i-diots rule...

let the iday madness begin. i hate to tell this guy but if all he's getting are 1 dollar bills he needs a much bigger box.
have to admit, this device looks waaaaay cool. you can't even really call it a phone because the phone part is the least exciting feature. it just gets me how people will wait in line for days and sleep outside to shell out $500 or $1,000 (you can buy up to two) for anything. don't think i would do that if they were giving them away for free. ok, maybe, but still...

one giant leap...

the wife and i make a great team, we really do. it could be noted that we, like every other couple, do not always see eye to eye on every single issue. although not an official luddite, she often needs some encouragment when adapting to the cultural changes that are associated with technology. for example, there are certain modern day conveniances that i think have merit. she on the other hand, thinks things like running your central air and subscribing to cable tv are signs of weakness. it took me years to finally convince my wife that we needed high-speed internet access. i deployed a plan that i charted out smartly, laid the groundwork, and implemented about a year and a half ago. more recently, i sold a boatload of my beloved compact discs (post-ripped of course) on ebay to the highest bidder to fund my xbox360 video gaming system. i have recently completed a shawshank redemption-like strategy which resulted in my finally getting cable tv installed in the house. not the premium channels mind you (hey, we're taking baby steps here) but cable tv nontheless. i now have the same tv watching abilities that the residents at the stillwater correctional facility enjoy, and the 9 out of 10 households across the usa that do NOT receive their television signal via the airwaves. i built my case for months and presented an airtight plan that could not be easily dismissed. as it turns out, we will actually be paying a couple of dollars less a month for more service...and are able to watch tv without manuevering antenna's around. we haven't yet discussed the FCC's decision to convert from an analog television signal to digital in february of 2009. guess i'd better get busy formulating the next plan.

long goodbye...

every year it's the same thing. i say it will be my last year of softball. and every year i end up playing. currently i am involved in two different leagues, a sunday night church u.s.s.s.a. league (actually pretty competitive), and a thursday night a.s.a. league. granted, my truly competitive years of ball are well behind me, but i'm playing quite a bit more at this point of my "career" than i thought i would be. i have suffered my second severe bout of softball induced "road rash" in two years and i'm starting to second guess my ability to reason, and capacity of common sense. i like to wear shorts while playing in the hot summer months and have therefore adopted a "no-sliding" policy. i figure if i have to slide, i shouldn't have run, and this usually works out well. on sunday night i forgot that not sliding should also mean not diving as i speared a ground ball headed up the middle. now, i have to cover my wounds with non-stick pads and wrap an ace bandage around my leg to preserve my pants from seapage while at work. it's not pretty, which is why there are no photos available. next year i'm thinking i can retire and dedicate my time to develping owen's skills as t-ball begins. whether this is actually going to happen or not remains to be seen.

can't make it up...

pot to kettle: "you're black!"

the reason for disclaimers on tickets...

why you should always pay attention to the action on the field at baseball games, especialy if you have good seats.

closing the loop...

i have a few new random pics on the photos page. there are a couple from noelle's birthday excersion to como park, and a couple from this past weekend's dance recital.

weekend of dance...

this weekend was full of dancing, dancing, and more dancing. a cruel twist of fate dictated that we must attend two seperate shows this year to see both daughters perform, as opposed to one last year. alaina was first up on saturday afternoon, and sister noelle followed up on sunday afternoon. the girls did great and it didn't take a trained eye to tell that they were vastly superior to the other girls in their respective groups. ok, maybe i'm a bit biased but all of the girls did really well and i was proud of how hard they worked. due to the ban on flash photography and video recording i am unable to acquire any live footage, but we took a few pics before and after the show and i may try to get one or two of those up later.

Happy Birthday Noelle!

noelle turned 8 today...as my 4 yr old son owen would say, "what the heck"?
we took the kids to chuck e cheese today to spend some tickets & tokens. a grand time was had by all. if we would have had 300 more tickets we could have gotten the miniature sized winnie the pooh lunch box for a prize. as it tuned out, we settled for magnets and lip gloss. catch the pics here.

weather kid, complete footage

i spent considerable time trying to piece together the important clips of the girls recent appearance on the local morning news show. i'm not real happy with the software that i used, it's cumbersome and not very user-friendly. i settled on this as the final cut. it's nearly 10 minutes long and is intended only for real fans of my kids. it's the extended version of the link i posted earlier. i have seen the video dozens of times and quite honestly, i'm ready to leave it alone for awhile. that said, here is the entire segment of the girls appearance for those who haven't seen it.

bike to work

ok, i won't pretend that i'm the first person to ever do this, in fact, i know several guys who do it regularly, and from further away. with the gas prices above $3 per gallon and my missing my scheduled work-out last night, i decided to bike it today. it's almost 7 miles exactly, one-way. i packed some dry clothes in my backpack, loaded up the ipod and headed off. when i left the house, it was cool & breezy and i was riding in mostly shadows. by the time i got close to work i was in the sun, and working up a substantial lather. i got to work in about 45 minutes, changed and tried to re-shape my helmet-hair. it feels pretty good but hopefully the forcasted rain will hold off until this evening. don't care to get soaked on my return trip. i can't see myself doing this every day but maybe an occasional friday when the weathers nice.