Future Downhill Mountain Bike Racer

May 2nd, 2009 Me

http://www.vimeo.com/4407803



Mountain Biking Brice Creek Trail

April 30th, 2009 Me

Well it’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Mom has been visiting which has been a blessing! Mom played with the kids and spoiled them to death which gave Carrie and I a well needed break.

I got to get out and ride some single track on my single speed. I even got to ride a trail with my wife this past Sunday. We drove over to Brice Creek, which is about 50 minutes or so from the house… about 25 miles or so east of Cottage Grove, OR in the Umpqua National Forest. What a beautiful canyon. Lush dark green forest with a canopy of old grove Douglas Fir.

Something i’ve been wanting to do is mess around with some video editing with mountain bike footage. Being the cheap skate and not wanting to drop the coin on a helmet cam,  I created a quick, cheap and simple mount for my Sony Cool Pix digital camera to shoot some video of our ride up Brice Creek. Once we got home I started messing around with Microsoft Movie Maker and published a quick video with music in under an hour.

http://www.vimeo.com/4357936

Being the camera was mountained on my handle bars… its pretty shaky at some points…. especially when I started going fast.



Mom is Shopping for Airline Tickets

April 16th, 2009 Me

My mom is shopping for airline tickets so I’m putting up some ads for her to use and to give me a little kickback.

My mom took the Amtrak from Chicago to Eugene last week and is staying through the end of the month. When she leaves she’s heading to see my sister in Arkansas but unfortunately the train doesn’t take her where she needs to go.

We looked on Orbitz this morning a little bit and found something funny. We searched a ticket from PDX to XNA.. the itinerary came back with a 2 stop flight… Portland to Eugene to Denver to Fayetteville = 201 with taxes & fees. Now here’s the funny part.. we’re in Eugene so we figure hey save the drive and the emissions and all that.. If she were to book out of Eugene the ticket is like $30 more.  I don’t get it.

Anyway, if you’re traveling soon maybe there’s a deal here for you too.


no one deals like we do!

Expedia.com

Save up to 65% on flights at CheapOair!


Obama: Get the dread out of tax deadline day

April 15th, 2009 Me

My taxes are being submitted via turbo tax online. As I open my yahoo the first headline is Obama: Get the dread out of tax deadline day.

So Obama wants to re-write the tax code to make filing taxes simpler.

“For too long, we’ve seen taxes used as a wedge to scare people into supporting policies that increased the burden on working people instead of helping them live their dreams,” Obama said. “That has to change, and that’s the work that we’ve begun.”

Oh… it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.. BARF!

Simpler… right… simpler to take our money. Make it easier to say across the board I we want half and here is what we’ll allow you to deduct! Most likely making sure they (the government) get more of our hard earned money.

Just more smoke and mirrors.



Testing Facebook Connect

April 13th, 2009 Me

I’ve been fiddling with the Wordpress Facebook Connect plugin to all users to login and post comments on my blog using their Facebook login ID instead of having to register for my blog.

It appears the plugin is installed, configured properly and successfully logged into to Facebook.  The test comes once I actually post a comment… I’ll be trying that next



Baby Wearing Daddy

April 6th, 2009 Me

I’m a baby wearing daddy. We have 3 children and I’ve carried each extensively.  I remember the first sling we had with our first (Jaden)… the thing was huge and girly and I hated it… we were short on funds so I went and bought a snuggly carrier for $20.  The snuggly I thought, was ok until Jaden reached 6months old.. then it just hurt my back.

Later on we bought a Maya Wrap when Jaden was a year and half.  When our second child (Nathanael) was born he caught RSV and spent 11 days in San Francisco Childrens Hospital… the Maya Wrap was my savior.. I wore Jaden (29mos)  all over SF.  We still have the Maya and use it daily with Annie (our third). I like the Maya at night when putting her to sleep because I can easily sit in the recliner and let her sleep in the sling.

But our latest and probably my favorite is our new ERGO Baby Carrier. Annie has been sick these last few days and the ERGO has been great because she likes to sleep upright due to nasal congestion.  The other night Carrie had the ERGO in the car and I had wear Annie in the Maya Wrap for a long time and it really started to strain my neck and shoulder.

The moral of this post is that there are some cool baby carriers that even dads will like, that aren’t girly and that are very comfortable.



Adventures in Tech Support with Dell

April 5th, 2009 Me

Dealing with Dell tech support is always entertaining and a royal pain in the ass. 

Last year I leased a Dell Vostro 1500. Since the day I got it, it would randomly crash. After having it a month or so I finallly called support, they ran a bunch of diagnostics and they  tell me I have to run the repair process on the operating system, and if that doesn’t fix the issue then I have to reinstall the OS.

Read more…



Florida Sets Atheist Holiday

April 1st, 2009 Me

An oldie but a goodie! Happy April Fools Day!

In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover Holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring,”Case dismissed!”

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, “Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my Client and all other atheists have no such holidays.”

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, “But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant.”

The lawyer said, “Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.”

The judge said, “The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’ Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned



Heavy Metal Farmer – Tractor

March 30th, 2009 Me

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Chick Fil A

March 21st, 2009 Me

Being from the left coast we don’t have a popular restaurant called Chick Fil A. We had never even heard of Chick Fil A until we went to Arkansas to visit my sister. The have a Chick Fil A just down the street from them and my niece and nephew love that place. I think we ate 3 times over the course of 7 day visit.

Then we ran into Chick Fil A again a year later in Florida when we went to go visit my dad and sister.

Mind you they do a dam good job cooking chicken. And unlike most places.. thats all they serve is chicken. You can’t find a hampburger there. Chick Fil A is a family owned restaurant chain from what I understand… and whats great about that is they care about the menu. You can find organic milk singles or fruit cups as sides instead of soda and french fries. But don’t worry.. they do have fries if you want them.

So if you’ve ever been to Chick Fil A.. then this following youtube video should make laugh… enjoy.

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