I had a vasectomy

This morning, I had a vasectomy. I was nervous before and having a needle poked into my scrotum wasn't very enjoyable! But, the thought of trying to teach someone to drive when I'm 67 just doesn't appeal to me, so I went through with it. So far, the pain hasn't been too bad.

I have multimedia duty tomorrow at PVC, including coverage tomorrow evening for the Out of Thin Air net meeting. Hopefully, since I'll just be sitting, I'll be ok.

It's supposed to rain all weekend, so I'll probably get lots of rest.

The Cougars won last evening

Both the JV and Varsity Cougars Volleyball teams won last night at Riverdale High School. Neither of the teams lost a game in their matches, despite some unsportsmanlike behavior from some of the Riverdale boys. The Riverdale coach finally had to tell them to stop their rudeness.

Tomorrow, they play at home against the Vernonia Loggers, another strong opponent.

Yesterday, I got my new CPAP machine, a ResMed S8 Elite. It is much smaller than my trial unit, which is nice. I'm having a problem with the humidifier, though. Hopefully that will be easy to cure.

Bagby Hot Springs!

Yesterday morning, we watched Wild Hogs on DVD--a very funny movie, by the way. Then, for the afternoon we went up to Bagby Hot Springs. The drive up along the Clackamas River was beautiful. It was a brisk day hiking the 1 1/2 miles each way through the woods, but the nice, hot water felt wonderful. There were friendly people there visiting with each other. Joy & I are already talking about going up there again soon.

Anyhow, I'm back at work on a Monday. Tomorrow, I go in to get my permanent CPAP machine. It is supposed to be much more compact than the loaner that I'm currently using. After my appointment, I come back across town to watch the PAA girls play the Riverdale Mavericks at volleyball. Go Cougars!

A nice Saturday

Yesterday, we drove up and took the Mt. Hood Loop. It was lovely going up the gorge on I-84. We stopped at Panorama Point (near Hood River) and took several photographs, including the one I'm using as the album cover for my Mt. Hood Album. We continued up Oregon 35, stopping to see Sahalie Falls. I've been to the Sahalie Falls on the McKenzie River up from Eugene, but hadn't stopped to see the Hood River version before.

We took a side road to see Trillium Lake. Unfortunately, at the time we were there, Mt. Hood was obscured by clouds. We'll have to go back again!

Today, we're planning on driving up to Bagby Hot Springs (near Estacada).

TGIF!

Last evening, the PAA Cougar girls battled hard, but Rainier was just a little bit better. There were many good volleys and much fan enthusiasm!

I'm looking forward to a nice weekend. It is Joy & I's 2nd "meeting" anniversary. Our van just had $650 worth of repairs, so we're just going to stay at home and do some day trips to save some money.

The girls lost on Tuesday

OES played well (as usual) on Tuesday. Our PAA Cougar girls played hard, but just didn't have enough to win against the Aardvarks. Tonight, they play the Rainier High School Columbians at home. Hopefully, they'll get back on the winning side.

Yesterday, James and I were on our way to a Multimedia meeting at Pleasant Valley, when all of a sudden, the car just died. I called Joy to come get us, then got on the phone with AAA. While I was talking with AAA, Joy just happened to try jump starting it, and amazingly, it worked. There was power for the radio, etc., so I didn't even thing about the battery. After driving home and shutting off the engine, it failed to even click, so we went out to Walmart and purchased a new battery.

This afternoon, Joy and I are going to pick up our new glasses. Maybe we'll be able to see again!

It rained yesterday

Our plans to go up to Mt. Hood didn't pan out due to the weather. The thought of going down the mountain on a sled in the rain on a winding concrete slide didn't appeal to us. Instead we went to the Family Fun Center in Wilsonville. For six hours, we played miniature golf, drove go carts, and played laser tag. I'd never tried laser tag before; it was a lot of fun.

Monday is here and it's back to work. At least I'm over my flu!

It's Sabbath!

I got some kind of flu on Thursday. I left work early that day and spent yesterday mostly in bed. Last evening, we went to Romano's Macaroni Grill to celebrate James' admission to MHCC.

Joy and I made it to church at Pleasant Valley Church; the sermon this morning by Pastor Cory was very appropriate.

Tomorrow we're planning to go up to Mt. Hood Ski Bowl and ride the Alpine Slide to celebrate James' 19th birthday.

PAA won last night

Both the PAA JV and Varsity Volleyball teams won last night at home against Catlin Gabel. The Eagles would rally and get close, but each time, the Cougars would pull away with a win. The girls' next game is Tuesday at Oregon Episcopal School, one of our traditional rivals--and the Aardvarks are usually very good!

I woke up this morning feeling like I got hit by a truck--diarrhea, aches, etc. I hope this isn't a sign of getting old...

James is registered at Mt. Hood Community College. We're going to go out and celebrate this evening!

PAA Varsity Girls lost their first game

My daughters, Vainiaku and Selita, play on the PAA Cougars Varsity Volleyball team. PAA played a match against the Clatskanie Tigers last evening. The PAA JV Girls won their match 2-0, but the Varsity girls lost 3-0. Oh well, it was the first match of the season, so they should improve. They have another match today against the Catlin Gabel Eagles.

I am usually a line judge for PAA volleyball games.

9/11--Six years later, another Tuesday

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I had the day off of work to go on a field trip to The Maize at the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island, with my youngest daughter, Selita. It was a very clear day (much like today, by the way), but I turned on the TV to watch the Weather Channel to get the forecast. They had a scrolling headline announcing that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. My first thought was that it was some kind of freak accident. I changed over to CNN to watch the coverage about the time the second tower was struck--and I immediately thought of Al Qaeda. I was glued to the TV until we had to leave for the school to start the field trip. While out on the island, a couple of fighter jets flew over, and Selita asked me if they were good planes or bad planes.

That evening, I was teaching a database class at the University of Phoenix. One of my students worked for Boeing in Gresham. He was very shook up, seeing their planes turned into guided missiles.

We lived in the flight path for Portland International Airport, and were used to seeing planes frequently out our front window. It was strange to have none in the sky for several days.

My heart still goes out to the heroic firefighters and policemen that risked--and lost--their lives to rescue others. This video still brings tears to my eyes (words).

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13.

A nice weekend

We're up at my parents' home in Glenoma, Washington for the weekend. We drove up Friday evening. When we got here, the stars were out, shining brightly.

Yesterday, after church, we drove up to Mt. Rainier National Park and took lots of pictures (they can be seen on my Picasa Web album).

This afternoon, we're going to a friend's wedding in Woodland, Washington, then heading back home.

The week is half over already

It is nice to have a 4 day work week. Only 2 days done at work, but only 2 days left! I can't complain about that!

Apple has announced their new touch screen iPods... They are finally getting interesting to me, as a non-Mac person (at least lately). If my Dell Axim ever dies, I'll probably go the iPod route, assuming that it can handle contacts and calendars...

Our labors on Labor Day

Yesterday, we did a lot of school shopping. We started out to buy a scooter for John to use to get from Portland Adventist Elementary School to the Tri-Met bus. We had to go to 7 stores before we found one at WalMart, a Razor Cruiser Scooter, that would last him for a year or so.

Then last evening, I went out with James to help him pick out a notebook for college. We ended up at OfficeMax getting an Acer Aspire 5610, with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium on it. He was wanting a bigger, better notebook, but that should do him fine to get through college.

I don't particularly care for shopping, so I was glad to get it finished.

It was raining when I woke up this morning, a change from the beautiful weather over the weekend. Oh well, they'd predicted rain yesterday!

A nice day on Mt. Hood

Yesterday, we drove up through the Columbia Gorge to Hood River, Oregon, stopping at the Mitchell Point Overlook, which we'd not seen before. From there we went up to Lost Lake, driving through orchards loaded with pears and apples; we'll have to go up there again in a few weeks and get some fresh fruit! On the drive, Mt. Hood was in front of us, and Mt. Adams was behind us.

We had a lovely 3 mile hike around the beautiful lake, seeing Mt. Hood across the peaceful water, snacking on wild blue berries.

We drove back over Lolo Pass to Sandy, where we ate dinner at Calamity Jane's Hamburger Parlour Restaurant. James ordered a 2/3 pound burger and he claims that he could have eaten their 1 pounder, but he was groaning when he finished his! The rest of us were full after eating their 1/3 pound sandwiches. John couldn't finish his chocolate milk shake.

For pictures from yesterday, see my Columbia Gorge, Lost Lake, and Mt. Hood albums on Picasa Web.

This afternoon, we're going up to Vernonia to visit Joy's sister, Tammy, and her family.

It's Sabbath

It was a long week, somehow. I'm glad that the weekend is starting. I've been adding more entries to my biography. Everything I think of make me think of something else.

I woke up early this morning to see a meteor shower, but didn't see a one....

We're probably going up to Lost Lake today and maybe Mt. Hood Ski Bowl to ride the alpine slide.