Friday Funny

MISSING WIFE:
The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim-faced Alaska State Troopers. "We're sorry Mr. Wilkens, but we have some information about your wife," said one trooper. "Tell me! Did you find her?" Wilkens shouted. The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?" Fearing the worst, an ashen Mr. Wilkens said, "Give me the bad news first." The trooper said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body inKachemak Bay ." "Oh my God!" exclaimed Wilkens. Swallowing hard, he asked, "What's the good news?" The trooper continued, "When we pulled her up, she had 12 twenty-five pound king crabs and 6 good-size Dungeness crabs clinging to her." Stunned, Mr. Wilkens demanded, "If that's the good news, what's the great news?" The trooper said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow."

Cabin Fever and Muscle Atrophy

The month of February was a tough one for me. The baby is getting heavier, and I was too. My back just couldn't take it any more. My sciatic nerve was the worst part. My whole leg would cramp up and my right foot felt a little numb. In the middle of February, I had my wife take me to the emergency room, because I couldn't take the pain any more. I was in pain for four weeks straight, but I only missed two days of work. Now I am in physical therapy, and I am doing much better. I don't think that I like the traction though....think medieval rack.

Winter in the mid-west is terrible...at least I think so now. When I was a kid, we used to go outside and play in the snow all the time. Now that I am getting older, I just worry about slipping on the ice and breaking something. It is cold and dark outside when I am not at work, so getting good physical activity is hard to find. I really hate exercise equipment, the view never changes.

Sunday is the time change. The change to Daylight Savings Time means that it will still be light out at 7:30 pm. This glorious little event is going to happen 3 weeks sooner this year. My only worry is that it will still be too cold to ride the bike. I am looking forward to getting out of this house that I have been cooped-up in all winter long.

I want to feel the warm sun on my face again.

Quiet Water Symposium

Unlike the much heralded "kayak show" in Wisconsin. The Quiet Water Symposium is a much smaller, more intimite setting. I attended the show this year on March 3rd on the MSU campus in East Lansing, Michigan. I had intended it to help relieve some of my cabin fever, but I think it had the opposite effect. I purchased the video Greenland Rolling with Dubside, and I have viewed it only once so far. I plan to study it much more closely in the near future. I really enjoyed the shot of Dubside rolling the huge triple cockpit kayak. It looked like he really had to "put his *ss into" the task of dumping it over to begin.

There were many booths this year with water conservancy groups, and artists, photographers, writers,instructors, and clubs that all have one thing in common. They all enjoy the lakes and rivers in there own unique way - they don't use motors. Kayaks, canoes, dog sleds, ice boats, snowshoes, fly fishing, there were even some hiking and mountain climbing groups there.

I really want to get outside now. It was 5 degrees F outside this morning. Only three more weeks till April.

Baptism

Maddie was baptised on 25 Feb 2007 at Immanuel Lutheran Church. Aunt Cindy (my sister) and Uncle Josh (Yvette's brother) were sponsors. Family photo...look at that red hair and those blue eyes.

Photo with Granny and Papa.

Photo with Grandma and Grandpa.

I have been busy with lots of non-kayaking aspects to life. Good thing too, it has been cold and nasty outside this winter, and the lakes are frozen over, so no kayaking. I get to look at my lonesome Gulfstream hang on the garage wall every day as leave for work, and then again when I return. About one month to go with the cold weather yet. April is always better, although today is March 1st, and it came in like a lion, with thunder and lightening even, so maybe March will go out like a lamb. Keeping my hopes up for an early spring.

Big City

My first time in New York. A business trip. Did a little site seeing. It was a great opportunity for this packaging designer to see some great inspirations. Toured the Museum of Modern Art, 5th Ave window "shopping", the Empire State Building, a couple of big design firms, the Paramount Hotel, Times Square, Moss, Karim Rashid, FAO Schwartz, the Apple store, St. Peters Cathedral. Lots of walking, more than I am used to anyway. I rode a subway, and hailed a cab, all by myself.

Ice Storm

We got a pretty serious ice storm last week. Cable was out for several days, therefore Internet service was as well, so I couldn't post, or even surf. I've been trying to catch up on my reading of blogs. Still...it could have been a lot worse. We didn't lose power, but last Tuesday, I was outside letting my dog relieve himself at about 3:00 am, and it was dead calm and only 16 degrees F. I could hear a generator running down the road a little ways. Some of my neighbors were without power for three days. That would have really sucked, No power, a new baby, and cold enough to freeze the......well you know what I mean.

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Sorry that I have not posted very much lately. The water is much too cold to kayak, frozen in places. My daughter is now taking up much of my free time.

You'll shoot your eye out!

One of my favorite holiday movies was running for 24 hours straight on TBS yesterday: A Christmas Story. The really cool part is the Christmas gift that my parents gave me yesterday. A .36 caliber flint-lock muzzle-loader rifle. One of the first things my mom said to me was: "You be careful with that." I had to laugh.

You see, the cool part is that about 17 years ago, I purchased all of the required parts to build this little beauty myself. The problem only became apparent to me after I attempted and subsiquently broke the "high figure curly maple stock with tiger-stripes" It was then that my stomach became upset, and my energy level for this task took a nose dive. I put all the parts back into the box and slid it back between the floor joists at my parents house just above the basement work bench. I had thought about the rifle a few times since, but recently it had faded from memory.

My father sought out the expertise and craftsmanship of a local muzzle-loader builder, and had him finish the job for me. In retrospect, I could not have done this rifle justice. It now is a real work of art, that I am told performs wonderfully.

Just like in the movie, my parents let everyone open all of the gifts, and then after the last one was opened, they said that there was still one gift left, and sent me around the corner to get it. I was really surprised. I had not expected to ever see this rifle finished, let alone get it for a gift this Christmas. It is a really special gift for me.

Tummy Time

Here is a picture for granny.

Small World

It seems that videos of kayak rolling are in high demand. Here is a video of Alex Pak, I believe, unless I am mistaken, from across the Atlantic. I have found that the Internet is very useful for someone like myself who only reads, writes, and speaks a single language. So long as there is an online translator, I can read blogs from all over the world. It is continuing to become smaller and smaller every day. Here is the translated "kayak of sea: The kayak-blog of Oli". Here is the translated "The Life is to Whistle" blog of Carlos. Each of these blogs are viewed better in their native language, as the pictures, the grammar, and the page formats are much more pleasing to the eye. I only use the translator after I have viewed the pics first. Here are the links to the blogs in there native languages: kayak de mer: Le kayak-blog d'Oli and La vida es silbar.

I'm Getting Better with My Digital Camera

Mommy and Maddie went to a baby shower on Sunday, and I had a couple of hours to go spend as I pleased. So I took my Canon 10D, as well as my Canon Elan II loaded with B/W film, and drove a little ways down the road to a small cross roads called Sharon Hollow. Here are some of the better digital pictures from my short trip. You'll have to wait a little longer for the film photos.

Who's Your Daddy?

Here is a little side-by-side comparison of baby pictures. That's me on the left in 1967, and my new baby girl is on the right.