August 2007 Photos
The August 2007 galleries are available. You can review the full galleries either by accessing the "August 2007" links on Berkeley's web site or Eliana's web site. Or you can simply access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's August 2007 Gallery ... (5 years, 1 month old)
Eliana's August 2007 Gallery ... (3 years, 5 months old)
Olivia's August 2007 Gallery ... (1 year, 1 month old)

Cedaredge, Colorado: Day 2
Today was Grandma's big birthday party bash. In the morning, we went over to the Apple Shed (where the party will be held) and helped set up for the party. In the afternoon (after lunch), we drove over to a nearby ice cream parlor and had a little treat. While the kids were lined up at the counter eating their cones, I snapped a few pictures:

In the evening, we attended the 90th birthday party for my Grandma. The whole town showed up, or much of it anyway. The grandsons (me included) all sang a shortened version of You Raise Me Up... it was, uh, an interesting rendition (Kristy told me she only winced twice!). The town mayor showed up and proclaimed that September 2nd would be known as "Mary Kiser Day" in Cedaredge from this year forth. My grandma does a lot of volunteer work at Pioneer Town and elsewhere in the community... she's a fixture in the town of Cedaredge, so the dedication of her birthday as "Mary Kiser Day" was appropriate.

Cedaredge, Colorado: Day 1
We traveled today by plane (and rental car) to the remote town of Cedaredge, Colorado. It is my maternal grandmother's 90th birthday next Monday (on Labor Day) and both of her children, all of her grandchildren (9), and all of her great-grandchildren (30+) will be arriving in town today and tomorrow to celebrate her event throughout the weekend. We are staying at the Howard Johnson - the marquee outside the hotel has an announcement for my grandma's birthday party (to be held tomorrow)... apparently the whole town is invited.

The kids love hotels, especially hotel pools. Most of the rest of the grandkids (and great-grandkids) will be staying here as well. It should be fun.

(Update Sat Sep 22 06:45:03 PDT 2007 // added mention of marquee)

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Floor Joists Set
The third story floor joists are set. Before the floor sheeting can go on, some plumbing connections must be restored and some mechanical connections (such as bathroom fans, the dryer vent, etc) need to be re-routed.

Here are some pictures. Note the wonderful new skylight we have in our stairwell now!

More Olivia Goodness
I couldn't help but snap this picture of Olivia today.

Movie Review: Mean Girls

Summary: Ho hum.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Framing Started
The first lumber load was delivered today. The chords of the TJIs are massive... 3½ inches wide. A crane hoisted the entire load up to the roof with most of it resting on the TJIs that spanned from the front of the house to the back of the house. Here are the pictures:

The framing sub (Mike) had this genius idea of blocking short 6x6 posts between the bottom members of the 2x4 trusses. The blocks are placed between the truss members along the outside walls. This will allow the existing electrical (and internet and phone and cable) to remain untouched and peacefully exist beneath the bottom chord of the TJIs. Frankly, this idea is brilliant as it allows us to not worry about pulling up wire and re-threading it through knockouts in the TJI members. We will lose 5½" of height in the attic, but for the hassle it will save... it will be more than worth the small sacrifice.

(Update Sat Sep 22 06:25:14 PDT 2007 // 3 inches -> 3½ inches)

"I Do"
Whenever anyone asks a question that starts with "Who wants" and requires a hand to be raised... no matter what the question, Olivia will raise her hand as a gesture of "I do". She raises her hand up high too. It's cute. In the picture below I asked "Who wants to get out of the bath?"

Camping Gear Review: MSR Hubba Hubba Tent
I recently purchased a new tent, the MSR Hubba Hubba 2-person tent (with fly and footprint). Prior to last night's Mirror Lake Campout, I had been begging a tent off of my brother-in-law Scott. So it is nice to finally have my own complete set of backpacking gear.

The Hubba Hubba is one of the lightest 2-person tents on the market and is highly rated. I bought it on-line at a site that offered the optional matching footprint for free. Nice. Before the campout, I tried out all of the different configurations... tent only, tent with fly, and fly with footprint (the latter configuration weighing less than 3 pounds). I took the fly, tent, and footprint with me on the camp (pack weight 4 lbs).

The tent set up is a snap. The tent is roomy enough for two, but two persons plus gear would get pretty snug. The gear would fit OK under the fly, but the areas covered on either side of the fly (the vestibules) are not spacious... just big enough to keep your gear dry.

Here is a picture of the tent up at Mirror Lake.

Summary: Very nice lightweight tent.

Mirror Lake Campout
I spent last night and much of today up at Mirror Lake just past Snoqualmie Pass camping with the 11-yr-old scouts and their Dads. We packed all of our gear and hiked in (about 1.5 miles). It is an ideal place for a first true overnight camp for the kids. I did this same camp last year with similar success. I have a bigger group this year... with myself, my ASM, the six boys and their Dads (less Art Vikari), we had a total headcount of 13. Easily the largest contingent of the several other groups of campers up there.

The camp got off to a bit of a rocky start. We took three vehicles up to the trail head: 1 truck and 2 suburbans. The rocky road up to the trail head was not kind to the low profile tires installed on Bob (Hild)'s suburban. The tire separated from the rim on the way up. We had quite a time changing the tire. The rims features inset lug nuts that made the stock lug wrench un-usable. Coincidentally, another car at the trail head (that pulled up to the trail head not long after we did) had a lug wrench that fit. Bob was very fortunate to get that car home. The picture tells it all... ouch!

While a few of the adults stayed behind to fix the flat tire, the kids started up the trail head. Here they are all packed up. These 11-yr-old scouts are about as green as they come. From left to right: Justin, Ryan, Alex, Kraig, Rob, Nick.

After we arrived at the lake, we unpacked and pitched our tents (this is the first time I've used my new tent... the MSR Hubba Hubba). Next we set to the task of collecting potable water and making dinner. I sent a couple of boys down to the lake to get some water with my somewhat new and gently used water filter. After I had finished organizing the camp site, I went down to the lake. Alex and Nick were there collecting water. I walked over to observe their progress:

"Brother Berrett, did you see the dead duck?", Alex asked.

"Um, no.", I shrugged, "Where?"

"Right there." said Alex pointing at the rocks on the shoreline nearby.

Sure enough. I looked over my shoulder and there it was... a dead bloated duck not 15 feet from where they were extracting water. Oh boy.

After some new water was extracted. We had some wonderful hot dogs and ramen for dinner at our lakeside campsite. Yum yum!

It was a beautiful near-cloudless starry night with a full moon. Last year it poured on us. This year... not a drop. I slept great.

Here are the boys this morning at the lake gathering some water. From left to right: Justin (standing), Kraig, Ryan, Rob, Nick, and Alex.

We scrambled up to Tinkham Peak after breakfast. It is a tough hike. Only half the kids made it last year. This year... four of the six made the hike. See pictures of the hike below. The first picture shows one of the rock slide fields the trail crosses. The second picture illustrates the steep slopes we climbed. The next three pictures are of the boys taken at various points along the climb. The last two pictures are taken at the top of Tinkham Peak.

(Update Sat Sep 22 08:50:45 PDT 2007 // fixed some grammar)

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: More Demolition
The demolition continues today. The roof shingles and sheeting are all gone. Many of the trusses are gone as well. The only barrier we have against the elements right now are two big brown tarps nailed down to the scattered remnants of our roof.

Seam Carving
Watch this video about image resizing using seam carving. Very impressive. Can't wait for this to be rolled into GIMP.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Roof Material Research
We stopped by our roofing subcontractor (Allied Roofing) a couple of days ago to research our roofing product options. We did not want to go with an asphalt shingle type of product, but we must select something that has an equivalent weight (otherwise, the roof's structural support system would need to be re-engineered). Kristy really wanted to go with slate... but given the weight of slate, that would be impossible. However, we did find a "polymeric slate" (or fake slate) product (by EcoStar) that will give us the slate look without the weight (or the high price) of slate.

This evening we stopped by a house in Seattle that had the product installed a few months ago. The roofing subcontractor did the work and give us the referral. We didn't knock on the door, but just stood outside in the street, looked, an chatted with some of the neighbors. Here are a couple of pictures of the roofing product on another house:

(Update Fri Aug 24 23:22:51 PDT 2007 // added pictures)

Genoom
This site called Genoom looks interesting (the tour looks cool anyway). At the very least, it looks like a neat way to wrap your GEDCOM file in a nice GUI. Plus, it's free. You can make your tree and invite other family members (cousins, etc) to join and help build it too.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Project Start
Well... finally construction on our attic conversion project has started. It rained here yesterday, so the start was delayed until today. Not much going on of interest yet; just a lot of demolition.

Product Review: Panasonic KX-TG5776S and KX-TGA571S
Two of our three phones died last week... bad batteries I presume. Rather than replace the batteries, I replaced the phones. We had our old ones for almost 6 years (I gave the one that was still working to Scott). I replaced our dinosaur Uniden 900 MHz individual phones with a Panasonic expandable digital answering machine and system with full color backlit displays, the KX-TG5776S base and the KX-TGA571S handsets. I ordered the base plus three handsets and received them a couple of days ago... wow, what an upgrade!

The new phones double as intercoms, so I can pick up the phone and page Kristy upstairs. Sure, I can yell up the stairs and get her attention... but when the third floor goes live, I'm not sure if my voice will carry up two floors. So the intercom feature will get a lot of use. Eventually, we'll expand the phone system to the full compliment of 8 handsets and have one in all of the "popular" rooms in the house. (Apologies in advance to the living room.)

Some other key features we like: the phone book can be shared among all of the phones, the caller id history is shared automatically among all the phones, all of the phones show that a new message is waiting and the message can be checked from any handset. Also we like the fact that if we screen a call or are just too lazy to pick up, the message that is left on the base unit answering machine is also broadcast to each of the handsets and played on the speakerphone. Very nice.

There are a lot of bells and whistles on the phone that are fairly frivolous. The background of each phone can be customized. We will probably snap a picture of the room where the phone belongs and use that as the background. Custom ring tones can also be assigned to each number in the address book. And not just some selection of stock ring tones, but any 20-second wav file of your choice that is stored in the handset's memory. Each handset includes a USB port and can be connected to any machine (*cough* running Microsoft Windows); the interface allows you to transfer pictures for the phone's background and music for the phone's media library. Just today I solicited feedback from my siblings and in-laws asking them to choose what music they want played to signify when they call us (no responses as of yet).

Summary: How did we live without these phones!

38
It is my birthday today (born August 19th, 1969). Olivia started off my day with probably the best gift I have received in a long time... she slept in until after 9am. Since the other two kids are down at Aunt Laura's, Kristy and I were both able to sleep in. I don't think that has happened snce, well, before we had kids.

I woke up with Olivia and took her downstairs for some breakfast. I went old school and poured myself a big bowl of Fruity Pebbles, the cereal that I picked for my birthday breakfasts when I was a wee lad. I poured some up for Livy and we both enjoyed our first bowl so much, we had another.

All of the Sorensons came over for dinner; Laura brought along Berkeley and Eliana who seemed happy to be home and excited to share some tales of their sleepover. I fired up the barbecue and put some rib-eyes on the grill. We also broiled some salmon. Kristy bought me a lemon cake at Costco.

I had a few gifts to open. Technically, my new bike is a birthday gift. I got a helmet today to use while riding and a trailer attachment for our Chariot Carrier. Here are some pictures:

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The movie's pace is quite frenetic. I'm sure that a person not familiar with the book would not have made heads or tails of much of the movie. The book upon which the movie is based is 850+ pages, so the material had to be quickly covered or ignored. Thankfully, all of the sub-plot about Quidditch was removed. When I was reading the story related to the Quidditch I was thinking to myself... why would Harry even care about Quidditch when seemingly more important matters (e.g. the Dark Lord's return) are far more pressing. They also mercifully left out the explanation of the worthlessness of the "prophecy" (e.g. that it could be created on a whim). I wish Rowling's book editors were as smart with content as the film's editors and producers. Oh well. *shrug*

However, much to my chagrin... they still left in the very lame way in which Sirius dies. Let me get this straight - the Ministry of Magic just keeps around this "portal" where if you happen to walk into it, you die or something. What useful purpose does such a device serve? Can't it simply be destroyed on the basis of improved safety alone? Or at least can't a magic barrier be installed around it so that such an "accident" does not occur. What a absolutely weak way to kill off such a strong character - very lame. At least give Sirius the dignity of going out in a duel between Voldemort or something. Phfffft.

Summary: I'd give it a 4/10 were it not for the cool 3D eye candy. See it at an IMAX theater if possible.

Down Two Kids
We farmed Berkeley and Eliana out to the Corays for a sleepover tonight. They will return with the Corays tomorrow; the Corays were coming up anyway for my birthday, so we figured it would be fun for the kids. Eliana is pretty excited to go to church with Jenna again... though I'm still not sure (7 months later) what exactly is so great about going to church with Jenna. But whatever... they are gone... w00t!  

Kristy and I went to our annual Ward Salmon Bake dinner party tonight. We took along Olivia. She is a terror for babysitters, but is the most charming little baby you could imagine when she is attending a social event - you could even argue she is a completely different child. We are in for trouble with that one - big trouble.

The salmon bake was held at the Folkmans (like last year) and was very well attended. The food was good, but the salmon was not quite up to the high standard that John Bull set while he was alive (John was missed not just for his salmon but for his company). We left a bit early so we could return home to put Olivia to sleep. Then we had someone come over to tend house so we could see a late night showing HP5 (in 3D) at the PacSci IMAX theater.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Project Creep - New Back Porch and Deck
Kristy and I have decided that we will be replacing the trellis in our backyard with a two story covered patio and deck. We hope to amend our construction permit to include the patio/deck as an "as-built" structure. The top deck will be accessed by French doors from our master bedroom and possibly a door in Olivia's room. Another possibility for access is a wrought iron outdoor spiral staircase. This is all just on paper right now, but we will flesh it out soon and add it to the project requirements.

Remlinger Farms Visit with the Thurmonds
Kristy took the kids to Remlinger Farms today and met the Thurmonds there. Because we have been pretty sick of late, we have been avoiding local family members. And before we were sick, the Thurmonds were sick. So before today, it had been awhile since the kids had seen any of their cousins that live nearby.

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Project Start Delayed
Our framer walked off the job today before he had done anything. I talked with him last night while he was picking up his gear to take it to another job. He cited material delays as the reason. Apparently, our contractor (Tad) was not aware that our ridge beam (which is almost 50 feet long, 7 inches wide, and 32 inches deep) will take 3 weeks to manufacture. You would think he would have made a phone call and figured this out quite some time ago, since the beam schedule was finalized before we turned in our design plans to the city last June. Our contractor put in our lumber order earlier this week. Not incredibly smart.

We have a new framer lined up. I met him today. He seems OK, but I liked the other guy better. Supposedly, demolition work will start next Monday... almost a month after our permit has been approved. Kristy and I are not happy about the delay as we are anxious to get the project moving and predominantly complete before the rain starts back up again in the Fall.

Movie Review: On A Clear Day

A movie just about training to cross the English Channel would be pretty boring, so the film goes about setting up some rather fake and shallow surrogate obstacles to overcome for the rest of the party. Also, for whatever unexplained reason, the fellas decide to keep the whole training thing on the hush hush so that it can create some false tension between other characters in the movie later on. The main character also must deal with the fact that he is "a man that can't confront his emotional losses". It could have worked, if the whole thing didn't come off as an exaggerated caricature. I don't blame the actor here per se, the writing was pretty corny at times and completely predictable.

Failure of the "Granddaddy" Bribe
It's been two months since I created Eliana's Chuck E. Cheese sticker chart - the "granddaddy bride of the last resort" - to try and bribe her to stop going to the bathroom in her undies. She filled up the sticker chart last weekend on Saturday (by not soiling her undies while camping). Unfortunately, she has regressed significantly these past three days (including today) and has soiled her underwear every day since then (both liquid and solid) multiple times per day. So her reward has been revoked.

I despise cleaning up potty off the carpet, and the furniture, and the toys, and whatever else happens to get in the way. I give up. Not sure how preschool will work for Eliana this Fall. Preschool starts next month and she is supposed to be potty trained in order to attend. Can't wait for that disaster.

(Update Tue Aug 21 22:03:25 PDT 2007 // added link)

Getting the Mail
A couple of months ago, our HOA paid for the development to upgrade from non-locking to locking mailboxes. We were given three keys to our mailbox. We put each key on a piece of ribbon and hang them up near our back door. Once a day now, we send Berkeley to get the mail - a task he volunteered to do. He takes one of the small keys and a wire basket to the row of mailboxes (about 4 houses down the street), unlocks the mailbox, checks the mailbox, fills up his basket with any letters we receive, then closes the box, locks it, and returns home. It's a fun little job for him to do.

Today Eliana accompanied him and Kristy snapped a couple of shots of the two of them:

Cute.

Making Trains Again
Berkeley has slowly rediscovered he likes to build and play with his toy trains again. He had told us previously that he doesn't like to play with trains anymore. Kristy and I believe that peer influences at preschool were the source of this unexplained 180° flip from infatuation with trains to an almost absolute repudiation of trains. Berkeley is very impressionable... to a fault I'm afraid. Nonetheless, we are glad he is having fun playing with his trains again.

Movie Review: A Prairie Home Companion

The movie is about Keillor's fictional "last show" before the new owner (a rich Texas businessman) shuts it down. There isn't a plot per se; this film feels more like a fictional documentary shot in the style of VH1's "Behind the Music" (or something). The first half hour of this "Behind the Music" style of movie was mildly entertaining, but then as the movie really isn't progressing anywhere... it becomes rather boring rather quickly. In an attempt to break up the boredom, the film-makers decided to inject an angel into the mix that walks around the set "taking people" (to heaven it is assumed) - I'm not sure what the point of that was, but it was annoying. I don't really think there was a point to the movie actually... just as there is no point to any of the "Behind the Music" episodes.

Summary: When I wasn't annoyed with the movie, I was bored.

New Bike
I bought myself a new bike yesterday (for my upcoming birthday). Scott (Stout) helped me pick out a satisfactory bike, the Trek 4300 Disc. I found it for sale at nearby Redmond Cycle. The Redmond Cycle web page for the bike lists the bike at $494.99. But when I got to the store, there was a sale tag on it for $379.99. That seems like a decent deal to me, but I really have no idea. *shrug*

After we got back from our campout today, the kids wanted to ride bikes with Dad. So we saddled up and rode around the cul-de-sac. Olivia watched us at first, but then wanted to ride as well.

Summer Campout
Berkeley, Eliana, and I drove up to Ensign Ranch yesterday evening and camped overnight. Originally the whole family was going to go, but Olivia and Kristy and both pretty sick. We arrived at around 5:30pm and began to set up camp, make a fire, etc. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids helping set up the tent.

Once the tent was set up, our next goal was to start a fire. While collecting fuel from a debris pile near our campsite (about 10 feet away from our picnic table), I disturbed a wasp's nest that was located on the ground under some wood. I was immediately stung on my wrist. I swatted the wasp, but it left the stinger behind. So I walked back over to the table to get my pocketknife to scrape it out.

Unbeknownst to me, a few wasps followed me to the table where Berkeley and Eliana were sitting. A wasp landed on Berkeley's face between his nose and his mouth. He FREAKED out immediately... as did I! I screamed at the wasp while at the same time swatted it off his face onto the ground and stomped on it. But poor Berkeley was beside himself in tears. I sent the kids over to stand near to the fire while I attended to my own sting... the stinger was still in my wrist, pumping in venom. About 30 minutes later, my whole hand was pretty swollen from my body's reaction to the sting. Berkeley's sting didn't produce any swelling, I think my swift reaction prevented the wasp from injecting much (if any) venom into Berkeley - he didn't exhibit any swelling whatsoever.

The wasps left us alone for the rest of the evening until it was dark. We had some dinner, popped some jiffy pop, and roasted marshmallows around the fire.

The wasps returned at night. They probably would have left us alone for good had I not lit a battery-based fluorescent-bulb lantern and placed it on the picnic table. I had turned the lantern on while we roasted marshmallows. After the kids were done, they retired to the tent to watch the movie. After I set up the DVD player, I called up Kristy to check-in. While I was talking to Kristy, I was looking out the mesh door toward the table. I could see dozens of wasps swarming around the lantern and the citronella candle. I went out to take a look and to turn off the lantern (with a long stick) and in the process was stung again - on the back of the neck. That was enough for me. I got the lantern off and figured the candle would just burn itself out. I popped a couple of Benadryl (because I could feel my face puffing up) and went to bed.

When we woke up in the morning, we built a healthy fire to keep the wasps from bothering us while we had some cocoa and breakfast. Here are a few snaps:

My citronella candle had burned out, but at the bottom of the candle container there must have been 40-45 wasp carcasses in the leftover wax surrounding the wick... I guess they got too close to the flame. I looked at the candle oddly transfixed by the host of dead wasps and read the label on the side of the candle tin: "repels annoying insects". Um, yeah.

After we broke camp and repacked the car, we stopped by the homemade slip-n-slide that is available near the entrance to Ensign Ranch. I snapped a few more pictures:

On our way back home, we stopped at Mountain High Hamburgers and had some lunch. I had the "Volcano Burger", some onion rings, and a raspberry shake. Good stuff.

(Update Fri Aug 17 11:50:39 PDT 2007 // fixed a spelling error)

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: The Blue Dumpster
Our renovation project is scheduled to start next Monday. In preparation, our contractor had a blue dumpster dropped off at our house today for the purposes of the demolition work. See picture below.

I only wish our contractor would have ordered the big one.

Bus Orientation and Tour
In preparation for beginning kindergarten, Berkeley was invited to participate in a bus orientation and tour down at Issaquah High School. Since younger siblings are encouraged to attend, Kristy took Berkeley and Eliana. The three of them got a front-to-back tour of a school bus, got to ride in a school bus around the downtown Issaquah streets, and were able to sit in the bus while it went through the Bus car wash. It was pretty fun I'm told. Here are some pictures:

Back at Sherm's
One of our favorite local haunts, Sherm's BBQ, closed down a couple of months ago. Management indicated a move to not-so-nearby Woodinville, but I learned that they scrapped that and recently re-opened in Preston... which is about 5 miles west of Issaquah on I-90. The kids and I traveled over there today and ordered our familiar meals. It was nice.

I don't think we will be able to get out there every week as before. Though much closer than Woodinville and despite being just 10 miles away from our home, Preston is about a 15-20 minute drive from here (and can be longer depending on traffic on East Lake Sammamish Parkway). Sherm's did have some homemade blackberry cobbler today, so that is reason to return soon.

More Serendipity
About three months ago, the ML was involved in a small collision with a mailbox. I took the car to the adjuster soon after and got an estimate, a check (less our deductible of course), and two referrals to local auto body shops in Issaquah. I deposited the check, but sat on the estimate and the referrals... that is, until last week.

I called up Evergreen Auto Body and made an appointment for today in the afternoon. Initially I was initially planning on going with the other of the two referrals back when I got the estimate originally, but between then and now I lost the other referral. Oops. So I show up this afternoon at my appointment somewhat late. I enter the reception area somewhat out of breath and as I walk in I see my wife's Aunt's new husband standing there.

"Hey Larry, what's up?", I said. "Why are you here?"

"I work here... I have an appointment with you and you're late!", Larry replied.

*pause*

"Didn't you know I work here?", Larry continued. "I just assumed that when you made the appointment, you asked for me. I see all Allstate referrals anyway, but..."

"You? Work here. Really?", I was still dumbstruck.

What a trip. I had no idea Larry worked there. We were just talking to each other at the Hartung Family Reunion in Clarkston a couple of weekends ago. Weird.

So anyway... long story short, Kristy's Uncle Larry is going to hook us up and get our ML straightened out. Sweet deal.

Home Renovation Project: Garage Overhead Storage: Second Rack Installed
I have installed the second of the overhead storage racks I bought last year. I procrastinated it so long because I knew the install was going to be a bit tricky because of an obstacle in the ceiling above one of the rack corners. My solution is shown below.

It's a bit of a kludge, but hopefully it will hold alright (don't look too close, I used a zip tie to keep my joint from moving).

(Update Tue Aug 14 23:43:29 PDT 2007 // added image and additional text)

Serendipity, Sidral Mundet, and Carmelitas
I am in charge of fulfilling any orders for a Reunion Journal that was compiled for my recent 20-year High School Reunion. It is safe to say that the response was not overwhelming. We collected 10 orders for the black/white version of the book and 11 orders for the color version of the book.

I was not getting any quotes for cheap printing unless the order size was at or greater than 100 copies. At such a low volume (21 books total?), the best quote I was getting for color printing was from Staples at $0.39/page; e.g. a total of $48.75 just for the printing costs alone! Since we told people the cost was $50, I was a bit worried about being able to fulfill our commitments.

However, due to a strange sequence of events, I was able to put my worries to rest.

My DVD player bit the bullet recently. It is a Panasonic brand with a tray (the DVD-CP72). The readout gave an "H07" error code. I did a bit of research about this (google is my friend) and tried to fix it myself to no avail. So I called up a shop today in Redmond and took it down there. Berkeley came along for the ride.

Since I was going to be in downtown Redmond at this repair shop, I decided to stop by the UPS Store and mail out a couple of checks. I had not been to the repair shop before today but I checked the address and figured it must be close to the UPS Store. Little did I know that the repair shop was located literally across the street from the UPS Store!

So after I dropped off the DVD player, I walked across the street (with my son on my back) and noted that there was a placard outside the front door which read:

   COLOR
copies/prints
 $0.29/page

I inquired within... No minimum order. Flat rate $0.29/page. I was floored.

I called up a bunch (about a dozen) UPS Stores around here and in the Salt Lake Valley... everyone else I spoke with was quoting $0.49/page or $0.39/page. Only this particular UPS store is running this deal. So this discovery was either some kind of divine intervention, or serendipity, or The Matrix at work, or something else.

To celebrate, I walked back across the street and stopped by the local Mexican grocer for some Sidral Mundet and Carmelitas. Berkeley and I sat on the sidewalk next to Redmond Way and ate one cookie at a time. We chased the cinnamon sugar down with a swig of the delicious apple soda. The traffic sped past; each driver entirely oblivious to my happy discovery.

Kids Sick
Kristy and I took turns skipping out on church attendance to stay home with our (very) sick kids. They are have loose bowel movements (or "fast poo" as Berkeley quaintly calls it) and the girls are vomiting as well. It's not pretty around here - at all. I expect that eventually we'll be hit by whatever stomach virus they have as well. The Thurmonds had this a few weeks ago, so I guess it is going around.

Home Renovation Project: Garage Overhead Storage: Car Carrier Lift
Well, it has been 11 months since I did anything about my project goal of having my garage ceiling populated with storage gadgets. I have been a major slacker on this. But because our garage kind of needs to be tidied up a bit for our upcoming attic renovation project, I have been motivated to get some of the stuff on the garage floor up off the floor and overhead.

To wit, I decided to go out and buy a Thule Car Carrier Hoist (Thule part #571) for the purpose of storing our huge car carrier. I spent half the day installing it and did so despite the fact that the instructions for the hoist are all specified in metric units (I don't have a metric tape measure). It sure is nice to have our car carrier up off the floor.

Pretty slick.

(Update Tue Aug 14 23:43:29 PDT 2007 // added image and additional text)

Movie Review: The Prestige

Summary: Disappointing.

(Update Thu Aug 16 09:15:58 PDT 2007 // fixed open parenthesis)

Kristy Turns 30-Something
Kristy's birthday is today. I got her a wrap dress that is a bit edgy by Diane von Furstenberg; namely, the Abri Wrap Dress in Miro Flowers. She seems pleased, if somewhat surprised by my choice. My response: I received plenty of "tips" from several friends and the willing sales associates at Nordstrom. (I kept the receipts just in case.)

We were planning on going out to DC's and then to see Harry Potter 5, but our kids are becoming quite sick and our babysitter bailed rather than risk exposure (wimp). Instead, we stayed at home and watched a disappointing rental.

Embedding Video in HTML Pages
One of the tasks that I have now that the Skyline High School Class of 1987 Reunion is over is to showcase the Reunion DVD on-line and allow people to order it. To showcase the DVD, I wanted to include a little snippet of video embedded in the page. To do this I figured that I needed to created a flash video snippet from the DVD.

To rip and encode the section of the DVD I was interested in, I used AcidRip (and the Xvid codec). Then I converted the avi file to a flash video file (flv) using the very handy ffmpeg tool. For example:

ffmpeg -i video.avi -ar 44100 -f flv video.flv


where,

-i input file name
-ar audio sampling rate in Hz
-f output format


After I created the flash video file, I needed a flash player in order to embed the flash video in a web page. Fortunately, I found a free one called FlowPlayer (that includes plenty of well-written documentation).

It works great... check it out:

<http://www.skyline87.org/dvd/>

Viva free software!

Olivia's 1-year Checkup; Berkeley's 5-year Checkup
Both Olivia and Berkeley had appointments with Dr. O'Neill today. Olivia received three shots and Berkeley received one. Kristy informed me that Berkeley put on his "tough" face and didn't cry. But he did express quite a bit of concern when Olivia was getting her shots. Berkeley is a very caring brother.

Olivia continues to track high for height and low for weight. She measures 30¼ inches in height (85th percentile) and weights 18lbs 2oz (10th percentile). By comparison, Eliana's at her 1-year checkup was 32 inches tall and weighed 23 pounds (97th and 80th percentiles respectively). At 12 monhts old, Berkeley was 32¼ inches tall and weighed 25lbs 6oz (95th and 90th percentiles respectively).

Berkeley today weighed in at 47.4 pounds and is now 44 inches tall. He tracks in the 80th percentile for both height and weight. A nice solid kid.

Movie Review: A Night At The Museum

Summary: Don't see it unless accompanied by someone under 8.

Olivia's New Walker
We bought Olivia a new toy walker today. We are trying to encourage an increase in her mobility. She gets pretty frustrated when she can't do the same things she sees her brother and sister do. So far, Olivia seems pretty happy with her new gift: