Wesly's Blog

Moving to a New Web Site

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Sunset at Grande Ronde Lake July 4, 2010

I'm going to sunset the ol' blogspot blog and continue the "sporadic thoughts" at a new web site. Blogger has been good to me and a part of me doesn't want to leave it, but Wordpress has got a decent editor app for android and I've been thinking of setting up my own site for a while. Then I stumbled across a domain name I couldn't pass up, so here we go. I hope to see you at http://wesly.org.

Sea Painting

2010-11-11T22:24:00.001-08:00

Angie suggested a family painting time this afternoon. Here's what I painted. It's not necessarily done, but A) I ran out of time, B) I'm not sure I can bring myself to do any more to it out of fear of ruining it. We'll see.

I can't think of when the last time I painted, but I'm thinking over half my lifetime ago. Thanks for twisting my arm a bit Angie.

The Breakfast Gathering

2010-10-29T08:09:00.001-07:00

Yup, word has spread. Nothing left of breakfast but a few crumbs. You've got to get up pretty early if you want breakfast around here.

Dog

2010-10-28T07:35:00.001-07:00

Dog was on the ball and beat Tigger and Stegosaurus to breakfast this morning. Word has definately spread though...

Word is Starting to Spread

2010-10-27T07:18:00.001-07:00

Word's getting around that there are tasty viddles at the breakfast table in the morning.

Tigger Strikes Again

2010-10-26T08:21:00.001-07:00

What to do when Tigger gets to the breakfast table before you and drinks your milk?

Tigger

2010-10-25T08:43:00.001-07:00

Don't you hate it when Tigger gets up before you and eats your breakfast sandwhich?

I'm Not Cold

2010-08-07T16:23:00.001-07:00

I've heard various complaints about the weather this summer. Yo know like, when is it going to start. I mean, sure, I don't think we've turned on the A/C once this year. And sure, it's raining on me as I type this. But my kids, they aren't complaining. We just busted out the bigger pool and started filling it up with cold water, but they insisted on getting in now. When asked if they're cold, the answer is, "I'm not cold."

Backpacking Planning

2010-07-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to going backpacking for a couple months now. Especially whenever I look at some of Angie's backpacking photos from previous trips we've had to the Elkhorn Mountains. They are located in the Blue Mountains near where I grew up in northeastern Oregon.

Angie and I are planning for a two or three night trip sometime in August to the Elkhorns again. Anyone interested in coming along?

Qik - Fun Cleaning Grandmas Pond by Wesly

2010-07-03T16:24:00.001-07:00

Shubb Capo

2010-06-21T04:46:00.000-07:00

This post is for the guitar players. Here's a picture of my Shubb capo from a few weeks ago. A certain little girl who shall go nameless used it for a teething ring last year. The rubber got all chewed up and the cap on the screw got lost. The Shubb was a great capo to have for use on my electric guitar when such a need arises. You can apply just the pressure you need without making your strings go out of tune.

So recently I was looking to get a new replacement capo and was considering getting a G7th because of a recommendation from a friend. But then I saw the price and wasn't so excited. So I planned to get the tried and true Shubb. Before I pulled the trigger on a new one, I decided to visit their web site to check over their products. Much to my surprise, I found a replacement parts page for Shubb Capos that had the two parts I needed to fix up my old one for a dollar each with no shipping and handling--outstanding! I ordered them and within a few days I had my old capo fixed up good as new.

Solar Update

2010-05-14T16:59:00.001-07:00

So our plans for solar seem to be stumped. We have some trees that block just a tad too much light for us to qualify for a rebate. Since those trees are in an environmetnal protection zone, we can't touch them (without spending around $10,000 on a review process). So in other words, our attempt to go green are thwarted because we're so darn green around here.

Solarize Me!

2010-05-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

I've thought for a long time that it would be cool to have solar panels. I think, with Solarize SW Portland, it just may happen.

Angie

2010-04-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

Dearest Angie:

You are beautifully crafted masterpiece; wonderfully created. You are a loving, patient and generous wife, mother, and friend. For these reasons and many more, I celebrate the day you were born.

Happy birthday!

Flowers and...

2010-03-07T22:40:00.001-08:00

I like this photo.

DROID

2009-10-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's getting harder and harder to resist getting one of them there fancy phones.

Oh, and Google's making life difficult for all those GPS navigation systems.

Visible Grace

2009-10-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yeay, an updated Visible Grace website.

Quaterly Posting?

2009-09-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

I'm I really only blogging once per quarter? Well here, take this: two posts in one quarter!!!

Hon

2009-09-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

My daughter calls me "Hon", short for "Honey". Angie calls me that all the time and Adaya has picked up on it. Ack!

"No Adaya. Daddy's name is 'DAD-DY'."

Lost, Disoriented

2009-07-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'm lost, drifting through space, with nothing to orient myself. What kind of a world is it when
Gmail is not beta.

The Stations of the Cross

2009-04-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

Our community group has adopted four stations for Ethnos Church's Stations of the Cross event. It's been fun working together and using our individual strengths to prepare our group's stations.

December Snow Fun

2009-01-27T21:36:00.000-08:00

OK, today's snowfall reminded me that I had some snow photos from December to share. First, there's this photo of the mountain I conqured.

OK, the tree in the background gives it away, it's actually a six foot mountain I made in our driveway.

Next, we have a snow cave that we were able to make on our deck. It was built into the two foot high drift we had there. Josiah thought it was cool and was involved in building it for a few minutes, but then he got cold and wanted to go in. However, he informed me that I should stay out for "ten minutes" and continue building.

Text Birthday Party

2008-12-23T22:42:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to my beautiful wife who organized a birthday party on my cell phone today. Thanks also to all who sent me a text.

One

2008-10-21T21:17:00.001-07:00

Here's my little sweetheart at the park the day after she turned one.

Steps

2008-09-21T01:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Adaya took her first few steps. She had just woke up from a nap and was too groggy and interested in what mommy had gotten from the store to realize that she wasn't holding on to anything as she took four or five little steps. Well, after a couple steps, she was holding on the the grocery bag, but that wasn't providing anything beyond phsycological support.

WES rail car debuts in Wilsonville

2008-06-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

You'd think that if they're name a rail car after me, they'd at least run the thing by my house.

June-uary

2008-06-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

This June is cold, but don't take my word for it.

R2-D2 Projector

2008-05-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

In case anybody is wondering, this is on my wish list now. Make sure you watch the video.

Father's day is coming up soon...

The GrooveSpot

2008-05-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

One of my most favorite groove-meisters has started a blog.

Dinosaurs ready to take a bite out of Oregon Zoo

2008-03-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

Josiah's going to love this.

The Best City to Have a Baby

2008-01-21T22:47:00.000-08:00

Here you have it--Go Portland!

Fretless Bass

2007-11-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Last week I had a bad case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), which resulted in me picking up this new-to-me bass. I've wanted a fretless bass ever since I tried one out about 5 years ago. The sound of a fretless just sings to my heart like nothing else, but I haven't been in a place where I've felt like it was the right time to have one, until this deal came up.

Here are some of the vital stats:

Zon Custom Sonus 5 string fretless bass
Redwood Top
Ash Body
Phenowood Fingerboard, partially-lined (lines only extend under the B string), custom extension (28 frets on the G string side)
Graphite Neck
Bartolini Single Coils and an NTMB preamp (9V)

What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft?

2007-11-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

If you've used both Gmail and Hotmail, read this. It is pretty much right on--and hilarious.

One Way to Have Fun

2007-10-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

One of the ways Josiah likes to have fun these days...This time he actually untied them himself.

Big Brother

2007-10-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

A very strange thing has happened very recently. Josiah has suddenly doubled in size--or so it seems. I guess it is just in comparison to his little sister or something, but man he just seems way older and bigger all of the sudden.He has been very cute towards his sister. This is a picture when he came with his grandparents to visit on Tuesday. He was very excited and gave her a little kiss.

We've been having to deal a bit with transitioning with this life change. Actually, it' probably got as much to do with the fact that Josiah hadn't seen much of his dad for five days. I spent most of today with him, building railroad track, playing and working outside, going to the park. We didn't even let the few sprinkles of rain bother us.

Home From Hospital

2007-10-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

We're all home from the hospital--happy and well. Here's a shot of Adaya (ah DAY ah) in the recovery room.

Adaya Lee Smith

2007-10-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Adaya Lee Smith was born October 16, 2007 at 11:51 AM. She weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces and measured 20 inches in length.

She and her mommy are doing well.

Todd Johnson and Kristin Korb Jazz Concert

2007-09-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

A couple jazz musician friends of mine are swinging through Portland and are going to be performing on Sunday, September 30 at 5:00pm in Hillsboro at Our Place Christian Church. The concert is free with a pass-the-hat type offering.

Our Place Christian Church
1400 NE 48th Avenue
Hillsboro, OR 97124

Todd's site: http://www.toddjohnsonmusic.com/
Kristin's site: http://www.kristinkorb.com/

Brave Boy With Clean Teeth

2007-09-21T10:51:00.001-07:00

Today was Josiah's first visit to the dentist's office. He was a little nervous about the whole thing, but was super brave sat in the chair, went for a cool ride up and down, and opened his mouth the let the hygienist "count" and clean his teeth. He's got 10 on the top and 10 on the bottom by the way. It took a little more effort for him to open his mouth for the dentist, but he did it.

Lunatic

2007-08-28T02:20:00.000-07:00

It's 2:20 AM, do you know where your wife is? Mine is outside looking at the moon. No, she not a lunatic, she's just trying to get some good photo's of the lunar eclipse.

Knight Rider

2007-08-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Chris has brought back some memories. He posted a YouTube clip of the intro to Knight Rider. As an eight to twelve year old boy when the show was in it original series run, I loved it. I admit it, I got chills down my back when I just watched the intro. I'm sure if I watched a show now, I would get a major laugh at how lame it was, but man that show was cool when I was kid.

It also brings back memories because my Grandpa Corcoran was the one to introduce the show to me. As I recall, I was staying over at Grandma and Grandpa's and he said something like "Have you seen this show? It's got some car." It's one of the more vivid memories I have of him.

Fun Day

2007-07-28T03:25:00.001-07:00

Angie and Josiah came and visited me downtown today. We had lunch and then went to the riverfront. Josiah and I ran through the big fountain--being careful not to get too wet since we were both fully clothed. Then we checked out the view of the river from the Hawthorne bridge. Josiah likes bridges. But alas, I had to go back to work.

Tonight we were all hanging out in the front yard on our new bench swing and then Josiah and I started playing catch with a tennis ball. It was the first time we've played catch with anything smaller then a rubber bouncy ball.

God blesses me so much through my family.

But Where Was I?

2007-07-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

As Josiah gets older, his questions get more difficult to answer. The other day we where looking at an engagement picture of Angie and I. He said, "Look, it's a picture of mommy and daddy." I said, "Yup, that a picture taken before we were married."

"Where am I?" he asks.

"You weren't born yet."

"I was in mommy's tummy?"

"No, you weren't even in mommy's tummy yet."

"But, where was I?"

Pandora Podcast: The Guitar Riff

2007-06-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

I've posted about the Pandora Podcast before, but I just have to mention that they've got The Guitar Riff up. Rock on!

Anniversary

2007-05-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Angie and I have been married 8 years today. Too bad I feel too stressed and busy from work and other commitments to enjoy it much. I'm stressed out just trying to find some place for us to go for our getaway this weekend. I love this woman very much though and look forward to what the next 8 years will bring.

It's a GIRL!

2007-05-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Angie had an ultrasound this morning and we know that it is a girl. I'm pretty darn excited about that.

Amazon.com to Launch DRM-Free MP3 Music Download Store

2007-05-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Oh Yeah. I've been waiting for to Amazon to sell individual songs in downloadable MP3 format.

Mixing Sound

2007-04-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

I've started mixing sound at Ethnos. Tonight was my first full night running things. It's been fun and interesting and a tad bit challenging. Challenging because there are quite a few things to remember, starting with hooking everything together. There are a lot of cables that need plugged into the right places. There's also quite a bit to be thinking about during the service as well. But it's all been fun and a good change.

All in all, I would rather be at the source making the music, but this is a very close second.

Oh, and thanks goes out to Joel, whose been a good teacher.

Why?

2007-04-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

I knew this time would come. I've been dreading it for years. I knew I was not blessed in some special way that would allow me to slide around this particular cruel joke of human nature.

Josiah has entered into the stage in his life where he asks "why" to everything.

"Why is that car parked there?"

"Because our neighbors parked it there."

"Why?"

"Because they didn't have room in their garage I guess."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

Aaahhhh!!!

OK, I haven't really been dreading it that much, but I thought my blog needed a little drama. It is interesting how "why" is starting to just become a default response.

"Josiah, do you want some ice cream?"

"Wh--yes."

Cellus Phonus

2007-03-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I took a step into the late 20th century yesterday and purchased my first cell phone. We've had a family cell phone for a year and a quarter that mostly would stay with Angie, or more specifically in her purse in the car. We decided to get one for me because I'm going to be going out of town for a week in a while. Probably more important than that though, it confused people too much that Angie and I shared just one phone. ;O)

Kitchen Party II

2007-03-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

The second Portland/Vancouver Kitchen Party for Musicians and Singers was a little shorter for me since Josiah was at his grandma's and I wanted to go out on a date with Angie that night. I had a good time though. My guitar chops were a rusty feeling though. It seemed like just about the time I started to get a feel for the song, it was over.

The surprise for me was when I picked up the djembe (drum) that Angie gave me for Christmas (and made by the talented Dave Keetah). It was the first time I'd played it in a live setting with other musicians. It was just really enjoyable because I didn't have to put as much thought into it. I could just settle into a nice simple groove and just enjoy the song.

2 + 1 + 1

2007-03-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

Josiah seems to be into math these days. If you ask him how many of something there is, instead of saying "four", he'll say, "Two and one and one."

The Pandora Podcast

2007-02-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

For those who are interested in finding out more about various element of music, I've found the Pandora Podcast to be pretty interesting, educational, well produced, but way too short. You can learn more about techniques of drumming, vocal harmonies, vocal recording and guitar effects for example. Being in an audio format is great because you can hear examples of what they're talking about. Plus, there are more resources on the episode web pages.

It's been useful for me as a guitar player to get more insight into areas I might not be so familiar with on the specifics. With each episode being eight or nine minutes long, I alway find myself wanting more when it's done.

Snow, For a Minute

2007-02-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

I just saw a bunch of tiny snow flakes blowing around outside my office window (on the 14th floor) a few minutes ago. They probably didn't even make it to the ground, but they sure looked cool flurrying around in the partial sunlight.

Kitchen Party

2007-02-18T21:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went to the Portland/Vancouver Kitchen Party for Musicians and Singers. I had a good time. I met some interesting people and played along with my electric guitar and later with my bass.

I'm looking forward to the next meetup and also just seeing where this goes.

Marriage Course - Night One

2007-02-06T04:20:00.000-08:00

Last night was the first night of a marriage course Angie and I are taking. Like most guys, a marriage course isn't on the top of my list of fun things to do, but I do recognize the important of working on marriage. A good and healthy marriage doesn't just naturally happen. Usually, once I get there, I enjoy the process anyway.

Anyway, tonight I learned that Angie has me pegged. We were supposed to go through a list of sixteen items and pick three that matter most to yourself, then pick three that matter most to your spouse. Angie picked all three that mattered most to me, while I got only one of Angie's top three right.

The Smith Quad

2007-02-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Dave informs me that I'm approaching his 1 month without posting rule. So I'll break the silence by introducing the hottest new blog on the Internet. My sister in law has started up a new blog. I'm very excited about it because they live far enough away that I don't see them very often.

Rings!

2007-01-04T00:21:00.000-08:00

I saw Saturn tonight through the telescope Josiah and I got for Angie for Christmas. We don't have enough batteries to power the little computer to find things for me and I haven't done much research on where to find things yet so it's pretty much just random roaming for me. Anyway, I was just spending some time tonight looking at what I think is the Orion Nebula and then went to look for something else to look at, found a star that looked somewhat bright, and was a bit surprised to see that the "star" had rings. I put the higher power eye piece in and sure enough there it was, shining in all it's glory. There are some spectacular images out there, but there's just something about looking directly at a something like that live that is way cool to me.

Desert Star

2007-01-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

Here's first draft on a tune I'm calling "Desert Star". It makes use of the E-Bow Plus I got from my Mom for my birthday to lay down the ambient background. Thanks mom!

More details about the tune are available on the ODEO page.

She Says, He Hears

2006-12-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

A few minutes ago, out of the blue Angie says, "Hun, I think you're smokin' hot."
I hear, "Hun, I think you're smokin' pot."

Interesting how one consonant can change the whole meaning of a sentence.

eMusic

2006-12-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Sweet! I had a small birthday part at Angie's parent house tonight. I got a gift subscription to emusic.com from them as a birthday gift.

Thanks Tom and Dorothy!

Jazzy Tune Preview

2006-12-19T20:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a little tune-in-progress that I'm working on. This is not a complete tune by any means--it needs a bridge section for one thing. However, I wanted to get what I did have out here to share. I was partially inspired by recent posts by Chris and Troy of their work, I've also wanted to share things I'm working on for a while now too.

All in all, this is a bit jazzier then I usually tend toward, but I tend to associate jazz with Christmas and well, that’s where my mind was.

More details can be found here.

powered by ODEO

First Family Worship With Josiah

2006-12-05T00:38:00.000-08:00

It was Josiah's first time in family worship at Ethnos Church on Sunday. I think he enjoyed it as well as can be expected for a new environment with a bunch of people around and after picking him up from his nap and throwing him in the car to drive there. The grogginess was just about wearing off as we left the gathering.

I was blessed to have him with us as we gathered as a community. It was a bit distracting having to attend to him while listening to the message, but worth it.

I really appreciate that Ethnos makes the effort to invest in kids as a valued part of the the church community.

Ava Grace

2006-12-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

We saw Ava Grace Lindgren for the first time on Sunday. She's so precious.

I can't even imagine that Josiah used to be that small.

The Tree

2006-12-05T00:21:00.000-08:00

We got our Christmas tree up on Sunday. At December 3, it is a record for us in how early we got it. It's also a record for height at seven feet, three inches, and that's after I cut 4 inches off so we could fit the star on top. Of course it is a bit of a wall flower, but that back side sure fits well against the wall.

And We're Back

2006-11-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

We're back from the other (NE) side of the state. I have to say I'm quite disappointed in the snow fall. I was hoping for blizzard conditions, treacherous mountain passes, and more importantly, being stuck over at my parents for an extended stay. No such luck however. There wasn't even a full inch of snow at my parents house. There was some packed snow going over Meacham in the Blue Mountains, but it was well plowed and sanded so it wasn't too exciting for someone who grew up in that sort of stuff.

Oh well, I had a fun time over there hanging out with family. The Smith Men watched the new Bond film. Pretty good--a different kind of Bond, but still good. Don't get me started with the whole "it's when he become 007, but set in today's time" thing though.

I visited my grandma while there too. That was quite saddening for me. She's been slowly deteriorating mentally for several years, but has taken a big turn for the worse recently. You can't really have a conversation with her now. The words sound like they make sense as they come out of her mouth, but they just don't add up to a complete thought.

Thanksgiving Trip to Eastern Oregon

2006-11-25T16:57:00.000-08:00

I'm reporting from a few miles north-west from Haines, Oregon. We've been visiting my family for Thanksgiving.

I helped poor a couple concrete walls on Wednesday. That was pretty fun and well, Josiah likes anything that involves trucks.

We had a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning. We went up to "The Timber" (the property my parents own in the mountain foothills) to look for some more snow to play in, but didn't find much.

Well, Angie and I are going to leave Josiah with grandma for the evening and go on a date, so I better wrap things up.

Fat Lip

2006-11-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning with a fat lip. Guess I must have done something to make Angie mad at me last night and she popped me in the mouth. ;-)

Josiah's Halloween Costume

2006-11-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

Here's Josiah's Halloween costume...on Angie!

Visible Grace Video

2006-11-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

I've been informed that I should link to the Visible Grace Video. I was going to do it anyway--I was just a little slow.

By the way, nice job with the video Ciara.

No Fence

2006-10-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

My fence has been taken down and it sure is wierd looking around here. It's also wierd to look out the downstairs office window and see cars driving by. Troy and crew made pretty quick work of demolition. Let's hope they're as good at building. ;-)

Cars! Josiah's First Movie

2006-10-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

We took Josiah to his first movie in a movie theater over the weekend. Well, I think it's safe to say it was a hit.

As a little background, we got Josiah a book of the movie "Cars", which has been a favorite. When Angie asked him what kind of a birthday party he wanted, he said a "race car" party, referring to Cars. So we thought it would be good to take him to the actual movie before his party.

So we took him to Valley Theater and had pizza there too. When I walked in with the pizza I saw him sitting in the over-sized chair that was about to eat him but he had the biggest eyes that were just glued to that big screen. He got so into it at one point that he was squealing and jabbering with excitement.

All the way home and until we finally got him into bed he was just jabbering about the movie. I've put up a little audio I recorded here for those who are interested: http://www.pacifier.com/~smithw/audio/Josiah%20Reviews%20the%20Movie%20Cars.mp3

The Visible Grace Calendars Are Here!

2006-10-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

In case you aren't familiar, Visible Grace (formerly known as GRACEworks) designs calendars each year with an African Safari theme- drawn by children in Portland, Oregon. This is a GREAT opportunity to help Visible Grace- those donations really add up!

If you would like to buy a calendar, just go to www.VisibleGrace.org and click on 'buy a calendar!' in the top right corner. The information is a little out of date (it still says 'GRACEworks'), but it is all correct. You can follow this link to PayPal to buy a calendar for just $12. A small part of this cost goes to PayPal and to postage. The calendars will be mailed to you.

Music, Science

2006-09-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

One of the things I like about music is how mathematical it is. You can describe so many aspects of it using math and science. There is theory to describe how to put something together that "sounds good". That order and structure and way of analyzing in order to understand really appeals to me. But the best part is that music transcends all of this to be something so much more beautiful and meaningful than numbers, formula, and all understanding.

I think the whole universe is the same way. I've always been interested in the physics of things. I've been getting into astronomy and cosmology as of late and I'm just intrigued by the how things are work on a large scale. Dark matter, dark energy, black holes? Wow. But, better than all that, it does work and in just a way so that we can all live. Not only that, but things looks pretty spectacular from my limited, little perspective.

I Don't Need to Work Anymore

2006-09-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Josiah saw me getting ready for work and he said, "Don't go to work Daddy." I told him that I needed to so I could earn money to pay for things like our house. The ever astute Josiah, who had noticed that I had a few coins in my pocket said, "Don't worry Daddy, you have money in your pocket."

Why Geeks are Freaks

2006-09-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here's an article that I think is pretty insightful.

We are different to other people. So very different.
And why is this? What is it that makes us different? And why is this dangerous?

The short version is that geeks dig it when something doesn't work right because they get to dive in to the guts of the system to figure out what's going on.

Just a few minutes ago Angie sent me an email, obviously annoyed, because one of her applications wasn't working right. Her reaction was that of frustration because it was hampering her ability to do what she wanted to do. When I've run into the same problem on the same application before, my reaction was more along the lines of, "Oh, that's not right, let me see here, what can I do to fix...maybe here...oh yes that got things back. I wonder why it did that. Is there something I can do to hack together a fix so it won't do that again? I could report a bug, nah; maybe there's something I can change in the registry..."

Sorry Daddy

2006-09-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Josiah has been learning the proper usage of saying "I'm sorry" lately. We made a day trip out to the beach today and Josiah said, "Sorry Daddy, sorry Daddy!" as he crawled through my sandcastle pummeling it flat. Somehow I didn't get the feeling of a repentant heart there. Oh well, I guess we'll just start with using the words at the right time. Maybe the next step is to teach him to wait until after he's finished.

Bass Playin' Fool

2006-09-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

I played bass at Westport Church out in Hillsboro this morning. It was good to play since I haven't played the bass anywhere for nearly a year.

I was filling in for their bassist who was out of town. I'm going to be playing a bit for them here and there for a while because they're a little short of bass and electric guitar players. I'm really excited to get a chance to play electric guitar because that's where my passion has been lately. I will say though, that it has been fun digging the bass out, dusting it off, and straping on that big slab of wood and letting the low notes rumble out. I'll get plenty of chances to play bass because I understand their bass player really likes playing electric guitar as well, so I want to make sure I give him a chance to fulfill that desire.

It's kind of an interesting story how I got connected with Westport so I'll try to give the condensed version. I'm subscribed to a email group called ChurchBass that has around 500 bass players on it from around the world. A message was sent out a few weeks ago that a church in Hillboro needed to borrow a bass amp for someone who was filling in on bass for them. I replied that I had one to borrow so that's how I got connected to Jamie, their Director of Worship Arts. The funny part was that the bass player turned out to be Todd of Ethnos fame.

Christian Musician Summit

2006-08-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

I want to go to the Christian Musician Summit. Which is funny because a couple weeks ago I had totally convinced myself that I didn't need to go this year.

Oh well, I've got until the September 8 early bird registration cutoff to change my mind again.

Blog Update

2006-08-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

I've switched my blog over to the new Blogger Beta and given my site a little facelift in the process. It's nice to see some new features out of Blogger.

Big Truck Day

2006-08-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

I took Josiah to Big Truck Day today. Imagine if you will a strange universe where there are kids everywhere and they're all climbing into big trucks of all kinds to honk the horn.

Josiah and I spent about 15 minutes in a school bus. Every time I asked him if he wanted to get out he said no and then said something about "the school". It took me a while to figure out he was waiting for the bus to take him to school.

A B C D E F G

2006-08-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

You know how you just get songs that pop into your head? Sometimes I get a song and I think, "That's an interesting song to just pop into my head." Well today at work I realized that I was silently singing the alphabet song to myself. Ahhhhh!!

The dangers of fatherhood.

National Night Out

2006-08-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

Our street had a National Night Out party today. It's nice to meet some of the people that I don't run into much.

We had two different police visits. Not because we were being rowdy mind you, but because it was an official National Night Out party. We were all bummed that a fire truck didn't come visit us though.

My Name is Daddy, Josiah

2006-08-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

So Josiah has learned my name and has started calling me by it occasionally. It's usually something like, "What you doing Mama, Daddy, Wes?" He sometimes gets a little confused about who he's talking to after spending all day with his mama.

This morning I was in the shower and he told Angie that he was "looking for Wes." It's pretty funny as long as it doesn't become a habit. I told him he better never ever call his mom "Angie".

History

2006-06-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

My parents have been getting pretty big into the history of the area in which they live in Baker County. OK, sometimes I think they're going a little nuts over it, but I do think it is pretty cool. I may not be nearly as interested in it as they are at this point in my life, but I still think it is a good thing to be interested in and to dig into. They've been doing all sorts of research--digging into newspaper archives, interviewing people--and documenting what they find. Anyway, I just wanted them and anyone else who reads this to know that I think they are way cool.

I'm also proud of my mom for volunteering and currently being the president of the Eastern Oregon Museum.

Robert Fripp - Behind the scenes at Windows Vista recording session

2006-06-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

At first, it seemed odd to me that Microsoft would go to the trouble and probably decent expense to get Robert Fripp in the studio to record sounds for the new version of Microsoft Windows (Vista): Robert Fripp - Behind the scenes at Windows Vista recording session

But it starts to make sense as I pondered what Robert Scoble points out:

I was sitting in the studio listening to Robert Fripp a few weeks back play for hours. Why? To find one 2.5-second clip of sounds.

Why take that effort? Cause that sound will play trillions of times over the next decade.

Althought I'm not a huge Robert Fripp fan, I do recognize him as an excellent source for putting together soundscapes.

Anyway, this combined two of my favorite subjects to be geeky about (music, technology), so I had to post.

Tagging with BlogThis! - Freshblog

2006-05-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Oh, I found a blog full of hacks for blogs. I'm lovin' it. Warning, technical geekiness to follow.

So now I'm monkeying around with adding categories to my blog. Of course it would probably just be easier to switch to a blog host that supported categories, but what's the fun in that.

Filed in: Tech, Blogging

Mothers

2006-05-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

They deserve at least this.

Easter Egg Hunt

2006-04-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those "good" days. Had a bunch of friends come over to our house. We offered it as a staging area for the Alpenrose Dairy Easter Egg Hunt. It was good to have a bunch of friends over and have a mess of kids running around the house.

My Electric Guitar Setup

2006-04-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

Chris asked about my guitar setup, so I thought I'd lay the basics out here.

I started with a Fender Texas Special American Strat, and added a L.R. Baggs X-Bridge (a piezo pickup) to get a pretty convincing acoustic guitar sound. The X-Bridge signal goes to a DTAR Mama Bear to pre-amp, neutralize piezo pickup unpleasantness, and add in acoustic guitar emulation as needed.

The Strat's magnetic pickups go into my DigiTech GNX4, which is just crazy all by itself. Sometimes I refer to it as my semi-portable MP3 player.

Anyway, I then mix in my piezo/Mama Bear signal into the GNX's line inputs so I can have straight acoustic sound, electric sound, or my favorite: the acoustic/electric blend. It's pretty fun and almost too flexible with all the tone-tweaking possibilities.

The signal currently is just going into my bass amp/cab--a Fender Bassman 60.

So no tubes--at least not yet...

New Blog

2006-04-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

My boss's boss's boss's boss's boss has a blog now. The main thing I derive from this is that I have too many bosses above me.

April? What Happened to March?

2006-04-04T22:56:00.000-07:00

I'm slacking at this blog thing. What's that, you already knew that?

Let's see, my wife Angie has started a blog and it's much cooler than mine--it has a lot of pictures.

Josiah started swim lessons yesterday. He's learning how to blow bubbles under water and kick his feet. I'm starting to get caught off guard once in a while about how he is growing up. We visited friends this evening who just had their fourth boy. Seeing their baby reminded me how itty bitty Josiah used to be. Then, I look over at Josiah and he's running around playing with their other boys and having conversations. Well, psuedo-conversations anyway. One was talking about "army men" (which came out something like "em-en") and Josiah thought he was talking about M&Ms.

Playing in the Sand Box--In February

2006-03-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

Playing a little catch-up here...
Josiah likes playing in his sand box and it doesn't really matter to him that it's raining outside. Since it matters to Angie and I, I rigged up a tarp under the deck stairway above his sand box. Now everybody's happy.

Snow in Portland--In March

2006-03-10T20:28:00.000-08:00

So I heard Wednesday afternoon about a "blizzard warning" for the Cascade mountains and saw snow level of 1000 feet and thought, "That's nice. Too bad I won't see any at my house." Well by morning the snow level dropped to 300 feet and voila--there was snow. Here's a shot I took yesterday morning before it started warming up.

I knew Josiah would be excited so I delayed going in to work. When he woke up I took him to the window and he said, "Hey, snow!" After about a minute of him listing off all the things that had snow on them, he said, "I need my boots! I need my hat! I need my jammies off!" Unfortunately, I had to go to work, but he got to go out with his mommy. They built a snow man, a "Snow Mommy", and a "Snow Josiah."

Accomplished Through Grace

2006-01-29T15:56:00.000-08:00

I led the singing and music this morning at West Hills Christian Church. It went pretty well I thought. Unlike in my earlier post, this is definately one those areas of my life were I have never had any visions of being good enough. Yet somehow, God manages to take my humble offering, inadequacies and all, and use it for His purposes.

Good News For Josiah

2006-01-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

I ran across this blog post. I'd say most of these apply:

Top ten reasons Geeks make good fathers

Savoring the Last Lick

2006-01-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

"If only my tongue would reach the bottom of the bowl."

The Great Insult

2006-01-15T01:04:00.000-08:00

I read an article called The Lion, the Witch, and the Great Insult a while back. It responded to a critic of the movie "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" who said that "Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion." The author, James Tonkow, said this:

This notion that we could want or need divine help is treated by Toynbee as a huge insult. Perhaps surprisingly, I think she understands a truth that eludes most Christians: the Christian Gospel is, in fact, the Great Insult. Our human spirits loath the Christian message because it offends our pride by demanding that before accepting Christ, we accept that we are spiritually and morally corrupt and impoverished.

and..

No wonder Toynbee is offended. I'm offended too. I'd prefer to think of myself as talented, capable, and at least a decent person, if not actually good. I want to accomplish what I can and receive the credit before God and other people. I suspect that you're that way too.

Yes, I'm that way too. I've always tried to be the best person I could be, and thought I was a pretty good person. Somewhere along the line however, I guess I realized that the best I have to offer falls a bit short on God's measuring stick.

Let's Get This Thing Rolling

2006-01-15T00:49:00.000-08:00

OK, so I've been interested in this whole blog thing, and I actually started one over a year ago. I got a whole two posts in. Woo-hoo.

Anyway, just about everyone at Ethnos has a blog now, so I wouldn't want to be left out would I?