That brings us to the pictures chronicling my son's second Easter Egg experience featuring: egg dying, eating and hunting. Enjoy...Oh yes, the one picture with grandma also features her adult beverage cleverly concealed by her right hand.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Nathan's Easter Egg Experience
It's times like these that I realize my son will not remember any of this. In fact, he's probably about a year to a year and a half away from having memories permanently etched in his head from everyday experiences he will be able to look back on. Even still, its great to be apart of you child's explorations creating great memories for yourself even if it involves vinegar laced dye that at the time permanently transforms his hand to an exact likeness of the Incredible Hulk.
That brings us to the pictures chronicling my son's second Easter Egg experience featuring: egg dying, eating and hunting. Enjoy...Oh yes, the one picture with grandma also features her adult beverage cleverly concealed by her right hand.
That brings us to the pictures chronicling my son's second Easter Egg experience featuring: egg dying, eating and hunting. Enjoy...Oh yes, the one picture with grandma also features her adult beverage cleverly concealed by her right hand.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Miscellaneous Thoughts
Can you smell the seasons change?
Yeah. Sounds a bit cheesy. But as the snow melts and the daytime temperatures inch up into the 50s, the smells that are masked by the harshness of winter are released from their slumber slowly permeating the air. Just the other day when we had a fluke 65 degree day, I could smell the saturated topsoil while simultaneously hearing the snow on the roof melt and the resultant water flow down the gutter. You don't realize how energizing an experience that is until you go five months without it.
It is these sensory experiences that accompany spring that make this part of the year my favorite. Keep in mind that I write all this at the expense of it sounding like a sappy Robert Frost poem. Nothing against Robert Frost but poetry and me don't get along. I'm really bad with stanzas especially that 5-7-5 rule for Haiku.
March and early April is that time of the year that shows promise both meteorologically and in the amount of daylight we enjoy late in the day. (The earlier start to Daylight Saving Time thanks to the Energy Reform Act of 2005 is responsible for this). The one disheartening early spring fact of life is the color of the lawn. Snow mold as a result of a heavy snow pack seems like a cancer that only dissipates with time. Patience is not a virtue that I am blessed with when it comes to regaining my lawn's radiance. Even as the grass grows in April and May, the vestiges of this "cancer" remain. Around April 20th, I plan to bust out the garden rake and forcefully remove these "tumors". Whether or not they come willingly is entirely up to them.
As the weather improves, my indoor activities are slowly being phased out in place of more favorable things to do outside in the fresh air such as landscaping. But before I complete the switch, I need to finish a few books. One of which is a great book by a John Spanier, a current or past professor of Political Science ( I can't find him on The Web to find out for sure. Hell, he might be dead seeing that he wrote this book in 1973) at the University of Florida. I'll not go into a lengthy diatribe describing specific citations from the book. Let's just say that up through page 165, he has discussed the psychology of Cold War foreign policy from the third person point of view and how it changed from the end of World War II to the end of the Vietnam War. In essence, the Cold War political chess game dissected for your enjoyment. Sounds like a read for academic types but trust me, its pretty intriguing. At the rate that I'm going, this book, all 400+ pages of it, won't be done until August.
That brings me to my outdoor projects soon to begin once the permafrost softens up in the backyard. I've got a set of outdoor walking stones to put around the steps of the deck. And, the old outdoor basketball hoop is ready to go into the ground shortly thereafter.
Honestly, there was no real reason to write about any of this other than to post something as a transitionary essay to a topic that is really good. What that topic will be is any one's guess.
Yeah. Sounds a bit cheesy. But as the snow melts and the daytime temperatures inch up into the 50s, the smells that are masked by the harshness of winter are released from their slumber slowly permeating the air. Just the other day when we had a fluke 65 degree day, I could smell the saturated topsoil while simultaneously hearing the snow on the roof melt and the resultant water flow down the gutter. You don't realize how energizing an experience that is until you go five months without it.
It is these sensory experiences that accompany spring that make this part of the year my favorite. Keep in mind that I write all this at the expense of it sounding like a sappy Robert Frost poem. Nothing against Robert Frost but poetry and me don't get along. I'm really bad with stanzas especially that 5-7-5 rule for Haiku.
March and early April is that time of the year that shows promise both meteorologically and in the amount of daylight we enjoy late in the day. (The earlier start to Daylight Saving Time thanks to the Energy Reform Act of 2005 is responsible for this). The one disheartening early spring fact of life is the color of the lawn. Snow mold as a result of a heavy snow pack seems like a cancer that only dissipates with time. Patience is not a virtue that I am blessed with when it comes to regaining my lawn's radiance. Even as the grass grows in April and May, the vestiges of this "cancer" remain. Around April 20th, I plan to bust out the garden rake and forcefully remove these "tumors". Whether or not they come willingly is entirely up to them.
As the weather improves, my indoor activities are slowly being phased out in place of more favorable things to do outside in the fresh air such as landscaping. But before I complete the switch, I need to finish a few books. One of which is a great book by a John Spanier, a current or past professor of Political Science ( I can't find him on The Web to find out for sure. Hell, he might be dead seeing that he wrote this book in 1973) at the University of Florida. I'll not go into a lengthy diatribe describing specific citations from the book. Let's just say that up through page 165, he has discussed the psychology of Cold War foreign policy from the third person point of view and how it changed from the end of World War II to the end of the Vietnam War. In essence, the Cold War political chess game dissected for your enjoyment. Sounds like a read for academic types but trust me, its pretty intriguing. At the rate that I'm going, this book, all 400+ pages of it, won't be done until August.
That brings me to my outdoor projects soon to begin once the permafrost softens up in the backyard. I've got a set of outdoor walking stones to put around the steps of the deck. And, the old outdoor basketball hoop is ready to go into the ground shortly thereafter.
Honestly, there was no real reason to write about any of this other than to post something as a transitionary essay to a topic that is really good. What that topic will be is any one's guess.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Global Warming - A Different View
Those of you who know me know that I HATE politics. I am, however, fascinated in how ideals, whether from the left or right, are conveyed then twisted and molded to fit a certain political paradigm and that there are common everyday folks dumb enough to believe these edicts as the archetype of ultimate thinking.
Since we all hear about Global Warming through the media, which only provides the side of the argument that has "shock value" and thus higher ratings, I offer another side of this debate through this video.
Keep this in mind: I am a scientist so I look at science related topics with an unbiased eye. When I formulate a scientific hypothesis based on unbiased scientific data, the political ramifications of such a result don't even enter into the picture. For a more balanced perspective, I recently saw the Al Gore documentary. Again, I kept an open mind.
However, after close inspection, I found that Al Gore's documentary on Global Warming is filled with incomplete truths of it's own as illustrated in this video. In my opinion, this video gives the most scientific, unbiased look at Global Warming.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4520665474899458831
Since we all hear about Global Warming through the media, which only provides the side of the argument that has "shock value" and thus higher ratings, I offer another side of this debate through this video.
Keep this in mind: I am a scientist so I look at science related topics with an unbiased eye. When I formulate a scientific hypothesis based on unbiased scientific data, the political ramifications of such a result don't even enter into the picture. For a more balanced perspective, I recently saw the Al Gore documentary. Again, I kept an open mind.
However, after close inspection, I found that Al Gore's documentary on Global Warming is filled with incomplete truths of it's own as illustrated in this video. In my opinion, this video gives the most scientific, unbiased look at Global Warming.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4520665474899458831
Monday, March 12, 2007
Expanding My Interests
For those of you who don't know, I used to play the drums. Yes, its been a while, quite a while in fact. But over the last couple of years, I've been rekindling my interest in playing. So, through relearning the basic rudiments with a drum book that I've had since I was a kid, it's slowly coming back to me. Not that I was all that good to begin with but what I had way back when is coming back...slowly but surely.
I found some really cool videos on YouTube showing the best drummer (in my opinion) of all time: BUDDY RICH. Even if you're not a drum fan, they're pretty mind blowing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bIchqJoxFQ
I found some really cool videos on YouTube showing the best drummer (in my opinion) of all time: BUDDY RICH. Even if you're not a drum fan, they're pretty mind blowing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bIchqJoxFQ
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
My Birthday
As the title implies, today is my birthday. As I write this around 6PM in the evening, I can only recall maybe 3 times today when I reminded myself that it was indeed my birthday. Two of those times were when a family member called to wish me a happy birthday. I am grateful for everyone remembering but in the grand scheme of things, it's just another day at the office which is fine with me. While I was recently promoted at my job, it didn't actually occur on my birthday so technically it doesn't count in breaking the monotony of my birthday workday. The time of the promotion was close--27 hours close.
Awe hell, it counts. Who am I kidding?
Another reason that this birthday doesn't seem like a big deal is that my age--33--isn't a real sexy number. For starters, I'm not a big fan of odd numbers past 9. 11, 13, 19, 21, 27...not a fan of any of them. I don't know why this is. It just is.
Age number 32 was good. 30 was equally good. 34 will also be a memorable birthday simply because it's an even number. 33? Nope, it really doesn't represent anything. It's not a 21st birthday filled with drunken activities. Its not the 30th which ceremoniously signifies that you are an adult and that you should grow up and accept your move to adulthood even though your reluctance to do so becomes the driving force behind your behavior for the first few months afterward. (Was that a run-on sentence?)
I had a nice breakfast with my wife and son so we had quality family time which amounted to about 55 minutes but quality time nonetheless. Nathan drew me a nice birthday card which he was very proud of. A good time for all.
But what would make me forget that my age will be an odd number at 8:58 EST? Lots of cash. So just go ahead and back up the Brinks truck to my doorstep and just let the C-notes flow right into my living room. A beer will do in the mean time.
Awe hell, it counts. Who am I kidding?
Another reason that this birthday doesn't seem like a big deal is that my age--33--isn't a real sexy number. For starters, I'm not a big fan of odd numbers past 9. 11, 13, 19, 21, 27...not a fan of any of them. I don't know why this is. It just is.
Age number 32 was good. 30 was equally good. 34 will also be a memorable birthday simply because it's an even number. 33? Nope, it really doesn't represent anything. It's not a 21st birthday filled with drunken activities. Its not the 30th which ceremoniously signifies that you are an adult and that you should grow up and accept your move to adulthood even though your reluctance to do so becomes the driving force behind your behavior for the first few months afterward. (Was that a run-on sentence?)
I had a nice breakfast with my wife and son so we had quality family time which amounted to about 55 minutes but quality time nonetheless. Nathan drew me a nice birthday card which he was very proud of. A good time for all.
But what would make me forget that my age will be an odd number at 8:58 EST? Lots of cash. So just go ahead and back up the Brinks truck to my doorstep and just let the C-notes flow right into my living room. A beer will do in the mean time.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Milestone News As Promised
Back in the 70s and 80s, you rarely heard of people driving cars with much more than 100,000 miles. Nowadays, its fairly common. The new watermark of high mileage is now 200,000 or better.
Yesterday, on February 22, 2007 at 3:13PM, my 1997 Pontiac Grand AM just eclipsed the 200,000 mile barrier! And let me tell you, it was every bit exciting as you would think. To be honest, this narrative really won't do the experience justice. So I'll do my best in chronicling the minute of so leading up to the apex of odometer longevity.
The last 20 miles or so as I watched the odometer roll as I thundered down the interstate were filled with anticipation. So much so you could cut it with a knife it was so thick...
...199,983. A quick exercise in mental math revealed that I had 17 miles to go. I continued unabated at 68 miles per hour in a northeasterly direction to work.
...199,992. Traffic density started to increase as a few other interstates converged at my location. If this increase in traffic continues, I thought, I'll have a veery difficult time pulling over to take a picture of the odometer if the "big roll" occurs. 199,995....I trudge on.
...199,997. Only three miles to work and coincidentally, only three miles to the promised land. Will I have to drive a few laps around the parking lot to finish the job or will it have to wait until my trip home?
...199,999.0. I'm at the stop light right around the corner to work. This is going to be close...
...199,999.8. Should I try for the parking lot or should I wait? ehhhhh....crap. I quickly make a sudden change in my trip and veer down another a less traveled street to increase my chances at finding a spot along the side of the street so I could snap a picture of the odometer
...199,999.9. Stop light turned red. Damn. The anticipation is killing me.....there go the digits....slowly. Speed: 27 miles per hour.
...199,999.995. Okay, so odometers don't have two or three decimal digits but if they did, I would have had something to document during that 0.005 miles of road.
...200,000 FINALLY!!! The milestone was reached. I felt the power. It was the greatest natural high one can achieve legally.
As all the numbers finished their tumble, I paused briefly to reflect what me and wife have been through in our travels since the Grand AM's purchase. I put'er into gear and finished my trip to work. The next milestone: 225,000.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Our 100th Post
After roughly 15 months on the World Wide Web, all of us at Evening With Sabs now present our 100th posting. For parts of this post, I will try my hand at the ever-popular literary device:
FORESHADOWING. I hope this doesn't suck.
So I went to a Mardi Gras party over the weekend.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not Mr. Party-Guy but I do like to throw a few back and relax while talking about random topics ranging from the weather to American foreign policy.At the risk of someone reading this who was present at the party, I'm about to make an observation that is as esoteric as it is ambiguous.
For the very first time in my life, I have observed the strangest amalgam of person ever. There, at that party stood the exact cross between Edward James Olmos and Cousin Itt. Granted, others probably exist in the world but none as grizzled and as...well hairy. If you know who either of these famous individuals are then I need not go any further.
-----------------------------------------
Other random bits:
I nearly finished painting the basement on Sunday. That, in and of itself, isn't a big deal. But when you consider that on Saturday, I felt as if I was drugged into a state of ultimate lethargy due to exhaustion, painting a straight line was a feat analogous to walking a tightrope.
Baseball season is officially here. All players are now at spring training in either Arizona or Florida and I still have 16 inches of snow in my backyard.
On Thursday, a milestone will be reached that many wish to achieve someday and only a select few actually experience in their lifetime. More on this Friday or Saturday.
FORESHADOWING. I hope this doesn't suck.
So I went to a Mardi Gras party over the weekend.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not Mr. Party-Guy but I do like to throw a few back and relax while talking about random topics ranging from the weather to American foreign policy.At the risk of someone reading this who was present at the party, I'm about to make an observation that is as esoteric as it is ambiguous.
For the very first time in my life, I have observed the strangest amalgam of person ever. There, at that party stood the exact cross between Edward James Olmos and Cousin Itt. Granted, others probably exist in the world but none as grizzled and as...well hairy. If you know who either of these famous individuals are then I need not go any further.
-----------------------------------------
Other random bits:
I nearly finished painting the basement on Sunday. That, in and of itself, isn't a big deal. But when you consider that on Saturday, I felt as if I was drugged into a state of ultimate lethargy due to exhaustion, painting a straight line was a feat analogous to walking a tightrope.
Baseball season is officially here. All players are now at spring training in either Arizona or Florida and I still have 16 inches of snow in my backyard.
On Thursday, a milestone will be reached that many wish to achieve someday and only a select few actually experience in their lifetime. More on this Friday or Saturday.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Inventor of TV Remote Dies
Don't tell me you never wondered who the mastermind was behind one of the most important, life-altering inventions of the 20th century. Well, that guy has passed.
For the entire story, check out this link.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Nathan Working With Tools
The ultimate measure of a man (or boy in this case) is how many tools he has and whether or not he knows how to use them. My son is learning fast how to act manly. These pictures (along with a few random ones) tell the story brilliantly.
Disclaimer: We here at Evening With Sabs DO NOT endorse or promote underage drinking.
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