Making Roll-up Rolls

Well, the Christmas season is finally upon the Kingwood Klenke family. This weekend I successfully attempted to make my Great Grandmother Rose's traditional Christmas cookie.
The little girls and I had a blast.

This I believe Redux

In 2005, on my birthday, I recompiled my "Today is a good day" post and submitted it to "This I Believe", a series for NPR.

Today I got the following email:

Greetings Mr. Klenke,

As you probably know, 88.7 FM, KUHF-Houston Public Radio is partnering with NPR on many projects. We're now teaming up with NPR to present local segments of "This I Believe".
NPR has forwarded the essay you submitted and I'd like to schedule a time when you can come to the KUHF Studios and record your "This I Believe" essay for our local radio series.

I think your essay is great and believe it would be a great radio piece for our listeners to enjoy.
I'm truly looking forward to meeting you and recording your essay for our listeners.

All the best.

Paul Pendergraft
Senior Producer, News & Public Affairs
88.7 FM, KUHF-Houston Public Radio
4343 Elgin Street
Houston, Texas 77204-0887
www.kuhf.org

How cool is that? "Today is a good day" has changed my life. Maybe it can change more.

Wincustomize Charity / Subscription drive

You'll notice banners on the site today.

A PC customization site I moderate at (wincustomize.com) is having a Subscription/Charity drive.
It's a great charity (Childs Play). Pop on over and take a look.

Thanks

Gwen and Alyssa at the Talent Show

Gwendolyn and her Friend Alyssa choreographed a dance routine and performed it at the Elm Grove Talent Show this past week.

They were so very cute.

Video here:

20071109 - Talent Show

Miriam dances with the stars

Miriam is in dance class. Based on the video here, she might be ready to move up from "shuffle, shuffle, tap, tap".

Dancing With the Stars

Texas Legislator voting needs attention

Time to call my Rep. Joe Crabb, you've been a bad boy. I believe in one person one vote.
All my Texan friends . . maybe you could call too?

New wallpaper posted

I've added a new wallpaper to my gallery at Wincustomize.com. It's a light-hearted attempt at what it would be like if I tried to make a windowblind. The colors work well together I think.

Things to remember as a juror

1. Bring music for the bus ride
2. Bring a pen to take notes on random and not so random thoughts
3. Grab the bus schedule
4. Bring a longer book
5. Get up earlier and make coffee
6. Have breakfast

Today was a good day as a juror. I ended up not being called but I was there to do my part.

God Bless America

Gregorius: NMKY (Finnish YMCA cover)

There are not words to convey how odd this is. I thought the Village people were weird . . but this takes it too a new level. Now . . every time I am at a Y function with the wife or kids . . I'll think of this and be creeped out just a little bit more.

Route of the Summer Trip

I can't believe that I haven't documented ANY of the family's summer trip yet.

I'm still catching up with work and home life is crazy as we prepare for school for everyone.

There is a *lot* to document though. we were gone for three weeks, two days. Below is the route we took. Along with sundry driving here and there . . 5020 miles!


View Larger Map

[Hmm . .the preview shows us going through Oklahoma on the way home . . the large view shows the correct route. Google Map error methinks]

It's My Birthday!!

Big thanks out to my parents for trying creating me, my mother for having me, and my father for not killing me.

More art

Vacation pictures coming soon . . but for now . . some art

Pandora Playlist

My further attempts at being artistic

I hang out at a GUI skinning site. It's all about customizing your Windows PC to suite you better. Mostly I help out with tech issues and use the stuff that others make.

Once in a while though I try to contribute something artistic.

Pop on over and see what's what.

I may be a father, but I'm also a nerd

Last week, on Sunday, the little girls, Susan, and I went to watch the Astros play for Father's day. It was great; the Astros whooped the Marlins and all was well with the world.

But me . . I'm a nerd. There I am looking at the outfield. Noting how they have the distance from home plate painted on the wall. And there, next to 404 feet is a advertisement. An advertisement for a wireless company! I poke my wife with an elbow and point it out to her. I'm all ready to laugh uproariously with her and share the joke.

Nuthin'

Maybe she didn't notice. So I point out the number. And I point out the advert. . . .

Nuthin'

"404. Wireless company. Page cannot be found. PAGE CANNOT BE FOUND!!!" "Get it?"

Nuthin'

Well, *I* found it funny and this house has enough nerds as it is I guess.

Welcome Home Scout

Today we got a dog.
His name is Scout.
He is a poodle/terrier.
He is active.
He is smart.
Some of the kids love him.
Some of the kids are not freaking out when he comes near.
He was saved by a shelter from being whacked.
You can see pictures and video at the link below.

20070530 - Welcome Home Scout

Scout may be the closest thing I ever have to a son.
I wish he looked more like me.

Sony's thin display

How cool is this?

Sony unveiled what is billed as the world's first flexible, full-color OLED display built on organic thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. The 2.5-inch prototype display supports 16.8 million colors at a 120 x 160 pixel resolution, is 0.3 mm thick and weighs 1.5 grams.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/32214/113/

Michelle's Graduation Day

I could not be prouder of my daughter Michelle for graduating from Kingwood High School. I believe that she can be successful in whatever she decides to do.

Good luck Min!

German exchange student + iLife + camera = Fun

Alex is an exchange student that is staying with my father. This weekend he came into town to celebrate Michelle's graduation. The topic turned to how he communicates to the folks back home and video postcards came up.

So out came his Mac and the built in camera. A great time was had by all.

Why soccer snacks at all?

A while back I posted an opinion piece in my soccer team blogs about the need for organized snacks during and after soccer games. I wanted to go into a little more detail on the why of that post.

I've been coaching at the YMCA for about 6 years now. I've seen kids of all shapes and sizes and demographics and family situations. I think that a lot of these kids need organized sports to fill gaps in their lives. They need soccer to help them become better people. I've come to believe that snacks during soccer does more harm than good.

So mid-season this year my teams killed the team snack concept. We rolled it into a BYOS (Bring your own snack) program.

My issues were (in no order):

• It's a pain with all the new allergy issues that kids have.
  I don't get it. Almost no one had allergies when I was a kid. Now it seems there are more that do than don't. Trying to buy the right combination of snacks to please everyone stinks.
• Snack schedules. I hate them.
  I don't want to have to worry about who is not going to make the game on their snack day. I don't need to be called when there's a conflict. The parents don't need to be spending time buying snacks for kids, siblings, refs, coach or whoever.
• Kids don't need more sugar
  Those box juices? Capri suns? God forbid, Gatorade? Kids don't need it. In fact, with the rise of juvenile diabetes they should be avoiding it as much as they can. And the bags of snacks? They are just as bad. But hey, if you know your kids and want to do that . . it's your world, be happy. I just don't want to endorse it for everyone.
• Why are the kids playing? For the food!?!? WRONG!
  Different kids need to be motivated differently but setting up food as a reward can lead to some very serious issues as they get older. Kids should be playing sports to have fun. Parents should have kids play sports so they get exercise (and learn the benefits thereof), learn to work as a team, and have fun. I don't think food should be in that list.

I think it worked out pretty well. For my kids we did water at the breaks and some fruit after the game if it happened to end around normal "snack time." We didn't make it a part of the game though; it was more a "Are you hungry? How fortuitous that we happen to have orange slices here." {OK . .that part is not entirely true . . in our house we are transitioning away from game snacks so there was still an expectation of snack. That should end next season I hope}

Based on what I've read, it seems that fruit and water is the way to go for healthy, tasty, easy soccer snack. We like oranges, grapes (raisins), nuts, and apples.

Pandora and OpenPandora

I love liestening to music. It doesn't matter what kind really. I like it all (in moderation).

I dumped a bunch of CDs that I had onto the PC for easy listening at work but most of my music is cassette-based and until I get a Plusdeck I'm not going to listen to them much. I could repurchase all that music but I'm a cheapskate (and have better places to spend my money).

The music on the PC got old fairly quickly so it was time to find something better.

At about the same time a friend made a DesktopX gadget that loaded this new internet radio called Pandora. I thought I'd give it a try. It was perfect; I got the music I liked plus I was introduced to new music that was similar. It became the first thing loaded on my PC every morning.

Unfortunately, due to upgrades I had to abandon DX on Vista. Fortunately, I found the OpenPandora Project. It has all the benefits with none of the issues.

Right now internet radio and Pandora is having issues with possible rate hikes from the RIAA. If you care about internet radio read up at SaveNetRadio.org and write your CongressCritter.

A Soccer Scrapbook

I wanted to test a new feature of Picasa and the album below brings me some joy. It seems as good a test as any.

Have I mentioned how blessed I am?

In March 2006 my youngest daughter, Miriam, pulled a cup of just-boiled hot cocoa onto her face and got herself severely burned. (original post)

For the past year she has worn a hat and sunscreen to prevent her skin from tanning unevenly and becoming permanently splotched.

These days she's almost scar-free, drinks hot cocoa and can go out for brief periods without the hat.

I wanted to take a moment to thank those people who prayed for her when she was hurt. I want to thank the doctors that took care of her. I want to thank God for all He has done for me (in this and everything).

Miriam Today	Miriam then

YMCA Soccer

The YMCA 2007 Spring soccer season closed out last Saturday. I coached two teams again this season; a 3-4 league and a 6-7 girl's team.

Coaching at the YMCA has taught me so much. Over the 12 or so seasons I've coached I've seen so many different kinds of parents and parenting and coaching and kids. I'm a better person and parent because of the time I've spent with all these people.

For me, it's not as much about the skills on the field but on the team interaction. These kids may or may not play ball ever again but I think they had fun with each other. I think they left the season that sports can be fun and they'll pursue it later. I hope that they do it with me.

So props to the parents, coaches, staff, and the kids. I appreciate everything you did for me.

From 20070428 - Mo...

From 20070505 - Ti...

From 20070324 - Di...

Dino Soccer 2007 (3-4)
Tiger Soccer 2007 (6-7)

The Squirrels are coming!

Yesterday there's the cutest baby squirrel in the yard. All the girls love it and want to cuddle it and name it "Sweety" or some such thing.

But this squirrel is different. It shows no fear. It looks . . . smarter than the average squirrel.

I grab a broom and push it over to a near by tree and call it a day.

This morning I hear a loud "squeak-squeakin'" from the front of the house.

It's back! And it's trying to break in! I try to knock it off the screen with a broom to no avail. I assumed it wandered off while I was in the shower. But it will be back, I know it will.

I'll try to be ready.

For the families of students at Virginia Tech

A thread was started at forum I frequent asking for prayers after the shooting at Virginia Tech. A member there (lokhup) posted the following:

May we all take a breath and wispier sorrows to all those affected,
May we all look at the sight of a sunrise and imagine those souls being lifted to heaven,
May we all hear the sound of angels as they say thank you and goodbye,
May we all pray that the earth will heal our pain of innocent lives being wasted and enlighten our minds that love and kindness of heart is the true path to this life.
Together we can expand to fill the void and our thoughts can make a better world.

Care for the living
Tend to them when they are dying
and pray for them when they are departed.

Wow. Just Wow.

Otter Pops - a post for my sister

Every once in a while I see something that takes me back to my youth. Most of these memories include my sister, The Sister. Flintstone vitamins and "mandatory fun" are the first things that come to mind but every once in a while I'm surprised.

Yesterday was one of those days.

While wandering the local market I saw Otter Pops on an end cap. These are frozen, flavored, sugar water. They have no redeeming qualities from a parent's point of view.

As a child though, I loved them. So, for $0.89US, i got a taste of my childhood.

You don't get value like that too often these days.

So. Here's to you Sister!

Home of the Otter Pops (with music!)

Star Wars as a silent film

Brilliant!