Christmas

It was definitely a White Christmas. As usual we traveled our 100+ miles today. We had quite a bit of snow and ice to contend with. But I was pleasantly surprised with the other drivers on the road. They were safe and courteous, and we made it home in one piece. Hopefully everyone else did too.

We had a great day. Visited a lot of family. Ate Christmas Omelets. And enjoyed seeing the faces of our kids as they opened their gifts from everyone. Tank could have cared less. He slept most of the day. But I think he really enjoyed how much he was held and cuddled today.

How was your Christmas?

Merry Christmas!

Still haven't gotten to the big post.

Until then Merry Christmas (or whatever else you may celebrate, Festivus for the Rest of us!) and a Happy New Year!

Currently I think this is my favorite carol. Enjoy! Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men! (and women, and kids and everyone!)

("I heard the Bells on Christmas Day" along with paintings of Jesus' life, The artwork seems to be loosely LDS themed, LDS artists etc. It isn't, hasn't, and never will be my intent to proselyte with this blog, I just had two video's to choose from, this or Unicorns. The Unicorns lost. The song is what I enjoyed, hopefully, you'll enjoy it too.)

Just a fun little meme

Bigger post still in the works. For now enjoy this little meme.

I got this from my Big Sis.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Real trees are so sappy.
3. When do you put up the tree? Growing up we put up the tree on my Mom's birthday. I think we will have to change that to Tank's Birthday now.
4. When do you take the tree down? I like to take it down well after Christmas. Superwoman likes to have here living room back after the big day. We compromise somewhere in the middle.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yum. (If you mix it with a little OJ it tastes like a really strong Orange Julius)
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My big wheel and my first Lego set stand out. With the Big Wheel the parents awoke to me stuck in a corner (I was 3 or 4) bumping into the wall backing up a bit then plowing into it again. And when I was 7 or 8 I got a Lego set. I loved that thing.
7. Hardest person to buy for? No person in particular, but trying to remember to get everyone-who-is-special something can be taxing. I guess that is a good problem to have.
8. Easiest person to buy for? The Kids, I never grew up. I can instantly make myself think like a four year old and a six year old. The hard part is thinking like an adult.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Not personally, but Superwoman loves Nativities, so we have three or four up in the house.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Cards what cards? Whaddiya mean its December 17th already!? Well you'll get your cards late. If I get that far :( I sux.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I didn't like getting clothes when I was a kid. But I didn't get all pissed off about it. I just found the toys.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Probably Muppet Christmas Carol followed by National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and White Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually we start and are mostly done in September.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas Present? White Elephant Gift exchanges rule.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Sushi.
16. Lights on the tree? The more the better, a strand of white and as many color strands as the tree will hold.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Little Drummer Boy & I heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
18. Do you travel or stay home at Christmas? We drive around 100 miles or more Christmas day. But we start out and end up at home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Rudolph the LED nosed reindeer, wazzit, hoozit, dancer, prancer, venison, deer jerky and blitzen.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning, and it would be afternoon if I could convince the kids to wait that long :)
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Finals
23. What theme or color are you using? Grey and Grey (j/k I'm not really red-green color blind)
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner. Ham, Stuffing, Potatoes.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Time with the family and friends.

Wooo HOOO

Finals are over, that means I can enjoy the experience called sleep again.

The final I had today I feel like I did well on. The one I had yesterday I feel alright about too.

I've got a real post in the works. Look for it in a couple of days.

Tank is home and doing good. His newborn sleep patterns are 'fun' to deal with but we are making it through, if only just.

I have less than a week left of this semester. Since the baby has come I've had a hard time concentrating. But I'm hoping I can stick it out long enough to keep the Grades I've been working so hard on up until now.

I'm writing a game of Pong for my final project in one of my classes. If you have a Mac (writing it using UNIX system calls which Mac OSX is built on top of) you can send me a e-mail if you would like a copy. I'm going to get all the requirements for the project out of the way, then add a few features just for fun.

I don't expect I'll blog too much until my finals are done next week. Wish me luck!

Sushi Family

A pic of the new fam. I think the new kid will be blog-named "Tank" because of his gargantuan bigness, I'm sure we'll think of a new one as his personality starts to shine.



From left to right, Cookie Monster, Tank, Superwoman, Cakes, Sushiboy.

Its A.....

We had the baby....

Its a ......


















Boy!





A very big boy 9lbs 10oz. 20.5 inches long. Born at 7:47 AM and that fits since he is the size of a 747. I couldn't be more proud of my little guy. Cookie and Cakes are staying with grandma and are very excited to come meet their new brother tonight.

Superwoman is recovering well, her and the baby are getting some sleep. I'm really tired. I'll sleep well tonight.

Weekend Recap

We got through the thanksgiving weekend alive. That's always good.

We had a full house on thanksgiving day. My cousin and his wife came by with there five kids. And my in Laws came by with 4 of their kids. 7 + 6 + 4 = One very full house! It was a lot of fun. My cousin and his wife brought pies. My Mother In law brought a turkey, potatoes and stuffing and we provided ham, green bean casserole with french fried onions, stuffing and gravy.

I did all cooking for our part. I followed Dave's advice and didn't serve any Turkey Tartar. And no one came away with food poisoning! A Success! I was thinking about making a Korean thanksgiving rice-ball but ran out of time and ambition. Maybe next year.

Friday I hung out with my cousins and got to bed late.

Saturday we went to Labor & Delivery on a false alarm. See Superwoman's blog for details on that. Superwoman was effectively told to stay in bed till Tuesday.

Sunday I took the kids to church by myself. The kids were good for me, I was thankful. Sunday evening I was hurriedly trying to squeeze the most out of my 4 day weekend, playing an excess of Lego Star Wars, I'm tired now, I think I may regret that :(

Now, I need to turn in some homework and take a quiz. Those are both scheduled for tomorrow but hopefully I'll be holding our new baby about the time the quiz starts. I'll post pictures when I can.

Actually I feel Pretty Good.

I feel good today.

• I only have a half week of work and school, always a bonus.
• I'll have a little son or daughter that will be entering our family in just a over a week.
• Only a couple more weeks of school till I get a couple of weeks off.
• We have a lot of the family coming by the house for Thanksgiving.
• I skipped class today and slept in. I'll pay for that one later, but it felt nice today.
• I think I've finally made peace with the school in general.
• I have so much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ticked Off

I dunno what my problem is lately, I'm in a foul mood.

Today I was walking to lunch and some idiot on a bullet bike was riding in between lanes of traffic. Trying to cut through the intersection when the light was red etc.. just being an idiot. And I was so angry about it. I was walking back from lunch just thinking how much I'd like to give that idiot biker a piece of my mind. Normally my walks are a decompression time, a time where I get rid of all the thoughts floating in my head like that. But today it was really hard to just let it go. UGH! And that's just one example, I'm feeling all ticked off no matter what lately. I need a vacation or something.

I think it has a lot to do with the school situation. Not that the school adviser's screw up changed much, it just changed my perception. And my perception has really fouled up my mood. I just need to accept what has come and take it like a man. Its not like her incompetence has changed what I need to do. I need to graduate, and the requirements to do so haven't changed. It just comes down to perception and I don't know why I'm being such a baby instead of just moving on with it.

Perception. When starting up school I thought I had 3 years of 3 semesters a year and 6 credits a semester. That was never true. I thought it was, but it wasn't. I had just less than 4 years at that rate. 66 credits not 56 credits has always been the requirement, I just didn't know it. I kept telling myself, "Buckle down for 3 years, you can do this for three years." Just recently I was telling myself, "you're doing great, your halfway through, you're pulling A's. Just keep it up for another year and a half and you'll be done." After this semester I'll have done 26 credits 26/56 or 26/66. Is there really that much of a difference? 46% done to 39% done? Well I never was the 46%. I just thought I was.

When I found out the truth, I felt like a year had been stolen from me. A whole year stolen! But who took it? No one, the school requirements were always the same. No one stole a thing from me. I may have been misled, but otherwise I haven't been wronged in any way. But I still feel pissed off.

I need to get over it.

Roundup

The Good News: I scored well on the exam I took Friday. I saw Quantum of Solace, the new Bond flick, on Saturday. It was fun. Got to go on a date with my wife. That was great. Edit: oh and in the stress of the moment I forgot the most exciting news of it all! Cookie Monster is READING. Read all about it on Superwomans blog.

The Bad News: The academic adviser I was working with is an idiot. At my current pace of around 6 credit hours a semester, I was supposedly on track to graduate in Summer 2010. 5 semesters (including summers) from now. Wrong-o I sat down and looked at what I needed to graduate, just to double check. What I came up with didn't match at all what my adviser had came up with. Huh? "This is very, very, bad!", I thought. I drew up a new graduation schedule, with my best guess at what I would need. It was significantly more than what the adviser had said. Having asked around, this is pretty much standard expectations with this lady, completely incompetent. How she keeps her job I'll never know, but I'll bet it has something to do with affirmative action. I won't be going to see her again, EVER!

I had the meeting with a different adviser today. Somehow the old adviser 'missed' 4 upper division electives which I have to have done to graduate. So instead of around 6 credits a semester I'll have to take around 9 credits a semester (and six my last summer) to graduate when I wanted to, or I can tack on another year to graduation. This really hurt. The truth hurts, and ignorance is bliss. I'm just glad I found out now, and not when I was applying to graduate.

So now I have a decision to make I can: a) Start doing more than I'm already doing and take the 9 credits a semester. or b) Keep taking 6 credits, what I'm already doing, for an extra year, graduating in 2011 instead of 2010. My gut feel is a is more appealing than b, I just want to be out of this stage of life! But then there is all the what ifs. What if it is too much and I ruin my GPA? What if ruin my health taking on more than I can do? What if those few extra credits will be the ones which will be too much? The straws that break the camel's back?

I have no idea what I'm going to do. I guess I have until January to make a decision, I've registered for the higher number of credits for the time being. I can always remove a class before the semester begins. Hopefully by then I'll have some inkling of which option will be better for me and my family. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!

Northrend

Well I did indeed skip the midnight release of the World of Warcraft Expansion. I chose instead to get 3 hours of studying in and a square 8 hours of sleep.

Did anyone go get their expansion and hop on last night? How was the lag? I can't wait to get my copy (already paid for, just waiting at the store) tomorrow.

God Bless the Vets

Thank you Veterans.

Tagged By Big Sis, and the big weekend.

Well the weekend went all right, as in I survived it.



Now on to a meme that BigSis wanted me to do a while ago, but I had forgotten all about till just now. So here goes.



The Bucket List---- place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. This is for your entire life.


(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
(X) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
(X) Been on the Opposite Side of the Country
( ) Gone to Washington, DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only?
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
(X) Made prank phone-calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors
(X) Gone to the movies
( ) Went Bungie Jumping
( ) Went Sky Diving
(X) Ever been Heart Broken
(X) Went Skiing - cross country
(X) Climbed a Mountain
(X) Played a Sport - Soccer and Basketball in middle school.

A second meme? ah well, here goes.

1. Any nicknames? Dad and Honey, Those count right?

2. Mother's name? Mommy, Miss you Mom!

3. Favorite drink? Coca Cola

4. Body Piercings? None

5. Tattoos? Nope

6. How much do you love your job? I like it. I get to write in code to a computer all day.

7. Birthplace? Denver, CO

8. Favorite vacation spot? Anywhere that isn't school or work.

9. Favorite place you have ever been? Northern Wilderness.

10. What is the Craziest thing you have ever done or want to do? Trying Haggis comes to mind, haven't tried it yet but would like to.

11. Ever been on TV? I think I was on the news when I was a kid, sitting in the front row of some school program. My family has been in the Newspaper many times because of the work my mom did with the mentally and physically disabled.

12. Ever steal any traffic signs? Uh... when I was growing up in Oregon a teenage kid pulled out a stop sign and waited till it caused an accident. The accident injured a mom and killed at least one of her kids, I was eight at the time and my memory is kinda shaky on the specifics, but not the horror of it all. I've never had the desire to remove any traffic devices because of that..

13. Ever been in a car accident? Yes

14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? Family vehicle is a minivan 3 door. Normally I'm on the bus.

15. Favorite number? 4 soon to be 5 as our family grows again.

16. Favorite movie? LOTR trilogy is pretty good.

17. Favorite food? Sushi.

18. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

19. Favorite Season? I don't have one.

20. Dream Car? Lincoln Town Car

21. Number of Places you have lived? HMmm.... 1, 2..... 18.

22. How do you relax? Playing Wow while walking on the treadmill, reading, hanging with the fam.

23. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully enjoying life to the fullest.

24. Favorite Smell? wow, I'll have to think about that. I dunno.

25. Favorite Sound? The Cacophony that erupts after I say, "Daddies Home"! Both kids go nuts and the bird does too. I love that. Superwoman is happy to see me 99% of the time, but she doesn't tend to make as much noise about it (as we grown ups tend to not yell as much), but sometimes after I shut the door, she'll tell the kids, "I think Daddy is home" and that leads to the same eruption.

26. Favorite Color? Purple

27. Who will respond to this the fastest? One of the two people who still read this blog after the scandal gate post. LOL.

28. Furthest place you will send this message? As far as the internet will take it.



(Edit moved down from above) I didn't get the 'A' I was hoping for on my test. Hopefully the professor will have a bit of mercy on us. I doubt it, but I'm hoping anyway since I studied about 20 hours for this test alone. (It was too many details to get down in any amount of time. From what I understand, the professor who made up the tests {and used to teach the course} would give a lot of hints at which details would actually show up on the test. The professor standing in for the class doesn't do this. But insists on sticking exactly to the old professors grading system. So we get all of the drawbacks and none of the benefits to the old professor's style, it sucks) (Edit, I got the high score for the class, and the test will most likely be curved instead of grading off of raw score. Hooray!)

I spoke, (gave a mini 15/20 minute sermon) in church on Sunday. I didn't have time to prepare as much as I would of liked, but all things considered I think I did OK. Or so I hope.

I finished my programming assignment and a bunch of other random un-notables, and helped Superwoman get the dog off to a better home, where she would actually get the attention she deserved.

All in all I didn't do anything up to the standard I like doing things, but considering I got everything I needed to done, I'll take it.

I hate weekends like this.

Right now I'd really like to blog. Politics, humor, food or anything! But I don't have the time.

I'm stuck studying for a test that is sure to be woefully nit picky. (Like; name the main difference between the 802.3 and the Ethernet II Frame Headers. I have 17 pages of other fun little distinctions like this to memorize by tomorrow, shoot me) Normally after a Friday test I can look forward to a relaxing weekend. Not so this weekend. After the test I have assignments and other obligations that will swallow my weekend. :P blech, I just keep hoping this school thing will be worth it.

As a side note - Wrath of the Lich King, a World of Warcraft expansion, comes out Tuesday(Edit: Thursday, boy I'm out of it). On Monday (Edit: Wednesday) night I was gonna stand in line with some of my buddies to get it at midnight, but the more I think about it the less appealing it sounds. I think I'm gonna stay home and get some sleep instead. ... I'm getting old. (Edit: I can't even keep the days of the week straight anymore, I think I'm definitely choosing sleep over Midnight releases)

Where the hell is that card & election day.

Edit: The card has gone international, Sans the Scot is next up for the card


Wow is it over yet? No we have a full day of politics ahead of us. I haven't even voted yet. Of course it 12:10 in the morning, so duh, of course we have a full day ahead of us, all but 10 minutes by my time :).

But who the hell cares about the election? Everyone wants to know Where the Hell is that Card? Well its here in Utah by way of Alabama by way of East Undershirt..., where will it go next? Check out the pictures below to see all the juicy goodness the previous recipients have packed in. As for what I add... ask for the card.


Outside of the original card of cutesy cats.





Slacky back to the original card. You know for being a slacker, Jen sure added a ton.


I'm pretty sure Nobody added this one.


More fun blogger glory.


A postcard from Phillay (get LA Philay, ha ha.. er nevermind)


Skyler and Skyler's Dad


Midleah's classic SNL addition.

Official rules & regulations:
• When You Get "The Card"post a photograph/scan of it's arrival & contents
AND post these official rules available here
• Ask readers to leave a comment if they want the card next
• Pick the blogger who is worthy
• THEN add your name / url plus a
nice message or creative addition to the card
• Include a copy of the official rules with the card
• Send it on it's way to the next worthy recipient
• Send it out fast..
- no putting it on the mantle an admiring it for 3 weeks...
• Can a blogger who has already received the card - be sent the card again? - Yes!
• What if there is no room left on the card? -
ADD A NEW PAGE - IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!

Who is the next blogger that wants this über cool collection of blogger goodness?

As an interesting side note the cool little card seems to have passed from a liberal to a conservative to a liberal to me (a conservative), since it's election day lets keep it going. Basically I think it would be fun to send this to any liberals out there, shouldn't be too hard to find.

Oh yeah, election day, check this out. After two years of campaigning at least there is something to show for it.

In case you want to see the chain in it's entirety I think I have it.
Amy- Mish Mash
Jen - Casual Slack
Teri - Family Tree Junkie
Skyler's Dad
Nobody
Midleah - Screaming Shrew
Sushiboy - youre here already.
Who will be next?

Scandalgate

Troopergate? Tomorrow it will be wardrobe-gate. Seems like the suffix -gate gets assigned to anything that the press perceives as scandal, but only if it has something to do with the Grand Ol' Party. Now the GOP is by no means perfect, but neither is the DNC. Its just their scandals never get the gate-treament, which is a shame, because there is a whole political party's worth of scandals just begging for the gate suffix.

Sushiboy's Scandalgate List
(scandals that shoulda been dubbed with the infamous gate)
(click on the Titlegates for the storygates)

Bootygate: This term could could apply to any number of philandering cases. But the shoe fits best for Detroit's own Kwame Kilpatrick. Who had an affair, lied about it, then beat up a deputy assisting in the investigation. This man could make a rap video just with his press footage alone. Its got booty, arrogance, ridiculous slang, and beating down a cop, all it needs is bling (I'm sure its in there somewhere but since he isn't a female republican candidate it probably won't catch the attention of the press) It's like 10 scandals in one. It's too bad they don't issue life sentences for in-your-face-arrogant-stupidity. Kwame Killpatrick, I herewith dub your mega scandal as Bootygate.

Chemogate: Nothing funny here. John Edwards is the lowest of the low. He was off doing another women when he should have been there for his wife as she was fighting for her life. Enough said, this guy is more toxic than chemo any day. His actions are indefensible. Maybe he was just warm up to re-enter the high priced defense lawyer trade again. Scum.

Eskimo(ney)-Pie-Gate: Most scandals involve a long a convoluted money trail. William Jefferson kept it simple, his trail went from the freezer to the couch at best. (who keeps 90 grand in the fridge?) How he got re-elected I'll never know. If you live in New Orleans hopefully you'll vote the corrupt ol' fart out this week. He should just resign and save the democrats some face. If he was a Republican he would have been savaged out of office by the press. (and rightfully so) But he's not so hopefully the voters will do their job. Oh and if by some awful miscarriage of Justice this idiot gets off the FBI says he was involved in at least seven other schemes. This guy will be in court long after his $90,000 Eskimo(ney) Pie has melted.

(Speaking of Eskimos, Ted Stevens Senator of Alaska should resign and bow out of the race to save the Republicans up there the pain of voting for a Democrat to get rid of him, if not I'm sure the press will be ready to take him down, they are there already up there for Palin after all, troopergate was just a quasi-scandal this is the real deal, but at least they'll be warmed up)


Stuffingate: Stuffing your bra is usually not scandal material, its more of an insecurity issue. But when Dianne Wilkerson stuffed her bra with bribe money, that is a scandal! LOL I guess even the freezer sounds like a good place to store your bribe money when compared to stuffing it in your bra. What is she, a Stripper? I wonder if she has $20 bills slid into her panties too? UH... on second thought, I don't want to know. But I don't envy the guy that had to take her bail payment.

Fanniegate when Obama's "family" relationship to the powers that led to our current housing crisis are finally common knowledge. Lending Money to Minorities and underpriviledged people is worth it, only so far as they can repay it. Otherwise it is a terrible hoax. If you can't pay it back you get your house repossessed and ruin your credit. How does foreclosure help our less privileged get ahead? How has it hurt the rest of us.

Sub-Prime lending treated a symptom not the cause. If people can't afford houses, their are two ways to fix that. Help them be trained to make more money, or help the prices of houses to level off. Sub Prim Lending did nothing, and due to speculators being able to get these risky loans to flip houses, the price of homes SPIKED dramatically, well beyond the inflation and salary rates they used to be tied so closely to. If you want housing for the poor, help the poor to afford housing through education and creating jobs, don't just force the banks to lower the standards for receiving a loan.

Senator Obama sued banks that wouldn't didn't initially give into the Sub-Prime lending calling them racists. They weren't racist, they were trying to keep their bank operating in a way to make some money instead of losing it. Even George's administration saw the writing on the wall on this one as early as 2001 and tried to change the way these loans were handled. Maxine Waters, Gregory Meeks and Barney Frank said over and over again NOTHING is WRONG with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Well we know now that they were dead wrong. Obama was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, mostly (subprime lending isn't a good idea barack ol' buddy), but lined up for the hand outs that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were doling to keep people off their backs. Affordable Housing was a crock. Now we get to pay the piper, regardless of whose fault it is.

Four years from now, I think the majority that seems to like Obama will be singing a different tune. I for one want to point out now. Its not my fault, I voted for John McCain.




Note: This isn't a dig so much the Democratic party so much as it was a opportunity for me to apply the "GATE" title to scandals that I think deserve it. The Republican ones have been taken. I do not think one side is always right and one is always wrong. The classic partisanship offered up by Rush Limbaugh and Micheal Moore is laughable and reminds me of the one dimensional characters offered up in old time melodramas. I do not like Obama, and I do not think he is a good choice to lead the country. But I don't see Senator Obama as all bad, nor do I see Mr. McCain as all good, I voted for another GOP candidate in the primary. But I think that Senator Obama's economic policies make George W. seem genius, they often sound nice, but they just don't work when in practice, throwing money at the symptoms instead of the causes. They don't make sense to me. But its your vote and your choice, my vote my choice, and tomorrow we'll have our chance to speak and in four years and in forty years, we'll know if we made a good decision.



Actions taken against the idiots mentioned above by the DNC or members of the DNC)
Jennifer Grayholm (Democrat and Governor of Michigan) seemed poised to remove Kwame from office if he didn't resign.

John Edwards will hopefully no longer be relevant in politics of any party.

The Democratic Party wants to be rid of ol' Eskimo William as bad as I do, William won despite actions of the democratic party (so vote him out already!) including endorsing a rival, and removing him from any and all house committees. But the people of New Orleans keep electing this bozo to represent them. No wonder all the FEMA aid is getting doled out to other areas. This guy is too busy padding his portfolio to get them what the need.

Messing with my blog template.

I'll be messing with my blog template over the coming weeks. Nevermind the man behind the curtain. I was envying the Follow Blog Feature that Midleah has been using. I want it. So it's time to revamp so I can get it.

If your not on my blog list, never fear, your still below on daily reads, I just ran out of time to mess around with things.

*Sigh*

I haven't worked on my pinball design since the summer. I don't know if I'll ever get it done. I guess the treadmill project snuck in and took the pinball project's place.

Prayers and thoughts.

A friend/coworker of mine and his family could use any thoughts, prayers and positive energy you are willing to give.



Their twins came about a trimester early and have a long road ahead of them. Both will probably be in the NICU for at least a month as they struggle to gain weight and build their immune systems. Get status updates here.

The Exercise Entertainment Center

I'm writing this from my new treadmill/computer set up. I first mentioned this crazy idea in a previous post. Well I have the guts of it together, and while it isn't pretty, it is functional.

A couple of observances.

Typing and walking at the same time is not as difficult as I thought it would be.

Typing and walking cuts my wpm in about half.

I can walk 2 miles an hour indefinitely.

I am still very out of shape.

I probably look like the worlds biggest dork as I do this.

My old keyboard needs cleaned

I used to swear by CRT's now I think I like my flat screen lcd's better.

Here are some pictures.

Made of Sushi

MEMEmeme

Tagged by Scarlet

A. 4 places I go to over and over:
Work, School, Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Sushi/Japanese eateries.

B. 4 people that email me regularly:
Other Ham Radio Operators, Work type people, Canadian Pharmaceutical Scam Artists, other students in school.

C. 4 favorite foods:
Japanese, Mexican, Bacon, BBQ.

D. 4 things I'd like to do:
Sleep, earn good grades, graduate, be a good dad/husband.

E. 4 people I think will respond:
Midleah, Teri, BigSis, J (Hoosiergirl)

F. 4 things I did yesterday:
Taught a training session for a group of our customers, Homework, Read up on the housing crisis, missed Superwoman.



Tagged by Big Sis

Answer these with just one word.


1. Where is your cell phone? œther

2. Where is your significant other? Home

3. Your hair color? Auburn

4. Your mother? Heaven

5. Your father? Same

6. Your favorite thing? Sushi

7. Your dream last night? Blank

8. Your dream/goal? Secret

9. The room you’re in? Office

10. Your hobby? Video-Games

11. Your fear? Socialism

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Japan

13. Where were you last night? Work-till-late

14. What you’re not? Stupid

15. One of your wish-list items? Free-Time

16. Where you grew up? Utah

17. The last thing you did? Meme (see above)

18. What are you wearing? Glasses

19. Your TV? HD

20. Your pet? Parrot

21. Your computer? On

22. Your mood? Stressed

23. Missing someone? No

24. Your car? Bus

25. Something you’re not wearing? Manzier/Bro

26. Favorite store? Book

27. Your summer? Tiring

28. Love someone? Family

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday

31. Last time you cried? Uh...?


Tagged, no one.

The Internet Is a dangerous, dangerous place.

There are times were even the most savvy internet user finds something that shakes them to the core. I had one of those experiences today. Click Here if you dare.

Autum weekend.

I took a test Friday. The first Midterm for me this semester. After the exam I wasn't feeling quite right. I came home and went to bed. Next day I was sick. Sick Saturday. Sick Sunday. REALLY Sick Monday. Still-sick-but-on-the-mend today.

Today Superwoman's kind mother came down and helped us out in the yard. I was at work and school and didn't see the results until I got home. She mowed the lawn (that I didn't get to Saturday) and got the garden ready for winter. Lots of work. Thanks Super-Grandma!

When I got home everyone wanted to go on a picnic. I wanted to stay home, but spending time with Superwoman and the kids comes few and far between lately, so I went cold and all. We went to a local pond and ate fried chicken and chips and then fed the ducks day old bakery bread.

The ducks -the bigger ones who are about the size of Cakes- were a little aggressive tonight. There were two white ones in particular that kept charging the kids, I would drive them off, but the kids kept getting scared, and dropping the bread, instead of throwing it, which encouraged the ducks to come closer.... which scared the kids etc... Well eventually one of the big white (almost goose sized) ducks had enough of waiting, and decided to take Cakes for all the bread she was worth. It charged her from close range. Instead of dropping the bread, she ran off screaming with the bread in hand trailing behind her. The duck bit her hand and Cakes was very upset. (she is fine, no skin was broken, but I do think it hurt a bit) She sat on my shoulders the rest of the time.

About that time Cookie Monster caught on to the idea that ducks/geese are cowards and that if you charge back, they will run off. He spent the rest of the evening chasing down the ducks and geese. Pretty much tormenting them (not physically). The geese looked like they were getting a little sick of it. I was sure if he kept it up that the geese were going to mount an uprising. We finally managed to convince him there were better things to do before he got flocked. :)

I've got another test this week. Tests, to a student like me, are sources of a lot of stress. People laugh because I always get good grades, and wonder why I get worked up about them. But in my case the stress helps me to do well, I'd rather have that stress with the good grade which comes with it, than earning a bad grade and being stressed about that after the test. Hopefully I don't give myself an ulcer.

Good News

Hey all. I've been trying to find good news starring the average Joe/Jane. Its hard. You can find it about celebrities all the time. (probably because it is so rare for them individually, and partly because they tip off the press for their image. Most people don't.) And most of the news doesn't make it past the local level.

So in short. I need nominations for Human of the Week. But I know your busy. So whenever you hear something, hopefully you can think, "I should forward that to Sushiboy", and then do it. I would be very grateful. Thanks!

Basshunter

The new Basshunter album came out yesterday. <(^^,)>

As many of you know, I'm really into electronic-dance music. Its not something that has really caught on here in the states. Sure we've had some hits make it through, like Such Great Heights, and Starry Eyed Surprise etc.. but it has been and continues to be mostly a European and Asian thing.

Basshunter is more club-ey with a throbbing beat that definitely is not for everybody. But this album is mostly English (accented but not bad) which might draw more people than his previous work. If you like this sort of thing check it out. I've listened to it 4 times already, its great.

Who has the time?

..... Not me. I was meaning to post over the weekend. About what? I have no idea, I had an idea floating around but it has since left me and I'm not sure there is room enough in my head for it to return. It ended up being a busy weekend.

Friday Superwoman and the kids picked me up to from work and we to a case lot sale. Which is when a store sells a case of cans/pasta/whatever at a discounted price. A great way to get the essentials like spaghetti, ketchup, canned veggies and the like.

After that we went to the mall to pre-order Wrath of the Lich King which is the next installment/expansion to World of Warcraft. While there we also looked for a tv wall mount, to mount a computer monitor (old crt) to the wall. We didn't find one, but I did find an updated version to a classic old game, Payday. I played this all the time as a kid.

Then we went to The Home Depot where I did find the a CRT (instead of flat panel) TV wall mount. They are getting harder and harder to find. By then it was late and we got the kids home for dinner and bed.

On Saturday we went for a drive around the Nebo Loop for a picnic and to enjoy the mountain scenery with the leaves changing colors. Then Big'Sis and Grizz treated us to a Teppanyaki dinner, MMMMM. I had a program due to be turned in online the next day and I was up till 3 AM working on it. I didn't get it done.

Sunday was no less busy with church and a family get together. I worked on my programming assignment during every spare second of the day, at midnight I finally had it right, but I stayed up another hour and a half trying to help a friend that was also having problems with it.

Between all that I completely lost my topic for post. :) So Monday instead of blogging I started working on my program due next week, in case it was as intense as the last one. It wasn't, I had it done in about 3 hours.

So I'm through 4 weeks of the current semester. I have the option of finishing two of my classes early, if I can handle the added workload of getting ahead. That would be nice as the baby is due to come about 2 weeks ahead of the end of the semester. So far I'm about a month ahead in one class, a week and a half ahead in another, and right on schedule with my third.

I guess it is something.

It isn't enough! <- Click for story. But it's something, and something is better than the litany of "Non binding resolutions" that have plagued the 110th congress.

Interesting Idea on how to lose some weight.

So I've been gaining weight over the past year. In between 30 and 40 pounds. I'm not so concerned about the weight as I am the upward trend. As long time readers may also know, I also play a game called World of Warcraft.

If I can do it cheaply I would like to rig up my exercise bike like this treadmill. Not to lose weight, but halt this sudden upsurge in pounds and to redistribute the weight I have gained over the past year from my belly area to my arms and legs. Wish me luck.

September 11th

Help heal by doing something kind for someone who is different from you today.

Human of the Week #1 Winners

Rosetta Ragusa Wins !


With an honorable mention to Dara Torres. She is awesome and deserves it.


Congratulations to our esteemed winners for being fine human beings and for making the world a better place.

The voting was close and I'm not sure how to count Teri's vote, she said "Same for me, #3" (in reference to Superwoman's comment above?) So I'm not sure if she was voicing admiration for Dara and voting for Rosetta. So the above is what I came up with (counting my vote for Rosetta).

As it turns out... good news is hard to find. I will run this feature as often as I can find time to research these outstanding individuals.

Thanks for your votes. If you know of a person who is outstanding... (in the news or not, I don't care) Please nominate said person. (or group)

Human of the Week #1

For the average Joe/Jane that goes out of their way to make our world a better place.

Nominee #1 Spanish Pilot reroutes take off to avoid flying relatives of crash victims over crash sight.

Nominee #2 OK so right now Dara Torres isn't your average Jane. But 6 months ago she was and a year from now she may be again. But I'm sure she'll keep up her amazing sportsmanship.

Nominee #3 Rosetta Ragusa is raising money to help orphans the world over.

_

Vote on your favorite human in the comments. I'll keep voting open until Tuesday of Next Week. The Winner(s) will be announced on Wednesday.

If you know of an average Jane/Joe that deserves a nomination for this award. Please send me an e-mail.

Sidebar

My sidebar is out of date..... I apologize.

I have quite a few people I need to add and quite a few of you have moved to wordpress or the like and I just haven't gotten around to changing it. My bad.

If you have a particular way you would like the text of your link to read, let me know by e-mail or in the comments. I usually just pick the name/handle of your the author and arrange them roughly alphabetically. (but superwoman will always be first)

If you don't appear in my sidebar but would like to, please let me know.

As a side note, There will be no Queen of Everything section. Sorry to disappoint anyone :)

After that I plan on trying to get Friday Field Trips up and running again if I can.

This year I've...

Today I saw a young woman and her mother on the bus on their way to the university orientation. Although I wasn't a freshman (I went back to school as a senior credit-wise) I was new to the institution and attended orientation last year anyway. I remember feeling really old. There I was 30 years old (yes I know that's still young) in a room full of 18 year-old's who were so excited to be 'in college'. I found someone with a kid and a stroller and sat with him. We were both going back to school after long hiatuses. Together we weathered a rousing round of shouting the school initials and other activities targeted to the students over a decade younger than I am. I wasn't sitting there thinking, "this is so stupid.", but try I as I might I just couldn't get excited. I sat there wondering what in the world had I gotten myself into, but I was determined to do well. I felt like, and I still do, that this is my last real chance to finish my degree and have it really help my career. That was a year ago, give or take a day or two.

Since then I've....


Completed 19 credits of coursework. Engineering Analysis (basically Linear Algebra and Differential Equations), Embedded Systems (i.e. how to design a computer system for a car, cell phone or alarm system etc), Computer Organization and Architecture, Digital Design II, Ethics and Values, and Statistics.

I've been undertaking 6 credits a semester, but I took 7 over the summer.

So far I've maintained straight A's.

This February I worked myself into the ground. I was really sick for two weeks and my work was kind enough to let me go into negative vacation and sick time. I'm still not out of the hole 6 months later.

I gave up caffeine for two months after I got sick. It seemed to help. Now I'm as addicted as ever. I think its time to give it up for a while again, if not for good.

I dropped from 40 hours a week to anywhere from 40 to 32 hours a week at work. Usually closer to 32 hours. I miss the money, but it is a lot better on my health and nerves and everything else. At 32 at least I get to keep us insured. Paying for gas about bankrupts us, and we only have one vehicle to fill. I ride the bus, if I didn't I don't think we would be able to afford the cut in paychecks.

I've found out that I am still a competitive student. I thought I might have a hard time competing with the younger, single, unemployed, childless students with more free time to study and all of that youthful energy. If anything I'm a better student now than I ever was before. I think it is because I am more motivated, I see my wife and kids and I can't help but be motivated to do well.

I needed 55 credits to graduate, depressing, considering I had around 100 transfer credits and a lot of other stuff didn't transfer. Now I'm down to 36 credits and have two full years left. I'm not quite halfway, but I'm pleased with how much I got done this year, if you can spare some prayers, I could use them on my behalf for the coming two years.

Last night I was up till 4 in the morning just wasting time (playing Klondike solitaire on my iPod of all things). I didn't want to go to bed, it felt like if I stayed awake my vacation would last longer. It seems like the two week vacation that I have had from school has gone by in a blink. I don't want it to end. But it will end, and soon. Come to think of it this entire year has gone by quite quickly, I've been so busy that it wasn't until this morning, when I saw that young lady excitedly anticipating the opening of this chapter of her life, that I really realized how much has happened in the last year, and how much time has passed.

Idiot of the Week #2 Results

The masses have voted and George Lucas is the loser with the most votes.

Where the other candidates look up to Darth Vader and the Emperor, they can't compete with Vader's and the Emperor's creator, the big bad Sith himself. George Lucas.

Idiot of the Week #2

Nominee #1 Vladimir Putin. Georgia didn't need attacked. Thanks for bringing the cold war back numb-nuts. If this is his Olympic Spirit of brotherhood, I'd hate to catch him in a bad mood.

Nominee #2 The idiot(s) in China in charge of the Olympic games. Lip Syncing, underage athletes and fake fireworks to name a few.

Nominee #3 George Lucas. Notice the more he micromanages a movie by animation the more the movie sucks? (the made for TV animation not included, movies only) The new animated movie looks to be the worst yet. I'd cry, but I burned all the emotion I could on Star Wars after Episode II.


Vote in the comments. Losers announced Monday.

Sushiboy A to Z

First with the A's

I recieved my final grades for the summer and I earned an A in Stats. I'm very happy about this A as I worked very hard for it.

Second I have been tagged by the sexy and wonderful Superwoman with the ABC's of me. So here goes:

Attached? Very. To Superwoman and extra glued by our two (soon to be three) rugrats.
Best Friend? Superwoman.
Cake or Pie? Uh, yuck. I like meat pies. I don't really go for sweet cakes and pies.
Day of Choice? Saturday. My day off. I try to have everything, homework, work, church stuff, all out of the way so I can have Saturday with my family or to myself. Occasionally yard work creeps in.
Essential Item? A large supply of cola.
Favorite color? Purple
Gummy bears or worms? Worms are a lot more fun to eat.
Hometown? Born in CO. Live in Utah.
Indulgence? Sushi, Cool Ranch Doritos, Bratwurst, Steak, Coca Cola, Salmon/Tuna
January or July? July, its hard to grill in January
Kids? Yes. Cookie Monster, Cakes, one in the oven.
Life isn't complete.... alone.
Marriage Date? Thirteenth of May.
Number of Brothers and Sisters? 2 Brothers, 1 Sister. My sister is the only one still living.
Oranges or Apples? Uh, tie.
Phobias? That Superwoman will die.
Quote? The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -- Albert Einstein
Reasons to Smile? My wife and kids, home in general, good grades, a good meal, a good book and a good friend.
Season of Choice? Er uh, .... hmmm I'm not sure that I have one. I think it would be early winter and late fall. I love the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I love curling up by the fire with a warm blanket and good book and hot chocolate listening to festive music. That time sucks in college cause I usually have about 50 projects due, but if I can take the time to savor it, I think I like that time the best.
Tag Seven People? No .... I don't care to tag anyone right now.
Unknown Fact? I'd rather do something creative than I would math or science. I think that is why I like engineering because I get to build things and be creative, and I still get to use some other skills I'm good at.
Vegetable? Winter Squashes.
Worst habits? I can be really annoying. I have a sharp tongue, I can say some really cutting things.
X-Ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound, lotsa happy memories there (very fun to see my babies). X-rays memories are mostly painful, (but it is cool to see my bones)
Your favorite food? SUSHI
Zodiac sign? Taurus - Not that it matters anyways.

There you have it! thank you and good day!

The funeral and work.

The funeral was a bit exhausting. We drove around 24 hours in two days time, but the services were good, and worth all the driving. We dropped off the kids with my cousin and his wife. Big Grizz and Big Sis' rode in the van with Superwoman and I. I'm sure they are sick of us by now.

I missed work Monday and I'm trying to make up hours so I don't have to work very much on Saturday. Not what I had in mind to do with my vacation from school, but again, going to the funeral was worth it.

I haven't unloaded my camera, so pictures will have to wait. My Grandmother and Grandfather (on my mothers side) ran a ranch in the high country of Idaho near Salmon Idaho and the Montana border. It is beautiful up there, even though the weather can be harsh. It's been more than a decade since I have been up there and it was nice to go back.

I took my final for Stats Thursday of last week. I'm a little nervous that I didn't do as well as I would like and that I will no longer have a 4.0 Grade Point Average. Its nice having the class out of the way, but I hate waiting for the results.

Statistics Final.

It's over, I'm tired.

Tuesday Tip

Never take a mathematics course over the summer.


I may start posting again come August, when I finish this contemptible class.

Pinball

I like pinball.

I'd like to build a machine, like this table,

Cabin Fever


Or this one,

Coconut Island


I have 3 problems however:

Time - I have none of that.

Money - Sadly I think I may have more money than time (and I don't have much money).

Space - If you have a pinball table, it should be seen and played (especially if you built it), I don't know where I would put a pinball machine.

Despite these (HUGE) drawbacks, I think I'm going to give it a shot. Maybe I can get a professor at school to sign off on it as a Senior project. Maybe not.

We'd like something that looks at good as the top table (video), but a little more complicated (probably still less complicated than the bottom one) for our first foray into pinball engineering.


Currently we are trying to design a table using Future Pinball.

Maybe I should just play golf instead. Who knows?

Crazy Eights

Tagged by MidLeah, this one looks like a lot of fun, so.....

Eight Things I Have A Passion For:

1. Sushi
2. My Family
3. Music. Most kinds, mostly isn't popular, but I like some popular music that fits my blend.
4. Academics. If I am going to learn something I want to learn it well.
5. Golf. A recent addition. I don't like the stuck up, hoighty toighty, elitist aspect of it. I like the act of playing a simple yet challenging game in the great scenery. Golf relaxes me, even though I am not very good at it.
6. Dancing.
7. Foreign Cultures and Cuisine
8. Computers, the inner workings is fun stuff

Eight Things I Would Like To Do Before I Die:

1. Visit Japan
2. Write a Novel and Have it Published
3. Graduate, at least with my Bachelors
4. See, know and love my grandkids.
5. Own a library with some signed editions of my favorite books.
6. Contribute something meaningful to the World, doesn't need to be big, if it is a legacy that helps out my kids it will be enough.
7. See people live in a some state of harmony. Not just among nations, among individuals, nations would follow. Follow the Golden Rule and all that kind of stuff.
8. Own some land, make it look nice, make it available for others to enjoy.

Eight Things I Say A Lot:

1. "I need a Coke"
2. "Cut it out kids"
3. "I love you" (and always will Superwoman and kids)
4. "Mercy"
5. "Honey, may I get _________."
6. "Who wants to play a game?"
7. "Is it 6:30 already?"
8. Greek letters in correlation to their scientific meaning.

Eight Books I Have Read Recently:

1. Twilight
2. Golf: For Dummies
3. The Street Lawyer
4. The Rainmaker
5. Naruto #1 - #6
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
7. Flags of Our Fathers
8. More Textbooks than I can count

Eight Movies I Have Seen Eight Times:

1. Clear and Present Danger
2. Happy Gilmore
3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
4. The Rainmaker
5. Muppets in Space
6. A Muppet Christmas Carol
7. Saving Private Ryan
8. All my Jackie Chan Flicks

Eight Bloggers I'll Tag

1. Superwoman
2. HooseirGirl
3. Trucking Dude
4. Tug
5. Jen
6. Teri
7. Nobody
8. Zed

Wow I was all philosophical. That's what happens when I don't have any bounds, I go and get all idealistic.

Idiot of the Week Winners (Week 1)

The results are in ----

James Fagan Loses with 5 votes for his gentle hands with the youth of America.

Robert Mugabe is a mediocre second with 3 votes. Forget his knighthood, he lost his manhood by not being able to run a campaign without murdering and beating the opposition down.

Hulk and the gang came in last with two votes. But don't feel bad Hulk, I'm sure if you had the motivation to become a lawyer or a dictator of an African Country you would commit idiocy on an award winning level.


Thank you to all that voted. Feel free to nominate your favorite idiot for this week's vote.

Idiot of the Week

Doctor Mom is MIA .... STILL! ...

... So I don't feel too bad about blatantly stealing her idiot of the week contest. Chances are I won't be nearly as diligent about getting one up every week like she did. In fact this may be the only one.


Nominee #1

Representive James Fagan of Mass. He is a defense attorney and a state legislator. "I'm gonna rip them apart," Fagan said of young victims during his testimony on the bill. "I'm going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they’re 8 years old, they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.” OK defend your client, fine, but don't rape the victims again. Jerk.

Nominee #2

The Hogan (Hulk and his Estranged wife) parents, for..... well just being themselves mainly. The jail tapes and dating teenagers... .... ... No links for them. I don't want to fund their crazy lives.

Nominee #3

Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe's Dictator.

Vote by posting a reply or sending an e-mail. The voting ends Sunday. Winner (Loser) posted on Monday.

Grain Mill

Superwoman and I are in the market for a grain mill. Does anybody have any advice?

Life, Death and Sushiboy

I'm not sure how to start this post off other than to say it might be lengthy. Read on if you have some time. I think I've started and scrapped some version of this post a dozen times. I just didn't have the courage to write about it or post it. Crabacuracha posted her touching story about her relationship with her father and I was really inspired by her bravery and openness. Thanks LaC. Shortly after her excellent post I've had a few more brushes with death. The first, one of my best friends father passed on. Which, along with LaC's post, brought back many of the emotions and feelings I felt when my own parents passed away. Then someone I know took their own life, and that brought back the time in which I almost took my life, and how glad I am that I didn't.

I can tell you the exact moment that my mother died. I don't know the hour, minute and second, but that moment is memorialized in my mind. Mom was fighting her second battle with cancer, and this time there was no chance that she would beat it. Barring that, she fought with everything she had, largely, she admitted to me, for me. She fought, she lost her hair, couldn't keep anything down other than coca-cola, and endured the living hell that is chemotherapy so that she could be around a little longer for her kids. When she was dying she was fighting. The pneumonia which was drowning her, forced her to fight for every breath. As I sat by her bed, she kept fighting and turning to look at me. Deep down I knew this was it. But I couldn't admit it. So she fought. She fought well into the night, drawing ragged, raspy breaths and looking at me with the love of a mother in her eyes. When I couldn't deny the facts any longer, I told mom that she could let go, that I would be OK. She stopped fighting and looked into my eyes until her soul left her body. I saw her empty eyes, and I felt that special space of my soul that was hers hollow and drain from me. There isn't quite anything like accompanying a departing parent, other than witnessing the birth of your children. Though one is the deepest sorrow and the other the deepest joy, the experiences are very similar, an intense spiritual experience that only has come when another human soul arrived into or departed from my life.

Like most people who look into the eyes of a dying loved one, and promise they will be OK, I wasn't entirely truthful. In my mind, from that moment on I hadn't promised I'd be ok, I'd promised I would be perfect. And for about 10 years I tried to be perfect and beat myself down mercilessly when I fell short. In most ways the promise I made to my mom has been a good thing. It forced me to grow up and accept responsibility, and more importantly I finally believed what my mom had told me time and time again, "Sushi, You can do anything you put your mind to." Mom would look me in the eye and tell me this often. I'm not sure I really ever believed her until that day. Mom was right. I'm smart. I don't know how much I accepted that before that day. It turned me a round in a lot of ways. Confidence was not a quality I possessed. But one I which began to instill from that day forward, and was a key to any success I've had since then. My intellect (humble as it is in certain areas, like spelling) is my greatest strength. One of the defining things about me is my ability to absorb information by reading. I feel a lot like Hermione Granger. The first thing I do, when trying something new, is read all about it, and then I try it. And I'm good at it. Before my promise I rarely earned any A's, not so now. There are times that I collapse under the weight of my own expectations, and that, other than the grief, is probably the hardest thing to get over.

That being said, you may think that I became suicidal after my mother passed away, after I was failing to live up to my impossible expectations. Not so. I had long before that I would never take my life. For me the hard part was knowing these deaths were looming before me.

It's the rain that I hear coming
Not a stranger or a ghost
It's the quiet of a storm approaching
That I fear the most
Innocente: Delerium

Mom was diagnosed the second time, the fatal time, my senior year of high school. We were just forced to enter my dad into a nursing home because my mom and the family couldn't take care of him anymore. Dad had been withering under the effects of Pick's disease. It came as my mother and I were planning a senior trip so that I could see Yellowstone National Park for the first time, one of my mom's favorite places. That trip never happened. The rest of the world seem stacked against me. I hadn't been a good student and wasn't looking forward to college at all, I hated construction (which is what I was doing at the time), my sister was engaged to an abusive idiot (I'm glad she married Big Grizz' instead) and worst of all in the dreary sunless future, I could see the gun primed and aimed straight at my heart. When it went off, when my parents died, I didn't think I could survive. I was in a deep as a depression as I have ever felt.

It happened one day as I was driving down a country road. I was giving my little brother a ride. I had two severely handicapped brothers, and some people may think this was another strike against my life, but my brothers were two of the only bright spots in my it. My brother saved my life. My brother, who I had taught to walk, who I'd cheered for my whole life, who I'd loved like I love my son was sitting behind me. Almost without thinking I had begun to steer a Geo-Metro into an oncoming Mack Dump truck. I looked back at my brother to say goodbye, and realized if I went, I'd take him with me. I'd murder my brother. That shook some sense into me. I took my brother home and I thought for days on suicide. I weighed the issue over and over in my mind and finally decided that was the most selfish shitty thing I could do. Was I so anxious to end it all that I almost took my brother with me? What else would I have done? I would probably have killed my dear mother. It wouldn't have been the cancer that killed mom, it would have been me. She fought for me, she lived for me, and if I would have given up, I think the end of her life, as painful as it was anyway, would have been immensely worse. My life, as little as I valued it then, I realized had real and tremendous value to my family.

I can't judge those who do end up taking their own life. It's by divine intervention that I'm alive today. If my brother hadn't been in the car, I'd of probably smashed myself and that tiny car into the grill of that dump truck. (can you imagine the emotional effect on the driver of that truck?) I know what it feels like to have no hope, no light, no promise in life other than pain. If you feel this way you may be tempted to end your life, but DON'T. As I said before, I'm no dummy. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I just about made the worst, the most final awful decision I could have ever made. I don't want to preach how about how much pain you will cause (and you undoubtedly will) if you make that decision to take your life. What I will tell you is, life is better than I ever could have hoped. When I looked into the future all I saw was the loaded gun. Yes it went off, yes it hit me, yes it hurt like hell, but there was an entire life waiting for me on the other side. A good life. A great life. If you feel no hope. Get some help. Please. Now I can see what my life is, I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I had to take it on faith for a few months. For me it is Superwoman and the kids and the little joys that are sprinkled everywhere (like blogging). Your life may hold something different entirely, but it is worth living. And you are worth more than you will ever fathom.

I know good things
I know bad as well
any witness of the world can tell

If there is sorrow
there is beauty and trust
a secret pearl inside the heart of us

So, truly there is life and I wanna see
now that I know what I am living for,
Truly there is love and I wanna feel
Here in this world is were I wanna be
cause I cant cry anymore
Truly: Delerium

Mom's death, and then Dad's and each of my brothers that followed, were inevitable. Death is a part of life, its been a big part of mine. But in the end, the best parts of my personality, what makes me who I am, were developed while I was piecing my life back together.

The recent suicide, apart from the tragedy of it all, reminded me again how blessed I am to be alive today. Please, if you think life is too hard to go on, get some help. Life is hard, no doubt about it, but it is worth it. Live it!

To Blog or Not to Blog...

There has been plenty of blog worthy stuff going on. Just haven't had the drive to post any of it. Superwoman has posted some of the interesting goings on, go check it out if you feel the urge.

Most of my spare time in the past couple of weeks I've tried to spend in bed sleeping. Last semester was a titch difficult. I think it finally caught up to me. I seem to have a mild cold I just can't seem to shake and I'm tired most of the time. (whine whine whine. I'll shut up now)

In other news, Where did you go, Truckingdude? Hopefully you'll be around even though your blog doesn't seem to be anymore. Hope all is ok.

Memorial Day

Weird Wednesday #29

(Click picture for larger image)

Posting

Did you ever feel like you really wanted to post, but any every idea you have for a post doesn't seem good enough?

Weird Wednesday #28

The Reason

I'm a happy guy and Superwoman is the reason why.
She and I have been married eight years today.
And I would feel totally ungrateful if I didn't say,
"Superwoman, You are the best thing which happened to me,
I'll love you for all of eternity."

Happy Anniversary Superwoman! I love you.

The Reason - By Q-Tex.

You are, you are, you are the reason.
You are, you are, you are the reason.
You are, you are, you are the reason.
You are, you are, you are the reason.

My head is spinning.
My feet don't touch the ground.
What is making me feel this way?
The temperature is rising,
And I feel weak, I am lost,
Forever and ever in your smile.
Forever and ever in your smile.

Aaah. When close my eyes.
Aaah. I dream of you.
Aaah. You are the reason.
Aaah. I'm falling in love with you.Yah yah.
You, Yah yah.

When I close my eyes,
I'm falling in love with you....

Special Sunday

Happy Mothers Day to my beloved Superwoman, and to all you other great mothers.

Weird Wednesday #27

Office Politics

We were having a meeting at the office today. We have something the programmers would all like to see happen, something that will need to get done regardless here in the next year or two, but will be easier for us the sooner we can get it done. I proposed a "tack on" to some other project which is likely to happen, much like corrupt senators/congressmen tack on special-interest-crap to a popular bill. At least I didn't take a bribe or a kickback to add the tack on, but still, I feel dirty. *sigh*

A Meme and some Fluff

First the Fluff

I stole this from HoosierGirl.

You Are Classical Music

You are a somewhat serious person who enjoys studying subjects deeply. Art of all kinds interests you, and a good piece of art can really effect you emotionally. You are inspired by human achievement, and you appreciate work that takes years to accomplish. For you, the finer things in life are not about snobbery - they're about quality.

What Kind of Music Are You?

Now the meme

Tagged by the fantabulous Jen at Casual Slack and the terrificous TruckingDude.

6 unspectacular quirks

1. I don't like making eye contact. I'm not sure why. Something about it is uncomfortable to me. I have to make a very conscious effort to look at people when they are talking with me. Some days I do better than others. Maybe it has something to do with #2.

2. My interests are extremely geeky. I think I do well enough with interacting with the non-geeky in society. But when it comes down to me time. When I have complete control over a leisure activity, you can almost be certain it will be something geeky. It could be Magic: The Gathering (probably my favorite game of all time), chess, Comic Books, amateur radio, reading hardcore programming manuals (imagine reading a text book for fun), World of Warcraft and when I was a kid I read the encyclopedia for fun, now I do a crossword and whenever I run across something I don't know, I look it up and learn all about it.

3. I don't make close friends easily. I think it is because I am not a very open person. I never share too much about myself. I don't know if that is because it is uncomfortable to share things about me. Or if it is because I would rather learn everything about you. Probably a combination of the two. I'm definitely more open whith my blog than I am in person.

4. I freak out if I score less than a 90% on a test. I'm slightly distressed if I earn less than a 94%. I'm never really happy unless it's 100% or very close to it. I'll probably end up giving myself a heart attack if I don't chill out a little.

5. I'm 31 and going to college. At my old university I felt like a really old guy, at 26 I was always the oldest in my classes (other than the professor). At my current University I am rarely the oldest person in my class anymore. In my class that started yesterday I ended up sitting next to a widower in her late 40's early 50's. In my major there is a group of other guys about the same age as me, or a bit older. It's nice having some peers, not just a bunch of kids that think you're a geezer.

6. I have a quirky sense of humor. That would be a post in and of itself.


Edit: this reads a lot more negatively than I had intended. Just meant to be quirks, kinda sounds like I'm down on myself. I'm not really too down on myself (unless I score poorly on a test - LOL)

TAG 6 PEOPLE -
Superwoman
BigSister
E Craig
Scarlet
Teri


Thoughts? Post em if you got em.

Weird Wednesday #26

Stuck in Math Seminars

Its my Birthday this week, so last Friday Superwoman took me out for a wild night on the town. We went to see Forbidden Kingdom, and it was AWESOME. Even Superwoman (who is not a fan of the Kung Fu genre) really enjoyed this flick. Its not your typical Jet Li or Jackie Chan movie, go check it out if you get the chance.

Saturday I got to spend the entire day with the family. This was heaven. It seems like I rarely get to spend time with Superwoman and the kids like that. I spent the morning playing Rampage with Cookie Monster, then we all went out to lunch together and went to the mall. Superwoman got a new watch battery and her rings cleaned, and we won a nights stay at a bed and breakfast in a drawing (how cool is that?). We found Cakes a Barbie that is beautiful and fully clothed, (a rare combination) she is enjoying it. Cookie Monster found a cool space shuttle and rocket play-set which he is enjoying. We were thinking about getting a model rocket but decided it may be a bit advanced/delicate for a five year old. (and I didn't want him getting injured from the rocket engine).

This week the Math department at my college is giving me a headache. They have some asinine policy which requires you to take a prerequisite refresher seminar if you took the prerequisite for the course more than two years ago. A good idea in theory, but they made this blanket policy without any provisions for any math you may have taken since then. I need to take statistics this summer. The prerequisite for this is college algebra. Since I took college algebra (in my first attempt at college 10 years ago) I've take a litany of math. I can do college algebra blindfolded, with both hands tied behind my back, and the pen in my teeth. I use it in my career and in pretty much every course I have taken since then. Does the math department care? No I have to take this stupid seminar anyway. Yesterday I sat in the back of the classroom played World of Warcraft the entire time and still could answer any question (big or small) with ease. Can I get out of this? No. I'm stuck wasting my evenings (my birthday and my sisters birthday included) being babied by the math department. It just rubs me the wrong way. I'm responsible for my education. I'm glad they provide the seminars for people that need it. I'm not at all happy they forced me to take it. It seems pretty High School to me. At least the teacher of the seminar is a decent guy.

Did I mention Superwoman is the coolest? She got me 6 golf lessons for my birthday from the local club pro. She said everyone is the clubhouse was saying she is an awesome wife, and she is. I recently took up golf, I suck at it, but I enjoy hitting the ball around the scenic courses anyway. I thought this was a really thoughtful gift.

Since its my birthday, feel free to send gifts, money, compliments, cards or insults my way.

Weird Wednesday #25

(as always, click picture for bigger image)

100 worst movies of all time

The worst of the worst movies according to rotten tomatoes.

I've seen

#89 Elektra I didn't think it was that bad. I didn't think it was that great either. I can think of some movies that were worse that this one that should have made the list. Like Dumb and Dumberer for example.
#82 The Skulls Cliche and boring.
#63 UltraViolet Should have been called UltraStupid. It was insipid trying to be artistic. Took itself way to seriously. I can't believe I made it through the whole thing. In my list this would be close to number 1.
#53 Yours Mine and Ours Why do family movies have to be stupid? Thank heavens for Pixar.
#25 Down to You (this was a yawner, very very boring, pointless)
#24 Happily Never After I bought this for Superwoman without reading a review. I'm surprised it didn't cause a divorce. I watched about 15 minutes of it before I had to turn it off, dismal.
#9 Master of Disguise This one I think I may have saw part of it. But like most of my most scarring memories this seems to be suppressed. I don't remember much but pain.

Movies I'd like to see on the list

Rush Hour 3 (terrible, this coming from a die hard Jackie Chan fan)
Benchwarmers (sigh, I can't believe I actually rented this one, Superwoman was smart not to watch it with me)
Speed 2 (a half hour long crash scene, not nearly as exciting as it sounds)
Little Nicky (ugh, awful )
The Fast and the Furious (st000000pid, if I was the under cover cop in this movie I wouldn't have arrested vin deseil's character either, I would have killed him)
Bewitched [2005] (Nicole Kidman should be ashamed)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (the trailers had all the best parts of this movie, and those were sub-par. I like dodge-ball, hate this movie)
Titanic and Pearl Harbor (Bad movies made worse by treating lightly the tragedies they use as a backdrop, shameless exploitation of events that should be treated with some degree of reverence)

What are the worst movies you've seen?

Libary Week

National Library Week ends today. Go checkout a book already!

Weird Wednesday #24

Edit: this was a play on the Titanic movie.

No flooding yet.

Today it feels downright hot, even though it is only 70 degrees. No flooding yet. This is good, I hope things melt evenly and no one loses an eye, er, I mean house.

In other news I found out I don't have to take a final in one of my classes. I have a high enough grade in the class that I can skip everything else for the rest of the semester and still get an A. I wish it was the same story in the other class. I have a big paper due tomorrow (and a 30 min presentation on that paper) and my group project Thursday (and a presentation on that too). And somewhere along the way I should probably find a few hours to finish our taxes for the year. Blech. I can't wait for next week.

My first summer class looks like it will be easy. I might actually get some time to blog and do other fun stuff soon. Hooray! Also its my Birthday in two weeks. It sounds like Superwoman has found a really cool gift for me. I can't wait to find out what it is.

Cold then Hot = ?

It's snowing today. Monday it is supposed to be 75 degrees.

The snow line is low and the snow pack is high. Come Monday, I think it is going to flood around here.

Weird Wednesday #23

Weird Wednesday #22

Its been a week, I'd better post.

First off, I was received this award from nobody. Because nobody likes my blog. I'd like to thank nobody for this award.

Its the last three weeks of the semester. I am completely swamped. I can barely keep track of everything I have to do. Let alone do it. I just registered for Summer semester. Its broken down into two sessions. In the first 7 weeks I have a philosophy class, I'm hoping this will be a respite from the normal load of math/science/programming I have. The second session I'm taking statistics. I don't think it will be terrible after all the math I've had.

Today for our break we went and threw snowballs into the river. Saturday we had a (hopefully the last for a while) winter storm move through. Its cold. It was really beginning to look like spring until this storm hit. All the spring growth has been caked by a layer of ice, like this flower I photographed yesterday. It sure is pretty but I hope it doesn't ruin all the spring crops/plants. (click for a nice big image)

Being married means always having someone to tag...

I was tagged by the beautiful Superwoman. So here goes.

4 Sushiboy jobs:
-Insulation installer
-Raspberry Deliveryman
-Paperboy
-Adviser to the disabled, bus driver.
(I currently program computers)

4 Movies I watch over and over
-Happy Gilmore (Are you too good for your home!?)
-Tommy Boy (Fat man in a little coat)
-Clear and Present Danger (Best Jack Ryan movie ever)
-LOTR and Harry Potter Movies (I'm a geek and I like 'em)

4 Places I have lived
-Colorado
-Utah
-Oregon
-Indiana

4 TV shows I watch
-Myth Busters
-Dirty Jobs
-War documentaries
-Historical documentaries

4 Places I have been
-Niagara Falls NY/ON
-Vancouver BC
-Hilton Head SC
-Tri Cities Tennessee (Bristol etc... Cherokee national forest)

4 People who e-mail me regularly
-Superwoman
-Tyrone (a dude I go to school with)
-The occasional Blogger
-Spammers

4 Favorite things to eat
-Sushi
-Other Japanese cuisine
-Bratwurst
-Seafood

4 Places I would rather be
-On a golf course
-By a river/lake/ocean with a book
-In Japan
-Home (I spend way too much time away from it)

4 Things I look forward to this year
-Finishing this semester and two more
-Summer, More for the light than the warm, its been a gray winter
-Watching my kids grow and learn
-Being married to Superwoman for another year (8 years this year)

4 People to tag
Dadguy (you haven't posted in over a month!)
Sans Pantaloons
Scarlet
Zed (MIA since Christmas :( )

Its 3 A.M. and I'm not sleeping.

I was up till 3 this morning trying to get a computer program done for school. I'm glad it's Friday, I think I'll sleep in tomorrow, maybe play some golf or mess around on the Wii.

Kids say the darndest things.

We went out for Japanese food tonight. My son asked me to take him to the bathroom. While he was standing there doing his business, he says, "My fingers are sticky from the teriyaki chicken."

I'm sure the guys out there feel for the kid. He got it all sorted out, but it was a bit sticky for a minute there :).

Weird Wednesday #21

31 ways to spend all your points for the week.