Sunday, December 21, 2008

"SNOW-MAGEDDON" or "SNOW-POKALYPSE II: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO"


Well it wasn't just us this time, Portland, Seattle and a lot of places in the Pac NW got hit too. You may remember at the start of 2008 Spokane got hit pretty hard and we dubbed it "Snow-pokalypse" around the newsroom. What's funny is we actually started referring to that event by that name on air when this latest storm hit. We even started asking viewers what we should call this new storm, one person suggested "SnObama".

The snow really started coming down Wednesday and didn't stop until Thursday night. Here's a picture of my grill in the backyard Friday morning.


I was able to get to work on Wednesday no problem, but got stuck coming home at midnight about 50 feet from the driveway. A co-worker and two neighbors who were outside helped me get the car unstuck. I had chains on but I still got stuck. The car stayed in the garage until Saturday. Here's what the road looked like before they plowed.


I got a ride in on Thursday morning and was told to take a news 4x4 rig home Thursday night. So driving in on Friday morning was no problem. It snowed again today, it's snowing now actually and is supposed to snow all week. I'm working dayside this week so getting to work will be interesting. Here's what the back yard looked like tonight.


I was helping out by shooting last week so I was running around shooting car slide offs, stuck semi's and setting up live shots.


Elliott loved it it was her own winter wonderland. She had a blast playing in the snow and making snow angels.






Now for media geek stuff. The trailer for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" came out this week, and it looks like it's going to kick butt. I think it's actually going to be better than any of the X-Men movies. Please to enjoy. Click here to see the trailer.

Later,
CS

Sunday, December 07, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We bought or Christmas tree today. It's the first one that we've had since before Elliott was born. Elliott watched as Morgan hung the lights.


Elliott really liked hanging the ornaments on the tree. She did a pretty good job too.


Well here's the final product. I think it turned out pretty good.


We all had a lot of fun and it was neat to christen our new home for the holidays by putting up our decorations. I love my girls.

Before I go I'll leave you with some more media geeky goodness again from those fellers over at funnyordie.com. This one actually has a message. Jack Black and a bunch of other famous people got together to speak out, in musical form, about the passing of Proposition 8 in California. Unfortunately it was conceived about 6 weeks too late. Please to enjoy.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die


Later,
CS

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

History, Dragons & Turning 3

Well that's pretty cool huh?


Yep It's about time we got some historical moments that didn't just suck. It seems like the majority of them in my lifetime, with the exception of the Berlin wall coming down, have been terrible moments in history. For example Watergate, the death of Elvis, the eruption of Mount St. Helen's, the death of John Lennon, Chernobyl, Iran/Contra, Libya, Desert Storm (twice), 9-11 and HAVING THE WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE PAST EIGHT YEARS!

Listening to President Elect Obama speak in Chicago last night gave me hope for this country and for my daughter's future. Now I just hope he can fix relations with Russia which Bush just launched into the crapper.

I should have been at the station last night working on election coverage but I missed out. I've been sick since Sunday and the Doc said I was contagious so I was forbidden to come into work. My boss didn't want me infecting the whole news room and getting everybody sick while we are in sweeps. So I stayed home and watched election coverage with Morgan and Elliott.

I know I said in my last post that it wasn't going to be long until I put up a new post, I lied. Sorry but I've been obsessed with taking inventory of my comic books with this new software that I got called Collectorz.com Comic Collectors 4.2

I have 3,332 comics. I'm a huge geek.

Elliott wanted to be a dragon for Halloween so Morgan made her this costume

It turned out really good huh?


Elliott really liked it and got tons of complements when she was out trick or treating. This was the first year that we took her and she couldn't wait. She was talking about it for weeks before Halloween rolled around.

Elliott's 3rd Birthday was on the 12th and we took her to the pumpkin patch because she loved it so much last year. She actually got on a pony and went for a ride, no way she would have done that last year. Heck she wouldn't even get on the carousel horse this summer.

After the pony ride Ella went over to the pumpkin patch and picked out her pumpkins. she had just as much fun as last year.




After the pumpkin patch we came back home and Jon and Jane came over for cake and to open presents, just like they have for all of her birthdays.


This was the first year that Elliott got a full sized cake, she just got cupcakes for her first two birthdays. This was also the first birthday that she sat in a regular sized chair at the table and not her high chair.


Morgan's sister Katy got Elliott these Oregon State Beavers pajamas. She loved them, as soon as Jon and Jane left, (Jon's a Ducks fan) she stripped off her clothes and put then on. She thought the beaver was a raccoon at first.


As I recently posted, we just bought a house about two months ago, and we're slowly but surely getting settled in so I decided to post some more pictures.


Here's our living room. I really like the big picture window and the hardwood floors, Elliott likes me to slide her around on the floor when she doesn't have her shoes on.


Here's Elliott's room, she loves it. It was already painted pink when we moved in.


She's got quite the Cat in the Hat/Dr. Seuss theme going on.


I love that we have both a deck and a patio. Also the back yard is pretty big.


I'll post some more later.

I'll leave you all with some Geeky Goodness. Do you ever wish those pesky 80's music videos would have just sung about all the crazy stuff that was actually going on in the video itself? No? Well neither have I, but somebody did and they re-dubbed a literal translation over the Tears for Fears video "Head over heals". Please to enjoy.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die


Later,
CS

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Yesterday started out so nice

Saturday we ran our regular weekly errands and did our shopping for the week. After we were done at Costco we noticed that they were giving hay rides at the place next to the Costco gas pumps. It was the Grand Opening of their new facility. Morgan remembered that they were having a petting zoo so we stopped by. Elliott really like that petting zoo. She feed a lama, pet a duck and brushed a pony.


Last year at this time she wouldn't have even had attempted to pet a pony. She would just wave an say "bye bye, bye bye". She even wanted to go in the pen with the draft horses that were like 8 feet tall. She's gotten really brave around farm animals now.

When we got home I was unloading the groceries in the garage and Morgan was getting Elliott some crackers with peanut butter on them for a snack. Elliott was in the living room by herself with the baby gates up when Morgan heard a thud, then Ella started crying. When Morgan got to the living room Elliott was running towards her just bawling. I came into the living room and saw there was blood, lots of blood. Elliott fell (we have no idea onto what, and she won't tell us) and busted her chin open. Morgan got the bleeding to stop and we all got in the car and went to the hospital just to be safe. As it turns out she needed stitches. Elliott's never really been hurt before. Not really, she's had scrapes and bruises and cuts, but nothing ever hospital worthy.


The people at the hospital were great and got her right into a room minutes after we walked through the door. Elliott was not happy. When they were washing of her chin with the saline solution and putting on the topical numbing medicine she cried and cried and then started saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sooo sorry mommy", my heart felt like it was going to break. Here's a picture of after they cleaned her up.

You can make out the blood stains on Morgan and Elliott's shirts.

When it came time to actually give her stitches I was banished from the room by Morgan because she knew it was going to be hell for me to see Elliott like that. Kids that age don't understand, "now hold still while I stitch your chin back together.", so they have to be held down by several people while some one sticks a needle in them then starts sewing them up with another needle and a thread. It's terrifying for a toddler. I could hear everything down the hall, no matter how muffled and my heart was breaking all over again. Finally after what seemed like forever they were down and Elliott had 4 stitches.

Thank God it wasn't anything more serious. I barley got through a minor cut on her chin getting patched up. I couldn't imagine if anything really bad happened. Actually I can and it wouldn't be good....I'd loose it.

Well today was Elliott's birthday and it went much better than yesterday. My little girl is now 3-years-old, I can't believe it. I'll post birthday pictures when I get them transferred over to the computer.

Later (but not much)
CS

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Home Sweet Home



Well I said that I should have an announcement to make this week and here it is, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! That's right I'm now a homeowner, complete with property taxes and mortgage payments.



We really like it. It has a huge backyard for Elliott to play in.

've got a lot of unpacking to do so I'm just going to leave you a flyer right now with the deets on the house. I've been moving for three days and every part of my body hurts and I'm exhausted.



Later,
CS

Monday, September 01, 2008

Lil' Dark Knight

Happy Labor Day everybody. Quick update on the little boy who got hit (run over) by the car in front of our place. He's going to be Okay. I talked to his mom and he's got 6 broken ribs and had a lacerated kidney, but she said he's doing really well and is going to alright.

Well here it is labor day and I'm just getting ready to start my work day (I'm the only one here. Yay to me and here's to working on a holiday.) I should have some pretty exciting news either tomorrow or Wednesday, so stay posted.

I found this video while surfing around a few weeks ago. It's a shot by shot remake of the Dark Knight Trailer using little kid actors, aw so precious.



Take care polar bear,
CS

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Tonight I almost had a heart attack

Well not really but it's the most scared that I've ever been while doing my job. I've mentioned in previous posts that part of my job is to listen to the scanners to monitor for accidents, fires, and police activity. Well tonight just after the 6 o'clock news the scanners started going nuts by chirping out digital tones. That means a fire response and the more tones means the more urgent the call. After the tones the dispatcher came on and started deploying several fire trucks and an ambulance to my street right in front of my house for a report of an "auto pedestrian, child hit by a vehicle". My head snapped towards the the scanners and I stopped dead in my tracks. I reached for my cell phone and it started to ring, the caller ID showed it was Morgan. I started to panic as I flipped open the phone.

Me: "Are you Okay?!! Is Elliott Okay?!! Was it her?!!"

Morgan: (voice shaking) "We're fine! It wasn't her, it was the little boy across the street."

He was riding his big wheel across the street when he got hit by a car. He wasn't wearing a helmet and took a bumper to the head and was knocked to the ground. He was floating in and out of consciousness after it happened and when they took him to the hospital. I called dispatch later and they told me that he was conscious and crying when he arrived at the hospital, so hopefully he's going to be okay. I have to imagine that the woman who hit him wasn't going that fast because it's a residential street and she had a kid in the car with her. Plus it looked like she just turned onto the street when it happened.

Morgan made the 911 call, so that was her call that I heard the dispatcher reporting, and she immediately called me because she knew there was an excellent chance that I would hear it on the scanner and freak out. Which I did. It is one of my greatest fears that I'm going to be up here and hear something happen to Morgan or Elliott. I try not to think about it or it would drive me nuts. Morgan said that she gave Elliott an extra big hug from me tonight before she put her to bed.

I'm glad it looks like the little boy will be Okay. I'll keep you updated when I find out his condition.

I'm still coming down from all of the adrenaline.

Later,
CS

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Vacation round up #5: Last one. The Best Damn Sandwich in The World


Back in the year 2000 I was living on Kearney street in between NW 22nd and 21st. In the spring of that year a sandwich shop opened up next door and it's still there today, It's called Tribute's. It was originally called Richie B's but the name changed in 2001 (before 911, it's kinda of a long story and I'm not going to get into it), but it still has the same owner and all the same recipes.

I was one of the first, if not the very first customer the day the placed opened, I'd been walking by the coming soon sign in the window for months. My first order was a Philly Cheese Stake sandwich and it was love at first bite. I took the sandwich home to eat it and after I was finished I immediately walked back downstairs from my apartment and ordered another one. I thanked them over and over for opening up their shop in my neighborhood. I got pretty fat that year I lived in Portland, because I was eating there three or 4 times a week.

Tribute's Philly Cheese Stake is quite simply the best damn sandwich in the world. It is indeed a taste sensation stuffed with mushrooms and peppers. It also has this optional spicy sauce that just gives it a little kick and is delicious. If you have never had the pleasure of eating one of these scrumptious sandwiches get on a plane right now and get to Portland and eat one. You won't be sorry.

All the food at tributes is good. They've got a delicious sausage with peppers and onions sandwich and an eggplant (that's right I said eggplant) sandwich that just melts in your mouth, loaded with mozzarella cheese and homemade marinara sauce. They also added pizza by the slice, hot dogs and salads to there menu over the years, but since I don't get back to Portland very often I only order the Philly. If anyone I know is going to Portland, they must bring me back a Philly. I don't care if it's out of the way or inconvenient, I need my damned sandwich!


This is the owner Judy, she's there behind the counter just about every day, and is just about the nicest person you'll ever meet. She always recognizes me when I come through the door no matter how long it's been. I guess she should I practically lived at that place for over a year. Did I mention I got really fat around then? She's also always really delighted to see Morgan and Ella when we walk in, but then that pretty much goes without saying, most people are delighted to see those two lovely ladies.

Well I just want to say, thank you Judy. Thank you for opening Tribute's and introducing me to my favorite sandwich in the world, and thank you for making this vacation and all my other trips to Portland a culinary delight. Please don't ever close. But if you do give me the recipe. I promise not to sell it or open up my own restaurant. I'll just sit around and make Philly's all the time and get fat again.

Well that's it for the vacation posts. I'm going to be messing around with some of the blogger features for the site, so if you see something weird on site it's just me playing around and it may or may not stay. It all just depends on how I think it looks.

Later,
CS

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Vacation round up #4: The Coast and Waterfalls

We managed to get over to the Oregon Coast when we were on vacation. We went to Rockaway Beach and it was Elliott's first time ever seeing the ocean.

The day we got there the weather was perfect. It was just about the most perfect day I've ever seen on the Oregon Coast, and I lived on the coast for 4 years all through out high school. It was around 70 degrees, the sky was crystal blue and there was no wind at all.

Elliott loved it She splashed around forever in a little creek that runs into the Ocean. The water in the creek was much warmer than out in the surf.


She also got a kick out of making sand castles. She started right at it when we arrived and then continued when we got her bathing suit on her.





As is customary in any trip to the beach Elliott had to be buried in the sand. She really liked that.


She even tried to bury Morgan. She was covering her feet and right after I snapped this pic she dumped a shovel full of sand right on Morgan's crotch. In case you think Morgan's got some kinda crazy head gear going on there let me clue you in, she's wearing Elliott's little hoodie.


The day we left it was pretty standard Oregon Coast weather, kind of cold, cloudy, a little drizzly and a bit windy. Here's Elliott about to take her last walk on the beach when Morgan mentioned something about a cookie and she stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and said "Oh! Cookie!".


When we were sitting on the beach a helicopter flew by. Elliott threw her arms up in the air and said, "Oh! A helicopter! I catch it daddy" and started running down the beach after it.


When we left for Portland we stopped in Tillamook and visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We toured the Factory, got some free samples and then got some ice cream. Elliott was very impressed with all the cheese when she watched them packaging it up on the plant floor.

Then we went to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company. They have goats that you can feed, so we got Elliott a bag of goat food and watched the good times roll. She had a blast and couldn't stop laughing when they got next to her and took the food out of her hand.

Don't worry, I didn't try to give beer to any of the goats. Not even this one, even though he looks like he could use one.


When we left Portland for Spokane we stopped by Multnomah Falls to show Elliott the waterfall.


Morgan said I was weirding people out when I was pointing up to the falls and telling Elliott about a truck sized boulder that crashed down injuring a bunch of people on the bridge including a wedding party. What can I say, I full of all kinds of useless knowledge.


Well that's it for vacation pix this edition. As for media stuff, Our news department is broadcasting entirely in High Definition now, so that's pretty cool. And am I the only one who just doesn't care about the Olympics? I must have been Inoculated for Olympic Fever.

Later,
CS

Monday, August 04, 2008

Vacation round up #3: The Cohus

My uncle Tandy and my aunt Diane have always been like an additional set of parents to me. Even before I went to live with my grandparents when I was 13, they were always a huge part of my life. We always went on trips together and spent holidays together. Their daughters Brandy and Heather were always more like sisters to me than cousins. I was always hanging out over at there house. Heck, Diane and Tandy were first on the scene to help when I broke my leg when I was 12. At first they didn't believe that I broke my leg in two places and was in excruciating pain. They thought I was faking, but eventually they finally believed that I required immediate medical attention and called for an ambulance.

Here's a pic of the Cohu Clan circa 1993 at my grandparents house in Otis Oregon.

Left to right that's Heather, Christian (he starts his second year of high school this year. Yikes!), Diane and Tandy.

I haven't seen them since just after Elliott was born, they live just outside Sheridan Oregon, which is about halfway between Portland and the coast. When we were on vacation we drove over to Sheridan for a visit.

I guess they told me that they moved from McMinnville Oregon and bought a farm out near Sheridan about 4 years ago, but I must have blocked it out or just not believed them or something. I mean we've never been farm people, not since my grandpa was a little boy anyway. Well sure enough they bought a 20 acre farm and are raising cows. I think they're dairy cows, for some reason I didn't ask. They both still have their full time gigs, my uncle works in construction an my aunt does the books for a dairy I think. Their place is really cool and Elliott loved it.

She really liked getting to see the little orphaned calf named Annie that Tandy fed milk to out of a bucket that had a nipple attached to it.

Tandy even let Elliott get a little ride from Annie. Very little she pretty much just sat on her for about 2 seconds before Annie was like "I'm out of here" and took off to rejoin the other cows. That's Heather's son next to Annie too. I can't tell from this angle and with the hat over his face if it's Devon or Braden. The boys were ultra nice to Elliott. They didn't mind her following them around, they even watched Sponge Bob (her new favorite) with her.

Tandy grilled up some burgers just like old times and we all had lunch. Elliott was a big fan of the cookies as per usual.

Here I am with Uncle Tandy.
And Aunt Diane.
And Cousin Heather. My cousin Brandy lives in Grandview Washington, where we grew up, so she wasn't there.
Tandy (well everyone really) was impressed with Elliott. It's funny Tandy had two daughters and no sons, and they both had two sons each and no daughters. So I really had to watch Elliott around Heather so she didn't run off with her and keep her.
Well it was great to see them all again, I hope it's not another 2 and half years until we all get together again.
Well I can't think of any Media stuff to post about right now. Maybe I'll have something tomorrow when I post about our vacation time that we spent on the beach.
Later,
CS