New Interview Techniques

I have 11 work studies (student workers) that report to me at work. I am in charge of interviewing and hiring them. Summer is coming and while most of the students are staying on, I still need to hire a few more students. I saw this Monty Python sketch on Youtube and I think I'll incorporate some of these techniques into my next round of interviews. I think if a student can pass this test, they can handle anything.

Little Wooden Me

This little guy has had quite a history. My Mom made this toy for me when I was pretty young (I'm not sure how old...probably around four or five). It was hand carved out of balsa wood and hand painted. She modeled it after me. It used to have blond hair (it's rubbed off now) and yes...my skin was probably that white. She made it for me one Christmas when we were struggling financially as a family. My Dad was working to get his t-shirt printing business off the ground and we just didn't have very much money to get Christmas gifts for each other. If I remember correctly, this same year, my Mom made me a hand-sown Mickey Mouse doll. Anyway, as I grew up, I played with this toy off and on. Sometimes I'd see it and play with it. Sometimes it would be hidden on the bottom of my toy chest. But, it would always pop up for me to find. As I grew older and moved on to more technical toys, this poor guy fell by the wayside. When I was 13, my parents divorced. I decided to live with my Dad for a season, which released my Mom to move to Torrance and marry a man named David Vincent. Somehow, she ended up with this "Little Wooden Me". It was displayed prominently in her doll collection for a number of years. When I was 16, my Mom and Dave gave birth to my half-sister, Sarah. "Little Wooden Me" got a new life as a toy for a little girl. I don't know how often she played with it. I don't have any memories of Sarah playing with it, but I know she had this toy at her disposal. When I was in my early adult years, I moved to Torrance and got a job working at a preschool in Manhattan Beach as a teacher. My sister, who was now four, went to this preschool and was even in my class. Every child was required to have an earthquake kit at the preschool that consisted of some food, medicine, and some familiar toys and photos to help comfort the kids in an emergency. I knew Sarah had an earthquake kit, but I didn't know what was in it. When Sarah turned five, my Mom and Step-Dad decided to relocate to Indiana due to a job transfer. I missed my little sister very much. It was a very difficult time for me, knowing that I wouldn't get to be a very big part of her life as she grew up halfway across the country. A few months later, while I still worked at the preschool, Ms. Susan, the Head of the Preschool, found Sarah's earthquake kit when she was cleaning up. She brought it to me. I opened it up and wouldn't you know it..."Little Wooden Me" was nestled inside (along with a photo, a juice-box, and some snacks). I think I ate the snacks and the juice box (Hey...I was only making $900 a month and my rent was $650...times were hard). I took "Little Wooden Me" home and held on to him for sentimental reasons. Now, skip forward a few more years. I got married in 1999 and "Little Wooden Me" joined the new home that Joi and I made with each other. He was lovingly tucked away in a memories drawer. In 2002, we welcomed Garrison to the family and I came across "Little Wooden me" while going through that drawer. I decided that he needed to be shared with a new generation...so I gave it to him. "Little Wooden Me" was passed down from Garrison to Gage...and then to Gavin. They all played with him from time to time. Whenever I would come across it in their room, I would tell them the story of how "Little Wooden Me" was given to me when we were very poor and how it doesn't matter what a gift costs and that it's the thought that counts. Yesterday, I went upstairs to get ready for bed and "Little Wooden Me" was sitting on my side of the bed. I don't know if Joi put it there because she was cleaning out the boys' toys and wanted to see what I wanted to do with it...or if the boys were playing with it and left it on my bed. As I sat there looking at him, I noticed how worn he was. The paint is coming off. It's dented and scratched. It's over 30 years old...so it's starting to show it's age. I realized that this little toy was played with by five children over the course of 30 years. I might clean it up, repaint it, and give it to my Grandchildren to play with...so that I can share the story about that Christmas back in the mid 70's when we were poor and struggling. I wonder how many more generations can enjoy this little toy.

Who Were Those Men in Purple and Yellow?

Game 5 of the series between the Lakers and the Thunder was last night. I almost didn't recognize the Lakers. They must have read my previous blog post, because they were a new team. They were aggressive. They passed the ball to their big men. They drove to the basket. They dove for free balls. They didn't take senseless three pointers. They rebounded and had lots of fast breaks. I've missed these guys. As a result of their fantastic play, they blew out the Thunder by 24 points. They had a lead by 30 at some points in the game. All of the Lakers starters were able to rest most of the 4th quarter because they were so far ahead. I have renewed faith in the Lakers. I'm glad they came to play. I'm hoping that they do the same for the rest of the playoffs. If they do, they have a good chance to repeat as Champions!

Lakers: Lay Down and Die or Pull It Together?

For anyone who has watched the Lakers this season, you'll know that they started with a lofty goal. They wanted to beat the 1995-96 Bulls who had 72 wins that season by getting 73 wins. I was a little skeptical, but thought that perhaps they could pull it off...especially with the defensive powerhouse acquisition of Ron Artest. But, pretty quickly we realized (and probably the Lakers, too) that there was no way they were going to realize that goal this season. Then they started to get plagued by injuries. The non-stop basketball that Kobe was playing was finally taking it's toll (Olympics in the off season, etc). We ended the season with a very poor showing, losing too many games to try to compete with the Cavs for best record in the NBA. We ended up slipping to third best in the NBA under the Magic, but we were barely able to hold on to the best record in the West. In the first round of the playoffs, we are facing the OKC Thunder. A very young, but tenacious team. We made a good showing in the first two games and in the first 3 quarters of game 3....but then something snapped in the Lakers heads. They stopped playing. Stopped being aggressive. Stopped going inside to their big-men. They started taking ill-advised three pointers, even in two on one fast break opportunities. Joi and I were flabbergasted. Who are these guys? I read an article that said that either Kobe has had a zen moment and decided to stop believing in competition, or he was too worried about or hampered by his injuries to be effective. I'm going to believe the latter. But, the truth is, Kobe has gone missing. So, who will step up? I'd like to see Bynum and Gasol get the ball more in the paint. I'd like to see Ron Artest step up his defensive intensity. I'd like to see our second string make some shots. Tonight is game five at the Staples Center. I'll be watching with bated breath. If the Lakers show up and play hard, they might have a chance. If they look like lost, little children (like they have been in the last couple of games), then they are done. I can hardly believe that the series between the 1st seed Lakers (the defending champions, no doubt) and the 8th seed Thunder is tied 2-2. If the Lakers have decided to stop playing and hand the Thunder a free pass to the second round, then why bother showing up at all? Concede the game. Don't show up. Don't waste your time and ours by making us hope and believe that you are really going to try and compete. Seriously, Lakers! You are better than this. I feel like the Lakers are Rocky Balboa in the beginning of Rocky 3. They've lost that "Eye of the Tiger"! Come on, Lakers! Eye of the tiger! Eye of the tiger!

Packed Weekend

We had a fairly busy weekend, but it was fun. On Saturday, we watched Gavin ride his bike all around the school by our house all by himself. He still needs a push off, but he's got the balance down pat. It was so cool to see him get it so quickly. Major props to Joi for teaching all of our kids how to ride bikes.

Saturday evening, we had plans to see a Rockies game with some friends from church. However, the Friday night game before that was rained out. So, they changed it to a double header...which meant that we could see either or both games for the one ticket price. So, we opted to see the earlier game (when the sun was out and it wasn't dipping into the 30's). The boys were mostly bored by the game, but they enjoyed eating lots of peanuts, M&M's, and licorice. The Rockies lost the first game 4 to 1....so we opted to stay for the first couple of innings of the second game to see if they could turn it around. By the time we left during the 3rd inning, it was 3 to 1 Rockies. They ended up winning that game 8 to 1. Oh well, the kids were getting antsy...so it was good that we left. We ended the evening by having a late dinner at Red Robin. On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and a quick lunch out. Then we took the kids to Apple Bee's to meet up with Steff and Russell, who were going to watch them overnight, so that we could go to our life group and the New Comer's Gathering at our Pastors House. Life Group was good and then we raced off to the Pastor's house and enjoyed talking with the pastor and his wife and the lead worshiper. It was good to have a conversation with them all without the craziness of a Sunday worship service. Afterward, Joi and I went home and crashed.

On Monday, I got up early and went to work. Joi and the boys (along with the Ferris family) all met me for lunch at Biker Jim's Gourmet Hot Dog Stand on 16th and Arapahoe in downtown. Joi shared a Wild Boar Brat with Gage. Garrison and Gavin shared a reindeer sausage. I enjoyed a reindeer, as well. The boar went over better than the reindeer, but they were yummy nonetheless. After our tummies were full, I took the family for a tour of my office and to meet some of my coworkers. It was nice to be able to introduce my wife and kids to some of my coworkers and student employees. Also, they got to see my new office for the first time, so that was nice. All in all, it was a busy but fun few days.

Mirror Images

A few months back, after writing occasional notes on the mirror with a bar of soap, it occurred to me that there was a less messy and less challenging to clean method of leaving my wife love notes on the bathroom mirror. Dry Erase marker. It comes off cleanly with just a small wad of kleenex. Since then, I have been leaving notes from time to time on the mirror for my wife. A couple of days ago, I thought I would leave my boys a note on the lower part of the mirror (within eye level). I would encourage them to do good that day or give them bible verses on things that they were working on. Joi wrote out some bible verses for the boys on 3x5 cards that she has them keep in their pockets and refer to occasionally with they are struggling with certain things like anger, focus, or obeying. So, yesterday, I walked into the bathroom to find that Gavin and Gage decided to encourage each other, themselves, and me with little notes. Here are some pics.

In case you can't read them, I'll give you some interpretation. On the first picture, Gavin wrote "Garrison, Obey your Mom and Dad". In the second picture, Gavin wrote to himself "Gavin, Don't let the sun go down..." He ran out of room, but the complete bible verse that he was quoting was "Don't let the sun go down on your anger." In the third picture, Gavin, also, wrote "Gage Focus". We have been working with Gage on focusing on his surroundings. Also, in the third picture, Gage wrote a special note to me that says "Good luck at work, Dad, Good luck at work!" It was cute and I thought I'd post pictures and blog about it. It's nice to know that they are paying attention to the things that we have been working with them on.

An interesting and funny twist on the story is that when Joi was checking out their artwork, she found a Sharpie PERMANENT marker on the floor. It turns out that while Gavin was using the dry erase marker for his notes, Gage went to the nearest pen cup and grabbed a sharpie and left his notes in permanent marker. Uh oh! Luckily, with a little water and elbow grease, the marker came right off the mirror. Whew!

Freakin' Bug

Yesterday, my wife called me and stated that she couldn't get onto the internet using either Internet Explorer or Firefox. They would start to open and then immediately close. I had her reboot (a common IT standby for these types of situations). That didn't work either. Uh Oh! Looks like we got a computer virus. I came home yesterday evening and started running virus scans. I ran three different ones and they all found different items (some malware, worms, tracking cookies, and a few Trojans). I quarantined them all and deleted/removed them, but that didn't fix the issue. I rebooted again. But, that didn't work either. My best guess is that one of these viruses modified a registry key. I found one useful online trick that I could try to see if this is the case. Another option that I will try tonight is uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox and IE. I downloaded the .exe files for both of those on my thumb-drive so that I can try that tonight. I'm hoping that one of these tricks will work. I'd hate to have to reinstall Windows. 

Has anyone experienced this before? What did you do to fix it?

Catching Up

I was on a short hiatus because work was/is so crazy. But, I managed to carve a few minutes out today to catch up a little bit. We had a visit from my Mom this past weekend. It was nice to see her and show her around our new home town of metro-Denver. I won't steal my wife's thunder by re-listing the details of the trip (see her blog for more details). One of the highlights for me, is that she bought me a ukulele. I've wanted one of these for a long time. It's a nice uke but it tends to lose it's tuning pretty fast. I guess this is common for Ukulele's. Also, unfortunately, it got a small stress fracture while being mistreated by the bag handlers of the airport. Oh well, it doesn't seem to effect the tone and it's been fun learning Ukulele chords. When I get good enough, I'd like to learn "You Belong to Me" from The Jerk (with Steve Martin). It's a long story. Anyway...also some other highlights are that we finally went to the White Fence Farm. We've been wanting to check that out for quite some time. It's pretty darn cool. It reminds me of Knott's Berry Farm back when it was owned by the Knott family and had some character. It's free to enter and has a petting zoo, lots of various country and nick-nacky stores, live country/bluegrass music, and a chicken dinner restaurant. Also, it had lots of fun things for the kids to do and climb on. I liked it and want to go back someday soon. It was a quick trip, but we packed a lot into her stay.

In other news, Joi is teaching Gavin to ride his bike. She taught Garrison and Gage and they are both experts now. While patience is my strong suit, she always seemed to have more patience when it came to teaching our kids to ride their bikes. So, I am glad that she is going to complete the tradition and teach them all. Gavin might be our hardest student. While he is very sporty, a great athlete, and pretty brave when it comes to doing new things...he has had trouble balancing and getting freaked out about falling. He's a difficult one to peg. So, Joi has her hands full with Gavin. But, I'm confident that he'll get it before long. Our goal is to have him riding his bike by the time Joi's family reunion comes in June.

Lastly, I've been noticing and appreciating the differences between my sons lately. Garrison is analytical. He's a thinker. He's a brilliant reader. He loves to take things apart to see how they work. Also, he loves to build things. I often come home from work and find boats and houses made out of Popsicle sticks and duct tape. I see a future scientist/engineer in Garrison. Gage, on the other hand, is my feeler. He is compassionate, loving, and has a high emotional intelligence. He's an open book and always willing to befriend the friendless. He loves to talk and spend quality time with people. He loves art and music. I see a future pastor or counselor in Gage (or an artist). Gavin is my sporty kid but he is also really smart. He is reading at a level way beyond his age. He loves to move and has lots of energy. He loves video games and has amazing hand-eye coordination. He is also a clown. He loves to be funny and make people laugh. He brings lots of laughter to our family. Also, he is very articulate for a 5 year old. I see Gavin as the next Jim Carrey. Or as the next multi-million dollar athlete. All of my boys are so different and I love that. We encourage them to branch out and try things that they are interested in. They are each unique and that makes our family very well rounded. I love my boys!

Too Busy To Write

It's not that I've abandoned my blog. It's just that work is crazy right now. I used to write my blog during my lunch break, but I haven't even taken a real lunch break since the imaging system that I manage went live. I've been too busy supervising, process engineering, and organizing to do much else...even during my lunch break. I'll be back soon. I promise. Stay tuned.

Finished Interesting Book - The Story of Sushi

I just finished a book that I thought was very interesting and informative. Also, it was about a subject that I am passionate about...SUSHI. I love sushi! It is, by far, my favorite food to eat while dining out. I love the taste, the experience, the culture, the history, and the awesomeness of sushi. So, this book was right up my alley. It chronicled the story of several people going through the California Sushi Academy to learn how to be sushi chefs. Interwoven into their story was tons of history about the origins of sushi, and tons of science about why sushi tastes the way it does and how it reacts with our bodies. It was really interesting. This book was probably the most informative book about sushi I have ever read. It gave me a new appreciation of the work that goes into making sushi. Even just the sushi rice that is prepared for nigiri sushi takes hours and hours to prepare. It's easy to overlook the preparation that goes into making sushi when you are too busy scarfing down those tasty treats. Also, at the end of the book there was an appendix about the right way to eat sushi. We Americans have developed some really bad habits with our sushi eating techniques. For instance, did you know that rubbing your chopsticks together to eliminate splinters is an insult to the chef and the restaurant? You're telling them that their chopsticks are low quality and therefore require your splinter removing efforts. Also, putting wasabi in your soy sauce is useless and an insult to the chef. You are telling them that the tastes they have worked so hard to prepare is not good enough and you need to help them by adding more flavor. It is useless because wasabi loses it's spiciness when dunked in soy sauce. In fact, in Japan, they don't even put a glob of wasabi on your Geta. They know that the chef has already added the correct amount of wasabi to complement the fish. In addition, sometimes dunking your sushi or hand roll in the soy sauce is an insult because the chef has already added specially made sauces to complement the flavor of the fish. I will definitely be more mindful of these factoids during my next sushi dining experience. Anyway, if you like sushi, get and read this book. You'll be enlightened, amazed, and educated. The only problem with this book is that while reading it, I craved sushi every single minute and couldn't stop thinking about it.

Spring has Multiple Personalities

Spring is here in Colorado. A couple of days ago it was in the 80's and sunny. I stopped wearing a light coat to work. It was nice. All of the snow melted and the grass started to turn green again. Yesterday morning, as I was walking to the light rail station, it started to hail on me. Hail? Really? I thought that was more of a summer thunderstorm thing. Strange! Last night while we were sleeping all snug in our beds, Spring dropped 2-3 inches of snow on us. As I walked to the light rail station this morning, I did it through large blowing snow flakes still falling from the sky. Below is a picture from my bedroom window that I took this morning. Tomorrow, it's supposed to be in the mid 60's again. By this weekend, it's going to be in the upper 70's and sunny. When people come from out of state to visit, they ask me what type of clothes to bring and how the weather is going to be. Well, here's my answer. Bring shorts and flipflops and a snow jacket and gloves...because spring in Colorado is like a box of chocolates. Yep, that's right. You never know what you're gonna get.

This Happens to Me More Than I'd Like to Admit

Easter Tribute

We all know Easter isn't about bunny rabbits and Easter eggs. We celebrate Easter (or Resurrection Sunday) because Jesus fulfilled everything He said about himself (and everything the bible told us about Him) when He rose from the dead. In doing so, He bridged the gap between us and God that existed because of our sin....acting as the once-for-all sacrifice. It's not about candy, Easter baskets, or ham dinner. It's about Jesus...not rabbits. So, in that spirit, I thought I'd post a video about a monster eating bunny rabbits. Enjoy and Happy Easter!