HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, well, well. Look who's coming back to his blog. Things are going well right now and I'm not going to make this long, but just a heads up that I will attempt to begin blogging again on here soon. I won't give a date because, honestly, I don't know when it will be with all the Christmas activities going on. However I do have a little vacation time coming up just after Christmas. See you soon!

Great Song by Phil Stacey - "You're Not Shaken"

I love this song a lot because I can really relate to it right now. It's on my other blog, but I connect with it so much that I felt it should be here as well. It's by Phil Stacey. He was in the top 5 on American Idol a few years back (season 6?). It has helped me during this dark time of life. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Still Here

I haven't forgotten about this blog. I've been working on a new blog that is currently private and I'm using as a journal for what I'm currently dealing with. It may be a while before I resume this blog, so please be patient. I just wanted to let you know I'm still here.

Summerslam Review

On Sunday, August 23, my friend Don and I, went to the Staples Center to see WWE Summerslam live. We are both into wrestling and when I discovered back in March that this event was going to be held at Staples Center, I popped the idea of getting tickets. He liked it and so we did. We had a great time. So enjoy my little pictorial review of Summerslam.

Since we got there between 2:30 and 2:45 and it didn't start until 4:45, we walked around the Summerslam Axxess area outside Staples Center. It was separate admission and we didn't feel like paying more so we just walked around to see what was going on. We hung out near the ring that was setup outside. When we realized they were going to be having a match there, we stayed. It was pretty cool because we were maybe 50 feet away, which is how I was able to get the picture above. That is the Hurricane leaping off the top rope onto Paul Burchill. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Finally at about 3:15 we headed over to get in line to get inside. It was good timing as the line grew pretty quickly after that.


The beauty of seeing a pay-per-view (ppv) live is that they had a "bonus" match before they went on air. In this case, it happened to be a 15-diva battle royal. This just means that you get eliminated when you are thrown over the top rope and both feet hit the floor. You can see the chaos above after the opening bell rang. The best thing was that after the match Hornswoggle came in the ring and wound up dancing with a bunch of the divas. Honestly, I think they have the bonus match to test everything out from lighting to sound to the ring itself because after it was over, a bunch of guys, including the referees, were out there weaving rope through a new mat cover, which was actually underneath the mat they wrestled on here. That's another cool thing about seeing an event live is everything you don't see on tv.


I like this shot for a couple of reasons. This is during the match for the Unified Tag Team titles: Chris Jehrico and Big Show vs. Cryme Tyme. You can see the action in the ring where one member of Cryme Tyme is trying to escape from Chris Jehrico's submission move: the Walls of Jehrico. However, if you look outside, you see the other member of Cryme Tyme on the ground (between the camera guys). Meanwhile Big Show is totally just hanging out on the far right of the picture. He stayed there until he clocked the guy grabbing the bottom rope with a right hand, which ended the match and allowed Jehrico and Big Show to keep their titles. Not the outcome we were hoping for, but oh well.


This picture represents, by far, the coolest entrance of the night, which was by Degeneration X (DX), which is made up of Triple H and Shawn Michaels. (See the cool little glow sticks that some people are holding up in an "X"?) We had no idea what was going to happen, but when a bunch of stagehands start moving the massive ramp that the wrestlers walk down to enter, we had no idea what was about to happen. They rolled into the arena on a tank! How sweet was that?! This was also exciting because this was DX's first match in a couple of years and they were facing a tag team that pretty much everyone hates. It was great when DX won.


This picture shows John Cena and Randy Orton beginning their match for the WWE title. It was a bizarre match to say the least. First Orton got disqualified (which meant he kept his title). Then Vince McMahon orders the match to be restarted and if Orton get dq'd again, he loses the title. Next Orton gets counted out (which also means he keeps his title). Then Vince McMahon orders the match to restart again and if Orton gets counted out again, he will lose his title. Then Orton pins Cena by using the ropes as leverage. Another ref comes running out from the back and tells the match's ref what happened so the ref restarts the match. Then what looks like a fan from the crowd goes running into the ring to pull the ref out of the ring as Cena locked in his submission hold on Orton. (Turns out it was someone affiliated with Orton, which was revealed on Monday Night Raw the following night.) Finally, after the distractions ended, Orton won fair and square. By far, this was the most disappointing outcome of the night. But again, oh well.


This is during Jeff Hardy's entrance for his World Heavyweight title defense against CM Punk in a TLC (tables, ladders and chairs) match. It also shows how cool fireworks can be inside an arena. This was the best match of the night, which is probably why it was the last one. It's also why I posted the most picture from this match to give you an idea of what this match is like.


Here you can see that Jeff hardy is climbing the ladder and CM Punk is trying to kick the ladder down to prevent Hardy from reaching the title belt which is hanging above the ring. That's how you win the match, you have to climb a ladder to reach and grab the belt. Once you have it, you win and are the champion.


Here is a picture of Jeff Hardy slamming CM Punk from about half way up the ladder. Pretty painful to watch, but a pretty good action shot.

This has got to be the craziest moment of the night. You can see the referees holding the ladder. Figure they are about 6 feet tall. Therefore, you are looking at about a 20-foot ladder. If you look next to the top of the ladder, you will see a blur of Jeff Hardy as he leaps off the top of the ladder onto CM Punk, who is lying on the announcers table below. No matter how fake wrestling can be, this had to hurt both of them. Obviously the table collapsed when he landed squarely on Punk. Somehow, though, the match continued on with CM Punk eventually winning we grabbed the title belt after knocking Hardy off the top of the ladder they had both climbed.

However, the most exciting moment of the night, and the moment when I lost my voice, was after the match. As Punk was standing over Hardy, the lights went out in Staples Center and you heard the bell of the Undertaker, who hadn't been seen since Wrestlemania in April. When the lights came back on, he was laying where Hardy has been when the lights went out. He grabbed Punk by the throat and chokeslammed him sending a message that he is back and after Punk's new title. Both Don and I lost our voices as soon as the lights went out and the bell sounded.

So that was my experience at my second ever WWE live event. The last one was about 20 years ago when my friend Mike and I went with three of the jr high staff at church, and things have changed a lot in the last 20 years. I definitely hope to do this again sometime. It was awesome!

Song

This song really hits home right now. Enough said.

Hmmm...

I haven't posted in a while and have a feeling I won't post very often in the near future. The reason is I'm dealing with some personal stuff and I think I'm just afraid that writing on here will cause me to reveal more than I am confortable with or mre than I want people to know. If there is something I want to write, I will, but I'm not making this a high priority in my life right now. I've got other crap to deal with. So if you happen to follow this little blog of mine, don't be surprised if there are big gaps between postings.

However, today was the conclusion of the Leadership Summit, which is hosted by Willow Creek Community Church annually. This year, our church (WACC) was a satellite campus/host. This is kind of cool (to me) for a couple of reasons. Of the 14 new satellites nationwide, we had the largest attendance/enrollment at just over 500 people. It was also cool because a number of other churches attended the event at our church. Like our pastor pointed pointed out, it is great to see churches coming together for events like this. After all, we're all here for the same reason (or at least we should be). It was also cool because our church was featured in the session that included a follow up interview with Bono (of U2) because of our Malawi Miracle a few Christmases ago (2005?) that resulted from an idea of our church's leadership atendance at the Leadership Summit that year. While I wish I was at a different place personally to get more out of it, I am still glad Traci and I went this year and we both want to go again next year. (Our church has already said they are going to be a satellite site for next year's Summit...August 5 and 6.)

And now, back to life.

Colorado 2009

We made it to Colorado for our 2009 trip and had a great time. We were gone for 10 days (July 2-11), 4 of which were driving. It was a lot of fun and we took lots of pictures (over 300) as can be expected on a vacation. I'm not posting any pictures here, they are on Facebook. It would be hard to pick just a few to put on here. So here are some of the highlights.

Our first stop in Colorado was at Traci's brother's (and family) house in Longmont, CO. It was good to see them again since they moved at the end of last year. My allergies really kicked up with the animals there: two cats and one dog. Allergy medicine helped I think, but it was still more than my body was used to. The girls enjoyed dressing up and playing with their (3) cousins there. Since we were there for 4th of July, we did some fireworks. The kids, except for Autumn who is 2 (and the youngest) enjoyed them. The people in the surrounding neighborhoods go all out. We're talking the cannon-shot fireworks. Pretty cool. We spent the first part of the day at a family friend's house swimming and playing games.

Sunday night brought the roughest thunderstorm I have ever experienced. It only lasted like 15-20 minutes, but it looked just like what you see on the news when the crazies are reporting from in a hurricane...horizontal sheets of rain slamming the house, trees looking like they were going to snap and blow over. I have to admit it was pretty cool.

After staying at their house for a few days (Fri-Mon) we moved on to my sister's house in Henderson, CO. This was the highlight of the trip as we got to meet our new niece (or cousin from the girls' perspective), Bella. She was just born back in February. It was fun to hold and play with her and see how the girls reacted to her. Courtney loved her and Skyler seemed fairly indifferent. We also went to my cousin's place in Superior for dinner one night and drove down to Colorado Springs for a day to see my Great Uncle and Great Aunt. I always love seeing them. They are just so fun and hospitable. And the girls love them too.

While at my sister's house, we were introduced to a new game we have known of for a long time, but hadn't ever played: Cities and Knights. It's part of the Settlers of Catan series of games. Really long, but really fun. I think our game lasted about 2 hours with the three of us playing (Adam was at work).

Being the nerd that I am, I really enjoyed seeing the cloud formation that formed off in the distance on Monday night. There are a few great pictures of this on Facebook. It started off with the clouds that "bump" down, indicating the potential for tornado formation. Then it became part of a much larger formation that I hadn't ever seen before. I'm sure it was pretty nasty for those who were actually under it.

If I took the time to hit on everything we did on the trip, this would be a novel of an entry. It was a great trip and I look forward to the next time we go out there, whenever it is.

10 Amazing Years

As I start to write this, Traci and I are just 18 minutes from celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that it's already been 10 years, but what a great 10 years it has been! If I were to try to write about all the memories we have in our 10 years of marriage, I would be writing until our next anniversary.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow! After breakfast we will be dropping the kids off at my parents house for a sleepover they have been looking forward to for some time. Then it's off to celebrate the bid day, just the two of us. We'll begin by seeing "The Proposal". After that it's home to feed the fish and then off to lunch and Disneyland, where I imagine we'll be the rest of the day and will hopefully stick around to see to the new and improved Fantasmic and fireworks. I'm really looking forward to spending the day with Traci.

I have spent a lot of today trying to remember exactly what we were doing 10 years ago today. I remember the rehearsal and dinner. At this minute (11:47) I was asleep. It was just me and my friend Micah in the apartment. I remember all the fun we had that day making final preparations for the wedding. I remember the prank my father-in-law pulled in getting the pastor (Don Perini) to try to get me to denounce the Dodgers while practicing saying the vows. (He was unsuccessful at getting me to do so.) I remember almost being late to the rehearsal because I was picking up my cousin Christina and her son, our ring bearer, Sam from the Murrieta area. I remember the fun of the dinner and having so many good, close friends involved in our big day and seeing everyone sign the matting around our engagement picture, which is still hanging in our living room.

I love thinking back to those memories and all the happy feelings they bring. The more I think about marriage, the more I realize what a big commitment it really is. In looking back, I almost wonder why I wasn't really scared about it. Then I think of Traci and remember exactly why I was never scared. With her by my side for the rest of our lives, what is there to be scared about? God brought her into my life for a reason, and I am so thankful that he did. I have no idea who I would be or what I would be doing if she was not in my life.

It is almost midnight now and it feels a little bit like New Years Eve. I think I need to go and get ready to kiss her at the stroke of midnight. Happy anniversary, my love! Here's to 100 more!!!!!!!!

DCA

I think this picture sums up our day yesterday...tons of fun, but very tiring.

Fun Weekend Ahead

I have to admit that although the 10-hour work days can seem long sometimes, it's always worth it come Friday...because I'm always off! Just one of the things I love about my job. So since my weekend is now underway, and I'll be busy for most of it, I though I would preview it.

But first, the event of the day today was Courtney's Kindergarten assessment. Traci took her to it this afternoon and they said she did good and was recommended for the extended-day K. They gave the early bird and late bird options. I"m letting Traci choose which one she prefers since she will be the one dropping both Skyler and Courtney come the fall. She's preferring late bird since Sky needs to be at school by 9:00 and Courtney would start at 9:05 (to 2:25, I think). Apparently there's a lottery or something like that to determine who gets their preference for starting times based on how the kids are classified after their assessments. When asked to count as high as she could, Courtney got to 59. Not bad for someone about to enter Kindergarten.

Now for the upcoming weekend. Tomorrow we have a playdate scheduled with the Parkers who are visiting from Idaho to gather support and promote their upcoming journey into the missions world. They will eventually be heading to Congo as Wycliffe translators. However, tomorrow it will just be fun to hang out in the morning. After lunch, we'll all head our own ways: the Parkers to move into their next host-house, me to pick up Courtney from preschool, and Traci to take Skyler to her first dentist appointment. That should be interesting considering it's her first time there. At least our dentist and the staff are really good people. Then tomorrow night it's a game night with our Sunday School class, which includes the Parkers since they were a part of the class before moving to Idaho.

Saturday brings a trip to DCA (Disney's California Adventure). My parents are going so they can use up their 2fer pass before they expire in a little over a week. We may have Sky try Soarin' Over California and Tower of Terror since she is tall enough for them now and wants to at least try Tower of Terror. (I haven't asked her about Soarin' yet, but she has no fear.)

Then Sunday after church, we have the Parkers' Open House where they will be doing a presentation for their missionary work. It should be interesting as it is such a drastic life-change to take on something like this. I really respect them for doing this.

Time to head off and clean a little before Traci gets home from the gym. If I'm ambitious, I'll post some picture from Saturday on here or Facebook sometime this weekend.

The New Disneyland

First of all, since my last posting, I have felt much better. I think I really just needed to get my feelings out instead of holding them in which I do too often. It also may have helped that I was insanely busy at work this week and therefore couldn't think as much about other things. Whatever the case, God helped.


Even though it is Memorial Day weekend and we knew Disneyland would be crazy busy, we decided to go anyway. Plus we went in the morning, so it wouldn't be at its busiest in the evening. It turned out to be a good call. Not because of the business factor, but because each of the kids reached a milestone today...on the same day! Courtney reached the 46" mark and Skyler reached the 40" mark!

This, of course, meant that we (Courtney and I) had to do Indiana Jones. We took advantage of Fastpass since it was only for a couple of hours later and we had just gotten there. She was pretty scared in line, but afterwards, she had a big smile and said she liked it. She said the big snake was kind of scary, but loved going under the rolling rock. Needless to say, we'll be making many more visits there in the future.


And then there is Skyler. To this point she had been limited to Matterhorn and the Toontown roller coaster. But now she can go on Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Star Tours (not to mention Tower of Terror in DCA)! We did half of those today: Splash and Big Thunder. She loved both of them. Unfortunately, we didn't use Fastpass on Splash. Courtney and I hadn't used our Indiana fastpasses yet so we couldn't get four for Splash. So we waited in line for over an hour. It was worth it though. We got a little wet on the first few drops, but nothing to be proud about. Then came the last (HUGE) drop. After cruising at the bottom, a huge (probably 6 feet tall or so) wave kicked up from the front the front of our log and of course, we pretty much went through it Seeing Skyler's big smile and Courtney's smile afterwards and hearing Traci's laugh and realizing how wet I was, made it all worth it. Those are the moments I live for in life.

Then came Big Thunder Mountain. Again, we were able to take advantage of Fastpass, and that probably saved us about 45 minutes (similar to the advantage on Indiana Jones). Skyler loved it so much and was laughing everytime she lifted off the seat according to Traci who rode with her. That's my girl! Courtney did her usual top-of-the-lungs scream on Big Thunder which led her to her belly laugh between screams. I love it when she laughs like that.

Days like today at Disneyland are the moments I will remember for a long time to come and are what make having a family so enjoyable and worthwhile. I look forward to many more moments like this. Now onto the rest of the long weekend with much more family time planned, just the way a long weekend should be.

Unloading

To say the last week and a half has been a struggle would be accurate. Monica was a good friend and although it appeared she would leave us sometime, I did not expect it to affect me as much as it has. I knew it would hurt. It's not like we were best friends, but she was a good friend and I have never lost anyone this close to me before. I think that's probably why this is tough.

I tried to do her good when I spoke at her service last Saturday, and from the feedback I've received, it appears I did well. However, the strength I tried to show during the service and since her death has been a show. Or at least that's how it feels.

Since she has relocated to Heaven, it has caused me to take a look at my life, what I've accomplished and those I (may) have had an influence on. I don't like what I've been thinking as a result of this self-analysis. I have had many negative thoughts as a result of looking at my life so far. Sure, there have been successes, but being one who tends to dwell on negatives, that is all I can seem to focus on.

Something else that is not good for me (to some degree) is that I tend not to accept failure at anything. That only applies to me though, not my family. I'm trying not to pass that on to my family, especially the girls, as I know it is not always healthy. However, I think it is something I will always struggle with and at times like this, it is just not good for me. Looking at Monica's life, I can only hope to be half the person she was.

I've been holding in all these emotions, the loss of a dear friend and the disappointment of a life of many failures, for too long. Thus the blog title. It's time to unload these emotions, and hopefully they don't upset anybody.

I have not enjoyed my time in the car, or on the train or the walk to the shuttle for work as during these times, I have constant thoughts and feelings running through me. And they don't make me feel any better. Even the good music from the radio or iPod can't seem to help. (Right now I've got my Christian music and HSM playlist on it.) I feel like I'm going through the motions of life and not getting anything accomplished. I constantly think about about the various failures I've had so far, such as our financial situation, the periodic yelling at home (whether it's me or the girls or both, which I know I have passed on based on my behavior), being let go from my last job, the state of the Sunday school class I "lead", the fact that our Colorado trip is in jeopardy, and the list goes on. Couple that with the emotions of losing a friend and I just don't know how much more I can handle in my head. I feel like I need a good cry, but just can't get it out. I feel very fragile and vulnerable, and I don't like that. I wish I could just move on in life, but I know I can't and don't know how reasonable that would be anyway. If I didn't have Traci and the girls at home, I don't know how I would be right now as it feels like I would have no motivation for anything. Fortunately, they give me motivation to make it through the day as I love seeing them when I get home, even if it's only for a few hours.

I guess I just don't know how to handle it all and that drives me crazy. I like to be in control and I don't feel even close to that right now. At least I've got God and the comfort that He will not give me more than I can handle. Just wish I knew how long these feelings and emotions would last.

Article on Monica in Daily News

There is a great article about Monica on the front page of the Whittier Daily News today. I am including a link here so you can read it. Also, it is currently showing up as the most viewed article online at the Daily News. If you have the time, please read it.

A Long Week

This has been a long week already and the weekend is just beginning, which means things just speed up.

As you may or may not know, we lost a good friend Monica on Monday evening. She had been battling Angiosarcoma for about a year and a half and ultimately lost her battle. She leaves behind her husband of more than 7 years, Sol, and their 2 year old son, Kai. It's a very heart-breaking time. We got to know Monica ans Sol through our Sunday School class. They have been a part of the class for about 6 years I think and fit right in. Traci got to know Monica pretty good as they seemed to have a lot in common like games and scrapbooking. I think her passing is probably hitting Traci more than me because of that., although it still has gotten to me all week. She was a great part of the class and will be missed dearly.

Tuesday and Wednesday I teared up off and on all day, so I took Thursday as a vacation day to just try to relax and be available for Sol if he needed anything, and today is my normal day off. I think the reason I am so sad and upset is not because Monica is actually gone, although that's definitely part of it. I think it's more because I empathize with Sol. I picture what I would feel like losing Traci, being left to raise Courtney and Skyler by myself. I picture myself having to talk to them about why Mommy won't be home with us and having to deal with their pain as well as mine. I just cannot imagine what that would be like and hope that I never have to. Losing someone you love is never easy. Losing someone who makes you who you are and gives you motivation for life, is incomprehensible to me. (Needless to say, I have been hugginh my family with more meaning this week.) And yet here I am trying to help a friend who is going through exactly that. My heart goes out to Sol and Kai as they adjust to their new life. I'm just really glad that they know God, and because of that, can know that someday they will see Monica again. And she will a happy, perfectly healthy Monica. What a day that will be! I think that's why I'm not as upset over missing Monica, because I know she's in Heaven and having an amazing time hanging out with all the people she knows that are already there.

I bet God has a volleyball court for her, too. I decided to google her name earlier this week and came across an article from a few years ago when she was inducted into her college's Hall of Fame (the inaugural induction I might add). I didn't realize she was so good at volleyball.

I didn't know what to expect when I went to see Sol on Wednesday after work. He seemed to be doing well, all things considered. It was really good to see him and give him a hug and talk for a little bit. I know he's been through a lot and to be holding up as well as it appears he is, is amazing to me.

So, as the weekend is now here, plans get insane as they seem to on too many weekends. Courtney has school today, as is normal on Fridays, although she only has 4 weeks of preschool left now. I've already taken my dad to his post-cataract-surgery appointment (things are going as they should) and he treated me to breakfast. The rest of the day is pretty open, but I may be spending time with Sol. Tomorrow will be a little crazy. I'll have the girls most of the day as Traci has a full morning beginning with MOPS/MOMS brunch with church. As soon as she gets home, it's off to a friend's baby shower. Meanwhile I have to take Courtney up to church for choir practice for their performance on Sunday night. Then after everyone is home, we (at least Traci and I) will head to Monica's memorial service at church Saturday evening. Sunday morning will be church as normal, but with Roads and Bridges (the Sunday School class I lead) hosting a time of prayer and talk about Monica, Sol and Kai. Then to wrap up the weekend, we will see Courtney perform in a musical at church Sunday evening. It will be a long and emotional weekend, but I'm up for it. I need to be.

Man-ny! Man-what? Hey, Free Souvenirs!

I had the joy of being at the Dodger game tonight. Kind of historic in the sense that it was the first of 50 games the Dodgers will play without Manny Ramirez thanks to his suspension for taking performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) as indicated by a positive test by MLB. While this is obviously a concern for the team, not having his services and all until early July, I am not too worried about the Dodgers and how they will do without him. Tonight's game confirmed my thoughts about that (more details following). After all, one player does not make a team, and it's very hard to win when your bullpen gives up 10 runs.

It was obvious right away that the Dodger did not need Manny to score runs tonight. They scored 6 runs in the first inning alone to go up 6-0, 4 of which came on Matt Kemp's grand slam. Randy Wolf pitched a great 6 innings giving up only one run on a home run that I almost caught! The ball was caught by the guy sitting one seat over and two rows down from me. (You might be able to see me and my friend Martin if you pause the video at the just the right time. At the 0:12 mark of the video, you will see a guy in a yellow shirt bend over to get the ball. From there, look slightly up and to the left. Martin is in a blue shirt almost on the edge of the video and I am right next to him, in a light gray shirt with my blue Dodger hat.) Also in the game was a wicked crazy double play turned by the Nationals' Christian Guzman that spoiled the major league debut of Xavier Paul for the Dodgers. (It actually is ESPN's #1 Web Gem for Thursday.) Ultimately, the Dodgers lost 11-9, their first home loss of the season in their 14th home game. Not bad. So now they are only 21-9 with a 5.5 game lead in the division. Exciting game, but wrong results as we left two the tying runs on base to end the game.

Now, as to how I actually caught a ball during batting practice. The Nationals were taking their pre-game batting practice and many players were in shagging fly balls in the outfield. Once in a while one of them would toss a ball into the crowd, either into the left field pavilion or our area of the field level. One of the players had a ball and was looking towards the crowd in our section like he was thinking about throwing it to us. So I stood up and held up my glove in hopes he would see me. He did and threw the ball towards me. It started hooking away from me towards Martin (who did not have a glove was willing to let me defend him with it) so I leaned in front of him and caught it. Good thing too as he didn't realize the ball was coming our way...he was still watching the batter. So since they were giving away little radios in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers first world championship in LA (beating the White Sox in 1959), I walked away with two free souvenirs for the night. And yes they were truly free as the tickets to the game were free as well!

Below are a couple of pictures. One is with me and the ball I caught. The other is me re-enacting me catching the ball. (Very realistic, I know.)

The Good, the Bad...Now I'm Sad

What a rough weekend. Thank goodness they are not all like this.

First of all having left work early on Wednesday and then calling in sick on Thursday due to a stomach bug of some kind, that didn't go away until Saturday, was a sign of how things would go, I guess.

On Friday, I took my car into the nearest Jeep dealership, which is now Cerritos after two others nearby have closed in this downturn, to take care of a problem that the last mechanic I took it to said could only be taken care of by a dealer. Well, they were right, unfortunately. Now that I've been putting up with my car stalling at random times for the past several months (we're talking since Christmas or just before), it is nice to have the problem fixed. Turns out the computer, you know the one that runs the car, was having an internal short and therefore making the car stall. The computer alone was $583 (not including labor). There was also a problem with air and gas control that meant the repair of another part. After all was said and done, we're out almost a grand. We are lucky in the sense that we were able to afford this right now and make the car last until now. However, the bad is that it cost about what our trip to Colorado would cost and spending that much again would not be smart at this point in time. Therefore, I have a feeling we won't be heading to Colorado this year, which really sucks. It kills me every time the girls mention and get very excited about going to Colorado. At least we have Skype.

Then, my worries about going to Colorado and spending the money on my car didn't seem very significant. Our friend Monica, who has been battling Cancer (Angiosarcoma) for about a year and a half now, was admitted to the hospital on Friday. We found out Saturday and were able to visit her that afternoon. She is in a lot of pain as the tumors rapidly grow in her. From what Traci told me from Sunday School today (I was home with Courtney who is sick) she has a 22cm tumor. The chemos she has been through have not been working. She needs prayer, as do her husband and almost 3-year-old son. It's obviously hard on them as well, especially Sol (her husband) as he better understands what is going on. I ask that you pray for them.

(Since I just posted a new song on my other blog, I wanted to post the previous video for my current favorite song as it means so much to me right now. Hope you enjoy it if you haven't checked out my other blog lately.)

Ummmmmm...

I feel kind of bad for staying home from work today after coming home early yesterday. My stomach has that "unstable" feeling and has since I got home from work Wednesday night. Fortunately, nothing has happened and I hope it stays that way, but it's just annoying when it feels like this. If it's still like this tomorrow, there will be no Dodger Dog for me at the game tomorrow night. At least there are plenty of other options there.

Courtney's First Job!

Yesterday, Courtney had her first photo shoot. It was done at Will Rogers State Beach and was for O Magazine. We don't know what issue it's going to appear in, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out. She is one of about 20 people in the shot and is the only one looking directly at the camera. I wasn't there, so I can't provide a lot of details, but if you go to Traci's blog, you can find out more since she goes into more detail...and posted pictures. We're proud of her and hope that she continues to get jobs as long as she enjoys doing this.

Birthday Time

It's officially my birthday and in just a few minutes I'll officially be 33! I'm looking forward to today and tomorrow as there are some fun things lined up. Tomorrow, it's off to Disneyland with Traci and the girls after she has her MOPS meeting to prepare for the massive yard sale at our place on the 25th. After Disneyland, we'll head to dinner with some family. Nothing big, kind of low key, which is good.

Friday, we head to our first Dodger game of the year where they will take on the Rockies and we'll be treated to postgame fireworks. That should be lots of fun as we (the 4 of us) head to the game with my parents (using Mom's handicap placard!) and my good friend Eric.

I think I'm just excited because it's all fun stuff and with people I really like being around. Here's to being about 1/3 of a century old! (That officially happens August 16, when I turn 33 1/3.)

Life

I was at our refinery's business plan roll out today at the Disneyland Hotel and after a speech from our retiring President of Global Manufacturing (who oversees all of our refineries worldwide), it just helped me realize what life is about. He talked about retiring after being with Chevron for 32 years and that he wants to be a better husband, father and grandfather, while going out on top, in terms of his professional accomplishments, and also wanting to give back in the community in which he was raised in India. One of the last things he mentioned in his speech was how much he felt blessed by God, and that was very good to hear.

Before his speech this afternoon, I pretty much just saw him as one of the corporate big-wigs. However, after the speech, I saw him as a fellow human being in this journey called life. I could completely relate to his desire to spend time with his family. He talked about the fact that he has put his wife of 38 years through 18 moves during his career, and that in the last six years (while in his current position) he has logged about 8,000 hours of airtime (not counting time in the airport or for transfers) and that he has typically traveled about 2 1/2 weeks every month. From that I can understand why he wants to spend more time with his family. He gained a lot my respect today. I could tell there was a lot of personal emotion behind his speech today and that is why I feel for and can relate to him.

I will tell you now that I have no desire whatsoever to take on a position of any kind that will make me be away from my family that much. I also know that not wanting to relocate can limit the opportunities available to me at Chevron. However, I will not sacrifice my family for my career. I also know that having a family that I value could affect the perception of my performance relative to my peers. While I don't think that is fair, that just may be the way it seems to some people. Fortunately, that has not been the case so far. As my uncle says, I'm not living to work, I'm working to live.

I am very thankful for the family that I have and I believe God wants them to be my top priority (behind Him). Therefore, I structure my life that way. When all is said and done in my career and my life, I am most concerned that they will look at me and be proud of what I did and who I was. I don't want to embarrass them or have them feel ashamed of me. I want them to be glad that I was a part of their life for as long as I was here.

At Chevron, we have something called the Chevron Way, which explains what our company is about. The values associated with it align very well with how I want to conduct my life, and perhaps that is part of the reason I enjoy working for Chevron so much. Trust, honesty and integrity are three of the characteristics I want to incorporate in all areas of my life. From those, I believe respect is inevitable. And if I have the love and respect of my family, I will be a happy man.

On another note, I am excited for it to be Easter weekend. After all, it is because of Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection that we celebrate this holiday and can have eternal life. I always love our church's Easter services. This year, we're doing something different as we'll be attending service on Saturday instead of Sunday. Part of the reason is that so much of our family is going then: my parents, my grandma (who we still think is unsaved at the age of 95), Traci's parents and Traci's grandparents. Afterwards at least some of us will be having dinner together and then re-gathering on Sunday afternoon for the official Easter get-together. One extra thing to be excited about for the services this year is that Eden Espinosa who played Elphaba in Wicked. (She went to college with our worship pastor so he has the connections.) So if you happen to be looking for a good church to celebrate Easter at, hopefully that will encourage you to give WACC a try. Happy Easter everyone!

The Weekend

I have to admit I'm really loving my 3-day weekends now with the new schedule. The longer workdays take their toll during the week, but when it really starts getting to me, it's the weekend again! And with this weekend comes lots of fun stuff.

Today we turned in Courtney's kindergarten registration packet and she is now officially enrolled for the fall at Orchard Dale, where Traci and I both went to school and where my mom works (when she's not recovering from hip surgery). I think Courtney is really going to like school and I think she'll do well. She has been starting to read on her own a little and that is very exciting. I have always been a little scared of that since I have never liked to read yet I want to encourage her to read whenever she wants to. So far so good.

Traci had her annual eye checkup today and we were scared of what new contacts would cost as she has been noticing a difference in her vision over time. However, last year, once we got on Chevron's benefits, we learned that our eye doctor didn't take our insurance. I wound up spending $500 for my appointment and glasses. Well, they just started accepting our insurance, EyeMed. Her contacts and appointment will cost us a total of $120. Much better than we were expecting. It turns out that they were almost forced to start accepting EyeMed since a lot of the people going to his practice have dropped VSP because it is too costly to their employers. I remember when working in underwriting at my last job that EyeMed was always cheaper than VSP and it is accepted at many large retail outlets (i.e. Sears, Target, Lens Crafters, etc.), which appeals to a lot of employees. So after cancelling my appointment for tomorrow (the time wouldn't have worked anyway...see below), I rescheduled for a couple weeks from now. We'll see what happens there.

I wound up taking my car into the shop since it stalled once yesterday coming home from work. I thought the new fuel pump and filter we installed last week had done the trick, but I guess not. It was due for an oil change anyway so I took up to a local shop here that I really trust. Unfortunately, they couldn't fix the problem, but were able to explain why. They said the coil (whatever that is and does) came up when the car was hooked up to their diagnostic machine. However, they said they had fixed that on other Jeeps like mine and it didn't fix the problem, but that it was probably the computer that runs the car. He said that it needs to be reflashed, which resets it apparently. That can only be done at a dealership, so I'll be taking it to a third place to get fixed. If after the reflashing, it still isn't fixed, then he said it probably needs a whole new computer, which will run in the $400-500 range, which is not what I want. Heck I'll flash the computer if that's all it takes! Ok, not really.

Tomorrow should be fun as we drop off the kids at the in-laws and then head with my parents and Nora (Mom's good friend) to Pasadena for her to get an employee-of-the-year-type award from her union. We weren't going to be able to go because our church had scheduled their Easter egg hunt for this weekend, but I found out earlier this week that they cancelled it. Mom was able to get a couple extra tickets so now we can go. It should be fun.

Then comes Sunday, the highlight of my weekend by far! Not only does the 2009 MLB season get under way, but a friend, just today, invited me over to his place for Wrestlemania 25! This is the same friend who will be going with me to Summerslam in August. Fortunately, we know them from church and he and his wife have two girls, just like us. So the wives will be keeping an eye on the kids and hanging out while we are secluded in our pay-per-view "suite" in their house. I could go into all the great matches planned for the 4-hour event, but most of you probably don't care. If you do, just check out the Wrestlemania site for yourself. Man do I love the gratuitous choreographed violence that is the man's soap opera called WWE!

And then after the weekend is over, it's back to work, but only for 3 days as our refinery's business plan roll out will be held at the Disneyland Hotel on Thursday, which I'm volunteering at. That means I have to be there at 5:30 in the morning, but it's over around 1:30 so it's a short day. And then another weekend, which includes Easter! And then another 3-day workweek as I'll be taking a vacation day on my birthday! Man, I love April!

Oh, I also posted an awesome new song on my other blog today so check it out if you have a chance.

Courtney Quote

I forgot to include this in my blog earlier today. Courtney was displaying her attitude towards Skyler (as usual) and when we told her she should be nice to her sister, she told us (and I quote word for word), "That is not my plan." She said it so matter-of-factly and calmly. Traci and I were shocked and busting up on the inside and had to look away from her so she wouldn't see us laughing. Fortunately, we were pretty successful since she didn't catch on. But hey, at least she's honest, right?

What's Going On

It's been a little while since I've posted, but I'm afraid this may be the new regularity. That is because with my new job at work, I have switched to a 4/10 schedule (work 10 hours M-Th with every Friday off). It's great because I now have every Friday off. It sucks because I now get home about 6:30 every night and only have about 2 hours with the girls before they go to bed. Plus I need to get to bed a little earlier, which takes some time away from Traci, since I'm getting up at 4:30, or at least trying to.

Last weekend I was able to get a little dirty with the help of a friend when we changed out the fuel pump in my car. This was no easy task since the pump is in the gas tank. Needless to say, we dropped the tank, changed out the pump and reconnected the tank. It sounds so simple, but when you've got 12 years of grime making sure things stick together pretty good, it takes that much more work. Fortunately our friend Bill (thanks, Bill!) is really good with cars and was willing to work on it. He did most of the work, but I was able to help out some. Took a little skin of my thumb in the process, but that's all part of the experience. Hopefully it won't stall anymore now. It needs to last at least until Skyler finishes pre-school in a little over 2 years.

If you have Facebook and check it regularly, you may have seen that Traci has allowed me to get some pretty cool tickets for my birthday. So, come August 23, I'll be going with a friend from church to WWE's Summerslam at the Staples Center. I've only been to one WWE (WWF at the time) event back in junior high with three members of the jr high staff at church and one of my good friends back then. It wasn't even a televised event though. Summerslam is a pay-per-view! Should be a fun time.

I was able to make a trip up to Dodger Stadium this morning to get my first tickets of the year. We (the four of us, my parents and good friend Eric) will be heading to see the Dodgers Manny-handle the Colorado Rockies on April 17. And there are fireworks after the game, just for my birthday! Ok, not really, but their fireworks are always awesome. We're going because I thought that would be a fun thing to do near my birthday, which is the day before. I also got 2 tickets to the May 7 game. Then my mom calls and asks if we want to go on May 1 with her union. The cool thing about the tickets I got at the stadium is that it was a total of 9 tickets that normally would have cost $240. I only paid $80! The reason for that is that last weekend when I was at the Honda dealership getting some maintenance done on the car, there was a sales guy selling a package of tickets. For $50, you get 6 buy-1-get-1-free vouchers (I used 3 of those today) and two vouchers good for 2 free tickets each (I used one for field level seats May 7, normally $50 each). Needless to say, considering I paid $50 and saved $160 today alone, I'm already ahead on the deal. The sales guy said they were selling the packs to get some demographic info on who is buying the tickets. I can handle a little spam (if I get any) for some Dodger tickets.

This weekend is our church's Serve Weekend. Traci and I are on the photography project, where we will be running to 10 different projects (9 on Saturday) to take pictures of those projects to be shown at the celebration at church on Sunday evening. I'm looking forward to it as we will be all over Whittier and poking into La Habra and Fullerton for a couple.

Considering we're dropping dinner off for some friends tonight (in less than an hour) before going to Disneyland for a birthday, I should go start getting ready.

Breathing...A Good Thing

Today was the day we have been waiting for for a long time. Our federal tax refund landed in the bank today. With things having been so tight for so long, it was weird going to Costco and Ralphs tonight and feeling restrained as to how much we could get. We didn't go nuts tonight, just got some stuff we needed, but not feeling stressed about going to the store is not something I ever thought I would be so excited about. It's nice to be able to breathe again.

Unfortunately, we have plenty that needs to get done with this nice little tax money. Fortunately, it should all be covered with a little to spare. That means we can just let the state refund sit whenever we get it (if the state actually has the money for it). The same goes for my bonus when it rolls in next month (at the same time as a raise...happy birthday to me)!

On the work front, things are going well, but busy and about ready to change. I begin the transition into my new job on Monday, which involves a physical move back into the refinery. (I was up in San Ramon last week to transition my responsibilities over to the other analyst for our group.) That's not all bad though. I give up my 7th story window cubicle for an office that I will share with someone for two weeks before having it to myself. No windows, but having an office is pretty cool, I think. It should be interesting as my workload will be increasing and it sounds as though training will be minimal at best. I hope that changes but I'm not holding my breath. At least I know that the people I will be working with can help me out. Seems like a pretty fair trade off since I've already worked with them and done some training for them. And they are all good people, so that only helps. My new boss is pretty cool too. I'm looking forward to working with and for him. This is the first of what I hope will be many changes/promotions throughout my career at Chevron. Also, it's pretty weird to think that next month will mark two years that I've been there already. It's the third longest I've been at one place behind UABT (4 years, 4 months) and Disneyland (4 years, 5 months). And as I was telling a friend at lunch the other day, this is definitely the best job I've had since being at Disneyland.

With Spring training well under way and the World Baseball Classic in full swing, I am extremely excited for the season to start. (And how about that team from the Netherlands, shocking the Domincan Republic twice to move on to the second round and sending the Dominican players back to Spring Training for their respective teams!) In case you've been under a rock for the past week, Manny Ramirez re-signed with the Dodgers after an insanely long, but ultimately rewarding, negotiating process. We have made plans for 7 of us (me, Traci, Courtney, Skyler, my parents and my good friend Eric) to go to the Dodger game on April 17th, the day after my birthday. There are fireworks after the game so that should be fun as well. It makes it a little more fun that they are playing the Colorado Rockies too. I am looking forward to seeing the Dodgers beat them pretty handily (I'm thinking like 7-2) with a Manny home run in the mix. (Take that all you siblings who have moved to Colorado in the past two years!)

Well I guess I should go enjoy some of the yummy Costco cookies we picked up tonight before I go to bed. Oh, and Traci is awesome! 24 pounds gone! There is definitely less of her to love, but what's left gets more attention. =)

Courtney and Taxes

So the title may be a little misleading as I will talk about Courtney and taxes, but as two separate topics. First up, the first born.

We had been wondering if her agents had been continuing to look for work for her or not since we hadn't heard from them since before Christmas. Well, she had a "fit model" audition today. A fit model is someone who will try on clothing to see how the fit is. This is the last thing done with the clothing before it goes into mass production...kind of like a dress rehearsal for a play. They use the models to see how the clothes fit and see how they feel when being worn. She just tried out for it today so we don't know if she'll get it or not. If she does, it could be an ongoing gig. There were a couple more kids coming in after her. This gig pays $90/hour (with a minimum of 1 hour)! Holy crap, that's way more than I make! It would be cool if she got the job, although driving to East LA a few times per week (potentially) may not be fun, it would be a good experience for her and she would enjoy it I'm sure since she likes to dress up so much. Oh and she has a print audition this Saturday too (which just happens to be Traci's dad's birthday). It is with one of the companies she tried out for before so maybe that gives her a leg up. We'll see.

I may have mentioned this, but we got our taxes done by Traci's cousin Teri on Sunday. I knew we would be getting less back this year since I had less withheld from my paycheck since we have been struggling. However, we are still getting a good return, about what I hoping/expecting. Also, Teri was going to e-file (and direct deposit) for us so we could get it quicker, but the stinkin' site would take Traci's information. She tried a few different ways to see if she could make it work, but it just didn't. So she suggested Traci call the Social Security Administration to see what they had for her name, ssn, and birthday. It turns out they had her birthday wrong! What's up with that. They had her birthday as Feb. 2 instead of Feb. 3. And apparently this dates back to when she changed her name when we got married nine and half years ago! Seriously? I don't get it, nor do I wish to spend the time trying to figure out how that happened. Regardless, we can now look forward to getting some money in a few weeks. (And after that comes my bonus and raise, both in April!)

Work has been crazy busy lately and it's not going to slow down anytime soon. I just accepted an offer to become the Procurement Analyst for procurement dept. So, next week it's off to San Ramon for the week to start turning over my current workload to the other analyst we work with. I fly up Monday morning and fly back Thursday afternoon (and then have Friday off). I think is as long a trip as I've had since working at Chevron. However, I must admit that I'm excited about my hotel because I know there is an In-N-Out very nearby! Double Double, here I come!

A Good Day

Today was one of those days you always look forward too having, but are never really sure when it's coming. Two cool things happened today, although we won't experience the effects for a little while.

First, Traci's cousin Teri prepared our taxes today. We went out to her house in Rancho Cucamonga yesterday to give her all the stuff she needed. Plus we hadn't seen her and Kevin's house before. We also visited for a little while. We don't see them very often so it was nice to visit. Well, she let us know what state and federal refund will be and they are about what I was expecting. I knew it would be less than last year because I increased my withholdings this year so we could have more money each paycheck. We still came out pretty good. It will help us catch our breath financially and should be here next month. (Well actually we won't know it's ours until we check our bank account...the joys of direct deposit.) Our state refund was actually a few hundred higher than last year, which surprised me, so that was good news too!

The other good news was that I got a formal job offer for the last position I applied for. It's a lateral move, but will allow for many additional opportunities in the future. So it feels like a promotion in that sense. The start date is March 1 (next week). However, I probably won't start the responsibilities associated with it until the following week because I will be in San Ramon transferring responsibilities to the rest of the team I'm on now, especially the other analyst for next week (Monday - Thursday). It's exciting as it is the first of what I hope will be many moves within Chevron's El Segundo refinery during my career.

A side note. It's kind of funny that we'll be picking up my parents at LAX next Sunday when they return from Colorado and then my dad is taking me to LAX the following morning for my trip. It's funny how when we go to LAX, the trips seem to come in clusters. Don't know why that is, but it's kind of funny.

It's good to have a good day coming off a busy and fun weekend where we celebrated Courtney's 5th birthday. I don't think I'll be posting any pictures here as I have already posted them on Facebook. Check them out there if you would like.

Sick Again

Well, I was healthy for two weeks after being sick for two weeks. And now I'm sick again. Doesn't it figure. I'm home from work today. (We don't get it off at work unless you work a traditional 5/40 schedule.) I figured with everything coming up at the end of the week (Courtney's birthday, and therefore a Disneyland trip, on Friday and her birthday party on Saturday), I should probably rest up.

I also found another reason to rest up when I spoke with one of my (two) managers today. She wants me up there, San Ramon, for a week to begin transitioning my current duties and responsibilities to the other analyst on our team. Don't worry, I'm not getting laid off. They are assuming that I will be get this last job I applied for, which is a local procurement analyst. Since I already have a training scheduled for next week up there, odds are the trip would be next week. It would be nice to be healthy while traveling.

It didn't help being sick yesterday when I began a 5-week series on the Five Love Languages in our Sunday School class. It turned out well I think. We had 21 people there by my count, which about double what we have typically had on a Sunday. It was fun though.

As I mentioned, Courtney's birthday is this Friday and our first-born is turning 5 already! It's hard to believe she'll be kindergarten-age already. Another milestone to look forward to this Fall. After we pick her up from school on Friday, we'll head down to Disneyland to take full advantage of the $59 "Fun Card" she'll receive since she already has a pass. It will be nice to have her birthday off and it appears we'll actually have weather that will allow me to mow the yard, which I have been unable to do for 2-3 weeks now due to rain...what's up with that?! Then Saturday is the big Hannah Montana birthday party. (Just pretend the Nemo bouncer is really Hannah Montana dressed as Nemo.)

I also mentioned I applied for a local analyst position at work. This is after I was informed I didn't get the first position I interviewed for. I can't complain about not getting that one. The person who got it someone who I respect highly and know will do a great job. That position deals with creating and maintaining local contracts for the refinery. This position I'll hopefully be interviewing for this week, if half that and half analyst, which I do now (except currently I do global analysis for one category and would be doing local analysis for all categories...a lateral move that would allow for additional local opportunities down the road).

If I can figure out how to post a video from our camcorder, I may post a video of Courtney performing to "All for One" and "Fabulous" from High School Musical 2. It's pretty funny as she knows most of the words and a pretty good amount of the choreography from both songs. Quite impressive and entertaining if I do say do myself.

Oh, and from what I know, Susie has not gone into labor. She was due last Thursday and is scheduled for induction Wednesday. Very exciting times as we prepare to welcome Bella into the world. I've been pestering her almost daily about any updates, but gave her a day off yesterday. I'll have to resume today. Hey there's only a couple of days left!

I'm proud of Traci as she strives toward her weight loss goals. She is now down 19 pounds, and has been an inspiration to see going to the gym at least 5 times a week for the past several weeks.

Evolution of Dance

I have a feeling you have probably seen this before. If not, then enjoy, it's pretty good. And now there's a sequel!

Passing Time

I just haven't felt like blogging lately. I've been trying to maximize my enjoyment of the FiOS TV experience. However, life goes on, and upon a brief, and I mean brief, reflection of the recent times, it has been busy as normal.

Earlier this week we got an e-mail from our tax man's wife saying he had passed away unexpectedly. A little scary considering he was around 50. Then just a day or two later, Traci finds out one her sorority sisters from CSUF passed away, and she was 16 weeks pregnant. That's even scarier. They say bad things come in 3's. Upon thinking that, 2 people immediately came to mind. Well, here's to hoping that's not the case. Traci's dad did have a scare the other day at work when his leg gave out due to numbness. He'll be having an MRI soon to find out what's going on there. (On the tax person front, we're having Traci's cousin do our taxes this year since she's certified. Thanks, Teri!)

This past Tuesday was Traci's birthday so we took advantage of Disneyland's birthday offer this year. I took the day off from work and we spent a while there. Very nice...mid-week + off-season = lots of stuff in a little time! Traci and Courtney got stuck under the waterfall going up the first lift when the ride broke down (thanks to some moron standing up near the end of the ride). Nonetheless, we had fun. One complaint about the Disneyland offer, though. If you have an annual pass, you can get a "Birthday Fun Card" which is essentially a gift card, but it can't be used just anywhere. You can't use it on food. What's that about? Anyway, Traci bought a new jacket to replace to the one that got torn when a cast member squeezed past Traci in the restroom a couple of times back. Disneyland wouldn't replace it, although they sent us a $25 check for "goodwill." Having worked there, I completely understand their stance on that, but having heard Traci tell what happened, I know they didn't do anything to investigate probably.

I found out yesterday I didn't get the job I applied for at work. Oh well. At least the person who got it deserves it. If I had to lose out on the job to anyone, I'm glad it was her. However, I also found out there will be another job posting that they want me to apply for that is a cross between the position I lost out on and what I do now. I have higher hopes for this one so we'll see what happens once it's posted.

I've been feeling physically anxious today, for a few hours now. Not a feeling I like. Reminds me a little of the heart issues I had back near the end of high school through the beginning of college, just without the rapid, chest-beating heartbeat. Hopefully this feeling goes away soon. I'm attributing it to writing bills and getting ready for our Sunday School kickoff on Sunday. It's the culmination of our "marketing" effort that I've been heading up since December. We're looking at having as many as 60 people, which is a big jump from the 10 or so we typically have on a Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it, but it's been a lot of work.

Glancing around the house, it appears I am the only one awake right now, so I'm going to take advantage of this and do some more preparation on the series I'll be leading in our Sunday School class (The Five Love Languages) beginning the 15th.

My FiOS Experience So Far

As you may know, we ordered FiOS as soon as it came into our area, which was the first of the year. Knowing that it's new and that many people may be jumping on board with it, I thought I would provide our experience with it so far.

To summarize, it's a pretty good product and bundle package. We have enjoyed having long distance on our phones again (when they've worked). (Sometimes, the cell phones, just aren't the most reliable.) The internet has been good. The TV has been great! That's definitely my favorite part of it so far. We were paying about $80/month for phone (without long distance) and DSL and no cable or satellite. Now we pay about $20/month more and have unlimited nationwide calling and something like 265 channels. Because of this, it may wind up saving us money once baseball season rolls around. Last season, I went to about half (6) as many Dodger games as I do most seasons (12-15). Now knowing that I can watch as many games as I want to at home (read: as many as the better half will allow me to watch), I won't feel the pressure to try to attend so many games, although watching it on tv and going to the games are completely different. But I digress. I have also enjoyed getting back into the WWE and now the option to order the pay per view events like back in jr high with my friends. However, considering they usually run around $50 for a 3-hour event, and the fact that money is horribly tight right now, I won't be ordering many, if any. But the product (FiOS that is) is a very good thing.

The service we have gotten from Verizon has been, well, let's say, embarrassing. And I don't mean embarrassing for us, I mean embarrassing for Verizon. We placed our order on Jan. 3 and booked our installment for Jan. 6. The tech guy shows up on time and gets to work. He was very personable and we liked him. He explained things very well and took the time to answer our questions and be a great service to us. However, when he hit a problem, we had problem #1. He installed the "brain" as he referred to it, outside our kitchen wall and the battery back up unit inside our back door. He then went to the hub to get the signal to be directed to our house, or however that works with fiber optics. When he got there, there were a few other Verizon tech guys who all had the same problem. Verizon had not routed FiOS to that hub! None of those tech guys (including ours) could finish installation. That sucked! Not his fault, but it still sucked.

After calling about 3 times over the following 3 days to see if they (Verizon) had fixed it, they wound up calling a few days later to setup a completion of the installation. They came out and finished the installation when they said they would. Problem #1 fixed, problem #2 created. When I get home, the phones are not working! I spend a half hour plus on the phone, only to have them not fix the problem. They suggested a couple of things, which I tried, but to no avail. After I hang up, I notice the phone line used for DSL running over to the computer still. It wasn't connected to the computer (FiOS was) but it was still connected to the phone jack with the split for the phone as well. I disconnect that and plug the phone back in, without the split and DSL filter (or whatever it's called). It works! Problem #2 fixed!

Problem #3 happened yesterday, and this is a little weird, with pretty much no logic as I see it. (You'll see.) The phones don't work again! What's going on here?! I spend another half hour on the (cell) phone with a guy telling me to disconnect the batter and reset our whole FiOS system. This would have left us without all services for a few minutes, which didn't sound like a good idea to me...too much risk if I screw something up. After me and the guy going back and forth trying to understand what the other was asking. Ultimately, I request a tech to come out and check it out. And now that the problem has been fixed, I'm glad I did, because the guy on the other end of the phone was nowhere near discovering the problem (and there was no charge...I would have been screaming at them if there was). The problem with the phones is classic...wait for it...they never connected the phone line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the?????????? The only way I can figure that happened was because our installation was split over two different weeks and two different techs. But then how were we able to use the phones for the week and a half we did have FiOS?!?!

I've given up trying to figure out what's going on. As of right now, all is good and if there are no more problems, all will be ok. So, in summary, good product, embarrassing service. And we haven't even gotten our first bill yet, which I have heard from multiple sources is an adventure in itself. Stay tuned as I may need to rant yet again.

PS - I'm still sick...completing week 2 of this cold!

Enough With the Germs!

Here I am, day 7 of this crazy cold I have. I first noticed it hitting me, thanks to some mild aches last Sunday night. Now it's a lot of congestion and fatigue. I couldn't really take much time off from work last week because I had so much to do, not to mention an interview for a new position at work. I took a half day on Tuesday and Wednesday, had the interview Thursday. Fortunately, I had Friday off so that was nice although I still had plenty to do. I went to the dentist after dropping Courtney off at school. Then I went up to church to look over the mailing list we're doing to advertise our Sunday School class. Saturday morning I spent cleaning up after Skyler as she threw up at least 5 or 6 times within a couple of hours. Finally today I've had a day where I can relax and just rest. It's been nice so far. Actually, I should get back to that.

We Are Go for FiOS

Well, we finally have fully functional FiOS. I have to say that so far I have been pleased with the products (phone, internet and tv). However the installation process has been less than good. First, Verizon sent the signal to the wrong hub for our house/area so when the first guy came for installation two weeks ago, he couldn't complete the installation. They fixed the problem last week and we had a different guy come out yesterday to finish the installation. From what Traci said, it seems like the guy knew how to hook it up, but didn't know much about the functionality or how to use it, or at least not as much as he seemingly should have. After he leaves and I get home, I can't use the phone because all our phones say "line in use" even though all three were not in use. I call tech support and they are of little to no help. He tells me to try a couple of things with the phones and that doesn't work, so he gives me another suggestion to try once we done with our call. Fortunately, he did give us the number to call to get access to our voice mail, which the install dude should have done. He tells me he can't help me with the finish of the internet installation (although we still had access), which the install dude told Traci to finish by following the prompts on the computer. The tech support guy I spoke to gave me a number to call today for help. After being on hold for a half hour, they inform me that this was not the right number to call for internet tech support. I call the right number and fortunately, that guy was really good and fixed what needed to be fixed. We also found out that the internet security suite we ordered has not been included. (I'll have to check the bill to make sure that they aren't going to bill us for it.) So, long story long the product is great so far, but the installation has been a hassle. (I have to admit that watching WWE Raw last night was pretty cool. With access to over 250 channels in our bedroom, I may never sleep again!) Kind of reminds me of a Weird Al song...

I'll Sue Ya

The Birthday Girl

I just wanted to post a few picture of my big little girl who just turned three this past Tuesday. Traci took these pictures of her on her birthday for her 3-year pictures. I'm too proud of a daddy not to share!




And now for a few pictures from her party last Saturday, which was a lot of fun. Can you tell she was excited for her party?

It was a My Little Pony theme.

She got some pretty cool gifts that she is enjoying every day (except for the kitty in her right hand in the second picture, which she has enjoyed daily and slept with nightly for who knows how long)!


Courtney was happy too because she got to spend some time with her best friend, Kate.

But eventually, the party had to end. She is saying goodbye to her friend from church, Madison.

And finally, I had to post this picture as it is one of my new favorites. All three of my girls inside the bouncer. It is now my desktop background at work.

I'm Still Here

I know this has been the longest time I have gone without posting in a long time, but things have been crazy stressful and crazy busy. Just finally have a few minutes to blog again right now. Between the birthday madness that is this time of year, dealing with our financial issues and prepping our Sunday School for a big kick off (and associated marketing, advertising, whatever you want to call it, within the church, which kicks off this Sunday) on February 8, there has been little time to blog. I did manage to post a song on my other blog last week, though. Hopefully I'll have more time soon, especially to post some pictures from Sky's birthday party this past weekend. Stay tuned.

Oooooooh! Aaaaaaaaaah!!

With a new year comes a new look to the blog. No new features or anything really (besides the blog description above), so don't get your panties in a bunch. Just thought I would change things up a little.

Speaking of changing things, I had my first really messy plumbing experience this morning. I called my father-in-law over to see if he could lend me a tool and maybe help fix the bathroom sink clog if he knew how. So he guided me through the process of dismantling the U-shaped trap area under the sink. (I heard on a tv show this is where most of the clogs occur so decided to try that instead of calling a plumber who would charge who knows how much.) This was after I had already taken out the drain plug to discover there was nothing there to clog the sink. Anyway, we get the U-pipe (as I'll refer to it, not being a plumber) off and after emptying it out and discovering the clog was not there either, it was suggested I stick my fingers in the pipe coming out of the wall to see if I could feel anything.

Bingo! I felt something just an inch or so in. After using a couple of small tools to try to get the clog out, we undid a wire hanger and shoved that into the pipe. When I tried to pull it out it got stuck. Needless to say, some force had to be used to remove it, and when I did, it went all over my shirt (and in a little too) and pants in an explosion-like manner. Talk about starting off the new year with a bang!

In hindsight, a picture would have done the incident more justice than this description, but at the same time, may have induced vomiting to some of you. Let's just say it was nasty looking (black, gray and grimy/slimy) and smelled like crazy. And even though I got my Home Depot fix for today, I will be calling a plumber to complete the repair. Things are hooked up, but leaking. My father-in-law didn't want to tighten things anymore for fear of doing damage, and I don't blame him one bit.

So after my second shower of the day, I am feeling cleaner, the bathroom is all cleaned up (from the "explosion") and all are napping except for me. Life is good.