Unusual

Well, the first thing that came to mind when I found out the subject for this week was "unusual" was a trip to my in-laws. No, they're not "unusual", but the stuff at their house sometimes can be. My father-in-law doesn't believe in buying anything when he can make it. That turns out some very interesting contraptions that you have to see to believe. This is just one of them. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's what happens when you let a dozer and a backhoe have offspring. You really need to see this thing run to appreciate how "unusual" it really is. I can't complain too much, we used it to dig up our septic tank last year and it did the job, but interesting a time it was.



Can't wait to see what everyone else puts up for this week. I'll post the links when they're up.

**Update: Here's this week's other pics. Mike, Paul, Dave, and Alvin (coming)

Welcome to another Dave. Mike and I work with Dave and I was able to convince him to join in the fun. Here's his entry this week.

Peach Picking

Took a trip to Greenbluff this weekend with the whole family. Mike and I took some cool pictures. Mike said there is more too come.
It was fun to go eat peaches and take pictures. What a way to live.

Backwards

Backwards turned out to be a bit more difficult than I originally thought. I happened to stumble across this week's picture while getting my hair cut. Hope you enjoy.



Here were my other canidates.

Mike's entry this week. Nice job.

** Update: Macman's pic. Very nice. It's cool to see that we're getting more people in on this.
Welcome to Alvin too.
Dave's is in.

Next week's topic is "unusual". I've already started my research. Mike, watch your back.

Long Weekends

In an effort to burn some of my many weeks of vacation time, I've resorted to taking Friday's off for the last few weeks. Well, that pattern may continue for some period of time. I was talking with some coworkers today and I figured I could work 4 day weeks until April 2006 to eat up all my time off. Not too bad of an idea. Hopefully I'll be able to put a week or two off before then, but to think that I only have to work 4 days doesn't make me feel too bad. So, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my week at work... Oh, wait, only have 20 minutes. Cool. See you next week guys.

Reflection

Mike and his friend Dave started a weekly photo assignment a while back. After some time off they've started it up again and I thought I would nudge my way into it too (Thanks Mike). This week's theme was reflection. Here's my picture. I took it after a heavy rain last week when I found my son's inflatable raft that he uses at the lake, upside down under a tree. It was filled with water and I thought it would make a perfect picture for this week.



Check out the other pictures I took that day too. Let me know what you think.

Update: Here's Dave's pic. Still waiting for Mike's.
Updated Update: Great showing by all. Mike's is posted now.

Thanks guys for letting me join the fun. I hope I do you justice as it looks to be pretty stiff competition.

Mike let the cat out of the bag a bit early, but yes, next week is "Backwards". I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

I think I bought a moose

I was thumbing through some of my older pictures and stumbled across this one of Toby from the first day we brought him home. It's hard to belive he's almost tall enough to rest his chin on the kitchen counter and is 70 lbs. All of that and he's only 6 months old. I'm not sure we got a dog in this deal, I'm thinking he must be part moose too.



P.S. Yes, he has lost all that extra puppy fat. He's a very trim looking dog these days.

Recipe Fridays - BBQ Chicken Bagel Sandwiches

Ahh, Fridays. Fridays for a while are going to be nice. I have to burn a ton of vacation so I decided by taking Friday's off for this month. I might extend it to next month to, but we'll see. Sorry Mike.
Well, here's this week's recipe. I made this up one night when I couldn't figure out what to make for dinner for just BJ and I. I made it once and every time we have leftover bbq chicken breasts in the fridge BJ is running down to the store to buy bagels. We actually have to fix extra chicken any time we have bbq chicken breasts for dinner just so we can have this. Hope you enjoy.

BBQ Chicken Bagel Sandwiches

1 plain bagel
1 tbls horseradish sauce
1 leftover BBQ chicken breast, sliced very thin
(Best if it was one that had BBQ sauce on it when it was grilled)
Cheddar cheese, sliced
Creole seasoning

Preheat broiler. Heat leftover chicken in microwave until warm then slice very thinly. Lightly toast the cut side of the bagel. Spread horseradish sauce on both halves of bagel. Cover bagel with chicken until just covered. Can use more chicken if you desire. Top with sliced cheese to cover chicken. Place bagel on a cookie sheet and place in broiler. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from broiler and sprinkle lightly with Creole seasoning. Serve hot.

Servings: 1 sandwich

Time: 7 minutes

Are we really that shallow?

*** Warning, agitated blogger post below. Stop reading unless you can stand the yelling.***

OK, I'm tired of hearing all the negative comments and deep reviews of these Dove commercials. I'm sure you've all heard about them over the last couple of months and if you haven't, you've been living in a cave or never turn on the 6:00 news.
I really would love to know if society in general is so shallow that we can't accept people for who they are. I know we all strive to be better looking, more athletic, more talented, etc., but it has gone too far. I know there is some sort of primeval nature that drives us humans to look for the "perfect" body and that we feel that we're not accepted if we don't look that way, but come on, we're smarter than that. Or at least I thought we were. 99% of the population on this planet doesn't have the "perfect" body. That's why not everyone can walk into an advertising agency looking for a job. But why do we have to compare everyone to that 1% that we find "ideal" and then criticize each other for not looking like that? It must stop.
The women in these ads are not the average American women, and I understand that Dove doesn't just want to jump off the bridge and have everyone watch by putting the average women in their ads. But they should be commended for at least recognizing that we're a bunch of stupid people that don't take the time to look at the beautiful person sitting next to us, no matter what their shape or weight. I would encourage everyone to go buy their products just for the fact that they deserve to be recognized for a great effort. It's sad that no one looks at as if it was a great thing to do. The company has made a ton of people think about what their perception of beauty is and it's too bad that some of us still are so stupid that they'd actually say "Really, the only time I want to see a thigh that big is in a bucket with bread crumbs on it." Come on, is that smart?
I'm married to the most beautiful woman in the world. I find her beauty in more than just her looks. It's everything about her that makes her beautiful; her kindness, her strength, her understanding... I could go on all day. Beauty is more than skin deep and everyone out there needs to figure that out. It will not be long enough before I read one more story about these Dove ads and I can only hope the next one I read is an apology from society for being so stupid for so long.

I want to work at Google

I think I could work at a place like Google. I'd probably be fat. Yes, even more fat than I am already.

I nearly died... again!

I think there is a conspiracy against me and it's being backed by a stupid furry creature with long legs. The deer on my drive to work seem to enjoy watching me wet my pants when they decide to take a last minute stroll across the street. It's been twice in the matter of the last week that I've gotten my tires to smoke by having to slam on the breaks to avoid missing the stupid things. What have I done to them? I let them eat my garden and my flowers. What more do they want? It may be time to invest in some armor for my car. Could you see my little car with a big grill on it? Me either, but if this doesn't stop, someone's going to get hurt. Didn't your mom teach you to look both ways before crossing the street? Use the crosswalk guys and no one will get hurt.

I stand no chance

I came across an article today saying that Flickr had some new features. So naturally, I went to check them out. Man, I stand no chance of ever competing with some of these pictures. For a flavor, check out the best one's of the last 24 hours. This is the one that made me stop and look. If only I could get that lucky.