HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY WILL GARDNER (BELATEDLY)

Boy did I screw up the date. Will Gardner, the son of our Seattle Principal Matthew Gardner, celebrated his first birthday on Wednesday. Here's the most recent photo I have of him, from Christmas 2004.



Apparently, Will's mom and dad Dana and Matthew threw a nice party for Will Wednesday night. Will's Godfather even flew in from Paris for the occasion - apparently hand-delivering some very good champagne. Congrats to Dana and Matthew.

The Gardners have been extremely busy lately with Will's birthday and selling their home in Bellevue. I can't even begin to imagine the stress. But they have a new home picked out and look forward to the move and the new space for Will to cruise and then run around!

Happy Birthday, Will!

WEBSITE IS (SORTA) GLOBAL

Here's a graphical report of who reads this website by worldwide time zones. Readership is obviously biggest in U.S. Pacific time, but then it gets more interesting.



U.S. Central time is second, followed by U.S. Eastern, Mountain, Alaska and then Central Europe (or Africa - Nigerian scam artists?) and Asia.

So, to everyone, Hello from Oregon!

GUEST BLOGGER THIS MORNING

Below is a photo of this morning's guest blogger. He might look a little familiar. His entry onto the website is below his photo.


Today's Guest Blogger 

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HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY HENRY JOHNSON

Today is the birthday of Henry Johnson, the son of my employer Jerry Johnson. Henry gets to call the shots on food today, and apparently insulin is one of them - Krispy Kremes and cupcakes were part of this morning's breakfast. Way to go, Henry! Here's a repeat of his recent photo with his new baby sister, Margaux.



Henry's birthday is also a milestone because it was five years ago that Jerry split from Hobson Johnson & Associates (where I was formerly employed) and started Johnson Gardner, my current place of employment. So it's a dual celebration of sorts.

Have a Great Day, Henry!

TOM'S TRUCK TROUBLES

Tom's been having more truck trouble lately.. yes, he owns a Chevrolet. Here's his update:

After being quoted roughly $150 to fix the muffler (based information from auto part catalogs and the internet), mom called Amigo and discovered, through Rick, that the part I need, instead, runs around $700. So I called another couple of muffler shops, and they both quoted me around $200 to fix it (again, relying on the same info).

Today, he called me back after looking at my truck and discovered that my truck (and I assume all 1995 S-10s) actually have the 1996 part on it. So to make a long story short, Chevrolet decided to improve thier automobiles by adding roughly $600 to the cost of a catalyic converter. Can you say "TOYOTA!"?

I recommended to Tom that he check out the Car Talk MechanX Files and find himself a good, trustworthy, independent mechanic. The website is a huge database of mechanics all over the country for all sorts of makes (skews towards imports - the website is for the extremely funny Car Talk radio show on public radio) with detailed user opinions of trustworthiness, quality, price, etc.

Not to bash dealerships, but they cash flow on financing and service and unless you know the dealership well, they likely don't have your best interest at heart. No one can be fully trusted, but in my experience independent mechanics have more to lose with a bad service track record: fixing cars is all they do, so all their eggs are in one basket. Good luck!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREAT GRANDMA REID

Today is the 80th-plus birthday of Gabriel's Great Grandma Betty Reid. I called Farmington this morning and chatted a bit, but my phone died out on me. Turns out the battery was damaged, so I'll have to call later today.

She was in good spirits and looking forward to her sister Kathleen's arrival from Florida later in the day. I haven't seen her since Gramma's 80th birthday party blowout a few years ago. I hear Florida living has been very good for her.

Anyway, have a very Happy Birthday!

TOM AND KATE MOVE INTO NEW HOME

Less than two weeks ago - yes, I'm late on all of this - Tom and Kate moved into the first home that they own themselves. They had much of the stuff moved for them, then had a big painting party to get the house in shape. Kate took some time off and they got everything squared away.

New Info:

xxxx Ackerman Way
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
(916)966-xxxx
Tom's Cell - (916)342-xxxx
Kate's Cell - (916)342-xxxx

Our cell phones work now at the house.. WOOO HOOO!!

You'll have to email him to fill in the numbers: thomas.reid1@etrade.com

BAYLOR LADY BEARS ARE NATIONAL CHAMPS

Also in old news I've been meaning to document, Baylor's women's basketball team won the national championship with an 84-62 humiliation of Michigan State on April 6th.



Congratulations Ladies on a hard-earned victory!

Longer-time readers of this lousy website might remember that Baylor's men's program had the kebosh put on it by the NCAA after one teammate murdered another, and in the ensuing investigation, recruiting and other violations and a cover-up by the then-coach were discovered.

The victory by the Ladies was a very much needed boost to a campus shocked by the scandal. Particularly shocking, since despite all the apparent cheating, the Men's program still stunk.

HAPPY 56TH BIRTHDAY TO GRAMPA

Grampa Dave Reid is 56 years old today. Born in a barn in rural Colorado, Wyatt Earp was the local sheriff at the time and dirt wasn't yet invented. And don't forget that to get to his one-room school house, he had to walk 5 miles in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways.

Here's a link to other major news stories that occured on April 25 in past years, courtesy of the History Channel. Befitting an engineer, groundbreaking on the Suez Canal was today in 1859.

And here's a photo of Grampa meeting Gabriel for the first time last summer, followed by them in Farmington playing together in March.



Happy Birthday!

THE WELFARE GAMES REVOLUTION

A quick Googling of my 1999 Urban Economics paper about Welfare Games (well, my paper with David Figlio and Van Kolpin) has turned up quite a bit on-line at other academic journals, as well as government write-ups and classroom curriculums in a number of universities across the country.

Google Scholar: Welfare Games.
Google General Search: Welfare Games

Specifically, my paper is in the bibliography of at least 48 other studies in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. The paper is now standard reading in a number of political science and economics college classes. There's even a powerpoint presentation (link goes to the class syllabus - scroll down) by a student at Brown University outlining the paper for fellow students. The guy gets an A- in my book because he needs to spell Van Kolpin's last name correctly!

So now, six years later, the Welfare Games theory - or fact, as our paper and others have empirically shown - is called the Race to the Bottom (RTB) and the paper is being used as a methodological model in showing negative government competition on public health care in the U.S., as well as tax policy in Italy, Switzerland and other countries.

Looks like the hard work paid off and has taken off, even internationally. I'm proud and humbled at the same time.

I always wanted to make my very own permanent mark that lasts well after I'm gone. Looks like I've managed that, and in a very constructive way!

Source: despair.com (many like this for sale there...)

GABRIEL'S FIRST AIRPLANE TRIP

I'm only now getting around to posting photos and information. But Gabriel had a very good experience travelling to Las Vegas/Pahrump and then to Albuquerque, Farmington and then back home, all on his first airplane rides back in March. Once he got settled in, he definitely enjoyed looking out the window.



OVER THE HUMP TO PAHRUMP

After a great crab buffet at Green Valley Ranch, we headed to Pahrump, about an hour west of Vegas through the mountains.

The town itself is small, surrounded by a ring of dramatic mountains - more impressive than Las Vegas in my opinion. The town is definitely Red State. I saw nothing smaller than an SUV while there, and certainly nothing made in Japan. A Wal-Mart marked the end of town.

Local color was everywhere. In fact, while walking into the Smith's (which carried Tillamook Cheese, by the way) a sixty-year-old fella sitting outside, face carved by too much smoke and too little sleep, was bragging to his friend about how he had "kicked her a$$ out last night." Lively neighborhood he lives in, I'm sure.

Sue and George have a nice, big house with great views of the mountains from their back patio. George was gone at work much of the time, but Aunt Suebee and Me-Ma got to spend a lot of time with him. We had a good visit, even though Gabriel decided to not sleep so well our second night there. Following are a couple of pictures.



We didn't have a lot of time there, so we didn't get to make a day trip to Death Valley and see the 100-Year bloom. They had much rain earlier in the spring, even while we were there. The result is that Death Valley has been in full bloom, a rare sight indeed. Below is a photo taken by an amateur photographer I found by Googling.



But as this website attests, Pahrump is about much more than the gateway to/from Las Vegas and Death Valley. (Note: This is actually a well-done website by a resident of Southern Nevada, with details of the ins, outs, and hidden bits of Vegas in great detail. This particular page I linked is her description of actually touring a brothel in Pahrump out of curiosity. Funny stuff...)

The town has carved out a market niche for sin that Vegas doesn't seem willing to serve: prostitution and fireworks. Brothels are well-known and common in Pahrump, with the subtlety of a belch. Billboards advertise the establishments, as well as where to get your hands on bottle rockets, roman candles and other incendiary devices.

In fact, Pahrump even has a brothel museum that is apparently quite good, though we I didn't get to go. There's a winery, too, but we'll be saving that for another trip as well.

ONWARD TO FARMINGTON

The trip to Farmington via Alburquerque was good. Gabriel got to ride with his grandmother on the plane, though slept much of the way. Waiting for us were Dad, Tom and Kate. We all loaded up into the Blazer and headed northwest for Farmington. Not far along, a Good Samaratin did his level best to run us off the road trying to warn us that our tail lights were out. Nice fella, though blocking us off right in front of the I-25 onramp was probably less safe than the aforementioned tail light problem.

After stopping and fussing with the fuses - not the problem it turned out - we headed for Farmington, anyway, though much later than planned. After a stop at El Bruno's in Cuba - great New Mexican cuisine, but don't be afraid of capsicum if you go there - we arrived in Farmington rather late. On the plus side, we were able to visit with Casey, Pony, her husband, son and newborn daughter before they headed off for Austin. I hadn't seen them in over ten years, so that was a nice visit.

The next morning we headed over to La Plata Drive - Did you know you have a spruce tree in your front yard? - to visit Gramma and Grampa. Below is a photo of everyone there but Dad, who's taking the photo.


Gabriel's Farmington Trip 

We had a fun visit and Gabriel clearly enjoyed visiting his Great Grandparents and Gus, who was nice enough to cook us a fried turkey dinner without overboiling the bird and firing it in the air like a cannonball. It was quite good and he's 2-0 in the times I've been there. Below are photos of Gabriel with his Great Grampa George and Great Gramma Betty.



We headed back to Albuquerque that night and left for Portland the next, very windy day. Gabriel did quite well on the three-hour direct flight, sleeping most of the time. So much for fears of a screaming baby! ...this time

Postlogue: Gramma went into the hospital for a brief visit due to complaints of heart palpitations recently. But after examination, it turned out her oxygen unit was not functioning properly and all was remedied. She's reportedly doing well now, just as she was in good spirits during our visit.

STILL WORKING ON THE POSTING

But in the meantime, here's a great little story out of Soldotna, AK - my birthtown.

A local biologist was mauled by a brown bear (cubs nearby - bad sign) while jogging on Monday and has become the first recorded survivor of two bear attacks.

Not the most enviable distinction.

UPDATE ERASED

That's right.. I had something ready yesterday afternoon but when I went to save, Blogger was undergoing maintenance so I lost it all. I'm still fuming.

But in the meantime, here's a bit of fun for the voyeur in you. This link goes to a site called PostSecret, where people mail deep, dark personal secrets written on a postcard to a website and they post them anonymously.

Here's an example..

HAROLD & CHIQUI BAHR's 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Harold & Chiqui recently celebrated their 50th anniversary in Anchorage. This is a link to the Anchorage Daily News Together story on their marriage.


Source: Anchorage Daily News

For fun, I Googled some of the locations in the Philippines. Here are a couple of photos of the church where they were married 50 years ago, the Malate Catholic Church in Manila.


Source: VirtualTourist.com

Congratulations on a Well-Lived Life Together!

MAJOR UPDATE PLANNED.. SOON

It's been an extremely busy few weeks.. much to write about, and very soon.