June Birthdays and Anniversaries

Well it's the last day of June and I almost forgot to give a shout out to family and friends celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. Actually, there's only family this time around, and there's only one birthday this month.

Brother-in-law Louis, who celebrated his back on the 5th. Happy Birthday Louis!

As far as anniversaries, this topic is a little more sensitive. As long as I can remember, I've always told my grandmother that I was thinking about her on the day of her anniversary. Her wedding anniversary is on the 24th. Last Sunday, just like every year, I wished her a happy anniversary. And, just like every year, she was very happy that I remembered.

I've never asked a lot of questions about my grandparents. I don't know if they were legally divorced or just separated. My grandmother has always gone by her married name. What I do know is that my grandfather died many years ago, and I have few memories of him. They are fond, cherished memories, but they are few. I guess it's time to ask my mom.

Speaking of my mom, I wished her a "Happy Flag Day" back on the 14th. It was always easy for me to remember my parents' wedding anniversary because it fell on Flag Day. Well ever since my dad died back in 2000, my sisters and I have wished my mom Happy Flag Day on June 14th. By the way, my parents were happily married 42 years at the time of my dad's death, and would have celebrated their 49 anniversary this year.

So that's it. (Well, for the exception of my anniversary at work. 22 years on June 3rd. Wow.)

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Why Do Birds Sign Out So Gay?

No, I'm not going to write a post about that famous song "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?"

I just wanted an eye-catching title.

Here's the question I really have on my mind today: Why the hell were those f***ing birds making so much g** dam noise last night?

Okay, so it's summer and the evenings are warm enough to keep a couple of windows cracked. Well that decision cost me more sleep than just dealing with the heat - and mind you, it's not even hot yet!

The birds in the trees in my backyard and in my neighbor's backyard were having some kind of party last night. Squawking, chirping, cooing, crowing - you name it. If it comes out of a birds beak - I heard it last night.

I thought birds just perched on a branch and slept all night. Well not the ones in my backyard. Of course this morning at 5:30 when I went out back to turn on the sprinklers - it was dead quiet.

What kinds of noises disturb your sleep (or peace and quiet)?

And Baby Makes Three

Isn't there an old song that goes something like you and me and baby makes three? Anyway, the part that's true in my case is baby makes three. That is to say the baby we are expecting makes the third one. (I thought we were done at two, but that's what I get for thinking)

So there you have it - the big news! Laura and I are expecting! The baby is due in late February. A quick look at the calendar tells me that 2008 is a leap year. So if baby comes in really late Feb., it could land on the 29th.

Updates to follow over the next 8 months.

Happy Father's Day

I hope all you fathers got to spend your day the way you wanted to. Mine started extra early. Instead of getting up early and going to church like I do every Sunday morning - I got up an hour an a half before that in order to get my son to school on time. Yes, Brady had to be at school this morning at 4:00 a.m. He's taking a school trip to Washington D.C., and they had an early flight out of LAX. All of us - me, Laura, Brady, and Nina - got up and sent him off.

Then we went back home and back to bed, only to get up an hour later to go to church (well, I did. I let Laura and Nina sleep). Then I went to the cemetery to visit my dad and my grandfather - Happy Father's Day to the both of you.

Then I came home to find Laura and Nina still asleep (must be nice). Then I started doing all the regular chores I do on Sunday - grocery shopping, laundry, assorted duties around the house like dumping trash, picking up after my kids, and oh yes, blogging. I read two great posts; one from Diane, and one from Sage. Great tributes!

Now that I'm done blogging, I'm going to barbecue dinner. Did I mention I got a brand new BBQ for Father's Day? Well I did, and it was an early gift - I got to break it in last weekend. I was both surprised and happy. Thanks family!

My in-laws are coming over to visit today. Well actually, Laura's mom is visiting her dad (Laura's grandfather / our next-door neighbor). We were over Laura's mom and dad's house for a BBQ yesterday. Are you confused yet? Have another beer.

Observations Of A Commuter

I've written before about my commute to and from work. I've talked about a favorite part on the way home, and I've bitched about the idiots who are out there breaking laws and putting my safety in danger.

This time I'm going to share three random unrelated observations that are probably meaningless to anyone reading. They all meant a little something to me.

Observation #1 - On the way to work I was taking my usual route (which I will not divulge because my wife Laura is convinced someone will read this and follow me). As I was driving in a residential area, but on a busy thoroughfare, I noticed a squirrel carefully making its way across the street - while walking on a cable suspended over the street. I swear it almost lost it's footing three or four times. I certainly didn't want to see it fall, and it didn't. But it actually slowed the cars in front of me. They must have seen it too.

Now I've seen several squirrels doing the exact same thing - going from telephone pole to telephone pole - in the backyards of the homes in my neighborhood. But I've never seen one cross directly over a busy street in the height of rush hour.

Observation #2 - On the way home from work - well actually on the way to my mom's house after work - I was on the freeway in traffic that was moving along at a slow pace, but moving just the same. In my rear-view mirror a long way back, I saw several police cars approaching with their lights on. I immediately thought Car Chase! What I couldn't see was whether or not there was a fleet of news and police helicopters following from sky. (There wasn't). Little by little the cars got closer and closer. On the one hand I wanted to have a front row seat for the ending of such a chase, but on the other hand I didn't want to be trapped in with no way to exit the freeway.

I was both relieved and disappointed when the cars finally reached my location on the crowded freeway only to see a police escort. Actually about 6 Sheriff cars escorting one unmarked Suburban with it's windows blacked out. It was probably some big-shot being escorted down to one of the County buildings in Norwalk. NBD.

Observation #3 - On the way to work as I was driving in a mostly commercial area, I was stopped at a red light at a very busy intersection. I noticed two people, a man and a woman, walking down the street who looked very much out of place, and very much like tourists. Now this particular part of town is heavy commercial and light industrial, with pockets of residential. There are no tourist attractions anywhere around. So they're walking down the street, and stop to talk to a man who is sitting in front of a small business. The man points in the direction that the people are walking, and they talk and they point and they talk and they point. Then they walk off, but before they do it's clear that the two thank the man. He acknowledges their words of gratitude. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside and think to myself: there are still a few good people in the world willing to help a stranger.

Slowing Down

Finally things are slowing in my world. It seems like so many things were going on at the same time, and that was complicated by very heavy work volume. Working my way backwards to recap the many events taking place . . . .

The turn-around trip this past Sunday to Harrah's was fun. For the first time in what seems to be forever, Laura and I got to spend several hours alone without the kids bugging us. Even better, we didn't have to break up one of their fights. Brady stayed at home alone while we were gone, and Nina stayed with my mom and grandmother.

At Harrah's (in northeast San Diego county, not Las Vegas) we didn't win any money, and blew through what we brought a lot faster than I expected. The slots just sucked up our cash. We carefully searched out for two slot machines next to each other every time we switched denominations, downgrading each time until we reached the nickel machines. We made it last a little longer when playing nickles as opposed to quarters or dollars.

At least I was able to stretch my last $40 over the last hour and a half we were there by playing roulette. Laura didn't want to play, but she stayed by my side for good luck.

The trip to Harrah's came on the heals of Brady's eighth-grade graduation party. This took place the Saturday night before. We had a catered dinner from Lascari's - well the main course and bread was catered. We bought salad from the store, and a cake for dessert too. For entertainment, we had a DJ and a jumper. We even broke out my old bar from my single days to serve non-alcoholic beverages for the kids, and beer and wine for the adults.

There was a big turnout: something like 16 of Brady's friends, and several other family members and family friends. Laura did a great job organizing the whole affair, and decorating the backyard. We rented tables and chairs to accommodate everyone. All the kids danced, and everyone had a great time. I'll post some pictures soon.

In order to be ready for the party, we cleaned house like never before. I was up at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to get a head start. Laura was up around 8:00 a.m., but both of us and Brady busted our collective asses off to get ready.

The weekend before last (Memorial Day Weekend) we attended the D.O.M. Annual. This adventure included a late start due to a change from the original plans, an accident (not us, someone else) that caused traffic for us on the way there, and not one - but TWO blow-outs on our trailer tires. There is way too much to write about the Annual here, and that's way I have a blog just for D.O.M.-related stories.

The night before we left for the Annual, we attended Nina's softball banquet. Since Laura was team mom, she had to do all the planning. (So in actuality, she was planning two parties at once: the softball banquet, and the graduation party). Most of the work for the softball banquet fell on Laura's shoulders, but her stress and anxiety affects me too.

One thing she took on was a DVD she created for presentation at the banquet. It was a slide show of team pictures of all the girls and the coaches. Unfortunately, despite buying a DVD burner for our computer, she could not successfully burn DVD's to distribute to all the players. Instead, she brought our computer to the Community Center and hooked it up to their projector and sound system. Everyone enjoyed it, and it played continuously throughout the night, but Laura wanted to give everyone there own DVD. Oh well.

I know. Too long of a post, but then I haven't been posting much lately. I'll try and work on that.