Naturally I’m a sucker for a specialty kitchen appliance that absorbs counter space and is never really used, but c’mon. Who isn’t?So, while strolling through Costco running errands after the return home, I just had to stop and hear the pitch on this little baby. I had seen it in action many times over the past year or so, although I’d never seen it blend food.This, however, is apparently what it’s intended to do. And it does it well. Really well. Really, really well. It sounds like a jet engine taking off right in your face, but it makes a mean smoothie. So, grab some fresh fruit and ear protection and come on over. Chock full o’ awesomeness!
<BLAMMO> (the sound of inertia breaking through a stale blog. if you listen carefully, it happens every 14.2 minutes somewhere on the net)
We just returned from a great Western trek from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis to Helena and then back. Round trip was just over 4000 miles; I haven’t tallied the gas bills yet. We got to Mpls in one day, stayed there a day and visited with Laura & Co., then we collectively motored through N. Dakota and made it from Mpls to Mordor Helena in one day. This is not for the faint of heart, but it can be done.
Then we were in Helena for a nice while and did fun things. etc. etc. Yes, I’ll post some pictures and wax rhapsodic, but you can’t expect miracles in the first real post in almost a year. Baby steps.
The trip back spanned 3 days, with stops in Wall SD & Madison WI.
Much frivolity ensued throughout. Fun was had. That is good.
December 30, 2007 at 9:07 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized
Blech. As you may have noticed (or even more sadly if you have not), this site has been down since sometime in August. Wha happened? Not sure exactly, since many things have changed between the time it went down and when I went to figure out why (aka today). Different router, rebuilt OS on the server, you name it. It meant that I spent a good chunk of my holiday vacation time fiddling with config files and junk like that. See “blech” above.
Hmm. Has anything happened in our lives since August? Just a wee bit.
We had two great reunions — one with Matt, Rich, & Wade here in Pittsburgh in September, and then all living Christensens (well, at least the ones directly related to me) convened in Michigan over Thanksgiving. Annika had a birthday in September as well (oh yeah, so did I). And we had Christmas, and soccer, and Halloween, and Stella’s winter festival, etc. etc.
Will there be super clever posts accompanied by gee-I-wish-I-was-there pictures for each of these wonderful events? Probably not.
I know, that kind of sucks. Mea culpa. Hopefully the site won’t go tango uniform for months again, and I won’t miss this many posting opportunities. At very least, I’ll try to throw up some more recent pictures to Flickr soon for the digital record.
August 10, 2007 at 7:06 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized
Today I got smart. Well, for a fleeting moment. Around the block, if you will. Actually a couple of blocks.
The smart car tour passed right in front of our office, and I was compelled to sneak a peak. I must say, it’s surprisingly roomy inside — more so than my current VW. I love the window-on-the-sky roof, and the massive gerbils 71 hp engine isn’t a complete dog. It had paddle shifters, which were fun, and a brake pedal attached to the floor, which gave it an odd travel.
I think it’s roomy because there’s nothing in this thing but the 2 front seats. You’re basically sitting on top of the rear engine. That said, it’s cute as can be, assuming you can get past the image of a big wind up key on the back.
We got a bit of rain Sunday night, which left a few lasting effects. If there was any remaining doubt on the soil type of our lot, the clay made a good showing today. It had been rock hard for the past couple of weeks, and just slurped up the rain once it finally came. In its exuberance, it took one of Annika’s boots hostage.
The wind from the storm also knocked down a pretty sizable branch (~10-12″ diameter) on a maple down by the driveway. Fortunately, Michelle and the girls were still in D.C. from the weekend, so only my car was parked down there. The branch landed right on top of where I usually park — whew! Now I just have to cut it up.
This was my annual Golf Binge Weekend, and it certainly was a good time. The Veltre brothers and I headed to Akron early Saturday, met up with Greg who came down from Madison, and played 27 holes. I managed just one lousy skin throughout — ouch. I had a few decent moments, which as any hacker will tell you, is just enough to keep you coming back.
We planned to play another 18 early Sunday morning, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Rain was headed our way, so the tee times at the WGC were moved up. That meant we didn’t have time to play before heading over to Firestone, but at least we managed to squeeze in breakfast instead.
The Sunday round was fun to watch. The rain was intermittent and light; enough to keep the crowd down but not enough to be a bother. We managed to get good views of the leaders on the greens of 2, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 18. That’s a lot more than we’ve seen in previous years. El Tigre poured it on early and never let up. It’s quite something to watch him up close when he’s firing on all cylinders. We managed to get a front row view on the 18th green, and weren’t entirely blocked by the cameraman who showed up seconds before Tiger walked up. You can even catch a glimpse of me (in the aloha shirt next to the camera) in the highlight reel. Fun stuff.
Today Michelle got the tour of frog pond at Fern Hollow, like I did a week ago. She, however, is much more into frogs than me, so she was pretty excited by the excursion. This pond has tadpoles 3-4″ long all over the place, with some pretty hefty adult bullfrogs hanging out on the logs.
I can only assume this is frog paradise — big protected pond, lots of fallen timbers to hang out on, and all the bugs you can eat. It’s a bit of an awkward location, as it abuts right into a housing development. The woods and the pond themselves are part of the nature center, but you can see and hear the new construction happening just beyond the tree line.
Here she is performing the all important front-to-back roll for her floor exercise. While the degree of difficulty may not top the field, she comes through with a strong execution, some flair on the turn, and a big smile for the crowd. If not for the Russian judge, she would have placed high in the medal standings.
Today Gretel tried her hand at cereal for the first time. She’s been getting hungry more frequently lately, and we thought maybe she craved a few extra calories.
I think her reaction to this new and strange food intake mechanism, if she was able to articulate it, would be “wha?!”
Today we wrapped construction on the deck. Stu came by early and he & I unloaded his truck with the new lumber for the railings. The planned top rail pieces are only 8′ lengths, and we have one railing span just a couple inches too long for that. D’oh!
So, we had to scrap that idea and change out lumber throughout the entire railing. We ended up with grade 1 5/4×6 mahogany, and it looks really great. Brad showed up about an hour after we started, and the three of us spent the next several hours putting the railing together. We figured out exactly which pieces (they were various lengths) had to be used for specific spans, and they were not interchangeable. No room for error — cut the wrong piece and we run out of lumber!
Fortunately, we managed to not screw it up and the railing turned out really nicely. I still have a few loose ends to finish myself, but the formal construction phase is complete.
Side note: for those of you in Pittsburgh looking for a great contractor, call me about Stewart Flowers (that’s him in the background). He took great pride in the workmanship and was extremely pleasant to work with. Brad was great too, but Stu took the lead on this.
I played hooky from work today to accompany Annika on her last day of nature camp. We headed down to a small private lake nearby for a little fishing, and she did great. She did all the worm-hooking herself, had lots of fine casts, and landed 2 bluegill and a decent bass.
The campers went back to the nature center to receive the end-of-week awards (she won “future illustrator and author”). After some pizza, she led me on a hike through the woods to frog pond, and later we strolled through the big meadow for a while. We had a simply terrific afternoon together. Thanks for inviting me Annika!
Haven’t posted an update in a while, so this may feel like we’re jumping ahead a bit. We’ve had a few days of floor-laying (my, how much longer it takes when the boards aren’t uniform or straight), and today they knocked through a whole bunch of it. Tonight I came home and could actually walk around without dancing on top of joists. It’s really getting close now. The rail verticals on one side are tapped in place, and the floor has to be cut around them (as well as the front side which will require cutting holes in the floor for the railing).
We still need a step, but based on the remaining floor material (seen in the shot), I think we’ll just barely make it. Unfortunately, the horizontal sections to connect the rail posts seem to be MIA (I thought they were on the bottom of the pile of floor boards), so who knows how long it will take to get those here.
Last night Derek threw a great surprise going away party for Chris & Jeff, who packed up the moving van today and are headed to Beantown. A few of us collected some pictures from over the years, and Derek created a huge photo mosaic out of them (and some others).
The party was at a great spot near their office (actually really near it, since Derek’s moving above it next month). The restaurant treated for a few drinks, so please go there and support them to say thank you!
It seems like a lifetime ago when the three of us were so excited to be starting ESI (which became Inmedius). Chris was employee #1 and I was #2 (beating Derek by 6 weeks). I remember when Chris & I moved all the assets of the company out of CMU in the back of my car. We haven’t worked together on a daily basis for almost 7 years now, but I wish that weren’t the case. The early days of that company was some of the most fun I’ve had.
July 7, 2007 at 11:16 pm
· Filed under Family, Friends
Well, sort of. Back in March, Mike & Jill got married. Excellent people that they are, they had the good sense to throw a party for it back in the ‘burgh. It was at the Rex, Ben played live, family members recited heartfelt anecdotes, and it was a great time. We took all 3 girls, and didn’t leave until the band did.
That’s mostly because Stella wouldn’t get off the dance floor.
…it becomes necessary for one people to gather the rescue vehicles which have lined up one with another and to assume among the powers of the village, the separate and equal station to which the Police and Fire Departments entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of neighbors requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the assembly.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all emergency vehicles will participate in the parade, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain loud horns and flashing lights, that from within these candy shall be thrown for all children to pursue their Happiness. — That to secure these vehicles, committees are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any vehicle becomes old or doesn’t gleam, it is the Right of the People to polish or to replace it, and to institute new Fire Trucks, laying them in line and organizing them in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effectively distribute candy to kids at the curb. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Fire Trucks long established should not changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are most disposed to suffer unkempt trucks, than to right themselves by cleaning the dirt to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of dirty trucks without candy evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Candylessness, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such committees, and to provide new Trucks for their future candy needs.
We managed to get a partial crew day in today, and I pitched in for a few hours getting the first joists in place. We can start to get a sense of the floor level and expanse of what the finished product will bring. Still a long ways to go, but it’s taking shape.
No work yesterday (too muddy), but made progress connecting some beams (yes they’re sandwiched instead of saddled and the posts are only 4×6’s — don’t get me started) today to the posts. Annika & I spent the morning on the tennis court, and then I brought her over to Nana’s in the afternoon for a sleepover. By the time I returned, beams were basically in place.
As with all such projects, mistakes happen, and this project is certainly no exception. We’ve had several lengthy discussions of working around the placement of the posts (they weren’t to the perimeter as expected) and the, uh, length-challenged beams. But, we’re working through issues as they arise and devising solutions. Not much different than at work.
Yes, all that you’ve heard is true. It mows your lawn, cooks dinner, cures cancer, and solves world peace — and that’s while it’s dormant in your pocket.
I participated in the mass exodus from the office on this iDay to enjoy the camaraderie of a good old fashioned reality distortion event. Standing in line for a few hours granted me the privilege of a 6:11 timestamp on my receipt for the Device which Solves All Things.
With four of us triumphant from a local ATT store, we quickly convened at a Panera restaurant just down strip-mall-way. Why? Because they have free wifi, of course, just beckoning to be used to register our new Bundles of Joy. Picture four guys rushing to a single booth, each whipping out a Powerbook on the table with collective oooo’s and ahhh’s as each layer of packaging is gently peeled away.
Suffice to say that it synced like a dream and was up and running with no discernible effort on my part. Some say that my voice sounds better on this “phone” (such an epithet) than my last, but I know the truth — it’s just made me a better person.
Naturally I’m a sucker for a specialty kitchen appliance that absorbs counter space and is never really used, but c’mon. Who isn’t?So, while strolling through Costco running errands after the return home, I just had to stop and hear the pitch on this little baby. I had seen it in action many times over the past year or so, although I’d never seen it blend food.This, however, is apparently what it’s intended to do. And it does it well. Really well. Really, really well. It sounds like a jet engine taking off right in your face, but it makes a mean smoothie. So, grab some fresh fruit and ear protection and come on over. Chock full o’ awesomeness!
