Category Archives: Home Life

Stuff going on in my personal life.

Weekend in Orofino–day two

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We got up a little earlier on Sunday and drove up the Lochsa river:

We stopped to watch the rafters going through the white water:

Even though it was raining we hiked up the trail to Jerry Johnson Hotsprings:

We expected that because of the rain we would be the only ones there.  There were six people in the first pool and eight in the second.  We sat in the first pool for several hours and talked and talked to a couple from Montanna that come to the springs several times a year.  People came and went but mostly came and about 17:30 there must have been 15 people in the pool and standing around.  The other couple, Marty and Cheryl, invited us back to their camper for dinner.  We hiked back down the trail with them:

We ate with them and talked and talked and finally about 22:00 we left on our two hour drive back to Orofino and our motel room.

Weekend in Orofino–day one

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We drove down to Orofino last night (after my five hour drive from the Seattle area) and checked into the Lodge at River’s Edge.  It is, literally, on the rivers edge.  This is the view from our balcony:

I looked around at the other balconies, but mine was the only one with a beautiful woman on it.

I didn’t look in the other rooms but my bed had a woman it in.  Although I doubt most rooms were furnished as well as this one I was pleased with my good fortune:

It rained today which meant that going for the walk didn’t quite work out as we had planned.  We ended up telling housekeeping to go away and not come back and we didn’t leave the motel until almost 1:00 PM.

We drove to the Dent campground to eat our picnic lunch.  But the rain hadn’t stopped and the wind was picking up.  We ate in the Jeep as the rain came down:

On the way back we stopped at Canyon Creek Campground and walked out to the water’s edge.  We saw a trail to go hiking on but it was too wet and we left after taking a few pictures:

 

We drove back to our motel and then had dinner at the nearby restaurant.  Excellent food, the waitress was the daughter of one of our high school classmates (Danny Reed), and we had a wonderful view from our table:

After dinner we went to Lisa’s graduation.

Update: I forgot to add the following picture and explanation.  We stopped at the pullout and took some pictures in the road where we first kissed each other–over 30 years ago:

 

Lisa graduates from Orofino High School

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Our niece, Lisa Huffman, graduated tonight from the same school Barb and I graduated from 33 years ago.  And 30 years ago, to the day, her parents graduated from the same school.  Lisa, being validictorian, gave a very nice speech and mentioned her parents graduating 30 years ago.  She said quite a bit about her parents and I saw her mother wiping tears from her eyes.

Here are a couple pictures taken with my crappy camera phone:


Mom, Lisa’s grandmother, is looking at the camera with her dad and mom (red and white) just to the right.


Lisa in the center of the picture.

A visit from my girlfriend

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Last Wednesday my girlfriend for the last 30+ years, Barbara, flew into SeaTac (I work in the Seattle area) from Idaho.  Even with the extra few days together it seemed we didn’t have enough time together or to do the things we wanted to do.  We had lunch with HsuanHua on Thursday.  I introduced Barb to my work associates on noon Friday.  Friday night we went to dinner and a movie (The Da Vinci Code–good, but not as good as the book) with my roommates.  Saturday morning we went hiking on Mt. Si then had lunch with Michelle before we drove back home to Moscow together.

And every night we tested out the new sheets I bought for my bed.  At 600 threads per inch they are almost like satin sheets without the problems (a small amount of sweat cause satin sheets to stick to your skin).  Even at $100 for the set (King size) they are worth it.

Soon, we hope, the visits and the testing of the sheets will be much more frequent.

Pronunciation

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Our kids harass Barb and me whenever we mispronounce certain words.  “Wash” and “Washington” are two of the biggies (we grew up pronouncing “wash” as “worsh”) but “creek” (it came out as “crick”) gets a fair amount of attention also.  I actually appreciate being corrected and work at incorporating the corrections.  Barb does not appreciate it and at times threatens the kids (and occasionally me for agreeing that, technically, they are correct) with various types of retaliation and furthermore declares she will pronounce words just as she always has–which of course just means she told the kids they have a button to push almost anytime they want to use it.

It turns out it isn’t just in our household pronunciation is sometimes an issue.  Heather Armstrong nearly had me falling out of my chair in laughter with her pronunciation (MP3) of “crayon” with which her husband disagrees with.  Her entire post on the topic is here and probably will get at least a chuckle from you.

Blog was down

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Yeah.  I know my blog has been down for over 24 hours.  I don’t know why.  This is the second time.  The first time was just before Boomershoot.  Both then and today I simply didn’t have any time to work on figuring it out and bring it back up.  Both times it came back on it’s own.  Probably something my hosting provider figured out and fixed.

Yesterday and today I was busy with graduation stuff.  My son, James, and his cousin were graduating from the University of Idaho–at different times.  Pretty much scrambled my entire day today–I hate ceremonies.  But James and I did go see Mission Impossible III tonight.  Pretty good flick.  Plot holes, of course, but still pretty good.

Quote of the day–Xenia Joy Huffman-Scott

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In the 1840s Americans still thought Manifest Destiny was really cool and got the president to fight a war to get more land from Mexico including Texas and California. Texas said it was already free, but Mexico didn’t think so until after America kicked their butt.

Xenia Joy Huffman-Scott
4:00 AM, May 1, 2006
On the day the history project was due.
[There is other great stuff in her timeline of American history too, check it out.–Joe]

Take the AQ test

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Via Ry and Wired Magazine. Take The AQ Test:

Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at Cambridge’s Autism Research Centre have created the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, as a measure of the extent of autistic traits in adults. In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis, however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger’s report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.

I scored a 23.  Ry scored 13.

Aspergers is closely related to Autism.

Last post until Boomershoot 2006 is over

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I suspect this will be my last post for a few days.  I’ll either have Xenia post a “Quote of the Day” or back date them after Boomershoot 2006 is over.  I have to work all day today at my new job then drive home to Idaho tonight.  Thursday morning I head out to the Boomershoot range to prepare for the big event.  No internet access from Thursday morning until late Sunday night.  By late Sunday night I will be ready for a shower and sleep.

Quote of the day–Kim Huffman-Scott

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You’ve already gone way past the “Thin Ice” sign.

Kim Huffman-Scott
April 16, 2006
Telling her dad to back off some on teasing her brother James about Meredith.

Quote of the day–Sara Young & Xenia Huffman-Scott

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Xenia: We are going to be gypsies.
Sara: And maybe become lesbians.

Sara Young
Xenia Huffman-Scott
Referring to their plans for when they turn 18 years old.
April 16, 2006
[I’m always entertained by what Sara and Xenia say when they get together. It’s great having such smart kids around.–Joe]

An Easter story

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Several years ago we became good friends with this Jewish guy named Randy.  Easter came along and we were making plans for the holiday.  We sort of absent mindedly asked what he had planned and then realized it wouldn’t be a Holiday he or his wife (she is Buddhist) would celebrate.  He, however, corrected us. 

“Sure!  Jews celebrate Easter.” 
“You do???” 
“Yeah, sure we do.”
“How do you celebrate?”
“We hold hands and dance around in a circle singing, ‘We killed him!  We killed him!'”

My kind of humor.

Lewis and Clark go to Mars

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I grew up just a few miles from where Lewis and Clark went through Idaho on their way to and from the Pacific Ocean.  Lewis and Clark were a prominent feature in Idaho History taught in the eight grade.  I have listened to books on tapes about them and Barb and I have stopped at lots of historical landmarks and a few museums along the Lewis and Clark trail in Montana and Idaho.  It was an amazing journey with only one man lost, probably due to an appendicitis rupture, through hostile native American country (the Sioux in particular) as well as incredibly friendly native Americans (the Nez Perce as well as others), starvation as well as an excess of food, and dangerous animals (read about their experience with grizzly bears!).  Thomas Jefferson made an excellent choice in Meriwether Lewis for the leader of the journey but screwed up in the handling of his return.  Lewis probably should have been sent back out on another trip rather than being given a desk job as a governor.  Lewis ended up committing suicide just a couple years after returning from his historic trip.

I’m reminded of all this by the following from the Washington Post:

“What we have ahead of us represents a challenge significantly greater than when we first went to the moon,” Griffin said recently in a speech.

New classes of astronauts will have to practice flying in a vehicle quite different from the shuttle and learn how to extract resources such as oxygen from the moon’s soil. They will be taught to grow vegetables in lunar greenhouses and conduct geological tests on the moon’s surface. Already, engineers at United Space Alliance are studying how a crew will be able to train aboard the spacecraft on a three-year trip to Mars. Eventually, Mars-bound astronauts will have to learn how to extract fuel and other resources from Mars’ surface.

“The requirement to live off the land will be crucial to our future in space, just as it was to Lewis and Clark,” Griffin said recently.

There will be some crucial differences in the journey to Mars versus to the Pacific Ocean via the Missouri and Columbia rivers.  In some ways we know a lot more about what is between Earth and Mars than the men of Lewis and Clark’s expedition knew before their trip.  But then L&C could turn around and come back at almost any time if the going got too rough.  They never had to worry about where their next breath of fresh air was going to be found, water was never a problem, and food was only rarely a problem.  Even when they were at their most distance point from their origin, the mouth of the Columbia, they could have just waited for the next ship to stop in and pay for a ride home.  Mars explorers will face larger challenges but will probably have to do less “thinking on their feet”.  The brain power of thousands of support staff on earth will be only a few minutes away as long as their radios work.

I wish them luck and wish I could go with them.  James and I, as well as other friends, have often fantasized about starting over someplace other than Earth.  If it were up to us we would create a new place to live where the rules were extraordinary few and the freedoms vast.  A place where the Bill of Rights were adhered to rather than ignored.  Where government was truly limited to the most minimal amount absolutely required.  Where free markets and free ideas were something to be celebrated rather than repressed. 

This isn’t off topic, so stay with me for a moment–James sent me an email yesterday saying:

Ok, Meredith is insisting that I read some Heinlein.  Not reading him is apparently a great offense.  She’s got where I should start narrowed down to The Past Through Tomorrow, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.  So I’m cross-referencing them by you to see what you think I should read first.  Thanks.

I have been trying to get him to read Heinlein for about 15 years now.  I saved all my Heinlein books for my children hoping they would enjoy them as much as I did.  No luck.  None of my kids would read more than a chapter or two before getting bored.  Now James is almost 22 years old and “Meredith” has more influence over him than his father ever did.  I’m a little bit envious but I like this “Meredith” already and I have never met her or had any contact with her.  Just a few things James has told us about her.  Heinlein had a huge influence on me and my personal philosophy.   My recommendation to James from that short list of Heinlein books?  The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  It’s unlikely I will live to see the revolution as envisioned by Heinlein in this book but the dream that my children may live to see it or something similar and enjoy the fruits of it please me.  Freedom is embedded in the spirit of humans and repression of that is only a short term accomplishment.   Thank you Meredith for helping me to keep James on track.

Barb visits the Seattle area

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Barb drove over to Seattle a week ago Friday, flew to Sacramento on Saturday to help her sister celebrate her birthday, then flew back to Seattle on Thursday night to spend the weekend with me. 

Friday was my last day as a contractor, Monday I start my full time employee position, so my officemates insisted we needed to go out for lunch.  I was just going to go to the cafeteria with Barb but Chandrika insisted we needed to go someplace “far away”.  I suggested Sankt Gertruds Kloster (some say it is one of top restaurants in the world, it is very good).  It’s far away and the type of restaurant you would go to for special occasions.  But the frown I got when I told my officemates where it was told me that wasn’t what they had in mind. We settled for Todai in Redmond.  It’s not Sankt Gertruds Kloster but it is very good and several thousand miles closer.  It is one of Barb’s favorite restaurants and my (former) officemates, Chandrika and Eric, both gave it high marks.

Yesterday Barb and I stayed in bed most of the morning before go to meet some friends to go hiking at 2:00.  By then it had started raining and we needed an alternative activity.  We ended up getting tours through the Red Hook brewery and just across the street from it the Chateau Ste Michelle winery.  The difference in the “culture” between the two was probably the most interesting to me.  I drank more beer yesterday than in the previous 20 years combined (I haven’t even had a sip of beer in the last 20 years until yesterday).  At the winery they gave us a sample of a wine we just had to have, Muscat Canelli.  “Good news, bad news” they told us after several people commented on how good it tasted (in my book there is no such thing as something too sweet).  “The good news is we make this wine right here.  The bad news is you can only buy it here.  We have such limited runs of it that we don’t sell it to our distributors.”  Barb bought a bottle in the gift shop as we were leaving.

After the tours we went back to our friends home for grilled burgers and stayed until about 10:30 before coming back to my place.  Barb left about 10:00 this morning for the long drive back to Moscow.  It was sad to see her go.  It was so nice to spend three consecutive night with her.  And it was especially nice not to have drive the ten hours round trip this weekend.

Clean Jeep

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I managed to get Barb’s Jeep clean before she saw it:

Quote of the day–Xenia Huffman-Scott

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I’m going to my room and sulk now.  Because it looks like I have feces rubbed all over my face.

Xenia Huffman-Scott
After makeup to imitate a jackal was applied to her face for the play Jungle Book.  Her post on the play is here.
April 1, 2006

Long day

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Ry and I were out the door of my house in Moscow by 7:30 AM then traveled the hour to the Boomershoot range and made about 45 pounds of reactive targets by 11:00.  We tested them with .223 and .50 BMG ball ammo.  With the .223 we got detonation 50% of the time at 460 yards which figures out to about 1700 fps.  On the .50 BMG there have been problems in the past.  Smaller calibers were popping them off just fine but the .50 in ball wouldn’t.  No problem today — at least at 460 yards.  We also tested some steel targets with the .223 (no damage at 460 yards with VMAX bullets).  Targets six weeks old detonated from 20 yards away with a .223 (last year targets just a four weeks old wouldn’t detonated with a .223).  Just as we were leaving some guy drives up, walks up to the driver side of the Jeep as we are pulling out on the road and asks, “Are you going to be doing that next weekend?”  “No.”  “Good!” and he walked off.    It will be four weeks before we detonate about 1000 pounds (in one and two pound increments) instead of just fifty pounds.  Oh well.  He’ll find out soon enough.  I dropped Ry off at his van, parked at Microsoft, about 12:20 AM.  And now I’m ready for bed at 1:20 AM…

Pictures of Barb’s Jeep later.  I got a comment of “Been four-wheeling, huh?” when we stopped for a bathroom break in Ellensburg.  I didn’t know mud covered Jeeps attracted the attention of pretty college-age girls… I’ll have to keep that in mind for the next time Barb is out of town.

Update: Ry has a couple posts up here and here about our adventures this weekend.  And here is the picture of Barb’s Jeep after we got back from the Boomershoot range:

Our first child to marry

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They couldn’t just wait any longer.  Xenia and John got married.  Details and pictures are in Xenia’s Live Journal post.  Here is one of the pictures:


The ring is the one I gave Barb (which she wore for about a week)

Update: If you click on the link to Xenia’s LJ and follow it to the bottom of the page you will see it’s–April Fools Day!

Jason got his Purple Heart

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Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld participated in the ceremony.  I can’t imagine what Jason’s mother, Katy, is going through.  She has been a lifelong “Peace Activist” and even now goes on peace marches.  At the same time she is doing an excellent job of supporting her son as he recuperates and is honored by all these people who are who her political enemies.

Delivering a message

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As pointed out to me by Ry in this post about plagiarism, a hot topic around these parts lately, apparently the AP has a policy of not citing bloggers as a source:

the AP apparatchiks admitting to taking our work and using it without attribution, stating “we do not credit blogs”.

Emphasis in the original.

I can’t imagine why it is but for some reason I now have this image in my mind of an approach a friend of mine was inclined to implement in a different situation. 

We had a former mutual friend (let’s just call him “Walter”) that we were in business together with.  He sold out the company and walked away with several million dollars while my friend, my brother, and many other co-workers, and I got nothing–even our contracts for royalties on the products we owned and were being sold by the new company (lets call it “Symantec”) were worth nothing.  Symantec and it’s slime ball president (lets just call him “Gordon Eubanks”) wouldn’t allow us to audit the books even though our contracts said we could.  It was this event along with election of Bill Clinton (spit, spit), and the events of Ruby Ridge that inspired me to take up guns, and later explosives, as hobbies.  Anyway I ran across a shirt at a gun show that I just had to buy.  Not for me but for my friend that was still on speaking terms with “Walter”.  I showed the shirt to him and asked him if he would like to have it.  “YES!” was the immediate reply.  I told him I would give the shirt to him on one condition.  The next time he saw Walter he had to be wearing the shirt and he had to tell “Walter” that I had given him the shirt.  “Deal.”  It wasn’t long before he came up with an alternate delivery method for the “message”.  My friend said the proper delivery would be to attach the shirt to the front door of “Walter’s” new multi-million dollar house on the lake with knife driven through the shirt like a large tack.  To the best of my knowledge the message wasn’t delivered in that fashion although I derived a great deal of pleasure over just the thought of it.

For some reason that same message and the same delivery method are what comes to mind when I read what the AP apparatchiks policy is in regards to crediting blogs.

And what was the message on the shirt you ask?

The only reason some people are alive is because it’s against the law to kill them.