Christmas after Easter and catching up on things...

Laurie's been up here all week. It's been fun having Evil Seester around. Except she sort of got sick, so the girls haven't been doing much crafting.

Then we had some electrical problems. The hot tub just shut off while Laurie was still in it. And the heater, too. So I went to the breaker box and...


I moved that black widow with a stick. I was so brave.

Then I flipped the breaker and saw pretty blue flashes and smelled burning plastic and heard a horrendous noise. Something wasn't right.

So one call to the Home Warranty folks - for an exterminator and an HVAC service call.

They sent an electrician who traced it to some sort of heater on the compressor. I don't know, it's all ball bearings these days.

Jake and his buddies/band mates took a break while the power was off to toss the old bee around.




This was in one of the Easter baskets from Sunday...



It looks to be an Easter dreidel made in China.

Back in February, we joked with Frank and Marla that we had to exchange Christmas gifts before Easter. At the time we thought it was funny, but the reality is we finally got around to it last night. We've both been really busy and sick off and on. I wish we did it tonight instead so I could have had two more glasses of wine and stayed another few hours. But it was fun.





We got Frank a "Red Neck Flashlight" It's pretty much a match on the end of a stick. It goes with the "Red Neck Windchimes" we got him last year. That was beer cans and shotgun shells.

Frank grilled some steaks from an organic pen raised non hormone treated cow that he personally butchered. It was fantastic. Something was different, I can't quite put my finger on what, but it just tasted better. We were supposed to have some boar as well, but it was just too much food. I really want to taste wild boar so I can brag about it to my World of Warcraft pals.

And there's not much I need in the way of cooking tools or things for entertaining, but Frank and Marla hit on the perfect thing...

I really needed steak knives.

Anyway, I've got a quick trip coming up. Bopping down to Houston for a day and then right back. Not much in the way of pre-flight anxiety at the moment, but I'm sure it will kick in tomorrow.

Jake went to a friend's birthday party in Petaluma and then is going to visit with his Bio-Dad for the weekend.

The girls got their nails done today and I took them to dinner at Ting's - the (relatively) new Thai place down by the golf course. And they rented a chick flick or two. So I'm gonna go kill some wild boars and dragon whelps. Hopefully Auntie Lisa, Uncle Dave, and Chris will be there waiting for me.

Have you heard the good news?

He is risen.

That's my favorite thing about Easter in the Christian tradition. Everybody makes such a big deal about Christmas and the savior being born. The really big deal, in my opinion, is that they rolled the stone away and found it empty. That's the real miracle if you choose to believe the gospel at all, that's the one that I always find hardest to take on faith.


Anyway - the best part of Easter outside the Christian tradition is getting together with family. We hosted this year, and we had some Southern California and East Coast In Laws up for the day.





Bill and Joan MacDonald (Bill is Rachel's Uncle - Dolores' brother) came up from Anaheim...

And Jay and Theresa Julian (Theresa is Dolores and Bill's sister) came out from Philadelphia...

Jay and Terry are the kind folks who gave Jake his fatastic voyage last Summer. It was great for me to get a chance to thank them personally for that. It's the sort of thing that I wish I could have done at Jake's age. Jake has much broader horizons than any of his friends because of it. He knows there's a much bigger world out there because he's been there.

Anyway - back to Easter - I found out that it was the first time in over 30 years that either couple has celebrated Easter outside of their homes. And they both were glad to let someone else worry about it for a change.

I did a lot of the cooking...

And I had a lot of help...

Dolores made her Green Beans Florentine, and Lauren made these awesome...I don't know quite what you call them...sort of muffin cake jelly tarts with frosting. They were...well, not so much "grubbin'" as freaking yummy!

And it all came together nicely and right on time.

Theresa looks a little weird in that photo as I had to merge two shots together.

Jay and Terry also brought one of their traditions out west for us. They hid individual Easter baskets for everybody aroung the house. That was way more fun than I thought it was going to be.

All of the food came out great, save for my corn muffins that stuck to the paper cups. Everyone had fun. The weather was great. We all got a chance to visit and catch up. Great day.

Also, Jake has been saving up money for a new bass guitar for months, and he got a couple of gift cards to the music store that put him over the top. So Rachel took him and a couple of his friends down over the mountain to Zone Music on Monday. Wish I could have gone, but I had to work. Maybe she'll post about it on her blog.

Laurie's up for a visit now. She and Rachel went to town to walk around while Jake is at baseball practice. I'm working hard this week to help close that project I've been talking about.

Oh, and stealing away some time here and there to sneak in some World of Warcraft with Aunt, Uncle, and Cuz.

Oh, and one more thing - Laurie hadn't seen Michael Moore's Sicko yet, so we watched that again last night. I'm glad I watched it again, and I hope a lot more peope watch it again before the elections. We are a scared, uninformed, and in debt society - we need to change that so our government will listen to us instead of to the corporations.

Sorry to throw in the political stuff at the end there. Hope it didn't ruin the post for anybody.

Did I mention He is risen?

Wow Family Portrait...

So we played a few nights this week. It's been fun. Chris (Morexx), Auntie Lisa (Calisa), Uncle Dave (Graggin), and Me (Soderstorm - apt typo).

We posed for a family photo yesterday. "OK, Graggin...a little to your left...your other left...a little more...a little more...Perfect!"

Last night Chris and I stayed on after Auntie and Unc went to bed. And we ended up adding a gal from Columbia to our group who only spoke Spanish. I translated. That was pretty cool. And she brought in her older brother to help us out with a tough part. They asked us to join their Guild even though we're gringos.

Today, no time for games. Getting the house ready for Easter. Rachel is at the store right now picking up the stuff I'll be cooking tomorrow. I did the windows the way Paul taught me. And there's about a dozen or so little things to do. We're also doing a lot of typical "Spring Cleaning" things like pulling weeds, cleaning the referigerators- not just cleaning out, but cleaning, sweeping, lots of stuff like that that we would have to do anyway. Nice to have a deadline to get some things done.

I'm off to finish tidying the bar area now.

He Wrote It Himself, I'm told.

I'm taking a break from slaying Defias Bandits in Elwynn Forest.

Last night, I read a news blast saying Barack would be speaking about his pastor today. I went to sleep wondering how he was going to tackle this one.

I have to admit, I was cynical. I thought there was no way he could address this issue head on without falling in to typical campaign speech.

Today I got an e-mail blast from David Plouffe, and I was reluctant to click on the link. But I did. And I listened to the speech in the background as I worked. And I think it was amazing. And it had to be that long. I think it was the most important, inspiring, and unifying speech on race matters in America in the last, well as long as I can remember.

But what I think doesn't much matter. The speech was very long, and I don't think any but the most devoted followers will listen to it in its entirety. What does matter is what the media will choose to pull from the speech and how they will present it to their audience.

So I did a quick sampling of Internet headlines. And I present to you a challenge: Match the Headline to the Source...

Headline

1.) Criticizing Pastor, Obama Assesses Race in U.S.

2.) Obama Tackles Race

3.) Obama: Move Beyone Race

4.) Obama Won't 'Disown' Pastor

5.) Obama denounces preacher, urges race healing

6.) Is The Issue of Race Becoming A Liability for Obama?

Source

a.) CNN

b.) New York Times

c.) Fox News

d.) Yahoo News/AP

e.) Reuters

f.) MSNBC

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, it does make a sound. But if the mainstream media is there to cover the tree falling, what sound does it make? Who's account will take hold?

I think it is important that we do what we can to make sure that the speech is heard as accurately as possible by as many people as possible. I highly recommend that we take the steps outlined in this diary by paddy henry.

This speech was prompted by a nasty campaign, but it was much more than a campaign speech. It should be heard by as many people as possible, regardless of candidate or party affiliation.

(answers: 1b, 2f, 3a, 4c, 5e,6d)

It might be a while before I post again...

I just installed...



In fact, from what I hear, you may not see me for a while either. And when you do, I may look like this...

That's Cuz in the hoody and me reaching for the Preparation H.

Just thought you should know...

...in case you didn't already.

This is going on right now.

http://www.freetibet.org/

Wow. Just wow.

Saw this on DailyKOS today. These guys have a business making movies.



No kidding. I don't like to make fun of people. Especially people pursuing something as challenging as starting and running their own business. So I post this only as motivation. I am sure I can do better than this with our wedding video. If I can ever find the charger for our camera so I can digitize it. Maybe Ted will lend me his again.

Three more things...

I've got some catching up to do. But for now, here are three things...

First, Snickers has put out this wicked candy bar with a freakin' WARNING LABEL. It's got caffeine, taurine, and B-vitamins.

The warning says, "Not recommended for pregnant women, children, or people sensitive to caffeine."

I washed it down with a cup of Peet's and I was literally BUZZING!

Also, for some reason, I keep getting AARP stuff in the mail. Funny thing to me is they all come to "Eric Thomas Soderstrom, Jr." I'm not even 40 (quite) yet. So somewhere in some database, they must have me confused with somebody else. I assume with my Dad, but who knows?

And finally, Rachel and I, and sometimes Jake, have taken to playing Scrabble when we veg out in front of the TV. I had a new first for me - last night I got a Bingo with "Goldener" that also got me a triple word score. 80 points total. In the last two games, I have won by a bingo or less. When Rachel finally learns to save her "S" and blank tiles, I'm in trouble.

I'll try to get another post up soon - We did some yard work and sprucing, Rachel did a lot of planting, we took three 15 year old boys bowling, and I got some pictures of the peacocks in the backyard. I only hope that when he finally decides to molt, he'll do it in our yard so we can get the feathers. I remember my Mom had a vase full of them when we were young. And they look cool. And it's sort of become a weird symbolic thing for The Hotel Yorba.

You're not sick of the peacocks yet, are you?

Political Irony...

This is great! The sleeping girl in Hillary's "3:00 AM and the phone is ringing in the White House scare you in to voting for her" ad is now almost 18, AND she supports Obama!!!

Girl in Clinton ad supports Obama

BONNEY LAKE, Wash. - Casey Knowles didn't much like a recent campaign commercial for Hillary Clinton — even though she's in it as a sleeping 8-year-old...


...The file footage was originally shot for a railroad company advertisement. The Clinton campaign bought it from Getty Images.
Knowles, a senior at Bonney Lake High School who turns 18 next month, has been campaigning for Obama. She attended his rally at Seattle's KeyArena on Feb. 8. Her mother, Pam, told The News Tribune of Tacoma that Casey cried and trembled after shaking the candidate's hand.
The next day, she was a Democratic precinct captain for the state's caucuses. If she plays her cards right, she could go to the national convention.
Not to mention that she could be in another ad. After her identity became known, Obama's campaign contacted her.
"I mentioned that we should make a counter ad, me and Obama, against Hillary," she said. "They thought that was really funny. They actually might take me up on it."

Despite the grey day...

Spring is here. I think a lot of the grey was due to a fire somewhere - ash was falling on our deck. But I can hear the Spring birds, we saw some peregrin falcons doing a mating dance today, and of course, there's the peacocks. And then there's my neighbor's plum tree.

Which is so close to our fence that it is probably technically our tree, but I digress.

And then there's this...

That's right - I don't care what Phil the groundhog says - when the Girl Scout Thin Mints are in the fridge, Spring is here.

Also, there are several things to point out in the next picture...

I am learning to drink tea. And liking it.

That coffee (or tea) mug was free and I couldn't figure out why. I must have drank from it 20 times since we got it, and it wasn't until today that I noticed that it says, "Middletow Mustangs" when it should, of course say, "Middletown Mustangs." Rachel has used it too. How did we not notice that?

If you look at the screen, in the lower left, that's a TV picture right on my computer desktop. And when I mute the sound, closed captioning automatically starts. I can't say it's love, but I really really really like my new computer.

And it has a remote control.

Have I said anything about work lately? I wrapped up a name capture application that works really well for a project we might win. I can't say anything about it until we win it, but if we do, it will be pretty huge - a nationwide high profile application. Probably the second biggest thing I've ever had the opportunity to contribute to.

Also, we are trying to close a Credit Union banking application. And we have a second customer wanting the same thing. And six or eight others as well. If this one hits, I will get to build something from scratch that will make a whole big bunch of money for my employer. And I will get to spend a couple of months in the bat cave (my office) doing the hard core design and development work that I love to do.

Also, Rachel just came in to tell me that she wants to watch TV less and read more and asked me to support her in that effort. No problem - I'm all for it. And I think Jake will join us too.

That's it for now.

Rachel was right...

I know.

Anyway - the thing she is right about this time is how Senator Obama should respond to Senator Clinton's behavior.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Hillary campaigns like a Republican. The Clinton's have spent years learning how to "win" elections the Republican way. They raise doubts, they imply things that are not true, they project their own shortcomings on others, they play the victim while bullying others, and they even try to scare us in to voting for her. The 3:00 AM ad made me very angry. And I posted my response here.

I started writing a post in my head about how Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are right - Hillary is a bitch and how Obama should strike back hard and fast.

Rachel said he shouldn't - that he would just be stooping to their level.

I vehemently disagreed with her. I felt he should raise every little thing that the Republicans are going to raise from Whitewater to Vince Foster to Monica - her White House experience? She couldn't even keep an eye on her husband in the White House. Foreign policy? Why yes, she did drink tea with world leaders, or at least with their wives. She was wrong on Iraq and many other things and...

And I was wrong. Rachel is right. A big part of why we are supporting him is because he is different - he is a refreshing change, and to quote a talking head I heard on CNN, he has so far run a "gentleman's campaign."

I sincerely believe that Hillary won in Ohio due to slimy, dishonest, devious tactics. She should wear one of those wristbands you can buy at The Onion site that say "Cheat To Win."

What about Texas? Well, despite what you've heard on the news - she didn't win Texas. She won the primary, but lost the caucus by a larger margin and the latest results indicate Obama actually got more delegates out of Texas than she did.


But the thing is, she can't win. Mathematically, Obama's lead is insurmountable. Even if she were to win the rest of the primaries, she won't surpass Obama's delegate total. She can't win, she can only drag Obama down and hope that some back room deal will give her the nomination.

And if that happens, I am voting for Nader again.

Rachel says if I do that, I might as well vote for McCain. And she's (I don't even need to say probably) right about that too.

Obama has held and continues to hold the moral high ground in this campaign. It's brought him this far and it will take him the rest of the way. Or maybe it won't.

But if it does...well, if it does, I can be optimistic about our nation's future again.

And while I've got the tin foil Kangol on...

I read Hillary said this today...

Hillary Clinton told reporters that both she and the presumtive Republican nominee John McCain offer the experience to be ready to tackle any crisis facing the country under their watch, but Barack Obama simply offers more rhetoric. "I think you'll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say," she said. "He’s never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002."

Her experience? What is that, exactly? When the phone rang at the White House at 3:00 AM, she said, "Honey, who was that?"

If I were a Republican, I would add to that, "Is that Monica, again!?"

She makes me angry and brings out the mean in me.

She also reportedly ran an ad that flat out lies about one of Obama's subcommittees. She says a subcommittee of which he was the head was supposed to be in charge of fighting al Queda in Afghanistan, but Obama was too busy running for President to hold meetings. Thing is, that's not the charge of his sub-committee.

And the ad she ran makes Obama look darker than he is. That's part of the TFK part - could be coincidence, but I am leaning towards intentional.

She will do or say anything to win...anything to win! That's the Republican way. Who cares about the damage? If she loses Tuesday, she's out. So what if her comments will be recycled later to hurt Obama. She doesn't care.

Granted, these reports came from DailyKOS, and I have yet to fact check the quote from today. But I have no reason to doubt it. I know several women who I love and whose opinions I respect that voted for her in the primary. I have had some hand wringing moments over why I favor Obama over Hillary - I accused myself of gender bias and then tried to defend myself. And I defended myself successfully, or at least to my own satisfaction. I think the biggest problems in our country stem from the consolidation of money and power in the hands of the few and that Obama is the best candidate to address and correct this reality. Do I think he will wave a magic wand and make it all better? No. Absolutely not - but I think he will fight the good fight - he will have to choose his battles, but he will fight the good fight.

As recently as last week, I thought that an Obama-Clinton ticket was something worth considering. But now? Foregt it. She has lost me - utterly, and probably forever.

I already think that He will win Texas and she will win Ohio. I think this largely because the vote rigging in Ohio is so much better, and to the evil, she is the lesser of two goods.

If it were my birthday, I would say Obama-Kucinich, but that's not until May.

Obama-Edwards, please.

Please!

Tin Foil Kangol...

It's been a long time since I hit you with one of these. I broke out my tin foil Kangol for this post.

It seems to me that the mainstream media are now rootin' for Hillary. The Saturday Night Live sketches are one thing, and since she's a New York Senator, I can let those slide. But this is from Reuters:

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
1 hour, 19 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton, the prohibitive favorite in the Democratic presidential race just months ago, faces the possible end of her White House road on Tuesday in Ohio and Texas.

The New York senator battled on Monday to save her campaign with victories in the two showdowns, which would halt rival Barack Obama's streak of 11 consecutive wins in their hard-fought duel to be the Democratic nominee in November's presidential election.

Voting ends in Ohio at 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT on Wednesday) and all voting in Texas will be over by 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT on Wednesday).

First, I know what "prohibitive" means. And I know what "favorite" means. But can anyone tell me the meaning of those two words together? I Googled it and got "so likely to win as to discourage competition." Two months ago? Kucinich and Edwards were still in the race. And she has never held this sort of lead anywhere outside of New York and New Jersey.

Also, from that text alone, can you tell me when the contests are being held? She "battled Monday," she faces "the possible end of her White House road on Tuesday," and the voting ends at "0030 GMT on Wednesday."

I would like to just write this off as, well, poor writing - but I think it's a little more sinister than that. I think the article is trying to foster confusion. It is deliberate obfuscation. Most people don't even know what the 'G' in GMT stands for. But everybody understands Wednesday. It's hump day, and only two days until TGIF.

It's as if they are trying to set her up for a replay of Bill as the "Comeback Kid." And sure enough, later in the article...

Like her husband, who nicknamed himself "The Comeback Kid" for his improbable rise to the White House in 1992, Hillary Clinton has dodged predictions of doom before. In January, Obama appeared ready to deal her a knockout blow in New Hampshire after his big win in Iowa, but she defied polls and swept to victory.

A few weeks later, her landslide loss in South Carolina and a string of high-profile endorsements gave Obama momentum heading into Super Tuesday contests around the country, but she battled him to a draw and won most of the biggest prizes of the night in California, New York and New Jersey.

I think it's a last ditch effort - and I think it will fail. The Clintons learned how to win in politics by playing like Republicans. They lie, obfuscate, accuse, insinuate, cheat, and project their own crimes on their opponents. Most important they say whatever they think will get them elected while remaining passionately committed to serving the interests of wealthiest of the wealthy. And they've gotten very good at playing Republican politics. Too bad for them, I think, or rather, I hope, the country has moved on.