Hook'd Bar & Grill

During the past few weeks, I have had a desire to return to a view like the one below.  It is a vey of the City Park Pier, in Panama City Flordia, from a seat at Hook'd Bar & Grill, which was a neat place to eat.  When we had dinner there, it was followed by a short walk to Kilwin's Chocolates for desert.  

 

Ground Hog Day

Today, being a Saturday, meant that my normal schedule of listening to NPR's Morning Edition, did not happen.  I did not realize that it was ground hog day until the middle of the afternoon.  At which point, I had been in the back yard picking up in my shorts and sandals.  It felt very spring like today, and I hope that there is not 6 more weeks of winter.  All of the beloved Christmas decorations are in the attic, with the exception of this hideous snowman/Santa Christmas ball which will become property of the city's sanitation department Monday.

I was in high school, when the movie Ground Hog Day came out with Bill Murray.  It was a fun show, and an interesting concept.  My life would not be going very fast if I had to go back and start each day over if I did not get everything correct in that day.  There are several days, however, that I would not have minded a do over.  The one thing those days almost always have in common, is the failure to engage the mind, prior to engaging the mouth.

So to all of the overgrow squirrels out there, Happy Groundhog Day!  ...does anyone know if he saw his shadow?

Pinewood Derby

It was Pinewood Derby race weekend for pack 349.  This year I made a car for Ella and myself.  So we had three cars racing, the results, of the speed were below par, however, the kids had fun designing their cars, picking stickers, and paint.  All three cars had some dodge bright green paint on the.  There were some amazing cars, next year I think I will start earlier in the year, to provide more time for design and building.  One of the scout masters made a bathtub car, complete eith bubbles and a rubber duck.  It has been many months since I had a project in the garage in the evening, and it was refreshing to have something else to work on.

This past week, I set a record for the number of days I left the office after 6:30 pm, not a stellar performance on my part.

Andy's Frozen Custard

This past weekend I experienced Andy's Frozen Custard for the first time my life, in Springfield.  On the way there I asked my sisters how it worked, and they informed me that you picked a base, either chocolate or vanilla, then pick the other things you want in it.  I was taken back because I wanted strawberry, which is one of the best fruits ever.  First off, it is red, vibrant red, with a splash of green at the top. Red and green are Christmas colors, so what is not to like about that combination.  Additionally, strawberrys are very flexible, they go in ice cream, smoothies, chocolate, salads, you can eat them whole, or cut them up.  While they don't go into pie, they do make Yummy jelly.  On top of that they ave a wonderful texture, with all of the little black dots on the outside.

Back to the frozen custard...  ...they went on to explain that they were like the Dairy Queen "Blizzard" only called "concrete".  So I was ready, until the girls started rattling off the long list of items you could add into your concrete....
Almonds
Bananas
Butterfinger
Butterscotch
Cheesecake
Cherries
Coconut
Carmel
Chocolate syrup
Crused nuts
Heath bar
Hot fudge
M&M
Marshmallow
Oreo
Peanut butter
Peanut butter cups
Peanuts
Pinnapplee
Pretzels
Raspberries
Reeds pieces
Strawberrys
Roasted pecans

With such a large selection criteria,  I froze in a moment of uncertainty.  "If I choose poorly my desert will be ruined", is what I thought.  So, I did the most uninspirable thing I could think of, I said, oh, I will take one of those too.  Not my finest ordering moment, but I must say, it was a wonderful desert, and I am glad went their instead of Orange Leaf, with the rest of the gaung.

Iron Chef

The first time I heard that there was a show on the cooking channel called "Iron Chef" I made the natural assumption that it was a cook off using cast iron cookware.  I should point out that all I knew was that it was a cooking show with a competitive flare, and had iron in the title.  I ran with this assumption until I got cable tv at the house, and watched the show.  The first one I saw was actually the original Japanese version, complete with the great voice overs. I thought that it was great, where else could I learn that you can make ice cream, using some fish as an ingredient, or that I. Japan they have peaches that cost $40.00 each (not per pound, per peach).  

In today's fast paced highly competitive America, I think it is facts sting that we will collectively watch a tv show that ends with ______ your fired.  All the while a sports team with a losing record can make it into the playoffs, and. We don't take score at the soccer games.  Even the Academy Awards changed from the winner is, to the award goes to....  We live in a competitive country where people see for focus on the wrong competitions.  I have seen parents go nuts when their child did not get enough playing time, or did not score in a game, all the while having little to no passion around their school work, grades, and the amount to television they watch.  

If you want a true iron chef, go to one of the chuck wagon cook offs, one more competition, to watch, but at least you can taste the product, visit with the cooks, and vote for your favorite wagon.

Dad It's Still Christmas Time

This morning Ella asked me if it was still Christmas time because there was snow on the roof.  My first thoug was, "how did I miss the snow when I looked out the window." I told Ella it was not still Christmas time, and put the conversation in the back of my mind since it was Sunday fun day, which included attending worship and Sunday school.  When we left I looked at our roof and it all made sense, the "snow" Ella had seen was frost on the roofs.  Kids are super observant, even when they act like they are not.  Ella has associated snow with Christmas time, I sould also point out that while the exterior illumination is in the garage, the tree is still fully decorated.

This past weekend we also attended Bright Nights - Boy Scout Edition - Friday night, and we got to spend the night at the Science Muesum.  It was fun, the kids had a blast, we slept on the floor on an air matters that had a slow leak, which was not very comfortable.  The kids built a few things, played at the tree house,  and we went to the plantierum, and I dozed off durning the presentation,  stars are fun and exciting, but I can only listen for about 5 minutes.

The End of 2012

Once again the annual marker of time is coming to an end, and with that, we have an entire new year to look forward to.  We, being the humans that we are, like these time markers in life.  The other day Amy and I were chatting (a good thing to do with your wife) and she was recalling some random details about life which occur 7 or 8 years ago.  I had no, and I mean no, recollection of the event.  She says she remembers some of these little details because she has lived in more places, and these moves severed as natural markers.

My goal for 2013 is to spend more time writing in this blog.  Since that is a little on the vague side, lets just say my goal is to publish once a week.  In the past I have found this exercise of blogging as an time to introspectively look and write about life.

Last year was a great year for us, we have been busy, with work, school and kids.  I have not spent as much time cooking the last three smooths, which I attribute to changes at the office.  We had a great fall break vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida.

Demotivator - Blogging

I saw a one of those inspirational calendars, that was not actually inspirational today in the office. The subject was "Blogging". It had a great picture of a rock formation and underneath it said:

BLOGGING

Never have some many people with so little to say said so much to so few

Here is the hyperlink to the website. (http://www.despair.com/blogging.html) It is actually a "Demotivator" most of which I find to be very funny. This one, rubbed me the wrong way. I was not offended, or insulted. In this world of sports, rock starts, country music awards, and celebrity tracking, I find a great deal of activities that are more useless than blogging. In the end, I admitted that I blog occasionally to one of my co-workers.

I find writing to be a release of sorts, let me clarify, writing at home is a releases of sorts, well actually writing at home when it is not work related is a release for me. I could lament about the lack of time I have to do this, however, most of the time it does not take long. I must admit that I am sitting on the back porch typing on the laptop, listening to the noises of nature, and the city.

The Speed of Life

Life with its many mysteries,often feels like a asteroid. Shooting across the cosmos of the routine, spinning around and around. The path sometimes well charted, other time as random as the Chaos Theory.

Between work, school, cooking, soccer practice, soccer games, and spring time yard work,up feels like down and down like up.

Life in Warp Speed...

Perpetual Motion

Ella is constantly in motion when she is awake. Running as fast as a freight train, as happy as a clown... Except when she is tired and does not get what she wants.

Then she becomes a bear, not the cute cuddly bear... but we love her anyway.

Bath Time

Lately I have been playing music during the kids bath time, using my iPod. My iPod has a WIDE variety of music on it. From Run DMC to Amy Grant to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It is interesting to see their reaction to various musical styles. For example, tonight we have been listening to a compilation of music from Central America, and they both seem to like it. Perhaps they are just tolerating it, however, Mr. C was dancing to it while getting ready to get in.

I know that my parents played some music for us when I was there age. I do not know what type of music they played for me, nor do I know what influence it had on my musical selection as an adult. I do remember playing lots of their old 45's on a record player. It was the likes of the Beatles, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Credence Clearwater Revival, and the song "Big John.

ABBA

I have to make a confession, I like ABBA. That is correct, ABBA the Swedish Rock band that rose to fame in the 70's. I only have one of their records, the greatest hits records. My fascination with them started this past summer. A number of years ago, Amy purchased the musical movie Mamma Mia. Which is a story built off of ABBA's greatest hits. I watched it one summer night last summer and was captivated by the songs. The song Super Trouper is not about a guy in the audience watching the performance. It is instead about a type of spot light, the Super Trouper, which was used in show business.

Cast Iron Griddle

The cast iron griddle is a must for any kitchen. I use it to cook all sorts of things, grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, pancakes, fired eggs, pancakes, ect. The best part of a seasoned cast iron griddle, is that clean up is easy, as long as you don't burn anything on it.

Tonight we had a combination of grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs and cold ceral.

Lunchroom Stories

In the break room there are several of use that usually eat lunch at the same time. For this week, the discussion has been a little more random than normal. Food has been a big discussion point for a couple of days. I told two food related stories that are, or should be embarrassing. Each story was when it occurred, these days it is just funny.

The Shrimp

Growing up in the panhandle of Texas did not lead itself to much seafood. I really enjoyed eating shrimp, and we would travel down to Galveston each summer. My shrimp spectrum was very narrow, it consisted of jumbo fried shrimp, and popcorn fried shrimp. While attending McMurry one year during finals they made steaks and shrimp cocktail. Being the shrimp lover that I am I went for the shrimp cocktail. With a plate piled high with these shrimp, that did not look much like the fried shrimp, I dug in. Crunch, crunch, crunch... Thinking that something was not quite right I observed one of my hall mates peeling the shrimp and asked, "What are you doing to the shrimp?" "Peeling it of course, did you not peel your shrimp?" My response was, "peel it why would I need to do that, it is kind of crunchy." I learned a lot that semester, all the internal organs of a cat, how useful fruit flys were in genetics, and that you really should peel the shrimp cocktail before eating.

The Dish

One meal that we ate growing up was call "The Dish." It is made up of macaroni, ground beef, tomatoes, onion, tomato paste. It was really good when my mom made it. After Amy and I got married I decided to make "The Dish." I got the receipt for my mom and followed it. It called for 1 c of macaroni, ground beef, ect. All of which I dutifully placed in the 9 X 9 cooking dish. The first bit I took after cooking was kind of crunchy, and I thought, "oh it is the top." The second bite, still crunchy. It was at this point I though that something was a miss. I placed a call and was lovingly informed that, "you have to cook the noodles before you put them in the dish." Which was followed by a quick trip to sonic.

Sunday Lunch

While I was growing up Sunday Lunch was a meal, that we celebrated together as a family. Contrary to the advertisements on television, our Sunday meal was eaten at Marian and Father's (grandparents.) After Marian passed, Honey (mom) took up the torch of feeding the Patmans after church. Honey and Marian were both fantastic cooks!

I cooked lunch today, and I think one of the keys is to make dishes that can be heated quickly, or cooked while we are off at church. I have a great many culinary advantages that Marian did not have. For example, I can reliably program my oven for an timed start. I also have two refrigerators, she only had one.


Occasionally we would hop in the car after church and drive to the Furrs cafeteria, in Pampa, Texas to have sunday lunch with my cousins from McLean. This was another highlight of growing up. As a kid, I was AMAZED with the different selections, and see to remember getting the fish patty frequently.

SInnerman

Tonight I cued up the soundtrack for the "Thomas Crown Affair" (1999) durning bath time. The first song up was a song titled Sinnerman, or Sinner Man. I was surprised that I did not get any negative comments from the peanut gallery, especially since the song is 10 minutes in length. It is a lively song, with a fast beat, and the lyrics are sort of hard to make out in the Nina Simone version.

I purchased the sound track, in part because I really found that song intriguing. In the movie it is play as Thomas enters the museum to return the painting he had stolen. The song does not to my knowledge have an author attributed to it. It is classified as an American Spiritual.

The peanut gallery is exposed to a wide variety of music when I am around. From classical, to piano, to certain alternative bands. I watch the lyrics closely, and prefer to spin a little Third Day, or the Orange County Supertones "Chase the Sun", both are christian bands.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

We have lots of Christmas stories at our house. In fact, today, on 1/12/12, we read The Twevle Days of Christmas. The collect of books we have traverse the span, from The Night Before Christmas, by the original author, to the more modern A Pirates Night Before Christmas. Arrrgh!!! Christmas books are read throughout the year. In the middle of the summer, we are likely to read The Gingerbread Pirates. Over the last few years, I have seen an increase in the number of Pirate Christmas books. Which begs the question, did Black Beard celebrate Christmas.

Would the pirate christmas celebration involve walking the plank in your swimming suit? Its christmas in the Bahamas, so I think the water would be nice. A dinner consisting of hardtack and cackle fruit eggs? Did the crew take a break from swabbing the deck?

Over the years our Christmas Traditions have changed. In part because we have gotten older, changes in our geographical locations, and the passing of loved ones. I have also noted a change in what I enjoy out of Christmas. When I was my son's age, I was focused on what I would get. Now, I enjoy watchings others open up their suprises. This year we had everyone at our house for Christmas. It was a lot of fun. We played the guessing game, a christmas tradition that my grandfather got us started on when I was 10 or 11. I also got to eat fried grits, the only day of the year that it is an option.

At this point the tree has 1/2 of its ornaments, and there are boxes waiting to be packed, as we pull the christmas decorations down.

Butter Side Up

Tonight we read the Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss. While it is quite entertaining, especially when one is young and learning to read, I have never understood the Zooks. Zooks are the characters that eat their bread butter side down. It seems like all you would do is make a mess on your plate with the butter on the bottom of the bread. Unless of course, you turned it upside down when you put it on the plate. Would this simple act turn you from a Zook to a Yook?

An interesting point about the Butter Battle Book, it was censored in some libraries during the cold war. Yes, censored because of its position on the cold war. The supreme court is taking up a casing dealing with the FCC's decency enforcement. The individuals are seeking to strike down a precedence invoking the first amendment. I believe strongly in the first amendment, and the second, and well really all of the amendments. However, I do not think the constitution gives anyone the right to be vulgar or indecent. It does give use the right to speak freely and give opinions. Is not being able to say F&$k over the broadcast channels going to limit your ability to eloquently speak your thought. I think not, if anything, the limitation on vulgar language will enhance the dialect.

Cap in Helicopter

Germburner">
Cap in Helicopter, a photo by Germburner on Flickr.

Here is a picture from yesterday's trip to news channel 4's studio. Cap went with his cub scout den, and I went along to. It was pretty interesting.

They got to sit in the helicopter, and watch the anchors and weatherman give the news. When the weatherman was done with his news cast he said, "come on over boys for a picture." It reminded my of Willard Scott, and all the other weathermen.

The news cast seemed disjointed in the studio because the anchors would talk a little, then the news would transfer to a live reporter, or something previously recorded. The studio sets were not as big as I though they would be, in my mind, they are huge, in reality, they are just big enough to get the job done.

Nicodemus

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself," Leo Tolstoy

Aside from changing ourselves, one of the most challenging things to do, is change the perspective about some teaching we have been taught all our lives. This was the subject that we talked about today in Sunday School. The Pharisees, when you hear this what comes to mind? Individuals who are power hungry, sneaky and sly? That is certainly the perspective one gets through the mainstream christian church. While they completely missed the teachings of Jesus, in the day, they were well respected members of the community. In his day, Jesus was the individual who was though of as the trouble maker.

What are we to make of Nicodemus' nighttime visit to Jesus, described in John 3:1-11? Take the story and reread it thinking the Nicodemus' is part of the "in crowd." It changes some of the perspective. Jesus, even talking to one of the leaders of the Pharisees does not change his message, sugar coat it, or minimize it in any way. Nicodemus is met with the response, "Very Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

Bright Night

Last night we participated in one of the OKC Science Museum's Bright Nights for cub scouts. It was a lot of fun, and we got to sleep in the museum. In addition to that, there was a limited number of participants, and listening to others who had been, it was not jam packed. So we had the run of the place.

We watched a movie in the IMAX Theater, that they do not call IMAX, watched the star show in the planetarium, and watch some live science demonstrations. The down side of it all, is the children are a little cranky because they went to be around 1:00 am. Outside of being ill, I think that is the first time they have seen 1:00 am.

Surprising enough, when it was time to go, the kids did not throw a fit, or protest. It has been a pretty low key day, they did have the neighbor over for a little and raced Mario Kart on the wii. Bright night will be remembered with much more fondness, when we forget how little sleep we got. The 4 hours of sleep I did get were great.

1.0079

The molecular weight of Hydrogen (H) is 1.0079. I learned that information while I was in organic chemistry class several years ago. By the end of the year I knew, and still no the molecular weight (mw) of several other elements.

Armed with that information, I set off after college to change the world. Unfortunately, the molecular weight of hydrogen has not yet helped me change the world, strike up an interesting conversation, or even show my intelligence during a competitive game of trivial pursuit.

The majority of the information I use to change the world I live in I have learned after college. I did learn many skills in college that help me each day as I read, review, interpret and explain the written word of our governmental agencies.

While I do not use all the information I learned in college, I have been blessed by its teachings. I grew up in a household where the question was not, "Are you going to college?" Rather the questions were, "Which college are you attending, and what are you going to study?"

For that I have my parents, and grandparents to thank, for that expectation.

I 40 Eastbound

The department of transportation is currently working on a project to re-route I-40 through OKC. Today, the eastbound side of the new roadway was opened. It was odd driving down the west bound side with no traffic on the other side of the freeway. As I understanding the existing portion of I-40 will be turned into a "Boulevard" connecting I-40 to downtown. It will be complete with shopping... I am afraid that when the project is completed, that my home commute will be longer, and more frustrating.

http://www.40forward.com/

E-Mail Accounts & Letters

Does an e-mail account every go away? This is a question that I have in the days of forwarding e-mail from one account to another. For example, I think my sister has 3 or 4 e-mail accounts. I think one is used for junk mail, one gets sent directly to the smartphone, and the third is probably forwarded to the account that is then sent directly to the smartphone.I have an e-mail account, that they system does not recognize my userID. The account still forwards e-mail to my new account, should this concern me?

Last night I sat down and wrote a few cards to put in the mail, the United States Postal Service system, for a change. When I was in the 5th grade I went to church camp (one kid got left at camp when we left but that is a different story) I sent my mom a post card, because there was no phone. I wonder if C&E will send much personal mail when they are adults, or if all communications will be electronic.

I for one enjoy getting letters in the mail. I think, wow they took the time to write me a note, and mail it. I do mean time, I can type about twice as fast, and 100 times neater than I write most of the time. Which is one reason that I do not hand write my journal.

Rationalization

As human beings we have the ability to rationalize all manner of thoughts and beliefs. There are many examples that anyone could rattle off at this point to make the case that humans can rationalize anything. I will use a case I heard today. An avid University of Oklahoma (OU) fan rationalized the Oklahoma State University's (OSU) win last night by saying the following;

"Well you know it was not OSUs game to win, it was Stanford's game to lose and that is what happened. Stamford lost. Rather than celebrate the fact that a team from the individuals home state had one, the outcome was rationalized, because OU did not rank as high in the BCS polls.

I am guilty of rationalizing situations, outcomes, thoughts, and behaviors, all in an effort to come to grips with life itself.

2012 Here We Are

As holidays go this New Years weekend was spent recovering from a cold and possible sinus infection. Neither of which are very happy, joyful, or full of bliss. I did' get to spend 4 days with the kids which was nice, and I did not have to work, also a plus. I was greeted with blank stares when I ask my family what they wanted to do in 2012. A little disappointing for the first family meal of the year, what more could I expect out of a 7 year old and a 4 year old.

With the electronics of the day, and the ease at which anyone can post a blog post, I have done an abysmal job in keeping my blog up to date. A task that provides a brief period for reflection when I take the time to do it.

I was getting a hair cut over Christmas Vacation, and I sat amazed watching all of those grey hairs falling onto the barbers apron that were coming from MY HEAD, when did this happen?

Easter Observations 2011

Easter Sunday, a joyous occasion for Christians around the world. This morning, when I was getting the ham ready for the world, the thought struck me that this would be unclean in the Jewish Law. Having ham for lunch was not in their book, and their I was before church, rubbing my hands all over that spiral cut ham.

We went to the 9:30 church service which was a little hard for me to explain to Cap.

Cap, "Are we going to early church?"

Me, "No, we are not going to early church, but we are going earlier than normal."

Cap, "The only time we go to early church is when I am singing."

Me, "That is correct, but we are not going to sunday school this morning just to church."

Cap, "So we are going to Early Church."

At church I saw some interesting things. The guy setting next to me was checking his email on his blackberry, and I do not me just a glance, he was reading it. There was a lady a couple of rows in front of me that had here Super Grande Starbuck coffee cup with her. Last, but certainly not least, was the adult male (age between 24 and 35) that had a beard, was wearing a yellow shirt, and pruple shorts. Well, just like me, at least they all came to church this morning.

Saturday, April 23, Schedule

7:00 - Awoke
7:05 - Put on Sandals
7:10 - Washed fruit for breakfast
7:15 - Let Ella out of her room
7:25 - Began mixing the homemade (from scratch) whole wheat waffle mix
8:00 - Served Breakfast with Amy's help
8:20 - Washing Dishes
8:45 - Getting ready to head to soccer field.
9:15 - Leaving for soccer fields, have water for everyone, 2 cameras, 4 chairs, 2 kids, 1 soccer play
11:45 - Leaving soccer fields
12:00 - Fire up grill upon arrival
12:01 - Put Squash in Oven
12:02 - Burgers on Grill
12:30 - Run out of propane - burgers finished on the skillet
12:55 - leaving with Cap to attend birthday party.
1:15 - Arrive at party
3:00 - leave party, heading home
3:05 - Stop at Randall's to by a couple of things for Amy.
3:25 - Arrive home, Ella is awake, and has not rested much.
4: 25 - cutting up veggies for Shrimp fried rice
5:34 - Serving Shrimp Fired Rice
6:10 - Kids feed, kitchen cleaned, sit down to read book.
7:10 - Help Ella and Cap with Shampoo in their hair.
7:30 - Story time
8:30 - Leave for Store (need propane, dish soap and Tylenol.
9:20 - Arrive at home
9:45 - Help with the dishes
Current Status - sitting on back porch, still wearing my sandals... ...I am tired!

A day in picture 4/18/11

A day in pictures from the BBC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13117243

it begins with a couple of people leaving a music festival in California. The ground is littered with empty water bottles.

it ends with a photo of a what appears to be a cherry tree in blossom sticking out of an overturned car in Japan.

Waffles

Tonight for supper the kids wanted Waffles, so Amy and I made them Waffles. They were pretty good if I say so myself. One of my favorite meals growing up on cold days was waffles, biscuits and gravy, or pancakes and an omelet for dinner on cold snowy nights. Now that I am south of I-10, there is not much snow or many cold nights. It was really Cap's idea to have them, and I probably would have said no, but Ella has a cold.

Ella and I laid down in our bed today and watch Maisy, with english subtitles, and spanish voice. It was nice, afterwards she went and had a nap.

Cap had a soccer game, he has decided that his favorite position is goalie. While he did not say it, I think it is because there is less running up and down the field while playing that position.

German Chocolate Cake

I had a busy weekend in the kitchen, which was fine with me. We only ate out once, on Sunday, after church. I did determine that it takes less time to make Hamburger, Shrimp Fried Rice, and Grilled chicken, than baking a German Chocolate Cake from scratch. Thats right boys and girls, eat your heart out because I can make one from scratch. I also made some cinnamon raise bread this weekend, which was very tasty. The kids are both in bed asleep, which is where I will be heading shortly. McMurry University did name a new mascot, we are know the McMurry War Hawks. If you ask me, I find this more offensive than the Indians, any day of the week and twice on sunday. That is all that I have to report tonight, nothing too deep or thought provoking.

Cap Playing Soccer

Cap Playing Soccer, a photo by Germburner on Flickr.

This weekend was the first game of the season. This year Cap is on the Rockets, and in this picture he is playing Goalie (a word that I don't know how to spell.)

Strawberry Oreo Ice Cream

Tonight after we had the hamburgers, and potatoes that I cooked, we set off in search of desert. An adventure it was not as we knew the destination before we left. Sweet Things Ice Cream, where I had a single scoop of Strawberry Oreo, in a cup. I prefer the cup as it does not make much of a mess. The ice cream was really good, it was a combination of the fruity strawberry sweetness, and the deep chocolate sweetness that comes from the oreo's.

No iPod

I have listened to my iPod going to sleep almost every night since October 28, 2008. This is of course with a few exceptions. This past week started off with a potential disaster in this respect. I left town on a 5 day business trip, and realize as I was leaving town that my iPod was in plugged into the computer on the desk. To go back and get it would have costed about 1 hours driving time, leaving me to have to make a decision. I could go back and get the little boggier, or see what it was like without it. On the plus side, I knew that I had packed the earbuds, so at the least I could put them in my ear to fake it. I chose to risk it, and carried on my travels without the iPod. I hit pay-dirt the first two nights because the hotel had cable music channels. The last three nights, I used my computer and Pandora to play some music.

Aside from the sleep, I use the iPod to listen to music or pod cast when I tire of the audiobook I am listening to. I was forced to use the seek button and listen to the FM radio during these periods.

Winds of Change

There are some songs that are instantly recognizable after only a few bars of music. One of these songs for me is Scorpions Winds of Change. The song was released in 1990, my high school days, and it is the only song I remember Scorpion releasing. The song starts with the music being whistled, and then it goes into a ballad. The song invokes a general memory of high school, no particular event, just the fun times we had in High School

For me there are many songs that invoke some memory. For example, Soul Asylum's Runaway Train, takes me back to a camping trip I took with Terry, Steven, and Cory to Cimarron Canyon, New Mexico. We camped in the Pondersoa camp ground for 6 days, then drove over to Red River and spent one night in a hotel before heading back. The camping trip was the first one that we had taken without any parents. We did not get into any trouble, and we did have a raccoon stalker at the camp site.

Two songs, Hammer Time (MC Hammer) and Vogue (Madonna), and to a lesser extend Barbra Ann, remind me of the first time I went to the state competition for drafting. While not quite as manly as the state football playoffs, it was a lot of fun, almost like a 4 day school paid for vacation. Those two songs were on MTV when we were staying at the "Value Inn" just off of I-35 on the north end of Waco, Texas. It was also the first time I saw a Piggly Wiggly. I managed to go to state 4 straight years, and had a lot of fun. Fortunately my Senior year, we upgraded to a better hotel, in a safer part of town.

Pretty Good Skier

After dinner Ella and I were playing around with the soccer ball in the back yard. I would gently kick it to her, and she would throw it back. Then she change to where she was going to hike it back to me like a football. So I took up the ch allege of kicking it between her legs. Which got me to thinking about snow skiing. (I know that is the same as going from dot #1 to dot #35 on connect the dots.) I managed to get pretty good at it as long as I was close. My memory flashed back to lining up behind a skier in front of me, and sitting down, laying back on my skies, then shooting the moon. This moment of reflect drove me to come to grips with the fact that I was a pretty good skier at one point in my life. It was nothing for us to shoot down the face at Wolf Creek, hit the waterfall area, or take a chute that was no wider than our skies were long. We managed to survive all of it. Of the new inventions in the world, the one I would have enjoyed the most was an iPod. It was really tiresome carrying a couple of tapes, and extra batteries along with everything else we carted on the mountain.

Editor

Tnoght I glanced through several old posts, some from 2006, and some from 2010. After reading those, I decided I needed an Editor to proofread my writing. Any volunteers... ...no, I did not think so.

Square Sink - Round Tile

Sinks, a device or fixture that is in almost every bathroom, and kitchen I have ever been in. I have always associated sinks as a round object. This is despite the fact that most sinks are not a circle, rather they are an oval, or even a square with rounded corners.

Tiles, are yet another item that are found in abundance in bathrooms and kitchens. In my house they are also found in the entry, laundry room, and living room. As a general rule all the tiles that I have seen have been square. Some are big, and some are small.

This evening my "norm" was challenged by a restroom that had a square (straight corners and everything) sink, and round tiles. Which brings up the age old question, "Why do we readily accept the 'norm' and are or can be put mentally off balance by the 'exceptions'?" Our fast acceptance the norm will stifle creativity. On occasion, my kids seem to drift off to a land that they have created in their head. They will sit there and happily play with this or that toy imagining it is part of a family, or a pirate, on a great adventure.

Lately, I have felt like I have lost my creativity, or at least not had much to write about. I was listening to a podcast about The Onion, driving back from Beeville the other day. One statement was made about their desire not to get stuck in the repetitive creativity loop. A cycle that has the same set of jokes, or headlines. The last several post I have made, seemed to be stuck in this "creativity loop". A much deeper question: Am I creative at all? I think I have some degree of creativity, I am no Monet, Picasso, or Shake sphere. The is mainly because I cannot really paint, nor write sonnets in old English.

Dr. Pepper on Fat Tuesday

As the season of Lent is upon us, it is time to reflect upon our lives. This year I will be giving up Dr. Pepper, so I celebrated today with the equivalent of the old "Big Gulp.". Which in todays over the counter soft drink standard is more like a medium.

Obama Foodorama

I read an article once upon a time in Newsweek about a "Weblog" or blog for short. I found the entire concept interesting, and that is probably one of the reasons I started keeping a blog. We have many different outlets for getting information delivered to other people, the blog, a tweet (I do not do this), facebook, a newspaper (which still exists today), and the favorite Television.

A television news show can take an 8 hour intellectually stimulating debate and boil it down, like a distillery, into two 30 second sound bites. Neither of which, is much like the overall tone of the debate or argument. These news bits seem to feed the American Public, as opposed to going out and reading information on your own. We allow others to help us formulate our opinions. If you do not believe that, look at all of the news shows, in which the reports give their commentary, or thoughts on a situation.

So I was reading the news last night, looking for information on the proposal to cut public radio funding. I came across a blog about the presidents food, and dinning experiences. Which is interesting on several fronts. First, the fact that people are interested in what the president is eating, or his latest dinning experience. While his may be a little more extravagant, a Bourbon marinated pork chop cooked in my kitchen, is similar to a Bourbon marinated pork chop cooked in the presidents kitchen. Well there is one small difference, my pork chop, did not have to go through security. I am thinking about starting J's food blog, how is this for a title.

The Big J and His Food
A Look at the Cooking and Eating Habits of an Aspiring Home Chief

The Presidents blog is put together, by a paid staffer, with more abundant resources and time to complete the assignment. Big J's has limited time resources, and will not be as "professional" in its appearance.

See the Obama Food Blog
v

Fritos

I am currently having a bit of a crisis. I cannot find the Sony Reader, which I have managed to misplace. It is a great little device, that I need to find, so that I can finish the book that I was reading. The other crisis, is that I do not have any chips to eat. (Perhaps the term crisis is a bit strong.) It is still an issue, as I like to eat my chips and hot sauce about this time in the evening, and since it is a Friday, one of my 7 favorite days of the week, I was going to have a tasty beverage with my chips. They complement each other.

Lent is coming up and I have not decided quite what I will be giving up. I think this year I might fall back on the Dr. Pepper, as I have gotten in the habit of drinking more of them that I used to. This has help the Levis Strauss company, as I have expanded my wardrobe, not just in number, but in size. Besides Dr. Pepper, I might give up the stinky chips aka Chile Cheese Frito's. I have not decided.

My air conditioner is running, it is 9:48 pm, in the first week of march and it is running. The heat is coming and will be here before I know it.

Fog

Driving through the fog is always fun. I did it for about 1 1/4 hour this morning. Driving though the fog, is like driving through an new universe. Much like the first time you drive some where in the dark, but with the fog, it could be the 345 time, and still, it is like a new universe. The fog shrouds the world around the car as we are driving. There is a difference between walking in the fog and driving in the fog. Most fog is not super dense, and difficult to walk in. When one takes the same density fog, and you are now going 60 mph, it seems much denser.

Living life is sometimes, like driving in the fog. One can never be quite sure the direction they are going. As the fog shrouds the surroundings, so does the hectic life we lead. Busy doing this, that, or the other, and we miss our turn. So busy that we do not see the beauty in the people around us, or we are to concerned with our own destination, that we miss a yield sign at life. When we do those things, we allow the beautiful things of life, pass before us. Life is Beautiful, if you ever take time to stop and gaze at the beauty. You will also miss the miracles of life, and by miracle, I do not mean the 1980 USA Hockey team, or the fact that the Red Soxs have actually won a few world series;s. The miracle of life, is that God can take us, create us, and love us, for who we are. He does not love us for what we have done, what we are going to do, or what we plan on doing. He just LOvES us!

Go Fish -

When I arrived at the Castle (chateau, manor, abode, or whatever you chose to call you home) A,C,E, AKA ace, were sitting down to play go fish. I joined them, and using my super powers learned while playing 42, and paying attention to who was asking for what I pulled down 8 pairs. I was pretty excited by this, last time I played, I manged to squeak out 5 pairs. I am thinking, "I bet them!!!". (This is an illustration of my competitive streak, playing my wife, and kids who are in K and Pre School.) So we count up the number of pairs, and I am tied with C, who also has 8. My bubble was burst, I though, we could squeeze in one more game. In the second game it was a 4 way tie, because everyone got 6 pairs.

In the end, I have decided that I might not be the mastermind of Go Fish. The blackberry has taught me I am not the mastermind of "Texas hold'em". I went all in on a Q high straight, the guy sitting next to me had an A high straight. Down the drain when my play money. As night falls here I realize that I will have to practice more with the cards, and the poker. There is nothing like family fun night with Go Fish, Trouble, or even Chutes and Ladders.

Descisions

Decisions are made all the time. Today, I made many decisions, most were small, with little impact, like waking up on time. (Always a good decision in my book.) I made decisions about what I was going to where, items at work were decided upon, and action taken.

Now if i was three, one of the biggest decisions of the day would be, what Pajama's I was going to select for sleeping in. Next to that decision, a three year old would be selecting which stories their parents would read, while they played, and appeared to pay marginal attention to. To be three again, it sounds pretty inviting, until you realize, you don't get to decide much after all. Wake up when you are woken up, and go to sleep when your parents tell you.

I was informed at work that last night were the Oscar's. This information was passed to me, down the hall and through my door, in the form of a conversation down the hall. Had those two individuals not been talking about it, the entire event might have gone without me noticing. I am sure there were great movies made this past year, I for one, have chosen reading, and writing as a more creative way to spend my time.

When you read a book, you engage your mind. When you engage your mind, you think. When you think, you gain wisdom. When you watch a movie, you munch on popcorn. When you munch on popcorn, you drink a soft drink. When you drink a soft drink, you have to go to the bathroom.

Do you choose WISDOM, or the bathroom?

Legos

Legos are awesome I want to get that out of the way first. Legos are a toy that can be played with if you are 3 or 33, I should know, I still play with them. Legos were designed in Europe in the 1940's and have been a favorite of builders with small hands for many years. Cap, Ella, and I have built everything from a space ship, to a boat. All it takes are a few blocks, an idea and a little imagination. Our favorite things to build are planes, cars, and space ships.

I though that I would have more to say about legos, but I do not.

Day of Meetings

Todays Schedule
7;30 to 8:00 - Meeting to review alerts.
8:00 to 9:30 - Staff Meeting
9:00 - 11:00 - Conference Call
11:00 - 11:30 - Presentation to procurement.
1:00 - 2:00 - Incident Review

And how did you spend your day?

Who is Cee Low Green

Last night I wanted to see what the music scene was like, by watching the Grammy's. Normally I tend to avoid award shows, because most of it is just pomp. I managed to watch 10 minutes of the show. Keith Urban, Norah Jones, and some other guy, sang "Jollie". Then they gave the award for best song of the year. Of the seven nominees, I had heard only one of the songs. It was at that point I realized (a) watching was a waste of my time (b) I rarely listen to pop music (unless you count Beethoven), (c) I am out of touch with today's music. So, who is Cee Low Green, and what kind of name is that?

Perhaps I should do some reading on the Oscar nominees, to increase my pop knowledge. However, I think I will just read a book instead, and engage my mind! Any activity more American's should do.

The Confrontation

Today as Cap and I were leaving church, I heard the high school kid cry out B.S. (The entire words), several times; six to be exact. He was upset because he did not call "shot gun" first.

For whatever reason, I decided that I should talk to the boys, and I gave them a little lecture about language. I hope they will think more when they are talking but I doubt it.

When I was in the 6th grade we were playing Romans and Christians outside of the church at youth. One of the older kids, was running around the corner when he slipped. I heard a loud F@#*! Come out of his mouth. I always felt let down by that. I never will forget the experience, it was the first curse word I ever heard at the church. Unfortunately, it was not the last.

Quantitative Easing Explained

The Pumpkin Patch

October is well in swing and last weekend, Cap and I went to Lowes last saturday. When we walked in Cap saw the halloween decoration, and then the Christmas decorations. So you can purchase you ghost decorations, and hang them off of Rudolph's antlers.

Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin Patch, which is much more than just a patch. It had a play fort, pedal carts, a dinning hall, a couple of fields if christmas trees. It did have a pumpkin patch, and to quote the hay ride tractor driver, "The Jack-o-latern pumpkins were brought in from a different vendor this year.".

Everyone had a good time as we searched for the Patman Family Pumpkin.

Muddy Water

The other day I was at the Library and discovered that not only do they have audio books on CD, and you can Check out, but they also have music. I was going through the stacks of music, and found two CDs. The first, was a critically acclaimed Miles Davis Jazz CD. The second, was Muddy Waters, Greatest Hits. I have listed to both albums and I have to say, that the Jazz that Miles Davis puts on reminds me of trying to get out of a corn maze. The music will be clicking along at a stead rythm and notes, then all of a sudden, wham, you hit the dead end of the maze, and the music goes haywire. The rythm changes, and the notes, cords and melody take a U turn, and throw the listener for a loop. Jazz... the music that sounds like abstract art at times, and Paublo Picaso at others. The Muddy Water CD was what I was looking for, a more John Lee Hooker sound of Blues.

I went back today and picked up Wynton Marsalis, and a classical violin CD, and another audio book. THe book is written by Karl Haasien, and I have several other audio books by him. This past week I listened to Airframe by Michael Crition, and it was great. An 11 hour read and I listened to it in about 5 days, of course I put on around 600 miles of travel with work. At this point with as much driving as I do, purcahsing audio books each is getting uneconomical to say the least. That and the pool vehicles that I get, all have CD players, which my old company truck did not.

Last but not least, I did an experiment today to see if I could use all 5 lbs of flour in a new bag in one day, and I succeded. We started out the morning with homemade biscuits (2 cups), then started with the bread (8 cups), I should mention that the bread machine was not used, then we made some blueberry schones (2 cups), and lastly pizza dough (3 cups). Needless to say we ate well, and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking and talking to the kids about cooking. Ella help me top the pizzas, and cap helped with the scones.

Homemade Bread

I did it, all by myself, if you are wondering "what" it is, the homemade bread. This is without the use of the bread machine. It was an interesting process, kind of fun, and not at all as bad as I thought it would be. This does not mean that you will soon see "J's Cafe, your home for coffee and breads."

Another bit of exciting news, while it is still hot outside, I do not feel like I am "MELTING" the second that I walk outside. Football is back on TV, and it does not look like the Astro's or the Red Sox's are not going to be going to the playoffs.

Learning to Read

When I was a kid, particularly when after I started High School, my grandmother always ask me what I was reading. My normal response what nothing, or what ever I had to read in school. She always had a book or to that she was reading, and help get me to read the "Hank the Cowdog" books when I was a kid. (My parents or mom help along those lines as well.). It was not until I was out of college that I finally discovered the enjoyment in reading. This can be correlated with the end of required reading, or that I had time in the evenings to read. Tonight Cap, with a little help, read "Going to the Firehouse" by Mercer Mayer. I hate to boast, but this makes me proud, particular since he wanted to read it.
Over the weekend I was listening to a MLK speech on the forming of a new nation (when Guine became independent) in his speech the he stressed on the importance of education, and the first step, was learning to read. So here at our house we do lots of reading to the kids, as they learn how to read, how to write, and how to be kids.

Cap Self Portrait 8-29-10

Cap Self Portrait 8-29-10
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Say Cheese

Ella Self Portrait 8-29-10

Ella Self Portrait 8-29-10
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Need I say more...

Play Mobile Pirates

Play Mobile Pirates
Originally uploaded by Germburner

The great thing about toys is that you can use your imagination. We were playing with the Play Mobile toys the other day, and Santa ended up being the skipper of the Pirate Ship. It makes Ho, Thar, and Ho! Ho! Ho! fit together. On a side note, Ella calls all of the figure people "Bad Guys" from the pirates, to santa, to the Explorer that is in the back of the picture.

Scenes From My Day 8-26-10

Today I went into a CVS pharmacy in Lafayette, Louisiana. Behind the cash register they had 3 sections of merchandise in this order. First there was the Patron, and other hard liquor. Next to the adult beverages was the and I quote the sign "Quit Smoking Zone". An area with a variety of aids to help stop the smoking. Next to that section was the cigarettes, there was not space whatsoever between them. I would think that if they were interested in helping people kick the habit, they would not be selling the cigarettes.

The other item I notice is that you can purchase a Whataburger gift card now. It makes the perfect card to give to that co-worker that you just cannot tolerate. Buy one today, and save it for the dreadful white elephant gift christmas party this year. That's right, a Whataburger gift card.

If this is not enough there was a teenage girl that came into the whataburger wearing ballet slippers, lime green pants, a yellow shirt, and a knitted winter hat that looked like a puppy dog. I should point out that it is 93 F outside and sunny. If it was 32 cloudy with snow I could understand the hat. No matter what the temperature the lime green pants just don't work.

Ozark Big Ear Bat

Cap's first day of school
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Today was Cap's first day of kindergarten. It was an exciting day, and cap wore a shirt that was educational. It had the picture and name of the Ozark Big Ear Bat. Of course he was also sporting a backpack with "Cap" stitched in the back. I find it hard to believe that he is in kindergarten.

Homemade Pizza

8-22-10 Photos 004
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Yesterday I attempted something that I had never done, and only read about. I made Pizza from scratch, that's right. I planted a little wheat, ground up the flout, well maybe not that much from scratch. I started with Salt, Yeast, and flour, and the breadmachine. It worked out okay for my first attempt. While I was cooking I did a little reading and learned a few things that might help. Of course, this means investing in more Cooking equipment. Do you think the neighbors will mind a brick oven in the back yard?

Lumber Yard Shopping List

8-21-10
* Assorted Zipties
* Hanger for Ella's hide-a-way
* New trash can, Old one is trashed, or thrashed might be a better description.

Me

Me
Originally uploaded by Germburner

August 17

Captains Log: Star date... Oh wait, I am not a captain, just another human being. I have had a touch of writers block, I tried to write last night but lost interest when I fell asleep. Mr. C is now 6, and as birthdays go he had a good one. We traversed the city to go to Galveston, and played on the beach. The kids had fun, along with Stuart, Honey & Bear. The Jellyfish were out, although I did not see any there were some possible bite victims. I did find a couple of Hermit crabs, who up until I pulled them out of the water, were living the good life. Then all of a sudden, they get jerked out of water and it is a shock to their system. It was really hot there yesterday, and on the drive home we were hammered by a rainstorm.

While I am not Captain Krik (and let me tell you that is a good thing. I was watching espn classic a while back and he was on some celebrity bowling show. It was quite funny), sometimes I feel like I am going where no one has been before.

Ella

Ella no cake!
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Here is a picture of Ella in the kitchen after she and Cap watched amy working on the birthday cakes.

Willie's Icehouse

Today after church we went to eat at a joint called "Willie's Icehouse". It looked like a place that had character, and we had never eaten there. While they do make a decent Bacon Cheese Burger ($7.95) and a great grill cheese sandwich according to cap, they do have some quirks. I guess one could say that it had character, as that is a word with a broad definition. So here it is, they have a counter that you order at, no problem. The signs getting you to the counter are Less Than adequate(LTA). So if I did a taproot investigation, I would say that the human engineering was LTA. When you get to the counter your order and some kid making minimum wage writes your order down, then hands you the ticket. By ticket, I mean the slip of paper that the guy in the kitchen gets. The kid then tells me to take it to the table and the waiter will take care of it. Keep in mind that I did not even pay. When the waiter shows up, he re-reads the order (I guess to make sure the first kid did not make a mistake, which they had) then takes the ticket to the kitchen. Willie's is a new looking place that by design is striving for that old look. Much like stone washed jeans when they were in their prime. If you want character, and good food, my recommendation is Red's, AKA Sandy's, AKA Shannon's. It is a place in Borger that does not have to work hard to look old, because it has been there since my uncle was in high school (it was Red's at that time). You can go into the smoke filled restaurant, order a tea and bacon cheese burger and get out with a $6.00 bill (including tip). In the event you are feeling saucy, you can play a Clarance Carter Song hit on the Juke box.

Does Willie's have character, well they have characters in their name if that counts!

MKT - "The Katy"

Now that I reside in a town named Katy, it is time to explore how it got this name. It was named not for a person, like Clovis (named after King Clovis) rather, this town was given the actual Railroad's nickname. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas line was nicknamed "K-T Railroad." It has a bit of a colorful history, including a stunt crash at a location in Texas that later became "Crush" Texas. There is a great blues song titled "She Caught the Katy" and it took me a few years to finally spend the time to research what the song was about. I was thinking, okay was the KT some sort of disease, because the singer's theme is that his partner catches the KT and leaves him. Once you fill in that the KT is a railroad, and that is why she leaves him a mule to ride, the song makes more sense. The song is part of the SNL spin off movie "The Blues Brothers" which is (I am kind of ashamed to say it) a great movie with lots of wonderful quotes. Certainly not a show to watch with the kids, but it is priceless when they have a high speed chase through the Toys R Us and mall.

Elizabeth Who

Today is Ella's Birthday, she has turned 3, and it only took 3 years. She was excited to see me tonight, we met at the Chick-Fillet because they have an indoor playground. In addition I really like their food.

Maize is hungry, she is sitting on the couch winning at me so that I will go feed her. It is certainly on the list for this evening, along with crawling into bed. I can't seem to get my pillows configured correctly, so I have been tossing about at night. I am ready for tomorrow evening, because it will be the start of two blissful without work.

The tropical storm colin, which ceased being a tropical storm a few days ago, so my question is: should this be call Colin II, or just Junior.

2920 Days

Today is Amy's cousins' wedding anniversary. They were married 8 years ago today. It is currently the only anniversary of amy's 10 cousins' anniversary that I know. In all likely hood it will be the only one, I will be able to tell you off the top of my head. In the event you are wondering why I can remember this, I will tell you. It is very simple, they were married the day after we were.

So eight years, 2920 days, 2 kids, 1 dog, 2 house, 3 kitchens later we celebrated our anniversary yesterday. It was fun, went out to eat without the kids (they were under direction of a babysitter) then we hit the Target. While dinner was romantic, the trip to Target was functional, I guess that is what happens after 2920 days.

Love, the Beatles sing about, Shakespeare writes about it, poets rhyme passages of words about it, and Hollywood (we Hollywood shows it, misrepresents it, makes fun or it) but we, we get to live it.

The Kayak Roll

Well I want to start of with a little something on my trip to Northern Louisiana last week. When you go to Louisiana, their specialty it seafood / cajun food, not Mexican food. I did eat at a Mexican food joint last week, it was okay, but it was not like an Emerald "BAM!" Type of experience.

Friday we headed for the hill country,which is one of my favorite parts of Texas. We had the Strebeck summer Family Celebration, which was fun. This leads me to the kayak, I had never been in one so I tried it out. Fist in a two man boat with ella, which went well. Then I decided (Ella did help make the decision when she went of crying for "mom") that I would try a single person. I managed to roll ot over about 6 inches after being push off from shore. I was proud of my new sandals, the functioned well when wet. Our clan had a great time there, one odd thing, we stayed in a hotel that had a tile floor in the room. It caused me to have a little anxiety. On a positive note, our kids did not crash on it.

On the way home we stopped at my cousin Tina's and had lunch in San Antonio, which was a lot of fun. Got to meet Teddy, and have a nice chat.

We did get stuck in traffic 60 miles for houston, so I bailed off the interstate and hit some of the back roads.

The Kayak Roll

Well I want to start of with a little something on my trip to Northern Louisiana last week. When you go to Louisiana, their specialty it seafood / cajun food, not Mexican food. I did eat at a Mexican food joint last week, it was okay, but it was not like an Emerald "BAM!" Type of experience.

Friday we headed for the hill country,which is one of my favorite parts of Texas. We had the Strebeck summer Family Celebration, which was fun. This leads me to the kayak, I had never been in one so I tried it out. Fist in a two man boat with ella, which went well. Then I decided (Ella did help make the decision when she went of crying for "mom") that I would try a single person. I managed to roll ot over about 6 inches after being push off from shore. I was proud of my new sandals, the functioned well when wet. Our clan had a great time there, one odd thing, we stayed in a hotel that had a tile floor in the room. It caused me to have a little anxiety. On a positive note, our kids did not crash on it.

On the way home we stopped at my cousin Tina's and had lunch in San Antonio, which was a lot of fun. Got to meet Teddy, and have a nice chat.

We did get stuck in traffic 60 miles for houston, so I bailed off the interstate and hit some of the back roads.

The Early Bird Gets the Table

Today was a summer saturday at home, which as usual, involved a trip to the swimming pool. Today we made it to the pool 8 minutes after it opened (10:08 AM). I finally understand how long it take to get two kids in their bathing suits, sunscreen, pool toys, snacks, towels, and water gathered up. We managed to get a table with a shade on it, and had the pool pretty much to ourselves for the first 30 minutes. Then other folks showed up, we had fun.

Tonight I grilled some steaks, shrimp, and veggies, and made some whole wheat bread in the bread machine. The bread tasted very, very healthy, so I need a little more practice with it.

Travels

Here is a brief recount of my recent travels.

Houma, LA - July 7-9th
I had Cajun food, and stayed at the Fairfield Inn. To be honest it was not what I expected, a little run down, and my room had a de-humidifier. That's right, something that sounded like a diesel engine in my room that removed humidity.

Houston - 1 Night

Abilene, TX - July 10th-11th
Stayed at Alana's had a great time with them as well as Ryan & Amberly. Went to Ryan's church, which I could not remember ever seeing when I lived there. In addition to that, I had the best ribs I have ever had in my life, Doug cooked them for the birthday party.

Houston - 2 Nights (Yippee)

Editorial Note: I drove 300 + miles 3 days in a row.

College Station - July 13-14
Stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. I Went to a place called wings and more, and we were all surprised that they actually made a few things that weren't fried. I also had a great pork chop at lunch.

Beeville - July 15
Holiday Inn Express I know what you are thinking, "Where is Beeville?". Well it is in Bee county. Not much to report, did not have a local guide for dinner last night, so I headed to Chillis, one them about that place is consistency. No matter if you are in the houston airport, Amarillo, Tx, or Lincoln Nebraska, the food tastes about the same.

Frog Legs

I made an important discovery this past week in Louisiana. I knew they.ate alligator meat, crawfish, and budan, but I did not realize that they ate frog legs. Keep in mind, that I grew up in a place where a wet year was 23 inches of rain. Our fish were freshwater, and we ate a lot of beef and corn.

The frog legs were deep fried (this fits in with southern belief that if it is good, then it is better fried) were good a little on the chewy side. I am a texture person, some people are hung up with color, but texture is important to me. It could taste really good, but if the texture is off, then it does not do it for me. All that said, the chewy texture eliminated the good taste of the frog legs.

Cap at pool

Cap at pool
Originally uploaded by Germburner

You guessed it, here is "Cool Cap" at the pool. We did some snorkeling in the pool, which Cap thought was great.

Ella at pool

Ella at pool
Originally uploaded by Germburner

While not the best quality photo, I think the subject makes up for it. I ran off and left the camera at the house. I almost got the photo taken, uploaded to flickr, and blogged on my "Smart phone." I made it all the way to getting it blogged before I was shut down, still it is pretty amazing. (Needless to say, we went swimming this morning.)

July 4th 2010 Family Photo

July 4th 2010 Family Photo
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Here is our family photo on the 4th of July. Later it sounded like my neighborhood was under siege, but it was only the fire works that went into the wee hours of the night. We are truly blessed to live in a country with some many freedoms, like religion, speech, and even to publish stuff on the Internet.

Fashion

Yesterday we went to church, then went to the Texas Roadhouse for lunch. While we were there I noticed a couple of the waitresses wearing miss matched socks. I asked Amy if they knew their socks did not match, and she said that they did. Evidently that is a fashion statement, as opposed to a political statement. It reminds my of a children's book that Max Lucado wrote titled, If I Only had a Green Nose, which is a great children's book no matter how old your are. This sock thing is a fad just like the bell bottoms of the 70's and late 90's as they made a resurgence. Clothing fashion is such a strange concept, how things that look good today, my children will laugh at when they are my age.

A few interesting tib bits from the news. A hot dog eating champ was arrested for trying to crash Nathan's hotdog eating contests. (Link) You have got to be kidding me, I mean really, there is much more news worthy stories out there. On a second level, a contest to see who can eat the most hot dogs. This is something you do as kids, with hot dogs, pizza, or Cream Puffs. (I would like to mention that I hold the family record for the most cream puffs eaten at 3. I must clarify that these were the "BIG" ones, not the little ones). Only in America, will we have a contest to see who can eat the most hot dogs. It does not stop there... ...in Amarillo, Texas, there is a steakhouse that will cook you a 72 oz steak for free, if eaten in 1 hour along with the sides, while sitting in front of the entire restaurant.

For all the soccer fans out there, the following link will take you to a video of a couple of announcers, announcing a goal in the world cup. I have always said that it is funner listening to the Spanish announcers while watching, and this is even better.

Soccer Announcers

Going to Swim WIth Dolphin

Going to Swim WIth Dolphin
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Here is the crew getting ready to meet the Dolphins, Cap would not kiss the dolphin, and Ella, gave it "Eskimo Kisses".

Birkenstocks Demise

Bahammas 2010 241
Originally uploaded by Germburner

My sandel's finally fell apart. Natually they decided to do this while on vacation in the Bahamas. They held up for 2 days, until I submerged them in swimming pool water, at which point the two section seperated. It was a true travesty, so I had to pay 16.99 for a pair of 2.00 flip flops at the restort. They are not even comfortable flip flops, part of today's quest, is going to be replacement sandels. That, along with laundry, a trip to the swimming pool, a pasta supper or grilling shrimp on the grill, and mailing two memory sticks of vacation photos to Honey.

Story Time 6/25/10

Note - I actually wrote this last week, but am just now publishing it.

I started mowing the grass tonight, but took a break for story time. Current we are reading, Thank You Santa". So reading a Christmas book while the kids are playing with the Halloween decorations they found in the draw. It is like the twilight zone.

Thank goodness, we have moved on to a non-holiday book, it is "If you give a cat a cupcake". A good book, not quite as fun to read as "If you give a pig a pancake," but fun none the less. These books kind of remind me of a TV show call connections, which start with some mundane event, and threads its way to great discovery.

Reality TV, Really?

So the other day I was spending the night in a small hotel with nothing to really do but watch TV. I happened to stumble across the Golf Channel, I like golf, so I wanted to see what was on. After a few minutes, I decided that reality TV has gone to far. (A thought that I have been harbouring ever since "Survivor" started). So here is the setting, a private resort with a golf course, 10 lady golfers who played in college, and saw a little pro action, and one big house. It is like Survivor crossed with The Real World. As you can image, the challenges were all based on who was the best person on the golf course. I was telling Amy about this and she said, "Isn't that kind of what they do every week on the pga tour."

We live in a world with abundant access to books, I mean we have the printing press, Amazon's Kindle, the Sony reader, a variety of newspapers, magazines, yet, the average American house has 2.24 televisions per house. Americans spend, on average, 4 hours of Television per week. We have become a nation that would rather watch someone else's lives, that we would participate in our own life. That is what I think about reality TV...

Slow Camera

Swinging
Originally uploaded by Germburner

I was taking a picture, well this picture with the Sony camera, which is not quite as fast as the Nikon, but what do you expect for a camera that is 1/4 of the price, and fits into your pocket.

Swinging

Swinging
Originally uploaded by Germburner

Cap is enjoying the swing, at what he calls, "The Little Park". Little or not, it has swings, and is within walking distance.

Fathers 2010

"One father is more than a hundred Schoolmasters." ~George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640

So happy Father's day, the day which father's are recognized for being, well themselves for the most part. Ole George was right about fathers and schoolmasters, while I learned a lot of book smart from the teachers, I learned more about they way the world worked, in particular a 1966 mustang, than anyone else. My dad taught me how to use a drill when I was 5, I have a 5 year old and he is not going to be touching that drill for a few more years. I learned how to welded before I could drive a car. The first vehicle I drove down a street was a 5 Ton GMC Winch Truck (or Gin Pole Truck), it had a Detroit diesel engine, and 13 speed roadranger transmission. (I don't think I had started drivers education yet). More important, he taught me about integrity, honor, and respect, treat others the way you would want to be treated. Every year, they would put together a vacation trip to Houston, so I could See a doctor. Once the doctor visit was over, the trip was great, lots of fun.

Here's to dad's, while they may be sitting across the room from the conversation, looking at the paper, they are still listening to every thing. No matter what time you call, or how insurmountable the problem, they always have sound advice, and an extra heavy tow-rope to pull you out. No matter how many questions you ask, they always seem to have an answer.

Saturday Morning 6 AM

I think one of my favorite times is saturday morning around 6:00 am. I get up before the kids, and can have a bit of peace and serenity. It is also a nice time to sit outside. One of the issue I have with the greater Houston area in the summer is the heat. Right now it actually feels kind of cool. In the panhandle it cooled off pretty good once the sun went down, making the back porch an "attractive" place to it. Here it is still 85 degrees, with 60 % humidity, so it is not very cool.

There are a few things I could do, pick-up back yard, go for a walk, fold my laundry, or even take some advil for the headache, as I stayed up to late to be up this early.

I can actually hear a cow mooing in the pasture across the street, which is one reason, my does not feel like it is in the big city. That is until you get on I-10 to drive into work with 500,000 other people.

Tonight the president was on television, talking about the oil spill. The spill that has been going since April 20th. One interesting fact that I learned today, was the bp (British Petroleum) has more employees in the good ole USA than any other country, including Britain.

"Mean while back at the ranch," have you ever wondered why cliches are so popular. Sayings like, "bite off more than you can chew," "a rolling stone gathers no moss" are just things people say with out much thought. Is it that we are out of phrases, or just to lazy to think of something to say... ...or perhaps they are just sayings we like to use, because they sound so different than their meaning. Take "what ever tickles your fancy" has nothing to do with someone tickling you (or me) until we laugh. It means, If that is the way you like it, then it is okay with me". This would be the McDonald's slogan, unlike Burger King which has, "Have it your way."

Do Not Come In My Room

Well today was the kids first day back in Katy, which was an interesting lesson in kids. Ella I think has been missing sleeping in the same room as big brother. Cap on the other hand spent some time in his room with the door closed. In fact, he needed a pencil and paper to make a do not enter sign for his door. Which is funny on two different levels. First, instead of "Do Not Enter" the sign said, "Do Not Come in My Room." Secondly, mom and dad will always knock first, but come into the room, leaving Ella, who does not read, to absorb the new sign on Cap's door, which is still hanging on his door. Amy informed me that while closing the door is easy, the is fun in making a sign. I wonder if that will work at the office?

Other than that it was a pretty ordinary day, we picked up Mazie (Ella and I), Cap elected to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas show instead of coming with us. Charlie Brown may be 6 months out of season, but Mr. C sure like to watch them. Of course, on the TiVo, we still have a show titled, "Prep and Landing," (it is an adorable cartoon) about two elves that "Prep" the house before Santa arrives, and assist with the "Landing" of the sleigh. In 6 more months it will be back in style, just like Disco Music...

Hello World... ...are you still there?

I have been working on hanging a few pictures in the house, that is in my spare time, to make it more homey. So I had the bright idea to see if I had taken any good picture lately with my camera, i.e. "artsy" photo's. (I have taken plenty of the family, well really those have even fallen short.) After looking through several folders, I realized that I had not taken any pictures that were not related to family events, and of family members. Not that this is a bad thing, I like taking pictures of the family. The exception would be the ole house hunting trip. Amy has the good camera with her, so I am left with a small Sony camera, and the old film camera. I may have to run to wal-mart to see if they have any real B&W film, although I doubt it.

I have been so busy lately, and somewhat disjointed the past year, that I have forgotten about the enjoyment, and value in writing, along with photography. Next year I am going to set a one photo per day rule, which will be placed on flickr.... but that is in about 6 months.

Across Valdez Bay

Across Valdez Bay
Originally uploaded by Germburner

A picture standing at the Valdez Civic Center, looking across the bay at the snow covered mountain.

The Big Trip

In the morning, I get to take a big trip. I get to leave the house around 350AM, and will fly from Amarillo, to Denver, to Seattle, to anchorage to Valdez. It will be a good trip, although I am not looking forward to spending a hole day and then some traveling.

Today was church day, so I went. It was an okay service. I got to thinking that I do not remember anywhere in the bible where it says, "worship must consist of 3 Hymns, 1 offering/offertory, a 20 minute sermon, and prayer time.". Don't take me wrong, it is not that I am opposed to this, however, I do not know what Impact it has on the congregation. We call it the worship service, aside from the hymns, there is not much crowd participation.

...and the winner is...

...and the winner is...
Originally uploaded by Germburner

A picture of Cap's Soccer team. They called themselves the Tigers, and everyone had fun. It was a good season... I am sure we will play again in the fall.

3 Ring Circus

Today, I felt like I was in the middle of a 3 ring circus. It is now ~1000 PM, and I am finally winding down. A fact that would not be bad, except I walked out the front door for work @530 AM. Don't get me wrong, the day went by fast, and it was good, just long.

So now it is me and mazie, patio, Dr. Pepper (my best syb for a "Tasty Beverage"), chips, hot sauce, and my iPod.I suppose that I have reached the age of reflection. For instance, I remember the days when phones had cords. Microsoft was virtually unknown, and the Apple IIC was the bomb.

Today, I am sitting on my porch with my cell phone, that I can use for E-mail, the internet, text messaging, alarm clock, and actually make a phone call with. On the table is a iPod, which has 5 movies, probably 20 Audiobooks, and ~1,500 songs on it. Do you know how much space that would take up with CDs, or Cassette tapes, or even the "Vinyl" record. I cannot remember the last time I placed a call on the home phone.

Mazie the Wonderdog

Last night Mazie the wonderdog decided to wake me up at 3 am. She had to take care of business outside, and I don't mean barking at the moon. The last several times I have let her out, I have had to bribe her to come back in. For some reason, she thinks the perfect time to run up and down the fence and back at something is between 1200 am and 600 am. Which does not impress the neighbors. So I found myself, in a tee shirt and boxes standing in my back yard with the dog on a leash. (It is the best way to get her in the house). It was quite the adventure.

The Waiting Place

"You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,headed I fear, toward a most useless place. The waiting place... ...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or the rain to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the show to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting" - Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr.Seuss. I am certain that our church is in the waiting place. Not sure what to do, not sure where to go. A group of people that are very continent, and oblivious to the situation.

Pandemic?

I feel like the world is standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, waiting and watching to see what the swine flu will do. Will it be an epidemic, like the 1917 flu, or like the regular flu, of 2009. It is hard to say, I do think that Egypt might have over reacted by killing 300,000 pigs. The amount of information, and the speed which it is spread is amazing. This single item will aid more in preventing a world wide epidemic, that the paper masks you see on the Tele.

By now, everyone should know the WHO is not who, but the World Health Organization.