Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Birthday Girl.

Today is Steph's birthday...I screwed up the past few years, and either missed it completely or when she said she didn't want any big celebration I listened. NOTE TO SELF: when wife says no party needed...it means at least do something special.

Tonight, we are going to eat at the Hangar, its a restraunt at the Huron Regional Airport...they have a limo and they will pick you up and drop you off for free. So neither of us have ever ridden in a limo, but tonight is the night.

Crazy, I had to move back to Huron to get in a limo?

Anyway, I think from past blogs you know how much I adore my bride, and without her our family would be a mess. She is the Liquid Nails that holds the Glanzer Universe together.

I got waaaaaaay lucky when I snatched this Kansas City girl. I often wonder what I would be doing now if Dana would not have "set us up". I would not be the person I am, and would not have the joy in this world that I have.

I found someone that I love to share life with. Not many people in the world get that anymore...like 50% maybe from the stats. Even then, how many people do you know that are not exactly happy about the situation they are in?

I am the luckiest man alive...JayMo who I work with constantly says that I "over-married" when I landed Steph. I agree, totally.

Happy Birthday, Steph.

PS-this picture is the look I get a lot...it means a lot of things...for the most part it means...would you give me some help around here and with the boys...other days it just says, "I'm sassy", and she is.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Fruit Stripe Gum

Brecken got some new PJ's for Christmas, and we laugh at them because he looks like a pack of Fruit Stripe Gum!

Do you remember this stuff...it was my favorite.

Tasted super good right away then like 3 minutes later it tasted like you were eating an eraser.

They had the market on cool gum for 10 year old kids.






I still love the Fruit Stripe Gum.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Visitor #1,000....Uncle Skipper?

If you visit the Living On Liquid website often you might have noticed the "hit counter" at the bottom of the page. On some computers it won't show up, but on some it will...anyway, on Jan. 21, 2007 it rolled over to 1,000.

Part of the program that logs the hits also keeps a record of the location of the server from which computer generated the hit. Meaning...I can pretty much see where people who visit my website are from. There are a handful of pretty regular visitors to the LOL blog, 2 from California, my father-in-law from Indiana who's server lists him as a visitor from MLPS, and about 3 regulars from Kansas...one of those in the Garden City area...that would be Uncle Skip.

I think he hits the site almost every day. When I checked the counter and found out that number 1,000 was from Garden City I was pretty sure that either it was Skipper or my cousin Kent that was visitor number 1,000...I gotta believe that during the time of day that it was hit it was Skipper, because most people with lives don't surf the Internet at 3:41 pm...only retired dudes who wear sweatpants all day long have the ability to hold Internet surfing hours like that!

I am pretty hard on Skipper, cause he raised me that way. You see, Uncle Skipper was the inventor of the BARN BURNER. Every birthday Uncle Skip would journey to your house to deliver your birthday spankings...the last one was the Barn Burner. Don't remember if they hurt, but I think we all remember fearing the Skipper.

He terrorized us as kids, teenagers and now as grown adults! Any visit of his to this day, I have to stay on my toes.

I have got him good a couple times, once on a camping trip I put a whole bunch of big pine cones under his sleeping bag, and the other was the best...he was a foreman at a plant in Huron and got to park his new Chevy pick-up right by the door. One morning I snuck out to the plant and put a For Sale sign on it that said, "$5,500 or best offer call Skip at ....". It worked out pretty good too, because several people came into the plant asking why he was selling his pick-up for so little.

A few years ago, Skipper turned 60, and I was going to place an ad in the Garden City newspaper to sell his truck once again, but Skipper got sick and ended up in the hospital for a few months. He is a fighter and is still alive and kicking. Lesser men would have died.

We are extremely happy to have The Skipper around every now and then in the Beadle County area, and he eats our food, messes with my boys and heads back to G.City.

If Skipper was number 1,000 it is fitting that he be honored on this website with a posting all about his influence in my life.

By the way Skip, the 4th of July is fast approaching, and I have big plans for you! You need to be on your toes!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Learning To Walk...

Our boys are almost exactly 4 years apart, and both of them are dealing with the same problem...staying on their feet.

Brecken has taken those "first steps", the ones that look like what Andy Capp might have, after another long night at the pub.

It happened a few days ago, Steph helped him stand...and weeble, wobble...gravity. He has been trying a lot lately, but yesterday we were playing on the floor while watching Da Bears, and Brecken pulled himself up next to the coffee table and took 3 solid steps to me...it didn't even dawn on me that he walked until he got to my arms.

Maxim has been picking himself up a lot more as well, but picking yourself up off the ice is way more work.

Mini-mite hockey is winding down, and I am so proud of my team...they went from not knowing how to skate, to all being able to skate forward and backwards, and some can even stop.

Maxim is one of the youngest on the ice, but is doing great. Some days he isn't as excited about going to the rink as I am, but that goes away when he gets into the locker room with his buddies. After his skating progression took away the need to skate with a chair, it was time to introduce the hockey stick/cane.

Mini-mites have a tendency to use the stick as a crutch, which is fine, but when they fall the yard sale ensues. If they only loose their stick it takes about 2 minutes for them to pick it back up, but if they loose a glove or 2, or a mouthpiece (I've even had a kid loose a shin pad!) it could take the remainder of practice to gather all the equipment and get the kid back on their feet.

Maxim was one of those kids for about 3 practices. Then last week something clicked and he started jumping back up and usually held on to his stick. It is fun to see progression in your children.

I know both of them are frustrated right now at times while learning their new skills, but to tell you the truth, I don't remember not knowing how to walk, and all I remember about skating, is that we only did it during winter, I loved it back then, and still do.

I did some quick math and I bet on average I spend between 12 to 18 hours a week at the rink or on the ice.

I guess that's why Steph is looking forward to spring...Brecken should be walking by then...she will need some help.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Superheroes.


The Superheros...we were in Sioux Falls on Sunday, and hung with the crew. Here are the Superheroes.

SuperDavy.
BatMaxim.
SpiderMeyer.

Good times...the best times. The only real thing we miss about Sioux Falls, besides Caribou Coffee, Qudoba, Johnny Carino's, Target and I-29 construction.

Friends like this only come around once in life...we were blessed, and still are blessed by them.




Thursday, January 11, 2007

My 2006 Music Review.

If you have ever clicked on the red rectangles on the sidebar you have been taken to my last.fm account. The program "scrobbles" all the music I listen to while I am logged on to my computers.

A buddy of mine and fellow blogger was using it as well, and as a gatherer of statistics I wanted to know MY top 10 of musical tastes for 2006.

I understand and fully embrace that my choice of music is a bit skewed, but that's what makes me, me. Chris LeDoux right next to Blink-182 on a playlist!

So here is the top 10 artists I have played since September of 2006...

1. Nodes of Ranvier (232 songs played)
-Screamy, hard core group from Sioux Falls, super talented if you like your music this loud. they played a show at our church that was the most real (musically speaking) concert I have been to in a while. The coolest thing was that most of the band member's parents were in attendance and they introduced each of them. Great guys on top of it.

2. mewithoutYou (194 songs played)
-My best musical find of 2006, the lyrics are deep, and the style is like nothing else you have ever heard.

3. Rise Against (165 songs played)
-Straight punk one of the best to come out in the last 3 years.

4. Taking Back Sunday (115 songs played)
-It suprised me to find I listened to them as much as I do.

5. Arctic Monkeys (114 songs played)
-Brilliant new raw band from England...Good stuff.

6. Jack Johnson (109 songs played + 40 more plays from the Curious George Soundtrack that scrobbled wrong)
-Jack as we call him at our house is a family and crew favorite...any road trip or session in a boat must include Jack. Singer, songwriter, guitar player and world champion surfer. My mom even likes Jack!

7. MxPx (103 songs played)
-If my MP3 player scrobbled to the site, MxPx would be my number one band by far. Left Coast Punk. Everyone should know these guys, except my Uncle Skipper, he still thinks Roger Miller is "new" music.

8. Hawthorne Heights (99 songs played)
-On my computer alone I listened to "Ohio is for Lovers" 21 times. HH is simply a great pop-punk-alt group.

9. Showbread (96 songs played)
-RAW MUSIC ROCKS is this bands motto, and they stick to it. Energy for your ears.

10. Fall Out Boy (93 songs played)
-Dance, Dance...Sugar, we're going down...ect. Chicago band with Indie roots.

Honorable Mentions...
11. Pedro The Lion - They broke up this year, but still are one of the best emo's of all time.
12. Roper - Bear + Skull and Crossbones = Roper. The best lyrics come from Roper, sarcastic or serious, this guy is solid. His other band Brave Saint Saturn comes in at #18 on my played list.
14. Nada Surf - Another band from my college days that I can't stop listening to.
15. Beck - Beck, enough said.
19. blink-182 - Travis Barker on the drums...let's just say I idolize his skills.
20. The Spill Canvas - Sioux Falls band that is one of my favorites of all times, if I would have started scrobbling earlier in the year, they would have hands down been the number one band.
25. Kanye West - Amazingly enough this is the first hip-hop artist on my list.
33. John Denver - Me and the mountain man share of love of nature and good country music.

Not on the list, but listened to on a regular basis:
Kenny Chesney: country music's Jack Johnson without the surfing ability.
Johnny Cash: The King (elvis who?)
Dixie Chicks: Pretty standard for me...if Nashville hates them, I love 'em.
Relient K: I need a new album from you
Spoken: The remake of Time After Time was perferct.
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: The name says it all.
AC/DC: A guilty pleasure of mine...truth be told I listen to these guys all winter long in hockey rinks across the Midwest. Can't start a game without Thunderstruck or You Shook Me All Night Long.

So that is the list, most of you were confused after band number 1, that's ok.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Snowbound

So during a winter of warm weather and no snow, we get snowbound on our way home from Sioux Falls.

The 50 mph wind gusts and snow made it super sketchy, so we called it a night rented a hotel and watched the Gators dominate Ohio State.

Then Maxim wanted to watch the Steve Irwin's Super Gator special on Animal Planet.

We swam in the hotel pool, Maxim did so good, he is finally putting together all the swimming lessons instruction.

I haven't been home for 4 days...I wanted to drive through anything for my own bed, but your ideas on winter weather driving changes when you are with your family.

It was an unplanned fun night at the hotel that is if Brecken goes to bed!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Jesus Camp.

I was reading a story by a friend of mine who writes the entertainment portion of the Argus Leader, and he mentioned a few movies, one of them which I had never heard of called Jesus Camp.

So I googled it and found the movie's web page. It was the brain child of the co-director team of Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady who produced the Boys of Baraka, a brilliant PBS docu that I watched one night mostly out of boredom, but was engulfed by the end of it.

Anyway, I started reading about this Jesus Camp movie, and I watched the trailer only, but I think it is no wonder why the mainstream media, and most of the world is confused about Christianity and what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't seen the movie, and I think it's great these kids are on fire, I just hope and pray it is their faith, not that of parents or that it is something that is being brain-washed into formable minds.

Also note: Rev. Ted Haggard was involved with Jesus Camp.



I have to include John Stewart's knock on Haggard, because as much as some of it hurts the feelings of "evangelicals" it is funny, and is a good check yourself test of your own lifestyle.



I will be interested to see the movie, and hope you will as well. If nothing else it brings a good discussion for all people who fall under the label Christian.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Oh, Seven

2007
Thanks to Paul Coffey my life as a non-obsessive person changed forever. I have only one real OCD and that is a strange allegiance to the number 7.
When I looked at the calendar and realized that this would be the year of '07 I was super excited. You see, when I was a Pee-Wee in hockey, which is the first real time you get to pick out a number, I chose number 7.
At the time, the early '80s, the Edmonton Oilers were the NHL's dynasty franchise, and with players like Gretzky, Kurri, Moog, Fuhr, Messier, Lowe, Huddy, Anderson and Coffey to name a few, every aspiring hockey player watched the Oilers, and had a favorite on the team.
Gretz and Mess obviously had the most fans, but as a defensemen, I was drawn to Paul Coffey. Don't ask me why, I just liked him. He was number 7, so I was number 7. From that day on.
Now some 25+ years later, I am still number 7 in everything I can be. My closet is full of adult league hockey jerseys, co-ed soccer jerseys, and my old official playing uniforms all with the same number.


You might think, "Oh I have a buddy that is the same way." I have actually met a few people with the same obsession. Only one other with the 7 obsession, and he took it as far as I do. Everything...passwords, logins, pin numbers, my youngest son's name has 7 letters, Steph and I were married on March 7th, my oldest son was born on the 17th (it has a 7 in there!!! Thanks God), my snowboard and wakeboard are both marked with my number of ownership, the bill of hats, my tools, my next tattoo, my climbing gear, in fact, Steph has bought 3 shirts that have the number 7 on them not so much because they were cool, but because she knew I would love the number thing.
Obsessive you think? I haven't told you the crazy part of this 7 obesssion. During my sophomore year at SDSU while filling up with gas I needed just a litte bit to top off the tank. I just let it run and it shut off automatically at $7.77. Since then I would always try to have a 7 somewhere in the amount when I bought gas. Be it in the amount or in the volume of gallons, it didn't matter...just had to have a 7. I'm still doing that today! Every time, but now it has to be in the actual price. Steph loves the game and encourages me to keep the streak alive everytime we fill up with gas. No, not really.
So you can see this 7 thing is a problem, or a blessing whichever way you look at it. I'm just excited that the whole year is now the year of '07.
Happy New Year.