Ghost Town

Coming in on a Friday before the holiday weeks when the roads are icy was probably not the best use of my time. The place is a ghost town. Usually this is full of people and lots of hall conversations. I can actually hear myself think. I don't like that. There are voices in my head and they tell me to do things I don't like to do (well, sometimes I like to do them). I guess its just me and my friend, Lenovo T61.

Jack Handey Christmas tip...

From Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts:

"Most people don't realize that large pieces of coral, which have been painted brown and attached to the skull by common wood screws, can make a child look like a deer."

A blog that is worth a regular look at...

I know a lot of you already know about this blog but I found this about a month ago and love it. It's definitely worth a look.

www.failblog.org

Chuck the Yuck

Who are these 3 lovely ladies? Why they are the people behind a new business called Chuck the Yuck. Its a local Portland based business with a unique item for sale. I am friends with Heather (the one in the middle). But see all three of them from time to time at our kid's sporting activities.

Check it out and see if this is something of interest to you. www.chucktheyuck.com

Congrats, Thomas!!

Our company recently had vendor discount fair where employees could go and look over and potentially buy items for Christmas or whatever. They had numerous drawings for items that included a Blackberry Storm, Zune Player, Blu-Ray Player, Dell Laptop, Gift certificates, etc. Well, look what our good friend Thomas, scored.... A Spud Tote bag!!! Good win, Thomas!! Be sure to congratulate him when you see him.

Timmyopolis turns 1000!

Ahhh, to be a professional blogger. The highs and lows. Being on the top of the world with the parties, the action, the money, the limelight of being a star. But on the other end, waking up in a dumpster with nothing but a glove on your foot and a burlap hat at a Wal-Mart in Iowa.... It's all part of the life of blogging. Either way, Timmyopolis has made 1000 hits. The thing that stumps me is some of the countries that have visited it. It used to be just the US but ever since Google Search knows about it, other countries have made the hits. Question is.... Who and why is someone searching for Timmyopolis? I wish I knew. Sure, a search could make a hit based on the content of Timmyopolis. But I like to think that the world is excited to hear what I have got to say.

Coors Light Scavenger hunt

Hey Ray, Did you find all of the beer bottles that were hidden in your house during your birthday party? Careful, its a loaded question because you really have NO idea where they all are. I bet it will be past a year before you find them all. Have fun and happy hunting!!!

Brennen Kleinkind Brennen

My subject title is Burn, Baby, Burn in German. Probably not even close in translation but the words are correct. Anyway, I showed you a picture of a Dodge Ram on fire on Hwy 30. Now, Patty sends me this picture on her walk to Starbucks in the Bethany area. It is a Mercedes on Skycrest Parkway. What on earth happened? My Guess? Someone was riding the brakes for so long that it caught on fire. We had a neighbor in my old hood that did just that in an old Volvo and parked it in her garage. End result was a burned down house.

Timmy's Theorem of Sandwich Making

Another Simple Theorem: A Sandwich will ALWAYS taste better when made by someone other than yourself.

Why is that? If its made at a sandwich shop or if its made in your home. Eating a sandwich that someone else makes just plain tastes better. I first thought it was my poor sandwich making skills but over the years, I have heard this more than once from others.

Cheesy Cheescake Factory

Had a family outing at the Cheesecake factory and ran into this. It is hard to see in my crappy picture but the guy standing to the left is some sort of a security guard. There is another one as well standing near the center behind a pole (click on the picture to see it better). They were in suits, Sunglasses and Earphones. They were watching a large group of people at the same time we were there. They just stood there and were constantly surveying the area. One of the female guests got up and went to the rest room and one of them followed and the other security guard took the other guards place. No one and I mean NO ONE knew who these people were. The servers asked and would not get a response. Based on rumors and other gawkers, it came down to two things.... Someone thought that one of the guests was an actress in Twilight. The other guess (The one I beleive) is that this is some joke. If no one knows who these people are then they probably don't need body guards. Cheesy.

Gotta Blog Log

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For those of you who have written me, I do realize I am 3 days behind in updating my blog. I do have things to write too. Work has got me consumed both day and night and have not had the time. But, to you loyal fans, I promise to get updates this week. Fair enough?

Happy Birthday, Ray!!!

Ray Turned 40. (Ray is in the background. I am the good looking guy in the front. That leaves Patty by my side).

Jill was kind enough to invite Ray's "friends" over to their house for a celebration. A lot of people from Ray's work group were there including Ken the anti-blogger and a lots of others including me. We had a good time. Sadly, there were videos. And judging from hallway responses, it seems to be spreading like wildfire. I hate the video revolution! And Tom Niemela :)

Anyway, Happy birthday buddy!!! Thanks for the invite, Jill!

Eggstra Large

Wow. Look at that Ostrich egg! One of my ladies, I beleive it was Pip, pushed out something that is absolutely hard to even fathom. That egg is massive! We all felt sorry for poor little Pip. Sometimes we get a big egg here and there but we have NEVER seen anything even close to this beast.

How Sweet it is....

Want to know a business that is recession proof? A business that does not see decreases in sales because of a bad economy? I found one. Apparently, the Musical instrument business is one of those recession proof businesses. I bought some racks for my mini home theater from www.sweetwater.com. They are a large on-line retailer that sells everything related to the needs of musicians (Guitars, amps, electronics, sound rooms, etc). Everything. Anyway, they call me up time to time asking me if I need additional things. I got one of those calls yesterday. I said nope but did ask him how business was in this bad economy. He said it was as busy as ever. He also said, "As long as there is copper to steal, the music business will continue to kick tail". Wow.

Don't Likea Ikea

Well, it is not that I actually don't like Ikea. The prices are good and the products are unique. Its more of the nightmare of walking through the never ending maze with LOTS of opportunities to buy more stuff you don't need. And lets not forget the assembly part. Getting a bedroom set for the kids can be an all night affair.

The founder, Ingvar Kamprad grew up in a farm called Elmtaryd in the county of Agunnaryd Sweden. What do those letters spell? Oh yeah, Ingvar is the 7th richest man on the planet too.

He has a great quote: "To design a desk which may cost $1,000 is easy for a furniture designer, but to design a functional and good desk which shall cost $50 can only be done by the very best."

Finally, We ride!

Well, we finally did it. After 3 agonizing months of no riding, Ken and I made it to our favorite ride spot. Pete's Quad was in the Shop, Billy wanted to watch the Beavers get spanked and who knows where Ray was but it did not stop us....Ken and I made it. Here are a few pictures I snapped. Ken Standing on the log is Row-boat. Ken is washing his hair at fish farm (I have no Idea why he did this but I tried it right after him and it felt pretty good). And the one lone picture of a bike is me waiting for Ken to penetrate into Picnic (Which he never did and left me hanging).
We later found each other back by the camp-site.

We name these trails on our own. It is the only way we can keep track of where we are going. It works well until you run into others out there and they have no clue what you are talking about. Example.... We were talking with some guys who were talking about a trail called crossover. After considerable discussion on where that was, we discovered it was our version of Petey.



In addition, because of active logging, one day we can can be riding some great trails and the next day, it is completely gone. Rest in Peace Rooty, Rutty, Routey, and Dead-End.

Sign of good things to come?

Is this an omen or what? Ken and I went dirt bike camping Saturday and Sunday. The Brown Subaru is a marker we use to get to one of our favorite campsites deep in the woods. We call the road, Subaru. Sometimes the gates are closed and we cannot get to to this site. We never know till we get there. On the way to the camp we run into this little problem with a new Dodge Ram on Highway 30 just outside of Scappoose. Well, I beleive it was a sign. A green light if you will, telling us to head to Subaru. Guess what. The gate was open and the campsite was waiting for us. Special thanks to the people who caught their truck on fire for us. I appreciate it.

Proud and Embarrassed

Proud of my sister and embarrassed that I am so lazy. My sister, Leta ran the Seattle Marathon on Sunday. She came in 12th for her age division! She tells me this "I didn't have a great day but I can't complain too much. I started well but hit the "wall" really early -- at about mile 10". Well, Leta, your brother gets tired running out of gas for his truck! You claim that you ran 24 minutes slower than you wanted but your brother is definately impressed and proud!! Well done, moo-moo cow! (inside joke).