I admit, I love photo's of a forest, any forest really, with the sun shining through the background. I have always like them. I think there is a certain amount symbolism that could be inferred here, but I really don't even have that in mind. I simply enjoy the way it looks. Having said that, I still don't know how to use all the features on my camera and so every photo I take leaves a little something from me to be desired. At least it gives me something to strive for.


Now, I have to say that I have a complaint to make about Flickr. For those who don't know, flickr is an online web storage for photos. Myself, being an AT&T customer, I get unlimited storage and unlimited uploads. A pretty sweat deal since I have been making a solid effort to make sure the camera goes more places with me (and that I actually use it). So I posted our photos from Jamaica. The end result? I feel violated.

Flickr, unless you specifically make your photos private and send special invites to all who you want to see them, makes your photos public for the world to see. I recently received a message from Flickr saying one of my photos had been made a favorite of someone. I checked the pic in question, and it was from the honeymoon, and of the nudists mooning us from Nudie Island as we cruised by on a catamaran. This, in and of itself was not so disturbing. But when I clicked the link to see this person's (although I think I really should say Perv's) other favorite photos, they all end up being pics of partial nudity or other suggestive themes.

Why? Why does a photo that, although it is of a bunch of nudists at a resort in another country, actually means something to me become the masturbatory catalyst of some prepubescent idiot who can't take a single picture of his own? Such is the Internet. My life for the world to see and take advantage of as needed.


So, with all that in mind, it is New Year's Eve. It will soon be 2008. I Can't say that I have any resolutions to make. I have never held a lot of stock in them, and if I did I would probably be a very poor man. Delia has to work tomorrow, and so she will be in bed early. I told Ben we could stay up late watching movies, playing video games, and simply having a guys night. I doubt, though, that he will last until midnight. On the bright side, he should sleep in nice and late tomorrow.

A walk in the dark.

Yesterday Ben and I went for a morning walk with Bear. It was about 7:15 when we left the house. It was still fairly dark, and the park behind the house turned to complete darkness about 5 feet in. I, living here and knowing it would be dark, was prepared. Ben had an LED head light strapped to his forehead, and I had 4 cell mag light in hand (sadly, this was not as bright as I had hoped it would be as the batteries are quite old). So, lights in hand (or on forehead) we headed out into the darkness.

When we leave the house, there is a small access road that heads down toward the duck pond. I don't think I have ever actually walked this road in the dark, and to Ben I think it was a little intimidating at first. Looking at it from a distance, the road simply disappeared in a canopy of tree branches and darkness. Ben took one look at this and asked if we could walk somewhere else. Of course, I said sure and we turned around and walked over by the zoo.

The zoo is close enough that in the mornings we can hear the spider monkeys and gibbons whooping as they wake up and begin to play. Its an odd sound to hear really, as you wouldn't expect those sounds to come from a Red Wood park. Sure, you can hear birds, sure you can hear running water if you are in the right places, but the sound of primates is unexpected to the new-comer.

As we walked it was a little chilly, but the area grew brighter (actually, English grammar says I should say "more bright") and Ben's courage was bolstered enough that he was ready to walk in to the forrest. "I think I would like to go into the woods, Dad. But I'm going to stay right by your side." And so we went into the woods.

Sequoia Park is really nice in the morning. The gates to the access roads hadn't been opened by public works yet, and there was virtually no one in the park at that time of morning. Even the ducks at the pond were quiet and still. It was just two guys and a dopey dog taking a morning walk and talking about whatever a very inquisitive 8 year old could think of.

I don't know that I really have much of a point to this tale, except that it was time well spent with Ben, and I can't wait to do it again.

A small reflection.

Here are a few facts: 1) I do not consider myself a professional photographer. 2) I barely know how to use the different functions of our digital camera. 3) Every now and then I happen to capture something and think to myself, "Dang, that looks nice."

One of the nice parts about Ben's visits to Eureka is Sequoia Park. This park, populated by thousands of Red Wood trees is litterally in my backyard. And I think I go down there about as many times as Ben makes it to Eureka. Yeah, its one of the things I tell everyone about when talking about home, yet I never really go down there. There are a thousand trails throughout the park, and a duck pond at the bottom. Here we are looking over the duck pond from a trail the slowly crawls up a ravine with a little creek. Its one of our favorite places to walk. This picture was taken at about 8 in the morning. There was still a little morning fog and I think we were about the only people there. Really, quite nice.

Christmas Morning

We told Ben the night before that he could not wake us up before 6 am. At about that time I heard him come down from his loft bed and come tromping across the floor to the bedroom. When he climbed into the bed I asked him what time it was. His answer, with a rather large toothless grin, was 6:01 am. Yes, it was Christmas Morning, and we had a very excited 8 year old waiting for us to drag our buts out of bed.

And so we did. As you can see here, the little guy was thrilled to sit before the tree and receive present after present. There was very little time between presents, and we were pretty much done by about 6:10. Yeah, there was stuff everywhere, even Bear and the cats had a pretty good Christmas.

Delia sat down with Ben's Lego castle and painstakingly put it all together. We told Ben he couldn't destroy for at least 2 days. He begrudgingly agreed to this. For those of you who don't know, Ben loves Lego's. He loves to the finished product put together and play with it for a while. Then he loves to wreck it, and then mix the Lego's with his others, making it impossible to ever put the actual thing together again. This can be very frustrating for the parent who put the thing together in the first place. Oh well, someday he'll get over that and start building the castles and such on his own.

My role in this mornings festivities were pretty easy. I took a few pictures and played Battleship with Ben (complements of Ian, thanks dude). My other activity for the day, is the Christmas Q. As I write this I have 3 racks of baby back pork ribs on the smoker, some baked beans to make, and some vegetables to saute. I'll be posting that later (I can't resist taking pictures of my cooking exploits).

So Merry Christmas everyone. I hope everyone is having as good of a day as we are.

Fixed, sort of.

And no, I wasn't "fixed," I simply had to make a return trip to the Urgent Care Center and make a second attempt at getting what I needed.

According to Wikipedia, Cortisone is a steroid hormone. It naturally produced in the body, along with adrenaline, and had various effects on the body as it is released. Recognizing the usefulness of Cortisone, a fellow by the name of Edward Calvin Kendall chemically produced Cortisone in 1950. This medical breakthrough earned him the Nobel Prize.

Last night, a medical Dr (who was rather impatient and somewhat abrupt) told me I was crazy for thinking she would give me a cortisone shot, thinking I might have an infection in my ankle that was causing the problem. She based this theory on the amount of swelling involved. I tried to explain to her that it was a normal thing for me to have somewhat swollen ankles, but she wouldn't have any of it.

Today, at about 9 am, I saw another Doctor. This doctor was no where near as busy, and after seeing the X-ray, said, "Those are the most horrific ankles I have ever seen. You must have a really high pain threshold. I don't see any signs of infection, myself. And even if I did, I think I would still give you the shot, because looking at your x-rays I figure you have nothing to lose."

That guy is my hero. Of course, as I anticipated, I felt nearly instant relief when I was administered the cortisone. I have included a couple of scans of the x-rays, to hopefully show those who are reading this exactly why it was the Doc figured my case was hopeless.

A typical ankle joint is a ball and socket. As you can see, these images here (courtesy of the guy who had to be called in for these x-rays) show that mine resembles nothing of the sort. Its basically 2 flat ends chipping away at each other. Someday, ankle fusion will be my only option, but until then I'll continue to plug along and do what I can.

Merry Christmas everyone. I'll be reporting in after Christmas Morning.

Broken, Again

Well, I don't know what to say right now. Here I am, the picture courtesy of Delia's camera phone, at the urgent care center. My ailment? An ankle problem of some sort. As many people who know me know, I have always had ankle problems. Well, here I am, a victim of circumstances.

I wish that I had a picture of the doctor who saw me this afternoon, and if I did I would draw little red horns coming out of her forehead. All I wanted was a cortisone shot, but she refused to give it to me, saying the swelling looked like it might be caused by infection (interestingly enough, she did not prescribe antibiotics). So now I don't know what to do with myself.

Here in this photo you can see that I am realizing that I will have to call in sick to work tonight. Now this wouldn't be so bad under any other circumstances. But last night, at work, I was limping around pretty badly. And there was quite a bit of razzing going on that I was simply playing up so that I had something to base a sick day on. So now here I am, as you can see, pouting at my situation. There doesn't seem to be anything to do about it except sit here and get over it.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We are looking forward to that. There will be all sorts of joviality tomorrow and more posting to come.

Allow me to introduce my nemisis, Mr. W. Block.

I have honestly tried to make an entry over the last couple of days. Don't get me wrong, I am not apologizing for not making an entry, for I have learned that is not acceptable in the blogger's realm. But whom people don't seem to talk about (weather through simple omission of fear of retaliation, I don't know which) is my new foe; the one who haunts me at night and lurks in the shadows at day. I mean no other than Mr. Writers Block. This guy is evil to the core. Because of Mr. Block I have actually started this entry about 6 times, and deleted every attempt, shaking my head and cursing Mr. Block's name. But my fingers are agile this morning and it seems I have given him the slip. So now, I can continue with my idea, as disjointed as they are, and you are welcome to peruse them.

The most important thing I can report on is that Ben has arrived for Christmas Vacation. Now Christmas Vacation is nothing new t us, as we always have some time of the year that we get a chance to celebrate this holiday. This one is special, though, because it is the first time that I have had the munchkin here for Christmas Morning. So as stated in previous entries, we are hoping to make this a Christmas to remember. Cookies, carols and copious amounts of egg nogg. How can we go wrong??

One of the finer points of where we live is that Sequoia Park is our backyard. It is literally about a 30 second walk from my backyard to the park. And it really is quite beautiful inside. This is the rope swing Ben and I found last year. I don't know that it will hold his weight this year, as Ben seems a little bigger, and a little taller, and he eats enough for about 4 kids. But its still an excellent walk. And the park is home to one of our favorite activities: Salamander Hunting.

The park, with many streams and small water falls is home to an unbelievable amount of salamanders. It is cool, damp, and the perfect home for our amphibian friends. I will make sure there is photo documentation of one of our expeditions later this week.

On our expeditions, Ben likes to leave no stone unturned, and not waterfall unexamined. Such is the life of the Salamander Hunter. Over the course of the next few weeks I imagine we will be headed into the park quite often. We will update everyone with our finds, and anything else that is exciting we come across.

Yesterday I made the decision that I would not post anything else for the day after Kat Kat's death. Now, over 24 hours later, it seems like I have a whole lot to say. Surprisingly, for myself, who has never been good at any sort of journal keeping, I find that I can't wait to put something new in a post that about 5 people actually keep up on. Funny how life works.

A small story of kindness that unexpectedly happened to me. For those of you that know me, this next statement is going to come as something of a shock: I actually have my bank account balanced to the penny. This is important to know because it will help explain what happened. with the holiday approaching, we (like a lot of people probably do) have a slightly tighter budget than normal. So off I went to Gonsea (local Chinese food; excellent!!). I was armed with my checkbook and a cell phone, ready to brave whatever the holiday masses could throw at me. When I got there and as I was writing the check I learned, to my dismay, they no longer accept checks. SO I told the gal I would be right back, and promptly called home to figure where the Boss wanted me to pull the money. I want to make it clear that I was perfectly capable of paying my way. But the guy behind me must have felt sorry for me. when I returned, Visa in hand, I was told the gentleman ahead of me paid for my meal. A completely unneeded gesture, but was a great topper to a bad day. Very few people seem to be in the habit of simply being nice, it sometimes comes as a shock when they are.

Christmas is just a few days away. There has been so much happening lately that it seems to have snuck up and bit me in the rear with really no warning. Having said that, Delia and I have been making a mad attempt at making sure things are squared away for the up coming holiday festivities. The tree is decorated, there are presents under the tree, and the stockings are hung by the chimney (or in our case, near the wood stove) with care. This will be Ben's first Christmas morning with us, and we want to make sure we do it right. I have the feeling we will be making cookies on Christmas Eve as well. It seems to me that we should take every advantage of the situation as we can.

Part of that involves making sure all the blasted pets are taken care of. I should preface this by saying there are a few pets in our household that are simply the product of Ben being here and me not being able to say no. Hence, the fire bellied newts. allow me to introduce Hop Hop and Bingo (don't blame me for the names, Ben named them). I used to be able to tell the difference between the two, but they have both grown and are nearly identical. They have two small fish that live with them, they don't have names. But they sure deserve names, as they are really hardy and have survived some tough conditions (I am not the most thorough terrarium cleaner).

Also in our care is Kaboobie. This one is Delia's and came with the relationship in sort of a package deal. We love our little box turtle, and have even upgraded her habitat. the picture taken here is the new habitat. Her old one was simply a 20 gallon aquarium with a little fake grass at the bottom. Now we have the deluxe housing, with pool area. I hear no complaints from the little girl.

Also in our care are Bear, Ubu and Tia. They are pretty standard around the house, Tia (aka: Stinky) like to mess up the tree ornaments.

So there is our update, as much as I have one to make. Ben arrives tomorrow, unfortunately I will be at work when that happens. Hopefully, Delia will have some pictures taken, and I can post them to Flickr when after she does.

So until then, happy holidays everyone.

Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim.

Be patient, and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you - an ancient Latin phrase.

We are sad to say that there has been a death in our family. Today, at about 2 pm, Kat Kat was put to rest.

Kat Kat has been with Delia for most of her adult life. Kat Kat was her first feline pet.

The old girl loved to be around people, even though she often came across as somewhat aloof. But she loved nothing more than to sit in our laps and purr contentedly, even if we were completely ignoring her. Human companionship made Kat Kat happy (a full bowl of food also made her happy, which she was very vocal about). She loved to sleep by Delia's head, again being completely ignored most of the night, but purring contentedly. If she decided we were moving on from loving her too soon, a few claw swipes or bites to the arm or leg let us know she wasn't done, and neither were we.

Her last days have been obviously uncomfortable for her, and although this decision was tough for us, it was the right thing to do.

Kat Kat is no longer in pain, and resting peacefully.

Two new links.

Just a quick note about the links section at the side there. I have recently added two new links.

This first is for The Indigo Dog House. Friends of ours run this stellar operation, and I can't recommend them enough for those who are coming to town with pets (and want a place for them to stay while they are here) or for those who are in town normally and need a place for their pets to go while they leave town.

The second is for Iver's Diner. Iver Lien and Janine Melanson, two of our favorite people. They saw our blog and thought it was a great idea and now Iver has taken to blogging himself. So check it out. Iver is full of useless knowledge, and I'm sure you can learn a thing or two from him (even if it is useless in normal, everyday life).

An update of well.... life?

I supposed I should take a moment and let the world know (I guess when I say world I really mean simply a few friends and family) that Cat Cat is still alive, but generally miserable. The Vet said she was really dehydrated, and they took some blood to run a few tests, which we will hear back on Wednesday. But for now she is back home and meowing insanely loudly, and generally letting us know she is unhappy. As far as that goes, I guess we will know more on Wednesday.

Now, lets take a moment and talk about George Foreman. I realize right now that anyone who is reading this is probably wondering why in the world I would want to talk about George right now. But since this is my blog, I'll talk about whatever I want to. A Yahoo! search of George Foreman produces more than 18 millions results. George was a boxer, a preacher, a motivational book writer, and the inventor of the George Foreman Grill. This was some thing we registered for at Bed Bath and Beyond as part of our gift registry. Last night, I made Turkey burgers, Which I have to say were insanely tasty. I chopped up onions, bell pepper, and mushrooms and sauteed them for a little with some garlic. Then I took the sauteed veggies and mixed them into the burgers, and formed them for grilling.

The results were outstanding. Made with whole wheat buns, lettuce and cheese, it was a quite the meal and actually fairly healthy as well. On a side note, I added a little seasoning before grilling, which next time I will not, as it did not seam jive with the flavor of the veggies.

So now, I am a fan George's grill. I feel like we know each other in a weird sort of way. George knows I like to cook, and his grill was made for me. Perhaps that sounds a bit crazy, but that's just the way life goes.

As I write this, it is Tuesday, December 18,2007. Ben arrives in a couple of days. We can't wait for that. The next couple of days will be spent making sure everything is ready for the young man's arrival and stay with us. He will be here for the next two and a half weeks. We will be sure to post as many photo's to Flickr as possible, I sure Amy will be appreciating that.

So until next time, everyone have a good holiday and stay safe.

Its getting close....

Well, as I sit here thinking I should be in bed, I can't help but also think its nearly Christmas. Along with that, Ben will be here for his first Christmas morning here at our house.

I can't believe Christmas is next Tuesday!! This year has gone by rather fast and has been full of some many events its almost impossible to keep track of them all. But its down to 10 days. And its even less time before Ben arrives. He'll be traveling here with Gill and Mona. Ben spent the afternoon with them the other day, and was quite happy to be able to play some pool and hang out for a while. He told Amy he had a really good time and wanted to go back soon. I am hoping that we will get some snow nearby while he is here. I think that would top off our holiday together.

On a bit of a sadder note, Cat Cat appears to be a little on the sickly side. She has lost a lot of weight, and she is moving really slow. We are hoping to get her seen on Monday. I'll keep the world posted as to her condition as time moves on.

Well, on that note it is time for me to go to bed. I'm sorry this wasn't the greatest blog entry in the world, but its all I have for right now.

To answer a question....

My sister posed the question: How may pets do you have?

Well, to answer, the count is as follows:

1 dog
3 cats
1 box turtle
3 fish
2 newts

And there you have it.

We have been elfed.

Well, we have been elfed. I'm sure some of you have seen this, its going around, and I couldn't resist the chance to make our own. So have a laugh, that's what it is for.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1371362128.

Lounging on a cold afternoon

I don't know what it is, but the last time I attempted to keep some sort of web log of our lives, I set it all up, payed 5 bucks a month and did nothing with it. Weird. Now, with a free thing no obligation at all, I find myself sitting here way to often finding something to write. But that seems to be what today is lending itself to. Its fricking cold outside, in fact I think there is still grass outside that is frosted over from last night. So its a lounge around the house day. As you can see here, Bear feels the same way. We spend all sorts of money on dog beds for this goofy dog and all he wants to do is sleep on the couch when he thinks no one is looking. And then when he is caught, he seems to be showing no remorse for his actions. I think maybe this dog is a little too comfortable for his own good.

Well, now we can see why Bear is on the couch. Ubu is sleeping on his bed. The cats are worse than the dog. We let them pretty much go where ever they want, yet they all choose to sleep on the dog beds, as seen here in this example. And Bear, even though he is well over 2 or 3 times their size, seems to be a little afraid of the cats. So as you can see there is an obvious dilemma here. Poor dog. The rest of the cats are scattered around the house. Cat Cat is laying on top of the turtle enclosure (which is a warm spot due to the heat lamp), and Tia (aka: Stinky) is who-knows-where. But she is as bad as the others.

So after a small bit of hunting I found Stinky. She usually comes when she is called so it wasn't that tough, but as with everyone else around here, she is happy to simply lounge and do very little. I guess that's just the time of year that it is.


Well, if anything, this rambling post will let Ben know all the pets are doing ok, and everyone is generally happy (except when I chase them around with a camera).

For now, I have to go outside and put my clothes for the night in the dryer, yes, my return to work is coming way too quickly. Oh well. Until later.

Back to work, Doctors orders.

Well, I saw the workman's comp doctor today, and sadly he said I could return to work. Oh well, I guess all good things eventually come to some sort of end. I have to say I have grown used to being home and letting Delia be the bread winner (although technically I have been getting paid the entire time I have been home).

So I am back to work tonight (as it is 2 am while I type this). Light duty is not such a bad thing, its probably the most comfortably dressed assignment there is. No boots, no silly duty belt. Its not a bad gig. But that too can't last forever. Then it will be back to full duty, and no more easy nights.

The last couple days have been pretty relaxing. The biggest thing to happen is we removed the pool table from the garage. A friend of ours was looking for one and we decided we didn't want it anymore. It was an advantageous arrangement. Over the next year we plan to renovate the garage and change it to something of a family room. We want to carpet the floor, put a false wall over the garage door, and get a nice big sectional couch. I want to put a wood stove out there, and the grand finish includes a high definition TV projector. Of course, none of this can be done right away, but we are not concerned about that. But by the end of the year, hopefully we can sit out there and watch movies on a huge screen and be warm by the fire.

So, I'm off to bed, and work tomorrow. Goodbye for now.

Its beginning to look like Christmas.

So, I was insanely tired last night when I wrote this, so now I am taking a minute to edit it, to a little proofreading, and hopefully make an entry that makes a little more sense.


Fox Valley Christmas Trees is our preferred place of Christmas Tree purchase. Until this year, they were located outside of town. Not too far, but far enough that it added a little to the general feel of the tree selection. This year, due to some sort of construction at their normal site, they are located in the middle of Eureka, at the old truck stop on Broadway. While this didn't diminish the tree selection at all, it dd take away from the feel a little. Oh well, we still had a good time, and of course take every opportunity to put our mugs up on the Internet.


Since I hurt my back I haven't had to put up any more Christmas lights, which I have to say I am happy about. I love the way the look, I hate putting them up and taking them down. I think this might make me a bit of a Scrooge, but I don't mind. But we did spend the evening decorating the Christmas Tree.


The tree always goes in the same spot, in the corner near the front door, which we never use anyway (anyone who comes to visit us actually uses the back door; if anyone uses the front door we can assume its someone we don't know and they can generally be ignored). The lights were hung, the tree topper added, and things are generally looking a little more festive here at the Rossiter household. This afternoon I cleaned up the living room and hung the stockings, hoping the Santa will be kind enough to leave some stuffers there for us. There are stockings for me, Delia, Ben and Bear. We don't have stockings for the cats. This doesn't bother me at all, and I think the only reason Delia hasn't made a stink about is that it hasn't occurred to her (which all might change as soon as she reads this).



Well, tonight we have a bunch of people coming over to remove our pool table. I might have a few pictures from that and a post to go with it. We'll see. So until next time, every one have a fun (I'm sure mom, dad, Craig and Kim are).

Just killing time

Its is day two of my ordered days off, and I'm sitting here are Dean's killing time while Dean and Tracy (Dean's wife) work on home improvement projects. I'm going to have to file a complaint with these working folks, as they have made me move, mid-blog, in order for them to continue their project.

The christmas party was last night, and it was a nice evening. Having szaid that, the entertainment left a lot to be desired. In the past we have had professional comedians come into town, and they seem to be hit and miss with how well they do and the reaction from the crowd. Last night, for some reason, we had Sham Tram the Magician. I'm not sure what happened, why they chose this guy (whose normal audiance must have an average age of 10), and why I had to be subjected to such a rough show, but I was. I had to listen to this guy ask the crowd to say the magic word, "Believe", at the count of three in order to complete his trick. Oh well, at least the prime rib was good.

Aside from that, I failed to remember the camera last night, which I really had inteded to bring, so I have no photo's for this event. I have decided that I would like to get myself a small camera that I can pretty much take with me everywhere, but I think that will have to wait untill after christmas.

Well, that all I have for now. I realize its more rambling than anything else, but at least its something.

Days Off, Doctor's Orders

I saw the Workman's Comp Dr today. The good news, he feels that my injury is mainly a muscle thing, and should only get better with time. The even better news, I am off work for the next week. I don't see this as a bad thing (although my supervisor might think differently).

Delia is happy about this, since I can be home for the next couple of nights, which is something we don't get all that often because of our work schedules. Bear is happy about his as well, since I'll be home to be with him, and he can play outside a lot more often.

At any rate, tonight is the Christmas Party which, thanks to the Doc, I can attend. We will take some pictures and I'll leave a post tomorrow after the festivities.

Every have a good night.

A changed Blog

I had an account of what happened to me and my trainee the other night at work, but decided to take it off. The inmate who assaulted us is facing criminal charges and his court case is currently pending. Until the case is done I will leave the recounting of the incident. When the case is resolved I will put it back up, as this is something I don't want to forget. If you are curious about the events, let me know and I will send you the orignal post. Thanks for understanding, and I appreciate all the people who have been concerned for my well being.

Wierd, here I am again at the keyboard.

So here I am. Its nearly 0030 (yeah, thats 12:30 am for you folks not keeping up with the military time). I have to go back to work tomorrow, the first time since the altercation at work, you should have read that in an earlier blog. I'm not thrilled about being on light duty, but oh well, thats how things go sometimes. On the plus side, the fellow who beat me down (although I say that, I think I put a pretty good fight) was arraigned today. He is offically facing 3 felonies, 2 counts of battery on a custodial officer, and one count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily harm. I guess there is some justice in the world after all.

New Photo's

There a slew of Photo's on the Flickr Page. Check the link to the Right. I spent a lot of time over the last day or two uplaoding to Flickr, but I have not had a chance to label them all. So be patient with that, I'll catch up some day. I am also making a statement, here and now, that I will take more photo's of our daily activities (I apologise in advance, because that might bore the livig crap out of everyone).

I think I might be famous....

I made the news the other day.

I was at work, I had a trainee with me, and it really seemed like it was going to be a night that would drag on forever. Just one of those nights tat you don't think will ever end because it is so boring. My opinion of that night changed dramaticaly at about 2100 hours. Here is the news article that describes what happened:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said two of its correctional officers were assaulted Sunday night after responding to a disturbance in a jail housing unit.An HCSO news release stated the officers were attempting to place handcuffs on an inmate when he suddenly spun around and hit one officer in the face.“The second officer attempted to restrain the inmate, Christopher Charles Matzick, 23, of Fortuna,” the news release stated. “Matzick continued to fight, striking the second officer multiple times in the head. The officer was able to draw his departmental-issued Taser and ordered Matzick to the ground. Seeing the Taser, Matzick complied and was placed in handcuffs.”Both officers were taken to a local hospital for treatment. One officer received treatment for cuts to his face and a loosened tooth. The second officer sustained injuries to his neck and back and will need further evaluation, the news release stated. Matzick has been in custody since Nov. 20, when he was arrested on suspicion of battery and public intoxication. The Sheriff’s Office stated in the release that Matzick now faces additional charges of assault with great bodily injury, assault on a peace officer, resisting/obstructing a peace officer and resisting an executive officer.He is scheduled to be arraigned on the new charges Wednesday. An arraignment occurs when a person appears before a court to be advised of pending charges, the right to counsel and the right to trial by jury.


I tried to tell the doctor that I didn't need the silly neck brace, but he didn't believe me. He also said I had to pee in a urinal. I decided to wait until I got home.

The Great Proposal

I think perhaps on the most important things I could possible elaborate on is the proposal. I have to say this is something I was thinking about for months, and how to get it just right was a mystery to me. The whole thing didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, but in the end I think I got it just right.

I started with the ring. Dean (my best friend and also my best man) spent a full day of ring shopping. Finally, I settled on the one I wanted (thank goodness for the tax return). As I went to pay for it, my card was declined. I thought this was odd, as I knew I had money there, and had them try again. Still, declined. A short time later, and some ridiculous time spent on hold with my bank, I learned that most bank cards have a spending limit on them. This, I felt the need to point out to the customer service rep who had to put up with me, was insane. Still, there was not hope for it, and no easy solution for me. Dean, being a good friend that he is, ended up paying for the ring on his credit card, and I paid him back the next day. So, hurdle #1 overcome, could have been smoother, but still out of the way.

The next was where to go for the big event. The north coast of California if is ripe with romantic settings, and I think I was looking for something that would stand out for the intended purpose. Eventually I settled on the Plaza Grill. This is a fairly fancy restaurant, and also happens to be one of our favorites. So I made the reservation, and simply told Delia she needed to be free that night, as I had planned a date night (something we love to have but rarely seem to find the time to do). Hurdle #2, an easy one.

Next on my list of things to do was how to deliver. There are a thousand ways a person can propose marriage, and I think if you look around on the Internet and ask those around you, every one seems to know the "best way" to do it. I wanted to involve Ben, so I put a lot of thought into the process. In the end, I decided it would be best if Ben was on the phone, and helping me. My master plan was falling into place nicely.

So the big night arrived. Dinner reservations were made, the ring was in my possession and sparkling nicely, and I had arranged with Ben to have him call at a specific time in order to make sure we go this done right. Delia and I both worked that day, and when we got home, I decided to cal Amy and make sure Ben was ready to do his part. I went outside, to get the mail, and used my cell phone to call Amy. I was so nervous that I called Delia by mistake. She answered the phone and I said, "So, is everything ready?" She asked me if I was crazy and I immediately hung up, thinking I had screwed up. Fortunately, she was busy inside doing something, and barely gave a second thought to me being an idiot from time to time.

So off we went to Arcata. They had nice little table reserved for us, situated in the corner and fairly private. We sat down, ordered something to drink, and I waited for what seemed like an eternity, for Ben to call. The phone rang, well, actually it vibrated (because even under the circumstances I felt good cell phone etiquette was important). I started talking to Ben, and Delia gave me a look like I was crazy, talking on the phone in the middle of a restaurant. Once she realized I was talking to Ben she relaxed, and then became surprised when I said he wanted to talk to her. One on the phone, Ben told Delia that I had a really important question for her. At this point I threw all my inhibitions to the wind, got down on my knee and proposed to her. I'm pretty grateful she said yes, because I think I would not have known what to do if she hadn't. I didn't really make a back up plan. So good for me. Now look at us, happily married.

So Mom should be pretty happy with this entry, she has been bugging me for it for a while now. If anyone is interested, and has Google Earth, or a similar program, the coordinates for the Plaza Grill are: 40 52'03.74" N
124 05'13.73" W

And the food there is excellent.

Time to play Catch-Up

Ok, so it's Tuesday afternoon, and I have nothing to do right now other than work on this blog page. I am in the process of making some links, hopefully getting some pictures up, and making a few posts tat should be made (which I think will at least make Mom happy). So I think the general idea is this: if there were entries made on the Easy Site, I do not intend to duplicate those. And one that site is down and gone, those entries will be gone forever. On the flip side, I will be making a place where we can post photos (I don't know if there is a photo option on this thing yet) and a lot of the photos from the Easy Site will be here and available with comments for each. So having said that, I apologize if the next couple of days sees a lot entries that seem random and out of order, but they are simply me trying to figure out how to use this site and making sure the family gets their recognition for it.

Blogging the day away....

Well, after a lot of coercing from Mom and Dad, here I am, blogging. I am hoping to make a better show of this effort thanI did of my last one (the easy site).

A lot has happened in the last couple of months, and there is a lot to catch people up on. So, over the course of the next couple of days I will make a fair attempt of playing catch up. I will also make sure we get linked to Mom and Dad's blog, as well as Christy's, so can all stay connected easily.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Adam and Delia