Monday – 20 January 2014
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
For the first time in three or four years, I’m not getting out and doing volunteer work. But, I am doing something that I consider just as – if not more – important: I’m spending the day with Team DiVa.
I hope that everyone has a great day and takes a little time to reflect on the what today stands for.
Namaste.
Tuesday – 31 December 2013
The end (of the year) is at hand.
On the whole, it wasn’t a bad year. I am thankful for many things – including new experiences, meeting new people, going new places… or even old places with Sara and Team DiVa.
As I said last year: If you were part of my year – no matter how big or small a part – thank you for the pleasure of your company and for being a part of my journey.
May 2014 be joyous and prosperous for you.
Namaste.
Saturday – 07 December 2013
Before the day gets completely away from me, I’d like to take a moment to note that today is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
I hope that you took a few moments to remember those who lost their lives and those who fought.
Namaste.
Thursday – 28 November 2013
It’s Thanksgiving Day here.
I have many things for which I am thankful, chief among them:
Sara! and Team DiVa
Sara!
Team DiVa
Team DiVa again (because I can)…
Our parents…
…and our sibs.
Also, I’m thankful for extended family and friends far too numerous to mention.
I’m thankful for the many blessings in my life… as well as the adversities. It is hard to fully appreciate what you have if there has been no struggle – no matter how great or small – in order to achieve it.
If you are traveling over the holiday to be with loved ones, I wish you a safe journey and a safe return. I hope that you enjoy the time with your family and friends and are able to create wonderful memories not just for the holiday season, but for looking back on in the years to come.
Be well.
Be good to each other.
Namaste.
Monday – 11 November 2013
Today is Veterans Day.
I’d like to take a moment to thank my friends, family, extended family and the thousands of other people who have chosen to serve our country and to protect the freedoms we hold dear.
01 November 2013
It’s All Saints Day.
Not to be confused with All Saints Day.
Yesterday was Hallowe’en. We dressed the girls up as Weeping Angels. (Hey, Sara! agreed to it. That’s all I’m sayin’.) They were very cute. But rather than me prattle on about it, I’ll let you read what Sara had to say on her blog:
Happy Halloween!
Rob had the great idea a couple of months ago that the ladies should be Weeping Angels for Halloween. He’s even been teaching them to play Peekaboo by saying “Rawr!” instead of “peekaboo!”, which they are tremendously fond of.
So I’ve been spending the last two weeks trying to figure out how to make a decent Weeping Angel costume for toddlers. It had to be comfortable and warm so that they could wear it without complaining. And I had a feeling they wouldn’t go for elaborate face paint and wigs, so it had to be limited to just a costume. This is what I came up with:
The costume is basically a grey shirt and leggings (so they wouldn’t get cold) and then an over-dress, and a pair of wings that I painted to look like stone.
There’s Vanessa doing her best Weeping Angel impression.
I didn’t count on how much Diana would love playing with her wings. She was pulling on those all evening, and they needed so emergency repair at one point.
Fortunately, her grandpa had a stapler handy.
And here’s Diana showing that even Weeping Angels like to get cuddles from daddy.
Here’s an Instagram shot of the progress on the wings. Basically for both the dress and the wings I started with a white costume and turned them to stone by dying them grey, then spattering them with black, white, and grey paint.
For the wings, since I couldn’t just throw them in the washing machine with some Rit, I used fabric paint that comes in a spray can.
We hope you had a Happy Halloween!
Yep. And here are EVEN MORE PICTURES of the girls in their costumes.
Namaste.
Wednesday – 30 October 2013
It’s been a while, but I do have a few things to talk about. Granted, most of them revolve around the past week and my birthday, go figure.
And, as I mentioned on Facebook: Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to wish me a “Happy Birthday.” I truly appreciated it.
Last week wound up being very long, thanks – or “no thanks,” as the case may be – to Project: Cthulhu. I actually had a vendor rep on the phone for the better part of… six hours over two work days, trying to suss out what was wrong. And their documentation wasn’t much of a help; it was outdated and didn’t cover the correct procedure for what the vendor wanted us to do on the server. Yay. Late Friday afternoon, I had the brilliant epiphany to compare a working server to the one that was being “slightly difficult.” I found a discrepancy and started down a path to rectify it. Lo and behold, it worked. Work week: Saved.
I went home Friday evening tired and a little annoyed that finding the problem, even with the help of the vendor engineer, took so long. Those feelings melted away when I was greeted at the door by Team DiVa, bearing a box of RubySnap cookies and singing “Happy Birthday.” Sure, it was a day early, but it was very sweet. We had dinner and hung out that evening. Sara and I decided to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street after the girls were in bed; I started nodding off during the movie. I decided to go take a hot soak and call it an early night. I did and I did. In that order.
Saturday, I woke up not really feeling any older, but definitely glad to have completed another circuit of the sun without any dire encounters with the Dark Lady. Sara made her famous (at least around our house it is) coffee cake for breakfast. We hung out at home all morning until it was time for me to go play dolls HeroClix. Birthday Bonus: It was an Event Week, so I wasn’t judging, but actually playing. It was a sealed event – buy a couple of boosters and build a team from the figures in the boxes. I put together an okay team, but got completely wrecked in the tournament. Didn’t matter because I had a fun time gaming and talking trash with the other players.
I came home and helped get the girls ready for dinner. Shortly after that, Sara’s parents came over – they were kind enough to watch the girls while Sara and I went out for birthday dinner at Rodizio Grill. Added Birthday Bonus: October is Rodizio’s “Wild Game Fest,” so you can sample a few exotic meats. We tried the frog legs and one of my favorites: rattlesnake sausage. We checked out with our Seven Deadly Sins card punched for “Gluttony.” (So. Very. Worth it.) Next: A stop at the Cheesecake Factory for some celebratory dessert. Then it was back home for a movie. Since it was my choice and I wanted something light – and hopefully funny – I picked Iron Sky, which I’ve wanted to see for some time. It was not a great movie, in fact it was pretty ridiculous, but I had a blast watching it. Seriously, how could you not appreciate – if not love – a movie about Nazis on the moon where the heroic lead is a Black guy?!
Sunday was, again, pretty low-key. We didn’t do a whole lot during the day. There were a couple of shopping excursions prior to Sara’s parents, Galadriel, Angy and Dave coming over for dinner. Sara baked a pretty wicked Devil’s Food cake for after-dinner birthday fun. After the guests were gone and the girls were abed, we settled in for cocktails and The Walking Dead. We were not disappointed.
Monday, the work week reared its ugly head once more. I headed in to work for a 9:00AM meeting… only to find that I was a week early for it.
*grblsnrkx*
Had I bothered to confirm the time/date, I would have either come in late or just worked from home. Feh. Fortunately, the day passed fairly quickly. I confirmed that Friday’s server configuration was indeed viable and handed it off to the vendor’s engineers shortly before lunch. I picked up Team DiVa from daycare and ushered them home for snacktime (RubySnap Virginia cookie!) and dinner. Then, it was off to Guys’ Night Out with the usual suspects.
Tuesday, was a quiet day. This was a good thing. Especially as, Tuesday Night, I was going to enjoy Sara’s final birthday present: Living Colour in concert. That’s right. Living Colour. (Yes, Cult of Personality Living Colour.)
Living Colour at The Depot
I met up with Jeremiah and Zac at The Depot. They’d already scoped out a prime location about 5 or 6 feet from the stage. We were right in front of Vernon Reid (guitarist) the entire show. I also got to hang out with Robert V., Monica and Alessandro. Pictures (and some video) of the evening can be seen here.
It was an amazing concert, from start to finish. And they had the bass turned WAAAY up. Floor-shaking bass. They opened with Robert Johnson’s Preachin’ Blues (I think), and then went into Vivid. After Cult of Personality, Corey Glover joked, “And now, the rest of the fucking album…” You could tell that they were having a great time, both with the way they played and sang and the way that they interacted with each other and the audience. And if anyone was worried that these guys have lost a step or two…? Rest assured: They sounded fantastic. They started Open Letter (to a Landlord) by opening with a great rendition of Amazing Grace. Or, as I live-tweeted:
Corey Glover’s taking us to church tonight! He opened #OpenLetterToALandlord with a fantastic Amazing Grace! @LivingColour
— Robert Neal (@shadorunr) October 30, 2013
They finished out the set with Glamour Boys, What’s Your Favorite Color?, and Which Way to America. I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how much of the album I remembered.
After a spectacular drum solo by Will Calhoun, they closed the show with a great crowd-backed rendition of Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, Love Rears Its Ugly Head (which I was secretly hoping they’d do), Time’s Up, James Brown’s Sex Machine.
It was the perfect way to wrap up an extended birthday celebration.
And that’s pretty much that.
Namaste.
Thursday – 03 October 2013
Another No Bad News Thursday is upon us.
More importantly, today is the day I get to say: “Happy Fourth Anniversary,” to Sara!.
It’s been a fantastic year. And I’ve had a wonderful wife, friend and partner-in-crime to share it with. I look forward to what the next year will bring.
Namaste.
Wednesday – 02 October 2013
As I mentioned in Tuesday night’s post, Random Access has gone Pink for October.
Tonight, Sara! and I watched The Awakening.
Long story, short version: We liked it. I’ll do more of a write-up later.
Sara! just shared the following links:
And that’s it for tonight.
Namaste.
Tuesday – 01 October 2013
It’s the first of October, which means it’s time for the site to go Pink for October.
It’s also Tuesday, which means that it’s time to see some pictures of a couple of cute kids:
Taking five… seconds, not minutes.
Must… sit… on… tiger!
Vanessa
Diana
Water sphere!
Namaste.
Wednesday – 11 September 2013
Today marks the twelfth anniversary of the attacks in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Shanksburg, PA.
Take a moment to remember those who died, both in the attack and those who gave their lives trying to rescue/save those in the affected areas.
For my thoughts on the attacks and the aftermath, I again refer to this post and the others referenced in it.
Namaste.
Tuesday – 11 August 2013
It’s been a while.
Sure, that’s an understatement, but it’s my blog and there you go.
Over the past couple of weeks, there’s been a lot going on. The highlights include:
The Train Room is (mostly) finished; the only thing remaining is to choose and install some baseboard. The carpet went in at the end of July. It was a bit more of an adventure than expected. And by “adventure,” I mean that the carpet was installed; the same day, we started noticing a couple of problems:
Needless to say, there was a callback to have the job redone. When they asked if I wanted the same installers, I asked to have someone else come out, “to have another pair of eyes look at the job,” as I told the CSR. A few days later, the second installer came out and looked at the job. His comments included:
When I came home after the fix, things were done properly… including adding a tack strip to the step to hold down the carpet. You know, the way it should have been done the first time.
But, the room is otherwise ready to go… as seen here:
Next up, was the Rush Clockworks Angels concert; my sixth Rush concert and fifth one I’ve attended in Utah. I went with Jeff (Galadriel’s stepdad) for his birthday. We were out on the lawn, just off-center to stage right, which afforded a great view of the venue and the crowd. The band played a show just shy of two-and-a-half hours, excluding a twenty minute intermission. The setlist included songs that I haven’t heard live in many years and some that I hadn’t heard live at all. It was a blast. I even ran into my friend, Jason and his son. Win-Win.
Usana Amphitheatre, waiting for the concert to begin
Ladies and gentlemen… Rush
Clockwork Angels tourbook and ticket
And, while not quite as grand in scale as a home improvement project or a concert – but easily as grand on the “cool factor” scale, I got to hang out with Melissa (Sib-4) last week. It was nice; it had been far too long since we’d done so.
Also, last week, I set up my monorail for the girls to play with. I’d expected them to “like” it; I didn’t expect this:
[KGVID]http://blog.echopulse.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/monorail3.mov[/KGVID]
Totally worth it. In fact, it’s become their go-to spot between and after their nightly episodes of Team Umizoomi.
Saturday, we got up early and took the Team DiVa down to Stone Mountain Park for the Sandy City Hot Air Balloon Fest. The girls have been somewhat fascinated with hot air balloons and Sara! learned that the event was coming up, so it seemed like a perfect match.
Up, up and away…
We weren’t disappointed: The girls had a great time watching the balloons. They even got to see one landig, as we were driving away. On the way home, they kept asking for “More hot air balloons… More hot air balloons!”
Saturday night, Chris came over to play ‘Clix. We played a couple of games and he whupped my teams rather handily — I don’t think that I even managed to damage any of his characters in the first game. Yeah, it was that bad. But it was fun to play and well worth the drubbing I took.
Sunday was a good day. We started out with a trip to the Wasatch Front Farmer’s Market at Wheeler Historic Farm.
Quiet repose on a bench – Vanessa (l) and Diana
Here there be cows…
Hey! There are rocks here, too!
We ran into our friend, Diane, whom I don’t think we have seen in… a year or two. We also took the girls to see some of the animals.
Stray Toasters – Team DiVa Music Edition
And with that, I’m calling this entry “done.”
Namaste.
Sunday – 14 July 2013 Monday – 15 July 2013
This past weekend was eventful and mostly good.
Saturday, we got up at ridiculous o’clock to head down to the Young Living Lavender Farm for the Run Through the Lavender 5k – our fourth consecutive year doing the event. This year, like last year, we decided to strap Team DiVa into carriers and walk – yeah, there would be no running – the course with them on our backs. (Last year, we wore them on our chests.)
Sara! and Diana
Rob and Vanessa
We were just around the corner from the starting line when the gun went off, which is much better than last year when we didn’t even know where the starting line was. I knew that I wasn’t going to beat or match last year’s time, so I set a simple goal: Not to be the last person across the finish line.
We turned the corner and were on our way. The course was roughly the same as last year – uphill from the start, mostly flat while parallel to I-15, then winding back and forth on the way downhill to the finish line. And along the way, this was the view:
An hour later:
Vanessa and I finished in 1:00:51, Diana and Sara! finished in 1:00:53. Not bad for carrying “running buddies” along the course. It probably goes without saying that we we tired by time the race was done.
And, I met my goal.
We made it back home and spent the rest of the day in. I spent the better part of the morning trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to stave off a nap. When the girls went down for their nap, I decided to give in…
…only to be awakened by the postman, just as I had started to nod off. I got the mail and went back inside for Nap: Round 2. I had a fitful nap, but I got some rest. The afternoon was mercifully uneventful.
In the evening, the in-laws came over to watch the girls so that Sara! and I could head up to the Deer Valley Music Festival and see Arturo Sandoval preform with the Utah Symphony:
Our enjoyment of the show was made even better by the fact that we sat in the reserved section. Eleventh row. Dead center stage.
Our enjoyment was somewhat diminished by the fact that it started raining. A little.
Then more steadily.
Then a lot. A whole lot. Enough that maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the audience bailed before intermission.
At the intermission, we went into the lodge to get some coffee and warm up a little. Both of these were good things. By the time that intermission was over, the rain had passed. The second half of the concert was great, as well. And much drier.
Sunday was a relatively quiet day around the house. I took care of Team DiVa, as Sara!’s back was bothering her. It wound up bothering her enough for her to visit the InstaCare. She came back home and rested; the girls and I just hung out and played. Sara!’s back got bad enough later in the day that we wound up going to the ER. Five hours – and two prescriptions – later, we were back at home. (With HUGE thanks to the in-laws for coming over to watch the little ladies and get them to bed.) After a quick bite to eat and doing the dishes, it was time to collapse into bed.
Namaste.
Wednesday – 10 July 2013
Welcome to the middle of the week.
After a less-than-stellar start to the work week, things seem to be picking up steam. I’m good with that.
Today is also Movie Date Night… and it’s my turn to pick a movie. I should probably try to come up with an idea of what we’re going to watch.
This weekend, Sara!, Team DiVa and I are running participating in the Young Living Farms Run Through the Lavender 5k on Saturday. This year will be our fourth time doing it. (“It’s tradition!”) My time was better last year than in 2011 – even with my running buddy strapped to my chest…
…but I am fairly certain that I’m going to lose a few minutes this year, as my running buddy has gotten a little bigger. Not big enough to walk it herself, though – she’ll be on my back. Still, it should be fun. Aside from waking up at O’dark-thirty to be at the starting line on time. My goal: To not be the last person across the finish line. I’m Ivory Soap sure that I can accomplish this goal.
Speaking of “kids in backpacks,” we figured that we should test drive walking around with Team DiVa in their carriers as backpacks, rather than chest packs. It’s been… six months, at least, since they’ve been in the carriers. So, we expected some reluctance.
Vanessa made it immediately known that she was having none of this foolishness, with immediate cries of “Get down! Get down!”
*sigh*
Diana was a little more accommodating. A little. She made it about thirty seconds before she decided that she wasn’t going to put up with being in a carrier, either.
Round 1 – Carriers: 0, Team DiVa 1
We were eventually able to convince Diana to try again. And she stayed put. Not surprisingly, Vanessa was more willing to get in her carrier after seeing that it wasn’t as doom-laden as she had made it out to be.
And with that, we set off for a lap around the block. It went pretty well. By the time we completed our circuit, we decided to walk a little further, so we walked over to the cul-de-sac a block over. Still no problems. In fact, the girls seemed to have a decent time of it.
After getting the girls to bed, I watched another episode of David Tennant’s Doctor Who and stayed up later than I should have watching Leon: The Professional. Good movie.
Stray Toasters
Namaste.
