Exiled Mainer

Exiled Update Special Edition: SHREDDING!

2009-03-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the Facebook Nazi's took down my video, I guess cause it had a backing track. Like I am really costing some band any kind of money.... *sigh* Well here it is on the blog, in all its glory! Toby and I TOTALLY rocking Sierra. Well kind of rocking. Actually I guess more like soft rocking. But we had fun! This is film from last year and last week pasted together! Enjoy!

Exiled Update SPECIAL: We are in Costa Rica Edition

2009-03-01T14:08:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! A surprise internet conncetion appeared when I decided to turn on the the netbook just for giggles. Turns out Ricky installed a new connection in the hotel today, and now I am able to blog from the patio overlooking the beautiful Carribean Ocean. The picture I have here I took with the cpu webcam, and it sort of blows, but given that I am here, and you're there, I think we can all agree that I am doing pretty well.

It has been another typical lazy day here in Cahuita, somewhere between Limon and Panama. We awoke around 0700 hrs with dad banging on the door, summoning us for coffee at TK and Michelles new suite. A leisurely breakfast followed as the sun started to bake the rain sodden path to the area of the beach we swim at. All along the way there are leaf cutter ants, sloths, lizards, an occassional bright yellow VERY deadly snake, and of course, beggar monkeys. Little bastards.

Sarah is snoozing now, and I am gazing over the screen at a picture perfect white sand beach, palms swinging in the breeze, reggae music blaring from downstairs. Life is grand, no doubt. Cheers!

Exiled Update #12 - Bottling Crazy Willie Light Ale Edition

2009-02-21T13:24:00.000-08:00

Two weeks has finally passed and this morning the wife and I bottled Mo-BumBum Farms second edition to its growing beer family "Crazy Willies Light Ale" named for my schizophrenic cat. Seriously, he meows at things that aren't there. It started off a bit rough when I added the sugar to the carbouy. An immediate explosion of foam took me a bit by surprise, but fortunately it subsided rather quickly, with out a huge loss of the product. I've got a few shots from the process here.
First off what you see above is the Oxyclean and hotwater bath formula relayed to me by brother-in-law, Rabbi Awesomepants. In a little less than hour all the glue and labels simply fall off. No manual cleaning require. Awesome.

This next step is the bottle washing. I got a clever little device that you can use your SanStar in. Press the bottles down a few times and a spray of sanitizer coats the entire thing. I like to rinse them with water before I actually bottle though.
Here we see the carbouy and the bottles, ready for the process! I got smart this time and sat down a little lower than the cabinet height to aid in the siphon speed. After I got the siphon going that is. I hope I didn't aerate the heck outta the first few bottles...I started off with the bottling part, but the capper proved a little too much for Mrs. Libby, so we switched places. In no time at all we had the bottles filled and capped!

MMMMM.... beer. Here you see my sample for specific gravity measurement. This beer clocked in around 7% ABV. A bit high per the recipe kit, but my stout was also about three points higher than predicted. Either I am doing something wrong (or right!) or I am not sampling from the right area and getting too much particulate matter. If my experience with the stout is any indication though, the ABV is accurate!

Finally, here is a video of me capping the one Stella bottle I had to use. This time there was only one... with my last batch it was about 20! We're going to have to drink more brown bottle beer before we are ready for the next batch! We'll know if we've succeeded in two weeks when we get back from Costa Rica!

Exiled Update #11 - Dumbest Holiday Ever Edition

2009-02-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

Sarah was reading in the paper today that this year consumers will spend about 17 billion dollars on valentines day related non-sense. That marks a relatively severe downturn from last years 20 billion. I read last year about valentines day being the biggest holiday in India after Diwali. Does anyone even know what we are celebrating?? The Hallmark folks left that one out of the advertising blitz.... There are several posited excuses for this lame ass marketing mess, mostly involving besotted Roman priests and army graft. No matter how you slice it, its D-U-M-B with a capital D. Spend spend spend... you might get a goverment backed bailout.

Exiled Update #10 - ITS REALLY BEER Edition.

2009-02-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

WOW. Okay, so am now officially in love with beer brewing. I popped open a bottle a couple of days ago, and here, in the glass, are the results!
I can't believe I actually did it! I had nightmare visions of drinking pee flavored cider. It turns out that I made a beverage which tasts suspiciously like a stout ale. It definitely needs a few weeks more to age, but the carbonation seems to be good, and the cidery sweetness evident just a few days before is entirely gone!
Sitting in a carbouy right now is my next attempt. This is a light ale, the "Crazy Willie Light Ale" to be precise. One day Mo-BumBum Farms will roll off your tongue as easily as Stella, SierraNevada, or dare I say it, Pabst. For my third attempt I'll be making a red ale. I got a turkey fryer burner now, hope it speeds up the boil process...

Exiled Update #9 - Beer Update Edition.

2009-01-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

The transfer into the secondary fermenter went well, no contamination this time I hope! Thanks to Rabbi AwesomePants for beer label removal recipe. We'll keep you updated! Bottling next week!

Exiled Update #8 - Inaguration Edition

2009-01-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

Did anyone else hear the collective sigh of relief as 12:01 PM EST rolled by and we didn't wake up??? I don't think he's superman, but PRESIDENT Obama at least gives me hope that this country can reclaim its rightful place as a morally upright nation. We have the power to change our energy use, our treatment of poorer nations and to improve our own civic mindedness. I am actually hopeful for the first time in 8 years. When that helicopter took off, it was like it was really truly finally over. Here's the USA!!!

Exiled Update #7 -- BEER EDITION

2009-01-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

A wise man once said, "No soldier can fight unless he is properly fed on beef and beer." (-John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough) Though I am not headed for combat anytime soon, the universe willing, I made beer!

My lovely wife and parents, under the guidance of my brother-in-law, got me a KILLER beer making set up for Christmas. Today I boiled my first batch! I made a stout, called "MoBumBum Farms Wicked Stout" to be precise. Its not to terribly hard if you have the right equipment (which I do) and are reasonably clever (which I am not). With any luck I didn't contaminate anything too badly. The resulting carbouy full of fluid certainly looks like stout, and the smell while boiling the wort reminded me of St. James Gate in Dublin. I need to transfer it in a week, then wait another to bottle. Two weeks after that, if all went well, we'll be drinking beer! The specific gravity of my brew was 1.10, the expected spec grav for this kit is 1.061.... density predicts alcohol content. Uh-oh.

Exiled Update #6 - Punk Inspired, Soy Powered

2009-01-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Who is this man? Over 8000 pictures from my wedding, and he appears in about 5. It looks here like he is signaling his band of goons to beat up the photographer who captured this image. Is he friend or foe? Is he a government agent keeping tabs on my garage experiments with sending cats back in time to stop the Egyptians from inventing paper? Maybe he's from outer space, sent here because my Subaru leaves a warp drive signature whenever I drive it. He is truly an enigma. What I do know is that this man brews a killer batch of both Root and Ginger beers. He's not Jewish. He's not Amish. I'm just going to call him Rabbi Awesomepants. If you see him, ask him where to get skinny jeans. Much love my brada!

Exiled Update #5 - He's coming, he's coming, he's coming.

2009-01-04T22:38:00.000-08:00

Revolutionary War Hero. Our First President. He has like, 30 god damned dicks.

Exiled Update #4

2009-01-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

My crazy sister-in-law Ari over at the Week Weekly decided to post about things that she wish were, but aren't. She of course wants to be a some 10nth Level Mage with Goblin spells or something obnoxious like that, but it did start me thinking....

I am fortunate in several aspects of my life, namely that I am gainfully employed. I am EXTREMELY fortunate in that I make good money, enjoy what I do, and my work is socially redeeming. However, there are still days when I wonder just what else I could have done. My co-worker Aaron and I have are particularly enamoured of the construction workers outside the hospital. For the past several years these have mostly been metal workers, you know welders, pipe fitters, etc. They come to work the same time we do, 0600hrs, and their day seems to proceed thusly: Work for three hours, smoke and coffee break for 15 mins, work another three hours, Lunch break, work three hours, and then go home. Yeah, its a long day, but I bet they make good money, are outside all day sort of doing there own thing, and look especially happy sitting around eating there lunches out of giant coolers.

Our biggest envy is that they are probably telling fart jokes. Our coworkers are great, but they are women. No fart jokes. *sigh*

Exiled Update #3 - SPECIAL CHRISTMAS ADDITION #2

2008-12-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

My two favorite 2008 Christmas Memories are indicative of the awesome life I lead, one in which I have family who are interesting and constantly coming up with something else to challenge your concept of "normal"

Lets start with this young man. This is Kevin. Kevin is now seven. Kevin speaks the truth. After we opened more presents Christmas afternoon at the Morgan's, he was standing in the middle of the floor, gyrating like some of sort of excited atomic particles you see in animations. I looked him in the eye and asked him, "Whats so exciting???!!" He looked me right back in the eye, took both my hands, pulled me close and yelled, " I HAVE NO IDEA!!!! HAHAHAHA" Remember in The Shining when Jack busts through the door? That was the same gleam Kevin had. Pure, unadulterated madness and glee. But not the insane kind. Thanks Kevin for reminding me what being a kid at Christmas is all about!

And here is my dad. He explores his world much the same way infants do, by putting things in his mouth. When they were here in CA last, he wandered down the street and found this Mexican place called Poncho's, where he had goat soup and menudo, and NEVER shut up about it. We finally lied to him and told him that Poncho died of Tuberculosis just so he'd stop asking us if we'd been there yet. After Christmas we told him his last present was that Poncho was, indeed, alive and well so far as we knew. Dad and I strolled the 8 blocks down Stockton Blvd., where much to our gustatory glee, the goat soup was hot, and the beer cold. I had a a burrito, but dad (seen here gnawing on a goat knuckle) had the soup. Viva la intestinal parasites!

Exiled Update #2 - SPECIAL CHRISTMAS EDITION

2008-12-31T14:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2008 was a blast!! My parents came out from Maine to celebrate with us, and it turned out to be the best possible combination of fun and relaxation. Fortunately Sarah likes having people over, and it was a real pleasure to have people here. This first picture was of the day we went up to the Christmas tree farm to pick out our beautiful yule plant! Totally awesome huh?
After attending mass Christmas Eve (groan) we came back to the house to decorate sugar cookies. Like everything he does, my father became equal parts obsessed and crazy with this project. He managed to find some 5 year old spray frosting and went nuts. He has problems. As always, my lovely Sarah couldn't wait to enjoy the snacks....

We sort of lost the camera during the present opening frenzy Christmas morning, so we don't have a lot of those shots... .what I do have is my parents zoning out playing Grand Theft Auto on my new Xbox that I got for my birthday. I am going to leave it up to Sarah to post pictures from her mom's house with the whole family.

The next post will include my two favorite 2008 Christmas moments. DON'T MISS IT!!!!

Exiled Update #1

2008-12-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

Hi there blog-o-nauts. I am going to make a better effort at blogging during this new year. I am hoping to follow my sister-in-laws example, check out her blog at the Week Weekly, and blog with some sort of regularity.

With that in mind, here's a few of the pictures from the rest of our Yosemite trip a couple of weeks ago! The second day we went hiking it started snowing like mad! The weather was reasonably warm however, so we pressed on. Just as we started off on the 7 mile loop trail around Mirror lake, we spot not one, but TWO bobcats! They were wicked hard to photograph, but here's a couple.

The lighting was terrible, so these were the best ones I got... they were big and fluffy, and not much concerned with our presence. The rest of the hike was punctuated by heavy bouts of giant flakes and short breaks of blue sky. Here are a few pictures... I was getting all artsy fartsy with a couple.

And finally, here is Sarah & I, the happy hiking couple, enjoying the snow and fresh air and time together. I love my wife, especially when she takes me on super fun birthday trips to Yosemite!

Yosemite Or Bust!

2008-12-15T16:24:00.001-08:00

So very sorry for the blog hiatus. After Obama got elected I basically was having a joygasm.
Well my 33rd birthday has come and gone, and Sarah took me to Yosemite for three days to celebrate. Neither of us had been there before. At least I have the excuse of not growing up here... We made reservations for three nights at the Yosemite Lodge, which lies at one end of the Valley floor. Our room was right next to the bar, and underneath Yosemite falls, the best of both worlds!
The whole hotel was done up Christmas style, and Sarah's wishes were granted when the snow finally came and made it a super winter wonderland! We enjoyed coming back to the bar for hot alcoholic drinks and Scrabble battles by the roaring fire. How fun! There was also some slight misunderstanding involving snow and Sarah's face.
Our first day in the park found us taking the shuttle bus to the trail head for Vernal and Nevada falls. It was a brisk 40 degrees and the skies were clear, though I knew something was up when the shuttle driver wished us good luck, mumbling something about the "Agony of da feet..." *hahaha* This trail starts right off heading up up up! The views were amazing though, and only a few people hiking that day!

The pictures above are of the Vernal Falls, the top of which was a mere 600 steps from the base, at one point crawling along the wall on this totally awesome bit of trail....
The climb was totally worth it however, though it turned out we were a mere halfway towards our ultimate goal, the top of Nevada Falls! At this point we'd climbed about 1000 ft, with another 1200 to go! EEP! The next couple of pictures from the top of the Vernal Falls.

This next picture is Nevada Falls.... seems close enough, right?

WRONG! Man alive, getting up to the top of this thing was BRUTAL. But totally worth it... the next 1200 feet of climbing occurred in just a mile or so. OUCH! It might have been the low oxygen levels in my brain playing tricks on me, but this whole Yosemite park place really did live up to the hype!

We did finally make it to the top, where the sun was shining, and we had the whole place to ourselves. It was warm enough to wear only our tshirts, after requiring hats, mittens and a couple layers of fleece in the morning. We enjoyed the scenery and had some tasty snacks!

That last picture is of Liberty Cap.... I guess if you were insane you could climb up that too, but we decided to call it a day and descend back to the valley floor for dinner and drinks! We were about halfway to Half Dome too.... but these pictures that follow was about as close as we were going to get on this trip!

More in the next post... including Bobcats, reflecting lakes, and SNOW!!!

I finally voted for a winner!

2008-11-06T19:48:00.001-08:00

For the first time since Clinton I've voted for a winner! I seriously had formulated plans for moving to New Zealand if the American people couldn't wake up and do the right thing this time around. I don't think Obama is a saint or my personal saviour, but I do think that he is a person who lives in the same world as I do and will honestly try and make things better.

And we totally got a hologram from CNN. I am sure it is just a matter of time before this gets used in an "adult" fashion. Zippity doo daa!

The sad thing about this election though, is my discovery that some people whom I thought were smart, rational people, turned out to be avid Palin supporters. I say Palin only, as I respect John McCain but disagree with him. Palin on the other hand, is a moron, and if for some reason you think she actually was qualified to be the vice president, I can come to only one conclusion: You are mentally retarded and need to stop breathing because you are simply an oxygen thief. ***A few provinces of Dumbfuckistan petitioned the US for admission to the Union. They are now ex-Real Americans according to the Oxygen Thieves***

Free Flu Shots Cause Harm

2008-10-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

I was at a free flu shot clinic recently when I had the most amazing thing happen. I was mingling with the crowd, announcing that free flu shots were available, asking people if they'd had theirs yet. I approached one young man, African American, and asked him if he'd has his yet this year. He said "no" and asked me a question about the shot, and before I could answer it, his girlfriend (presumably?) said, and I am not joking here, "Oh no! Uh-uh! Don't you take dey medicine, you ain't gots no idea whats in it. They says its good for you? Remember that's what they told the Indians." WTF??? Just further proof ignorance is alive and well, and knows no race, color, or education level boundries. These were college students......

I think we all know about the blankets with small pox. No one can deny the horrible outcome of the US's brutal policy towards the native inhabitants of this land. This exchange however, reveals the real danger in a sophomoric level of knowledge. These kids know just enough to categorize everything in their world into narrowly defined stereotypes. This WILL NOT work out well in the end I think. I guess it's all just one great big conspiracy. And that makes me The Man I guess. *sigh*

NEWS FLASH*

2008-10-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SOLD TO MEXICO!

In a stunning display of financial acumen, the United States offloaded Southern California to the Mexican government today. After months of undercover negotiations, the final ceremony took place at an agave farm high the hinterlands of Jalisco. The Mexican Deputy Minister of Food Safety and Plumbing Code was on hand to meet with Condaleeza Rice and disgraced republican lobbyist Jack Abramhoff (released for this special occasion) and to present a check.

Things had been going pretty well up until Condi accused Sr. Ramirez of "having a chicken dick" After this setback, the U.S. had to settle for $15.43 for all of Southern California. The people who live there think its a pretty raw deal, but quite frankly the Adminstration thinks its off-loaded a real pain in the ass part of the country. Now Paris Hilton is Mexico's problem, not ours.

Some of the locals were asked to comment on the development. Thad Winters, a 19 year old community college student had this to say: "Whoa! No kidding bro? Like, that's no joke? Right on! That's totally sweet. Can I still wear my douche bag outfit and walk around with an unearned sense of entitlement?" Another brainless Hollywood moron had this to say, "Oh, you mean that country to south were I get my coke?" Attempts were made to locate anyone in the area who had a job of any redeeming quality, but it seems all the teachers and biologists were actually at work, not rambling the streets shopping for fashionable pets.

The following list is graphical representation of just whats so great about GETTING RID OF THIS PLACE:

Okay, so the TMNTs aren't so bad, but the rest of them will be good riddance to bad news. Since southern California is basically a miserably polluted desert, it will be a great fit as the new northern border of of Mexico. We'll keep the valley and water to ourselves, and you SoCal'ers are welcome to move north. Oh, by the way, in exchange for an apology for Speedy Gonzalez, Mexico agreed to let us use Los Angeles as a nuclear test range. Turns out even they think that place is hopeless! ADIOS AMIGOS!

Man vs. Chicken : The Eternal Struggle

2008-10-03T16:55:00.001-07:00

CACHE EXTRAVEGANZA - Part 2

2008-09-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

On our second day of our camping trip/Geocaching Marathon we started the day with a healthy breakfast and a quick swing in our hammock. After last nights awesome sunset and successful finds we were ready for more! The pinnacle of this cache-o-rama was the Whale Rock!I will paste my log for this find, as I feel it says it best! When you find a cache you log your find with any interesting tidbits and photos at www.geocaching.com where you can read other people adventures too!

BOOYEAH!!! This was the coup de gras for our cache-tastic weekend! We gathered the tide data and timed our hunt accordingly. After a BEAUTIFUL stroll across the beach we approached our quarry. The water was a bit nippy, but with perfect timing we waded across the river and assessed the situation. Muggles abounded on this marvelous day, but we forged ahead. Up, up, up we went until we were on top of the world, surveying the muggle peasantry below us, ignorant of the geocaching glory that was about to occur. You'd think after such a rigorous climb, the placer of this cache would show mercy with an easy hide. After breaking into the completely useless clue, we considered our options, and failure was not one of them. On the brink of madness, my mind fraught with anguish, and some concern my wife had fallen off when I couldn't see her searching below the lip of the rock, I spied it! Flush with success I leapt into the air with joy, shouting with glee and capering like a slightly drunken fellow. After high fives and whoops all around, the wife and I signed the log, and made our decent to the lower planes of existence, glowing with geocaching success. This is our new favorite!!

CACHE EXTRAVAGANZA - Part 1

2008-09-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

My wife and I took a camping trip up this weekend, this time to MacKerricher State Park north of Fort Bragg. This was probably our last trip for the season, but if it stays 100 degrees much longer here in Sacto, it might not be! We also planned a totally awesome geocaching spree, with over 20 caches to locate!The picture above is one of the numerous bridges on the coast route of California, spanning a dramatic gulch, this one called Russian Gulch. We started our caching day at the points furthest south and worked our way up the coast. Here at Russian gulch we nailed two caches, one of which gave us great views of the wack-job abalone divers out in the kelp forest. See below.This particular cache is classified as a "micro", which usually means a film case, altoids can or something like that. They'll be stuck with magnets to guardrails, hung in trees with hooks or stuffed into nooks and crannies. These things are seriously ALL OVER THE PLACE. With my able co-cacher (pictured below) we started off the day with two easy finds and caught glorious views of the coast on this perfect early fall day!
Our next mission was to Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. We picked up a travel bug while home in Maine that we needed to deposit at a cache here. Travel bugs are these little tags attached to some random object that either have a specific mission (ie. travel to different lighthouses) or are just randomly traveling around the globe. This travel bug in particular was called the Pemaquid Point TB, after a lighthouse on the Maine coast. We snapped a picture of it with Point Cabrillo and deposited it for the next lucky cacher!

In the next post we'll get to the caching coup de gras, WHALE ROCK!!!!! This cache required, skillz, mad skillz. These last few shots are at the campground. They have a whale skeleton there, and of course Sarah just HAD to ham it up.
Finally, a few sunset pictures... these were taken at the seal watching station at the camp ground. We wandered down there for a couple of cache's just at the right time to catch the sun going down and to laugh as the poor seals got washed off the rocks. There are a FEW things about California I will miss, the north coast is one of them!

Sarah Palin : Bikini Godess

2008-09-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay... enough already. Yes, she's not very bright, worldly, compassionate, or truthful. At least she looks good with some white trash chicks body pasted to her head.

To say Sarah Palin would be horrible for America is like saying the center of the sun is hot. Maybe she is not evil, maybe I am just a horrible person who thinks the Bush Doctrine (which I could explain in an interview if asked...) is an incredibly self-centered, short sighted, infantile view of the way the world works. Maybe it is me who is wrong for thinking that a rational approach to government management of our free market society would probably be a good discussion to have. She can see Russia from her house, which makes her a foreign policy expert. So far as I know she poops too, which makes her an authority on waste water treatment. I've had a piece of moose meat in the freezer longer than this right wing bible thumping weirdo has had her passport. Seriously.
Some of my coworkers complained that she was picked on by "Charlie" during his interview with her by asking her "hard questions". I haven't had a chance yet to ask them if Katie Couric (a real hard hitting news reporter if ever there was one) was picking on her when she asked Palin to list examples of McCain's ability to manage a serious economic concerns. Sarah Palin's astounding ability to sound like the dumbest person on earth has probably nothing to do with why we haven't seen her give any other interviews lately. McCain MUST be scratching his head at this point, wondering if the real definition of hockey mom is some crazy bitch who got hit in the head with a puck...

If I was a weather man, my name would be Flo Poopo

2008-08-24T14:15:00.001-07:00

(the name is an inside joke for my brother)

First Page in the Canadian Army Field Manual

2008-08-19T15:35:00.001-07:00

Olympic Trampoline??? Seriously?

2008-08-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

I guess its an indicator that I need to do more actual work at work, but this week we've been able to catch a lot of the Olympics while at the hospital in the conference room. Mid-day Olympics broadcast is really pretty interesting, at least compared the smarmy flashback crap NBC broadcasts during about of 30% of its quasi-live prime time coverage. I've seen some dressage, archery, water polo, handball (another questionable sport), but I actually was speechless when the Olympic Trampoline QUALIFYING HEATS blessed the screen.
Ummm, what?? Trampolines and washed up gymnasts does not an Olympic sport make in my book. In both real gymnastics and trampoline men wear suits that could generously be called plum smugglers. Those guys, while looking ever so dainty, can do moves requiring muscle strength far beyond that of most mortals. The women look sort of like like women, as much as you can expect a 12 year olds to look like a woman, but their strength is also incredibly impressive, and their finesse makes the men look like lumbering idiots.

Trampoline on the other hand, is just outright freaking lame. If you're gonna stroll around in pants or leotards that broadcast gender specific camel toe to the entire world, you'd better have the stuff to back it up. Trampoline "atheletes" clearly do not have that stuff.The last I checked trampolines were for the following:
1. Mormon families: they are cheap entertainment when you have 20 kids
2. Gymnasts who are practicing
3. Douche bags like the guys in the picture above.

Like all sports, the US is decades away from fielding a generation of good trampoline artists. I'd like to think it is because no red blooded American would ever stain the flag's good name by competeing in this ridculous "sport", but it only because we don't start our atheletes like China does. **See picture below***
For my money, even synchronized swimming (not surprisingly being broadcast right now on Oxygen along with dressage....) is a more of a sport. Gimme a sport where you're trying to lift so much weight that you pee yourself, and I'll stand up and cheer any day.

Cold War : Part Deux

2008-08-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

Its not like I am an expert in international relations, and I admit my knowledge about this whole Georgia/Russian conflict is a bit sophmoric, but after a week of trolling the net, reading the NY Times and follow NPR, I think I have a fair handle on this friggin nonsense.

What it boils down to is Vlady "Mad as Rasputin" Putin has decided that Russia (with it VAST natural resources, huge military and total control over its populace) is threatened by a small country to its south that seems to be on a path to integration with Europe and the west via admission into NATO.

In the mind of Lili-Putin and pals, this obviously justifies an unmitigated land grab for Russian leaning provinces on the border, and an apparent desire to cut the country in half via take over of Gori, which would effectively shut down transport of people and goods through out this highly mountainous nation. The Georgian president can rightly be blamed for poking the Russian bear, but this behaviour on the part of the Russians is positively 20th century. Didn't we at some point decide that the attack and annexation of sovereign territory was WRONG? I have no idea how this gets solved in the long term, I only hope that the killing of innocents stops.

Art, it giveth me so much joy!!

2008-08-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning to the a new art installation in my front yard. I don't know who or what glorious being is responsible for bringing this light to my life, but I thank them. In a world so often turned ugly by the violence and senselessness of the human race, its so nice to know that somewhere, somehow, beauty remains. I present to you some pictures of this marvelous bit of avant garde magnificence.

Is this a statement about the Earth's forests being overrun by machines? Is it a plea for release from the surly bonds of gravity? Did a hobo fall from the sky whilst ballooning? Do aliens wear sneakers and drop them sometimes during anal probes? We might never know. Just enjoy.

WEDDING = COOL CAMPING LOOT!!!!!

2008-07-31T16:42:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Libby and I decided to take a quick jaunt up to the Lachs again to do an overnight camping trip. We have all this great camping loot from our wedding we wanted to try out in the the real world and figured this was a good trip to try it on. As a lot of you know, most of California is on fire and our little corner is no different. The American River complex fire was burning to the south and east of the Lachs, but there was a huge firefighter presence there as there is a large network of forest roads in the area. At first we thought we'd be turned away, but Ranger Stranger let us through and we parked my car, with some thoughts that we might see it next as a burned out metal hunk. (its paid for and insured....) With a quick goodbye to the Subaru and a packs on our back, on the trail we went!

We quickly hiked in the 2 miles to Middle Lach Leven, and spotted a GREAT camp site right on the waters edge. This place is littered with picture perfect camping spots, and we've never seen more than a few overnighters up there at any one point. Its truly a well kept secret! I think if more people knew our super stealth route into this area that bypasses the 1700 foot vertical gain the main trail makes you achieve it would be more popular! HA!!

The next pictures feature some of the wicked cool loot we got from our friends and family for our wedding. We had enough titanium gear to build a suit of armor! The French presss is titanium. Our dishes are titanium! The Steri-Pen appears to work exactly as advertised, otherwise after all the litres of lake water we drank, we'd have pooped our brains out right then and there. (Another neat toy not picture is the iPood--> a little packable shovel) The stove TOTALLY rules. My friend Aaron and his wife got that for us. It burns diesel, white gas, car gas, kerosene, alcohol, propane, you name it. BRING IT ON APOCOLYPSE!

Finally, here are a few general shots. I really dig the ones Sarah took from the tent looking out onto the lake. We only had one night, but it was worth the hike in! We enjoyed swimming, playing with our new toys, and even nailed our FTF (first to find) cache! WOHOO!!!!! As Paul Morgan sagely observered.... "WOW! Weddings = TOTALLY AWESOME CAMPING LOOT" Speak on brother Morgan, speak on. EAST SIIIIDDDDEEE.............. OUT.

Lachs, Geocaching and Bears, OH MY!!!!

2008-06-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

While the coast burns and Arnie declares a drought, Ms. Sarah and I hopped into the ever trusty and fuel efficient Toyota Corolla and drove into the back country of the Sierra into Tahoe National Forest to go on a Geocaching adventure up at the Lach Leven lakes. After driving about 10 miles of forest roads, I have to give mad props to the 'Rolla.... given big props to the West Side for my sis-n-law.

What is geocaching you might ask? Well it is hands down the most fun you can have with a GPS unit! Scattered across this crazy world are hundreds of thousands of little ammo boxes, mint tins with magnets glued to them, and bar code stamped items traveling the globe... all right under our noses! Geocaching is fun, its free, and takes you to all kinds of fun places! Check out the link to the website and learn more!

Our first Geocache stop was at Lake Huysink. I thought for sure we'd get a FTF (first to find, highly coveted) but someone had been there first! *sigh* It was still great to bag our first find of the day! Here I am showing you how intrepid explorers work.

After a quick detour BACK down the road a bit to grab some industrial strength bug spray, we set off across the ridge bound for Salmon Lake and our second cache of the day. It was a relatively short hike at 2 miles or so, but the acrid air was pretty rough on our lungs. Still, even in the haze, the early summer in the Sierra's is beautiful!

Our second find of the day was a bit off of the trail at the far end of Salmon Lake from where the trail splits off. We thought we had been scooped yet again that day on the find by some people we saw, but it turns out they were only muggles (non-cachers) looking for a good place to camp. After walking right over the thing a couple of times we managed to find the cache, and in the process a beautiful view! We also picked out our first TravelBug, "the RAMbler"!!!

The third cache of the day was a THREE PARTER!!! This means that you get the coordinates for the first caches, which gives your the second which gives you the third! What a hoot! The first one was pretty easy. The second one taugth us a valuable lesson in GPS use... mainly, give it a second to catch up. After scrabbling up and down some good size hills, the second site turned out the be in a spot that we should have cut over to about a half mile back on the trail!! Never fear, we found it and went on to track down the third and final cache! Our GPS brought us to the edge of a lake, indicatig the cache to be about 150 feet from shore. WHAT?????!!!! We were prepared for this and jumped right in! SUCCESS!!!! We signed the log, left some Costa Rican money and swam back to the shore to enjoy a tasty lunch of salami, cheese and bread.

Last week my sister-in-law posted on her blog LoveYourMotherEarth an entry regarding the vicious and wild world of suburban California. Namely, squirrels. I guess when you live in So-Cal (as the cool kids call it) squirrels in your backyard is about all you can expect, apart from and occasional mountain lion who has so much mercury in his brain from pollution that he wanders into a retirement community, causing mass hysteria from the walking dead and eliciting a hunting party to kill off one of three wild animals left down there..... but I digress. As we were coming down the mountain, and incidentally as I was thinking bringing a bear box wasn't really necessary when hiking around there, what should bound across the road, but a bear! He stopped not too far into the woods to take a good look at us, and we stopped to check him out. Talk about cool. Take that Mistress of the Squirrels!

All in all, another wonderful day to be alive! We're planning some overnight trips with all the great gear our family and friends got us for the wedding and will be sure to document that whole circus too!

The Best Bike Ever

2008-06-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

Well its official, I own the coolest bike ever made. I picked up this beauty from a Craigslist posting after missing out on three others by minutes! With gas prices what they are, people are starting to learn the value of a good bike.

With my new job down the street this makes my commute about 5 minutes and about 3/4 of a mile, as opposed to the 125 miles away that my prior job site was! The new job is great, but it starts at 0600 hrs! EEP! Well I CAN ride the bike and drink coffee at the same time, but I thought I'd see if I couldn't do a little better than that. I'm no philistine after all....

I had an old bottle cage hanging around my garage that seemed to fit my mug perfectly. I drilled out the holes into the handlebars, which stay nearly upright in all but the most aggressive turns, secured it with a few loose parts I found at the bottom of my tool box and PRESTO! It doesn't look too secure in this picture, but I've road tested it and will stand-by the passing grade I've given it.

The sweetest thing about this bike is the way cool paint job. I have no idea when this thing was actually made, but I am guessing late 80's??? Further deduction places its previous and intended home at a Florida trailer park, given the name. My nana and grandpa had one of these things when they lived in Florida, and I remember riding it like a maniac, jumping the speed bumps and doing power slides on the shuffle board courts.

For my purposes and more grown up sensibilities, I've added a few other modifications. It came with this wimpy little wire basket, that just would not do. I had an extra plastic bin kicking around and mounted that on the back instead. It holds my big boat bag from Beans full of groceries with room to spare for a few other items. I originally just mounted it right to the frame, but I added a couple of pieces of wood to create a more solid mounting surface today, and it seems more stable now. As you can see, I put the reflector back there too, in a nod to safety concerns. In that vein I have a orange flag to warn people I am on the road.

Future modifications I am hoping to make are:
1) Adding a three speed hub--> as it is now, you max out your speed pretty quickly.
2) Lighting, possibly recharged from a mounted solar panel like the one I have that lights the flag in the front yard.

Stay tuned for future updates on the bike, stories of our Geocaching adventures and Sarah's new bike!

WEDDED BLISS!!!!

2008-06-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

Well FINALLY we have some of our professional wedding pictures in! Here's a sample of the awesomeness. We have right around 5,000 (WTF???) pictures, so going through all of them to pick out the best is going to be time consuming, but here's a few I dig. You can see more pictures at the photobucket website we have set up at www.photobucket.com Username: JasonandSarah_2008 Password: wedding. Enjoy!

ps. Wanna see the best wedding dance ever? click here!

Sarah is at a scrapping retreat this weekend, so I have been left with the task of going through all of these! I thought I had plowed through them all until I posted this and realized that I missed two whole DVD's worth of pictures! On the upside, I've been riding my new three wheel bike all over the place this weekend and am planning on settling into a great East vs. West NBA finals game this evening with my team the Celtics on cusp of greatness! Adios! GO CELTS! BEAT LA!!!!!

Introducing Miss Silvia

2008-06-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

One of the best presents we got for our wedding was from my buddy Roger, the People's Gourmand, who made note of my drooling over his very nice espresso machine a month or so ago. So he purchased us Miss Silvia! A fine piece of Swiss engineering sold by Italians!

The learning curve on this thing is pretty steep, but with practice we're finally starting to get it!

It seems that there are all sorts of variables, including how hard you pack the grounds in the strainer, how much coffee you use, time of the pour and the fineness of the grind. Apparently the recommended grinder is like 260 bucks!!! Of course Roger has it. It is pretty bad ass, but since he lives very close by, I'll just bring my beans to him! Here's a few successful pulls!

Probably not very interesting to you all, but its been great for us!! With this and the other great gift of the coffee maker, we've cut out Starbucks! TAKE THAT!!

VROOM VROOM!!!

2008-05-29T17:23:00.001-07:00

This is PROBABLY the guy who passed me yesterday on 80 East bound. He'd be the bonehead in the Chevy 2500 Extra Cab with an 8 inch lift kit and giant tires who blew by me at about 80 miles and hour. I can't imagine that guy was getting any better than 10-12 miles per gallon, while I was smugly driving Sarah's Corolla getting a nice 37 mpg. Behind me was a nice little line of Hondas and Toyotas, all with cruise control at 70, enjoying the sunny day and light traffic. Now this MORAN really gets under my skin.

This guy is probably the first one to complain about high gas prices, and how the "government should be doing something" about it. He's probably also convinced Barack Obama is a Muslim. The point being is mental midgets like the dude blowing down the highway at 80 mph in a vehicle getting 10 miles per gallon are either RICH or STUPID (not that they are mutually exclusive....). Lets set the record straight though, I am not an eco-nazi, tree hugging, level 4 vegan (only eating things that don't cast shadows) but I recognize that when a tank of gas costs 50 bucks, its time THINK ABOUT DRIVING LESS and SLOWING THE HELL DOWN when I do.

I, for one, think gas prices soaring is the ONLY thing that will make us stand up and take notice of the huge costs to our environment, health, and economic and political survival in the world that our voracious appetite for gasoline has created. I am not advocating returning to the stone age (HEY EZEKIAL, WANNA RAISE A BARN ON TUESDAY???), but I do think that we can do a lot to improve life on the planet for ALL of us just by doing what the Europeans have been doing for the past 30 years... driving smaller cars, driving them slower, and not expecting gas to be free. Okay... enough already!

WEDDING BELLS!

2008-05-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well after many months of planning and organizing and fretting, Sarah and I were finally married on May 10th!

This picture here is of my beautiful bride and myself with Sarah's sister Mara and brother-in-law Craig.

We don't have any of our professional shots back yet, and when we do its going to be an act of Congress to get them sorted out. We were fortunate enough to have two photographers for the whole day, as the company we went with assigned us a second one gratis (he needed to have an event under his belt in order to sign on with Bella). At the end of the night as one of them was bidding us adieu, he intimated that he had shot "probably around 3000 picutres." THREE THOUSAND. And thats just ONE of them... If you'd like to see the pictures uploaded by our guests so far, just go to www.photobucket.com and username: JasonandSarah_2008 password: wedding.

After the ceremony we jetted off to beautiful FIJI! The name of the resort is Wananavu and it was GORGEOUS. The staff, the bure (pronounced bur-rey), the food and the area were PERFECT. Here is the view from bed! The sliding doors opened the entire wall out onto the deck with the sea below (lost in the sun washout in this picture).

Here are a few more shots of our accommodations....

The food was fantastic! Of course when you have a view like we did, its hard to imagine how it could be bad! Sarah and I managed to make happy hour all but one night of our trip! I am not a huge froo-froo drink fan, but they did make this fantastic drink called a Sota Tale which was vodka, ice cream, cocunut milk and banana. Also they serve this quick fried coconut concoction that was like crack.

Sarah was lucky enough to dive not once but TWICE whilst we were there! She said that it was simply amazing and I only wish she had been able to take some pictures! We also went snorkeling a few times, once off the jetty at the resort and twice at various reefs around the area that we got to by boat. This first shot is of one of the staff Eboluni, who arranged our boat tours.

When we have wedding pictures, we'll post them! Following hot on the heels of this entry, you'll find our adventures with our new espresso maker! HI-LARITY!

STALKER-AZZI

2008-03-21T10:10:00.001-07:00

These days it seems Sarah and I can't go anywhere with out photographers mobbing us... HAHAHA. Actually we had our engagement shots done yesterday. Here a few samples we've been sent so far.

Costa Rica!

2008-03-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well we had a FANTASTIC time on our recent trip to Costa Rica! Despite a few travel snafus at the end, all went well! We stayed at a wonderful little town called Cahuita, on the Carribean side, about 45km south of Limon. Its a three dirt street town that backs up to the national park. The jungle sweeps right down to the white sand beach and the howler monkeys wake you up in the morning. The weather was perfect and the company grand! Sarah and I were joined by my parents, creepy uncle Lance, Charles Albert, my cousin Michelle and her husband as well as the Anti-Lance and Monty.

We took one day off from sitting on the beach drinking beer to go a bit inland and do a canopy zip line! HOW FUN!!! Below is a picture of all us intrepid zipliners prior to take off.

The second "zip" was the wicked awesome 500m plunge across the Rio Bannano! I shot the video below was I flew across. Talk about super fun!

Most of our days were spent going to the "office" and clocking in for "work". Pictured below is the office, with its contingent of cubicle weary staffers....

Standard office equipment rules WERE not observed. TK, my counsin Michelle's husband, hitherto known as Bumbata, decided he'd buy two very masculine water toys, namely a rainbow colored raft and a quasi-sponge bob boogie board.

It was somewhat of a surprise to all of us, but the raft turned out to be a lot of fun, if some what difficult to master. The waves were rolling pretty hard all week long and had a tendency to fold you in half (in the wrong direction) and send you and the pretty raft bobbing along the bottom. Bumbata was the master at the raft, relishing in his skills as he road the foamy crests of his watery steed hither and tither across the beach, lording over all he could see, proclaiming such ridiculous things as "Thou shalt always put cheese in your shoes for good luck" and "Behold! It is I, BUMBATA, vice-president of the universe!"

Happy Hour on the Deck.... a time not to be missed! Our totally awesome hotel room was RIGHT on top the beach, had grand views in all directions and was the site of two wonderful Happy Hours, featuring the local rum. Below are select photos of the madness.

LOTS MORE PICTURES AND MOVIES TO FOLLOW VERY SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why Captain is Awesome is so awesome!

2008-02-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

Went riding with my buddy Toby today up at Sierra, what a gorgeous day! The weather was perfect, there was lots of snow from this past weekends monster storm and it was a ghost town up there! Talk about winning combinations! Toby broke out his digital camera and we decided to shoot a few movies of us making Shaun White look like a weenie. *hahahahaha* First video is the practice, second is a lot bigger air, though admittedly neither looks impressive on video. From where I was standing it was plenty high though!

January Stars

2008-01-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

Well actually the name of the song is February Stars (by the Foo Fighters) but since its still January, deal with it. I finally have some time to enter a few more pictures from our Christmas trip to Maine. As usual, with Sarah in my life, things are hectic. Well mostly because we are off doing fun things.... snowboarding mostly. Sarah is doing REALLY well this winter, more impressive for her past couple of years off from the slopes. The last time we went I couldn't tell her apart from the crowd solely based on her tentative turns and slow speed. She actually attempted a few small jumps, most of which were successful, but one resulted in a really great spin out right into the fence. We took some pictures on the top of Sierra which we'll get developed soon.
Sarah took this picture at Our Lady of Professional Help, the Catholic church in North Windham. She went on the Sunday we were there.... checking out the local goods.

For a Christmas gift Amos and Ariana gave us tickets to Bob Marley, a local stand up comedian. It was the perfect addition to Sarah's full on Maine experience. The is WICKED FUNNY,Ayuh!! After the show we walked around down town Portland and took some snapshots.

There used to be a great production called New Years Portland where all of Congress St. businesses, art galleries and churches were open and had music, demonstrations and all sorts of fun things to do culminating in a super fun music show and countdown in Monument Square. Well thats in the toilet now. So we bought tickets to this "gay Paris" themed New Years Party at the Mariott. Turns out, it was TONS of fun! Who'd have guessed?? The food was good, the band (which had HUGE potential to suck) was really pretty good! We ate, we danced, we drank, and were generally merry! Mom and Dad had a heck of a time, even Charlie was dancing. What follows are some select shots!

And finally a lovely shot of my beautiful wife to be...and me!

More Maine Fun!

2008-01-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

Sarah had all sorts of fun firsts whilst in Maine over New Years. We were fortunate enough to have a few snowstorms while we were there and Sarah was put to good use plowing!

For the first time in quite a few years the lake was frozen at Christmas time. Whether because of global warming or just normal changes in weather patterns, the past few years have been REALLY warm at Christmas time. As a matter of fact we played golf last year on Christmas Eve. We took the three-wheeler down on the ice and had a heck of a time!

Happy New Year from Maine!

2008-01-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update for now, as there are pizzas in the oven! Miss Sarah and I are in Maine and enjoying a REAL Maine winter! There have been three storms since we got here! This morning the snow stopped and we went out to play, and Sarah caught this great vid of Abbey, my folks 10 month old Newf puppy. Enjoy!

Ho ho ho!!!

2007-12-25T15:09:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

So sorry for another long delay in blog updates!! Blame it on Sarah... she's turned my life upside down and seems to occupy each of my free moments! Sort of like kids... but messier.

As promised I've got some pictures of the finished guest room! Also I've got some pictures of Sarah's Mom and my mother from November when we all went up to the Coloma Country Inn to check out the grounds for our reception.

This is my mom (right) and Sarah's mom (left) at the Coloma Country Inn. We went up there to check out the place where miss Sarah and I will be having our wedding reception. It was a gorgeous fall day. Perfect for walking and driving... and posing like a whack job.

It should be noted that we had a fabulous Thanksgiving with Sarah's family. I finally got to meet her older brother and his wife, so that makes the whole famn damily. We even went out shopping the next morning, though admittedly I really only bought stuff for myself and Sarah. I would also I like to take this oppourtunity to respond to a vey aggregious slight I received from Mara, Sarah's sister.

What SOME people see here is a misspelled word. OTHER people see it as taking advantage of a situation that presents itself. Call it what you may, no one challenged me. I sold it as a Maine variation on the word "towel". Mara, you're just mad you didn't think of it first.

We are really happy with how the guest room came out. We've had guests a few times already and its worked out really well! Its basicaly a picure out of an IKEA catalog really, as almost everything is from the West Sacramento store. The blue came out a little less gray than we thought it would, but its quite bright and airy! See the previous posts for the "before" pictures.

Well right now its about four o'clock on Christmas Day and I am writing this as I wait for my dear Sarah to get home from work so we can open presents. This time of year is naturally prone to reflection, no matter what it is you believe. In my family Christmas is not really a religious holiday, but was always really important because we were all together as a family. I also like the more ancient overtones of the returning of the sun, and the idea of sitting around warmth and light, the door barred against the cold and dark, not at all unlike generations past. This year I have even more than usual to be grateful for.... I continue to be healthy, happy in my work, and able to pursue lifes pleasures as I chose. Most importantly though, this year has brought me together with Sarah, the person whom I will spend the rest of my life with, who will be the mother to my children, and whom I love very much. I hope everyone reading this has had a merry Christmas after the fashion you choose. Cheers!

My Maine Squeeze

2007-10-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Ms. Sarah and I took a trip to Maine a couple of weeks ago, and had a great time! Well, there was one bump.... but we'll get to that.

Our flight was uneventful, except for me locking the key to gate at the marina on the boat. At least we were on our way out the door by then and figured we could deal with it when we got back. After a quick 5 1/2 hours where I was humilated at scrabble a couple of times, we were safely in Boston. A quick busride up 95 and we were in Maine! Dad picked up some lobsters for our first dinner at home... Sarah had never seen on alive before...

All too soon for the lobsters the water was boiling away, and it was time for feasting!

The following day it was time for sight seeing! As Sarah's sister, only someone from Maine would have a "favourite" lighthouse.... I happen to have three! We went to see them all! First up was Two Lights.... This was also where Sarah got a crab roll, that ended up giving her food poising VERY VERY VERY badly. As Forrest Gump said, "That's all I have to say about that..."

We hiked around there for a bit and checked out the tidepools. The weather was GORGEOUS, actually quite warm for that time of year. We were able to drive around with the top down on the car all day long! We progressed further up the coast to the next stop, Portland Head Light!

Well before the onset of Sarah's woes, we sank our teeth into a real Maine treat, Whoopie Pies! My lovely wife to be is beautiful indeed, especially in the picture above... but doesn't look bad in the pictures below either!

The next lighthouse was Spring Point. It sits way out on a breakwater you get to walk out on in order to get to the light. We saw one guy hooking some pretty good size fish. From the end you can see a bunch of forts in Casco Bay... ranging from War of 1812 to Civil War vintage.

Okay, thats enough for now! Stay tuned for Part Deux!

God bless the rain's down in Africa....

2007-09-27T08:07:00.001-07:00

I thought I might post a few of my pictures from my Africa trip in May of 2006. A lot of you who check out this blog probably have not seen any of these and I thought I would share! These are just a few of the literally HUNDREDS of pictures I took. These span our arrival in Dar Es Salaam, our train trip through Tanzania and a few from our trip through Malawi as well. I have lots and lots more if you ever want to see them, let me know!

Blue, blue, away!

2007-09-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some more pictures from our recent Tahoe Trip! I finally got one of those Photobucket accounts, so that I could host photos there. The Google Blogger website is pretty generous with space, but if I want to put of lots of pics, a hosting site is a better idea!

Also, Sarah and I are going to Maine in a less than 5 days! Who's WICKED excited and has two thumbs????? THIS GUY!!!

And this is the little tiny church Sarah and I will be married in! It's totally goldrush style and you can wear a floppy hat if you like.

2007-09-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

This past week Sarah and I went camping up in Tahoe all week! It was FANTASTIC! This time of year it finally cools off enough to enjoy the great outdoors AND since we get to go during the week, all the other poor saps were at work! We had a great campsite at the D.L.Bliss campground near Emerald Bay, great except for the stupid meat bee's, which were EVIL.

We had a great day hiking into the Desolation Wilderness.... which sounds further away than it actually is. We only hiked about 3 miles roudtrip to Eagle Lake, which as you can see above WAS GORGEOUS! Both Sarah and I thought our chests were going to explode on the way up. Lake level is like 7000 feet I think, EESH!

Oh, the first night we realized that we hadn't brought any of our pots and pans to cook on! Luckily the folks in the next campsite over had an extra griddle they werent using and gave it to us! I tell you what, Sarah is a whiz on that Coleman stove!

GRRRRR... gotta be bear aware! The campground was all abuzz with reports of the bear intrusions at our particular site over the previous couple of nights. Despite being super-duper bear aware, we didn't see any. *sigh*

I'll put up more pictures when I get home from work this weekend. And guess what, its now just NINE days till I get home for a week! Wohoo!!!!!!!!!!

By popular demand!

2007-08-28T15:16:00.001-07:00

Well, after some not so subtle badgering from Mara (Sarah's sister) I am updating with some photos.... first off, the above picture is Sarah's ring! I'll have to have Sarah make an entry and tell you all about it, but she loves it!

And the following pictures are from our flooring adventure. We used the Tundra laminate flooring from Ikea and it was really easy to install! We had a few minor hiccups, but mostly it went down pretty easily. I even had super fun teaching Sarah how to use some of the power tools! She and I enjoyed this project togther.

Sad days in Who-ville

2007-08-25T18:05:00.001-07:00

I am sad to report that a couple of weeks ago Sarah miscarried. It totally sucks donkey gnards. But there is nothing you can do about it really. She is doing well physically, and mentally we're both dealing with it as well as possible. A REALLY big thank you to all my family, friends and co-workers for the heartfelt condolences. Its amazing to hear all these other women tell their own stories about this crummy thing.... sort of makes you feel a little less alone.

Now on the PLUS side..... we're ENGAGED!!! Pictures of the ring to follow!!!! We sort of figured that if we could get through the past few months, it was meant to be! Sarah is SO the girl for me! It will be in May of next year out here in California.... GOLD COUNTRY! Ok, the blog will be updated a little more frequently now. We've put in a floor, we're going to Maine.... finally getting the house into some semblance of order, and I'm still pissed at the world! So STAY TUNED!!!

Yoga, flooring and a few days grace

2007-08-03T17:26:00.001-07:00

Okay, so we're at week #8 now! Our little Beanie is about the size of a pinto bean and has flipper like feet and is developing eye lids. The atria and ventricles are now clearly defined. Sarah is still looking svelte! Also the past couple of days she's felt a bit better, which has been a nice change! (mostly for her, but me too!) I am still really impressed with how she's handling the constant feeling of nausea and exhaustion though, she's a tough cookie!

Her mom came up this week and we took a nice jaunt to Ikea, a totally new experience for me! I had no idea what those crazy Swedes had been up to, but now I know. While a lot of the furniture seems like it should inhabit apartments of men who go by Lars of Hans, some of it is pretty cool. The baby furniture selection is actually really good, and they have a lot of whole room design stuff that is affordable and attractive. I am pretty sure Sarah has already picked out a theme for the baby's room!

Come to find out, Ikea sells REALLY affordable laminate flooring too. Sarah and I did some reasearch on-line today, and while not being the BEST option, its a reasonable middle ground. At 1.29/sqft, its about a third as expensive as the other stores, comes with a 15 year guarantee (about 13 years longer than I think we'll need) and has a totally easy to follow installation video on-line. We're going to start out on the guest room first and see how it goes, but I suspect we'll be able to finish most of the downstairs out in it. The cost of doing the guest room should come in somewhat less than $350.00, and I estimate it will cost about another $800.00 or so to finish the rest of the area downstairs. This is in contrast to the 5k I figured. So the final word on IKEA : blodig skitbra! (Swedish for Bloody Good!)

Oh yeah, we're going to take Yoga together. Her for the back pain, me cause I need to do something healthy. They totally have yoga for big fat pregnant chicks which we'll do later!

A Day Late and a Cool Idea Short

2007-08-02T09:41:00.001-07:00

Please don't think I am so lame as to think I'm being super original, cool, or creative with the photo of the week thing... I know its soooooo passe, but a good idea is a good idea. Edisons light bulb was certainly not trendy after the first couple billionaires got them in their brownstone mansions, but see where that went!

At any rate this is Sarah at seven weeks. No sign of the beanie as of yet. Well if you discount the nausea, exhaustion and other calamaties. I've finally begun cleaning out my old computer room, getting rid of a bunch of crap, throwing more away and getting the Salvation Army guys to come get the rest. With four days off a week I have no real excuses NOT to get this done.

Cheers!

Camping with a Nauseous Pregant Girl

2007-07-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

This marks the end of week 7 for the Beanie, and according to our books, means its doubled in size this week. I don't find this at all hard to believe given whats going on with my poor Sarah-saurus!!!! She's been so sick, mostly in the mornings and then again in the evening. I'm so proud of her though, she really is handling it well! She says she complains too much, but since its my job to listen to her, I tell her it doesn't count.

We went camping this week at the North Fork Campground up around Emigrant Gap, just west of Donner Lake. It was SO nice to get the heck out of Sacramento for a few of the 100+ degree days. The campground is really strange, as its located about 7 miles from the freeway down near the bottom the canyon, with NO signage what so ever. How any one ever finds it with out someone showing them first I'll never understand. The nice part is that no one is ever there. This is probably the 5th time I've been there in the past 6 years and I have yet to see more than 3 or 4 of the 16 sites occupied!

One of my favorite things about Sarah is that she's such an outdoorsy kind of girl! She loves just being outside the same way I do. Even with her poor stomache doing somersaults she was just pleased as punch to be up there with me. Shopping for food prior to the trip was kind of fun, as I had to pick up three options for each meal since there was no way of telling what she's be feeling like! *laughs* I must have done good cause there was something for her to eat and snack on that she liked at all times... hows that for the supportive father-to-be????

The campground is especially nice because of its proximity to what might be the greatest swimming hole ever. There is a large pool at the base of a waterfall that is probably 30 feet deep, with all sorts of ledges to jump off. Above that is another, deeper pool with a much larger waterfall. All sort of insane people are hurling their bodies off the surrounding cliffs into this thing... CUCKOOOOOOOO. Sarah and I did climb up to the second fool and swim under the waterfall, a total pre-requisite for this trip. :) We sunned ourselves and relaxed. Much of the time Sarah slept in the tent, recharging her batteries and letting the Beanie suck the life force from her.

I'll post a couple of pictures soon from the trip. We're also taking weekly pictures... wont be very interesting until she starts to show.. unless you're me, cause I think she's beautiful.

CHEERS!!

Beanie Ahoy!

2007-07-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Today Sarah had her first ultrasound! We have been pretty nervous about not knowing exactly how far along we are (excepting we knew the LONGEST time possible....) and we were quite eager to get this done! Apparently the little blip on the screen, floating in the ether, is our little beanie! The length of pregnancy can be determined by the crown to rump length (who thinks this crap up?). The resolution of this ultrasound is pretty amazing, as the beanie is only 3 MM long! That puts us at 5 weeks, 6 days, with a due date of March 15th 2008. This also means that I will be 49 years old when this kid is singing the Windham High fight song at graduation. Cripes.
We've made a trip to Borders and picked up a couple books on the whole crazy adventure. I got one all about us poor marginalized fathers and how the woman is trying to keep us down. I'm totally going to fight the power. Unlike women who fight the power with brains and savvy, I plan on fighting it with BBQ, monster trucks and screaming guitar solo's lifted from Turbonegro records. "Ain't no one gonna take stride, ain't nobody going to slow me down, oh no! I've got to keep on moving!"

The Real Deal

2007-07-17T07:46:00.001-07:00

Here's the real test! From what Sarah tells me this is scrapbook gold.

She's going down to southern California for Scrapfest 2007 in November. She's designated scrapper this year... the sober person responsible for proofing other peoples "scraps?" There may also be some midget strippers.

You, me and baby make three!

2007-07-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well the word is out, Sarah is pregnant! She told her mom this week, I told my mother shortly there after, and all is well! It was an incredible weight of Sarah's shoulders to have told her mother, and more importantly that she was so happy for us!

My mother was ECSTATIC! She's wanted grandchildren so long I stopped paying attention to that odd baying noise in the background. My brother called me about 15 minutes after I spoke with my mother and said that I had just made her decade. He also called to concede Golden Boy to me. He thinks there is no way he could win now and wanted let me have the victory with dignity.

I had very good intentions of posting a picture of our positive pregnancy test here, but I don't have my card reader here at work, so that will have to wait till I get home this week. But I think this nice generic picture I lifted from the EPT site looks pretty sharp. Sarah is so fun because she tells me all her little neurosis.... like how she felt like a tool for being the total spaz monkey and taking 3 tests. As a man, you just figure those things are clear as day, but she shared with me one that was totally ambiguous. Manufacturing that sort of product ought warrant a speedy beheading. (see China) However the deal was pretty much sealed with the digital read out that said PREGNANT, and didn't have the the NOT in front of it.

We go to the OB/GYN office this week get two buckets of blood drawn, well when I say we, I mean Sarah. I'll be sure to feed her lots of iron and maybe a few illicit epoeiten shots when she's not looking. Apparently by quantifying the hormones in the blood you can pretty reliably nail down how far along she is and we'll be able to give everyone some sort of due date. Per her "Wheel of the End of Your Life" we think we're due for touch down in Adulthood during March.

This week Sarah and I spent a lot of quality time with her sisters kids Kevin and Kayla. Her parents had dropped them of at grandma's house and were in up Tahoe for a couple of days. Her brother-in-law seemed to enjoy making the point to me that this was the first time they'd been away like that since Kevin was born..... FIVE YEARS AGO. Way to help a brother out!! It was a good peek into really good parenting and I'll definitely reference their example when pulling my own hair out. We spent most of Thursday afternoon swimming, man can these kids go-go-go. Reminds me of being a kid on the lake... we NEVER got out of the water. Kayla is completely fearless, which instills fear in anyone else who has to watch her doing flips in the water and determined not to come up for breath until she's done one!! Kevin is more cautious, but very deliberate, as he's thought things through, run some thought experiments and settled on the best method still not quite sure if it will work. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head.

Tell me something good....

2007-07-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

What an incredible day this has been. I can't really tell anyone why. Not like its a matter of national security or anything, just being ever so cooooool man. Really though, it is one of those life changing things. I AM SO HAPPY!!

On another note, what the hell is wrong with people? This time I am refering to the inability to merge into traffic. What would you say if I told you that driving 20 mph down the on ramp into 70 mph traffic was a smart and safe thing to do, you'd shoot me, right? WELL THATS EXACTLY WHAT ALL YOU RETARDS ARE DOING!! ITS THE PEDAL ON THE RIGHT!!! GO GO GO GO GO. Eesh.

"Where do we go from here?" ~Filter

Oak Park, How I love Thee

2007-07-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

This morning I completed my Tuesday AM ritual of picking up all the trash that has blown into my pre-yard over the weekend. Pre-yard, you see, is the term I use for the part of my front lawn that is adjacent to the street, and separated from the FRONT yard by a fence and juniper bushes. At any rate, like every Teusday morning, the whole thing was littered with the detritus of my fellow Oak Park dwellers. The Food Ghetto is across the way, and lots of foot traffic goes by each day from the heart of the neighborhood. These folks must be allergic to garbage cans, or mortally afraid of them, or something. You can track the season pretty well by the type of wrapper I am picking up in my yard you see. This time of year there are lots of ice cream and Popsicle packages. In the fall you switch to your Mars Bars and Grandmas Cookies. There are some favorites through out the year: the plastic covering of cigarette boxes, Slim Jim wrappers and of course, little baggies that previously held crack or meth. AWESOME.

Peruvian Princess

2007-07-09T21:18:00.001-07:00

This morning I almost rear ended a white Toyota Carolla while reaching for my cellphone to call my girlfriend. God bless the Subaru (or Les-baru as I've come to learn....thats another post) When I came to my senses and put the cellphone down I noticed something funny. The man driving the car was a burly looking older fellow, clearly of some sort of south american decent. As I was scanning the rearview mirror for any evidence he noticed just how many microns I came away from screwing up each others mornings, I noticed the most incongruous sticker across his back window.

PERUVIAN PRINCESS

WHAT? Are you for real. I reach for the phone again, and called my girlfriend, a Polish Princess. And I found the sticker babe, so its getting plastered on YOUR Corolla.

Global Warming, Pirates and Pasta

2007-07-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Let me ask you this. Is it getting hotter where you are? Feeling the heat? Is your tiny Pacific island slowly disappearing beneath the rising seas?

We're all blaming carbon emissions, Arizona size holes in the ozone layer and bovine flatulence. Did you ever stop to think that this all might be due to the stunning decline in the number of pirates? Of course not. You're all blinded by Big Media and Al Gore's comb over.

This graph clearly establishes the correlation between the rapid decline in pirate population and rise in global temperature. Never mind that every non-retarded person knows correlation does not make implicit cause. Just roll with it here, ok genius?

Now please think hard. When was the last time you saw a pirate? Johnny Depp and his oh-so-ambiguous Jack Swallows with his GUY-LINER doesn't count. Nor do those marauding morons off the coast of Somalia. It's clearly understood that REAL pirates use swords and cannons, and to a lesser degree trained attack monkeys. They do not use machine guns and RPGs. Also, no pirate worth his salt would be caught with his scurvy ass in a powered monstrosity. No, pirates only ship on sail powered conveyances.

I'd very much suggest you checking out this FANTASTIC website: http://www.venganza.org/

All I am saying is this. If you think this is ridiculous, try reading Genesis. Or listening to Genesis.

Either way, you'll get a good laugh.

2007-07-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hello! Welcome to what might just be the most awesome blog ever. What else would you expect from Captain Awesome?

Who is Captain Awesome you might ask? Captain Awesome, like beer, is the cause of and solution to all of lifes little problems.

He's a world traveller. He's a healthcare professional. He's a snowboarder. He's the Embassador to the US for Transnistria (google it). He lives on a boat half the week. Interested? Then please, come back often!