Friends of ours here in Raleigh own and operate a sweet little bake shop called Abigail's Bake Shop.
They are holding a free giveaway via drawing in 2 weeks. Visit their site for an opportunity to win some truly exceptional goodies.
http://abigailsbakeshop.blogspot.com/2010/08/its-giveaway-time.html
Monday, August 02, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
No More Gideon
Just a note for those who hadn't heard, Gideon died last week.
He was the sweetest dog I've ever known and we will miss his very, VERY much.
He was the sweetest dog I've ever known and we will miss his very, VERY much.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Long Con, my Onion-esque take on Brett Favre
After pondering the remarkably inexplicable Viking loss to the New Orleans Saints over the weekend, I have come to the conclusion that Favre had this planned all along and that he is in fact a double spy!
Two years ago, I was discouraged with how the whole Favre-Packers divorce went down and thought that old #4 was being a diva: wanting to boss the club around on his terms, regardless of how long it took to decide whether or not he'd play again. Seeing him go to the Jets was no heart-breaker, and it was especially soothed by the outstanding play of Mr. Aaron Rodgers.
In the off-season before the '09 season, talk of Burly Ol' Brett going to the Queens started to stir... My blood boiled! This was pure revenge, no matter how much he denied it, it was obvious he wanted to show the Packers that he could still play, and that he did. Without looking at stats, I would say this could be his best season ever as far as stats go. With a first week bye, they smoked the Cardinals who had barely snuck past the Packers the week before in the first round of playoffs.
Then the NFC championship game against New Orleans played out in a very odd way. With the Vikings in field goal range and the game tied, he throws a very ill-advised pass that is intercepted and the game is sent into overtime. The Saints score on a 40-yard field goal in OT and the game is over.
Here is my theory: He formed a multi-year diabolical plan to make it look like he is pushed out of Green Bay to make way for up-and-coming #12, plays a year with New York to set the stage for his move to Minnesota. The season starts with controversy with him coming in so late and dethronng starter Tarvaris Jackson. After the first game, tensions settle as he begins his season-long dicing of opponent's defences. Throughout the season, he single-handedly brings Viking nation's hopes to the highest they've been in years! Then, just as it looks they are about to become NFC champions, Grisley Old Brett pulls the con of a lifetime by intentionally hurling his trademark scramble-interception to put the outplayed Saints in a position to win the game.
Ladies and gentlemen, Brett's been on our side THE WHOLE TIME!
Well played Brett. Well played, indeed!
Thank you for the sham. Thank you for dashing Minnesota's hopes and dreams across the field and now leaving them with no quarter back to carry them next year. You are brilliant, Brett. We never should have doubted you.
Two years ago, I was discouraged with how the whole Favre-Packers divorce went down and thought that old #4 was being a diva: wanting to boss the club around on his terms, regardless of how long it took to decide whether or not he'd play again. Seeing him go to the Jets was no heart-breaker, and it was especially soothed by the outstanding play of Mr. Aaron Rodgers.
In the off-season before the '09 season, talk of Burly Ol' Brett going to the Queens started to stir... My blood boiled! This was pure revenge, no matter how much he denied it, it was obvious he wanted to show the Packers that he could still play, and that he did. Without looking at stats, I would say this could be his best season ever as far as stats go. With a first week bye, they smoked the Cardinals who had barely snuck past the Packers the week before in the first round of playoffs.
Then the NFC championship game against New Orleans played out in a very odd way. With the Vikings in field goal range and the game tied, he throws a very ill-advised pass that is intercepted and the game is sent into overtime. The Saints score on a 40-yard field goal in OT and the game is over.
Here is my theory: He formed a multi-year diabolical plan to make it look like he is pushed out of Green Bay to make way for up-and-coming #12, plays a year with New York to set the stage for his move to Minnesota. The season starts with controversy with him coming in so late and dethronng starter Tarvaris Jackson. After the first game, tensions settle as he begins his season-long dicing of opponent's defences. Throughout the season, he single-handedly brings Viking nation's hopes to the highest they've been in years! Then, just as it looks they are about to become NFC champions, Grisley Old Brett pulls the con of a lifetime by intentionally hurling his trademark scramble-interception to put the outplayed Saints in a position to win the game.
Ladies and gentlemen, Brett's been on our side THE WHOLE TIME!
Well played Brett. Well played, indeed!
Thank you for the sham. Thank you for dashing Minnesota's hopes and dreams across the field and now leaving them with no quarter back to carry them next year. You are brilliant, Brett. We never should have doubted you.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
New news and old news
Posting new stuff on Blogger has been tough because of Facebook... I will try to keep things posted here as well, but I put a link to my Facebook profile. I will have Amy put one on here for hers as well.
New news is that we are adopting! We are working with an apotion agency called Children's Home Society. They have been great and we have had two excellent meeting with our social worker and have been through five of the seven classes for us to become cirtified foster parents. Our next meeting with our social worker will be here at our house.
One of the amazing things with the process is that one of the couples we met at our classes lives a couple blocks down the street from us in our neighborhood and we have become great friends.
I'll try to leave more posts here to keep you updated!
Till next time...
New news is that we are adopting! We are working with an apotion agency called Children's Home Society. They have been great and we have had two excellent meeting with our social worker and have been through five of the seven classes for us to become cirtified foster parents. Our next meeting with our social worker will be here at our house.
One of the amazing things with the process is that one of the couples we met at our classes lives a couple blocks down the street from us in our neighborhood and we have become great friends.
I'll try to leave more posts here to keep you updated!
Till next time...
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Next Mary Shelley
Kerrigan wrote a scary story I wanted to share, enjoy:
"One day I saw a big monster! I was scared. I hid behind a tree, but the monster found me! So I ran home and the monster was gone. Then the monster tried to find me. He bashed down the door, and when I heard his footsteps I hid in the house. Then the monster was gone. The end."
She is also working on a story about cookies I'll post here as well when she is done.
"One day I saw a big monster! I was scared. I hid behind a tree, but the monster found me! So I ran home and the monster was gone. Then the monster tried to find me. He bashed down the door, and when I heard his footsteps I hid in the house. Then the monster was gone. The end."
She is also working on a story about cookies I'll post here as well when she is done.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Hike on the Trails
Today, we were down farther along the Neuse River trail than we had previously gone before. Along the way, we stopped at a geocache site and took some fun pictures out on the rocks on the river. Even Gideon waded through the waters to get out to the bigger rocks with us. What a beautiful day for a walk!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Close Calls
After a near-miss on Friday, I found myself reflecting on other times in my life where I found myself in painful (or potentially painful) situations. Here are a few I could remember:
Mom and dad told me that when I was only a few months old, they spotted a tornado out the window. They rushed down to the basement then realized I was still upstairs in my crib. All was well but perhaps an omnimous beginning.
When I was maybe 4 or so, I remember carrying my dad's bowling ball for him after one of his games. At the age of 4, a bowling ball is about the size of a large beach ball. I was carrying it with both arms and couldn't see in front of me. I tripped ober a bowling ball bag and that 15 pounder came full force down on my right ring finger. I remember lots of blood and a cut that seemed to run the entire length of my finger. The scar I have to remember it by still runs about 1/3 down my finger.
About the time I was in 1st grade, I remember being at a farm in Omro, Wisconsin. A relative of my aunt JoAnn, I think. Anyway, I decided I was going to jump on the cellar door connected to the house, like the one in Wizard of Oz that they went in to get away from the fateful tornado. That held me for a few jumps, but before I knew it, I was crashing through and tumbling down into the cellar, bruised and filthy. Nothing broken, just very sore.
In second grade, I went skiing with Brian and Julie. While going the speed of light down a bunny hill, I decided to look behind me and see where Brian was, only to take a major wipe-out. I spun, my feet (aptly secured to my skis) did not. Fractured tibia; leg cast for 6 weeks.
Not more than 2 months or so after I had my cast removed, I was giving some kid and under-dog on the schoolyard swing set. He swung, I guess I didn't get out of the way fast enough and somehow broke my leg again. Same leg, about an inch lower than the previous fracture. Mom doesn't drive and dad was at work. I layed on the playground for what seemed like ages till mom got there and we went to the hospital in the ambulance. The doctor who had put the previous cast on me couldn't believe I was back so quickly. Leg cast for another 6 weeks.
In my middle school days, I remember playing 'war' with a few neighborhood friends. We had gone to Red Arrow Park and were playing in the woods then climbed the mighty Garbage Hill (a key sledding spot on the otherwise very flat Oshkosh, Wisconsin). I got 'shot' and rolled down the face of the hill only to find myself really bleeding. I followed the trail of dripping blood up my arm to my elbow where there was another sizeable gash caused by a broken glass bottle that I rolled over. Six stitches.
I think I was able to avoid noteworthy injury for several years after that. Although the next accident I was to have was one of my worst, albeit I suffered little injury. It was late-December of '92 or '93 and I was in my Nissan pick-up truck following my mom and dad (also Dave & Tari) in my dad's Ford LTD satation wagon. We were headed to my brother Brian'splace in Pine River, WI, about 2 hours west of Oshkosh. I had followed them the whole was, as I was not entirely sure how to get there. It had snoed quite a bit the days prior and the back roads were not plowed, though semi-freqent traffic on the 2-lane highways had cleared off most of the snow. We were about 5 minutes away from Brian and Julie's place when my dad passed a car and went ahead. Wanting to keep up, I also passed said car. However, as I was passing, my truck began to spin sideways. Keep in mind we are going about 60 mph and I have spun around the car we were passing and went backwards down into the ditch on the left side of the road. Once I hit, my truck flipped several times until coming to rest on its wheels. The whole thing was very surreal because I was just holding onto the steering wheel watching the horizon spin around and around. I don't remember getting josteled around or anything. I wasn't wearing my seatbelt (idiot!), no glass was broken but both dors were caved in, the roof was also caved in down to my head, and the back was filled with earth and snow. I don't know how I escaped with my life that day.
Within weeks of joining the Navy, I was treated for a dislocated finger. I was playing 'touch' football with friends from church and I was defending a receiver. He caught a screen pass and I tagged him, except when I did so I jambed my finger. I held up my had and saw my right middle finger was pointing in a very odd direction. If I had been a braver man, I would have pulled it back into place but I left that to the doctor. My knuckle on that finger is still mis-shaped.
Not long after that, maybe a couple months, I decided it would be fun to buy a motorcycle. Kawasaki Ninja EX500. Not super-fast, but enough for a beginner. Within days of my purchase, I was out riding in the winding forest-flanked roads between North Carolina and Virginia. Coming around a corner, I mistook a parked truck on my side of the road for a truck that was coming at me in my lane. I breaked and over compensated my turn. My front wheel snapped to the right and my bike immediately layed flat. At 30-plus mph that made me a human catapault. I remember flying into the woods seeing small trees passed my right and left before I flipped and landed on my back. More damage on the bike than to me, but had some good cuts from it.
Within a year, was up late at a friend's house and finally decided I needed to drive back to the base and get back to my ship. I was super tired and my stereo was broken. I rolled down the window hoping that the cold wind would help keep me awake on the highway. I closed my eyes for a second and was jolted awake by the force of my truck striking the concrete dividing barrier on the highway. It blew out my left front tire and bent the frame of the truck. No injuries, but a very close call. I stayed awake for a long time after that.
That was many years ago and unless I'm forgetting, I have been able to steer clear from injury from that time. However, just yesterday I went ATVing with a few friends at an ATV park (Busco Beach) in Goldsboro, NC. It was my first time operating an ATV, but I picked it up pretty quickly and did well. Half-way through the day, I was following on of my buddies and he decided to tackle a 40ft (maybe higher?) sand hill. He made it to the top and waited on the crest for me. I didn't feel great about it, but thought if he could make it then I could, right? I nearly made it to the top, but stalled just short of the top. I switched to 4WD, but I was already in the rut. I looked backwards and it was a steep decline behind me. I felt like if I leaded too far back, I'd tip over. Very carefully, I put it in reverse and tried to go backwards just enough to et out of the rut and then go the rest of the way up, but as soon as I backed out of the rut I started sailing down the hill backwards and I couldn't stop it. I tried to keep it straight but I hit a bump 2/3 of the way down and all I remember after that is flying off and seeing that 600 lb machine flip out of my sight, then as I hit the base of the sandy hill felt the ATV roll over my legs and behind me. My legs felt like they were on fire and I though for sure I had snapped both of my femurs. I couldn't talk and my legs were visibly shaking. I heard Scott shouting for help and then asking if I was okay. I don't remember answering him, but he told me I answered that I was okay but that my legs hurt. Within a few minutes, however, I was able to bend my legs and I figured they weren't broken. It took some time before I was able to get up and they were shaky for a little while, but within 30 minutes we were all back on our ATV's going around the course and working our way through the wooded trails, although I did not attempt that same hill a second time.
No broken bones (remarkably) from that spill but I'm plenty sore. Enough where I'm more comfortable typing useless blog entries online rather than being out and about being more useful.
Maybe I'll take and Advil and do something really dangerous, like go to the store.
Mom and dad told me that when I was only a few months old, they spotted a tornado out the window. They rushed down to the basement then realized I was still upstairs in my crib. All was well but perhaps an omnimous beginning.
When I was maybe 4 or so, I remember carrying my dad's bowling ball for him after one of his games. At the age of 4, a bowling ball is about the size of a large beach ball. I was carrying it with both arms and couldn't see in front of me. I tripped ober a bowling ball bag and that 15 pounder came full force down on my right ring finger. I remember lots of blood and a cut that seemed to run the entire length of my finger. The scar I have to remember it by still runs about 1/3 down my finger.
About the time I was in 1st grade, I remember being at a farm in Omro, Wisconsin. A relative of my aunt JoAnn, I think. Anyway, I decided I was going to jump on the cellar door connected to the house, like the one in Wizard of Oz that they went in to get away from the fateful tornado. That held me for a few jumps, but before I knew it, I was crashing through and tumbling down into the cellar, bruised and filthy. Nothing broken, just very sore.
In second grade, I went skiing with Brian and Julie. While going the speed of light down a bunny hill, I decided to look behind me and see where Brian was, only to take a major wipe-out. I spun, my feet (aptly secured to my skis) did not. Fractured tibia; leg cast for 6 weeks.
Not more than 2 months or so after I had my cast removed, I was giving some kid and under-dog on the schoolyard swing set. He swung, I guess I didn't get out of the way fast enough and somehow broke my leg again. Same leg, about an inch lower than the previous fracture. Mom doesn't drive and dad was at work. I layed on the playground for what seemed like ages till mom got there and we went to the hospital in the ambulance. The doctor who had put the previous cast on me couldn't believe I was back so quickly. Leg cast for another 6 weeks.
In my middle school days, I remember playing 'war' with a few neighborhood friends. We had gone to Red Arrow Park and were playing in the woods then climbed the mighty Garbage Hill (a key sledding spot on the otherwise very flat Oshkosh, Wisconsin). I got 'shot' and rolled down the face of the hill only to find myself really bleeding. I followed the trail of dripping blood up my arm to my elbow where there was another sizeable gash caused by a broken glass bottle that I rolled over. Six stitches.
I think I was able to avoid noteworthy injury for several years after that. Although the next accident I was to have was one of my worst, albeit I suffered little injury. It was late-December of '92 or '93 and I was in my Nissan pick-up truck following my mom and dad (also Dave & Tari) in my dad's Ford LTD satation wagon. We were headed to my brother Brian'splace in Pine River, WI, about 2 hours west of Oshkosh. I had followed them the whole was, as I was not entirely sure how to get there. It had snoed quite a bit the days prior and the back roads were not plowed, though semi-freqent traffic on the 2-lane highways had cleared off most of the snow. We were about 5 minutes away from Brian and Julie's place when my dad passed a car and went ahead. Wanting to keep up, I also passed said car. However, as I was passing, my truck began to spin sideways. Keep in mind we are going about 60 mph and I have spun around the car we were passing and went backwards down into the ditch on the left side of the road. Once I hit, my truck flipped several times until coming to rest on its wheels. The whole thing was very surreal because I was just holding onto the steering wheel watching the horizon spin around and around. I don't remember getting josteled around or anything. I wasn't wearing my seatbelt (idiot!), no glass was broken but both dors were caved in, the roof was also caved in down to my head, and the back was filled with earth and snow. I don't know how I escaped with my life that day.
Within weeks of joining the Navy, I was treated for a dislocated finger. I was playing 'touch' football with friends from church and I was defending a receiver. He caught a screen pass and I tagged him, except when I did so I jambed my finger. I held up my had and saw my right middle finger was pointing in a very odd direction. If I had been a braver man, I would have pulled it back into place but I left that to the doctor. My knuckle on that finger is still mis-shaped.
Not long after that, maybe a couple months, I decided it would be fun to buy a motorcycle. Kawasaki Ninja EX500. Not super-fast, but enough for a beginner. Within days of my purchase, I was out riding in the winding forest-flanked roads between North Carolina and Virginia. Coming around a corner, I mistook a parked truck on my side of the road for a truck that was coming at me in my lane. I breaked and over compensated my turn. My front wheel snapped to the right and my bike immediately layed flat. At 30-plus mph that made me a human catapault. I remember flying into the woods seeing small trees passed my right and left before I flipped and landed on my back. More damage on the bike than to me, but had some good cuts from it.
Within a year, was up late at a friend's house and finally decided I needed to drive back to the base and get back to my ship. I was super tired and my stereo was broken. I rolled down the window hoping that the cold wind would help keep me awake on the highway. I closed my eyes for a second and was jolted awake by the force of my truck striking the concrete dividing barrier on the highway. It blew out my left front tire and bent the frame of the truck. No injuries, but a very close call. I stayed awake for a long time after that.
That was many years ago and unless I'm forgetting, I have been able to steer clear from injury from that time. However, just yesterday I went ATVing with a few friends at an ATV park (Busco Beach) in Goldsboro, NC. It was my first time operating an ATV, but I picked it up pretty quickly and did well. Half-way through the day, I was following on of my buddies and he decided to tackle a 40ft (maybe higher?) sand hill. He made it to the top and waited on the crest for me. I didn't feel great about it, but thought if he could make it then I could, right? I nearly made it to the top, but stalled just short of the top. I switched to 4WD, but I was already in the rut. I looked backwards and it was a steep decline behind me. I felt like if I leaded too far back, I'd tip over. Very carefully, I put it in reverse and tried to go backwards just enough to et out of the rut and then go the rest of the way up, but as soon as I backed out of the rut I started sailing down the hill backwards and I couldn't stop it. I tried to keep it straight but I hit a bump 2/3 of the way down and all I remember after that is flying off and seeing that 600 lb machine flip out of my sight, then as I hit the base of the sandy hill felt the ATV roll over my legs and behind me. My legs felt like they were on fire and I though for sure I had snapped both of my femurs. I couldn't talk and my legs were visibly shaking. I heard Scott shouting for help and then asking if I was okay. I don't remember answering him, but he told me I answered that I was okay but that my legs hurt. Within a few minutes, however, I was able to bend my legs and I figured they weren't broken. It took some time before I was able to get up and they were shaky for a little while, but within 30 minutes we were all back on our ATV's going around the course and working our way through the wooded trails, although I did not attempt that same hill a second time.
No broken bones (remarkably) from that spill but I'm plenty sore. Enough where I'm more comfortable typing useless blog entries online rather than being out and about being more useful.
Maybe I'll take and Advil and do something really dangerous, like go to the store.
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