Happy New Year--2008!

I had a long stretch off over the holidays, but never got around to updating my blog.

For Christmas, our family got a Nintendo Wii. It came bundled with Wii Sports, and we also purchased Wii Play with an extra remote. John got The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii. We plan to buy Wii Fit when it is available here in the US. It is a lot of fun to play the sports games. Boxing, tennis, and baseball all make you work. After a round of boxing, I'm really sweating.

On Christmas, we drove up to Joy's sister's house in Vernonia. We could still see the high water mark on the houses from last months floods. We had a White Christmas for the first time in many years. It was lovely driving through the Coast Range with snowflakes falling and seeing the snow accumulating on the fir boughs!

Last weekend, we drove up to my parent's home in Glenoma, Washington. We had a lot of snow there, too. My folks are members of an RV club that has a swimming pool, sauna, and hot tub. It was neat to be swimming in a warm pool while looking out the window at the snow falling. I actually made a snow angel while just wearing my swimming suit! Brrrrrr!!!

New Years Eve, we celebrated with our good friends Les & Keri. We watched a couple of movies (I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and Live Free or Die Hard), played with the Wii, and danced, before raising our goblets of Martinelli's sparkling cider.

Tonight, PAA will be playing the Clatskanie Tigers in basketball. Hopefully, the Cougars will start the year with a win.

It's been busy!

Friday evening, we went out to look at Christmas lights with our friends Les & Keri. Then Sunday afternoon, we went to the Keller Auditorium to see the Nutcracker Suite.

Last evening, the PAA girls played at Hockinson High School in Brush Prarie against the Hawks. PAA played hard, but pulled up a little short and tired at the end. Tonight, they drive over to the coast to play against the Nestucca High School Bobcats. I won't be able to make that game, though. This is their last game this season.

I work tomorrow and Friday, then I'm off for the rest of the year.

The girls won!

The Cougars never trailed last night against Neah-Kah-Nie and won by almost 2-1. That was a nice turnaround from Monday's game.

We got our Christmas tree up last evening, so now we can start decorating it.

Portland Christian won last night

The PC Royals were just too good for PAA. Kim Hill had lots of blocked shots...

Today PAA is going up to Vernonia to help clean up from last week's storm. Then, tonight they host the Neah-Kah-Nie Pirates. Hopefully, they'll bounce back after last night. They have another game on Thursday hosting the Vernonia Loggers [and having a canned food drive for the Vernonia families].

Tomorrow evening, the Alegria Choir is singing at The Grotto.

Oh, by the way, PAA lost last Thursday's game at Mark Morris, too. :-(

The PAA girls won their game on Tuesday

They were ahead substantially for the entire game with Corbett, and the second team played for half of the game.

This evening, they have an away game with the Mark Morris High School Monarchs (in Longview). We've not played them before, at least since I've been attending games. Hopefully, the Cougars will continue their good effort.

It was a good weekend

At the Holiday Party, we won ten Regal Cinemas movie tickets and a $50 McManamins gift certificate.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert was very impressive. They had lasers, flame, fog, and snow! My favorite song was Christmas Canon Rock, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Afterwards, we went to Red Robin to eat with our friends John and Kelli.

Tonight, PAA plays Corbett Cardinals at home. Hopefully, they'll snap out of Saturday's loss to Salem Academy and come back strong. Go Cougars.

The holidays are here!

On Saturday evening, my company, Serena Software, is having its Holiday Party at The Crown Ballroom in downtown Portland, so I'll get to wear a tie to make Joy happy!

On Sunday afternoon, Joy and I are going to the Rose Garden for a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. I've heard some of their songs, and their performance is supposed to be great; the videos that I've seen on youtube.com reflect that.

A great Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went over to my Uncle Paul & Aunt Carolyn's home in Tillamook, Oregon. Unusually for November, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We went and walked a couple of miles down the beach before dinner; maybe we burned off some of the extra calories! :-)

Joy got to ride a horse, which she really enjoyed.

Yesterday was black Friday--for shopping! I actually went to Staples--and waited outside for an hour just to get in the store. I think I'll leave the shopping to Joy next year!

It's almost Thanksgiving

Another week has passed. Next Thursday, it is Thanksgiving. We're going to Tillamook for our annual family get together at my Aunt Carolyn's; lots of food and fun! We always watch Love That Bob "Thanksgiving in Joplin" (an old black & white comedy) and White Christmas.

Monday evening was Senior Recognition for PAA. Vainiaku looked beautiful as always...

Sabbath at Pleasant Valley Church, our best friends' daughter, Bethany, is getting married. Joy is going to bake the wedding cake.

Gas prices keep creeping upward. I wonder how high they are going to reach?

It was a nice weekend in Portland.

A sunny November weekend in Portland, Oregon, is rather unusual. On Sunday, I took John downtown to Powell's City of Books. At first site, he thought that I'd exaggerated the size--until he got inside and needed a map. He was pretty impressed by the number of books they had. We' ve decided that we'll start going down there about once a month.

Sunday evening, Portland Adventist Elementary School had their Harvest Festival. It was fun--but noisy!

Last night we went to eat an authentic Mexican meal at our friend Alejandro's house. Mily's flan was delicious.

Another week has gone by

Joy has been having some chest pain and she had a heart stress-test/sonogram on Monday. Thank God that it showed no problems.

We've also been having problems with our van. It looks like we're going to at least need a new starter and may also need some transmission work. Oh well, that's life, I guess...

PAA lost to Rainier

It was bittersweet watching Vainiaku's last high school volleyball game yesterday evening in Rainier. I've been attending her games since about 5th grade! Oh, well, basketball season is getting started, and both Vainiaku and Selita are anxious for that.

It was a very beautiful day yesterday, sunny, with the temperature in the 70s. They are forecasting some rain for later today, though.

Genealogy

I got a copy of our family tree from my Uncle Vic in New York that allowed me to extend my Grave's genealogy back to John Graves, born in England about 1605, a big jump! The document had been created by a great-aunt. Before this, on that side of my family, I could only get back to my dad's great grand-father. It was a time-consuming, but very interesting project.

The girls beat Riverdale on Thursday, V's last home volleyball game; I'll miss watching her play! They have an away game tomorrow against the Rainier Columbians.

I'm already looking forward to watching the PAA girls play basketball.

Wow--it's been a week

Time flies when you're having fun, or so they say...

The PAA Girls Varsity Volleyball team lost their match at Catlin Gabel last week. Last night, they played OES at home and the Aardvarks won--again. I sound kind of like Forrest Gump. The Cougars' last home match is tomorrow evening against the Riverdale Mavericks. Hopefully, they'll win that one.

Vainiaku and several of her PAA classmates got to participate in the Topoff 4 disaster drill yesterday. They thought it was fun.

PAA Varsity lost to the Pirates

For both the JV and Varsity matches, the games were evenly matched, frequently reaching scores of 23-22, before a win was finally reached. PAA JV won their match 2 games to 1, but varsity lost 3 games to 1. The girls have a game this evening at Catlin Gabel against the Eagles, but I won't be able to attend due to a Love and Respect marriage seminar Joy & I are attending at Pleasant Valley Church. Tomorrow morning, the girls are heading to Walla Walla University for a tournament. Joy & I may try going up on Saturday to watch the evening games.

It was a windy, rainy day at Rockaway Beach. Big waves were crashing onto the jetty as we drove past. It reminded me of typical coastal weather for November, not October.

Another Tuesday, another volleyball game

Today, the girls play a volleyball game at Neah-Kah-Nie High School (map). Hopefully, they'll have a better game against the Pirates than last Thursday! This means another late evening, probably getting back home around 10pm.

It has been busy at work--we're trying to get our next release out the door.

Another Saturday

The girls lost their games at Warrenton. The Warriors seemed to play better as a team, with crisper passes, etc.

James & I had Multimedia duty at PVC again today. It went pretty smooth, once we figured out how to play MP4 files within EasyWorship.

We're planning on going to visit our good friends Les & Keri this evening and watch some videos.

Tomorrow, my friend John is coming over and we're going to watch several episodes of Dr. Who on our DVR.

The week is half over

Yesterday evening, I went and helped a friend with his computers.... One of them was terminal, but I helped him with another one...

Today, Joy gets to learn how to give me an allergy shot. Neither of us is particularly looking forward to that, I assure you...

Tomorrow, the girls play an away volleyball game against Warrenton Warriors (map). I'm going to carpool with Brian (their coach), since it is so far away. Go Cougars!

No game today

It's Tuesday, but there isn't a volleyball game today, so it seems kind of strange.

Joy has class this evening at Marylhurst University, so she won't be home until after I'm asleep... :-(

A rainy Monday in Oregon

I survived my surgery--although it certainly wasn't enjoyable!

I had Multimedia duty at church on Sabbath--and Saturday night, so I didn't get as much rest as I should have. So, yesterday, I spent most of the day relaxing.

It was wet driving in to work this morning. There was an accident just in front of me coming out of the tunnels onto west bound Sunset Highway, but I navigated it safely.

It's back to work time!