A Thanksgography by Matt and Jack...

We came together with a few local families today for Thanksgiving dinner. JackAttack and I took turns with the camera, and came up with some interesting (I think) shots. Here they are in a kinda of order with a few comments. It was very positive and memorable event.

Mom, making the preparations.

Cortnie and Mom.

Sauces and settings.

Mom knows just the right moment to start some items so they reach the table at the correct temperature.

A cameo by Andy and KC.

Meal accouterments

Jackson helping with the pre-event clean up.

The quilt on the wall. A fun way to fill the frame. (Thanks Mimi, for the Correction.)

The awaiting table.

A pleasing composition by Jack.

I like the action Jack captured here.
Can you see the yo-yo string?

Hooray, the Pecks are here. Jack took this picture to capture his excitement.

Sometimes people think that exposures made by 7 year olds won't be seen by anyone. :) Jordan was talking up BYU all day. We have a gentlemans wager on the game this weekend. I have a trip to IHOP to lose, but some babysitting to gain. Come on The U.

Ambers great rolls with the bird in the background. The food was amazing.

The finished bird. Dad did a great job. Food not pictured, but notable: Delicious spicy stuffing by mom. Fantastic yam dish by Cortnie which Todd had seconds of (his first time actually enjoying Yams!) Sweet pies by Costco and Cortnie. Excellent Crem Fresh potatoes, green beans and salad by Mom. Gravy by Matt. And others.

Time for the electric knife. Note the T-Shirt from the race Amber organized that we all ran this morning. All the kids even ran.

Salad Times.

Todds plate won the "Pretty Plate, someone get a picture!" award.

Jack and Jill: "What is grandpa doing to that Turkey!?"
Alyson: "Woa! A camera. Cheeese"

The kids in the loft.

The girls on a walk we took after dinner. Turns out Mom and Dad are serious about walking, and take the long route. Alyson fed that doll for about 45 minutes straight. In the end, Alyson ended up asleep wrapped in my hoodie. Jillian was zipped up and wearing my socks on her hands. (I had socks in my pocket for some reason, and I was wearing my dads flip flops.) Everyone was tired and full and feeling good.

A funny line...

This movie is pretty funny, but one line in it is hilarious. Right after they make him work out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz9ftyyqkFM

Thats how I feel after I work out. I'm still laughing about it.

Props to Trav for sending me the video.

A quick link...

Ok ok...it's getting old. But I wanted to show the final product here. The shot of Jack on the Pumpkin made it onto dci.org.

http://www.dci.org/media/photo/2007/index.cfm#id=album_22&num=32

Some really spectacular entries there. We're already planning next years.

PS, I'm working on a new "100 Things" so stay tuned...

Vanguard-O-Lantern...

Here is the finished product. We chose the crest of moms corps, and we like the result. Especially since this is our first pumpkin endeavor that is anywhere near ambitious. Before this, it's been triangles and jaggedy teeth. Jack surely is a chip of the old Pumpkin. He can name the year and corps of many performances by listening to them. (I'm getting emotional...I'll stop.)

Happy Vanguardween.

A misplaced voicemail...

I received this message today, on our unused land line. The man sounded to be in his 30's, and sad.

Elizabeth, I hope this is you.

This it the other phone that I have..uh...that I think is you.

Um...Anyway, you should call me.

You keep telling Sherri that you're trying to call me and that I won't answer and you know that's not true so...um...you can keep calling' her all you want. She knows everything that I'm doin', and everything that we do is together. So maybe you should just do what you tell her you're doing and that's try to call me.

Why don't you text me and give me and email address so I can communicate somehow with you. Maybe I can send you an email with some explanations.

Anyway...... give me a call...bye.

Chat with me...

I'm just trying this out. You should be able to chat with me from this webpage.






Just start typing in here--------------------------------------------->






Did it work?

DCI Pumpkin Stencils....

I'm terrible at carving pumpkins. But I think I might try again after reading this. DCI.org released a bunch of pumpkin stencils depicting all the corps logos in conjunction with a pumpkin carving contest they're holding.

I love the new ways that DCI is getting word out. Now if they only bring their merchandise prices down so anyone could afford them!

This is the logo for the Santa Clara Vanguard; the corps that Cortnie marched with.

Customer Service from yesteryear...

This is a shameless endorsement. It's also a bit long. If you don't want to read the whole thing, skip down to the summary.

Last Sunday I went outside to find my truck tire completely flattened. I've been battling a slow leak ever since a good friend and I replaced his roof shingles, using my truck as the garbage catcher and hauler (there are a LOT of nails in roof debris.) This is what trucks are for.


I took it to down to the Wal-Marts, which was the only tire-center open. I returned a few hours later to have them tell me that there was no leak. I assured then that there was, and that it was indeed flat this morning. They had no ideas, so I let them out by half-jokingly asking if the flat could have been caused by my moving the truck from Maryland to Utah. "Maybe the change in altitude caused the slow leak, and flat?" (Yeah, right) Being close to closing time, the two technicians readily agreed, and sent me on my way. Of course, the tire still leaked, aggravating slowly.

The next week I noticed that within walking distance from my work, there is a Les Schwab tire center. I pulled in Friday morning and immediately noticed the Discount Tire shop across the street. I turned around, and started to head over there. After all, it say "Discount" in the name. I then noticed that Discount Tire had completely full bays, and a parking lot with no empty spaces. Les Schwab on the other hand had nearly empty bays, and a half-full (or half empty?) parking lot. Wanting my tire done that day, I chose to stay at Schwab.

This is when the awesomeness began.

Eldon, a friendly technician came to my truck to greet me, and asked about my problem. I explained the tires history, and what I'd tried so far. I also offhandedly mentioned the spare tire in the back of my truck, which I recently purchased from a salvage shop, and which I thought was too large. Eldon assured me that my leaking tire was in good hands.

An hour later, he called me and told me to come over. Enter: Super Awesomeness. When I arrived, he explained that he was able to find the leak, no problem. He said that he replaced one repair, and that the tire was sound again. He also said he tried out my spare, and told me reasons why it was indeed too large, and printed me a list of tire/wheel sizes that would work better. For all of this he charged me nothing. He even spurned my Fiver tip. You just don't find customer service like this anymore.

He spent a few more minutes talking to me about possibly replacing my wheels (one of which is bent) with some better fitting, and cooler looking wheels. I was expecting the sales pitch, but it was different. It was clear that he was telling me about the wheels out of a love of wheels. He really didn't want me to spend money, but wanted my truck to look better. It was refreshing. No pressure.

Everyone should check out Eldon at Les Schwab in Lindon, UT. I can't say enough good about him. He's my new tire guy.

One a funny note, thinking of putting new tires on my dented up truck (see Home Depot entry from several weeks ago), I was reminded of This Video. "These are all me, son"

Summary: Tire punctured in the line of duty. Sunday Flat. Wal-Mart incompetence. Les-Schwab half-full. Eldon finds the hole, charges me $0. "It's Deluxe, Son"

Moral: Eldon Rocks.

My Jax in the Mire...

This is funny. At least to me.

I was outside today in the garage, tooling around. My be-socked 7 year old hopped on his industrial-sized tricycle, and headed out. He never goes far, and we have a nice walking trail right next to our house that he likes to ride on.

After about 5 minutes, I realized that I couldn't hear him. Not too worried but wanting to make sure he didn't fall off and re-injure his mending bone, I hopped on my scooter and went looking. I didn't have to look far. Here are some shots. He thought I was going to be mad. I was proud. Note the pirate slippers at the end.

There he was. Spinning his wheels in the deep mud behind out house. Not making a sound. Stuck.

Another view. Stranded. I left him there and went to get equipment, and the camera.

The rescue. A hook and rope.

Towing him back home.

Back on green grass. Now for the mess.

No problem.

"Drama at the Big Box" aka "That evening at Home Depot"

The Scene: Me shopping at Home Depot. Just after 5pm on a Monday.

The Players (In order of appearance):
Me
The P.A. Voice
Home Depot Girl
Blake
My black Mazda B2300 truck
The Two Youths: Tall Blonde and Short Darkie
Cart Guy
Mandy: My-ageish assistant manager
Fale: Confident and intimidating manager

Setup:
What follows is a true story. No names have been changed. I've condensed a few of the interactions for brevity.

Me: (wondering around store, gathering up items. Wishing I'd picked up a cart) Thinks "Is the 15 foot cat5 cable going to be long enough..."

The P.A. Voice: "ClickPssshhffft. Would the customer with Maryland plates please come to the customer service station? The customer with Maryland plates to the customer service station please. Clonk."

Me: (Walks to front of store) "I'm the Maryland Guy"

Home Depot Girl: "Hi, Your car was just hit in the parking lot."

Me: (Sarcastically) "Yesssss!"

Home Depot Girl: "This guy saw it." (points to Blake)

Blake: "Yeah, some kids in a white truck hit a cart going 20 or 30 mph, and it smacked into the back of your truck. It was intentional. Here is the plate number" (Hands me a slip of paper)

Me: (Outside at truck now) Thinks to himself: "Phew, the truck is not totaled. Oh look, it's just a little dent. I have tons of those already. Good, nothing to worry about. Oh, yep, there is the white truck. I wonder what I should say to the kids. We don't need any trouble. Hmmmm..."

Me: (Waits for kids to emerge from HD. Approaches the already on-guard kids, meeting them at their truck.) Says to Tall Blonde: "Hey man. Looks like you guys hit my truck with a cart, right?"

Blonde: "No. I didn't."

Me: "Are you sure about that? Do you want to take that back?"

Blonde: "No. Dude, I didn't hit any carts."

Me: "We saw you."

Blonde: "Oh, were you like sitting over there watching!?"

Me: "Yes."

Blonde: "...Ok, I did hit your truck."

Me: "So what's your plan? Were you going to tell me?"

Blonde: "It didn't even make a dent, it doesn't matter. Geez dude! (expletive)."

Me: "Well, you did make a dent. You damaged my truck, so what do you want to do about it?"

Blonde: "(expletive). Get off me man. You can't even see the dent, and your truck is beat up anyway. This is ridiculous. . You can't prove it anyway! It's your word against mine! (expletive)."

Me: "I think you're getting mad. I'm the one with the damaged truck. Why are you getting mad?"

Blonde: " (expletive). (expletive)(expletive). I'm outta here."

Me: "I think that maybe you should give me your insurance information."

Blonde: "I don't have insurance. (expletive)"

Me: "Shall I call the police then?"

Blonde: "(expletive). Go ahead (expletive)!" (Blonde and co-hort start to walk away, heading for store.)

Me: (Raising my voice as the youths retreat) "Hey man, if you'd have come clean at the start and apologized, we'd be done here. In fact, if you come back right now and stand in front of me and apologize, it'll be done. Come back, and it'll be over man." (Kids continue walking into store (assumed expletives).

Cart-guy: "I'm calling a manager"

Mandy: (Emerges looking nervous. She approaches me as the youthes re-emerge from the store, and stand next to their truck.) "Can I help you sir?"

Me: "Hi Mandy. My name is Matt. I'm not mad, but keep talking to me."

Mandy: "What a relief. So what happened."

Me: "Keep talking to me, and look worried and upset. I'm going to pretend to make a call on this phone. Those kids (Matt Relays story). Lets keep talking, and make them sweat. They won't leave because they don't have insurance, and think I'm going to call the cops. I just want them to learn a lesson."

Mandy: "Yes. Ok. I'll use my walkie talkie like we're getting the authorities. Lets keep talking."

Me: "Lets go inside, and let them stew for a while."

Me: "Okay, now lets watch from the window. Yes, they're still there. They're not going anywhere. Lets let them stand there for a while. "

Mandy: "What should we do? Lets get Fale, the manager. He can talk to them, adn shake them up a bit."

(Manager arrives, situation is conveyed, he agrees to let them worry for 10 more minutes, and then goes out to talk to them.)

Me: "Mandy, lets watch from the window. Look, they look mad. Yes, they're arguing and flailing arms. Fale is talking now. Now they look defeated. It's working."

(Kids leave, Fale comes back in)

Fale: "They were punks. But they agreed that they did hit your truck, and that they said some mean things to you, and that you were trying to be cool. They offered to come in and apologize. I told them they had better just leave"

Me: "Did they get the point?"

Fale: "Yep, they were scared stiff. They know you still have their license written down."

Me: "Great. Where do you keep the stain pens?"

Moral of the story
Don't lie and get insurance.

New post coming, I promise...

I have one brewing up in my head right now.

Within 2 days, it'll be here.

Don't worry, I haven't given up on the internets.

On a jet plane..

Just a quick update, and some housekeeping. It's true what Emily mentioned in a recent post We're leaving MD. Maybe I can get together a photojourography about our fun 15 months here.

But in the mean time, I have some bad news. The packers/movers are coming tomorrow which means the server is getting boxed up. Everyones sites that are hosted here will be down for a few week, I believe. Our new place isn't ready until the middle of Sept. Sorry for the troubles.

Until then.

The Blue Couch...

It seems mom has had a clue couch for as long as I can remember. While we were in Utah, the replaced the blue basement sectional with a new one. The old one needed to go from the basement to the attic. It was left to Jonny, Dad and Me to move it up there.

Here is a picture from the adventure. Once we got it lined up with the attic door, It juuuuust fit. It went through like jello coming through a mold, and made about the same sounds. "FFffffffffffump"

Here is a shot of it JUST as it went through. Look at the top left. That's Jonny's hand poking out. I'm still amazed that it fit.

It was funny...but maybe you had to be there? Jonny, Dad, was it funny?

Pictures of a trip home....?

There is something to be said for going home. I consider home to be where I'm most comfortable. Home right now is Annapolis, MD, where I live with my wife and son. But it feels like a temporary home. That is, I know I won't live here until I'm old. I could see myself living is Kansas until I'm old. Is that home? When I flew into Salt Lake City, it felt like home there too. How confusing! I guess in the end, home is where I am with my family. A hotel room, a rented house in Annapolis, a borrowed on in American Fork. Wherever they are, that's where I'd like to be.

We recently took a trip to our Childhood home of Utah Valley, UT (among other places.) In no particular order, here are some photos of us at home.

We went to NYC the weekend before the SLC trip. This is Jackson with the "Guard" at the FOA Schwarz. He has some lego dudes in that red bag.


Another one fro NYC. Jackson and Cortnie on the subway escalator.


Another from NYC. Jackson with Lego Potter gang.

Trav, kicking it in classic style. We love you Travie. Jackson was very upset to learn that you're not actually a member of our family. We told him that you are anyway.

Another NYC show. Us, waiting for the bus into the city. How brave of us.

The Mount Temp. Temple at night.

We played some tennis while staying in Logan, UT for a few days. This is Todd.

Katie, getting ready for some tennis. She is a lot like her mom, which is a great thing.

Jillian, getting worked by the ball. She used to call me "Uncle Map".

Introucing Julia, the most recent addition to our extended family. She belongs to Melody and Jonny, and is wicked cool. Check out her style. Seen here with her Grandma Jan.

Jackson flying in the desert sky.

Jackson, firing his first "Real" gun. We shot silver BB's into boxes and water bottles. He's a great shot!

Jackson meets Julia.

Not a great picture, but it's jacks first time gathering up candy at a parade. See that orange hat? He completely filled it.

My sister Elise, right after causing me a serious defeat. My knees are still recovering from this game.

We had a great time staying with my Grandparents in Logan. Here is Grandpa on the famous deck.

Another Cameo by Julia. Elise carrying her around in the moby, whatever that is.

A highlight of our trip. Elise and her good friend Nicole were actors in a Harry Potter 7 book release party at BYU Bookstore. It was very well done, and fun.

Jillian and Jack spent a lot of time together. Here they are cooperating. Amazing!

Elise flying in the desert sky.

This wreck happened directly in front of us. The Van and the little blue car were innocent bystanders. A jeep his this Suburban, which came flying into (and onto) this cars. It was intense. Jackson covered it in "The Safety Crash".

This little one is precious. She's the youngest peck, and likes to sing nearly everything she says. Alison, in my moms "Cool Pool" (the hot tub, without the hot).

While I was here, our long time neighbor and friend Maurice Peterson died shortly after having a heart attack. He owns the lot next to us (and used to ALL the lots in the neighborhood.) A great person that everyone was sad to lose. I was here last Fall, and went to see him. My friend Josh snapped this photo. I suspect it maybe the last taken of him.

So there you go. Pictures of home? You decide.

Stolen from Cami...

Only rule: you have to answer with one word.

1. Where is your mobile phone? Manbag
2. Relationship? Healthy
3. Your hair? Spikey
4. Work? Stressful
5. Your sister(s)? Beautiful
6. Your favorite thing? Necco
7. Your dream last night? Empty
8. Your favorite drink? Dew
9. Your dream car? Firebird
10. The room you're in? Office
11. Your shoes? Tied
12. Your fears? Buried
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Photographer
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Parents
15. What are you not good at? This
16. Muffin? No
17. Wish list item? 1DM3
18. Where you grew up? PG
19. The last thing you did? Quake3
20. What are you wearing? Out
21. What are you not wearing? Sunglasses
22. Your pet? Jack
23. Your computer? Mac
24. Your life? Fun
25. Your mood? Nervous
26. Missing? Keys
27. What are you thinking about? Quitting
28. Your car? Truck
29. Your kitchen? Wifes
30. Your summer? Utah
31. Your favorite color? Sunset
32. Last time you laughed? Melted
33. Last time you cried? Teribithia
34. School? Half
35. Love? Love!

I promise something more interesting is coming.

The System is up...

Just a quick note. I am happy to report that themdg is out of the ICU. A new drive has been installed, and it should work better. We did lose a huge pile of MP3s, but those are replaceable, right?

It's nice to be back online.

Stay tunes for Utah Trip antics.

Mattie Are You Out There?

Well it has been several weeks since I have posted but I feel I must since Mattie is lost in space. Actually he is in Utah but it might as well be space since he is devoid of all access to the Internet. In fact while he was gone the Internet was replaced by Al "Lockbox" Gore with a brand new one that is funded entirely by selling carbon credits that were acquired on eBay from the Chinese. Apparently though these credits are fakes and have been shown to cause cancer in lab rats by the state of California (i think it was due to a ridiculously high level of CO2). While Mattie was gone I spoke to him once and he was playing golf. I have no idea what else he has been doing but as I find out so will you. Till then, I say good day.

The system is down...

I've gone cold turkey, and not by choice. I'm disconnected, in more ways than one.

My little file/web server that I keep in my room at home is powered down. This alone causes me to lose sleep! It's funny how much you depend on things, and don't realize it until they're not there.

We're in Utah for a long vacation. A few weeks prior to this trip, one of the hard drives in the server started acting up. The errors it produced caused me to manually restart the server once a day or so. I didn't have time to change out the hard drive before we left, so I was forced to just shut it down. Ouch. It'll be down for three weeks. That means, no photos, no music, no email (not easily anyway), and no websites for many people. Trav, Elise, etc. I apologize.

To add insult to injury, everywhere we've been staying has had NO wireless or otherwise internet access available. N.O.N.E. Hard times. We're at the in laws house now, and I found a 2-foot square spot in the house that gets a sketchy wireless connection from a neighbor. Beggars can't be choosers and all that.

I hate being so disconnected like this but I'm resigning myself to it and it's not being as hard as I thought it might be. I'm reminded of some cool things as a result of not being able to use the computer. Check this out:

• They have a great sunrise every morning, and it's open to the public.
  
• My wife is as beautiful and loving as ever.
  
• My kid is hilarious and makes me proud.
  
• My nieces are precious goof balls as are my sisters and parents.
  
• You can get a nice sunburn if you only put sunscreen on once while at the pool in the afternoon.
  
• Monkey-bars are delicious.
• You can go on a Napoleon Dynamite tour if you drive a few miles north of Logan, UT.
• And More!

So, the server is down for the count, but it'll be back. Count on it. For now...stop and smell the flowers. It's good times.

The Best Day Ever

Today I have been made a contributor to The Red Dolphin. My charge is to document that antics of MATTIE! I thought this day would never come.

My First Gig... Drum Corps in Annapolis

So I shot my first paid photography gig last weekend. A Drum Corps International competition in Annapolis, MD. Getting on the field was a long time in the making, but very rewarding. Jolesch Photography owns all the shots, so I can't post them here, but you can view them on their site here:

Jolesch DCI Action Photos - Annapolis MD - June 16 2007

I gotta say...it was memorable. I'm as passionate a fan of Drum Corps as most dudes are about Football or other sports. So, being on the field with some of my favorite Corps, including the 2006 World Champion Cavaliers was a thrill, to say the least. I thought it was loud from the stands! It was an outstanding experience.

I thought they would be a bit more discriminating on which shots they put up on their site, and which they left out, but no...they put them all up. So, even though there are some poor shots there, I'm generally happy with how they came out.

I have two more DCI shows to shoot this month. One of them is at the NY Giants football stadium in New Jersey. That should be exciting.

Don't break the law...

I had an interesting experience today. I went to District Court to be a character witness for a friend in a messy divorce/custody dispute. While we waited for everyone to arrive etc, we sat in the courtroom and watched many other cases as they were heard by the judge. It's those cases that I wanted to comment about.

Watching the people come up and plead guilty or not guilty and have their lawyers help them, it struck me how easy it was to break the law. Most of the people were there for driving with a suspended license, driving without insurance, driving with an unregistered vehicle and in a few cases, driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol.

In every case, the driver was pulled over for something other than they thing they were in court for. Anything from following too close to having a tag light burned out. The officer would soon find out that the drivers license was suspended etc. All of these were jail-able offenses! The judge was kind, and most of the time the people were sincere. In one case, a woman was accused of driving while drunk, and of following too closely. She is 23, has recently finished her teaching degree and was entertaining offers from several public elementary schools in the area. She almost threw it all away by getting drunk and trying to drive! Seems to silly. (I'm sure she'd agree.)

What's my point? Going there and watching the cases was an eye-opening experience. It made me examine parts of my life that I wouldn't have thought about. In this case, about driving. "I DO have a license plate light that is burned out. I am missing a front plate on one of my cars." If I was pulled over for those things, I'm fairly certain that I would not have to appear in court about something else they discovered...but still. Disobedience starts with the small things that you let slide.

Watch "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC. I bet most of those guys can not believe that they were about to do what they were planning. They were tricked step by step...thinking that this little act of disobedience was ok, or that little rule breaking was justifiable. A few too many of those, and they're in prison!

I think I'll go watch a few cases every few months. Not to lift myself up above the accused, but to try and humble myself, and open my eyes to other areas of my life that might need attention. Seeing the wages of sin is a sobering thing.

McCartney's new Song/Video

Paul McCartney released a new track from his upcoming album. The track is called 'Dance Tonight' and you can see the video here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xTNXrkBSp_o

The new album is called "Memory Almost Full" and will be released on June 5th.

To buy, or not to buy...revisited...

Authors addendum 5/10/2007 : As I started to make repairs on the Maxima, more problem started to emerge. As I see them, I'm actually more excited about having a fun project to work on. But, I've come to realize that the maxima has to be just that..a project. Not our main family car that we rely on to get to groceries, slurpees, medicine and church. So, we're back in the market for a new car, and will plan on keeping the max unless a dealer wants to give us a decent trade-in for it. (And believe me, my ideas of decent for this car are low) .

In the end, I need to have my family driving around in a car in which they feel safe, and that we can expect to last 5-10 years. And I also hope I get to keep my project car. I have a sentimental attachment to it. :)

-----------------------------------------------------------

So, it's finally time to get our Nissan Maxima through the Maryland safety inspection. Our Kansas plates run out at the end of May. I had the inspection done, and it turns out that a few things need to be brought "up to code" as they say. Namely, the following need to be replaced:

• Steering rack and pinion
• Break rotors (What?! I replaced them both last year! Might be under warranty)
• Front-right tire (Might also be under warranty)
• Some light bulb
• One of the rear view mirrors (cracked and broken)
• Parking brake(not replaced, but adjusted)

Does sound so bad. Everything but the rack and pinion is easy peasy lemon squeezy. My good car guy wants $1200 for all of this work.

$1200? Hmmm. It's a 14 year old car with 145,000 miles on it, 100,000 of which we've put on it over the past 7 years. We seem to have that car in the shop too much lately as well. Is it worth it?

Well, to make a getting-too-long-story shorter, we looked at a bunch of used cars. Everything in our price range doesn't really work for us. And most used car places were willing to give us only $300-$500 for our Maxima!

So, we finally decided to fix it, and keep it going for a few more years. I think it's got another 50k in there. I can fix it for only a few hundred dollars, saving us a ton. It's a big project, and I'm look forward to getting my hands dirty, and keeping our savings where it belongs.