Sledding in Nauvoo

First of all: Google rocks. This impromtu sledding adventure was brought about by Nate. After the luncheon for JJ and Joni, I was desperate for some sledding action. One problem: No sled. I looked around for anything that would second as a sled but nothing was around but despair and unfulfilled dreams. I was told the nearest place to buy a sled was 15 minutes away. That wasn't going to do ... no time ... I think it was Josh that recommended that we use garbage bags. Well, the caterers had plenty of those and graciously gave us 6 bags. We all raced to the hill, punched two holes in the bottom of the bags and wore them like shorts! We scaled the hill and down we went on our "boo-hineys". Very fun. Well, dad comes rolling up to the hill to take pictures and to film us, and he has a stroke of genius. The wheel cover for the spare on the back door of his van was perfect for sledding. See for yourself!

The Happy Honeymooning Hunk and Honey!

JJ and Joane got married on Jan 21st. It was an awesome time to spend with all the family. We had everyone there and took a ton of pictures! This pic was taken with my trusty cellphone camera, so please excuse the grainy nature of the picture. The couple got hitched in good Mormon fashion in the Nauvoo Temple. Some of the family enjoyed sliding down some of the snow covered hills of Nauvoo on a makeshift sled and some garbage bags. Props go to Lance and Spencer, who rode down the steep hill on the spare wheel cover off my dad's van on their knees! Video to follow!

Stuck in Milwaukee!!!

Arrived at the airport and we received word that our flight is being delayed cancelled! All that green stuff can't be good. The airport gave us a coupon to use at the Best Western. I'll be posting more pictures of our trip to Nauvoo soon!

A Work in Progress: This Site is Under Construction

 

Raquelle loves to go see our house. She could be a CSI investigator because on more than one occasion, she has said things like "They must have worked on this spot right here because that nail on the floor has moved 3 millimeters" ... I've seen her collecting dust specimens from a pile of debris and she lifted three good prints from a light fixture. She could probably tell you the number of guys working on the house, their Social Security Numbers, and what type of flooring they all have in their own homes (from carpet samples she removed from the entryway). In other words, she is excited about every little detail and change in the house. As for me ... I'll be excited when she lets me take over the garage to put up a home theater system.  

Nice Soccer Trick

This is for all soccer loving fans to enjoy! Dedicated to Josh and Alaina! Click on the pic to go to the video. You may have to refresh your browser to get the video to start playing! ( Warning: the music that plays with this video is inappropriate. Muting your speakers will be best. So sorry!

Aide to the Aide Workers

Serving communities disrupted by the destruction of Hurricane Katrina was one of the highlights of my life last year. My church organized relief trips on multiple occassions and volunteers responded. We served in areas with extreme damage, slept in tents, and brought our own food, clothing, supplies, shelter, and in the evenings, entertainment. One of the victims of the hurricane decided to return the favor by providing food for our volunteers. The best baked beans ever! God bless her and her family. Note Red displaying his Tiger Spirit! War Eagle!

The Pinnacle of Dart Success

 


The Mount Everest of Darts: Throwing three triple 20s in one round. The mountain climber: Nathan!!! I performed this thing of beauty playing against my dad in a game of 301. I didn't realize it, but all I needed to throw was 182. So after this round I needed a 2 to win! 

Another Love Interest of Nate's

I'm a big fan of games. I love competition. I need to exercise more. All this comes together quite nicely in the fast paced action of racquetball. Pictured is my cool bro-in-law Josh. In the tacky red and white (University of Alabama fan) is my old man. And I'm in the back, doing what appears to be scratching my belly. I'll actually be playing some more racquetball today and tomorrow and maybe some paintball on Saturday. Which reminds me I need to call a few people about that ... and I need a blog post with pictures of previous paintball playing.

I Love Waffles and The Engadget Website

I'm a big fan of the tech website Engadget. Lots of interesting bits about tech gadgets and news. Every once in a while they run some contests for gadget giveaways. Engadget was giving away an HTC Universal smartphone to the person with the most creative picture/poem/haiku/video on why they should win the smartphone. I mutilated my lovely wife's Belguim Waffles to submit this photo. I checked the website everyday hoping I would be the lucky winner. Unfortunately, some news reporter from Flint Michigan with a professional camera crew won with a very funny video of gadget abuse. I am now holding out for an honorable mention.

Honk if you sacked Brodie 28-18

I love it. I must have laughed a good solid 42 seconds when I saw this on a car in Auburn. Thanks to the power of the "Information SuperHighway", I was able to track down a website selling these gems. I'm sure they are going like hotcakes. 

Best $7.75 I've spent in a while

There aren't that many movies worth watching. However, the new King Kong is. Go now and watch it. Now. Get up. Go, you big ape! Update (12-22-05) I've now read a lot of reviews about people picking apart the movie, saying how awful it was. I feel obliged to comment: Don't listen to them. There are people out there that will never be satisified with any movie. Stop watching is my advice. This movie was entertaining, one where you immerse yourself in the story. Not one to be nitpicked about small stuff. Two pieces of advice. 1. Don't sweat the small stuff. 2. It's all small stuff.

The Signs Are Upon Us

This isn't the first nor will it be the last Auburn Football related post that I make. If that's going to be a problem for you, let me know in the comments section. I'll read your post, and laugh, and continue my love fest for the big AU. By the way, that's me holding the AU and my comrade Dave with the Auburn sign. War Eagle! 

The T-Mobile Fiasco

I got a free couple of Motorola C332's for signing up with T-Mo. Well, we found out the hard way that the battery life on those cell phones was shorter than the half-life of Einsteinium. So we did what we had to and called and complained. Surprisingly, T-Mo didn't argue the point with us and said they would be sending us a return label. When we got the two labels, I thought I would save T-Mo some money (I'm a nice guy ok!) and I would put both phones in one package and send them back with one of the two return labels. (follow my blog link to see a picture of the return label). Well before I did this incredibly stupid^H^H^H^H^H^H kind gesture, I called T-Mo to ok the money saving venture. "No problem" was the reply. You can see where this is going. A month or so later, along with our temporary phones, came a bill for $120 to replace the free, defective phone that T-Mo never got. Their whole system was automated and although there were two phones in the packet I sent to them, it was only counted as one. I must have called a dozen different times, each time a new Customer Service Rep practically accusing me of stealing from T-Mo. What was I going to do, sell that craptacular phone on Ebay. (Actually someone would have probably bought it from me, but I digress...) I actually talked to someone at the warehouse where they were receving incoming phones and had them looking for my lost phone. No luck!!! The best T-Mo could do was to "meet me half way" and only charge me $60. I was being charged for a free, defective, losted by T-Mo Ni-Cd brick! I would not give in ... it was the principle of the matter. On or around the 13th call to T-Mo the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey, I sent in both my defective phones in one packet and thats why your system is showing that I haven't sent back the other phone.

T-Mo Rep: Oh ... ok, let me clear up this outstanding charge to your account.

Me: ... thanks! (pulling myself off the floor)

Time spent on the phone with irate reps: 8 hours
Equivalent pay lost trying to recoup my $120 charge: $200
Getting the charges waived: Priceless!!!

Pickles and Ice Cream

Raquelle has been experiencing an increase in the amount of food cravings lately. I mean, usually once a day I hear the phrase: "I'm in the mood for ______ ( fill in something expensive here )" Now, I hear that phrase repeated at least eight times a day ( note to reader: 8 is a special number for Raquelle ... it is the number she uses almost exclusively for exaggeration) ( second note to reader: When Nate uses the number 8, he is not exaggerating ... Nate is writing this post). So, what's with the eight-fold increase in food cravings per day? It has to do with a "lima bean" ... (see attached picture!) 

Not Your Bulls of Spain

Ok... I need to recognize excellence when I spot it. Especially when it's my own. Obligatory pat on my own back for throwing three bullseyes in a (gruelling, up hill both ways) practice session at home. Recorded the once in a lifetime acheivement with my trust sub-zero megapixel pinhole camera! Check out this website http://www.dartbase.com/ amongst the countless for tips and techniques. I've already picked up a few bad habits that I am should be trying to lose. 

War Eagle!

Ok ... I love ... no adore ... am obsessed with Auburn football (Quelle knows so and I tend to agree with her). Although I'm not a student of Auburn University anymore, I managed to score a pair of tickets to most of the games of 2005. Credit and homage paid to La Grand Schramm on that one. Pictured in no particular order are: Me, Dave, Dan, Renata, Adam, Marty and an empty student section #21!  

My Close Encounter with Death

Today I worked in Columbus, Georgia. Rather large city. I was installing a beta product my company makes. The device is called an R900i . Basically, it is a combination water meter and radio. It automatically gets a water usage reading and sends the reading off into the ether through the radio. The idea being that a meter reader guy/girl drives around the neighbor with a receiver and gets the reading for the entire neighborhood. Anyway, the point of the picture is that I bumped into a pair of these "lovely ladies" just inside the box that is usually out in your front yard. The spiders were in two different boxes and right near where I have to stick my finger into the lid to pull it out of the ground. Freakish ... and what's more freakish is that even after seeing the first aracnid, I kept going!!!! Well, thankfully I wasn't bit and it looks like round two and three are scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday. At least its getting me out of my desk job! Hmmm ... sit safely at work and build awesome prototype products for my company, or go stick my hand into your water meter pits and risk life and limb ... one installer said he spotted a rattlesnake inside of one of the meter pits in Opelika, Alabama on a different occasion. There is no such thing as a nice spider ... Charlotte that includes you! 

Dirty job but someone has to do it!

The Nearly Famous Editors of the Blog

We almost graced the cover of the brochure "Tybee Island Tourist Guide". A seagull beat us to the punch! 

Jaws or Flipper?

My vacation to Tybee Island ( look it up) took me to an exotic locale. I'm not talking about the Slurpee machine at 7-11. Swim with the dolphins in 45 degree (F) water. Toasty it is not. By the way, don't take pregnant women up and down the 178 steps of the (in)famous lighthouse and try Cousin Vinnie's Pizza while you are there! 

Funny College Application Essay!

My Achievements by a successful NYU Applicant

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets. I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hand gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned my fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradies Lost, Moby-Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish and entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four-course meals using only a Mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

First Post!

Real quick post to let you know that I've joined the ranks and started a blog thanks to Google (still good in my book!) I'm going to be playing with the camera blogging initially, but maybe I'll have some worthwhile content later.