Disney 2007: Day 3

My boys holding their prized Micky Mouse Suckers.

...with their prized Micky Mouse suckers standing in front of Boo's door. I didn't realize how big those doors to the people world really were. (The exhibit opens in Spring 2008)

This captures the steam train and the big Micky Mouse Head planted in the front of the Main Street Terminal.

I really like how this turned out with no flash while waiting in line for the Indiana Jones ride. I love the colors and the lighting that gets drowned out when you use a flash. The silhouettes added a nice frame. (unplanned)

Here is my son battling Darth Maul at the Jedi Academy. He was chosen to be one of the dozen or so Jedi Padawan students. While in training Darth Maul and Darth Vader crashed the party and tried to make all the younglings join the dark side.

My son defeating Darth Vader just a few minutes after learning basic light sabre technique. Fortunately none of the Padawans joined the dark side and together they caused Darth Vader and Darth Maul to retreat. Thus my son graduated from Padawan school!

California's Golden Arches. The lighted Golden Gate bridge guarding the entrance to Disney's California Adventure.

Disney 2007 Day 2

You may recognize this signature landscape. I am fascinated with how realistic they made things look, even though the materials were significantly different than the things they were made to represent. Great artistry.

I decided to take some video with my digital camera as we rode on Thunder Mountain Railroad--more perspective photography/videography that I enjoy .

The front side of Cinderella's Castle was decked out in glowing icicles and shimmering snow on the roof. I love the cool, blue glow. It also reflected nicely in its moat.

Disney 2007 Day 1

The backside of Cinderella's Castle from the line to Peter Pan.

Tarzan's Tree House, had a path taking you way up into the life-like man-made tree where you ran into a cougar and saw a little bit of Tarzan's history. Then the walkway takes you back down to swing on ropes among other interactive activities.

Disneyland was decorated beautifully for the holidays with Christmas lights all over main street. Christmas music played through speakers along the street. A very nice touch.

"It's A Small World" was decked out for the Holidays with passerby's surrounded with calming Christmas music (Taken without a flash).

A closer view of the the festive "Small World." This ride was also changed for the holiday with Christmas decorations everywhere! "Jingle Bells" was mixed in between the 'It's A Small World" lyrics...well orchestrated. This ride really gets picked on, but in reality it is a very impressive exhibit.

Christmas Music

Here are some samples of some of my favorite Christmas music. The Blenders (another, often, a capella group) have great arrangements, range, and blend.

I also really like how well the sound is mixed on the recordings. It seems to capture the full blend, frequency range, and depth of their voices. From these clips, their live performance is well mixed as well.

They are quite talented. You can hear more samples from their website: http://www.theblenders.com/main.html

What are your favorite Christmas artists/songs?

The Highlight of Last Week

Now that I've recorded some of my experiences and thoughts about the storm we had two weeks ago, I can go back to regularly (or regular random) scheduled programing with lighter topic mixed with occasional contemplative posts.

My kids never fail to surprise me. They do things I would never think of...yet when you realize their reasoning, it totally makes sense. You can read this last week's unique experience by meandering down the Moss Grove Wildlife Trail Head...

The Unexplainable Impact

The crazy storm two weeks ago and the week-long+ after math left a very significant impression on me. How quickly things can change and how fragile things can be and how human behavior is affected by significant disruptions and threats to one's basic needs. I learned to respect the power of nature and was left to rethink my priorities. I definitely want to be proactive about any potential threats like that again.

I also learned how mindful Heavenly Father is of our needs. Miracles are witnessed everywhere through this storm--mercy echoes through every aspect of this storm from the storm to the protection from the storm to the lessons learned through this storm. I realized the significance of the word "Father" when respectfully referring to God as our Heavenly Father.

I'm sure I will have more contemplative moments reflecting different things that soaked into my mind and heart from the storm. But hopefully they will be helpful to you. Although I fear its almost impossible to understand the full impact of an experience like this without actually living through it, I hope some of the stuff I have said or will say about it will help someone else be better prepared and apply the experience to their lives.

I have much better respect and empathy for those who endured similar and worse experiences than I did.

You can also read about how it affected others--and see more pictures--by reading recent posts on some of the blog links listed in my Trail Heads links.

The Daily Astorian Photos and Stories of Wind Storm

http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=155&TM=49321.75

The Hurricane Unknown to the World, Day 4

Wednesday, December 3, 2007

7:30am. The wind storm is officially over, but the power is still out almost everywhere (even some of the power is out again where they had it going last night,) phones are still out. The utility crews are working hard. You see trucks everywhere--its quite reassuring.

The telephone company discovered four breaks in their fibre optic cable ring that connects us to the outside world. The fibre optic ring is designed so if it breaks, the signal goes back the other way, so service isn't disrupted. However with the four breaks, both routes were cut-off.

The kids have been troopers through it all. Even though there is no school for the rest of the week and they get antsy, they are actually better behaved with the power off! Although at night they tend to get more impatient with the power outage.

Off to work.

6:00pm. The challenge for work today was how to process payroll without power. We were determined to make it happen this week even if we had to write the checks manually. Direct Deposit is out because that has to be submited online two days before payday...which would be today. Our payroll clerk is calculating time sheets with an abacus...Ok, actually its a plain calculator.

One of the group homes bought a generator with some of their savings so we decided to try taking the server to that group home and entering payroll in the accounting system with the generator power. We took the single-desktop computer uninterupted power supply (ups)to regulate the unsteady power from the generator. It worked amazingly well!--and the battery back-up was useful more than once. Payroll went much quicker than the nightmare thought of doing it all by hand.

So our payroll person hung out at the group home entering payroll directly on the server and I hung out at the office opening the three-days worth of mail and being available when we needed odds and end information from the office for payroll.

While I was there one of the office staff people we hadn't heard from yet came to check on us. We were glad she was alright.

The director and associate director went to run errands to all the homes, such as the heaters that were picked up in Portland yesterday.

With all the running around, I concluded I had to get gas. Earlier that day, it was reported that Fred Meyer was hooking up generators to their gas pumps and had a couple truck loads of gas lined up to make there was enough for everybody. I waited in line for a half anhour to get gas which actually surprised me because the lines at a very few other gas stations I saw or heard about (running with generators) were several blocks long.

As I was coming home after a full day, I noticed the street light start to glow. To my joy the power came back on!! That was a relief because our freezer already had stuff dripping down the fridge from melting, the big freezer was reaching the end of its ice age, and the frozen turkey we put in the fridge to keep it cool was getting thawed out pretty well. I got home to lights on in the kitchen...and the phone rang.

It was from a family friend in Vancouver! The phones were working again! It was nice to have contact with the world again! When our director went to Portland yesterday, they made a few calls to family in Vancouver for us so they would know we were alright.

After reporting on how well we were doing, the lights flickered, got really dim and went black. My middle son and I went outside and saw bright blue-ish light flash from behind distant trees, then we heard an long electric growl--must be a transformer blowout. When you start a vacuum the lights in your home flicker the instant its turned on, perhaps with thousands of electrical appliances starting all at once when the power came it overloaded a transformer. I don't know how it all works, but that's what I imagine. Seeing and hearing the electrical explosion instantly gave me respect for the power of those quite electricity lines running overhead along the roads.

So our power was out again. It felt like dangling on a yo-yo--just get our hopes up after 3 1/2 days without power and then within an hour its out again. But there was still hope because one block away from us the street lights still dotted the roads and the glow from the Fred Meyer vicinity was glowing.

9:00pm. After the power went out, some friends of ours decided to visit family in the Portland area and let us borrow their generator. We tried it on our freezer for about five minutes, but the fumes and the noise disturbed us too much so, we decided to go to Fred Meyer to try our luck getting ice.

It was refreshing seeing a somewhat normal visit to the store. Although they had generators during the storm, Fred Meyer still pulled all of their freezer/fridge items and put them somewhere. I don't know if they locked them in a freezer to stay cool or if they had to throw it out, but when we got there they were beginning to restock the frozen foods. Not surprisingly, the ice was gone.

This visit was different than what my co-worker described her experience when she went on Monday. She said people were animals. I guess when you're paniced and not prepared, your more willing to compromise your ethics and courtesies. I don't know, but it makes me want to be prepared all the time, so don't have to be at the mercy of panic and its thoughtless compromising.

While we were there, we ran into one of our fellow church members. We exchanged reports on how we faired the storm. They lost all of the trees on their lot and one tree pierced their roof..fortunately, not a whole lot. They were still without power or phone. Gratefully, the friends who let us borrow their generator also let us borrow a cell phone on the only cell phone service that's been active throughout the week...and only at certain hot spots (Fred Meyer was close to one of them). She was able to call home for the first time all week to let her family know they were alright.

Shortly after we got home, the power came back on again! I called our bishop to give him a status report on our contact with fellow church members.

We went to sleep without the Kerosene heater, candles, and we were out of glow sticks!

The Hurricane Unknown to the World, Day 3

Tuesday, December 3, 2007

7:30am. The wind is still blowing strong, but no where near what the last two days have been. The power is out. The phones are still cut off from the outside world. They don't usually call Pacific Northwest wind storms hurricanes, but to give you some perspective:

Category One Hurricane: Winds 74-95mph

Category Two Hurricane: Winds 96-110mph

Category Three Hurricane: Winds 111-130mph.



NOAA reported wind gusts were reported at 129mph in Bay City (Tillamook County)! NOAA's 4:30am report showed wind gust at 85mph in our area and seas were reported at 60-70 feet, averaging 44 feet. With the 13 ships or so out at sea waiting for the Columbia River Bar to open, I can't even imagine what their experience was like.

Well, I'm off to work, taking the hand crank flashlight radio my dad gave us one Christmas. Its been a life saver. That's the only way we know what is going on. They've been working all day and all night having different knowledgables such as the County Sheriff, the Mayor of Astoria, and other people reporting updates from the frequent Emergency Operation Center meetings.


4:00pm. I got to work about a quarter to 8am. The parking lot was, again, empty so I waited listening to the radio (with the car off because the 'low fuel' light was on and the only gas available was for emergency vehicles.) With no power, the gas stations can't pump the gas. Its amazing how dependent we are on electricity. With the roads closed, supplies can't get in, either. Fortunately, they reported this morning that Hwy 30 was open with a pilot car...the breached dike at Westport and the mud slide must be cleared somewhat.

Shortly after 8am, two more people showed up. Its payroll week, so one of them left to gather time sheets from some of the group homes. Meanwhile the payroll clerk and I went upstairs to try to figure out what to do. The phone system in the office requires electricty, but our fax line connects straight to the 'outside' so we hooked up a 'landline' phone to that for communication during power outages.

Shortly after we opened the office, the Associate Director arrived after traveling accross the river from Washington. Several other people popped in randomly throughout the morning to give updates and find out what was going on. It was nice to finally have contact with people from different parts of the area with different information about how everyone was doing. Several staff showed up to ask if they needed to work, others came to tell us they couldn't work. One of the graveyard staff from yesterday showed up and gave us her contact number so she could help again after she got a little rest.



Our director and his wife drove around yesterday, checking on different employees and group homes. As they tried driving south to check on the five homes a wind gust almost tipped their heavy duty truck over, so they turned around and went home with their two fallen trees. They also live near lumber forests. They mentioned the trees on the hills were snapped like tooth picks. They could hear the rush of the wind before it slammed into their house.


We found out our Thrift Store window blew out in the storm along with several other businesses. That means rain and wind damage. Fortunately yesterday, our vocational directo was able to board up the window. Sadly it sounds like the bike shop in downtown Astoria was looted. I'm sure others were as well.

Our director and his wife planned to drive to Portland, to get time sheets from our Gresham area group homes (its angering when you are trying to making sure the basic needs of food, water and shelter are taken care and one of the first questions you are asked is 'When do we get paid?') and to get gas heaters for the group homes.

Its supposed to get really cold in the next few days and with the reported damage, the power doesn't look like it will be available very soon. They have about 300 people from all different states and companies working 24-7 to get the power up and running. We also found out that some of the big lines from the Bonneville Power Administration (the Columbia River Dams) were downed by the storm so they are trying to hook those up as well. With the trees down they have to litterally cut their way to the downed power lines. And there could be several breaks along the path. They are turning out to be the heroes--all those poeple working so hard.

They are trying to get power to the big shopping areas first (Fred Meyer, Costco business area which includes food and gas) so people can get food, supplies and gas. Fred Meyer has generators for their main store, but the radio reported yesterday that they only had dry goods left after the mad, panic rush of yesterday.

While our Director left for Portland, the Associate Director and I got a ride down to check on our southern county group homes. This trip was eye-opening. A lot of trees down, but miraculously not a lot of property damage. When trees fell on homes, most of the time they didn't break through. A lot of shingles were missing and a lot of blue tarp-patched roofs. There are lot of reports of miracle protection from trees missing homes and property by small margins or trees falling in unexpected ways to miss homes.

We saw a lot of trees in power lines. Some trees snapped partway up the tree, others pushed right over exposing the giant root balls. Most of the trees here are evergreens which have shallow roots, but large trunks and a lot of leverage from the wind pushing against the needles. I'm amazed, though, that a lot of the tall trees are still standing. I suppose if they've lived this long through all the storms and wild weather through their life, they deserve to stay standing.

Our are trip, we passed the remnants of a aluminum barn that litterally exploded in the wind. The strips of aluminum flapped through the air wrapping around fence posts and scattering accross the highway. Its scary to think of a giant razor blade flying through the air at 85 mph.

The first homes we came to share the same plot of land. Other than the neighbors wooden fence laid out along the ground, they stayed in tact pretty well. The problem there is they have well water. Without the power their pumps can't draw the water. Fortunately, per licensing requirement, they had a 300 gallon tank of reserve water for the sprinkler system. They also had bottled water since the well water doesn't taste very good. We took their empty five gallon jugs to fill up at the next group home we get to which has city water.

I am so grateful the city water is pumping (via generators) and that the natural gas is still intact.

One of the two homes has a gas fireplace which made the house nice a toasty (at the expense of the food in the kitchen's fridge and freezer.) They also had a gas stove so they were cooking for both homes. The worry at the other home, though is warmth at night. Many of the people we serve are medically fragile so we have to be especially sensitive to their needs.

The other thing these homes seem to need are batteries, flashlights, and radios to keep in tact. Staffing is a challenge as well--not only from not being able to contact people and people imobilized from trees falling on the roads, but many staff don't have enough gas to drive the 20-40+ minutes back and forth.

We hitched a ride with another person who was driving the only company vehicle that had a full tank of gas. It seems he other vehicles may have had gas sifoned out of them. People are desparate. After getting in the van I quickly learned why it had a full tank of gas. Let's just say it still stopped when you pressed the brake pedal even though it sounded like it was grinding the pads to smitherines.

We went to our Seaside homes to check on them. One of the homes had the sky light blown off and the residents were staying in a local hotel. But they patched it this morning. I have to say the weather is pretty nice, now, actually. Its not raining, its a little windy, but its actually quite peaceful. One of advantages to this home and its sister home back to back is they are right next door to one of the emergency shelters that was set up in Seaside. They were providing hot food for our people and taking good care of everyone.

The third home in Seaside wasn't in a good shape. Shortly after the storm broke late Sunday Morning, part of the roof flew off. When we went to check it out and salvage a few more things from it, we saw a piece of the roof a block away before we got there. Upon arrival we could see the bulk of the roof laying one a fence on the opposite side of the home from where it blew off. Little pieces of insulation littered the street, the yard and the inside of the house.







The roof blew off over the office and one of the resident's bedrooms, but the whole upstairs was blasted by the wind. The floors and ceiling we were walking on were soaking wet. It even started to drain to the downstairs. When the roof blew of one of the rafters ripped through the ceiling making it dangerous. We gathered as many of the critical records as we could. We gather clothes, blankets, some of the resident's personal items like computers, TVs, .... When they evacuated they took the medications and some of the other critical items and left the rest at the mercy of the storm.

The residents are now trapped on the third floor of the Shilo Inn because those in wheel chairs can't make it down the elevators with the power out. But at least everyone was safe. I just can't imagine my personal stuff being totally destroyed like that. It just goes to show in an emergency, when you're fighting for life, what's really important shows through. But the aftermath, when reality hits, is when it can rub in and cause a lot of emotional damage.

The other home we went to, in Gearhart, faired well. They needed batteries and a way to keep warm--and staff. We filled up the water jugs here and returned them to the homes.

What a relief to know everyone was alright!

We got back to the office in time to sign for a letter from the Postman...They kept the mail going through the storm and everything!

Our payroll clerk had a good idea to put a message board outside our door so people could leave notes while we were running around. When we got back there was a message from the Emergency Operation Center/Dept. of Human Services asking us to drop by and give a report of our status. It was comforting to know that in all the rush of everything, the County was trying to watch out for us.

I came home around 3:30pm to my wife cooking onion rings and we did french fries too! We are blessed to be protected and prepared for this particular situation.

9:00pm. After a nice warm meal, we spent the evening listening to the radio for the latest updates. To ease the stress, the DJ's are letting people call in and they are having a good time. A lot of hero stories. Although you hear reports of people stealing generators and looting...or charging $5.00/gallon of gas to hand pump it, most of the stories are hero stories of neighbors helping neighbors and cheers for the utility workers and all the people working so hard to provide for people's needs.

We got word that the East side of Astoria and Knappa have power again! Safeway, brought in generators to be able to pump gas.

We warmed up again to the Kerosene heater, we only have two light sticks left, but our hand crank radio is also a flashlight. After blowing out all of the candles, oil lamps, and the heater, we put the light sticks, cranked the flashlight/radio and left the light on for the boys.

Another day, but I feel good knowing I was able to help in some way today!

The Hurricane Unknown to the World, Day 2

Monday, December 2, 2007.


4:00am. I've been up every two hours tonight (not counting the lack of sleep while I'm in bed) doing my routine of looking through designated windows to see what kind of damage is happening outside. Last night the storm didn't seem so bad, but when the gusts of wind hit the south side of the house (outside our bedroom), the windows rattle really badly and the whole house shakes like its an earthquake. I understand now what they mean when they talk about tornadoes and hurricanes sounding like a freight train. The rain is just pelting the windows and the outside of the house like its trying to shoot into the house.

I check on the boys, pleased that they are able to sleep so soundly through the storm.

I look out the window to see how the trees in front are doing. I heard a crack similar to the one we heard yesterday and it looks like some more big limbs have fallen on the street side of the tree. Sometimes I will go stand on the front porch to watch and listen to the intensity of the storm. Random car lights, faintly reflecting off of the rain-pounded streets and the scary, swaying trees, grow brighter and brighter until, in an instant, it becomes dark as the car passes, leaving the sounds of the storm echoing louder in your ears. The sounds, combined with the fast moving shadows, tempt your imagination to the worst scenarios.

I go upstairs to check out the boy's bedroom window, which tends to slip open slightly. As I push the window closed, I hear intense 'scraping' sounds from the roof. Fortunately, the roof is not leaking, but I had visions of the shingles shooting off the roof like a machine gun. During intense rumbling on the roof, it sounded to me like nails were pulling out as boards were being ripped from the roof. Fortunately, when I fought the wind to go outside, the roof was still there, although it was too dark to see the extent of any damage--fortunately no projectiles hit me.

Finally, I looked out the kitchen window and had to gasp. During the four years or so that we've lived here through big storms, there were two tall evergreen trees a few miles away that stood taller than any other tree on the horizon. These were my storm security indicators. They always endured the storms and as long as they stood strong, I knew we would hold out in the storm. But to my dismay, both of those trees left a hole in the the horizon. My security indicator was gone....this is a bad storm.

9:00am. I eventually force-fell asleep from not being able to sleep all night. In the morning the wind was still blowing pretty intensely and the rain was falling. Moss Lake was full. The power is still out, but fortunately, we have a gas water heater so I was able to take a warm shower this morning to candle light.

The school's new phone notification system told us yesterday before the power went out that school was cancelled for today. I figured the office would be closed today as well since we can't us the accounting system without power, but I wanted to verify with my boss. We learned several power outages ago how important it is to have a regular, non-chordless phone. To my surprise all I got was a fast busy signal. I called the office and knew right away the power was off since the answering machine didn't work. I checked my cell phone to see if anyone had called and realized the cell phones and the regular phones were down. Not being able to call anyone left me with one option: go to the office to see.

Thinking the storm died down a little, I let the kids come with me to the office. The wind was rocking the van. Roof tiles were everywhere, but fortunately the second roof was still intact. Sure enough some more branches from the trees in front fell and blocked the road. Fortunately I was able to drive around on the neighbors slippery, soft, muddy lawn. Good thing we have an all-wheel drive Chevy Astro. I felt bad putting ruts in their lawn, but someone before me did it and I justified it as important enough to get to the office to see what was going on.


Driving the two miles to work was eye-opening. We passed a tree that had fallen onto a home. The large information signs were flat on the ground. We passed a wire dangling into the street. An RV was flipped on its side at the RV repair shop. Some power poles were leaning. The van was bouncing horizontally in reaction to the wind.

I pulled into the office parking lot which was eerily quite and empty. We went up to the empty office. No way to communicate with anyone. I went back downstairs to get the wind-up flashlight we left in the van, but stopped at the glass doors and watched the van almost lift off the ground in the wind. I guess the wind's affect is worse here!

I quickly got the boys, secured the office, and we battled the wind by running low and quick into the van so none of the boys would get swept away. I had to pull hard to open the driver side door which was opening against the wind. We made it safely back home, slipping through the mud around the tree back to the driveway.

2:00pm. With the phones down, our window to the world has been the radio station. One local station, designated as the emergency communication center, is keeping us in the loop with everything. Everyone is working so hard...fire fighters, police, other emergency personnel, the radio DJ's and several other people are working around the clock, non-stop to deal with all the problems this storm created. We found out all the roads to our corner of the world are closed due to downed trees and power lines, floods, and slides. That means no one gets out and no supplies including ice, fuel, food, and the 88+ power company workers from Utah and other Western states can't get here. We used almost all of our gas on our trip to Vancouver, Washington on Saturday. So we're trying to ration such resources.

Shortly after we got home this morning, our neighbor tried going around the tree-block in the road and buried her front wheels half-way into the mud. I tried to push her out without success. We abandoned with visions of large branches flying off the tree and crushing her car. Fortunately within a half an hour, our other neighbor, finding he couldn't get back to his house, got a pull chain, pulled her car out and pulled the branches out of the road. We only soaked the windward side of our clothes since the rain was flying virtually horizontally. Again, we were often looking up so we could at least see what was going to hit us if it got ripped apart by the wind. It felt good to work together as a team of neighbors.

A stall worth member of our church, knowing phone communications were down, plowed through the wind and rain, from the other side of Astoria, over the full wind-exposed Young's Bay bridge to check up on some of us in Warrenton. That was quite comforting to know people were concerned about us. A short time later his wife, who is President of the Relief Society (the church Women's Auxilary group,) came to talk with me about calling church members within our exchange (the first three digits of the phone number after the area code) since that was the limit of our communication. Fortunately everyone here fared really well so far.


The most stressful thing for me today is not being able to contact anyone from work. I don't know if they are hurt and need help or if our group homes and the people with developmental disabilities we serve are in trouble. The company I work for manages several group homes for adults with developmental disabilities--in essence our employees are the family for these individuals. With phone calling limited within my exchange, that only gives me access to three of the ten group homes and I can only connect with two of them. Does that mean the other is in really bad condition? Their home is surrounded by tree. Maybe a tree crushed their home with the five people and their staff?!! I was relieved when I found out they were in contact with the other group homes--and they were alright. Out of the hundred or so Administration staff, managers and direct line staff. I've only been able to talk to three different people so far.

9:00pm. What a stressful day its been!

I got a call late this afternoon from the Warrenton group homes--many of the staff still working are the graveyard staff. They're quickly creeping up to 24 hours straight with no relief. No one can get a hold of anyone and many day shift staff haven't shown up. To help, I decided to drive to the church and make some calls within the Astoria exchange. It was a scary going over the Young's Bay bridge, and I was stunned at the damage I saw. Signs blown apart, down, and smashed. Tapiola Park had almost every tree down. One street light was dangling. Lots of debris and trees and downed wires. All but one and a half of the trees at the church had fallen--and there was a wire dangling in the road.

Out of all the calls I made to attempt to get a hold of various people, I only got a hold of one person. She was stressed herself, knowing the night shift was pushing their physical limits, but she was trapped by a tree blocking her road. They had been working on it for four hours already. It was just nice to know someone was trying to get out there and that news alone would provide reassurance that the graveyard crew wasn't forgotten. But where were the others? A scary storm proven to be destructive, no communication and the imagination draped heavy anxiety down on me.

I made it home safely, comforted that my family was safe and sound after seeing what I had seen today. Another warm meal of spaghetti (and Crab that our neighbor gave us), another toasty evening from the Kerosene, more glow sticks, and a hope that with the storm that's been raging for two days will be gone tomorrow, things are looking up. I expect to sleep much better tonight.

The Hurricane Unknown to the World, Day 1

Sunday, December 1, 2007

8:00am: Today started normal with a little anxiety in the air knowing this is the day the large two-day, high-wind, two piggy-back storms are forecast to hit. I'm a little skeptical about the weather being as bad as NOAA forecasts (40-60mph sustained winds and 80-100mph gusts)...especially since its fairly calm as I go to my Sunday morning meetings. Even though I'm skeptical, we are pretty-well prepared: almost inevitably the power goes out in these storms for a few hours.

11:15am: At the close of Sacrament meeting our Bishop surprised me by announcing that the next 2 hours of church were cancelled so we can go home and prepare for the storm. The kids and I went to get the van out of the lower parking lot and I was really surprised how much the wind was blowing. The storm came in really fast. On two-block walk, the wind knocked my youngest son down and he skinned his knee. While loading the boys in the van, the wind almost blew me off balance. When we got the van to the upper parking lot, the church had lost power. I believe our bishop was inspired.--especially since he didn't mention anything about in the morning meetings.

4:00pm: After coming home from church, I took my middle son to the office with me to do an emergency server shut down (and feed my fish, Kim.) Fortunately, in preparation for the storm, everyone turned their computers off. The power flashed a few times, but we got everything turned off.

The wind was whipping pretty hard and it started to rain. When we got out of the van upon returning home, we heard a piercing crack ring out above the sound of the flapping trees. Within a few minutes a large branch from one of the two pine trees in our front yard blocked the road. If we had full church meetings, we wouldn't be able to get back into our driveway.

I attempted to go out there with a hand saw to clear the road. I wanted to be able to get out in case someone needed help. Probably a dumb thing because the wind was hitting the trees and power lines really hard. I looked up frequently and stood back against the big gusts and watched so I could dodge potential hazards. I just cut enough to clear a path for a car to get out.

Other than a few flickers, the power stayed on. I have to confess I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to having the power out tonight because its kind of fun.

7:00pm. Perfect timing with the power going out tonight...my wife just finished cooking dinner on our electric stove right before the power went out. We got the refrigerator stuff we were planning to use tonight and tomorrow morning in a cooler with some ice so we don't have to open the freezer or fridge.

10:00pm. We played a candle-light game of Spongebob Monopoly as a family tonight. When the power is out and we have the candles going, we seem to enjoy the time together as a family.

We let the boys have a slumber party in the living room tonight so they wouldn't be upstairs where its colder and the wind hits harder. The room is nice and toasty from our Kerosene heater after only an hour. We have blankets over the open doorways to keep the heat in, but the room is still drafty enough to provide protection against dangerous post-combustion gases . The oil lamps and candles provided enough light to meet our needs, but to prevent fire, we blew those out and brought out our glow sticks: One in the family room, one in the bathroom and a few small ones in the path between the bathroom and the boys so they wouldn't be scared going to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

We have the boys protected from the wind-side window with the couch and the curtain closed, but we are actually more worried about the trees whipping so hard in the front. I'm impressed with how flexible they are blowing away from the house, but they way they are swinging in the wind, we're kind of worried they will snap on the rebound and fall into the house. Moss Lake, our mini-flood in the front yard, is filling up pretty fast too.

A Classical Experience of a Lifetime

note: You may consider playing the video (at the bottom of the post) in the background while you read this post.

I'm very grateful to a very generous friend and his wife who gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received. The gift was season tickets to the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Although its 'just tickets,' my friend knew me well enough to know how much I would enjoy them. Its selfless generosity that truly magnifies the power of the gift...its not just the tickets, its the message communicated in the giving of the gift from the heart that makes its so special. I don't feel I can thank him enough.

To add to the value of the gift, it gave my wife and I an opportunity to do something we enjoy together that we could never afford to do on our own. (And we didn't have to fight kids to sit still through the concert.)

The musical experience was special to me because you can't match live music. Especially music with such complex textures and activity that you can only get from having so many instruments working together.

No matter how good your sound system is, you can't get sound waves to dance from a recording and speakers like they do in a live concert hall. You have each instrument creating its own sound waves from different positions in relation to your ears. You also have the sound waves bouncing off the ceiling and walls at different angles and distances. So the timing and stereo effect of each individual soundwave presents so much depth and detail to the listener. The pure, uncorrupted, and unmanipulated waves from each instrument mix together in organized timing and frequency--sometimes cancelling each other out and sometimes building on each other and complimenting each other. I can't express it well enough how incredible live Orchestra music is-- from a general entertainment perspective to a mental-scientific analysis perspective.

It was so relaxing and wonderful to be totally submersed in the sounds of the Orchestra. I also really enjoyed watching the different instruments and hearing what they truly sound like with all of their overtones and textures. I was amazed at the skill the musicians showed as they executed the pieces with seeming perfection.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to a live symphony, take it! And if you have people in your life that treat you like a king or queen, you will understand why this was such a special gift for me. Thank you, Rich and Ruth!

Note: I really like music surrounding the baroque era (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and others). One of my favorites is Mozart's Symphony no. 40. Although this is no where near live-quality sound, it gives you a little idea.

Ready for Christmas

One of the things I'm thankful for around Thanksgiving is Christmas time. Although I've been enjoying the Christmas Season since September with some of my favorite music of all time (or if you count the Christmas lights in our living room that we haven't taken down for two years we've been enjoying it year-round,) Thanksgiving kicks off the Christmas Season. What better way to kick-off the Christmas Season than to remember all the things for which you are thankful.

Each year, my dad puts up his Christmas village and train. We had a tradition growing up where each year we would each paint a house. Mine, of course, always looked the best (regardless of what my brother and sisters might say.) Since we've all grown-up somewhat, Dad supplemented his village with more professionally-done village homes....although they still don't look as good as the one's I did, I'm sure.

I love the mirror ice ponds. I've learned that Christmas decorations and lights look much better when taken without a flash. Generally, for that matter, point and shoot flashes really ruin a picture unless there is enough light from other directions to reduce the visually abrasive light the aggressive head-on light produces. I also really enjoy taking pictures from a 'being in there' point of view of tinier scaled environments. I think it adds depth and perspective to photographically 'imagine' what it would be like if that was your world.

Out of a half dozen attempts to get ornaments in focus (with no flash) this one is about the only one that turned out. I love how the clear glass is in focus and you can see all the surrounding lights reflecting in the glass. I love the classy Christmas colors in this picture.

Again, several attempts yielded this truly focused picture of a Christmas light. I love how the light filters through the texture of the plastic cover. Then add the actual glass light with its unique textures. I like how the light seems to concentrate on the tips of the flower. Then add the fir tree background with its needles adding a nice subtle texture.

A Mixed Pair

This morning the boys got themselves dress for church while I was at meetings. They had shirts laid out, but their church pants were in the dryer.

The two older boys did alright, but as we were walking in from the parking lot, I noticed my middle son's (age 7) pants were extremely short.

After sitting down, we noticed our youngest son (age 4) was wearing pants that were too big, but not big enough for our middle son.

Fortunately, our second oldest son (age 5) was also wearing pants that were too large.

So a quick trip to the bathroom and they all came back with the right pants-- a miracle considering all the extra choices they could have made.

The Office With A View

I feel blessed to live on the Oregon Coast. There is so much beauty in so many things. One of the special blessings I have is the opportunity to have a decent job allowing me to live here. To add icing to the cake, I work with some of the best people in the world.

The sprinkles on the icing on the cake have to be the location of my office. Where else can you have an office job and look out a window at some awesome sites? My office is on the second floor of a strip mall-sort-of-complex that is located right off of Hwy 101 at the corner where Hwy 101 (north/south coast hwy) meets up with Hwy 30 (East/West along the Oregon-side of the Columbia River.) My window faces Southeast towards the Coastal Range--I overlook the hwy and the Astoria Coast Guard Air Station.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago from inside my office as the sun was coming up. Click on the picture to see the full impact. I love the layers of the clouds, fog, sunlight and the contour of the terrain/trees in contrast with each other. You can see Saddle mountain (looks like a saddle) on the top right of the picture--clipped off by the clouds and partially protected by that tree. The building in the picture is the Air Station. This is one of the best views I've ever seen from my window at work.

Note: I like taking pictures at high resolutions and then cutting them out to make a panorama view. It gives a great spacious perspective. The main reason I cropped this one the way I did, was because the details were drowned by all the space around it (and there was a parking lot light sticking up just to the left of the picture.)

One unique thing about the coast is the opportunity to observe the US Coast Guard. We have the ships and we have the helicopters.

We watch the helicopters train almost everyday from our office. The USCG air station is at the Astoria Airport, so we get to observe a lot of different craft every once in a while (Navy, experimental, Air Shows, smaller commercial).

This picture was taken with the camera's optical zoom to the max and the lens looking through some zoomable binoculars--so its not the greatest, but when you compare the size of the building in this picture to the size of building in the picture above (also noting the camera zoom was at its max for that one) it worked out pretty well. You can even see the blur from the engines' exhaust. Those Jayhawks are amazing to watch.

This is a broad view of what my office looks like. I love all the plants. Out the window you can see Hwy 101, the Air Station and Saddle mountain is just behind the tree (near the flash reflecting in the window). I have my chair set so I can look north east and see part of Young's Bay. I see a lot of different kinds of birds. Quite frequently we will see bald eagles fly over or perch in the bay.

I love the plants in the office...they make it a warmer place to be in all day long. And notice the fish bowl. Actually almost all the plants, the fish and most of my decoration is compliments of the great people I work with. Additionally, they water the plants because they know how much I don't.

Here is my fish, an office-warming gift from our Accounts Receivable person. I named the Beta, "Kim." As in 'Seaweed' in Korean.

It was pretty much impossible to get a well-focused picture through the glass with the camera I used. This is Kim.

Constant Learning

Elder Richard G. Scott

Quorum of Twelve Apostles

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
@ BYU Education Week Devotional, August 21, 2007

At Least Little People Don't Fall Far

Even though I feel bad for the little guy who is more stunned than hurt, it's still makes me laugh the way he suddently dissapears from the camera--like a cartoon.

Then as you look more closely at the smirking brother in the bottom corner of the video, you gain a whole new understanding.

Finale Notepad

About five years ago I came across one of the best pieces of freeware ever in existance: Finale Notepad. Finale Notepad is from MakeMusic, Inc. who makes high class professional music-writing Finale brand software.

Finale Notepad 2008 allows you to make nice quality looking music by simply selecting the staff layout, the time signature, and key. Then you make your music by clicking on the staff where you want the notes, rests, lyrics, articulation, or whatever you want to include in your music. Here what the toolbar looks like:

You can also import midi files into the program to instantly create the sheet music. I haven't played with that feature much, but what dabbling I've done, took some editing to clean it up, but did a pretty good job.

You can also play back your composition and select different midi instruments with incredible sounding SmartMusic Midi codec (for lack of a better term) to play back different lines of music. This works great for people like me who can't play the piano in real time worth beans. Its also nice when you have multiple staffs to play all at the same time with different timing. Mix that with the different instruments and you can literally compose for an orchestra and hear what it will sound like..

Its amazing to think you could get better than Finale Notepad. If this powerful software is free, it makes me wonder what the $600 Finale software can do!

Free does have its price, though. You are limited to one key (no key changes mid-song). You are stuck with only the most common time signatures and a limited number of articulations. There are a few other limitation, but, quite frankly, I'm not knowledgable enough about writing music to know what's missing. Considering the price, those limitations are easy enough to work around.

Here's a sample of how nice the music looks:

A Kindergartener's Theory: Size vs. Speed

My five-year-old and I were running part way to his afternoon Kindergarten class. Amazingly, he stayed slightly ahead of me the whole time. Finally we started walking and he beamed with pride that he was able to go faster than an adult. That's when he explained to me his newly realized theory that smaller people can go faster than bigger people. Therefore the smaller you are the faster you can go.



Then he curled his fore finger into his thumb to make a small hole the size of kidney bean and said, "...a baby...this size (showing me his hand) can go faster than everybody."


This idea threw me deep into contemplation about how a tiny baby developed only to kidney bean size could speed past every other person, until the last part of his dissertation caught my attention, "...if we don't step on it..."

Monster House

Last year we learned that our house turns into Monster House around Halloween time. Although narrowly escaping with our lives intact, we were successful in snapping a few pictures:

The Real Group

Probably my most current favorite music group is The Real Group.

The Real Group is a five-member a capella group from Sweden. They do a lot of vocal jazz, which I love, as well as some very good, original, and creative contemporary music. Their well-trained voices blend really well, they have excellent technical execution (i.e. the way they use time, dynamics, and general vocal acrobatic ability), and they sound good live. Having experience with live performance vs. recording, I have a lot of respect for vocalists (especially a small vocal ensemble) who can sound as good live as they do recorded.

Here are some videos of The Real Group so you can get a taste. I hope you have the time to listen to some or all of the songs. (There's more on the net and on their website.)

[Unfortunately, Internet flash video quality sort of dilutes a little of the experience. To really appreciate good a cappella music (or any music for that matter) you need the full, crystal clear, frequency range to capture the fullness of the human voice with all of its overtones and depth. Often in recordings and playback equipment the lower frequencies are 'clipped' off leaving kind of a 'telephone' quality. So if you have the means, I recommend listening to them on a system that lets the bass through, otherwise you probably won't hear the bass or baritone. ]

Alright enough technical details. :-)



This is The Real Group's arrangement of the popular ABBA song, "Dancing Queen" featuring Frida from the original ABBA. I've been impressed with the bass vocalist, Anders Jalkéus, because he has a pure tone, bounces amazingly accurately between the notes without 'swooping' to the right note--he also doesn't do the 'growl' bass thing that a lot of contemporary bass vocalists do which makes them sound lower without having to use as much tone.



This song does a good job of illustrating the bass' ability to take big, clean jumps between notes. Although they are Swedish, they have a pretty good command of the English language and I find their English lyrics down to earth and often poetic. Although they all take part in writing and arranging songs, I think Anders Edenroth is on of the genre's most creative musicians. One of the challenges that I love to hear when its done right, crisp and clean, is dissonance. No other instrument can make dissonance sound as good as with the texture of the human voice. Its also a challenge to 'clash' with someone an hold your tone. But when its done with exactness, it creates an incredible sound...its like a whole new spectrum of tones pops into existence at that moment of dissonance. If you study sound wave characteristics, you can understand what I mean.



This song is simple, but has a beautiful feel to it. One thing that is actually very difficult in singing is singing the same note straight over long periods of time without slowly dropping the pitch. Its especially hard to make single notes maintain an energy over time. Breathing is also a very big challenge in a song like this...to hold steady and breath at strategic times so it doesn't disrupt the flow of the song. Then synchronize that with four others. Singing a unison note with multiple people can be almost as challenging a singing dissonance--multiple people matching the same pitch.



This is one my kids really like. I like it too--it's fun. I'm fascinated because the bass sings the lead at such a 'non-bass' level. The Real Group was popular in Korea and did a tour in Korea. Look at how the Korean translators translate "Perpetual Motion Thingamabob." In Korea, they don't have an 'f' sound (they replace it with a 'p' sound) in their language. Just goes to show how confusing English is. After serving my mission in Korea, it makes these Korean tour videos extra special to me.

Actually I learned some things about singing from the Korean language: English has so much slurring which tends to slow down the energy of singing, but Korean is crisp and clean; the consonants have a quick, solid attack and the vowels are an exact, pure tone. Listening to a native Korean speaking is very cool. I've tried to speak and sing English with more clarity when bouncing from consonant to consonant, but it still doesn't sound as clean as the Korean language.

Adventures With Children

CHAPTER 1

The event my wife has been organizing for the past several months took place yesterday. The plan was (1) we would drop mom off at the church, (2) help her set-up, (3) go to my workplace for a few hours, (4) pick-up mom after her event, (5) go home and live happily ever after. The boys consider going to work with me a special treat because they all get to play online computer games while I get caught up on some of my work.

CHAPTER 2

Things went according to plan...until the 'help mom set-up' part (OK, so we lost on the 2nd step of the whole day.) My 7-yr-old (T), who has behaviors characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorder, doesn't know how to deal with variation from his expectations. Immediately he started throwing a violent fit because he expecting to go straight to the office to play on the computer. I sent the rest of the four boys into the church to 'help' while I tried to calm T down before he destroyed the van.

When I got into the church my four other 'helpers' were doing everything except helping. Running around, make lots of noise. My middle son followed me in and continued his protest against helping mom and continued his attempt to manipulate me into getting what he wanted. He noticed the wreath rings sitting on a table and decided they would make good Frisbees. He decided the 'Shepherds Staff' Christmas staff example would make a great marshal arts fighting stick....filling in the gaps with yelling and calling me a liar for not taking them to the office right away.

Finally, with a growl from my wife to take the boys home, and leaving a trail of overturned chairs in his path, the boys and I left with T over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and the other kids screaming at my sudden cancellation of going to the office until T repented the best he could.

CHAPTER 3

The whole ride home was nothing short of a Tavern Brawl of upset little people in a mini van...empty water bottles flying over the seats, crying and screaming and blaming and arguing and fist swings. The windows fogged from the steam pouring out my ears as I helplessly tried to talk (or yell, rather) the kids out of fighting each other. To add to the experience, the bridge between the church and home was up so a lone fishing boat, whose mast was probably only a few inches above the bottom of the bridge, could pass slowly underneath.

The gnashing of teeth followed into the house with the oldest in time out and me holding T to try to calm him down.

Eventually T agreed to earn the back the opportunity to go to the office by doing the dishes with me. For now, after an hour and a half of intense battle, all seemed calm. Dishes, Lunch and the trip to the Office went well. Then we went to get mom from the activity.

CHAPTER 4

Idle time is dangerous. Young boys sitting in a car seat waiting is like watching a lump of sodium start to slip into beaker of water. Eventually the potential energy reaches beyond its bounds and in an instant a quick and violent reaction occurs. Before we could reach that point, (signalled, in part, by T bursting a packet of ketchup on the seat and ceiling), I decided to let the boys 'run around' outside--at least then the violent reaction would have a wide clearance.

Next thing I know, half the kids are having an all out leaf fight...not innocent dry leaves fluttering in the wind; leaves sitting at the bottom of a puddle created from the last five days of wind and rain.

CHAPTER 5

Once a chemical reaction starts there is virtually no way to stop it--and can trigger chain reactions. No amount of verbal demands changed the dynamics of this 'party' It didn't help that they were all spread out and moving at light speed either. Soon half-empty (yes, not half-full)water bottles from the van quickly became utilized as ammunition cartridges. The idea spread like wild fire and all the boys were grabbing what they could and trying to get each other.

Regardless of any destruction to themselves or other objects, they had fun with huge smiles on their faces while I felt like gum on a the highway...run-over, over and over again, sometimes stuck on the tire and repeatedly slammed between the road and the heavy vehicle. "Passerbys" just looking on...you can only imagine what they were thinking: "glad that's not me."

CHAPTER 6

As these types of activities usually end, someone got mad, and hurt one of his brothers, and sometimes its reciprocated...or another common occurrence, the lone ranger runs in on the scene and inflicts justice on behalf of the brother who got hurt. Parental intervention resulted in most of the boys buckled in their seats and the others in the bathroom cleaning the mud and leaves off of their face.

CHAPTER 7

The adventures of the day were enough to set my 기(Qi) out of balance and I was cranky the rest of the day. And this wasn't even our regularly scheduled weekly battle!

Back to the Ten Commandments: Even though I don't mean 'kill' in any literal sense, there are those days where the Savior's fulfillment of that law to include the avoidance of anger is a little bit harder to follow. I guess that's why I like writing about these experiences because its helps me feel better about the situation and less angry about it--I can look back and see the comedy in it all. Most of the time my boys were only doing 'innocent' mischief and not hurting anybody--so I do have to give them credit where credit is due. But, this post reflect the most 'memorable' events from my perspective.

Electrocution Chair

We spent the morning today at the local hospital, so my second youngest could get a mole removed. Since the bigger boys were at school, it was just my wife, my two youngest sons, and me.

The people at the hospital were very friendly and did a wonderful job of helping them feel comfortable and happy. That meant the boys were comfortable talking to the nurses.

Right after we checked in, they took my five-year-old to a small room, took his weight, and had him sit in a chair next to a blood pressure machine. As the nurse started pulling out the arm wrap and finger monitor along with all the tubes connecting it to the blood pressure machine, my four-year-old asked, nonchalantly, out loud in his high pitched little-kid voice, "Are you going to electric [electrocute] him?"

I wonder if my four-year-old remembers when I yelled at my middle son from the attic a few years ago when he tried to help me with our re-wiring project by turning on the breaker as I was connecting two black wires. ...I certainly remember.

Halloween: Great For Pictures

Halloween is one of the most artistic holidays of the year: Pumpkin Carving, make-up, costumes, decorations, haunted yards and houses.... Halloween also provides some good picture-taking opportunities.

Here are a few pictures from previous years in an attempt to give you some ideas for your photographic experiments this year:

Jack-o-lanterns are great fun to photograph without a flash. I found if you throw-in a few three-point lighting componants, it adds some pretty cool affects. Note the right-side glow on the pumpkins from the inside light shining through the window with a dash of white shine on the top left (from an LED flashlight). All done with a tripod and no-flash to show the glow from within the pumpkins. Its cool just having the faces glow in blackness, too.

If you want to see some real pumpkin carvings, check out the gallery at the Pumpkin Gutter website.

The macro feature did a great job with these autumn-colored Candy Corns...one of our seasonal favorite foods. This makes a good desktop backdrop.

Monster house comes to life in the dark (no flash). [But I did have to use photo software to brighten the picture up enough to see the glowing features clearly.]

As the fall temperatures shrink, dew beautifies spider webs in shiny diamond beads.

Unfortunately, no amount of diamond dew makes spiders attractive to me.

Are you ready?

About two years ago, not long after we moved to the Oregon Coast, I got a call from my wife telling me that we received a Local Tsunami Warning email from the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC). I rushed to home, which is a few miles upstream from the great Pacific--just barely above sea level, as my wife and kids were grabbing their 72-hour backpacks and getting ready to leave to the designated Tsunami-Safe area.

Fortunately, there was no Tsunami and we didn't need to leave the house.

The interesting thing about this warning was that neither the city or radio stations had any announcements about the the Tsunami. I had such trust in those sources of information that I risked staying home assuming that if there really was a threat, surely they would let us know. Next time I won't take that risk.

I learned a few things from that experience:

1. If we didn't sign-up for the TsunamiWatcher email list from WCATWC, we would have known nothing about the tsunami. Since then I also signed up for the Earthquake email notification list from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). We get a surprisingly large amount of email from both of those lists. Fortunately, most of the Tsunami Warnings report that there is no risk of Tsunami to our area.

2. If we didn't have at least the beginnings of a 72-hour kits, we wouldn't be prepared to race out the door without being in a flustered panic. We still have some missing odds and ends from our 72-hour kits, but we have enough resources to survive if we needed to leave quickly.

We haven't updated our 72-hour kit for some time, but this last weekend, while listening to General Conference, my wife updated our 72-hour kits. (In an emergency, its always nice when your kid's clothes fit them and the food isn't moldy.) We've decided to make a tradition of updating our 72-hour kits every six months while listening to Conference. It might be wise to change the smoke detector batteries at the same time. Or you can do both every six months when you change between standard and day-light savings.

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Here on the coast we get frequent wind storms and power outages are all but guaranteed periodically throughout the year. Last year we had a pretty powerful wind storm that knocked out power for about three days. Some places were without power for longer.

The local stores sold quickly out of ice, flashlights, generators, and other items you might want in an emergency.

Fortunately for us, we had plenty of candles, flashlights (with batteries), radio (with batteries), a kerosene heater, ice in the freezer, a little single-burner butane stove, and our water heater is gas. Although the storm thrashed around us, we were able to cook warm meals, stay warm...and after the storm blew over, the stars were brilliant.

I learned some things from this experience also:

3. Having resources to fill-in when outside resources are cut off is very important to the comfort and peace in a challenging situation. It made us grateful to have the resources we happened to have, but also made us realize we need to be prepared for every situation...what if the water is cut off? What if the gas is cut-off? We needed to look for more ice by the third day, but what if that opportunity was not available?

I see the importance in the council of having a year supply of food, water and fuel if necessary. If you are prepared, there is no need to fear. And it doesn't have to be a major catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina to be a blessing.

We still have some things to add to our preparations and some more detailed plans to create, so we aren't perfect, but we are certainly grateful we've followed advice in this regard as much as we have.

This evening, we recieved an Earthquake email saying there was a small earthquake off the coast of Oregon (not too far from the one that triggered the Tsunami Warning two year ago.) Are you ready?

To Change or Not To Change

The Sermon had ended

The Preacher descended

So delighted were they,

But preferred the old way.

--???

Every six months the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conducts a world-wide conference in which the top leaders of the church speak to the world. The meetings, consisting of five two-hour sessions, are broadcast via satellite, cable, internet and printed word to all the world and translated into several languages. The leaders who speak consist of the President of the Church, his two counselors, the Twelve Apostles, and other General Authorities of the Church.

For me, I anxiously look forward to listening to or watching all ten-hours of the conference every six months. What would make sitting in meetings for ten hours on a weekend so exciting?!

The answer is simple. When else in the history of the world do you have the opportunity to listen to all the living prophets and the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ in one weekend?

Just as Jesus Christ, himself, called Peter, James, John and the other disciples to follow Him and be special witnesses of His work on the earth (including the Atonement and the Resurrection); so also, in these latter-days, since the restoration of His church on earth, the resurrected Savior calls men to be special witnesses of Him to the world. The First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are these modern special witnesses of the Savior. Listening to these men is like listening to Peter, James, John, Paul and the other apostles who led Christ's church after His resurrection and His ascension into heaven. The tone and power of these modern day apostles' words matches the tone and power of Peter, John and Paul as found in the New Testament.

You can't listen to these righteous men without feeling the truth of their words and their testimony of the Savior. You can also feel their sincerity and love for the Lord and for all people.

I am surprised that more people don't take advantage of this unique blessing every six months.

Although I've developed my own conviction of the significance of the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the more difficult part of Conference (and studying the scriptures) is following the council provided.

Listening and feeling good about what is said (and read in the scriptures) is easy. But the real test is afterwards when you face the everyday world and can no longer hide behind the temporary protection of ignorance. In the instant you are forced to make decisions, great or small, is the test of whether you will fulfill the personal commitment you made as the Holy Spirit confirmed the truth of the words of the Lord's representatives. In the blink of an eye, in an instant...and sometimes within seconds of gaining the new depth of knowledge, your commitment may be tested, the decision made, and the uncontrollable consequences unleashed.

Hopefully the right decision is made, releasing the blessings associated with obedience. But, unfortunately, all too often I fail the test, forfeit the blessings, and sit ashamed that I disappointed the Lord and sabotaged my own potential. I end up with a 'mess' that I must 'clean-up' in order to repair any damage made to myself or others. And gratefully the opportunity to sincerely try again is made available by the atonement of Jesus Christ.

The ultimate challenge from the historically unique opportunity of listening to the Lord's representatives at General Conference every six months is: To Change or Not to Change. But I know the Lord gives no commandments that we can't keep and gives us the opportunity to turn things around when we don't do what we know we should do. Heavenly Father loves us so much, he gave his only begotten son to give us every opportunity in the world to choose eternal life.

You may listen/watch archives from this weekend's General Conference to learn these truths for yourself. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Playing With Blogger

I played a little bit with Blogger today. They have some pretty nifty add-ons. Today, I decided to try their poll feature. Give it a shot...its down on the right below the Trail Heads.

Scenes From The Columbia River Coast

I sit here 'freezing,' in the dark gloomy evening, as the reality that summer really is over soaks painfully to my bones. I decided to look at some of the beach pictures we've taken over the years...there is some association of beach to summer and summer to warmth and light that is very inviting now that the hot chocolate I just drank has lost its warming effect.

Ironically most of our good beach pictures weren't taken during the summer. I think the beach is like coast residents...just kind of hangs low until the vacation rush ends, then comes out to play. (Click on the picture to see more detail.)

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse @ the Mouth of the Columbia River (Ilwaco, WA)

North Head Light House (Ilwaco, WA) and a sample of the Coast's great avian populations.

Peaceful Light clouds and pure blue sky backdrop a boldly colorful Kite.

Indian Head Beach, Ecola State Park, where the water dances majestically over giant, beautifully scatter rocks.(Cannon Beach, OR)

Blue Sky; White-tipped,Blue Ocean; Scattered Clouds; add Sunset = Unmatched beauty.

The sun goes to bed behind the endless Pacific Ocean under a warm blanket of clouds!

Going to bed under a pile of warm blankets sound really good about now. Maybe I'll dream of walking barefoot on a warm, soft, sandy beach with the calming hush of the waves in the background and the cool water lapping at my feet...hand in hand with my wife as a light, warm breeze blows from the yellow, orange, red sunset shimmering across the eternal sea.

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[Technical note: If you hover over a picture in the blog, you will see a web link address show up on the bottom of your browser, depending on which browser you use. Towards the end of the address you will see text between a set of slashes that reads: "s1600-h"--or a variation.

If your picture doesn't link to a bigger-sized picture when you click on it, you can add it by copying the picture address as shown in the Edit Html tab (starts with 'http://..." and ends with ".jpg"--or some other picture format extension following the name of the picture you uploaded.) Now, switch to the Compose tab, click on the appropriate picture, click the 'Link' icon (the green circle with a chain link overlapping the top in the tool bar), and paste the web address in the field provided. From there you can change the 's400' to 's1600-h' (or your desired resolution) resulting in a bigger picture when you click on the blog picture.]

Special Effects Photography

These photography special effects actually have very little to do with photography other than maybe posing the subjects. They were done with the free Gimp program. Note: I can only take credit for a small part of these special effects, my wife did most of it.


For a while there our family was really into Star Wars (about the time we got the Lego Star Wars video game.)

If this were real, no one would be smiling. Rest assured no one got hurt in the creation of these light sabres. Please create your own sound effects.

Two against one...not fair.

No we don't have twins...or super powers.