I'm On A Boat

So I haven't had time to write about the Vegas weekend yet, but in the meantime I wanted to share a video clip that I think is hilarious! Saturday Night Live has gotten pretty good at the "digital shorts," mostly thanks to Andy Samberg. Some of these have caught on, on the internet and I've heard that "I'm On A Boat" is the latest one.

Here is the explicit version, here is the tv version. Enjoy!

Cover Art

Here's the cover art for the book I'm reading on the Kindle. Now come on, don't you think this design has kind of a narrow target audience?

New Pictures!

Book Discrimination

Have you ever walked by an entire department in a bookstore that is really not up your alley, like science fiction, or romance, and wondered if there was anything in there that you would probably love, if you just knew what to try?

Turns out, the answer is yes, you’re missing out.

As I’m sure I’ve made clear, I have an Amazon Kindle and use it a couple hours a day. A few weeks ago, I was surfing around on the Kindle bestseller list to see if anything interesting would pop up. I noticed a book called The Assassin’s Apprentice, and I was surprised to see it was FREE, and the reviews were very high. The description sounded interesting, so I downloaded it, and started reading.

Now just to make my point super clear, I had no preconceived notions of this book, other than it had gotten good reviews. Since there was no physical book, there was nothing to bias me – no cover art, no small font, no crusty yellow pages. It looked like every other book to me.

Well lo and behold, I completely loved it, start reading more and more, and I’ve moved on to the second book of the series (Royal Assassin). I can’t wait to take this sucker on vacation.

But here’s the clincher – I was curious about the cover art for this book, looked it up on Amazon, and it’s COMPLETELY GOOFBALL. I mean, if I saw this in a book store I would absolutely walk the other way, I wouldn’t even have read the back. It’s all Lord of the Rings – Magic the Gathering – nerdy adolescent magical art.

It never occurred to me that cover art was so influential! So this experience has really made me admire the Kindle in a new way, I never would have read this otherwise. And so smart of the publisher to give away the first book of a series. I’m impressed all around.

I'll post the cover art for Royal Assassin after you've all digested this, and maybe even gotten your own copy. Incidentally, the first generation Kindles are at a nice discount now on Craigslist and Ebay...

Did You Know?

I'm not often a fan of YouTube, but this video is the most thought provoking thing I've seen in a long time; it really made me contemplate technology and the development of our world in a new way. In a new, scary, exciting way that makes me wonder what life will be like for Ada and Logan. What kind of jobs will they have? How long will they live? Will the world even exist as we know it now?

If you can make 5 minutes for this, watch here.

Save Iva

One of my brother's best friends, a friend for half our lives and one of the groomsmen in his wedding, is trying to raise money for his little sister. His sister has a rare form of cancer and due to socialized medicine in Mesadonia, and the doctors unable to treat it fully, they gave her a check and washed their hands of her. A hospital in Houston has a good chance of saving her, but she has to be somewhat self sustaining to travel before the hospital can attempt to help her. She cannot get insured until the cancer is in remission, which is why Zoki is trying to raise money. We want to do all we can to help him with donations, because time is of the essence.

I'm a hard sell on issues like these because there always seems to be so many causes, and it feels so hard to make an impact. But this is a family we love, and a story that makes me thankful for all that I have. I hope that you are feeling that way too. Please take a look.

Save Iva

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New Photos!

My Accidental Donation

Yesterday I received the strangest email from Crate and Barrel. I must be a REALLY good customer, because they sent me a $25 gift certificate to spend at a website called DonorsChoose.org. This is a website that posts school projects for classrooms all over the country that need some seed money, and people can go on this website, pick a project and "buy" it. What a great idea!! In five minutes, I took my gift certificate, found an equivalent project for art and photography, and funded it. It was a great feeling! This website is so well organized that the donor gets email messages from teacher and students about how the project is going. What a cool way to brighten my day, thanks C&B.

Viva Las Vegas!

My cousin Chris is getting married at the end of the month! It was the perfect excuse to call up mom, bro and sis, and plan a weekend getaway. Chris and his fiancé Rebecca - who ironically live in Denver -- are getting married in Henderson, at the Ritz Carlton hotel. Yum.

Otherwise, we're staying on the strip, in mom's timeshare, with no other plans. Amazingly, this is my brother's first visit to Vegas!

We all want to do Vegas on the cheap, like everyone else we're feeling a little shy with money. I'm thinking Bellagio fountains, some sight seeing, and maybe a decent buffet. Otherwise I'm going to be content to relax, read a book, and spend time with family. So I know all of you have logged some hours in Vegas, what good stuff do you recommend to add to our agenda???

Swingin' In The Park

Leslie took the kiddos out for a swing last Friday! I can't get over how tiny they look in these pictures, they look so cute!

The Greatest Show On Earth

For a long time now, I’ve preferred comedy shows to live music. I’m not sure why, but concerts seem like so much effort and expense to me, and the crowds are annoying! Don’t get me started about the John Mayer show at Red Rocks. But when a comedy show is good, you don’t really notice the crowd, because everyone shuts up and listens. I’m a big believer that there’s something therapeutic about laughter, it just FEELS so good. Spend any time with Dave and me, and you’ll notice that we gravitate toward funny movies, funny television, and funny live shows.

I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of good ones over the years. I’ve seen Chris Rock, Jay Leno, George Carlin, Louie Anderson, Dennis Miller, Josh Blue, Darrell Hammond, David Alan Grier, and Dane Cook, to name a few. (Now that guy puts on a show.)

But my favorite is Jake Johannsen. I’ve been going to his shows since I was in college; the first time I ever saw him was in Des Moines. When I moved to Denver I was delighted to find out that he comes to Comedy Works every few months, and I’ve been able to pull together a new group of friends to go almost every time. So I’m sure I’ve seen him more than 10 times now… he’s just that good.

On Saturday I took a new crew with me, and it was a great show at the new Comedy Works location, only 1 mile from home. My eyes were tearing the entire show, I just loved it.

So here’s his website, keep an eye out for him. If you’re not familiar with any comedians, here are a few additional suggestions for guys that are funny without being too filthy – Gary Gulman, Mike Birbiglia, Brian Regan, Jim Gaffigan, Greg Behrendt, Brian Kiley, and Mitch Hedberg. They are worth keeping an eye out for, and a couple of them have videos on Netflix. Dane Cook is a little dirtier than the others, but he has several videos and they are just crazy good.

On A Serious Note...

Wendy, one of my closest friends, sent me a note that I found really touching. It seems that everyone we know has been going through some challenges, but I wanted to pass this along to you, as a reminder that you're luckier than you think.


...My dad's best friend's brother, whose family I know quite well and who lives in Minneapolis (they used to invite me over for dinner at times when I lived there) just died of cancer yesterday. I've been thinking about it all day today. He was told 2 weeks ago he had cancer and that he had 2 months to live. His two sons, one a junior in HS and one a sophomore in college were on their spring break in CO when the parents found out that the dad was dying. He died 2 weeks later. Another good, good friend of my parents and mine, the mayor of Charles City's wife and whose son I grew up with (Joe) who in fact was also my substitute German teacher in high school and who, for the past 5 years or so has invited me to their home for long talks and dinners when I am in Iowa, also got a life sentence from her doctor a month or so ago. 5 months to live. Same deal, she had no idea she had cancer. She went in to the doctor complaining of back pain, and was told she has cancer and has 5 months to live.

It's really put death on my mind lately. Then I see new moms with new babies, 2 friends of mine here are having babies in 3 months, where life is just beginning. Your babies, great example! And I start to wonder what our purpose is (besides to procreate), maybe there is no other purpose but that, I don't know really. This question has come up in my mind millions of times, but it hits harder when people die that I know that still have a lot of life to live. And I think about how I would deal with death in my own intimate family. I have the understanding that we are here for a very short, and unpredictable amount of time, and I can think that over and over to explain the death sentences of my friends with cancer, but it is so incredibly sad....to think about death of your loved ones and to think of your own death.

MaryAnn Erb's family has a website with chemo updates, her daily schedule and other updates on her health, videos, photos, and a guestbook where you can write messages to her and her family while she is going through chemo. Her family wants her to fight it, while she has come to terms with her life sentence. Anyway, you just can feel the sadness and heaviness of the emotions in the videos. For example, she played some piano pieces...a mini piano recital.... all knowing that it would probably be her last. You hear sniffles and see some tears here and there. What pain....man. Pain for their family. I feel for them.

Life is too short to let those moments with your family pass you by with just work on the mind. This is very difficult to master and I am the first to admit I get stressed out about tiny, small stuff and then have a short fuse....but death, man. Just thinking about it makes you want to grab your loved ones and hold them for a long time and tell them you love them. Everyday.

March Madness

As one of the side effects of my new office, a friend that I’ve hardly seen in the last few years dropped by my desk which is now in his neighborhood, and recruited me for a March Madness office pool. If you’re female, this means a college basketball tournament. I admit it was kind of fun to fill in the brackets, but I didn’t watch any games.

Unfortunately, I started winning! The pool I was in totaled 104 people, including our illustrious CEO. And at my peak, I was # 2 !!! Dave couldn’t believe it, he’s never been that high. So on Saturday night, it occurs to me that an important game was happening that would affect my standing. I change the channel to the first basketball game I’d watched in the tournament. My team was up – but the minute I started watching, they started losing. I could hardly believe the timing. They ended up losing the game, and since that team (Kansas) was my pick to win the tournament, I was out.

So once again I resolve – I am never gambling again!

Fun With Puffs