ask Shaffer -- if you dare.

Standard disclaimer: these are just some notes that I accumulated over the course of the last few months, when I was too "busy" to document them here. Monday, April 23 - Dress Rehearsal #1 I rolled into the auditorium around 2:30...it was quiet...it was awesome. It was a weird feeling coming in this "late". It had been since Friday, April 14th that I hadn't got to the School around 8AM and spent the whole day there....admittedly going into "work" at 6:30AM to speed over to play practice by 2:30 didn't seem all that relaxing, but it was different. School hadn't been let out. I did a couple of quick things, looked up and suddenly, like the surf crashing on the rocks, kids were pouring in through all the doors, and it seemed that everyone of them were yelling for me. Hannah had questions about the synthesizer, Seth had questions about the mics, Kelly was asking me questions, Dan and Rachel were needing a piece of me. My plan today was to work m...

Prayer Why would we hide from God? or from others in our life? - because we've done something wrong - sin & hiding are inseparable of the fall of man Psalm 32:3-4 - David Galatians 6:7 - God is not mocked, but He provides us a way out Psalm 32:5 - acknowledging ou transgressing -- confessions 1. be honest & humble 2. come clean & be specific about the sin 3. Repent: Proverb 28:13; 2Corinthians 2:10 - Renounce! Forgiveness comes through God's grace RESULTS * Grow in Godliness -- Psalm 32:6-7 * Joyful spirit & happy heart -- Psalm 32:1-2,11

Right after school let out, we took our family vacation, predominantly to celebrate with Dave on the momentous event of his graduation from Rosemount High School. It was a good trip, not too uncomfortable really. We took off in the morning (not quite as early as I wanted but we are talking about Kelly & Allie here) with Des Moines, IA as our destination for the night. It's actually quite a haul, going from Denver to there. The CRV handled it great. What an awesome little car really. About the only negative of this first leg was the nasty south to north wind that literally blew the entire day. It required me to stay more alert so the drive wasn't the typical "relaxing" drive across Nebraska and Iowa. We spent the night in Grimes, a suburb of Des Moines. The next morning we got up and goofed around, had some breakfast and got back on the r oad. Our next stop was Mason City, the home of Meredith Willson and the Music Man museum. This let us complete our 12 month obse...

Standard disclaimer: these are just some notes that I accumulated over the course of the last few months, when I was too "busy" to document them here. Saturday, April 21 & Sunday, April 22 - the Dreaded Tech Rehearsal I rolled in at 8AM ready to spend a couple of hours of quality time with the stage crew getting them ready. Then I'd peel away and work up in the booth getting the mics ready to roll. That was the plan -- surely it would take that long for all the costuming and organization stuff to happen. I think this plan blew up at about 8:10AM when there was something awry with the sound, and then there was screaming for mics and by about 9AM, they were ready to start the show. Stage lights were still being decided on (luckily they were very simple compared to Butterfly) and the music was still a big thorn in my side. I had people running around the school looking for cables to hook up the wireless transmitters and it was utter chaos. I was not in a good place...and...

A couple of years ago, Kristie's parents sold their house...finally. We had been casually suggesting for years that they sell it, but the combination of her mom's unwillingness to let go of "her" house and her dad's obsession with getting the last dime out of the house prevented it from happening. In hind sight, he probably could've sold it for more, or at least faster, if he had sold in early 2000, instead of waiting five years and dealing with Denver's messed up and depressed housing market. But after weeks and weeks of garage sales and general nonsense, they moved out and into a lovely little 2 bedroom place located in a nice senior's high rise. Now it was time to really work on my parents. The thing that really worked on my parents to finally sell was hearing about Kristie's parents woes. My mom still really wanted to hang on to the old house, but intellectually she knew that my dad isn't getting any better and it was time. So they worked a...

So many movies, so little time. It's amazing when I look at how many movies we watch...as a family, we watch very little regular TV. We haven't subscribed to cable/dish in over 15 years, and for about a year or so, we didn't even own a TV. But movies...that's a whole 'nother story. We decided to watch "Shooter" the other night...Kelly had been asking to see it and since it is rated R, we did our "parental preview". In short, it passes. They lob out the "F" word a couple of times and there are some somewhat gruesome killings, but honestly, nothing worse than what we saw in James Bond, or the latest Die Hard. And that's where the comparison belongs. This is no Die Hard. It's reasonably thrilling and exhilarating, but not to the level of Die Hard. It's not nearly as "funny" as Die Hard. About the only it has that Die Hard did not is a plot element where Marky Mark was set up as a patsy in a presidential assassinatio...

Lots of birthdays in a short span here...end of July is a crazy time in our household. But along the lines of "saving the best for last"...today is Kristie's birthday. Sometime on July 25, 1963, Kristie's mom gave birth to two baby girls. Back then, they weren't able to tell if there were multiple babies, she just showed up and had twins...surprise. The twins were child #8 and #9. Imagine already having 7 kids and having twins...I can't. They had names chosen, apparently the baby was going to be named Katherine Kristin. So when she found out that it was twins, she split the name up and then looked to her friend and neighbor, Mary Lou, for the rest of the names. Katherine Mary and Kristin Louise were the babies names. Kristie spent her early years in Edina , Minnesota, then the family moved to Sand Point, Idaho when she was about 10. They were there for a few years and moved again to Denver ... Littleton to be precise, where she's been ever since. I met Kr...

I recently heard the expression that a particular enterprise was "doing the airline game". I had to do a double-take, since I hadn't heard that in many, many years....and it's not a compliment. The airline game is simple: you charge different prices for your services/goods under the guise that the higher paying customers have already covered your expenses. And "since the plane is going there anyways..", it's better to have some amount of income, rather than empty seats. That's the airline game -- some people pay $1500 for a ticket, others pay $300. I first ran into this strategy when I worked at Intelligent Electronics. IE was a wholesale distributor of personal computers to a network of resellers in the U.S. and Canada. Business was basic: we bought billions of dollars of computers from IBM, Apple, Compaq and so on....warehoused the inventory and then shipped these products to a bunch of stores nationwide. Being as big as we were, we got the vendors...

Of the many summer blockbusters, this was the one I wanted to see the most. And it didn't disappoint. It had everything I wanted: Willis was hysterical and kicked ass, the bad guys lost, lots of action, a smidgen of drama... And that's about all there is to say about this movie really. What I really want to say has nothing to do with this movie per- se . It has more to do with how awesome my wife is and how lucky I am that she's stuck with me forever. We saw this movie together, as we dropped the girls off at Ratatouille, a movie that we both will see, but we wanted to see Die Hard more. Gold star number 1: my wife wanted to see an action/adventure explosion-fest over Pixar's latest and greatest. And it wasn't a forced or negotiated desire; she really wanted to see this one. Kristie is amazing in that she truly appreciates a good action picture, and would gladly see one over the typical chick- flick . So we cruised into the theater, almost like a date, just the ...

Standard disclaimer: these are just some notes that I accumulated over the course of the last few months, when I was too "busy" to document them here. Monday, April 16 - Friday, April 20 While a majority of things were done by now, there was still a lot remaining. In an overworked and underthought move (the dreaded double whammy!), I decided to take a week off from work and spend it working on the play, either in my garage or at the school. I still had to do: the Paroo house, as it was merely a couple of dollies with flats attached. the curtain flats and remaining "generic" flats were left to be done the piano needed to be completed (it was a pile of wood and a drawing in my garage) the library desk was partially completed, but needed to be finished the side curtains still needed to have their height expanded the footbridge still needed to be "imagined". Not to mention a ton of little nits. And the stage crew was completely untrained and the whole thing, ...

Ecclesiastes : Searching for God knows what "Sensible wisdom is hard to find" Ecc 11:7-10 -- meaningless == futility, fleeting, vanity Ecc 12:1-14 "Nothing on this side of heaven can quiet the rumors of discontent in the human heart" Ecclesiastes written under Solomon's shadow (says Philip Yancey) "You matter" (GK Chesterton) Ecc 12 -- Remember your creator in the days of your youth (when you are filled with wonder) LIFE: * looking back at the past or reaching out for the future * what is so wrong with the present? * the Preacher: "looking at life under the sun is foolish" - it is a secular life (it==life under the sun) - always reaching & looking for MORE THE WAY WE LOOK AT LIFE "COLORS" WHAT WE SEE * how do I look at life? * what am I doing in life? - it can determine what I see & the past teaches us nothing... our condition is rooted in the heart; in the thrill of the moment we lose sight of the Giver of the thrill Hun...

We watch a lot of movies really. At least one a week on average. And that's what our family does. We don't watch a lot of regular TV, we don't have/won't make the time and what's on is generally pretty bad. And to be fair, our choices in movies, while not heinous, are certainly not always these tremendous thought-provoking cinema experiences. So when we originally saw the preview for the movie "Freedom Writers", I immediately profiled it. It was another one of those "fish out of water teacher makes difference in a school with unique teaching methods". Take the Lead did it with Antonio Banderas teaching inner city kids to dance. In Music of the Heart, Meryl Streep did it with violins. Jack Black did it with rock in the School of Rock. Gabe Kaplan did something to the Sweat Hogs..... That's my point: it appeared to be a tried and true formula movie with a couple stars. And that's what I was prepared to watch. First the standard stuff: Hill...

On Saturday, May 26, we (the whole Shaffer clan) got to meet someone that we had quite literally been waiting for more than 9 months to meet. Sometime early that morning, Allie received a text from Erica that she was going to the hospital and it was baby time. She later received a voicemail from David saying it was a girl and that they would love for us to come and visit. Kristie and I were a little hesitant to immediately jump in the car...they're dear friends, but we were pretty sure they were just being nice and that we'd visit when the time was right. So we headed out to Brian & Jeff's graduation party and I got a call from David and he repeated the invite. At that point I knew that we should get on over there...because they were going out of their way to invite us. And that was an honor to be sure. So when there was a natural ebb in the party, we collected the girls and made an obligatory stop at Baby Gap. Luckily Kristie is good at this stuff because she informe...

Kelly Megan is 17 years old today. Kelly Megan is 17 years old today. Kelly Megan is 17 years old today. Maybe if I keep repeating it, it won't be true. Having a fifteen year old "baby" is one thing. Having a 17 year old child of any kind is another. Just a minute ago we were playing with stuffed animals before going to 1st grade. Just a minute ago we were watching silly movies together and giggling...oh wait...we still do that! Just a minute ago I was taking care of this baby while Kristie would cruise to her weekend job. I remember thinking "what on Earth am I doing....being in charge of a human being?" I still think that...but now that human being is 17 years old, getting ready to take her SAT's and be a "grown up". I remember when Kristie was pregnant with our first baby, we didn't know or want to know the sex, but truth be told, I was certain that it was a boy. Kristie would talk occasionally about names and I don't really remember t...

I've been messing around with GWT lately and while I've got a lot of first (and very positive) impressions, the very first thing I wanted to remember is how I would address the following "negatives". I've heard and seen these comments floating around on the web and over coffee. So here we go: GWT is for lazy programmers. I'm pretty certain that this is the oldest argument against any improvement that man has encountered. That "wheel" thing is for lazy walkers. That "sail" thing is for lazy rowers. That "C" language thing is for lazy assembly language programmers...and on and on. Suffice it to say, I firmly believe that GWT is hardly for lazy programmers. GWT doesn't code itself. The infamous self-coding computer is not at hand. What GWT does is allows a programmer to write fairly complex client-side code, intended to be executed by the ubiquitous Internet browser, in the Java language. GWT compiles it down to the language of ...

Standard disclaimer: these are just some notes that I accumulated over the course of the last few months, when I was too "busy" to document them here. Saturday, April 14 & Sunday, April 15 We spent 15 plus hours with my dedicated crew painting the flats - we had nine 2-sided 8 ft by 10 ft scenery flats, and they all got painted in one day! I had a lot of help that day with a bunch of kids and parents showing up and lending a hand. Our logistics were complicated that day due to the fact that the School had been rented out to a very demanding company for the entire day (noon to midnight!). So we had to set up in the north hall, on the carpet and were required to remain quiet and virtually invisible. I sincerely got the feeling that everyone would've preferred that I not even try to do it that day, but we were running out of time and, quite frankly, no one had the gumption to say I couldn't! We covered everything with dropclothes and paper and I prayed that we would ...

I can't say that I'm a big Montel Williams fan. But after hearing him talk on Dennis Miller's show...I'm a little more impressed. Apparently, he has been sadly stricken with MS, and it has humbled him a bit and he seems to be focussed on some of the better things in the world. But anyway, he was telling a great story and I wanted to remember it. It was one of those "who was the greatest influence on you" type of questions. He replied that a teacher was his greatest influence. I was interested. He proceeded to tell a story that how when he was younger, like 8 years old, he wrote a story for some sort of Christmas essay contest at school. He was actually raised in a very affluent household, as his father was quite demanding that he and his siblings came to the dinner table every night with a couple of new words from the dictionary. So his story was probably above average for a typical 8 year old. Not perfect as the author was still an 8 year old boy.... He was...

Everyday I work on this new version, I'm reminded of personal charter: The point of this thing isn't to entertain, it's to remember. I'm working hard on getting "caught up" all the while documenting stuff that's happening right now. Someday I'll get there....

I'm trying to keep track of my notes from church...so here they are. No attempt to make it brilliant literature by any means. Ecc 11:7 - Live life to the fullest! Books he mentioned: Mark Buchanan - Hidden in Plain Sight John Piper - Don't Waste Your Life Ecc 12 - describes what it's like to get old Remember your creator, when you're young & when you're old * We understand that we are created , God is God & we are not... this reacquaints us w/our mortality & this is how we should live * We remind ourselves what He has done , we take it for granted if we fail to reflect Deut 8 : be careful that you do not forget the Lord, Song - "Immigrant Eyes" by Guy Clark * Confirm His priority in our lives , it's a matter of obedience Gen 22:3 : Abraham got up .... Psm 19:56

Two muffins are baking in the oven. The first muffin nonchalantly turns to the second and says: "Sure is hot in here, isn't it?" The second muffin screams in terror: "Ahhhhhhh ... a talking muffin!"

One of these days, very soon, I'm going to replace our old Dell Inspiron laptop. In computer years, this thing is an antique. It's almost 4 (gasp) years old! Truth be told, it's just fine. Sure the Celeron 1.2 MHz is "technically" uncool and slow. The 14" screen is passe. I had to buy a wireless networking card and stick it in the PCMCIA slot (or whatever it's called these days). It only has 256MB of RAM. It "only" has Windows XP on it. Like I said....obsolete. But it runs IE 7.0, no problem. Microsoft Office? definitely. ITunes, check. Now get ready for this: Photoshop? Yep. Illustrator? Yep, again. Eclipse 3.2 ? Microsoft Visual Studio? Yes to all. Plus running either a service of Apache, IIS or JBoss (all web server nerd things). I've developed a ton of Java, ASP.Net, SWT, PHP and it's my main Web site maintainer box. It's handled them all, no problem. So then other than techno-lust, why am I going to replace it? Windows. I no lon...

Today my "baby" is fifteen years old. Wow, do I feel old. I can remember when she was born like it was yesterday..... We once again had a July birth...so Kristie had to do the worst part of the pregnancy in the hottest part of the year. (We've never been all that good at planning). Kelly didn't really have any idea what was going on...hardly a shock since she was only 24 months old! Our vision was to have Kelly sleep in the "nursery" for a few months and then she would move into the loft that my dad & I had just converted to a bedroom. But initially, the baby would be sleeping in our room. So we had it all set up and ready to go...we just needed a baby. Since we were veterans at the whole birth thing, we operated at a much more relaxed pace. Kristie woke up on the morning of the 16th and was pretty sure that it was the day. So she showered, checked on Kelly and then woke me up. I (seriously) casually got up, showered, fed the dog and the cat, got Kelly ...

We had the distinct pleasure of seeing Performance Now 's recent production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat a couple of Friday nights ago. And I'm serious...it was a pleasure. First, the venue: the Lakewood Cultural Center has a seriously nifty little theater. We were up in the balcony, but still very close to the stage. I imagine the orchestra level would be just as intimate, probably more so really. Nice sized stage with plenty of wing and backstage space (an obvious hot button of mine!). But it was the sound that was truly smokin'. They managed to put out some serious sound in volume, without being nasty loud or distorted. The final number of Joseph is designed to rock...and they shaked, rattled and rolled. It was definitely a treat. As for the performance, it was solid. Last year, we saw it at DCPA with Patrick Cassidy as the lead. That particular performance was uninspired at best. But here's a kid (a senior in Accounting & Finance at UNC Gre...

It would be very easy to dismiss this as "just another chick-flick". And you'd be right....it is. But there are a couple of redeeming qualities that put it in the rare "chick flicks that I didn't mind watching" category. I totally loved the story of Iris (decently portrayed by Kate Winslet) and Arthur (played by one of the all time greats, Eli Wallach. Where's he been?). I can honestly say, if this was the whole movie, it'd been fine with me. I mean, come on, an out of place English girl befriending one of Hollywood's forgotten great screen writers? Nice. The fast paced Hollywood world has forgotten him, nobody in the modern world has time for an old fool like this, and it takes a lovely little British girl, trying to escape her failures in love to finally crack this guy....see what I mean? That's a movie. I like Jack Black as much as anyone, but that whole story could've ended up on the cutting room floor in my books. Much to the detrim...

Kristie spotted this on my Starbucks cup this weekend: The manual arts have always taken precedence over the fine arts. Remember, somebody had to build a ceiling before Michelangelo could go to work. Thought it was brilliant. Made even more so by the fact that the quote comes from John Ratzenberger, Cheers (and a ton of other stuff too, like the Empire Strikes Back ). I'm sure he's a lot brighter than his character on TV was, but it's hard to not go there. Still brilliant all the same, if you ask me.

A business, no matter how big or how small, has many tenets that it must adhere to if it wishes to succeed, ie. remain in business. In my mind, I've boiled them down to three fundamental "strikes". Just like in baseball, it's okay to get behind in the count and take a strike or two, but three strikes and you're out. Strike 1 - Demand "the ability and desire to purchase goods and services" Your product, whether it's a physical widget or an ethereal service, needs to be something that people are willing to pay for. It's called demand. Econ 101 (I was paying attention believe it or not) taught us that without demand, you are doomed. Demand is what you've created to get someone to ask you your price. Of course, you can generate demand. That's called an infomercial. Seriously, those products are a perfect example of this principle. Nobody would "naturally" want hundred dollar electric knife, but when you show me at 2AM that it can cu...

I turned my keys to the School today. I've returned to being a mere citizen, a mortal, "just a parent"...... I'm no longer a teacher at the School. I've griped about this over the last year, both in writing and mostly verbally to the lucky few who have had the "pleasure". But all in all, it was a very, very good time. Some things that I consider to be "good things": I got the chance to get to know 18 high school students. A couple of them I knew already because they were friends of the girls, I got to know them better. A couple more I knew of and got to know much better. And quite a few I had never even met, and, well you get this point. The opportunity to get to know these kids was one of the biggest blessings in my life. A number of the students really went from nothing to something, in both general computer literacy and specific web-design skills. I'm not bold enough to think that any of them are now competent to take on a "real...