Life in the Springs

5-month-old Ella

2011-10-24T03:26:00.001-07:00

Ella's First Snow Day!

2011-10-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

4 Months Old

2011-09-22T13:17:00.001-07:00

Final Softball Game of the Regular Season Tonight

2011-07-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

Playing softball in the rain is awesome. I love this team. Our first playoff game is tomorrow. Not much of a break, but we'll take it.

Ella is Two Months Old Already

2011-07-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

This special time with her is flying by.

5 Incredible Years

2011-07-08T03:58:00.000-07:00

Five years ago today I was in front of many loved ones declaring my love for my wife. I am so blessed to be her husband. The last five years have been wonderful and I have so much to look forward to in our future.

I love that she has a passion to serve Christ and to live her life as a testimony to His saving grace. I love her because she is a great mom. I love her because she encourages and lifts me up. I love her upbeat attitude, her energy, and her silliness!

Here's to many more years!

My New Favorite Photo

2011-07-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Ella is One Month Old Today

2011-06-18T02:43:00.001-07:00

Our Little Bundle of Joy

2011-05-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Eleanor "Ella" Grace DeVandry, born Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 8:10 pm (Mountain Time). She weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz, and was 21 inches long.

Mom and baby are both doing great. We are all home now, resting.

You can see photos by clicking the image below:

Eleanor Grace

This is it

2011-05-09T23:13:00.000-07:00

Our baby Eleanor (Ella) is due this Friday. I know my life is going to completely change any minute now. This anxiety is overwhelming. Keep Dana and I in your prayers.

Aaron

Thrice

2011-04-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog. I admit I've spent more of my free time updating Facebook instead of our personal blog, but hopefully that all changes soon.

Anyway, I just gotta say that I love my wife A LOT. She is amazing. She is so strong, carrying this baby and never once complaining, yet still working at her full time job throughout. It's a joy to see her smile each day.

So I heard this song and I thought the lyrics were incredible and appropriate.

The Weight by Thrice
There’s many who’ll tell you they’ll give you their love,
But when they say "give" they mean "take".
They hang ‘round just like vultures 'til push comes to shove
And take flight when the earth starts to shake.

Someone may say that they’ll always be true
Then slip out the door ‘fore the dawn,
But I won’t leave you hanging on.

Another may stay 'til they find someone new
Then before you know they’ll be gone,
But I won’t leave you hanging on.

No, I won’t won't be that someone.

And come what may, I won’t abandon you or leave you behind,
Because love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment.
Come what may, I will be standing right here by your side,
I won’t run away, though the storm’s getting worse and there’s no end in sight.

Some talk of destiny, others of fate,
But soon they’ll be saying goodbye,
But I won’t leave you high and dry.

'Cause a ring don’t mean nothing if you can’t haul the weight
And some of them won’t even try,
But I won’t leave you high and dry.

I won’t leave you wondering why.

And come what may, I won’t abandon you or leave you behind,
Because love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment.
Come what may, I will be standing right here by your side,
I won’t run away, though the storm’s getting worse and there’s no end in sight.

And storms will surely come,
But true love is a choice you must make and you are the one.
That I have set my heart to choose
As long as I live, I swear I’ll see this through.

Come what may, I won’t abandon you or leave you behind,
Because love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment.
Come what may, I will be standing right here by your side,
I won’t run away, though the storm’s getting worse and I see no end.

Come what may, I won’t abandon you or leave you behind,
Because love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment.
Come what may, I will be standing right here by your side,
I won’t run away, though the storm’s getting worse and there’s no end in sight.

Here's the link to listen to the song on YouTube. I know the music is not for everyone, but at least we can all appreciate the lyrics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5I8xg69Yjo

My First Best Of Website Nomination

2010-11-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Yes the title is a bit misleading, for two reasons. First, because it makes it sound like I plan on getting more nominations for a "Best Of" anything. And second, because the nomination is in the "Most Unusual" category. I never really considered the Giant Schnauzer Club of America to be unusual... certainly the website itself is a bit bland compared to the other nominees.

The company hosting the vote is the same company that created the membership software that I incorporated into the website. Maybe one of the decision makers has a giant schnauzer.

http://wishlistproducts.com/most-unusual-membership-site-category/

Thanks to whoever nominated my website. The number of hits has tripled in the past twenty-four hours. If the website wins, there's actually an award show in Vegas. lol

Another Poorly-Written TV Ad

2010-11-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the quality. I recorded this on my phone.

Am I the only one who sees the errors in this? Pizza Hut had a deal where they sold any pizza (any size, any number of toppings, any crust) for $10. Now they stopped that deal to "lower prices". Yet the new deal is still $10 (fail) but no longer for any pizza (double fail).

Oh, and if you read the small print at the bottom of the ad, they will charge an additional fee for special crusts like deep dish or stuffed crust. So much for "lowering the price of every pizza on our menu".

That's two ridiculous commercial errors in one week (See the Michael Bennet political ad). I should be hired as an editor somewhere.

A Proud Older Brother

2010-11-03T04:05:00.000-07:00

I just heard some songs from my younger brother and his band's forthcoming album. Wow. They sound great.

I'm really happy for him. Go check out Paul (also known as Augustus) DeVandry and his band, the Hypnotist Collectors at http://www.thehypnotistcollectors.com.

The new songs aren't on the website, but when they are available publicly, I'll put the info here.

Who is Michael Bennet's script writer?

2010-11-02T01:31:00.000-07:00

This has been my favorite political ad of the campaign season. Not because I support Bennet, because I don't. He's nothing more than a yes man to the Democratic Party.

I love this ad because of the line "When I talked, he listened, even when I disagreed" (because Ricky disagrees with himself apparently).

I'm voting Ken Buck for U.S. Senator from Colorado.

A New Addition to the DeVandry Family

2010-10-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

I used to make jokes in the past whenever I made a big purchase -- a car, a TV, a computer -- and tell friends that Dana and I are welcoming a new addition to the DeVandry family.

Well, now it's the real thing. I'm gonna be a daddy.

Lord willing, our baby is due sometime in May.

Sunny Hours

2010-09-10T23:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes sundials are smarter than we are.

Philippians 4:8 (ESV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Road Trip, Part 4 (Finale.)

2010-09-07T00:13:00.000-07:00

After leaving Wall, Dana and I continued on our drive to Rapid City, SD. The home of Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City provides a ton of potential activities for ambitious tourists. Since we were planning on being there for two days, Dana and I settled on visiting nearby Mt. Rushmore (a no-brainer choice), and -- based on glowing feedback from friends -- Bear Country U.S.A.

We arrived in Rapid City just as evening approached, and we headed straight for Mt. Rushmore. We made it just in time to witness the night's lighting ceremony. All of the lights from the viewing platform were turned off, and as patriotic background music filled the air, spotlights slowly lit up the faces on the monument. What an experience!

The next day was basically a rest day. After the hurried schedule of the previous day's effort to drive across South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore's night ceremony, we were exhausted. So we slept in, caught up on email (and in Aaron's case, online work), and headed out to Bear Country U.S.A. in the afternoon.

Bear Country is basically an animal park that visitors drive through in their own vehicles. We were given instructions upon entering to keep our windows up at all times in an effort to keep bears from climbing inside the car. Aside from the aforementioned black bears, Bear Country also housed arctic wolves, reindeer, rocky mountain elk, bighorn sheep, rocky mountain goats, mountain lions, timber wolves, mule deer, and bison!

I was curious to see how close the bears actually came to the cars as they drove through. They literally brushed against our SUV.

Did I mention that we saw bison?

We found an alley at the end of the drive lane and took advantage of it to go through the park three times. We LOVED Bear Country, and recommend it highly.

After finishing the drive, we parked and visited the BabyLand area of the park. This is where they keep some of the smaller critters in zoo-like enclosures. We saw raccoons, bobcats, a lynx, badgers, skunks, porcupines, beavers, and bear cubs. There were over a dozen cubs in their enclosure, and they played endlessly, challenging each other to a "king of the mountain" game at the tops of the trees.

The next day was the final day of our trip. We wanted to see Mt. Rushmore again (in the daylight), the Crazy Horse Memorial, and get home to Colorado that night.

Did you know that Mount Rushmore was carved by 400 men over the course of five years, hanging off ropes, and blasting away with dynamite -- and not one of them died throughout the process? That's amazing.

A big storm was announced on the loudspeaker at Mt. Rushmore warning of its pending arrival in about 15 minutes, and we knew we were about 15 minutes away from the Crazy Horse Memorial. So we rushed out to our car and tried to beat the rain.
We didn't quite make it in time, but we stopped at Crazy Horse anyway.

We soon realized how underrated the Crazy Horse Monument is. It is a mountain monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the form of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance.

The memorial consists of the mountain carving (monument), the Indian Museum of North America, and the Native American Cultural Center. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain on land considered sacred by some Native Americans, between Custer and Hill City, roughly 8 miles (13 km) away from Mount Rushmore.

The sculpture's final dimensions are planned to be 641 feet (195 m) wide and 563 feet (172 m) high. The head of Crazy Horse will be 87 feet (27 m) high; by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each 60 feet (18 m) high.

The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is still far from completion. If it is ever finished, it may be the world's largest sculpture. The memorial has never accepted funding from the U.S. government, choosing to build their memorial using private donations only.

What fascinated me the most about this monument is that, unlike Mount Rushmore which was carved into the face of a mountain, this monument is being carved on all sides of a mountain. And it dwarfs the size of Mount Rushmore.

Here's a model of what the monument is planned to look like eventually (on the left):

We finished our incredible vacation by driving through Wyoming, where Dana went ballistic over catching a glimpse of a double rainbow.

Road Trip, part 3

2010-08-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Sioux Falls rather late, and we left early in the next morning with plans to get to Mt. Rushmore on the other side of the state that evening -- so unfortunately we didn't get a chance to tour much of South Dakota's biggest city. I apologize to anyone out there who's really bummed to hear that.

The itinerary today was to travel west on Interstate 90 (see our route map for a visual picture) from Sioux Falls, SD to Rapid City, SD.

One thing to know about Interstate 90 is that there isn't much going on between towns. This results in local entrepreneurs finding ways to grab travelers' attention with outrageous displays, kooky signs, and anything out-of-the ordinary they can think of, like giant ox heads, or a 20-ft tall hammer (look to the right of the photo behind the billboard).

One of the most egregious examples of these attention-grabbing displays is the endless promotion of Wall Drug, using hundreds of billboards that dot the highway. There was literally a Wall Drug billboard every mile along the highway. These billboards promote free ice water, a T-Rex, a giant jackalope, a piano playing ape, homemade pie and donuts, 5 cent coffee... just see for yourself:

There are two particular types of Wall Drug billboards I like best. First, the ones that play up the mundane reasons you'd drive hundreds of miles to drive to a drug store. "Black Hills Maps", "Fresh baked donuts", "Homemade pie". All good things, but would you drive three hundred miles for a fresh donut?

Second, the special offers. "Free ice water", "Five cent coffee", "Free coffee for hunters". Hey, I wasn't planning on driving to Wall, SD, but that free ice water offer was too good to refuse!

The amazing part is that after seeing hundreds of these billboards, you just need to see this place. How good or bad does a place have to be, that they need hundreds of billboards to get people to stop? Or for that matter, a huge model of a brontosaurus?

More on Wall Drug later. You know, the part of the story when we actually get there.

So after about an hour on the road (or approximately 70 Wall Drug billboards), we stopped in Mitchell, SD. Mitchell is a small town known for it's Corn Palace. The Corn Palace was built during the Great Depression as a way to promote corn farming in the area. The outer walls of the Corn Palace, and some inner walls also, are re-decorated each year with a different theme using different colored corn cobs, which are stapled onto the walls.

At around noon, or approximately 210 Wall Drug billboards later, we stopped in Chamberlain, SD. Chamberlain is built right along the Missouri River, with basically divides South Dakota in half. We stopped for some pizza and sat out on the diner patio overlooking this peaceful section of America's longest river.

On the western side of the Missouri River is some of the most beautiful farm land I've ever seen. The clouds and the weather on this day helped, but I was able to take this photo which reminded me of my computer desktop wallpaper.

A couple hundred Wall Drug billboards later, and we found ourselves in Wall, SD. While known world wide as the location of the infamous Wall Drug store, Wall is also the Interstate exit to enter Badlands National Park.

Despite it's name, there's nothing inherently "bad" about Badlands Nat'l Park. Established in January 1939, Badlands is an enormous area marked by heavy erosion. Natural processes have uncovered and displayed a concentrated collection of rutted ravines, serrated towers, pinnacles, and precipitous gulches.

There were prairie dogs everywhere. Dana got a real kick out of them.

We were getting hungry by now and headed back into Wall to grab a bite to eat. Those homemade donuts sounded really good.

As we pulled up to the drugstore, I felt as if my life was complete.

Here's the story behind Wall Drug:

It is a sprawling shopping mall consisting of a drug store, gift shop, restaurants and various other stores. Unlike a traditional shopping mall, all the stores at Wall Drug operate under a single entity instead of being individually run stores.

The small town drugstore made its first step towards international fame when it was purchased by Ted Hustead in 1931. Hustead was a Nebraska native and pharmacist who was looking for a small town with a Catholic church in which to establish his business. He bought Wall Drug, located in a 231-person town in what he referred to as “the middle of nowhere”, and strove to make a living. Business was very slow until his wife, Dorothy, got the idea to advertise free ice water to parched travellers along the road. From that time on business was brisk. Wall Drug grew into an enormous cowboy-themed shopping mall/department store. Wall Drug includes a western art museum, a chapel based on the one found at New Melleray Abbey near Dubuque, Iowa, and an enormous 80 foot Apatosaurus that can be seen right off Interstate 90. It was designed by Emmet Sullivan who also created the dinosaurs at Dinosaur Park and Dinosaur World.

Wall Drug earns much of its fame from its self-promotion. Billboards advertising the establishment can be seen for hundreds of miles throughout South Dakota and the neighboring states. In addition, many visitors of Wall Drug have erected signs throughout the world announcing the miles to Wall Drug from famous locations. By 1981 Wall Drug was claiming it was giving away 20,000 cups of water per day during the peak tourist season, lasting from Memorial Day until Labor Day, and during the hottest days of the summer.

To date, Wall Drug still offers free ice water, but as they have become more popular, they have started to offer free bumper stickers, signs to aid in promotion, and coffee for 5 cents. One popular free bumper sticker reads “Where the heck is Wall Drug?”

Wall Drug has been featured in Time Magazine as one of the largest tourist attractions in the north. They have over 500 miles of bill boards on Interstate 90, stretching from Minnesota to Billings, Montana. Wall Drug spends an estimated $400,000 on bill board signs every year.

Wall Drug is a tourist trap, and it certainly trapped us.

Here's the map of Wall Drug:

They really do go overboard to make it the most interesting drug store the world has ever known.

And finally... the free ice water.

After about an hour, we headed out to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore. We had plans to get to Mt. Rushmore in time to see the nightly lighting ceremony. That will be in my next blog post, where I'll also explain this:

Road Trip, part 2

2010-08-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

Before I get into describing the rest of the road trip, I wanted to let you know that I posted the entire photo gallery online here.

When I left off at the end of the last recap, we were driving into Minnesota.

We stayed a week at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Cheryl's home in St. Paul, MN. They were incredible hosts who made us feel so welcome. I can't thank them enough. We had a lot of fun and want to go back next year.

Uncle Ron gave us an awesome FIVE HOUR (!) tour of the Twin Cities. The photo above is from the viewing platform of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, overlooking the Mississippi River. In the background behind Dana is the new I-35W bridge (now called the Saint Anthony Falls Bridge) at the site of the previous I-35W Mississippi River Bridge that collapsed in 2007.

The new I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge.

Ron took us to downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet (where we stopped for ice cream), MPR - where Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" is hosted, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Cathedral of St. Paul.

We were lucky to get our personal tour from Ron, since he's a professional tour guide for the Twin Cities. He knows a lot about the the history of the Twin Cities (for instance, when the city of St. Paul was coming into its own, it was known as "Pig's Eye". A local Catholic priest changed the name.).

The next day was Saturday, July 3, and we had the privilege of going to the Twins game at their new ballpark, Target Field, with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Cheryl, as well as our cousin Robb and his daughter Olyvia. They each have season tickets to the Twins, and they are diehard fans.

The Twins blew a lead as the Tampa Bay Rays hit a grand slam in the 8th inning to win the game, but we did get to witness Jim Thome's record breaking day as he hit two home runs to move into 10th on the all-time MLB career home run list with 574 home runs.

That day happened to be Dana's birthday, so I took her out for some dinner and, based on several friends' recommendations, the Grand Ole Creamery for dessert. The ice cream was incredible.

Fourth of July was a blast (no pun intended)! Our cousin Greg spent the day at the park reserving a space for the entire extended family, and we arrived at the park just as it got dark and had great seats for the fireworks.

On Monday, July 5th, we went to the Mall of America. It opened in 1992 and is still the largest mall in the U.S. To help explain the size of the mall, consider this: It has four floors packed with retail stores, dozens of large restaurants, and a theme park in the middle of it all.

On Tuesday, Cheryl took us to the Como Zoo. It's one of the few zoos in the country that is free to the public. It wasn't too big (the San Diego Zoo sky-bucket tram comes to mind), which led to it's charm. What I liked most about it was the selection of animals was the ones that I like to see most: gorillas, polar bears, lions, giraffes, etc. Don't get me wrong, moustached guenons (photo), axolotls, and Brazilian agoutis are fascinating, but more so for someone who has a full day to roam around a zoo. I prefer the "see as many cool animals as possible in the least amount of time" approach. So the Como Zoo works for me.

Oh, and the Como Zoo also has an amazing butterfly exhibit - a tent filled with thousands of butterflies that visitors can walk through.

We really found a way to cram a lot of sightseeing/touristy stuff into the week we had in Minnesota. Dana and I had an amazing time there, and we can't wait to visit again.

We left the next day and drove across Minnesota to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

I took this photo because it seemed so odd to me that it the sun was still up after 9pm. As a California kid, I wasn't used to that.

Coming soon: - Badlands, Black Hills, Bison, Bears,and Billboards.

To a Mouse

2010-08-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

Jill: I reserved a hotel room for us three weeks ago, but now the clerk says he has no record of our reservation. So much for our fun weekend in the city.

Jane: Well, these things happen. The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. I had all the arrangements made for my party, and then the guest of honor got sick and I had to call the whole thing off. The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft a-gley. If a little rain can ruin the best-laid plans of mice and men, think what an earthquake might do!

From Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse"

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray -- Sometimes even the best laid plans turn out to be just wishful thinking, no matter how well thought out they were. I'm getting nothing done this week.

I had plans to re-create a website for a local Christian greeting card company this week. I'm really anxious to get it finished, and I'm sure the customer is as well. My new computer arrived Monday, and though I knew it would take a few hours to re-install my necessary software (Office, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Filezilla, etc), I didn't expect it to take over two days - but it did, inexplicably.

Then yesterday I noticed that the email addresses for one of my newest web clients weren't being routed properly, so the client wasn't receiving emails from visitors. To make a long story short, the previous webmaster had set up the domain forwarding incorrectly, and in order to fix it, I had to reset some settings on the server. As a result the site would be down for 12-24 hours while the DNS propagated (sorry for the tech language).

Well, 24 hours later, the site was still down. I spent all day working on fixing it today. In the process, I've neglected my other web clients. I hate days like this. Hopefully tomorrow is better.

Road Trip, part 1A

2010-08-03T04:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the reason why this post isn't titled "Road Trip, Part 2" is because there is no Part 2 for me to post at the moment. All of my photos were on my desktop PC and that thing took a hard crash two weeks ago, taking my photos with it.

And since that's machine was my money maker, you can imagine where my focus has been the past two weeks as I struggled to piece all of my web clients' sites together using Dana's laptop PC. Truth be told, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be -- I had backups of nearly everything, and whatever I was missing was recovered via FTP.

I bought a new computer last week from Newegg, and the replacement money maker should be here sometime this week, complete with Windows 7. Yay.

The good news for you, dear readers, is that the photos are not lost. The hard drive from the broken computer is still good, and the original photos are still on the camera. So Part 2 is forthcoming. Stay thirsty, my friends.

Road Trip, part 1.

2010-07-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

I could make this the longest post ever, since we took almost 1000 photos on our road trip. Instead, I'll just pick out some fun ones and put the rest in a Picasa gallery.

In a nutshell, Dana and I spent 4 weeks on the road. We flew to L.A., back to Denver, then drove through Nebraska and Iowa into St. Paul, MN to spend some time with Dana's extended family. After a week there, we drove through South Dakota and Wyoming on the return trip back to Colorado Springs.

Here's a Google Map of where we went:

View Minnesota Trip. Summer 2010. in a larger map

Dana and I started our trip by flying to L.A. and spending some time with my family for 10 days. I loved nearly every minute of it (there was some business stuff I had to handle). There are times when I really miss spending quality time with my family and friends, so I cherish every minute of these trips back "home". Dana was able to take a weekend and go to Palm Springs with her good friend Emily to attend the Resolved Conference. We arrived in L.A. on June 19, just in time for Father's Day, and we flew back to Denver International Airport on June 29.

From Denver, we picked up our car and drove west through Nebraska. Nebraska was beautiful, if you like flat land and miles upon miles of corn. I didn't realize Nebraska had so many pine trees though. One thing that I found interesting is how Nebraskans have man-made lakes along the highways that they vacation to. To each his own, right?

We spent the first night in Lincoln, home of the University of Nebraska. Cool little college town.

This was just the start of a beautiful morning. After taking these photos at Memorial Stadium, we drove about an hour further to Omaha and visited my great aunt, Dianne. She treated us to breakfast and told us some wonderful family stories. She's so pleasant and kind. Dana and I thought she was a female version of Grandpa, and by saying that, it's a great compliment. We wished we could have stayed later, but we had a lot of miles to cover that day.

From Omaha we drove into Iowa, specifically into Des Moines, and then north to the Twin Cities. Iowa is very similar to Nebraska, except with more hills and windmills.

We drove past Forest City, Iowa, where my sister Bethany spent a year at Waldorf College. I don't mean to put Iowa down, but I can understand why a young lady from Los Angeles would be anxious to leave after a year in Iowa.

At least Forest City is manly. No sissy jokes allowed.

Did I mention there was corn in Iowa?

Stay tuned for Part 2: Minnesota!

A good quote I read today

2010-06-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

-- Abraham Lincoln.

In Remembrance of John Wooden

2010-06-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

William Shakespeare once wrote the following, which I think sums up John Wooden perfectly:

     His life was gentle; and the elements
     So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
     And say to all the world, THIS WAS A MAN!

About 8-10 years ago, when I was waiting tables at Marie Callender's in Northridge, Mr. Wooden was one of the regular customers. He would come in and eat at least every other week, sometimes every week, on (IIRC) Monday evenings. Usually sat in the same booth up front.

One of my favorite stories of that time happened right before Father's Day. We struck up a conversation and he asked about my dad -- I told him how my dad was a coach as well, mainly in soccer, but also baseball and basketball. He finished his dinner, and came back an hour later with a brand new basketball autographed and addressed to my dad. Mr. Wooden did that on his own for no reason other than he's a really nice and generous man.

One of the funnier things about it was that he also handed me the receipt for the ball. He had bought it across the street at the sporting goods store (when it was still Sportsmart), and told me (tongue-in-cheek)that if I didn't like it, I could return the ball. LOL. Yeah right.

iPhone Photo Collection

2010-03-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

I figured it's time to streamline my iPhone, so I am moving all of my photos to my PC. And it gave me an idea to put some of the more interesting ones on this blog. Maybe this will be a huge disappointment, but at least it's a desperately needed blog update.

Supermarkets in Colorado sell Broncos-themed cereal. Seriously.

Casa Bonita - words cannot explain the awesomeness of this restaurant.

Dana joking around on Halloween

Inside Co. Springs' Airplane Restaurant

The corner of our home office.

Go-Kart racing on my birthday.

My first time in below-zero weather.

Dana and I had the chance to meet Sarah Palin and her family during her book-signing tour at our local Borders bookstore.

Dana with my dad at Tito's (Culver City), and with my mom at Carney's (Studio City).

This past weekend we saw the theatrical version of Mary Poppins at the Denver Performing Arts Center. It's one of Dana's favorite movies, and the play didn't disappoint.

Introduction to Giant Schnauzers

2010-02-16T01:37:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I was hired to update, upgrade, and maintain the website for the Giant Schnauzer Club of America. For those of you who don't know what a giant schnauzer is, neither did I. I've learned it's a dog breed - think of a schnauzer, and then triple it's size.

Friday I went to the Rocky Mountain Cluster Dog Show at the National Western Stock Show Complex in Denver. Prior to this, the only knowledge I had about dog shows was from watching Best in Show and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's annual visits to the Westminster Dog Show.

When I arrived at the show, I met Bill, the membership chairman for the Giant Schnauzer Club of America, who graciously gave me a tour of the dog show. Around mid-day, I saw the judging of the giant schnauzers, which people in-the-know refer to as "giants". I was really impressed with them -- each of the dogs seemed very playful, yet when it came time for judging they were all business.

Here are some photos and possibly a video from the day if I can get it to work.

Agility Competition

Poodles being groomed. BEFORE

AFTER

I just thought this was funny.

Juniors' Competition. Basically kids showing their dogs to judges. My favorite part of the show.

Another photo from the Juniors' Competition.

Golden retrievers

A mastiff getting familiar with an uncomfortable bulldog.

More of the Same

2010-01-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

Been kinda slow here the past month. And sometimes that is the best news possible. It allows us to get better situated in our home, get some overdue tasks out of the way.

I don't have much to write, but I really want to keep this blog up, so here's what popped into my head as I was writing this:

I gotta do my taxes, but for the first time ever, I think I'm gonna have a professional do them. I think with the move, buying a home, and various jobs that it could get overwhelming and a hiing someone else is a good idea.
I'm so thankful for my wife, for endless reasons. She just brought me some sliced pears to munch on. Awesome.
I just finished Assassin's Creed 2. Awesome game. Thanks to Newell and Karen for a fun Christmas gift.
Despite all the rain that L.A. had the past week, none of that made it's way to the Springs. We had clear skies the whole time.
Dana's family is coming over for Superbowl. I like the Colts and Saints, so I'm impartial. I do think the Saints will win though, because they have a better defense.
I'm enjoying studying Daniel at church. Learning a lot about true faith in God.
My folks *might* be visiting us in mid-March during Dana's Spring Break. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I'm working on my own on a website now for company that sells personalized Christian greeting cards. Visitors to the site can actually sign their name using their mouse and the company will print the card with the signature and handle the postage as well. I think it's a handy idea, but it's a lot of work. Shopping Carts are not the easiest thing to create.
The florescent light fixture in our kitchen is broken. I'm no electrician, but I tried fix it. Worked great for about a week, and now it's broken again. I think it has a bad ballast.
Another reason why I love my wife: For my birthday back in December, Dana signed me up for Center Ice, which is a TV package where I get to see every NHL hockey game live on TV. It's necessary to see my L.A. Kings play since Fox Sports West blacks out out-of-market games. I LOVE being able to watch the games... can't stress it enough. I get to see not only the L.A. feed, but also the opponents' broadcast teams as well. Funny thing is that sometimes the Kings don't broadcast the game locally in L.A., so my friends and family back home can;t watch the game while I can. Go figure. Anyway, Kings have won 6 of their last 7 games, with the only loss in a close one to the first place Sharks. I can't wait to see some playoff hockey this year.
Speaking of hockey, Dana's Teacher's Assistant, Colleen, invited us to an Air Force hockey game with her and her husband. That was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing more games there.Some photos I took at the game:

AF beat UConn 2-1.

The adjacent indoor practice track facility. Check out the motivational words on the wall. Let there be no doubt who the Air Force's biggest rival is.

Christmas Plans

2009-12-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

Dana finished her fall teaching semester yesterday, so we are packing up now, getting ready to visit family for Christmas.

First, we're going to Denver today to see Dana's family and celebrate Christmas with them. Her Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jerry are visiting from Minneapolis, so it will be a crowded house... which I assure you from Christmases past makes the holiday so much better.

Monday we fly out of DIA to LAX. We're spending 8 days in L.A. with my side of the family (12/21-12/29). Dana is really excited to see everyone, considering she wasn't able to join me on the business trip on October. In fact, she's been counting down the days, which I think is really sweet of her.

Dana and I opened our stockings to each other yesterday, since we could probably use some of the gifts to pack up for our trip. She gave me the Blu-Ray version of Taken. I haven't seen that movie yet, but I've been wanting to. It always seems to be delayed on Netflix. I also got some awesome gel pens and stuff for my office.

We just finished mailing our Christmas cards. I tried to mail them out to everyone who gave me their address. If you didn't get one, here is a digital copy:

It says "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Stay warm this Christmas! Aaron and Dana DeVandry"

The photo was taken during the first snowfall of the season, which essentially is the first snow we've experienced at our new home. If you look closely, you can see snow falling. In hindsight, I'm glad I wore a big dark jacket to contrast against the snowflakes, or else people would be wondering why we're standing outside in front of a white fence with nothing going on.

What do Princess Leia and a gorilla have in common?

2009-11-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Nothing, except they are what Dana and I chose to dress up as on Halloween.

While we may have had an inch or two of snow in the Springs on Halloween, Denver got dumped on. At least two feet of snow. Haha!

It's Like Christmas Morning!

2009-10-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

Dana and I bought a Weber grill the other day at Target. Today I opened the box to assemble it and grill up some chicken, and inside the box were several Blu-Ray movies! Kill Bill 2, the Ultimate Matrix Collection boxed set, season four of Battlestar Galactica, and two copies of Goodfellas! All are brand new with the plastic wrap on them. The grill seemed to be packaged normally, not like it was previously opened. This is so weird.

My week in L.A.

2009-10-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

I found some great airfare tickets for a roundtrip flight from Denver to LAX, so I took a week and flew "home" to visit my friends and family... and to get a little bit of work done.

Unfortunately, Dana wasn't able to accompany me, since she has a normal job (elementary school teacher) that requires her to actually be present, while my job can be done from just about anywhere, even on an airplane. "Web developer" for the win.

The plan was to fly in early Saturday morning, Oct.3, just in time for the Granada Hills Street Faire, and return on Friday, Oct. 10. Since the return flight was scheduled to arrive around noon at Denver International Airport, Dana wouldn't be available to pick me up at the airport, resulting in the need to drive and leave a car at the airport parking lot... or so it seemed. I'm not the type to pay $15/day for the cheapest parking at D.I.A. I figured out that it was cheaper for me to stay at the Airport Courtyard Marriott on Friday night, use the free Marriott shuttle service to get to the airport for my 6am flight, and leave my car in their free parking spot for the entire week. I'm so crafty at times.

The flight was a breeze, about two hours long. I learned that it takes less than 10 minutes for a plane to fly from DIA to the Continental Divide (Rocky Mountains). Seriously, I recorded it.

They served some airplane-shaped graham crackers, which they called "Plane Cookies" - of which I joked with the flight attendant that there was nothing "plain" about them. That quip earned me an extra bag of Plane Cookies. Score!

It would be an understatement for me to say that I was excited to arrive in L.A. I had been counting down the days. To make it even better, my dad was picking me up at the airport. Other than Dana, my dad is the closest person in the world to me. All my bags were carry-ons so I was able to run directly from the gate to the curb and see him there. We had a nice chat on the drive back to Granada Hills, catching up on what I've been missing since the move. I managed to avoid the giant Station wildfire, which was refreshing. It was just really cool to catch up with Dad. What a great start to the week!

We went over to the Street Faire, and I saw my mom there volunteering at the GHNNC booth as always. There was a big crowd around, but she stopped in the middle of her outreach discussion and gave me a big welcome hug. It was great. I really felt at home.

I spent several hours at the Street Faire, taking photos for the GHNNC and GHSNC websites. If you are interested, you can see the photos here or here.

That night (Sat.) I went to my best bud Steve's birthday party. His birthday was actually two weeks earlier, but I think he scheduled the party later so I could be there. That's how cool he is.

The next day I visited Grace Community Church and saw some friends and familiar faces. Turns out, Compelled is no more. Now it's a part of Crossroads and known as the 101. I wish them all the best.

That afternoon, my grandparents, uncle, and future aunt visited. We watched some baseball playoff games on TV and caught up over dinner. I really missed them and it was a treat to see them all.

Later that night, I went over to Steve's house and played multiple games of Cities and Knights of Catan. Though I can not verify this, rest assured I destroyed Stevo in every game we played that night.

Here's Stevo, right before getting annhilated in Catan :-)

I spent Monday working with my dad at the shop, doing some basic maintenance on the server and workstations there. Boring updates, cleaning out viruses, the usual.

Yay, rootkit errors!

That night he and I went to the GHNNC monthly board meeting. Can you believe the Metropolitan Water District wants to put their sludge over the youth soccer and baseball fields in Granada Hills and kick out the thousands of kids who play there? There's gonna be a major fight in the near future. I'm sure this is not the last you hear of it.

Tuesday was one of those days that could best be described as perfect. I had lunch with my parents at the new Bob's Big Boy in Northridge (the Big Boy combo is just as good as it was when I was young and Bob's was a common family outing.)

That night, I went to the Universal Amphitheater to see PEARL JAM! My favorite band throughout my teen years, and I finally had the opportunity to see them live. They were incredible! Ben Harper opened for them, and now I know why so many people have been raving about him to me lately. If you want to see one of the most gifted young guitarists around today, catch a Ben Harper concert. It will blow you away. Pearl Jam followed his act up with a set of at least 30 songs. I kept waiting for them to play Alive, when the final song of their encore, Chris Cornell and Jerry Cantrell walk out on the stage (Temple of the Dog re-united) and they jammed to Alive. I recorded it, but the mic on the iPhone wasn't built to handle that much awesomeness. So try to ignore the buzzing if you can. Check out Eddie Vedder running and jumping off the monitor at the end.

Here's someone else's video of the same song in case you are interested.

I rested a little on Wednesday, stayed home with family that night. That's it. Nothing else to say about Wednesday.

Thursday I worked again at the shop. Dana sent me a text message with a photo of SNOW at our home in the Springs! It's gonna be a long winter this year.

That night my parents took me to Staples Center for a Kings game! (Best parents ever!) The Kings stomped all over the Minnesota Wild, continuing my streak to 9 straight wins when I am there.

The next day, Dad and I stopped for lunch at Tito's Tacos on our way to LAX. Mmmmm.

It was a bittersweet farewell. I was excited to get back home to Dana, but I really wanted to stay longer with my family. And wouldn't you know it? My Southwest flight was delayed several hours. They even had to bring a plane from Burbank to LAX for us. I really COULD have spent more time with family.

Labor Day Weekend Photo Roundup

2009-09-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

We are quickly learning that Colorado Springs is anything but boring. This past weekend, Labor Day weekend, is proof of that.

The short version: Saturday we went to the Colorado State Fair, in Pueblo (about a half hour south of the Springs), to see the Demolition Derby. Sunday we went to the park to see the hot air balloon show, and Monday we watched the balloons fly away, then played Mexican Train dominoes with friends Aaron and Emily Otten to close out the holiday weekend.

Who knew that a State Fair would have... pole vaulting? Or even better, pole vaulting from a guy in a Tarzan costume? These guys and gals were really good.

False advertising. There was no Great White shark here. Just plastic ones.

Dana's a trooper for hopping in the cage for this photo op.

In case you were wondering where the bacon was from:

... or a T-Bone steak.

Could you imagine California encouraging kids to use guns? lol

I wanted to try this bow & arrow exhibit out, but the line was incredibly long.

This was the biggest rooster I have ever seen. It won first prize overall at the Fair... and it was for sale. That's gotta be frustrating.

If you thought the prize winning bird for sale was surprising, this will blow you away. A Raiders memorabilia tent in Broncos country. I was shocked that it wasn't engulfed in flames.

Check out the sign next to the fountain. Haha. Welcome to Colorado.

You'd think these people had never seen California sea lions before. Either that or we were spoiled seeing them often in California.

This was a pretty good band. We had a picnic on the lawn here before the big Demolition Derby began.

In our seats. Back row. Better than nothing. We moved up later on in the evening to the front.

I snapped a photo of the Midway behind us.

And here we go. This was the very beginning of heat #1.

They had two giant forklifts to remove the cars. In hindsight, they should have had more than two, because it took a long time to remove the disabled cars between each heat.

Heat #3. The last 3 or 4 cars from each heat moved on to the finale, where it was winner take all.

This car got flipped on it's side by a nasty hit. The driver pushed it back onto the tires, and the crowd cheered to let him continue racing. The crowd won of course.

The start of the mini battle. The car that won had a tail and a snout, and was painted like Scooby-Doo. It reminded me more of the Shaggin Wagon.

My favorite part of the night: the TRUCKS! There were three Suburbans in this battle, and they had a distinct advantage. Not sure how fair that was for the other trucks.

The finale! My favorite car (red station wagon #68) got 2nd place and lost to a yellow station wagon (#45) who wasn't hitting anyone until the end. Weak.

We had this custom sign made at the Fair. The sign is going on our guest room door. I miss my grandparents a lot. Hoping they can visit us sooner than later. (Funny note about this sign: When we went to pick it up originally, it said "Grandma & Grandma's Room" -- Good thing I caught that. It was subtle, but horrifying. They fixed it, thankfully.

Saturday night we went to Memorial Park, near Downtown Colorado Springs. This weekend was the annual Colorado Balloon Classic, and every night of the event, the balloons are inflated and glow bright in the dark (weather permitting).

Unfortunately, "weather permitting" caused the cancellation of the Balloon Glo® show that night since there was lightning in the area.

Kelly and Tyler climbed inside a human hamster wheel and rolled it around for a while.

The next morning (Monday) we got up early and headed out to Memorial Park again, and saw this on the drive over:

Some of the balloons were already up in the air, tethered, and ready to float away.

These were spread out all over town, even in shopping centers.

This was about 7:30am. The moon is still out, and you can see Pike's Peak in the background on the right.

Broncos vs Cardinals, 9/3/09

2009-09-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to see the Broncos play, and was able to get some great prices on a pair of tickets from Travelzoo, so Dana and I went to the game tonight vs the Arizona Cardinals. It was a preseason game, so the starters only played for the first quarter of the game, but since the rest of the players are still battling it out to keep their NFL careers alive, there were a lot of big hits and acrobatic plays.
Broncos won 19-0.

My new job

2009-09-02T19:51:00.002-07:00

I've been at this job for two days and I figured it's about time I write about it, since everybody keeps asking. It's a large web company that sells customer service, tech support, provides online video gaming. For legal reasons the company discourages people from blogging, tweeting, or generally writing about them, so I will try to refrain from naming the company, but you might be able to deduce it from a photo or two below. That's acceptable, right?

There are only a handful of tall buildings in Colorado Springs. I can count them on one hand. I work on the top floor of one of them. (As always, click on the photos below for a larger version)

The brick building, second from the right, with the single horizontal line of black windows across the top floor is my building, and I work on that floor.

This view is looking east toward the building, and I work on the south side of it.
Doing a little bit of research, I've learned that it's called the Alamo Corporate Center.

The view from my desk. That's Cheyenne Mountain in the background, where NORAD is located. It's a military base INSIDE the mountain.

Wells Fargo Tower, the tallest building in Colorado Springs. I'm a little bummed at the location of Wells Fargo Tower in relation to my office, because it totally blocks what would be a stunning view of Pike's Peak.

FirstBank Building

I'm not sure what this building is, but I think it has something to do with the U.S. Olympic Committee. It's right across the street, and almost completely built.

Looking north up Tejon Street.

My desk. I need to spruce it up.

No one works in this cubicle next to me... hmmm... I need to get on that.

...

And for those of you who were shocked to hear that the smoke from the L.A. fires made its way to Colorado Springs...

First time at Coors Field, Denver

2009-08-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

Photos from the 8/26 game. I had a blast. The stadium is very picturesque, though there is no cell connection at all inside it.

Click each photo for a larger version.

And take a look at these Rockies fans who can't take the heat of a 6-1 loss. Leaving early - Tsk, tsk.

Hitchin' a Ride

2009-08-26T23:46:00.000-07:00

I was driving up to Denver today to catch the Dodgers playing at Coors Field vs the Rockies (L.A. won 6-1 by the way), and I snapped these photos. Yes, I was driving at the time, but there was no one around, and I was being careful.

To make a long story short, this grasshopper was on the windshield when I left the hotel parking lot, and it literally stayed in nearly the same spot on the windshield for a good 40 minutes. At 70 mph. Simply amazing.

...but not quite as amazing as the clouds in the photos, the likes of which I get to experience almost daily here.

Click the photos for the larger versions.

Our New Home (Hopefully)

2009-08-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

If all goes well, we'll be moving into this baby on Friday, September 11. Sure, the date is historically awkward, but it's a Friday, giving us the entire weekend to move in.

That white door right in the middle of the photo is our front door.

Hillsboro at Springs Ranch

No more Ralph's or Vons Supermarkets

2009-08-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Now we have KING SOOPERS!

Check out my brand new rewards card.

Photo Round-up

2009-08-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I finally got around to sorting through all the photos I've taken since we left LA on July 22. I'm gonna post them here chronologically and try to piece our journey together.

My best buddy, Steve, and his wonderful wife, Denise, traveled with us on the drive to CO. We were taking both of our cars, so it helped to have some company. Steve rode with me the whole time and the girls rode together the entire trip as well.

Here is Dana with Denise and Steve inside the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas.

So we went the northern route mainly because it's a few hours shorter, but also because it's much easier to navigate that route in the summer without the snow. We took the 210 and 15 freeways to Vegas and stayed there for the first night at the Golden Nugget. The four of us got some great front-row seats to see the Blue Man Group at the Venetian, and had a blast. Steve was actually a part of the show, as one of the Blue Men put a camera down his throat (much cooler than it sounds) during the show, not to mention Stevo got a standing ovation from the crowd before the show even started just for being a normal guy. (They just thought he was normal, but I know better.) We also dominated at the Golden Nugget's $3 blackjack tables. If you've never been to the Golden Nugget, it's in the old part of Vegas, and it has this incredible pool where you can ride a waterslide through a shark tank.

The next day was the longest section of the drive. We drove across Nevada, then across Utah, into Colorado where we stayed in Grand Junction.

Southern Utah has got to be the most rural place in the continental United States. We would drive for miles and not see anyone, not even a car on the road. In fact, I could count on one hand the number of towns along the entire trip across the state. This leads me to believe that it's also the most under-rated place in America. Utah was beautiful! Dana and I visited the Grand Canyon back in March during Spring Training, and there were areas of Utah that rivaled the Grand Canyon. We drove along Interstate 70 through St. George and past Moab. The following photos are my feeble attempt to show you what we saw. God is an incredible artist.

Eventually we made it to Colorado. (Yay!) We stayed that night in Grand Junction. Funny anecdote: Dana and I were taking the elevator to our room when the power in the town went out. The elevator dropped a few feet and let me tell you... that is a scary situation. We waited around for about 10 minutes before the Fire Department showed up and freed us. I remember hearing someone shouting down to us from above inside the elevator shaft, asking if we were okay. Of course we said we were okay, but I get a little claustrophobic at times, so I was glad to get out when we did. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

The next day we drove from Grand Junction, into Denver, and then south to Colorado Springs. Along the way, we drove through the Rocky Mountains, where I shot this beautiful photo outside of Vail. Click the photo for a larger version.

We started looking for houses right away. It helped to have the House Hunter himself helping us out.

I took this photo in the basement of one of the homes. It's nice to see a family where Christ is the focus. (Click to see a larger version):

We spent the remainder of the weekend sightseeing around the Springs. (We quickly found out that locals don't refer to this city as Colorado Springs. It's simply the Springs.) We went on a tour of the Garden of the Gods, and also strolled around the Air Force Academy.

It was tough driving our friends back to the airport. I wish they could have stayed permanently, but we look forward to seeing them again soon. One of the quirky things about DIA (Denver International Airport) is the crazy fiberglass bronco that greets people. It's this giant, blue, anatomically correct mustang with bulging ribs and glowing red eyes. It's only been there for a year-and-a-half, and there's already a Facebook petition with almost 1300 people hoping to get rid of it.

The harbinger of death welcomes you to Denver. Have a nice stay.

We've had a blast hanging out with Dana's sister, Kelly, and her family. I have a feeling they will show up a lot in the future of this blog. For now, here I am rocking out with Chris (on drums) and Tyler (center) on Guitar Hero.

Last week we went to the local ballpark to see the SkySox play. They are the AAA-affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. I couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day. It was a double-header AND we had an awesome fireworks show after. Chris and Tyler drove down from Denver to catch the game with us, and we also sat with Aaron and Emily Otten (some of you may remember her as Emily Hollon from before she married). We've been going to their church since we moved here and really like it.

And finally... our POD. It arrived in one piece, and surprisingly, everything was pretty much in the same position it was when it left our former home in L.A. I was really worried about that, so this totally made my day.

Everything we own in this one box

2009-07-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

The POD as it arrived on Friday morning (7/17).

... And the POD as we finished packing it up on Sunday (7/19).

The POD left today en route to Colorado Springs. We'll see it in a few days.

We're leaving Wednesday morning. It's coming up so soon.

Kite Attempt

2009-07-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

It was windy, and we thought we'd try to get the kite flying. Video to be posted shortly, as soon as I find the firewire cable for the camcorder (I think it may be packed up in a box for the move).