal-Mart when it's (gosh darn it!) just convenient. I would like to say we stand on principles and only patronize the locals, but sometimes you just gotta buy the 47-cent cornbread mix even if you know you're feeding the war machine all the while.

In college I was on this high-minded one-man Wal-Mart boycott that changed no minds, affected no one, and in the long run only helped my 22-year-old ego--not the local business owners. Now that I'm married and have enough dollars to buy more than ramen and off-brand spaghetti o's, I still try to shop the locals, but...yeah.

Is it a tragedy? Nah, not really. I sleep well enough at night.

Lazy Saturday

2009-08-15T22:22:00.003-05:00

Two weeks of living in Oklahoma and things are going pretty well. The people are nice, my job is great, and our kitchen is virtually box-free. So score one big victory for the 'smuths. But one thing they're missing in our town is a Target, and while this seems virtually impossible for our Minneapolis-dwelling brethren, it is most definitely a reality down here. So today we took a drive over to Oklahoma City to hit up one of the many Targets they have, along with some clothing stores at the mall and an Ace Hardware to boot (yes, it's true--there are no Ace Hardware stores here. Heck, there's not even a Do It Best, though they are probably opening one soon).

Target was cool, and we snagged some polo-type shirts for me and a few house-type stuff for our home. After that we went to the mall, and even though I'm not much for doing the typical mall thing, and generally feel out of place amid throngs of shoppers carrying bags from places like Hollister, Abercrombie, and Macy's, I did find enough to do at the mall to keep me interested while my wife looked for some clothes. All in all the trip to the Big City went fairly well, despite a few ominous-sounding rumblings from the front driver's side of one of our cars. I'm fairly sure I know the problem, though, and hopefully my dad and I will be able to get it fixed next time we're in Lincoln.

I missed the Perseids this week, which was a bit of a bummer, but a few of my friends got out to see them and hopefully I'll make it next year. I know there's a few other meteor showers throughout the year, but this one is good because it happens when it's still warm out. :) In college a bunch of us went out around 3am to see the Leonids, and it was awesome seeing the night sky lit up by streaks of white, burning bright across the night expanse. Sometimes I think the Lord gives us stuff like that just to remind us how small we are, and how powerful He is. He really does have the whole world in His hands.

Warming up

2009-08-08T22:49:00.006-05:00

Our first week of officially living in Oklahoma has gone very well. Not entirely without issues, mind you, but overall it has been a good experience, and while I already miss the people, activities, and weather of Minnesota, I have a feeling things are going to be just fine down here.

The moving truck finally showed up on Monday, and even though the crew of three was down to only two since one of them didn't show up to work, they still got everything unloaded and up to the third floor of our apartment building in one afternoon. I was at work (the second day of my new job, which is going very well) but came home for lunch to see how things were going and bring some McDonalds to my wife and the two movers. Bummer of a thing, though, the people at McD's forgot to put a fork in with the salad that one of the movers ordered. So this dude who had been lifting boxes up three flights of stairs in 95 degree heat couldn't even eat his lunch. But instead of complaining, he was totally cool about it and just kept on working. I'm not kidding, those moving guys had such a great attitude about it the whole time, and the next time I start to whine about something stupid I hope I remember the movers.

As far as life in general goes, I can't complain. My new job is going great, the a/c in our cars is holding up well, and we've been taking stock of the local surroundings as best we can. We spent two days on two weekends looking at houses with our realtor, and have found two that we really like but a ton of questions left to answer. We went to a nice church this morning, ate at some local establishments like Taco Bueno, Mazzio's, and Ci-Ci's, and have spent time unboxing our stuff almost every day since moving in. So yeah, all in all this whole Oklahoma living is going pretty good.

Okanoma

2009-08-01T08:58:00.002-05:00

About a week ago I finally got my hands on the GPS I've wanted for a while, and so far it has been very nice. My brothers and I went geocaching and found several caches, one of which was a "multi-cache," which means that the first found item was a clue that led us to the real item. My wife and I also went on three 20-mile bike rides, and the GPS tracked our speed, position, and total miles traveled. Even better, I was able to upload the trip data to Google Earth so we could view our bike trips on a map. All in all a nice little device, I must say.

We had a good time in Lincoln this past week, but like usual, it was over all too soon. Mostly we spent time with family, and played lots of cards and board games, but we also made it up to Omaha to see some of my wife's friends who just bought a new house. There were people I wish I could have seen, and things we didn't get time to do, but the nice thing about visiting Lincoln is its proximity--home is merely a short car trip away. It was true in Minnesota and it's still true here in Oklahoma.

Speaking of which, we made it here safe and sound two days ago and it's been pretty good so far. Most of our belongings are still on the moving truck, which should arrive on Monday, so we're living in a hotel until then (courtesy of the moving company, which said our stuff would be here two days ago). We got the keys to our apartment, I started my new job, and today we are meeting some people for lunch and then checking out some houses with our realtor. The weather is nice too, but I've been warned about the annual August Heat Wave. Here's hoping all those years in Minnesota haven't softened me to 100+ degree summer days. :)

And here we go

2009-07-21T15:21:00.002-05:00

It's weird to think of all that's happened in the past week. It seems like enough to fill at least eight days. I got the fans replaced in my car, all by myself no less, though one of my coworkers was with me to hold a few parts when I needed it (we did the job after work, by the way, so no time was robbed from the clock). I'm not sure the a/c is entirely fixed, but at least we got one of the major problems taken care of for only $60.

Last night I ordered a GPS I've had my eye on for quite some time: a Garmin Venture HC. It's pretty well-reviewed, and I got it so I could start geocaching on a somewhat regular basis. I've always liked going with my brothers and friends, but now I'll be able to go even if no one else is available (not so easy when I don't have a GPS, hence the purchase). It should get to me on Friday or Saturday, so hopefully we can get some caching in this weekend. And speaking of this weekend...

24 hours from now (give or take a few) we will be on the road to Lincoln--our halfway stop on the trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma, which will soon be our new home. The boxes in our apartment have been multiplying lately, and some of our rooms have developed a rather curious echo to them, which is normal but a little strange nonetheless. It has been fantastic living here for five years, despite the very frigid winters, but I'm excited to move on to a new town, with a new job, and meet new people too. Last night we went out to dinner with my cousin, his wife, and some other friends, and tomorrow we'll get to see Jon and Sarah one last time before heading out tomorrow. I was hoping to get one last trip to the Brass Rail, but we're going to hit up Key's Cafe instead. BR is just too far away. Sad, yes, but it will be another reason to get us back up to Minnesota. :)

So this will likely be my last blog post from Minnesota, at least for a while. It's been a great run, and here's to new faces and new frontiers.

Mille Borne

2009-07-14T22:13:00.002-05:00

Our apartment has kind of disappeared lately. I don't mean like Deathstalker and his invisi-blanket, though. It's more of a Millennium Falcon/Star Destroyer disappearance. Our living room is here, but hiding in plain sight, more or less. We're getting everything in our place packed up for the big move in a week (yikes!) and right now our carpeting is buried under a massive pile of boxes, packing paper, and rolls of tape. It's been slowly working its way to this point for a few weeks, but wow, now that our stuff is actually more in boxes than on shelves...well, it's kind of an odd thing to have happen. There's still a lot left to pack up, but it's probably a good thing we started when we did. And thanks to everyone who has given us boxes! So far we haven't had to actually go out and buy our own, which has been awesome.

Tomorrow I'm going to the auto parts store...kind of. Our black Corolla has two radiator fans, and one of them needs replacing. Well, to be specific, it's the fan blades that need replacing, not the fan motor itself. It's a very cheap part, but no place actually sells them. You have to purchase the entire fan/motor/bracket assembly, which is a couple hundred dollars. So I'm gonna give the salvage yard a try and see if I can yank one out of a car sitting on the lot. I'm also going to change the oil in our other car at my friend Sarah's house. Her dad always lets me use his garage, for which I am heartily grateful, and it will be nice to see her parents one more time before we move too.

I had a looong road trip this weekend: 1600 miles in four days, all by me lonesome. There were plenty of podcasts to keep me company, though, but it sure is good to be back home. It's past my bedtime, though. Time to hit the hay.

Packing it all in

2009-07-05T08:34:00.003-05:00

Despite not lighting off a single firecracker, smoke bomb, ground bloom flower, artillery shell, or even the lamest firework ever invented, the snake, I still had an outstanding Independence Day yesterday. In the morning I went to the local Hmong Festival with my friend Ben and his girlfriend. Despite living two blocks from the park where they hold the festival every year, I had never actually attended it. So I figured that since we're heading to Oklahoma soon I might as well go. Ben has worked with the Hmong people for years, so he and his girlfriend were able to explain all kinds of cultural things to me as we walked among the hundreds of booths displaying and selling all manner of items. Not entirely unlike an American state fair, the booths contained clothes, DVDs, candy, music, treats, trinkets, live performers, and some with nothing more than an assortment of herbs, roots, and unmarked pills. The sounds were loud, the people chatty as all get out, and the prices fairly reasonable.

And then came the food.

Nearly four blocks of wall-to-wall food tents were hawking sausages, chicken, fish, rice, papaya, mango, egg rolls, spring rolls, drinks in strange small cans, and lots of other culinary curiosities that I had never seen before. The three of us shared some lunch while watching a soccer game, and before I left we picked up three cups of what's called "Nava," which is basically colored tapioca pudding mixed with coconut milk, syrup, and bits of water chestnuts. The tapioca looks like grubworms, instead of tiny little balls like I'm used to, and the whole thing is slurped through a pretty big straw. That was probably my favorite part of the whole festival, other than seeing some insane athletes compete at Takraw. :)

In the afternoon my wife and I headed up I-94 to Saint Cloud for some good old-fashioned family time with the relatives. We spent the afternoon and evening at my uncle Paul's house with lots of my extended family, and even though we didn't really do anything super crazy or exciting, it was a lot of fun (maybe I'm getting old, but I really enjoy sitting around and just talking sometimes). My cousins and I found a geocache and traded a superball for a small action figure, and there was also some card and croquet games too.

So yeah. Happy Independence Day everyone. :)

Chance of showers

2009-06-29T21:14:00.004-05:00

We just got home from a great, but short, weekend in Lincoln. Even though it was short, and much of the time was spent working on our car with my dad in his garage, we had (as you can probably predict by now) a great time seeing family and friends and partaking in the usual Lincoln-ish trappings. But first...the car. It's been making a weird rattling noise for a while, and even though everything looks fine, my dad and I decided we would put new shocks in nonetheless. So we spent Saturday morning and afternoon installing the new ones, and even though the rattling is (mostly) still there, the old shocks were done for, so it's a good thing we got the new ones in. Not that shocks are mission critical, but it's just another one of those typical auto maintenance things that should probably be taken care of when it's time, and not put off and put off and put off until the car falls apart. So anyway, we got that taken care of, though still on the list: breaks, rotors, and (nooo!) air conditioning. Just part of the joys of car ownership! :)

My mom threw a really nice party for my wife, who recently completed her grad school program, on Saturday night, and it was cool to see lots of family and friends, play some bocce ball, sit around my dad's new fire pit, play cards, and have some really good roast beef sammiches. Sunday my wife went to a baby shower for our friend who is due in August, and her husband Evan and I went to a sports bar and watched the USA lose to Brazil. :( It was a really good time, though, and I learned a lot about soccer and NASCAR, and we got to shoot a game of pool afterwards which is always a good time. We did end up going to the baby shower for a little bit, and managed to make it out alive and mostly sane. Score.

Later that night me and Evan went to see my friend Nick's band, The JV Allstars, at a bar down on "O" street. Duuuude. It was schweeeet. I haven't seen them, or pretty much any band, in years, and it was awesome to watch them play the final show of their semi-national tour back home in Lincoln. We chatted with Nick and his girlfriend for a while after the show, caught up with some cool people we hadn't seen in a while, and even made it back home in time to get a good night's sleep for the drive home today. So yeah, all in all, one heck of a great visit home.

Word.

ps. We move to Oklahoma in 23 days. Whoa.

90 Degrees

2009-06-22T22:23:00.004-05:00

One of the nice things about living in an apartment, aside from not having to go through the process of selling a house when we move in a month, is that some things are just taken care of by nature of the rent we pay. Case in point: last Saturday, when close to a dozen family members from three separate states were all set to converge on our place at 11am for some bratwurst, chips, and summer sausage. When we woke up that morning the air conditioning had gone on the fritz, which meant that soon the whole place would be not just hot but muggy as all get out. Major bummer, for sure. But thankfully, all it took was a quick visit to the main office and a guy was up in less than an hour to fix it--at no charge to ourselves. So even though he technically didn't get the problem fixed (it was a bigger issue than the repair dude realized, so he had to call for backup), it was cool that there was a solution at hand that required very little effort.

It's this kind of thing that I go back and forth on when it comes to the idea of owning a house, which we hope to do by the end of the year, Lord willing. I like to fix things, and from time to time I even get to try my hand at the occasional household or automotive problem, but there's so much I still don't know how to do as far as maintaining an actual house. But my dad taught me enough growing up that I think I could at least make a respectable effort at fixing problems before having to call some type of repair service. We'll see, I guess. So while I'm really stoked to have our own place, with a yard, a garage, a washer and dryer, carpet we can rip out, walls we can knock down, walls to paint...well, it's some of those things we can't do here that make an apartment kind of cool. In any case, though, we'll be renting at least for the first few months following our move, but I sure think it will be cool to have a house soon. :)

The weekend, with all the aforementioned family visiting, was really really cool, by the way. It's so nice when family come from out of town, and we spent a lot of time just visiting, or going to the Mall of America, hanging out at the hotel, walking to the park, and just being with each other--and at the end of the day, that's really what it's all about. So yeah, thanks to everyone who came for the visit, and here's hoping we can see you again soon!

Apples and oranges

2009-06-18T16:32:00.001-05:00

This is a bit of an odd post, since it kind of sounds like I'm shilling for Apple. Keep in mind that I have also had bad experiences with Apple customer service before, but this one totally blew me away.

Several months ago my white MacBook developed the infamous hairline crack just to the side of the trackpad. Thinking I was doomed to have a broken case for the rest of the computer's life, I just patched it with masking tape and went about my business as best I could. Over time the crack got worse, and another started to form on the opposite side of the trackpad too. I had heard about people getting these cracks fixed, and my MacBook was covered under Applecare, but I couldn't afford to be without it for a prolonged period of time. I'm a computer teacher, so I use my laptop daily as part of my job, so the thought of handing it over to Apple for a week wasn't really something I wanted to do if I could avoid it.

Well, it's now summer break and even though I'm still working with my MacBook to do software updates, deploy disk images, and other maintenance on our school's computers, I figured it was time to bite the bullet and get the case fixed before it got even worse. Yesterday I called the Apple Store near my house and they said it would probably take 3-7 business days to fix the crack, but that it would most likely be covered under Applecare. I had to make an appointment with an Apple Genius to get it inspected, so I went ahead and made my appointment for 7:40 this evening.

So my wife and I get to the Apple Store, I hand the computer over to the Apple Genius, and after looking at it for about four seconds he says it's definitely covered under Applecare, and can get it fixed ASAP.

"Great," I said as he pulled out some papers for me to sign. "When can I expect it to be done?"

He glanced down at his watched, looked at me from behind the frames of his trendy black-rimmed glasses, and calmly said "Around eight."

I was a bit confused, since "eight" didn't mean a whole lot to me. Today's date is the 16th, so I thought he might have meant the eighth day of next month. Ouch. They had told me 4-7 business days, but this was a little ridiculous. "What do you mean, eight?" I asked.

Puzzled, he simply replied "Eight o'clock."

"You mean, in 15 minutes?" I asked, totally floored.

"Yeah, or maybe a few minutes after that."

And so it went. I handed my computer over to Devin the Apple Genius who told me he was going to go fix it personally right in the back of the store. My wife and I came back 20 minutes later, and he handed me my MacBook complete with a brand-new case top (including the keyboard and trackpad, mind you). I've been using it for a while since with no problems. I'm not kidding, this is probably the best customer service I have had for any product, ever. Apple just went up a notch or two in my book.

Q Who?

2009-06-11T18:14:00.004-05:00

So almost seven months ago I got a Rubik's Cube from my wife as a surprise present. For most of the time between then and now I fiddled with it occasionally, often getting no farther than the first two rows, and always just sort of giving up once I found myself staring at that blasted third row. I tried a few online tutorials, asked a handful of friends, but could never actually solve the thing on my own. So when we made a trip to Georgia in late May, I printed off some directions beforehand and decided that I would conquer the cube once and for all.

That weekend I spent a long time poring over my printed instructions, watching online videos, and consulting with others about how to solve the game. No single solution seemed to work, and even the most basic "beginner's guides" soon lost me in pages of obscure naming conventions and bi-directional side twisting. We flew back from Georgia having had an enjoyable and relaxing weekend, but I was still mostly confuzzled by the puzzle.

Soon afterwards the cube was once again sitting in my teacher's bag, mocking me and defying me to ever solve it. I also found myself too caught up with work to really give it another shot, but then one of my students brought one to class and spent a few minutes trying to solve it before the bell rang. "I can get the first two rows," I told him, "but nothing more after that." It finally hit me: there had to be a way for me to solve it. If I could get the first two rows, by using a mix of logic and memorizing some moves, there must be a way to get the third row.

So I sat down one night about two weeks ago, and came up with a solution that involved bits and pieces of several tutorials and videos I had been watching. After much twisting, turning, and starting over, I finally solved the Rubik's Cube. So I quickly messed it up and solved it again. And again. My custom-made instructions, a concoction cobbled together out of spite and determination, had allowed me to finally solve the Cube.

The next morning I solved it again before heading to work. I kept it with me all day, solving it over and over during my free time, and did the same for the rest of the week. And as I write this, my cube is sitting a foot away, its spirit shattered and will broken, just waiting to be solved again. It still takes me a good three minutes to do it, but I'm pretty stoked that I finally learned how.

This morning I tried making my own solution video too. Now that's where the real challenge lies...

Heading up north

2009-06-07T22:06:00.002-05:00

Ever since we moved to Minnesota, there have been things we wanted to do that were, more or less, uniquely Minnesotan (or at least Northern). Many of them we did, but here as we approach the final month of our time in the Twin Cities, it seems like there is still so much left to do. I'm not one who likes to live life with regrets, though, so rather than focus on what we didn't get to do, we're thinking of what can yet be accomplished before the end of July. One of those things, a trip to Canadia, will soon be realized. Just tonight we booked a hotel in Thunder Bay for this weekend, and even though it will be kind of a short trip, it's going to be a nice way to spend a few days together doing something very different from our usual routine. I'll try to bring back some maple syrup or get a photo of a Mountie or something. :)

In the past few weeks I've been trying to get into Twitter, and to be honest, I still don't really get it. It's been a bit of a distraction from this blog, actually, and I don't like that at all. Twitter seems like a hollow, impersonal flurry of activity at all times, and I find it hard to follow what's going on unless I check it several times a day. I'm probably going to keep up with my ~~postings~~ tweets, but I feel a little guilty that my exploration of weird new Web 2.0 technologies has caused other things to fall by the wayside if even just a little bit. However, to that end, I have also consciously put an end to my surfing of Digg.com, mostly because I realized just how much time I was wasting on that site. Weird videos, odd tech news, up-to-the-second coverage of anything Apple was doing...it all amounted to little more than a heap of distractions from things that really matter. I was also deeply dissatisfied with the brazenly political bent of the site, and so, in the past month I think I have visited the site twice for a total of about 20 minutes. I've been replacing it with TechCrunch, Drudge, and that tried-and-true standby, Slashdot, and have hardly looked back. So long, Kevin Rose!

Before I close out this post I have to mention that I went rock climbing today, and it was pretty cool. I went to this place called Vertical Endeavors and found out just how little upper body strength I really have. It was a lot of fun, though, and I hope to go back at least once before we make the move to Oklahoma.

Two Months

2009-05-24T10:08:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been crazy around here this week. Nay, scratch that--this month. It's always busy around this time of year as the school term comes to a close, projects come up, wedding season sets in, and all sorts of other activities (and, to be honest, distractions) start to fill the calendar. This weekend some friends of ours are visiting from Omaha, and yesterday we went up to Taylors Falls (the town, not the falls themselves which, I was told, have been displaced by a dam) and canoed down the Saint Croix river. I like myself some canoeing, even though I'm not exactly good at it, and only do it a few times a year--mostly at Cass Lake. But we had the current of the river with us, so even if we just sat there and did nothing we still made progress. I got my first sunburn of the year, and will probably be wearing sunscreen more in the future. Oops.

Last weekend we flew to Georgia for my wife's brother's college graduation, and had a great time seeing everyone down there. I often tell my wife that one of the cool things about being married to her is how much my traveling has increased. I have now been to Georgia and Montana infinitely more than I would have ever been had we not been married. I still have yet to leave the country (yeah yeah, I know...) but this summer we are taking a short trip to Canadia and hopefully we'll get to Europe before have kids someday. But yeah, it's always nice to get out of Dodge for a few days, especially when it involves seeing family. We even got to spend the night with some of the Atlanta-based Ringsmuths, which is always fun and often involves delicious food too. But that's kind of a general rule for the South. :)

Today after church we'll probably go see Star Trek again, since our company hasn't seen it yet, and take a walk down to the local free zoo too. It's actually pretty decent for what it is, and a great way to spend some time when the weather is nice.

iDVD just bleeped at me, so it's time to go to work on another DVD project and burn some disks too. Take it easy, all y'all.

The Summit

2009-05-03T20:41:00.002-05:00

It's weird that we'll be moving away from the Cities in under three months.

Dude, three months. Seriously.

We have had three moving companies come look at our place to give us quotes, and tonight we sold a load of books to Half Price Books for a whopping $5 (it would have cost twice that much just to load them on the moving van, so we kind of made $15, I guess). Not bad, really, since they were just sitting on the shelf not doing anyone any good, much as they have done for the past five or ten years.

So anyway, here we are, coming down to the final weeks of living here, and it's weird how much we haven't really done. I mean, there's a ton of stuff that people do up here, but we haven't really done much of it. Like restaurants. People have told me that the Twin Cities has great restaurants. Well, we don't really eat out much, and when we do, there's a few local haunts that we patronize, but there's hundreds of places around here we just haven't been to. We aren't really into skiing (I went once, and it was awesome, but I never got around to going again). We don't rollerblade or hunt deer or go ice fishing...you get my point.

It's not that we don't do anything--far from it. But time is running out to experience the cities we have called home for the past five years. We have a small list of things that we'd like to do, but you know, I'm not really losing sleep over any of it. The thing is, each day I get up, say my prayers, and go about my life, and if I can't find joy and accomplishment in my teaching or the things my wife and I do on a regular basis, well, what would be the point? And so it's in these things that I take joy--often the simple things, like today's walk down Summit Avenue. The houses there are old and gigantic, and the weather was a crisp 58 degrees, and the sun was shining...a far cry from jet-skiing on Lake Minnetonka or snowboarding down Spirit Mountain, but it was a great way to spend the afternoon nonetheless.

Prospering

2009-04-28T21:28:00.002-05:00

Set a course, Mr. Data...

"Two tickets for Star Trek," I said to the teenager behind the counter, trying to conceal my excitement. "Next Thursday, please." She punched a few buttons on her computer, looked at a co-worker for reassurance, and went back to managing the screen. I thought it might take a little while, but the sun was just beginning to set, the weather was warm, and my wife and I didn't have much else to do, so we waited patiently.

"Do you want the seven or ten o'clock show?" the ticket girl asked.

"Seven," I said, smiling at my wife.

"Twenty dollars," she replied. I was a bit shocked, since we had seen the tickets online the night before for half that price, plus a one-dollar "service fee," which is how we ended up at the theatre in person. I was a bit surprised, since I agreed to forgo an opening-day showing at the IMAX on the south side of the Cities mostly because they wanted a hefty $15 per ticket.

"Are you sure?" I asked, thinking back to the opening night of Star Trek: Nemesis, and wondering if the new revival of the Star Trek franchise was really worth a $20 gamble. I'm hoping it will be, but still, if the tickets are supposed to be $5 each, well, it never hurts to ask, right?

"I think there might be a problem with the computer," she said with a slight bit of empathy. "I'll check with my manager." A few minutes, and several garbled syllables by way of a walkie-talkie later, she found a way to sell us seats for the $5 price we had seen online. "You'll be in theatre 10, which is a little smaller..."

Red Alert. Prepare for saucer separation, number one! "Smaller? But...it's Star Trek!" I widened my eyes just a little, trying to appeal to her good nature and what I hoped was a sympathy for the endangered species she was encountering first-hand: the walking anachronism that is the modern-day Star Trek fan, firmly clinging to memories of The Voyage Home and The Inner Light, hoping his faith in the once-great series would soon be redeemed. Sure enough, it worked, and a few more minutes of screen-tapping later, she landed us seats in the Big Auditorium for the same $5 price.

And so we walked away, hoping J.J. Abrams' interpretation of Gene Roddenberry's grand vision for humanity will live up to the hype. I guess we'll find out in a week!

Engage!

Breathing Room

2009-04-09T20:21:00.002-05:00

I don't like to do nothing. It's kind of a bad habit I have, actually, because it's hard for me to just sit and relax. Even playing video games or watching movies is a little difficult, because after 30 minutes or so (if I'm by myself, anyway) I'll have to get up and clean something, fix something, or tweak some odd project on the computer. I don't even like to sleep more than 8 hours, even if I have nothing to actually *do* when I get up. I think I get it from my dad, who gets up around 6am every day for work, but is out in the garage putzing around on things on Saturday mornings nonetheless. Last weekend was kind of a good example of this: I had Thursday, Friday, and Monday off work, but did I sleep in? Nooo. I could have, I guess, but instead I dutifully set my alarm so I would get no more than eight hours of rest, woke up, and started editing video footage or cleaning the kitchen. In fact, I didn't touch my Nintendo DS (halfway through Chrono trigger, baby!) or Nintendo Wii the whole weekend. I probably should have, though, because the next few days were kind of a blur. We're right at the end of Play Season, as I call it, so we were in high gear with rehearsals and whatnot. It's going to be a good show, though, even though I won't be there for this weekend's debut performances.

As I write this, I'm back in my parents' dining room in Lincoln. My wife and I got in super late last night (or super early this morning) and the next few hours are the calm before the storm, as my little brother Tom's wedding festivities will begin shortly and not let up until sometime Sunday afternoon. It's going to be a whirlwind of Ringsmuths and other friends and family around here for the next few days, but it should be a good time for all involved. It usually is when we all get together for something like this. Last Sunday, for instance, a bunch of us were at my uncle Tony's house for some Easter celebrations including Croquet, cards, board games, and of course, way too much food.

Anyway, it's nice to have a break this morning, and it was really nice to get Valentino's take-out for lunch. Mmmm...Val's lasagna...

Converting

2009-04-05T08:52:00.004-05:00

One of the reasons I purchased Sony HC96 camcorders when I started filming weddings two years ago was because they could convert analog signals to digital. I mean, the HC96 is a really good camera on its own, but this added bonus would probably come in handy at some point. And recently, it has. I've been using the "analog pass-through" quite extensively in the past week or so to do some work for a friend, and aside from some odd Mac OSX permissions quirks with Final Cut Express, it's been going very well. I guess the lesson here is to be prepared, I think. And speaking of which, I ordered a bunch of video stuff yesterday that should keep us going for the rest of the year, if not into next year. DVDs, cases, tapes, plastic sleeves...all the things that we will need for the projects we have lined up so far, and enough for some unforeseen work too. Even if I don't get a job right away when we move to Oklahoma this summer, I should be able to do enough of this video work to keep busy and get some income while the job search progresses.

It's snowing outside, by the way, which still weirds me out just a little. Usually in April we get rain, not snow, but such is the way of things in Minnesota. Last night I went to pick up my wife from the airport and was pleasantly surprised to find myself making the half-hour drive in a nice rainshower. Ever since I was a kid I have enjoyed driving in the rain (or, in the case of my younger counterpart, being driven around in the rain). It's soothing, I guess. I can't quite put my finger on exactly why, but I just know it's pretty cool.

Next week is Easter, which means not only a celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but as part of such a celebration, the Ringsmuths will descent en masse on my uncle Tony's house for the afternoon. And as these gatherings typically go, I'm sure there will be cards, games, and even some croquet if it's nice outside. And food, too. Lots of food. Good times will be had by all. :)

Time to get out of these PJs and head for church. Today's Sunday School lesson is on Zacchaeus. It's kind of weird how I heard all these lessons when I was a kid, but now that I'm teaching them I see them in a whole different light. God's Word is like that, you know. The more you study it, the more there is to learn. Anyway, time to bust outta here. Peace.

ps. Before I sign off, I need to send out a massive Thank You to Ron, who let me use his garage again to change the oil in our car. Thank, Ron! And thanks for pizza too! Sarah, your dad is the coolest. :)

Road to Spring

2009-03-29T18:02:00.004-05:00

This weekend my wife and I got just a small taste of how things are going in North Dakota. Her friend's parents live right on the Red River, and as such they spent most of last week filling sandbags and piling them into massive dikes behind their house. While the river was expanding, and they were stonewalling (or sandwalling, as it were), they got dumped on by rain and snow, even to the point of blizzard conditions. Eager to help, we left for Fargo after work on Friday and got there in time to help out at a local golf course where the river was threatening not only the course, but the entire neighborhood nearby. We spent about an hour and a half chucking sandbags around with 100 strangers, who were extraordinarily friendly and upbeat, despite the week of cold weather and hard work.

The next day things were pretty quiet, despite the unbelievable amount of flooding that was taking place. We helped out around the house a little, but mostly there was a sense of collective anticipation, or possibly anxiety, as people weren't sure what to do but wait. The dikes had been built and fortified, and until something happened, there just wasn't a whole lot left to do. We called the volunteer hotline again around 11am and were told of a sandbagging effort that was to take place in a nearby town in an hour and a half, but when we got there a policeman told us that there was, again, nothing left to do. And so even though we only got in a little bit of actual sandbagging, it was nice to go up and help out as best we could.

So yeah, between that and working far more than I usually do, it's been a hectic few weeks. Good, to be sure, but a little busier than normal. Our school's spring play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, opens in a few weeks and things are coming together very well. My little brother is getting married in a few weeks, my dad had a birthday, and we even made it up to The Brass Rail for some (what else?) delicious chicken, followed by an evening of Dominos with Sarah. Good times all around, I must say. God is good.

Expiration Date

2009-03-13T21:56:00.002-05:00

I went to the dentist the other day, and while the receptionist and I were chatting, she asked if I wanted to set up another cleaning appointment in six months. "No," I told her, "I won't be living here in six months." "Oh really?" she replied, with just the right amount of calculated politeness so as to appear interested. She had no doubt perfected this art after years of similar interactions, and I responded in kind. "Yeah, we're moving to Oklahoma."

We've known since last fall that we would be moving this coming summer, but for the longest time, including even now, it has seemed like a vague date on the horizon. An event that would happen someday. But when a date on the horizon attaches itself to a tangible concept, like the date of a dentist appointment, it becomes just a little more real.

Here's an example: we buy lots of yogurt. At the store, we try to choose yogurt cups with dates that are far off--often about a month down the line. And standing in the chilly dairy aisle, the expiration dates seem so distant it's as if the yogurt will last forever. But inevitably the dates draw nearer, and as I peek into my fridge now, I see dates looming ever closer and closer that once seemed so distant.

All this isn't to say that inevitability is a bad thing. It's just a different way of looking at it. We don't know when we will start packing our stuff, or loading the truck, or actually waving good-bye to our place here in Saint Paul, but it's coming whether we realize it or not. The nice thing is that we still do have lots of time up here, and as I pray on a daily basis, I want to make good use of it.

So here's to life. :) Time to go snag a yogurt...

Spring Break

2009-03-05T21:20:00.002-06:00

So how's the break going?

I'm glad you asked.

I gotta say right off the bat that it's been really nice to just stay here in Minnesota instead of traveling somewhere to visit family or friends. Not that we don't like doing that--far from it, in fact. Visiting people out of town is one of my favorite ways to spend a three- or four-day weekend. But man, it has been great to chill here at home, get lots of video editing done, finish some grading, watch some movies, and just sort of take it easy over spring break. Best part? There's still one more day left. ^_^

I watched two excellent TED talks tonight (how's that for alliteration?), one on how Digital Domain went about creating a very old version of Brad Pitt for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and another from J.J. Abrams on mystery boxes, movie creation, and special effects innovations. I've always enjoyed seeing the man behind the curtain, just like Dorothy at the end of "Wizard of Oz," and finding out how things work, instead of taking them for granted. If any of this kind of thing interests you too, you should check out the links. Great stuff.

Tomorrow we will probably go Snow Tubing again, thanks to our free passes from when the conveyor lift broke down last time, and then Jon and Sarah are coming over for some board games and delicious baked ziti. mm...baked ziti...

Not long now...

2009-03-01T22:11:00.003-06:00

I heard on the radio last week that Daylight Savings Time happens next week. For those of you who live south of the forty-fifth parallel it might seem a bit silly to take up valuable internet space to write about gaining an hour in one's day, but when I spend two months of the year watching the sun descend on the horizon (and, according to Calvin's dad, into its daily resting place near Flagstaff, Arizona) it's nice to know we'll have an artificially-created perception of longer days for the next several months.

An intense week of video work is wrapping itself up, and on its heels lies a week of respite from schoolwork as my employer is currently (as of tomorrow) on Spring Break. For the first time in a while, though, my wife and I aren't really going anywhere or doing anything special for it. Last year we were in D.C. seeing the sights and gathering data for her dissertation at the Library of Congress, but this year we're just staying here and chillaxing. After spending many hours working on a project for my uncle's company last week, and filming a wedding on Friday, it will be nice to take things at my own pace for a few days.

Incidentally, the wedding was our first one with our new equipment: two sweet-o tripods and a second really nice camera. So far the editing is going extremely well, and I'm very pleased with the footage my wife and I were able to get of the ceremony. The final video should be excellent.

Time to do a bit more editing before bed. But in advance of signing off, I must also wish a very happy birthday to my friend Steve. May it be (and I mean that in the past tense, of course, since it's almost over now) filled with blessings. And maybe some ice cream too. :)

Whiteout

2009-02-26T15:36:00.002-06:00

If I look to my right, I can see a half-empty parking lot, full of cars hidden beneath a blanket of new snow. Headlights, like tired eyelids, are poking out warily from beneath the brows of so many hoods, waiting to lurch to life on the way home which will, hopefully, be not too far off. Leafless trees are waving, defying the airy flakes gathering en masse, knowing they will have the last laugh with the inevitable marching in of springtime.

If I look to my left, I can't see anything except a whitened window.

After spending nearly 20 hours editing a 15-minute video over the past few days, it will be nice to put the final polishing touches on it at home tonight, a mug of hot chocolate beside me and my Pandora.com playlist faithfully chugging away while winter, not quite in its death throes, struggles to blast the Great North one more time.

I'm going to miss these Minnesota winters next year. But then, it will be nice to wear a T-shirt and jeans in January, and run errands in February without waiting for the engine to warm up first. It's a trade-off, to be sure, and all things considered I'll take warm weather over its chilly counterpart any day of the week. But still, there's just something about a Minnesota snowstorm (not to be confused with a Nebraska snowstorm, which would be melted by this time tomorrow) that makes me feel...alive.

Too Short?

2009-02-18T20:51:00.002-06:00

More than a year ago, my cousin Beth convinced me to give Facebook a shot. I was skeptical at first, but took the plunge nonetheless, and ever since it's been pretty cool. Sure there are some annoyances, like constant invitations to join causes, play games, and be in groups, and I have trouble following everything that's going on at times, but for the most part I have found it to be an easy and (dare I say it? Yes, I dare) fun (whew!) way of keeping in touch with people.

Two weeks ago, also at the slight prodding of Beth, I joined Twitter. And now, two weeks in, I'm still not exactly sure what it is or does, and just exactly how it has grown to be so popular, but, well, I'm using it. So that's something, I guess. Actually, I'm finding that between this blog, Facebook, and now Twitter, it's kind of hard to keep track of them all. But I'm sure things will even out over time, and who knows, this Twitter thing might catch on. Kind of like those DVD things people keep talking about. I hear they're gonna be huge someday...

Last weekend we went up to Saint Cloud for some Cross Country skiing courtesy of my aunt and uncle, who are avid CC Skiers, and also (guess who?) my cousin Beth. We had a pretty good time, and though I didn't enjoy it quite as much as downhill skiing, it was fun to be out in the snow and learning something new. After that we had a delicious dinner of, what basically amounted to homemade Chipotle burritos, and then went to see the movie Fireproof at a catholic church nearby. Despite being virtually eviscerated by critics, I found it to be thoroughly enjoyable, and one of the most compelling movies I have seen in a while. I highly recommend it to anyone, but especially anyone who is married. Excellent movie.

Time to get back to some lesson plans, and then maybe an episode of The Office before bed.

Warming trends

2009-02-07T09:47:00.001-06:00

Some people think it's a bit trite to discuss the weather, but most of those people don't live in Minnesota. It's been CRAZY cold here in the past month, and only recently have things been above zero on a regular basis. Today I walked out of work and it was a downright balmy 30 degrees. My wife and I even went for a walk a week ago, and the best part of all this is, it's only going to get better from here on out. Sure we will get plenty of snow, cold mornings, and icy windshields, but at least the days are getting longer and Spring is in sight.

Last Saturday we went snow tubing at Afton Alps with a bunch of friends, and I wouldn't say it was necessarily better than Green Acres, but it was fun in a different sort of way. Their six well-manicured runs and cool conveyor belt-type of lift were a radical change from Green Acres' two runs and tow-rope lift, and they definitely had higher-quality tubes too. But I kind of like Green Acres' semi-shifty aesthetic, and their two hills are much wider, allowing for massive groups to go down at one time, all linked and tangled together. Still, it was fun going to Afton nonetheless, and after our first run the conveyor belt broke so we had to hoof it up the hill Moses Merril style, but we also got free passes to go again. And so we shall. :)

Ever since reading everyone's "25 things" posts on Facebook, I've been thinking about what I want to say on mine. Even though the fad has kind of passed by now ("25 things about yourself? Dude, that's so last week...") it might be cool anyway. And it's not like the lists are anything groundbreaking or life-changing, and nobody thinks about them for more than a minute after they read them, but still, I want mine to be good. Not better, necessarily, than anyone else's, but good enough that one of the things might actually be memorable or insightful. So, as my dad used to say, we'll have to see.

Speaking of my dad, I hope he's doing better after hurting his hand a few days ago. He broke one of his fingers and will have a splint/cast thing on for a few weeks, so Dad, if you're reading this, we are praying for you and hopefully you can still find a way to operate the welder with one hand. :)

And Sarah, if you're reading this, thanks for coming over with Jon last night. Sgt. Bilko was great, as was the delicious lasagne.

We didn't start the fire

2009-01-29T21:14:00.003-06:00

So my wife and I were watching Jack Bauer bust some terrorists tonight when this strange high-pitched warbling sound started blaring through our apartment. I thought it was from the show and didn't think much of it, but after a little while I muted the TV and sure enough, it was coming from down the hall. It sounded like a fire alarm, so I popped my head into the hallway to check it out. While I didn't exactly see smoke, I could smell something funky, so the two of us decided to play it safe and get the heck outta there.

We put on our coats, grabbed our laptops and a couple other things like a cell phone and our wallets, and walked out to the front where a few of our neighbors were gathered on the street. Honestly I was just glad we weren't the only ones who decided to vacate--it made me feel just a little bit better knowing other people were thinking the same thing we were. I asked around and no one had called 911, so I dialed them up and told them what was going on, namely that our building could be on fire. Not so good.

A few minutes later some fire trucks pulled up and teams of firefighters rushed into the building which, though the alarm was still blaring, seemed perfectly fine. Turns out it was, actually, and 15 minutes later they gave us the all-clear to head back inside. Near as I could gather, someone on the first floor left a skillet of chow mein cooking a hair too long. So mega props to the firefighters who showed up super quick, checked things out, and even held the doors for all us shivering apartment-dwellers as we went back inside.

But hey, even if the place had burned down, at least we had that sweet off-site backup hard drive for my wife's dissertation. :)

Deals (with a z)

2009-01-25T19:16:00.004-06:00

Ok, so this might seem a bit excessive, but what the hey. Back in October my wife and I bought a third external hard drive for backing up both of our computers. We partitioned the terabyte drive into two 500 gigabyte drives, giving one to each of our computers for backing them up. Well, we realized this weekend that, in the unlikely event we have a fire, robbery, or are invaded by Canada, my wife's entire dissertation could disappear if, in said event, both her computer and the backup drive were damaged, stolen, etc. So we pondered a few options for an off-site backup, finally deciding on an additional 500-gig drive that she will keep at her office on campus. We trolled the tubes for a drive that was cheap but reliable, finally settling on a Western Digital MyBook drive that Best Buy had on sale for $89. Turns out the drive wouldn't work with ourfree backup software we got with the terabyte drive. Sad.

So today we returned the MyBook to Best Buy, and lo and behold, we found a 500-gig Maxtor drive for $20 cheaper at the same store. Cha-ching! After that we went to a Circuit City down the road and snagged two movies for cheap, thanks to their Going Out of Business sale. I have a sneaking suspicion they are operating on the Kohl's philosophy of raising prices and then offering the same items at a "discount," but the bottom line is, we gots two movies for cheep. Nice.

Yesterday we went to Saint Cloud to hang out with my cousin Beth and her husband for a while. We hadn't seen their new apartment yet, and it was nice to make the (very chilly) trek an hour north to spend the evening eating quiche (delicious, Beth!), playing Clue, and watching one of the greatest episodes ever of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It had been a few years since I watched The Best of Both Worlds, but it was every bit as outstanding as I remember, despite the limited sets, costumes, and special effects. In fact, the episode is all the more impressive given the limitations of the production crew. Anyway, it was a great time, and Beth, if you're reading this, I hope you get your internet situation resolved soon. :(

Time to get a few things in order for work tomorrow. g'night everyone.

800 Feet to Freedom

2009-01-21T21:54:00.003-06:00

Last weekend, as predicted, was a pretty good time up at the ol' cabin. Hardly any snow, though, but that didn't stop us from trying to conquer the hill with a rubber inner tube anyway. We didn't exactly make it very far. :) In lieu of good sledding, though, we spent the weekend playing video games, playing cards, watching movies, and all the usual things that make the cabin so enjoyable. We also played a good deal of ultimate frisbee, including one game in the dark (glow-sticks courtesy of Evan. Thanks, man), and walked all around the cold, muddy terrain of Moses Merrill. Saturday afternoon a half dozen of us went around looking for a geocache, which we found, and the next day my brothers put a new cache in another part of the woods. Here's hoping someone finds it before next year.

A few days ago we got our second set of tripod legs, which means we now have two sweet tripods for doing wedding videos this year. When my wife and I started filming weddings a year and a half ago we had one really oooooold, flimsy aluminum tripod I got from my uncle, and another really oooooold, but not quite so flimsy, aluminum tripod I borrowed from another uncle. And now we have, using income from these video projects, been able to purchase two nice cameras, two nice tripods, and even a new iMac to boot. Not bad, I think. This year's video income will mostly go toward a house down payment, which is far cooler than any number of tripods. :)

A bit chilly

2009-01-16T08:03:00.004-06:00

It was a cold drive to work this morning...

On the plus side, though, my good little 1998 Corolla faithfully started right up, as usual, and after a minute or so of warming up in the parking lot, I was on my way. And, as my wife often points out, we get an extra minute of daylight every day throughout the month of January. Summer's coming folks! :)

We head for Nebraska tonight for the annual Camp Moses Merrill retreat, something my friends and I have been doing for the past ten years or so. We all make the annual trek to a two-story cabin an hour north of Lincoln where we basically just spend the weekend hanging out. There might not be much snow for sledding, but it's going to be a great weekend of playing cards, board games, capture the flag, football, ultimate frisbee, and Nintendo. There's also plenty of eating, watching the campfire, watching movies, and usually a Bible study too. We actually started going there when some of us were in youth group way back in ninth grade, and it was so much fun we just kept it up over the years. So here's to a good weekend, and hopefully a safe drive. *tips can of soda*

Updating

2009-01-11T21:45:00.004-06:00

It dawned on me recently that Ringsmuth Video needed a bit of an overhaul graphically, so this weekend I opened up my new copy of Fireworks CS4 and set about redesigning the header, brushing up the couple images I have throughout the site, and generally tweaking things here and there. And for the most part I'm pleased with the result. The original header graphic had, in addition to the title, pictures of a giant 8MM film reel, a VHS tape, and a CD-ROM. Not exactly confidence-inspiring, to say the least. The new one does away with all that and has simply a picture of some 35MM film, designed to simply evoke the idea of "movie" or "videos" in the mind of the site visitor. I have also added a subtle texture to the "Digital Video" text to hopefully, you know, make more, computerized-ish. Anyway, I hope it works.

I also totally re-did Tom Frye's web site with iWeb. While it's far from my web site editor of choice, it does do a great job of kicking out a good-looking site in short order. It's light years ahead of the old one, which I whipped out five years ago using only a bare smattering of HTML and CSS knowledge...but hey, it worked for its time.

One of my personal mottoes is "do not put off until tomorrow what can be done today," and I have found time and time again that, no matter how much I might resist following that little mantra, things always turns out better if I do. Case in point: after church my wife told me my front passenger-side headlight was out. I figured I would change it sometime this week, or maybe in my dad's garage when we visit Lincoln this weekend. She asked me later on if I planned on changing it soon, and I kind of hemmed and hawed, for no good reason, really. I just didn't want to go out in the cold, remove a fuse box, pry off the rubber gasket, get at the bulb, and stick in a new one. But the temps later this week are going to be hovering just below zero, so really, there was no better time than today to do it. So I went and got it taken care of, and I'm just glad I did. It's a simple thing, sure, but having not put it off anymore, I don't need to think about it anymore. :)

Oh, and last Friday we got our final Christmas present of the season, courtesy of my mom:

Thanks, Mom! And thanks to my wife's mom for the post office assistance. *wink*

It's all over?

2009-01-06T19:25:00.002-06:00

Johnny Cash said that he's been everywhere, and while I can't quite claim that degree of omnipresence, it does feel like I have traveled quite a bit during the past few weeks. We spent the days around Christmas visiting family up in Montana, as we often do, and it was great to see people and also get a lot of nothing done. :) I also spent a ton of time with my new copy of Chrono Trigger DS, thanks in part to much encouragement from my brother Tom. I also found out, tangentially, that riding an exercise bike is much easier with a DS and a pair of headphones. We did some maintenance-type stuff around the house too, for which my in-laws were very happy, and probably took in too much chips and junk food too. But what are ya gonna do?

That's what I thought.

After Montana was a trip to Lincoln, and you can probably fill in the blanks like usual. All the staples of a great trip were in place: Family, friends, Amigo's, Valentino's, card games, and, her place on this list notwithstanding, my niece Janessa, who remains, objectively speaking, the World's Cutest Niece.

And then, just like that (or so saith Kaiser Söze), it was all over, and were back in Saint Paul in zub-sero weather once again. In fact, yesterday on the way to work, my car's back door actually froze open. I had to drive with my right hand on the wheel and my left hand stretched behind my seat, holding the door closed with all my frozen might. It's all part of the fun of winter, though, and a year from now when we're basking in 30-degree Decembers down in Oklahoma, I'll probably miss this stuff.

And unto you

2008-12-25T13:29:00.002-06:00

It's not about presents
or trees
or lights
or music
or decorations.

It's not about family
or friends
or trips
or cards
or phone calls.

It's not about caroling
or hymns
or wassailing
or cider
or hot chocolate.

It's not about "Holidays"
or Santa
or elves
or reindeer
or sleigh bells.

It's not about so many things
we think about
and talk about
and preach about
and get worked up about.

It's about a sinful race
in need of a savior
who was born
to die
for us.

It's about Him.

Merry Christmas.

Ten Below

2008-12-21T09:18:00.003-06:00

I can't remember the last time it was this cold. Probably sometime last year, but my brain likely froze and thus the memory was never seared into my cerebral cortex. At any rate, it's super duper cold, and there's a foot of snow on the ground. The bright side? For starters, our apartment doesn't charge us for heat. :) I used to have a Warm Mist humidifier in my bedroom back in kollij, and on nights like last night I would set it to 'max,' so I would wake up on mornings like this to a veritable tropical vacation. We don't quite do the same now, but it's still nice to have a cozy comfy place to live on morning like this. Last night we went out to eat with my cousin and his wife, and then came back here for some board games and Guitar Hero. All the while, we were waiting to hear from my cousing Jessie who was at the Airport in Atlanta, anxiously awaiting the boarding call of her flight up to the Cities. Her original flight was scheduled to depart at 1. It was cancelled, though, because there was too much snow up here for it to land. Major bummer.

She ended up waiting at the airport for almost the entire day, only to find out that her only option was to take a plane on Monday. Ouch. But, a few days late is better than crashing and burning on a frozen runway...

We are actually heading out for Montana in a few hours, where we will spend the week visiting family, eating too much junk food, and watching The West Wing. After that it's a trip to Lincoln for much of the same, but with the added benefit of seeing my two-and-a-half-year-old niece, as well as Amigo's and Valentino's. :)

Tomorrow's gonna be great

2008-12-11T21:41:00.002-06:00

I just finished a video project for my uncle's newsletter company, and I'm nearly finished with another one for my work. There's also a wedding and two video slide shows on the horizon, and I think the only real big expense we have to take care of in the next year or so is a set of good tripod legs and our journey toward the Video Side will be complete. Until we go full-on HD, that is, but that could be a few years yet. High-grade standard definition video is doing fine for us right now. :)

Just last week I found out about (gasp!) a cheapo movie theatre not too far from our place. It's no Roseville 4, but then, few things are. It should suit us well, though, and we might hit up a flick there this weekend. I wouldn't mind seeing Wall-E or The Dark Knight again, but Eagle Eye looks pretty good. We'll see (har!).

24 hours from now we will most likely be rolling on the floor, with our friends Jon and Sarah, after eating *way* too much build-your-own pizza. My wife and I picked up the crust and cheese, and the two of them went to get the fixin's tonight. They will probably be here around 6:30 and we'll spend a while crafting the perfect pizza pies, which in my and Jon's case will involve at least one pound of Italian Sausage, one pound of cheese, lots of mushrooms, pepperoni...you get the idea. We are also going to, thanks to Sarah, watch Home Alone while punishing our colons. Thankfully there's Wii Bowling to help us drop the extra poundage afterwards.

Speaking (or writing) of video games, my wife and I have been playing a game called Star Trek Conquest recently. It's no Metroid Prime Corruption or Halo, but it's actually a pretty good time. It's kind of a simple turn-based conquer-the-galaxy game, but that format allows us to play a few rounds and then come back later for some more.

Alright, time to get outta here. Later.

Oh, and if anyone knows a good place to pick up Chrono Trigger DS, lemme know.

"One Hundred, K?"

2008-12-02T21:49:00.002-06:00

Our 1998 Corolla, William, hit 100,000 miles today. Awww... The little guy's been so good to us for the past few years after we rescued him from his former owners, and we hope to drive him for at least double his current mileage before sending him out to pasture many years from now.

Well, that's the hope, anyway. And with any luck (and continued frequent oil changes, thanks in no small part to Sarah's dad's garage, and my dad's garage too) we'll get him there.

We made our special chili the other night, and while it might not be up to Andy's standards, it suits us just fine--especially when coupled with a large dosage of corn bread and crackers. Even better, it tastes great even as leftovers, so one night's feast turns into a week's worth of lunch for me at work. Aw yeah.

Oh, and get this. I lost not only my copy of The Two Towers, but also my new water bottle, on our trip to Georgia last weekend. Major drag, huh? But Sunday afternoon we rectified the book situation, and tonight before dinner we made a quick trip to REI to pick up another of their cheapest water bottles. Since we don't go hiking or snowbooting or whatever, we had to hide behind a stack of Power Bars to get away from the clerks who were stalking us and trying to sign us up for memberships. Thankfully we made it out alive without any caribbeaners or Columbia pants--just a simple water bottle, thank you very much.

Time for bed.

And back again

2008-11-30T20:48:00.002-06:00

Once again, for the fourth year in a row, we spent Thanksgiving away from home, but for the first time since moving to Minnesota, we did not go back to Lincoln. No, this year we went down south to visit my wife's family in Georgia. We try to make it there at least once a year, and since our last trip down there was in the summer of 2007, we thought Thanksgiving would be as good of a time as any to head for the deep south for a few days. And it was.

Much of our time there was spent, like most of our vacations, not doing anything in particular except spending time with friends or, in this case, family. We watched some movies, played some Nintendo (me and a few of the younger kids logged a truckload of hours playing Mario Kart DS and Picto Chat), ran errands, went on walks, had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and tried to sleep in as much as we could too. It was, like most of our vacations, all too short, and we hope to make it back before another year goes past.

Saturday we met up with my cousin Jessie in Macon, and the three of us drove to my other cousin's house in Atlanta where we spent the evening visiting with her husband and four young kids. Her parents came by too, and it's always good to see them even though there were no card games this time around.

Today my wife and I, after getting back to our place around noon, put up our Christmas tree, rearranged the DVD rack (yay for Wallyworld's $2 Black Friday DVDs!), got some schoolwork done, and finished watching a movie called Man of the Year. I hope, as I often do, to go to bed early tonight, but, as often happens, I will probably get distracted and stay up late on the computer or something.

Nine O'Clock and All's Well

2008-11-16T20:51:00.003-06:00

What a week it's been.

Actually, what a week and a few days it's been.

Last Sunday at this time I was driving back from Lincoln, having gone down for my friend Rachel's wedding, and listening to some tunes and podcasts while tooling across the midwest on Highway 169. It was a great drive, and the perfect way to top off a good weekend. I got to town late Friday, spent Saturday working on my car in my dad's garage, going to Amigo's with friends and family, and then seeing lots of people at the wedding and reception. My brother Phil had the highlight of the evening, with a flawless recitation of White and Nerdy on the dance floor. Actually, Phil even let me be a guest on his weekly video game podcast, Inside the Console, and we discussed our Christmas Wish Lists and lots of other video game goodness. Good friends, good times...great weekend.

Last week I was at work for almost 80 hours, which kind of explains the lack of any new blog posts recently, but things are settling down this week and coming back to more of an equilibrium, which is always nice. In fact, this afternoon my wife and I went to church for an afternoon of board games, which was pretty fun. We started off by playing The Allowance Game with a little girl, her mom, and a few other ladies. Each player starts with $3.50 and the goal is to be the first person to reach $20, which is a lot harder than it seems. I challenged our pastor to several rounds of three-dimensional tic-tac-toe, most of which were won by him, and we finished off the afternoon with a game of Yahtzee. There were even door prizes, and my wife walked away with a box of Chex-Mix Snack Bars, and I got a box of chocolate Turtles.

Time to check the ol' Facebook account and head for bed.

Standing in line (for the show tonight?)

2008-11-04T15:03:00.002-06:00

I got to my polling place at about 6:50 this morning, thinking ten minutes would be plenty early. I planned to avoid long lines, get in, vote, and get out as quick as possible. A simple smash and grab job, if you will. Turns out, as these things have a habit of doing, it wasn't exactly that simple. When I got there, the parking lot was jammed, and by the time I found my place in the line there were at least 60 other dutiful citizens ahead of me, all eager to avoid themselves.

Thankfully, though, I planned ahead, and as I took my place behind the very tall, very bearded, man in front of me, I whipped out my Nintendo DS and started playing some Mario Kart while awaiting the opening of the gates of destiny. Or, the front doors of the apartment lobby where we were all voting. I'm not kidding, there are few better ways to pass the time than with a Nintendo DS. If only my fellow Americans had thought of the same thing, we could have done some sweet line-waiting Picto Chat. :)

Speaking of games, last Friday I found the ultimate mind puzzle/time waster in my bag as I left for work: a Rubik's Cube. I have wanted one for a long time, but never actually gone out and purchased one. My wife, though, knowing my fondness for the nine-sided insanity-inducer, got one for me and slipped it in my little "stuff to take to work" bag. I haven't solved the thing, and will probably need help from the internet or some friends, but it sure is cool to play around with the little puzzler. I can get one face, and almost two additional rows, but beyond that all heck breaks loose, the second law of thermodynamics kicks in, and I'm right back to the multicolored mess with which I began. It sure is cool, though.

Once more, for the win?

2008-10-25T15:31:00.006-05:00

It was nearly a year ago that my wife and I purchased an external 320-gig hard drive because we were just plain running out of spizzace. In the meantime our storage needs have, as expected, grown though mostly due to some summer Video projects. Well, a few months ago we sold my old eMac when we bought the snazzy new iMac, and just this week used the cash to pick up a gigantor one terabyte hard drive, bringing our total external storage to just a shade over 1.5 terabytes. Hyoooge.

The purpose of said new drive? Backing up everything. I've got it split into two partitions: one for my iMac to back up using Time Machine, and one for my wife's iBook to back up manually (she's still got OSX Tiger installed). Since I've only got a 320-gig disk in the iMac, and she's only got an 80-gig disk in her iBook, the new drive should tide us over for a while.

Clockwise, starting from top:
250 gig Western Digital drive in a shifty BYTECC case
320 gig Seagate drive in a Maxtor case with a gratuitous white button on the front
Dual-layer Pioneer CD/DVD burner
New 1 TB Seagate drive in a Maxtor case that looks like it's a dorsal fin for our desk

Also pictured:
Red Swingline stapler
Imperial Scout Trooper on a rolling model of a speeder bike from the Battle of Yavin

Not pictured:
Snowflake

Treading Lightly

2008-10-23T20:29:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago I, um, kind of biffed one of the tires on our car. I didn't exactly see part of the curb as I was pulling in, and, well, you can probably see where this is going. Anyway, I hit the curb, got out to check things, and found a nice little bulge in the sidewall of the front passenger tire. No big deal, really, but not something I wanted to drive on during my half-hour commute (I once drove for weeks on a tire on which the tread was hanging on by a couple pieces of hair-thin rubber). Thankfully, we had a warranty on it, so $9 later our little black Corolla, "William," was nicely outfitted with a brand-new rubber sole.

Trouble was, it turned out that the other three tires were nearing the end of their round little lives. So today I took him in to get new kicks on the rest of his little 14-inch rims. Even though the bill was higher than I was expecting, it's nice to know we're all set for a few years of tooling around town in our little car.

I also started watching Band of Brothers again. I tried watching this series many years ago, but only made it through the first disc or two--not because it was boring or poorly-realized, but I think I stopped out of sheer apathy. And in the meantime I have, off and on, been meaning to give it another go. So this morning I started up again, and so far it's pretty good. I appreciate how much time it's taking to get things rolling, in fact. It bodes well for the rest of the tale, knowing that the filmmakers will have the freedom to really explore the relationships between the characters, and how they change throughout the course of Easy Company's time in World War II Europe. I know plenty of guys who say it's the definitive World War II chronicle, so here's hoping it can hold its own next to Saving Private Ryan.

Rearviewmirror

2008-10-16T20:18:00.004-05:00

(Sometimes you just gotta put on some Pearl Jam...)

So Arizona was pretty cool, and by that, I mean warm. Not super warm, like over 100 degrees, but nice and, oh, post-summer ish. The last time I was in that part of the country was when my friends and I drove to Vegas in one night for a wedding (no, not that kind of wedding. the bride and groom both lived in Vegas, silly) and I had forgotten just how devoid of greenery the whole region is. I mean, there's plenty of cacti and everything, but getting off the plane back here in the Twin Cities just made me realize how (can I say this without sounding too hippie?) lush everything is up here. We had a good time down south, though, and I got to see my friend Matt whom I haven't hung out with in years. We were in a band way back in college, and it was great to hang out with him for a while on Sunday night.

Mega props, by the way, to Mary, the mother of my wife's friend, who let us stay at her place for the weekend. There was all kinds of food to be had, and she made a delicious breffist on Sunday morning too. Way better than a hotel, for sure. :)

Time to go flip the laundry. It's gotta be done by now for sure.

A to Z

2008-10-10T09:15:00.002-05:00

We're off to Arizona in a few hours to see some friends and attend a wedding (the former of which would not be taking place without the latter). I have been to Nevada twice, but never Arizona, and I'm pretty excited about the...uh, well, the catci, I suppose. To be honest, I'm not really sure what they have out in the great southwest, but Phoenix (where we will be staying) is a pretty gigantic city, so there's gotta be something.

At the very least, it will be nice and warm. Westward...ho!

Sunday, rainy Sunday

2008-10-05T21:25:00.003-05:00

Sleep until 8:30...check

Wake up to sound of dripping rain...check

Temperature...45 degrees.

Look in the pantry for some hot chocolate...check.

"It's gonna be a good day." :)

And you know what? It was. Despite all semblances to the contrary when I got up this morning, things turned out just fine after all. Our church had a 60th Birthday celebration (i.e. a catered lunch) after the morning service, and my wife and I helped out with drinks--making sure the tables were well-supplied with water and coffee. We took home lots of leftovers, which means I'll be eating in style at work this week. And later on, things warmed up and we were able to go on a nice walk around our neighborhood, which we try to do as often as possible even if it's cold out.

I guess this is how non-native Minnesotans* adjust to the fall. :)

This weekend my cousin Beth was down for a visit, and last night we made some excellent tacos for dinner and then headed off to the mother of all home stores, IKEA, so she could get some stuff for her new apartment. My wife and I ended up spending about $11 on a couple home-furnishing things like a scented candle, some tupperware, and a CD holder for the ol' car stereo. We drove across the new I-35W bridge, which in and of itself was none too remarkable, but it was pretty cool that downtown Minneapolis is now much more accessible than it used to be. I saw the ruined bridge many times, and not only is it a little weird to think that it actually happened...it's not a little weird to think that it's all fixed. And driveable.

So, yeah. All in all, a good weekend. Time to read some more of The Two Towers, download a couple podcasts, and head for bed.

*I was born here, and lived in central MN until I was almost six, but for all intents and purposes, I'm basically a Nebraskan. :)

The Big Three-Oh

2008-09-29T19:53:00.004-05:00

We went to visit The Fam in Lincoln last weekend for my brother Andy's 30th birthday party, and it was pretty awesome. First off, we made the trip in our 1992 Geo Prizm (don't laugh, it's paid for, sucka) which finally hit 168,000 miles. Even though it's old, it still keeps going strong, so we keep it around and probably will do so for a while yet. Anyway, we got to town late Friday, went to bed, and I got up around 8:30 the next morning so I could change the oil and get things rolling for the day. I met up with Andy for lunch at one of Lincoln's fine eateries, D'Leon's, and had one of the best burritos I have eaten in many moons. Seriously, it was super delicious, and pretty cheap too.

(I gotta say, for all the Big City-ness of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, there is a dearth of small-time Mexican eating establishments, which is part of the reason I like Amigo's so much: there's just no Minnesota equivalent. At least none that I know of. Same goes for Taco Inn and the aforementioned D'Leon's.)

Saturday evening my whole family was over, along with my uncle Pete, to celebrate Andy's birthday even though we were, technically, a few days early in doing so. Andy invited some of his friends from church and we all watched the Huskers game on his homemade big-screen, which was the exactly kind of over-the-top venture I would expect from Andy. :) We had a great time, ate tons of good food (thanks Mom!), and even got in some Croquet and Bocce Ball action too. At halftime we all watched the slide show I made for Andy's birthday, which you can take a look at if you want to.

Today, back in MN, things were getting decidedly Fall-like, and I made my first cup of hot chocolate for the season. As long as it's getting cold, might as well enjoy it with a steaming mug of chocolately goodness...

The Great Debate

2008-09-22T19:39:00.003-05:00

I go to Costco a few times a week, mostly for gas, milk, and cheese, on which we save enough on to effectively take care of our $50/year membership. But today was one of those days when I had to be at work late, so I stopped at the Food "Court" (can a place that serves six total menu items really be called a Court?) and stared at the same food choices as always, but stuck in the debate which has, even after more than two years, left me with no easy answer:

Is it better to get a Polish Dog and pop for $1.50, or a slice of pizza and a pop for $2.58?

There's the economical side of things, which tells me that the Polish option is a better deal. It also includes Sauerkraut, which is super tasty. It also is cheap enough that I can justify purchasing a Berry Sundae for $1.65 and not feel too guilty in the morning.

But then I'm left with a soda and a Berry Sundae, which is about four pounds more sugar than anyone should really eat in one sitting.

So another option is to get the pizza slice alone, for $1.99, and a cup of water, which is free. I'm then left to get the Berry Sundae with only spending about 50 cents more than if I had purchased it with the Polish, and I can feel extra good about m'self since I had good ol' H2O to wash down the 'za.

Anyway, I ended up going with the Pizza Option, with a pop, which is usually enough to last the evening. The real question, though, is which would Obama or McCain choose?

...and would they consider the churro? it's so delicious...

Muchos Nachos

2008-09-19T15:44:00.002-05:00

I was given free nachos for lunch today.

And then again for supper.

It rained after work, and I got to see a massive lightning bolt strike the ground.

I got a new CD this week and I'm listening to it now and it's awesomeness is staggering.

What once was lost (the screw-in thingey to stir the popcorn in our popcorn maker) now is found (I ordered a new screw-in thingey and it arrived two days ago).

My new water bottle is BPA-free and just the right size for my hands.

I'm putting the finishing touches on our final wedding video of the summer.

My wife and I are going to a friend's house for dinner tomorrow.

I changed the oil in our car yesterday without spilling hardly a drop.

Yes, it's been a good week.

Three months to go

2008-09-14T15:49:00.002-05:00

I like to measure time in how long it has been since Christmas, or how long it will be until Christmas. It sort of puts things in a weird perspective: today, for example, is September 15. That means there is precisely three months and ten days until Christmas. Wow. In just over three months we will have gone to Georgia, gone to Montana, hopefully gone to Lincoln, finished the school play, and nearly come to the end of the semester.

That was a haiku.

This weekend, though, was very busy in a relaxed sort of way. We didn't have to go out of town, or go anywhere special, or do anything momentous, and for those reasons it was just a nice easygoing weekend. I slept in yesterday and today, and my wife and I both got a lot of stuff done around the house too. But my cousin Beth was over last night, which was really cool. And this morning I taught my second Sunday School class of the year at our church. And this afternoon I delivered some flyers to houses in the area for a meeting at our church tomorrow. Yesterday morning I went to the camera store and got one of our video cameras back from its covered-under-warranty head cleaning, and in a little while my wife and I are going to go to the library. So it's been busy, but not busy, which is really nice. And even though it's kind of dreary and rainy today, and the Vikes lost 18-15, it's still been a great weekend.

And a short disclaimer for those who think I'm being a bit too cheerful here: Winter's coming, which means snow, bitter cold, and about two hours of daylight. I gotta enjoy what I've got while it's here. :)

Pearly Whites

2008-09-10T21:41:00.003-05:00

I went to the dentist today for my six-month checkup, and as I hoped for, everything was fine--no cavities, no gingivitis, no lectures about tartar buildup...just a clean bill of dental health. I'm not kidding, ever since I was a kid I have had a terrible fear of the dentist, and have never ever liked going even for a checkup. When I was nineteen I had all four wisdom teeth extracted, and they were so huge that my dentist had to drill them out with some sort of tool that looked like it was straight from an episode of 24. I remember taking my CD player (remember those?) and, for over an hour, blasting my ears out so I would not have to listen to the drill-saw-thing, and also to take my mind off the many shots of novocaine I had to endure.

So yeah, anyway, the dentist has never been my favorite place to go, which is partially why I brush my teeth religiously, and floss at least once a day. It's not so much out of a concern for my health as it is to ward off any future Wisdom Teeth Extraction-type incidents. And thus far, it has worked spelndidly.

Commandofather

2008-09-07T08:37:00.004-05:00

Yesterday my wife and I finally saw The Dark Knight. We had been meaning to go for quite some time now, but the summer months were extremely packed with work, studying, trips, and other things that ultimately took precedence over going to a movie. But yesterday we made the short trek to the local AMC Mondo-Plex and sat down for a matinee showing of Christopher Nolan's comic book epic. And what a movie it was.

Imagine a continuum in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's Commando is on one end, and Francis Ford Coppola's* The Godfather is on the other. The former is two hours of sheer bombast and cheese--Arnold waves guns around like fourth of July sparklers, shooting anything that moves, be it animal, vegetable, or terrorist. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and a direct line can be drawn from the opening premise (all bad guys must die) to the closing credits (all bad guys are now dead). The other end of the continuum, occupied by Coppola's opus, is awash in moral complexities, violence is a necessary means to an end, the hero becomes the villain, and very little is clearly laid out for the viewers.

Most action films would fall somewhere in the middle, or closer to Commando. Most have a hero who knows what to do, and set about doing it. The girl is kidnapped? Go save her. The city is going to be blown up? Find the weapons and destroy them. The country is in danger? Kill the terrorists. And this mold has been extremely successful over the years, resulting in scores of John MacLanes, Jack Bauers, Indiana Jones-es, and others like them. And I certainly enjoy these types of blow-'em-up fests.

But The Dark Knight is far different: its villains are complex, its heroes are tragic, and its messages of morality and justice are far more complicated than "do the right thing." It is a film, albeit with a hefty share of explosions and a body count that approaches three dozen much more in line with its spiritual predecessor, The Godfather. Heath Ledger's Joker is at once the most transparent and yet the most complicated villain to appear onscreen in many years. District Attorney Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart (minus the ginormous Fu-Man-Chu from Erin Brockovich), wants only to do good, and punish all those who do evil. But even this polar view of morality gets twisted to the point where he ultimately becomes the antitheses of the man he once was. And Batman, played to near-perfection by Christian Bale, is a haunted protagonist who does what has to be done, no matter the personal cost, even if it goes directly against what he wants to do.

Suffice it to say, The Dark Knight is an amazing character study masquerading as a summer blow-em-up fest. And that is a mighty good thing.

*whew*

All that aside, last night when our friends Jon and Sarah were over, we were surfing YouTube and found this video of a restaurant that serves a 14-pound pizza for $50. If two people can eat the whole thing in an hour, they get $100. In college my friends and I used to take the Stuffed Crust Challenge, by seeing who could eat the most Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza in one sitting of Wayne's World...but I doubt any of us could tackle this beast:

HD-Whawha?

2008-09-03T18:34:00.002-05:00

Tonight my wife and I might finally take the plunge, if time permits: we will go out and buy one of those digital converter boxes for our TV. Until now this hasn't really been a priority, since we watch about four hours of over-the-airwaves TV per year in our house (no kidding), but with the February deadline looming closer every day, we though it was high time to join the party, albeit a tad late.

We ordered our coupons a few weeks ago, and they got here yesterday, so tonight after running a few errands we will probably head to Best Buy, Circuit City, or another similar place, and snag a converter box. Not that we'll use it much, but it will be nice to be prepared at any rate.

Three weeks ago the two of us went to a "tent sale" put on by National Camera, a local camera outlet, and purchased some nice schwag to boost the quality of our wedding videos--two tripod heads, one set of tripod legs, a camera bag, some lens filters, and, the pièce de résistance, a new Sony HC96 camera. Well, "new" as in "open-box item." Since we already have one HC96, and like it so much, we bought another so the secondary camera in the weddings we record is now of equal quality to the primary. Anyway, the one we bought, unfortunately, did not work, so I took it back the next day for warranty service. Sadly, they told me it would be at least a month until they could fix it, but lo and behold, last night they called and said it was fixed and ready to be picked up. Sweet! It's possible they were pulling a Scotty and just over-estimating from the get-go, but in either case it's nice to have our new camera up and working.

Time to finish up my root beer and get back to some schoolwork...

Labor Daybor

2008-08-29T21:22:00.002-05:00

I was going to try to put up some pictures from last weekend's excursion into an anachronism, but truth be told, I forgot to bring our camera. :( Fortunately, my cousin Beth had hers, and I did take some pics. Unfortunately, I also forgot to get them off her camera when she was over at our house after the festival. Ah, the vicious cycle in which we live... Anyway, we had a great time, and I'm already looking forward to going again next year. There are not many places in which you can watch an actual competition where dudes chuck a 56-pound chunk of metal over a very high limbo stick (I saw one guy toss it 16.5 feet. He was very large and hairy.), or see a giant tortoise pull around a small cart while being followed by someone who looked like a medieval shepherd, or watch men in suits or armor fake knock each other off real horses, and then beat the tar out of each other while taunting the crowd at the same time. The Ren Fest was a full day of gleeful weirdness, and there was still so much I didn't get to see. Ah, next year...

In describing this past week, like C-3PO said of his experiences with the Rebellion when questioned about them by Luke, there's not much to tell. Work has kept me very busy, but hopefully things will slow down in a week or two. I'm excited for the weekend because, well, it's a weekend, and with this particular one comes a visit to my cousin Eddy, and also a visit from my wife's friend, who should be arriving here from Lincoln within the hour. There was a thunderstorm the other night when I went to bed, and man, one of my all-time favorite things to do is fall asleep during a heavy rain. It was cool. :)

Fair Game

2008-08-21T10:43:00.002-05:00

Last night I went to Cub Foods to snag some groceries, and as the cashier was ringing up my bread, potatoes, and other miscellany, she asked me, in a moment of very polite small-talk, if I had purchased my tickets to The Fair yet. I told her I had not, and did not intend to, even though I live within walking distance of the fairgrounds.

"Why aren't you going?" she asked, again with emphasis on the politeness.

I thought for a minute, deciding how to best answer her question without coming across as mean-spirited. "Well, I don't really like the crowds..."

"You should try going in the morning when it's not busy," said the woman in front of me who had already paid for her groceries and was busy packaging them in brown plastic sacks. "I don't like the crowds either, but if you go in the morning it's really not that bad." The cashier nodded in agreement as she drew a bag of broccoli across the scanner.

I was caught. Thinking on my feet, I tried a different angle. "Yeah, but it's so expensive to go, and then to do anything there." That would do the trick.

"Oh yah..." responded the cashier. "but if you get your tickets from the Customer Service desk," she said enthusiastically as she waved her hand, "they're only eight dollars!" She had a point there.

"And there's so many things to do for free!" responded the lady in front of me. "You can see all the crafts, and the animals, and look at the outdoor exhibits..." She went on, and I could sense a near-palpable enthusiasm and genuine sincerity in the voices of these two women who were trying their darndest to get me to reconsider The Fair.

"You know, maybe I'll give it a shot this year," I told the cashier as she handed me my receipt. "I haven't been there in about four years, so maybe it's worth a look." And I meant it too, even though I remained unconvinced. And so I left the store with two bags of food for thought, and who knows...maybe I'll give it another shot time time around.

But in the meantime, I will be attending a different kind of Faire with some of my cousins on Saturday. Huzzah!

Sunset Cove Molding Memories

2008-08-18T17:17:00.003-05:00

Wow, what a week. It would be hard to summarize the annual Cass Lake family vacation in a few paragraphs, so as I tend to do from time to time here, I'll just point out the highlights, with additional commentary as I deem appropriate. So here are, in no particular order, the best parts of this year's Ringsmuth Fest Up North...

• Watching my uncle David and my brother Andy assemble potato cannons, and then shoot off over 50 spuds over the next few days. We even clocked one at over 200 miles an hour.

• The Perpetual Campfire, sponsored by my uncles Pete and David. Pretty much any time of the day there were people sitting around the campfire or, if the fire was out, the charred pit. Anyone looking to join a good conversation needed only to wander by and plop down on a comfy lawn chair.

• Seeing lots of relatives, especially Out-Of-Towners. My aunt from Saint Louis came for the week, and my cousin from Saint Louis also came for a few days with his wife and their two kids. My brother Tom and sister Joanne made it up for the first part of the week, and my brother Andy was, as usual, there for the whole time. I especially enjoyed hanging out with my two year-old niece, and had some great conversations with my parents too.

• Sunsets. They don't make 'em like that anyplace else. Oh, and the Northern Lights were visible on Saturday night, which was awesome.

• Boat rides on the pontoon, not necessarily for any specific purpose, though we did get in some middle-of-the-lake swimming.

• Fishing, even though I didn't catch much.

• Canoeing up the Mississippi with my wife and my brother.

• Target practice with my brother and his pistol.

• Bike riding around a nearby lake.

• Lots and lots of good food, pretty much constantly.

So here's to another great week at the lake, and for those who didn't make it up this year, we missed you and hope to see you next summer.

Off to the lake

2008-08-08T09:34:00.002-05:00

This weekend marks another trip to the annual Ringsmuth Family...uh...Trip To The Lake, I suppose. There's no official name for it, but once a year a great deal of my extended family descends upon a resort in upper Minnesota for a week of relaxing, playing cards, building campfires, skiing, tubing, and good old-fashioned visiting. My parents and a few of my aunts and uncles started this annual vacation more than 25 years ago, if I remember the lore correctly, and it has continued every summer save for one or two.

Today we are actually heading to Saint Cloud for my cousin's wedding, and we will stay at her parents house tonight. Then tomorrow it's off to the big lake! And yes, since it's a gathering of Ringsmuths, there will be plenty of Macintosh laptops, not to mention various video game systems, so we can make good use of our time away from civilization to, you know, surf the internet and play Mario. :)

Well why not

2008-08-03T21:56:00.002-05:00

For years I denied my impending high school reunion. I thought that if I pretended it would not happen, it would cease to be, and I could go on living secure in my (false) knowledge that I was not old enough to require one of these gatherings. And for a while it worked--I went through college, moved to another state, got a real job...all the while knowing that my ten-year reunion was on the horizon, looming ever closer, but thinking that it would never really happen. I mean, ten years? For other people, maybe. But not me, and certainly not my friends with whom I graduated.

But then last summer, when my brother Andy attended his ten-year reunion, I heard the sound of inevitability loud and clear, and knew that, sooner rather than later, my time would come.

And sure enough, it did. Last weekend, on Saturday, I drove up to a place called Uncle Ron's, just off Cornhusker Highway, with my friends Evan and Christal. The place itself used to be a seedy joint called The Royal Grove, where I saw many bands in high school and college, but it, like the rest of us, had grown up with the times. And as we got out of their new Mazda and headed for the door, I was actually surprised at how not-nervous I was. I had not seen, or spoken to, most of these people since we all graduated, but we were all in the same boat on that one, so what would it matter?

And you know what? It was great. I mean really, really great. There were no pretenses, no awkwardness, and no ill will. Bygones were bygones, and rivalries had been swept away by the passage of time like the last remnants of the old republic long ago. I saw people I barely talked to in high school, and we chatted like no time had passed at all. Everyone was cordial, friendly, and eager to see what everyone else was up to. From the moment we arrived to the time we left, I was talking and joking and laughing with good friends and mere acquaintances, and nary a hint of bitterness was found. I did forget the names of a few people, and I did end up chatting at length with a few who, to be honest, I did not know at all. And there were several individuals whom I simply did not recognize. But we were all in the same boat, and the strange tie that bound--the simple fact that we graduated together--was enough to wash away any of these inconsistencies in recollection.

Will I see these people in the next ten years? I doubt it. Will we all start becoming friends again? Probably not. But that's the great part about reunions like this: there is no expectation of such things. Everyone present acknowledged that we were all pressing the Pause button for one evening, and would go our separate ways like we did ten years ago, knowing that nothing would really change. And we were all OK with that.

And in another ten years I hope to be back at Uncle Ron's, seeing many of the same people, and saying Hey one more time. Thanks to Molly, Jessie, Jackie, Megan, and the rest of the girls who put on one heck of a reunion. Here's to many more.

And believe it or not, this post marks the three-hundredth entry on The Brighter Side. Thank you to everyone who has read this blog over the years. It has been a blast, and with any luck, I'll be writing posts for many years to come.