Tuesday, December 30, 2008

2008: The Year in Review with Pictures (and Brief Explanations)

Before I get to the year in review, I wanted to just post a note that if you are looking for the S2S (Songs 2 Share) feature, they will no longer be posted on this blog. I have created a blog just for those, and you can find the link to the left under the blog list, titled Songs 2 Share. And now, on to the year in review!


JANUARY
The highlight of January was celebrating Skyler's 2nd birthday. As you can tell it was a Tinker Bell theme, which is what she was really into at the time. It was great to have so many family and friends celebrate with us.


FEBRUARY



It was hard to pick just one picture for February as Traci and Courtney each celebrated their birthdays. Traci's was a milestone birthday of sorts as she hit 30 and began her fourth decade of life. (Don't worry, I'm a couple of years into my fourth decade.) I hosted a girly party for her and it seems like everyone had a lot of fun. As for Courtney, she turned 4 and enjoyed spending time with good friends Kate (left) and Charis (right). She calls Kate her best friend and it would seem that Charis is her best friend at school. This year will present Courtney with some adversity as Charis and her family are moving to Hungary in January to become missionaries. She already misses her.

MARCH

We were crazy enough to get tickets to the exhibition game between my Dodgers and the Red Sox. The crowd set an all-time record for attendance at a baseball game (115,000). While this in general was not a positive experience between the hour and a half wait at Dodger Stadium for the shuttle to the Coliseum (and back was longer), the horrible crowds once we got to the Coliseum, the nearly overflowing outhouses, and keeping the kids from getting trampled (literally) on the way to our seats. However, seeing 115,000 people doing the wave was freakin' awesome!

APRIL

April means it's time to celebrate my birthday. We just went to dinner and don't have any pictures from that night because, well, we lost our camera that night. So if you see any pictures floating around the internet, they've been doctored! Just kidding. One tradition we have is for me to take a picture with my nephew Steven. He and I have the same birthday. This may have been the last time we will get to do this picture as they are moving to Colorado as I type this. We will probably try to get out there once a year, but more than likely it will be during the summer.


MAY

The end of May was great as we took a trip to Colorado to visit my sister Susie and brother-in-law Adam, pictured here with Courtney at the Denver Zoo. We had a great time spending the week with them and visiting other family in Colorado. If I went into more detail about the trip, I would need to hire a publisher. (If you want more details, check out my past blogs about it.) The next time we go out to see them, hopefully mid-2009, we will get to meet our niece! Susie is due in mid-February! (As if we needed anymore birthdays that month...hers is then too.) Yay!

JUNE

June brought the end to Courtney's first year in preschool. She is pictured here with Charis. She had a great year and we were amazed at everything she learned and were glad that she enjoyed it so much, but being the social butterfly that she is, that didn't surprise us much. Oh, and Traci and I had our 9th anniversary, but that will be covered in August.

JULY

While Traci went to PartyLite's national convention in St. Louis and I enjoyed spending time alone with the girls (despite two trips to Urgent Care for Skyler in a 3-day period), the highlight was camping with Traci's parents and family at Lake Lopez. They have a water park there in the campgrounds, which is where this picture was taken. Courtney loves stuff like this and it was all the more enjoyable with family. She loved going down the water slides with her cousins. In this picture, she is going down with Kayde who lives up in Northern California and came down with her family for the camping trip. Courtney loves hanging out with Kayde.

AUGUST
August falls into the too-good-for-just-one-picture category. Two amazing trips can summarize my August this year. Traci and I celebrated our 9th anniversary a couple of months late by going on a cruise. Words cannot express how much I enjoyed this trip, which took me to Catalina and Mexico for the first time. (It was also my first cruise.) It was a much needed break, which was enhanced by the lack of our wee ones who had a great week with the grandparents (both sets).

And as if the cruise wasn't enough, I spent a long weekend, with a couple of really good friends from high school, in Boston. From the Freedom Trail to Harvard to bar hopping (my first time) and consuming more than I ever had before to taking in a Sox game at Fenway. There is a reason it took me several blogs to explain how enjoyable this was. And all at the suggestion (of a guys trip) by Traci since she had taken two trips without me already. What a wife! She really is the best.



SEPTEMBER
Less than a week after returning from Boston, it was off to Temecula for Traci's cousin Teri's wedding. Courtney and Skyler have grown to love weddings for the chance to dance with coordination that didn't come from me! Courtney loved dancing with Teri a few times. The picture above is one of those times. You can tell her excitement from the expression on her face.


OCTOBER
Susie and Adam swung into town for a week in early October, and although we only had the opportunity to spend a few days with them, it was great seeing them and hanging out. We miss having them around. We had a baby shower for her and that made the time with them so fun. My sister makes me proud to be her brother and I loved seeing her pregnant, knowing that I'll have a new niece in just a matter of weeks now. I love this picture of her and Traci.


NOVEMBER
The highlight of November, besides Thanksgiving, was getting to take in a concert at our church. This is a picture of us with Robbie Seay from the Robbie Seay Band. I almost never go to concerts, but the music is so much better live. I am a big fan of this band now and am glad we had the opportunity to see them and actually talk with Robbie Seay for a couple of minutes after the show. I also gained a greater appreciation of musicians from this concert. (You can check out my blog about the concert for more details.)


DECEMBER
And now we have come to December and the end of the year. Christmas is by far the highlight of the month. This is just a great picture of our family, taken the day after Christmas at my in-laws' house. I love seeing the kids having a good time with their cousins and opening gifts that they really enjoy. It is amazing to see them gain a greater appreciation of Christmas every year. It was also great to hear Courtney say "It's not about presents. It's about Jesus." repeatedly this year. I guess we're doing something right.
And now we move on to a new year full of amazing opportunities, beginnings and blessings. I know it will be an interesting year as I am trying for a new position at Chevron. Skyler will begin preschool in the Fall and Courtney will start Kindergarten at the same time. We'll have a new niece. (Have I mentioned that yet?) We're also working on growing the Sunday School class that I lead at church. We'll also have to deal with challenges such as family (Traci's brother and his family) and friends (Courtney's friend Charis and her family) moving away. You never know what life will throw at you. At least we know that God is with us and that with him, all things are possible. May you have a blessed New Year.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Following In Daddy's Footsteps & A Christmas Poem

This past Sunday, we went to Disneyland after church for our Advent activity. We went on a few rides, but the highlight was when a cast member, Bekah, at the Village Haus restaurant in Fantasyland let Skyler help her ring up our order. I decided to post the picture here because it came out really good and Skyler did really well following Bekah's directions. It makes me wonder if Skyler will follow in my footsteps and work at Disneyland someday (although I was in attractions, but that's no big deal).


And now I would like to attempt a Christmas poem:


The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Germs were abundant;
At least there's no mouse.

Courtney is hacking
And Skyler is too.
Traci is better and
My eyes are all goo.

The shopping is done
And most gifts are wrapped.
With all of this illness
We're feeling quite zapped.

Tomorrow we'll kick off
The festivities
With energy high
From activities.

Kids will be plenty
And food overflowing.
Santa is coming,
The kids will be knowing.

Gifts will be opened
With smiles everywhere.
"Where is my gift?"
"Why, it's over there!"

After the fun,
There will be a big mess,
But the girls will be happy
In their fancy dress.

Toys will be scattered
And jokes will be said,
All while I'm sitting
With bows on my head.

Four generations
Will be at the party.
Hugs will be real,
And the love will be hearty.

At the end of the night
We'll all be so tired,
But with all of the sugar
The kids will be wired.

We'll go our own ways
And head to our homes
With visions of sugarplums,
But I'll dream of gnomes.

Christmas is here
And I'm quite excited
To see all the trees
So brilliantly lighted.

Tomorrow's forecast
Calls for precipitation
And kids will be anxious
Across the whole nation.

Santa had better be
Very prepared,
For in inclement weather
The reindeer get scared.

As for me, I know
That Santa will come,
But if his reindeer back out
He'll use his thumb.

As we prepare
For these joyous days
There's so much to say
In so many ways.

But I'll keep it simple;
I'm not good with words.
If I try to be eloquent
I may get the birds.

With that being said,
I'll leave you with this:
Just one simple thought
Like a hug and a kiss.

May you enjoy this Christmas
And think of the reason
That we celebrate
This holiest of season.

(c) Scott Steinman, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

We Did it! Lo Hicimos!

Well, somehow we managed to get through our Christmas cards and letters tonight. They are all at the post office waiting to go out tomorrow. This all despite dealing with Courtney being sick, Traci being sick and me having Pink Eye. I won't even mention how much ink we burned through on the printer tonight or the money we spent on postage and supplies in general.

On the bright side, we are done with Christmas shopping. (Traci will argue otherwise saying she needs to get me more stuff, but I'm having a hard time convincing her not to.) Traci has been doing an awesome job of wrapping. I think we may be all ready for Christmas before Christmas, even if only for a few hours. I personally will be finding my happy place around 4:00 tomorrow I leave work, knowing that I will be off the rest of this week, returning only Monday next week and then not returning until January 5. All using only 2 days of vacation!

And on that note, I will sign off and try to get ready for bed. Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

S2S - "Mary Did You Know?"

Here is the latest S2S and you've probably heard the song before, but it has a great message and story. I hope you enjoy listening to it. If you haven't heard it before, take it in, it's good.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Blogging 101

Clever title for being my 101st blog, huh? Well, I really just wanted to say I could blog right now, but really, I'm more interested in playing Wii. It should be able to take my mind off the way-more-mentally-exahusting-than-it-should-have-been day. (It was just "one of those" parenting days, which is a bummer after having had the girls spend last night at my parents' house while Traci and I were at my work Christmas party.) Girls are down, Traci is next door doing a party so I'm off to conquer the (Wii) world!!!!!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I Survived Last Weekend!

I've been meaning to post the fact that I made it through last weekend unscathed, for the most part. So I thought I would post a brief summary of how things went along with a picture from each day/night.

FRIDAY:
Courtney had her preschool Christmas musical and it went as well as it could. It was hard to see her because she was in the third row of students that were on the stage and not on risers. It was fun to see her singing and doing all the motions this year as it was sporadic at best last year. It was fun to have all our parents as well as the (Great) Grandparents McCarthy, Aunt Maureen, the Hoopers (who had Josh and Madi performing as well) and the Shoemakers in attendance. Below is a picture of the four of us after the performance.


SATURDAY:
This day started off with Courtney's rehearsal for the Christmas program at church. It lasted an hour and went well as they went though their program three times, twice in the sanctuary (ok, worship center). Then the first performance was at 5:00. We only stayed for that part of the service since we would be back the following day at 9:30 to see the whole service, which included the elementary program. The picture below is of Courtney outside the worship center in her beautiful dress that she enjoyed wearing and is looking forward to wearing again on Christmas Eve.


SUNDAY:
This day was chaotic at best. As mentioned above, Courtney had two more performances at church in the morning. Traci left after the 9:30 service to go and get ready for the Candlelight Procession at Disneyland. After church, I brought the girls home, had lunch, changed, Courtney's clothes and then took off for Disneyland. As suspected, Disneyland was busy, but mainly for the two performances. Traffic was at a standstill once we got on the off-ramp. However, we got in the park about 3:30, two hours before the first performance started. We found our place to watch the show from and established our territory. Fortunately, I brought the girls' Leapsters to play with while we waited as well as some snacks. Unfortunately, Skyler needed to make two bathroom trips after we had our spot. Fortunately, there was a very nice lady in front of us who watched our spot both times. By the time we got back from the second trip, it was about 10 people deep from front to back in the viewing (standing) area. Try that with two little ones in tow! All the seating area was reserved for those who bought dinner packages. Ont thing that really sucked was that they made us stand the whole time from about 4:00 on. Although it was a challenge to get through the performance, right before which Skyler decided to have a meltdown. (At least she calmed down once the show started!) Afterwards, we grabbed dinner in Fantasyland and then proceeded to get on two rides before heading out of the park while the second performance was going on. The picture below is of the second performance as we were passing it while we were leaving.

S2S - Newsong "Christmas Shoes"

I have a feeling that a number of you have heard this song. I consider it the "I Can Only Imagine" of Christmas songs. There are no lyrics included here because I think they are pretty clear in the song and many of you may have already heard the song. I hope you enjoy it.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Tha's Wassup!

We've almost made it through the crazy weekend. We got kind of lucky on Friday night when our church's preschool/kindergarten choir rehearsal was cancelled (due to how well rehearsal on Tuesday went) so we only had to go to her preschool's Christmas musical. It was very cute and I was proud of how well Courtney did. It's amazing to see the difference from last year.

Then tonight she had her first performance at church and it was great! Only about 15 minutes long or so, but she did great in that as well. Now she has two more performances at the 9:30 and 11:10 services at church tomorrow and then she's done for this year.

However, it will quickly get crazy after that. After church we 9me and the girls...Traci will be on her way to Disneyland) are going to come home, change, eat lunch and then head off to Disneyland to hopefully see the Candlelight Procession, which Traci is singing in this year. I know the crowds, at least in the area of the performance will be crazy. They always have a celebrity reading the story of the birth of Baby Jesus between the songs (which is pretty sweet considering it is Disneyland) and this year it is John Stamos. She has to be there at about 12:15 tomorrow for performances at 5:30 and 8:00. She probably won't get home until almost 10:00 since each performance is about 45 minutes or so. I'm excited to see her sing tomorrow (as well as walking the parade route as a choir to get there), but she is nervous about it. I know she will do fine and have a good time doing it. I'm a little nervous myself about keeping an eye on the girls while the performance is going on. We'll do some rides after (without Traci) to make it a full day since we'll be trying to catch the 5:30 performance. If you have the chance to get down there, I would say go for it. I remember hearing about it when I worked at Disneyland, but have never seen it. I'm looking forward to it from that point of view.

Toss into this leading a discussion with the Sunday School class I lead about our class' direction and changes we want to make and that adds a little to my stress level for tomorrow. Fortunately, though, it appears most of the class is on the same wavelength based on the responses I've received for the survey I sent out the members earlier this week. That's encouraging.

And finally, the reason for the title of this posting. I was finally able to beat Lou on Guitar Hero to officially be done with the easy level. It took battling him three straight time today to do it, but I rocked him! It's kind of odd, but that's one thing I've been trying to do for a while. Maybe it's a sad sign that I actually felt some relief after beating him. Whatever, I'm past him now.

I'll try post some pictures from this weekend sometime this week. Speaking of pictures, we're a little behind on Christmas cards this year. We've had pictures taken and should have access to them soon to get the cards done, but for now, you'll have to settle for a few snapshots from our photographer's blog. (There is a picture of Courtney, my favorite picture ever of Skyler and a great picture of the fam!) Plus, we haven't even started our Christmas letter yet. At least things will calm down after this weekend, not to mention, we'll be without the kids overnight next Friday night thanks to my work party going until midnight and my parents being willing to keep them. Pretty sweet if you ask me!

S2S - Mercy Me "Joseph's Lullaby"

I thought about combining a general posting with this but decided against it. Anyway, here is the latest song I've chosen to post. This is a song I only hear around Christmas and it's a great song by Mercy Me called "Joseph's Lullaby." I hope you enjoy it.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Here We Go

Gotta love Christmas time. Usually this time of year gets pretty crazy and we're off and running already. Here's a rundown of this week: how it has gone and how it's going to go.

Last night - Courtney had a rehearsal for our church's children's Christmas musical at 5:00. However, she had to miss it because she had an audition for a Six Flags commercial in West L.A at 4:30. It was great getting there, only took 45 minutes, but coming home in rush hour took an hour and a half.

Tonight - as I type this, Traci is at church setting up for the final MOPS meeting of the year. Also, it was 14 years ago that we started dating (this time around...long story...too long for this blog). So it's kind of a sappy day. Brings back lots of good memories like asking her to be my girlfriend as we walked to her parents car to go to her grandpa's birthday party (which is also today). We did our annual ornament exchange tonight to celebrate.

Tomorrow night - Traci has one last choir rehearsal before performing in Disneyland's Candlelight Procession on Sunday.

Friday - Courtney has a church choir rehearsal at 5:00. As soon as that ends we whisk her away to Uptown for her preschool's Christmas performance which she is singing in. Performance starts at 7:00, but she needs to be there by 6:30 and we have to get dinner on the way there. Also, this is a Friday I work so I won't be home until about 4:15 or so.

Saturday - Courtney has a church choir dress rehearsal at 9:00, then the first (of three) performance at 5:00.

Sunday (take a deep breath!) - Courtney is in the Christmas musical at the 9:30 and 11:10 services. Traci needs to leave to be at Disneyland by 12:15 to be ready for the Candlelight Procession which is at 5:30 and 8:00. So after church lets out, the girls and I will have lunch and then probably head to Disneyland to try to somehow get a seat for the first performance. This is a very popular performance that some people travel from all over the country just to see so there will probably an insane amount of people there, especially along the parade route and where the performance is near the Main Street train station. By the time Traci gets home, hopefully the girls will be in bed and I will be nearly passed out myself.

Just another Christmas week at the Steinman house.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

S2S - Lifehouse "Everything"

This time you have two videos to watch. The first one below is the song with lyrics, so you can hear the song and get its message. The second one is a powerful skit that was performed to the song. I'm not sure when or where it was performed, but it is amazing. I first saw it a while back and then just came across it again this past week. If you only have time to watch one of the videos, I highly recommend you watch the skit...it is much more powerful.

I know I said I was going to start doing Christmas songs after Thanksgiving, but I wanted to share this since I came across it and didn't want to pass the opportunity up. I hope it hits you as hard as the first time I saw it.


Friday, November 28, 2008

Black Friday...Success!

I lived through another Black Friday. Last year, Traci did pretty much all of the BF shopping and this year it was me. Last night we sat down and planned out what we were going to get most of the people on our list and actually placed orders online at three different places, only paying shipping at one of them. (One of the things we ordered last night is my first iPod. This will make the train ride and walk to work much more enjoyable!)

I knew exactly where I would be going this morning and had a list of items to get at each place. I was able to purchase all the items on the list we made at each of the places. Here is how the timeline went.

3:45am - Arrive at JC Penney at Whittwood Town Center
4:00am - JC Penney doors open...I'm about the 15th person in line...let the madness begin.
4:15am - declare success #1 while leaving JC Penney and heading to Toys R Us in La Mirada.
4:30am - Arrive at Toys R Us and get in line which is around the side to the back.
5:00am - Toys R Us doors open
5:30am - get in line for cashier
6:00am - Declare success #2, despite now being behind schedule, and depart for Target back at Whittwood Town Center.
6:10am - Arrive at Target, which has now been open for 10 minutes.
7:00am - Declare hat trick success (#3) and leave Target to head for Big Lots to see if they by any chance have any more of the $5 TMX Cookies/Ernies left.
7:30am - Return home to silence as all are still asleep. I join them after being awake for 24 hours and get a three hour nap...a three hour nap. (It's funny if you say it like the Gilligan's Island theme song.)

So just one day into the shopping season and we have already completed shopping for a number of people on our list and spent half our Christmas budget. Seems like we're in good shape so far. This is the best we have done this early in shopping and I think it's because we sat down came up with a game plan. Something I'm sure we'll keep in mind for the future.

Black Friday...The Game Plan

Here I am at 1:30 in the morning on Black Friday. I could have gotten ready for bed around midnight, but I figured with the game plan set for the best shopping day of the year and with our budget for Christmas tighter than it ever has been, we should take advantage of of what deals we can get to. So Traci just crawled into bed about half an hour ago and I decided, at this point, what is the point?! So I've played Wii, checked Facebook and My Space. Now I'm blogging and will then partake in a 15-round game of Mario Party before showering and heading out to JC Penney which opens at 4:00. After that I'll be off to Toys R Us which opens at 5:00 and then complete the morning madness by running over to Target which opens at 6:00. At that point I should be thoroughly exhausted, although I think I may already be there.

Will I be able to rest once I get home? Not likely. We are hosting a game night for our Sunday School class tonight at 5:00 (15 1/2 hours from now). This means there is cleaning to do. I also need to get out the Christmas decorations and do yard work, but I think I'll save that for Saturday since I should be in better shape then.

Ok off to Mario Party I go! Wish me luck (and sanity)!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

S2S - Brandon Heath "Give Me Your Eyes"

If you were in church a few weeks ago, you heard Bryan sing this song. It is a great song and, like the other I have posted before, has a great message about trying to see things through God's eyes, which is pretty much impossible for us humans. I hope you enjoy the song. By the way, this is the actual video for the song. Lyrics are below.


Lyrics | Brandon Heath lyrics - Give Me Your Eyes lyrics

Sunday, November 23, 2008

S2S - Mercy Me "You Reign"

Here is the next installment on S2S. This is from Mercy Me, which has had many great songs. You've probably heard their biggest one "I Can Only Imagine." This one is called "You Reign" (this appears to be the official video...lyrics are scrolling separately below) and feels to be a song for me personally right now as I have been struggling with myself much more than normal lately. It's a good reminder that he is in control and that even though, often times things seem to be not what we want, He is still good to us.


Lyrics | Mercyme lyrics - You Reign lyrics

Thursday, November 20, 2008

S2S in honor of Andrew - Mark Schultz "He's My Son"

There has been some sad news for many in our church this week. An 18-year old young man named Andrew passed away this past Monday night from cancer. He was diagnosed about 10 months ago from what I've read in a friend's blog. While I was not lucky enough to have known him personally, I can see what a great person he was through my friends at church who did know him. I thought this song would be appropriate to post in his honor despite the fact that I did not know him. Just in case you haven't heard this song, you may want to grab some tissues.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

S2S - Third Day "Revelation"

Here is another great song from Third Day called "Revelation." The lyrics are below the song in case you want to know what they are I hope you enjoy.



- Third Day Lyrics

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Our View of the Fires

Unless you've been in a coma, you have probably heard about the madness which is fire season that we're currently in here in southern California. (You know, the season that comes between summer and rain?) Well, while this is the closest we have ever been to any of these fires, we're still not close to being in danger. The closest fire is in Brea, which is two cities away, or about 7 - 8 miles. However, that is close enough to have a great view of the smoke going over us and to get a layer of ash everywhere. Needless to say, the kids have not played outside for a couple of days now. Courtney and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to the Daddy Day Luau at her preschool on Saturday before the Complex Fire blew up (so to speak). It was extremely windy, blowing stuff (signs, posters, crafts, etc.) all over the place and there was only a small smoke cloud off in the distance, much less than later as you'll see below. Anyway, here are a few pictures I took of the view we had of the fires, or actually the smoke and resulting ash. Hope you enjoy. Keep those affected by the fires in your prayers.

These are pictures taken Saturday afternoon from our front yard in Whittier:

Looking southeast: the smoke following the flow of the Santa Ana winds to the west/southwest.


Looking east towards the origin of the fires.
















This one and the next three are looking at the sun as it is obscured by the thick smoke. (None of them are using any zoom.)

























































The following pictures were taken this morning (Sunday):

The glowing sun about 7:00 this morning.

You can see some ash in the street.

The ash on our van.

And finally, the ash on my Jeep.

Friday, November 14, 2008

S2S - Tenth Avenue North "By Your Side"

Here is the second song of the S2S series. This is definitely one of my favorite songs right now. The first time I heard this song, I was caught up in it instantly. The music is great and the lyrics are powerful. I'm not sure what else to say so I'll let the song speak for itself.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

My Third Concert

So tonight I was able to take in my third concert ever. (My first was seeing our friend Sol's band, Greenleaf Avenue at Universal City Walk a few years ago, and my second one was seeing our church's band, the WACC Band, play at a local park.) Tonight, we saw the Robbie Seay Band play at our church and it was great. We were able to sit up in the third row so it was cool to be so close. There's just something about live, loud music that gets me going, especially when it's music with a message!

I gained a new appreciation of musicians tonight in a couple of ways. Laura Knaak and her band opened with about 5 songs. She's the assistant music pastor at our church so we get to hear her almost every week, and she has an amazing voice. It was her drum player that impressed me (and Traci) the most on one of the songs. Playing the drums alone takes plenty of coordination. However, this guy was also able to do a solo (singing) while playing the drums. Granted, I have minimal, if any, musical ability, but that still was very impressive.

It was the electric guitar player of Robbie Seay's band that took the cake in my opinion. He had a control board for his guitar that had at least three sections to it from what I could tell. Each part made the guitar sound different and he would be changing the sounds multiple times every song. (And he looked like he was about 16!)

Also, Robbie's brother, Chris, did a couple of couple of mini-sermons in between sets and he was pretty funny.

After the concert ended, we were able to chat with Robbie Seay for a few minutes and have my mom take a picture of us with him. Considering how much I love music (especially when it's live), I need to try to go to more concerts. If only they weren't so darn expensive usually. Fortunately, tonight only set us back $14 total! We got more than our money's worth. Enjoy some pictures from the concert below.


Robbie Seay



The drummer
The amazing electric guitarist
The bass guitarist
Traci and I with Robbie Seay after the concert.

Monday, November 10, 2008

A New Blog Feature: S2S (Songs To Share) - Robbie Seay Band "Song of Hope"

I'm excited to start something new here on my humble little blog. It comes from something I did earlier this year with a group from my church for spiritual formation. I would weekly share a song via link in an e-mail where they could then listen to the song and hopefully get something out of it.

Now I'm trying to open it up to a bigger audience and maybe even turn it into a ministry of sorts. This is why I have enabled a new feature on my blog where you can e-mail the posting to any of your friends and others. I'm also looking for feedback which you can do by e-mailing me or posting a comment on my blog. I have to approve comments before they are posted on the blog so if you respond that way and don't want me to post it, just let me know and I'll keep it off the site.

What I'll be doing is posting videos of songs that I think have a powerful message. Some of the videos will be official videos and others will be more along the lines of what we do in our church during worship where there are pictures or videos playing behind the words. The words are my main focus on the songs I post here as they are what convey the message of the music.

I've already got 5 songs I'm ready to share and I'm not going to limit it to one per week. So, on with the first song...

I have chosen "Song of Hope" by Robbie Seay Band to be the first song partly because I will be attending the concert they are doing at our church on Wednesday night. I never go to concerts so I'm excited about this being at a place that is familiar to me and that I love going to. This song is also very appropriate with all that is going on in the world right now with the economic issues worldwide and a new president about to come into office who has been associated with bringing hope with him. We can all use some hope during the tough times and there are plenty of tough time to go around right now. I hope you enjoy this song (it is not the official video, but rather along the lines of having pictures behind the words).

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Coming Soon...

Just wanted to give you a heads up that I will be starting something kind of new. I will be posting videos to songs that I have found to have powerful messages. I am soliciting feedback as to whether I should just post them on this blog or create a second blog that would be focused solely on the messages through music. If you have an opinion on whether or not it should be here or a separate blog, let me know. I plan on posting the first video tomorrow (hopefully).

This actually isn't entirely new. I shared music with a spiritual formation group I was a part of earlier this year because I love music, and a lot of music can have a really powerful message if you take the time to listen.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

What the...

If any of you have sent me forwarded e-mails of various kinds, there's a decent chance you have received a response from me to the effect of "check out snopes.com and you'll see it's not true." Well, being the skeptical person that I am, I have fun perusing snopes just for fun. And holy crap did I find something that even freaks me out.

Now I need to tell you that it's hard to tell whether or not this is real. Looking at the picture, I think it's fake. Reading the article, I think it's real. The fact that a second instance of this was also documented (there is a link is in the article above, or you can see it here, and this picture looks more real) makes me think it's real. So that's 2-1 in favor of real. I'll let you be the judge. Snopes.com does say this is in the area (Daily Snopes) where I found it: "Stories are chosen for inclusion here purely on the basis of their appeal to our readers; we make no claims about the reliability of information linked from this page." However, I'll leave you with this thought under the assumption that it is true...thank goodness we don't live in Australia!!!!!!!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

My Election Day Debate

If you know me very well, you know I almost never talk about politics. I do of course have my opinions, which is one of the reasons I started this blog. Yesterday a friend of ours sent out an e-mail urging us to vote against Proposition 8 and well, the rest is what you read below. (Please keep in mind I am not posting every e-mail in the exchange, but am posting many. Since I was at work and didn't want my opinions to run the risk of being passed off as my company's view, I was having Traci forward them for me, except for the last one which I sent from home after voting last night.) I don't think I usually ask for feedback on blogs, but this a definite exception. Please let me know what you think about this discussion, and more specifically, my arguments/defense. Am I off base? Is my argument weak? Am I wrong or a bad human being for thinking the way I do? I like to think not, but am very interested in what you think. Please be honest, whether it's for or against me. Hopefully you can follow the flow of what was said. Be warned, this is an extremely long post!

Original e-mail from Alli:
Dear friends and family,

While my academic background previous to this year focused primarily on Asian history, this past semester I have enjoyed my first opportunity to teach American history. It has been both an honor and an eye-opening experience. In learning more about US history in the course of preparing to teach it, I have gained a deeper appreciation for the values of liberty and freedom our country was founded upon.

Tonight I am writing to share some of the things I have learned and urge you to vote to uphold American values. I am of the opinion that Proposition 8 is distinctly un-American and I would like to explain why I think so based on the history of our great country.

People often toss around notions of the Constitution and the values of our Founding Fathers. It is important to recall what those Fathers actually believed and fought for because I think that State Propositions in general are a potential threat to those values. Many Americans seem to think that this country is fundamentally a democracy. It is not. We are a republic based on indirect democracy. Why? What the Founding Fathers most feared was the "tyranny" of majority rule. They were very concerned about the ability of the majority to restrict the liberties of the minority, in other words, themselves. (They were elite members of an economic minority.) They realized that given direct popular vote on legislation, it would be all too easy for majority rule to reduce or restrict the freedoms of others. This is why they created a system in which we vote not directly for laws, but for representatives who will create legislation. They also created a system of checks and balances which gave the judicial branch oversight on protecting the constitution and individual liberties from the tyranny of the majority. In other words, when judges strike down laws which restrict the rights of a small group, even when that is what the majority has voted on, they are doing their job as foreseen by the Founding Fathers in upholding the American political system. Imagine the precedent that could be set by a new system of majority rule in California. Imagine how this could potentially effect the restriction of other types of liberties, such as religious expression, or freedom of association. Majority rule would mean that the liberties of smaller groups of voters could be restricted and this could potentially effect your liberties too. Our country is most definitely not based on the idea that the personal beliefs of the majority should be reflected in new legislation. This is a dangerous notion indeed.

Liberties have often been endangered throughout US history and for this reason we must be vigilant in upholding freedom and equality even when it doesn't conform to our own personal beliefs and moral standards. For example, though freedom of speech has been on the Bill of Rights since our country's inception, this right has been totally unprotected for much of our history. Up until the early 1900s there was little to no recognition of this basic freedom. In most cities in California during this period, citizens would have to approve any speeches they wished to make in public with the local mayor. This is just one example of a freedom we tend to take for granted as part of the basis of our country, without recognizing the constant struggle entailed in protecting such freedoms. Civil liberties of others have often been restricted by the beliefs of the majority only to be struck down by Superior Court judges whose duty compels them to protect all citizens equally rather than allow the tyranny of the majority.

Today it is the 14th Amendment to the US constitution that is imperiled by attempts at legislation like Prop 8. The 14th Amendment specifically requires states to provide equal protections of civil liberties under the law to all citizens of the United States. The year 1948 saw a case on marriage in which the judge ruled against the constitutionality of another law supported by the majority of the California voting population: Section 69 of the California Civil Code stated that marriage between different races was not recognized by the state. This landmark case, "Perez v. Sharp" began the process of overturning marriage restrictions on the basis of race. The court held that marriage is a fundamental right of citizens of the United States and that laws restricting that right must not be based solely on personal belief. "Marriage is thus something more than a civil contract subject to regulation by the state; it is a fundamental right of free men." (Perez v. Sharp 32 Cal.2d 711, 714-715)

"Eliminating rights," the title of Proposition 8, is simply un-American. I urge you to vote not on what you believe to be right or wrong regarding marriage or sexual morality, but to uphold the basis of our nation: the equal protection of personal, civil liberties under the law and the same freedoms for all citizens. This is nothing short of what Americans have been fighting for since the birth of our country.

My response:
She has a good, very educated stance, but I would not feel right voting no on 8. I know that faith played a big role in the lives of our country's founding fathers and played a role in the formation of our country. Thus the words "In God We Trust" on all pieces of money. If we trust God but vote for something that contradicts His word, we are hypocrites. That's my 2-cent rebuttal.

Since I follow God and try to make Him the center of my life and actions, I cannot in good conscience vote to recognize gay marriage when that is not an acceptable lifestyle to God.

Josh's (I don't know who he is) response:
I'm sure that when blacks were asking for equal rights, people also cited faith as a reason to withhold them. Sure, many blacks at the turn of the century were not christians, so I guess they didn't deserve equal rights. By that account, perhaps white jews didn't deserve them either.

There is a reason why the founding fathers, all of whom were very religious, put into the constitution a separation of church and state. Keep religion where it belongs, out of politics. Every man, woman, and child in this country deserves, nay, demands equal rights and recognition under the law. There is no difference between this discrimination and any other. If you insist that you must vote yes on something like proposition 8, then you should also happily accept the label of Bigot.

Religious doctrine has been changed and manipulated over time. You can not deny this, as none of you have been stoned to death for dishonoring your parents, nor have you gone around stoning others. If you have no beard, then you are breaking religious doctrine. Don't use something so antiquated to try and make yourself look like less of a bigot. If you are going to vote yes on Proposition 8, then just admit that you have a problem accepting your other humans for what they are. I have a funny feeling you would feel differently if someone else was in charge (by someone else, I mean not white and christian) and you were suddently wanting more rights.


My response ("my husband") and Traci's ("me") response:
This is from my husband:
No kidding. And we wonder why our country is in the shape it is in? He makes it sounds like I can't accept gays or may even be a homophobe. He also makes me sounds like a racist. I'm not saying I'm the most educated person, but perhaps he should get to know someone before making personal attacks. I gave my opinion on something and expect others to have their own opinion. That's what this country is about and why we vote in the first place. Debates are fine and healthy, disrespect is not.

To directly go against one of his points, I can accept people for who they are. I may not agree with choices they make, but that is a huge difference from not accepting them. I have friends that do things I don't agree with, but I accept them as they are. For example, Matt responded to my comments and we don't agree with each other, but we respect each other. It just bothers me that someone I don't know would personally attack me without knowing me. If someone wants to hate me after getting to know me, fine. Hating me (and especially degrading me) without knowing me, that's where I have the problem.

This is from me:
You just made my own case for me. I am tollerant of their opinions, lifestyles, and identities. This just shows how little you know of me. I am tollerant of it, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it or agree with it. Of course we should accept people as they are and the lifestyle they chose to lead.

If this prop doesn't pass than those churches you speak of will hear about it. There will be problems when gays show up at their doors and they refuse to marry them. So it does/will become a "civil rights" issue. After all, they are claiming that marriage is a fundamental right. So, if it is a fundamental right, then those churches who do not agree with or believe in it will surely see the outcomes of this. Don't try to pretend it won't happen just because you don't have a problem with any specific church or person not allowing it.

And regarding the New Testament. Seriously, maybe you should read it. Because he says that we are to do away with the old laws. Like abbiding by the Sabbath and all of those rules. Galations chapter 2 and 3 has a lot to say about this. If you do not have a bible, I would be glad to quote it all for you.

Josh's response:
To your husband:
I am not here to insult you. Nor am I here to insult your wife. But I am here to call a spade a spade. If you vote yes on a proposition that limits one groups rights simply because you can not agree with their lifestyle, then you are not very tolerant of them. That is not an insult, but a fact. Tolerance (and justice for that matter) implies that you are blind to their life choices, as long as they are not infringing on your personal rights. You have the right to despise homosexuality and gay marriage, and you have the right to speak out about it, and I would never dream of taking away your rights because I think that would be bad for society.

I respect you and your wife as people, even though I disagree with your politics. I have married into a family where many of the family members have different political views than I do, and yet I love all of them without question and respect their right to have an opinion. I don't hate nor do I degrade you, but I think you should realize that your stance is a stance of bigotry.

To your wife:
If, as you say, you are tolerant of other people, then why not allow them the right to marry? Why would you take that away from them? Do you really think that gay men and women will want to get married in churches where they are not welcome, or that they will start showing up randomly at your doors asking for nuptials? If you are truly tolerant, as you claim, then you would tolerate their desires to get married and let them do their thing while you do your. A vote for Proposition 8 is a vote against tolerance.

I appreciate your offer to read me the new testament. I have read it before, and it is a wonderful text. I'm sure you are more knowledgeable about it than I am, so I will trust that you have the readings correct.

And, finally, I would hope that, if I was being a bigot, that someone would stand up to me and call me one. It is important that we not stand by when we feel that anyone is infringing upon anothers rights. So, if you feel offended by the fact that I am calling intolerance bigotry, that is your right. But I will not apologize for standing up for those who are underrepresented and for calling out those who wish to take away their rights.

My response:
Well, Josh, one last comment from me for the night. The bottom line here is that we have two differing opinions, partly based on two different definitions of the word tolerance, and that we are going to have to agree to disagree. Here is the definition I have been presented with: Tolerance (and justice for that matter) implies that you are blind to their life choices, as long as they are not infringing on your personal rights. My definition of tolerance is acknowledging and accepting differences. Tolerating does not mean I have to agree. I can disagree with something or someone and still tolerate it or them. To me, being blind to something qualifies as being ignorant. (And don't even try to convince me that tolerance = justice.) If Prop 8 fails, which it appears it will based on pre-election polls, then I will be tolerant of gay marriage. I still won't agree with it, but I will tolerate it. Also, I don't despise homosexuality or gay marriage, I just don't agree with it. Again, difference between despise and not agreeing with something.

Also, passing off opinions as fact is probably not the right approach in a debate, as it undermines the whole argument. You can call me a bigot, that's fine, but it's not a fact which you make it come across as. It's your opinion based on your definitions as I discussed above. There is a huge difference between fact and opinion. You can say you didn't degrade me, but you did. What you said about me was offensive, mainly because you have no idea who I am outside of today's expressed opinions, and that's how I feel. (I wonder if we have different opinions on definitions or interpretations on the word degrade as well.)

At this point I'm really just poking holes in your argument from my point of view. You're not going to change my point of view and I'm not going to change yours. I have no problem with that. I placed my vote and I hope you placed yours. I rarely get involved with political debates, but it has been interesting to do this today. At least we live in a country where we can have these discussion and vote to express our opinions.

And Matt, thanks for sticking up for me. You know who we really are and I know that despite our differing opinions, we can still hang out, respect each other and have fun. You also made a good point about making implications about polygamy and pedophilia as a result of Prop 8 passing. I also thought that was a weak argument for Prop 8, despite supporting the same point of view. It just goes to show you that even people with similar views and supporting the same things can have different thoughts and opinions.

Until next election,
Scott

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Car Accident, All OK

We had a scary moment yesterday after we left for Courtney's audition. We were on Lambert and had just gotten through the intersection at Colima. All of a sudden the car in front of us is stopping so we hit the brakes hard. (Keep in mind, we had a 15 minute downpour about 15 minutes before this. Also, it turns out everybody was stopping because there was a cop with sirens on heading the other way, east, on Colima.) Fortunately, we stopped before hitting the car in the front of us. Once we stopped, I looked in the rear view mirror (as I have made a habit whenever I stop hard) and saw the car behind us rapidly approaching. It looked like it lunged forward, like when you hit the brakes hard, but it wound up hitting us.

When we pulled over to talk he said he hit the brakes, but just slid after that. It was pretty amazing to see that there was really no damage to either car. He lost some paint from his bumper and bent his license plate frame a little, but that's all on his car. As for our car, just a couple of indents in the bumper from the screws of his license plate, and some of his paint had stuck but it wiped off with a light touch. Pretty amazing to us because the impact sounded like there should have been some visible damage.

In terms of injuries, there doesn't appear to be anything too serious. I'm fine, Courtney and Skyler are fine, but Traci is at the doctor's office right now since her neck is a little sore and stiff. I just hope her injury isn't too serious and that this doesn't get too complicated with insurance, but at least we have it.

I haven't read Traci's entry on her blog about this, but I'm sure she went into much more detail. (That's one of the big differences between us when retelling stories/experiences.) I'll provide an update when I have one.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

So Much To Say, So Little Energy

As I sit here, tired enough to fall asleep as soon as a lay down, I need to blog as this has been an eventful week, both bad and good.

It started on Sunday when it was very good to see Traci, Courtney and Skyler return home safely from camping with her parents. I was sore from cleaning and doing a lot of stuff around the house (inside and out). They got home about 7:00 in the evening so it was later than expected, but they were home safe and that's really what matters.

Monday night was not fun (less fun for Traci) as Skyler was suffering from Croup. If you click on the link you can get the general information. It's a really horrible sounding cough and breathing. You can't miss it if your kids ever get it. Courtney had it before so we knew what it was when Skyler got it. After some time in the closed-up bathroom with a hot shower running (so she could breath in the steam to help her breath better), she fell asleep about 10:00. She started coughing again a while later and Traci took her outside for fresh air, which was recommended by the on-call doctor if the steam didn't work/last. She fell asleep while Traci was holding her outside. So she laid her down and opened a window in her room for the fresh to keep coming in. This helped and I don't think she woke up again until the morning.

Then came yesterday! About 12:50 in the afternoon I get a call from Orchard Dale where my mom works and it's the kind of call you don't want to get. They tell me that my mom got injured at work, an ambulance is on it's way to take her to the hospital and they think she dislocated her hip. I got the call from her school because they couldn't get a hold of my dad, who it turns out had just gotten on the phone with my grandma at the time. Needless to say I got an adrenaline rush and couldn't concentrate. After getting a hold of my dad right after that call, and after the school got a hold of him too, I headed to the hospital. I arrived there about 2:15 or so and she is still in a lot of pain as she hadn't been seen yet. She was finally seen and they were able to give her some Morphine. Within a half hour or so another dose of Morphine was administered as the first shot hadn't done much. At that point they took her down to x-ray and quickly confirmed that her hip was indeed out of place. They brought her back up and she was still in a lot of pain, granted they had to position her leg for the x-ray. Since the two doses of Morphine had almost no effect still they brought in the good drug: Dilaudid. This knocked her pretty good as she started almost falling asleep a few minutes later and it was only 1/4 the dose of one of the Morphine shots. Anyway, they wound up doing a closed reduction, which just means they put the hip back in the socket without needing surgery. They put her completely out for this. And while she was out, the doctor moved her leg around after he put it back in to see what would force it to pop back out again. So he explained to us the movements he did and at what angles the hip would pop out again. Pretty creepy, but he warned us he would do this before he took her in.

A little background to help clarify the significance of the dislocation. In June 1990, my mom had her right hip replaced and it was expected to last 10 years. Well, it made it 18 years. During a routine physical/hip check up this summer, they discovered the lining in the socket was starting to wear thin, which meant it could crack if something wasn't done relatively soon, and she might not know when it cracked. So they decided they should go in and replace the part that was wearing thin. Therefore, they really only replaced 1/2 the hip this last time, which was just August 19 (10 weeks ago). While she was putting books back on the shelf in her library, the hip went out and she went down. Nobody else was in the library with her so she wound up laying on the floor for about 20 minutes before a first grade class with their teacher came in, unable to get across the room to where her work and cell phone both were, due to the pain. The teacher had the kids wait outside while she called the office and 911.

Long story long, she was able to return home last night. I got to drive her home since my car was the easiest and safest one available for her to get in and out of (due to angle restrictions on the hip). We got her home just after 11:00 last night. By the time I got home it was about 11:15 and after catching up with Traci since I hadn't seen her all day, I finally made it to bed about 12:30. Needing to get up at 4:30 as normal for work this morning, that makes 4 hours of sleep, or what I refer to as a nap. (I know that's a long nap, but it's no where near a full night of sleep.) She was resting at home today and Traci took the girls to see her. Courtney was very worried about her last night. She asked if she was going to die so we had to explain that she just had a boo boo and would be fine. Poor girl.

While I was at the hospital, Traci gave me some much needed good news. Courtney has another audition this Saturday! This will be her first audition for print (i.e. magazine ad). Her previous two auditions were for commercials (i.e. tv). We both think it would be easier for her to start off in print and then go into commercial, but we're not the agent, and if she lands a commercial, great! Needless we're excited for the continued opportunities her agent keeps finding.

Finally, as I mentioned, I get up early for work as I try to get there around 6:30 in the morning. Being on the 7th floor (of a 20-story building) looking southeast, I have gotten to enjoy the sunset for the past several weeks. Today, with all the clouds, it was just too beautiful to not take a picture so I took the picture you see below with my cell phone. It's not great resolution and you can see the reflections in the window, but it's still beautiful. It makes me appreciate the beauty of God that is around us that we may not always appreciate. Lately I've been sure to take a minute every morning to enjoy the view of the sunrise since my cubicle is against a window. I hope you enjoy it.
















Ok, now I'm going to relax and spend some time with Traci. (No work tomorrow...woohoo!!) We'll see how long I last considering I've had a 4 hours of sleep in the past 42 hours. zzzzzzzzzzz...

Saturday, October 25, 2008

And Under Cushion Number 2...

I think I have been able to accomplish everything I wanted to do today before the World Series, which is currently in a rain delay as I write this. So let me run down the busy and tiring day that has been my Saturday without the family.

Rolled out of bed around 8:15 this morning after heading to bed around 1:30. I had my breakfast and then got right to work on the sprinklers. As I may have mentioned in previous blogs, the sprinklers have become a hobby of sorts for me. I actually enjoy fixing them, although I don't like it when they break. When I went to Home Depot yesterday, I got three sprinklers: one to fix the broken one and two to replace existing sprinklers that don't cover as much of the yard as they should (these two were installed by the city after they had to move our sprinklers and their piping to build a storm drain) and a cap to cap off another sprinkler (also installed by the city) that wouldn't be needed once I replaced the other two. I wound up having to go back to Home Depot to get a couple of small parts to make the sprinkler higher above ground since the joint (or whatever it's called) is right next to the planter and the sprinkler was too wide to screw on there. The best part about the trip back was that the two parts I got cost less than $1 total! Buying something you need at Home Depot to get your Home Depot fix and spending almost no money...every guy's (ok, this guy's) dream! Anyway, once I adjusted the spray pattern to cover the parts of the lawn it needs to, it was on to the three along the curb and storm drain.

No major problems here. I dug up the first one and capped it. I dug up the second one, replaced it and made the pattern didn't have it watering the street. Then I went the third one and started digging it up. No problems with it: dug it up, screwed on the new sprinkler and made sure the pattern was fine after some minor adjustments. Something freaky happened though while I was digging this one. I felt something tickling the back of my leg. I look back and it's a brown widow! They have a very similar body shape to the black widow, but instead of being black, they have a white lightning bolt-like pattern on it, still with the red/orange hourglass under it and still poisonous. (We've had tons of those around our house this summer. I've only seen one or two black widows.) Of course I freak a little bit, shake my leg, it falls off and I show her why it's cool that I'm bigger than her! (That's man talk for "I smashed it.") Then back to work with no further issues. All in all it took about an hour or a little more to do the sprinklers.

After that, came my big project for the day--cleaning the couch, and under it! This took me about 4 hours in all! I wanted to do as thorough a job as I could since we don't vacuum it too often (although we, correction I) should since Traci is allergic to dust mites. It all began by taking the cushions off and tossing them across the room so I could them move the pieces of the sectional and see we have been missing.

Holy crap, was there a ton of stuff under there! It's too bad the kids weren't here or we could have had Christmas early with all the small toys I found. I found a number of pieces that belong to Mr. Potato Head, a number of fruit snacks, McDonald's french fries, goldfish crackers, hair bands, head bands, crayons and even one of Traci's sandals that was almost against the back wall. (For sanity's sake I will assume that it got pushed back there and didn't walk all by itself!) In the couch, I hit the jackpot as I found 22, count them, 22 crayons! Once I had decided what was worth keeping such as the sandal and most hair things, what needed to be thrown away, and what bordered on toxic, I took the vacuum and sucked the rest up. Then it was on to the cushions and I took them on one by one. Now the couch is more fluffy and cleaner. Traci should be happy when she comes home tomorrow. If I didn't do this today, I would have needed to do it before next Saturday when we have our annual Sunday School Halloween party over here.

I did take a lunch break in the middle by using a coupon I found to relive my Whittier College days by going to Rick's Drive In & Out in Uptown Whittier. It was a buy one get one free coupon so I got two burgers for $3. And these burgers are way better than most fast food places. The only exception might be In-N-Out, but it's very close.

After the couch, I needed to clean up since you just feel nasty after doing all that cleaning. So I showered and then it was off to the store. This felt like an accomplishment, not because I went, but because of how much I spent. I actually kept it under $200! (It was just over $160). Looking at the bottom of the receipt, it showed savings of $45! I don't care if they actually mark stuff up to discount it to the real price to say you saved money. It's good for the psyche! And by the way, we have been shopping at Ralph's now for a number of months since they announced the new lower pricing in their stores earlier this year. Before, we shopped at Vons and our grocery bills were getting close to $300 per major trip on a fairly regular basis, and that's with Vons Club savings. Kudos to Ralph's!

Now all the groceries are put away and I'm waiting to see if they will play game 3 tonight as it is still raining pretty hard in Philadelphia, where it is now 9:30. If it comes on, cool, if not...Wii!

Friday, October 24, 2008

The Fun Continues

As my "bachelor" week continues, I find myself getting more done and finding more to do. Here is a quick checklist of stuff I was able to do today after work:
  • Mow and edge the lawn (in only an hour and a half)
  • Create a spreadsheet of our monthly budget (not pretty)
  • Sort through the mound of mail that had accumulated on the couch (still have to go through the unopened mail...leaving a mound of magazines and catalogs for Traci to go through when she's back Sunday...don't want her to feel left out)
  • Create grocery list (it's scary how empty our fridge is right now)
  • Called Verizon regarding FiOS (it will be available to us Nov 23)
  • Gassed up the car (and lawn mower...was excited that gas is "only $3.099/gal, which means with my $.10/gal discount (I love my employer--thank you, Chevron!), we're only paying $2.999/gal!!!!)
  • Made a Home Depot run (in order to fix sprinklers, you need to have some extras)
  • Payed the gas bill online (only $21 this month)
  • Made and ate a "gourmet" dinner of microwave taquitos (yummy!)
  • Consumed a Ben & Jerry's Phish Food (and got another one for tomorrow night!)

So then, what is on tap for tomorrow, you may ask? Nothing but more fun:

  • Sprinkler repair (noticed that one was broken before I mowed the lawn)
  • Store (to take care of insanely empty fridge and pantry)
  • Discover and clean the third world country of dust and toys under and in our couch (you don't want to know)
  • Vacuum and clean/pick up toys still laying around (I kind of started this last night but need to do more)
  • World Series game 3 (will develop Homer Simpson butt groove in the process)

The menu for tomorrow:

  • Breakfast: my always traditional Instant Breakfast
  • Lunch: BBQ Hamburgers
  • Dinner: Hot dogs
  • Topped off by: the other Ben & Jerry's Phish Food sitting in the freezer

Nothing beats a quality bachelor meal plan, huh? Hey, how come there's no Wii on that to do list?

In the weekly e-mail I get from our church about the happenings, I was excited to see an unexpected announcement that The Robbie Seay Band will be doing a concert at our church on November 12! I tried to get tickets tonight, but apparently they are not on sale yet. I guess I'll have to pay attention in church this week.

I've stayed up too late the past couple of nights, especially Wednesday night. However, tonight, I'm not so worried since I don't need to set an alarm tomorrow. Although I'll be busy tomorrow, it will all be okay as long as I finish everything planned by about 5:30 when Game 3 of the World Series starts.

Saw something interesting in the LA Times yesterday. In the weather section, they always list the hottest and coldest places in the 48 contiguous states. It showed that Whittier was tied for the hottest place (with Miramar down in San Diego county) in the US on Wednesday at 101 degrees! I was proud. Then while watching the news today, they were showing that there is a chance of rain next Friday. Not cool...that's Halloween!

Had a chance to watch Saturday Night Live last Saturday as I was very interested to see how Sarah Palin did when appearing on the show. Let me just say, the Weekend Update portion was classic. If you haven't had a chance to see the Sarah Palin rap, performed by a very pregnant Amy Poehler, it is great. Check it out here.

Well, Jay Leno just started so I guess if I'm going to play any Wii tonight, I better get to it before I fall asleep.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Population: Me

Here I am blogging, because it is just me in the house from now until Sunday afternoon. Traci and the girls rode up north with her parents for her cousin's wedding tomorrow (yes, Thursday) night. I'm saving my last two vacation days for around Christmas and New Year. If there is one good thing about being alone, it's that I get to watch the first three games of the World Series without distractions. However, I do miss them, of course. I miss the bedtime prayers and kisses. It will be weird sleeping alone. I've done that on business trips, but I'm somewhere else, not here.

I have lots of plans for myself while I'm home alone. Not a lot of fun stuff like Wii or hanging out with friends, though. Just stuff around the house that needs to get done. For example, I wrote the bills, balanced the checkbook and took out the trash tonight! How cool is that?!?!?!?! I also have plans for yard work this weekend and looking at our monthly budget. You know, the fun stuff in life. I will be having dinner with my parents tomorrow night for game 2 so that will be a nice little break.

I have to admit, Game 1 tonight was pretty good. I initially wanted the Rays to win the World Series since this is their first time in it, but with all the talk of American League domination in recent history, I find myself pulling for the Phillies. I guess the bottom line is it doesn't matter to me who wins. It should be a good series and I will be happy if it is.

I guess since I should have undisturbed sleep tonight, I should go start that now.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Hello again

It seems like it's been a while since I've blogged. It's been a week. I guess that's what happens when I don't have something pushing inside my head to get out. SO this will be one of those general update kind of blogs.

We got a call today from Courtney's agent and she has an audition with Hasbro on Monday afternoon. It would be cool if she got it, but I'm not holding my breath. She has to beat out a ton of kids I'm sure. I know she can do it, but I'm not the one making the casting decisions.

Ever since my dad had a heart attack 5 years ago, combined with the fact that I've been on cholesterol medication for a while now, I've been more concerned about my future and if/when I'll have one. So in an effort to avoid one all together, I'm starting a cardiovascular health program through work. It's free and can only help me, so why not. I want to be around as long as possible for my family so this is the least I can do. I'll have twice a month calls with a "mentor" who will provide me with advice and check my progress on the goals I will set as well as general encouragement and tips on how to get where I want to go. The program lasts for 9 months so it's not what I consider a short-term program. Another bonus is that for completing the initial assessment, I get a $100 credit in February on my health benefit deductions. If I meet a certain milestone about halfway through the program, I'll get another $100 credit next September. That's a ways off, but it's an extra $100 to bring home.

My Dodgers finally got eliminated from the playoffs this week. It was sad, but it is the best season they've had since they won the World Series in 1988. Now come the offseason decisions of the front office staff. There are a number of free agents that could decide to sign elsewhere. A few of them could easily (and should!) retire. It will be interesting to see what the team looks like when Spring Training rolls around in February. Speaking of Spring Training, it will be nice to have the Dodgers new Spring Training facility much closer than it has ever been. It has been in Vero Beach, FL for the past 60, but is moving to Glendale, AZ this next spring. While it would be nice to go check it out some March weekend, I don't see that happening with our current financial situation.

I finally played Guitar Hero again today for the first time in a couple months. I still can't beat Lou, which is really discouraging me from playing. Plus I love playing the sports on there, especially baseball now that I keep learning how to do more thing in it.

I guess I should go and enjoy the quiet time while the girls are asleep, especially since I will be taking them to DCA tonight while Traci is doing a PartyLite party.