Outlook Not Good

I've moved my office from the 16th to the 19th floor and immediately decided "Hey, this would be great time to ruin my computer's continuity and send my practice into a tailspin." Hell bent on ruining my life, I bought a new computer with Vista and attempted to load a new copy of Microsoft Outlook this morning. I've tried Yahoo calendar and Google calendar but they're just too slow. I search, edit, and bang away on my calendar all day long. Outlook's compatibility with X1 Desktop Search was too valuable to ditch for an online calendar. Well, Outlook wouldn't install. It wouldn't install! On a brand new computer running Vista it wouldn't install! After an hour on the phone to Microsoft support, buttons suddenly started disappearing; you know, important buttons like email's "send/receive." Well after another half hour of remotely tinkering with my computer the tech got it running. I can't wait to walk into work tomorrow and find it not working.

The Juliet Chronicles

Juliet continues to put on the pounds. She's easy to make smile and laugh now except when she's on camera. She's a very good baby. Now's she fighting to turn over onto her tummy. Right on schedule.

Why Church

Any regular church goer can list a thousand reasons why he or she attends services. I don't need to repeat them here. But occasionally I'm going to add some of the great wisdoms and witicisms I hear from regular members of my congregation. Today we were discussing the dangers of pride. Not the pride you have in your child's accomplishments, but the harmful pride summed up by Ezra Taft Benson as "[pitting] our will against God's. . . The proud wish God would agree with them."

Then Patriarch Jerry Kinison added, "If humility is to see things as they really are, then pride is to see things as they are not." I asked the Patriarch whether the quote was his and he said that it was. An excellent quote. I might reduce it to "Humility is to see things as they really are" and I hope I always remember to attribute it to Patriarch Kinison.

Orchid or Onion

Here's an update on the exterior of the house. As you can see, there's a lot more siding. The near-black stucco accents should be finished soon. The interior is being painted. I expect they're going to stitch the new and old wood floor together this week.

San Diego has an architectural "contest" each year where they announce their favorites (orchids) and their not-so-favorites (onions). I'm sure our home might make some eyes tear but to me it looks as pretty as a terete vanda (papilonanth).

Pinewood Derby Mayhem

Last night the local cubscouts held their annual Pinewood Derby. I had made pinewood derby cars for the kids to play with a year ago. Shortly after last year's derby I made a third car out of clear Lucite. Yep, I glued a couple of blocks of plastic together, carved it, and polished it. It smelled like Dad's dental lab. I dubbed it the Ghost Car. I thought the audience would go wild when I pulled it out of the bag and layed it on the judging table but for the life of me I couldn't find it - argh!

Well, we had enough cars for Christian and Erika. They entered the unlimited class which allowed non-cubscouts to race. Neither won their races, but both would have tied for first place in the design category had we stayed a bit longer. The kids loved it but the mayhem was a little too much for us to take. We split as soon as the crowd gobbled up the last of Heather's chocolate sheet cake. Exhausted by the day we hit the hay around 8:45 p.m. and all fell asleep by 9:00.

Now I'm planning a pink car for Juliet. I have some left over cocobolo and walnut for some new models.

Commander Christian

So here's a story as imagined by Christian. Commander Cody played by Christian. Princess Amidala - Erika. Photos - Yours Truly.



Alone, Commander Cody is dropped off by a troop transport and attacks Ziro the Hutt's lair. It is his mission, and his mission alone to save Princess Amidala from Ziro's clutches. Out numbered 10 to 1 by battle droids, Cody jumps from building to building picking them off one by one.

Having dispatched the tenth battle droid, he moves toward Ziro's lair. He is cautious, taking cover where he can find it, surveying the landscape in front of him for more battle droids. He hears the air move above him and sees a surveillance droid almost directly overhead. He turns and shoots it square in the center, likely disabling all of its comm links. Did he fire before the droid transmitted his position? He could not wait to find out.



Cody runs inside the lair and finds Amidala sinking into Ziro's private quicksand pond. "Behind you!" Amidala screams. He turns to see Ziro bearing down on him with his blaster. Cody spins. They both shoot. Ziro is struck in the midsection while Cody's thigh suffers a glancing blow. Ziro shrieks and ducts away. Cody is hurt but focuses. He pulls Amidala to safety while scanning the door. Is Ziro dead? Or is he merely lying in wait? He looks out the window and sees the coward Ziro speeding away.



Satisfied with his rescue of Amidala, he surveys the landscape from atop the lair. A transport has just arrived. He is tired and needs a rest, but he cannot stay. If the surveillance droid pegged him, then more battle droids would be arriving shortly. He must move Amidala before they arrive. He boards the transport and stands near the large door. The sun is setting. He hopes he never has to return to Ziro's lair again.

No Really, It Was A Happy Birthday!

Our good friend Scott celebrated another year's passing last Friday with some good sushi, some extra olives, and some terrific company (me).