Meet Me In Saint Paul

That Dream Again

2010-07-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

So had that dream again. You know the one. It's where I suddenly realize that I have a math final and I haven't been to class in about six weeks. To add to the drama, I really need a passing grade or I won't graduate. I have the dream once or twice a year.

I think everyone has this dream in one form or another, but for me it's always a math test. I guess that shouldn't be surprising since calculus and I didn't get along very well in college. The first time I took Calculus I got a D, which was a shock to my ego. I suppose it would have been less embarrassing if I had skipped the last six weeks of the semester, but I didn't. I mostly went to class and sort of did the homework. I just wasn't as good at math as I thought I was and needed to work MUCH harder. Getting a D didn't sit well with me. I took that bad boy again, got a B+, declared victory over mathematics, and never set foot in a math classroom again.

I thought I had defeated math, but math is still out there lurking. Haunting my dreams. Waiting to get revenge.

The dream is always the same. It starts with the realization that I have this final coming up, but I never actually get to the final exam. I'm perpetually stuck in the anxiety-filled, oh-my-God-what-am-I-going-to-do phase. I always wake up before the final. Heck, I always wake up before really doing much of anything besides panicking and wondering how I managed to go six weeks without making it to class. (Maybe I'm a meth addict in my dreams? It would explain a lot.) Anyway, after waking up I remind myself that I'm not actually taking a math class (this can be surprisingly difficult) and that I've already graduated from college almost 20 years ago.

If I'm going to continue to have this dream, I'd like it to end better. Instead of me being all anxious and whiny, I'd like to go into a Rocky-like training montage, complete with a kick ass soundtrack. The dream would cut to scenes of me studying, me working problems, me doing flash cards, and culminate with me running up some long steps where I smash a calculator to smithereens when I reach the top. Then I'd take the final, win the approval of my math professor, and be carried out of the classroom in triumph on the shoulders of my fellow students. All while Eye of the Tiger plays in the background.

Now THAT would be a dream.

Stupid Dad Tricks

2009-12-25T18:18:00.001-08:00

This year Nick really really really wanted a Nintendo DS for Christmas. For the uninitiated, the Nintendo DS is a handheld video game system.

For weeks, he's been telling me how much he wants one. Every time he started this conversation, I transitioned into Stupid Dad.

Nick: "I really want a Nintendo DS for Christmas."

Me: "A Nintendo what?"

Nick: "A Nintendo DS?"

Me: "DX?"

Nick: "No. DS."

Me: "A Sony DQ?"

Nick: " A NIN-TEN-DO D-S!"

Me: "I don't know what you're talking about."

Nick: "It's a handheld video game system."

Me: "They have those?"

Nick: "Sure. They have them at Target by the video games. They're in the second row near the bottom of the rack."

Me: "Did you say they have them at Rainbow?"

Nick: "No. TAR-GET."

Me: "And it's a Sony DX."

Nick: "Argh..."

This went on 2-5 times per day for at least three weeks. I kid you not.

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Grandma Johnson asked Nick what he wanted for Christmas. He explained about the Nintendo DS, but he explained that he was pretty sure he wouldn't get one because Allison and I didn't understand what they were and we didn't know how to get one for him.

When it came time to open presents, the third present Nick opened was, low and behold, a Nintendo DS. He was just floored. I thought the Stupid Dad act was completely transparent, but I guess he bought it hook, line, and sinker. (That probably doesn't say good things about me, but I'll choose to believe that I'm just a great actor.)

Nick loves the DS and he was very grateful. It feels nice to hit one out of the park once in a while.

My Grandpa and Me

2009-12-20T15:05:00.001-08:00

Taking a short break from Grandpa Ames's photo album, here's a picture of me with my Grandpa Jacobsen. Both of my grandfathers died in 1974, so I don't really remember either of them. This picture is one of my favorites, though. Don't you love my hair? This picture was taken in November 1971. I assume this was at the house in Dexter, but I don't know for sure.

A Trip to Hastings (1947)

2009-12-18T18:34:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, August 10th, 1947, Grandpa Ames took a trip up to Hastings, MN. I'm not sure who all went on the trip with him; the photo album offers no clues. Here are some photos from that trip.

August 10th, 1947 looks like it was a beautiful summer day...

This is a picture of the Spiral Bridge in Hastings. The bridge was built in 1895 with a spiral design to either slow down horse-drawn traffic from the other side of the river as it entered downtown or to gain the necessary elevation so the bridge could terminate in downtown instead of outside of town. I tend to think the idea that it was to slow down horse-drawn traffic seems a little far-fetched. In any case, by 1951 the bridge was rusted and in a poor state of repair. Due to weight restrictions, school buses had to stop on the far side of the river and kids had to walk over. That doesn't sound like much fun to me. The Spiral Bridge was torn down and replaced with a modern bridge in 1951, 4 years after this photo was taken.

The next two pictures where taken from the Spiral Bridge.

I really love old pictures of landmarks and everyday life. Grandpa's albums are full of this sort of stuff and I intend to scan these pictures along with pictures of relatives.

Old Family Photos

2009-12-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

I hooked up Allison's scanner to my laptop and starting scanning some old family photos. My grandfather, Lawrence Ames, was an avid photographer and I have two albums full of old pictures that I'm going to work my way through. Here are the first of many.

This is a picture of my mom, Vonda Ames, in 1946. She would have been around 13 years old.

Here's a photo of my Grandpa Ames from 1945:

I think this is going to be a fun little project.

A Poem By Nick

2009-12-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

Football's the best,

not like the rest.

The Saints are good.

The Lions are bad.

The Vikings are awesome,

the Cardinals are cool.

The Bucs are weird and

the Giants are tall.

Football's the best!

(Nick really likes football. And he's not afraid to write a poem that doesn't rhyme.)

Slediquette

2009-12-15T05:19:00.000-08:00

Is just me or have people in Minnesota completely forgotten proper sled hill etiquette? I've taken the kids sledding twice so far this year and I've been confronted by:

1. Kids lollygagging at the bottom of the hill after finishing their run, leading to inevitable collisions and near-misses.

2. Small herds of self-absorbed parents holding impromptu conferences directly in the middle of the hill, paying no attention to the the kids at the top of the hill waiting to go.

3. Kids walking up the center of the hill instead of walking up the sides, while their parents look on.

I completely blame the parents for this sad state of affairs. Someone needs to teach this generation of kids the proper way to sled on a hill.

Two simple rules:

1. Kids: Unless your shoulder needs to be popped back into its socket, get up when your run is finished and promptly walk to one of the sides of the hill while watching for incoming sledders.

2. Parents: Unless you are performing a medevac, stay out of the way and chat with the other parents somewhere that isn't exactly in the middle of where kids are trying to sled. When you see your child breaking rule #1 above, tear yourself away from your iPhone and educate them so they know the proper way to do it in the future.

It's all so simple.

Pictures from a Summer Day

2009-07-28T20:03:00.001-07:00

This afternoon we took a little trip to Langford Park and I remembered my camera.

Xander leaping on the monkey bars:

Nick riding fast:

Nick can climb like a ring-tailed lemur:

Xander tries to catch up to Nick:

This doesn't look comfortable to me:

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More Home Improvement Follies

2009-07-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

First up I decided it was time to fix the light in the basement stairs. A few months ago the switch went bad and I had to replace it. Everything seemed to go well, but a few weeks later the light went out again. I assumed there was a loose wire or a problem with the new switch. I couldn't face the switch again, so I did what I do best - I procrastinated. For a long time.

Today I was ready to take a look at the switch and see what was going on. Before I went to turn off the circuit breaker, I thought I better try something. Amazingly enough, changing the light bulbs solved the problem. Duh!

After my successful (and embarrassing) resolution of the light bulb problem, I tackled the dishwasher problem that appeared yesterday. We have the kind of dishwasher you to have to push across the kitchen and hook up to the kitchen sink. Yesterday the coupler started spraying water everywhere.

A quick inspection revealed the problem: a torn gasket. We have a Kenmore, so my first stop was the Sears Appliance Parts Store at the Rice Street Sears in St. Paul. If you've never been to the Rice Street Sears, you should go. The place is like a time machine and when you stand in the parking lot it seems like 1962. It's a marvel the place is still open.

Anyway, they could only sell me the entire coupler. Boo. So, then I began driving all over town looking for this gasket. Of course I couldn't find one. (I did find a excellent Chicago-style hot dog, though.) I was able to find the gasket online and shipping is only three times the cost of the gasket. Boo.

It looks like the dishwasher will be out of action for a few days. Does anyone have any advice for teaching a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old how to wash dishes? Also, is it fair to withhold the cost of any broken dishes from their allowance?

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Thoughts on a Saturday Run

2009-07-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

Saturday mornings are becoming my time for long runs. Today I did a nine mile route down Summit Avenue from Cretin Avenue to the Cathedral and back. Some thoughts and obervations:

1. There's a little park on Summit Avenue and Ramsey Street that overlooks downtown Saint Paul and the river. It offers an amazing view early in the morning.

2. A lot of people go to the Cathedral around 8 a.m. on Saturday for mass.

3. When you are running and thirsty, all of the sprinklers going off present quite a temptation. I think I would have been shunned by the other runners if I tried to get a drink.

4. I ran by the Governor's Mansion, but didn't see T-Paw. He's probably off giving a speech in New Hampshire or something.

5. A long run in the morning makes Chris sleepy all afternoon.

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Home Improvement

2009-07-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

I completed a very significant home improvement project today. See this light fixture?

It is in a closet in our basement. Ever since we moved into the house eleven years ago it has been missing both screws that fastened it to the ceiling. It has just dangled from the wires all this time. How pathetic is that?

Occasionally I have told myself that I'm going to buy some screws and fix the stupid thing. Did I ever do it? No. Not until today, that is. At some point even a lazy procrastinator has taken all he can stand and must do something.

How long did this epic project take? Less than five minutes. I am officially the worst. The only thing that can be said in my defense is that at least I fixed it before it burned the house down or electrocuted someone.

I also replaced the doorbell that's been on the fritz for the past year or so. No more excuses for ignoring people at the front door.

I guess today was the day for fixing long-neglected problems. I kind of liked it. I'll have to do it again in another eleven years. Maybe.

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Living in the Moment

2009-07-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

When Nick and I were Cub Scout camp, I had the opportunity to observe two kinds of parents - those who participated as little as possible and those who threw themselves into the mix and had as much fun as the kids. (There was even one disagreeable fellow who went so far as too tear down every activity as being lame and not very fun. [Never mind that his son was having a great time with all of these "lame" activities.] Fortunately he was an extreme case.)

It was really interesting to see the contrast between these types. It was pretty clear who I wanted to hang out with - the guys who were having fun and getting dirty. So that's what I did and I had a great time. When it was over, some the other active dads and I were talking about how we wouldn't mind a few more days of this. The non-participants, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get home.

Don't get me wrong. It was great that these parents took time to bring their sons to camp. However, by holding back, camp became a job or a chore that had to be done. Instead of counting down the hours to departure time, they could have been out there having a great time themselves.

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Summer Camp Report

2009-07-19T19:08:00.001-07:00

Summer Camp 2009 has come and gone. Here are the highlights:

1. We arrived around 6pm on Friday evening. Our pack had apparently offended the Cub Scout bureaucracy, because we found ourselves assigned to the campsite farthest from everything. This meant a pretty long hike to meals and to our activities.

2. After check in we hit the pool for the swimming test. If you've been reading my blog, you I've been working hard to improve my swimming skills so I could pass the swimmer test at camp. Well - I passed the test. Nick's been working on his swimming this year and he was able to pass the beginner's test, which was a surprise to me. I was very proud of him. The downside to the swimming test was that it was cloudy and about 60 degrees - brrrrrr.

3. With the swimming test complete, we settled into our campsite for the night. The boys played games with the some of the camp staff while the adults hung out. Due to the drought, we were not able to have a campfire, which was a drag.

4. Activities started early on Saturday morning. After breakfast we went to the corral for pony rides. Nick had an awesome pony named Toppy. He loved it. A scout from another pack was thrown off of his pony, but fortunately wasn't injured.

5. The next event was the swimming pool. Well, it was another cold day. I doubt it was 60 degrees when we swam. The pool was well-heated, but getting out really sucked.

6. After swimming was boating. We paired up with another father and son for a row boat trip. It was chilly and windy (see above), but we had a nice time.

7. Next up was lunch and free time. We should have rested during free time, but the kids played games and some of us dads threw a football around.

8. After free time we went to the archery range. We determined that Nick is right-handed, but left-eye dominant. (Just like me.) I had him shoot left-handed. He did well with the aiming and shooting, but the poor kid really struggled knocking arrows and getting ready to fire with his wrong hand.

9. Next was the BB gun range. Nick was probably the most excited for this activity. I had him shoot left-handed again, but the results weren't as good as with the bow. Fortunately he wasn't discouraged and is eager to try it again.

10. After BB guns was yet another trip to the pool. Sadly it wasn't any warmer this time than the two previous trips to the pool. However, like all good scouts, we refused to let a little thing like frigid weather ruin our swim.

11. After dinner the camp staff put on a campfire and show with lots of skits. They put on a great show and it was a lot of fun.

12. Upon returning to camp, the kids played more games with the camp staff. Some of us dads were dragged into a game called "Army/Navy" which was advertised as not involving a lot of running, but actually consisted of nothing but running and diving on the ground. The fact the guy running the game was a sadistic 15-year-old Boy Scout didn't make it any easier on us old guys. I have several bruises on my knees from the game.

13. Sunday morning consisted of crafts, skills, and a nature walk. For crafts, Nick built a cool rubber band powered paddle boat. For skills, he learned to tie some knots and casting a fishing rod. During the nature walk he learned to identify some plants and played a live action game of Oregon Trail (remember that computer game?). The kids were all dragging by this point, but they had fun. I should mention that the weather on Sunday was sunny and warm. Were we schedule to use the pool? Of course not. Sigh.

14. Before we could have lunch we had to clean or campsite and get ready to leave. The same sadistic Boy Scout from the Army/Navy game was in charge of inspecting our camp. We eventually were cleared for lunch and departure.

15. We got to do free choice events before we left. Nick and his friend Henry chose to ride ponies again. I was happy to see the sadistic Boy Scout off doing some unpleasant looking stable cleaning chores. Karma, dude. Karma.

So that was camp. It was a great time. I would have happily stayed for a couple of more days (particularly if they were sunny and warm) and Nick would have been happy to move in permanently. I have a lot of admiration for the staff and they really have inspired me to try some things to become a more effective Cub Scout leader.

I didn't take many photos of just Nick, but here are two:

Nick riding a pony on Sunday afternoon. Notice the blue skies.

Nick showing off his rubber band powered paddle boat:

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Summer Camp!

2009-07-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Nick and I leave for summer camp in a couple of hours. I think I packed way too much stuff, but unusually cold temperatures plus a chance of rain means I'd rather be safe than sorry. Besides, it all fits in the giant duffel bag I purchased!

I'm not sure if I'm ready for the swimming test or not. I doubt I'm going to feel much like jumping in the pool tonight given the cold temps, but I'll give it a shot. Even if I don't pass today, I've made dramatic improvement in a short time, so I think I can be satisfied with that for now. This morning Nick asked me if I thought I would pass the swimming test. I said that I didn't know. His response? "I don't think you will because you aren't a very good swimmer." Gotta love the brutal honesty. Apparently the "my dad can do anything" phase has passed!

Anyway, we'll be gone until Sunday. Hopefully there will be good stories and pictures then.

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Minnesota Zoo

2009-07-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Allison took the day off today and we went to the Minnesota Zoo. The kids were not especially enthused about the trip (they've been to the zoo several times), but it turned out to be a great time. The Zoo has made many improvements over the past few years that have really improved the experience.

Here's Nick feeding his face with popcorn.

The highlight of the visit for me was feeding the giraffes. For a mere $5 you can buy two crackers and hand feed them to the giraffes. Very cool.

Here's Nick feeding the goats at the family farm. Xander had enough with the giraffes and refused to feed the goats.

Here's Xander driving a tractor at the family farm.

After the Zoo we stopped by Target so Nick could buy the skateboard he's been saving up for. So far no injuries, but he's finding it touch harder than he expected.
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Baseball Tonight

2009-07-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Nick is playing baseball again this summer. It's a fairly low-key event. The coaches do the pitching and the teams bat through the order each inning. They don't keep score. There are no strike outs. The only thing resembling real baseball is that once you hit the ball, if the defense gets you out, you are out.

It was a beautiful night for baseball and its always a good time to catch up with friends from the neighborhood. There's not much to say about the game. A bunch of kids hit the ball and ran around the field. Nick hit the ball pretty well in his at bats - they were all hard choppers which are basically impossible for kids this age field cleanly. He made some nice plays in the field and actually recorded a couple of outs while playing first base. All in all a great evening.

Allison took some nice action photos:

Mall of America

2009-07-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy afternoon, so we cruised over to the Mall of America for some rides and a snack. I had some left over ride points for the Nickelodeon Universe theme park, so I figured this would be an inexpensive afternoon. To make sure there was no confusion, I had a discussion with the boys to make it clear that we would not be buying anything at the Mall. We could visit the Lego store, but we would not buy anything. Was I clear? Crystal. Or so I thought.

We started with the Lego store and we all ooh'd and aah'd at the new stuff. The kids didn't entirely forget about the "we're not buying anything" talk. Instead they said stuff like "I really wish we could buy {insert expensive Lego kit here} or {insert other expensive Lego kit here}." Or "why can't we buy {insert yet another expensive Lego kit here}?" It's like they understood the words I was saying, but they completely missed the point. Apparently I need to refine my speech.

After we had exhausted the possibilities of the Lego store, we moved onto the rides. Xander did a truck ride and Nick did the bumper cars (where he mostly drove in circles with a puzzled look on his face). After that Xander didn't want to go on any more rides. Nick only wanted to go on rides that Xander couldn't, but that he didn't want to go on by himself. Since abandoning 4-year-olds at the Mall of America is frowned upon, Nick was out of luck.

Since we'd hit a ride impasse, it was time for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. I'm not a big Cold Stone fan. The ice cream is good, but it is all just a little TOO MUCH. Too rich, too sweet, too many toppings. We kept it simple and walked away happy.

We browsed a few stores around the mall and then headed for home. It was a nice trip. Despite my grumbling about kids asking to buy stuff, the boys were actually well-behaved and fun to be with. There would probably be something wrong with them if they went to the Lego store and didn't ask to buy anything.

Now they have a friend over and they are all in the basement playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii. Ahh, George Lucas is the ultimate multi-media babysitter!

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Swimming Test

2009-07-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Nick and I leave for Cub Scout Summer Camp on Friday. It should be a great weekend filled with tons of fun activities: swimming, boating, archery, BB guns, pony rides, campfires, skits, and flag ceremonies. Nick, like any red-blooded American boy, is most excited for the shooting activities. Yesterday he asked me if things "blew up" when you shot them with a BB gun. I had to break the bad news to him - no explosions, just tiny holes in a piece of paper. He took it pretty well, though I imagine a small piece of childhood died on hearing it.

The first activity of camp is the swimming test for both adults and kids. Now Nick isn't quite ready to pass any of the tests. Next year he should be able to pass the first level. My goal for this year is to pass the swimmer test.

Now I should probably include some background here, because passing the swimmer test is probably not a big deal for most normal people. Unfortunately I am not a normal person. The Scout swimming test was the bane of my scouting existence when I was a kid. Why? Because I just couldn't swim and I hated the water.

I was always uncomfortable in the water for some reason and I remember HATING swimming lessons. It might have helped if I hadn't been sent to a freezing outdoor pool at some ridiculously early hour for lessons. It also might have helped if the teachers were not graduates of the Wicked and Cruel Swimming Teachers Academy. What chance did I have? (OK - in the interest of fairness, the pool was probably not that cold, it probably wasn't that early in the morning, and the teachers were probably more patient with me than I deserved.) Worst of all, Mom and Dad didn't force me to stick with it.

Anyway, I've never swam well. As an adult I've developed enough technique to get by without drowning in hotel pools. I can swim on my back decently.

This upcoming swim test has motivated me to get my butt in the pool, swim decently, and pass the frakkin' test. I intended to start practicing for the test back in June, but I procrastinated. For the past week or ten days, though, I've been hitting the pool pretty frequently.

I've made some real progress with my front crawl. I still struggle with getting a comfortable breathing rhythm and I use my arms too much. However, I'm pretty close to the point where I think I can pass the test. I'm also liking the workout that I'm getting from swimming, so I'd like to make it part of my routine as a break from running. I still hate swimming, but for some reason I'm enjoying making myself go to the pool. (Apparently the difference between Kid Chris and Adult Chris is that Adult Chris is a masochist.)

On Friday evening I'm going to hit the pool and see if I can exorcise some childhood demons. Wish me luck.

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Fort Snelling State Park

2009-07-12T16:02:00.001-07:00

This summer we bought a year-long state park vehicle pass and we've been trying to hit as many state parks as we can. So far we've been to Afton, Forestville, and William O'Brien. Today we hit Fort Snelling State Park.

Fort Snelling State Park is located near where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers meet. It is very close to the airport and, more importantly according to Nick and Xander, the Mall of America. Planes were taking off over head when we arrived at the park. I thought that would be pretty annoying, but they either stopped or the sound doesn't travel very well down into the river valley. In any case, the park is very peaceful despite the fact that it is surrounded by the airport and numerous highways.

We've been doing a lot of geocaching during our visits to state parks. For those who don't know, geocaching is a sport where you use a GPS to find a hidden object at a given set of coordinates. Usually when you find one point, you will be given coordinates to the next point. Many of the state parks have their own official geocaches and even loan out GPS units.

Following the GPS to a given set of coordinates is usually dead simple. The only challenge is that the GPS points you in the direction you need to go, but trails can take some unexpected twists and turns. We've selected the wrong trail a couple of times and had to double-back.

The tricky part with some geocaching courses is finding the objects hidden at the coordinates. The GPS will get you close, but you usually need to search a 30 foot radius or so for the hidden object. In some courses the objects are easy to find. At Afton State Park, the objects were the size of water bottles. In some cases they were pretty well hidden. At William O'Brien, the objects were MUCH smaller - about 2 inches long and a half-inch in diameter. They were very cleverly hidden. So well hidden that we couldn't find them without help. The geocache points at Fort Snelling State Park were the easiest to find. They were always located on big information billboards.

In addition to hiking the various trails, we walked up the bluff to historic Fort Snelling, which is one of my favorite Minnesota places. We have free admittance with our family Minnesota historical society membership, so we stopped in for a short visit. Nick and Xander really enjoyed the view from the main tower.

It was a beautiful summer day and the I think the kids had a good time. While hiking the trails we saw two separate deer that were in the woods not more than 30 feet away from the trail. The kids climbed trees, had sword fights with sticks, and threw rocks in the woods. All in all, a great summer day. Sadly I forgot my camera, so no pictures.

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Saturday Morning Run

2009-07-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful Saturday morning here in Saint Paul. The kind of morning that makes me very happy that I live in this wonderful neighborhood in this great city.

I wanted to do a longer run this morning, but I wasn't sure where to go. I'm pretty bored with my usual routes. After checking around various websites that allow people to share running routes, I decided it would be fun to run on Summit Avenue. I've driven it many times, but never walked it or run it. I picked a route from Cleveland Ave (near St. Thomas) to Dale Street and back which was around 6 miles.

View Summit Ave Run 6 mile in a larger map

I'm telling you it was a fantastic run. Perfect weather. Sunny, but with lots of shade on the route. There were other runners out, but not too many. There was almost no traffic. Days like today make running worthwhile. They cancel out all of those crappy runs on days when you don't want to be out there.

While running, I noticed a lot of houses for sale on Summit. I wondered if this was just normal turnover or were these people who had overreached during the boom times and were now being forced to cut back due to the recession? I saw a lady in front of one of these houses watering her plants. I was going to ask her if they had purchased too much house and now had to cut their losses, but she had a hose and looked like she wouldn't be afraid to use it.

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Finally Finished the Lord of the Rings Movies

2009-05-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally made it through the last of the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings. I don't have a lot to add to what I said last time except for these random thoughts:

1. Length: These movies are long! The extended edition of Return of the King clocks in at 252 minutes!

2. A lot of people didn't like the way Return of the King ended. After the climax of destroying the ring, there are a number of scenes that wrap up loose ends. Personally, I like the way it ended. Happily they trimmed the whole Scouring of the Shire business from the movie. I always felt that episode was a little odd and it never quite sat right with the rest of the book.

3. My favorite movie of the three was probably the Two Towers, followed by the Fellowship of the Ring.

4. I thought Ian McKellan's portrayal of Gandalf was the best acting in the trilogy.

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The Lord of the Rings

2009-05-27T08:01:00.000-07:00

I've been plowing my way through the Lord of the Rings extended edition movies for the past few nights. These are fantastic movies, but it is a major commitment to get through them in a reasonable amount of time. It's been long enough since I've seen the movies that I'm not really sure which scenes were in the theatrical releases and which were added for the extended edition. I guess it doesn't really matter.

A few random thoughts on the series...

1. I really don't like Sean Bean as an actor and I'm glad that Boromir was killed off in the first movie. I only wish Peter Jackson would have found a way to kil him off sooner. Maybe he could have fallen off of a balcony at Rivendell or something.

2. The seamless integration of normal-sized actors as hobbits continues to impress me. There are only a few places where things don't look quite right and they don't distract from the movie at all.

3. The portrayal of Gollum is very well done. I found Gollum extremely tedious in the books. My precious this and and my precious that. In the movie he is an interesting character.

4. When will evil overlords realize that orcs make terrible soldiers? They always find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

5. I'm not sure why Peter Jackson sent the contingent of elves to Helm's Deep. It seemed completely unnecesary.

6. I liked the end of Saruman and Wormtongue in the extended edition of Return of the King.

Enough for now. (Yes, I realize this is all five years too late. But I wasn't blogging then.)

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Big Win for Allison

2009-05-09T05:52:00.001-07:00

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=7cu1gJSQR1hw3MH.Zyb7ZjEwMDQ5NzUx&referred_by=16085256-OqPybix&p=moveon

Menudo Run

2009-05-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

This spring Nick has been participating in his school's running club. The payoff was taking part in this morning's 1 mile Menudo Run (part of St. Paul's Cinco de Mayo festivies).

While it could have been a little warmer, overall it was a nice day for a run. Nick and I were running, while Xander and Allison watched. Xander was very sad they he didn't get to run. :-(

Nick took off like a rabbit and I was worried that he wouldn't be able to maintain the pace. However, he kept right on going and finished the mile going strong. Nick had a great time and loved running with his friends. All in all, it was a very fun morning.

Nick with his friends Tyler and Ian after the race...

Nick takes a minute to pose with Dad. Xander demanded to be included, but then wouldn't look at the camera...

I Think I May Have To Try This

2009-04-30T13:01:00.001-07:00

Since I have some time on my hands, I may need to try this...

Of course I will need to come up with a name and a costume. Like the guys in the video, I think I will only patrol areas where crimes are unlikely to occur. Plus I can dress Xander up as my sidekick. He'd love it!

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Off to Chicago!

2009-03-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

We are out of here for a fun-filled week in the Windy City. We plan to hit all the major museums and see all the sites. Plus, we're freeloading for a couple of nights at the Starmack Inn. (Gotta love the rates!)

Photos and description to follow.

Pinewood Derby 2009

2009-03-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

Pinewood Derby 2009 has come and gone. I had one goal for this year's Pinewood Derby: I didn't want our car to finish dead last. In this, we were successful. We finished second to last. Nick, I think, was just happy to be there. He was just pretty excited about having built something. If nothing else, our car looked pretty cool. It had lots of cool stickers with flames and stuff. Awesome. I was far more concerned with how our car would do than Nick was.

Xander was less excited about the event, although he did enjoy the food selection:

Here's Nick showing off his car:

The real problem with our car was axle alignment. I knew it was going to be a problem going in and after talking to some other Dads I have a better idea of what to do next year.

Here's how our Pinewood Derby worked. There were 30 kids entered this year. Our track has six lanes. We randomly seed 6 cars for each heat. The last car in each heat gets an 'X' on the big board. Three X's and you are out. Last car standing wins.

The format is tons of fun and it was non-stop action. I was responsible for putting the cars on the track and starting them. Let me tell you, I was busy. By the time we got down to the finals, the two top cars had no X's. They each won two races, so it all came down to the final race. Very exciting. I think everyone had a great time.

I tried to absorb as much as I could this year as I am going to be responsible for the event next year. Hopefully I will remember how to put the track together...

Random Cooking Post

2009-03-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Since becoming a stay-at-home Dad and professional lay-about, I've been slowly building up my cooking skills. I'm not great, but I'm able to put together a variety of meals. The kids even like some of them.

I've really taken to broiling. I'm too big of a wuss to stand outside and freeze at the grill, so I started broiling things. At this point I'm much better at broiling a steak, for instance, than grilling it. I've also learned how to marinade stuff.

None of this stuff is rocket science, but it's a big deal to me. Just like sewing all the patches on Nick's Cub Scout uniform. And my uniform, too, for that matter. (I think I've said this before, but if the Army can use velcro to attach patches to their uniforms, why can't the Cub Scouts??)

I'm headed for some sort of Walden or Little House on the Prairie self-sufficiency. (They all lived didn't they? I tuned out on LHOTP in about 1977.)

To go back to cooking - Mirk Bittman's book How to Cook Everything is awesome. Highly recommended.

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Blue and Gold

2009-02-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet. We had a nice lasagna dinner and about 45 Cub Scouts earned a whole bunch of awards. As promised, Nick earned his Tiger Cub badge and is now officially on the Wolf Trail. He's pretty excited about that.

One of the highlights of the Blue and Gold banquet is the transition of the Webelos scouts to the Boy Scout troop. Our pack has a ceremony where a special arrow is prepared for each boy and the arrow is then shot into a target. This year a former Boy Scout made an English longbow as a gift to the troop and that was what was used to shoot the arrows into the target. Unfortunately the elaborate hand-made bow broke after the third arrow. :-( Fortunately another bow was procured so the ceremony could continue. :-)

The other highlight was a show world class yo-yo master Dazzling Dave. He showed the boys a bunch of very cool yo-yo tricks, including a a yo-yo version of William Tell using one of the boys as a prop. Instead of knocking an apple off the kid's head, he knocked a poker chip off of the kid's ear. Pretty impressive. He also taught the kids some useful stuff for getting started with a yo-yo. Very cool. The kid's loved it.

Allison took a bunch of pictures. I'll post them when she makes them available.

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Where The Heck Have I Been?

2009-02-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

Nowhere, really. I just haven't been blogging for some reason.

We're fighting through the last few weeks of winter here. We had four inches of snow last night, which would have been demoralizing if it had been the wet, heavy kind of snow. Instead it was light and fluffy, so the shoveling was easy. We've had some warm weather, so everyone is primed for spring.

The kids are doing well and we are into a nice routine. We have the annual Blue and Gold banquet for Cub Scouts tomorrow and Nick will be earning his Tiger Cub badge, which is exciting. Then we need to get ready for the Pinewood Derby in March.

Xander is a typical four-year-old trying to do everything a seven-year-old does. It's hard on him because he really wants to do more than he's capable of right now. For example, he'll sit down and try to build one of Nick's complicated Lego kits. Of course, this ends up in frustration because it's just too much for him right now. You have to admire his persistence.

We watched The Water Horse with the kids last night. It's a cute movie about the Loch Ness monster. Nick seemed to enjoy it and it was nice to branch out beyond cartoons.

Allison and I have been obsessed with the new Battlestar Galactica series. We've been watching previous seasons on DVD and have finally caught up to the current (and final season). It's a really great show that, despite some weirdness, has kept us interested. They've definitely moved well beyond the initial premise of humans running from evil Cylons. I'm happy that I won't be spending so much of my life staring at the TV, but I'll be sad when it is over. I just hope they manage to give these poor people a break and give them some sort of happy ending. If you like science fiction, it's worth checking out. Just make sure you start at the beginning or you won't have the faintest idea what is going on.

I Can't Hear You, I Have A Pencil In My Ear

2009-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Nick had a routine doctor's appointment to check on the state of his asthma. Well, his asthma is doing just fine, thank you very much. His preventative medication is working very well and he hasn't had an attack in many months. So everything seems good.

For some reason, as part of the exam, the doctor checks Nicks ears. Left ear looks fine. Right ear - not so fine. There's something in there. She has Allison and I look through the little device and asks if we have any idea what it is. All I can see is that the object is red. The doctor gets a probe and sort of pokes at the object. Nick objects that this hurts.

At this point the doctor has no idea what is in Nick's ear. She's not even sure if it is a foreign object or some sort of polyp. Great. For his part, Nick denies ever putting anything in his ear. The doctor goes off and schedules an appointment for us with a pediatric ENT doctor for this morning.

Nick isn't really fazed by this, but Allison and I are worried that he has a polyp growing in his ear canal. We make an agreement that we won't do any research on the Internet because that will just freak us out by demonstrating all of the potentially really bad things it could be but probably isn't. Five minutes after this conversation I'm downstairs surfing the web, scaring myself shitless.

Needless to say, it's a long night for Allison and me. Nick and I finally get to the ENT doctor at 10am. The doctor pokes around in Nick's ear for a few minutes with a variety of instruments before announcing that the item in question is definitely a foreign object. I manage to restrain myself from getting up and hugging the doctor and dancing with the nurse. (I call this "playing it cool.")

After another few minutes and a bunch more instruments, the doctor finally manages to pull the object in question out of Nick's ear. It appears to be a quarter inch long piece of lead from a red colored pencil. Nick still denies having any knowledge of how it got in his ear in the first place.

Despite the title of this post, the item never caused Nick the slightest bit of discomfort or caused any symptoms whatsoever. We have no idea how long it was in there. If we wouldn't have had a doctor's appointment yesterday, it might have stayed in there for a long, long time.

Nick didn't think the experience was too bad and the doctor even gave him the piece of lead in a little cup to bring to show and tell. That ought to go over well. Allison and I are very relieved. We're that special kind of relieved that happens when you worry very intensely about your child and then find out everything is okay. Needless to say, Nick and Xander have been getting lots of extra hugs today.

Arizona Interlude

2009-01-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last week Allison had a conference in Scottsdale Arizona. She left on Wednesday. Grandma Johnson volunteered (or was drafted?!) to watch the boys, so I flew down on Friday to join her.

It was very nice to get a way from sub-zero temperatures for a few days. The weather there was about perfect - low to mid seventies every day with plenty of sun. They heat the pools this time of year, so we even got to do some swimming. Very nice.

We spent the first day and a half of my visit in Scottsdale. Allison had sessions to attend, so I was on my own to explore. The two most interesting finds were the Fiesta Bowl museum and hall of fame and a store the sold nothing but Nebraska Cornhuskers gear. I also discovered the Scottsdale 'waterfront.' As you can imagine, I was not impressed.

After Allison's conference ended, we switched to another resort across town. We have tons of Marriott Rewards points, so we splurged on a really nice place and got to see how the other half lives. I'm here to report that they live pretty damn well.

All in all, we had a wonderful time and are planning a return trip for some point in the future. We'd like to plan on doing more hiking and other outdoor activities. I can definitely see why people from Minnesota winter down there.

Allison has another conference at Disneyworld in April, so we may take the whole family down there.

Minnesota History Center

2009-01-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

Since there was no school today, I took the boys to the Minnesota History Center in downtown St. Paul. It's a great facility with lots of kid friendly exhibits on the history of this fine state. The boys had never been there before and were reluctant, but I dragged them along anyway.

It was really a fun time. They found lots of interesting stuff to do. Nick loved being able to look through the binoculars out the big plate glass window facing the State Capitol. He also loved Charles Lindbergh's biplane hanging in the lobby. Xander liked the log cabin building area and driving the Greyhound bus.

My favorite part was the recreation of a St. Paul house that was originally built in 1888 and has been home to fifty different families over the years (it was converted to a triplex at one point). Different rooms were about different eras and different families. In the backyard they had a bunch of old school games kids used to play like dropping clothes pins into a glass jar. The kids loved it.

Anyway, I highly recommend checking it out. They even have pretty good food in the cafeteria.

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Winter Camp

2009-01-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

Winter Camp has come and gone. It was a great time. Mostly.

The camp is located overlooking the St. Croix river just north of Stillwater. We arrived Saturday morning and got settled into out cabin. It was actually a dormitory, with a bunch of 4-person bedrooms. The Tiger Cubs (1st graders) got the dormitory, the other dens were in cabins.

We started off with sledding down a pretty wicked hill. Lots of fun, but a few bumps and bruises as well. It was particularly hard on the parents and the Tiger Cubs. :-)

After sledding we had a nice lunch in the camp dining facility. One of the nice things about this camp is they have a dining facility and the parents don't have to do the cooking. Sloppy joes and chicken noodle soup were perfect after a morning outside.

After lunch we had a nature hike with the Tiger Cubs where we collected a variety of pine needles, pine cones, bark, and leaves. We also found a bunch of animal tracks down by the river. After the hike, the boys did etchings of the things they found, which they enjoyed quite a bit.

Next up was a big game of capture the flag with the whole pack and the parents. The game was played in the middle of the woods and was tons of fun. Nick really got into it after he learned the rules and I really enjoyed it too. We stayed out there until everyone was too exhausted to go on. Running around through the woods in deep snow really takes a lot out of a guy.

After capture the flag, the boys practiced a skit to perform after dinner. Dinner consisted of barbecued chicken, au gratin potatoes, and green beans. It was pretty good. Or we may have been famished after the afternoon activities.

After dinner there was a bonfire and s'mores. After the bonfire, everyone returned to the dining hall for skits and a special appearance by Mini-me. Mini-me is a Pack 22 tradition that goes back for years (from before any of the current pack leaders were involved). It is the act where two people stand one behind the other. One person is the head and legs, the other person stands behind and provides the arms. Mike, the cubmaster, was Mini-me and I, as the assistant cubmaster, was the arms. I can't tell you how much the kids love this act and how much they look forward to it. The ones that had been to winter camp before were chanting for Mini-me back in September. Anyway, Mike did a great job. We tried to drink a few glasses of water and since I couldn't see what I was doing with my arms, you can imagine the results. We also tried to eat a whipped cream pie with hilarious results.

After we cleaned up Mini-me, we got all the boys to bed. I was in the bunk underneath Nick's. He fell asleep quickly. Just as I was just about to drift off, I heard a gurgle from Nick and then he threw up all over the place.

The situation was irredeemable, so I called Allison and she was gracious enough to come get us. Nick was sad to leave, but the only thing we were missing in the morning was breakfast and cleanup, so that made it easier. We thought Nick might be getting sick, but he seems fine today. He ate pretty well yesterday, so it wasn't a case of too many s'mores. Just his powerful gag reflex, I guess.

Anyway, it was a great time and we're both looking forward to summer camp.

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Thursday Already!

2009-01-15T10:20:00.001-08:00

Where does the time go? I've been meaning to post more often and here we are, three days without a post.

First off, my sister-in-law Holly was in traffic accident early this week and suffered a badly broken leg. She's going to be laid up for awhile, so please send good thoughts her way.

Nick and I are getting ready for Cub Scout winter camp this weekend. Fortunately the weather is supposed to warm up by Saturday. (It was -20 this morning!) Nick is very excited, but was disappointed to find out it was only one night and not an entire week.

Here's a photo of the boys with their Uncle Joe on Christmas Eve:

Lego Star Destroyer

2009-01-11T05:53:00.000-08:00

One of Nick's big Christmas presents was the Lego Star Destroyer. Now, Lego has two versions of the Star Destroyer. This one and the "Ultimate Collector's Edition." This is not the Ultimate Collector's Edition.

It took him two solid days, but Nick built the whole thing himself. Here it is in all its glory:

Here are the boys posing with the completed model. Xander didn't help, but he did spend a lot of time watching Nick build it:

The neat thing is that the superstructure lifts up and the top folds out allowing access to the inside. The set includes Darth Vader, some Storm Troopers, and guys to fly the ship. The only negatives are that it is a bit fragile and it takes up a lot of space. Maybe Allison will let me hang it from the living room ceiling...

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Cub Scout Archery Day 2009

2009-01-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Today was Archery Day. Every year the local Cub Scout district rents space at a warehouse and sets up a 50 lane indoor archery range. The district does a great job organizing the event and instructing the boys how to use a bow safely.

Nick started off a little tentative, but after a few rotations he began to shoot with more confidence. It was fun to watch that development over the course of just a couple of hours. He was proud to score a couple of bulls eyes and after the first couple of rounds all of his arrows hit the target. Plus he didn't accidentally shoot anyone, which was really all I was concerned about.

There were probably 300 scouts there when we arrived so it took a lot of time between turns. However, the crowd thinned out and at the end Nick was able to shoot as much as he wanted until they shut everything down.

I was struck by the quality of the equipment. All of the bows were nice compound bows, which were very easy for the boys to use. A big change from when I was a kid.

I took a lot of pictures, but none of them really turned out on account of the poor light and the number of people wandering between the photographer and the subject. Here are the best ones of the bunch:

Of course Nick now wants to go out and buy a bow. I told him to start saving. That's why he gets an allowance. :-)

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Post Holiday Funk

2009-01-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Now that the holidays are past, it is time for the annual post-holiday funk. Our house looks like a toy store exploded. There's a ton of Christmas decorations that need to be packed up. The kids are acting like hyenas on crack. And I'm feeling like I've had too much vacation, which is odd because I don't have a job.

I can't wait for school to start on Monday so we can get back to what passes for "normal."
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Hapy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve. The boys watched some Bionicle movies that didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. (Bionicles are LEGO robots of some sort. They have some kind of back story of some stuff that happens to some of them. If you are above the age of ten none of it makes any sense.) Xander fell asleep around 9 p.m. Nick wanted to try for midnight, but we ruled against him on account of the yawning and the refusal to take a nap in the afternoon. He complained for 5 seconds and then fell sleep.

Once the kids were in bed, Allison and I were free to watch three episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica. It's a fantastic show and after every episode I can't wait to watch the next one. We just started season 2.0, so we have a ways to go.

Battlestar Galactica wrapped up at precisely 11:58pm, so we quick switched to regular TV so we could watch the ball drop. Apparently Dick Clark is still alive and hosting New Year's Rockin' Eve, which was a bit of a surprise. At 12:01am we turned off the TV and went to bed.

The kids slept in a little and after breakfast we hit the Como Park golf course for some sledding. Great fun was had by all. Everyone is kind of wiped out, so I expect a quiet afternoon.

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Bad Day

2008-12-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

First off, it is insanely cold. Second, in the course of picking up Xander from his morning program, I managed to lose my keys. I have no idea where they went. Maybe they were left inside, maybe they were dropped in a snow bank while I was carrying Xander's shoes, toys, and art projects.

Fortunately Allison was able to come and get us. It was also fortunate that I was able to find the spare key at home without tearing the house apart.

Hopefully comeone will find the keys and turn them in. Otherwise I'll pay attention to the suspect snow bank when spring comes.

One consolation is that I'm eating some awesome chicken noodle soup that I made from scratch yesterday. I've made some progress since my happy-to-fry-an-egg days. :-)

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Because Bacon is Good

2008-12-12T08:55:00.001-08:00

http://www.holytaco.com/if-i-die-bacon-related-death-id-it-be-because

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Mr. Sneeze

2008-12-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

Mr. Sneeze

Written By Nick Jacobsen

Illustrated By Henry Breen

Mr. Sneeze sneezes a lot. He works at the pie store. He sneezes all over the pies so nobody really comes there. And he got fired. He has to find a new job. He just became a doctor and he helps people when they are sick.

The End

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The Cinnamon Bear

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

This year we started a new tradition. We've been listening to an old time radio serial called the Cinnamon Bear. It was originally recorded in 1937 and has been broadcast somewhere every year since. It has 26 episodes and we've been listening to one each night. It will work out that the last episode will be on Christmas Eve.

I wasn't sure if the kids would like it, but they have. It's been a big hit. Plus they are learning important stuff, like what a looking glass is. Or a velocipede. Or how to say "wilikers!" when something unexpected happens.

Here's more about the show

Download all of the episodes here

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Wonderful Day

2008-12-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

It was a wonderful winter day today. Not too cold and with a nice batch of snow in the late afternoon. The boys and I went sledding after school and had a great time. I had purchased a new sled for them for Christmas, but I just couldn't wait that long to break it out. Who's the bigger kid?

Nick is back to normal and Allison and I are cautiously optimistic that we will escape whatever malady struck them down. I think if we make it through the night we are in the clear. (Knock on wood.)

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And then there were two...

2008-12-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Nick went down with the vomit bug last night. Strange how this affliction strikes at night and by dawn the kid is on the road to recovery.

So far Allison and I have avoided getting sick. Wish us luck.

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Welcome to the Vomitorium

2008-12-03T05:27:00.000-08:00

Xander was up all night throwing up. Therefore Allison and I were up all night. Nick, the roommate, slept through it all.

Hopefully this isn't the sort of thing that will spread. Fingers crossed.

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Some Pictures

2008-12-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures from the past few weeks...

Cub Scout

4-year-old on the ceiling

Birthday boy at the Mall of America

Christmas is coming!

Happy Birthday Darth Xander!

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Weekend Update

2008-11-23T19:14:00.001-08:00

This weekend seemed to fly by. On Friday Xander's preschool had a Thanksgiving program and potluck for lunch, complete with turkey. Awesome.

Saturday was Christmas wreath delivery day. I showed up early to help unload the truck and then Nick and I delivered wreaths to everyone who ordered from us. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. I think Nick enjoyed the experience, too. The sale was very successful and our pack is in a much stronger financial position this year than they were last year Thanks to all of you who ordered!

Today we hit Janet's house after church for a wonderful turkey dinner. It was sort of an imprompteau early Thanksgiving. No, we don't mooch food off of Janet every Sunday. Although I am open to the idea.

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Pirates at Sea

2008-11-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

Pirates at Sea

By Nick Jacobsen

Illustrated by Henry Breen

The pirates are going on their pirate boat. They are going to look for treasure. The treasure is on treasure island. They will need a treasure map. The pirates have run into some sharks. The sharks like to bite. The pirates shot cannon at the sharks. The sharks get scared they swim away. The pirates are happy. The pirates reach treasure island! The pirates get off their pirate ship. They go dig. They find the treasure!

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Assistant Cubmaster

2008-11-19T05:24:00.001-08:00

I've completed my training and I'm now a trained Assistant Cubmaster.

Wish me luck!

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Sunday Update

2008-11-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of a busy week.

Thursday I attended the district Cub Scout leader roundtable and learned about the multitude of awards acheivements available to Cub Scouts. Wow! There's even a bunch of stuff for leaders to earn, if a person is in to that sort of thing.

On Friday we had conferences for both of the boys. Both are doing very well. Xander is making lots of friends in his morning program. Nick is doing well with his school work and is a positive leader in his classroom. He's reading at the 4th grade level, which I thought was pretty cool. I didn't tell the teacher that he's honing his reading skills on Calvin and Hobbs and Garfield.

Allison went out drinking Friday night, leaving me with the kids.

On Saturday we went to the Mall of America so Allison and Janet could buy shoes. The boys got to spend some of their saved money, too. I got nothing.

On Saturday night we went to a party hosted by some friends in the neighborhood. The theme was Obamapalooza. A bunch of Nick's friends were there, too, so a good time was had by all.

This morning after church we went to Janet's house for lunch (roast beef and mashed potatoes) and to watch the Vikings game. A perfect Sunday.

That's our lives in a nutshell. Now we're just getting ready for Monday.

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Back to Normal

2008-11-05T17:34:00.001-08:00

Ah... the election is over. Well almost over. They are recounting the MN senatorial contest between Coleman and Franken. But I can live with that. Yard signs are going down. The phone calls have stopped. We have achieved peace in our time.

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Bobcat

2008-11-03T18:48:00.001-08:00

We had a Cub Scout pack meeting tonight. It was wild and crazy as usual. We have 43 scouts in the pack this year and they have a lot of energy! I'm starting to get more involved as the Assistant Cubmaster, which is fun.

The highlight of the meeting for me was that Nick received his Bobcat badge. He was very excited and proud.

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Welcome to the Terrordome

2008-11-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

We have a little game we like to play called Crazyball. It's part basketball, part professional wrestling, and part American Gladiators.

Here's a shot of the game in progress:

In the midst of the game, Allison took this shot. This is probably my all-time favorite picture of me:

Here's the aftermath of Crazyball.

We quit because someone got hurt. (Yes, it was me.)

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More Pictures (Halloween)

2008-11-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

This year's Halloween had a distinct Star Wars feel to it. Xander went to a nursery school party where 8 boys out of about 24 kids were dressed as Darth Vader. Xander loves this costume. He even wore it when we went out to dinner tonight. He will wear it until it falls apart.

Nick was a Clone Trooper. Nick did not wear his costume to dinner, but he'll wear it around the house a bunch.

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Some Pictures (Not Halloween)

2008-11-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

Allison doesn't have the Halloween photos up yet, so here are a couple of others to tide you over.

Here's Xander:

Here's a vintage shot of Nick...

Obviously the lovely and talented Allison is responsible for these photos.

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Halloween Part 1

2008-10-31T19:02:00.001-07:00

Halloween has come and gone. A great time was had by all. Photos to follow.

I stayed home to hand out candy. We set a new record this year - zero kids. Just one street over there were tons of kids making the rounds. They just don't turn on to Como. Oh, well. More for me.

Nick and Xander had fun and came back with loads of candy. They even shared some stuff they don't like...

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Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-31T05:40:00.000-07:00

Last night we carved our pumpkins. Nick and Xander both drew faces on their pumpkins. Nick carved his out (never fear, we have a safe pumpkin carving saw - no knives). Xander decided he didn't want anyone to carve up his masterpiece.

Here are the photos...

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Christmas Wreaths

2008-10-30T06:16:00.000-07:00

Nick is a Cub Scout and the big annual fund raiser is the Christmas wreath sale. We have several sizes available, as well as garland. If you are interested in a wreath, let me know via comment or e-mail. We will deliver the wreaths throughout the metro area on Nov. 22.

It's a great funraiser that makes Cub Scouts accessible to all kids by paying for all activities throughout the entire year.

Thanks.

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Early Release Day

2008-10-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Today was early release day from school. I don't remember these from when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure we went to school five days a week for 40 straight weeks back then. Kids these days have it easy...

Anyway, we hit the cub scout shop to buy a new neckerchief slide for Nick. His previous one disappeared the last time he wore his uniform to school. We've had a talk about respecting his uniform by trying not to destroy it. We'll see how it goes.

After that we did more raking. The kids actually helped with bagging.

We spent some time this afternoon visiting with our neighbor Mrs. Miller, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Mr. Miller passed away this spring from cancer. They lived in their house on our block for 55 years. Anyway, Mrs. Miller was out raking her leaves. She doesn't have the energy she used to, but she's determined to live the way she wants for as long as she can. That includes things like raking leaves. Did I mention she's around 80? It's very sad that she is sick, but she is an amazing lady.

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Hard Frost

2008-10-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

We had our first hard frost of the year last night. Boo. Hiss.

However, today is pleasant and sunny. Xander and I spent a good chunk of the afternoon raking and bagging leaves. Actually I raked and bagged. Xander ran around like a maniac jumping into the piles. Just as it should be.

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Michael Yon

2008-10-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Michael Yon is an author, freelance journalist, and photographer. In WW2 he would have been called a war correspondent. He's reported from Iraq and is currently in Afghanistan. Before becoming a journalist, he was a member of U.S. Army special forces.

Yon's blog is fascinating on two levels. First, he provides a great deal of insight into what is happening on the ground in Afghanistan. Second, he is a truly gifted photographer. He has had some amazing photos of the people and countryside of Afghanistan.

His latest entry is about cell phone networks in third world countries like Afghanistan. Even in a backward, quasi-medieval place like Afghanistan, people are globally connected.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/are-you-connected.htm

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Back At It

2008-10-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to get back at this. Sorry for the long absence. No good excuse for the lack of posts - just laziness.

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Update

2008-09-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. As I warned you, all the other writing I've been trying to do has drained my will to blog.

Here's a quick update on what's going on here.

Nick is into the school routine and things are going well. He has his first spelling test on Thursday. He also started Cub Scouts last night, which was a big hit. He's incredibly excited foe all of the activities they have planned, including some ominous sounding thing called "winter camp." Yes, a parent needs to go with each kid, so yours truly will be attending, too. Fortunately winter camp involves heated cabins. Woo-hoo!

Xander is doing a two-hour preschool four days a week. We're mainly doing this for social reasons, because the kid has some shy tendencies. It's going well and he's enjoying it.

Gotta run and get Nick to school. Today is Xander's off day, so we're going to the Science Museum. Should be fun; there's a new Omnitheater movie called "Mystery of the Great Lakes"
that I'm excited to see. Xander has shown the ability to sit through an Omnitheater movie, so it should work out.

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Duck and Cover

2008-09-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

I saw this on one the blogs I read regularly. This is the original 1950's duck and cover movie to teach children what to do in the case of an atomic bomb attack. Worth watching - it is a trip.

http://warhistorian.org/wordpress/?p=886

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Another Haiku

2008-09-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

jets strike down towers -
will we ever forget those
who raced up the stairs?

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Haiku

2008-09-11T14:15:00.001-07:00

down the street I run,
a child wearing adult clothes;
no one the wiser.

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New Routine

2008-09-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

We're getting into our new routine around here. It goes something like this...

7 am - Wake up, eat breakfast, get everyone ready for school or work.
8:45 am - Nick, Xander, and I leave for school. We're going to walk until it is ridiculously cold.
9 am - Drop off Xander at preschool and Nick at his school (the two are a half-block apart).
9:15 am -Get home and try to write for two hours
11:15 am - Walk back to pick up Xander. Play when we get home.
12 pm - Lunch for Xander and me (Allison usually joins us). Play after lunch.
1 pm - Xander naps, I do chores around the house and maybe write some more. We play when he wakes up.
3:20 pm - Xander and I leave to pick up Nick. (More walking!)
4:30 pm - Get home, make supper, kids play.
5:30 pm - Eat
7:30 pm - start baths/showers, read with the kids after this
8:30 pm - kids to bed

The one way trip to the school is about .7 miles according to Google maps. Three round trips is 4.2 miles, so I'm getting my walking in. (Xander usually rides in his stroller most of the way.)

I've been able to get a lot of writing in and most days I exceed my word count goals by quite a bit. One reason I haven't been posting much is that I'm kind of written out by the end of the day. I'm sure as I adjust to the new routine I'll find more to say.

It could also be that I don't have a whole lot of interesting stuff going on (blogging fodder?) as my routine indicates. The very fact that I'm writing about my routine probably speaks volumes about how little I have going on.

Still, it's a good, comfortable routine. The boys seem very happy and I am, too.

And, yes, I met my writing goal for today.
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Vikings Week 1

2008-09-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Not much to say about the Vikings. They didn't play well most of the game, but still hung around to make it close. At this point I'm not convinced that Tavaris Jackson has what it takes to be a starting NFL quarterback. I have a bad feeling the Vikings will be shopping for a new head coach and starting quarterback in the off-season.

I hope they prove me wrong.

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Writing Challenge - Days 8 and 9

2008-09-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

I completed my writing challenge yesterday and today. Thanks to those who asked. The reason I'm posting my progress is to give myself some extra motivation to stick with it.

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Al Franken Sign Update IV

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

One of the Al Franken signs facing my house has been taken down. Apparently it was only meant to be up for the duration of the State Fair. Or something. Maybe they got tired of it, too.

It is less oppressive to be forced to look at just one of them while sitting in my library. :-)

P.S. I completed my writing challenge today.

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Football

2008-09-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the football opener (Thursday doesn't count) and I watched exactly 0 minutes of football. Since this summer I've had a goal to watch less TV and I've pretty much gotten to the point that I forget we have a TV. I will watch the Vikings tomorrow night, though.

As I mentioned the other day, I'm not doing fantasy football this year for the first time in about 13 years. I just haven't cared the past few years and I've been trying to eliminate activities that I don't actually enjoy so I can focus on the stuff I do enjoy. Anyway, I drafted for a friend of mine who was out of town. I picked 5th and in the first round took Tom Brady, who went down in the first quarter today with what looks to be a pretty serious knee injury. It's nice to see that I still have the touch (aka kiss of death), even when I'm not really playing.

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Saturday, Saturday

2008-09-06T17:24:00.001-07:00

It was kind of a busy Saturday. I got a haircut and talked thinning hair and baldspots with my barber, Pete. Always a fascinating conversation. I returned my stats book and mailed some stuff I sold on eBay. Allison and the boys hit the farmers market and hung at her Mom's for a while.

This afternoon we went to the park and came home for pizza. Here's a picture of the boys doing some climbing.

Here's picture of one of Nick's Lego Star Wars kits - Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter. Have I mentioned that the kid is obsessed with Star Wars?

I completed my writing challenge for today. Things had been going smoothly, but today was rough. The stuff I wrote was horrible. Really bad. Pointless drivel. My computer actually groaned when I hit the save button. But I did it. And that's what's important.
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First Day Pictures

2008-09-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

I finally have the first day of school pictures. Allison isn't that happy with how they turned out, but I think they are fine. She just has high standards.

Here's Nick posing in front of the house before we left for school. This was the best shot of the bunch; the rest had goofy expressions or even worse posture. In fairness to the kid, his backpack was full of all kinds of school supplies, including the very heavy 64-count Crayola box.

Here's Nick and I doing a little something we call 'kid on the ceiling.' Being a tall guy, I've always been able to lift the kids up so their backs are touching the ceiling in the kitchen. It started with 'baby on the ceiling', continued to 'toddler on the ceiling', and so on. So now we are up to 'first-grader on the ceiling'. In a month I need to do 'seven-year-old on the ceiling'.

It looks like torture, but I swear the kids really like it. Nick was talking about doing it for two days before the start of school. Anyone want to start a pool on how much longer I can do this? It's starting to get tough. I probably need to start lifting weights if I'm going to make it through the next couple of years. (Damn, there's that bald spot again. Allison needs to Photoshop these pictures before giving them to me.)

Random Thought of the Day

Did you ever wonder who invented parallel parking? I found myself thinking about this while walking the dog this evening. Someone had to be the first one to do it. It was probably shortly after the automobile was invented. (I seriously doubt anyone was parallel parking a horse and buggy.) Some guy was too lazy to park a few cars up and decided to try to fit his car into a much too small space. He figured head-first wouldn't work. He decided he could just back it in like so. Viola! Parallel parking was invented. Countless driver's tests were ruined in the process.

Follow up thought... How hard would it be to parallel park in England? Imagine: the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car, you're driving down the wrong side of the road, and you have to parallel park. I would personally rather park nine miles away than even try it. I'll probably have bad dreams about it tonight. (When you don't have a job you have the luxury of stressing over unlikely possibilities.)

These are the kinds I think of while walking the dog.

P.S. I met my writing goal for today.

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Writing Challenge - Day 4

2008-09-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

I met my goal for today. In fact, I exceeded my goal.

Not much to write about. Still don't have the Nick pictures.

We checked out the preschool that Xander's going to attend for a couple hours each morning this school year. It seems nice and I think being around other kids more will be good for him. It's conveniently located about a block from Nick's school.

I dropped out of fantasy football this year, but last night I attended the annual draft for my old league to select players for someone who was out of town. It was good to see some old co-workers, but it was also a big drag because we were near the Target Center and there was a Rage Against The Machine concert last night. Lots of scruffy guys and lots of cops hanging around. Luckily I was out of there by 7:30 or so. There were around 200 arrests after the concert. Fun stuff.

I ended up dropping my stats class today. In part because it conflicted with Nick's soccer, in part because I want to focus on my writing, and in part because there's a large tree on our property that needs to be removed before it falls on something. Financially speaking, I decided I'd rather deal with just the tree rather than the tree plus tuition for the class I was no longer very excited about. It'll be there next semester if I want to take it then.

Gotta go. The boys are banging on the walls in their bedroom and making the pictures shake in the living room.

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Writing Challenge - Day 3

2008-09-04T05:17:00.000-07:00

I met my goal for day 3 yesterday, then forgot to post my update before I went to bed.

Sorry for not getting the first day of school photos published, they're on Allison's camera and she hasn't made them available to me. (Hint, hint.)

Today is my first day of school; my stats class starts tonight. My biggest concern is where to park - dealing with the U of M main campus is a bit of a pain. Hopefully I won't be late or get lost or show up in my underwear.
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Writing Challenge - Day 2

2008-09-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

I've completed my writing challenge for today. Two down, twenty-eight to go.

I'll be posting later with some pictures of Nick and the first day of school. Assuming Blogger lets me upload photos today.

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Tuesday Morning

2008-09-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an interesting day here in St. Paul. Riots and mayhem down by the Republican National Convention. There was a big anti-war demonstration and march. The organizers were predicting 50,000 people; according to the Star Tribune there were around 10,000. Most were orderly and well-behaved. There were a handful of jicky jacks in ninja costumes causing problems by smashing windows with hammers, attacking police with paintball guns, and setting stuff on fire. I think around 260 people ended up getting arrested.

Apparently the St. Paul police were outfitted in all kinds of new riot gear they were able to acquire for this event. It sounds like we'll be well prepared for riots for years to come. The National Guard was called out to assist the police. When I was in basic training, all of the National Guard guys in my platoon spent a week learning crowd control and riot control. I don't remember what the rest of us did that week, but I'm pretty sure it involved shooting stuff and blowing things up.

It is hot and humid this morning, but some big storms are coming through today and it is supposed to cool off after that. I'm hoping today is the last day we run the central air this year.

As I mentioned yesterday, today is the first day of school. For some reason everyone is sleeping in, so I'd better go wake people up.

To answer a question about the writing challange: it isn't really about what I'm writing at this point, just that I'm writing. If I ever write anything that doesn't suck, I'll let you all know. :-)

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Writing Challenge - Day 1

2008-09-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

I completed my goal for today by writing a 1000 word journal entry and 1100 words of fiction. I'm very pleased that I didn't have to report failure on the very first day.

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Twas the Night Before the First Day of School

2008-09-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well everything seems to be ready for school tomorrow. Clothes are ready. Backpack is packed full of new school supplies. Lunch money has been sent electronically to Nick's account. Of course no one remembers his account number from last year, so we need to get that straightened out in the morning.

Nick's excited for school. I'm looking forward to having a schedule, but will miss seeing him all day.

In honor of the new first grader, here are some photos of his various Lego kits. We're working on a project to build all of his kits. We're about half done. My job is to help him locate hard-to-find pieces.

OK - Blogger won't let me upload photos tonight for some reason. Photos tomorrow.

Also, I've included the link to my twitter page in case you are interested. I'm still trying to figure out what use it is. If you want to be part of the experiment, you can follow me. If you couldn't care less, we can pretend this conversation never happened.

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30 Day Challenge

2008-08-31T18:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm going to start a 30 day challenge. My goal is to write a 1000 word journal entry and a 1000 words of something else every day during the month of September. Hopefully at the end of 30 days I'll have established the habit of writing a bunch every day.

I'll be logging my progress here every day. Who knows, I may even have the energy to blog about stuff, too.

Saturday News and Notes

2008-08-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Kind of a quiet Saturday today. It's allergy season, so we're all taking it a little easy. Allison and I are the worst off, Nick seems fine with claritin, and Xander doesn't seem to have developed any allergies (yet). For some reason I always associate sluggishness and sleepiness with this time of year. Probably because of all the benedryl.

I was planning to take Nick to the movie The Clone Wars this morning, but he did one of those vexing things a six-year-old sometimes does. He refused to go. Never mind that all he talks about or thinks about is Star Wars. It really isn't a big deal, but I can't figure that kid out sometimes.

Since the movie plans were scrubbed, I decided to clean the garage instead. In retrospect, that was probably a better use of my time. After that we hit the farmers' market for some vegetables and treats. I had a very tasty key lime bar.

I'm taking a statistics class at the U this fall and I finally got around to ordering the text book from Amazon.com today. Since we have Amazon Prime, there is rarely a reason to go to a bookstore anymore. Unfortunately I had procrasted too long and the book was out of stock. I was forced to do something I really didn't want to do - make a trip to the main campus bookstore.

I thought this might be horrible, but it really wasn't. I was in and out in no time flat. Pretty good considering that this is the weekend everyone is moving into the dorms. The worst part of the trip was the realization that I'm closer in age to the parents moving their kids into college than I am the kids.

Photo Interlude

2008-08-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Xander shows his muscles. 38 pounds of righteous fury.

Xander at the bat. The kid can hit it pretty far when he connects. (See above.)

Nick and Xander at the State Fair.

For Holly.

Alexi from the Ukraine

2008-08-29T05:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I ran to the neighborhhood store to get some cereal for today. While I was there, I noticed a tall blond guy kind of looking at me. He came over and introduced himself as 'Alexi' and asked how many meters tall I was. That's a tough question to be asked. Stupid metric system.

Anyway, we chatted for a while and it turns out that he is a 22-year-old veterinary student from the Ukraine participating in a 4-month exchange program with the U of M. He was a very nice guy who was very impressed with how big I was, even though I'm maybe a half-inch taller than him. He was also impressed that I knew the capital of Ukraine. (It's Kiev.)

Anyway, I'm just glad the situation didn't turn out like this.

School Open House

2008-08-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the Open House for Nick's school. We got to meet his new teacher, Ms. Holmgren, and check out his new classroom. Pretty exciting stuff.

After the Open House, Nick had soccer practice. This is the first year where he has separate practices and games. Practice is Thursday night, games are Saturday morning. We were impressed that he managed to stay on his feet more this year. When he first started soccer two years ago, he would hit the ground about 20 times per game. Mainly because he thought it was fun. A little because he was clumsy. (Don't know where he gets that! :-))

Now we are home. The kids are getting cleaned up and I'm sitting here in the library enjoying the view of the newly repaired Al Franken signs across the street.

Career Change Follow Up

2008-08-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

Further thoughts and answers to questions that have been raised.

1. 'Hang the iron' refers to summer construction jobs that Hans and I worked building giant metal shelves for the inside of a refrigerated warehouse. One of the old timers refered to it as 'hanging iron.' I was only good at it in the sense that I never bolted myself to one of the shelves or plummeted 30' off the top to an early grave. It was a pretty good job, though. Lots of overtime and what seemed like a lot of money at the time.

2. The main goal of the sabaticcal is a less hectic home life for the boys. We were tired of paying people money to spend more time with our kids than we did. We were tired of constantly hustling ourselves from one activity to another. This change has been amazing and I'm truly grateful.

3. The reason I am exploring career options is because I woke up one day from the path of following opportunity to the next and realized that I hated what I was doing.

4. #2 and #3 sort of came together at the same time Mom got sick. It just seemed like the right time to make a change.

5. While I'm not looking to understand the meaning of life, I'm really interested in making some positive changes to my life and habits. Things like eating better, exercising more, reading more, writing more, etc...

6. The point of my post was really that it is a lot harder starting with a clean slate and actually deciding something than I thought it would be.

Reflections on a Career Change in Progress

2008-08-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

While thinking about various career options today, something occurred to me. I've made very few conscious career decisions in my life. I've basically gone with the flow, from one thing to another as opportunities arose. To date, I really haven't had a plan. I've lied my ass off in a lot of reviews when it came to the 'what do you see yourself doing in 5 years' question.

After college I moved to the Twin Cities for two reasons. The first was to get the hell out of Austin. The second was that Hans was moving up here so I figured I would at least know someone. Once I got here I needed a job pretty quickly and it was a bad job market. I applied for the best sounding temp job and was hired the same day.

The temp job was at Access Management Corporation and after about 6 months as a temp I got a 'real' job there. I ended up staying for another 4 years and I really only left because the company was going under. When I decided to leave Access Management, I went to a headhunter. He lined up two interviews pretty quickly and had more on the horizon. I got offers from both places I interviewed (Wells Fargo and Select Comfort). I took the offer from Wells Fargo because it seemed to be the more stable environment.

I stayed at Wells Fargo for ten years and I resigned at the end of July. My job certainly evolved while I was there, but I never really sought out a new position. Even when I moved to management a few years ago, it was because they approached me.

Now that I've left Wells Fargo and I'm trying to decide what it is I want to do, I'm finding it pretty difficult because I've never gone through this process before. I've been fortunate throughout my career in that I have always been able to keep moving ahead. The trouble is, at some point I realized that, to use a metaphor, I was speeding down the highway of life with no one at the wheel! (I'm only talking a career here - I've made very good decisions on the family front!)

I know I'm not the only one who has gone through this experience. I'm finding it very challenging, much more so than I thought it would be. There is always a temptation to call my old boss and try to go back. Not because I miss the job, but because it would be easier to go back than to go forward. I'm fortunate that Allison is here with support and encouragement.

What I Did With the Shopping Cart

2008-08-27T05:13:00.001-07:00

To make a long story short - I went back and got the stupid shopping cart. It occurred to me while Nick was questioning my behavior that I was setting a bad example in some way. Maybe by abandoning the shopping cart I was telling him it was okay to engage in all sorts of anti-social behavior like littering, pet abandonment, or carjacking. I decided that to set a good example for the kids I should go get the cart and return it to the area by the front door.

That and Allison told me to go get the #$@!* cart.

And Then There Was One (Al Franken Sign Update III)

2008-08-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a little storm and one of the Al Franken signs blew down and ended up in our front yard. Rest assured that I have no moral dilemma about what to do with it.

The Moral Dilemma of the Shopping Cart

2008-08-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

So we were at Target this evening doing some back to school shopping. (Yes, Rachel, we go to Target a lot!) When we got there we decided to grab a cart, but after shopping for a while we became separated from it. At this point we had everything we came to get and we really didn't need the cart anymore. I made the executive decision to abandon the cart and head for the checkout without it. ('Cut and run' if you will.) This threw Nick for a loop.

Nick: "DAD, WHY ARE WE LEAVING WITHOUT THE CART?"
Me: "What cart?"
Nick: "WE HAD A CART."
Me: "I don't remember having a cart."
Nick: "YES YOU DO; IT'S RIGHT OVER THERE!"
Me: "Shhh... Ixnay on the artcay."
Nick: :IS IT OKAY TO JUST LEAVE A CART?? I CAN"T BELIEVE YOU'RE JUST LEAVING THE CART!"
Me: "Well, we really don't need the cart anymore because we didn't get that much stuff."
Nick: "BUT WHY ARE WE LEAVING THE CART RIGHT OVER THERE?? IS IT OK TO JUST LEAVE YOUR CART?"

This went for a while and was showing nice signs of stopping. By the time we reached the checkout area I had a decision to make. Press on in the face of potential embarrassment or go back for the cart.

What would you do?

My Mom's Friend Polly

2008-08-25T05:43:00.001-07:00

My Mom's friend Polly read this essay at Mom's funeral and it was recently published in the Austin Post Bulletin.

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=28&a=357690

Very touching.

State Fair Follies

2008-08-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today was our big day at the State Fair. I'd like to say that we had the best day ever, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. This was just one of those family outings that didn't quite click. It seemed like at any given time someone was unhappy about something.

The boys were both a little tired and not their normal cheerful selves. As a result, there were a fair number of squabbles over what we were doing. If Nick had his way, we would have spent the entire time at either the children's rides or the midway games (with appropriate breaks for food). This is not unreasonable from a six year old, but unfortunately we were not going to spend the entire time at the rides and midway games.

Despite some attitude issues, we pressed on. It was a beautiful day. It was downright chilly when we arrived and the high was in the lower 70's. Everyone's allergies were under control, so that was nice.

One of the highlights of the day was watching a lumberjack competition. They did things like carve wood statues with a chainsaw, climb trees, canoe jousting, and log rolling. It was a very enjoyable show. I wonder if it is too late for me to become a professional lumberjack?

We didn't really try any new fair food this year. I wanted to try the choclate covered bacon, but I never saw where it was. Instead we stuck with basics - breakfast burritos, tom thumb doughnuts, pronto pups (I've decided that I prefer pronto pups to corn dogs), mini cinnamon rolls, buffalo burgers, frozen key lime cheescake on a stick. I actually could have eaten more food, but by mid afternoon that crowds were massive and we were losing steam fast.

This year we drove closer to the fair and then walked the remaining distance. It worked out well. Despite my griping about Nick's attitude at times, he was a champ in terms of all the walking. Xander is still able to ride in the stroller for things like this and he did well too.

On the whole it was a fun time. However, I'm not sure that we'll be making a return trip this year. It wasn't that much fun...

Saturday Roundup

2008-08-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

Nick had a birthday party this morning up in Coon Rapids and Allison was his driver. That left the X-man and me looking for stuff to do. After a game of baseball and a bike ride, we decided to hit the town.

First stop was the Ax-Man Surplus Store on University Avenue. This an amazing place. You never know what you are going to find there. They have every thing from party supplies to luggage to reconditioned electric motors. Last time I was there they had a consignment of Swedish army helmets. (Allison said I couldn't buy one.)

Today they had Soviet-era gas masks. I spent some time looking at these because I spent a fair amount of time wearing a U.S. Army protective mask back in my Army Reserve days. I gotta say, the Soviet model looked like a complete piece of garbage. I remember in training being told how well prepared the Russians were for chemical warfare. Looking at the actual equipment makes me think that the Russians were fooling us or we were exaggerating the threat to get more money from Congress.

After the Ax-Man, Xander and I hit the McDonalds on University for lunch. Hitting an urban McDonalds is always a little adventure. I tend to watch everyone very closely when I'm at one with the kids - I go into hyper-protective mode.

The highlight of today's visit was this guy who came in off the street carry a grocery bag. He went and sat down at a booth in the back by himself without ordering. Every so often he would laugh out loud. Not just a giggle, but a long, drawn out laugh. He happened to be sitting in my line of sight, so I was looking as close as I could - without being too obvious - to see if he had a cordless headset for a cell phone or ear buds for a radio. Nothing. He was just a real happy guy I guess. (Of course, so was The Joker.)

Eventually the guy got up and went to the bathroom. I couldn't help but wonder if he was hatching some diabolical plan involving whatever was in the grocery bag. (I told you I go into hyper-protective mode!) I started to plan escape routes for Xander and me. The guy could have anything in the bag. Guns, knives, a biological agent... (Damn! I should have bought the gas mask!) Of course he probably had something mundane in the grocery bag like laundry or books or even groceries. Anway, he finally comes out of the bathroom, still carrying his bag, walks to the door and just leaves. Really kind of anti-climatic. (No kidding, I just spent three paragraphs talking about a guy with a grocery bag.)

After our non-adventure at McDonalds, Xander I hit Half Price Books where we scored a couple of kid-friendly Star Wars books. Now we are just hanging around waiting for Nick and Allison to come home. Who knows what adventures the rest of the afternoon will hold??

Al Franken Sign Update

2008-08-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

One of the signs is sagging a little. My telekinetic powers are starting to work!

Peace

2008-08-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

The boys and I just got home from a trip to Target to buy a birthday present for one of Nick's friends. We also picked up a replacement wiffleball bat for Xander (his was broken after he was banging it on the ground like Bam-Bam) and a new football tee for Nick. Now they are out in the backyard playing with their new toys and I'm enjoying some peace and quiet inside.

This should last until Nick kicks a football at Xander or Xander cracks Nick over the head with his bat...

Another Sign that Summer is Slipping Away

2008-08-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

It's a little after 8:30pm and it is pretty darn dark. :-(

Twelve Greatest Days of Summer Start Now

2008-08-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again... The Minnesota State Fair. Deep-fried candy bars. Stuff on sticks. All kinds of interesting smells. I love the State Fair. I would go every day if I could. (One of Allison's co-workers actually does!)

While I love the State Fair, it is a bittersweet time of year. The end of summer. This year will be especially hard. This has been an amazing summer in one of those 'best of times, worst of times' ways. I have loved all the time I spent with Mom, my family, and my kids. Okay, the kids kind of drive me crazy, but I've become accustomed to it.

The worst part of the end of summer is that it will soon be fall. I can live with fall. But fall means that winter is right around the corner. I can't begin to tell you how depressing I find that. And not just because I have to go back to wearing long pants again.

Al Franken Haunts My Dreams

2008-08-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

These signs just sprang up across the street from our house:

This picture doesn't really give you a good perspective on how big these $#^&*# signs really are.

This is what I now see while sitting at my desk in our library. If I have to look at these signs for three months, Norm Coleman (Franken's opponent) is going to look pretty good to me come election day. This isn't about politics; I would have the same reaction no matter whose monsterously large signs these were. As I told Allison, if this were 1860 and these signs were for Abraham Lincoln, I'd probably vote for Stephen Douglas.

(Yes, I'm a nerd.)

Wednesday Notes

2008-08-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

1. The frozen Coke drink at Super America is teh awesome. It makes me wish I drank more pop because I would have one every day.
2. I successfully registered for a class this fall - Introduction to Probability and Statistics. This will be good preparation for a variety of graduate programs I'm contemplating. I'm looking forward to math homework for the first time in nearly twenty(!!!) years.
3. The kids didn't want to do the beach or pool again today. Instead they requested that I set up the sprinkler and slip n' slide. Wish us luck!

That is all.

A Hot, Boring Day

2008-08-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those hot days where you start with the best of intentions, but don't really achieve much. I intended to take the kids to the beach or the pool. For some reason, they didn't want to go. Since they were playing nicely together, I let them keep at that rather then dragging them somewhere they didn't want to be. (Coward!)

After a while we took the bikes down to the track and did laps. Xander probably did a mile and Nick a mile and a half. Xander also ran a lap around the track (ok, mostly ran). I think he has track potential - sometimes he just wants to run. Nick loves to run while playing a sport, but doesn't think much of running for the sake of running.

The track where we ride bikes has a big sand pit next to it, so the kids played there while they cooled off. They were mostly playing bury the bike, which, judging from the noise they were making, is crazy fun. I was just happy we found some shade.

After we came home, Nick played some Lego Star Wars on the Wii and finally defeated Darth Maul. Amazingly, he has almost finished all of the levels in the game. I'm pretty impressed by the problem solving skills he's developing. The game has action, but it is mostly about solving little puzzles to complete the levels. I for one believe kids can learn valuable skills from video games, just as long as it is done in moderation.

After naps and quiet time, we made a Target run for school supplies. I love how we have to supply kleenex and disinfecting wipes for the classroom these days. Nick was very excited with pencils, crayons, notebooks, erasers, etc... All Xander got was a new mattress pad. :-(

Last stop was at Byerly's were we scored some chocolate milk and some tahini so I can finally make some homemade hummus. We've been scouring the city for tahini, so this was a big success.

After dinner, Nick and I played a game of 'Nick Ball.' Nick Ball is played with a wiffle ball in our backyard. It is like 1-on-1 baseball, except the defense can throw the ball at the runner to get them out. (Hits to the head or private areas don't count!) Nick invented the game and named it after himself.

Nick can mostly hit the ball over our fence now for homeruns, but he tries to keep it in the park so I can try to get him out. He's become a pretty good dodger; I think he's set for dodge ball at school. I was at half-speed tonight due to a ankle injury suffered last night while rounding third and trying to dodge an incoming throw. Yes, I'm 38 years old.