Products I Would Endorse

This morning was I was going to work, I noticed all of the advertisements hanging inside of the bus. Many of these advertisements were endorsed products by popular celebrities. It got me to thinking...What would I endorse if I was a popular celebrity?

Well, in case you were wondering, here is my list of products that I would stand behind in an endorsement.

• Calvin Klein's Obsession Cologne for Men - A masculine, woody scent. I've been a fan for many, many years. My wife likes it! I often get complements about how I smell. I'd endorse this product.
• Fender - I've almost exclusively used Fender products (guitars, amps, etc) in most of my music career. I wish I could get endorsed and get some free gear. I like the look, sound, and the classic feel of a Fender. I'd endorse it.
• Dean Markley Blue Steel Guitar Strings - I have yet to find a guitar string with the tone, response, and longevity of the Blue Steel strings. Plus, the fact that they are cryogenically frozen appeals to the geek in me.
• Olay Complete All Day Moisture Lotion with SPF 15 - I live in Colorado in the mile high city. I'm closer to the sun than most people and I am sensitive to skin cancer concerns. The thought of putting lotion on my face (especially a sun block) made me cringe. I don't like greasy lotions. Olay Complete is non-greasy and soaks into the skin wonderfully. I highly recommend it. I use it daily and it works wonderfully.
• Boulder Canyon Natural Foods Kettle Chips, Malt Vinegar and Sea Salt - I first tried these chips at Biker Jim's Gourmet Hot Dog Stand. I am a fan of Salt and Vinegar chips anyway, but these take the cake. Crispy, flavorful, and awesome. I would endorse them in a second.
• Dr. Pepper - I have cut way back on soda in recent years, but when I do drink one, I enjoy Dr. Pepper as my soda of choice. I've been a Dr. Pepper drinker since boyhood. There are meals that soda just goes with. I can't eat pizza, for instance, without a soda. It just goes with the meal. I like Dr. Pepper. Even Diet Dr. Pepper is really good (compared with other diet sodas). 
• Leatherman Multi-tools - I discovered Leatherman when I befriended some geeks in the IT department at APU. I've used them exclusively ever since. I never leave home without my Leatherman Squirt S4. It's always in my pocket and I use it multiple times throughout the day. When I am doing outdoorsy things (camping, hiking) or doing projects around the house, I always have my Leatherman Super-tool handy. You just can't beat it for usefulness and durability. Even Survivorman has one!
• Mythbusters - I don't know if you can endorse a television show, but I'd endorse this one! It's entertaining, educational, and full of awesome manly explosions. What a great way to bust myths and teach science at the same time.
• Youtube - I never fail to find what I'm looking for on Youtube. If I can remember some cartoon I saw when I was four or some cheesy 70's commercial, it's on Youtube. Plus, it doesn't hurt that musicians like Pomplamoose have created the video-songs genre, which makes discovering new music pretty entertaining. Weird Al even has a Youtube page. Need I say more?
• Biker Jim's Gourmet Hot Dogs - He sets up a stand on the corner of Arapahoe and 16th in Downtown Denver. They are the best hot dogs I have ever tasted made from gourmet meats like rattlesnake, elk, reindeer, wild boar, pheasant, and other interesting kinds of meat. His caramelized onions and cream cheese cocking gun give an awesome complement to the gourmet brats.  If he had t-shits, I would wear it happily ever single day. If he made magnetic car adverts, I would cover my Ford Taurus with them to let everyone know about the yummy goodness that he brings to a hungry world. I love these dogs!
• Citizen Eco-Drive Watches - I inherited this watch from my Step-Dad, Dave, when he passed away. Specifically, he owned the Skyhawk. It's solar-powered and never needs batteries or charging (except occasional exposure to the sun). It's got several time zones and customization for which timezones you want to see and which ones you don't. It's got other bells and whistles that I have still yet to understand and learn about. It's definitely the watch of a scientist-engineer. Oh..and did I mention that it's made out of titanium (the watch and the band)? Yeah...I'd endorse this!
• Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo - This shampoo was used on me for the first time when I was getting my hair cut. It made my scalp tingle (in a good way). I like how clean it made my hair feel, I like the tingles, and I liked the scent. The only problem is that it's just too expensive for daily use. But, I'd endorse it if I got freebies.
• iPod - Being a music aficionado, I don't know what I'd do without my iPod. I like being able to take my entire CD collection with me everywhere I go (thank God for the 160 GB model). I use it all the time. I listen to music to and from work. I listen all day long at work using iTunes. I listen in the car. I even have a docking station radio at home where I can play it while I clean, cook, during dinner, or during romantic interludes (insert Enya here). Everything goes better with music. My entire family have iPod's. Even my kiddos like their iPod's, especially my music lover, Gage.
• Wii - I enjoy video games, but video games that get your body moving are genius. I love Wii for that very reason alone. On heavy snow days or really cold days, when the kids can't go outside, they can get some exercise playing Wii Fit or Outdoor Challenge. Every morning when I come downstairs for my morning routine, I find my wife dutifully doing step aerobics using Wii Fit Plus. It's good fun, good exercise, and worse my endorsement.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. I may think of more later and post "Products I Would Endorse, Part 2". If any of these companies want to use my endorsement, feel free to send me freebies and I would be happy to endorse your products on a more vocal basis (but what can be more vocal than a blog?). But, since I'm already a fan, I'll endorse your product anyway.

The Who....Yikes!

The Who performed at the Super Bowl this year. I didn't watch it. I'm not all that much of a football fan. But, I like The Who...so I was interested in how they did. When I was Skyping my Dad shortly after halftime, he mentioned that they did a horrible job. I decided to see if I could find the performance on You-tube (I love technology!). Sure enough...someone posted it. So, I watched it. Yikes!

I saw The Who in 1989 on the "Kids Are Alright" reunion tour. I thought they did a fine job. I enjoyed the emphasis on songs from Tommy. Three of the original members performed (Roger, Pete, and John) along with a bunch of other musicians. They sounded good. They hit the notes. They had a decent amount of energy for being older men. The only clue to their age was Pete Townshend's arm brace that he wore due to too many windmill moves playing his guitar.

Now flash-forward 21 years to the 2010 Super Bowl. There were only two original members left after the death of John Entwistle in 2002. Roger looked the same as he did when I saw him in 1989. He's aging much better than...say...Keith Richards. He looked to be in decent shape. Pete, however, looked older. He wore a hat and sun glasses to hide something (balding, gray hair, wrinkles?). Pete is now 64 years old and Roger is 65. They are no spring chickens. Musically, they sounded pretty good. Pete still has chops on the guitar. However, Roger and Pete both sounded horrible when they sang. When Pete switched to harmony he was off key and out of time with Roger's lead vocals. In addition, poor Roger can't hit those high notes anymore. They both sounded pretty gritty vocally. My dad summed it up well when he said that they sounded like they both had a nasty smokers cough.

The medley that they performed consisted of a slew of their hit songs like "Won't get fooled again", "Who are you?", and "Pinball Wizard." I am more a fan of their more obscure songs like "Happy Jack", "Boris the Spider", and "I can't explain." I would have loved to see a medley of those songs. But, oh well! All in all, while I love The Who...I was less than impressed with their performance. I might be time to retire. Roger and Pete are at that age. It's time to let the royalty checks roll in and just enjoy the rest of their life getting a tan in Tahiti.

Disney Did Ghostbusters 47 Years Earlier

The other day I had a flash back to an old toy I used to own. It was a Fisher Price Movie Viewer and it came with a cartridge with a Disney Cartoon short called "The Lonesome Ghosts". The movie viewer was awesome. You had control of the speed of the silent film. You could go fast, slow, and even backward using the dial to control the direction and speed. It was pretty nifty. I remember watching the film going forward and backward watching ghost materialize and dematerialize out of thin air. It was pretty cool.

Anyway, I remembered this toy and the film the other day. So, I looked up the film on Youtube and sure enough. It's there! Pretty stinkin' cool. So, I watched it again and realized pretty quickly that the movie Ghostbusters (1984) was a rip off of this cartoon made in 1937. In the short cartoon, some ghosts that live in an abandoned home get bored because they have no one to scare. So, in the yellow pages they find an advertisement for some "Ghost Exterminators" (Ghost Busters...see the resemblance yet?). The ghosts call them up mimicking a woman's voice and ask them to get rid of the ghosts in their house. Then they prepare to scare the filling out of them when they arrive. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are the ghost exterminators (there were three main Ghostbusters, too). They are excited to finally have work, so they go over to the house and hilarity ensues. At one point, Goofy even says "I ain't scared of no ghosts"....almost using the famous line from the Ghostbusters Theme song by Ray Parker Jr "I ain't afraid of no ghosts". Interesting, huh? Watch the movie and tell me what you think. I think Disney has a clear case of copyright infringement on their hands. I wonder if they still have a case 26 years after the copy-cat movie premiered.

Garrison's Birthday Festivities

I haven't had a chance to download photos yet from Garrison's birthday festivities. Also, our computer's hard-drive is full, so there is no where to put them anyway. A new computer is really not in our budget right now, so we'll have to be creative until that time comes. Anyway, I'll post photos to this blog once I figure out what I'm going to do about the photos.

As is our tradition, Garrison got to plan the entire day out. Joi and I decorated the house the night before with orange streamers and orange balloons. Garrison loves orange. Everyone was up pretty early because they were re-roofing our condo and started banging away on the roof at 7:05am. Garrison decided to open presents first. He opened a Wolverine t-shirt (he loves Wolverine, even though he's never seen the X-Men movies or read any of the comic books). Then he opened a Lakers Basketball, a poster of Pau Gasol of the Lakers (his favorite player), and a Pau Gasol Lakers Jersey. He was stoked! Of all my boys, Garrison is my little Lakers fan (at least so far). Garrison choose cinnamon and orange rolls for breakfast. We ate and had a relaxing morning. Joi made us all sandwiches, apples, carrot sticks, and chips and packed them all up for our trip to the Apex Center. Garrison decided that he didn't want to eat out on his birthday because he wants to help us with our budget. He's very thoughtful. We went to the Apex Center and met Steff, Josiah, and Dylan (Russell had to work). We decided to play basketball first. We got to try out his new ball. They lowered one of the hoops for us so that my boys could actually reach it to make baskets. We played basketball for a while and then decided to hit the pools. We got in our swim suits and had a blast swimming, going on water slides, doing a floating log obstacle course, and occasionally hitting the jacuzzi for a relaxing soak. We ate lunch at the poolside. It was a good time. After everyone had enough pool time and chlorine (everyone's eyes were bright red), we decided to get dressed and do the rock climbing wall. Unfortunately, it was closed. That was disappointing because Garrison was looking forward to it. Instead we played more basketball and the boys had races on the indoor running track. Around dinner time, we left and kidnapped Josiah and Dylan to spend the night. I took the boys to the Nature Preserve across the street from our house because Garrison wanted to climb some trees (one of his favorite activities). Meanwhile, Joi made Taco Casserole (upon Garrison's request.)We came back from the greenbelt and we all ate dinner together. The boys all went upstairs to play for a while. A little later, Joi lit up the candles on Garrison's lemon cake with lemon frosting (another Garrison request) and we all sang happy birthday to him. Then, the boys went right back to playing. Around bedtime, I continued with my nightly reading of "The Chronicles of Narnia" to my boys (we're almost done with the second to last book - The Silver Chair). While I was reading I looked up to see all my boys and their cousins barely able to keep their eyes open. It had been a long, tiring day. After reading, we got everyone situated in bed, prayed, and turned the lights out. Within a few minutes, it was very quiet except for a soft snoring sound. They were all tuckered out. It was a good day. Garrison received lots of phone calls and messages from family and friends. He received a few cards with money in them. Garrison loves money (although, he's not much of a spender). All in all, it was a good day!

Happy 8th Birthday, Garrison!!

It blows me away to think that my oldest son, Garrison, is already eight years old. He was born on Groundhog's day, 02/02/02. A magical birthday for a magical boy. We weren't sure he was ever going to make his official arrival. He took his sweet time coming out, that's for sure. My poor wife! But, what a blessing he has been ever since.

I can still remember the little hikes that he and I would take around our complex in San Dimas, CA shortly after he learned to walk. He loves to be outside. Always did. He still loves going on "nature hikes" around our new hometown in Colorado. He loves the mountains, the weather, and the wildlife that we are so blessed with in our new home. 

He is amazingly intelligent and a voracious reader. We take him to the library and he gets 5-6 books and finishes them all before the week is up. He just finished "Little House on the Prairie" in under a week. And that's no small book. Lately, there's hardly a time when there isn't a book in his hands.

He's all boy. He loves knives. We bought him his first knife at age seven because he showed a lot of responsibility for a kid his age. Now, he uses his birthday and Christmas money to buy more knives. We had to tell him to cool down on the knife buying. I think he's got eight or nine knives now. But, he still has all his fingers, so he's doing well. He also loves the outdoors, climbing trees, building things, and taking things apart. He's always asking me for something he can take apart so that he can learn about it and perhaps make something new with the spare parts. He asks lots of questions. He's contemplative and sometimes shy and quiet. But, he takes everything in. He hardly misses any details.

It boggles my mind to think that he's 8 years old today. I can still see his little baby face and hear him say "Hi Daddy, did you miss me?" when I walked in from work. He's growing up fast and it almost breaks my heart because I enjoy him and his brothers so much. My goal is to raise them into independent men who can survive in this big world and start a family of their own. But, there's a part of me that wants to hold on to their dependence on me. I love that they like to spend time with me. I love wrestling with them, teaching them about the world, and watching them branch out and take risks. I know that I have to let go and I'm sure that Garrison will be a outstanding young man when that time comes. But, I've still got ten years to train him up in the way he should go. I'm glad. I'm not ready to let go yet.


Garrison is an amazing boy. I couldn't be prouder to be his Daddy. Happy Birthday, G! I love you so very much and I am very proud of who you are and what you are becoming.

A Tour of Europe

I enjoy cooking. I think it's partially due to the fact that I enjoy eating and cooking is just a means to an end. But, nonetheless, I digress. Cooking is fun. I enjoy the process. I enjoy the accolades you get when you've made something everyone loves. Lastly, I enjoy eating the fruits of my labor.

On weekends, I enjoy cooking in order to give Joi a night or nights off from having to come up with and cook dinners. I typically don't like to make easy recipes (like Mac and Cheese and Hamburger Meat). I like to do something ethnic and adventurous. I especially like stews and soups or things that have to simmer all day. This weekend, I got two opportunities to cook. On Saturday night, I made Chicken Marsala. It's an easy but tasty Italian recipe. I love mushrooms, so this is right up my alley. Also, cooking with wine is fun (even though we don't drink). I think it turned out pretty well for my first time. My wife said she liked it and my boys seemed to enjoy it. For next time, I might let the chicken brown a little longer before I throw in the wine, mushrooms, and green onions. But, it was tasty and was excellent as a topper on some spaghetti noodles. After we had cleaned the dishes on Saturday night, I started preparing the next nights dinner. I decided to make Beef Bourguignon. We needed something that we could throw in the crock-pot and let simmer all day while we went to church and our life-group. Sunday's are busy for us and we don't get home until 6:30pm from our life-group...so it's nice to have something simmering all day long that we can just spoon out and eat. What I didn't realize was just how much preparation went into beef bourguignon. It was crazy. I chopped some yellow onions up and browned some bacon in a pan. I took the bacon out to crumble into pieces for the crock-pot. I browned some stew beef and onions in a pan. Cut up the carrots and mushrooms. Added those to the crock-pot along with some chopped white onions (I think next time I'll use frozen pearl onions). When the meat and onions were done, I added them to the crock-pot along with some spices, beef broth, and red (burgundy) wine. I put the entire crock-pot in the fridge to marinate overnight. The entire process took me almost an hour. The next morning, Joi took out of the crock-pot, put it in it's base, and started it on low. We made some noodles between church and life group and put them in the fridge to heat up later. It was tasty. I was hoping to recreate a Disneyland recipe that we enjoyed when we lived in California and had annual passes. We loved the beef bourguignon at the French Market in New Orleans Square and had it every time we went. Of course, Disneyland removed it from their menu, much to the chagrin of my wife and I. My recipe didn't come out the same as the one Disneyland used to make, but it was still tasty. The meat was so tender due to the 11 hours of slow cooking and the wine (which acts as a tenderizer). I think I'll make it again, but I'll tweak the recipe here and there to try to get closer to the Disneyland recipe. All in all, it was a fun weekend cooking adventure. If anyone has the Disneyland recipe, please send it my way!

Poltergeist Star Dies

Zelda Rubinstein, the star that played the spirit medium in the movie Poltergeist died yesterday from natural causes. She was 76 years old. Now, why is this significant for me? Well, the movie Poltergeist scared the bojangles's out of me when I was a kid. The movie came out in 1982. I was ten years old. Around that time, my parents felt that I was old enough to be left at home alone from time to time. I remember hating being alone, especially at night. I would turn on all the lights and turn the television on so that I had human voices to comfort me. Well, inevitably, when I was left alone, the commercial trailer for Poltergeist would come on the television. The little blond girl would appear on the screen with her hands pressed against the fuzzy television set and she would eerily say "They're here!" Now, I didn't know who "they" were but it still scared the crust out of me. I would jump up and turn off our cable box and wouldn't you know it...the screen would go fuzzy, just like in the movie. This scared me even more. It severely damaged me as a kid. Now, I don't remember when I actually saw the movie for the first time, but there were a few scenes that really stuck with me. For instance, the chair scene (see below). I still don't know how they filmed that since it was one continuous shot, but wow! It was scary in a simple and innocent way...which makes it scarier. Last night I was watching television and there was a "Scariest Spots on the Planet" kind of show on and Zelda Rubinstein was narrating it. Just hearing her voice freaked me out and I had to change the channel and explain to my wife how the movie Poltergeist really freaked me out. Yikes! This is precisely why I won't see movies like "Paranormal Activity" or "White Noise". I already know these would damage me even further. I already hear voices in white noise. I already feel insecure when I'm in the shower washing my face (knowing that in horror films, this is when the innocent person in the shower gets attacked). I have a very good imagination and sometimes it gets the better of me. Anyway, there is a small glimpse into how I was damaged as a child by movies like Poltergeist. Thanks a lot, Zelda! I'm not sure how I feel about you being dead. In most horror films, being dead is where you become the scariest. Oh boy...I'm in for it now.