My Wushu Blog

Michele recorded these two playing, and then the aftermath of it all.

mike Family Coal, Zoey

We have been talking about getting a new dog, off and on, for a year or so. There was very little doubt that it would have been anything other than an Australian Shepherd, since I’ve been pretty vocal about that. That, and I try to abduct everyone else aussie. So, now I have my own, and he’s pretty freakin’ awesome.

Let’s talk about names. I’ve had a rough time picking one, nothing has really lived up to how awesome this dog is. Here were some runner-ups:

• Fender
• Fret
• Tex
• Abe
• Mr. Wiggles

So, I chose Coal, like Charcoal. Oddly, I haven’t even used that name, I really needed something to tell the Vet when we took him in Saturday. I pretty much call him things like “Buddy”, “Bear-Bear”, “Bear”, and the most popular nick-name is “NO!”.

The vet, Dr. Malone, gave him a good bill of health and we are happy about that.

mike Family

My parents had my nephews this weekend, so my Step Dad called me around 10 this morning to ask if Caralyne and I wanted to go fishing with him and the boys. Caralyne seemed really excited about the idea of going on a boat and fishing, so we got ready and met them at their house.

We launched out of Big Break, which is familiar territory. My Dad owned a bait shop here, Hook Line & Sinker, and he also lived in the house right behind the shop for a while. My Sister and I spent a lot of time down here at the marina.

It is also the same marina that Big Mike used to drag me out to in the wee hours of a Saturday morning to fish with him in a tournament. He told the kids today that I was once a “Tournament Fisherman”, with some pride. It is safer to say that I was the official catcher for his grand catches, and I was also the one who would eat their share of the food within the first 20 minutes of the tournament

So, just like me, with in 10 minutes of being on the water, all the kids said that they were hungry, bored and thirsty. Mike and I kind of laughed at each other since we seemed to be enjoying the outing, also laughing at the fact that we were the only ones fishing.

After a few hours to re-baiting worms

Un-snagging tangled lines, and explaining to 3 kids why this was fun; Big Mike decided to head in, and stop by Jack in the Box. If we had to live off of the land, we would have either had to eat worms, or starve

Big Mike wasn’t done though, he had another idea which involved on of his ranch hand duties. He has to regularly smooth out the large riding arena, and he does this with a tractor pulling a large wooden fence post. He decided to nail a piece of plywood to that post, and let the kids sit on it while he re-paved the arena:

I’m pretty exhausted now from corralling kids all day, and I inhaled a lot of dusty sand taking pictures on The Implement. More photos are on my main site’s photo gallery.

mike Family

I saw one of my Wushu Buddies picture on facebook (James). The picture is him as an angst filled teenager, with a closely shaved head and a goatee, playing an electric guitar. I sported a similar look, and I play as well, so that prompted me to dig through some old photos. I only have one picture of me during that time (I never owned a camera until 2000):

Then I realized, its not just James and I that look alike, we ALL looked alike. What a bunch of white boys

In that photo box I found a bunch of other pictures I have. I’m not sure why I have a lot of them, they seem like the kind of pictures my Parents should have. Not that I’m going to give them up, I will do one better though and put them online for everyone to enjoy. The originals will be on my main website’s photo gallery.

You know where to find the rest, hope everyone enjoys these!

mike Family

I felt cheated today, I had to rush out of the room at 8am to see the iceberg that we were scheduled to see at 11am. I have had to wake up at 7 or so everyday, and the night before I was adamant (with myself anyway, I didn’t express this to anyone else) that I was going to sleep in, this is after all a vacation. Captain Rick had a different plan, and announced on the PA system at 8 that we were about to depart from the iceberg and head to Victora, BC, after another two days at sea.

The cruise does get a tad repetitive, and I’m pretty much sick of eating. Thats all we can really do while at sea, is eat and exercise. I think the former is overpowering the latter though. I’ve kept up the cardio and weights here, but they serve a lot of food here, and the soft-serve ice cream is a siren calling me (that is the one food item on the ship I LOVE, I would marry it). I’ve decided to stop the three meals a day, but one and a half or so, the food is too rich and most of it isn’t all that good anyway. Yeah, I miss my raw trail mix and pink lady apples.

We had another formal night, and it was also my birthday. I’m not a fan of people (especially in restaurants) singing Happy Birthday, so I tried my best to ask them not to do it. However, I did get a double serving of cheesecake, and it was good. Still, I was displeased with the public spectacle.

mike Family

Both Juneau and Skagway are tourist towns. the main streets are lined with cheap jewelry stores and gift shops hocking Ammolite stones and the Ulu cutting tool. This “knife” must be incredibly cheap to manufacture, or the cruise ship got a great deal on a bulk purchase. The did a demo of using it, and while the chief hypes it up with how easy it is to chop an onion, the way he holds the blade, by one of the sharp tips itself, seems pretty dangerous. The Ulu doesn’t look like it was made to slice at all, but either chop straight down once, or to peel the skin back from a deer. Thats it. So, its interesting to see every shop sell these things. You are all getting one for either birthdays or Christmas, along with a towel (coincidentally branded with Royal Caribbean).

Our camera battery died, so we didn’t get any pictures of Juneau, but I did take a few of Skagway. What I did find in Juneau was a respectable pub, that offered both Chimay and Guinness on tap. I think Michele saw the longing in my eyes for a proper pint, so she encouraged me to stop in there while her and her family go shopping. It was nice, Owen and I hung out off to the side of the bar and had a drink. I had Guinness, and he had milk

I would have like the train ride in Skagway, but Michele and I didn’t plan on doing any excursions this trip, with both kids and all, so we walked around town and found a park. That was pretty nice, though the locals there didn’t seem to like us.

I’m not sure if Alaska has caught on to the whole “Internet” phenomenon, but finding a free wifi access point in these two towns was near impossible. Coffee shops didn’t have wifi, or there was a utility based wifi service that you had to pay for. I didn’t bother paying, which is why these posts are a week old

Speaking of coffee, I’ve had a severe lack of quality coffee on the ship, and during our travels in general. The stock coffee on the ship is very weak, and I’m pretty picky about drinking it. The ship does have a coffee shop that will make lattes and other drinks, but you have to pay for them and they are still pretty weak by my standards. Still, to avoid any headaches and to help up my mood in general, I’ve been getting a small coffee loaded with 3 – 4 espresso shots After that, I’m all for tackling gift shops and walking the kids around.

Now, for pictures:

mike Family

Our ship is named “Rhapsody of the Seas”, and I can’t stop re-wording it as Rapture of the Seas, which would be more appropriate for these two days at sea. Most people we came with got sea sick, Michele got sick from the food. I didn’t get sea sick, that part of swaying back and forth doesn’t bother me, I did jog on a treadmill during some pretty choppy waters and that was interesting I was also listening to a funny podcast, so I was jogging, balancing, and laughing all at once.

There wasn’t much to do, being on a ship for two days only allows for a few activities. So I hung out with Owen:

and we watched Rumble in the Bronx:

And then Caralyne and I went to the first Formal dining night, Michele stayed at the room since she was feeling ill from the food

All photos can be found here: http://www.m87-blackhole.org/photos/2009-05-alaskan-cruise/

mike Family

The previous night I was lucky enough to get out for a jog and Portland is pretty nice, that is until I hit a truck stop type of road (which is odd, I guess I just naturally find myself in this places). I made a full circle back to the hotel at that point anyway, so the jog was shorter than I had wanted (and I ended up adding 30 minutes to the total on a treadmill that night), but it was nice to get out and see some of Portland and not get completely lost.

the next morning was our early drive to Seattle. This part was pretty quick. We had to drive about 170 miles from Portland to Seattle, and it only took 3 or so hours ( add one for a Wal Mart stop plus a coffee break).

Seattle is a very nice looking city, just like Portland and I wish we could have hung out for a little bit. However, our timing was perfect, and we were able to hop right on the ship without any delays. Checking in took a while, and by the time we got through (about an hour or so), they told everyone entering the ship to head to deck 9, to eat at the buffet.

This is where things got way to chaotic. It was about 4:30, and it was time for Owen’s afternoon nap, so Caralyne and I headed to the buffet while Michele stayed with Owen. While Caralyne and I were just about to eat, the Captain said at 5pm (in 15 minutes) they would have the emergency drill, and everyone was required to attend. So I rushed back to the room, grabbing some bread rolls for Michele, to try and grab her, and two children sized life jackets. When I got to the room, the alarms were already going off, waking up Owen. If you’ve ever woken a sleeping baby when they were not ready, you know how bad it can be. So now imagine hauling a crying 1 year old, who can easily rival the ships alarm system, so you can hang out with everyone on the 5th deck, packed together like sardines. After 10 or so minutes of roll taking, they went over the life jackets, and then let us go. fBy this time, the buffett was closed, and we had to wait another hour before we could actually eat. I told Michele that she and Caralyne could go eat, while I stayed with Owen until he fell asleep. That took a while, when he gets upset like that its very hard to calm him down, so we sat in a pitch black room crying together

After that, I ate, then pretty much hit the hay. It was a long day and I was too tired to do anything else. that always frustrates me.

mike Family Seattle

The drive to Portland was really nice. The best part about drive NORTH on I5 from California, is that it gets prettier the farther you go. Oregon is a beautiful state, I’m really going to dislike the drive back home (view wise that is, otherwise, I’ll be ready ).

We had timed it really well, we left right before Owen was ready for a nap. He slept most of the way, and then we kept him busy with a bottle and toys. When we arrived out today’s destination, Portland Children’s Museum, he was ready to get out of the car.

Michele’s brother, Charles, and his family also came along

This place was really cool, for both kids and Michele and I. This is sums up nicely why I liked the place so much:

There were a lot of cool things for all of us to play with, like ambulances

doctors offices (I felt right at home)

a fishtank Owen really liked

a water-table that I liked a lot

And best of all, I got my first Bear picture (not polar though)

All the photos for the day can be found here:
http://www.m87-blackhole.org/photos/2009-05-portland/

mike Family Childrens Museum, Oregon, Portland

We are driving up to Seattle to catch our cruise ship. Our “Vay-Kay”, as my sister Jessica was trying to get Caralyne to say. We’ll be on a 7 day cruise up the coast of Alaska, and the first part of that is driving from Antioch to Seattle. It should be really nice. I’m also going with 12 or so of my In Laws.

This, like any good HP Lovecraft journal, will document my path to insanity. The may end in me hallucinating about the Deep Ones, the city of R’lyeh.

Today we left Antioch around 7:30am, drove 533 miles to Eugene Oregon. It took about 10 hours. The biggest problem with driving that far with two kids is… driving that far with two kids. We are also caravan-ing with my mother and father in law, which has its pluses and minuses. The minuses are things like rest stops. They are drawn to them like moths to a a light. Michele and I actually have so far refused to stop at a few of them, I mean really, we don’t need to stop every 50 miles to pee.

We stopped to eat a few times though, and eventually found ourselves in Eugene Oregon and a very nice Holiday Inn. The rooms were killer, the place was brand new, and it only cost about 100 a night. We ended up letting Michele’s niece stay in our room, and that was kind of a bummer. Its harder to tip-toe around someone else when you have things to do in the early morning or give a baby a shot in the middle of the night.

We got this delicious Hawaiian pizza for Mezza Luna Pizzeria, man it was good (I ate about half of it). I completely forgot that Eugene is home to the University of Oregon, and more importantly, UO’s Wushu Club. If I was super motivated, I would have asked Mark if he knew anyone here and find out when they train Oh well, I was beat and we only stayed one night.

The next morning we left for Portland, which is only 120 miles away. That should be a much easier trip.

mike Family