JiggyIntel

Jamba Juice Eating Plan Results

2009-08-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my Jamba Juice eating plan with fairly good results. I did vary a little because I am a sucker for a bargain. Jamba is currently running a special where if you buy a wrap or salad and a drink off the menu, they cut two dollars off the bill for your "bundle" (see http://www.summerblissisback.com/foodbanner.php). So I would buy a smoothie and a wrap in the morning, have the smoothie for breakfast (under 300 calories) and then eat the wrap for lunch. Price for such breakfast and lunch bundle was about $7.50. I thought it was a deal for two meals. Then I just made sure that my dinner did not exceed my remaining calories goal for the day. I generally had about 800 calories left for dinner. Other than the night I had dinner at my in laws and the day I slipped in some frozen yogurt for lunch, I stuck to the eating plan for the whole week. At the end of the week, I have lost 1 lbs. Not bad, not great.

I must admit that I need more variety in my eating plan. I do not know how Jared ate so many Subway subs. So, it is just me and my Lose It calculator on my iPhone this week. I am sure I will take advantage of the Jamba Juice bundle again this week, but not everyday.

My Jamba Meal Plan

2009-08-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

I love the new wraps at Jamba Juice, especially the Greens and Grains wrap. You know how Jared lost a bunch of weight by only eating Subway sandwiches? Well I think that should work with Jamba Juice wraps also. The wraps are only between 450 and 600 calories depending on which one you buy. There is also a couscous salad with diced jicama and currants. Yum. I am also using "Lose It" on my iPhone to track my calories (love free iPhone apps) and I can easily fit two of those wraps (or the salad) into my 1465 daily calories. Isn't that a beautifully simple meal plan. I am trying it out this week with a moderate goal of losing just two pounds. I'll tell you how it goes next week. Wish me luck!

Part II -- Las Vegas Shows

2009-04-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

We went to two shows while in Las Vegas. KA, by Cirque du Soleil, was amazing. However, my vote for can't-miss show is the Wayne Brady show. How funny was his show? I was laughing so hard I seriously could not breath. You don't believe? When we exited the show there were paramedics outside providing oxygen masks to persons who were hyperventilating.

He is a comic genius. I do not know how he thinks so quick to come up with the improvisational songs and skits. His show is different every night based on audience participation. The guy standing behind me in the half price tickets line was called on stage as a prop in one of the skits. However, my favorite part actually came when he was sing a song from his album. A large woman up front was standing up and singing along and dancing. So he went down and was singing with her, but she became so excited that she grabbed the mic and started singing and actually knocked him over into the audience. She did not even notice and kept on singing. Wayne Brady thought it was awesome and said it was the best compliment ever.
It is hard to choose between the Cirque du Soleil shows while in Las Vegas. We picked KA because it was playing at the MGM Grand where we were staying. We went with Brad and Julene Ballard. It was so much fun to see them and catch up.

KA is about warring Asian tribes and a prince and princess that become separated. The acrobatics and costumes were fantastic, but I was most fascinated with the stage that could rotate 360 degrees. Sometimes the stage was a ship rising and falling with the tide, or it would convert to a beach, the slope of a mountain or a vertical cliff as the scenes changed.

And I guess the last show we saw was just Las Vegas itself:

The gondoliers at the Venetian.

Restaurants inside the Venetian with painted ceiling.

Treasure Island with Trump Tower in the background.

Rodeo Drive meets Las Vegas with the Wynn and new Encore. These resorts are ultra plush.

The Excalibur with Mandalay Bay in the background.

The view from our room, the hotel New York, New York.

Hotel Paris complete with Eiffel Tower.

Part I: Michael Minas -- Las Vegas

2009-04-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

My trip to Las Vegas with Shelley was incredible. The sites, the shows and the food. The best food I had was by far at Michael Minas at the Bellagio. I was having a seriously hard time selecting what to eat, so I finally settled on the "cookbook" tasting menu.

It starts out with a tuna tartare appetizer. I love ahi tuna, so I am easy to please on this dish. The tune was a beautiful rich red and it was diced and formed into a circle. It is served with a raw quail egg on top that looked delicious, but the server could not assure me that it was organic, so I had it removed. The description did not say anything about a quail egg, so that did surprise me. The tuna was served with roasted pine nuts, diced garlic and mint on the side, which the server mixed together table side. I enjoyed the crunch of the pine nuts contrasted with the tender tune squares. I must admit that I was hoping for something special from the mint, but I could not taste it. I have had tuna tartare dishes that I have enjoyed more with light fruity vinaigrettes and crunchy salad greens, but like I said, I am easy to please with tuna tartare and I was pleased with this starter.

The lobster pot pie served next was a successful experiment in decadent comfort food. A golden brown flaky crust topped a ramekin filled with tender lobster, black truffles, fingerling potatoes and a bit of spinach. I was worried the lobster would be tough. How can lobster be properly cooked in a pot pie? Well, ask Michael Minas, he knows how. I used my fork and knife to cut the lobster meat into bite size pieces, but then employed my spoon with each bite to scoop up the light cream sauce infused with the rich flavor of black truffles.

The miso black cod was perfectly cooked. The cut of the fish was tall, and I believe it was poached in the miso broth. The miso broth had long slender baby mushrooms. The menu said it would contain shrimp raviolini, but fortunately it did not. As I cut the cod, the moist white flakes would fall into the miso broth below and create what I thought was an elegantly simple combination of flavors. I would have been content if the meal had ended with the third course, but only because I did not know how good the fourth course would be.

A kobe beef ribeye medallion topped with foie gras?! What a treat. A friend I was dining with was a little hesitant to eat "duck liver." So I told him it was not duck liver, it was "duck caramel." I knew he would enjoy this combination, so I encouraged him to cut a slice of steak and foie gras, but to say in his mind "duck caramel" as he put it in his mouth. "Wow, this is really good," was his reply. And it was. The lightly braised "duck caramel" over rare kobe beef fused together into a melt-in-your-mouth meat opiate.

The dessert trio was very good, but ordinary. The root bear float with sassafras ice cream was a slight sophistication on the original; the coconut cheesecake was cheesecake with a nice flavor and texture, but nothing spectacular; and the chocolate cake with caramel ice cream was delicious, but ordinary. The three desserts were not really paired to accentuate or play on each other's flavors. It was just a sampling of well done, but not spectacular desserts.

The service was fabulous. We were dotted on by our waiter (who cheerfully answered all of our questions and added suggestions) and an array of servers who delivered our dishes with excellent timing and made sure our glasses were full and our needs met.

The restaurant is very expensive, but it was a great dining experience that I would recommend.

Cool Guy Chords

2009-04-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

So I have been taking guitar lessons lately. I really like it. In fact, I have been practicing my chords when ever I have free time and I can no longer feel with the tips of the fingers on my left hand. The chords seem pretty tough to master. Moving two, three or even four fingers to different configurations on the frets of the guitar in sync with the beat or strum pattern of the song -- brutal! My teacher kept telling me that it would soon be done through muscle memory -- no more difficult than picking up a pencil properly to write a note. So this week at practice I did pretty good. I was playing "Knocking On Heaven's Door" by Mr. Dylan -- G G D D Am Am Am Am G G D D C C C C. I am strumming and you can even recognize the song. So, now I was feeling pretty good and ready to move on. Right?

The teacher says I can pick some songs and he will write the music down for me to practice. We listen to Ordinary World by Duran Duran, Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down, Good Riddance by Green Day. Turns out these guys don't play traditional chords. You know, the ones I have created muscle memory for and have calluses on my finger tips to prove it.

They play "cool guy" chords (what my teacher calls them). What does that mean? Well basically it means that they don't play the third note in the chord, i.e., the ring finger. The finger that is totally retarded and does not like to do anything unless the middle finger does it too. The finger I have been struggling with all month. Cool guys don't use it. Oh, and if you don't use it, it appears that it gives your guitar playing a more "wild" sound.

So all the songs my teacher wrote down for me to play, don't work with the chords in MY muscle memory. Somehow after battling with my ring finger to do more than just hold my wedding ring, I am now suppose train it to stay home when we play the "cool guy" chords. Wasn't it obvious from the beginning that I was only going to want to play the cool guy chords. Sheesh!

And don't even get me started about Black Sabbath. I asked if I could play Iron Man, and he said that their guitarist didn't play a guitar that was tuned traditionally. He said that the rest of the bank must have tuned their instruments to his lead guitar. Appears to be a progression from cool guy chords that bread a few rules to the bad boy chords that have no rules. Which, of course, makes me want to learn the bad boy chords even more. Rock on!

Learning to Make Your Own Graphic BLING

2009-03-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

I have been reading Seth Godin's blog. Marketing has always seemed like Voodoo to me. So not only does he put up interesting and useful stuff, but I feel like he is beginning to demystify marketing for me. Especially, internet marketing.

Today's post I thought was particularly interesting because many of us are trying blogging or other internet ventures and I notice that everyone wants to add "BLING" to their site. Well Seth has put together a reading list for do it youself graphic BLING BLING. Check it out @ http://www.squidoo.com/become-a-really-good-graphic-designer.

The Silmarillion

2009-03-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

I found a used paper back copy of the The Silmarillion and I could not resist buying it. It is a collection of some tales that J.R.R. Tolkein had never finished and that his son published posthumously. Apparently, Tolkein had written these stories first beginning in the early 1919 and had presented them for publication, but had been refused. After reading them, I must say that their greatest value was that Tolkein already had developed this entire Middle-Earth when he went on to write The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and could draw on this deep historical context when giving birth to his new works.

For fans of The Lord of the Rings series, The Simarillion is definitely worth the read for a better understanding of what is going on between the characters and races and the historic precedent of the areas in Middle-Earth. Some of the tales are very interesting and captivating. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful parts such as the creation of Ea (the World) and how it was sung into being and the tales of Hurin. But even with a map of Middle-Earth and a table of Elvish words, sometimes it was just hard to follow the who, what and where.

That said, I did learn the some cool facts:

Who and what Sauron was

Who was the Balrog Gandolf fights in Moria

Who made the 3, 7 and 9 rings (we already new who made the 1 ring to rule them all)

Why Aragorn lives longer than other mortals

Why Aragorn's crest is a white tree

Why Elrond was leaving Middle Earth

How Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn are all related (Aragorn is Elrond's nephew (just like 50 generations removed)

Who Gandolf and Saruman are and where they came from

And just a better general understanding of who built what and lived where

So if you are a Tolkein fan, it is a fun read without taking on the entire 12-volume history of Middle-Earth. It has some shining moments, but is more like background reading than a classic Tolkein epic.

So there you go. I think it was worth the $6.99 I paid for it and was good reading for my BART rides.

Google Ads Gone Wild

2009-03-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

I open up my blog today and the first thing I notice is that the Google add tower has an Elvira-ish woman holding her Chi Chis. "What on earth is Google advertising?" I wonder. Then understanding dawns on me. Its an ad for The Forbiden Zone movie. Google picked up my reference to Oingo Boingo and the mistic knights and placed an add to purchase a copy of the movie that was the real birth place of Oingo Boingo.

Google ads have become very specialized in deed. It is going to be interesting to see what Google decides to advertise with each post. The ad I am posting about is probably already gone, and I am now just rambling nonsense.

But I am kind of curious to see what Google will "ad" next.

Pandora Radio

2009-03-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

Ready to explore the genome of your favorite genres of music? Then log onto http://www.pandora.com/ and enter your favorite song or group and it will examine the musicological aspects the tune that gets your groove and suggest similar songs. I tried first "Oingo Boingo" and it brought up Weird Science, which is my least favorite song from those mystic nights, so I tried to really test the project and added in The Smiths with Oingo Boingo and it brought up a nice mix of Morrissey, New Order, the Cure, Boingo, the Smiths and Simple Minds. I look forward to see what Pandora will include next, but I was a little impatient to test out the projects musicality senses so I next entered "Kryptonite" by 3 doors down. A nice and predictable mix (Daugherty, Linkin Park, Nickleback and Lifehouse) came up that I enjoyed listening to. Not bad. So how about non-contemporary music? I next created a Benny Goodman station (I like jazz clarinet) and some classic Benny came up and Pete Fountain that was awesome, but I also had a bunch of jazz piano (I am not so crazy about) and some Ella Fitzgerald (who is great, but obviously not a clarinetist!). So I can give the songs on my station a thumbs up or thumbs down and my radio station "learns" to narrow its selection in the genre to the genome of musicality that I like. In the jazz clarinet station it has narrowed down the selection just to clarinet pieces and I am enjoying new songs I have never heard before in random easy listening format. Right now I am listening to Honeysuckle Rose by Benny Goodman. Nice. So give it a try and let me know how you like it.

P.S. It also gives backround of the artist and a description of the music genre the artist fits into. Enjoy and learn about your old and, hopefully, new favorite songs.

Kart Racing

2009-03-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

Chad Poplowski and I both included on our 25 Random Notes on facebook that we like to drive fast. So we decided to try out some Kart racing. Chad recommended GoKartRacer in Burlingame, CA for the races. It was an excellent selection. They provide a racing suit and helmets and have very nice karts that go about 50 miles an hour.

If you have ever gone kart racing with me, you know I am way too competitive and it is not uncommon for me to get a warning or flagged down for some penalty time. So it is nice for me to be able to let loose in a semi-safe environment like GoKartRacer.

Chad is a very good driver and we had a lot of fun racing each other and the other divers. While I won, I must admit that I illegally made Chad spin out or he probably would have taken me. But there was no foul and I received no penalty time, soooo I am officially the big winner. LOL!

Chad works in tax advisory at KPMG so we also talked shop a bit about corporate responsibility in executive compensation and how it should be evaluated from a risk management stand point. I think we both agreed that even though Congress has passed a sleuth of new laws, it is still the foxes that are guarding the chicken coup in this area.

So yesterday was a pretty awesome day. I started out at Jonathan's lacrosse game, and he played well and took his first shot on goal. Then it was off to Kart racing. Afterward, Chad took me to La Metate and we had foot long carnita burritos. When I was done with that I spent some quality time with my father-in-law fixing Paul's roof and then I went on a nice date with my wife wherein she creamed me in BananaGrams, so that I could once again be humbled and prepare myself to enjoy the sabbath with my wonderful family.

Life is good.

Pinewood Derby -- Sk8r Car

2009-03-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

It was Jonathan's last year for pinewood derby. Man is he getting big fast.

He designed a skateboard car this year complete with a grip tape top. Not the fastest design, but it was very fun to make. My favorite part was his original design artwork on on the bottom of the deck. Below are some pics and video. You can tell which car is his in the video from the cool red wheels.

Enjoy.

80's New Wave Playlist

2009-02-27T07:08:00.000-08:00

Want a walk down memory lane? Check out this new wave playlist that one of my frat bothers posted. I turn it on softly as back ground music in my office. It has some awesome hard to find songs that only an 80's aficionado could enjoy.

Enjoy,

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.playlist.com%2Fplaylist%2F9944818699%2Fstandalone&h=be1605f026a1e686b7908dd8178e62f2

LOST

2009-02-20T11:09:00.000-08:00

I am so glad most of the characters of LOST are back on the island. The non-island part of the show was beginning to stink worst than Locke's casket in the meat freezer. Now we can get back to solving the mysteries of the island. But first this mystery: Where did Kate and Jin leave there kids? That is really bothering me!

Facebook

2009-02-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

I have really enjoyed facebook over the last six months. I must tell Paul thanks for getting me hooked up. Especially with the move, it is a great way to stay in touch. But most of all it has been amazing that friends I have wanted to find, but couldn't before facebook, have found me. Every time a friend request pops up it is so exciting to see who will be there.

However, it was not until yesterday that I had actually been deleted as a friend. I went to look for a friend to send a message, and the friend wasn't there. So I sent a friend request with a note that I thought we were already friends.

Her response, "We were friends, but you never write anything so I deleted you." I guess she keeps a tight group of friends on facebook. I have more of an open door policy. Sometimes I get a friend request and I can't recognize who they are at first. But after I look at their pictures and see who their friends are, I remember and usually a flood of fun childhood memories come back to me. And I smile.

Anybody Home?

2008-12-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

Today when I signed into my blog, I expected it to be filled with virtual cobwebs and covered in techno dust. I have not abondoned JiggyIntel. I am just on a temporary leave of absence until the New Year.

I am swamped at work. And more work keeps pilling in everyday. Even working seven days a week, with twelve hour days, I am still falling behind. Its almost 7 pm, and I am about to start on number 1 on my priority list for today because responding to calls and e-mails has kept me busy all day. But in this economy, I can't complain. And Shelley has been super sweet, and not complained.

Remarkably, I do have a mental list of topics I would love to blog about. I just need some time.

Right now, if I am not working, I just need family time. I need to tease and be teased by my quick witted and beautiful teenage daughters. I need to listen to Jonathan talk about the hotel he is going to build or just toss a ball with him. And Ellie, well I need to squeeze her. Without family time, I can't recharge my batterys.

Blogging and working out have suffered the most. But I can honestly say that I am fat and happy.

So, of course, one of my New Year resolutions will be to be skinny and happy. And blog more.

Roller Coaster Election Day Results

2008-11-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a ride! First, Shelley and I found out that our precinct had less than 250 registered voters and therefore we were mail-in-only voters.

How can that be? We live in the City of Walnut Creek. There are 200 homes on our street. Thankfully, Shelley and I had not thrown away the voter information packages we had received, or we may not have been able to vote at all.

We had to carefully fill out our ballots at home and take them to any voting station and drop them off. I HAD NO RIGHT TO ENTER A VOTING BOOTH AND MAKE A SELECTION. I read the instructions to my mail-in ballot very carefully, but I was very worried that there was going to be a hanging chad somewhere on it. I hope my vote was counted this year.

Shelley was able to drop off her ballot at her parents' community center.

Then there was the Proposition 8 issue. I work in San Francisco and so it seemed that everyone was against the Proposition. On Monday night, someone stole our "Yes on Prop 8" sign. I cannot believe the amount of vandalism and theft that occurred to property with signs supporting Prop 8.

Even after Obama was announced President Elect, I tried to stay up to see if Prop 8 would succeed, but I was too tired and finally went to bed. On the morning news, it was announced that Prop 8 had been successful. I was frankly stunned.

I hope this victory makes activist courts think twice before making up "fundamental rights" out of thin air. Most of the large political controversies today are created by overreaching court decisions. Courts are empowered to interpret the Constitution, not rewrite it.

I support legislation that helps couples, whether common-law, same-sex or other domestic relationships or "families" obtain means to support and care to for the people they love. I do not want to impose my moral and religious beliefs on them through governmental intervention, but I am glad that we are not forced to redefine traditional marriage, which is unarguably the most important institution for the advancement of human kind and the well-being of children. Marriage is not just about boy likes girl, it should be about a very special commitment between two people to sacrifice and work to bring a new generation of healthy and enlightened individuals into the world that will hopefully continue our progress to a better tomorrow.

P.S. -- While I have my doubts about Obama's proposals, I admit that I also have a hope that he really will be a different kind of President and bring productive changes to the United States of America. I prayed for him this morning and would love to see a President that can truely unify the country.

Here is to Hope and Unity.

Week in New Orleans

2008-11-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

I recently spent a week in New Orleans to attend a conference for the National Association of Stock Planning Professionals, or just NASPP. Yes, I am a member, and it was actually a very interesting conference. Especially right now with all of Congress' new restrictions on executive pay, but I am not going to bore you with the details of what I learned. We also did some pretty cool stuff.

The most cool was a private concert with Jewel. Merrill Lynch set up a concert with Jewel at a museum in New Orleans. We had dinner first with traditional New Orleans food, like gumbo. About 80 people attended and it was a really good show. She is an amazing singer and she was very funny too. She played some old favorites, some of her new country stuff and even some songs that she has not released. It was very fun.

One night I went to the French Quarter with a guy I met at the conference to see a jazz band. It was a pretty big jazz band with about 10 players, a full grand piano and an absolutely crazy drummer, whose solos I really enjoyed. The French Quarter was pretty crazy. We were there on a Tuesday evening and Bourbon Street was still filled with people drinking and partying to cover bands -- kind of weird to see so much action on a Tuesday night. After the jazz band, we watched some karaoke at the Cats Meow and then headed back to the hotel.

Foodwise, my favorite was the charbroiled oysters at Drago's. I didn't really eat anything else that was amazing or worth mentioning.

Lastly, there was a booth set up at the conference to have our golf swings analyzed by a golf pro. She videoed me from the side and the back as I swung, and then showed me where I was loosing power. It appeared so obvious from the video what I was doing wrong. I can't wait to get to the driving range and see if I can get some extra distance out of my driver.

So that's it for New Orleans. The other nights I just ordered room service and did some work or watched a movie. Sometimes peace and quite is just what I need anyway.

We had a very fun Halloween! But I am sure Shelley will update you on that and put up some pics of our paint job yesterday of our living room. Shelley picked out a blue/grey, and I admit I was dubious about it. Of course, it looks great. Shelley has an excellent eye for color.

Say Goodbye To Big Beautiful Flat Screen TV? Say It Isn't So!

2008-10-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to be like Jeff Heniger and when "my" team goes to the World Series I get to buy a new gigantesaurous flat screen TV. Is that to much to ask?

The Dodgers were in the lead in the 8th inning. That is suppose to be in the bag!!!!!! How could the Dodgers give up another late inning lead? They should be ahead 3-1, not the Philo-doughboys. Okay, I feel better after a little online ranting.

On a good note, Shelley and I went to Tokyo Lobby and tried the cherry blossom roll (salmon on the inside, tuna on the outside, and all in a flower shaped design with red roe on top) and I found a new frozen yogurt shop today called Ambrosia that had really good pistachio yogurt.

Oh, and even better, I just received my new corporate AMEX card. Its been a while since I have had the ole law firm credit card. It feels familiar, relaxing. Good. Calm.

I mean the Dodgers can come back from a 3-1 deficit, right? Right?!!!!

It's okay, I am going to find my happy place. It is time to go back to reviewing the new law that cuts back executive's pay if they recieve federal bailout relief for their company. Talk about somebody who really has problems. Time to draft a few more plan amendments, read some more tax regulations . . . maybe even draft a memorandum in my beautiful, peaceful, sunny office. Hmmmmmmm. Hmmmmmmm. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

Thank you Boston! Thank you Cub's curse!

2008-10-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

I am seriously thinking about purchasing a Manny Ramirez Dodger jersey. In fact, my new favorite number may be 99. A red 99 on the front of a Dodger's jersey is, well, -- beautiful!

I remember seeing Manny in a Dodger uniform for the first time. I was traveling for a job interview, and I had been so busy chasing contacts and catching up on changes in employee benefits law that I had not even noticed that he was traded -- and BAM! -- I look up at a television screen at an airport restaurant and I see Manny hit a home run -- and he is wearing a Dodger's uniform -- and he is jogging around the bases in a Dodger's uniform -- and I squint my eyes closed and open them again because how could it be true -- but it is -- Manny is now receiving high-fives from other Dodgers and he is still in a Dodger uniform and its, well -- beautiful.

The Dodger's have had their share of good hitters before, but nobody like Manny Ramirez. Usually, this caliber of hitter is wearing pinstripes and when they come up to bat I feel knots in my stomach and tightness in my neck (I think sometimes I would even say little prays for pot-bellied Fernando Venezuela to strike the evil pinstriped monster out).

I can't wait to go home and watch Manny tonight. The Cubs truly are cursed. It is the only way I can explain that Manny is in a Dodger uniform. He is there to beat the Cubs.

And while watching Manny work a pitch count is truly fine art, I do find myself saying little prayers in the back of my head again. Please, please, please baseball gods, do not let the New York Yankees make him into an evil pinstriped monster next year.

Manny deserves a some more fun in the sun in Chavez Ravine (aka Dodger Stadium).

The Fruit Guy

2008-09-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

I could not ask for much more at my new job at Trucker Huss. The people I work with are very nice. The attorneys are all experts in employee benefits, so there is always someone to bounce an idea off. I have a variety of interesting work from Fortune 500 Companies to small start ups to charities, and my office is 1/2 a block from a BART station.

But what I want to brag about is the Fruit Guy. Every Monday a box is dropped off at the office from the Fruit Guy. Inside you will find your standard fare of fresh fruits including bananas, oranges, tangerines, pears and a variety of apples. There has also been something special in the box each week, such as passion fruit, flavor king plums or Asian pears. Yesterday, I started my new work week by eathing a crisp and juicy Asian pear. This morning I am having a banana and a tangerine.

Maybe I obsess about good food too much. But, I think it is a nice perk.

Passing On Bad Habits

2008-09-22T14:09:00.003-07:00

The other night Katie was feeling very sad about our move, transitioning to a new school and her lack of friends. I am sure there is an appropriate way to help her feel better that is approved by Dr. Spock and the American Pediatic Association. You know, some positive message that helps her open up and talk about her concerns? But I do not know what it is.

So I do what my dad did -- go out for a treat. Mixing some special one-on-one time and comfort food is, in my opinion, highly effective.

I am on the Body for Life eating plan right now, and it was not my free day, but I couldn't really offer her a protein bar and wink. I can hear me now, "Hey Katie, want to sit on the porch and have some tasty Myoplex." She would think I was punishing her, not comforting her.

No, we went to Cold Stone. After eating our ice cream silently for a while, we were able to beginning joking around and then I could talk with her about how things were going.

I imagine in this way I can pass on to Katie my healthy habit of going out for "pint" when I have a really bad day. Generally, a pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk will do the trick.

The Jungle

2008-09-14T00:05:00.014-07:00

The Jungle must be the best "play place" in the world. It is a about ten times the size of a McDonalds or Chucky Cheese play place. The tubes are also extra large so that adults can fit in comfortably while playing tag with their kids. Check it out:

A New Week in A New Life

2008-09-13T22:56:00.004-07:00

Last Monday, I began my job at Trucker Huss, APC in San Francisco and Jonathan and Ellie started school at Buena Vista Elementary in Walnut Creek. Madison and Katie were still not registered so they did not start school until Tuesday.

Work is going very well for me, but my diet on Body-for-Life has been shot to pieces. There are just too many good places to eat in San Francisco, how can I resist? I can't. On Monday, I was invited to a restaurant called the Garden. The interior was gorgeous, but that is not the point. There was a menu based on one ingredient, which was corn. It was like an Iron Chef menu with corn as the secret ingredient. I started with a sweet corn and truffle flan. So good and so California. I then had prime ribeye on a corn salad. Yum. And I finished with corn ice cream and corn fritters. Wow! Would you really expect me pass on one of those absolutely unique and divine courses of California fine dining. The food was fricken culinary ART!! The attorneys in my office are really nice people. One of the attorneys plays in a blue grass band with members of his family. We are going to stop by tomorrow at the farmer's market on the way to stake conference to check his family band gig.

There is a 24 hour fitness gym just across the street from my office. So I have been able to work out every day. I can curl a 100lb barbel now, and I have added an inch and a half to my biceps. I just wish I could cut more inches off my waistline.

It seemed like the kids were having a hard time adjusting to school this week, but Friday ended with a primary ice cream social for Jonathan and Ellie, Madison went out to dinner with her new seminary class and Katie was invited over to work on a history project with a girl in her class. All of the sudden the kids seemed a bit happier and hopeful that they will fit in and have new friends. Seeing them happy also gave me a sigh of relief.

Survived Our First Earthquake

2008-09-06T07:20:00.006-07:00

Last night at about 9 p.m. we had a most excellent 4.0 earthquake. Showing our true California colors, we all loved it! It shook us pretty good and the epicenter was only about two miles from us. Jonathan was jumping up and down screaming, "Aftershock! I want an aftershock!"

As you can tell from the above post, we made it safely to California. However, our packing for the trip did not lack craziness. Even after our huge yard sale, we still did not fit into the moving van. We negotiated an extra 500 cubic feet in an additional truck, but we still did not fit and had to leave many belongings behind. This was a bit stressful! As the remaining packing space was filling up, I noticed that my retro painting easel was still in the garage. Alas, I admit that I was tired and ready to part with it. But Shelley squished it in instead of the microwave. She said that we could buy a new microwave in California. Now that is true love! Thank you, Shelley!

Unfortunately, our food storage had to stay in Virginia. We did fit in out 72-hour kit though.

Our airplane ride was uneventful. In fact, United took very good care of our pooch. They put in some water dishes that connect to the side of the kennel and some shredded newspaper on the bottom of the kennel. However, Riley was not happy with me when we met up in San Francisco. It took a lot of petting and scratching before he warmed up to me again. Many other airport patrons were also willing to give our beautiful Airedale some recuperative love. And who can blame them.

On Thursday, we basically took a 5 hour "nap" to recover and then went over to see our new home for the first time and sign the lease. We are really excited about the new home. It is just what we need -- lots of room, close to the metro and downtown Walnut Creek, and cheap rent.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us out so much to make this move in only 10 days. You know who you are and THANKS!!!!!

Riley Fosse

2008-08-31T09:24:00.009-07:00

Isn't Riley looking sharp with his new haircut? It's as if we bought him some new traveling clothes for the move.

Riley is great to rough house with because he is a big, substantial dog. While it is fun to play fetch with him, and he can now catch a frisbee, what I really like is to wrastle with him for his dog toys. He could, of course, do some damage to me with that maw of giant teeth he has, but he's smart enough to know when he is bitting down on a toy and its time to yank and thrash around trying to pry it away from me and when he's grabbed a piece of me.

I have never been a fan of stuffed animals (pretty much dust mite storage bags), but Reily has really helped me understand how much fun a stuffed animal can be.

If someone is outside and I tell Riley to stop barking, he will go take his frustrations out on a stuffed animal -- really show it whose boss.

This is Riley's current favorite. Katie gave it to him when he first arrived at our house. Isn't she sweet? No, not that mangy old cat, Katie. Katie is sweet.

Riley also likes to join me for personal scripture study. He pretty much places his head on top of my scriptures until I give him a really good morning scratching. I wish I could start my day each morning with a real good back scratch or a massage. Wouldn't you? Then he rolls up next to me and sleeps while I finish my scripture study. It is pretty much a morning ritual now. (It's also why I am Riley's favorite.)

Yard Sale Adventures

2008-08-31T03:21:00.010-07:00

After receiving moving quotes and estimating the cubic feet and weight of all our belongings, we decided we needed to loose about 4,000lbs of stuff in order to have an affordable move. For the last two days I have felt like I was on a sinking air balloon frantically hucking stuff overboard to make the balloon level out. Shelley and I have been merciless. I think when Jonathan and Ellie went into their rooms Friday night, they had that feeling you have after you've received a way too short haircut -- you know, its gone, and there's nothing you can do about it!

We have a huge three-car garage, and Shelley and I had to park outside because the entire garage was filled with our household blubber.

We woke up and started moving things out and putting up our signs around 6:30 am. Madison and I were on sign duty and Shelley and Kate were trying to organize everything from the garage out on the driveway. People started showing up at 7am, while I was still putting up signs. And if you were in the market for Marc's tools, this short period of time before I returned was the jackpot baby!! For example, my Paslode cordless framing nail gun that I bought for about $400.00. Well, a nice lady paid 10 bucks for it! When I express a little consternation over the selected price, Kate simply responded, "I wondered why she ran to her car."

Needless to say, there were many, many bargains to be found at our garage sale. I mean we had to get rid of 4000 lbs. For example, I had 500lbs just in dumbbells and other weights. Which actually brings me to another point I learned about moving sales: a guy's stuff obviously weighs more than a girl's stuff. Clearly, tools and sports equipment weigh more, than say craft supplies and Christmas decorations. I mean, anyone can tell that a sewing machine is more important to the well being of the entire family than a commercial grade air hockey table. I am just saying that a moving sale can help solidify families priorities.

One thing that drives me crazy at yard sales are the true hagglers. No matter how good a deal (or should I say "steal") I gave them, they were still going to keep asking for a lower price. But sometimes I just loose it! I feel like I am going to turn into the moving-sale Nazi and scream, "Enough! No deals for you! Get out of my yard! No deals for you!"

There were a couple times during the moving sale though where I did loose my patience, forgot that we were generally negotiating over quarters and single digit dollar increments and the unsuspecting haggler found himself face-to-face with a cold-hearted, Georgetown-law-trained, nerves-of-steel, hired-gun lawyer.

For example, a haggler that has a huge pile of items that even at give-a-way prices adds up to a grand total of $8. The haggler still wants a better deal and offers you $4.50. However, when I accept, he has no change and hands me a five dollar bill. I am sorry, but I won't make change for this person. I don't care if I have so much change in my pockets that when I walk I sound like I am wearing sleigh bells, I am not making change. The price just became $5, take it of leave it. The pile sells for $5!

Then there are the "unbundlers." For example, Shelley had found in the basement a utility sink in an unopened box that we should have taken back to Home Depot, but we don't have time now. Remember, our balloon is sinking? The tag says it cost $80. A haggler, who kept calling me "chief," said he would pay $5, I said $15. So then he grabs about 100lbs in dumbbells and say he'll give me $20 for the sink and the dumbbells. I agree. So he comes over to pay and says he no longer wants the weights, he'll just take the sink for -- $10. Nice try -- sink sells for $15!>

.
Lastly, there was a very nice Russian guy with his cute daughter. She was buying up our girls clothes and we were happy to see that she was happy. At first he said he wanted to buy a piece of sheet metal vent pipe for a buck. Ok, sure. But then he then said he wanted the pieces in the garage too, and I said I didn't have anymore. To my surprise he showed me that under a small pile of scrap lumber there were actually about eight more pieces all in a neat roll. Oh, man! another $90 bucks in Home Depot returns down the drain. Oh, well, too late -- while frustrated with myself, I agree to $1. But then he returns to Marc's wondrous table of tools and it hits me, I have a beautiful pair of duct snips that I bought for about $30 bucks. I walked over to Shelley and Madison and explain that if I was busy with someone else, the duct snipes go for no less than $3 dollars -- non-negotiable. That's right folks, a line had been drawn in the sand at this one-day tool bazaar. The stage was set. As I turn around, he was walking toward me waving the snipes in one hand and with his other hand he held out a quarter and smiled. I smiled too. He complained a lot, and even told me I was ripping him off, but heh -- the snipes sell for $3!>

Its not like we aren't practically giving the stuff away. Right? Remember, our air balloon is sinking, we have to shed 4000lbs. In the end we made just over $500. It made me wonder how the sale would have went if we had just posted a sign that said, "Moving Sale -- All Items $0.25/lb." It would have been fun, like the big lunch buffet bars where you pay by the pound.

As long as we judged well and are not required to immediately repurchase the items at full price, in California, the real savings was the over $2,000 we hopefully are saving by not moving all that stuff.

And, man, we sold almost everything. Even after the official hours were over, people were still coming and we stayed out a little extra time just selling anything thing (half full cans or bags of fertilizer and cleaning supplies, bags of snow melt, light sockets, door knob parts, etc.) for $0.25 or best offer. I am always amazed at what will sell at a yard sale.

And best of all, our household is close to 4000lbs lighter. Packing starts Tuesday!

New Job in San Francisco

2008-08-28T11:07:00.006-07:00

The big news is that I have a new job. I have been interviewing for about six months with no luck, then I was sitting in the Biltmore Hotel in LA having lunch after interviewing with E&Y, and my phone rang with a "415" number. I thought about all the firms I had interviewed with in SF and anxiously answered. Instead, it was Mary Powell, a good friend of mine that I studied law with at Georgetown. It was about 1:20pm and she had just had lunch with a friend who had mentioned that I had interviewed with their law firm. Mary told me that as soon as she was finished with lunch, she decided to call me because her firm was going to "hire me first." After six months of interviewing, I admit it did feel good to at least be wanted by someone.

So the following Wednesday, I flew out to SF and interviewed with Trucker Huss. Trucker Huss is a very excellent employee-benefits boutique firm in San Francisco. It turns out that a partner and an associate, who happen to specialize in the same area of law as me, left the firm a little over a week ago and the firm needed someone immediately to fill the gap. Which is good, because I really needed a job immediately too. Not only had my funds pretty much depleted, but school was starting and Shelley was becoming a little frantic about where our kids were going to start school.

I interviewed on Thursday, and on Friday Mary called to tell me that Trucker Huss was preparing an offer for me. I really do like the firm, I knew they would provide good terms and that I would accept the offer -- so I shaved my head! I had been wanting to shave my head for a while, but didn't think it would be the best interview look. But now I have no more interviews on the horizon, and I knew that even if it looked horrible, it would grow in enough to be presentable for my first day of work at Trucker Huss.

The next week Trucker Huss called me with the terms of their offer. It was only a little less than I was expecting, but it was a very reasonable offer and I am thrilled to accept it. In fact, we were on the phone around midnight, and I accepted the offer right then. Mary actually called me the next day to make sure I wasn't just loopy tired, and I confirmed that I really did want the job.

Because Trucker Huss needs someone immediately, I need a pay check immediately and school has started in California two days ago, I agreed to begin work on September 8th. That would give us about two weeks to pack up, find a new place to live, etc, etc. . . .

But just as my dream job has finally fallen into my lap like manna from heaven, our move seems to be coming together with the help of providence also. We reviewed all the homes for rent and made a list, in order of priority, of the homes we thought we wanted. At the top of the list was an older ranch home in Walnut Creek that was on an acre of land. Shelley's parents were kind enough to go visit all the homes. At the first home, which was also our first pick, Shelley's dad had actually known the owner for over 20 years.

We reviewed the pictures of the house from Shelley's parent's and decided that it was the house for us. You can see pics of the house at Shelley's Blog. Obviously, we were tired of items such as our gourmet kitchen, library, and oversized double shower, and were, instead, ready for a small cozy place where we can raise kids. (Of course, it was also the cheapest rent, and in the end, we are indeed cheap.)

Because the owner was a friend of Shelley's dad, he rented us the place on the spot with no credit check or references. We just sent him the deposit and "a la peanut butter sandwich" -- I have a job and a place to live.

The home is on one acre, and Jonathan was excited because he figured we would not have to go to a range anymore to play paintball. Because he is our little "fruit bat", I think he will actually be most excited about the fruit trees on the property and how much more fun it is to ride a BMX bike on an acre of land, instead of a cul-de-sac. Dang, I am excited for him already!

One of the best things about the rental is that the property is in trust and must to be sold soon, so we have the opportunity to negotiate a rent-to-own agreement. Even the thought that we might end up with an acre of land and a small ranch home in the middle of Walnut Creek makes me dizzy. It would be so unbelievably cool!

Next issue was the whole moving part. I woke up Saturday morning and went to JetBlue online. Amazingly, they had one-way tickets to SFO for $133.00! Wahoo!

Unfortunately, JetBlue will only allow pets that fit under your seat on the plane. That left us in a quandary for what to do with Riley, pictured to the left. Riley can drag Jonathan by the the pant leg through the snow -- he does not fit under my plane seat. Instead, the cheapest flight for Riley and I was on United for $700.00. Boohoo!

On to setting up our move. This will be our first "full pack" move. I am so excited, but I almost can't imagine the move without the elder's quorum coming over to carry everything into the truck and without Shelley and her friends spending endless hours wrapping items in newspaper.

Kate and Maddy are the biggest beneficiaries of the full pack move though. All they have done for the past week is visit their friends and shop for school clothes. With Shelley in full "guilt" mode over moving again, she is pretty much saying "yes" to everything the kids ask. With the full pack, Maddie and Katie do not have much to do other than clean their rooms. Pretty rough, right?

So that's it. On September 4th, we fly to SFO and on September 8th, I start my new job.

Book Review -- The Bourne Identity

2008-08-23T14:00:00.007-07:00

I read "The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum for my book club and thought it was a fun, fast-paced thriller. The strength of the book is its plot. Jason Bourne is shot in the head and has amnesia regarding his past life. However, he is surprised to find that he still possesses remarkable skills and knowledge which appear related to espionage. He uses these skills and his limited recollection of a few key events to try and retrace who he is before he is killed by the CIA or a rouge assassin. If you have seen the movie, the book's plot is a bit different and, of course, much more complex. Also, the female character in the book is much more developed and believable. She is an international banking expert for the Canadian government. She is not only capable and helps Bourne several times, but the book has time to create the conflict and sacrifices they each undergo that leads to their falling in love. As a character, Jason Bourne is a true gem because the author gives so many layers to his character. Throughout the book neither the reader, nor Jason Bourne himself, know whether he is a monsterous assasin or a heroic super intellegence agent. Sometimes I felt sympathetic to his dire situation and sometimes I felt repulsed by his cool efficiency in dealing out death and destruction to preserve his own life.

The down side of the book is that the prose is not very rich. Mr. Ludlow seemed to feel that just the pertinent facts were needed to keep the plot speeding along, and so some of the scenes seemed sterile to me. I would definitely recommend this book, but I enjoyed more thrillers such as Patriot Games by Tom Clancy, The Eight by Katherine Neville or The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown because the prose draw me more into the scenes and the characters.

Do see the movie also, Matt Damon is truely awesome as Jason Bourne in the trilogy of movies.

Rules for Living Younger

2008-08-18T09:24:00.005-07:00

I want to live longer and younger. Don't you?

And even though I want to live younger, when I have my annual physical and the doctor tells me what my blood pressure is, I still have to wait for the doctor to tell me whether such and such number over such and such other number is okay or not. I just can't remember what my blood pressure should be or even whether the big number or the little number should be on top.

And I believe I should take a daily multivitamin, but when I read the list on the back I can't tell whether I need what is on the list or not. For example, where is the vitamin B5? You mean its called pantothenic acid. Oh, right -- I mean, of course it is. You would know that, right?

That is how I felt until I recently read Drs. Oz and Roizen's health guide book called "You, the Owner's Manual." Its not a Harvard Medical Guide and it has no footnotes. It just gives simple explanations about how each system in the body works and then it outlines a "Living Younger Action Plan." I have read all 500+ pages of the book, and you should too. But I know you are busy, not to mention fully employed, and may not have brain power left at the end of the day. So as a benefit of my current unemployment and as my gift to you, here is the "cliff notes" version of the the Living Younger Action Plan. You now have no excuse to "not to be around" for my 100th birthday bash, which will be a major extravaganza.

KNOW THE NUMBERS -- (a) Blood pressure maintained at 115/76. A higher BP level can be considered normal, but maintaining it low at 115/76 can add up to 12 years of life to your cardiovascular system. 12 YEARS! (b) Cholesterol: LDL less than 220 minus your age and HDL greater than 40. (c) Blood sugar (glucose) should be less than 100mg/dL. (d) Eat less than 20 grams of saturated and transfat per day -- eating none is great. (e) Homocysteine should be less than 9 mmol/L. The reason women have heart disease later in life is because they genetically have lower homocysteine levels. Memorize those numbers mate! You can add 25 years to the life of your ticker and veins. (You can lower you homo-cysteine levels by supplementing with Folate (Vitamin B9) and vitamins B6 and B12, all of which is listed below in the Vitamin supplement section). Now, when you go in for your annual physical, first make sure that each of the above is being tested and second, if any of the levels above are too high -- make a plan with your doc to get straight.
STRESS!!!!! is the number one ager of our bodies in general. YOU MUST REDUCE IT!!!! Exercise, meditation, religious devotion, nurturing friendships and playing with a pet can decrease stress. You may not have a pet, but to live younger you must find time each week for sufficient exercise, meditation and nurturing friendships. Put it on the schedule, its a must. Stress can take away over 20 years from your life!
SUPPLEMENTS: (a) take a daily multivitamin with magnesium (400 mg), calcium (600 mg twice daily), vitamin A (1,500 IU), vitamin D (1,000 IU), vitamin C (600 mg twice daily), vitamin E (400 IU), Folate (400 mcg), vitamin B5/pantothenic acid (300 mg), vitamin B6 (6 mg), vitamin B12 (25 mcg), zinc (15 mg) and cooper (2 mg); (b) take 162 milligrams of aspirin (2 baby aspirin) daily and drink 1/2 glass warm water before and after; (c) take Co-enzyme10 up to 1,200 milligrams daily and (d) take 1,500 mg combined of glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin to lubricate your joints. If you do not eat fruit rich in potassium daily, you must add that too.
EAT HEALTHY: (a) 1/2 handful of nuts a day (contain good fats and precursor to serotonin to improve mood); (b) 13.5 ounces of omega-3 rich fish; (c) eat a cup of beans daily (especially soybeans [or tofu] or kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans) (you can soak beans in water overnight to breakdown some of the compounds that cause gas); (d) 31 mg of flavaniods daily from yummy foods such as red grapes, cranberries, chocolate, oranges or onions and tomatoes; (e) drink skimmed milk; (f) consume plenty of fiber (25 g for men and 35 g for women); (g) no more soda pop -- regular or diet! and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day; (h) eat healthy fat at the beginning of meals, but especially before dinner; (i) eat your cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.) to fight cancer and detox the liver and (j) eat four servings of fruit everyday. I am serious about the soda thing. Studies are showing that people who eat substantial sugar substitutes (i.e., diet soda) are training their brains to think that sweets do not have calories, not good.
SLEEP: 7-8 hours for men and 6-7 hours for women. If you do not sleep enough, you brain does not release enough serotonin and you try to make up for it with stimulants such as sugar, caffeine or tobacco.
EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN. Your brain is a muscle that must be worked out by trying something new or testing yourself. The chosen activity should feel like recess, not study hall. Find something challenging that you enjoy doing everyday. Also, take a break and just daydream to keep your brain flexible and your imagination keen.
HELMETS. Wear a helmet when you are biking, blading, climbing or other activities with high probabilities of head trauma.
EXERCISE YOUR BODY. Perform 3 types of exercise weekly: (a) 10 minutes resistance training 3 times a week (by adding more lean muscle you help prevent injuries by taking stress off joints and ligaments and by building stronger bones and you create a fat-burning machine to help with long-term weight loss); (b) 20 minutes of stamina training 3 times a week (to help strengthen your cardiovascular system) and (c) 5 minutes daily of stretching or yoga. If you do not walk 30 minutes a day in your normal daily schedule, you will need to add this in to keep your bones healthy. A note with respect to stamina training -- be nice to your joints. Swimming, biking or an elliptical machine will keep you from sustaining stress injuries from the pounding of repetitive prolonged running. Cross training is actually the best work out for your heart, so mix it up if you can. Also, note that using free weights helps build your balance and core muscles better than machines.
DON'T SMOKE.
GREENERY. Adding plants to your home is the best air filtration system.
PROTECT AGAINST DUST MITES. Wrap your pillows and mattress in impermeable (1 micron-protected) cloth. Why? Otherwise, within two years your pillows accumulate 2 pounds of dust mite excrement, that's right -- mite poop -- that's 2lbs in your pillow! So when you buy those wonderful dual layered feather-core goose down wrapped pillows for just-right comfort, put on a micron wrap or you'll have to chuck your pillows at the end of the year. Ouch! That's expensive trash.
EXPERIMENT WITH FOOD. Use food elimination testing to avoid food allergies. Even low-grade food allergies can make a person have a runny nose or headaches or even feel flu-like symptoms. In this test, you completely eliminate one group of food from your diet for about three days and take notes about your energy levels, fatigue and digestive regularity when you go off the food and then when you go back on the food. Don't forget that food can affect the way your children act and feel, so take note also.
FLOSS. Gum disease and inflammation actually contributes to heart disease. So please, floss.
AVOID TOXINS: (a) drink filtered water; (b) eat unprocessed food; (c) take care not to eat meat from animals exposed to toxins (especially its liver, yes, that means foi gras); (d) wash your fruits and vegetables; (e) wash your hands and (f) evaluate your home' and office air quality.
SEX, SEX, SEX. Have more stress-free, quality, thoughtful sex. From what I've read, quality and thoughtful means more and longer foreplay guys. A person can add up to 8 years to their life by figuring out how to have stress-free, qualify, thoughtful sex. Quickies and affairs do not meet the test. We are talking about the need for the big long-term commitment to extend your life and your happiness.
PROTECT YOUR EARS. Avoid sounds over 85 decibels. That includes snoring. Seriously, you are damaging your spouse's hearing, man!
Wear sun-protection
Wear sun-glasses.
Take a 10-minute break after every two hours in front of the computer or TV screen.

That's it. These are just minimum standard's for living longer, mind you. You can certainly do more. But it seems like a daunting list for me already. I am adding a few good habits at a time.

Good luck.

Next Coat -- Almost Done

2008-08-06T18:52:00.003-07:00

I have finished the apples and just need to put the final coat on the table, reflections and background. I think I did a much better job on differing tones than on my last painting. I am pretty happy with this and can't wait to paint a new subject.

Review: Courtside Thai

2008-08-05T17:48:00.010-07:00

Before entering the cafe, you will enjoy the scents of basil and mint plants that are mixed into the beautiful garden of flowers and chili peppers surrounding the outside dining area. In this way you are subtly introduced to the secret of Courtside Thai's success -- the abundant use of fresh herbs and spices. So when you are ordering, don't jump for your traditional pad thai, but look for the dishes described with delicious herb and spice combinations. For example, start with the Tom Yum soup or Grilled Shrimp and Mango Salad. The Tom Yum soup has a savory broth of fresh lemongrass and chili peppers with mushrooms and your choice of meat. Just sipping the broth is a treat, but watch out for the chunks of lemon grass -- biting into a piece can pack an unexpected punch. In the salad, the grilled shrimp is really a side treat; it is the spicy lime dressing and mangos combined with fresh scallions and mint leaves that steals the show.

The cafe serves great appetizers. Even the "traditional" chicken satay is marinated in a spicy lemon mix and served with a sweet and crunchy peanut sauce. It is simply better than your normal satay. I admit that once I was served a summer roll with shrimp and the mint leaves totally over-powered everything else. Otherwise, I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality dishes served at this cafe.

As far as entrees, I would suggest you review the Menu before you go. There are just too many superb selections. I will point out just a couple of my favorites. I like the chef's special, which is not on the menu, tilapia fillet cooked in the chili peppers and served with seasoned green beans. Also, the Courtside Catfish will totally change your perspective on how good catfish can be. If you do not favor seafood or curry, then try the honey roasted duck. And if you do not like spicy, then go to the Irish pub next door!

If the weather is nice, enjoy the outside dining area. It is wonderful. The inside dining area is a mix of Thai decor with impressionist era paintings, table tops and color scheme. It is okay, nothing special. The service can sometimes be slow and erratic. We have even had entrees come out at different times. This is especially annoying at lunch time when time is short.

But in the evening when I want relax in the outside dining court and enjoy very good Thai food, the erratic services doesn't bother me at all. I have never needed reservations for a table at lunch or dinner service.

Courtside Thai is located in historic downtown Fairfax at 3981 Chain Bridge Rd, Fairfax 22030, between Main Street & North Street. The cafe does not have its own parking, so you will need to park either on the street or at one of the public garages and to walk to the cafe.

A Touch of Yellow and a Little More Shadow

2008-08-04T04:35:00.004-07:00

Last night was pure bliss. I locked myself in my office and painted. It has been a long time. First I added a grey scale undercoat for the reflections of the apples and then I added the yellow to the apples. When that dries, I can work on painting the final red coat on the apples, inserting highlights and begin painting the table.

I am so jazzed about this painting!

Found Treasure

2008-08-03T18:07:00.003-07:00

Shelley found a draft painting of mine that I have not worked on for about two years. This is an under coat of the apples to try and capture the shading correct. I have not even started on the grain of the table or the shadows. I am so excited to start work on it. It is like finding an old friend and I have a chance to catch up. So I set up my easel in my office and have laid out my paints. I can't wait to start making these apples come to life. I will post my progress.

FunnySauce: Breaking Dawn Book Release Parties!

2008-08-02T06:17:00.024-07:00

I have two teenage girls, and they are absolutely in love with a vampire named Edward. Edward is the main character in Stephanie Myer's latest book, "Breaking Dawn" which was released today at 12:00 am.

And apparently my girls are not the only one's with this crush. Last night pre-release parties at local booksellers were the place to be. Hundreds of girls showed up, some dressed in prom dresses and others with home made tee-shirts expressing their affection for Edward the Vampire, or sometimes even for Jacob the slighted Werewolf. Bella, the heroine in the book chose Edward as her love, but some think she would have been better off with Jacob. Why? I don' t know, I'm just the Dad. You will have to read the books.

We went to a couple of the prerelease parties, and here are some pictures of the happy partiers.

Maddie and her friend Amy met up to squeal together.

Apparently it's not an easy choice.

There's a prom? I don't get it.

And take a look at some of the elaborate activities booksellers put on for their loyal customers last night:

Flower making, because...I don't know.

I get bookmarks!

So they can always remember their special night.

And what prom/book release could be complete without vampire black nails. Hey, if no ones making "Edward Black" nail polish, I thought of it first.

Awwww.

And now, armed with their prom pictures, blood red flowers, bookmarks and Edward Black nails, both my babies are holed up in their rooms still awake trying to make it to the final page.

FunnySauce -- Ellie Wins Again! And Again!

2008-07-30T19:35:00.007-07:00

After each of our kids were born, they each basically slept on my chest listening to daddy's heart beat at night for about six weeks. After about six weeks, it is usually time for Mom and Dad to recaputure some privacy in bed and the baby is moved to the basinette. With Madison, Katie and Jonathan, we were also very strict about them sleeping in their own beds at about 6 months old. While I have a California King size bed, I do not believe in a La Leche League family bed. I have always been very strict about this.

Our youngest daughter Ellie is now six years old (not six months old!) and still manages to sleep with us most nights. And I admit it is my fault. Shelley did everything right. But you see Ellie is a sly and masterful cuddler. When she climbs on my lap, she lays her head on me, smiles a smile of extreme cotentment, coos a little , tells me that she loves me, lays her hand on her face and closes her eyes. She's got me! She will also come cuddle me while I watch sports, even golf.

And get this evil trick of her's -- while Ellie is sound asleep, if I whisper in her ear that I love her, she smiles, just briefly, and then her little freckled face settles back into expressionless slumber. And to top it all off, she only smiles in her sleep when she hears my voice. You see what I mean, she is a little evil genious. She has destroyed all my defenses and I am powerless against her. So when she comes in at night, slips under the covers, kisses me on the cheek, lays down and wraps her little arm around my neck, (even though I know she is going to elbow me all night, steal my covers and make my back sore in the morning), I am happy she is there.

I mean what would you do?

Review: Oyamel

2008-07-30T05:59:00.014-07:00

Oyamel is absolutely the best Mexican restaurant in the DC metro area. I have eaten at many, many Mexican-style restaurants in DC and Virginia because I love authentic Mexican food that reminds me of my youth. I search for that wonderful taco platter with crispy, freshly made corn tortillas and shredded beef that I would order when I went out for dinner with my Aunt Jovita in Chihuahua. I hope and pray to find lobster, fish or shrimp tacos with finely shredded cabbage and spicy pico de gallo like my dad and I would eat at roadside shacks along Baja California. For me, corn husk wrapped tamales are a comfort food. Rich dark brown mole was a treat my mother would make, trying to prepare it just as she remembered from her youth growing up in northern Mexico.

I generally expect to find my "fix" at a small mom-and-pop type restaurant, the so called "hole in the wall." I will even drive over to the local nursery in the morning where a catering truck serves up delicious south-of-the border treats. But then I found Oyamel.

Oyamel captures all the authentic tastes of Mexico that I crave and packages them nouveau style. The fare is not tex-mex or Americanized, but refined Mexicana.

If it is your first time to Oyamel, you must start out with "real" guacamole that is mashed table side and mixed with cilantro, tomatoes, salt and red onions. It is perfect and served with thick corn chips that remind me of the corn chips I would be served on butcher paper in a basket in Tiajuana.

Next, if you love ceviche, Oyamel usually has five or six varieties on its menu and it even has a ceviche bar. I am not kidding! You can sit at the bar and watch the chef prepare all the creative dishes of ceviche. The most traditional ceviche is the ceviche huachinango, which is red snapper marinated in lime juice and mixed with avocado, tomato and cilantro. My favorite is the ceviche atun, which is tuna ceviche with a delicious cilantro sauce. The last time I was at Oyamel, I tried the salmon ceviche because I had never heard of or seen it made from salmon. It was delicious, but it was more of a salmon tartar with chopped vegetables and a sweet mild chili sauce.

If ceviche does not suite your palate, then the menu has several unique and delicious salads, such as the cool and tangy experimental baby cactus salad with lime dressing. My favorite is the "Gazpacho" estilo morelia. It is a sweet, spicy, crunchy and juicy combination of jicama, mango, cucumbers, jalapenos and Mexican oranges. The problem with Oyamel is that all three courses so far are delicious and hard to pass up, but you can be seriously full by now if you are not sharing. So you have some difficult choices ahead of you because Oyamel serves small plates ("tapa" style with selections of seafood, meat or vegetables), soups and an amazing array of single serving tacos, and we have not even discussed the entrees.

My advice? For dinner, exert self-control and jump right to the entrees. The seared red snapper served Veracruz-style or the braised short ribs in a mole pipian sauce of pumpkin seeds, green tomatillo, chili and cilantro are both are cooked to perfection! You will not be disappointed.

If it is lunch time, order a couple of the tacos and tapas. Stay away from the lunch time specials, which are way too Americanized for me (i.e., grilled catfish on a spicy bun, meatball sandwich with chipotle sauce, Cesar salad with seared salmon). The corn tortillas at Qyamel taste like the hand-made tortillas that I remember at home that were flattened and cooked individually over low heat on the stovetop. The tortillas are so good you could eat one by itself as a treat and each taco is made with these hand-made corn tortillas. The tinga poblana or pescado mexicano tacos are examples of taco art. The tinga poblana is stewed chicken, with chorizo (Mexican sausage), potatoes, chipolte (smoked red jalapenos) and red onions. Frankly, all the tacos are great. If you are brave, even try the lengua (beef tongue) taco or sautéed grasshoppers taco. I did!

I have not tried all the tapa-style plates, yet. But here are my recommendations: (1) steamed mussels with tequila (yum!); (2) braised short ribs are delicious, but even better as an evening entree; (3) pollo con mole poblano is a good sweet and light introduction to mole, but I like mine spicy and dark; (4) quesadilla huitlacoche, but try it first without the hot salsa verde it is served with or you will miss out on the subtle sweet and savory truffle flavor; (5) queso fundido con tequila (add the chorizo for an extra $1 for the full experience) and (6) pass on the papas con mole poblano, which seemed like a gimmicky play on chili cheese fries. Sorry I cannot describe these in fuller detail, but this review would go on forever.

I do, however, have two last notes. First, if you don't drink alcohol (like me) or are there at lunch maybe, Oyamel has great non-alcoholic drinks that add to the authentic Mexican experience. My favorite is the watermelon aqua fresca. For a very Mexican experience, also try the horchata or atole de maize. Second, Oyamel has a large variety of vegetarian dishes.

Buen Appetito!

Oyamel is located in the Penn Quarter
401 7th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004

Two blocks from the red line Gallery Place Chinatown Metro Station or the Archives/Navy Memorial exit on the green/yellow lines

Review: The Sweet Life Cafe

2008-07-26T11:01:00.003-07:00

The Sweet Life Cafe is located in the historic district of the City of Fairfax. It fronts on Chainbridge Road just across the sreet from the newly completed Old Town Village town center. In contrast to the new ''chain" restaurants filling Old Town Village, The Sweet Life Cafe is in the historic Moore House (circa 1840) and the exterior appearance is of a chic little cafe surrounded by a wrap-around porch and quaint garden. However, as you walk in you encounter more of a country creamery with an ice cream and coffee counter. From this main part of the restaurant you can order scoops of handmade ice cream or gelato, shakes, sundaes, coffee, expresso, sodas and a variety of traditional and herbal teas. The large wrap-around porch provides abundant outside seating that is perfect for enjoying an ice cream cone, sundae or selected beverages with your family or friends. In a side wing, there is also a small dining area inside that offers informal table service with mainly deli-style food.

To start, you should know that I love, adore and sometimes even dream about great ice cream. I enter a new ice cream shop with adventurous anticipation of finding a new "treasure." The ice cream at The Sweet Life Cafe is handmade by the cafe owners and delivers the extra-creamy richness of handmade ice cream that I expect to only find from a mom-and pop owned creamery out in the country.

If you are looking for new, bold or exotic "flavor of the month" ice cream, I did not find any. The cafe offers many "child flavors" like bubble gum, cotton candy, dreamsicle, etc. I did not try any of the kiddie flavors, but savored, smaked my lips, paused and evaluated a small spoonful of the six additional flavors. The cinammon, carmal and banana each attracted my attention. It was the cinnamon ice cream that first hit my palate, but it had such a slight flavor of cinammon that I could hardly taste it. After I finished my tasting experiment, I was forced to surmize that the ice cream is made by a sweet and talented, but lite-handed, vanilla lover. So I ordered the vanilla. It was scoped into a deep glass ice cream dish with a really long spoon. It was old school delicious.

Before sampling the ice cream, I actually ate lunch in the cafe with Madison and Katie. I must warn you that aside from the main menu, the cafe has totally separate drink and dessert menus. We, unfortuantely, were not provided by our server with the drink menu detailing the available virgin mixed drinks such as a "shirley temple," "charlie brown," "blue lagoon" or cherry coke or the variety of available iced herbal teas. We simply ordered diet cokes. We were also not provided the dessert menu with the molten chocolate cake, apple-cinammon pie and carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting. I noticed both these menus on the coffee counter as we were leaving. So be sure to ask if these menus are not provided. I would have preferred an iced Raspberry Zinger tea with my lunch. Oh, well.
I ordered a sandwich descibed as baked turkey and gouda on a pretzel roll. I have had two types of pretzel rolls: a long, firm baguette-shaped roll and a round roll that is actually braided like a pretzel. Both types are firm like a pretzel and baked golden brown with coarse salt sprinkled on top. My sandwich came on a kaiser roll. I admit that the baked turkey was nice sliced breast meat and the gouda had a rich flavor, but for me the kaiser roll deligated it to a decent deli sandwich, instead of a hip cafe sandwich. The sandwich was accompanied with boring ruffled potato chips and a red cabbage cole slaw. While I was not thrilled with the sandwich platter, I was very happy with the price of my lunch -- $7.25 for friendly table service and a decent deli sandwich with potato chips. It is certainly a place where I can take my whole family to eat without breaking the bank.

MADISON: Hi guys, it's great to be here today. My dad has asked me to say what I thought of my experience at the cafe. I ordered a coffe ice-cream flavored shake that was really good and very creamy. The hamburger that I ordered was good but also a little strange. For starters the patty was in the shape of a flower. Don't get me wrong, it was cute, just also a little strange. Then there was the fact that there wasn't any lettuce, it was spinach and red onions. But in the end the burger was good and the side order of fries we ordered where very nicely done. The only disapointment I had was that at the end of the meal there was a drink menu and a dessert menu that had not been offered to us, which caused my dad and I much grief. (Also there was this really annoying face on a tree in the front of the restruant that really bugged me.)

KATIE: The Sweet Life Cafe....hmm. I pretty much think it was an average reseraunt, kind of mediocer. It had no vegitarian meals. So I ordered the omlet with no ham. It was good, but pretty much just an average omlet: eggs, peppers, tomaoes, . . . nothingg special. The coffee ice cream milk shake was amazing. The cafe had very good ice cream! The atmosphere was alright, but the hot waiter that served us made it even better. He messed up though, when we asked for drinks he didn't give us the drink menu which we later found out that they had, there was also a dessert menu that had some very good looking desserts on it that he decided not to give us! Out side on one of the trees was a very stange face that I don' think really added anything to the restraunt. All together though it was okay, but I wouldn't recomend it if you asked for a good place to get food, but I would recomend it as a very good ice crean place!

FunnySauce: Church Basketball

2008-07-23T21:04:00.013-07:00

Last night I played church basketball. I admit it, I love church basketball right now! That fact must be apparent in my face when I arrive home because Shelley continues to encourage me to go play every Wednesday night. She has even started calling me "white magic," which I admit I like.

To put church roundball in perspective, you must understand that I grew up playing mostly street basketball in school playgrounds in Los Angeles. I played on blacktop courts with rims that had shredded chainlink nets at places like Bud Carson Middle School in Hawthorne or Jane Adams Park in Lawndale. In those games I only called a foul if I had someone with me that was big enough to back it up. I am only 5'7", which in any street basketball dictionary is considered "elbow level." Driving the lane was always a dangerous plan. I could do it, but I would usually be "punished" by a hard foul. For some reason, the lane was always someone else's "house." Which is why I love, I mean I absolutely love, to watch my fellow Hoya alumn Allen Iverson play. In the NBA, he is a little man, but he drives the lane fearlously, and I've seen him take the hard hit.

Church ball can also be tough if some big (ex-community college player) egos show up. Other than the day of my birth, the only time I have been hospitalized overnight was from being "clothes-lined" in a church basketball "scrimage" game in Laramie, Wyoming.

So you can understand that I generally have some trepidation playing round ball with a new crowd.

The group I play with right now, though, is awesome. We just have fun. I drove the lane last night several times and made some fun shots. I know my drives are not pretty. I mean I am one of the "old" guys and my feet do not actually leave the floor much anymore. But nobody is going to "teach me a lesson" for driving the lane in their house, because we are in the Lord's house. Everyone actually calls his or her own fouls, and we get along. Amazing!

We also had a short intermural season at the beginning of winter. For those games, Shelley and my kids actually come to watch. So the pressure is on Dad to perform! I mean, Madison played freshman round ball in high school last year, so she is sitting in the small crowd with her arms folded thinking "let's see what you got, Dad." And I did okay! I am not one of the best players, but I sub in and I hit a three pointer at the beginning of the the game. I also drove to the basket twice and finished wih 7 points. I mean it wasn't all pretty. There was the incident when I scooped up an offensive rebound right under the rim and as I went up excitedly for an easy put back, my shot was brutally swatted out of bounds. But that's what happens when your short and can't jump anymore. The important thing? --my family was all proud of "white magic" -- he'd done good.

2 for 1 Special -- Stop Junk Mail and Save the Environment

2008-07-20T18:22:00.004-07:00

Remember when the "do not call" list came out? I immediately went online and signed up. To my astonishment, it worked! Solicitation calls became a thing of the past.

Today I signed up with GreenDimes to make JUNK MAIL go away!

The service is totally free;
No credit card information was required; and
GreenDimes is even going to plant a tree, on my behalf, to improve the environment.

With the free service, the company sends me the information for me to perform a DIY scrub from mailing lists. If money wasn't tight right now, I probably would have signed up for the pay services and have GreenDimes do the scrubbing for me.

I think this service is so great that I put the GreenDimes banner at the bottom of my blog. Scroll down and check it out! This is some real JiggyIntel!

This is fun. You get to help the environment, stop your junk mail and have a new tree planted on your behalf -- all by GreenDimes.

Review: O'Faolian's Irish Restaurant

2008-07-19T13:30:00.006-07:00

O'Faolain's delivers great Irish comfort food. My wife and I drove out to the restaurant after a movie at Reston Towncenter. The drive to Sterling was a bit long, but worth it.

We started out with steamed mussels in a white wine sauce with garlic and chili flecks. The sauce had not been simply pour over boiled mussels. You know what I mean? Instead, you could taste that the mussels had really simmered in the sauce and were permeated with flavor. The dish was so good that we asked the waiter for the recipe. Unfortunately the chef said it was a secret.

I ordered the corn beef and cabbage with parsley boiled potatoes. I had had a "hankering" for good corn beef for a while now, and this dish had the perfect portions of protein, carbohydrates and even a serving of vegetables (because I am on a Body-for-LIFE challenge right now). What made the corn beef and cabbage particularly good was the selection of imported mustard from Ireland. I can't recall the names on the labels, but one was an extra sharp mustard and the other, which was seriously "to die for" good, contained whole mustard seeds in a whiskey sauce.

Other dishes I was tempted to order included the Guinness stewed beef , the beer battered fish and chips or Shepard's pie. My wife ordered the chicken pot pie and it was perfectly delicious.

The decor was Irish, but not my favorite. It had green walls, dark hard wood trim, and some hanging cut glass designs. The patrons eating next to us were drinking, laughing and speaking with Irish accents. However, from the black tiled ceiling to the mid-height walls, I felt like I was in a strip mall property dressed up as an Irish pub. Which is what it is, but it is fun to step into another world, even in an all-American strip mall.

Review: Lounge at The Source by Wolfgang Puck

2008-07-18T05:41:00.012-07:00

The Source, is Wolfgang Puck's newest addition to his chain of high end, highly successful restaurants. The restaurant is located in the recently completed Newseum. The decor is modern with very clean lines and seating that includes traditional table seating, but also offers booths, lounge seating, bar tables, and seats at the bar itself. The crowd was made up of the typical DC business professionals from around the Capitol, who were hobnobbing and enjoying themselves.

A rare pleasure presented to Shelley and I this week: an entire day to ourselves, no kids. So we went to one of our favorite spots -- The National Art Gallery. When the gallery closed at 5 pm, we decided to just scoot across the street to The Source. When we arrived, we found out that seating for dinner upstairs did not begin until 5:30 pm. We were starving after a grueling intellectual workout at the galleries and decided to eat downstairs in the Lounge. (We were probably also a little under dressed and the dining room prices for entrees were in the $25 to $45 dollar range. We both know that either the Lacquered Peking Duck with Bing Cherries or the "American Style" Kobe Short Ribs would have sent me to the $45 side of the menu.) The fun thing about the Lounge is that it serves a Tour de Puck snacking menu with classics from his other restaurants, such as the Kobe Beef Sliders from Cut, his Beverly Hills Steakhouse or wood-burning-oven pizzas from Spago's in LA.

Shelley and I love cheese, so we had to start with the Artisinal Cheese with Honey Comb and Quince Paste.

The dish has a very nice selection of traditional cheeses (brie, blue cheese, white cheddar, hard goat cheese and soft goat cheese). The blue cheese was a nice mild blue-green veined cheese, I do not know its name. My favorite cheese was the soft goat cheese with a vein of aromatic vegetable ash. Shelley's favorite was the brie spread on a candied walnut. Served with cranberry wheat bread, quince paste squares, apples slices, candied walnuts and honeycomb, the dish was definitely a dessert. The honeycomb was fun, but we received just a tiny square and I really wished for a tad more. While the plate was nicely crafted, it really lacked color because all the cheeses where white. I would love to have seen a rich orange English cheeder and a carmel brown Norwegian goat cheese, to give the plate more depth in color and flavor.

Next, we had the Kobe Beef Sliders. The Kobe beef was mouth watering. However, neither Shelley nor I were fans of the bread and butter pickle in the slider. Once I removed it, I think the flavor of the Kobe beef was nicely highlighted with a mix of caramelized Vivaldi and fresh red diced onions.

To finish, we had the Pork Belly Dumplings. The plating was pretty, the pork filling was nice, but it was, well, a pork dumpling like at any Chinese restaurant. I was hoping for something special. It wasn't.

The service at the Lounge is, well, bar service -- even if you are sitting at a traditional table. Our cheese plate took forever to come, and then the sliders and dumplings arrived in just a few minutes after we order them before we had finished the cheese. But the bar staff was nice bar staff.

Overall, the Lounge at The Source is a fun and casual way to taste some classic cooking from one of America's most famous chef's.

The Source (Sixth and C sts., NW; 202-637-6100; http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/finedining/the%20source/dc/index.php) is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. Plates on the downstairs menu range from $8 to $15. In the upstairs dining room, entrees are $25 to $45.

FunnySauce: Ellie on the 2008 Presidential Race

2008-07-17T19:41:00.004-07:00

I love hearing Ellie tell people all about life as if she were the all-knowing expert. For example, tonight we are driving home from her play date and she askes me who I am going to vote for in the 2008 Presidential election. Instead of telling her that it is complicated, I selected John McCain.

Ellie then said, "Is he for making it go up or down?"

"Make what go up or down?" I responded.

"You know, how much they are going to spend on stuff!" she shot back as if I was bullheaded for even having to ask.

I paused, then told her that I hope he makes it go down.

"Me too," she said. Maybe she understands more than I think!

Barnacle Butt Is Offically Indexed on Google -- I'm Jealous

2008-07-17T07:45:00.002-07:00

Last night www.BarnacleButt.WordPress.com was officially indexed into Google's amazing search engine. Those little crawlers alogrithimed over and deemed her worthy of this honor. I did a couple searches related to Shelley's past posts, and her blog actually came up on page one for a couple searches.

I am so proud of her (and jealous, of course), her blog is growing so quickly.

Officially Upset with Blogger.com -- Already

2008-07-17T07:26:00.006-07:00

JiggyIntel is not supposed to be all about blogging, but the time required right now to do simple tasks is killing my time for other posts.

So, I am officially upset with Blogger.com's available posting and layout features! I have my documents that I want to post as part of my blogs in JiggyIntel and www.my-body-for-life-blog.blogspot.com, but Blogger only permits pictures. So I spent time converting the documents to tif. format and Blogger still would not upload them. Next, I saw that Microsoft Publisher would convert docs to html format, so I uploaded the documents into Publisher and converted them to html. I pasted them in and still nothing.

WORDPRESS.COM on the other hand lets me upload many more types of documents under the "media" upload button. It was simple, of course. I uploaded the document as a pdf, and Wordpress stored the document and inserted a link into the post. SIMPLE! CURSE YOU BLOGGER.COM!!!

The good news is that I have created an upload blog at WordPress and I can copy the links created by WordPress and past them into to the Blogger blog. So I should be able to at least move on and post some fun and interesting, non-complainy post. THANKS WORDPRESS.COM!

Also, maybe someday when my blog is finally indexed by Google someone will read it and tell me the simple solutions to my problems. Until then I will continue as the blindfolded newbie making his way in through the blogsphere, one blog at a time.

Comparison of Blogger, WordPress and Google Page Creator App

2008-07-15T22:48:00.008-07:00

Trying to figure out where to host this new creative outlet was no easy task. But blogging is definitely great fun, and if you are thinking of starting a weblog, here is the process I went through and what I learned.

My first requirement was that the hosting site be free. So all the blog hosting sites I discuss below are free.

I started out at WordPress.com because that is were Shelley's blog is located, but I need more gadgetry. So I tried Google's Page Creator which has a zillion "fun" gadgets, but (as explained below) found it too complicated for a newbie like me to install the basic necessities like comments, RSS, Blogroll, etc. without searching the internet of pastable HTML code. I next moved on to Blogger.com, which I found to be a realatively good compromise for my needs. Here is what I discovered during my techno blogging adventure:

WordPress.com	Blogger.com	GooglePageCr
Templates	Templates	Templates
1-4columns	2columnsmax	1-3columns
Custom header	No	Custom header
Auto comments widget	Auto comments element	No
Page Bottom Widgets with Select Templates	Page Bottom Widgets Avail	Page Bottom Widgets Avail
Separate Linked Pages with Parent Pages and Password Protection	No, must create Separate Linked Blogs	Separate Linked Pages
One Click Installation for Most Standard Widgets	One Click Installation for Limited Number of Widgets	Many Fun Gadgets
Automatic/User Friendly Blog Statistics	No Blog Statistics	No Blog Statistics
No Advertising Permitted	One Click AdSense Set Up	One Click AdSense Set Up

I would say that WordPress.com was the most user friendly for a newbie who still demands all the bells and whistles. WordPress gives many customization options and includes most "must have" widgets like Comments, RSS feed, Archives, Blogrolls, etc. in a list of easy add on widgets. WordPress also has great blog statistics trackers and absolutely the most user-friendly help pages. However, WordPress.com does not permit any advertising. So if you want play around with Google's AdSense, you are out of luck.

I choose to use Blogger.com because it lets me play with AdSense. For some reason the lure of learning more about Google's online ads was just too much for me. The fact that the standard Blogger templates only permit two columns drives me crazy. And I am still trying to figure out a work around for creating subpages. Creating a subblog every time I want a link to documents or pictures that are not part of a post is crazy. I did see one site that was working around it by categorizing its archives. The archives page element does create a feature like separate pages for each archived post. Lastly, I had to insert html code from Statcounter.com to obtain stats on my blog. The positive side of this is I did learn about coding html. For example, I coded the entire table for the information above. Not bad for a newbie.

Before this post gets way too long, let me say that the Google Page Creator is not for Newbies, unless what you are looking for is a very simple blog with lots of great gadgets. I had to find code to include comments, subscriptions, blogroll, etc. It was just too much work. I imagine if you want max customization, it is a great place with Google Apps and Google Labs putting out the latest beta products, but that was not for me. The one cool thing about the Google blog hosting was that you could select to use your domain name (i.e., http://www.example.com/) instead of http://www.example.google.com/. But I guess why you would want that is an entirely different post.

I did not try out TypePad or LiveJournel, I just did not have the time. If you have any suggestions or articles about those, please include them in a comment below.

I hope that is helpful for anyone who wants to start a new blog.

Good luck!

FunnySauce: Dog Pile on Daddy

2008-07-13T18:20:00.006-07:00

Sunday is family time. But do you ever find that it is work to get the whole family together, and that your family-time plans can dissolve into disaster?

Tonight we decided to play Attack Uno. This is not a version of Uno our family made up. It is an actual game we received as a Christmas gift and it comes with an electronic button-controlled beeping card shooter. When you would usually be required to draw a card, you instead push the button and a random number of cards, from 0 to 7, shoot out. It is always a relief when zero shoot out. But tonight the shooter was "hot" and everybody had a lot of cards and the game was taking too long. Ellie (who's six years old) had selected the game for tonight, so when she quit, threw down her cards, climbed on mom's lap and closed her eyes, we should have known it was time to end the game.

In an effort to hurry the game along, we started adding helpful comments like "come on!", "go!", "push the button!", "tonight please", etc. We also had to wait through a time out for Jonathan to go through his new breathing exercises that help him to not cry. (Which we all did amazingly well because we are appreciative and proud of his efforts, he is a very kind-hearted kid and it is quite interesting to watch a ten-year-old in the middle of Attack Uno close his eyes and go into a meditative state.) Of course, these feelings of frustration and hostility did not deter us from finishing the game. Finally, Madison called out "Uno" for the first time in the game at about the 37th minute of play time and to everyone's relief was able to lay down her final card on her next turn.

Shelley then asked that we gather around for family prayer before going to bed. A that moment, Ellie announced that she was not tired, Jonathan then knocked over Madison's balancing act on the couch, Madison punched Jonathan and I began my lecture I learned from my dad on not hitting younger siblings. Obviously, the "family time" tension had mounted too high for my sweet wife, because as we all knelt down to pray, instead of praying she started laughing. Her laughter popped the bubble of tension and everybody started laughing hysterically. I was laughing so hard that I was lying of the ground trying to catch my breath when Ellie yelled, "dog pile." All four of my kids jumped on top of me and pinned me down. Riley, our Airedale terrier, thinks this is great fun and places his mangled stuff cat on top of me and begins to lick and slobber all over my face.

After Shelley finally convinced the kids to roll off me, Jonathan had a beaming smile on his face and declared, "Now that was the funnest thing we did all day!"

Blog is Born

2008-07-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

I admit it! The main reason I am creating this site is because I am jealous of my wife's blog (http://www.barnaclebutt.wordpress.com/) and all the fun she is having. Wow, I just had to get that off my chest so I could move on!
On my 4th of July road trip with Paul, I was also very inspired by his amazing amount of insite into the whole weblog/webcasting scene. He even explained one of the great mysteries of the internet to me -- how google makes money! So I really hope he will help me out with this new techno stuff.
I am also looking forward to writing about some of the fun and crazy things that my family and I do to entertain ourselves.
My main activity right now is looking for a job. I unfortunately left a very stable big law job and invested all my time and money in three real-estate related companies. With the incredible downturn in the real estate market, I have had to close shop(s) and start looking for a real job. I HATE LOOKING FOR A JOB! I've read "Rites of Passage" and know my "guerilla tatics", I just have a hard time with all the self-importance of it all -- "Well, when I worked on the divestiture of [insert name of Fortune 100 Company]'s publically traded subsidiary, I . . . . blah, blah blah. It feels like a lot of impersonal bragging. I really try to ask questions to see what type of people they are, but I feel like it is hard to understand someone in half an hour. I recently went to a law firm in San Francisco and interviewed for 7 hours, with the final interview being with the head of the recruiting committee. I admit I liked the attorneys there, but it is still just a leap of faith.
My secondary goal right now is to complete another round of the Body-for-Life (BFL) Challenge. My first Challenge was very successful and I lost about 25 lbs, until I injured myself. In my second Challenge I injured myself quickly and put myself out of my misery. So why would I proceed to a third challenge? First, nothing else has worked. Second, I have a new strategy. You see the program states that we are suppose to hit a 10 out of 10 in our work outs, but I do not think the program took into account ultra-competive idiots like myself who think "10" means a near death experience. So my strategy is to only hit a "9." Brilliant, I know!
I have also just finished reading "You, the Owners Manual" which provides medical explanations and advice for living better head-to-toe.
So I am going to post this weekend my embarrassing before picture, my less-than healthy vitals, work out schedule and meal plans in an attempt to better my life and embarrass myself into completing the program. I will start this Monday and have posted my count down clock gadget and other BFL info at http://www.my-body-for-life-blog.blogspot.com.
Wish me luck!