(This is a story by my son Ethan, who is 8 years old.)
Chapter 1
Once upon a time there was a boy who loved to swing.
One day he swung so high that he slipped of and flew though the air! Then a peregrine falcon stuck him down flying the fastest he could! He fell and […]

From Roz Savage, who rowed across the Atlantic ocean and is now attempting the Pacific:

I believe that if you don’t keep pushing the boundaries, keep expanding your comfort zone, your comfort zone actually gets smaller and smaller, until you’re shrink-wrapped in such a tiny comfort zone that you can’t move, you can’t achieve anything, you […]

The kids all got their medals today from the Fraser Valley Regional Library summer reading club challenge.
Aidan, when he came home with his, said now he’s got his first medal “so he can feel like a winner.”
Tags: family, fun, reading, medal, kids, john koetsier

Ethan’s instructions:
1. Blow both balloons up first (to stretch the balloons)
2. Let the air out of both
3. Blow up the balloon that’s supposed to be bigger (on the outside)
4. While holding the outside balloon put the other balloon inside it
5. Blow up the inside balloon
6. Blow up the outside balloon just a bit more
7. Tie […]

Some books that I’ve just finished up:

Witnesses of War, by Nicholas StarGardt
About children’s lives under the Nazis before, during, and slightly after WWII. Appalling, moving, engrossing.
In Search of Stones, by M. Scott Peck
Peck’s tale of a trip he and his wife took to the UK in search of dolmen and menhirs … which he intertwines […]

I’m trying to formulate my personal rules for success … the principles that I think will make me “successful” given what I know of my personality (strengths and weaknesses).
They’re a work in progress, obviously. And each is a guideline, not a law of the Medes and Persians.
In no particular order:

Don’t eat after 8 PM
Do daily […]

Wow. You really can outsource just about everything these days …

The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message.
Many have arrived with large suitcases or bags holding their belongings, which they keep in sight. Several are smoking cigarettes. […]

We’re currently on BC’s Sunshine Coast taking a week’s holiday. A couple of days ago we took a two-hour hike to Skookumchuck Narrows, which is where the tidal flow into a huge basin is constricted through a narrow passage and can exceed 30 km/hr.
Really cool rapids and standing waves … which the kayakers enjoy:

[…]

Whoa. I wonder what this would do to government corruption around the world:

The former head of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, has been executed for corruption, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.
He was convicted of taking 6.5m yuan ($850,000; £425,400) in bribes and of dereliction of duty at a trial in May.
The […]

It’s really good to see that the American media knows what’s important: 3-foot subs that aren’t.
It’s not like there’s anything more important to talk about right now.
Tags: news, america, msm, john koetsier

I’ve had some really good books out from the library … been on a bit of a history kick lately …
Here’s a selection:
Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson
Excellent book - wonderful story of 2 amateur deep-sea divers who through sheer persistence and amazing energy and effort wrote a new chapter in WWII history.
Walking Up and Down […]

Ethan and Aidan were playing around with Photobooth, Apple’s fun picture-taking software that accompanies the newer iMacs and MacBooks with built-in cameras.
A couple of the results:

And one that they liked better:

The painting you see in the back? It’s Jeroen Vermeulen’s … their uncle (and my brother-in-law).
Tags: ethan, aidan, john koetsier, family, […]

(a poem by Gabrielle Koetsier, age 10)
Children sitting, solemn, silent.
Bell rings! Screaming, yelling, violent!
Running, rushing, up the stairs.
“Children, wait!” nobody cares.
School’s out! It’s summer! Time to play!
No more teachers! Run away!
We are going to the pool.
Perfect way to keep us cool.
Let’s go buy some lemonade!
We will drink it in the shade.
Our skin is brown, our […]

This past Easter we, naturally, had an easter egg hunt. Each of the kids had a chance to hide the eggs and let the others find them.
And Gabrielle, being the creative girl she is, had to make it more interesting … with clues. Here they are …
Hrm …. in the library?

Outside?!?

This doesn’t sound too […]

Chris Forde, a documentary filmmaker, is doing a movie on Paddle to the Amazon … the longest canoe journey ever.
I’m interested in this because I read and reviewed the book Paddle to the Amazon, which is the amazing story of Don Starkell and his son Dana, who paddled from their home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to […]

Books that I’ve recently finished …
My Dying Breath, by Ben Reed
Highly recommended fictional retrospective of combat in Vietnam by a veteran.
Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson
Excellent hard sci-fi with real characters.
Heavy Weather, by Bruce Sterling
Also very good … kinda cyber-punk meets survivalist in a dystopic breaking-down world.
Tags: books, john koetsier, ben reed, […]

I love well-constructed and vivid language. Here’s a snippet I ran across today that inspired some memories:

A few years back, I was struggling to liberate a new Barbie doll from the almost invincible packaging that imprisoned her …

(Seen in an email newsletter from Character Counts … written by Michael Josephson.)
Tags: language, john koetsier, […]

Recently read …

Sagittarius Whorl by Julian May
The War Mountains, by John Mannock
The Great Deluge, by Douglas Brinkley
Count Zero, by William Gibson
The Bourne Legacy, by Erik van Lustbader (I’ve always wondered if that can really be his actual name?)
Warriors, by Max Hastings
The System, by Georgi Arbatov

Just came back from a conference in Asheville, NC … up in the Smoky Mountains. It was freezing cold … -10 Celcius with windchill … so I only got out of the hotel once, really, and took these shots as I wandered the town.
Click for a larger image of each:

I took the day off today and we spent the day at Mount Baker. Tubing, playing, feeding the birds … absolutely gorgeous:

Here’s a short video that I took while tubing … following Gabrielle down the hill:

Tags: mount baker, tubing, john koetsier