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World Cup Thoughts While Watching USA v ENG

The World Cup is here again.

I enjoy the World Cup.  I like how the whole world gets fired up for it.  I like how the USA can hold their own in international competition.

However, there is something I absolutley do NOT like.  It is the constant “angry bee hive” buzz of those friggin’ vuvuzelas.  I’ve watched exactly 45 minutes of play and I already want to stab red hot pokers into my ears.  Those things are horrible.  My rule of thumb for FIFA when determining which country to host the World Cup… first elimination criteria?  If your fans blow those infernal horns nonstop you are OUT of the running.  I’m sorry, but it just ruins the game for the billions watching on TV.

ESPN, here is my idea for you to help us fans get through this World Cup with our sanity intact.  First, we need to isolate the commentators in a sound proof booth.  I still want to hear the commentary.  Second, kill all microphones anywhere in the arena.  Third will take a little work.  First, you build a software program that connects “fan noise” to an electronic keyboard.  Then, you get some guy who is a soccer expert and musician and technical star to ‘play’ this keyboard while watching the game.  He can fill in all the cheers, “ohhhh’s”, singing, groans, etc.  It’s perfect!  We get the ambience of the game without the horns.  Even better, is evenutally you could sell this software to all of the little league dads out there who would want to add that sort of thing to the highlights of their kids playing all kinds of sports.  It’s a win win!

Or, you could just pay the South African officials to ban those damn things.  Either way works for me.

As an aside, can you imagine what would happen if we funneled our best athletes into soccer?  How about LeBron James 6’6″ with a 40″ vertical as a striker?  Troy Palomalu running a 4.2 40 as a midfielder?  Kobe Bryant in goal?  Shawne Merriman as a defender?  Not that our guys aren’t good now, but wooo… we’d domintate all these 5’8″ guys from everywhere else.

Ok, time for the second half.  Let’s root for another weak ass goal from the England keeper!

U-S-A! U-S-A!

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Haber-Twin Powers… ACTIVATE!

The couple had tried for months.

They knew they wanted to create a legacy.  Something to follow them in this world.  Someone to impart their vast knowledge to.  Thus, the plan to create another being  was implemented.  They tried everything they could think of, but nothing seemed to work.  Apparently, some evil force was onto their plan and had foiled them each step of the way.  It was clear that they needed help even getting their goal off the ground.

That was, until one fateful April day.  Word came in that efforts were indeed successful and their name would continue.  Huzzah!  There was much celebration that day.

Little did they know just what was in store.

Just three weeks later, upon the first viewing of the newly formed being growing in its veritable cocoon, they got the shock of their lives.

“Well, there’s one little fluttering heartbeat…” the technician said to the beaming couple while twisting the scope, “… aaaaaand theres another little fluttering heartbeat!”

It was that exact moment when the full force of the news hit them.  And it hit hard…

…Twins.

Yes, it’s true.  Jess and I are pregnant in a BIG ol’ way.  And yes, the news was quite a shock that probably STILL hasn’t worn off yet.  We first got the news we were pregnant on April 13th.  Followed by the bigger (literally and figuratively) news on May 4th.  Let me get to some specifics you are all going to be interested in:

Due Date: December 21st
They are currently 4cm long and chugging along at an ideal 163 beats per minute. At today’s ultrasound, they were both wiggling around doing what appeared to be either kung-fu or synchronized swimming.  I’m wondering what happens in a couple months when space becomes a premium in there and they are throwing their own version of a steel-cage match on each other or working Jess’s bladder as a speed bag. I guess we’ll see.

They each have their own placenta which is a good thing in a multiple situation.  I suppose they’ll have to learn to share later. We’re 9 weeks away from sexing these little munchkins, but  basic math tells us that there is a 25% chance both boys or both girls and a 50% chance of one of each. Jess is doing excellently.  No morning sickness at all.  Just tired and thirsty.  All systems are go.

And to our Moms… both of you… feel free to spread the word.  We know you have been absolutely chomping at the bit to tell people so now is your chance.  Go crazy.

I saw this a few days ago online and am going to pretend like I made it for our announcement too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snp3rHDHwPg Just change those names to Jason and Jessica in your head…

So, let’s make with some excitement people.  Something has to distract us from the mountain of diapers and simultaneous college funds I can’t seem to shake from my head…

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Rachel & Gabe’s Wedding

A few weeks ago the whole Winkle clan, myself included, treked back to Pittsburgh for a big family wedding.  Jess’s cousin Rachel was getting married.  Of course, we had a blast.

I took a few pictures during the wedding itself, a couple more of the reception and a bunch when the wedding party all hit the Hofbrauhaus for the after-party.  These are a few of my favorite pictures.  You can view the entire set here as well.  There are a bunch more photos there that I haven’t posted here.  Go view them.  They’re good.

A note about these photos.  I didn’t take my big SLR camera since I didn’t want to have to lug it around (and be responsible for it while drinking), so these were all shot on my little Canon point and shoot.  During the actual ceremony, we were too far away from the aisle for my flash to work and the church was pretty dim.  So, I chose to switch to ‘sepia’ mode for the evening.  I liked the way it looked, so I just kept it there.  Some of these photos are ‘happy accidents’ where because of the dimness, lack of flash, and longer shutter times, they got blurry but I like to think that was my desire all along.

Plus, there were plenty of other people there taking regular old snapshots… I wanted mine to stand out a bit.  As always, click on each image to go to Flickr to view the image larger if you so desire.

Without further ado…

I like this one a lot… wish the faces were a bit more in focus, but still, it’s very impressionist.  Their first walk as husband and wife.
Down the Aisle

Family

Bride and Groom

This is another one where the ‘blur’ really worked out in my favor. Their first dance. Love this shot.
Dancing

The Hofbrauhaus photos really turned out good with the flash and the sepia.  Definitely give an ‘old school’ feel.  I love catching candids at parties.  Try to capture how the night really went down.  I think I did that in these.
Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Really dig this one too.  Gabe in rare form… Liter of beer, cigar, and his new bride all tearing up the dance floor!
Party at Hofbrauhaus

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Best Week In Sports?

That is what all the pundits like to say every year come this first week in April.  “It’s the best week in sports!”

Yeah, there is a lot going on, what with the NCAA basketball championship game tonight, Major League Baseball’s opening day today, The Masters starting on Thursday, and the NBA and NHL winding down their regular seasons with teams fighting for playoff spots.  Sure is a lot going on.  But “best”? Not a chance.

A week without football, be it college or pro, is simply discarded from the discussion out of hand.  By my definition, there are no sports going on this week.  Yeah, there are some distractions.  There are some TV events.  But you know what?  I’m watching about 1 SportsCenter a week now.  Obviously, if I’m not watching SportsCenter, there ain’t no sports.

I know a lot of you out there are fans of baseball, basketball or hockey.  I get that.  I get that you have favorite teams and love the sport and get all wrapped up in it.  Here is what they mean to me.  Basketball = something on TV in the winter that I don’t watch… fill out a bracket in March.  Baseball = ahh, summer time.  Great to “watch” while napping on Sunday afternoons… hey doesn’t football start soon?  Hockey = Hmmmm, didn’t that used to be on TV? Golf?  Come on.  I’m interested if Tiger’s playing, but I’m certainly not interested in the goings on of Tiger otherwise. (As an aside, can we please stop having press conferences about his dalliances? It’s all been said at this point. I LONG ago lost interest.)

Which leads me to football.  I am the same guy who damn near overdosed on football a few years ago.  For my money, the greatest week in sports is that last weekend in August / first week in September.  College football kicks-off their first weekend, and ESPN in all their glory have games Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and maybe Tue and Wed too. Boise State starts their season in there somewhere.  Thursday night is usually the kickoff of the NFL season, followed by more college football week 2 on Friday and Saturday.  The rest of the NFL gets it going on Sunday and caps it off with Monday Night.  Plus, baseball actually starts to matter as the regular season is winding down and there is nary a basketball game in sight clogging up my sports channels.  You want my definition of heaven?  That’s it.  And I get to experience it every single year.

Second place in the best week in sports list would probably be rivalry week in college football, 3rd week in November.  That’s always good.

I used to consider myself an all around sports fan.  But as I’ve grown up, it has become abundantly clear that I’m a football fan and lightly pay attention to other sports.  Just the way I roll.  If my love of football was on a 0-100 scale, I’d put it at about a 98. Baseball would be next, with about a 65 (will go higher if it’s going to a game in person, or watching late season/playoff games).  Hockey used to be about a 90, but after the lockout and TV fiascoes over the past years it is now probably about a 30 (which kinda makes me sad).  College basketball would be about a 25 (will bump to 40 if Boise State is any good).  The NBA?  Um… probably like about a 15.  It’s a dark day if I EVER sit down and watch an NBA game on purpose.

That being said, it is It is 150 days, 6 hours, 34 minutes and 58 seconds until college football kicks off on ESPN with Southern Miss at South Carolina on September 2nd.  More importantly, it is 154 days, 7 hours, 3 minutes and 26 seconds until Monday, September 6, and Boise State vs. Virginia Tech.  Oh man, I cannot wait!

Bring on football.

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Four Whole Years

What a difference 4 years can make.

On April 3rd, 2006 my life was irrevocably changed.  Twas that day what I now call “previous life” ended and the new life began.  To lose the euphemisms, that was the day I was told I was getting divorced.  I still remember that fateful day like it was yesterday.  I’m sure part of that day will always be with me.  Especially since we are all the sum of our experiences.  I am no different.  Man, at the time, it suuuuucked.

The thing is, just about every single part of my life is so much better now.  When before I was surviving, now I would say I’m thriving.  I love my wife.  I love my house.  I love my dog.  I love my job.  If you were to ask me what I had to complain about, I’d have to think about it long and hard, then I would come up with some weak-ass complaint about my garage door opener not working very well.  Seriously.  I don’t think I could be more content in life than I am now.  Jess and I are so compatible and are looking forward to life’s changes together.  It is fantastic.

With all that being the case, I really can’t hold a grudge any more.  Granted, I haven’t seen the ex since February ’07, which still amazes me since Boise is NOT that big of a place.  To be perfectly honest, she did me a gigantic favor. At this point, my only regrets are all of the possessions that “didn’t make the cut”, but even those at this point are pretty minor and have been replaced.

It’s a good feeling to be completely comfortable if another bump-in-to was  to happen.  I wouldn’t freak out.  I’m quite certain that it wouldn’t ruin my day.  I’d be willing to bet that I would be able to even have a conversation were she open to such a thing.

Basically the point of this post is the following: no matter how bad you think a certain situation is, things will end up better than you expect.  I have always been an optimist and 4 years ago was a real test of that.  But I came out way stronger, smarter and happier on the back end.

I hope she has even a fraction of the happiness I have now.

Onward and upward.

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Broke the Seal

I’ve been looking forward to a day like today for a long time. I finally broke the seal on the shorts-wearing season!

I’ve said time and time again that my all time favorite days are those where you can wear shorts and a sweatshirt and be neither too warm nor too cold.  And when the mercury starts to rise into the 60’s, that is good enough for me.  Such days I will also refer to as “Oregon Coast days”.  Luckily, Jess made me buy a new pair of shorts at Costco this past weekend, otherwise I would have had to tear into the storage boxes in order to find some.

Of course, mom wouldn’t approve of today…  See, growing up in our house the standing rule was that it had to be 70 degrees or higher in order to wear shorts.  I’m sure mom thought we would catch pneumonia or something if it wasn’t warm enough.  I vividly remember busting home from school absolutely sure that it was at least 70.  We’d run to the thermometer on the front of the house (no internet or even The Weather Channel back then) and look at that little red line.  Hoping against hope that it was at that 70 notch.  When it was, we’d run get mom so she would verify and then go put on some shorts.  The worst days were when you were certain it was really hot, only to find it was like 65 and mom said no-go.

Ahh, childhood.

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So it’s not procrastination then?

I read an article today that might have changed my life.  Seriously.  I’m not even joking.

Are you a procrastinator or an incubator? [cnn.com] (please ignore the “Oprah.com” bit…)

The gist of the piece is that there is a difference between procrastinators and incubators.  While they outwardly appear the same in how they do work and handle deadlines, there are distinct differences.  Specifically, the quality of work.  Let me tell you a little story.

Back in college, I was taking GB-450, Business Law & Ethics, which was a requirement for graduation in the college of business.  People always dreaded this class because the professor was tough.  Anyway, we were given an assignment to write a 8 or 10 page paper about something or another.   I chose to employ the same method of writing papers as I had for years which consisted of the following. I would get home from work between 9pm and 11pm the night before the paper was due.  I would then turn on some Mozart and start writing.  Often, writing all night. The papers would just dump straight out of my head and onto the page.  No outline. No first draft.  Just write the thing.  I knew that while it appeared to be procrastination, I just trusted that the content would be there.  In the week or 2 leading up to due date, as I was working or playing or whatever, bits and pieces of the papers would pop into my head.  Phrases… Ideas.  I’d just squirrel them away for later.

Anyway, I finished that particular paper and turned it in the next day in class.

About a week later, the professor had completed reading and grading the papers.  That was the good news.  The bad news was he spent almost an entire class day absolutely railing on the overall quality of these papers.  He was quite angry with them.  He just kept talking about this was a senior level class and the work was entirely unacceptable… so on and so forth.  As he’s going on and on I’m just dreading more and more getting my grade.  I knew I didn’t spend much time on it so how good could it be?

He hands them back and I only got a 98 on it.  The people around me were getting 63’s or 47’s.  I think one guy behind me actually got a 19 if I remember correctly.

I never realized that the possibility existed that it wasn’t “procrastination” at all.  I have always known that I really need a deadline to get motivated.  I also know, that I’m certainly not above working my ass off to meet deadlines.  In fact, I honestly can’t remember EVER missing a deadline.  I’m sure it’s happened but I know it hasn’t been recently.

It turns out that after all this time, I’m just an “incubator”.  That is actually a load off my mind.

Seeing this article almost reminds me of the first time I read this book and discovered why I was tired all the time.  This one wasn’t as profound, however.  But that story is for another blog post.

That little quiz they have at the bottom of that article, I believe I would rate myself as 4’s across the board.  What does that tell ya?

Incubator, out!

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Happy ‘Murph’Day, Buddy!

Today, February 4th is an important day.  For it was 1 year ago today that our own Murphy was issued into this world.

Hey, give us a break.  We don’t have kids yet, this is what we spend our time on.

Early on, it was touch and go.  He wouldn’t sleep at night, consequently, we didn’t sleep at night.  Slowly but surely, he got things figured out.  So did we.  He’s gone all the way from looking like a gerbil to being 57 lbs of goofball.  All things being equal, he’s a pretty good boy.

In honor of this momentous day, let’s look back at where we’ve been with this set of photos.

Just 3 Weeks Old
3 Weeks Old

2 Months Old
2 Months Old

6 Months Old
6 Months Old

9 Months Old – Obedience Graduation
Graduation Day

10 Months Old – Christmas
Christmas Time

And a few pictures taken from his birthday today…
With the New Toy

Happy Birthday Boy

Birthday Boy

If you just can’t get enough Murphy (lord knows we can’t) you can see a couple other sets of him in the following places:

Happy Birthday Murph!

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Just Get a Professional

Everyone out there, do me a favor.  Next time I mention that I’m thinking of doing some sort of home improvement project myself, just repeat those words to me.  “Just get a professional.”  It would certainly save me a bunch of time, frustration and body soreness in the long run.

Why do I mention this?  Well, this past weekend Jess and I decided it was finally time to get a water softener.  Our water in Meridian is super hard (with dissolved minerals, you sickos).  We’ve wanted to get a water softener since we moved in almost 2 years ago.  Our shower walls are slowly turning orange.  The funny thing is, we put aside most of the cash we got for the wedding in an envelope with the specific purpose of buying a water softener.  It just took us this long to actually pull the trigger.

Well, the time had come and Jess was able to convince me that we could totally install it ourselves.  And by “we”, she meant her dad and I.  So, Saturday morning we headed to Lowe’s full of resolve that it was to be that day.  We had grand plans to crank this mother out and be enjoying our soft water that evening.

Hang on there, Sparky.  As is always my problem with things like this, I don’t know what I don’t know.  I did know that having looked at the plumbing for the softener (that our house was built with) meant that piping was going to have to be cut.  See the above image. I guarantee this fact added at least a solid year to my procrastination.  There was no handy-dandy screw off ends here.  Also, this isn’t PVC pipe either.  It is something called PEX which I’d never heard of. Of course, this requires a special tool we gotta rent.

Having purchased all the crap we’d need and planned our attack we started in.  This PEX clamper-tool-dealy-thingy (which resembles bolt cutters) was a bitch and a half.  Let me tell ya, compressing that bastard took everything I had.  This was compounded by the fact that final rings needed to be compressed behind the water softener.  I’m basically dry humping the water heater trying to get enough leverage and strength to do it.  It very nearly didn’t happen. Not to mention that I could hardly get out of bed the next day with my back, shoulders and arms all jacked up.  When we were “finished” I didn’t have enough strength in my arms to even close the tool. But I digress.

Long story short, we get all of the new piping cut and connected.  It comes time to test for water fastness.  I am happy to report that NONE of the PEX ring seams had a single problem.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that the threaded pieces leading into the softener itself were dripping.  Very slowly, but dripping.  Shit.  Well, we disassemble and unscrew them… re-teflon-tape them and reassemble.  Same thing.  We tried tightening.  We tried more teflon.  We tightened some more.  No dice.  It was at this point where we were out of ideas.

Fortunately, we still had usable water (thanks to my massive PEXing) so we didn’t have to spend the weekend like backpackers in the wilderness or anything.  However, the bucket under the tubing told a different story.  Honestly, I’m just glad that at this point I didn’t have water cascading around the garage looking like Old Faithful.

This is what always seems to happen to me.  Every project I do I can get 80% of the way done.  Then comes some curve ball and I’m basically dead in the water (no pun intended).  Something on my end is always different from the instructions.  When that happens, I don’t have the knowledge necessary to adapt the plan and continue.  Usually at that point I get frustrated that I shot an entire Saturday on the project and am just going to have to call someone in anyway.  F-bombs and flying tools usually commence.

This morning, the good people from A-1 Plumbing came out.  The guy was really nice.  He even complimented me on my PEX seals.  He told me about a guy who tried this a few weeks ago and every single one of his PEX joints was leaking.  At least I got that going for me.  Anyway, a couple hours and 300 bucks later we are up and running.  Not to mention that there were a couple pieces that he did and I didn’t even know about which could have cause us MUCHO problems in the future.

I guess I’m just not enough of a “manly” man to know this stuff. It is time to admit to myself that I really don’t know what I’m doing.  I suppose I wouldn’t expect a plumber to build me a website either.  There is a reason these people exist.  Just bite the bullet, pay the money and have it done right.

Thus endeth the lesson…

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Idaho State Capitol Rededication

Great Seal of the State of IdahoThis past weekend the Idaho State Capitol building was reopened to the public following 3 years of construction.  Jess wanted to go but I wasn’t too sure… then she mentioned that I could shoot pictures and that sealed it.  Not only was I in, I was excited to go!

So, we rounded up the parents (both sets wanted to go) and headed down there Saturday morning.  I’m no expert on what all they did during the construction, but I do know that they added two wings that are underground with skylights which were pretty cool.  They did an amazing job matching up all of the marble as well.  Go to the idahostatesman.com for more on that front.

I mainly just wanted to take photos, so that’s what I did.  Here are my favorites.  You can also go to the entire Flickr.com set to view more than what is here.  Also, I would like to add that you really should click on each image to view it larger.  Some of them really benefit from being viewed bigger.  Thanks and enjoy!

This is the first picture I took that day.  Might be my favorite…

Idaho State Capitol Rededication

Two cheapo flags, held by me. Just playing around.
Idaho Capitol Rededication

The National Anthem… I wish I could have gotten a little closer to the 2 servicemen, with everything in the background.  But I still like this shot.
National Anthem

Straight up through the dome.  This almost looks like something out of 2001 A Space Odyssey or something.
Under the Dome

Idaho Capitol Rotunda

Zoomed on the dome a bit more… removing the lights gave a much “cooler” blue feel.
The Dome

Idaho Capitol Rotunda

Visitors gazing up to the dome.
Looking Up the Dome

Capitol Reflections

There you go, hope you enjoyed.  Like I said, there are more images in the Flickr set.  Go there now.

As a side photography note, I have a bunch of really good photos from the Christmas holiday that I have yet to share.  I know Christmas feels like a couple months ago at this point, but hopefully I’ll post them soon.