Party over here!

Party over here!, originally uploaded by den5769.

These photos were taken at my wife Sheila's 20 year Vineland High School Reunion, November 28, 2008. We had a blast and it was fun meeting all of Sheila's HS friends, some of which she knew since 2nd grade.

Enjoy! I don't remember everyone's name, so if you do please leave them in the comments on flickr.

VOTE

My voting experience was quick and easy. I think I spent more time confirming my ballot was marked correctly than I spent waiting in line.  I guess going at 8 in the morning will do that for you.  Plus, there really has never been much of a line where I vote in Upper Darby... don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  But this morning there was 4 people in line... shocker!

I wasn't expecting it, but the historical significance of the moment totally overwhelmed me, and I will admit that I got something in both of my eyes when I voted for Barack Obama. 

I'll admit it, I was a little verklempt.  To top it off, as I came out of the polling place... Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles came on my iPod... NO LIE!!  It felt like I couldn't have scripted it any better.

I've voted in every election since 1988, and this is the first time in 8 years I've ever felt genuinely hopeful when I cast my ballot, instead of resigned.  I was elated! 

Have you voted? Feel free to share your experience if you like.

Change We Need Rally with Barack Obama

SO, I went to the Obama Rally at Widener University this morning. I figured this would be the last time I would be able to see him speak before the election.

Well, I can say I was there... what I cannot say is that I could hear him very well - crowd spend most of their time yelling "put your umbrella down, I can't see!". I could see him, but not close enough to see his lips move.

I left about 8:20AM... for some reason I thought I'd get there in 30-40 mins. Traffic was backed up seemingly from my driveway. I finally get on 476 and things are moving fairly well... it's about 9:25AM when I see police lights behind me. It's Ombama's motorcade... three highway patrol cars, two black SUVs (secret service?), two touring buses and a bunch of other misc. cars with "staff" in the window.

The highway patrol is making everyone pull over, I guess because Barack was running late. So I said, screw it, and tailgated the trailing patrol car and followed them all the way to Widener. That was of course until we got off the exit and they let the motorcade though and blocked me... the nerve of them!

So I had to hunt for a parking space, so of course everything was full so I pulled into an alleyway and pryed my cars would be there when I got back.

I walked in the wind and rain and of course its a mob scene... I had told my bosses husband about the rally and he lives much closer to Chester and got there about an hour before me. so he was right up near the stage. I got funneled into a muddy field... and you can see be the blurry picture that there was a large empty area between the first crowd and where I was, I wouldn't understand why we couldn't all move up... crowd control or security I guess.

Anyway, I heard a few things he said... he only spoke for like 20-25 mins. At least I can tell my kids I was there! Wet and cold, but I was there!

I'm planning to volunteer this weekend. Join me if you like!

Boys get new bikes!

My Dad stopped by t his morning the drop off bikes for the boys... they really enjoyed seeing Grandpop and playing on the bikes.  Click here to see the photo gallery.

The cup in your hands

I found this excerpt online recently from the book "The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hanh. The book originally started out as a letter written to Brother Quang in 1974, which was then later translated and published. While I am an active Nichiren Buddhist in another sect, I really found this insightful. It reminds me of the Buddhist principle of “three thousand realms in a single moment of life” (Jpn: ichinen sanzen).

There is much written in Buddhism about living in the present moment and I am really trying to live this way in my own life. I hope you enjoy this excerpt:

The cup in your hands
In the United States, I have a close friend named Jim Forest. When I first met him eight years ago, he was working with the Catholic Peace Fellowship. Last winter, Jim came to visit. I usually wash the dishes after we've finished the evening meal, before sitting down and drinking tea with everyone else. One night, Jim asked if he might do the dishes. I said, "Go ahead, but if you wash the dishes you must know the way to wash them." Jim replied, "Come on, you think I don't know how to wash the dishes?" I answered, "There are two ways to was the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes to wash the dishes." Jim was delighted and said, "I choose the second way--to wash the dishes to wash the dishes." From then on, Jim knew how to wash the dishes. I transferred the "responsibility" to him for an entire week.

If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not "washing the dishes to wash the dishes." What's more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact, we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can't wash the dishes, the chances are we won't be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life."
~The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

Obama Staffer Effectively Debunks McCain Ad

This is a great way to respond to these continued McCain Attack ads, just debunk it point by point.  Give it a look!

I'm in the new JibJab Video! Can you spot me?

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

MJ's 5th Birthday

So we had MJ's 5th Birthday Party today... it went pretty smoothly and it was great seeing everyone who came. I got flex my new gas grill's muscles. My father-in-law was grillin (well, frying since he likes to use aluminum foil) his famous ribs. They took some time so I was on the other side grillin burgers and dogs as fast as I could.

I must have been at it for over 90 minutes straight until the demand went down. So, I was able to meet and greet and get some BBQ. The ribs seemed to evaporate as fast as they came off the grill, yes Lee is the rib master. I have one rib... one.

My cousin Michele and her husband Martin moved back to the US in November '07 after 14 years in the UK (where She met her lovely husband). But other than seeing them at their welcome back party, we haven't seen each other. I've been trying to get together with them and was delighted when they said they could come to the party.

Now a bit of background info... Michele emails me a few days before the party to ask what MJ likes... I told her Spiderman and Star Wars are his two main loves (he is my son after all). So she then asks if he had a lightsaber. I told her he had a few cheap plastic ones, that was about it.

So they drive up and as they are getting out of the car I see this four foot long box. Now I had conveniently forgotten about the lightsaber conversation... so I'm like what the heck could they have brought?

After eating soms great BBQ and cake, MJ has patiently waited for the grown-ups to be get their collective arses together so he could open his gifts. So he got some nice stuff, plenty of clothes and toys... my brother of course gives him the noisiest toy, a interactive EVE doll from WALL-E and my mother got him Lego Indiana Jones for the 360.

So then he gets to opening Michele and Martin's gift... and it's not a toy lightsaber, it's a REAL Lightsaber! Well, as real as you can legally get without consulting directly with George Lucas. The gave him a Force FX lightsaber! These are official replicas made by Lucas Arts - the same kind the Star Wars fanboys use to make their YouTube videos. It even comes with it's own display stand like some sort of samurai sword.

Ok, so I kind of geeked out a bit inside as I helped him open his lightsaber. It was pretty cool, I must admit. It quickly stole the show... and all of MJ's attention (and mine ;-). Michele said this was the first "toy" they ever bought... well, if they keep buying toys like this they'll be invited to every birthday party from now, including mine ;-)

Oh, and anyone who thinks I'll be sneaking downstairs at 1AM to play out the Darth Vader & Luke Skywalker duel from Empire Strikes Back in my underwear, that is utterly ridiculous.

Anyway, more pics on Martin's flickr site.

Sheila's profile

Sheila's profile, originally uploaded by Time Shooter.

I took this for the monthly timeshoot for http://cameracon.ning.com/
I took one of Liam and one of MJ as well, take a look at the flickr feed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timeshoot/

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone has a great holiday! Today is my mother's 65th Birthday! So my brother and I are taking her out to a late lunch / early dinner (since that's not brunch, is it linner?) and possibly a movie.

Tori's First Flute Solo!

Here is my daughter Victoria's first flute solo at her schools spring concert! Enjoy!

Taylor making a root beer float

Here's my daughter Taylor making a root beer float at Old Country
Buffet.

Finding time to blog more

I do want to blog... But who has the time anymore. I mean there's all of these social networking sites.... Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, etc. Who has enough interesting things to say in all of these various spheres.

I don't know frankly, I barely have enough time to do what I should be doing rather than what I want to be doing.

You too? Tell me about it.

So, I will try to blog more... I have a blog on my own site www.deniken.org but I used iWeb to set it up and there is no 'email to blog' function that I am aware of... so the only way to blog it so open iWeb when I am home and able to get my kids to stop playing The Sims and off of my Mac, and that's too limiting.

I need an outlet, even if no one reads this... It will be therapeutic for me at least.

That's all for now.