Basketball

Just finished playing full court basketball. I joined a league with some guys from work. I'm dying....I can't walk up and down the stairs without my legs feeling on fire.

Shannon and I are both online with the TV going in the background and this show The Pussycat Dolls is on. What the heck is this. It appears that they are like a Menudo group except for hot stripper girls. Reality TV is unstoppable.

The Shark

The Kid and her friend (blog name: The Gardener) have been talking about a shark that lives in the back yard. Toys will come and go and it will be the sharks doing, holes will be dug in places they shouldn't be because the shark needs them there. Tonight the CEO probed about the existence of such as shark. "Tell me this, how can a shark live in the back yard without water," she asked? "Well, scientists are trying to figure that out," the kid replied.

Excellent.

The CEO just put The Kid to sleep. Moments late I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. The Kid arrives at the bottom of the steps looks at her Mom and says "I'd really like to go to Nebraska." What can you say to that except "OK, now go to bed." So I take her back up to here room and kiss her good night. Then right before I leave she asks me "Da-Da? Which state has the most robbers?" I tell her it's probably California. "Do they have a lot of police cars there," she asks? "Yes, they do, there is nothing to worry about, now go to sleep," I say.

My name Apple.

For the last few days when we ask The Z what her name is she says "My name Apple." It goes something like this:
"Hi I'm Daddy, what's your name?" I say.
"How are you, my name Apple," she says.
The she smiles really big.

This strangely seemed to coincide with The Kid deciding that she wanted to have an apple theme birthday party. She'd like to have bobbing for apples, pin the apple on the branch and apple decorating. Where does she come up with these things? Apples are not even her favorite fruit.

Freedom.

Kites are like magic.

The Kid had been waiting a long time to fly a kite and our trip to the coast last weekend provided the perfect opportunity. Flying a kite is one of those magical things that brings you back to your youth. We were lucky enough to have two kites flying and to be able to tether the strings under rocks and let them soar on their own. Then one of the strings snapped and in a flash a kite was gone seemingly lost forever. But like magic the kite appeared in the air 200 yards away. The CEO went to investigate and found a Father and daughter flying the kite in hopes that it's rightful owners would come and get it.

At the farm.

We went berry picking at the farm today. It was great fun, tons of blueberries and really easy pickings the raspberries were plentiful too but you just needed to work at them a bit more. The Kid was really serious about her picking and The Z was just on a pick and eat binge. I'm sure the first poop of the day tomorrow is going to be very interesting. There is a great little market at the farm where we picked up some of the biggest artichokes I've ever seen in my life. One artichoke is a whole meal.

Crazy cat lady?

I've just been thinking that my youngest sister may have the potential to one day be a crazy cat lady. She's never had more than three cats at once, if you have more than three that's kind of crossing the line. She always seems to get them out of the goodness of her heart. But isn't that how it always starts? At least it seems to start that way on the evening news. If my brother in-law gets this job he's interviewing for then they'll be seperated on weekdays, my sister will be without someone to control her animal rescue impulses. This job could prove to be disasterous.

Digital SLR

I love the website dpreview.com, I'm constantly there checking out the digital SLR's. I was so excited when I got my little digital camera and it has served me well but I've got SLR camera envy! I just love my old Canon AE1, I love the weight of it, how it feels in my hand, the sound of the shutter when I capture a photo. I know it's not the camera that makes the photographer but it just seems that the little point and shoot can't get the job done. It feels foolish in my hands, has too much lag time when I press the button to when it captures a picture and I have too little control over things like f-stop and focus. I guess at some point the tool does impact the outcome. I'm no da Vinci with the camera but I imagin that bad oils and a tattered canvas would have been an inhibitor to a great painting. The real problem, however, is the price, the damn things cost about $1000. I don't have that kind of money to throw around. I told my self I'd set a camera fund jar up on my dresser and dump change and small bills in there. I haven't done this. Today I shall! The people sitting next to me in the cafe are playing with a new Canon Rebel and I can't take it!

Too my fellow bloggers:

I'm experimenting with a new program by Microsoft called windows Live Writer. It's a desktop tool that is is supposed to be a more elegant interface to writing on blogs. It's more like using MS word and then hitting the publish button instead of using the limited text editor provided by blogger. I'll keep you posted on how good or bad it is.

Potato....

You may be thinking "Wow! what an interesting plant what a beautiful color." Or perhaps like me your thinking "How long has that sweet potato been laying unnoticed in the veggie basket." You'd think from this photo that we may not even eat vegetables. We actually love sweet potatoes. I tend to throw them out if they get like this. Can you still eat them?

Thanks Mr.B.

It's been over one week since we put our dog to sleep. I thought I was going to have a nice tribute to him on the blog. The CEO put a nice one up on her blog....

I really do miss him.

Ever since the kids came it really knocked him down a peg and I don't think he ever really recovered from that. When I look back at all the good times most of them came in L.A. That's when he was the king. We lavished so much attention on him back then, birthday parties, walks, hikes we even wrote some great songs about him.

It's still hard to write about him with out getting choked up.

He wagged his tail at me till the very end. I held his paw as he passed then kissed him goodbye.

Pizza?

...and they call this pizza.

This is what we are up against out here, tons of cheese, thick undercooked crust, toppings a mile high and bad service and yet some how these places remain open. It is a complete mystery. I think this picture makes it quite obvious why I spend so much time complaining about not being able to find a good slice west of NY. I shall say no more.