I can't stop watching!!!

Don't judge me.

We all have those little secrets. Those secrets that you fear if people knew, they would totally hate your guts. You know, like picking your feet, or singing in the shower old show tunes or sounding like a bullfrog when you sleep.

I am going to share mine, simply because I can't take it any more. I watch the new Knight Rider.

Don't judge me.

It just happened, really. I watched the movie last year, and it was so bad, that I couldn't believe they actually made a series out of it. Who makes the decisions at NBC?

This season, as the episodes started, I had to find out how on earth this pathetic show got greenlit and other good shows like "Journeyman" and "Firefly" were cancelled. So I started watching.

Now, 12 episodes in, I feel dirty. Don't judge me.

There are over-the-top product placements (every car is a Ford), each episode there is a reason to strip to your underwear or swim suit (EVERY episode? Really?) and Bob the Builder is a better actor than anyone on that show (Yes, the animated Bob the Builder).

It's like when you see a wreck on the side of the road and you HAVE to look. I am even TiVOing the darn thing! Don't judge me.

I watch it while Cindy works, and the girls are in bed, and at the end of each episode I really question my sanity. I could have gotten another hour of sleep, but no, I had to find out if someone at NBC woke up and the show got cancelled mid-episode. No luck yet.

As I sit here and write this, there is an fresh, new episode on my DVR. I am itching to see if this could be the end of what I call "The worst TV show ever created." (Yes, I did see Cop Rock, and yes, it's better than Knight Rider)

This week, KITT faced off with KARR. Here is the episode. But I warn you, once you start watching, you can't stop.

Don't judge me.

New Blackberry Flickr tool

You see the slideshow to the left? Well it's about to get more busy.

I found an application for my Blackberry where I can take a photo with my phone, and then upload it to Flickr, using my phone data connection.

It's pretty cool, so I will but uploading photos throughout the day when I am home with the kids and now pounding around Wilsonville. The photo quality isn't as good as my big camera (2 megapixels versus 10 megapixels), but I think it's good enough to see what we are doing.

I think I might even be able to take videos too, so I will be trying that out too.

Anyway, I was thinking about getting an iPhone, but with the new software for my blackberry I'm not sure I need one now. The big thing is getting a voice recorder program to work on my blackberry, as my current voice recorder is good, but it's showing it's wear and doesn't have a lot of memory.

My voice recorder software for my phone is about $20, and I am trying to freeware version now. A new voice recorder would run me about $100 to $150, so I could save some cash. Toward the end of the year if we need write-offs I may reassess what we are doing.

Dad's here, gotta run.

Pat

Safety Officer: The Office preview

I found this while surfing around this morning. My mom used to be a "safety officer" so I immediately started laughing. Plus I always enjoy English humor.



I also uploaded more Carousel pictures to Flickr, so they should be showing up in the slideshow.

pat

Adventure!

Lilly is getting in three upper teeth all that same time. It makes for one grumpy baby. This was Lilly tonight at the Salem Riverfront Carousel.

It seems like every weekend Jen comes over and we just sit around the house and do nothing. Tonight I decided we needed an adventure. Cindy, Jen and Lilly hadn't been to the carousel, so we buzzed down there and got a punch card and took a bunch of rides on the cool hand-carved horses.

This week Violet has NOMAD -- the dog from her class that goes home with different kids. I think last year I posted a video clip of Star Trek and the NOMAD probe, but not this year. You have to get a picture of NOMAD doing things with Violet and then write a story. What's better than a dog chasing horses in a circle to a pipe organ?

Violet likes a horse called "Little Joe" at the carousel. It's a baby horse (what do they call those?) and it doesn't move up or down. She usually rides that over and over watching all the other kids on the big horses that move. Last time we went I had her ride a big horse during our last ride -- she was shaking like a leaf. I felt bad about it, so we rode again on "Little Joe."

This time, she rode "Little Joe" once or twice and then I asked her if she wanted to do a big one with daddy. She agreed, so we strapped her on a big one, and off we went.

IMPORTANT CAROUSEL SAFETY TIP: If you are standing next to your daughter, who is going up and down on a horse, there are a couple of very important things you need to keep in mind. First, little kids have feet that sometimes stick out -- and catch you right in the... um... well... unmentionables. Secondly, and also important, don't look at the center of the carousel the whole time -- you get dizzy. By the time the darn thing stopped I was hunched over and staggering about.

Jen had her ride again on a big one, and of course that time she wasn't scared at all. The mighty power of Jen! She rode one last time with Mommy in one of the chuck wagons.

After that we were going to go to Olive Garden for dinner. We pulled up and there was a line out the door, it was cold, and Lilly was fussing. So we opted for Subway instead. Cheaper, faster, and hey, who doesn't like a dry bread sandwich on a Saturday night.

Of course now I crave pasta. Oh well. Today marks my 24th day without a Coke. I did have some Vanilla pudding today, but while the girls were narfing cookies at Subway I didn't have any. I am trying to be good. I have no idea if I am losing weight, but I do feel better.

Well, off to bed.

Pat

I was on TV tonight

My editor and I covered the new Westside Express Service train first ride event today. It was pretty fun, we got to ride it from Wilsonville to Beaverton and then back to Wilsonville. Most people got on in Beaverton and rode to Wilsonville, so we got to have a ride up to Beaverton where there were a few people riding.

The service, which cost $166 million to build and is slated to open Feb. 2, is something that Cindy may use. I was also thinking that it would be fun to take the girls to the zoo by taking the WES then light rail. Heck I could even go out and see my folks -- if they had carseats and could pick us up.

As it turns out, I was riding and the TV guys were filming -- it was a pretty heavy news day with the Portland mayor scandal, a climber killed on Mt. Hood and the peanut butter recal -- but I still made the news. If they put the report up that was on the news tonight I will link it here.

Well, off to bed.

Pat

Happy Birthday CARRIE!!!

Tonight we did a little concert for Carrie, yesterday was her Birthday and both Cindy and I were so busy we just simply ran out of time.

Sorry!

So here is out little gift to her, and the rest of you. Violet and Lilly concert series continues....




How can you not want to have an encore after that amazing performance? Here is Violet's favorite song... We Three Kings. Check out Lilly rocking out. I love how she walks like a zombie.

Strike!

This is a video of what happens when the baby comes and takes all the attention from Violet. Watch, Violet throws a fastball to brush Lilly off the plate. Today (Sunday) Violet took a toy and tomohawked Lilly with it, no damage was done, but Violet was in the doghouse for a good couple of hours.



Today was the last playoff games until the Super Bowl, and in that tradition, here is a video of Lilly's first tackle. After this video was made I had to hug Violet and let her know she was OK -- her head hit the tile. It wasn't very hard, but I think the whole "getting tackled by someone 1/3 your weight" might have had something to do with it. :)

We had a nice mellow weekend, Cindy had a ton of work to get done. I had a freelance story to do on the tax issue surrounding volunteer firefighters. Next week is proving to be a busy one, with the start of a new commuter train to Wilsonville, and a special feature story I am working on.

Monday and Tuesday should be pretty mellow with the kids, but the end of the week I am going to be slammed. Just hope to keep my head above water. The good news is that I am done with freelance stuff for a bit, so that helps.

Well, I should get to bed. Busy week and I don't want to start out too tired.

Hope all is well with you and yours,

Pat

Sorry for the delay

I had a pretty busy week this week, I did three stories for the Spokesman and two freelance, so I was running. I hate my schedule. It's like planning the D-Day invasion every time I try to have an appointment on an off day. It sucks. Anyway, I promised more video and I have it. I will upload here in a few minutes.

OK I promise

Tell you what guys, I promise I will take some video tomorrow of more Lilly walking. Then I will post it to the blog. The current Lilly walking video reminds me of this:



When I was about 7 or 8 years old, they showed this movie on KPTV (Channel 12) about Bigfoot. I think it was a "In Search Of..." with Leonard Nimoy narrating. Anyway, during this very scary show (for a little kid) there was a re-enactment of a logging cabin in Oregon that was ATTACKED! by Big Foot. Three loggers ran for their lives when Big Foot reached through a window to get at them.

EDIT I found the video on YouTube! I love YouTube!



We lived in the woods. I slept under a window. I walked (with my little brother) about a mile home in the afternoons from a bus stop (we could ride it over the hill, but it took an hour). Each of these facts made me a very nervous little boy.

Anyway, to this day Big Foot scares me. I am all nervous now just writing this.

OK, off to bed.

No, I haven't been drinking.

Pat

P.S. Day 11 with no Coke and no sweets (cookies, candy, ice cream, cake, donuts, danish or milkshakes) Cindy has cheated twice (that I know of, she is a sneaky one). I think in a week I am going to start working on my diet -- more vegetables, fruit -- and also hitting the eliptical more.

Lilly takes some steps

She is still a bit from full-on walking, but Lilly is trying. Tonight we played around with it and she would take a few steps to either Cindy or myself. It was pretty fun seeing her take more than the usual one or two stumbling steps.

Lilly is almost walking. Cindy gives her a week -- I think it will be a little longer. I should make a bet with Cindy. :)

This is cool!

We captured this attempt tonight after playing around. This was shot with my "big" video camera. It has a tape, but you can also take movies that are written to a SD card. At some point I would like to get video editing software -- we are going to start doing that at work so it would be nice to get some practice -- but for now these will have to do.

They are in AVI format, which is different from the MPEG format of the little camera. I don't know what that means, I just noticed it.

Today was day, um, let me check.... day four. Day four of my no Coke and sugar diet.
The people at work sabotaged me yesterday. I forgot I had take then candy out of the stocking at work, and let it in the car. I normally don't care for caramels, but boy, did they taste good. Still no Coke, however, and that's the big one. I am drinking a bunch of water instead.

The funny thing is, I am feeling better, it's weird. Just four days I am thinking it's more mental than actual physical, but some of the lingering pains (joint pain) has gone away for the most part. I am very tired though. I get a solid 7 hours of sleep and yet I still could take a nap around 3 p.m. Which I did today in my chair with Lilly for about 30 minutes.

Well, I better run, only a few hours before I am alone with the kids. I am going to spend the evening playing Team Fortress 2 and ignoring laundry that I need to put away -- hey, I need something to do tomorrow. :)

pat

I've created a monster!

Living in a house with Lilly is like living with a live hand grenade. We feed the kids then clean them up, and Lilly goes to bed between 7 and 8.

Once Cindy places the live explosive, which has a pressure sensor, temperature sensor, sound sensor and timer set for God knows what, we have a reading lesson with Violet. Then Violet, depending on her mood and our focus, gets to bed between 8 and 9.

It never fails that during the night sometime, Lilly wakes up, but where it gets tricky is that Violet also wakes up. Violet will have issues like her covers falling off, bunny hitting the floor, her "elephant water" being empty, she had to go potty, or she just wants to snuggle. In the mornings, when she wakes up, she would just fake cry until one of use went in and told her it was OK to get out of bed.

The other night, during one of these fake cry sessions at 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning -- when she wanted to get up. We had a long discussion (2 minutes tops) about how she was a big girl and could just get out of bed and take care of these things. If Violet's issue is something she can't take care of, come get one of us. In the morning she is more than welcome to waltz into our room and ask if she can snuggle or even get up. That's OK. Hey, Cindy and I have been married 13 years and get an average of 4 hours of sleep at night -- the magic is in a bottle in the attic. Our idea of the perfect date is going to the grocery store without the kids.

Anyway, the last couple of mornings, Violet walks in, jumps in bed with us, and we have a family snuggle time, and then get up and have breakfast.

Today, something different happened.

It started this afternoon, when Violet told me about the show I was watching on TV until midnight -- she was sitting in the hall watching it. No biggie, it was that new show Leverage and while it has a smattering of violence (nothing too graphic), it doesn't have bad language, so I am I not to worried about it. However, we had a little talk about how that wasn't a good idea.

Tonight, while I was in the bedroom watching Charlie Rose, Violet came out and bugged Cindy no fewer than 5 times with different issues -- in fact most of the ones listed above. While Violet is a big girl, she is also a "not wanting to go to bed" girl. But I suppose quietly walking out to talk with us is less likely to wake Lilly, so mission accomplished. I think.

I see my brother and I in my little girls and it makes me smile. I was the sneaky one that put on a good front and then pushed the boundaries, while my brother was the confrontational one. He would be openly defiant and pay the price. Violet is sneaky, Lilly is vocal, but too young to really know how she is going to act.

Speaking of Lilly, today we had a doctor appointment. Doc is pretty sure Lilly has, wait for it, heartburn. That's why she keeps waking up and eats just a little bit. I guess it's normal for kids at this age, so she gave us some medicine and everything should be fine.

In height, Lilly is in the 75% and in weight she is in the 25%, she comes in at 18 pounds, 7 ounces. We want to fatten her up -- that shouldn't be a problem in our family. :)

Oh, today was day two of my Coke and sugar detox. So far, no Cokes and I did have a hot chocolate and a Snickers bar today. The Snickers was late, because I didn't have dinner and was feeling the munchies and it was here. Now all the sugar, save hot chocolate, is out of the house.

There are organic chocolate bars, but they are like $10 each so I never eat them. They sit up in the cupboard like gold bar investments.

Anyway, that's all there is to report today.

The above video was just a left over one from before the holidays. Two days until we go back to the grind. Crud. At least Monday during the day I will have the girls to myself. :) I think more movie time is in order.

Pat

PS: Elephant water is water in a elephant-shaped water bottle we go at the Oregon Zoo. She loves it. She also got a elephant had with a trunk, ears, eyes, basically a fake elephant head on her head -- she doesn't sleep with that on though. :)
Oh, and the reason I am up until Midnight (it was actually 1:30 a.m.) is that my head is killing me. No really. The caffeine withdrawl is a nightmare this time. Ouch -- in fact -- that's why I'm up now. I am drinking my weight in water (basically the bathtub) trying to get through this. Hopefully by Monday things will get better.

Happy New Year!

So last night the girls went to bed around 9:30 p.m. and I was left with a quiet house. I am starting my "Punch me in the face" if I try to eat diet. This diet includes no more Coke.

Yesterday I decided I needed to get my last bit of caffeine in, so I had 1 Mountain Dew and no less than 10 Cokes. Yes 10 -- Red Robin refills are awesome.

Imagine my surprise when I couldn't fall asleep last night.

There I was, blasting terrorists on the computer when I realized it was almost midnight. I didn't want to ring in the New Year in front of the blue glow of a computer screen. I shut down and traded it for the bigger blue glow of the TV.

Of course Carson Daley was on. Yuck.
Then there was Ryan Seacrest. Gag.
CNN had Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin, but they didn't show enough of that, and Bill and Hillary pushing the button didn't interest me. Oh, I did see the aftermath (thanks to Tivo), CNN was showing all these couples making out, cut to the Clintons -- very professional shoulder hug.

Hey, she doesn't know where those lips have been....

Anyway, FOX had the single greatest New Year's Eve programing ever.... Robbie Knievel jumping over a fake volcano. Now if the video below isn't the most goofy thing you have ever seen, you missed the computer animation they played before the actual jump, that showed in graphic detail, how terribly wrong things could go.

My favorite potential mishap was engine failure, and the pyrotechnic guys setting off the volcano early, sending Knievel to a firey death. If I can find that computer animation I will post it. I have it on Tivo and it makes me laugh so hard I hyperventilate.

Well, I am off to have a 'family meeting' about this diet. I think Cindy wants exclusive rights to punch me in the face.... Can you blame her?

Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video

UPDATE: Yes, I videoed the computer animated part I found so funny. Here it is: