Snow Everywhere

Steve Jr. Sent me this picture of his car covered with snow. It's amazing! Snow, and freezing temperatures seem to be everywhere right now. We were watching Monday Night Football, the Seahawks were playing the Packers (in Seattle) and everyone was commenting on how it looked like Green Bay, not Seattle. I wonder how often it snows in Seattle?

At least I know how he feels! I am in Alaska right now and it was twenty-one degrees below zero this morning. That is officially the coldest weather I have ever been in in my lifetime. There is snow everywhere, even though it hasn't snowed in weeks. It's cold enough up here that once the snow falls it stays for months. It will be a white Christmas here for sure!

I have been trying to find a way to put in words what this temperature feels like. Before I came up, I was asking people what twenty below felt like and no one could describe it to me, other than to say, "really cold!" I think I finally found an appropriate metaphor:

Walking outside when it is twenty-one degrees below zero is like going into a walk in freezer . . . naked!

Problem with Google Video

I've been trying to embed this Video in a humorous post to my blog for several days now. Over several days I have tried to get Google Video's "post to blog" function to log into the Blogger site. It fails every time.

Given that Google owns both sites you would think that they would work together. I even upgraded my blog trying to get this to work. No luck, it still fails.

I even looked at third party websites to try to figure out how to embed the video on my own. YouTube does this easily. YouTube gives you the code to embed a video right on their web page, Google video does not. One Point for YouTube - Google Zero.

I hate when faulty technology gets in the way of a good joke. Shame on you Google, get this functionality fixed!!

Floyd Pettis Passed Away Last Night

(Floyd or "Papou," far left, enjoying a serenade from Tonya on his 85th Birthday)

We just got word that Papou passed away early this morning. It feels a little sudden, the doctors seemed to think he was doing well. We are in shock, it's such a tragic loss. He is in a much better place now.

Thanks for the footprints you left on our lives Papou . . .

We are all Sick!

(Madison talking to Elmo on her telephone this morning)

This is my first Moblog post in a while. It stopped working over a month ago and I gave up trying to fix it. I finally went back and deleted and recreated the relationship a couple days ago, and so far at least I'm back in business!!

We are all sick. I'm getting a cold, Nicole and Madison have had it for almost a week now. We are staying in and laying low. One good thing is this has given me plenty of time to make progress on my new buisness venture. I'm going to be a multi-corporation CEO! I can't wait.

No Second Life for Me

My graphics card is too old, apparently:


Time to run the uninstaller . . .

What is "Second Life?"

I wondered what is this Second Life thing that has my Dad, and many others, so excited about.

Today I stumbled across this article and found out:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/11/13/second.life.university/index.html

Wow, more:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/7ba1af8f3812d010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

I can see how this could be very interesting . . .

Home Burglery Alert

From:
http://sloanfamily.blogspot.com/2006/11/home-burglary-alert_13.html

Canna Lane, San Jose, CA

This information is here in case anybody has a similar incident and goes to do a Google search on the subject.

Our home was broken into today, Nov. 13, 2006, between 10 and 11:30am. Here is what we know. According to witnesses, the burglars were driving a silver/grey Jeep Cherokee. Winesses said, there were three burglars, two white males in their late teens to early twenties and a black woman about 23-26. The witnesses said the men had a green back pack and were carring a white plastic garbage bag.

According to the witnesses the woman had a tattoo on her neck. They said the men were of slight build and appeared to the witnesses to be possible gang members. If you see anybody who matches this description please call the San Jose Police Department.

This is in regards to case 06-317-0585. I had computer, camera and podcasting equipment stolen. My wife lost jewlery and other items.

Sunday in Pictures

Sunday evening George came over and we celebrated his birthday. It was a lot of fun. We got him the book, "90 Minutes in Heaven." It is a great book, I highly reccomend it.

While we were relaxing, Madison decided to model her new mittens and hat. We got them at Old Navy when we were in San Francisco on Saturday.

Zoe took a turn modeling the mittens too!

Madison helped Papou blow out his birthday candles!

Relaxing around the fire. We had a great evening!

Sunny Day in San Francisco

(Having Lunch at Mels Drive-in)

Saturday we went to San Francisco to pick up some pillows we purchased on Craigs List. We also wanted to check out the Moscone Center and the surrounding areas. Nicole is attending a christian women's conference there in March. It was a rare sunny and warm (For SF) day and we really had a great time. We walked all around the Moscone center and Nicole got a good feel for what is where. Near the Moscone center is a Mels Drive-in and we went there for lunch. There were no actual drive in spots though, it was just a normal restaurant. After lunch we went over to Union Suare and walked in a few of the stores. The Disney store was definitely Madisons favorite.

Getting our Properties Closed

(One of the three homes we purchased in Alaska)

We have almost closed escrow on our three homes in Alaska. These last few days have been hectic getting all the lender conditions and requirements met. It's stressful enough doing one purchase, but three at the same time has been very crazy. I am looking forward to next week when this phase is over with. Then I can focus solely on getting the future tenants needs met and make sure the move-ins go smoothly. Two have been turned already and we only have one more to go. It's going very well and Nicole and I are very thankful the Lord has provided us with two great partners already.

I will be returning to Alaska for two weeks after Thanksgiving. It will be nice to get back and get everything handled. One of the homes needs carpet and paint and I will be supervising that work while I am there. I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit when all this is done. Unfortunately as soon as I get home I have my Real Estate final and a few days after that I take the state real estate exam. I don't think things are really going to calm down until around Christmas. What a quiet, relaxing merry Christmas it will be (I hope)!!

A Busy Weekend

We had A busy weekend. Friday we stayed home and relaxed. Saturday I cleaned the house, mowed the yard, and did some homework. Then we went over to Nicole's grandmothers (Yiayia) house for dinner. Nicole's Aunt Marie is out from Pennsylvania helping Yiayia with Papou. It was nice to see them, but it is hard with all of the things going on with the family. Papou, her grandfather, is still hanging on. They are feeding him some, but the feeding tube has been removed. It's a hard time for the family right now, and it was hard being there last night.

Today we got up, made a huge breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast) then went to church. After church I went over to Kathy's and painted her new chimney cap. It was bare steel and needed to be sealed before the rains came. I rented a 24 foot expansion ladder and had to extend it almost all the way to get to the top of the chimney. That was a little nerve racking, but I got it done. I then came back home and did some studying for my upcoming Real Estate Exam.

Then tonight we went back to Kathy's place to celebrate Nicoles other grandmother's (Carol) birthday. It is the first time Kathy has been able to entertain in her new place. Kathy made us a great dinner and a homemade ice cream cake for dessert. Tonight Madison was super wired and there were no toys there for her to play with. So of course she got into everything she wasn't supposed to and got into a lot of trouble. I have never had to scold her so much in one night! I think I felt a little taste of what my parents had to go through with me when I was that age.

Gabby & Brian come over as well and Brian helped me set up the last bedroom in the house, the master bedroom. The place is really starting to look like a home. It is almost finished. The last room that has work still in progress is the master bathroom toilet & shower closet. The contractors should be done and gone by the end of next week. It can't happen soon enough for Kathy. This has dragged on so long already. We were laughing tonight because we realized she has made four house payments already and only lived there a week and a half!

A Wonderful Gift

(The four of us pose with the painting in Kathy's new house)

While Kathy was in Venice Italy last month, she bought four original oil paintings. Tonight she suprised us with one of them. The scene in the painting is a gondola floating down one of Venice's waterways. All around are colorful buildings with flowers spilling out of the windows. It is a beautiful piece of art and we have proudly hung it in our living room.

A quiet rainy Friday

Nicole and I are watching a movie. The cell phone and work is quiet. This are going well with our Alaskan properties. It's a rare quiet day around here. It's a nice change of pace.