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Pandora needs a “meh” button. They have thumbs-up and thumbs-down, so if you really like (or hate) a song you can make sure it comes up again, or never comes back. But sometimes there are songs that are sort of “meh”… they’re not terrible, so you don’t want to rule them out forever, but at the same time you don’t want to hear them too often either.

Kyra played in her last symphonic band concert of the school year. The entire concert lasted about two hours, which was pretty long, but there were five different bands playing and an awards ceremony.

It’s so refreshing to listen to high-school bands compared with middle-school bands. The kids are at a whole different skill level, and the music is actually pretty good. Those sixth-grade bands, where the kids only picked up an instrument a few months before, can be kind of painful. Kyra’s come a long way with her flute.

Things I’m thankful for:

1) Not having to wear a suit, tie, or even “business casual” clothes at work.

Lately we’ve been going on walks as a family, partly to get in shape for our upcoming Trek in August, but also because it’s just kind of nice to spend an hour wandering around town with each other.

Last night we headed over to a local park, following the stream that runs near our house. Being the curious guy I am, I told everyone we should trace the stream and find out “where it comes from”. There’s quite a bit of water running through it these days (thanks to the recent snow and rain), so I wondered where the source is. We followed it past the park and tracked it to a road on the north end of town, where it disappeared into a tunnel beneath the road. We crossed the road and looked all over the area but couldn’t find the stream! Strange. I’d expect it to continue somewhere north, but nothing was obvious.

In any case, with that still a mystery, we decided to walk along the train tracks on our way home. Who wants to go along a boring sidewalk when there’s a half-mile of track straight through town? Along the way, we discovered it’s actually pretty difficult to walk on the rails– they’re narrow, slightly curved on top, and very smooth. Kyra and I had a contest to see who could go the farthest without losing balance and falling off (she won). La and I learned that if you walk side-by-side, holding hands across the tracks, it’s much easier. I’m sure there’s some kind of deep meaning there.

On our next walk, I want to go the other way along the stream to figure out where it ends up. I know it winds south to a point near 9th Avenue and then goes under the road. Does it come out somewhere? Is it all a big trick?

God smiled on our ultimate game today.

This morning it was pouring rain, and didn’t look like a good day to play. But the skies cleared and it was sunny and warm at game time. We played three (!) great games, and literally as we were walking off the field, the thunderstorms rolled in. Now, fifteen minutes later, it’s pouring and hailing.

Well, now that’s just cool.

My favorite “Ben shirt” is his Admiral Ackbar “It’s a trap!” one. So when we were at Dave and Buster’s last week for the Zing party, I couldn’t resist cashing in some of our tickets to get a Chinese finger trap.

Today, it all came together beautifully.

Happy May Day!

Five inches of snow and still coming down…

Last night the Zing crew headed down to Dave and Buster’s for a delicious dinner and an evening of video games.

James and Josh started out by saving the world from bio-terrorists:

James and Brent handled some special-ops stuff:

James and Nick fought off invading Terminator cyborgs:

I can’t help but notice that James seems to have a bit of a gun fetish. Noah also got in on the carnage… look at the intense concentration!

Brian put on his (blurry) game face for a round of air hockey:

And Therese managed to whomp Noah at a ten-foot-high game of Connect Four:

All in all, it was a blast. We played everything from four-way air hockey to head-to-head Pac Man, shot some baskets, and drove souped-up VW Bugs. At the end of the night we pooled all of the tickets we’d won (1,200!) and managed to buy a sweet ice tray that makes ice in the shape of human teeth. Now that’s classy.

Traditionally, we’ve only seen one or two movies in the theater every year. I guess this year is a bit of a bumper crop, because we have plans to see several.

A couple of weeks ago, Kyra, Laralee, and I saw The Host. We’d all read the book, which was very good (yes, even though it was by the author of Twilight).

The movie was pretty true to the book– always a good thing– and overall we thought it was good. I especially liked the mirror-silver Lotus that Seeker drove. Nice ride.

Today, Laralee and I went to see Oblivion. We didn’t know much about it, but I like science fiction and Laralee likes Tom Cruise, so we figured at least one of us would enjoy it.

It was quite good. It kept us guessing, and the special effects were amazing. Critics have said there’s not much original in the movie, and I have to admit it’s sort of what you’d get if you rolled together The Matrix, The Island, and Total Recall. But still thought-provoking.

Oh, and we’d like one of those ships.

Up-and-coming movies that we’d also like to see in the theater: Now You See Me, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and perhaps Despicable Me 2.