Friday, October 28, 2005


today while i was lending tapes/cds from our library, i was talking to a couple that goes to the church about my trips to cuba and india. the guy said that he was watching a nature show and cuba had been shown. he said that he got to thinking of me and my travels there. it's amazing to talk to someone about a foreign country; to try and explain what it is like there. words can only do so much justice.

the beauty of the land and of the people is something else. yeah, i know that it is a third world country, but there are some spectacular places and views on the island country. the people there are so genuine. i have made some great friends there. i know that we will always be friends, even if i can't get back over to see them again. my translator and i are brothers from now until eternity.

are times a changing?

Thursday, October 27, 2005

well, it's happened to me now. i've received a jury questionaire. ok, to be honest, i got it on last friday...filled it out and sent it back in on saturday. now, the question is: when will i get jury duty? it could be next week or 3 months from now. i know that everyone "hates" jury duty and they try and get out of it. i've actually never had to serve. when you are supposed to call the night before, it was cancelled because of christmas. maybe that will happen this time, or maybe around thanksgiving.

i'll keep you posted. . .

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

autumn is upon us

can you smell that fall is upon us? the aroma that is inhaled through your nose and reaches your lungs.

your senses are going haywire with all the colors surrounding you. your eyes on overload with the beauty that is engulfing you...
this morning was a very dark and dreary morning. i wake up at 7 (yeah, to some it's late and too others it is too early). the room was dark, very dark. it's drizzling outside. i didn't think it was time to get up. i thought that it was still very early morning, but nope...i checked the clock 3 times and realized that it was in fact 7. i sit at the edge of my bed, wiping the sleep out of my eyes. willing myself to stand up.

i get to my feet and walk over to jr. ah, to be a baby. no worries, no cares....just wanting to be fed and to sleep. he lies there peaceful and happy.

i head on to the bathroom and get into the shower. the hot water hitting my shoulders and soothing away tiredness that consumes the area twix soul and body. the room fills with steam and smells of cleanliness. as i turn the faucet knob to shut of the water, i get a charge as the full on hot turns to icey cold. it hits me right in the small of my back. i finally get the water turned off.

i make my way towards the kitchen to prepare breakfast. the stove is my first stop. i reach towards the range and start turning dials. the circuits complete and the elements begin to warm. in no time, they are hot to the touch. i grab a couple pans and put them on top of the heat. i lay down strips of bacon and crack eggs. soon, the bacon is sizzling and the aroma is wafting through the house. i get a fork and scramble eggs. adding milk and cheese, i use the fork in a fluid motion and mix all three ingredients together. i then begin to pour the mixture into the pan.

b walks into the kitchen. "hi daddy," she says.

"hello. did you sleep well?" i ask as she looks at me with her big brown eyes.

nodding yes, she continues to look at me and gives me a smile.

i continue with the preparation of breakfast. soon, everything is ready. i get up the rest of the family. erin makes some orange juice and sets all the glasses on the table. we sit down and give thanks for family, the day and the food that we are about to eat. we pray for protection and guidance.

afterwards, the table is cleared and the dishes are put in the soapy water. the grease from the bacon drips into a jar that is set aside for exactly that. i go and brush my teeth. then, i put on my socks and shoes. b gives me a kiss and a hug. i call to h to tell her i'm leaving. she comes running to tell her daddy goodbye. though she doesn't talk yet, i know what she is saying. those words are just for me and me alone. i kiss erin on the lips and lightly kiss jr's temple.

"goodbye," i say. i reach for the doorknob and....

BBBBBBRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG

the alarm goes off. "huh, what....aaarrrggghhh, it was just a dream!?!?" i get up and do it all over again. . .

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

it was a busy weekend. i can finally say that the majority of my fall clean-up is finished. i still have leftover leaves to rake and the lawn to keep mowing shorter and shorter, but the majority of it is finished. i'm still getting ideas of how to redo the garden for erin next year. we are going to extend it and block it off from the kiddies. i have all these plans swirling around in my head, so i'm sorting out the good ones and i'm going to draw them out so erin can either say "yea" or "nay".

i've started looking at my bonsai books and i'm trying to figure out where i can get some specimens for my stock. there are so many variations of bonsai that i want to try and get a hang of. i am probably going to stick with the maple genus. i am also going to do wisteria, oak, some pine/juniper, and a few other miscellaneous trees.

Friday, October 21, 2005

our little tadpole...

sorry i haven't been posting since sunday. i've had my hands kinda full lately. but, here is a picture of granati jr. earlier, i posted his vitals. today, i'll tell the story.

last thursday, i was im-ing with my sister-in-law (my brothers wife). she was asking if there was a baby yet. i, of course, said "no, not yet." she then predicted (as a game) that he would be born the 15th of october. i thought that would be cool, because b's birthday is on the 15th of september.

then, the next day while i was getting ready to go to work, erin told me that she thought she was going to go into labor that day, but it was just a feeling. we carried on with our day like any other day. i would call in and check on her to see how everything was going. she would say, "oh fine," in her typical way.

that night, i took b to church with me. i called to check on erin to see what was going on and she said that she had been having some contractions, but they weren't regular. so, after bible study was over, i got home and put b to bed. we got some ice cream and watched some tv. at about 10 pm, erin started feeling some steady contractions. she asked for my watch and started timing them. i took that que and started getting things together. i took care of some last minute chores and gathered some essentials.

after about a half hour to an hour of this, we called the doctor. he said that we should head over to the hospital. we got the girls up and meet my mom at the entrance. erin was taken up to a 'labor and delivery room' and proceded to get ready for the birthing.

after about 3 1/2 hours of labor and 10 minutes of pushing, jr. was born. he wasn't breathing at first because he had some fluid in his lungs. but when we heard him cry, we knew he was okay.

now, it is six days later. he and erin have been home since sunday. b loves having a brother now, but h is still having a hard time adjusting...

Sunday, October 16, 2005

for those that don't know....

granati jr. was born yesterday at 1.38 in the am. here are the vitals:

• birthday = 10.15.05
• weight = 6 lbs. 7 oz.
• size = 21 inches
erin gets to come home today. we just left the hospital and are over at erin's parents house. i'm looking forward to just going home and relaxing for a bit.

Friday, October 14, 2005

i'm working on printing cds right now. listening to paul van dyk's "special k" and other mixed tracks. yesh, i am a trancer (even though i don't look it).

i've been learning some html and css. as you can see from the blog, i'm kinda getting the hang of things, but i still have a long way to go. i had to switch back to my old template. why?

well, i use firefox for my browser. if you don't have it, get it. it is sweet. with firefox, you can view everything on the page. i went to use explorer, to see what the blog looks like. everything was all switched around and funky (not in a good way). so i had to go back and forth from firefox to explorer and then my html. let me tell you that was not fun. trying to figure out what the problem was. well, now it is finally fixed...but not everything is back on. i'm going to leave a lot of useless stuff off, for those that have dial-up. i know erin, it takes forever to load.

so, now, i get to start working with erin's blog. i have to start switching around templates that work and see what doesn't work. then, i'm going to start working on a new header/banner for her. i've got some ideas swirling around in my head, but i have to get them down on paper. she will of course be the final decision maker on if she likes it our not. stay tuned for that. speaking of headers/banners, what do you think about mine?

yesterday we had to go to the spokane valley mall. as we past the new 'hooters' our 4 year old daughter asked what restaurant that was. erin just smiled and said "hooters".

"why is it called that?" b asked.

"um, because there are owls there," came the reply.

"are they girl owls?" b wondered.

"yeah, they are girl owls."

"are there boy owls there?" b thoughtfully questioned.

"no, there aren't boy owls there. just girl owls." erin answered.

what was my reply? "but there are a lot of boys there."

"what?" asked b, trying to understand my response.

erin and i both answered simultaneously, "nevermind."

Thursday, October 13, 2005

first songs. then photos. after that, podcasts. now, introducing the new ipod that plays video. and only a mere $299 for 3ogb. what else can they make it do? cook and clean for me?

and if that isn't cool enough for you, check out the new pez mp3 player...


the ball was not in the dirt.
c'mon and call a fair game, blue. that was a lousy call. don't you feel like a moron now, after watching the replay. the glove was on the ground; the ball was in the glove!

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

i'm busy learning html today. don't know how much posting i'm going to be doing. hold tight...

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

angels beat yankees
'nuf said...

is there really a tribute to 9.11 on the back of the $20 bill?
here are the pictures. you decide. . .


___



Friday, October 07, 2005

19 days left, but who's counting? so it could be today, tomorrow or 2 weeks from now, but there are apparently 19 days left until erin's due date. that's not a promise, but normally a suggestion in erin's case. the previous pregnancies resulted in early labors. both premature. one, 5 weeks early and the other, 4 weeks early.

my sister has been praying that erin goes the full 4o weeks. she thinks that erin needs to have the experience of a full term baby. the experience of a full term baby? what exactly does that mean? the pain of pushing out a 6-8 lb watermelon. hmmmm. i think she's just jealous that erin has had labor that has only lasted between 4 to 6 hours and 5 minutes of pushing. my sister's last labor was i believe 25 hours.

erin's goal was 38 weeks, which is steadily approaching. 38 weeks is only about 5 days away. i thought she would go between 37 and 38 weeks. i was hoping that he would be born on the 5th of october, so that he could share the same birthday as myself (and my sister). but that didn't happen. so the next day (the 6th) would have been cool too. nixed that idea as well. now, we are waiting around.

everyone has been asking me, "is the baby here?" nope, not yet. i think it's funny, almost ironic is a weird way.

everytime i hear the phone ring, here at work, i think it's erin. "i'm in labor, come get me." so now i've told her to call me on my cell, a direct line. i've had a wrong number call too. jeez...

Thursday, October 06, 2005

___

i have finally figured out that the spider i originally posted in september was in fact a cat face spider. i don't know why my yard attracts so many of these arachnids, but my wife is really hating them.

i'll say, "hey erin. come here, i want to show you something."

"why?"

"'cause it is cool."

"what do you want?"

then a long sharp shrek followed with a barrage of hits and name-calling. and the funny thing is that she doesn't learn. . . .

this was on the front of the card that erin gave me for my birthday yesterday. it speaks volumes...

there is an exception to the rule though. singapore air has some great food. when we were heading towards india by way of japan/singapore, we had american food. it was nice to have some stuff that i was use too.

on the way back from tokyo, we had authentic japanese food. we had this dessert that was delicious. it was sorta like a doughy layer filled with a vanilla type ice cream....mm mmm. we even had the choice of pork or fish. the steward/ess would come around with bowls full of fresh fruit and candy bars.

the real thing

my brother's tesla keeps getting better and better...

the drawing




Wednesday, October 05, 2005

sky at sunset...

today is my sister's and my birthday. 29 years ago, my mom and dad became a mother and father to twins. they already had a son. my brother was 3.

over the years, there have been people that have asked some stupid questions about being a twin. and all of these people are serious. mind you that we are fraternal twins, not identical. there is a big difference. here are just a couple:

are you guys identical?
••• answer - nope, we're fraternal.
you aren't identical because your sister has long hair and you have short hair, right?

what's it like to be a twin?
••• answer - what's it like not to be twin? touche...

so, to my wombmate for 9 months and my sister for another 29 years, happy birthday....


Tuesday, October 04, 2005

my head has been hurting most of today. i've got a pounding headache and i've been waiting to see if it will take care of itself. so far, nada. i drank a mountain dew, thinking it was a caffeine headache, but nope...still got it.

now, i've got to go make a pill cocktail consisting of ibuprofen and aspirin.

c8h10n4o2 - caffeine molecule

"tea garden"
location:
outskirts of siliguri, india

q and a with triple deck wizard carl cox
leave it to britney

Sunday, October 02, 2005

yesterday i was cleaning out my garage. i guess it was a good day to do garage work because my sister's husband cleaned out his as well.

anyway, while i was working, my eldest daughter, b, comes out and asks me to come inside because she wants to show me something. i go inside and she shows me her "artistic side". she had drawn a picture for me.

i ask her, "who is it?"

her response?

"you."

mind you, she's only four. . . .



high score: 152,275

no pooping