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Welcome to our family website. Please feel free to relax and take a few minutes to look around. There is always something new being added! In fact, I am going to take advantage of this spot right here to list the recent changes/additions!
July 6, Added Geocaching/Ladyface Mountain
July 3, Added Geocaching/Father's Day Caching
July 3, Added Books/Truth Drug Company
June 29 Added Movies/Transformers 2 June 22, Added Books/X-Men and Philosophy
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| Local Graffiti. June 7, 2009 |
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| The Wisteria is in bloom again in front of our house. I really like these plants. There is another one with white blossoms, but by the time I got out there with a camera, they were starting to wilt a little bit. These purple/blue ones seem to be doing fine though.
We have the two Wisteria plants growing over two side by side arches in our front yard. They seem to only bloom a couple of time for a couple of weeks each year. There was this amazing blue Wisteria plant I saw in China, it was climbing up one small building, across some wiring, and down another building. I think I have a picture of it somewhere that I will have to dig up.
They do attract the big bees though. The reason I had gotten my camera out in the first place was because I saw a big black bumble bee that I wanted to get a picture of with the flowers. When I returned the bee was gone, but the flowers still look nice!
April 7, 2009
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I keep reminding myself that all of creation is a wonderful expression of Love.
Even when my dog thinks that my Garmin GPS, Oregon 400t that I was only able to buy at the Garmin Store in Chicago, is a chew toy.
What a great Buddhist lesson in impermanence!!!
Yes, I am holding the tears back...
Feb 15, 2009
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| Well I finally did it. I went and got a motor scooter. This is a MP3 by Piaggio, the same people who make Vespa. It is unique in that it has two wheels in front, providing greater stability. Although it is a bit difficult to see here, the two wheels in front have an independent suspension and will lean over like riding a regular two wheeled cycle.
It is a 250cc engine, with top speeds around 80 or 90 mph (according to the dealer). It is freeway legal, however I do not plan on ever taking it on the freeway. Although not pictured here, I do have a full face helmet and have a strict rule of always wearing a helmet when in motion.
So far I have only taken it around the neighborhood, practicing turns, stopping, starting again, and getting comfortable in general. I will probably take it around the neighborhood for a couple more weeks then plan on using it to go back and forth to work (a 2 or 2.5 mile commute).
January 19, 2009
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| This is a snapshot of the flag that is currently flying over ground zero at the World Trade Center. We visited the WTC Tribute Center. It was very moving. Sept. 11, 2001 was over 7 years ago now. I hope people still hold to their ideal of "we will never forget". My son asked me if the terrorists were crazy for killing themselves to do what they did. I told them that I did not think that they were crazy, but they absolutely did the wrong thing. I attempted to guide my son to recognize that the people who organized and perpetrated this atrocity felt like they were doing the right thing. They hate the United States for a variety of reasons, and it best to listen to what those reasons are and work things out without violence. Since this attack on Sept. 11, 2001 several thousand American soldier and countless more Iraqi and Afghani people have been killed. Hopefully the current cycle of violence will soon find its end. December 27, 2008
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| I just found this picture cleaning out one of the bedrooms. Then, I couldn't get the scanner to work, so after downloading a few applications I finally got it to work. Now that we have a functioning scanner, I should be able to post some other interesting photos!
Pictured above are the Fish kids. This is me when I was about 14 or 15 I think. Amber around 12 or 13, Megan at around 10 and Fred at 9. This was taken at our house in Lakewood. Great times!
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Well, Chowder and I are becoming better friends. Once he figured out what I was trying to do, he was very pleased to be a big lap dog. Not too much has been going on worthy of posting on the website, haven't even been to a movie in a long time. Don't worry, the holidays are fast approaching, so we will have lots more to post. Plus I am figuring out how to upload some simple home movies taken from the iMac computer camera. The kids are having fun with this. Keep visiting! Nov. 8, 2008
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Found this cartoon on the Left is Right website, which linked to Paul Krugman's website. The cartoon is from The Economist, 1987.
Is anyone else watching the market? It must be exactly like this down on Wall Street. I always felt that my company stock was fairly stable, moderate growth, but the past couple of weeks it has been gaining and losing nearly 5 -15% every few days! Unfortunately we are still down about 15% from the high.
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Marlou and I are heading to Peru in just a few moments. We stayed at a friends house down in the Long Beach/Lakewood area where I grew up. I took the opportunity to drive by the house I grew up in. There have been a few changes, but it still brings back lots of memories. Above is the view from the front, below you will see a view of the back side of the house. There is also a "back field" behind the house that I spent lots and lots time playing in. Great fun.
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The boys and I went to a Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority Family Fun Night tonight at King Gillette Ranch (formerly Soko University). We had a great time, the people leading the night did campfire songs, a lesson on astronomy, and we roasted marshmallows. The campus is great, it is really too bad that it is no longer a university, I would have loved to take some classes there. Interestingly, it appears that the Biggest Loser is being filmed here as well. There were lots of lighting equipment and one of the buildings had "The Biggest Loser" posted all over it.
There is a small lake where we found this lone swam who swam up to us as we approached the edge. Shortly after the swan's arrival, there were lots and lots of ducks. The small picture on the right is of several ducklings. Aiden had a great time rolling around in the grass during the Astronomy lesson. The kids sitting next to us found a small frog in the grass, so that provided a few moments of excitement as well. As the sun set, the bats came out, and there were lots and lots flying over head.
All in all, a fun night. We may go back again next Tuesday!
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Ok, it is very official for us. Gas is too expensive. This is a big moment for us, the first time dropping $100.00 into the gas tank. Actually I think we could have squeezed just a little more in, however the pump automatically stopped at $100.00. I remember not too long ago the pumps were stopping at $50.00 because we all thought that was a lot of money to spend on gas!!! I really don't like complaining about the price of gas, as everything I read about it shows that compared to Europe and compared to our own domestic inflation indices (if you go back 80 years or so...), gas is still underpriced, as hard as that is to believe! My plan is to start riding my bike to work now. It is only a 2 mile trip, so that is not really a hardship. It will reduce my carbon footprint on the environment, and give me some much needed exercise... I can't imagine if I still worked 35 miles from home. Now that would be a major monthly expense!
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| Investing in our Retirement! |
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| Rogan and Aiden recently acquired a couple of very cool 3/4 size electric guitars. They are so excited to start playing and rockin' out like their favorite, Uncle Ozzy (nobody tell them he is just vocals). Some of their inspirations include AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Louis Armstrong and the Spongebob Soundtrack.
Special thanks to Donnie at Dad's work for supplying the desperately needed basic instruction. With this, we were able to properly tune the guitar and start learning some basic fingering techniques. They were able to go through their exercises 4 times today before their fingers started to hurt too much. They will certainly need to build up those calluses on the fingertips.
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This picture was taken recently, May 2008. It is of Rogan and Aiden during their trip to the newly renovated Griffith Observatory. They are sitting next to Albert Einstein who apparently has found something on his finger. Can you guess why he is really looking at his finger?
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| Aiden and Rogan with Albert |
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We have still not quite figured out what a Quail Runner is, however the name was bestowed upon the father of this family more than 20 years ago. As a lad, he was fond of wearing a heavy black jacket to school, regardless of the temperature. He had been heard saying "it keeps me comfortable". On one especially hot day, he removed the jacket and set it next to him on the lunch bench. A ruthless, and probably jealous, friend saw that the coat had been removed and decided to inspect more closely. Upon his close observation, he noted to himself and all the other kids at lunch, that it was a "Quail Run" brand name jacket and that the wearer must be a Quail Runner (Quail Run was not a well known name brand, not like Member's Only, now that was way cool). Over time, rather than fight the name, he embraced it. The world of BBS's was emerging and the name was adopted as a handle and has now stood the test of time.
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