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Home Sweet Home, Again

Chris — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:20:00 GMT

After spending some time with both sets of families we are back home and unpacked and settled back in. It will still be rude awakening tomorrow heading back the office for me and to school for the boy, but I am quite sure we'll survive. The one hiccup is that the Jeep appears to be in need of at least a thermostat, and possibly a new radiator, so I will likely be spending my free time this week (well, at least tomorrow night) working on that, so that I can drive it to work and back and leave the HHR for Jodes. Oh well, I'll deal with that later...

Many gifts, many fun meals, and much time spent with loved ones we don't see as much as we would like. Highlights for me are a renewal of our family membership at the Toledo Zoo, a new fly-tying vise, a nice sweater/fleece, and a couple new games for the 360. The kids got lots of random toys, and they got their own little age-appropriate video game machine -- a V-Tech VMotion (http://www.vtechkids.com/product.cfm?productID=635). It is a little low-tech (graphics are about the same as an original NES, or maybe worse), but it is better than watching Joshua and Caleb play the free Doritos Dash of Destruction arcade game repeatedly on the XBox (which they're more than happy to do).

I hope you and your families all enjoyed the holiday season, and that you had safe, fun, happy travels.

Merry Christmas to all...

Chris — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:53:00 GMT

...and to all a good night!

(The kids aren't yet nestled, but, soon, soon...)

Cool survival trinket...

Chris — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:32:00 GMT

http://www.survivalstraps.com/survivalbracelets.html

These are cool -- rugged bracelets made from 550lb. paracord. Not that I find myself in need of 20 feet of paracord very frequently, but if I ever did, this would be a good way to make sure I had it. I wonder how well they 'wear'. I used to wear a hemp bracelet and necklace Michelle made for me. After months of wear, the hemp absorbed a fair amount of skin oils and whatnot that discolored it slightly. I wonder if the paracord can repel that stuff and retain it's nice new appearance indefinitely...

MSU in the news

Chris — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:02:00 GMT

But not for athletic endeavors this time -- the scientists at the NSCL at MSU have been awarded funding to produce the Faciliity for Rare Isotope Beams. This new project should keep MSU at the forefront of US Nuclear Physics research for a few more decades. Cool. Good job, and congratulations!

http://www.energy.gov/news/6794.htm

http://www.freep.com/article/20081212/NEWS06/812120341

http://www.nscl.msu.edu/ourlab/news/2008/u-s-department-energy-selects-michigan-state-university-design-and-establish-facili

John Lennon

Chris — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:39:00 GMT

John Lennon penned or helped pen some of the most influential music in modern history. 28 years ago, he was killed, but his music lives on. Boing Boing has a post today about John and Yoko, and the video that accompanies it is pretty powerful -- almost hard to watch.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/08/john-lennon-passed-a.html

Be thankful for all you have, share with those with less, and pray that we figure out ways to do better for our children and their children.

DaveO the steelheader...

Chris — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Here in the midwest, winter has set in somewhat early this year. After temps in the high 60s (F) in late October / early November, we have had near or below freezing temperatures for the rest of the month. Driving to Grand Rapids this weekend, it was stunning to me that lakes and ponds are frozen over already. The reason I was driving to Grand Rapids was to take Dad fishing, as it is the time of year that we normally spend a lot of time at the lake steelhead fishing. We wento out on Saturday, but found that the piers had enough ice to make walking out too dangerous, at least without cleats. So on the way home, we ran to Gander Mountain and picked up some cleats with serrated metal teeth that I have used in the past. Sunday we made another run out. The wind was from the south/southwest, so the south pier was a mess, with waves splashing up and ice all over the place, particularly where you would need to stand to set the rods and to fight or land a fish.

One of our fishing friends called while we were on our way and steered us to the north pier. On the north pier, we had slushy ice on the top part, but on the lower level, where you need to have a safe footing, it was dry or the ice was melted sufficiently to maneuver. I had brought a bucket full of sand to spread just in case, but it wasn't even needed. With the cleats on our boots, we were able to walk out safely with no incident. We found a spot right near where we would usually fish and set up.

DaveO rested in a chair while I got lines in the water, and then we waited. That's the thing with steelheading from the pier -- you can't really control your own destiny beyond getting out there, keeping the lines untangled and having good bait. If the fish aren't swimming in the shallows, you won't catch anything. Unfortunately that was the case Sunday. However, Dad was pretty happy to have gotten out, and at least we were able to wet some lines. Unfortunately, the fishing season has mostly passed, especially with the weather changing so quickly.

I need to start getting picked up at the airport by a driver...

Chris — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:57:00 GMT

so I can be welcomed home like this:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/17/improve-everywhere-w.html

I am sure those people we're freaked out, but if you're going to randomly prank strangers, this is a pretty cool way to do it...

The 1970's -- a decade of style and quality swedish dance music...

Chris — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:55:00 GMT

http://pics.yemii.com/swedish-dance-bands.html

Enjoy...

you can tell what my impression of the economy is...

Chris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:59:00 GMT

The Market Recap on my yahoo page said "stocks continue their choppy trade" and my brain automatically mapped that to "stocks continue their crappy trade." I thought it was odd that an official news outlet used the word crappy in an article, until I realized that wasn't what it said...

Spartans making a difference...

Chris — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Things like this make me proud to be a Spartan:

http://www.shinskyorphanage.com/

Check it out. Good stuff from an MSU grad -- using his life and skills to make the world a better place to be...

The Joys of Home Ownership

Chris — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:59:00 GMT

By the time Hurricane Ike got to Southeast Michigan, it was merely a bunch of rain. We got a few inches over a couple of days -- nothing too outrageous. With the rain came just enough wind to split the remaining parts of the Bradford Pear next to the house and have most of the tree lean on the house and the electrical service. Unfortunately, this means another claim on my insurance... Boo hoo.

It's feeling rather autumn around here.

Chris — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:30:00 GMT

Suddenly I want to be out fishing (oh, wait, I feel that way all the time).

The last few days the highs have been in the low-mid 70s and the nighttime lows are closer to 50. It feels like autumn is swooping in. Tonight it is chilly (~60 right now) windy, and rainy. It literally feels like a few of the Halloweens I remember as a kid...

Joshua is back in school, football is starting, the trees are already beginning to change. Bummer, I am not quite ready for it yet. I am not a huge fan of overly hot summertime, but I am clinging to it, right now...

I harvested all of the hops off my one still vigorous plant, and am going to see if Brad at Original Gravity can figure out some way to work them into a small batch. He seemed to be willing to entertain the idea, but we'll see if I have enough that are of good enough quality to make it worth it. If you live in the SE Michigan area and haven't been yet, you should try to check it out. They now have a big-screen TV and open at 11:30 AM for college football on Saturdays, and they tap a new small-batch specialty beer every Tuesday at 6 PM.

Shooting sports at the Olympics

Chris — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:06:00 GMT

50 M Smallbore rifle. I just watched the replay and the American, Emmons looked like he had it wrapped up. I won't say I am a marksman, but controlling your breathing and holding your mark *should* be the same across all 10 shots. Emmons completely lost it on the last shot and blew a 3.6 point lead scoring a shot off the target. That guy must be kicking himself. He had the gold locked with a 7.0 shot, but scored 4.4 and watched the field post scores int the 8-10.5 range and walk past him. After the scores he posted on the first 9 shots this is essentially the same thing as not even shooting the last shot. Poor guy. I guess it is no different than buck fever, but this is a trained marksman. Bummer...

The Olympics are so fun...

Chris — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:45:00 GMT

If you haven't seen it yet (I'm not sure how you could avoid it) go over to nbcolympics.com right now and watch the world-record shattering 4x100 free relay effort from yesterday/last night. 5 teams in the event eclipsed the previous world record and the US and French teams both surpassed it by more than 3.9 seconds (with the USA ever so narrowly winning by 8 hundredths of a second). The finish was so close, with the USA coming from behind, that it made for very fun watching for the American audience. Watching it live as it happened, I was thinking, there's no way. When Cullen got out-sprinted that first 50 of the third leg, I thought the difference was insurmountable. Jason Lezak's final split (46.06!!!!) was simply outrageous and one of the most memorable Olympic moments I can remember. Congratulations to the whole team on a fantastic race and a gold-medal win!

Garden Visitor

Chris — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:42:00 GMT

This past weekend while I was grilling burgers, I noticed something in the side-yard flower gardens. Upon closer inspection, it was a very large butterfly. I grabbed the camera and got Jodi to bring the kids out to see it. We didn't mess with it, just tried to get some photos and enjoy its presence.

Upon doing a little research after the fact, I believe this is known as the 'Giant Swallowtail' (papilio cresphontes). I found some other similar matches, but they didn't appear to be normally in my area, and this one is the best match and is known to be local, so I am guessing it is right. Unfortunately, the butterfly never stopped flitting about long enough for me to get a really good wing picture, but I got enough different angles to identify most of the wing bars and colorations. It really was a beautiful little creature... The first two photos show the top/back of the wings and the last three highlight the underside. It is pretty amazing how different the two sides appear...

Two more funny commercials

Chris — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:09:00 GMT

These are old, but great:

"buzz buzz buzz Hello, Mosquito!"

"aaaaaah! the Atmosphere!!! aaaaaagh!!"

I loved these when they were new, and they still crack me up for some reason...

Another video...

Chris — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Since I posted the Matt Harding stuff, I figured I should throw this out there, too. If you're not a Discovery Channel nut like me, you probably haven't seen this commercial. I've decided I think it is a pretty great concept. There are a couple versions, but this is the one they're playing most of the time lately. I think the other spot is a 30-second one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ

The World is Just Awesome.

Where the #@&% is Matt?

Chris — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:44:00 GMT

Somehow, I haven't come across this before, but now I am a believer. Just watch the video then come back here and tell me what you thought.

http://wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml?fbid=YDmiG

I am torn between laugher and crying. It is pretty incredible to see all those places and all those people doing a dorky dance for no reason other than to make that video, yet at the same time (sorry if this is overstating things) it transcends country, economy, and culture -- it is one of the most unifying images I can remember seeing. This silly dance and this dude who found a way to capture it in all of those places shows us just how small our planet is and how everyone on it actually can get along (and do entertainingly silly dances for a camera).

Maybe I've had too much coffee, but for some crazy reason it really struck a chord with me...

EDIT: As if I needed more reason to get all sappy about this and think it is brilliant (from the comments to the BoingBoing post where I first saw this):

#38 posted by bec , July 1, 2008 1:25 PM
The lyrics of the song are based on part of the Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. The poems won the Nobel prize for literature in 1923. Here is the poem used in the song:
"The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment."

Blue Laws

Chris — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:26:00 GMT

It is crazy some of the laws this country has on the books. I was talking with the father of a friend last night, and he was decrying the ridiculous brewpub laws in Alabama. I went and searched, and it is just crazy. This law was passed in 1992.

The Brewpub Act re-legalized brewpubs after Prohibition, but it contains several seemingly arbitrary stipulations. The law prohibits a brewery from serving its beer on premises and bottling it for sale elsewhere (either is allowed, but not both). The brewpub must contain a restaurant that seats at least 80. The most onerous portions of the law stipulate that a brewpub must be located in a historic building—not just any historic building, but one located in a county that was home to a brewpub prior to Prohibition. In Alabama, that means certain historic buildings in five counties are the only prospective brewpub sites. Although the Brewpub Act technically legalized the establishment of brewpubs, it created so many obstacles for prospective brewpub operators that it effectively discouraged the growth of what has become a thriving industry in many other states.

Craziness. Here's the full text I yanked that from. I am glad Michigan is at least somewhat reasonable in this area...

It's like Christmas in July

Chris — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:53:00 GMT

http://www.civilizationrevolution.com/

Oh yeah. A console version of the best game ever... I may have to wait until there are used copies around, but this looks pretty awesome...

drumStrong

Chris — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:20:00 GMT

http://www.drumstrong.org/

One of those randomly cool, great causes. Check it out...

Congrats to the St. Anthony OotM Team!!!

Chris — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:38:00 GMT

Congratulations to my big brother, his friend George, and most importantly their children and their friends, who made up the St. Anthony of Padua School Odyssey of the Mind Tee Structure competition team on their 24th place finish in the World Finals!!!!

http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/competitions/wf_competition_scores.php?sch_event_ID=6000&sch_problem=4&sch_div=1&show_breaks=1

I know Dave and George worked hard to coach this young group of creative individuals, and I know the kids gave their best to compete at the highest level of this competition. Their finish may not make headlines outside of this blog, but they are all champions to me!! As a former Science Olympiad competitor myself, I know how fun and yet challenging these competitions are. I hope that the experience inspires these kids to expand their minds and take on even greater endeavors.

Again, congrats to the whole group -- you have made us all very proud of you!!!

Exciting stuff...

Chris — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:42:00 GMT

Original Gravity Brewing Company is coming to Milan!

This is very cool. The guy opening the place is a former Mechanical Engineer who found Home Brewing so addictive that he decided to open up a microbrewery right in town. I will certainly do what I can to support his business venture -- I sure hope it does well...

UPDATE: Original Gravity opened in June, and is now serving sandwiches. Lunch hours start this week (week of July 7th) and they're open every day except Sunday. Stop in -- the food and beer are quite good!

How I spend my free time...

Chris — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:27:00 GMT

Mostly, I play with and hang out with my kids, but when they're in bed, I either sit outside and relax and read books (currently reading Cyptonomicon by Neal Stephenson) or I watch DVR'd TV shows, or I play with my Above and Beyond award from work -- my XBox 360. Normally, the Xbox kind of drives Jodi crazy (and makes Joshua into a little frenzied freak), but I was downloading and playing through some demos when we came across something that is incredibly amusing, relatively kid-safe, and fun as heck to play: Lego Star Wars.

After playing all the way through the demo, I broke down and bought it. I've played throught abut a half-dozen chapters and am finding the puzzles engaging, if a little simple (but I get stuck occasionally), but the animation and the creativity is stunning. I have to say, other than the Tiger Woods golf, this is my favorite game on this machine (and now I've played a few good ones, too: Orange Box, BioShock, Gears of War).

I'll report back after I've gotten further (assuming it holds my interest for a while), but for now, rainy evenings aren't so boring...

Sound of crickets chirping...

Chris — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:20:00 GMT

Yes, it has been a bit quiet around chrisoverbeek.com. I just renewed the domain for a couple of years, though, so for the time being, we're going to be around.

Things have been pretty busy for me and the family. I have been putting in a few extry hours at the office working on our next big release and trying to get our current releases wrapped up and out. Things at work are very busy but the things that are going on are interesting and challenging, so it is a good kind of busy.

At home, we've spent some time getting the yard all cleaned up (leaves and whatnot) so the spring growth can finally pop out and look all pretty. My insane trimming job on the Forsythias last spring paid some pretty cool dividends in that they were just bursting with bright yellow flowers. Now I have to figure out how to do it again! The Lilacs are just starting to bloom -- right on time (it seems like they usually bloom the first week of May here), and the 50ish-year-old lilac in the front was another of my trimming projects last year. I have a lot more old-growth to try to cut out of that bush, but it also seems to be regrowing very well, and is filling in a lot. The crocuses, daffodils, and buttercups are spent already. The hyacinths are mid-bloom, as are the tulips. The hostas, columbine, bleeding hearts, lilies of the valley, myrtle, ferms and peonies are all growing like crazy and getting ready for blooming, and the lillies, day lillies and chrysanthemums are shooting up, but they'll not bloom for at least 4 weeks, yet. On the vine front, the hops in the front of the house are again going crazy, and I have had to cut back the runners and rhizomes so they don't take over. 3 of our 5 clematis vines are still going strong and one of them is already budding, so we will have flowers in late May form that plant. It is hard to predict what will happen with the other two, but we've usually had at least some sparse blossoming each year, so I am holing out hope.

On other fronts, I have been learning to edit the video Jodi shot with the camera, and make a DVD from it. We certainly have to work on our camera-work -- the shaking and moving around is rather disconcerting at times. Oh well. So far, I *really* like the camera and the video we get from it is pretty incredible.