A short book by Isabel

I’ve been trying to figure out what to submit for the “I am thankful for…” feature on my company’s intranet. Of course, I am thankful for my family, my health and that George Bush can’t run for re-election, but I wanted to submit something different… maybe a multi-media representation of the things in my life that are important, maybe something poetic or artsy, maybe something that tugs at the heartstrings or possibly something funny.

Saturday night, one of my beautiful little girls wrote a book. This is not Isabel’s first book; no, she is a prolific author. But this is my favorite book to date. She wrote this book completely unprompted; she was simply entertaining herself with some crayons and paper while the adults were talking. When she read the book to us, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

When you read my little girl’s book you will know what I am thankful for.

Halloween 2007

We love our kids and we love taking pictures of our kids. Below are just a few of our Halloween adventures. Click here to view more photos of the hallowed eve.

I'm not a big Halloween lover, but I can get into the spirit (pardon the pun) of things and we did have a fine time. Amelia wore her costumes (sans red sparkly boots) to dance class and I have to say that she really has the superhero stance down pat. Isabel was a fine Little Red Riding Hood.

The kids had a great time and we had quite the crowd of trick-or-treaters at our house. Thanks to Aunt Penny and Uncle Marky for manning the candy bowl while we went trick-or-treating.

It was a good time and a relatively uneventful night except that there was some nutbag on the street scaring people with a real chain saw.

Oh, the first picture is one of Amelia playing with my costume (our next president).

Halloween Masks

Having trouble pulling together a halloween costume at the last minute? Click here for some very scary masks that you can print from Forbes.com.

Can a klutz be a potter?

I was busy with other things (trimming, glazing, etc) in pottery class last week & didn't get to throw anything, so I went in on Saturday morning to throw some bowls. My "assignment" from Julie was to throw some bowls that were uniform in size and shape. I laughed out loud and then said of course, I'll give it a shot.

So I did. My results were not great. So here are my excuses: I was working with a new clay, which seemed quite different to work with. Julie said I was ready to upgrade from the recycled clay. Oddly I felt less pressure with the good ole' recycled clay. My other excuse is that I was working in different room. The kids’ class was in the room where I usually work so I couldn't use my favorite wheel. Apparently the combination of the new clay and a different room & wheel completely threw off my mojo.

I glazed some stuff and threw two bowls in class last night. I tried a different shape. They were interesting, but still not great. Someone else was using my wheel, so I had to use a different wheel again. And that new clay was still giving me trouble.

I am not usually a person who resists change. As a rule I embrace it. Apparently that does not apply to pottery.

I wonder if it matters that I am a completely uncoordinated, confused-ambidextrous klutz? Can a klutz be a potter?

Pottery is so different from anything else I've ever done. All of my jobs have involved processes, analysis and quantifiable results with measurable timetables. I have had my creative tendencies through the years, but the analytical part of me has kept a pretty tight rein on the creative part apparently.

So I find myself getting frustrated with pottery at times. I don't know if I'm really getting it. I don't know if I'm wasting my time. If someone would just tell me, it will take XX months for you to really get the hang of it... that would be great. I know it doesn't work that way, but I want it to.

I guess I just hate being so completely new and inept at something. I suppose it's probably good to try new things as you get older - you know, keep the mind fresh and all that.

Ghost Story

A co-worker was put in charge of collecting ghost stories to post on our new intranet. Part of our building was built in 1998 and the rest in 2001. There has long been talk that the "old" part of the building was haunted. For about 5 years, my office was in the old part of the building. I never saw or heard anything and I'm not particularly fond of ghost stories. But I felt bad for the chick in charge of this project b/c she hadn't received any stories, so I zipped one off. Certainly not a literary masterpiece, but I cracked myself up at least with the sort of cheesey, retro style of the story. Anyway, here it is:

I was working in my office late one night on the second floor of the clubhouse -- the OLD part of the building, the part that dates all the way back to ’98. Back to a time when people lived by different rules. Some say the putting green was a native burial ground, some say the pond by the 18th hole was used for dunking suspected witches in the witch trials, some say it was the sight of a bloody Civil War battle where countless young men lost their lives battling their own brothers.

At first I did not believe. I was a skeptic. The fact that no one wanted that nice big, comfy office should have been a clue. But I was too arrogant to notice; I thought Lady Luck was looking out for me. Well, someone was watching me… but it wasn’t Lady Luck. I never admitted it until that night, but I always felt it. And at times I would hear things. I would hear a creak, or a scritch, or a hissing. Sometimes the sounds would get to be too much and I would call Engineering to check it out but they never found anything wrong. They told me the creak was just an old building settling; the scritch, they said, was the magnolia tree blowing in the wind against the building; and they told me the hissing was defective speaker in the a/v system.

All that awful wailing and screeching… they told me THAT was the air conditioning unit. I forced myself to buy into all of their excuses. The fact that the Engineers would never stay for more than two minutes and would ALWAYS come in pairs should have clued me in. But no, I still didn’t believe.

There were other strange things as well. The eyes on that painting. You know the one -- the painting of the young lad dressed in blue knickers. If you’ve ever seen it, especially at night -- you know what I’m talking about. Those eyes. No matter where you went, those eyes were always boring into your soul.

Don’t forget about all the things that went missing… I’m not really comfortable going into any detail, but there were things, big things that disappeared from that second floor accounting office.

But I digress… I was working late. It was dark & cold outside. It was common for me to use the stairs outside on the east side of the clubhouse when leaving, especially at night when there were no golfers. Before putting on my coat and grabbing my keys, I went to the exit door to check the iron gate at the bottom of the stairs. It was usually unlocked, but I didn’t want to chance it. I was squinting in the darkness to see, when I felt a sudden push from behind! I nearly went over the railing, but I grabbed on just in time. I was going to have a nasty bump on my forehead the next day though. I wasn’t sure what to think. I was a little creeped out but tried to convince myself I had just slipped on a piece of paper or something.

I tried the door. It was shut tight and locked from the inside. I was contemplating what to do next. I was wishing I had just brought my coat and keys with me -- I could have just gone straight to my car. All those stories I’d heard about what went on here years and years ago were stirring in my mind.

I would have to use the house phone in the clubhouse lobby and wait for FLS to come unlock my office. Why was there no light in the stairwell anyway?? I shivered in the cold and started to make my way down the stairs in the dark when I heard the metal gate clang shut a half a floor below me. I started to panic. I called out, “Hello??!!” No answer. I was practically running down the stairs when I felt that same push from behind again. I heard what sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard; I saw a flash of amber-colored light, then blackness.

I awoke some time later. Looking at my watch, I realized an hour had gone by. “Wow,” I thought, “this side of the clubhouse is really deserted in the winter after dark.” No one noticed me lying there on the ground at the foot of the stairs for over an hour. I was a still feeling a bit woozy as I pulled myself up on the handrail. I wanted to get the heck out of there. As I was making a beeline for my car, I reached into my coat pocket to make sure my car keys were there.

Uh, hold on… I didn’t have my coat and my keys when I got locked out of the building.

I have no idea what happened that night, but I can tell you that I stay out of the clubhouse at night.

The Office Re-Cut (HILARIOUS)

Halloween Decorations

I'm not big on Halloween. Never have been. Debi wanted some decorations. After my company's fall festival, there were hay & mums & such that were going to be tossed. I brought the stuff home and tossed it in the front yard & threw the kids' pumpkins on the pile. She seems to think its some sort of masterpiece. ??? Anyway, here it is:

Even Adults Can Catch On Fire

Yesterday Amelia went on a field trip to the fire station. She was recounting the trip over breakfast this morning. She told us you have to "get low and go" if there's a fire, so I asked: "why should I get low and go?" Isabel jumped in (as big sisters do) and said "because even adults can catch on fire." What more can you say about that?

Mugs

Went to pottery class last night & picked up my finished mugs. I made a variety of sizes and shapes... still looking for one that speaks to me. Anyway, I promised I would post some pictures of some of my pots so here they are; I'm including a sample of each of the glaze combinations I tried.

Wonder what he did wrong?

Meinem Geburtstag, Teil 2

I went to my sister's house for a belated birthday dinner. Penny & Valerie whipped up a very tasty German dinner (German food & beer is sort of a tradition for my birthday).

The evening started with Amelia & Isabel playing dress-up with some Halloween stuff. Amelia makes a pretty scary witch.

Isabel is not quite as scary, but a cute witch nonetheless.

Lots of good eats: pumpernickel bread, sauerbraten, German potato salad, bratwursts, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, and other tasty treats. Penny & Val really outdid themselves!

It was a great evening! However Val & Steve did get a bit chilly sitting out on the deck as you can see by their contrasting kilts.

We had a few good laughs over the pink, prognosticating, plastic Jesus (3PJ for short) that a friend gave me. It's a pink, plastic statuette of Jesus with a magic eight ball type answer cube built into the bottom. Some of its answers are "not a chance in hell" and "I died for this??".

We also discovered that being a mom has taken it's toll on Debi's ability to tell a dirty joke. She was trying to tell her signature joke for the first time (obviously) in a long time and she started off telling a very unfunny, cleaned-up version. The kicker is that she didn't realize she was telling a cleaned-up version until I pointed it out. I guess it's true that if you don't use it, you'll use it.

She was able to get her act together eventually, so she's still got it. It's just a bit rusty. If you haven't heard Debi tell her Little Red Riding Hood joke, you should.

Click here to view the other pictures on Shutterfly.

Fall Festival

We went to my company's annual fall festival on Saturday. I was on the committee, so I helped plan & execute the event. It was a lot of work, but it was a fun event for the adults and kids. Here are a few pictures of Isabel and Amelia enjoying the festival. They had a great time (but when don’t they?). They said they especially enjoyed the scavenger hunt.

Glazed

I glazed 20 mugs and a couple of bowls last night. Hope they all turn out OK. I took my test tiles home last week so I could become one with them. Glad I did. I decided which glazes I wanted to use which saved me a lot of time standing around in the studio scratching my head. It still took quite some time to glaze everything. By the end of the night, I was beat.

Birthday

I had a great birthday weekend! Here are the highlights:

• Went to Isabel’s Parent-Teacher conference (which was a very happy occasion)
  
• Went to a great pottery sale where I saw a lot of impressive work and met some interesting people
  
• Went to our good friends’ kid’s 1-year old birthday party


• Had some of my most favorite meals (waffles, tortellini all vodka, buffalo chicken & shrimp, bourbon barbecue shrimp w/ sweet potato fritters)


• Watched football (Dolphins lost L, but at least the Saints won J last night) all day yesterday
  But best of all, spent a wonderful day with my lovely wife and my sweet kids (Penny & Mark stopped by too)


• I got lots of hugs and kisses, some pottery (of course), Stephen Colbert’s new book and the kids both made me tye-die t-shirts (which I love).

Here are the signs Isabel had taped to my CHAIER (that’s how we say it in the South) when I came to the table for breakfast Sunday morning.

The Barn Sale

We went to the Carolina Claymatters Guild's annual Barn Sale on Monroe Road in Charlotte on Saturday. It was a beautiful day for a pottery sale. The day started off cool enough for a long-sleeved shirt and the sun was shining brightly. Later in the day it turned warm, but not too hot.

I was impressed with the work I saw. It's amazing that such a wide variety of beautiful pots can all start off with the same lump of clay. I saw my usual pottery buddies there: Jen, Ron, Julie, Amy, Corine, and I finally met Greg and Adrienne in person. I am impressed by their work, as always.

We didn’t have the time to visit with every potter at length and we had to rush by some booths that were crowded but there were a few things that caught our eyes:

• First, we met Robert Hovis, who digs his own clay in Lincoln County – I know some potters do it, but this is the first person I’ve met who does it.
• Debi got quite a kick out of buying a turtle (Amelia’s “symbol” at school) from Deann Segal (Over the Hill Clay Studio in Rock Hill).
• She loved Robin Gail Beckett’s purple glazes (Debi is a maniac for purple and you don’t see a lot of purple glazes for some reason).
• Debi bought our first hand-made plate from Kathy Jones. It was a simple affair, with a nice lip (to keep your peas from running off your plate) in a mostly solid deep green. Just the kind of plate I might make if I could make plates.
• We were both very impressed with Roger Strom’s glazing technique – he sprays on his glazes, with the pot on the wheel which results in a very delicate and beautifully blended banding effect in mostly blue & green – MOST interesting.
• Then we bought a coffee mug from Valerie Hawkins (for my brother-in-law, Mark). Most of her pieces have the white clay body showing on the outside, with very delicate leaf imprints, with black glaze in the little grooves, on the rim and inside. The black & white effect was quite striking.
• I was very impressed by Fred & Debbie Rust’s (Rust Pottery) work, but unfortunately, I didn’t get much time to examine it. The short time I spent in their booth (in the Barn), I was blinded by the light shining in between some beams. I will have to check them out more carefully next time.
• We bought another mug for Mark from Doris Thomas (the Mudd Dabbler). Mark said he wanted big mugs with big handles, which would accommodate his entire hand. Doris has the biggest, most accommodating handles I’ve ever seen. The form of the mug was quite nice and she had glossy glazes in a variety of colors. We chose one that was a blue and dark red/maroon. Turns out, this was Penny’s & Mark’s favorite. I was just thinking, the Mudd Dabbler sounds a bit like a superhero (or super villain) name, doesn’t it?
• Then I saw Gary Rubin’s (Potluck Pottery) booth, down on the end, in the Barn. All of his work was nice, but there was one mug in particular that called to me from across the room. It wasn’t so much the form or the handle (Debi thought the mug was too big) but it was the glaze. It had a matte finish and was mostly a light mottled brown w/ some other glazes lightly applied (brushed on I would guess) in just a couple of strategic locations for a dramatic effect. I didn’t buy it, but I should have. I don’t think Clayworks has a brown, matte finished glaze like that – bummer.

We picked up a brochure for the Carolina Pottery Festival at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds on 11/10. Hopefully we can go to that and see some of these potters and more.

Selling Pots Online?

I am taking the day off from work today (a little birthday present for myself) and one of the things I'm doing with my day is putzing around the internet, looking at various art/pottery stuff. The sheer volume of information on any one topic available on the internet still amazes me. I could make a full-time job out of reading pottery blogs and visiting potters' websites & online galleries. Anybody willing to pay me to do that?

Anyway, one of the artists I visited was selling her stuff on this website called Etsy (Etsy sounds like a nickname for Etta Belle) -- "your place to buy & sell all things handmade." It looks like a pretty cool place to sell stuff online without having to go through the hassles of setting up your own online store.

Seems better than eBay because it's not an auction (you set the price) and people who shop on Etsy are obviously looking for quality, handmade items. Also seems like it would expose your work to a lot of potential new customers.

They give you your own web address. You can customize your Etsy page so it has the look & feel you want (presumably you could make it match your website/blog so the transition from one to the other is seamless). There's no charge for setting up the website, I think you just pay for the items you list.

Anyway, if you've wanted to try selling some of your pots (or other handmade items) online, but didn't know where to start - maybe this is a good place.

Here's the link to Etsy's homepage: http://www.etsy.com/index.php.

Here'a a link to one artist's Etsy store that I was checking out: www.oneblackbird.etsy.com.

I'd be interested in knowing if anyone decides to give it a try. Let me know.

Geez, I sound like a commercial for Etsy, don't I? Maybe they should pay me a commission.

The Hotel Biz

If any of you have ever wondered what I do for living - this is a fairly accurate representation.

(FYI - this video clip is about 10 minutes long)

I AM a fan

I'm sure I will get a LOT of grief for this, but I am a die-hard fan.

Bowls, Pies and Blogs

I did not get around to glazing anything in class last night. I got all of my bisqued pieces waxed (so I can start glazing first thing next week), then we discussed our new test tiles. My favorite: white over mystic moss. My least favorite: mystic moss over warm jade. Then I threw a couple of bowls. I've been concentrating on mugs and handles lately so I hadn't thrown any bowls in quite some time. It was good to throw a bowl for a change. And it seemed to flow more easily than I remember. Maybe it's good to take a break from a form.

Blogs are a funny thing... I read the entry about Elaine Spallone's blog on Jen's blog just a day or two ago. Then last night at class Shari was making a pot that looked sort of like a really big pie dish, which prompted Julie to tell us about a friend who made a huge apple pie. I said: "oh yeah, Jen's friend Elaine made that huge apple pie - I saw the picture on her blog." Then an hour or so later, I actually met Elaine Spallone at the studio.

Maybe it's not so funny; maybe you had to be there.

Americana

Has anyone tried this new joint in Pineville called The Americana? A friend sent me this link, but I've heard no personal recommendations. It sounds like a cross between Hard Rock Cafe and Cracker Barrel. I like the idea of a casual venue that always has some interesting live music. I'll be interested in hearing a first-hand account.

Happy Birthdays and Mondays

A crazy busy week last week. I barely remember it.

I have pottery class tonigt so I'm thinking about what I did last week and what I'll do tonight. I put handles on some mugs. I'm pretty sure they were the worst handles ever made by someone over the age of 5. Oy vey. It was the first time in 2-3 months I made a handle and apparently I was quite rusty.

I glazed my test tiles too. I'm excited to see those as I tried some new combinations and I hope to glaze my mugs tonight. Only one class left after this one. Man, the time flies. I think 6 weeks is too short - I want to do a longer class next time if I can.

Went to dinner on Saturday night for Debi's birthday. All the best people came. A few good ones had to stay behind w/ their kids (we were all with all of our usual babysitters). Luckily a good friend of mine from work was able to watch my kids.

We went to the Cajun Queen on 7th Street in Charlotte. We enjoyed it a lot. It was an old house (with not much parking). It had a good bit of character (reminds me a little of the original Garden Cafe). The tiny little bar and the dining area on the 2nd floor were quite noisy but we were on the new patio, so we didn't have to contend with noise. I was expecting more of a dive, so I was pleasantly surprised. But it's definitely not a quiet, romantic sort of place either. The food was very good. Pretty darn close to authentic New Orleans food.

I only did one stupid thing the entire night. When the bill came, I added on the standard 18% - 20% tip, not realizing they had automatically included it. DOH. Debi mentioned after we got on the freeway. Can't believe I fell for that one (especially in my line of work). So the server got a REALLY good tip. I might be steamed if it were lousy service, but the service was top notch and we did have a great time, so it's all good.

Mondays should just be removed from the week. Can we replace them with something else? I actually was in a good mood this morning (for a Monday). I was all chipper, with a spring in my step and a song in my heart. I went out of my way to be friendly and to assist others.

But Monday Karma paid me back by crashing my computer and hosing my network connection to the server in the corporate office. I have spent at least 30% of my day waiting for something to load and/or re-booting my computer. There are other things I could gripe about but I'll spare you.

Anyway, lots of birthdays -- Debi (this is it babe, the official end of your bday period), Finn, Matt, Zack, Brandy, Collin, Brent, Jeff, Kelly, Rick, Brian, Joe, Me. Wow, I know a lot of cool people who are Libras. Happy Birthday to us all!

The simple truth about aging

Opera anyone?

I’m always intrigued by the world around me. Here's a new intrigue for me - Opera.

I’ve never really thought I liked it, but I realized I’ve never really tried it. I don’t want to be like the guy in Green Eggs and Ham, ya know?

Maybe it's just the death of Luciano Pavarotti that got me thinking more about it. I just found out opera season starts soon. I think I'm going to drag Debi to an Opera. Anyone else game?

The good news is that they have cheap seats (as cheap as $15). So, maybe I'll be in the nose-bleed section behind a column. Who cares? It will give me a chance to check it out without paying a bundle.

Below is a list of upcoming Opera Carolina performances. I haven't decided which one I want to try first. Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations?

Roméo et Juliette
October 18, 20 & 21, 2007

Aida
January 31, February 1, 2 & 3, 2008

Amahl & the Night Visitors
December 22, 2007

Don Giovanni
March 27, 29 & 30, 2008

Die Fledermaus
May 1, 3 & 4, 2008

Love Notes
February 16, 2008

A window...

http://play.blogger.com/

Shortly after Blogger launched photo uploading two years ago, one of our engineers whipped up a web page that would show us the pictures that were being uploaded in real time. The result was fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling. We couldn’t stop watching.

Over the years we’ve kept this photo scroller as part of the Blogger offices, on a monitor or projector, as an interesting (distracting?) slideshow, and a reminder of the diversity and vivaciousness of Blogger blogs. The fame of the scroller spread within Google, until one day we were asked, “so, when are you launching this?”

“Um...,” we replied. But we knew a good idea when we heard one. We got our UI people to come up with buttons and fadey effects and we got our engineers to make the whole thing fast and robust. A bit of work later, and now we can share it with all of you: http://play.blogger.com/
Blogger Play will show you a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. You can click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it.

Groundhog Day

Last Saturday Debi & I had a pottery day for Debi's birthday weekend. We took a nice leisurely drive in the country on our way to a couple of pottery sales. We enjoyed each other's company, but more importantly the peace & quiet that only a parent, sans kids, can fully appreciate (Aunt Penny & Uncle Mark kept the girls for the day).

We met Corine Guseman & Hal Dedmond at Cottonfest. They invited us to their pottery sale on the 22nd. They were also firing their groundhog kiln that day. They are way the heck out in the middle of nowhere, but we were especially interested in seeing a groundhog kiln in action for the first time. We arrived in time for "blast off.” It was very cool. Well, not the kiln, it got up to almost 2200 degrees. Debi picked out a casserole dish made by Corine as a birthday present to herself.

We met Ron Philbeck at the Circle of Eight sale a couple weeks ago. He was having a pottery sale on the same day as Corine & Hal. He’s in Shelby, but it still seems like the middle of nowhere to a city boy like me. I wonder how he gets any business out there. He gave us a tour of his shop and his kiln. It was very interesting. Seeing his work, I realized that I have one of Ron’s mugs that my sister gave me as a gift a couple of years ago. After visiting for awhile I picked out a nice big pot to use as a utensil holder as a birthday present for me.

We’ve been doing pottery stuff for the past couple of weekends. I would have been happy to do more pottery stuff this weekend (like the Muddy Fun day at Clayworks or the arts festival at Brattonsville), but my sister had a plan that we would go canoeing/kayaking on the Catawba River. And for those who know my sister, once she has a plan, nothing can deter her. Not even a drought.


It was Penny, Mark, Melissa, Jason, Taylor, Val, Steve, Debi, Isabel and me. We left Amelia & Chloe behind with Nana. So we set out (only a little late & only a little lost) for the place near the dam where we were to meet the outfitters and put into the river.

Finally we found them and after much conversation, signing of waivers, studying of maps, and low-grade chaos we were ready to get underway; some of us in canoes, some in kayaks.

I was ready to get the show on the road, so I grabbed one end of the canoe and the outfitter guy grabbed the other end to haul it down to end of the ramp. He told me to take my end in first, which I did, because he’s the expert, right? So we put the canoe in the water; Isabel gets in, then Debi and then me.

I’m sure there are conflicting opinions about the cause of what happened next. Here’s my opinion of the contributing factors and what we learned from them:

1. With Isabel in the front, Debi in the middle, and me in the back, the weight was obviously not evenly distributed. We were just sort of caught up in the moment and assuming someone with more experience with such things would direct us to the proper position in the canoe. That didn’t happen. What we learned: when canoeing with a small child, the child should go in the middle.
   
   
2. Penny had put her bags of food and dry clothes in our canoe. The bags were under Debi’s feet so she was leaning forward to try to collect the bags to stow them somewhere out of the way just as the guy shoved us off the boat ramp into the water. What we learned: (a) make sure to stow your stuff (or your sister’s stuff) securely in your canoe before attempting to put into the water, (b) don’t put your dry clothes in a canvas bag in a canoe. They might get wet, (c) make sure all occupants of the canoe are all set and ready and aware they are about to be shoved into the water before doing so.
   


3. Remember that the guy told me to take my end of the canoe in first? I specifically remember, because to do so required turning a pretty long canoe around 180 degrees on a small boat ramp which was pretty crowded at the time. Well, some time & distance down the river we discovered that the canoe was backwards. I think this is an important point, at least in this case because it caused our canoe to be even more unbalanced. What we learned: there is a front and back to a canoe.

So, what happened next was that roughly 5 seconds after the outfitter guy shoved us into the water, the canoe flipped over. Did I mention that I had a bad feeling about this canoe trip?

Boy, I wish we had gone to Brattonsville or Clayworks instead.

Well, it was pretty funny for those standing on the dock. After I made sure that my child did not drown I thought it was pretty funny too. Isabel was actually fine with the whole thing. It was just one big adventure for her.

A brief summary of the rest of the trip:

• The water was WAY low so we all got stuck on rocks several times and had to get out and push in water that was sometimes no more than ankle deep.
  
  
• About halfway down our little piece of the river Debi, Isabel and I got stuck on the rocks in some mini-rapids and the canoe filled with water. Lucky for us Jason was close by to help us right the canoe and dump the water. Thanks Jason. Again, Isabel had not drowned and was having a blast… “Let’s get wet again Daddy!”
  
  
• A short time later, although we had more or less gotten the hang of the canoe, we were pretty much over it so we swapped boats with Penny & Melissa. We took the tandem kayak, they took the canoe.
  
  
• Not long after swapping, Penny & Melissa got stuck on some rocks and flipped the canoe. Debi and I were not far behind so we came to their rescue. Eventually Mark & Jason joined us on the riverbank and again there was swapping of people & boats.
  
  
• Later, we encountered some intoxicated Deliverance looking bubbas who were hanging out on a rock in the middle of the river underneath the railroad tracks with a dog, a boy and two large coolers (with no boat in sight). They were yelling something at us (or to us?) but we all pretended we didn’t hear them and just kept going (cue banjo).
  
  
• Debi and I were bringing up the rear (apparently there was some race to the finish line that everyone but us was aware of) when we got stuck on some rocks in another mini-rapids. In the process of trying to dislodge the kayak from the rocks, the water was rushing over the boat and eventually filled it. A tandem kayak filled with water is very heavy. It’s especially difficult to haul one to the riverbank when you’re in rapids. At least Isabel was in the canoe with Penny & Mark, so we didn’t have to worry about saving her in addition to ourselves, the canoe and the various items that were floating down the river. After MUCH effort, we were able to get the kayak to the riverbank but it was so heavy we couldn’t even turn it over. Along came Steve to give us a hand. It took all 3 of us to flip it. I guess the others were thinking it had been nice knowing us. Thanks Big Guy.
  
  
• At last we made it to the end. The outfitters picked us up to return to our cars. When asked his favorite part of the experience, Taylor replied “getting in the car and leaving.” I’d have to say, I agree.
  
  
• Oh, one last thing – inexplicably none of us thought to wear sunscreen, so we all got a little sunburned. Somehow it seems that I got the worst of it. Of course I did.

For the record, I would like to state that I am not a total novice on the water. I have been white water rafting many times, I have been kayaking a few times and I have even been on canoe a couple of times (of the three vessels, the canoe is now my least favorite). Also for the record, I would like to say that I did have a bad feeling about the excursion.

A couple of times during the trip when the water was deep enough that we could just drift along and enjoy the scenery I found myself wondering what it must have been like hundreds of years ago when Catawba Indians made their way down this same river. Then I realized that they would have had better sense than to try to canoe down a river where the water was only ankle deep.

In the end, no one died, the weather was beautiful, it was nice scenery and I got to spend the day with people I love so it turned out being an OK day.

Next weekend I think we’ll go to a pottery sale or a festival or perhaps just spend a quiet day at home.

Click here for a view all of the pictures from the day. Yes, in spite of nearly drowning 3 times, I had the presence of mind to snap a few photos.

Potters For Peace

Appeasing the Digital Natives

I just happened across this page on the website for Rock Hill School Disctrict Three about teaching our kids technology.
http://www.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/info.cfm?subjectId=3&topicId=417

I think it's very interesting that our little digital natives are learning website design and movie-making in 5th grade.

It truly is a whole new world for the N-Gen.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

THE GOOD
On Saturday we went with Valerie to the Circle of Eight pottery sale. I was most impressed. It was great to meet the potters and examine such a wide variety of works. I was inspired.

Afterwards we went to the Blues, Brews and BBQ festival in downtown Charlotte (it's part of Charlotte Shout). There were no arts & crafts, which was a bummer. Most of the booths were your standard festival-food fare and advertising/promotional sign-ups. There was a booth hosted by the Knightly Order of the Fiat Lux - they put on a cheesy medieval sword-fighting demonstration to raise money for a variety of causes benefiting children in the Piedmont. It was fun for the kids.

We stayed only for the first blues act, Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton. His show was a kick. Musically, I’d have to say it wasn't the best blues performance I’ve ever seen, but it was fun, entertaining and certainly memorable. He was dressed in a chef’s outfit and sang a pot of gumbo into existence. He had a big pot and a burner on-stage; throughout his show he sang songs about the ingredients that go into gumbo. He had a Johnson & Wales student on-stage assisting (mostly just stirring the gumbo). At the end of the show he gave everyone a bowl of his gumbo (the line was pretty long, so we didn’t get to try it). He accepts donations for the gumbo, which go to his charity organization called Planet Gumbo to help those in need.

I thought it was pretty funny that there were weddings taking place at both of the churches in the festival area. I wondered if the respective wedding parties knew the festival would be taking place during their wedding - especially the ones who were trying to take photos on the steps of the church while the knights were sword-fighting on the street in front of them.

For future reference, I would recommend the festival, but only for the music. I probably wouldn't spend any time on the rest of it. I wish we could have seen Delbert McClinton, but of course the headliner is the last act of the night, which ended pretty late. One note: if you go for the music, bring your folding chairs - the stage is set up in a parking lot.

Hyundai and Sports Illustrated had a booth where they were taking pictures of people in a mock Sports Illustrated magazine cover. The kids got in on the act:






They chose their own props by the way. I wonder, is there a girls football team around here?






THE BAD
On Friday Debi and I watched the movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer on the recommendation of some friends. I have to say I just didn't get it. I didn't find it entertaining, there was no higher truth unveiled, no lesson, no moral that I could detect. It was just weird and gross. I won't spoil it for those who want to watch it, but I would suggest having a barf bag on hand. I should mention that Debi found more value in it than I, although I can't for the life of me imagine why.

THE UGLY
Football. Need I say more? The Saints and the Dolphins both played horribly. It was a huge disappointment and pretty much ruined what should have been a great football day.

A Dangerous Dilemma?

You are driving in a car at a constant speed. On your left side is a 'drop off' (The ground is 18-20 inches below the level you are traveling on), and on your right side is a fire engine traveling at the same speed as you. In front of you is a galloping horse which is the same size as your car and you cannot overtake it. Behind you is a galloping zebra. Both the horse and zebra are also traveling at the same speed as you . What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?

For the answer click and drag your mouse from star to star.
* Get your drunk ass off the merry-go-round. *

Sexodus

Sex
Ben Stein Says Craig Was Lynched Twice (click here to read). I'm pretty sick of hearing the news reports about this doofus from Idaho, but I have to agree with old Ben Stein on this one -- if the thought police can bust someone for thinking about sex, what's next for god's sake?? Shame on everyone involved.

The GOP is rife with sex scandals. It's crazy. A couple of weeks before the Craig story, there was the thing with Glenn Murphy, chair of the Young Republicans National Federation. And the then there was David Vidder and Mark Foley. My theory? This is karma's payback for the stink that the republicans stirred up over the Clinton/Lewinsky thing.

If we could get the government out of the business of legislating morality and running people's sex lives, get religion & church out of the government and get some COMMON SENSE back into our politicians, we'd be all be better off.

Exodus
Karl Rove is gone. Alberto Gonzales and Tony Snow are on their way out. They're like rats on sinking ship.

I wonder if Karl Rove is trying to put some distance between him and the Bush administration so he can hitch his wagon to some other Republican’s campaign (my money would be on Fred Thompson).

It seems Alberto Gonzales picked an odd time to resign. After all the ruckus, I wonder why he finally caved now. I suspect it was because Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were both on vacation and he wanted to deprive them of the opportunity to poke fun at him.

I suspect that Tony Snow's illness is taking its toll on him. Perhaps he's decided that he doesn’t want his last words to be some bogus Bush rhetoric.

Is the GOP going to implode? One can only hope.

Back to School

School started this week. Both girls are excited. On the occasion of the morning of her first day of school, when Amelia realized Mommy would be home alone, she said to Debi: "but Mommy what are you going to do all day?" I'm guessing Mommy will figure something out.

Art education

Now that I have kids, I often wonder why we stop drawing, playing in the mud, building forts, having imaginary friends and so on. Perhaps it's difficult for growing minds to make the distinction between childish behavior and child-like activities so both get left behind as we grow up.

I was looking for something on the Internet today when I stumbled upon an article on doodling on about.com that has some relevance to the topic. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Usually we have a limited visual vocabulary that we have at our disposal; depending on the age at which our artistic development stalled. Children learn a set of formal symbols – the face, house, sun, moon, flower, tree, bird, fish, and basic geometric shapes – that are established in early primary school. They might add more complex forms later, but rarely learn observational drawing. In the early teens, when realistic expression and detail become important, children keenly feel an inadequacy in their ability to draw realistically, and stop drawing. People who stopped drawing very early will tend to limit their doodles to repetitive geometric forms and the learned symbols from their childhood. Those that continued drawing in their teens will include more involved patterns and complex symbolic representations, while people who maintained an interest in creative expression may create intricate doodles and complete drawings.

Now, I'm not saying that kids need to have training in the arts so that they can be good doodlers when they grow up, but I think ongoing education in the arts is important. My kids may decide they have no interest in art when they grow up and that's fine - but I want it to be a choice, not just something that happens.

Pottery Sale on September 15

Interested in Pottery? Check out the Circle of Eight fall sale. No, the Circle of Eight is not a coven of witches. They are a group of very talented potters who are having their 3rd annual fall sale. You should come check it out even if you're not a fan of pottery. You might become one after attending this sale.

Saturday, September 15
10am-4pm
1225 Dade Street
Charlotte, NC 28205
http://circleofeight.blogspot.com/

Back to school

Isabel starts 1st grade today. Amelia will be starting school (4k) next week. I wonder if the first day of school will seem like such a huge milestone every year. I am filled with pride and worry. Maybe I'll write a book and call it Pride and Worry (move over Jane Austen). It would resonate with all parents and become a huge best seller.

We met Amelia's teachers on Monday. The seem very nice and capable. They assured me they will take good care of my baby. Amelia is very excited about starting school. Mommy is very excited to have a couple of hours of peace and quiet every day.

We attended open house yesterday at Isabel's school. We met her teacher. She is a new teacher (just finished her internship last year); I'm looking at the silver lining - at least she's not all cynical and jaded. Isabel has a two or three classmates from kindergarten in her class this year; it was nice for the kids to see some familiar faces.

I took the day off from work to attend the open house and hang out with the kids before school starts (last year I took the whole week off). We didn't do anything major (we were afraid of melting in the heat) but I did enjoy spending a day with them. The highlights of the day were meeting Isabel's new teacher, getting an incredible deal on some new sneakers and playing the Picnic Game (thanks to CS and H2) with the girls.

It was a good day.

Who Killed The Electric Car?

I just watched this movie and I'm so pissed off.

Why are we not all driving electric cars by now?? There are SO many good reasons that we should: the environment, dependence on foreign oil, gas prices, health issues and perhaps most importantly is that we would be able to shape foreign policy based on what's best for Americans instead of what's best for the petroleum industry.

Everyone should watch this movie and then go buy an electric car (if you can find one) or at least a hybrid.

rut row... he's in trouble

Concert Ticket = Dance Lesson

I just realized the cost of one concert ticket = the cost of dance lessons for one month for one kid.

Van Halen is starting their tour in Charlotte on Sept 27.

Bush's Brain

Regarding the impact of Karl Rove's departure from Bush's White House:

"At the risk of sounding a bit too shrill (President Bush) goes from lame duck to lame brain."

-- James Moore, co-author of:
Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential

A Day at the Beach

One of the people in my office was on vacation last week, so I had no time for random thoughts. My brain is just now catching up.

First things first -- I have a friend who works for the MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) in Charlotte who is looking for volunteers to help with the telethon on Labor Day Weekend. They need people to work the phones, etc. If you are interested, please email me or leave a comment and I will put you in touch w/ my friend.

The weather report said we are done (for now) with the temps in the 100's. Yay. I never thought I would be excited about 93 degrees.

Had dinner with Matt & Michele Friday night at Red Robin in Ballantyne. They have good burgers but it's not a good place to go if you want a quiet dinner. It is however a good place to go if you want to hear the Happy Birthday Song five times. The Finnster is 10 months old!

Had dinner at Jen's & Joey's Saturday night. The food was incredible but we were surrounded by evil princesses. Debi and I discovered we like dates (the food, not the mating ritual). Got to see the progress on Jen's kiln. It's way cool. I can't wait to see the finished product and the pots that come out of it.

I tried to throw some mugs today. It seems I was not in the zone. Everything I threw was a disaster. I think the problem was that my clay was too hard. Well, that's my story anyway. I decided to just move on to other things. I made handles for some mugs I threw a few days ago. Even that went a little wonky. Of the four handles I made, only one of them seemed to be just right. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

I finally got around to updating our football pool for the new season. For those unfamiliar, it is quite an impressive spreadsheet (MATT, WAKE-UP). To all the pool parts - I emailed it today. Let me know if you didn't get the email.

The girls wanted to take an imaginary trip to the beach today. Although it was a chilly 93 degrees, Debi and I joined them. It was quite a site -- the four of us in their little blow-up pool in the back yard. I'm REALLY glad there were no paparazzi around.

Debi and I realized we missed another presidential debate on TV this week. Even Tivo can't keep up with these debates. Anyone know where I can find a schedule of debates that will be televised?

I think we're going to the arts & crafts festival in Blowing Rock this coming weekend. I hear it's a pretty good festival (and Jen will have a booth there selling her "puffy tiles"). Anyone want to come with?

No ranting about world events for now. I'm way too relaxed after a day at the beach w/ the kids.

Peace, Pottery & Heat

Debi and the girls have been in Louisiana all week - it's been very peaceful but almost a little unnerving. I guess you get used to the pandemonium. I miss my girls and I'm glad they're coming home tomorrow!

I haven't thrown anything in a few weeks so I was happy to have some time to putz w/ pottery while they were gone. I know Jen says that every potter is his/her own worst critic, but in my case, it's all true. My mugs seem to come out too big or too small or too heavy or uneven on the top, or just oddly shaped. And don't EVEN get me started on the handles. Good thing class will be starting up again in a few weeks. Anyway, I managed to make 12 mugs over the weekend. It will be interesting to see if any of them are usable after being glazed & fired.

The temperature outside is currently 95 degrees. With the heat index, I'm guessing it's about 159. This global warming thing seems more real every day...

Remember when?

We celebrated the birthday of a friend of mine at work today. We were having cake and chatting when the conversation turned to the crazy things we used to do when we were younger. No one 'fessed up to anything majorly embarrassing (we were at work after all), but the question, "when was the last time you were naked in public?" did come up.

Not like streaking or flashing. Just like skinny-dipping and such.

What I want to know is exactly when did I transition from doing fun & crazy things to talking about when I used to do fun & crazy things? I suspect it was sometime in 2001. C'est la vie.

One day before I die though, I will return to Concord, CA to see a very dear friend of mine run naked through the sprinklers of the ball field on Cowell Road.

Design Dilemma

What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

How do we get out of this mess in Iraq?

I heard on the radio on this morning that Britain is pulling their troops out of Northern Ireland. When the troops first went into Northern Ireland in 1969, they thought it was going to be just a few weeks. It’s been 38 years. If the Protestants & Catholics in Ireland can keep a feud going for that long, just imagine how long the Shiites & Sunnis can keep it going. I don’t want the US to be still fighting this civil war in Iraq 38 years from now.

Not to belittle the progress in Northern Ireland… it’s great news that they have agreed to settle their remaining differences peacefully & diplomatically. I’m sure Bono was behind it. Maybe someday there will be a united Ireland.