Holy Chihuly

Date Night at the Dallas Arboretum starts with the debate of how to negotiate rush hour traffic. Of course Jill knows Dallas routes like nobody's business. She is like having turn-by-turn navigation and Siri wrapped into one, but with more colorful language.


We headed to the night time show of the Chihuly glass exhibit, eager to see how the pieces looked in the evening light. The artwork has survived the recent hailstorm, now could it survive the throngs of wannabe photographers roaming the grounds.

The first picture captures likely my favorite of the displays. And as with any of the displays the need to tap into endless patience for the crowd of people and the inevitable lingerers who had an uncanny ability to creep into the picture frame and wait and wait and check their watch … and read their program…, and then call over their husband and show them the program …. and then discuss, and wait … then finally decide this isn’t the piece described in the program, the piece they want to see is somewhere else. After all of that, here is the picture.

Blue Marlins

The second picture defies the fact that approximately 50+ photographers (not kidding about that number) were all competing for the same end of the day shot. The lady next to me sporting the nice tripod and professional grade Nikon summed it up well, “It’s not that hard people, it’s a picture, point the camera and snap the picture!” I liked her immediately.

Here is one of the dozen, ‘just take it pictures’ that I captured.

Carnival Boat and Float Boat

The adventure continued with this same photographer as we moved over to an even more crowded area that had an endless supply visitors who must have been glass coinsures for how long they lingered in full frame of the picture we waited to take.  It’s then I said –“Watch this.  Jill we need someone to run interference and block that path.”  After smartly allowing a couple wheelchair folks through Jill delayed the swell of crowds just long enough for us to have seconds to snap the following picture.  My new photographer friend was dutifully impressed and thankful of Jill’s crowd control abilities. 

Scarlet and Yellow Asymmetrical Towers behind the Neodymium Reeds which frame the Mirrored Hornets.

The following two shots are of the Sun. I love the first picture with the contrasting sky.

The Sun

The second picture is a portion of the same sculpture with the sunset highlighting the pieces from behind. Loved that piece and have absolutely no idea how you would assemble such a sculpture.

The Sun

For the following picture is was my turn to create the log jam of photographers behind me as I played with the shutter speed in order to get the water fall behind the sculpture to look like a curtain. Three or for takes and holy H2O batman, the effect I wanted.

Blue and Pink Marlins

The next shot is of the lily pond sculpture, backlit from the sunset. Again, it’s amazing how often a large guy, unaware of his surroundings can get between the setting sun and the sculpture. Ahhhh, move already.   Did I say that out loud?!

Persian Pond

Hope you have enjoyed these selections from the SD card full adventure that we had last night.

The night ended with two for one chocolate shakes at Sonic. Yep, I’m still the big spender.


All pictures presented as taken (in camera), no photo editing to date.

and Duck Tape For All

This past weekend my oldest and her Destination Imagination team competed. It turned out to be quite a rollercoaster ride.

This adventure started in October when the girls selected the ‘Coming Attractions’ challenge. This challenge had the following rules:

• Create a live performance in the style of a movie trailer
• The movie is to have characters from two cultures
• Create an original soundtrack
• The team gets 1 min to setup
• The performance has to be less than 4 min
• Budget must be under $125
• No chemicals, explosives, dry ice or silly string

And my favorite DI rule, if the rules don’t say you can’t, then you can.

Within DI, all aspects of the work is to be kid driven. From the origins of the idea to the, creation of the script, set, props and costumes the kids have to do it all. The girls had put together a very creative skit and then the day of discovery occurred. Two weeks before the competition the team was working at the house and we decided to reread the challenge rules. As I read the rules, “Must have representatives from two nations (see definition of nation in the margin). Nation: a real nation that you can find on a map, historical or current times.

Then came the silence.

I broke the silence, “Does everyone understand the problem we have?”

“Yes.”

See after the first night of reading the rules, the team had just plowed ahead and their knucklehead team manager hadn’t reviewed the rules again. The problem was that the whole skit was around two made up cultures. Specifically, the cultures of Pens and Pencils and what occurs in a classroom over summer break.

After 5 mins of holy cow.  I mean holy COW!  I told the team that I think they had three choices and the team had to make the decision. 1) They could put on the play as is to have fun but knowing they wouldn’t score well. 2) They could decide there is too much work to do in two weeks and decide to not participate in the competition or 3) They could figure out how to change the play that they have in order to fit within the rules.

Instantly the girls said, “we are doing number 3!” This was the third best moment of the whole DI season.  I couldn't have been more proud of them for that decision.

The girls quickly figured out that the fight between pens and pencils could fit within the story of the American Revolution which they had just finished studying in school. Within 2 hours the girls had scrubbed the script making the Pens the British and the Pencils the American Colonist fighting for independence.  Work in a little midnight ride, give me liberty! and a unique take on Valley Forge and before you can say Concord and Lexington it was a brilliant adaptation packaged up and ready to go.

The girls went on to give a wonderful performance. Then Alex and I went back for the scores. Scores, that were to be returned within an hour, weren’t done and it was now more than two hours. We asked a coordinator for the challenge and were told they were having some trouble with the judging since things can be “so subjective”.  I took that to mean we were just at the top of the rollercoaster hill and there is only one way to go. Sure enough the scores came out 23 minutes later and we had not scored well. The most striking line item was a score of zero for the ‘second nation’ and zero for ‘interaction between nations’. Alex asked about the zeroes trying to understand. It was explained to us that since the 13 Colonies were part of the British Empire that the team really presented one country not two and that is why we had zeroes. After questioning some other aspects of the scores we headed home crest fallen, knowing really bad news that we would then have to share with the rest of the team.

During the trip home came the second best moment. Alex asked, “Dad, when does a nation start? When people sign a piece a paper or when people decide to risk their lives for what they believe is right?” What a fantastic question and statement all in one.

Then came the awards ceremony. The girls attended knowing that the chance of reaching their goal of qualifying for the state wide tournament was out of reach. So we watched team by team get awards then came our grouping. Out of sixteen teams they start with awarding sixth place, not us, fifth place, not us, fourth place, not us – the faces were getting mighty long on the girls. I knew they had pretty much passed up their likely chances of placement. Third place, not us.

Then the announcement – “We have a special award to hand out at this time. Team ‘Steele the Show’ is awarded the Da Vinci award.” The girls were frozen for a moment (the best DI moment) – they turned looking back at me. “Well, go get your medals!’ I yelled back. The team scrambled up to the stage and the medals were placed around their necks.  I don't think they touched the floor all the way back to me. They were beside themselves, especially when they found out the description of award.

Da Vinci Award

This award is offered for exceptional creativity, a unique approach to the problem and /or risk taking.

The solution need not be successful to qualify for this award.

This is Destination ImagiNation's most prestigious award and should not be given lightly.

After all of that – here is their performance. I hope you enjoy it. The girls were a little soft spoken (they need better coaching on projection) so you will likely need to turn up the volume to take it all in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5sF9Cb4SwY&feature=youtu.be

Remember the best DI rule – if the rules don’t say you can’t, then you can.

You Better Watch Out

This is a Christmas mash-up of a Friday’s Note. A little bit of cheer from this year’s sack of toys. Our youngest is in the age sweet spot of believing in seasonal magic. This year’s special edition of magic has come in the form of Scarlet, a 10 inch tall elf-on-the-shelf who has a propensity for watching children during the holiday season.

Sarah was beside herself when Scarlet arrived at our house. Friends or Sarah had been telling her wild stories of how their elf would keep moving around their house and on weekends perform mischievous acts.  Now the magic has come home.


Right off the bat Scarlet showed she was a chip off the old Yule log. Here she is enjoying a warm Christmas cupcake with frosting and sprinkles.

After enjoying the cupcake the next night Scarlet decided to take a ride on the railroad. Here she is riding the train as it passes by the German village. She doesn’t seem to mind that it’s the Santa Fe passenger train going through a European town.

On the weekend she decided to kick it up a notch while blatantly trying to deflect blame to our older daughter. Here she is in the bathroom with the lipstick on the mirror graffiti trick.  We performed  hand writing analysis to clear Alex of wrong doing in this case.

As the days progressed Scarlet was found hanging from Sarah's ceiling fan, planking in the front room, hiding in the Christmas tree, bungie jumping from the mistletoe as well as peeking out of the Christmas stockings that were hung by the chimney with care.

I hope that you are moving and a pace this time of year that enables you to enjoy the magic.

Here are direct holiday links to Friday’s Notes from not so long ago.

Prior Christmas notes:  http://fridaysnote.blogspot.com/2010/12/your-little-friends-are-wrong.html

Darkest Evening of the Year:  http://fridaysnote.blogspot.com/2009/12/darkest-evening-of-year.html

 

Plank Plink Plunk

The following collection is the results of the first ever interactive Friday’s Note experiment. I would like to thank those who helped contribute to this publication. Of course the huge influx of pictures forced the creation of an evaluation committee and multiple rounds of scoring the planking snapshots using a fourteen point scale measuring everything from creativity to composition and continuity. The executive committee then evaluated the scoring and settled on the following select pictures for this Friday’s Note.

The first picture is of my great nephew Tommy. Of course I can’t tell if he is truly planking or if he is tossing a fit in his Buckeye jersey after finding out that Jim Tressel will no longer will be the coach at THE Ohio State University.

The second picture is of my second great nephew. This picture shows there is often a fine line between planking and a CPS driven instance. “Hang in there buddy – mommy is just about done with the picture ---- don’t move."

The next couple of planks are from my friend Shawn in Connecticut who charged his two kids to 'get planking'. The first plank is the traditional back-to-school plank or a commentary on the importance of Social Sstudies.


The second plank offers a whole new view of the drive through line and such a planking can lead to an extended conversation with the school counselor. “Honest, it’s just for fun, it’s called planking.”

The following planking changes scenery.  I think Shawn's son will find that during college he likely will need to change his polarity for this particular planking.  "Hey, did anyone else notice just how much hair is stuck in the drain?

The final planking example combines planking with advanced Magic. Here are the Steele girls ‘sawed in half’ planking. Freaky, isn’t it. My mother was going to have a planking picture taken, but thought at 82 taking a picture laying face down would likely cause multiple people to call 911 as a kneejerk reaction to such a scene.

Thank you to all who contributed to this Friday's Note.  Keep planking just because you can - or force your kids to do it.

Play Ball

There aren’t too many things that can turn grown men into 10 year boys like Wiffle Ball.  I played my share as a kid growing up, much to my mother’s dismay at the worn spots for the pitcher mound and batter’s box in the yard.  It took years for the grass to fill back in.  Playing away games against the kids on the street behind us meant adjusting to the telephone foul pole in right center and homeruns any time the ball went over the line.  Their field was a dead pull field for right handed batters with the Elm tree marking the other foul pole and the warning track made up of the entire brick street.

When I started at EDS I was working in south Jersey.  It was there that I met a local by the name of Ken C, who was ‘Jersey Shore’ long before there was a alcohol fueled TV show.  Ken wasn’t lacking confidence as he self declared, “Chicks dig me!”.  That attitude was pretty pronounced in his group of friends who together made the weekend migration to the shore house, where the side yard, garbage cans and the street made up their field of dreams.  The testosterone levels of that atmosphere made watching the wise option for that particular Wiffle Ball field.

Here are a couple of Wiffle ball treats to kickoff your holiday weekend.  

George, thanks for the great lead on this subject and this article in particular.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304450604576416022939358358.html

I’m more than jealous at the following video.  The content, style, editing and musical accompaniment is simply perfect.  I thought about digitally editing out the Yankee and Braves logos, but MLB frowned on those potential alterations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1WXtbUEWcA

Do yourself a favor, turn off the TV, put down your new Touchpad and take the kids outside and teach them the fine art of making up rules local to your field of dreams. Good luck trying to hit the sinking curve ball this weekend.

Seasonal Pics

I'm as guilty as the next person using my digital Nikon SLR as a point and shoot camera.  Learning the capabilities of my camera and taking better pictures and is on my list of what I'd like to do.  To date I've utilized the statistical method of good picture taken.  By that I mean if you take enough pictures some of them are bound to turn out.

The following are some of my favorite pics, one from each season of the year.

Spring

Tulips at the Dallas Arboretum

 Summer

Side of a waterfall Dallas Arboretum

Fall

The girls and I trying to emulate Andy Goldsworth style art.
Local maple leaves as a wreath

Winter

Ice crystals on the moon roof.

The last picture is further proof that I really need to clean out the garage so I don't have to scrape the windows anymore.   Hope you have enjoyed these pics.  These are as much of a testiment to Jill's Memory Manager software that quickly allowed us to surf thousands of pictures to find these four.   Statistical picture taking, it seems to work if you only look at just four pics.

I'm keeping the dog

I’m keeping the dog!

I’m keeping the dog!

I exclaimed into the phone. I had just returned from my friends’ apartment to mine the day after we adopted a pair of Dalmatians. I was still in a state of shock, realizing the responsibility that I had signed up for. There were times when I considered returning the puppy to someone who could care for him properly, but the walk back to the apartment with my 10 week old little buddy changed all of that. He always attracted attention. See a puppy, especially a tiny Dalmatian whose spots haven’t fully come in yet, is a woman magnet. Turns out I couldn’t walk him anywhere without strangers coming up to him and by default me. During this particular trip through the apartment complex a woman stopped to say high, petting my little puppy with the white fur and floppy black ears, while making polite chit chat. Before I knew it she had asked me out. Thus leading to the excited, “I’m keeping the dog” being yelled to my friends.

In the following weeks I even volunteered to walk their puppy with mine, an activity to which my friends accused me of ‘fishing with two poles’.

While the date with the parking lot woman didn’t work out, it turns out that keeping the dog was an unexpected adventure that I’ve loved for the past 16 years.

Auckland Tekapo Steele, was his registered name, though everyone just knew him as Auckie, (aka Auckie-dog, Buddy, Auck and occasionally damn-dog). His name itself caused issues over the years. While he was named after the largest city in New Zealand, a country that had left quite an impression upon me six months earlier, most people didn’t quite catch his name on the first go around. One of the more memorable stories about his name confusion is when a little boy came up to pet him and asked his name. I said his name is Auckie, to which the boy very loudly said back in a questioning and startled tone, “You Named Your Dog Honkie?!?” to which numerous people turned around staring holes through me in disgust.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the passengers of flt 6514 from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh in December of ‘97. See our initial flight from Dallas into Ohio was delayed. The first gate agent coached me to make sure I tell the gate agent for the next flight that I’m traveling with a dog. After racing through the terminals I was the last person to get on the plane. The crowd was getting restless due to the delay in departure. Right then I saw out of the portal a single luggage car quickly navigating through the falling snow towards our plane. The only thing on the cart was Auckie. After getting him loaded, the ‘maintenance issues’ were mysteriously corrected and the flight was cleared for departure.

The early years with Auckie were trying as his spotted A D D would kick in, leading to destructive activities that typically resulted in the couch being turned insight out or the vertical blinds from the patio door ending up in a twisted linguini pattern on the floor. The wallpaper wasn’t safe, neither was the carpet, dry wall, paper currency or potted plants. If you have some time, ask me about the night Auckie and his sister free-style decorated my friend’s apartment.


Auckie and I transitioned from our little apartment to our house in ‘98. It was there that we met Jill. It was our second or third date when Jill took the leash to walk him, trying to show me that they could play nice together. She wandered off the sidewalk (her only source of traction and leverage) down the slope toward the water. I had just started to say, “I wouldn’t do that” when Auckie accelerated from 5 to 80 mph, yanking her to the ground and pulling Jill in her khaki shorts down the grassy slope towards the ducks. His spotted cuteness and Disney persona masked the Underdog strength he possessed.

While living in the new house, Auckie mastered the art of stealth counter food acquisition. His notable successes included a full rib-eye steak (medium rare), a half a loaf of bread, two dozen cream puffs, multiple PB&J sandwiches right out of the girls’ hands, a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies (Tagalongs) and assorted other unknown foods whose wrappers ended up indistinguishable.

I have really liked that my two girls have grown up with Auckie. Nothing quite like a little one to quickly sum up a relationship. “Dad, Auckie sure likes to follow you around. He goes with you everywhere.” my Sarah said to me. From his early days as a puppy Auckie shot to fame as the star of many a Christmas letter, while earning the title of the world’s most laid back Dalmatian most other times. I was very pleased to hear that an old friend of mine carried one Christmas letter with him for a year, occasionally pulling it out and laughing at Auckie’s escapades.

Most recently, Auckie’s world was shaken when two new roommates showed up. It has been very interesting to see the ‘puppies’ defer to him, even now when they tower over him. For the most part Auckie just ignored the puppies and dealt with the changes to the family environment in stride. This picture captures the breaking of the ice between the generations.

One of the really good things about a dog is the consistency. They are always happy to see you, they are always excited to go for a walk and they think every meal is the equivalent of a great greasy cheeseburger, fries and a thick shake. For Auckie the sleeping arrangements were yet another happy dog habit. Each evening he would find his way to our bed room and come to my side, curling up in a ball on the floor – settling in with a heavy end of the day sigh. This reminds me of the Jimmy Stewart’s poem about his dog Beau. I hope you enjoy this video treat from years gone by: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUNJjIwlHk8

As time passed Auckie started to feel his age, especially over the past year. His keen hearing escaped him and he slowed down having trouble with his hips and legs, old age robbing him of his nimbleness and power. The simple act of jumping into his chair became a hit or miss proposition. Though while in his chair, he always accomplished his favorite activity of napping. In his dreams, ah, in his dreams he could still run like the wind.

This week Auckie couldn’t outrun time. He is now waiting at the rainbow bridge – jumping around, leaping for bubbles, chewing on rawhides and getting into a little trouble for chasing ducks right up to the edge of the pond, but no further since he is afraid of the water.

Yep, I’m keeping the dog!