tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4753223526473993952024-03-05T06:48:48.783-08:00The Life and Times of C. W. NashIf you can think of a more pretentious blog title, please let me know.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-77142123846671523892010-06-14T10:46:00.001-07:002010-06-14T10:58:56.961-07:00Birthday Parties!It's really hard to believe, but my oldest son, Griffin, had his fifth birthday this weekend! I love him to pieces. It's so amazing to watch him grow and learn, and become his own unique individual. <br /><br />My mom and my wife's mom came over on Friday for a small birthday party for Griffin, and Dina and I gave him the presents we bought for him. We also spent a lot of time Friday cleaning the house, because Saturday was the larger party with both family and friends coming over.<br /><br />In total we had 31 people (adults and kids) over on Saturday. It was a crowded house, but was a good time. Griffin had a TMNT cake, which he's been wanting for months. He opened his presents and got all kinds of cool toys...we'll have lots of fun playing with them together! We originally wanted to bring the party to the carnival in town (Champlin has a carnival for Father Hennepin Days every year right around Griffin's birthday), but it was too rainy, so we took the party to the bowling alley instead. Everyone had a blast (except Rohan, who slept through the entire two hours at the bowling alley). Late Saturday night (10:15 is late these days) we woke up the kids and took them to see the local fireworks display for the Festival; the kids thought that was awesome.<br /><br />Sunday was a day of recovery and cleaning, but we did get some other stuff done, too. Dina's mom and aunt came over and helped her do some gardening and landscaping in the front yard. Later that day the rain finally stopped long enough for us to take the kids to the carnival for a few rides before it closed. <br /><br />All in all it was a really fun, though draining, weekend. On to the week!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-6279427091300509402010-05-17T12:33:00.000-07:002010-05-17T12:34:52.661-07:00Weekend Worth Blogging AboutI've been waiting for something to happen worth blogging about, and this weekend provided that in so many ways it's not even funny. (Actually, I've mostly not blogged because I'm lazy, but you don't know that. Except that now you do.)<br /><br />The weekend was framed around road trip metal goodness, but wait! Before we get there, let's talk about Friday. I had Friday off (because of aforementioned road trip metal goodness), but I got up early anyway because I wanted to continue work on the garden box project my wife and I have been dabbling with. Power tools and wood! We were building three 1'x4'x5' raised garden boxes. Anyway, Dina and I worked on the project and got the first garden box finished, which was a major milestone, because I am largely inept with tools. Anyway, that took much of the morning, so I rushed through a shower and grabbed my stuff to head down to Rygar's for the first leg of road trip metal goodness.<br /><br />The road trip was based around two things: a kick-ass metal lineup for a show in Fargo, ND (Valient Thorr, Baroness, Between the Buried and Me, and Mastodon); and hanging out with a bunch of friends. Four hours is a long drive, but worth it for those two things. Anyway, Rygar, T-Rav, and myself headed out from the cities en route to Moorhead, where we were going to spend the night at the Loopduke household. On the way we met up with Beener, and took his vehicle for the rest of the trip to Moorhead.<br /><br />On the way I got to listen to lots of metal I hadn't heard before, which ruled. We arrived at Loop's and chilled out for a while until everyone else who was attending the show arrived, then we all headed out. The show was at a place called The Venue, and that was a surreal place to see a show. It looks like a huge pole barn on the outside, but inside it's a bit like a mall...there's a liquor store, a restaurant or two, a casino...oh, and a BIG CONCERT VENUE. The main room itself is pretty cool, lots of space, with a nice balcony area for drinking (it was an all-ages show). The strangest thing about the place, though, is that when we got there, we just parked and walked maybe 50 feet to the front door. For someone used to going to shows in the Twin Cities area, that was a mindbender.<br /><br />The show was fantastic. I'm a metal fan, but haven't followed it too closely for a while, so I'm not familiar with today's bands. The first band was <a href="http://www.valientthorr.com/">Valient Thorr</a>. My friends who'd seen them play had told me about them before the show, but there's nothing like seeing them live. They (and particularly their lead singer, Valient Himself) are very entertaining live. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/yourbaroness">Baroness</a> was next, and was also great, but a stark contrast. A big part of Valient Thorr's show is the showmanship of Valient Himself, who talks a lot between songs. Baroness had none of that - it was all business. I was really impressed by them, especially their drummer, who was phenomenal. Next up was <a href="http://www.myspace.com/betweentheburiedandmeband">Between the Buried and Me</a>, who I didn't like at all. I couldn't get into any kind of groove or flow with them, as they jumped from noodly keyboard stuff to LOUD SCREAMING WALL OF NOISE multiple times per song. Bleh. I mostly drank and chatted during their set. Then it was time for <a href="http://www.mastodonrocks.com/">Mastodon</a>, and they blew me away. I know some of their stuff, but not much of their new album, which they played end to end (with various other stuff afterward). We were down on the floor for these guys, about six or seven rows back. The floor was active, but not crazy, and it was a ton of fun.<br /><br />After Mastodon was done, the magic of The Venue happened again. Poof - the floor was empty. It was weird. T-Rav and I hit the merch table then wandered outside, and it felt more like getting out of a movie theater than getting out of a metal show. We found our way back to the vehicle and drove back to Loop's place to cap off the night, which for me meant nodding off on the couch until I headed upstairs and passed out at about 2:30.<br /><br />I woke up the next morning in pain. I had a cold hit me pretty hard and my nose was completely stuffed up; that on top of the dehydration hangover really sucked. I took some painkillers and drank as much water as I could stomach, but it took a long time to feel better. Loopduke generously made us some tasty eggs and bacon, and we headed for home. After we parted ways with Beener, I ended up taking some naps in the back of Rygar's car while listening to loud metal. It was awesome.<br /><br />I got home and found that Dina's dad had come up and helped put together the remaining two garden boxes. We placed the boxes and filled them with a topsoil/compost/peat moss mixture, and put mulch around them. It looks really good. The rest of the day we spent putzing around the yard and playing outside with the kids.<br /><br />On Sunday Dina's mom and aunt came over and they helped Dina plant a whole bunch of seeds and plants in the boxes. It should be a great garden! I mowed and did other outside stuff, and played with the kids (it's finally nice enough outside for squirtgun fights!).<br /><br />We also got the fantastic news that Dina's sister had her baby on Sunday. I'm an uncle again! Congrats to them, and I'm looking forward to meeting little Sarah.<br /><br />All in all, this was about as good a weekend as anyone could ask for.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-71245412693369518672010-03-01T11:29:00.000-08:002010-03-01T11:42:31.089-08:00Little Green AliensSome friends and I have a private forum website where we chat with each other and post interesting and funny stuff for each other to read. This place is called the Jabberboard, and one of the things we've devised to amuse ourselves is something called the Jabberboard Cover Song Challenge. The challenge consists of a series of rounds in which someone defines The Rules, and then everyone who wants to take part records a cover song that follows The Rules. Very fun.<br /><br />The Rules for the current round are basically "record a song from your band in high school." I decided it would be fun to record a version of a silly song called "Little Green Aliens" (<a href="http://tinyurl.com/ybgc4kd">the original is online at last.fm</a>). I got together with <a href="http://www.lundo.com">Lundo</a> and Phil, a drummer and guitarist with whom I'm good friends and have played in various bands, and we recorded a new version, in which (gasp!) I sing. We dubbed ourselves "Negative Terminal" (a riff on "Ground", the band the three of us were in together), and recorded <a href="http://www.visi.com/~corey_nash/music/Little%20Green%20Aliens.mp3">this</a>.<br /><br />Enjoy!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-61798585951990529882010-03-01T11:28:00.001-08:002010-03-01T11:28:12.548-08:00Back in the SaddleOh, hi!<br /><br />It seems I've ignored about a sixth of the year so far. That went really fast. It's been a heck of a year so far.<br /><br />On January 19th, Caden and Rohan turned two! They had a fun birthday party with family, and enjoyed the heck out of their cake. That same weekend we also got together with Dina's brother and sister and their families for "sibling Christmas", which was a lot of fun.<br /><br />We dealt with coughs and colds and sick kids through the beginning of February, so that month flew by really fast.<br /><br />I've been able to get together to play Dungeons & Dragons with friends more often recently. We're playing fourth edition, which I initially didn't want to embrace, but to which I have come around. It is both geeky and awesome, and is a ton of fun every time.<br /><br />There has been some sadness this year, too. My uncle Wayne, my mom's brother, passed away toward the end of February; he was 60 years old, and had cancer and heart failure. We went to the funeral last week. I will miss him.<br /><br />In happier news, I've decided I want to lose some weight this year. I decided to set a ridiculously easy goal for myself: I want to lose one pound per week. That will put me in a pretty good place by the end of this year. So far it's working; I am down five pounds for February, which is when I really got started. Woo hoo! My approach is pretty simple: write down what I eat, and exercise every work day. My wife is also working on losing weight, but she is more dedicated and is doing so at a faster pace than me. She's working really hard at it, and I'm proud of her!<br /><br />That's all for now, but hopefully I'll keep up with this a little better for the remaining five-sixths of the year. I owe it to the three of you who read this. :-)Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-42412002623504000212010-01-04T10:53:00.000-08:002010-01-04T11:34:30.986-08:00Aaaaaand...2010.The 2009 holiday season is over. Well, almost...we still have a "Christmas party" with Dina's brother and sister (and their spouses and kids) this month, but for the most part we have made it successfully through another Christmas and New Year's!<br /><br />It was a low-key year, which was great. On Christmas Eve, Dina's mom came over and we exchanged some gifts and set up our Christmas tree. This was the longest we'd waited to set up our tree, but this year there were just too many other things going on to get it done. We also had what is becoming our traditional Christmas Eve sushi dinner. Dina gets better at making it every year. Mmmm....<br /><br />(A funny side story. On Christmas Eve afternoon, we took Griffin to the dollar store so he could pick out presents for Dina and I and his grandparents. While searching for something for his Grandpa Dean and Grandma Karen, he picked up a big box of matches and told Dina, "Maybe we can give them FIRE!" I'm proud of my little Prometheus.)<br /><br />On Christmas Day, Dina and I and the kids opened our presents from each other. The kids had a blast, although Rohan and Caden took turns sleeping while the opening was going on. I got a couple of really nice things, but my best present was watching the kids have fun with their new toys.<br /><br />That evening we went to a nearby hotel in which Dean and Karen had rented a big suite for Dean's kids and their families to get together. We had a good time visiting, and the older kids swam in the hotel's waterpark while our three played in the room's enormous jacuzzi tub. Dean always gives interesting and slightly confusing gifts that are very small-town Minnesota. This year he gave everyone new knit gloves with a roll of quarters inside. I naturally assumed the gloves were to conceal the roll of quarters, which would be held while punching someone, but my wife seems to think that's not the case. <br /><br />My mom was supposed to come over the next day, but the roads near her hometown of Benson were in pretty bad shape due to ice and snow, so she came over Sunday instead. She wasn't here long, but we had another gift exchange and a good meal with her.<br /><br />Time passed, and then it was New Year's Eve.<br /><br />For New Year's Eve we had a couple over who had twins about a year after we did. They also have a 17-year-old. We all hung out at our place for a fondue dinner and for a while afterward, but our guests left before midnight, so Dina and I watched the replay of the ball drop in Times Square. Holy crap did Dick Clark seem old this year.<br /><br />Much of our spare minutes have been spent over the last couple weeks setting up an entertainment room in our basement. We bought a projector from a friend and mounted it on the ceiling, then moved our surround sound system and Wii, DVD player, etc downstairs. Someday we can replace it with an HD projector, but for now what we have works really well. It's a ton of fun to play very-large-screen Mario Kart! Pretty nice for watching football, too. And if the kids break the screen, we can repair it with drywall and paint. :-) (And even if they break the projector, it was only $150). It's a pretty good risk/reward setup.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-85552980538286743222009-12-21T07:21:00.000-08:002009-12-21T07:47:13.623-08:00Wow - it's been almost a monthAnnnnnd....a month went by with no posting. So I decided to figure out why that's happening, and I realized that normally I post to this blog during down time at work. However, I've been part of a new project at work that has been pretty time-demanding, so my limited downtime means there's no convenient time to write a post. I'm sure I'll get some more time as the project gets over the initial craziness.<br /><br />Let me catch you up a little. The weekend before last my family and I attended the funeral of my cousin's husband, who lost a year-long battle with brain cancer. He will be missed. It was a good funeral, which sounds a little strange, but what I mean is that although there was a lot of sadness and grieving, everyone was surrounded by the comfort of family and friends sharing happy memories. It was the perfect example of why we as humans have funerals. Also, there were a very many little children running around (my own included) reminding everyone that life is a cycle and we're all just at different points. It was very heartwarming to see the joy and comfort that a little kid can bring someone who is grieving.<br /><br />The Sunday following the funeral I got to take Griffin to his first Vikings game at the Metrodome. I got some really cheap nosebleed seats, but we both had a good time. By the end of the game Griffin got a little bored, but he did a great job doing the same thing for such a long time. Then that night we met Dina and the twins and some other family and went to the "Day in the Life of an Elf" display at Macy's downtown. That was pretty fun - Caden and Rohan had a bunch of "gasp!" moments. The kids got to sit on Santa's lap, and Rohan balled his head off for the picture. It was perfect!<br /><br />This last weekend, on Saturday, Dina and I each had chiropractor and haircut appointments. There was something really out of place in my right shoulder, and my chiropractor really had to work the muscles hard to get things back into place. It's still pretty sore today...I might have to make a follow-up appointment. The haircut was much more pleasant. I spend more than I probably should on a haircut, but I go to the same salon my wife goes to, and the relaxation is worth the extra cost. I almost feel like I'm cheating on my wife when I go, as the "haircut" also includes a scalp massage, shoulder rub, and hand and wrist massage. I am always a happy customer when I leave.<br /><br />Sunday was the extended family Christmas on my wife's side of the family. We drove out to Afton, MN, where Dina's aunt lives, and had a big meal and hung out with a full house of family for a few hours. Our kids are starting to get old enough that they can play independantly now, which means Dina and I get to actually talk to other people more, which is really nice.<br /><br />That evening we decided to take the kids to the Holidazzle parade, since it was the last night it ran and the weather was so nice. It was a lot of work to get them all bundled up and out there, but it was worth it. All three kids absolutely loved the entire thing. Griffin even said he wants to volunteer to be in the parade sometime!<br /><br />Well, that's all for now. Here's hoping I can keep up with this a little better in the future!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-35844500416830699802009-11-23T13:58:00.000-08:002009-11-23T13:59:34.632-08:00Playtime and alpacas and sculptures, oh my!We had a fun weekend this weekend. On Friday night Dina had a scrapbooking event, so I got to hang out with the boys, and I also had a chance to play around with recording a bass part in GarageBand for a little while. I also watched an episode of Fringe, which I am totally hooked on after watching the first four episodes.<br /><br />On Saturday morning Caden and Rohan woke me up early, so I got up with them and did the morning routine. When Dina got up a little while later, we all hung out for a while, then Dina left to run a bunch of errands while I took the boys out to a park to play. Gotta enjoy these days of fairly nice weather while we have them!<br /><br />That night Dina's mom and our niece babysat the boys while Dina and I had a date night. We went to our friend Kamini's place for wine, food, and fun. There's a group of friends that has a "wine night" once a month at a different person's house each time, and although we don't make it every month, we like to attend when we can, because it's always a good time! Dina and I even did karaoke for a song, which is unheard of for us. (The song was "California Dreamin'", if you were wondering.) It was past midnight when we got home, so we thanked our babysitters and got some sleep.<br /><br />The next day we got together with Dina's mom, her brother and his wife, daughter, and in-laws, and went to the open house of Spirit Song Alpacas, an alpaca farm near Lindstrom, MN. <br /><img src="http://spiritsongalpacas.net/images/191_Telavi_head.JPG"><br />Alapacas are pretty cool creatures. They're very docile, and very social, much like sheep, but are much more intelligent than sheep. The kids absolutely loved getting close to and touching the alpacas, who say hello by touching noses. I think someone got a couple pictures of kids touching noses with alpacas, which I'm sure are cute enough to be nearly illegal. This farm actually spins the fiber shorn from the alpacas into their own yarn, so they showed that process as well. Pretty cool.<br /><br />After checking out that place, we went down the road to Sunrise River Alpacas. Another alpaca farm, as you probably guessed. This place had more alpacas, but wasn't as welcoming, so we didn't stay too long.<br /><br />From there we drove to the Franconia Sculpture Park in Franconia, MN. That place is very cool. It's a free outdoor sculpture garden on a large chunk of land, so some of the pieces of art are really quite massive. Some of the pieces were your typical modern art head-scratchers...<br /><img src="http://www.franconia.org/artistpages/krinke/images/krinke_18.jpg"><br /><br />...but there were also some that were very cool:<br /><img src="http://www.franconia.org/artistpages/sspiczka/images/spiczka_13.jpg"><br /><br />By the time we were done there it was dark (which is happening pretty early these days) so we headed home for dinner and the bedtime routine.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-55740118934188499462009-11-13T14:04:00.000-08:002009-11-13T14:11:16.403-08:00Big Thing #1 That I Haven't Blogged AboutThe three of you that actually read this blog probably already know this, but I really should blog it for future reference in case I forget the details. :-) I traveled to London recently! I've slowly been writing the blog entry, and now I'm finally done, so up it goes!<br /><br />From October 25 - 28 I took a business trip to London. I presented at a transfer of information conference for our EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia) services and sales people. My purpose was to present the tech details of the new release of the software I've been working on.<br /><br />DAY ONE:<br />I flew out on Saturday night (left at 10:30 pm), and was sitting next to a guy who was on the first flight of his life, traveling from Louisiana to the UK to marry a woman he met playing Second Life. Yeah, really. He was a nice guy, but didn't let me sleep as much as I'd have liked. (Side note: he was an inspector for water treatment facilities, and he said that he'd NEVER drink the water that is processed by those places.)<br /><br />I arrived at Heathrow airport in London at about noon. Three of my coworkers were on the same flight, so we met up to head to our hotel, the Hilton London Metropole. We took a train to Paddington Station and walked about six blocks from there to our hotel.<br /><br />After getting settled in the other guys were going out to a rugby match with some other Oracle folks that night, but I went to visit my friend Tony and his family up in Milton Keynes, so I took the tube to Euston Square station, then a train from Euston to Milton Keynes, about a 45 minute train ride. Did I mention that public transportation in the UK is awesome? I had dinner with Tony, his wonderful wife Kate, and their fun little 6-month-old Jack. We chatted for a while, then it was back to the train station and back to London. I was pretty tired by then, and at one point I thought I'd gotten on the train headed AWAY from London rather than toward it. Luckily I was wrong, and I arrived back at Euston with no problems. I made my way back to my hotel room and crashed.<br /><br />DAY TWO:<br />I woke early on Monday morning to meet the other Oracle guys for breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast was fantastic - a buffet of English breakfast food, plus a bunch of fruit and breads of various sorts. After eating we took a commuter train out to Reading, about a half-hour train ride, which was where the Oracle office was actually located. A 20 minute bus ride from the train stop brought us to the front door of the office. I didn't actually present that day, so I spent the day talking to other people I knew and putting some polish on my presentation.<br /><br />After the conference was done, we took the train back to Paddington and got changed to go out to eat. One of the senior sales guys who lives in London took about a dozen of us out to <a href="http://www.maroush.com/pages/maroushGdns.htm">Maroush Gardens</a>, a Lebanese restaurant. I'd never eaten Lebanese, but it was awesome. It's very similar to Greek food. The sales guy knows the owner of this place, so they kept bringing piles and piles of delicious food and bottles of tasty wine. It was nearly midnight by the time we got back to the hotel, and I was absolutely stuffed. Some of the guys wanted to go hit a pub, but I was too bushed, so I headed to my room and crashed after catching up on some email and voice mail.<br /><br />DAY THREE:<br />Tuesday turned out to be the big day of the trip. The morning started out much like Monday, breakfast at the hotel, train and bus to the office. I didn't do much that morning, but I presented for a few hours that afternoon, and the presentation went great! There were lots of great questions, and people seemed really excited with some of the features in our new version.<br /><br />After the conference was done I headed back to the hotel with Steven, one of the guys that works on the same product I do. We decided to head over to Piccadilly Circus, because he wanted to go to this store called <a href="http://www.fortnumandmason.com/the-store.aspx">Fortnum & Mason</a>. I'd never been to a store like this. It's basically an upper-crust department store, with departments varying from grocery to stationery to crystal, all of it very high-end product. Apparently the Royal Family does a lot of shopping at this store. I bought a box of imported Iranian saffron for my wife.<br /><br />After that, we stopped at a bookstore; I wanted to pick up a copy of <i>The Gathering Storm</i>, but alas, it was sold out. I should have expected that. So Steven and I wandered up to Soho, and ended up at a great little pub called The Golden Lion. We had a couple of pints of beer and split a beef pub pie, which was pretty good. Then we got a text from another group of Oracle guys. They had reservations at a place called <a href="http://www.gauchorestaurants.co.uk/restaurants/restaurant.php?id=piccadilly">Gaucho</a>, an Argentinian steakhouse. This was just a few blocks away, back near Piccadilly, so we walked over there.<br /><br />Wow, what a meal. We started out with ceviche appetizers, moved to samplers of four big cuts of steak with a bunch of sides, and then had the ice cream dessert. The wine and cocktails were flowing, and we had a cute and friendly waitress, so it was a fun time. We were there until the place closed at 11pm, and then we decided to hit the streets since it was our last night there. We tried to go to the nearby <a href="http://www.belowzerolondon.com/">Absolut Ice Bar</a>, but it was closed. While we wandered we were approached by people trying to lure us into "private parties" at certain clubs, which was pretty funny. We ended up going to a club called <a href="http://www.tigertiger-london.co.uk/">Tiger Tiger</a>, a place with very loud but not horrible music. There were six of us, and we each bought a round of either drinks or shots, so...yeah...a lot of alcohol. It was about 2:30 am when we finally stumbled out of the place and found taxis home. I vaguely remember haggling with the taxi driver about how much we'd have to pay to get back to our hotel...I think I got a good deal. :-) <br /><br />It was 3:00 by the time I was back in my room, and I knew the next morning was going to be rough, because I had a 9:30 am flight back to the US. So I packed as much of my stuff as I could, laid out the clothes I'd wear the next morning, set my alarm for 5:30, and hit the pillow hard.<br /><br />DAY FOUR:<br />I woke slowly with a slight hangover with the light coming in the window seeming too bright. Far too bright, in fact. Looking at the alarm clock, it showed 7:30 am! I had overslept by TWO HOURS and was in very real danger of missing my flight. I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes, tossed the rest of my stuff into my suitcase, and headed out. Luckily I could do the express hotel checkout, so that didn't slow me down. I ran down to Paddington station to get my train to Heathrow. I bought my ticket and jumped on the train, and finally had a chance to sit down and take a breath. When I got to Heathrow I checked in and made my way through security. On my way to my gate I saw a bookstore - and they had a copy of <i>The Gathering Storm</i>! I picked that up and headed to my gate just in time; they were just finishing boarding. If ANYTHING had gone wrong on my way to the plane, I would have missed it.<br /><br />After we were in the air they brought us a breakfast meal, which was actually pretty good. With food in my stomach, I succumbed to the residual alcohol in my system and lack of sleep, and totally crashed. A few hours later I woke up and chatted with the guy next to me, an older man who turned out to be a wealth advisor for ultra-rich clients in Europe and the Middle East. (He was in coach only because he had to get a last-minute ticket to the States to attend a Bollywood movie premiere in New York for a client of his.) Pretty interesting guy. I tried to watch <i>Transformers 2</i> on the plane, but it was so bad I turned it off...instead I watched an episode of Fringe to see what that show was like. Turns out it's damn good, and I'll have to watch the rest of the episodes.<br /><br />I arrived in Detroit and went through customs, then went to my gate for my connecting flight to Minneapolis. After a short wait it was announced that the flight was delayed by TWO HOURS. Sigh. I talked to my wife on the phone for a while and read some of <i>The Gathering Storm</i> while I waited. Finally it was time to board, and I was off to home.<br /><br />I was pretty exhausted by the time I got home, but it was worth it. London is a really fun place to visit, and I definitely plan on returning. At the same time, being gone reminded me how much I love my family and the place I live, so I was glad to be home.<br /><br /><i>Coming Soon: Big Thing #2 That I Haven't Blogged About...</i>Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-3509251656406793462009-10-20T07:30:00.000-07:002009-10-20T07:59:19.279-07:00Time for a really quick catch-up post<span style="font-weight:bold;">October 10-11</span><br />Dina had her monthly scrapbooking workshop at our house, so I got to take care of the boys Friday night and Saturday. I took them to the zoo on Saturday, which was lots of fun (but a bit cold). On Sunday we all went to the mall and I bought a bunch of clothes, since I haven't bought clothes in a very long time, and I needed to restock for my work trip to London (I'll be there Oct. 25 - 28). Can't wait!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 16-17-18</span><br />Dina had a scrapbooking retreat she was helping organize, so my mom came up and helped me watch the boys all weekend. There was also some drama with my wife's side of the family, so sadly she wasn't able to relax as much as she would have liked.<br /><br />Oh, and I recorded a song over the weekend, which a friend from the Jabberboard turned into <a href="http://www.visi.com/~corey_nash/music/rainbow.mp3">this</a>, for the Jabberboard Coversong Challenge (Round 20). I played mandolin and sang, while he added all the other effects and remixed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">That brings us to now.</span><br />I'm wrapping things up this week at work and home to get ready for my trip to London, where I'm presenting at an info session about the product I work on. I'm really excited to go, though it'll be tough for Dina at home alone that many days with all the boys.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-78986268966836784172009-10-01T08:23:00.000-07:002009-10-01T08:50:37.207-07:00Wow...what a draining weekend that wasI meant to write this entry earlier this week, but it's basically taken me this long to recover from the weekend. On Friday Caden and Rohan were sick; they had colds that had moved into their lungs and had deep coughs. Dina asked me to stay home from work to help bring them into the doctor, so I did. <br /><br />We brought them to our clinic and the doctor had us <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebulizer">nebulize</a> them twice since they had short, wheezy breath. Rohan responded well, but Caden didn't, so the doctor checked Caden's blood oxygen level. The reading was so low he thought his machine was broken. We were informed that Caden would be taking an ambulance to <a href="http://www.childrensmn.org/">Children's Hospital in Minneapolis</a>. Dina rode with him while I took Griffin and Rohan back home. I dropped off Griffin with Uncle Guy, gathered some things to bring to the hospital, and drove over there with Rohan. Caden was in the emergency room getting oxygen, getting nebulized, and getting steroid treatments. They gave him an IV shortly after I got there, but they had to try five times before they got a good one...the poor kid was frantically unhappy.<br /><br />Eventually he got moved out of the E.R. to the regular area for kids with respiratory problems. They determined that his lungs were having an asthmatic reaction to the RSV virus. They were able to keep his oxygen level up if they gave him oxygen with a nose tube, so they wanted to keep him until they healed his lungs up enough to keep his oxygen up himself. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8r8kCsj0FZ2s6ESwd9n7-Nl8poiY87VOKyT24SIRQR3FUeggCdAvsYvlniFscxyAiRawV7XqYH1yNByBwEOhy4ktAdorNYToTgwOUkb0Ck_n7TSYb2BvjYailjJj3AzXBZuCtFMOgnXU/s1600-h/Caden+at+Children%27s.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8r8kCsj0FZ2s6ESwd9n7-Nl8poiY87VOKyT24SIRQR3FUeggCdAvsYvlniFscxyAiRawV7XqYH1yNByBwEOhy4ktAdorNYToTgwOUkb0Ck_n7TSYb2BvjYailjJj3AzXBZuCtFMOgnXU/s400/Caden+at+Children%27s.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387658526299454546" /></a><br /><br />For the next couple days Dina stayed with Caden while I drove back and forth from home to the hospital, bringing things Dina needed and shuffling Griffin between other family members. Caden steadily got better, but progress was slow. On Sunday we were making preparations for dealing with having him in the hospital for part of the work week, when the doctor surprised us with the news that he was comfortable with Caden going home that night! We were a little unsure and surprised, since the staff during the day told us to prepare for him to be there another day or two, but were were also happy and relieved to be going home.<br /><br />We still had to give both boys steroids twice a day for a few days (which they hated because of the terrible taste), and we have to use the nebulizer on both of them every four hours through today, then continuing as needed.<br /><br />Those events were pretty draining, so we've been keeping it pretty low-key this week at home. Hopefully this weekend will hold much less excitement.<br /><br />I'm very thankful to everyone that helped us out over the weekend, and to everyone who showed their concern and offered to help us out. We really appreciate it! <br /><br />Also, lots of thanks to Children's Hospital, which is an amazing place, filled with amazing doctors and staff. All of whom we hope never to have to see again. :-)Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-68864248540219761872009-09-21T07:19:00.000-07:002009-09-21T07:49:46.098-07:00Oops - missed a weekendQuick version of two weekends ago: Dina put on a Creative Memories workshop at our place on Friday night and Saturday, so I had the boys. Lots of playing at the park, lots of playing at home. Lots of fun. On Sunday we tried to go to the <a href="http://www.renaissancefest.com/MRF/">Renaissance Festival</a>. Actually, we did go, but it got up to about 90 degrees, and the twins were fighting off colds, so we were beaten down and went home defeated at about 3:00 (we usually stay from near-open to close). We didn't get to see our friends the <a href="http://www.fandazzi.com/">Fandazzi Fire Circus</a>, which disappointed us, as we heard their show is awesome this year.<br /><br />This last weekend was a lot of fun. Dina and I signed up for a winery bus trip through <a href="http://www.winestyles.net/haydenlake">WineStyles</a> in Champlin (great place - I gave Dina a year's membership in their wine club for Christmas last year). I was a little apprehensive about going, because I didn't know anyone besides my wife and I'm not generally very social. It turned out to be a ton of fun, though. Dina knows a couple people in the wine club and we got to sit next to them on the big coach bus. The plan was to drive to the <a href="http://www.bakerorchard.com/">Baker Apple Orchard </a>(owned by one of the wine club members) near Centuria, Wisconsin, then drive on to the <a href="http://www.chateaustcroix.com/">Chateau St. Croix Winery & Vineyard</a> in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. Oh, and on the bus, the wine flowed like...well, like wine, I guess. WE DRANK LOTS OF WINE. The most I've had in one day, I'm sure of it. Luckily it was spread through the whole day, so I wasn't trashed, just a bit dehydrated at the end of the day. The mix of people on the bus was interesting. There were more women than men by far, and there were some younger people there, including a bachelorette party, but most people were definitely older than my wife and I. Bus full o' drunken cougars, I tell ya. But it was still pretty fun. I'd do it again. :-)<br /><br />Here are some pictures from the winery:<br /><img src="http://www.chateaustcroix.com/Winery%20Virtual%20Tour%20Pictures/2007%20Chateau.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://www.chateaustcroix.com/Winery%20Virtual%20Tour%20Pictures/27.jpg"><br /><br /><img src="http://www.chateaustcroix.com/Winery%20Virtual%20Tour%20Pictures/Barrels%20in%20Cellar.jpg"><br /><br />After we got home from our crazy wino tour, we arrived to our house already full of Dina's brother and sister and their families. We were celebrating Dina's sister's birthday, and her son's birthday too. So that was fun.<br /><br />On Sunday Dina spent a lot of time getting stuff organized that we're going to sell at the <a href="http://www.northsidemoms.org/">Mothers of Multiples'</a> <a href="http://www.northsidemoms.org/northside_moms_003.htm">fall sale</a>, while I played in the backyard with the boys. I also watched the Vikings game that afternoon and Dina got her hair cut and colored. That night I bottled my Deep Dark Wheat beer. I'm excited to try it, and a little nervous, because I really don't know what it's going to taste like, or even if I'm going to like it. We'll see. I might soon be looking for a whole bunch of people who like Dunkelweizen! :-)Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-2395284645955174962009-09-08T08:39:00.000-07:002009-09-08T09:18:55.023-07:00Four-day weekends ruleI had Friday off to go to the <a href="http://www.mnstatefair.org/">State Fair</a> with my family and my mom. That was awesome! Mom came up Thursday night, so we got a good early start to the fair, which is incredibly important with three kids and a double-stroller. The Fair was the usual mix of awful/yummy food, games and rides for the kids, all kinds of animals, and a complete overload of things to see. I only have one good photo from my phone...I'll post more if I get them from my wife's computer. This is Dina and the kids watching a video (or not) at the Eco Experience:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn0TPfkyeiusWTBydtE_trfLfqVz0q4qTz-6fvnLGCXsN6GaQ7w32s3kvxL6rcO3r-_5qUME81txj8blLc0DH-7LoQ8muIGHPBXPR_0nxN-nlqK9LXkUbU4TeGGzoWg-ucIAd0Qf7fyY/s1600-h/fair.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn0TPfkyeiusWTBydtE_trfLfqVz0q4qTz-6fvnLGCXsN6GaQ7w32s3kvxL6rcO3r-_5qUME81txj8blLc0DH-7LoQ8muIGHPBXPR_0nxN-nlqK9LXkUbU4TeGGzoWg-ucIAd0Qf7fyY/s400/fair.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379123433194658466" /></a><br /><br />Here's a rundown of the fair food I tried (I didn't eat all of all of these, but at least tasted them all):<br /> - Spam breakfast sandwich<br /> - Spam curds<br /> - mini donuts<br /> - pancake batter covered sausages, fried on a stick<br /> - cheese curds<br /> - fresh lemonade<br /> - cheese on a stick<br /> - apple-flavored honey taffy<br /> - wine ice cream<br /> - chocolate-covered bacon<br /> - Summit Horizon Red Ale<br /> - peach-glazed pork cheeks<br /> - braised pork sandwich<br /> - corn bread<br /> - Sweet Martha's cookies<br /><br />Mmmmmmm. We were at the Fair from about 8:30 in the morning until about 8:15 that night. That's a lot of Fair, and we were completely wiped out at the end of the day, so we went home, cleaned up and went to bed.<br /><br />On Saturday morning we said bye to my Mom as she was heading to her lake cabin for the weekend. Dina and I had a wedding to go to that afternoon, so we spent the day getting the house cleaned up and getting ready to go. Dina's awesome brother and his awesome wife babysat the kids, so we had a free night out - woo hoo!<br /><br />The wedding was a lot of fun; it was at a beautiful downtown church, and was not your typical wedding, in that the readings were from <span style="font-style:italic;">The Velveteen Rabbit</span> and an Ogden Nash poem, and the wedding couple had everyone who attended the wedding bunch together in front for a big group photo, which I thought was very cool. <br /><br />The wedding was at 4 p.m., and lasted about 20 minutes - perfect! The reception wasn't until 7 p.m. at a wine bar out in the suburbs, though, so we went to Don and Bhavna's house (which was on the way) and drank some yummy beer and wine to pass the time. We got to meet their cute little dog Skippy, who pretends to be an ankle-biter, but really is not. The reception was at a little wine bar/bistro called <a href="http://www.schoolofthewise.net/school-ii">The School II</a>. Odd name, but a cool place. The party was great, with lots of talking with friends, good wine and beer, good food, and some really, really bad dancing. We had a good time and got home a little after midnight.<br /><br />Sunday was basically a recovery day from the night before. We did various stuff around the house that needed doing. Slowly. We also noticed that the younger two of our boys were getting head colds. That night was a rough night for sleeping since those two were coughing so much.<br /><br />On Monday we pretty much just ran errands and cleaned up the house. We bought a new kids' mattress, so now all 3 boys have regular mattresses (until then Caden had been sleeping on a crib mattress). We also rearranged their room so their mattresses are all along the same wall. It's pretty cute to see all three of them sleeping in a row like that. Someday they'll need more space, but for now it's cool. :-) Another errand I ran that day was picking up the windows and doors I had re-screened at the local hardware shop. Re-screening windows is one of the many house chores that falls into the category of "I could do this myself but the anger isn't worth it, so I'll pay someone else to do it." I'll get them all put back in tonight.<br /><br />All in all it was a fantastic weekend, and I'm looking forward to the week!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-39968324580594696832009-08-24T07:20:00.000-07:002009-08-24T07:43:12.921-07:00Weekend with the familyThis was a fairly uneventful weekend, but I got to spend a lot of time with our boys, and we had some fun moments at home.<br /><br />On Saturday Dina had a self-defense course with her sister, and they went to the salon and out to dinner that night. So I got to hang out with the boys all day. We pretty much just did a bunch of stuff around the house. Caden and Rohan had fun watching Griffin play with his tee-ball set:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvwIb-rGFxd2jdcSDUfJevCpOqoG60rsw7IqSNkhSaUeWZKSytWEjo-quMSIwYnYBue9he-VjElIMsuJGNCOPRuBvYMqmbyoSLusBiFUj3CaNkf0cyeV9n_OVpUQOK3aKNjgoqkMagVs/s1600-h/twins_watch_griff.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvwIb-rGFxd2jdcSDUfJevCpOqoG60rsw7IqSNkhSaUeWZKSytWEjo-quMSIwYnYBue9he-VjElIMsuJGNCOPRuBvYMqmbyoSLusBiFUj3CaNkf0cyeV9n_OVpUQOK3aKNjgoqkMagVs/s400/twins_watch_griff.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373537587825070034" /></a><br /><br />Griffin also had lots of fun catching grasshoppers. Our yard is crawling with them this time of year, so there are plenty for him to chase. He did manage to catch a couple of big ones like this (I love the fact that he's catching grasshoppers while wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigjW8yXsXgWERTn2-2-qWyQpuz4tbxfIjq7jgnfnWGG8RTDRM0ifrg6uj3ZbjPpmlRnzp1CmqmddpIHsNdsB7rfj9K7yWXnZnYsqG2CsyIi9AOw85I7S5lHboAFmCDMVyl_BxlqAXCgYA/s1600-h/grasshopper.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigjW8yXsXgWERTn2-2-qWyQpuz4tbxfIjq7jgnfnWGG8RTDRM0ifrg6uj3ZbjPpmlRnzp1CmqmddpIHsNdsB7rfj9K7yWXnZnYsqG2CsyIi9AOw85I7S5lHboAFmCDMVyl_BxlqAXCgYA/s400/grasshopper.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373537890328015890" /></a><br /><br />On Sunday Dina had a brunch with some friends and then had to run some errands, so I had the boys again. It's nice to watch them for Dina so she can get a break on the weekends. They can be pretty overwhelming, and she does a good job taking care of them during the week. Anyway, Sunday was much like Saturday, except I did a fair bit more cleaning and such around the house. I made some Salsa Verde with tomatillos and other veggies from our most recent <a href="http://www.harmonyvalleyfarm.com/csa.php">CSA </a>share box. Mmmmm....<br /><br />After Dina got back that afternoon her mom came over for a visit. I went out and mowed the lawn and did some other yardwork. My grass was pretty long; my back's been sore for a while, so I've been avoiding jarring it while mowing. My back is still sore, but I had to mow or it would have become a much more difficult job. I'm paying for it a little bit today.<br /><br />After Dina and I had dinner and got all the boys to bed, we actually had some time to hang out together, which was awesome. We shared a bottle of <a href="http://coreynash.blogspot.com/2009/08/beer-review-ommegang-chocolate.html">Ommegang Chocolate Stout</a> and munched on chips and my Salsa Verde while watching Law & Order. It was a good end to a good weekend!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-48122174012472467322009-08-24T07:01:00.000-07:002009-08-24T07:15:44.132-07:00Beer review: Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence StoutLast night Dina and I cracked open a bottle of Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence Stout:<br /><br /><img src="http://legalbeer.com/images/ommegang%20chocolate%20indulgence.jpg" /><br /><br />Dina bought this as a gift about a month ago, but until last night we hadn't had a good time to try it out.<br /><br />This beer is a share-me. I can't imagine someone drinking the whole bottle on their own...it's just too rich. It's a very dark, nearly opaque, brown color with a fairly thick light tan head. The beer is a Belgian style, with some sweetness, lots of malt, fairly mild hops, noticeable alcohol, distinctive Belgian yeast flavor, and all kinds of complexity in the taste. It tasted slightly different with every sip...as the beer warmed, different flavors came to the front, all of them dark and rich. There wasn't as much overwhelming chocolate flavor as I expected given the name, but you could definitely taste the chocolate notes throughout.<br /><br />I'd give this beer a 4 out of 5 stars, with the caveat that I could only handle about half a bottle every two months or so. Great beer...but meant for special occasions.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-36567446328144064762009-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:002009-08-18T08:42:16.644-07:00The Jab-Bar-GatheringOuch...I think I sprained something pun-related writing that. (For those who weren't there, this past weekend was the Jabbergathering 2.0, an in-person party for the members of an online message board. The party was dual-purpose this year, because <a href="http://stupidostrich.blogspot.com/">one of the attendees</a> recently took the bar exam after some grueling years of law school and even-more-grueling weeks of study.)<br /><br />Anyway, I'll back up a bit. I've got three kids, and my keep-cool skills were put to the test on Saturday. Long story short, my wife was out running errands, and my four year old decided to throw a toy at our TV. Crack - broken LCD screen - basically totalling the TV. I sent him to his room so I wouldn't yell at him, then called my wife. I think my exact words were, "What can I DO to Griffin?" I eventually calmed down, but Griffin knew I was pretty mad. He's been banned from TV of any sort for a while.<br /><br />I kept myself somewhat calm by reminding myself (many times) that 1) nobody got hurt, and TVs, though costly, can be replaced; and 2) I was going to the Jabbergathering that evening.<br /><br />Anyway, after all that, I was READY to get out of the house and go to a party. I got to the Jabbergathering at about 7:30, and grabbed a cup to make my own personal dent in the keg. The gathering contained all the typical trappings of parties amongst my friends:<br /><br />Drinking:<br /><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4cZnqxfI/AAAAAAAACpE/v1dcRgyp_gw/s576/Jabbergathering%202.0%20030.jpg"><br /><br />Poker:<br /><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4c35uTII/AAAAAAAACpI/D8gToP3kPQg/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20031.jpg"><br /><br />Watching Star Trek (sorta):<br /><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog41YO5asI/AAAAAAAACt0/UVxwS7ThwnE/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20110.jpg"><br /><br />Facial hair:<br /><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4rb68e4I/AAAAAAAACr4/BO4dhuGbMtI/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20075.jpg"><br /><br />And, of course, acoustic stringed instrument jams with guitars, bass, banjo, ukelele, mandolin, and mountain dulcimer:<br /><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4mf0q02I/AAAAAAAACq4/K6nnO5EWEpM/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20057.jpg"><br /><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4n9zKqYI/AAAAAAAACrM/hef8QC1v3-0/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20062.jpg"><br /><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4nKGtmWI/AAAAAAAACrA/pcmA9xn_6rE/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20059.jpg"><br /><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4movDzrI/AAAAAAAACq8/uQNH17buBIQ/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20058.jpg"><br /><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_LEuz5gGn9fA/Sog4ruZUpdI/AAAAAAAACr8/Yd1Y4Kj11w4/s800/Jabbergathering%202.0%20076.jpg"><br /><br />That jam was a ton of fun. Can't wait to play some more music!<br /><br />One bit of wackiness happened when an enormous tree across the street decided to drop a huge branch right onto the neighbor's house and car. I was with a group of people walking back to the house from <a href="http://www.thefourfirkins.com/">The Four Firkins</a> (a great beer store) when this happened. We heard it from about a block away and had no idea what the noise was. This was the scene the next morning:<br /><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 604px; height: 453px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-8sbNTgEZJ-ktb-TqHruTmGoMPzfNu0A7-g4Tc0GsB4jxHPEaeYbzLKE0H5vjdEN0XbXtvMYkXTLR1LQDnb2wi_Fwl01xs7ADbL_QkYwA6WT0IaF1px3Nh8dr_MR4yi-9EecIklYKq4/s400/limb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371327805351042402" /><br /><br />As you can see, the gods of mayhem rode wild that night. Luckily they didn't take interest in me, probably because I drank a LOT less than I did at the last Jabbergathering (after which I was roundly ridiculed by my loving wife :-) ). I was up at 7:30 the next morning and drove home to spend a fun day with the wife and kids at the park. It was a great weekend!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-15674695058354854602009-08-17T09:24:00.000-07:002009-08-17T10:13:59.449-07:00Anniversary!Two weekends ago Dina and I celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary. Twelve years - wow! It's been a lot of fun so far and I hope to celebrate many more great years in the future!<br /><br />For the occasion my mom came to town and babysat all three boys. Overnight! Dina and I had an entire night to ourselves, which is quite a luxury these days. We got a great deal on a hotel room in downtown Minneapolis through priceline.com. We had a fantastic dinner at Solera. Dinner consisted of about a dozen small gourmet appetizers, and they were all AWESOME. I've never had food quite like that. It ranged from roasted rabbit to braised asparagus to octopus ceviche. Yum! <br /><br />On our walk back to the hotel we heard there had been some severe weather in our area, so we called home to see how things were going. Turns out my mom had to move all the boys down to the basement because there was a tornado warning, but nothing actually happened. Yikes!<br /><br />We got back to the hotel and found out that, while we were gone, a fire alarm had sounded, so people had to evacuate the hotel. Turned out there was nothing wrong, someone had just pulled the fire alarm for no reason. (Interestingly there was an Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder support group event at the hotel that night. Hmm...)<br /><br />The next morning we packed up and headed out, and had one more meal together in private - we had brunch at Axel's Bonfire. Tasty stuff! But we were about the only people in the pretty big dining room, so that was weird. It felt like we rented the place out or something.<br /><br />After our meal we returned home to relieve my mom and return to our regular lives as parents. It was a wonderful and welcome break, though!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-10448100088636177932009-08-04T03:51:00.000-07:002009-08-04T04:16:47.312-07:00Catching upI haven't been blogging for a good long while now, so I figure it's time to write a catch up post. Really, if you're interested in what I'm doing, following me at http://www.twitter.com/coreynash is probably the way to go. Of course, I'm pretty sure the five or so of you that read this blog already follow me there. :-)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">July 11-12</span><br />This weekend we didn't do anything. Really, Dina and I did nothing but sit around the house and play games with the kids and each other. It was glorious after having so many crazy weekends before that.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">July 18-19 (and 20-21)</span><br />This was my vacation week. We spent two nights at a hotel in Duluth, MN, and then spent two nights at a hotel in Silver Bay, MN. We had fun in Duluth visiting the aquarium, walking around the Lift Bridge area, climbing Enger Tower to enjoy the view, and swimming in the hotel pool. Silver Bay was fun, too. There was a good hotel pool there, and we used the hotel as a base to visit the Split Rock lighthouse and Gooseberry Falls State Park. I love the North Shore. Absolutely beautiful. Great pictures. Didn't post 'em. :-) On the way back home we visited Betty's Pies, and stopped to visit an old college friend of Dina's. Good times! Oh, we also started <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/FAQ/">geocaching</a> while we were up there and found our first couple of caches.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">July 25-26</span><br />This weekend we drove out to Glenwood, MN, for Waterama, the local small town festival. We also had a little surprise birthday party for my wife. Waterama activities included a pontoon parade on big Lake Minnewaska, followed by fireworks close enough for the burnt bits to rain down on us (it was really quite spectacular). The next day there was a two and a half hour long parade in which Griffin scooped up a whole bunch of candy. Caden and Rohan slept through the entire thing (including dozens of sirens, lots of drum corps, stunt motorcycles and go-karts, and mock gunfire). <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">August 1-2</span><br />Saturday we went to the Science Museum with some <a href="http://www.lundo.com">good</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/amylundebrek">friends</a>, who had their godson with them. It was fun - the Science Museum is always fun! - but tiring. The next day we visited Dina's sister and her family to see their new kitty, Abner. (You can hear about Abner <a href="http://insideazeroth.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=510505">here</a>. That actually is a link to a World of Warcraft podcast called <a href="http://insideazeroth.libsyn.com/">Inside Azeroth</a> that Gretchen's husband co-hosts, but he tells the story of adopting Abner).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">August 8-9</span><br />OH WAIT THIS HASN'T HAPPENED YET. But it <span style="font-style:italic;">will be</span> Dina and my 12th wedding anniversary. 12 years - wow! My mom is coming up and will watch the kids while we go on a date. I can't wait!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-19775894334446771132009-07-14T08:36:00.000-07:002009-07-14T09:16:45.213-07:00Holy Crap I Didn't Blog About The 4th YetYou'd think that with my new iPhone I'd have no problem at all keeping up with blogging. My requirements are pretty easy: at least one blog a week, describing what I did that weekend and possibly the week before, plus occasional random entries with pics of the kids and what-not. The problem is that as cool as the iPhone is, it sucks for composition. It just is not the tool for doing more than small bits of typing. It's made for tweeting, not for blogging.<br /><br />Anyhow, our 4th of July weekend started on Friday. We packed up the van and ventured west to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=willmar,+mn&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.240201,79.013672&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=13&iwloc=A">Willmar, MN</a>, where my cousin Andrew has a house out in the country. He's done a lot of remodeling work on the place; it's really nice. Griffin always has fun there because Andrew's son Drew is close to Griffin's age (almost a year older). We hung out there that evening and let the kids go crazy playing in the yard. Then we drove over to Prinsburg, MN, and watched fireworks display #1. After that we went back to Andrew's and watched fireworks display #2 in his backyard. We slept in a guest room downstairs.<br /><br />On Saturday morning we got up, had some yummy breakfast, and started packing up our stuff. We put up our jumping house for the kids to play with while we were packing. Griffin and Drew dug into some watermelon:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11947910@N08/3720990702/" title="4th of July pics 001 by nashcor, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3520/3720990702_edb66eb746.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="4th of July pics 001" /></a><br /><br />We had our stuff all sitting outside ready to go in the van when it got very dark outside, then started to POUR. We got most of our stuff packed without it getting too wet, but it was raining really hard. We decided to let Griffin run around in the rain and mud - he had a blast!<br /><br />After cleaning up and drying off we drove to Benson, MN, to Dina's uncle's place. He hosts a family gathering for the 4th every year, and it's always a lot of fun. This year was no exception. We had lots of great fire-cooked food and a very relaxed time hanging out in lawn chairs and letting the kids play with squirt guns and water balloons. And tent boxes:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11947910@N08/3720178969/" title="4th of July pics 005 by nashcor, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2467/3720178969_7ce07814ff.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="4th of July pics 005" /></a><br /><br />At night Dina's uncle lit his bonfire to burn all the brush he'd cleared in the past year. The fire was enormous - the tops of the flames were at times above the tops of the surrounding trees. I had the twins in the stroller, and they were throwing old aerosol cans into the fire as well, so I kept my distance. Here's a pretty low-quality video of the top of the fire from about 100 yards away:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zOchYyhbPGU&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zOchYyhbPGU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />We also got fireworks display #3 later that night. Rohan slept through most of it, but Caden loved it - he clapped after every burst. :-) We camped there that night, which we haven't done in a while, and it was nice to do so again. The twins didn't sleep very well, though, so Dina got very little sleep.<br /><br />Sunday was all about packing up and heading home. We stopped by to say hi to my dad quickly, and stopped by my mom's place, but she was out of town at the lake cabin. We drove up to Dina's dad's place in Glenwood to drop off a present and install a printer. Dina grabbed a quick catnap, and then it was off to the freeway and back home!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-49058555589419458692009-07-06T07:37:00.000-07:002009-07-06T08:28:57.495-07:00June 26-28: At the lake cabinTwo weekends ago Dina's recently-remarried dad and his wife had a reception to celebrate their wedding at her family's lake cabin north of Fergus Falls, MN. Dina, her brother and sister, and all of our families decided to head out there to attend and meet the new family. We weren't sure where we were going to stay, since the lake cabin is a pretty small space without enough room for all of us, but Dina searched online and found a great place to stay called the <a href="http://www.countylinecabin.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi">County Line Cabin</a>. It's a house owned by an elderly couple who rent it out, often as a base camp for hunters. The house was great, though, and worked perfectly for our three families. The best part was that it was only about three miles from the reception. What a find!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.countylinecabin.com/county_line_cabin/images/1.jpeg"><br /><br />On the way there Dina and I got to play with the GPS + Google Maps feature of our iPhones, which was fun. We continue to love our iPhones. :-)<br /><br />We had a lot of fun staying up waaay to late at the house, playing outside at the house and cabin, and watching the kids swim in the lake. One of the relatives had a brand new pontoon (it was delivered the day before we got there), and he took us out for a ride. We went around the lake looking at cabins, and aside from almost sinking it by having too much weight in front when we stopped, it was a lot of fun! Actually, the almost-sinking was pretty fun, too, truth be told. <br /><br />Here are some pics from the weekend:<br /><br />Griffin snacking at the house<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11947910@N08/3693813797/" title="Griffin snacking at the house"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2600/3693813797_014b1155c9.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Griffin snacking at the house" /></a><br /><br />Rohan playing ladderball at the lake cabin<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11947910@N08/3694620032/" title="Rohan playing ladderball"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2487/3694620032_41b3445eb8.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Rohan playing ladderball" /></a><br /><br />Griffin, Caden, and Rohan playing Baggo<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11947910@N08/3693813593/" title="Griffin, Caden, and Rohan playing Baggo"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/3693813593_729fbf52d0.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Griffin, Caden, and Rohan playing Baggo" /></a><br /><br />Dina and Rohan on the pontoon ride<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11947910@N08/3694619256/" title="Dina and Rohan on the pontoon ride"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3604/3694619256_44f874d9c3.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Dina and Rohan on the pontoon ride" /></a>Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-43854278583227677952009-06-23T07:26:00.000-07:002009-06-23T08:25:22.808-07:00Father's Day: Camping at St. Croix State ParkThis weekend we decided to go camping at <a href="http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/st_croix/index.html">St. Croix State Park</a>, near <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hinckley,+mn&sll=37.579413,-95.712891&sspn=49.473225,79.101563&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14">Hinckley, MN</a>. Dina and I love to camp, and last year we didn't go at all since Caden and Rohan were so young. This was a trial run to see how they (and we) handled it, and to make sure we have everything we need for a longer trip to the North Shore later this summer. The weekend went well! We had packed a bunch of stuff on Friday night, then on Saturday morning we got up early and packed the rest and loaded up the van. It was pretty tight, with all five of us, our camping gear, and the dog. We headed out (after a couple of "oops, I forgot..." false starts) and started the drive north. Dina's sister was going to meet us at the park with her two boys, but on the way we talked to her on the phone and realized she was thinking of a <a href="http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/afton/index.html">different state park</a>, much closer. After getting that sorted out, all was good.<br /><br />We arrived at St. Croix State Park at about noon, right at check-in time. We'd reserved our campsite ahead of time, which is always a crapshoot when you don't know how wooded and private the campground is, but our site was pretty awesome. We got our tent set up and most of our bedding set up, and started doing camping-type stuff. A few hours later Dina's sister and her boys arrived, and they set up, then we all had good times together. Honestly most of the specifics escape me after I've been camping...it's just nice to get out, make a fire, and enjoy being outdoors with good people. It was hot during the day - 90s - but luckily there was a swimming area at the park. (Caden and Rohan decided to nap in the air conditioned van for that, so I was with them.) Campfire, hot dogs, snacks, fireflies, playing in the dirt, hiking, swimming, lots of laughing - it was a good time. Dina's dad Dean and his wife Karen even stopped by for a while; it was good to see them.<br /><br />The night was a little rough. It got colder than it does in our house, and Caden and Rohan had a tough time with that, so Dina was up much of the night soothing them in the tent. The boys and I let her sleep in that morning, though, so that worked out.<br /><br />Let me just say here that campfire breakfasts rule. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns cooked over a fire are one of life's Good Things. After breakfast Dina and I worked on packing up the site while playing with the kids. Gretchen had to leave right after breakfast; her boys were going to the Saints game with their dad for Father's Day. Dean and Karen stopped by again later that morning; they'd spent the night at a nearby B&B. Sunday was another hot day, but it was cloudy instead of sunny. The last thing we packed up was the tent, and just as we started taking it down the first drops of rain started to sprinkle down. The timing was perfect. We had a good trip home, and put away as much of our gear as we could manage before exhaustion set in. We definitely will return to St. Croix state park to see more of it; it's a huge park with many hiking and biking trails and two good-sized rivers, and I can see our family having a lot of fun there in the future.<br /><br />It was a fantastic Father's Day weekend for me. I love my family and can't think of anything I'd rather do than spend time with them. Happy belated Father's Day to all the other dads out there!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-37681298886664372602009-06-16T10:51:00.000-07:002009-06-16T10:59:16.744-07:00Fun picsMy wife put some pics up on Facebook...I just had to post some of them here.<br /><br />Griffin and Dina, with her awesome new haircut.<br /><img src="http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs111.snc1/4659_92108223417_805803417_1792226_6701859_n.jpg"><br /><br />Griffin met Spider-Man at the carnival on Sunday:<br /><img src="http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs091.snc1/4659_92109723417_805803417_1792241_3425673_n.jpg"><br /><br />Feeding the llama at the carnival's petting zoo:<br /><img src="http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs091.snc1/4659_92109728417_805803417_1792242_4808700_n.jpg"><br /><br />Griffin and friend Zaysha got to feed a giraffe at the MN Zoo!<br /><img src="http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs111.snc1/4659_92109733417_805803417_1792243_6075514_n.jpg"><br /><br />Caden smears frosting in his hair:<br /><img src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs091.snc1/4659_92109738417_805803417_1792244_5298263_n.jpg"><br /><br />Rohan smears frosting on EVERYTHING!<br /><img src="http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs091.snc1/4659_92109748417_805803417_1792245_4001052_n.jpg">Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-71661071562049059242009-06-15T07:42:00.000-07:002009-06-15T07:48:12.668-07:00A Just-Barely-Pre-Summer Summer Weekend!Weekends just don't get any more summery than this. On Saturday we went to the carnival for our city festival, the <a href="http://ci.champlin.mn.us/">City of Champlin</a> <a href="http://www.fatherhennepinfestival.com/Home_Page.php">Father Hennepin Festival</a>, so-named because Champlin is apparently the place where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Hennepin">Father Hennepin</a> first crossed the Mississippi in 1680. Dina and I had our three kids in tow, plus our niece Lizzy and nephew Devin. It was a good time - we checked out the little flea market area where local businesses have tents/games/advertising (and our local businesses appear to consist largely of chiropractors...I saw at least two model spinal columns). Then we hit the Tilt-a-Whirl and the older kids hit the Scrambler. Griffin went on a couple kiddie rides (the airplanes and the giant slide) and then we grabbed some carnival grub...hamburgers, a bucket of fries, and mini donuts, washed down with fresh lemonade. Then we walked over to the animals area, and Griffin went on a pony ride, we checked out the "exotic animals" petting zoo, and then Griffin, Devin, and Lizzy took a camel ride, which they all seemed to enjoy (even the camel). On the way back to our minivan, we saw a carnie go into heatstroke, or perhaps have a drug overdose...it was pretty freaky. Then Dina and I took a ride on the Scrambler, and Dina was on the outside...and got CRUSHED by me. She was squished and bent and pretty uncomfortable. Good thing there are so many chiropractors in town. That evening I thought about going to see an <a href="http://areabassist.com/">area bassist</a>'s show, but since we had family over decided against it. Devin and Lizzy went home with their parents later that night.<br /><br />On Sunday we did some stuff around the house, then packed up and took the kids to the <a href="http://www.threeriversparkdistrict.org/picks/beaches.cfm">swim beach at Elm Creek Park</a> near our house. <br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.threeriversparkdistrict.org/recreation/images/bakerbeach.jpg"></center><br /><br />It's a man-made pond with a big sandy beach around it. The water is slightly chlorinated, but not as heavily as at some swimming pools. It's a great place for the kids, and all three had fun splashing around and playing in the sand. Griffin's been taking swimming lessons at <a href="http://www.fossswimschool.com/">Foss</a>, and it really showed...he is so much more confident in the water now, which is awesome. We spent quite a few hours at the beach, so we were pretty wiped after we got home. We ordered pizza and had some more fun with the kids, then the kids went to sleep and Dina and I watched some Law & Order re-runs (and/or dozed on the couch). All-in-all a pretty awesome and laid-back summer weekend.<br /><br />And it's not even summer yet!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-91513040374888889402009-06-12T07:56:00.000-07:002009-06-12T08:28:55.992-07:00Four years ago yesterdayFour years ago yesterday, my life changed dramatically when my wife and I ceased being expectant parents and became the parents of a perfect little baby boy. When he was born I experienced this amazing mix of joy, fear, wonder, relief, sadness, disbelief, and (most of all) primal encompassing love for this tiny person I'd never even met.<br /><br />Happy birthday, Griffin!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-31323564122659472002009-06-07T16:22:00.000-07:002009-06-07T16:35:36.695-07:00Be warned...I know there are a variety of people who read this, so be warned: this just might be a bit of a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tmi">TMI</a> post. You may want to stop reading now if you're made squeamish by the words "pain," "needles," "doctor," or "vasectomy."<br /><br />Heh...well, with that introduction I guess you already know what my weekend was about. Ha Ha! Yes, on Friday morning I got a vasectomy. Dina and I decided that our family is just how we want it, so we made the decision. I won't give you all the gory details (though I am somewhat evilly tempted to do so...heh, heh, heh); suffice it to say everything went well and the only painful part of the procedure was the anesthesia injection. The whole thing took about an hour, and they'd given me a Valium prescription beforehand, so I was pretty calm. Lemme tell ya...it's really freaking odd having small-talk conversation with the person who's sterilizing you.<br /><br />Getting that done meant I basically wasn't supposed to do anything all weekend but sit around and play video games. That was pretty cool, except that there was some soreness and such. Luckily they gave me some Percocet for pain relief, which I did use the first day. After that, cold packs were all I needed. I was very happy that we got our bigscreen TV replaced before this weekend. I was feeling good enough to go to B33n3r's meat & beer party on Saturday (at which my kids kinda took over - sorry about that). It was fun to see everyone there, and now you all know why I was sitting on my butt on the comfy loveseat almost the whole time. :-) I'm hoping things go well at work tomorrow...they should; I'm feeling pretty good now.<br /><br />And that was the weekend. I promise not to write any more blog posts about my genitals.<br /><br />Well, not many anyway.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-475322352647399395.post-19196420071154513282009-06-07T16:06:00.000-07:002009-06-07T16:22:14.320-07:00Oops - missed a weekI seem to have missed a week. I blame that on the fact that the weekend I missed was so busy, and that I had my mind on this weekend.<br /><br />So last weekend (May 30/31) was a pretty full weekend. On Saturday my oldest son had a "swim meet." He's taking swimming lessons (and doing very well), and his school had a swim meet in which the older students actually race, and the younger students pretend to race. He got a ribbon for taking part, which he thought was pretty cool. Later that day there was a family swim, and that little 3-year-old swam a solid two hours without stopping. Unbelievable energy...<br /><br />Sunday morning Griffin had another activity; he's in a gymnastics class, and each Spring they have a show. He was with all the other kids around his age, and the kids basically showed what they learned on all the equipment. At the end, he got a trophy, and he had no idea that was coming. He was so excited he jumped up and down. He later told me, "this is the coolest trophy I've ever seen." I was very proud of him. :-)<br /><br />After his show, we got in the minivan and headed for Wisconsin - Wisconsin Dells. We had a one-night stay at the Great Wolf Lodge resort. The place was cool - a bunch of indoor waterparks and one outdoor waterpark, plus lots of activities for the kids and great food in the restaurants. Our room had a queen bed for the adults, and bunkbeds for the kids; the kids' beds were in a little room of their own that looked like a little log cabin inside the suite. Pretty cool! It would have been nice to stay more than one night. The timing was great - school wasn't out yet in most places, so there were hardly any other people at the waterpark. We didn't have to wait for anything...that rocked. I think we'll go back in a couple years when Caden and Rohan are old enough to really enjoy it.<br /><br />On Monday we spent some time hanging out at the resort, then took our time driving home. We didn't get home until pretty late. The next day we took Griffin, Caden, and Rohan to Pixar's "Up." Great movie! I'll be buying it.<br /><br />Another item of note - during this week we replaced our widescreen TV. Woo hoo! This time we got a Sony Bravia 46" LCD (the KDL-46V5100):<br /><br /><img src="http://www.displayblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/sony_bravia_kdl_46v5100_46_inch_1080p_lcd_tv.jpg"/><br /><br />It's an inch smaller than the LG we returned, but the LCD panel is a nicer panel, and overall we like this TV much better.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01742099025151152547noreply@blogger.com0