Family

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 2012 Winter Tour Review

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Yesterday afternoon the family went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This is our fourth time seeing them in concert, and it’s always an enjoyable experience.

But this time was a lot more enjoyable — especially for Youngest.

Like all TSO shows, it’s a giant rock concert with loads of class, music blending classical and rock (hey, all the guys behind TSO are heavy metal guys), lights, lasers, smoke, pyrotechnics… just a great time. This year was different from years past in that their 3rd album, The Lost Christmas Eve, was the focus of the first half of the show. It was a great choice and welcome change. Still, the storytelling was awesome, and overall production top-notch, as always.

We did notice some differences, like the show was tighter. A little less banter and talk, a little less improv, and the second half “rock concert” didn’t have any noticeable covers or jams. But that’s all good because again, it made for a nice change in the show. We stopped going to see them for a little bit because it was “the same thing” over and over, which was OK but you know… you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it again, and why spend all that money again? So we really liked the change. We do hope as they put out more non-Christmas albums to try to catch them on one of their non-winter tours.

I am a member of the TSO Fan Club, and because of that I’m able to get early tickets and good seats at the shows. This was no exception, and I chose some nice floor seats. Not too close, not too far back, but close enough to really see everything yet far enough back to be able to take in the whole of the show. Well… I think because we had such good placement, we got a treat.

Before the show started, while we were just sitting and waiting, a member of the road crew came up to us and pointed at Youngest and asked if he’d like to come on stage at the end of the show and receive a present from the band. Whoa! Of course we said yes. He asked a few questions (e.g. first time seeing the band? no, fourth), we discussed the logistics, and that was settled. He would come over to us during the last song to get us, then walk us over to the end/side of the stage where there are steps, and then Youngest would go on stage with the band and receive a gift.

And so it happened.

Youngest, taking a bow with Trans-Siberian Orchestra… with his autographed guitar!

He came up on stage, they gave him a guitar, autographed by the band. They gave him a chance to say something, but he didn’t — he told us later he was just in shock and giddy from it all, had no idea what to say being up there with them in front of 5000 people. 🙂

But he really enjoyed it and it was such a cool moment for him and our family. I know it’s a moment we’ll never forget.

If you’ve never seen TSO live, you’re missing out on a great experience. Go see them if you get the chance.

on rudeness

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

I need to vent. I normally don’t post other things on Sundays, but I had to get this off my chest.

Today Youngest had his first piano recital. He did just fine, and I’m more proud of him for learning to deal with nervousness and performing under pressure than for the music itself (tho that’s still cool). The music school once again demonstrated they are a fine group of folks that run a good ship and care about their students. My beef isn’t with them.

It’s with the audience.

Or more specifically… the parents.

I was floored at the number of parents that left as soon as their child finished playing. By the time the recital was over, I looked back and saw the room was almost empty. That was sad and terrible. The students performing at the end of the recital deserved just as much respect and audience for their hard work and performance as did YOUR child at the start of the recital.

But no.

You came for your child, and didn’t care about anyone else. Oh sure, I wouldn’t have been there either if my child wasn’t performing, but my child wasn’t the only child performing. You could see on every child’s face, some more than others, how nervous they were. But you didn’t care. You didn’t think how the sight of you getting up and walking out as they started performing would impact the child. You didn’t think that sitting there and texting or Facebooking would matter… when instead showing these nervous children a smiling and supportive face could mean all the world to them. You didn’t think that as you stood in the lobby area, how loud your voices were and how much it disturbed, interrupted, and distracted the performing child.

No… you didn’t care. Your rudeness never occurred to you.

I came so close to jumping out of my seat and storming into the lobby area and scolding these inconsiderate individuals for their behavior. But I didn’t. First, if I did, they wouldn’t accept it; they’d just get defensive and consider me the rude asshole (can’t see past the log in their own eye). Second, if I got up, I knew the child performing would have no idea why I was getting up — I’d just be another adult getting up and leaving. I was not going to do that to any child.

After the recital was over, I expressed my disappointment to one of the school’s owners, and she agreed that it was rude (and said she’s going to change recital policy to say if you come, you stay, else don’t bother signing up at all… and I hope she does, and I hope she enforces it). She told me she asked some of them why they were leaving and they gave excuses like “it’s Christmas… we’re busy”. Busy? You’re too busy for a 2 hour recital? You’re too busy to give something of yourself to others? You’re too busy to be polite and considerate of others? And don’t even give me this “it’s Christmas” line, because the level of selfishness you displayed shows me you know fuck-all about what Christmas is about.

But, there’s always a teachable moment.

Before we left, I took my family aside and spoke with the Kiddos. We talked about what happened, and they agreed it was rude and they felt terrible for the kids performing. Even Youngest commented how he felt a little awkward that as he walked in to start, he saw all these people getting up and leaving. Kiddos also said how wonderful it was for them to have stayed. They saw many great performances, had many smiles and joyful moments, and just saw some really talented people perform. So they got to see something few did — and that was a precious thing. Others could have seen it too, but they chose not to. Maybe they had a legit reason, but they still didn’t have to be rude about it. So at least my Kiddos got to learn and grow in some unexpectedly welcome ways.

But the best part was Youngest… who can’t wait for the Spring recital and perform again. 🙂   Hopefully the parents will be better behaved by then.

 

Where I took Daughter today

/ hsoi

And so yes, today I took Daughter to the range.

I also took Oldest, Youngest, and Wife.

We went to KR Training. Karl had all the steel out and we shot .22’s all morning. Shot my iron sight Buck Mark, shot Karl’s Buck Mark with a red dot scope, an M&P 22 pistol, a Ruger 10/22 with a 4×32 scope, and another Ruger 10/22 with a red dot. Just lots of .22 fun, shooting at steel, listening to it go “ping”.

The kids liked all the guns, but I think they like the rifles and red dots more. I’m not totally sure why, nor they, but my guess? Easier to shoot and get successful hits. Makes sense.

Oldest tho… I think I’m going to have to get him his own 10/22 and let him customize it. He had WAY too much fun dumping 25-round magazines. Even with 25 rounds, they run out of ammo too quickly. 🙂

Wife even had fun.

After shooting, we went up the road to the Elm Creek Cafe. All this time and I’ve never been able to eat there for one reason or another… and boy I wish I had eaten there sooner. That’s some fantastic “home cookin'” type food. Just awesome. The salad bar was full of fresh veggies from the owner’s own garden. Youngest tried frog legs… I’ve never had them either, but I tried some and they aren’t bad. Oldest had quail, which I’ve only had a time or two before. Wife had their grilled chicken friend steak and boy, that was good. And we brought home one of their dewberry pies…. we’ll have that after supper tonight. 🙂  And great hospitality too. Just good folks there.

Yes… guns are bad. They bring nothing but horrible things to this world… you know, like families spending time together. We can’t have any more of that in this world. 😉

 

A year of veggies

/ hsoi

I can’t believe it’s been about a year since we started doing the CSA veggie box from Johnson’s Backyard Garden. In fact, I just renewed for another year. They were running a special of a year subscription at 20% off, and I just couldn’t say no to such a heavy discount. Plus I know it helps them a lot to have some solid cash in the bank, and it’s great to be able to support what they do.

So what do I think about the first year?

The Good

The veggies, no doubt. Oh my gosh, it’s fantastic. First, that there’s so much variety. We get forced to try new things, different things. I had no idea what kohlrabi was until it came in the boxes, and I’m totally sold on it. I love all the greens. There’s no rut of just eating the same old thing that you get at the grocery store, because it’s shipped in from wherever all year round. There’s much to be said for eating what’s local and seasonal too.

The quality is high as well. I’m not a tomato person, but after eating theirs? I’m sold. As well, who knew carrots could have such deep flavor! But when they’re able to stay in the ground until they reach their peak, then picked and you eat it within days of coming out of the ground? You’re going to get better tasting food. Plus I can see the care the JBG group puts into seed and variety selection, to make it not only something that will grow and flourish here in our climate and soil, but also that’s just darn yummy.

The price is reasonable too. I was not going to sign up for it if it was going to be really expensive vs. the grocery store. But after pricing it out as best I could, I could see it works out fine. I have to say “as best I could” because I’ve never seen kohlrabi at the grocery store. Oh I’m sure Whole Foods has it (I don’t shop there, too expensive), but that means JBG will be an ever better deal. Furthermore, when buying in bulk, they offer these discounts and so that’s even better. Sure it’s a bunch of money up front, but it pans out over the long term.

And you know what’s fun? The box. The surprise of “what is in there this week?”, and getting excited when you see what’s coming. Oh geez… as I write this, I just remembered that pattypan/sunburst squash are going to soon be here…. another new thing from the box, that I just LOVE and can’t wait for. See what I mean? No you can’t see how truly silly excited this makes me… but it does. And that’s part of what’s cool, because you can read about what they’re planting, what they’re trying, and thus what you have to look forward to. It’s fun!

The Bad

The box policy annoys me. I totally understand why they have it, and I do respect it. But it sucks when responsible people have to be penalized for those who aren’t.

The pick up. Wife and I did pick-up until recently. We actually kinda enjoyed it, calling it our “Veggie Date” because just she and I would go to pick them up. A little time with my honey is good. 🙂  But it kinda got old and sometimes we just didn’t want to drag out to do it because it didn’t fit the schedule. Or we’d have to schedule things around the pickup. So… we opted to change to home delivery. It’s $5 more per box, but frankly, it’s worth it. With the price of gas, when you account for the 30-60 minutes it takes (normally not 60 minutes, but if the truck is running late…), all that time and money adds up. The $5 for delivery ends up being worth it. And we don’t have to deal with the box issue. 😉

But the one downside is there’s no more trade box. The trade box was awesome and we took advantage of that a lot, not necessarily because we didn’t like something in the box (I think only arugula has ever been the flat out “no” to us), but because there might be something better or more fitting for us in there… like one time there was a HUGE bag of spinach in the trade box and that was a win!  But in talking to the JBG folk, they are working hard towards having more “up front” box selection, which would be really cool. Either to be able to pick and choose your box contents would be neat, or to be able to buy more of something some week would be nice. They’re working on it, and I eagerly await that.

Happy Are We

All in all, we’re really happy with this. It works out well for the grocery bill. It makes life a bit easier at the grocery store. We’re getting high quality food. We get to support local business. We get to expand our palettes. What’s not to like?

Looking forward to the next year.

Upping my geek cred

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Apparently my geek (nerd?) credibility has been slipping. So I made up for it today by taking the family to the Sherwood Forest Faire.

I’ve never done a “Renaissance Faire” before, believe it or not. Have wanted to for many years but often I’d learn about the faire after it was over, or schedule conflicts. Well, I knew well in advance this time and was determined to go. Weekend weather has been rough, plus I spend many weekends at KR Training, so opportunity was slipping away… but I demanded it would happen today and it did. Basically, I’ve been so busy in life that I haven’t spent enough time with my family, so by gum some family time was going to happen. 🙂

We all had a fantastic time, and actually had more fun than we expected.

Yes, the moment we walked into the faire, we all kinda stepped back a moment because yes… it did feel like we entered a time warp. It was kinda weird, but cool.

Of course, the moment I entered I was hit by an amusing bit of commerce.

“Programs! Would you like to purchase a program, which has a map and guide? Only 3£!”

“no thank you”. I figured we’d either just wander, or if I really needed it they had a map on their website and I could always just pull it up on  my iPhone.

Then I took a few more steps in.

“Here sir, would you like a map?”

Yeah… they hit you up for the $3 souvenier map first, then hand out a free black and white paper one. Gotta love it. 🙂

And yes, shops… err… shoppes… err.. “ye olde shoppes” were everywhere. Yes, we called everything “ye olde” throughout the day. And I was thinking, was this just going to be shopping? But then we saw all the entertainment, which was great. We saw a “dog show” that we figured would just be a dog doing tricks, but the lady explained a lot of training techniques and how to do things. A lot was familiar to us due to all the intensive training work with did with Sasha, but it was really cool that she wasn’t just showing tricks but also educating the crowd.

The one show we all wanted to see tho was the Sky Kings Falconry raptor bird show. Folks, that was just damn cool. Artemis, their Eurasian Eagle Owl, was awesome. And yes, the black vultures were awesome to watch… well, we thought so. Unfortunately both of them landed on top of a small child’s head… didn’t hurt the kid but sure gave him a fright, poor kid. 🙂

We saw various musicians, lots of belly dancers, Oldest threw some axes, Daughter and Youngest rode on a “jousting” ride. We watched the actual jousting… man, I have to hand it to those guys, taking a beating like that. Can’t be fun to get knocked off a horse, with force, in a full suit of plate armor. But very entertaining. Plus just lots of general entertainment by random people… and who knows if those people were official faire folk or just random folks that came dressed up for their own fun. One guy was dressed I guess as some sort of chaotic evil warrior, kinda creeped Wife out a bit but she did think it was pretty cool after her initial startle reaction. And yes, lots of people dressed in various garb of all favors from around the looseness of the genre. Tho I did see one goth girl walking around… the only way she could have stood out more was if she wore a Stormtrooper costume (Slave Leia would have just blended in).

It was a heck of a lot of fun.  And yes, I can see why people would want to get season passes and come for many weekends. There’s FAR more to do there than I expected, just lots of great and interesting stuff. Just tons of fun. Expensive, but fun. Oh and yes, bring lots of $1 bills… no, not to slip into the cleavage of the saucy wench that served your mead, but because all the performers accept tips and I think it’s right and just to give them some sort of compensation in exchange for the entertainment they gave you.

After the faire, I took the family over to the A-Zone Range, where KR Training holds classes. Tom Givens is in town this weekend teaching a course, and with us so close to the range I wanted to take the family by so they could see where it is and what it is that I slip away for all these weekends (only Daughter has been out there before). Karl was there doing some chores and he showed the family around the property. Everyone got to meet Ribo (Karl’s dog). Got to talk with Lynn Givens (Tom’s wife) for a little while; always a pleasure to see her. Tom was running class so I interrupted only for a moment to shake hands, say hello, and have a quick introduction of the family. A nice little diversion while we were out there.

Oh… and I got to try Lynn’s M&P. She was experimenting with a new gun that has Apex Tactical’s new Forward Set Sear and trigger kit. When I got my M&P I thought seriously about getting that and oh…. after trying it I think I just might. It’s awesome. Wicked tight, a thing of beauty.

I digress. 🙂

It was a fine day. Yes, we’ll go back to the Ren Faire in the future, maybe even doing multiple weekends if time allows. It was a lot of fun, and just a great way to spend a day with the family. And really, that’s what mattered most to me today: being with my family, having fun, making memories.

/ hsoi

(let’s try this reblog thing…)
We’ve homeschooled our kids their entire lives. When she talks about:

“I didn’t realize the pressure we were under until we were set free of the educational “mess” of which they were part: The prepackaged curriculum, the one-size-fits-all model, the bullying and the negative socialization. Homeschooling allowed us to discover and experience pure, superior learning and a customized learning environment.”

I know what she means. And she’s right when she says “we, as parents, must exert a powerful influence in determining the quality of life we want for our children.” It shouldn’t be left up to the whims of some budget crisis, or politics, or really, what some else wants to indoctrinate into our children’s heads. We don’t shelter our children — we know they have to enter the real world someday and we want to ensure they are best prepared for it, not just to survive, but to excel. It requires a lot of sacrifice of our time, our money, our quality of life in some ways… but in so many others, it leads to a far greater increase in quality that it’s well worth it.

Don’t be like them

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

As Daughter progresses in her drumming, she gets exposed to more bands, more dummers.

And more opportunities to talk to her about drug and alcohol abuse.

John Bonham? Don’t be like him.

Steven Adler? Don’t be like him (still alive, but still…).

Jeff Porcaro? Don’t be like him.

John Panozzo? Don’t be like him.

Keith Moon? Don’t be like him.

Jimmy Sullivan? Don’t be like him.

Stuart Cable? Don’t be like him.

Sure, play drums like these guys — especially Bonham — but that’s where you should stop emulating them.

She gets it. I hope she will never forget it.

I’ve wasted how much of my life?!?

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I just learned the Ian Knot.

How much of my life have I wasted tying shoes the “standard” way?

If you don’t know what the Ian Knot is, watch:

Youngest is still struggling with shoelace tying. Understandable because he rarely wears shoes with laces, so far too often when he wears those shoes we don’t have the time to teach him properly. Couple that with the fact that knots are useful, and I’ve been on a kick to get the kiddos to learn a bunch of basic knots (Oldest fights it and refuses to learn… then every time I see him struggling to tie something up, I remind him how much easier things would be if he’d listen to his old man once in a while and learn proper knots). All the basic ones they teach in Boy Scouts: square knot, two half-hitches, taught-line hitch, bowline, sheet bend, clove hitch, etc..

Might as well start with shoelaces.

And yes, while the rest of the household knows how to tie laces the old fashioned way, we’re all going to learn the Ian knot. Well, we’ve mostly got it… doesn’t take long. But mastering it so we can tie it super fast will just take practice.

So what are some other useful knots?

Figure 8 knot is simple, and good to know about as a stopper.

Lark’s Head is another simple one, useful too.

I read about the Trucker’s Knot and think that would be useful to learn. I don’t know it myself.

Of course there’s the basic overhand knot, but you tend to learn that one as you do other knots.

It’s good to learn about the granny knot… just so you can recognize it, since you’ll probably tie it a bunch while learning the square knot.

What are some other essential knots to know?

A little grease under the fingernails

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’ve had the new (to me) truck a week and a half now, and the maintenance work has already begun.

The goal? To replace everything that I can replace. Fix all that I can fix. Update all I can update. Within reason.

It’s a used vehicle. I don’t know how well it was maintained, the condition of the fluids, and so on. I can tell some, but not all. I want to put as much as I can into a known good state. Besides, with 95K miles already on it, if these things haven’t been done they sure need to be done if I want to keep this truck going for another 100-200K miles.

Now first, I must give some credit where it’s due. I owe much to foo.c for getting me going. I didn’t grow up under the hood of a car. Sure, since I turned 16 and got my drivers license I tinkered on what little non-intimidating things I could, and I paid attention to regular maintenance, but I paid someone else to do the work. Anything that required working on the engine I did not do, save replacing an alternator on an old minivan many years ago. Then some many years ago, foo.c showed me how to change my own oil. My reaction — “that’s it?”  I was surprised at how easy it was, and a little ashamed I hadn’t tried it sooner. Since then I’ve only paid for an oil change once, because that one time I didn’t have the time, wasn’t going to have the time, and the change was overdue.

Then I got my motorcycle some years ago, and tinkered heavily on that doing all the regular maintenance plus various modifications including exhaust, intake/carb mods, and even changing the cams. I was well over being afraid or intimidated of such things; in fact, I really liked it.

I’ve done my best to tackle jobs on the family cars, but I just can’t do it all. On the minivan, there’s not much I can do due to how they designed and assembled everything. Something that should be simple, like changing the alternator, is nothing I can tackle on my own due to the horrible location of the thing and the level of pain and tools/equipment involved to get to it. *sigh*  But I’ll do what I can.

Then I got the truck. I admit tho that the notion of maintaining the truck did intimidate me a bit, and once again foo.c helped me get a handle on things. I realize tho that it’s like most source of intimidation, it came from being unaware and ignorant of what’s involved — I just didn’t have any info to go on, what’s involved, how to do the work, etc.. After reviewing things he told me, the Chilton manual, and YouTube videos (gee but the Internet is great), most everything seems like a piece of cake. I’m just going to slowly whittle away at the to-do list trying to tackle one job per day/weekend (whenever I have time).

So far:

  • new wiper blades
  • new battery – existing battery was failing load test during the pre-purchase inspection, so this was bought shortly after I pulled off the dealer’s lot.
  • oil change – used Valvoline DuraBlend, and a Mobil 1 M-206 filter (foo.c tipped me off that while the M-107 is the proper filter, the M-206 fits and is just slightly longer to give more filter media).
  • new air filter — paper, I’ll change it every year.
  • new belts (serpentine and a/c)

From what I can tell so far, I do think the truck was maintained by the prior owners. One funny example? When I took off the front skid plate to replace the a/c belt, there was a crumpled up piece of paper in there. It was a receipt from an oil change at a shop. Not sure how it got there, but there it was… a little bit of confirmed history for the truck. 🙂

That said, it was interesting the serpentine belt looked fairly new, but the a/c belt was old and cracked. I’m not sure why they replaced the one belt and not the other since you have to remove the serpentine to get to the a/c belt anyways. The serpentine didn’t really need changing, but I figured there was no harm in changing it while I was at it.

Next up is stuff like changing the front and rear differential oil and the transfer case oil. Doesn’t look hard, just a matter of doing the work. I’ll be most curious to see the condition of those oils, to see if they were ever changed. Spark plugs will be done, but looking at the engine and placement of the plugs I don’t wanna… tho foo.c tells me only a couple are a bitch to deal with. I’ll probably get foo.c to help me with the brakes… they don’t need it, but I figure why not, replace that fluid and put new pads on everything.

I do think I will pay someone for a couple of things. Transmission fluid and filter I may get someone else to do, or foo.c to help me. I’ll also probably have the coolant drain/flush done by someone else because I just don’t have the ability to safely handle that much fluid.

The best part? Daughter is helping me with everything. For whatever reason she’s taken an interest in learning about it all, how everything works, how to do all of this work. Certainly some things I have to do because she’s just not strong enough, but I’m letting her do all that she can and teaching her what I can. We’re learning together on this and having a lot of fun. I don’t know how long it will last, but I’ll take what I can. 🙂