A Day in Selfies

So, yesterday, we hung out at ye olde Family Fun Center, Wahooz. Couldn't get any good action shots, so went with a collection of selfies to commemorate the day.

this one is sort of a meta-selfie. I should try to post the one that Samwise took here.

Veritable Webster's Definition of "Awwwwww...."

Semi-Random Spring-Timeish Picture

this is probably the fourth or fifth actual Spring-like day we've had this month, in honor of which, I snapped this photo on my way in the house from work today. The robin caught my eye and made me actually look around a bit.

Top This, Guys

Skywriting? Antiquated (and probably will get Al Gore after you)
Using the JumboTron during a pro sporting event? Cliche.
That Boise Junior College Guy celebrating the Fiesta Bowl win by proposing to that cheerleader? Bush League.

This is the new (fleeting) gold standard:


Awwwwww......

Words of Encouragement

Last few days, these thoughts have really helped me:

Perfectionism is not an attribute in my opinion so don't beat yourself up when you miss a few workouts or eat some Easter candy. The goal is to have far more good days than bad. Exercise for the joy of feeling good and getting better. Eat right with the intention of fueling your body with the things it needs to perform

- Tony Horton

That was just general encouragement, this one means that things like general encouragement (or anything at all) meaningful:

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying,
"Do not fear, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great."

Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"

And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir."

Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir."

And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them "And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."

Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

And He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it."

He said, "O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?"

So He said to him, "Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.

The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.

God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.

"But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

"As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

"Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."

It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,
"To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite
and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim
and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite."

- Genesis 15

Weekend Posts?

"Hey, you know those 'What Happened This Weekend' Posts you were doing? You decide to quit those?"

Nope, thought they were fun. Just have had a couple of uneventful/nonphotogenic weekends.

That is all.

Odds 'n Ends

• The pre-Thanksgiving TSA-induced uproar has died down, but the injustices that caused it continue. You can see Wil Wheaton's entirely justified reaction to his pat down on his twitter feed on Tuesday. Being a bit more composed, but still outraged, yesterday he The very definition of a must read.


• I, like many of you, suffered through Rebecca Black's "Friday" (see how nice I am to not link to it?). But there are great ways to cope with it--like Conan's video "Thursday", or Stephen Colbert's great cover of it on Fallon's show. But this essay, just might take the cake, where Jeffrey Tucker reads way too much into the song and tries to turn it into a Libertarian allegory (I agree with the politics/philosophy, just think it's a bad read of the lyrics/video).


• I'm sure you've seen this as it's showing up everywhere I look (or maybe I just spend too much time in the wrong places on the Net), but in case you haven't, hit play here. Last night, I almost broke my laptop watching this--it was on my lap (is that maybe where they got the name for them?) and I laughed so hard I almost launched it across the room.
  
  When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal & Helen Mirren from Billy Crystal


• I put up a video from Lovett a few weeks back, and his album came out recently--one of the most eclectic collections of music I have--and pretty much all good. Grab a free track here:
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

First Weekend of April

Not as eventful as last weekend, but I liked doing it, and hey...it's not a book review, right?

So, this weekend, I

enjoyed this old friend who has sadly, decided to go away again (not my pic, btw)

over-indulged here

toured the Old Idaho Penitentiary with the family enough implied gore for the eldest two Offspring, different enough for the others

didn'tover-indulge here (for a change)

watched this again, was afraid it wouldn't be as funny the 2nd time around, but it was

introduced my children to this classic glad to report, they reacted as they should--laughing hysterically, quoting and requoting ad infinitum

finished was better than it was my sophomore year in high school, don't know why it took me so long to reread it (won't make that mistake again)

read such a fun read

started not bad, not bad at all

was blown away by the premier of mystery fans, quality TV fans...watch this

2,000th Post?!?!?!

Wow, seriously? I know I've been doing this awhile, and if I'd been more consistent, I could've hit this mark years ago, but still...there's something about that number. Really didn't expect to hit this mark.

Thanks for reading, everyone!!

This Past Weekend

So, this weekend I:

laughed a lot, but not as much as I hoped I would at

laughed more than I expected to and totally DID NOT cry at but there was a lot of pollen and dust in the room while I watched

celebrated her 9th birthday

got this for TLoML

tried this yummy yummy beer (Kona & Maui Brewing Companies make the best argument for relocating to the Aloha State)

spent far too much time with this guy (have just started the 5th week of P90X Doubles)

finished this good stuff

started this remember this being good in 10th Grade

watched the latest episodes of and NPH got it done on all fronts this week (tho' Segal absolutely killed, as per usual)

tried out this very, very tasty cake recipe mine didn't look quite that good. BTW, if you make it, double the KoolAid like I did (accidentally yesterday, on purpose from now on)

all in all, a good weekend. How was yours?

Goodreads

Last year, after I gave up on my quixotic goal of blogging my way through the Nero Wolfe corpus (still bummed I failed on that), I made a decision to cut back on my book blogging, 'cuz it felt like I was talking wayyy to much about them. But looking back over my 2010 posts, I saw that really wasn't the case. Also, I remembered that I'd met myself, and I tend to be a bit obsessed with books, so what else am I going to talk about?

At the same time, I started using Goodreads.com last year, and while not 100% faithful about writing mini-to-full reviews of what I read, I was a whole lot better at it than I was here. From time to time, I copied things over here, but not that often. I've now decided to automatically post what I put there over here, (see the previous post) just to keep this place as the center of all things me.

If nothing else, this'll keep this place updated regularly -- hopefully, it'll spur some conversation, and maybe even nudge someone toward a good read (no pun intended).

Or away from a bad one, come to think of it.

By the way, if you're a Goodreads member, why not be my friend? If you're not a member, check out the site and think about it. Maybe try your hand at their 2011 Reading Challenge.

Not at all what I had in mind

So yesterday when I said, "there'll be something different [than incessant NaNoWriMo bleating] tomorrow" I was thinking something different. I was just about done with an amusing little post when the whole day went sideways.

Well, technically, it was my van, not the day.
And, technically, it went across the road and did a 180 into a ditch and a fence, not sideways. But why get pedantic?

So you can get a glimpse of most of the damage there. Nothing major. It still drives (I think, need to get that confirmed), but it ain't pretty -- who cares? Makes it more like its primary driver.

The Princess, Arnold and Wonder Mutt were with me, and we're all fine. It took an hour and a half to get us out of there. The kids did well -- Arnold was pretty shaken up, but getting to sit in the tow truck seemed to help.

But that was it for me for the day . . . I couldn't focus, couldn't relax, couldn't work. I was just shot.

oh yeah, and I accidentally increased the font size on my cell phone's text messages and can't figure out how to fix it. Talk about annoying.

What's worse, is that I reacted this way to what's in all likelihood a minor inconvenience. It's just not that big of deal, ultimately.

Speaking of things that aren't big, friend/coworker (well, until he got laid off last month) of mine is going through a tumor scare, he's going in for an operation in a couple weeks. Got an email from him this evening after a consult with the surgeon. Apparently the tumor is of a borderline size. If it's size A, it's a pretty quick, simple, but painful surgery. If it's size B, it's invasive, will require some reworking of an internal system, probably some radiation or chemo, and well, something tells me the pain is in a different Area Code than the other option. What's size B? 2 mm or more.

One more time, that's two millimeters. For you philistines that don't grasp the beauty of the metric system, that's 0.0787401575 inches.

Roughly the size of the head of a pin.

So yeah, I get that little things can mess up your day, and I accept that. It's just that some little things are bigger than others.

like the song says...

Let the headlines wait,
Armies hesitate.
I can deal with fate
But not the little things.

For no particular reason...

A few days ago, TLomL went through the hand-me-downs in waiting to get some reinforcements for Arnold's wardrobe. One shirt found it's way to The Princess' collection instead. Now normally, I prefer (and I think she does, too) her in the girlier things, and am not that crazy about the tomboy look for her. But I can't help but think this really works for her.

Better Luck Next Year

In honor of our 14th anniversary I was going to try to compile some advice, some pearls of wisdom to share for the younger men in my audience.

Alas, it all came out like Sawyer's English lesson for Jin.

I'll try to start earlier on it next year, maybe I'll come up with something worth passing along

Fiddy

Am sure this is of little concern to you all, but it's big enough to me that I have to mention it (besides, this has been one of those über draining days that render thought almost impossible, so be happy I came up with anything). A few months back, I said that I'd lost 20 pounds so far this year. I've kept at it, and am pleased to announce that I've lost a little bit more:

And it's a good thing I hit that yesterday. Have had one of those weeks where I was on the verge of throwing in the towel and piling it on--you know, having a large Chicago Fire Pizza every day for lunch, and getting caught up on my lounging around. I'm tired of all the work, fed up with feeling hungry all the time...yada yada yada. But when the scale flashed that magic number at me, that was all the reinforcement I needed. Back to the trench warfare that this weight-loss project has become...15 lbs to go!

The Contemporary Epidemic: the Halfalogue

From Kung Fu Monkey: Here's a handy-dandy scientific explanation for why Cell Phone/Bluetooth Guy is so much more grating than Obnoxiously Loud Couple.

What a way to make a living, examining the whys and wherefores of pet peeves. You know, you just know, that the grant approval process has to be easier for this team.

"All right, we have just one more grant to award today, and let's see here...the applicants include: (sound of papers being shuffled) a new Rational Emotive Behavior treatment for bulimia...a more exact test for determining placement on the Autism Spectrum...relationship between watching semi-celebrities on Reality TV shows and Acts of Violence, that one has promise...and, what's this? 'Why People on Cell Phones are so Annoying'? I think it's clear we don't even have to vote on this one, right?" (sound of gavel banging, grant checks being written)

aaaand...curtain.

Grampa went to a Wildfire and All I Got was this Lousy Tshirt?

Since before he retired, my dad's been cooking up ways to make some money in retirement (my thought...why retire?). One of the ways has been as a driver for those fighting wildfires that crop up in Idaho every summer--from various sites to other sites from the fire to the airport (and vice versa), etc. He's been called to duty twice in the last couple of years--he's had at least one down year in between those, which put us in the odd position of hoping the fires don't get too bad, but sorta hoping they do.

What I find interesting enough to focus on today is, like just about every aspect of our culture, fire fighting has been commercialized. There is apparently a decent amount of swag to be picked up at the fires. A couple years ago, my dad brought back tshirts and caps for the grandkids (and himself) with the logos of the companies (is that what you call groups of firefighters?) he was near/driving, or of a waterbomber group, etc. But this year, he brought back tshirts for that very fire. In this case, the Hurd wildfire. Yeah, it had it's own logo (as you can see on Arnold's front and the Princess' back below). My mind boggles that while people are being evacuated, people are being brought in from all corners, federal funds are being allocated (granted, that can take milliseconds), and this thing is being contained; someone has the time to design and print these suckers. The stuff he brought back a couple years ago could be generated in the off season (and, I should note, was of higher quality). But in the midst of all this to create these just strikes me as odd. Not nefarious, don't get me wrong, just odd.

Spitballing

So my friends, I could use some help.

I'm starting to work on a new writing project. This one's sort of an interplanetary trek type thingamajig (watch me throw around the technical terms). In doing the prep work, I'm trying to design a few aliens/alien races for my progaonists to bump into.

And that's where I'm running into trouble. I've got one design down (one of my protagonists) and the rest are...well...rip-offs from the Cantina scene, or I've apparently lifted them from Space Trawler (a great read, btw).

So, I turn to you, hat in hand and ask for some help. Got any ideas? They don't need to be fully formed, just the bare essential, a trait, a strange appearance, anything...I'd greatly appreciate it, and I assure you that you'll share in the profits.^* .

There's part of me that thinks this hitch might show I should move on to another idea, but I'm not going to. I've got a real good feeling about this one--not that it's the one that's gonna go anywhere, it's the one I might let someone read :)

So, any thoughts?


^* Not that there will ever be any.

Just the Thing for Miniature French Gourmands

Zoologists with Conservation International in Borneo have discovered a new species of frog--the world's tiniest (so far). Just how tiny is tiny? 10-12 mm long--but loud enough to hear, apparently, because that's how the zoologists found them.

io9 has a fuller story and some more cute pictures.

Not to Get All Pedantic or Anything...

These radio advertisements for The Western Idaho Fair (maybe TV, too, I haven't seen any) are really getting on my nerves. Is it really so difficult/time consuming to say something like "at The Western Idaho Fair" rather than "at Western Idaho Fair"??

A couple of years ago, as I recall, the logo and advertising campaign for The Western Idaho Fair referred to it as simply "The Fair." Are we to expect it to just be "Fair" now?

I get it that language changes and evolves, but have we really reached the point where the definite article has become vestigial and obsolete?