Not Lost Yet

I went out driving around the other day with my camera. It was one of those times that as I went, I would make random turns. I ended up finding some really pretty country. A lot of horse pastures and a few big houses. After about thirty minutes I decided I had to stop because I was beginning to forget which roads I had taken. I figured I would eventually make it back to the main road, but I didn't want to end up on the other side of the county when I did.

I didn't find too many opportunities to take photos. One time I stopped in the middle of the road to check out an OLD barn that was down in the woods. As I got my camera out, I looked in the rear view and saw a guy standing in the road watching me. He was about a quarter mile back. I kept getting my stuff ready until a car approached from behind me. This was a small road with no shoulder, so I decided to skip the photo and moved on.

The one shot I did take was of this horse pasture:When I got home I didn't think this was a great shot. So I started playing with it in Adobe Lightroom. First I cropped it. I didn't want as much sky in the shot and the house on the left was distracting. I kept the horse off to the right third of the shot.

Next, I played with the idea of black and white for this. I didn't like the complete black and white, so I went back to color and started to de-saturate all colors one by one. I took all the color out except for red and orange. Next I went to a section called split tone. It allows me to change the light area tone separate from the dark area tone and then adjust the balance of each. I played with it to get the look I wanted. Although the day I took this was unseasonably warm, in the 70's, I wanted this to have a very winter feel. This process took about fifteen to twenty minutes. Here's what I ended up with.

I was pleased with the results. I believe this shot is a lot more interesting compared to the original. With the software that is available, you can change a photo in endless ways. Sometimes, changing a photo can be as much fun as taking it.

A nice dinner

Last night we went to dinner with my group from work. We had all decided to get our spouses and go out for a nice dinner.

I admit, this is not a comfort setting for me. I was on my best behavior. Our salads were brought out and I didn't take a bite until everyone had been served. I was really watching the details to keep my manners.

As the dinner went on I began to relax a bit. As I took a sip of my sweet tea through the little black straw, someone asked one of my coworkers a question about work. It was a simple question about something that happened only an hour earlier. The coworker shrugged her shoulders like she didn't know.

That's when I spit sweet tea on the guy across the table from me.

Not on purpose. It's just what happens when you try and take me out.

I didn't think that the girl shrugging her shoulders was that funny. I think I just had a small cough that I couldn't suppress fast enough. With tea in mouth, and hands down by my plate, I started to turn my head. I wasn't fast enough. The tea sprayed out between my lips as if I was a sprinkler.

Everyone started chuckling. Everyone except for the guy across from me. I apologized and explained that it's hard taking me anywhere nice. That's a good way to make an impression on my coworkers' families.

"So who was the freak spitting tea?" That's what they were saying as they drove home.

"MAN! That was stupid!" That's what I was saying on the way home.

HA!

Guess what I played last night on the Wii. What's that? Did you say Mario Galaxy? If you did, you would be correct!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. . . ha!

Cari decided to play hide and seek with the game. If I could find it within five minutes, then I could have it. She laid on the bed with a smirk and started an actual timer. I ran into the closet and searched a couple of places. Then I climbed up the the attic stairs. I glanced around the attic without getting off the ladder. I came back down and looked in her dresser.
"45 seconds!", she said. I went back to the closet and moved some clothes around.
She started laughing and said time was up. I went over to the bed to beg for another chance. She told me I was a horrible seeker. I didn't overturn anything. I hardly looked UNDER anything.

As we talked she told me it was not in the attic. Finally, she agreed to show me where it was, with the idea that she was going to re hide it. She was really liking my unsuccessful attempt at seeking. I pulled it out of the bottom of her jewelry box and handed her the white box.

I left the room and stood in the hallway. She closed the bedroom door for about a minute. When she came back to the door she was holding the timer. "Two minutes."
I couldn't do this in two minutes. I negotiated it up to three.

The timer started and I went straight to the baby's crib. Tucked inside the liner was Mario Galaxy. I held it up victoriously and laughed an evil laugh. When I stood in the hallway, I listened very intently. I didn't hear the closet door or any dresser drawers move. I was able to eliminate most of the hiding spots before I even went into the room.

Cari was very disappointed that I found it. She wanted to continue the hide and seek game. She also did not want to appear that she gave in by giving me the game early. We agreed that we would still hold off from showing the kids another week or so.

Last night, when everyone was asleep, I played. For those that have a Wii, this is a great game. It's got to be one of the most creative Mario games ever. It was about 1:30am as I sat in the living room playing last night when someone came and sat next to me. Randy asked what I was playing. OH MAN!

He said he got up to use the bathroom and heard me playing something. I told him I was going to surprise him with the game in the morning. He said, "If you wanted to surprise me you should have not been playing it so loud." He went back to bed, but it was the first thing he mentioned this morning.

If you are wondering what I'll be doing later today, I'll be saving the princess.

Ugh.

Tried to take some Christmas photos of the kids tonight. It didn't really work out and I was getting frustrated. We'll try again this weekend.

I ate it

Have you ever had someone offer a unique food that you've never had before?

First, they offer it to you and extend a handful of the substance your way. You look at the food and then up at the person. You don't take any and you don't say anything. You're probably thinking of ways to politely refuse.

Next the person eats some of the food to show you it won't induce vomiting and it won't kill you instantly. They normally will over exaggerate their enjoyment of this substance. In my case, it was cheese curds. He stood in front of me squeaking his cheese curds with a big smile. It really looked like he was having fun eating them.

Then his hand, holding a bag of curds, came my way again. I took one into my hand. Immediately, he says, "No, you have to take a handful. That's the way to eat curds."

I don't know. I'm already on the edge of even tasting them, and he's asking me to fill my mouth with them. I took two pieces.

Cheese curds are created during the cheddar cheese making process. It's my understanding you will only find good cheese curds in Wisconsin or near a cheese producing facility. Cheddar cheese is aged from thirty days to a year depending on the sharpness. Curds are not aged. They are taken straight off the vat. They don't age and don't have that sharpness at all.
One of the other differences from cheese that I noted is the texture.
Most cheese has a clay like texture. Curds are shiny. They are irregular hunks of cheese with a high gloss. A rubbery texture. They squeak against your teeth. Also, you eat curds warm or room temperature. AFTER I ate some of these curds he told me they had sat on his kitchen counter since the previous day. I don't know how I feel about leaving cheese lay out for a day before eating it.

The final stage of receiving a new food happens as soon as you pop one in your mouth. The person offering this new food, wants to ensure that you also enjoy it. A lot of times, they will let you chew it and swallow it before they ask if you like it. Most likely they will stare at you with interest while they wait.

I finished my first bite and thought about it. Cheese curds are good! I took a few more out of the bag and squeaked them in my mouth. When I got home I asked Cari if she wanted me to try and get some for her. She said, "Absolutely not."

So for those that haven't had any, I recommend you try them if they are ever offered to you.
For the five or so that have had them, did you like your curds?

I ate CURDS

The other day I ate some cheese curds. Most likely, YOU never have. I posted a poll. Take a second and answer the poll. My guess is I won't have more than three "yes" answers. I know Michelle will most likely be a yes on this. There might be a few others.

By Tuesday, I'll tell you how all this happened and what I thought of my curds.
Eating a strange new food is worth a blog story.

Found under the couch

STOLEN!

MARIO HAS BEEN STOLEN!

I didn't have to work yesterday, so I thought it would be a great time to open the new Mario game and try it out while the kids were at school. Cari shut down my idea and said I should wait until my birthday or Christmas. She suggested I go play one of the games I haven't finished yet.

I went and played another game for about an hour. Cari had a doctor appointment and was gone during that time. When she got home, she went upstairs to feed the baby. I followed her up there and suggested we get the new Mario game going. She again told me we were going to wait. She asked what happened to the game I was just playing.

"Yeah, it is fun, but it's not Mario Galaxy", I told her.

I walked over to my dresser and opened the top drawer. An EMPTY Toys-R-Us bag was inside. I pulled the bag out and looked in the drawer. I quickly turned back toward the bed, holding the bag. I didn't even have to ask, Cari's expression told me she had stolen the game. Then she busted out in laughter.

"Where's my game?", I demanded. She was laughing.

"What game?", she asked.

I walked into the closet to begin my search. I closed the closet door behind me and Cari shouted for me to stop looking. Turns out she did know what game I was looking for.

Honestly, I don't know how long ago she took it. I was holding it until I had these days off. I told her that she stole my game. She denied the charge and said that it was a Christmas present.

AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Right now I believe the game to be in the attic. The attic is a maze of boxes and bags. It probably is not hidden up there, just placed. If she DID hide it, I would be up there until Christmas.

Cari is very entertained at her prank and believes I am enjoying this nonsense as well. In reality, I just want to play Mario Galaxy.

work

Sometimes I feel like a well paid baby sitter. Why is it that when I ask an employee to do something, then check back in an hour, they have made little or no progress? These are adults! Some of them are complete idiots. My eight year old can follow directions better. We don't do anything complicated at the store. The basics is this: stock shelves with stuff, help customers, sell stuff, repeat.

Sometimes the customers can be a pain. Lately, the customers haven't been bad, it's the employees. When my boss asks me to do something, I do it. So, when I ask someone to do something, I expect it done. Most of them do a great job. For the others, I have threatened once or twice to bring my son in and show them how to do their job.

There are lots of blog worthy stories from work. Sometimes I wish they could bring in a camera crew and shoot a reality show there. I could just about guarantee a hit. For now, I'm nervous to say too much about work. There are always stories about a blogger getting fired for writing about work. I do not need to become a statistic. So I just stick to writing about myself and my family. Hopefully they won't fire me.

I did have a work related scare on the blog one time.

I came home from work and checked my email. I had a comment on my blog from a familiar name. When I read the comment, I froze. Sitting in silence, staring at the screen. I read it four times at least. The person is a corporate executive for the company I work for. To me, his words were cryptic. They had double meaning.

I loaded up my blog and did some searches for things related to the company. Nothing was showing up. I DON'T WRITE ABOUT WORK. How did he find me?

I emailed a good friend of mine. He's really the only one I work with that knows about the blog. He logged on and read the comment. Then he called me. I think he was a little nervous for me at first. As we talked it over, I started to see how I probably read too much into the executives comment. I think he was just out reading random blogs and was inspired to leave a comment. I doubt he still reads this. If he does still read it, that's ok too.

My heart was beating fast that day. It didn't matter that I hadn't written anything about work. It made me realize that literally anyone can read this. I'm not an idiot, I always knew that to be the case. I just didn't think it would be someone from work. Who will it be next?

Picture of the day!

First, let's talk about work. Working the day after Thanksgiving at a retail store is actually kind of fun. I can be part of the excitement of it all without spending all my money. Don't get the impression that I didn't spend ANY money. I just didn't spend ALL my money. Saturday starts to get back to normal a bit as the specials wind down. I expect tomorrow to be pretty boring. I don't write about work very often, but I am working on something I started writing the other night about work. I hope to have it done in the next few days.

Here's a shot from the leaves. As far as I know, there were no slugs in the leaves. Then again, I wasn't the one begging to be buried in them. You'd have to ask them about the bugs.

One of Cari's favorite things about this time of year is the smell.

The smell of dirty, rotting, molding, leaves.I'd have to agree with her.

Thanksgiving day

My parents drove up for Thanksgiving and we all had a good day. Cari made a great meal and we put up some Christmas decorations. We also made a leaf pile to play in. Here's a few shots from the day. I'd write more but its been a long day at work and I have to be back in the morning.

It's late....or it's early

Ok. It's getting near two in the morning. I'm going to bed. I'm up late tonight because I had to work late. Didn't get home until midnight. When you go shopping on Friday after Thanksgiving and you see all the displays and piles of merchandise at the store. Remember that people had to work late setting that up so you could tear it down in an hour of shopping.

I started a different blog post a few minutes ago. I must be too tired. I couldn't focus long enough to finish it. I'll get it to you by Friday night.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Can't Wait

I can't remember the last time I purchased something and didn't immediately open it. The other day I stopped at Toys-R-Us to buy Mario Galaxy for the Wii. I was wanting the try the game, but thought I would wait until Christmas to get it. Saturday was the last day of the sale, so I went ahead and picked it up. When I brought it home, I held it up and asked Cari, "Wait for Christmas?" She said yes, and I took it upstairs.



After twelve hours I still had not opened it. I don't want to wait! I jokingly told Cari four times Sunday morning that I was going to go play Mario. She asked me where I hid it so she could re-hide it . . . from me.



I'm not so sure this game will stay wrapped until December 25th. I'll let you know.

No Secrets

This morning the pastor called the children up front for their regular children's time. They talked about Thanksgiving and being thankful. The pastor shared a funny story about a Thanksgiving dinner at his house. That's when Meredith had something to say. I always get a bit nervous when Meredith starts talking up there. She's unpredictable. Today she said, "My dad called the butter people".

What she was trying to announce to the entire church was about a time that I made a phone call during dinner.

The tub of Land-O-Lakes was on the table. I noticed on the lid the words, "contains: milk". It struck me kind of funny so I pulled out my cell phone and put it on speaker as I dialed the 1-800 number from the container. The kids thought this was great. When the automated menu came on, I started talking like it was a real person. "Why is there milk in my butter?", "Did the Indian woman wash her hands before making this butter?", "Can you come over and clean my room?", "Did you make the Indian woman milk a cow to get the milk?" Some of the questions were coming from the kids. We were all laughing pretty good about it.

A few nights later, the kids were prompting me to call again. This time I called the Heinz ketchup people. "Are you friends with the butter people?", "You don't put any milk in your ketchup, do you?", "Do you wash your feet before stomping on the tomatoes?" I had a whole conversation with the Heinz automated system because it tries to recognize voice commands of their menu. When it would say it didn't recognize my choice, I would say it louder and act like they were dumb. Then they transferred me to a representative. I got scared and hung up.

A few nights went by and I was asked to call more food vendors during dinner. This time Cari grabbed a Sharpie and blacked out all the phone numbers that were on the table that night.

That all happened a few months back, but it is still one of Meredith's favorite things to tell people. One night, we had guests over for dinner and when I asked someone to pass the butter, Meredith started laughing and said, "Don't give it to him, he'll call the butter people!"

After service this morning, I found myself telling this story as friends came up and asked what Meredith was talking about.

That's why I always put my head down when the children go to the front.

New Rule

Cari set a new rule last night.

No photographs during feeding time.