Spring Break - Part 2: Extended!

Spring break concluded for our family on Wednesday. The week up until then had progressed as most normal spring beaks do.. lots of family games during the day and into the evenings (Beat by my own daughter at Stratego... DOH!)... a movie or two (In this case it was Chronicles of Narnia) and just some fun silly times, including a late Monday night Dad vs. Kids wrestle off death match, 2 against one.. As we all finally fell down exhausted, bruised and tired of laughing hysterically, I think the score was tied..

But all good things must come to an end, as it happens every year. Our spring break fun came to an end on Wednesday as I had to take the kids back to Salem, to be back with their Mom. We left early Wednesday morning so I had time to make the drive up to Salem and then get back to work so I would not miss much of the morning at the office.

But, all of a sudden, spring break got extended! My boss sent out an e-mail about 3 in the afternoon asking if anyone was interested in going to the Portland Trailblazers basketball game. He had free tickets... GREAT seats (they cost $105 EACH!!!) but they were for THAT night. At first I thought, "nahhhhh, too complicated and who would want to go with me?" But then suddenly it sounded like a fun little challenge. I accepted the tickets and got on the phone. Thinking it was a long shot, I grabbed the phone, called Salem and explained that I had just gotten 4 tickets to the game and "Can I re-pick up the kids I just dropped off?" She agreed and off I went.... BACK to Salem. (It's an hour and 15 minutes each way)

So, with all three kids now with me, we began our impromptu trek to Portland (an additional hours drive) The kids had been wanting to see an NBA game, especially Amanda, now very into basketball herself. The game was a lot of fun. Not all that great as a basketball game (Portland lost by 16... typical), but when you combine sitting right down front a few rows off the floor (we were sitting behind Paul Allen, the team owner), in absolutely amazing seats, with NBA players making 3 pointers right in front of you, with watching all the arena video effects, the free noise makers, the cheerleaders, etc. There was always lots to see. And blazers win or lose, it was a fun time for all.

And so, after 7 hours of driving in the one day, I finally finished dropping the kids off (again) and drove back home, with Tanner zonked in the back seat,, finally coming off of his game induced energy high. It was a great way to end our spring break time together and a fun memory we'll all have for a long time.

Spring Break, Part 1

Spring break kicked off this weekend with a bang, ok, more like the Big Bang, but still.. Amanda and Tyler are with us this weekend for an extended stay.. all the way until Wednesday. Not having to spend Sunday evening driving to Salem is a wonderful treat!!

So far this spring break, there has been very little time to spare! Saturday we split into genders for our day's activities. The girls had their "girls day" by watching old episodes of Leave it to Beaver, cooking and finally watching the Pac 10 Gymnastics Championships in Corvallis (Stanford won). Amanda found it quite interesting in her growth spurt this year that she was far taller than most competitors..

The boys and I had our "Boys Day" consisting of a trip to the Planetarium and Science Museum where we saw 2 shows: one on the night sky and one on the planet Saturn. As space nuts they both loved it! Then we made pizzas and continued the space theme by watching the old Disney flick "The Black Hole" (Fun and creepy movie, with the strangest ending ever..).

Sunday.. was just a fun family day. After church we: Raced RC cars (Tyler learned that if he he drives his car fast enough right into his brothers ankles.. he falls down.. hard. Ouch!) The boys raided the games closet and then spent the afternoon playing Stratego, Life and Sorry,, nothing like the classics. Finally we ended the day with yet another Disney classic movie "Snowball Express". The kids are now thoroughly exhausted, but eagerly awaiting the rest of spring break to come. As for me... I too am exhausted. Too bad I don't get a spring break!! Oh to be kid again!!

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Quick update: After last week's upsetting blog, I am happy to report that Max has made an almost full recovery. Today he was back to racing full speed through his tube maze, a very welcome sight for us all!

Living Life as a..... Dentistphobe

Throughout my life I have come to a conclusion: There is true evil in the world. Forget Freddy, forget Jason, forget Jeffry Dahmer, Darth Vader, or Garghamel... Drive down the street, down that dark alleyway, past the black cat and under the ladder and you may just find the most vile of all places, so scary it can induce grown men to screaming fits of tears in .003 seconds.. yes, you know that place all too well: it's your dentist's office.

I remember going to the dentist as a child. I opened my mouth, as a fully trusting child only to be given something that caused absolute pain. At the tender age of 5, I don't remember what it was that he did, but I remember it hurt. A lot. So my mom got me out of that evil place and soon found another dentist.. a "child friendly" dentist. There we went, surrounded by the huge Silos of the Coors Beer factory to this new office. I still remember the frightening waiting room, the light pouring in the south window as I sat there awaiting my fate. And what became of that appointment? Far WORSE pain than I received at the first dentist.. The whole scene permanently etched into my brain, never to be forgotten. And so we returned to the original dentist.

I still remember the route we took from my childhood home to that dentist. I could still drive it in my sleep today. Why? Probably from the dread I felt driving down the road, pinned to the window of the car, finger tips stretched against the glass, as if I was being driven to my execution. I remember one day, on the way to the dentist, it was 2 in the afternoon, and black as night outside, with tornados raging through the area. I should have taken that as a sign.. Stay away from the dentists... They are purely evil and with that black as night storm, I knew the good Lord was trying to tell me something... stay away! Run for your life and never return!

It also didn't help that regardless of how much I brushed... how much I flossed, every time I saw the evil guy, I had multiple cavities.. My dorky sister, never had squat. I seemed doomed to suffer in that chair forever. I remember going to the dentist in August of 1990. I had just graduated from high school. I was getting ready to begin my 2 years as a church missionary to Texas. It was the last dentist appointment while under my parents roof. And the relief that came over me upon leaving was wonderful. Good bye dentists forever!!! It should be no surprise that I didn't go back.

Fast Forward 16 years. Yes... That is right.. 16 years. Call me a slacker.. call me a procrastinator, call me chicken.. whatever.. I wasn't going near that evil breed. But finally, in 2006, I made a resolution: I would face my fear, and begin regular routine dentist visits yet again. (Ok, it wasn't a resolution exactly.. it was that giant pain in my mouth, bearing down with an extremely infected tooth, but.. same thing). Actually I had been in a dentist chair once, a few years back, but that guy seemed to have the same philosophy as the rest of the dentists in my life: no pain, no gain. So I, once again said "forget it!" and never bothered to make another appointment.

This week, I actually had my third dentist visit of the year. Sure I was out cold during one having a tooth (the infected one) removed and don't remember much of anything (According to my wife, I woke up from surgery babbling about Disneyworld, but I don't remember a thing), but IT COUNTS as a dentist visit. This week I actually endured my first filling in 16 years.. and I am glad to say.. I survived. I did learn a few things from this filling.. It takes a heck of a lot of novacaine to numb my mouth!!! That could explain so many painfully experiences as a child. It took the dentist 30 minutes to actually numb me up, he couldn't believe it.

I also learned that dental technology has changed a lot in 16 years. It was actually an experience I tolerated. Sure, I paid the price in soreness later that day as I believe every muscle in my body was fully tensed as he drilled away, the nurse commenting on the whiteness of my knuckles as I gripped the chair. But, I survived. I am still alive. The dentist hasn't killed me yet.

The most bizarre thing about the whole appointment confirmed a long held theory: My iPod has a sick sense of humor. I brought it to listen to tunes to keep my mind off what was really happening, and when set on random, with 2500 songs to pick from, what does it play right in the middle of the procedure? Bill Cosby: "The Dentist".

So are dentists still evil? The jury is still out. Instead of considering them as Jeffry Dahmer types.. I now see them more as.. Dr. Evil types. Still diabolical, but maybe one step less. maybe.

Coming to Grips With... Mortality

This may very well be a common concern to parents, but I sometimes wonder about Tanner and his view on death. Now sure, I understand.. the kid is only 5. But there just seems to be so much exposure to the concept everywhere in society, that I worry it becomes almost.. comical. After watching him process all of the Star Wars movies and the deaths of countless troops there, to the occasional Buff the Vampire Slayer episodes that my wife loves to watch, to even Saturday morning cartoons... people are dying everywhere.

I notice in his playing and imagination times.. running through the house at top speed, light saber in hand (which turned into a pretend broom this weekend after watching Harry Potter) battling all kinds of movie baddies, he refers to all kinds of death as if it is nothing. I think the "plane story" below in my "Raising a.. Calvin" entry illustrates this as well. A few weeks ago, we had one of our long time fish die from our big acquarium. I thought "finally.. maybe he'll start putting things together". But no... He excitedly grabbed the net to watch his older brother "flush him!". Again, I know he's 5.. I know he's a little Calvin with an overactive imagination, but it still concerned me that I was raising a child who thought that other people or creatures were simply and easily disposed of. In a world of Kip Kinkels, who seem to have no regard for human life, I wanted to be raising my kids with a sense of right and wrong.

Then came yesterday.. when I realized things were starting to click.. and I suddenly felt bad for kids struggling to comprehend reality for the first time. About a month ago he got his first "real pets" (the fish don't count). Pets that he could enjoy, play with, and interact with. Every night he pulls out his little gerbils and has a ball, the front room "excersize pen" becoming quite the little gerbil playground. But a week ago, the "smart one" who is so full of energy, who runs a marathon every night on the gerbil wheel (making all kinds of noise in the process), suddenly stopped running. He just ran out of gas and would sit in his cage doing nothing. By the end of the week, we realized there was a problem and that Max was no longer a healthy gerbil. He lost almost all his weight, never really moved and never opened his eyes.

Yesterday, Max finally got to the Vet. Tanner insisted he accompany his pet to the doctor as he was very concerned. The vet couldn't really figure out what was going on, but thought that there may be some internal problems to the animal as his partner in crime, Vader, was staying perfectly healthy. They offered to do tests for about $250, but for a $9 gerbil, we declined and got some advice as to how to potentially bring him back to a healthy life, even though they feat he may be also loosing his eye sight. That's when my wife took tanner aside and told him he needed to understand that the doctor may not be able to make Max better.. the doctors sometimes can't fix everything, but that we'd do the best we could to keep him comfortable.

Now, after all the random death of storm troopers and cartoons, now.. he could connect.. and while I wasn't there to witness it, according to my wife, the thought of his little pet not getting fixed by the doctor broke him. That's when the biggie tears came, not the little whiny "oops, I scratched my knee" tears, but GIANT wet tears poured. It took a few minutes for him to calm down, he called me on my phone to report in and let me know he was ok. But watching him go through this sudden realization of the realities of life, broke my wife's heart too.

But there is good news.. for the time being Max is still with us. He actually opened up one eye (a little) last night. He is starting to drink water again after being severely dehydrated. It may not fix the internal problems or the potential blindness. But for now, Max is still Max, and we just have to wait for the day that the realities REALLY sink in.. but such is the nature of owning pets and the life lessons they bring to us.

Losing My Mind: The Film Edition

Am I a glutton for punishment? Do I thrive in chaos? Do I take on insane challenges, just to see if I can do them. Somehow... I think so!

Tonight I realized it has been almost 3 months since completing my first full length documentary film titled "Spartans". I have done many video projects in the past, trying to improve my skills with each new production. But this was the first time I had set out specifically to shoot, edit and produce a 90 minute film... on budget... and on time.

Work on the film began last July, doing all my preparatory pre-production and planning. Photography begin in late August and continued for 13 weeks through mid-November. Then editing and post production carried me into December with the first public showing taking place on December 15th.

It was a whirlwind, insane couple of months. Amongst the challenges I faced was the simple fact that this film had absolutely nothing to do with my normal job, a job that already demands typically 45 hours a week at a minimum. So all shooting would have to be done in the evenings, on weekends, or on creatively scheduled lunch breaks. There was also my family to consider, I couldn't suddenly become an absentee parent and ignore the needs of my wife and 3 kids. So finding time to pull this off was a huge challenge.

There were technical demands as well. Where do you store 30 plus hours of raw video footage and still have space to edit without crashing computers? How do your successfully pace a 90 minute film? Where does the music come from? And what happens if something goes wrong and an audience is waiting for a film still stuck in edit? As you can tell, there was a lot on my mind!

By the time mid December hit, I was toast! Pulling this film off just about killed me... quite literally. During the final week of editing, I got 2 hours of sleep in a 72 hour period. I spent 48 hours straight awake trying to get the final cut done in time for the first public showing. I remember arriving at that showing film in hand, everything around me slightly spinning. I stayed awake during the showing (I was concerned that once the lights went out and I stopped moving, I'd zonk) running totally off the adrenaline of seeing the film with an audience for the first time and watching their reactions. After making the drive home, all I wanted to do was pass out on the couch and sleep for days, but I knew I couldn't. The DVDs still had to be authored, packaging still had to be designed in order to make printing deadlines. And so you just take a breath, and continue to push onward. (Eventually, my body did shut down, by the way. My wife had the wonderful opportunity to rush me to the Dr's office when we should have been celebrating her birthday, as I had a 104 degree fever, and I got to spend Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day quarantined away from my family with the flu. bummer!)

But in the end... I pulled it off. I don't want today's blog to be about bragging about this accomplishment, although I am darn proud of the final results. The point of today's blog is the fact that now, it's mid March. I have been done with this insanity for 3 months. You would think I would be able to just come home and rest.. relax, kick my feet up in the recliner and turn my brain off. You would think that after going through all of THAT, I'd want to take a giant break or never go near it again. But, no... what do I do? I sit and contemplate the next production. I find myself making the mental lists of things that will need to be done in August, already searching out music possibilities, mentally planning out sequences and specific shots I want to get. I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO STOP!!

So maybe I do thrive on the pure chaos of the challenges I put on myself. I hear people dreaming about a life of luxury, sitting below the palm trees, drink in hand with no worries. There are the people who win the lottery and quit their jobs in an attempt to find happiness. But while that may appeal for a short escape, I think my happiness is found in the insanity. Some just love to curl up to a good book. I seem to be happiest and content running 90 miles an hour with a camera on my shoulder, watching life through a camera lens.

It's like those old Charlie Brown comics I remember reading as a kid "Happiness is... a camera on my shoulder". This last film almost killed me.. it was the craziest challenges I have ever undertaken..

Now, how soon until I can start again?

Tyler's Spotlight

It was another night in Salem last night, this time to watch Tyler in his third grade class spring program. This year the theme was Animals, well, loosely... It was a bit of a stretch to connect the Electric Slide with Electric Eels... but they're young, so I guess it made sense to them.

But, as expected, Tyler did great. He sang his 3 songs and performed his little dance number without turning too many shades of red. It is always fun to watch them in these programs, a pure pleasure for proud parents.

Once again, I have posted a quick video showcasing his performance. You can view it by clicking here. Note: This is a Quicktime video file. If you do not have Quicktime already, click here to download it.

Kissing Coaches

Ok, let's get one thing straight.. I am not Superman. I am not perfect and today is a perfect example of that. Now, while some people make mistakes and either try to hide them, deny that they did anything wrong, or try to disguise their mistakes by pointing the finger at someone else, I am man enough to say loud and clear "Oops! I screwed up!". At least today's little boo boo is entertaining (more so to others) and has "blog this" written all over it... plus this helps me get ready to write tomorrow's "incident report". It's always embarrassing making major goofs in front of coworkers.. but maybe I finally have a way to distract people from my infamous "locked in the bathroom" story from a few years ago (I'll have to save that one for a future blog...).

I don't typically write about my job, but today I'll make an exception.. I currently supervise all of my company's websites (10 all together) and function as the lead designer for the sites. All the sites together, there are over 10,000 pages of content to keep track of, so making sure each page is correct and current can be tricky. This week is particularly challenging as we are facing major updates to most of our sites as we release new products next week and have to have new page designs done, content implemented, support videos produced, etc. So it makes for a busy time of year!

To make things easier for us, we are implementing some new technology: Nothing that will be visible for site visitors, but behind the scenes for my team. In order to test this new process, we had to develop a testing site with content completely different from our typical motorhomes. So we came up with an idea that made sense to the team: Our tribute to our favorite classic rock bands. Images would be readily available online so we didn't waste time making new images and the content was so different that it would be easy to tell that things were working correctly, without getting confused with "real" images in place.

And so we quickly developed our test site. We had some pretty good laughs.. In our "woods" section typically used to hold photos of wood cabinetry colors, we now had Tiger Woods, James Woods, etc. Our colors page featured the likes of Pink Floyd, and Yellow Submarines, rather than coach exteriors... We were quite entertained by our own little in joke. The software was tested successfully, and the site discontinued as we moved on to other things.

Today, as we prepared for next weeks big updates, we had to put a "clean" copy of the sites on line. This meant putting up new versions of everything in order to make some new technologies possible to us. And so in the middle of the day, the sites were redeployed. A simple process to move all the files in place, check to make sure all is well, and then move on to other afternoon activities.

At 5:00, I did one last check through the sites to make sure all was well before leaving the office for the night. That's when I discovered... it. On our most visited website, on the front of the most visited product section, rather than a picture of a beautiful motor home.. there was KISS, staring back at me, scary make up and all. It was like one of those movies where someone suddenly has a terrible realization, the camera zooms from wide shot into a close up with that increasing screetching soundtrack. All zooming in to my face, suddenly going pale and yelling "NOOOOOOOO!" The realization that visitors had been seeing KISS on our sites all afternoon instead of motorhomes.. was not a fun one. What had happened was simple: one of the files from our little "Test" had not been removed and had been moved to the server with our update, thus activating it live to visitors, instead of the image that was supposed to be there. As my job is to check to make sure that everything was ok, before making content live.. this was my screw up.

Granted, within about 5 seconds, I was on the server and had the files switched, but knowing that KISS was there.. for several hours... staring at our conservative, wealthy, retired target audience.. I just wanted to hide under my desk. And it didn't help that my whole department was now in hysterics at the thought of KISS on the Holiday Rambler website all afternoon. I have already been informed that "Beth" is my new nickname, and now there is talk of designing a gag coach with exterior paint made to look like KISS makeup.. all to give me a hard time (If anyone produces any parodies for me, I'll post them...). As I was walking out of the office 45 minutes late now, and shaking my head in shame for this little screw up, I said to a coworker "I'm never going to hear the end of this, will I?" He just smiled and said "Nope, not for a LOOOOOONG time"

Hence, the "Holiday Rambler Navigator KISS Edition" was born...

Ad Geek

One of the things I really enjoy is having the opportunity to teach classes. Luckily, my job gives me that opportunity on a regular basis. I also have recently done some guest lecturing for some college marketing courses, speaking about the ins and outs of internet marketing. One of the things that I spoke about in my last lecture was the challenge that businesses face while marketing their products: How do you get people's attention without annoying them? We talked about several different companies and their recent ad campaigns. Are they annoying, or effective? And what really is the difference? Since I bring this question up in classes, it is one I often think about as I am looking at how companies marketing themselves, whether it is online, in print, or on TV. This past week, I have seen examples of ads that I think are both annoying, and extremely effective, but which is better?

First, to the annoying side... There is a local company that sells beds, called Beds and More. I swear, they must have a billion dollar ad budget for their TV advertising, not because of the quality of their ads, but their frequency and the pure number of channels they advertise on. I can't seem to go 5 minutes without seeing one of their commercials.. look, there's one right now, as I type this sentence. Their TV ad consists of a simple still image with an animated logo that moves back and forth and these little repeating, echoing, high pitched voices yelling "Beds & More!!" over and over and again. It is seriously one of the most annoying commercials I have ever seen. Even my five year old covers his ears every time the stupid thing comes on the air, and yells "Dad, make it stop!!!!". Trust me, I'd love to. I'd love it if that ad tape somehow fell into the TV station incinerator, never to be played again. I'd even offer to run it over with my car, drag it down the street, But at the same time, when I think of beds now, that stupid commercial is what pops into my head. My son talks about the store, a store he has never been to, and heck, it's irritating enough to provoke a blog entry about it.

So.. now to my question.. is that a good thing? Or is that a bad thing? The whole goal of advertisers is to get their product into people's subconscious and in this case, has it worked? I would say it has. It almost reminds me of the old Quiznos... things... creatures... singing annoying songs on commercials. While the ad was rather short lived, it got me into the restaurant, and now I am a Quiznos addict. Chicken Carbanara... Ahhhhhhhhhh (that's my Homer Simpson drool). So again... annoying? Yes! But effective? Maybe.

Now to the other side of the coin... In general, I very much look forward to getting rid of ads all together... Hook up that TIVO and just skip the things all together. Stop breaking up my shows! Stop shoving your messages down my throat every where I look! Stop trying to send me subliminal messages (Eat at Olive Garden!) Stop showing me happy people doing things that are clearly bad for them (Eat at Olive Garden!) . Ad's are everywhere. But sometimes, ads come along that just do everything right. They sell a product, and they engage the viewer in ways that other mediums just cannot do.

I saw one of these ads the other night. Stopped me dead in my tracks as I stood in my kitchen, transfixed in front of the TV, unable to move as I struggled to comprehend what I was seeing. While doing a lousy job ignoring the Academy Awards broadcast (so much for the boycott I promised would come from not connecting with any of the nominated films) a commercial came on.

A camera slowly panning through a restaurant, and wait, was that M. Night Shyamalan (one of my favorite directors) sitting there?! What is this? Suddenly it pans to other couples, one having a fight, one having nice romantic dinner, a guy looking scared and sweating, but from what? What the heck was I watching here, and what did it all mean, Basil? In the end of this amazingly long commercial, the point finally comes. M. Night enjoys going to restaurants by himself and watching people, looking for those little story ideas that his mind craves. And to get him into that situation, he uses his American Express Card. His Card. His Life.

The whole American Express campaign, in my opinion is brilliant. Take common celebrities, but rather than have them stand there and endorse your product, you feel as if you are getting to know them in a more intimate setting and how that card affects them. From M. Night sitting is a restaurant, to a shopping Kate Winslet referring to her past roles she has played (my wife and I must have rewound that commercial 10 times trying to figure out which films she was talking about), to print ads where the they have celebs fill out surveys about mundane details about their lives. Rather than making this celebrity feel like some bigger than life person, they suddenly become an ordinary person, with an ordinary life, and we are being allowed in to it. In my opinion, it is the most interesting ad campaign out there today and I look forward to seeing future American Express commercials. (And yes, my AmEx card sits in my wallet, although I keep it tucked away so I don't use it too much!)

So what really is the difference between annoying and entertaining ads? Both get us talking. Both stick in our minds. I would much rather be entertained in a positive sense than annoyed, so Kudos to American Express, and Drop Dead Bed's and More. But again, they have us talking so either way, they must be doing something right.

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By the way, off topic random question of the day: Who names colors? Why does my son have a crayon called "Macaroni and Cheese"? Why did I find an color swatch for a fabric called "Man's best friend?" What is THAT about? And how do I get one of those jobs? My new colors: "Ode to Duck" and "Weasel Tail". Now THAT'S effective naming!

Amanda Sing's the Blues

Sorry, no major updating tonight.. no insight on life.. I'm too tired. So I'll just do a quick update to be a proud papa and share some family news. Tanner and I spent the evening up in Salem, watching Amanda's Jazz Choir concert (although, even after watching one, I am still a little fuzzy on what exactly a "Jazz" choir is, and how it differentiates for other choirs). For those of you who are new to keeping up with my family, thanks to this blog, Amanda is my 11 year old daughter.. the oldest of my bunch, and now attempting to survive the woes of middle school.

As I mentioned tonight she had a Jazz Choir concert and I must say she did a fantastic job! She has sung in public before for church events, but I don't think she has ever sung to a full gym sized audience. I could tell she was nervous.. wouldn't crack her normal biggie smile for awhile, but after successfully surviving her solo, she could finally relax. She was rewarded for a job well done with a trip out for ice cream.

I have posted a quick video of her solo. You can view it by clicking here. Note: This is a Quicktime video file. If you do not have Quicktime already, click here to download it. Sorry it's a bit shaky.. I have a new camera and am still getting used to where all the buttons are.

Raising a..... Calvin

Obviously, from the theme of this blog, I am a big fan of Calvin. One of the things that I always loved about the character was watching his imagination in action. He was highly intelligent, but when he combined that intelligence with his imagination... watch out! People were in for a wild ride. More and more do I realize I am raising a little Calvin of my own.

Allow me to explain as over the weekend I seemed to find all kinds of Calvin behavior. Let me give a few examples of things that just baffled me...

Each night before bedtime, we read stories together. Lately, he has discovered a series of books that are like little kid encyclopedias. They offer tons of information on a number of subjects. Each time he goes to the library, he picks 3 and we read them. Friday night.. it was Pyramids. We were learning all about their construction, mummies and ancient egypt. We came to a page about the pictures drawn upon the walls, and.. figuring he needed an easier definition, I began to improvise..

"These are drawings that the people would put on the walls.." He interrupted me.. "Dad.. THEY ARE CALLED HIEROGLYPHICS" and then comes the big eye roll.

All I could do is stare at him, mouth dropped down to my knee. Where in the world did he learn THAT? And it's not like he just learned a random word.. he knew the context, and what he was looking at.. What are they teaching these kids in Pre-K?!

My amazement continued on Saturday when while cooking our morning pancakes, he piped up.. "Dad, what is 5 plus 2?" I decided to be "Teacher of the Year" and turn it back on him. "what do YOU think 5 plus 2 make?" He thought for a second and answered "Seven!" I was impressed, but then decided to take it a step further.. "Ok, hot shot," I said, "What is 7 + 7?" He thought for a second and then blurted out, very matter of factly, "14"! Again, there I am pulling my jaw off the counter, trying not to let in fall on the pancake griddle, causing very painful burns. The kid is in pre-school! I can barely add 7 and 7 and I have a degree. The kid is smart, what can I say..

But then, while cleaning off my desk, I found one of his MANY drawings that he gave me as a present several months ago.. It brought the world of Calvin crashing in.. The intelligence, mixed with creativity, creating disastrous results.. The picture looked simple.. a mountain scene with something odd near one of the mountains. When he gave it to me, with the look of proud satisfaction on his face, I said "Great job,buddy, what is the picture of?" And then came the answer (it begins with the eye roll) "Daaaaad, can't you tell? It's an airplane, crashing into the mountains! Want to know why it crashed? The airplane companies were trying to save money and they figured the best way to do that was to get rid of pilot jobs, so the pilots all had to fly longer and longer routes. This one had a long trip and just got too tired, fell asleep and the plane crashed into the mountain. Hopefully help will come before the passengers get too hungry.." Seeing my obvious look of disbelief that he had actually thought all this out, he rolled his eyes again and then pulled a line out that I am constantly using on him: "It's just how the world works, Dad.. It's just how the world works," he said as he walked away, shaking his head.

Oh boy.. My dream has come true... I have my own little Calvin...


Oh, also over the weekend, he proudly came up with his own little "amazement line". He sees something that amazes him and yells "Holy Shrimp!!". Yup, he turns heads in the stores!

The New Technology of Running

As I mentioned previously, I am in the process (ok, very early process..) of training to run a marathon. I have picked the Disneyworld Marathon in January of 2007 as my goal. While January seems like it is very far off, in running terms, it really is not. That means I now have 5 months left to build a good base, and then 5 months of heavy duty running and training. Now, this isn't a starting point.. I have been running since last fall, trying to do about 10 miles per week and finished a 5k on Thanksgiving day, but I know I have a long way to go in oder to get myself into the body of a marathon runner!

This is also Marathon attempt number 2. The first took place 3 years ago, as I decided to run the Portland Marathon in early October. The problem was, I made that decision in early May... and I made that decision having not run a mile in years. So I attempted to go from couch potato to Marathon ready in 5 short months, with no base. I downloaded a beginners daily schedule for training for a marathon (ignored the "runner must be running 15 miles a week for 6 months PRIOR to starting this schedule" fine-print) and was very pleased with my progress as I ran all summer. The problem came in mid August, halfway through a 15 mile run, where my knee just shut down, said "no more!" and gave out. I guess I am too big of a guy to run that far, that quickly, and my knee let me know. It has taken 3 years to get back to a point where I can finally jog down the street without it wobbling on me. And so, I begin on my next goal.. this time trying to do it right.

But in training this time, I am noticing how much has changed, even in the 3 years since the last attempt. I remember the days in high school when running was easy.. you throw on your running shoes and off you go. For my family, life seemed to revolve around the cross country season. Sure, I did other sports.. ski team in winter, track in the spring, but this was really to keep in shape for cross country. Back then the only real decisions came when I got to my locker and said "hmmm, training shoes or racing flats". But now... oh how things have changed!

I came to this conclusion last night, as I prepared to head out for a late night run. After finally getting the kids down for the night, it was time to hit the road. But rather than throwing on a basic t-shirt, shorts and shoes, things have gone hi-tech. You can't just throw on any old shorts, they can chafe.. no, you have to have the specialty running shorts. You have to have the new space-age running shirt to keep the sweat off you (and why do they call them space-age? I can guarantee NASA did NOT take my running shirt into space.. and why is NASA even testing running clothes.. shouldn't they be focusing on fixing the shuttle? But I digress..)

It's now not even the running clothes.. I have to go grab my hi-tech shoes, all perfectly designed with air in all the right places to keep me comfortable (and injury free with all the money I had to pay for the darn things!!). I have to grab my cell phone in it's speciality sports running sleeve for my arm, so that in case I run into any weirdos as I run through the dark I can... hit them with it... I grab the i-Pod, with its own specialty case to keep it protected from my extreme sweat, and spend 20 minutes trying to find the sports headphones, so I don't electrocute myself through my sweaty ears.. it now seems to take longer to DRESS for run and prepare all my gadgets than it does to actually run the course. And then there are the hi-tech running watches, tracking all the times, pedometers telling me how far I have run, and heart rate monitors making sure I am staying the the right "zone". By the time I get to the door, I have to ask myself.. Am I ready to go running, or go fight crime as Batman? I have the gadgets belt, loaded down, all I need is a cape and a lone ranger mask and I could go save the day.

FINALLY, I get out the door, happy to finally get going, jog to the corner and there get drenched by a sudden freak rain storm. I am sure I looked pathetic standing there, covered in gadgets, in all my hi-tech, space age running gear, now soaking wet. I guess my "not originally from Oregon" roots showed through as I bowed my head in defeat and sulked back home. Yup, I am rain running wuss (sorry, Zak!).. Thank goodness for the treadmill.. yet another piece of running technology..

The Benefits of Competitive Eating

Today, its another parenting dilemma... How to get your kids to eat their vegetables without causing dinner table mass hysteria..

Today's dilemma was only magnified by the "broccoli incident" last week. Tanner got 3 small pieces of broccoli to eat with his dinner and refused them. He got in trouble and had to stay at the dinner table until his vege's were all gone. He spent almost 45 minutes psyching himself up for the big green taste. Finally, he gave into the pressure of an immediate bedtime, popped some broccoli into his mouth... And then puked all over the table. And I'm not talking about some baby spit here.. This was projectile! So while his mother hauled him off to the tub and I spent some time with my friend the bleach bottle... I had to think of a new approach.

Tonight, it hit. I'd try to tackle his competitive side.. What if we had a vegetable eating contest? Dad vs. Son... Calvin vs. Little Calvin.. Who could eat the most in one bite. Yes, his mom posed some choking concerns.. But we're boys! (Insert Tim Tayler laugh here!)

Turns out... Competitive vegetable eating works... Quite well.. Between the two of us we polished off most of the can, trying to outdo one another. He finally got me with the "10 fork". What a competitor!

Let's just NOT do this on broccoli night!