Official Photo

Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man!!!
There's a party in my BRAIN!

Veterans' Day

We went to the parade.

There's a Party in my City.

One of my last vestiges of cool with my students is that I can tell them about my friend Ben, who is not only related to the Bat Commander of Aquabats fame, but actually played with the Aquabats for a period. Why ska is still considered cool at this point at all is certainly up for debate, but my students continue to be seduced by its syncopated wiles.

Ska past aside, Ben is still a pretty cool cat, and he is one of the producers of the hit kids show "Yo Gabba Gabba", which my kids are fans of (of which my kids are fans), and which most any parent would agree is a googolplex times better than listening to Barney and the Wiggles. We were supposed to connect with Ben and his family at some point over Thanksgiving--either on their way to or from their Thanksgiving destination--but because of traffic and other stormy factors, it was not convenient for them to stop over. Ben called, though, and told us that Yo Gabba Gabba Live was coming to town and asked if we'd like to be on the guest list. "Does the Pope wear a funny hat?" was our immediate reply, and this past Thursday, we went to the show.

Birds!

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the large number of birds on their way through to warmer southern climates. We have an electrical substation just kitty-corner from our house, and in the early afternoon, it's almost always completely covered in chirping birds. I wish I had some better pictures of them in flight (when they all take off at once, it's pretty spectacular), but I'll have to live with having just a few pictures of them just chilling.




I wish this one turned out better, but I like the curved wire at the top:



Of course, all of this reminds me of my favorite Mel Gibson/Goldie Hawn vehicle, Bird on a Wire.

Happy Belated Matador at 21!

This year has been the year of rock and roll for me. Yes, there have been years when I have seen a large number of concerts (1995 and 1996 were very fruitful in this regard--maybe even early 1997), but living in Vegas has put a damper on the rock and roll. Getting older hasn't helped; in talking with Todd about turning 37, we mentioned that 35 seemed manageable, but that 37 is just too close to 40 and the-old-guy-in-the-corner for comfort. So, while in Park City for a family reunion, I happened to hear about a Modest Mouse show in Salt Lake. I scrounged up the details and found that not only was it a concert, but a FREE concert as part of their city concert series. I met my friend Eric and went to the show, which was enjoyable, if you're into spending time in a city park with roughly 40,000 strangers. Later, I spent some birthday money on a last-minute concert decision: the Pixies came to Vegas (there was a rash of shows in late September/early October--no one, and I mean NO ONE comes through town, but in the span of a couple of weeks there was Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, the Pixies, and the gigantic Matador show--of course, saying "no one" should probably be tempered with the fact that I no longer pick up the free weeklies to see who's coming, nor do I get much reliable music information from the teenagers I spend my days with). When I initially saw the tickets for the Pixies, they were $180 or something crazy like that, but I think I was looking at the pre-sale/hotel room combo. The show was great, and, considering my Pixies obsession started about the time they were falling apart, it was the first real chance I had to see them. They played the album "Doolittle" in its entirety, in addition to the b-sides from the singles and a few of their most popular tracks. I would've stayed much later if they would have continued. But this is not a post about the Pixies (well, okay, it kind of has been); it is about the mother lode.

Beach Blog.

Went to the beach for Halloween (Nevada Day Observed) and were there for five days. I had been dreaming about it at work for about a week before we went. We went with Phoenix and Scott & kids. There were lots of families there, which meant lots of kids. I'll leave it at that. We had beach days, a Mormon Battalion day, and a Lego day. I shot lots of pictures. Here are some (sorry for all the sunsets. Hmmm. That makes it sound like sunsets are my fault, like "sorry for all that cancer". What I mean is that I enjoy the sunsets and I apologize for forcing you to look at them).




Scott walking into the sunset with a boogie board:







More to come. Maybe. Are you happy now, Susan? :)

Halloween Outfits.

Went to the kids' "Halloween Howl" at school. The boy, if you couldn't tell, is Indiana Jones. The girl is a ladybug. The wife is a rootin' tootin' cowgirl. The me is a 70s golfer. We had fun. We ate cotton candy, raced a sack race, threw whipped cream "pies" at a teacher, and three of us went through a spook alley and regretted it. I found a new palindrome in their school's name:
"Howard A. Wasden, Ned saw a Dr. Aw! Oh!"--that's how you know it's a good night.














I'm experimenting with strange crops, so I thought I'd include this sliver of a vampire from the Howl.

Same to you, kid.

More adventures in Scouting.

The sketchiest part of the slot canyon hike I went on in June (?) with the Scouts. I suppose I should be grateful that someone had tacked up 2 x 4s on the slippery vertical log and attached a climbing rope to the wall. I am grateful.


Slot Canyon.


Slot Canyon entrance--see, it's marked! ("When you get to the mouth of a canyon with water flowing out of it, you'll know you're in the right place when you see a small stack of rocks.")

Pictures taken with Yashica T4 point and shoot and Kodak C-41 black and white film. I had color in my other camera, but these might have actually turned out better from the point and shoot.

From the Department of TMI: Vanity Plate division.

I wish I had pictures of these fine license plates, but shooting pictures while driving is something I only occasionally do.

To the owner of the license plate "SHARTY": I know what you were trying to say, but what you accidentally said about your propensity for near bowel movements is much more amusing (and hopefully likely).

To the owner of the license plate "4RSONS": it is generally considered bad form to commit felonies, let alone advertise the purpose of the car you use in the heat (ha ha) of the moment.

New Yeller.

No, not a sequel about a half-robot half-dog hellbent for revenge on the men who put him down, but rather the color of our "bonus room", which has been long in coming. And, as per usual, the color selection process was interesting, to say the least (see: http://archiblog208.blogspot.com/2009/07/our-house-is-feeling-blue.html). We ended up with a little bit more vibrant shade of mellow yellow than we had anticipated, but I think we like it. Painting is one of those things that most people think, "Hey, that's something I can do myself!" and is also one of the things you can notice that people have done themselves. I salute the men and women of the painting industry for being way, way better at it than I am. But this time turned out better than most, if I do say so myself.

Here are some tips I'd like to share about painting (file under "Stuff I Already Know"):

1. Hire someone to do it (this is my father's tip).
2. If #1 is impossible, rent a sprayer.
3. If #2 is impossible, too bad. And get ready for tons of fun.
4. I learned a new trick. I am not good at "cutting in" with a brush. "Cutting up", I can do. "Cutting cheese"--well, this is a family blog, so let's skip that. But, "cutting in" has always been a frustration of mine, trying to keep that line nice, straight, and even, and then trying to cut in far enough to make the transition to the rolled paint smooth. Enter the mini roller. I used my steady hand ("Yeah, but this is the hand I shoot with") to cut in, then used the mini roller to roll out another three inches or so. This made the transition so much easier. I almost didn't mind it.
5. Keep the paint roller loaded. Due to my Scottish heritage, I am horribly cheap (I remember trying to teach my freshmen the word "frugal" as part of their SAT vocabulary, and somehow "MacFrugal's"--now "Big Lots"--often came up. What other stores do you know that tie in some sort of ethnic stereotype into their name? There's a Chinese restaurant in Vegas called "Full Ho", but that's not quite the same), so I often push the roller for as far and as long as it will still squeeze out paint, which generally results in varying degrees of thickness and unsightly walls. Well, what would you know? The manufacturer's recommendation to paint roughly three feet square was relatively accurate. I'm used to major industries trying to help other ancillary industries ("Be sure to change your oil and buy new tires roughly every 6-8 miles"), that I thought that the recommendation was a means to sell more paint. See, I AM cheap. But, it turns out they weren't lying. (As I said before, file under "Stuff I Already Know").

Worst part? The ceiling. Best part? Being done with the ceiling. We've yet to paint the floor--hopefully that will be easy and straightforward. Knock on wood. More pictures to follow as we get done-er.

You, sir, could not be more correct.

I saw this in the McDonalds' drive-through--I was trying to figure out what the license plate said, and then I saw the upper left bumper sticker. This is dedication.

Stage Lights.

I went to the Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble Concert the other night. I love going to the concerts because the kids are incredibly talented, and I also love trying to take pictures, which can be difficult because of the ever-changing and not quite adequate lighting. This means I've got to ramp up the ISO to 1600 and shoot in black and white, since the color casts are crazy and highly unflattering. Even at 1600, I think my shutter speeds were as low as 1/25, which causes enough blllllur to be frustrating. It worked well on this first one, though:





This guy has the best faces and the most awesome basses:



A student of mine, and an amazing drummer:



Perhaps my favorite picture of the evening:







This kid reminds me of the kid whose voice always cracks on the Simpsons--he's the perfect teenage boy:

More Craft.

Over Christmas, I made a belt for my sister-in-law (and, like most years, still owe a present to my brother--which was also supposed to be a belt). Here she is:








I will admit to not knowing the best way to photograph something so long and skinny--so you get three views: centered, right side, and left side.

Proficiency Exam

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of administering the State Proficiency Exam in Reading, Mathematics, and Science. My favorite part of any standardized testing scenario is going to the "training" where they read to us directly from a handout that has all the instructions written on it. This year, there were some special instructions that I thought I would share:

After testing, we were to "Place the TA Manuel on top of [our] test booklets" and then "Clip together the 'Do Not Disturb,' 'Need Assistance,' and Restroom Pass and place them inside the TA Manuel."

I did not ask Manuel how he felt about this.

For my dear wife.

Say goodbye to the last two years:





And I know you'll totally miss the great white hope:






But can it really be all that bad? Look what you have to look forward to:




HEEEEEEYYYYY!!!

Happy Birthday, snookums.