Hello!

So, it's time for my year-end summary. Let's get right down to it.

January-March

We were still in Portland, of course, at this time. Things were still normal as can be. I don't remember anything big during this time. We were both working and all that. I think we started dabbling about when we might start trying to have a baby, though. After some discussion about moving and such, we decided to start trying and aim for having the baby in the Fall. We didn't want it to coincide with Laura's work, but, oh well.

After looking at my blogs, it looks like in March, we also decided that we would be moving to Oklahoma City for Laura's post-doc as well. That was a pretty big decision, I guess, especially considering we really loved Portland up to this point and that Laura had a post-doc lined up for Portland. I remember the night we decided pretty vividly. We decided to discuss whether or not to stay or choose OKC over dinner at Azteca. After some back and forth discussing, we decided OKC for some reasons such as support after having the baby, easier vacationing, lower cost of living, etc. We would always have the opportunity to move back to Portland after the post-doc and that for the current situation, trying out OKC for a year or two wouldn't be so bad. 

On the drive back, of course Laura couldn't wait telling people so she called Kelly and let her know. She was excited and I think we started to look around places where we might be able to rent, but it was much too soon. 

April-May

During these months I think we were still mentally getting ourselves ready for the move to OKC, I think. Although, I think we started packing little by little each day so that we weren't scrambling at the very last minute. I also had to tell my job that I would be leaving for OKC in August. Well, we would actually be moving mid-August, but I wanted to give myself some time to help out with packing and all that. Plus, we wanted to have a little vacation time before we left as well. 

I think I ended up telling my work in May or so. I wanted to give them plenty of time to find someone, hire them, train them, etc. for my position. We let the landlord know as well. We still had 2-3 months before the reality hit, so I don't think we were panicking at this point. 

June-July

 Around this point, Laura's schedule started to get busy. I know she flew out for Mother's Day and stuff (actually I could be wrong about that). We've been trying to have a baby for a couple of months at this point, getting ovulation strips, apps, and thermometers for Laura and stuff. Anyway, we found out Laura was pregnant in early July, right before she left to go to OKC to look for houses and stuff. I remember when she told me too. She used the pregnancy strip in the morning and she brought it over to me while I was still sleeping. I was like "yaaay" real quiet, but I was pretty asleep or wanted to go back to sleep or something. I just remember it probably wasn't as exciting as it should have been. 

It seems like we were pretty ahead of packing as well, having most of it packed and we were just finishing up the garage. The things we couldn't pack, we just had to wait, like the dishes and such. Other than that, we were just trying to enjoy Portland with the little amount of time we had.

I do remember near the middle/end of July, Laura was freaking out about finding a good place to stay, because we hadn't found anything at this point. They all turned out to be crap. I kept telling Laura that it will work out. She did work a lot at trying to find a good place for us, which she ended up doing. Kelly was also a big help since she was the one driving around and meeting with the realtors in OKC for us. I know she went and looked at several before we decided on the current Edmond house.

Around this time, I had my exit interview with my director since I was leaving work on the 5th of August. I told her about our baby since we thought it was safe the word wouldn't travel to family. They were all excited and sad that we wouldn't have another baby in the office. My work would have been perfect too to bring the baby and also work.

August

Ahh, August. It was a pretty hectic time. I quit my work on the 5th and we had a vacation planned for a few days at Depoe Bay at a place that Laura found. It was nice to relax for a few days right near the beach. We went to Newport and stuff. 

Afterwards, a week or so later I think, Laura's parents came out to vacation for a little bit as well as to help us pack the ABF truck. Our plan was to move on the 17th, I believe. We had the truck parked for a couple of days in front of our house to pack it up. We made good time as it only took a day and a half to pack it all up. ABF called to see if they could pick it up a day earlier. Good thing we were all ready. The first day was hard work, though, but nothing like OKC was going to be. 

So, the ABF truck left earlier than expected and we were on our way with our drive to OKC over the course of 3 days, stopping in Denver to see friends/family, etc. For a more detailed explanation of our trip, please refer to my blog entry about it earlier. No need to relive that hell!

Once we arrived in OKC, we had roughly 4 days or something to unload the truck. Man, the heat was brutal. It was record setting temps for this Summer in OK in history. It was a great time to unload the truck. After unloading a little bit, even at night, it was too much. We ended up unloading the truck in the first half of the day while it was still cool. It went pretty smooth. For the next week or so, basically the last week of August, we unpacked and tried to get settled in.

September

There was a Labor Day party planned for us at Laura's parent's house with family flying out. That was fun, but because of that, I pushed my efforts to find a job until after this. I'll just blame the fact it took so long for me to find a job due to this week. :)

After the weekend of the party, we finished more unpacking. I think we made pretty good time. It probably took about a month or so to be completely finished. I started looking for a job around early September. I probably applied to a place or two every other day. There weren't many.

During this time, we also had to deal with my car, which overheated if driven in the intense heat. Although, stupid me, I finally put a little effort into what could have been causing it and I saw that the radiator cap was completely busted...I'm not sure when it busted, but I'm going to bet it busted sometime during the Colorado stretch on the way to Chris' house. If I would have just replaced the radiator cap then, instead of now, I think the trip would have been slightly less hellish. It sucked having to go so and so speed and stopping every couple of hours - sometimes every hour near the end of the trip. Anyway, after replacing the cap, it didn't overheat anymore. Not sure if that was the real issue, but I'm sure it helped.

October 

So, we started looking for a car to buy. One, to replace my car and, two, to have some to carry the baby seat in. After a few weeks of searching, we found a couple of prospects. We were aiming for Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda CRV, or Subaru Forester. There is a big shortage of these types here in OK...not sure why. There were a TON in Colorado. Anyway, we finally picked our first one out and went to go buy it. Long story short, they said the car was "already sold" after we picked it out, went through some of the paperwork to buy it, just before it was official. Our theory was that it was priced incorrectly (too low) so they made that shit up. Whatever. We didn't like them anyway. Our search continued. We finally found one a little bit later and went to buy that. It was our first big purchase experience ever. It was weird. 

November

Late October I finally got SOME kind of call back from all the places I was applying. The University of Central Oklahoma called for an interview. I went and a week later I got word that I got the job. Not to brag, but when I interviewed, I sort of had a feeling that I would get the job. I was qualified for the job and I had experience doing pretty close to what the job entailed and felt that they liked me. After the interview, I kind of stopped looking for a job. Glad I was right!

Most of the rest of this month was just working and getting ready for the baby. We're close to getting the baby room set up, though there are still lots to get at the baby shower.

December

Well, this is where we are. Things are good and we're sort of starting to plan for the next few months. The big thing is me figuring out when to inform my work about what's going to happen when the baby arrives. I hate situations like this. 

Anywho, Christmas went well. I did get sick for a couple of days right smack during Christmas Eve and Day, which sucked, but oh well.

Well that's about it, really for the summary. I think the summaries are getting more and more boring each year. I should go read my previous summaries. I think they were more reflective or something of myself, not just a straight-forward summary.

I do think that next year will be a very different year and primarily that's going to be because of our baby boy. Things are going to change quiet a bit, but I think it will be for the better. I can't wait to raise our boy with Laura and teach him all the things that make us who we are. I think it's a pretty cool thing to be able to raise a child that sort of mirrors who you are, although you don't want them to be totally like you. We're still deciding on a boy name, but I think we're pretty close and decided now. Yes, I was a little bummed that it was a boy vs. a girl, but I think I'm over it now. We'll have more chances to have a girl, so.

Hoping for another great year and let's hope 12/21/2012 passes by without demolishing the world.

I love you Laura and our boy, and Kip and Callie (even though you've been expensive this year).

Happy New Year.

I figured since I had some time, I would go over the predictions that I gave last year. I just remembered about this. It looks like I wrote these on January 6th, so let's see if any came true for the year of 2011. I'm not sure how to measure these, actually, and I don't really want to do much research and stuff.

1. 3D will not be anywhere near as big as they tout it to be this year, both in the consumer TV market and the movie market. They just can't 3D-ify everything and expect it to be money-makers. I think the 3D sales will steadily go up until about mid-year and then start to decline.
   
   So, after reading an article on Slate, it looks like different studies are showing different outlooks, but the general consensus is that 3D movies and 3D TVs are still on the rise, but there is some uncertainty about sales numbers. One source said sales are down, but Slate says that there wasn't enough information such as sales per screen to determine if it really was down from 2010 or not. It does seem like the movie industry is still learning 3D and it's getting better. I guess it's too soon to tell if it's going to continue to get better or worse. We'll have to see in 2012.
   
   
2. TV/entertainment content via the internet will be huge this year. With all the new-ish competitors starting to jump to this trend, I think it will be a nice win for the non-cable providers.
   
   I'm not quite sure on this either. I certainly think that internet TV content is still on the rise with major players like Netflix and Hulu picking up licenses and content providers for the many types of internet TV gadgets that are out there, as well as other players like Amazon Prime on-demand trying to get a market share. I don't I can say personally that it was "hugely" popular vs. last year.
   
   
3. I think Netflix will, at some point in the year, just add Blu-Ray renting for free alongside their normal DVD option, instead of the $2.99 they charge now. 
   
   Well this was totally wrong. Even more so because they split up DVD and instant and increased the prices.
   
   
4. I don't think the tablet format is going to be a hit. Yes, the iPad and other tablets do look good, but I think in the end, netbooks or super light notebooks will begin to climb back up in sales again. Not sure how to explain it. I guess an analogy could be e-readers vs. books. There's just something about books that e-readers can't mimic. In the same way, I think people will just want to be typing on a keyboard, having DVD-ROM drives, etc. Besides, everyone's going to have a mini tablet via their fancy Android/iPhone phones anyway. :P
   
   I think I was wrong on this too, but then again, it could be too soon to see how the tablet market is going to do. There were A LOT of new tablets that came out this year. We will have to see if the trend keeps up in 2012.
   
   
5. Android will totally dominate the iPhone. :)
   
   In the last 2 years, Android has definitely taken the lead in market share of phones that use the Android OS vs. iOS. Apple seems to have held its levels consistently, but Android has been on the rise, taking market share from other companies. Android is doing great in app sales as well, I think.
   
   
6. I think Groupon is going to tank...relatively speaking. I just don't think it can keep growing like it did the last 2 years.
   
   It looks like they didn't "tank" like I said they would, as they're still making good profits and profits are increasing. However, it's clear from what I just read that the growth of profits are significantly down from first quarter of 2011 and also read that next year, it might even level out at this rate. It makes sense to me, since as the  year went on, I began to notice a lot more "deals" sites popping up, such as Living Social, Ever Save, and many more.
   
   
7. I hate to say this, but I think Facebook.com may overtake Google.com as the #1 visited site on the internet.
   
   Phew, glad I was wrong on this one. Google is still the #1 visited site on the net with Facebook in a close second. Google was 49% on the estimated percentage of global users that visit Google daily. Facebook was 43%.
   
   
8. Although I love Google's innovation of the Chrome OS, working with everything via the cloud is, at least for this year, something that people won't be able to get used to. It's such a radical change. The mainstream couldn't handle that. Plus the inconvenience of needing an internet connection to sync and stuff like that is sort of burdensome. 
   
   I'll say I was right on this one. The Chrome notebook, while it is now selling at a few online retailers, hasn't really caught on. I think it's being overshadowed by the tablet craze.
   
   
9. Car companies will be touting only slightly higher mpg...maybe just hitting 40 mpg...seriously, my turbo civic gets between 35-40 mpg on the highway and it's a '96! We should be at at least 50-60 for affordable (under $20k) , consumer cars by now.
   
   Correct again! I see commercials still making a big deal about low 30s MPG...pathetic.
   
   
10. Yahoo! is just going to be even more horrible...
    
    I couldn't find any definitive answers, but I think they're still struggling to find their place on the internet. They're still the 4th most visited site, but it's a wonder why that is. There just doesn't seem to be a reason to go to Yahoo anymore, at least for me. 

So, overall, I didn't do too well...maybe predictions aren't my thing.

I was going to edit and work more on my autobiography, but I got wrapped up in trying out the new template and customizing it...damn tangents!

Sigh, so I just went to Target to buy the Logitech K750 solar keyboard that I found when I was in Portland...I'm pretty sure that I didn't need it, but like Laura says, I think I have an issue when it comes to keyboards. Hey, you'd want to get some cool/comfortable if it's something you're constantly using right? Much like a bed or car. That's my excuse anyway.

So I've been working on my autobiography a bit the last couple of weeks. Nearly about halfway done I think...it's long, though. I'm surprised at how much I've written. Maybe I'm not a boring guy like I thought?


I suppose it's about time to explain my work, since I haven't really. So far it's going good. Not the most exciting by any means and most days are boring, but the last few days have been busy and time is flying by each day quick, which is nice. Most days I usually TRY to find something to do and I can't. I literally just sit there switching screens back and forth pretending to read what I've read many times already. Oh well. 


Luckily, I'm starting to get the hang of it and asking less questions and asking why things are the way they are. The thing is, in this line of work, there doesn't seem to be a "normal day", at least so far. I process gift donations to the university and enter them into the database and print out thank you letters and what not. There are so many rules on how to enter the different kinds of gifts, exceptions to entering them depending on who wrote them, etc. that it's pretty hard to keep track, especially when you're starting out. I pick it up quick, though. There are some things sometimes that I just don't get or don't get why they do it like that and the usual answer is "I don't know either." or "They've been doing it that way since I've been here." and so forth. 


I eat lunch at noon each day and since I don't come home usually and don't really want to eat at the office, I drive around, get something, and eat in the car. Laura says it's sad and shouldn't do it, but I don't care or mind. It's nice to get out anyway. At Portland it was different because I had my own office and I could eat at the desk. I'm sitting in a pretty high traffic area so, I dunno. I wouldn't like it, is the bottom line. 


Next week we're having a staff luncheon and I mentioned that I would make some kind of dessert for folks. People are hyping it up now, so I gotta do good. I've decided on the Pot de Creme, but I want to give it a twist, so I got some orange flavored chocolate this time to test it out over the weekend. I'll probably do half and half. I have to go buy some bigger cups to serve them in and there are absolutely NO mini tasting spoons in retail stores. They have forks...but no spoons. 


Lately, and I'm not sure why, I've been spending a little too much. It could be that the Christmas season is here and that I've been finding good deals, but that doesn't really explain  it either since I'm not really getting anything for anyone...just buying things to have because they were cheap. It could also be that since I'm working and actually making money again, I want to spend it or something. I need to stop, though. 


Next week I'm only working two days, then off until January 3rd. Woohoo. Couldn't come soon enough. I'd like to relax, but we'll see how that goes with being in Tulsa. 


I'm contemplating going to Colorado from the 28th to the 31st...I'm not sure yet though. It'll probably happen, but I want to drive, so that's 11 hours-ish each way. It's not that bad, I guess. I would leave around 4 or 5 in the morning I'd say to get there around evening. Dunno what I'd do there, though...


We'll see what happen. I need to start thinking about the yearly summary for this year...man it seems like I've been blogging a long time, and I have! I guess this year will be my 10th year of writing. I just realized that. I'm glad that I've kept with it, somewhat, to catalog my life. It's fun once in a while to read back and see what kind of person I was. I was pretty cocky and uneducated, I think, around 2002-3-ish. At least, that's how I sound when I was writing. I know for a fact that my writing style and attitude has changed. 


And I almost forgot. I can't believe Laura and I have been together for 10 years now. We've gone through so much together and I can't thank her enough for putting up with my stupidities. I hope that we will be together for many more years to come. I know I have stuff to work on and I will try hard to fix it! I can't wait to have our little baby and watch it grow. Some days, like when I got that maternity pillow for her for Christmas, I just couldn't wait to get home and give it to her. From like noon, I was like, watching the clock constantly because I just wanted to go home. Anyway, happy 10 years. I love you!

Laura is over in Tulsa this weekend, so I thought I'd work on my autobiography a little more that I started in February-ish of 2010. I got pretty far, but still a lot to go and I can't believe it's almost been a year! It'll probably be done in a few months of on and off writing, I'd imagine.

Making some chex mix right now and once that's done, gonna head to the store to get some cooking oil, olive oil and I think another dish brush. I bought one yesterday, but turns out that I don't like it as much as the one with handles. I do like that it has a soap dispenser built in, but, going to go see what else I can find. I'm so picky, but I wash dishes enough that I think I can be picky.

Work is going good so far. I've been in a Banner consultation meeting for the last 2 days and also for tomorrow, so I haven't really gotten to "work" at what I'll be doing. I think Friday will be some training and half of next week is HR orientation...fun.

Got my work UCO ID and parking permit. I start next Tuesday!

Yikes, it's been a couple months. I'll try to sum up what's been happening.


Pre-move


So, I can't remember much the first couple weeks of August, but I know we were still scrambling to get all the stuff packed before the move date of the 17th. Laura's parents came out to help us a few days before the pack date, which I think was the 15th. Anywho, after the truck came, which was much smaller than I thought it would (it was only a couple of feet longer than the truck I drove out to Portland), it parked in front, we started working on the packing. We got a handtruck and laid out some plywood over the gravel to make it a bit easier for us. First up was the armoire...the dreaded armoire. At least we were getting the worst part done first. And actually, it wasn't all that bad. Not sure why it wasn't this time, maybe because the handtruck helped a little bit. Either way, after that the couch went and some of the other big items. All in all, we were 90% done at the end of the day, probably after 7-8 hours of loading. We finished up the next morning and the truck actually came earlier than expected that afternoon. Good thing we were done. 


The move


I knew the worst was still ahead of us...well, at least me. My car was the big issue. No A/C was the killer and it was over 100 through Kansas and Oklahoma. We leave the next day early in the morning, around 7 I think. The first day wasn't bad at all. It was cool throughout the day and opening the windows at times did the trick. We got to somewhere in Idaho, I forget what city. We got there around 8 or 9 I believe. 


The next day, we leave early again and head for Laramie. We get there around lunch time, and we ate. Well, I actually stayed at the Walmart parking lot to cool the car down. Just before I got to Laramie, the car started to overheat a little bit. The temperatures outside were getting up there, in the 80s/90s. After we leave Laramie, we were heading to Chris' house. We were also meeting up with my Mom and Ellen too for dinner. About an hour or so before we get to his house, the temps were in the high 90s and I think it even hit 100 or so. My car was hurting. I didn't know whether I should go fast so the radiator is cooled or slower so the engine didn't get too hot. During this time, I was making stops here and there to fill the coolant reservoir up. Finally, we got there and my temp gauge was pretty much at the red "H". Day was done for my car for now.


We grilled dinner and we told my Mom and Ellen about Laura being pregnant. They were happy. Unfortunately, Alicia wasn't there, so we texted her the news and she actually called to congratulate Laura.


Next day rolls around. I already know this day was going to suck, but I underestimated! We leave early and start heading through Denver and Kansas. It was getting warmer but right around the time we cross the border, the heat just shot up and I was uncomfortable. Even the windows open wasn't helping. We stop halfway to Salina to take a break since my car was already overheating. Laura's Mom was nice enough to head to Walmart and get me a water spray bottle with a fan. I didn't use the fan, but after we started off again, the water helped a lot. Probably for an hour or so. But then, I got used to that and it wasn't enough. But, it was weird since now, if i didn't spray myself, it was just too much, even though the spray was warm in itself. 


We finally take the road south into Oklahoma. I was miserable. We stopped at a Braum's to cool off. We had like 2-3 hours left I think at this point. Laura continued on, but I had to stop like every hour to fill up on coolant and cool down. 


(In hindsight, I think my car would have been fine if I had just replaced my radiator cap. After I got to Oklahoma, I was checking around and saw that my radiator cap was pretty much busted, so it was just leaking/evaporating every time I drove...simple $10 fix...oh well. I'm not sure at what point it busted, but I think it was sometime before I got to Chris' house and before crossing the Kansas border)


At any rate, we all got to our house at like 9 at night. It was dark, but the temps weren't getting any cooler...strange thing. We checked out the house real quick and promptly went to bed. NOW, the worst was over.


Unloading


We had the weekend to relax since the truck was coming Monday morning and if I remember correctly, Laura's Dad was going to come over to help unload on Tuesday. Monday rolls around and the truck comes with the trailer, parks outside and leaves. It was already in the high 90s/100s then, so I only got a few things out. As night fell, I was able to get a few more things out and into the house. Couldn't do much more by myself. I believe Ryan came over that night to help us at least get the mattress and box springs so we could get a good night's sleep. That went easier than we thought since the mattress was on top of everything. 


Next day, Laura's Dad arrives and we get started around 8 or 9 or so. Nothing out of the ordinary. I think we were pretty much finished around 3 or 4. Goes a lot quicker when unloading.


Unpacking


Now we had to unpack and organize. Probably the worst part after you move. All in all, it took several weeks to finally be finished with this. There's a bunch of empty boxes in the attic and overall it seems that we have more room to store stuff here than at Portland.


Labor Day Party


A couple of weeks after we moved, Laura's family had a labor day party at their house with friends/family over. It was fun to relax. It was also then we told everyone about the new baby. Now that the fun was over, the fun of job searching began.


The Job Search


Long story short, nothing yet, unfortunately. I've applied to quite a few places now, but they've either filled it or haven't even moved on to the sorting process yet....that or they're ignoring me. I started the week after the Labor Day party, so it's effectively been about 1.5 months after I started. I'm starting to get discouraged, naturally. There aren't many around and the more time that passes, the less time that I will have to work there. If I start November, I'm at around 7 months of work time, factoring in Laura's maternity leave. I still have a couple of promising apps out...we'll see if they even call back.


We've now bought a crib and it's up in the baby room. We need to get a mattress soon. Laura has been filling up the baby registry as well. There's a bunch of stuff to get. I think we signed up for a couple of classes for January or something since it was full already for November. Laura mentioned that it's about halfway through the pregnancy. We still have to decide whether or not to find out the gender!

2 short weeks until we move. We're dreading it, but I think deep inside, it's sort of fun to always be on the move. I think I'd enjoy it more if it were all done by someone else. Oh well. 


Laura and I are heading to the coast tomorrow for a couple of days of relaxation at a place right near the beach. We were going to check out whale watching, but I don't think Laura secured a spot on the boat. I'm not a big whale fan, anyway, but maybe we'll do one anyway.


My car has been the biggest issue lately. Since that time I left the sunroof open, it's been about, oh, 3-4 months. Turns out all this time, there's been mold growing in between the papers I had under my passenger seat...and I've been inhaling all that. It all makes sense now (or, at least we think, anyway). My chest/breathing/headache issues started around then and it was getting worse until a week or so ago when I discovered that tried to clean out all the mold in the car. I think there is still some somewhere, but I can't find where. I scrubbed and vacuumed the main area, but the smell still exists. I'm really not sure where it could be. Took all the mats out and will probably throw it away soon. Not worth cleaning. Anyway, this whole ordeal was just dumb. Now my car smells like smoke. Maybe I'll donate it.


In other news, tomorrow is my last day at work here. That 1 year and 2 months went by quick! Trying to tie up last minute loose ends here, but yeah, just clearing out my queue of work. I'm about out of things to do.


The house is probably 85% packed up. The big furniture, dressers, beds, kitchen stuff and some garage stuff is all that's left. Oh, and that stupid armoire.  Current plan is to leave the 17th, stay somewhere in Idaho the first night, get to Denver-ish on the 18th, hang out with family/friends, and take off the 19th to arrive at the new house. Can't wait for it to be over. At least there will be no moving truck that just turns off on the highway this time. 


Next blog will probably be from the new house and internet, granted I can get it in a timely manner. Hopefully it's fast and stuff. Comcast has been pretty nice this past year. No major hiccups. Just a few times last fall where the connection kept disappearing, but I'm not sure if that was a modem thing or a problem with the splitter I was using to split the internet/cable line. Overall, speeds were fast. We'll see how Cox internet is. They get fairly good ratings, so that's good.

Love ya, pud!

Well, the 4th came and went. I'm not much of a fireworks person, unless you know, the fireworks are close to our house like it was in Laramie. Oh well!

We're doing well on packing I think. We've got a lot of the house packed and we did a lot in the garage yesterday. The weird thing is, we still have a lot of the boxes that we moved here with broken down, so either we still have a lot to go or we threw away a lot of stuff. I'm afraid it's the former.

Laura is flying out Thursday to go find houses for us. We have found one house that we kinda like, so hopefully we get it. The guy was a picky rentee or something, but we have a great reference and it's not like we're going to trash it, so.

That's it for now.

Wow, almost a month after I said I'll write a blog soon...bad me.

At work right now, but I finally found some time to try and write a little something.

What happened in April...hm...I really can't remember anything exciting happening in April.

In May, we traveled to Wyoming for Laura's walking and graduation for her Ph.D. Woohoo. She's not quite done yet, but basically. She defended her dissertation as well, like I knew she would. It was fun to visit Laramie again. I do miss that place. We ate a Prairie Rose for breakfast, it was windy, relatively crowded because it was graduation weekend, drove by our house which seemed like it wasn't "taken care of" all that well (from what we could see), and finally we hit up Vee Bar Ranch for dinner. It was good. Funny story incoming:

So, there was a big party of like 25 or something there we were sharing the grounds with...a couple of loud and annoying folk, but whatever. After the dinner we had a little music and hang out time in the saloon. We started playing Polish Poker and the 2-man band was playing music.

Since we got there after dinner, I thought it would be a good idea to ask Laura for a dance. I was waiting for the right moment (she was sitting across the table, so it was kinda hard to ask) and a few songs went by where nobody was dancing. A couple got up and danced to a slow song, so they took my "first dance" opportunity from me...whatever. Then a few more people with whom seemed like their grand kids got up and started dancing. After a couple of more songs and some break with dancing, the band said "This might be a good one to dance with your significant other." I didn't want to miss this one so I quietly asked Laura across the table and she snubbed me at first! I know we were both embarrassed but anyway. So after a couple exchanges of talk between her parents and such, we got up and after we did, a few more couples got up. Woot.

Anyway, onto late May and June. We've started packing slowly and we're moving along. Not the most favorite thing to do. Laura's been doing much of the packing, so. I'll be doing most of the packing into the truck, I reckon. :P

Well, short but sweet update. Gonna have to start looking for a job soon.......

Will have a post soon. It's been too long!

As it has already been 2 months, I'll give a quick update. 

We are moving to Oklahoma City! In mid-August, that is. The couple of weeks leading up to decision day was stressful for Laura. The offers that she got at the most opportune times didn't help out, either. In the end, we decided we are going to try OKC out for a year and see how we like it. We both really like Portland, so, if fate has its way, I'm sure we'll find our way back here sometime. 

We'll be moving in right at the height of Summer. Hopefully the house we rent will have ample cooling. There were a few days in Portland that were quite hot and muggy and we couldn't do anything about it, really.

What else. During this time, both the Motorola Xoom and iPad 2 was announced and already out. Despite my prediction in my last blog regarding tablets, I actually want one now...either of them, really. We had a chance to play with them at Crap Buy and they are appealing. It can easily replace a netbook, I think. I may try and find what I can sell of mine to get to buying it for essentially free. The Xoom, which I prefer, is $200 more than the iPad 2..ridiculous. And the iPad 2 is, well, an Apple product. 

Tonight, we're going to try and head to a vigil at the Japanese Gardens. They asked me to lend/donate crane bouquets for this event and through March, so Laura and I  scrambled to make a couple in such short notice. I delivered it yesterday and they will have it displayed during the vigil and next to the wish arbor they set up for visitors. Hopefully, I can snap a few pics when we go and hope it doesn't rain!

I've been talking about tech predictions for this year. Here goes my picks:

1. 3D will not be anywhere near as big as they tout it to be this year, both in the consumer TV market and the movie market. They just can't 3D-ify everything and expect it to be money-makers. I think the 3D sales will steadily go up until about mid-year and then start to decline.
2. TV/entertainment content via the internet will be huge this year. With all the new-ish competitors starting to jump to this trend, I think it will be a nice win for the non-cable providers.
3. I think Netflix will, at some point in the year, just add Blu-Ray renting for free alongside their normal DVD option, instead of the $2.99 they charge now. 
4. I don't think the tablet format is going to be a hit. Yes, the iPad and other tablets do look good, but I think in the end, netbooks or super light notebooks will begin to climb back up in sales again. Not sure how to explain it. I guess an analogy could be e-readers vs. books. There's just something about books that e-readers can't mimic. In the same way, I think people will just want to be typing on a keyboard, having DVD-ROM drives, etc. Besides, everyone's going to have a mini tablet via their fancy Android/iPhone phones anyway. :P
5. Android will totally dominate the iPhone. :)
6. I think Groupon is going to tank...relatively speaking. I just don't think it can keep growing like it did the last 2 years.
7. I hate to say this, but I think Facebook.com may overtake Google.com as the #1 visited site on the internet.
8. Although I love Google's innovation of the Chrome OS, working with everything via the cloud is, at least for this year, something that people won't be able to get used to. It's such a radical change. The mainstream couldn't handle that. Plus the inconvenience of needing an internet connection to sync and stuff like that is sort of burdensome. 
9. Car companies will be touting only slightly higher mpg...maybe just hitting 40 mpg...seriously, my turbo civic gets between 35-40 mpg on the highway and it's a '96! We should be at at least 50-60 for affordable (under $20k) , consumer cars by now.
10. Yahoo! is just going to be even more horrible...

I'll stop with 10, I guess.

I just realized that I have an autobiography that I've yet to finish that I started here on Blogger.com WAY back in February...it's almost been a year! I think I will finish it soon and publish it. :)

What a year 2010 has been. And another year that's passed by quicker than the previous years. I'm in Tulsa, OK per usual holiday fanfare. Let's take a quick look at the 2010, shall we?


(So I started this in Tulsa, but am finishing it up at our home in Portland. I just didn't have the time to finish it while on vacation)


Winter/Spring


Yikes. I'm still at TEM. We're still in Laramie, WY. I do miss Laramie, by the way. I'm not sure why, since the amenities here are SO much more. It kind of makes you think about the fact that it's not about the amenities or the material stuff that makes you like some place. It's those intangible things that you get attached to. Traffic? Psh. 5 cars at a light was traffic for us in Laramie. Now, it's tens and tens of cars per intersection and missing the friggin' light like 2-3, sometimes 4 times. The commute? It's multiplied by 10-15 times...used to be about 1.5 min, now it's 17 or so minutes, sometimes longer depending on construction, etc. I still remember when we found out we were going to be moving to Portland. It was very early morning and it took a bit for the news to sink in to both of us. All and all, I think it was a fine move. We just sort of miss Laramie is all. Laura not as much. I do think, though, that the big reason why I like it here is probably due to something that doesn't even have to do with Portland. The fact that we are renting a house with no shared walls with neighbors. I think that issue lifted off my shoulders would make me like wherever we ended up with, honestly.


Spring/Summer


My last day at TEM was 5/7/10. I remember writing out the letter I sent to everyone that worked there and got some nice responses back. Besides, back then, I was probably in the top 10 people who were there the longest. That's hard to say in that company. After I left, MANY of the old-timers had also left, including 2 others in fulfillment, giving Sven a hard time in the following 2-3 months, and a few others in sales and such...not to be the bragging type, but I wonder if their leaving had anything to do with me leaving? Who knows, but I can be optimistic on my end. So, the drive out to Portland was horrible, we all knew that from my blog post back in May. Not doing that again. or renting from Budget. Ever. The first week or two here was kind of rough. The next month was very boring while I tried to find work. I must say I played A LOT of World of Warcraft. Thankfully the job search went pretty fast considering the economy, which seems to be doing the same or worse at the moment. I am still regretting not going to the interview for the web design job for the technology non-profit, but man, what can I do now, right?


Summer/Fall


So, I've been working during this time while Laura had a nice little break from her work during July and half of August. There wasn't really much going on during this time. We had a lot of visitors, however. During the latter part of Summer, we probably had more visitors than we had during all of our time in Laramie...COINCIDENCE? I think not. The weather had been great all Summer, too. The rain and overcast hadn't really started to come until about October and even until November. It was an overall great first experience for us, which is probably why we started to like it so much. There were a couple of really hot days during which I really wished we had an air conditioner or at least a swamp cooler (and we sort of almost bought one), but it just didn't make sense to get one for 2-3 days of the year.


Fall/Winter


And bam, back to reality already. Mostly overcast, we do get a bit excited when the sun starts to shine, even for a couple of hours. We had a good Christmas holiday break, as well. Although, for some reason this year, I felt that we traveled "more" (despite taking the plane and kenneling the dogs) and accomplished a lot less during the vacation. Not sure why. It may have just been the combination of waking up early each day, having the days filled with "stuff" to do and the fact that we were only there like 5 days really if you consider the 2 days of travelling time at either end. We did get some cool gifts though, most notably my webcam that I hope to use for some projects in 2011.


So, what can you expect from me in 2011? I dunno. This upcoming year will be a bigger year than 2010 I know. There will be some exciting things happening, one of which MAY be another cross-country move...sigh. I HATE moving, but whatever. Still, we have well over half a year left in Portland to do more stuff. We really gotta get outdoor in 2011 more. It's been hard to do because we've both been "busy", in the sense that the day is consumed with work and when you get back, you just don't want to do anything and just relax and go to bed. I felt like we did do more outdoor stuff on the weekends in Laramie, but that's probably because the outdoor stuff was much closer. We still need to head up to the mountains to the east of us and we'll need to visit some coastal areas as well. The thing is, it just takes so long to get to the southern coast area that we need to spend a weekend doing it and that means usually kenneling the dogs. Now that we've found a good kennel, maybe we'll start planning more. We need to take Deni's parents' cabin offer, as well.


To finish this off, I enjoyed 2010 and all that it had to offer. Let's hope for some surprises in 2011!

Going to be busy, but it looks like I'll hopefully have some time tomorrow to do my end-of-the-year recap!

We arrived safely in Tulsa today after a bit of travelling and waking up at 3am...ugh. Tired. Very tired.

I couldn't resist...I purchased StarCraft II and am installing it now...

To make myself feel a little better, I got Laura a Sims 3 expansion pack.

Time for an update.

Recently, I was pulling on my collar bone for fun...yes, for fun, and now I'm paying for it. Apparently the joint that connects the collarbone to the ribcage, though pretty strong, isn't as strong as I thought. It's been hurting there for a couple of weeks now, finally getting better. Well, I won't do that again!

Autumn is definitely here in Portland. Overcast, cold and damp. That is all.

We are going to eat at De-shits tonight with Laura's graduate friends. I'll probably get the fish and chips. Hopefully it's not crowded, though I'm sure it will be considering it's Halloween Friday. I hope we have/get a reservation.

Been working on a website very recently for a director doing her first directorial debut. I think it'll be fun. I'm currently just waiting for some content like photos/videos to put on to the site.

Nothing else really new. Just chugging along. I can't believe it's almost November. Time has flown by since we've moved here.

2 months already? Wow.

Sad to say nothing has really happened. We've been having a lot of visitors lately. Late August, Kelly and Ryan and Wesley came to visit. It was a short visit, so we couldn't do much, but it was a fun time. Now, Laura's parent's and a friend are visiting for about 2 weeks. Then a week after they leave, my Mom is coming out for a couple of days.

I think that's it for visits for a while.

Been productive in the realm of hygiene and health, lately, mainly because it's free/cheap. I've had a dentist appointment, all free thanks to insurance. I had an eye exam and am getting, gasp, glasses in a week or so. Not sure how much I'll wear them, but, we'll see. During the test, I could see pretty clearly, though. Crazy.

Other than that, work is chugging along. Still watching Netflix. Still surfing. My WoW subscription is expiring, whoa, today! I thought today was the 3rd or something, but apparently it's the 5th. Okay, then, no more WoW for now, I guess.

We've been trying to budget recently as well, in terms of saving and stuff. We got a basic plan going, but we're already spending a little out of the budget. Ugh. Hard to do when you see something cheap and just want to buy it. We just need to win the lottery. That would be awesome.

It's been super cold the last couple of days, at night mostly. It's weird how in Laramie, 30 would be WARM at times, but it's like 60s out and I'm shivering. I turned on the heat to 66 today to keep it warm for the dogs. I think Kip was cold through the night too, because he's been wanting up to sleep next to Laura the last couple of nights. Callie is fine. She's always panting anyway.

Fall colors are starting to come and looks like just around when my Mom visits, the Japanese Garden should be in full Fall bloom. That will be cool to see and photograph.

I haven't photographed much lately, either. It could be partly due to motivation, partly due to not have a photography partner to compare photos and techniques with (at least, not locally), partly not knowing where the good places are, and, finally, partly not knowing what I'm "into" at the moment. I want to move out of the nature thing for a little bit, and do some urban architecture type stuff. Old buildings, deserted buildings, the like. I did see a cool like "dirt road" right by our house I want to photography sometime in the morning when it's foggy out. I like those kinds of shots.

Well, better get back to work, lol.

Okay, back.

I was going to podcast with TJ tonight, but I just didn't get the time. Hopefully soon like over the weekend.

Anyway, to continue my story. After the whole Budget thing passed, things were good and fun. Chris and Alicia was visiting for a few more days of vacation. We hit one of the coasts, Tillamook and the cheese factory (had an awesome grilled cheese sandwich there), Japanese Garden, 4th of July fireworks, etc. Overall it was a fun time and was good to see them since we won't as frequently. They just moved about 10 minutes from where they used to be.

After they left and a couple of days had passed, Laura's parents and Ellen visited for a week. Between that time, Laura and I (her mostly) scrambled to get the entire moving thing done with and unpacked. We barely made it, but there are still lots of boxes in the garage. Probably will stay that way for a while.

Work is, well, going. That's about it on that topic.

We've been into Netflix a lot lately, primarily because a) we don't have digital cable anymore, just basic with like 15 channels and only 1 is even worth watching (Discovery) and b) we are using the 2-month gift certificate TJ got us. We like it, especially the instant watch stuff.

TJ just moved to Atlanta. I think they are doing well despite them having a little struggle with the first house they chose, but things are looking up.

What else...dunno, really. The daily routine has been pretty set for the last month or so, but now that Laura is going to be working too, I think things will need to adjust a bit. The dogs are going to be very bored every day now that we will leave them by themselves from approximately 7:30 to 4:45pm or something.

I just finished Sarah's wedding video and Laura will be shipping them off tomorrow. I think it came out okay, considering the limited amount of footage that I had to work with. While doing it, I started to really want to video weddings, perhaps for side money, but it's hard because I'm sure clients would want a better looking camera than my small, flash, handheld. At the VERY least, I wish it were HD. The low light quality isn't too good on this cam, either. But, yeah, we'll see how that pans out. I really like doing stuff like that. In that way, I do miss my old job, being so computer-oriented and all. Fulfillment, however, after next Tuesday, is going to get hit HARD with reality...I don't feel bad, though.

Oh, Saturday we celebrated our 2-year anniversary by going to this Japanese restaurant on the East side. It was super good except for getting the check. It took like 15 minutes because our waitress totally forgot about us. Oh well...still good food, I guess.

Here's to many more years!

Whoa, I cannot believe that over a month has gone by since my last post. Seriously, I thought it was only a week or two ago...time flies. So let's recap from just before Laura and the dogs moved here.

1. The shuttle ride was fine, the airplane ride was fine. Laura and company picked me up at the airport and went home. We were all pretty tired at that point.

2. Next day we get the Budget truck...oh my, if I had known the horror of this Budget truck, I would not have gone with Budget ever, even if it was saving a couple of hundred dollars.We start packing. Time progresses and we seem to barely make a dent by 12pm when Denis arrives to help us pack. I will admit that without him, we would not have been able to pack that truck how we did. For the 2 houses we loaded, the 24' truck was barely enough. Anywho, our house was finished into the truck around 4pm. We started around 9:30 I think...damn. We were tired and we still had Christina's house to do. It was much smaller, so we got it finished quick, around 6:30pm or so I think. We all took a break afterward and went to Corona Village for our last meal in Laramie.

3. We leave around 6:45am or so. We should have noted the slight gas leak from the Budget truck. That wasn't what hindered our progress, though. Our truck was a piece of shit. Literally. After some jerking car movements starting out, it smoothed out about an hour into the trip. Max speed? It was governed at 70mph...okay, whatever. It was a huge truck anyway, it couldn't go much over that. At times, we were going 35 up hills.

4. After a LONG day of driving, we stopped at La Grande, OR around 8 or 9pm. Exhausted, we found a hotel, got some food, and went to bed. This 24' truck is a bitch to drive, however. I do not recommend it if at all possible.

5. The second day was the worst. Truck was starting to struggle. After a few hours, we entered Washington and the Seattle area. I was dreading driving this monster to that downtown area...my worst nightmare was coming true. We actually got to the house quite smoothly, despite the numerous turns, bridges, and streets we had to take. After a bit of maneuvering, we parked down a TIGHT alley and started unloading. That took like an hour. So much faster to unload than load. Anyway, that was done, but my worst was yet to come.

6. We left for Portland shortly after. I was able to get out of the alley way after almost tipping the truck turning left.The downtown was HORRIBLE. Probably not bad if you're in car or just walking around but driving that POS truck through the worst part of downtown, not knowing where to go, having Chris read shitty ass directions, things go downhill quick. All in all, we were able to get out of the downtown area fairly unscathed.

7. It was an hour, however, before we were rolling again since it was crazy bad traffic.Then it happened...the first of 5 or 6. The truck just fricken stopped while going like 20. I was like, um, wtf? I pulled off into the shoulder. I didn't know what was going on. It would not start again unless I took the keys completely out. I turned it on again and it worked...we thought it was just a weird fluke...yeah right. We drive fine for another couple until we get to the WA/OR border.Traffic again. Bam, truck stops again...I'm running out of shoulders to stop into...I just pull to the side. I do again what I did near Seattle. I can feel it dying...I was about to break down. Being helpless like that, in traffic mind you, in a place I don't know much about, SUCKS. We get off and drive around...not sure what we were doing, but just slowly getting down to our house. I needed gas. I decided to get some at the Shell I think. Oh, I try to fit into this side pump...BAM, I hit the concrete barriers to keep the pumps say...LUCKILY, I only just hit it with the wheel...I was so close to hitting that pump...we pay and fill up...I don't know what to do. It's going to keep stopping like this randomly...that's the worst part. I don't know when it's going to happen.

8. We get on to the highway...it starts stopping. We try to stay low speeds, but that's not the reason why it's shutting down. Chris suggested to manually switch gears from 1 through 3. The idea worked, because we figured the automatic transmission was crapping out. It made sense. It didn't "stop" until we finally go home...it was the longest 8 or 10 miles of my life. Going 35-40 miles in heavy traffic. Damn.

9. We finally get home...it was like 6pm or something. We all just get a breather.We didn't do anything but eat and go to bed that night because I still had to work the next day. They unloaded everything actually that next day. I came home to finish up the armoir. I still had to drop the truck off. Well...I decided to just do this thing and leave it over the weekend. Around 8pm, I get in the truck...one more hurdle. I still had to fill the truck up. I drive to the first couple of stations. No diesel...I ask and get to the Chevron. I fill up. We start heading to the drop off location. Bam, stops again 2 or 3 times just before the last few turns. I am begging to just let me out of this nightmare.We get there, park, and never see it again.

Gist? Go U-Haul.

I'll continue this story tomorrow. Time to watch a movie since it's 10pm.




Brake repairs, possible podcasting, doc's appointment, oh my!

Well, today I got my car back

I figured I should go to sleep at a "reasonable" hour today since I stayed up until about midnight last night. Anywho, 2 more days until I see Laura and the dogs! Can't wait. Decided I will be parking my car at the parking garage and taking the shuttle from downtown to the airport. It's only $14, so that's cool. I'll leave work a bit early at like 4pm or so, just to make sure I account for enough time considering there could be traffic and such. The shuttle leaves every half hour so I'll take the 4:30 on I suppose. I have to walk down to the river to the Marriott since it leaves from there.

I thought of taping the entire drive from Laramie > Seattle > Portland. Figured why not. I'll try and use the power inverter...well, actually, I definitely need to use it anyway since the battery will only last like a couple of hours at most. The card in the camera at the lowest setting will only record about 5 hours, so I'll need to download it to my netbook every 5 hours. There will be a few minutes of "blank" in between, but that's okay.

I cleaned the cabinets and put together the bed more securely and put the sheets on today. Everything else is ready to go, pretty much. When they arrive, I want to mop the hardwood floors since it smells weird and vacuum up a few places, mainly the corner where all the dead ants are. I can't quite get them with the small vacuum I have and there's no hose attachment. I mowed the lawn on Thursday and it looks good. Although, now I wish I had mowed it tomorrow, so it'll stay nice when everyone arrives. I'll probably have to mow it again next weekend, like Saturday. The cool thing was that after I mowed the lawn, I wasn't tired at all. Just sweaty. It was weird because the last time I mowed it, which was just about 2 weeks ago, I almost died. I haven't really done anything special since then. I have been walking a lot during lunch to find places to eat. Maybe that's why.

We're going to try and hit the beach when Chris and Alicia visit. Tillamook and a spot up north maybe and then back. I keep forgetting that it's the weekend of the 4th, so it will probably be crowded-ish everywhere anyway. Tomorrow I may look for "places" to watch fireworks. I did see a few fireworks stands around town, so it seems as though it's not prohibited to use like Laramie. Dunno for sure, though.

I'm not looking forward to this drive, though. The side trip to Seattle kinda sucks, because without it, we can easily get into Portland/our house by early afternoon on Thursday, but it's going to be the evening...perhaps even later because we just might hit rush hour in Portland. And on top of that, I need to work the next day early. It is just going to be a crappy few days.

Well, gonna head to bed.

Been into more blogging as of late. Probably because of the lack of stuff to do. My WoW subscription ran out, but not renewing it for a while (ever?) since the next couple of weeks/months are going to be busy in terms of guests, work, unpacking, etc. The expansion will probably come out this Winter again, but who knows...maybe I won't get it. StarCraft 2 is coming out at the end of July and that seems pretty cool too.

In other news, I can't believe it's already time for Laura to move out. It has been over 1 month, 5 weeks in fact. Not looking forward to the drive again, but it will be good to have her here. I'm pretty sure there are gophers in our yard...I've been hesitant to buy gopher killer just yet. Maybe the dogs will get them out of here. Laura called to tell me that Kip did a stupid thing today...that dog is dumb.

But, like I told Laura, I'm starting to like working downtown. I think it is because it's just a "better" downtown than Denver is. I dunno, I suppose I only saw the 16th Street area of Denver, really, but since that area sucked in my mind, the entire city did...and I'm sure I'm right. Walking around Portland is pretty cool because of all the 1-block large "parks" that are scattered all over. So far I've eaten lunch at a couple of locations. Weird eating by myself, so hopefully Laura can start eating lunch with me soon. Different areas have these water sculptures and architecture that some person did for all the parks or something.

Anyway, gonna go. The day's been "full", to say the least. I wake up at around 7am, leave around 7:40am, come back at like 5:30pm. It's like, I'm a working man...or something. The dogs are going to hate being left alone for that long. I wish we could leave the doggie door open, but I have a feeling they could possibly get out somehow or bark a lot.

First day of work tomorrow!

So, I figured this would be a worthy topic, if any, for a blog. Recently, I had received a call from a guy in LA regarding something. Actually, let me back up. He had originally called Steve (of all people) to relay the message to me about something. I got an e-mail from my sister and also from my Mom. Anyway, this guy was an old friend of my Dad 15+ years ago. Obviously, they still are, but anyway, he called me to let me know that my Dad was in critically condition at the hospital, unconscious. I'm not totally sure what the prognosis was, but fairly serious. After a couple of awkward calls back and forth trying to find out the condition, where he was, etc., (all this in 50/50 Japanese and English, mind you), I let my Mom know about it because he had not called her yet. After she talked to him, she assumed that it was another 'panic attack' or something. A few days later, she had received a call from the guy again saying my Dad had passed away. my Mom called me crying a little bit to let me know. Although she had a grudge and all, she was glad that he passed away without any pain. This was a couple of weeks ago...god, I should remember the day he died, at least.

This brings me to a strange point. I'm not sure whether to consider this a common/uncommon scenario, probably an uncommon one, but I don't know the facts to back that up. The issue is that I'm not sure whether to be sad or not. Honestly, I didn't really see or remember my Dad growing up. I'm not sure what he was doing all the time, but I just think something is wrong there. I'm sure most people remember growing up with their parents, minus the ones who had family issues and what not. I guess I fall somewhere in between. I can only remember a handful of memories with my Dad, few enough that I can mention them briefly here:

1. I remember going to his work once (well, a few times, as we would stop by there in our trips to LA to go grocery shopping and after my Japanese school and stuff) at Nevada Bob's. Never knew the reason behind that naming. I can't remember how old I was, but I can vaguely remember the shop layout. I'm still not sure what he did.

2. I remember him buying me a Gameboy when it first came out. Not the color version, not the smaller version, but the first one ever. It was the morning of my birthday and I woke up and he gave me the Gameboy. Wow, actually, now I can't remember if it was a Gameboy or the new Donkey Kong video game. Pretty sure it was the Gameboy, because now I remember being with my Dad at the store buying a Donkey Kong game. I remember talking about how my Mom wouldn't be happy if he got that and to keep it a secret or something.

3. I remember him working on the little closed off area he made at the Fontana house one night. I was playing outside and riding my bike and I came home to it. Not sure why I remember that.

4. A few times I remember my Mom and Dad fighting downstairs and this one distinct time I remember yelling "Stop yelling (or fighting?)!" at the top of my lungs at the top of the stairs. And then I went back to my room. It was weird to say the least. I probably skipped a lot of it, them fighting that is, since I tended to just stay in my room and keep myself occupied, playing video games and watching Doraemon movies.

5. I played 9 holes of golf with him at the course I took 2 golf lessons at. It was him and his friend and me. I really can't remember it well, but I remember him impressed that I was getting good. I don't even know how it got scheduled.

6. The last memory I had of him was after my parents separated and he was living in an apartment a couple of cities over from Fontana. We visited for some reason, I can't remember why, but I remember walking in and just taking a look around. We weren't there long. I do remember my Mom and I making fun of him because he was wearing jeans, which he never did and which was something he said he'd never do.

7. When my Dad and his friends were playing Mahjong one night at the Fontana house, they were playing until really late and I actually fell asleep in the dining room and sort of half awake when he picked me up to put me in bed.

There you go...the only times I can remember...I'm sure I can think of a few more if I really tried, but it's not worth it to do so.

So, put yourself in that situation...would you be sad for losing someone that you didn't really know? Sure, it's my Dad, but it just seemed that way because a piece of paper said so. I never talked to him since that time at the apartment and that was close to 15+ years ago. It's just hard to feel sad for someone, despite being your father, you never hung out with, talked with, learned from, and so forth.

Anyway, my Mom and I will probably visit the grave sometime soon once she finds out where it is. There was a funeral not too long ago, but decided not to go because it would have just been awkward. The guy calling was weird too. He was asking if I was going to come out to see him and stuff, but I was like, um...yeah, I can try (knowing that I wouldn't). I figured it wasn't the time or place to let him know that I didn't really care at this point. I guess this guy used to play Mahjong a lot at the Fontana house...I can remember a couple of times when they played in the kitchen until late at night. Oh, I remember one other memory (added #7).

So, whether or not I should feel sad or upset, I'll never know, I guess. Figured I should put this before I forget.

Oh, and this is my 500th post!

So, it seems a lot can happen in one week! After having an interview at Portland State University for an office support/data support position last Thursday, I was offered the position Tuesday at the end of the day. They are still trying to get the paperwork squared away and are going to call me back Monday, but they said I will probably start sometime next week. Wow, am I relieved. I thought I only did okay on the interview...I'm such a bad interviewee, so I'm glad that, hopefully, they were able to see past some of that and look at my credentials. It was weird because when I got there, they handed me a packet with all the job info, health stuff, as well as the questions that were going to be asked during the interview. I was like, hmmm, weird, never hard that before. So, I skimmed through and tried to think of some answers before hand. I think it was a bad thing to do, because it kind of conflicted with the answers I had planned originally, but, it's hard to pretend not to know and answer from scratch. Anyway, I started out kind of rough, but by the end, I think I was doing better, less "ums" and what not. Oh, so from that, you can probably assume I accepted the job. I was actually in a weird dilemma. I had gotten another interview for a non-profit in town for a webmaster position, that, honestly, I probably would have really liked. Of course, I wouldn't know for sure, but anyway, the interview was set for next week, so it was hard to decline the 'for sure offer' for a chance at a 'possible offer'. In the end, I think I did the right thing for the situation. Laura and I are both glad that I found a job, though, for sure. Now, only if the moving date would get here sooner!

Well, I'm back. A little later than I wanted, but, I just got carried away with surfing. Actually, I did a little bit of work on my clients' websites today.

Anywho. Portland. I got here May 12th. I *can not* believe it's already June 5th. We've got all the utilities taken care of. My typical day is pretty much:

1. Wake up around 9 or 10am. I do set the alarm for 8:30 everyday, but, really, I don't know why I do that. I wake up and turn it off and go right back to bed. The clock is at the foot of the mattress, so I even have to get out of the covers and such, but, I still get back.

2. Look for jobs as much as I can, which, unfortunately just means opening up all the links I have in my browser favorites folder called "jobs" and looking through them. It's usually very slim pickings. I only average an application once every 1.5 days. There really just isn't much around here.

3. Eat lunch, consisting of PB&J sandwiches and/or cereal. Everyday is a combination of one of those two. Lately, I've been trying to get more "solids" into my system. This week was frozen burritos. Still, it's crazy how much money I see saving in not going out to eat. I have eaten fast food a few times while I've been in the house, but the majority has been what I mentioned above. It gets boring real quick.

4. Surfing/WoW/watching movies. The first couple of weeks, it was WoW. I leveled a new character to level 80 in 2 weeks...probably my fastest ever. I played way too much. I think I'm on "break" now. The last week or so, I've been helping this new client for a blog he wanted on his website. He's been in some notable TV shows and movies, as well.

5. Dinner. Mostly repeat lunch.

6. Back to step 4 until late and to sleep.

It's a real boring schedule. Frankly, I don't wish that I ever NOT have a job, but I can't do this for much longer. Laura and the dogs being here would be much better on the schedule and my outlook of boredom, however. Like I said, the house is completely empty and it saps any energy I have. Mowing the lawn has been an exercise. I always seems to be out of breath after I do it. I think this coming week, I'm going to actually raise the cutting level 1 notch, because right now, I think it's too short. That'll help with not filling up the trash too fast as well.

What else. Nothing, really, because I've been doing nothing!

I can't wait for the 25th. 20 days away. I've already been here that long and it seemed to go by quick, so, hopefully this will be the same. The move will be hard, though, I think. The drive was long and that was without any house stuff. But then again, this time there will be friends involved, so maybe it won't be as bad.

Anyway, I just registered for all our utilities and already the electric and gas are ready for payment. The electric was like $14, but the gas was $41! Hopefully I don't have to heat it during the summer. I dunno why, but I'm just cold in this house. Either the townhouse was kept warm because it was nestled in between two other houses that stayed warm, so it just felt like I didn't need to run the heat or the thermostat was off in the townhouse, because I have this place set at 72 and that's about right, for me at least. I think I can go to 71 or 70 maybe, but, we'll see. The difference between 71 and 72 on thermostat is big. Like 71 is too cold, but 72 is too hot. Oh well.

Well, it's almost been 3 weeks since my last post, so it's probably time to update this thing. I'll do it tomorrow, as it's almost midnight now. I know I'm not really going to be able to sleep anytime soon; I've been staying up rather late since I moved into this house and waking up later than I'd like. I'm not sure why. I'm not even tired most of the time. Perhaps I'm just trying to pass time by sleeping it away? I don't know. I know that I miss Laura A LOT right now. I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since the time we were looking for houses, driving around Portland, and living out of the Homestead Suites. Time flew by, but, I'm not exactly sure how, if that makes sense. One thing's for sure that it's a lot of wasted time gone. I need to do more productive stuff during this time.

Anyway, I'll write again tomorrow.

I get internet tomorrow! No more stealing this slow, unsecured wifi...

I guess I'll make my first blog post from Oregon one from my last night here at the extended stay hotel. I've only stayed here for 7 days now and I'm "moving" into our rental home tomorrow. I put moving in quotes as I really don't have anything to move in...Clothes and some appliances is all. I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing there. I scheduled the internet to be installed, but that's this Thursday, so I'm going to have to visit Barnes and Noble or something in the meantime to keep my job search going.

It doesn't seem like it, but so much has happened in the last week. Being alone for a couple of days has re-confirmed my dependence for Laura as my wife and friend through tough times. After having a bit of a freak out on the first night here, things started to look up again after she arrived a day later. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the next several weeks without her. It's going to be tough. I guess I miss my pups, too. :)

Just a recap, the drive here was terrible. Don't ever do 17 hours in a single day, let alone by yourself. I mean, I guess I do like driving, but man, this made me hate it. The first few hours of the morning sucked. I left at 1:20am. Cold and dark, it was actually snowing/blizzarding until it became light outside. I was dozing out really bad in the beginning (and frankly it was kind of getting dangerous) so I actually stopped about 4 hours into the trip and took at 40-minute nap out at a hotel parking lot. I didn't really sleep all that much, but it gave me enough energy to keep going until the sun came up and finally "wake up." The middle7-8 hours went fine. Nothing in terms of scenery, really. The last 4-5 hours SUCKED the worst. I don't know why. It just did. The sign for the "miles to Portland" pissed me off every time since the miles left didn't seem to change. It just kept going down by like 3 miles each time. Seriously, at least put it 15-20 miles apart. The scenery was awesome, however, for the last 2 hours. Driving along the river all the way in, seeing these boats, huge cliffs and crags, the sun setting, dams, etc. all made it nice. It just felt like a foreign area to me, since I was so used to the Wyoming scenery. I was just arriving in traffic, which I didn't realize at the time, so that just made the last 30 minutes that bad. And the fact that I didn't know crap about the area and how the roads were, like some exits being on the left, signage being horrible and worst of all, OREGON DRIVERS SUCKING. Honestly, I have not seen worse drivers in all the states I've been in. LA is even better. No one signals, brakes abruptly, speeds up for no reason when you try to pass and then slows down...it's ridiculous.

Anyway, I finally make it to the hotel and I pay for the first week. Hell, the stupid girl was nice, but charged me the wrong rate...whatever. So, yeah. That day was back. The next day, I really tried to be in a good mood since I was picking up Laura, but traffic, again. I was like 45 minutes late in picking up Laura because there was a crash that bogged down the route I was going to take. Trying to go another route (bad idea when you don't know what the "other route" is), I end up in downtown...furthermore, I ended up making wrong turns and ended up going TO the damn crash I was trying to avoid in the first place. Seriously.  And then I proceeded to sit in traffic (literally sit) for the next hour. I moved about 500 feet in about an hour. And then after the traffic cleared, I just had to turn back around and pass where I was. Sucks not knowing where you are. After picking Laura up, things started getting better. The airport is pretty easily laid out, even more so than DIA.

With Laura here, we set upon finding a place to stay. At first it was going crappy. Didn't find much, people not calling back, and so forth. We only ended up being shown 1 house and it was bad. Old, small, in a bad part of Portland from what we could see. The East side. The other houses we were expected to see we didn't even go since we drove by it and it was just bad. We saw another house where the people looking at it were freaking out because they wanted it. It wasn't bad, but the back yard wasn't fenced, so it was a no go for us. Laura found this cool house right near her work and we decided to get a showing. We saw it and we liked it a lot. No bath...kinda bad for me since I take so much, but I said with the luck we've been having, this house is too good to pass and I can manage. We ended up applying for the house and getting it. I just paid the first payments tonight, actually. I move in tomorrow! I can't wait, although, I can't really do anything.

6 weeks until Laura moves in. That's a long time. I need to find a job, though, but then again, I want to help move as well. I don't want them to do it all. We are sort of worried about money, as we should. The rent for the house was on the upper end of our affordability. Take that back, probably THE end of the higher end. Now setting up this cable is another $225 or something, but the $150 deposit we can get back after 6 months. I think it's because so we don't quit the service after the promo or something, but whatever.

So, tomorrow, we'll see what the future brings. I will be hanging out at the local Barnes and Noble, about 10 minutes or less away for the next 2 days, mooching off their internet. Laura and I had a lot of fun when she was here, though. We went to the Japanese Gardens, the downtown market (which was too crowded for me, really), seeing Voodoo Doughnut and its long line, and just driving around our house to see what kind of stuff there was. I tell you what, I know we've grown to like the mom and pop shops, no traffic, and the small town feel, but I must admit it was kind of nice to see the different kinds of shops just around our house. Convenience stores, BB&B, Home Depot, retail stores, etc. It was weird because it was almost as if it was the first time we've seen these places, you know? Hopefully we aren't spoiled again to the point where if we moved to a place like Laramie, we won't be complaining about not having amenities. I don't think that will happen, but we'll see. We were already trying to find non-ordinary places to shop, eat, and so forth. I don't think we can go back to chains if we tried.

Well, I better go to sleep and use the internet I have sparingly...

I miss you Laura! Can't wait to have you back here.

-J

So...another page in my life has turned. This time marking the end of a chapter. The chapter will be called "Laramie."

Today was my last day at work. It felt great and sort of sad at the same time. I've been here the longest of any work I've been at in my life. I learned a lot and saw a lot. I think it was a good experience for, but I'm ready for something new. For the first time I felt what it feels to be unrecognized for the work you did. I just couldn't do it anymore.

That aside, the day was mellow. The earlier part of the week wasn't so. It was pretty busy, I'd say. I've been telling people about today for a while, so it wasn't a big surprise. Still, people couldn't believe that I was leaving today. We had a BBQ at the office for my send off. That was fun. A badminton set was even brought and played for a little bit, but it was too windy and cold, so that didn't last.

After lunch, my boss had sent an e-mail out to everyone in the company, noting today was my last day. I was given some kind words and I replied to everyone with my little send off letter. I received lots of instant messages and e-mails after that and also through the day wishing me luck and such. I even took an hour or so from my day to call and talk to the people that I worked with a lot over the years. It felt comforting that so many people said they would miss me and my help after I had left. Even if they were saying it to be nice, it sort of backed up my thoughts that my company would have an irreplaceable whole as I left. Big ego? Yeah...but whatever!

Anywho, I got all the contacts I wanted to keep in touch with and so the new chapter is about to unfold. In just over 4 days, I leave for Portland, to meet up with Laura. It's going to be the longest day ever. 17 hours of driving in 1 day. Dang. Will my car make it? It's a lot of miles and mountainous terrain to cover. Hopefully I'll be okay. I'm starting to think I should break it into 2 days, but I really don't want to spend the money to get a hotel and break the "rhythm" if I'm in a zone driving. When I drove 9 hours to Iowa, it really felt fast. I didn't even have music on while driving. It was weird.

Laura is in Oklahoma for Mother's Day. I miss her a lot! The pillows on her side of the bed has been untouched, mostly because I don't want to make it (not like I make it now), but it looks better if only 1 side of the bed is used. They dogs have been good, as well. Callie hasn't eaten in like 2 days and I think the throw-up I cleaned earlier was from her. Not positive, but likely. Kip is eating, so. They always seem to do this when Laura leaves. I think they like her more.

Well, I gotta get up early to drop off the car tomorrow at the shop to get a new muffler installed. I'm going to (if she wakes up) eat breakfast with Naomi in Fort Collins. Afterward, I may go climbing with Chris at Horsetooth if, again, he decides to push fixing his sprinkler with his Dad to later in the afternoon. Then back to Laramie. Hopefully the muffler doesn't cost more than last time, which was around $125 or so.

I don't want to do emissions in Portland, either, and get a new license. Ugh.

Well, I should head to bed. I miss you and love you, Laura. I can't wait to start the next chapter in Portland together! It will be great, but I know you will miss Laramie.

So it's been a while. Lots of things going to happen in the next few weeks.

Unfortunately, I'm still looking for a job, but, I am going to be moving to Portland on May 11th...crazy. I'll be driving out there and staying at a hotel for the month of May. Laura will be flying out and meeting me on the 12th and looking for a place to stay starting June 1st.

As far as work is concerned, my last day is May 7th. My notice is already in. Things haven't sunk in yet, in terms of money and all that, but, oh well.

I don't know when I'll be able to write next, but chances are, the next time I write, it'll be from Portland. Whether it would be from my hotel room or our house we're renting, I don't know.

Details and updates to come.

I was reading an article in my Wired magazine just tonight and read one snippet that made me think. I'll paraphrase what it stated, but I'll make it more into a "how to live by" sort of thing:

Define your life not by what you have done but by what you will be doing.

I'll pan more on that when I have time...

Laura got me a new laptop! It was a good deal via Walmart:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?dest=9999999997&product_id=13374563&sourceid=33308344211697658036

You might have some at your local Walmart!

The next week is going to be very interesting.

Work sucks. And so does on-call...

Okay...WoW until 1:45am...sheesh.

Among other news, Laura gets back tomorrow! Can't wait to see her.

Haven't played WoW until 12:30 in a while...

Back at home at last.

First day of 2010...nope, no projects this time around... :)

However, I do have a project in mind when we move out of Laramie and into [insert matched location here].

Here's to a good, fresh start to 2010.

As I sit here in the breakfast nook in Laura's parent's house, with the snow starting to fall down, I think it's time to do a quick look-back at 2009. A year of ups and downs, stupid health problems, and the 'calm before the storm' (Laura and I moving next year), friends getting married, etc.

Really a year like any other, if you think about it. The big news were Chris and Alicia getting married, I think Laura passed her comps earlier this year...maybe, that might have been November of last year. I can't remember that far.

Next year is going to be a big move out of Laramie and into the unknown. It's like starting over again, in a sense. It'll sort of be a mirror of us moving into Laramie, some 4.5 years ago. That's a long time. Laura will be sort of "starting" school at a new place again, I'll have to find a job again, making new friends (maybe I don't need to make any friends since it's potentially just for a year?!), moving our stuff to a new house, settling in, etc.

Of all the things to be thankful for, it always comes back to Laura and how much she helps me through the year and that I don't do enough reciprocity. I love you and thank you for all that you do for me each and every minute, hour, day, and year.

Next year, I'm sure, will be yet another quick one in the end, but slow to start. I think it'll also be a big step toward the future as well as Laura finishes up her Ph.D.!

Anyway, thanks to all the family and friends that made this year what it was.

See you 2009 and welcome the '10s (tens??!!?).

Wow, I didn't realize that I went 3 months without posting. Hard to imagine that I didn't even think of this blog during that time. Quite a bit of stuff has happened during this time. The biggest being that Chris and Alicia are now married...and still married. They had a good time in Hawaii and seem to be back in the same ol' groove, working and such.

This year we decided to have Thanksgiving with my Mom and sister in Niwot. It was a good time. Nephew and nieces are certainly weird! After the Thanksgiving lunch/dinner, I took some family photos of their family. Turned out okay, I think. I still need to practice people photography.

Laura and I are slowly getting into the mode of moving...well, at least I am! She has gotten interviews at 10 different places. It really sucks that we don't know where we'll be going until late February. She has to fly all around in mid-January, which is going to cost a shit-ton of money. I wish they would at least pay for the travel expenses if they get into the respective place they're interviewing at. Anyway, I think our main choices so far are Portland, OR, Oklahoma City, OK and Augusta, MA. I will probably tag along with her on the Maine interview. We're still not quite sure where we'll put our choices in order. It's a tough decision as there are a lot of factors that affect the decision.

Kip and Callie are both doing well. Being dicks as always! In a couple days we're heading down to Fort Collins for Ellen's graduation on Saturday. I'll bring my camcorder to take some videos of it all.

Other than that I'm getting more and more excited to leave our hell hole. I have been spending some time at working researching homes for rent. The best seems to be Oklahoma City in terms of housing prices and what you get for it. It's pretty awesome. Denver, Portland, and Maine are on the more expensive side. We'll see what we end up with. I am never, ever doing neighbors again, at least sharing the same fricken wall. What a stupid concept townhouses, duplexes, etc. are.

Also, I'm typing this blog on my new keyboard as well. I noticed the super slim, wireless keyboard on Amazon that I saw at Best Buy a while back for only $25, so I said why not. I did use Laura's myriad of $25 Amazon gift certificates, so it was actually free. It took a few days to get used to the "laptop feel", but now it's great. I love the laptop keyboard feel.

Anyway, until next time. Maybe I'll try and do one last blog for this year and wrap it up while I'm in OK for Christmas. I'm taking nearly 2 weeks off, so that's cool.

See ya.

6 days until Chris and Alicia are married...and I have to make my speech.

4 days until our mini vacation for the Summer. 4.5 days in St. Louis with Laura's grandparents and then 3.5 days in St. Charles with TJ and Ashley. Should be fun, to take a break from it all. I have some fun projects that I hope to accomplish while I'm there.

And yes, I'm still in climbing mode. I don't think I've put in the blog yet, but I did buy some gear for it...rope, rope bag, a carabiner, harness (for me and Laura), some slings/webbing, chalk bag...only thing I've left to get are shoes (been borrowing Trent's for now), ATC, and quickdraws...the latter being the most expensive at around $15-$16/piece and I suspect I would need around 10 or so to be able to do most sport routes, but not the super long, multi-pitch ones.

Oh well...my next BIG purchase is still a Nikon D90...mmmmm. I got a 50mm 1.8 lens for our 1st anniversary from Laura. I got her some pearl jewelry.

I can't believe it's been 1 year already (in 5 days)...I love you!!!!

Ugh. I fricken hate RAW!

Yo,

So, it's just about 1.5 weeks until our 3 day hiking trip. I think we've got everything we need to get as far as preparation goes. Laura and I have tested our packs with a few pounds of gear and I think we're in good shape. Got some Powerbars for the trip and such too.

Lately I've been in the rock climbing mode. I've been bugging Trent to go to this new area he found that has some climbs that we haven't seen (not like we've seen a lot). I think Chris has the bug too since he's been wanting to get our own set of climbing gear. It looks like it'll be about $200 or so to get a beginner's set completed, including ropes, harnesses, caribiners, etc.

Anyway. We also bought tickets for our St. Louis/Chicago trip for August, as well as the Amtrak train tickets from St. Louis to Chicago since we won't have a car for this trip.

That's about it for news. Same ol' working and stuff. I've been trying to take more intermediate vacations since I never seem to use them, but this year I will try to use them all since it'll be my last year here.

Well, I'll leave it at that for now.

Later.

Hello...

So I'm about to do more stuff on our wedding video that I finally started to do. Anyway, I miss Laura! She's been gone for only 2 days. I think she's having fun, but the baby's quite the work.

Nothing new. Callie seems to still be recovering. She's using it more, so that's good. She gets her sutures out on Thursday. Hopefully the wound doesn't open or something.

The other small thing I wanted to say was that I was looking at some photo galleries today, but not just any photo gallery. This was a collection of pictures that were taken by blind folks. Pretty interesting to see and it had a weird atmosphere to to all the pictures, if that makes sense, for obvious reasons. But anyway, to get to the point, one of the quotes from one of the photographers went something along the lines of:

"...I may be blind, but I haven't lost my vision."

I just thought that line was a pretty strong phrase...it invokes a lot of thoughts in my mind.

I was going to write about it a little, but I think I'm going to just work on the wedding video. I've been tired lately!

So, as I sit here, listening to some Sister Hazel via acoustic, I wanted to get down some thoughts I had.

A little bit ago I was out north of Laramie, thinking the sunset conditions were pretty good. It was and I got some pretty good shots - flickr.com/photos/jamyam

Anywho, the part I wanted to write down was when I was out there, there was a couple of moments where it was completely silent. The only thing I "heard" was the wind blowing into my ears. And then I thought...hm...when was the last time it was this quiet? The only recent time I could think of that was when I went snow shoeing with Laura and her family in the Snowy's. I remember standing there and it was totally quiet...or was it? Not completely 100%. Why? I heard cars off the distance...it's amazing how far away you can hear cars from.

[Ugh, let me go let Kip out, he's barking...]

Ok, back. So, back to what I was saying. Even when the cars were like a 1/2+ mile away, I could hear them. It was kinda...annoying. Standing out in the middle of nowhere (basically) and hearing noise is probably one of the worst things. But, when the cars didn't come by for like a few minutes, it was crazy silent. It's cliche, but it really was deafening silence. It was a nice moment of relaxation, I guess.

When you think about it - when does an "average" person ever experience total silence? I say almost never, unless you're the outdoor type, and even then it's hard to get unless you're in places where few ever are. Even when you think things are silent, I'm sure there is a lot of noise that you just don't register...ambient noise of the computer fan, cars in the distance making a slight hum, even a light bulb's noise.

I can't wait to go on our 2-day backpacking trip...yes, I'm dreading the few hour hike in, then out, but this should be a place where I shouldn't hear cars for miles. I won't have anything electronic with me. Things will be TOTALLY silent, aside from the animals, if any, that are scouring around. The wilderness is a cool place...thoughts and moments like this make me like choosing Natural Resources as a major.

I think it should be everyone's goal in life to experience silence some time in their life, whether it be to reflect, get away, whatever. Enjoy the outdoors while we have it.

Well, Laura's back...and we still need to do a lot to get ready for our Baltimore trip!

We're off tomorrow to head down to Colorado so we can fly out on Friday morning. A nasty Spring storm is coming and hitting Denver tomorrow afternoon...perfect time to screw with our flight out. Hopefully, it's either not as bad as they say and/or the road crew does a good job.

Anyway, I'm going to be a busy bee on Friday/Saturday. Meeting up with some people from World of Warcraft since they're in the Orange County area (I know, weird huh?) and I'm also meeting up with some [ex]co-workers and Jeanne Chinn as well. Should be fun.

Laura is going to be heading to Little Tokyo on Friday while I do all that and on Saturday I might take her to my elementary and childhood neighborhoods...and see how much worse it became. Ha!

Be back Sunday.