My Best Friend

It may surprise some of you to see me here. Some of you I know because you are family, some are friends, some are people I have never met but know about you when my wife says wonderful things about you. I am the husband of the CA Girl, Lourie. She is the blogger, I am not so much, but I am the geek of the family.

But that is just a digression, I am here to talk about my best friend. I met my best friend almost 20 years ago. I wouldn't say it was immediate friendship since I asked her to dance and she told me no. It took some, but we finally danced together and then another time and then another time and eventually we parted ways for a WHOLE DAY! We had our first date that following Tuesday and haven't been apart since. Does that count as best friends? Probably not, but the following does...

Lourie is my confidante, no matter the topic, big or small, she listens, hears, and helps me with my MANY problems. She is my shoulder to cry on. She is my reason to be. She is the face I long to see in the morning and the one I want to see before I close my eyes at night.

I know some of those things are very cliche but fit her to perfection. My best friend is my wife. Love Ya, my dear.

Okay, you can begin the EEEWWWs and AAHHHHs.

Tech Tuesday: Introductions

I HAVE three blogs, but I can barely keep up with one! Soooo, I decided to use this one for all three. Does that make sense? Anyhoo. Tuesdays I want to concentrate on technology issues. I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer and thus have an abundance of knowledge (who am I kidding). Today will just be an intro to my field of "expertise". My paying job is as a Senior Instructor for Technician and Administrator students. They are studying to become certified as IT Technicians, Microsoft Certified Systems Admins and Engineers. I am lucky to have a job that combines my love for teaching and my love for computers. Teaching Computers is double the love! My side work includes working with friends and family diagnosing and fixing their computers. I might not really and truly enjoy fixing broken computers, but I do get a definite sense of accomplishment in getting the job done. I have said it before and will say it again... Computers are great... when they are working.

Content, content, content

I am one of those irritating people who believe that if you don't have anything interesting to say, don't say anything. Unfortunately, I think the EVERYTHING I say is interesting so I tend to ramble. Another unfortunate thing is that even though I am an extrovert, I don't lean towards the written work, but more the spoken word. That is why you see me start many blogs but never get more than a day or two in before it just fades away. Maybe something more like a video blog would be more my speed. Just a few minutes of rambling with some structure built in for consistency. I do have lots of webspace on my server so that wouldn't be much of a problem. So, as I garner up the words and possibly the future "voice" of larktown, you might see some fun stuff coming up in the future.

New Year, New Blog Entry

Well, as the geek of the family, you'd think I would be on top of this blogging thing. Apparently not. My wife does so much better at this (link to her blog above!). I guess I either don't think of things to say, run out of time to do them, or am just disinterested, or a combination of all three. I will say that, hopefully, in a week we will have closed escrow and own our first home. It only took me 43 years to become a homeowner! Being military for 20 years and moving every 3-4 years kinda makes it a bit hard to buy a house. We have rented, lived in military housing, and I did a 2-month stint in the barracks! That sucked. But now, we are on the brink of the biggest thing we have bought since the Relay. Kinda scary, but a jump in the right direction. Renting vs. paying a mortgage for us is the better way to go. We will be paying less than we did for rent even after some new expenses (insurance, gardner). It is an exciting time for our family.

Miscellaneous Musings

This has been an interesting week. New schedule at work, where we added school on Mondays and are now open 9-8 Mon-Thurs, and the regular 9-2 on Fri/Sat. This was an added bonus to the students who have been wanting Mondays. The additional 2 hours are good too on Tues and Thurs (we used to open at 11). It has relieved some of the overcrowding we have had as of late. Not that it isn't good, means we are still growing.

Enough about work. Lets talk about my car. Yes, the regular commuter is showing its age. Although that is only 7, the battery is in need of replacement. It is interesting that even though when I start it up it is dead, it will have enough to start the car after a few turns of the key. The other interesting thing is that the clock will always reset to 12:00, but my radio presets are saved. I guess that is most important. I think today is the day to get that fixed. It's hard to find deals on car batteries. Oh well, like my lovely wife said yesterday, regardless of whether you find a deal or not, you have to get a battery. She is a wise person for someone so young.

Random Ramblings

September 1, 2007 was the day that I officially retired from the Coast Guard, so this past Tuesday was my 2 year anniversary of my retirement. People are always asking if I miss the Coast Guard. In one way, I do. The friends I made, cool places I visited, awesome jobs I did, cannot be replaced by anything in memory. I left after accomplishing my goals, I left after 20+ years, as a Chief Petty Officer (full 3 years), and did all the things I set out to do during my career. I honestly didn't expect to do 20. It was going to be 4 and out, then college, and work. Plans change and the time I spent in the service of the country I love was more than worth the toil, strain, and tears. Spending 6 years in Washington, DC was a glorious ending to my time. You learn alot serving your country in the Nations Capitol. I got to work for the Executive Office of the President (George W. Bush), did time at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and topped it all of being one of the first ever enlisted Intelligence Officers supporting the Coast Guard Commandant. All in all, for someone as patriotic as I am (still get teary eyed when THINKING about "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood) I was honored to serve and honored to be a Coast Guard Veteran.

So, yesterday was Sept 2. It was Lourie's birthday. What exciting things happened? Well, my car battery is about to die and our middle child is still recovering from bronchitis. So, as far as birthdays go, it was pretty crappy for her. Good thing the party is on Sunday where we can all get together and celebrate. I'd like to go on record (since millions of people read my blog, right) and say how much my wife is appreciated by not only me, but by her children, even though we may not say so as often as we must. Being a maid, chef, bookkeeper, chauffeur, and all the millions of things she does isn't easy, but she seems to always do these things cheerfully and without much of a complaint. I respect her, I honor her, I love her, and I am grateful to have her as my eternal companion.

Since I am the family geek and since I have more blogs than I have teeth, I figured I would at least show some love to one of them and post more often. So here goes.

Since the last set of posts, I have retired from the military, we lost all of our fish (flushed), moved to a new state, got a new job, live in a different house, and the list goes on and on and on. We are in the lovely state of California where the "June Gloom" has lifted and we are getting into the warmness of summer. The girls have already gotten out and played in the hose and the other day went to a pool party. We are getting ourselves ready for July when we will all travel to San Antonio for our family reunion. We are looking forward to spending time with Busi, Grandpa, Rob, Michele and all the rest of the kids. It proves to be a great time.

In other news, my job is going well, there is progress towards expanding our lab since we are getting to be more and more crowded, especially Tues and Thurs nights.

I will try and be more diligent in posting updates, and maybe Lourie can teach me how to add pictures! She is starting to know more than me. Scary!

A Successful Journey

My eldest daughter and I returned yesterday from Williamsport, PA. My quartet sang at the Little League game between the Southeast (Louisiana) and the Great Lakes (Kentucky). (sidenote: when did Kentucky become attached to the Great Lakes? Just wondering) We drove up on Saturday having lunch on the way. When we arrived, albeit alot sooner than I had expected, our room wasn't ready. We went to get some money at the ATM and then over to get some ice cream. It was hot but not steamy hot. I had a shake/icee combo. It was refreshing. Kristin got a hot pretzel! She was happy. We headed over to a new park in the area and she played on the swings and slides. After driving over 4 hours I was there to relax. She had a good time. This was the grand opening of the park in Lewisburg, PA and there is a pool, a variety of park toys, and a skate park. We watched the skaters. She had a good time.

We checked in at 4pm and settled into the hotel room. I watched TV and relaxed while Kristin went stir crazy. Her game was to start in the bathroom then run into the main room and jump onto the bed. Hey, its a hotel, isn't that what you do in a hotel?

For dinner we went to the nearest restraunt. It was okay. I had a French Dip which was good but the french fries didn't turn any heads. Kristin had PANCAKES! She loved them.

After dinner we swam in the hotel pool which was the same again for Kristin. Up and down the stairs, jump in, splash, repeat. She had a great time and I had fun watching her. I did swim a little though, it was refreshing.

After that we returned to the room and relaxed and went to bed. Since she is a bed hog, I am glad we had two doubles in the room. She slept well, I didn't. Might have been that I was away from home, excited for Sunday, and a variety of other things.

I will follow up on another blog entry for Sunday. Stay tuned.

Up Until Now...

Well, Lourie updated her blog so I guess it is my turn. All I can say is that what she posted is what has been going on. Some things on my side of the fence have been happening.

Singing. As of Tuesday, I am now the tenor for the Foghorns, the "official" barbershop quartet singing out of Coast Guard Headquarters. With a new lead, bass, tenor we are just starting from scratch. First we need to build a repertoir, then work on tweaking it to sound good. Top priority is learning their version of the National Anthem since that will be highly requested. Then we add from there.

Harmonizers. Still there as well. On Tuesday, Richard got his mitts on me for my vocal assessment. Not too bad. My high and low ranges are accurate and well focused. That middle section needs some tuning. I need to stay more engaged and keep my core moving through the whole range. I will also be trying my hand at the baritone part. I have been singing tenor for over 25 years so moving to a new part will be a challenge. The Harmonizers need more baritones and we are overabundant in tenors. I look forward to learning a new part.

Today we should be getting our new piano. We ordered a digital piano last week and UPS shows it out for delivery today. That will be good since today is an "off" day for me. No rehearsals or performances. It will need to be set up and I have to find a plug for it but that will be easy.

This weekend Kristin and I will be driving up to Williamsport for the Little League World Series. My quartet will be singing the anthem at the 1pm game on Sunday. That will be fun and exciting again.

Thats all for now. I will update after the weekend.

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Keeping my promise?

I may have not been posting like I promised a few days ago, but I am still here. This has been a slow week for events, except for Monday! Lourie wasn't feeling well on Wednesday so she went to the doctor and was told to rest for the day. I stayed home and took care of her and the girls. I took the girls out shopping. They got some new Neopets. They are having fun with them.

This upcoming week has rehearsal for the Harmonizers performance on Aug 11th. We also have a few more rehearsals before 66 West will be singing at the 1pm game at the Aug 21st Little League World Series. It will be our second time singing the anthem for that event. This year I will be taking my oldest daughter.

I am looking forward to the rest of the month.

New Ultrasound Pictures

On Lourie's blog you can find the newest ultrasound pictures of our "spud". We call him that because we don't have a final name picked out for him. When we officially decide on one we will post it for the world to see (or maybe just those who visit our blogs). It was great having the girls there in the room. The doctor was amazed that the girls could recognize features of the baby on the ultrasound. Spud was being a bit shy with his hands in front of his face but that was one of the indicators the doctor was looking for. We even saw his TONGUE. It was darting in and out when his hand was near his mouth. That was a good sign.

We got to have lunch afterwards and then headed home. The girls played, we rested. All was well with the world.

Tomorrow, I sell the car after getting it inspected. Good riddance. Well, it was a good car but with the new one we dont need the older one. It will at least clear up some space in front of our house.

Beginning of a new week

My goal this week is to post at least three times this week. I have enough things going on to create "content". Today might see two entries. Lourie has an ultrasound appointment, probably the last before our son is born. We hope to have time to do those snazzy 4D pictures. Last time the boy was putting his leg in front of his face so we didn't get any good shots. Here's hoping he will cooperate, or maybe he will just be stubborn (where will he get that from, I wonder?).

Here is the 4th Place Bronze Medal the Alexandria Harmonizers won earlier in July. I sing tenor and this is my first medal. I have only been singing barbershop harmony for 25 years! All of us in the Class of 2005 were excited to be on stage, winning a medal was just frosting on the cake. 

Here I am in Salt Lake City at Aunt (In-Law) Susie's wedding. It was great that I was in town for this great event. I was excited to meet someone that I had never met, but knew all about her. Oh, and her new husband is a great guy. You can see the couple over my shoulder. 

New Blog

Yes, another blog. Maybe this will get some use? Why a new one? Well, my wife started her new blog on here so I figured I would follow suit.