First Paid Gig

Last night  Arin and I went to see The Blue Tropics.  (kind of a jimmybuffettish calypso island band.)  I work at the DOT right next to Del their drummer.  He wanted me to come and record their shindig last night at the Harmon Center here in Yakima.  After all of the hard work running the sound at church (a strictly volunteer ministry position where the sole purpose is that the Word of God is amplified and understood clearly,)  I got PAID to record a band I enjoy listening to anyway.

Arin and I are taking a totally awesome trip today with our church to go see the Mariners  lose again, so my parents are spending the weekend watching Maggie for an extended sleepover.  So I was able to take Arin along as my assistant last night, and we sat together and listened to some fun music.  When I get a chance to take her on a "Date Night", I go all out.  I thought she would be kinda bored, and want to go home, but she enjoyed herself and it was nice to just sit and relax without the responsibility of parenting.  Every parent  needs a night or two like that every once in a while.

Pre-Memorial Day Picnic

Saturday we had a great time having a barbeque at the Golbeks. We had Volleyball, and kids all over the yard. Maggie wanted to make sure that she didn't miss out on any of the fun. We had a great group of friends and really great barbequed chicken. I haven't played Volleyball like that for a long time, and had a really fun time. (This morning I am not hardly sore at all...I attribute some of it to Wii Fit :) )I haven't heard from any of the other guys, but I assume they had to be more sore than I was.

Later that afternoon Arin had the brilliant idea of getting out water balloons, and our nice little picnic became an all out war. These nice, sweet, cute little kids turned absolutely evil with the thought of getting a dad soaked. If we actually tried to fight back feelings got hurt, so one by one we each had to "take one for the greater good". MY LITTLE ANGEL was the only one that could be coaxed into being somewhat mature about the whole thing and demonstrating love for her father. Once we convinced the boys that it was us against the girls, their loyalties shifted and we taught them the fun of heavy artillery with the use of high powered water balloon launchers. All of the dads were a little wet after the smoke cleared, but I insist that we won the battle.

We all had a lot of fun and is something that I don't want to wait for another holiday to do again.

Mark's new "Game"

 

My long anticipated game Wii Fit came out last Wednesday.  (Sorry about the semi-political ranting last time.)  It is totally cool!!  the balance board really makes you do all of the exercises correctly based on your center of balance.  I think I could really gain quite a bit from the yoga portion because I am not flexible AT ALL!!  it really helps me to make sure I am standing correctly and not cheating.  It makes it kind of tough though.  there is also a "Strength Training" portion, which I was a bit skeptical of.  But with controlling your center of balance, it makes you do them correctly,  so it uses your own body weight for the workout.  I wasn't sure how effective it would be until I did a set of torso twists and then jack-knife sit-ups, and my stomach was sore the next day.  I was petty surprised on how it all really worked.  I also found out how uncoordinated I am when I tried to follow along with the step aerobics.  maybe I need to work harder on that, just for the coordination.

It also has some balance games like slalom skiing, ski jumping, and hula hoops which are all pretty fun.  It gives you your BMI, and then you set a goal to work for.  according to my BMI, I need to lose 15 pounds, and I'll see how that goes.  it said I have lost 2.5 pounds in the 4 days I have been doing it, but time will tell (and using a REAL scale to confirm it) how accurate the balance board is as a weight scale.

all in all I am having about as much fun as I thought I would with it, and maybe like the rest of Americans with it, it will get me to even do some basic exercises I should be doing normally.  I'll write in periodically telling how my Wii fitness is going.

Trying Windows Live Writer

This is just a test to see if Windows Live Writer will post a picture well.

what an interesting smile huh...

 

I hope this works...

-Mark

Just here to vent against Nintendo

This is not really a "hey look what's going on with the family", it is more of a "COME ON!!" post...



As many people know, Arin and I are part of the Nintendo Wii phenomenon, and one of the games i have been looking forward to for 6-8 months, Wii Fit, I thought was supposed to launch today. so I went to Best Buy, which by the way was the only place I could still pre-order a copy, and put up my $5 for a deposit, and patiently waited for 5/19/08 to roll around.



This morning I couldn't find my wallet before work, which should have been my first sign that something was awry. So I went to work without my wallet, and just a book of checks for get my long awaited video game. Lunch finally rolled around, do I took off to Best Buy. I grabbed my receipt, and the little reminder card THAT SAID PICK UP MAY 19 2008 mind you, and walked in. I went up to the customer service counter like the instructions said, and the guy went back to get my game for me.

I watched him as he walked up empty handed, and began to tell me that Nintendo pushed the release date back to Wednesday 5/19, so I had to wait TWO MORE DAYS!! I now have a feeling that I know a little bit more about how the Burmese people feel, having to wait for food and aid. My issues may be a bit of a smaller scale, but it is still frustrating.

I really hope that Nintendo gets with it and actually sticks with a scheduled release date so people who have pre-ordered items and expected them in a timely manner recieve them.

I told you htat this blog may have some geeky and non-news worthy posts, and this shall be one of them. Thanks for letting me vent!

Helping with the Sprinklers

I had last Friday off, so I was able to go and help my Dad put in underground sprinklers, while my Mom tried to keep Maggie occupied... a job that I think that she kind of enjoys. I had no idea that before I got there, that a few days earlier, Maggie was trying her hand at being an inspector. She never left him alone and made sure she knew exactly what was going on every step of the way. WSDOT here she comes!!

She makes sure the contractor knows what he is doing...
Double checks it...
and even stays behind and look over the plans herself...
After looking ast the plans, a good inspector "talks out the work plan"
then "Watches him like a Hawk! Testing the soil compaction, and making sure everyone knows the inspector is watching your every move!!
And then the ever so famous... I'll just watch you work and make sure you're doing it right...

I am glad to see that Maggie is interested inlearning all kinds of new things, and it is so mych fun to watch her learn and "get involved." Like I said, she would fit right in at the DOT.

I am so proud of Arin!!

Arin went and did the Bloomsday Run last weekend with a bunch of women from church, and had a great time. I am so proud of her that she set out a goal and achieved it. I know that 7 miles is a long way, and to see that she put her mind to it and do the whole thing is really awesome. It is always really cool to see Arin follow through and do something that means a lot to her. I don't want to steal anything away from her or her experience, but I just wanted to let the world, (or just the little corner of the world that may care...) how proud I am of her.



Meanwhile, I got to spend the weekend one on one with Maggie having a great time. I had to go out and replace our wheelbarrow, and started building it while she took a nap. I was about half way done when she woke up and was so excited to help me "build a wheelbarrow" she learned how to use a ratchet and a wrench. you know,what every 2 year old girl needs to learn.






Then she wanted to ride around in it, and so i figured that the only time that the tire would be clean enough for in the house was now, so we made passes through the house in the wheelbarrow.


This is fun daddy's way... I love the days I get to have off and spend with Maggie, it's a real blessing.

It's been a long time...

I was looking at our blog, and found that I set this page up the weekend after we found out that Arin was pregnant with Maggie. I was at a men's retreat, and called her to see how things were going at home, and she told me the news. That morning the guys all went for a hike and I smashed a penny in one of those machines at the steam engine train station we visited. (a very nerdy collection I have) and that is my favorite penny souvenir that I have in my collection.

I just thought that it was funny that I started thinking about starting a blog about a smashed penny collection after I found out I was going to be a dad, and now it is maybe going to be about the point of view from a dad.

I'll see how this goes.

I MAY be good at updating it, then again, it may be a couple of posts and that's it. but I'll try. this may just be my spin on what our REAL family blog from Arin talks about, but with a slightly different angle. again, I'll see how this goes...