tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104630332009-02-21T00:44:12.012-05:00If the dog eats the strudel, it’s not a real crisis. It’s only strudel.Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.comBlogger241125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1157839114851550702006-09-09T17:46:00.000-04:002006-09-09T17:58:34.886-04:00

I'm over here. For good. (I think!)New feed.

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1157513063643903542006-09-05T22:48:00.000-04:002006-09-05T23:26:49.580-04:00

J.P. and I returned from Minnesota on Sunday night, after two long days of driving. We had a good, relaxing vacation, and Maggie couldn't have been better with the kids, dogs, and birds, or as a passenger in the car.I won't say I was looking forward to going back to work today—that would really be a stretch. But somehow it did seem almost like the first day of school and the fresh start it brings

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1157008754672831392006-08-30T15:05:00.000-04:002006-09-06T00:35:59.410-04:00

Would you believe we went back to the fair? Yep, tonight after Character Builder got home from work, we all headed out. The kids rode the rides and played games. And of course, we had a few more things to eat. I think we're pretty much "faired out."I took a bunch of kid pics in the hopes of getting one good enough to put this free photo canvas coupon to good use. But alas, it seems all I got out

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1156914968495769322006-08-30T00:41:00.000-04:002006-08-30T01:18:44.563-04:00

Today's diet (in order of consumption) included:A corn dog.Southwest chorizo egg burrito from Tejas.Ribs from Famous Dave's.Chocolate chip cookies from Sweet Martha's.Milk to go with the cookies.Cheese curds . . . of course!Hotdish (that's casserole, if you live outside the Midwest) on a stick with cream of mushroom dipping sauce.Famous Dave's ribs . . . again.Deep-fried Snickers bar.Dashababy

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1156827507237830552006-08-29T00:22:00.000-04:002006-08-29T01:01:00.416-04:00

Well, we made it to Minnesota safe and sound. And it seems like we've been stuffing our faces ever since we got here. Ham, potato salad, unbelievably awesome coconut cake, baked French toast, hamburgers on the grill, Chinese from Leeann Chin, and awesome toasted macaroni and cheese from this place:After we returned from Florida last month, a gift card for Lettuce Entertain You restaurants arrived

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1156397339225456832006-08-24T01:20:00.000-04:002006-08-24T01:49:21.990-04:00

Well, my last post has moved from "withering" on the vine to outright dead. I've been busy trying to wrap things up before we leave on vacation tomorrow, and consequently the blog has been neglected.I'm still getting used to the MacBook. Mostly it's good, but I seem to have trouble with some of the keys. Especially the G, and sometimes the T—they just aren't quite responsive enough, and soon I'll

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1155530055736117472006-08-13T23:03:00.000-04:002006-08-14T00:35:09.416-04:00

Have you ever spent any time trying to write with your non-dominant hand? Your brain knows how to form the letters, but somehow it has trouble directing your hand to move in the direction you know it needs to go. That's how I'm feeling right now because we got a new computer this weekend, and it's a MacBook. It has a keyboard and a mouse and a screen, but everything else is different enough that

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1155269191448070882006-08-10T23:30:00.000-04:002006-08-11T00:15:10.746-04:00

I've driven by this tree for years, and every time I think, "I've gotta take a picture of that." I just think it's so cool looking. I'd love to get closer to it, but there's a fence that prevents it. I think I might have to go back with the telephoto lens sometime. It reminds me of when Character Builder's son Alex was little guy, and he was afraid of the Berenstain Bears story The Spooky Old

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1155007148397155562006-08-07T22:53:00.000-04:002006-08-07T23:19:08.633-04:00

I haven't been so into the photography thing since we got back from Florida. It figures, doesn't it? Now that I have two memory cards I can store more than 1000 photos. But have I wanted to take any? No.I thought I might need a little inspiration, so last week I was browsing rentglass.com. They had a fisheye lens in stock, and I rented it on the spur of the moment. It's a 16mm, and it's not quite

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1154798960803555482006-08-05T12:54:00.000-04:002006-08-05T13:29:20.910-04:00

So yes, I've had the blogging blahs lately. Truthfully, I've kind of had the blahs in general. I'm not sure why—still trying to figure out that part. (Note if you know me in real life: Everything's fine! Really! No need to worry.)I was excited to find this email this morning when I logged into my Flickr account:I guess since I'm only on the "short list" they haven't actually selected my photo yet

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1154314455296611262006-07-30T22:49:00.000-04:002006-07-30T22:55:52.043-04:00

J.P. was giving me a hard time yesterday about how long it's been since I updated. He's right. Trouble is, I don't even really care at the moment. Not sure why.So here's a shot I took in Florida. Vanity plate? Or unfortunate luck of the draw? Talk amongst yourselves . . . .

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1153716879890028032006-07-23T23:34:00.000-04:002006-07-24T00:55:58.960-04:00

So here's one of the pictures that I took when we met Suzie and the Hubs. You may remember from yesterday's post that when we showed up to meet them, I didn't have the data card for my camera.J.P. had taken the card out of the camera so he could post the photo seen here, and he forgot to put it back in. And at that point, I hadn't taught him my trick for remembering the card. However, as we

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1153594007836979892006-07-22T14:29:00.000-04:002006-07-23T12:48:20.506-04:00

So the highlight of our trip—dinner with Suzie and the Hubs—occurred on Thursday night.J.P. and I rose early that day to attend our conference's closing event. Then we packed up and checked out of the super-nice Westin resort to move down the road to a Marriott. The four hours of sleep I'd gotten on Wednesday night just weren't cutting it, and I decided to take a little nap before getting ready

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1153024387546607832006-07-15T12:21:00.000-04:002006-07-16T00:33:07.563-04:00

In the morning J.P. and I are heading out to Florida for our company's annual customer conference. Each of us is teaching a couple of different sessions, and of course there'll be some fun too.Most of the fun will be Thursday-Saturday when the conference is over and we're on our own time. We're very excited (and a little nervous) to meet Suzie and The Hubs for dinner on Thursday night.I've never

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1152582848474262452006-07-10T21:46:00.000-04:002006-07-10T21:54:08.510-04:00

My typing skills have waned a bit in the last few years, but in my glory days I could type about 100 words per minute. I don't have to look at the keyboard while I'm typing, and I can usually finish typing a sentence while someone is talking to me.But tonight something really strange happened. I was sitting here working, and I typed the word client. But when I looked up, it appeared on my monitor

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1152472365329905692006-07-09T14:23:00.000-04:002006-07-09T15:12:45.350-04:00

Every night when it's time for bed, J.P. and I have an argument. Sometimes it's good-natured, sometimes it's less so. It kinda depends on the day. What do we argue about, you ask? This:For some reason, J.P. believes that a dog should be confined at all times when you can't be there to keep an eye on it. I understand this mentality, to a certain extent. We put Maggie in her crate when we leave the

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1152066984158288392006-07-04T22:25:00.000-04:002006-07-04T22:36:24.173-04:00

I'm sure you'll be seeing pictures like this all over the blog world tomorrow. Good thing I had this one in reserve (from the Strawberry Festival back in June), because J.P. and I decided to forego (forgo?) the fireworks tonight.I had to play in a concert at Longwood Gardens tonight, and didn't finish until about 8:45. We considered going to some nearby fireworks, but we'd been gone since about 4

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1151987148417707602006-07-04T00:24:00.000-04:002006-07-04T00:25:48.430-04:00

Enjoy your barbecues, pool parties, and fireworks. Can't wait to read all about them later this week!

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1151952456554885342006-07-03T14:00:00.000-04:002006-07-03T14:47:36.626-04:00

We've got a new look around here! I'm no graphics expert, but I'm not afraid to spend five bucks to get the look I want. I bought the shark from istockphoto.com and tweaked him a little bit.Then I very creatively followed a link from dooce's site and found the little background image. It looks a little like ocean waves, no?And I accomplished all this before my shower today. Never mind that it's

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1151640858030161382006-06-29T23:24:00.000-04:002006-06-30T00:14:18.160-04:00

This certainly isn't the best picture of Maggie I've ever taken. But Kranki has been asking about her. And a certain pink-cloaked blogger has requested that I post something to push his photo down the page. Since I'm all about making people happy (okay, maybe not exactly), here's a new post.Ms. Maggie is doing well. I haven't taken many pictures of her lately, but that could all change soon. I

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1151366580867539972006-06-26T19:56:00.000-04:002006-06-26T20:03:00.890-04:00

I dared him, and he took me up on it. Lucky for me he didn't negotiate anything in return.

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1151214609844638142006-06-24T23:44:00.000-04:002006-06-25T01:52:37.790-04:00

The Kimmel Center is the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. And guess who played here today?!? Yep . . . I did! Well, I and the 79 other people who play in the community band.It was the Summer Solstice concert, and it was crazy. (You know us craaaaaazy music people!) It was like a three-ring circus, with multiple acts going on simultaneously from 11:00 this morning straight through until 6:00

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1150861837783128682006-06-20T22:47:00.000-04:002006-06-20T23:50:37.850-04:00

It was quite the trip. Fortunately, the travel part was uneventful (the flights were on time, our luggage arrived promptly, and there were cookies!), because our time in Minnesota was a whirlwind. Here are a few highlights.We arrived on Wednesday and spent the first few days at my sister's house. She worked on Thursday, and J.P. and my BIL went golfing, so I spent the day with the kids. We

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1150477289818507732006-06-16T12:59:00.000-04:002006-06-16T13:01:29.833-04:00

But I had to share this mug . . . .Have a great weekend!

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10463033.post-1150347250952830012006-06-15T00:35:00.000-04:002006-06-15T00:54:11.006-04:00

J.P. and I flew to Minnesota this afternoon. My cousin is getting married this weekend, and we decided it was a good opportunity to come home and visit family that we haven't seen since Christmas.We flew Midwest Airlines, which we'd never done before. It meant connecting in Milwaukee, but it also meant bigger, leather, first-class-like seats, and these . . .They were baked on board the plane, and

Sharkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08763413019746358274noreply@blogger.com0