Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

"But he's holding it!"

-a little girl in the audience continuously yelled this when the performer, for obvious comedic reasons, was holding tight to his sword preventing the other performer from drawing it.

Birthdays are great as a kid because presents seem to be given to you for free, without any strings attached. As you grow older and have a family, you realize that Birthday presents are being purchased out of your communal funds and, indirectly, you are buying your own gifts. This conundrum has drained some of the magic from birthdays for me. I'm not sure how to clearly explain it, but gifts received for free always seem a bit different than a gift which costs our family. This makes the gift seem less like a gift, more like a present to yourself.  read more »

1 pound bread flour, plus extra for shaping
1 teaspoon instant rapid rise yeast
2 teaspoons honey
10 ounces bottled or filtered water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 quarts hot water
Vegetable oil, for greasing the rising container
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Combine 5 ounces of the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the yeast, all of the honey, and all of the bottled water in a straight-sided container; cover loosely and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours.  read more »

I was reading up on Rick Riordan to see if there was any news of how far away the next Percy Jackson book is from being released, and I came upon the saddest news I've heard in a while.  read more »

While one of the more suspenseful Terry Pratchett novels I've read, this book doesn't take the cut as being one of his best told stories, along the lines of Men at Arms or Sourcery. I did appreciate the humor of affirmative action in a City patrol made of warring factions of races. I could laugh at the continuing puns that ran rampantly through this book. I even felt for the heartfelt and touching moments at the end of the book with Dorfl.  read more »

Jingo, by Terry Pratchett, is another in the City Watch series with all your favorite characters.

This book, however, was boring. I prefer the Patrician to be a sideline character, and not a principle adventurist. It wasn't as believable to have his character trekking across the known world to save the day when he should be smart enough to get other people to do it for him.  read more »

Keep walking, but you won't knock down our wall.
Keep walking. But she isn't gonna to fall!
It's plain to see, your brains are very small..
To think walking, will be knocking down our wall.

- the French Peas, Veggie Tales song Keep Walking!

This week marked our fourth anniversary. We felt fortunate to be able to celebrate on our anniversary itself; last year I was at Girl's Camp on the day. And so we went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate -- probably the nicest we've ever been to, though I know there are nicer places out there in the world. What better way to celebrate than with cheese and chocolate fondue (no, not in the same course)?  read more »

Happy Anniversary to Wayne and Rebecca. It has been four wonderful years of marriage, one sealed for eternity.

Comcast doesn't work on our computer. I call them up. They say:
"Unplug the power to your modem."
"I already did that."
"Do it anyways. Do you use a router?"
"Yes."
"Here at Comcast we strongly discourage that you use a router. Plug the internet directly into a desktop."

How am I supposed to use my wireless connection on my laptop?
There is no answer. There never will be from a company who believes that their customers shouldn't use a router.