Tokbox - video conferencing

This Christmas, the Johnson clan was in three cities.

Tualatin, Oregon
Fridley, Minnesota
Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin

We still got together for some fun on Tokbox - www.tokbox.com


Since it was Christmas - I'm sure every other Tokbox member was meeting up as well. The video/audio lag was sometimes near 30 seconds. That made for some funny moments...

Video calls have been around for a few years - but now they are closer than every to actual working reality. Welcome to the future.

First Soccer Games - 2009

Let the season begin!

Today it was supposed to be around 90°, and we had the first soccer games for Connor and Tegan. Connor played at 11:15am, so the heat wasn't to full strength yet. All the boys did get quite hot and drank lots of water. Tegan's game didn't start until 4pm - so it was plenty warm by then. Many of the girls on her team were overheated. Both teams looked great and had moments of good passing and shooting. Apparently the action with our kids didn't happen in front of Dad with the camera. Here are a couple of run-bys...

Connor going after the ball

Tegan going after the ball

Benchmarks

We had our annual church campout at Fort Stevens State Park this past August. Lots of friends, fun, and sun. Only a little bit of rain one night and some misting for a few minutes here and there. Not bad for five days on the Oregon Coast.

One of the fun things to do there is to go see the Battery Russell. It is an decommissioned battery that was used during World War II to guard the Oregon coast and the entrance to the Columbia River. It was the only mainland location in the USA that was attacked during WWII. Shots were fired at it from a Japanese submarine - and they did not return fire. Some accounts say that they didn't want to confirm their location, and others say the sub was out of reach of their guns.

While we were exploring this time, I found a couple of benchmarks. These are locations were the position of the point is know - usually both in the horizontal and vertical positions. Surveyors can use these point to locate other locations bases on the distance and angle from the benchmark.

So anyway - taking photos of benchmarks is one of those strange quirks I have. Someday I could publish a coffee table book of the benchmarks. Yep - that would be a big seller.

Benchmark on top of the Battery Russell

Benchmark near Battery Russell, on the wall of a small bunker

So anyway - no big story here. Just wanted to let you see some places we've been recently. From a different perspective.

Yard work update... grass cutting #16 was on August 26th and #17 on September 8th. With just the few days of rain recently - the grass has started to grow again. Three more months before winter sets in and it stops growing for a couple of months.

2009 Nehalem Bay Camping, et al

The first week of August, Tegan was at camp and Connor spent some time with Grammi & Papa and his Bare cousins. So with nothing else to do - Mick and I decided to go camping.

So not really...we wanted to go camping. With a little prior planning - we packed up the camper and Explorer and headed off to Nehalem Bay State Park. Prior planning - we reserved our campsite the week before. We were very luck to find a campsite - but the amazing thing is we got the exact same campsite we had the previous July. Good ole' E-27. Not sure why people don't like it. Maybe because there is a 'sink waste disposal' location near the corner of the site. We didn't mind...though we did camp next to like 50 million people involved in a family reunion or something. I have never heard the 'pay attention to me' crys from kids in my life. We've been camping with lots of little kids - our own and nieces and nephews - and they never act like that. Even with a bike crash - the crying is done in a minute. But not these kids....

50 million people? Well - they asked me to take a few group shots one morning....5 or 6 cameras were handed to me at once. C'mon people! These are digital shots. Share a few electronic bits! You can duplicate them for practically nothing! Or send them all to you best Photoshop guru. He can make sure you are all smiling in those combined shots. Maybe even put Aunt Mabel's head on Uncle Steve's body....

Enough of that talk... We had a great time, Sunday through Wednesday. A little cloudy in the mornings and after 6pm...but in between was blue sky, sun, and mid 60°s. You can't expect much more on the Oregon coast.

Brian. Mick, Yukon (actually looking!) at the bay in Wheeler, Oregon

Mick and Brian - enjoying the beach



Yukon - enjoying the water - far, far away from him



Brian - cooking up some meat!



Campsite E-27 - our home for a few days

Beachgrass and Blue Sky? Or just bliss....

Nothing to see here, move along. Housekeeping note, inserted here for recordkeeping purposes.

August 8th - Yard work #15. We've had 28 days of no rain - I think it rained last Tuesday, Aug 11th to break the streak. I had to mow because some areas of the lawn get the overspray from watering the flowers and do keep growing. And I guess we do water the strip of grass along the driveway. The back yard is pretty much brown, with a little green where the splashes from the blow-up pool help keep it alive. Enjoy it now - the fall rains start in just over two months...

Great Wolf Lodge - the bucket

Here is a video of the 100's of gallons of water - splashing down every 90 seconds or so....at Great Wolf Lodge. This is the Grand Mound, WA location - your local GWL might be different.

Great Wolf Lodge

We had a family anniversary trip this year. For our 14th wedding anniversary, we traveled north for about two hours to Grand Mound, Washington. Located is this little town, just five miles north of Centralia, is a 'hotel' called Great Wolf Lodge. Not just a hotel, but rather a water park - with a hotel built for it. Your admission to the water park is your hotel room fee.

There was a special rate we got for the room - maybe 20% off. The rooms are quite spendy - check out the website yourself to see. And the food prices in the many on-site restaurants and in the park locations - whew. I guess this place must be one of those profit deals. Somebody has to pay the utility bill, I guess.

The fun was just as described on the website. Constant water, warm, and fun. But - what they won't tell you....it is crowded.

With around 400 rooms - and between 2 to 8 people per room....there are a lot of people running around the place. Also - you can start playing in the park at 1pm on the day of your check-in, even though check starts at 4pm. You can play the whole next day as well. So do the math....minimum of 2 people x 400 rooms = 800 people. More likely count is 4 people x 400 rooms = 1,600 people. Then figure that maybe 50% of the people are there after check-out... maybe not. So 1,000 to 2,000 people? I know that is not how many people are really in line for the Howlin' Tornado ride - but it sure feels like it.

It is also loud. Really loud. Constant water noises. Constant people having fun noises. Loud. You can't hear the voice on the people you are talking with more that 10 feet away.

Tegan running across the water

Connor uses his hands a little

How do you get into your hotel room without a key?

For a while now - hotel rooms have stopped using keys, and have changed the locks to card readers. Not sure exactly how this makes the guest's life easier. I guess it makes the hotel's job easier, because there are no keys to store and manage. If a card is lost - no problem, just reset the door and program a new card.

At Great Wolf Lodge (at least the Grand Mound, WA location) - they took the room key situation and made it even better. Better - at least if you are visiting a water park, and you don't know what to do with the room key/card while you are swimming.

Your park entrance entrance bracelet also works as your room key. Very nice!

One issue - only the adult bracelets have the room key RFID. I guess this isn't a problem - it just means the kids have to stay with their parents....

Star Wars the Complete Saga

Check out http://www.lucasarts.com/games/legostarwarssaga/

This is the website for Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga. "Kick some bricks in I through VI." If you haven't played this game before - make sure you have a long weekend, or a summer vacation ahead if you really want to play it right. It took me six months to get through all six movies - with six chapters per movie. And I still need to go back and 'free play' the levels to be able to get all the hidden items and other goodies not available on the first play through.

So - check out the website. You can watch a game trailer, or take the Character Quiz. Find out what Star Wars character you are... It is not a very good quiz - many questions have no realistic answers. Then again - what did I expect?

Anyway - here is my character (not quite me...but I did the quiz).

Lego Star Wars - The Complete Saga

• Take The Quiz
• Visit The Site

2009 Tigard Festival of Balloons

This past weekend was the Tigard Festival of Balloons. We have never actually gone to Cook Park to see the fun. Usually we just go out the back door and watch the balloons float by. This works out if the winds are from the north or northeast. If the wind is blowing from the south, the balloons head off into Beaverton or Portland. Not good - as a test flight on Thursday had a not-so-good landing in Beaverton.

Friday morning started out with dissappointment. Due to possible rain and winds - no balloons flew. We decided to go there Friday night and see the night glow. We actually didn't think through how long we would be there. We got there at 5pm so we could get dinner, and then we planned to walk around until the night glow. Well - that wouldn't be starting until 9pm or so...

At around 8:30, they announced that due to possible rain - they would not be doing the night glow, but rather just 'candlesticking.' Apparently when weather causes problems, I guess they just setup the gondola's without the balloon and fire up the burner. I bet this is just to prevent riots from all the people who really wanted the night glow. We decided we didn't want to wait around for another 30-45 minutes - so we called it a night.

Saturday saw the launch of 19 balloons. Connor and I sat out in the Tualatin Elementary field and saw at least 17 of them. The wind was coming from the northwest...so the balloons didn't fly overhead, but rather off the the east. No landings near us...


Saturday night, we headed back to Cook Park and saw the night glow. We didn't want to pay the $5 parking - so we decided to park at the Tualatin Community Park, and walk to Cook Park. We had biked this before - but it was a good walk - probably a mile or so. And - we didn't think about the walk back until we were almost there...this path has no lights.

There were seven balloons setup, and it looks pretty awesome when then all fire at once. The wind was picking up a little, but there were no real problems. Fun stuff! The walk back to the car was fine - but we had to watch carefully for slugs. The path was full of those guys - not sure where they were trying to go.


Sunday morning - I was up alone to watch for the launches, as we didn't get home Saturday until after 10pm. When the first two balloons went up - they took off almost due east. Not a chance that they would fly near our house, so I jumped on my bike and took off. Less than 10 minutes later I was at Cook Park - just as the last balloon took off. So I took a few photos and headed back home.

We still keep an eye out for balloons throughout the summer. Sometimes we can see them off towards Sherwood.

Housekeeping - Yard Work #13 was June 19th. The grass is starting to look less green, as the rains have slowed down. We water the front yard some because of the flowers. The back yard doesn't get much - and now with a inflatable pool out there - we'll soon have dead patches.

Only about four weeks until the Tour de Cure ride. Still time left for your donations!

http://tour.diabetes.org/goto/TeamTegan2009

Marshmallow

Memorial Day Weekend
South Beach State Park
Newport, Oregon

A family tradition

Soccer 2009 - Warm!

Tegan and Connor had their fourth class this Monday. We had nice weather all weekend, and it continues to hold on for a few more days. This Monday was nice and clear and warm. No sweatshirts, long pants, or gloves this week. Tank tops and shorts were the attire this night. The high temp during the afternoon was at least 80° - most likely higher, but our Oregon Scientific thermometer was most likely in the sun - since it read around 89°.

Tegan's class gets a pointer in a scrimmage from their coach

The setting sun, Mt. Hood, and the warm breezes almost made up for the freezing time we had a week ago.

Can't wait to see what next week brings!

Soccer 2009 - Cold!

This past Monday night - spring soccer practice continued.

Connor and Tegan have their UK soccer classes Monday nights at Tualatin High School. The classes are held by soccer players from England. There was a week we missed because the players had to return to the UK to renew their visas - but we are back on track.

The first week - it snowed for a few minutes at the beginning. Temps in the 30°s.

The second week - it rained. A lot. A good soaking rain. Oh...and temps in the 30°s again.

The third week - it was summer! Temps started in the low 70°s maybe....it did get colder during the night, but I think we ended the night in the 60°s. Nice.

This week, week four. Summer had left without a "Goodbye!" or "Bye your leave" and winter returned without a single "Pardon me" or "Hope you don't mind". The thermometer in the van said it was about 42°. That might be nice if you are an active participant, like Tegan here...

Tegan in action during a scrimmage

Or like Connor - his class was from 6-7 pm. After his class is over he usually plays with a friend. But the friend was missing this night...so Connor decided to walk the track. Four laps later and he had walked a mile. Nice job!

Connor after practice, enjoying the setting sun

Brian - dressed for warmth, but still a little cold

The forecasts now put the temperature for next Monday at 80°. No rain. Maybe even time to wear shorts....hmmm...even for the parents on the sidelines. Stay tuned to see how it all turns out!

UK International Soccer Camps

Spring Break 2009, or Camping in a Tsunami Zone

This year for spring break we went camping at Nehalem Bay State Park. We hadn't really planned this all out weeks or months ahead of time - we were flying by the seat of our pants.

A few weeks before, we checked the State Parks reservation website, Reserve America. There were no yurt sites anywhere in the system. We decided to break out the pop-up trailer early this year. A little more work than a yurt, but then again - we have most of what we needed already packed. We didn't see too many open sites and we got distracted and just never managed to make a reservation.

With less than a week left, I set about searching to see what was available. I also had to determine which actual site to reserve. Some sites are better than others due to length of the paved pad, amount of trees, grass or sand areas, location of the fire pit, closeness of neighbor sites....on and on. We've camped in quite a few Oregon State Parks - but really haven't kept track of which sites we've like. I should make a note to do that...

So - after a few searches and looking at the park maps - I did my 'final search' - as in "This time I will reserve a site!" And this time - two yurts were available at Nehalem Bay. I had been looking mostly at Beverly Beach, due to the location near Newport. When given a chance for the yurt - we grabbed it. It was only $11 more than a tent/camper site ($27 instead of $16 - winter rates at Nehalem) - so it was definitely worth the extra cost.

The yurts come with sleeping for 5 or 6, an electric heater, a light, a deck, picnic table (sometimes two), fire pit, and basically no insulation. One night we had nice 60° temps in the yurt, the second night when it was clear and not raining - the yurt got down to 56°. The outside temps got down to 35° - which is quite cold for the Oregon coast.

We always bring a cube frig (still working 20 years after college!) and other fun stuff like Christmas lights to hang outside the yurt. I always manage to forget something - like extra extention cords and outlet splitters... They never put outlets in convienient places - or the same place in every yurt.

Our Yurt for two days at Nehalem Bay

We had a great two days and nights at Nehalem. We ate in a restaurant in nearby Manzanita one day - and at the Tillamook Cheese Factory another day. That blog post about our visit there is coming soon...watch for it. Or send me an email saying "I really, really, really want to know how they make the cheese in Oregon!"

There is another interesting item to know about camping on the Oregon Coast. Most of the campgrounds are located in a Tsunami Hazard Zone, in fact - most of the cities on the coast are as well. Kinda scary, eh? The South Beach park in Newport even has an evacuation route to a high ground location right in the park behind a few yurts. So when you hear the loud warning in the middle of the night (I hope it is loud - I've never heard it!) - you can climb up the path and watch the ocean rise, come in, and flood the campground.

Tsunami Sign at Tolovana Beach Park in Cannon Beach

Sign outside Nehalem Bay campground pointing to safety

We survived the dangerous conditions (no earthquakes on this visit - though the Juan de Fuca plate is counting down -tech words here, Pacific NW Earthquake info here) - the rain Tuesday night was the worst. Looking at the tent campers next to us after that downpour made us very glad we had the yurt.

Soccer 2008 Action Shots - Connor

Connor also had a great 2008 soccer season. Here are a few of his action shots. If you want to see more, stop by and check out our Picasa...we take quite a few shots. In the pile of photos - there are a few that just work out right!

Connor was a great defender

Chasing down the ball

Heading towards the goal

Connor gives a power kick

Soccer 2008 Action Shots - Tegan

Here are a few action shots from Tegan's soccer games from last fall. She is quite the soccer stars. Don't you dare blink and miss the action. Keep and eye on her!

It's Mine!

Looking for fear? Look elsewhere. No fear here!

Tegan - princess of the air

Changing the direction of the game - again, in the air

Soccer 2009 Started

This Monday night, right about the time it was snowing...soccer start up for Tegan and Connor. They are taking a soccer skills class taught by a bunch of soccer players from the UK. They had a great time - even with the snow and 36° temperatures.

Tegan and Connor

Yikes...time flies by

Here is it already March.

Wow. Our adventures have been happening, but my posting of the adventures has not. What have we been up to recently?

1) Last Saturday (February 28th) marked the beginning of Yard Work 2009.

Mick started on the weeding in the flower beds along our front fence. I gave the grass the first cut of the year. So - again this year I missed out on mowing in January, but February was covered on the last day.

Before starting the mowing, I figured that I should change the oil in the mower since I didn't do it last fall like I had intended. It was a little scary because only 4 ounces of oil came out when I took out the oil plug. I about 20 or so ounces of oil back in. It was quite hard to determine the exact amount that was needed since the oil dipstick always looks like there is a certain amount of oil in the engine. This must be due to the crazy tube the stick is in - the oil must stick to the sides and it gets on the stick when pulling it out. So - I guess I was mowing last season with only a little bit of oil in the engine. I'll just have to see if any long term damage was done...doesn't sound like it as the engine is still purring along - 13 years after we first bought it.

I tried sharpening the mower blade - but my Dremel tool is still not working after many hours of taking it apart and putting it back together. Not sure why - and they are too expensive to just go buy another one. I did put the Dremel sharpening bit in my drill - and that seemed to work, even though the drill RPMs are much less than the Dremel.

The lawn needed a lot of moss killer this spring - the green I was seeing was not due only the the grass, which does stay green year round. It is just starting to be growing more now...but winter is not completely out of the picture. Apparently there is a chance for snow in Portland this coming weekend.

2) Family dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Last Friday, we went to the local Macaroni grill with all of Mick's family. We had a table full of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Sister-in-law Maritza's mother was soon going back to Guatemala - and she was there too.

Connor really loves this place because he can get pizza - and draw on the table. They have the paper on the tables, and we all love drawing on it. Connor even packed extra crayons so we wouldn't be stuck with the roasted Red Pepper, Bleu Cheese, Florentine, and Eggplant colors they provide.

I love the pizza as well - but I really like the bread they bring the table when you sit down. It is always warm and fresh out of the oven - and it has a delicious coating on it - almost sweet. Dipping this in the olive oil with ground pepper....hmmm. Yummy!

3) Waffle Extravaganza at Temple.

Just over a week ago - the Women's Ministries group at church had a waffle feed after the Sunday Morning service. I was there to make my 'famous' chocolate chip waffles. They are famous at least to those who have had the pleasure of enjoying them. I made regular square waffles and also Mickey Mouse waffles....because those people are hungry and waffles do take 4-5 minutes to be cooked. I stayed mostly ahead of the rush - but I did have a line for a time. There were other stations with other types of waffles being prepared as well.

4) Speaking of church....I've been workin on our church's website. http://www.temple-baptist.com - just in case you are interested in checking it out.

I am not the person creating the content - I just get it formatting, looking good, and get it posted. I've learned a lot of XHTML, CSS, and lots more web programming tricks. I've checked out more web books from the library that I thought possible, checked out 'how-to' CSS websites, and more. There is still not a lot of content on the website - but I am still working on it. Bit by bit it will look more and more like the place you have to be on Sunday mornings in Portland, Oregon. If you are out there reading this - make plans for this Sunday. The morning service starts at 11am, and Sunday School starts at around 9:45am. We'll see you there!

5) More, more, more!

Bingo night at Tegan & Connor's school.
Getting ready for spring soccer (starts March 9th!).
Diabetes Expo - Tegan & I were there in our Red Rider shirts!
Getting bikes ready for the coming Tour de Cure!
Small group bible study every week - hi small groupees!
Birthday parties, dance classes, Wednesday night bible clubs, homework
Reading! You should see all four of us sitting around some evenings - each lost in our own book.


So - dear blog reader - what is going on with you these days? You never write, and I'm never quite sure if you get my updates.

Drop us a line! Comment right down here! You know you want to....and I'll try and write more often. They will probably be "Brian's Crazy Thoughts" postings - I've got a lot of those swirling around lately.

More snow? Big deal...

During the night of Jan 1st - it snowed here in Portland. Wow! We'd usually be really excited to see the flakes flying - and the accumulation! There must have been almost an inch of snow on the ground. I got up at 2am to take Yukon outside, and the snow was coming down hard. It was quite a change from when we went to bed.


It has been raining hard this week - I think it rained around three inches one 24 hour period this week. There have been flooding and landslide problems all around the state. The snow we got didn't last long - it changed over to rain, and a lot had melted by morning. Later in the day the sun came out and anything not in the shade disappeared. All in all - a snow event that was more snow than we got for the entire 2007-2008 winter just wasn't that impressive. Compared to the storms that brought the most snow in December in Portland in over 50 years - well - we now have something to judge all future snowfalls against. The stories our kids will tell for years of how they survived the 'Arctic Blast of 2008' will go down in history.

Friday night we went to the Oregon Zoo Zoolights. Our zoo membership had lapsed, and with all the snow we had in December - the Zoo canceled many of the Zoolight nights. Grandpapa & Grandmama Johnson got us a Zoo membership for Christmas - so when the Kraakeviks called - we made a great evening with them at Red Robin and the Zoolights.

Up at the zoo - the parking lot still had a lot of snow and was very ice covered and slippery. The temperature was near 32° - but it seemed warmer than other years when it had been rainy. We had a great time - though we didn't see many animals. Apparently they don't like the cold and snow that much...but we did.

Connor, Peter, Amy, Tegan, and Molly

Snowed in

The Portland area is still being dumped on...with no end in sight.

Well - I'm sure there is an end, but I really wished I had bought a shovel two weeks ago... We could chain up the Explorer and drive to True Value of Home Depot...but if they are open, I'm sure there are no shovels left in stock.

No shovel here!

Arctic Blast 2008

You want photos? We've got your photos right here.

The Pacific Northwest has been having some cold weather this week - and the moisture came along for the party, too. So - five snow days started the winter break early this year.

We've had fun in the snow - enjoy the show!

Here is the link to the Picasa Web Album to see them in their full glory.

You want to see the cars on the hill? Click here for tips on what not to do in Portland snow events.