When the Lemonade Stand Goes Sour

After borrowing four dollars, formulating a delicious product, and putting together a killer marketing campaign (complete with singing), Aster and Torie were only able to make 50 cents from their lemonade stand .

That's after two hours of sweating in the Arizona heat. The only two customers who bought were Grandma and Nona (the kids's great-grandma).

I told the kids they needed a new sign that said, "Water sucks! Drink lemonade and lose weight!"
 

Are you a conservative or liberal patriot?

Either way you should read Time magazine's just-released "The Real Meaning of Patriotism" for a refreshing view of how we might all better understand each other

Happy Independence Day!

I met Robert Kiyosaki

I went to a party and Robert Kiyosaki was there. Wow! I thought. I'll go meet him. So I said, "Hi, I'm David!" Robert just looked at me blankly. I started to introduce myself. He just looked at me blankly. "Anyway, I hoped maybe I could get a picture with you." Robert straightened up and smiled. (He knew what he was doing.) I said, "Thanks." He looked at me blankly. I walked away.

Girls meet Amanda Borden

The girls met 1996 Gold Medalist Amanda Borden at their gymnastics meet. They each got their own mini-gold medals that day too.
 
David

A photo of me

David

My supermodel and her Webkinz

Supermodel Torie won't pose without bringing her "family" along. So all the Webkinz went surfing.   
 
David

Aster steals the maté again

He's getting into the habit of coming over and robbing the maté. And his hair's getting long too. My son is too much like me. I can't believe how much he reads. He's read the entire Harry Potter series straight, all of the Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain series and now Gary Paulsen's Hatchet series. 

David

moby - enjoy!

Aster Takes 3rd Place, Loses to Girl

Aster won two out of three of his matches at the state jiujitsu tournament and took third place. He lost to a little girl with awesome skills. I think it was really good for Aster. He had no idea what hit him. Of the eight total competitors seven were boys and one was a girl. The little girl won first place! And she was all modest about it too.

Ode to my Kindle

I don't have an iPhone. I have a Kindle.

 

My Kindle can't call people. It can't surf the net. It can't take pictures. It doesn't have a GPS. It doesn't even have any cool games. In fact, it has all sorts of design problems. And it looks very, very low tech.

 

Why did I buy this stupid thing anyway? Why did I buy it when it cost me more than what an iPhone now costs?

 

I bought it because now that I have my Kindle, I can go to the beach, the park, the coffee shop or the toilet, and I will always have plenty of reading material. Now that I have my Kindle, I can read one or two or 20 books all at once and the end tables next to my couch and my bed don't end up cluttered. Now that i have my Kindle, my library fits in my hand all day long and my house has a whole lot more room (my wife loves that).

 

I love my Kindle.

Please help... I can't pick a good movie

I have completely exhausted all my creative powers of choosing good movies and the bad movies keep coming in the mail.

Movies are supposed to be exciting right? Whenever I see a new movie in my mailbox, I just feel like I'm about to waste another two hours of my time. (Sometimes I just keep a movie for a long time to not have to add a new one to my queue.) 

Anyone see a good movie lately?

Before you suggest anything, you should know that in college I made the mistake of studying literary archetypes, motifs and devices, thus severely hampering my ability to enjoy the simplicity of a run-of-the-mill flick designed to appeal to the masses (e.g. National Treasure -- the last piece of crap that comes to mind).

The last really good movie I saw? This one.

My tonsils live to die another day

My surgery was canceled because I had a high fever. The anesthesiologist said it was too dangerous. So I'm totally bummed and I've rescheduled for July 25. 

David

San Diego trip pics

Finally, New York pics

Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

I'm reading this in an attempt at becoming smart.


View all my reviews.

I'm proud to be a feminist

After reading the graphic novel Persepolis a couple of days ago. I highly recommend it. Or you can just watch the movie coming out. See trailer below:

Think you're a hard-core feminist like me? Are you sure? If you are, you have to read The Alphabet Versus The Goddess. The book changed my life forever giving me a whole new way to look at the world.

Here's my review from GoodReads: You'll learn how paleolithic man in almost all ancient cultures worshipped an Earth and fertility Goddess (like an ancient pornography - my opinion). Men finally realized their own sperm had something to do with procreation and decided women should be their property so they could make sure their kids were their own. Soon men invented male "Gods". Then with the appearance of the alphabet, the Torah, Koran, etc., all humans were driven to worship only one male God, which ultimately killed "the Goddess" and submitted all women to man's rule... until now!

If you happen to be interested in FLDS women studies, read Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs. Warning! This book can get you reeling within the first few chapters. You'll ask yourself, how could these things have happened here?

My bucket list

Hi!

I'm finally getting my tonsils out this Friday. I know I'll be asleep. But it scares the crap out of me anyway. So I naturally have to think of my own mortality. Anyway, I rented the movie called The Bucket List where a couple of old guys who have cancer find out they'll die in 6 months. They make a list of all the things they want to do before they die and go do it. They go skydiving. They climb an Egyptian pyramid. They race cars. They get tattoos. Etc. So I decided to put together my own bucket list. 

Let me know what you think: 

• Kayak off a waterfall (again) and get a picture of it like Casey
• Relax on a Caribbean island with Patricia (she's never been)
  
• Go on a wild nature adventure with Aster (at least a week long)
• Go to Paris with Kelsea and Torie 
• Hike to Machu Picchu because, to me, Dallas's pictures suggest it may just be the most beautiful place on Earth  
• Become a specialist and write a book about something fascinating that will change the world

It's a really short list right now. But that last entry is a tough one. Who wants to do any of this with me? Oh and by the way, if I die or anything this Friday (or anytime soon), all I ask is that someone do these things for me. Too much to ask? You can just take a piece of me with you (like a sock or something). 

Thanks,  

David

Aprender a ser amado

Tus ojos me encantan

y me llenan de felicidad

la manera que brillan

y me miran con curiosidad

Lo que quiero mas que todo

aunque merezco sufrir

es ganar tus brillante ojos 

de vuelta la manera que me hacen sentir

A veces no nos entendemos

somos extraños de verdad

pero no hay que pretendernos

porque hay que tomar oportunidad

La vida es nuestra

para disfrutar hoy

es por eso que nos cuesta

ver errores en lo que soy 

No hay que dejar que sea vapor

todo lo que hemos armado

hay que enseñar un puro amor

y aprender a ser amado

David

Argentina 4 Mexico 1

I drove to San Diego to watch this game. Now that I've seen Messi and Aguero in action live, I can die happy. Mexico's defense was no match for that magic duo. Marcos, Andres and I were at field level. You might be able to see us if you squint really hard sometime just after Messi scores goal No 2. Argentina plays the U.S. tomorrow. I'll send highlights, but try not to miss it. - David

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Argentina 4 Mexico 1 Goles Burdisso Messi Rodriguez Aguero Z mas goles en http://www.apurogol.com Argentina 4 Mexico 1 Goles Burdisso Messi Rodriguez Aguero Zinha

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So much space, but no toilet?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the NASA space shuttle Discovery will be carrying an extra piece of cargo when they launch on Saturday -- a new toilet pump.

Crew members aboard the International Space Station have been fumbling with plastic bags since their zero-gravity toilet went made "a loud noise" and stopped working properly last week.

"We will be taking some spare parts up," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

The three station crew members want the toilet working properly for obvious reasons -- but on Saturday they will be sharing facilities with seven space shuttle astronauts.

"You can imagine you are having guests over and your one and only bathroom is broken. Clearly this is something you want to have working," Beutel said.

Discovery will carry a pump and other spare parts for the toilet, which is still disposing of solid waste.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2833684620080529?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

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David