Are blogs dead?

With the ability to micro-blog/insta-blogvia smartphoens right to your twitter and/or facebook - it seems like Blogs are dying.  I post 6 blogposts a year if I am lucky.

Hrm.

10 Year Wedding Anniversary Escape

I wanted to stay somewhere new to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.  I had each of our kids staying at a different friends house, and since I want them to say my firends, we were gone for just a night.  We ended up staying at the Cambria Pines Lodge.  It was a beautiful location, with a killer 3.5 mi hike in the camping area overlooking the ocean.  We tooks showers right after we checked in and had dinner with a complimentary bottle of wine at 7pm.

Our suite was killer, two rooms, two fireplaces and a deck!  Being surrounded by trees made the deck a very relaxful place after we woke in the morning.

Huge continental breakfast the next morning - this was WAY beyond any typical continetal breakfast: Eggs, bicsuits & gravy, sausage, yogurt, granola, milk and juices, potatoes, and fruit.  The room, dinner, wine, and breakfast the next morning was all in the Escape package - and this is exactly how it felt.  We got to escape together and experience a great time alone.

Afterward, we walked through at least 8 different gardens and took a bunch of pictures (I am sure Christine will post those on her FB).

Of course any visit to Cambria is not complete withoth going to Nit Wit ridge to check out this bizzare house.  We had a wonderful time.  The last time we had a great escape was at madonna inn 3 years ago.  I blogged about it here: http://josherdman.blogspot.com/2008/05/our-night-at-madonna-inn.html

My present for Danielle

Attached is a picture of the present I got Danielle after her multiple doctor visits.

Today she got three shots, her blood drawn, a TB test and then went to the hospital for xrays on her foot.

They found a hairline fracture and we will talk to the dr tomorrow to see if a cast is necessary.

As you can see in the photo, she is still so happy.

--Joshman
Sent from my Windows Phone

Pissed and Bitter

Yes, my anger does not stir easily or often, but today I am really fired up.

There is at least one rat in our attic.  I just sealed up an open attic vent this spring.  Did they find a new way in?  Did I TRAP a rat inside the attic?  I don't know.

What I do know is that I saw this rat while in the attic today and I get angry having vermin work against me.  I am tired of crawling in the attic, I am tired of attic dust, and I am certainly tired of the idea of my house getting ruined by these creatures.  I don't mind being the handyman and doing plumbing, fixing towel racks, installing new doors, and re-wiring.

Anyway, I have vented and hopefully will see some results over the next few days (ie dead rats in traps).

So early!

Time to put the turkey on! Yes, it is that big.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

From the VAULT back in college w/ roommates

While living iwth I think 3 other guys, there were always complaints as to who needed to clean the bathroom.  These debates lead to this inspiration:

The Bathroom Effort Factor - v 1.0
While taking a shower I began pondering ways to measure the amount of effor one must exert to keep the bathroom clean.  I realized that 2 key factors fall into keeping a bathroom clean:
1) The amount of work put in to cleaning the bathroom.
2) The amount of hair and dirt left behind after using the bathroom.

Upon further ponderance, I have devised a way to calculate one's BEF, or Bathroom Effort Factor.  Keep in mind that htis is only an estimate.

The first number is the quantity of hours spent each month cleaning the bathroom.  For bachelors this number is usually between 1 and 5 (very opimistic).

The second number can be estimated by the person's 'Hair Factor'.  This also is a scale of 1 -5.
1-2 -> bald, very little body hair
3 - 4 -> Average Body hair
5 -> Very hairy, usually of European Decent

With these numbers, one can calulate their BEF.  To calculate you BEF, simple divide the number of hours spent cleaning your bathrom by your Hair Factor. A BEF lower than 1 is usually unacceptabl.  A BEF of 1 is expected.  Anything over 1 is amazing!

Good times!  Darin and Matthew Laity helped me create this. We had quite fun ribbing our other roommates who had a poor BEF.

Teaching our kids about life

It is a hard thing to explain to your children about life in this fallen world.  We support a friend who is a missionary for MAF in Indonesia.  A fellow missionary in this country drowned just over a week ago, he was a pilot there serving orphans.
Tonight we explained to our children about missionaries and what their 'mission' is, we also explained orphans, and also tonight we explained to them about who a widow is.
It does something to you when you consider the loss of life.  Death happens all too often, but we know nothing or little about the deseacsed.  It is all too common a death to some anonymous person, just a statistic, and usually effects our life in no way at all.
We are keeping this family in our prayers, our children are writing letters to the mom, Katie, and her 3 year-old son, Jeremiah.
Taking his death seriously somehow helps me live for what is important, appreciate my life more and not take the time I have for granted.  I want to spend the time I have with those that I love.