Iraqn

This seems pretty spot on.

This Post is Meta

So I was inspired by my trip to the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm that's under construction to redesign the site. That's me with actual wind turbines behind me - pretty awesome, huh? Blog post to come soon.

Brianna's Funny Glasses

A couple of weeks ago we were having a Daddy & the kids night where it was just me and Brianna and Andrew.  We were screwing around with these joke glasses we have when the Ryan Adams song "Everybody Knows" came on the stereo.  It's a really sad song. 

Brianna looked at me with the joke glasses on and with a totally serious face goes "Dad, this song makes me feel too sad."  The only problem was, she looked like this:

I said to her "it's really hard for me to take you seriously with those glasses on."  We all laughed so hard that we've been joking about it ever since.

Andrew in the joke glasses:

Noise-Canceling Headphones

As I've been riding the bus & MAX back and forth to work I've been using the regular old headphones that came with my Nano and I've been thinking about how loud I have to turn up the volume to hear it over the bus & train.  I started to think about it and I got concerned because if I went deaf it would be like the worst thing ever for me.  Like if someone who loves art went blind.  It would literally be crushing.

So I started to think about it and I decided that I should get some noise-canceling earphones.  Bose makes some, but they're like $100.  So I was at Fry's this weekend and saw these puppies for only $20 and I've got to say- they're awesome!  They're basically earplugs and headphones all in one.  The fidelity is great - you can hear tons of detail in the music and best of all the iPod volume is only on 30-35%.  Love it.

Ryan Adams Two tab

Ryan Adam's Easy Tiger album is awesome - I've gotten a ton of new music recently and a lot of it is really good stuff (of course obviously Radiohead's IN RAINBOWS) but I've probably been listening to this album the most.  I've figured out four of the thirteen songs so far.

This weekend I had time to jot down the tab for the song Two.

SOLV Beach Clean-up

Back to the tradition of posting up things that happened a long time ago - on September 15th we participated in the SOLV Fall Beach Cleanup.  SOLV is an institution in Oregon - it's a non-profit that coordinates volunteer action to increase the livability of Oregon.  Anyone who's been to an Oregon beach recently is aware of how well-kept the beaches are, and SOLV is a big part of that.

We were volunteering at Fort Stevens State Park, which also has huge camping facilities.  Ft Stevens is a really interesting place with tons of history, which most notably for me includes the remains of a shipwreck.  The Peter Iredale wrecked near the mouth of the  Columbia during the turn of the century - not this one, but the one before that.

After the cleanup we went to the Astoria Aquatic Center, which is always a good time and has also become a part of the yearly ritual.  They have a great pool - it reminds me a lot of the Mt Scott pool in Portland - it's got a slide and all that good stuff.

On Sunday we went to Canon Beach to have a cup of clam chowder at Mo's - after which we went on a long walk on the beach. 

Never Not Funny

Since the end of last year I've been listening to Never Not Funny, which is just about the funniest thing I've come across so far.  If you're into stand-up comedy this is the podcast for you.

And I actually emailed Jimmy one time to tell him I liked the show and he replied.  I don't even answer most of my emails - as many of you know.  :)

Star Wars and Sanskrit

Somehow I found this hilarious post on a site called StarWarsJediAcademy.blogspot.com.  Check it out  - too funny.

My favorite quote from the site "So, enter freely and learn if you have what it gets to be a Padawan!"

I hope I have what it gets.

Joe & Leah's Wedding

In August we left our Woahink trip a little bit early to get back home and attend our friends Joe & Leah's Renaissance wedding.  Our friends Chris and Sara had helped us with our costumes.  My friends Paul, Chris and I were the three musketeers.  Jen and Brianna wore matching dresses and Andrew was dressed like someone from Lord of the Rings.

My friend Joe let me borrow his big ass sword to complete the outfit.

Here are the three musketeers:

 

And the ladies:

  Andrew:

They had face painting at the wedding for the kids which was really cool:

 

Unfortunately, we only got one picture of Joe & Leah, but they looked great!

Here's the family all together: