Home on The Ridge (Snoqualmie Ridge)

Heading back to Amazon

2011-09-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

After talking with a team at Amazon for the past several months, I finally make the move tomorrow back to Amazon to take on a new challenge. I'm excited. While Microsoft was good to me in many ways - including working a dream gig in the Xbox org - I realized I missed Amazon's high expectations of its employees, its relentless focus on the customer, and it's data-driven approach to making decisions. While I worked hard to instill such values at Microsoft, my successes were few and far between. I'm excited to be heading back.I left three and a half years ago due to work/life balance, my biggest challenge will be ensuring I can have a life outside of work and still be successful at Amazon. Even a bigger challenge given our kids schedule is 10x more busy now than it was then. Wishing myself luck, I think I'm going to need it.

I heart my Roku

2011-07-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

I have seen the future of TV.

Last year as ESPN was launched on Xbox and Hulu picked up more and more shows, I did some research to figure out how to stream content to my tv. What started as looking at software packages to route content through my laptop and to the tv, ended up in me finding a Roku HD Streaming Player and ordering one for $60. It's a small device that connects to your home network via wifi, has HDMI output, and provides a UX to browse online "apps" or "channels" to watch content. Channels include Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Video on Demand. You can also subscribe to channels such as NHL, MLB, and UFC (and if you're paying a subscription you'll actually get to view the content :) ).

Another perk is that Roku supports a plethora of media and photo sharing sites. So I can stream Pandora through my TV, and it also has a SmugMug plugin so I can view my photos and videos straight from my SmugMug account. It also has support for Picaso, Facebook photos, Flickr, and other photo sites.

Six months ago Amy and I decided to dump Directv (and the $1000+ we flush to them every year) and use Roku exclusively. Haven't regretted it once. It's enabled us to discover shows we wouldn't have found otherwise, and we've used the savings to fund NHL and UFC content. We were able to watch March Madness and the NHL playoffs. For sports on ESPN, we switch over to the Xbox. Admittedly, I will be SOL come NFL season since NFL Sunday Ticket isn't an option.

A few friends have made the switch as well with the same results: no regrets.

Why do I think this is the future?

No more "record show" mentality. All content is on demand.
Because of that, trying out new content is easy. All shows are at your fingertips.
High quality. I had assumed that quality would suffer streaming. In fact, Amy can watch Roku and I can game online over Xbox Live and neither one of us can tell that the other is online.
Innovation. One cool thing about Roku is that the number of channels are limitless. And there's plenty of independent content providers and developers building apps and content.

The downside is finding content across apps. I watch to watch Harry Potter. Is that in Netflix? Amazon VOD? Another video service? Don't know until you search in each one. Awaiting the aggregator to come up with cross-app search. You know, like Google, eBay, and Amazon did in their respective spaces.

Beyond Roku, we're Hulu Plus subscribers. Love watching TV on my Roku, iPhone, iPad, or Xbox. And it being smart enough to know if I start watching something on my iPhone and I stop, it will pick it up on the next device I fire up HuluPlus on.

Garrett's last football game

2011-06-05T22:37:00.001-07:00

Finally got some good video of Garrett playing football during his last game today. Throwing an interception, taking it the length of the field to the house, pulling a flag on fourth down, and a great catch... only to watch him fumble :)

Garrett throws a pick six to his friend Riley

Garrett takes it to the house

Garrett's big fourth down stop

Garrett with a sweet catch and a fumble

Garrett's Five Minutes of Fame

2011-02-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Late in posting this, but Garrett and his team skated on the Showare Center ice between periods last Saturday night. Spencer thinks the funniest part of this is when Cool Bird kicked me out of goal.

Garrett is #7 on the Gray team, he comes out pretty early and ends up taking the opening face-off for the Gray team.

2010 Year in Review

2011-01-03T23:04:00.001-08:00

I better get this written now before too much of 2011 gets behind me.

Wow, what a friggin year. A big year of change for everyone in our family. Where to start?

I think the big topic for Amy and I - and will be for a while - is Spencer. In 2009 we were unhappy with the level of help and insight we were getting in our local schools, so we enrolled Spencer in Bellevue Christian, a decision we both regard as being a good one, well worth the money.

Enrolling him there started us down the path of seeking an awful lot of professional help for Spencer - starting with doctor visits to rule out things like diseases and psychological issues. Turns out that while Spencer doesn't have any medical issues, he does show signs of both anxiety and depression. Unfortunately that's a consequence of whatever is hampering Spencer's development, and while good to know, doesn't help us with Spencer's development.

Fortunately for us, last Christmas old friends of ours pulled Amy aside at a Christmas party and starting asking some questions about Spencer. That led me to read The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder, which gave us an "Aha! That's it!"

There's no shortage of information on what Sensory Processing Disorder is; however, therapy for it is much, much harder to come across. With some information in hand, Spencer started down the path of physical therapy and speech therapy. God bless Microsoft's health benefits. It's been a long year, and couple with therapy and our own research, we think we have a pretty good grasp on some of Spencer's core issues (dyspraxia, gravitational insecurity, etc). As we enter 2011 we are meeting with a brain specialist that we hope will help recommend further therapies for Spencer.

And as if that wasn't enough, Spencer was diagnosed this past year with lazy eye, which is affecting his ability to write. It's supposed to affect his reading ability, but we aren't seeing any adverse affects. Somehow he is compensating for it and loves to read (we got him a Kindle for Christmas and he read two books in the first 24 hours). Add another two therapy sessions a week to help with his vision.

My big takeaway after a year of research is that it's amazing Spencer is able to learn in a classroom environment, or ride a bike, or skate on ice skates. He's done a phenomenal job coping with the deck he's been dealt, and has identified his own coping strategies that help him accomplish what he wants to accomplish. For example, this past May he earned his bodan (last belt before black belt - videos are here) in Tae Kwon Do after four-plus years of hard work. Incredibly, he's also playing hockey and developing quite nicely, proving me 100% wrong as I did not think he would be able to pull it off. This past fall he's taken up piano and is doing well with it.

We have a long haul ahead of us with Spencer, he is helping us and working hard along this journey, and while it may get frustrating at times, Amy and I both repeatedly say to each other "giving up is not an option." We are also thankful that Spencer's issues are minor in the grand scheme of things.

Switching gears over to Garrett, he's had quite the busy year with TBall, hockey, and football. All before he even started kindergarten, which was also this year. Football was his favorite sport before Christmas, when Santa brought him some goalie gear, now we can't keep him off the ice. In 2011 we are limiting him to two sports at a time, and he's opted for football and hockey.

Working with Garrett on hockey has been fun. I've been helping out a little with his team, I get to get ice time, with a puck and nets, I get to share my limited skating knowledge with him, I get to watch him develop week-over-week, and he's got such a knack for skating and puck handling that people are amazed a) he's only 5 and b) he's been skating less than a year. Can't wait to see how he develops over time.

Garrett is off to a good start in school. While he's a chatterbox and trouble-maker at home, he's apparently quiet and an angel at school. Maybe he should live there permanently. Seriously, he's doing a phenomenal job and strangely enough he loves homework, simply because he sees his brother do it and he's quite the competitor.

Amy went back to teaching after a 9 year hiatus. As I joke, Washington must really be hurting for teachers. We were lucky that she found a job fairly close-by that fits in with the kids schedules - she works 5 hours a day, enabling her to get the kids after school and ensure they make it to all their activities. She likes being back in the classroom, although she is frustrated by the overhead imposed by the government that gets in the way of her teaching.

Amy also volunteered to be the team manager of two of the three hockey teams in our area. That gives the benefit of allowing Garrett extra ice time with the second hockey team (Garrett's coach coaches both teams as well).

I of course started working with Xbox this year, which has been the most exciting year in my almost-twenty-years-in-the-software-industry. I've blogged enough about that. Outside of that nothing to report this year. As you can see above, a lot of time spent on Spencer and helping the little guy out, and it occupies a lot of our mindshare.

My talent for taking naps regardless of time or what's going on around me never wanes.

I'm now convinced I will never see Purdue in a Final Four. And it's been 10 years since Purdue went to the Rose Bowl. My how time flies.

I'm struck by how well Amy and I continue to adapt to the increase rate of busyness in our schedules. I realize all parents are faced with this and go through it. But looking at other parents of older kids I've always wondered "how the ef do they do keep up?" I've learned you just do. Although I will admit, our busyness has taken a toll on us. While we usually host a Thanksgiving get together and a New Year's Eve party, this year we did neither, and stayed home by ourselves for each for some much needed recharging.

Halloween Pics

2010-11-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, one pic. Kinda nice to go out with the kids and neither one has a weapon in his hands.

Garrett Hockey Pics

2010-11-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Garrett showing his closing speed to poke check on D.

Waiting for the outlet pass (he's gonna wait a while in this league).

Doing what he's best at, celebrating after his team scores.

Ship It

2010-11-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

While I shake my head at many of the tenets of Microsoft culture (I will write a book one day, really), one element I really like is the "Ship It" stamps and plaque. For every major release of a product, Microsoft distributes a small ~2"x1" stamp to the people that were part of the release. I like it because it rewards delivery and emphasizes that in the end it's about getting things out to customers as opposed to who can come up with the prettiest PowerPoint presentation (apparently those people get promoted).

This past week I earned my first Xbox Ship It badge, and earned some rest I hope. This is a huge time in Xbox history, not just because of Kinect but with the launch of the Family Plan for Xbox Live, ESPN, Zune, etc. Much of it (Family and Zune Pass subscriptions) flow through the subscription platform I just upgraded. Was fun upgrading my personal account to Family Plan, adding my kids to it, and have it "just work."

Glad to be a part of it. Now what's next?

Boys' Hockey Camp

2010-08-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

It was six months ago when Spencer and Garrett took their first steps on the ice over in Kirkland. This past week they spent two and a half hours each morning at the ShoWare Center in Kent attending the 2010 Rob Sumner Hockey Camp (Coach Sumner coaches the Seattle Thunderbirds). In addition to some of the coaching staff, four Thunderbirds players helped out each session.

I must say, one of the best experiences I've had as a parent by far. The kids got to play on the ice of their hometown team, the Thunderbirds players were terrific teachers and role models, the camp drills were well-suited to the kids, and they were nice enough to let a 5 year old and a 9 year old play in the 6-8 year old group. About the only thing missing was having the Jumbotron on.

Garrett going all out to get back on defense.

Spencer driving hard to the boards to keep the puck in the zone (his specialty).

The formidable S-Man on D.

A favorite of kids this age is the "Superman" drill.

Most of the time Spencer and Garrett were broken up into different groups; was nice to watch them on the ice at the same time during one of the scrimmages.

Alan Wake Review

2010-05-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

Bitchin'! was an expression that had a short lived life back in my college days. That was the first thing that came to mind when I finished Alan Wake.

I won't go into the plot or mechanics of the game - tons of articles on that already.

But what is Alan Wake? And what made it "worthwhile"?

First, let me say, I wouldn't call Alan Wake "fun"; instead, I'd call it entertaining. In a nutshell, it is a long movie that immerses you and makes you truly feel like you're the character - not the actor - in the movie. I think of Alan Wake as being as groundbreaking to game play as 24 was to TV shows.

The game is partioned into six episodes; think of these as six quests, all serialized. There is no choice in Alan Wake, other than choice of path - you can choose whether to explore that shed to see if there's ammo, but unlike RPGs your actions do not affect the game environment. I have never played a "tunnel" game like this and enjoyed it. That's where the beauty of Alan Wake comes it. They figure out how to immerse you so much that you forget you are playing a game and you instead are Alan Wake himself traversing the town of Bright Falls looking to understand what has happened to your wife.

How does it do it?

First, the graphics are superb. Just phenomenal. Maybe that's why it took five years, but the entire notion of being in the dark with a flashlight and fog is pulled off perfectly. Pure realism. If they could make the character look more real instead of graphics, you would swear you were watching a video.

Second, the episodes are long and single-minded. You usually start an episode knowing your final destination, and it takes 1-2 hours of game play to get to that destination. No "hey I made it in 15 mins but here's a twist so go on another quest for 15 mins with yet another twist etc." Coupled with the graphics above that make you feel like you truly are armed with a flashlight in the dark, and you are absolutely drawn into the game in an intense way. It is creepy and it is emotionally draining.

Third, the fighting requires real work for two reasons: a) you can't take a lot of damage, even in easy mode, and b) if you are careless about what you're shooting at, you will run out of ammo. Nearly every shot must count, and you have to be prudent about your weapon of choice. You learn quickly that the shotgun you found doesn't help if you have to reload after two shots, and that you better save your flashbangs to take out at least three bad guys at once.

And because you're in the dark, if you're facing more than one bad guy you're in a state of backpeddaling and spinning trying to locate them. Again, creepy and engaging.

Fourth - and I found this key - while you do have to face bad guys, most of the time you spend moving toward your goal in the dark. I'd say bad guys occupy 25% of your time max. The rest is moving with the fear that bad guys are going to jump you, so you're in a constant state of watching your back. Once again, creepy and engaging.

Orthogonal to all of that is the story. What a great plot. Like a lot of movies, I was less than impressed with the ending, although I won't say I was disappointed. I just thought it could of been better. At the same time, it is always hard in a book or movie that has great suspense to pull off a great ending.

The cut scenes, dialogue, and voice talent is outstanding.

Once you're done, however, I don't see a need to play again unless you're truly after the achievements and exploring every nook of Bright Falls. Again, there are no choices, the plot doesn't change, the environment doesn't change, characters don't change, etc. I'm looking forward to the first downloadable content, but not interested in popping the game back in now that I'm finished.

By the way, play the game in the dark. You will jump more than once.

Thank you, Remedy, for such a great game. And thank you Xbox org for my free copy :)

Five years in Seattle

2010-05-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

As the saying goes, "sheesh where did the time go?"

So what's it like to pick up the family and relocate them to another region of the country? Having done it, it's both crazy (initially) and not a big deal (eventually). And both aspects - the uncertainly of reloc and the end result - have been good experiences for me and my personal development.

Seattle certainly walks to a different beast. I wonder if in its collective goal to be unique they are stupid on purpose, but nonetheless it's where we've decided to raise the kids for the foreseeable future.

Interestingly enough, I've gotten to the point where I don't like it if it doesn't rain. At least from fall through spring (the nine months of the year where it rains most every day). It never rains hard here - I've never needed an umbrella, and it's rare if the windshield wipers go past "intermittent." Yet the ground is always wet and soggy. It will drizzle for hours on end. And then go on for more hours. As I type this I don't remember the last time I saw a blue sky let alone sun, and looking at the forecast I probably won't for another week. And strangely, if I did see blue sky, it would be weird.

Once the weather breaks in the summer, however, it's a different story. The best summers in the world (or at least I'm told by world travelers). 70 degrees almost every day. Not a cloud in the sky for weeks.

I'm really surprised myself in taking to the outdoors. I've considered myself an athlete (enjoy playing sports) but not an outdoorsman. But long walks that challenge your mental and physical state for hours on end, in total solitude, with beautiful views of God's creation all around is a great match for both my competitive nature (can I really make it to the top of that 4000 foot mountain?) and my social personality (get as far away from people as possible). Hell I've started looking for real estate in the mountains for my retirement.

When I moved to Chicago I traded in being a Tigers fan for becoming a White Sox fan. That was part of the deal for my wife becoming a Lions and a Red Wings fan. I'm now trying to figure out how to be a Lions fan while my kids are Seahawks fans, and suffice it to say it's hard. When the Lions played the Seahawks this year, I sported Seahawks gear for the kids, cheered externally for the Seahawks, and celebrated internally as Stafford threw for a couple TD passes. I actually went into the game thinking I truly would cheer for the Hawks, but quickly realized where my loyalty lies. No sense fighting it. Damn you Ford for cursing the Lions.

For all the foot travel I've done in the Cascade Mountains, we haven't done as much family travel as I'd like. Still haven't been to Vancouver or the Olympic Mountains or truly visited Spokane (stopped by my uncle's for a couple hours but did no sightseeing). The only exception is that we have been to Lake Chelan on several occasions. With Spencer and Garrett having activities on the weekends, the likelihood of us catching up on weekend getaways seems slim and none.

So here's to us pitching our tent in the Pacific Northwest. Looking forward to the next five years.

Some pics from Garrett's first football game

2010-04-19T10:35:00.001-07:00

My dream job, or how I got hired by Xbox

2010-02-19T09:14:00.001-08:00

Maybe not my dream job, but definitely my dream organization. On Monday I start a new role with the Xbox organization (still as a Program Manager) working in Xbox Live. I enjoyed my 21 months in search, accomplished a lot, was rewarded fairly, but now its time to look to bigger and better things.

Xbox Live is the piece that takes gaming to the next level. Multi-player gaming. Downloadable games and movies. Online game shows. And who knows what is in store for the future. It's the piece that excites me about Xbox as an entertainment vehicle, and now I get to play a large part in shaping its future (of which much has yet to be written, with decades in front of us). Way kewl.

But my biggest learning from Xbox Live might have already occurred: don't be afraid to take a chance.

Jobs in the Xbox org are highly competitive. Internally, with the geek culture that is Microsoft, working in the gaming division is the most sought after work in the company. Externally, people in the gaming indusry (ok, some, not all of them) love the idea of working for a company with best-in-the-world perks and benefits. As such Xbox is real, real picky about who they hire.

I have a friend that I've worked with in the past that works in Xbox, and he put me in touch with a hiring manager with an opening. Unfortunately, the position was filled before I got to talk to the manager. So I took a look at the internal job site, saw a position that looked like a fit, and reached out to the hiring manager for an informational.

My thinking was to make some contacts and learn what Xbox was looking for outside the obvious "industry experience" and "real smart folks." Then, use that knowledge to develop my skills while in bing, eventually getting in a position where I could realistically compete for those coveted Xbox positions.

To my surprise, the first informational I requested, I was granted. Then, to my surprise, I was scheduled for an interview loop. Again, my expectations were still low. Great, a loop, a nice opportunity to learn what they are looking for.

At Microsoft, the "last interview" in a loop is never executed unless all the previous interviewers give a thumbs up. The last interviewer (usually a higher up but not necessarily) not only looks at the fit to the position but also to the organization (and for external candidates, to the company). As guardians of talent they also have veto power. Once again, I was surprised when I was told indeed I would be meeting with the last interviewer - I had passed the bar with everyone.

At the end of the interview loop, I was content that I had given it my best shot. It's the first time I've interviewed that I didn't feel I made a mistake, or wish I hadn't said something, or wish I would have added something. Instead, I knew I gave it my all and they had an accurate picture of who I was. Still, even if they were impressed, these are highly competitive positions and they were interviewing many candidates.

As such, when I got the email two days later with an offer to join Xbox, I was a little surprised. It wasn't supposed to be this easy. Well, not easy, but this short. It took a whopping 10 seconds for me to reply back with acceptance and start thinking about my transition plan.

So, why do I think I got in? A few reasons:

I'm a gamer. First and foremost, they want people who love video games. In fact, as an almost-40-year old I've been played video games for 30+ years. Not many people on this earth with more experience than that! And three of them I interviewed with :) With most people, I'm embarassed to admit how much time I spend on video games (and have since I was a kid). With this org, I was embarassed at how little I played.
I have a track record of being decisive. I sensed that a real challenge they have in Xbox is making tough calls on where to apply precious resources in such a large ecosystem. Everyone (game developers, publishers, retailers, etc) wants to partner with Xbox, but there aren't enough resources to go around. How do you make feature calls? Partnership calls? Can you live with saying no? That's what they look for in PMs.
I can deal with ambiguity. My interview question from the Principal SDE was "how do we go about adding (insert big feature here) to Xbox?" From there I had to break it down, know what questions to ask, what the big issues would be, and describes ways of addressing said issues. Which is all about understanding the process of resolving big problems rather than specific solutions.
I knew exactly why I wanted the job. No, really, I mean it, this is what got me passed the last interviewer. He told me the previous candidate answered that question by saying they just wanted out of their current job. Bzzt. Wrong answer. I had done my homework and new I would be a great culture fit, I had a passion for gaming, and the area (development) was up my alley (as opposed to operations or product management or marketing). Touchdown.

Xbox is going to be a great culture fit for me. Just enough process and documentation, job descriptions are not set in stone, they do not create nice and neat little boxes for people, etc. 180 degrees from where I was, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am so ready to "Jump in." Now, upstairs to my Xbox. I have work to do :)

I hope the Red Wings are looking at Calvin Pickard

2010-01-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

Just read where is rated as the top North American goalie prospect for the upcoming draft. I've watched this guy stop 50+ shots a night on a pretty bad hockey team. Congrats to Calvin, he's the man.

Purdue had to lose sometime

2010-01-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Winning their first 14 games wasn't totally unexpected (they had a pretty easy pre-conference schedule, with one top ten matchup on a neutral court and another top ten matchup at home). And if there was a game that would break their streak, I figured it would be at Wisconsin. And it was.

After the game, though, I'm a lot less confident that. Wisconsin did not play a good game, especially offensively, and Purdue couldn't even make it a game at the end. If this were an anomaly, then no big deal, but the slow start first half has been Purdue's modus operandi for most of the season. At some point they have to shake it and get out of the gate strong. Good teams are going to pull so far ahead Purdue won't be able to catch them.

I also think yesterday's game highlighted a) Hummel still isn't the offensive player he was two years ago, b) Johnson is the basketball equivalent of Curtis Painter - puts up great numbers against smaller teams, but get some size in his face and he disappears, and thus c) Moore is going to have to carry this team to Indianapolis.

I'd like to see Painter prep this team for a final four run. If that means getting Barlow and Bade more PT, and even Marcius into the mix, so be it. To win a big ten title and not get to the final four because Purdue didn't play its cards would be disappointing.

How I spent the first 20 minutes of New Year's Eve

2009-12-31T00:23:00.000-08:00

I learned a great many things to kick off New Year's Eve.

First, the rock band stage kit is hella kewl. $30 at gamestop for a fog and lightshow for rockband enthusiasts... highly recommended. The lightshow is sync'd with RockBand (1 and 2), and the fog is timed for the solo sections. Well executed novelty.
Second, our smoke alarms are sensitive (see aforementioned fog) and wired together so that all 6 in our house go off simultaneously. I like that, although tonight it was a little bit of a pain.
Third, our kids can sleep soundly through aforementioned 6 smoke alarms going off. Either that or the sound killed them. Will find out in the morning when I offer them doughnuts for breakfast.
Fourth, I can now detach and reattach our smoke alarms from their ceiling-based wiring harnesses with speed that rivals any formula one pit crew.

And nye is only 20 minutes old. Can't wait to see what tonight's party brings.

The end of another year

2009-12-25T21:35:00.001-08:00

As I approach 40 these years are really starting to fly by. Not only am I amazed that 2009 has come and gone, but I am amazed that a decade has come and gone. Seems like yesterday I was trying to explain to people why Y2K wasn't an issue, that Purdue was heading to the Rose Bowl, and we were waiting for the schmucks in Florida to figure out how to cast and count votes for a Presidential election. Since then, I took down my shingle and entered the corporate world, Purdue football has gone to the crapper, and our wonderful politicians have collectively put several nails in this country's coffin.

Even before the recent moves that will allow the federal gov't to take over 17% of our economy in the name of (he he) "health care reform" (side note: I just love when the gov't creates a problem then taxes the hell out of us to fix it) I had resigned myself to the fact that our national debt load and forthcoming tanking of our dollar renders everything I knew about financial planning useless. Strangely enough, that's reduced my stress load immensely - there's nothing I can do about our forthcoming implosion, and there's nothing that I can do to hedge against it, so why worry about it?

And thus starts my annual year-in-review post. Yes, early this year, and why not... everything this year so far has been ahead of schedule, now that I have finally figured out this whole work-life balance thing. As I tell people, I'm glad I spent three years at Amazon (best business training in the world), but I'm equally glad I left. Hard to describe, but that sums it up. Microsoft is going very well, even with the current turmoil of me going through three bosses in three weeks a couple months back. I launched cashback on then-Live-Product-Search-now-Bing-Shopping, kept the site available 24x7 during the brand launch and black Friday/cyber Monday, and even managed to see my family in the process. Whodda thunk it.

The big change of the year has been sending Spencer to private school all the way in Bellevue. Actually it's more convenient than it sounds, as in May Microsoft moved me from Redmond to their new building in downtown Bellevue. I was even able to chaperone on their class field trip to the Museum of Flight. We like the school so much, and Spencer has made such tremendous progress, that we are thinking of sending Garrett there for kindergarten next year. And yes, that probably means we will start seriously looking at moving to Bellevue, even if we can't sell our current house in the Snoqualmie Ridge because the wonderful city let the developers build too many houses in the area. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

In sports, I watched the Lions continue their futility, Purdue football underachieve-then-overachieve in the same season, Purdue basketball return to its rightful spot at the top of the Big Ten, the Red Wings choke in the Stanley Cup Finals after being up two games to nil, have been to a dozen-plus Seattle Thunderbirds games to get my fix, and three Seahawks games this year. Highlight was a roadtrip down to Oregon to watch a fantastic football team against one of the nation's top teams. Strangely enough, that was the day Garrett became an Oregon Ducks fan. Because, well, they beat Purdue.

I really upped the bar on myself on hiking, tackling Mount Teneriffe, Mailbox Peak, Mount Washington (in the snow), and Granite Mountain all this year (and yeah, a couple trips up Mount Si too, but that's now just a warm up). I have my eyes set on Mount Adams this year, with a friend at work gracious enough to teach me the basics of mountaineering. Reminds me I need to get off my ass and get to the gym to drop a few pounds before my tests start in March.

Amy and I have probably enjoyed more dates this year than any year since before Spencer was born. Nice to have the kids old enough that we don't worry about them while we are out... in fact we tend to worry more about the babysitters. They're also old enough that their play room has been transformed significantly - gone are the little kids toys, replaced with the start of a game room (MY game room dammit).

Garrett has turned into quite the football afficionado, with a new favorite team almost every week (although he seems to opt for Dallas quite a bit recently). He can tell you which team has white jerseys at home and which ones wear colors at home. He can also tell you the Lions still suck. Oh, wait, that's me.

All in all a good year, I miss our friends who are now in Germany, and the boys continue to grow faster than I can keep up with them. Here's an early Happy New Year to everyone and a prosperous 2010!

Before there was corporate email...

2009-12-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

... we used to send humor around by voice mail. I remember this bit actually bringing down our voice mail system because so many people forwarded it. This is still the funniest damn thing I have ever heard. If the entire free world hasn't heard it by now, they should. Rated R for language.

I don't know if we ever found out if it was real or fake (all evidence pointed to real).

Enjoy.

Dear JaJ J: stay out of foul trouble

2009-11-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

Purdue looked good against a deep and athletic Tennessee team last night. It's the first time I can remember since 1994 that Purdue looked like they belonged on the court against a big time team. They were as quick and fast as Tennessee, they penetrated well, they created their own shots, and they played terrific team defense. The weakness I saw was that they couldn't stay out of foul trouble to save their life.

With Lewis Jackson out I thought Kelsey Barlow did an excellent job at the point. Good penetration, excellent defense, and he has some size so he can scoop up some boards. But boy does he need to work on his free throws.

I've read about Patrick Bade, and he seemed to have good stats. I thought he held his own pretty well last night. One frustrating stretch he missed a couple putbacks and ended up fouling, but still he at least got to the back to have a chance at the putbacks. He'll be solid coming off the bench.

Which leads me to JaJuan Johnson. Man, JJ, you can't get in foul trouble. No matter what. Let the other team have a less-than-perfectly contested shot. You don't do any good on the bench, and the trio of Moore, Hummel, and Johnson are as good a trio as it gets in the country this year. That is what Purdue is going to ride to the final four. Even if Marcius comes back and is a solid backup.

Love the idea that Bade, Marcius, and Barlow will get lots of PT this year before the tourney. Damn these kids are going to be tough to beat.

the jury is still out

2009-11-22T18:57:00.000-08:00

But today gave me a glimmer of hope that after 50 years the Lions have found their franchise quarterback. 5 TDs in a game is a lot for a rookie even against crappy competition like Cleveland. And 422 yards is a Lions record, more than the great Scott Mitchell ever put up. Some of his throws were excellent, and today he showed he can move to create plays. We'll see when the dust settles at the end of the year, but I continue to like what I see from Stafford.

Review: Boxley's in North Bend

2009-11-21T22:52:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago my wife and I spent a couple hours at Boxley's in North Bend, a new restaurant featuring live jazz five nights a week (Wednesday through Sunday). It was a Thursday, and we got their for the 9pm "show" and just had drinks and desert. Their chocolate cheesecake was incredible, and the live music was great as well. By the time 10pm rolled around, Amy and I were the only people left in the place, and on the way home we talked about hoping "this place makes it in the valley."

Fast forward to tonight, Amy and I had a date night and decided on Boxley's for dinner and music. We arrived at 6:15, hoping for a slow dinner, drinks, and desert and to stay for the 7-8pm live performance. When we got there, very few tables were occupied, and my first thought was "man, on a Saturday night? This place ain't going to make it!" By 6:45, halfway through our fine meal, the place was packed. And the Saturday night show put the Thursday night show to shame. Great act, terrific food, outstanding service, and a great atmosphere. Amy and I are now hooked. This place gives Jak's a run for the money, not that the food is that good, but the overall experience is better. A tough decision come our next date night.

Dumb as a box of rocks

2009-11-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

We have got to raise the expectations on our youth and their ability to comprehend the most basic of common sense situations. This trophy kid mentality has got to stop.

Case 1, Les Miles of that fine academic institution Louisiana State University. Down by 2 and with the ball at about midfield with 26 seconds left and 1 timeout left, this genious decides to let 17 seconds run off the clock before using his last timeout. Apparently he thought giving Ole Miss 15 seconds to get into field goal range might be too much time, so let's run down the clock. And, amazingly enough, nobody from the coaching staff to any of the players thought "shit, we should probably call a timeout here".

Then, to top it off, LSU, with nine seconds left throws a hail mary and catches it inside the 20 with 1 second on the clock. And man you thought you had asked the entire team and coaching staff to write an essay on quantum physics. Total confusion, the QB looking to the sideline "what do I do coach?", and they don't even get a play off. I'd say dumber than a box of rocks, but I really don't have anything against rocks to be that insulting. I mean, rocks have been really useful around our current house.

After the game Les Miles, the standard of intellectual genius, stated that there wasn't enough time left to get the field goal unit on the field. Well first, he's wrong - Purdue did exactly that in 2001 against Minnesota (and made the field goal to boot). Second, even so, my gosh, how hard is it for anyone to say "oh shit, 1 second, snap that fucker as fast as you can and put the bitch in the end zone." I mean, my god, that's standard operating procedure for grade school playground football when the end-of-recess bell rings and kids run "1 more play."

And then we have the fine joke of a situation in South Bend Indiana, where the University of Notre Dame has managed to rope Chuck Weis into a 10 year contract worth $4M+ a year (currently the buyout is $18M). This for a coach whose winning percentage is less than that of his previous two predecessors, the second of which was only given three years before given the boot.

At least in ND's case it's a private institution. If they want to piss away their money, good luck. It's not taxpayers footing the bill for a University's stupid decision.

Maybe it's just a sign of me getting old. But I get less and less tolerant of people who fail to exhibit enough common sense to warrant consuming the earth's precious oxygen. I had a teach in high school with a stamp "too stupid to live" he would use on people's papers. It had some parents in fits how "insensitive" he was. I thought it was great that someone called a spade a spade.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review

2009-11-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, I hang my head in shame. I did not run out to the local Gamestop, Fred Meyer, or Walmart Monday night at midnight to pick up the latest installment in the Call of Duty series. Maybe that means I have to turn in my gamer card.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I expected a lot out of World at War. While the WWII weapons and maps were fun, it didn't offer a different experience than Modern Warfare. So, I assumed that MW2 would be an incremental step like WoW was. Bzzt. Wrong.

I won't cover the entire game, instead I'll talk about the myriad of improvements.

Pick your kill streak bonus. Awesome. Instead of the three standard options at 3, 5, and 7 kills (without dying of course), you now get a selection of about 20. It starts at the standard UAV (revealing enemy locations on the map) for a killstreak of 3, and caps at a killstreak of 25, granting you, get this, a tactical nuclear bomb that "brings a swift end to the game." The catch is a) you only get to pick three, and b) only the standard 3 are unlocked at the beginning. You have to level up to unlock the others.
You still get the three groups of perks, but now each perk also "levels up" as you get kills using it, enabling "better" versions of the perk.
Better secondary weapon choices, including moving shotguns to secondary weapon.
Throwing knives and riot shields. Enough said.
You now get experience points for protecting your teammates. If an enemy is firing at one of your teammates, and you save your teammate, experience points. Boo ya.
Sentry guns. This is wicked. Automated sentry that picks off any enemies that walk in its path. You can get this as an unlocked bonus for killstreaks, or as a random item in a cool new "ammo drop" feature that drops a random item as a reward for a 4 killstreak. Just beware that the drop can kill you if you stand underneath it. Just sayin.
Death streaks. That's right, those of you (like me) that have a habit of getting pwnd over and over now get a reward of your choosing. For example, you can spawn with extra health
"Mosh pit" game type that randomizes all the other game types (team deathmatch, domination, hq, etc).

That's off the top of my head. I know I am missing a lot here, but I've only played for a couple of hours.

The maps are excellent. Haven't found a map I don't like, which is rare for a first person shooter game.

Also, I would bet good money that they have adopted part, if not all, of the Rainbow Six Vegas physics engine. The gameplay has a very similar feel, which in my opinion is an upgrade.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled gaming...

Giving credit where credit is due

2009-11-07T21:30:00.001-08:00

Great job by the Purdue football coaching staff and the players today to beat Michigan in the Big Outhouse today. After laying a goose egg in Madison last week which included accomplishing an amazing feat of completing just 5 of 23 passes, I must say seeing Michigan favored by only six was very tempting to bet my life savings on the Wolverines (seriously). But Purdue came out inspired today, never let up, played with heart and intelligence, and pulled off something that hadn't occurred in my lifetime - a victory over Michigan in Ann Arbor.

This Purdue team has to be the most inconsistent team I have ever seen in any sport. Last week's goose egg, a loss to Northern Illinois, a home loss to Northwestern, a blowout loss to Minnesota. On the flip side, a win over tOSU, outplayed Oregon on the road, and a win over Michigan in Ann Arbor. Granted, Michigan is not a good team by any stretch of the imagination, but they do have more talented players than the Boilers.

After the Oregon game I really liked what I saw from the coaching staff relative to playcalling and gametime adjustments. Then that seemed to disappear altogether (even in the Ohio State win, I thought OSU gave us the game more than Purdue beating them) and I thought we had seen an aberration. I saw the same strong playcalling and gametime adjustments today against Michigan. Which begs the question: do Hope and his staff have any sort of football strategy or philosophy? Or are they winging this week in and week out? Hopefully this team can gain some consistency.

A bowl is now within reach. It will take a home win over Michigan State and a road win over IU. Both very average, beatable teams, but also both teams that can easily hand Purdue a loss.

I think these next two games are important for sizing up Hope and Purdue for the coming years. If Purdue wins out I will say I am damn impressed after starting the season 1-5. If they lose out, I'd say overall the season was disappointing. In between? Then there is Hope for the future...

A night out with Spencer and his friends

2009-10-23T23:44:00.000-07:00

With Spencer attending a new school this year, it occurred to me that he hadn't seen some of his regular friends in a while. And since our weekends tend to be pretty busy, I suggested to S-man that he invite a couple friends to a Seattle Thunderbirds hockey game so he could hang out with them for a while. So tonight I took Spencer and two of his friends from the last few years down to the Showare Center and took in our third Thunderbirds game of the season.

This was the first time I can remember that I truly got to see Spencer in his element. Normally if I see him with his friends, its either a) in some school or sport activity with lots of parents and kids around, and he's focused on some other task, b) he has friends over but not in my sight, or c) very short stints in passing. With a 30+ minute drive to and from the game, plus 150 minutes of time together in the arena, I felt like Jane Goodall observing monkeys in their element (although I'd argue it's probably easier to make sense of monkeys than three eight year olds).

My favorite part was following the three as they walked to the arena shoulder to shoulder. Spencer was happy, socially confident and comfortable, and responsible. I probably could have told the three I would meet them outside after the game and not seen them for the next couple hours, and they would have been just fine. It's a snapshot in my mind I won't forget.

Thank you, Spence, for allowing me to tag along. Can't wait until we do it again. And not just because I don't have to talk to any adults (that's just a bonus). Just hope the T-Birds put up a better fight next time.

By my recollection, that makes four

2009-10-17T22:27:00.001-07:00

As in, four Purdue wins over top ten teams since I started following Purdue football in 1988. (Sheesh I am getting old).

Had to wait until 1996 to see my first - a blistering 9-3 win over #9 Michigan in West Lafayette. A couple years later, Purdue beat #4 Kansas State 37-34 in the Alamo Bowl, and followed that up the next year with a 52-28 drubbing of #5 Michigan State in West Lafayette. And then a 10 year drought until today's big win over Ohio State.

I still remember that 1996 win over Michigan. Back when ESPN2 couldn't even afford capital letters (remember those days?). Amy and I were two of about 33,000 people in attendence to witness that, the week after Jim Colletto announced his resignation. The goalposts came down and were soon deposited in the Wabash River.

The Alamo Bowl win is still probably my favorite win ever by a Purdue team. The defense played phenomenal against a potent, fast offense. It catapulted Roosevelt Colvin and Chike Okeafor into the NFL, and started the Drew Brees legend. Even though Drew had a relatively poor game (he completed less than 50% of his passes, for like barely over 200 yards, and had something like 2TDs and 3 picks), he had a last minute drive that was one for the ages.

The 1999 win over #5 MSU wasn't really an upset. Purdue was ranked in the top 25 at the time, and MSU, while piling up Ws, wasn't exactly a dominant team that year. I expected Purdue to own MSU, as did everyone in the stadium, and that's what happened. If I remember right Purdue jumped out to a 28-7 lead by early 2nd quarter and never looked back.

And then the drought. Much has been made of Purdue's inability to beat a ranked team, let alone a top 10 team, since 2003. Six years is a long time. Even Colletto managed Ws against ranked Cal and West Virginia, and Akers beat OSU in Columbus.

Since moving to Seattle, days where Purdue plays a top ten team is pretty much treated like a holiday, even in the past few down years under Tiller. We plan our day around it, make a party out of it, and of course wind up disappointed.

So today, while I hurried up after Spencer's soccer game to start the recording of the game, I also didn't treat it with the specialness reserved for Spoilermaker opportunities. What were the odds? I mean, this is a Purdue team that needed two late TDs to pull within 7 of mighty Northern Illinois. Sheesh.

Today's game reminded me of the 1996 win over Michigan. You watch this team, and you say "you know, there's some talent here. Not NFL talent, but talented kids who can play football." Then you watch them shoot themselves in the foot week in and week out. Then they put it together and bite someone, and actually look pretty good in the process.

Boiler Up. Who knows when we'll see a W again, let alone against a top ten team. Here's to it not being 10 years...

Spencer's Eee PC

2009-10-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back Woot had Asus' Eee PC 900 for $170. I checked the memory, it had 1GB, and I damn near ordered two of them. Makes a perfect learning laptop for Spencer.

I didn't realize it didn't come with Windows - it comes installed with Linux. But it's bundled in a user-friendly way. It comes with StarOffice, and I had to play with it to upgrade FireFox to 3.0. Took a few tries, but eventually got it right.

Wireless connectivity is pretty easy, and it charges quickly. Best of all it's intuitive enough for an eight year old. I was a little worried about the X-Windows interface but that hasn't been an issue.

If there's a downside is that I will have to download some basic features to allow Spencer to do some more things with it (like view HD movies, which are not supported by the default media player).

So Spencer now has a laptop. He loves it. And like most people he's figured out how to play games on it. Although he's already created his first spreadsheet :)

I think the Lions have a QB of the future

2009-10-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

After four games, Matt Stafford is showing he belongs in the NFL. I've only caught one of his games, but from looking at highlights he looks good. Strong arm, looking off safeties, going through his reads, and stepping up in the pocket when he needs to. Reading NFL defenses will take time, but I like his progress vs. what I remember from other top QBs drafted in their first year like Aikman and Manning. Can't remember a time in 35 years I've been excited about a Lions' QB.

All these bitter pills are starting to taste the same

2009-10-03T21:25:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not talking about the Obamas crashing-and-burning in their attempt to land Chicago the 2016 Olympics (apparently the IOC is smarter than the average American). Another Saturday, another WTF happened relative to Purdue football. Danny Hope now reminds me of Jim Colletto. I don't think that's a good thing, although I didn't exactly hate Jim Colletto or the time he was here. He elevated the program from joke-of-the-nation to we're-not-as-bad-as-IU. Which was a step up.

I realize Tiller left a pretty bare cupboard. Still, I expected more out of this team at this point. I just have an eerie feeling that, just like Colletto had some early success, Hope just won't get over the hump.

And damn UW for not closing the door on ND. Not that I care about UW, but any ND loss automatically makes it a great weekend.

I'm tired of the moral victories

2009-09-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

After 20+ years of following Purdue football closely, I'm done with the moral victories. Seen plenty of them. They're no longer impressing me. I enjoyed them during the Colletto years. I even enjoyed them during the Tiller years, but since we haven't beaten a ranked team in 5+ years, I've gotten numb to them.

Likewise, perennial visits to bowl games that didn't exist 30 years ago doesn't impress me either. I simply want to see a 10 win season occasionally. Say once every 10 years. Then I'll get excited. I'll suffer through some losing seasons to do it. But put together a great season now and then. Tiller got close a few times, and in 2003 and 2004 he had the talent to do it but never closed the door.

After last night's game, not sure if Hope is the one to get us there. Four games is certainly too early to tell (after all, two games into the season I liked the direction the team was heading). 1-3 against two MAC opponents and a ND game at home certainly isn't building confidence in me. And a couple things concerned me last night 1) the lack of offensive production in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and b) the lack of aggressiveness on defense down the stretch. The former speaks to weaknesses in the coaching staff's ability to game plan and adjust properly; the latter speaks to the mindset of the coaching staff. This team will get eaten alive in the Big Ten if that doesn't change. Akers deja vu? At least Colletto consistently had offenses in the top three of the Big Ten, even if his defenses couldn't tackle to save their life (wait, didn't that happen last night?).

That said, it's been a long time (2004?) since I felt Purdue looked like a real football team, and the showings against Oregon and ND have convinced me they belong in the Big Ten. And not just because the Big Ten sucks this year. So I do have hope for this team. Just frustrated Hope isn't closing the door sooner with this team as I had expected.

In retrospect, it was a great game

2009-09-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

When you're in the moment of Purdue giving up 17 points on stupid turnovers and missing extra points, you lose sight of one thing: the Purdue-Oregon game was a great game. 6 or so lead changes, a tie game at halftime, great efforts offensively and defensively, and last minute heroics where Purdue had a chance to tie with a minute left.

We had a great time in Autzen, of the best road trips we've had. Nothing will ever beat Purdue's 41-16 drubbing of the Irish under touchdown Jesus, and it's hard to top Penn State as an overall environment, but Oregon was an overall good experience.

The drive down was beautiful as would be expected. So long as you close your eyes through Portland. Sheesh, anyone who doesn't like Pittsburgh should really take a view at Portland. Traffic wasn't too bad, which was surprising given there is literally only two ways into Eugene. And they have great parking/transportations options - never seen anything as easy and organized as their bus system.

Autzen stadium, if you can get over the plethora of green and yellow on your eyes (if snow is God's dandruff, then the inside of Autzen stadium is God's vomit), is a nice, small stadium with lots of activites. They open their practice field up with big screen TVs, tables, and food for fans to enjoy before the game, which is a great idea - haven't seen that done anywhere either.

Overall the fans were fine. One bitch of a lady on the bus put Spencer in tears with her taunting (half Spencer's fault because he's so sensitive), but I got to yell at her so that was a bonus. Started the trip off poorly. But most fans left us alone, and a few where actually nice to us.

Of course it rained, and our smart selves left our rain gear at the hotel. Not sure what we were thinking.

Wasn't until I watched the game on tape until I realized that Adams DIDN'T NEED TO JUMP FOR THE BALL on the two point conversion. Damn, we're in OT if he keeps his feet on the ground (the ball hit him right in the chest).

Can't say enough good things about BCS

2009-09-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

No, not the Bowl Championship Series, but Bellevue Christian School (Three Points Elementary to be specific). Located near Lake Washington and 520, it's a small private school that Amy and I decided would be worth our $$$ to send Spencer as he entered third grade. And so far I we haven't been disappointed. Spencer loves it and is enjoying it more than his old school. The teachers and admin we have met have been absolutely great to work with. He is being challenged daily, in a reasonable way, and Spencer is already being pushed far harder than he was at CVES. Plus Spencer is a bible-thumper at heart so he loves the environment. "I have chapel today Dad!" He says it like its a good thing.

I drive him the 35 minutes to school, which is 5 minutes from where I now work. It's occurred to us maybe we should just move to Bellevue, and while we aren't in a hurry it certainly wouldn't surprise me that we make a move while the market is down and we minimize the trading up cost it would take for us to move there. The drive allows me to have some bonding with him, and it allows him to have some focused study time without his brother pestering him. Its created a riff in my work schedule, but so be it - I'll manage. And Microsoft has a great culture to support work/life balance and families, so it's almost expected that I'm not in the office before 8:30 now.

Bus transportation is actually included in the tuition, which was a surprise to Amy and I (we figured we'd be dropping another $100/month for the bus), so Spencer takes the bus to Issaquah, where Amy picks him up. She has a story to tell about the first day, just ask her about it, just make sure she is sitting down and has a drink in her hand when she tells it.

We'll see how the year goes. But I can certainly see next fall me cutting a check for 2x to send Garrett to kindergarten there.

Audios

2009-09-11T21:35:00.001-07:00

After a little over seven years and 135000 miles, I said goodbye to my beloved 2000 Audi S4. Gonna miss my first world-class sports sedan. My goal was to drive it into the ground, and last week the engine started acting quirky. Might have been as simple as a couple bad spark plugs, or could have been something more serious. But now that I am driving spencer 20 miles to school every morning, I decided I needed something more reliable.

My S4 had front quarter panel damage from that wonderful snowstorm a few years back, the cat had died, and had a few minor issues with it. Plus plenty of scratches and dings to boot. Not worth fixing IMHO, so I traded it in last week. I actually got three times what I was willing to take for it, so I call that a big win. Of course they never drove the damn thing or took a look at all the warning lights going off, they just walked around the car. Good for me.

Spencer cried when we left the dealership with a different car. He loved the way I drove it. Sheesh, I can't wait until his first pet dies on him. Took me a while to calm him down, and even after a week he still talks about missing my car.

And thus ends summer

2009-08-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

Almost anyway. Been a busy August. Earlier in the month we took our first trip to Idaho, squeezing a trip in three days between Amy's work and Spencer leaving for camp. In those days we met up with my uncle in Spokane, spent a day in Coeur d'Alene, and spent a day at the Silverwood Amusement park, supposedly the largest amusement park in the Pacific Northwest.

Silverwood was fun. I imagine it is about the size Cedar Point was in the early/mid 70s before CP realized that roller coasters would be its ticket to fortunes. There are a few coasters at Silverwood, include what I call a real one (one that roller coaster entuhsiasts would actually ride) - in fact its the best coaster I've ever been on. Granted, I haven't been on one for 10 years (I think Incredible Hulk at Universal Orlando was the last real coaster I've been on), so I have no clue what's new out there there days. The rest of the park was what you'd expect - lots of rides and games for the kids - but it also has a large water park connected to it. One admission price gets you into both areas. The water park has two large wave pools, and Spencer and Garrett chose to spend most of there day there. Although we did get Spencer and Garrett on one of the big roller coasters. While Garrett insisted on going, afterword he sputtered that it was too scary and he wasn't going on again. Sadly, no pictures, we didn't want to take a camera in and lose it.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Coeur d'Alene. It's probably the best known lake in the Pacific Northwest, so I imagined something 10 times busier than Lake Chelan. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't very busy - of course we timed it so we wouldn't be there over a weekend. Then again, northern Idaho is chock full of lakes, and Lake Pend O'Reille is only 20 miles north, and Priest Lake is another half hour north. What I was surprised was the lack of watersports right on the lake. I could only find one Jet Ski rental, and they didn't rent by the hour (half a day minimum), and the kayak rentals brought your kayaks to you and you had to wait for them to pick them up. I didn't take either of them up while we were there, instead just swam in the lake with the kids at two different beaches. And got sunburnt real, real bad.

There wasn't a lot of water activity, much to my surprise. Seems much more like a residential area where the residents enjoy lakefront views. Total opposite of Lake Chelan where everything is a resort, campground, or hotel. Not bad, just different. We had a great time and we will go back soon.

The month of August saw the family take in a Mariners game against the good guys (White Sox). The good guys went yard in the top of the ninth for three runs to beat the home team, in what was largely a boring game. We went during the week and Garrett had his run of the cool play area out in center field.

I also took Spencer to the Seahawks home opening pre-season game. Unfortunately, the pre-game announcement of "what to do in case of an emergency" dragged on for a while, Spencer took it all in, and was scared to death the entire first half. "Dad, should we go to the emergency exit?" "Dad, when is the emergency going to be here?" "Dad, we should sit closer to the emergency exit." "Dad, do you know what to do in case of an emergency?" "Dad..." Finally I put the kid's mind at ease and we left at halftime. At least Matt Hasselbeck through a couple TD passes that Spencer got to see.

Finally, I took a day off work this week and the family went to Wild Waves in Federal Way. The kids had been there a few times (Garrett loves telling the world that this was his third trip there), and it's basically a smaller version of Silverwood. It used to be a Six Flags, which is odd because I've always thought of Six Flags as big theme parks. On the way back we caught a couple periods of the Seattle Thunderbirds scrimmage at the Showare Center.

So Monday Spencer starts at his new school in Bellevue. Not sure how the logistics will work out, I will likely drive him to school every day and he will take the bus home. There's a bus stop out in Issaquah so apparently a lot of kids outside Bellevue attend. Will cause some havoc at work because I'm used to getting to the office early so I can get out at a decent hour, this will throw a wrench in that. But I'm excited for Spencer and I'm glad that even with our late start in talking to BCS we were able to get Spencer in.

swimming in lake coeur d'alene

the boys thought the mudgy the moose statues around town were cool

spencer worried about some stupid impending emergency about to strike

i've taught garrett how to cross his eyes.

oh yeah, i forgot a rant...

2009-07-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

... related to the Sounders game. My biggest turn-off to soccer is the utterly-frickin wussbags that writhe on the ground in fake agony when so much as the wild blows a little too hard. Makes it really hard for me to consider soccer a real sport watching that. I had to keep telling Spencer "he's faking it... yeah, he's faking it too... yep, you got it, he's faking it."

Fortunately nobody stood up and yelled "I hope he dies!" but I would have laughed at that just as I did 10 years ago against Notre Dame. Just sayin.

My first Sounders game with Spencer

2009-07-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

Oy, I've put this off a couple days because frankly, I really don't know what to say about it. I'll start with my conclusion - I won't shell out that kind of money for a Sounders game again.

If I were one who enjoyed watching soccer, I think I would have had fun. Not quite as big of an event as the hype in this town had led me to believe, but still, quite the lively crowd, fairly knowledgeable, and a nice setting for the game. Problem is, I'm not one who likes watching soccer. Like golf and baseball, I'm a much bigger fan of playing the game than watching it.

Spencer was excited about going, he had a good time, although he liked watching the game from the club level indoors than standing in the stands. Even if we did have 20th row seats at midfield (great seats scored by me). He noted that the players stand around a lot, which is something I've coached him he can't do in soccer. I didn't have an answer for him. Thanks MLS players.

Traffic was a mess due to the construction between Quest and Safeco. Worse than a Mariners or Seahawks game, believe it or not. And boy, despite the club level not being very crowded, they had tons of people guarding every entrance to make sure someone didn't wander in who didn't have a pass. God forbid someone walks around the corridor up there without a pass. Maybe a few of those folks could have been working the long lines at the concession stands. Just sayin.

As for the game, weather was great and the two sides played to a nice 0-0 tie. Plenty of missed opportunities for both sides. And a red card for each side to boot. Not a bad game, certainly not one for the ages.

I'm not sure why I am down on the whole experience. Maybe relative to Seahawks (where the play is interesting and the crowd is abuzz), the Mariners (where the environment is fun even if the play on the field is not), or the Thunderbirds (intimate environment and constant action), it just came up short. When I factor in that I shelled out $100 for two tickets (more than I spent last year on Spencer's first Seahawks game), I think its safe to say I'm glad I took Spencer but he will be buying tickets out of his own money next time.

Catching up on last weekend

2009-07-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was pretty eventful. I took Friday off and did a premium hike taking on Granite Mountain and winning. Views were amazing, the hike exhausting, and the solitude refreshing.

On Saturday I had the boys all day, and we went and saw the Seattle Thunderbirds practice. I was excited that their hockey store would be open with 25% off everything; turns out all they were selling was their crappy stuff they can't get rid of during the season. Still, the boys had fun, and we stayed there a full hour an a half, which is an hour longer than I expected them to hold out.

After that we did a quick tour of the Museum of Flight, and checked out the new control tower exhibit, which, except for the new signs, I could not distinguish from the old control tower exhibit. The museum is very hands on which the boys love.

On Sunday, we went back to the Museum of Flight to partake in a biplane ride. We shelled out more money than we probably should for a 20 minute flight from Boeing field around Elliot Bay and back. Because there were four of us we couldn't do an open seater, so we were tightly wedged into a cabin plane. The takeoff and landing made me a wee bit nervous, Garrett couldn't see because he was too short, but Spencer loved it. It was quite the experience and glad we went on it.

Wii Fit Plus

2009-07-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Just saw on twitter that Wii Fit Plus is due this year. Haven't read what it will be, but here's what I'm hoping: let me workout, please.

After a year of trying I've basically given up exercising on Wii Fit
for one reason: it loves to interrupt exercise and waste my time. I don't need to hear instructions over and over. I don't need feedback from a virtual trainer. I don't need to know my "score" or how I rank over time. I just want to exercise. 30 minutes of time spent on Wii Fit amounts to about 10 minutes of real exercise. Bah, I've got better things to do with my time.

A great feature would be to let me set up my routine, set up rests between them, and go! That would be a simple feature to deliver.

I do like that I've learned a little yoga, but at some point I am way beyond learning and into practicing, and the wii fit doesn't recognize that.

I love the idea of the balance board, heck, tracking my BMI automatically in the wii is worth it for that alone. Here's to getting some good exercise programs on the wii in the future, the promise is there, someone please deliver on it.

A quick trip to Mount Rainier

2009-07-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Quick of course is relative - for us its a two hour drive to Sunrise, the closest point for us in the Mount Rainier National Park. It sits 6400 feet up, about 40 minutes inside the park boundaries. It affords an up close and personal view of Mount Rainier, which almost doesn't seem fair that one can drive and get a better view than climbing one of the various peaks of the Cascades.

Weather was beautiful today, but hot. We didn't do much hiking, we will save that for a cooler day.

This is at a vista about 5 miles out from Sunrise.

You could see Mount Saint Helens today; you can always recognize it due to its flat top.

A close up of where a huge amount of snow has broken off. Making me rethink that I want to summit Rainier someday.

Amazon Fresh on Snoqualmie Ridge

2009-07-10T16:47:00.001-07:00

Woot! Just learned that Amazon will start delivering Amazon Fresh to the Ridge starting Tuesday. Boo ya! I like the new grocery store on the ridge, but they don't do everything, and their prices on some things are pretty high. Competition will be good.

Success with the Orion

2009-07-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

At some level I have to call this a success. I set out today to try my hand at using my Orion "cooker" as a smoker, something that everyone on the Interwebs says can't be done. I didn't have high hopes, and used a small, cheap piece of 3.5 pound pork shoulder to give it a try today.

After a generous rub on the pork and stuffing it with as much garlic as I possibly could, I lined the bottom inside of the Orion with some large mesquite wood chips, ensuring that the wood was in contact with the walls of the cooker. I actually wedged them between the walls and the drip pan, keeping them in place. I also stacked them a couple high where I could, convinced that I couldn't get enough smoke anyway to do the trick. Note that I did not soak the chips in anything - I left them dry, knowing the cooker generates enough moisture on its own.

After putting the shoulder on the top rack and sealing it up, I used less charcoal than it normally calls for, and to compensate I cooked it longer (5 hours instead of 3). The result? A wonderful, black, fall-apart-in-your-hands hunk of meat rich with smoky mesquite flavor. In fact, I think it's a little too smoky. Looking forward to how it tastes with a generous helping of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce during tonight's neighborhood gathering.

Now, I'm not going to argue that this is smoked to perfection. I'd certainly rather have a real smoker to do the trick. However, I challenge the blogosphere that claims you can't get any smoke out of the Orion. And, I still say with the Orion that most of the time I'd rather have 95% flavor in a third of the time (and a tenth of the work). Today was actually an exception - I did have the time to attend to a full bbq, and I wished I had a real smoker. Sigh.

Next time, I would probably do the following:

soak some of the wood chips a little. A little steam won't hurt. But, need to have enough dry ones to create the smoke.
find smaller wood chips. Chunks of wood really don't help when trying to wedge between the drip pan and the outer wall.
sprinkle the wood chips with some seasoning. I think the chips will get hot enough to do the trick for this.

Bon Apetit to moi.

Geocaching.com iPhone app review

2009-07-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

I don't yet have my own iPhone, I will be getting that in August. But since my wife has had hers (December) I've found more and more reasons to use it. The best one just might be geocaching.com's application.

The iPhone 3G has a built-in GPS receiver (GPSr), which I don't believe the first gen iPhone does (don't quote me on that). I certainly wouldn't use it to geocache, but it's accurate enough for car navigation or location-based services. The geocaching app can use the GPSr to find nearby caches. It will list them out by name and distance; clicking on one will give you more detail - size, description, logs, and hints. In other words, all standard fare you get on the website or as part of your .gpx downloads. You can also use the app to navigate to the cache, which will bring up a map (you can set whether you use Google Maps or Bing maps, for example) showing both your current location and the cache location. Or you can bring up a compass view - showing you direction and distance to where the cache is.

But the best feature, in my estimation, is that you can record your cache logs right from the phone. These are called field notes, and you can record found it/didn't find its and record a log. These are then submitted to your geocaching.com account to your field notes section. They don't post directly to the cache listing - you have to do that from the website. Not sure why they force another step, but still better than trying to figure out all the caches you found when, say, you're on vacation for a week and find a couple dozen.

The app also allows you to save cache descriptions for offline use. And this is a really nice feature of the app - it recognizes that people doing serious geocaching are probably not within distance of a cell phone network or Wifi, so the app is offline-friendly. You can't search while disconnected; however, you can still submit field notes (they are stored locally until you connect again).

This app will set you back $10. Considering you'll never had to download pocket queries again, it is a no-brainer companion to your geocaching toolkit.

The $25,000 question is whether you could realistically use only your iPhone for geocaching (assuming you pretty much do urban caches), and I think it would be a challenge. The GPS is just not accurate enough on the iPhone. But damn is it nice having a device able to pull down any nearby caches you want no matter where you are.

Happy Birthday America!

2009-07-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

What a great country we still live in to enjoy the freedoms we do. I just wish the more people understood that with freedom comes responsibility.

Going to try to make some pulled pork for this evening's grill out, and also going to make sure all the kids go to bed tonight with all their fingers. Other than that, a relaxing day with the kids.

Two down, five to go

2009-06-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

I have a goal of hitting all the major mountains in the Snoqualmie River Valley by the end of the year: Mount Washington, Mount Teneriffe, Mailbox Peak, Mount Defiance, Granite Mountain, Silver Peak, and capping it off with Snoqualmie Mountain (ouch). I did Mount Si, Bandera Mountain, and McClellan Butte last year, hence the seven and not the full ten.

I hit Mount Washington in the snow a month ago to kick off the season, and I failed to complete Teneriffe last week (I had done Rattlesnake Mountain the day before, and I am just not in good enough shape yet to tackle back-to-back hikes).

Today, I completed Mailbox Peak, by far my most challenging hike yet. Doing so gives me confidence to hit Teneriffe next week when the new trail is complete (will be just as steep as Mailbox), and pretty much leaves me in a state where I can take on the other mountains in prep for a hike up Snoqualmie Mountain which is a killer.

The weather did not cooperate today, which means no good views (thus no pics) of Rainier, Baker, etc. That's not surprising, as the "two months of perfect weather" doesn't start until mid-July. Still, tough killing myself 4000 feet up and nothing but cloud vapor to stare at.

Looking forward to the rest of the season.

This one was hard

2009-06-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

I've waited a couple days to post this to calm down from Stuart's stupid first period penalty Friday night. I won't blame the loss on him - the Wings had their chances - but man you cannot kill your momentum that way.

Though not nearly as bad as the Wings' early exits in 93, 94, or 96, this one was a tough pill to swallow. The Wings were a better team, with home ice advantage, and it was theirs to lose. And they lost it. I thought Anaheim and Chicago were better teams, and maybe having to play them wore the Wings down to the Pens' benefit. Regardless, a huge opportunity to erect another pillar in the Wings' dynasty was lost. I really wanted Lidstrom to get his 5th Cup (that would be more than Gretzky or Bossy by the way), maybe next year. Or maybe I can't stand the thought of an overrated classless whiner like Sidney Crosby hoisting the cup.

It's still an amazing 20 year run the Wings are on.

And Holland is crazy if he hands Hossa another $7M in the future. I'd rather take my chances elsewhere for that kind of money.

No consequences for Malkin, of course

2009-06-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

I agree that Malkin shouldn't be suspended for game 3 for his instigation penalty with 20 seconds left of game 2 (Of course I think the instigator rule is stupid to begin with). However, you can't let the guy off scot free - the guy served 20 seconds for an instigation for Chrissake's.

Maybe the rule should be you sit for 5 minutes the following game, or for all instigations you sit for 30 minutes of ice time or the rest of the game, whatever is longer. I don't know what the solution is. But basically the NHL just said you can drop the gloves when the other team is outclassing you and there is no consequences. That makes no sense. Either fighting is in or it is out. Pick one, Bettman, and be consistent about it.

Bing is not Google

2009-05-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

Actually, I don't know what Bing really stands for, and I wasn't part of the branding/marketing behind it. But I am part of the team that is working on the shopping part of Bing, and I must say these are exciting times. Although not as exciting as when it is actually released (even if I will be spending all night in the office).

My favorite writeup so far.

Update: I now have a new favorite writeup. Er, video.

A great Original Six series

2009-05-27T20:05:00.001-07:00

I'm almost ashamed to admit it took me a couple of games for me to get fired up about the Wings/Hawks series. A very different Chicago team than the last time the Wings faced the Hawks in the playoffs. No Belfour. No Roenick. And Chelios now dons the Winged Wheel. Go figure. The Hawks of old were a much easier team to hate. The reverse is also true.

Still, I like what is hopefully going to be several years of a renewed rivalry. The Hawks showed some skill, but lacked the poise and grit that the Wings have acquired over the years. In fact the Hawks remind me of the Wings teams of the late 80s/early 90s. Except they had good goaltending.

Despite the Wings domination I still really enjoyed this series. Primarily because I watched most of the Hawks/Canucks series and saw how well Chicago came back from multiple goal deficits, keeping me on edge despite nice leads.

Now on to a rematch with the Penguins, and I really, really hope the refs are not as soft on the Pens as they were last year. This is hockey, folks, Sidney (girl's name) is going to get bumped from time to time. He's not a quarterback, after all, and this is a real sport. I must say I wish the Wings were playing someone interesting the the finals. The Pens just don't do it for me.

It is still amazing this is the same organization I followed 30 years ago. Back when there were 21 teams, and the Wings were perennially one of five teams that never made the playoffs. Now if they are less than a 2 seed you call it a disappointing regular season, and anything short of the Cup finals is a choke. As big of a joke as the Detroit Lions are, the Red Wings are a model professional sports organization. Maybe they should make Illitch CEO of Chrysler.

Looks like two more weeks of the beard. By then it might actually look like one. Amy says I've set a world record for longest time without shaving and still not having a beard.

In rememberance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country

2009-05-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

Their contributions to our great nation has preserved our freedom to do stupid things like blog and twitter.

So now I work in Bellevue

2009-05-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

The Search organization at Microsoft is slowly but surely consolidating its entire team to the new offices being built in Bellevue. My team moved this past week to the City Center Plaza, which isn't done yet but apparently enough floors are complete to start moving the cattle in.

I must say, I think it will be nice working in Bellevue. My concern about the move was primarily around traffic and parking. In general, it is hell getting through Bellevue, the I-90/405 interchange, finding parking, etc. And that's on the weekends. I expected a workday to be infinitely worse. To my delight, I've found that traffic is not bad before 8am (nice that this entire town is a sleep-in town), and since only the first three floors of our new 26 story building are occupied, parking is not yet an issue. Although it will be in time - there's clearly not enough parking to support the entire building when it's finished.

Back to "it being nice working in Bellevue," by that I mean it's convenient to a myriad of lunch locations, shopping (Bellevue Square is a couple blocks away), Lincoln Square, etc. Nice to be in a city instead of "just a campus of Microsoft office buildings" that is Redmond. Already our team has enjoyed a fine lunch at El Gaucho and a movie at the local movie theatre (Terminator Salvation). Although having 27 Starbucks within two blocks is really annoying.

Oh yeah, nice having my own office again :)

New digs are so nice I took the family there today so they could check it out for themselves.

OMG great food in Snoqualmie!

2009-05-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, folks, its true. Apparently there is not a law outlawing tasty food to be served by establishments in Snoqualmie.

To be fair, there are a couple of restaurants on Snoqualmie Ridge that I like - Uncle Si's Pizza and Ana's I have no problem with. But you won't find be partaking in anything from Finaghty's, Mike's, or Sebastiani's so long as I'm sober. Also, this "crappy food in Snoqualmie" thing is really more of a "crappy food in Seattle" thing. Sure, there are excellent restaurants here; however, the hit ratio has to be the worst in the country if not the world.

The other problem is that we've been recommended a lot of restaurants in the area. All as "great" places to eat. Only to find that Amy and I won't partake in a more than a couple of bites before asking for the bill. So far only two of the myriad of recommendations we've gotten have panned out.

So when Amy came home a couple months ago saying "the new Italian place in town is supposed to be the best around" I was skeptical at best, ignoring her at worst. But after securing a babysitter for Friday, and not wanting to be out too late, we gave this new place a try.

Gianfranco Ristorante Italiano is an authentic Italian restaurant nestled in a little hole-in-the-wall in downtown Snoqualmie. I don't remember seeing more than six tables in the restaurant, and two of those were two seaters. Fortunately there was a table "in the back" for us when we got there.

The first thing I noticed was that the wine list didn't have a token couple of bottles from Italy - 90% of their wine list (about 80 choices in all) was from Italy, with a generous set of choices from Northern Italy, Tuscany, and Southern Italy. We opted for a lower priced red wine from Tuscany, and even Amy - who isn't a big wine fan - enjoyed it.

I scanned the simple menu and spotted a couple things I wanted to try: their beef tortellini with prosciutto, and some dishes with the chef's "famous gorganzola sauce." I asked the waitress if I could combine the two, and she obliged. Chalk one up for the customer. And what an excellent combination. The gorganzola sauce was outstanding - Amy ended up mopping up most of it as I made the tortellini disappear. And the tortellini was perfectly cooked and stuffed just right.

So finally, Amy and I have a destination for a decent meal that's within 5 minutes of us. And their kids menu is basically any dish they make, half size, half off. Not too shabby.

Gianfranco, welcome to the neighborhood. Looking forward to dropping plenty of duckets there over the coming years.

Happy Birthday Spencer

2009-05-16T21:48:00.001-07:00

Now that Spencer has his own email account (and uses it) and is getting internet savvy I have to be careful about my postings. Spencer had three friends over yesterday for a birthday get together, two of them spent the night, and we had a pretty relaxing day today.

Amy made a tank cake that was hella cool. Tasty too. Even at midnight. Theme was basically army, due to Spencer's recent fascination with Civilization Revolution, a turn-based XBox 360 game that Spencer is quite good at. In keeping with the spirit of the game, Spencer had swords, arrows, guns, shields, and set up countries for everyone, but make sure everyone knew they were at peace with each other. Not sure what exactly they were fighting in the backyard but they were at it for a few hours.

Spencer must be at that tweener age where the kids can supervise themselves and create their own fun together, but not at the risk of doing something so stupid that the police end up involved. As such we let the boys hang out in the playroom and watch movies until they fell asleep, while Amy and I snuck off to the backyard to enjoy the nicest evening of the year. By nicest I mean 40 degrees that felt colder than that even with multiple layers of clothes.

Spencer made out well today with loot. Lots of cash from the grandparents, he got a new bike, an awesome Nerf gun (I will be picking up one just like it so I can defend myself from his ambushes), a new Bakugan, and best of all no legos.

After an evening swim at the Pro Club we did some fine dining at Quizno's.

Pics from the Kitsap Penninsula

2009-05-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

The family went over to the Kitsap Penninsula (which is on the west side of Puget Sound) a couple weekends ago. Learned some more about the history of the area, which is deeply rooted in naval bases, shipyards, and testing.

We crossed the sound using the country's largest ferry system.

I caught a glimpse of the recently retired USS Kitty Hawk:

Spencer was funny. Every time I took his picture about this destroyer he would take his hat off, showing respect for our military.

A shot of Seattle on our return ferry ride.

And the obligatory Mount Rainier shot.

I still can't get over that blown call

2009-05-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I have been racking my brain to remember a worse call in sports. Can't come up with one. What I don't get... they didn't even try to get the call right.

As I read commentary from the league about the call, it's all about the refs discretion to blow the whistle when they lose sight of the puck. No shit sherlock. Of course refs can do that. That shouldn't be the debate. I still haven't seen anyone comment on this fact: the puck was in the net when the whistle blew. Barely, but it was still in the net. Thus, nobody can argue that the whistle affected the play.

Why this didn't go to review upstairs is beyond me. Isn't that the point of having replay in the first place? To get the call right? And why someone didn't say "well, sure, there was a whistle, but the puck was already in the net, so the whistle didn't affect the play, the Wings get the goal."

Hopefully this is the fire lit under the Wings' behinds that they need. Looking forward to tonight's game.

Thanks for the buzzkill, Lions

2009-04-26T19:26:00.001-07:00

Man, was that a disappointing day two of the draft for the Lions. Last night I was pleasantly surprised to see a) the Lions didn't waste picks on positions they already have filled (RB, WR, MLB), b) they went after a franchise QB with the #1 pick, and c) they went after a big time TE in the first round. Very happy with day 1, and getting a big corner in the second round was icing on the cake.

So I get home after a long day, only to find that the Lions decided to piss away some picks on a) a third down running back and b) a WR who's only hope to see the field is as KR/PR. Dammit, this team was 0-16, which damn near by definition means they have lots of STARTING positions to fill. Especially since Millen and Marinelli ran off players like Rogers and Bly. Out of the ten picks, three of them wasted on non-incremental add players. Serves me right for looking for a new Lions jersey online last night. Total buzzkill. Thanks Mayhew. I was totally in your court until today. Please tell me you have some killer free agent signings up your sleeve.

And speaking of the draft, I was shocked to see Curtis Painter get drafted by the Colts. Their scouts couldn't have seen captain choke in any big games. Good for Purdue, hopefully that continues to bode well for their QB recruiting.

Back to the Lions, I am looking forward to seeing if Stafford develops into a Pro Bowler in the next few years. Nice thing about 0-16, you can be a little patient to rebuild. There's no down side.

What have I been up to at Microsoft?

2009-04-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

It was made public today, a new and improved cashback experience. One of the reasons I've been in hiding is all the hours spent making this go smooth, and I'm proud of the effort our team put together to push things over the goal line. Funny, as Program Manager I don't actually do anything for the site; but I'm in trouble if the smallest piece doesn't work.

If you haven't tried cashback, give it a whirl. The few friends I've suggested to use it for specific product purchases have saved big bucks. Especially on big ticket items. I'm just looking for an excuse for a new HDTV.

And some of the press even likes the move.

Now on to bigger and better things.

Try some logical thought, people

2009-04-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

To be clear at the onset, I am against almost all forms of taxpayer $ going to private companies. Can't think of a reason off the top of my head why taxpayers should be investing tax dollars in private companies.

Apparently Microsoft is the beneficiary of some so-called stimulus funds, coupled with other local taxpayer funds, to build a bridge to span 520 and create another connection between the two campuses on the south side of its complex. And this has many up in arms.

Set aside the fact that Microsoft is not getting this money in the first place, the local government is. Assume Microsoft was the beneficiary of funds? How is that possibly worse than giving funds to AIG, misc banks, GM/Chrysler, etc?

What do you think has a better chance of creating jobs? Money to a company like AIG that destroys value, or money to a company like Microsoft that creates value?

Who do you think has a better chance of creating taxable income?

I've said all along the non-sensical part of the bailouts is that you are giving funds to companies that have proven they destroy value.

While I would rather our government not write checks it can't cash, if pissing away trillions of dollars is a foregone conclusion under this administration and Congress, it would at least be semi-heartening to know that the $ is going to well-run companies.

I'm alive

2009-04-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

This morning I took advantage of the kids and wife being out of town to head into Snoqualmie Pass and attempt my first skiing in 20 years. The Summit at Snoqualmie is nestled into the mountains that comprise Snoqualmie Pass, offering both excellent skiiing (powder even) and amazing views. Skiing is something I've been looking forward to doing since accepted my job offer with Amazon four years ago, and its about damn time I did it.

The rental center opens at 8:30, while the slopes open at 9am. It was predicted to be a beautiful day, following almost a week of heavy precipitation in the pass. Perfect timing to reacquaint myself to skiing. After a champions' breakfast of pop tarts, I was able to get there with front row parking a tad before 8:30.

A nice worker pointed me to the rental place, informing me it was the door I just walked by with the big sign that said "RENTALS" above it (wow am I observant), and by quarter to nine I had signed my life away and was decked out in the Summit's finest. I found a trail map and committed to memory the "super easy wuss hills" and their locations. Lucky for me they were right in front of me.

I made my way to the sissiest of all the lifts, pointed my skis into the "line" to make my way to the lift, and zoom I took off far faster than I expected. I couldn't turn in time, and I crashed right there in the line for the lift. Fortunately nobody around but the lift workers. When one of them stopped laughing she helped me up. I asked her if that was a sign I should head back to the car and she encouraged me to get on the lift. Apparently the folks at the top needed a good laugh too.

So I eventually get on the lift, make my way to the top, and get the feel of it again. Interesting on how a "few" extra pound and aging joints affect your balance on a set of skis. I made the first trip down with only a couple slight falls, second trip I fell once, and after that I was all good.

I did the same run a few times, noticing that the easy hill over had the lift operating but nobody on it. By this time quite a few people had made it my hill, it was 9:30 or so, so I decided to head over to the other lift.

Apparently I should have noted that this second lift takes you a wee bit higher than the first lift. I got to the top, veered to my left, looked down, and said "oh shit." While the bottom half of this hill was pretty level, the first half was much steeper. Damn. Either I take my skis off and walk down like a little bitch, or I break my leg like a man.

Break my leg wins.

Once I got going it wasn't bad, in fact I stayed on this hill for the next two hours as it was fast but I could still slow myself down without killing myself.

A note on snowboarding: until today I've always wanted to give it a try. After seeing the number of people falling, stuck, taking one of their feet out, flipping (wide world of sports style, kinda cool to watch), etc, I really don't think its worth the effort to learn.

My legs started to get sore by about 11:30, and by that time it started getting busy, and between dodging people who like to plop their butts on the middle of a hill (must be the same people that love to stop in the middle of concourses at sporting events, or the mall), and the lift lines starting to get long, I called it a day. I turned my skis in, and the little rental area that had me and two other customers this morning was jam packed with people - a hundred or so with a line out the door. Note to self: buy some skis.

After dropping my gear off, I made my way to the Guest Services area, and picked up a season pass for next year. It's good for the rest of this year as well, which will be at least this week, and my lift ticket today applied to the price. Five visits next year and it pays for itself, and applies to Alpental as well (backcountry powder skiing).

Now off to REI and see what I can find on clearance.

That's what I've been saying

2009-03-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

For over a year now, after looking at our collective debt load (gov't and personal), there is only one conclusion: we are in deep doo-doo and will have a Japanese-style 15 year recession / flat growth on our hands. It's the only way the math adds up.

Sorry folks, time to pay the piper. Sooner we are willing to do it, the shorter this recession will be. The longer we put it off, the longer the recession. Our choice.

Good unintended consequences

2009-03-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

I'll bet good money companies will be thinking twice before accepting any more government money. Congress' bumbling of the AIG bonuses to people that earned them pretty much guarantees no company will be going back to Congress for free money, no matter how bad of shape they are in.

I'm sure there's a sociology term for a situation someone screws up so badly its a net gain. The inverse of the Peter Principle.

Now if they can screw something up to make individuals realize that they are morally obligated to pay back their loans.

Catching up

2009-03-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

After 4+ years blogging here, I went through my biggest two month post drought ever. Life has been real busy, between ramping up of the little league season (where I have to get everything ready for the TBall season), and picking up a key, highly visible project at work, I haven't had time to even yell at my kids let alone blog.

Work is going very well. I made a smart move making the change to Microsoft, and while all jobs are going to have their challenges, I definitely fit in at the big M. Looking forward to the next six months or so and making a career here.

If it weren't being reported on CNN every three seconds, you'd never know by living in Seattle we are in a recession or that times are tough.

Spencer continues his climb through the Tae Kwon Do belt ranks. His next belt is his bodan, which is one step away from black belt. This is where they really start to ratchet it up and he needs to start putting some extra time in. I work with him the best I can, but if it ain't a video game, I'm not a lot of help.

I've become a Seattle Thunderbirds fan. Six games this year alone, and we will likely get season tix next year. Last time I adopted a new team was the White Sox when I moved to Chicago, so been 15 years since I've followed someone "new." The new ShoWare Center in Kent is awesome for hockey. Free parking, great sightlines, small arena (which means no huge crowds, no huge bathroom lines, etc), and a hockey atmosphere where everyone loves the game and is not there just because some corporation gave them tickets. Spencer and I went to Wednesday's playoff game by ourselves, we sat in the fourth row in the corner (had the row to ourselves), and we had a blast. Good guys lost, but the highlight of the night was Spencer and me getting on the overhead scoreboard.

Am I the only one who doesn't get "Earth Hour"? We only care about energy consumption one hour a year? Is that the message? My God, we as a people (globally) are just stupid. How the hell does our life expectancy continue to increase if we are so incapable of logical thought? The few intelligent folks out there must really have a positive impact on everyone else.

My car is six months and 10k miles past it's normal maintenance cycle. Damn I love German Engineering. Audi, I am sold for life.

I continue to hit the Pro Club 3-4 times a week. Spent three hours there yesterday in fact. Impressed that I am now starting to run without my knees or back killing me, and pretty close to being in good enough shape for a 5k. Amy even bought me smaller clothes as I was starting to swim in my old ones. Folks at work commented... "your wife go shopping for you?" Guess you can tell I am just not one cut out for clothes shopping.

Ironically, as busy as I've been, Amy and I have had the more "dates" in the past three months than we have in any three month period since Spencer has been born. We spent one date at the Pro Club, which while it sounds corny, is a pretty sweet place where some of the wealthiest people in the world (Gates, Allen, Ballmer) are members. Amy liked it so much she wants to go back. Another date we hiked Mount Si, and we both are so damn competitive that we insisted on not stopping so-as not to incur the heckling from the other. And our other date was a rather forgettable (for me) night at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle catching The Lion King. I. Will. Never. Do. That. Ever. Ever. Again. Ever. And I think Amy will make sure of that.

Purdue ended their season Thursday night. As great as last season was, this one was disappointing. A Big Ten tournament victory was nice, but that came after a lackluster big ten season (how do you lose 7 games in this conference?) and before a disappointing showing against UConn in the Sweet Sixteen. UConn all but gift wrapped that game for the Boilers, and they would have none of it. Still, great to see the Boilers back on the scene, and if Painter can find some frontcourt depth they will be tough next year.

The boys have both seemed to have turned a corner from a behavior perspective. Spencer, as hard as I am on him, has really been amazing the last couple of months. Keeping my fingers crossed that he can keep this up for 10 more years. And Garrett seems to be following suit. Still a 4 year old, with 4 year old reponses and tantrums, but he is also "getting in line" as he follows his brother's lead.

After six months of hard work Garrett is fully potty trained. Thank God. I thought he was going to be the first kid ever to wear diapers to Kindergarten.

Spencer is training to be a Jedi. Seriously. He chose not to dress up for "Wacky Wednesday" because "it's not the Jedi way." He also didn't want to sing in his recent school concert because "singing is not the Jedi way." I should have tried that line before decided to go to see The Lion King.

I am going through some inner turmoil on deciding what I am going to do for football season. I canceled NFL Sunday Ticket. I am fed up with the Lions, literally. I don't even know who their new coach is. Nor do I care. I suspect come fall I will be supporting the Seahawks more than the Lions. At least the ownership here seems to care about its fan base.

Now, I have to go turn some more lights on for "Earth Hour."

Thank you Matt Painter

2009-03-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

Great to be excited about Purdue Basketball once again. Headed to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 9 years. Wow, nine years. And pretty lean since then given Keady only got them to the dance once after that.

I didn't end up going to the game. Was planning on heading down and scalping tickets, but based on prices on the Internet ahead of time, plus Gonzaga and UW playing, I figured cheap tix would be tough to come by, and I would have had the boys with me. So ended up watching here. And of course every time I'd jump up Garrett would give me "Dad what are you dooo-ing?"

Great game, although the officiating in the second half was atrocious. The refs wanted it close, they got it.

This Purdue team is the most fun I've watched since Big Dog was in town. We have a point guard that can penetrate. Can't score, but at least he can break the defense down. We have someone in the middle who can play d, rebound, take the ball to the hoop, and hit a 15 footer. No wonder all Big Ten. We have two players that are capable of carrying the team on offense if they need to. And nice depth that provides 3-pt shooting, solid D, and decent rebounding. Weak in the middle in terms of depth, and I think that will be the achilles heel in the next round.

Yeah, it's been a while...

2009-03-17T21:29:00.001-07:00

... and if I'm blogging it probably means I am pissed about something.

Damn politicians. If I hear one more of these idiots whine about AIG I am going to shoot someone. AIG is not the problem. Idiot politicians who dole out ridiculous sums of money from responsible taxpayers and redistribute that money to people who have demonstrated they don't know how to run a successful business is the problem. Plain and simple. Both sides of the aisle, at all levels of government, and the mainstream media that argued for the bailouts and now are whining about AIG bonuses. Duh.

Idiots. Schmucks like me knew this was coming, which is why you don't reward bad behavior in the first place, it begets bad behavior.

As President Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to our problems, government IS the problem!" And he said that when interest rates and unemployment were double digits, making today's economic problems seem trite.

Some pics from Garrett's birthday week

2009-01-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Garrett's birthday on Wednesday, followed by a small, short "party" (if you could call it that) on Saturday. My kind of celebrating. Some pics from the week:

With the economy the way it is, we opted for some hostess donuts instead of a cake. Boo ya!

Bakugan is king for both Garrett and Spencer.

The cookies are gone. I didn't even get one.

Garrett got a couple soccer nets, which we instantly coverted into more manly hockey nets.

And then the gloves were dropped.

All I can say, G-Dog, is get used to it.

Amy created a Batcave for the party. Although it was my idea.

Happy Birthday Garrett!

2009-01-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to a batman-themed day for Garrett's 4th birthday.

Spencer gets his red stripe belt

2009-01-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

Spencer moved two steps away from a black belt tonight, getting his red stripe belt. Amy and I are really slacking in capturing the moment - no video, no good pics of him breaking a board. Definitely proud of Spencer's hard work and focus though.

Snoqualmie flooding makes NYT...

2009-01-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

must be a slow news day?

Stupid post of the day

2009-01-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

You can find anything on the web. Even this time-based map of Walmart openings across the country.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

A little belated, but at least I am still wishing everyone a Happy New Year on New Year's Day.

Had a good week this week - did my first snowshoeing with the family up in Snoqualmie Pass on Tuesday, and we hosted a New Year's Eve party last night with the usual suspects (our neighbors). Both were good times, and it was great to have our neighbors in Germany visit and spend the night with us last night.

The obligatory pics.

Just don't ask about this. Scary enough, this was one of the more sane moments of the evening...

Pics from Christmas

2008-12-26T17:29:00.001-08:00

GarretT slept in on Christmas, which didn't do me any good since I was up at 6am anyway. Despite the late start (9am) we were done opening Santa's gifts by 20 after, with our boys doing their best to break the world record for opening the most gifts in the shortest amount of time.

We had our neighbors over for dinner and enjoyed a fine meal of prime rib, twice-baked potatoes, asparagus, and fine wine from our neighbors liquor cabinet. The kids got along great (apparently not realizing how long a year is before they have to be good for Santa again) which allowed the adults some much needed socializing.

The boys with Santa

2008-12-24T23:12:00.000-08:00

The most wonderful time of the year

2008-12-24T22:32:00.000-08:00

I can't think of a better time of the year to be a father than Christmas time. The entire Christmas spirit, from the boys counting the days down until Christmas, talking about Jesus' birthday, to how God is watching us (even through the roof of our house), to them following Santa across the globe on Christmas eve via Norad Santa (who apparently is in Boise, ID, as I type), to getting to play Santa in real life and wonder when the hell they are going to figure this gig out, and finally their faces and joy opening presents Christmas morning, truly makes a year full of hell raising two boys worth it. Everything seems to come together, from the boys' values to my values.

It truly is a time of hope, being grateful, and being generous all rolled into one. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

BOHICA

2008-12-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

When he was the coach of the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson used to tell Dennis Rodman (after Rodman got hit with a technical foul during a game) "BOHICA." Finally, the press asked Phil what "BOHICA" meant...

Bend over, here it comes again.

You know, that same feeling with today's auto bailout. Bend over responsible taxpayers, you now have to bail out another group of people that made poor (and by poor, I mean "friggin' idiots that have had 30 years to fix their crappy cars and still can't figure it out") decisions. That's right, take money from people who know what they are doing and give it to those that don't. That's a surefire way to fix the economy, don't ya think?

Proud to have two foreign cars in my driveway right now. Unless my friends in Germany email me and tell me that workers from those companies are asking for handouts too...

A day in the snow

2008-12-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

We got our yearly day of snow early this year, I worked from home in the morning, and the kids dragged me outside for the afternoon to enjoy the white fluffy stuff. Sledding in the backyard, shoveling snow, a little hockey in the street, and sledding across the street.

Garret preferred to roll down the hill rather than taking the sled.

Latest family picture

2008-12-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

Not calling this a Christmas picture although its that time of year. Last time we had our picture taken as a family was last Christmas, so we are due for a new one. It didn't scan too well, I'll have to play with the settings to try and improve it.

The Christmas Tree from the Shire

2008-12-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

Stop by your local ranger station, fork over $10, and the US Forest Service will let you cut down the tree of your choice almost anywhere in a National Forest. Such was the way we went about getting our Christmas Tree this year. Funny, at almost every trailhead, there are warning signs that if you so much as kill a blade of grass, you will destroy entire ecosystems and cause the immediate destruction of mankind. Fork over $10, and you can trample all the vegetation you like and cut down any tree you want. Go figure.

Our quest started on Saturday, and we spent an entire afternoon in several places in the Snoqualmie-Mt Baker National Forest looking for a tree worthy of our abode. And beating up my Audi too boot. We soon learned why there are Christmas Tree farms and why they charge a boatload for a tree - natural selection just doesn't create perfect, symmetrical, full Christmas trees very often. I'm sure they're out there, we just didn't see them.

We ended up going out Sunday morning and grabbing one 10 feet off the paved road that runs between the two exit 38s on I-90. Doesn't seem to sporting, but far as we can tell it was legit. It was actually a heavy rain, but don't worry, the family found shelter in our SUV while I destroyed nature.

I'm uploading pics now, will add them to this post later.

Spencer's first Seahawks game

2008-12-07T20:50:00.001-08:00

Today was my fourth game, my third this year. A couple weeks ago Amy and I enjoyed our neighbors tickets while the Seahawks got beat by Washington. When we told Spencer what we were doing he showed a real interest in going. I was lucky to find decent tickets on eBay for less than face value.

Spencer had a good time taking everything in and seeing a side of a game he hasn't seen before, we had a good view of the Seagals, er, field, and we took in our share of junk food. The weather was decent until halftime, and we had to leave early to get Spence to a birthday party. Spencer's one disappointment was that Matt Hasselbeck (his favorite player) didn't get to play, but that was tempered since the Seahawks outscored the Pats while we were there.

Amazon Black Friday Deals

2008-11-28T10:08:00.001-08:00

Some great deals available today at Amazon Black Friday Deals. And I get to stay away from the mall.

An early Happy Thanksgiving to all!

2008-11-26T20:48:00.001-08:00

I'm sure Happy Thanksgiving is politically incorrect in most of this country, but screw it, its a day to reflect on what's positive in our lives and be thankful for what we have. Looking forward to a day with friends, family, three football games, hoping the rain holds off until the turkey is done, and plenty of giving thanks.

dahlia lounge review

2008-11-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

I'd capitalize "dahlia lounge," but dahlia lounge is simply too cool to be capitalized. Or at least they don't in their restaurant.

I'm a n00b to Seattle, so far be it for me to know what are good restaurants or bad restaurants, or what is famous in this town. In general, putting it nicely, the food sucks in this town, which is actually a good thing as it forces Amy and I to eat in most of the time. And we've been burned so many times by recommendations by the locals (for example, that crappy Woodman Lodge in Snoqualmie, argh) that we've learned to not even bother with trying new restaurants in this town - just ain't worth it.

Three years ago my boss at Amazon gave me a gift certificate to dahlia lounge for Christmas, telling me it was his favorite Seattle restaurant. Amy and I sat on it for at least six months, simply not trusting recommendations from the locals. We were sorry we waited so long.

Located on the corner of 4th and Virginia in Seattle, dahlia lounge is the first restaurant that has earned my trust in putting something on my plate I can't spell, pronounce, or describe, and yet I will taste it. Namely because everything they make is amazingly good.

For example, Amy and I went there Saturday, and one of the appetizers was listed as "(some word I don't know) cheese, white toast, (three words I don't know) mustard, and (two words I don't know) onion jam" for $10. Any other place, and I'm going "ewww". Instead, Amy orders it, and it was un-friggin-believable. That's right, an amazing taste from cheese, bread, mustard, and onions, whoddathunkit. I wish I would have ordered enough to make an entree out of it.

They always have a simple menu (just two short pages) based on what's in season, with the two consistent offerings that Amy and I can detect being their crabcakes and their Peking Duck - both are awesome. Upon request, they'll turn their crabcakes into an appetizer, so you can enjoy both signature items. Not that I've done that a couple times or anything.

dahlia lounge is on the pricy side - $30 or so for entrees, $10 for appetizers and desserts. Plus the service is always excellent so you're ponying up 20%+ for a tip. Brings it to $75-$100 a person depending on your drink of choice (their wine selection is excellent, including half bottles).

Next time I'm not sharing my "cheese/bread/mustard/onion thingy" with my wife... she has to order her own.

Amazon Toy List

2008-11-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

Pretty cool way to shop for toys. Just hope Spencer and Garret don't find this URL...

Snoqualmie Ridge 5k Turkey Trot

2008-11-15T12:41:00.000-08:00

I was out of breath, sweating profusely, dying for a break, but when I reached the finish line, I was proud of what I had done - I had successfully walked the 3/4 mile from my house to the school.

Seriously, the Ridge held their annual 5k today, which Amy ran, as well as a 1k for kids, which Spencer ran. Spencer started in the front row with a bunch of his friends, and ended up near the end with him and one of his buddies walking it in :) I'm proud of his effort and seeing this through. I had the chance to run with him, and I said no effin way. I did join him for the pancake breakfast, though.

Spencer out of the gate.

Spencer and his buddy Parker, both having decided that running just ain't worth it.

Spencer crossing this finish line - great job champ!

Happy 4th Anniversary...

2008-11-14T13:58:00.001-08:00

... to my personal blog. Proof positive that Web 2.0 is a failure. Funny, when I created it, I was so late to the blogging game. But I'm glad I started when I did as it has really helped with indexing in the major search engines.

And despite my heavy investment in micro-blogging (Twitter), my blog isn't going away any time soon. I think the two compliment each other very well.

Here's to four more years of opinionated crap.

The new Snoqualmie Ridge Supermarket

2008-11-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

Just got an email that the new Ridge Supermarket opens up on the 19th, in time for Thanksgiving. Excellent! Hoping they run a better store than the previous owners, there's such a demand for a decent grocery store on the Ridge.

I hate Christmas...

2008-11-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

... anytime it surfaces before Thanksgiving. Actually, I don't hate Christmas. I love December and the Christmas time of year. I hate any mention of Christmas, any advertising of Christmas, any decoration of Christmas, that occurs before Thanksgiving. 1/12 of the year dedicated to Christmas is enough, we don't need 1/4 of the year or 1/6 of the year dedicated to it. Christmas can start after Thanksgiving. Heck I don't even mind when it spills into the New Year. Just let Thanksgiving have its props.

I also hate "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" or other politically correct mumbo-jumbo so that someone doesn't have to hear the horrific phrase "Merry Christmas." In fact, the last few years, I've been saying Merry Christmas in public, and find everyone returns the same "Merry Christmas." So apparently I'm not the only one with a little bit of contempt for the politically correct police. I mean, I don't get how "Merry Christmas" (or "Happy Haunukah" or whatever) equates in any way, to any one, something offense. "Eat shit and die this Christmas!" is offensive.

Who's with me?

And don't think the hypocrisy of me talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving isn't lost on me.

Now, off my pedestal and back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Spencer gets his Red Belt

2008-11-14T01:42:00.001-08:00

Spencer continues to work hard and move up the belt ladder, last night earning his red belt. His Black Belt Club did a very cool form with Nunchucku, but I didn't get a good video of it. I did get a video of him breaking a board, with his familiar Ax Kick, which seems to be his favorite.

Snoqualmie River Water Level Gauges

2008-11-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

I just think these are so cool. Yes, I realize that makes me a dork. But they're still cool. Just amazing how fast the river can rise, and not because of heavy rain... just drizzle over a couple of days that feed the mountains that runoff into the rivers that coalese in the foothills.

From USGS
From NOAA (I just found out they had one)

City of Snoqualmie at Flood Level

2008-11-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

Glad I live on the Ridge, but sympathies go out to those living in the flood plain.

Stop the bailout insanity

2008-11-12T14:59:00.001-08:00

Once again, the American auto industry crying for help. Please, let capitalism do their jobs, let these companies that can't make cars consumers want die, and free up resources to put energy into companies that CAN make companies that consumers want. I'd rather see a bigger Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen than throwing money down the drain at the Big Three.

No more bailouts!

A big thank you to our Veterans

2008-11-11T09:26:00.001-08:00

Very glad Veterans Day has achieved first class status as a holiday, our soldiers deserve our respect and honor.

Wow did I anger the football gods

2008-11-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

The Lions and Purdue are a combined 3-16. Wow. And very few of those losses between the two teams have been close.

To pour salt in the would, the gods have made sure I can't follow a local team either, as WSU, UW, and the Seahawks are a combined 3-24.

As I ranted last night...

2008-11-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

... Sarah Palin gets rave reviews from Republicans. Now, in my cynical world, I would have to say that these same Republican voters have been putting RINOs in office for a decade (self included in that group), so perhaps take with a grain of salt, but I stand by the best chance to get back to the sane world of the 80s/90s is to get conservatives to lead the Republican party, and Palin fits the bill.

I'm still angry

2008-11-07T00:34:00.001-08:00

One of the reasons I've been posting less frequently the last three months is the downright raw anger I've had at our federal and local governments. Across they board they have just pissed me off to no end. Between local idiots putting stupid taxing measures on the ballot that everyone knows will fail, to our wonderful public servants in Washington ignoring calls of "drill here, drill now" and "say no to bailouts," I'm just downright pissed.

The bailout was the straw that broke the camel's back for me and the Republican party. My assumption for several years was that we were sliding down a slope but somewhere the GOP would course correct and find its way back to Reagan conservatism. I couldn't have been more wrong, and the broad support from the party on the bailout is pure evidence of that.

I sat on election night about 9pm local time when the call was finally made for Obama, and I just thought "wow, you retards just lost everything that Reagan built through the 80s. Rewind to 1976." For the last eight years the GOP has been anything but conservative, in a country that is still, as a whole, right of center. And in doing so, completely destroyed the gift-wrapped legacy and public support left by Reagan and even the 90s Republicans that initiated the Contract with America in 94.

It would be very easy for me to fire shots at those that voted for Obama asking "what the hell are you thinking? (or rather, 'why aren't you thinking?')" But I can't - the GOP gave them no choice. Why would one vote GOP these days? If you want to vote for fiscal irresponsibility, against personal responsibility, etc, the Dems have them beat hands down.

By the way, I have news for the old GOP guard: Sarah Palin is going to kick ass in 2012. And she's not going to play the game you want it to be played. You better wise up to that or even more of you are going to be out of jobs as constituents flock to her. McCain totally blew it with the best asset he had - turning Palin loose. Instead, he asked her to play ball according to his rules. Idiot. Not that I wanted McCain to win, but this typifies the arrogance of the modern GOP - they are way out of touch with the base, which is why their base is dwindling.

As if I needed yet another reason to be against the bailout

2008-11-07T00:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry, not bailout, but rather welfare for the shithead-people-and-companies-that-created-a-global-recession.

I found this site tonight. Wow, talk about pissing away our tax dollars and watching our gov't tried to hide the details.

Boy, can't wait for Obama to redistribute my wealth and piss more of it away. Sigh.

Life is getting creepy

2008-11-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

And no, I'm not just talking about President-Elect Obama. (Seig Heil!)

My neighborhood and house is now on Google Maps. Which means some schmuck from Google drove around our neighborhood taking pictures.

Go to maps.google.com, enter my address, and you can see our house on the street view. Can also move around the neighborhood with an easy to use interface.

The experience is excellent I might add.

Just creepy. Kinda like the Obama kids singing (shudders).

Now this is good

2008-10-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

just click on it

Another Obama National Anthem Video

2008-10-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm just immature, but I always findthese funny. this one is done especially well (the song is old, the video content is new).

Quote of the day

2008-10-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

I had been looking forward to the UW-ND game for the past year. I always tune in to root against the Irish, and the chance to root against them in person just made me drool.

My bubble was burst not even halfway through the first quarter as the Huskies found themselves down 14-0 and things looked worse than that. They mustered 38 yards of offense in the first half (my friend won the bet... I put the over/under line at 40 yards and he wisely took the under). Early in the fourth quarter, the UW offensive Juggernaught had musterd 20 yards rushing and 21 yards passing. To which the dude behind me says...

"At least they have a balanced offense."

Maybe you had to be there, or perhaps have several cocktails working their way through your bloodstream, but damn it was funny.

Oh well, I got to make fun of Charlie Weis from the cheap seats.

My best line of the day to a Seattle native (who had just told me "they're not married, they're cousins"): "I know they're cousins, but they're from Indiana, which means they COULD be married."

Misc random pics

2008-10-26T21:04:00.001-07:00

No rhyme or reason to these... just my periodic pic post.

Spencer with the moves.

A herd of elk on meadowbrook farm, with mt si in the background.

The boys at NW Brickcon 2008

The boys at Seattle Center.

Garrett showing Spencer his preschool room.

Thankful they chose to read and not some weapon-based fighting activity.

The most fascinating thing on one of our recent hikes was a huge slab of concrete near the trailhead. Spent countless minutes investigating what the hell this was.

Obama makes appeals to his base

2008-10-13T20:56:00.001-07:00

Concerned that John McCain's support for big government, deep-reaching social programs, and spending money it doesn't have was whittling away at his core, Presidential candidate Barack Obama has spent the last few weeks strengthening his base, giving CNN the approval to report on his connection with terrorist William Ayers and leaking information that the Obama campaign is funding ACORN to get out the vote.

According to the Obama campaign, "we realized voters are being drawn to John McCain's leftist philosophy, message of big brother government, and ignoring the American people. We needed to shore up our base and remind Americans that Obama is a more radical liberal than John McCain."

The tactic seems to be working, with Obama holding a five point lead in national polls, a lead that was up to 8 points a couple weeks ago before kicking off Operation Obamunism.

"I was a little concerned that the rhetoric earlier this year about Obama and William Ayers was just that, rhetoric, and that Obama was a one-trick pony whose only radical friend was Reverend God-Damn-America Wright. But when I heard on CNN that Ayers helped Obama launch his political career and they've worked together in the past, I was relieved. Most definitely this is change I can believe in."

"Indeed, the news from the Communist News Network about William Ayers gives me hope. Perhaps Obama will offer Ayers a cabinet position, hopefully in Homeland Security."

Others, however, are playing a wait-and-see attitude. "Oh sure, Obama may make grand claims that we can't have SUVs or keep our homes at a comfortable temperature, but has he ever pushed such socialist programs through? Or even proposed one? Nope. At least John McCain passed McCain-Feingold and other laws putting restrictions on the Bill of Rights."

"Some people are making a big deal of Obama's roots in ACORN and hiring ACORN to generate bogus registrations. But people, let's not be fooled - those are registrations, not votes. Until Obama can prove he can generate bogus votes and steal this election, I will remain skeptical. In fact, I'm leaning to casting a write-in vote for William Ayers."