Tag: family

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It has all the buzz!

Bee Swarm - Click for more images on my Flickr account!
Bee Swarm – Click for more images on my Flickr account!

Renee greeted me at the door yesterday afternoon stating, “We have a situation!” I wondered if my son had done something wrong or if we needed something repaired. She took me into Jesse’s room and pointed out the window at a clump of bees that were hanging on the fence outside his window. I promptly put my hoody on grabbed a broom. I wanted to find out if they were the dreaded africanized/killer bees or not. Fortunately, I didn’t have to test my sprinting abilities as they stayed relatively close to the swarm. I then shook the fence hoping they would decide to fly away. Instead, they fell to the ground and just gathered into another clump. Before I left for work this morning, I checked on them and they were still there, but not moving as much due to the cooler weather. Hopefully they will move on. If not, I will try and reach someone to come get them.

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‘Up’ Movie Review and Weekend Recap

Friday night, I was excited to see the Lakers return to the NBA Finals yet again. Renee and Jesse went to see his old classmates choir recital at AVCS allowing me to yell and scream at the Lakers until they won the game. Now they need to finish the return and beat the Orlando Magic to win the championship. Saturday morning, I had everyone up early and loaded in the truck on our way to Barstow to repair a downed section of fence at my brother/mother’s house. We made a brief stop at Plata’s for breakfast burritos before getting to work on the fence. I felt bad for the neighbors as we pounded nails from 9:30 to 10 am, but it was already approaching 90 by the time we were done.

Once we returned home, we showered and we headed to the theater to see Up by Pixar in 3D. Jesse stayed home so Renee and I went to see it. Previously, we had seen extended clips of the movie presented by the Pixar design team at NAB in Vegas so we had some idea of what to expect. Renee even made some custom lenses in advance to fit over her glasses so she didn’t have to wear glasses over her glasses. The story is about a widower named Carl who is having to leave his home to enter a nursing home, but opts to escape with his home into the sky and head to South America to fulfill a wish of his wife. He inadvertantly takes a young Wilderness Explorer named Russell along for the journey. It is a touching story of regret and renewal. In trying to fulfill his wife’s wish, he discovers a new life to enjoy. The imagery is great and the story even better. Though Pixar is known for it’s “kid’s movies”, this will tug at the heart of anyone.

Sunday morning, I helped Jesse work on his truck by adjusting the alternator so that it lined up with the flywheel better to eliminate wear on the fan belt.Then along with Renee, I began the scraping of the acousitc ceiling in our bathroom. It was in bad shape and was looking awful. So it was scraped clean. The mess was confined to the bathroom and was cleaned up with some effort. We ran to Lowes and purchased some semi-gloss paint and applied the first coat to the ceiling. A few hours later, we applied the second coat and moved everything back into the bathroom. I don’t think I want to attempt the reast of the house just yet, but I am sure it will get done one way or another. I vote for another, meaning I would like to hire somone instead of doing it myself.

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Long weekends are great!

I got off early on Friday with plans to do a wedding. Unfortunately, as weddings sometimes go, it was called off. So that afternoon was spent going to the Army Surplus store to get Jesse a canvas tool bag and then to Lowes to get replacement blinds/shade. After quickly hanging the shade and blinds, I spent the remained of the night reading and watching sports on TV. Saturday Morning, Jesse and I went to see Terminator Salvation. I thought it was pretty good and definitely explosion filled. I then read some more before watching the Lakers beat the Nuggets on Saturday night. Sunday morning, Renee and I went to see Battle For The Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian. It was funny and a good family movie. Afterward, we checked on my co-workers animals while she was out of town. Monday morning, I took my Photoshop CS4 recertification exam and thankfully passed. That afternoon, I grilled some steaks and waited for the Lakers game while reading a novel. Unfortunately, the Lakers lost and the weekend came to a close. Back to work now and headed for June.

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Visit from my brother

Over the weekend my brother Chris came in after going to Microsoft Tech-Ed in LA. Saturday we hung out at the house and delved into all the swag he acquired. We went to lunch at Nicks and enjoyed some pizza and chesesticks. Jesse left afterward to do yardwork/scavenger hunt with his youth group until that evening. Sunday morning, Chris and I loaded up and went to Barstow. Before leaving Apple Valley, we stopped at Stater Bros. grocery store and upon leaving I wrongly advised him there were no parking curbs. There were, but only where he had parked. He ended up puncturing a sidewall. After changing to the emergency donut, we went back to the house and got my truck. We stopped at the 1st St Del Taco for breakfast burritos and then began digging through boxes that were in storage. He found some things to take home, but there was a lot of stuff we wondered why my folks had kept. Once it got too warm and his curiosity was satisfied, we returned home to shower and catch the two Game 7s in the NBA playoffs while snacking on flour chips from Rosita’s. Monday, I was back to work, but Chris came up for lunch at Platas after finding a replacement tire. Monday night, we ate at In-N-Out to satisfy another SoCal food fix before he left Tuesday morning. It was great to see him and reminisce about old times.

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Star Trek Review and Weekend Recap

We went Saturday morning to catch the new Star Trek movie and were surprised at the number of people also taking advantage of the $5 first showing price. The movie recounts the childhoods of Kirk and Spock and how they came together on the Enterprise. It also has that great Sci-Fi trick to tell new stories, time travel. This isn’t the first time that Star Trek has used time travel as part of the movie franchise. Captain Kirk time traveled to meet Captain Picard in Generations. Kirk and the entire Enterprise crew traveled back in time to modern day San Francisco to retrieve some whales in the The Journey Home. Lastly, Picard and the NG crew traveled back to foil the Borg in First Contact. In this movie, Future Spock played by Leonard Nemoy travels back in time with a rogue Romulan named Nero. The movie is action packed and goes by very quickly despite being over 2 hours long. The stories of the two main characters are told well and the inclusion of the original Spock is also done well. I recommend it and would go see it a second time.

As for the past weekend, we watched the Get Smart movie on DVD Saturday night. It was ok, but not great. Some to the classic lines were funny as were some of the new takes on an old series. Sunday morning, I bought donuts for Mother’s Day and we took Renee out to eat for lunch. We went to the new Buffalo Wild Wings at Renee’s suggestion to try it out. It was ok, but more of a sports bar atmosphere and the food wasn’t that impressive. I worked in the yard that evening tring to get some of the neglected yard work done. Monday was Jesse’s birthday so Renee got up early to decorate with baloons and a banner. He was his usually bright cheery self(NOT) after taking a shower. He opened a few presents and a card. He got a Pistols for Pandas t-shirt and some Strong Bad E-mail DVDs. He and I then went to the pst office to pick up his birthday card from my mom. We stopped by Napa Parts and he bought some replacement turn signal bulbs for his truck. We went to Nick’s for the lunch buffet and stopped at Stater Bros. for him to reluctantly select a cake. Jesse retired to his room to continue watching the DVDs and I went to work on the weed jungle that was our backyard. A busier weekend than most, but Mother’s Day/Jesse’s birthday always tend to be.

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Wolverine Movie Review and Weekend Recap

On Saturday night, we went to check out X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie had a lot of action and was far more violent than previous X-Men movies. The body count is quite high with death’s occurring frequently throughout the movie. If you are a fan of the movies and their storyline with no knowledge of the comics, you will enjoy it much more. Having known the comics and the story lines for the characters, I had a hard time with elements of the movie. The difference between the comics and what happened on screen was too much. It definitely got the summer movie season of to a great start, but I don’t think it was on par with Iron Man or the Spiderman movies.

Our weekend went by pretty quickly. Saturday morning, Jesse and I headed over to meet some mechanics my co-worker introduced us to. I wanted to get their opinions and recommendations on Jesse’s truck. We drove the 1954 Ford over and found out a few things we could do 0n our own and one major repair job that we will need help with. We replaced the plug wires after a couple of tries before getting the right set. Without thinking, we spent 4 hours in the sun and got sun burned. It seems we got a good deal on the truck, but we have some things to fix. After returning home, we went to Lowes to pick up a replacement cooler that we hope to have installed this week. We spent Sunday staying out of the sun and applying aloe to sun burns.

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Attitude of Grattitude

I have a co-worker that can be counted on to complain about almost anything and everything. Almost everyday, they arrive with curses and complaints about someone cutting them off or some “idiot” that did something to them. I kid them and welcome them with “Hello sunshine.” It really is our decision what we do with what happens to us. We can choose to accentuate the positive or dwell on the negative. I hear the doom and gloom spilling out of the tv and remember I have a loving wife and a job. I have good health. My son may play his music loud in his room, but he is home and not a runaway. I may have bills, but fortunately I don’t have bill collectors banging on my door. I may not live in a mansion, but I have a roof over my head and utilities that work. I am not homeless and have food to eat. I remember doing mission work in the mountains of Mexico and seeing how grateful the people of the village were. They had dirt floors and drafty dwellings. Their church was made up of rocks and the pews were nothing more than 2 x 4s, but they were happy. Philippians 4:11 says ” I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” For the majority of our 19 years togehter, we were vagabonds for Jesus. One year in Kempner, TX after we got married. Two years in Dallas, TX for bible school school. Four years in Aledo, TX as youth pastors. Three years in Tulsa, OK for college at ORU. Four years in Wilmore, KY for seminary and then work. We now have a place we aren’t renting and though it isn’t our dream home, it’s ours. We may have a teenager that can be moody or rude at times, but he is also principled and willing to go against the crowd when he thinks they are wrong. I am grateful to the Lord for the life he has given me and the wonderful things in my life.

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Comic-Con 4 Day Passes are sold out!

If you are planning to attend the Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 23-26, you will have to get individual day passes. The 4 day passes sold out since yesterday. We checked the site on Monday and they were at 80%, yesterday afternoon they were at 96% and today they are at 100% sold out. Fortunately we purchased our passes already so we are all set. We went last year for a day and had an interesting time. It is something worth checking out at least once in your life. Jesse enjoyed it so much, we got 4 day passes for this years. He even wants to dress up for it. Renee and I will go, but no dressing up. You get to see all the new movies coming out as well as TV shows and video games. We were going to stand in line for the Heroes session, but the line wrapped all the way around the convention center and all the way to Seaport Village. I refuse to camp out to see things. I will stand in line, but not for hours. We came home with all kinds of schwag – t-shirts, posters, stickers, etc. for shows and movies like Heroes, Lost, GI Joe, Star Trek, Star Wars and more.

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What has happened since February?

A month with no blogging and now twice in a week. Go figure. On the 13th, we celebrated Renee’s birthday. I got her a Bluebell T-shirt and plush since we don’t have any Bluebell Ice Cream in CA. We took her to Mimi’s Cafe for dinner and then had some cake and ice cream when we got home.

Her parents arrived from TX the following Sunday and then the rain came down. We ended up taking them to the Route 66 museum in Victorville on President’s day. We drove Route 66 to Barstow and ate at Idle Spurs. The next night, Renee and I celebrated our 19th anniversary with her parents at Dinapoli’s Firehouse in Apple Valley. A few days at the house was enough for her folks so I took the rest of the week off to drive them around. On Thursday we went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theater. We even got back through Cajon Pass before traffic got bad. On Friday, we went to Calico Ghost Town and stopped for an early dinner at Rosita’s. Saturday we drove them to the airport and I caught my pinky in the door as we unloaded. OUCH! I quickly wrapped it in some napkins and we saw them to the terminal.

On the 24th, I got older. Enough said. Renee insisted we go to dinner so we went to Mama Carpino’s in Apple Valley. Last weekend, Jesse and his youth group went to camp in the San Bernardino Mountains. With him gone, Renee and I enjoyed some Chinese food which he doesn’t like and finished her Columbo DVD. If you want to see any photos, join Facebook and friend us.

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Happy Birthday Julie!

March 10th is the birthday of our dear friend and sister Julie. Our relationship with Julie began online as Renee helped her plan a chat. After that day in December 2000, we struck up an ongoing dialog and friendship. We e-mailed, sent photos and exchanged letters/gifts through the mail. We found out she was fighting cancer and stood with her in faith and prayer. She passed one milestone after another as doctor after doctor predicted the end was near. She kept outliving their predictions and we kept praising God.

When we moved to California in 2003, she came to attend classes at UCLA from France and we met for the first time. We spent the day in Westwood hanging out and enjoying each others company. This was the first of several visits between then and November 2005. When we purchased our own home, after years of renting due to our vagabond for Jesus lives, we made our guest room into the Julie Suite complete with a palm tree mural and surfboard desk/end table. During her visits we made trips to see Medieval Times, an Angels baseball game, Universal Studios, Joel Osteen, Santa Monica, Sea World, Rosita’s restaurant, and many to Disneyland, her favorite place in the world. She was not feeling well on one trip and apologized to me and I reminded her that “a bad day with Julie at Disneyland is better than a good day without her.”

Since December, we have not heard a word from her and her family. I had hoped by now that we would have. We continue to pray and believe good things for her. We miss hearing from her and still consider her part of our family. Until we see or hear from you again Julie, we wish you a happy birthday and know that the Julie Suite awaits you.