Our Christmas Lights

I originally wanted to take pictures of our Christmas lights and post them on my blog.

Well, things happen and I didn't get them posted as soon as I wanted to.

What made it worse was that a recent storm blew our lights down!

So last weekend Chip and his family came over to our place. The wives went our shopping and he and I played Xbox and played with our kids AND put the lights back up!

Here are some shots from the day that Chip took with my camera.

The wind got them all tangled up too!

Wendy, Don't Look at these!

OK, don't look at this one either!

YES! DONE!!

Johnny Appleseed Day

September 26th was Johnny Appleseed Day at Loo's school.

I volunteered to be Johnny Appleseed for the class. I dressed up in jeans and a western style shirt. We rolled up the pants and we cut up some old pajama's to make patches for my clothes. We couldn't find a pot that would fit my head (they were either too small or too big), so we found a colander that sort of fit....as long as I wore a ski cap on my head!!

I also emptied out my ShootSac (my camera bag) and put a ziplock bag with apple seeds in it....man if I was gonna be Johnny Appleseed, I was gonna BE Johnny Appleseed!!


We didn't tell Loo, so it was a complete surprise when the kids came into the classroom to find Johnny Appleseed there.

Loo didn't recognize me at first....who knew that a colander on your head would be a good disguise? (I'll tell you who....Clark Kent that's who!!) All the kids came in and were full of "OOO"s and "WOW"s.

A couple of kids had their doubts...."That's just someones Dad", I heard.

I was there to read a story and to answer questions from the kids and to help with the arts and crafts....I wish I would have known this ahead of time....I would have checked the CLIFFS NOTES!

All the kids sat down in front of me, so I could read the story of Johnny Appleseed. Once Loo sat down, I looked right in her eyes and whispered, "Hi Loo"....her eyes lit up and she turned around to one of her friends and whispered, "That's my Dad!" (Oh man....what a feeling that was....she was so proud of that guy with the colander on his head!)


Once I finish the story, it's time for the crafts....a few of the other kids mom's were there to help out with the projects (including the Wife). As I'm walking around from apple station to apple station, the kids are asking me questions....

Here are some of the best ones
(and my answers):


"What are all those patches for?"
(They're to cover the holes in my clothes.)

"What's that bag for?"
(It holds my apple seeds.)

"I know your real name, It's John Chapman."
(That's right, but I like Johnny Appleseed better, don't you?)

"Why do you have a pot on your head?"
(I put it on my head so I don't have to carry it in my hands.)

"How come your pot has all those holes in it?"
(It's old, I need a new pot, huh?)

"Are these real apple seeds?"
(Yes.)

"Are you really her dad?"
(I'm Johnny Appleseed.)

....and the best one saved for last....

"Our teacher told us you were dead"
(I took some medicine and I feel much better now.)


I had to think quick for that one.

Anyway....I had a really good time and I hope these pictures made you laugh.

WHAT IS IT? - Contest Results

Thanks to everyone who entered in answers for the contest.

This was pretty fun, I'll have to do this more often!

So here's what you've all been waiting for....


That's right, rubber from a shoe.

Congratulations to Lynne B. who was the ONLY person to correctly identify it as a shoe. (Lynne email me your contact info, ok?)

Be sure to check out the comments from the last post to see everyone's answers.

CONTEST TIME!

I'd like to thank all of you for your patience with my lack of blog posts....well at least most of you (Chip, I'm talking to you, here buddy!)

To show my appreciation, I've decided to run a little contest.

What's this?

Please post ONLY ONE ANSWER in the comments. Everyone who answers correctly will be put into a drawing for a $20 Starbucks card!!

I will reveal the answer and the winner on Friday.

(The only person who is ineligible for this contest is my mother, because she was there when I took this picture and I told her what I was going to be doing with it....sorry Mom)

Stay Tuned....

I know I'm behind on blog posts....I apologize for that.

You can look forward to these posts:

1) Johnny Appleseed Day
2) Fort Bend County Fair
3) Neon Project
4) Insert a Random Post Here
5) 2007 Year in Review

Hopefully coming soon.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I have many things to be thankful for.

I am most thankful for my wife....I mean she did say, "yes" and that got the whole thing going. Not only is she my wife and best friend, but a terrific mother to our two beautiful daughters.

Of course I would have never even gotten to that point if it weren't for my parents. (Don't worry, I won't go into the birds and the bees part). My parents divorced very early on in my life....but that's ok, because it brings in the next two people that I'm thankful for.

My grandparents. I give most of the credit to them for molding me into the person that I am today. Thank you for that....plus now that I can share "the beautiful game" with my grandpa.

I am also thankful for family. My Aunt Flo and Uncle Mike have been such a great help to us here in Houston. They've really helped to make our transition here a smooth one.

And I can't forget friends. Especially our new friends from Studio 563. Craig, April, Chip & Jeanette. They are now a part of our family and I'm so proud and honored to be a part of the 563 family and also to call them friends.

Lastly I want to say thanks to my friend Kyle in NYC. Even though we're far away and "talk" via email....I value your friendship and I want to say thanks for keeping in touch.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving.

Joke of the Day

Sent from the blogberry

Joke of the Day, probably won't become an everyday thing....but I saw this on Comedy Central's mobile site and thought it was pretty funny....ENJOY!

If a man says something in the woods and no woman is around to hear it, is he still wrong?

Yaaaaawn

Sent from the blogberry

No, I'm not bored, but ya know how yawning is contagious?

Well, have you ever noticed that using a BlackBerry is contagious too!??!

Whenever I get on the elevator and I happen to be emailing or checking my messages, someone else on the elevator has to bust out their BlackBerry and check their messages too.

I think it may be some kind of ego thing....as if to say, "I'm as cool as you are".

I'm not saying I've never done it, but I think, now that it's something I notice, I'm trying to avoid the "contagiousness" of being a BlackBerry show off.

(I think the same holds true for cell phones, when people are texting or just checking their phone in the elevator.)

Bee Movie

Another movie trailer here....Gotta love the live action stuff in the beginning!



This one does looks pretty funny!

More SoCal Fire Stuff

This image comes from NASA's web site....in it you can see that there are 14 fires burning in Southern California.

Hot & Cold

photo by Dan Steinberg for AP

SoCal is pretty much on fire....I just got an email from my mom, saying that there's a fire in Irvine near a Toll Road that we used to drive on a lot and that fire jumped the freeway to the otherside.

There are huge winds there and although the Santa Ana winds do cause havoc every year with the fires, I don't think it's EVER been that bad.

I read somewhere that there are 15 fires burning in Southern California right now!!

Please pray for the firefighters and the people and structures that they are working to save.

In Houston weather news....a MEAN cold front moved in this morning. I read earlier today that just before 10 am at Hobby Airport (which is near our house) it was 82°....less than an hour later it was 61° and raining!!

photo by Johnny Hanson for the Houston Chronicle

Let's See That Arm

To me....this is one of the funniest commercials out there right now!

Listen to Peyton

Internet People

I meant to post this a few weeks ago, when I first saw it (sorry).

If you've been on the net for a while or even if you're new to YouTube and other video sites, there's something for everyone in this video....

It's Awesome!

Enjoy!

What the....??

After months of heat and humity....a cold front has rolled into Houston.

We had a BIG STORM last night and plenty of flood warnings in effect too....but this is the first time that I've gone outside in the morning to get into the car to go to work and thought...."Hey? It's cold."

Bam! Happy Birthday!

It's Emeril's Birthday Today!


BAM!

High School Musical

A couple of weeks ago, Loo and I went to go see High School Musical @ the Fort Bend Theatre.

The Fort Bend Theatre is this cool old building with a tiny little stage and MAYBE 10 rows of seats. I bought tickets online....got directions from the Fort Bend Theatre's very own website, but still GOT LOST!! But, don't worry, we still made it to the show in plenty of time.

If you don't know about High School Musical then with the help of Wikipedia, I'll tell you about it.

With a plot described as a modern retelling of Romeo & Juliet, High School Musical is a story of two high school juniors from rival cliques: Troy Bolton (played by Zac Efron), captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella Montez (played by Vanessa Hudgens), a shy transfer student who excels in math and science. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their high school musical, and as a result, divide the school. Despite other students' attempts to thwart their dreams, Troy and Gabriella resist peer pressure and rivalry, inspiring others along the way not to "stick with the status quo."

This was Disney Channel's most successful movie at its time with 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast in the US.

Loo was too young to get in on the first High School Musical from Disney....she didn't even know about it until a few months ago.

The Disney Channel started re-running High School Musical a couple times a week to get everyone excited about High School Musical 2.

Loo and I saw the "Sing Along" ( or the karaoke) version of High School Musical....it was the first time I had actually seen it too. I'd heard plenty about it on the radio though. Bean from Kevin & Bean fame on KROQ talked about it all the time.

I'll HONESTLY say....I liked it. It was a pretty cool little musical....and hey, it's Disney, it can't be that bad, right?

Anyway....Loo was really looking forward to seeing High School Musical 2....and secretly, so was I!! (Shhhh, don't tell anyone!) We recorded it for her on the DVR and then we watched it the next day.

She actually likes the second one more than the first one!! (For the record, I can't pick a favorite) She now has a High School Musical t-shirt!

OK, OK....so I'm sure you're thinking...."Why is he posting this stuff??" I'll tell ya....I just wanted to give you a little back story, that's all.

The show at the Fort Bend Theatre was really pretty good....obviously they edited the script a little for the stage....but man, they did a really good job. There was one character who stole the show though....and he wasn't even in the original....they created a narrator type character, named Jack Scott. This kid would pop up on a make shift TV screen....he was reading the announcements for the school. It was a great way for them to cut some scenes out and move the story along.

Loo had a great time....at the end of the show, the cast invited all the kids up on stage to learn the dance moves from the last song....Loo got up there and was just in awe of everyone.

Even though Troy wasn't Zac Efron, it didn't matter to her....the story was still the same and that's all that mattered. She was up there singing and dancing with everyone. It was really cool of them to do that.

It was great daddy & me time for us both!

More Gum

Can you tell that I like chewing gum??

Dang....How long is my hair in this picture?? It's been cut since then!

Baked! Cheetos

I found these super freaking good Cheetos in the little convenience store downstairs in the building!

Who knew they made Baked! Cheetos??

I know I didn't.

All I can say is....
YUMMY!

I'm the Mom Song

I first saw this video on Inside Edition....(I know, I know....I'm a night owl)

So it's making the rounds and is a HUGE youtube hit.

It's very funny too!

ENJOY!

Houston Dynamo v Real Salt Lake

OK, so I'm a little behind on this blog post....almost a month late on this one.

My Uncle got us tickets to a Dynamo game and by us I mean, my uncle, my cousin and myself.

The game was great....lots of scoring....the Dynamo won 4-3

I didn't take my big camera for fear of being hassled at the gate, and I don't have a point and shoot camera. So prepare yourselves to be amazed by the horrible pictures that I took with my camera phone!! =)

TICKETS!! YEAH!

We had great seats!!

It was fan appreciation day, so we got all kinds of cool stuff....this T-shirt

These thunder clapper things....this kid in the picture was rubbing one on his sisters head, trying to create static so it would stick to his dad's back!! LOL

This is the first corner kick of the game....also the first DYNAMO GOAL!

I was being sneaky here....here's a shot of me & my uncle.

....and me and my cousin....WHAT? Where'd he go?? I think he knew I was taking the picture and he hid behind my GINORMOUS head!

Same kid from above....banging on his sister's head with the thunder stick thing, while the Dynamo girls perform during half time.

After their performance....the Dynamo girls (unexpectedly) tossed some shirts into the crowd....

This one bounced off some guys head 2 rows in front of us and landed next to me!

FINAL SCORE

Uncle....I know I thanked you then, but thanks again for getting tickets....anytime you want to go again....COUNT ME IN!!! I had a great time and I hope that you did too!!

Press PLAY....Randomly

I have 1390 songs on my iPod....it's almost 6 gigs of music....if I let it run continuously it wouldn't stop playing music for over 4 days!!!

I spent 3 years of my 20's working for Sam Goody, remember Sam Goody? There aren't very many locations left on the West Coast, let alone in Texas. Anyway, while working there I was exposed to a lot of different types of music, including music that I didn't particularly care for. I can't tell you how many times I listened to Garth Brooks' Ropin' the Wind....that album drove me crazy!! But ya know what?? He was HOT at the time and we had to play music to bring people into the store.

Another thing that broadened my musical scope was living in Singapore....there are musicians that are soooo BIG and popular ALL OVER THE WORLD....except here in the states....for whatever reason they just don't catch on here (or they don't get radio air play here).

In my collection now I have: Jazz, Hip Hop, Alternative, Top 40, Kid's Stuff, Country, Swing, Classical, Rock and I'm sure there are other types.

I thought I put the iPod on SHUFFLE SONGS and am going to list the first 10 songs that it plays.

So without further ado....here they are:

(01) DAUGHTERS / John Mayer

(02) MISERY BUSINESS / Paramore

(03) GOOD AS GONE / Little Big Town

(04) LITTLE BY LITTLE / Oasis

(05) FEED THE BIRDS / Mary Poppins Soundtrack

(06) NOTHING (HEADCLEANR ROCK MIX) / Depeche Mode

(07) AXIS BOLD AS LOVE / Jimi Hendrix

(08) RADIO / Robbie Williams

(09) NAIVE / The Kooks

(10) KILLING ME SOFTLY / The Fugees

Trust me, these are the first 10 that came up....I do have some embarrassing songs on there, they just didn't come up....THIS TIME!

I'm thinking about making this a regular thing on the blog, what do you think?

In the meantime....it's your turn!! (No iPod needed)

If you have a digital music collection, go ahead and select RANDOM/SHUFFLE and list the first 10 that show up for you!! Leave your first 10 in the comments!

Resident Evil: Extinction

I've never seen any of the Resident Evil movies, nor have I played any of the video games. But in honor of it being the #1 movie last weekend....

34%

Coffee Drinker?

I told you that I'd probably be putting a few more of these up on the blog....but this time it's the wife's turn!

She loves coffee....I do not.

the Wife is 60% Addicted to Coffee

How addicted to coffee are you?

Meet Invest 93

It seems like I've put more posts up here about storms than anything else, especially lately....but I guess when you move from Sunny SoCal to (what seems like the rain capitol of Texas) Houston.

So the newest storm that we are "tracking" has been named Invest 93....since it's just a storm and not a Tropical Depression or a Tropical Storm, nor a Hurricane.

It seems like the computer models are predicting that it'll move towards Louisiana or Alabama....only one model has it entering Texas. Even if it does enter Texas it'll move pretty far north of Houston.

Currently the storm is still raining on Florida, but once it hits the Gulf of Mexico, all bets are off.

All of the weather people here in town are waiting for this storm to hit the Gulf, so they can see what it's gonna do....until then all the local news folks are gonna continue to try and freak out viewers, with STORM WATCH!

If this does become a Tropical Depression or a Tropical Storm, or a Hurricane....it already has a name....JERRY!

José Out

Chelsea and José Mourinho have parted ways....

I'm curious....who's going to do the talking and complaining in the Premiership now?

Watch the Bat

I'm not the biggest baseball fan, but in case you missed this....check this out.

Thoughts??

Fashion designer Marc Ecko wants you to vote on the fate of Barry Bonds record breaking 756 home run ball....








....for the record, I voted to send it to the Hall of Fame, without the branding.

Addicted to Blogging

I found out about this quiz on another photographers blog....70% isn't THAT addicted, right?

The mingle2 site has a bunch of other quizzes on it too, so I may be posting some more results soon!


70%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

Twins AGAIN

If you've followed my blog for awhile you may remember this post. Where a colleague at work and I wore the same shirt to work on the same day.

Well....I've been avoiding this particular shirt for awhile, and decided I give it another shot and wore it yesterday....just so happens Tolu wore his shirt too!!

My boss actually mentioned to me...."Hey, I think Tolu is wearing that shirt too!" and then she started laughing!!

I think it's time for Tolu and I to come up with some kind of "Man Pact"....he is only allowed to wear his shirt on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays and I can only wear it on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Maybe that'll work!

First Day of School

How do I explain this....(If you're a parent of a child who's already been through kindergarten, then you'd probably understand)....the week before Loo's first day of school we started thinking about how we've gotta pop the protective bubble (figuratively) that we've had her in for 5½ years. She's had 2 years of preschool and been in Sunday school for the longest time, so the seperation thing is just fine....she's totally ok with it.

It's just a new phase in OUR lives as parents....now we've got to make sure that we break the habits of OTHER kids, that she picks up in school....we've got to do the same job to keep her on the straight and narrow....it's just a new phase for us, that's what I keep telling myself.

The wife has spent nearly EVERY minute of Loo's life with her over the past 5½ years....and now we've gotta send her off to school....I can see how home schooling is so popular, but that's really not for us. We'll leave it to the professionals!

Loo's been pretty pumped about the first day of school. Her school is about 2 miles from our house. If we go ANYWHERE we have to pass by it, so of course we made comments about the school also during the summer.

I asked her last night if it was ok if I jumped on her bed to wake her up (just like in Finding Nemo)....she just laughed at me while I actually jumped up on her bed and jumped a couple of times saying "First day of School, First day of School!"

We parked the van across street from the school and the 4 of us walked to school.

It seemed like any other day to her....she's gonna be fine....we KNOW it....but maybe we're just not ready for the first day of school.

How do you go from this....


....to this....in just 5 years!


Time goes by waaaay to fast.

Nothing But Trailers

I watched "Nothing But Trailers" last night on HDNet....this show is so awesome....and ya know what?

It's NOTHING BUT TRAILERS!! How great is that??

Check out what's coming to theatre's near you....

Be Kind, Rewind


Horton Hears a Who!


Cashback


BeoWulf

Microsoft Surface Parody

I told you about Microsoft's Surface in this post.

Check out this parody....It's really funny.

Dean Update

Hurricane Dean should completely miss Texas....which is good news for us, but man....after tracking this storm, I don't wish this on anyone. Our thoughts are with those affected by Dean.

Here's the latest tracking images.

This is the path of Dean as well as the storms reach and strength.

These are the computer models....one of which has Dean completely crossing Mexico and possibly moving over to Cabo San Lucas....Also some of the models show Dean moving Northward towards Arizona and New Mexico.


Finally the current satellite image.