Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers cover art, courtesy of the iTunes Store

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I noticed that the iTunes Store has Fawlty Towers (iTunes, IMDB, Wikipedia) available for purchase. Each season was $9.99 at the time, they're now just $1.99/episode (ie, no discount for buying the season at once).

Only twelve episodes were made, for better or for worse. It's some of British comedy's best, and even at $12 a season, it's a good deal. (The cheapest I could find the DVDs is $20 a season.)

Messiah Sing-along

November 30, the Sunnyvale Ward ushered in the Christmas season with the second annual Messiah Sing-along. Four soloists (SATB) performed the main parts, and the audience performed as the chorus. (They had the music at the door.)

It was really fun. Out of seventy people in attendance, I was one of maybe five people singing Bass, including the soloist. I spent a lot of time off-key, and definitely got lost when Handel would go off on sixteenth notes for thirty measures, but it was quite enjoyable. If you ever get the chance, I'd highly recommend attending. Even if you can't sing, it's The Messiah as you've probably never heard it before.

Happy Birthday, Bry

Birthday Cake Cupcake, courtesy of
Clever Cupcakes (via Flickr).

Happy Birthday, Bry! We're glad that you're enjoying Illinois, and we certainly enjoy everything you do to keep us up-to-date with what's going on with you, Ben, and the girls. Keep having adventures, and we'll keep cheering for you.

Random thought: You remember how Mom always made us two separate birthday cakes? I really enjoyed that she did that. (Thanks, Mom!)

Vote Hour

Be part of the process.

An issue of grave importance

Since beginning this blog, neither Colter nor I have written intensely political blog entries…or long ones. However, this year there is on the California ballot an issue in which I believe so strongly that I feel I simply must blog about it. The issue is Proposition 8, which, if it passes, will amend the California constitution to recognize as legal only marriages between a man and a woman. I am in favor of Proposition 8. I believe that if it is defeated in the election it will terribly erode the liberty we enjoy in this country and it will set the state of California on a path to destruction of its society.

You may wonder why I believe that a yes vote on Proposition 8 will preserve our freedom. After all, it restricts homosexual couples from marrying. Isn’t that restricting their freedom? The answer is yes, it is a restriction; but it is the same kind of restriction a childproofing cover provides—restricting the freedom of a small child from sticking its fingers into an electric socket. You see, I believe that only a man and a woman are meant to live together in a marriage relationship. Physically, emotionally, mentally, they complement each other and are meant to be teammates through the bonds of marriage. I believe this is a natural law—as real as gravity. One cannot deny natural laws without suffering unhappy consequences. Similarly one cannot deny natural moral laws without having people and society suffer in the long run.

By the same token, one cannot create natural laws—or rights. The only way one can create a right for one person is to take it from another. That is what will happen if Proposition 8 is defeated and homosexual marriage is legalized in California. For example, adoption agencies run by groups who do not believe in gay marriage will be forced to either let homosexual couples adopt or shut down their services entirely. This has already happened in Massachusetts, the only other state in the United States which has legalized gay marriage. Such a move takes away not only the right of such groups to operate according to their beliefs, it takes away the rights of the children to be raised by a father and a mother.

The right of children to be raised by both a mother and a father is an important point. Only children raised in such an environment can truly learn about gender identity. Only by understanding how gender identity shapes each individual can each boy and girl come to understand his or her own unique identity.

Voting in favor of Proposition 8 also preserves our freedom in that it sets the decision regarding legalization of gay marriage back in the hands of the people of California. In 2000, California voters chose to pass Proposition 22. Proposition 22 did not amend the California constitution; but it stated in California law that only marriage between a man and a woman would be legal in California. The measure passed by a margin of 61% to 38%. This past April four judges in the 9th Circuit Court ruled Proposition 22 unconstitutional, using the power of the judiciary to legalize gay marriage in opposition to the will of the people. In this country, the people are to make the laws, either through a ballot vote, as they did with Proposition 22 or through their legislative representatives in state or national Congress. If the people of California had voted to legalize gay marriage, or if they do so in the future, I would be saddened, but at least I would know the law had been made through the proper channels. To have the judges making the laws in the land goes against the principles on which this country is founded: the right of the people to govern themselves.

I know that same-sex attraction is real. Each of us in this world struggles with some trait. For some, it is the temptation to fly into a temper at the slightest provocation. For others, it is a tendency toward alcoholism or drugs. And some find themselves experiencing romantic feelings towards members of the same sex. I believe each man and woman is ultimately happier when they master their weaknesses than when they give in to them.

For all the reasons I have mentioned above, I urge all Californians to vote Yes on Proposition 8 this November 4.

Dagwood on Task Management

Yesterday's Blondie:

There are so many opportunities open to us. We can pretty much do whatever we want to, and with much of it — family, work, church, community — other people ask a lot of us, too. If we're not careful, we can easily spend our time doing things that just plain aren't important.

Peter Lynch once paid a consultant to help him become more effective at work. The recommendation was to start the day by listing everything that he could do that day, then rank the list by order of importance. Start working on the most important task and don't stop until it's done. Move on to the second task. At the end of they day, you'll know that however much got done, you did the things that were most important for you to do today.

Some things aren't going to get done. Face it. Accept it. As long as you're doing things that are more important, it doesn't matter. Focus on the most important things you can do — what will make you the happiest, make the biggest difference, and have the longest impact — and let the rest go. It's just distracting you.

The Sam's Club Moment

Photo: Josh Lewis

When I first moved to Colorado Springs, I stayed with a friend from college until I was able to get my own apartment. He wouldn't let me pay rent, so to thank him, I bought him something I knew he'd been thinking about buying himself for a while: a membership at Sam's Club.

We stopped by to do the paperwork, and he asked me if I was going to get myself one. I wasn't; this was the first I'd ever been in Sam's Club. I wasn't familiar with them, and I didn't know that I'd ever use it. He convinced me to walk around the warehouse with him before I made up my mind.

We started out, and I wasn't that impressed. I kept focusing on the cost. NutriGrain Bars for $5.99. (Sure it's more, but I can get them for $2.00 a box at Albertson's.) Cheerios for $7.99. (Half that at Albertson's.)

Halfway through, he got me to see the light, and I'm thankful to this day that he did. I was looking at it from the wrong angle. I needed to look at the value, not the cost. Yes, I could get a $4 box of Cheerios at Albertson's, but I'm going to spend $8 on Cheerios anyway as soon as I buy two boxes. Once I've spent $8, do I want to own 26 oz of Cheerios, or 37 oz? It's about making your money do more for you.

I started getting really excited, and ended up getting myself a membership as well. I also picked up as much of the grocery shopping as I could instead of stopping at Albertson's on the way home. (I wasn't ready to buy milk there. Yet.) Two memberships, groceries, and $20 cash back came to about $120.

On the way home, we stopped by Albertson's so I could get milk. I wanted to see how long it would take for the Sam's Club membership to pay for itself. What I had just bought at Sam's Club — just the groceries — came to over $160. I was astounded. I had no idea the membership would pay for itself and more on the first trip.

I've been sold ever since. Sure, there have been times I've gone overboard and bought things I shouldn't have. (It takes a long time for two people to go through 5 lbs of shredded cheese.) But it's either been worth it, or it makes for a good story. Now, my wife and I are working on gaining and understanding of just how fast we go through things, which will let us know how much we need to keep on hand. More on that later.

Gruntspeak

I came across this cartoon on Friday, illustrating the grammatical gymnastics involved in carrying on an entire conversation with one word. Go ahead and check it out. I'll wait for you.

(BTW, it just took me five tries and the help of the spell checker to find a form of "grammar" that A) fits my usage and B) is already a word.)

It reminds me of a conversation I had with my best friend when we were teenagers. I don't remember who grunted what, but here's the gist of it:

"I'm full."

"Me, too. That was a good meal."

"Totally. The pork chops were very tender and savory. Slightly smokey, and just a hint of lime."

"I agree. And the mashed potatoes were well-seasond and had just the right amount of lumps."

"They were very good. Excellent meal, Mom."

"Yes, Mom. Thank you."

"So what shall we do now?"

"Well, we could play some more hackey sack."

"Nah, I'm too full for that level of physical activity. As much as I enjoyed dinner, I'd prefer to only enjoy it once."

"Good call. We could play video games."

"We spent most of the afternoon playing video games. My thumbs are still sore. Go to the mall?"

"We could... I don't have any money, though. I couldn't buy anything."

"Oh! There was that movie you wanted to see. The one with ... whatsherface."

"That's right! I'd forgotten about that. And I'd just been talking about it while we were playing video games. Let's do that."

"Who's driving?"

"We're here. I'll drive. Do you have a card?"

"...Not on me."

"Not a problem. We can grab my mom's. Watch it at your place or mine?"

"Yours. My sister's probably still watching TV."

"Alright! Let's go."

At which point, we pushed back our chairs and got up to leave. My mother, who had been looking back and forth at us during the whole exchange, burst out laughing. "What was that?"

"We were figuring out what to do now. We're going to go rent a movie and watch it here. I'm driving, we'll need to borrow your Blockbuster card, and excellent job on the marinade. Very tasty."

Tim Allen would be proud.

Monday Night Football Redux

Just a quick note that we're back, safe and sound, from the Broncos-Raiders season opener on Monday Night Football. It was Denver's first win on the road on MNF since 1998 (I love some of these strung-up statistics), and Oakland barely avoided their third consecutive shutout on Monday Night.

The seats were great (thanks, Dave!) and it was interesting to see the differences in what the game was like. The Black Hole and Mile High each have their own flavor.

I can't wait to watch the highlights on AppleTV tomorrow so I can see just what happened with some of those plays.

Monterey and Carmel

Growing up, Monterey was one of Nicole's favorite places to go. I'd never been, until last week. I like it. It's a fun place, and beautiful.

We started off in Carmel on Saturday. Browsing around the shops, we found a gorgeous leather jacket that looks really good on me, but not $900-good. I got a kick out of the fact that a lot of the shops have a little pail of dog treats on the counter, or a water dish outside the door. Carmel is a very dog-friendly place. The bottom tier of one of the fountains was a water dish.

The highlight of the cuisine was probably Isabella's Wharfside. It's on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. I had the Salmon Basil Pasta (they make their own noodles in-house) – fresh steamed salmon with a cream sauce on linguine. Nicole had spinach ravioli stuffed with crab meat and topped with the sweetest marinara sauce we've ever had. The dipping oil had fresh minced garlic in it – very good. We split a creme brule for dessert.

The lowlight of the cuisine was lunch in Carmel. I won't call them out by name, but their "English-style" fish and chips were anything but. For one thing, the British don't bread their fish – they batter them. Second, the "California style" malt vinegar has no taste to it. The fish is soggy by the time you can taste it. On the plus side, the fries were nicely crispy, the coleslaw was interesting (it had pineapple in it), and the waitstaff were friendly.

Another culinary find was The Cheese Shop, tucked away in a shopping plaza in Carmel. We met a very friendly guy there who enjoyed handing out samples and explaining the history of the cheeses as much as we enjoyed tasting and listening. We stopped back by on our way home on Sunday to pick up a Welsh horseradish cheddar and Memoire – a gouda with truffles. With some French bread, fresh blueberries, and cranberry-grape juice, this was our lunch this afternoon.

I find I prefer Carmel's white beaches to Santa Cruz's brown ones, and I prefer the rocky coast to the beach. (Although this might change if I had a dog to play with.)

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was fun, getting to see all the underwater life. Otters are cute beyond words. They have some tide pools where you can pet the little critters; Nicole did, I didn't. The anchovies were kind of surreal to watch. Kids would definitely love the place.

Did I mention that Otters are cute?

We went to church with the Monterey Ward. Just sacrament meeting. We got there with time to walk around the grounds before it started. The chapel is on a wooded hillside, and it was foggy. Beautiful. We got to see a four-point buck laying in a thicket just off the parking lot.

Flickr photo set

Around Alcatraz

Today we went up to take a look at Alcatraz. We met up with some friends, and took a tour boat out around San Francisco Bay. We thought we were going to get to spend half an hour on the Rock itself, but the tour company's definition of "at" only means "circling around". But we still got a good tour of the bay (Flickr).

We stopped by the Boudin Bistro for lunch. They claim that their bakery there on Fisherman's Wharf is where sourdough bread bowls got started. Nicole and I both love clam chowder, so this seemed like a good place to have lunch. We learned an important lesson, too: If you go upstairs, where they have nice tables with linens and a view of the bay, they charge you twice as much for the exact same bowl of chowder as if you walk up to the counter downstairs. Something to remember for next time. The bread bowls were very good, though, as was the chowder.

We also stopped by Ghirardelli Square, which is just down the street. We decided not to tour the factory (long line) but we got a delicious cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes. Try them if you get the chance.

I also enjoyed walking through a bit of the financial district, with the skyscrapers and glass mixing in with century-old Greek architecture. Ah, capitalism.

Beach Trip

I love the beaches here in Northern California. However, Colter and I have not been able to spend time at the beach in the two years that we have been together, until Saturday. One of the couples in our ward, Guy and Kat Schauerhamer, had invited us and several other young couples down to a beach house belonging to some friends of theirs. Saturday afternoon we packed a duffle bag, made a salad and headed down beyond Santa Cruz. When we arrived, we all began helping to put together the main course—a dutch oven Tex-Mex chicken dish. Colter sliced cheese. I crushed corn flakes. One of the husbands pounded the chicken flat and handed it to Kat, who spread it with taco seasonings, and rolled it up with slices of cheese. Next the chicken got dipped in melted butter, rolled in the corn flakes, and placed in the dutch oven.

Chicken prepared, we tromped down to the beach: through a eucalyptus grove, down a redwood-bark strewn path, then down, down, down a flight of stairs that scaled a cliff, down…to a beautiful, nearly empty beach. When we had arrived at the beach house, it was overcast and cold. Once we got down to the beach, however, the clouds cleared away revealing a beautiful sunset.

Guy set up the dutch oven, then joined the rest of us frolicking in the waves. The water were cold, but not frigid. Colter went body surfing with the rest of the boys. I didn’t want to get my head underwater; so I stayed where the water came up to my waist, watching.
The wind started to chill us all; so when we were finally numb with cold, we dried off and added the rest of the ingredients to the chicken dish: chili peppers, diced tomatoes, black beans, canned corn, and the rest of the corn flakes and cheese. At this point, some decided to find a hot tub, while others of us played Bocce ball and ultimate Frisbee. Colter helped score the winning point in the Frisbee game. I was happy to have caught a pass successfully. It was difficult to run because our ankles were so stiff from the cold.

Finally, the food was ready. As we hiked back up the cliff to the beach house, we could see bonfires springing up all along the beach. Back at the house we had a prayer and dug in. The “Mexican Hash,” as we dubbed it, was delicious. In addition, one of the wives had brought homemade whole wheat bread. Our salad was a hit as well.

Most of the couples spent the night at the beach house. We came home so as to sleep in a bed—and so we could get up for early morning choir practice the next day.

I don’t think either of us moved a muscle until the alarm chirped.

Random Odds and Ends

I gave blood this morning. Only complication this time was that the vein rolled on the first attempt. Apparently, blood donations are regulated by the FDA; I realize that it's probably under purview of the ‘D’, but the ‘F’ makes it funny.

We watched The Great Escape last night. It was the 99¢ movie of the week on the iTunes Store this week. I hadn't seen it before, Nicole had. It's very good. 5 stars. Steve McQueen bouncing the ball off the wall, a memorable theme song, and Charles Bronson. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

The app store has launched for the new iPhone software. There's some good stuff, and a lot of it free. I got a 99¢ app that tracks your fuel economy (I used to track it with Excel on the Palm). I've switched from webapps to native apps for Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. The Remote app is awesome! Full, fluid control of your iTunes library or Apple TV. :)

I broke down and finally bought a fan this week. An Ultra Slimline Tower Fan by Seville Classics. It's super-quiet, and super-stylish.

We saw Hancock last week. It's good, but the language was stronger in the first half than we would have liked. It's a good premise, though, and a very good ending.

Wall•E

It's 10 am on a Friday. A bunch of us have been invited to come see
the first showing of Wall•E.

Happy Anniversary to the Wildes

Happy Anniversary, Ben and Bry!



All the best!

Golden Gate

Whee!

Edit: And by "Whee!" I mean "Heading into the waves is fun!"

These Guys, I've Heard Of

Barenaked Ladies | WWDC Beer Bash
Originally uploaded by Graham Ballantyne

WWDC was this week. It's our annual developer's conference, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. One of the highlights of the week is the Thursday night bash across the street in the Yerba Beuna Gardens. Largely, this is 6,000+ developers and Apple engineers standing around eating finger foods and enjoying refreshing beverages.

Each year, we bring in an artist to perform. Last year, it was Ozomatli. (I hadn't heard of them before.) This year, they didn't tell us who it was until they walked out on stage: Barenaked Ladies. I was at the far end of the gardens and didn't hear who it was until they opened with "One Week."

They were thrilled to be playing an Apple gig. They're huge Mac fans, and it showed in the interstitial banter. I really like these guys. Their stuff is pretty clean, they have some clever lyrics, and they can drop lines pretty fast and keep it intelligible.

One new song that I remember is off of their new album, Snack Time ("for children of all ages, but mainly…8"): "7 8 9".

Live Your Dreams

In Colorado Springs, we would start FHE with an icebreaker question. One week, the question was: "If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you want to live?" People gave answers like "Tibet" or "an island in the South Pacific." Stuff like that.

I said, "Somewhere on the Colorado front range, between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs." After a pause, someone behind me clarified (giving me a hard time), "Where do you want to live, not where do you live?"  I turned around and smiled at him.  "Some people spend their lives chasing the dream. I choose to live it."

Are you happy with where you are, and what you're doing? Would you rather be doing something different? You have a choice. Find what you're passionate about – what gets you out of bed when you have an open day before you. Form a clear picture in your mind of what your dream will be like. Crystal clear. Then pursue your dream. Work towards it. Do not let anything deter you from reaching your dream. Keep going until you are living your dream.

Finished Reading: MBA Basics

Some of you already know (and the rest now know) that I'm seriously considering starting an MBA program soon. I already know I'll enjoy certain aspects of it, like finance and leadership. But what about the other nuts and bolts of a business education, like Marketing and Sales? I had an Economics class while earning my BS. I don't remember if it was Macro or Micro, but I remember it was a painful class. Is it really that painful of a subject, or was the teacher just not that good?

With an eye to shedding some light into those areas of dark unknowns, I picked up a copy of Tom Gorman's MBA Basics. It's a pretty good read. Gorman gives an overview of the issues involved in managing people, resources, finances, and marketing, as well as steering and growing a business.

Whatever business you're in (and that includes nonprofits, education, and the like), you'll get a good view of the bigger picture that you (or management) deals with day-to-day and quarter-to-quarter. The different topics are well-presented, so you should be able to get a feel for how appealing to you any particular area is. If you find something you like, follow it up. Learn more about it. Educating yourself is one of the most rewarding activities you can do.

It's the Weekend

This was a long week for some reason. But it's over now. We're at
T.G.I. Friday's, getting a bite before going to see Prince Caspian.

Here's my Wild Berry Lemonade, and if you look closely, you can make
out the fountains in the median.

Spinning Ball Spare

I remember seeing this feat back on America's Funniest Home Videos, before its abbreviation, and while the guy from Full House was still hosting it.

My greatest bowling moment was picking up a 7-10 split in college. I spent a good minute carefully lining up the shot, then decided to sacrifice the one pin I figured I'd actually pick up and go for the humorous shot instead. I picked up a second ball from the return and bowled them together. Their paths crossed halfway down, the right-hand ball picking up the 7 and the left-hand ball picking up the 10.

Realigning Actions and Values

I was sitting in class tonight, and it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't paid for the venti Caramel Apple Spice sitting on the desk in front of me. I could remember the gal taking my order (she had to ask the spelling of my name), and I remembered playing with the phone while I waited for the drink to come up. (I was trying to remember what my AT&T username and password were to access the in-store WiFi.) But I didn't remember breaking a $20 to pay for the drink.

As soon as I realized this, I had a hard time focusing on what the professor was saying. Ironically or coincidentally, we were discussing values. It's amazing the peace that comes when your actions are in line with your values, and when they aren't, it's equally powerful. I didn't feel bad about it, since I knew full well that it was an honest negligence, but I did want to get back and make it right as quickly as possible.

I returned to Starbucks during the break in class. The same three baristas were behind the counter. They remembered me. They were a little surprised that I'd come back, but thanked me for doing so. We chuckled about the store's chaos earlier, and I dashed back to campus.

And I had to check the AT&T info when I got home.

Meat Loaf and Tiffany for GoPhone

The lyrics are a little forced in a couple places, but this is great.

Winchester Mystery House

On Saturday, we went to the Winchester Mystery House with some friends from work. If you're not familiar with WMH, it's the former home of Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune; Mrs. Winchester had construction on the house continue 24/7 for 38 years to confuse and keep at bay the ghosts of everyone who had died from a Winchester rifle. More details at the Wikipedia article.

We were able to get tickets for the Guided Tour at half-off. We'll probably go back some evening and take the (free) self-guided Garden Tour to check out the grounds. My favorite part was the stained glass in the front part of the house. The rooms inside were dark, so the windows were quite stunning in the morning light. Nicole's favorite part was the simple fact that after visiting a few rooms, you were completely turned around, couldn't tell which way was north, and wouldn't have been able to find your own way out.

Photos from the visit.

The Spoken Word Meets Written Word

I heard about Jott a couple months ago, in the Wall Street Journal, I think. It sounded interesting, but I didn't look closely into it – I wasn't looking for a voicemail solution. Then I saw this article on tying Jott and Sandy together over at My Money Blog earlier this week. (I'd heard of Sandy, too, from a colleague.) Jott transcribes your voice to an text, then Sandy parses the text and sends you reminders.

Each service is interesting in its own right. What I love is the way you can tie them together. (Synergy – the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.) I signed up with both services last night, and I've been playing with them today. It may be the newness, but it's surprisingly fun. For example, when I left work today, I called Jott from the car (using the bluetooth headset, of course), asked Sandy to remind me of two things I had to do this evening, updated my Twitter status, and posted the preceding entry.  All without lifting a finger.

You can spot a few mistakes in the transcription:

I love it when a plan comes together. The information you need, when you need it, wherever you are. It's beautiful.

I'm heading home. It's the weekend.

(Sandy also reminded me to finish my "statics" (status) report.)

There are a few mistakes, but it's close enough to get the intent. As a developer, I'm thinking about ways that this could be extended.  (I'll let you know if I think of any.)

I love it when a plan...

I love it when a plan comes together. The information you need, when you need it wherever you are is beautiful. listen

Powered by Jott

Go Afton!

Apparently a group in Afton, WY, (of all places) has followed Improv Everywhere's lead and froze the local supermarket.

Nicely done.

Ad-Resistance

I came across this post on the Get Rich Slowly blog: How to Inoculate Your Kids Against Advertising

Somehow, I managed to learn this. I don't know if it was my parents, but I'm adding it to the list of things I want to teach my kids.

Danny Boy

This is too cool. Beaker, Animal, and the Swedish Chef singing "Danny Boy."

Hush, Little Baby

The March 22 show of A Prairie Home Companion had a wonderful rendition of "Hush Little Baby" by Inga Swearingen (iTunes link). You'll need RealPlayer to listen. (You browser should walk you through the setup if you don't already have RealPlayer; be sure you just get the free player, and not the free trial of the pro player — Real is bad about coercing the upsell.)

I love the sound of it. Light, and just enough variation that the repetition stays interesting without losing the repetitive structure. It's hard to make an a cappella solo sound good, but she's done it.

Kitchen Laboratory

After the disappointing end to my attempt at cooking corned beef, I was left with a head of cabbage on my hands and no idea how to use it.  Fortunately the next day one of my co-workers brought a corned beef and cabbage salad to work.  It is actually a prize-winning recipe for the annual Napa Valley mustard festival.  I thought it delicious, so she gave me the recipe.  On Wednesday I got to try it out.  It turned out beautifully!  It calls for corned beef, raw cabbage, cooked green beans, boiled potatoes and a mustard vinaigrette.  I used ham instead of corned beef and it tasted wonderful.  There was one nebulous item in the vinaigrette ingredients: a certain type of chili.  The woman who gave me the recipe said she's never found it in any grocery store.  So it must some elite product.  The only problem is neither of us knew if it was chili powder, chili sauce, or just bottled chiles.  I used chili powder when making the vinaigrette.  Then I remembered some packets of chili sauce left over from a trip to Panda Express.  I opened one and poured it all over the salad I had on my plate.  It tasted wonderful and boy, did it add some kick!  After about five minutes I began trying everything I could think of to quench the burning in my mouth.  It was my own version of Mythbusters.  To my sadness I found that, while bread is excellent for absorbing the heat from Chinese mustard and horseradish--the heat that sears your sinuses--it has no effect on chiles, which tends to burn the mouth and throat.  Milk was the only thing that brought relief; but even that was only temporary.  The heat in my mouth and throat continued for some fifteen minutes after I finished dinner.  I guess I'll remember next time to go easy on the chili sauce.

That's it? I'm so disappointed…

I gave blood last weekend. After a little bit of confusion over the scheduling, I gave my usual double red.  If you're not familiar with the process, they hook you up to a machine that takes out a total of two pints of blood, extracts the red blood cells, and returns the rest of your blood (and some extra saline) into your body. The procedure takes place in three cycles, ten to fifteen minutes each.

On the third return, I started noticing some discomfort in my arm, around the needle.  I couldn't see my arm, since the nurse had applied a heating pad to improve my circulation.  (Apparently, I was bleeding slowly.)  My reaction was to apply pressure to it.  The nurse noticed, and came over to see what I was doing.  She checked under the heating pad, then shut the machine off and started to very quickly unhook me.  The needle had worked free from the vessel, and the returning blood was just going under the skin.  She used a term to describe what was happening, but I couldn't catch it for her accent.  (Ben?)

I had to wait an extra fifteen minutes afterwards (thirty instead of the normal fifteen) so they could apply another heating pad to my arm.  They told me it was nothing to worry about, but that I could expect a giant bruise to develop.

So what did I get?  Not much.  There were two areas, about the size of a golf ball total, that went straight to that faded yellow color.  No giant purple-red splotch.  Nothing to show off.  Hardly anything at all.

The coolest part, though, is that a gal from the blood bank just called to follow up.  How my arm?  How am I feeling, since I didn't get a considerable portion of my blood back?  She also wanted me to know that they were able to get at least one usable unit of red blood cells out of me, so it wasn't all for naught.

Jason Elam's Going to Atlanta

Sigh.

Spring

We are enjoying such a beautiful spring here this year.  For the past two or three years we haven't even had a springtime.  We have gone straight from winter to summer, with temperatures jumping from 40s or 50s one week to 90s the next.  It is wonderful to have the temperatures staying around the 60s.  The trees and bushes appreciate it too, and are blossoming and leaving out joyfully.  I love to stand on our balcony in the mornings and evenings to smell the fragrant air.  I'm so grateful we were blessed with a real spring this year.

I Thought We had Hoarfrost

I glanced down Stevens Creek Boulevard on my way to work this morning, and all the trees were puffy and white. Aparently the trees decided it was time to blossom.  They're fresh blossoms, too, because it had been raining (fairly heavily, by the look of the pavement), and the blossoms were still on the trees.

And if any of you are wondering why I was on Stevens Creek on my way to work, I wasn't lost.  I was stopping by Marie Callenders.  Happy Pi Day.

Now I Just Need a White Carnation…

We stopped into Nordstrom Rack today. They had a hot pink sport coat. The picture doesn't do it justice – it was hot pink, not salmon. I grabbed the shirt and tie and Nicole snapped a photo.

My apologies and thanks to Marty Robbins.

Monday Night Football

I posted some photos from our trip to see the Broncos in my .Mac web gallery.

The Smoke House Burger had 2" of shoestring onion fries to smash down before you even have a chance of fitting it in your mouth. It was delicious. I wish we'd gotten a shot of their Wall o' Screens off to my right. A giant screen in the center that reaches top to bottom, and twelve smaller screens to the sides. They had a row of six black leather recliners with little armrest tables. It was so beautiful. (They have pictures on their web site, including a picture of the burger.)

The seats were on the front row of the upper tier. There was our row of seats, room to walk, and then the rest of the crowd was up behind is. We had a totally unobstructed view of the field. It was a great game, and we won. We couldn't have asked for better weather – 55° and clear.

Preseason starts in August, right?

A Better-Looking Dock

I just finished transforming this:



into this:



TUAW this morning had a blurb about a new version of Dock Library, a handy little app that takes user-submitted resources from various sites and takes care of the swapping about for you. It offers a preview of what the Dock will look like (using your own desktop background, no less) and lets you switch between skins rather easily. A fine piece of freeware, if you ask me.

"So what about the stacks?" That's a very clever hack that I found this morning. Each "box" is a small file (with the appropriate icon) that stays at the front of the stack. The perspective of the box gives it a wonderful 3-D effect.

I skinned my work computer this morning, and my iMac just now. I haven't had this much fun playing with Stacks since they first appeared in Leopard.

"Is any of this useful, or just eye candy?" The darker Dock is just eye candy, but the Stack boxes are practical. This way, I have a quickly discernible label to help me identify which Stack is which. At work, I regularly use six Stacks, and this little trick helps me to identify the one I'm looking for without having to hover the cursor over the stack for the tooltip to appear. And it just plain looks cool, and good aesthetics never hurts a workflow.

The Cure for Global Warming: Scoot Back

From "Scientists Predict When World Will End" (via Fox News):

The University of California, Santa Cruz…proposes taming an asteroid to swing by the Earth every few thousand years, slowly nudging the Earth into higher solar orbit.

Wow.

Clam Chowder and Mission Impossible on a Rainy Day

Life is good.

Finished Reading: What Matters Most

I finished reading What Matters Most over the weekend. I think this was the first time I've read it, but I'm not sure. Smith does a fantastic job of going over the high-level planning process – discovering your core values, writing your personal mission statement, and setting long- and short-range goals. Great for vision and strategic planning.

If you'd like something that deals with the art of executing, I'd recommend First Things First by Stephen R. Covey and Roger and Rebecca Merrill. First Things First briefly covers goals and the importance of vision, and then guides you through the process of translating that vision into action. Combined, they're the best books on successful time and life management that I've read.

A word on David Allen's Getting Things Done: Yes, I've read it. I even got a few good pointers out of it, like the importance of capturing ideas immediately and identifying the next action you can take towards a project/goal. Overall, however, I consider the GTD system to be incomplete. It takes a shotgun approach to your time – how can you be sure to do as many things as you possibly can? The problem is that GTD makes no allowance for making sure that you're doing the right things, just that you're getting lots of things done. Doing more things faster isn't a substitute for making sure you're doing the right things. GTD is better than no system at all; just realize that you'll need to keep prioritization in mind when working with it. I prefer the fourth-generation process described by Covey et al, and What Matters Most dovetails quite nicely with it.

The Blossoms Are Arriving

This is the courtyard inside our chapel. Last week, they were bare.
This week, they're in full blossom. Spring is creeping up on us.

Stopping Time at Grand Central Station

This would be so fun, either to witness or to be a part of.  Kudos and props.  I love the applause at the end.

They're a group called Improv Everywhere if you want to learn more about them.

Is a Dollar Always a Dollar?

Mental Accounting: Is A Dollar Always A Dollar? » My Money Blog

I thought this was a pretty good post. (I don't know the author, if you're wondering.)

It kind of reminds me of a concept I first heard about from Brian Tracy: Zero-Basing. The problem is that we often feel tied to a situation because of what we've already put into it. Zero-basing involves asking yourself two questions. First:

Is there anything in your life/business/portfolio/house which, if you had known then what you know now, you never would have gotten involved with?

If the answer to that question is yes, then you ask yourself a second question:

How fast can you get out?

Free Copy of Women and Money

If you'd like a free copy of Women and Money by Suze Orman, you can go to Oprah's web site by 8 pm EST tomorrow (Feb 14) and download a free copy of it from this page.  It's part of a tie-in with Suze's appearance on Oprah's show today.

And by “easy”, I mean…

Well, my reading list is in the sidebar now. We'll see how easy it is to maintain…

This has me thinking: Do I want to include audiobooks?

Finished Reading: The Divine Center

I started reading The Divine Center back in England.  I borrowed a copy from a member there.  I think I got about 8 chapters into it.  Then I borrowed my dad's copy and got another chapter or two into it.  Last summer, I found where someone was selling a hardback copy on Amazon for $5, so I snatched it up, and was able to finish reading it in my very own personal copy.  It's a good book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested.  I did think the first half was a bit dry; all I remember is paragraphs and paragraphs that could be summed up neatly by the provided figures. The second half is excellent, though, and perhaps the first half lays the foundation for that.

So what book will I start next?  Hopefully nothing.  Hopefully I'll finish another book or two before adding a new one to the list.  At a glance around the house, I'm currently reading:

Women and Money by Suze Orman.

The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management by Hyrum W. Smith.

Papa Married a Mormon by John D. Fitzgerald.  (I'm reading this with Nicole.)

The Complete Idiot's Guide to MBA Basics by Tom Gorman.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith by, well, Joseph Smith.

A Mormon in the White House? by Hugh Hewitt.

What Matters Most by Hyrum W. Smith.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R. Covey. (I've read this before, and I'm going through it now again with Nicole.)

Thomas S. Monson once said that if performance is measured, performance improves, and if performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement increases.  Now to see if there's an easy way I can update this list, and have it appear in the side bar…

I'll be a Sunbeam [Leader] for Him

That's right.  After three months of being a cub scout den mother, I am now a Sunbeam teacher.  I have six little three-year-olds to teach.  It should be fun.  I went into the class this past Sunday to observe.  Most of them are very active.  I think I'm going to spend my whole time telling them to sit down..."on their seaters, not their knees."  But they are so cute.  And I love that I get to sing primary songs again!

The funniest part about this is, when I was called the counselor said that several people in the ward kept talking about how good I am with kids.  That's kind of them...but nobody in this ward has seen me work with kids.  I wonder how come they thought I would be good at this?  Oh well, again, it's kind of them to say so.

Favorite Ads from SuperBowl XLII

This was an off year for SuperBowl ads. A lot of the ads had already aired, and many of the new ones just lacked oompf.  There were some good ones, though.  My favorites:

Pepsi Max.  The cameo with Chris Kattan is the best.

Wall•E.  He's cute.

Budweiser. I've seen this one labelled both "Clydesdale Training" and "Rocky".  Anheuser-Bush has done some of my favorite ads over the years, including 2002's tribute and last year's "Rock Paper Scissors".

Also be sure to check out the Prince Caspian trailer.

Thankful Friday

After reading Bryony's Thankful Thursday posts, I've been thinking about all the things I'm thankful for.  So although it's not Thursday, here are a few examples:

Colter: I too am married to my favorite person in the whole world.  I am so grateful for Colter's constant love and support and example, especially at this time as I prepare for the dance show.  I love how he makes me laugh and smile and that he knows when to be serious too.

Dance: When I graduated from high school, I had printed under my photo in the yearbook "To swim is to live, to live is to dance."  The swimming has had to be set aside a little.  But I am so glad that I can still dance.  It renews me physically and emotionally.  And I am especially grateful to still be at Marie Stinnett's studio.  It's truly my second home, and the staff there is part of my extended family.

Work:  work is a blessing--whether it's office work or work around the house.  Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that when things blow up in my face or one email sends my whole day upside-down.  But I am grateful for a job and for a home to take care of.

My family:  Not much explanation needed here.  And we all get to stay together for eternity!

Food, clothes, a bed and an apartment, a car... the necessities of life.  

Education:  Aside from the fact that I have a good job because of my education, I thoroughly enjoyed being a student.  I know that it is a privilege to be able to go to school and I'm grateful for wonderful teachers and professors who instructed me.

The United States of America:  The two blessings I just mentioned are in large part a result of living here.  This truly is the land of promise and opportunity.  I enjoy traveling to some other countries.  But there is only one place I want to live and I'm so glad I was born here.

The California Bay Area:  I've been to some beautiful places in other parts of the country and world.  But I've never seen any place more beautiful than Carmel beach and Monterey Bay.  Also, there are the dear hills by my parents' home.  They look so beautiful when the clouds come rolling over--and the smell of the breeze coming off those hills in the evenings is intoxicating.

Music:  Good music speaks to my soul.  It would be an empty life without it.

Introducing Colter's Stack of Stuff

Google Reader has a feature that lets you share articles you come across, sort of like clipping articles from the paper.  It's like a mini-blog on the side of our main blog.  It can be funny, sad, touching, thoughtful, or completely random.  Whatever strikes my fancy.

And if you use a feed reader, the Stack of Stuff has its own feed.  Enjoy!

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

Every now and then, I collect a quote that I want to keep.  Right now, they're sort of scattered all over the place, because I haven't come up with a good way to store them all.  The most recent one is "Quando omni flunkus moritati," which, being interpreted, is "When all else fails, play dead."

Early to Bed or Early to Rise?

For a while, last year, I was able to wake up, without an alarm, within 5 minutes of 8 hours after I went to bed. Three days in a row, the first time I saw on the clock was exactly 8 hours after the last time I saw. When I'm getting enough rest, I'm like 8 hour toast – I pop up, and I'm ready to go. (Can you cook toast in a crock pot?)

My ideal schedule maintains the missionary schedule of going to bed at 10:30 and getting up at 6:30. This keeps sliding back, however, because I'm not ready to go to bed at 10:30. Lately, it's been closer to midnight before I get to bed.

(To those with children or pets that prevent 8 hours of sleep: I'm living vicariously for you.)

When I have to get up after 7 hours, or 6, I'd love to have another hour or two to sleep in. If I'd just get to bed an hour or two earlier, guess what? The problem is especially pronounced on Saturdays, when Friday night has eaten away at sleep time, and I find it's closer to time for lunch by the time I get a shower and dressed.

I used to think the best way to correct my schedule was to get to bed earlier. That didn't work, because I wasn't tired at 10:30. I'd keep doing "one more thing" because if I'd just lay in bed awake for and hour, I'd rather get something done. But what I'd really rather is getting an hour of something done in the morning.

Now I think you have to work the problem from all three ends: what time you get up, what time you go to bed, and why you think you have to be out of bed for more than 16 hours before you go back. It can be a tough question to answer, and it assumes that you do value getting 8 hours of sleep. Or 7, or 7.5, or whatever. I've never heard someone complain that they were getting enough sleep.

How much sleep we schedule ourselves depends on how we prioritize sleep compared to the other things we have to do. I have found that I do more and better in 16 hours with 8 hours of sleep than in 18 hours with 6 hours of sleep, so I'm trying to be more careful about giving proper priority to the 8 hours.

I Found It: Why 1820

It is a happy day.

On my mission, I had two favorite talks: "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane" by Bruce R. McConkie and "Why 1820?" by Hyrum W. Smith. Loved them. The former was pretty easy to track down – it's in the April 1985 Conference. The latter wasn't so easy.

For three years, I've been trying to find it, and I finally stumbled upon it via a random blog post. (I google for it every now and then, hoping to find it.) In one of the comments, someone identified the talk. It was given at a Ricks College devotional on September 27, 1988.  The title is simply "Restoration of the Church".

I love the Internet.

Apple Skimmers and Edible Skivvies

You really can't blame kids for getting words wrong. They do the best they can, and go with what they hear. As we get older, we experience more words, so we recognize more and more of what we hear (in theory), so language gets easier.

Apparently these things are called "Ebleskivers". They're Scandanavian. Somewhere between a pancake and a muffin. We received an ebleskiver pan for our wedding, and we finally got to use it this morning. They're pretty tasty, and these were just the plain ones. You can also cook them with stuff inside of them, once you get used to how the pan works – it's somewhere between a frying pan and a muffin tin.

Snow!

About once a year we get snow on the surrounding hilltops here.  This morning when I looked out the window I could see glorious white capping the hills.  One of my co-workers, who lives in Santa Cruz, said she drove through a winter wonderland to get to work today. 

Apple Cider Vinegar: Towards the Red End of the Scale

There are things that I like, and things that I don't like.  It's true for all of us.  It's natural.  The problem is when we don't actually try things, and just assume we're not going to like something. Or assuming we will, although I think it's more common that we assume we won't. It's like the kid that continues to scream in dread anticipation of the needle because he didn't even feel the shot.

I knew I would like Toad in the Hole before I tried it.  I looked at it, decided it was just like pigs in a blanket, and sure enough – I loved it. Experience guided me.  I knew I would like shrimp monterey – wrap any meat in bacon and smother it with cheese is going to be good.

While I was in England, one missionary team was invited over to an African family's home for dinner to celebrate their baptism that day.  Dinner was a deep-fried pig head.  I understand it's quite the delicacy, and I gave them due props for eating it.

A few years ago, I adopted a policy of not nocking things I don't understand. Consider it: how can you speak on something you don't understand?  Like any guiding principle, there are times I exercise it better than others.  One of the applications of this principle is trying something someone is eating before criticizing it.  If they're eating it and enjoying it (and there's nothing pathological involved), then it's probably just my own preconceived notions about what's edible and what's not.

Maybe I have Charlie Love to thank for this. He's why I've tried crickets, mealworms, and other stuff I'm probably repressing.  It's how I discovered SuperFood.  Asparagus, brussels sprouts, egg plant, quiche, dried mangos, and a whole slew of curried foods I can't pronounce, let alone get close enough for the spell checker to correct, have all had their audition on my palette.  I don't even think about it any more. It adds a little bit of adventure to life. I highly recommend it.

This weekend, I heard of a new fad sweeping the nation.  Drinking apple cider vinegar.  Diluted, of course.  Straight up, it's strong enough to burn your esophagus.  But a tablespoon or two in a glass of water is supposed to eliminate any desire you have for sweet drinks.  It probably does.  All I remember is throwing out the last half of the glass (after forcing the first half down while reading the evening news) and popping a couple of Tums afterwards.

It's great stuff for cooking with.  I add it to chili all the time.  But it's an ingredient, not a beverage.  I'm sticking to the SuperFood.

Stuck in my head today

Red - the blood of angry men!
Black - the dark of ages past!
Red - a world about to dawn!
Black - the night that ends at last!

Do you hear the people sing?

Google Reader

I've been trying out Google Reader this week. Instead of checking a dozen different sites, when I remember to check them, if I remember to check them, and constantly wondering what I've missed, it does the work for me.  It keeps tabs on sites that publish an RSS feed (blogs do this inherently), and brings everything together for me, so I just have one site to read.  It even keeps track of which articles/entries I've already seen.  They even have a version of Reader that works wonderfully on an iPhone, so I can check the news from anywhere.

Now I just need to see if I can get all my comics on Reader...

Weekend Getaway

We have just returned from a short visit to our friends, Ray and Maureen Summers, in Folsom, California.  Colter and the Summers served together in the Church mission office in Birmingham, England.  When Colter and I became engaged to be married last year, the Summers invited us up to their home to visit.  It took us until now to find the time to make it up there!  

The drive to Folsom was long and tedious.  Our plan was to leave right after work on Friday in the hopes of beating some of the Friday traffic and arriving at the Summers around 8:30pm.  No such luck.  It ended up taking two hours simply to get out of the bay area, crawling along crowded freeways at 15 miles per hour.  We finally pulled into the Summers' driveway at 9:30pm.  But we quickly forgot the frustrations of the road trip as we talked and looked at mission photos, drinking hot chocolate and sharing mission memories.  The Summers' little dachshund, Missy, tried to join in the conversation, going from person to person, begging for some pats and tummy rubs.

Saturday morning we had a leisurely breakfast and then got ready to go to the Sacramento temple.  This is where Colter and I were married, so it was a special experience to be able to return and serve there again.  The temple really is the happiest place in the world.  

After we returned from the temple, we sat and talked and watched the latest updates on the presidential primaries.  From there, we went to dinner at a Thai restaurant in El Dorado Hills.  The food was delicious, and we had a lovely view of a small river from the restaurant window.  

Back at the Summers' again, we watched a movie on the Hallmark channel while we waited for an apple pie to bake.  It was from one of the local farms and was absolutely delicious.  We ended the evening talking again around the dining room table.  Our original plan was to drive home Saturday night.  But we decided it would be safer and more enjoyable to spend one more night with the Summers and drive home in the daylight of Sunday.

We took our time getting ready Sunday morning.  While I did my hair, Colter played keep-a-way with Missy all through the house.  In doing so, he became her friend for life.  We enjoyed another leisurely breakfast with the Summers.  Then we packed up the car and headed home.  Traffic was much better coming back and we arrived home in the early afternoon, with plenty of time to unpack, unwind...and warm up our apartment!  Brrr! After a full day and night without heat, it was chilly in here!

All in all, a delightful, renewing weekend.  It was wonderful to get away for a couple of days and even better to to spend it with such warm, wonderful friends. 

It's a MacWorld After All

Every January, the publishers of MacWorld magazine put on a consumer expo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.  Steve Jobs usually gives the keynote address, and it's one of the highlights of the Mac year.  Rumors fly, and certain groups within Apple scramble to make ready the new products which will see their first light of day before an adoring crowd.  This year was no exception, with the MacBook Air floating out on stage and iTunes movie rentals making their welcome debut.  I'm curious to try the new version of Front Row rolling out to AppleTVs everywhere in two weeks; the self-updating content is good (I can't wait for iPhones to support updating podcasts by themselves), but the interface looks more cluttered than the graceful lines of Front Row 2, standard on every copy of Mac OS X Leopard.

I went up on Thursday to check things out.  This was my first trip up to MacWorld; I've been to the Moscone Center twice now for WWDC.  (I think it was also my first trip to any consumer expo.)  It was neat to get to put some faces to companies, and a delightful change to get to talk to people who actually represent the company that makes a product instead of a third-party retailer.  They know their product!  (Except maybe for the Google gal who was demoing Google Maps on the iPhone, but doesn't actually own an iPhone herself.)

I had to chuckle at the contrast between some of the smaller booths, crammed with product, and Apple's gigantic theater in the center, crammed with people waiting to see the MacBook Air, AppleTV Take 2, and various iPods.

On the way back to the CalTrain station, I walked a little out of my way to see a bit more of AT&T Park (the old Candlestick Park).  From the outside, it looks a lot like Coors Field, but I don't remember Coors Field having free WiFi access.  I may have to see about going to a Giants game this season...

Looks Like Jamie

Posted Tuesday over at ICanHasCheezburger.com. As I was scrolling down (ie, before I saw the text at the bottom of the image), I was thinking "Wow...that cat looks like Jamie."

Something to Reed

My sister just started a blog for her family.  Nicole and I started a blog for our wedding, but it hasn't been updated since.  Let's give this another shot.  We'll see how it goes.