Our son Jesse has a great opportunity through his school. The senior class is taking a trip to Europe in March, but he must raise the money by Nov. 24th. He has written this letter asking for help. Thanks for any prayers or support on his behalf.
I wanna rock/photoshop all night….
In the past few weeks, I have been rocking or photoshopping out. On August 28-29th, we attended the 25th Anniversary of HM/Heaven’s Metal magazine Up From The Ashes III Christian Metal Festival at The Vault in Temecula, CA. We were initially only going to attend the 1st day as Renee now works on Sundays running the nursery at the church we are attending. A few days prior, my friend James(Divine Metal Distro) messaged me to ask if I would being willing to shoot video for him of some of the bands. As a result, we were able to video and photograph on both days and got in free on Sunday. We saw the 25th anniversary shows of Deliverance and Bloodgood as well as some great shows by Grave Robber, The Altar Billies, Ultimatum, Troglodite Down, Nostalgia, Fasedown and many others. If you are a friend on Facebook, you can see the best of the photos from that weekend. Another cool thing about these shows is how the musicians mingle in the audience. The venue was small and they each took time before and after their sets to hang out and say hello. One highlight for me was meeting Les Carlsen of Bloodgood when I went to my truck to call Renee on Sunday. He saw my Bloodgood shirt and came right over to talk. Jesse got a Deliverance 25th anniversary shirt and a bunch of new CDs while we were there too.
The Tuesday following, I was in Las Vegas to attend Photoshop World Conference at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. This marked my 5th time attending and I still enjoy it. To kick things off, I met up with 25 NAPP forum members at the Burger Bar in Mandalay Place. It was great to see friends behind the avatars and meet up with those I knew from previous PSWs. We had several NAPP instructors join us and afterward we visited the Tweetup to hang out some more. They had a live set-up taking photos and posting them to Flckr. The next morning keynote was kicked off with the same NAPP instructors coming out in KISS-style make-up and singing “I wanna Photoshop all night and retouch everyday.” It was hilarious to see them using the Photoshop tools as part of their makeup. The most exciting part of the keynote was the presentation of the Guru awards. A good friend from the NAPP forums won for Illustration and took Best In Show. The presenter commented that he must have had family due to all the forum members yelling when he won. We had three busy days of workshops on all the latest in Photoshop, Photography and more. Another highlight was attending Midnight Madness. It is a fun night of goofing around and hanging out with friends. I returned home just a little exhausted after a very busy week.
On another note, Jesse began his senior year of high school. We were very pleased to find out that he need only take four classes each semester in order to graduate. He also has an opportunity to tour Europe in the Spring if he raises the money for the trip. If you are interested in helping him go, let me know and I will pass your name along.
Hope that you and your family are well and we look forward to hearing from each of you as we head into the fall season.
Summer is winding down
In a week, the young man residing in our home begins his senior year of high school. He will drive himself to school also. Wow! How time flies by when you are busy living life. I remember holding him as we left the hospital and thinking of the day he would ask me for the keys to the car. Now he drives his own truck.
August has been a little busy for us. We attended a Rangers/Angels game on the 1st hosted by my company. They fed us very well and provided seats at the very top of the stadium. So very glad that we were in the shade and avoided baking all day while the Angels went on to win 4-1. The following weekend, we drove to San Diego to attend the 1st birthday party of my best friend’s grandson. He was at sea, but returned the next day to play with the happy boy. In the middle of last week, we drove to Las Vegas to see Renee’s parents. They were in town for the week so we took them around to see some of the sights. They were staying at the Stratosphere and had a room for us overnight. We took them to Circus Circus and then down the strip. We showed them Hoover Dam and that night we took her mom to Fremont Street. The next day we went to breakfast and then on to the MGM to see the Lion Habitat. We went back to Fremont Street so Renee’s father could see it and then dropped them back at the Stratosphere before heading home to Apple Valley. We had a friend over to watch Summerslam on Sunday.
That wraps up the month so far, we will see what the remaining few weeks brings. Hope that you and yours are well and enjoying your summer.
July/Comic-Con News
So I waited a little longer between posts this time, it’s not like anyone is paying for these. If you would like to though, feel free to send cash. So let’s try and get up to speed on what’s happened. I enjoyed seeing the Lakers win another championship especially against hated Boston. I was glad to see the USA exit the Group round of the World Cup, but sad to see them advance no further. I celebrated my first Father’s Day after my father passed. Jesse dyed his hair two colors this year and looked like he should be cheering for Brazil with his half yellow, half green hairstyle. Renee and I went to see Toy Story 3 and Sherk Forever After. TS 3 was better, but they both had some laughs. Jesse went to camp in the mountains while I attended the Voices That Matter Web Design Conference in San Francisco. We spent the 4th of July at home and watched the fireworks from the backyard on a rather cool night. Last week, I attended the ESRI User Conference in San Diego and increased my GIS Web API knowledge while enjoying many meals in the Gaslamp Quarter.
This brings us to the past weekend’s activities which revolved around attending our 3rd Comic-Con. We left for San Diego after Renee finished work on Thursday and arrived just before midnight. We settled in at my best friend Jim’s condo after waking his roommate. We were up early Friday morning and off to the trolley station for our journey to the Convention Center. The closer we got, the more crowded the trolley became until noone could get on due to standing room only. We joined the swarm of attendees pouring across the street and found our way to the registration area to pick up our badges, Warner Bros Studio bags and event guides. We headed for the Expo Floor before realizing that we should have stayed where we were for an autograph session. Jesse wanted to get a postcard and autograph from the writer of several Warhammer 40,000 books and the upcoming movie, Dan Abnett. The line was longer than the one for several stars form the Farscpae TV series in the next booth. Afterward, we headed back to the expo floor to begin our end to end journey. We made it 3/4 of the way before deciding to leave so I could attend the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG game panel. We stood in line for an hour and barely made it inside. This room hosted Star Wars panels all day and rooms are not cleared after each one. We left once the question period began and headed to the blood drive booth. We were directed to its new location and then went the Del Rey Star Wars expo booth for a book signing by Sean Williams, author of The Force Unleashed novel and the newly released Old Republic: Fatal Alliance novel. We journeyed across the show floor again and went to the blood drive. It took 1 1/2 hrs to complete the process. We were rewarded with a large True Blood T-shirt (too small for either of us), vampire bite band-aids and a True Blood bottle of water. In previous years, we left with a big bundle of toys/collector items, so we were not very impressed.
I convinced Renee and Jesse to take a walk into the Gaslamp to the spot were I saw Flynn’s Arcade while attended the conference the week prior. We were rewarded with a pass to enter. At the door we were given a Tron coin purse filled with Flynn’s Arcade tokens. The arcade was filled with 80’s games like Joust, Space Invaders and the Tron game Space Paranoids. One wall was filled with TVs showing gameplay from the new Tron game. At the back of the arcade under the Tron sign, a hallway led the Flynn’s workshop. Lights flashed and dialogue played from the movie and doors opened leading to a bright blue lighted hallway. Rounding the corner, we entered one of the coolest rooms called the End of The Line Club. It was designed just like the Tron world with blue lights and sleek shapes. They had many props from the movie and upcoming products based on the movie displayed. They gave us free Coke Zeros in aluminum bottles too. Suddenly, the lights dimmed and we here audio from the movie playing while lights flash and change color. The walls begin to display scenes from the movie and we hear Flynn. During this, a model dressed in movie wardrobe walks around the area. This was one of the coolest things we saw all weekend. After wandering around Flynn’s a little more, we exit and visit the Palm Restaurant to see some of the new Marvel drawings on the wall. We stopped at Cafe Diem from the Eureka TV show on SyFy Network. After catching the trolley back, we visited with my Goddaughter Christina, her husband Marc and enjoyed seeing their soon to be 1 yr old son at Jim’s condo.
After a short night, we packed up and headed for Qualcomm Stadium to catch the trolley. We arrived at the Convetnion Center and hurried through registration to get in line for Ballroom 20. We still ended up on the stairs coming up from the Marina. While in line, I left Renee and Jesse to photograph the 501st Legion Star Wars fans as they posed in costume on the back steps of the Convention Center. Despite the long line, we did manage to make it into the panel for Chuck. It was kicked off by a montage of clips from the previous season and “Jeffster.” Always a fun panel. We decided to stay and sit through Family Guy and The Cleaveland Show so we could see Futurama and The Simpsons panel. The scenes from the upcoming 3rd Family Guy Star Wars spoof were pretty funny. The Cleveland Show did a table read for an episode based on Comic-Con that brought a lot of laughs. The Futurama panel was funny as well with scenes from a Comic-Con episode and a table reading for an upcoming episode. The Simpsons panel was funny, but we left once questions from the audience began to head for another room.
We were able to avoid a line by going into the Cartoon Voices panel which had many of the voice actors from older cartoons. We were there to see the panel following it: Warehouse 13 and Eureka. We enjoyed both of those panels and then sat through Nikita and Human Target to have a seat for the Mythbusters panel. The Mythbusters stars were a BIG hit and didn’t disappoint with clips of the upcoming season and behind the scenes stories. We sat through 10 hours of panels that day and were wiped out as we headed to the trolley and Qualcomm. We arrived home just before midnight Saturday night. After a short night, Renee was off to work early this morning. It was a fun time, but we think 3 days might be better than 2 at Comic Con. Last year, we did 4 days, but it was just too much. Great time and now we are thinking about next year as tickets sell out faster each year.
The last year of childhood.
On May 11th, our son Jesse turned 17. The week prior, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo by having Jesse take and pass his driving test. I remember leaving the hospital with Renee and Jesse while looking into his tiny face and knowing that one day he would be asking for the keys to the car. That day has arrived. Changing diapers and eating his first solid food are distant memories. Reading bedtime stories and wrestling on the bed are now faded photographs in my mind. He has now entered his final year as a child.
I am very proud of the young man he has become. He thinks critically and biblically. More than once, he has refused to compromise or give in to peer pressure. He knows what he believes and isn’t afraid to ask questions when he disagrees. He is ok with being different and resists any pressure to conform to what others think. He is amazingly creative and enjoys his artwork. He has big dreams and plans. I credit Renee for the many years she home-schooled him. She has spent far more time than I have with him and deserves all the credit. Hopefully, I have set a good example as a husband and father for him so that in the years to come, he will be a good husband and father.
Son, I doubt you will read this as you are usually busy playing games online or listening to music, but I wanted to write it anyway. I love you son and am very proud of the upright man you’ve become. You have had challenges, but you have overcome them. You have a great sense of humor and laugh with ease. I know that you will be blessed in whatever you choose to do in life. I am so grateful that the Lord entrusted you to our care all those years ago. We will continue to pray for you as you launch out to fulfill your dreams in the years to come. Never lose sight of the Lord and know that He will never leave you or forsake you.
Two weeks later…another update
So I have fallen into the routine of updating the blog every couple of weeks. I suppose I should update it more often, but hey at least I am updating it. Let me see now, what has transpired in the last couple of weeks? I finished the first half of my 2 part SQL course at VVC. It is an online course and was paid for by my company. I managed to get an A and have begun the second part. A couple of weekends ago, we went in search of footwear for the giant living in our house. Jesse had not driven on the freeway before and got some practice by driving us to Tanger Outlet in Barstow. We visited the Reebok store, but they only had baseball cleats in size 16. Next stop was the Van’s store in the almost deserted Outlet Center across the street. Fortunately, both Renee and Jesse found shoes they liked. Jesse then drove to the Mall at Victor Valley so I could get an AC adapter for the recumbent bike. No more batteries! Overall, Jesse did very well for his first time driving on the interstate freeway.
Mid-week I took a trip with a coworker to San Diego to attend a software presentation. The side benefit of the trip was enjoying lunch with my best friend Jim Ritch. The amount of mileage that day was a bit tiresome, but it was worth it as Jim recieved word a few days later that he had been promoted to Master Chief(E-9). Congrats brother! I also had lunch mid-week with some old classmates. It was fun sharing laughs about old times and catching up on each other’s lives.
This past weekend included getting a lot done around the house. Friday after work, Renee and I stripped the old carpet off of the front porch. It lasted two years, but had become a trip hazard. They really don’t make carpet that can stand the extremes of our weather for more than a couple of years. I don’t know if we will put any more down right away. Saturday morning, we were up early as Jesse had to be at Apple Valley High School to take his SAT. When I returned home, it was time to work on the swamp cooler. Unfortunately, the water pump no longer worked so a quick trip to Lowes and I was done working on the roof. Inside I had some acoustic ceiling to scrap off around the vent as it was looking pretty bad. After cleanup and some semi-gloss paint, the vent went up on the ceiling. Jesse called to be picked up and then we ate lunch. At around 3, I decided it was time to get the weeds in the yard cut down. I spent 2 hours mowing down all the weeds in the back yard. Renee came out and helped clean some the hazards out of the back pasture. That night, we watched an old DVD and ate popcorn.
Sunday, we went to church and Jesse did some driving in Victorville to help prepare for his driving test. We returned home and spent the rest of the day watching the Lakers win and reading. May is here so that means we have a birthday coming up. Soon we will have a 17 year old and hopefully another licensed driver in our house. Hope you and your family are well. Please let us know how you are doing. Blessings.
What’s up? Work and play.
The last few weeks have included mostly going to work which, considering the times, is a good thing. A couple of weekends ago, Jesse went to Magic Mountain with his youth group. While he was gone, Renee and I had a day out together. We went to breakfast and then went to see “How to Train Your Dragon” at the movies. I know it’s a kids movie, but we are still kids at heart and always enjoy watching cartoons. Afterward, we went to Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. We went to Borders bookstore and wondered which novel Jesse would like, but couldn’t get him on his phone, so we left a message. We then went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and it was busy with students from Etiwanda HS dressed up for prom. We enjoyed a nice meal together and then returned to Borders just as Jesse called us back. We picked up novels for each of us and returned back home. Later that night, Jesse called to be picked up after a full day. A windy, cold day on Sunday kept us inside and out of doing yardwork.
The work week went by and I enjoyed listening in on Live webinars from NAPP on the new features in Photoshop CS5. The weather was great this past weekend so I waged war on the weed kingdom invading our yard with my hula hoe and Renee at my side. We managed to get a large section of the front yard and cleared 10 feet away all around the house. Muscles and joints were a little sore afterward, but the yard looks a little better. I also worked with Jesse to get his speedometer issue resolved on his truck. A little 5w-30 oil on the cable and it is working great. Saturday night, I went into town to see my friend Martial and his band play some R&B style rock-n-roll. They played great. Yesterday, we went to church and came home in time to watch the Lakers get their first win of the playoffs. Renee and I went to the local theater and donated blood in exchange for free movie passes. This also kept me from having to do anymore work in the yard. That’s the latest from our world. Hope that you and your family are doing well and we look forward to hearing from each of you.
Easter Weekend
Friday, I stopped at the library on the way home to pick up the latest Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi novel Backlash. It is a series set many years after the movies and follows Luke Skywalker and his son Ben as they battle a new Tribe of Sith. The weather was pretty windy so plans of washing the vehicles and working on Jesse’s truck were put on hold. Saturday morning, we did go see Clash of the Titans since Jesse was interested in it. Renee had seen the original over and over because her younger brother couldn’t get enough of it. It seemed a bit slow at times and the dialogue was plodding. They changed the story and it left me thinking the original one in all its cheesiness was a better movie. Great effects, but a badly written remake.
That evening, we met a high school classmate and his wife for dinner. It was really great to see him as I had been told he had passed away soon after we graduated. We discovered that his brother was the one that had passed. Somehow the names were confused and I was told he was dead. This certainly made for great “Resurrection” celebration. Sunday we attended church and afterward, Jesse had his annual hair dye applied. This time he decided against blue. He decided he wanted green hair. Renee and Jesse mixed some of the old blue dye with some new yellow dye and now he has bright green hair. He is either a giant fluorescent leprechaun, a pasty “Green Giant” or the largest Oompa-Loompa ever with need of some time in the tanning bed.
We also had quite a surprise when an earthquake hit Sunday afternoon. The wind was blowing so hard, I mistook it for the house shaking due to it. Jesse said “Earthquake” from his room and when I stood and headed there, I felt like I was going to fall down. It was like having a head rush that makes you lose your balance. It lasted what seemed like a minute. I checked the house and didn’t find any damage.
That was our weekend. Hope you and your family are doing well and had a great Easter/Resurrection celebration.
March is coming to an end.
With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, I find myself doing less and less with our blog. Let me see if I can recap a little of what has taken place this month in our lives. I began the month feeling a little, well ok, a lot under the weather as I had a massively sore throat. Being the sharing kinda guy that I am, I passed it on to the rest of the family. I think we are finally feeling better now.
We received our tax return and FINALLY got a replacement recumbent stationary bike. It is a lot better model than the one that broke in November. The seat is a little easier to adjust too. I am back to riding 4-5 times a week at 10-11 miles in a little over a half-hour. I also attended some on-site training in Las Vegas, NV in support of the USFWS Desert Tortoise Recovery office.
The weather warmed up and we did a little work in the yard. Speaking of the yard, California Poppies have started to sprout and bloom. We also spotted a surprising 7 rabbits in the yard together at the same time. What a bunch of long-eared hooligans hanging out in the front yard like they own it! We also saw some tiny baby rabbits running around the backyard.
This past weekend, Renee and I went to the Mall of Victor Valley early Saturday morning and exchanged our old 150w floor lamps for more energy efficient 26w fluorescent floor lamps. I also worked a little on Jesse’s truck before settling on the coach to read and watching the NCAA tournament. That night, we played the game “Life” and for the 1st time ever Renee won and Jesse came in last. I’m not sure he will want to play it again soon. Sunday, we went to church and then over to watch Wrestlemania 26 with our good friends, the Haprovs. It was quite an event with Brett Hart returning after 13 years to take revenge on Mr. McMahon. The match of the night was the Undertaker beating HBK(Shawn Michaels) to end his career.
That’s about it from here. We hope that you and your family are well and that your year is going great. Blessings!
Our 20th Anniversary trip
The next morning, we loaded up and headed to Piedras Blancas Lighthouse which is managed by the BLM and was celebrating its 135th year of existence. The BLM was offering free tours of the grounds surrounding the lighthouse. The weather was magnificent and we enjoyed seeing the flowers, wildlife and historical buildings at Piedras Blancas. After this, we drove Highway 1 north. We stopped for lunch in Big Sur and enjoyed a beautiful view of the coast. We drove through Carmel and toured 17 Mile Drive. We continued up the coast crossing the Golden Gate Bridge at night to stay overnight in San Rafael.
The next morning, we doubled back to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge before returning to Highway 1 and continuing our trip north along the California coast. We stopped for lunch in Fort Bragg, CA and rejoined US 101 in Leggett, CA. We found a hotel in Arcata, CA for the night. Renee and I got our own room and let Jesse and mom share a room for our anniversary. We took Jesse to dinner with us to 6 Rivers Brewery in McKinleyville since mom wanted to stay in the room. We enjoyed some local cuisine before returning to our room for the night while Jesse hit the hotel spa.
The next morning after loading up, we headed for Redwoods National Park farther up the coast. We toured the Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Grove and then stopped at Big Tree State Park. We continued up the coast until Crescent City, CA and then cut inland to Grants Pass, OR. We took Interstate 5 south until we stopped for dinner in Medford, OR at Red Lobster. It turned out that our waitress Denise had been born in Apple Valley. That night we drove as far as Redding, CA before stopping.
Jesse wanted to tour a cavern during our trip so he picked Black Chasm Cavern in Volcano, CA as our next destination. We arrived and had our own private tour of the cavern with our guide David. We had a great time and mom decided to rest in the car. Next we headed to Yosemite National Park in hopes of getting some great sunset photographs. As we entered the park from the north, the weather turned bad and it started to rain. Temperatures started to drop and then the fog set in. At times, we couldn’t see past the hood of the car. We kept driving and exited out the south side of the park without ever seeing the grand vistas Yosemite is known for. We made it to Fresno before stopping for the night.
The final day of our trip included a brief stop in Bakersfield, CA so mom could visit with an old co-worker and then we headed for home. In all, we spent 6 days on the road and traveled over 1,800 miles. We saw sunsets over the ocean, towering redwood trees and amazing underground formations. It was a great trip that we will all remember for years to come.