I’m Ben

Noah’s First Birthday Party

By Ben | April 21, 2008

We had Noah’s first birthday party last Saturday (his bday is the 25th), and had a great time. Jo’s sisters & their kids came, and all four of Noah’s grandparents. It was so wonderful having them all there to share the special occasion.

Which is not to say that Noah’s Aunts & Uncles Nathan, Cori, Tim, and Jolene, and his cousin Drew were not sorely missed. Because they were.

Still, we had a great time. Here is some photographic evidence.

Emily was nice enough to sing her ABC’s to Noah a couple times in a row, and give him some insight on ways to play with one of his favorite toys. Noah responded with an appropriate dance of joy.

…as the wonderfully responsible Amy looked after them.

Noah knew something cool was coming.

And it was a yummy cake!

Hold on, I don’t want this pomade. I want Dapper Dan.

Grandpa Jerry & Grandma Pat pose with the frosted birthday boy.

Papa Charles and Grandma Marie laugh with Noah.

And mommy and daddy too, as Noah makes a grab for dad’s cake.

No, Fairbanks. You’re not one of the grandkids.

CJ was getting a little bored, and wasn’t afraid to hide it.

Hey, six kids with their eyes open. A miracle!

Mommy and Noah.

Jo and her sisters Shauna & Christina.

Fairbanks plays nice.

Grandpa Jerry has a good laugh.

Noah played in the grass.

It’s my party, and I can make fart noises if I want to. You would make fart noises too, if it happened to you.

Yeah! Birthdays rule!

P.S. And yes, we got back from Hawaii safely, no thanks to the airlines. Boo. But we made it, that’s what counts. More of those photos when we get a chance.

Topics: Photos, Videos | 3 Comments »

Bel Kai Designs

By Ben | April 7, 2008

Johanna’s excited about this piece she just ordered from Bel Kai Designs. Our friend Whitney is making some great pieces of jewelry. Check them out.

Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »

ATA Strands us in Hawaii

By Ben | April 4, 2008

Don’t you hate it when you fly to Hawaii, then your airline goes bankrupt while you’re there, and cancels your return flight?

ATA declares bankruptcy

Our ATA Flights

Well, worse things than 2 extra days of vacation could befall a person. Northwest Airlines was nice enough to give us a deal on a Monday red eye (after 60 minutes of us freaking out & thinking we would never get home).

Topics: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Kauai Vacation, Part 1

By Ben | March 31, 2008

We’re having an unbelievable time so far. After 4 hrs sleep on Friday night, we made it to Kauai and got to hang out with Nick & Rachael the first couple nights. Today we adventured separately, finding a pair of fun places to explore, only one of which was trespassing (we found out as we got back to our car). Mostly walked through jungles, swam, and hung out at the beach today.

The view from our condo’s balcony

On the south shore

On one of our explorations, driving up Power House Road.

Mmm. Shave Ice on the north shore.

On a hunt for those darn Kauaian Ewoks you read about in all the tourist books. But only finding rooster after rooster.

The view of our condo from outside.

When Ben gets in trouble, he has to sleep out on the “couch.”

A mess of jungle we walked through.

Wind-blown waves on the north shore.

Topics: Photos | 3 Comments »

nuCourse Distribution Web Site Tools

By Ben | March 27, 2008

I don’t post much about work stuff, but I’m super excited about www.nuCourse.com. This is the distribution company that I work for, doing programming & eCommerce technology management. We buy from manufacturers and sell to online resellers, primarily Mac/iPod/other MP3 Player accessories. We know what resellers want/need, and we know what manufacturers want/need, and I think we’re approaching the whole middleman thing from a perspective that’s win-win for everyone.

We have a lot of tools that will help resellers quickly determine whether a specific product is going to be profitable for them, and see who else is selling it at what price all across the internet. We even calculate their profit margins on various marketplaces, taking into account marketplace-specific fees (e.g. eBay, Amazon, etc.). It’s going to save them a huge amount of research time, and I think they’ll quickly see that what we’re offering is more than just quantity-discounts: we know what they need because we’ve experienced it ourselves.

Anyway so that’s my little promo blurb. And this is what I work on all day every day, so I’m more than a little stoked about it.

P.S. We’re leaving for Kauai, HI in two days!

Topics: Work | No Comments »

Happy Easter

By Ben | March 24, 2008

We started off the day by listening to Keith Green’s Easter Song really loud. Seventies piano rock at its finest. We could almost hear the bells ringing. The day before, we had a nice little hunt in our back yard.

Noah and cousin Abby chill out while CJ hunts for eggs.

Abby, CJ, and Noah fight over the spoils. (Actually there was no fighting.)

CJ carefully opens each egg to enjoy the treasure within (mostly trail mix).

Noah prefers the treasure without, i.e. plastic egg shell.

Even Fairbanks felt the love.

Noah peers out onto the patio

Family photo the first.

The second.

The “church directory” shot.

Topics: Photos | 1 Comment »

Noah is Standing

By Ben | March 19, 2008

He’s pulling himself up on everything in sight. This gate keeps him from his favorite crawling destination: splashing in Fairbanks’ water bowl.

BBQ w/friends at the park by our house.

Darth Vader plate tastefully gifted by Natalie.

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Noah’s Heritage

By Ben | March 15, 2008

Recently, after my mom forwarded me an email explaining how we’re 12th-or-so cousins who-knows-how-many-times-removed of Katharine Hepburn (through Thomas Janney), I asked her (my mom, not the late Ms. Hepburn) & Jo’s mom for the nationality breakdown of each of us. So here are the results of generations of random Europeans (and one Native American) having kids:

Noah’s Heritage