A rainy August Wednesday

It was raining this morning when I drove to work. You'd think that people who live in Oregon would know how to drive in rain--but apparently they don't! There were 3 different accidents that I went past just on my way to work, all within a mile of each other. They looked like the cars had spun out going around corners.

Tonight, we go to Portland International Airport to pick up our Chinese exchange student, Joely. The house is all spick and span, ready for the new family member.

John has been doing soccer warmups. He looks like a lobster, he is so sun burned.

A good August weekend

On Saturday afternoon, Joy and I drove up to Larch Mountain.

Yesterday, we got confirmation that we are going to get the exchange student, so we spent the day getting her room ready.

John starts a week of soccer camp today, getting him in shape for the soccer season at PAA. He's not looking forward to school starting next week, though.

Friday!

It's Friday, August 8. At 12:34:56 today, the time & date will be 12:34:56 07/08/09 -- 123456789--using the European style of date.

Yesterday evening, we had a visit with the placement people for a female exchange student from China. It would be good for John to have a sister, even for a year. If all the paperwork goes through ok, we'll pick her up at PDX next Wednesday.

I have Multimedia again tomorrow at PVC. After that, if the weather cooperates, Joy and I will probably take a hike somewhere.

Another Wednesday--and it's getting cooler

It is supposed to be in the low 80s today and in the 70s tomorrow and Friday, with a chance of rain by Friday--a big change from a week ago!

Last evening, we went to see The Brothers Bloom with Les & Keri. It was a quirky, funny movie with lots of little twists and surprises.

I installed a new version of CHDK onto my SD550 camera. It is kind of cool to be able to shoot Raw images, use manual shutter speed and aperture, etc., all on camera that easily fits into a pocket.

August 2009 is here

It is the first Monday--and workday--in August. Thankfully, the weekend was cooler than it had been for the last week.

On Saturday, after our multimedia duty, we relaxed at home with Joy's sister, Julie. We watched Luther and Cry, the Beloved Country with Julie and Justin and drank root beer floats.

Yesterday, Joy and I went to the wedding at Mt. Tabor Church. It wasn't air conditioned and with several hundred people inside the sanctuary, it was hot and muggy. The reception was at Creston Park and was underneath some nice shady trees.

Today's forecast is for the temperature to be in the high 80s, but it is also supposed to be a little more humid, making for a muggy feeling.

A little bit cooler.

Yesterday, the high temperature in Portland got to around 99, so that's a little cooler than Monday through Wednesday. Today, the forecast is in the low 90s. That still sounds hot, but is around 15 degrees cooler than it was on Wednesday.

I have Multimedia duty at PVC tomorrow; at least the media room has pretty good cooling. On Sunday, Joy and I are going to a wedding for Joy's boss' daughter. Other than these tasks, the weekend looks to be pretty relaxed.

James is moving out into his own place this weekend. It will be good for him to live on his own; it will give him a chance to learn from his mistakes.

I'm ready for some cooler weather

We've had several record breaking temperature days in a row and it isn't going to get much better before Friday. When it's over 100, fans don't help much in cooling. I think we're going to get a window air conditioner, at least for our bedroom!

John got back from a visit with his cousin in California yesterday. Now, he needs to start getting back into school mode.

Hot weather in Portland

It was a hot weekend here in Portland. On Saturday, to escape the heat, Joy & I went to the Oregon coast with our friend Les & Keri. On the way over there, we had a picnic lunch at H. B. Van Duzer Forest Wayside. It was relaxing, eating our meal under a shady tree.

It was cool and foggy by the time we reached the beaches. The temperature got down to the 50s; with the wind, it felt very cold. We visited Depoe Bay and enjoyed a blowhole. We saw a bunch of harbor seals near the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We stopped at the Chinook Winds Casino on the way home to eat at their buffet.

Yesterday, Joy and I went to the Academy Theater to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, an entertaining and funny movie.

The weather is supposed to get even hotter today through Wednesday. I'm glad that I have an indoor job!

July is drawing to an end.

It's already July 23. Only one more week and then it'll be August. The summer is flying by, as usual.

The weather is forecast to get up to around 100 here this weekend. Compared to Vegas, that is nothing, but it will be more humid. We'll probably take a trip up to the mountains or the beach to escape the heat.

A good Vegas Vacation

Joy and I got back from Las Vegas on Sunday evening. While there, we spent several days in Vegas itself. We visited Red Rock National Conservation Area, Zion National Park, Death Valley National Park, and Grand Canyon National Park. We also did a Hoover Dam tour along with an excursion on the stern-wheeler Desert Princess on Lake Mead.

We stayed at the Stratosphere Hotel, eating our anniversary dinner at sunset on the top of the tower. We particularly enjoyed the Bellagio Fountains, the Sirens of TI, and the Fremont Street Experience, all free. We went into most of the major casinos.

The weather was very hot. Even in the shade of the parking garages, our car would frequently be over 110 after dark.

Now, it's back to work time. Our vacations for the year are pretty much gone! :-(

The day before our Las Vegas vacation!

Tomorrow afternoon, Joy and I fly out to Las Vegas for our anniversary vacation. I can't wait!

We'd planned to go visit Death Valley on Saturday, but I'm thinking that we might do that next Thursday instead, so Joy can sleep in late on Saturday. She's been burning the midnight oil getting ready for the trip, and will probably sleep in until noon, if she's able.

I've reconnected with several more old CUC classmates using Facebook. It is fun to rebuild the old friendships.

Wednesday is here

The week is half over. Joy and I are getting excited about our Las Vegas vacation. Tomorrow evening, our son, John, is flying to Oakland to spend a couple of weeks with his cousin. Then, on Friday afternoon, Joy and I fly to Vegas. Yeah, Baby!

On our vacation, we might visit Sedona and see some of the scenery around that town. We'll decide about that on the trip.

Monday after July 4th Weekend

We had a nice holiday weekend. On the 4th, we went to Sellwood Park with a bunch of our friends and enjoyed a picnic. We didn't stay for the fireworks, not eager to face the traffic afterwords.

We're starting to pack and prepare for our anniversary vacation next week in Las Vegas. We fly out on Friday evening. We'll have a mix of day trips and relaxing, sightseeing days around Vegas.

We've made reservations for a sunset dinner at the Top of the World restaurant in the Stratosphere Tower. We'll then head upstairs to the Romance Lounge to cap off our 2nd anniversary with some dancing.

We're planning to take a horseback ride through Red Rock Canyon on one of the days.

July is here

The summer weather has started early for Oregon. We usually can't count on hot weather until after the 4th of July, but it's supposed to be in the 90s through Saturday. We're going to Sellwood Park with some friends. They have lots of nice shady trees, so it shouldn't be too hot. We probably won't stay until the fireworks are set off.

I'm glad to have a three day weekend off. We need to rest up from our vacation and also start getting packed for our trip to Las Vegas next Friday. That vacation will be much more relaxing, since we won't be unloading and loading a car full of luggage every other day, plus we'll have a couple of days between our day trips for sightseeing.

For that vacation, one of our day trips we're planning is to Death Valley. I looked at the long range forecast for Death Valley on July 11 and the low is supposed to be 88 with a high of 117. That's one hot birthday; we won't need any candles! We'll definitely have to get there 1st thing in the morning and get out of at least the lower portion very early, say by 9 am. Otherwise, we'll roast, coming from Oregon! I imagine that we'll high tail it back to one of the pools at the Stratosphere and just stay there for some time to cool off.

I posted some pictures from our California vacation on Picasa Web. We'll probably need to upgrade our Picasa storage after our trip to Vegas. We'll probably have more pictures of Vegas, Zion, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, etc., then we have from California!

Last day of June

I haven't posted in a while. We went on our vacation to southern California. It was fun, but very busy. It's almost nice to be back at work so we can rest up!

On Sunday, we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and rode lots of roller coasters. Monday, we visited Universal Studios Hollywood.

We spent Tuesday through Thursday at the Disneyland Resort. At Disneyland, we got stuck on a boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride for over half an hour. We were just before the last conveyor taking us up to entrance. We heard the Yo Ho--A Pirate's Life for Me song way too many times. After they finally got the ride going again, they gave us a Fastpass that we used to skip a 90 minute wait to get on Splash Mountain.

Friday, we drove down to San Diego, spending the day at SeaWorld. Saturday was at the San Diego Zoo.

On Sunday, we drove up to Joy's sister's home, near San Francisco. Sunday afternoon, we visited Muir Woods National Monument, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Lombard Street.

We drove home yesterday, arriving at about 5 pm.

The last workday before vacation

I'm posting this from my phone to make sure that I'll be able to post to my blog while we're on vacation.

We leave early tomorrow morning on the long drive south on Interstate 5. By this time tomorrow, we should be getting close to Roseburg. We'll be spending the first couple of nights in a motel in Sylmar, about half way between Six Flags Magic Mountain and Universal Studios Hollywood, our first two destinations.

Ready for vacation!

It's my last day working in the office until after vacation on Tuesday, June 30. I've looked at the extended weather forecast for Sunday through Thursday for southern California and it is supposed to be in the low to mid 80s most of the time, which should be ideal for playing at the amusement parks--warm enough that getting wet on the water rides will feel good, but not be too hot. Of course, we'll have to wear lots of sunscreen!

James wants to spend an afternoon in San Francisco bay area on the way back; that will mean an early [like 4 am] departure from San Diego on Sunday, June 28. That way, we'd get to Julie's [Joy's sister] in the early afternoon and could spend the afternoon and evening sight seeing. He wants to see Lombard Street, the Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods. James got a camera for an early birthday present and wants to be able to take some scenic pictures with it.

A fun family re-union

My nephew Derek was visiting from Colorado; he's attending the Air Force Academy. We got together in Tillamook at my Aunt's house. We ate too much food, went to the beach, went to see Munson Creek Falls, played baseball and croquet --and ate even more good food.

It was fun to have a large family event. Hopefully, these can occur more frequently. Last week, my brother Jimmy and his wife Joyce celebrated their 25th anniversary. Congratulations, Jimmy & Joyce!

Using Facebook, I'm reconnecting with some old classmates and friends from Columbia Union College and Maryland. It's been nice to get back in touch with long-lost pals. Technology is good for some things!

I work 5 days this week, then we're off to California for vacation!

Another Friday

It's Friday, June 12. I will only have one more Friday in the office until July 24, with vacations and holidays taken out. Yesterday at work, they had a Hawaiian luau with a contest for the best Hawaiian shirts. I wore one that I actually bought in Hawaii, but it didn't win the prize.

I have multimedia duty at PVC tomorrow. After that, we're driving over to my Aunt's home in Tillamook to spend time with family, including my nephew Derek, who is visiting from back east.

John is going to drive over there, his longest trip behind the wheel so far--until next weekend when we're going on our Southern California vacation.

A Good Graduation Weekend

On Friday evening, we went to Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate Joy's birthday--39 and holding!

Most of the rest of the weekend was dedicated to various PAA Graduation related events. Friday was Consecration, Saturday was Class Night, and Sunday was the actual commencement.

Selita looked nice. She has a new, shorter haircut.

Sunday, after commencement, we went to a graduation party for our friend Ian.

I'm already counting down the days until our Southern California vacation starts. Eleven days from right now, we'll be on the road heading south!

Graduation Weekend at PAA

My youngest daughter, Selita, will be graduating from PAA on Sunday. There are events all weekend, so it will be busy.

Knowing that we have only one child left in high school makes me feel old, in some ways, but in others, it doesn't seem that long ago that I was getting my high school diploma.

Today is my wife Joy's birthday. We're going to take her out for dinner this evening before going to PAA for the consecration.

We had a pretty big wind and thunder storm for Oregon last evening. It made me think there might be a tornado somewhere around, but I didn't see any funnel clouds. I guess that there were some funnels seen down in Salem, along with golf ball sized hail.

June is here

Joy and I had an absolutely awesome weekend. On Saturday, we drove down to see the Schreiner's Iris Gardens. The flowers were beautiful and colorful in the sunshine. After seeing the gardens, we drove over to Drift Creek Falls, in the coast range, a few miles east of Lincoln City. The waterfall is about 75 feet tall. There's a walking suspension bridge over the gorge into which the falls pour; so from the swaying bridge, you can look down about one hundred feet at the stream below.

Yesterday, we went out to do some shopping for our upcoming vacations. Joy got a very sexy swimsuit to wear in the pools and at the beach. For her birthday, she got her ears pierced at the Piercing Pagoda--she's been wanting to do that for some time and this was a good opportunity. After shopping, we went to eat at Claim Jumper; it was the first time that I've been there. The food and service were great!

Joy and I both enjoyed our scenarios from the 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex book! :-)

Now, it's back to work, but the weather is supposed to pretty nice all week.

The last Friday in May

After talking with Joy last evening, she's not wanting to do the strenuous hiking of Silver Falls, so we'll probably go to Drift Creek Falls, instead. Drift Creek has a suspension bridge over the creek. I'm looking forward to taking some sexy pictures of my beautiful wife in the natural setting. I got her a set of Ben Wa balls to play with in the car on the way--and she'll have a couple of more hours to play! :-)

Over the weekend, we're planning on performing our first seductions using our new book, 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex. It's kind of interesting, because the scenarios are sealed, so Joy's seduction of me tomorrow evening will be a total surprise to me, as will mine for her on Sunday. Our sex life has been awesome, and we're using this to make it even more awesome.

We're sharing some of the sex scenarios with Les & Keri to help add some zing to their sex life, too. There's another similar book in the series, 101 Nights of Grrreat Romance, that we're thinking of giving them for an anniversary present--along with a pair of handcuffs and a blindfold for them to play with in bed.

We had a good exercise last evening with Les & Keri. Les is going to show me some things to do with the weights to help me improve my muscle tone. I guess we're helping each other!

May is winding down.

It's supposed to be in the mid 80s today, lovely weather. Yesterday, I took a walk with my boss in the sunshine.

I've posted some pictures on Picasa Web of Central Oregon and Southern Oregon, places we went on our mini-vacation last weekend.

Tomorrow evening, Joy and I are going up to Vernonia to see our nephew acting in a school play.

On Saturday, we are going to see the iris flowers at Schriener's. Following that, we're going over to Silver Falls State Park to play and take some waterfall pictures. On Sunday, we're going shopping for a new sexier swimsuit for Joy to wear for our vacations over the next couple of months. It should be a fun weekend! :-)

I'm already getting anxious to head out on the road for our vacations!

A Great Memorial Day weekend

On Saturday afternoon, Joy and I went on a jet boat trip on the Rogue River with our friend Les and Keri. It was a fun trip--though we got very wet with the chilly water. We ate dinner on a deck overlooking the river at the Galice Resort Restaurant. We saw lots of herons, osprey, ducks and geese, along with a couple of beaver and a bald eagle.

Sunday, we drove along the Rogue River heading towards to Crater Lake. We stopped to see a fish hatchery, the natural bridge, and the Rogue River Gorge. At Crater Lake, there was still lots of snow around the lodge. We could only drive to Discovery Point on the Rim Drive (the rest of the Rim Drive won't open for a couple of weeks). The deep blue water against the white snow was beautiful. From Crater Lake, we drove up to Bend and spent the night there.

Yesterday, we drove up Pilot Butte State Park and enjoyed the panoramic view of the Oregon Cascades, with the white peaks of Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, the Three Sisters, etc. vivid against the blue sky. We then went to Smith Rock State Park and had a picnic lunch overlooking the Crooked River with the canyon walls beyond. We stopped to see the Crooked River High Bridge and then drove back through Government Camp, arriving home at about 7 pm.

We took lots of pictures. I'll get them uploaded to Picasa web as soon as I get them organized and cleaned up.

I finally got my G1 phone updated with Android 1.5 (Cupcake) this morning. I was too impatient to wait for the OTA update, so I did it manually. It is nice to have the screen rotate from landscape to portrait automatically, along with the onscreen keyboard. I doubt that I'll use the video recorder very often.

A Stressful Week!

It's been a busy, stressful week at work. My boss has been on vacation, so I've had to fill in for him at meetings, etc. I sure wouldn't want to be a manager!

I'm so glad that it is Friday -- and that I have a three day Memorial Day weekend to rest up. The weather forecast for tomorrow's jet boat trip sounds very promising. It says it's supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of about 77. I'm looking forward to having fun with my wife Joy and our friends. We're planning to leave Portland at about 8 am.

I'm still waiting for the Android 1.5 upgrade (Cupcake) for my G1 phone. It was supposed to have been pushed out a week ago, but they delayed it due to some bugs. I know what that's like.

A hot, sunny weekend...

We had a great weekend in Portland. It was sunny and hot; yesterday, I think it got to about 90!

Star Trek was a great reworking of the story--but they also introduced some significant changes that make it pretty much a completely new time line, with the planet Vulcan being destroyed. Naturally, Kirk ended up in bed with a green, Orion woman. A twist was that Uhura and Spock were an item.

We took it easy on Friday evening and Saturday, watching some DVD movies, including The Princess Diaries, The Princess Diaries II: Royal Engagement, Father's Little Dividend and Murphy's Romance. Joy and I spent some time going through our pictures, deleting blurry ones and putting more of them onto our digital photo frame.

Yesterday, we all got up at 6 am and worked, getting a lot accomplished, including weeding, washing cars and clothes, and organizing our bedroom and computer room. We then went to a matinee showing of Angels & Demons, an exciting action flick. I liked the book better--as usual, but they did a pretty good job of turning the book into a movie.

It's back to work time, but we'll have a 3 day Memorial Day weekend coming up soon!

The Middle of May

It's Friday, May 15. May is to the halfway point. TGIF!

The weather forecast for the weekend looks great. It's supposed to be sunny with a temperature in the 80s!

This afternoon, I'm going to see Star Trek with a friend and my son John. I've watched the show periodically since college in the 70s. It will be kind of strange to have a ship that is supposed to pre-date the Enterprise from The Original Series, but is lots bigger.

It sounds like we might go see the Redwoods with Les and Keri over Memorial Day Weekend, instead of Crater Lake. Both would be pretty to visit, so it doesn't really matter to me.

May's almost half over

It's already May 13. The month is going by fast.

On Monday, we went to LA Fitness with our friends Les & Keri. It was fun swimming and hot tubbing with them. We're planning to take a trip to southern Oregon with them over Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday, May 23, we're going on a Hellgate Jetboat white water excursion on the Rogue River. We'll spend the night in a motel in Grants Pass. On Sunday, we're going to drive up to Crater Lake National Park; according to their Current Conditions Report, almost all of the rim drive is still closed due to snow, so we'll probably just be able to see the south side of the lake, near the Visitor Center and Crater Lake Lodge. Oh, well, it should still be pretty with the deep blue water against the white snow. After Crater Lake, we'll probably drive to Bend or Redmond to spend Sunday night. We might stop at Newberry National Volcanic Monument to see the Big Obsidian Flow, too.

My G1 phone still hasn't been updated with Cupcake. I'm anxious for it to arrive!

A good Mother's Day weekend.

On Saturday, we went to the Oregon Zoo. It was a beautiful day, so it was pretty crowded, but we got some good pictures of Samudra, the baby elephant. He was pretty cute walking around.

We then met our friends Les and Keri and went to the Rose Gardens. Very few of the roses were in bloom, yet, but it was still pretty with the green foliage against the blue sky. We sat and visited with them, then went to Baja Fresh to eat dinner together. We put some tentative dates on the calendar for some summer and fall excursions together.

Yesterday, Mother's Day, we went to eat brunch at Hometown Buffet. There were 8 of us enjoying a good breakfast. In the afternoon, James and John started to detail Joy's car. Last evening, we went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Wolverine was an entertaining movie, but not one that I want to buy or see again and again.

A Sunny Sabbath

The sun is shining brightly through my window. It should be a nice day for going to the zoo.

Yesterday, John passed his drivers test so he now has his learning permit. He took his first drive on the main roads last evening as we drove to Cold Stone Creamery to get some ice cream for a celebration. Joy and I were both a little frightened; John isn't putting the brakes on soon enough and he is also tending to stay way too far to the right in his lane. Oh well, he'll learn. For now, we're just going to let him drive our old Subaru, until gets lots more practice, before letting him get behind the wheel of our new Ford Taurus!

It's Friday!!!!

It's Friday, May 8. The weather has improved; it's supposed to be nice all Mother's Day weekend. On Sunday, we're taking Joy, my mom and Joy's mom out to brunch (at either Sweet Tomatoes or HomeTown Buffet) in honor of the day.

I've spent the last couple of evenings clearing a relative's computer of a nasty rootkit virus, Win32:Rootkit.Gen. I ended up downloading the Avira AntiVir Rescue System, a linux-based application. Using that tool, I found and eliminated the rootkit and after it was gone, Windows based tools got rid of the rest of the malware. Now that I've discovered this tool, I'll keep that in mind for the next time I run into a badly infected system.

Waiting for Cupcake!

I'm eagerly waiting for the next version of the Android OS, 1.5, to come out for my G1 phone. With a nickname of Cupcake, the new software will support application rotation for most of the applications, (e.g. the browser). It will also have an onscreen keyboard option, along with video recording. This update has been rumored since I got the phone; T-Mobile finally formally announced it yesterday.

I'm finding myself using my phone as a browser much more than I expected. It is very functional, so there are only a few things that I would need a full computer for.

I had a good lunch at Ochoa with my friend Roger. The salsa was marvelous, as usual.

I'm glad that it is Thursday. It is supposed to be a pretty nice Mother's Day weekend. Maybe we'll get to the zoo on Saturday.

Cinco de Mayo

When I lived in Eugene, I had a friend and co-worker from Mexico. I'd always thought that Cinco de Mayo was something like our July 4, the Mexican Independence day. Diego told me that instead it was to celebrate a battle that Mexico won in a war that they ended up losing a year or so later.

Even though I'm not of Mexican descent, I love spicy food, so I always enjoy this day. We've been going out to La Isla Bonita, a local, non-chain restaurant on May 5 for a couple of years. They have some of the best guacamole that I've ever eaten.

My office is also having a lunch-time party, so I'll get a double dose.

On Thursday, I'm going to Ochoa Brothers with a friend from Serena, so hopefully, I'll have my fill of spicy Mexican food for the week. I love the variety of freshly made salsa that they have!

A busy weekend

We had a busy weekend. Friday evening, we watched Finding Forrester. On Saturday, I had multimedia duty at PVC, including an Investiture for the Pathfinders in the afternoon. After that, Joy and I watched 3 of the movies in the Love Comes Softly series: Love Comes Softly, Love's Enduring Promise, and Love's Long Journey. They were good, wholesome shows.

Yesterday, after my weekly checking for virus and spyware on our 7 computers (for 3 people!), I went over to help our friends Keri and Les with some work on their computers, too. Keri bought a new 23" monitor and a 1 TB Western Digital My Book backup drive to use in her home business. It only cost $99.99 for the drive; my first 40 mb drive cost much more than that many years ago. I helped her get them all configured. Joy was at PVC helping with a women's ministry event. She drafted John and I to come help with the cleanup last evening.

The swine flu epidemic is in the news; some schools are closed here in Oregon and SW Washington. It seems to me that the fear is being overblown, though.

Now, I'm back at work. Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo--yummy Mexican food!

May Day!

It's May Day, 2009. The weather forecast is for another nice day. This weekend, however, it is supposed to rain. Oh, well.

Joy is planning on going to a tanning salon this month to get ready for our summer vacations. I'd go, too, but I don't tan, just burn.

Yesterday, Joy and I rode our bikes along the Springwater trail again, this time for about 6 miles. It feels good to be able to ride without feeling totally out of breath.

At work, I'm hooking some perl scripts into the Big Brother monitoring software for use by one of our customers. It's the first perl that I've done in several years. I'd much rather be using python, but at least I have a job.

The last day of April

It's Thursday, April 30. The weather is supposed to be nicer today; hopefully, Joy and I can take a bike ride this evening. Of course, they are already talking about rain again for the weekend.

On Monday, I bought went to AAA to get our tickets for Magic Mountain. Tomorrow, we're planning to take John to the DMV so he can take his written test for his learners permit. That's partly so he can help drive while we're on our vacation, getting some hours in.

Yesterday, we had an off-site face-to-face meeting for the developers, support people, etc., for my product, ServAssure Enterprise. The meeting was held at McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove. Some of our co-workers from Bangalore, India and State College, Pennsylvania flew in for it. Hopefully, we'll use what we talked about yesterday to make our process and our product better.

I have multimedia duty again Sabbath at PVC--substituting for someone out of town.

Just another Monday

We had a good weekend. John had three of his friends over for his birthday party on Saturday evening. I doubt that any of them got more than about one hour of sleep, between their games and movies. John was bragging that he was going to stay up all night last night, too, but he fell asleep in the car while Joy was talking with him--between words of a sentence that he was speaking!

We got our Southern California CityPass tickets at Costco yesterday. They were only $227 each; that saved us $128 for our family, enough to pay for all 4 of us to go to Magic Mountain, too. We were expecting booklets of tickets, but they are gift cards, instead. Now, we just need to pay for our gasoline, food, and a couple of Las Vegas shows, and we haven't used any credit cards. Of course, I'm sure we'll be buying some souvenirs from the various places.

Friday once again

It's another Friday; it's doughnut day at work, which is always good--or at least tasty!

Tomorrow, we have multimedia duty again. We might take a trip to the Orezon Zoo tomorrow afternoon, depending upon the weather and Joy's cake decorating tasks. Samudra, their baby elephant, just hit the 1000 pounds mark--a big baby, but very cute. In the evening, John is having some of his friends over for his birthday party. I imagine that they'll make a lot of noise, watching movies and playing video games. Maybe I'll have to stay in my room with my headphones on and listen to music or watch a DVD on my laptop!

Last evening, Joy and I went to PVC to hear a webcast by Dave Ramsey present a Town Hall for Hope. While I don't necessarily agree with everything Dave advocates, I give a hearty amen to the idea of personal responsibility. Requiring my grandkids to pay for mistakes made by greedy individuals in New York, Washington, or wherever, just doesn't seem right to me; nor does suing McDonalds because their hot coffee was actually hot and someone is stupid enough to put the coffee cup between their legs and got burned.

Another nice stretch of weather

We've enjoyed several nice days in a row. On Saturday afternoon, Joy and I rode our bikes about 9 miles on the Springwater Trail. This time, we rode east towards Gresham. The temperature was just right for riding.

On Sunday, we spent several hours organizing our garage. On Sunday evening, we took a drive up to the top of Powell Butte. Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams were all visible, in the sunshine.

We made our vacation reservations over the weekend. For our Vegas trip, we'll be flying Alaska Airlines to and from Las Vegas. Our hotel will be the Stratosphere. We decided to stay in Williams, Arizona for our Grand Canyon excursion. It was over $100 a night cheaper than the motels that are closer to the park. We also ordered our America the Beautiful pass, giving us admission to all of the national parks, monuments, forests, etc. During our trip, we'll be going to three national parks: Death Valley, Zion, and Grand Canyon. We'll also be going to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Just the admissions to those four parks cost almost as much as the annual pass, plus we can use it at Crater Lake, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Rainier, closer to home.

We're staying in three different motels in Southern California. The 1st couple of nights, we'll stay in Sylmar, about half way between Six Flags Magic Mountain and Universal Studios Hollywood. Then, we'll spend 4 nights in Anaheim, near Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Finally, we'll spend two nights at a motel in San Diego near Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. We still need to purchase our Southern California CityPass booklets. Through AAA, we're getting very good prices on our Magic Mountain tickets.

Other than our gas, food, parking costs, and tickets to a couple of shows in Vegas, our vacations have all been paid for! We're going to buy food at grocery stores as much as we can, especially while we're in the amusement parks with their captive audience pricing.

Friday!

It's Friday--and we're supposed to have very nice weather over the weekend, a double blessing. Hopefully, we can get out and enjoy spring weather in a park or the zoo!

Last evening after our workout at the gym, Joy and I went on a movie date to the Moreland Theater in Sellwood to see Duplicity, starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. It was an interesting crime caper, that kept having unexpected twists--up until the end. The theater itself is the old style, distinctive type, very different from the multiplex theaters that we usually frequent.

Over the weekend, we should be making our reservations for our southern California and Las Vegas vacations this summer.

Tax Day 2009

April 15--a day of dread for many Americans. Where does all of the money go? A visual guide to where federal tax dollars go.

Yesterday, we gave John a Savage Mark II .22 rifle for his 16th birthday. It has a 10 bullet magazine, and is bolt action. He also got Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 DVDs, some pillows, and an ornamental dragon handled knife.

The weather is supposed to be better this weekend; hopefully we can get out and enjoy it.

John's birthday--16 years old.

Today is John's 16th birthday. He's still not ready to take his drivers license test, so he won't be driving today, though. We went out last evening to celebrate, since James is working today. John selected Red Robin as his restaurant of choice. He wants a .22 rifle to use for target practice. We live in city limits, so he won't be able to shoot it unless we're out in the country somewhere. John will have some friends over on Saturday evening to play games.

Tomorrow is income tax day. Our taxes are finished and have already been efiled.

I've been dusting off my Perl skills on a project at work. I used the language extensively several years ago, but its syntax is pretty obtuse. Oh well, at least I have a job, unlike thousands of other Oregonians. I heard on the radio this morning that Oregon's unemployment rate is over 12%--wow...

Good Friday, 2009

It's Good Friday today. The weather isn't forecast to be nearly as nice for today through Easter Sunday; in fact, it's supposed to rain. Too bad it won't be as pretty as last weekend! Oh well, at least it is the weekend.

Tomorrow, we're going to the home of our friends Les & Keri to celebrate Adriana's 1st birthday. Joy and I are honorary aunt & uncle to Adriana. Joy is going to be making a birthday cake this evening.

It is Fondue Friday this evening for the youth from PVC. We're hoping that John will connect with some of the kids there and be interested and enthusiastic about going to this regularly.

A nice April Monday

Yesterday was beautiful and sunny here in Portland. It got to almost 80 degrees. Today is supposed to be similar.

Joy and I took an eleven mile bike ride from our home down to the Springwater Trail. We were a little stiff and sore afterwards, but our LA Fitness exercising has made a dramatic improvement in us. A year ago, a bike ride of only about a mile made us pretty exhausted, and yesterday, we weren't that tired, just a little stiff from doing a different exercise.

Attached are a couple of pictures that I took yesterday with my G1 phone.

A Good Weekend

The Why? seminar that we attended was good. We learned a lot; now we just need to apply what we learned to our lives.

On Saturday evening, we went over to the home of our friends, Les & Keri. I helped Les get his new netbook computer connected to their network printer. We then watched Stardust, an enjoyable movie.

Yesterday, after our seminar, Joy & I took a walk in the sunshine along the Springwater and Butler Creek rails, talking about the seminar. We took pictures of rabbits, trilliums, ducks, and creeks.

It is supposed to get up to around 77 degrees today, a record high for this date.

Another Friday

This weekend, Joy and I are attending the Why? seminar by the Life Renewal Institute. The seminar teaches a process whereby one can recover from the wounds received in childhood which plague our thoughts, feelings and behaviors and sabotage our relationships and success.

It is supposed to be sunny and in the high 60s or low 70s this weekend. Hopefully, we'll be able to enjoy some of the sunshine after our seminar.

I saw a hummingbird feeding from cherry blossoms outside my office on Wednesday. I'm glad that spring is here.

April is a busy month: our son John's birthday, Easter, etc.

April Fools Day, 2009

There have been a lot of online pranks already today.

Wikipedia has entries like these:

• ... that in 1825, the Court of Exchequer declared all contracts by hobbits illegal and void in England?
• 1572 – Spanish general and governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba (pictured) lost his glasses in the town of Brielle, enabling sea beggars to gain the first foothold on what would become the Dutch Republic.
• ... that Wikipedia now has an article about everything?
  

Google has announced Gmail Autopilot by CADIE.

It was another rainy morning, here in Portland. By the way, yesterday, askmen.com had Portland listed as number 22 in the entire world of men's favorite cities!

An interesting weekend.

On Saturday morning, we left Portland in the rain, the trees in spring blossom. By the time we crossed Pike's Hill on I-5, it had changed to snow. The snow was coming down pretty hard going east on US 12, and the road was pretty covered going over the hill west of Morton. At my parent's home in Glenoma, they had a couple of inches of snow on the ground.

It snowed off and on most of Saturday afternoon. Yesterday, the sun came out and the snow melted. John was out shooting pellet guns. By the time we drove home, he was getting pretty accurate with it.

From my mom, I got a short book, The Ten Jones Kids, written by a great-great aunt, having some more genealogy of a side of my family about which I don't know very much. I found out from the book that one of my ancestors had homesteaded land where Boeing Field is now located. I'm going to type the book into Word, and from there copy it to my web site.

On the way there and back, we listened to On Her Own, a book on CD. It was a good, interesting story. We actually finished the last CD at home last evening.

It's back to work Monday. Wednesday is April Fools Day! The year is passing quickly.

Happy Birthday, Dad & Selita!

Sunday was my daughter Selita's 18th birthday. That makes me feel old!

Today is my Dad's 75th birthday. We're going up to Glenoma to visit them for the weekend and tell him 'Happy Birthday' in person. Joy is going to make him a lemon meringue pie, his favorite kind. It will be our first visit since their January flood.

It is a sunny Thursday, nice to have for Oregon in March!

Yesterday at Fry's I bought a some box set DVDs. I got Love Comes Softly Series, volumes 1 and volume 2, along with the Ultimate Flint Collection, starring James Coburn. I also got a 16gb SDHC card for Joy's Canon PowerShot SX110 IS camera, enough space to store 4000 of its 9 megapixel pictures on it.

A Wonderful Weekend!

Joy and I had a great time this weekend. Despite the forecast of rain for the entire weekend, the weather was cooperative, overall. We had some rain, but not enough to change any of our plans.

We drove over on Saturday morning, going through Albany, Corvallis, and Philomath on the way. We caressed, cuddled, and kissed in the car as we drove. We ate lunch at Sizzler in Newport. They had a good salad bar, with lots of fruit. We then bought a Subway sandwich to eat for dinner, then drove to the Grand Victorian to check in. It is a lovely, Victorian style home. Our suite was on the top floor, with a private balcony and a 2 person Jacuzzi in the bathroom overlooking the Pacific. We highly recommend that any couple wanting a very romantic and sensual trip away at the coast visit this bed & breakfast!

We filled up the large tub and soaked together with the jets going for 30 minutes or so, looking out the window at the ocean --and at each other! After drying off, we cuddled together on the large king-size bed reading stories to each other.

We then watched a DVD, How to Strip for Your Husband, Lover or Partner, teaching Joy some moves to use as my own personal stripper. While she was getting herself ready, I put Dirty Dancing on to give her some dance music to get her into the rhythm. She then practiced by herself for a few minutes, while I rested in the car, then demonstrated her routine for me on my return. Her show was fantastic, spectacular, erotic, and arousing! After her striptease, we danced naked together very briefly (it was chilly!) on the balcony in the dark with the stars above us, hearing the crash of the surf, before returning to the tub to heat us up for some awesome, great, fabulous sex.

Yesterday, we ate a great breakfast prepared to our specifications; we'd selected waffles with warm syrup or blackberry jelly, scrambled eggs, hash browns, orange juice and tea. We drove down across the Yaquina Bay Bridge to the shops near the aquarium. We bought a blown glass oil lamp at Pyromania, and then some various gifts and souvenirs in one of the other shops.

We spent a couple of hours at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, enjoying Oddwater, the sea otters, the seals and sea lions, the sea bird aviary, along with Passages of the Deep. It was fun seeing Joy touching the rays, horseshoe crabs, sharks, sea anemones, etc. She was like a little kid, all excited.

We stopped at Chinook Winds to eat, but the buffet had just closed for an hour and the smell of tobacco smoke in the air was making Joy nauseous, so we just drove back to Portland, Joy napping. Going over the pass of the coast range, it was snowing like crazy for a few minutes! A few minutes later, on the east side of the hills, it was sunny again.

We ate dinner at Chevys, using a gift card that I got from work for most of the bill.

The only downside of the weekend (other than the Chinook Winds issue) was that Joy's Canon SX100is camera wasn't behaving correctly. It would frequently display the message: Lens Error, Restart Camera. At first, we could turn it off and back on and it would function. But, it got to the point that it wouldn't work at all. I had my older Canon SD550 camera with me, so we still got some good pictures, but my camera doesn't have nearly as powerful of a zoom lens as does Joy's. Fortunately, her camera is still under warranty, so I'll take it in today to get repaired or replaced before our trips to California and Las Vegas this summer.

The first day of spring, 2009.

Today is the 1st day of spring. In the last couple of days, I've seen daffodils, crocus, and some trees in blossom. I'm ready for some warmer, drier, nicer weather!

Joy and I are looking forward to our excursion to Newport, on the Oregon coast. The forecast is for rain, but hopefully it won't be pouring down all weekend--and even if it is, we'll still enjoy soaking in our 2 person Jacuzzi bathtub in the Victoria Suite, looking out at the ocean. We can still do some dancing out on our private balcony, even if it's raining--we can always go back inside and warm up again.

We're going to drive down I-5 to Albany, then take US 20 through Corvallis and over the coast range, a route that I haven't taken in many years. It should be fun in our new Taurus; although it isn't a sports car, it still handles much better than our old van did.

On Sunday, we'll come home via Lincoln City. We're planning to stop at the Outlet Center and do some shopping--maybe get Joy a new swimming suit for our vacations this summer (since it is now spring, they should have summer clothes for sale!). Then, we'll go eat lunch at the Siletz Bay Buffet at Chinook Winds Casino, before heading home.

We got another car!

Yesterday, we bought a maroon 2007 Ford Taurus SE sedan with about 31000 miles on it. It will be nice to have a newer, more reliable and more comfortable vehicle for taking trips out of town. Cruise Control, yeah!

Joy and I will drive the new car this weekend when we go over to stay at The Grand Victorian bed & breakfast in Newport. On Saturday, depending on what time we actually get on the road, we may visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It will fun to relax at the beach for a couple of days.

Joy was sick :-(

We'd planned to go get a newer car, but that didn't work out. Joy got some kind of stomach flu over the weekend. Saturday night, she was up most of the night in the bathroom.

Hopefully, we'll be able to go out this evening. We need a newer vehicle for taking trips, like our one from this weekend to Newport, and our family vacation this summer to California. It will also be good to have cruise control, etc. Most likely, we'll end up with a 2007 or 2008 Ford Taurus.

We had a good time seeing Taken with our friends Les & Keri. Unfortunately, they aren't going to be able to make it to Las Vegas with us. We'll just have to take lots of pictures to share with them of Zion and the Grand Canyon.

It's Friday the 13th--again

I'm not superstitious, so I enjoy every Friday, including Friday the 13th. We're going out Sunday to buy a new car to replace our dead van. We've been getting by ok with a single vehicle, but our Subaru is rather old itself, and I wouldn't want to take a long trip to California, etc., in it. We're looking for a used car (a couple of years old). Cruise Control is a necessity, in my opinion. Driving for very long without it, my foot starts to get a cramp. Must be a sign of getting old.

Joy and I are going to see Taken tomorrow evening with Les & Keri. It will be fun having a double date again.

We're planning to make our reservations this weekend for both our California and Las Vegas trips, to lock in rates, flights, and cars. It looks like we'll be staying in the Stratosphere Hotel while we're in Vegas. We'll probably go to its Top of the World restaurant for our anniversary dinner, located in the top of the Stratosphere Tower, kind of like the Space Needle--but almost twice as as tall. We're planning to get there a little before sunset, and stay and watch the city lights come on down the strip.

We've added a day at Magic Mountain to our California vacation. Through AAA, we can get tickets for only $27 each, saving quite a bit of money. It will be fun to ride some world class roller coasters again. But, it will be a busy week.

We're kind of up in the air as far as our Grand Canyon trip. It would be nice to stay at a motel in Tusayan, Arizona (minutes from the park), but rooms there cost about $100 a night more than do rooms down in Williams (60 miles further south). So, Joy and I have to decide what's more important, time or money! :-)

Another week begins

Joy was over at Lincoln City with some ladies from our church. She had a great time, even though it rained, snowed, and hailed. Her favorite time was traveling there and back with our friend Keri. Even though Les & Keri are our best friends, we don't see them nearly as much as we'd like, so a chance for Joy to visit with Keri for several hours was fun for her. We've invited Les & Keri to meet us in Las Vegas for the end of our vacation down there this summer and go see Grand Canyon and Zion with them, along with an evening of strolling through the casinos in Las Vegas. It'd be a lot of fun to spend 4 days with them, away from home and the daily grind, enjoying nature and visiting.

I did some more vacation planning over the weekend. I'm going to try to have a mini-vacation with Joy once every month or so, even if it is just a weekend away, but at home [ship the kids off to friends' homes; they like doing that anyhow.]. A regular time, to keep us well connected with each other, laughing, dancing, kissing, teasing, pleasing, cuddling, snuggling, playing, and more together.

I went to see Taken on Saturday evening. It was the first movie that I've seen in quite a while that I'd consider purchasing on DVD. I'm looking forward to taking Joy to see it with me.

On Sunday morning, we changed to Daylight Saving Time. I wish they'd just leave the time alone! I like it staying light longer in the evening, though.

Another month is beginning

It's already March, 2009. The year is going by pretty fast.

Next weekend, Joy is going to the coast for a women's retreat with some of her girl friends. It will be strange to sleep in an empty bed again for a couple of nights!

Yesterday, Joy and I sat down and made some tentative plans for summer time vacations. In June, we're planning to go to southern California--Disneyland and California Adventure, Universal Studios, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World for a family vacation with the boys. It will be a long drive there and back, but we should have a great time at these amusement parks and zoos.

In July, for our 2nd anniversary, we're talking of going to Las Vegas for a week. Sightsee in the casinos along the strip, see the fountains, go see some of the spectacular evening shows (e.g. Sirens of TI or Fantasy at the Luxor), take Joy out dancing [not that I'm any good!], etc. We'd also likely take day trips to Death Valley and the Grand Canyon, to see some of America's scenic wonders. Neither Joy or I are big into gambling, so we might spend $20 between us in the week for that--just shove it in a slot machine and play it out--and then move on to much more interesting ways to play in this destination for adults [at least for Joy and I!].

It will be nice to get pictures from some more areas to add to our online albums. Right now, all of the photos are from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii, not that those places are anything to complain about. Hopefully, we'll be able to add Nevada, California, and Arizona to our photographic history together.

Fighting a cold

I've been fighting a nasty cold for the last few days. At least I can work from home, so it isn't using up my sick time. I have multimedia duty at PVC this weekend. Hopefully, by Saturday, I'll be over the sickness.

We may be going up to visit my folks, depending upon how my cold progresses.

A Great Valentine's weekend

I had a great weekend with my wife, Joy! On Saturday morning, we took a Portland Spirit brunch cruise. We had good food and some interesting couples to visit with. It was cloudy and rainy in the morning [and it was even snowing as we drove to the boat dock], but by the end of the cruise, the sun had come out.

Saturday evening, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. With it being Valentine's Day, we were expecting a wait, but when we checked in, they told us it'd be around an hour and a half wait. However, we didn't actually get seated until almost 2 hours and 15 minutes had elapsed. The food and the company were very good though.

Yesterday, Joy and I went to see The International. After the movie, we drove down the the Old Spaghetti Factory by the Willamette River and ate a good dinner.

To end the weekend, we watched An Officer and a Gentleman on DVD.

Now, it's back to work Monday, but that doesn't seem so bad after a lovely weekend.

February is underway

It's already February 9. The year 2009 seems to be going by pretty fast!

We had a quiet weekend at home. We watched Uncle Buck, Old Yeller, and Savage Sam on Saturday. On Sunday, we went to eat at Sweet Tomatoes and then watched Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men.

It's coming up on Valentine's Day. It'll be a grimmer holiday for lots of people due to the layoffs and other economic issues.

Our old Ford Van has reached end-of-life. It needs a new head gasket, and that would cost more than it is worth. We'd hoped to keep it going for a few more months, but we'll need to start looking at another vehicle pretty soon.

Super Bowl Weekend

On Sunday, Super Bowl XLIII will be played in Tampa, Florida. We get together with a bunch of our friends to watch the game and have good-natured arguments about the various teams. The ladies tend to watch chick flicks in another room, while the men watch football.

I tend to cheer for the AFC team, but I've never liked the Pittsburgh Steelers, so this year, I'll be cheering for the Arizona Cardinals; go Cardinals!

I have multimedia duty at PVC for the weekend. Dr. Jiri Moskala, from the Adventist Theological Seminary will be doing a series, starting this evening and all day tomorrow. On Sunday morning, there's a funeral, so I'll be at church almost all weekend.

It's hard to believe that January 2009 is almost over already.

President Barack Obama

Though, I was at work, I had CNN.com's live feed of the inauguration running, listening and switching over periodically. President Obama's (that sounds so good) speech was good, calling on all Americans to become involved in turning around the economy. At shortly after 9:00 AM, even before the oath of office, the White House web page had already been updated to reflect the new American President.

I know that Mr. Obama won't be able to deliver on all of the sky-high expectations people have for him, I hope that we'll give him some time to work. It is great to have a President who can speak grammatically correct English.

A new phone.

It was a good weekend. On Saturday evening, we celebrated Christmas (a couple of weeks late due to snow!) with Joy's sisters and mom. We played games on the Wii and ate lots of good food.

My old Motorola phone broke on Saturday and Joy's keys weren't all working, so we went to T-Mobile yesterday. Joy got a purple Motorola flip phone. I got a G1 phone, using Google's Android operating system (based on Linux). It's kind of cool to be able open a terminal on a phone! I'm hoping to eventually put all of my music, etc. on it so I can leave my old PDA behind and carry around one less device, but we'll see.

Monty Python Marathon

I'm watching three Monty Python movies with my friend John, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life. They are good for a laugh. I got them for myself as a Christmas present as part of Monty Python's Holy Trinity.

Tomorrow, I go back to work for the first time since December 17. It will be the first 5 day work week since before Thanksgiving, so I'll have to get back into work mode.

Happy New Year 2009

It is now 2009. Each year seems to go by faster and faster.

Last evening, we rang in the new year with a bunch of friends. We ate lots, drank soda and punch and toasted the new year with sparkling cider. We played a couple of group games, Apples to Apples and Encore. I liked Encore the best. In it, each team has to come up with songs with specific words or ideas, like dancing or feelings, and sing seven words of the song.

We took it easy today, watching Must Love Dogs and some Austin Powers movies.

Merry Christmas!

We had a white Christmas here in Portland. The snow is starting to melt, but we still have several inches on the ground.

I got a digital photo frame, socks, slippers, jacket, and knives. Joy gave me some power tools, and a cool rolling tool chest to store and organize them.

We had plans to go to a party with some friends across town, but the weather has interfered with those plans, so we'll have a quiet evening at home.

John is playing some new games on the Wii. James is at work--a double shift.

Four days until Christmas!

It's been a very snowy, winter weekend. We have about 6 inches of snow outside. Unfortunately, we're now having freezing rain, so that will make driving very treacherous. I'm off work for the year, but Joy still has to get to her job. We spent the day watching Christmas movies that we had recorded on our DVR. John and Joy also finished decorating the tree. Our house looks very festive!

All of my Christmas shopping--and wrapping--is already finished. I'm more excited to see the recipients of my presents open them then to open my own presents.

It's supposed to stay cold and snowy until Christmas. We might even still have a White Christmas for a change.

A Winter Wonderland

We went to the PAA Winter Concert on Saturday afternoon, then I went to watch the PAA girls play basketball against DeLa Salle. They played well, starting the second half with a 10 point run and their opponents never could catch up after that. Go Cougars!

We had a rare snowfall here in Portland on Sunday. I worked at home yesterday. Today, there is still some snow and ice on some of the streets, so I stayed home again. Hopefully, I'll be able to drive to Beaverton tomorrow for my last workday for 2008, but they're talking about more snow and/or freezing rain, so we'll see.

On Thursday, Joy and I are going to see The Christmas Sweater with our good friends Les and Keri. Christmas is next week, so Merry Christmas!

Another long weekend off

I had another 4 day weekend. On Friday evening, Joy and I went to the Oregon Zoo to see the Zoo Lights. It was impressive, as usual. This year, they've changed many of the lights to be LEDs, making brighter, but more energy efficient displays.

On Saturday morning, we went to OMSI to watch The Polar Express on their OMNIMAX dome. It was so large that it was like being too close to a TV.

Sunday, we went out in the rain and purchased our Christmas tree, a 6 foot noble fir. After getting the tree, we went out to eat at Calamity Jane's. Naturally, we ate too much, but only drank water, so we saved some calories that way.

Sunday evening, John had his first date, for the PAA Winter Banquet, so we spent the late afternoon getting him ready and taking him to the restaurant.

After today, I only have 6 more days to work. Then I'm off until January, 2009.

December 2008 has begun

It was a nice 4 day weekend. On Thanksgiving, we went up Vernonia to Joy's sister's house. We had a relaxing meal and a good visit.

Friday, Joy and James left the house at 5:30 for Black Friday shopping. I went out at about 8 and was home by about 9:30, getting the last few items on my Christmas list. Friday afternoon, we went to see Four Christmases, a cute holiday movie.

Saturday, I had multimedia duty at church. That evening, I watched the Ducks blow out the Beavers 65 to 38 in the Civil War Game at Corvallis. Go Ducks! This was the 1st football game that I've watched in HD on our 42" Toshiba LCD TV. I'd periodically switch back to the regular definition picture and the difference was amazing.

Yesterday, I went to help put up Christmas decorations at church and then we put up our outside decorations at home. Our house looks very festive now.

Last evening, I went with my friends Les and John to see the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. We were all disappointed in the movie. There was lots of action, but little plot. It's like they are trying to convert James Bond into Jason Bourne, but without the plot that Bourne brings along with it.

I have only 14 more days to work this year. Then I have vacation and holidays, coming back to work on January 5, 2009.

Thanksgiving Week

It will be a short work week. For Thanksgiving, instead of our usual trip to visit with my Aunt & Uncle in Tillamook, we're going to Vernonia to visit Joy's sister Tammy and her family.

We'll come home on Thursday evening, so that Joy can get up to go Black Friday shopping. I don't envy her that! I don't deal well with crowds. I've done most of my Christmas shopping already just to avoid facing the mad rush of people.

Another big bank bailout happened, for Citigroup. I'm sure glad that I'm not going to be the president and have to figure out where the money for all of this is going to come from. Just the thought reminds me of the Onion announcement about Obama's election.

This weekend is the annual Civil War game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State. I'll be pulling for Oregon, obviously--go Ducks! The Beavers going to the Rose Bowl would be a good consolation prize if the Ducks were to lose on Saturday.

A very nice November weekend.

On Saturday, we just stayed home and relaxed, watching some DVD movies, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Deep Impact, and in honor of Thanksgiving coming soon, we watched Planes, Trains & Automobiles.

Yesterday, Joy and I went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert at the Rose Garden with our friends Les and Keri. We had much better seats than last years, so we were even closer to the action. They had more fire and flame displays, along with more lasers, including purple ones. It was a great performance. Afterwords, we went to eat dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory by the Willamette River. It ended up being a late night, at least for me, but was lots of fun.

President-elect Barack Obama

Yeah! It was such a relief last evening to see the networks calling Pennsylvania and then Ohio for Senator Barack Obama. At that point, I felt confident that 2000 and 2004 weren't going to be repeated, that the Democrats would get back to the White House.

John McCain's concession speech was gracious and moving, but I was a little disappointed when his audience booed when Senator McCain mentioned Obama's name. The contrast in Chicago when Obama mentioned McCain was telling; this very large, very partisan crowd cheered for their defeated opponent. This seemed to me to be one of the big differences between the candidates. McCain was trying to scare voters away from Obama, while Obama was filling people with hope.

My oldest daughter voted yesterday for the 1st time. She was so excited to be able to a part of history being made, with her first election actually helping to pick our next president. Hopefully, this enthusiasm will stay with her and the other new voters and they won't get disenchanted with America's political process.

Election Day is Tomorrow

It's Monday, November 3, 2008. Tomorrow, America will choose its President, many senators, and all congressman, along with a host of ballot initiatives and local races. I'll be glad to have the mud-slinging out of the way, at least for a few months; I wish that politicians would realize that these type of ads just turn of the voters, but every election, another crop of nastiness erupts. I'm also very disappointed about the blatent lies that supposed Christians are telling by forwarding email messages full of obviously false "facts" about another Christian, Obama.

This campaign has been way too long; the next one will probably be even longer! I expect that Sarah Palin will begin running for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination a few days from now.

I just hope that all Americans will unite behind the new president, Obama or McCain, at least for a few months. We've been divided as a nation for way too many years.

I have to admit that I'll miss reading all of the political blogs, though.

There's already Christmas music available on a couple of our Comcast music channels, and next Sunday, we're going to hear the Trans-Siberian Orchestra with our friends Les & Keri.

A lovely October weekend

We went up to my parents' house in Glenoma, Washington for the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, we took a drive up to see the new Jackson Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park. The fall colors, yellow, orange, and red contrasted nicely with the dark evergreen trees. Approaching the park, we ran into clouds and fog, but just before arriving at Paradise, we got above the clouds into sunshine, and blue sky, with the grandeur of Mt. Rainier looming above us.

We picked some pears and kiwis to have fresh fruit to eat.

Friday will be Halloween, probably my least favorite holiday of the year. Celebrating witches, ghosts, etc., just bothers me as a Christian. We'll just stay home with the outside lights turned off.

One week from tomorrow is election day. I'm so tired of the negative attack ads, so I'll be glad for it to end, though I know that I'll be glued to the TV on November 4, with my laptop active, watching the election returns. Hopefully, President Obama will be a refreshing change from the current occupant of the White House, but he'll have his hands full with the economy, wars, and foreign crises. I don't know why anyone would want the job!

October is half over.

We spent yesterday organizing our garage. We bought some shelves at Costco allowing us to more easily store and stack boxes. We moved some boxes out of our house into the garage and they are still more easily accessible.

Tomorrow is my daughter Selita's last high school volleyball game. Their season hasn't be that good, but they did tie for first in a tournament at Walla Walla University.

Next weekend, we're going up to visit my parents in Glenoma, Washington.

Two weeks from tomorrow is the election. The mudslinging going on is appalling. I'll be glad to have it over with, at least for a couple of years.

Another week is almost over

It's Friday, October 10. Stock prices on Wall Street continue to drop. Our friend Les was laid off from his job on Tuesday. I'm glad that I'm not real close to retirement; at the rate things are going, I'll have to wait until I'm 80!

I find it hard to believe that there are still one in four Americans who approve of the abysmal job that Bush is doing as President. Only a little over three more weeks and we'll have a new President-elect. Either of the major party candidates will be a big improvement over Bush, but I'm hoping that the polls are accurate and that Barack Obama will be our next president.

Tonight and tomorrow, Joy is attending a Women of Faith conference at the Rose Garden with some of her lady friends. James and I have multimedia duty tomorrow at Pleasant Valley Church.

On Sunday, we're going to do some more organizing of our garage.

October is here

Last weekend, we went over to Pacific City on the beach to see my brother and sister-in-law, visiting from Tennessee. The weather was absolutely marvelous, with not a cloud in the sky. We were staying in house directly on the beach, taking a long walk on Saturday afternoon and having a fire on the beach.

This weekend, the weather is much different. It has been cloudy, windy and rainy, so far. Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer--hopefully. Joy and I are planning on going up to Bagby Hot Springs to soak in the hot water. That'll be our second hot water soak; last evening, we went to Portland Tub and Tan and spent an hour in a romantic pool of water.

Only one more month until the election. I can't wait until it's over with; I'm tired of all of the mud slinging that's going on. I feel sorry for whoever wins. Bush is leaving his successor a terrible situation, what with Iraq, the financial situation, etc. I'm still upset that I am having to help pay for the bad business decisions of multi-millionaires on Wall Street. I am glad that my congressman, Earl Blumenauer, and one of Oregon's senators, Ron Wyden, were brave enough to face their party leaders and the president and vote against the package. Already, today, I'm hearing rumors of more bailouts to follow. My children and grandchildren are going to have to pay for this bailout and the war in Iraq, and that's just plain wrong!

I'm up in Redmond, Washington

I'm in Redmond at the Redmond Marriott Town Center hotel for the Pacific Northwest Software Symposium. Yesterday's sessions were interesting. I learned much more about SOA and the Java Messaging Service (JMS). The speaker for my sessions was Mark Richards. The keynote speaker last night was Jared Richardson (Jared's blog). Jared's speech on Career 2.0 was humorous, but good. I'm going to have to follow some of his suggestions. I already do "sanity hacking", using PHP/MySQL/Python/etc. at home to keep up my skill set, and learn new skills, beyond the Java that I use at work. Today, I'm planning on attending seminars about the Google Web Toolkit taught by David Geary, and Java Regular Expressions by Neal Ford.

This afternoon, Joy is coming up here with our friends Les & Keri to go see The Phantom of the Opera at The Paramount Theatre. We're planning on going out to eat before hand, and it gives Joy an excuse to dress me up in a suit and tie. Oh, well, when Joy's happy, I'm happy!

A new baby elephant

On Saturday, we went to Oregon Zoo to see Samudra, the baby elephant that was born on August 23. He was sleeping when we were there, but still cute. They have a new frog exhibit, which Joy liked, being the frog lover that she is.

On Saturday night, our son John was at a friend's house. He was planning on taking a fishing trip with them yesterday; however, he was out playing tag in the woods in the dark Saturday night and collided with a tree, ending up with a broken nose.

Yesterday, we had a 50th birthday party for our friend Les. He was totally surprised. Joy made him a birthday cake with a golf theme.

Next weekend, we're going to see The Phantom of the Opera with Les & Keri at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. It should be a fun time.

September is here--August is gone

It was a quiet Labor Day weekend at home. We worked on organizing the garage, relaxed, and watched movies.

Friday evening, we watched Doctor Zhivago. It's been many years since I've seen it, so it was somewhat different than I remembered.

On Sunday evening, we went to Mt. Hood Theatre with our friends Les and Keri to watch a double feature, Hancock and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Both were fun, if not exactly Oscar contenders.

Yesterday afternoon, we watched Airplane and The Italian Job on DVD. We've gotten several of these older movies recently at bargain prices.

I'm glad that Hurricane Gustav has turned out to be less destructive than it could have been, but I still feel sorry for people that have lost their home and possessions due to it. After Katrina, I'd have been moving to higher ground, myself!

We've been keeping up pretty good in our diet and workout regimen, going to the gym almost every day, even if just for the swimming pool and sauna.

We've joined a fitness club

Yesterday, in an attempt for Joy and I to get in better shape, we joined the new LA Fitness club down the street from our house. It's only been open a little over a week. It has racquetball, swimming pool, weights, cardio equipment, a basketball court, classes, a hot tub, saunas, you name it. We plan to go there at least three times a week, so that we can get trimmer and healthier; since Joy won't be getting off work until about 5 in the afternoon, I may stop on my way home to exercise sometimes. Joy's first day at her new job was tiring for her, so we went and swam a couple of laps and soaked in the hot tub last evening.

On Wednesday, our youngest son, John began his freshman year at Portland Adventist Academy. We just hope that he really applies himself.

James and I have multimedia duty tomorrow at PVC.

Another hot stretch in Portland

For the last week (until this morning, actually), it has been pretty hot for Portland. Thursday through Saturday all got to 103 degrees Fahrenheit here. Yesterday it was about 90. Finally, today is much cooler, only in the 70s. On Saturday we went over to the coast to beat the heat. It was foggy and drizzly right at the beach, but that felt good after the hot temperatures here. The worst part was the traffic. It seemed like everyone from the valley had gone over the coast range to join us in escaping the heat!

Joy just got the news about a new job that she is going to be starting this Thursday. Her previous job at PAES ended due to insufficient children in her classroom. At Mt. Tabor, she'll be getting more hours plus benefits, a double blessing. Also, her primary job will be watching babies, her favorite age group.

We've been paying attention to Michael Phelps record run of gold medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Pretty awesome. I can't even imagine eating 12000 calories a day! He doesn't look like he has an ounce of fat on his body. Maybe I need to start swimming.

Yesterday, I had a Dr. Who marathon with my friend John. I record several episodes on my DVR and then we watch them together a couple of times a year. The last few shows were some of the best that I've ever watched.

August already

Wow, it's already August 7. Time is sure flying.

John, our youngest son, is down in California, visiting with his cousin Justin. While he's there, they will go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. He'll get to ride some real roller coasters! He'll fly back by himself on Southwest Airlines, another new experience for him.

This weekend, we're planning to go the Oregon Zoo and enjoy seeing the animals.