Christmas card!

To Jen and Dave... im sorry to report that i am a slacker, and i have been quit slow in sending your Christmas package, i can only hope it will be there shortly. inside you will find two packages on the top, one is for jen, the other is for dave. it is for you to decide which one you want. also, you both have other gifts inside labled with ones name. and the last bundle is for the both of you. im sure you will figure out why. i hope chirstmas goes well for the two of you, wish you both were home and i miss you very much. Merry Christmas, love tyler.

Patterns for Mom

The knitted 'cape' I think would be fun.

A wild scarf that made me think of you (called Electric Cowgirl).

And a really cool crochet pattern.

Gardening

Hey mom, I found the class notes for the CSU Master Gardener Program.

They are published for free on the CSU website.

Some Things for Mom

Lion Brand Yarn has a surprisingly helpful section on knitting and crocheting. See: Learn to Knit
and: Learn to Crochet.

Here's some info on knitting with beads from my book - click.

Here's that website that I mentioned about knitting projects.

David wears a size XL.

Don't worry about books - here's the movie David needs.

Calico Critters is the same stuff we played with as kids - I found this on Amazon, the exact stuff we had as kids.

I thinks thats everything...

for dad

exploding bike lock?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/exploding-bike-lock.php

i forgot how to do that link thing in the url.

Awww, cute!

Obama

If you didn't know - Obama has promised to address the nation each week with a sort of 'fireside chat' (similar to what FDR did). Here's the first one:

The Line up

A bit of art (not by me).

Get out there and take the bus - cuz you got a good one.

American Public Transportation Association Honors

Top Public Transportation Leaders and Public Transit Systems
October 2008

Transportation District, Denver, CO (Category: Providing more than 30 million annual passenger trips.) This is the third time RTD has won this prestigious award and the second time in only five years. RTD’s 2,300 employees provide service in a 2,400-square-mile area operating nearly 100 million passenger trips annually on a variety of services including bus, light rail, demand response and vanpools. RTD has been breaking ridership records year after year, demonstrating what a dynamic and vital link RTD provides for the communities it serves. For example, RTD has today already surpassed light rail ridership projections for the year 2020. RTD’s service provided exceptionally high on-time performance levels last year, with light rail hitting an on-time rate of 99.96 percent, ADA paratransit service at 96 percent, local bus service at 88 percent, and express and regional bus service at 92 percent. Two years ago, RTD opened the light rail portion of the $1.7 billion Transportation Expansion or T-REX project, combining light rail construction and highway expansion. The project was jointly managed by RTD, the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration. The new light rail line began service on in November 2006 — two years ahead of schedule and within budget. This was RTD’s fourth consecutive light rail project built on time and within budget.

More

More Dolls for mom - theses are all different kinds of BJDs but they are all hand painted.
head painting
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX

Dolls

Narae Dolls - for mom.

Picture one, two, three and four.

What an unpainted Narae looks like.

Epic WIN

Art

All for Tyler:

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dgvvwzwx_221fvpdg8cf

Food

'My' lasagna recipe. DON'T BOIL THE NOODLES. There is no reason to. Just make it the exact same way with DRY/UNCOOKED lasagna noodles-straight out of the box. Comes out perfect.

Google is Stalking You

Ron Paul and our Money

Snip

Sorry I didn't call you last night mom. I'm having trouble getting back on a working sleep schedule. I always want a nap right after work, but then I cant sleep through the night. ::sigh::

Love you!

WorkWear

Scrubs - I posted pictures of the fabric on Flickr.

for jen

Jen! i need your address. i never keep it, silly me

Money

This post is mainly for Tyler.

- Not Naked -

Our T-shirt company is finally up and running.
Please note it's not safe for 'the younger folks.'

Seriously - you may be offended.

Back in Black

Howdy Mom. The sewing machine arrived just dandy, the packing box wasn't even scuffed.

I threaded a bobbin! Ooo. I also jammed it pretty good trying to 'pull up' the bobbin thread, but I straightened that out.

I looked up the serial online and it looks like it was built in 1940.

I played with the 'ruffler' too - that really weird looking foot attachment. I got it attached only to realize it had been seriously bent at some point. But we have tools and I'm a handy kind of person, so I unbent it. So I hooked it up again - but it wouldnt move properly... so I took it off again and spent some time trying to figure out how it actually worked. Turns out there's a bunk screw... I can't really figure it out - the screw fits correctly, and aprears in the manual, but the screw is clearly the wrong length - it needs to be longer. Weird. I made a metal pin extension for it (crafty crafty), which allows the foot to work correctly, but you cant adjust the ruffle lenght... Then while I was using it, I noticed that the screw head (the orignial part) rubbed the frame of the sewing machine. Also weird. I'm not sure the foot is original to the machine... the online manual shows a diffent position for that screw... and mentions a different part for machines 'threaded at an angle.' Weird. Im thinking I'll just 'hack' the foot by replaceing the entire screw. Unfortunalty, there arnt any McGukins out here... ;)

the Boys

The Full Dress - almost

Science

An interesting article about pain.

Seriously?

Topic

This is Sand - an interesting art 'game'

Darn Tootin

for jen

i sent you the tri emails. i think those are the only ones i have. i sent it to your gmail account. also i like your bunny, its pretty sweet, i need to learn control with my wacom. one more thing... you going to see batman tonight!!? i am

Slick

Concept Cars for Ty

and my Art Share

Tyler, yo.

Hey Ty, could you forward the TriWay emails to me? I think I gave them a bad email.

The Itinerary so Far

July 22nd - Tuesday - Flight 725 from VA (leaving@ 6pm, lands@ 7:50pm)

July 26th - Saturday - Packet pick-up
July 27th - Sunday - Tri

July 30th - Wednesday - 9am Physical, 4pm Mom

Aug 4th - Monday - 9:30am Eye exam

Aug 7th - Thursday - Flight to Vegas

Aug 10th - Sunday - Flight back to CO with David - staying with the Wolpoffs

Aug 15th - 5pm Lily's wedding rehearsal - I have to do a TyBday dinner on another day :(
Aug 16th - Lily's wedding (Jace's Wedding)

Aug 18th - Flight back to VA at 7:40am

Wheat

Info on COQ10 and IBS from the Mayo Clinic.

A really detailed article about different types of grains.

Celiac Sprue/Celiac Disease: "Celiac disease (CD) is a genetic disorder. In people with CD, eating certain types of protein, called gluten, sets off an autoimmune response that causes damage to the small intestine. This, in turn, causes the small intestine to lose its ability to absorb the nutrients found in food, leading to malnutrition and a variety of other complications.

The offending protein, gluten, is found in wheat, barley, rye, and to a lesser extent, oats (WBRO). Related proteins are found in triticale, spelt, kamut. Refer to grains and flours Glossary(this is a great list if your looking for gluten alternatives) for a more extensive list of both safe and offending grains." (Visit the CSA website for more info)

All about the Bike

So Bicycling Magazine released a book called Training Techniques for Cyclists which I've had sitting on my kotatsu for months now but have only just read. I thought I'd share some of the stuff I didn't know.

The following is from the book:

Most beginner cyclists shift up (into harder gear) to get more speed. What you should do is pedal faster. Most beginners 'spin' at a relatively low RPM (rotations per minute) - the don't pedal very fast. You want to have a high RPM and maintain a high RPM before thinking about shifting up. Here's the reasoning: Think of a 5lb weight. You could lift that amount all day long. But if you were to add up the cumulative weight at the end of the day, and try to lift it all at once, you wouldn't budge it. By keeping yourself in low gear and pedaling faster, you limit the workload into manageable chunks - like a 5lb weight.

Pedaling Efficiently - don't think about pedaling as pushing down. Think about the motion of scraping something off the bottom of your shoe - a 'wiping' motion - that is the motion you should have when pedaling. (Note - this is only the beginning of good pedaling).

Endurance - the only way to improve endurance it to consistently ride longer - you must commit to 3 days a week. However - do not measure your rides based on distance, only time. Your body only knows how long its been ridding, it doesn't know how far.

Speed - there's one way to increase speed, it's called intervals - warm up for 15 minutes, then go all out for 10 seconds, then pedal easy for 5 - repeat 5-8 times. Strengthening your legs allows you to pedal harder, which translates to speed.

Power - the ability to bike up hills without switching into granny gear. The only way to increase your power it to go hard on high gear. Power is the hardest cycling fundamental to achieve - it is also the most painful to train for.

Recovery - training destroys/weakens/injures muscles. Recovery regenerates/strengthens/repairs muscle. If you do not allow for recovery - training will only hurt you.

Sick and Wrong

Saddles

So if you hit the bike stores, you will (probably) find this strange sitting pad near the saddle section. It can give you a general idea what saddle width you need. This special pad thing was designed by Body Geometry - a company based out of the Boulder Sports Med center and owned by Specialized. I owned a Womens specific Body Geometry saddle for a short while (before it was stolen). It was good.



Terry brand saddles have also been recommended to me, though Ive never owned one.

You can look at Body Geometry saddles here, and Terry saddles here.

Another thing to try is tilting the 'nose' of the saddle down (just a little bit) and sitting farther back on the wide part of the seat. Some times your saddle will feel better if you take the time to try out different positions - this will also help determine exactly what you're looking for in a seat.
I've heard, in general, the back part of a womens specific seat sits a little higher than the 'nose.'

The hole in the middle of the seat is popular for both men and womens seats. Some people like it, some don't. The last 3 seats Ive had, had a hole.

Giggle me silly

This is why I watch John Stewart: the first section of the June 16th episode about Obama.

Go Figure

What Kid Rock has to say about your illegal downloading (of music).

Ah

A message from your friendly pilot.

Arty

I have been working on a T for Threadless. You can see it here:


It's not up for voting yet, but I thought I'd show you the design.

Pictures

The Drying of the West

Jungle Curry

Curry, originally uploaded by MothHunter.

Ingredients:
~1/4th cup green curry paste
1 can light coconut milk
1lb chicken breast - diced into small chunks
1 smallish yellow onion
1 can bamboo shoots or water-chestnuts
1 cup of canned chunk pineapple - save the juice
1 green bell pepper - cut into chunks

So the Thai Green Curry Pastes was weak, not as spicy as the GOOD STUFF (its called Mae Ploy, you can get it at the asian deli - see end of post). But if you like non-spicy curry...

Anyway - in a large pot, stir-fry 1/4th cup curry paste with all of the coconut milk - until fragrant.
Add the chicken - simmer until cooked. I like to over cook the chicken until it fall apart, your choice.
Add the onion and bamboo shoots - cook until your onions are to taste (David likes his onions COOKED, some people would like them a bit more crunchy).
Mix 3 tablespoons cornstarch with 1 cup pineapple juice - add to pot.
Add pineapple to pot.
Stir a little.
Add the green bell pepper - cook just until pepper turns bright green!

Serve immediately over brown rice. Reheats well.

The Asian Deli is on 28th by Boulder Gas

The arrow on the left is the deli - the arrow on the right is an Indian deli, they prolly have May Ploy green curry paste too.

For Women

Obama's voting history on womens right.

McCain's.

Concession Speech

Hillary Clinton's Speech

Blogger How To

Links: When typing a post, highlight the text you would like to turn into a link.
Then click the button that looks like:it comes right after the text-color-choice button.
It will ask for a URL... -click ok and you're done.

See an image on the web you would like to share?
RIGHT click on it. Choose the options that says: Copy Image LOCATION.
- this stores the address for that specific image -
To post it to the blog - click on the image icon:
On the left it says: Add and image from your computer... BUT ON THE RIGHT it says: Add an image from the Web.
Right click the URL entry box - choose paste - this will paste the URL you saved back when you Copied Image Location.
Upload and you're done.

Fly with me

I have my airline tickets, just so you know.

I will be in Colorado from July 22 to Aug 6

SHOES!

tyler got new road shoes! http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=26155... copy paste in browser bar, i dont know how to do that fancy thing jen can do with a link.

Help from jen:

Foot Pain

The Arthritis Site.

Bubble

Roadie

I hear someone has a new road bike...

What type of clipless pedals?

Foot Pain

Body of the Foot

Metatarsal Stress Fracture

Description:
Pain in one of the long thin bones that run along the top of your foot and attach to your toes (the metatarsals). There may be a little redness or swelling, and if you touch this area the pain will practically knock you over. Press along the shaft of the bone toward the outside and then toward the inside, and you feel a stabbing pain.

Likely causes:
The metatarsals can be broken or bruised under the stress of running, particularly for long distances. You're running harder and longer than your feet are able to take.

Remedy:
This is not a do-it-yourselfer. Stop running and see a podiatrist or an orthopedist immediately. Under a doctor's care, you should be back to running in about six weeks.

Pain on Top of Foot

Likely causes:
If your symptoms do not match those listed above for a metatarsal stress fracture, the pain is probably caused by either a bone spur or simply shoes that are too tight. A bone spur is an enlarged bone; you'll see it as a bump on top of the foot. The bone has probably grown as a result of pressure being applied to it.

Remedy:
Try wearing larger shoes and don't tie your shoe laces quite so tight. (Remember when buying shoes that your feet swell when you run, especially over long distances). In the case of a bone spur, try taking some of the pressure off of the bone. Cut a piece of foam rubber (about 1/4" thick) to make a doughnut-shaped pad that fits over the bone spur. Either put it on before running or glue it to the tongue of your running shoe.

THE ABOVE IS FROM THE COOL RUNNING WEBSITE.

I also found this Arthritis site.

Innovative Tires

Have you heard of the TWEEL?

Red Hot

I'd buy this Dell.

Worried about missing calls during swim practice? Not any more!

MAN BABIES

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

alright jen, lookin for the recipe for the bbq chicken sandwiches. i know what to do, but how long should i let everything cook in the pot?

Lost in Sinatra

ina Daze, originally uploaded by MothHunter.

Pete and Trevor sent us a tube amp.

We bought some speakers (and CDs).

It's awesome.

Food

Here's a cool site - it tells you whats in season right now - Eat the Seasons

Doodles

Another cool site- RateMyDrawing (note: this in not my drawing)

Finding new Music

Ty this is a website for you: The SixtyOne - "makes music discovery fun again... Get rewarded for discovering new music and having discerning tastes. Don’t blame us if you stay up late looking for that one track that helps you level up. Oh yeah, they also have of one the best UserInterface experiences of all the music sites we’ve been too."

Dear Dad

No, I don't want the Ubuntu CD back. Do with it as you like.

The main reason we gave you the CD was so you could wipe your hard drive so you could re-install windows. Did that work?

I'm glad you took the time to try Ubuntu off of the CD. I'm sorry it's not working so well. :-(

Speakers - I forgot that you run off of that little dock thing - this may be causing the problem (maybe the Ubuntu CD doesn't have the correct drivers for the dock). But also check to make sure the volume settings on the computer are not muted.

Printer and anything else you plug into your computer - is not going to work because you are running Ubuntu off of a CD. The Ubuntu CD doesn't have any drivers for printers/ipods/scanners/cameras/pdas - there is not enough room on a CD to have this information.
NONE, NONE of you CD's will work with Ubuntu. NONE. Why? Because you own Window's CDs not Linux CD's. If you do manage to get something installed off of one of your CD's it still won't work. In conclusion: None of your computer toys will work unless you formaly install Ubuntu - which we are not recomending at this time.

As for micro Flash - thats a weird one. The internet browser (Firefox) may tell you to install additional plugins to see the page correctly - but you should still be able to get to your email - it just wont have all the flash parts. I went here to see the comcast login - it doesnt look like you need flash, but... I dont know. Some web sites wont have all the pretty stuff untill you install flash - and you can't install flash unless you install Ubuntu first (because you can't install something on a CD).

The purpose of the Ubuntu CD in general is to introdce people to the Ubuntu user interface. It's not ment to replace a real operating system (Ubuntu running off of a CD is not a real operating system) - many things will be lacking. The reason Ubuntu released the CD was to show Window and Mac users what a Linux operating system looked like.

I LOVE YOU!

Hippy Style

You Walk Wrong.

If you liked that, check this out. Barefoot Living.

INfo

Mom - I will email you the address - tomorrow - LOVE!

Dad - Once you have opened a terminal window, you type the following:

cat /dev/zero>/dev/hda

and press enter. (there is a space in between cat and /)

If the computer asks you to log in as root or sudo, you must type:

sudo su -

and press enter. It may forget the cat command. If nothing happens, retype

cat /dev/zero>/dev/hda

Also - you may want to wait until the weekend to tackle this - I don't know how long it will need to run.

Drugs

The dangers of free things.

Virginia

Weather - it's been toasty out here, but chilly in the evening. A compact umbrella is handy.

Remember - no TV at Jen's house - bring a book or other evening entertainment.

All Gone'

Bento Boxes

Wooden Box 1

Box 2

Box 3 (this is the one I covet)

and here's one made out of grass

a view from out our window

Plants

If you can find it, get this! It tastes awesome!

Oooo the shiny

Way cool graffiti.

Still in diapers

Check it out.

Pretty in Pink

Ok mom - left click on the picture of the girl - you will get the full sized image. Right click on the full sized image - there will be the option "set as desktop background" - that should put the image on your computer screen.

Just say no

Water

Virginia

Mom your friend was probably talking about Colonial Williamsburg, which I think would be do-able. Google projects the time as 2 hours, which I don't believe, because it took us an hour to get to Manassas.

View Larger Map
You can also see why it's not easy to get to the ocean.

PSP

I made a webpage for you Ty.

Where Jen is posting her drawings.

Just Things

Earthship: what David and Jen want to live in

I'm starting to plan your trip - this is a list of activities I think would be fun

On the weekend - Saturday or Sunday we should hit:
Mt Vernon - George Washington's Estate - full day of walking and guided tours
or
Gettysburg PA - the town of - visit battlefields - 1/2 walking, 1/2 driving
or
Manassas - National Park - battlefield - half day of walking - tag on small tour of Virginia horse country.

During the week we should hit:

National Mall East Side - FULL day of WALKING - visit some Smithsonian museums, US Botanic Gardens, the Capitol (if you want), other gov buildings - you can really only do about 3-4 museums, 4 if you want to walk through, 3 if you want to meander though, 2 if you want to study. I have found the art museums rather blase...

National Mall West Side - FULL day of WALKING - 100% monuments - Washington, Lincoln, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korean and more (5+ miles without the Jefferson Monument - add 2 miles to include Jefferson although there might be a shuttle, Ill look)

Other things to do:

Arlington National Cemetery - half a day

The White House - half a day

Holocaust Memorial Museum

National Zoo, International Spy Museum ($), Postal Museum, National Arboretum...

Gimme a heads up on what you'd like to see/do and Ill work on a plan

WAH!

Wild optical allusion!

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE:

Click here for the jump

tylers new buy

Ah politics

I'm still a Paul supporter - but this is a very informative article about Hillary and Obama.

just WOW

Want to see some amazing bento boxes? Check out this lady's Flickr page.

Dun Dun Dun...

Ok, I'm going to show you my comic - this is what I've been spending my time on... I couldn't come up with a script so I stole the story from Grimm (as in the brothers Grimm). I used The Princess in Disguise - my most favored fairytale. I retrofitted it to match my insanity.

Key word - insanity.

It's called 4panelGrimm

Photoshop

Way cool computer art

Tylers Boarding

ooo, really?

7 Medical Myths - some of these I still believed.

How do you Doodle

When you draw on the computer you work in layers. With paper and pencil I draw a quick sketch, and scan it onto my computer. Thats the drawing on the far left. I put a clear LAYER on top of this sketch (just like tracing paper) and draw the image I really want (That's the middle image). Then I DELETE the original pencil sketch - leaving only the clean computer drawn image (image on the far right).

Then I color it.

Mmm, glass

Just for Tyler

Oh, and click here if your screen is dirty

a Baby Troll

Maddy's Halloween Costume

yous do not play wit mee...

Click him for a bigger picture

Tri it Baby!

So I found this site called BeginnerTriathlete.com. It's a membership site, and they want money. Still they have some useful free information on their site (my personal opinion:this is not a great site, they are trying to make money, not help you out).

Here is a beginners triathlon plan for someone who cannot run/bike or swim. It's a pretty generic plan and may not provide you with much info.

Here is a plan that is a little harder. The number before the activity (example:12-swim) means 12 minutes of swimming (also pretty generic).

Here is some shin splint info.

Here is another site called TriFuel.com. They have a nice beginners article. Here is the beginners section of that site. Here is the training programs section of that site (were doing a sprint triathlon).

THIS IS THE BEST PROGRAM IVE SEEN SO FAR.

Runners World

Hey mom. I called Runners World, apparently they underestimated the number of new subscriptions for the year and didn't print enough January's to meet demands. Silly gits. Anyway, your subscription has been lengthened for 3 extra months. I'm going to go see if anyone still has it in stock, if they do, I have it sent out to you.

The Weather

CLICK HERE to get the average temperatures for Falls Church

Run run

Hey mom, Runners World has a pretty nifty website too.

Info

An article on Blood Glucose Monitoring.