Life At The Givens Estate

What I Listen To

snoqualmiejoe — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:06:04 +0000

If you look over to the right of our blog, you’ll see a section of what new music we have added to our collection. I have done this since the beginning of our internet presence. Why I do it, I don’t know. It may or may not seem interesting to you our anyone else for that matter. I just thought it may be cool to see our eclectic tastes in music and just might turn you on to something you’ve never heard of. Also on the right, you’ll see the links to our two podcasts that I/we record. Not only do I record my own podcast, but listen to quite a few so I’ve decided to list them here. You may want to check some of them out and some you may find offensive, but we have the choice to listen or not….don’t judge me!!! Here they are:

Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code
BLARM!
Blast The Right
Common Sense With Dan Carlin
Dawn And Drew
Above Top Secret
Distorted View
Dreamland With Whitley Strieber
Eerie Radio
Mysterious Universe
Norm Augustinus
Nobody Likes Onions
Real Time With Bill Maher
Public Radio International: Living on Earth
Podchef’s Gastrocast
The Paracast
Seattle Car Cast
Strange But True
Think Future
World of Boating
World of the Unexplained
Wreckless Media Radio
Yeast Radio

Whew!!! Where do I find the time? Have fun with that!!!!

Appeasing Islam

snoqualmiejoe — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:43:00 +0000

I don’t know if you have heard of Pat Condell, but he makes some very interesting comments on his YouTube Channel. Now I am not saying whether or not I agree with his views because it is my business, not yours, but here is a very interesting video to watch. You can make your own opinions about it, but it will make you think!

Pat Condell’s Appeasing Islam Video

Pictures Are Up

snoqualmiejoe — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:37:20 +0000

Our Tamarack photos are now up at Flickr. Click here and go have a look!!

15th Anniversary Trip

snoqualmiejoe — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:34:24 +0000

Wow is all I can say. Today marks our 15th wedding anniversary! Actually we have been together for 16 years going on our first date March 6th, 1992 and were married one year later! Our first date was a ski day at Crystal Mountain in Washington. Now I sit in bed here at our hotel The Lodge at Osprey Meadows at Tamarack Resort in Idaho after days of what else…..skiing. Is that apropos or what? It is absolutely gorgeous here and we have had a blast. I was a little nervous at first thinking about skiing for the first time in many years and wondering how I was going to do. Then when I saw the mountain, I really freaked out. But after a few runs down the beginners hill and getting my ski legs back, it was all good. Of course after the first day of skiing for 4-5 hours, my feet and legs were a quivering mess, but we just went back up the next day and worked through the soreness of close to 50 year old bodies. I must say that ski boots are the most uncomfortable clothing accessory ever made. I need to invent something that is more comfortable and make millions. Having the flattest feet in the world doesn’t help either. One day we thought we were going to take a break and do some snowshoeing and it was the first time for the both of us. After 5 hours of snowshoeing all around the many trailsof the resort, we realized how much of a work out it was. We were wiped out!!! A bit of hot tubbing and adult libations took away some of the pain Yesterday was our last day of skiing, as we are heading back to Boise for our flight back home, and we were ski monsters hitting double blue and even a black diamond trail. We have put up videos of us skiing and Deb snowshoeing on our YouTube Channel. Go have a look and you’ll also find some other videos there as well. We took allot of photos which I will post on our Flickr page shortly when I get them off the camera and edited.

The Resort had just about everything we needed, but we did venture out one evening and drove up to McCall, Id. From what we saw of the town it was very cute as it was dark. We stopped in a cool rustic restaurant called The Mill Supper Cluband had dinner. I had the biggest and best piece of prime rib I’ve had in a log while. Debbie enjoyed a nice generous portion of halibut. It was just our type of place. It would be nice to come back in the summer to see this place. I think Debbie has ski fever now and we may do more skiing in the future. Hell, we only live 20 minutes from Snoqualmie Summit for god sake!!!

In other news, we finally got our boat back and she is beautiful!!! We have spent only one night on her since we just got her back the weekend before we came here! The interior looks wonderful and Debbie did great picking out the carpet, drapes, upholstery fabric. She has new bottom paint on her, a new inverter, new window, new teak in the back, railings all fixed and ready for some good boating coming up! We have just a small idling problem with our starboard engine which I think may need injector cleaning and she’s all set. We just need to find ourselves a better dinghy and the boating package is complete! We took some pictures and also recorded a new podcast as we christened her finally. You can see the pictures and listen to the podcast over at our Boat Virgins podcast page! There’s more exciting news to tell you, but I have to wait until it’s been officially announced. I’ll be blogging about it when it is! We have to go now, gotta get packed up and checked out of here. bye for now!!!

Ice Cream?

snoqualmiejoe — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:01:10 +0000

I guess if you have been reading my blog and have paid the slightest bit of attention, then you might notice my categories all relate to flavors of ice cream. Now maybe my understanding of blog categories are somewhat incorrect and probably won’t get me many additional hits, I thought it a tad whimsical to do it this way. The categories are listed as followed:

Vanilla:
General posts usually boring of not much substance. Mainly to fill space and to add posts when I haven’t in awhile. (You’ll probably see many of these).

Chocolate Swirl:
Musings, rambling thoughts just a little above vanilla in substance value.

Strawberry:
Posts usually reserved for humor, stories, jokes, light hearted crap.

Cafe Mocha:
Political, sophisticated, thought provoking, more seriousness in these posts. (yeah right)

Rocky Road:
Rants, ravings, posts of anger and frustration and may contain profanity.

Green Tea:
Environmental oriented. Animals, earth related, science, global warming, issues in this genre.

Blueberry:
Boating posts and all other recreation, sports, leisure, topics and posts.

So there ya go! this one is definitely vanilla!

Voting For Government Run Health Care

snoqualmiejoe — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:00:27 +0000

You might want to watch the video below as you decide your voting preference in this upcoming election:

Canadian Health Care Video

Read up on your candidate of choice and their plans on health care in the US!

Wedding Bells Are Ringing

snoqualmiejoe — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:17:35 +0000

I am out of mourning from the devastating loss of the mighty Packers to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game. It really sucked going into overtime and then watching Brett toss another interception that sealed our fate. You know, it looked like it was our year to go and win another Super Bowl and that happens. I don’t know how much longer Brett can play before he has to hang it up. You can tell he wants another Super Bowl Ring before he is done! Well, I have to hand it to the team, being the youngest in the NFL and going as far as they did. Like us Packer Fans are used to saying, “well there’s next year!”

It is finally official, after dating for four years, Alex proposed to Mo (Maureen)! He did it on their four year anniversary and of course she said yes. I think he even got down on one knee! I wish I had a hidden camera for that one! He went to Mo’s parents before he asked and asked them if they approved. It’s pretty funny that he is such a perfect gentleman. I have always said he is an old man in a young man’s body! The date is not set yet, but it will be probably around August if they can get it arranged. More on that as it develops. Needless to say, Debbie is very excited and is jumping for joy. I think she wants to be a Grandma………hmmmmmmmmm!

We saw the boat today and it looks great! Just a few more things need to be finalized before we get her back. It might be this Saturday, but we aren’t sure. Again, more on that later! Right now I am at work waiting to go home and am on the work computer, so this is a quick one! I will post more soon!!!

Sick Thoughts

snoqualmiejoe — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:26:24 +0000

Yes I am sick and have been all week and have also been off work for the last three days, so I thought I’d take a moment and write a post since it has been awhile. What did you think I meant? I hate being sick, like most I assume. I am miserable! I am on the tail end of this crud though and I hope I am feeling better tomorrow, because it’s the big game!!! More on that later!!! If the game were today, I would have to drag myself there!!

So I haven’t written since before Christmas so how was yours? We had a nice one although I had to work that evening. Ryan came over Christmas Eve and spent the night. Alex and Mo came over that morning and we opened presents and celebrated. Even though we had promised to keep our spending down a bit this year, I think we all enjoyed what we received. I got a nice new leather jacket, new photo editing software, cologne, books, and a poker set!!! That was a surprise since I don’t play. It is really nice and we did play on New Year’s Eve. I also got a new phone, but it really wasn’t a present, well maybe for myself. After much prodding from Debbie to join the 21st Century and get a better phone with web and email capabilities, I finally jumped ship with AT&T and went with T-Mobile and got a new Wing Phone!! It is really cool and I am glad I finally did. It only costs me $20 a month than I was paying before with just phone service. Now I have web and email on my phone!!! Yes I know, I am a late bloomer when it comes to the latest technology!!

Debbie didn’t do too bad with her Christmas either. Among her many presents, she also got a Garmin Nuvu 760 GPS for her car! We had to order it online and it was back-ordered until it was finally delivered yesterday. She played with it all last night……… the Nuvu……. that is! It has blue tooth and syncs up with her Blackberry so she can actually use her phone through her GPS. It even uses the Blackberry voice recognition and she can just talk to make calls. All hands free which is good since it will be used in the car most of the time. The great thing is, that it is not in dash and we can also take it with us on hikes or walks and know where we are all the time. Is that too important?

New Year’s was fun. It was the first holiday of the season that I didn’t have to work. I decided to take a week’s vacation just so I would have it. Our friends Kevin and Tori Hillstrom and Larry and Lynette came over to our house. We broke out my new poker set and Kevin taught me the ins and outs of Texas Hold em! I can’t say I am ready for the Casinos yet, but I did learn a bunch. We had a great time and Larry and Lynette stayed over since their drive back home was quite long. Larry and I played a little too hard with night caps of Tequila shots. Needless to say neither of us felt to good the next morning. Maybe that’s what reduced my immunity that allowed these vicious germs to sneak aboard and wreck the havoc they have all week in my body!!!

Like I said earlier, the big game is tomorrow and if you know me, well enough said. It’s the big playoff game between the Packers and Seahawks! I am actually nervous even though the game is in Green Bay. The Packers are the youngest team in the NFL, and I am worried about all these young players and how they will act in their first playoff game. I am sure the Seahawks will be playing with allot of heart, so the Pack better be ready. I hope I am ready!!! Our Club The Northwest Packer Backers is the biggest Packer Club in the whole Northwest and we are even on the radar of our local TV stations. Fox News 13 will be on hand sometime tomorrow covering the fans at the game. Hell, you might even see Deb and I on TV!!! Well I have to dose myself with some more Mucinex and chill out for awhile. Catch Ya Later!!!

Well Merry Christmas To You All

snoqualmiejoe — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 05:27:30 +0000

Have a happy holliday, and think of me as I will be working behind the wheel of America’s Public Transportation System.

Maybe instead of driving to your place of employment, shopping centers, or whatever is convenient for you to drive your soon to be extinct mode of transportation, you should think of and expect different modes of ways of getting around. Plan and think ahead of the Future!!!!!

Podcasting

snoqualmiejoe — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:46:49 +0000

Just a blurb on my hobby of podcasting, my Snoqualmie Joe podcast continues pretty strongly. I have been posting shows pretty regularly the last month or two. Considering what is regular is anyones opinion. I have two more in the bag right now that will be posted soon. If you listen regularly or occasionally, you’ll know that it is centered on my local area and what is happening here. It is a fun hobby and many people know me from what I do. My latest podcasts have centered on new businesses opening up here in Snoqualmie Ridge. One newest addition to our business community is a music store which opened this Saturday. Hopefully I will be podcasting with them soon, but they had their grand opening Saturday and it was quite festive. Davey French, guitarist for the band Everclear, was in store jamming on guitars and meeting people. He and his lovely wife and son live up here on the Ridge, and when not on tour, he will be teaching guitar at the store. He is a very personable guy and a very good guitarist!

Now on a more technical note, Podshow sucks. You’ll probably not know what I am talking about from here on in, but I have to post it in hopes it gets logged by the bots. I am so stretched in my endeavors that I need some ways to stream line ways of getting things done. One of my attempts was to get my Snoqualmie Joe show into Podshow. The way to do it when you already have a show and feed is to use the Podshow Vacuum Feed option. What this is supposed to do is bring in your feed code and convert it into a Podshow feed. Simple an easy, except I cannot figure out how to insert the feed code into my enclosure url and exactly where to put it. Many attempts to get Podshow tech support to guide me have failed totally. I have even called the Daily Source Code hosted by the Podfather Adam Curry and cannot get any response. He is part of Podshow for Christ sake. So to you Adam Curry and Podshow………. a big FUCK YOU! He’ll know exactly what I mean by that!