I'll be home for New Years?

So Paige and I are both off for the Holidays. We decided we wanted to get out of town and just do some traveling. This led to us coming up with the plan to go and visit Paige's sister and her family in Seattle. We had our route all planned out, all the stops we wished to make, places to see, time for visiting... (We even managed to find things for us both on this trip.)

Then we got hit with the largest snow storm we've had this close to Christmas in oh,
I'm guessing ten years? I couldn't tell you, I'm no meteorologist.

Most of the major roads on our route closed the night before we were to set out. I know, bad karma. Or bad for my karma. Or just bad for my car. I know it's a stretch folks, bear with me.

Well, by Sunday night, some of the roads were confirmed reopened, so we decided to take a trip, any trip. We claimed it was just to get out of the house, but I think by that point we had put so much effort into planning the original trip that it was a matter of pride. (And really, who wants to admit they spent their whole break on the couch watching Stargate - thank you Brent and Lori, Dallin and Jen)

Our new reduced plan would lead us along some of the original route, last 2 or 3 days, and in conjunction with my love of temple photography, allow us to visit 4 temples for both day and night shots at each location. I know what your thinking, 4 temples in 3 days? That's crazy talk! But wait, there's more! These 4 would be all 4 of the Temples in IDAHO, so it's not like they were in the same VALLEY even! This plan really appealed to me, as I had only visited Twin Falls before the groundbreaking, had only visited Rexburg during its construction, had only poor quality pictures from my early days of Photography at Boise, and had never, in all my traveling, managed to time things right to get night shots at Idaho Falls.

Day 1 of our estimated 2 day plan would take us 4 hours to Idaho Falls, then 30 minutes on to Rexburg, Then later that night, from Rexburg back to Idaho Falls. And If everything went that Easy, I would not be blogging about it in such a darkly alluding manner.


We made it to Idaho Falls just fine.

At this point the the only functioning keyfob I have for my car quit working. For milliseconds that may or may not have felt like an eternity I had no idea how we were going to get into the car. Then I realised the key still worked. Thank heaven for Analog technology. Retro is cool. Anyway, I'm not superstitious (knock on wood) so I did not see this as the Omen of Gloom that it obviously was. We drove on. We made it to Rexburg.

And I was able to get plenty of day shots. We went to dinner and came back in time for dusk and night pictures.

That is where it ceased being fun for the night. We were not even out of the parking lot before it became obvious something was not right. So, at the bottom of the hill, under the light of a temple, I get out and find that one of the tires has gone completely flat. 15 minutes into the tire change, the cheap little jack that the car came with SPLIT IN TWO. Right at the scissors joints. (Yes, I was helping at this point too...and helped even more by not chucking the jack through the car window in frustration.)


For this kind of Quality we are bailing out the Big Three Auto makers. I'm lucky the car didn't come down on my foot.

So in the dark (and the BITTEREST frigid wind that I have ever felt) we manage to flag down a passing motorist (Thank you, whoever you are) and borrow her jack. (This after I said, "No, we don't need help" to about 3 other cars...) She was even kind enough to turn her van around and light up the process. Keep in mind that at this time of year in Rexburg, the roads don't exactly have shoulders. Traffic on this mildly busy road was down to one lane till we got the donut on. Oh, the Donut. Not ten minutes later, the car is having problems again. We pull over and find that our wonderful little donut. which was in perfect condition just 2 streets ago, now looks like THIS:
We ended up getting towed to a motel across the street from a tire store in the spraawling metropolis of Rigby Idaho. (Which is world renonwned for the birthplace of the television, as our towing man stated to give the situation a silver lining...um, nope; still never want to be in Rigby again.)

This concluded day one. This will also conclude post one. As they probably say in Rigby, "Tune in tomorrow..."

Music Monday

For by older brother Matt, who I'm sure occasionally wishes HE also had a license to do something more than drive, a little Mozart.

And just because I think these guys are funny, something additional; I will survive.

Music Monday

I know, I know, I'm horrible. First Music Monday in what, three weeks?

Back to Coldplay today. These videos are from their newest Album, Viva L Vida. I love this Album. If you like Coldplay, if you have EVER liked Coldplay, get this album. It is one of their best.

We present two videos, the first being Viva La Vida, a song that to date has gotten the band sued twice for what one radio news reporter called "ColdPlagerism". Having listened to all three of the songs in question, they sound as exactly similar as any three songs that share the same twelve notes could be expected to hear. And ColdPlay can't be accused of plagerism until the other two artists admit their songs were pretty lousy to begin with, and Coldplay did them a favor.

Oh, and the other video is Violet Hill.



Album: Viva L Vida
Recommend: The whole Album

Album: Viva L Vida
Recommend: The whole Album

Things we couldn't do ourselves.

Our shower door arrived yesterday, and this evening we will finally be able to use our new shower!

The "Difficult" Neighbor

As many of you may know, we live across the street from the local high school. This, unfortunately causes us all kinds of grief. We have been working with the city to try and resolve some of these issues, and for the most part we are used to it, but every now and again...

I came home from a quick errand this morning to find this.



At first I thought there had been an accident. Then I realized he had BACKED IN
this way. I called the police, as the Chief of Police has requested we do, 2 cars arrived, and while one was writing out a ticket, the driver arrived.

I sat inside and could here most of it through the closed storm door.

"Dude, where did you learn to park?"

This was followed by many other great lines like;

"I don't care if you were late, there is no excuse for this."

"Are you smiling? This isn't funny, why are you smiling? You stop smiling RIGHT NOW. You could have damaged their sprinkler system, that's 'Destruction of Personal Property'."

"You will move this car right now or I will have it towed. You pull right over THERE and if I see you smile again I'll tow it any way."

It's gratifying to see them get tickets, but the impromptu drivers ed course seems to teach them so much better. I was given the opportunity to inspect my sprinkler system with the officer while the high school student watched, and he was given the opportunity to sign for his ticket.

I'm sure we'll get egged or TP'd, but it was still worth it.

photogent.com

So I brief update on this post: The original version of photogent is officially off the server. Only the new layout remains.

In Addition, the temple photo galllery is now updated to match the main site. If you don't want to find it through the gallery pages, you can check it out here:

http://photogent.com/Temple1ind.html

Life without Home improvements.

Before I start, to answer all the questions, the tile in the bathroom along with the shower bench was my design. The tile work was done by myself with the help of my friends Nathan and Jake.

Nothing all week. Well, nothing in the Remodel Department, but man, life is not much more relaxed.

I finally registered for the last of my classes in January. I was able to get a Math class after all, so at least I won't feel like I'm behind on those crucial classes that everything else hinges on. Signing up for classes is harder than one would think. Sure you do it online, but you have to tell Paige "Hey, who is signing up for classes here?" every 2 minutes. It may be harsh, but If I hadn't I would be signed up for 30 credits, and half of them would be science classes.

We (I) replaced the dishwasher that died 6 months ago. I only had the old one for something like 4 years, but I got it as a 4 year old from Brent and Lori. They gave it to me because it was broken. Sure I had to strip it, clean it, and remove potentially crucial parts to get it working again, but hey, Free Dishwasher. It only took me 2 hours to install the new one. The water supply hose popped off 3 times, and I sliced 2 different fingers 4 different times on sharp brass. The New Dishwasher is brushed steel finish, and has this awesome light that tells you when the dishes are clean. . .

I'll be right back.

Ok.

We put up the Christmas tree. This is my first year not having a real pine. On the plus side, this is also the first year that I'm not covered in sap and mumbling Yosemite-Sam style at the tree stand. On the negative side, It came with lights that don't have the 7 speed twinkle I'm used to and it's so real looking it even drops needles. Then again, only an umbrella could be easier to install.

My joints and tendons are getting "trunky" with only 2.5 weeks left at work. This morning I stepped out of bed and nearly awoke Paige with a scream of pain. The tendonitis in my right foot had increased over night to the point of "Ice Pick" proportions. Even soaking it didn't get it to relax. It was frustrating. Add to that that I'm so tired after a day of work right now that I only manage to stay awake for an hour or two after getting home. Oddly enough, now that I have nothing to do, I get nothing done.

I had a computer scare last week when the hard drive that held all the wedding photos I'd ever taken crashed. After many hours of arguing with a machine that may have more logic but still has less commen sense than I do, I gave up. Then Dad suggested that the external enclosure I had it in was probably bad, and that I should try the one he had.

Always believe your parents. That's the moral of that story. I have all the pictures back, whole and undamaged. The hard drive is actually failing and bad, but I got all my data off.

So all in all, I'm tired and it's only Tuesday. And that, my friends, is why we have not posted a music monday in 2 weeks.

Fin.

So It's been awhile since we've updated, but it was worth it. Last night Four weeks to the day, we finished our Bathroom remodel. Well, finished except for some minor paint touch up, and of course the glass in the shower, but we are at the mercy of others for that. Anyway, this is what used to be the back half of the big bathroom upstairs. Here you see the stairs and a corner of the closet that used to make up the whole north wall of the bathroom. Yes, I sauid closet, in the second picture you will see how I used a shower curtain to replace the taped together bi-folds that fell completely apart 5 years ago. to the left of the tub was the toilet and sink that can bee seen in This post



Now, after 4 weeks of Marathon remodel, we present to you our new small but private master bathroom.

Music Monday

Today's Music Monday we bring you a band named after The Archduke of Austria who's assassination was the excuse for world war one.

Here are two video's from Franz Ferdinand. First we bring you Take Me Out, Followed there after by the "stranger than the other one" video Dark of the Matinee.



Album: Franz Ferdinand
Recommend: I know nothing about this band, but I like these two songs. My sister could tell you better than I.

Album: Franz Ferdinand
Recommend: See the first video's comments.

The Bathrooms; Update

When last we notified you on Halloween, 2 weeks ago tomorrow, we gutted the upstairs bathroom. That morning, our bathroom looked like this:

As of today, the front bathroom is finished. Except for some molding and the shelves on one side, that is. So, here is the "finished" project.



We won't show you the Master Bathroom, as it needs tiling before it can be called finished.

Music Monday

Ok, so last week we mentioned a band called Goldspot. I have become intrigued with the band, so as a result, we now post all three of their videos; Friday, Time Bomb, and Rewind.

I think Rewind is my favorite.

Album: Tally of the Yes Men
Recommend: I like these guys, they are a bit hit and miss, but over all I grew into the Album.

Something Else

Paige wanted to post a picture of where the bathroom remodel is at. I'm posting something else because I'm to lazy to take the pictures.

Actually, I want to surprise people with where we are at, but I will say that one of the 2 bathrooms will be fully functional by weeks end, we hope.

What I'm posting instead is a little experience we had regarding what it looks like in the store verses what it looks like at your house.

When Brent so graciously designed our yard for us a year and change ago he included 2 paths in the back yard. One of those paths finally came into existence 2 weeks ago. We knew we wanted a light color path, and we thought we wanted crushed Granite as per Brent's suggestion. When we got to the store, they had crushed granite and it was very DARK. Unbeknownst to us, this was solely because of the moisture in the bag. M emmo to me, rocks are always darker when wet. Go figure.

Instead we bought the crushed marble, at 30 cents cheaper per bag. (Yeah, I had to double check that one...) It was a lovely light tan color, also because of the moisture in the bag.

When it dried over night, it no longer qualified as tan.


Ironically, as our repaint the house plans involve white trim, this may actually work better than the granite would have. Who knew.

The moral of the story is make sure all your purchases are dry before you leave the store. I guess.

Vote

Paige and I got up rather early this morning so that we could get in line and vote before Paige had to be at work. My Schedule is more flexible, so I wasn't worried about the early so much. It is nice, however, to get it done and not have it on ones conscience all day.
We arrived 15 minutes before the polls opened to take our place 30th or so in line.

We did vote. We were most concerned about some of the cities bond votes, so now I feel my voice has been heard there.

Honestly, not so worried about the presidential vote. I think I know how that's going to turn out, both in Utah and Nationally.


It took us 45 minutes to get through the line. By the time we left, I would say there were near 200 people waiting.

On our way home, Paige and I discussed the vote, and decided that neither of us can remember a time in our years of voter eligibility where either of us cast our vote FOR a presidential candidate. It's always been AGAINST his opponent.

Sure, the ballot does not record things that way, but if it did, what a way to start off a presidents approval rating, eh? "So and So won the election by an impressive 50 percent of the populace voting against his opponent and 20 percent of the populace voting for him. It was a landslide..."

Comedian Lewis Black made a comment several years ago that in the short space of 25 years we went from voting for candidates like John F. Kennedy to candidates like Bill Clinton. He figured in another 25 years we would be voting for house plants. He said: "I have a candidate I will be presenting then, his name is Phil... Odendron. He is for low light and lots of water and THAT'S a platform I CAN believe in."

Talk about voting the Green Party.

Music Monday

This morning I have decided to bring you the only other Modest Mouse song I actually like. A peppy little upbeat number about everything going wrong and not letting it get to you. And, because I'm a fan of clever covers, I bring you a cover as well.

First, We have Modest Mouse with the song Float On

After that , we bring you a "song only" video of the same song by a band called Goldspot.




Album: Good News for People Who Love Bad News
Recommend: Just the song, seriously.

Album: The OC:Covering our tracks
Recommend: The same here, just the song as this is a various artist compilation.

It was Gremlins...

So, how was your Halloween? Ours was busy. About mid afternoon we began our big project for the winter. I hope to have it done before Christmas, all the more so I can convince Paige "no more projects till summer."

Anyway, Friday morning, our upstairs bathroom looked like this:


Somehow, between All Hallows Eve and All Hallows Day the bathroom ended up like this:


I tried to convince Paige it was Gremlins, but she didn't go for that any more than she's gonna go for the "no more projects" bit. Probably because she was wielding one of the hammers.

Anyway, the part wall you see there will become a full wall, dividing the hall bathroom from the soon to be separate master bathroom. If you look at the tiny picture closer, you will notice that the drains are in for the new toilet locations, and I'm well on my way to having all the plumbing half roughed in. Lot's of work ahead, but lots of work behind.

Costume!

So, Each year Paige dresses up on Halloween to go teach at the Junior High. Apparently some jobs allow this. In construction, you only get to dress up as a construction worker.

This year Paige dressed up as witch. Though more in the lines of the Harry Potter genre. She had this dress that belongs to her mother that was picked up when traveling, and then I totally carved this awesome wand for her, using a handheld belt sander, a chisel and a file.

Most people assumed she was Fiona from the Shrek series. Why do people automatically assume that your costume has to be something so totally commercial? I mean, wasn;t it obvious she was dressed up as a teacher from Hogwarts? Sheesh. People.

Anyway, here is the costume.


I like red hair, personally, but a wig is apparently to much to wear for that long. Or so I have heard.

Those of her students who saw the wand found it amazing that anyone could actually make something like that. I'm guessing none of her students took shop.

Here's the wand. (Elm and dragon heartstring, fourteen and three quarter inches, inflexible, excellent wand for transfiguration... Sorry, my geekinesss is showing.)

Jack

What is Halloween without out carving pumpkins, pretending to be something else, or scaring various groups of marauding teenagers out of the candy they stole from smaller children?

Ah, memories.

Tonight we were invited to the Shumways to carve our sacrificial pumpkins. Actually, I look at is as liberating the inner captive from the bland exterior. (Let your light shine and all of that).

Here is the product of this nights labor.

Music Monday

Today, another departure. Rather than just bringing you a song from a band that you may or may not have heard of, we want to ask you, have you ever considered the music in a Movie?

Good music or bad music can "assist" even the worst of acting. An Awful performance may become more overlookable in a highly dramatic moment assisted by the right musicale score. Like Ben Afflec in Armaggedon or Leonardo Decaprio in any movie he's ever been in.

The score can set the whole mood. Even for a movie you have already seen before. Like the video we have today. So Just sit back, relax, and rethink your whole childhood.




oh. Happy Halloween.

Oh bright and shiney

Today we brought joy and happiness to Brian's life: a new laptop!

His beloved (and despised) laptop had so many problems; it was time to put it down in favor of one that will not cause premature baldness from hair pulling.

It's been such a good laptop too. The problems started with the fan. See figure 1.


This fan you can't see here has, for several months begun to sound like James Earl Jones riding in a car without suspension on a washboard road. On it's good days. This unfortunately is also the CPU cooling fan. (Minor key music begins to play.)

Second is the bad screen pivot, which unbeknownst to me has not been turning with the rest of the screen. See figure 2.



The pivot caused the screen housing to crack nearly 4 inches across the back of the screen towards the second pivot. It also shredded all the plastic around it to where the screen cover no longer sits right and the screen itself won't stay upright unless at strange and unreadable angles.

The straw that deliberated the camel into visiting a chiropractor was the CDROM drive. It ejects anytime you hit either enter key. or look at it. or breath within 3 feet of it. or whenever it has to do something stressful like sitting there and doing nothing. Or, believe it or not, just now. For no reason. It's new favorite game is to eject 1.5 seconds after you push it back in. 6 times in a row is it's current record. BUT TODAY...

I was trying to burn a copy of my portfolio for a prospective employer. See figure 3.



This is our nasty orange office carpet. We are currently taking donations for it's replacement (Just Kidding). Also in this picture find all the discs it ejected mid-burning before making the ONE disc in the corner.

Alas poor Joric, I knew him well Horatio, here sat the keyboard I tapped I know not how many times...

Music Monday

My Sister should love this:

Today we have some Keane.

First, Everybody's Changing, followed by Bad Dream.




Album: Hopes and Fears
Recommend: Good Album, Highly recommended

Album:Under the Iron Sea
Recommend: This one as well.

The Office

Our office has been in a state of construction since Brian began working on the ceiling two years ago. We basically finished it in August, but with a major problem... Our experimental blindingly blue ceiling did not turn out the way we wanted it. This weekend, I finally got around to painting the ceiling white again. So, here you have it - our new and improved office.

Let there be light!

What do you do with a hole in your roof and ceiling? Plug it, of course!
And, add another one.

The hallway was dark and gloomy, and our winter plans of dividing our upstairs bathroom would leave the inner bathroom without a source of natural light. One long day of work later, we have a skylight in the hallway and one in the bathroom. Now, if I could only ignore the patching jobs that are obviously apparent as you look at the hallway...

Before

After

Revenge on a Swamp Monster

That's it.

We confess.

WE KILLED THE SWAMP COOLER!

We pushed it off the roof when it had its back turned.

Can you blame us? It was superfluous since the arrival of our central air. It was a blight on the landscape and a hole in the roof through which our conditioned air could escape.

We found great pleasure in the piece by piece dismantling culminating in our next blog post.

Death of the Swamp Monster

Disassociated press, Thursday October 16 2008.

On a cool and sunny fall day, in a realatively quiet neighborhood, a longstanding member of the community toppled to a loud clanging metal-tearing death.

Those who knew the victim described him as ominously creaking, flapping in the wind, and annoyingly full of high humidity.

The Police have few leads to go on but at this point are suspecting foul-play.

He is survived by the homeowners who are frankly glad to see him go.

RIP ,
The Swamp Cooler.

Music Monday

Good Morning! welcome to another Monday.

This mornings video is a cute little song from a so far one-hit-wonder.

This cute little video teaches me 2 things. (I mean aside from all the philosophical mumbo-jumbo about being yourself and all that, I thought that was obvious.)

First I learn that clowns are inherently creepy. Okay, I knew that, but this is a life affirming experience here.

Second I learn that clowns with facial stubble are significantly less creepy than all other clowns. That one I can't figure out.

Here is Ingrid Michaelson with The Way I Am.



Album: Girls and Boys
Recommend: I seriously know nothing about this artist beyond this one song. I highly recommend the song, and if anyone knows anything else about here, recommend away.

Bread Crumbs

We've been attempting to adjust a wonderful bagette recipe passed to us by Jon & Angela this past week. It has been an interesting ride.

Monday: Started the recipe. After about 2 hours, Brian commented that it didn't look like the yeast had risen. "There's no yeast in it," was my calm and confused reply...and then the light bulb lit. (that batch stopped there)

Tuesday: The next batch, which Brian started, was wonderful. (All 3 loaves were gone by Thursday night.)

Friday: I made a double recipe to share around...and only added half of the needed salt. (Edible, but no prize winner.)

Anyone seeing a pattern?!?!
I can cook, but I think I will leave the bread making to Brian.

Hitting the books...

So many of you may know, and many of you may not, but I changed jobs one year ago the end of this month. After 7+ years with Kodak Service and support I decided I was unhappy enough to finally choose something else.

After an extensive search, I ended up working for a division of Gunthers Heating and Air conditioning. None to soon either, as the job in which I HAD been working at kinda went belly up. Within a matter of months Kodak cut it's service force down to less than a third.

So I took up HVAC instead, and as the poet once said, I "took to it like a duck to merchant banking." It was only weeks into my job that one of our job leads declared me the worst at ductwork he'd ever seen. Or maybe I said that, and he didn't contradict me.

Things, unfortunately, did not continue at such a rosy pace. Around Christmas, I started having pain in some of my joints. Some time off around the holiday and I felt better until a couple of weeks after the wedding when my hands began to ache. They had done it earlier in the season, and they were an inconvenience, but I really figured they were aching due to the 32 - 8 degree weather in which I was running control wire in a wall - less building. Then the same problem began occurring in my knees, and eventually in my ankles and feet. By mid summer, though my hands were back to normal, my leg joints hurt so bad if I stood still or sat for more than 5 minutes remaining stationary that I would have to limp around for ten or more before I could walk normal again. A Doctors visit showed nothing to be wrong, anywhere. I just hurt. It's not even arthritis.

Add to this a constantly overwhelmed feeling and things began to become intolerable.

whelm (hwĕlm, wĕlm) tr.v. whelmed. whelm-ing, whelms
To cover with water; submerge.

overwhelm (ō'vər-hwĕlm',-wĕlm') tr.v., -whelmed, -whelm·ing, -whelms.
To no longer be keeping ones head JUST below water.

Okay, I may have made up that second one.

Anyway, I came to the conclusion that it was not particularly good for me to continue in the path I was in. For one, it hurt to much. For two, whats the point of me forcing a company to pay me for something I was (am) rapidly becoming less able to do?

All in all, the conclusion became that I must find something else, and that though I deplore the thought of school, school it must be. I am talented at many things, but I have no paper to show me trained in those things which I really enjoy doing. (does that mean I'm not paper trained?)

Then upon further review, we decided that at least while Paige is employed, and as we can live comfortably on her income, I'm going to go to school full time. So, January 7th I start full time at Utah Valley University. I will be going for a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media. UVU's program is nationally connected and watched, and even has some International recognition. It's a good program.

I'm still terrified of the thought of school. I took the placement tests today. I got a 99 out of 99 on Reading. A 98 out of 99 on writing. . .

And a 78 of 99 on Pre-Algebra.
and a 25 out of 99 on Algebra.


So, I can take the highest required for reading and English, and a non-credit review for math before I can take the required Math class. But I can also take one of my core classes right away. That's what I'm looking forward to. That and giving my joints some time to calm down. I hope.

Love-Hate

I am trying to remember that it does NOT make me a bad person to love a child but hate them at the same time. After all, I could just hate them.

I have a special few boys who I like as people, but wish they would:
a. wise up
b. listen to me as I try to teach them how to play the school game
c. figure out that they will NEVER earn their way out of "book-time" unless they behave...and behave
d. find another class to disrupt
e. be taken over by body snatchers and changed into a "model" student

Oh well, 1/4 of the year finished, 3/4 to go!

Follow the...dirt road

I finished digging our path today! My muscles and trusty shovel have been looking forward to a break - we've earned it. (Just in time for rain/snow to fill in the depression that we walk through every day.)

Now, comes the fun of laying the base rock and edges and pavers and...I'm going to stop now before I get discouraged.

Olivia

Introducing:

Olivia Marie Barlow
Born: Oct 3
8 lbs 10 oz
20.25 inches

I may be biased, but she is awfully cute.

Such a sweet sister moment... I am not holding my breath that it will last forever, but I am sure they will have so much fun in the years ahead.

Music Monday

Music Monday once again. I know, It's a late post, comparatively. I usually post somewhere in the neighborhood of three hours ago.

I'm late today on account of me not being at work. I have an appointment in an hour or 2, so I skipped work.

So now here I am, awake and ready for my day, and ready to bring you some music. Today I have chosen to bring you 2 more from ColdPlay. I give you first, The Scientist, followed by Trouble.



Album: Trouble
Recommend: A very good album, I recommend the whole thing.

Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Recommend: Also a highly recommended album

He Said, She Said

Brian and I are on a different schedule. He needs to be out the door at 6 am, while I am not due at the school until 7:32. In the first few months of our marriage, we were both dedicated to getting up at 5am, having breakfast together, etc. Did anyone else see the "slip" away from that schedule? Yeah, so did we. Currently, Brian bounds out of bed at 5:30, while I enjoy an additional half hour until 6am.

I love to sleep. I could sleep for probably 9+ hours a night, if my schedule allows it. Most days, I am perfectly happy to get out of bed to go to school, but I will take extra minutes if I can. Brian can't seem to understand why I don't bound out of bed with him at 5:30. In all actuality, I am being very magnanimous to wake up enough to kiss him goodbye and wish him a good day at 6am. In a dream world, I would sleep perfectly until 6:40, when I should arise to get ready. However, he spends the 30 minutes of sleep time (for me) between 5:30 and 6am getting ready. To be fair, he is much more quieter than I am, but he acts as my snooze alarm. I don't even set my alarm anymore, except on Friday when I need to get up at 5:15 to go walking with some friends. He used to comment/complain about my actual snooze alarm, but who needs a one when you have a husband who kisses you awake after 30 minutes?

On a related side note, I have a long to-do list, much of which consists of outside chores. On Saturday, I tend to stick to the same schedule as the rest of the week and get up at 6am. This lets me work on projects in the cooler portion of the day; I get so much more done! Plus, I love the feeling of accomplishment when I see all that I've finished.

Studies have shown that your body functions better when your weekend sleep schedule is consistent with your weekday schedule. Really, I am choosing the healthier option. I just don't understand why Brian can't see that my way makes so much more sense!


Paige and I are on schedules that are relatively similar except for one little thing. It has been my privilege in life to be roommates to SEVERAL different young men, and as a consequence I noted a large variety of sleep habits are out there in the world.

I am one of those who cannot stand noises that repeat. As such, once the alarm is in action every morning, I must shut it off as soon as possible. Then I must get out of bed to prevent any misfortune from occurring. I also dislike the thought of oversleeping.

I LOVE to sleep though. For this reason Paige and I head to bed at 9:00 each night and I set my alarm as late as is reasonable to still allow me to get ready. As a consequence, on a good night, I get 8.5 hours of glorious sleep.

What I don't get is my wifes insistence on wearing out the snooze button. Oh, sure, I've had roommates who did the same thing but I didn't understand it in them either. All it does is give you little 2 to 4 minute chunks of sleep that totally throw off your regular schedule and make you more tired in the end than you were before you went to bed!

Now, I;m a guy with a fairly regular sleep pattern. My body often wakes me up 5 to 10 minutes before the alarm goes off. As a matter of fact, in my last job, I never even set an alarm, my body was so well trained. But we all know that our bodies need to reclaim the sleep that we miss from our bouts of insomnia through the week. That's what Saturdays are for, right? My body wakes me up at 5:30, I get up, stretch grab some water and go back to bed to do some catching up. But at 6:00, my wife bounds out of bed without even needing an alarm and starts puttering around the house acting as my un-intentional personal snooze button, waking me up every 2 to 4 minutes. When I finally crawl out of bed at 8, or 10 as the individual case may vary, I'm exhausted. If she would just sleep in till 8, neither of us would end up needing to nap all afternoon on Sundays. We would have a healthier nights sleep and would awake on Mondays ready to face the grueling work week ahead of us.

And then, with a good Monday under our belts, we would sleep better all week. Honestly, It's just healthier.

Music Monday

Today we bring you more from our old favorites, BNL. First up is Brian Wilson, followed thereafter by Another Postcard.




Album: Gordon
Recommend: You are getting sleepy. . . very sleepy. . . you will buy this album. . .

Album: Everything to Everyone
Recommend: Yeah, you already know what I'm gonna say to this. Just get it.

Brian and Paige go to Washington

Since purchasing this house 7 years ago, a threat and a shadow has been steadily growing in my mind. Something has begun to threaten my peace, thereof. Children, in nature if not age, have been plugging every little available (and sometimes un-available) piece of sidewalk bordered asphalt with automobiles. You see, I live across the street from a High School.

There has been litter, blocked driveways, blocked mailboxes, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

We have grieved with our fellow cul-de-sac-ians over these pervasive licensed pests, these wreckers of vision of on-coming traffic, these . . . teenagers. We signed a petition. We sent it to city hall. We waited. We heard nothing.

We found out that they had lost our petition.

After re-submitting our petition to the city to have our curbs painted red (no parking) and changing the signs to "Resident Parking Only," we were granted a meeting with the Mayor, the police chief, and the head of public works on Wednesday. It was too short of notice to involve the neighbors directly, so we got the honor of attending.

They were very attentive and supportive. We did a fabulous job, even if we have to brag for ourselves...yeah for us! While they advised us to be patient, they gave every indication that both of our suggestions would be implemented.

(Now, if only they would occur before the end of the school year in May, we will have cause to celebrate!)

As a side note: Paige would like to formally announce her candidacy for President now that she is an expert on politics...or maybe not. :)

Construction "Humor"

The buildings I have been lately working on can best be summed up under the word Monster. Though not always for size and scope.

The largest of these unfortunate buildings has six floors, and one parking garage level. The ground floor is nearly though not quite double the height of the five floors above it. This makes roughly 8 stories. And no elevator. We have been carrying items up these 7.65 stories of stairs since last December, and oddly, I STILL feel massively out of shape. But I'm not the only one who feels this way.

There is a large vertical run of square ductwork that graces the inside of one of the stairwells, starting at the numeric second floor. As you top the flight at each floor, you find yourself face to tin with this large duct, the door to your floor just to the left. 4 months ago, words started appearing on the duct.

The following pictures have been massively photoshopped. Mostly for language. I also did it quickly, as, I really wasn't looking to create grade a display material with this post.

It all starts In the parking area. I climb what basically amounts to 3 floors worth of stairs. I came to the second floor landing, to find myself staring at a floor designation along with a strangely accurate medical diagnosis.

Even though at this point, the landings are at regular intervals the rest of the way up, I reached the next landing with a feeling that someone was reading my mind. (Or just watching my progress)


By the time I reached the fourth floor I knew that I was so exhausted I was hallucinating strange messages.


By the fifth floor landing, It was plain to see that someone, clearly, was killing me softly (or not) with their song. Yes, They were singing my life with their words.


Then, finally, the pinnacle of my climb, the epic point of my struggle, a large flat place where I knew I could pass out and catch my breath, I was presented with this painful and clear message:


And that, my friends is a rare bit of construction humor that can be shared at the dinner table.

Fall

You may or may not be aware that fall is coming. And I'm not speaking economically here. The tides of human interest wax and wane but time creeps silently through the backdrop of human worry.

You would not know fall was yet close just looking around the nieghborhood. No fall has not quite unpacked it's medicine show down here in the valley, but it has begun it's sales pitch in the higher elevations. In fact, I have been seing something other than green daily for nearly a month now.

And it has been a good wet year, too. That adds lots of color.

So, in case you were previously unaware of the impending fireworks display, I bring you a sampler. Mind you this image was taken on my cell phone. And with my hand pointed out the window. And I wasn't really looking. And I took 30 the hopes that I would get 1 good one. And I did. Just the one.



I'm not into the habit of taking my good camera to work, so this really doesn't measure up to my usual standard, but it's a sight to behold none the less.

Music Monday

So here, this morning, I bring you the epitome of pop. Today, I give you pApAs fritAs. That's neither a mis-spelling nor a culinary reference. My good buddy Mike introduced me to this band several many years ago with the first of their videos, with the exclamation that this video, this very video right here, would revolutionize how music videos are done.

So here I sit, ten some odd years later. I think back on the extraordinary pronouncement and say:
"eh."

One of my favorite things about this obscure band is that one of their better songs was covered by another obscure band, "Ivy". Neither of them made a video of it, so no additional references here.

But to this day they are still pretty cool. When asked how they got their name, the band mentioned that it sounded remarkably like "pop has freed us". Well, there you go. we bring you there first "big" (term used loosley) hit, Hey Hey you say, then there last and only other "big" hit, Way You Walk.




Album: Helioself
Recommend: If you like pop, you'll want fries with that.

Album: Buildings and Grounds
Recommend: If you like pop, you'll want fries with that.

Culinary Masterpiece

Bright lights, photographer, stylist, agent, product....and food. Yes, today, in our very own home, we hosted a culinary photo shoot.

I REALLY enjoy photography, but every now and then I get to take pictures of something just challenging enough to keep me very excited.

A friend and former roommate (victim?) of mine is part of a business that cans and produces food storage products. I'll get you a link to their stuff soon; they have some really amazing stuff coming down the line. He came to me for promotional photography.

Anyway, we planned it all out in advance. We had the layouts, the positions, almost everything was thought out. We figured it would take nearly 3 full hours.

5 Additional hours later, we were finally finished. But the results were well worth it...and the food was pretty good too.

The images we took were for both their can labels and their website promotions. Here we present to you (with encouragement) a selection of my favorites of both.

Update: Our very first comment on this post has reminded me to let you know that not only are the products in the bowls real food, so is all the other food, none of that photo trickery for us. (Glue instead of milk? Surely milk is still a LITTLE cheaper?)