Dancing in Silicon Valley

Dara and I like to dance when we get a chance, but we don't get the chance too often. I've refined and extended my dance repertoire over the years. In college, I stuck with the tried and true, engineer special: the Palm Tree. Keep your feet planted and sway. Now that I am older and less inhibited, I move my feet occasionally. I even invented a variation of the palm tree: the Snowboarder. Keep your feet planted while twisting your body from left to right, moving your left arm across from side to side. For the snowboarders among you, you'll recognize this as the basic technique you learn when you do "linked turns." You can tell that while I've been working on all this great technique, Dara has had to work on her ability to enjoy dancing in spite of it.

Saturday night we went out to a place in Cupertino for dinner and dancing. They had a DJ who played an eclectic mix. I swear we heard a techno mix of Singin' in the Rain. The crowd was eclectic as well. Cupertino is the home of Apple Computer (those bastards!!!) It's also the home of a large Asian population. It was like watching the bar scene in Star Wars. White haired white guys with young Asian women. Phones on the belt. Geeks and dorks on the make. Divorcees on the rebound. In short, no reason not to let loose with my best Snowboarder. A good time was had by all.

Fainting Goats

Somehow I stumbled on this video of "Fainting Goats." It cracked me up and made me think of all those miles I chased our old horse, Willie, through the field trying to catch him for a ride. By the time I caught him I didn't want a ride, I just wanted a nap. Too bad he didn't have this genetic mutation. Life would have been so much easier.

I need spanish lessons

The latino population is exploding around me and I can't get up! I always get by on the usual constuction lingo...simple tools, up, down, here, there, and the always popular lo sienta mucho, or I,m very sorry. Recently I have been working with an interesting sort of character, he speaks enough english to just get by, if you really want to understand him you have to really concentrate and ask him to repeat things, he is about my age and has some general carpentry skills which helps alot since he needs to work and can't comunicate that well. From some conversations with him I found out he is a Nicoraugoun and a veteran of the Sandanista army. He assured me he only shot at people that were shooting at him, anyway he was trained in Cuba as a pilot and actualy shook hands with Fidel Castro, he has quite a bit of contempt for his old army because he apparantly trained quite heavily in aircraft but the Sandanistas never could afford an airplane so they sent him off to do some jobs he never really signed up for. For a guy that doesn't speak fluent english he has a keen sense of American politics, he is familiar with all the candidates and their positions, more so than any of the Americans I work with. He explained to me Hilary may be to liberal and America is not going to elect a black pres. I guess all this isn't that unusual but its kind of ironic how much he knows, while the other guys on the job couldn't tell you who the vice pres is and they are Americans. Discussing the immagration issue with him was impossible, as he seemed to get a little excited and went back to mostly spanish, but continued to talk and look at me as though I understood exactly what he was saying. Besides all this he has a good jobsite temprament and everyone enjoys working with him.

For the not so sport minded

Fantasy Sports? Child�s Play. Here, Politics Is the Game. - New York Times My recent football success won't get me much here.Either someone in my league is looking for some revenge or they thought I was a player, since my senator, Warner is in 1st place. I'm not joining, I suffered enough humiliation working my way up in football. I does seem interesting though, with football fantasy you either become familiar with the NFL or you lose. In doing so you become more informed about the game, by imposing those principles on political fantasy you should become far more informed on inside the beltway goings on and maybe feel more qualified as a voter. I'm still sticking to sports.

Outlaw Country

I havn't advanced to the world of digital music yet but I listen to satilite radio. It is a place you can listen to about anything you want to, not unlike regular radio you have to listen to some stuff you don't like to hear some stuff you do like. I have always enjoyed country music but I hate the way radio beats a song or artist to the point you are sick of hearing them. I picked a few artists I have enjoyed over the last couple of months. You won't hear these guys on your local country station, at least not here. I can't testify to their body of work but they all have some great songs. Cross Canadian Ragweed, The Bottle Rockets, Steve Earl, Drive By Truckers, Joe Ely, and in the Bluegrass dept Cherry Holmes. Dara mentioned she enjoys country but not with the twang and dopy lyrics, these guys arn't imune to either but they do know how to rock.

Wheels in DC

It's not there yet, but Dara's little baby red convertible is on its way to Kyla. Getting it shipped was an experience. It seems there is an entire industry of transport gypsies who make a living by moving cars, and you generally get to deal with the brokers who connect you with them. One inquiry on the internet has single-handedly doubled our spam volume. We looked for some recommendations from people who had been through it, and one guy said the car arrived weeks late and had been used by the transport people to tool around town as the truck made its way across country, and arrived smelling like fast food. We went with another recommendation from someone who said his experience went smoothly. Roll the dice, I guess.

The hot grad student in DC will now have wheels, anyway.

The New Harris Builders

I hate shop talk but it seems like lately thats about all I have to talk about. When the real estate bubble began to inflate I got a little worried about being a victim of the market, I repositioned myself as a more diversified contractor in hopes of staying busy. Thus far staying busy has not been a problem, in fact right now I have a little more than I can keep up with, I liked the old Harris Builders when my work week was 30- 40 hours including my office time, I used to take on in house jobs like being my own accountant as something of a personal challenge and learning experience, now I'm working way to many hours and dreading any new personal challenges. I enjoy keeping up with this blog and always feel like contributing, time is not my reason for not participating but there has been a lack of something interesting to post about lately. One more big deadline and that is going to change, now that I have built up my confidence I will cut back some and take up some more personal endevours in hopes of becoming a little more fun. Little league baseball season is right around the corner and Dan seems to be charged up for it, he is hoping to secure the starting 1st basemans job for the coach he had last fall so working with him on that is at thje top of my list. Spring gobbler season and trout fishing are also high on the list. I am also planning to do some touring in West Va. I may not have much to talk about right now but stay tuned.

Reality Check

In general, we're suckers for a good reality TV show, if that's not an oxymoron. When I say we, I mean Dara and I and sometimes the passing-thru kids. We guiltily watch Simon ripping contestants on American Idol, backstabbing on Survivor, and high school like antics on Beauty and the Geek. Some of our favorites have been one-offs. We liked Amish in America, where Amish kids on rumspringa were exposed to the shallowest of shallow LA lifestyle. Probably the best of all time was the Joe Shmoe Show, where there was really only one contestant in a houseful of survivor-like houseguests, and everyone else was an actor with a specific assignment to screw with the head of the poor guy who was not in on the joke. Each actor was a parody of the usual roundup of reality show contestants: the "gay guy," the "scheming bitch," the "hot babe."

There are some shows where we split in terms of our shared bad taste. I admit to a fondness for Wife Swap, where the show's producers switch spouses between two families specifically chosen to cause pain and conflict. Dara hates it. The one she likes that I can't take is Big Brother. In Big Brother, contestants are locked in a house together for months, cameras bristling from every angle in every room, with the usual conflicts that come with close contact and the tension of trying to be the last one standing as viewers vote one out each week. With this in mind, I was amused to read about the controversy the original Big Brother in the UK stirred up recently. Charges of Mel Gibson like racism (I know Keith would not want to miss out!) have the show's ratings going through the roof and are even disrupting British diplomacy. Hilarious. Dara and Kyla both enjoyed the British Big Brother show while we were over there. It seems to run every day on television, while mercifully here it is limited to the off-season and once a week even then.

Epileptic Dog

A few months ago, Garrett discovered D'Or was having some kind of seizure. The vet took a look, ran some blood tests, and didn't come up with anything definitive one way or another. It happened again while I was in the UK, that time witnessed by Dara. I had the disturbing experience of witnessing it this weekend. Poor thing! Every muscle in her body tightens up, she starts shaking, foaming at the mouth, and some other unpleasant things. It may have lasted for a few minutes, although it seemed like longer. When she comes out of it, she's confused and hyper. Seems like in the absence of some other identifiable problem (like a thyroid disorder), and in view of the symptoms, it's canine epilepsy. Doesn't look like there is much to be done about it.

Snow Report

Here are Dara, Garrett, Kyla, and Garrett's friend Michael enjoying one of the five beautiful days we had snowboarding. It had snowed 18 inches or so a few days before we got there, and they had just finished clearing the road. Not a cloud in the sky until Wednesday. Dara took the opportunity to brush up on her technique, including a lesson with newcomer and ultra-fast learner Michael. Garrett, who missed the entire season last year, only went briefly the year before (post surgery), and was snowboarding with his continuous 101 degree fever the year before that, jumped back into the action like he had never left it. Kyla and I blazed a few new trails -- literally. We found that by going through some mixed snow and grass and a few trees, we could go down our own private ungroomed trail. Between that and a ravine, we tried to make up for the lost Powder Cat tour opportunity. Plenty of sore muscles and groaning from all parties, but no major injuries to report.

Kirkwood is a pretty laid back place, and it was quite empty once the weekend was past. When Kyla and I were there last year, we spied a group of women posing nude from the waist up. Didn't get a picture of that - sigh. This year we had the golfing ski patrol guy. He was hitting rocks from halfway down a slope. There were quite a few bare spots like this scattered around and generally marked. Also overheard as we got off a lift: "Man, I should be really drunk by the time I make it over there." Nothing like a little liquid courage to improve your snowboarding!

Off for Some Frozen Bozo'ing

We could still use some more snow, but it's hard to complain when there's been a foot and a half of new snow in the last day. Unfortunately, because they haven't had enough snow yet, it doesn't look like Kyla and I are going to enjoy her Xmas present: the Powder Cat expedition. That's where they haul you up to the top of the mountain for runs through fresh powder away from the lifts. One step away from heli-skiing! Good news, though, they furnish the avalanche beacons so they can find you.

More blogging when we return.

Fine Frozen Bozo Watching

If you're looking for something to make you feel warm and sane, check out the Discovery Channel's Everest: Beyond the Limit series. It's a reality show for frozen bozo lovers. It follows a set of climbers who signed up with one of the best expedition leaders around, as they attempt to summit during the 2006 season among 600 other aspiring climbers. It's a bit melodramatic, and the narrator is annoying, but the story is gripping. From the Dane who tries to do it without oxygen, to the double amputee who lost his legs due to frostbite on New Zealand's Mt. Cook, to some more normal but equally driven types, it's an entertaining mixture of people. The sherpas are the real deal, I can tell you that. Find out what kind of pains and troubles $40K and two months of time will buy you if you've already proved your skills on other mountains. Better than that, find out why you won't be spending your money on it.

Now, thanks to M&D, on to The Boys of Everest for our upcoming snowboarding trip.

Highs and lows of a short holiday

I usualy take off work xmas to new years, That didn't exactly workout this year, but I didn't let it get out of hand. Probably the biggest let down was losing in the championship round of my fantasy football league, it was a great season anyway and I will walk away with over 500 in prize money. It was a little sad to open my EMail the next day and see several Emails to "Almost Champ" , #2, "The 1st loser" Oh well there is always next year. Kirsti and Dan got me a digital camera and I was hoping to blog some photos right away but it turns out I have some computer issues to iron out before I can accomplish that but I plan to get on that when time allows. We went to the Redskins last home game Sat night we had a great time even though they lost. On the way to the game they closed the inner loop of the beltway for the Ford funeral procession from Andrews to the Capitol. Fortunately we were on the outer loop and didn't get to jammed up, we saw the procession go by, just what you would expect, a bunch of government limos surrounding a hearst decorated with American flags. Soon after it passed by and much to our surprise an identical procession passed by . Dan thought maybe it was James Brown. Having been around DC all my life I know it is common practice, for security purposes, to have a decoy for the Pres, but I have to admit I was shocked to think they would go to that extreme for a dead Pres., but I guess there is an obligation to the family as well.

Carpenter Poetry

One of the highlights of a Greenhorn Creek Ranch trip for us one year was when they had a wrangler read some of his cowboy poetry around the campfire. There is quite a famous event held every year where cowboys compete based on their poetry. Cowboys, move over, because carpenters are invading your territory. There weren't too many samples in the article, but this one was kinda catchy:

Says Euripedese to Euripedose, "Dese saws is dull and my fingers is froze." "Looks like we's could use a cup-le o'teas," says Euripedose to Euripedese.

Whaddya say, Keith, ready to wax poetic? You're such a prolific blogger, I figured poetry would be right up your alley.