Monday, February 27, 2006

i'm sitting here, sickly, sniffling and achy. my head feels like it is in a vice. my cold has hit me hard, slamming me to the ground. i had to skip bible study because of how terrible i am feeling. and to make matters worse, i was putting plants away after i had watered them yesterday (i left them in the tub to drain) and i fell off the stool i was standing on and landed on my shin. i am in pain. all over. so, i am on the couch, notepad on lap and new york news in the background. yeah, i don't live on the east coast, but we have it on our satellite.

what caught my ear on the news was a report on the five boroughs restaurants and how they have many health violations. apparently, you can only have 25 strikes against the restaurant and then it is in violation. a few had over 100 strikes and were threatening closing. some of the strikes against them were:

evidence of mice
evidence of rats
no sink near the bathroom/in the bathroom
no sink near food preparation
flying insects

so, if you are out and about in any of the boroughs, be careful where you eat, but enjoy the sushi. . .

Friday, February 24, 2006

eric holds "regis" while doing his presentation to the school children.
°°°
driving around yesterday, i saw some shots i wanted to take. "tree solace" is the one above. the sunset image was taken during our windstorm last night.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

backyard 'shrooms
this is a shout out to those that have commented on my pictures and not-knowingly encouraged me with my photography. i appreciate you letting me know that you like my imagery. i know i'm not the greatest photographer, but i've never been to school and i am not a professional. i am going to be looking into a class and see if it would be a wise thing to do or not, though.

again, thanks. . .

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

new strongbad with a mailer from spokane and a pop-up book. could it get any better? don't forget the crap flap. . .
if you thought the new volkswagon "gti fast" commercials were great, you'll love these. . .
now i have even more reason to get out and ride this summer. . .

you are a good old-fashioned six-sided cube, otherwise known as a d6. others know you to be plain, predictable, conservative, average, ordinary, and downright boring. you prefer to describe yourself as dependable, honest, practical and trustworthy. people usually know what to expect from you, since you rarely hold any surprises. you hate to make decisions, and if forced to decide, you'll always fall back on how it was done in the past. you always order the same thing at your favorite restaurant, and your jokes, while funny, are never too offensive. it seems that you are well liked, but maybe that's simply because there's nothing to hate.
---
this survey is completely scientific. despite the mind-boggling complexity of mankind, the billions of distinctly different personalities found on earth can easily be divided into seven simple categories that correspond to the five platonic solids, a pseudo polyhedron, and whatever the heck a d100 is. the results of this quiz should be considered not only meaningful but also infallible, and pertinent to your success as a fully realized individual. if you feel the results of this examination do not match your perceived personality, you should take whatever drastic measures are needed to cram your superego back into proper alignment, as described by the quiz results.

and if you believe that, we have some really great critical-hit insurance to sell you.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

nothing spectaular of this shot. i just like it. . .
.elihw a rof stsop yna eb t'now ereht os ,won thgir krow ta potksed ym htiw smelborp gnivah m'i

Sunday, February 19, 2006

ok, this is the first post using my new notebook. we just got it on thursday and finally got it set-up today. yeah, it took a couple days to get it taken care of, due to the fact that i had work and church on friday, housework and errands saturday day and we were gone saturday night. but, it is up and running. we are going totally wireless now. i know, total geek. . .w00t.

Friday, February 17, 2006

what is the deal? we are almost on the tail end of february and we have an arctic blast come through this week. today, when i was on my way into work, the temp gauge on my vechile said 8°f. i heard that it was 3°f earlier today. i just got back from an errand and it is now 12°f. i guess we are having a heat wave...w00t.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

°°°
i know, i know...more sunset pictures. we've just been having some spectacular skys lately. hope i'm not boring anybody with the imagery. . .

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

last night i got this image around 10 after 5 when i was leaving work.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

you are the swedish chef

"bork! bork! bork!"
you are happy and energetic - with borderline manic tendencies.
no one really gets you. and frankly, you don't even get you.
but, you sure can whip up a great chocolate mousse
first and foremost, happy valentine's day rin (and to everyone else). hopefully rin, you have a great day.
_______

yesterday, we got another fresh snowfall. d'oh! i have been getting spring fever and was enjoying the warmer february temperatures. sunday, b and i went out to the backyard and played with samson. while he rested, b and i ran around like a couple of kids, just enjoying the day. last monday, i was able to do some yardwork and get some thatch and leaves that have been hanging on since fall, off the ground. unusually warm temps.

then yesterday morning. bam! snow!! what!?!?

and it snowed the entire day. not just a little dusting. a couple inches dropped. then it started getting windy and warmer. snow turned to a slushy mess. then colder. back and forth. when i got home last night, i got out the snowblower, fired it up and started removing snow. but since it was wet, my thrower kept getting clogged.

but now, this morning when i left for work, it had turned to ice. lovely, eh? lovely. . .

Friday, February 10, 2006

on the way into work today, i had to stop by the gas station to get some air in my tire. as i drove up, the water spigot formed a stalagmite of ice underneath itself. i thought it looked interesting. . .

Thursday, February 09, 2006

zest isn't a soap anymore. try your skills at this puzzle. i'm on the:
seventh level
eighth floor
•••
ok, stuck on the 9th level. stoopid puzzle. . .

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

i was watering the orchids the other day and got this image. . .

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

at night with. . .the granati's

we rented "the legend of zorro" to watch last night. we got our dinner and started the movie, knowing that we won't get far into it before the first pause (due to the fact that we have 3 children). we started it at 5:20 and the first pause was 5:40. had to get up and clean our dishes away. the girls were still eating. well, b was. h wasn't feeling to well.

so, we start it again. then pause it 10 minutes later so that i can clean up b. start back up and not too much later, e starts crying, so we pause it. time for him to eat. play button gets pushed and we sit back to enjoy the next couple of minutes. uh oh...time to change e. so 'rin starts changing him and i get h ready for bed. as soon as i tuck her in, the door bell rings. "who is coming here now?"

i open the door and see a lady standing there with books in her hands. she says that we filled out an interested card (2 years ago) of hers about plants. an encyclopedia about medical plants for $139. apparently i can get it at barnes & noble for $50 more. why would i want to do that? and then she asks if we are interested. "um, i'll have to talk to 'rin, since she is the one that filled it out." she leaves the doorstep, but i watch her from the window, seeing as how she was just sitting in her car for another 5 minutes, just sitting there.

i go and check back on h and she is asleep. i tell b to get ready for bed. start the movie back up and then...

beep!!!

samson's ears perk up and he starts getting excited. i get him calmed down and 'rin asked what that was. "i don't know. maybe it was in the movie." so i scan back and push play again. samson hears it again and gets excited again. "yeah, it was the movie." continue watching and then...

beep!!!

again? what is it. this time it wasn't in the movie. beep! beep! it winds up being the smoke detector. the battery is dead and so i need to replace it. get out the ladder and ask 'rin if we have any 9 volt batteries. "nope." so i get my guitar case and pull out my extra tuner battery. put it in the detector. put away the ladder. push play and...

beep!!!

aaarrrggghhh...what now? i pull out my guitar case, and grab my tuner. i take the "new" battery and test it in my tuner. dead battery. great. so i use my existing battery in my tuner, replace it with the smoke detector battery and. . .silence. nice.

start the movie back up. 'rin is folding clothes with b. she has to go get more clothes. the door bell rings again. i open the door. "hi, would you like to order some girl scout cookies?"

"no thanks," i politely say. cookies. maybe it is time for dessert. get out leftover tiramasu brownies and eat those while watching the movie. time for bed for b. get her ready for bed and then, back to the movie.

the movie is 2 hours 10 minutes. we got done with it at 8:55. start time was 5:20. so, after the movie was over, time for 24. then time to get ready for bed. we didn't actually get into bed until about 11:15 or so. but once we did, 'rin hears something. "sounds like children." then h starts crying. "what now?" i think to myself. 'rin gets up to check on her and then i hear, "i need your help." h got sick and lost it on her teddy bear, pillow, blankets, her hair and pj's. get her into the bath and clean up her bed. change her, get her back to bed. we get back into bed and don't fall asleep until 12:30 this morning. and apparently, 'rin had a terrible night. . .

Friday, February 03, 2006

we are 34 days into 2oo6. have you kept up with your "i'm going to lose ____ pounds this year" resolution? has it been easy? hard? fell off the wagon january 2nd? superbowl xl is this weekend, so there is going to be a lot of diet busters and monday starters.

me? i'm trying to get back in shape and tone for wakeboarding/summer. plus, i just feel better. i know, i know...junkfood tastes so good. so does candy, cookies, ice cream, soda (yeah, i said soda) and other gut builders. take it all in stride. in moderation. spring is right around the corner, so i plan on doing a lot more walking and bike riding (and yardwork: arbor building (for grapes), garden extending and other odds and ends. hauling gravel and dirt. putting in a water system for the backyard).

c'mon spring, c'mon. . .

Thursday, February 02, 2006

got this frame yesterday while i was leaving work. about 5:10 last night. i like the faint orange coming from the sun.

also, i've added more to my flickr page. updated as of today. i uploaded and made a new set of cuba pictures yesterday and an india set today. i'm still looking for the majority of my india pictures. they are in albums at home, so i still have to find them and scan them. but, until then, enjoy. . .

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

out driving today and came across this. i know it's nothing spectacular, but i thought it made an interesting picture.

oh, and btw, it's 46°f out and i'm wearing shorts. gotta love idaho. . .

a caricature of me while i was in cuba back in 2003. i was getting a little paranoid. i was in marti park in cienfuegos when a guy kept following me around and was writing something on his clipboard. everywhere i went, he went. finally he came up to me, showed me the drawing and said "2 dolla".

"sure, no problemo. . ."



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