Yes, I'm a slacker

I know, I haven't posted a blog update in a long time. I'm a slacker, at least some things don't change!

However I haven't forgotten about the blog, or where I want to go with it. But first things first, I need to finish what I started!

I put the Love Dare on hold not because I didn't want to do the next step or that the step itself was too hard. What is hard is making a nice dinner for two when you have three kids and a puppy around.

Add a serious lack of Grandparent time (I knew I should have waited until they retired to have kids) and you have a looooong waiting period. So long I gave up.

Coming soon: Love Dare Day 18 (the dinner for 2.... plus interruptions)

Home Movies

I haven't forgotten about the blog (or the Love Dare for that matter), I just have been really busy.

I have fixed the computer in the basement, allowing my kids access to the internet and their I-pod libraries. I finished the garden in the front, and the grass seed in the back. And I have finally started to work on creating digital copies of our home movies.

The Macbook does this really well, though it isn't the fastest process at times. I need to play each video on the camera itself with a Firewire cable hooked up to get it onto the laptop. Then I need to cut, edit, format, and save the video clips into appropriate sized video files.

But after all that is done, I simply upload them to Facebook for anyone (that has access anyway) to enjoy. I'm almost done with the last 2 years of videos, more to come as time allows!

As for the Love Dare, someone needs to volunteer to watch my kids for a night. How am I supposed to cook a romantic dinner with those 3 around? (No suggestions that involve duct tape please)

Memorial Day at Metro Beach

I have needed to get out riding for a few weeks now, but never seem to find the time when it isn't raining. There is so much work to do around the yard I always end up doing that instead of getting in shape (though one could argue that yard work does get oneself in shape).

Thankfully my brother Mike came to the rescue on Memorial day and dragged me out of the house to hit the trails. Since we haven't ridden this year we kept to the paved kind, easier in theory but not always in practice.

We decided to park a ways out and ride into Metro Park and back, however Mike didn't remember where he parked the previous time he rode in. We ended up parking several miles further out than we had planned to, adding about 3 miles of uphill and into-the-wind riding to our trip (and an easier 3 miles on the way back). But there are worse things that can happen, the picture above is the line to the admission booth of the park.

That line extends about 3 miles back down 16 mile road, not to mention the side roads lined with people waiting to turn into the line. In the hour that it took us ride from the back of the line all the way to the furthest most point in the park and back to entrance to the park, the cars that were at the very back of the line when we started were only just then getting within site of the entrance booth.

And the park was PACKED, not the place to go on a holiday. Glad we were just there for some exercise.

"V" Returns to TV

I didn't think that anyone would ever try to resurrect V after the less than stellar first TV series. Not that I didn't enjoy watching it as a kid, but it didn't measure up to the mini series it was based off of. It is no surprise that it was canceled after just one season.

The new trailer looks fairly decent, it seems that ABC isn't going to short end the budget this time. From what I can tell this is a "start from the beginning" remake, so we won't get to see the resolution of the cliffhanger at the end of the original TV series only season right away. If they take the same direction that is, and of course assuming that it survives long enough.

I'm hoping it can fill the Sci-fi void in my viewing habits left by the cancellation of the Terminator series. (Not too happy at Fox about that one)

Bella the Beagle

Last summer when our cat Jack died we talked about getting a new pet when we were ready. Six months later we had decided on getting a dog, and everyone wanted a puppy.

We started looking into it in earnest about 6 weeks ago, and after a few bad experiences with pet rescue agencies we decided to simply buy a puppy.

Bella is currently about 4 weeks old and in another 4 weeks we can bring her home. She is a Beagle, so training will be a long process, but otherwise we expect her to be a perfect fit for our family.

The backyard has been prepared to resist most escape attempts, and we have a cage and dog beds ready inside. Now we need to teach Austin to keep his toys put away, though a few of those lost to puppy teeth may prove to be the best learning method.