Bonology

I felt inspired to post this Bono chronology or "Bonology" after Kristen's comments about Bono's bad fashion sense over the years. Feel free to vote for your favorite Bono in the poll to the right, and elaborate on your choices in the comments.

Mullet Bono

Hair: Mullet with blond highlights
Clothes: Sleeveless shirt, boots
Shades: No
Hobby: Waving white flags

"How long must we sing this song?"



Pirate Bono

Hair: Long, all one length
Clothes: Vest, pirate pants, sometimes a cowboy hat
Shades: No
Hobby: Discovering America

"Charles Manson stole this song from the Beatles, we're stealin' it back."

"The Fly" Bono

Hair: Greased back
Clothes: Black leather from head to toe
Shades: Yes, first appearance
Hobby: Being ironic

"Even better than the real thing."



Muscle Bono

Hair: Buzz cut
Clothes: Muscle shirt
Shades: Yes
Hobby: Being a little too ironic. Oh the irony.

"New York, London, Paris, Munich, everybody talk about pop music."

Modern Bono

Hair: Presumably dyed
Clothes: Jacket, t-shirt
Shades: Yes
Hobby: Saving the world

"Uno, dos, tres, catorce."

A Place Called Vertigo

Being the U2 fan that I am, I recently dragged Kristen along to see U23D, which is currently playing on the Imax screen at Jordan Commons. As if Bono wasn't already larger than life, now you can see him over 50 feet tall and in three dimensions!

U23D was filmed in South America during the band's last world tour. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than a concert film, but I would agree with many critics that have said it is the closest thing to actually being there. And we didn't have to drop $100 a ticket to get in.

Naturally, the four members of the band command a good portion of the screen time. But quite often, the 3D effects also put you right in the middle of the crowd. At one point during the show, the entire stadium was jumping up and down in unison. The camera was looking straight down on the crowd from above, and it felt like the entire screen was pulsating.

Anyone who is even a casual U2 fan, I highly recommend that you head on down to Jordan Commons to see the show. Even Kristen, who usually cringes when I put my U2 concert dvds in, thought it was entertaining.

Assembling the Crib

We went to pick up our crib from Babies 'R' Us on Saturday. By the way, you should never go to Babies "R' Us on a Saturday, but I digress. Kristen's brother Jason brought his XTerra since we were pretty sure the crib wouldn't fit in our car. But when they wheeled out the giant box, it ended up not fitting in his car either. Since we don't really know anyone with a truck, we decided to open the box right there in the parking lot and load all the parts into the car individually. We got it all to fit, and luckily the crib doesn't have any major malfunctions, since we felt compelled to leave the box at the store. We assembled it when we got home, and just for fun we decided to film the whole thing. After spending the afternoon playing around with various effects in iMovie, I am pleased to present our instructional video on how to assemble a crib in under 3 minutes.

Cupcake Calamity

My friend Marc invited us over to their place to watch/heckle the new American Gladiators on Monday night. We were charged with bringing some sort of dessert for the festivities. After some serious brainstorming, we decided to bring cupcakes frosted in red, white, and blue, spelling out "AMERICAN GLADIATORS." Kristen had the day off so she made them.

After dinner, I started pulling the cupcakes out so I could line them all up and take a photo of our handiwork. But not all the cupcakes fit in one container, and as I was reaching for the second container with the final four letters, I accidentally knocked if off the counter. And of course, it landed face down, leaving most of the frosting letters stuck to the lid. So now our cupcakes spelled out "AMERICAN GLADIA----"

Luckily, I am trained in Photoshop for just such an emergency...

Let The Olympus Games Begin

It has taken a few weeks, but I finally have my last Christmas present. I got money from both of our parents to help me get a digital SLR camera. I have long coveted such a camera, but with a baby coming in May, I figured now was as good a time as any to get one. After much deliberation and reading of internet reviews, I decided on the Olympus Evolt E-510.

The road to getting the camera turned out to be a little bumpy. First there was a near miss with a scam website. Word to the wise, stay away from Broadway Photo. Next, the ineptitude of UPS caused me to have to wait a few more days still. But Friday I was finally able to pick it up, so I have been fiddling around with it over the weekend.

In addition to taking pretentious self portraits, I am looking forward to getting out and doing some casual shooting, which I haven't really done much of lately. I am also excited to take hundreds of shots of Smidgen, which are surely destined to fill up this blog.

It is actually a little bittersweet retiring the old Toshiba. It has been with me on adventures to such exotic locales as Switzerland, Italy, New York, San Francisco, the Salt Flats, and Spiral Jetty. Maybe I won't retire it completely. It can be Smidgen's first camera.

Rambo vs. Commando

While Sylvester Stallone is revisiting his glory days yet again with a new Rambo movie, I couldn't help but wonder why Arnold Schwarzenegger never felt the need to revisit his crowning achievement Commando (If you have never seen Commando, just turn on AMC, chances are it's on). Then I realized the perfect vehicle for Arnold to bring back John Matrix. Creatively bankrupt studios have churned out Freddy vs. Jason and Alien vs. Predator team-ups, so I say the time has come for Rambo vs. Commando.

The plot would be simple: Rambo's Daughter/Mother/Significant Other would be kidnapped and it would be made to look like Matrix did it, and vice versa. They would then procede to go after each other for the first hour of the movie, blowing many things up and killing many innocent bystanders along the way. Of course, eventually Rambo and Matrix will discover that the true kidnapper is really an evil genius (played by ultimate bad guy Rufus Sewell) who has been pitting the two against each other so they would not get in the way of his world domination plans.

Naturally, Rambo and Matrix don't take too kindly to being played for fools, so they decide to team up for the final half hour. After the obligatory 10 minute "arming up" scene where they strap their bodies with every manner of armament known to man, they lay siege to the compound of said evil genius, stabbing, shooting, and exploding their way through an army of extras. Finally, they dispatch poor Mr. Sewell in over-the-top fashion, punctuated by an incomprehensible pun that one starts and the other finishes.

The body counts for these movies are always up in the high 70's or low 80's, but with a team-up, we are talking 150 casualties minimum. I'm pretty sure Sly would be all for it, I just need to get Arnold on the phone...

Good News from Pregnancy-ville!

I realize that I haven't exactly been a ray of sunshine thus far in my pregnancy, so I thought I'd post some good news for once! I had an appointment this morning with my midwife, Leissa. As many of you know, I had actually lost weight during my first trimester and still hadn't gotten back to my pre-pregnancy weight (thanks to morning sickness and my non-existent immune system). Well, as of today, I have officially gained two pounds! I never thought I would be excited about gaining weight, but as I've gained about 1/5 of what people normally have by 23 weeks, I figure that any gain is worth celebrating (perhaps with a cheeseburger).

As for Smidgen, he is healthy and strong and growing just as he should be. I even measured a little big for 23 weeks. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't mean he's going to be a big baby. I'm aiming for a 7 pounder. Of course, I'll take whatever I get.

Our First Major Baby Purchase

We hadn't been planning on buying a crib just yet, but a trip to Babies 'R' Us last night quickly changed our minds. The crib that we wanted was on clearance, and we found out they only had three left! We had to snatch it up while we could. So we have officially made our first major baby-related purchase! Since they had to order it from their distribution center, we won't actually have it for a couple of weeks -- at which point Dave will have an adventure in furniture assembly.

Human Tetris

Chicken with Scallion-Lime Sauce and Sweet Carrot Rice

This recipe has become a favorite of ours over the last few months. From Rachel Ray's Express Lane Meals.

• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 large carrots, peeled & grated
• Salt & black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups white rice
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Zest & juice of 2 limes
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 bunches of scallions, trimmed & sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter

Heat a medium pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil, once around the pan. Add grated carrots and some salt & pepper. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add rice and stir to coat in oil and distribute carrots. Add 2 1/2 cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover the pot, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 15-18 minutes, until rice is tender.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. While the pan is heating up, combine 2 tbsp oil, thyme, lime zest, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Add the chicken breasts and coat thoroughly in the mixture. Add the seasoned chicken to the skillet and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil.

Return the skillet to the heat; add the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute, then add the scallions and cook for 1 minute, again stirring constantly. Add lime juice and remaining 1/2 cup chicken stock and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and add the parsley and butter, stirring and shaking the pan until the butter is melted.

Slice chicken on a slight angle. Divide rice among 4 plates and top each pile of rice with chicken. Pour sauce over each chicken breast.