7 Habits of Highly Effective Ninjas - #2

As with any ancient fraternal order, ninjas have a secret code that defines the actions they live by. This code has been handed down from father to son for centuries during the ninja right-of-passage ceremony know as Longg Dongg.

In the summer of 1671 the "Great Ronin Purge" escalated to the point of putting the code's secrets in danger. The Grand Masters went to incredible lengths to protect those secrets.
To ensure the code was not exposed the Grand Masters burned all printed copies and encrypted it into a song that would pass through the ages as oral tradition.

The "Great Ronin Purge" decimated all of the powerful ninja families; those who escaped were forced into hiding.

Through the centuries the Grand Masters tried to track the descendents of those families with little success. However, in the early 1990s they developed a new tactic. They would produce the code song guaranteeing widespread distribution. The targeted descendents would be able to decipher the encryption and come foreward to claim their birthright.

Recently the song in question came into possession of the "7 Habits" creators. Its name:

Ice Ice Baby

As surprising as this may seem on the surface, a critical analysis of the lyrics reveals the true genius of the code and its secrets.

The first verse provides the code of movement:

Flow like a harpoon
Daily and nightly
Will it ever stop?
Yo - I don't know

The second verse provides two critical skills:

1) Killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom (meaning to kill with supreme leathality)
2) You better hit bullseye, the kid don't play (meaning to always hit the mark on the first shot)

The third verse warns a ninja of the consequences for lax training:

Cookin' MCs like a pound of bacon
Burnin' 'em if they ain't quick and nimble

Verse four emphasizes the importance of determination:

Girlies on standby waiving just to say hi
Did you stop? No, I just drove by

Verse six discusses concealment and the ability to hide in plain sight:

Police are on the scene, know what I mean?
They passed me up confronting all the dope fiends

The final verse sums up the code for those ninja progeny:

If there was a problem, Yo- I'll solve it

After reading this mini-history lesson and code translation I'm sure you're asking yourself "So, what is the second habit?" Well, it's simple:

Slice like a ninja Cut like a razor blade
So fast other DJs (ninjas?) say Damn!

In Our Dreams

Every year a client of Nathan’s bank has a salmon dinner for the bank employees. Wednesday I picked Nathan up after work and we carpooled with some people from work to the dinner. We arrived at a beautiful condo on Lake Washington. The view was amazing. The condo was well decorated; basically it looked like something you would see in a home decorating magazine. Our favorite part was the corner library. We both want a library in our home…someday. Some people brought appetizers and some brought dessert. It was nice to have a chance to get to know some of the people Nathan works with. Dinner was amazing, some of the best salmon we’ve ever had. It turns out the tradition is to have dessert on his boat while cruising around the lake. It was a nice evening for a ride too. The clouds cleared just in time for me to snap a couple good pictures. We saw so many huge houses and all of us took turns guessing how much they would cost. It was generous of this man to open his home and his boat to the employees of his bank. (We never got this treatment working at Wells Fargo or Washington Mutual.) Realistically, since I’m going to be a teacher (we know how much they don’t make) and Nathan is not wealthy like Bill Gates, Paul Allen, or Scrooge McDuck, we probably won’t ever own a condo on the lake or a boat. But now Nathan and I have something in mind if we ever do have more money than we know what to do with. We can always dream.

Seattle at Sunset

Nathan at the front of the boat

The love boat picture...

Summer Fun

Jen and Nathan at the Bellingham Reunion BBQ

This week has been so full. It started on Saturday when we had two parties to go to. Friends from work were having a house warming party/BBQ and there was also a Bellingham reunion BBQ at Gasworks Park. Then Sunday we went to my brother's to celebrate my nephew's birthday (Tucker). Monday we saw The Dark Knight, again (if you have not seen it YOU MUST). The rest of the week is just as busy. I have been documenting our fun.

Emily and Susan getting the BBQ ready

Root Beer Anyone?

Do you really get what you pay for when it comes to root beer or is it really all the same? I can tell you it’s not all the same. Have you ever wondered which root beer is the best? We got together with some friends from church who had been wondering the exact same things about root beer. We each contributed something, from different kinds of root beer, to paper cups for tasting, to palette cleansers (saltine crackers). One of the couples even set up an elaborate chart to track the voting, and ultimately determining the best root beer. We considered all the factors: sweetness, rootiness, aftertaste, carbonation, and smoothness. What’s rootiness? It is flavor, the “bite.” This actually became a major factor in determining the “best root beer.” So there were 8 competitors: A&W, Deerfield, Henry Weinhard, Mug, Thomas Kemper, Barqs, Jones, and Stewart’s. Take a second to rank them in your own mind…
Nine of us did a blind taste test (we didn’t know what we tasted) and voted. Majority rules. The results are in and they may surprise you. I have included some of the notes I took during the tasting.
1. Jones root beer – Highest scores in the rootiness category. Knock out flavor.
2. Stewart’s – Smooth, not too sweet. I could drink a lot of this.
3. Henry Weinhard – Sweet and smooth
4. Thomas Kemper – Has a lot of kick
5. Mug – creamy, kinda yucky after taste
6. Barqs – nicknamed “mini root” for it’s “bite” Weaker rootiness compared to Jones
7. Deerfield – Yuck (debated result, close call for last place)
8. A&W – tastes like it sat in a glass of ice over night. Bland across the board. Low carbonation.
So there you have it. Our research is incomplete. We plan to continue the search for the best root beer and will include new contenders: IBC, Dad’s, Hire’sand others TBA. After we have found the best root beer we plan to discover the best vanilla ice cream. We will then have all the ingredients necessary for the best root beer float EVER. By the way if you think we’re crazy there are people who have done even more extensive research than us, ranking over a hundred brands of root beer. (Bonnie and Nathan encourage you to always drink responsibly.)

Road to Recovery

Special Thanks to Jen and Nathan for taking care of me after I had my wisdom teeth taken out. After the surgery I woke up a little freaked out. Jen came in and helped me calm down. I barely remember the ride home. Once at home, we got comfortable and watched a couple movies. She got some socks for me and even helped me put them on. I remember she got me a yogurt…mmm gotta love soft foods. The rest of the details are a little fuzzy, but she stayed with me until Nathan got home from work. Nathan kept track of which medicine I took at which time. He got me ice packs and kept my water glass full. My cheeks were so swollen I looked like a squirrel collecting food storage in its mouth. Eventually I was able to eat solids again. When people asked how I was doing I happily replied “I’m on solids now!” I’m still not back to normal but it keeps getting better everyday. I realized just how much I take my mouth for granted. This experience has led me to commit to good oral hygiene for the rest of my life. I think having my wisdom teeth taken out actually made me a little wiser.