The Shblog

I hear the secrets that you keep...

2010-09-21T09:05:00.001-05:00

The other morning as I was getting ready Lucie yelled out as loud as she is capable, "Mommy I didn't want you to eat the other one! No! No! No!"

Well, do you?

2010-09-19T00:03:00.001-05:00

tonight's highlight.

She's four!

2010-08-24T06:28:00.000-05:00

Lucie's birthday video

a few movies and pics

2010-08-01T20:52:00.002-05:00

click here: Mobile Me Gallery

video parade 2010

2010-07-03T17:18:00.004-05:00

Lucie at swimming lessons, n.b. she is fearless.

And now the golf course:

She is already better than her father.

Lucie's famous

2010-06-11T21:06:00.003-05:00

So proud of our little frenchy!

Dance Dance Revolution

2010-06-05T15:02:00.005-05:00

>

Lucie's dance recital. I'm quite proud.

2010-05-15T15:59:00.004-05:00

A week from today melissa and I leave for here:

(A little vague, I know)

I have been keeping this a secret for so long (from her anyway) that it's getting very hard not to tell her. However, I may have some post-partum afterwards. This is how I roll.

Case in point: As a kid I would get gar (who was then known only as "ry-guy") to line up all of his toys on one side of the room while I would dump out my red milk-crate full on my side and carefully line them up. This would take what seemed like hours. When we were finally done we would say, "ok, let's start the battle." 7 seconds later I would lose interest.

I'm all about the build up, and unfortunately am sometimes let down by the actual event. But this will soon change! Next week in Newark will be MIND-BLOWING!!! (actual location may vary)

Scary fact #2: When left to herself, Lucie's absolute favorite thing to do is to make a "line."
Example:

yikes.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird.

2010-04-27T09:01:00.000-05:00

so awesome!

2010-04-11T18:36:00.001-05:00

My first entry from an ipad

2010-04-10T12:01:00.002-05:00

Don't get too excited, it's not MY iPad. I'm just at the local apple store. But wow, this thing is sweet!
One day. One...day.

My favorite SNL skit in recent years

2010-04-07T19:59:00.001-05:00

I'll wait for your head to explode

2010-04-01T11:13:00.001-05:00

This statement is false.

(more than a) weekend update

2010-03-15T16:35:00.000-05:00

Some new pics.

finally found this

2010-02-06T08:48:00.002-06:00

Sorry to have neglected you Mr. Blog. But I found something worth posting.

In elementary school I remember watching this really strange movie about a world where it never stopped raining. I had no idea who wrote it or who was in it. A few years ago I tried to see if I could find it online and was unsuccessful. But today I found it! "It's called All Summer in a Day" and it's based on a short story by Ray Bradbury. Does anyone else remember this or was my school the only one that made their kids watch such weird stuff?

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Raspberry pie

2009-12-17T04:19:00.001-06:00

syntax error

2009-11-29T05:41:00.002-06:00

Is it me, or does the following snippit from CNN.com make it sound like our President is a cannibal:

Pres. Obama cheers on brother-in-law at basketball game
Posted: November 28th, 2009 04:03 PM ET

From CNN Associate Political Producer Emily Sherman

(CNN)– President Obama took his family on an outing Saturday to the Oregon State-George Washington University basketball game in support of First Lady Michelle Obama's brother Craig Robinson.

Robinson, who coaches the Oregon State Beavers, was cheered on by the President, who snacked on popcorn, the First Lady, Sasha, Malia and the girls’ grandmother Marian Robinson.

errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

2009-11-18T22:32:00.004-06:00

For some reason this just kills me. It slays me.

Happy B-Day, Pete! I barely made it!!!!!!! I'm a horrible friend. This makes up for it:

This was in a 1909 Salt Lake Herald newspaper. Read the "Apollo beats High Five" deal (if you can). Go pete! Way to time travel and then be good at old-timey basketball!

Jane's new talent

2009-11-16T23:27:00.000-06:00

"Pesagus!"

Jello...pudding...pops...

2009-11-14T12:01:00.003-06:00

We were explaining to lucie what kind of doctor I am and I said "Lucie, I'm a urologist." And she replied, "a My-ologist?"

Yesterday in the car Lucie wanted to watch a movie. "Carbow." Melissa and I both looked at each other, "What?" "Carbeow!" I tried "caribou?" "NO!" Carebears?" "NO!!! Care-a-bow!" She started to cry because he stupid parents couldn't understand what she wanted. We finally decided to let her go inside and find the movie. She went in and brought out "The Incredibles." Duh.

How bout a movie:

"i'm on my ears..."

lucie warhol

2009-11-07T15:40:00.005-06:00

Melissa has let Lucie have free reign over a little digital camera lately. I pretty much gave it up for landfill fodder but she has actually turned into quite the little photographer. The following shots were all taken by her in the last couple of days. Granted, I didn't include about 90 doubles, but I think their are some really cool shots in here. It's a little Plastic-bag-a-la-american-beauty, but I like it. (Notice the music, Sarah!)

Thanks to everyone for all of my b-day presents! More pics to follow and likely a mass of posts as I am on vacation for the next 10 days (glory be!)

P.S. According to Lucie, I apparently spend 90% of my time lying on the couch watching t.v. and eating Mcdonalds. Fortunately the other 10% is spent taking the kids on super-exciting bike rides.

These are by me:
Before:

After:

Required Viewing

2009-10-27T21:36:00.002-05:00

Every 1-2 years I am required, by my own personal laws and regulations, to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (as well as Amelie and It's a Wonderful Life). Tonight I was way overdue for some ESotSM. It's funny how it can have the same effects on me every time. I've got that whole joie de vivre and carpe diem thing going on now. Not to mention a certain veni, vidi, vici and of course, eine kleine nocht musick.

Hmm...Maybe I'll watch Amelie now.

I.Suck@blogging.com

2009-10-26T21:28:00.002-05:00

Mostly just to get that obnoxious freeze-frame of strange canadian college students off the top 'O the blog:

Here's to those crazy French-Canadians

2009-09-27T19:56:00.000-05:00

2009-09-07T20:45:00.003-05:00

A few days ago I was trying to show Lucie how a stethoscope works. She had it positioned over her heart and after listening for a few seconds she looked up and said, "My heart smells stupid."

Awesome.

pics

2009-08-24T21:36:00.004-05:00

Captions to follow when my job stops draining every second of my time. More on this and other stories at 11, including why on earth I'm on call 8 times in 12 days.

surprise, it didn't suck.

2009-07-12T00:48:00.006-05:00

In fact I really liked it. Really.

Melissa rented Knowing with Nicolas Cage and I rolled my eyes. Ever since he entered his post-family man, National "I can't believe they made two of them" Treasure, what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-his-hair phase I have completely lost interest in him or any of his films. Thus I expected nothing short of pure annoyance from this film which seemed right similar in plot synopsis to 2007's Next, a film which sucked enough in the 8 minutes I saw to cause me to turn it off. But, much to my surprise, except for a few plot points, and awkward lines, I was fairly riveted by the whole thing. There are some amazing scenes (I don't use that phrase lightly) and a couple of story decisions which were downright brave. Good on you, Nicolas Cage! Way to not suck so much. Of course, now you* will have slightly increased expectations if you** take any stock in this blogger's opinion (and you*** had better), and this may thus ruin it for you****. Whatever. Go rent it, you.***** Lemme know what you****** think.

*ryan and/or peter
**again, ryan and/or peter
***you get the idea

In other news, a while back I barked at lucie for heaven knows what and she started crying, as she is wont to do. Then she floored me with the following remark: "Daddy, I'm just a widdow girw!" I immediately melted into pieces and gave her whatever she wanted (probably a knife or mixed drink). She picked up on this, however, and now throws that line around just about every time she doesn't get exactly what she wants. Ahhh...kids.

I got to sit in a dunking booth for the first time in my life today. It was fun, although as there were only a handful of people at the fundraiser, and as the other booth was populated by a famous Missouri Basketball player, I spent the majority of my stint sitting sadly dry on my sad pedestal. Fortunately my friend was kind enough to pay for his 6 year old son the throw enough balls to eventually get me in the water.

Did you know that I will never have to be on general surgery call again? Never will I have to hear the words, "hey, Holyoak, there are 2 traumas coming in and three Nec Fasc* [pronounced "neck-fash"] consults in the ER. Good luck with that." And although I am currently on call and have been for all but 2 days this week (YIKES!), it is a glorious time filled with prostates and kidneys. So happy I picked urology. I am actually super lucky as I pretty much picked my specialty out of a hat based on little to no real knowledge of what lay before me.

*Necrotizing Fasciitis (click at your own risk, and that of your appetite). Is it legal to start a new series of asterisks?

Finally, some much overdue pictures. I had spent about an hour offloading 5 or 6 hilarious/adorable vids from my camcorder only to realize the sound didn't transfer over, (wtf, firewire?) and totally lost my mind in anger. So you just get these. Deal.

um...wow

2009-07-02T11:09:00.002-05:00

At the end of this article from cnn.com about Michael Jackson's will you will find this gem:

In the day's final development, a London woman filed a 93-page handwritten document in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming she was Jackson's secret wife and the mother of all three of his children.

In asking for all of Jackson's assets, the woman also added: "I have up to 30 children. My Father (Satan the Devil) Khalid Lucifer as he is known, gave them to us."

What a country...

sheesh

2009-06-27T11:58:00.004-05:00

Wow, I shouldn't blog at 3a.m. apparently...

Angelique took some amazing shots of Jane recently. Here's one of our favorites.

Check out her site for several more.

Why do I crave tacos at all times?

Today is my last general surgery call ever. Ever! EVER, EVER, EVER!!!!!

The next time you have 3 free hours, read the reviews of this t-shirt. What an incredible phenomenon. I want to own one.

Midnight musings

2009-06-27T03:32:00.001-05:00

As I walk back to my car at 3:30 in the morning after an emergency
surgery, bringing to a close my 12th day in a row of work and in
preparation for another 30 hour shift tomorrow, I marvel at the career
path I have chosen for myself and hope that at the end of it all it
will have been worth it.

Run-on sentence of the year!!!

So Proud

2009-06-10T23:10:00.001-05:00

Sous-titre: The quest for the iphone.

p.s. I want one.

p.p.s. 20 days of gen surg left!

p.p.p.s. Should I put a pic of Lucie's headwound on here?!?!? 5 staples! Maybe not. so gory.

p.p.p.p.s. For several years the background music that my brain has settled on is the theme from the kids in the hall, which is strange since I haven't actually heard it in years. The other day I was in clinic and my boss said "are you humming the theme to the kids in the hall?" It blew my mind. Of course, she is Canadienne, so...

p.p.p.p.p.s. Wow, blogging is fun. It has been too long.

Going to sleep. Maybe I'll blog tomorrow?

ace

2009-06-08T10:02:00.002-05:00

We went to a local air show and unfortunately only saw planes on the ground. We left because of extreme heat and severe lack of 2-year-old interest. But it was fun anyway. Next year I'm bringing a chair!

backlog

2009-05-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

amazing photo

2009-05-03T19:12:00.003-05:00

Our great friends Emmy and Aron tied the knot recently. Check out these AMAZING photos from their New Orleans wedding. (Watch for the flower girl!) What a photographer!

CLICK HERE

And for more of our "famous" children, check out page 141 of Inside Columbia magazine. (hope you're patient)
CLICK HERE

hit parade

2009-04-26T20:40:00.001-05:00

[Insert long/witty excuse here]

Hey there, check out some pics:

real post coming soon

2009-04-24T17:03:00.001-05:00

Dutchies and Dice

2009-03-01T20:58:00.006-06:00

I was reading some of my old posts from 2006 and realized that I used to be quite the prolific little blogger. I know I had more free time back then, but I should still be able to crank out a paragraph or two at least every couple of days, don't you think?

Anywho, we recently travelled out to Utah for Grandma Mary Jane(melissa's mom's mom)'s funeral. This post is dedicated to grandma.

When Melissa and I got married our first home was Grandma and Grandpa's basement. We paid an exorbitant $250.00 a month. Grandma threatened to raise the rent, but I don't think she ever did. We were newlyweds, and there was no lock on the door to the upstairs. Take a second to ponder that fact. Enough said.

We used to go upstairs with G&G and play dice or cards. Sometimes we'd watch VHS movies. Sometimes we'd play piano. My pet iguana, Devo (RIP 2001) escaped upstairs and into (that's right, INTO) grandma's couch. I eventually had to turn the couch over and cut a hole in the bottom to free him. Sorry, Grandma. Now you know!

On birthdays grandma would always have us sing the dutch birthday song which sounded like "Long sal-silavia, Long sal-silavia, Long sal-silavia in the gloria...in the gloria! In the glo-Ree-Ya!" I was a smart-ass and would sing "lost in transylvania." Meliss did not approve. Grandma would roll her eyes.

Grandma and grandpa let us stay in their condo in St. George for our honeymoon. They gave my brother cheap rent in the back room. (did you just have one room? did we share the bathroom? NUTS!) Once the basement flooded and I nearly electrocuted myself wading through the kitchen.

We both went to East High and we both have red hair. It was an accomplishment to get grandma to laugh at my jokes. Sometimes I could even get her to laugh a big hearty laugh. She used to joke about having certain people erased from the giant family photo above the stairs. That was funny.

It always amazed me to see how many people fit into that picture and what an ordeal it must have been to get that photo taken. Melissa will laugh at this part, as she has recently seen how tolerant I am of our friend Olan Mills.

Her family is of course even larger now. It was great to see everyone celebrate her life last week at the viewing and funeral. If I may wax even a bit more cheesy, I have to say that I am jealous of grandma now that she knows the last great secret of what happens next. Thank you grandma for your generosity, your laugh, and your wit. Our family will always sing lost in transylvania at birthdays, and I will teach Lucie and Jane about their wiley, red-haired great-grandmother.

Come on...

2009-02-23T10:37:00.001-06:00

I was just in the waiting room at the doctor's office (don't worry, no
new injuries) and the nurse called out, "Joshua Holly-cock?" Come on,
people.

simple minds

2009-02-16T23:03:00.004-06:00

Melissa bought an old PC from her former employer for dirt cheap and we are rigging it up for Lucie to destroy. I found an old program that we used to play with back in the mid 1990's: Sound recorder. It turns out that it is still incredibly fun to play with. It is so simple, yet so powerful. I have learned from it that there is nothing funnier on this planet than a two year old's voice in slow motion:

babies n space

2009-02-12T20:09:00.013-06:00

This is Lucie enjoying an appetizer of syrup on tortilla chips. She is apparently part elf.

Lucie's new and improved gymnastics class. 800 times bigger and much better equipment, but we all miss Coach Bob.

Went to White Castle in St. Louis. As it turns out, it sucks. The burgers are small, topped only with grease and onion shreds, and the buns are soggy before you get your receipt. Thanks for the heads up, Harold and Kumar.

Janie-Poo is now her official nickname. Sorry, kiddo (that's for you, Dan).

Went to Liberty Jail in Liberty, Missouri. Very cool.

I just finished the miniseries When We Left Earth and I cannot stop thinking about space. Did you know that we are currently on schedule to make it back to the moon in 2019 (50 years after we first made it there) and we are planning to land on Mars in 2037? Did you further know that I will be 49? Did you know that we landed on the moon 6 times?

The Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo missions is the most powerful rocket ever built (160 Million Horsepower and 36 stories tall). The Ares will be the new series of rockets for the next set of moon missions (already being tested) and will be even more powerful!!! Are you as dorked out as I am right now?!?!?!

Let us return to normalcy with some video of Jane being adorable. The sounds made by me were too obnoxious so I spared you all. You're welcome.

p.s. As Dad sadly pointed out in his comment, I will actually be 58-59 in the year 2037. Josh = loves space/sucks at math.

the great hiatus

2009-02-02T12:32:00.003-06:00

I figure one post per month is the bare minimum for any self-respecting blogger. Although, I have some pretty good excuses. Not the least of which being the fact that I recently broke my hand. You might notice that my right hand looks a little more blue than my left. I'll try to scan my x-rays in, they're much cooler. As to how it happened, it turns out that in a battle between the ground and bone, the ground wins. Fortunately somebody in Galveston designed this sweet little brace for people like myself:

4-6 weeks of this and I'll be back in business.

Where oh where

2009-01-02T21:03:00.002-06:00

Man, my time between posts is getting pretty long. No time. Must...survive...month in ICU...

Remind me to tell you about Lucie's Mary Kay adventure during my nap today.

And now for something completely different:

Santa!

2008-12-14T08:52:00.005-06:00

After an unsuccessful attempt at bonding with ole St. Nick at the church christmas party, Lucie finally let down her guard and met with the big man at the Urology party. Behold:

Still a bit hesitant.

Jane had no qualms at all.

Lucie preferred cookie making at first, we owe the party planners about 10 bucks for wasted sprinkles.

Mommie and Jane, who managed to sleep through the whole affair.

Finally she caved.

Aww...presh.

She still preferred markers as soon as he freed her.

Looking snazzy.

Daddy dressed festively.

More sleeping. The tongue never goes away.

Coming to Utah this week. Can't Wait!!!!!!!!

the darndest things

2008-12-03T22:07:00.003-06:00

When Lucie is cold she now says "I colding!"

She calls all soda "pessy" (pepsi) except diet root beer which is called "daddy pessy."

She has an addiction to all things pixar:
"Mouse" = Ratatouille
"Bugs" = A Bug's life
"Wowee" = WallE
"Cars" = Cars (uh...yeah)

In order to go to sleep she requires her "white blankey" which is actually her pink blankey, her "pink inky" (pink binky), and "cackitt milk" (chocolate milk).

When she's not sure which thing we want her to grab or point to she says "Nissan? Nissan?" (this one?)

She much prefers to "sherr" (shower) rather than take a bath.

She was crying because I was leaving and Melissa said "Daddy has to go to work." Lucie said, "Daddy work? Lucie work!" (just try to go to work after that)

Too many other cute things to mention.

Check out some sweet pics of Luce done by a profesh on her blog.

pics

2008-11-28T21:32:00.003-06:00

Have a kid...or two.

Leaves!

Mommy and Jane

Assume the position.

Lucie and friends at Thanksgiving.

something witty

2008-11-23T22:33:00.001-06:00

The following is long and may only be enjoyable to grandparents and gymnastics enthusiasts.

1:00 a.m. Horse race

2008-11-13T00:55:00.002-06:00

I had to come in from "home call" (which is glorious by the way) to see a patient at 1:00 a.m. tonight and the hospital parking garage had no power. It was pretty creepy circling up the garage in complete darkness. But what's more, they're obviously trying to get the power up and running and a crappy recording of that trumpet solo (like right before the start of a horse race) keeps going off. Again, at 1:00 a.m. I'm sure all the local co-eds are loving that.

P.S. I also got bloody urine splashed in my face tonight. Don't ask.

The Philadelphia

2008-11-10T21:13:00.003-06:00

Not to be confused with Mr. Hanks' oscar-winning epic, this movie is okay, too. Actually, it was so good that it took two parts to get it all on youtube! Make sure to hang on for the out-takes at the end for Josh's hypocritical fault-finding. My personal favorite: Gar's I Dream of Genie blink. Classic.

Wow, it's a miracle I didn't die of hyponatremia from drinking all that water. And I have to say, those out-takes are about the funniest thing ever captured on film. I could watch them 100 times. And I will.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

2008-11-10T06:13:00.004-06:00

Sweet Sweet Jane

Lucie relaxing with Grandma Celeste

Witch Lucie!

Uni-pigtail

It has now gotten dangerous to actually light as many candles as years I have been alive.

I got a sweet telescope...

And a shiny new iPhone!!! So spoiled.

Happy Birthday to me

2008-11-05T05:55:00.003-06:00

It didn't end up mattering, but boy was it close in Missouri. And check out how the red and blue counties broke down. We're like our own little microcosm of the country.

For my 30th birthday I would like:
1) A new president
2) World Peace
3) Whirled Peas
4) A Porsche
5) A day off to sleep
6) 2 happy, healthy beautiful daughters

(please note #'s 1, 3, and 6 have already been granted)

Yes we can!

2008-11-04T23:15:00.001-06:00

There is Hope!

p.s. is that cornball enough for you?

The Shblog goes political!

2008-10-30T22:46:00.004-05:00

So, Barack Obama visited Columbia, Missouri tonight, a short 5-minute walk from my place of work. I went over to check it out, only to find that I couldn't get within 100 yards of where he would be speaking. Here are some photos:

The setting: University of Missouri ("MIZZOU") campus. Lots and lots of people.

Some idiots climbed trees to get a better look and they received a scary superbright flashlight of doom from these dudes on top of a nearby building.

My camera has a 300mm zoom lens and this was the best I could do, needless to say I was far away. But we could sure hear him. He gave a great speech. But you don't have to take my word for it. (bah-dum-dah!) Here is a link to the speech. I recorded it on my phone, so don't expect Doubly. ("I think you mean dolby.") Name that movie!

High School Movie Fest

2008-10-30T22:18:00.001-05:00

To Have Loved & Lost

Bad Karma

Bob & Doug's Journey to the Unknown

Lucie (sort of) acknowledges her sister!

2008-10-28T21:35:00.004-05:00

And now, more of lucie (for a change):

A sign at my hospital. Should we be trying to help people be less aware of their pain? "Don't forget, sir. This hurts. A lot! Are you aware of that?"

She's home!!!

2008-10-21T18:52:00.001-05:00

Pics of baby jane finally home are coming soon. In the meantime, check out Lucie preparing for her impending arrival.

Janie (the official nickname)

2008-10-19T20:16:00.002-05:00

Footloose and Tube-free!

The last pic is my favorite. In fact, so much so, that it deserves it's own spot sans-slideshow:

My little Fuhrer

2008-10-18T20:23:00.000-05:00

Yikes.

Anna Jane ("janie" or "AJ" or "AJ-47" or "ganie" (to lucie)) is here!

2008-10-18T17:51:00.002-05:00

Check out a bunch of random pics, and then the new addition! She's doing great, hopefully we'll get her out of the ICU and home in the next few days!

Curly sue

2008-10-05T15:51:00.002-05:00

An evening with Lucie

2008-09-30T20:43:00.001-05:00

A bit random, but fun.

oh boy...

2008-09-27T14:27:00.002-05:00

Last night Melissa wanted to attend a debate party at the local republican party office. I don't really inform myself enough about anything besides acid/base disturbances lately to form a political opinion, but I generally tend to support Barack because he's such a smooth talker and just looks dreamy, don't you think? Anywho, I'm proud of Melissa for at least giving a crap. When she arrived at the party they had only set up a dinky little tv to watch the debate on. She called and asked if she could come and get our projector. I explained that it was broken and half the screen was dark. She said, "it's just for a few college kids, and anything is better than this t.v." So she came home and I pieced together a rickety ensemble of outdated electronics including some old pc speakers and a dvd burner so that their crappy Coaxial cable connection could be tubed through our dying projector. When I arrived, toddler in tow, it was considerably more than "a few college students." In fact, Frank Donatelli, deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, was there preparing to speak. (Where's Waldo (Josh)?) I nervously fumbled with my crappy electronics, right behind the speaker, trying to see if I was even going to be capable of producing a picture. I finally got it working. Remember this is a projector, just like at your local movie house, albeit shittier, and the student leader comes over, while all the lights were still on, and says, "Um, does it get any brighter?" I informed him graciously that the lights would need to be turned down. However, even with the lights down, it looked like crap. The leader continued to bitch about the brightness and how "it seems skewed!" [Relating this story to Rygar later he thought I should have replied "maybe it's their perspectives that are skewed."] Anyway, as soon as I was at least 39% sure that it would at least be watchable I wrassled up my wild child (who chirped through Mr. Important's whole speech, btw) and tore out of there stopping only to tell my wife that I would never forgive her for this embarrassing moment. At least I'm famous now. I'm sure I'll get lots of misdirected credit from my republican superiors for being a McCain worshiper now.

Watering the stars

2008-09-23T20:59:00.003-05:00

I was watering my lawn tonight and Lucie came out to help. Besides figuring out how to control the firehose sprayer and getting daddy (and herself) sopping wet, she also decided to be really really cute. She was pointing the hose straight up and I said "are you watering the sky?" And she said, "yes." Then she spotted the first star that was out and said "water...star?!?!?" She then tried to water the star and reached out for it like it was an ice cream cone. I must admit, it was pretty dang cute.

She forgot how strollers work.

Remember when I did this?

sweet.

oops

2008-09-17T18:00:00.002-05:00

Melissa calls this "pregnancy brain."

Ta-da!

2008-09-16T06:47:00.002-05:00

Although it gets off to a somewhat rocky start grammatically, the video from the skydiving place arrived and it is AWESOME! Check it out:

Also, many more pics to follow when I get a second. Like this one:

Wow and WOW.

2008-09-06T20:22:00.003-05:00

So...I went Skydiving today and actually survived. Unfortunately the video is being mailed to me on Monday so I can't put that up just yet. However, in the meantime, here are some pics from the day, including the other wow: I got to fly a freaking plane!!!! I went up with my good friends, Julie and Brian who each jumped 4 or 5 times today. During their second jump (I think) the pilot let me fly copilot. See the pics below. This was pretty much the coolest thing I have ever done in my entire life. Riding copilot was cool enough, but then as soon as the skydivers had jumped out, he did a total nose dive and then said "Grab the controls!!!" I grabbed and he let go!!!! He motioned for me to turn from side to side. I did. Then he motioned for me to REALLY turn side to side "LIKE THIS!" he says as we almost roll over from side to side!!!! Then he had me do a 180 all by myself and even...get this...fly straight into a giant cumulus cloud!!! I was completely out of my mind excited. I just laughed and laughed. Then he motioned for me to let go and he lined her up and we touched down. UN-FRIGGIN-BELIEVABLE! And all this was before I even went sky-diving!!! I will save that description for when I can put the video up. Let's just say it was even MORE insane!!! So great. What a day. I think I could have jump-started a car with my sweat today I've been so revved up. Unbelievable.

P.S. And I get to go to work at 5:45 tomorrow (Sunday)!!! [trombone: wah-wohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Best Wedding Ever

2008-09-02T20:43:00.000-05:00

I love you, guys!

Meet baby #2

2008-08-25T21:31:00.003-05:00

She looks like a Claire to me. (Don't you say it, Pete!)

Baby #1's pretty cute herself. Here she is eating her birthday cake. Can you believe Lucie's 2?

Daddy got Lucie a Beta fish for her birthday. Turns out fish are really boring.

Lucie has a doctor's play set complete with a pager that we had never put batteries into. Yesterday we finally did. She pushed the buttons and it made a beeping sound not unlike my real pager and she started saying, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" Guess one should be more careful when a toddler is listening.

Movie time.

2008-08-25T21:26:00.001-05:00

All's Fair...

2008-08-16T20:39:00.010-05:00

We went to the Missouri State Fair today in Sedalia, Missouri. We're talking middle of nowhere, here. It was pretty sweet.

Lucie decided to enlist after she saw this Cobra (not an Apache). The soldier said we could push any buttons we wanted. I went to push the missile launch button and had to pause and ask again, "any button?" "Yes!" She said. I pushed it! It was awesome!

Here you see Lucie returning from her first sortie. I heard she had a few run-ins with Charlie, but she won't really talk about it.

Daddy flashing his new fake/lame guitar tattoo on the Merry-go-round. Not cool.

Mommy got a tattoo today, too.

I put these in black and white because the red & white tent made them all look like it was raining tomato soup. I accidentally remembered how cool b&w is. The petting zoo was far and away the coolest part of the fair.

Very Versus-esque.

Lucie's mind was in a perpetually blown state.

A Zebra!

More of said zebra.

Daddy helping feed some sort of dromedary.

Totally sweet.

The lady behind me was telling her husband, "Now this must be the Yak. They thrive in cooler weather." Close enough.

Left the color for this one. Crazy-huge bird. Emu?

Still blowing her mind. This camel was so cool.

He made Melissa just a bit nervous though.

They eventually kissed and made up.

Some crazy-huge rodent. Cavy? Kavi?

Lucie bear.

Kind of tired. Time to go. It was awesome though.

Happy B-day Gar! May you find many many more iphone apps.

so...

2008-07-29T22:10:00.004-05:00

So, my boss (not just a boss, but THE boss) has a pet peeve. He hates when people start their sentences with "so..." I'm in a lot of trouble.

Some recent pics:

Baby birdies in the nest right behind our deck. They're gone now. Our little babies are all grown up!

Lucie bear.

Lucie bear at the 4th of July shindig.

Andy maxing and Mel relaxing.

The cat was wanted on the phone.

Man Land

2008-07-29T21:52:00.009-05:00

I made an impulse buy about a month ago. You know that huge playset for sale at your local warehouse shopping facility? The one that looks like it would take a month to build? Well, it did. And it is awesome. I built it almost entirely by myself (not bragging...wait, yes I am) with a bit of help from the mrs., Brad, and Andy. It came in 5 huge boxes that took 2 minivan trips to cart home. The first page of the instructions reads "This project will take 2 moderately skilled individuals 20-24 hours to build." Or one painfully inept person about a month. I'm pretty sure the neighbors think we're nuts. Check it out:

After one day: not very encouraging.

Not much to look at yet, this was after 2 days of work, I think. I took great pride in ignoring the advice in the manual: "This step requires at least 2 people." HA!

In one more session the upper deck was finished.

The beginnings of the playhouse.

Now with some walls.

A roof! And Camera tricks!

More roof.

Slide and bridge. There's a "rock climbing wall" on the right. The rocks are plastic molds, but close enough.

The tunnel! Would not have been possible without Bradley. Thanks, dude!

The finished product (finished tonight!) I'm on one of the swings. This picture was taken in the dark (13 second exposure). I'm so proud, I could cry. Just wait till Lucie gets home to see it! If you look closely there's an address marker and a doorbell. And the lights are on.

I'm working on getting a gas generator and a refrigerator/tv for the upstairs.

Filmfest

2008-07-28T08:02:00.002-05:00

No caption could live up to this. Just watch.

Sweetest PC

2008-07-17T08:36:00.001-05:00

Why didn't apple come up with this first? I feel like NASA after Sputnik.

Thank you, Conan

2008-07-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

Who knew Jesse Jackson was an aspiring urologist?

Haven't been depressed for a while...let's try this:

2008-07-08T21:19:00.001-05:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Swingers

2008-07-08T10:19:00.000-05:00

Business class.

Lucie's first trip to the ER

2008-06-30T00:48:00.006-05:00

It was bound to happen. Our daughter practically bounces off the walls most days, so she decided to try it literally yesterday. My poor mom was watching her and she fell back and hit her ear on a stupid brick ledge in the basement (which has since been covered in nicely forgiving pipe insulation). Mom felt so bad, despite me telling her that it could've happened while any of us were watching her. Anywho, we had a pleasant outing to the Emergency room and Lucie scored 6 stitches. Daddy was an idiot and let her eat so they couldn't sedate her. Instead I got to pin her down while they worked. All of the doctors were wonderful and the finished product looks great. She recovered almost immediately and is back to running around like a meth-head. All I've thought about since then is what a miracle it is that she doesn't have scars everywhere. Here are some pics of the blessed event. WARNING: some of them are not for the squeamish!

The waiting room. She ran around trying to wound herself further.

The wound!

Playing with syringes and gauze is fun!

Now with topical anesthetic on. Still smiling.

It's about to not be fun. Daddy knows. Lucie's starting to figure it out.

There was a lot of this going on...

And this...

All better!

I wish we had a picture of all 6 of us trying to keep her still and "happy" while she got sewed up. It was work! But Lucie took it like a champ. Check that one off the list of rites of passage!

Roids

2008-06-29T23:58:00.009-05:00

Finally, the Polaroids. All credit to Brohawk for showing me how easy and awesome it is to acquire one of these old school cameras. Grab some popcorn and milk duds.

The first shot with Brook's camera. After becoming accustomed to digital, and the gluttonous luxury of taking of 800 shots to get the right one, the stress of getting each shot right was nearly overwhelming. Especially with polaroid film being difficult to find (not to mention expensive: $1.50/exposure!). So my first couple of forays were not pretty. Still, even crappy polaroid shots are cool. Here we see Lucie, Dad, and the beast.

Shot #2: Mel and Lucie.

Finally a shot I was proud of. I love this shot! Doesn't it look like it could be from 1958?

Lucie electrified on the tramp

Photo by Josh. Incredibly intimidating and seemingly complicated watercolor paper image transfer by Brohawk.

The first pic (not counting a couple of pitiful attempts now stuck on Dave and Toni's fridge :P ) with my own Polaroid 250. Unlike Brook's, my camera only has one view finder with a central square that shows things malaligned if not in focus. Also, my camera required an extremely rare battery that looks like this:

and had to be special ordered. Talk about your delayed gratification!

Sweet wind turbines in Kansas.

Hee-hees in Kansas.

I think this is my favorite roid yet. Lucie on our front lawn today.

Alas, no camera is able to capture her mania.

Lucie on the deck

Mom on our newly patriotic porch.

Mom in the backyard.

I call this one, les vaches.

continuing the cow theme. There were so many of them! They were very timid at first but then millions came right at me. I got just a little bit stressed.

Thankfully I was protected by some wire. Cows are pretty cool.

And there you have it! Polaroids!!! Man, it's so fun. I'm going to spend a fortune on film.

Oh, btw, here's what the camera looks like:

Old-schooly enough for you?

Mel and I saw not one but 2 movies in the theater last night. The Happening (which was pretty scary, but not quite on par with previous M Night films) and The Love Guru (which was ridiculously funny).

Yay, Sarah!

2008-06-29T23:17:00.001-05:00

Thanks to sherbet for this sweet idea.

Me:

Mel:

Luce:

need sleep

2008-06-24T23:49:00.002-05:00

I have been told that some of the text colors on this here blog were practically illegible. I hope you will find that this has been remedied to your satisfaction, all ye who read this. (I'm so tired...who knows why I'm talking, er...writing like this.

A few quick pics then off to bed:

Super blurry. Not only is this sweet corn, it is totally BODACIOUS!

I'm Ron Burgandy???

The next two are of Lucie latching onto me in fear during our little thunderstorm today.

Ok, off to dreamland.

No! Wait! I can finally scan my meager (pola)Roids! Check it:
crap...my puter is trying to do too much. I'll scan them tomorrow.

Upcoming Babe Sequel

2008-06-19T07:53:00.001-05:00

This one is less of a heart-warming family tale. Weaken the levees? Geez-Louise.

Slow call night, anyone?

2008-06-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

Wow...this slow:

You can make one, too. You'll thank me.

Joan Rivers

2008-06-18T15:42:00.000-05:00

The old shblog got a much needed facelift today...a bit less doom and gloom. To encourage my colleagues my peeps is now sorted by most recently updated. (Wow! What an incentive!!!) There's a little slideshow action over there now as well. I know...it's THRILLING!

P.S. My ego is suffering. Remember when I used to get comments on this blog? That was great.
This ought to inspire some commentary:

HBO

2008-06-18T13:39:00.000-05:00

I've been looking for a list of how much movies are making at the box office for a while, without putting much effort into it. Turns out it was painfully easy to find. Who are all these people going to see Nicholas Cage's crapfest National Treasure?

baby brad

2008-06-17T21:37:00.000-05:00

um...wow. I have an overwhelming affinity for previews. This is how it is done.

Awesome.

Now some phone pics. This one is of a travel version of Scrabble. I just love the little star that usually advertizes something good about the product.

Hilarious.

They're all scary but especially the dude in the back with the hoodie. He looks like he hasn't eaten in 2 weeks.

I imagine opening this door to find one 12-foot high stair.

This pic doesn't capture how crazy this cloud looked. In real life it was like the Nothing. "Run, Atreyu!!!"

We flew over Kennecott on our way to SLC. By we I mean myself and 100 strangers. Unreal that we (this time we=humans) have managed to hollow out an entire mountain.

This is my favorite part of any flight: coming through huge cumulus clouds. So cool.

Wow, the Lakers are getting destroyed. I wanted the Celtics to win but this is just crazy.

Camera happy

2008-06-12T22:51:00.000-05:00

With a new wide angle lens and a trip home filled with weddings and guitar hero parties, I took 400 photos in the last week. Here are my super-mega favorites (click to see them in massive form):

Gar caught this launch pic.

The blushing bride and wild child.

More Lucie.

Mel and some dude.

Garby as Interpol.

The happy couple! Check out that camera: you just wait...

Chillin' like a villain at Liberty Park.

Here are the rest of my favorites. The timing is off and the song repeats, but I lack sleep and the will to make it better.

The whole lot can be seen here. So much easier. Thank you, Apple.

Stay tuned for a Brohawk-inspired Polaroid Festival. I now own 2 1960's era Polaroid cameras: and neither of them work! (yet)

Just for fun.

Post-Call Post*

2008-06-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

An Ode to Candy

Anyone who has spent more than 3 minutes with me in the last 30-odd years [lament] knows that I have a penchant for sweets. I eat more candy in a week than most 9-year olds do on November 1st. When I wake up in the morning the thought of real food always makes my stomach turn, but a nice handful of red vines sounds just about right. This is somewhat concerning given that I have a strong family history of Diabetes Mellitus.

Etymological Intermission:

"The term diabetes (Greek: διαβήτης, diabētēs) was coined by Aretaeus of Cappadocia. It was derived from the Greek verb διαβαίνειν, diabaínein, itself formed from the prefix dia-, "across, apart," and the verb bainein, "to walk, stand." The verb diabeinein meant "to stride, walk, or stand with legs asunder"; hence, its derivative diabētēs meant "one that straddles," or specifically "a compass, siphon." The sense "siphon" gave rise to the use of diabētēs as the name for a disease involving the discharge of excessive amounts of urine. Diabetes is first recorded in English, in the form diabete, in a medical text written around 1425. In 1675, Thomas Willis added the word mellitus, from the Latin meaning "honey", a reference to the sweet taste of the urine. This sweet taste had been noticed in urine by the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians, and Indians. In 1776, Matthew Dobson confirmed that the sweet taste was because of an excess of a kind of sugar in the urine and blood of people with diabetes. "

Thanks, Wikipedia. That was fun. My wife's name comes from the same latin root. When I get diabetes I'm going to call it diabetes Melissa. I'll save the urine tasting post for later. Yikes.

Back to the point: I love candy. Candy is my favorite. I thought, since I spend so much time eating it, I ought to devote a post to my favorites. Let me just fire up Google image search...ok, here we go.

Since it was already mentioned, I'll start with the first main food group: The Licorices (Sar: Licorii?). Red vines are a classic and are synonymous with movies. The $6.00 rip-off box is well worth it, as your mouth will want for real sweets after you've finished that large popcorn and XL Diet Coke.

Worst picture ever, but I searched. These are the truest form of licorice: the shoestring. Sadly, this breed is on the endangered species list. Especially good for knot-tying contests to fill the time while on long road trips.

Twizzlers: another honorable mention in the licorice category. I probably eat these the most. Not because they are necessarily my favorite, but they are the easiest to find.

Mmm...Nibs. These are a grandma Ilona candy. So good! They used to be called simply "NIBS" but now they have become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Twizzlers brand, apparently. Personally I think they were doing okay on their own.

Again, crap picture. The super rope is a fantastic type of licorice, although one must swallow his pride to partake of it, as it is huge and somewhat embarrassing for a grown man to be seen carting around a yard-long piece of candy.

A strange variety of licorice: the chocolate Twizzler. My long lost friend Bremond introduced me to these (anybody heard from Brem?). An aquired taste to be sure, but very good.

I eat these more as an homage to my mother than anything else. That's not true, I think they're yummy, it's just hard to admit. Black licorice covered in chalk? Sounds gross, I know. But they are good. I would put a picture up of the even stranger licorice variants that my mom eats but I'm afraid I'd lose 50% of my readership (that's you, ryan).

Ahh...the Salted Nut Roll. Just say that name over and over again. If you're not laughing yet, check your pulse. How could something with such a horrible name taste so good? What's even better, each of it's constituent parts sounds horrible. Salted? NUT? ROLL??!??

I think this is where salted nut roll was trying to go but he took exit 278: Crazytown. 100 grands are so great. Somewhere in between a Nestle Crunch and a Rice Krispie Treat. Mmm... My one memory of the cross country UHaul trek of circa 1981 with my dad was a huge box of these. Did I invent that memory? Dad: please confirm.

Another oft-forgotten favorite. The carmel is a serious mess, but well worth it. There is something magical about breaking off a little cube at a time.

Another Grandma Ilona staple: The Peanut M&M. Always in the glass jar at the top of the stairs. So yummy. But I'm still getting used to the blue ones.

I eat at least 2-3 twix's a week. In elementary school mom would put Little Debbie imitation twix in our lunches. They were so gross. A pitiful attempt. Yuck. Little Debbie should go back to school and become a meter maid or something.

The gummy coke is representative of all things gummy. I pretty much love all of them, although these are my favs. This post is getting out of control already, so I'll spare you the breakdown of the gummy group.

Nerds! NERDS! Two flavors in every pack! What more needs to be said. Although, few candies leave you feeling as much remorse as nerds. When you get to the last one you just feel dirty inside.

A new-variant. The nerds rope. A huge gummy worm covered in nerds! Genius!

Only purchased at the $1 store, the mike and ike varieties are a worthwhile bunch. But don't include the renegade Hot Tamales. Yuck. Especialy the new Caliente versions. They were already unpleasant, do we really need the nuclear version?

Skittles. Just the sight of them conjures up magical fairy tale commercials. I have to chalk these up with Nerds though. I usually just end up hating myself halfway through the bag.

Sour patch kids! My mouth is watering out of control at the very thought. But this pic seems to be of a batch that was left out on the counter in New Orleans during the month of august. If you listen closely you can hear them screaming.

OK: now for a couple rare varieties.

The french version of the sour patch kid: Frites! Frites, as you may know, are what the frogs call French Fries. (Did you think they called them Us Fries?) These are so incredibly good. I need to go back to France and bring back a case.

Another European masterpiece, perhaps my favorite chocolate candy on the planet. The Kinder Bueno. How many cultures can we cross? Kinder Bueno? Why not call it the Origato Kinder Dasvedanya Bueno Ciao. If you ever try one of these you will realize that they were so good they had to break international naming rules to live up to their goodness.

Alright, I have now been informed that instead of getting out of the hospital at a reasonable hour I "get" to go "help" with another surgery right now. Boo. Let me leave you with some serious obscurity. This may be how it all started. In the early 1980s my grandma Lucy always had these caramels called Aids. AIDS! They were appetite suppressants, but I didn't care, I just thought they tasted good. I ate hundreds which probably explains my 13-year-old high school basketball Center metabolism. Wahoo! Here is a pic:

What a name! Reminds me of a similarly ill-fated treat from the mid nineties: it was a breakfast cereal called Honey Bunches of SARS.

In other news:
I've gotten rid of all the album covers that used to hang over there ----> not that any of you noticed. Now there will only be one so that I can divert full attention to whatever album is floating my boat at the moment. As you can see, at this moment it's Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs. Great tunes, but even better, amazing lyrics. They have that John Mayer-like ability to rip thoughts from my brain that I thought I had previously copyrighted. They also write lyrics that I could only dream of writing. I should put up some lyrics to songs that I've written. Oh wait, that would be more humiliating than Rainn Wilson's recent naked stint on the MTV Movie Awards.
[Jules Winnfield] "EXAMPLE:"

Cath...she stands with a well-intentioned man
but she can't relax with his hand on the small of her back.
As the flash bulbs burst she holds a smile
like someone would hold a crying child.

Cath? Like Cathy? Or like a foley? Anyway, it's good stuff.

OK. I'm off to "work." For once.

*"Post-call" is medical speak for "I just spent the last 24 hours plus at work and any and all responsibility for my actions is hereby rescinded."

thank your

2008-05-30T18:30:00.000-05:00

We were using these "flexible nails" in the operating room the other day and I wanted to comment on the fact that they were actually incredibly stiff. Here's how it came out:
"I guess flexitive...err...Flexitive...umm...[long pause]...I guess FLEXible is a relative term."
[long pause]
[silence]
[shame]

I do this all day long. At the gift shop today:
Lady: Thank you, sir.
Josh: You, too.

How awkward can I be?!?

The best one ever, and I may have already blogged this, was when I meant to say either "you're welcome" or "no problem," but instead said "Your problem."

22 days left in Colorado. Actually 3 or 4 of those will be spent in Utah (I'm coming to Utah next Friday, peeps!). So, 19 or so days left! Wahoo!

How sad can I become

2008-05-29T19:24:00.000-05:00

I don't mean sad like tearful, I mean sad like...pathetic.

I had an early day at work and I have decided to go to a movie. By
myself. Alone. I saw that look you gave me, ms. Ticket seller. And as
for you, concessions man: YES! I do want a large popcorn and a large
coke! Bet you weren't expecting that were you?!? I now wish I lived
in Utah, not because I miss the state, but I miss friends and family.
Even though, to be truthful, a good many of them no longer live there
anyway. Can I just start a trend? Everybody come to Missouri.
Seriously, Columbia is awesome. Ok, here comes iron man. Ooh...I just
got so excited. There is still something about being in the theater.
(cue the previews!!!)

blogsteal

2008-05-26T19:24:00.000-05:00

This is a direct cheat off of Brohawk's blog, but it's too good. I cannot resist.

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...thank goodness.

2008-05-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

So I survived a tornado. But first, let me share some backdated pics.

It took me a good 30 seconds to decipher whether it was okay for me to park in this spot.

My 24-foot moving van with the first box in place.

The same van only 2 hours later. I think we could've gotten some more stuff in there if we really tried.

That sign says Mingo. You're going to have to trust me. I got a shot of Brookville today, too. But sadly, the 7 items remaining in my apartment do not include a usb cord so I cannot get the pics off of my canon. Coming soon. Anyway, Brohawk was featured in my several cross-country trips of late!

Me driving the van. Can you see the angst? The fear? The regret?

Old-timey gas pump in the middle of nowheres. They had adjusted it so that the decimal point was one off so that the astronomical prices we now experience could at least partially be displayed on this relic. That's 93 bucks you're looking at (so far).

Somehow, when I fill up my normal car with gas it feels more like connecting it to an electrical outlet. I plug in the pump and a few minutes later my car is "charged." This really felt like pouring gas into a can. No automatic shut off for this tank, baby! It's fill-till-you-spill. Holy crap, that's awesome. I should trademark that.

Lucie dug auntie Mamie. Her glasses, too.

I left a stripe in the grass for a moment so I could demonstrate the jungle that once was.

The van, now nearly emptied yet again. Only heavy dangerous things remained, which is why I allowed my daughter to play in it.

Chubby feet on the grass. A yard? We have a yard?!? I can't wait to have a projector-on-the-side-of-the-house movie party!

The grass was wet, unfortunately. Lucie, like her father, abhors a mess. "Oh no!" she keeps repeating.

Headphones and messy hair.

Mmm...Yummy. This makes me laugh out loud everytime.

Our mall has a merry go round and lucie is fully smitten. She is in deep smit.

Our "airport." So old school. You should all come and see it. Sadly today there was an air show and I missed it! Did I mention that I hate my job and hate how far away it takes me from my family and everything I own?!?!?!??!?!?

The puddle jumper that Mamie and I took to KC, MO.

I love when the top-most part of the sky seems to turn black from the perspective of an airplane window. It feels like outer space and is probably the closest I'll ever get to it. The sky also seems to look convex from plane windows. I've tried to 'splain this to people in the past and just get weird stares. Just trust me.

Sweet circular farms down below. I want my pilot's license. Did you know that?

I bought a new airbed (our third: the other 2 work for 2 hours and then become a bounce house) but not this one. I just loved this picture though. "If you're cheap enough to buy this one, your ass is going to be on the ground, man." Truth in advertising.

This sign at work makes me laugh every time as well.

Totally sweet lego version of the children's hospital where I'm spending my last (!) month of internship.

Ok: let the tornado story begin. So I picked the absolute worst weekend possible to try to sneak out and visit Melissa and Lucie. Nevertheless: it was worth it to get 36 hours with the 2 most important people on the planet. But here's the story. I drove to Columbia on Friday night and back to Denver today (that's 1450 miles in 48 hours). On Friday night, about 2 hours outside of Denver I drove through some ridiculously strong winds and saw this apparition to the left:

I called Ryan and exaggerated that I thought I had just been through a tornado. Little did I know what lie ahead. I drove another couple of hours with my ipod blasting in my car, blissfully unaware that a tornado warning had been issued for central Kansas. I stopped to get gas and a rather panicked man at the next pump informed me of this fact. Just then the tornado sirens started to wail. Everyone should experience that sound at least once. We went inside to pay and the owner of the truck stop began ordering everyone into the bathrooms. We shuffled in, men, women and children. At first it was just annoying and everyone was busy making jokes. I took this shot about now:

Then, after about 45 minutes, the owner came in, said that a tornado had touched down about 2 miles south of where we were and was headed our way. He closed the bathroom doors and told us all to get down. Some dude started saying the lord's prayer and the lights went out. We heard some loud rushing sounds (not quite the "freight train" sound of one going over your head) and the lights came back on. Here's a pic from this point:

Near-death experiences sure make me look fat. Anyway, long story short, the tornado passed within about a 1/2 mile and then several more came by but not as close. After about another hour they finally let us out. I got on the road and saw a bunch of downed trees and a truck that was rolled over. In my haste to make up for lost time I scored a delorian. (that's when you get a speeding ticket for going 88 mph). I finally got in at 3:30 a.m. Saturday was fantastic. The rain continued and we tried to teach lucie how to use an umbrella:

Not so much.

Here's our new bedroom, where I'd rather be right now.

Lucie at the park right by our new house. Awesome.

The stroller was so she could push it, not ride in it. Baby #2 is starting to show!!!

Ahhh! I miss this kid!

To make an even longer story yet shorter, on the way home, within 10 miles of the city from Friday night (Ellis, KS if you're curious) a huge storm came up and when I turned on the radio I discovered that a new round of tornado warnings were in effect. Fortunately I was at the tail end of them, this time. I got some awesome pics, but once again I am unable to get them off my camera. Boo. Well, just get excited, they are awesome. No funnel clouds, but still pretty sweet. Besides, as I learned from the recording I heard about 50 times this weekend, if you wait until you see or hear a tornado to get to shelter...it may just be too late!

Yikes.

Movie of the week

2008-05-25T22:35:00.001-05:00

Check it. My absolute favorite part is the ultra gratuitous double crash. No wait, the root beer spill.

Josh's motivation: When in doubt, say "ay" or "beauty." Don't worry, it will work.

Curse you, blue screen!

2008-05-17T21:15:00.001-05:00

As Promised, Petey.

I feel a lot of pressure to come up with a novel title

2008-05-17T15:45:00.000-05:00

I'm heading home (?) from our new house in Columbia, Missouri back to Denver to finish off my intern year. Leaving was painful today. Reasons #1-9178 leaving Mel and Lucie behind for an indefinite period of time sucks. Reason #next: we had just started to get our new place organized and perty. We have a nice new tv mounted over our fireplace, a garage with enough space for two cars AND the entire contents of our last apartment, etc, etc. I've had a blast over the last few days doing such grown up Lego tasks as installing towel racks and stapling in the contact paper in the cabinets. I had quite the blast from the past while mowing our lawn (twice) and listening to Led Zeppelin. Memories of Europa drive were rampant. I finally started digitizing my high school movies and, months after petey's initial request I will finally get Bad Karma online later today. More to follow.

A shout out to aunt "Mamie" for all of her help with moving and for her company during my Kansas city international layover. Thanks, dude! We will meet in the wild magical kingdom of Arkansas!!!

Button fly jeans suck.

Who knew Ace Hardware could be such a treasure trove of fun activities? I suddenly have an overwhelming desire to install solar powered garden path lights and re landscape our treacherous wasteland of a backyard.

The Columbia airport is "closing" in June for two months until a new carrier, NWA, starts flights from Co, MO to Memphis. Strange that for that period of time the nearest functioning airport will be 90 minutes away.

Jazz fans: what a heartbreaking finish, eh?

Lakers fans: boo.

Soreness from loading and unloading a 24-foot truck combined with rip-roaring seasons allergies have left my body in a terrible state of disrepair. Our piano made it upstairs, though.

We watched our first Blu-ray the other night in celebration of my new electronics extravaganza. It was Casino Royale. Daniel Craig is one BMF. I want his car and his poker winnings.

The live version of PJ's Daughter with a bit of WMA and KORITFW is so great.

I put a bird feeder in one of the trees in the back yard in an effort to attract more cardinals and woodpeckers. Melissa was kind enough to oblige this gesture despite her Sherbet-like distaste for birds. Pics to follow as I hone my ornithological skills.

This post must end before I lose it all from some iPhone glitch, pardon the heracy.

P.S. A google account is no longer required to leave a comment, so let's hear it!

Riddle me this

2008-05-09T10:38:00.001-05:00

Because of the weather today,

and since I'm in such a good mood,

by the way, it's my last day of call:

Yeah!

Now seems like the perfect time,

under the circumstances to

make an announcement.

But since I'm a goofball,

even I can't resist making it in a

really cryptic way.

The riddle is this:

What is alive and kicking,

occupies a confined space...

is conceivably the

second most important thing in the world?

All you have to do is read this post:

Granted, it will take some

inference and intuition, but

rather than just tell you all,

look how much fun you've had figuring it out

Post #302

2008-05-08T22:43:00.000-05:00

I never paid attention to how many posts I've done on the shblog. Over 300! Not counting all the good old Haywood days.

A few nights ago I dreamt that I was having an ex-lap (exploratory laparotomy). I was awake during the surgery but couldn't talk. I was trying to use my hands to signal the doctors that I was awake but I couldn't get there attention. For the rest of the dream I was trying to avoid ripping open my huge new incision. It's sad when your work takes over your dreams.

I have a curse of always apologizing for any awkward situation whether it's my fault or not. LIke when you come around the corner and somebody was right on the other side and you almost bump into each other. I always say "sorry." Occasionally it makes me really annoyed because someone will do something obviously rude and wrong, but I will say that I am sorry. Then I get p.o.'d at myself for being sorry. Stop being sorry all the time? At the same time, however, I would rather be the guy who says sorry too often than the opposite.

There is a commercial running here for a pizza place called "Cici's" which shows some goofball pondering cutting into the buffet line. He imagines the worst possible thing that could happen if he did. A dream sequence follows of everyone getting really upset at him which culminates in his grandmother scolding, "Joshua David!" It trips me out.

Oh the Jazz. Why must you reel me in and then yank the hook out of my lip and throw me back in the water bloodied and jaded.

I love Denver.

We're moving to columbia this weekend. I'm looking forward to 11 hours in a 24-foot moving van. I'm not even joking. The thought of such an extended period of time with little to no responsibility (other than not crashing and destroying our every possession) sounds pretty appealing right now.

This post needs a picture.

This is the world's tallest man, Robert Wadlow who was 8 feet 11 inches at the time of his death. I mean, come on...

btw, those other dudes are about 6 feet tall.

Dude, WTF?

2008-04-30T23:37:00.001-05:00

Cloverstupid

2008-04-29T23:50:00.000-05:00

Watching Cloverfield is a lot like watching Deal or No Deal. Just a bunch of annoying people making really stupid, illogical decisions.

Epiphany & Co.

2008-04-28T17:19:00.001-05:00

When I was nearly 8 years old I fell off the monkey bars on the "upper playground" of the "old" Uintah Elementary while chasing Chandler Bello in a game of tag. I landed on my two outstretched arms (that's called a "FOOSH") and, subsequently, my face. If memory serves, I briefly lost consciousness and awoke to rolling over on to my back and revealing that classic shot of kids in a circle peering down upon their fallen comrade. I then did something which seems like a massive liability: I walked home without reporting to anyone at school. My nose was bloodied and my arms seemed to weigh 100 pounds each and be twice as long as normal. My mom just happened to be driving somewhere and picked me up halfway home and drove me to the "old" Primary Children's Hospital (sheesh, is nothing from this memory still around?). A couple of x-rays later revealed 3 broken bones. One side was both the ulna and radius, and the other was only one of those. I don't remember which bone, and which arm was which. Now, it just so happens that my grandfather was an orthopedic surgeon. My mom wanted him to fix any broken bones in the family. Unfortunately we waited 3 or 4 days to drive the 313 miles from SLC to Bloomington, UT and in that time my bones had "set" in their skeewampus new configuration. My grandfather then informed me that he would need to "rebreak" my arms in order to re-reset them in their proper alignment. Now here comes the part that has remained a mystery to me for more than 20 years. (I'm so old that I can even make that comment) My grandfather told me that the reason he was about to break my arms WITHOUT ANY ANESTHETIC was to avoid "shots." At the time, this was brilliant rhetoric. There is nothing quite so fearful to a 7-year old as the threat of somebody shoving a needle into you. Especially to one who has never had their arm purposefully broken in cold blood. He then proceeded, with the help of one or more uncles to hold me down, to break my arm with his bare (bear!) hands. I practically have PTSD from this moment as I can still recall that moment of sheer, unadulterated pain. Ever since then, I have thought that my grandfather had tricked me. I thought that he meant to imply that rather than facing 30 seconds of excruciating bone-breaking, I could have had a series of shots that would somehow magically heal my broken arm. I believed this all through a modern high school and college education, through medical school, and even most of the way through internship. That is, until last weekend. While helping to set a young boy's broken leg in the ER, we took mercy on the poor kid and gave him a whiff of propofol in his IV, a.k.a. conscious sedation. We knocked the poor kid out, and then torqued on his leg like a couple of awkward tweens during a band-camp tug-o-war. It hit me like a ton of anything (a ton of feathers and a ton of bricks both weigh the same amount, thank you very much!). That's what my grandfather meant! He wasn't deluding me! Well, not entirely! He meant that my options were to get a shot full of medicine to make the bone breaking less painful, or to just get on with the party. EUREKA!!! What a great feeling to make such a discovery. I know how Columbus must have felt.

Now if I could only figure out why I always played fullback in little league soccer...

The science of sleep

2008-04-27T09:22:00.000-05:00

I still haven't seen that film. I've been told that I would really like it.

I was at the hospital from 5:40 a.m. Friday until 8:00 a.m. Saturday for my new orthopedics rotation. I was warned that this month would be intense. Friday night ortho call was precisely that. But there is something fulfilling in fixing something as obvious as a broken bone. There is less trust required on the part of the patient when their bone is sticking out out of their arm or when their ankle is bent at 90 degrees. Apart from 30 minutes sitting on a chair with my feet up, I didn't sleep all night. I came home and did the usual to avoid getting the much needed sleep. I watched Juno...finally. A great movie. I really enjoyed it. I would say more about it, except that I just finished Into the Wild, and it seems blasphemous to complement any other film. ITW was truly amazing. It made me feel like less of a person for spending my whole life indoors. It's an overwhelming picture. Sweeping, endearing, perspective-giving. Everyone should see it. End Coda. So, I had that crazy experience, after finally going to sleep post-Juno at 11:00 a.m., of accidentally sleeping through the rest of the day. I woke up at 1 a.m. with no real desire to stay sleeping, but for fear of getting into a really strange sleep schedule I caved, and went back to sleep. I finally got out of bed at 8:00 a.m. Sunday. That makes 21 hours of nearly uninterrupted sleep. I hurried to church without eating, which made for 26 hours without food, except for a morsel of bread and sip of water. True hunger helps to make the sacrament truly a sacrament. All that sleeping does things to my state of mind. Oh, and if you ever want to have lots of dreams, try sleeping for nearly a day. You will be compensated. I didn't dream anything truly meaningful, but I did have some wacky adventures.

More on this subject: it might have been for lack of energy from little to no nourishment, but after sleeping for so long, I still felt tired. I felt like I could lay back down and sleep the rest of the day away. There's that sleep inertia again. When I snuck those 30 minutes of snoozing during call, I had that horrible sensation of absolutely desperate fatigue upon being awakened by the ER to come down and see some dude who mangled his hand. That feeling is so incredibly overwhelming. I have it at about 60% strength just about every morning when my alarm goes off before 7:00 a.m. All I can think of is when I will next be able to sleep. While I'm in the shower I plot out the part of my day when I might be able to find a quiet corner and nod off. Of course, by the time I've been at work for 20 minutes I've forgotten how tired I felt. Fortunately the feeling is fleeting. Hell might be that sensation but of eternal duration. And maybe with a 15" tv that only gets Lifetime and Oxygen. And nothing but half-cooked chicken to eat.

Melissa and Lucie are back east for the final work trip. I eagerly await their return. "Happiness is only real when shared." So says Alexander Supertramp.

How about a selection of pics that have long deserved promotion to the blog. (Watch for one of Rob and I in front of an arcade game. During our inaugural spring break trip >10 years ago we won hundreds of tickets off this game which we named something juvenile and obscene. We then spent those tickets on 101 little green army men and proceeded to disperse them across the deserts of Nevada and Utah, some launched from the windshield wipers of a plym$&*% Voyagruven.) If I have enough energy left I just might change the shblog logo. You will know by now if I mustered up the strength.