Our Trip to the Central Coast...

This post has been a long time coming! I started working on it on January 8th but I never gave up on it, especially since we took so many photos. The primary issue with getting this on the web is that all of these photos, along with many others, are on our old eMachine desktop is in Claire's room (XP SP2, Celeron, 356MB RAM, 40 GB...yeah, she's an oldie but a goodie) which makes it difficult to use since she goes to bed early so normally we use the notebook. So, here's the post. You'll notice I started off by trying to do this day by day, like a scrapbook, but once I uploaded all of the photos, I decided to just do captions for the photos after day 1:

The weekend of January 5th found us in San Luis Obispo visiting Sarah's brother Jake and his girlfriend Amy. Sarah's middle brother Rob and his fiance, Laura were visiting there as well. It was a blustery weekend, to say the least, and we experienced everything from hydroplaning on the road to power outages. Despite the adverse weather conditions, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. The following are photos and videos we took while visiting. I wasn't able to take as many photos outside due to the rain and many are a little desaturated due to the fact that is was overcast.

DAY 1
On the first day in San Luis Obispo (SLO) (we had arrive the previous night late) it was windy and there was a veritable downpour of rain. Since Jake and Amy were both working, Rob, Laura and we decided to drive to the local mission which has a small museum. After that we used our new GPS unit to make our way to Morro Bay to take a look at a little (very little) aquarium. This ended up being a lot of fun since the aquarium was laughably small but very romantic and quaint. They have some rescued seals and interesting fish.

Arrowheads found in the area by early settlers (there were multiple cases of these all of which caused me to really contemplate how early people lived here and every where for that matter):
*BTW- don't forget to click on the images for a slighter higher resolution version of the photos.

Old mission furniture:

Creepy & cute

Carter and Claire (he does these "crazy eyes" in photos all the time which can drive us nuts when we're trying to get a nice, normal shot to prove that we're nice, normal people...did I just write that out...ummm...):


Rob and Laura in the courtyard of the mission by the well. Two homeless dudes were using some sort of improvised tool with gum on the end to try to retreive coins from the well which is covered by a metal grate:

Now here's some photos we took at the "quaint" (in lieu of "ghetto") Morro Bay aquarium we found on Day 1. It was actually quite charming:


The highlight of the little aquarium were their seals. One of them was particularly vocal when he wanted more food as the video below amply illustrates:

Rob and Laura by the seals.


Claire, naturally, had no idea what was going on but she sure looked cute anyway.


Inside the aquarium things took a turn for the surreal. Check out this moray eel (they're a lot more intimidating when you're snorkeling or scuba diving and they're sticking their heads out of the rocks with their mouths wide open.

I don't know what's up with this expression, but he looks like some sort of sea creature.


I thought the upper corner of the room in which all of these tanks were in was quite amazing and hazardous. I had to play around in Photoshop to get this to show.

Of course you gotta have one of those penny stamping machines.

I love old-fashioned machines and wanted a pic with Carter in front of it.


There were some strange little creatures in the various display cases:

Hey, piranhas are freshwater fish! Oh well, anything goes here!


Later that day we navigated our way to the Morro Bay Seaside cafe, a quaint little eatery that served very delicious yet healthy fare. This photo doesn't do the weather justice, but if you look closely you can sort of tell how rainy and windy it was.


The ceiling of the cafe was funny (and kind of creepy, click on the image to enlarge and check out the baby's face...I guess there was A LOT of mercury in her fish):

After eating, the day was still young and so are we, so we decided to head over to the Morro Bay Natural History Museum which the folks at the Morro Bay aquarium told us about (they were sweet, although they really wanted to sell us home made "country clutter"). Here are photos from the Morro Bay N.H.M. which was quite nice:




A view from within of Morro Bay rock.




What kind of animal do you think this skeleton belongs to?

Nope....a dolphin!



Now, I'd like to introduce you to the strangest character I've ever seen as a spokesperson, "Mr. Poop." Ok, so he's not really supposed to be a fictitious piece of feces, but every time I looked at this little rock guy--I think his name is Rocky--I couldn't help but think of him as a little poop. Enjoy the following photos dedicated to the fun we had with Mr. Poop, I mean Rocky:

Later that night we met up with Jake and Amy and went out to eat. The next day we traveled around the area. I am not going to try to organize the rest of the photos because it's just too time consuming, but I will throw in some commentary to make sense of them.

So much for floating Claire out into the ocean on th


After eating at the Seaside Cafe it was time for some exercise. Although it was a hazy, overcast day, it was still very beautiful.


On the last day we ate at "Tanner Jacks." I had tri-tip which is famous in this area because it was "invented" there. I guess that portion of the cow is often discarded in other areas of the U.S.




I took this photo of Sarah existing Kaiser in Ventura. On the way home, we stopped and had Claire checked out since she had developed a fever and vomited that morning. She was fine but we did have to get her some medication since the gunk had gotten deep into her lungs (excuse the technical terms).



One of the most charming things about the Seaside cafe is their little antique/curiosities section.









Rob (aka The Beatle)









We don't have an SLR, but our point and shoot has a macro function which I played around with a bit and, I think, some of the shots turned out pretty well.






Following Jakes' 335i


The breakfast at the cafe was delicious (that's not all butter but is some sort of vanilla sauce)


GPS, a girl's best friend


Jake and Amy






The strangest sea weed I've ever seen








Carter always found the a way to make sure a ton of sand and mud got into the car






What a house!






Click on the photo and then look at the top left (bird)

Sarah made fun of me when I took these at Jake and Amy's place (we had to break out the candles when the power went out) but now even she agrees that they're charming:

Some videos we took on the trip:
Carter's "Hoyt bubble shump-doe jump"








We had a great trip despite the bad weather and we're planning on heading up to visit Jake and Amy soon (they have a new place now which we're excited to see). Best wishes to Rob and Laura who will be married soon.

Baby Animalz

So, the other day the need to look up pictures of baby animals arose so, naturally, we headed over to babyanimalz.com (by the way, could there be anything more lame than replacing the perfectly good "s" on the end of the word with the letter "z"?). It pretty much goes without saying that baby animals are very cute, so it was simultaneously pleasant and unpleasant to find shockingly ugly little animals on the website. I've taken the liberty of posting the most horrific little creatures below for your personal enjoyment. In order to maximize the shock value of the horrid little infantile critters, I've posted one cute one for every ugly one:

Cute:

Not so cute:

Cute:

Not so cute (we just saw an exhibit with these at the SD Zoo):

Cute:

No so cute (wow, just spend a minute looking at the little dude on the left):

Ok, so not technically babies, but really ugly!:


This poor guy might be diseased (I showed Carter all of these animals and asked him which ones were cute and which ones were ugly, he said this guy was "cute" and it actually made me feel bad for this poor creature, now I'm feeling a little guilty for putting him out there for potential ridicule. If you feel bad for him, send me $5...no, $10 via PayPal and I'll see what I can do):


This dog was on TV. He's very old and blind, but the owner loves him and he won the ugliest dog award (I think it was on a national level):


He may have met his match here (NOT photoshopped by the way):


*Last word: some people tend to take me way too literally. If I ever ask you to send me money, for example, to assist some pathetic animal that is most likely dead, please don't. Now, if you feel bad for the the wretched animal I am, then by all means, send money. Cash is perferable, but PayPal's fine too.

No Pups Please

Todds like cats OK and we enjoy our reptiles and amphibians but, and I think I speak on behalf of my whole family when I say that we love dogs. That said, we, Daniel, Sarah et al. do not have a dog, or a puppy. Those photos of Carter playing with that adorable little pup were taken when big "E" (Eric, Sarah's youngest brother) brought over his friend's puppy for a little visit.

We talked about getting a dog a while back. Sarah really wanted a puppy for Carter to play with. One weekend with April and Wes' dog, however, changed her mind. I was glad because although I love dogs, they require so much time, patience, money, and...wait a minute, they sound just like kids and we already have two of those!

So, no doggies for us, at least not yet. A few years down the road we will likely get one. Here are the breeds we'll likely go for:

Bull Terrier (*NOT a pit bull...very different actually)

Bull Terriers are known as friendly and outgoing dogs, even having a "clownish" attitude about them. Their physical strength is matched by their intelligence, and both body and mind need to be kept active. They can be fun and playful. As a breed they are generally placid and will not normally make the first move. They are very affectionate dogs that love human company. Bull Terriers are particularly good with children, and usually have a high pain threshold, which reduces the risk of injury from a defensive bite.

English Bull Dog


And if we have enough property:

Rottweiler

In the hands of a responsible owner, a well trained and socialized Rottweiler can be a reliable, alert dog and a loving companion. However, any poorly trained dog can become a danger in the wrong circumstances. Some people think of a Rottweiler as a mean, vicious dog but those are the Rottweilers that are abused and not treated as they should be. Rottweilers that are loved and cared for can be just as nice as any other dog and in general they are fond of children, very devoted, quick to learn, and eager to please. However, if they are not receiving the mental stimulation they desire, they will find creative and sometimes destructive ways to elicit it. Such behavioral problems as chewing, barking for attention and eating less can be a result of lack of human interaction. The Rottweiler is a good working dog that is also good for protection of children, as well as guard duties.

The Rottweiler is a steady dog with a self-assured nature, but early socialization and exposure to as many new people, animals, and situations as possible are very important in developing these qualities. The Rottweiler also has a natural tendency to assert dominance if not properly trained. Rottweilers' large size and strength make this an important point to consider: an untrained, poorly trained, or abused Rottweiler can learn to be extremely aggressive and destructive and, if allowed to run at large, may pose a significant physical threat to humans or other animals. They can be strong-willed (bull-headed) and should be trained in a firm, fair, and consistent manner - the owner must be perceived as the leader.

"They can be strong-willed (bull-headed) and should be trained in a firm, fair, and consistent manner - the owner must be perceived as the leader." <--sounds a like like Carter!

Craaazy Carter!

Carter is so full of life that he has a hard time containing his energy. He's now officially at the age at which he says strange and hilarious things. For example, last week he told Sarah that she has "More than her fair share of gumption." A few hours after he said that we discovered that he had heard the phrase while watching the Bernstein Bears but had we not found that out, we would have thought he was channeling spirits from the 1800s or something.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well, here are a few thousand words that express Carter's personality better than any words I can come up with:


Demonstrating the proper way to hold a pup.


He puts this thing on his foot and says, "Monster foot!"


"What? I'm just playing my harmonica in here Mommy."


Holding a balloon of light.


Crazy eyes.


Just look at this picture.


Using the force to navigate without vision...while being chased by a rabid puppy.


Pajamas, check. Sandals, check. Helmet, check. Hose, check. Strange, straddle stance, check.


Getting ready for the way he'll wear his pants in 2055.



We love our boy!

Hallelujah!

I think we've all experienced the frustration of receiving some gift for Christmas or a birthday only to face the challenge of trying to open said gift nearly impossible due to "clamshell" packaging. Well, it may not last for long. I grabbed this from joystiq.com:

Retail usage of clamshell packaging may be shucked

66 Comments by Griffin McElroy Apr 12th 2008 5:00PM
Filed under: Business

We've all suffered an injury or two at the hands of a hermetically-sealed package containing a shiny new controller or other accessory, but did you know that 6,500 people visited the emergency room with a plastic packaging-related injury in 2004? That's not all -- these "clamshell" packages are often made of environmentally-unsound non-recycled plastics (which are increasingly expensive to produce due to rising petroleum costs), and are the largest contributer to various worldwide terrorist organizations?

Okay, that last part was a lie, but there are plenty of reasons to dislike this hand-lacerating form of consumer packaging -- luckily, a recent CNET article revealed that some experts in the packaging industry think that clamshell usage may be on its way out, for the reasons listed above. Retailers still prefer the shoplifter-deterring containers, but consumer frustration and cheaper alternatives may signal the end of the mollusk-inspired packages in the coming years. Our gnarled, decrepit hands are very relieved.

My #1 Hobby

I got on to check my email and decided to post really quickly. Today was a great day. I love Fridays and all day I was in a good mood as I taught my classes because a) it's my favorite day of the week b) I couldn't wait to get home and see Sarah and the kids c) we went down to Huntington to have a "bonfire" with the family and d) tomorrow I'm going saltwater fishing off the coast in my buddy Dan's boat.

Despite the fact that I have a multitude of hobbies, I love to fish. Indeed, I was talking to Sarah before she fell asleep (I'm sitting next to the bed on the soft chair we keep in our room typing this on the notebook) and I told her, "You know, I think fishing is my number one hobby because I actually have a preset alarm in my cell phone entitled "FISHING." I don't have an alarm setting for any other hobby." I suppose it would be strange to set an alarm reminding me it's time to read a book or play a game on my Xbox.

So, fishing, here's to you! Now I better go to bed!


Even a bad day fishing (like this one) is better than a good day at work. At least that's how the saying goes. I remember this particular day, I didn't catch anything but some mosquito bites. Looking back, however, I would have gone out and tried again anyway. This photo was taken at TeaPot lake in the Uinta Mountains (2006?).

Who is the bigger consumer: men or women?

I think pop culture has burned the image of the shopaholic woman into our collective consciousness. Whether it's the bored housewife shopping with kids in tow at the mall or the teenage girl with her "daddy's" credit card running up the debt at the boutique, we all think women are the big spenders.

Men, on the other hand, don't seem to shop nearly as much or as often. I know I don't go to grocery or department stores nearly as often as Sarah. In fact, I probably go shopping no more than a handful of times per month. BUT when I do go shopping, I often spend much more than my better half. Today, for example, I spent over $120 at Walmart (yeah, I prefer high class shopping venues) on fishing gear and a 2008 fishing license (I'm going fishing off the coast this Saturday with some work buddies). If I think about 2008, most of what I purchased were high ticket items such as an iPod, TV, gaming accessories, etc. Also, I tend to do more shopping online for books, video cables, etc. which show up in the mail after the money has been spent and are quickly put to use quietly behind a cabinet tucked into a book shelf, thus covering up the evidence of my mini-shopping sprees.

Then there's the whole question of hobbies: Sarah scrapbooks and reads while I like fishing, skiing, computers, electronic gaming (we don't like to term video games anymore, thank you very much!) and so forth. I have WAY more hobbies and they cost WAY more and, when I buy things to go along with said hobbies, such as rental fees, fishing licenses, gear, etc. I look at them as necessary expenditures, thus avoiding my association with that ugly, feminine verb "shopping."

In the end, we probably spend roughly the same amount of money shopping, but I'll be the first to admit that my shopping generally revolves around my hobbies while Sarah's shopping is for true necessities such as food, clothing, etc. When she does by that occassional item for herself, usually a book or some new shoes, I praise her in an attempt to ease the guilt of having just spent $15 on my monthly GameFly subscription.

So, do women spend more than men? Probably. Do men have more expensive hobbies? I think so. Does every couple differ in regard to spending habits? Absolutely. My question, then, is whether or not your experience is similar or not.

Click here for a post I found in which the guy describes a very similar experience to ours (I found this after I typed up my blog post by the way).

Hello Blogging World! Love, Sarah

I have been meaning to post something for quite a while, as sweet Danny did kindly add me as a contributor and if it weren't for his technological savviness our family would be in a world of hurt...so my goal will be to post at least once a quarter:) Whenever our family is together he is generally the photographer but here a few I snapped recently of him with the kids. He is so good with them...I am grateful that he gets the extra bonding time while I am at work...it makes the kids have a better relationship with him and he is pretty darn good at juggling two kids! Carter always says that he wants to be just like Daddy when he grows up and Claire is saying "da-da" but we don't think she knows what she is saying yet:) I know its not Fathers Day or anything but I figured I should show my gratitude for our good man! I love you, Danny!

Boston Dynamics Big Dog

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and in the case of robotics, this also rings true. This particular robot, which is partially funded by DARPA (US defense research) is much"scarier" than anything I've seen in a sci-fi movie (by the way, make sure you skip ahead a bit to the part when they kick the robot!):


Image how cool it would be to use robots like this for search and rescue!

Other robot videos:

Random shots

I got on the computer and hooked up our little point and click with the intention of working on the huge backlog of photos I need to edit, namely the most recent pics we took at the zoo in March while I was off. I didn't put much of a dent in them, but I did edit a few random shots we've taken in the last few days and weeks. Here they are:

Claire on Easter morning at home before church:




This is the most common sight in the house these days. Now that Claire is a crawler, she moves around at will knocking things off shelves. Of course, her favorite past time is now pulling down all of the DVDs, remotes, controllers, etc. off of the entertainment center which sits quite low to the ground.


I took this photo on the way to the L.A. zoo with my students for a field trip a few weeks ago. At first I couldn't believe my eyes:

As you might have guessed, it's just an image pasted onto the back of the truck.

Carter trying to the prove the theory of evolution true once and for all: