Tim is SPIDERMAN

Well I bet you're not dumb enough to climb the inside wall of your office warehouse... ...better guess again!

Tim is SUPERMAN

Would you flip at work? YOU BETCHA!

Caribbean Back-flippin

Would you flip in the Caribbean? OHYEAH!

Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

I don't usually care about the superbowl, but this commercial is HILARIOUS! Guess I did miss something afterall...

Brother gets Teched-Out

I was quite happy to finally be able to provide a nice gift for my brother John: we secured an old Dell Dimension 3000 PC from my work, and an LCD monitor for $40 total (a steal!)... and then I installed Windows7 courtesy of my friends at BoomTownROI. After that it was just a matter of loading the necessary freeware - but now, for the first time ever - my brother John has his own computer.

Yay!

Hot Dang - D&D on Surface!

Amazing idea!:

D&D on the Microsoft Surface from CrunchGear on Vimeo.

One WICKED date - our first of 2010!

Our first date of 2010 was an EXCELLENT treat thanks to Uncle Garrett Savage - who generously gave us two tickets to see WICKED at the Orpheum Theatre. Grandma+Grandpa Littleton watched the babies, and we hurried out to a dinner at the local taqueria, then to see the show.



Everyone performed fabulously, and the story really creates some great background on all of the Original OZ characters. Definitely something we'd recommend to anybody remotely interested...

THANKS AGAIN GARRETT & LITTLETONS! This 1st date wouldn't have been possible without you!

HomeGain Holidays

I guess this counts as my season's greetings to ... the world (?)

Home Tour

How to Buy an REO... sad, funny, true.

First Time Home Buyer!

Today our offer was accepted for a home in Pittsburg!
Check it out:


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New Life = Family Squared!

On Thursday the 15th of May, it was very hot. We had warm winds blowing and an odd overcast humidity that made being outside uncomfortable.

Jessica had gone that day to a Biblestudy with Maritza and Tammy – and I had gone in to work… and we were both wired with excitement because we knew that at 4 pm we were going to have the doctor’s appointment that would reveal whether or not we would be having twins.

We went in to see Dr. Telles, and we had our ultrasound – and we got to see that we have TWO embryos and TWO beating hearts – we’re going to have twins! At a little over 6 weeks of gestation, the babies are only the size of small blueberries… and their little hearts beat like Christmas lights or twinkling stars!

We had been praying for God’s will to be done, not to let us get into something that we cannot bear, and to just take care of us. Since the in vitro fertilization process, we’ve been very tight on money. As a result, I have been anxious about how we can get ahead on our debt and thinking that I need to find another job.

But God is Sovereign and His plan for our lives is much better than anything we could plan for ourselves!

After finding out that we’ll be having twins, we stopped by our apartment manager’s office on our way home. I walked in and said “Tracy, look, we’re having twins! Got any 3 bedroom apartments available?!” not really expecting anything to come up. (There hadn’t been any vacancies for months).

Tracy responded “Actually, yes – I just got notice of one becoming available yesterday!”

“No kidding?!” I said, “well now that we’re pregnant we can apply right?”

Tracy said “yes – as long as your income fits.”

Here’s how great God is: my income is currently at the topmost bracket of what is allowable for application for the 3 bedroom apartments. If I had gotten my way and gotten a job because of my untrusting anxiety – we wouldn’t have been able to apply for the new place… and get this: the rent for the 3bdrm is $1003! That’s almost $60 less per month than what we’re currently paying for our 2bdrm.

If God had given me my unfaithful way, we would be stuck in our 2 bdrm paying MORE money for rent… but now we’ll have more space at a lower cost for a couple of years, until we’re ready to get a house!

This has (once again) increased my faith and trust in God’s direction and care for our lives. His timing is perfect because only he can see everything from beginning to end. I believe that God will bless me with a job that will provide for my family (of 4!) at exactly the right time – and that He will sustain us until then.

Psalm 107:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?

Book Description
I think constricting anus 100 times and denting navel 100 times in succession everyday is effective to good-bye depression and take back youth. You can do so at a boring meeting or in a subway. I have known 70-year-old man who has practiced it for 20 years. As a result, he has good complexion and has grown 20 years younger. His eyes sparkle. He is full of vigor, happiness and joy. He has neither complained nor born a grudge under any circumstance. Furthermore, he can make love three times in succession without drawing out.

In addition, he also can have burned a strong beautiful fire within his abdomen. It can burn out the dirty stickiness of his body, release his immaterial fiber or third attention which has been confined to his stickiness. Then, he can shoot out his immaterial fiber or third attention to an object, concentrate on it and attain happy lucky feeling through the success of concentration.

If you don't know concentration which gives you peculiar pleasure, your life looks like a hell.

This is quite possibly one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
Visit Amazon.com and read the reader-reviews.

I kid you not, I was in tears laughing for a near-solid hour!

I first found reference to it in a book I just finished reading to my wife called "I'm with Stupid"

Crose's in Texas

~Hey Ya'll~

We had a safe flight, and have been getting along great. Vacationing is good for the spirit! We're pickin up tha lingo real quick. Jess and I are having a blast here in Texas. Wanna hear something to eat your hearts out? You can buy 70+acres of land for $200k. You can't even get a 2bdrm condo in our area for that much! Geez. Today was our first full day in Texas. We're staying in my Aunt's house in Schertz, a town just outside of San Antonio. Here's some pics from our time so far! We miss you all!

*Special thanks to Mandy for shuttling us to Oakland airport! We appreciated that SO much!

Aunt Maria (whose house we're staying at) and Uncle KC from San Jose. And of course, my lovely wife!
Tim & Jess at the River-Walk. Where's Waldo?
Tim caught a green anole! It was eating flies on a garbage can... it changes colors from green to brown!
Tim tests his newly acquired motorcycle skills on a dirt-bike.

Home on the range... (don't worry, it's just a BB-gun)
:-)

Exemplified

"Carpe Diem" (as most commonly learned from The Dead Poets Society) is Latin for "Seize the Day"... and I am proud to claim it as a motto of mine since before it was made popular by the movie...

Anyways, I enjoy finding songs and such that reflect that sentiment. Here is my first tribute to CARPE DIEM: the song "Unwritten" by Natasha Beddingfield (repeat lyrics removed). If you like the lyrics, I also recommend her music video.

I am unwritten,
can't read my mind,
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning,
the pen's in my hand,
ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh, oh I break tradition,
sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes,
but I can't live that way...

I love Anime

Ok, I'm not a complete fanatic, but I must admit that the story lines are much more involved and exciting than anything in the US. It's like watching an ongoing movie, but with cartoon protagonists instead of regular people (which by the way are very limited in what they can pull off!).
The following are some that I've really liked. I hope somebody out there will try to find them and watch them too!

Sidenote: don't bother watching dubbed anime. Only the captioned ones are usually any good.

Naruto - Ever feel like you've got an "inner demon" that you struggle with? Naruto does. Ninja's in action... pretty cool.

Scryed - Think "X-Men" from Japan. People are given special powers by some event that will probably destroy everyone...

Witch Hunter Robin - Feels like "X-Files" meets "CSI", only cooler because the protagonist is a chick who can light stuff on fire just by looking at it.

Vampire Hunter D - Ever wish you were a vampire with a talking hand? Excellently dark with superb animation. Two full length movies... Rent them at Blockbuster today! (the first is not as good as the second, but establishes the characters well)

Hellsing - Dracula's son spends his time killing zombies and wannabe vampires? Cool! Big guns and lots of demonic attitude. Hilarious.

Trigun - WildWest with really good gunslingers.

Full Metal Alchemist - don't play with chemicals. don't play with Ouji boards. don't play with Alchemy either because it can tear your arm off, send you into another dimension, and turn your friend into a robot.

Cowboy Bebop - Intergalactic bounty hunters with gambling addictions, a super-smart Welsh Corgi, and too much time on their hands. Think Han Solo + Brisco County Junior x Cool² = Cowboy Bebop.

A Wise Man Once Said...

"A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool." ~Proverbs 17:10 "The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice."~Proverbs 12:15

It is funny to me how some people make a habit of learning things the hard way. It is actually rather sad to observe, because no matter how much caring people around X person try to warn, persuade, even force that person into making good choices... well, they proceed to do things the way that seems "right" to them. To everyone else this looks like pure lunacy.
Imagine you have a friend who is bored. We'll even call this friend "Tim" so that no one will accuse me of insinuations. Tim is bored and suggests that you guys try to break through a brick wall with your heads. This sounds pretty entertaining, but you don't feel like a headache at the moment, and so you politely decline. You even mention to Tim that banging one's head on walls is not all that fun anyways, and it kinda hurts even. You should know, you hit your head on a wall once on accident, and it was quite painful... imagine doing it intentionally! Ouch!

Well Tim, doesn't believe you and decides that he's going to do it anyways. He does. Unfortunately for Tim, the wall he chose was not brick, but pure Adamantium (the metal Wolverine's claws are made from), and it's a lot more dense. Tim suffers a severe concussion that causes a hemorrhage in his occipital lobe, leaving him blind. And on top of that, the owner of the wall saw the attack Tim made on his property and is suing Tim for "damages rendered."

Some people learn from the mistakes of others, and some people have to learn by making the mistakes themselves. We all cross the line at times... but which side are you walking lately?

Feeling Stubborn lately? Seeking any advice, or do you feel confident you know everything you need to at the moment? Think about it...

*The picture was "borrowed" from www.Despair.com and I highly recommend you visit it for more awesome Demotivators.

The State of the Union

My sentiments about the state of the union align fairly well with those voiced by Michael Franti, Incubus, and even Eminem... Check out these song lyrics...

Bomb the world (Armageddon version) Michael Franti

I don’t understand the whole reason why
you tellin’ us all that we need to unify
rally round the flag
and beat the drums of war
sing the same old songs
ya know we heard ‘em all before
you tellin’ me it’s unpatriotic
but I call it what I see it
when I see it’s idiotic
the tears of one mother
are the same as any other
drop food on the kids
while you’re murderin’ their fathers
but don’t bother to show it on CNN
brothers and sisters don’t believe them
it’s not a war against evil
it’s really just revenge
engaged on the poorest by the same rich men
fight terrorists wherever they be found
but why you not bombing Tim Mcveigh’s hometown
you can say what you want propaganda television
but all bombing is terrorism

(chorus)

we can chase down all our enemies
we can bring them to their knees
we can bomb the world to pieces
but we can’t bomb it into peace
whoa we may even find the solution
to hunger and disease
we can bomb the world to pieces
but we can’t bomb it into peace

911
fire in the skies
many people died
and no one even really knows why
they tellin’ lies of division and fear
we yelled and cried
no one listened for years
but like, “who put us here?”
and who’s responsible?
Well, there’s no debatin’
cause if they ask me I say
it’s big corporations
world trade organization
tri-lateral action
international sanctions, Satan
seems like it’ll be an endless price tag
of wars tremendous
and most disturbingly
the death toll is so horrendous
so I send this to those
who say they defend us
send us into harm’s way
we should all make a remembrance that
this is bigger than terrorism
blood is blood is blood and um
love is true vision
who will listen?

How many songs it takes for you to see
you can bomb the world to pieces
you can’t bomb it into peace

*If you are interested in hearing other songs along this same theme, search for "Megalomaniac" by Incubus, or "Mosh" by Eminem.

**I'm sure others of you out there have other great recommendations and I most definitely welcome them... and if your opinion is of a contrary position... well I welcome that too! PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! Even better, OWN your comment and tell us who you are.

Friends at Arms

When I was 18 years old, I was contacted by recruiters from the Army, Navy, and Air Force. I could not get into any branches of the military because they couldn’t guarantee that I’d receive my medications… Funny how they only want to send healthy people to foreign countries to die... "We don't want to send any sick people to die for their country..." like I'd be a bad representation, a poor ambassador! What an insult. I'm no less brave or whatever...I'd like to think that I am a reasonably good strategist and leader... But nevermind. I am grateful that I will never have to face the horrors of war. I will likely never be put in a situation where I need to take another man's life.... the glory that the Armed-Forces markets on TV and Internet ads is mitigated by the reality of what it truly means to be at war...

I am consequently I am forced to live out my war-hero fantasies vicariously through my friends: Mike Gross, Ralph Seuss, Joseph Lewis (not pictured), and Patrick McQuaid (also not pictured).



Ralph is in the Army, Mike Gross is a Ranger, while Joe Lewis and Patrick McQuaid are both in the Navy. These men are all individually outstanding, and I love them as my brothers. I admire their talents and characters, and hope always for their safety and success. While I agree with neither the war nor the President, I absolutely believe that we all should support our Troops. Good Luck and God Bless!

Words ARE Power

Words are power.
Since words are used to communicate ideas, it would make sense to say that the more words one knows and understands, the more ideas one would be able to convey. With increasing complexity, one can refer to an increasingly complex and expansive range of concepts.

If you had a thought, but no way to express it... it would fade away. The more intricate the thought, the more difficult it would be to retain. Thus I conclude: the larger one's vocabulary, the more powerful one's thoughts... potentially. I still enjoy deviling in silliness and juvenile jokes (it's manchild in me, I guess).

As a child, my parents often encouraged me to play Boggle, Scrabble, and to read. I did. Now, I'm no better than anyone else, but I did have one other experience that helped me significantly: In preparation for the GRE's I studied the 1000 Most Important Words book, and the entire Princeton Review's Word Smart I, II, and Genius series, vocabulary building CD's. I was exposed to these resources through the McNair Scholars Program. Special thanks to Ray Shiraishi.

Althought I frequently reference Dictionary.com I'd like to make a statement of defense: Regarding the "Mental Heuristics" rap I wrote: all those words came straight from my working vocabulary; I consulted no thesaurus, dictionary, or other source. Sometimes I get into a riff where I think in rhymes. This time, I decided to write it down and organize it.

It was inspired by lyrical & creative geniuses like Matisyahu, Jason Mraz, Jeru The Damaja, and of course, Eminem. Ellen Robert ( Director of the McNair Scholars Program at Davis) would be ashamed of me...

Every human being learns a language (under normal circumstances), and that first language becomes their primary tool for communications both internal and external. We think and speak in words. They are symbolic utterances to which we designate an agreed upon meaning. Meanings must be shared in order for society to function.

Words are not the things they represent, but many people respond to them like they are. This concept means that saying the word "fart" is not the same as a fart actually occuring. Still many people make a fundamental judgment error by responding to the word as if it were the thing. This error can be observed by conducting this simple experiment:
1. Sit down at a table during a meal with women present. (The more uppity, old, or refined the better)
2. After everyone has started to eat, politely begin a conversation about flatulence, reguritation, dismemberment, or infanticide. My Uncle KC is a pro at this. His favorite opener is "The other day while I was taking a crap..." then he just lets it hang in the air for a while, and enjoys the ensuing response!

And finally we must all remember that just because you don't know a word, doesn't mean it that it isn't real. Spelling isn't everything. Focus on understanding the idea represented, and you will grow your lexicon! Heck, make up new words for your own unique ideas, and teach them to others!!!

This post was meant as a joking/loving response to some family critics. I love you. You know who you are... :-)