Rob's Cubicle

Bad Blogger

2008-09-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been ages since I've written anything. The problem is that I've been spending so much time playing on Facebook. Take a look at the little widget over there on the right...that's Facebook. If you click on it you can actually go to my Facebook page and see what I've been up to. Between MySpace and Facebook, I've gotta say that Facebook is much better. Check it out.

Back from Texas

2008-07-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a trip to Flower Mound, Texas to visit my older sister and her family. Where is Flower Mound? It's just outside of Dallas, right by the Dallas-Fort Wort airport. While I was flying high above the southwest on my way to Flower Mound, Kristen and the kids (and Kristen's mom) were driving. After a brief stop in El Paso to drop Kristen's mom off at a friend's home, they finished the last leg of their trip and we all met up at my sister's house last Thursday evening.

We had a very nice visit. On the 4th of July we walked to a local school and watched the fireworks. As we walked we heard TONS of cicadas in the nearby trees. I even saw a few of the empty exoskeletons of the critters that had molted as they climbed up the fences and trees. Neat stuff.

On the 5th we celebrated my brother-in-law's 50th birthday. There was lots of good food, beer and wine. It was nice to meet some of their friends in a casual and relaxing environment.

For most of the rest of the week we just kind of hung out and just enjoyed spending time with the Texas clan. The kids got to do lots of swimming at the next door neighbors' pool. Irene got to try out a snorkel for the first time. Rhys tried it out too. It's amazing how fast Rhys is learning to swim. He's absolutely fearless in the water. That's a good thing since it's helping him learn faster, but it freaks us out because he does some crazy things from time to time.

One of the days we did venture into downtown Dallas where we visited the American Airlines Center (where the Dallas Mavericks play), Victory Park, and the Dallas World Aquarium. The aquarium was way cool. It wasn't just fish. There were tons of birds, monkees, crocodiles, otters, insects, and even a sloth. I've posted tons of photos on our web photo gallery here:

http://gallery.mac.com/kristenirene#100214&bgcolor=black&view=grid

I returned on Thursday and Kristen and the kids started driving back. As I type this, they are still in Southern California. They hit some of the tourist spots on the way back. Unfortunately, Kristen's grandmother passed away the other day due to natural causes. The service will be on Friday down in La Jolla. Since they're already down there, they'll just stay at Kristen's dad's house all week and then I'll fly down for the service. Then we'll all drive back up to Sparks on Saturday and, depending on our progress, maybe Sunday as well.

While Kristen and the kids have been away I've been holding down the fort here in Sparks. I've watched lots of the Tour de France, the MLB All-Star game, gone on lots of bike rides and played lots of Lego Star Wars on the Wii. What could be better? Well, having Kristen and the kids back home would be the best of all.

More Bike Commuting

2008-07-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

I'm doing my bike commute again today. It's about 7 miles each way from where I park my car. Most of the ride is pretty easy. The traffic isn't too bad, just a few spots that are tricky. Sometimes I can go around them, but sometimes I just have to deal with them.

This morning as I rode in there was another rider a little ways ahead of me. As we approached an intersection he decided to cut through a gas station. I guess he took the turn too fast because the next thing I knew he was on the ground. I slowed down and asked if he was OK and he just looked at me, got on his bike, and went on his way. I'm guessing he was a bit embarrassed.

But that incident got me to thinking about the risks I take when I ride and how prepared I am to deal with them. All of the so-called experts tell you that riding on the side of the road is the safest way to go. By law, a bike is to be treated like a slow-moving car (or like the slow tractors that we so often see clogging up traffic.) I don't think most car drivers see bikes that way. I think they see them as a nuisance that have no business being there.

I always tend to ride pretty defensively, but I'm pretty aggressive about establishing my position and being sure that cars can see me. I don't do stupid stuff, and I'm not about to yell at the driver of a car or bang on one of their quarter-panels when they cut me off (I've seen that a few times!)

Making sure I have the right equipment is always a bit of a challenge for me. I have to be sure I have a bike pump, tire levers and a patch kit. I also have a multi-tool that I carry with some hex wrenches in case I have to make a major repair. If I have a major malfunction then I'm basically stuck with walking and being late for work. I can fix a flat or replace a tube in about 5 minutes so that's not a big deal.

I'm going to try a slightly different route on the way home tonight. Hopefully it won't be too windy or smoky!

Five Years Old!

2008-06-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, but my little boy turns five today. As I write this, Rhys is with his mom watching "Wall•E". I'm a bit jealous, but he's been dying to see it since he learned that it was being released on the same day as his birthday.

I can still clearly remember that day five years ago when we went to the hospital for Kristen's C-section. We still didn't know whether we were having a boy or a girl. We weren't really hoping for one over the other. We wanted to be surprised and just wanted a healthy baby. We went to the operating room, I got all dressed up in scrubs, boots, hat and a mask while Kristen was wheeled in and prepped. They called me in and I sat down up by Kristen's head behind the curtain that hides the view of all of the icky blood and internal bodily stuff that most folks don't want to see. When they pulled Rhys out, I stood up and took a good look. I didn't care about the icky stuff since that doesn't really bother me. After a quick look I was pleased to announce to Kristen that we had a boy!!

It took Rhys quite a bit longer to turn pink and start to cry. Irene came out of the gates all full of piss and vinegar, crying and pink as a baby piglet. I carried Rhys up to the nursery so he could be checked out and cleaned up. After a couple of days we took him home, but there were some complications with jaundice that took many days to clear up. We made several trips to the hospital for blood tests and even had a special blanket at home (called a billi-blanket) that we had to keep him wrapped up in. Basically it was like a tanning bed in blanket form with lots of lights that helped to break down the toxins in his blood. Eventually, it was all cleared up and it's been (mostly) smooth sailing ever since!

So, Happy Birthday buddy!!

Bike Commute Part II

2008-06-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Didn't mean to leave y'all hanging there thinking, "Did he or didn't he make it back home? Why isn't there a Part II? Did he fall into the Truckee River" Nah. I just got lazy and busy and didn't have time to finish the bike commute saga.

The ride back to my car was actually better than the ride to work earlier in the morning. Even though it was really windy, it was mostly at my back and my side so it actually helped me. I made much better time. The tricky traffic spots weren't too bad, and I learned about a different route I might try next time. All in all, it was a positive experience and when I got back to the car I felt exhilarated and satisfied. Strangely enough, the moment I pulled my car out onto the main road I ended up in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Just wanted to mention how saddened I am by the death of George Carlin. I saw him perform once at the Civic Center in San Rafael. He wasn't too funny that night, but I think that was a rare exception. Do a search on YouTube and you'll find a bazillion videos that will have you rolling on the floor (unless you're a conservative and/or have no sense of humor!) Here's a classic bit about football and baseball.

Bike Commute Part 1

2008-06-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. After weeks of talking about it, I finally dragged my butt out of bed a bit early and rode my bike to work. Actually, that's a lie. I didn't ride ALL the way from home. That would take an hour and a half and would be suicidal. Instead, I left my car at a park along the Truckee River and rode from there. It cuts about 12 miles from my daily drive. So, instead of driving 32 miles round-trip, I'm doing more like 20. It may not seem like much, but if you do the math it turns out that I'm saving about .2 gallons of gas and about 80 cents each time I do it. It adds up! Plus it's a decent workout.

The ride was easy. There are only a couple of hairy traffic spots, and I avoided most of the bad areas by taking a detour into a residential area. The trade off is that the roads were in poor shape. Ah well, it's better to be safe. The ride back will be trickier because 1) it'll be hot, 2) it'll be windy, and 3) there are a couple of hairy traffic spots that I can't avoid.

Wish me luck!

Weekend Recap

2008-06-16T08:52:00.001-07:00

Rhys and I had a delightful time in the Bay Area.

We left on Friday morning around 8:45 and made great time on our drive to Berkeley. We arrived at my sister's house at around 12:15. It was great to see my dad and all three of my sisters, as well as the other family members and friends who had come. We visited, ate some food, and Rhys harassed his cousins (especially his cousin Ben) while we waited for the graduation ceremony.

At about 3:45 a few of us headed over the Greek to save some seats for the rest of the group. There was lots of traffic on the Berkeley campus, but we finally reached our destination...and were greeted by a long line. Hmmm.... Fortunately, the wait wasn't too long and we were finally able to go in and grab some seats. I was glad I was wearing shorts because it was quite warm as we sat on the concrete seats waiting for the others to arrive. Rhys played with his Star Wars toys and snacked on some chips that I had brought. The Greek slowly filled to capacity and the rest of our group arrived just in time for the start of the ceremony.

Berkeley High School is a large, diverse school adjacent to the UC Berkeley campus. The student body is a mix of rich, poor, middle-class, white, black, Asian, latino, and many other groups I've negleted to mention. The ceremony itself reflected this diversity. It was loooooong (as all graduations are) and flowed is a somewhat haphazard fashion. Many beach balls were batted around and 'The Wave' occasionally flowed through the graduates' seating area. Rhys got more and more restless but he held it together and did very well. The weather turned from sunny and warm to foggy and cold; a feature I LOVE and miss greatly about the Bay Area. My niece finally walked across the stage and received her diploma. We all screamed madly, but our cheers paled in comparison to many of the other family members who sported air horns, cow bells, signs, and very loud voices.

After the ceremony we walked across the Berkeley campus to where the car was parked. Fortunately the walk was all downhill since I had Rhys on my shoulders most of the way. We walked past the Campanile (aka Sather Tower, the iconic clock tower) and my sister took a couple of photos. It had been a while since I had walked on the campus and it was neat to see some familiar sites. For those who don't know, I didn't attend UC Berkeley, but since many of my family members DID go there I have spent quite a bit of time on the campus.

We finally got back to my sister's house at around 10pm and I got Rhys to bed. He passed out almost immediately and, after having some champagne and visiting a bit more, I did the same.

The next morning we woke up, had a nice breakfast, and then headed across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge to San Rafael to visit one of my old friends. He drove down from Santa Rosa to his parents' house so I didn't have to drive all the way up to his place. His parents' house is the same house he grew up in. It's right across the street from MY childhood home, so going there was like a trip in the Way-Back machine for me. I got to see my old house (the current owners need to landscape a bit better!) and I got to see my friend's parents' house that I spent almost half of my childhood in. But that wasn't the most surreal part of the trip. The strangest part was watching MY son play with my friends' son (whom he had brought along with him) in the same trees and backyard expanses that my friend and I had played in when we were kids! Talk about deja vu!! It's a somewhat rural area with lots of trees, blackberry bushes, a creek and hidden patches of poison oak. The boys just kind of ran free while my friend and I had a couple of beers and caught up on each others' lives. The boys found a deer skull and large alligator lizard. We saw a doe and her two spotted fawns running through the trees. It all took me back to the wonderful times I had as I grew up. The place where we lived was a GREAT environment for a kid to grow up in. I wonder if our old house is for sale?? Oh wait, we could NEVER afford it!

Rhys (right) and friend playing on an old bay tree. Rhys is scratching his nose....really, that's all he's doing is scratching. Nothing more.

Our old house

Our street with my friend's parents' house on the right. We used to play football, ride bikes and skateboards, play catch, and get into all kinds of trouble on this street.

We finally left at around 3:30. Rhys and my friend's son invited each other to their respective birthdays and asked when the next play date would be. It was hard to explain to them that we live REALLY far apart and we may not see each other for a while.

I have a few more photos from the trip over on my moblog site.

The drive home was uneventful, especially since Rhys slept most of the way. We arrived home at around 7:30 and got the lowdown on what 'the girls' had been up to while we were away. There was much manicuring, hair dying, and Japanese food eating involved. I think I prefer what Rhys and I did...

Added later...I almost forgot about Father's Day! I received a wonderful hand-made card from Rhys and several hand-made cards and gifts from Irene. Perfect! They will make nice decorations for my cubicle. I also got to go on a bike ride and play lots of Lego Star Wars and the newly-acquired Lego Indiana Jones. I got to watch a little baseball as well as the Lakers-Celtics basketball game. To top it all off, I got to have pizza for dinner. What could be better?

Over the Hill

2008-06-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

Rhys and I are headed over the hill to the Bay Area today. My youngest niece is graduating from Berkeley High tonight so we're heading down to cheer her on. The ceremony is at the Greek Amphitheater, which is also where I went for several concerts lo so many years ago. The other bonus to all of this is that I'll get to see my sister and her family who are coming out from Texas. Always a plus to be able to see them.

Tomorrow Rhys and I will hang out with one of my old friends. He's not old (unless you consider 40 to be old - I don't), it's just that we've been friends for something like 35 years. What's even more fun is that we're meeting at his parents' house in San Rafael which is right across the street from where I grew up as a kid. It'll be fun to see my old house and see the old neighborhood.

We'll drive back tomorrow night after our whirlwind tour. I'm glad we have the Prius to offset some of the costly price of gas.

Veggies

2008-06-06T09:06:00.001-07:00

Kristen and I have signed up to join a local farmer's co-op here in Northern Nevada. Basically, we contribute a chunk of money (quite a bit, actually) that goes towards supporting local farmers. In return, we get a weekly share of what they're growing. Once a week we go and pick up a box of fresh fruits and veggies. It's different each week depending on what's being picked. We figured this would be a good way to help out local farmers who are getting hit hard by the rise in fuel prices (their tractors burn diesel which is the highest priced fuel), would also keep us from buying fruits and veggies from big chain supermarkets that truck it in from California (using lots of fuel) and it will also force us to eat healthier.

We'll get a box each week from July thru the first week of October. I'm curious to see how much we get and what the quality is like.

Scars and Broken Bones

2008-05-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun topic: Let's all talk about broken bones, scars or other notable injuries that we've had. I'll start. These are in somewhat chronological order.

Broken Collarbone - I broke my right collarbone when I was playing football in my neighbors' driveway. I was running to catch the ball, slipped, and must've landed on my right shoulder. **SNAP** Mostly I just remember the pain. The bone snapped clean. The doctor had to set it by hand, and I didn't get any pain killers. Yeeesssh. I must've been about 7 or 8 years old. I had to wear this funky cast around my shoulders. It was really hard to find a comfortable position to sleep in for a while. I still have a know on my collarbone to this day.

Disclocated Pinkie - I was in middle school and playing a game of pickup basketball. I jumped up with my right hand to rebound the ball, someone tipped it, and it came down straight on the end of my pinkie. The middle knuckle joint popped out of place and suddenly my pinkie was pointing awkwardly away from my ring finger. I quickly grabbed my pinkie, and thankfully it spontaneously popped back into place. I had to wear a splint for a couple of weeks.

Broken Wrist - This one happened when I was senior in high school during baseball practice. After taking batting practice, I had to run the bases and slide into second and third. When I slid into second, I landed awkwardly on my right wrist. It hurt, but I kept on going and slid into third. This time it REALLY hurt. I got some ice and sat out the rest of the practice. After I drove home (with one hand - thankfully it was an automatic transmission!) my mom took me to the ER. Yep, it was broken. Thankfully it was just one of the small bones in the wrist itself, but the next day it hurt like a son-of-a-gun. Man, I really remember that pain. I missed the second half of the baseball season, but I came back and was able to pitch in the playoffs.

Sebaceous Cyst - I had a benign cyst removed from the middle of my back that left about a 2 inch scar on my back. The night after I had the procedure done, I went out drinking with a buddy and we drive the little go karts at a local Scandia. When I got home, my incision hurt quite a bit and it had bled enough to leave a nice red spot on the back of my shirt. Not my smartest move...

Disclocated Kneecap - My buddy and I were goofing around with firecrackers in his driveway; the same driveway we were playing in when I broke my collarbone. I lit the fuse of a firecracker, backed away, and the back of my right knee hit the bumper of one of the cars in the driveway. I must've hit it just right (or wrong) because it caused my kneecap to dislocate to the side of my knee. My parents weren't home (they were in the Delta on their boat) so my oldest sister called the EMTs and they came out. They diagnosed the problem, put me on a backboard, and put me in the back of our station wagon so my sister could drive me to the ER (anything to save the cost of an ambulance!) It was a long, bumpy and painful drive. In the ER, the doctor put my kneecap back in place by just straightening my leg. It popped back into place, and for an instant I was in excruciating pain...but then it was better. I still had some torn cartilage or ligaments or something, as well as a small bone chip, so my knee swelled up to the size of a cantaloupe and I had to wear a big brace on my leg and walk on crutches for a little while. I also got to enjoy several visits to the physical therapist to strengthen my leg since the quad muscle had atrophied quite a bit.

Skin Cancer - About six years ago I had a benign cancerous growth removed from my forehead just above my left eye. Since I had neglected to go to the doctor to get it checked out when it was relatively small, it had grown to about the size of a dime. Kristen and I got to spend all day at UCSF in San Francisco while they scraped out all of the cancerous cells. When the scraping was all done, I was left with a hole about the size of a half dollar. A plastic surgeon sewed my head back together, and now I'm left with a 2 inch scar above my eye. For a couple of years, my eyebrow was pulled up like I was pondering a difficult question. It's normal now, and the scar doesn't look too bad. I don't even notice it anymore.

Those are the biggies. I've probably broken a toe or two as well, but I don't really count those. There are also the countless scrapes and bruises from when I was a kid as well as the bloody knees from playing softball.

Weight A Minute...

2008-05-20T11:49:00.001-07:00

Despite my efforts, I'm having a hard time getting my weight down. Granted, I haven't been all that disciplined of late. Even though I completed the long bike ride on Saturday, I also ate quite a bit over the weekend as well (Pizza, In n' Out, etc...) I'm right around the same weight I was when I started. More on this story as it develops...

Lodi Bike Ride

2008-05-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

I survived the 38-mile bike ride in Lodi this past weekend. It was actually rather easy. The ride was flat, there was no wind, and the heat only really kicked in towards the very end.

When we reached the Sacramento area on Friday afternoon, the thermometer in my car said it was 106 degrees outside. Yeeesh! I knew then that we would be getting up the next morning as early as possible so we could beat the heat on our ride.

I awoke at 5:45am and started getting ready. My dad came downstairs shortly thereafter. It was all going well until he broke the valve stem on one of his tubes as he was trying to add a little extra air. Hmmm.... None of my spare tubes would fit his tires, but fortunately he had an extra one on hand. I quickly swapped out the bad tube for the new one, we inflated it, and it he was all set to go!

We arrived at the starting point (Lodi High School), checked in, and started our ride. The ride was easy, but a little monotonous. The roads are all straight and flat as they cut between the farmland. There was very little traffic which was very nice. However, a few more turns or ups and downs would've broken up the ride nicely.

We reached the halfway point in good time and stopped for some juice, cookies and a brief rest. It was already starting to get quite warm so we didn't dawdle for too long before we headed back.

The ride back was much like the first leg. I hung back with my dad a bit as he was getting tired and was feeling the effects of the heat. Towards the end, I left him behind and sprinted to the finish. When I got to the car, I checked my phone to see that I had a message. It was my dad. He had pooped out just a few miles from the finish. Fortunately, I had thought ahead and asked him to give me the car keys at the halfway point. So, I jumped in the car and drove back to retrieve him.

For those who don't know, my dad is 76 years old. I was duly impressed that he went as far as we did, considering that he hadn't ridden in quite some time. I hope I can do half that distance when I'm that age!!! Good job, dad!!

After the ride we came home, showered, had l lunch, and relaxed. We even napped a little bit. Kristen and the kids, who were down in Tracy visiting her newborn cousin, arrived a bit later and we had a wonderful hamburger dinner before I crashed at 9pm.

It was a great weekend and I'm hoping to do the ride again next. Maybe next time I'll try the 100k...

60 Miles Per Gallon

2008-05-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

That's what I'm getting on my current tank of gas in the Prius. On my last tank I averaged about 57 MPG. That's the nice thing about the Prius. As the weather gets warmer and the gas prices start to rise, it gets better mileage! The only problem is that when it gets really hot, you have to use the air conditioner and the mileage suffers.

We finally upgraded our satellite service. We now receive HD programming. It didn't make a big impression on Kristen, but I'm enjoying the prettier picture and being able to see the WHOLE image now rather than having it cropped on each side. Could we live without it? Sure. But man, it does look nice!

We're heading down to Lodi this evening. I'll take a half-day off from work so we can get an early start on our drive. My dad and I, along with my sister and her boyfriend, are doing a 38-mile ride tomorrow to benefit the Lodi Rotary Club. I'm not an ardent supporter of the Lodi Rotary or anything. It's mostly an excuse to do a nice long bike ride with my dad. I haven't ridden any distances over 20 miles in quite some time, and I'm still feeling the effects of a chest cold, and it's supposed to be near 100 degrees in Lodi, so if I don't die along the way I'll be lucky. I'm kidding!!! I'll make it, but I'll be wiped out when I'm done. For those who don't know, Lodi is in the San Joaquin valley (between Sacramento and Stockton) and it's mostly flat.

I'll blog a recap on Monday.

Salary Adjustment

2008-05-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just learned today that I received a salary adjustment...in a positive direction. Basically our company is making an effort to bring everyone's salaries in line with others in comparable industries. Apparently, we were below the average so many of us were bumped up a bit. Nice! I also now have a new title: Technical Production Artist II. That begs the question, "What the heck is a Technical Production Artist?"

In order to best describe the role that I play, it's best to use analogies. I usually use the analogy that I am a translator between the artists and the engineers. I have to be able to 'speak' both languages. I work closely with both groups, and I work with many of the tools that both groups use. That describes my role. In order to understand what I actually DO, it's best to use a cooking analogy. Basically, I'm a sous chef. I take the raw ingredients from the artists (Photoshop files, After Effects compositions, 3D content, etc...) and I do all of the prep work (cutting up the files, organizing them into their components, making sure everything is in the right place) so that the 'chefs' (engineers) can put it all together quickly and efficiently into the finished product. I also have to help to make sure the engineers are following the 'recipe' properly so that the finished product turns out the way it should.

Make sense? Basically I have to have a good mix of technical, artistic and interpersonal communication skills. Strong organizational skills help too.

G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair Sponsors: Please Steal This Post

2008-05-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

The G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair took place on May 5th in Norfolk VA, where smart young scientists shared their research and conclusions with their peers, their families, and the judges. Fun was had, friends were made, hypotheses were proven, and prizes were awarded! Thank you to all the sponsors of the G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair!

If you would like to help thank these generous sponsors by boosting their links on key search words, please steal this post, links and all, and republish it to your blog. When you’ve done this, email guess@littleblueschool.com and let us know, so that we can add you to our “Science Fair Bloggers” and give you some links and traffic too! You’ll get a link on Little Blue School, Homeschooled Twins, and on the homeschool science fair web site. Need the code? Click here to get the .txt file with all the links in place.

Moore Expressions is a homeschool bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA. They sell used and new homeschooling curriculum, host a support group, and publish a newsletter called the Bayith Educator. They are the premier source for homeschooling books in the Hampton Roads area.

Art of Dance Academy is a dance and theater school on the border of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. They offer “Tiny Tots” toddler dance classes, youth classes for ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop, and adult classes too. Most importantly, the host the famous summer princess dance camp.

Norfolk Karate Academy offers classes in Tang Soo Do (Korean karate) and Gracie Jiu Jitsu (Brazilian grappling and self-defense). With classes for children, teens, and adults, it’s a great way for anyone to get in shape and kick things in a socially acceptable way!

Nauticus is Norfolk’s maritime museum and home of the USS Wisconsin battleship. The hot new exhibit is Seabots: Pilots of the Deep! Have you seen it? Nauticus is in the process of setting up a Homeschool Advisory Group to talk about homeschool science programs at the museum.

Mariner’s Museum has amazing programs for homeschoolers learning about maritime science, history, and even pirates! Their next homeschool open house is on May 15th and features a class in pirate lore. Visit Mariner’s Museum for historical exhibits and educational programming.

Homeschoolingbooks.com offers homeschool curriculum packages to take the guesswork out of selecting materials that compliment each other to create a whole year of learning for your homeschooler. Three collections are available for each level, and individual books are for sale too.

Brooks Systems offers standalone software and web applications that check legal compliance in all municipalities in all fifty states, and create truth-in-lending documents for residential lenders. Using Brooks for your automated mortgage compliance, you can be sure your loans are safe.

Dr. Bernard Nebel has written two books to help homeschool teachers integrate learning in different areas of the curricula into one living breathing learning experience. His new book, Building the Foundations for Scientific Understanding, is a science curriculum for K-2.

Young Chef’s Academy is a marvelous kitchen classroom with amazing cooking classes for kids. Go ahead - cover yourself in flour! Most amazing of all: their summer camp offerings are themed around the Olympic Games. Cook for the Gold with Camp Can-I-Cook in Norfolk this summer.

Mad Science is Hampton Roads’ premier provider of science enrichment classes for children. Summer classes include “Crazy Chemistry” and a space camp developed with NASA! New homeschool science classes are being offered in Norfolk and VA Beach, with more planned for fall.

eScienceLabs creates boxes of joy for science loving homeschoolers. In each kit is a complete science experience — from individual lessons to full years of high school labs. Hands-on science kits are the answer to your laboratory woes. Everything is in there: test tubes, goggles, and fun.

Folkmanis Puppets makes the most delightful animal puppets available outside Santa’s workshop. Meet their most unusual creations like llamas, Chinese dragons, ostriches, flying squirrels. Unusual materials create realistic textures, and they all move in very realistic ways. Irresistible.

Book Exchange is the largest used bookstore in Eastern Virginia. Unlike most musty and confusing used stores, this one is clean, bright, inviting, and has a huge selection of used homeschool books.

Thank you for your help in promoting these homeschool-friendly sites. They took a risk on sponsoring us in the first year of our science fair, and we appreciate their support.

Random Bits

2008-05-07T08:09:00.001-07:00

This blasted cold is making it hard to form coherent thoughts, so all I can do is spit out some random bits of information.

The weather has gotten warmer around here; right around 75 to 80 degrees. We actually had a thunderstorm last night, complete with large hail that woke us all up as it pinged off our roof and the side of our house. Delightful.

Our Monday softball team is 4-0 and our Wednesday (over 35) team is 1-2.

Irene received her progress report. It was all O's with an 'exceeds standards' thrown in for good measure. Can't say enough how proud I am of my little girl. We went out to Pinocchio's to celebrate (and to use the gift certificate Kristen received from the Girl Scouts in appreciation of her work as troop leader) and Irene and Rhys devoured a huge slice of mud pie for desert.

I was suffering last night. This cold was showing no mercy as my sinuses were throbbing which was causing two of my teeth to hurt. We were out of Nyquil and I didn't feel like running to the store to get any. I took some Advil and just laid down and closed my eyes. I managed to sleep, but it was a restless sleep and I feel groggy today.

I'm hoping to do a 38-mile charity bike ride down in Lodi on May 17th. I haven't really ridden much this year so it should be interesting. Luckily it's mostly flat around Lodi.

Friday is cash sharing day here at IGT. They do this twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. For the Spring event they close off one section of the parking lot, have a huge BBQ and give away prizes, and then we generally get to go home early with our checks in hand. I love this place...

One of the mousetraps in our garage caught another ROUS (Rodent of Usual Size - c'mon, haven't you seen The Princess Bride?) last night. We're catching less mice these days that we were a few months ago, but we still manage to trap one every now and then.

May The Fourth Be With You

2008-05-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist...

I'm still recovering from yesterday's softball tournament as well as a cold bug which has decided to invade my body. It has already taken up residence in the other members of our household, so why should I be any different?

But back to the softball tournament. We played five games yesterday, and unfortunately lost the last one and were eliminated. It was a double elimination tournament and since we had lost earlier in the day to the Sierra Pacific Power Company team we were in a 'win or go home' mode for the rest of the day. We were doing well until we came up against the Reno National Guard team (the High Rollers). We actually jumped out to big lead, but they chipped away and tied the game in the last inning. In the first extra inning, we scored two in the top half and then they scored two in the bottom half to tie. We scored two more in our next at-bat, and then they scored three in their turn to win the game. Arrrghh! If we had won we would've played today and would've finished no worse than third. Instead, we finished fourth. Ah well.

Today I mostly just recovered from a full day of physical activity in the sun. My body aches, but not as bad as I thought it would. Maybe I don't feel the pain because I'm dealing with the effects of this cold. Either way, I didn't want to do much else other than sleep and relax. I got to bed last night at midnight and slept until 10 this morning - a new record for sleeping in since we've had kids!! Despite my desire to lay around like a slug all day, I did manage to go to Costco to get gas and groceries, and then stopped at the car wash on the way home. Since I got my car washed and it was parked outside, Mother Nature decided to bless us with a thunderstorm. Fun times...

The Crystal Skull

2008-05-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll admit it. I'm a big dork. That's not much of a surprise to those who know me. To prove it, I pre-purchased tickets to an opening weekend showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which opens on May 22nd. We'll be there at 4:30 on the 23rd, waiting in line with hordes of other people. I don't have super-high expectations that the movie will be off-the-charts fantastic, but it should be fun. Even better will be the fact that our kids, who are big Indy fans, will be there too. They will be like me when I was 11 and went to see Star Wars for the first time.

For those keeping score at home, I've lost 2 pounds over the past couple of days. I'm now at 191.8 on our scale at home. I must've lost a lot of water weight or something. For those out there who are cursing me because I seemed to drop a couple of pounds so easily, let me just say that I'm trying to watch what I eat (and eating less altogether with few snacks) I'm keeping myself active with softball and bike riding. I'm cursed with a fairly slow metabolism so it takes some work for me to burn calories. It ain't exactly easy. Oh, and playing Mario Kart on the Wii helps burn some calories too (at least that's what I keep telling myself!)

The Reno Corporate Challenge softball tournament is this weekend. We may play 5 or 6 games tomorrow and then another one or two on Sunday (if all goes well). It'll be tiring, and my body is already hurting. I'll be popping lots of ibuprofen for sure. Wish us luck as we go for the gold medal.

This should be a good month financially. IGT gives out the first of two profit sharing checks next Friday, we have the Federal stimulus check coming soon, there's an extra payday, and there could be good news coming with regards to my salary. I don't want to jinx that last bit by divulging more details so maybe I'll share more when/if it actually happens.

Have a good weekend.

Bring Me A Bucket!

2008-04-30T08:59:00.001-07:00

I'm feeling a little like Mr. Creosote from "Monty Python's Meaning of Life". You don't remember him? He's the super-fat guy in the fancy restaurant who eats a ton of food and keeps throwing up into a bucket, and when the waiter (John Cleese) offers him a mint ("It's wafer thin!") he finally explodes. A gross scene, but quite memorable.

Anyhow, I finally stepped on the scale after avoiding it for most of the winter and found that I've re-gained all of the weight I lost last summer. I'm not all that worried about it. I know I'll lose most if not all of it as my activity level increases this summer. And it's not really a surprise because I could definitely tell I had put weight on. But it's still a bit of a downer.

For the record, the scale said I was 193.8. Last summer I was down to 179 or so at one point. So, my goal is to lose about 14 pounds over the coming months. Now that the weather is getting nicer I've already begun to ride my bike and I'm playing softball two nights each week. I'm also planning on doing one or two hikes to the top of Mt. Rose over the summer. The weight WILL come off, I would just rather it was sooner rather than later so I can enjoy the leaner me for most of the summer.

I'll try to post updates her periodically. Weight has never been a huge issue for me or anything, but as I get older my goal is to keep my weight right around 180-190. I figure there might be one or two people who'll read my posts, but that's enough to keep me honest.

Reno Weather is No Fun

2008-04-23T08:14:00.001-07:00

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the Reno/Sparks area. We have lovely scenery, warm summers, just enough snow in the winter to make everything white and pretty, tolerable traffic, lots of entertainment, and no snails (really...none at all. It's too dry.) But there's one thing that really chaps my hide - the wind! It can blow here like nobody's business. I brought my bike to work today with the hope that I might go for a ride with a co-worker at lunch, but the wind is picking up and I'm thinking we may have to postpone. You know it's not good when you see the blowing leaves on the graphical five-day weather forecast.

I could also do without the drastic swings in the weather in the Fall and Spring. I'm used to big weather changes from living in the Bay Area. Down there, you always carried clothes for warm and cool weather wherever you went. Because of the marine influence and the fog, you could literally leave the house in shorts and a t-shirt, and then have to throw in the next town because it would be shrouded in fog.

But here in Reno and Sparks, it's much more extreme. A week and a half ago I was in shorts and a t-shirt as I worked in the yard, turned on our sprinklers, and contemplated slathering the kids in sunscreen as they played outside. A few days later, we woke up to snow. I've been bundling up in sweats and layers of long-sleeved shirts for my softball games. At least it's not as bad as last year when it snowed and I was wearing long underwear for our first game of the season.

As I drove to work the other day, there were ice sculptures all over the place since it had gotten well below freezing overnight and folks all had their sprinklers timed to go on early in the morning. I actually lost traction briefly on a small patch of ice in the road.

So, despite the chilly and windy weather, I'm wearing shorts today and listening to Bob Marley as I do my work. Reggae music always reminds me of summer. At least for today I can create the illusion that it's actually warm. And, if you look at the forecast above, you can see that my wishes MAY come true in the next few days (but I'm not holding my breath.)

Softball is Underway

2008-04-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

It's springtime so that must mean it's time for softball. I'm on two teams again this year. We play on Monday nights and Wednesday nights. Most of our games are on the new fields at the gigantic sports complex about a mile from our house. The new facility is gorgeous and it's really wonderful to play out there. All of the fields have synthetic turf that's easy on the knees and doesn't scrape off layers of skin when you slide on it. The dugouts are huge and are protected from the wind and sun. The best part is that our teams are a combined 3-0 on the new fields.

My body is feeling all of the aches and pains associated with the early part of the softball season. Ironically, my throwing arm feels fine. It's my back that's been bugging me. It hasn't helped that it's been fairly chilly for each of our games. Maybe once it warms up a bit the pain will go away.

Happy Earth Day!

Movie Quotes

2008-03-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll borrow this one from Kristen because I like movies and movie quotes.

I'll pick 15 of my favorite movies and then provide a quote for each one. Your job is to guess the movie the quote came from without looking it up on the internet (or anywhere else for that matter.) Here goes.

1) "Dear Mother, They learn, learn quickly, faster than white troops it seems to me. They are almost grave and sedate under instruction and they restrain themselves. But the moment they are dismissed from drill every tongue is relaxed and every ivory tooth is visible and you would not know from the sound of it that this is an army camp. They must have learned this from long hours of meaningless, inhuman work too set them free so quickly. It gives them great energy. And there is no doubt we will leave this state as fine a regiment as any that as marched. As ever, your son, Robert. "

"Glory"

One of my favorites...but Kristen has a hard time watching it because it makes her angry. We saw the memorial to Robert Gould Shaw across from the capitol building in Boston when we were there for our honeymoon.

2) Ellen: "Martin hates boats. Martin hates water. Martin... Martin sits in his car when we go on the ferry to the mainland. I guess it's a childhood thing. It's a... there's a clinical name for it isn't there?"
Martin: "Drowning."

"Jaws"

3) "Sorry I'm late. I was taking a crap. "

"The Sting"

Paul Newman's character, Henry Gondorf, makes a classic entrance and says this as he sits down at the poker table on the train.

4) "I could see why some of the boys took him for snobby. He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn't normal around here. He strolled, like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the world, like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place. Yeah, I think it would be fair to say... I liked Andy from the start. "

"The Shawshank Redemption"

5) "I can't believe what a bunch of nerds we are. We're looking up 'money laundering' in a dictionary."

"Office Space"

6) "By the time I was ten, playing baseball got to be like eating vegetables or taking out the garbage. So when I was 14, I started to refuse. Could you believe that? An American boy refusing to play catch with his father. "

"Field Of Dreams"

Hard to have a dry eye at the end of this one.

7) "It places the lotion in the basket."

"The Silence of the Lambs"

An easy one.

8) "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to pull rank on you. I didn't want to have to do this. I'm with the Mattress Police. There are no tags on these mattresses."

"Fletch"

Whatever happened to Chevy Chase after this one?

9) "The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom; I'm a big believer in it. A lot of people will tell you that a good phony fever is a dead lock, but, uh... you get a nervous mother, you could wind up in a doctor's office. That's worse than school. You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school. "

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"

10) "In the immortal words of Socrates, 'I drank what?'"

"Real Genius"

Probably my all time favorite movie. I could've used any one of about a thousand memorable lines.

11) Scientist 1: "Einstein WAS right!" Team Leader: "Einstein was PROBABLY one of them!"

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind"

12) "He needs to go home, he's calling his people, and I don't know where they are, and he needs to go home."

"E.T."

A friend of mine said that this movie has the best ending of any film. It's hard to disagree.

13) "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

"Blade Runner"

Wow, what a great film this is.

14) "Asps. Very dangerous. You go first."

"Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Another easy one.

15) "Excrement! That's what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard! We're not laying pipe! We're talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? "I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can't dance to it!"

"Dead Poets' Society"

Another great film. Robin Williams was both funny and serious at the same time. I think he could've easily won an Oscar for this role.

Out From Under A Rock

2008-01-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

It may sound lick a cliché, especially here, but life has gotten in the way of late and has kept me from posting to my blog. But now I have a brief window that will allow me to do some catching.

The biggest bit of life that has complicated things of late is the passing of my mom. She lost her battle with ovarian cancer on January 10th. She died peacefully at home in her sleep. I'm grateful that I was able to be there to help out where I could in her last days and to spend some time with my dad and my family in the days that followed.

My mom had discontinued chemo just before Christmas. It was ravaging her body and was doing little to halt the cancer's growth, which at this point had spread to her lungs and brain. Our whole family was able to be together in Lodi on Christmas Day, including my oldest sister who flew out from Texas and took up residence at my parents' house to help with my mom's care.

Not long after Christmas, my mom pretty much stopped eating. I was able to take a week off from work, so Kristen, the kids and I went down to Lodi. I slept on an inflatable bed in the living room while Kristen and the kids stayed at Kristen's cousin's house in nearby Tracy. I did what I could to help; I sat with my mom, got her water from time to time, and just basically did whatever I could. Mostly I was there to help my dad through the last days. I also did lots of visiting and talking with my oldest sister.

In my dad's delegatory fashion, my sister's and I have all been given tasks to undertake in preparation for my mom's service on February 9th. My job is to make a video slide show using photos of my mom from various points in her life. Kristen had been doing a great job of scanning the photos and I've been doing lots of Photoshop cleanup to get them ready. It's a tough thing to have to do, and I have moments where I have to stop for a few moments and collect myself. I think the video will make a nice addition to the celebration of my mom's life.

To add to the fun, the past couple of months have been extremely busy at work. Lots of sudden fire drills. Not ACTUAL fire drills mind you, but unexpected work that popped up out of blue and had to be done quickly. Some of my other projects have also flared up as well. It's actually been a good thing since it's made it easier to take my mind off of other things.

Not to be left out, the weather has also played a part. We had some pretty decent amounts of snow a few weeks ago and it's never really melted. There's been snow in the forecast almost every day since then and we get occasional flurries from time to time. I've had some interesting drives to work with lots of slipping and sliding. Fortunately, my Prius performs nicely in the snow so it's not too bad.

There's been a lot more going on but none of it is worth going into great detail about. We went down to Redlands for Tamale Day, Christmas was delightful, we celebrated a friends' 40th birthday down in Vallejo, we've driven back and forth from the Bay Area about a jillion times in the past two months, we had a great visit from two sets of friends from out of town, I've started doing some freelance graphics work for a friend and his partner who work in S.F., my dad is coming up this weekend for the Super Bowl, I went to the dentist and got a filling, Irene graduated to the next level of gymnastics (blue belt), I grew a beard and then shaved it off, and a whole lot more!

Next month I'm going down to San Francisco with a group from work to attend the Game Developers Conference. We'll be staying at the swanky Grand Hyatt on Union Square. I haven't been to San Franscico in a couple of years. It'll be nice to see The City again.

As always, you can check out my mobile blog where I post mostly pictures.
You can also check out Kristen's blog.
And if video is your thing, you can always go to YouTube to see us in action.
Oh, and don't forget about MySpace...

That's all for now. Only one more day until 'Lost' returns. Hooray!

While I Have a Moment..

2007-12-05T10:26:00.001-08:00

Yes, I've completed the move to my new cubicle. It's nice, except now I have a bright flourescent light directly above me. I'm thinking of bringing in a slingshot so I can knock it out! I've been mega-busy ever since I've settled into my new digs, hence the complete lack of blog posts in the past few weeks. I have a second to take a breath so I'll fill y'all in on a few things.

It's gotten wintery here in Northern Nevada. We've already had one small snow event and the forecast calls for another one later this week. It's actually pretty warm out right now, but we've had a few nights with lows right around 20.

The Christmas lights are up at our house and we're hoping to get a tree this weekend.

My mom's health is slowly declining. She's battling cancer and it looks like the cancer is winning. The chemo is not really helping and it's wiping her out. I think she's going to stop the chemo soon. We'll be spending Christmas down in Lodi with her and my dad as well as two of my sisters and their families.

Everything else is fairly quiet in our neck of the woods. I'm slowly working on doing some excavating in our back yard so we can put in a patio. I usually dig after it rains while the ground is softer.

I'll write more soon...I promise!

Moving

2007-11-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

My cubicle, along with those of the other in my group, is moving starting this week. There's a complete reorganization happening with our group and an adjacent group. I'll be moving a grand total of about 75 feet. So, I've been spending the past few days packing up my stuff, and starting tomorrow my computer will be down for about two weeks while they shuffle us around. I'll be doing other stuff in the meantime, including going to Vegas for the big gaming show and taking two days off for Thanksgiving.

While I'm away, you can check out my moblog for pictures from Vegas and other stuff that I encounter while I'm away.

Happy Thanksgiving!!