Mr. Polehn writes

We'll it's done, Ol' Bettsy is no longer parked on the street in front of my house.  I'm sure the neighbours are glad to have one less eye sore to wag their heads at as they drive by. I tried a few different methods to sell my car .  First I tried the social networks.  Selling your crap on Facebook seems very popular these days, plus I liked the idea of selling my car to somebody I actually know.  However, between Google+ and Facebook I had only three inquiries and only one of those I would consider "serious" Finally after giving up on the social route I posted my car on Craigslist.  Good ol' Craigslist brought me 15 email's almost immediately from people wanting to see my car or buy it out right (my favourite was "$400 today no questions!").  I did eventually end up selling it to somebody that found me through Craigslist, a nice couple from Boring who definitely needed the old reliable beast of a car more than I did. All and all this ...

  While replacing the tire on my front wheel last week my quick release just completely fell apart.  Being a bicycle maintenance noob I said to myself "No!  Now I need to go buy a whole new wheel!" (and quick because this is my  commuter bike ) I quickly hopped in the car and drove down town to the local bike shop downtown, which was closed.  Apparently the owner is "biking and eating in Italy." I have only ever known of this one bike shop in The Dalles.  In desperation I did a search for bike shops near The Dalles and low and behold a location popped up just blocks from my house.   T & Nae's Cycles is a little appointment only bike shop a couple operates out of their house.  I didn't know it was appointment only at the time so I just hoofed it up there to see if they could help me fix my bike.  Luckily somebody was home and willing to help me out.  Once I explained to him my problem he  got me the part I needed (for free! ...

As I mentioned earlier I've been thinking about selling my car.  Well, after talking it over, my wife and I decided we should just take the plunge into single-car-family-dom.   ( warning following statements may be in jest) This beautiful 1994 Toyota Camry features: Low miles Beautiful interior  and a sleek body. I'll be asking $550 as that is well below the kbb value for this type of vehicle in "fair" condition but there is some work needing to be done. And did I mention I'll throw in this car jack and copy of  The Hunger Games  FOR FREE!!!!!!!??? Update:  CAR SOLD!!!

Its a little late but here are a collection of photos from when  +Amanda Polehn , our girls and I went to Wallowa Lake for a few days.  All and all it was one of my favourite vacations we have had as a family. This deer was a little infatuate with Amanda followed us around until a dog finally chased it away. Giant chair for the "Resort" we stayed at. We did eventually get out on the lake in a boat.  Lucy conquered her fears and claims it was her favourite part :) This is apparently what you do when you get a hole in one. It's kind of funny to me how you can live in a state for your whole life and still find great new places to go.  I didn't even realize that there were mountains this big this far east in Oregon. I'd definitely like to do this again.  Spending time on the lake and just hanging out in our cabin was nice and relaxing.  Not only that but the town of Joseph was a pretty neat little pla...

This is my bicycle there are many like it but this one is mine. Since roughly the beginning of summer I have been exclusively riding my bike to work as opposed to driving.  I'm starting to see that I may not need that second car to get from my house to my job everyday .  Here is a nice little four part list of why I've decided bicycle commuting is for me. Its good for my body It is recommended that adults have at least  150 minutes per week  of moderate exercise per week.  Without biking I'd have a hard time justifying taking time away from my family or job to go run on a treadmill or do whatever other boring thing people do to stay in shape.  Biking to work takes me about 15 minutes down hill, coming back 20 something minutes uphill...  I'm sure I have 150 minutes of moderate intensity excessive in there somewhere ;) It's pretty incredible to see the difference I have in endurance after just one week of picking up the bicycle again.  ...

If you love shooting zombies and poking fun at hipster culture, there is one way to satisfy both of your cravings.  Hipster Zombies is a fun light hearted game for Android (and iOS, but ehh) in which you fight off undead hipsters armed with what else but a gun that fires cans of PBR and other hipster paraphernalia. As you kill the undead you gain coins which you can use to upgrade weapons or buy new ones such as vinyl records and mason jars.  You can also purchase coins from the game store. Occasionally you gain extra coins for "ironic kills" destroying the brain munching scenesters with a taste of there own medicine, pipe smoking hipsters with tobacco pipes, biking hipsters with a "fixie fork", etc. You unlock different location to defend the more zombies you kill.  These locations become more and more difficult to defend as you go along.  The area you need to defend grows larger giving the zombies more points of attack. In the most recent update ...

Ender's Game follows Andrew "Ender" Wiggin and his two siblings Peter and Valentine, though you may be able to guess from the title primarily Ender. Ender is a child prodigy in warfare who is brought to an academy for children to learn to be soldiers.  Its  required reading in a lot o of schools but I don't recall it being in mThis is partine, though i can't say i would u have read it if it were. Ender's Game is set in a future in which a united earth has narrowly repelled an invasion by an insect like race of aliens known as the buggers.  Earth has spent the last several years preparing for the next invasion. Ender is put through a series of lessons/tests by his "teachers" all in the form of games.  Starting with video games and progressing to a zero gravity competition between different "armies" of children.  Ender is quickly made a commander one of these armies pitting him against much older kids.  Things are unfairly stacked again...