Chadone.com Blog

Sleepy Rachel

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:51:47 -0500

When Rachel is really sleepy but trying to stay awake for a few more minutes, she goes off halfway into sleep, but still continues to carry on a conversation with me. Out of nowhere, she'll just mention completely random things, plucked from her dreams I guess, and usually I just play along.

Rachel: Was I talking about strawberries?

Me: No

..A little bit later...

Rachel: Strawberries are helpful

Me: Really? How are strawberries helpful?

Rachel: They help people get from place to place

She came out of it a little bit and realized what she'd said. She explained that she was actually thinking about wheelchairs and strawberries at the same time.

This actually happens a lot. It's one of the funniest things in the world.

Macgyver and Stargate SG-1 Connections

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:33:11 -0500

MacGyver and Stargate SG-1. Two shows, one action-adventure, the other one sci-fi, but they both have more than one thing in common. Yes, Richard Dean Anderson is the star of both shows. And both ran for over 125 episodes. That's not where the similarities end.

They were both filmed largely in Vancouver and British Columbia, Canada.

Don S. Davis plays General Hammond - the "guy in charge" on Stargate. He also played stunt double for the character Pete Thornton - the "guy in charge" on MacGyver, for actor Dana Elcar.

Christopher Judge stars as Teal'c in the Stargate series. Before that, he made an appearance on MacGyver. In a season 5 episode called "Live and Learn," he plays Deron, a high school football player.

Dan Shea is a stunt double for Anderson and also plays Sgt. Siler. In MacGyver, he made two appearances as a van driver, and biker. He's also been credited in Macgyver as "hockey technical consultant."

Peter Williams, who played Apophis, had a tiny role as a video editor named Moe in "Collision Course," a season 4 episode.

Bill Dow, who makes several appearances as Dr. Bill Lee had two unrelated roles in MacGyver - an officer named Danko and "The White Suited Man."

Known as Colonel Chekov in SG-1, Gary Chalk makes 4 appearances in MacGyver. Twice as Detective Sweeney, once as Sgt. Harold Gray, and once by the name Tony Ellis.

Even one of the Ori Priors (Doug Abrahams) has made his way into a one-episode role on Macgyver, as NSA agent Robert Kelham.

Before playing the lying, cheating NID agent Frank Simmons, John de Lancie played a lying, cheating weapons dealer named Brian Ashford in an episode of MacGyver.

Matthew Walker plays Merlin in seasons 9 and 10 of SG-1. He had a brief appearance as a swiss man in a MacGyver episode set in the Old West.

Garwin Sanford plays Narim of the Tollan on Stargate SG-1. He made two appearances on MacGyver. Once as Rafael, a revolutionary leader.

I actually know François Chau best for his role on LOST, as Dr. Pierre Chang. He was a Chinese ambassador in SG-1, and a Chinatown "bad guy" in the MacGyver episode.

And it just keeps going. Marie Stillin, who had a recurring role on SG-1 as High Chancellor Travell, had a role in an episode of MacGyver as Rachel, a church leader's assistant.

That's not a complete list. Just some of the more memorable Stargate characters. There are even a few episodes of MacGyver with the same episode title as an SG-1 episode: The Enemy Within, Last Stand, and The Road Not Taken. Just for completeness, I'll end with a photo of Richard Dean Anderson from SG-1 and MacGyver.

Red Green Macgyver

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:06:58 -0500

The driver's seat of our car has been extremely uncomfortable for almost a year. The foam padding started to deteriorate — leaving the driver sitting against metal frame on the left side (after a thin layer of fabric). It's sort of uncomfortable most of the time, but really HOT when it's summertime.

Today was the day for action. I went out there and spent a good 20 minutes just trying to get the seat cover removed. It was strapped down, wrapped around, and stuck to the frame with industrial-grade velcro. When I got it open, I saw a mess. The foam was split from bottom to top on the left side, and halfway down on the right. And since I already knew the foam was prone to ripping, trying to glue the foam to the frame would just end in a layer of foam ripped off the padding.

I've seen enough episodes of The Red Green Show and Macgyver to know just how to solve this one. I went inside, grabbed a roll of duct tape and went to work. The only way that foam was staying together is if it's wrapped completely around with duct tape, and that's what I did.

I'm sorry to say I didn't take any before and after pictures, because I was so excited to have somewhere comfortable to sit during my 22,000 mile per year habit. It worked great, and I drove around the block in comfort and style.

“If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy”

– Red Green

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:01:17 -0600

Had some old bananas, so I combined a recipe for banana bread with the recipe for Nestle Toll House Cookies. This is the result:

3 ¼ cups Flour	3 Eggs
1 tsp. Baking Soda	1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Salt	3 Bananas
1 cup (2 sticks) Margarine	1 tsp. Cinnamon
¾ cup Sugar	¼ tsp. Nutmeg
¾ cup Brown Sugar	1 12 oz. bag Milk Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add bananas, and chop and mix and mash until only small lumps remain. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 9-10 minutes or until edges of cookie are golden brown. Cool on wire rack until completely cool.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

I'm Married

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:52:28 -0600

I've been married to Rachel Garrett (happily) since August 25. This Christmas, it will have been a full third of a year. Though it's been great, I don't have a lot to say about it. However, I have to make this post or Rachel won't let me post anything else new to my site.

DVR For Your Life

Sat, 26 May 2007 07:39:00 -0500

As many know, and almost as many are frustrated by, Dish Network charges a $5.99 per month DVR fee to operate your DVR equipment. It doesn't matter if you own or lease the equipment, if it's not a VCR and you got it from them, you pay the fee. I never liked that, so I built my own DVR.

That didn't keep me from getting charged a "DVR fee." No, they aren't going to charge me to record shows. However, they are charging $10 per month to pause my account (they consider it a service, and call it DishPause. That's right, I'll be without an apartment for 3 months, and they'll be getting a $10/mo. DVR fee in order to pause that account. It makes me wonder if I can skip commercials next time I call them, or fast-forward through my hold time (or at least the music).

Huge...Tracts of Evangelism

Mon, 14 May 2007 17:55:00 -0500

I went to Value City today to do a little belt shopping. Apparently it's harder than I thought. I turned to leave the men's clothing area, and this nicely dressed guy walks up to me.

Apparently, he sees my T-shirt (wearing LaMoine Christian Camp shirt) and he says something like "I know you may not need this, but give it to someone who does," and holds out a piece of paper on which I see the word Heaven. Oh no, a tract evangelist! I said "no" and started walking away. He said something else, and I turned to him and asked "Are you soliciting in the store?" to which he replied "no." I started walking away really fast now, and went straight to a manager.

Told the manager that there was a guy handing out tracts and harassing people. He asked "where?" and I looked behind me - apparently I was being followed. I said "The guy in the brown shirt," and pointed at the fast-approaching man behind me, and added "I'm out of here."

As I drove off, I see the guy walking out toward his out-of-state vehicle. I made eye contact with him and drove off.

Did I do the right thing? Well, not exactly. I rushed out too quickly and didn't say anything to the person handing out the tracts. He deserved to hear what I had to say.

What he was doing was not evangelism. It was not even Christlike. Can you imagine Jesus as a pushy salesman? We don't hear of even the apostles handing out papyrus tracts. Sure, they drew crowds when they told what they knew. They didn't come from another country, stop in town for a day and abandon them the next day. I made sure he left at least that one store. I hoped at least one less person wouldn't get such a poor picture of God.