Moonwalker

Ethan doing what any kid does when there's a nice stretch of ice around. I'd really love to be able to edit this so that instead of the car you hear "Beat It" playing while he's dancing. Also and unfortunately, titling this video the way that I did brings it up along with figure skating videos. Great.

Something Short

I've got many pictures, and a few videos, but I'm feeling lazy so I won't Flickr or YouTube until tomorrow...Or maybe Thursday when I actually have an appointment on the books and will therefore be at a computer for most of the day.


Three weeks or so ago, Cindy and I actually got to get out of the house and away from the kids for a few hours, to go to the Full Moon Cross Country Ski Party. We rendezvoused with my buddy Frank first, shown here in his best sleaze-peddler pose. I left this baby blown up full size so anyone who chances upon it can bask in the awesomeness.

There's an unwritten rule (just kidding, but not really) that anyone who stops by Frank's place is supposed to be photographed wearing the chicken mask. Here's me. Buck buck buck buck. It think that it kind of looks like I'm at some creepy costume disco.

The full moon party. How I managed to date/marry above my numerical rank is still a mystery to me.

Yeah. he just looks like he's sorry that he keeps us up half the night screaming and squawking.

It's nice that, even in the middle of a Northern New York winter Cindy still has a nice olive complexion. Because it's not like it makes the boys and all look even paler in comparison or anything.

Bears!

Higher res-pictures fill up the Flickr account quicker, don't they precious.

I'll come back soon when I figure out how to blog from the Shutterfly account, or I get around to uploading something to YouTube (one of the videos I have is Desmond being funny in the bath, and even though I tried my hardest to shoot only from the waist up, I want to preview and make sure that there's no little kid wiener featured before I upload it).

Anyhow, check this out.

Reee-owr-KaPush-Buurrrnggg!

Connor shows us that extreme close-up makes anyone look 32X handsome.

Blue Steel!

Yeah, you...play with that...pink tent and pony...yay. (It was actually a nice break from rocket ships, hand cannons, and the constant brshhh-keaoooooo-raaaahhhh noises heard around the house).

How in the hell did a naked mole rat like myself aid in creating such handsome boys?

Chocolate donut? Check. Going to the grocery store is only possible with a bribe.

These are all at the Paul Smiths VIC - it was a nice day for an outing. Some of these pictures are a bit grainy and washed out because the battery was about taxed, and the sun was really glare-y bouncing off the snow like that. If you want to see some fat squirells, though. Man. Get yourself to the VIC.

The young master spends a few minutes reflecting on a life well lived.


My surrealist masterpiece "Kid Under A Blanket." Watch it with the sound off, or better yet some avant garde jazz playing for the full affect.

Rocket Man!

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time...till we ever see awesome on the same level as Bill Shatner was in the 70's...

Testes...Testes...1,2,3...

I'm attempting to videoize™ this blog. I know this video will be dull to 99.9% of anyone that might stumble through here after a random internet search (and if I don't know you and you find this at all interesting, stab yourself!).

The story: We had one of our all-too-common power outages in TL the other night, so I took a video with the express purpose of having something to test out on the blog then. I think I come across as a sweetly retarded boy with a head cold who's just been smacked in the nose with a fish whenever I talk on a video. But then, many would consider me to be a sweetly retarded boy with a head cold who's just been smacked in the nose with a fish, so it works out well.




My apologies to anyone who can't view YouTube at work (mom) - if I can find a better alternative I'll use that. But so far, all the similar sites haven't really been useable for me.

Okay, Okay, Okay

I should probably be connecting a computer to the wall right now instead, but my brain kind of hurts from the last few work days so I'll do this. It's been awhile - especially since I've put some new personal photos out there. There are more pictures than I will get around to posting here in my Flickr account, so anyone who cares can click on a pic to see them if they want. Now that I've got some video access, I'm going to look for a way to bore everyone with family videos in the near future as well...


I find it's always nice to start things out with some meat. After four autumns spent out in the cold I finally got some venison this year. Venison ribs cooked over an apple-wood fire taste like bacon - I highly recommend.

That's right. the squirt does a pretty good job of scootin' around now - and can stand up when supported well enough to really get into things. We ended up buying some Extend'O-Matic™ gates that cover both entrances to the living room and keep him pretty well corralled. Keeps thehurricane somewhat confined as well.

No idea about the pose, but he's got new snow clothes. Connor and sledding are a hilarious match - he loves it, but he buries his head before take off and doesn't look up the entire run down the hill - not to mention how crazy it looks to see a little elf body flying down the hill (he likes it! - Don't think we make him do it!).

The back yard, 5 days, 2 feet of snow, and about 60°F ago...

Today, deck at work, icy lake - and 50°F outside. Snow's going to be gone tomorrow, and back on Thursday or Friday. I don't mind the cold - but I do like it to stay cold and snowy if that's how it's going to be.

Close up...red eye reduction looks much nicer when the picture's smaller!

The Hulk?

Here we go - Christmas morning, chocolate on the face.

Between those three shots, there's got to be a good picture of all of 'em somewhere! Except for maybe the pizza face factor.

Christmas eve - he didn't quite make it through all the last minute wrapping before nodding off!

The choo-choo that invades our living room. It's kind of a cool toy, but it grows so freaking much each year! By Christmas '09 we should be able to snake track all throughout the house.

There's always at least one pulling a funny face...

I think I've got a few more recent images floating around somewhere that I'll try to post sometime as well, someday!

For What It's Worth.

For some reason, this stuck with me after I'd seen it as a kid. Hearing the Buffalo Springfield original on the ride in to work this morning reminded me that with the technological marvel that is the internets, it was probably available for my viewing pleasure somewhere.

Rebate In '08

Be sure that you pronounce that "aught-ate."

Anyhow, isn't it time that we, as a country, started addressing the really, really important questions?

Here's Some Music

A Mexican Folk duo that are primarily influenced by thrash metal? Yes please. Bear in mind (I know this video sucks even though the music is great) that there isn't a drummer in this band - just a guy and a girl and a couple of nylon string guitars.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - "Orion" (Yes, that "Orion")

"Suffer No Guilt, Ye Who Wield This In The Name Of Crom."

Can anyone tell me specifically where that's from?

RIP.

Laugh.

Fin.

Something

Vader!

Also, this.

The "Real" Post

Every once in a while, they do actually sit together nicely. Although they usually aren't in the least bit quiet even then, at least there not yelling at each other.

This made me kind of sad. I know that there's many people who think that these monkeys are just "aping" humans and don't really understand ASL. I think that's probably true for the most part (there were a few documented instances of Washoe communicating that are pretty damn compelling, though. Look up the baby story on the Friends of Washoe website). But I got to tell you, I went and saw these monkeys three or four times while I was at CWU (I know, chimps aren't monkeys, but I like the word monkey better), and usually when you would go into the viewing room, they would all be laying around, flipping through magazines, trying on clothes, putting make-up on each other - all in a very human way, and aside from the fact that Washoe taught the other monkeys some ASL, they always seemed to be communicating amongst themselves in other ways. And. My first year at CWU I had an apartment north of campus and I'd have to walk by the chimp house to get to class, and more than once one of the monkeys would have climbed up to the apex of the fence-roof in their yard and would just hang out and watch people walk by in a very human way. It kind of creeped me out (so did seeing the monkeys looking at magazines), not least of all because the ape that would watch people looked like one of the trolls from "Willow" at that distance (~30ft?).

Unlike the last few years, I have had some limited success with hunting this year. So I made some Wellington of Duck Breast with a Cherry and Orange Brandy Sauce, and some Cream of Potato with Leek soup one night. While it was good - and I'll share the recipe for Wellington with anyone interested as it's a nice "presentation" dish that's really not all that hard to make - I think that next time I would use puff pastry dough rather than phyllo, and I would use domestic duck rather than wild so that the center could be left medium rare. The shit quality of the resolution on these pictures doesn't do the dish any justice.

WTF is that thing!

Cindy and I went for a hike a while back (this was probably late August/early September) and when I heard her yell from behind me "Oh my god!" or some-such thing, I knew that I was going to get to see something cool, because she's not the type that freaks out over most things. I thought maybe there was a bear hanging around the trail, or a moose, or an arboreal antelope. But it was a snake, trying to eat a huge frog. We watched for a while - frog squeaking and struggling, snake trying his/her hardest (there was no way this frog was fitting down that snakes gullet). Real "Wild Kingdom" type of stuff.

But the frog ended up getting away, so here we have a dejected snake. Apologies again for shit picture quality - I think that it is time that we upgraded the camera! I'm not familiar with the herpetological species back here, or I'd tell you what kind of a snake (and frog) it is. Also, this happened again when we were working in the yard a week or so later - albeit with a smaller snake and frog. I think in the yard wife rescued the frog.

There's a ton more pictures on my Flickr page if anyone is interested, maybe I'll post again tomorrow. That's all for now.

A Response

Bryan. I started to write you a reply in the comments to your last post, but it got to be a bit long winded. So I'll share my unoriginal musical tasted with everyone else.

Everyone else - you should check all of these bands out, too, and I'll make a real post later after my days session of watching cells fall into tubes has begun.

I don't know exactly how your musical tastes run right now, or how many of these you may have already heard, but here's a few bands that are in near constant rotation in my lab (I couldn't make it through the day without some tunes):

-Supergrass: I think that this is about the most perfect, well rounded Brit rock band that's around. Nothing like Oasis.
-The Dandy Warhols: Solid rock music that's also sort of hypnotic and nice to have on in the background
-Sigur Ros: Weird (beautiful) Icelandic rock(?). I'd listen to this if the stress level is way up, or in bed with a lucky lady, but not while driving - it might cause some nodding off.
-Rufus Wainwright: Good stuff. Can't really elaborate, but check it out.
-Mika: Spunky brit pop. The good kind. But definitely not for everyone.
-Scissor Sisters: This is another one that people seem to love or hate but I recommend a listen.
-Dwight Yoakam: I am, for the most part, not a country fan. But Dwight's right. Plus he used to open for punk bands at the Whiskey A-Go Go in the 80's, so he's got some hipster cred if you care about that sort of thing.
-Muse: Like Radiohead without all the computer shit and pretentious. Solid musicians - I like the cool, angular guitar solos (nobody else on the radio plays around with intervals quite like that!) and groovy, driving bass lines. Has gotten a bit played out, though.
-Tunng: Catchy, spacy, folk rock. Very listenable, but sort of borders on pretentious sometimes. Another good band to listen to at work, when the stress level is high.
-The Arcade Fire: But only their first disc. Kind of hard to explain, but I've heard more than one person (and I whole heartedly agree with all of them) describe the music on this CD as reminding you of what it's like to be a kid again.

Then there's all the old standbys and Desert Island Discs:
Alice In Chain's Unplugged album, classic metal, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" (I actually don't think that's as revolutionary as everyone else seems to, but it's damn good music to have on when nothing much else is happening), classic metal (Metallica, Judas Priest, Ozzy), you have to throw in some 80's metal and power ballads once in a while to remember the roots, the 'Stones, Dylan, Led Zep, classic metal. Did I hit all the bases?