My Life According to Jimmy Buffett

Facebook meme: Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to people you think would find this interesting (including me). You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Re-post as "My Life According to (BAND NAME)."

My Artist:
Jimmy Buffett

Are you a male or female?
Twelve-Volt Man

Describe yourself:
A Pirate Looks at Forty

How do you feel:
Defying Gravity

Describe where you currently live:
This Hotel Room

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Banana Republics

Your favorite form of transportation:
Boats to Build

Your best friend is:
Woman Goin' Crazy on Caroline Street

Your favorite color is:
Dreamsicle

What's the weather like:
Sunny Afternoon

Favorite time of the day:
I Wish Lunch Could Last Forever

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Changing Channels

What is life to you:
Life is Just a Tire Swing

Your relationships:
If the Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me

Your fear:
Brahma Fear

What is the best advice you have to give:
We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About

If you could change your name, you would change it to:
Ellis Dee

Thought for the Day:
Kick It In Second Wind

How I would like to die:
Apocalypso

My soul's present condition:
Nobody Speaks to the Captain No More

My Motto:
Growing Older, But Not Up

Your Wish in Song:
The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful

Molly's First Dance Recital

Photos from Molly's first dance recital on June 6, 2009.



The full photoset is on Flickr.

Our first NASCAR experience

Max really enjoys NASCAR and so for his birthday, my Dad and I took him and his cousin Caiden to their first NASCAR race, the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 8th. Here are some photos and videos I shot with my mobile phone during the event. The microphone on the mobile phone doesn't do any justice to the sheer volume of 49 NASCAR at full roar as hey hurtle down the track at 175 mph.

Happy Easter 2009

A short video and a few pictures from our Easter Morning 2009.

25 Random Things About Me

Stolen from Facebook...

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose at least 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people - in the right hand corner of the app - then click publish.)

1. I don't normally participate in silly Facebook memes, but I'm really quite bored with Super Bowl XLIII (and American Football in general), so why not?
2. I've seen Poison live in concert 5 times, but never since C.C. Deville left, then rejoined the band.
3. I'm a doctor, but as my mom likes to say, "Not the kind that helps people." (Ph.D. in chemical engineering from University of Texas at Austin)
4. I flew solo in a private airplane the night before my 16th birthday (one day before allowed by law).
5. I never flew solo again in a plane after that night and never got my private pilot's license.
6. I've been awarded 25+ patents in the United States and also have patents granted in the EU and in Japan. Unfortunately, AMD and Yield Dynamics (now MKS) are the assignees on all my patents.
   
7. I was a pretty decent basketball player in middle and high school and attended Coach K's basketball camp at Duke when I was a kid.
8. When in grad school, I used to run a website for local bands in Austin, TX at hepcat.com and now I wish I had never sold that domain name.
   
9. I once finished 5th in the nation in Orienteering at the National Science Olympiad by gaming the scoring system (because I got majorly lost using my compass!)
10. I really would like to go to Disneyland Tokyo and DisneySea but can't really fathom what a trip there with the kids would be like.
11. Running the RailHawks' supporters club isn't my first flirtation with fandom, I once co-ran the Jimmy Buffett Listserv (mailing list) and was Historian/Liturgy Director of the Church of Buffett, Orthodox.
12. These days, I spend much more time listening to the artists I discovered through Jimmy Buffett's music -- like Steve Goodman, Todd Snider, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jesse Winchester, Willis Alan Ramsay -- than I do listening to Buffett anymore.
13. I met one of my lifelong best friends (whom I was able to reconnect with after many years thanks to Facebook), when I was in 8th grade, sitting on a bench reading the greatest book of all time -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- and this girl I didn't know came up and slugged me and said: "Cool book". She was the one that introduced me to Jimmy Buffett.
    
14. I've been an Anglophile ever since studying in London, probably my favorite city in the world, during the summer of 1994. I really hope I can get there for the 2012 Olympics.
    
15. I wish that American TV seasons were reduced to 6-8 episodes like British series...so I don't keep losing interest in shows after just a few weeks.
16. I love the "idea" of books. I like the way they look on my bookshelf. I love to flip through them. I obsessively collect them. I just never seem to have the attention span to read them.
17. I always thought I'd like comic books, but never seem to get the hang of the rhythm of reading graphic novels until I read The Watchmen recently in anticipation of next month's film. Now I'm reading Ed Brubaker's "Sleeper" and really enjoying it.
18. I fulfilled a lifelong ambition in 2005 when I rode my bicycle 100 miles in a single day at Lance Armstrong's Ride for the Roses in Austin, TX. My next cycling ambition is to ride L'etape du Tour one day.
    
19. While I love living in The Triangle, I dearly miss Austin where I spent 7 wonderful years in grad school, my first real job, and where my son was born.
    
20. The only other place in the US that I think I would like to live is Portland, OR, where Liz and I almost moved before making a last minute decision to move to Cary, NC instead.
21. I love to cook and wish I had a bigger kitchen and more cool utensils and cooking apparatus.
22. I have no real palette for wine and can never remember the name of a good bottle I've drunk, but I'm a major beer snob.
23. I love the fact that two of my favorite beers -- Belgium's Hoegaarden and Austin's Celis White -- were actually brewed by the same Brewmeister, Pierre Celis, on two different continents about 30 years apart.
24. My dream vacation is to go on a folksong tour of Scotland with Ed Miller
    
25. Much to my surprise, I ended up rather enjoying the Super Bowl, especially the last 3 minutes.
    

My Top 10 Favorite Tragematopolists

I stumbled across this neat website called "Save the Words" at www.savethewords.org which promotes bringing under-used words back into the popular lexicon. I'm doing my part by adopting the word Tragematopolist.

• Tragematopolist: A confectioner, or a seller of sweets.

So to get the ball rolling, and at least get one more Google hit for the word, here's my list of my Top 10 favorite Tragematopolists:

1. Amy's Ice Cream - An Austin, TX original version of Cold Stone Creamery -- you've got to try the Mexican Vanilla with fresh strawberries.
   
2. Kilwin's - walking distance from my house and fantastic fudge!
3. Every shop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber that sells Schneeballen
4. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - their caramel apples are to die for!
5. Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops - Cherry Garcia Waffle Cone Sundae, need I say more?
   
6. Cracker Barrel - I love the "old tyme" candies like Necco wafers and Mint Sticks.
   
7. The Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop in San Francisco (the one on Michigan Ave. in Chicago works too in a pinch).
   
8. The aisle vendors at the circus selling Cotton Candy
9. Dairy Queen - you can find them just about everywhere!
   
10. Any convenience store or movie theater concession where I can get some SweetTarts or other Willy Wonka Candies.

So next time you're satisfying your sweet tooth, be sure to use the word Tragematopolist!

Disney 2009 Day 7 Recap

Recap from our final day at Disney

Disney 2009 Day 6 Recap

Max and Molly recap Day 6 of our 2009 visit to Disney.

Max and Molly Playing Mini Golf

Max and Molly playing at Jungle Golf in Kissimmee, FL during our 2009 trip to Disney

Disney 2009 Day 5 Recap

Max and Molly recap Day 5 of our 2009 trip to Disney.

Disney 2009 Days 5-6 Photos

Photos from the 5th and 6th day of our trip to Disney, primarily from the "Celebrate" parade at the Magic Kingdom.

Disney 2009 Day 4 Photos

Photos from our third and fourth days at Disney.

Disney Day 4 Recap

Max and Molly recap Day 4 of our trip to Disney while swimming in the pool at the condo.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Molly was a couple of inches too short to ride the Mission: Space attraction at EPCOT but she was tall enough to make this video postcard in the after-ride activity area during our trip to Disney in January 2009.

Disney 2009 Day 3 Recap

Max and Molly recap Day 3 of our Disney vacation before going to bed.

Molly Enjoys Playhouse Disney Live

We visited Disney's Hollywood Studios on Friday. While the kids may tell you their favorite part was the new Toy Story Mania ride (definitely Mom and Dad's favorite), we never saw Molly as animated as during the Playhouse Disney Live stage show.

Disney 2009 Day 2 Photos

Photos from our 2nd Day at Disney (and a couple from the swimming pool at the condo).

Disney 2009 Day 2 Recap

Max and Molly recap Day 2 of 2009 trip to Disney. We spent the 2nd day at the Magic Kingdom

Tea Cups

Max, Molly, and Liz enjoy the Tea Cups at Disney's Magic Kingdom

Monorail Co-Pilots

Max and Molly (and Liz & Jarrett too!) get a very special ride to the Magic Kingdom in the cockpit of the Disney World Monorail. Secret tip: Simply ask a cast member on the loading platform to let you ride up front, and they'll oblige you.

Disney 2009 Day 1 Recap

Max and Molly recap what they did on their first day at Disney in 2009, when we toured EPCOT

Max plays secret agent on Kim Possible Adventure

Max tries out the Kimmunicator while playing the Kim Possible Adventure at EPCOT. The new attraction opens on January 28th but we got to participate in the "soft opening" or "beta test" if you will of this very cool interactive technology

Molly Plays in ImageWorks

Molly had a grand time at the ImageWorks in EPCOT making music by jumping on the lighted squares of carpet.

Snow Day 2009

5 to 6 inches on the ground and still falling...hopefully we'll be able to fly out to Disney World tomorrow...but for now, it's snow angels and snowball fights.

Max Playing Soccer at XL Soccer World

After a hiatus for a few months, Max got back to playing soccer this weekend. He's on XL Milan at XL Soccer World in the U8 coed league.

Molly's First Soccer Game at XL Soccer World

Molly started soccer this week in the U6 Instructional Program at XL Soccer World. She had done things like Soccert Tots and L'il Kickers before, but this was really her first "real" experience playing soccer.

New Year's Eve 2008 Hurricanes Game

For New Year's Eve, we took the kids to a Carolina Hurricanes game (vs. the Atlanta Thrashers). It also gave me a chance to play with one of the new toys that we got for Christmas, a Kodak Zi6 pocket-sized High Definition camcorder.

Here's a little video from our evening out.

3 New Home Video Channels for your New Year's Viewing Pleasure

Over the holidays, I've been cleaning out an old VHS tape cupboard and transferring many of the videos to digital format using this new toy I got for Christmas so I can clean out the closet and get rid of the tapes.

In addition, I dug through all the little home videos that Liz had shot on her digital camera of Max's and Molly's school functions and posted them all on the web under my Veoh.com account.

To make it easier to find the videos, I've created three distinct channels for your viewing pleasure:

Max's Home Videos: Videos primarily featuring Maxwell



Molly's Home Videos: Videos primarily featuring Molly




Jarrett's Music Videos: Don't worry -- not me making music, but videos of my family members, for example, Griffin and Liz, in their musical endeavors.



There's a few other videos posted there too that don't fall neatly into one of these three channels -- like this video of Liz's Baby Shower (without Liz being present) or this video of my nephew Caiden as an infant.

If you want to automatically download the latest copies of all my videos that I publish at this site (including a few not included in those 3 channels), you can either subscribe to my RSS Feed or simply click on this iTunes link and you'll be automatically subscribed (assuming you have iTunes installed on your computer).