Switchfoot Rocks Ventura

Last night Switchfoot played at the Majestic Ventura Theater and it was AWESOME! It had been awhile since I had seen them play live and I'm so stoked that I got to go.








And thanks to Jen for coming along with me at the last minute! She's one of the sweetest people I know and made the night that much better! You're awesome Jen!








Their tour is almost over and the rest of the shows in California are sold out, but if you live somewhere where they are still headed... you've got to get yourself a ticket! Check out their remaining schedule.

I'd have to say the song that got everybody going was "Meant To Live". A great song on the CD... but live it was so loud and so incredible. You just had to be there to understand what I mean. Just an amazing show all the way around!

The amount of bass in the theater absolutely ate up the mic on my little point and shoot. So I had to do some minor audio work... I'm sure you'll be able to tell. But if you heard the original you'd know why! :o)


Above: Switchfoot singing "American Dream" off "Oh! Gravity."
Below: Jon Foreman comes out into the audience and sings "The Shadows Prove The Sunshine" off "Nothing Is Sound"

Dinner With Friends

Dinner with friends... so simple... yet so wonderful! The perfect chance for catching up on the last few weeks... telling new stories... telling old stories... and all that great stuff!

Thank you "smokin' hot ladies" for a wonderful evening!!!

And much thanks to Paige for the gift certificate to The Palace Grill... very thoughtful and such a great pick!

Moving Pains

This last weekend I helped my best friend and his wife move out of their apartment... and that apartment just happened to be on the second floor off a building with tiny elevators! Who designs an apartment building with no cargo/service elevator!?! Do they expect people who live in apartments to not own couches or other large pieces of furniture?




You should have seen the "operation." Four guys... one large couch... and one tiny elevator. Not the situation for anyone who's even remotely claustrophobic. One guy stuck on the inside with a large couch... while three guys on the outside try to figure out how to get him out.

Nice packing job huh? You should have seen it all get airborn when we hit a nasty bump in the road! :o)

It's funny... I didn't really notice the fatigue of lifting heavy objects while I was doing it all day... but oh man. The next day I was like one giant muscle cramp!!

A Rugrat

I think I know now what they mean by the phrase...
"Look at those baby blues!!!"

My brother-in-law grabbed this picture during his daughter's first experience with a lollipop. There's more video of the experience at the bottom... but let me just tell you... there was sticky slobber everywhere!!



It's official... my little niece is a rugrat. She's finally up on hands and knees... and you can't turn your head for too long before she's off somewhere to explore. She's also reached the point where she feels like she needs to use everything to stand up. She's still too wobbly to actually take off walking... but give her something to steer around with and she's ready to walk anywhere.



And like I posted before... the personality is definitely starting to show up. I love it! She learned how to say "cat" as one of her first words... so now every time she wants to try to say something the first thing out of her mouth is... "kuh... kuh... cat." Too cute! I've been hounding my sister to start teaching her sign language... which is actually easier for babies to learn before speaking. Just simple stuff like to tell people they're hungry and some other simple things. I learned that from my old pastor who I lived with for a little while.

So she's also started an acting career as well. Well... maybe she's just practicing at this point. Here she is doing her best impersonation of the baby from "Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events." You know... the little baby that who has the skill of biting everything. And the picture below is the whole reason I started calling her Yoda. His teeth she has. Scrunch her face up she does. Cute she is!! Oh yeah... she points at everything now too. I think she realizes that we'll look at whatever she points at... a neat little trick! You'll see that in the video too.

Check out this cool toy that she's got... I almost died laughing the first time I squeezed Tigger's hand! I just had to get some video. Point and shoot cameras are great! A simply fantastic technological advance!

Warranties

In my mind, when it comes to electronics and warranties...
it's all a roll of the dice.

In my previous line of work, I dealt with high end electronic equipment. And although the utmost care was put into making sure everything met quality requirements and all the electro-static preventions were in place... sometimes you just can't help it when those little green boards decide to go kaput. Or when the compartments in batteries decide to melt and cause your laptops to catch on fire. No, my laptop didn't catch on fire... but the battery went kaput!

I think it was a day ago... that without warning... my MacBook Pro suddenly turned all the way off. I thought to myself... "Hmmm self, did you miss the little 10 minute warning that Mac OS X gives you?" This isn't that rare of thing... to just dismiss the warning and keep on working... only to have the computer shut itself down in 10 minutes. I didn't think to much of it... until it happened again. Then I set the trap... I only charged the computer slightly and went to work again. This time I kept an eye on the battery meter... and sure enough... with 45 mins left on the meter... zoink. Black screen and apparently no battery life.

So this morning, I went down to The Mac Mechanic here in SB and told them all about my problems. Taking my word for it... the technician took out the battery... checked my warranty... and said I'd have a new one by tomorrow!
Now here's where I feel like I beat the odds with my warranty. This could have just as easily happened in another month or so... when my warranty would have been expired. But this time "the player takes the house!" I'm getting a newer battery after having used this one for almost a year. Meanwhile, I'm content to work on my desktop until my laptop is whole again.

...
Anybody else have any good (or not so good) warranty stories?
...

James Stanley "Stan"

This last week saw the passing of my grandfather James Stanley. An incredible man of 81 years, he is finally free of his failing body and doing cart-wheels in heaven! It was only a month and a half from the time we learned that he had cancer to the time he took his last breath... but it was a great month and a half. All of the family knew what was coming and most of us were able to travel to see him one last time. What a sweet chance to be able to hug and love on someone for the last time... and even better still to know that they are headed to such a better place to await your own arrival.


My grandfather was a great man of faith and loved his family and friends through action. Having served in the military for 27 years he knew how to keep us grandkids in line... but was also the first one to introduce me to video games! I can remember scarfing down dinner at his house in Sedona, AZ so we could get back to our game of golf on the Intellivision (the first 16-bit game system ever made). And he also owned the first air rifle I ever shot... and provided plenty of empty soda cans for me to shoot up.






My grandfather is the first immediate relative I've had pass away and his funeral was the first that I have ever attended. When he retired from the air force he owned the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, so he had full military honors at his funeral... including a 21 gun salute. The entire ceremony was quite powerful.

This whole week has been a wonderful time for our family. Through the funeral and interment we have had the chance to spend time in remembrance of my grandfather, but also in a time of bonding as a family. I ended up cherishing these days that the family was able to spend together because of the life of my grandfather. Here is a small tribute to my grandfather that we played during the funeral. Thanks to my sister for finding, scanning, and organizing all of the pictures... great job! And if you don't know my grandfather... you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for some childhood pics of myself scattered throughout.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SLIDESHOW