Monday, September 15, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The hazards of getting dressed in the dark.
I caved this weekend. And left the world of prepaid cell phones. One of the biggest reasons was to be able to talk to family without having everyone in the land of cubicles listen into my calls.
I also wanted to be able to Blog a little more, so here goes.
Today I noticed that I smelled extra nice as I ate my muffin at work my yes tree soap given me by my sister seemed extra strong. I didn't think much more of it until I scratched my chin and found a large glob of soap on my chin. Luckily I didn't have any interaction before discovering my Social faux pas. And that little incident reminded me ofone of my other social blunders. There is not any fun story to go along with this one. It is a little ironic that I was told about my shirt being inside out by a guy with little social skills.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
I also wanted to be able to Blog a little more, so here goes.
Today I noticed that I smelled extra nice as I ate my muffin at work my yes tree soap given me by my sister seemed extra strong. I didn't think much more of it until I scratched my chin and found a large glob of soap on my chin. Luckily I didn't have any interaction before discovering my Social faux pas. And that little incident reminded me ofone of my other social blunders. There is not any fun story to go along with this one. It is a little ironic that I was told about my shirt being inside out by a guy with little social skills.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Savants
I remember when I was a kid I used to watch 60 minutes at my Grandma's house every Sunday. I ran across this link, and enjoyed a few video clips on some savants and the amazing gifts they have. Probably my favorite clip was about Derek, who played a song called San Jose as if Mozart wrote it.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9124681&ch=4227541&src=news
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=9124681&ch=4227541&src=news
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Family! Family! Family!
I love my family! They are great! How many exclamation marks can I have in a row! No really, they are great. This past week involved my sister and her husband and children moving to our part of town. Big move for them. My dad came out early to help move, and to do a little visiting. We had a good visit, and then my mom came into town to help with the move, and to do a little more visiting. This past weekend, we had aunts, uncles, , siblings, grandparents, cousins, grandchildren, nieces, nephews...in short a whole lot of family at our place for a brunch. There was a lot of visiting, good food to be had, and a warm glow at our house.
The house is now empty as family has left. I am looking forward to the next family visit in a few days when another sister will come out to visit for a few days. FAMILY IS GREAT!!!
The house is now empty as family has left. I am looking forward to the next family visit in a few days when another sister will come out to visit for a few days. FAMILY IS GREAT!!!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
twitterpated
Have you heard of Twitter? It is a text blogger. You can text from your phone to twitter, and if you are a follower, you get a text. Check out the Wikipedia entry for more details. You can follow my "twitters" off to the side. You can also subscribe to my twitter. Unfortunately, I can't use my phone to send updates
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Mexico Trip May 08
I went to Mexico. Not Tijuana-south-of-the-border-Mexico, not Puerta Vallarta-tourist-trap-Mexico, but to a remote village in the heart of Mexico. The village is called Otates y Cantarranas. That translates roughly into the Bamboo and Singing Frogs. The location of the village is in between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Otates is just a hop, skip and jump from Playa Las Tortugas (Turtle Beach), which is located along the coast directly west from Otates. My purpose for going to this exotic locale was to help the village of Otates with clean water. The village is home to roughly 900 people. Most are farmers who work are part of a cooperative farming effort. The local health clinic, the kindergarten, primary, and secondary school do not have access to water. The rest of the village relies on a water source that provides 1/2 the town with one hour of water one day, and 1/2 the town with 1 hour of water the next day. All of this water, although chlorinated, needs to be boiled before drinking.
I was able to go with a new philanthropic arm of my company called Projects for People. Under this organization, we have established a chapter with Engineers without Borders. The purpose of EWB is to serve as a broker between those in need, and those wishing to help. This trip has been a long time coming. Last year our company was holding a town meeting with all the employees at one of our office locations. The CEO finished his presenation and then opened up the floor for anyone that had questions. One lady asked what the company was doing to allow engineers to use their skills to help those in need. The CEO mentioned a few things, but none that directly answered this lady's question. So he assigned the office manager the task to come up with a plan in the next three months. Several employees (including myself) sent the office manager some suggestions. He gathered us all together a week or two later and handed the assignment to us. He would provide direction and input when he was in town (He is a very busy guy) from a corporate standpoint, and we would hash things out on the front line. After 3 months we had a proposed plan for the company. One month after that, we presented this plan to the CEO who received it whole-heartedly. Now that the plan was approved, we just needed a project. Our first submittal for a project to EWB was not successful as 7 other chapters "bid" for the same project. The next attempt was successful and we officially had a project!
This project in Otates is pretty tame when compared to some of the other projects going on at EWB. Ours was just a few hours from a short non-stop flight. Some others I have heard of take 2 days of flight followed by 10 hours in a truck, followed by 4 hours by donkey. We wanted a project that we would be able to be successful without traveling to the other side of the earth.
So roughly a year after the townhall meeting, the core of our team was in Mexico. Two other spanish speakers joined our team. It was a good thing too. They were extremely helpful in communicating with the village while were there.
OK, back to the trip details. Typical EWB projects require the volunteers to sleep in a bag on the floor somewhere. We had a contact near Otates who has their winter home there and said they would let us stay at their cost. They were very gracious hosts who fed us well. The accommodations were amazing as you can see from the photos.
We arrived in Puerto Vallarta on Thursday around 1:00 pm. I volunteered to drive while we were there, as I thought it would be a fun adventure to drive in another country. We rented two cars for the group (7 total) and we were off. The other driver grew up in Guadalajara and was familiar driving in Mexico. I was not, but soon realized that the speed limit signs don't mean much when everyone is going 30-40 km faster than the posted limit. We drove for a couple of hours before stopping in a little town called Buceriasfor lunch.
The food was great. I had some shrimp, followed by some ice cream down the block. Then we were off to Otates...Well almost. My teammate and I had to backtrack a 1/2 hour to pick up some hydrological and topographical maps. Hopefully these will help us determine the best spot for a well for the town. After picking up the maps, and heading toward Otates again, we made a stop for some local cuisine.
I had a coconut sliced open and had some fresh coconut milk. It was a green coconut, and the milk wasn't that good. But after that, they took the coconut and sliced it open, scooped out the flesh (which had a creamy smooth texture as opposed to the fiberous texture found in all the other coconuts I have eaten) and mixed it with slices of jicama, freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice, some chili powder, and a little salt. Heaven in a sandwhich bag....mmmmm. I forget what we ate that night at Casa Soledad, but it was great. I wondered down to the rocky overlook at the bottom of the beach and watched the sun set.
The next day we made a quick visit to Otates to see the Clinic, and the schools and then had a meeting with the Ijidros (city council). I was designated as the spokesperson. So I stood there and told them who we were and why we were here. As we thought, they decided on wanting water as their first priority. Right after that, myself, another teammate and a member of the Ijidros left for the state capital of Tepic to get water sample bottles and meet the state director who would be the one to approve permits for future work. We arrived in Tepic and had a good meeting with the director. The longest part was the drive to Tepic. If I had known it was 260 hairpin curves to Tepic, I probably wouldn't have sat in the back seat and tried to write a text message to my wife while the driver played pole position along the way. I got carsick, but didn't loose my breakfast. I made a movie of a portion of those 260 turns. I will try and post it another time.
After visiting with the director, it was 2 or 3 in the afternoon. We were hungry, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local fast food chain place called Pollo Feliz. It reminded me of my dad's dutch oven chicken served with chips and salsa and fresh tortillas. Good food!! One interesting thing was that the restaurant had a greeter who seated you. Your meal was brought to you, and bus boys and waiters stopped by periodically to make sure everything was OK. Ever see that in a KFC?
Then we headed back another 260 hairpins curves and called it a day. The following day, Saturday, we headed out to the jungle near Otates to look at a potential water source. I didn't realize it would involve a 15 mile ride in the back of a truck, followed by a 4 mile walk through dusty and tick infested jungle.
Here is a photo of me crossing the stream with one of my teammates. During the hike up to the water source we saw all sorts of native plants.
Here we are at the water source. Our guides were very gracious, and although I didn't understand most of what they said, a couple reminded me a little of my grandpa.
Funny story at the water source. We were taking water samples at several locations to test. The engineer had told us to take these samples within 12 hours before being brought to the lab. This was a long hike in, and the rest of the group got it was not feasable to come back and take a sample the following day. I didn't at the time, and so we had a terse discussion for about 10 minutes. After one guy finally talked some sense into me and I conceded, another girl said, "Mike, your fly is down." I mumbled a thanks and after few seconds remedied the situation. To me that was incredible embarrassing, and made sense that no one was looking at me at eye level as they sat on the rocks and I stood. Oh boy... Pretty funny now, but I felt really silly especially thinking this was around 1:00 pm, and I had been running around in this condition since 5:00 am. LOL...
Here is a photo of one tree that bears star fruit shaped fruit, but the taste is a cross between a cucumber and zucchini. You will also note that there are few to no leaves on this tree. This is typical for many trees down here. They have leaves when they don't have fruit. And when they have fruit, they have no leaves.
The tree had apple shaped fruit all over, like a typical apple tree, but without a leaf in sight. Very strange!
This fruit tastes like a cross between a pineapple and a pear. It has a name like Guanabana or something. I didn't get to try this fruit, but I had some juice that someone had bought. Mmmmm. Very good!
After the trip to the spring, we relaxed at the Mayor's house. I guess he isn't a mayor per se, but that is the closest thing to here in the states. Maybe the president of a city council... He fed us some tasty popsicles. Frozen coconut juice mixture was one flavor, and I think a berry for the other one. Very nice people.
While we were relaxing, one girl decided to catch a chicken. I have a couple videos of her running around. Everyone had a good laugh, and she successfully caught her chick.
That night we had another good meal, I think ceviche. Very tasty. The previous night we had chili rellenos. I thought of my friend who grew up in Mexico, and ate one for him. He says they never taste as good in the states as they do in Mexico. He is right.
That night we went to a look out on nob point. you can see the outlook in this photo in relation to the house.
Our host said that typically at sunset over 1000 bats come out all at once. Plus it is a nice sunset. So we all piled in their surburban and headed up to watch the show.
Going
Going
Almost gone.
Closest thing I have to gone.
Couple of the team taking photos.
The bats were supposed to come out of the rock shown on the left about eye level. They never showed up in droves. But it was a pretty sunset.
View looking straight down from the point.
The next day was spent doing a health survey, and looking at another potential water source. Here is a picture of our team tracing a potential route for a new water supply.
The soccer field.
This is a watering hole in the field for the proposed well location. The water is at its low point, and is located about 2 meters below ground level in this shot. The farmer had a small gasoline powered pump that he ran for over an hour without any drop in water location. My worry is that while it is a good well for a couple of folks, how can we determine if it will provide a substantial increase for the village.
Kindergarten
Clinic
Primary school. Water has to be hauled in for drinking and to flush toilets.
Secondary school.
Cute girl taken while team was conducting a health assessment. This is my inspiration when I look to the work ahead. I can't imagine my little girls not having drinking water at school.
After everything was done, we then had a bunch of SWAG to give to the children. Our company had a bunch of promotional material that they couldn't use and gave it to us to give to the children of Otates. It was so fun to give away. The children were so excited and appreciative.
That is about it for the trip. We went back to the little casa we were staying at, relaxed went swimming, and then packed up and left early in the am.
Very good trip. I am looking forward to getting started on the design. The plans are to have a couple of designs that the village picks from in September. Then hopefully the implementation in December/January timeframe. That, I hear, is the best time to visit.
I was able to go with a new philanthropic arm of my company called Projects for People. Under this organization, we have established a chapter with Engineers without Borders. The purpose of EWB is to serve as a broker between those in need, and those wishing to help. This trip has been a long time coming. Last year our company was holding a town meeting with all the employees at one of our office locations. The CEO finished his presenation and then opened up the floor for anyone that had questions. One lady asked what the company was doing to allow engineers to use their skills to help those in need. The CEO mentioned a few things, but none that directly answered this lady's question. So he assigned the office manager the task to come up with a plan in the next three months. Several employees (including myself) sent the office manager some suggestions. He gathered us all together a week or two later and handed the assignment to us. He would provide direction and input when he was in town (He is a very busy guy) from a corporate standpoint, and we would hash things out on the front line. After 3 months we had a proposed plan for the company. One month after that, we presented this plan to the CEO who received it whole-heartedly. Now that the plan was approved, we just needed a project. Our first submittal for a project to EWB was not successful as 7 other chapters "bid" for the same project. The next attempt was successful and we officially had a project!
This project in Otates is pretty tame when compared to some of the other projects going on at EWB. Ours was just a few hours from a short non-stop flight. Some others I have heard of take 2 days of flight followed by 10 hours in a truck, followed by 4 hours by donkey. We wanted a project that we would be able to be successful without traveling to the other side of the earth.
So roughly a year after the townhall meeting, the core of our team was in Mexico. Two other spanish speakers joined our team. It was a good thing too. They were extremely helpful in communicating with the village while were there.
OK, back to the trip details. Typical EWB projects require the volunteers to sleep in a bag on the floor somewhere. We had a contact near Otates who has their winter home there and said they would let us stay at their cost. They were very gracious hosts who fed us well. The accommodations were amazing as you can see from the photos.
We arrived in Puerto Vallarta on Thursday around 1:00 pm. I volunteered to drive while we were there, as I thought it would be a fun adventure to drive in another country. We rented two cars for the group (7 total) and we were off. The other driver grew up in Guadalajara and was familiar driving in Mexico. I was not, but soon realized that the speed limit signs don't mean much when everyone is going 30-40 km faster than the posted limit. We drove for a couple of hours before stopping in a little town called Buceriasfor lunch.
The food was great. I had some shrimp, followed by some ice cream down the block. Then we were off to Otates...Well almost. My teammate and I had to backtrack a 1/2 hour to pick up some hydrological and topographical maps. Hopefully these will help us determine the best spot for a well for the town. After picking up the maps, and heading toward Otates again, we made a stop for some local cuisine.
I had a coconut sliced open and had some fresh coconut milk. It was a green coconut, and the milk wasn't that good. But after that, they took the coconut and sliced it open, scooped out the flesh (which had a creamy smooth texture as opposed to the fiberous texture found in all the other coconuts I have eaten) and mixed it with slices of jicama, freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice, some chili powder, and a little salt. Heaven in a sandwhich bag....mmmmm. I forget what we ate that night at Casa Soledad, but it was great. I wondered down to the rocky overlook at the bottom of the beach and watched the sun set.
The next day we made a quick visit to Otates to see the Clinic, and the schools and then had a meeting with the Ijidros (city council). I was designated as the spokesperson. So I stood there and told them who we were and why we were here. As we thought, they decided on wanting water as their first priority. Right after that, myself, another teammate and a member of the Ijidros left for the state capital of Tepic to get water sample bottles and meet the state director who would be the one to approve permits for future work. We arrived in Tepic and had a good meeting with the director. The longest part was the drive to Tepic. If I had known it was 260 hairpin curves to Tepic, I probably wouldn't have sat in the back seat and tried to write a text message to my wife while the driver played pole position along the way. I got carsick, but didn't loose my breakfast. I made a movie of a portion of those 260 turns. I will try and post it another time.
After visiting with the director, it was 2 or 3 in the afternoon. We were hungry, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a local fast food chain place called Pollo Feliz. It reminded me of my dad's dutch oven chicken served with chips and salsa and fresh tortillas. Good food!! One interesting thing was that the restaurant had a greeter who seated you. Your meal was brought to you, and bus boys and waiters stopped by periodically to make sure everything was OK. Ever see that in a KFC?
Then we headed back another 260 hairpins curves and called it a day. The following day, Saturday, we headed out to the jungle near Otates to look at a potential water source. I didn't realize it would involve a 15 mile ride in the back of a truck, followed by a 4 mile walk through dusty and tick infested jungle.
The girls wore shorts and tank tops. Coming from a Boy Scout background, I thought this was probably not the best idea. All the guys were in long pants. Yet the guy that I thought was the best dressed for the environment had 13 ticks. I ended up with 2, and I think one girl had one. So maybe the less clothes the better for ticks. No cloth to climb up. Ticks give me the heebie-jeebies.
Here is a photo of me crossing the stream with one of my teammates. During the hike up to the water source we saw all sorts of native plants.
Here we are at the water source. Our guides were very gracious, and although I didn't understand most of what they said, a couple reminded me a little of my grandpa.
Funny story at the water source. We were taking water samples at several locations to test. The engineer had told us to take these samples within 12 hours before being brought to the lab. This was a long hike in, and the rest of the group got it was not feasable to come back and take a sample the following day. I didn't at the time, and so we had a terse discussion for about 10 minutes. After one guy finally talked some sense into me and I conceded, another girl said, "Mike, your fly is down." I mumbled a thanks and after few seconds remedied the situation. To me that was incredible embarrassing, and made sense that no one was looking at me at eye level as they sat on the rocks and I stood. Oh boy... Pretty funny now, but I felt really silly especially thinking this was around 1:00 pm, and I had been running around in this condition since 5:00 am. LOL...
Here is a photo of one tree that bears star fruit shaped fruit, but the taste is a cross between a cucumber and zucchini. You will also note that there are few to no leaves on this tree. This is typical for many trees down here. They have leaves when they don't have fruit. And when they have fruit, they have no leaves.
The tree had apple shaped fruit all over, like a typical apple tree, but without a leaf in sight. Very strange!
This fruit tastes like a cross between a pineapple and a pear. It has a name like Guanabana or something. I didn't get to try this fruit, but I had some juice that someone had bought. Mmmmm. Very good!
After the trip to the spring, we relaxed at the Mayor's house. I guess he isn't a mayor per se, but that is the closest thing to here in the states. Maybe the president of a city council... He fed us some tasty popsicles. Frozen coconut juice mixture was one flavor, and I think a berry for the other one. Very nice people.
While we were relaxing, one girl decided to catch a chicken. I have a couple videos of her running around. Everyone had a good laugh, and she successfully caught her chick.
That night we had another good meal, I think ceviche. Very tasty. The previous night we had chili rellenos. I thought of my friend who grew up in Mexico, and ate one for him. He says they never taste as good in the states as they do in Mexico. He is right.
That night we went to a look out on nob point. you can see the outlook in this photo in relation to the house.
Our host said that typically at sunset over 1000 bats come out all at once. Plus it is a nice sunset. So we all piled in their surburban and headed up to watch the show.
Going
Going
Almost gone.
Closest thing I have to gone.
Couple of the team taking photos.
The bats were supposed to come out of the rock shown on the left about eye level. They never showed up in droves. But it was a pretty sunset.
View looking straight down from the point.
The next day was spent doing a health survey, and looking at another potential water source. Here is a picture of our team tracing a potential route for a new water supply.
The soccer field.
This is a watering hole in the field for the proposed well location. The water is at its low point, and is located about 2 meters below ground level in this shot. The farmer had a small gasoline powered pump that he ran for over an hour without any drop in water location. My worry is that while it is a good well for a couple of folks, how can we determine if it will provide a substantial increase for the village.
Kindergarten
Clinic
Primary school. Water has to be hauled in for drinking and to flush toilets.
Secondary school.
Cute girl taken while team was conducting a health assessment. This is my inspiration when I look to the work ahead. I can't imagine my little girls not having drinking water at school.
After everything was done, we then had a bunch of SWAG to give to the children. Our company had a bunch of promotional material that they couldn't use and gave it to us to give to the children of Otates. It was so fun to give away. The children were so excited and appreciative.
That is about it for the trip. We went back to the little casa we were staying at, relaxed went swimming, and then packed up and left early in the am.
Very good trip. I am looking forward to getting started on the design. The plans are to have a couple of designs that the village picks from in September. Then hopefully the implementation in December/January timeframe. That, I hear, is the best time to visit.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Facebook Magic, Mexico, and Goals
Facebook
I recently became a user of Facebook. I have had many friends tell me I should get an account, but for some reason I resisted these suggestions. About two weeks ago, yet another friend invited me to Facebook. I decided to give it a try, and WOW! I really like it. I am finding friends that I have lost track of for many years. Very cool. If you have been putting off getting involved in Facebook, I strongly recommend you give it a try.
Otates, Mexico
I started helping with a philanthropic project our company initiated last year. It has been a lot of fun creating an outlet for employees to be able to contribute to the greater good. I will have to post a little more on the ins and outs of this committee at a later date. The short version is that after a year our little philanthropic arm is sending a group of 6 individuals to Otates Nayarit Mexico through EWB (www.ewb-usa.org). This little village does not have any water for their village school. Children have to walk miles with a bucket for drinking water (not clean) and to flush the toilet. This is an assessment trip to verify their needs are what the village wants first, and to get the community as a whole to buy into the project. We will do some preliminary design, present the community with a couple of options, and then implement the design with the community providing the brunt of the labor. The end result is to create a sustainable project that the village community is excited about and can maintain. I leave Thursday...
Goals
I have several larger than life goals right now.
At least they seem larger than life to me. I actually did something about it today instead of complaining to my wife. I was walking on the treadmill tonight and reading my PE study book. My wife walked in and said, "That is the smartest thing you have thought of in a LONG time!" I thought her comment was pretty funny. And I am proud of thinking of doing both. I don't know how I am going to get 2-3 hours of study in every day. The goal is to have 300 hours by October. 1 hour down. :) In addition to posting stuff about my life, the next few months will include a line with some or all of the above mentioned goals. I am a strong subscriber to a quote by Thomas Monson (The current prophet of my church) who said, "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, performance improves dramatically." So here is to a little measured performance!
PE Study -1 hour Engineering Economics
Exercise - 1 hour walking on the treadmill 3.2 - 3.4 mph
Diet - not recorded today.
I recently became a user of Facebook. I have had many friends tell me I should get an account, but for some reason I resisted these suggestions. About two weeks ago, yet another friend invited me to Facebook. I decided to give it a try, and WOW! I really like it. I am finding friends that I have lost track of for many years. Very cool. If you have been putting off getting involved in Facebook, I strongly recommend you give it a try.
Otates, Mexico
I started helping with a philanthropic project our company initiated last year. It has been a lot of fun creating an outlet for employees to be able to contribute to the greater good. I will have to post a little more on the ins and outs of this committee at a later date. The short version is that after a year our little philanthropic arm is sending a group of 6 individuals to Otates Nayarit Mexico through EWB (www.ewb-usa.org). This little village does not have any water for their village school. Children have to walk miles with a bucket for drinking water (not clean) and to flush the toilet. This is an assessment trip to verify their needs are what the village wants first, and to get the community as a whole to buy into the project. We will do some preliminary design, present the community with a couple of options, and then implement the design with the community providing the brunt of the labor. The end result is to create a sustainable project that the village community is excited about and can maintain. I leave Thursday...
Goals
I have several larger than life goals right now.
- Getting in 1/2 marathon shape by September
- Preparing for the PE in October
- Changing my eating habits/lifestyle
At least they seem larger than life to me. I actually did something about it today instead of complaining to my wife. I was walking on the treadmill tonight and reading my PE study book. My wife walked in and said, "That is the smartest thing you have thought of in a LONG time!" I thought her comment was pretty funny. And I am proud of thinking of doing both. I don't know how I am going to get 2-3 hours of study in every day. The goal is to have 300 hours by October. 1 hour down. :) In addition to posting stuff about my life, the next few months will include a line with some or all of the above mentioned goals. I am a strong subscriber to a quote by Thomas Monson (The current prophet of my church) who said, "When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, performance improves dramatically." So here is to a little measured performance!
PE Study -1 hour Engineering Economics
Exercise - 1 hour walking on the treadmill 3.2 - 3.4 mph
Diet - not recorded today.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
My Brother is selling his house!
To: Anyone interested in buying a house in Springville UT
http://etcaetera-etcaetera.blogspot.com/2008/05/im-selling-my-home.html
Great price, great location, great home. Even great owners.*
*Owners not included.
If you, dear reader, know of anyone who wants a nice starter in the Springville/Spanish Fork area, have them contact me. We'd be happy to show the home.
Quick facts:
http://etcaetera-etcaetera.blogspot.com/2008/05/im-selling-my-home.html
Great price, great location, great home. Even great owners.*
*Owners not included.
If you, dear reader, know of anyone who wants a nice starter in the Springville/Spanish Fork area, have them contact me. We'd be happy to show the home.
Quick facts:
- 3 Bed, 2.5 bath
- Great Springville location
- 1500 sq/ft
- Easy-to-maintain .09 acre lot
- Built in 2002
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Sweet Summer Flicks
I went to see Ironman with a friend last week. If you haven't heard of it, then you are probably not a comic book fan. Stan Lee is in the movie with a small cameo. I don't know what it is about superhero movies, but I LOVE 'EM! This movie has a 93% fresh rating from rottentomatoes.com, which is impressive. One of the cool things about this movie is that it has a basis in current technology. Though I have to admit, that today's current technology is far far behind what Hollywood can dream up.
I am looking forward to this summer's movie line up.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Prince Caspian
Hancock
Speed Racer
The Dark Knight
The Incredible Hulk (This promises to be better than the recent bomb of a movie).
The Happening
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Summer movie goodness!
I am looking forward to this summer's movie line up.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Prince Caspian
Hancock
Speed Racer
The Dark Knight
The Incredible Hulk (This promises to be better than the recent bomb of a movie).
The Happening
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Summer movie goodness!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
My trip to Seattle March 27-30th.
I went up to Seattle to attend the Engineers Without Borders Conference (EWB). It was a great conference. I have a lot of work ahead of me on the project I am helping head up for our company. While the majority of my time was spent in lectures, we did get to hear from several somewhat famous folks that gave engaging presentations.
The first of these was Bill Gates Sr. He talked about the work that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doing. There were a few anecdotal stories about his son, as well as the confession that Bill Sr. is not a technology user, and has a hard time with his smart phone. But mainly he talked about the foundation, the challenges it faces. There is so much need in the world, and even with the vast resources of the Gates foundation, they can only put a scratch on the surface. There are many problems that they ignore so they can focus on solving a few problems effectively. Very good speech. Bill Sr. also announced that the Gates Foundation was starting a new initiative for anybody that has a good idea that could help others. They are having a mini grant process for anyone that has a good idea for those in need. 2 pages long, and if your idea is one of the many they pick, they will seed your project with 100,000. If things are going well in a year, they will seed it again with more money. Most of us at the conference thought that 100,000 was not in the same league as mini. So if you have a good idea, you could end up with a "mini" grant to help those in need.
That night we went to the Museum of Flight for heavy hors d'oeuvres catered by McCormick and Schmick's. The first place we went in the musuem was to the "Red Barn." This was originally used to manufacture planes back in the early 1900s. The precision and craftsmanship amazed me. I have a few pictures I took. I was going to put most of them on this blog, but it was easier to upload them to picasa, so you will have to take a look at the link for more photos.
After we had eaten, we heard from Bonnie Dunbar, a former astronaut, who now is the CEO of the museum. She had some amazing stories to tell of her experiences, as well as the many heros of the aviation/space industry.
We then heard from the current ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) President, David Mongan. Here is a picture of us with him after the presentation.
We saw a few more interesting planes, walked through Space Lab, and saw a copy of Sputnik.
There were many more seminars, and heard from Bernard Amadei. All in all, a very productive and enjoyable trip.
See below for more pictures I took in Seattle.
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| Seattle Trip |
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Timber!
Saturday was a busy day at the Hahn household. It started around 2:00 am when I left for work to put a few hours in. Jenny had church meetings at 8:00 am, and I had a baptism of one of my Sunday School students to attend at 9:00 am. Around 10:30 or so the weather inspired me, and I decided to do a little yardwork. The high, which was also broke a record from 1974 was 74 degrees. Beautiful weather. So I decided to cut down the extra cottonwood weeds that had grown up around a little ash tree right off of our deck. I pulled out Grandpa's hand saw, and after I had cut down two trees and with almost frantic encouragement from my wife, I decided to make a trip to Lowes to buy a small electric chainsaw. It took most of the afternoon, but all the trees around the little ash were cut down and cut up and are ready to be taken to the curb. I decided to take a bunch of the small branches and bundle them together with twine.
Jenny trimmed around the crabapple tree, the evergreen trees, and some bush in our side yard. After a very industrious afternoon, we headed off to an evening meeting at church. We had a babysitter come over, so we could "paint the town red." We are so adventuresome getting a babysitter for a church meeting. :) After the meeting, we decided to go see a movie. The Spiderwick Chronicles. For those that enjoyed Jumanji, this falls in the same genre. It has been getting high ratings on rottentomatoes.com, and redhoteyebrows really enjoyed the books. Good pick!
That capped the evening, and we were ready for bed around 11:00 that night. Boy, I hope that I can stretch out the fun over the course of a few days next time!!
Jenny trimmed around the crabapple tree, the evergreen trees, and some bush in our side yard. After a very industrious afternoon, we headed off to an evening meeting at church. We had a babysitter come over, so we could "paint the town red." We are so adventuresome getting a babysitter for a church meeting. :) After the meeting, we decided to go see a movie. The Spiderwick Chronicles. For those that enjoyed Jumanji, this falls in the same genre. It has been getting high ratings on rottentomatoes.com, and redhoteyebrows really enjoyed the books. Good pick!
That capped the evening, and we were ready for bed around 11:00 that night. Boy, I hope that I can stretch out the fun over the course of a few days next time!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Grand Central
Here are a couple of my favorites from Lifehacker. EVERYONE should try Grand Central while it is still in Beta. Free extra number! I picked up one number 720-381-2398. Jenny has one in Olathe. Both are forwarded to our local home number. FREE! So you can sign up for a number somewhere in the country, and have it forwarded to your home number. It will also forward to different numbers depending on who is calling. So lets say you make a group that if it is from Family, forward it to your home. From no one on your list...Forward to a "Special Voicemail." Cool Features! Looking to move out of state? Get a local number in your locale of choice...
Get Your GrandCentral Number Today [Telephony]
This one is pretty fun. Tired of the old Windows logon? Or Mac logon? See below.
Customize Your Login Screen with LogonStudio [Featured Windows Download]
Get Your GrandCentral Number Today [Telephony]
If you've been dying to try out the one-number-to-rule-them-all phone service GrandCentral, but have been stymied by their move to a closed, invite-only beta following Google's acquisition of the service, you'll be glad to know that GrandCentral has opened up to users of Google's Blogger. If you're still undecided about whether or not GrandCentral is for you, check out our extensive review and gallery of GrandCentral. If you've been a user of GrandCentral since we first posted about it, let's hear how you're liking it in the comments. Thanks Jason!
GrandCentral Signup through Blogger Invite [GrandCentral]
This one is pretty fun. Tired of the old Windows logon? Or Mac logon? See below.
Customize Your Login Screen with LogonStudio [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Freeware application LogonStudio brings full login screen customization to your Windows XP or Vista PC. Last week we showed Mac users how they can match their desktop and login images, so if you were a Windows user looking for similar functionality, LogonStudio can do that for you and so much more. The app comes with several built-in login screens and images, but you can customize practically ever section of your login screen to your heart's content. LogonStudio is freeware, Windows only. Thanks cavelierex!
LogonStudio [Stardock]
Sunday, February 10, 2008
CPR Training
A few weeks ago I took a CPR Class. Work provides it free once every 2 years. It had been quite a while since I had been trained on CPR. It was put on by the American Heart Association. We practiced on dummies. It was very tiring after just a couple minutes. The instructor told of people reviving after having 2 hours of CPR done. I don't think I could go that long! The biggest change since last time is that instead of giving mouth-to-mouth, it was mouth-to-mask. That and the number of compressions needed per breath. Did you know that in Japan they are so worried about spreading the bird flu and SARS that they just did compressions, no breathing? That and the lecture that we need to get Hep B vaccines. They also gave a pretty extensive breakdown of a good first aid kit. I think I will need to include that in our epic ride.
The other interesting thing that was include in the CPR training was regarding an AED. I guess they are in most work places, and are close to dummy proof.
So know I am officially trained on basic CPR, and have a cool book for a refresher and a CD with video demonstrations.
I hope I never have to use it.
The other interesting thing I learned was that they renamed the Heimlich Maneuver to the Abdominal Thrust. Why...I am not sure.
The other interesting thing that was include in the CPR training was regarding an AED. I guess they are in most work places, and are close to dummy proof.
So know I am officially trained on basic CPR, and have a cool book for a refresher and a CD with video demonstrations.
I hope I never have to use it.
The other interesting thing I learned was that they renamed the Heimlich Maneuver to the Abdominal Thrust. Why...I am not sure.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Theme Song
| Your 1996 Theme Song Is: Who Will Save Your Soul by Jewel |
 Who will save your soul when it comes to the flower Who will save your soul after all the lies that you told, boy Who will save your soul if you won't save your own? |
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