Buried Alive
August 24th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
Click this photo to see more pic of our trip to Pacific City Oregon.
Archive for August, 2007
I’m Back
August 23rd, 2007 by Kilted Eric
I just got my bandwidth bumped up a bit, so I am back up.
I will post more about whats going on, and my trip along with some cool pictures of a kilted guy swimming in the ocean.
(EDIT) Remember what Bilbo used to say, about leaving your house?
August 12th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
August 12, 1976. I was born in Northfield Minnesota, to my parents Howard and Linda. For 5 years we lived on a farm in Nerstrand, Minnesota. Then we moved to the “big city” of Faribault, Minnesota. I lived there until I was 25. Then I moved to Olympia, Washington, chasing a dream of love, only to wake up one day and know it was truly over.
I met my wife, Carrie, at a Red Lobster. I was a cook, she was a bartender. We started dating and one things lead to another. Now I live in Seattle, I am 31 years old and I am married with one happy, healthy, and huge baby boy.
I have been having little reflective thought moments all day, while getting ready for our camping trip. I have done and experienced much since leaving Minnesota, but today I am looking back to the people who inspired me.
Steve Austin was a punk rocker. He was smart, funny, and brilliant with a yo-yo. He brought me into the midwest punk scene with the Dead Kennedy’s and pot. He died way too young. Suicide. He did not belong in Faribault, but knew no other way out. I cried for a day, not just for Steve, but for myself. You see, earlier I had tried to end my own life, but I failed. His death was like a movie showing me what my friends and family would have gone through had I not failed. I am glad today that I did not finish the job.
Flint, gosh I can’t remember his last name. He was the “old” punker in town. He came to Faribault from California, I think. He took me to Hard Core punk shows, and to the woods to drink. He played the dark music of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for me, and I was hooked. For a single guy, he kept his small apartment very clean. I remember on my 25th birthday (or was it 24th?) starting the night at his house, smoking cigars, drinking Guinness and playing chess. He was my friend that had traveled overseas and now I have traveled overseas. He helped get me out of Faribault. I miss him, I think he is living in the Twin Cities, possibly starting his own family.
Ralph Stuart. He owned a deli that also sold Role-playing games, the ones in books that are played with dice; often played late at night, drinking coffee and Jolt cola. He showed me you don’t have to totally grow up. I worked for him for a while, best job ever. All my friends hung out there, it was never like work as I know it now. He made the best beer cheese soup ever. Ten years of cooking, and I have not been able to replicate it. He was a father figure in a trying time of a young man. I remember him telling my parents that I was the rudder of my friends. I was not the Captain, but quietly steered the group away from dangers.
I have many other friends who have supported, cared for, drank with, and cried with me. I could fill pages writing about them, and I just may at some point, but today I think to Steve, Ralph, and Flint.
Life toddles always forward. Keep going, even when your head hurts. I am happy I no longer live in Faribault. I am happy with my life now. Finally. This is the path I was meant to be on. Sometimes it’s just nice to turn around for a moment, and see that long road you just walked down. Off to the horizon line, down to the sea. Turn back around, see that road? No? You can’t see for the road is cloudy, but that’s ok, just walk with care.
August, 12, 2007, I am 31, alive, and have good walking shoes on.
( My wife, aka The Editor came home, and helped clean this up. Even at 31 I am still learning the English language.)
Are the beans done yet Cookie?
August 11th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
Like I was saying in my last post, we will be taking a trip to Pacific City, Oregon. We will be staying in our large tent with the Boy and two dogs. Cramped? No, cozy. One cozy little family.
Now one thing you should know about me is I fancy myself as a camp cook. Note I said “fancy myself as”. Granted, I have been a cook for about 10 years, but I am a true amateur camp cook.
I have very little camp cook type gear, mostly left over or extra tools go into my camping cook box. As for Cast Iron, which all good camps cooks use, I am limited to a few cast iron pans. No wicked cool dutch ovens, and the whole set up.
Being part of a big family that will be there, each family will be serving two dinners. That we we can be together, but no one family is left to do it all. (Thats is until I get my dream camp cook set, then you can just call me “Cookie”.)
I have planned to make Chili one night, and stir fry next. Being almost broke, both dinners will be vegetarian. Now what about dessert? I have been playing around with using my cast iron pans along with my small charcoal grill as an oven. It kinda works. I have to pay close attention to it, and not do anything else while I am “baking”. With the chili dinner I will make cornbread, of course. For dessert, I will make an apple crisp. The cornbread, and crisp will both be done in cast iron pans over the grill.
The stir fry night will have an Apple cake for dessert. Yes, apples again, one of our apples trees came in and, well it’s free food. The cake will be a basic white cake, with chopped apples and “apple” spices.
I will try to remember to take lots of food photos, along with all of the other family at the beach shots.
If you need to know, I will be kilted as often as possible. Most of these camp site are populated with retired folk, and I get a kick out of their “what the heck” looks.
Oh and Sunday I turn 31. Yep, my birthday.
Caio………..
Going to Pacific City, Or
August 10th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
This weekend I will be getting ready to head south, to Pacific City, Oregon. My in-laws spend about a week down there at a campground, and this will be our first time as a family to be able to spend a full week. Usually its race down on a weekend and then race home.
I am looking forward to this. WIth all of the changes going on over here, We need a break. Ryan will love playing on the sandy beach. Plus a week of both parents, and Grandma!
Needless to say I will NOT be brining along the computer, nor will I be using the campground computer to blog. I am on vacation, there is no email on vacation.
I would also like to point out
August 9th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
That was my first posting of a picture that did not come from Flickr, I know whoopie everybody else can do it. WELL I JUST FIGURED IT OUT!
Also that was my first posting of a screenshot, yep I am getting cooler.
Someday, I will be totally rad!
Oh, and I posted these last two entries using Journler. Which is super rad and cool.
OK, I admit it, I’m an Apple Fanboy
August 9th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
Check this out: Songbird
Its built on the Mozilla frame work, open source, cross platform music player. But it just doesn’t play yourr, it also searches music blogs and other sites for web based music, and even allows you to simply place those songs into your library.
For me on my Mac, I can’t play WAM files on iTunes, so I have to use another player, but Songbird plays them, and puts them into its library. Snazzy.
It won’t replace my iTunes yet, and it hasn’t reached version 1.0 so it can be a bit buggy at times.
UPDATE: I just realized one bugger about it currently, if you use Quicksilver on your Mac, and have some nifty hotkeys set for playing / pausing & skipping songs in
iTunes. Well, we don’t have that in Songbird, yet.
Geek & Apple
August 8th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
I have 2 apple trees, one of them came in. I pick the tree on sunday, and have only gotten through a small portion of them.
I sliced a bunch and made applesauce, which I froze. Tonight I will watch The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, extended version, and slice up more.
Why? I am holding the apples in two large coolers (yes, a lot of apples), and we are going to Pacific City Oregon next week on a camping trip, and NEED the coolers.
Thus the title of the post “Geek & Apple
My boy did what? In his potty!
August 5th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
If you don’t want to read about Ryan doing baby business in his baby potty, DO NOT READ ON! Continue reading ‘My boy did what? In his potty!’
Show #3 of This Kilted Life is up!
August 4th, 2007 by Kilted Eric
you can SEE and hear it here ……. CLICK HERE
I finally get an email for the Form the Mailbag section, and a good guy in Virginia donated to the show!