Archive, 2nd half of 2007

12/31/2007:
Last day of the year. It's hard for me to believe that we are on the edge of 2008 already. I generally do not base my reflections of the past on the time of year. That is, I am not usually one to take the opportunity on New Years Eve to look back over the past year and note achievements or difficulties, but I find I am doing that now. So much has happened in this past year. As is the way of life, there have been good things and bad things, but I find I look forward into the new year with anticipation of things to come, not fear or worry, which is a big step for me. Most of the major events of my life over the past year are covered in this journal. Though I have been able to update this site less than I would have liked in the past 6 months or so, I have still been able to touch upon the most important subjects, both good and bad. I am hoping in the coming months and years, I will be able to update more frequently.

My program of stress and anxiety reduction is coming along well. I'll admit I slacked off over the weekend; I did very minimal stretching, and no energy work at all, but I continue to feel well, so I am not going to worry about it. I will resume my usual schedule tonight. I felt pretty well all weekend. There was some stomach discomfort at times, but nothing too terrible. My back pain has diminished, as well, which definitely helps. Today, I feel a little off, but I blame it on lack of sleep. I got to bed later than I should have, and then had trouble falling asleep. Oh, well. I work today, then I have tomorrow off. I can make it :)

My weekend was very enjoyable. Joanna and I went out for Chinese on Friday night, and it was good. Afterwards, we returned home, and played video games until bedtime. On Saturday, we did some post-Christmas shopping, and took advantage of some nice sales. We hit Staples, Fashion Bug, Sally, then off to the mall for Sears. We looked around at other things in the mall, and stopped at a nice little coffee shop for coffee and a tasty lemon poppyseed muffin :) We then returned to Sears, and picked up a few more things on the way out. The rest of the weekend was a mixture of video games and doing little things around the house. It was very relaxing and very enjoyable. Joanna and I often expressed how much we were enjoying each other's company :)

Another thing I found out over the weekend is that my webhost just finished a major upgrade to all of their servers. Everything is running much faster now, and seems much more stable. I did need to call their tech support to get a password reset; apparently, during the upgrade, some of the password data got garbled. I could get into my webmail, but I could not log into my site admin. The support person I talked to was very helpful, and I made sure to tell her how much better and cleaner their main site looks. I am now able to SSH in again, from work, so that will hopefully allow for more frequent updates :)

Page Updates:
- cleaned up the site a little. Removed some unneeded text on some of the pages.
- Interests page: added another row of music artists. Added F.E.A.R. to my list of favorite games.
- Links page: added Dominic Deegan to my list of webcomics. Added RPMFind.net to the Tech Utilities section.
- added some pics of our rats to the Pics page (under Animal Pics > Rats) :)
- created a Mystic Links section on my Mystic page. On the main Links page, moved everything under Pagan Links to this new section.


12/12/2007:
My anxiety has continued to be fairly severe during the past couple of weeks. I have suffered several panic attacks at work, and have been feeling generally unhealthy. Thankfully, I have started to feel a little better over the past couple of days. I have made some realizations while I have been working through my stress. I have realized how much I have been suppressing my feelings. Sure, I have expressed frustration, sadness, and joy, but in small amounts. Much of what I have been feeling, especially the "negative" emotions, has been compressed into a tight little ball, which has become wound so tight that it is causing me physical pain. A couple of weeks ago, I started a daily stress-relief program, of my own divising, which has been helping me to release this ball of tension, little by little, and therefore allowing me to feel better. I have been doing some stretching, basic yoga poses, and breathing exercises, and I have been sticking to my schedule, which I need to do. I have taken a day off here and there, but I practice my program at least 4 times per week, for at least 30 minutes each time, sometimes for as long as an hour. I have also been incorporating meditation into my program, combining positive visualization of a more relaxed self, sound healing, and energy work. I have been opening myself up to positive energy from the source and allowing it to flow through me. It picks up bits and pieces of my ball of stress and carries them out of me. I am doing this gradually, as I must. I cannot do it all at once; there is too much there. I am making progress. Most days, I feel a little better than the previous day. There are some days where I feel worse, but that is just my stress working itself out of me. I will not feel impeded by these days; I will accept them as necessary for the end goal: a better, healthier me.

While I have been working on relieving my stress, I have become a little more unstable emotionally. These emotions that have been packed down inside are starting to come loose; they were not expressed before, and they will not leave quietly. They demand to be given their voice, and if I try to suppress that voice, I am just doing what I did originally, to arrive where I am now. I have been able to shed some tears. This is very important to me. Some bad things have happened this year; some sad things, that I wanted to shed tears for, but could not. There were also happy things, things that brought tears of joy to some, but at most an elated smile and laughter to me. I want to express the fire side of me, not just the earth side. This means bringing the realizations of these past events back around for a second pass, and allowing myself to really feel them. As I express my feelings for these events, the matching emotions that make up this ball inside me will be vented, and the ball will unwind a bit more. I know it will be a long road, but I am in it for however long it takes.

All of my words above probably give the impression that the last 2 weeks have completely sucked, but that is not the case. While I have been feeling down and stressed, and some sad events have occurred, there have been some good things, as well. Last weekend, for example was very good. On Friday night, a group of us gathered online to play Defense of the Ancients, a specialized map for Warcraft III. We ended up with 8 players for the first 2 games, and a 9th player joined us for the second 2 games. 2 of the players were very new to the Defense of the Ancients gameplay, but I thought they both did well, and everyone had a good time. I look forward to when we can play again.

Saturday and Sunday were for errands and also for relaxing. We took a nice drive around Springfield on Saturday. I am usually in a hurry to get somewhere for some specific time, but we did not have any specific plans, so after doing a little shopping, we just drove around for awhile. We did make our way over to the Eastfield mall, where we caught a showing of The Golden Compass. I'll talk about that in a minute. After the movie, we wandered the mall for awhile, then meandered our way home, where we ordered chinese food, then sacked out in front of the TV for the evening. It was great :) Sunday was for Christmas shopping and some other errands, but we made a good day of that, too, with plenty of time spent enjoying each other's company :)

The Golden Compass was a decent movie, but I cannot strongly recommend it to anyone who has not read the book, and even then, it is iffy. It was really great to see the characters and scenes from the book brought to the screen, and as scenes, they came out really well, but there were some flaws. The biggest issue was that the story did not flow very well. They hit on most of the major points of the book, but there wasn't much holding those points together. The producers should have either made the movie longer, and included some backstory, or cut out some parts to make room for some backstory. As it was, the characters, aside from the major ones, were barely fleshed out, and the impact of seeing some of the characters was diminished because of this. On the upside, the CGI was worked into the movie magnificently; the demons and bears all moved fluidly and realistically. I did enjoy the movie, and I am glad I went to see it. I just wish it had been crafted better.


11/30/2007:
Below is my update from 11/26. I could not post it then because my site was down.

11/26/2007:
I need to get over this anxiety. It has been eating me more and more as the weeks have gone on. I try to think positive thoughts; I try to shed my stress, but nothing is working for me. I just got done with 5 days off in a row, and I feel like I could use another vacation already. I have this knot in my stomach that won't go away. It limits my deep breathing, so I feel lightheaded, and it shrinks my stomach so I cannot eat the way I want to and need to. I am planning on some meditation and energy work tonight (good in, bad out); I am hoping it will get me back on track towards feeling better, because I'm tired of feeling like this each day.

My 5-day vacation was good, apart from the tension noted above. We took it easy on Wednesday, and headed to VT at a decent hour, arriving at my parents' around 8. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother's on Thursday evening, with a ton of my family, as usual. My anxiety was more pronounced there, as it has been lately with larger numbers of people, so I did not eat as much as I would have liked. It was good to see my family, though. Joanna and I returned home on Friday, then spent Saturday and Sunday together. We got some errands done, and cleaned up around the house. I hung some curtain rods in the kitchen, over the only windows in the house without some sort of covering on them. We hope to have curtains up by the end of this week. On Sunday, I cleaned the gutters, raked up the rest of the leaves in the front yard and driveway, and worked in the back yard for awhile. I got the lawnmower going and shredded some leaves. There are still a lot of them back there, but at least they are more organized now. If the snow holds off for a couple more weeks, I may even be able to finish raking them all up.

Some sad news: our hamster, Mal, passed away on Wednesday. We don't know why it happened; he was up and hyper Tuesday night, as usual, running in his wheel, climbing, and being generally entertaining. He was young; we had only had him 5 months, and I don't believe he was more than a couple of months old when purchased. *sigh* :( I miss the little guy. He was great at lifting spirits and making people smile. I feel very sad at his passing.

The good news is that all of our rittens are doing well. The boys have been separated from the girls and are living in a cage on their own. Ashes, the mother, is still in with her 6 daughters. 2 of them are being adopted this Friday, and we are planning to keep the rest. When the babies get bigger, we will introduce them to our current girls, and hopefully they will all be living in a huge cage together. If that doesn't work out for some reason, we have a variety of cages available, so it will work out one way or another. Our two big white rats, Flower and Ninlin, have developed many scabs on their backs and necks. We think it may be dry skin, made worse by the bedding they were using. We had them using wood chips for bedding, but have now switched them over to cloth bedding. Ninlin has been separated from Flower, to protect against overactive cleaning of each other, and both are already showing a marked improvement. Joanna has been adding olive oil to the food we give to all the rats, which has been shown to help with skin and fur health, so hopefully both will be better very soon.

In between all the busy time lately, I have made some time for games. We did get to play my D&D campaign a couple of weekends ago, for the first time since August, and that was great. The PCs are on the 2nd layer of Acheron, that strange, cold plane of war and giant metal cubes. They have recovered the weapon they were sent to find, and now must make their way back to Sigil, to claim their reward, in coin and information.

For video games, I have been playing Zelda: The Windwaker on the Gamecube. I am also working back through Resident Evil (the first one) again. I beat it with Jill on the hardest difficulty setting; I want to try with Chris, on the same setting, but first, I am going to try to beat it using only the knife. I am playing on easy, with Chris, since he seems to be able to take more hits without going down. I have beaten the big snake (the first time); now I'm trying to take out the crimsonhead in the cellar behind the mansion. He kicked my ass once already, but I only had 1 first aid spray with me. Next time I'll bring more healing; on easy, I find a lot of healing, and I'll need to save it up for the boss battles, and run away from everything else. I still shudder at facing Tyrant with the knife. I suspect there will be lots of death for me.

I finally made the switch from Win2000 to XP on my main machine, as some newer games require XP in order to play. Unreal Tournament 3 and Bioshock are the two I am currently interested in. I tried to do an upgrade from Win2000 to XP, but it didn't work well for me. After the install, my machine blue-screened on boot, dumped the memory, and rebooted. It did this, looping, several times, so I formatted the C: drive and installed XP from scratch. It's better that way, anyway. The pain in the ass part is reinstalling all my apps, especially my games, but it means a nice, clean registry and a smoother-running machine overall, so I can't be too bitter. In reinstalling some of my games, I got a hankering to play them. I loaded up Diablo II last night, and played for about an hour. It was fun. I smashed some baddies, killed Radament, and looted treasure. I almost died a few times (damn poison), but managed to survive. I played my level 43 Paladin, who is focused in Defensive Auras, with some Combat Abilities thrown in so he's not completely useless by himself. I also want to finally finish F.E.A.R. I have had to start over twice, once due to a game update that messed up my saves, and again after my XP reinstall. I really enjoy the game, and would like to complete it, so I can maybe enjoy the expansions at some point :)


11/9/2007:
I had my first plumbing adventure at the house yesterday. It actually started on Wednesday night. I got home, and Joanna pointed me to a place under the bathroom sink, where water was slowly - but constantly - dripping from the flexible pipe connected to the hot water tap. I got my tools and my flashlight and sat down to take a look. I could see the valve to turn off the hot water to the sink, so I started there...only to find out that the valve was broken. As soon as I turned the valve, it started leaking, around the valve handle, and I could not get it to stop. I ended up turning all the hot water off to the house faucets to stop the leak. Once it was stopped, I took another look at the issue, but at that point the solution was obvious: the valve needed to be replaced, along with the line that was originally leaking. We called a plumber, but he would charge $250 just to replace the valve, and that was just for labor! That didn't even include the cost of parts. I decided that was insane; I can fix this myself. I planned to take care of it last night, but decided that I would just be thinking about it all day, so I got up a little early yesterday morning, instead, to take care of it before work. I turned off all the water to the house and emptied the pipes, then took the valves apart. It took a little longer than expected, since I was working in tight quarters, in the cupboard under the sink and the valve was near the back, partially inside the wall. I did get it all taken apart, though, and then we were off to Home Depot for parts. I picked up the parts I needed, plus some duplicate parts, to replace the fittings for the cold water tap if I am so inclined, or if it starts leaking. I also picked up another couple of wrenches: a small pipe wrench for working in tighter spaces, and a larger adjustable wrench. So equipped, we headed home, and I installed our shiny new ball valve. I got it tightened up, and turned the water back on. No leaks! Great! I am keeping the towel under the pipes, anyway, just in case, but I think we will be all set. Of course, while I was working under there, I got ideas for ways that I'd like to fix up some other things, like the cold water tap, which works just fine, but is similarly situated so it would be hard to work on if it did start leaking...

The experience was mostly positive, except for the annoyance of the leak. I learned better how our pipes run, and how our water is routed through the house. I learned how to turn the water off to certain points in the house, and how to turn it off for the whole thing. I learned how to turn just the hot water off to the faucets, while still allowing hot water to flow through our heating pipes and heat our house. Lots of learning, and a big sense of accomplishment, too :) And I saved a lot of money by not having the plumber do the work. And I came into the possession of more tools, which will no doubt be useful. Yay :)

Last weekend did end up being quite busy. Joanna's Dad and his wife did come to visit, though they did not show up until Saturday, which worked out well. I went home a couple hours early on Friday, still not feeling very well, and it was good to have the night with just the two of us, relaxing. I felt much better after relaxing a bit, and was better prepared for company on Saturday. We spent most of Saturday in conversation, as we had not seen her Dad or Jill for over 2 years, I don't think. Saturday night, we drove up to VT, just over the border, to meet my parents for dinner. It was a good dinner, and a good time, even though I found it overly hot in the restaurant, and I was not feeling very well by the time we set out for home. It was good to get home and rest. On Sunday, we headed up to the Yankee Candle store, and spent several hours exploring and shopping. Everyone bought some nice candles; we are currently enjoying the Cranberry Chutney variety we purchased. Their candles are fairly expensive, but they do tend to have the best, longest-lasting scents. It was nice to get a few, as we were running low on scented candles, and we like burning them during the cold months. After leaving Yankee Candle, we headed back to our area, and had a late lunch at the Picadilly Pub. We all enjoyed the atmosphere, conversation, and some very tasty food. After lunch, we headed back to the house, to hang out for another couple of hours. We played with the rats awhile -- got all the rittens out so our guests could see them and hold them. In time, it was time for our guests to return to the cold north (Canada). They left in the early evening, and I hope their trip home was a good one. Joanna's Dad was talking about a massive railway show in January, at the Big E, so we may see him again then. We hope, we hope :)

This weekend is shaping up to be busy, as well, but not as much as last weekend. I am taking my car in for some necessary maintenance on Saturday morning. While that work is going on, I am hoping to get some things done around the house -- depending on the weather, we have leaves that need raking, and the gutters need to be cleaned. I would also like to do some work on my computer. I want to clean up some of the clutter, and get rid of some programs that I never use. Hopefully I will have time to do that sometime this weekend. Late on Saturday night, Nishi's flight comes into Bradley, so we'll be going down to pick her up. I am very glad she is able to come down; I know her and Joanna miss each other very much.


11/2/2007:
I have been ill for much of this week :( I stayed home Monday, worked Tuesday, stayed home again Wednesday, worked yesterday, and am working today. I wasn't sure I was going to make it through the whole day yesterday, but I did. I have similar feelings about today. I was feeling better this morning, but worse now. I will see how the day goes, and make a determination based on how I feel. My sickness is not anything specific; it seems to be "general" sickness. A little sniffly, upset stomach, slightly dizzy sometimes, and always tired. I've been taking lots of Vitamin C and trying to get as much rest as possible. On the days I stayed home, I slept until noon or later, which is very rare for me. I think my body is trying to fight off worse things, as I know there are several "sicknesses" going around: head colds, throat trouble, and a stomach bug. What I'm left with is much tiredness, capped with my general sickness. At least it is Friday.

My weekend will probably be fairly busy, so I am hoping that I will feel better later today. Joanna's father and his (wife? fiancee?) are coming to visit this weekend; they will probably be at the house by the time I get home tonight. We have not seen them in quite a long time; I'll admit there is some anxiety brought on by their visit, but I am trying to relax myself and shed that anxiety. Anxiety does not help me, and can only hinder me, especially when my body is already weak from battling potential illnesses.

I did have a good time last weekend. I attended a Halloween party on Long Island, with a whole lot of other people, many of which I know :) I also got to meet some new people, and see some others that I had not seen in years, which was great. The costumes were varied, and all were enjoyable to see. I'll see if I can remember attendees and (costumes). Here we go: myself (Red Mage), Jen (White Mage), Mark (Black Mage), Brian T. (Fighter), Mike (Thief), Lisa (Dominating Nun), Michelle (Catholic School Girl), Chris (Medieval Garb), Dave (little shirt (no costume)), Wills (Tequila Shooter), Suzie (Cop), Matt (Judge), Will (cannot remember costume), Mary (cannot remember costume), Steve (cannot remember costume), Mark H. (Saddam), Sharon (Bee), Tom (Predator), Miles (Guerilla), Liam (Guerilla), (cannot remember name (female)) (Zombie), (cannot remember name (male)) (Zombie), Serena (Sailor Girl), Serena's boyfriend (I realize I never caught his name) (no costume), Damian (no costume), Jared K. (no costume), Ron (Necromancer, I think), Elena (Dark Fairy), Cassie (Flapper).

That's 29 people, and I'm sure I am forgetting some. Probably even people I know... Still a good time, though louder and longer-lasting than I am used to. When I sacked out around 2 am, it was still going strong. I think the party finally closed down around 4 am or so. I spent much of my time at the party doing what I usually do -- conversing with small groups of people. Michelle, Lisa, and I sat together for quite awhile, talking. People came and went, including us, as we moved about, stopping outside, or in the kitchen, or in the hallway, to chat and laugh and have a generally good time. Michelle was one of the new people I met. She is Mark's girlfriend, and it was good to get to know her better. I am looking forward to when Joanna gets to meet her, as well; they both love rodents as pets and are fans of opera (Michelle sings), and I think they will get along well. Yay.


10/23/2007:
I have been feeling aggravated and irritated this week. I cannot pinpoint the reason, but there it is, nonetheless. It was worst last night after work, and into this morning. After a shower and a shave this morning, I felt moderately better. I listened to Godsmack and Opeth on the way to work this morning, to get out some of that red energy, and now that I am here, I feel better. I am still tired, but not so easily annoyed as this morning. Hopefully I can keep my aggravation to a minimum.

Joanna and I have been very busy these past few weeks, working on our house and getting things organized. The house is in good order, now. There is still some clutter about, especially in the office and the plant room, but that will get sorted out in time. Our primary living spaces are clean and uncluttered; in fact, our living room is lacking couches and chairs, so it is quite clear and open at this time :) We will get a couch eventually; in the meantime, we are content sitting or lounging on the floor; myself in my Crazy Creek chair, Joanna on a pile of blankets and pillows. If we really feel the need to sit on a couch, we can go downstairs, to the den, sit there, and enjoy a movie or some TV.

My parents came down last weekend. They arrived Friday night and left late on Saturday afternoon. Dad brought me down a lawnmower, so I got to mow my own front lawn for the first time. It felt good, and it looks better. I meant to mow the back lawn, as well, but I did not have time during the weekend. The front lawn needed it more, so it was good to get that done. On Saturday morning, we went out to breakfast, then hit Home Depot to pick up some things we needed. We then returned home and worked on projects for awhile. Dad and I cleaned up the lawnmower and fixed its handle (it kept falling down; just needed a few bolts to hold it in place), and then I mowed the lawn. Joanna and my Mom worked on building a rat cage, using rolls of wire mesh and a plastic storage bin for a bottom. After the lawn was mowed, Dad and I explored the house, looking for things that needed fixing. We found a leaky valve in the basement. It isn't leaking outside the valve, but it is allowing a small amount of water to pass through it, even when it is closed. This is bad, because the valve is supposed to close off water to one of the outside faucets, which should be left open during the winter it does not freeze. 2 of the 3 faucets are open, and their inside valves are working fine. The one with the leaky valve is closed. It may freeze during the winter, but if it does, replacing the old copper pipes with new ones will not be too difficult, and we will do that in the Spring, if necessary. At the very least, the valve will need to be replaced, also in the Spring. We also found a few places where cold air may be able to get in, under the dining room. Next time Dad comes down, he is going to bring some foam, so we can fill in these small cracks, and make the house more secure against the cold. We are also going to run an additional electrical line from the breaker box to the laundry room, so when we need a new dryer, we can get an electric one (our current one runs on natural gas). All in all, though, things look very good, and I am very happy about that.

Joanna and I finished building the rat cage on Sunday. It came out very well, I think. The sides are secure, and it has a very large door, also secured against potential escapees. We were building it in anticipation of our newest rat, who did arrive at our home late Sunday night, courtesy of Mainely Rat Rescue, a Maine-based rat adoption agency. Ashes is her name; she is an adorable little black and white rat, just 3 months old. We were originally going to get 2, but it turned out that the rats' original keeper did not separate the males and females properly. She thought she had 4 females, and she really had 3 females and a male, so when Mainely Rat Rescue received them, there were 3 pregnant females. We still agreed to take one, and foster the babies until they are old enough for others to adopt. Joanna has been busy online, and we already have potential takers for up to 6 rats, mixed male and female.

Ashes arrived late Sunday night, and gave birth to 11 (!) babies (called kittens (or rittens)) around 9:30 Monday morning. They all appear healthy; she has been taking care of and cleaning all of them, and has not abandoned any, so we are hoping they are all healthy and will all survive. The new mother seems content in her new home; she created a nest for her young out of the woodchips and cloth we provided for bedding, and she has been drinking and eating, as well. All good signs :) We have already chosen names for all the rittens. They are posted in Joanna's livejournal, for those interested; I cannot remember them all right now ;) Joanna thinks the newborn rittens are adorable; I will find them more adorable in a week or two, when they have fur. They are currently tiny, naked, and pink. They're not "oh my god disgusting", but not really "awwww", either. Joanna showed me pictures of some 2-week old rats, still tiny, but with fur. They are "awwww". I look forward to their growth :)


10/05/2007:
We did it! We own a house! Woohoo! *collapse* So tired...

Our closing went very smoothly on Friday. We arrived at the attorney's office early, and got right down to business. Our agent and bank representative were both in attendence, which was great, and everyone had a bright, positive attitude, which helped. Our attorney was excellent; he explained everything that needed explaining, and answered all questions we had before signing any papers. We arrived there around 9:30, and we were out by 11:00. By 11:30, we had our house keys, and we were exploring our new house and grinning. After some great sighs of relief and absolute happiness, we got right down to work -- Joanna started painting, and I started moving some of our stuff from the apartment to the house. We worked on it all day; Joanna finished up painting the bedroom around 10:30, I think. Afterward, we went home and collapsed into sleep, then got up early to do it all again; Saturday was "the big move day".

I was supposed to pick up a 17' truck from Uhaul at 8:30. Mark and I arrived at the Uhaul place at 8:30, and there was only 1 guy working. This is the primary pickup place for Uhaul trucks in Chicopee, and they only have 1 guy on, on a Saturday. He said he is the only one on until 11, when a second employee comes in. So we get there at 8:30, and there are about 5 people waiting. Mark heads over to Dunkin Donuts and gets a coffee. When he comes back, there are still 5 people waiting. I haven't moved up in line at all. The line moves up slowly after that, and I eventually reach the desk around 8:50 or so. I give the guy my name and inform him he has a 17' truck waiting for me, to which he replies "no we don't". He explains they don't have any 17' trucks; they only have 14' trucks, and the reason he even has a 14' truck is because the guy who was supposed to pick it up at 8 am hasn't shown up yet. He has no 17's, so I get a 14. Ok, I can deal; it's a short move, so we can do multiple trips if we need to, and it's $10 cheaper for the 14. So he starts in on getting the paperwork ready, and I'm about to sign the papers, when the guy with the 8:00 appointment shows up, looking for his 14' truck. The guy at the desk tells him he's sorry, but the guy is an hour late for his appointment, and his truck is no longer available. Tension builds. There is some talking, and then there is some sort of "deal", which I don't understand, as the guy at the counter says "we'll do a switch", and it sounds to me like I'm not getting any truck at all. So I say, "So I need to wait 2 hours for my truck?". And he looks at me and tells me to "calm down". Calm down? I think I've been exceedingly calm, considering the whole debauchle that is currently occurring. *sigh* So I get the keys to the 14' truck, and it starts, and I head off, noticing the gas guage is dipping south of 1/4, down past 1/8 if I give it the gas, so I decide to put a little gas in it before we start moving. By the time I get done, people are calling me from my apartment, because I'm late getting back with the truck. Thankfully, I'm only about 5 mins away at that point, and I get back soon, and we load the truck full, and move all the stuff to the new house. To top off the Uhaul bit, the truck runs like crap. It jerks and coughs. It stalls when idle. The transmission sticks. I really just had to laugh, because the engine was in such poor shape. I told the Uhaul place about the truck when I got back. The guy at the counter (not the same one who was there in the morning) said the truck had just been sent to the shop for the same issue, and they sent it back, saying there was nothing wrong. They had been unable to get it to stall. I told the guy it happens when the truck is idling in drive. He went out, started it, put it in drive, waited a few seconds, and it stalled. I would say it will be going back to the shop immediately.

Apart from the truck issues, the move went very well, thanks to a lot of help from many of my good friends. Local friends came out to help, Chris came up from CT, and Jen and Mark came all the way from Long Island to give us a hand. My Mom came down from VT, too, to help out (my Dad was in Ireland on business, and could not come down, unfortunately; I expect we'll see him visiting as soon as he can make it). The many hands we had made the move go very quickly. Mom bought us coffee and doughnuts in the morning, and a meat platter, rolls, salads, and soda for lunch, along with paper plates, plasticware, and napkins. She also made cookies and lemon squares for dessert. Thank you, Mom, for all the great foodstuffs, and all the help in getting things set up! Thank you, my great friends, for all the help in moving! Without you, it would have been a much tougher day.

We are settling in well at the house. Things are being unpacked, set up, put away, and organized. The bedroom, office, and plant room are painted (thank you, dearest wife), and the house is getting cozier and more "us" by the day. Another solid weekend with both of us at home, and we might just be able to say we're "settled". Though "settled" would imply we are done moving things around, and I'm sure that won't be true. We'll be closer to there, anyway. Then we can start in on all the projects we have planned for the house, including how we want to organize things, painting the remaining rooms, etc. There is a lot we want to do (we have a list), and I'm looking forward to taking the time and doing them right, making the house more and more our own, and enjoying every moment of the work and the lives we are living there. :)


09/26/2007:
This month has simultaneously dragged by and flown by. It has dragged by, because we are anxiously awaiting what is coming at the end. We close on the house THIS COMING FRIDAY!. It has also flown by, as I cannot really recall where all the time went since my last update.

I did travel down to CT a couple of weekends ago, to surprise Dave for his birthday. A group of us converged on his apartment on Friday night, coming from Hartford, Long Island, and even New Jersey. Chris got him out of the apartment for awhile, and we all arrived, snuck in, and then hid in Chris' bathroom, awaiting their return. He was very surprised and very happy, and kept going on about how he had such good friends and how he didn't deserve it. Bullshit ;) He deserves us, just as we deserve him and us; we are a great circle of friends, and I would not trade any one of them for the world. What good is the world, without that friend?

For the weekend in CT, we spent a lot of time just hanging out. We mostly played Magic, but we also had at least one game of Munchkin thrown in, and there was Nintendo DS fun, Bioshock on the XBox 360, and I got to try out the new Metroid on the Wii :) We did all go out to Mohegan Sun on Saturday night, and had a good time. I didn't do any gambling; I enjoyed just spending time there with my friends, seeing the sights and engaging in good conversation. It was the first time I had been. One turnoff I found is that smoking is allowed inside. I don't like the clouds of smoke floating about, or the stale under-scent of old smoke; it makes me feel ill. However, there are smoke-free areas, and much of air in the mall area and near the restaurants seemed fine and clear. I definitely want to take Joanna there sometime; I think we would have a really good time. Most likely not this year; maybe next year, when we have some free time and a little spending money ;)

With our pending house purchase, I've been a knot of anxiety these past couple of weeks. I have my good days and my bad days. I'm not really worried about anything; we have done everything WE need to do. All our paperwork is done; it is up to our attorney now to get everything in order. I will hopefully be receiving a phonecall later today, so I know what time our closing is on Friday. Joanna and I are hoping for early morning. Otherwise, we're going to be up and about, growing more anxious waiting for it. We are doing our final walkthrough the morning of the closing, so that will be good, and it will give us something to do beforehand.


09/07/2007:
This week seems to be neverending, even as it draws to a close. Buying a house is exhausting. There is so much to do! We are still very excited, but we have been very, very busy taking care of everyting we need to do: paperwork, negotiations, meetings, more paperwork, etc. The inspection was done on Tuesday, and everything is in pretty good shape there. The electrical system still needs to finish being fixed; that is supposed to be taken care of this weekend. The roof is past its reasonable life expectancy, but we knew that already; we have already negotiated to take a little more off the cost of the house to help pay for a new roof when the time comes. The roof is not falling down, nor is it leaking. It is just old. We would, of course, like to replace it before it enters a falling down or leaking state. Hopefully this is something we can accomplish next year, providing we have sufficient savings at that time.

This past weekend was a lot of fun. Joanna and I headed up to VT on Friday night, and returned to MA on Monday afternoon. My sister and her husband JJ were out from Utah, and my friend Jeff - who is really like a brother to me - was visiting from NH, as well. It was a great time with close friends and family. On Saturday, Joanna, myself, Meghan, JJ, Mom and Dad all headed down to Saratoga to watch the horse races. I had never been to the races in Saratoga before. I figured it would be a decently fun time; it ended up being a really excellent time :) We started at the track where the jockeys ride the horses (as opposed to the one where they drive carts attached to the horses). I think we had the most fun at this first track; the races were more exciting, and it was easier for a horse to come from behind to take the win. On the cart track, a cart could get stuck and not be able to get around and pass the horse in front to take the win. We did a little gambling while we were there, at both tracks. We all made small bets, and while none of us won big, each of us did win a little, at least enough to break even for the day. We also hit the casino there for awhile and played on some of the machines. It was the first time Joanna and I had played on casino machines, and we had a really good time. I lost a little on the machines, Joanna won a little :) We got back to my parents' house around 10 pm that night, and we were all tired, but happy :)

During the weekend, we also got to see other family and friends, which is good. My Dad, JJ and Meghan, and Joanna and I also took a nice ATV ride on Sunday. Joanna rode with me on the "little" Honda 300; JJ and Meghan rode my Dad's new Arctic Cat 400, and Dad rode my cousin Adam's Arctic Cat 400 (similar to Dad's new one, but without the extra passenger seat and independent rear suspension). We rode from my parents' house, up through the apple orchard in Middletown Springs, down a dirt road a bit, around a corn field (we got covered in little wheat seeds), across a bridge, through the elementary schools' back yard, crossed the street, through a little park, across a field, up a trail, up the dirt road to hunting camp, back down around and through the woods to North Street, then up across some fields, back down another road and home :) The ride took about 2 hours; we stopped a few times, in some of the fields, to admire the beautiful view. Everyone had a great time, and we were back in time for dinner :) Jesse came by later on and stayed for dinner. After dinner, we played a big 8-person game of UNO, which was a lot of fun. JJ ended up winning; the lucky bastard went out first in the first 4 hands! We also herded cattle from pasture to pasture over the course of the weekend (some on Sunday, some on Monday). It's more fun that it sounds :)


08/28/2007:
House! We're getting one! We're going to be homeowners! Our original #2 house, which became our #1 house, is now going to be our house. So much excitement! And...paperwork! The price agreement has been signed, and now the attorneys will be looking it over. There will then be a meeting with the bank to determine the best mortgage arrangment (it will be 1 of 2 we have discussed), and then there will more things to do. The house will be inspected, checking for any possible problems. We already know the electrical system is being completely redone before we move in -- that was one of our stipulations before signing anything, and it's all in writing that it will be done. Our closing date is 9/28. By the end of the month, we should be in our new home! Yay!


08/23/2007:
The weekend was good and bad.
The good: my parents came down to visit, and we went and looked at more houses. Our "shining" house from the previous weekend did not shine so well this time around. There were more things wrong with it when we looked at it this time, and there were also things we saw that we did not notice before. It's a nice place, but not for us, I don't think. Most of the other houses we looked at were in good areas, but required more work than we could reasonably accomplish. If we had the money to do the repairs, I would have loved the big old colonial we looked at, but alas, it is not to be. It could be a beautifully restored house, but it is not a good 1st house. The result of last weekend's looking: we learned alot more about what we want and what to look for in a house. Also, our #2 house from the previous weekend has become our #1 house :) We have been talking a lot this week about what we would do if we got it; improvements and changes we would make, mostly cosmetic, since the house seems to be in good condition. An inspection will be performed, of course, if we choose to buy it.

The bad: I caught a cold near the end of last week, and it wiped me out on Saturday afternoon. I was sick all day Sunday and Monday, and finally felt well enough to return to work on Tuesday. It was a head cold; lots of sniffling, sneezing, and blowing my nose. I still have some stuffiness in my head, but definitely feeling much better. Hopefully I will continue to improve as the week goes on, and be ready to look at more houses this coming weekend, along with a 3rd look at our current #1 choice :)

I am strangely annoyed this morning, and I cannot pinpoint the reason. There were some annoying things that occurred at work yesterday, but nothing too bad; I suppose some of it could have carried over into my attitude today. Well, we'll see how today goes; my mood will probably improve as the day goes on. I'm sure there are lots of problems for me to fix.


08/14/2007:
We had a pretty fantastic weekend, Joanna and I. On Saturday, we met with an agent and went to look at 4 houses. 2 of them were pretty poor...both of these required quite a bit of work -- one had an obvious water problem in the basement, the other had not been lived in for several years, and while it was cute, it would need a new roof and several thousand dollars' worth of other repairs to truly be liveable. The other 2 were really, really nice. We agreed on our favorite without having to agree (we both considered it our favorite right away). The first one we saw (of the 2 good ones) is currently owned by an older couple, and it has been maintained very well. We were very impressed with it. But the 2nd one was the one that really shone for us. Large, airy living room, kitchen, and dining room, large master bedroom, moderate secondary bedroom, attached 2-car garage, a full-sized, finished basement, which includes a laundry room, 1/2 bath, fireplace, and a lot of extra space, which we would probably divide up into "gaming" and "workshop" areas, were we to have our way :) The back yard is quite large, and already fenced on all sides (the current owners have a large dog). We are seeing both "good" houses again this coming Saturday. My parents are coming down from VT to look at them with us. My Dad knows a lot about houses, and he may see things we do not know to look for, and ask questions we do not know to ask. We greatly value his input in this, though, admittedly, we cannot see much wrong with either of them; both have been well-maintained, and the owners' reasons for leaving are not cause for suspicion :) I have already verified with our agents that our appointments are all set for both houses, and she is also looking to set up appointments for additional houses on that day. This week, I am talking with banks and other lenders, getting our finances in order so I know how much we have. It has proved to be a busy week so far; I don't expect it will get less busy. I am really looking forward to Saturday :) Supposed to be beautiful weather, too! Even better!

After looking at houses on Saturday, we ran some errands, and then went to dinner at the local 99 restaurant. I had been there once, but Joanna had not been yet. She had the fish & chips, and I had the double-BBQ turkey tips :) We were both very happy with the food, and will certainly be returning there for dinner sometime :) After dinner, we went to a local ice cream stand (Mr. Cone), and Joanna got a chocolate fudge sundae. Mmmmm :) We then returned home, and played games for the remainder of the evening. Sunday was a "relax" day -- I got some things done on the computer, and played some video games. We also watched the last 1/2 or so of Terminator, which was on TV. I was feeling kind of "down" that day, for one reason or another. I suppose I'm allowed, on some days.

Hey, more great news, too! Joanna got her Social Security card in the mail! Yayyyy! All our hard work, longing, waiting, more work, more waiting paid off!

WOOT


08/10/2007:
Yesterday's update is below. My site was down yesterday, so I could not post it. If anyone sees anything wrong with the site (broken links, etc), please let me know! I'm pretty sure I know everyone who visits this site (and they know me), but my contact info is on the left, if needed.


08/09/2007:
It is a beautiful day outside; a great day for inspiration and aspirations (and probably perspiration - it is warm out). Mid-80's, sunny, not too humid, with a nice breeze. It'd be even better if I could actually be outside today. Alas, I am working today, and that means being inside, at my computer. I will take every opportunity I can to get outside today and take some walks. One of these days, I hope to be near enough to a window that I can actually see outside. That would be great!

On Friday, Joanna and I went to the local Social Security office to submit her application for a Social Security number. The nice lady we talked to said it could arrive in as little as 2 weeks! We were expecting a month or more. We are both very excited. The lady at the SS office said she had never seen anyone so excited to get an SS card :) I also submitted a form to get a replacement card for myself; I suspect I have one at my parents' house, somewhere, but I'd like to get a new one.

The weekend was enjoyable. I took my car to the dealer's on Saturday morning for some much-needed maintenance work (it was very overdue for its oil change), and then Joanna and I did some shopping. Later that day, we played D&D (Pete's campaign). We finished some major negotiations, and cleared out some clockwork creatures, making a safe haven for the individuals we had "rescued". We are a little stuck on what we are supposed to do next; hopefully it will become clear during the next session. The next time we play D&D, it should be my campaign again. I am looking forward to it. I have some things planned, and I have been getting new ideas this week, which I will put down on paper soon, and start fleshing out. Yay plans. I have also been working on creature conversions this week. I converted several of my favorites from 2nd Edition to 3.0. I am now tweaking those conversions, and upgrading them to 3.5. It is a fun project, and something I have been wanting to do for awhile.

Sunday was a day just for us (Joanna and I). We slept in, hung out, and played some games. It was a good, relaxing day. We did watch a couple of movies over the course of the weekend: Smokin' Aces and Ghost Rider. I had seen Smokin' Aces before, but Joanna had not seen it, and I wanted to watch it again. I enjoyed it just as much the 2nd time as I did the first time, and she liked it alot, as well. It has been added to our "want to own" list. Neither of us had seen Ghost Rider yet. It looked like a fun movie, and it was. It was fun to watch. That's what we asked for, and it delivered. :)

Page Updates:
- updated dragon-rider.us main page. (Happenings section)
- updated Links. Added 2 additional webcomic links: xkcd and VGCats.


07/31/2007:
Happy birthday to Flower and Ninlin, our 2 white rats. They are 1 year old today :) Joanna made a tasty 2-layer cake for them (and us): peppermint cake with chocolate frosting, and additional chocolate mixed with crushed Whoppers candy between the layers. It is taaaasty. We're going to give them a piece tonight, and watch them enjoy it. It is fun to watch them eat; they're cute!

We had an enjoyable weekend. We got up early Saturday and went to the bank, to talk to them about house-buying. It turns out their Mortgage officer works out of a different branch, but the woman we talked to faxed our information over to him, and he should be contacting me by the end of this week. She said he would probably be able to set up an appointment and meet us at our local branch. We want to see what the bank has to offer before we contact any private lenders, so we have something to bargain with. I look forward to our meeting with him :)

Later on Saturday, I ran a session of my D&D campaign. There was a lot of roleplaying and a lot of shopping, but not much else. The PCs are in Sigil, one of the most major and diverse cities in the multiverse, and for the first time in months, they are not under any specific time restraint. They are also about to head off to a new plane, so they had a lot of equipment needs, both selling and buying. I had hoped they would leave Sigil sometime during the session, but that did not happen. However, they should now be as fully equipped as they want to be, and ready to step through another portal into a new, strange land. I am really looking forward to the next session.

On Sunday, Joanna and I headed north, to Brattleboro, to see Jeff and Kheri. They live in NH, but they are planning to move to Brattleboro, hopefully within the next year. I am really looking forward to their move. I went to high school with Jeff, and he is one of my closest friends. Currently, it takes about 2 and 1/2 hours to drive up to where they live; once in Brattleboro, they will be about an hour away. It will be great to be able to see them both more often; Joanna and I both love spending time with them. On Sunday, we drove up and hung out for about 4 hours, then came back home, and spent some quality time with just the 2 of us. Overall, a very good weekend.

I haven't been sleeping very well this week. I think my body is still tuned to the schedule I had for the past 2 weeks, working 8-5, and it still thinks it needs to be awake early. I keep waking at 6, then usually again at 7 or a little after, wide-awake and feeling like I should be up and not sleeping. Then my mind catches up and I realize I don't need to be awake, and I go back to sleep. This has happened 2 or 3 times both nights this week. The sleep interruptions are small, but they break up my sleep, and the result is less restful sleep. I am also getting tired very early in the evening, which I believe is related to the same issue: I was going to bed early the past 2 weeks, and I'm still tuned to that schedule during the week. I'm sure I'll break out of it and get back to my usual patterns soon, but in the meantime, it is a little annoying.

Page Updates:
- modified Links page. Removed some outdated links, added some new ones


07/24/2007:
Two weekends, ago, we held our semi-annual Slobfest, up at Rob's parents' place. Myself, Jesse, Rob, Roland, and Sean were there for the entire weekend. Leah was there Friday night, Brittany was there Friday night and Saturday morning, and Schwabe showed up Friday night, then returned on Saturday to play more D&D with us :) It was a really fun weekend. We played D&D for much of it; a campaign that Jesse had put together. We were an inner-city gang, specializing in extortion. People paid us to keep the thugs away; if they paid well, nothing happened to their shops :) We had a charismatic sorcerer, full of himself; a monk, who was as dangerous with his fists as he was stealthy (very, in both cases); a brawler, who carried a huge club that doubled as a "walking stick"; a cleric covered in "bling", who saved our lives many times with taps of his "healing stick"; and a scout (my character), a gnome rogue/ranger who was very paranoid, and had rats for friends. We were an interesting party, and we had a good time. We managed to be stealthy and reckless at once; sneaking around, then charging into battle. We got hurt a lot, but no one actually died..though it was close a few times (the monk bled out to -7 at one point, before he stabilized).

Apart from D&D, there was a lot of conversation, laughter, and good food, as there is with every Slobfest. We did manage to get a game of ZOMBIES!!! in, as well. :) I am looking forward to our next gathering.

Last weekend, we went up to VT to see my parents. We had a wedding to attend on Saturday, at noon. Joanna, myself, and my mom and dad all went. The wedding was of a high school friend of mine, so I felt obligated to go. The ceremony was very nice; the bride sang her vows, which was amazing. The song was very sweet, both of words and sound. We stayed for dinner, and got some nice pictures, then headed out.

Later on, Dad, Joanna and I went for a ride on the ATVs. It was a beautiful day to be outside: high 70's, sunny, and little humidity. Dad rode our red 4-wheel-drive Honda. He got 4 new tires for it a few weeks ago, and got the brakes redone; it drives like it is brand new (it was made in 1991). Joanna and I rode on my dad's new ATV. It looks like the one in the picture at that link, except it is dark green. The machine sits much higher off the ground than our other ATVs we've owned, and the transmission is automatic. The choices are low, high, neutral, and reverse; all other shifting is done automatically. It is quite comfortable to ride, double or alone. We did find a few downsides: the passenger seat is set high, for more comfort, but this makes passing under low branches more dangerous; for each leafy obstacle I had to duck under, Joanna had to duck lower. Also, it almost needs a seat belt, especially when driving down steep expanses; the passenger needs to rely solely on arm and hand strength to keep his/her balance on the back of the machine. It's as good of a 2-person ATV design as I could expect; it's just not as good for really rough rides, which tend to happen when we go :) It was the new machine's first real break-in ride, so of course we had to take it up over 2 mountains, through deep puddles (1 was deep enough to come up to the rack on the front), and through numerous forest paths, some which we made ourselves. I look forward to the next ride :)

More excellent news on the immigration front: Joanna received her Permanent Residence card! She is now legal to work and live in the U.S., which means she can travel without fear of not being let back into the country. She will need to renew the card in 2 years; after that, she will need to renew it every 10 years. Much excitement! She still needs to obtain a Social Security number. We are going to that office a week from Friday, so she can submit her form. It will probably take about a month to get her number. And that should be all we need to do, as far as that whole process, until she renews her card in 2 years! So much relief in not having to wait any longer! This means she and Kris can move ahead with their business plan, and work on getting situated so they can start getting rightfully paid for the hard work they do :)

Joanna and I have started looking at houses again. We have decided we both want to live in the area where we currently live, so we've started looking at places right in Chicopee. It's a nice town, close to friends, and mostly equal distance from the people we (or I) leave the state to visit. My work commute is longish, but it's not too bad, and while moving closer to Hartford may shorten it by 10 or 15 minutes, we wouldn't be able to afford as nice of a place as we can up where we are now. We've only looked online so far, but we will hopefully start looking at some in person in the coming few weeks. Looking in our current town will make the looking easier, too; we'll be able to see more in a day, if we want, and home won't be too far away :)


07/13/2007:
The last week or so has been hectic, where this site is concerned. It went down about a week ago, for a day. There were some DNS issues, which my host resolved, and the site is now functioning pretty well. They have been doing some upgrades to their systems over the past few months; apparently it was my box's turn for an upgrade. My admin panel is now shinier and runs better, though I'm having trouble finding some of the options now, as things have shifted around somewhat ;) Also, SSH is more secure, as they are using an alternate port. This is good, because it is more secure. However, it is also bad, for me, because...it is more secure. Because it is on an alternate port, my work firewall blocks it, and I can no longer SSH to my site from here. Ah, well. I have an alternative -- if not quite as convenient -- method for updating from work.

Joanna and I received some really awesome news yesterday! She received an email from the U.S. Government, informing her that her card (Immigrant Card) is in the processing stages, and she should receive it within the next 30 days. This is awesome news! With her card, she'll be "legal", and will be able to then obtain a driver's license and be legal to work in the U.S. Woohoo!

Joanna, myself, Pete, Sean, and Ian went to see Transformers on the 4th of July. Excellent movie! Lots of nostalgia, but I also think people who didn't grow up with the cartoon would really enjoy the movie. For us nostalgic folks, there were Autobots (Optimus Prime (voiced by the same actor who did the cartoon), Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchet, and Ironhide) and Decepticons (Megatron, Starscream, Devastator, Bonecrusher, Barricade, and one other, plus one of the little robots that turns into a radio, whose name I don't remember). All the vehicles were awesomely detailed, and the transformations fit seamlessly into the world, making it easy to believe we were watching real, "live", giant robots. I found the story was good; it was a good introduction to the transformers, and explained their presence here on Earth. The action was explosive and very involved, and the transformations were awesomely executed. Even the sound of each transformation (br-er-ern-ernt) was spot-on. I found the score to be powerful, drawing me further into the action and emotion as each scene developed on the screen. I highly recommend this movie. I would like to see it again, and I expect it to be added to my DVD collection when it is released on that medium :)

I worked an earlier shift this week, to cover while Eric is out, and I will be working the same early shift (8 - 5) for the next 2 weeks. I am getting more used to getting up early again, and it is nice to get out earlier, but the traffic sucks pretty bad, coming down and going home, and I find I am often quite worn out at the end of the day - more so than when I am working my usual 10 - 7 shift.

As usual, I had more to say, but it has been lost in the busy-ness of the week.

Page Updates:
- archived journal entries for the 2nd half of 2006. Links to the archives are at the bottom of this page.


07/01/2007:
Having a pretty great weekend so far. I took Friday off from work so we could attend a wedding down in CT. It was down in Plantsville, at Aqua Turf, which is a really pretty location. They have little walkways with short hedges (knee-high) running about the place, several gazebos (large and small), several fountains, a windmill, a little chapel, and a large pond with some truly huge fish in it (the fish must have been 2 feet long, at least; fairly giant for freshwater fish). The wedding was beautiful; everyone looked great. Joanna and Kris created the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids, and also the corsages that the mothers, fathers, grandparents, and groomsmen all wore, and everyone was very impressed with them :) I thought they turned out well, and this was proven by how much everyone liked them. They also made a topper for the wedding cake, which looked great. I think the event was a great experience for both of them, as a business venture. They got a lot of good ideas about what works and what doesn't, and what needs to be more organized in the future. I stand behind them 100% in this; I am really looking forward to what they can accomplish together as business partners :)

We had to get up early Friday morning, because the maintenance guys came up to install a new A/C unit in our computer room. The old one was leaking water a fairly constant rate while running, and it only blew air from 1 of the 2 vents. The new A/C unit is more modern, matching the one in the living room. It works much, MUCH better; it was worth getting up early on my day off for it :) After it was installed and tested, I went back to bed for a few hours; I am glad I got to do so, because I was very tired, and felt much better after getting up the 2nd time.

Yesterday, I was up early again to take my car to the dealer. There was a strange scraping sound coming from the driver-side front wheel whenever the car turned right. Turns out the backplate for the brakes was bent a little, and was rubbing. Joanna and I had to wait at Curry Honda for awhile before they fixed it, but they fixed it at no charge, which was great :) After getting that taken care of, we hit Dunkin Donuts and picked up some breakfast, then returned home to relax for a little bit, before going out for Joanna to get her tattoo! She decided what she wanted and where she wanted it, so we set up an appointment and she got it done. It's a symbol in the shape of a goat, which originally appeared on a piece of Greek pottery. Fitting for a Classics major, and it looks really good. She is looking forward to showing it off to everyone :) I think it looks really good on her.

After getting the tattoo done, we returned home to relax awhile, and decided to play "a little Magic". We played for 8 hours, and loved every minute. I love my wife :) We made some new decks (she created a blue deck which is pretty adept at thwarting all attack and summon attempts, I created a fairly fast red Dwarf-based deck). We played until a little after 2 am, then decided it was time for bed. We got up this morning and sat down to play a little longer. I made a tri-color deck that I am still tweaking; the more colors one adds, the more complex things become. It is fun, though; I look forward to playing some more later today :)

While we were at the wedding, I experienced something quite amazing. The photographer and his female assistant looked familiar to me; her more than him. She looked like someone I met at Starwood back in 2003. I found out later that it WAS her. The photographer approached me and asked if I was Jared, which I am, and I said so, set aback a bit. He said we met at Starwood back in 2003, and he confirmed to me that the girl was the girl I thought she was. Small, small world sometimes. Wow. I am still a little wow'd by the whole thing. This is why I believe less and less in coincidences. Not that I feel or believe things are orchestrated or pre-planned. .. but at the same time, it does seem there is some connection between us; something we create between the people we meet, and some of those bonds are stronger than others.