2009 Photo Slideshow

Here is a 2009 year-in-review photo slideshow. Many great memories, including a Florida winter vacation, Kurt starting Kindergarten, Erik losing his 2 front teeth, Peter's big fish, family & friends, and much more. Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2009

Here's a short video of Thanksgiving that was hosted in the flatlands of Illinois. A good time was had, but we missed John, Tom, Iker and families. Happy Holidays!

Tire Failure

A friend sent me this photo. It was taken after his tire blew out while landing his MD80 in Burbank-CA. It happened because the anti-skid system went haywire.

Google Voice

This is pretty cool. Google Voice gives you a free phone number, and you can make free calls from your computer, your cellphone, or home phone. You can direct the calls to your Google number to ring any number you want (home, work, cell, etc). Try it! Click on the link below, or call me at: 847-220-8844.

Cowboy Joke

One day a cowboy appeared at the pearly gates of heaven before Saint Peter. “What have you done of particular merit?” Saint Peter asked. “Hmm. I can think of one thing,” the cowboy replied. “On a trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota, I came upon a gang of burly bikers, who were threatening a young lady. I ordered them to leave her alone, but they would not listen. So, I approached the largest biker and socked him in his face. I kicked over his bike, ripped out his ear ring, and threw it on the ground. I yelled at the rest to back off, or I’d kick the hell out of all of them.”

Saint Peter was impressed, “When did this happen?”

“Just a couple of minutes ago...”

Labor Day 2009

We spent Labor Day weekend at mom & dad's place at the Shangrila airport in Beecher-WI, and visiting Annie's friend Mindy who has a cabin about 2 miles away on the Menominee River.

First Day of Kindergarten

Kurt is off to his first day of Kindergarten today. Kurt(5) joins his brothers at North Barrington Elementary - Peter(8) is in third, and Erik(7) in first. We now enter a new phase of life where all our kids are in school. We are happy, but also a little sad. The photo above shows each boys first day of Kindergarten.

Popper's New Website

Popper has a new website, www.orecreektreefarm.com. It's powered by Wordpress, an open source content management system. We hope to energize his sales, and maybe do some Craigslist & Google advertising this fall.

Septic Replacement

Our old (stinky) septic system was finally laid to rest. We are now the proud owners of a brand new sewage treatment facility, conveniently located in our back yard.

Michigan Summer Vacation

We just got back from our summer vacation in Grand Haven, Michigan. It's a lot easier now that the kids are older (Peter-8, Erik-7, Kurt-5). We tried camping four years ago, but it didn't work out too good. We did it again this year (after renting a house the last 3 years) and had a blast!



Here's a link to another good Grand Haven Video:
Grand Haven Tourist Video

Schwarzenegger for President

A lot of conservatives criticize Arny for being too moderate. But I love his politics! There is a $26 billion deficit in California, and he refuses to raise taxes. Instead he proposes spending cuts...

"Democrats who control the legislature cannot pass a budget on their own. They agree with Republicans that deep spending cuts are needed but want some taxes increased. Republicans are holding firm against tax increases and Schwarzenegger has sided with them." - Reuters Article

View the list of Schwarzenegger's Proposed Budget Cuts. I'm sad these programs need to be cut, there's going to be some pain. But Californians already have extremely high taxes AND high unemployment. People can't afford higher taxes. We all need to live within our means - including the government. In my opinion, the federal government should have stopped spending so much money a long time ago. We haven't had a balanced federal budget since 1969, and our national debt is nearly $12 trillion. How can this be good for America?
8A-NH7FG-7ZL4R-FKPYA-2MFSA-SA2WN-NL9M

The Murray Carrot

We are now the proud owners of a Murray mini-bike with a 3.5 hp Tecumseh engine. It goes a whopping 25 mph! So far, Erik is the only kid to earn privileges, but he's about an inch too short to ride it. The bike is a "carrot", as it's primarily a motivating tool for Peter. Hopefully 3rd grade will go better than 2nd.

Journey of Faith

These three books helped move me through three significant milestones in my journey of faith.

The Message - by Eugene Peterson & Kelly Dolan
I really started digging into the subject of "God" back in 2000-2001. The origins of Christianity was really interesting, but I resisted reading the bible until I could believe that it was historically accurate - but I couldn't find the absolute proof I was looking for. I found that I couldn't understand a lot of the arguments because I wasn't familiar with what the bible actually said. So I picked up a copy of The Message, which is the New Testament scriptures written in contemporary English. As I read, the gospel stories just blew me away. I found the character of Jesus so absolutely amazing that I couldn't put the book down. Really, it was that powerful. At times I found my heart just going "pitter-patter" for all the love that Jesus had for people. Even with so many questions, I found myself believing in Jesus, and I wanted to be more like him.

Finding God in the Questions - by Timothy Johnson
This book helped me get by all my questions, and understand that there is always mystery involved in having faith. No matter how much I study and rationalize, I'm likely to always have questions. That's why they they call it "faith". For whatever reason, God has not supplied us with all the answers, and I decided that was OK with me.

The Hole in our Gospel - by Richard Stearns
I finished this book about a week ago, and it still has me all shook up. Richard Stearns is the President of World Vision - a humanitarian charitable organization. His book describes his journey of faith, which is a huge testament to the power of being open to the will of God in your life. It's a call to action. Having "faith" is one thing, but God wants much more.

Murdered Sticks

Yesterday Erik asked me if we could have a funeral for his favorite stick that his brother Kurt so brazenly snapped in two. There was no saying no, so we dug a hole in the back yard, placed the broken stick into the earth, said a short prayer, and sang "Amazing Grace". But that did not completely satisfy Erik - he insisted that it have a grave stone, and he wrote on it:
Here lies stick - murdered by kurt

Are we a spoiled generation?

I got this funny video from Tim Pritts's facebook page. It's an excerpt from a Conan O'brien episode about how spoiled our generation is with technology. To quote his guest, "everything is amazing, and nobody is happy". From cellphones, to credit cards, to airline transportation... we take it all for granted.

Jackie Ray

Jackie Ray loves spending time at his grandparents cabin in Eagle River. He is a charming and delightful young man, and a REALLY good fisherman. Watch this video, and see him work double tip-ups and land a nice northern pike!

Peter's Airplane Sled

Here is a cute video of Peter explaining and demonstrating how his airplane sled would work. It's powered by an eggbeater propeller, and it would allow him to takeoff from a sledding hill and fly home. It's a good concept, but we need to find a better adhesive to hold on the wings & tail.

US Airways in the Hudson River

Kudos to Capt. Sullenberger & FO Skiles for good airmanship when faced with a double engine failure out of New York. Airline pilots go through a lot of training, but nobody trains for dead-sticking a jet into the Hudson. When I got home that night (from a ORD-EWR turn) all I could think about was what it must have been like for these guys when they came to the realization that they had to ditch in the river. Yikes, not a comfortable thought.

YouTube Video: Raw Footage of Hudson River Landing