An Award Winning Email

Recently Natalie's parents have started a largely vegan diet. I definitely give them kudos for such an ambitious lifestyle change. Of course this has caused a stir among some of the siblings as rumors have started the mom Bailey was planning on making a tofu turkey (tofurkey).

This came up in an email that involved the following participants: mom Bailey, Dad Bailey, Me, Nat, Nickole (Nat's sister) and Michael (Nat's brother - grad student at Stanford). With the background set, here are snippets of the email chain.

I said, "Nat, I'm so disappointed. Speaking with your mom yesterday she said that she isn't doing a tufurkey. I guess Michael said he wasn't going to come if that is what they were having. :("

Michael chimed in, "Just the idea of a tofurkey makes me want to vomit. I feel bad for anyone who wants to eat a tofurkey. In my calclulus II class we did a problem set where we estimated how far you could launch a tofurkey and I realized that the only use for tofurkeys were to be loaded into catapults."

Not being able to resist myself I retorted, "Michael, Don't worry, we won't judge you for your true red white and blue ethnocentricity. I'm sure there are lots of rednecks, sheltered people, people with digestive disorders, the McDonald's generation, or other unadventurous folks out there that would completely agree with you."

Some of us had a good laugh over this email, but the story doesn't end there. A couple days later I asked Nickole what she thought of it (seeking affirmation that I was funny) and she replied, "I thought it was so funny, I read it over the air on a radio station. I was talking to the morning host about what we all were doing over T-day and I told him that mom went vegan and was going to buy a tofutukey, much to my brothers horror. Then I read off parts of both your e-mails. They thought it was hilarious. So all of Central Oregon knows how you both feel. For my trouble, they gave me the new complete CD set of Led Zepplin, which probably should be yours because it was your letters, but I'm going to keep it anyway. Ha!"

And there you have it, a true award winning email ...

Bryan

A Productive Saturday

This last Saturday Nat had various things that took her away from home. Since I was stuck here all alone I produced some pots. Here's some pictures.

Costume Party

We were lucky enough to be invited to the annual Richardson costume party again this year. It is always a great party. We were slackers and didn't put any forethought into what costumes we should wear. So, the day of we started looking at what we had. After some thinking we actually had two costumes that look completely unrelated but they do go together. Can anyone tell me the connection?

(Hint: for Nat to be truly in character her dress should have been red instead of blue)

Skype

Many a youth have fallen prey of the "Snipe Hunt." This post is nothing of the kind.

Since our apple has fallen from the tree and bounced far from the rest of the Burningham/Bailey apples, we've discovered a nice way of keeping in contact. Of course the traditional ways are still great (phone, mail, email, etc). Even while using these forms of communication we found ourselves longing to see Nat's nephews and niece in living motion. We longed to interact, talk and "see" them. Maturation happens so quickly and we felt that we were missing out on seeing them grow. Then came along Skype.

Skype is software that is like an instant messenger, but allows for great webcam connection. We can now connect to the Harris family in Oregon and watch in full screen, real time video as the boys karate chop each other and Stephanie plays her flute (chaotic for sure, but also so enjoyable). We've also converted over some cousins in Florida and DC.

For those that have felt the same way, check it out. It is free. It is easy to use.

skype.com

Bryan

Studio Night

For my birthday my parents gave me a very generous gift - a table top pottery wheel! Tonight we decided to turn the garage into a pottery studio. We put the wheel on a card table and off we went. I made three pots and Nat made a bowl. Here is a cute video of Miss Natalie doing her thing.