We just got back from a wonderful road trip to sunny California. We were visiting Millie and Josh, and Tonya was the maid of honor in their wedding! Millie and Josh got married Saturday and we are so happy for them. We made the decision to drive and it took us 12 hours one way. We left 3:30am Tuesday morning to arrive mid afternoon. That gave us time to unpack and have dinner with M and J before bed. Wednesday Tonya and I went to an Egyptian museum in San Jose. It was very informative and we did not see it all before Claire got bored. On Friday we headed to Santa Cruz with the rest of the bridal party for rehearsal, rehearsal lunch and to celebrate at the Hilton. Me and the boys went down to the ocean and photographed surfers, a stunt bicycle rider, and the sunset over the beach. Saturday was the big day and we got up early for the 10am wedding. It was a beautiful event at the Shadowbrook restaurant in Santa Cruz. It is a magnificent restaurant built on the side of a hill about 60 years ago. I played a small part in the wedding and got to read a meaningful passage during the ceremony. Tonya gave a tearful toast as the wedding party joined the celebration after photos. Part of the charm of the restaurant is the many dining rooms that make each experience a private one. All invited to the wedding had a room called the greenhouse to ourselves. We feasted on filet mignon while drinking champagne before the cake cutting. It was a wonderful event. After the wedding we went to a resort called Chamanade on a nearby hill in Santa Cruz. We spent our final evening at a peaceful dinner with Millie and Josh. Sunday was spent driving and after a long day in the car we were happy to be home. Once parked the trip odometer read 1711 miles and each one was filled with a happy memory!

Over my birthday weekend/ Memorial Day we planted a small garden in our back yard. We went with the raised bed approach and made a bed about 8 feet x 2 1/2 feet x 2 feet tall. We did this because it feels really good to be able to grow your own food and it allows for some bonding time with mother nature. My wife and I go out to the garden nearly every night to check on the progress of the plants. We planted some seeds and it is exciting to see them sprout and grow. We have peppers, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, cucumber, potatoes, and cilantro. I call it our victory garden.

From Wikipedia: The term Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil “morale booster” — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. Making victory gardens became a part of daily life on the home front.

Our garden today does many of the same things. With rising gas prices everyone is feeling the checkbook crunch. We are doing our part to reduce the demand and hopefully ease the pain at the pump. We certainly feel a morale boost as well when the plants are healthy and especially when we are able to use the produce we are creating.

Who Killed the Electric Car is a documentary about a fully electric vehicle, the EV1,  in the late 1990’s that was on the way to changing the future of automobiles.  Throughout the film the director explains how Big Oil, the government, C.A.R.B, American auto manufacturers and the American public destroyed the dream of the electric car. Everyone, including Mel Gibson,  that had a chance to lease the EV1(GM would not sell the car) loved it, and in fact did not want to give it up. It is a very thought provoking film about the corruptions in our government and “free” marketplace.  I recommend the film to anyone that enjoys automobiles and anyone that cares about the environment.

For the past four weekends I have helped my father in law build a shop in his backyard. It ended up being a much bigger project than we thought. All he wanted was a small garden shed but we ended up making it into a 14×14 shop, complete with peaked roof,  shingles, and hardi plank siding. From the experience I now know how to construct a building all the way from the pier blocks for the foundation to the peak caps on the roof. I am now a skilled door and window framer as well as a siding specialist. Just today I also fixed our hot tub. We have not used it for a few months because the lid broke. We recently refilled it and the breaker kept tripping. I did some research on the internet and found out that the heater element must have failed. I took apart all the electrical components and replaced the element. So after that repair I am now an electrican and a hot tub repairman.

…has got to be Boing Boing. I like it so much I added the RSS below Josh’s blog.  It is a blog they call “a directory of wonderful things.” It tells you about all kinds of interesting things. Some of my favorite posts are Giant Microbes, Steal This Wiki, and rat kings. I am also waiting for the upcoming Tor website and thinking about checking out the How To Talk video.

On a more local note, I am also enjoying the Oregon Encyclopedia Project. This is an on-going project to put much of Oregon’s history onto one website. Related to this, Portland was just ranked #1 in the 50 Greenest Cities study done by Popular Science. We were awarded for our renewable power, personal automobile alternatives, and recycling habits.

Other big news today is the iTunes hack and the decision by Toshiba to quit HD DVD.

Claire Nicole has arrived. We welcomed her to the world on Thursday January 17th 2008 (her due date) at 3:11 am. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 19 inches long. She is going great and is beautiful. She has been out to dinner with us, has visited family, and has even been to the Portland Auto Show last weekend. She loves car rides and riding in the stroller. She is awake mostly from 6 or 7 pm to midnight and sleeps most of the morning and afternoon. I go back to work on Monday so Tonya will have her first full day with Claire. Tonya has another 8 weeks off so there will be lots of bonding and growing.

I think it is about time for another round of musical cars. Tonya and I have traded in our Ford Expedition and Audi A4 for an  07 Subaru B9 Tribeca and an 01 Ford F250. I drive the truck and Tonya drives the SUV. The truck will be great for towing our toyhauler and helping me with my fencing side job. Speaking of building fence, I have completed my first job for a family friend and built a 65 foot chain link fence and a 17 foot cedar wood fence. The job went very well although it took much longer than expected with the holiday season and sickness. This weekend will mark the first time using the truck for four wheeling. We are going up to Brown’s Camp to play in the snow and mud. There are 4 of us going and we will each have a four wheeler. I hope to play in the truck as well.  Pictures of that will be up next week.

You may be thinking that I am talking about MySpace or Facebook but actually the new pages are in my life.  I am no longer working for Ferguson and have accepted a new position with Volkswagen Credit. It looks to be a very good opportunity. I never thought I would have to do it but I used a couple employment agencies and one found me the VW position.

On another note, Millie and Josh were up visiting for the weekend. We mostly just relaxed but did make it to Seaside and Astoria. Josh already blogged about it but we watched An Inconvenient Truth over the weekend. After the movie there are alot of good tips on what we can do to improve our situation. One thing it recommends is signing up at ClimateCrisis.net. Under the Take Action link there are things you can do to become Carbon Neutral and other ways to reduce your impact. I also found a more local site called One Thing that emphasized that by doing just one thing you can make a difference.

So, my best friend Brian and I are into disc golf. If you don’t know anything about the sport you should check out the official webpage for the PDGA or a more local link to the ODSA. This past weekend Brian and I played in a local disc golf tournament better known as the Willamette Open 9. It is two full days of disc golf: an 18 hole round at Adair, an 18 hole round at a temporary course in Albany, and two 18 hole rounds at the very popular Willamette Park.  This year celebrates Brian and my 4th year participating. This was the first year with three courses and the first year of the awards ceremony at Calapooia Brewing. The owners are disc golfers and the beer and food was excellent. It was a blast spending time doing a sport I love. The weather was great for October and the tournament ran flawlessly. I played well and finished 12th in my division out of a field of 56. We both picked up a custom stamped disc for helping with the tournament and I got a set of backpack straps for my disc golf bag. Call me a nerd if you want, but disc golf rules!

I think it is time for another post. In this post I am going to talk about just one thing. I am proud to say Tonya and I are having a baby! It is due January 17th and we found out next Tuesday if it is a boy or a girl. We have been happily preparing our supplies and getting a room ready. Although we are selling our house we have set up a spare bedroom so it is ready for a baby. We would like to move closer to Portland and our friends and jobs.