Just What I Always Wanted

I Love Donuts.
A long time ago I told Mom that I wanted to have the van when I grew up (the old red van we got in St. Louis), build a donut machine (out of wood) and sell "van-made" donuts out of the back of the van. I would still like to do this one day, that's how much I love donuts.

Well, maybe I don't need to figure out how to build that Wooden Donut Machine anymore, here is a spiffy medal donut robot that would do the trick.



Thanks to: Derick at LiveJournal

Here We Come!

As I write, David is playing his final baseball game of the season (unless there's a rain delay). Stephen is watching the game. Thomas is at work. We've just finished supper at home and are polishing off the last of a delicious watermelon. All the bags are packed, but still need to be loaded in the van, and we're (almost) ready to go. Final checks need to be made. Are the windows all closed and locked? I need to give a house key to Amy who will be feeding Crumpet while we're gone.
Look out Indiana and Colorado---here we come!

On Top

I noticed that Ben recently posted his "ilike" score, so I thought it fitting to follow suit. They tell me that only two other people have achieved the rank of "Music Ninja", T-Bone Burnett and Quincy Jones. I guess that's not bad company to keep.

Happy Father's Day

All you fathers out there.

iLike

So I don't offen tell people that I am on Facebook, quite frankly, it's because I am embarrassed. However, they have put up two new things that make it worth talking about. One is the graffiti wall, this is really cool, and the second is the iLike Challenge. This game, previously played on the iPod, is really fun and really addicting (my goal is to get a higher ranking than Matt, I already passed David). Note in this picture that, even thought my percentage isn't that great (I have even missed Pearl Jam questions) my time is outstanding! 2.8 Second average... I rock!



For those of you who don't know, Facebook is an online "social" community... the embarrassing thing is that you have "friends" and the more "friends" you have the more "popular" you are (virtually speaking).

Vacation Schedule

Here is the present (and therefore still tentative) schedule for our upcoming vacation/sabbatical. If you have any suggestions or alterations please let me know.

Tuesday, June 19 Leave home after David's baseball game
at approximately 9 pm--drive through the night
(Pop, Mom, Thomas, David, Stephen, Elisabeth, William, Jesse)

Wednesday, June 20 Arrive in Indiana in the morning
Hold Daniel

Wednesday-Sunday Play and visit in Bloomington
June 20-24 Celebrate Matt and Emily's engagement
Mom and Pop attend Errek and Bekah's wedding on Saturday

Monday-Wednesday Travel in a leisurely manner to Colorado
June 25-27 via Wyoming
(all of the above, including Pop, plus Jonathan and Nathaniel)

Wednesday-Sunday Play and visit in Colorado Springs
June 27-July 1 Celebrate Jesse's birthday

Monday-Tuesday Return to Bloomington (minus Pop)
July 2, 3

Wednesday-Sunday 4th of July in Bloomington
July 4-8 Church of the Good Shepherd Reunion

We're bringing two tents, sleeping bags and pillows, a queen size air mattress, several folding chairs (if they fit), and our own towels. Anything else??? We can do the grocery shopping when we arrive, and I will do all the cooking--if that would help. We're looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Congratulations!

So I dug up some pictures from the last wedding I went to, which show a couple of people who are going to have the next wedding I'm looking forward to...

Congratulations Matt and Emily! It's great news to hear that Matt not only proposed, but Emily said "yes". It's so good when it works out that way. I am truly excited about this, and if you know me at all, being excited about anything, especially a wedding is a big deal. So, Matt and Emily, I hope that all the planning and decisions go smoothly, and I hope that your life together is a great experience. Also, I already know one of the songs that's going to make it into the wedding video for you both. You're in our thoughts and prayers.

I could end this posting right there, but there just seems to be so much to be excited about, I just want to keep on going... It was recently Daniel, Matt, Jon and Thomas' birthdays. Happy Birthday to all of you. It kind of sucks that we only have one birthday a year, because it's nice to have that cell phone alarm ring and let me know it's time to give one of you a call. Maybe that's my fault, I should like program alarms to call for all sorts of reasons. Like Nate might get a call because they're showing "Iron Eagle 3: Bird of Prey" on TBS, and I know that's why he joined the Air Force. Or Ben gets a call because I was watching "Return of the Jedi" (It's just such a sweet movie). Or I call up Mom because I just burned my steamed vegetables, again. Anyways, I hope you all had happy birthdays, and if it's not your birthday, I hope you had happy unbirthdays!

There is one more thing I am excited about and want to spend some time talking about. There are only two and a half days left in the Halo 3 Beta, and boy has it been awesome. I have played a grand total of 159 games, gotten 1166 kills, 626 assists and an amazing 1896 deaths. I've reached the rank of Sergeant and attained level 11. Now this all probably means nothing to you, but you may have noticed that I died almost twice as much as I inflicted death. This I think speaks to my true character, and I am ultimately a very nice person. Let me share with you the stats of the top Halo 3 player: "SmokedYeti" has played 1196 games, gotten 20957 kills, 4865 assists and only 9022 deaths. He has reached the rank of a 3 star General. Now I must admit that I have respect for this guy and it would be cool to play against him, or even better be on his team for a while. At the same time, he probably hasn't been to work much in the past two weeks, and I bet he smells funny and is a little grumpy by now. Also the amount of Mountain Dew it must take to support this ranking is scary. All that aside, the Halo 3 Beta is sweet and the full game is going to be even better. The best level of the Beta is "Valhalla" which is a good sized (Aprox 3/4 miles by 1/4 mile) map, with two bases (one at either end) and a small river running right down the middle. Plenty of cover, but also a lot of open ground to cover. It's great for vehicles, sniping and my favorite the gatling gun. Give me the gatling gun and a group of five or six enemies, thinking that they're in the clear, priceless.

Oh yeah, also in a couple of weeks I get to see a whole bunch of other Crums, so I'm excited about that too.

Daniel Peregrine Crum

Hey Everyone, here is the first official release of authorized photos of the new Crum boy, Daniel Peregrine.


The Good ol' Thumbsucking Technique


Baby's Mama


Attack of the Killer Rabbit


Drool Machine


My Baby Boy can grow a better beard than half his uncles

Daniel Peregrine Crum

If you go over to the Bayly brothers' blog you will see a picture of Ben holding Daniel. The child is brilliant, as you will soon discover. Just see how he already values the Crum name. His little hand is forming a perfect "C" right there on his forehead! I'm sure I'm not the first to notice this, but I am surprised that I would be the first to point it out.

Where's Pippin?

Dear Ben and Michal,
Happy Anniversary
and congratulations of the birth of Daniel Peregrine Crum.
Can't wait to see his picture posted here.
Love, Mom

BUY Linkin Park's new album...

...Minutes To Midnight. It's gooooooood.

Linkin Park has been letting their fan base know that they sound different. That, they've gotten away from the rock/rap label that they forced upon themselves. This is true to an extent. There is still rapping, because the rapper from the group, Mike, is still in the band. But, they do sound different. They sound more mature and more like a group that has somthing to talk about. Chester, the lead singer, doesn't yell all the time on this album. Some of the songs are actually quite mellow.

All in all, it probobly would have sucked if they had put out an album that sounded exactly the same as the last two. Insted of sucking, they chose to grow as a band and in it, they proved that they are going to be around for a long time, and they are going to continue making good music.

Casablanca

This posting is going to ramlble around a little, so please bear with me...

Pervasive and glamorizing. Its almost impoosible to debate that "Casablanca" didn't do this to smoking back in 1942. As far as I can tell, only about 25% of the population smoked back in 1942, and even less would have back when the events depicted in "Casablanca" take place. Therefore there really isn't a historical motivation for so much onscreen cigarette usage. Therefore, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) should re-rate this film with an "R" rating. "Casablanca" was released before films were rated by the MPAA, but it was brought before the board and given a "PG" rating in 2000 prior to a special edition DVD release. The MPAA recently announced that it will be taking smoking into account in rating every movie that comes before it. Not all films with smoking will be rated "R", the motivation for inclusion of acts of smoking will affect how the film is judged. One must assume that a film addressing the struggle of a teenager to fight peer-pressure, may only get a "PG-13" as long as only the "bad kids" are smoking. I'm guessing that Steven Speilberg will go back to "Jaws" and rerelease an edited version where the sea captain is sucking on a lolipop instead of smoking a cigarette. "Casablanca" deserves to be rated "R". The smoking rates among the population skyrocketed from about 25% in 1942, to almost 43% in 1965. Obviously it's all because of movies that people do things, this explains why everyone is so funny, pretty and ready to save the world with action packed carchases and kung-fu fighting. What I think he MPAA should do is get together with a group of concerned parents and decide what else they can do to protect children. I think that any movies that glamorize crossing the street without looking both ways, or any films that have pervasive chewing of gum found stuck under public picnic tables should be given automatic "R" ratings too.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. I get the privellege of honoring my mother and the mother of my children. What better way to do this than to release a new Dlog with Dumb Dumb Dog doing his thing? I haven't started on it yet, but I'm sure I'll get some inspiration soon and you'll all see what I come up with tomorrow over on the Dlog.

After tomorrows posting, I don't think anyone will be hearing much from me for like three and a half weeks. On May 16th the HAlo 3 beta is coming, and aside from the stuff I'm supposed to do, that's going to probably take up most of my free time. The've been showing off some footage from the internal beta on the internet, and boy is it sweet. If you don't already have an Xbox 360, then it's almost time to get on so you'll be ready when Halo 3 comes out (this is for you specifically Mom). Once again, I'm not trying to brag or anything, seriously if anyone wants to play with me, you all know where I live.

The NEW Richard Cory is...

...Red Water, by the band Rehab, on the album Graffiti The World, released July 2005.

(Be Warned: If you listen to this song you will not be able to get it out of your head. It is very addicting. Keep your i-pod with you at all times!)

Different

Dumb Dumb Dog has been keeping busy the last few weeks. He has been trying out a different format, incorporating photagraphs into the Dlog instead of video. This is a simple, yet poignant style of storytelling. I for one have been very moved by his valiant effort to inform and entertain you all, yet I am distressed that there has been so little reaction. I was talking with Peter earlier this evening, and although he can be a bit whiny at times, I discovered that he too was upset that there is so little reaction to our blogging. He in turn informed me that Ben has been noticing this decline in blog comments as well. Of course Ben is handling it quite a bit better than Peter, but Ben has a thick skin, whereas Peter always has worn his heart on his sleeve (that's shorthand for being a pansy). Dumb Dumb and I are almost to the breaking point. The Dlog doesn't just make itself, and I can tell you for sure that my blog page is a labor of love. I get terrible headaches sometimes from the amount of emotonal and intellectual toil that goes into each and every posting. Of course Peter probably wouldn't go see all those movies if you all weren't depending on his insight and understanding. From what I understand he's had to suffer through some pretty bad stuff (Speed 2, Matrix Revolutions, Superman) all entirely because he cares so much for all of you...

Now, pull it together everyone. Scroll down and tell Ben what music you're listening to.

Check out Matt's blog for some interesting sports analasys.

See What is fashionable this time of year down in Louisiana at Nate's page

Jon's blog knows it's quality, not quantity that counts.

Mom has a page too.

Thomas has a sweet picture of Peter... in his dreams!

Go over to Peter's blog page and let him know what you thought of "Grindhouse".

Shoot over to my website and do your mind a favor.

Then go here and watch Dumb Dumb's homage to Ken Burns... Thank you.

The Tapestry of Bayeux

The Bayeux Tapestry

This is such an awesome tapestry, and now it really comes to life. Don't think too much about the Lord of the Rings & Gladiator soundtrack or the War Craft II and Age of Empires sound effects.

*Warning: Annimated tapestry beheadings!

Look At My Blog To See More...

Aravis

Of course every child is different, which is part of what makes being a parent so much fun. Ashley and Jude are learning to ride bikes without training wheels, and Aravis is giving herself manicures. She has seen Jess paint her toe and fingernails. Jess has even done Ashley and Aravis' toenails before. This past week, Aravis decided to take things into her own hands (no pun intended). She broke out the markers and headed off to her room. I actually am pretty impressed with how cleanly she pulled the whole thing off. Personally I prefer a single color for all ten fingers (eight fingers, two thumbs), but she's only three years old, and I'm kind of an old guy, so maybe she's onto something. Next time maybe I can tell you all about her other beauty salon adventures, including personal hair care and tattoo artistry...

Issac Brock's Old but Improved Modest Mouse

I don't suggest you buy this album! I don't think you'll like it!

But, that doesn't mean that it isn't a good and at sometimes great album.

I like Modest Mouse and have for the last 4 or 5 years. I like the sound of Issac Brock's voice, but I don't think you will. There are some tracks from his last album that sound like other indie songs. Most people would probobly have no problem listening to Float On and the Ocean Breathes Salty, but other tracks would turn you off. Issac Brock is pissed and it really comes through in his music. This new album has it's up tempoed songs (March Into The Sea/Dashboard/We've Got Everything), but it's still Brock's band, and he goes off from time to time.

Basically, I would say you might want to check out some of the songs mentioned above, before you try an entire album. Dashboard is my favorite song from the new album and will give you a good idea of the bands range.

I should mention that I told Matt that James Mercer (The Shins) appeared on this album. That is true but his vocals can only be heard on We've Got Everything.

This Old House

Remember how "Mom's Show" would come on every Saturday and we would gather around and watch Bob Vila (or that other guy) walk around and talk about old houses? The Silva Brothers were always my favorite part of the show. I'm sure they were saying interesting things but I couldn't get past their Boston accents. Norm was great too. Anyway, I was thinking of that show as I worked on this image (below) for a book cover. The author wanted a three story Bayou style plantation house with the "biggest widow walk ever" and also the bottom of the house had been washed out so now it was a grand ballroom and also there should be a grand staircase on the outside and also it should be surrounded by big old trees with moss and... well you get the idea. There was no way I was gonna be able to find a photo of that house. So I used this one and... well click on the image to see the magic.

Popular Dog

Over at his gmail account Dumb Dumb Dog has been getting some interesting mail, we thought you might enjoy reading part of a recent arrival:

Dear Dumb Dumb,

Am I enthusiastic about my wife's campaign for president? You bet I am. I know her better than anybody on earth, and she's got the best combination of mind and heart of everybody I've ever known.

All across the country, Hillary is campaigning with the signature wisdom, grace, and humor that make her a great candidate. I know that if we all work hard enough, those same traits will make her an even better president.

You and I know something about waging and winning presidential campaigns.

Winning the White House takes persistence, energy and effort -- not just from the candidate, but from a massive network of grassroots supporters.

Hillary's campaign is off to a great start. And this week, we're going to help take it to another level. Our goal: to demonstrate the range and breadth of Hillary's support by raising one million dollars in grassroots donations in a week's time.

Will you help me get our "One Week, One Million" campaign off to a powerful start?

Sincerely,



Bill Clinton