Friday was my 31st birthday and I am recovering from a long weekend of celebration. My friends at work took me out to lunch at my favorite barbecue restaurant Friday afternoon. That evening I had a quiet evening at home with Betsy and Rian. We ordered pizza and opened some gifts. Saturday was the “official” [...]

I used to be a habitual stat watcher, but over the last couple years I haven’t kept a close eye on where my traffic as closely. As a result it was a bit of a surprise to learn which of my posts get the most hits from search engines. Using Google’s Webmaster Tools, I was [...]

I spent last night trying to figure out how my websites got hacked. Luckily no permanent damage was done, but it did take some time to figure out what was going on. I wanted to post my experience in case someone else comes across this same problem. Here is what happened… By pure coincidence I [...]

James Mercer, The Shins For my money, there isn’t a better sound in the world than James Mercer and The Shins. Their music resonates with me unlike any other band and I am always on the lookout for bands that make music that will become a part of me the way The Shins have. Have [...]

Jose Capablanca, Chess Champion Cuba wasn’t always the place we imagine today. It may surprise you to learn that in the early 1900′s Havana was known as the “Paris of the Caribbean.” It was in 1910 in Havana that the world was introduced to one of greatest chess players who ever lived. His name was [...]

Velveeta Cheese Product My wife gave me a short list of groceries to pick up on my way home from work last week. One of the items that proved to be elusive was the Velveeta cheese. As I searched up and down the aisles at Safeway I started thinking about the implications involved with where [...]

Up until that moment creating art was easy. Before this, all that was needed was patience and practice. You find something beautiful and draw it. Let your eyes absorb the beauty and then channel that vision onto paper. I was a junior in high school when my art teacher rocked my world. The assignment was [...]