K.O.'ed

Definition of peaceful: untroubled by conflict, agitation, or commotion. See attached photo for example.

Finger Food

Mommy has been sending daily pictures of Nathaniel to me via email. Getting these are the highlight of my day!

You've Come A Long Way

The little grey image in the bottom left was Nathaniel's first baby picture. That was 10 months ago. Now he has been with us 12 days. Amazing.

The Unfinished Post

All swaddled up and no where to go.



Awesome birthday present!



Papum and grandbaby Nathaniel.

I'm Considering a New Do

If I have one more sleepless bout trying to get Nathaniel to fall back asleep, I may consider getting this haircut to survive my countless meetings at work.

The Thinker The Sleeper

Little Nathaniel is the absolute joy of our lives...as long as we can figure out what he wants when he fires up his tiny pair of lungs. Actually, he has been sleeping for the past 3 hours 55 minutes....thanks to M&M Gram (also known as Miracle and Magical Gram, his maternal grandmother) She just has the magical touch of soothing him. All his sleeping is making his parents very very happy!

Quick Fix

I had to run to my in-laws to get a quick internet fix and show off my little boy. I got to eat, shower, and run back to the hospital.

Welcome Nathaniel McKay Loden

While Nate is at the hospital with Raquelle and Nate Jr, suffering www withdrawal, Papa Loden is clicking the keys to let you join in our celebration of the arrival of Nathaniel McKay. What a stunningly handsome lad, long and lanky at 21 and a half inches, weighing in at 8 lbs 8 ozs, that makes him a keeper! Quiet and reserved, he cried a little when he was born but then hushed right up and began to check out his new environment. Eyes opened and following any movement around him, he is the spitting image of his Dad and Mom (both of which are doing just fine). The nurses tried to get him to cry again (for a lung check) but he passed on the opportunity (when his dad acted that way, we called it stubbornness). It's easy to see that he is happy to check things out, and, not wanting to sleep, he is surprisingly alert. If I could just figure out how to post a picture....

Ignorance Alert #1 "Ice Can Sink"

Before you take someone up on a bet that they can make ice sink in a glass of water, read the following:

Ice can sink.

Now go ahead with the bet if you want to lose your money. Basically, you buy "heavy water", the stuff used in nuclear reactors and Uncle Earl's annual bath. It has special gravity boosting particles called carbs that make them sink. While it makes for a neat albeit pricey party effect at $15 bucks a cube, drinking it is not advised. Think glowing pee.

Nerves of Rusty Tin

So yesterday was my wife's due date. And I was a wreck. I was calling her every hour from work. "Are you ok?" How do you feel?" "Is he ready for little league?" Then during our monthly 2 hour meeting, I was text messaging her, "You can call me on my cell phone." "Now, I'm in my office." Then it was, "I'm on my way home ..." It felt like waiting for a judge to come down with your sentence ... oh wait most of you don't know what that's like. It was a rollercoaster ride ... fun right ... except you weren't on the ride ... it was going on in your stomach!

A Pirate's Booty

Recent renovations in the golf course at my in-laws has uncovered a treasure beyond compare to a"prone-to-slice a putt right into a lake" like myself. The serendipitous situation: The country club drained a golf ball swallowing lake and relocated the sludge at the bottom into a field. Walking through this dried dirt is like walking through a mine field, except it was lacking the awful explosions and flying body parts. There was so many golf balls every where you looked. We filled a bucket (a smaller not pictured bucket), cleaned them, and will promptly lose the majority of them at the Back 9 on Saturday. Rescued from one body of water only to be back in it again.

The Claw Machine's Worst Nightmare

We've all seen them. Sitting there looking so innocent, in the corner of a local Super-Mega Grocery / Pharmacy / Dental Checkup Center. Its native environment is any large mall, but can be found in any town with more than one traffic light and a McHeart Attack McDonalds. They're so famous they're "in-famous" :

The claw machine.

These insidious devices serve but one evil purpose against mankind. Deprive us of every quarter within a 5 mile radius. A twenty-five cent black hole. Bottomless pits for every two bits. And reports are surfacing that some of these malignant machines are now accepting dollar bills. And not even giving change back, but forcing the unsuspecting thrill-seeker to rage against the underpowered gripping action of the crudely fashioned robot hand on two or four (if you're lucky) turns. Such callousness, such barbaric cruelty, oh, the inhumanity!

But one has emerged from the countless faceless victims to near super-hero status.

My mother.

Armed with a $10 roll of quarters, nerves of steel, tried and true patience (matched only by indigenous tribes of the Amazon Basin that lay down on ant beds and suffer thousands of bites without flinching a muscle), and a Hefty trashbag, she strikes down injustice with the teddy bears of mercy.

Once, she approached a Claw Machine that was in the process of cleaning out this man's wallet. He was trying to win a stuffed toy for his child, whose eyes were fixated on the countless treasures above him. The dad was being abused, with no more quarters, and running short on dollar bills, he feared he may not be able to help his own flesh and blood. My mother politely stepped up, and with his permission into the batter's box. Her eyes darted around, moving systematically to each animal, calculating angles of attack, determining extraction coefficients (if an animal is packed in tightly relative to its neighbors, it has a high extraction coefficient), and settling on the most likely candidate. With one quarter, rapid reflexes and perfect timing, a toy found its way into the outstretched arms of the beaming child. The shocked, humble, grateful face of the stranger was payment enough, as my mother refused compensation from the nearly broke man.

When my mother isn't performing mercy missions, she is scouting out her Claw Machines like a lion stalking a wounded wildebeest. She knows which Claws will grip with any useable force. She knows which Claws will let you lower them half way rather than falling as far as they can and then closing. She knows which Claws close all the way, allowing her to aim the Claw's metallic digits for the loop that is commonly found on stuff animals. She also has to take into account the rotation of the Claw as it spirals toward the imprisoned masses. If I hadn't seen her save an incarcerated stuff animal by hooking that loop I would have never believed it. I have also witnessed first hand the rescue of two stuffed animals (serving a life sentence) in one Claw grab.

By far, the most daring prison break I had the privledge of viewing was when my mother discovered a Claw that allowed the operator to lower it in stages. As long as you didn't go to the lowest point, the Claw would not close and you would have 30 seconds of operation time. She positioned the Claw about midway down, and used the joystick to rock the Claw Gripper back and forth. She began to knock the caged creatures right into the exit bin, freeing 3 or 4 per quarter. Crowds gathered and cheered to see the escape artist working her magic. The firstfruits of her labor would go to any children watching, and the rest would fill the Hefty bag.

In Vegas, while card counting isn't illegal, if caught doing it, will get you labelled as a persona-non-grata and blacklisted from every casino. My mother was so good at cleaning out one local Claw Machine, that the man who refills Claw Machines for a living waited out of sight by his recently filled Machine to find out who was emptying it out. He probably suspected foul play, until he saw her close in, and begin cleaning out the Machine with just a roll of quarters. He approached her, dying to meet the legend who had stuck it to the Man (who designed such a diabolical device). Let's hope it wasn't to blacklist her from all future Claw Machines ...


By the way, her latest catch was this officially licensed Red Sox Bear. Little Nate Jr. Nathaniel is gonna love it!

Mugshot

Added so I can update my profile with a picture.

Pimp My Wheelchair

All we need to do is add hydralics and ground effects for a kickin' ride. Maybe Jonah and Leon can take it off some sweet jumps. Thanks for everyone that helped with my move. You guys kick some serious boot-ee.

10 cents for a banana ... Outrageous!

To my wife, in matters of wheeling, dealing and striking a bargain, I am known as the "Colombian Negotiator." You see, in Colombia, bananas cost a nickel. Everyone knows this. Often, the first words Colombian children utter are "el gato esta en mis pantalones" which I have on good authority means "get your nickel bananas here." So, when I approached a vendor and raised my nickel's worth of pesos to him for a banana he said "bananas are a dime." I am good at geometry ( taught by the football coach), so I knew this was like 87% more than I paid for anywhere else at anytime else to anysomeone else. He was trying to get away with what I like to call "Gringo-nomics" a type of economics popular in South American countries in the 80s and still crops up today. Call it a tax on your accent.

I didn't tell him where he could stick his bananas ( his nose people!) because I was a missionary at the time, but all it took was me walking away for that 87% tax to vanish right where it came from ... out of thin air.

When I saw this at work, I just had to whip out my trusty 0.23 Megapixel hamster-powered camera phone and snap away. This scene tickled my fancy for some reason ... maybe more than it should. I still chuckle when I see it ... weird I know.

Red Sox Spank Braves in Turner Field

Awesome game. Fireworks. Great parking. An autograph (no, I didn't get it, my buddy Dave got it, grrr.) Awesome 3 run RBI by Varitek. Lester's first MLB win as a rookie pitcher. Manny Ramirez all up in our grill and we are loving it. Diving golden glove catch by Lowell to end the game. John Papelbon (ERA 0.28 update 0.25)

A sign I made:
and true brotherly love is taking your bro out for a game.
David Ortiz (0 for 4 tonight tough love update Papi homers on Saturday and Sunday) From MLB.com: "Jon Lester showed Red Sox Nation why he is one of the organization's top prospects, giving up one run in six innings to pick up his first career victory. Jason Varitek provided the big blow, driving in three runs with a third-inning double."

Seared to Perfection

Our annual tradition lived on as Raquelle and I (and Nathaniel in tow) visited the famous Ruth Chris Steak House in Birmingham to celebrate our anniversary. We enjoyed their filet, chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, and creme brulee! We even saw the same server there (Mike D.) that served us our wedding night dinner and scoured the Embassy Suites for root beer for us when we asked for it and it wasn't on the menu. Ever since then, we have been bringing Wisconsin's famous brew, Sprecher Root Beer to RCSH to enjoy in style. Apparently, a new city law came into effect that doesn't allow us to bring in outside food or beverages. Bummer. It just means we will have to use the Sprecher's in root beer floats and really party in good taste.

Matlab Problem #3 ( Par: 4 minutes)

Determine the difference between the number of perfect squares and cubes that exist between one hundred and one billion.

One Week (22 hours, 5 Minutes) and Counting

I'm really pumped about next Friday. Red Sox are playing the Braves and I am so there. Dave B. got me hooked on them so naturally I got to go see them! I'll let you know how the game is going through my cellphone-text message-intraweb connection. Or you could just turn on the TV since it will be on there. Which reminds me, I need to make a sign!

Matlab Problem #2 (Par: 6 minutes)

Here is a dartboard with only two regions worth 9 points and 4 points. If you could throw any number of darts, what is the largest positive score you cannot get?

A Giant Has Fallen

It took six and a half weeks, but I finally subcomed to having dessert. The culprit was none other but the turtle cheesecake. It was euphoric! And I was going to have a special post in five and a half more weeks where I have take a poll to see what my first dessert after 12 weeks was going to be. Miriam's German Chocolate Cake, or Valerie's German Chocolate Cake, Alaina's German Chocolate Cake, or my wife's German Chocolate Cake. I'm surprised the turtle cheesecake took me down.

They Got Dividers

A whole bunch of family and friends joined Spencer ( 26th birthday today) at the Ryan's of Montgomery for a fine feast and fellowship. The cook did not know how to grill a medium steak ... you could see icicles on the inside of the meat! Some of us headed over to Brian and Lisa's house for games ... I ruled the Carcasonne roost!

The title of the post is an inside joke about where Raquelle and I almost had our wedding breakfast. You are the best, Dad!

My Newest Hobby

Get ready to hear a lot of mumbling, grumbling, and "fores"!

One Year Later

So today marks one year at Neptune also (FYI: June 1,1941 Crete falls to German forces.) Man, time flies. It still feels like I'm the new guy, even though we have hired three new engineers and three new technicians since I have started. To mark the special occasion, I brought in an assortment of bagels from Panera. Everyone thought they were a hit and one RF engineer helped himself to two bagels. ( one cinnamon and one chocolate chip)

Jerry and James had a gift ready for me on my anniversary ... it is pictured below:



This R900i register is one that I was instrumental in testing to death before we shipped this product... literally ... because I ran over it (see broken glass). This unit is now on my desk ... and to our company's credit, the R900i still works!