M O N D A Y,   F E B R U A R Y   2 6   2 0 0 7

Impractical Gifts are More Fun!

Well, I hit the big Five-O yesterday and started wondering why I have never been to Hawaii! One of these days, I'm going to grab Barbara and we're going to spend a weekend on the big island, though I need to do some research to find out the best places to go. As I search for deals on Travelocity, I'll be thinking: "book 'em Dano!"

Anyway, lately when friends and family have asked me what I want for Christmas or my birthday, I’ve explained that I’d like impractical things. No more sweaters, ties, shirts, or aftershave, please, I have plenty of those things already! I guess I’ve been waxing philosophically about a lot of things as my 50th was approaching, and it occurred to me that I’d like to experience some of the fun I had as a child, getting impractical, but fun toys like burp guns, cannons, action figures, super balls, marbles, skates, baseball cards, etc.

Well, my strategy worked! I have to tell you about some exceptionally cool gifts I’ve received lately (one at Christmas, and two on my 50th birthday). These gifts are definitely impractical, if only because I have so little time to gaze at the stars these days, and certainly don’t know how I’m going to use my new monster flashlight, but I did feel a touch of nostalgia when opening these presents and wanted to share some of the magic on these pages.

It is my hope that by telling you all about these gifts it could spark some creativity in you when you shop for a 50 year old who has been living a really serious life for a long time and needs a little silliness in his or her life.

1. Cyclops Thor Colossus 18 Million Candlepower Rechargeable Flashlight

My sweetie gave me this flashlight which is more like a hand-held light cannon. You can’t really tell by the photo that the lamp itself is about a foot wide! This thing is a monster of a flashlight, something I’d expect to see a comic book character like The Hulk using as he battles an arch enemy on the dark side of the moon.

We tried it out in our back yard last night and it was so powerful we could see the beam reflecting back off the trees on a mountain side at least a mile away. The beam was so wide and so bright it lit up our property (1.3 acres) well enough to play a game of night football!

Of course I have no idea how I’m going to use this amazing gadget—thus the impractical nature of the gift—but it’s really cool.

There is something exciting about experiencing the raw surging power of 18 million candles pushing back the darkness in a hand-held device, reminiscent of what Will Smith probably felt in the movie Men In Black when he got to shoot one of those huge chromed alien weapons—now “that’s what I’m talking about!”

Thanks, sweetheart!

2. Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium

According to the Celestron website, “The SkyScout is a revolutionary handheld device that uses advanced GPS technology with point and click convenience to identify thousands of stars, planets, constellations and more.”

The way it works is that you plug your ear buds or headphones into it, then point it at an object in the sky (presumably a star or planet) and a voice explains all about it from an onboard database.

You can also select an object from the database using the display and it will tell you how to find the object in the sky. You look through the viewfinder and arrows tell you which direction to point until all the arrows are lit up.

The magic of this device is just how it could know what you are looking at, but that’s where the GPS functionality comes in. Once it acquires several GPS satellites, it knows your exact latitude, longitude and elevation and uses that data along with the date, time, and time zone to calculate where celestial bodies are in relation to your location.

I love it when technology is applied in such ingenious ways.

Thanks, mom and Paul!

3. Firefly Battery Powered Indoor Radio Controlled Micro Helicopter

This gift is probably the most practical of the three gifts, but only because it is so much fun as a cat toy. I keep it plugged into the wall in our dining room, and on some afternoons I’ll take a break from work and chase the cats around the living room.

It’s surprisingly easy to learn to fly, though it’s not terribly maneuverable—it tends to want to spin a little so you have to play with the trim control as the battery weakens—but it’s been great fun, even for an over the hill’er like me.

One of our two cats—Molly is her name—bat it out of the sky yesterday. She just reached out like King Kong on the top of the Empire State Building, and knocked the helicopter to the floor.

Luckily this great little toy has turned out to be quite resilient and was none the worse for wear.

Thanks, Paul!

I received some practical gifts too!

On the more practical side, I did receive some lovely gifts, including an NIV Study Bible from our dear friends, Doug and Lesa White, and a book by James S. Stewart: "Walking With God" from my mom.

I am looking forward to reading "Walking with God" and to start using the study Bible to contrast and expand the commentaries from my John MacArthur NKJV study Bible.

To my friends and family: Thank you for the terrific gifts on my birthday!

Erik

O N   T H I S   P A G E

Impractical Gifts
Best Kept Career Secret
Another Snowstorm
Let's Pick at Oskar Blues
7˚ w/Scattered Clouds
What A Trip!
Here We Go Again
Happy Holidays
A Perfect Storm

M O N D A Y,   J A N U A R Y  2 9   2 0 0 7

The Best Kept Career Secret: Professional Sales

I just feel a bit like bragging about my dad.

Bob Thomas has accomplished some amazing things in his life. He joined the Army Air Corp just as soon as he was old enough to get into World War II, and learned to fly. But while he was a cadet, he was also playing trumpet and leading a dance band! My dad was a professional-level musician and played with Harry James, the Dorsey Brothers, and other famous swing bands in the 40s, but somehow he had the wisdom to never give up his day job to become a professional musician—a move that would no doubt result in a very tough life.

Later on, he started a successful company of his own that made him financially independent enough to pursue his interests—the holy grail of early retirement—which included getting involved in politics, starting another business, and in general owning his own soul from the standpoint of freedom to choose.

My dad has always felt that the most important business function is sales—that nothing happens in free enterprise until something is sold—as he himself was a master professional salesman and sales manager throughout much of his life. So he recently finished his second book The Best-Kept Career Secret: Professional Sales.

It's important to point out that professional sales does not resemble retail sales—the guy behind the counter at Radio Shack or the shark at your local car dealership— beyond the fact that they are representing goods or services available for sale.

As this little book points out, a professional sales career might be exactly what a person would want if they knew about it, but since universities and colleges across this nation don't offer any curriculum specific to professional sales, young people don't even consider it an option.

If you, or someone you know—particularly young folks attending college who don't really know what they want to do in their life—are at risk of dropping out of school, or of pursuing a major that just doesn't interest them, you should point them at this website:

www.miraclepressbooks.com

It is an excellent read, and reveals that professional sales is a career that offers some of the highest pay in any industry, as well as providing incredible freedom. Professional sales is as close to working for yourself as you can get while still working for someone else.

This book could profoundly change your life, or the lives of people you know. I highly recommend it.

Erik

Click here to learn more.

S A T U R D A Y,   J A N U A R Y  2 7   2 0 0 7

Another Weekend, Another Snowstorm

As I was eating one of Barbara's typically awesome culinary inventions this morning—an extremely tasty 3-egg omelet with ingredients that harmonized so beautifully, it was like a symphony of flavor, including pancetta, spinach, chev're, and mushrooms—I was reminded of how blessed I am to be able to eat gourmet quality restaurant food at home. Barbara is an amazingly talented chef, but what amazes me more is her tireless devotion to sharing those talents in our community by helping provide free, hot, nutritious, delicious meals to hundreds of poor and homeless throughout Boulder each week. Read more here...

Barbara says I have a pretty good palette because I can often identify subtle herbs and spices in complex recipes—probably from years of eating her gourmet food at the expense of my waistline—but her delicious omelet this morning gave me a wonderful start to my weekend because my mouth was just singing!

OK, "to the point, James!"

While I was enjoying the omelet and reading the Boulder Camera, I was mildly surprised to discover an interesting article—a decided rarity—about our record-breaking, snowy and cold winter weather.

So, in good Boulder form, I lifted the title of this musing from the article in the Camera and will re-publish some interesting statistics for your enjoyment:

Consecutive weeks with snowfall in Boulder: Five and counting
Average annual snowfall in Boulder: 85 to 90 inches
Total snow in Boulder so far this winter: 93.3 inches (that's 7 ¾ feet!)
Average January temperature in Boulder: 32 degrees
Average January temperature in Boulder this year: 27 degrees

Our home is at 7010' altitude, considerably higher than Boulder, and we receive more snow, lower temperatures and stronger winds than the lowlands, so I expect we've seen more than 100 inches of snow at our home. [It's snowing outside as I write this!]

There will be no new photographs of the snow published with this musing since we've all seen just about as much snow as we'd like to see, and it doesn't change much, really. But I have to admit, every time the snow begins to fall, I experience a faint echo of a feeling not unlike Christmas morning when I was 5 years old, a sense of expectation of something wonderful about to happen. I guess I'm just a child at heart but I think snow is one of God's most wonderful ideas. It leaves the world so bright and clean and as it falls, it silences the worries in my head.

As I looked out the window of my office a moment ago, I happened to notice a few thousand acres of mountain-side covered in snow, and giggled as a crazy thought bubbled up. It looks like a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man exploded all over our mountains!

So, to use a phrase that is perfectly aligned with my perceived age at this moment, snow is just way cool! Break out the inner tubes!

Erik

Jan 5 2007 - "Rocco" standing in the snow (we got nearly another foot)

The Stay Puft
Marshmallow Man

W E D N E S D A Y,   J A N U A R Y  2 4   2 0 0 7

Let's Go Pick at Oskar Blues!

As some of you may have guessed by now, I'm a musician and I enjoy playing a form of music that is way off the mainstream. Many people find this form of music strange and embarrassing because it is often characterized as being played by hicks with missing teeth, bare feet, and overalls. Despite the fact that Bluegrass music is an acquired taste, it is truly an amazing art form.

Bluegrass music sort of got its start with a guy named Bill Monroe who toured with a band named "Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys" in the 30s and 40s. The word Bluegrass was included because Bill's home state was Kentucky, the Bluegrass State.

When Barbara and I moved to Colorado 15 months ago, I quit two bands based out of the San Francisco bay area: Due West (a progressive bluegrass and acoustic jazz band) and FaultLine (a vocal gospel bluegrass band). I decided to take a year off from bluegrass because I was ready for a time of rest and renewal and was hopeful that the time off might inject some new passion into my playing. So I stayed away from bluegrass venues—which are plentiful up here in Colorado—and just focused on playing on the worship team at my church.

A few weeks ago I got the bug to start playing bluegrass again and began practicing bluegrass for the first time in a year! I quickly discovered that I couldn't play bluegrass worth a darn! I had lost all my bluegrass chops which are a very special kind of ability because in bluegrass you have to be able to play really, really fast, and sing really, really high, and your rhythm and timing has to be near perfect since bluegrass doesn't use any drums to help keep time. Well, I couldn't do any of it well, so in a spirit of humility I started spending at least 20 minutes every day just playing and singing along with some bluegrass records.

Then a good friend Alan Begley suggested that I check out Oskar Blues—a brew pub located in Lyons, Colorado—because they have a bluegrass jam every Tuesday night. Well I did, and I had a great time! I was amazed at the quality of musicianship among the majority of pickers that showed up, which was quite a few, maybe 30 or more?

I was back in familiar territory, trying to tear it up on my mandolin, finding I was still only running at about 65% but getting better as I went along. I discovered that I must have muscles in my fingertips because I let them get all soft and blubbery over the past 15 months and it takes considerable work to get them back in shape.

I met some really terrific folks there, and I reconnected with Eric Thorin—bass player for Open Road—whom I first met when I substituted for Caleb Roberts and played mandolin with Open Road at a bluegrass festival in California a couple years ago. Eric can often be found organizing the weekly pick at Oskar Blues. I also met some other great pickers and singers and just plain nice folks. I only know their first names but they include Dave and Enion (mando and fiddle), David (dobro), Chad (mando), and Jeff (guitar and vocals). There are others but I don't remember their names (sorry!).

If you are an aspiring bluegrass musician, or just want to hear what it's all about, you should come on down to Oskar Blues, in downtown Lyons, Colorado on Tuesday evening about 8 PM. The pick usually lasts about 3 hours. The food is really good too, though it seems like they haven't received the memo on trans fats yet! ;o) The beer—which is brewed right there in the building—was very tasty indeed! I tried a Pilsner and really enjoyed it.

I think I may end up making Oskar Blues a regular Tuesday night thing—when I'm not in California for work that is—at least until I can get some of my chops back and find some other opportunities to keep them up.

If you are reading this, and you ever get down to the Tuesday night pick, please introduce yourself and let me know you read about it here. Hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Erik

Oskar Blues
Cajun Grill & Brewery
Lyons, Colorado

Erik performing in the San Francisco bay area with FaultLine (click to read about Erik's musical background)

M O N D A Y,   J A N U A R Y   1 5   2 0 0 7
Martin Luther King Jr. Day

7°F with Scattered Clouds

What a glorious winter we've been having up here on the mountain top! Between weekly snows—we've received nearly 6 feet in the past 4 weeks—and bitter cold (low: -8°F, high: 7°F last Friday), we've had a big wind storm (93 MPH), and freezing fog that has left the trees looking like they are dressed in sparkling diamonds! Even when there are no clouds in the sky, we can see little sparkling ice crystals floating in the air. It's like a winter wonderland, and no film (or memory card) can capture the breathtaking beauty we are so blessed to be able to enjoy up here.

M O N D A Y,   J A N U A R Y   8   2 0 0 7

What a Trip!

Well, mother nature threw in one of our famous Rocky Mountain wind storms this morning which just happened to play havoc with my trip to California to attend a 5-day Java/J2EE/JSF/AJAX training course for work.

I left for the airport at 3:30 AM—so I could catch my usual 6 AM flight to SFO—and as I came around a bend I plowed into a 3 foot snow drift, high-centering all 7000 lbs of my Ford F-250 pickup and hopelessly stranding me smack-dab in the middle of the county road!

But while I was worried that I would block several hundred neighbors from getting to work, it didn't really matter since there were 4 foot drifts clear across the road for about 100 yards past my truck and nothing but a snow cat or a really big snow plow could have traversed that distance. This particular stretch of road was at the crest of the mountain where the winds were their strongest, cutting 90° to the road. Nobody in our neighborhood was going anywhere until the county snow plow could clear the drifts.

So, once I realized all four of my wheels were spinning freely in 4-wheel drive low, and I didn't have a chance getting unstuck by myself in the dark on a mountain road in 100 MPH winds and white-out conditions, I abandoned my truck and hiked the 1/2 mile or so back to my house, working hard to keep my footing on the slippery roads as the winds threatened to carry me down the mountain.

Of course, to make this especially entertaining, I was dressed for San Francisco where conditions were mild—temperatures in the 50s-60s—so I was wearing tennis shoes, a T-shirt (for comfortable flying), and a light fleece sweat-shirt and wind breaker. Luckily I wasn't far from the house or I may have been in a tight spot!

I later read that the wind was clocked at 93 MPH in Boulder which means it probably exceeded 100 MPH on the mountain. I also learned that night just how much 100 MPH blowing snow can sting your face.

I'd left a note on my dashboard with my phone number so the county snow plow driver could call me and I'd come get the truck, once they plowed, but a neighbor called about 7 AM and asked me to come get the truck. He and a couple other neighbors helped me dig my truck out with shovels. By this time I have to say I've become a bit weary of shoveling snow but there was no other recourse since the county plow wouldn't be able to get by my truck anyway and there was a long line of neighbors trying to get to work, parked just before the drifts, waiting for the road to be cleared.

We finally dug my truck out so I was able to drive home and wait for the county plow to clear the drifts. In the end I managed to catch a 4:55 PM flight to SFO and join my work-mates in training Tuesday morning, so all turned out fine in the end.

Another life-memory and blessing of living on a mountain. I wouldn't trade this for the world!

Erik

F R I D A Y,   D E C E M B E R   2 9   2 0 0 6

Here We Go Again!

Well, we woke up this morning to nearly two feet more of fresh snow! Last year we didn't get but a few inches in all of December, while this year we have received well over four feet and it's still snowing outside!

We were tempted to take more snow pics, but decided not to bore you with EMSP (even more snow pics!).

We hope that you're bundled up, safe and warm, as we soon begin a three-day weekend and usher in the new year with a big silver ball in Times Square!

T U E S D A Y,   D E C E M B E R   2 6   2 0 0 6

Happy Holidays!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and are enjoying the holiday season!

Erik received an awesome gift this year. Barbara gave him a Davis Weather Station that accurately measures wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind chill, rain and snow totals, and much more. It is solar powered and wirelessly transmits data from the sensors outside to a receiver inside the house.

We've always wanted to know just how strong the wind gusts are up here that occasionally shake our house to its foundation. We've been told that the gusts up here reach 100 MPH, but we just don't know for sure since the Boulder weather reports are highly inaccurate for our mountain top.

Erik also plans to get an optional adapter so he can hook it up to his computer and publish the data to a weather page on this web site. You'll eventually be able to visit us and know exactly what kind of weather we're having on top of our mountain here in the Rocky Mountains.

Anyway, we sincerely wish you a Happy New Year! May God bless you greatly in the coming year!

S A T U R D A Y,   D E C E M B E R   2 3   2 0 0 6

A Perfect Storm

The big news of course, was the storm that struck the Boulder/Denver area on Wednesday morning (Dec 20). Erik was in California Monday and Tuesday for his job and flew back to Denver late Tuesday night, just ahead of the storm. We both felt very blessed since there's no telling when he'd been able to get back. There are still holiday travelers stuck at Denver Airport and many are waiting elsewhere trying to catch a flight into Denver. Some folks may even miss being with their families this Christmas.

But it sure was fun watching all that snow come down. We received more than two feet of snow here on the mountain, which wasn't difficult to deal with except that the county snow plow created a wall of snow in front of our driveway.

Erik spent a few hours early Thursday morning plowing our driveway and our next door neighbor's with his ATV, as well as digging a car out of an embankment with shovels before going to work, but it's great exercise and fun working shoulder-to-shoulder with neighbors that we seldom talk to the rest of the year.

We heard of many examples where this storm brought neighbors closer together—helping get cars unstuck, snow-blowing driveways, shoveling pathways and sidewalks—and despite the hardship this storm brought to some, it has been a blessing in the lives of many more, including ours.

Click here for pictures of the snow around our place. Of course we had a couple special visitors (wild animals) during and after the storm too!

Barbara trying out her
snow shoes

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Copyright © 1998-2007, Erik Thomas