So . . .

A Fall Frenzy

2009-11-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

Lovin' the Leaves . . .

This may or may not have been photoshopped

She's beany

Nicole's fave

Tim's Fave

Ninja crouch

Notice how she'll never look at the camera

Lovin' the crunch

Determined

the 4th: in pictures

2009-07-08T09:20:00.001-07:00

Booting on my Birthday

2009-06-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

The Timeline: June 15, 2009

1:00 pm - ate lunch at magleby's fresh - ordered doc's truck stop: bread, beef, sauce, and mashed potatoes.

1:25 pm - ate "world famous" chocolate cake

1:30 pm - felt super full.

5:45 pm - discussed dinner plans with nicole. still feeling full.

6:30 pm - hit golf balls at Eastbay. started getting some high stomach crampies.

7:15 pm - while putting on the practice green, experienced a bout of nausea.

8:30 pm - nausea and cramps starting to come with increased frequency. hands began to sweat.

9:15 pm - mouth dried up.

9:16 pm - curled up in the fetal position. began praying. drank red gatorade.

9:45 pm - dry heaved three times in the bathroom. felt a little better.

10:24 pm - laid down in bed. prayers continue.

10:41 pm - woke up with the shakes.

10:42 pm - sprinted to the toilet. began dry heaves.

10:43 pm - puked.

10:44 pm - puked.

10:46 pm - puked.

10:47 pm - puked.

10:49 pm - puked.

10:50 pm - puked.

10:52 pm - puked.

10:54 pm - flushed.

10:55 pm - brushed.

11:00 pm - back in the fetal position in bed.

Saint George

2009-05-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

in fragments

packed the car
ate turkey pesto/club torpedoes
bought a coke
bought a lemonade
gassed the car
drove to beaver
ate some ice cream
changed maci's poopy
drove to saint george
played on the play ground
unpacked the suitcases
went swimming
ate some pizza
watched basketball
found out andrea was preggers
put maci down
talked about birthing
talked about bad birthing experiences
went to bed
woke up
fed maci
went to bed
woke up
fed maci
went to bed
got up
got dressed
went to the temple
came back from the temple
ate pancakes
ate CTC (Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
went swimming
ate ramen
went to the park
played on the playground
played soccer
maci slept
went swimming
ate brats
ate watermelon
ate potato salad
watched basketball
got maci down
went to angels and demons
went to smiths
got ice cream
went to iceberg
got ice cream
ate ice cream
went to bed
got up
went to church
tended babies
played ping pong
lost in ping pong
ate steak
went to snow canyon
went to sand dunes
watched basketball
went to bed
got up
swam
packed up
went to the park
went to Port of Subs
went to In-n-Out
went back to port of subs
got gas
bought sodas
drove home
fin

The Met

2009-05-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

Losing the Forest and the Trees

on tuesday, maci and i went to new york's metropolitan museum of art.

as i carried maci and her stroller up the steps that led to the entrance, i got that pre-museum buzz again. remember tim, this is thousands of years of incredible art. you'll be strolling through one of the world's greatest collection of artifacts. this is your academic mecca, your everest, everything that makes you go 'huh!' don't waste this opportunity like you have in the past.

as we passed through the doors and into my afternoon's intellectual playground, i was confronted with the hoards. (please note well: a rainy day in manhattan + hundreds of people who've been walking around in that rain = incredibly fowl b.o.)

then, i was told the suggested price was $10. "suggested?"

"yessir, pay what you can."

so i backed off to talk myself into paying nothing. you can do it! you're just going around for a little while maci sleeps. don't feel bad--there are thousands of paying visitors. plus, you contribute to society already in so many ways: you're a teacher, you pay taxes, you've never been thrown in jail...just say you'd pay, but you're a poor father and teacher who is just here for a minute to get out of the rain.

after the pep talk, i strolled over to a different entrance--ancient greece.

"$10 is the suggested price. is that okay?"

"yeah, that's fine."

coward!

then it happened. i was bored. as we strolled through the various galleries, i found myself trying to be interested and inspired. unfortunately, i felt nothing. if someone around me posed in front of a piece, i would too--hoping to feed off the scraps of their intellectual musings. if a tour was going on, i'd listen in, believing that perhaps a guide could spark my curiosity. still, i felt nothing. then finally, as a last ditch effort, i took photographs of paintings i didn't even like only because the couple in front of me had. (i'd post them, but they've since been deleted off my camera in disgust at my sheepish attitude.)

so we left. back to the rain. back to our one bedroom hotel in queens. back to 45 minutes of watching maci play on the exercise equiptment. good bye hall of learning! and thanks for nothing!

now, as a high school history teacher, one who teaches my students that one hour in a fine museum is better than a whole day sitting in a desk, i was unsettled. why is it that every time i go to a museum, especially a famous museum, i leave disappointed?

that night i mused upon this very question in the bathroom. here's what i came up with--

if i were to take one or two of the artifacts from the met, say an Andy Warhol screenprint of Mao Zedong, and put it in my house, or my classroom, or a library, it would be a huge draw. everyone would marvel at it. an invaluable addition to any location. however, place that same print in the far chambers of the met, and it loses some of its potency. surrounded by so much, the warhol print's value changes.

so, to explain part of my boredom, i appeal to the law of diminishing returns-with every artifact i look at, my pleasure will marginally decrease.

taken alone, this shouldn't result in the total boredom i experience in museums, as it should yield at least some pleasure to start with. why the absence then?

i also try to see too much.

i secretly fear that if i don't see everything, i'll be called out for it. that is, years of industrialized education has brainwashed me into thinking there will be a test on everything academic i accomplish. did you see that incredible pollock piece? or the monet's? what about that rembrandt? i'm driven from gallery to gallery, forever unsettled by the thought of the next gallery i need to see, never really enjoying the present one i'm seeing.

my solution = limit the scope of what i choose to see, and increase the depth of what i do see.

Why blogging gives us anxiety

2009-04-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

When Nicole and I finally got our blog ready, it was one of the happier days in our marriage (ranked behind the time Maci took a three hour nap, but ahead of the time we got a free Bloomin' Onion at Outback).

Yet our new-found happiness was shattered with each attempt to post a new entry--

That's not funny enough.
No, no one really cares about that.
That's not clever enough. Maybe we should . . . No.
How about . . .? I don't know, never mind.

Classic Blogger anxiety.

But, as we learn in the Good Book, it's time to repent.

Therefore, in lieu of trying to be clever, funny, witty, intelligent, political, philosophical, ironical, ergonomical, and economical (time's being what they are), here are a few pictures of Maci.

Reasons for starting this blog:

2009-02-27T17:45:00.000-08:00

1. Show off pictures of Maci
2. Appease Andrea
3. Show off videos of Maci
4. Everyone's doing it
5. Write about the cute things Maci does
6. Brag about our many accomplishments
7. Brag about Maci
8. To keep in touch from Nashville ('Nasty-Nash')
9. Maci wanted one
10. Tim finally found a blogger template he liked