What I Learned From an African Elephant

So, I'm sitting here on the patio of our little Tanzanian thatched roof hut high up on the edge of the Serengeti.  I'm watching a herd of 11 elephants wander over to the river at a slow and leisurely pace.  Perhaps someone told the elephants what they told me in Bora Bora.  It seems like they heard the same advice. They said...

When English speakers order a burrito at a local restaurant, should they pronounce Burrito as "Burrrrrrito" and roll their R like Speedy Gonzales or should they pronounce it "Berido" like all other non-Spanish speakers of the world? Perhaps it's prudent for people to pass on pronouncing properly. Possibly? There are a number of reasons why I don't use foreign accents for single words unless I'm in that country, and I can roll my R's. Read more...

Two Unbreakable Laws 

I spent a lot of my high school and college years underwater.  And the way I got there was by jumping into it from really high cliffs and bridges.  So, I feel like I have authority to speak about this unbreakable law with confidence. Here you go. If you jump off something, then you'll go downwards every single time.  It's called gravity. You can't avoid it or get around it. Okay, so then here's another unbreakable law that's just as true as gravity and you can't avoid it.  God has established this law just like he did gravity. The cool thing about this unbreakable law is that you have some say in it. It can either really suck or be really great.  Read on...

Glory! glory!, Saddleback Leather is part of the club!!!  It's a great honor to be part of the most unique and exclusive club in the world, but it's not any fun.  It's the only of it's kind that every company wishes they were in, but none want to be invited to.  This club is free to join, but very expensive to be a part of. Some members pay millions of dollar per year in dues. Only the best and most popular are invited and they can't say no. Read on...

Dave's Gift Ideas That They'll Use and Remember

 Only My Very Favorite Things

Below is a Christmas list of the very best and coolest gifts that I've either given, received or wanted really bad. Notice I don't suggest anything that I make.  These are just things that'll make you famous.  An example, one particularly broke Christmas, I bought my nephews a 30 ft. length of thick rope for $12.  They and all the neighborhood kids left their Christmas presents at home to play with that rope all Christmas day and into the night.  To be the favorite around the Christmas tree this year, read on...

I want to take a minute to share a little with you about the our decision to increase prices here at Saddleback. I'm not always the best at communicating, but since I've been married, I've been getting much better... ask my wife.  Communication is key to keeping healthy family relationships, and that goes for our Saddleback family too.
 
Most companies raise their prices under the cover of darkness, but since you are or are about to become part of our family, I think it's right to bring it out in the open and talk about it .... We've been praying and thinking about this for some time now.  There are two main reasons Read more...  

Cool Trick I Learned Today

Necessity is the mother of all invention

Thought I'd pass this cool trick I just learned today.  Actually, I'm making a list of cool tips and tricks to make life easier, so if you have one, pass it on in a sentence or two. Thanks.

We're up in Port Angeles, Washington visiting relatives and I went to a nearby Starbucks to get a morning coffee for my hot wife and I.  I asked for a plug to stop up the sipping hole in the lid so that it wouldn't spill while driving back to the house, but they told me they were all out.  So, the Starbucks lady grabbed a straw, cut it in half, then doubled the half straw over and wedged it into the lid hole.  Voila! Hole stopped.

Tips For Making Road Trips More Enjoyable

Packing leather luggage and other tips 

Well, I'm not the authority on how to enjoyably roadtrip even though I DID LIVE IN MY CAR FOR QUITE AWHILE AND HAVE DRIVEN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MILES around almost the entire continent of North America . . . and I did it all for pleasure.

I've rolled my car, crashed other peoples', killed lots of things, slept in my car, truck bed, on the rack, alone, with my dog, under the stars, freezing in ice storms and hot and sticky with mosquitos.  And I've slept with one eye open more than once.  I've learned a couple of things along the way that may or may not be of value to you and maybe not.  One thing I'm sure of though is that you probably have a couple of tips of your own.  Feel free to help us out with one of your tips at the end. Read more . . . 

Things That Bring Discomfort to Us All

Just as there are certain Universal Simple Pleasures in life that we all enjoy as in my last article, there are also Simple Universal Misfortunes or Unpleasures that we all unenjoy as in my list below.  Feel free to add to the list of your favorite unfavorite things.  The death of a pet, your home burning down or a broken spine are not the kinds of things I'm talking about.  You'll see, read on...

Simple Pleasures of a Man

 What this man likes

Life is full of simple pleasures and so many people take them for granted.  Below is a list of some of the things that bring me pleasure in life.  Now don’t forget, I’m a man and so my list is, most likely, very different from what would be found on a woman’s.  Am I the only man who enjoys these things?  Do women enjoy them more?  Feel free to add your own onto the end. Keep it PG-13 or under Read more...

Financial advice from a tightwad

Being cheap is expensive when it comes to buying everyday use items.  Folks throw 1000's of dollars down the drain in the name of frugality (tightwadness).  I'm guilty of this myself, but am learning.  The list of some of those items below may help clarify. Read more...

Tips from 50+ Flights with Babies Under 2, Continued...
Enjoy part two of my series about how to make traveling with kids as painless as possible.

Trust me, I'm a seasoned child wrangeler.  Read more...

Tips from 50+ Flights with Babies Under 2
My favorite thing to say out loud with my baby in my arms and sitting down on a crowded airplane is this:  "Geez honey, I sure hope she doesn't scream the entire flight like she did last time".

I'm a traveler. My wife is a traveler.  By default, our two year old daughter and 8 week old son are travelers too.  Read the full post for all my tips and tricks.

Who is the better traveling partner?
I've travelled hundreds of thousands of miles in cars with just my wife, Suzette and with just my dog, Blue. Who is a better traveling partner? Well, they both have their drawbacks, but why dwell on the negatives when the positives are so plentiful. Read more...