Visit Kirkmanistan

Go there, not here.

2007-06-11T10:35:00.001-04:00

Turning over the family web update duties to the wife. Here:

http://paigeye.blogspot.com

Goal!

2007-03-02T08:25:00.000-05:00

Blueberry hooligan.

The Sandman cometh..

2007-01-30T15:19:00.000-05:00

Dear ACC,

Owned. Basketball too.

Thanks,

--The hokies

217 days and counting..

2007-01-26T15:17:00.000-05:00

"Mommy, they just want your money" --ajk

2007-01-25T22:47:00.000-05:00

Dear Floam,

We thought you were a gimmick.. and, well, you are, but when seomeone else pays, you make for a fun afternoon. Just ask anyone who floams!

Rare horned floam caterpillar:

Frog/owl (pronounced 'fragowl') floam, c/o B.S.

Starfish-floam (my favorite).

EGME Python floam. Go pythons!

...yea, that's the way you floam it. Floamtastic.

Thank you P-Ws for the cool costumes.

2007-01-25T22:35:00.000-05:00

Snow white, Sleeping Beauty, and Count-Drakula-Darth-Vader thank you for the cool costumes.

Snow Day

2007-01-22T15:53:00.000-05:00

It was only 2 inches, but at least we got out of school.

Rainy Day Hikers

2007-01-16T09:42:00.001-05:00

Burnout

2006-12-22T11:17:00.000-05:00

CTK's in the hizzy..

2006-12-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

#4 arrived Sunday morning the 10th at 4:13am, and is 7lbs 11oz, 20inches long. I'm off for the rest of the year, didn't get layed off, spend my days catching up on Days of Our lives, and am eagerly awaiting (amongst other great College Bowl games), VT vs. Georgia in the Peach Bowl. Things couldn't be any better..

..and yes, he looks just like me!

Schwarting Birthday Party

2006-12-14T09:44:00.000-05:00

D's birthday party on Saturday was at the Purcellville Skate Rink. Very cool idea. Load them up with candy, then let them loose.

On our way to the party...

..eating with D...

..action shot...

..hang'in with D....

Random Pictures

2006-12-09T11:44:00.000-05:00

#1 and #2, with cousin L..

..coooking with Metsi...

..every family has "that" uncle....

...craft time...

..a family that plays together, stays together...

...baby sitting 101...

...you're the baby.. but not for long...

...#4 should be here any moment.

Big Smooooov

2006-12-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

Send forth messengers to all corners of the empire with the following proclomation. From this moment forward Jason Campbell will be referred to as: The "Big Smooth", or alternately "Big Smooth". It may sound like a bowel movment, but it fits. Gotta admin, dude's smoov.

Redskins 101

2006-11-28T13:12:00.000-05:00

Pretty much all you need to know about the Redskins.

RC Trucks fun.

2006-11-23T12:41:00.000-05:00

Got this thing from Radio Shack. Tons of fun. Bye bye.

Its time for a New Covenant

2006-10-19T14:46:00.000-04:00

America is the greatest country in the history of the world because our people have always believed in two great ideas: first, that tomorrow can be better than today, and second, that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.

That's why we need a new approach to government--a government that
offers more empowerment and less entitlement, more choices for
young people in the schools they attend, in the public schools they
attend, and more choices for the elderly and for people with
disabilities and the long-term care they receive--a government that
is leaner, not meaner. A government that expands opportunity, not
bureaucracy--a government that understands that jobs must come from
growth in a vibrant and vital system of free enterprise. That's what
the New Covenant is all about.

An America in which the doors of college are thrown open once again
to the sons and daughters of stenographers and steelworkers. We'll
say: Everybody can borrow the money to go to college. But you
must do your part. You must pay it back -- from your paychecks, or
better yet, by going back home and serving your communities. Just
think of it. Think of it; millions of energetic young men and
women, serving their country by policing the streets, or teaching
the children or caring for the sick, or working with the elderly or
people with disabilities, or helping young people to stay off drugs
and out of gangs, giving us all a sense of new hope and limitless
possibilities. That's what the New Covenant is all about.

An America where we end welfare as we know it. We will say to
those on welfare: you will have and you deserve the opportunity
through training and education, through child care and medical
coverage, to liberate yourself. But then, when you can, you must
work, because welfare should be a second chance, not a way of life.
That's what the New Covenant is all about.

An America in which health care is a right, not a privilege. In
which we say to all of our people: Your government has the courage
-- finally -- to take on the health care profiteers and make health
care affordable for every family. But you must do your part:
preventive care, prenatal care, childhood immunization; saving
lives, saving money, saving families from heartbreak. That's what
the New Covenant is all about.

An America with the world's strongest defense; ready and willing to
use force, when necessary. An America at the forefront of the
global effort to preserve and protect our common environment -- and
promoting global growth. An America that will not coddle tyrants,
from Baghdad to Beijing. An America that champions the cause of
freedom and democracy, from Eastern Europe to Southern Africa, and
in our own hemisphere in Haiti and Cuba.

It is time to heal America. And so we must say to every American:
look beyond the stereotypes that blind us. We need each other.
All of us, we need each other. We don't have a person to waste.
And yet, for too long, politicians have told the most of us that
are doing all right that what's really wrong with America is the
rest of us. Them. Them the minorities. Them the liberals. Them
the poor. Them the homeless. Them the people with disabilities.
Them the gays. We've gotten to where we've nearly them'd ourselves
to death. Them, and them, and them. But this is America. There
is no them; there is only us. One nation, under God, indivisible,
with liberty, and justice, for all.

Playlist Redux

2006-10-17T20:32:00.000-04:00

JayZ and Biggy - ResonableDoubt (mp3)
Apha Blonde - I love Paris (m4a)
Ghengis Angus - Deal (m4a)
Cold Play - Live in Paris (8.27.02) God put a smile on your face (mp3)
Sugar - If I can't change your mind (m4a)
Grateful Dead - Portland Coliseum '74 Warf Rat (m4a)

Week 6 in review - forget about it

2006-10-17T15:20:00.000-04:00

Ohhhh and 5. Hokies, Skins, and all 3 fantasy leagues. We'll chalk this one up to a weird misallignment of the stars.

Probably the same celestial occurance that has a spell-bound congress rubber stamping a bill which legalizes torture. The new law vaguely bans torture -- but makes the administration the arbiter of what is torture and what isn't. It allows the president to imprison indefinitely anyone he decides falls under a wide-ranging new definition of unlawful combatant. It suspends the Great Writ of habeas corpus for detainees. It allows coerced testimony at trial. It immunizes retroactively interrogators who may have engaged in torture.

What message does this send? To the Supreme Court, its clear: "Review Me"

And to Virginia voters, 53% of whom favor a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as "one man and one woman", I referr you to the first line in the first leg of our Holy Trinity (Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights).

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

All men (and women) are created equal - unalienable and endowed by their Creator. Not: "some men and women are created equal, and we'll interpret (decide) who is, and the rest are SOL."

The most irksome thing about this is that I find both of these initiatives to be Anti-Concervative, interpretationist, and contrary to the spirit of our great experiment. Habeas Corpus, due process, and individual rights are unalienable, and can't be legislated aginst.

--A True Concervative

Week 4 in review - 'Tana time

2006-10-03T13:40:00.000-04:00

Week 4's in the books, and it was a mixed bag of sorts, with me winning in 2 fantasy leagues, and the Skins beat the Jags - then me loosing in one fantasy league, and the Hokies being exposed by Georgia Tech. I'm 3-2 for the weekend, but I'll take the +1 differntial in overall football rooting interests.

While we're on that topic, if there's a bigger play maker in the NFL, I don't know who it is. He's on both of my fantasy squads that won this week - no surprise given the 3 touchdowns he chipped in. Catch, spin, outrun everyone. Bad ass.

So anyway, on to week 5. I've got a tough matchup in LCFFLXIV, and I can't quite figure out when its time to send Randy Gene Moss and his 13 total points to the bench (or mabye even back to Rand WV). The only option I have there this week is Drew Bennett aginst Indy. Is that how bad its gotten for Mr. Cash Money? Drew Bennett? Wow. Otherwise, that roster's pretty set with: Brady, Santana, Stallworth (hope he plays), McGahee, Chester, Watson, ChicagoD, Akers. Going aginst my arch nemesis, and league trash talker, the BusDrivers, who's starting: Grossman, RoyW, Mushin, Suicide, LarryJ, JLew, Desmond Clark, NewEnglandD, and drunk ass Vanderjagt. Yahoo projects him winning 80 - 86, but my boys are fired up from 'Tana's late game heroics last week.

In IBSFFL3, I'm going up aginst the Beer Pints, swurvingly directed by Jay Kistler. He starts this guy at WR:

If you know Jay, you know I can already book it to the win column - lets not waste any more time on this one. I've got McNabb my brother in laws league, ("The Hackett League"), so a victory there's pretty much a lock each week. That's what you get for knocking up my sister - weekly crushings.

That's about it. Politics is a mess - they're all a bunch of perverted hypocrits and racists - at least we've got Football (Fantasy or otherwise).

Free the Birds

2006-09-25T16:54:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard, Baltimore Orioles fans are protesting. Fed up with 9 straight sub-500 seasons, and in particular the owner's method of running things - pocketing your money, and not developing the team - Orioles fans are publically revolting aginst ownership. Wearing "free the birds" t-shirts, chanting "sell the team", then walking out of the games en-mass (like two thousand at a time), this group of organized Baltimore fans is holding Orioles owner Peter Angelos accountable for the way that he's manage the team during his tenure as owner. Its about time.

How can you disagree with a lady in a wheelchair, a nice old guy, and a dude with his baby? These people got it right.

The Girls

2006-09-23T21:30:00.000-04:00

Its been brought to my attention by our target audience that the recent posts on this forum have fostered gender and age discrimination. In the interest of equity, and in an effort to stifle the middle child syndrome, here are some updates on #s 2 and 3. When our community speaks, we listen - that's web2.0.

M got some pig tails..

R got some water..

..and some new shoes...

Wanna see my cane pole?

2006-09-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful day to go fishing - but then again, what day isn't? On Mike's suggestion, we went to Franklin Park which was cool because there was both shore and dock fishing - and the pond was clean.

We started on the shore..

...laughed at Grandpa's cane pole..

..and caught a baby bass..

..and a blue gill..

..and another from the dock..

..and learned how to take a hook out.

We were pretty much on a hot streak, so we went to the Old Izakk Walton League pond in Leesburg, but that thing was sorta gross. We caught a bunch of blue gill, but there were alot of water obstructions, so we dragged in a bunch of grass and such. I think Izaak Walton's better for sporting clays, and not fishing.

How old are you?

2006-09-12T15:21:00.000-04:00

How old am I?
* So old that I have 2 kids in school.
* So old that I know what a "Sally Foster" fundraiser is.
* So old that I'm telling another person to do their homework. And they listen.

A and M started the school year this week, with A in kindergarden and M preschool.

M's first day. They say the best camera is the one you have on you, which in this case was my LG6100 camera phone. Better than nothing I guess:

A's first day of kindergarden was a rainy day, so we couldn't get any good shots, but he did ejoy getting some use out of his umbrella.

And yes, that's a picture of him inside the house with the umbrella open. 10 years from now, when he's sitting in the principles office, pondering how he got to that point in his academic career, he might look no further than this moment.

Frack'in pass the crack

2006-09-12T14:22:00.000-04:00

Contemplating how awesome it is that the NFL season has finally begun (HD ta-boot!), I realized how great fall HDTV is. Even though the Deadwood season's just wrapped up, The Wire is a pretty good replacement. The Wire + NFL + BSG = HDTV heaven.

Basking in my dorkdome I went to scifi.com to check on the date for the BSG Season3 premier. Guess what I found? A 10 "webisode" season (currently on webisode3) called "The Resistence". Its a bridge between the season2 finale, and the season3 premier. A teaser really. As MK once said: "BSG - its like they're slipping me crack thru the tv". I couldn't agree any more. More crack please.

P.S. Season3 premiers October 6th at 8/9c on the scifi channel. The trailer:

To the beach!

2006-09-12T13:06:00.000-04:00

Another Griswald family vacation is sucessfully in the books, and we're all back in good shape (just missing hurricane Ernesto, which rolled through the afternoon we left). We stayed in Salvo, which is just south of Nags Head in North Carolina's outer banks. Its our first time staying that far south, and upon reflection I think its the way to go. We rented a place called the "Regal Seagull". It was super remote, and really low key, however I would have preferred a nicer/larger place. Another lesson learned - always rent a place with a pool. Its a must have. Two weeks later, and one state away, I'm still rifling thru sand in all my stuff.

Its pretty much the kind of vacation we (I) needed. Sunny, mild temperature, and warm water. We fished every morning from about 6-8, and ended the day the same way. Ad caught a couple spot on his birthday:

With the exception of the first day, we drove to the beach rather than walking (took us a sec to catch on). 20psi, 4low, and a Chevy Suburban will get you anywhere:

...fished some more:

..ate some birthday cake:

..watched some movies:

...ate the fish we caught:

..then fished some more:

That's basically the whole story. We fished a ton, wrecked a new $30 kite in the surf, watched some meaningless pre season football, and relaxed. I think next year we may try to adventure further south, maybe to Avon, and look for a larger place with a pool.