Daniel and Danielle Marry!

I'm pleased to share the news that my lovely wife's son Daniel married his girlfriend in a civil ceremony last month.  Jeanne and Danielle's mom Renee attended and witnessed the official joining of these two wonderful people and I couldn't be more excited.

Here they are at the Hemet County Complex before the ceremony.

Paperwork all done and ready to go.

Ready to start.  Admonitions...

Vows....

Rings....  end eventually.....

Kissing!!!  Yep, now your married.  Congratulations you two!! 

Extra exciting in this event is the fact that the young fella in the orange shirt above is a new grand son (in law).  He is Dylan (6 yrs) and is Danielle's son from a previous marriage.  He is a great guy and as you will see in another post, has already been a great playmate to my grandson Danny.  The family is really growing!!  What a blessing.

Mother's Day 2011

Just a few years ago my mom Kate and I celebrated mother's day one on one. Usually a movie and a new restaurant for something different. My Mom is pretty unique and very loving, and loves her two boys. Brother Ken never fails to connect and shower Mom with something special if he can't be here.

Last weekend I found myself involved with SEVEN mothers. And that doesn't count Lisa's soon to be mother-in-law Nora! So, wife Jeanne (#1) and I picked up Kate (#2) and went up to a brunch with her son Daniel and his girlfriend's family. Guess what? There is a new ring on my step-son's girlfriend. Daniel and Danielle are to be married! Danielle (#3) has a son Dylan from a previous marriage so she is already a mom. That is them to my left past Jeanne above.

Her sister Desiree (#4) and husband Jason have a little boy Jackson on the way! Joe and Renee (#5) were there because Renee is mom to Danielle and Desiree and youngest daughter Tamara. (Renee, Joe, Jason, Desiree above)

Then there is Renee's mom Dianne (#6) and husband Wayne along to add to the grandmother contingent. Tamara is right of Kate.  Jeanne connected with her mom Lorrae (#7) on the phone as she is in Chico with brother Pierre. Phew.... did I miss anyone?  Lucille's Barbecue was delicious and we had a great time discussing all the new fun we are going to have together. Speaking of fun, how about horses?  Renee and Joe have a Board and Ride ranch in Winchester.  So we all went to check it out! Kate rode the electric cart to save walking and got to see all.

Some of these belong to owners who board their horses and come out to ride,  some belong to Renee and Joe, and Danielle, and ???  Jeanne likes horses I found out. Especially little cute ones!

Some of these great animals are soooo gentle, and love attention.  May have to go for a ride sometime...with all the mother's I have in my life. By the way,  I talked to my daughter Renee (#8) this morning who posted great pictures of my grandson Danny up in Colorado with one of my favorite moms of years past. Renee and husband Ale are featured at: http://www.miqueridafamilia.com/ . Hope you had fun with someone's Mom last weekend!

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!

Just as the Munchkins in OZ celebrated the end of the oppression wrought by the Wicked Witch of the West, we Americans are celebrating the decapitation of one of the Al-Qaeda terror cells, the one responsible for the 9/11 mass attacks. With a brave decision to move Navy Seals in for a personal kill, our president finally showed some backbone and capitalized on the intelligence, special ops and Gitmo water boarding techniques George Bush put in place against the votes of Senator Obama (at the time) and got something tangible done.

This kind of killing shows the sad level we have to descend to in order to wisely rid ourselves of ones so clearly evil. I'm proud that in the face of grave danger our Seals eliminated this monster without harm to citizens in Pakistan, or themselves. The demise of any human is loss on the purely humanitarian level, so I'm glad we don't practice the scale of inhumanity people like this practice. Though my heart wants retribution on the same scale, I refuse to lower my behavior to that level allowing the dark forces of life to win twice. America is a class act for bringing justice to this man, who can never pay for what he has done with his single life. Respect for this soul in quick, clean burial will show many Muslims we understand some of their ways and don't utterly disrespect them as a people even as they practice a religion that advocates "killing the infidel" (us). If this satisfies the politically correct crowd (for the wrong reasons) so be it.  I like the way it does what the Bible advocates: heap coals on the heads of your enemies. Make them accountable, then in death treat their source with more than they deserve.

More to unfold in terms of history here.  I hope the world is thinking about this in terms of the long view.

Yet Another Bridge

Today I went to work for Hewlett-Packard.  I'm thankful to be employed. I have been every single day from the time I graduated from San Diego State University in 1974.  I went to work at UCSD Medical Center and remainded there for 22 years.  In 1986 left to pursue an opportunity at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to work on the military medical system world wide. I had many other projects at SAIC without leaving the company as we had many contracts.  The last contract I worked on was the Information Technology (IT) outsourcing for the County of San Diego. When that contract expired and I got my termination notice it marked the end of stable employment in terms of who I worked for.

I have continued to work for the same customer, but under the banners of SAIC, BearingPoint, Eclat, Attain, and now Hewlett-Packard. With each bridge I have become a little less uneasy, but in a bad economy, with underfunded governments, lawsuits, buyouts, changing managing contractors, and narrow profit margins, you can bet the competition for work is fierce in my profession. Still, I am blessed to have yet another job. This contract ends 2017! That is good. Once again, however I start with all my co-workers at "new hire" vacation allowance: 10 days/year.  I get one new day for each year of seniority.  It will take me seven years to attain the vacation allowance I just left behind to accept this position. Lord give me strength,...and thanks for the job! Amen.

Young at Heart

In July of 1955 Walter Elias Disney and his associates opened his first theme park: Disneyland. Not long after my mom and dad took me and my brother Ken there for the first time. Beyond the parking lot you could still see orange groves in Orange County where Anaheim is located.  As an avid Mickey Mouse Club and Davey Crockett fan I was just entralled with the transformation it made in me for a day... and maybe for life. Walt Disney is one of my personal heroes in life.  I miss the old boy sorely.  Disneyland allowed the adventuresome little guy in my head to hunt Indians in a canoe, visit outer space, track the bad guys, shoot moving targets, and later slide down the Matterhorn in a bobsled.  WhooHoo!  To quote Peter Pan: "I'll never grow up!!!"  That little adventure lover is still a part of me I guess.  I discovered there is a little girl in Jeanne who loves adventure too!

 We visited both theme parks over a two day period.  It was great to be able to take our time on seeing what we wanted after hitting the "big line" rides early in the day.

Where the old parking lot was next to the original Disneyland is the new theme park: California Adventure. This park celebrates much of the history of California and can only be visited at the Anaheim location. There is a Disneyland in Florida, Europe, and Japan (I think).  Here is the tribute to the classic days of the Hollywood film industry Disney knew so well, and changed so much.

Animation (cartoon style - hand drawn) has evolved into computer generated characters that are quite life-like.  These characters still come originally from hand drawn prototypes from the "master character" animators before given computer rendered versions for the newer features.  Here Jeanne and I visit with a rather life like character "Stitch" from the minor feature "Stitch and Milo" set in Hawaii.  Stitch was enamored with my shirt.  Liked the colors!!  I'm often found in hawaiin shirts that I collect... in Hawaii.

Many folks don't know that the Disney theme parks have great live shows with amazing talent.  Here is the Golden Horseshoe review with Bill Hill and the, ahem,.. Hillbillys (all named Bill) playing amazing blue grass on each others instruments SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!   We also saw a wonderful live play of "Alladin" - no photography allowed there.

Meanwhile in "A Bug's Life" I got a little too close to one of the Disney cast members...  said he didn't like my shirt! Well you can't please everyone!

Everyone knows I'm NUTS about the Pirates Of The Carribean movie series.  You don't?  Well I am.  Jeanne and I checked out the ride that inspired Jerry Bruckheimer to do the series, and I'm pleased to tell you that Jack Sparrow... ahem... Captain Jack Sparrow now appears several times in the updated, but still classic ride in the New Orleans Square part of Disneyland.  Jeanne and I had a great seafood jumbalaya lunch inside the Pirates ride at the Blue Bayou restaurant.  Call ahead for reservations or you won't be eating there. It is just around the corner from Tarzan's (previously Swiss Family Robinson) tree...

Finally there is a wonderful new attraction at California Adventure at night called "World of Color" that is hard to describe or photograph, but is AMAZING!! (Lots of amazing stuff at the park). It is a dancing colored fountain display upon which images of Disney characters are projected.  Yep, the characters appear in the fountain spray and move.

Hard to see but Nemo and Dori swim along here

Did I mention bubbles?  Oh yea, bubbles, and water spray to cool you down.  No end of imagineering from the company Walt started so many years ago.  We drove home Sunday to recooperate.  Just two tired, happy kids.

Coming Up for Air!

Ever wonder where the time goes?  I have a few ideas for some posts I want to make, but I'm just getting pounded at work and with paperwork at home.  You may be able to relate to this during tax time.  I managed to get Jeanne and I done.  That was our first joint filing.  Then onto Mom (always exciting)and coaching Lisa through TurboTax including her Mary Kay business (extra fun). Lisa did awsome for her first time!!  We took our time, learned alot from the optional explanations and eventually Got 'er done!

Meanwhile Jeanne and I have been doing investement and retirement changes. This ranks right up there with re-organizing the wiring on the entertainment center, continuing to purge the garage of duplicate stuff post marriage, and my favorite after a day at work (on the computer): getting ready to send my home desktop pc off to fix the network port. 

If that isn't enough fun, my current company settled a legal battle with Northrup Grumman so I spent last night polishing the resume for interviews today.  God knows how that will go, and I'm not sweating it (too much).  Prayer is gladly accepted here.  Is this possibly my wineyest post ever?

But.... the weekend is coming and I am taking Jeanne for a birthday celebration: 2 days in Anaheim at Disneyland and California Adventure.  We're just gonna be a couple of kids for awhile and forget about our responsibilities!!  Yipee!! 

My Saturday Morning

I love Saturday morning.  It isn't because I don't have to work.  It is because I have a tradition I have been practicing for literally decades now.  It starts at 6:00 am.  I have 30 minutes to prepare and a 20 minute drive.  I start with keys, wallet and sunglasses... might be a Netflix dvd to mail on the way too.

I feed the cat who is the only one awake here on a Saturday morning at 6am.

Then I stumble into the garage and pick out rubber underwear of the appropriate thickness...












Next I select what I think will be the correct tool for the job I will face when the sun comes up enough to see.

... and I stow it in the mini van with a few other essentials like fresh water, towel, a leash, rubber booties and a plastic bin for wet attire.















When I arrive at my destination it may still be kinda dark.  And the tradition starts.... my surf crew gathers for the Horizon Surf Fellowship "pray and surf" session at Tourmaline Canyon Surfing Park in Pacific Beach.

Here, Kelley Lowe and Larry Gordon chat while the boys gather at the picnic area at the east end of the parking lot. 

We circle up and listen to Dave Mills and Chuck Manion offer brief scripture readings from a theme we have been paying attention to.  The rest is simple.  We pray untill we are done praying....  (pictures of prayer omitted in respect)....

Then we surf until we're done surfing.  Eric Stevens suits up here.  I met Eric in seventh grade band.

Mike Wasenar (already suited) encourages Pete Savage to "hit it".  This is NOT difficult.  Mike was in my second grade class at Alcott Elementary next door to where I grew up.

Tourmaline Canyon is a pretty friendly surf spot.  Where else do they GIVE DOUGHNUTS AWAY?!?!?!  Booties are a must these days.  Water is 53-54 degrees. 

When we get cold, we paddle in and "rack em" for the trip home to a warm shower and maybe.... POWER NAPPING !!! 

Men bond by doing something together, then we talk about it, and sometimes exaggerate  LIE about the details. Here Kelley pontificates about his G&S 50th anniversary classic longboard with some of the Tourmaline regulars.

After the stories we laugh at each other and with each other.  Kelley and Pat Patton pose at the Tourmaline surfer's memorial.  This was recently dedicated to the spirit of surfing comraderie at the first designated surfing park in the United States in 1963!!  Many of us have an engraved brick in the foreground.

My surf crew has the added dimension of praying for each other.  We have plenty of problems to go around.  Through divorce, job loss, heart attack, herniated spine, and just plain getting old, my buddies have not ceased to pray for my recovery and well being, and yes, salvation. They are my friends because they are like minded.  They believe as I believe.  The surfer on the plaque is Skip Frye, also in our little "club".

Not infrequently my surfing buddies make me laugh at myself and inspire me to count my blessings..... on Saturday morning.