The bliss of online games

I have a new addiction. To borrow a phrase from my friend Jen Horne, it is a healthy addiction. Jen is a firm believe that we all need a healthy addiction. And my addiction is jayisgames.com.

Jay Is Games features reviews of some of the coolest flash games on the web. I'm not sure how he finds the games, but every one I've played has been entertaining and challenging in a different way. I'm currently playing a game called Funny Farm (click here for review). Funny Farm is a word association game that requires you to guess what words are connected to known words, shown in green. As you correctly guess a word in the puzzle, new connections and words show up. The number of .'s in a box tell you how many letters are in each word. There are 25 interconnected screens you have to solve. I have guessed clues in 10 of them.

One of the coolest features of the game is the ability to share your progress with others. When you click "Save Game" you are given a URL that others can use to combine their game with your own. As the range of subjects covered by the game is broad, finding partners with interests and knowledge of subjects well outside your own makes for slightly easier play. Also, a working knowledge of Google has proven essential (especially when trying to come up with the names of professional poker players).

Give it a try. If you need some help starting out, click on the image to the rigth for a few answers to get you on your way. Feel free to post the URL for your saved game to the comments section. You can access my latest saved game URL there as well.

So, I admit it. I'm addicted. And in the case of Funny Farm, I've even got my older brother Jared addicted. But this is better than my old addiction to food, right?

A Few Film Updates

Looks like the trailer for Eragon has finally been released.

Newsweek has a few sneak peeks of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. The first article talks about Emma Watson (Hermione). Apparently she is unsure whether or not she wants to participate in films six and seven. They also included a few pictures (see below).

The second is a full interview with Emma.

UPDATE: mtv.com has more HP5 pics. If the site is slow, it's not you. They recently redesigned and the new site stinks.

Tortilla Factory

Tonight my parents took us out to dinner. Funny how they can do that when they are in Michigan and we are in Virginia.

Actually, Kristin and I went to grab a bite to eat at The Tortilla Factory in Herndon. We found a $50 bill my parents had given me and decided we had to break it sometime. Kristin and I have been eating at Tortilla Factory for years. She really enjoys their burritos and tacos. It is my dream to swim in a vat of their refried beans.

Tonight when we sat down I asked our waitress, a familiar face who has probably been working there for 10+ years, which was her favorite item on the menu. She replied without hesitation, "Machaca." The menu describes the machaca as 'spicy, shredded beef.' Though I tend to be a wimp when it comes to spicy Mexican food I decided to order a side with my Frijolada Salad.

As usual, the food came in minutes. I tentatively took a bite of the machaca. It was quite good. Then, after a second, boom! the kick hit. I got Kristin to try some. We spent the next few minutes trying to figure out what they used to spice the beef. Kristin figured either black or cayenne pepper. But there was another flavor that we couldn't identify. I finally stopped our waitress and asked. She replied, "White and black pepper, and a little salt. Oh, and cilantro." It was the cilantro that gave it the unique flavor.

I enjoyed mixing the machaca in with my black bean salad. A few times during the meal I dipped one of the nacho chips into the refried beans on Kristin's plate. Their refried beans have a nice texture and partner very well with the chips. Twas a meal I most enjoyed.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

UPDATE: A couple of Tortilla Factory tidbits. They have coupons on their site. They are home of the Herndon/Reston Folk Club's Open Mike Night, which they have been hosting each Tuesday evening for 15 years. I am dying to check it out. Kristin doesn't want to. She hates.

Fatty Mc Fat Fats

When Kristin and I started doing Weight Watchers, we commented that we had become Fatty Mc Fat Fats. A Fatty Mc Fat Fat is someone so *huge* that they transcend the distinction of being a fatty or a fat fat. One of the key elements is the use of the Mc, paying homage to that great home of American obesity, Mc Donalds.

One of my first goals was to lose 10% of my starting weight, 32 pounds. Upon reaching this goal, I realized that I was no longer a Fatty Mc Fat Fat and started calling myself a Fatty Mc Fat. (Note that there is still a Mc in there.) Going from 320 to 288 was a big deal, but is far from being a healthy adult.

So, when I went to weigh myself today, I realized that I had hit another milestone in my journey. Happy Day! I am no longer obese!! Obesity, as defined by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is when your Body Mass Index (BMI) is 30 or greater. My body mass index is now 29.5. I'm just overweight!

It appears I am no longer a Fatty Mc Fat. I am now just a Fatty. Some day, once I have reached my normal weight (BMI between 18 and 24.9), I will have to come up with a new name. How does Slim sound?

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam

For those who haven't heard, I've been teaching the Sunbeam class (3 and 4-year olds)at church since July. They can certainly be a handful, but more importantly, the things they come up with keep me in stitches half the time. Oliver and I can usually have a good fifteen minute laugh every Sunday as I recount the day's adventures. Here are a few choice exchanges from today's class:

Colter: Teacher, all of you are driving me nuts. You're distracting me and I can't steer the Heavenly Father ocean liner.
Me: Well, I think the Heavenly Father ocean liner can probably go straight by itself. Heavenly Father never goes crooked.
Aeden: (with his best 4-year-old withering look) Heavenly Father isn't an ocean liner.

The lesson today was on loving animals, and Noah was a key figure in the discussion. I brought our Little People Noah's Ark with me and let them match up all the animal pairs. Colter was very excited by this; we're close friends with his parents and he always plays with it when they stop by. After a few minutes I had them put all the animals back and put it away. Colter was NOT pleased and began the following conversation:

Colter: Thomas, I'm sorry you can't play with Sister Christensen's alligators anymore. (This was said while looking right at me - can we say someone is learning the art of manipulation?)
Thomas: That's okay, I still have real alligators at home from Christmas.

At one point we spent some time talking about our favorite animals...and the kids didn't always restrain themselves to real animals.

Thomas: I'll give you a clue about my animal. It ROARS and it's like a bee. It's a roarbee. (We then heard about the roarbees for the rest of class. This is the same kid who after singing the song "Scripture Power" proceeded to tell me about all the bad things he would kill with his sword of truth.)

I think the best one of the day came from one of the kids in the CTR 5 class. During sharing time he tends to say completely random things, so no one thought anything of it when he raised his hand to get the attention of our music leader.

Lance: Sister Bailey, don't tell anyone, but...my mom has a new baby.
Sis. Bailey: Okay Lance, I won't tell anyone.

At this point every adult in the room is doubled-over laughing and someone slipped out to give his mother a heads-up. I'm still amazed that the music leader and the pianist were able to keep going; I know I would have just stood there in hysterics.

Brunch at the Asylum

We drove downtown to have brunch with my friend Jarrod Jaffe this morning. He was in town from New Hampshire for the weekend staying with a friend in Adams Morgan. They recommended The Asylum, a dive bar featuring vegan but also serving carnivore foods, as it is cheap, the portions are sizeable, and they have killer cheese fries. I was sold.

When we got there, we were waiting for someone so we ordered a basket of their cheese fries. Inexpensive and down right tasty, their fries are waffle cut with a seasoning like Arby fries. The basket of fries was covered in melted cheese (also available with vegan cheese) and served piping hot. It took us a while, but we devoured the fries. We then ordered breakfast. I ordered a ham and cheese omelet, which was served with cantaloupe, toast and some KILLER home fries. Others ordered a breakfast sandwich, omelets, and something else I can't remember. The food was served very quickly. It was quite tasty. When a fifth person joined us, he was sleeping in, we ordered and polished off another basket of cheese fries.

Driving home was a delight as I got to take Rock Creek Parkway. It always amazes me how easy it is to get in and out of the city when you can take Rock Creek Parkway. The day was overcast, a slight drizzle was falling as we walked around Adams Morgan. Definitely a good trip. Was great to see Jarrod. He looks quite well.

Insanity

I've been chastised for not posting my own updates, so here goes...

It hit me this week that my days of freedom are rapidly disappearing; we're at +/- 15 weeks until we two become three. Instead of encouraging me to go out and do all those things that are going to become infinitely more difficult to accomplish soon, the realization has opened the flood gates of baby-planning insanity. All of a sudden my addled brain has decided it's become urgently necessary to buy cribs, rockers, dressers, changing pads, sheets, crib mobiles, blankets, blah, blah, blah. I even have to consciously resist the tempation to buy diapers every time I'm at the store, for crying out loud. What am I going to do for nursery decorations? Should we paint or not? Where am I going to put all of her books? Do I have everyone's email addresses to send out a message when she arrives? Do I have mailing addresses for those birth announcements? Birth announcments! I need to get working on those! THIS is the insanity I'm talking about.

Deep breaths. You have 15 weeks.

I'll betcha you're sorry I was encouraged to post. :-)

Musical Bliss

A few weeks ago, my friend Stuart gave me a call to let me know that BT has a new album. This Binary Universe is not only a full-length album, but also a movie consisting of an animated music video for each song. BT screened the movie/videos at different theatres around the country - including the Bethesda Row Cinema. Stuart bought a group of tickets and invited me to go!!

Stuart, John Whall, Nick Hunter and I caught dinner at The Austin Grill. After we walked around downtown Bethesda to kill time before the 9:30p showing. The 7:30p showing went late, so we didn't get to take our seats until 10:15ish. We were very near the front of the line, so we got seats in the middle of the theatre about 3/4 the way back.

After everyone was seated, BT walked in, to great applause, and introduced This Binary Universe. He explained that three things influenced the album: first, the sound track to the movie Monster he had recently completed; second, jazz; and third, classical music. He told us that the first piece was written entirely in code (ASCII characters in a text editor) using a programming language called CSound. He then took his seat in the audience (TWO ROWS IN FRONT OF ME) and the movie began.

It was incredible. Every song was composed with full 5.1 surround sound. Sound was coming from every direction. Each piece was just as amazing as the last. My favorites were The Internal Locus, 1.618, and The Antikythera Mechanism. I was completely mesmerized. A few times during the screening I had the thought run through my mind, which I only have when listening to BT, "this is perfect music." Both visually and musically I was blown away.

Afterwards BT took questions from the audience. Someone asked if fractals were used in 1.618, then asked if there were any fractals in the music. BT responded that this was the best question he had received during a post-screening QA. There were, indeed, fractals used during the piece. And there are also fractals in the music. At one point he compressed the entire song (or movement, can't remember), then compressed it again, and again, and again, all in a four bar sequence. It was absolutely amazing. He explained that there are many other items hidden in the music that one can only discover by studying the audio files.

As Stuart put it, as he dropped me off at my house at one a.m., "That was one of the most amazing hours of my life."

Sandra Leigh and Johnny B.'s

Today I attended the funeral for Sandra Leigh Sciranko. Sandi worked as one of the sales reps selling recruitment advertising for The Washington Post. We worked together for two years. She lost her battle with cancer one week ago today. She was 51 years old.

The funeral was held in La Plata, MD, about 45 minutes from my office. The sanctuary of the church was packed - they even brought in folding chairs to line the sides of the room. Her brother, brother-in-law, and two friends spoke. It was a very moving service with some very heart wrenching and comical stories told. I respected Sandi's skills as a sales reps - she could sell better than most on the team; her love and dedication to her family, including a special needs daughter, 17 years old; and her character as a good friend. Sandi deserved the send-off that was given her. She will be missed.

After the funeral, a group of us headed a little farther down the road to Johnny Boy's Ribs. Having been tipped off by a member of the sales team who used to eat there after little league games as a child, Johnny Boy's is *literally* a shack on the side of Route 301. A restaurant sits across the parking lot from the shack, however as we walked towards the restaurant a woman sitting outside the restaurant pointed to the shack and said, "Go over there." So we walked up to the window and ordered. Pork and beef, sliced and minced, ribs, and chicken make up the menu. I ordered a minced (pulled) pork sandwich with cole slaw and potato salad on the side. As regulars of my dietary escapades know, I love me some barbeque. And this was probably the best barbeque I've ever had. The sandwich was so flavorful that I almost went and purchased a second. The cole slaw was sweet and a little watery, perfect for my palate. The potato salad wasn't all that. As my co-worker Phil put it, "It's a little Giant-y." (Giant being a local grocery store.) Another co-worker ordered fries with his chicken. They were some of the most amazing fries I have ever had. I definitely need to head out that way again. Anyone up to the trip?

As we sat down to eat, John, another member of the sales team, raised his glass and said, "To Sandi." "To Sandi" was the reply.

Eat, drink, and be healthy

Usually when we get together for a potluck dinner with our Church friends the theme is gluttony. For example, at a potluck on January 16th, 2006, I ate 86 points* worth of food. It was the day before I started Weight Watchers. My target points for a single day are 30.

For our Labor Day 2006 meal we decided that we should try something different, so we picked a new theme: healthy. Each couple was to bring a dish that would contribute to, rather than detract from, our overall health. The challenge was made. Everyone agreed to come. Here is what happened:

Kristin started things off with a tray of fresh veggies and fresh fruit kabobs, each served with its own dip. The veggie tray included carrots, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas. The onion dip on the side was made with fat free sour cream. The fruit kabobs alternated grapes, pineapple, kiwi fruit, and strawberries. They were served with a vanilla pudding and crushed pineapple dip.

Bonnie came alone as David is dealing with filing deadlines. She also brought an appetizer: reduced fat Wheat Thins served with Philadelphia Cream Cheese Chive and Onion fat free dip. Wheat Thins are a personal favorite, so I parked myself next to this one. Very tasty.

Pete and Mika rounded out the appetizers with a homemade salsa, served with whole wheat tortilla chips. The salsa was made of tomatoes, cilantro, and a lot of lime juice. This was another winner as lime juice makes a salsa. They also brought roasted potatoes, some with parmesan cheese as a small indulgence, others without. The potatoes were very popular; the pan was near empty by the end of the meal.

Sarah and Dayna's contribution to the meal was an incredible Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup. I immediately noticed the presence of rice vinegar, which gives anything a distinctively asian feel. The noodles were egg noodles, the chicken was well cooked, not over-done, and the presence of waterchestnuts - a mistake which turned out for the better - combined with other ingredients to make this dish one of the crowd favorites.

Continuing the asian theme, Zacharia and Fiona brought an asian chicken salad. Greens were combined with chicken cooked in a light sauce, crunchy noodles, nuts, and a light dressing. When it was time to go for seconds, I combined the soup and some of the salad in a single bowl. We all remarked that you could serve these complementary dishes in a single course, and walk away from the table feeling satisfied and unweighed down.

The last dish was one of the most ambitious of the group. Zucchini Moussaka. Our resident greek, Julie, and her faithful sous chef, Bruce, really knows spices and knows how to perfectly spice any dish. The zucchini was layered with ground lamb and beef spiced by her secret blend. It turned out nicely.

A couple of highlights:

Lauren, one of Pete & Mika's twins, was having a rough afternoon. When they arrived she was screaming, when we started eating she was screaming, when I tried to feed her she continued to scream. I eventually took her upstairs, to walk around and try to calm her, so she wouldn't set her sister, McKenzie, into a similar crying fit. While holding her in front of the mirror in our bathroom, I tried to get her to grab my finger to test her grip. She eventually caught it and put it in her mouth. Thinking she was hungry, I expected her to start sucking on my finger. I was surprised when she started gnawing on it, paying special attention to her lower gums. Immediately she stopped crying. I walked downstairs in sort of a daze and said to Mika, her mother, "Is there any way that Lauren is teething?" "At four and a half months," was the reply. Someone else came over, felt her gums and proclaimed, "I can feel a tooth under that gum. She's teething." The mystery of Lauren's bad mood was solved. I held her for the next half an hour alternating my finger and a bottle as she wanted to eat then relax her gums then eat again.

As I mentioned, David had to work so Bonnie came to the party alone. At around 5:00pm the door bell rang. Bonnie, who is 26 weeks pregnant and until this point had been moving at a normal pregnant woman speed, bolted out of her seat and ran down the stairs to get the door. Guess who had gotten off work? David joined us for the rest of the party.

And the biggest bang of them all? Dessert. Julie & Bruce brought a home-made cinnamon toast ice cream, with chunks of cinnamon toast in the ice cream! Zacharia made apple muffins, a recipe he learned from a Japanese lady. Both were delicious and a slight departure from the healthy theme (okay Zacharia's muffins weren't too bad), but definitely worth the slight indulgence. At the end of the night Julie turned to me and said, "We should always have parties like this. The food was so light I didn't feel stuffed going for thirds." Yes, folks, it was that good.

Oh, and we need pics of McKenzie, Tyler, and Colter to round out the group. So here you go.

Ran across this on some random blog

Crazy, amazing, cool.

Small World Department #532

Yesterday, while lying on my bed going through the phone book on my cell phone, I came across Ben Bennett's name and realized I hadn't told him Kristin is expecting. I gave him a call and we chatted for a few minutes. Turns out he is seeing someone who lives in Los Angeles but is here visiting D.C. for the weekend. They didn't have plans for tonight, so we had them over for dinner. On the phone Ben told us her name is Sarah Spendlove.

Since last night, Kristin and I have been wracking our brains, trying to figure out from where we knew that name. I was picturing a blond-haired girl from my on-campus ward; Kristin, a girl with brown hair from our off-campus ward. We kept turning to each other at random points today, trying to prod the other's memory to no avail. By the time the door bell rang we weren't sure who was coming.

Then I opened the front door. I looked at Sarah, recognized her 100%, and yelled up the stairs to Kristin, "You where right, brown hair!" Sarah, Kristin, and I knew each other from the Fall '98 to Spring '99 school year. I invited Sarah and Ben in and, as we walked upstairs, told Sarah, who was having a hard time remembering me but remembered Kristin, that we even had a photo with Sarah in it. Kristin quickly found the following photo, taken in May of 1999. Pictured are Aubrey Packard, Kristin, Sarah Spendlove, Amy Parkin, and Randi Johanson. Sarah seems to recall that Randi and Aubrey were here visiting teachers. Sarah, Kristin and I were in the same FHE group.

Sarah and Ben have been dating for a little while. We passed the evening reminiscing, getting reacquainted, and generally having a good time.

And there you have Entry #532 into the records of the Small World Department.

With Ikea, like everything, third time is the charm.

Today we went to Ikea to purchase two dressers for the nursery. We had been twice before, once to the Woodbridge Ikea and once to the College Park Ikea, and each time we had walked through the entire store. By the time you've seen your 53rd room of delightfully inexpensive Swedish furniture you're ready to claw your eyes out. But for this trip that was not to be. Oh, no! You see, we had a plan.

Kristin knew that we wanted the Malm chest with 4 drawers. We entered the store with our trusty friend, Paige. I grabbed a map of the store, a pencil, and planned our route. We backtracked through the second story, took two short cuts, and were quickly standing in front of the dresser. "Is this the one," I asked. "Yes," replied Kristin. I wrote down Aisle 18, Bin 2 on my map with my little Ikea pencil and we retraced our steps back to the front of the second story, took the stairs down, and took a short cut to lop off half the lower level. We quickly found Aisle 18, Bin 2, grabbed two of the dressers (hello 106lbs of particle board goodness), got through the check-out line, and were in our car in under 20 minutes. I've never been out of an Ikea in under an hour; our speed was a pleasant surprise.

UPDATE: Sunday evening after Ben and Sarah left we put the two dressers together. Check out the finished product.

Great news from Liz (Howard) Hencke

We just heard from Matt & Liz (Howard) Hencke. His second feature length film, Verschwinden has been accepted to the FAIF International Film Festival in Hollywood, CA. From Liz's e-mail:

Verschwinden will have its World Premier at Mann’s Chinese Theater on October 10th at 9:45pm. Just fyi, FAIF is the Foundation for the Advancement of Independent Film. ... You can find more info about the movie on IMDb and of course on our website www.blackkraut.com

Big congrats to Liz, Matt, and the rest of the Blackkraut team.

UPDATE: VERSCHWINDEN was nominated for two awards at the 2006 FAIF Film Festival: "Best Suspense" and "Best Editing".

UPDATE: Verschwinden won Best Suspense 2006 FAIF Film Festival!

I love my new car.

We recently purchased a Honda Pilot. Our old car was dying (another story for another time) and we wanted something that would fit the two of us and a few kids. Today I discovered the COOLEST feature of the new car.

If you turn the wipers on intermittent, and push it to the shortest wait time, while driving the wipers run constantly. However, when you stop they go into intermittent mode! It is SOOOO cool! And, no matter where they are in the intermittent cycle, when you take your foot off the brake it immediately runs the wipers once. BRILLIANT.

I love good design. Yeah for the wipers on my 2006 Honda Pilot.