MORE NEW BABY PHOTOS

Well, not of our baby, but of a couple of new arrivals over the past few months.

First up, William Gardner, son of Matthew and Dana Gardner, Seattle Principal of my company and his wife. William was born a premie, but he's adding weight and growing quite quickly every day. Here's a shot of him sleeping quite soundly and happily based on his smile.

William Gardner


Second, Noah Chow-Monreal of Waco, Texas. His mother, Inga Chow, is an old friend from Baylor and his father is another alum, Richard Monreal. Looks like little Noah is excited about getting teeth!

Noah Chow-Monreal


IS THIS LINE OF QUESTIONING GOING ANYWHERE?

Yesterday, I had the privelage of testifying before a hearings examiner in Seattle as an expert witness regarding negative economic impacts of construction activities on nearby business.. noise, closed lanes, etc. It was a bit stressful, but it was a great experience. In fact, it was my first time to be an expert witness like that.

I apparently did an okay job because opposing counsel got a bit flustered.. rubbing his eyes and red-faced in frustration. I didn't stonewall, but he just wasn't able poke many holes in my study, his primary job. At one point, counsel for my clients while leaning back in his chair, turned to the hearings examiner and asked if the opposition's line of questioning was going anywhere. It's a question that comes as close to a slam of opposing counsel as one can get in such a formal setting.

I haven't heard how the rest of it went, but all should be well.

NEW BABY PHOTOS

Well, not of the baby itself per se, but it's certainly part of the picture. Here's a shot with a happy mommy and daddy.


And check out the fantastic job the daddy did on replacing the old window trim!

Turns out it's not necessarily the baby's head I was rubbing and poking as I previously discussed. It might very well have been the baby's backside. According to Jill's nurse-midwife, the baby is turning upside down and rightside up, so nobody knows. We still think it was the baby's head based on the shape.

Yesterday we went through a litany of possible names.. I'm the only one that likes Rufus... and spoke them to the baby. I figured the baby had a right to input on a name, so we felt for response after saying each name a few times. Only two got a response:

William and Charlotte

But I'm not inclined to name my own son, if it is a boy, after myself - plus, William is a little too popular of a name right now. What about Ronald Wilson?

By the way, I forgot to mention that we registered the baby at Babies R Us. You are welcome to check out the registery if you care to, but please feel no pressure to do so. I'm not very crazy about when people send announcements and invitations to absolutely everyone in hopes of casting a wide net for gifts. The news is then cheapened, in my opinion, amounting to nothing more than an invoice. So there it is: all is appreciated but nothing is expected.

JUDY HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL

I didn't get to post it Friday, but Judy did actually get to go home on Thursday rather than Friday. They still expect her to have a speedy recovery. She's pretty well confined to her bed with her foot in a cast, elevated with a pillow. Unfortuntely, she has to use her crutches more than she cares to because the halls in their home are to narrow for their wheelchair with the leg support fully extended. Otherwise, all is going well over there.

MOM AND DAD CHANGE REAL ESTATE GEARS

Jill and I had dinner with them at the Raccoon Lodge Friday night.



They let us know they backed out of the five-acre deal, feeling that the general contractor was trying to rip them off and would likely do so no matter where they purchased up there because there wasn't much competition. So, they're looking for a home more like ours.. smaller, likely 30 years or so in age, and with a bit more land than the typical new home these days. All in all, I think this is a good strategy, also.

RONALD REAGAN

I'm not going to bother writing a lot about President Reagan. You'll find tributes on TV - it's times like this I'm grateful we don't have cable TV and its monotonous, redundant news channels - and all over the web, among the best of which is this one by Peggy Noonan, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a former speechwriter for him.

But I've been impressed with the resonance his death has had in the minds of most Americans across most of the political spectrum. It seems that to those who are Democrats/liberals/members of the press, Reagan was a "great leader" whose legacy was chiefly "the restoration of American spirit and confidence" but little else - what incentive do they have to canonize him? To those who are Republicans/conservatives/libertarians, he walked on water... and even Jesus didn't get to personally vanquished the great hobgoblins of the 1970s: Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, union contract-driven stagflation and the Soviet Union.

Somewhere in the middle is the the truth about Reagan and his legacy, though I have to admit that I lean towards the latter category of inclination: major change in the world is a very complicated thing, but there's no doubt in my mind that his rhetoric, decisiveness, charisma and ability to stare down the Soviet Union and force them to blink will and should be most remembered. A negative legacy is there as well: I have seen firsthand the human toll his militarization of Latin America has taken. All too many women and children south of Mexico are widows and orphans - and their peace, that comes only with justice, is just now beginning to take shape. We might not have pulled triggers, but we gave aid and comfort to those who deserved the exact opposite.

But on the balance, the world is a better place because of him, no matter what some bitter opponents might say. Who but the malevolently self-loathing would prefer the Soviet Union's health? He was like everyone's favorite feisty but good-natured grandfather; a welcome member of the family. And just in case you forget how much like family he was received, here's the 1984 Electoral College map. As you can see, nearly the entire country was blue - and, so it seems, it has been since Saturday when the sad but long-expected news broke.



Rest in peace, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

YES - STILL ALIVE

To say that the past several weeks have not been extremely busy would be a lie. So, updates have been non-existent. But much has gone on - and I'm still committed to describing the rest of our Kaua'i trip among other things, so I'm taking a quick breather and doing some posting.

JUDY HAS FOOT SURGERY

Tuesday morning, Judy Korynasz had reconstructive foot surgery at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland. Instead of having artificial reconstruction, the doctors utilized bone tissue from her hip to rebuild depleted structure in her foot. The surgery went very well, though Judy took a bit longer than expected to wake up afterward. We have since learned that mildly low blood pressure was to blame.. nothing too serious.

She should be home tomorrow, Friday the 4th. They originally expected her to be home today, Thursday, but several factors may be contributing to the delay. First, foot reconstruction requires a longer healing period before she gets to begin walking in physical therapy. The healing process is more delicate and unlike her knee replacements, she will not get to begin walking immediately after her surgery. She is more than likely going to have to wait at least two months. You have your work cut out for you, John!

Second, her care at Legacy Emmanuel is apparently not as diligent as she received at Medford, Oregon's Providence Hospital. The doctors and nurses rarely come by and, when she presses the call button for nurse assistance, they take up to a half hour to check in on her. I have to say that Providence is, indeed, a superior health care provider. Finally, her occasional low blood pressure might also be contributing to her day-longer stay. Again, it's nothing serious but remember: hospitals make more money the more time you spend in them.

We look forward to her returning home for the remainder of her recuperation (how's that for alliteration? - and a rhyme to boot).

MOM AND DAD UPDATE

It looks like they've found five acres of land overlooking the Columbia River in Woodland, Washington. They plan to have a Lindal cedar home built, with a central "great room" full of tall, large windows to maximize views. Sounds great to me. I did a walk-through of the property a couple of weeks ago, Dad with his machete in hand. It's a nice piece of dirt, no improvements whatsoever, but plenty of privacy, a small seasonal creek on the periphery, and plenty of space for a nice woodlands garden and a pottager, to say the least. I'm excited for them. And apparently, the home will only take six months to build.

This weekend, Mom was in Montana at some big antique fair. I'm sure I'll get the full report soon and when I do, I'll provide details. Apparently, she and Jim Ed picked up some sort of Vegas-bound hitchhiker. We'll see what that's all about soon enough.

And regarding the Washington State car registration fiasco. Mother went in to the Washington DMV to register her truck. Because she listed the date of her permanent relocation to the beginning of her apartment lease, April 1, State law requires that she pay the balance of sales tax on her new truck because she purchased it in a different state and moved within two months of that date. Well, the WA sales tax rate is 2% higher than the New Mexico rate, so she was charged $1,200!

I told her to go back and tell them that because you had not yet decided to actually make Washington your permanent residence until you purchased land - anyone can rent an apartment anywhere on a temporary basis - she should not list April 1 as her new residency date. She did just that and they gave her money back. Moneygrubbers. And the fact is, if Washington didn't work out for them, it's not their primary residence.. both of them are on the move most of the time and Dad could just as well claim Tulsa as their primary residence because he's there more consistently than than she is up here for longer periods of time due to his job.

BABY UPDATE

I can honestly say that there is little news about the baby other than the fact that it's growing like a weed. We figure it's now over three pounds and adding half a pound every week or so for the next few weeks. Jill is in her third trimester now and is definitely getting a bigger belly, but she's still comfortably mobile. Gardening has become a problem as she can't bend over to pull weeds, plant things, etc. so easily, however.

Each night we talk to the baby some and we're able to feel its little head pressing against the top of Jill's belly. We play with it a bit.. pressing here and there and usually getting a reaction of different movement. If it could speak, I suppose it would say "Cut that out, will ya?!" Or something along those lines. It apparently has a developed sense of hearing and can identify bright light, so we're going to be a bit more diligent about talking to it, reading to it and playing music - Vivaldi, precisely.

Since I don't have any ultrasound pics yet scanned, here's a 3D ultrasound image of a 30-week fetus for everyone to see.. the kid should look something like this:

THINGS CRAZY AGAIN.. NO RECENT UPDATE

All in good time. We have learned recently, however, that if you move to Washington after purchasing a new vehicle elsewhere, do not declare permanent resident status until after 90 days of purchase.. or face Washington sales tax.

More later...

JILL'S SURPRISE KAUA'I TRIP PART II

We arrived on the island of Kaua'i just before 6pm. As we approached the island - the Boeing 707 flight was less than 30 minutes - I had grown cranky about the three hours that we lost stuck in the Honolulu Airport. It did not help matters that it was 9pm at home in Hillsboro and we were somewhat famished because we never exactly knew if the next plane was ours, so we didn't take the risk of missing a flight sitting and eating a $9.00 hamburger. Mechanical issues held the plane to the ground at Maui, its point of departure. But the Hawaiian Air knuckleheads wouldn't get a substitute plane for us, as would a professional carrier, and while we waited, three similar Hawaiian Air flights departed for Kaua'i while we sat, tempers simmering. The other flights were booked, so there was no chance of stand-by.

Not only that, but our gate (beware Gate 41 - it's the one with dead tumbleweeds accumulating in the corner) was the last at the end of the interisland terminal, so Hawaiian personnel never felt compelled to provide us with updated information about our flight, which gate the plane would utilize - that was never a done deal until the last minute - and whether or not anyone could fly stand-by, how, where and at what cost. All of this information was only had by hunting down a Hawaiian rep. somewhere in the terminal like a wild boar - not an entirely inappropriate metaphor - and practicing interrogation with a smile. Complacent is the adjective that comes to mind when I think of Hawaiian Air staff, but it somehow just doesn't characterize their slack-jawed shock that a passenger might not only dare to expect punctuality as the norm, but also some measure of effort to inform passengers of delays. I expect and plan for manana mentality south of the Border, but we quickly learned that Hawaiian Time is very real.. and provides evidence that Polynesians did indeed cross the Pacific and land in South America looking for new foodstuffs. The Incans not only gave them the sweet potato, but clearly passed on their Mesoamerican bad habits.

But upon first glance of Kaua'i through the airplane window, much was forgotten. The island is spectacularly rugged; more on this later. Lihue, the location of the airport and the island's largest town, is located on a valley plane that slopes from the nearly 6,000-foot mountains to the northwestwest down into the ocean. To the immediate south of Lihue are the closest peaks, a short but imposing chain running due east and right into the crashing surf - a frozen echo of the lava that once flowed here, into the waves as if it truly had been seeking reflief in the cool waters.


Map courtesy of the Kaua'i Visitor Bureau - I'm sure they don't mind the traffic

Kaua'i is the northermost and oldest of the Hawaiian chain of islands. As a result, God's hammer and chisel - wind and rain - have had longer to shape Kauai's geology. Thousands of years of erosion have produced dramatically-carved peaks and valleys on the island, all covered in the brilliant, moist greens of which only tropical climates are capable. But, as we would find out a few days later, none are more impressive than the northern Na Pali Coast, a photo of which I posted a while back and can still be seen if you scroll down to April 14 or click here.

Our hotel for the four-night stay was the Aloha Beach Resort between Wailua and Kapa'a on the east "Coconut Coast" side of the island. The resorts are older (1970's), particularly compared to new development on the south coast in Poipu. Ours was a former Holiday Inn resort, as evidenced by the elevator's visibly expired permit enclosed by a cracked plastic sheath. Popcorn ceilings, somewhat outdated carpets in the common areas and other little features left no doubt that if you had the patience to sit in the lobby, the mobs of Japanese package tourists would clear long enough that you might spy the ghost of Larry Dallas. But it was still well-maintained, had lovely Hawaiian landscaped grounds and was immediately adjacent to Lydgate Beach State Park, which proved on our last morning to have the best snorkelling Jill's yet experienced - though not necessarily the best location; San Blas/Kuna Yala in Panama is is hard-pressed to lose its top position. After a great Korean BBQ dinner in Kapa'a, we concluded the night at the hotel room planning the next day's activities.

Aloha Beach Resort & Lydgate Beach State Park


More in Part III Later!

KATE GIVES HER NOTICE

Congratulations, Kate! She gave her two-week notice to Hanna Brophy and will be taking up a new position at another law firm in Sacramento thereafter. I can't say I know much more than that, but a clean break from something old to something new and better is always worth celebrating. If anyone knows anything else, I'll post it.

MATTHEW AND DANA GARDNER HAVE A BOUNCING BABY BOY

Wednesday night, Dana (wife of Matthew Gardner, Seattle Principal of my company Johnson Gardner.. Gardner Johnson up there) had to have emergency caesarean section due to complictions with her health. At 34 weeks, the doctors felt the baby would be developed enough to do just fine. And after a very successful surgery, they were right! William is just over 4 pounds and happily occupying special accommodations in the Premie ward of Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, Washington.

Congratulations Matthew and Dana!

RICK AND LIBBY BAHR GET EMAIL

Rick and Libby, living in Las Vegas, sent an email recently to make the announcement. I quote:

This is just a note to let everyone know that we have jumped into the 21st century, and finally have broken down and got E-mail. We also have a new phone number as follows, 702-644-2247(BAHR). We hope everyone is doing well, and hope to read or hear from anyone soon.

Lots of Love,
Rick and Libby

The new email address is: mannymoe3@netzero.com

Now I better not hear of anyone signing them up for Peter Pan's electronic newsletter... but if you do, let me know ASAP!

UPDATE YOUR LES HARDISON EMAIL ADDRESS

Les Hardison, Judy's uncle in Florida, emailed the other day to remind me that his new email address is les@hardison.info - the old URL and email address have expired. I have updated his website address for the Les Hardison link in the left margin of this page. Give it a look sometime. I personally appreciate his dry sense of humor.

BABY PHOTOS DELAYED

Yes, it's been a while. A whole month since the big ultrasound March 31, even. I hope to utilize Mom's new scanner with the ultrasound photos, but I will say that the baby (of undetermined gender) is very happy, healthy and active. All systems and organs checked out just fine. We have prints of the the little tot yawning (it looks like), a wisp of a hand near it's mouth. It has a Charlie Brown head with a high forehead, so Jill says it's "definitely Bill's kid."

Photos will be up soon. It was 1lb. 10 oz. or so a month ago, so we figure it's about two pounds now. It kicks and squirms all the time now, so now even I can reliably tell when it's moving.

HAPPY 55TH BIRTHDAY TO DAD

Dad was in town this weekend for his birthday. Well, only until noon on Sunday the 25th. But after a day of looking at properties in Clark and Cowlitz Counties, Washington, he came back to town and we took him out to Campbell's Barbecue for the largest display of meat I've ever seen in my life. Here's a shot of the founders of Campbell's, now passed away. He was a former NASA technician that moved his family up to Portland back in the 1980s as I recall. Plus, a shot of their infamous beef ribs - Jill's favorite.



For fun, I'll repeat the joke he told at dinner:

An elderly lady went into the doctor for her annual check-up. The doctor asked her if she noticed any unusual changes in her health. She replied nothing really, other than that she has developed frequent gas but it was odorless and silent. The doctor gave her a little bottle of pills and told her to return to his office when she ran out. A month later, she returned and upon seeing the doctor, expressed her frustration with the medicine. "I took those pills you gave me and all they did was give my farts a horrific odor." The doctor replied "well, now that we've fixed your sense of smell, we'll work on your hearing."

On the real estate front, it looks like they are going to pass on the big land deal (lack of investor interest, really) and go for a five-acre parcel upon which to build their own home. They'll likely buy a house in Clark County (Vancouver) in the meantime, so we'll see how things progress.

JILL'S SURPRISE KAUA'I TRIP - PART I

With some conspiring with Judy, I was able to pull off a surprise trip for Jill to Kaua'i, Hawai'i. She did expect a 5-day trip to New Orleans and the Gulf, but it was a big lie. She didn't seem to be too upset about it when she found out, though. I booked flight, hotel and rental cars in Honolulu and on Kaua'i. I just had to keep it a secret until we got to the airport - and manage to sneak the snorkel equipment into the luggage when Jill wasn't looking. I scored on both accounts.

John and Judy dropped us off at PDX Thursday morning for our flight. They knew (well, pretty much everyone but Jill knew) so they had big smiles for her when we left. I'm surprised she didn't get tipped off on that, but I think she was tired from packing the night before. We headed into the terminal and I pulled out our E-Tickets on Hawaiian Airlines (non-stop from Portland to Honolulu - no hassles through San Francisco or LA!). She looked a little puzzled, inspected them carefully, and then looked completely dumbfounded - in shock you might say. I pulled the wool over her eyes! She was pretty much speechless and stunned through security and half-way to the gate.

She stopped at the ladies' room, and when she came back out I guess it had sunk in because her face was kind of red and she had the biggest smile on her face I've seen in a long time. Poor girl, dealing with the awful pregnancy rash a few weeks before that kept her home from work for a week. The doctors still don't know what it was. And it's making a comeback of sorts right now, but not as severely. But for a while at least, she forgot all about that. In fact, on the levelator to the gate, her eyes even leaked a little bit. But that's okay - it was because she was happy.

The flight to Hawai'i was uneventful - the best kind. We quickly became acquainted with Guava-Passionfruit juice as it's everywhere on the islands when you ask for "fruit juice." I suppose it is if you consider fruit juice to be a drop of concentrate and "high fructose corn syrup/and or cane sugar." But I digress. We left Portland at 9:05am our time, but arrived at 12:30pm their time.. they do not observe daylight savings.

Honolulu had become a sprawl, the older city like the head of a gray octopus whose tentacles slithered far up onto the sides of the surrounding green mountains, house after house in all directions. I don't remember Honolulu being so big, but then again, I had not been there in twenty years. It was cloudy and slightly rainy and I confused the clouds with plausibly dense smog. Waikiki was clear, however, and to my surprise, Diamond Head is still protected by a barrier of greenspace so that uncomfortably close highrise hotels cannot be developed and block its view. Even through the airplane window on the ground, there are good views of Diamond Head crater to be had (the one below is from another website).



We had a 3.5 hour layover in the Honolulu Airport, so I rented a car from the Honolulu airport to do whatever sightseeing we could in that amount of time. I had heard all sorts of horror stories about the security at the airport, Honolulu traffic - "don't do it" was all I had heard online when I did research. But what the heck.. how many times am I in Hawai'i, right?! We got the car and took off for downtown Honolulu. And in the amount of time we had - thank God we had our E-Tickets - we only got to see the famous statue of King Kamehameha. Here he is on King Kamehameha Day, when the locals adorn him with countless flower lei's.



We had time only to spin the block a few times and never got to park and take a photo. Well, it was an experience, anyway.

We returned to the airport in time - only to realize our flight to Lihue on Kaua'i had been delayed.. and would continue to be for three hours. We could have gotten over to Waikiki for photos of the beach and Diamond Head. The lesson is that you should use Hawaiian to get to the islands, but use Aloha Airlines for interisland travel. We finally managed to get our plane and off we went to Kaua'i, the northernmost island in the chain and geologically the oldest!

More in Part II Later!

JUDY TO HAVE FOOT SURGERY... SORT OF

Judy got in to see a real surgeon and he said that her foot can be fixed, but she needs to schedule surgery sooner rather than later. So, she's at a dilemma about when to do it. She doesn't look forward to the six month recovery and how it will affect her ability to help Jill with the baby, but at the same time if she doesn't do it soon, who knows what permanent damage she'll do to her foot by not getting it fixed. We continue to urge her to move forward quickly.. the baby's always going to be there! More when we know what she's going to do.

TOM HAS HIS BAR EXAM REGRADED

Tom has asked to have his bar exam essay questions regraded. He missed passing by only 3 points.. practically nothing. Tom, did you spell your name correctly?! Maybe you can get points for that. Anyway, he's still signed up for a retake on July 31-August 1, so we'll be seeing him soon, either way. Good Luck, Tom. And my condolences to your Nevada Wolf Pack. They played admirably, but a team of 5 superior players can only beat teams with deeper benches for only so long. Georgia Tech just happened to be the one to do it. Either way, UNR is bound to have a much better recruiting season this year. Here's to the future!

NOAH CHOW-MONREAL IS BORN

Inga Chow-Monreal, my old friend from Baylor, emailed recently with a photo of her and Richard's newborn son, Noah.. see below. He's a cutie. Inga reported that she went to the hospital with an awful belly ache from eating too many cookies, only to find out she was nearly completely dilated. (?!) She only went through two hours of labor and Noah was born.



Welcome to the big world, Noah!

TULIP FESTIVAL IN WOODBURN

The first weekend in April, Judy, Mom, Jill and I went to Woodburn, Oregon for the Tulip Festival. The event is held at the fields of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. The link gives all sorts of information about the event, as well as information on getting a catalog. It's well worth it - they have a great selection of all sorts of spring and early summer bulbs.

We walked through the fields, snapped a lot of photos and enjoy the sunny views of Mt. Hood in the background. None of my photos of Hood and the tulips turned out well, of course. Afterward, we had a great meal of Dutch-style homemade sausage! Good eatin'. Here's one of the better photos

THINGS ARE KINDA CRAZY - HERE'S SOME EYE CANDY

I haven't updated in a while, much has been happening, but unfortunately it's going to have to wait. In the meantime, enjoy this view of the Na Pali coastline on the north shore of Kaua'i, the destination of my surprise trip for Jill.



More soon enough!

XX EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: TOM HEADED TO THE UNR GAME IN ST. LOUIS XX

You heard it here first, folks. Tom and his father-in-law Ron (adult supervision) will be flying to St. Louis for Friday's UNR game against #3 Georgia Tech. His day has been cleared of responsibility so all he has to do is pack!

No, Tom, I'm not kidding! Yes, your wife arranged it. Thank her and give her a kiss!

Have a great time and don't forget the drink coupons.

UNR STILL ALIVE

It's official: The Wolfpack are THE underdog of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Ranked #10 in the West, they're the lowest seed still standing.

UNR thumped heavily favored (#2) Gonzaga on Saturday to make it into the Sweet 16. I only got to watch the first four minutes of the game, but based on what I saw, I'd say it was basically decided that early. Gonzaga came out a little too aggressive and got into very early foul trouble, particularly their star forward. He had three fouls by the end of the first half. What, does he think he gets SIX fouls like the pros? So Nevada capitalized and took it to the hole aggressively - no one on Gonzaga ("Gone-zaga" - Dick V) could afford to foul.

They're next opponent is #3 Georgia Tech on Friday (26th). Who knows what the future holds? I do think (sorry Tom) that the six-day break is a bad momentum killer for UNR. Tech has the coaching advantage, so we'll see how this plays out.

BABY KICKING MORE AND MORE

Well, we're half-way through the 19th week and Jill reports that the baby is quite active, kicking and wiggling as babies are wont to do. Until last night, the kid hasn't been big enough to make movements that can be felt through the outside of Jill's belly until last night. Jill said the baby kicked around a lot and she even felt it from the outside. I, unfortunately, wasn't immediatley there so I didn't get to feel it. Soon enough!

KATE FINALLY ABLE TO READ THE WEBSITE

Hi, Kate! Looks like her firm finally changed their firewall and now she gets to look at all the vile content of this website. Though I suspect Blogger hosts others that are a little less SFW.

IF I WERE A CARPENTER...

The weekend was gorgeous: sunny, breezy and low 70s. So, we did much work outside. Mulching, mowing, weedpulling, planting. But the fun thing is we got one big project done and one that's nearly done and the latter involved power tools. On the first, we set two cedar posts and strung wire between for the raspberries to grow up on. Plus, it'll make the picking easier!

On the second, I'm nearly done building a new cedar planter box for the front walkway where the whiskey barrel used to be. We're going to put a trellis up against the front of the house between the patio and the garage door. We're going to grow:

'Nelly Mosier' clematis,


climbing hydrangea,


and possibly hardy kiwi - YUM.


Plus we'll stock it full of bulbs for springtime. It's going to look great.

FAST HARRY MAKES CONTACT

I received an email from Harold Kapp yesterday - he's presently in Corvallis. He's finished taking survey classes at OIT in Klamath Falls and mentioned he had spent the summer in Alaska surveying for the BLM. Kinda sounds like fun, except for hummingbird-sized mosquitos, I'm sure. I anticipate that the next time he heads up to PDX (his sister lives in Hillsboro), we'll be having a visit. I think I can line some work up for him, even.

UNR DOESN'T SUCK

Looks like this year's Cinderella Story at the NCAA tournament may be Tom's UNR Wolfpack. Last night they shocked #6 Michigan State with a 72-66 upset victory for their first NCAA tournament win ever.



The bad news is that their next opponent is #2 Gonzaga, which some analysts have predicted will take the whole enchilada at the end of the month. Last night, Gonzaga wiped out #15 Valparaiso 76-49. Valparaiso stayed somewhat competitive through the beginning of the second half, but the Zags shut them down with serious D for the rest of the game and never looked back.

Good luck, UNR. You'll need it. And, if it's any consolation, you can always look forward to an Awful Awful after its over. Tom - are you going to the game?

JAMAICAN ME CRAZY

Well, after a long drought, Oregon finally got its very own truly Jamaican restaurant yesterday. Montego Bay opened its doors, and after many days of driving by their location on our way home from downtown Portland, we saw lights, customers, drinks being served and so we stopped.

Dinner was good. We started with Jamaican beef patties, which are nothing more than spicy, savory meat turnovers (empanadas) in a savory pastry crust. They were very good. We had refillable Jamaican limeaid wash (overly sweet limeaid - Jill: "I feel like I'm drinking sugar water"). And then the main courses: curry chicken for Jill and curry goat for me. MMM.

Jamaican Patties


Both were good, but our ignorance of how Jamaican curries are served on the island might have detracted from our experience. Mainly, the curries were diced meat - with bones - curried as a thick stew, served with beans and rice and asparagus spears. The bones, well bone fragments, were not exactly easy to remove from the dish. They had to be extracted from our mouths, to a napkin, as we supped. So that was odd and perilous for our teeth, to say the least.

The owners were clearly excited that their new restaurant had finally opened - occupying the space that the Oregon Culinary Institute cafe once filled. After we finished, the female of the owner-couple proved garrilous as she talked our ear off, asking how the food was, if we enjoyed ourselves, how much work they had put into the place, etc. I don't know when it happened, but early in that monologue - I hesitate to call it conversation - we went from patrons to patronizers. I felt like a counselor obliged to validate her. Only we were paying her.

What I didn't say, which I wished I did, was that the prices were a little too steep for the dining experience they were providing. Dinner entrees ranged from $13 to $18 for the dish and a side of beans/rice and fried plantains - which they substituted with asparagus for whatever reason - I didn't complain. But their restaurant is very casual, open, not at all intimate and the dishes, though exotic, aren't exactly gourmet. For $13 to $18, I can have a more luxurious dinner in downtown or elsewhere and not be badgered by well-meaning owners. They were proud parents, so I shouldn't criticize too much. The problem is that their ingredients are clearly special order and their space might be very expensive, so they really have cost control issues. They're passing it on to customers, understandably, but once the luster and novelty wears off, they'd better be prepared to reprint new menus to reflect affordability.

While waiting to pay, I noticed something very interesting. When we arrived, a family of three were seated on the right side of the room and we chose a table just on the other side of them from the front door. But as the evening progressed, four black couples and families arrived to dine. As they did so, they chose to sit on the opposite side of the room away from the first family, all white, and Jill and me. A profusion of empty booths on our side eliminates the excuse of seating availability by us.

It reminded me of Prof. Henry "Skip" Louis Gates' recent special on PBS - America Beyond the Color Line - about the progress of the black community over the last twenty years. While seeing a profusion of economic improvement and entitlement, he openly criticized Black America's growing trend of self-segregation.. specifically in the Atlanta suburbs. Not to mention on the airwaves, i.e. the WB and UPN networks, and elsewhere. Despite Portland's progressive facade, it doesn't speak well of things when people don't want to eat near each other.

But I digress. We payed, left and when we sat down in the car, we noticed that some punk vandalized our windshield with a marker. Clearly writing his/her name or full contents of their vocabulary, the word "poop" was plainly scribed. Jill wanted to call the cops, but I urged circumspection and proceeded to the nearby convenience store for an overpriced kitchen sponge and bottle of Formula 409 for windows. Adding a little bit of elbow grease and the word was scrubbed from the window. And so, it was agreed, we wouldn't be visiting the restaurant again at night and until prices were more reasonable.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

Hopefully everyone is wearing something green today, unless of course you're a Loyalist and you're wearing orange - just like Mrs. Kirkpatrick, my old librarian at Campbell Elementary School in Anchorage. If so, go hifreann leat!



SOMETHING TO REDUCE PRODUCTIVITY

Here's a little game you'll find amusing. The object is to figure out the right sequence of events that makes everything grow and progress the fastest. Movements out of sequence cause other objects to grow slower.. give it a try!

GROW

OSAMA BIN LADEN WINS THE SPANISH ELECTION

So here's the lesson: If you massively attack an anti-terrorist democracy immediately before its election, that country will fold like a cheap tent and run.

No wonder the Mexicans hate them. So our Spanish friends have provided even greater motivation for Al-Queda to attack the U.S. this year. They won't be successful because they've signaled their strategy and they're not smart enough to try something new. If I were a Spaniard, I would not be proud. However, shock of all shocks, NPR actually had a Spanish supporter of the rulling PP (Partido Popular) party - Aznar's party.. Spain's Reagan.. saying "nations are like spouses - you stick together through thick and thin."

I suppose Spain just filed an all-our-fault divorce.

BUT - if Al-Queda truly bombed Spain for their support of the Iraq war, THERE'S YOUR PROOF OF A LINK!

More, better commentary than I can even dream of writing:

Andrew Sullivan
Jeff Jarvis
Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds

But the BIG loser is: Latin America. How the heck could they be conquered by these Spaniards? I mean, really, their conquest by the Spanish can now only be viewed as a major miracle. I suppose the Conquistadors were right all along.. God truly was on their side. Spain, alone, is clearly incapable.

BABY UPDATE

Yesterday, Jill turned the 18-week corner. Not only that, but her rash is clearly clearing. So, to celebrate, I've found a photo of what the typical fetus looks like at 18 weeks. Many may recognize the image, but I do not know its origin.



Pretty cool, huh? Jill has definitely noticed that the baby has been moving around. She can sense its gymnastics during the day or night. It isn't large enough for me to feel its movements through Jill's belly, though. All in good time.

JOHN KORYNASZ'S EYESIGHT RETURNING

John went to the doctor the other day and learned that he will be able to forego surgery because his eyes are improving so quickly. As a matter of fact, the doctor said that he'll be able to get a pair of corrective lenses soon and he'll see well enough to drive. That's fantastic news and we're very happy for him.

UPDATE: JENNIFER RICE JUST READ THE BLOG

Greetings from Oregon, Jennifer!

OY, VAY I'M BAD AT UPDATING

As if that's much of a headline. I'm serving up a steaming load of update today...

MOM & DAD'S WASHINGTON HOMESTEAD

Just a couple of weeks ago, Mom and Dad were in town to look around at potential land for their next house. They want to be close to the soon-to-be grandchild, but also residing in the income tax haven that is the State of Washington - with sales tax-free shopping across the river in Oregon. It looks like they've narrowed their choice to a couple of properties:

A 40+ acre site near Kelso, Washington on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River and the lovely cities of Longview and Kelso, Washington.

A 5 acre site near Woodland, Washington also on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River, but with a better potential view than the other property.



At this point, it looks like they're leaning towards the 40+ acre site so that they can build a home on a larger lot and then sell off smaller lots (3-8 acres) to other people. So, it's really a commercial investment for them if it goes through. Looks like financing is working out so far, Dad just has to find an equity partner. The 5 acre site in Woodland (closer to Portland/Vancouver) is just big enough for a home.. it wouldn't be subdivided. I'll be working on due diligence for them at a bargain: only 5% of cashflow over the lifetime of development!

In the meantime, they've found an apartment in Vancouver, Washington to rent until they figure out what all they need to do. They should be moving in later this month.

MEETING ELLIE PHANT

Mom has a new travel companion: Ellie, a then 11-week-old hairless Chihuahua. She's a cute thing, and particularly hyper at night. Especially if she gets to chew on catnip for a spell. She kept Nino on the run, so that was something. I don't have pics yet transferred to the computer, but when I do I'll post. She has a couple of nice sweaters right now, which she definitely put to use while here, but she hasn't yet been outfitted with a rain slicker that fits. Again, photos will be posted when it happens.

TOM & KATE BATTLE THE OREGON BAR

While Mom and Dad were in town looking at property, Tom and Kate were at the Portland Airport Holiday Inn studying for and taking the Oregon Bar Exam. It lasted two days and after it was all over, they seemed to feel pretty good about it.. but neither would dare to say it was easy or they aced it for fear of a jinx. Here's hoping that they did just that, even though we will refrain from overconfident language here, also.

Upon return to Sacramento, Tom learned that he had leapfrogged a bunch of colleagues and was promoted to an assistant managerial position at ETrade due to his good performance and law degree. Congratulations!



But it doesn't look like there was much competition, does there?

ME-MA AND THE GIRLS VISIT

The following Sunday, Me-ma, Toni and Terran flew into Portland from Las Vegas for a visit and then they joined Mom in her honkin' huge Toyota dual-cab truck (with DVD player and in-flight service) for a drive up to Spokane/Idaho for a visit at Jim Ed and Andrea's. While they were here, we visited the Spaghetti Factory for plenty of messy fun, then that night they were entranced with slugs and earthworms. I'm pretty sure Gallup doesn't have the profusion of slugs that we so enjoy up here.
The girls got out their disposable cameras and snapped photo after photo of the slimy little buggers... here's a little bit of info.

On the way out, they apparently stopped at a bunch of waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge on their way to Tri-Cities and then north.

THE DOWNSIDE OF PREGNANCY

Even though we're both as happy as can be about the new addition to the family, things lately have taken a pretty bad turn as Jill has battled a pretty severe pregnancy rash. I won't even begin to link a photo of what it looks like. Take my word for it, you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. So far, only Jill's cousin Cecilia Wachdorf, a Ph.D. midwife and nurse, has had a grasp of what Jill has and she's been an incredible resource for us.

Thank You, Cecilia!

Photo courtesy of Les Hardison - www.hardison.info

The one doctor that would bother to see Jill misdiagnosed it as a third trimester-type rash, while her former OB/GYN wouldn't even see her and told her to just dose up on Benadryl. Jill's done that in combination with other treatment recommended by Cecilia.. and the Benadryl hasn't even been good about helping Jill sleep.

So, we have the TV and VCR hooked up in the bedroom and when Jill can't sleep, she watches a videotape until it does the trick. If we had WebTV, she could simply read this website and that would certainly do it. But she is showing signs that its slowing down and getting better. Tomorrow, she finally gets in to a dermatologist, so we'll see how that goes. We all hope she gets better very soon.

JUDY MANAGES TO FIND A QUACK DOCTOR

After being told by a knowledgeable foot surgeon in Medford that her foot can be fixed when she's ready, but now in Portland, she visited a Portland MD and they guy told her that she had to have her foot fused as it was a lost cause. So, after grappling with the unnecessarily bad news, she's on the look-out for a second, informed opinion here in the Portland metro area. Updates will come as we hear something.

BETTY RICE AND FAMILY DOING WELL

Dad's sister Betty (formerly?) of Plain-Old, Texas wrote to say hello and congratulate us on the pregnancy. She finally found this website after Dad apparently gave her the address but was missing some address characters for some reason.

She wrote to say that she's getting along fine in the real estate businesses in Dallas (refurbishing condominiums and townhouses and reselling, as I recall) so that's great news. Jennifer is now at The Ohio State University in Columbus working on her Master's and likely Ph.D. in Geography (I think..). She apparently enjoys it over there, but Betty noted they had a mild winter. What, like only 50 below? Jennifer has a boyfriend in Austin, so she's doing the whole long-distance relationship thing. Here's hoping all works out for her.

Gary is apparently raking in the money working for a mobile home distributor. Betty says he gets to travel a lot and is quite happy, so that's great news, too. If either of you read this and want to elaborate yourself, email me (wer@johnson-gardner.com - click my address over in the left margin) and I'll be happy to do so!

BILL GETS A SECOND-HAND PDA!

This week, my boss bought himself a new Palm Pilot PDA, so he gave his old one to me. The little devil is lots of fun. Any time I want, I can organize my schedule, write memos, to-do-lists, send emails, do expense reports and I even downloaded a schedule for the MAX light rail Blue Line so that I know when I can catch a train anywhere to head home or to work. Now if I could get it to do my taxes, clean the house, install interior door panels and cook I'd be set.

NEW STOCK INVESTMENT

I'm documenting that today, I sold 8 shares of Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) and then purchased ten shares of Sanofi-Synthelabo (NYSE: SNY), a french pharmaceutical company. I do so because WaMu has slowed down in its price momentum AND it's too large a share of my portfolio. I need a foreign investment, so there you go.

Not only that, but they announced yesterday that their new test drug has had phenomenal success at helping to curb cravings for cigarettes AND help with weight loss AND reduce bad cholesterol AND the drug will likely be used to treat ANY addiction that has chemical mechanisms. By that, I mean that any addiction that releases endorphins (eating comfort foods, smoking, alcohol, drugs, etc.) will likely be successfully treated by this drug because it blocks the endorphin mechanism, thus killing the positive feedback loop that creates addictions in the first place. No rush or calm or general good feelings will be generated by smoking/drinking/insert addiction here with the use of this drug. So, I got in on it while it was early.

The price was right, too.. $34 and change per share, its P/E ratio is below 19 and it appreciated 33% in price last year without being overpriced as the P/E ratio I just quoted indicates. We'll see....

NAME THAT BABY

The brainstorming and negotiating continue, but I think Jill and I have come up with some good ideas. I suppose that seeing the baby will finally determine their suitability, so we excitedly wait.

Now that I am deciding upon the name of my own child, I've found that I really do care about the "Playground Test." By that, I mean that if it's a boy, his name will not be too easily made fun of by bullies and other nasty miscreants at school. One cannot plan for every contingency, but I'll give you an example.

A colleague, whose wife is a couple of months further along than Jill, told me that his wife suggested the names Sebastian and Hunter for their unborn child. He, on the other hand, put his foot down and their third choice, Luke, won out. I agree that Sebastian and Hunter might attract some teasing, but I neglected to remind him that Luke rhymed with puke. But if one can prevent some measure of anguish from visiting upon your son in school, why not, right?

But yesterday, I stumbled upon proof that parents should be careful about their child's name in just such a manner. My master's thesis advisor Dr. David Figlio, now with the University of Florida, recently completed a research paper entitled:

"Boys Named Sue: Disruptive Children and Their Peers" (link allows you to download the paper yourself - a .pdf document)

David Figlio


David poured through detailed records and statistics for children in a large Florida school district and statistically measured the relationship between boys with "effeminate" names, their disciplinary history after 6th grade - as puberty starts to kick in and middle school introduces many new, strange kids, their own academic performance and the academic performance of their peers.

The "effeminate name" criteria is what economists call "novel": new and innovative, but not really the focus of the study. David hoped to actually measure the externality (impact) of badly behaved children on their own AND other children's academic performance. An actual measurement had never directly been done. Though anecdotally, it's a no-brainer and teachers have dealt with it since the dawn of time. But an actual number or measurement can buttress the political case for rethinking the importance of disciplinary policy and the importance of classroom environment, among other things.

So, the gist of it is, there is now empirical evidence that what you name your child is important, can affect his academic performance and the grades of those around him. So, David, on behalf of all the nervous fathers-to-be out there debating with their wives about boys' names, myself included, thank you.

And just a couple more words about David. In addition to being a bright, young economist (he's only a few years older than me) and a generous scholarly advisor, I credit David with being an exceptional father. Specifically, he has travelled around the world working as a consultant on educational policy issues for governments such as Thailand, Chile and Sweden, among others. And nearly all the while, David has opened up the world to his three young children by taking them along on his journeys, even when his kids were not yet old enough for school. This link takes you to his website. Click on the "Images" picture on the left margin to see photos of his kids in all the places they've visited, including Thailand, Italy, Alaska, and Tanzania. You can also read many of his research papers on his website. He specializes in public economics, specifically schools, academic performance, testing, funding and related issues.

AND BABY MAKES THREE

That's right. You (might have) heard it here first: Jill and I are expecting our first child August 12th. Jill is presently 13 weeks along and very ready for the first trimester to be over with. Apparently, the second trimester is the "easy" one - relatively speaking - and that technically begins this week.

And so, for all of you, here's a photo of a photo of the little thing taken on January 21st. The quality isn't great, but I can't help it.



We don't know the gender and we don't intend to find out until it is born. Needless to say, we are very excited, but judging by their reactions, the grandparents might be even more so.

More updates as things progress!

TECHNICAL GLITCH HOLDING UP BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Not that it's much of a surprise anymore, but we have some news that we'd like to announce here but with an appropriate photo or two. Since I can't get the images digitized properly, there's been a delay. Sorry.

VACATION PHOTOS CLEANED UP AND READY TO GO

In the meantime, I have stayed afterwork a bit lately for a few days to finish labelling various digital photos from vacation and other things, so I hope to get some CDs in the mail to interested parties. In the meantime, here's two of my personally favorite shots:

Us in our Hong Kong Sheraton hotel room


Jill at Hat Pra-Nang Beach in Krabi Province, Thailand (Andaman Sea/Indian Ocean in background)


I also spent some time putting together an itinerary of our travels with maps and arrows showing where we went. Here's a link to it.
1. Click the link and choose to save the file to your computer (to your Desktop preferably).
2. Find the file on your desktop (it will have an odd icon) and click the name of the file once to highlight it.
3. Once highlighted, click once again and change the name of the file from "Itinerary" to "Itinerary.pdf".
4. The Icon should change to a page with a big "A" on it in some form. Now double click it and away you go!

It is an Adobe .pdf document, so if you don't have Adobe Reader (free downloadable software), you're going to need it.
1. Click the link below, ignore most of the technical verbage and click the "Download" button near the bottom of the page.
2. Follow the installation instructions.
Now you can open and read the Itinerary file.

Link to FREE Adobe Reader

More to come soon enough!

ALASKA GAS PIPELINE?

According to this story, someone has filed an application to begin planning and development of a gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to the Alaska/Yukon Territories border at Beaver Creek (745 miles)... $6.3 billion.

Interesting... more job security, eh?

NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS

That's right.. I haven't updated in a while. And no, I'm not still trapped at home. We've both been fairly busy lately, so I haven't gotten around to this as I would like. I hope to have some time to update more soon, but in the meantime, check out the following link to what I consider to be the most unique pop singer I've ever heard. Her name is Wing, and she's like a karaoke singer from hell. I'm particularly fond of Memories (from "Cats") and Jingle Bells. But I have to say, her cover of Mariah Carey's Vision of Love is quite a gem.

Listen to Wing

More later!