Day Three Hundred Forty Eight

Dear Readers,
      Europe trip update.  Our plans have changed.  No, we are not canceling.  Our destination has become just about official.  It will be two nights in London.  Then it will be a train ride over to France.  Hopefully a stop in Normandy to visit old World War II sites.  It will be like a dream come true.  Then a jaunt over to Paris.  Neither of us have been and are really looking forward to it.  All the sites to see, the food to try, the history to relive.  I have a feeling we won't have any free time to waste.  We want to maximize our trip.  See and experience as much as possible.  All the normal things you would think of, like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.  I just want to walk around town and walk into random shops and eateries.  Find something on my own.  You just never know what might be there.  Maybe I should take a few French lessons before we go.  The way the English talk, I might even need a couple of lessons for that too.  We took our first step to making it an actual reality.  At least we tried to, is what I should say.  We have enough money for our plane tickets and were ready to purchase them, but were derailed by a secure code for my bank card.  Apparently it was too big of a purchase without it.  Only problem is that I do not know what my secure code is.  I have never heard about it before or needed it before.  We would have already had our tickets by now.  Raina is having anxiety about spending that much money on a purchase like this.  Therefore, she thinks it is a sign that it didn't work.  I disagree though.  It just means we need to press on and not get discouraged, so that we can have an extremely special trip.  I can't wait.  It is looking like April is our trip time frame.  There have been changes to our destination and time frame, but it is looking like it will be for the best.  I can't wait.  The only place out of the country I have been is Mexico.  When you live in Southern California, it isn't really that far out of the country.  France will be completely different and am looking forward to experiencing it with Raina.  Europe, here we come!  After we get our plane tickets tomorrow, hopefully.

This Day In History: 1847
Ellis Bell's novel Wuthering Heights is published.  Bell was the pseudonym used by English author Emily Bronte.

Born This Day: 1929
Christopher Plummer - Emmy Award winning Canadian actor.

"Invention is the mother of necessity."

-Thorstein Veblen

The pile of cash Raina has saved up from her tips.  All for the tickets.

Day Three Hundred Forty Seven

Dear Readers,
      I don't know what is going on with me this last week.  I have been more tired then usual since last Friday.  Having a hard time getting up in the morning.  Getting tired sooner then normal.  I am ready to crash out at 10:00PM.  Normally I don't have a problem staying up until 11:00PM or 12:00PM and get up just before 5:00AM.  Like I have said though, I have been feeling out of sync.  I don't know why though.  It has made it extremely difficult to finish my blog each night.  It was so bad that Raina did my blog for me the other night, because I was nodding off while trying to type it up.  Then there was last night's which I am now catching up on, because I couldn't stay awake last night either.  It has been like clockwork.  10:00PM rolled around, and I immediately got very drowsy and nodded off before I was able to even come close to finishing.  So, before 10:00PM shows up tonight, I need to hurry up and finish two blogs.  I don't think I will be lucky enough to have Raina do two for me in one week.
      Part of me feels that my day is filled with nothing very exciting. I think that if I lived an interesting life everyday, then it would be easy for me to come up with topics. Especially lately, coming up with topics for discussion or stories that are interesting are getting hard to come by.  There are probably great stories from my past that I would love to tell, if I could only remember them.  I feel like I used all my good topics up and am scrounging for scraps at this point.  So here I am, talking about not having anything to talk about.  I have nineteen blogs left to do.  Nineteen different things to talk about.  An update on our trip to Europe possibly.  Definitely a review on The Hobbit after I hopefully see it this weekend.  Maybe I'll talk about Disneyland, even though it has been almost a year and a half since we have been there.  At least Christmas will give me something to talk about for a couple of days.  There is always something interesting when the whole family comes over.  Especially when you get the three nephews over the house and all sugared up.  Running round and round the house in circles all day long.  I know one thing for sure, my last blog before cutting the beard off, will be a depression blog.  I can feel the mood already starting to set in.  Here is to finishing out the year on a strong note.

This Day In History: 1913
Two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Mona Lisa is recovered inside Italian waiter Vincenzo Peruggia's hotel room in Florence.  Peruggia had previously worked at the Louvre and had participated in the heist with a group of accomplices dressed as janitors.

Born This Day:1915
Frank Sinatra - American singer and actor.

"It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves."

-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Where do I get this Dr. Seuss book at?

Day Three Hundred Forty Six

Dear Readers,
     
 Tonight's blog comes from the wife,

There is 20 days and counting for the beard to be gone.  Part of me is a bit sad to see it go.  Not because I love to look at it or touch it or feel random hairs in my mouth or up my nose..but because of how much the beard has come to mean to David.  I have never, in the 14 years of being with him, seen him care about something as much as he cares about his beard.  He shampoos it, conditions it, combs it not with 1 but with 2 different combs, he plays with it, twists it, etc. And by the way he does not use cheap conditioner either.  He has managed to go through 2 bottles of conditioner in the time it has taken me to go through one. Any way I digress.  The part of me that loves him feels sad for him to loose something that he has cared for and longed for for so long.  The Beard has allowed him to meet new friends. It has made him more out going and open about his thoughts and feelings.  David is typically a shy person.  He normally doesn't open up to many people and for the past year the rest of the world has been able to see how smart and funny and fun he is.  My cousin and often a blog reader Lorinda..or Lori as she is better known as, lives in Texas.  She is married to Jacob whom David has only meet once for a brief moment at our wedding.  His beard has opened up the doors for David and Jacob to become friends of sort.  David recently made a comment that Jacob is a great guy.  And I love that he knows that about him because of this blog and joining facebook for the blog. Men always come up to him no matter where we are and comment on what an amazing beard he has. 

But.....the part of me who misses my Handsome good looking husband that I married and adored (I guess the shallow part..ha) wants the beard GONE. David is one good looking guy under all that hair and I can not wait to see what his face looks like...or what it feels like to kiss him without trying to maneuver around the stache. So I am at a crossroads do I let him keep it because I know how much it means to him and trust me I do not want to be a dream killer...or do I make him Honor his promise to me and to the rest of his readers that he would shave by the end of the year?  Who knew that I would dedicate a year of my life and have so many conversations over facial hair.

This Day In History: 1972
U.S. Apollo 17 lands on the moon's surface for a three day exploration.  It was the final Apollo mission to the moon.

Born This Day: 1843
Robert Koch - German Nobel prize winning scientist who developed  the method for culturing bacteria.

"The best safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it."

-Dudley Moore

This thing is so awesome. If only it were real.

Day Three Hundred Forty Five

Dear Readers,
      Only one class left for the Fall semester. Just the Final.  I have a whole week to study up and prepare myself for the most important class of the semester.  Although, I will probably only study for two hours.  The two hours right before my class next Monday.  When it comes to studying for tests, it either doesn't happen or it is crammed in the final hour before class.  It doesn't always work out for the best, but I have survived so far.  Maybe I should actually prepare for this one.  If I fail, at least I know not to do that again.
      Fantasy football is over for two out of my three leagues.  I made playoffs in all three leagues and had a poor week in all of them.  Thankfully, I managed to squeak out a win in the important one.  The only one of them that involves a payout to the winner every year.  I haven't won it anytime out of the three or four years I have been doing it.  I have a terrible memory and can't even remember when I started with the fantasy football.  Like I said though, at least the one win was the important one.  I just need my team to come around and finish out the season strong.  Just no more injuries please.  I have already suffered through losing Gronkowski.  I don't think I can manage another one.  Just look at what Tom Brady did tonight.  Gronk could have had at least two of those touchdowns.  Instead, the replacement I got for him got me a whopping zero points.  My team did poorly and I would have lost to just about any other team this week, but I played just the right person for just the right week.  Just two more wins to the Fantasy Football immortality.  I just hoped all my blessings weren't used up on the Kings playoff run this year.  Just a little more.  Please.

This Day In History: 1984
The discovery of the first planet outside our solar system, orbiting a star 21 million light years from Earth, is reported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Born This Day: 1830
Emily Dickinson - American poet

"Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed."

-Emily Dickinson

Where do I get this gingerbread kit?

Day Three Hundred Forty Four

Dear Readers,
      Christmas decorating, day two.  This time at my parents house.  Which is actually mine and Raina's house as well.  I went to church this morning, followed promptly with a trip to the Christmas tree farm.  The same place we have gone to for the past four or five years now.  They used to be close by, but they had to move since the old place wouldn't let them use the land anymore.  Now we travel about thirty minutes away, just for a Christmas tree.  They are the best trees we have found though.  Great service and great trees.  Big, tall, fat, non-dry trees.  No brown spots from being in the sun for too long.  They aren't the cheapest, but you get a much better quality tree for paying a little more money then we would be paying at a more local place.  Besides, I am a firm believer of being loyal to those who are good to you.  I have never had a complaint about this place, other then it being expensive.  Still worth the money.  My mom is very specific about the kind of tree she allows in her house.  It has to be tall, fat, and full.  No bare spots and no skinny trees.  It has to be enough to hold all of my mom's million ornaments.  Give or take a few.  The only problem with such a big tree, is getting it stood up and getting it straight.  It takes four people.  My dad and myself down below to tighten the screws, my brother in law Matt to hold it up and maneuver it right or left, and a spotter.  Which actually was two people, my mom and sister Melissa.  It is always an adventure.  After finally getting the tree up, it became a big debate on whether to put up colored lights or white lights.  My sisters prefer to be all fancy shmancy and want boring white lights.  While myself and Raina are the more festive type and want colored lights to really get into the spirit of Christmas.  Colored lights are so much better.  Even leaving a nice afterglow of colors on the walls when you turn the lights out.  White lights are just completely boring.  Why only have one color, which actually isn't a color at all, when you can have five different colors on one tree?  After putting all the colored lights on, since I got my way, by force if had to.  I figured I get a say, since I now live here.  Colored lights it is, and now the nephews are being put to work.  Putting up ornament after ornament.  Running back and forth with ornaments in hand for each trip.  It is a long night of keeping kids in order, putting up a tree and decorating all over.  It probably won't be finished until the end of the week.  You gotta love Christmas time.

This Day In History: 1993
Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Born This Day:1916
Kirk Douglas - American stage and film actor.

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it."

- Lou Holtz

Christmas decorating, again.

Christmas tree overload.

The best tree lot.

And it only has a tenth of the ornaments up.

Let there be lights! (Colored lights)

Child slave labor.

Day Three Hundred Forty Three

Dear Readers,
      I really hate having to catch up on blogs. Some days just don't allow time for me to really do it. Some days I am just too tired, or lazy. Usually because it is late and I know if I start it there is a good chance I would just fall asleep at the keyboard. There was one time that I did that and somehow deleted my blog while asleep. It was a huge waste of time. So now, if it gets to that point, I just get a good nights sleep and do it the morning. Definitely more refreshed that way. I wouldn't have started last nights until about midnight. Signs of a bad plan. So here I am catching up again.
      I had to back to work, to finish the job from Friday. At least it wasn't the whole day. Just about five hours. I woke up hurting. You know it's bad when I woke up in more pain after that one day of work then I did after the Spartan Race. Another way I know it was rough on my body, is when I slept through my alarm and was late to work. Usually I sleep through my alarm if I stay up late. I went to bed early though. I made it through the day though. With a little help from a nice nap in the middle of it. It was decorating day at Raina's moms house. Every year. The same decorations in the same place. This is Brandon's forte. Getting on the roof and hanging lights and making sure everything works perfectly. Today, I played the part tha is normally occupied by Brandon when we work over there. Providing comic relief, handing people tools and spending time in the bathroom. For some reason it seems like whenever we worked over there, Brandon spent more time then usual in the bathroom. Now he has become known for it and it comes up every time we work over there. If there is work going on and you can't find Brandon, check the bathroom. He's never going to shake that one. Although, when it comes to Christmas lights, Brandon gets into the zone and cannot be stopped. Just like yesterday. The whole house was decorated. Outside, the tree, the stockings were hung, enough decorations around the living room and kitchen to fill two other rooms as well. Although, this year was not as exorbitant as previous years, normally using enough decorations to decorate three homes. Unless there is more decorations going up after we left. Which is a possibility. Christmas is in full swing now. Decorations and presents and music. I am sure the Christmas movies will start shortly. Including my mom's favorite, A Charlie Brown Christmas. A fun and festive time of year. Which I am sure is the reason it is Raina's favorite time of year. By a landslide.
      After all that hard work of decorating, I was wiped out. I crashed on the couch even before the decorating was done. I think I napped for two hours. I'm not sure, because my internal clock was all messed up and I just know the day happened and we did stuff and I made it through. After waking from my nap, we headed out for an evening of Dave and Busters with Brandon and Brooke and Brent and Yvonne and McKenna. It was a spur of the moment thing, but it was a welcome distraction. It took a little while to fully wake from my slumber, but once I did, it was game on. At a place like Dave and Busters, there are plenty of opportunities to entertain a little friendly competition. Matching up in a basketball shooting match, only to lose out to Brooke who whipped on us just about every round. I redeemed myself on the trivia game, sweeping all the rounds. One thing is for sure, I have a terrible memory when it comes to what I did last week and remembering plans we made, but it is a black hole for useless random trivia. I don't know how I know all that stuff. For some reason useless information gets sucked in and stays forever. I did win one out of the three arcade races we had. Losing out on one because Brooke decided that it would be a good idea to run into the wall and crash right in front of me on the last lap. Where Raina has my number is on a Pacman battle game. She took out the rest of us a few times. The best game of the whole night, was a four way air hockey table. That thing was awesome and crazy at the same time. Having to watch out in all directions. Raina, Brent, Brandon and I went on a battle royale, losing to Brent. Then Brooke took over for the person who went out first from that round, which happened to be Brandon, on another epic battle of air hockey. There was bruised knuckles and bruised egos. One person getting cheated out by his own wife. That person being me. There were two discs a ails me and twice while I was reaching for one that went on the floor or getting it out of the slot, Raina took advantage of me while I was unprepared. Scoring on me twice. The last one was the killer blow that took me out of the round. Cheated by my own wife, just because she didn't want to be the first one out. Can you believe it? Thanks babe. You're lucky I love you so much. Great fun with great friends. I had a blast. Can't wait to do it again.

This Day In History: 1980
English musician John Lennon, former member of The Beatles, is shot and killed by an obsessed fan in New York City.

Born This Day: 1925
Sammy Davis Jr. - American entertainer, dancer and singer.

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."

-Noam Chomsky

Our Day.

On the roof to put up the lights.

Concentrating on not dropping the blocks.

Living out a dream. Flying a Naboo Starfighter.

She can't break concentration.

Sweet photo on Mario Kart.

Day Three Hundred Forty Two

Dear Readers,
      It was a long day of work today.  For all those people who give me a hard time about all the time I take off of work, I had one of those days to make up for my days off.  Besides, if I have the vacation time, what is the problem with me using it?  It was supposed to be a simple job.  One that was at our own yard, so we didn't have to worry about traffic control, transporting material back and forth, or having to leave the job to use the restroom.  It was just going to be time consuming because of all the installation that needed to be done.  Well, it didn't really work out that way.  We had a problem of too many chiefs with too many ideas on how to do it, without consulting or explaining to the guys who are going to actually do the work.  We had the wrong size hole cut out of the asphalt, we could have saved ourselves tons of digging and hauling off material, saved ourselves on back filling, wrong parts, and wrong size on top of it all.  We could have saved on strain and heavy lifting, just by paying attention to what was already in the ground.  It was a problem of assumption and too many people making decisions on how it was to be done.  None of them really agreeing with each other either.  We had to get a new part at the last minute and thankfully one was found semi close.  My boss ended up picking it up for us on his day off and drove it to our job for us.  It was a big mess of a job, but we made it work and got it done.  Even though it took probably five or six hours longer then it should have.  Poor management of a job if you ask me.  They should have just given the job over to the guys you were going to actually have install it.  Let them do their own prep work and material gathering.  That way they can have everything they need and will know it, instead of relying on somebody else.  Also, if there would have been anything wrong, then it would have been their own fault.  It probably won't change though.  Just the way things seem to work at the city.  Someday it might improve.  At least I hope.

This Day In History: 1941
Pearl Harbor, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese warplanes. The attack resulted in the U.S. entering into World War II.

Born This Day: 1947
Johnny Bench - Hall of Fame baseball player. Catcher for the Reds.

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."

-Samuel Johnson

Big hole and big work.  I'm beat.