I am a Mac and PC

First off, HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY TO THIS BLOG!  I can't believe it didn't die a few times already, but for some reason I keep coming back to it to write...hope you are still enjoying it.

There was a story on CNN the other day about how Microsoft as a company was the 4th most valuable company in the world, and how they tend to wait and see what Apple does and then copy it to some degree.  Which is true if you think along the lines of:

iPod = Zune

Wii = Kinnect

iPhone = Windows-based smartphones....etc.

 

There is something to be said for what Microsoft has done for the "real" work that computers do everyday...not the way I use a computer, editing photos and video, but word processing, spreadsheets, database work.  For those types of applications I am told there is no better platform than a PC, although Apples can run Microsoft application too.  So I guess I am a combination...I use Dell products to do some of my work and I use Apple products to do my more creative type work...and for all of my mobile work..iPhone/iPad.

 

So I pose the question, can I be a Mac and a PC???  Can I be a balding, tweed suit, nerd, and a v-neck tshirt, hoodie and skinny jeans slacker at the same time?  I think I am pulling it off...but lately I have been leaning towards my Apple side.  Is that the Dark Side or the Light Side of The Force?

 

 

My Life Creed.

My dad turned 67 yesterday...so maybe I am thinking about age and life a little bit this week...but this song ended up in my email in box thanks to my buddy Toby Mac.

I can honestly say this is my life goal...and my dad (and mom) gave Sally and I the example of how to attain that goal of not letting life "Slip On By".

I try to grab every moment with my family...even if it meant cuddling up on the couch with a 10 year old and watching George Of The Jungle at 5 AM this morning...just because he was awake for the day.



First Day Of Pre-K

Steph dropped a bomb on me yesterday...she said it was the last day that Kolby would ever have as a non-school attending little girl.  So they played in the yard, coloring on the inside of the box that the new 85 gallon hot water heater came in.  Steph put off some LakeHaus work and spent that last day of Kolby's summer enjoying each other.

That is the great thing about owning your own business...you set the hours...if you need to play with your kids in the middle of the day you do it, and then you work when they go to bed.

Soon enough they will be gone...we never miss an opportunity to just "be" with our kids.  Even when we work sometimes they are involved.  I will never take one thing for granted as far as time spent with my family...nor will I ever put any self imposed "deadline" in front of them.  I think about how my dad STILL makes time for me if I need some time with him, and he is always there.  Steph and I will always be that kind of parent and someday grandparent.

Sometimes those little moments create some of the biggest memories, like last night...(NOTICE THIS SECTION INCLUDES BRAGGING)...So last night I walked in the door to put the finishing touches to the hot water heater that was installed earlier in the day and Kolby asked me to help her "read" this book.  She had Brecken's reading book from school on the table and she had it open to a story.  I think it went like this:

The rat had a bat.
The rat had a hat.
Bad rat.
That is not your hat....and on and on like that.

So I sat down to humor her 3 year old reading desire.  She said she was having trouble with the first word "the".  I told her it was a sight word and you couldn't sound it out...and once she got that down, she sounded out and read the entire section.

She is barely 3.5 and basically reading at a 1st grade level...I was astounded.  That 10 minutes spent with her will be remembered for a long time....and so will this picture.

Fair Week = Goodbye Summer

It is fair week in Huron and that means our family will be going in a lot of different directions for the next 7 or 8 days.

The kids have school, which I think starts too early, Kolby has her first preschool open house, LakeHaus has a booth for the week and I have my energy factory duties on the Freedom Stage.

The LakeHaus booth has changed locations...ironically we took over the old booth that I had for NWE.  We decided to shake things up a bit and changed our sponsorship and it saved the company $800...but in turn I knew there was an opening at the Expo Building and Steph and I decided to move LakeHaus' booth over there, and now it cost me $800 personally!  But well worth it.

It has been a busy 3 months of travel, weddings, seniors, family photos and a LOT of boat time, and I am ready for a slow down after the fair.  This week is hectic and stressful, but I love the fair, and I hate the fair.  It means the end of summer.  Monday I will be super depressed and will feel like listening to this song while saying, "Goodbye Summer"...I like this version better. Sorry Don Henley.

Self Portrait

Sometimes I take pictures of me, for me and by me.  I put on a helmet camera and pulled this still image from video of last night's wakeboard session...I love the sun, the water flying all over the place and the angle of the horizon.

Cameras have a cool way of stopping chaos and making it look graceful...

Summer Vacation LHP Style

Just a little GoPro video compilation that I threw together in about 10 minutes, but it shows some of the stuff we accomplished this summer.

(The song is probably better than the video and it is my theme song until November 20th!)

First Car

We were headed home from our family vacation a couple weeks ago and got to talking about our first cars.  So we asked the boys what kind of car they want when they can drive.

Of course Brecken said he wants a Jeep Wrangler with big tires.  I might just buy his car a few years before he can drive so I can enjoy it.  When we asked Maxim what he wanted for a first car he said, "You guys already know, I want a camper that you can drive!"

We laughed for several miles on that one and we decided that he would get a VW Vanagon...and if you know Maxim you know that it would fit his personality perfectly.

If you don't know what a Vanagon is, think "campervan"...Greatful Dead stickers all over it, vagabond rock climbers and mountain bikers live in them.  A buddy of mine had a Vanagon Westfalia for years and the family camped out of it and he loved that thing.

Maxim would look soooo cool climbing out of a Vanagon, and when the family would go climbing or on vacation, we would take Maxim's Vanagon.

So in 4 years if you see a Vanagon for sale let us know...we are thinking lime green for the color!

The Good of EVEL.

Growing up my friends and I didn't have the XGames stars, in fact, my generation invented the action sports athlete...but we were around to witness the pioneer of Action Sports.  Evel Knievel was the Original Gangster of jumping motorcycles, and crashing them for that matter.  I kind of remember watching him on TV jump over different things, but if you were a daredevil kid you wanted to be Evel.

Evel grew up in the Rocky Mountain town of Butte, MT, and for the last 11 years the city has celebrated the legacy of Evel with a 3 day party in Uptown Butte.

I was in town for the festivities and snapped a few photos of the FMX show with my iPhone.  Evel would be proud of the new generation of daredevils...they took what he started to another level.

Feature Yard

Stephanie won the Lake Byron Development Association's Feature Yard Award!

She works hard to make it look as perfect as possible and after 6 years of living here we finally have it somewhat under control!

Congrats Babe, I am proud of you!

Ken Block - Gymkhana 5

I think I have posted all of the Gymkhana videos out here, if you haven't seen the new one, crank up your speakers and buckle in for 10 minutes of creativity with a car and the streets of SAN FRAN!

The Amazing Popcorn Man

I am not sure what his special powers are, but this no-shirted, camo shorts wearing super hero fights crime at the Henry Doorley Zoo in Omaha.  I am pretty sure this is the only place in the world anyone has ever seen this obscure crime fighter.

I don't know where he gets his desire for attention, but he goes about it in a way that makes his dad smile...he walked around like this for at least an hour on a 98 degree day.

My Dad Is Growing Up.

When my dad and I used to do project type work together it always included some sort of verbal confrontation...not the kind you see on American Choppers or anything like that, but just one idea being better than the other (usually mine) and the other person not accepting the reality of the fact.

Well, my dad has been a super big help on an extension of our deck that we have been building over the past 3 days and last night we kind of finished the "big" work of the build and he made the comment that "we didn't even fight while we were building this".

It is amazing to think that about 10 hours of working together resulted in a completed project and no hard feelings.  I am so proud of the way my dad has grown up over the past 5 or 10 years, he is really starting to become a great person.  All those years of me pouring my youthful knowledge into him has paid off.

I am sure he is thing the exact same thing....oppositely of course.

My Intern...

When I was at KSFY TV I had an intern who was later hired by the station.  James "Jimmy Jam" Searls came to us as a skinny college kid with a ton of heart and the desire to succeed in the industry.  He spent some time in the Sioux Falls and Sioux City markets and in Des Moines...now for the last 2 years he has been one of the main sports photogs at the Baltimore FOX station.  He shoots the Ravens, Orioles, and every D1 college in a tri-state region.

By TV industry terms he has outdone all of us that trained him...he has awards from everywhere and he is still in his 20's...for a few more months!

I am proud to say I had a small part of his life and career, he got nothing in life handed to him, he earned everything every step of the way, and his path is still bright.

The picture below shows James and I at Camden Yards in Baltimore.  He finished up with Ravens Training Camp early and came to the ballpark to join me.  If I look like a proud father here...well, that's what I felt like.  When a kid earns his way to the top you have to be proud of him.

Great to see you, pal.  Maybe this is the year you get to go to the Super Bowl???

Lincoln Memorial

My favorite spot in D.C.

Had to check on my old friend Abe today.

Waiting For Grass.

I planted grass seed 13 days ago...and there are some little sproutlets taking off, but I really thought the area would be a little more grass-developed by now.  So I start Googling "how long does it take grass seed to germinate", and I get all sorts of random answers, but most say I am in the window now where the whole thing should sprout off.

It kind of reminded me of taking care of your children, you "water" them and "water" them and get their seed bed and dirt all perfect and they continue to do things their own way on their own time.  You just have to wait for them to come around.

Maxim turns 10 on June 17th and I finally am seeing some real "grass growing" in his responsibility level.  Chores are sometimes done without asking, he is taking responsibilities with his brother and sister.  In fact, last night we were about a 3/4 mile from the house visiting a neighbor and the 2 boys wanted to walk home...which would take them on a busy country oil road for more than half of the trip...I looked at Maxim who has biked and run on that road and we let them go...funny how sometimes letting things go, makes them grow even more.

I guess I have to just give the grass seed some more time, but if it isn't full on growing by Sunday I might have to "spank" some life into it.

Ft. Sisseton's Mascot

Last weekend Maxim, Brecken and I went to Fort Sisseton Days with my dad and his chuck wagon, which I found out is named "Sweet Sally Sue"...more on that later.

Last year Brecken went with dad and he raved about how much fun he had for a year, so I thought Maxim and I had better go this year. (Steph also had a garage sale last weekend so I wanted to get out of town.)

It is a lot like a Renaissance Festival for Cowboys and 1880's lovers.  We spent the weekend living out of a chuck wagon, cooking off the open fire and eating dessert right out of dutch ovens.  It was interesting to actually "live" the life the settlers in this are probably lived, but I'll take my pillow-top bed over the floor of a chuck wagon any day.

Maxim and Brecken played pretty hard, and for the first time as a parent I kind of just let the boys go and didn't parent them, I didn't tell them to "be careful" or when to eat or not to get too far away.  I let them go.  In our world of "bad people" that is tough to do, you always worry that your child is going to get stolen and end up on a milk carton somewhere.  But I have faith in God to protect my kids and so I let them roam the FORT.

Maxim being the less socially-needy of my 2 boys would come back to camp to check in and check out every 2 hours or so.  He would do what all 1880's prairie-bound boys would do...read another Star Wars book or play his Nintendo DS until the battery drained.  (at one point he actually went 28 hours with out some sort of electronic device and didn't complain)

Brecken on the other hand has become a sort of celebrity at Ft. Sisseton.  He is dressed in cowboy gear the entire time and he is gone the entire time.  He lives off of food he begs from other people, candy, the occasional portion of grilled meat and endless bottles of water.  Otherwise it is 90 mph play time.  Cowboys and Indians, good guy vs. bad guy, and just running all over the place.   Fort Sisseton is a gem of South Dakota and if you have never been there it is well worth the trip.  I want to go back sometime when the festival is not going on and just soak in the history of the area...it is beautiful, I even kicked myself for not bringing along a fishing pole...yeah, me wishing I had a fishing pole.

Here are some images of the weekend.

Happy 35th BDay Star Wars

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the original release of Star Wars: A New Hope, you know the one where Luke blows up the Death Star for the first time and Han Solo fights an entire army of Stormtroopers.  We will celebrate the event tonight with a viewing of the original film...POPCORN AND COSTUMES ARE MANDATORY.

You see at our house Star Wars is a spoken and unspoken language.  I found Star Wars from my childhood friends Wayne and Jason and my cousin Brent...they were totally into the movie that I hadn't seen yet.  To tell you the truth I don't recall the first time I ever saw the original movie, I don't think I saw it in a theatre, I think it was on TV just prior to the release of "Empire"...but I remember seeing Empire and when you are 7 and see a movie like that, it changes your view on fantasy, and creativity and what the world has to offer.

Some 20 years later Maxim entered the world and one of the first movies he fell in love with, after the whole Finding Nemo thing was Star Wars.  He was mesmerized, as I still am when I am watching anything that has the SW franchise sticker on it.

Now Steph is a fan of the movie and the cartoon series, Brecken likes to call people "Wookies", and Kolby is our Yoda.  We have lightsaber fights with anything resembling a sword, we have more action figures than Barbies and we even have nights where Maxim puts in a movie and we just watch the battle scenes.  "Fight Night!"

So if you ever hear Steph tell me, "I love you."  and I just cooly answer, "I know."...you will know I am not being a jerk, I am pretending to be as SMOOTH as Han.

The Dangling Carrot Of Dirt.

You have seen the cartoon where a donkey's rider holds a carrot in front of the donkey to get him to move...Maxim has actually done this to Brecken (yes while riding him) with a donut.  Well, earlier this spring Stephanie put a carrot in front of me.

The problem is there is a lot of dirt in the way.

I have been building a retaining wall for a couple years now and slowly adding dirt, and slowly doing work, but this spring the deal was made (truth be told there wasn't much dealing) that the boat doesn't come out of storage until the 1st tier of the retaining wall is back filled and landscaped.  Well, Steph's uncle delivered the dirt last night (THANKS KENROY!!!) and I will learn how to shovel dirt again tonight.

You may ask why don't you just get a Bobcat and spread it around????  Well, the 1st tier is blocked in by our deck and the lake and a hill, so the only "Bob"-cat I could get back there is my dad and a wheelbarrow.

So tonight I begin Shovelpalloza.  If you are bored and want a good workout come on over any night this week and I will get you a shovel.

MY GOAL IS TO HAVE MY BOAT IN THE WATER ON SUNDAY...We will see how that goes.

Crooked Arrows.

I will probably have to wait to see this on DVD because it won't come to the Huron market, but looking forward to seeing it.

Downhill...URBAN STYLE.