New Birthday Presents

Somebody's been watching Christmas specials...

Two more

It has a hard time uploading more than two photos at a time for some reason, hence two-picture posts. I've been having a hard time taking pictures lately, for some reason they're always coming out blurry. The wife insists I have a temporary palsy that only strikes when I'm taking pictures, so I've been focusing more on focusing. Can't do anything about the devil eyes on Noah though. Here they're practicing their bubble beards. Amateurs.

Bathtime Shenanigans

Proudly displaying their pioneer heritage, Brigham and Jedediah Smith.

Snowfall!

Got our first snowfall of the year. We won't get much here in Portland, but it's always fun while it lasts. It's late afternoon now and still falling, probably 3-4" last time I checked. Lexi lasted 5 minutes outside, Noah 10. The cat loved it too.

Lexi woke me up at 8.30 this morning, ecstatic. "Mommy, come look! I'm so glad I looked out my window this morning! Daddy, come look, I'm not even kidding, you've got to see what's outside my window!".

Couple more pics

Tried to do 4 photos last night but only two came up. Here we go:

For any tabletop gaming nerdy millionaire

This is at the top of my christmas list. Not like i have any nerdy friends to warrant its awesomeness. But it rocks.

Just some pics

The easy way to post...

Not so deep thoughts

1. I was looking up the origin of the word Cologne, and, as I surmised, it comes from the city of Cologne, Germany. But in Germany they don't ever call it cologne, nor is it called Koln, the German way to pronounce the name of the city. It's too late to look up what they really call it, but it's odd.

2. I wish every grocery store had a map available of its aisles. Either at the store or online. I would pay $1.00 for a map of my local grocery store. Maybe 2, but no more than 2 dollars at the most.

3. I forgot number 3. I'll think of it tomorrow.

KORG DS

Cool little piece of software for the Nintendo DS

And the little guy in action...



Yes, it's on my christmas list.

funny kids, not mine

Bookmarks

A list of my bookmarks from the top to the bottom:

The Great Whatsit - Started by a friend from college and some other friends mainly on the east coast. I usually make it a point to visit there every couple of days at least.
PimpStyle2000 - My friend Kent's site. Friends since high school, it's been a little on the slow side at this site lately, but still some funny people hang out there.
Bank of America - Really? You need me to tell you what this one is?
Mystatcounter - Tells me how many times my mom has checked out this site today. When she's visiting me my number of visitors drops by 90%.
Suburban Home - If you click this link you're gonna get summa that deja vu.
Pitchfork - I used to visit this site all the time for new music ideas. Now I just check it out to see if any famous musicians have died recently.
Woot - Sweet site that offers closeouts and special deals. Usually one per day, starting at 10 pm p.s.t. Sometimes there's a woot-off which goes for a couple days and the same item stays up until it sells out before a new one is posted.
Woot T-shirt - Same thing but for shirts.
The World According to Wayne - Wayne is a friend of mine from back in the days of playing Everquest, so probably about the year 2000, 2001. My character was a female so he was trying to flirt me up but I had to tell him to stop. We've been friends ever since. He doesn't update his blog enough, but I'm sure he loves bacon like I do.
Jeffrey Dinsmore - My brother in law. Coolest dude on the west coast with the awesomest wife. Buy his book, he'll thank you for it.
MySpace.com - I don't really remember to check this one but once every month or two. Mainly to keep in touch with my friend Chris, but since he only checks it every couple of months, we never really connect.
Penny Arcade - Video Game/Geekery site. Check it out every once in awhile. Home to the Child's Play charity which is a bunch of gamers that give to children's hospital.
Kotaku - Another video game site I check out regularly.
i wish god were alive to see this - Not sure where I picked this one up, but it's great to see the world through someone else's eyes sometimes.
Etsy.com - Great place with home-made crafts.
100 hour board - A place where you ask a question and they answer it within 100 hours. Beware, it's full of Mormons.
New York Times food section - Food stuffs
Apartment Therapy - Good place for some inspiration for decorating I will never do.
Zenni Optical - $10.00 Eyeglasses. Seriously.
The Sartorialist - Style Inspiration. See 'Apartment Therapy' above.
Sexwithfarmanimals.com - just kidding ma!

That's what I do in my spare time.

Any idiot...

"Any idiot can face a crisis, it's the day-to-day living that wears you out."

- Anton Chekov

Fisherman's Friend

Oh, you don't know what Fisherman's Friend is? How sad is that. Check this out.

Fisherman's Friend Website

The best things ever to keep you from coughing. Even though my Dad's always been a Sucrets man himself. They're not always easy to find, usually near the cough drop section, but rarely directly 'in' the cough drop section. For some reason I can never find the good flavors, usually just the default 'original extra strong'. The aniseed are the best, but oh well; I'll take what I can get.

The Life and Times of Tim

I kept seeing the ads for this on HBO but it didn't look all that great. But last night we watched a couple and they're pretty funny. A little hit or miss at times, but there were some choke-on-your-Fisherman's Friend moments to be had.

Boobie-Straps

Lexi's (and Noah's by extension) new favorite word is boobie-straps to mean bra. They both love to put a bra around their neck and dance around.

Tonight I gave them each a Hershey's Kiss and they took the wrappers and held them up to their chests like little bras, yelling, "Boobie-straps, boobie-straps!".

Kids are nuts-o.

Oh yeah, so is the bacon bra.

Oldie but a Goodie

My nephews, Gary and Asa. Not sure how long ago this was, probably some 12-odd years ago.

Hey brother, could you spare 25 billion?

Really? The auto industry suddenly need 25 billion dollars to stay afloat?

Hey American auto-industry:

Suck it.

Hunting Pics

1. Rabbit Rock. As a kid this was a sign that we were getting to the end of the paved road and leaving civilization for good. It seemed like it took another 2 hours after we hit the dirt road, but last week it only took about 40 minutes.

2. View from the top under the power lines. Not really 'the top' as in there isn't anything higher, since the picture makes it look pretty tame. This is where I used to go with my dad early in the morning to watch the sun rise. While I wasn't terribly excited about getting up early this time, I did make it out of bed early at least once, and we went back under the power lines to watch the sun rise over Quincy. I forgot to eat a Ding Dong though.

3. Uncle Larry and Uncle Lynn. Probably shooting the shit. The family has an old army tent they erect in the middle of all the motorhomes/trailers. You can see more of it in picture #5. What you don't see is the wood burning stove in there that kept us all warm all night and helped us cook our food. As a kid we had one generator that all the trailers used at night to provide electricity. Now, everbody had their own. There must've been 5-6 of them for 10 trailers. Nobody was really hurting much for the basics, though the shower could've used a little more pressure and the hot tub really wasn't warm enough for my tastes.

4. My bed on the left. My brother's on the right. Can you guess why I didn't sleep well? Twin bed, sleeping bag, whiskey. I think I mentioned Gary's snoring, and the silence all around us was unnerving as well. And I missed the kids screaming and crying so much I just couldn't fall asleep.

5. Gramma Smith, Uncle Larry hidden behind her, my nephew Gary Jr., Cousin Tim, Cousin Chuck, and Dad doing a little two-step in the foreground.

Did I mention eating the liver?

No hunting pics yet

I know you're all waiting for the photos of the deer head hanging from the front of my Mini Cooper, but they're not online yet. Gimme a little more time.

Noah's favorite words right now: boobies and dammit

I used to think it was funny. Until he said it about five times in a row while picking them up at daycare. I tried telling everyone he was speaking German. Damit is a real word auf Deutsch, but I don't think anyone was having it.

I can't type much, Lexi's having her friend Tia over for a sleepover and I have a headache that grows by the minute.

By the way, a hearty thank you to the country for voting for change. Thank you for not screwing it up. Too bad California had to go and try to ruin a good thing.