Merry Christmas! Here's a couple videos

So Logan creates stop-action movies on occasion, and over the last couple days he cranked out these. First up, the kitties (Fog, Ginger, Creamsicle and Frangles) catch a bus, then a few other vehicles:



Then the rest of the stuffed animals joined in and had quite the tree-trimming hoedown:

A fine Star Wars edit

Man, whoever put this together is a freaking genius, I must say. Because really, given what crappy shots the Storm Troupers are, shouldn't we expect the targeting systems in the Death Star to be a bit, well, off?

Maybe that 2nd Ammendment thing isn't so crazy after all...

Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun

This is freakin' cool...

I'll add this to the list of jobs I'm not applying for but am darn glad someone's doing.

Why did I just find out about this today?

I mean really...isn't someone supposed to alert me about things this awesome? (sorry about the ads...it's Hulu, what do you want? It's worth the wait.)

WTF, Germany?

As if the whole plasticized corpse thing wasn't creepy enough the last time it rolled through town, now Body Worlds plans a cadaver show dedicated to sex.

So, is it still necrophilia when it's two corpses getting it on? Oh, wait, that's not the idea:

"It's not my intention to show certain sexual poses. My goal is really to show the anatomy and the function," Body Worlds creative director Whalley told Reuters in an interview, adding the sex exhibition may open next year.

Hold it...reading further it appears that this time they're avoiding corpses getting it on because they've already done that in another show called "Cycle of Life".

And so I repeat: WTF, Germany?

First day of school!

Wait...it's September already? Damn! And I haven't even finished my recap of August's bike trip and Scout camp. Hmm...may have to do that today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, today was the first day of school, so here's this year's proof that the kids are indeed getting bigger!

Maya missed out!

So a week ago Maya had three choices: She could come camping at Dosewallips with her mom, brother and me (and a bunch of other families from the Troop), she could go to Steamboat Rock with a friend's family for 5 days of sun, swimming, biking and boating, or she could stay in town and skate with the Tootsy Rollers at the Rat City bout in Kent. She, being a smart kid, chose option B and headed to Eastern Washington. Maybe if she'd known she'd be on TV if she played Derby that weekend she would have changed her mind...

A nice misty morning in camp

Today's view. Would be a better contrast shot if I'd taken one earlier when it was sunny...

The bestest puppet of all

Is Wavey, the waving crocodile!

My day in Studio City

Or is that "Television City"? One of those. Anyhow, here's a rundown of the day:

3:30 AM: Alarm goes off. It's a clock radio and the tuner isn't actually on a station, so I wake up to static and some kind of mariachi music. I smack the snooze bar, doze for another 8 minutes, then get up and get dressed: jeans, my "PLINKO 1983" shirt Penny made for me, and a sweatshirt.

3:50 AM: Get in line. Penny and Cheryl show up about 3 minutes later and we settle in to wait until 6 when they're supposed to hand out the early arrival passes.

3:50 - 6 AM: We wait. Around us are two sets of twins (two 38-year-old guys from the LA area and two women from Maryland), a bunch of people with "Drew Zoo" shirts, and a woman and her father from Bermuda. Or maybe Barbados. One of those "B" islands. At some point in there I went to the mini-mart across the street to get a bottle of water, and around 6 Penny went and got the first of three bagels I would eat today: Cinnamon Raisin, plain.

6:15ish AM: They finally hand out the early arrival pass things that will land us our spot in line, and tell us to come back at 8. Wait...8? The paperwork all says 10! I was expecting a 3 hour nap! WTF???? No, it's 8. Crap.

6:30 AM: I collapse back in bed, alarm re-set for 7:30. I doze for an hour or so.

7:30 AM: Back up, shower, try to wake up, get dressed again, head back over to CBS for "processing".

8:00 AM: We find out why we had to show up 2 hours early: Today they're taping the first shows of the 38th season, and they've brought in an event photography company to take our pictures in front of a green screen. Hmm...wonder if it's the same color as my green shirt? No, not quite. They line us up by line number (47-49), Erin the Page writes out our name tags, and we sit down to wait.

8:45ish AM: We move in to the line to get our photos taken. I chose the PLINKO background to go with my PLINKO shirt, and end up looking like a tool. Not that that's a stretch, mind you...I'll post the picture to show my tool-ness as soon as I find it on the web site.

9:00 - 11:00 AM: We slide down to Bob Barker Parkway or Pavilion or something else that starts with "P", sit on yet another bleacher, and fill out some paperwork - a number card that identifies us, and a small bio card. We then get interviewed by a show producer, get our head-shots taken, and somewhere behind the scenes they decide who gets to COME ON DOWN!!! Spoiler alert: it's none of us. Oh, and somewhere in here I get my second bagel of the day (Cinnamon Raisin again, this time with cream cheese).

11:15 - 12:15 or so: We move around the corner after our interview and sit on the third bleacher of the day, this one right up against a wall. Easier on the back, but no room to slouch. And I'm a sloucher. So not the most comfortable seat. We are repeatedly reminded that once we're in the studio there will be NO BATHROOMS, so we'd better get our business done now. Which I do, having the old "pre-game bladder" action going on.

12:15ish: We finally get to climb the stairs to the studio to ooh and ah at the new set while dancing to disco music. Studio announcer Rich Fields comes out, grabs 8 people out of the crowd to dance on stage to get us more riled up, and then it's show time.

12:45ish - 2:15: The show tapes. Some things you should know:

1. It's really loud in the studio. To the point where there's no way in heck you'll hear Rich call out your name. So you have to watch the two cue-card guys on stage with the cards with your name. I watch, and they don't have my name.
2. If you look at the back operator ends of the cameras, they've got a map of the audience with the locations of the players marked out. From this you can get a fairly good idea if you're going to be called down or not.
3. Sitting in the middle down close is cool, 'cause you end up in a lot of the shots. But it's less cool, 'cause the contestants block many of the prizes and games.
4. If I HAD been called down, and if I HAD won the chance to win the first car (an Impala, I think, or maybe a Charger) in the "Lucky 7" game, I would have won it. Because dude, I was 4 for 4 picking numbers. You can ask anybody.
5. If the prize involves a computer, and you ask for clarification on what the computer is, and they then tell you the wrong brand, you win the whole dang prize. A guy was bidding on a desk, chair, and PC. They said it was a Dell and he blew it in the "push over" game by like $4,000. Turns out it was actually an HP, so he won the whole prize, worth about $9,000. Naturally, the money was all in the desk and chair, since I can't imagine an HP is that much more expensive than a Dell with similar components.
6. Yelling and clapping over and over for that long is tiring. Especially when it's done on little or no sleep.

2:15 or so: Show's over and we head out. I check at the ticket booth to find out when I should come back to line up for tonight's Late Late Show taping and find out I've got about 30 minutes to change and eat. So it's back to the Rodeway, in to my slacks and dress shirt, stop at the Bagel Broker for bagel #3 (whole wheat, cream cheese, turkey and lettuce) and a large diet coke, then it's back to CBS to stand in more lines. This one is shorter, and less giddy. I go in, get put in line 1, and park it on another bleacher.

3:15 - 4:15: I sit on said bleacher, with occasional breaks to buy schwag (TPIR and Late Late Show mugs) and pee. Because again, there are no restrooms inside CBS. Apparently everyone has to leave the building to take a leak.

4:15ish: The audience wrangler comes down and tells us what to expect: We're at a comedy TV show, not a comedy club, so laugh but don't mouth off...don't whoop over your city, college, etc...cheer loud, laugh loud, and don't be an idiot. Shortly after that the head audience wrangler "Chunky D" (a white guy) comes down, tells a couple jokes, and we head up stairs.

4:30ish: We make our way up two flights of stairs (that, thanks to the height of the studios, is really more like 3 or 4 flights) and in to the small studio where the Late Late Show is taped. I end up sitting in the front row, far stage right, next to a woman and her daughters. They're from Baltimore. The youngest daughter (didn't get an age...I'd guess 16 or 17) is named Paisley Somethingorother. Given her age, and the fact that I'm sitting by her mom, I don't make any comment about the fact that she's got a stripper name. Paisley is blonde, which comes in to play in about 15 minutes.

4:45 PM: Chunky D comes out to warm us up. He's fairly funny - not funny enough to turn pro, but funny enough to get people who are there to laugh laughing. He runs us through the "Laugh like hell" signs he'll give us during the taping, then proceeds to test it out with some bad jokes. Many of these are blonde jokes, which Chunky then explains carefully to Paisley to make sure she got them.

5:00 PM: It's time to make television! Things kick off with a montage video from the show, then Craig comes out and does his monologue. It, as always, is hilarious and my stomach starts to hurt. From there they do a couple of the e-mail bits (one for tonight, one for Thursday), then out comes Marion Cotillard, French actress and babe extraordinaire, out to plug her new movie with Johnny Dep. She's beautiful, she's got a delightful accent, and she mispronounces "focus" so it sounds like "fuckus". Craig doesn't let that one go. Next up is Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto, who talks about gossip columnism in the world of the Internets.

6:00 PM: Show's over, my gut hurts like hell, and it's time for dinner. No more bagels, now it's time for real food: Subway veggie sub and a lemonade. Then hang on the bed, make some calls, and surf the net before passing out for the night. Whew!

T minus 5 hours or so

Until I'm supposed to wake up, that is. 3:30 the alarm goes off. Then I head across the street to CBS studios to wait in a line to get a pass to wait in another line to maybe be picked to sit in on a taping of The Price Is Right. Apparently the key is to be excited and energetic...not sure I can pull that off on the 2 hours of sleep I'll probably have, because let's face it, my body clock is now adapted to the 1 AM - 8 AM sleep pattern, not the 10 PM - 3:30 AM sleep pattern.

Then again, maybe if I actually shut down the computer and turned off the TV I'd fall asleep...I suppose it's worth a try, right? Right!

And yes, I'll file a full report tomorrow night after it's all over.

Happy birthday, Logan!

The last birthday before the teens has come and gone. The cake is eaten (well, a quarter of it anyway), WeSki has been played, now all that's left is to wait for Friday when the annual Funtasia + Slumber Party occurs. We'll see how late the boys stay up this year...will they match the record of 5 AM set two years ago? Or will things peter out at midnight or so like last year? I'm thinking somewhere inbetween, although one never knows...

Anyhoo, here's the latest update to the photo string!

One week, three movies

So one of the few advantages of being unemployed is the freedom to go to mid-week matinees. And I'll be honest, I haven't been availing myself of this little benefit nearly as much as I should. So this week I set out to make up for some lost time.

First up, on Tuesday, was the mighty X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the film that provides the back story for Wolverine and Sabertooth, as well as some of the other Uncanny X-Men. Overall I give it a thumbs up. Good action, nice to get some pre-Adamantium Wolverine action, and great to finally see Gambit make the move to the big screen (and Taylor Kitch, the guy who plays Riggins on Friday Night Lights, definitely did him justice). The effects were great, with one exception: Victor / Sabertooth. His fighting was fine, he's a great actor, and I loved the claws, but the scenes where he's jumping around on all fours like a cat just weren't smooth. Because hey, people just don't run around like that. Fortunately that was a minor part of the movie, and didn't affect my overall enjoyment.

After resting up for a couple days I headed out Friday afternoon to watch Star Trek. I'd seen an interview with JJ Abrahms on Attack of the Show and had somewhat of an idea what was going to happen, but was pleasantly surprised anyway. The story held together as well as any Star Trek story ever does, and the actors playing the classic characters were all good and definitely putting their own mark on things. Well, maybe not so much with Karl Urban, who had a bit too much DeForest Kelley popping through in his Bones McCoy. Then again, there are only so many ways you can say "Dammit, Spock, I'm a doctor not a physicist!" All in all, it was a good reset to the story line, and it's fairly clear that these guys will all have jobs for years if they want them.

And finally to round out the week the fam and I went to the mighty Crest Cinemas to catch Coraline for a whopping $3 a ticket (plus $12 for the monster popcorn and monster soda, each of which was refilled). We hadn't read the book, but had seen the previews / ads, and I'd heard an interview with the author and director (maybe? Someone on the movie side) on "The Sound of Young America" and so knew a little something about it. And it had recieved good reviews both from the pundits and from the Moes. And did I mention it was $24 for the 4 of us, drinks and corn included? Anyhow, it ruled. Beautiful movie, amazing stop-motion claymation stuff, very interesting story, and Ian McShane as a crazy Russian mouse-trainer. Well worth the $3, and I'm pretty sure we would have been happy had we paid full price at a first-run theater.

So, all in all a good week at the theater. Don't think I'll repeat it this week, 'cause the only stuff I'm interested in at the moment is at the Crest and they only run in the evenings during the week and we're booked solid. But it's OK...I really should focus on the job hunting, and trying to figure out how to line up freelance clients!

Jinkies!

"Last post: April 14th". That's like, um, 10 days ago. Man, I've really fallen off the ol' blogging band-wagon, haven't I? Probably time to do some catching up...

Let's see, what's new? I'm still unemployed, for one thing. Did I mention that I was laid off? I think I did...if I didn't, well, I was. Last day was January 29th. Since then I've been fruitlessly applying to jobs, collecting unemployment, and thinking about becoming a freelance designer. What kind of design, you ask? Mainly PowerPoint, 'cause that was my bread and butter for the last four years or so. The trick is going to be marketing the service and building the need. Because hey, any monkey can put some words on a slide, right? Ah, but are they the right words? And are there pretty pictures and whatnot in there along with them to really get the point across? Anyhow, I need to get off my butt and start working out the marketing plan and whatnot, and more importantly compiling some kind of a portfolio.

In fact, that was going to be my focus this past week, but instead I decided to get sick. Or, rather, the sickness I was fighting most of the week before decided it wasn't done with me yet and instead was ready to get worse. So after a week of feeling mildly crappy, this past week I felt REALLY crappy. And it's hard to focus on marketing strategies or portfolio creation when you keep having waves of vertigo wash over you.

I was feeling a bit better today...not 100%, but probably up to 60 or so. Well enough to spend the day in the car driving around Whidbey Island scouting out a biking route for an overnight trip I'm leading next weekend with Logan's troop. Should be fun, if painfully hilly. It's only 25 miles each day, but I am in crappy shape and I don't think the kids are much better. Well, that's not quite true...they're young, so naturally they're in better shape than me. That said, I'm expecting them to walk up more hills than me. Because they may be in better shape than I am, but I'm way more stubborn than they are.

Whah?

Oh Woody, Woody, Woody...From the fine folk at CNN.com:

"'I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland,' in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character,' Harrelson said in a statement issued Friday by his publicist.

'With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie,' he said."

Fog skiing

It was a lovely day at Mission Ridge Friday. Especially if you like fog. And really, the picture doesn't do it justice. This was taken riding up Chair 1 (1 of 4...), at the base of the mountain. When the kids and I took the high-speed quad chair up to the top of the ridge we REALLY got in the fog. Or, rather, the cloud. I must say, there's nothing quite like heading down a hill you've never skied on and not being able to see more than 10 feet ahead.

That said, it was a great day. Paige hung on the relatively easy slopes of chair 1, the kids joined me for one ride up the quad, then after lunch Logan hung with Paige while Maya braved the fog and wind twice more before joining her brother and mom on the easy stuff while I continued to risk my neck in the fog. We'll definitely go back, and it's another reason to be jealous of our friends who live in Wenatchee!

WTF?

OK, I know I haven't posted in a coon's age, and that to jump back in with a news link and snarky commentary is pretty damn cheap, but I just couldn't resist. Because holy Christ, what kind of moron dreams this up? And was it his idea or hers? Because really, either way, I have to vote dual moron action here.

FOXNews.com - Woman Hospitalized After Sex Power Saw Mishap

Urban wildlife

So I'm sitting at my desk this afternoon doing something hugely important (either tweaking the resume, loading it on to a job site, or playing Facebook Wrestler), when the garage door opens and the wife pulls in. The car door closes, the door to the house opens, and she says "Sparks? You in the basement?"

"Yeah, what's up?" I say.

"You've got to come look at this giant bird down the street!"

So I get up, put on my Birkinstocks, and shuffle out in to the driveway. Where I proceed to gape for a moment, then rush back in to get the camera. 'cause this is one mothafunker of a bird, I tell you what.

To set the stage a little better, at the north end of our block there's a house with a couple big fir trees out front, maybe 60 or 70 feet tall. The people who own the house appear to be trying everything they can do to kill the tree that's in the parking strip, because apparently if it dies then the city will cut it down for free. The tree was in kind of bad shape before they moved in, 'cause it's right up on the power lines and gets pruned back all the time, but they've taken it to the next level by paving the parking strip right up to the trunk of the tree. And it appears to be working, 'cause the top of the tree is now a bare snag.

And at the top of that snag is an eagle.* But not just any eagle...a big eagle. Really big. And the weird thing about this eagle, at least weird to me, is that it's not the standard Seattle area bald eagle, it's a golden eagle. Or an American eagle. Or some other eagle that doesn't have a white head and is freaking huge.*

*Disclaimer: I'm not a birdologist, so it might not actually be an eagle. It might have been a roc. Or some other mythical giant raptor.

Anyhow, he's just kind of hanging out up there minding his own business and not bugging anyone, and then a seagull flies by and squaks at him and he gets all "oh, really? You're going to bring THAT at me? Did you see my freaking wing span here?"

And after that some crows get in the mix, because you know crows - they can't leave well enough alone. So he does some more posturing, and eventually two of the crows settle down on a lower branch and they have a stare-off.

After which his eagleness gets tired of the squawking and flies off to the west, escorted by a few of the crows.

---

*Update: Thanks to some bird nerds (or perhaps just people who know a bit more about birds than me) on FB, I'm revising my analysis of what eagle it might be to "juvenile bald eagle". 'cause apparently they look a lot like this one.

A day at the zoo

Logan and Maya ride the snow leopard with cousin June.

So Paige's sister Val and her daughter June are up for the weekend, staying around for tomorrow's Inauguration Party tomorrow morning. Yesterday the ladies went over to Bainbridge Island to wander around Winslow while I hung at home and watched the Cardinals beat the Eagles and kept the kids from destroying the house. Today, while Paige made bagels for the party tomorrow, Val and I hauled the kids to the zoo. And a fine day at the zoo it was! If only I'd remembered the real camera rather than the camera phone, I might have taken more and better pictures. But I didn't, so the only evidence is this shot of them riding the Snow Leopard statue. Ah well!

First day of ski school

God, I've been slacking on the posting! Didn't even finish out the year with the Blog 365 thing. Made it on number of posts, but the end was lacking in umph.

Anyhow, to attempt to get back in the swing, here's a description of the first day of ski lessons. No photos, 'cause I'm a freaking moron and forgot the camera. And was too lazy to try to take any with the phone. So, whatever.

Got up way too early (now that I'm not really working "way too early" is 6:30, an hour after I used to get up for work...), loaded the car, ate, got the girl up (boy isn't doing lessons this year and I agreed to give him the week off), then our carpool mates arrived and we piled in to the Subaru and headed east.

On the off chance that you've been ignoring the news of the great North West, we've had a winter and a half so far: Big snow in the lowlands, followed by big rain and melt everywhere. Snoqualmie pass was closed for three days this week because of avalanches, flooding, and other natural disasters, but today was open and the ski area was running full steam. We got to the parking lot at around 9, parked in the Carpool lot (closer to the walkway to the area, which is a good thing...as was the free bags of granola for being nice carpool people), put on the ski boots and headed up the hill.

Peter, the dad of the two kids along with us, took Kyle (a friend of Logan's who is taking lessons for the first time) and June (a friend of Maya's who was along for the ride and to play in the snow) off to the ski school chalet to get Kyle set up with gear while Maya and I headed for the Holiday chair. As you might recall from my post recapping my birthday, the last time Maya had skiied wasn't the best. Today was much better.

First off, the boots fit. Second off, we took Holiday, the "easy" chair, and she didn't panic when we got off. In fact, she made several great turns, and we probably could have fit in another run before lessons but I didn't want to be late. So instead we skiied over to the Webbski chalet to line up and wait for her class. Or, rather, to find out which class she was in, then hike up the hill 25 yards or so and ski back down a couple times.

Once she was hooked up with her class I headed off to ski. The snow was OK, there were some rough patches that had iced up and run off, but the grooming machines had done a pretty good job. I did one run on the "Central Express" high-speed quad chair, then headed over to Silver Fir to try out the new quad chair on that run (they replaced an old slow triple with a new high-speed quad). It ruled. I think I skiied that side 6 or 7 times, and the longest I waited in line was 3 minutes. Most of the time it was ski up, get on the chair, ride up. Much better than the old chair, although my legs did appreciate the 10-minute ride before...

The other two things that made the day good were the weather - early in the week they'd forecast rain, but instead it snowed the whole time - and the Sansa. I hadn't skied with music in a couple years, and it was very nice to have something I could easily turn down when I got on the chair, and that I could easily read if I wanted to change songs. Not that I did that too much...the random shuffle only came up with a couple songs I didn't feel like listening to.

Eventually it was time to head back to Webbski to pick up Maya. She'd had a great lesson - entirely on the Magic Carpet, but that was good 'cause she felt more comfortable - and had made a new friend (whose name I forget). Kyle had also had a good lesson, and June had enjoyed playing in the snow, but everyone was ready to head back home. So home we came, with a brief stop at Burger King for lunch. Because really, after a morning of skiing everyone needs a Whopper™.

iTunes Oracle

So the Galavanting Monkey tagged me on this one on Facebook, and since I've been wicked lazy on the blog of late I figured it would work here. So here goes the iTunes Oracle meme!

1. Put your iTunes (or any other media player you may have) on shuffle. Hmm...have to chose between Zune and Sansa...Sansa's closer, so we'll go with that

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. OK...

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS! Jeez, you don't have to shout...

4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the meme as well as the person you got the meme from. Yeah, I think I'll skip that part. Although you're welcome to go with it if you'd like.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Crash - Dave Matthews Band Hmm...not sure what that means...

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Wind Power - Thomas Dolby Sansa, are you trying to say I talk too much?

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
The Secret Kind - Screaming Trees True, a little mystery is a good thing

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
You're No Good - Van Halen Ouch!

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Yesterday - The Beatles Again, ouch!

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
What a Day That Was - Talking Heads Jesus, I'm beginning to feel like my life is over!

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
Satisfy My Soul - Bob Marley & the Wailers Hmm...is that what it is? I thought it was "what's for lunch?"

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Stand - Blues Traveler Uh...not sure what this one means either

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
The Game of Love - Santana w. Michelle Branch Well, now, this would depend. After all, I like more than one person!

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Underground Angel - George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars So true. My secret is out. Thanks a lot, Sansa!

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I Get Wild/Wild Gravity - Talking Heads OK, I'd settle for "employed", but "wild" is cool.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
It's Coming Down - Cake Again, depends on the person. And what it is that's coming down. If it's the same person that The Game of Love was talking about we can only hope "it" refers to pants. Or a top. Or both. God, Paige better not read this...unless SHE'S the person I like...yeah, I'll play it that way.

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Life Is a Highway - Tom Cochrane Hmm. Maybe I should have moved out of the house sooner.

WHAT WILL [DID] YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
We Work the Black Seam - Sting now THAT is a flat-out lie! We danced the Hokey Pokey! Or maybe to "Brick House". It was a while ago. I was drunk. Sue me.

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
668 The Neighbor of the Beast - Travis Shredd & the Good Ol' Homeboys I would be totally fine with this

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Cry Freedom - Dave Matthews Band To be honest, I don't cry much.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears That's not much of a secret. Clearly I'll need to start being more exciting.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Get Up - REM Hmm...that's probably true when they've overstayed their welcome. Or if we're at a game and there's yelling to be done...

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Shiny Happy People - REM God, that's totally true. Fewer things are worse than the Shiny Happy People.

Happy Birthday, Maya!

Today miss Maya Chicken turned 8. She ate donuts for breakfast, had a pool party with her friends, was showered with gifts, had a totally screwed up cake, was showered with more gifts, and ended the night with a walk in the snow. All in all I think she'd say it was a pretty darn good birthday!

Good Lord! A week?

Man, a whole week off? What the hell was I thinking? And it wasn't even a busy week! Well, it was busy with Wii playing, and snow melting, and a birthday, and a lot of drinking, but still. Jesus! Now I've got to waste the first post of the year on a boring-ass recap of the week. Assuming I even remember the week...well, I'll try and hope it's not too boring-ass. Or not boring. Not much chance it won't be ass.

Sunday: Sunday marked the final defeat in this insanely futile Seahawks season. At least Holmgren got to win his final home game as Seahawks coach, even if they couldn't pull it off in Arizona. And to rub it in, there was a quote in the post-game interviews by either Warner or the Arizona coach saying "In the 2nd quarter we finally started playing like the Cardinals." WTF? If they were playing like the Cardinals they should have lost. Clearly they're playing like some other team. Whatevs. On to Monday.

Monday: The wife gave me my birthday present on Sunday (two days early), in the hopes that I might get it installed before we went up in to the mountains. No, not snow tires, something far more cool: a Sirius satellite radio! So I read up on it and decided I'd stop by CarToys on Monday morning and get their advice on antenna placement. I was thinking near the tail gate, 'cause getting the wire in to the car would be a cake walk, but I was concerned that the skis and bikes and whatnot on the rack would block the signal. So the CarToy guy suggested right above the windshield, then run the wire around the window and push it in from the engine compartment. Which I can't figure out how to do, so here it is Friday and I haven't done anything about it.

Anyhoo, after running more errands, I put the ski racks back on the car, loaded up the skis and family and bags of clothing and whatnot, and drove over the pass to Easton to spend the night with our cousins. Which, in spite of heavy snow and gusty winds, was great. Well, maybe not the drive, but the spending time with them and watching it snow.

Tuesday: Tuesday was my birthday, and it started out pretty darn well. Woke up well rested, the cousins made us blueberry pancakes, we loaded up the car, and headed off on the 10 minute drive to the ski area. Which is when things started going sideways. First problem: Maya's boots, which we rented in early November, no longer fit. They hurt to put on. She can't even get her foot half-way in. So while Paige and Logan head off to make some runs on the easy chair, Maya and I stand in line for 40 minutes to rent new skis. Then once we get them I make the mistake of taking her up the slightly less easy chair, and she completely falls apart coming down. Hmm...note to self: let her warm up on the "magic carpet" bunny slope first.

We meet Paige and Logan on the way down, and I say "hey, I'm going to go do a run a little higher and will come find you, then we can go to lunch." So I do, it's good (the snow was great for December 30th), and I catch them after they've gone all of 100 yards or so down the hill. We head down and eat a fairly cold lunch sitting out side, then Paige and Maya head to the magic carpet for a bit while Logan and I go up the high-speed quad. Which is when he starts complaining that he's cold and doesn't want to ski any more. Great. So we come back down, I park him in front of the fire pit, and head over to find Paige and Maya and tell them where he is before heading off again to ski on my own. I get in one or two runs, and am heading up the "Triple 60" chair, when the phone rings: It's Paige, they're in the car, and it's time to go home. Sigh. Well, at least dinner and the cake were good...

Wednesday: New Year's Eve was actually pretty good. I spent a bunch of money on medical supplies trying to spend down the FSA (why they won't let me use it for new Levis I don't understand...), our friends who had threatened to bring their in-laws over for New Year's Eve came by themselves, and we got some good Wii action in. Oh, and I drank like a fish, which always makes the evenings go quicker.

Thursday: Another good day. Went with my friend Steve to see The Spirit, which was good if you didn't go in expecting it to be deep...very campy, very 40s, very stylish, and kind of weird. Oh, and packed with babes. Then that evening some friends from college and their son spent the night, which was also great: stayed up way too late talking, drank too much again, and the kids had a good time playing Spore.

Which brings us to Today: Not a lot going on today. Went to Joe's Outdoor to swap Maya's boots for some that fit (and thankfully found a pair, 'cause they were almost out of kids' sizes in the season rental), hit the library to pick up a book, and finally updated the blog. Finally.