Jason's Untimely Thoughts

As I’m getting ready this morning, Adelaide comes into the bathroom asking “Have you ever heard of nose glowers?”  Um, no.

“They’d be little balls that you’d stick in your nose at nighttime,” she said, sticking her nose out one way and her butt the other.  “They’d glow, so when you were searching around for stuff you could see!  Wouldn’t that be a good idea?!”

Yeah, I say, we could call them ‘Rudolphs’ with your nose so bright.  “No, daddy, they’d be all different colors… yellow, and blue, and green, and purple.  Not just red.”

Just when I thought we were all set to be millionaires, she told me she was just teasing me.  Oh well, inspiration is sure to strike again soon.

I’d been wondering why I haven’t put any new pictures up on the site in a while… turns out it’s because there were a few hundred photos from throughout the summer on our little camera. Some of those have now made their way here.

Many have recently asked how Sarah’s doing. All is well, while we continue to investigate options. The physician we visited in NYC recommended some other treatments, which we’ve been discussing with Sarah’s local oncologist and researching on our own. As part of that, another friend of ours (who is a radiologist) was good enough to review all the CT scans with us looking over his shoulder (literally). Just making sure we knew what we knew. At the moment, no plans for any new or different treatments, but we’re still looking around some. There is another round of scans scheduled for late August, so that could certainly influence a decision. Will probably due a full-blown update then.

Football season is coming up (hooray!). Sarah is continuing her history of shooting lots for them… some paid and some not. We’re interested in doing more of it paid, if you know anyone in the athletic department tell them to pay her.

It’s August and it’s hot. Around 100 degrees every day this week. Construction going on at work (expansion), so A/C is sketchy. That makes it fun. Heat index is for sissies, but it is hot.

bring on football season.

Speaking of which, here’s some football news.  Media picks the Tigers to win the Big 12 North, UT to win the South.  2007 football commercials are online at mutigers.com.  Also, some good video tours of the recently completed Mizzou Athletic Training Center are online.

Last night I’m at the store, buying a new bike for Adelaide as she’s long outgrown her last one and the big neighborhood 4th of July parade is coming up. (On that note, be sure to check out the Columbia Daily Tribune’s 2007 “Our Town” cover with AEB’s photo from last year’s event.) Anyway, I’m at the checkout line, rolling a pink bike through the aisle.

A nice couple in front of me turns to see the spectacle, lady says “Aww, that’s cute. Someone’s going to be a happy girl tomorrow.” I respond that yeah, and hopefully that works. I’m afraid that we’ll end up with one happy and one sad with me only bringing one bike home.

A few minutes later she mentions that hopefully the kids can share. I agree and tell her that I’m hoping Adelaide is happy with her new bike and “he is happy with her old pink bike”. At this point, the husband finally becomes interested. “Did you say ‘he’?”. Yep. It’s either her pink bike or her pink tricycle, he can have whichever one he likes.

“At some point, we’re going to have to change colors,” he responds. I agree, but then add that as long as he puts down Adelaide’s purse and takes off her dress-up shoes before he gets on the pink bike, I’m really OK with it. For some reason, that put them over the edge.

Thankfully, I didn’t even mention that Jack has his toenails painted at the moment. I did, however, try to save his pride (or mine?) by mentioning the 4-year old boy that came up to me at the McDonald’s play area a month ago or so and said, “Hi, my name is Mary Poppins!” I think they thought I was making that up.

Fast forward to this morning, I come downstairs to find Adelaide and Jack excitedly looking at the new bike. Adelaide has her “ballerinatard” on, Jack is wearing her sparkly pink high-heeled sandals.

(It was all in good fun, the people at the store thought the whole thing was funny. And Jack is conveniently 36.5 inches tall and 36 pounds, so he can take any grief he might get from those less secure in their manliness.)

Some guy named Mark Schlabach from ESPN has an article calling Georgia’s 26-24 defeat over Tennessee in 2001 the best game he’s ever seen. I should write for ESPN, it seems.

I was also at that game and it was a great game, but it barely rates my personal Top 5. While heavily skewed towards Mizzou, obviously, several of these are still replayed endlessly on ESPN Classic, so I’m not alone at least. My Top 5 NCAA Football games witnessed in person:

5. GA-UT game in Knoxville in 2001. Georgia wins 26-24 on a touchdown in the last seconds.

4. MU’s 41-24 victory over Nebraska in 2003. Would be on my personal highlight list just for breaking the streak against the bugeaters, but Brad Smith’s performance in the game against the #1 ranked defense in the country (at the time) was remarkable.

3. 5th Down. Colorado’s 33-31 victory over Mizzou in 1990. Game remarkable for the officiating, not necessarily the on-field performances, as CU’s winning “score” came on a mistaken “5th Down” play as time expired. And as replays still show, CU quarterback Charles Johnson still didn’t score on the play. He was down. CU went on to claim a share of the national championship.

2. Flea-Kicker. Nebraska’s 45-38 overtime win at Mizzou in 1997 was possible due to an insanely lucky (and technically illegal) game-tieing touchdown with seconds remaining in regulation. Pass from QB Scott Frost intended for Shevin Wiggins. As the ball was deflected, Wiggins eventually kicked it just enough for a diving Matt Davison to catch for the TD that sent to overtime. Nebraska went on to claim a share of the national championship.

1. Boston College’s 41-39 victory at Notre Dame in 1993. Notre Dame had just beaten Florida State in “The Game of the Century” to remain undefeated and move to #1 in the rankings with just the BC game remaining. BC dominated much of the game, only to have Notre Dame score 3 touchdowns in 11 minutes to move into the lead with just seconds remaining. BC then drove and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired. Remarkable not only for the ups and downs, but for how the ND crowd (students at least) stayed into the game and supported their team even when they were way down.

Other tidbits, here’s a youtube clip of a 1961 brawl between players at KU-MU basketball game. Interesting as a reminder that stuff like this didn’t just start with today’s generation. Also interesting that they thought (hoped?) playing the national anthem would make everyone stop.

Sarah & I just returned from a trip to New York city, where much fun was had. Originally just a vacation, we also worked in a little doctoring and some time with friends. Pictures from the trip are here.

We arrived on Wednesday and met up with Craig #1 at his apartment in Greenwich Village, then off to a quick dinner. On Thursday, we did a bicycle rickshaw tour of Central Park in the morning, then Sarah had an appointment with Dr. Richard Warner, another of the nation’s experts on carcinoid. He had some slightly different recommendations than we’d heard before, but preliminary. He’ll be sending us and our local oncologist a full report in approximately a month.

From there, we hit Times Square for sights and dinner. Times Square is an insane mix of corporate advertising, people, taxis, and all that comes with all of that. For foreigners visiting the US, what a shocking first impression.

On Friday, we went walking in SoHo, checking out the stores and the sights. We then met up with Craig #2 at his apartment on the Upper East Side, for dinner and more sights. Walked around 5th Avenue a bit, seeing the fancy stores and watching young girls take pictures of the “Gucci” and “Pucci” store signs. I want to establish a chain named “Hucci” and become a millionaire. Also saw Rockefeller Center, home of the NBC studios.

Saturday was a street fair in the Village then back up to shopping around Rockefeller Plaza. Late afternoon, we took the Circle Line‘s cruise around Manhattan. Three hours very well spent, seeing parts of the city and region that we’d have never seen otherwise (thanks to our DC friends for suggesting this).

On Sunday we hit Times Square again to buy half-price tickets to a Broadway show at the TKTS windows. After debating and deciphering, we ended up with tickets to Curtains at the Hirschfeld Theatre. Had drinks at Tavern on the Green in Central Park while waiting for the show, then back up to Broadway for the performance. High Quality.

We ended our trip by stopping at Ground Zero then a quick walk over to South Street Seaport. We took mostly subway, all over town, for cheap. Also took much advantage of the plethora of meat & drink carts all over town, the Duane Reade drug stores on every corner, and the Bagel Buffet just across the street from where we stayed.

Thanks to all that helped with this trip!

Spring Football Game is Saturday. Good Times.

Here are two great articles on Tigers:

• Jeremy Maclin from Graham Watson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• Marcus Woods from Mike DeArmond of the Kansas City Star.

This will be the first spring game in forever that Sarah’s not taking pictures. With the demise of Inside Mizzou (unofficially), no one is paying her anymore. Makes shooting the spring game considerably less of a priority.

The athletic department keeps talking like they might pay her for stuff like this. And talking. And talking. It was going to be worked out by September. 2006. Come December, I imagine they’ll figure out they’d really like to have had a bunch of pictures from the football games.

In the meantime, we’re getting ready to re-order our crazy number of football season tickets, buy tickets to four away games, and renew our Tiger Scholarship Fund donation. In a couple more months we’ll renew our basketball season tickets. If only there were some really obvious way to combine their needs with our needs.

We’re almost done with the attic remodel. AEB & JTB are both sleeping in their new beds. Now if we can just get the parents away from those beds too, real progress will have been made. Pictures of the latest developments are here now.

Anyone reading this that lives in the St. Paul, Minnesota, area, e-mail me. I have a clandestine mission for you.

On a side note, screw ku.

The Yeti and This Website Stinks are two sites of minor interest that came to me this week.

In other news, MU plays KU in basketball Saturday. Down with the shoebirds.

… from the Beckings. Jack, Adelaide, Sarah, and Jason have each had a fun-filled year, details of which we’ll now bore you with.

The little lad Jack Thayer recently weighed in at 34 pounds, which happened to equate to a pound per inch tall. He had his first birthday party in June and was seemingly unimpressed. He’s getting around anywhere he wants to go at this point, enjoys throwing pens and remote controls at Jason’s nose, and finds particular amusement in throwing the vast collection of balls we keep in Kitchen #1 down the basement stairs. “Uh oh”, “oh no”, “down”, and “bye” are each likely responses when a ball disappears. He’s not really much of a talker yet, but that’s mostly due to lack of opportunity.

Which leads us directly to older sis Adelaide. AEB turned 4 years old in September. She loves movies and pretending and dancing and telling stores, some of which are based upon facts. She’s become a busy chick, with dance recitals, soccer camp, dance camp, swimming camp, dancing in Living Windows in downtown Columbia, etc., sprinkled throughout the year. Her schedule has hit a reprieve, though, as she’s decided against going to any more Tiger men’s basketball games. She doesn’t get to go to the locker room with the Golden Girls at those, which is honestly enough reason for almost anyone to quit going to the men’s basketball games.

Sarah has seen her schedule pick up quite a bit, as is always the case in the fall. MU pictures, family photos, kids photos, and other randomness keep her as busy as she wants to be in the photography realm. She’s fortunate to have a compadre here in town that shares resources with her, benefiting both of them we think. Her photography and search for health information (with help from grandparents) have allowed us to see great friends in Tyler & Waco, Texas, New Orleans, DC, Columbus, Portland, and more. We’re also blessed to see so many friends and family come through Columbia, particularly around football season. (And she’s feeling well, thank you.)

Jason is still working at Miller’s Professional Imaging, which he enjoys very much. He enjoys it even more when everyone he knows uses Mpix.com instead of Shutterfly, Walgreens, and the like. We have a 34 pound baby to feed, you know. Beyond work, Jason still enjoys all things sports, particularly Mizzou, and chasing the kids around. Although chasing the kids around sort of applies to work as well. Sadly, he lost his gall bladder this year, an event from which he’s still recovering his humor (old joke, but everything gets funnier with repetition).

In all seriousness, we know life is busy and crazy for everyone and we appreciate everyone’s efforts on our behalves this year. We’ve been smacked in the head with reminders of how many great friends and family we have who are willing and available to look out for us however they can.

May your days be filled with family and friends and fun and funniness and may your favorite teams be victorious. Except for fans of the mythical shoe-wearing birds, you’ll just have to get by with family and friends and fun and funniness.

Freaking people and their Christmas card pictures.

Sarah takes lots and lots of friends and family’s pictures for their Christmas cards. She pretty much only does it for friends and family, because otherwise, it’s too much of a pain in the painful area. Even for friends and family, barely worth it.

Almost once a day this time of the year, someone says “I can’t spend that much money on Christmas cards. Can I just take it XYZ, because their 4×6 prints are only 1 cent?” Inevitably, later then a follow-up call of some sorts because the prints from XYZ look like crap and “what should I do now”. There’s a reason they’re only charging 1 cent, or whatever the hell. The reason is they don’t care anything about making photographs, are hoping that 1 cent prints will get you in the door to buy some of the other junk they sell, and their prints are almost certainly going to look like crap.

If it’s worth your time to ask Sarah to take your pictures, meaning she breaks out about $3,000 worth of camera equipment, finds someone to watch Jack & Adelaide, goes to your house, or even worse, the studio space she’s borrowing from a friend thereby keeping him from making money, spends 2 hours of her time dealing with the pictures, then maybe another hour or so designing your family’s Christmas Card, then have the stomach for the price of a decent print.

If she’s kind enough to give you the file, take it someplace where those 100 prints are going to cost you $20-30 instead of $10-15, preferably www.mpix.com, but a GOOD local lab would also satisfy us. We recommend 50 Minute Photo to anyone that asks. If she doesn’t give you the file, remember she’s trying to pay for the $3,000 of camera equipment, the baby-sitter, and the studio space, and then figure out if you think she’s making any money on you.

If you absolutely don’t care what the prints look like, break out your point & shoot camera and spend 1 cent each on the prints at whatever convenience store is closest to you, and save Sarah the effort and time of trying to make you look good.

And by all means, if you’re someone we happen to do business with, consider if maybe we think you’re overpriced too, but continue to use your overpriced service because we see the value in supporting local businesses and friends. Especially before you tell us how expensive those freaking prints are.

Not directed at any one person, as it’s just unbelievably too common to simply apply to only one person.

On a side note, screw ku.