WOW!!!!

Okay, what else is there to say? I am updating. Isn't it amazing? I decided that I should really start writing in here more, so... Let's try again. Who knows what will happen, but hey.

I already gave the major updates last time around, so I will simply throw up a few pictures onto my brand, shiny new Flick'r and let you all look at some of the things that I already told you all about. I have the Flick'r kink going up over there -----> on the right when I get the pictures loaded in a little bit. Other than that, I also wanted to add a few nifty thing I found while out and about the net. Take a look and enjoy.

First off, let's take a look at some new currency.
MONEY!!!

I didn't know they made a commercial about me...
Yeah, I am aren't I?

What really Happened to the Enterprise C
The Rest of The Story.

And no offense, but this was damned funny...
A new fragrance.

And on a final note... OMG go see Start Trek if you haven't. It was awesome. The casting was amazing and the story line opens up a whole new plethora of options. You will see what I am talking about if you haven't seen it yet.

Laters all,
Brian

Hmmm... why does the carpet go squish???

Well, there is a really funny story there. Okay, I think I forgot what funny means, but anyways. Friday rolls in and I get up to take a shower. When I step into the closet, the carpet squishes. Great, wonderful... Well, low and behold it is the water heater leaking. At least that is what we think it is. So, I take the day off work and have a friend of a co-worker who is in the business come over and take a look. Sure enough, when we unscrew the front panel, water comes pouring out. Off to Lowes with my just cashed paycheck to get a new water heater and tools for the guy to fix it. Well, we get my check cashed and I pay him $150, which is a great deal. The only problem is, that he takes 6 hours to fix it and in the end, when my co-worker comes to pick him up from my place, she says, "Why don't you just use compression fittings?" To which he responds with... "I didn't even think of that." We are off to Lowes again. I see these things called gator bite fitting and ask about the and the guy explains they snap onto the old pipe and the new one with no soldering, no fuss and no mess. We pick them up and head back to put them in place in about 20 minutes after he had spend 6 hours trying to solder copper fitting in place. So, all in all I get a $150 lesson on how easy it is to change one of these water heaters out. I am glad I was watching the whole time as the next morning... no hot water. So, I call the number on the side and I end up having to unhook it and take it back as the sensors are bad. Thank goodness for those gator bite fittings. Removes, returned, replaced and rewired in about an hour tops. Then we spent the next couple of days vacuuming up water out of the closet. What fun it was. Now it's all in top form. Weeeee....



Jeff is getting bigger and the bigger the herd dog gets, the more annoying he gets as he wants to constantly be under foot and on the move and trying to push you this way or that and smell all your bits and slide around on the wood floor at mach five and so on and so on with hyper dog... In other words, he can be a lot of fun, but a lot of work as well. Here is a picture of them both.



In other news, we "finally" got around to doing our bathroom. It only took how long? Anyways, we stripped the walls and begged borrowed and stole supplies and such, dug up the fixtures we had bought I don't know how long ago and finally put it all together. We bought an accent clock and wind chime to go in there though for the whole spring bathroom, retro 70's look. Watch the video, you will see. You may want to save it to the desktop, then play it so it appears at the right size and not all grainy.

Bathroom Video and Commentary

Now for the B-day thank you to everyone since I just never seem to be able to get a stupid card in the mail. I am a bad person, I know, but I really appriciate everyone remembering me, so I have to do at least this much. Why? Because you all know I will NEVER get thank you cards in the mail. With that in mind, as a way of thanks...

Dan is married. Even if I hadn't been to the wedding, I would know he was married. Even if no one in the family told me he was married. How do I know this??? Because, for the first time I got a birthday card from him. It was a totally unexpected and cool shock. Thanks Kristina and Dan. ~LMAO~ Now I have to remember (and find out) two more birthdays. :)

Mom, really went with the modern age this year. No, money, no checks, just a wonderful online gift card with no wasted paper, no trying to figure out how to ship from Egypt, very green and very awesome. Where were we before internet and Amazon?

Pam and Tim, great people as always, sent me this really cool fantasy card. Thank you so much. It was right up my alley.

Gramps, the holiday check/card. Gotta love traditions. =^.^= (Kitty smile)

And dad... okay, so I get the mail and see a letter from dad. I know what it is, so I wait to open it until after we get settled in and I start dinner. I laughed so hard. It was sooooo cool I just had to post his letter here. The first thing out of Dawn's mouth was... "That is soooo cute. I totally approve." So, dad gets props for being dad.

Isaiah, unbeknown to me, has a card for me on my birthday as well. His mother, after giving me Robot Chicken Star Wars, (which totally rocks) tells me that when they were shopping for christmas "last year", he found this card and begged her to get it. She told him he was responsible for it and so for 8+ months he has been holding on to this thing and I had no clue. It was awesome. It plays the star wars theme when you open it.

I scanned all the cards, (Except Gramps because Isaiah accidentally threw it away with a pile of junk mail on the table. Sorry.) so you can see them here.


Pam & Tim | Dad


Kristina & Dan | Isaiah


Other than that, life goes on as usual. Calliope will be here in two days for a month and it's perfect timing as my vacation is in a couple of weeks. Planning on a camping trip. I will update again after the trip. No mom, you don't look 60'ish in that picture, you look fuzzy. ;) Must be all the wine at dinner. No, I still haven't seen Keith on WOW, though I know he will get hooked. The path to fitness is hard and expensive, but I am having fun... I think Dawn and Isaiah are as well and I will get phase one testing in December. Hope I can memorize everything by then. Isaiah even got to do some volunteer summer camp assistant work for our TKD school this year. It was a good learning experience I think. Keep in touch all and I look forward to hearing from you all.

Love to all my family, I couldn't have wished for a cooler set of people in my life.

Brian

The 4th & beyond....

So, this year was Disney 4th of July. We are pass holder, so we got to sneak in after the actual park closing. It was cool to see others turned away when we got to waltz right in. Above, for those who have never seen it, is the Hall of Presidents. (Click picture to see bigger image)It is a presentation about the history of this great nation with the usual Disney stilt to it, but the hall is creep as Bush, Lincoln, and a couple of other give speeches, the rest of them move as if fidgeting while listening. Creepy to see Reagan absently giving a slow toe tap with his crossed foot. But, we figure we would share a couple of fireworks shots as well as the lovely lady posing for a very patriotic picture. All in all, it was fun and we hit several of the attractions we rarely hit. As always, the fireworks were fabulous. All around the part and beautiful. So, more pictures anyone? And don't forget, Walt & Mickey as your leaving the park. :)

Alright, what else? Well, it appears that the marriage is moving forward finally. YEA!!!! So, here is the dilemma, we would really like to head off to Egypt with a stop over in Greece for a week. This causes dual problem. First, money. (Perhaps Italian wedding??) Second, family. We were thinking of wedding proper in Egypt with the whole signing of the papers at the US Embassy and then hit a few sites, maybe a river cruise and then a day or two in Greece. Mom, your the expert there, so would you advise us the best course on this. Everyone else, we were thinking of the reception after the honeymoon so the family could all get together. Maybe a couple of months apart so we can save up more funds. Perhaps even do the NE or CO thing. I really want to do the family thing, but I also want to be able to take Dawn to Egypt before mom leaves as having her there just makes the trip sooooooo much easier. Please everyone let me know what you think in this and advice is welcome from everyone.

Speaking of mom in Egypt. I got this funny picture from her where she said she was the one in red on the boat for the 4th. I am wondering why she is sitting on the food table??? Hmmm...



Also, had two more things I just had to share. Maybe you have seen them, maybe not, but here goes. First, reading is fundamental.
Only great minds can read this

This is weird, but interesting!
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

Next, I was having computer issues the other day, so I couldn't respond to anyones email.

World Around Us...

Well, let us start off with the Tae update. We have added more classes to the group in the list. Well, at least Dawn and I have. We are now adding Krav Maga twice a week. It's all about self defense or should I say self offense. Talk about a killer for getting back in shape. It's all about offense if you can't get away. The whole, what happens if you can't escape first? Well, lets just say it is aggressive and a HUGE workout, but also a lot of fun. We are trying to get Isaiah into it as well and hopefully toughen him up. As for myself, I have started down the road for CIT. Someday, I won't be the old guy taking classes, I will be the old guy teaching them. Not to mention I have lost weight and haven't been in this good a shape since high school. We had our next belt promotion last week and are now officially yellow belts. Onward and upwards.

Well, it was sad to hear about the Lincoln house. All in all though, from the article mom sent me, it sounds like they might just rebuild it. I don't know if it will ever be the same again though. As Dan said, there were some really cool things about that house. The atrium was one of the big ones. How many people have a split level water fountain in their houses?

Well, it is that time of year again when the beach gets visitors. Yes, even local like us. I made my first real sandcastle. At least that I can remember ever building and we saw some unusual things this time around. What is this???



I guess the cars really have to drive defensively now if they have to share the road with planes. Only in Florida. Also, we had a trip to Sea World recently, it was the first time Isaiah had ever been, so it was a good time all around. After all, where can you go to the arctic in the same place as you step out of 90 degree weather? And Dawn just loves the animals.



Last but not least, the last of the paperwork for Dawn is all finished for custody and such, so now we can all look forward to the wedding. Mom sent along this beautiful picture of her work place overview and we are seriously thinking of going there to visit her for the wedding, but we also would like to have something here for our families... hmmmm... how to do this and afford it is the question. We will keep everyone informed of what we figure out. Take care all.

Muscles, Trees, & Holidays...

As the name implies, we have them all. Muscles... OMG I did not know that the human body had so many muscles. We have been working fives classes a week on our TKD and even went through our first belt promotion. We all passed and have our new orange belts. Aren't we just the cutest things? Isaiah is getting so much better. His coordination is improving and he doesn't look like he is going to fall over every time he kicks. I am so proud of him. Whether she wants to admit it or not, even Dawn is looking better and seems to have more energy. He knee prevents her from doing some thing, but she is in there like a trooper and is really hanging tough. I took an XMA (Xtreme Martial Arts) class on Friday and was surrounded by kids. Even though I looked foolish, (I had never actually done a cartwheel before and I do my first just before turning 38) I had a great time. Yesterday, our instructor asked to speak to me after class and when I talked to him, he said he wants to extend an invitation for CIT (Certified Instructor Training) to me and wanted to set up a time to talk about it. How cool is that? Me an instructor. However, being a business I am sure there is some sort of charge for that. I am sure it isn't a free invite, so I may not be able to do it, but just that fact that I got the invite is so cool.

Lets see... what else is happening in the world... Something about trees... There is this park near us that boast about having the senator in it. So, we are all thinking a house or something like that. No, this is called Big Tree Park and has Liberty and the Senator in it. They are trees. Massive trees. The Senator was so huge before the last set of major hurricanes came along and took off the top half of it, that when Florida still have working forts, ships would use that tree as a navigation tool. So, the boy and Dawn went to go look and got a nice picture or two. Also, since we are talking nature, I have to show you guys a picture I have of this place called Devils Pool. This is awesome. It's in Africa and a few month out of the year is moving at just the right speed and has just the right rock formations that you can sit right at the edge and not get pushed over the cliff. Isn't that way cool?



And finally, holidays. As you all know, Mother's day recently came and went. Well, I got Dawn up early in the morning and took her to her favorite spot. Disney. We spent the day there and around 7:30 ended up at the Contemporary hotel for a character dinner at Chef Mickey's It was fun and the food was good. It was a buffet style so wasn't as good as I am use to with Disney restaurants, but it was good. We got pictures with all the different characters, which was a hoot and they even had little special desserts. And sure enough, Dawn goes right for the ears first. You would think she was Mike Tyson or something. But we had a good time.





Other than that, life is going along as it will. Trying to fight rising costs of everything and survive paycheck to paycheck. I am thinking of getting a small motorized bike soon if gas keep up like it is. Sheesh. Anyways all, have a great holiday tomorrow and remember family, we love you all and can't wait to see everyone. Some of you for the first time in Dawn's case and the rest of you, and you know who you are, need to come to Florida and visit sometime. Laters gators.

Ouch my toe...

I call this, "Ouch my toe...," because there is a story here. I only wish that I had had the foresight to actually take a picture. Oh well. So, let us start off by answering a question that was posed by my infamous brother. Okay, now you have to imagine the face and hand movements and the really slow, loud speaking like when stupid people think that talking louder helps talk to a deaf person. Hey Bro... Jeff... he looks like a dog! :)

So, that question answered. Let us talk about toes. So, mine has finally stopped hurting. For several days, it was so purple and red that one look might have given the onlooker the impression that I was going to lose the toe to some weird pest living within, however, it is almost completely healed now. Now I know the question is what the heck happened. So, in the famous words of Indigo Montoya, "Let me explain. No, let me sum up."

A couple of weeks ago, we signed up Isaiah for some exercise. What kind? Tae Kwon Do classes. So a long story short, we are all now taking classes with him at the Victory Acadamy (Go Team Victory) and during one of these sessions, the foot didn't go as high as I wanted it to, the curled back toes didn't quite curl back far enough since the leg wasn't high enough and whack, mangled toes into the bag. OUCH my toe! Four days later and it still isn't fully healed. Oh well, I will probably get many more bruised, bumps and abrasions before all is said and done.

Now, we are happily moving into our third week of classes, Tue, Thur, & Sat. Twice most Tue & Thur, so about 5 times a week. We are having fun and getting great work outs. The only problem is, and someone should have told me, that there are muscles in the human body that hide or suddenly grow when you start exercising. Wow. I have stomach muscles hidden in there somewhere. ~LOL~ Anyways, that is about the extent of the new business so take care all...




Huh? Oh right, can't leave the bro hangin' now can we. Okay, here he is... Here they are... The Jeff and Clyde show. Weeeee.... Take care all and remember, sometimes a peach is just a peach.

Delayed Reaction...

Well, I haven't been here in some time. I realized, when Manders said I needed to post again, that I haven't done so since our trip to Hawaii. So, I figured she was right and I needed to post again. :) So, here it is...

Christmas...

Well, this year was the year of Guitar Hero III and food. Okay, well it wasn't really food, but I did see lots of food packaging, so...




But seriously, we all got things we wanted and had a great time. Dawn with her bath stuff, Isaiah with his games, and me with my dragons. It was a blast all around. :)

January...

Well, dawn got another puppy. This one is is names Jeff and he is a little cutey. Which is probably why the little chew monster isn't beaten daily. Yes, he love cords and anything else he can get in his mouth.



We also have our disney thing that we do every year and other than revamping the Haunted Mansion, its all pretty much the same. And other than that, there isn't a lot going on. We are actually starting planning for the wedding now, so once we have an actual idea, we will let everyone know. Dawn is in Phoenix right now for regionals for her work and I will let her tell everyone about the computer woahs. Other than that it is pretty much been work, home, sleep, work home sleep, that pretty much entails the rest of life. :)

Take care all and have a great one.

Aloha and Mahalo for all the pineapples...

Yes, its me again. Once more back from a fabulous adventure. After all, when else do I post on this thing? Thats right, not unless its exciting. Which, unlike my bro, is not nearly that often. So, as you all know, we were off to Hawaii last week. And it was cool. I have pictures to prove it was. Anyhow, let me relate a little tale of trials, tribulations, and beauty. Oh and lets not forget the gifts we got at the end of every day when someone would break into our room and leave us stuff. Backwards, but cool.


Day 1 : The departure and arrival.

So, its Sunday, the day after we had to drop off Isaiah at the airport after getting up at 4am, get a few last minute purchases, and pack. Not bad, got about 6 hours sleep and was up again at 4am to get ourselves to the airport. Woosh, we are off and running with the first leg from Orlando to Denver. (3 hours) Woosh, we are off again from Denver to LA. (3 hours) Woosh, we are off again from LA to Hawaii. (5 hours) And the pony is looking out the window as we are about to land in Hawaii. Okay, so now get this, we have backtracked in time, like something from the "Time Machine" and have been 11 hours on the plane. Dawn never set her watch so according to FL time, we have now been up for 19 hours when we land at the airport. (Shown Below)

Then, because this is a company trip, they want to have a Beach Bash at 8:30 that night, so after 45 minutes on a bus, we arrive at the hotel. Get checked in, get our complimentary Hawaian shirts, then head off to dinner and such. Needless to say, I was WAY too toasted for pictures that night, but it was okay and we ended up crashing out at about the 25 hour awake mark.

End Day 1 : Gift, Hat, Shirt, Kazoos (For Day 2) and snacks.

Day 2 : Olympics and Shopping

After a nights sleep on a not so pleasant bed, I am starting to think this whole trip is doomed. Rain is in the forecast every day and the reports are that the water is going to be too choppy to do anything in the actual ocean. So, morning rituals taken care of, we head down to the beach to at least look before breakfast. The rain is light and the beach turns out to be breathtaking.

The day starts to look up already and then came breakfast. The pond was amazing and it was literally a foot from our table. (Though we did end up right next to her DM which I thought was amusing and had to snap a picture) The food was wonderful, from the omellets to the fresh pineapple and more. Wow. And then, after breakfast, we wondered back through the open courtyard to our room to get ready for the event of the day and the view inside the hotel was as wonderful as outside. So, off we went to, as they say, let the games begin.

So, after dropping off the lei whcih we got when we landed and only vaguely rememberd the next morning, we wonder off to find our "team" meeting spot for this event when Dawn spots a web, complete with spider. It was awesome. Once we find the team we are supposed to be on and get dressed in our goofy attire, the rain starts up in earnest. We did the games anyway. Kona Coffee Run, shoveling coffee from a pail to a cup via 4 people, the Hula Race, dressing up the various Corp types in flippers, straw hats, glasses, etc and a few more of like games. I even participated in the tug o' war. Got three wins and a couple of losses and a few nice rope burns to boot. And here is everyone in the rain and not caring a bit. It was fun.

So, then it is off to our room just long enough to see a break in the rain and WOW, the view from our balcony is amazing. Needless to say, we spent every morning with a cup of coffee up there first before breakfast and every night there with a drink before bed. Listening to the surf every night while going to bed, made the rock bed almost unnoticable. However, the rain was not to be held back and came on even harder as evening approached. So, then it was off to Lahaina for shopping. It really reminded me of Key West with Hawaian items. However, the oldest Banyan tree in the US was amazing to see. It was HUGE! After a bit of shopping, a very bit and dinner at Bubba Gump Hawaii, it was back to the room for a night before the big excursion the next day. Needless to say, I was having doubt with all the rain, but that is tomorrow...

End Day 2 : Gift, Beach Towels that have Hawaian flowers and the names of all the Islands and flip-flops.

Day 3 : Excursion

So, up again in the morning to a bright sunny day. I am amazed by this as it was perfect since we were going on a hike to a waterfall. I was so proud of Dawn, even though she was scared to the height thing, she repelled down the final cliff and climbed the waterfall with me. I sat in under the fall while we have a picture of both of us standing next to it. It was beautiful. The sun lasted just long enough to get off the hike and ready for the nights Luau. Then, right before the big Luau, which was indoors due to rain, it began to pour and broke just long enough for the fire dancer, but that is for later. Now, pictured of the hike.

Half way up - Dawn, it isn't that high

Me so happy - Told ya I could do it!

Happy Couple - What? Me worry?

HOW much further? - WOW!



And on the ride home, the clouds begin a movin'


Then there was the Luau. Sometimes they brought a bunch of Leslie's employee's on stage with tehm even. It was a hoot. Those dancers are amazing and the pictures just don't do them justice. But here they are anyways with the grand finale - the fire dancer just before the rains really started up and all hell broke loose sometime that night. We also got a professional photo taken with the Hawaian dancer. Will scan and add later, along with more pics from the other waterproof camera.








End of Day 3 : Gift, Really cool carved turtle to represent protection.


Day 4 : Day of no power, so ROAD TRIP!


Yes, you heard it boys and girls, the whole south side of the island is without power due to the prior nights storm activity. So we decided to take the generous donation to our trip made by an annoymous person and rented a car. They don't call the Road to Hana (the drive we decided to take) the most beautiful drive in the US for nothing. WOW. Though, I have to wonder what is up with the broken down junk heaps on the road. There must have been 6 or more of them. Wierd. Even through the rain and flooded roads, it was amazing. We saw the last working sugar plant in Hawaii, drove through the flooded streets and then down the coast to Hana. The pictures say more tha I ever could.



Rain, pouring down - Sugar Mill

Flooded Road - Road starts with fastest trees ever...

Moving on up-Broken Car???

From on High - Pretty Pumpkin

Just... wow....

Clearing the road - Whats with these cars?

We drove that-Hard to see, but 30' waves from the storm


Once we get back, there is power just long enough to take a shower for the dressy awards dinner and then bamph, it is out again. Come to find out it was only on for about an hour or so. I won't bore you with any pictures of the awards dinner, because it was just that, pretty boring. However, Dawn got a tiny surf board with her name engraved on it and the awards club logo and such. It was way nice to hear her name announced as a winner and see it on the video they made of the trip. It was cool. Anyone wanting to see the video once we get it, ask and I will burn copies.


End Day 4 : Gift, Very nice frame for the Luau picture and picture book of Maui.


Day 5 : Waiting for power and plane...


Again, the power is out and it flickers on just long enough for us to take a quick shower and its gone again. Oh well. We wander a bit, then pack and I get the bright idea of sneaking onto the shuttle early for the airport. At least they had power. So, off we go. Now realize, we are on Hawaii time now and we got up at 6am. We hung out at the airport until 9:45 when the plane left and had the same three plane ride home, except the first stop was San Fran instead of LA. So, with the time we got up, the time shift, and the time on the plane, by the time we got home and unpacked, it was a 34 hour day. We were wiped. We slept for 15 hours and now I am writing this, the following day. Weee... Though, the monkey Dawn used for a pillow on the trips did get a bit drunk on the way out of Maui. All and all, it was a great trip. Hope you made it this far. :) Laters all...