New Website and Ken Block

Yes this post is all about me. Me. Me. Me.

First off, I wanted to wait to see if it wouldn't suck, but here is the new Website for my paper: www.wilsonvillespokesman.com . I like it, now I am just waiting for the bosses to figure out how they want to handle content on it. I am excited so I am always posting stuff -- I am sure it annoys them.

Oh, then there is this. One of my favorite YouTube videos of all time. Wait until the 1 minute mark. I NEED to figure out how to drive like this guy. I may even try to go pro....

Dance Party!

I was messing around with my iTunes Friday night and a Def Leppard song came on, I turned around and the girls were rocking out... Here is the video. Enjoy!

Oh, and now every time I play a song, Violet says "Def Leppard ROCKS!"

My little hair metal chicks. :)

Pat

Operation: Fat Ass

NOW

LATER

Today I started Operation: Fat Ass.

I turned 39 this year and I have decided that I can't keep going through life carrying around the mass of Jupiter on my frame. In 2007, Operation: Work Out was an utter failure with me buying a year of gym, and going twice.

This year, I have decided to also hire a personal trainer for the time being, to get me going on a program and to make sure I work out.

Today was the first day I worked out with my trainer, who looks like she weighs about 3 grams. We did some cardio today, and then I hit the free weights.

When I think of weightlifting I see the dudes on the World's Strongest Man competition where I am lifting Volkswagen Bugs. My trainer informed me today it's about reps when you are trying to lose weight. So I get to use these little 10 pound "girl" weights.

Oh well, so much for macho.

I will chronicle my results.

Weight: Mass of Jupiter is 1.9 x 1027 kg which is 318 planet Earths.
Lost so far: 0

Twice in one week

No, I don't have new photos of the kids. I promise to work on that tonight.

I am boasting a little. Just a little because it isn't in my nature, really.

Most of this is just from building relationships and flat dumb luck, but...

So over the course of the last few weeks I have been writing about the Langdon Farms property near my house. The owners of the property want the right to develop it, the city and farmers near it don't want to see it developed.

Well, I have been getting materials from unanimous sources about an Indian tribe interested in putting the property in trust. If they did that, they could develop it without following local or state land use policy.

As it turns out, these documents have only been coming to my paper, and no where else. So I have had some pretty cool exclusive coverage. I'm not sure if the bigger papers aren't interested or what -- they have done stories on the property in the past -- but I keep running these articles with new information.

Then today, I covered a county meeting and got the story online before the big metro daily in my coverage area.

While some people would feel like they were king of the world, I have my Mother's sensibilities.
I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Yes I should enjoy it, but I just know I screwed up some major fact, mis-spelled some name, or totally missed a big story.

Then I have to keep reminding myself I am only part-time, so I need to chill.

Tonight is a good night. I should enjoy it.

So with that, I am off the computer, cell phone and blog. I'm going to take the night off and take pictures of my girls and not worry about what is going on in Wilsonville or who is going to kick my butt tomorrow.

I need to sigh and take a rest. Tonight seems like a good night, on a high note, then face deadline day with new vigor.

Ah, screw it. Time to make some more phone calls for a story I am working on!

Pat

Hey, Silverton!

I was reading this article on my iPhone and noticed that "Road Warrior" and "Mad Max" were filmed in SILVERTON Australia. Who knew. Anyway, here is the article about a guy crazier about Mad Max than I am about Batman.

Oh, and I finished my Batman game. Too short if you ask me, but... it was so cool!

Mad Max fan builds replica Interceptor, moves to Outback

September 1, 2009

A British man's 27-year obsession with the post-apocalyptic biker movie Mad Max has led to him moving his family to a tiny town in the middle of the Australian Outback, The Times reported.

Adrian Bennett first saw the iconic Australian filmMad Max and its sequel The Road Warrior, which starred Mel Gibson as a revengeful drifter who wanders the Outback with his police Interceptor car and his devoted dog, as a double bill at the cinema when he was a teenager in England in 1982.

Now 45, Bennett has decided to fulfill his dream of living in the same town where the first two movies were made and has moved his wife Linda and two of his sons from their home in Bradford, Yorkshire, to Silverton near Broken Hill on the border of New South Wales and South Australia.

He says he moved to the tiny and remote Outback town, which is located more than 800 miles west of Sydney and has a population of just 51 (including the Bennetts), so he can set up a Mad Max museum in his backyard where he can park his custom-made made replica black Interceptor.

"From the opening credits of the first film to the closing credits of Mad Max 2 my jaw was on the floor, I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I was totally hooked," Bennett told The Times of the moment his obsession began over two decades ago.

He says it was "everything—the costumes, the characters, the location and the vehicles" which attracted him to the film and led him to a life of collecting Mad Max-related memorabilia.

A panel beater and crash repairer by trade, Bennett even created his own version of Max's Interceptor car after exporting a Ford Falcon Coupe from the U.S. He has even acquired his own blue heeler cattle dog, aptly named Dog, after Max's own faithful companion in the movie.

The Bennetts first moved from England to Adelaide in South Australia three years ago before finally buying a house in Silverton last month, and are now living off their savings while Bennett begins to plan his museum.

— SCI FI Wire Staff