The young lady at the picnic (Updated)

I recently got my hands on a digitized copy of my grandpa Henry's home movies. There's no audio, but I'm still fascinated by video evidence that my dad, aunts and uncles were all once hyperactive children in short pants. My late grandmother Dezzie is seen wearing a dress and high heels...on a family camping trip. It was the 60's. Apparently REI hadn't been invented yet.

Then there's the ward picnic -- which looks pretty much like every ward picnic I've ever attended (just different hair styles). As grandpa Henry pans across the proceedings -- he paused on a young mother with her two little boys. Grandpa didn't realize it at the time, but he was looking at the future grandmother of his great-grandchildren.

She's in our thoughts and prayers.

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Update: William Wordsworth, the English poet, expressed truth when he wrote:

   Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;

       The soul that rises with us, our life's star

   Hath had elsewhere its setting,

      And cometh from afar;

   Not in entire forgetfulness

   And not in utter nakedness,

       But trailing clouds of glory do we come

       From God who is our home.

Ardythe has returned home.

How would you do the national anthem?

Melis' and I discussed the Backstreet Boys' rendition of the national anthem at Game 1 of the World Series last night in Tampa. I thought it sucked, like everything else performed by the Backstreet Boys.

I told Melis' that if asked, I would perform it straight up. No vocal flourishes or hip-hop doo-wop.

Melis' said if she was asked to perform it, she would politely decline.

Question: How would you perform the national anthem?
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Update: Patti LaBelle's rendition in Game 4? Ugh. She made the Backstreet Boys look understated in comparison.

Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist

Back at BYU, my roommates and I enjoyed watching Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist on Comedy Central. It's been off the air for a long time now, but I happened to find some clips of it the other day on the internet. It still makes me laugh.


Brian Regan




and the late Mitch Hedberg

Family man minus family equals...

...a lonely slob.

Melissa and the kids are in Pendleton visiting relatives. I'm about to leave my office and plan a sensible dinner...for one. I've got it narrowed down to a bowl of Cheerios or a bagel. I'll probably go with the bagel, since finger food minimizes the pile of dirty dishes I've accumulated in the kitchen sink. In that vein, I'll drink the milk right out of the carton too.

OK, I'm starting to gross myself out.

Melis', don't worry, I'll swiffer up a little before you guys come back home.

Reminder: I really don't know what I'm doing

I inadvertently wrecked the blog this afternoon -- I'm not really sure how. For a few minutes, all I could see were lines of HTML code straight out of the Matrix.

I pressed forward in complete ignorance and was able to recover everything except our old tie dye background. Fortunately, tie dye is never in short supply here in Eugene. As you can (hopefully) see, I was able to find some more.

Please let me know if something appears wonky on your side.

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Update: The old tie dye is back!

Travis the (very) casual baseball fan

September 17, 2007.

That was the last time I watched a complete major league baseball game. The Phillies beat the Cardinals 13-11. The Cards fell way behind early; they didn't even score a run until the 6th inning. If I had been at home, I would have changed the channel. But I was actually watching the game in Busch Stadium, Section 235, Row 3, Seat 20. The Cards made it exciting in the end, nearly becoming the first team in history to come back from an 11-run deficit.

Discounting my evening in St. Louis, I have had only inadvertent contact with the sport (i.e. I tune to Fox expecting to find the Simpsons, only to find a baseball game?! Doh!). But my apathy has apparently cost me the opportunity to witness a wonderful story.

The Tampa Bay Devil Ra..., er, I mean the RAYS, are one win away from going to the World Series for the first time in franchise history. You may think, "They got rid of the Devil -- of course things are going better for them." But their success is attributable to more than simply cutting ties to Satan. Based on my casual half-listening to sports talk radio, the Rays have been joined by Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria, and she has been hitting homeruns like crazy. Here's the story (Though they obviously messed up the photo -- that's definitely not Eva).

Good for her, I say.

We are not crooks!

Yesterday morning we ventured up to Thistledown Farm just north of Eugene for some family photos by April.




We borrowed a couple of the Farm's pumpkins as props, and then returned them when we were done. As we loaded the kids into the truck and prepared to return home, an employee aporoached and asked us if we had paid for our pumpkins. We told her we didn't have any pumpkins. She was skeptical, "My boss said that she saw you loading some pumpkins into a cart." We assured her that while we had used a couple in some photos taken on the premises, we had returned them when we were done. The employee's lingering suspicion was clearly apparent in her expression. Melis' even offered to let her search our truck. The employee declined, and walked away. I believe she still thought we were pilfering pumpkins.


Melis' and I were really stung that somebody would even suspect us of thieving pumpkins.

(For the record, the four pumpkins on our front porch were all lawfully purchased from Thistledown last week.)


Anyway, I had to just get that off my chest. I feel much better.

Sometimes, even Beaver fans can be funny

A few seasons ago, some cheeky OSU football players thought it would be fun to get drunk and steal sheep (details at the link -- yes, the sheep's sexual orientation was apparently an open question among OSU scientists). Duck fans cracked wise, and even employed some arts and crafts.

Well, the Beavs have since won a couple of Civil War games and are ready to reciprocate




Nicely played Beaver Nation.

The Economy

I'm informed that the economy currently stinks. The markets are falling. Financial Panic. Government bailouts. Bankers lining up on high ledges. Monkeys working in restaurants. These are the bleakest of times.


Or so I'm informed.


Whenever I'm tempted to let the performance of my financial portfolio determine the level of my happiness, I remind myself of Jim and Mae Braddock -- or at least how they were portrayed by Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger in Cinderella Man. If you've seen it, then you know what I'm talking about when I say we really don't have it so bad. If not, go watch it and get a little perspective on what "hard times" actually means.



Jim Braddock was a boxer by trade, but he was a family man at heart. His willingness to sacrifice for his little family during the Great Depression (the real bleakest of times) is an ennobling story. Upon seeing a guy happily offer part of his only meal, a slice of bologna, to his hungry child after toiling at the docks all day -- I'm not as quick to start freaking out about a bad week in the stock market.


These are the times when we simply chuck our investment quarterly reports in the trash and go admire the autumn leaves with our family. It then becomes easier to appreciate the little wooden sign Melis' placed above our kitchen sink -- "It's a Wonderful Life."

She's TWO!

We went to Grandma & Grandpa's last weekend and decided to celebrate Taeg's B-day while we were at it. There were lots of cousins and food, what else do you need for a good party? Here are some pics.

I decided to try my hand at domestication. Leslie and my Mom made this cake so I could frost it on Saturday morning. I have since learned that I did NOT inherit any crafty genes from my Mom. They must have all gone to Robert because he was really getting into it. This cake would have had a crystal ball, glass slippers, and a diamond necklace, if I had left him in charge. I told him he should start building houses out of cake and forget being a general contractor. CAKES... now that is where the money is!!!

Taegan got more into opening the presents then I thought she would. She loved all the attention.

Some cousins got her a cap gun and you can tell who was 'really' interested in this gift.

Grandma Stoddard made a very cute poncho.

Robert, Heather & Derek got Taeg' this Barbie fishing pole. Taegan and Grandma were testing it out. I think the only bite they got was from Uncle Jeff (they were using a plastic donut as bait).

This is what my nephew looked like when I left on Sunday.

He is turning in his mission papers and got a haircut. He is looking old and responsible now. Don’t comment on the man purse in the first photo, it is a touchy subject for him. I will just hope he gets sent to Italy or some where that thing will fit in!

Ty's new blog

My younger brother Tyler has added a blog to his site -- I've added it to the blog list, or you can just click here.

You'll note that Ty's site is very crisp and cool, that's because he's a "Mac guy." He has some Mac program, probably called iSomething, that makes everything look very nice. I, on the other hand, am a nerdy PC guy who wears glasses. I don't have an inferiority complex (even though Vista is so terrible that I had to "upgrade" to XP), because I can do something Mac guys cannot - right click!

So there.

What would you do for your dog?

I saw this story yesterday out of Florida -- Greg LeNoir saw his rat terrier, Jake, being attacked by a shark and decided to intervene:

''I clenched my fists and dove straight in with all my strength, like a battering ram,'' LeNoir, 53, said Sunday, reliving the frightening ordeal. ``I hit the back of the shark's neck. It was like hitting concrete.'' ....

Lenoir added: 'We have no children. Jake became our child. When I saw the shark engulf him, I thought, `This can't be the end.' ''

Discussing this matter with some friends last night, I conceded that I would have just averted my eyes and let Jake become fish food. You see, one reason I'm a "cat person" is that they generally don't get into situations that require me to beat up a shark.

My friend grew silent and then, while gently stroking her chihuahua, solemnly declared, "Oh, I'd jump in and save my dog."

Question for Mom (or anyone else): would you face down a shark to save Herbie?