Recent pictures
/We've been a little late putting up recent pics so here they are.
Junior's birthday 1/25/08
The Word of the Year...
/Drum roll, please. Merriam-Webster gave the honor to 'w00t'. American Dialect Societygave it to 'subprime'. Locavore earned the dubious honor fromOxford.
Not one to shy away from popular fads on the internet, I wanted to play along. After careful consideration and some deliberation with Dawn, I have chosen the mattbeckwith.com word of the year:podcast.
Ok, so some of you might catch me on the technicality here. Oxford named 'podcast' their word of the year in 2005. I started listening to podcasts in 2005 and in the time since I have all but given up terrestial radio. Driving nearly three hours a day, I used to be an NPR junky. Nowadays, I might just need to pull out the owner's manual for my car stereo to figure out how to turn on the radio.
I subscribe, and listen, to 67 podcasts. Most are weekly, some are daily, some are between monthly and weekly. I listen to shows on technology, news, management and couple-casts, among others. So, is 'podcast' the word of the year because I spend so much time listening? There must be more to it than that, right?
Of course. 2007 brought so many great podcast moments. Some highlights:
September - Podcast and New Media Expo May - Pizza Go Here is born April - Beckwith Family Podcast is launched April - Manager Tools conference April - My Mostly Trivial "appearance" February - Tour of California January - Macworld / Mac podcast meet-up January - I started writing for Typical Mac User
Through podcasting, we have met some great people, in the real-world and in the podosphere. I've had the chance to spend some time with some of the brightest, most interesting people I have ever met, way too many to list. We are grateful for the amazing people all over the world that have allowed us into their amazing lives.
Podcast.
If you have a computer and a pulse, there is a podcast for you. You don't need an iPod. Download iTunes, go to the podcast directory and take a look. While you're there, check out our show, Pizza Go Here.
Me and Victor Cajiao, one of the kings of podcasting.
Podcast.
Merry Christmas
/Oops, we've not posted in a while. The Christmas season was great. Here are some recent pics. The Nutcracker
Various recent Stockton Thunder games
Deal or No Deal DVD (plus on YouTube)
Happy Thanksgiving
/Happy Thanksgiving! This year, we hosted the annual festivities and had a great turnout. Most of us ate a lot more than we should have, but given the cornucopia of good stuff (c'mon, it's the only time of year I can use that word) we had no choice.
Another Thanksgiving means another Annual Field Goal challenge. This year, we played two rounds. The first was won by Joe (of course) and the second was taken by Ken! I have got to practice more during the year.
Roller Derby!
/That's right, folks... Roller Derby is alive and kicking! We joined the F&F family and went to root on Nicole and the San Joaquin Valley Vixens Roller Derby team in a bout at the Civic Auditorium. This was the first time the kids had ever seen Roller Derby and the first time any of us had seen it live. It took a while for Dawn and I to understand the logistics of the sport but once we did, we had a blast yelling at the players. These women are tough and took a lot of hard falls!
During one of the intermissions, I was selected to join the corn-on-the-cob eating contest. I took second place but could have won if the judges gave me full credit for that last cob!
Check out the pics here.
Thunder Goes Pink II
/Dawn, Makenzy, Emily and a friend went to the Stockton Thundergame tonight, a ladies night out, for the second annual Thunder Goes Pink night. This is such a great way to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. The ice was painted pink and the Thunder players wore special pink jerseys. The Thunder were victorious and the girls had a great night out!
Check out the pics here.
Happy Halloween
/Well, another Halloween has come and gone. Next is Thanksgiving, Christmas and then New Years... it'll be here before you know it. This year, I was Jack, as in Jack in the Box. I had a great time playing the part at work and then at the school for the annual trick-or-treat festivities. Thankfully, Mike was there to help me pass out candy to the kids because I had a hard time seeing most of them.
Here I am resting at the end of a long night. Yes, believe it or not, that's Hannah Montana on the far right!
One of the coolest part of the night was on my way. I went through the drive through at In-n-Out and they noticed my Jack head in the back seat. I simply said, "Sometimes, even I need a real burger!"
Next year's plan? Well, I've got some ideas....
Shake and Bake
/Welcome to California... we have earthquakes. Tonight, as we were sitting in the family room I felt some shaking. I actually thought it was Sashi (our dog) bumping my chair. I was the only one in the house that felt it but we got calls from Dawn's mom and Mike saying they both felt it.
Check out the USGS site or the local news story.
Pumpkin Carving
/Halloween is almost here... so what better time to cut into the gourds! Mike, Shauna, Rachel and Chris joined in the fun and brought their pumpkins over to carve as well. Any guesses which one is mine?
Want to see last year's pumpkins? Check them out here.
Stockton Thunder home opener '07
/The Stockton Arena was rockin' tonight when we were joined by 8,640 or so of our closest friends for the first Thunder home game of the season. Tonight, our Thunder squared off against the Alaska Aces in a contest that saw not a single fight (boo hoo!).
Thunder scored first near the end of the first period and followed it up with a second goal that saw a few Aces players collide into the goalie. It was like a traffic accident being taken apart piece by piece. After a few minutes, when the officials awarded Stockton with the goal, the arena went psycho!
Neither team scored in the second period but Alaska did manage to get a couple of goals in the final period in regulation to tie the contest at 2. Rohlfs ended the sudden death match at 2:10 into OT with a sweet shot. We may be 2-3, but at least we won our home opener.
For tonight's game, we set in section 114, row 5. It was nice to be a little closer and see some pucks go flying as well as really hearing the glass pounding, but sitting this close made it hard to see down on the other end of the ice.
Check out pics here. I took a lot of video but no fights and no goals. I did manage to hit record just after the game winning goal went in... check it out on YouTube here.
If you want to take a retro look back... check out the 2006 Stockton Thunder home opener or check out all of our posts on the Thunderhere.