Merry Christmas

A twing of geeky sadness washes over me as I disconnect the VHS player to add the XBox to the home entertainment system. 

'Twas a lovely Christmas regardless. 

Love to you all, 

Ken

The Tree Is Up

I spotted these three shady characters lurking about in the tree. Homeland Security has been notified. All is well. Silent Night. 

Attention Boy Bands!

Looking for the dreamy blonde?

Straight out of the oven shot.

One Year Ago Today

There are happy anniversaries for things such as weddings and birthdays, and there are sad anniversaries such as the passing of a loved one or a large, national tragedy.  Then there are those anniversaries that land somewhere the wide spectrum in the middle. I'm having one of those anniversaries today.

One year ago today I died and was resuscitated from a cardiac arrest. Since then I've had a defibrillator/pace maker installed, have learned the ritual of procuring and taking medications that I'll need for the rest of my life, have been battling depression, and have been forced to confront what my life means to those around me and to myself.

I'm far from resolving most of those issues. One year, the arbitrary amount of time it takes for our habitable, little rock to finish one lap around its star, shares significance with that moment when the digits of your car's odometer hit some memorable number. In other words, very little real significance at all. However, as pattern finding machines, our human brains can't help but attach significance to these kinds of moments. It's a moment to reflect, if nothing else. Not shockingly to those who know me, I dived into the pool of reflection long ago and have been treading water for a while now.

I wish I could share with you a collection profound insights and life lessons learned from my experiences in the aftermath of such a shocking event. I wish I could relay stories of a near death experience where a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Sikh, and an Atheist were all holding hands and singing Kumbaya. Sorry, no such luck. It all just went black. Not only did I not see the legendary tunnel of light, I don't even remember what happened for three days. It's all just a big nothing.

Hmmm... three days. The time is takes for the new moon to reappear after being overtaken by the sun. The number of days various religious have noted as the time a prophet of significance disappeared from the Earth and returned in some form or fashion. For those who are poised to push the "Messiah Complex" button, don't worry. I don't possess even a shred of the certainty necessary to travel down that path. My path is not common, but it's not unique. I didn't see the other side, if there is one. We can argue about the meaning of that experience, but I can only operate off of the what I have (and haven't) seen.

This life, in all likelihood, is it. I can cobble together some notions using Relativity and the nature of human consciousness to hypothesize a universe where we relive our lives from the same starting point over and over again. It gets even more beguiling when I spice that construct with idea of the multiverse and the possibility of living out every single permutation that my life could hold. Trillions of lives where I make this choice or that and experience the cascade effect of those decisions in unique life after unique life. It's a kind of reincarnation without the worry of coming back as a tapeworm because I fell on the red side of the ledger in some supernatural accounting system. Who knows? Nobody does. If somebody claims they do, then they are either deluded or lying to you and more likely themselves. We all embrace the delusions necessary to rationalize our beliefs and actions.

Therefore, I muddle forward. It's the only direction available to me. It's the only direction available to any of us. We exist linearly in time. I've been granted more time by the good fortune of a wife who refused to let me die when my heart lost its rhythm. From that I learned about myself, my body, and those beings in my life. That's all I can hope to continue to do: keep learning. I doubt I'll find all the answers, and I strongly suspect I won't like some of the answers that I do find. Regardless, I still have this life and all that which is in it. By reading this message, you are in it, and for that I am grateful.

With love, be well,
Ken

Latest Myer-Briggs Result: INFP

For the first time, I think a Myers-Briggs test ranged me in. 

Saved from the storm.

Happy Halloween

Crystal as Bill Cipher and Karl as Dipper.

Moi as Grunkle Stan. 

Later we ran into Borg and McEnroe, 

Cheech and Chong,

a couple Oompa Loompas, 

and host of Elvises (Elvi?)

NFL Violence

The old joke goes, "I went to the fights last night, and a hockey game broke out." These days you can swap out hockey for football and you're much closer to the truth. My interest in the NFL has been diminishing as I get older in large part because of the culture described in this recent article in the Sporting News. Violent, loutish, and drunk is not only no way to go through life, it's not anything I want to pay to experience or subject my family to. All sports have their moments of fan violence and stupidity, but in the NFL it's a constant presence. I recall stories from a Detroit Lions season ticket holder describing the ceaseless brawls that broke out in the stands during a Monday Night Football game in the Silver Dome against the Raiders. That was over 20 years ago. This problem is not new. I guess as long as the coffers stay full there will be no motivation to change, but what does that say about the fans who support it?

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2015-09-19/49ers-vikings-fan-fight-nfl-culture-attendance-decline-experience

Far out, man!

Dude ware acquired. 

Fall

Total Solar Eclipse - Aug 21, 2017

The path cuts through Oregon, and I intend to be there.

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2017-august-21

Addendum: You can find a more exacting map at this site.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html

I hope it's not cloudy. I'm heading to central Oregon to use the Cascades as a cloud deflector. Somewhere between Warm Spring and Madras on Highway 26 should do the job. 

Equinox - Fall - Yogi

What's better on the day of equal day and equal night than to dredge up a simply awful monster movie from 1970? It has monsters, imperiled teenagers, and a book of power. Sweet.  

Happy first day of Fall.

Sadly, however, we say goodbye to the immortal Yogi Berra who passed away today after 90 amazing years. I love Yogi's message to President Obama on this famous picture of Jackie Robinson stealing home on Berra in the World Series.

Ahhhh... Friday.

A little beauty.

A Brief History of Everything

Neil deGrasse Tyson needs less than nine minutes to spin science's creation myth. There is awesomeness. 

http://youtu.be/7KYTJ8tBoZ8

Mulitverse

I've long enjoyed playing with the idea of the multiverse. The basic idea is that there exists and infinite number of universes that represent all the various permutation and potential outcome that are possible. You can easily squeeze the notion or reincarnation or some manner of post-death experience into its theoretical constraints. It's a great topic for the end of evening when everyone has had enough to drink. All that being said, this particular aspect of the multiverse theory is particularly beguiling. 

...and it not Batman, who? 

Catching up.

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Here, at least, are a few pictures.

 

We did some hikes at Flaming Geyser State Park, 

Old Sauk Trail, 

and the Boulder River Trail. 

I've hung out with some magnificent scoundrels (Art Block and Ted Rutherford), 

some vicious beasts (Kepler, Tycho, and Xena), 

and other cosmopolitan characters.

I've watched a feral-rescue kitty turn into a rotundo-mundo, 

the grape vines I planted three years ago start to produce, 

and a dragonfly that "looks like a cheetah" according to Karl. 

Of course, I went to the Oregon Country Fair,

immersed myself in the counter-culture (such as it is these days), 

donned my hippie gear, 

enjoyed the silliness 

and the art,

and the random gifts from friends. 

We camped with this crew, 

and I worked with this one. 

The real world let itself be know almost immediately after the Fair ended, but it was only a minor inconvenience. 

Upon returning home I explored the wilds of our basement. Good thing I brought the Minecraft torch.

Karl had his 12th birthday, and his parents are officially starting to embarrass him.

That's it for now. May all your sunsets be beautiful and speckled with dragonflies.

Yahoo! Travel Says Yes to Michigan

As a Michigan ex-pat I've grown accustomed to listening to pretty much everyone rip on my old home state. Most everyone just thinks about the wasteland of Detroit and rust belt stereotypes and moves on to thoughts of more exotic locales like Cleveland, Indianapolis, or Buffalo.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when (for what it's worth) Yahoo! Travel tossed a little love Michigan's way. Say 'yes.'

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/the-definitive-and-final-ranking-of-all-50-states-122796477147.html

Ah, summer.

Ah, summer. I love hot summer days. Seattlites have an odd relationship with this season, but I can pronounce my undying love for it. Especially for days like today: not a cloud in the sky and in the mid 80s. Yeah, THAT'S summer for this guy. 

We had a good one. Karl played two soccer games to start the season for his new Seattle United team. We're kinda excited for this year. They won both games with scores of 5-1 and 1-0. Karl played the first half of each game in goal and was never really tested. The second half of each game the put Karl up front. Crystal snapped these action shots of him on the front line. 

Game 1: Home whites. 

Game 2: Road blues

Now, as evening settles in I recline in my back yard, try to identify the birds, and watch the shadows slowly stretch towards dusk. Ah, summer. 

The Graduate

Karl wrapped up his time in Elementary school yesterday. Here's the "graduate" and his proud parents. Off to middle school next year.