what's that lump?

just some pictures, that's all.

2007-02-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

restaurateur. tax preparer. hero. american.

matt and lucy bundling up.

snow shoeing.

two grandma's, janina and karl.

jack and hugo.

two cute mom's.

whhhaaaaaaaattttt?

.....and i do my little turn on the catwalk.

jeremy and matt (and snotrod).

three grandma's.

eating swede pancakes.

lower branches of the family tree.

jen and soosh downstairs.

Tyler.

2007-02-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

April 1994 - February 2007

Tyler was very peacefully and painlessly laid to rest this morning. He was 13. He was diagnosed with cancer last month and his condition began to deteriorate rapidly over the last several days.

We were fortunate to have Ty as part of our family for 12 years. We learned many things from our little buddy in his life. For example, did you know it is possible for a dog to poop on the ceiling? It is if they eat an entire roll of Tums! Ty was the only dog I have ever known that could open the refrigerator on his own and help himself to hot dogs, sticks of butter or whatever else struck his fancy. There are thousands of things I could say about Tyler but what stands out in my mind is the fact I liked Tyler more than 99% of the people I have ever known in my life.... He was my only companion during some mighty trying times and the most loyal friend a guy could ever have.

I love you Tyler and thanks for making our lives better.

obligatory blizzard pictures

2006-12-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

"helping" shovel the walk

3 feet high and rising

workin' the quads

never too much snow for croquet

tyler blazing a poop trail

the strahl compound

the k car aint goin' anywhere

The Power of Lutefisk

2006-11-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

By Clay Shirky

"Lutefisk" is an infamous Norwegian dish composed of fish soaked in lye. Want to know more?

It is my wont when travelling to forgo the touristic in favor of the real, to pesuade my kind hosts, whoever they may be, that an evening in the local, imbibing pints of whatever the natives use as intoxicants, would be more interesting than another espresso in another place called Cafe Opera. Chiefest among my interests is the Favorite Dish: the plate, cup, or bowl of whatever stuff my hosts consider most representative of the regions virtues. As I just finished a week's work in Oslo, this dish was of course lutefisk.

The Norwegians are remarkably single-minded in their attachment to the stuff. Every one of them would launch themselves into a hydrophobic frenzy of praise on the mere mention of the word. Though these panegyrics were as varied as they were fulsome, they shared one element in common. Every testimonial to the recondite deliciousness of cod soaked in lye ended with the phrase "...but I only eat it once a year."

When I pressed my hosts as to _why_ they would voluntarily forswear what was by all accounts the tastiest fish dish since pussy 364 days a year, each of them said "Oh, you can't eat lutefisk more than once a year." (Their unanmity on this particular point carried with it the same finality as the answers you get when casually asking a Scientologist about L. Ron's untimely demise.)

Despite my misgivings from these interlocutions however, there was nothing for it but to actually try the stuff, as it was clearly the local delicacy. A plan was hatched whereby my hosts and I would distill ourselves to a nearby brasserie, and I would order something tame like reindeer steak, and they would order lutefisk. The portions at this particular establishment were large, they assured me, and when I discovered for myself how scrumptious jellied fish tasted, I could have an adequate amount from each of their plates to satiate my taste for this new-found treat.

Ah, but the best laid plans... My hostess, clearly feeling in a holiday mood (and perhaps further cheered by my immanent departure as their house guest) proceeded to order lutefisks all round.

"But I was going to order reinde..."

"Nonononono," she said, "you must have your own lutefisk. It would be rude to bring you to Norway and not give you your own lutefisk."

My mumbled suggestion that I had never been one to stand on formality went unnoticed, and moments later, somewhere in the kitchen, there was a lutefisk with my name on it.

The waitress, having conveyed this order to the chef, returned with a bottle and three shot glasses and spent some time interogating my host. He laughed as she left, and I asked what she said.

"Oh she said 'Is the American _really_ going to eat lutefisk?' and when I told her you were, she said that it takes some time to get used to it."

"How long?" I asked.

"Well, she said a couple of years." replied my host.

In the meantime, my hostess was busily decanting a clear liquid into the shot glass and passing it my way. When I learned that it was aquavit, I demurred, as I intended to get some writing done on the train.

"Oh no," said my hostess, donning the smile polite people use when giving an order, "you _must_ have aquavit with lutefisk."

To understand the relationship between aquavit and lutefisk, here's an experiment you can do at home. In addition to aquavit, you will need a slice of lemon, a cracker, a dishtowel, ketchup, a piece of lettuce, some caviar, and a Kit-Kat candy bar.

1. Take a shot aquavit.
2. Take two. (They're small.)
3. Put a bit of caviar on a bit of lettuce.
4. Put the lettuce on a cracker.
5. Squeeze some lemon juice on the caviar.
6. Pour some ketchup on the Kit-Kat bar.
7. Tie the dishtowel around your eyes.

If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk. Return to step one.

The first real sign of trouble was when a plate arrived and was set in front of my host, sitting to my left. It contained a collection of dark and aromatic food stuffs of a variety of textures. Having steeled myself for an encounter with a pale jelly, I was puzzled at its appearance, and I leaned over to get a better look.

"Oh," said my host, "that's not lutefisk. I changed my mind and ordered the juletid plate. Its is pork and sausages."

"But you're leaving for New York tomorrow, so tonight is your last chance to have lutefisk this year" I pointed out.

"Oh well," he said, tucking into what looked like a very tasty pork chop.

Shortly thereafter the two remaining plates arrived, each containing the lutefisk itself, boiled potatoes, and a mash of peas from which all the color had been expertly tortured. There was also a garnish of a slice of cucumber, a wedge of lemon, and a sliver of red pepper.

"This is bullshit!" said my hostess, snatching the garnish off her plate.

"What's wrong," I asked, "not enough lemon?"

"No, a plate of lutefisk should be totally gray!"

Indeed, with the removal of the garnish, it was totally gray, and waiting for me to dig in. There being no time like the present, I tore a forkful away from the cod carcass and lifted it to my mouth.

"Wait," said my host, "you can't eat it like that!"

"OK," I said, "how should I eat it?"

"Mash up your potatoes, and then mix a bit of lutefisk in, and then add some bacon." he said, handing me a tureen filled to the brim with bacon bits floating in fat.

I began to strain some of the bits out of the tureen. "No, not like that, like this" he said, snatching up the tureen and pouring three fingers of pure bacon grease directly over the beige mush I had made from the potatoes and lutefisk already on my plate.

"Now can I eat it?"

"No, not yet, you have to mix in the mustard."

"And the pepper" added my hostess, "you have to have lutefisk with lots and lots of pepper. And then you have to eat it right away, because if it gets cold its horrible."

They proceeded to add pepper and mustard in amounts I felt were more apporpriate to ingredients rather than flavors, but no matter. At this point what I had was an undercooked hash brown with mustard on it, flavored with a little bit of lutefisk. "How bad could it be?" I thought to myself as I lifted my fork to my mouth.

The moment every traveller lives for is the native dinner where, throwing caution to the wind and plunging into a local delicacy which ought by rights to be disgusting, one discovers that it is not only delicious but that it also contradicts a previously held prejudice about food, that it expands ones culinary horizons to include surprising new smells, tastes, and textures.

Lutefisk is not such a dish.

Lutefisk is instead pretty much what you'd expect of jellied cod; it is a foul and odiferous goo, whose gelatinous texture and rancid oily taste are locked in spirited competition to see which can be the more responsible for rendering the whole completely inedble.

How to describe that first bite? Its a bit like describing passing a kidneystone to the uninitiated. If you are talking to someone else who has lived through the experience, a nod will suffice to acknowledge your shared pain, but to explain it to the person who has not been there, mere words seem inadequate to the task. So it is with lutefisk. One could bandy about the time honored phrases like "nauseating sordid gunk", "unimaginably horrific", "lasting psychological damage", but these seem hollow when applied to the task at hand. I will have to resort to a recipe for a kind of metaphorical lutefisk, to describe the experience. Take marshmallows made without sugar, blend them together with overcooked Japanese noodles, and then bathe the whole liberally in acetone. Let it marinate in cod liver oil for several days at room temprature. When it has achieved the appropriate consistency (though the word "appropriate" is somewhat problematic here), heat it to just above lukewarm, sprinkle in thousands of tiny, sharp, invisible fish bones, and serve.

The waitress, returning to clear our plates, surveyed the half-eaten goo I had left.

She nodded conspiritorially at me, said something to my host, and left.

"What'd she say?, I asked.

"Oh, she said 'I never eat lutefisk either. It tastes like python."

and now for something lighter

2006-11-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

click here to see why i love the japanese.

DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!!

2006-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

COULD THIS DAY GET ANY BETTER!!!!! ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO!

2006-11-08T07:34:00.000-08:00

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh my what a wonderful day!
Plenty of sunshine heading my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay

Mister Bluebird on my shoulder
It's the truth, it's actch'll
Ev'rything is satisfactch'll
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
Wonderful feeling, wonderful day!

sick to my stomach

2006-11-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

the punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime

2006-10-30T21:02:00.000-08:00

uggh

2006-10-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhgggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

i'm so stupid

2006-10-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

so... been wanting to get matthews blog back up and running but for the life of me i can't remember the password or the email to have the password sent to. i may have to start from scratch but should be going soon.

in other news, things around the strahl compound are going well. jen has made a complete recovery and only has some lingering soreness. matt is growing like a weed and we are considering getting him started in pre-school soon for at least a couple days a week.

to those of you in the croquet circles, ben and i put our money where our mouths are and played the first game of snowquet yesterday in 6" of mushy wet snow. it was fun and we hope to have more games with all of you as winter progresses. i have a few pictures that i'll put up soon (ben won both games we played - shock of shocks). in other croquet news, i had the thrift store find of the year on tuesday which i'll also post a picture of soon (hint: it has a square head, weighs over 3 pounds and has a long thin shaft - insert penis joke here).

hope all are well and thriving up and down the line. all my love-greg

random[ish] -

....Meanwhile "Black sheep, black sheep!" we cry,
Safe in the inner fold;
And maybe they hear, and wonder why,
And marvel, out in the cold.
(taken from the poem Black Sheep by Richard Eugene Burton)

"... For all right judgment of any man or thing it is useful, nay, essential, to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad." - Thomas Carlyle

and finally.....

"if only closed minds came with closed mouths." - unknown

told you so

2006-09-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

A conversation I had with, oh, i don't know, a couple thousand people last year went something like this:

Me: The fact that the government is trying to tell business owners what they can and can't do in their establishments should frighten you.

Random person: Yes, but it's cigarettes and the second hand smoke is a hazard to others around them.

Me: True. but don't those people also have a choice.... Like going to establishments that already don't allow smoking? (which in Denver was roughly 45% of restaurants to begin with)

Random person: Yes, but it's cigarettes and they are bad for everyone.

Me: So is alcohol and fatty foods. Smoking bans are just the begining. If you think some do-gooders won't be going after your booze and Big Macs sooner than later you just aren't paying attention!

Random person: Yeah, right! They would never ban booze (ummmm. PROHIBITION??) and the notion of the government trying to ban fatty foods is just ridiculous.

So..... read the link below. I know the general reaction will be the typical one of "Oh, this won't happen." But it will. I'm a bit taken back by the fact that it's NYC and not some city in California, but it will happen. It's already starting and it should PISS YOU OFF.

NYC WANTS TO BAN TRANS FATS IN ALL RESTAURANTS

HALLELUJAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-08-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

coming up for air.....

2006-07-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Team Strahl is alive and well. Been taking and extended break from the blogosphere to get in as much summertime fun as possible. Although we have seen almost all of you alot in the past few weeks I thought i'd pop in and put up some pics up just for shits and giggles. Here's the quick summary:

Jen got a new job at the University of Denver and her life (and ours in turn) has become much happier! The big upside to her getting this gig is that she can now go to grad school for free since they have a similiar deal to what they had at Regis.

Greg is plugging away trying to eek out a few bucks online while taking care of a very rambunctious 3 1/2 yr old.

Matt has grown nearly 6" since his birthday in Janurary and is nearly unrecognizable even to us somedays.

On the whole, life at the Strahl compound is good. We are too broke to pay attention but that is familiar ground =)

I hope all are well and thriving and we send all our love to everyone in the tree.

TURN ON YOUR WEBCAMS FROM TIME TO TIME!!!

singin' in the rain

screamin' in the rain

the new train table (built by none other than dad!!)

mother and son (she spits on him shortly after this is taken)

a columbine at emerald lake (pat's finger in the background)

dad looking at elk from the hood of pat's dodge on the road to gothic

pat's screwball (but awesome) hounds

mom looking at elk from the road to gothic

the dam at taylor resevoir

pat finding the elk for us to look at on the road to gothic

matt getting off the carousel at the denver zoo

summertime, and the livin's easy

2006-05-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

summer is finally here! actually it kinda feels like it's been here since march since it hasn't rained in two months but that's neither here not there. the pool is up and the boy couldn't be more thrilled.

in gardening news... jenny's lily's are thriving and making the place smell as sweet as a mexican wedding!

barb the builder

2006-05-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

aunt "B" can stare down proudly at the rest of us from atop Mount "Greatest Person In The History Of The World." sure, some of us have taken matt to "look" at tractors, which is o.k., i guess.... but aunt "B" took matt onto an actual construction site!!!! so there! thanks also to principle jim at ralston valley high.

gone fishin'

2006-05-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

hey all! thanks for the concerned mail!! all is well at the strahl compound. we are taking a brief break from the blogs to get the homestead whipped into shape for the summer. we'll get back on track, mainly with MATTY'S blog, in a week or so. in the mean time, in between time, HERE'S something to read ;)

hope all are well and thriving,

greg

five five seventy five

2006-05-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

faded blue jeans. green and grey striped shirt. blue jacket with white sleeves. that's what jen was wearing the first time i saw her. i remember it so vividly that it may have well been an hour ago. i was sitting in a coffee shop with my friend macdowell and when i saw her i told him i was going to marry that girl. it was a classic case of love at first sight and now it's twelve years on.... today is jen's birthday. much like every other day of my life for the past twelve years, i woke up this morning feeling like the luckiest S.O.B. on the face of the earth. happy birthday baby! click the flower for a sure-fire smile ;)

into the green wide open

2006-05-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

it only took us six months, but we finally decided to use the basement! with summer looming and no air conditioning, it seemed like reason enough. things have been relatively quiet at the strahl compound. i've thrown myself full tilt back into ebay so that i can actually get paid to sit in front of the computer all day. we've all been sick but seem to finally be getting over it. i have a ton of stuff to post and hopefully will be getting to it soon! thanks to PAT, master of all links, for passing THIS along. very cool stuff for those of us too cheap to buy an ipod! hope all are well and thriving.

too many toys

too many toys two

mom and dads corner

when warm air meets cold air

2006-04-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

So in a summer preview we just had a sudden and nasty hail storm. Not the slushy, break apart kind, but the quarter sized, dent making kind. I would guess any cars that weren't garaged will be off to the body shop! We managed to capture some video which you can see by CLICKING HERE.

power raking. muscle pulling. nature hating.

2006-04-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

....i bet barbara streisand was never forced to rake grass....

Memories light the corner of my mind.
Misty water color memories
Of the way we were.

Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind,
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were.

Can it be that it was all so simple then,
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again,
Tell me? would we? could we?

Memories may be beautiful and yet,
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget.

So it's the laughter
We will remember,
Whenever we remember
The way we were;
The way we were.

happy "k" day

2006-04-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

please resist the urge to tell me its already the 7th in australia.... i'm aware =)

another birthday for another one of my 3 favourite seeeesters.

for those of you who have been forunate enough to visit kiki in the land down under, you can attest to the fact that it is quite a life our girl has made for herself there. i'm certain i can speak for the whole damn clan when i say how proud i am of you, kris. the job you and boris have done with those beautiful girls is incredible to say the least. i'm also certain i can speak for the whole damn clan when i say that a day doesn't pass when you are not in our thoughts. i'll be stopping now to avoid the inevitable emotional breakdown that normally accompanies such thoughts!!

at any rate, hope you have/had a wonderful b-day and know, as always, that i love you!

greg

it's a jeep thing (even i don't understand)

2006-04-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

on the road again! kinda like willie ridin' outta tey-haus on his hog (minus the tax trouble and marijuana, of course). A MILLION THANKS TO PAT FOR ALL HIS HELP!!!! if any one asks, we live in crested butte ;) thanks to mike also for the electrical tip...... mike, you may want to take this opportunity to put a filter on your e-mail to block paris1938@yahoo.com

happy "B"-day

2006-04-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

happy birthday to one of my 3 favorite sisters!

i always like to take a minute on birthdays to think about a few of the things that make that person special. o.k., i'm done.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

kidding, of course! a few barb facts:

clearly the smartest of all strahl siblings (except for spelling), barb has far exceeded the expectations set forth in the strahl family charter. the sooner you all all accept this, the better off you'll be!
not to overstate the obvious, but barb is apparently an outstanding "raiser" of children. the proof is in the chicky pudding!
barb has a rare condition known as schizophrenic wit. some symptoms of this disease are:

the ability to say something so subtly funny that only one or two people in the room get the joke,
the ability to, with a simple roll of the eyes or twitch of the lip, convey a thousand words without opening her mouth,
the ability to use sarcasm as a lethal weapon.

i could go on and on but frankly, i have a kid to raise here so i'll just say this:

B, i hope you have a wonderful day. me, jen and matt all send you best wishes for a great year to come. thanks for being a great sister and a great friend!

I LOVE YOU!!! greg

FINALLY!!!!

2006-04-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

at first i thought this was a joke (being april 1st and all) but it is an actual product. i got the link from ABC's American Inventor t.v. show website.....

roughhousing the lesbian

2006-03-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

so.... i have a new hobby. stop. frame. animation. just click the picture above.

this is my first movie. it's a french film titled "Aborder la Lesbienne"

synopsis: bob, sick of wendy chasing him, decides to tackle her. as you can see, wendy comes through it just fine.
note: no plastic action figures were hurt in the making of this film.

lucky

2006-03-20T10:27:00.000-08:00

.....she's just so unbelievably beautiful! i could write an entire novel on why i am lucky to have jen but this picture just drives the point home all by itself. that, and i'm way too lazy to write a whole novel.

fun with audio

2006-03-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

David Cross is maybe, possibly, probably the funniest man on earth. Don't believe me? Click his bald head and hear for yourself!

***NOT FOR THE EASILY OFFENDED OR THE YOUNG!!***

....again, i think you need quicktime

shoot me, i'm irish

2006-03-15T12:43:00.000-08:00

irish eyes are smilin'....

irish ears are bleeding....

had a blast at the luncheon! thanks sue!

3 years ago this week

2006-03-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

i cant believe it's already been three years since this storm. i remember moving our bed into the interior room of our house because i thought the roof on the house next door was about to collaspe! i also remember jen telling me i was an idiot for moving our bed into the interior room of our house because i thought the roof on the house next door was about to collaspe!

the courtship of eddies father

2006-02-23T21:15:00.000-08:00

This is my best friend Jeremy. He had to get really dirty to do it, but he managed to fix my blog. The thing about Jeremy is that you can ALWAYS count on him to come through (and not just with computer stuff). I have some great stories about Jeremy that I will share later (probably at greenshag) so you can all "get to know" him. THANKS JEREMY!!!!

stereogram for kris

2006-02-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

there you go kiki! get really close, go cross-eyed and slowly pull away. you will see WTL? (hopefully). these are really really really hard to do!

and here's a bigger one i made, it is circles in the middle

and you thought mike was romantic....

2006-02-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

although mikes valentine sentiments to sheri were nice, it looks like these two have trumped you!

i wish this was my idea....

2006-02-15T12:39:00.000-08:00

.... i love this sticker!

Helen Troeger

2006-02-14T06:19:00.002-08:00

Yesterday was Helen's funeral. In all honesty, I have at best, very fuzzy memories of Helen. I do remember going to their house as a kid but not much more. Helen and Dick did make it to Mom and Dad's 4oth anniversary party so fortunatley I had a recent memory to draw from. Helen, after meeting Matthew that day, spoke to me for about fifteen minutes on the joys and hardships of raising a child. I remember being struck by how genuine she was and how it didn't feel like just another person giving me advice.

I am getting to be an old pro at funerals. That was the sixth in the last two years. Funerals, for me, are always very uplifting experiences. It is always nice to hear all the wonderful stories of that persons life and yesterday was no exception. Scott gave a moving "thank you" eulogy and Dick kept interupting the minister with funny comments and for lack of a better term, "worked the room" (at one point insisting that Helen was probably laughing at him for being so emotional).

I went to Helen's funeral to support Mom. She was one of the best friends Mom ever had. This has been a rough week for her for reasons too obvious to even re-hash here, and I was happy to be there for her. I want you all to take just a minute today and think about how lucky we are. We have had some terrible losses in our family in the past couple years, but the five of us are truly fortunate to have what we have. It's easy to remember to be there for someone during hard times, the trick is to be there during the times in between, when things are seemingly fine.

We Strahls are a famously "non-mushy" breed and there is nothing at all wrong with that. Just remember, you don't have to be mushy to let someone know how you feel about them. It is, after all, not the grand gestures but the little things that really seem to add up and make the biggest difference over time.

***comment help*** i've had several e-mails asking about how to post comments in the new template.... just move your mouse over the number next to the posts' title and click. i'm trying to figure out how to change it but as you all know.... i'm not real bright =)

THE VOLVO IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE VOLVO.

2006-02-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the flaming piece of crap known as the volvo died suddenly. Unfortunately, it wasn't a long and painful death like it truly deserved. This brings the total of non-operational vehicles at the Strahl Compound to two, and the total of running vehicles to zero. Just when you think you've finally reached the bottom, eh?

Special thanks to Gary (the best father-in-law a fella could hope to have) for the use (yet again) of his car. We are selling both the volvo and the Jeep and getting something hopefully reliable and cheap (think older honda/subaru).

Also, special thanks to Jeremy (the best friend a fella could hope to have) for the use of his truck to not only get Jen to work yesterday morning, but also to help pick up our new free couch. I should also mention that I couldn't have picked up the aforementioned couch without Michael, who also happens to be the best friend a fella could hope to have! No picture of Michael on hand but trust me when I tell you he is a handsome devil =) So the day wasn't a total loss.

THE GENTLE RELIEF OF UNCLE PAT

2006-02-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

....uncle Pat has skyrocketed back to the top of favorite uncle list (at least in Greg and Jen's eyes)! for reasons way beyond my grasp, everytime Matt see's uncle Pat on the computer screen during a video call, he gets the urge to poop. Matt poops, on average, once every 3-4 days but the last 3 nights during calls to Pat, the plumbing loosens up and magic happens!

Finally got around to starting matts photo blog. IT CAN BE SEEN HERE.

Yahoo! and the man with too much time on his hands

2006-02-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

Oh, the technology.

....most of you were there, so this may be redundant but we had our first video chat last night (Kristine, Pat, Barb and Greg). apparently, the Skype program doesn't allow video conferencing so we used Yahoo!. the highlight has to be Tory and Kaiya seeing uncle Pat for the first time in something other than a photo. if you have any questions on how to get set up, just drop me a line. Skype is still a must have for your computer as the person to person video calling is of a much higher quality than Yahoo!.

March of the blogs

.......you knew it was only a matter of time. Matthew now has his own blog. it will be a photo blog. the concept is each post will have one picture of him, and one picture by him. ....because i'm shameless, that's why.

green.shag.floor.

2006-02-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

The new blog is up and running. Fear not.... what's that lump? isn't going anywhere. I just wanted a space for some less "family-centric" stuff. I will be posting stuff about the trials and tribulations of fatherhood, my feelings on politics and religion and even some short stories that have "been in the can" for years.... Do not be suprised if some of you (okay, all of you) pop up in these stories... I still need to do some back-end work on the blog so the final look isn't carved in stone and there may be some issues with the comment section but i'll keep after it. Let me know what you think! I had a blast making the banner and I'm practicing making banners for everyones blog. I won't be offended if no one wants them, it's just practice for practice sake....

In family communication news.... as Pat posted HERE, he and Kris and I have been having a blast with online video chat. We started out with Yahoo! messenger and have graduated to a program called SKYPE. EVERYONE SHOULD DOWNLOAD THIS PROGRAM! It's similiar to any other chat program but you can have the equivalent of a video phone call FOR FREE if both people are running the program. Don't be intimidated by any of this. It is really simple to get set up and I am willing to help talk any of you through it if need be. Obviously, if you don't have a webcam/microphone, you will need to get one. DO NOT SPEND A TON OF MONEY ON THIS!!! Mine was 25 bucks at Target and has a built in microphone. Pat's was even less. The quality of the camera makes no difference. The bandwidth of the sites is what matters. The video quality on Skype is great while the video quality on Yahoo! is good, but not great. For the time being, if you want to chat with Kris and let her see you on her screen, you will need to use Yahoo!. They will be getting set up with the other stuff in March. Sorry if this seems like alot to digest but it really is freakin' awesome stuff!

I think we are planning on chatting Saturday evening at 7-ish our time (Sunday afternoon in Australia) so drop in and say hello to Kris and the rest of the Williams clan.

Hope all are well,

Love Greg

awwwwwww.........

2006-01-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

...so sweet it's almost sickening! so i'm way behind on blogging. i have a ton of fun stuff set to go and hopefully i'll get to it this week. jen and i got a webcam last weekend! yay! me and kristine tried it out saturday (sunday afternoon in australia) and it works great! you will need to sign up for yahoo messenger which is really fast and easy. our screen name is, of course, paris1938. dad and i also toddled around with aol voice messenger but i need to look at it some more to figure it out. it may end up being the equivalent of free phone calls to australia, alamosa, crested butte etc. we'll see. hope all are well. love greg

DADDY! DADDY! HOLY CRAP! DADDY, COME LOOK DADDY! HURRY DADDY!!!!

2006-01-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

it's not every day that the "biggest excavator ever" is in your backyard!!!

LITTLE PURPLE WEIRDY-HOOD

2006-01-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

THANKS FOR COMING TO MATT'S PARTY JACKIE! THE BOY'S WERE SAD WHEN YOU LEFT!

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! ONE DAY ONLY! MONSTER TRUCKS!!!!!!

2006-01-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

matt had a blast at monster trucks on sunday. among the many things we learned: the south shall rise again! so there you go. uncle pat currently tops matt's "greatest person on the face of the earth for all time forever and ever no matter what" list for his gift of two monster trucks.

thursday

2006-01-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

168 hours
10,080 minutes
604,800 seconds
.... i honestly thought i'd feel better by now.

.....day 5

2006-01-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

still going. i'm not sure how, but still going all the same.

....day two

2006-01-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

seriously... can someone just f*cking shoot me? it's quicker than lung cancer after all! today was brutal but i'm still in the game. spent 3 wonderful hours at the pediatrician with matty. he never got better this week and was a mess last night. diagnosis: ear infection. we knew that was it but were hoping he would feel better today. plenty of antibiotics and eardrops should have him up and running soon. NOTE TO NEW PARENTS: if you have a doctor that doesn't prescribe antibiotics for ear infections, drop him/her like a sack of hot rocks. it seems like such a good idea until your kid doesn't sleep for 4 straight days because of the pain. anyhoo..... i made it through today which normally would have been at least a full pack kinda day so maybe there is hope.... hope everyone is well and thriving. greg

well this, this just made me smile =)

...the boy who cried wolf

2006-01-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

.....fair warning that tomorrow is the day. apologies in advance for being an asshole (you know, more than i normally am). kristine tells me these patches have anti-depressants in them... JACKPOT!!! talk about killing two birds wtih one stone!

the year in review....

2006-01-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

.....it sucked. well, at least the second half sucked. i know everyone is sick of hearing why, so i'll try to just let it go and look ahead to (hopefully) brighter days. we finished 2005 with matthew throwing up all night on the 31st and most of the 1st. this somehow seemed appropriate. maybe it was his way of purging the year! he is feeling a bit better today but now jen seems to have it. the news isn't all bad, of course. we do have our (relative) health and have been surrounded by friends and family. in the end, that is what really matters. i want you all to know how much i love each and every one of you and how fortunate i feel to be a part of this family. we are not perfect, but we all could have done alot worse in the family department! (that includes in-laws of course!!). i hope you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. love greg

<----my reasons for living!

happy new year?

2005-12-31T07:03:00.000-08:00

random christmas photos

2005-12-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

camping out in the new tent

doing dishes w/ michelle and erin

the new work bench (matt took this picture!)
2 1/2 hours in the making with oh so much help from matt =)

the final take!

thanks to all for making matt's christmas one to remember!!

CHRISTMAS MORNING

2005-12-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

THE BOY WITH HIS LOOT!

SAFETY FIRST!

CHRISTMAS WISHES

2005-12-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

i believe this is from christmas 1989. i know i was still in the army so it could also be 1988

I hope everyone has a great christmas!

christmas fun

2005-12-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

lousy republicans!

...well, DUH!!!

2005-12-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

from channel 7's website comes this story.

more on this later. it's too close to christmas =)

...craigslist

2005-12-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

for all the swedes i love, this was an actual ad placed on craigslist.org (in the free section!) this morning in denver!

...osama's niece

2005-12-23T07:09:00.000-08:00

...so this is osama bin laden's niece. she can suicide bomb me anytime she likes.

.....beautician

2005-12-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

matt is having trouble deciding on being a trash man or a beautician when he grows up..

...ahhhhhh

2005-12-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

...gosh darn it

2005-12-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

i promised mom i'd stop cussing on here. it will be hard but what mom says goes!

on a much lighter note

2005-12-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

gary (my father-in-law and all around superman) has posted the pictures from our going away party on snapfish. anyone interested in the link can mail me. kinda bitter sweet, but here are a few to chew on....

yes. he really is that frickin' adorable.

me and B

for those who don't know him... jeremy (matt's god-daddy)

LOVE THIS QUOTE:

"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.": - Alice Roosevelt Longworth

....whew! just in time!

2005-12-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

YAY!! my first hate mail! sent anonymously, of course....

Subject:	typcical!
To:	paris1938@yahoo.com

nice blog you fagg~ typical piece of shit left wing peace loving hippie! what if it was you ass on the line in iraq? how quickley you fuckers forget september the 11th! what about those people who DIED??? lord forbid you should ever have to pick up a gun and defend this country's freedom! thousands of fine man have given they're lives for what you and your left wing buddy's critisize everyday god damn day! would it kill you to just support our LEADER? america is about unity and god (or haven't you read any of those dollar bills that overflow your bank account)? i hope your childred never have to sacrifise for this great land cause you might think different then! ASSHOLE!!

this is in response to what i wrote earlier (scroll on down). there is a lesson in this for me and that is to probably keep the political nonsense off of here and just share family type stuff. that being said, as hard as i try, i can't let this slide without a response. having read this persons mail, i realize that it was most likely written by a 13 year old, but here goes:

you started off with a bang by misspelling "typical" in the subject line
although i have many friends who are "faggs", i tend to be a vagina guy.
if it were "my ass on the line in iraq" i would feel the same as i do now. i would simply be feeling that way in a different part of the world. you see, back in 1987, at the age of 17, i VOLUNTEERED to serve in the military. i did so actively from august of 1988 - august of 1990 and then as a member of the us army reserves until august of 1996. although i wasn't incredibly taken with military life, i was glad to do it and have often advocated that it be mandatory for ALL 18 year old men to serve their country in some capacity for at least one year after graduating high school (not very "left wing peace loving hippie" of me, huh?)
"how quickley you fuckers forget september the 11th!" ...... this is my favorite! no, i haven't (or we haven't?) forgotten september 11th. like any HUMAN BEING who witnessed those buildings falling, i was devastated. i remember being at work that night and watching only a handful of cars drive by the street that is normally jammed with traffic. i remember sitting on the hood of my car with my best friend watching the sky that night. no planes save for the occasional military jet fly over. i remember all the support and general well wishes from almost every nation in the world pour in and thinking maybe some good will come from this. all that being said, iraq and 911 have NO LINK. NONE. ZERO. NADA. ZILCH. the bush administration has even said as much. please learn to separate the two.
"thousands of fine man have given they're lives for what you and your left wing buddy's critisize everyday god damn day! " ..... again with the spelling! but i digress ..... i can only assume you didn't bother to read my post on pearl harbor day. (see also #3 above)
"would it kill you to just support our LEADER?" .....ummm. well. it just might! although by law i am now exempt from military service (again, see #3 above).
"america is about unity and god" .... finally! i've been wondering for years what america is about! it's also interesting that in one sentence you use the term "god damn" and in the next tell me how important god is! i have nothing against god. most people i know are on board with god. this is a discussion for another day but let me just say this: i have 100% complete and total respect for WHATEVER god my fellow americans choose to believe in. it is a deeply personal decision and probably should be left out of national politics!
" (or haven't you read any of those dollar bills that overflow your bank account)?" ......this one is BY FAR MY FAVORITE!! yesterday morning, our bank account was -$67.00! today, fortunately it was +$297.00. so todays big debate at our house will be how to divide that 297 between our internet provider, excel energy and the grocery store and somehow still have enough money to make it until payday next friday! if you have some information about my finances that i am unaware of, please e-mail me back! with christmas approaching we could really use a few extra bucks! (special note to mom: everything will be fine =) , we are almost caught up!)
"i hope your childred never have to sacrifise for this great land cause you might think different then! ASSHOLE!!" ......it took you a whole paragraph, but you finally got something right! i hope my childred (do you have a cold ?) never have to sacrifise [sic] for this country. hopefully we will have raised a child that will, if ever faced with that decision, make the right choice....for him. i can tell you this: whatever choice he makes, we would support him and love him. that's what good parents do. mine did.

for the record, it should be crystal clear how i feel about our president. i believe history will bear this out and generations of americans will look back at him as possibly one of the worst ever. i've never met him. i'm sure he loves his kids and is a decent man. i simply don't agree with his policies. i can seperate the two. in the spirit of fairness, i think all politicians are basically steamy piles of poo. they all lie. the differences must be sought not only in the magnitude of the lie, but also in the magnitude of the consequences of that lie. READ: blowjob vs. wmd

now seriously. don't send me anymore mail.

how convenient that on the eve of the iraq elections this moron ADMITS (well sort of admits) the intelligence was faulty. this should help the families of the 2000+ americans who have died sleep a little better. right?

...old school

2005-12-11T07:19:00.000-08:00

DENVER 12 BALTIMORE 10 =)
DALLAS 31 KANSAS CITY 28 =) =)
MIAMI 23 SAN DIEGO 21 =) =) =) !!!!!

....all i want for christmas is vincent gallo's sperm?

2005-12-09T06:06:00.000-08:00

<---- when you see this, you may want to keep the youngn's away for a day.

finally an answer to the age old question of what to get the person who has everything! Vincent Gallo's seed (bottom of page) .........i have always loved his work and truly hope he is being sarcastic in the description and isn't really the racist piece of shit that he comes across as.

pearl harbor

2005-12-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

sometimes it's easy to forget. it's easy to forget the sacrifice. it's easy to forget that people have died for me. families left forever without a dad, a brother or a son.
at some point today, take just a minute to remember them. take a minute to remember the men who dropped everything on the 8th of december, too. 300,000 or so of them died so that we might live freely.

....trapped at home in sub zero

2005-12-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

.......with apologies to the williams'......funny stuff!

also... let's hope this is true!

brrrrrrr

2005-12-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

........let us not lose faith

2005-12-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

.....does it seem like i post too much?

2005-12-04T12:36:00.000-08:00

is it sunday already?

2005-12-04T10:04:00.000-08:00

....so the broncos are 1-16 in their last 17 visits to arrowhead. let us not lose faith. i suspect mike shanahan has something up his sleeve. i hope so because i love watching dick vermeil lose almost as much as much as marty schottenheimer...

things to do today...

2005-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

put up x-mas tree (or holiday tree for those of you politically correct bastards).
explain to Matt that pooping on the toilet, while impressive, doesn't really count.
watch the CU v. Texas football game.
get a hair cut.

seriously.......

2005-12-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

no sooner do i bitch about the lack of snow....

now i'll spend the morning bitching about having to shovel it.