Puget Sound Guitar Workshop 2007

I just got back from my first trip to the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, where I spent an entire week learning from extremely talented people, playing guitar, eating, sleeping and partying. I'll never forget this trip! Please check out my photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/michaelrossanderson/PSGW2007

Ryan Sporting His Croks

I can't forget Ryan. He got to leave school early to join Adam's graduation celebration.

Cute Spectator

Daisy has a couple of years left at Montessori School, but she still had fun at Adam's graduation.

Celebration

After their graduation ceremony, we gathered for refreshments and cake. Adam rubbed elbows with everyone.

Adam's Graduation

My Boy, Adam, graduated from Montessori school this morning. We're so proud of him. They had a really nice ceremony. Now, we only have one more child at the school. When Daisy graduates, I think Kesley and I will be in total withdrawal.

Rebuilding My Deck

I spent the weekend removing rails and stairs from my old, rotting deck. The picture of the railing and stairs is before. You can see how the wood is all gray and splintery. The picture with the kids is after.

Now I need a couple of days at work to rest up. My entire body aches from two 12 hour days of lifting, pulling, hammering, and screwing (screws). I'm so tired I don't even have the strength to finish this

Moving the Old Oakton Schoolhouse

There's an historic building in my hometown, that sits on the corner of Chain Bridge Road and Hunter Mill Road, which is right next door to my father's office building. It was built in 1897 as a one-room schoolhouse for Oakton, Virginia.

Part of the property was used for a camping equipment store for a long time. As a kid, since I was in charge of cleaning my father's office (now my office too) on Saturdays, I visited it on my way to "work", checking out the Swiss Army knives, tents, canteens, etc.

I feel even more connected to it because I rented, and subsequently bought my first peice of commercial property from the Dan Couch, who must've owned it from the early 70's. Interestingly, Dan's daughter used to babysit me as a kid.

Anyway, Dan sold the property to Chevy Chase Bank last year for 3 and a half million smackeroos, and they prepared to build a branch there, to compliment the other 92 bank branches lining Chain Bridge Road. But they had a small problem; a bunch of do-gooders who didn't want them to tear down such an historic building. So, after months of haggling, Chevy Chase did an honorable thing and moved the building from that corner down to the site of a new park in Oakton.

I filmed the video on the morning of the move. Some of it is a little boring (I need to edit a minute or two from the actual moving of the building, because it moved so darn slow).

79th Academy Awards

Every year, Kesley and I, along with a couple of our best friends, make a point of watching every Best Picture nominated movie, so that on awards night we can intelligently make our picks in an online chatroom. This will be our fifth year, I believe.

This year, the nominations are:

The Departed

Little Miss Sunshine

The Queen

Letters from Iwo Jima

Babel

We've seen the first two, leaving only three to see over the course of the next 4 weeks. Since we have young children, we often will go out individually on weeknights to catch a movie every week or so in order to get them all in.

Watching a movie on a Wednesday night by yourself in a theater is an experience worth having. When the Pianist was nominated a couple of years ago I was the only one in the theater during the 10 o'clock showing. Halfway through, thinking the theater was empty, they shut off the film on me. I stood up in protest, and the guy had to restart it for me.

My New Haircut

I've been growing my hair out for quite a while, in an attempt to match Dr. McDreamy's sex appeal with an equally astonishing red mane. Unfortunately, I work in a professional office and am a bit self-conscious about it. Above is a recent picture.

Here's my new haircut. Honest opinions, PLEASE!

The Weatherman

My oldest, Ryan, has become somewhat of an internet junkie, even though he's only seven years old. He loves visiting www.wikipedia.org and learning things Mom and Dad don't know.

Lately, he's been looking up the local weather and writing the forecast on a whiteboard that we gave him. He proudly displays his forecast in the kitchen every morning so we know how to dress. Two days ago, after he had left for school, we noticed he had written the following:

"I don't have time to do the weather today"

Kinda tells you how our morning went, huh?

1 Week, 12 Miles Exactly

Yesterday morning I had to run/walk a mile, just so I didn't have a mountain to climb in the evening. After putting the kids to bed I put together a very nice 3 mile run, where my fastest mile was 10:03. Not quite back to my old speeds, but I feel like if I keep it up I'll be there in a month or so.

Total time for week 1 was 156:22:00, or 2 hours, 36 minutes and 22 seconds. That is an average of 13 minutes per mile. This week, I must do it faster.