Christmas Pictures

Thought I'd post some pictures of the family during the holiday's. Toys and weight were gained by all... A Christmas miracle!!!

Here's hoping everyone has a joyous and safe New Years!

Christmas '06!

Tis the season... to ignore your Blog

Twas the night before Christmas and Steve Nation was ignoring his Blog. Here's a couple cool things as of late. Peace love and many gifts this holiday season!!!

Tell Santa Want to do: http://www.simonsezsanta.com/
Thanks to one of my most loyal readers, I got wind of this site. Enjoy, and be careful what you tell Santa to do

Fun with Dice:
http://www.glumbert.com/media/dicestacking
Thanks to my Dad, got this lovely little trick. Pretty cool, only not recommended as a drinking game.

Fly with one wing??? Made in the USA!!!
http://www.whoisthemonkey.com/videos/31f15-flying-with-1-wing
Kewl short on a fighter pilot who landed his plane with 1 wing!!!

The World Famous Nation

This is posting is part musing and part gloating...

While I was in New York on my honeymoon, I visited a very understated pizza joint called "Orignal Ray's". Now regardless if you've heard of this pizza place before, plastered on virtually ever sign was "World Famous!". After that, I notice many other "World Famous" rankings of various sorts which I've never heard of before. This brings me to my musing at hand: How does Ray know he is world famous?

Seems there's a lot of World Famous floating around, and no governing body to properly distribute these rankings. Am I supposed to assume there is a flyer posted some where on a Bangladesh bulletin board for New York Ray's Pizzeria? Joe Bangladesh walking by the flyer every morning with his Starbucks thinks "some day..."

Is it expected that people burst through the doors of said understated pizzeria taking pictures exclaiming... I made it to Rays! Didn't happen while I was ordering my slice of flat and old pepperoni. And, what exactly is Ray famous for? His oversized cockroaches actually know how to spin the pizza dough? Seems something amiss in these rakings which the Nation cries afoul.

So, this story brings me to about an hour ago, when Steve Nation when to check his site usage stat's. See that little "site meter" icon on the right side of this page, down a bit? It's a little guy that tracks who visits my site. (rest assured, your identity is safe. It only tracks general info.)The Nation figured it'd be a cool little tool. Low and behold, check out the map of computers that visited the Steve Nation over the last month.














Observe all the dots? That represents people; people who live on planet earth. What da ya know. Steve Nation is World Famous!! And that my friends, is the rest of the story :)

And to that I say Thanks! Cheers! Gracias! Salamat! (in Filipino) and for that guy way there in Canada.. dude, you gotta move.

Back from Germany

Alissa and I are back from our German adventure. A couple observations about our trip:

1. The Autobahn's are a crazy place... say out of the fast lane.
2. Germans love their street entertainers. Anybody doing something on the curb had huge crowds around them.
3. Beer is the same price as soda. Now that's clever!
4. The only TV stations in English were German MTV and CNN. As such I watched more music videos than ever before. I've got some wicked Justin Timberlake moves I'm itchin' to try out.
5. Through the German "mass-marketing music engine", I did got hooked on this German band. Their hit song (which plays on the link provide) was everywhere, and sadly I fell for it. Get out of my head song!!!

Anyhow, enjoy the pics as you get wisped away to a magical place; a Germany only the Steve Nation can provide! :)

Germany

Another Trip for Steve Nation!

Just a heads up that steve nation is headed to Germany again for another week starting this Friday. This time thought I'll be bringing my lovely wife, and we should have some time on the weekends to catch some sites. I'll try to post any fun tidbits I find along the way. Make sure to keep the lights on for us when we get back! Cheers!

Rant for the Day

It may just be me, but what's up with people who walk around with Bluetooth Headsets on all the time 24/7? Using them while you have to talk on the phone is OK I guess, but to leave them there ALL the time? Are they supposed to be half man, half robotic communication device? Is the future now?

I just don't get it. This guy at the gym last night had a headset on and was talking on it while he worked out. He was gabbing away for like 30 minutes in between grunts and groans. Would've loved to be on the other end of that conversation.

Of course I don't currently own a Bluetooth headset, but don't expect me to rush out anytime soon. Perhaps it's the whole cell phone reaction of years past. Like when cell phones first came out, and people are all "Who's this joker walking around in public talking on a phone... thinkin' he's all cool and popular".

Perhaps that's the feeling I'm getting right now with Bluetooth headsets, but I just don't think I'm ready for half men half cyborg yet.

It's amazing out work keeps you from doing things during the day that you really love. Like surfing the web. Somehow, it's totally satisfying to get payed to surf the web.

Anyhow and thusly, haven't had time to update blog last week but wanted to keep it fresh with some halloween pics, and some crazy guy riding a German Lion (from my trip to Munich). Look for another trip to Germany in a couple weeks and the stevenation heads back over the pond again for another week.

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The Wild Kingdom

A couple burps today...

Last month I went to a birthday party for a fomer co-worker. The guest house we visited was owned by a guy who is an avid Hunter. Seems he's been doing it for quite some time, and his front room was his trophy room. Words can not describe the site, but belive me it CRAZY! If you like watching "animal planet" or "rescue 911", you may want to look away now:

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Notice the stuffed Lion in the right corner...

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Secondly, If you're looking for a great radio website, I HIGHLY recommend www.pandora.com.

The lovely folks at pandora.com have pain stakingly gone through thousands upon thousands of songs and categorized the style of the song. They break down every song by vocal melody, the type of rhythm used, kinds of instruments used, and ect. It's quite the scientific approach. As such, they can then categorize like songs together. SO, long and short, you like the song "Streets have no Name" by U2, type it in, create a radio station, and you'll start to hear tons more songs that have that "feel".

It's a great way to experience new music and new bands you've never heard of before. Try it out.. you may find tons more cool music to enjoy

What happens to Old Musical Instruments

Sent this email to an old co-worker about a drum set he let me have. He was moving to Chicago, and didn't have room for the set to make the trip. Thought the story would make a good addition to the blog. Enjoy (particualry if you're a musician)

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Remember your old drum set you gave me? I know you had a mild curiosity where it ended up. If I may, let me take you on a little journey.

Well, it sat in the back music storage room of my church for a while, just waiting to get some love. I never got around to using it, as the church already had two newer, shinny drum sets, which everyone was very impressed by. Your kit… we'll call him Tom…sat there in the dark, hoping someone would love it.

Then one day, two brothers at church were starting a punk band. They had everything but a drum set, and needed one. I said sure and Tom got wisped away and out of mind. Oh how excited Tom must have been! Well, I went about my daily tasks as we so often do, and totally forgot about Tom for quite some time. But then one fateful weekend a couple weeks ago I was over the two brothers house for a get together, and low and behold in the spare room, was a drum set. I walked right by it, immediately distracted by the other guitars and amplifiers in the room. Brother #1 pointed with excitement to the corner and mentioned "Remember this?"

With unemotional bemusement I gazed over and searched the recessed inventories of my mind, the way a 35 year old musician with a heavy instrumental spending habit and a steady paycheck would. So many instruments; so many have come and gone. But wait... Was that Tom? Could it be? YES it was!!! (pic attached). With dreams of recording music and hitting it bit, the two brothers have dressed Tom all up with black dye and eyeliner, and he lives to rock once again! With wonder and bewilderment, I slid behind Tom onto the throne, mumbled your name to the crowd in the room, and took a turn giving Tom just one more jam. Sure the throne was rickety, the cymbals didn't match, and the heads were a bit old, but it was Tom and he was making music!!

SO, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that Tom is still out there making music and livin' the dream. He has a nice home (big farm house on the outskirts of San Jose) with loving owners and most importantly, is getting played regularly! And my lesson learned? Hug, love and cherish all your instruments, because they have a dream too!!! Now if you excuse me, I have to go and play my very first guitar….

From Blogger

Cuddle up with Baby Steve

Found this on my hard drive. Truly a disturbing image.

Don't ask why, just be horrified - and just in time for Halloween!

Fantasy Football

Just noticed that I don't have a link to my Fantasy Football team on this page. What kind of steve nation whould this be without a shout to my team!

This year my team is co-owned by me and my nephew, and sadly our team currently in the toilet at 1-5. BUT we just got our first win, and have the coolest team logo in the league!

If you've got some time to kill and into Fantasty football, jump on over. Team name is "Army of Two".

German water

?. . . coolest named water ever :-)

Friendly Germans!

Here's a couple shots from Hiedelberg Germany. So far, this town is great. It's like the storybook old German town you think about from books and movies. The City has a main downtown walkway, that's all cobble stone with shops and bars that really makes you feel worlds away from anything in California. It even has a castle overlooking it from the hills. Food has been great, and well beir hast been good too :)

We'll be in Heidelberg for another day, and Friday we're headed back down to Munich. Hopefully in the evening we'll have a chance to visit the Haufbrau House. It's the center of all Octoberfest activities, so should be good times.















Here's a shot from the main town square. It's the center of downtown, and a great place to kick back and soak it all up.















Here's another angle from the main town square. If you look in the background you can see the castle ruins just peaking out behind the square's buildings. Rupunzel, let down your hair!!!















Here's a shot from the castle. If you find the Church steeple center-ish, you'll notice a open square area just to the right of that Church... That's where the above pictures were taken. They all look like ants!















This is a serving of Shnitzel. It's like huge, and serves a small infinatry unit. If you cut me, I'm sure I'll bleed pork and potato's.

My first German Bier did a pretty quick disappearing act. Nicht bad at all!

The German Bars seem to care much more about their customers. Saw this sign outside a bar, then a few mintues later actually saw this stick figure crossing the sidewalk, but perhaps that was the beer.

Cell phone companies have a bit more attitude here in Germany. :)

Peace out!

Steve Nation goes global!

?Off I go. . . Stay tuned!

The Extreme Scream Haunted House

Wanted to spend a second and put out a review of the Haunted house I recently attended. It's a new Haunted house in the bay area called "Extreme Scream", along the lines of Gyro's World of Terror. It's been started up by a great couple I know who attend my church, and run an event rental business. They're awesome people, and even donated the chair covers from my recent wedding. I was fortunate enough to attend the VIP walk-through tour prior to the grand opening on Oct 4th. It runs through the end of the Month.

So the skinny on the new Haunted house? Pretty cool! Last time I went to Gyro's World of Terror was about 6 years ago, and it was pretty run down and cheesy. Extreme scream is in a 60,000 foot facility and is your typical walk through the maze and see what's around the next corner. Most scenes have animatronic components, and are quite detailed. It's great fun when going through with a group, as you get a change to sport your killer costume, as you experience the maze. One particular scene requires you to walk through a spinning vortex with a strobe light and moving/spinning skulls on the wall. sweeeet!

After running through the scene maze, you enter another 3D maze, which require special 3D glasses. This is done VERY well, and everything seems to be floating in cool 3D fashion. The final room is the killer... another walk through a spinning 3D vortex, that WILL challenge every ounce of balance you have. Talk about a mind trip. Yikes. WAY cool!

Anyhow, it's good times, and just trying to get the word out on it and drum up support. You can check out more info at www.theextremescream.com.

Steve goes to Germany!

"ICH BIN EIN HAMBURGER!!" Grossenbacher is heading to Germany next week for work!

The Beer, the Brats, the ability of people to pronounce my last name properly... it's all got the making of quite the adventure. Not sure how much culture I'll be able to soak in, but you best can guess I'll do my best.

With any luck, I'll be doing posts/pictures from the road with my Cell phone (now that should be cool) to stevenation. In the mean time, enjoy some pics of Heidelberg and Munich, my two places of destination

Apache Chief - "Enuch Chuck!!!"

Found this on the internet during a search for Super Friends info, (due to a recent Family Guy episode) and enjoyed the memories. Thought i'd copy it over. This has of course been reprinted without permission :)

I never knew if Apache Chief lived in a teepee until adulthood, or if he was just really stupid. Him English skilz were rivalling to that of Solomon Grundy, but the Super Friends kept him around in case nobody could reach something really high. He would grow by screaming, "Enuch-Chuck!" This is a phrase from his first language loosely translated as, "I hate Mondays." Incidentally, his first language is gibberish he invented while living alone in his smoke house with a broken Speak n' Spell. His name bugged me too. I don't think he was Apache or a chief. That's like taking a white guy and throwing him on a team of indians and saying, "Your name is.... Minnesota President." Excuse me, they would probably say, "Your name, like ancients before you, is symbol of great moon as flying eagle protect you. Your name be... Minnesota President." So the Super Friends' attempt at non-objectifying Native Americans as the bad guys in children's games was poorly executed. It was still more successful than anything Aqua Man tried.

SUPER RATING: 5 - Okay. So he talked like a 60 year old bareknuckle boxer after a bottle of tequila, but he did get pretty big and tough. Plus he had all those cool Indian skills like building fires, tracking, and leather vest accessorizing.

For more Super Friends reminising, check out http://www.seanbaby.com/superfriends/old/super.htm

Hanging with the Family

Spent some quality time with the family today. Thought I'd get them into the blog act as well and give them their 15 minutes of fame!

Lunch with the Bros

At Moster Sushi in Moutain View with some ex-coworkers.

If you're looking for a good sushi place, this place is awesome! Check it out. Also, the guy to the right is my blogger inspriation, and is currently running one of the most popular blog sites on the planet! Stop by and show him some love!

Props to the Peeps

Took this picture a bit ago, but thought i'd post it and give some props to all my's peeps. Cheers! If you're looking for a photographer, the birthday dude (at the time of this pic) located dead center has mad skillz :)

Football Fall

At last years Superbowl, we had a quick half time pickup game of football. We were all so graceful and talented, but one particular play was worth remembering. You may recognize the main character from my music video as well. Rest assured, he's fully recovered, however his music career was never the same :(.

Cool Videos Posted

I just noticed that my "Me and Rimmy" video has been viewed over 300 times on Youtube. It's a little short I made a couple years ago about the adventures of me and Rimmy. I've got the video posted on www.bix.com, where people can vote for their funniest clips. If you vote for me, I could win money. I promise I'll share it with you... so check it out, and vote for "Me and Rimmy"

Also, for kicks and grins, I posted an old music video I had of my old band "Last Invitation". Check out how we used to rock :). BTW, let me know if you can figure out who the girl in the video is supposed to be (character/story-wise). Not many people were able to figure it out. Time ran short during the shoot and we couldn't complete all the footage we needed to set the story.

Ambushed!!!

I was ambushed when I got home from work today!!! Never saw it coming, but I'll be ready next time.

New to the block

I just picked a big blogger... Now just where to wipe it.