Long Lost Friends mega post

I was going through our iPhoto library and I found a bunch of "long lost friends" photos. So here is a mega post with some friends I have run into over the past couple of years. They are in chronological order of when I originally met the person (i.e., I met Jon Shill in elementary school):

Jon Shill is flying Predator drones in Iraq via remote control from his base in Las Vegas. That is the way to fight in a war. Picture take in Jon's boyhood home (now Shandon's home).

Russel Trapnell is a glutton for punshiment. After finishing his MBA he went to dental school. Now he is the fifth of five sons in his family to enter Orthodontic school. He'll exit with great teeth and a license to print money.

Mark Truman, Me, Nate Woolf, and Nigel Miller freshmen year at the Morris Center getting scones on a Saturday morning.

Twelve years later, Mark (dentist), Me, and Nigel (engineer) at Nate's long overdue wedding reception:

Aaron Desmond. My longest and favorite missionary companion. I think we lived and served together for a total of 10 months. After an illustrious career in the jewelry business, he now remodels temples around the world:


Stephenie Meyer (of Twilight fame). OK, I'm cheating here, Stephenie is really Becky's long lost friend. I'm friends with Stephanie's husband Pancho. I need to find and scan an old picture of when Stephenie took Becky out for her birthday and dressed her up like Cinderella.

Before moving to Charlotte, NC my old MBA racquetball nemesis, Jonathan Francom was a frequent visitor in our home:

MBA buddies, Jared Sorenson & Jeremiah Grant at my house.

Old Spice

Check out the commercials my brother Jason made with Will Ferrell for Old Spice.

Houston we have a toothbrush problem...

Observations on family life:

With a one-year-old toothpaste eater in the house, I thought it was time to revisit the dental hygiene issue in our home...

Seven people live in my house. Six of whom brush their teeth with some degree of regularity. I counted 12 tubes of toothpaste and over 30 toothbrushes.

Better than Botox

This amazing product not only makes 70-year-old woman look like they are in their 20's -- it also appears to cover up the affects of domestic violence:

Deceptive Packaging

I love Andes mints as much as the next guy, but I HATE wasteful, deceptive packaging:

The extra half inch of packaging on the top and bottom serve no justifiable reason that I can think of. When unopened, the wrapping surreptitiously conceals this dead space.

Here is a package of black licorice from Trader Joe's:

Notice how far my fingers go into the pointless pyramid at the bottom of the package.

Consumer Reports has a running feature (I think it's called "The Black Hole") on deceptive packaging like this.

Drives me crazy.

Motorhead Messiah

Becky's comment in the prior post is about this guy, Johnathan Goodwin:
He was the cover story in the November 2007 issue of Fastcompany and was also covered by NPR.

He converts large SUVs to hydrogen injected bio-desiels and other unconventional engines -- like a turbine powered hybrid -- giving them 2x the the horsepower and up to 6x the gas mileage.

Whenever I pull into a gas station with my Prius (two times a month, $20 a pop) I inevitably pull next to a guy driving something like this:

I figure they pay the logical consequence for their aerodynamic idiocy at the pump.

My co-worker tells me that between his regular F-150 and his wife's Tahoe they spend $300 a month on gas. That is in addition to their car payments.

Our next family car...

Becky is currently driving a very functional Honda Odyssey that has served us reliably for several years.

It is a seven passenger so we totally fill it up. It gets RIDICULOUS when we go on vacations.

I don’t know what to get her next. She thinks a Suburban is too big. I say heck with that -- we need to return to our roots: a Ford Econoline!

Happy Birthday Sam

Five fun-filled years with Sam

Automotive History

A time line of cars I have driven...

High School: Chevy Cavalier coupe. It was a four-banger, but was so light that it was still pretty spunky. The one I drove was tan with vinyl seats that would burn your skin in the summer.
Incidentally, if you are going to get a tattoo, don't get one of a Chevy Cavalier:
High School: For some reason dad sold the Cavalier and I started driving my mom's hand-me-down white Oldsmobile DIESEL that looked something like this. Needless to say, I didn't win any friends based on how cool my car was. Did I mention that it shook violently and stunk of diesel fuel?
Post-mission: Another babe magnet car. It is a wonder I ever got married. This was also a hand-me-down car from mom. I can't remember if I also briefly shared the Apex Megadominion Pearl Destroyer with Jason, but if not the car we did share looked a lot like the Pearl Destroyer.
Married life: 1995 Nissan Altima, shown here in our NJ driveway. This was the first car I had a direct hand in selecting (note the shift from GM products to Japanese cars).
The Altima served us well for 11 years until the engine died and it was deemed to be worth around $250. I figure it was fully amortized by that point.

2002 Honda Accord: A great car. V6, power everything. Regrettably it was black. Never buy a black car in AZ.
2002 Toyota Prius: This was one of my "Oops! I accidentally bought two cars on eBay" Priuses. I only owned it for about 6 weeks.
2005 Toyota Prius: More on this car in a future post. I love it!

P.S. Check out my friend Danny's post on the same subject. He is unrivaled in both quantity and diversity of cars!

Brown baggin' it

As part of my 2008 fiscal responsibilities goal…

I am proud to announce that I brought my lunch from home everyday in January!