Farewell Lost

I was a latecomer to LOST, but it was one of the best TV shows ever. The series finale was amazing. Just for fun here are three alternate endings to the show:

Boatload of children

After a rather intense day and week of work I returned home to start what I hope will be a relaxing three day weekend. I was suprised and amused to find a crowd of children racing back and forth across my front lawn. Four older neighborhood boys were playing basketball in my driveway. My kids were racing around with some younger kids. My great grandmother in law was watching from the front step, she had just dropped off the younger boys from Tae Kwon Do. My neighbor who runs a day care was also watching, and had a couple of very young kids running back and forth from her yard to mind.


I don't mind one bit at all, but the level of activity was both unexpected and amusing. I did not expect a boatload of children when I rounded my corner but there they were.



When I opened the garage door to park my van, a throng of them ran in and then back out carrying an assortment of toy lightsabers, and balls. It was really something to see.

Great Family Day

I spent most of the day with my family.

My younger two kids had Tae Kwon Do belt tests. My youngest earned his first belt, a yellow belt, and my middle son earned his third belt, a green belt. My oldest was there for one of the tests to support an encourage his younger brother.

This was followed by a play date for my middle son, which went extremely well. Everyone played well, no fights, and they kept themselves very well occupied.

Next it was off to my folks. My dad was teaching my wonderful wife about woodworking. She has a lot of intrest in the topic and a lot of interest in tinkering with light home repairs. My father is a home repair and woodworking guru. We had a light dinner with my parents (which was great), relaxed and headed home.

The kids went to bed I was surprised to see my middle son appear in the door of the home office. My wife was working and I was keeping her company working on a hobby of mine. At any rate, my middle son gave us a hand written note which read:

Dear Parents,
Thank you for a home and food and shelter and cloze and freinds and helping me on my blet test. Love [middle sons name]

This was followed by a copy of his schedule for tomorrow, which included 'fun with parents among other things. At the bottom was a picture of my wife, him and me.

How cool is that.

One man a cappella tribute to John Williams

Correspondence with a friend

Here are two recent emails from ongoing daily correspondence between a friend and I. There are the actual emails word for word. I'll let you wonder which is mine.

----------------------------------
To this simpleton's palate there reside yet few foods that can register true epicurean delight. Loftiest among them is the meatball. How grand a vision you delivered to me of steaming pots bristling with a battalion of these pan-fried crumbling concoctions slithering amongst one another within a hot tomato bath. Neither the armed will of spartan soldiers nor the entreaties of greek philosophers could compel this aging revolutionary away from a kitchen so enlivened as yours must have been on that day. My dearest Abigail, observing me in this state, has deemed me lost to Lucifer's will, the insidious devil having, with the greatest alacrity, traded away from the dangling of tobacco and spirits in favor of that singular vice from which this Achilles suffers - the meatball.

Your humble servant.

- - - - - -

Dear Sir, — The wishes expressed, in your last favor, that I may continue in life and health until I send you a Meatball, to evoke the exclamation of `mon Dieu! jusque à quand'! would make me immortal. I can never send half a meatball in addressing you when only a whole not the part would suffice. Indeed I think that every culinary pallet gives a great handle to sauced meatball that, without a revelation, there would be tomoato sauce on their cravat. Please give my best to dearest Abigail.

Going Batty at Work

While I was leaving the office after work yesterday I notice a small brown blob on the wall, about 5 or 6 feet over my head. I couldn't quite make it out but my friend and co-worker Bruce recognized it as a bat! He's been there all night, we're speculating he died in the cold. Here are some photos.

Click on each image for a larger view.

Those were the droids you were looking for.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas blog readers!

Sponge Bob Lego

My middle son received a Sponge Bob lego set. My good friend Bruce hung around an helped me build it. It took well over an hour, but we work pretty good as a team. Here is a result, and my two young boys who also approve of it.




(Thanks for the assist Bruce.)

Bowling Cake

We celebrated my middle son's birthday. He's 8. My mom always makes cool themed cakes for my kids. My son wanted a bowling themed cake. Here is the result.


(way to go mom... great job)

My folks, brother, sister and me. (1978)

Here's a photo of my folks, brother, sister and me from 1978!

9 Year Anniversary

My wife and I have been married 9 years (and three days). We're going out to celebrate tonight.

I love you sweet wife!

2009 Family Video

The 2009 Family Video has been edited and an initial render has been prepared succesfully. I've been preparing the family videos as gifts for about 6 years now. I think I've finally figured out how to sidestep most of the big issues. For example, if I render the video as a DVD it will fail every time. The video is long enough and contains enough photos and transistions that it crashes. However, I can render the video as a single AVI without any difficulty. This single AVI will render as a DVD with no trouble, so I use as the basis for the final copy and add all the menus at the last minute.

This years video clocks in at 36 minutes. That's pretty close to what I've been hitting the past few years. I'm satisfied with it. Hopefully everyone will enjoy it.

My youngest son (6 years old) thanked me for working hard on the video. That really made my day.

Cool Leaves!

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/bio-diversity/

Home Repair Light – Broken Doors

I came home tonight (Friday night) ready to kick back and relax at the end of another work week. My eldest son was kind enough to empty the dishwasher upon request but accidentally broke a new thermos. I went for the vacuum to clean up the shards of class insulation that shattered. They key to the closet door would not work. I fumbled with the keys for a few minutes before I notice the door was smashed in several degrees beyond where it was supposed to be. I could see the molding the door rests against was smashed back into the door frame. Several good tugs and the door snapped back into position, and then I was able to unlock and open it.

The molding for the door was smashed in and all the nails had been pulled out. It looks like it rested on heavy duty staples to keep in place. I was quite upset about the door, and asked my eldest son if he knew what had happened. He did not but said he noticed it a few days ago. I asked if he was aware of any other broken doors and he motioned to the door below the kitchen sink.


Sure enough that was broken too, as if someone had kicked it in. The recessed part of the door frame had been punched out the back take the sturdier wood that surrounded it with it.

I vacuumed first.

Then I managed to pull the closet door back into place. I used nails that were comparable in length to what was there, but I don’t believe they were nails intended for wood. Still the door if functional and the nails won’t be seen by human eyes. The frame is fixed but if you look you can tell it’s not quite where it was and a small amount of unstained wood is visible.


The kitchen door under the sink was much more difficult. The wood itself was shattered, cracked and damaged. I took the door off and was able to push the recessed piece of wood back into place with some effort. The shattered wood is glued back on. It would have been smart to hold it together with clamps overnight, but I can not find our clamps. I secured it under something heavy for about 30 minutes (the remainder of my patience for the evening the reattached the door. From the outside the door looks ok, but it’s quite stress and damaged. Although no one knows how it was damaged, clearly it will not withstand a second blow of the same force.


My eldest son and I agreed that there are only three people in the house with the strength to damage doors in this manner; his mother, him and me. We agreed that we would both be extra careful about the force we use when opening and closing doors. We also agreed they would not be closed by kicking them ever again.

This says it all...

Home Repair Saga

I've taken today and this Friday off to be around while work is being done at the house. Thankfully my folks and my in-laws have been able to watch the house earlier this week. (THANK YOU!!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!)

This is the final phase of the home repair due to the leaky toilet saga. If you are not familiar with the story here are the relevant links to the earlier chapters.

* Part 1: The saga begins
* Part 2: Clean up and restoration.
* Part 3: It's dry, we're ready to fix it

This previous weekend Shannon, Shannon's folks and I moved all the furnature to make room for the workers to do their stuff. Monday and Tuesday they scraped the ceiling. Today (Wednesday) they sanded and primed. It sounded like the ceiling would be sprayed today, dry over 24-36 hours then be painted on Friday. That's changed a few times. We heard they'd spray today, tomorrow, then the latest is they can do it today. If so this is great their will be no work done tomorrow. After the painting they may not be able to get the fan and fixtures up. Sounds like they might get that done on Saturday, but we'll see. If they can't it will be next Monday. Shannon and I are anxious for the house to be back together.

Here are photos of the house under construction:

Monday Night October 19th:






Today, Wednesday October 21st:






Thanks to all who have helped with this repair effort!

---

Sounds like there is more prep today and the ceiling will indeed be sprayed tomorrow. UGH! Guess I've got to hustle around and see if I can find help watching the house tomorrow, or I'll telecommute/take more time off. Either way it will get done. I sincerely hope the fixtures can go back in on Friday or Saturday. I do not want this to bleed into next week.

Blue Man Group

I've been aware of Blue Man Group for years, but never heard or watched much. I saw most of their Megastar Rockstar concert on HD TV tonight. Fabulous stuff. I am now officially a fan.

Blue Man Group - Drumbone
Uploaded by garthy4u. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

A Good Week

It's very easy to focus on the challenges we are facing day in and day out. It also tends to be what we share with others. This week had some minor challenges for me, sick children, busy schedules at work, preparing for some home repair, I did not do particularly well with diet or exercise his week, etc... but it also was a very good week. I had many wonderful moments with my wife and kids. I saw a fascinating motivational presentation at Central High School that my son recommended. Most of all I am left feeling upbeat and happy do to comments I received related to work.

This past week was the annual leadership workshop where I work. Leaders from various chapters around the United States and internationally were all in town for a few days. I went to a meeting to listen to comments and questions about some projects I am involved in. While there I was surprised and humbled by how many people seemed to know who I was, and took time to express appreciation for the work that I do. One individual in particular shook my hand and said that many people across the country were benefiting from the work I was doing, and that it was both appreciated and noticed. I feel much appreciated in general at work, but I was deeply flattered and humbled that this person took the time to say something so kind. It really made my week. It’s the kind of thing I needed to write down and remember on days that do not seem as positive.

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I'm officially excited about the new James Cameron moving coming out this December. His stuff is always entertaining, and often exceptional.