Blog – Page 70 – David and Jennilyn

Ellensburg, WA

Post author By Jennilyn
Post date March 7, 2006

Ellensburg is a special place to me. It was where I was born and where I went to college for a few years. Since meeting David, I’ve visited his college in Corvallis several times for OSU’s Ballroom dances. So last weekend, I was excited to get to share my college stomping grounds of Central Washington University with him.

We took off Friday afternoon and finally made it out of Portland an hour later. Gotta love traffic! We headed east and made a quick photo stop at the Stonehenge replica just north of the Columbia River Gorge, south of Goldendale. We passed by Mt. Adams, which holds fun and not-so-fun memories of back pack trips with my family. As we finished our approximate 4 hour trip, I had already visited all the sites we would see in my mind, and revisited lots of memories of friends and happenings in the little windy town of Ellensburg.

Dance From the Center

Capital Swing 2006

Post author By David
Post date February 20, 2006

Jenni and I spent President’s Day weekend in Sacramento attending the Capital Swing convention. I took my first shot at intermediate Jack & Jill since winning first in the novice division at BridgeTown Swing 2005. I graduated from being in novice for almost three years, and like moving up to middle school, the excitement of new opportunities and higher expectations rattled my stomach. I used to be at the top, and now, I’m back to the bottom. The best thing about being at the bottom is that there’s only one way to go—upwards.

Clearing the Cache

Rebecca St. James Concert

Post author By David
Post date February 14, 2006

For Christmas, Jennilyn got us a special gift to see Rebecca St. James live in concert. She remembered that I told her that I’ve never been to a live concert before and picked up two tickets to one of our favorite artists. It was a wonderful time of worship and listening to several artists’ stories on how God speaks into and through their lives.

In addition to seeing Rebecca, we got to listen to Jayden and the Barlow Girls. They were all very talented. The light show provided a fun opportunity to take some pictures and the music played loud. Thought-my-phone-was-vibrating loud.

One thing that tickled our funny bones was when the Barlow Girls asked everyone to take out their cellphones and make them glow. They called it modern-day fire-safe lighters.

See all the pictures from the evening.

Clearing the Cache

Nice and Smug

Post author By David
Post date February 8, 2006

Jenni and I received a card recently from a lady in Seattle. She also enclosed twenty dollars for us to celebrate Valentine’s Day. It was such as kind gesture, and we really appreciated the encouragement to continue dating during our marriage. Our benefactor is very generous and nice. A wonderful blessing.

A mystery too. She has always been extremely kind with me, even though I barely know her. She welcomes me warmly everytime I see her at dance conventions. She gave me a nice dance shirt one year I went to Easter Swing. Why the kindness? I wonder if it was because I overheard someone speak kindly of her and I asked her to dance at some point. If so, it amazes me what a little kindness can do.

Picture This

Chinese New Year Performances

Post author By David
Post date February 7, 2006

My parents, Jenni, and I visited the Portland Convention Center to see the festivities for Chinese New Year. There were many performances with children, musicians, and martial arts experts. The children were amusing and entertaining as they performed routines in colorful costumes. The musicians played traditional Chinese instruments like the two-string cello instrument, Chinese zither, and mandolins. I enjoyed the martial arts toward the end because they were impressively fast and the weapons they showcased looked dangerous to wield.

Daily Rice and Chicken

Random Stuff

Post author By Jennilyn
Post date February 7, 2006

David and I have been busy with the Portland Swing Dance Club. David has been working on a new membership database system for the club, as well as redesigning the club website, and planning board meeting agendas, etc., etc., etc. Lots to do! I’ve been doing the few secretary duties, as well as coordinating all the volunteers to run the dances, and the bigger job, our workshop weekend we put on a couple weeks ago. All is going well. We have such a great community of volunteers!

Clearing the Cache

New Year’s Eve at Oysterville

Post author By David
Post date January 3, 2006

We’re fortunate enough to be friends with Clark Wachsmuth whose family owns a cottage in Oysterville. Oysterville is a small town about twenty minutes north of Long Beach Washington. We try to visit Oysterville with Clark at least once a year. It a nice cozy place to tuck away from the world and enjoy the simple pleasures of card games, hiking, movies, beaches, and potato guns.

Daily Rice and Chicken

It All Started On Monday

Post author By Jennilyn
Post date December 20, 2005

What a fantastic week it’s been! Backing up to a couple of Fridays ago, it was fun seeing The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe with Ullas and Rex. We stood in line to get in on opening night…oooo. It was a cute movie. The animals were really neat looking.

Clearing the Cache

Face Recognition Demo

Post author By David
Post date December 14, 2005

I stumbled upon a web site today that has a very amusing demo. It will take an uploaded photo of a person’s face and show what famous celebrities the face matches best. I’m sure you can already think of the funny mismatches that can happen since it’s done by artificial intelligence. I think it matches

For me, my best matches (or at least my favorite matches) have been Alec Guiness, John Travolta, Kate Winslet, and Kevin Bacon.
Jennilyn has a face with similarities with Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, and Shania Twain.
Mary matched Sarah Michelle Gellar, Renee Zellweger, and Elisha Cuthbert.
Clark’s face related to Hugh Grant, Russel Crowe, and Kiefer Sutherland.
Jack magically got Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame.
Tracy matched Katherine Hepburn, Sophie Marceau, and Lindsay Lohan.

Try it on your face. Then laugh for the next half an hour loading up faces of your friends and family.

Daily Rice and Chicken

Home For Christmas

Post author By Jennilyn
Post date December 7, 2005

Our Christmas Tree Star I love December. It’s a time of joy in remembering the Savior’s birth. It’s a month filled with music and lights, friends and family.

At church, it’s all decorated with huge flocked trees and wreaths, and the foyer has furnishings like a cozy home would have. The theme is ‘Our House’. Several people in the church shared how they make Christmas meaningful. One idea that I’d like to try is to not do anymore shopping seven days prior to Christmas. I think that’s a peaceful way to save my sanity. Especially in trying to get around Beaverton or Portland. Yikes!