Turkey Hill Ice Cream - Celebrating National Ice Cream Month

Just like last year, the good folks at the Turkey Hill Ice Cream blog are posting fun ice cream related stories to their blog every day during July - National Ice Cream Month. I'm not sure what the exact prizes are, but I know they pick commenters randomly and award prizes all month long. Fun stuff! So, stop by and read about ice cream, comment, and maybe get some prizes! Great ice cream, great fun!

And again, happy national ice cream month! :-)

Food Fest II

As promised, Food Fest II took place this weekend, and the following is a brief recap of the day's events.

The first eaters arrived around 11:00am, and much of the food was on the table, ready to be eaten! We had chips and salsa, chips and homemade Celery Seed Dip (a hit!), fresh sliced watermelon, deviled eggs, our favorite recipe potato salad, and Skyline was simmering in the crock pot! There was a big pitcher of fresh-brewed sweet tea, and some chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and I'm pretty sure there were a few other things I am forgetting!

We realized we were a tad low on the Frank's Red Hot, so after a quick trip to the store by the Chis, the next bunch of eaters arrived and we were ready to go! I threw some burgers and hot dogs (including some Zweigles!) on the grill and we started to eating! And it really never stopped!

Shortly after the burgers and dogs were done, the deep fryer arrived (borrowed from a friend) and we got ready to cook up the wings. We did take a slight break after the first food barrage, but that was filled by snacking on all of the above, including the additions of a fun apple salad and brownies cooked in a cast-iron skillet by the second group of eaters.

We played some board games, video games, and mostly hung out and talked (all while eating of course!) There was some napping, too! :-) More eaters came throughout the day, including our next door neighbors. I think I counted a total of twenty peoples coming through and joining Food Fest II.

No ice cream this year, but National Ice Cream Month officially starts tomorrow. So, get ready! Thirty-one straight days of ice cream! Food Fest never stops!

Plans for Food Fest III are already underway. Check back here at GregsHead.net for details! :-)

Nacho Libre

So, I am not a fan of silly movies generally, but our friends talked enough about the movie Nacho Libre (and how much they loved it) that I eventually decided to watch it. Jen even did... mostly. :-) We watched it with them again this past weekend (at least, highlights of it) and it's just hilarious. Silly. But hilarious. :-)

Here's a few good clips I found on YouTube :-)

Encarnacion


Little Hug, Big Kiss


Fantastic

Some Things Currently Distracting Me

• Quite a Stanley Cup Final... with Detroit winning the first two by shutting out the explosive Penguins, and then the Pens winning game three on the back of two Sid the Kid goals! Great stuff. Should (hopefully) go seven.
  
  
• Phoenix successfully landed on Mars on Sunday and I have been intrigued ever since. The link goes to NASA's website... tons of stuff there (photos, videos, etc). Pretty amazing that we can shoot large metal objects 420 million miles away, and hit a target with pinpoint accuracy - and not damage the highly sophisticated scientific research equipment. Incredible. And then we get to see photos back from it just a few hours later. Nuts.
  
  
• Facebook games and chat have also occupied some time recently. I love word games, and it's fun to play against friends (and Jen, too!) in between projects I am working on. It's kind of a funny "mental break" (since you're working your brain on your break?) but it's been a blast. I have found games similar to Scrabble, Boggle, and one called Word Twist that is similar to no other game I know of... And, I've been playing a good friend of mine in Chess. He's quite good. Haven't beaten him yet. :-) Oh, and Facebook added an instant message feature which has been a neat way to chat "live" with people I haven't talked with in a long time. Pretty amazing.
  
  
• On top of that, we've gotten to see a couple cool movies lately, as well as some awesome episodes of the Knight Rider from season two DVDs borrowed from the library! :-)

More to come, but there's more to do... so, more here later.

Update from Greg's Head

I must say this poor blog has been quite neglected for the past couple weeks. It seems that my writing certainly goes in cycles. Sometimes I have lots to say and just can't help myself, so this blog is full of things to read. Sometimes I am so full of things to do that even though I do have things to say, I am not able to sit down and write them out. Other times, it's simply time for intake rather than output. I'd say we're definitely in a cycle involving a little of both of the last two.

So, instead of writing lots of detailed blogs (which I could certainly do, but must tend to other things) I will try and cover a lot of the stuff I'd like to chronicle here in bullet-point fashion.

• Work
  I have been very busy with web and graphic design, so much so that I am considering expanding. It feels as though the work load has grown too much for one person to handle. (At least, and still have family/free time.) I'm not certain how to work that out just yet, but the influx of clients continues, as well as a regular stream of work orders from satisfied current customers. A week or so ago I felt as though I was cresting the seemingly insurmountable hill of open projects, but then the hill just got a bit taller. So, I press on... Have made a few cool additions to my site (linked above) in the middle of the various projects I have been working on. I seriously need to update my "samples" page though as several of those clients have closed up shop and are no longer on the internet! :-)
  
  
• Music
  Oh, I finally did take our "Christmas decorations" down at our basicmm.com website, too. :-) I forget what motivated me to do it, since it was already late April or May when I did, but ... anyway, it's done. Also on the music front, our trip to Virginia in June may be in jeopardy because our family is too large to house! :-) We'll see what happens there...
  
  
• Fun
  Jen & I both have been enjoying Facebook and the many fun things therein. They added a live chat feature recently which has been extra cool. Realtime re-connecting with people you haven't spoken with in many years, or perhaps barely even know. Fun! (At least, for me that's fun!) Also, definitely loving playing the various word games there. I do love word games...
  
  
• Brennan Manning
  Jen cleaned out the attic recently and found a bunch of old cassette tapes. In one of the boxes was a set of teaching tapes we had purchased. It was "Healing Our Image of God... and Ourselves" by Brennan Manning. Manning's background as a catholic priest (and a monk, I believe) gives him an interesting perspective on the Gospel. But the heart of what he says is so great. It's the simple truth of the incredible love that our Father - Abba - has for us. We heard Brennan at a retreat over 10 years ago, and got his tapes there. He's been saying the same thing for decades - and I believe God has been re-emphasizing this basic point to me and Jen in recent years again - because it's the core of the Gospel/Good News. God loves us more than we can ask or imagine, and invites us to live life side by side with him, as his kids. Great stuff... on tape 4 of 5 right now. More on this to be sure...
  
  
• Friends
  Our closest friends - who are more like family - are moving. Their last day in town is next Wednesday. We have lived in the same town as them since we met in our college years. I moved up here to Rochester area with them right after college. Our kids have grown up together, sharing most of the fun/special days together. We've known of the move for a couple months now. That's kinda nice. Been a nice long goodbye. But it's still a goodbye, and life will definitely change. Very exciting for them, and I'm sure God will blow us away with the way(s) he fills what we can only see now as a void. But it's pretty sad at the same time. We're sure there will be tears next week. In the mean time, been helping with packing and moving as much as we can, and also just visiting as much as we can, while they're still here. We'll certainly see them again, but 15 minutes is a lot closer than 6 hours driving time. :-)
  
  
• Family
  We've also been visiting family a lot this month. We got to see my sister's new house in the Buffalo area. Then went over the next weekend for a big garage sale, and I made a nice mother's day lunch for my mother-in-law. :-) We're going over again this weekend, and then the next for various family events, too! It's nice that they are close, but it's also certainly an expense with gas being near $4.00/gallon!! Yikes!
  
  
• New Friends
  Jen has been going to the community center on Thursday mornings to join (mostly) moms with their pre-schoolers for a couple hours of playtime/funtime. This has been a cool way to meet people we have seen around town (at other similar events) and get to know them better. We obviously have the common link of having tiny kids :-) Looking forward to getting to know all of these new friends - who mostly live right around the corner(s) from us - over the summer.
  
  
• Lilacs!
  Whether you pronounce it "lie-lock" or, the proper, phonetic way (li-lac)... :-) I am just loving these flowers again this year. Been a neat spring in general. The flowering trees have been beautiful. Our neighbor has several lilac bushes and has generously allowed me to snap of some blooms whenever I'd like. And so, I've had beautiful, fragrant lilacs on my desk for the past week or two! Love it!
  
  
• Entertainment
  Almost forgot... been watching the NHL playoffs mostly these days. TiVo has been very helpful as we are usually out for evenings, but then watch the game in fast-forward once we are home! As close as the season was, it was surprising to see Pittsburgh and Detroit each take 3-0 series leads. The other teams both won their game fours, but should be a fantastic Stanley Cup Final between Pittsburgh and Detroit! They're both amazing.
  
  And, we've rediscovered our fondness for the 80s TV show, The Knight Rider. Our friends, the Vs, enjoy it as well (we loaned them our iPod to watch Season One in its entirety) and Season Two is now coming to our mailbox via Netflix. :-) Pretty corny at times, but also pretty fun. Ah, the good ol' days...

There have been lots of other fun events the past several days/weeks. Really can't share them all here. As I said, it's been a time of doing and intake more than a time of output :-) Suffice it to say, all of these social events have reminded me again that I am (or have become) a people person. I am not sure why I am doing an office-related job, then... :-) But am still super thankful for the provision we see from God in that.

More to come on the stuff I have been thinking through from the Brennan Manning tapes, as well as some good conversations with the church (friends who are fellow followers of Jesus), and just the stuff God has been placing on my heart and mind. So fun to share every bit of life with someone who loves me so much. Hope you know that, and you're experiencing that, too.

One-On-One, Full-Court... Football?

This weekend we did get some pretty decent weather, despite a good bit of rain, and we took advantage of it!

On Sunday afternoon, the boys and Kirstie and I headed up to the high school football field (just a few blocks from our house) and we found our way in through an open gate and played one on one football (Ian vs Alex, with Dad as the QB) ... using the FULL FIELD!!! Kirstie ran right along with us, too. They would get the ball at midfield to start (no kickoffs) and they even had me kick extra points and FGs! :-) (I went something like 4-5 on XPs and 0-2 on FGs... not too good!)

It was a blast, and they were quite exhausted at the end! :-)

Can't wait till next time, though!!

The night concluded with a walk for the whole family around a couple blocks, and a visit with some new friends who live close by. We met them on the way and walked with them back to their house and visited for a while. They have three little girls about the age of our little girls.

As the kids were all playing in their front yard, Alex lost a tooth... literally! It came out of his mouth, and he lost it in their yard!! :-) Ha! The Tooth Fairy still came and left him a dollar in his (empty) tooth pillow, though. :-)

A fun, full weekend of being a family of seven. Even got a visit from Jen's bro and his son. Very nice. Hopefully a good recharge for me. Busy week ahead!!

(So, may be kinda quiet here!)

Definitely enjoying this season of life though. We love being the Campbell family. :-)

You Might Be A Large Family If...

Jen reads lots of blogs by other home schooling moms, and various other family-oriented blogs. She read a list to me from this blog the other night, and I thought it was funny in relation to one of my recent posts below, On Being Seven.

I have not checked with the author about publishing her work here (not even sure it's originally hers) but I figure one or two ... or more... is just publicity for her blog anyway... :-) Enjoy... (and click the link above for the rest!)

• Cheaper by the Dozen is one of your favorite movies.
  
• You buy milk 5 gallons at a time.
  
• You need a minimum of 2 carts in the grocery store.
  
• The children are lonely when there are only 4 of them home.
  
• Your grocery budget resembles your house payment.
  
• You just really wish people would not think they were clever for saying, "Don't you know what causes that?"

:-)

Only In Upstate New York...

We have three or four inches of wet snow on the ground (but of course life continues as normal... that's nothin'!) and many seasonal ice cream places have been open for more than a week. :-)

Oh, and just a day or two ago, when all the other snow had melted and we were reveling in our 40-degree temperatures, our neighbors were talking about opening their pool! (OK, it was a joke, but we were enjoying the nice "warm" weather.)

Maybe we'll head out and eat some ice cream in the fresh fallen snow today...

(I'll post a photo on the snow here when I get a chance to take one.) :-)

On Being Seven

It's late, and its snowing (which is awesome!) but I wanted to post a few thoughts on expanding to a family of size seven...

• Yesterday we all went out for the first time in our newly expanded van (see the next bullet point) and after taking nearly and hour and a half to get ready to go, it was lunch time. So, we stopped at Wendy's. Thanks to some coupons, we ate lunch (six of us) for $7.82! Ha! That was great. But the best part was when Jen was collecting the food, I went to find a table. I had to move two tables of four together... JUST FOR OUR FAMILY! HA HA!! That was classic.
  
  
• The day prior, the long search for the bench seat for our van finally came to an end. We found a perfect match only one hour from our house. (One hour and one minute, to be precise.) The three older kids and I took the trip and had a great time... and once the bench was in, all three wanted to "try it out" on the way home! It was a bit more money than I was hoping to pay, but glad that it's the perfect match, and glad we can now go out as a family of seven.
  
  
• Everywhere we go, people seem to notice us... sorta stare at us... even point and laugh. (OK, made that up... but you can tell we're quite the spectacle) :-) At a rummage sale today, as we continued to pour in, one of the ladies tending the sale audibly said, "Oh my!" :-) (Not to us, she just couldn't help herself!)
  
  
• You can not imagine how much laundry and dishes we do. And just imagine when Emma and Julia are a bit older.
  
  
• We have now outgrown most of our board games. They all say 2 to 6 players. Nice.
  
  
• We have three bedrooms. (Some find that to be surprising... but that's not really an issue so far.)
  
  
• We have one bathroom. I think that one might eventually be an issue. :-)
  
  
• Do you know how much food we have to buy? :-)
  
  
• It will be interesting the first time we need to stay at a hotel.
  
  
• I continue to tell people, it's a party at our house every day. And it just keeps getting bigger. :-)
  
  
• We're starting to really scare our friends. When we come to visit... SEVEN people are coming to visit. :-) (And we're also starting to scare our regular babysitter. She signed on when we only had three...) :-)
  
  
• Have I mentioned how much we're loving this? :-)

It may be hard to believe if you have or come from a small family, but this is just fantastic. We have great kids, who all love each other completely, and we do really have a party every day. It's certainly not easy, but a lot easier than most think. Everyone chips in (mostly) :-) And as our family site says, "Together is a wonderful place to be!"

We wouldn't want it any other way. :-)

Quick Update

Looks like Sidney was probably right!

:-)

(more soon...)

Big Fun Food Day

For a little while now our friend Leah and I have been trying to plan a time for she and Scott and Jen & I to have a fun food extravaganza as a sort of "last hurrah" before they move to Maryland. Many obstacles have delayed the outing, and even made it seem impossible. But yesterday... we finally made it happen!! It was tons of fun! And tons of FOOD!

I shall henceforth refer it to as the Big Fun Food Day. :-)

See, it all started with an idea in my head. We thought it would be fun to get babysitters for all our kids and go out on a "double date" with Scott & Leah before they leave, and I was trying to think of a fun place that they like to make it extra special. Well, the first one that came to mind is one that Leah likes, but Scott... hates. :-) (Funnier still, I also am a fan, but Jen is really not.) So, that wouldn't work... unless...

I thought we could try a "progressive dinner" style outing. Leah and I could eat our fill at the Indian buffet, and then we'd go straight to a place that Scott (& Jen) like to eat. I ran the idea by Jen, and she thought it was fun, and then by Leah, and she too thought it a fun plan... She ran it by Scott, who added his consent and then Leah added Coldstone to the mix for dessert! Ha! Three places in one outing! Fun stuff!

After a few failed attempts at finding a day that worked for all (schedule conflicts) and then finding willing babysitters for our four and their three kids, we finally made it work yesterday!

It all started at about 12:45pm or so. We met up at Willowbrook where we dropped our van and carpooled with them in their (very tiny!) car to the India House buffet. (Photo below... Jen took it, so ... she's not in it.) :-)



We had a crazy waiter here named Dave. He hit it off with Scott as they are both UFC (Ultimate Fight Challenge?) fans. He also introduced himself as Ravi and said he hates Indian food, music, and Indian people. That was awesome. :-) (We learned that the first thing he said was always false.) :-)

The food was awesome, and as I didn't plan on eating Indian food again for quite some time... I ate... three plates full. :-)

I was full.



Next we decided to head to a town about 20 minutes west where Scott's favorite restaurant resides. We had never been, so I made sure to sample some stuff, but MAN there was VERY little room for the samples! Scott & Jen feasted here. Leah did "sample" as well, of course... :-)

Funny story was... we got out there about 2:40 or so... and they didn't open till three!! So we went to Land's End next door for a bathroom for the pregnant lady and some clothes shopping for Leah (and Jen enjoyed looking at the kids stuff as well) :-)

Our waiter at Carrabba's was very good as well. And strangely reminded us of a friend of ours (all of us). They have different names though, so we think they are different people... :-)



It was super late when we left Carrabba's (we were having a great time!) so we didn't get to stay and eat at Coldstone, but we did swing by there on the way home, and three of us got SMALL ice creams. :-) (Actually, Leah got a medium sized one...) :-)

It was fantastic, but at that point, there was very little room for any more food, no matter how good it was! :-)

We finally got back to our kids at 6pm, and once we collected them and all their stuff, we went over to the Vs house for a little extra hang out (and our kids all got to see each other and play then, too). That actually ended with Jen making a quick run to McDonald's to round out the Big Fun Food Day (at least for the kids) with some burgers, fries, chicken nuggets and a snack wrap or two. :-)

It was certainly a memory, and a great, big, fun, day of food! :-)

More photos here.

OK Night

I can't remember now if I have posted this here or not, but it's worth of a post (or two) for sure.

A while back (I think it was for Kirsten the first time) we thought it would be a good idea for one on one outings with the kids. Usually it would be Dad (since they all get more time with Mom usually) but it could be with Mom sometimes, too. We had heard the idea a time or two from other families, and liked it, and it seemed like little Kirstie was getting lost in the shuffle a bit. So, we did it.

Well, after a long break, we started it up again... but this time we thought Ian needed a little alone time with Dad. So we decided to go in descending age order. Well, after the first time, all the other kids were very much looking forward to their turn with Dad. :-) Somehow along those various conversations, we started calling it the One Kid Night... which I shortened to "OK Night." And it stuck. :-)

Last night was Julia's turn (our 4th, and almost 2 year old) and we had a blast. It's pretty funny when a 33 year old and an almost 2-year-old are out for an evening together. The conversation can be ... intriguing, as well as... difficult to understand at times. :-) She's a cutie! Was so fun to hear her starting conversations with Dad! We sang songs, we rode the carousel at the mall, we shared some ice cream, we visited our favorite stores... it was a blast! Can't wait for the next one!

It's pretty cool to see what comes out of one-on-one time with the kids. We love being a big family, and we love being together, but sometimes some pretty cool stuff happens when you just get one kid with one parent.

Like I said... can't wait for the next one!

Puzzling

Create your own puzzles at PuzzleBee.com!

A while ago I found a fun application on Facebook that lets you make Flash puzzles from your own photos. It works really well, and makes me wish we could make a "hard copy" of some of the cool photos we've taken across the country. (They're pretty pricy, however.)

So for now, they have introduced this embed feature, and I can now share a puzzle or two here. Just one for now. :-)

Enjoy!

Mr. Deity - "An Helpmeet"

From Crackle: Mr. Deity and the Help Meet - Season 2, Ep 9

Not really sure why, but this week's episode of Mr. Deity made me laugh. So, here I shall share. :-) This show can be a bit "sketchy" at times, but I happily approve of this one. Funny stuff :-)

(By the way, if you haven't seen this show yet, visit their site for more info on who these folks are.)

Tecmo Superbowl '06!

I can't really believe this, but someone is making new versions of THE GREATEST VIDEO GAME EVER! My boys and I are quite excited to have found a 2006 version of the classic Nintendo game. But I just noticed today that they are working on (and have a sort of "beta version" of) a 2007 version! Ha!

This means that our Bills have Trent Edwards at QB, Marshawn Lynch tearing up the field, and Paul Posluszny striking fear in the hearts of opponents.

All at 8-bits. It's a beautiful thing. :-)

Not sure of the legality of it? (Are Tecmo, and the NFLPA sanctioning this?) But man is it fun. It would be so cool if they could somehow release current roster versions to play on an actual NES, not an emulator on my Mac. :-)

But... anyway... for you classic gamers out there. Check it out! :-)

UBA

I saw a pretty cool thing on the Red Robin website today. We love their food, and celebrate all of our birthdays there, but now I will also be visiting their website.

It's called UnBridled Acts (of kindness), and just features stories of their employees going way above and beyond their normal duties. I read two, and there was a neat one about a Red Robin employee just paying for the coffee for the car behind him, which started a crazy chain reaction that ended up coming back to that same guy...

Check it out. Always cool to see selflessness in action. Wish that was more the norm than an "amazing story".

(But then, it wouldn't make for as cool a web page...) :-)

Super Full (Super Fun!) Weekend

Whew! That's how we felt late last night when we went to bed. Well, Jen may have felt a little "Ughhh" as well, bring very pregnant and all. But MAN did we pack a lot in!

It all started on Saturday morning. I woke up a tad early for a Saturday (8ish) and got ready to head over to our friends' house for a big prepare-the-house-for-sale clean up day. Jen stayed home with the kids to get ready to send them off with her parents for the weekend. Originally was just going to be overnight, but they asked if they could keep them till Monday. We thought it was a good idea, too. ;-)

From 9:30 till around 12:30pm I cleaned, fixed, moved, and more at our friends' house until Jen was dropped off there by her parents, who were on their way back home to Buffalo with our kids. I came out and said good bye to the kids, and then with a "second shift" of help arriving right about that same time, decided to pack up and get on to some other stuff for the day with Jen.

We got home and had a nice quiet lunch. No kids!! Then got to working on doing our taxes. Did that for a couple hours, while I baked bread for a party we were going to later that night. Once the bread was ready, we packed up and headed out.

It was a surprise 40th birthday party - for a friend who would not be described as a "people person" really - and it was about a 40-minute drive to somewhere we'd never been. But again... we had no kids, so all was well. :-) We stopped by the house where the cleaning party had been to deliver something they needed, and to see the progress. Very nice! Got to see another friend there whom we had not seen in quite a while, too. So, a nice - yet very short - visit there, and we were on to the party.

We were on time... until we got to where we were going. Unbeknownst to us, shortly before this weekend, the road sign (along with a light pole and a power line pole) had been taken out by a rogue milk truck! So, we drove at least 5 miles past where we were supposed to turn, going past the next little village. From what we saw on Google Maps, that could not possibly be right. We didn't have their phone number, but knew that it just couldn't be right. Already a bit late - and needing to not be since it was a surprise party!! - we turned around and hoped we could see their road a second time.

With eagle eyes we scanned the side of the road where our turn was supposed to be. Nothing. We had seen all of these roads before, and for the second time, none were the road we needed. We did find one road that was definitely NOT labeled, but being in a time crunch, I was not going to drive down an unmarked road! We found a gas station not far from there and found out that our unmarked road was indeed the one we wanted, so finally - just about 15 minutes later than we were supposed to be there - we arrived at our destination.

Oh, and I forgot. On the way there, we were traveling down a very rural, country road... just having a nice conversation, enjoying the music on the iPod, when I caught a glimpse of some shadows directly ahead of us. FOUR DEER crossing the road... and more coming. No way we were NOT going to hit them. I just asked God to make it not too bad!

I guess he did. :-)

I hit the brakes (not too hard as it was snowing, and skidding would be equally as bad) and three deer managed to cross to our left and "magically" one deer just stopped and created a gap for us to drive through. Don't know if there were more behind that one deer, but glad for him stopping - or perhaps an angel standing in his way? However it happened, we were thankful for safe passage.

The rest of the evening was fun. Besides two couples, we didn't really know many of the people there very well. But we were welcomed in their circle (they kind of knew us from our days leading worship at Crosswinds) and had a great evening. We introduced them to Dutch Blitz. Super fun card game! And ate lots of good food, and had lots of fun. Our "not a people person" friend also was quite surprised and seem to really enjoy it. We got to have a few good conversations throughout the night about life with the church as well. Several are in a similar place with all that as we are. Good to think it out together.

We didn't leave till 11:30 that night - which was so nice! Didn't have to worry about getting home for the baby sitter! We did go to bed rather exhausted though! Super fun day.

But the weekend wasn't over!!

Sunday we woke up on our own - NO KIDS WAKING US UP! - and I said to Jen at around 10am or so, "I'm taking you out for breakfast!" So we got up and ready to go in like 10 minutes! Ha! So funny to parents of four young kids. :-)

The funny part of the breakfast plan was that we were headed to Victor (a nearby town) and we also had an appointment there at 5:30pm. (We also had plans to have lunch with some friends there around 1:30 or so.) So, really, we were heading out for most of the day! But again, we had no kids!!! So we were very much looking forward to it! :-)

As we left the house, I said, "Oh cool, it's snowing!" A nice light dusting was on the ground, and some nice fluffy lake effect snow was softly falling. It was pretty cold, and supposed to get colder - and very windy - but for now, wasn't too bad. We headed down the road toward our destination, and decided to take the Thruway (the main interstate highway) to get there a bit more directly, and quickly.

The snow kept getting a little worse, but still not too bad on the roads. I was glad we left when we did. For about two more minutes. :-)

Not long after getting on the Thruway, we found it more and more difficult to see, with much more accumulation on the roads. I ended up needing to follow the tracks from the car(s) who went before me. As a small truck tried to pass us on the left, I began to feel the vehicle losing traction, and shimmy a bit. So I slowed down for the truck to pass and realized that I couldn't really see very far in front of us. Not far at all. Within another minute or two, I really couldn't!. It was a HUGE white out! Seriously couldn't see five seconds in front of us, so we slowed way down, hoping to not be hit from behind.

Thankfully I happened to catch a glimpse of the green highway exit sign as we passed (surprised I could see it that far away!) and decided to exit. With a large semi behind us, I just signaled and HOPED I was getting off on the exit! Could NOT see it!!! Slowed to almost a stop and found the road. (Quite glad for those reflectors for the snow plows!) We slowly approached the toll booth and literally could see nothing. NOTHING. Finally, once we were about 50 feet from the toll plaza, we saw the flashing yellow light. I tried to center the van under the light (so we could go through the toll booth) and we made it through... but then couldn't see the road on the other side!! :-)

We practically inched ahead for a while till I saw a McDonald's sign on the right. I said to Jen, "How about McDonald's instead??" :-) She agreed, and I pulled in where I THOUGHT the road was!! Still couldn't see it! Finally got into a parking spot and went in and enjoyed some breakfast. CRAZY snow!!!

The snow died down rather quickly. Was a super fast white out. I was thankful later that we were again granted safe passage. It did not turn out as well for many to the west of us in Rochester. A multi-car pile up resulted from the same white outs, and killed one girl, and injured a bunch more. So we were grateful to be safely eating breakfast at McDonald's.

From there, here's the rest of the day...

We went to the 11:15am service at Willowbrook to see friends and family, then joined some of them for lunch at Wendy's shortly after that. Not having kids, we just enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch and chat with the two families there. Good times! Then, with three hours to "kill" we headed up to the mall to do a few things we needed to before my 5:30pm appointment at the Apple store.

First, we just SAT and talked. :-) There's a nice sitting area at the front/center of the mall. So, we just sat and talked :-) (MAN! Pretending you don't have kids is FUN!) :-) After a bit of that we went to a store to look for jeans for me, but were unsuccessful. But, while we were there we checked out the couches. Ours are about 22 years old, and probably nearing the end of their life... :-)

After that we headed over to Sears to pick up Ian's 9th birthday photos. Since Friendly's is right there - and Jen seemed to need a break - we stopped to get some ice cream. :-) Again. Even more fun without kids. :-)

When we were done with our ice cream it was almost time for my Apple store appointment, so we headed that way and thanks to me knowing most of the people there, I got in about 20 minutes earlier than my appointment. That went very quickly which was good. (And, I did get to play with the new MacBook Air a bit... so it was a fun visit, too!) Having finished a very full day out, we decided to head home.

On our way home however, I remembered that Jen's brother had said we could maybe get together with them after 8pm... so we called and confirmed and made plans to head BACK to Victor around eight that night. :-)

We got home at 6:30... Jen crashed. I ate dinner.. then crashed while watching the TiVo delayed Pro Bowl. We both woke up after a nap - somewhat refreshed - and ready for more! (OK, I needed aspirin to be ready... but, after that, I was ready!) We headed out at about 8:30, and ended up chatting with Jen's bro and his wife till midnight! We swapped photos and stories from our trips the past fall (hadn't gotten to do that yet!) and just had a nice, kid-less time.

I finished the Pro Bowl after we got home - AFC lost :-( - and even watched another show, and finally got to bed around 3am!

CRAZY SUPER FUN WEEKEND!

Tonight, Grandma & Grandpa are bringing the kids back, and I can't wait to see them. But getting a couple days without them is definitely a very good, enjoyable thing. :-)

Anyone Feeling Generous?

I have officially come to the end of my chai supply. I'm pretty sure I have mentioned it here before, but many of you who know me in person have frequently heard me herald the greatness of this warm beverage. My favorite brand so far is Big Train chai. (Pictured to the right.) They have some great deals at Amazon.com, but with a stack of bills waiting to be paid... I'm going to hold off on the purchase for now.

So I just thought I would offer you the opportunity to be super (cali-fragi) generous and send a little chai my way... (all you need to do is click the photo of chai.......) ;-)

Anyone feeling generous? :-)

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

One more for tonight. Saw this video recently, and thought it was pretty humorous, in a political kind of way. Well done, too. :-)

Tecmo Superbowl

Pretty sure I have mentioned here that I am a fan of old video games, and the king of all of those games - at least in the sports genre - is Tecmo Superbowl for the Nintendo NES.

A friend sent me a link to a video today (first one below) and I found the "response" to the first video (second one below). Both are pretty funny (especially if you are a big TSB fan like me...) And, I'm posting them here for my boys to watch. :-)

Enjoy!

Bo Jackson


Christian Okoye

National Hot Tea Month

I learned from my wife last night that January is national hot tea month. Now, I am known to have a cup or two a day... I am a fan of many kinds. (Big Train Chai is another favorite drink!) But with it being National Tea Month and all... I suppose I shall have to have a bit more. :-)

Care to join me for some tea?

(That's our awesome brown tea kettle in the photo by the way!)

Christmas Report

Do you remember Christmas days gone by when, as a youngster, you couldn't wait to see your friends or maybe your cousins - whoever would listen! - so you could tell them what you got for Christmas? Well, I do. But I don't think that I really got to tell anyone that yesterday, so I'm going to write it down here!

I am drinking some tea this morning from a nice new mug I got from Santa. My wife got me a Buffalo Bills book that so far is quite good, and we also have mountains of great Christmas candy! (Mostly chocolate!) I also got some nice winter gloves (mine have holes ... no... they ARE holes!) and a few cans of tomato soup! :-) (Yes... I've been wanting some of that...) :-)

It was a fun day. Lots of smiles, and even a bunch of useful stuff. Fun to give, and to receive. And the best part is that Jen actually bought almost everything using money from sales of other stuff on CraigsList, ebay, and Amazon.com. :-) Nice!

Oh! Maybe the best present of all was one that was hand-crafted by Ian! He worked long and hard to build an iMac for me! it's awesome! I'll have to post a photo :-) Even came with a wireless keyboard AND an iPod! :-) He spent many days building it for me at my workbench in the basement. (I think that Ian has now worked there more than I have....) ;-)

Hope you had a fun day as well. Feel free to share your favorite gifts in the comments below. :-)

Christmas Bird

My Dad loves to send us funny videos and stuff... well, this one made me laugh. :-) Hopefully it does for you too. :-)

Let It Snow! Keep It Coming!

In all the busyness of my web design work, and my Buffalo Bills show, and everyday life as a family of six, I have not gotten to say HOW MUCH I AM LOVING THIS WINTER!!! (AND IT'S NOT EVEN WINTER YET!!!!) :-)

Just after Thanksgiving, people had their Christmas lights up (and on at night) but the ground was still green. Well, just about my birthday, that all changed! We got snow... and it's set up camp! Looks like it's going to be around for a long while and that is GREAT NEWS!!

It makes the Christmas lights look a lot better, too. :-)

It snowed all day today - another 6-7 inches maybe? It's supposed to snow all day Sunday. And Monday. And probably more after that! Oh man! This is my kinda winter!!!

The cool part for me is that I work upstairs. I don't have to get the snow off the car, or shovel the driveway, or DRIVE in the stuff. I just get to have a nice hot cup of whatever and LOOK at it! Whoohoo! Oh... and I get to make snowmen with my boys at 10:30 at night. :-) (See below...)

Bring it on, winter! This is why I live in upstate New York!!!! :-)

33

Well, yes, today is my birthday, but it has already begun to be celebrated. My sister made me a cake while we were down there with them at my Mom & Dad's... they sang and everything. I got presents from the extended family. Many have been wishing me a happy birthday, including calls/IMs from Dad & Sister who have started this interesting tradition of wishing me a happy birthday on November 29th, so they can be the first one or something... :-)

Last night we all went out as a family to celebrate. Red Robin gives you a free burger on your birthday, so we like to take advantage of that! We went there for dinner, they sang me a song. It was tons of fun!

During dinner, Kirstie (our awesome 3-year-old) says something about how we need to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for my birthday! I just smiled (as I am now!) and realized that to her, THAT is a birthday! We have done the Red-Robin-Chuck-E-Cheese birthday circuit for several birthdays running now! :-)

So after dinner, we piled in the van and headed over to Chuck-E-Cheese!!

We got inside and the guy at the entrance said, "Is there a special occasion today?" I answered, "Yes......" He probed further, "Is it a birthday?" We all said, "Yes......." He said, "Whose birthday is it???"

Everyone pointed to me and said, "Dad's birthday!" He looked a little surprised, but handed me the birthday balloon!

We got a few dollars worth of tokens and headed out to have some fun. Strangely, most of the stuff we tried to do was broken, but the one thing I wanted to do - that cool little sketch/photo machine - did work and we got a funny photo memory from the night. I did get to play one game of skee ball with the boys, too. :-)

So, for my 33rd birthday, I went to Red Robin & Chuck E Cheese! :-)

But, there's more. So far today I have received some awesome steak "plates" (they are boards!) hand-crafted by my almost-9 year old son and his crafty Grandpa Tom, and a BUNCH of e-mails, IMs, and other electronic birthday greetings. Jen has some plans for tonight too, but won't divulge them just yet. :-)

More later... unfortunately today is still a busy work day! Just wanted to tell the stories of how everyone has been celebrating my birthday. It's been really fun so far, and much appreciated.

Thanks! :-)

What Color Am I?

I don't know why these quick little quizzes are so fascinating to me, but they are... My pick was interestingly accurate. It said to choose the "most appealing" one... that could mean a lot of things, so I chose the one I noticed first. Here's what it said about me.

You love a free and spontaneous life. And you strive to enjoy every moment, in accordance with the motto: "You only live once."

You are very curious and open about everything new. You thrive on change. Nothing is worse than when you feel tied down.

You experience your environment as being versatile and always good for a surprise.

So, click the image above and take their one-click test. See if it accurately describes you. :-)

(The Great) Chris Farley and Paul McCartney

Was just remembering this Saturday Night sketch today, and found it (of course) on YouTube. Classic, CLASSIC video. Was laughing as loud as I have ever laughed I think when I saw it again. :-)

Enjoy!

Candidate Calculator

I found this site last night, and thought it was interesting... I actually care very little about politics because I really just don't like government very much at all anyway. I know it's idealistic, but I definitely have Libertarian leanings, where each person is responsible for themselves, and the people around them. I don't like that the government seems to be taking more and more control over people's lives. :-( Definitely not a socialist... :-)

Anyhoo... looks like I need to vote Huckabee. (Um, seriously... don't you think he should change his name or something? President Huckabee???) :-)

Click the image above and see who you should vote for! :-)

(direct link: http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html)

Under Two Weeks!

I can't believe it's really here, but we are under two weeks from leaving for eight days—without our children!!! Seriously. It's true! We leave a week from Friday, and will return the following Saturday night. Jen's folks are keeping our kiddos for the week, and my folks gave us a week of their time share... all for our 10th anniversary celebration! What a celebration!

We're so looking forward to it. The problem is the major cramming I am doing now to complete several projects before we leave! Still going nuts!

Besides relaxing for a week with no children, just enjoying each other's company (celebrating TEN YEARS of marriage!) we'll get to see some friends from college who live out "near" there. (At least closer there than they are to our home here in New York...) :-)

So, fun all around! We're 11 days away!! Holy cow!! :-)

Quick Links

Hey folks... more to come, even today I hope. But have a couple quick things for you today:

Five Free Songs!
If you're on Facebook, I heard through a podcast today that you can get 5 free songs from iTunes just by joining the Ticketmaster Live group. And, it's true. I have 5 song credits on my iTunes account, just for joining their group. Neat!

The Holy Observer: October Edition
Folks, this site is just so well done. If you haven't clicked over there in the past when I've linked it, you ought to take a moment and do that today. So well written, and expertly designed... and hilarious! I love the church sign for this month! :-)

Enjoy... More to come.

Changing Seasons

Fall has begun, and that means that we're coming to the very end of the ice cream season. It's been a good one. Many visits from the Chis. My Dad has been up several times for ice cream. Friends from all over the region have met us there - including a surprise visit from our friends the Towners one night! - and we of course did our annual concert there with our friends in the band Sound Mind.

It's been a good year.

But now, this Sunday (Sep 30)... Chill & Grill will be closing for the season. :-( :-(

We'll be heading up there for sure on Sunday, and maybe tomorrow night as well. Been fitting in a few more ice cream trips this week, knowing it will be closing again for 5 months or so. Too bad. I would still get ice cream in the winter...

:-)

If you're a fan, come out today or tomorrow and grab the last remnants of the ice cream! (Flavor selection is rather slim these days!) We'll be there Sunday for sure!

Also, be sure to check out the Chill & Grill Fan Page I created on Facebook!

Looking forward to Sunday, and already looking forward to next season!

I do love me some ice cream... :-)

Naples Grape Festival

Tomorrow and Sunday is the annual Grape Festival in Naples, NY. It's about 35-40 minutes from our house, but we've never gotten to go. We've had a grape pie or two from the event, but never witnessed it in person. We happen to have an open schedule, so we're planning to go! It's a neat little town, and I think mostly the festival is about food. (But then, what festival isn't??) :-) So it should be a super fun day!

I'll try and bring back a report... but no promises on that one! ;-)

If you're a local, and you'd like more info, just click their photo to the right. Maybe we'll see ya there!

Enough of That

So, today we read a little further in Luke (which is just a little later the same night that Jesus said "Enough sword talk!") and would you believe that Jesus said it again? One of the disciples pulls out a sword when the mob comes to arrest Jesus (which, makes sense from what Jesus had just told them a little bit ago...) and he cuts off the ear of one of the dudes. That prompts and "Enough of that!" from Jesus, and it prompted this little dittie that I sang for the boys after we noticed a theme in what Jesus was saying...

Enjoy :-)

Enough of That
Jesus said, "Get your sword"
Sell some stuff, if you must
The disciples said, "We've got two!"
But he said "Enough of that,
Yeah, Enought of that!"

What did he mean?
Oh what did he mean?
Enough of that

Late that night they came to get him
His disciples, well, they were listening
Drew their swords, chopped off an ear
He said enough of that
Yeah enough of that

What did he mean?
Oh what did he mean?
Enough of that
Enough of that

What do we learn from this little story?
Jesus does not like swords
Maybe he shouldn't have used that example
He should have said buy a dog
Or a donkey

Enough of that
Enough of that
What did he mean?
Oh what did he mean?
Enough of that
Enough of that

---

Words & Music by Greg Campbell (and Jesus)
Copyright © 2007

Marvel of Modern Engineering

Going through e-mails this afternoon and got this video from my Dad. Wasn't going to watch it (Sorry, Dad) :-) but decided to and couldn't stop. I can't even imagine how much work, and trial and error went into this! Crazy!

Enjoy. :-)

The Streak Has Ended

As you may recall, I spent every day of national ice cream month (July) eating ice cream! Well, that carried over to August... and even into September! But, with a busy day at the Bills game yesterday, and no ice cream in the fridge last night... the streak ended at 70 days. I fully expect to begin another one sometime soon. But for now, the streak has ended. Just thought I should let you know. :-)

Growing Up "Right"

I was downstairs for a bit this morning (baking some chocolate chip cookies, actually...) and overheard Jen and the kids in the living room. They were watching the Price is Right, and I could hear things like, "That's $92!?? No way!!" and, "Yes!!! Michael got $1.00!!!! Now [the next person] needs to get $1.00 too!"

First of all, it's cool that my kids cheer for other people. That's a life lesson that will serve them well if they carry it beyond gameshows. But, the other cool part?

I now can be certain that my kids are growing up right. They get quite regular doses of The Price Is Right!! You're not a true American kid if you don't know how to play Plink-O or the Shell Game or that cool one where the mountain climber climbs up, and if you got the wrong prices, falls off the top of the mountain.

Glad to know my kids are growing up Right. :-)