So I had the family in the Suburban and we were driving home from Lake Tahoe to Carson City.  This would be the kind of hill where the grades are steep and the road is windy.  Think of it as the perfect place for a James Bond drive the car off a cliff kind of scene, only instead of his awesome tricked out Astin-Martin, think big GM truck.  The Astin-Martin can nearly fly and the GM can nearly drop like a lead weight.  I was driving kind of fast.  And by kind of fast I mean stupidly fast and scaring my dad.  Scaring my dad on windy roads is hard to do, but I did it.  So he reached over the seat from the back where he was sort of seated and grabbed my shoulder and said, “Slow down!”  I think he only had to tell me three or four times before I actually did slow down.

I’m pretty sure that Suburbans are not able to corner like that and that angels actually held all four tires onto the road.  I can’t prove it, but I also can’t prove that my dad was scared either.  He could have just known exactly how fast the car could handle and knew I was getting close.  He’s been known to drive ultra-fast on windy roads himself ;)  Did I mention the Suburban was lifted 3″?

Jessica’s love for Christ, her genuine listening to me, and her commitment to her family and desire to respect her parents made her stand out like Yao Ming at an ewok convention.  Her honesty was compelling.  Her asking questions and wondering about biblical things meant she was trying to sort through things and make sense of what she was learning and it meant: she was learning.  Jessica was an amazing friend before she was a girlfriend and it was just brilliant to watch her grow in life, in the Lord, and in her desire to make something of her life.  Of course she also looked amazing, had a great brain (her intelligence has always kept me humble) and she liked good food - so it was a great match.  Jessica’s desire to serve her friends was also amazing.  She was still a teenager, but a teenager with a compassionate attitude of service and her willingness to serve blew my mind.

Without the XGF I’d have still probably been drawn to Jessica, but I was very glad to have the contrast that I did.  Jessica is really who I’m thankful for, but I’m also thankful for and still sometimes pray for the XGF simply because she’s a person whom I cared for and I hope she’s doing well.  I hope she’s found a great guy, and I hope that she’s living a great life.

Or in the words of Switchfoot, “This is the bomb that I’ve been waiting for.”  I’m very, very glad to be sore.  I need to exercise this sad frame and turn it into a fighting machine for my 31st birthday next month.

Teenager builds a bear for her boyfriend and then declares that the bear is just like her boyfriend.

So I say, “He sounds nice, supportive, and comforting.”

“My boyfriend?,” she asks.
“No, your bear. I would never assume those qualities of a teenage boy.”

We don’t need to hear the announcers saying things like, “They really can’t afford mistakes like this in an event of this caliber.”  Really?  I had no idea.  I thought that the Olympics were like kindergarden for the X-Games.  I thought that the athletes would be scored by how many wounds they could get from crashing, falling, slipping, and gashing their heads on diving boards.  Its a good thing the announcer is there to help my make up for the brain cells I’m losing from watching all of those 5 minute long commercial breaks.

One last thing: Michael Phelps is an amazing athlete and I respect him a lot.  But I don’t need to see replays of his wins as the start and finish of every viewing session.  I leave you with the immortal words of Merlin Mann:

NBC’s stirring piano score makes this montage of memories from 10 days of watching TV recaps of time-delayed sports highlights VERY moving.

And now onto the other things I need to do with it.

All is well and the wound is healing, but I’d appreciate prayers for my bride’s body, my sanity, and the girls to be the most obedient two and nearly six year olds on the planet.

This weekend I picked up the $9.99 Spore Creature Creator at the store. Its only a pre-game utility for a game that will be out next month. We may not even get the game, but the utility has been a hoot to play with with the girls because they can create creatures and then watch them be silly. No gore, no sex. Just fun. Thought I’d pass this video along since it was cute.

You can find cakes that pretty much everyone should be embarrased by at this awesome (new to me) blog:

Cake Wrecks

I want you to know that even my most recent attempt at making Jessica’s birthday cake was better than many of the examples here.

There’s really nothing to add to that.

I guess that makes me old :)

Jessica, “Yes, I guess there still are.”

Abby, “I want to be a pirate when I grow up.”

Jessica, “You probably don’t want to be a pirate, that’s illegal.”

Abby, “What does illegal mean?”

Jessica, “It means that if they catch you, you will go to jail.”

Abby, “Oh.  I don’t want to be a pirate.”

This would be a picture of my new niece. She’s pretty awesome. I’m rather excited to get to be around her, spend time with her, and be an uncle to her. All is going well with her (from what I know) and she should be leaving the hospital with her mom & pop tomorrow. Awesomeness.

“I’m getting so tall, just like sissy.”

It makes my daddy heart beat with a little bit more sorrow to think that they’re growing up, but with pride because they’re so amazing.  Evie is pretty well potty trained, she’s reaching things that were out of reach before (which is a blessing and a curse, I suppose), and she’s still little enough to snuggle us.  She’s getting so tall like her sister, and I’m loving every minute of it, even the tough parts.

We went camping this weekend at Chicago Creek campgrounds up near Mt. Evans in the Colorado Rockies. Great fun was had by mostly all (some of the kids had a harder time due to lack of naps, constant social engagement, and smores). I took some pictures, but not as many as I’d have liked, but duty called. Mr. Doan also took some pictures and once he posts some I’ll link over his way, too. I’ve got more to post as well, but this first batch should be good for at least a day or two.

What i was doing ten years ago

I was preparing to get married while I worked at a Christian Bookstore called The Manger.  I was in Junior College, and I was pretty much ready to explode with emotions and hormones - and I wasn’t even a teenager.  I was the music department manager at the Christian bookstore, which was kinda cool, except that I would get advanced releases and by the time the customer would get the album to listen to, I was burned out on it.  They’d say, “What do you think of this album?”  I had to think about what I used to think about that album before it was old - even though it was brand new.  I also coudln’t get over the 60+ year old customers who would buy two of every gaither album, one for themselves to cry to at home, and one to send to their friend, relative or minister so that they could all be emotional together with the sweet gospel songs that they remembered from their youth.

Getting married was a major, major task, but I’ve written about that before.  Also, junior college was shelved to a certain degree and I took the lightest full load conceived of.  I took pottery with Jessica as one of my three classes.  Turns out it was one of the cooler classes I took that was outside of the history courses I took.

Five snacks i enjoy:

1. Frozen Yogurt
2. Goldfish crackers
3. Graham crackers & milk
4. various nuts
5. chocolate bars (dark chocolate please, milk chocolate is a joke)

Five things on my to-do list today:

• Finish the help file
• Exercise
• Spend time with the girls
• Watch the last bit of American Gladiator to see which of the gals wins this leg of the competition
• kiss my wife and tell her I love her… a lot (don’t take that the wrong way)

Five favorite recipes (re-interpreted to mean foods in this case):

1. Smoked Ribs
2. One Egg Pancakes
3. Chocolate Lava Cake
4. My Sister’s Cheesecakes
5. My brother-in-law’s pork dish that is better than Texas de Brazil’s

Five jobs i have had [actually all]:

1. Paper route
2. Gopher for consulting firm
3. Pharmacy
4. Internship at a church
5. Christian Bookstore
6. JB Dental Supply phone customer service
7. Software developer

Five of my bad habits:

1. Fiddling with my nose [I rub it, blow it and touch it far too often]
2. Running my mouth
3. Running out of patience with the kids
4. Eating after I’m full because it tastes so good
5. Waking up in the middle of the night to check work email

All the places i have lived:

1. Redwood Valley, CA
2. Carson City, NV
3. Philo, CA
4. Sunnyvale, CA
5. Carson City, NV
6. Ft. Worth, TX
7. Euless, TX
8. Greenwood Village, CO
9. Aurora, CO

Five random things:

1. I love music
2. I love photography
3. I’d rather not be working some days, and some days I’m sad I’m stopping
4. I wish I was a better evangelist
5. I like the idea of going into medical research some day

Five Folks i Would Like to Know Better:

1. Trint
2. Dave O’Hara
3. The Dave
4. Jess
5. My Sister

[I'm so totally going to get in trouble for some of these, and probably also for not asking you, instead of one of these people above]