Updaticus Maximus...

Well, I'd like to thank those of you who have put up with my music posts.
Lately, it's what I've been motivated to write about, but I'm feeling guilty telling people that if they want to know what's actually going on in our lives, they need to check Sarah's blog.

Blogs go through phases, because the writers do. And this blog is going on 3 years... so it's seen some very different incarnations. For a long time, it was the emaciated refugees of my little brain... then it was a place to buy salmon... and for a long time, it was almost a Tom Waits fan site.

We seen some horribly painful times... we've seen some amazing things happen, and along the way, I have been so blessed to have all of you comment on what was said. Often times, I've enjoyed the comments section much more than the actual post. Especially when Erina posts.

So here's a bit on our lives right now. Kiah's started army crawling. It's really fun to watch, and we've been enjoying watching him explore the apartment. He loves going under the computer desk, and is especially fond of the metal trash can that we have under there. We have to keep our eyes open, but thankfully, he's still really slow, and grunts alot while he crawls. So he can't really "sneak" into anything.

Our friends Daniel and Lara have volunteered to start babysitting on Wednesdays now. So we can have a "date night" to look forward to. Last Wednesday, we stayed home and watched an entire show on tv without having to jump up, or change a diaper, or bounce Kiah to keep him from crying... it was nice. And then we went out for dessert at Chilis. It was really enjoyable. This Wed. I have an idea of a nice date... It's so nice to look forward to a set time to be together. What a gift!

Sarah's feeling under the weather today. Something with her throat that's been bothering her lately. She is at the doctor's office right now getting it checked out, and Kiah is taking his nap. Lately, Sarah's created a schedule for him, and it's starting to work. Last night, he gave me some trouble. Woke up around 11:00 and wanted to play. Finally got him back to sleep, and went to bed myself. But usually, he's been conforming. So that's really nice.

Oh, it was my mom's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday mom! She's finally 39.

In work news, I got a raise. But we added Sarah to our health insurance, so my check was $2 less than normal... lol. That's the way it goes, huh? But you could look at it as we added Sarah to our insurance for only $2 a paycheck right? Otherwise, things are going splendidly. I've been enjoying accounting quite a bit. Unfortunately for me, they hired an assistant controller who is going to take my beautiful office. :( I love my office. And my non-sucky computer... but all good things must come to an end. I just wish that they would've hired her after I left the department at the end of the month...

I'm up for employee of the year. Statistically, I have a 1 in 11 shot. (January's team champion isn't at the hotel anymore...) But in reality, I think my odds are better. We'll see. If I do win, it's $500 buckaroos, and a nice little addition to the resumé. I'm on the committee that makes these decisions, but I couldn't vote for myself. It just didn't feel right. In other competitions, I can see doing it, but employee of the year seems like something I should leave to the other folks. If I'm good enough, it won't matter how I voted.

Sarah and I booked our flight to Chicago yesterday. So we should be out there in February, go to a wedding, and spend a few days with the family. Then head out to Ohia, and spend a couple days with the family out there. I am looking forward to it, but I'm still sad that our Ohia family hasn't seen Colorado yet. We gotta find a way...

Well, Kiah's waking up, so I'm gonna go get 'im. Later 'yall.

Jim

This is the best "I told you song" ever. Nothing rubs it in their face quite like "If we were still together you would never have been killed by that bear."

Killbear
by Hayden

The afternoon light
was reaching down to the site
As my old love stared
Into the fire with her new love there
Camping up North, the same place we shared

Behind the van
They heard the crashing of land
And they looked to see
A grizzly bear lurking amongst the trees
Searching their ground for something to eat

From what I'm told
My old love just froze
But her man got scared
He started to run, thinking she had begun
But he left her there, alone in the woods with the bear

So the bear all surprised
Looked right into her eyes
And decided that
She was it's prey or some kind of threat
So it followed it's instincts to deal with it

It charged up towards her
And stopped just before her
And stood up high
Swiped at her shoulder and dragged her by the torso
Around the site, And that's how my old love died

If I'd been there I wouldn't have run from the bear
That's the worst mistake
I would've yelled and banged pots
And made sure that my love wasn't taken that way

Christmas presents...

Oh, I didn't mention that Jessica and Kaitlin pitched in for Christmas, and got me a $25 gift certificate to iTunes. So here's what I got in 10 minutes flat.

I bought the album "Elk lake serenade" by Hayden. It's freeeekin awesome!
Everything I hoped for.













Second, I bought the Tom Waits modern classic "Mule Variations"
This one's a must have for the Waits fan...













Lastly, but not least-ly, I picked up the "In Moderation - EP" by the Soft Drugs. (Who were essentially Pedro the Lion, but with David playing drums instead of singing, and TW singing instead of playing keys. It's really good. I wish it had more songs.

Accounting, vomit and intelligent christians...

So I've made the transition to the accounting department. It's been a great experience so far. Very stable in comparrison to the front office. Similar duties every day, nobody screaming at me... can't go wrong with that.

Kiah however, has had a very "wrong" week and has fallen victim to a stomach flu of some sort. Vomiting... not vomiting... crying... farting... He's been pretty miserable. So we've had to hold him alot. Away from open flame. It's been a rough week. And now Sarah has it, so it's been pretty nasty for her as well. But I think that they're coming out of it now.

The blizzards have come and gone, but the snow and ice have been far too thick for the sun to melt, and the plows are incompetant here, so there's very little hope for those of us on the road. What the sun does melt, freezes again in new spots by nightfall... This has been some of the worst winter weather I've seen, but mainly because of the way it's not been dealt with.

Lastly, our good friend Joni has made my week with a link to an online forum of intelligent christians. PROVING THEY EXIST... RYAN! Just kidding... but it was a truly refreshing experience to see so many comments from such different directions, all together around the same central relationship. The article that I came in on centered around the culture of the church, and its openness to imperfect people and being a welcoming community. It focused on homosexuality as an example, but the conversation resulting from the article was fantastic.

Anyway, I highly recommend the Burnside Writers Collective.

New phones, new years and new jobs.

Well folks, here's to the first post of 2007.
I hope it's as good a year as 2006, but with no getting fired or pregnancy.
(We've had all of those we can handle for awhile, even though both led to some of the best things of the year... so... hmmm)

We got our phones yesterday, for many of you, we'll email you the numbers if we haven't already. We have signed up with Tmobile. I was with them before, and very happy with everything. We reviewed all the deals out there, and were most satisfied with Tmobile's plans, phones and flexibility. Their coverage is excellent (identical to cingular's) and they had some wonderful deals. Because of their Fav 5 service, they are having to use some really good phones as their "free" with plan phones. While many services have a pretty pathetic line of free phones, The four-six phones under $50 on Tmobile's line-up were very impressive. Sarah and I opted for the Motorola Pebl. It debuted near the time of the Razr, but hasn't been anywhere near as popular. Its reviews however far excelled the Razr. It is VERY stylish and small. Has a very unique opening movement, has similar controls to that of the Razr, but has almost a rubber-like coating to the shell. It's bluetooth, has speakerphone, and is a quadband worldphone. All in all, a very cool phone. To top it off, it comes in black, green, orange or blue. (And in some parts of California for some reason... pink. No kidding.)
Sarah and I got the black models through a deal service she has online. Normally, we would've paid Tmobile $50 each, and received $50 rebates in the mail. But with this deal, an additional $50 was taken off at purchase, but we still get the rebates, so they paid us $100 to take the phones off their hands. Nice of us. Needless to say, we're stoked. Call us up. We'll chat.

I have the next two days off. Which will be awesome, as we will spend them with Mami. We plan on going to Garden of the gods at some point... we've been to Denver this morning to get her luggage. (a story I chose NOT to tell. Baggage handlers are the devil) And we'll probably go shopping. (Japan's national past-time.) When I return to work, I will be working in the accounting department. I'm a bit scared, but all in all, I think I'll do ridiculously well. I seem to be ok when I really apply myself. So here's to that.

Well, I'm gonna get a snack and head to bed. I'm gettin' old.

Peace, love and happy new year!