Torturing the Facts

In Which I Surf Naked

2011-09-14T00:34:00.000-06:00

Musings of Portable Computing and a Life Long Passion for a Hot Bath

From my early teens and into young adulthood, I loved to read the San Diego Evening Tribune in the bathtub. I would let the hot water trickle in slowly until it was just a few inches deep. I then would drain the water and start filling that old tub all over again. I had my numerical flipping (remember those?) clock radio on the vanity playing the sultry sounds of KGB fm. I remember my Dad complaining that I was ruining the hot water heater taking baths like that so frequently. Somehow the slow trickling water was damaging... well, something.

After leaving home for an LDS mission in '83 and years of college life into the late '80s, good working and, most importantly, private bathtubs at my own residence were in short order. From time to time I had a chance to read and study in a real tub, but not many opportunities presented themselves to me. Sure, I did plenty of hot tubbing in my formidable college years. However, there were no books and no mobile computers around while enjoying those bubbly, jetted tubs. Just a lot of attractive coeds wearing BYU approved swimming attire. Those were dark years.

Marriage in 1991 to a singularly exceptional woman (that is another post) brought an apartment with only 1 roommate and a tub. Bliss had returned to my life. Then, in 1992, my wife and I bought our first (and only) home, in which we now live. It had a small tub (regular size actually, but I am quite a large man) and I made full use of it. Oh did I make use of it! I made a desk and did quite a bit of my schoolwork in the tub while finishing up my Computer Science degree at BYU.

Edited for content

I wrote many term papers, did math and engineering assignments in that tiny tub. Back then, moble computing was not what it is now. Impatient for laptops to be practical and affordable, I rigged up my 486 on a wheeled cart, strapped on an amber monochrome monitor, a 9600 bps modem and I had Provo's first mobile workstation! I used to wheel my high tech go cart into our tiny bathroom with the tiny tub and it was awesome! My geekiness knew no bounds. I wrote many many thousands of lines of code right there in that tub. I would also dial into my favorite BBS's (no accessible internet back then folks) and had lively discussions and chats with my online friends for many hours.

You can see my wheeled workstation in the background of these photos.

(That's Debra in the foreground)

Debra used to love playing her Mickey Mouse memory card game

I don't remember when, but my mobile workstation eventually found a more permanent, but accessible home on a coffee table in the living room.

Finally, we finished our basement and I got to pick the bathtub. It's big! It's beautiful! I've logged more hours that I care to admit in this tub. Can you blame me?

Recently, I've been working on office connectivity and, of course, real mobile computing. I've gone though laptops over the years, but I must say... I am very pleased with the current state of my geekdom. This little red netbook (in the photo above) was originally used by the family upstairs in the living room to surf the web and do homework and such. The main desktop is downstairs in our library and is a little out of the way. For reasons I later discovered, the little red netbook lost favor and was sitting on a shelf, neglected. About two months ago, I saw it on the shelf and wondered what I could do with it. I could never imagine the places I would take that little red netbook. Really! I take it everywhere now, and it goes everywhere too. Let me explain...

As I stared at the little red netbook, buried under cables, papers and books, I thought I could use the little guy to learn Linux. I use Linux at work a lot, but I remain quite ignorant of it and usually only learn what I need to know to get my job done. I decided to give it a try, so I pulled little red from the shelf and found that the reason it had been so neglected (other than it came with Windows Vista and was dog slow) was that the power adapter had been damaged. I ordered a new power adapter and an uber long life battery. I installed the Ubuntu 11.4 Linux distribution and started my journey. As some of you know, getting everything just so with a Linux distro on a netbook is an adventure. I started with v 9.4 then went through some intermediate versions and finally landed on v. 11.4.

I have only recently arrived at the apex of my geek-o-rama and have quite a nice setup I must say. My little red book, named Phineas btw, (after Phineas and Ferb of Disney channel fame) runs Ubuntu Linux 11.4, as I said, and connects to our wireless network when we're at home. In addition to browsing the web and coding in Java and Flex locally on Phineas, I use Cisco's AnnyConnect vpn to connect to our office network. From there I can ssh into our data centers in San Jose, Oakland and Dallas, or more typically I use the Windows remote desktop to connect to one of my three workstations in the office. At this point, little red is just a terminal and I have all the power of my quad core Xeon workstation at my stubby finger tips. Mind you, I'm still in my bathtub!

We don't just hang around the bathtub, however. I recently posted about my man-purse on facebook. One of the things I carry everywhere I go in my murse, is little red. Phineas travels with me everywhere I go. When I find myself with some down time, I've got a little red book in my pocket. If there's no network available, I read my real books or, more accurately, my Nook (also in my murse), or fire up Eclipse and work on some coding projects. If there is a wireless available (either public, or just un-protected =:) I whip out my little red and I can go anywhere and do anything!

I've come a long way both with mobile computing hardware and my bathing hardware. From those humble days, during the Carter administration in the '70s and my low-tech newspaper and a griping Dad, to the 21st century where the world is literally at my fingertips anytime, anywhere... especially when I'm surfing naked.

btw, I've had the same water heater for over twenty years now.

If you haven't noticed, that is one mean shower head!

Btw, I actually have surfed naked. Real surfing... At Blacks Beach, then a nude beach, in San Diego back in the early '80s. But that's another post.

I admit, I photoshopped out some of the hard water stains.

P.S. Any guesses where I was when I wrote this post? =:)

An update on an old friend

2011-08-10T23:32:00.005-06:00

Many moons ago I told the story of an old friend getting older. Well things got worse... Much much worse. Remember those oil leaks I described? I let my friend down and let those leaks get the best of her. On a long drive with my Dad around West Mountain south of Utah Lake, the oil gage began to twitterpate. Long story short, the rings were burned out and my Jeep lost a great deal of compression. I could barely get up to 50 mph on the freeway.

I contemplated for a long time, the fate of my precious automobile. I had been watching Chip Foose on Overhaulin and was inspired. I decided to have my engine rebuilt. And so it was, after several frustrating rounds with Gleggs Auto to get a leak free engine, I finally have it. My Jeep now has lots of power, which I take advantage of frequently, Especially on my many drives up Provo Canyon. Zoom zoom!

Update: On Sunday on one of my zoom zooms up the canyon to see my brother Kimo, my Jeep stalled at Kimball Junct. The fuel pump, whining loudly for many months, overheated and puttered out. It is currently in the shop in Heber. One more aging piece needing some tlc.

After Which I Devolve into an Unsupervised Adult

2011-08-10T23:21:00.004-06:00

For 5 days each summer I've fallen into an irresistible habit of becoming an irresponsible bachelor. As my wife and older girls go off to young women's camp in the beautiful mountains of Utah to experience spiritual growth and to work on becoming mature young adults, I find myself drawn towards behavior, normally reserved for adolescent young men, which I otherwise suppress. For example, one summer I took a day off work, got a room at the La Quinta inn in Orem, threw my two youngest in the pool for two days while I indulged in reading in a beautiful little garden nook near the pool. I bought a Wii and played video games with my little girls after the pool closed in the late evening. (see my post on this adventure here)

Earlier this year, while my wife and Karen were away on a ballroom team trip to San Fransisco, I went and bought two ducklings. I had, and still have, no idea what we are going to do with them. They can't fly away as they are domestic breads.

What is it about being the only adult around that brings out this behavior? Is it an innate program burned into the secret parts of brain? Is it a genetic defect related to the Y chromosome? I'll never be sure I guess. Anyway, I've got to cut this post short. I'm on my way out to do something... irresponsible.

Getting Old

2010-04-23T22:03:00.006-06:00

Even with my 46th birthday tomorrow, I'm thinking of another member of our family that is getting along in years. My black Jeep. As a poor college student, I always wanted a black Jeep Wrangler. As if finding Becky and actually marrying her wasn't miracle enough, our first year of marriage brought us a new bouncing baby Jeep. We bought it in the Summer of 1991. It turns 19 this Summer. That's 120 in Jeep years.

I still drive that Jeep today. Taking it in for a semi-annual oil change reminded me of what is surely impending doom. Everything leaks. The oil leaks onto the street and the coolant leaks into the oil. Brown and frothy oil cannot be good, but it has been that way for many years. Every time I take the top off in the Spring, I wonder if it will be for the last time. I've been wondering that every Spring for about 10 years. It just keeps going.

When I worked for Symantec, I parked in the same spot pretty much for 8 years. The oil slick on that blacktop has now been claimed by Opec! I have a pile of sand in the car port to catch the oil and prevent a gooey oozy mess.

I looked for some recent pictures of my Jeep and couldn't find any. These are my favorites. I used to go 4-wheeling around the Wasatch Mountains, but it has been many many years since I've done that. No more long trips, just 11 miles to and from work and 5 miles to and from The Peaks to play hockey. At 196,000 miles it's tired and old. When I bought it, I said I would drive it till it dies. Qualifying that, I also said I'd drive it as long as my credit card still works. I love my Jeep and it has become part of my identity. Should I rebuild it? Shall I extend its life indefinitely? I don't like the new Jeeps, and they are not this one. I've been eyeballing the Toyota Tacomas lately. Maybe when that last mechanic's estimate comes in, then it will be time.

In the early Spring of '92 while Becky's sister Laura was visiting, we decided to take a quick afternoon jaunt into the mountains of Diamond Fork canyon. Long story short, we had to hike down the mountain at 2:00 am to find someone to pull the Jeep out of a ditch. Laura missed her flight home and we still refer to that episode simply as 'the ordeal'. I can show you the mud from that night sill stuck to the bottom of my ratty old seat covers. True story. Did I mention that Becky was 7 months pregnant at the time?

My girls used to love riding in the Jeep. Now, it's old and icky and usually smells of putrefying hockey gear. Nobody wants to ride in the Jeep anymore. This was taken when the Jeep was 'only' 10 years old.

This was taken in Moab in '94 on a Scout trip to Slick Rock. I was going to follow the group on their bikes. One of the Scouts got sick, so I had to bail and spend the day with him in town.

The Karate Girl

2010-01-23T13:23:00.005-07:00

Leading up to Halloween, Melinda talked about how she wanted to be a Karate Girl. She talked about other costumes once in a while, but the idea for a Karate Girl stuck. When Halloween came around, Becky got her a real karate Gi from United Studios in downtown Provo. She was a Karate Girl for Halloween.

We liked having a Karate Girl. We had her Gi sitting around and thought we might as well put it to use. For Christmas, Santa brought Melinda Karate lessons. She has been going for 3 weeks now and she really likes it. Becky is a great Karate Mom. She likes to talk to Melinda about the history of Karate and helps her learn from the videos the studio gave her. I am the practice dummy for Melinda. She can work on her moves with her Dad who happens to have plenty of padding.

Meditating while waiting for her Sensei to place her new belt rank in front of her.

Fall Break at Arches

2009-11-06T21:44:00.010-07:00

Arches is one of our favorite National Parks. Moab is our favorite Southern Utah small town. This year for fall break we visited both. We also included Canyon Lands for the first time. What a trip! We hiked and hiked all over the park. We scared Debra to death by hiking narrow fins with steep drops on both sides. Poor Debra is petrified of heights due to early childhood trauma provided by her Dad. Sorry Debra. The weather was perfect, the sky was stunningly blue and the sandstone was... sandy. We had a great time.

Sibling rivalry

Audrey and Karen by a Cairn

Hotties!

This is most precious

Sunk into the sand!

Sandstone on fire

Landscape Arch

Double Arch

We were stalked by this same mountian lion for the whole trip

Canyon Lands

Dinosaur Tracks!

Halloween Crazies at OmniDobe

2009-11-06T21:02:00.007-07:00

The buyout of Omniture by Adobe Systems didn't dampen the Omniture Halloween tradition one bit. Still crazy and over the top. People worked late into the night and on weekends. Not to get the latest version of exciting web analytics to our customers, but to build out a crazy Halloween fun house. In Engineering our theme was Loony Tunes and Hanna Barbera cartoons. This year I pretty much kept working though all the craziness going on around me and each department setup their stuff, but I did play an important role of providing Thai food for my teammates working late on the Wile E. Coyote - Roadrunner chase scene. During the day while the chase scene was unattended, the rope became tangled and the motor burned through the rope. So for the rest of the evening we had to pretend Wile E. was chasing the Roadrunner. Bummer. Nothing outdid the Guitar Hero playing robot we built for last year's fiasco.

Josh James and the rest of the executive team went with the Smurfs theme. Josh has to have a theme that can fit in the little people he hires to come and join the team for a day.

Enjoy the pictures (I brought my camera this time!) and a cool video from YouTube.

This is a video summary of the wackiness done by someone else at Omniture

The PacMan guys were pretty cool

Trick or Treating around the neighborhood

Josh James (former Omniture CEO) is papa smurf with the executive admins and the hired little people.

Green Man Group was there!

The 3D paint was amazing! I don't know how they did it!!

This was at the ward party earlier in the week. Becky's girls did the ballon find-a-treat. Guess who blew up those ballons?

Old Time Hockey

2009-09-17T00:46:00.008-06:00

In December of 2001 a fateful event took place at the Peaks Ice Arena in Provo Utah. Symantec had a family event where all the employees and their families could skate. My family and I were not there. Near the end of the event, from what I am told, some sticks and pucks were brought out and some courageous souls gave them a try. A seed had been planted on the fertile ice that day.

By this time I had been skating on the river trail and then the Provo skate park for a while. Some time in 1999 or 2000 I bought some cheap plastic in line skates from Walmart so I could go around the block with my girls who were on their own skates. I was just a tad overweight at the time and thought I could shed a few pounds, spend time with my girls and skate into a size 32. I didn't know how painful this desperately needed exercise could be. I eventually figured out I could loose all the weight I wanted just from skin and blood loss. I persevered and eventually got a bit less comical on the skates and upgraded to some decent roller blades. One fateful day, as we were skating on the river trail, I took a daring spin through the Provo skate park on Geneva road. This moment marked the official beginning of my mid-life crisis. I was hooked! For the next several years I spent as much time as possible with wheels or blades under my feet.

Fast forward to February of 2002. The Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were in full swing. My co-workers and I became interested in the progress of the US Olympic hockey team. The company event the previous December had given us an idea of what a stick and puck are. My own experience had given me an appreciation for skating. The skill of passing, puck handling and shooting were amazing enough, but to see all that skill on top of the incredibly fast, powerful yet graceful skating that rivaled Brian Boytano yet retained, nay, defined masculinity, was amazing to watch. When the US played Canada for the gold medal, several awkward middle aged (and some young guns as well) fell in love with a whole new and previously unknown sport. Hockey was our new obsession.

As February turned into March, we eyed an empty parking lot two buildings over from our own in the American Fork business park. The empty Intel building, next to the freeway, had a perfect spot for street hockey. Some of us bought sticks and a ball and took our varied collection of comical skates and, without having a clue what we were doing, played hockey for the first time. I had my already famous "Purple Rocees" (as made famous by Marie Osmond) inline aggressive skates I used in skate parks. Lynn Spencer had his classic 4 wheeler leather boot skates circa 1954 with the rubber stopper on the front. Various Walmart specials graced the asphalt and we loved every minute of our lunch breaks. It wasn't long till some loose teeth made us realize we needed real hockey equipment.

As our enthusiasm for the game grew, we started to gear up. First came the safety gear. Shielded helmets, shin guards, gloves, elbow pads. I bought my first Stanley Cup. Then real roller hockey skates. Bauer lace-up skates with rocker chassis. We needed durable outdoor wheels. Faster bearings. Then came the graphite composite sticks and rubber pucks with teflon tabs for outdoor use. We made some goals from PVC and netting. We became obsessed and 6 to 10 of us played during our lunch break as often as we could. At one point I was playing 8 times a week. Back then classic skating had a drop in on Monday nights. We played 3-4 times a week during lunch at work. We had our league game once a week. The Peaks Ice Arena had two late night drop ins a week. We rented the arena at Dek hockey on Saturday mornings for team practice. Life was bliss, at least for me. My family was wondering what happened to me. Yes, I did have a mistress in mid-life and she smelled like and, indeed, was hockey. I was even shedding skinless, bloodless (mostly) pounds!

All of our gear was shiny and new and we all anticipated the UPS truck stopping by with some new toy for someone almost every day. I remember seeing an old Bauer skate with no wheels and a broken chassis tucked behind a ramp at the indoor skate park I frequented in Pleasant Grove. A relic abandoned by a guy we called 'Hockey Scott' from Philly who worked there. I wondered what it would be like to have played hockey long enough to have well used, old and broken gear laying around. As I was working around the house the other day if hit me that now,8 years later, my yard was a veritable hockey grave yard. I saw old hockey stuff all over the place. An old helmet in the driveway. Worn down and broken sticks on the Jeep top. 4 pair of old spider web filled skates in the shed. My first pair of padded red hockey pants lay buried under other neglected items. I play ice hockey exclusively now and it's been a long while since I've played any street hockey. As a result my street hockey gear, once shiny and new, obtained from the highly anticipated UPS truck, lies dusty, neglected, broken and unused. My current hockey equipment sat on the driveway in its gianormous goalie bag gracing the area with the fresh smell of hockey as it sat in the sun festering in the previous night's soaking of sweat. I honestly do love that smell, the smell of hockey.

Some old Bauer street hockey skates, my 'Purple Rocees' and you can barely see my old red hockey pants buried in there.

The current gear bag. I play goalie now and this has to be the biggest gear bag in all of sports

In the Fall of 2002 we created a Symantec roller hockey team and registered at Dek Hockey in Salt Lake. Since none of us had played an organized game before, we signed up for the lowest level league. We actually won the championship that season. Mostly because the other teams in the league were comprised of women and children. I scored my first goal against a 10 year old kid who couldn't see out of his smothering pads, but that's beside the point. We had all become rabid hockey fans in our middle age. We played several years together until Dek Hockey closed down. You may see, to this day, Stanley's Cup on the roof of the warehouse behind the 'City of South Salt Lake' water tank right next to I-15. I hurled it onto the roof as we left our last game in that venue. A token of my affection for several years of supporting my mid-life crisis and giving me some boyish memories late(er) in life. Seriously, I think it's still there.

This artful shot is like those iSpy books. See what hockey items you can find in this mess!

My non-goalie gear bag. This is ice hockey gear for when I', not playing goalie. Even it is pathetically neglected.

Another iSpy shot. I see 4 old hockey sticks in there.

I bought this helmet at Dek Hockey for a game. I had forgotten my own helmet that day.

Ah those times in the parking lot. Now this field of dreams is filled with... cars.

They called me 'Big Red'

Yeah, I dressed up for Halloween. Imagine the horror of those witches and goblins when the rain forced the party into the packed cultural hall. (See 'the smell of hockey' above... The horror, the horror)

The Orem Skate Park. Some very fun times there. I don't do skate parks anymore. A vertical ramp at 'The Tank' in San Antonio and a few run-ins with the concrete in Orem turned my knees into rice crispy treats. (Snap Crackle Pop) I never did do the big spine. It will taunt me as I drive by for the rest of my life.

Timponogos Storytelling Festival

2009-09-07T01:19:00.005-06:00

Right up there with Christmas and Halloween in our family tradition is the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. We've been going for several years now and the event has embedded itself in the pantheon of Paulsen family mainstays. We pull our kids out of school, ride the shuttle bus up the canyon to the tents and have the best time together.

This year, when I was walking late to meet Becky and the kids already seated, I heard the sweet and lovable Gomer Pyle accent of Donald Davis flooding from the tent. My eyes got teary as I heard that distinctive Appalachian accent that took me back to my mission to North Carolina 25 years ago. His stories really get to me.

Sid Lieberman is the biggest small guy I've ever met. We love his "I'm Sean Connery" story. His Abraham and Isaac story brings the teary eyed crown to its feet every time.

Bil Lepp had is in stitches! Who has heard of a guy running from a pack of wild dogs and 250 prairie dogs on burning 12 foot stilts on a roller skate while tangled around the 100 foot extension cord for his cell phone and no pants on! My face still hurts.

David Holt did the ham-bone in the thunder suit, a jumpsuit with electronic drum triggers sewn in, was pretty amazing.

And of course there is Bill Harley who had the entire crowd whining... in harmony! Waaaa waaa waaa. That was great!

Carmen Agra Deedy was one of our favorites, the favorite of my little ones. They have one of her books and CDs from the last time she came to the festival. They listen to it every night and have it memorized. Who knew my precious little ones could talk like a little cockroach with a Cuban accent?

All of the storytellers were just amazing and touched me in some way. I couldn't get enough. This is the kind of event that I hope my girls will bring their families to when they have kids of their own.(if I don't intimidate all their suitors away) Forget coming home for Christmas (ok not really) I'll pay for the plane tickets (If I let you move that far away) and come home for the storytelling festival!

It's sad when the stories are all told and each step back to the car takes me further away from such a great experience, but this little treasure will come around again and again. I can't wait!

Swimming

2009-07-27T01:38:00.007-06:00

The older girls and Becky were away at camp this week. I thought I'd get the little ones caught up on their summer swimming. Every day when I would get home from work we went swimming. We went to SCERA pool, the Orem rec center and Seven Peaks twice.

On Friday, after I'd spent the previous night at the E.R. passing a kidney stone, we went all out. I took the girls and checked into the La Quinta Inn Orem. What a blast! We checked in at 1:30 P.M. and swam until about 5:00. While the girls watched some T.V. I went and bought some take out, oh I also bought a Wii. (Something had to fill the gaps between swims! =:) By 9:00 P.M. it was back in the pool.

My little fish were really taking to the water and had learned to snorkel and not freak out. They even survived the 'rowdy teen hour' at the pool. Melinda can swim in water over her head for an extended time. When she gets tired she just rolls over and floats on her back before moving on. What a fish! Audrey liked reading her teenie magazine while floating on her raft. Fabulous!

I did have a wii bit on an ulterior motive. I like to relax by the pool and enjoy my kinds having a good time swimming. One of my favorite episodes was in Tucson when we stayed at the El Conquistador resort when Tammy had Stephen. That was truly an awesome week and funny enough it seemed to be just me and the two little ones at the pool all the time. Anyway, this weekend I read my book and synthesized plenty of vitamin D by the pool. The hotel had a nice little garden with a gazebo right by the pool. That was a nice place to read. On Pioneer day the Orem Owls put on some fireworks after the game. We watched from the comfortable couches in this nice little gazebo. Perfect!

No driving or travel, no rental car, no hastle. Just a 5 minute drive to Orem and a nice relaxing time with my girls. I do wish they were all there though. We'll have to do this again before summer ends.

Completly worn out and ready to go home

A good book, a pool, a nice (not hot!) day and my girls. A perfect recipe! Only some ingredients were missing.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

2009-04-02T21:53:00.007-06:00

Spring at last! Yeah it's still snowy and cold outside, but spring is officially here. For a guy who defies and denies the existence of Winter here in Utah, spring provides a break from the day to day cognitive dissonance brought on by the delusional notion that shorts and barbeque's are normal in the dead of winter.

One of our favorite rites of spring is opening day at the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. This local treasure tames the monsters inside my head that nearly take over when the sun is scarce and everything outside is pretending to be dead. We enjoy a lunch at the Trellis cafe and a stroll though the still awakening, but still mostly asleep gardens. There is some greenery just poking up through the recently melted permafrost that stimulates the more ancient parts of my thawing brain. Hundreds of thousands of burgeoning Tulips preparing for their big show next month. If you live in Utah, this is something that you ought not to miss.

Here are some shots from this year's first visit in late March 2009

It's not spring up there yet!

Some shots of warmer times at the Gardens...

2009-03-14T21:00:00.006-06:00

Today was the Rex E. Lee Run for cancer at BYU. This is the second time Becky and Audrey have made the 5k run. This was also the second time Audrey carried her cousin Natalie Burraston's name on her back as a show of support for her struggle with leukemia. Becky ran with the name of Natalie's friend, Alexa, who passed away from neuroblastoma last summer. Cancer sucks. Becky has posted a note on Facebook describing her experience and letting people know about the Princess Alexa Foundation which collects donations of dress up clothes, costumes and money (what's in your wallet?) for children undergoing treatment at hospitals.

So much progress has been made in so many areas like cancer and other diseases. The kind of leukemia that Natalie had has a high cure rate these days, but 15 years ago it was much lower. The future (and the present!) looks very promising for even more astounding medical progress with diseases that are so frustrating and heart breaking today. It is the hard work and dedication from people like Alexa's parents, who founded and run the Princess Alexa Foundation, and Natalie's doctors, nurses etc... (see the post for FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2009 09:35 AM at the link for Natalie Burraston above) that have made this progress possible. I may not be as hard working and dedicated like those others, but my credit card still works and monthly donations to these excellent charities are much less painful than for those who directly experience the disease and its effects.

This brings me to what I really wanted to say here today. While cancer research and treatment are working miracles every day, there is one "disease" that is so easy to cure, nearly trivial, yet goes untreated far too often. That is poverty and hunger. So many children and families suffer so greatly from hunger and even starvation which is a condition that is hard to believe even exists in this age. I can't imagine how expensive it must be to treat cancer and other diseases, but I figure a child's life could be saved from hunger and easily preventable disease just from the equivalent cost of postage to mail insurance claims etc... to a cancer patient's home. I saw the stack of mail at Natalie's house. Wow! So while I'm plugging charities, my favorite is Children's International. We've been donating for a few years now. It's so easy to set up automatic charges to the credit card and I hardly even notice. I was looking at a picture on the fridge of our sponsored child, Sindy, the other day and realized that she's starting to get big. I'm not the kind to get too involved personally in the struggle of others, but my credit card still works...

Here are more pictures of the Rex E Lee Run for Cancer

Old Friends and Neighbors

2009-02-21T16:47:00.004-07:00

It's very difficult, yet exciting to watch kids grow up. Our old neighbors, the Humphrey's, lived next door for many years. Their girls are just a bit older than ours. We watched as their girls hit milestones and it scared us to know that our own girls were right behind. When I wish I could slow life down and keep my precious girls small forever, I often think of the words to a favorite song...

Summer's going fast, nights growing colder

Children growing up, old friends growing older

Freeze this moment a little bit longer

Make each impression a little bit stronger

Experience slips away

Experience slips away...

Kristen Humphrey, the tallest one in the middle of the picture above, is getting married. Yeah, and that's Debra and Karen in there too (along with Ali) not all that far behind. sigh... This is one milestone that, for my own girls, I'm hoping will be far behind our old friend and neighbor.

Congratulations Kristen!

Story Telling

2009-02-07T16:55:00.006-07:00

Last night we all went to the Timpanogos Story Telling Festival's Midwinter Conference. What a delightful break from the cold, wet and smoggy winter doldrums. I told Becky as we were walking out that it was like a big turkey dinner on a fast Sunday. Just getting a taste of the Summer event takes me back to Provo Canyon in late Summer, sitting in the tents and enjoying one of our family's favorite Summer rituals. I enjoy that memory as much as any Hawaiian vacation.

For those of you that don't know about the festival, it is over Memorial day weekend every summer at Timpanogos park in Provo Canyon. We go every year and I usually take a day or two off work to attend the weekday session. Funny stories, sad stories, interesting stories and even some just plain stories. When they are told by the world's best story tellers you cannot help but being taken away for a few minutes to another place and time. The great thing is that even our kids love the festival... every one of them. We all look forward to it and relish the little treasures of books, CDs and DVDs we bring home.

Here are some photos of festivals past...

It gets hot in August.

The crew waiting for the next story

Making pottery at the festival at the foot of Timp. Don't leave it behind this year!

At the Scera Shell for the Saturday night Laughin'

The band warming us up for some fun!

The real star of the show

It just doesn't get any better...

The blondie girl

Puppet masters!

Lunch with Tucano's. Maybe it does get better!

Riding the shuttle bus to the story telling festival is as fun as a roller coaster!

Dallas!

2009-02-07T13:31:00.015-07:00

Our desktop computer died and the laptop is all but useless. I haven't updated for a while, but that doesn't mean there haven't been plenty of facts to torture! It's time to catch up. I think I'll post several short entries rather than one big long one, so stay tuned!

First off, I now have a shiny new screamer to work on. A Dell Studio XPS with the new Intel Core i7 chip. When I opened up Task Manager and saw 8 cpu windows, I got the giggles! The chip is a quad core, each core being hyper-threaded, which the OS (64 bit Vista) sees as 8 separate cpu's. Very nice and very responsive, no matter how many things are going on. Take a look, you might get the giggles too.

We had a wonderful trip to visit Natalie in Texas in January. We had to take Duke back though. Returning a dog that you love to his owner in Texas who has recently recovered from Leukemia isn't as easy as it sounds! We had to get him a kennel... (No, we didn't ship Melinda with him in the cargo hold)

Becky had to run all over the place getting shots, vet certification, grooming etc etc... We got Duke home and Natalie and the Colonel were happy to see him. That makes it worth it. You can see the happy homecoming at bluesparklyshoes

We all love you Duke and we miss you terribly!

Here are more pictures from the trip...

This crazy bird (A Great Blue Heron I believe) flew to this pond at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden's - Japanese Garden and he stalked and fished out a Koi from the Koi pond... right in front of us. No kidding, this brutal yet beautiful spectacle of nature took place not 10 feet from where we were standing.

Another brutal spectacle of nature... A young boy stalking a squirrel, or is it the other way around...

The bird soon after arriving at the crime scene

Picture perfect! Natalie and the Colonel.

All of us Paulsens love to skate and we helped Natalie learn a little bit before her skating lessons. Please don't look at the skates I'm wearing. It's embarrassing! I thought of taking my own skates with me to Dallas, but... Ok, if anyone on my hockey team sees this I'll never hear the end of it.

Three beauties in one shot. There should be a law...

The cattle drive at the stock yards in Ft. Worth.

Teaching super Nats how to skate. She did great!

At the Japanese Gardens in Ft. Worth

Some things are more beautiful than even the most beautiful gardens.

Sisters!

Nothing Left but a Carcass

2008-11-27T23:54:00.008-07:00

Ok, we didn't spend our Turkey day in warm, sunny Tucson outside by the pool as we have done for the past several years. Dallas just isn't driving distance and we had an opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year. We all gathered at a chapel in West Bountiful and we had a good time. We had plenty of good food and fun things to do. I hadn't realized there would be ping pong and I didn't bring my "super-de-duper-beat-anyone-even-if-you-have-no-talent" paddle. Now my rep has been tarnished and everyone knows it was the paddle all along. Whatever shall I do? We all had fun (I think) and my whole family was there except Kimo. Somehow he got a get-out-of-Thanksgiving-with-the-family free card.

Debra just finished a 1-week run of 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat' in the University Avenue theater district. Wow! When I saw her come on stage in the first show ( we saw three!) I couldn't see anyone but her! She was smiling! And singing! And dancing! Wow! After the second show, I could finally see something of the show other than her and it was pretty darn good! Now if only I could get those stupid songs out of my head!

"Where diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid .... they go?"

Sorry, no video or photography of any kind allowed due to "copyright" laws. (I guess the other twenty five gazzzzileeeeon video's from H.S. productions of "Joseph" posted on youtube violating this "copyright" are being pulled at this moment. =:)

** Update- Here are some photos taken by others.

That's Debra just tot he right of Joseph's head.

2 weeks ago Karen and a friend participated in a ball room dance competition at BYU. She has been taking a class at school and, for the past few weeks, has been practicing very hard with her partner. I tell you what, that was a breathtaking experience for me. To see her out there on the floor, being all ... ball roomy. She is so graceful and beautiful. See for your self! (I did bring the camera this time)

Larger Image
Hey wait a minute... Is she dancing with.... a BOY???? I need to get the the gym. =:)

Larger Image

They did pretty well in the competition for the 'Cha Cha' but didn't advance past the first round in the 'Samba'

There were two (well three really) more breath taking sights besides Karen at the competition.

Don't worry Natalie, Duke is doing just great! He loves chewing on his treats. What a hansom dog.

Ok, we're way down here at the bottom of the blog. Only you hard core faithful readers (like... two of you ) ever get this far. So here's my secret...

I saw Twilight... twice, and I liked it. Fine, go ahead and report me to the manlihood integrity association.

Up a Creek Without a Camera

2008-11-13T22:59:00.001-07:00

I need to get one of those new cell phones with hi-res photography and video built in. I never know when I'll need to snap a pic or a vid and send it off to a loved one. While I'm at it, I think I'll get one with gps, mp3 and a GAA of 2.93. Why do I need such a newly fangled device? Other than needing something besides the stock market to drain my resources, I keep forgetting to have a CCD device handy at some really cool events. My cell phone is always with me, so the more it does, the more I can forget to bring all the other gadgets along to important events in my life, like impromptu trips to the 'Casbah'

Audrey played the Statue of Liberty in her school's patriotic tribute to veterans on veteran's day. Where was my camera? Missing in action.. shot down over Laos and sitting in a bamboo cage considering a future run at the White House, but I digress. Audrey was simply brilliant! She is so beautiful and so... statuesque. It's no wonder all the boys admire her and call out "Hey lady liberty" in the halls of Lakeview Elementry. I hope one day to take her to New York to see her statuistic understudy... and a few other fun things. Someday...

** Update I scraped this photo from the Lakeview Elementery web site. Not very clear, but that is Audrey up there being the Statue of Liberty...

The Halloween candy isn't even close to being gone yet, even with the fact that there was plenty of 'Room on the Broom' for my low carb diet in the early afternoon of the 31st. Even with my previous post being all about the pre-Halloween festivities, there are more Halloween tales to be told. Unfortunately tales are all I have to offer personally. I have no captured memories of my own to share. Fortunately there were others with enough foresight and less candy on their minds to slip their own CCD devices into the corporate headquarters of Omniture inc. on October 31st.

As some of you know, I now work for Omniture in Orem, UT. What most of you don't know is that Omniture goes absolutely insane for Halloween. Many of you (some, many... many, some... have I included everyone?) may not have an idea of what I mean by insane. Let me 'splain'... Each department within Omniture comes up with the wackiest, craziest, over the top ideas on how to decorate their otherwise bland and life sucking cubicle areas into a spooky and wild indoor fire hazard. After a frowny faced review from finance and scathing scowls from HR and Legal, our hip fun loving CEO exclaims "Make it bigger! More insanity! I want to suck all productivity from all employees for an entire week!" For example, one department, I'm not sure which but I have to walk through it to get to the bathrooms, brought in enough hay to cover several hundred square feet of cubeless "open space" and turn it into a western frontier. They had one of the "fish bowl" conference rooms turned into a saloon complete with shelves of non-alcoholic digitally impressed spirits and a real player piano. There was a cowboy camp and a run-away mine shaft, a card table and a bank of wii's being played on a bunch of flat screens donated by those who have real lives outside the office. Another nameless department brought in (as in... into the building) several square yards of sod and created a scaled down football field with painted lines, goal posts, end-zones and essentially simulated the BYU-UofU rivalry complete with real BYU cheerleaders, Cosmo and placards poking fun at BYUisms (those U-frat boys...)

This is getting quite long and I haven't started on my main point, that being the lack of a camera to document this event. Yes I know, many (or is it most?) of you are in a state of disbelief... I know! Darn my feeble lint covered cell phone CCD! So... ah yes, getting to my point... I'll skip the Hollywood tribute to comic book super heroes and villains (yeah, this department won the best decorated and it was pretty amazing) and the realistic recreation of the land of Oz in the executive wing complete with king sized candy bars, custom Omniture suckers (is that a sub-conscious statement?) and hired dwarfs from Las Vegas for munchkins (I'm really not kidding... dang that lint!) I really do need to get on with this. Ok, I'll skip the other 4 or 5 department themes and just say it took my family 2 hours to get through the whole thing. Oh, did I mention the live band? Ok, moving on... btw, here are some captured photons that really only half capture the grandness and scale of this event.

Our team of blessed engineering geekfulness was led by the inspiration and perspiration of Dustin Webb in the development of a robot that plays Guitar Hero. A real robot, not the cheap Japanese kind that simply looks and feels like a real human, walks, eats and plays goalie for the Buffalo Sabers, but a freaking 2X4 wood plank that can play Guitar Hero with 96% accuracy in easy mode! Ok ok, I know by now you're ready to leave my blog in disgust and disbelief ( and I WILL know when and how you leave ) but thanks to some well timed photons and a clear mind, free from thoughts of more candy, there are some actual pictures! Here you go you fact hungry skeptics... Dustin, Tom, Joel, Ivan and Kyle did most of the real work on the project. My contribution consisted the selfless and strenuous task of playing Guitar Hero all night long to provide essential, critical support and sample data while the other guys fussed over the easy stuff like programming the video recognition software and grinding the 2x4 plank into something resembling a semi evolved transitional fossil of birch-wood man. It took almost two months of planning, pizza and a real mad scientist's lab in the cube next door, but it really worked. Very cool stuff.

For the un-geeked masses reading this, let me do some 'splainin' as to how this robot worked. The software, written mostly by Dustin and Ivan, would capture the video from the Guitar Hero game output. Basically the computer program was "watching" the game. It would use super secret, sophisticated, proprietary and possibly even patentable algorithms to "figer out" where the notes were and when to play them. It would then send commands to a circuit board controlling these thingies that would move a metal rod up and down. When the rod moved up and down it would pull a string under tension and eventually pull or release the finger (no not that finger!) on the guitar buttons. Another "Hand" would recieve commands to strum the guitar. Unfortunatly I have no links to video of the robot actually playing the game. Just some samples made during development.

Halloween is just the best. Perhaps after all the candy is gone, I can start that low carb diet again. That is, until the early afternoon of November 27th. =:) Now, what kind of cell phone can I get for free when I renew my contract...

The Spooks are Falling out

2008-10-28T21:17:00.000-06:00

Lots of fun Fall time activities to report on. Of course we visited Hee Haw's for the Barnyard fun and corn maze. We've been doing that for several years now and it just wouldn't be fall without the annual corn maze. I thought the maze itself was kinda lame this year, but we had tons of fun and stayed for a long time.

Tonight was the ward Halloween party and as usual the Paulsen family was dressed to kill.

We had an Indian girl and a Mini Mouse girl...

Melinda was so very excited about her costume this year ,and what 6 year old wouldn't! Audrey, of course, lights up the room whenever she is in it with that smile.

We also had a beautiful but somehow... scary girl and a very scary girl, but still - beautiful...

and of course, the scariest costume of all... Math Homework!

Becky took home the "Scariest Costume" award dressed as Math Homework. This just might out-do last year's winning costume of "Sexiest Witch".

Here are some pictures of " El Duke' " I'm sure there is a little someone out there that will enjoy these pictures.

The Speed of Summer

2008-07-27T15:11:00.000-06:00

Blinking can be hazardous during Summer months. With the biggest summer events behind me, I wonder how it happened so quickly. Debra and Karen danced in the big show, we all saw Jordin Sparks perform and the Scera, I played a few more shows with Little Wasatch, we flew to Dallas to visit Natalie and her family and we rode roller coasters and saw Metro Station and Boys Like Girls perform and whoooosh!... there went Summer! I'll slow things down a bit.

Debra and Karen work extremely hard to prepare for the Stadium of Fire. They rehearsed 3 times a week starting right after school got out. The week prior to the show they rehearsed all day in the hot sun. Besides getting really good tans, they polished their dance to perfection! Becky went to the all day rehearsals at Lavell Edwards stadium and help keep the girls cool by spraying them with water and making sure they stayed hydrated. What an awesome Mom she is!

Here's the video of the show. The announcer is Glen Beck whom we saw the previous Sunday at the Provo Freedom Festival Patriotic Service. Unfortunately you can't see Debra and Karen... they are dancing in the second row from the left near the top of the screen.

Also as part of Provo's Freedom Festival, Little Wasatch played a 45 minute set in the show tent in downtown Provo on Friday July 3rd. No video is available from that show.

Becky gave Karen some tickets for her and several friends to see Jordin Sparks perform at the Scera Shell in Orem. We had an extra ticket and Becky bought a couple more so the entire family could attend. I wasn't all that excited to go, but go I did. I had visions of Jordin singing to a DJ track with a few dancers and I would much rather see a real band perform. I was pleasantly surprised that there was indeed a live band and a good one at that. I enjoyed watching the drummer play and he made the concert worth while for me. I even started to like the music Jordin played. It was an interesting experience as I have never considered myself capable of liking R&B music, even though I take pride in myself for liking a wide variety of music. With this single event and the right circumstances I found that I really could enjoy a style of music I previously disliked. As an interesting side note to illustrate what a cool world we live in these days, I was able to look up the drummer's name and found his myspace page. I sent him a message complementing him on his performance and received a reply within 20 minutes. That's pretty cool.

My band, Little Wasatch, has played a few shows since my last post. As I said above, we played a set at the Provo Freedom Festival on July 3rd. We also played in American Fork as part of their Steel Days celebration on July 18th. It was a very hot afternoon and as you can see in the video, not a lot of people showed up. If you're into the drums, take a listen to 'Ice Cream Girl'. There is some double base work in there that I think is pretty cool. Checkout the videos at our myspace site.

We just returned form a trip to Dallas Texas to visit Becky's brother and his family... Who am I kidding, we went to visit Natalie and to ride roller coasters! For those of you who don't know, Natalie has Leukemia and has been undergoing chemo therapy since 2006. She is doing well and has a good chance for a full recovery. She was in the hospital when we arrived in Dallas due to side effects from the chemo, but she was only there for 2 days of our week long visit.

While in Dallas we went to see Daily Plaza where president Kennedy was shot. We also toured David's facility where he works as an air traffic controller. That was pretty nifty too. Mostly what we did in Dallas though was play with Natalie, play Rock Star and ride roller coasters at Six Flags Over Dallas. On Friday July 25th we went to a concert inside Six Flags and saw Metro Station and Boys Like Girls which I thought was pretty cool. We also went and saw The Dark Night which was a pretty good movie. It was hot and humid and I even managed to lock the car keys in the rental car while it was running! We had a great time in Dallas. Check out the pictures from the trip.

The Big Show

2008-06-24T18:24:00.000-06:00

Summer's going fast, before I know it nights will be growing colder. There's still plenty of exciting things in the pipeline however and I'm not turning down the A.C. just yet. You might say we're just getting warmed up here in Provo. We hit the high '90s this week, but my grass is green and my conscious is guilt free.

The big event coming up on July 4th is the big Stadium of Fire. Debra and Karen will be dancing for their largest audience yet. Something like 60 thousand screaming fans! I can't wait to see them dance again. They may be just a gracefully moving spec on the field to 59,998 of those fans, but to me they are the stars of the show! They've been frantically rehearsing for several weeks now. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures to post next time.

Audrey had phenomena this past week. Poor kid, she's been taking it easy all week but is all clear now to swim and enjoy her summer. Most likely that freedom will be used to watch waaay too much t.v. Ahhh the young on which youth is wasted.

Sports:
The Peaks Rookie League 'White' team won this past week. 4-3. The goalie was voted the best goalie on the white team. There are rumors that the voting was rigged. This just in... The Peaks Rookie League 'White' team played shutout hockey for 32 minutes and 58 seconds in a 33 minute match this evening. Unfortunately during those two non-shutout seconds, two goals were scored. White looses to Teal 2-0

Music:
Little Wasatch had another show this past weekend. Check out the videos from the Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days at the old Grove Theater below.

We started recording a new CD this week. It's kindof weird recording just the drum track without the whole band there. We had John playing acoustic guitar and Amber singing vocals, but we managed to get drum tracks for 10 songs done in one night. So look for our new CD exclusively at Walmart and iTunes and other big time distribution outlets... or maybe just in a cardboard box on the side of the stage at the next show. =:)

Speaking of shows, we have a bunch coming up. Check out our website to see when and where.

So as promised, here are the videos from the last show. There are a few new songs since my last posting. The girls worked on the dance moves, so give all of these a good look.

Some new ones!

Ice Cream Girl

Jamboree

You're Gonna Love This

Same songs, different show.

Earl Rogers Cow

Jordan

Strength

Sunny Day

Each and Every Time

BOI

Little Wasatch plays Orem Summerfest

2008-06-16T00:10:00.000-06:00

Some of you may know I am the distinguished drummer for the band Little Wasatch which is a vocal group consisting of 4 sisters and their Mom. I've been working with the guitarist and lead vocalist for a while now on some other projects as well.

Last Friday we played a quick show at the Orem Summerfest in Orem Utah. We played just a few songs since we only had 30 minutes to setup, play and tear down. We play almost all original material which is written by our lead vocalist Amber and guitarist John.

We've played a total of two shows so far. The first being at the Showtime Theater in Pleasant Grove. We'll be playing there again this weekend. Check the myspace link for Little Wasatch above to get details.

I played a bit too loud I think as indicated by a few people in the videos plugging their ears. I noticed a few plugging their ears as I looked into the crown as I played. I couldn't help myself though. I've spent a lot of time and money trying to get a good sound from my drums. On this day I thought my toms were tuned too low, the bass drum was inaudible, but I was absolutely infatuated with the sound of my Ludwig Supra 400 snare drum. The audio on these video's certainly doesn't not do it justice, but I'm sure Jon Bonham would have been proud of that sound! =:)

I get a bit spacy when I play for an audience. Many of the songs sound so much the same as far as the drums go. I'm a bit disappointed with the creativity of my fills especially, but for this show it seems especially bad. I think I played just 3 or 4 unique fills! I also got a bit carried away with the bell on the ride cymbal. When we rehearse I play my Roland electronic set since it has a very popular feature with the rest of the band and the neighbors... a volume button. Even though I have it configured the same as my acoustic set, I still feel a bit timid and lost playing on drums where I can hear myself play. Perhaps I should plug my ears too. All these things I can work on to be more "distinguished" =:)

For this show we played 6 songs. Check out the videos...

Earl Rogers Cow
This is a bit of a country song and I can't ever git the pauses right. You'd think after so many rehearsals I'd get it right, but noooo. Also, notice my two youngest girls entering the venue near the beginning of the song. They were sposed to be my videographers and my biggest fans, but what actually happened is a whole nother story, as they say.

Enjoy Earl Rogers Cow
Earl Rogers Cow

The next song in the set is one of my favorites, though I always start out too fast. That's what you get I guess when you let the drummer set the tempo. I think I need to get a metronome. Notice the guitarist John Beck telling me to slow down a bit at the start of the song. I think I'd like to try stealing the intro to 'Animate' from Rush for this song. It fits really well. I thought about trying it for this show, but thought better after considering how well I do with the stuff I actually rehearse!

Enjoy 'Each and Every Time'
Each and Every Time

The next song is called 'Strength' and we call it the 'Hootie' song. See if you can figure out why...
Strength

Next is 'Sunny Day' There's a spot in here where I'm supost to do a big Neal Peart fill. I think I did fill #3. I'm not sure I even know what a big Nearl Peart fill is suposed to be?!? I like this song though. If I ever figure out how to 'cut lose' on the drums, this will be the song to do it in.
Sunny Day

This is another of my favorites. It's called BOI or Boy, or Boooooiiiieee. Not sure what the official title is. Are you sick of the bell on the ride yet?
BOI

Finally... well ... yeah finally. We were sposed to play 3 more songs but a big hook came from stage right and yanked us off the stage. Everthing was running behind and we had to yield to the Utah Valley Regional Ballet. That's show biz I guess.

This is Jordan. Can't get the pauses right in this song either.
Jordan

That's it for now. We have more shows to do and there are, of course, many other things going on in the life a times of... Stay tuned.