tonight is our annual harvest festival. many children (and adults) will descend upon us. fun, food, candy and toys will be handed out to everyone that comes. it is going to be a hectic time, but also another way to reach out to the community. many people have come out to help set up the booths and get food and candy ready for all the kiddies...

i just got back from the post office and i don't understand those folk. the lady that was helping me (i've never seen her before) told me the price and i pulled out my card. she asked if it was debit or credit. i told her "credit, please." she looked at the back of the card and lo and behold:

"it has to be signed for credit."

some of you may remember a previous episode that i had with a doood (drawn out for emphasis) earlier this year. read about it and then come on back. from the time that i signed it then, seeing as how my plastic gets used on a rather frequent basis, my signature had worn off the back of the card.

i don't understand the whole "signing in front of" thought process. i mean, true, it is a good idea. the signature does help against fraudulent charges and other such things. but, c'mon, if i sign the back of my card in your presence, of course the signatures are going to match. that's why people are supposed to check your identification. to make sure you are who you are. one of my cards has my picture on the back so that i don't have to sign it. but i've been told that i have to. "why?" i ask. my picture is on the card.

took this shot a couple weeks ago before youth group. forgot i had it until i opened up my darkroom and came across it. figured i'd post it for all to see. enjoy...

sunday we went to greenbluff with some friends to get pumpkins for the kids. the first place we went, the pumpkins were 25¢ per pound. the kids picked out the ones they wanted and we bought 'em. we decided to leave that farm and go to another one, just to look around.

we got to the second location, and in the distance, we saw a pumpkin launcher (pictured above). if you look at the top of the image, right in the middle, you can see the pumpkin. the target had to have been about 500 yards away, and the cannon operator informed us that he hasn't been able to hit it yet, but hopefully soon.

the kids went through a hay maze and pet some horses. they seemed to have fun, we could tell they were getting tired due to the irritability they were showing to each other, and the fussiness that was coming across to us.

headaches suck!

photo by ewok

last night there was a pretty impressive lightning storm. i was over at rin's grandmother's house for dinner when it hit. rin's mom and family head over to india tomorrow, so it was the last time we were going to have dinner as a family in a while, so while we were there, i got a call from my mom, asking if i was watching the storm. i didn't even know about it. then i started hearing thunder. so i went outside and watched the forked bolts zigzagging across the black sky.

a couple tongues of electricity licked the sky right above us with serious thunderclap following right away. i wished i had my camera, but i always want it when i don't have it. i guess i need to carry it wherever i go now.

i'm hoping for some good storms while we go to india here soon. the last time i went, we were on our return flight back from kolkata, still waiting on the tarmac when the sky was ripped open and bolts flashed back and forth. a transformer was struck and the sky was lit up with green and purple bolts. on the way to india, over the philippines, was a spectaular display of lightning. only a few of us saw it on the plane, 'cause the majority of people were asleep.

when i came into work, ewok asked me if i had gotten any pictures of the insane storm. "sadly, no," i told him, but he did. he shared the folder of his images for me and he let me post it for you all to see.

you can also go view more electrical madness on my sista's blog. enjoy. . .

i have a fish.
rin bought it for me.
b picked it out.
it swims around and around.
it eats it's poop, then spits it out. then eats it again.
it's a koi.
it's name is ephesus.
the end.

have you ever tried to start a conversation with a person in a room full of homeless people? it's not as easy as it sounds.

as some of you know, every month, we take the youth group to the union gospel mission to serve food to those that come in off the streets for a hot meal. last night was our designated time to go. when we got there, the director told us that there was a convention (or something like that) going on, but they would love it if we went into the day room and ate boxed dinners with the men that live at the mission. they wanted us to interact with them and just encourage the men.

we walked down the hall and picked up a box filled with a sandwich, chips, cookies and an apple. there was also an ice chest filled with canned pepsi's. as we stepped into the room, there were about 5 tables surrounded with guys and many more around. some sitting and some standing. some were against one wall while others were watching a baseball game in the far corner. i spotted a chess set on one table and would soon realize that was going to be my demise.

the group that came with us sat down in a circle near the tv and starting munching on their sandwiches. they looked very nervous. it was good for them, to get out of their comfort zone. to see that there is more to life than just school and working (if they have a job).

rin split her dinner with me. i ate my half of the sandwich while i walked around, trying to find someone to chat with. some were already engrossed in heavy conversation while others watched the game intently. others were leaning back in their chairs with eyes closed. "this is going to be harder than i thought," i think to myself. i see one guy with a mighty ducks jacket on and say "hello" to him.

"hi."
"how are you?" i ask.
"fine."

then he walks away. "ok" i say to myself. let's find someone else. i again look over and see the chess board being set up by a lone man. i head over and ask if i can play.

"do you know how to play?" he asks.
"yeah."
"ok." he says as he pulls a chair from out of nowhere and let's me sit. i start positioning the pieces on the correct squares, but it seems that i have two kings.
"um, which one is the queen?" i say, jokingly.
"are you sure you know how to play?" he asks again, but with no smile.
"yeah, i do, but i have two kings here."

he points to a bin full of old chess pieces so i trade a king for a queen. he tells me that i have the first move. the match is on and we start contemplating each and every move. soon, the entire table that we were at start watching and talking about the game. back and forth, we move, battling and fighting until he says out of nowhere, "two moves is checkmate." sure enough, i lose.

"again?" i ask. he's already moving the pieces back to the starting point. my move. then his. mine then he says nonchalantly "checkmate." two moves. that's it. only two. i soon find out that he is a trophy winning chess player. i'm out of my league here. we play one more game and i soon realize that he is toying with me. he excuses himself after he wins the third.

after my defeat, i walk next to rin and tay as they are talking with a couple guys playing cribbage. i just stand there and watch as the youth are exiting their territorial bubbles and try to connect with the men. but the time goes by fast and we find ourselves getting up, shaking hands of those that we visited with. as we leave, they tell us to come back soon. "oh, we will."

i've been had. well, i was had. the day was this past saturday. i had no clue, what-so-ever. not at all. nada. ok...this is what happened...

i got an email from the youth pastor here at work to let us know that the venue had changed from his house to the coffeeshop for our monthly leader's meeting. we normally met on the first sunday of every month, but now the young adults/college&career group meet each sunday evening. so, our monthly get together changed from sunday to saturday. the first saturday of this month was going to be the first one, but there was our men's conference, so our meeting was supposed to be on the 14th.

well, i got the email and told rin that we were meeting at the coffeeshop, but i told her with so much going on, i don't know if we'll be able to make it. since we are leaving in 6 weeks for india, i have a lot of things to take care of before we leave, plus with winter on it's way. she told me that we will be able to go and that if i don't get things finished, there are other days. whatever...

i tried getting things accomplished that day, cleaning and winterizing. mowing and other yardwork (still not complete though). i got done what i could and decided to be done for the day. i went in and took a shower and got ready to go. since we were meeting at six and the coffeeshop is only about 5 minutes away, we didn't really need to "rush". at 6:05, i was sitting in the car, waiting for rin and the girls. i had already taken e with me and got him in the car. "c'mon, let's go", i thought to myself. finally they were in the car and ready.

we drove up to the shop and started piling out of the car. i opened the door and saw my sister and chris. i looked around and all of a sudden:

s-u-r-p-r-i-s-e-!-!-!

rin had thrown me a surprise party for my birthday. like i said previously, i had no clue what-so-ever. she did an awesome job too. it was a blast. my mom brought old home movies that played for everyone to see (grrrrrrrrrrrrr) and my sister helped my mom with bringing old photographs of my/our youth (grrrrrrrrrrrrr). i'm still not happy about those, but oh well.

after it was over, i talked with rin about it and she said she had a lot of help. so to those that helped, thank you very much. rin talked about how it was so hard not to say anything and that she almost slipped on many occasions. looking back on the last few weeks, i can see little signs, but i never caught on. so now rin, it's my turn!

fun with macros

yesterday, i went into spokane to get some new toys for my camera. i know they aren't the best looking images, but these are the first of many that i will be taking whilst i learn how to do macro imagery. i've uploaded more of them on my flickr account...

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why do birthdays feel less when you get older then when you are younger? even though i shared my birthday with my sister, it seemed like such a fun day...the wait for it to come. but now, it's more of, "eh, whatever."

it's just another day now. one day older, one year older. another day closer to the next one, and then the next. but i suppose now, my kids enjoy it more.

"happy birthday daddy."
"did you like your presents?"
"how old are you?"
"that's old."

now, don't get me wr0ng. i do have fun on my birthday. my wife and kids make it even more special. rin is making me tiramisu brownies. i love those things. rin makes the best ones, evar...

welp, tony (rin's dad) left for india on saturday. for those of you that don't know, rin's family, save her, the eldest brother and one of her sisters, the oldest after rin, are moving to india to be full time missionaries. the time difference is 13 1/2 hours ahead of pacific time. he arrived in kolkata today, which would be tomorrow, at 1 in the morning. you can read about his new adventures here and i also have him linked under "family blogs" which is called spuds in india. enjoy. . .

yesterday, the youth group from church went paintballing up in chattaroy, which is north of spokane. there were 30 people that went. we got a late start, but got there about 1:30 pm and got everything situated. our first game was every man for himself. we played as resurrection, whereas if you got shot and had a military kill, you had to walk back yelling "dead" and touch a pink ribbon. then, you were back in the game. a military kill was anything on the torso was a kill. arms, legs and hands didn't count.

the second game was bunker. 8 people brought their own guns, so they were chosen to be put into and around the bunker and protect it. the other 22 youth/adults had to "kill" those first 8. it was a kill forever game.

after that was capture the flag. our flag was on the hill above the road, and the opposing side's was behind the creek. it was resurrection style again. myself and four others of our team (green) were able to capture the flag.

then we did another flag style game. lastly was team against team. nothing to defend or protect, just blatant gunfire with lots of paint splatter. we bbq'd afterwards, just to reminiscence and fellowship. it was a good day. . .