Feast of St. Stephan's Day

Tomorrow is the feast of St. Stephan in the Eastern Rite (It was today in the west.) and it reminds me of a tradition that I plan on having my kids keep. I heard of this tradition from The Clancy Brothers and I thought it was a wonderful idea. They told about how on the feast of St Stephan's Day the Irish children would go out and kill a little bird called a Wren. They would then go door to door and collect money. It seems like a much better idea to have kids going and collecting money from neighbors than from me. Well, here is a Wren Song sung by the Clancy Brothers. I say "A Wren Song" because from what I've read it looks like Irish boys would have their own Wren Song and so there are many versions out there. Also, only the first minute of this is the Wren Song. I'm not sure what the other half is.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Since I probably won't be on here tomorrow I thought I would blog now.

Eve of Christmas Eve

I'll try to blog later but for now here is day 23 of the Hubble space picture Christmas countdown.

Wish I had started this earlier

Today someone at work showed me this web page that counts up to Christmas days using Hubble pictures. Here is the link and here is todays picture.

Some not so holiday stuff

Well, Christmas is coming and it seems to come by faster and faster each year even though it seems like stores are preparing for it earlier and earlier. Kayleen has finished most of her Christmas shopping and I'm just trying to locate my gifts. (Louisa is WAYY behind, she hasn't bought one gift yet! I've offered to lend her the cash but she is being proud and not accepting my charity.) My last post I posted in a hurry because Kayleen and I were headed out the door and I wanted to make sure I got something posted. I was planning on posting some pictures of Louisa but they'll have to wait. Instead here is a youtube video. It's how the Terminator movie should have ended. All I know is that I would see this movie if they were to make it.



Also, this was the comic from xkcd on Friday. (Sorry for the swearing in it.)

Return from my hiatus

Well people have been complaining about me not updating my blog so here you go. Gina, I know you asked for pictures, I'll try and do that later but for now here is a Christmas blog.



Kayleen and I were recently talking about the 12 days of Christmas song and I was telling her that they days of Christmas all had a meaning and she looking them up.

"According to Ace Collins in his book Stories Behind the Best Loved Songs of Christmas, all these gifts are symbols of the Catholic faith that come from a time when the Catholic religion was banned in England.

Beginning in the Sixteenth Century, according to Collins, Catholics, including children, could be persecuted for practicing their religion. The Church of England was the legal religion of the land. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was a means Catholics used to teach their children the tenets of their religion in a way unrecognizable to the English authorities, according to Collins' book.

To some, the idea that the song contains symbolism associated with the Sixteenth Century Catholic Church is pure legend: it has always been simply a whimsical secular tune, they say.

Below are the meanings Collins says were hidden in the song.

The “true love” giving the gifts represented the pure love of God. Each gift represented a major doctrine of the Catholic faith.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

The partridge represents the courage and devotion of Christ dying for his people. A mother partridge will lure predators away from her chicks, even sacrificing her life for them. The pear tree symbolizes the wooden cross upon which Jesus died.

Two Turtle Doves

This represents the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Doves also symbolize truth and peace.

Three French Hens

French hens were the food of kings in sixteenth century England. Here they represent the expensive gifts brought by the wise men to the newborn Jesus.

Four Calling Birds

These symbolize the authors of the four Gospels.

Five Gold Rings

These are the five Old Testament books known as the Law of Moses.

Six Geese A-Laying

Here we have the six days in which God created the world. The eggs, from which new life springs, symbolize creation.

Seven Swans a-Swimming

These represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit outlined by the apostle Paul: prophesy, service, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership and mercy. The swan, a graceful bird, symbolized these virtues.

Eight Maids A-Milking

Being a milk maid was one of the lowest jobs in sixteenth century England. Jesus came to save the poor and the humble, thus this gift represents Jesus’ love for the common people.

Nine Ladies Dancing

This dance represents the nine fruits of the spirit: love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Ten Lords A-Leaping

Here is a reminder of the Ten Commandments.

Eleven Pipers Piping

These represent the eleven faithful apostles who followed Jesus to the end and spread his message after his death. While there were twelve apostles, one betrayed Jesus.

Twelve Drummers Drumming

This is a symbol for the twelve tenets of the Catholic faith laid out in the prayer, “The Apostles’ Creed”. The drummers may provide the cadence for reciting this prayer."

http://folkmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_twelve_days_of_christmas

eally only be useful if I could use pictures as well.

Sorry for my lack of blogging. I've been trying to blog on my phone but that hasn't been working. This is on my phone, but it's just a text. This would r

Google says what?

I guess I should have clarified to google that I don't have an off road vehicle.

This is what it told be to do when I was asking for directions in Pullman. I was testing to see if it knew that a street went under main street, because on the map it didn't clearly show that the road does go under main street. Well, it wasn't clear because google doesn't recognize it as an underpass and if you are going to go onto main street from that road, google wants you to go through the bushes and up the steep hill.

Wedding with a side trip

Congratulations to Steve and Mellisa! Kayleen and I went to their wedding and we are so happy for them.

Here is a picture of the happy couple.

Before we went to the wedding we went to E's family's cabin. It was a lot of fun! Kayleen and I went inner tubing on the lake. It was my first time so E was kind enough to not flip me into the lake. E and I also got to take a romantic row boat ride. It was great.

Here we are at the lake. My mom came too so that Kayleen and I would both be able to go on the boat at the same time.

Here Kayleen is on the inner tube, my mom took this picture. When I got on, the battery on the camera died and so there is no photographic proof that I went. You'll just have to take my word.

Not sure why the order went all kady-wampus (A cool phrase that I think has become severely under utilized.), but here is the fam at the lake.

Here is Matt and Pat at Steve and Mellisa's wedding. The flame here is supposed to represent their burning love or something of that sort. (If you look carefully you'll see Matt is holding a lit match. That is their eternal flame. I personally a candle would have worked better.)

I really like my mom's camera. It's a nikon D60 and it's so much fun to snap pictures away, and they usually come out really nicely.

Let's go to the zoo!

Today Kayleen and I went to the zoo with some friends. Thinking about it now, it has been over ten years since I've been to the zoo. In face, here is a picture from me last visit.
This was actually from the zoo in Washington D.C. If you look in the background you might see flying fruit because they were feeding the Brown Bear at the time. I had Pat take this picture of me because I had started using the nickname "michaelbear" and thought it would be cool to have a picture of me, Mike, with a bear.

Well, today's visit to the zoo didn't have any bears, but we did see some reindeer, otters, gibbons, elephants, sea lions (ugly sea cows), puffins (cute sea under-water birds), a tiger and a bunch of parakeets, which apparently are really budgies. The budgies were a lot of fun because they let anyone feed them (for a dollar). But it's pretty much the only thing they let you get right up to and touch, aside from the camel rides which were got to too late. (I'm not blaming anyone, just lamenting the fact that I couldn't ride around on a camel.) Kayleen was pretty nervous feeding them, it was pretty funny to watch, so much so that I thought others would enjoy seeing it too.

Here are some pictures from our day.

I can already tell that Louisa is a big flirt and that I'm going to have trouble with her and telling her no. I'll have to post the picture later, but now when she sees a camera she already knows to smile.

Here I am trying to feed a parakeet.

It was great how they let people feed them.

And here is Andrea holding Louisa for the first time.

It's time for baseball!!! Again!

Pat was in town this weekend and we both wanted to see Griffey play one more time. Unfortunately, even with a rest yesterday, Griffey did not play today. Nor did Russel Branyan, Rob Johnson or King Felix. We did get to see Zack Grienke demolish our line up. He pitched a complete game 1-hitter. It was easily the fastest game I have ever gone to. The game was 2 hours 6 minutes. I guess when both teams combine for 6 hits, a baseball game goes pretty fast. It also helps when batters, like Mike Sweeny, get an average of 2 pitches per at bat. That was not cool Mike.

Here Pat is actually smiling. It was amazing.

He is a picture from the game. I was amazed at how well it came out because I just pointed and shot the picture.

Here is the Mariner bullpen after the game. You can clearly tell Aardsma with his high socks.

Also, Ryan, when are you going to add more drawings on you Duck with gun blog? It seems like it has been a while.

My special girl

We recently went hiking on Mount Rainier but I had this video I wanted to post first. Louisa is getting more and more mobile. People ask if she is crawling right now and I find it hard to answer. She is and she isn't. She can get up on all four, but she doesn't do the normal crawling motion. Instead she just falls forward with a thump and then gets up again. That I guess is Louisa's version of crawling right now.

Our wild adventures to the south

So this last weekend we went down to the wilds of Oregon to take part in my God-child's baptism. It was so great to see so many of my cousins in over a year. I also got to see my grandma, and Louisa got to see her great grandma for her first time!

It took us a while because Louisa doesn't know left and right and so when I told her to turn left she would turn around and glare at me. I keep forgetting she is only 6 months and doesn't know what left and right are.

Louisa getting to know her cousin Isaac. Apparently she gets to know people by grabbing at their feet.

Here are Gina and Isaac on the right and Louisa and me on the left. (I hope you're ok with this picture, Gina. Kayleen took two pictures and this is the better of the two.)

Louisa getting a few z's in.

Isaac was too.

Here is Henri and Louisa. Louisa has had some "stranger danger" and has started to cry when strangers, typically men, hold her. Henri was able to trick Louisa for a while.

Here is Louisa after she realized that neither mommy or daddy were holding her. She warmed up to Henri later on though. We find that it just takes a little time for her to warm up to guys.

Here is Isaac, clothed in white after his baptism. "All you who have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ! Alleluia."

I don't know why but this picture came out sideways. It didn't when I previewed it. I'm just going to be lazy and make you do the work. If you want to see the picture correctly, please tilt your computer monitor or tilt your head. Or save the picture and rotate the picture yourself.

Louisa got in some good playing time on all of her great-aunt's toys.
Here we are visiting grandma.
Here is our family picture before we left for home.

Here are some videos from our visit to Louisa's great-grandma.

Success!

Well, my goal was to blog every day of this week and I succeeded! In case Pat did start up a pool, I'll try again next week. If you didn't Pat, then I'm free to take Monday off!

As for Louisa, yesterday we bought her a sippy cup of sorts. It's a cup with a nipple on it. We are giving it to her for somewhat of a toy and also a way to slowly introduce water to her. (Apparently babies don't have well developed kidneys and are not supposed to have a lot of water or else it will flush out their electrolytes.)

At first she used a no-hand method. I think that method only works when you have only a little water in the cup.

It didn't take her long to start getting the hang of it.

... and then to get bored of it.

Also, I forgot to post this link yesterday. This is the place where I found the information out about the White house snitch site. Also, here is a link so you can read the health care bill itself. I'm planning on reading it so that I can state definitively what I do and don't like about what is in the bill.

Sunsets

With all of that hot weather we had, it made some beautiful sunsets.

Here is one I tried the panoramic feature on my camera.

Here is another one, but it's not quite a sunset I guess. It was pretty amazing though, you could almost look right at the sun. (And don't think just because it didn't hurt to look at the sun, that I did look at it. I know that it was still dangerous to look directly at the sun.) This is taken through the screen door and it give the sun the burning cross.

This is without the screen door.

And here is the same sunset zoomed out.

And finally, here is Louisa, or at least what Louisa will look like when she gets hair. The hair is actually Kayleen's. Uncle Pat wants us to look into buying a wig for Louisa, to build up her self esteem. I'm not sure if I should put this to a vote on my blog or not, since this "wig" gives Louisa an Andy Warhol look.

Politics

With all of the news about health care, I thought I would put out an entry on the subject. I guess I should be a little worried about saying anything about the subject because if I speak out against Obama on the subject, someone could report me to the Whitehouse. This is a quote from the white house website:
"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

I think this was partly in response to Matt Drudge posting a link to this video on his website:


There is also a video on the white house website showing the link to this video and saying how it is misleading in saying how they recut the video to make it look like Obama's goal is to get a single payer health care system in place. I don't see how it's misleading when that is exactly what Obama says in the video "I happen to be a proponent of single payer healthcare system." The gal in the White house claims that the video is a lie and shows video of Obama this year saying that American's with the current bill on the table would allow people to continue with their current health care prividers, but that fails to address what he said in the video. Has Obama changed his stance on the issue now? He states in the video he would have a transition to a single payer system, so is this bill the transition to single payer?


Here are some videos from a guy I found on youtube a while ago. He is a conservative comedian and here is a video he did about the Canadian health care system. (Just a warning, this video is 20 minutes long.)


This is an earlier video he had done just talking about health care. (This video is about 3 min.)

Happy Anniversary mom and dad!

Today is my parents wedding anniversary! Happy anniversary mom and dad! (I don't have a wedding picture from their wedding on my computer. I might try and scan one later today.)

Also today is the anniversary of Kayleen and my first date. (I didn't plan on it being this date, it was the best day for Kayleen.) Here is a picture from when we were dating. We went and saw Gaelic Storm, it was a great show. (This picture is so old, I still had my mole.)
These are excerpts from emails between Kayleen and I of me asking Kayleen out.
ME: Do you think you would be available to hang out sometime?

KAYLEEN: I may be able to do something with you, will you plan something and invite me?

ME: Did you want to do something Wed or Fri night? Do you like to play pool?

KAYLEEN: Pool sounds like a fine idea. I can't say with certainty that I will have Friday evening off, but it's a possibility.

I'm not sure if Kayleen was playing hard to get or what. She insists that she did want to go out with me. I guess God blesses the stubborn.

Movies

Kayleen and I found out that you can still go see a movie even with a baby. If you go to a drive in movie theater, no one cares if the baby is screaming because she only stopping her parents from watching the movie. The drive in had some decent movies out. We saw the new Harry Potter movie, which I felt very uncomfortable throughout it. I felt the movie was mostly about teenagers with raging hormones. The other movie was the new Zack Efron flick "17 Again." I wont say to much about it since I know Pat has not seen it, but I thought it was pretty original. Now on with the pictures.

Here is Louisa at the drive in. She preferred to be outside of the hot car.

Recently Kayleen and I trimmed some ivy. Since Kayleen and I had to work, we felt that Louisa should too. She doesn't get free room and board.

Louisa went in a swing for the first time on Sunday.

At first she didn't show much emotion but she soon started laughing and was having a good time.

Goal for the week

Wow, I need to stop talking about it but I haven't blogged since the 24th! Where has the time gone? It didn't seem like it was that long ago when I did blog. I have a bunch of pictures that I have failed to post so this week my goal is to try and blog every day. We will see how long it takes for me to fail. I'm guessing I'll forget to post on Tuesday. Pat, feel free to start a pool.

I'm so proud of Louisa. Here she is watching some Sports Center. I'm thinking she will be kind to her younger brother and let them watch sports shows instead of tying up the tv and watching cooking shows and TCL.

Here is Louisa in the car. I can't remember who took this picture, all I know is that she looks so cute.



And for my last picture, Kayleen and I stopped at KFC and ate. When we left I saw this and thought "What did someone do to my car!!!!"

After the initial shock I then realized that my car is the car beyound that car. I was thinking about sending this picture to my mom but I didn't want to give her a heart attack. Your welcome mom.