Thanksgiving 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

This year I only told my younger Sister and my Mom that I was flying home for Thanksgiving. When I showed up at my parents house my mom did a great job of acting surprised while my dada truly was surprised. It was great fun for me. Jackson, Molly and Nate's 6-month old first born child, was one of the things we are all thankful for year, and as you can see most of this year's photo include him. As always a week with family was so much fun for me and actually felt like a vacation. I got the chance to visit with everyone, ate lots of Cincinnati Food (Frisch's, Skyline, Larosa's Pizza), and this year installed some new light fixtures with my dad.[more]

Home Improvement: Garage Door Control of 4 Shop Lights

Sunday, November 29, 2009

For a long time I've wanted better lighting when when pull into and out of the garage. The 60 watt bulb in the garage door opener is not only too dim, but, because it is centered over the car it casts heavy shadows and motion activated light switches don't work well with florescent lighting. My solution was to install an AC relay. The relay coil is powered by the light socket on the garage door opener. One side of the relay contacts are connected to a cord that plugs in to a 15 amp receptacle the other side goes to four receptacles mounted on the celling. With this configuration all of my ceiling lights come one when I open the garage door or close the door and automatically turn ... [There is more. Click on the title above.][more]

Beautiful Fall Colors in Seattle?!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I've found the fall colors this year in Seattle to be more vibrant than in years past. The reds are what really caught my eye a few weeks ago. They have faded a bit, but, now the yellows have come out. Being the evergreen state we won't have to look at a bunch of bare trees this winter or rake mounds of leaves, which is so very nice, and yet we still get to enjoy our landscapes punctuated with these beautiful colors. Seattle is a beautiful place to live! The first picture was edited with PhotoShop on the iPhone, the second is the picture as delivered by the iPhone camera application.[more]

2009 Walk to Defeat ALS: $21,004

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Thank you, that really is my most important message. Thank you for all of my friends and coworkers that supported the Dream Team in this year's Walk to Defeat ALS. This year we got a late start and kicked off our fundraising just two weeks before the walk and set an aggressive goal of $20K. Thanks to the support of so many generous coworkers, friends, and family we exceeded our goal and raised $21,004. We know there are more donations coming in so we expect our final total to be more than $22K. On top of the amazing financial generosity we had more than 21 Dream Team walker's this year and the weather was perfect with sun 60 degree temps. Michelle Acheson $20Doug Anderson $750Eric Blom ... [There is more. Click on the title above.][more]

World Rock Throwing by Foot Champion

Dinner with Tim, Thuy, and Michelle

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Several months ago my friends Tim and Thuy moved into their new house with big plans for a remodel. Today I saw that they have made their dream a reality when Michelle and I enjoyed a beautiful and tasty dinner on their deck. Although I didn't take any pictures of their kitchen Tim and Thuy have really transformed the kitchen from an extremely out dated cooking space to a beautiful and functional kitchen complete with new lighting, new floor, new cabinets, new counters and new appliances. However, given that today Seattle set an all time record for high temperatures Tim and Thuy setup a beautiful table on their deck complete with a snow white table cloth and a fan for our comfort. ... [There is more. Click on the title above.][more]

Utopia Limited and Seafiar Floats

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Thanks to Michelle I saw my first Gilbert and Sullivan show, Utopia Limited, this weekend. The Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society put on the performance at the Bagley Wright Theater in Seattle Center. Before the show some of the floats were lining up for Seafair under the sky walk so we took a few pictures. The shine on the wooden hydroplane is amazing, do you think they use Lemon Pledge? No pictures of the show of course, it was however a lot of fun. The Gilbert & Sullivan Society is a community theater group and as we found out at the end of the performance some cast members double ad set designers and carpenters. This was the last performance for the season, as such they ... [There is more. Click on the title above.][more]