New furniture!

We bought a beautiful set of Italian leather sofas from one of my clients and couldn't be happier with the change in the room. Having nice stuff makes such a difference in our attitude about "home." Thanks, Mom! Now we're going to get the end table that matches the entertainment center from Ikea, a couple of storage ottomans for our feet, and that's it for the living room. Next, dining set and bedroom ... in time. :o)

Another angle...

After-Christmas Cookies

Ken's nephew, Brendon, and I decided to bake after-Christmas cookies one day while we were in Sacramento. Here are our creations. Not too pretty, but very tasty!

Happy New Year!

We went for Mexican food for the evening while TiVoing a PPV movie. But Ken's cousin, Shelley, sent him "The Movies" video game for Christmas, so we're trying it out. Funny sound effects, kinda like the slam! doink! stuff you hear on America's funniest videos. We signed up on MySpace today just to browse. Lots of stuff in there, but not organized or visually appealing at all. And plenty of garbage to see. But I do like how they let you include music/movies/games/moods, etc., when you post blog messages. Here's a link to my page there.

Robert's birthday pics

Click HERE for the pics...

Christmas and Waveland photos

Click HERE to view the albums from Christmas. One is family and the other is the group returning from the Waveland, Mississippi, trip. You'll have to create a log-in to the CostCo Photo Center, but it's free and easy.

Reindogs — the new Rudolph

Brady's not really interested in the being the family Christmas photo this year. He obliged, but refused to smile. Oh well. :o)

On the road again

My trip to Mississippi Wednesday was excruciating. Left LAX for Houston at 7 a.m.; that should've been a 2-1/2 hour flight, but weather was bad in Houston, so we circled for an extra while, hoping they'd open that airport. They didn't, so we had to divert to San Antonio, where we sat, in the plane, on the tarmac, without food, for nearly five hours. They did finally bring bottled water at the fourth hour, which they served sparingly in plastic cups. Finally, we were cleared for the 45-minute flight back to Houston, arrived, then had to wait an hour for a gate. So, just over NINE hours in that plane. Then I was off thru the chaos to find the last flight of the day from Houston into Gulfport. Made it on, but sat for an hour awaiting our turn to take off for another hour of flying.

Mom picked me up about 9:30 and we headed to TGIFridays to eat. As we pulled into the parking lot, there was a guns-drawn police throw-down with a bad guy about 50 feet in front us. Then while we were eating, the restaurant started to flood because of the rain (we had to hold our pant legs up as we waded out to keep from getting wet. I ran to get the car thru horizontal sheets of torrential rain so strong that I looked like a cartoon character. I hope the trip home today is much less eventful.

Biloxi is much more functional now that it was in the days after Katrina (obviously), but it's still obviously a city in shambles. There are tons of trash and rubble piled along roadsides, tarp-covered homes, and demolished businesses. The beach road is still impassible in most places and looks much like it did after the storm. A couple of the back bay casinos are scheduled to reopen in the coming weeks, but most of the ocean-front ones are moving inland in coming years. From what I understand, the off-shore requirements are no more, so this will likely be a booming mini-Vegas in 10 years. Not sure if that's good or bad.

To Ft. Walton

Mom and I drove over to Ft. Walton Beach (Florida) today to visit the cemetary where dad is buried. We took a plant with us, as you can see. The original date for his birthday was printed incorrectly on the headstone (it should be 1918 rather than 1908), so we're waiting for a new one.

Dad's footstone arrived since the funeral and we were glad to see it in place.

The footstone for Liz, dad's first wife.

Is this not THE most handsome dog in the world? (The correct answer here is YES.) Brady rode around with me on errands all day. Here we are in the drive thru at Presto Pasta. Since he was so patient with all my stops, we finished the afternoon at the dog park. Fun!

Bargains!

Able Shoppers is too cool.

Awful Plastic Surgery

Awful Plastic Surgery is the coolest site I've seen in ages. All those photos really make you realize how false society's idea of beauty is. The thing is, all these people were prettier BEFORE!

Holiday Souper

Last night we went to the Lews for their annual holiday soup supper. Had a great creamy mushroom and wild rice soup, bread, salad and more good stuff. A very enjoyable time, though as non-parents with little tolerance for the mayhem created by a dozen shrieking kids under 7, we'd reached our limit by 8:30. At least we enjoyed the company of our friends for a couple of hours, and Jen sent us home with box of wonderful confections, including chocolate-dipped pretzels, chocolate-covered apricots and more. She's such a productive mommy/housewife person. No idea how she has time and energy for it all. Now I need to go bake something to feel better about my wife skills. Anyway, the photo is Ken with Brendon, our host.

Rains and Pours

Ever notice that when life decides to dump on you, it seems that it's been saving up a while? I had one of those weeks. Raining this morning, and cold. I don't trust the furnace in this house. It's old and probably has dead rats in it somewhere. I'm sure it needs new parts/filters, etc., but we have no idea how to do that. The house is so beat up that the wind blows right through anyway, so the heating bill can get outrageous in the cold months.

Anyway, I just didn't feel right today; lazy and depressed. Had plenty to do, but could NOT make myself get moving. I've been needing to edit all week because the mag deadline is Monday. But the office re-carpeting got changed from the end of next week til end of this week. So instead of editing, I've been packing up my office.

Neurotic dog has been re-infecting his chronic lick granulomas, which makes me so mad I just want to beat him. I don't want to spend another $175 on antibiotics and vet bill just to put off a re-infection another month. Can't we clear this damn thing up already?

And then I had to deal with Adventist Risk Management, which, in my experience, employs some of the rudest, most incompetent people in Southern California. I finally (about three months late) received a reimbursement check for Ken's new hearing aids. They're supposed to pay claims at 80%, up to $3,200 per plan year max on hearing aids. The claim was some $4,700, so we would expect to receive the max check of $3,200. But, no, they sent us a check for 80% of $3,200. What the hell? Clearly, they are smoking crack whilst processing claims. And don't even get me started on the horrible woman I had to talk to there two weeks ago about the status of this claim and another one they messed up. Even the doctors offices hate ARM because they're such a slow pay.

But, on the bright side, these are minor hiccups in the grand scheme of life. Ken is still really digging his work at RKS Guitars and looking foward to the NAMM Show in January. Speaking of which, I really need to buy our plane tickets for Christye's wedding in Dallas in January.

10 p.m. Bedtime.

Christmas

I'm jotting our Christmas wish lists so that those who want specs can find them here.

Ken
iPod accessories that are compatible with the iPod Video, especially the iHome iH5
Gift certificates to Lucky and Buckle. :o)

Alicia
Handheld PC: HP iPAQ hx2495
Aluminum Briefcase
Workout Music
(Country Pop Powermix, Hits of Elton, Bravo Broadway, Ultimate 90s Collection, 80s Radio Rock, Radio Robics 9)
Gloves
Slippers
"Lovely" perfume (not sure about this; this note will remind me to test it)

More later.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!

Happy Thanksgiving! Someone broke into our 4Runner last night after we arrived in Sacramento. They stole Ken's full 300-CD case. Jerks!

Custom RKS for Gwen Stefani

RKS made a custom guitar for Gwen Stefani. It's the Ruby Red like the one below, but it's blue (obviously), the color of Bombay Sapphire Gin, Gwen's favorite.

Pretty, huh?

Apple Hill

Nov. 13 we drove to Apple Hill (north of Placerville) for apple donuts. We like High Hill farms. Here we are by their lake.

Portland

When we visited Portland in October for meetings, we drove to Multnomah Falls. On the way, we stopped at this place, the name of which I've forgotten.

World City Reviews

World City Reviews

Extroversion |||||||||||||||||| 76% Emotional Stability |||||||||||||| 60% Orderliness |||||||||| 36% Accommodation |||||||||||||||| 70% Inquisitiveness |||||||||| 36% #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### #################################################### ####################################################

Your personality type is SCUAN

You are social, calm, unstructured, accommodating, and non-intellectual, and may prefer a city which matches those traits.

The largest representation of your personality type can be found in the these U.S. cities: Memphis, Reno, Orange County, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, W. Palm Beach, Providence, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Cincinnati, Nashville, Houston and these international countries/regions China, Netherlands, Croatia, Wales, Denmark, Australia, England, Taiwan, Belgium, Scotland, Turkey, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Spain

What Places In The World Match Your Personality?
City Reviews at CityCulture.org

Firefox Central

I've been hearing lots of buzz about Mozilla's browser, FireFox, so I'm trying it out. So far, it seems just like any other browser, but I've been using it all of 15 minutes. Time and some use will tell.

Baby Got Book

This is so hilarious; Baby Got Book. It's a Christianized version of "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot.

RKS Guitars

Ken recently started working at RKS Guitars. He's digging it, and thinks the guitars are awesome (which they are). Today they were finishing up a custom one for Gwen Stefani, which looks like the pic here except it's blue with custom art. These guitars are the first new technology/redesign on electric guitars in decades. They've won design awards and are catching on fast (obviously). West L.A. Music is the first official retailer.

I've come to Portland, Oregon, for the annual Society of Adventist Communicators meetings. We're staying at the Oxford Suites, which are very nice. This is the view from my balcony. Tranquil, huh?

But what they DON'T tell you is that the 205 freeway is also right there, and Safeway's in the front parking lot. So much for the sounds of a rushing river to put me to sleep.... HONK-HONK!!

Always nice to have a hote with a suite-type room. Free DSL, too. Yay, Oxford Suites in Gladstone!

OkCupid! Politics Test

Interesting. I've never been one to take much interest in politics. I'm registered to vote, but picked my party based on what my parents are, not because of my own leanings. I really don't know (or care) what each party stands for. So, when I encountered this online test, I thought, hey, that might be interesting... So, here's my result:

You are a Social Moderate (50% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (31% permissive) You are best described as a: Centrist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test