TaylorTafting

The Tipping Point

2011-01-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

We were at Ruby Tuesday's for dinner the other night and were lucky enough to have a server who looked like she had been professionally serving all her life. And by that I mean she looked old, not that she carried herself in a manner that reflected years of honing her craft, such that it is.

I have no idea what the special is. Leave me alone.

So, yes it was Ruby Tuesday's so we weren't expecting the best service, but c'mon, if they are expecting a tip for their service you would expect them to at least try, right? Can I get a what, what?

Allow me to recreate the scene.

Half empty restaurant so there is plenty of maneuverability for all parties involved. Five people at the table plus a sleeping baby in the car seat on the floor between Laura and me. So where does the server stop when coming to take our order? If you guessed right over the baby, you are the winner, give yourself a high five (though not in public, that would be weird).

Anyone see anythng wrong with this? Okay at first glance, yes it would look like there is room to stand in the space between us to view everyone and take the drink order. But upon seeing that there is a car seat on the floor, wouldn't it make sense to not talk over a baby? And maybe not to proceed to stop there when returning with the drink order? And maybe you wouldn't pass drinks over the baby????? I mean really? REALLY???? Do you normally pass drinks over adult guests at the table? Right over their head? And why risk accidentally dropping said beverage or a plate of hot food onto a baby?

I chose not to bring this to the attention of the server because I've seen the movie Waiting and I'm always afraid of what they will do to our food if we don't sit still and behave ourselves.

"Oh, I'll get them some extra sauce."

Instead, I just closed the gap between us, making another spot the obvious server loading/unloading zone. And guess what? She comes back and stands over the baby again. So I move him to another spot. Maybe that is her preferred location. She's an old dog, might not be able to train her to stop at another place around the table. And I position him in a way that she would have to go out of her way to violate what I would assume would be common sense. And guess what? She went out of her way to walk by him and pass food over him. REALLLYYYYY?!?!?!?!!?!?!

Some of the other violations (from my 20+ years of dining experience):

not knowing the menu (minor violation)
writing down an order incorrectly, twice (um, yeah, this isn't what I ordered; and neither is this)
serving cold food, twice (Do you mind cooking this?)
promising the biscuits would be right out, and not delivering them until after the food came (apparently this is Ruby Tuesday's thing, having free cheesey bread as an app, sort of like free chips at Mexican food restaurants - bad service might be their thing too)

So what would you tip to guarentee that you would get this same experience again? Would you even leave a tip?

I don't tip.

I wanted to leave $0. But others disagreed and I heard excuses like:

"She's trying her best"
"The cold food wasn't her fault"
"This is Ruby Tuesday's"
"It's the holidays"
"But she's old"

I'll give you the cold food, but the rest, not so much.

Do you have a tipping point? A certain level where you decide to tip or not to tip. If tips/gratuity is to reward service, shouldn't the tip or lack thereof indicate said service? Would a $0 tip send the right message? 10%? 20%?

Little Baker Man

2010-12-29T09:38:00.009-07:00

We got a Learning Tower for our little teeny guy. For the most part it is an enclosed step stool so our little guy doesn't fall off. But the Tower of Learning and Almighty Knowledge allows Nathan to be close to mommy/daddy while proving us with the opportunity to get some stuff done. It also allows Nathan to help us out. Like making holiday cookies.

Pineapple cookies???

Nathan really enjoys stirring/mixing. When he sees a wooden spoon now, he gets excited and says, "Stir? Stir?"

Cheeeese

Nathan taking a moment to smile for the camera.

Full-body cheese

Patty cake, patty cake...

Um, Mom, I'm trying to concentrate here.

Happy baker.

Well placed cookies.

Looks like Nathan did a great job with the cookie placememnt. I'm sure none of the cookies baked together.

I wonder if The Food Network needs another cooking show.

Did you happen to notice how the kitchen got cleaner as we progressed?

Reinforcements - Mr. Turtle and the Lady Bugs

2010-12-29T09:05:00.005-07:00

When we last left our beloved garden, we were being attacked by some self proclaimed "fun guys." But have no fear, the reinforcements have arrived. Take that, fungi!

Come out, come out whereever you are.

Laura found this turtle crossing the street. Apparently the chicken was laid off, paving the way for the slower, less efficient workers willing to accept a lower wage.

Zooooooommm.

Actually, for a turtle, he is quite quick.

And for phase 2, we have the highly respectable Lady Bugs.

Lady Bugs, ATTACK!!!

"Jolly, oh, dear fungi, won't you kindly depart the premises?"

An elegant show of force.

"Ah, very good, Gov'nor. Looks like our job here is done. Cheerio."

And like that, they were gone. Similar to The Usual Suspects, just when you were about to figure out what was going on, they disappeared into the night. According the the Lady Bug instructions (yes, the Lady Bugs came with instructions), we were to release these little charmers into the garden at night or else they would fly away. Well, that's what we did, with the help of our little gardener, Nathan, who really enjoyed the little buggers, but when we awoke the next day, not a Lady Bug in sight. They absconded into the night.

At least they all seemed to do their jobs. The mushrooms are gone (Laura picked them all) and the bugs that were eating our leaves have either departed or moved onto the second course.

The New Balloon Boy

2010-12-16T08:23:00.005-07:00

This is awesome. A father and son send an iphone into space and record the entire trip.

Sounds like something Nathan and I may have to try.

Link

Soil Diggers - Episode 3: There Goes The Neighborhood

2010-11-02T17:53:00.006-07:00

So within minutes of the garden going up, the low-lifes moved in. And by low, I mean close to the ground. Though, honestly where else would they be? I mean we just finished the garden, of course the new neighbors would pop up close to the ground, they're in the ground. Even though we put in this makeshift gate to keep them out.

Gate?

Actually, the gate was to keep Sonoma out. Some of the seeds needed to be close to the top of the soil and didn't need Sonoma's big, 80 pound, fury paws smooshing them down, deep into the Earth where only the Hobbits live. Or digging them up like a puppy is apt to do. Not the Hobbits, though that would be interesting...

So who moved in? Well I'm glad you asked. First the good guys.

Green beans

Over in Ceres we have Green Bean lane - a multi-unit, apartment neighborhood right in the heart of Ceres. Easy access to water, soil, and gardeners. Spaces still available. You'll want to grab these spots soon as their value will surely rise with the bean stalks.

Basil

Over in Demeter we have the basil transplant. An exclusive community that is facing urban sprawl. Also close to the Nathan garden which is always buzzing with excitement.

Carrots

The carrots are in a nice single family community near downtown Demeter. Good size plots with plenty of room for growth. Plenty of good schools and perfect for raising your family or any root-type of produce.

Sugar Snap Peas

If you're looking for a quiet get-away, look no further than Sugar Snap Peas. Known for their slow-paced atmosphere, this area takes you back to a simpler time. A great vacation destination to take your mind of the hustle and bustle.

Nathan's Garden Spot

There's always something going on in Nathan's Garden and you never know what's next. Lively entertainment, unpredictable watering schedules, and crazy nightlife, Nathan's Garden has plenty of young, single people.

So, that all sounds lovely right? Great places that rival San Francisco or New York, New York. I hear they are even working on a theme song. So what was that you mentioned about low-lifes? Well...

Uninvited guests

Dum, dum dum...

These little pinheads began popping up. Like gypsies or Peruvian flute bands. These self-described "fun guys" just come in, party it up, and leave the damage for someone else to clean up. Anyone know a mycophagist for hire?

Next time on Soil Diggers...Will they find a mycophagist? WTF is a mycophagist? Will the mushrooms take over the 'hood? What happened to the tragedy that was supposed to strike? Will the carrots get a little sugar from the snap peas? Tune in next week.

Soil Diggers - Episode 2: Demeter & Ceres

2010-10-25T18:59:00.001-07:00

In Greek mythology, the goddess Demeter was the most generous of the great Olympian goddesses. Demeter was beloved for her service to mankind in giving them the gift of the harvest, the reward for cultivation of the soil. She was also known as Ceres (to the Romans), because she had a bit of a split personality... And a temper. Word on the street is that she opened a can of whoop-ass on Earth in the winter killing everything in sight.

So, since we want a bountiful harvest, what better way to pay tribute to Demeter/Ceres than to name our gardens after her/them. That's right, gardens. With an s. Because look at how much soil we have:

That's one big pile of soil

By the way, it's amazing how dirty you can get from soil. I guess what they say is true: You can take the soil out of the dirt, but you can't take the dirt out of the soil. or something.

And while we were at it, we decided to get that third compost bin we've had our eyes on.

Newest addition to the family

The stork (aka the nice folks at the City of Chandler) dropped it off on our door step. For Free! Yep, we went all out on our garden. Only the best. Now we'll have plenty of compost to feed our young garden.

And just so our new garden would look all naked once we finished the build, we had a few transplants to kick start the process. Meet the Sproutlings:

Sproutlings

Apparently some produce does better when started inside and transplanted into the garden, though I suspect they just wanted to wait until baseball season was over. Additionally, we had some basil that was contemplating some tough career choices, but in the end decided to take our offer and move into the spacious plot near Nathan's garden. We also picked up two tomato plants since we were a bit late to the tomato game.

Demeter, our first

Adopted twins

Then, after assessing the first garden and allocating space to Nathan, we felt that we wouldn't have enough room for all the bounty Demeter was about to bestow upon us that we needed a second garden to hold it all. We were also kind of afraid of the whole split personality thing and didn't want to get on her/her bad side. And so, Ceres was born.

Ceres, the baby

If you are wondering what happened to the step by step photos I was planning, I apparently didn't stop to take more pictures during the final build. Thus the stand-ins above, just imagine less greenery and soil. Plus a few more I hate gravel comments.

Next week, on Soil Diggers:
Tragedy strikes the garden! How will our garden cope? Plus some uninvited guests pop up - Is there evil lurking about?

Soil Diggers - Episode 1: The Canvas

2010-10-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

Let's build a garden! What a better way to spend a few hours in the dirt. Sorry soil. It didn't spend four years in gardening school to be call dirt. And we spent good money on it so we better not soil its good name with the D word. Especially if we're going to be putting it's bounty on our plates and eating it. Imagine, eating something that came from dirt, ugh, how pedestrian.

So why a garden? Well, it'll save a trip to the farmer's market. Plus, organic veggies are expensive. And we have some extra space just lying around the house. Also, it's fun, or so say those other gardeners, though I don't recall them saying the building part of it was all that and a bag of chips.

So let's see what we have to work with...

The Canvas

So we decided on a nice little 3.5 ft by 15 ft. garden. You know, nothing too fancy and showy. We had two spots to choose from, each on the sides of the house, but opted for the side our compost is on since we'll be adding it to the garden frequently. The only issue may be the sun exposure but after talking with a few others, it sounds like we'll have enough.

Notice anything different...Shovel?

So we first had to clear away the gravel. I hate gravel.

Little workers

I really hate gravel. I mean really. It sucks. No offense, well, unless you are gravel.

This is how you do it

And to make it even better, I had some help along the way. Nice spot Sonoma, way to lay right where I'm working.

My little buddies helping out

And we're clear. Temporarily anyway. We decided to expand later which required more moving of the gravel.

Cheese!

Nathan actually turned around and said "cheese" when he heard the camera going.

So here we are at the end of part one. Will the garden be finished in time to plant for the winter? What will be planted? Will there be enough food to feed the family? Will the gravel regroup and attack at night? Who will survive? Did Professor Plum kill the carrots with the rake in the garden?

All that and more, next on...Soil Diggers.

Winemaking 101

2010-09-22T20:09:00.014-07:00

Have you ever had a really good wine? No, I mean really good? Like great? Probably not, because we just made our first batch and it's not ready yet. But don't worry. In about 9 months, it'll be here. (Was that a bit much?)

Loungin'

The key to a good wine (you know from the wine making experts that we are) is a nice little lounging before the wine making process. This helps get you into the zone. As does a little wine tasting...

Wine tasting

So before we got into our wine making adventure, we begin with a sampling of the options, 11 in all (as best as I can remember, it was a lot of wine). Our host even set up a wonderful spread of wine pairings and each of the wine samples had its own little food buddy.

The spread

I have to say it is amazing how the proper pairing can bring out the flavors. Take this pairing for example:

Cheers!

Or this one:

Right back at 'cha

So, after enjoying the wine flight, we landed on Tempranillo as the varietal of choice - a full-bodied red wine native to Spain. (Here legally with a work visa and everything.)

So how does one make wine without their own vineyard (or bushel of grapes for that matter)? Well, you begin with grape juice concentrate and pour that on into a bucket (sexy, right?)

One part Tempranillo concentrate...

So, the whole wine making thing on your own, isn't really a pretty sight - more like science lab, but it was actually pretty fun.

And so it begins

So once you've got your grape concentrate set up and you've added you filtered water of choice, out come the power tools...

Work it baby

Mix on high power until you have a decent size vortex created. Similar to Stargate, but without the time/space travel. Though that would be cool to jump into the bucket and be transported to a simpler time when people stomped the grapes barefoot. But then again you might run into Keanu Reeves. (No more movie references, I promise.)

After you've successfully vortex-blended the wine, you must take some precise measurements...

Looks perfect

This is much harder to do after 11 glasses of wine. Okay, 2-3 glasses, they were samples after all. But still, precise measurements are required to identify the proper balance. And indicate the alcohol content on the label because apparently it's not simply a yes/no check box (Does this wine contain alcohol? Yes. Check. Done.).

Next, get high.

Inhale deeply and pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side

Alas, the home wine-maker does not (likely) have French Oak barrels available for the aging process, so we must make do. Luckily, some frustrated wine-makers who did have access to the barrels but not so much luck in making wine, chopped up their entire inventory of barrels into tiny wood chips. Realizing that they still had bills to pay, they bagged up the tiny wood chips, hit the suburbs, and sold them door-to-door.

One more...

Again, precise measurements are necessary here too. The oak chips will mimic the barrel effect adding flavor and complexity to the wine. Too much oak and you could ruin your wine. Not enough and you waste your time and don't get any of the subtle flavors. So taking the advice of our hostess, we tossed it aside, because that's how we roll. We chose the American "Heavy Toast" chips and we went slightly above the traditional 3 oz since we were going to be aging longer and wanted a fuller, bolder wine.

Almost done.

After adding the wood chips and vortexing for even distribution, we added wine's favorite dance partner, yeast, to do all the dirty work. Now the wine can take it easy while the yeast does all the heavy lifting from here on out.

See you in 9 months

I've Been Lost

2010-09-16T23:16:00.005-07:00

I know I've been absent for a while, but I have a good excuse. Well, a good excuse if you were a fan of Lost. The first 5 of 6 seasons are available for immediate streaming through Netflix which is just a recipe for disaster. Okay, maybe not disaster, but definitely a time-sucking vortex of some sort. (Probably not a recipe either, but whateva.) To wit, we are averaging a season a week. And not because we have that much time on our hands, but simply because we have given up sleep. And Lost any kind of social life.

Not that Lost is the best show ever or anything, I mean c'mon, it's no West Wing. That show was AWESOME!!!!

But it is a good show and I think that having every episode available in HD at your finger tips adds a little synergy that elevates the goodness. Or something.

So we are on Season 4 (don't ruin the ending for us) and our momentum has slowed down a bit (I blame Nathan) and I'm sure if we had to wait a week between each episode we may have given up by now. However, since it is available on DVD and Netflix streaming, I would highly recommend checking it out.

Bonding With Nature

2010-08-18T20:08:00.009-07:00

Camping July 2010

Just outside of Flagstaff, where the air is clean and the temperatures are cool. And downright cold at night. Even in July. Talk about brrrr.

But first we had to get there. So pack up the husband and wife and kiddos. Oh and the camping gear. Hopefully we don't forget anything. Anyone want to guess what we forgot?

And we're off...

All Aboard!!!

And 3 hours later, we're here! It had actually been raining a lot in the week before, and since the Matrix doesn't have 4 wheel drive (I know, right), we had to be cautious about where we stayed lest we get stuck in the mud. So now that we found the spot, time to set up camp.

I'm not doing anything

And Nathan helped a lot. He actually built the campfire ring. Okay, no he didn't, but he did enjoy playing with our mini pick-axe.

Hi Dad

Poor Sonoma, we finally get back out into nature and she's too tired to explore. So the next best thing, sleep!

A perfect spot for napping

Right by the fire to stay warm in the 80 degree temp. Since everything around was pretty moist it took a while for my Survivorman skills to kick in, but eventually we got the fire going. However, it did take constant managing to keep it going. Especially when it started raining. But luckily it was only a brief rain, but with more clouds moving in, we figured we should get dinner cooked while we could.

Dinner!

And dinner was EXCELLENT! A little lemon pepper chicken and a veggie dish - green beans, peppers, potatoes. Cooking over the campfire, caveman style. Cavemen used pots and pans right?

Real men cook with fire

It also was a great time for a little father/son bonding. Teach him how to make a fire. Teach him how to grill. You know the basics so he's prepared when he heads out into the real world.

Chillaxin' after dinner

Time for S'mores

You can't have a camping trip without S'mores. And apparently, Laura picked up a new "recipe" for making S'mores. A new "method" from someone from New Jersey of all places. I mean what do Jersey people know about camping? I've seen Jersey Shore. No, no, I haven't. I don't watch that show.

So after dinner and ghost stories, we did our traditional bedtime routine with Nathan, without all the normal routine parts.

Camping buddies

Let's see what we can find in the woods

Go take a hike! What could be better than waking up in the morning and heading out for a morning hike? Be at one with nature. Smell the fresh air. Enjoy all the greenness. Maybe see some wildlife or...

Bones!!!

Seriously, we were almost EATEN last night. OMG. We could have been someone's dinner. A big someone based on the size of the bone pile. OR A PACK OF SOMEBODIES!! OMG I hadn't thought about that. We were surrounded!!! No Escape!

Good thing this is just a one night trip.

The Fam

Enjoying the car ride home

Until next time...

California Love

2010-08-11T20:07:00.020-07:00

Woohoo!!! VACATION!!!

Yes we managed to go on vacation this summer. Originally we were going to hit up Boston, piggy-backing on a work trip, but that didn't pan out so we decided that San Diego was the spot for us. The only issue was would Nathan last 6-7 hours in the car? That answer and more, after the break.

Po-dunk nowhere

A long story short (just about the car trip), Nathan was AWESOME!! Sleeping or just being happy baby for 90% of the car ride. We did have to stop for a few breaks, but that was to be expected, with the lunch break in Wellton, AZ. What? You haven't heard of the huge metropolis that is Wellton? Hmmm, neither did we until it showed up right there along-side the highway. Using the (new) trusty Blackberry, we found out that Chuck's Stage Stop is known the world over for their small town cooking. But, now that we are safely outside their "town's" jurisdiction, DO NOT EAT THERE.

Skipping ahead a bit, we made it safely to our hotel and rested for our big day at Sea World.

Shamu and Friends

After a wonderful greeting from Shamu, the park was our playground. We tried to get Nathan to pet the sea stars, but he wasn't having any of that, so we headed to the Shamu show.

Whoooaaa!!!

We were wondering if Nathan would even realize he was surrounded by large animals, but he definitely enjoyed the shows.

From Nathan's view point

Jolly good show, eh?

That's a big fish

This is my favorite picture from the trip. This is also where Nathan picked up the word whale - why can't people watch their language around kids?

Dad, it's a whale. You don't need to point it out.

Dolphins!

On to THE BEACH...

Future's so bright...

On day 2, we went to Torrey Pines beach and met up with some friends who also have a one year old. It was Nathan's first beach trip and he seemed to enjoy it, though the ocean took a bit getting used to.

Nathan organizing the sea shells

Nathan really didn't care too much for the sea shells. He just picked a few from mommy's hand and placed them back on the beach so he could get back to digging. I think we may need to get a sandbox for him.

...and tidy up the A a bit...

Nathan did a wonderful job spelling his name, which is weird seeing as how he can't yet say his name. We think he may be a child prodigy.

and done. A masterpiece!

Or a really gifted artist.

Laura and Nathan

Or just a really cute, squishy baby.

brrrrr

Time to make the sandcastle

Nathan and Aiden playing

Trying to convince the babies to knock down the castle

So just before we departed the beach, we tried to get the kids to knock down the sand castle - a term I use loosely to describe the mound of sand with no real shape the we created. Seeing as how Nathan loves it when he stacks blocks and knocks them over, I didn't think it would be too hard. But no. Apparently they either really loved our castle, or they were afraid of whatever was swimming in the moat that surrounded it.

Sandcastle: 1; Babies: 0

Up next, Balboa Park

ooo, a fountain to play in

Actually this preceded the beach, but I didn't want to reorder all the pictures.

Balboa park has really nice gardens and a bunch of museums and other activities, perfect for a leisurely day with a one-year old who just wants to run around and jump in a fountain. I'm not sure where he picked up fountain, but that kid is drawn to them like a magnet. It must be all those splash pad trips that mommy takes him on.

Balboa Park

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Balboa park even had a choo-choo, so of course we had to ride it. They also had a merry-go-round, but Laura and I thought it was a bit to fast for Nathan so we opted out of that ride.

And one last beach trip before the 7 hour drive home

Five days of vacation and we returned more exhausted than when we left. But then, that is usually how our vacations roll.

Baby Gaga

2010-07-16T18:58:00.004-07:00

Shake it baby, shake it!

Fore?

2010-07-05T18:48:00.008-07:00

Golfing on a Monday holiday! Or as Laura apparently called it: Daddy Playdate

So we were kicking it at our 4th of July BBQ, like normal guys do... (see picture below)

Regular guys, doing normal guy stuff

and we somehow managed to get on the subjet of golf. So naturally, being great planners, we decide it would be awesome to go golfing in the morning. Here's a little reinactment of the conversation (which I assume is how most golf conversations go):

"Yeah, we should go golfing sometime. When do you want to go?"
"How about tomorrow?"
"Yeah, let's do it."

At this point wife #1 and wife #2 walk in.

"Um, Laura, do we have plans tomorrow?"
Laura: "Why? What are you guys planning?"
"We're setting up a golf game for the morning."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, can I go"
Guy #2, turning to his wife: "Oh, yeah, we're going golfing in the morning. Is that cool?"
Guy #3: "I should probably ask too."

Our conversation was actually about how bad we are at golf, so it was kind of funny how excited we were to go out and play a round. Also funny, by the end of the evening, I think all the wives had identified a certain number of items for each of us to deliver to each other. Reinactment #2:

Laura: "Oh, you can take this tray back to Guy #4. The chips are for Guy #3 and the watermellon is for Guy #2"
Gary: "Really? You want me to deliver a watermellon? Why on Earth does he want a watermellon?" Seriously, I think she's was making stuff up at this point just to see what she could make me do...like the wives had their own little secret game of "Let's see want we can get our husbands to deliver." Well played Laura, well played.

So with approval, we nominate guy #2 to find a course. "Honey, what was the name of that course I just golfed at?" And of course, wife #2, having not been at that golf outing, remembers and suggests googling it for directions. So guy #2 stumbles with the google search and offers wife #2 the opportunity to search for our golf course because "you're the better researcher."

So miraculously we manager to hook up a location and tee time: Monday at 8:23am. But we apparently forgot to tell Guy #4 the time and of course none of us exchanged phone numbers.

So in the morning, I get the numbers of 2 of the wives, you know in case I need to contact the husbands before golf.

We arrive one by one, but guy #4 doesn't show up and of course it's his wife's phone number I didn't have. So I call Laura for the number. No answer. So I call wife #4's friend to get wife #4's number to get guy #4's number. That plan worked, but guy #4 is at home because we forgot to provide the tee time. Apprently he left a message with Laura the night before (because of course he didn't have my number), but the message was just static-y and we just assumed it was a wrong number.

I would have more pictures of the golf outing, but I forgot the camera and I'm sure it's probably an unwritten guy rule for the golf course. There's probably a rule about writing about these conversations too.

Artist's recreation of golf outing: Apparently a swing and miss (which did happen, but still, c'mon! That artist is a jerk)

I did manage to hit a really great shot on hole 8. From about 50 yards out, my shot landed two inches from the hole. I even have a picture to prove it but it's on my phone and I haven't figured out how to upload it yet. But I do have two witnesses.

***Names were changed to protect Phil, Justin, and Jeremy***

H2 ooohhhh

2010-06-28T19:59:00.006-07:00

Oh, so good on a hot day - 107 degress hot. Pool time!

There's a smile in there somewhere

Moommmm, it's fine. Let's go!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I'm done!

Sonoma stalking her prey

DaaaDUM...DaahDUM

Returning with the catch

Plus we found a new gardener! Who knew it was so much fun to play with the hose? Okay everyone knew, but it's always fun to find out for the first time.

A little over here...

A little over there...

And now we can't get it away from him. Well, we can, but not without a fight. Ooo, maybe he will be like this with his chores...What do you think?

Hey, Nathan, you missed a spot

Who's On First? (updated with bonus Allyson picture)

2010-06-24T18:05:00.009-07:00

Well that would be Nathan. On his first baseball game, that is. Nothing like instilling a little bit of good ole American tradition. Maybe we'll try some apple pie next...

hmm, what happens if I poke this person?

Nathan playing with Allyson and baby Calli

hee hee hee

Milk Allyson, Justin, Calli (not necessarily in that order)

Nathan was in awe as we entered. I think he was amazed at the size of the stadium and all the people. And when we finally entered our area we opened up to this view:

Hello...hello...Echo...echo...echo

Yes, we were pretty high up, upper deck section 305. Nathan basically had this look of "Whoa" on his face. Until we sat down. That's when he became Mr. Squirmy Man. And here I was hoping that he would sit nicely on our laps and enjoy the D-backs beating up on some Yankees. But alas, no, none of that happened. D-back lost 5-6 in 10 innings...oh, sorry, ***Spoiler Alert*** I didn't mean to give away the ending like that...

A little break from the action

So Laura and I took turns walking around with Nathan and letting him walk the concourse. Being the wonderful husband I am, I let Laura take more turns than me (you owe me one Schmoopie). :)

Nathan seemed to enjoy the game, or rather the experience at least. Whenever the crowd cheered, he started clapping. And when there was music playing, he started dancing. And he really enjoyed running around the concourse. Oh, and poking the people seated in front of us.

Surprisingly, we actually made it to the seventh inning stretch. He normally goes to bed at 7pm and with the game starting just 20 minutes prior, I had only expected to reach the 3rd. Well that and Laura's love for the sport.

International sign for milk

RO RO RO Your Boat...

2010-05-31T18:22:00.010-07:00

Who knew installing an RO system was so easy. For the most part, this and the garbage disposer I put in the weekend prior were both just plug and play, or unscrew and use, such that it is.

Hole (in case you couldn't figure that one out)

So we had this hole that we needed to fill. Actually it was a rusty looking cap, but after popping that off, voila, hole. Anyhoo, Laura has been wanting an RO system for a while now and our in-fridge filter just wasn't doing the trick. So with summer fast approaching we needed a fix since Laura is a water connoisseur and she is about 97% water, about 37 points higher than normal, everyday humans.

Empty space that could be used for something...

Well, lo and behold, we had this hole in our sink and empty space that we have been debating about what to do with ever since we bought this place. "Hey Laura, what do you want to do with all that space under the sink?" "Hmf. I don't know. Can we convert into a closet?"

So, after years of debate, we landed on a "zero waste" RO system to deliver fresh, clean drinking water to all the people in the land, or whoever should stop by our house...when we are home. I say "zero waste" in quotes, because it is zero wasted water but only after you waste the first two tanks rinsing out the system. But I guess this is better than the alternative that wastes a few gallons per filtered gallon throughout the process. But still...

Success!

So seriously, easy to install. the hardest part was the faucet, only because it was an awkward angle to reach up into. All I had to do was screw in the faucet, add two screws to hold up the filters, attached the tubes, and BAM, done.

No more hole

Fresh water at the push of a button. The only bad thing is that the water is room temperature. I'm sure there is a way to run it over to the fridge to have cold water and clean ice - I guess I'll have to google that. Though with the fridge on the opposite side of the room, it may be a much larger project that the install itself.

Extra pieces???

Boiled Weeds...mmmmm

2010-05-26T17:40:00.004-07:00

It works!!!!! Boiling water does kill weeds. Now I just have to wait to see if it had its way with the weed's roots.

Happy weed

Exhausted weed

Dead weed

Again a reminder - Don't try this in your garden or it will also kill the good little bugs and microbes that power your garden. Also pointed out, you probably shouldn't do this in your grass yard, unless you want to kill the surrounding grass. Happy chemical-free weed killing!

Organic Wine Review

2010-04-26T20:46:00.004-07:00

Vida Organica - Malbec
2009 Argentina

Though made with organic grapes, apparently, it doesn't qualify under FDA regulations as being organic since sulfites are used to make it shelf stable. I'm not sure if this applies to all wines or if this refers to this one specifically. But how does it taste...

Well, initially, quite harsh and unbalanced, maybe a little bitter? Even running it though my new wine toy, an instant aerator, which speeds up the breathing process, failed to enhance the flavor. However, on day 3 (yes, it lasted that long since it wasn't very good) it finally showed promise, but by then I lost interest. It was softer and some of the fruit flavors became apparent, but who wants to wait 3 days for wine? According to the all-knowledgeable label, this wine is full bodied with flavors of dark berries and plums. Maybe berries that were picked about a month too early. I wouldn't yet write off the producers, but I can't recommend this vintage and since there are plenty of wines to choose from, I'd only recommend this to an alcoholic who has run through the avaiable wine universe and must now choose between this bottle and Boone's Farm.

Nathan Birthday Videos - Part 1

2010-04-22T20:21:00.006-07:00

As promised...

Here are the boys cruising in Nathan's new ride.

hmm, video quality seems to be getting killed. May have to drop these in FB.

Crack A Bottle...

2010-04-18T20:11:00.005-07:00

Yes, the glass broke. It was that good. (Whatever that means.)

2008 Shannon Ridge Chardonnay ~$15

This was part of the Bevmo 5-cent sale, so I guess it was only about $7.52. A little background - I wasn't feely Chardonnays for a while because all I was finding were apple-y/citrus-y ones and I was really wanting a buttery one. Having no luck on my own, a friend recommended J Lohr, which was excellent and buttery. That led me to find out a little more about the buttery trait and I found out that those Chardonnays that had gone through malolactic fermentation tended to have the buttery qualities. So, I found this little wine at the Bevmo sale and sure enough, right on the label, malolactic fermentation. So bam, $15.05, two bottles. You see because you have to buy 2.

Anyhoo, this one is not as buttery as the J Lohr, but still quite refreshing. A little pear flavors and a slight butteriness and overall smooth and crisp. I would recommend this at $7.50, but any higher and I'd steer you to the J Lohr, which runs about $11.

The glass in the picture actually broke as I tried to get a good angle to snap a few pictures of Nathan not-eating.

WTF Did You JUST Eat?!?!?!

2010-04-18T17:16:00.005-07:00

We just watched this amazing movie, Food Inc., and I highly recommend it to everyone. It is a 90 minute documentary about where your food is coming from. You can even catch it for free in HD on PBS channel 8 this Wednesday, April 21st at 9:00 p.m. (in Phoenix - not that I have a national audience that needs clarifying).

This movie has everything: suspense, conspiracies (everyone I've told about the brief is dead), a mafia-like seed company with their own hitmen and that has infiltrated the government, crazy facts, ammonia-lace beef, genetically modified food, and MURDER!!

But seriously, it's an eye-opening movie that will get you thinking differently about what you eat.

Interesting links:
Movie web site: http://www.foodincmovie.com/
Blog: http://www.takepart.com/news/tag/hungry-for-change/

If you watch just one movie this month, watch Sherlock Holmes. But if you have time for 2, check out Food Inc. Just kidding, put Food Inc. at the top of your list as it will have the biggest impact on your life.

ps - Alisa I will try not to neglect the blog in the future

Who Needs Cable Anyway

2010-04-04T20:47:00.009-07:00

So a few months ago we cut the cord. No, seriously, I did. Literally. I had to. Whoever owned the house before us had the brilliant idea to pour concrete over a cable instead of, oh, I don't know, say, maybe moving the cable to the side while pouring the concrete. Brilliant!!

But, yes, figuratively too. No more $55/month (or $70ish if you count the "free" HD service that we dropped a while back - seriously, you don't offer "Free HD" if I have to pay $10/month extra, or whatever it is, for the special receiver and another $5 for the included service tier) to the cable dictators. They only get our internet money now.

So why did we do it you ask. Well it's all Nathan's fault really. We no longer had the time to watch much TV. What we did watch was avaiable free over-the-air. And when we did watch, we were frequently interupted by the teenie guy. So we began watching TV shows online where we could start them anytime, pause anytime, and rewind when needed. Definitely fits our lives better. Plus there are several ways now available to stream the internet (hulu.com, ABC/NBC/CBS full episodes, Live broadcasts, and sports) to the TV. So if anyone is interested, please continue on.

Only a few things are needed:
- High-speed internet (and a PC)- you likely have this so no additional costs, though the middle tier would be best, so this may add ~$12 (or subtract ~$12 from your savings)
- A converter (Playstation 3, XBox 360, Wii, or other stand-alone box) - You may have this too, but if you don't, the stand alone box is only about $80 (Ruku). If you play video games occassionally, try the Wii since it's easy and fun with groups. Otherwise you may like the Playstation 3 as it comes with a Blu-Ray player and you can store music/video/photos and play them through your TV and stereo system)
- Tversity or Playon software - both are easy to use, but Playon costs $30 after the 2 week trial. All you need to do is load up your programs and the software keeps your list updated. Then just select them up through your player in the above bullet and hit play. Both options support Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon videos, ESPN, ABC/NBC/CBS, plus have free options for Food Network, National Geographic, HGTV. However, only shows that are available online will be available, so check to make sure your favorite show is offered.

Optional: Netflix - since they offer streaming on demand for only $9/month. We are currently watching the most recent season of Weeds streamed to our TV, released on DVD in Decemeber, I believe.

So even if you upgrade your internet and sign up for Netflix, you're still saving $ if you don't mind losing some channels and being a little flexible: $55-12-9 = $34 or ~$1/day = $360/year.

Here's an artist's reinactment:
See it works.

Some caveats: while testing Playon and Tversity, some features were intermitent and with a slower connection the fast-forwarding/rewind kill playback (as you need to wait for the internet to catch up). But initial load times are fast and if all you do is pause/play there was only a few second delay, but once playing it was smooth. Netflix ran perfectly. Also, if you watch TV in several rooms, this may not be a good substitute since you would need several converters or to watch TV on your computer.

Addtional info: Cancel Cable

Happy Birthday To You!

2010-03-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

Nathan's 1st birthday! Wow, I can't believe this day has already come. Prepare yourself for some expected parental "where has the time gone" soliloquy. Because, seriously, we just brought the little guy home. See:

Little guy

And now he is a year old! And weirdly, it seems like forever since last year, but at the same time, I was just there. I'm sure I could go on, so I'll stop before I get carried away. Back to the part-tay!

There was so much for all the little guys to do. We had wagon rides and everyone's favorite- BUBBLES!!! Plus a few of Nathan's favorite activities including: pull everything out of the laundry basket; and doing something with a parachute. I really don't know what the parachute thing is called, but it is always a hit with the kiddos. I'm sure you remember doing this in PE back in the day, but basically it's holding on to the edge and waving the 'chute up and down (advanced users can add a ball to the top to watch it roll around). Definitely amusing.

Anyhoo, here are some photos (unfortunately, Laura and I were busy most of the time, so our photo selection is limited, so if you have any good shots, shoot them our way. Thanks.)

Wagon Rides!

The Boys

Notice how cool Nathan is in the wagon? Arm on the side, chillin' like, "Yeah, ladies, this is my ride."

"What's under here?"

Birthday Boy

16 kids. Sitting. Still. What's up!?!?!

Yeah, 16 kids sitting still...for .00003 seconds. Just enough time for a lucky picture.

I still need to find time to edit the video, but it is on its way.

New Post, No Lion

2010-03-26T23:02:00.007-07:00

Zoo trip!!! I took a little reimbursement day and hit up the zoo. What's that? What's reimbursement day? Well it's kind of like a vacation/personal day without all of the baggage. You see, my boss is so awesome that she reimburses me a little family time for business trips; hence, reimbursement day. Anyhoo...The Zoo!

"Hey, Simba, what do you want for dinner?"

"We haven't had tourist in a while..."

Well apparently there was a lion. You'd think I would have noticed that. Good thing they are locked up.

Animals...and there are giraffes in there too

Gary explaining Giraffe 101

It was a beautiful day for a zoo day: mid 70s with a cool, gentle breeze. And there was plenty of shade throughout.

"Um, Nathan, the elephant is over here. He's kinda hard to miss."

Joining us on our trip was our personal photographer.

Self-portrait of Lisa taking a picture of a Giant Tortoise. Man she's good!

She just bought a fancy new camera and was excited to do some more practicing. Actually, she was really excited about spending time with Nathan, but he's so cute, can you blame her?

My favorite shot

"Look! A Monkey!"

Connecting with the past

The end!

I'm tha B.O.M.B.

2010-03-24T20:26:00.002-07:00

Back On My Bloggin' that is. Yes, after a 2 month hiatus, I am back. I know, exciting right? So why the hiatus, well, since you asked. Well I was busy trying to get healthcare reform passed. No, actually, I was dual-rolling it at work as I transitioned into a new joint (hmmm, that kind of sounds like a drug reference in hindsight, but no drugs, druhhgs er bahd, mmkay). On top of that, I was working a little consulting side action and planning for the teenie guy's b-day. Needless to say, blogging was moved to the back burner (as was sleep).

But I'm back now.

Well don't get too excited as this is just a welcome me back post, but don't sweat it, real stuff is coming. Such as Nathan's birthday party in minute detail, including photos for all you picture-book people out there who don't like the words so much. Plus a few wine reviews as I hit up Bevmo's 5-cent wine deal to stock up our wine cooler.

So until next time - which will be sooner than the last time...

Nathan's First Year

2010-03-13T18:50:00.001-07:00

Here is the slideshow from Nathan's birthday party.

Teenie's 12 Step Program

2010-01-31T18:54:00.003-07:00

Nathan walking across the kitchen.

TaylorTafting on Ice

2010-01-18T21:58:00.009-07:00

ROAD TRIP!!!!

"Dad, what's up with the flashing blue and red lights?"

Today we drove up to Flagstaff for a little fun in the snow. We decided to wait until the teenie guy was ready for a nap to begin our trek in the hopes that he would sleep for the first hour or so before. And everything went according to plan with one slight exception - Sonoma was too excited.

[Side note: Sonoma likes barking at people, other dogs, and motorcycles; especially when they are invading her space - such as walking on the sidewalk in front of our house. I mean the nerve of some people. No consideration. End side note]

Even though we left on a rainy day, apparently everyone decided it was a great time to walk their dog, go for a jog, ride their motorcycle, etc. So wouldn't you know it, everytime we approached said instance, safely in our little Matrix where no one could get to us, Sonoma decided to warn them with a bark or two. Guy walking his dog - Bark BARK!! Guy walking with groceries - BARK Don't even think of using that baguette on us, BARK!! Seriously, why is everyone out in the rain.

And each time, she woke our sleeping baby. We tried distracting her and giving her treats, but that didn't work. All we had to do was make it to the freeway and all would be quiet for Nathan to take a nap. Because, seriously, who would be walking on the freeway. I mean c'mon. That never happens. One block away from the on-ramp and we remembered that we forgot to pack the gloves!!! U-turn! Return home, more people, find new route to freeway.

Note doggy drool and sleeping baby

On the road again. This time for reals, yo. Nathan slept for just under 2 hours!!! WooHoo!! Good quality quiet driving time. Snap some diving photos of Sonoma. Enjoy the scenery. Oh look, that car's on fire. SNOW!!

And when he woke up, he was even in a good mood since he was well rested. That lasted about 45 minutes until he realized he was stuck in a carseat. So we looked for the next place to stop. Unfortunately, it had started to snow so we were only driving about 30 mph and wouldn't you know it, no exits for a bajillion miles. Well, there was the random dirt road or two, well covered in snow, that I doubt our little Matrix would be able to make it out should the snowing get heavier. So, 20 minutes later, we take the upcoming exit, slide to a stop just in time to avoid a truck, and pull into the gas station for a little relaxation before heading off to have fun in the snow.

"um, now what?"

Laura and Sonoma

TaylorTafting on Ice

If you're still with me, I'll try to be quick here (sort of like a movie when they get to the 2 hour mark and realize they haven't wrapped everything up just yet). I wanted to be out of Flagstaff by 3pm, because a snowstorm was scheduled promptly at 4pm. And I have never driven in snow until about 2 paragraphs ago. So not very excited about driving out at 3:40 with heavy snow falling, car slipping and sliding, while driving 17 MPH. Laura needs to pee, miss entrance and slide into drive-thru exit. No one coming, because, seriously who does drive thru in a snowstorm. Drive around to entrance, almost kill a family because Matrix forgets the code we have well established: Brake = stop; gas = go; ipod = jammin'; and slide into what I will graciously call a parking spot.

So much for being quick here.

Back out into the snowstorm (probably a generous classification on my park, but I live in the desert). This time 12mph, almost get squished by a bus, because the lane I was using no longer exists (if it did to start with). When we get to the fork in the road, Phoenix to the left, NM to the right, we start to wonder why absolutely no one is going the Phoenix route. So we slow down a bit more, because we no longer have tire tracks to follow, only snow to drive on. After a bit of wondering if the road has been closed we see a few vehicles merging onto the highway. We also see an SUV that has obviously rolled over after having slid a great distance. After successfully merging do we A) stay in the right lane with the sane folks or B) kick it with the fast left lane and their fancy tire tracks. We stay to the right, because we value life and I have no idea how to drive in a snowstorm - I even have a driver's license to prove the system functions well. Anyhoo, slowly, but surely we made it home. At least Nathan slept though the snowstorm part of it.

WWAPD?

2010-01-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wine Tasting

2010-01-17T21:23:00.002-07:00

So, mostly as a joke, a co-worker and I created a club. Yeah, just like we were 12 or something. Anyhoo, we were just having fun, I mean, working really hard on an important project, no, two important projects simultaneously, excelling at both, with one hand tied behind our backs. But I digress, we some-what created a wine tasting club and our first gathering was this past Friday. Though our membership is relatively low (maybe we should reduce the membership dues) we had a great time.

Interestingly, two of us brought the same wine, 2007 Bogle Old Vines Zinfandel. Also, interestingly, they tasted completely different. The first was smooth and fruity with a lasting finish while the second was a bit harsh and the flavor seemed to fall of a cliff at the end. We speculated that the temperature was the culprit as one was stored in a wine cooler and the other in a car - but not knowing which was which we can't say which was better. Hopefully the wine cooler or else we wasted a bunch of money. The other bottle is a Sauvignon Blanc which Laura and I have been evading since we were overloaded with several with a heavy alfalfa aroma that has haunted us ever since. This one however was pleasantly surprising. Another good thing about blind tasting. The Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc that we tasted was from Chile which may contribute to our re-acceptance of the varietal as the previous ones were from California. So we will probably re-explore this one as it would be refreshing on a warm Spring day.

On another note, a few weeks back Laura and I (mostly I) enjoyed a Franciscan Merlot. I highly recommend this one if you are in the market for a great merlot. A heavenly aroma, soft and smooth, full-bodied and juicy, with a long finish.

10 Months!!!!

2010-01-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

hmmm, what is this stuff?

Behold, the blade of grass!

That was fun, but I'm outta here.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Santa came!! Santa came!!

ooooooooooh

Christmas this year was very exciting as we began many new traditions. Kicking off the celebration on Christmas eve, we made cookies for Santa - a new maple cookie recipe that has been an instant hit. Before heading out to look at Christmas lights, we put out our candle for the Pajama Elf in hopes of new pjs for our forthcoming long winter's nap.

YAY!!!

Baking must have worn out the teenie guy as he slept through the viewing of the lights, but he was well rested as we returned home to see that the Pajama Elf had visited and left us all new pjs to sleep in.

Christmas morning we awoke to the clipity-clop of what I assume must have been tiny reindeer hooves, because really, what else could it have been that would wake us up so early. We made our way downstairs to see that Santa indeed did come and visit us last night. He munched on some cookies, drank his milk, and left us all a few presents. Nathan slowly got the hang of opening the gifts, but Sonoma was all over it, tearing through her gifts, preferring to play (tear into tiny pieces) the wrapping paper more so than enjoying her new toys.

Tired from a long day

A chair just for me

Babies everywhere

Jib Jab Year in Review

2009-12-28T13:26:00.002-07:00

2009

The Story of the Pajama Elf

2009-12-24T20:26:00.004-07:00

Long ago, there was a little elf in Santa's workshop who did not know how to build wooden toys. Despite all of his effort, and try as he might, he just couldn't seem to get any of the toys to work properly. One day he asked Santa how he could help, because he ever so wanted to make the little children happy. So, Santa invited the little elf to join him on Christmas eve to help deliver presents. As they rode around Santa mentioned how all the little boys and girls would try to stay up late to catch a glimpse of Santa. And the later the children stayed up, the harder it was for Santa to deliver all of the presents without being noticed.

"I know!" exclaimed the little elf. "Whenever I get new pajamas, I always sleep so soundly and comfortably. I will make new pjs for everyone so they can get a good night's rest." And so the little elf decided to make pajamas for all the little boys and girls and deliver them before they go to bed on Christmas eve.

So every Christmas Eve, the people of the town would place a lighted candle on their doorstep to light the way for the Pajama Elf. And the Pajama Elf would bring new pajamas to everyone that night so they could all fall fast asleep in snuggly, new pjs. This also had the added benefit of preparing the young children for pictures the next morning (once cameras were developed (pun, pun) hundreds of years later) as they would bound out of bed and rush to the tree in sparkling, new pjs.

Oh ho ho, it's on - Santa vs. Blitzen

2009-12-20T20:33:00.006-07:00

Blitzen Calls Out Santa

Santa Responds

9 Months!!!

2009-12-16T23:25:00.002-07:00

Nathan is 9 months old today. (more pictures coming - I haven't had a chance to download new photos yet. If you're good I'll even drop in a video.)

His 9 month well visit went, well, well. (that probably sounds funnier in my head that written down).

Santa Baby (and 28 Day Round Up)

2009-12-13T21:10:00.010-07:00

Santa Baby

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. Man I'm a slacker. Actually, no, just been a little busy. Well, maybe a little slacking, but I have been busy with some side projects.

Thanksgiving

"My Teenie Thanksgiving"

Well for Nathan's first Thanksgiving, he managed to sleep through not one, but two turkey dinners. We hosted the Taft clan for a noon gathering and the teenie guy managed to take an hour long nap just before dinner was served. He didn't even really get to use his turkey bib, but he did sport his "My First Thanksgiving" onesie to much fanfare.

Unused Turkey Bib

As we started feeling the effects of the tryptophan, we had a choice two remedies: either TripToCaribbean or a power nap. Since we we short on time, we choose a little rest before venturing out to my brother's house for round two where Nathan continued his Thanksgiving tradition of sleeping through every possible Thanksgiving dinner he could get his hands on.

First Birthday as a Dad

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was my first birthday as a dad. So instead of heading out to the clubs and getting wasted (which I don't think I've done in several years) we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch ASU vs. Tucson Tech in, apparently, the Territorial Cup. Man that's a dumb name. I prefer The Duel in the Desert. Well, actually I prefer ASU winning. They can call it the Cereal Bowl for all I care, just catch the damn punt! Sorry I get a little worked up when we play our rivals.

"ASU!! ASU!!!"

December

Nathan's first December!!!! I am getting carried away with his "firsts?"

Tree Lighting

Being Chandler residents we represented by heading downtown to watch the annual lighting of the tumbleweed tree. Yes, tumbleweed. Yeah, I know. It was quite chilly, but at least I got to hold our portable heater - one of the benefits they never tell you about having a baby in the winter, they are little heaters. As for the teenie guy, he geared up in his Santa outfit, and oh my god, cuteness. Seriously, check the photos, I'll wait....

Santa Baby

"All I want for Christmas is you"

Santa's tired

Overall the tree lighting wasn't very impressive, but we still had fun.

8 Months Old Today!!!

2009-11-16T08:06:00.002-07:00

"hmmm, what can I get into..."

"Look what I found!"

"I'm ready for round two, butternut squish!"

The Return of the Carrot

2009-11-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

Nathan tried solid food for the first time yesterday, well semi solid, maybe more like a mush. We picked up some organic carrots at Harvest Handfuls this week and Laura prepared them for Nathan on Saturday afternoon. A little rosemary, a little garlic, grilled for about 12 minutes with applewood chips for some smoky flavor. If anyone wants the recipe, hit us up in the comments.

Here is the happy baby, excited and eager for his next experience. His facial expressions were priceless.

Part II - The Return of the Carrots

So I guess he didn't really care for the flavor and he decided to return the carrots. I can't wait to see how he reacts to the next one.

Observe & Report

2009-11-07T09:50:00.003-07:00

Nov. 7th - Watchpost #5 - Guarding the new grass.

- 8:54am - It's cool outside. The ground is moist. Possibly a light rain fell last night...or maybe just the sprinklers. All is quiet.

- 9:01am - Birds chirping, yet they stay away. Can they still see me? Must stay still and silent. Can't let the birds get the grass seed.

- 9:09am - The first bird arrives. Must be a scout. Will wait for main group before springing the trap.

- 9:10am - A second bird arrives to investigate the grounds. They seem to be communicating something back to the rest of the group. Can't understand their chirpy-chirp language.

   - 9:12am - Multiple birds arrive. OMG I can't believe they can't see me...this is so cool. So many birds and no one knows I'm here. hee hee hee

   - 9:15am - I've been still for 5 minutes now and the birds have no clue. I'm so sneaky. I should be a ninja. Ninjas are so cool.

   - 9:17am - Wow, these flowers are nice. They have a lovely scent. And they're purple. I like purple.

   - 9:18am - What was I doing....

Halloween

2009-11-02T23:46:00.000-07:00

For the last several years, we have created a haunted house in our garage. Mainly because it is fun to do while passing out candy. But there's also the side benefit of getting to scare little kids and the occasional adult (Liz). I mean seriously, why would you just sit inside trying to watch a movie when every 18 seconds the doorbell rings with kids at the door begging for candy because their parents don't feed them and never taught them not to take candy from strangers. Besides, there's nothing more beautiful than seeing a little child's eyes light up with fear just before he begins shrieking at the top of his lungs while his parents can't help but laugh.

But alas, no haunted house this year. We just didn't have the time to set it up now that we have the teenie guy. Instead, we decided to have a casual party. We opened up the garage and put out a fire pit and kicked it with family and friends while passing out candy to all of the ninjas and princesses and vampires and other assorted creatures.

Nathan, after attacking the candy.

Surprisingly, several trick-or-treaters really missed our haunted house. Some even looked visually devastated, though that may have been make-up. But really, 10-15 people asked what happened to the haunted house because they were looking forward to it all night. Instead they had to settle for a measly, little candy bar. Well, maybe we'll be back in full force next year.

Anyhoo, here are some photos from Nathan's first Halloween. As you can see Nathan was a bee. Laura was a butterfly, Sonoma a lady bug. And Gary? Well, Gary decided to be a flower. Yeah, a flower. So wassup?!?!?! You want a piece of me? You want a piece of me not. You want a piece of me? You want a piece of me not.

Help! The bee is attacking me!

So yeah, I'm a flower - I thought it would be fun if we matched and since bees like flowers and I was likely to be holding him at some point... Besides, wouldn't it be weird if you saw a vampire holding a bee? I mean, c'mon, they're allergic to bees. However, I think I made my flower petals a bit too big. But, hey, large petals run in my family. All in all, not to bad for a homemade costume, if I do say so myself.

*So I tried to put the last two pictures side by side - anyone know how to do that?

Nathan Photos

2009-10-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Zoo! Membership Has Its Benefits.

2009-10-26T19:05:00.003-07:00

We are now officially zoo members. It has been so long since either of us have been to the zoo, and I believe the last few times, it was for zoo lights when all the animals were sleeping. Well, okay, not the nocturnal ones. Or the party animals. But I digress, we haven't been to the zoo to see the animals in possibly 10 years.

This was also Nathan's first time to the zoo and we were so excited to take him. On top of that, his buddy, Brady, and his parents We-Lisa and Shaun also joined us. They are actually Platinum members, having been members for decades, so we let them show us the ropes, lest we fall in and get stomped by an elephant.

Nathan and Mommy

If you look closely you can actually see a monkey. I know it's hard with all of the green around, but just to the right of the hot lady you can see the cutest little monkey face peering out.

"Monkey!"

Actually, there is a monkey in this picture. No, really, there is. And I don't mean Nathan. In the cage just to the right of Nathan's cute little head. Yes, just past the adorable baby. Stop looking at the baby. If you want to see the monkey, you have to stop looking at the teenie, tiny, widdle, cuddly....Sorry about that. Back to the story. Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes, the monkey. I didn't have time to read the info, so it may not actually be a "monkey," but it is in the monkey family. Maybe a distant cousin. Twice removed. Likely tossed out by security for an "item" throwing incident.

"Not my toes!"

Here I am feeding Nathan to the giant tortoises. Actually, if the fence wasn't there Laura would have been eaten by not one, but two, giant tortoises because, A) she's slow (I keed, I keed), and B) despite their size, she didn't see them. Nature might be on to something with this whole camouflage thing.

Fun at the zoo

And finally, the giraffes. Nathan has been waiting his whole life for this. He has a little giraffe toy, Sophie, that he loves and he was so excited to see a real life Sophie. Though, the real ones don't squeak when you squeeze them. Well, actually, I've never squeezed a real giraffe, so maybe they do squeak.

And that was our first family zoo trip. We only saw a fraction of what the zoo has to offer. We didn't even make it to the lions and tigers and (we did see a bear, at least part of one - he was sleeping). Even outside of all of the animals, there are tons of other activities and events to enjoy. Good thing we have a membership now, especially since admission runs $16 per person. As long as we go more than 2 times, we will pay for the annual membership cost and since many of our friends have memberships, I'm sure we'll be back monthly, if not more.

Blog Re-design In Process

2009-10-23T09:44:00.002-07:00

Well after about a year, I've decided that I should finally learn some more about html and css to do a little re-design of the blog - leave the default layout nest and start creating my own. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions.

Review # 6: The Beatles - Rubber Soul

2009-10-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Uh, oh. Looks like they turned to drugs. Just looking at the cover you can tell they're high. Hopefully this translates into good music, because looking back, they seem to be hit or miss (though missing mainly because of cover songs and lame ablum filler).

Drive My Car - Wow, you must really like her Paul. She can drive your car? Actually, that's not what the song is really about, but not a bad way to start the album.

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - I love everything about this song: the melody, the mysterious lyrics, the Law & Order twist at the end, the sitar played by George who was influenced by Ravi Shankar, father of Norah Jones, who was in "My Blueberry Nights" with Jude Law, who was in the "Road To Perdition" with Tom Hanks, who was in Apollo 11 with...Kevin Bacon.

You Won't See Me - The longest song of the Beatles career thus far and it feels like it.

Nowhere Man - A pretty good song that sounds like it was influenced while under the influence of the ganja. Also, Nowhere Man could be a pot-head getting lectured about the path he's taken - somewhat ironic considering their new hobby.

Think For Yourself - As stipulated in his contract, Georgie gets his very own song that he can show his mother and impress the ladies. Though, I'm pretty sure only his mother like this one.

The Word - Before the bird was the word, the word was the word. Or something.

Michelle - A good song with some dumb lyrics, but somehow it works (and somehow won a Grammy for Song of the Year). On a side note, Slick Rick (the rapper) mis-interprets the French lyrics "sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble" as "Some dumb monkey bumped his head on." I know, a Grammy, WTF?

What Goes On - While everyone is high, Ringo, joking around, hits record and starts singing a song that didn't make the first album...this piece of crap. Maybe it's funny if you listen to it while your high. Speaking of which...

Girl - A good song, but it sounds like they are taking a hit of weed everytime the title is mentioned. An early form of a drinking game, perhaps, but with weed, because The Beatles were gangsta, bitch!

I'm Looking Through You - Well after that much weed, I might be looking through you too. Actually this song is about Paul's girlfriend of 5 years. This is almost as bad as breaking up by email. The songs not that bad though.

In My Life - In a moment of clarity, John writes this great song.

Wait - Don't tell me what to do.

If I Needed Someone - After finding out the Ringo recorded another song, George pulls out his contract and demands another song. This is the result of that little tantrum. The world would be a better place without that contract.

Run For Your Life - John gets high and goes psycho: "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man." All while a little Eminem listens intently at home.

Well, it turned out that the drugs helped do the trick. They seem more relaxed and free. The good songs are really good and the bad songs, well, they still sort of work in a drug influenced kind of way. All considered, this is a pretty decent album.

Puppy Party

2009-10-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some highlights from the Sonoma's 4th birthday party. Yeah, I know, can you believe she's 4 already?

The first game we played was musical sit (similar to musical chairs, but...you get the picture). The photo is of Sonoma coming in 2nd, mainly because she sits like a girl, taking her sweet time, finding the right spot, careful not to get her fur dirty. Otis on the other hand (the lab on the right, who won) was more like, sit-boom-okay dad, what's next.

All the doggies lining up for a little race. Sonoma smiling for the camera.

And they're off... Otis won this one too, but gratiously offered his prize to the runner up. Man, he's good.

Happy Birthday to Sonoma! Yes, we're those kind of parents. Laura baked a cake for her baby-puppy with all the things a little puppy likes, including sprinkles of bacon on top.

Thanks to everyone for coming out for Sonoma's 4th birthday party.

Review #5: The Beatles - Help!

2009-10-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

The first step to self improvement is admitting you have a problem and need some help. Finally the Beatles reach this tipping point, although being a little self conscience, the decide to mask their cries for help with flag signals. Unfortunately, the photographer thought that H - E - L - P in flag signals wasn't visually appealling so they instead spelled out: N - U - J - V! Apparently they need help in more ways than one. Let's see if they manage to get any.

Help! - I'm assuming this is the first of many pleas for help - and I fear that if they don't get any help they might turn to drugs and begin to resent one another. Oh, and this song is pretty decent.

The Night Before - Keeps the album moving, not bad, but nothing stellar. The lyrics don't seem to make much sense: "when I think of the things we did, it makes me cry" - what the f did you do?

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - Another of my favorite Beatles songs, this time for sentimental reasons, as I had a crush on my wife when I first heard this song and I had to hide my love away.

I Need You - George gets his first of two songs, this time writing for himself. meh.

Another Girl - Combined with the last song, the ablum is losing steam quickly. Paul seems to be rubbing it in his girlfriends face, maybe the one from track 2, not nice.

You're Going To Lose That Girl - Another dud, that's three in a row. It seems to be a response to the previous track as John threatens to steal one of Paul girls.

Ticket To Ride - A nice song about losing your girl. Given their schedule, I don't see how John has time to stalk and stifle so many women. Trivia Time - according to Wikipedia, the song title's meaning is in dispute, According to wholesome Paul it is supposed to be "Ticket to Ryde" - Ryde being a city in England somewhere, where his lost love is headed to. According to sex-obsessed John, it refers to a prostitute with a doctor's note declaring her free from disease and thus "Ticket to Ride (a prostitute)" - Ride being slang for having sex. The lyrics seem to support Paul. I think John is messing with someone.

Act Naturally - Ringo gets ahold of the mic while everyone is out of the room and presses record...

It's Only Love - In 1980 Lennon said: "I always thought it was a lousy song. The lyrics were abysmal. I always hated that song." I am in 100% agreement.

You Like Me Too Much - George's second song, keeping him one up on Ringo as stipulated in his contract. So if you're keeping score at home: George 2, Ringo 1, Listeners 0. I hope whoever allowed that into the contract was fired.

Tell Me What You See - Nice instrumental, but other than that I don't see too much in this song. Wikipedia, on the other hand, suggests this unmemorable song is pivotal in the growth of the Beatles. Although I could see it growing on me.

I've Just Seen A Face - This sounds like what Simon and Garfunkle would sound like if they did a country song.

Yesterday - A great song, possilbly better known by its original title, "Scrambled Eggs." No seriously. Try singing it for yourself.

Dizzy Miss Lizzy - Aaaaaand were done.

Yes, they need help, and hopefully they find it somewhere before they turn to drugs. Of course after hearing this you may want to take some drugs too. The good songs on here are really good, but the rest simply suck. You'll find what you need on the greatest hits disk that you already picked up instead of album #2. And who knows, that may also save you from experimenting with drugs for first time.

Temecula Trip

2009-10-14T21:07:00.003-07:00

We just took Nathan on his first ever trip/vacation and he was amazing throughout the whole weekend. We were a little nervous about how he would take the 6.5 hour drive to Temecula (normally 5-5.5 hours, but we were expecting a few baby stops. No, not small stops, like baby steps, but stops to tend to the baby, you know feeding, diaper changes, that sort of thing). But to our amazement and delight, Nathan was perfect. He sat in his little car seat either sleeping or looking around the whole way. Even when he was a little fussy it was only for a few minutes when we were looking to stop for lunch and he was getting hungry. Even during the wedding he was a calm, happy baby and instead of loud crying at bedtime (which he has been known to do) he simply fell asleep, even with the loud wedding music playing. I don't know what everyone is talking about, this baby thing is cake! (knock on wood and all that stuff so as to not offend the karma guy from high atop the thing)

This was also our first time to Temecula, heading out there for one of my best friend's wedding at Falkner Winery. And since we enjoy wine country, we stayed an extra day to do a little wine touring. But first the rehersal dinner and wedding.

Rehearsal at the winery: Nathan rehearsing his crawling while daddy rehearses walking down an imaginary aisle.

Nathan enjoying the winery

"Fake grass? But it feels so real!"

"ASU!! ASU!!"

So we didn't think Nathan could get any cuter, and then we put him in his little ASU jacket and took turns squeezing him to bits.

Friday night at the wedding:

And then we put him in his little red vest and took turns squeezing him to pieces.

In the hotel room (obvisouly):

Don't you just want to pick him up and squeeze him?

Winery Picnic:

We only visited two wineries on Saturday. Normally (as in the few times we've been to Napa/Sonoma) we hit 4-5 wineries per day, but we figured we would need to cut back to accomodate the teenie guy and stay relaxed. Also, we usually plan a winery picnic during our tour because, well, it's fun, we get hungry, it helps to sober us up, and it refreshes our palate for the next round of tastings. So to continue with our tradition, we picnicked on the picturesque hill atop which sits Cougar Winery. Picturesque, beacause, well I took this picture. A little arid, but still not a bad way to enjoy some grub with the teenie guy. The wines were so-so, but we did pick up a rosé that was surprisingly good.

The other winery we visited was Ponte, which turned out to be better than our first impression. I say that because as we entered it was packed and looked very commercial, which in our experience tends to coincide with a lack of personality and character and when tasting wine, we like a little character. But we bellied up to the bar at the right place because our server was friendly, knowledgeable and engaging. On top of that the wines were pretty good too. We each had 6 tastings and the bartender offered generous pours, which was fine since we had planned to eat an early dinner there anyway.

If you are considering a trip to wine country, Temecula provides a great value as it is a short drive away and offers a variety of unique wines that you will not find anywhere else, mainly because the wineries are fairly small and are not sold anywhere else. So if you've never been I would recommend a visit.

You Can't Stop Him, You Can Only Hope To Contain Him

2009-10-13T20:45:00.001-07:00

"Me and my castle"

So our teenie guy has been mobile for about a month now and he keeps getting better, stronger, faster. We originally set up little speed bumps when he was just rolling around and those seemed to work well - he would just roll and stop. Then he would go the other way. Then, he learned to crawl and he would crawl up to them and contemplate what to do. Sometimes he would manage to figure out how to get past them. Since they were just velcroed to the floor, he sometimes kicked them loose or crawled up to them, grabbed them, and ripped them loose, holding the bumper in the air in celebration before seeing something else, getting distracted and rushing after the new object. Which brings us to now...

"Me in my castle, a.k.a. The Fun Zone"

I want to be over there and nothing will stop me, grrrrr. Except when we accidentally rolled out of control onto the tile and waaaAAAAAHHHHHHHH! That wasn't very fun, but darn it, I still want to go that way. So we had to buy this lovely little baby gate to contain him.

"Hey, that looks interesting!"

And what does he do? He starts to pull himself up!!! Seriously, stick with crawling for a bit. It can't be old yet, you just started. Savor the moment, enjoy it for a while. But no, Nathan wants to stand, so every chance he gets he tries to pull himself up. It's kind of funny too, every time he gets standing he looks around for us and then smiles really big like, "Look at me!!! Look what I can do! Hee hee."

"Look mommy, one hand!"

And of course the baby gate is just short enough to leave a small opening, just enough for crawl through. And guess who should happen to find it immediately and ever since be automatically be drawn to it like it has its own magnetic pull?

"I'm FREE!!!"

And speaking of magnetic pull...Nathan can seem to find any and every little hazard that we should have baby proofed for. And not only that, the stuff we can't move or block just yet, he remembers where it is. I thought that it was "out of sight, out of mind" for the first year. But, no, once he found the speaker cord and realized how wonderful it tasted (kind of like french vanilla ice-cream, I suppose) he heads straight for it. I will pick him up and put him back in the fun zone and he is immediately off and crawling through the opening, around the sofa, and behind the speaker until it's back in his tiny little hand. I think he has a little map somewhere...

And he's getting faster too, he can now cross the room about as fast as I can. So whereas we used to have time to put him at one end of the room and make a sandwich (while still watching him, of course) before he could get into any trouble. Now, he's crawling out of the room with us, side by side. So he has been keeping us on our toes.

Sonoma too. Now that he is mobile he enjoys chasing Sonoma around. Luckily for Sonoma, she is faster than all of us, but I'm sure she gets sick of moving all the time to escape the little fur grabber.

Review #4: The Beatles - Beatles For Sale

2009-10-05T21:52:00.002-07:00

Okay, seriously, who buys beetles? I mean, really, that's just gross. Unless you are referring to these guys, but still, c'mon, look at their hair, it looks like...like...kids today. Get a haircut!

Anyhoo...fresh back from Hollywood, the Beatles released album number 4 just in time for Christmas 1964. So, let's see, that's what, another 5 months after that last album. hmmm, I'm thinking this might be a little rushed. And when checking the Wiki-man, yep, 6 covers all in an effort to hit stores for the holiday shopping season. And who doesn't love a good sale?

Judging by the cover, these guys are either tired or starting to get serious. And since it's their 4th album in 21 months, I'm going with tired. Let's see how they did.

No Reply - The album starts off on a somber note - John's girl is avoiding him and no wonder, it sounds like he's stalking her - peaking through her window and calling all the time. A nice bouncy tune with a little pinch of crazy; and then it ends abruptly.

I'm a Loser - After losing his girl in the previous song, John loses a little self-esteem, though with some nice voice inflections, I might add.

Baby's in Black - I am going to assume that Lennon is mourning his girl from the first song, probably after John killed her in a bout of depression he suffered in song two. It's fairly short, likely to prevent John from incriminating himself. I didn't care for this so much.

Rock and Roll Music - Now this is more like it. Lennon again jacks Chuck Berry, but this time doesn't seem to care if he breaks the song or not - he's out to prove something here. Or maybe he is just partying after stalking and killing his last girlfriend and getting away with it.

I'll Follow the Sun - Slowing it down here, but with a nice melody. Apparently it only takes 1 minute and 49 seconds to break up with your girlfriend to wander aimlessly around the world hoping that she'll figure out what she's lost, though by then you're both alone...poor Paul.

Mr. Moonlight - What the hell is this crap?

Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey - They apparently combined two songs as an ode to a city I doubt they ever visited.

Eight Days a Week - A nice fade in to a classic track to make up for the last two songs. I've always liked how the chorus slows down a bit. Word on the street is that Lennon refused to play this song live as he didn't like it, probably because it was a love song and not a stalking, freak-out-your-lover song.

Words of Love - Covering Buddy Holly this time and not too badly either. At least they are not afraid to show their personality anymore.

Honey Don't - Ringo again draws the short straw and gets stuck with this miserable excuse for a song. I think the bad thing about covering songs from the '50s is that they are lacking any resemblence of an actual verse and just repeat the chorus or song title over and over again.

Every Little Thing - The instrumental is far better than the lyrics here.

I Don't Want to Spoil the Party - Yet they do with this song.

What You're Doing - hmmm, I could have sworn this was just on.

Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby - Apparently George's contract stipulated that he will get to sing more songs than Ringo so they added this cover to finish off the album and shut him the hell up.

Overall, John sounds depressed on this album as his girl leaves him, he decides that he's a loser, (probably kills her), and by the end of the album his date stands him up at a party. So much for Beatlemania. Paul even leaves his girl for the sweet warmth of the Sun and after working 8 days a week, it's no wonder the album cover shows them sad and a little pissed off. Maybe they were really having a fire sale to rid the shelves of the crap before creating better albums. The first half sucks (to put it nicely) and the second half starts nicely before taking a turn for the worse so unless you enjoy feeling like crap, I'd say pass on this album as your "best of" disc (that you bought to avoid album #2) will have the good songs from this album too.

Happy Birthday, Sonoma!!!

2009-10-01T07:30:00.003-07:00

Our little baby puppy is turning four today. I can't believe she is already four. I can still remember bringing her home, how tiny she was, back when Laura could still carry her (I still can, but at 75 lbs, not very far). She has adjusted well to having a little brother around who I'm sure will begin to torment her more and more as he gets more mobile. As it is, now that Nathan can crawl, he chases her around the room, but luckily he's not too quick yet, allowing Sonoma to slowly move away. Once he's old enough, I'm sure they will have fun playing together, we'll just have to teach both of them how to not share their toys.

Review #3: The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

2009-09-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

Five months later and another Beatles album. Either no other bands existed at this time, or these guys were popular and talented enough to create compelling material, though after the last album...

Album #3 is actually a soundtrack to a film of the same name, likely to capitalize on Beatlemania and make a quick buck - why else would you cast 4 guys with no acting experience in a movie? Surprisingly, the film was nominated for two Oscars, one of which is for writing. Also of note, it was "the first Beatles album to feature entirely original compositions," according the the always correct Wikipedia (the main source for my Beatles info). The title was the brainchild of Ringo in a Yogi Berra moment (without the wit or intention), later to be continued with the song 8 Days A Week, and I assume the coining the phrase "giving 110%."

Again, a short album without a single song breaking the 3 minute mark. I guess that's what happens when you only have a few days rest between albums. This album was also the first 4 track recording for the Beatles, so feel free to cop the stereo version if you don't have a soul and want to wipe your muddy feet on the art that the Beatles created.

A Hard Day's Night - Things kick off nicely here with one of their more recognizable songs, that appears to be about coming home to your flat and shagging your gal. Is that a cowbell I hear? More cowbell, I need more cowbell!

I Should Have Known Better - I could take it or leave it. On a side note, Wikipedia says John had a little hissy fit about his harmonica during the recording of this song.

If I Fell - A warm and fuzzy love song with a nice melody. Unlike the cover songs on the first two albums, this feels like they are feelin' it. All in all, it's okay. For those of you who care, "this was also Kurt Cobain's favourite Beatles song" or so says the wiki-man (with an extra "u" too be snooty).

I'm Happy Just to Dance with You - Mood and lyrics fit - a happy, bouncy tune that picks up the momentum, though the lyrics are quite basic.

And I Love Her - One of my favorite Beatles songs, of course the guitar solo in the middle kind of sounds like someone is learning to play, in my opinion.

Tell Me Why - The momentum picks back up, with John interograting his crying girlfriend (or wife) as to why she lied (or he lied if you assume he's talking to himself to confess about his cheating). There's a weird Peanuts cartoon-sounding section about half way in that doesn't really fit.

Can't Buy Me Love - Another classic Beatles song spawning numerous covers, a movie (not theirs), and a collectible lunch box. As noted by Wikipedia, this song has the opposite meaning of their last money song, Money (That's What I Want). But after 1 year, 3 albums, tours, and a movie I would assume that they have money now and realize its limitations. Or to further the analysis, the song Money (That's What I Want) was a cover so not their true feelings, but this song they wrote which may reflect their actual views. No?

Any Time at All - Keeps the energy going even with Lennon's unsual pronunciation of "at all" as "uh TAll." Must be a British thing.

I'll Cry Instead - ehh.

Things We Said Today - This song caught my attention and may be my 4th favorite on the album behind the 3 that made the greatest hits. This song seems to have more depth to it - I enjoyed the instrumental shifts and changes in tempo.

When I Get Home - According to my iTunes player, this song was just on.

You Can't Do That - John's big threat to his girl talking to another guy: "I'll let you down." Ooo, I'm scared. Unless in British English it means something else. Beyond this, it reveals a controlling Lennon "I told you before, you can't do that." No, no ladies, control yourself, he's all mine. (I think there might be cowbell in here, too.)

I'll Be Back - After the previous song, I'm a little creeped out when Lennon says, "I'm the one who wants you." I think he might try to stalk someone at this point. Sequnced differently, I might like this one.

This album feels more like an album versus a collection of songs as the first half seems to follow a love theme (well I guess the whole album does), though the interwebs suggest that the "concept" album wasn't yet invented by the Beatles, so I credit the cohesiveness of the soundtrack to attempting to follow the theme of the movie (which I haven't seen). However, it was nominated for an Oscar for its writing so I have to assume that there's a story to follow in there somewhere.

While the good songs outweigh the bad, this album is still just average in my opinion. Of the three albums reviewed thus far, with is on par with their debut. If you are inclined to pick this one up you should know the stereo version of this album doesn't have the left/right feel to it, so either mono or stereo works well, maybe more so on the stereo side since it sounds cleaner (which should help if you have dirty feet).

The Beatles - with the beatles

2009-09-18T17:15:00.001-07:00

So this is the UK version, the U.S. version was titled meet the beatles and released a couple months later with an altered track listing. According to Wikipedia: "released on 22 November 1963, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated." I imagine it didn't do so well that first week, but then again, Jay-Z's The Blueprint was released on 9/11/01 and sold half a million copies the first week. Okay, so it was released in the UK in 1963 so they sold about 500k. The U.S. release came a few months later as Meet The Beatles.

So after their first album, they decided to take a whole four months off before recording this album. I imagine the 7.5 pounds they earned wasn't enough for them to go on holiday any longer. Again, a short album, with the longest song only 3 seconds longer than their previous record (no pun). Initially, this sounded like the album picked up in the middle of a song...suddenly, John is yelling at me that it won't be long (I know, your previous album was released just a few months ago, geez). I'd hate to see these guys the day before Christmas. Man, don't they have any patience?

This album had 8 original songs and six covers - let's see how they did...

It Won't Be Long - John does a decent job with this, but overall it's just average as they try to kick off the album with some energy.

All I've Got To Do - At this point I still can't tell John and Paul apart, but this song is better than the previous one, maybe because it sounds a bit more like Paul singing in my opinion.

All My Loving - Paul goes solo with probably the best song on the album.

Don't Bother Me - George takes the lead here with an average song that does nothing for me, in fact it kind of bothered me a bit. The music doesn't really fit the mood of the lyrics. The instrumental is just a bit too happy while George tries to sound...depressed?

Little Child - Apparently, John wants to dance with some little child - not sure what the point of this song is. In fact, he kind of sounds like that strange uncle who is a bit too friendly until he scares them away with his harmonica. Pass.

Till There Was You - First of 3 covers in a row - continuing the tradition of the previous album with a lack of passion (though, again, having never heard the original, maybe this is how it's supposed to sound).

Please Mister Postman - The Beatles cover the first number 1 hit single for Motown - always a crowd pleaser. Nice job with this, but I prefer the original, mainly because of the background vocals.

Roll Over Beethoven - Sticking with their cover band roots, they jack Chuck Berry this time. Not bad but they sing this like they're borrowing it and don't want to break it. Chuck Berry sings it like he owns it, which he does. It does a nice job keeping the energy high in the middle of the album though.

Hold Me Tight - This was a reject from Please Please Me and should have been a reject here too. Paul sounds like he's fighting his way through this one. I wonder if this would sound better with a little AutoTune featuring T-Pain?

You Really Got A Hold On Me - After the previous song, this sounds a bit better than it actually is. Pass.

I Wanna Be Your Man - Ringo was hoping to redeem himself in case people misunderstood his previous ode to boys. I think he goes a bit overboard. Quite repetative too, as I think he repeats the title 98 times. Were verses not invented yet?

Devil In Her Heart - Another cover that seems to drag on and it's only 2:30. It's like he's on a first date or an interview on his best behavior before allowing his personality to come out.

Not A Second Time - This seems a bit ironic to me as this album feels like a second version of their first, but minus the good songs.

Money (That's What I Want) - A cover song trying hard to be this album's version of Twist and Shout. Also this may be just them explaining that they were just trying to capitalize on the success of the first album and put this out to make a quick buck - seriously you only put 4 months work into this effort, it kind of shows.

I think they may have had a little sophmore slump going on, but then again, they only had 4 months so was do you expect. Speaking of which, over the course of about 8 years, they released 13 albums. In today's market, I doubt anyone would expect solid material on all those albums. In fact I'd bet the reviews would be horrendous if today's most popular artists dropped an album every 6 months. So 13 albums in 8 years, I'd expect them to be a bit watered down. Though since everyone raves about The Beatles, maybe they are the one group that can pull this off, but so far it is looking doubtful unless they continue to fill their albums with covers, but let's be honest, how far can that really take you?

Unless you love cover bands, but hate going to bars, I'd say pass on this one. In the end, you can find the highlights on a "Best of" disc that you'll probably need to buy anyway if you want to get all of the hit singles that never made the albums.

Happy 6 Months!!!

2009-09-16T20:59:00.003-07:00

Nathan is 6 months old today! And as a special treat, he got his next round of shots, poor baby. It's always so sad to see him go silent, face turn red, just waiting for him to catch his breath before screaming. Amazingly, it only lasts about a minute or so before he's over it.

As you saw below he is crawling, and in case you missed it, he also has two lower teeth and is working on two on the top to match. He must be going for the set.

The Beatles - Please Please Me

2009-09-15T22:26:00.018-07:00

The Beatles catalog has been remastered and reissued and I figured this would be a good time to give their albums an actual run through. Especially since everyone seems to rank them up towards the top on the best rock bands of all-time. Now, I've heard most of their hits, so I'm not a complete novice, but this genre is also not my favorite so I may have a more distorted view than your average reviewer. I think I can get a pass on not having heard all of these yet as the group dis-banded before I was even born, so for the most part, I didn't really know what all of the fuss was about.

Might as well go in order of release date, so up first is their first U.S. release Please Please Me released in 1963. I decided to go with the mono release for this album (vs. the stereo release) - stereo was just emerging back then, so all of the audiophiles are adamant that the mono version is the way the guys intended the album to be heard. But you can check out wikipedia for more info since if you are still reading this I'm sure you're eager to rave or argue about my listening experience.

So apparently this album was recorded in one day at three straight jam sessions, which could be impressive or could be concerning, I guess, depending on your point of view. Also, apparently it seemed to be a big deal that the band actually wrote their own songs when this was released instead of just covering hits, which I guess anyone can do so at least some success. I mean have you ever been to karaoke? Anyhoo, I guess I should get back to some sort of review.

The first thing I noticed about this album is how short it is. Only one song checks in at more than 3 minutes, and just barely at 3:01. So the verses are quite short if they even exist (yes I'm talking about you Please Please Me and Do You Want To Know A Secret). The next thing I notice is how formulaic it seems. Granted at the time the Beatles were nobodies and trying to get paid a lil' somethin' (all 7.5 pounds - no idea how much that is in real money) so I guess the record label was dictating a just add water approach. (Having heard some of the other songs in their catalog, when they have more artistic freedom it gets more interesting). Of the songs that they wrote, they appear more passionate (Please Please Me, Love Me Do, I Saw Her Standing There) vs. the cover songs (tracks 3-5, 10, 12, 14).

I Saw Her Standing There - First song of the jam session and they seem to have plenty of energy. Nice upbeat way to begin an album. Paul even has some fun screaming in the middle, maybe a throwback to their pub playing nights, which apparently (yes another apparently) they were originally supposed to record this album live in a pub during one of their performances, so there.

Misery - From upbeat to misery, thanks for sucking the fun out, guys. Actually, they seem a bit to happy to be losing their girlfriends. Maybe they are being sarcastic...I can relate to that.

Anna (Go To Him) - Now Anna, John seems upset about. Here's where the album begins to lose a little momentum, in my opinion.

Chains - Sounds like they gave this cover song to George to shut him up, but he doesn't seem too happy about it.

Boys - I guess Ringo was complaining that everyone else got to sing on the album he needed to get his shine too. Unfortunately, Ringo singing about "talking about boys" doesn't do much to help him out.

Ask Me Why - John takes the reigns back here. Maybe he just needed a break. Word on the interwebs is that he had a throat thing going on during the recording session, partly as a result the Twist and Shout cover is at the end for fear of screwing up his voice for the day. This song didn't do too much for me, don't ask me why.

Please Please Me - Things pick up here with a little call and response. Maybe this was recorded after lunch. A little fish and chips will go along way. It keeps me pumped for a whole 2 minutes and 6 seconds.

Love Me Do - A nice smooth transition into Paul who has been silent since about track 2. I like this song, but I think it could use an actual verse instead of running through the chorus a few times. Nice beat though.

P.S. I Love You - Another Paul song and I think it works well with some nice vocal inflections. Paul even gets a little improv on so I guess they have preformed this one a few times.

Baby It's You - Sloooowwing down, sha-la-la-la, la-la. A little uninspired at the beginning, like they lost a cricket match with the label and were forced to add this to the album.

Do You Want To Know A Secret - Oh, another love song. This time George seems a bit happier, though I don't know how you keep a secret when you record it for the world to hear. I imagine this being thrown George's way due to John's throat issue, Ringo's horrible performance, and Paul's insistence on only singing his own songs.

A Taste Of Honey - No, wait, Paul picks up a cover. And quite nicely I might add. A nice change in the beat keeps your attention. The beat is more interesting than the rest of the album, maybe because it was originally written as an instrumental before adding lyrics later so it needed to be more entertaining to begin with.

There's A Place - Apparently this song just played.

Twist And Shout - Everybody's heard this one - A nice way to end a debut album.

Overall, the remastered version is nice, but having not listened and memorized every last note and lyric for the last few decades, I can't appreciate all of the improvements that this has to offer, but as a first listen it is quite enjoyable. I will say that the remastered stereo version of Revolution is better than the 1993 cd version - The lyrics are clear and only the guitar is distorted (the mono version has the lyrics distorted as well).

A side note - The mono remastered versions are only available (currently) in a sold out box set, so you might be stuck with the stereo versions, but as long as you don't listen to this album (and the first few) on headphones, it shouldn't matter. The only issue is that on the original 2-track stereo they routed vocals to the right and music to the left so it gets a bit weird with headphones.

Jurassic Teenies

2009-09-15T22:03:00.003-07:00

Here's a little video of our teeny tiny guy practicing crawling.

Now that he is mobile he is keeping us on our toes. He keeps escaping our mini play area and removing our temporary speed bumps that are supposed to contain him. I think we have a little explorer on our hands.

And He's Off...

2009-09-12T08:06:00.006-07:00

Look out world, Nathan is on the loose. At 5 months, 3 weeks, he has now learned how to crawl. Of course he is still a bit shaky so he will need some more practice (which he seems to enjoy doing in the middle of the night - seriously, he will wake up at 1am and start rocking on his hands and knees, eyes closed, crying; even though we're tired, it's still kind of cute), but once he has it mastered there's no stopping him. I guess it's time we finally baby proofed the house.

Just this morning he decided to chase the vacuum cleaner around the house. And he's getting faster...

Tap The Bottle

2009-09-03T19:54:00.005-07:00

Daddy Day Care - Week 2

I was able to spend more time with the little guy this week now that Laura has started back up at ASU. I am working from home Monday afternoons and shifted hours on Tuesday to get home an hour earlier. I am so excited about this extra time with Nathan and I love that my company is so accomidating. And the fact that I live so close to work. Anyway, here's a video of the little teenies holding his bottle and feeding himself.

King of Rock

2009-08-31T19:59:00.008-07:00

Nathan rocking out.

You Make Me Smile

2009-08-16T09:52:00.007-07:00

Here's a slideshow of little Nathan's life:

Roll Over, Good Boy

2009-08-15T20:13:00.005-07:00

Here is a clip of Nathan learning to roll over. I muted all of my baby babbling and daddy delight to make it suitable for public consumption, but don't worry I added some audio for your entertainment. Nothing too professional and I don't forsee a career in directing or film editing, but hey, Spielberg had to start somewhere too, right.

I think he was a bit camera shy at first because just before I started he was rolling like crazy. Of course, maybe he was just tired and needed to recoup, because he seemed to enjoy following the camera around.

Wine Review - Bulk Discount

2009-07-29T20:27:00.005-07:00

So I've been slacking a bit and now I have three bottles stacking up.

The good news is that I recommend all three of these wines, though not at the same time. Of course I didn't have them all at the same time, so I guess I can't really not recommend them at the same time. Sort of like "don't knock it until you try it" - an expression I've never liked because I am pretty sure I can recommend not getting punched in the face without ever having tried it...pretty sure it's gonna hurt. Wow, I went off on a tangent there...

Back to the post - the Dancing Bull Zin I believe I have reviewed before and saw it on sale so I picked it up again. It's always good to have a favorite on hand.

Now the Tapiz Malbec (2007) was excellent! I've had a few Malbecs over the past few years, but unless I hit up Cost Plus or Bevmo I don't come across them too often. So the last time we were at Bevmo we picked up this one. I must say was surprised. Not sure what I was expecting, but man was this one good - very fruity/jammy, soft and well balanced. At only $12 I'd recommend this to anyone, especially to anyone who has never had a Malbec before. And if you do end up buying this one to enjoy with a good ribeye steak, I think I'm free that night and I can bring my own glass if you like.

Marquis Philips - Sarah's Blend 2007: I think the first time we had this one (or a similar one - I only remember the eagle/kangaroo creature) was at a wine bar when we were looking for something new and exciting. This is an excellent blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot and very juicy and smooth. A quick google search shows this wine also receiving high ratings from those with better palates than mine. You can find this one at Bevmo too for about $15.

Up next, some Fry's clearance wines (that I am enjoying right now) - Lindeman's South Africa a Cabernet and a Merlot.

Bouncing Baby Boy

2009-07-29T20:06:00.003-07:00

My first video post...and Nathan's! Thanks to a friend of ours we have a new activity for Nathan. At first he didn't like it, until he figured out how to bounce, and then...Jump around, jump around, jump up, jump up and get down...

He even waves bye bye at the end of the video. I think he is ready for his next feature.

Weeds Update

2009-07-29T20:01:00.002-07:00

So we are now through season 4 - season 5 is currently on Showtime, so we can't watch it until at least next summer (I assume) when it is released on DVD. But, it has taken a bad turn. The first two seasons were great; the third was good; the fourth, meh. Of course you may have a different opinion and I would still recommend season 1 through 3 if you are looking for an entertaining distraction, but I might be good with ending my habit here. We'll see what's available next summer...

You Put Your Weed In It

2009-07-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

I don't remember what that was from, but they kept saying it over and over until it became funny. Anyone know?

So summertime TV sucks. Nothing good to watch unless you are in to those "reality" shows. Like So You Think You Can Dance or I Want To Date A Large Person. Thank god for TV shows on DVD. I think we started with Rome and The Tudors last year, both HBO shows, I believe, that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. I would recommend both, but each season is fairly short and Rome only lasted two seasons, so they won't get you through the whole summer. We then proceeded to catch up with the rest of the world on Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives (we had to see what all the fuss was about). But now we were looking for a new show to watch and we came across Weeds, partially from the description, but more so from the cast - the main character appeared on the best TV show ever, The West Wing!!!!! Okay, best drama, Seinfeld was pretty darn good.

After one weekend we are already on season two. A quick overview: Widow mon of two sells weed to support her family. No it's not a role model show, but it is freakin' funny and original. I think it is in its fifth season sow, so this should keep us busy for at least another week or so. I would recommend checking it out unless you are overly offended by drug references.

And if you haven't seen The West Wing, you're missing out. Definitely put it on the top of your list if you love intelligent dramas that bring the funny.

Guilty!!!!

2009-07-16T20:23:00.003-07:00

This little guy is guilty! That's why he is being fingerprinted, or rather hand-printed. We'll figure out the charges later. No, he's not guilty of anything, he's a little angel. We were just getting a handprint to frame. Since he is so squirmy, we actually had to do this while he was sleeping...he had no idea what was going on. Kind of like at summer camp, you know, when you play tricks on the other kids. No, well neither do I since I never went to summer camp, but it always looked kind of fun on the movies. Unless you were that kid that everyone messed with...you're just trying to sleep and someone comes along....

Time Lapse Nathan

2009-07-16T20:12:00.005-07:00

Today Nathan is 4 Months Old!!!!! Holy cow!!!! He used to be this itty bitty teenie tiny guy who just ate and slept, and now he is rolling over and laughing and talking and doing calculus...okay so maybe not, but man has he changed. Anyhoo, here are a few pictures of Nathan falling over...hee hee

Pope Puts Faith In Carbon Dating

2009-07-01T20:14:00.005-07:00

I had to laugh at this:

"Scientific tests prove bones housed in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome are those of the apostle St. Paul himself, according to Pope Benedict XVI."

So, let me get this straight, when it supports your view, you're all for science, but if it questions your beliefs, well then, hold on a second. No, no no, that fossil cannot possibly be that old, your "science" is bunk, but, hey, how about you try that carbon dating thing on these old bones of ours... Of course, maybe my view has been conditioned by society, maybe even my conditioning has been conditioned.

The quote is actually the lead in from CNN.com's article. Here are the next few lines

"Tiny fragments of bone" in the sarcophagus were subjected to carbon dating, showing they "belong to someone who lived in the first or second century," the pope said in a homily carried on Italian television.
"This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition that these are the mortal remains of the Apostle St. Paul," Benedict said in Sunday's announcement.

Well that's a big jump. The remains are from somewhere between the year 1 and 200ish, so then it must beeeeeee, Bob.

Now, I don't know what the actual quote was, but all that splicing makes me wonder if CNN is manipulating the "news" since the article never actually quotes the pope validating carbon dating. Of course maybe the Pope was just rambling and CNN just wanted to connect the dots for me before I fell asleee.......

Just for fun, a link to the FSM:

More Nathan!!!

2009-06-29T21:02:00.004-07:00

My baby

Smooootch.

Hey look, a thumb!!!

How you doin'?

I'm a duckie!

2009-06-29T19:08:00.004-07:00

So I forgot to take a picture of this before recycling the bottle, so I just grabbed a stock photo, but I really did drink it...I just don't have the proof. Anyhoo...

As I mentioned before, this is our Sonoma wine that we drink in celebration of our wonderful puppy, Sonoma. I don't actually recall how Laura and I selected it, but I'm sure the region had a little to do with it. So how was it? Refreshing as always, especially in the summer. Not too oaky and light flavors of fruit - well it is fruit, so that doesn't really tell you much, so how about faint pear and honeydew melon (which to me barely has any flavor, so take that how you will). The honeydew melon is more after the fact. Laura has been buying a few melons after a melon comment I made. So after munching on some honeydew I was brought back to the chardonnay (no not literally, but that would have been cool - a melon time machine!).

Checking the back of the bottle suggests:

"Pleasing aromas of pear, mango and clove along with a hint of vanilla mingle on the nose of this classic Sonoma County Chardonnay. The well-balanced acidity wraps around a luscious core of pineapple, lemon and melon flavors and creates a creamy palate. The wine has a refreshing finish."

Well okay, I get some ponits for the pear and the melon, maybe bonus for being specific on the honeydew. Pineapple? Not sure about that, or the lemon, but creamy it was (-1 point). Given that this is a favorite of ours I will give it 5 bottles out of 5 - highly recommend!

Why Not Join In On The Next Wine Review

2009-06-18T18:15:00.001-07:00

Each weekend the Wall Street Journal has a wine section where the authors review wines and this past weekend was California Chardonnay, which led to a hankering for Chardonnay, go figure. Laura and I probably drink red wine 90% of the time, but it's summer so a cooler beveage may be in order. Usually their reviews are for wines in the +$20 range, but this week had a few reasonably priced wines that I've actually seen in stores, so I figured I'd share.

***Clos du Bois (N. Coast) $12 "nice, light Chardonnay fruit; lightly toasted"

***Simi Winery (Sonoma) $14 "lemony and crisp, with a touch of cream...plenty of fruit-shows that you can have big oak if you have good fruit"

***Chalone Vineyard (Montery County) $10 "tighly wound fruit, intensity and sunshine-like acidity" - Not sure what any of that means, but for $10, I think I'll find out.

The only white wine we have on hand is our Sonoma wine (the wine we drink to celebrate our puppy, Sonoma). Of course it is a wine from Sonoma, and we landed on a Chardonnay from Chateau St. Jean. So look for the review here a bit later, but if you'd like to participate just pick up a bottle (about $10-12) and let me know how you like it. In the meantime, I'll be searching for the above for a future review, so if you pick one up, let me know how you like it.

Cable Propaganda

2009-06-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

Just a bit of a rant. I don't know if any of you out there on the internets watch any of the cable "news" shows, but I feel that they have all gone off the deep end. I think there should be an FCC rule banning the use of the word news, unless you actually report news and not extremeist viewpoints to incite and alarm the people. It has gotten so bad that the pundits will take part of a quote to spin it how they like. Let me give you a for instance, ahem..."There are people who say I support the terrorists, but I do not" turns into "I support the terrorists." In fact, you can see that played out in the following clip from The Daily Show (around 4:20).

In addition to that, you have the hosts who condem an act in one segment and turn around and do the exact same thing in the next segment. See above Daily Show clip, the second segment where the lady host rails against the Eminem stunt only to go on to partake in a similar visual and call it the "best thing she's seen on TV." I don't know how these people keep a straight face.

I've come to the conclusion that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert might just be the best interviewers on cable, plus they bring the funny. Seriously, they will have politicians, authors, and economists on as guests while Leno and Conan will have Paris Hilton or Tom Cruise. Okay, The Daily Show has actors too, but it is probably less than 15% of the time. The rest is interviewing people on real life issues. And while the "news" shows may have their politician and economist guests, all they seem to do is lob softballs at them if they share a similar viewpoint or scream at them if they don't. Probably the best interview I've ever seen is when Jon Stewart had Jim Cramer on as a guest. No softballs, no banter, and if he doesn't get an answer, Jon Stewart presses him on it. An actual real interview. You won't see that on Dateline or 60 minutes or cable "news."

I'll step off my soap box now...

More Nathan Pictures

2009-06-17T20:32:00.004-07:00

Three Months!!!!

2009-06-16T17:31:00.005-07:00

Nathan is 3 months old today!!! And real months too, not those weak February months, anyone can do that.

Baby Back!

2009-06-10T20:34:00.004-07:00

So my D-backs haven't been doing so great (slight overstatement), in fact they have been finding new ways to lose almost daily now. At least I have my own little baby back to cheer for.

Clearance Wine: The Sequel

2009-06-10T20:01:00.008-07:00

The second bottle of clearance wine was a 2006 Frei Brothers Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Alexander Valley) for the low, low price of $12.58 ($18 regular Target price). This one, however, not as good as the other clearance wine, though I doubt it was the fault of the "clearance."

The first night I had this with some Orange Chicken. Yeah, I know, Orange Chicken and a cab?!?!? Well, you know what, you're absolutely right - It doesn't pair well. I kind of assumed that, but Laura didn't want wine and it was the only bottle that we had that she wasn't interesting in partaking in, so there you go. I was hesitant at first, so I started with some Muenster cheese and a glass while the Orange Chicken was cooking. I know what you're thinking, it's not even Orange Chicken from a restaurant. But you know what, Trader Joe's has a frozen Orange Chicken for $5 that is actually quite good. But I digress...

My initial reaction was this really isn't that well balanced - too much on the tannic side, so much that I couldn't distinguish any flavors. Pretty much tasted like a cab, but overly tannic, nothing special that would warrant $12.58. Maybe it will be better with night #2.

Nope, not so much. A night in the fridge didn't help, still too tannic, but it's wine so I'll drink it. I'm glad I didn't pay $18 for it. So the current score is 1-1 for the Clearance Wine Adventure. I'd still delve into the uncharted lands of the clearance aisle for a little adventure, because who knows when you'll find a new favorite.

Clearance Wine

2009-05-30T21:05:00.007-07:00

Man I love clearance items at Target. They seem to put everything on clearance, even things that don't necessarily go bad, like pencils? Or air filters? Or batteries that say they're good through 2015? Or wine? Okay, wine can go bad, but a cabernet should age well, right?

As we were scavenging for food, we came across the wine aisle and saw many a wine on clearance, including tonight's selection, a 2005 Beaulieu Vineyard Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon for only $15 (see the red sticker in the photo?). Now you might be saying, $15 that's a lot for wine (or maybe you're saying, $15? My dog won't even drink that!), but either way, this wine normally retails for $30, so half price is a pretty decent deal.

If you have had the BV Cabernet, then I suppose this is the next step up from that (just before entering the $50+ bottles). So is clearance wine as good as the non-clearance version? Were we about to find out why this wine was clearanced in the first place? Well let's see...

Initial impression: YUM!!!! This is a great wine. Maybe the best $15 wine I've purchased, which is limited company to begin with, but still... Now my palate hasn't yet gotten back to it's fighting weight, but (and not to sound redundant) I did pick up a little cherry action on the tongue. The aroma wasn't quite as distinctive for me, but did remind me of the wine tours we have been on, specifically the cellar room with the oak barrels (which is good because the reviews I've read highlighted oak aromas). According to the label, I should have picked up some black cherry (okay, so I guess a cherry isn't a cherry), crushed blackberry (which I assume tastes different in its non-crushed form), licorice (what, no black licorice?), and cocoa. One out of 4 isn't bad. I will agree that it is full bodied and bold, and I would added very well balanced with tastes that linger on the palate.

I would definitely recommend this wine at $15. At $30 (full price) it is kind of a stretch, especially for those of use who rarely venture past $15, let alone $20. I think I would choose the regular BV Cab more reasonably priced at $20 vs. this one at full price. But, if you happen to be at Target, check out their wine aisle and see if they have any clearance BV Rutherford Cabs left. Who knows, by now they maybe 75% off.

Nathan's Swimming Adventure

2009-05-26T20:30:00.004-07:00

Nathan went swimming for the first time over the weekend and he seemed to really enjoy it. But maybe it was just his new outfit - he was actually wearing more clothes for swimming than he wears normally, just hanging out.

Getting in for the first time...do we like it???

Sonoma standing guard, well actually waiting for me to throw the ball.

Having fun splashing around.

Maybe it was just his normal legs kicks and arm flailing, but he certainly enjoyed splashing around. Now we just have to work on his technique.

Babies with Boo Boos

2009-05-22T17:15:00.002-07:00

Both of our babies had boo boos. Nathan got the first of his vaccines and Sonoma is recovering from a broken claw. Poor babies...

Wine Review: Il Vecchio Maneggio - Chianti "Colli Senesi"

2009-05-20T20:07:00.010-07:00

Our friends Steve and Val gave us a bottle of wine last year that we recently enjoyed for our 7th anniversary. Originally, we were planning a Europe trip for early summer 2008 and they were also going to be in the same region so we were discussing meeting up for a wine tour. However, our trip didn't happen, but Steve and Val did go and surprised us with a bottle of wine from their trip. And since Laura was pregnant, we decided to save it until after our little Bugamoo arrived.

So, we decided to pop the cork on our anniversary. Laura was so excited for her first glass of wine in over 11 months and we were both eager to try a new wine, straight from Italy. According to the website, Il Vecchio Maneggio is in the "medieval town" (ooo, spooky) of San Gimignano (Tuscany) region of Italy, which just so happens to be the same region as one of our original favorite wines, Vernaccia. The wine is a Chianti from the Colli Senesi area (never heard of it). Apparently, the Chianti region is divided into several regions with Classico being the most famous, but according to the word on the street, all regions produce fantastic wines. Our bottle was made from grapes that are typical of traditional Chianti: Sangiovese, Canaiolo, together with white and red Malvasia, and Colorino and produced with wine-making methods that "strictly follow tradition" (of course).

To accompany our wine, we had Pugliese bread (an Italian bread to go with our Italian wine), bruschetta (an Italian appetizer, notice a theme?), and Muenster cheese for appetizers (nope, it's French). And the main course was grilled steak with a baked potato. We looked into Tuscan fare, but according to our wine bible, Tuscany is traditionally known for some bland food. Apparently, when other Italians want to be derogatory towards Tuscans, they refer to them as "mangiafagioli," (bean eaters - I know, not to witty, but whatever). Having never been Italian or been to Italy, I don't know if this is "traditionally" true, but since every American brand overuses Tuscan to death, you'd think they'd have some decent grub. But back to the wine...

Now, the website offers a bit of a description, suggesting cherry and violet notes. Having never eaten a violet, let alone been around many flowers to distinguish a violet from a tulip, I can't comment of the flower aspects. And maybe because I was eating some blackberries I didn't pick up on the cherry initially, but I'd say our bottle had an unripened cherry flavor. Overall, a bit too tannic for my tastes (think of how your mouth feels after eating a very green banana), but enjoyable nonetheless, making me think of the green, rolling hills of the Italian winery where I've never been. I think we'll have to make a visit to this winery when we do finally take out Europe trip.

Thank you Steve and Valerie for thinking of us on your trip and bringing us back a little sample of Italy. Oh, and happy anniversary too!

Nathan Pics Continued...

2009-05-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

Wine Review: Little Penguin Cabernet-Merlot

2009-05-16T18:58:00.005-07:00

The Little Penguin - Cabernet-Merlot

South Eastern Australia (Trader Joe's: ~$5)

Overall a good wine. My palate is still in spring training, but I convinced myself that I tasted a little cherry flavor, ripe and juicy. I'd put it in the same class as Yellow Tail or those other animal character brands, which come to think of it are all from Australia. What's up with that - Wine must have and animal associated with it to be good? In the end this wine is good and dependable. If your looking for a blend or haven't tried this one before, give it a try.

More Nathan Pictures

2009-05-16T11:23:00.005-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of The United States

2009-05-14T23:49:00.016-07:00

President Barack Obama spoke at the ASU commencement last night and Laura, Nathan, and I were lucky enough to be able to attend. Being the Democrats that were are, we carpooled in our fuel efficient car over to the light rail station to travel to ASU to hear the President talk about the importance of education.

First, a bit of a rant or two...ASU wanted people to arrive several hours early to help manage the crowds. The same crowds they are able to manage every Saturday night during football season, but they seemed to think the security lines would take 4-5 hours to process everyone, whatever. Oh, and even though it'll be 100 degrees (in the shade) you cannot bring your own water, but don't worry, we'll have "complimentary water stations...available outside and inside the stadium" and "there will be tenting outside the stadium in several locations as well as “cool zones” outside and inside the stadium." Okay, I saw a total of 1 "cool zone" and 2 water buckets (which were right next to each other, one of which was 90% empty. And unless you count the small tents covering the security check points, 3-4 tented areas (2 of which were in shaded areas effectively eliminated the naturally available shade).

So we started out with Laura's and Nathan's first light rail ride. Knowing that there would be a long line for both tickets and boarding, I tried to buy tickets online. However, it apparently takes 5-7 business days to process. WHAT?!?!?! I can buy a handgun in less time than it takes the Phoenix Light Rail to process my ticket request. I guess this is there "cooling off" period. So, no online tickets, but luckily most people are quite unfamiliar with the light rail, so I bypassed the 250 person ticket line for the 30 person line on the platform.

So once we boarded the light rail, we found seats and immediately I hear, "He needs a hat." Oh, "Well you need a muzzle." He doesn't "need" a hat. He "needs" to be protected from the sun, and a hat is one way to help do that. We have a way to protect him from the sun, a way that protects more than just his little head, but his full body, so, no, he doesn't "need a hat." Like I'm sure you don't need a muzzle, but it is one of many ways to make you shut the F up.

Anyhoo...everyone else seemed to enjoy Nathan immensely. One guy, half a car away said, "That's a cute kid you got there." Why thank you very much! After getting off the light rail, we proceeded to walk the 3/4 of a mile to the north side of the stadium. By the time we made it to the main parking lot on the south side, we were ready for one of the "cool zones" and maybe a little tent action. Let's see, where are they, where are they... Ah, there's one.

After a little rest and cooling off, we proceed towards the entry ways, planning on stopping at a few other "cool zones" on the way. But there were no more! Well, at least there will be water right. Well at 4pm we arrived at the security check points to hear, "You can now bring in your own water, because, they're running out inside." What?!?!?! What kind of planning is that. You expect 70,000 people, tell them to arrive 5 hours early in 100 degree weather at an open air stadium with no shade and you run out of water at 4pm!!! I might be able to understand running out at 7pm, but 4pm??? Luckily, we brought our own water and out seats were on the west side of the stadium, so by the time we entered, they were covered in shade.

We scored awesome seats, row 12, 50 yard line. As we go to sit down, we begin to hear a bunch of "awwws." It seems Nathan is very popular with the moms in our section. Nathan was great throughout everything thus far, including some horrible acoustics, a forgettable "concert" by Alice Cooper's son, and the heat. And wouldn't you know it, right as the ceremony begins, Nathan gets fussy. Fortunately, Michael Crow wants to bloviate for a bit, giving us time to calm Nathan down. As Crow drones on we take turns with Nathan before he gets settled in the sling and calms down. Seemingly teetering on the edge of unhappiness, Laura begins to rock him in the two-foot space that is her seat for the remainder of the event. Poor Laura.

Finally, we hear, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of The United States!" The show is about to begin. Barack Obama is a great speaker and he did not disappoint. He was funny, relevant, and inspirational. There was this great West Wing quote I love that captures the essence of great speakers: "Words when spoken out loud for the sake of performance are music. They have rhythm and pitch and timbre and volume. These are the properties of music and music has the ability to find us and move us and lift us up in ways that literal meaning can't." President Obama accomplishes all of this providing the ASU graduating class with a great, memorable performance.

I'm so glad we were able to attend and I would recommend to everyone else, if you have the opportunity to go hear Obama speak, it is well worth it.

iTunes Smart Playlists

2009-05-11T23:28:00.014-07:00

Are you tired of the same old playlists? Do hate how time consuming it is to search for songs for your music playlists? Are you sick of listening to the same songs over and over? If so, Smart Playlists are for you…

While there are several things about iTunes that annoy me, I do love the smart playlist feature. For those of you that may not be familiar (because Apple prefers to talk about how cool they are instead of any product features), I thought I would share.

Smart playlists allow you to tell iTunes how to create a dynamic playlist instead of creating playlists manually. This helps keep your listening fresh and saves time as well. Simply tell iTunes some basic criteria and it will populate the playlist automatically. Then set iTunes to automatically sync with your iPod and you're good to go. [This compliments new research that shows listening to music counteracts stress by improving blood flow and that listening to the same songs repeatedly has diminishing returns…so keep your happy music rotating!]

One quick caveat is that the more information you have about your songs the better this will work. If all of your songs only have the title and the artist, this may not be as useful. But if your files are tagged with genre, release year, and ratings, this feature becomes sooo awesome. I believe you can have iTunes get some of this basic info for you in the advanced toolbar, but if not there are other free programs that can such as TagScanner and MediaMonkey (ooo, ooo, ooo). The rating info is probably one of the key fields to use - though time consuming at first, I think it is well worth it. Plus you can create playlists that will help you rate your songs to have a little fun with it (see end).

So enough with the gibber-jabber...how do you do it:

First you need iTunes, but if you have an iPod, then you have iTunes, and if you don’t, I don’t think this will work with other mp3 players.

Click on File-->New Smart Playlist - A dialog box will come up (below) and you can begin to select which fields to query, from about 25 of them. Here are some I find useful:

Last Played - I didn't use this one much at first, but now I find it essential to keeping your music rotating. Depending on the size of your music library, you may forget you have certain songs, and this will ensure that they get the shine they deserve. Combine this with rating info and you can avoid those that you aren't too crazy about, but enjoy every other blue moon. Whether played on your pod or on your computer, iTunes will track and refresh your playlists accordingly.

Rating - I love the ratings! Sometimes I forget which are the best songs on an album, so I just have iTunes remember for me. I think the ratings field is one of the best fields for querying allowing you to listen to your favorites more often.

Play Count - not to be overlooked, especially if you don't or haven't yet rated your music. Presumably, those songs that you have listened to the most are your favorites. However, to get the Play Count credit, the song must finish (no skipping the last few seconds) which may not be useful if you skip to the next track before the song is done.

Comment - user generated to query based on your own information. Let's say you have a lot of parties and only want certain songs for those occasions - type Party in this field and you can query based on that information. And you can add as much information as you want. For example, enter Party, Poker Night, Workout, or Tea Party and you can query based on “Comment field contains XXXXX.” Now if you only enter Party in the Smart Playlist query field, your Tea Party songs will come up causing embarrassment, so query by "Party," (with the comma or type each entry without spaces (TeaParty) to get around this or use “does not contain Tea” as one of the criteria.

Grouping - Not sure what this is for, but I treat it the same as Comments (user generated). If your comment field becomes too crowded, enter some info here.

Finally, select "live updating" to keep song info up to date and select the song limit and order preferences. If you have a smaller ipod, 2 gb, you will need to limit your playlists for it to work properly (or else iTunes will say “Playlist too big, cannot sync, you loser” and you won’t have anything to listen to). Personally, I prefer “selected by random” so I won't know what's next (otherwise I may skip past Beastie Boys' Girls to get to Fight For Your Right To Party).

Last but not least, when your pod is connected select the playlists to sync and you are all set (this is the only managing that you need to do). Select or unselect playlists based on how you want to listen (if your listening at work, maybe Work music playlist – check; Poker Night – uncheck; heading out on a road trip Music To Drive By – check; Tea Party – Uncheck and re-sync your pod).

And finally, last, in conclusion, here are some of my favorite playlists:

I Love The 90s - for all of those high school memories (Ice Ice Baby):

Release year is between 1990-1999
Rating is 5 stars

Year End Top 10 List - your favorites of the year:

Year is 2009
Limit to 10 selected by most played [I have a best of 2009, 2008 (below), 2007]

Remember Me? - Favorite songs that you haven't heard in a while:

Rating is greater than 3 stars
Last Played is not in the last 6 months

Oh-Ver-Ray-Ted (aka Hi, I'm a Mac) - Songs that maybe I rated too high:

Rating is 5 stars
Last Played is not in the last year

Shuffle - to a constant stream of music I haven't heard in a while (this takes 4 smart playlists):

Playlist A) Rating is 3 stars and Last Played is not in the last 8 months
Playlist B) Rating is 4 stars and Last Played is not in the last 5 months
Playlist C) Rating is 5 stars and Last Played is not in the last 2 months
Playlist D) The playlist that brings them all together: Playlist is A or B or C limited to 300 songs selected at random [obviously, change the Last Played to suit your preferences, but this will give you a playlist of fresh music that you haven't heard in a while favoring those songs that you love]

If you have a bunch of Holiday music or Polka or other music you may want to exclude, be sure to set a criteria to exclude them “Genre is not Holiday” (or make a playlist for all excluded songs and just set a criteria as “Playlist is not Excluded Playlist”). This will prevent Jingle Bells from showing up during your August road trip to the beach or your favorite orchestra piece from interrupting your morning jog

Overall, maybe it is a bit more upfront effort, but if you love music like I do and want to lower your risk for heart disease it is worth it (and fun).

*Playlist to help you rate your music: Rating is no stars; sorted by Most Played. Then simply listen and rate your songs from your iPod controls.

Dancing Bull Zinfandel

2009-05-09T19:49:00.004-07:00

I meant to post this sooner so I would remember more about it, but unfortunately, no dice. So you will only get a limited review, very limited. But I will try to be better in the future. In a nutshell it was pretty good - smooth, balanced, basic. We (I) haven't had many wines over the last 9 months, so my palate is a bit out of shape, but that will now change as we enter wine season. I had the '06 and if I remember correctly, it was about $7 or so. I think it was on sale, plus we bought 6 and got an additional 10% off. Definitely worth the price. I would give Dancing Bull Zinfandel 3.5 wine glasses.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Gary, Laura, & Nathan

2009-05-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Keeping An Eye On The Neighborhood

2009-05-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood Watch, Day 316, watch post #2:

- 8am - 2 kids on bike ride by - Threat Level: Grrrr

- 8:37am - No activity for 37 minutes, all quiet - Threat Level 0

- 9:14am - Noise outside, possibly my arch nemesis, Whiskers. Threat Level upgraded to Grrr. Note to self: Whiskers seems to be meeting with another cat. Could they be plotting something?

- 9:49am - Large brown truck stopped outside. Threat Level: Grrr. Man approaching with box. Upgrade Threat Level to Woof. Man closes in on entry way. Engage warning growl. Doorbell!!! Threat Level: BARK!!! BARK!!!

- 10:22am - All quiet. I think I'll rest my chin for a bit...

Laura & Nathan

2009-05-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

Nathan Sleeping

2009-05-03T23:56:00.000-07:00

Laura & Nathan

2009-05-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

Family Photo(s)

2009-04-30T23:11:00.003-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but Blogger has been giving me troubles. This will have to be one photo at a time apparently.

Anyhoo, here is our first family photo:

Happy Monthiversary, Nathan!!

2009-04-16T20:42:00.002-07:00

Nathan is 1 month old today!!!

Help! I'm stuck in a crevice!

After the 1st bath.

Kickin' it with the kids.

Help!! He's eating me!

2009-04-14T20:05:00.004-07:00

Nathan decided to attack me last night. The little guy was determined to chew on whatever came in front of him, including my earlobe. Laura couldn't stop laughing. In fact she still is...

D-Backs Home Opener

2009-04-11T07:58:00.003-07:00

Splinky took me to the D-Backs home opener this past Monday...and I have pictures to prove it.

We decided to try out the new light rail and it works like a charm. There are two park and ride locations out near us, one at the 101 and Apache and the other at Dobson and Apache, with plenty of parking. The light rail fare is $1.25 each way, or $2.50 for an all day pass, and since we would need to return at some point, we obvisouly went the all day route. This was also beneficial after the game as we didn't have to wait in a long line to buy a ticket.

Splinky riding the rail

Me on the train

The trip downtown took about 40 minutes, but we saved money on parking and gas and we were dropped off 1 block from the stadium, so we didn't have to walk far. It wasn't the most scenic route, but it got the job sone. (Also, there is a stop right outside of Sun Devil Stadium, so that will be perfect for ASU football games.)

Entering Chase Field

View from the seats

One of the many homeruns

And of course the D-Backs won!!! They were off to a great start before dropping the next 2 to the Rockies. The new second baseman, Felipe Lopez, and Tony Clark both homered from each side of the plate, which is unique in its own right, but has never happened on opening day. Why they track stats like this, who knows? Why opening day vs. game 57??? Baseball fans must have some extra time on their hands.

MLB All-Star Game Comes to PHX!!

2009-04-11T07:55:00.002-07:00

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been chosen to host the 2011 All-Star game. Granted it's still 2 years away, but I am so excited I may start camping out for tickets tonight.

Survivorman is so awesome!

2009-04-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

If you've never seen the show, the host goes out to harsh locations and tries to survive for 7 days with limited food and supplies. Or as he says, "No food, no shelter, no fresh water — one man alone in the wild for seven days with only his wits and stamina to sustain him." For the most part he is recreating a normal adverture that took a bad turn and now you have to make it until the searchers find you. For example, maybe you get lost in the Arizona desert or fall after mountain climbing or stuck in the African plains with lions nearby. But the episode that I just saw, he is in Australia and is flying a small plane to set up a crash landing. Yes, he simply flys around the outback until his plane runs out of gas and is forced to make an emergency landing...create your own runway. Now let's say you manage to survive that...now you have to kick it for 7 days without any food or water. Sounds like fun.

In all the episodes I've seen, he has only successfully acquired a decent meal (more than small wild plants and berries) a couple of times. So basically, no real food for a week. And this guy does it for about 10 episodes per yer. That's 10 weeks of basically no food for a week. Not sure if this guy has all of his marbles, but it sure would be fun to go camping with the guy.

The show airs on the Discovery channel; not sure when as I usually see the reruns on the HD channel.

Bee Afraid

2009-04-05T20:46:00.006-07:00

So we are kicking it downstairs with Nathan when I see this bee on the window screen. As I slowly close the window, trapping the bee, I think, "I am glad we saw him before he got to us." With the bee successfully locked up and awaiting trial, I went out to play wiffleball with Sonoma. When suddenly, "Aaaa! A bee!" Yes a second bee in the house. So Laura grabs her trusty butterfly net and improvizes and transforms it into a bee net and captures the bee before tagging it and releasing it into the wild.

Weird, two bees in the house. Yikes! When suddenly..."Aack! Another bee!" Yes, a third bee in the house. This bee manages to evade the authorities, but we put out an APB on him hoping that he will be picked up quickly. Good thing they didn't get to 2-week old Nathan. After commenting on the situation, Laura and I both go back to our activities.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" I hear being yelled from upstairs. Quickly I dash up the stairs to find Laura and 100s of bees in our master bathroom (and a few that have advanced into our bedroom).

Yes, bees apparently began pooring out from behind our showerhead. The cover was loose, there was a hole in the wall, and a beehive in the wall or attic. Not sure how long they've been there, but they decided Saturday was the day they've been planning for their home invasion. So we closed the door and stuffed a towel at the base to keep them contained and ran back downstairs.

So not wanting them in our house any longer than the need to be, we began calling bee control companies (surprisingly there are a bunch). Also, not knowing if this was an emergency type situation (possibly African Killer Bees) I wasn't sure if I should call around for the best price or not? But since the first few needed to call us back anyway, we got a few price quotes before selecting. Apparently the going rate for bee removal is $175, as was quoted by several companies. So as we waited for the bee guy to come we kept an eye out for further advancement by the bee army, ready to retreat at the first sign of attack. Luckily, that never came, but the bee guy did, and we now have a bee-free home.

Point of entry:

I now have a great movie idea for Hollywood:

A horror film...Bee Afraid. A family brings home their newborn son while unbeeeeknownst to them a bee hive is planning its attack. Slowly creeping out while they sleep, one by one the bees emerge until the bathroom is swarming with bees. Bee Afraid...Bee very afraid. Opens Friday.

"In This Case, We Maraud For Ears"

2009-04-05T20:01:00.006-07:00

Which one of these is not like the other?

So we are trying to decide which features came from whom (who?) and I think we have decided that Nathan's ears are more similar to Laura's. He seems to have picked and chose parts of each of our ears, but we think he favored Laura's ears a bit more.

After a while, ears are weird to look at...

Maybe noses next...

*Post title is a quote from A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders album (in case you were wondering).

More Pictures of Nathan

2009-04-05T09:47:00.003-07:00

We are continuing the parental tradition of taking pictures of every little thing our little Nathan does. Here are some from week #3: