Seriously, any day now.

We're almost there, today M had a slight feeling that he could come today, but twords the end of the day her feeling subsided. Even though her contractions have been getting stronger it's still not time. Now it's just a waiting game on when he decides to make his appearence. Hopefully it's Friday, because that is the last day Susan will be able to deliver any babys due to rising insurance costs. If she is unable to deliver Adrian we still want her to come and see him after he's born. This past Tuesday was our last apointment with Susan, and she told us that she will be coming in to visit after his birth. It will be awsome for her to be there because she's been there since the begining of M's pregnecy. For those who don't know, M's mom will be coming out here on Friday, and she has told us that she has this feeling that as soon as she gets on the plane to come out here that M will start to go into labor. It would be nice if that happens so that I'll be able to get to know him better before I start up with school again. Once he's born we will be calling our families and friends to let them know the big news. That's all for now and catch you all on the flip side.

Happy Holidays to all! 9 Months along. 

Here is my Mom and Dad the day we went up to Mt. Baker. Unfortunately the road was still snowed in, so we couldn't go all the way up, but we stopped at the lower lot and had a really nice picnic. 

Here is M and I on our way up to see Mt. Baker back in June when my Mom and Dad stayed in Bellingham after thier trip to Alaska. 

Christmas 2004, It might seem like a too dark of a photo but you can see the christmas lights really well in this shot. Enjoy!

Any Day Now

M continues down the path to the due date. She has been having contractions for the last few weeks or so and they have been somewhat mild, but around the beginning of this past week they have been getting stronger and a lot more noticeable to her. Next Tuesday we have an appointment with our Mid-Wife Susan Willis. It will be nice to see her again because she's been away visiting her son in Costa Rica for the last month. And it will also be the first time I have been able to really go with M to the appointments due to me being in school. All is well up here in the Pacific Northwest, the tree is up and decorated, the weather is not too cold (about mid 40's and rain), and I no longer have a beard. So not too much say but to keep your ear to the road cause' the little man could come any day now.

Before I depart I will leave you with one line from one of my many favorite songs. If anyone gets an opportunity to check it out I highly recommend it.


"The sea it swells like over our heads and the night it is aching, two lovers lie with no sheets on their beds, Electrical Storm, Electrical Storm".

Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)
U2 The Best of 1990-2000

It's begining to look alot like Christmas. 

Here's a closer view. There are six indicator lights, each light comes on only when the relay it's wired to becomes energized. Each relay has a timer on it, so when voltage is put to it, the timer times out and then 5 seconds later a light comes on. It indicates when a certian process occurs on a conveyer system. The transformer steps down 208 volts to 120 volts. This is called a control transfomer. The garbage can looking things on the telephone poles out side are transfomers and usually take in 12,500 volts and steps it down to a much safer 240/120 volts for our houses. Ahhhh the wonder of electricity.

This is a picture of a motor control cabinet that I designed on my own and was not assigned to be done. I got all my other labs done first and then I did this one. 208 volts AC are coming in to the step down transformer on the inner left side of the cabinet (the black square) , then through a 30 ampere fuse, to stop and start buttons, through five magnetic coil relays, and each one control the next one in line. and then when each one energizes it turns on a light. The cabinet is about 30" x 30" x 7". It took a total of 2 1/2 hours from concept to application. The title of this lab is (Conveyer System)

Our New Life

On Thursday of last week M started having the beginning contractions of pre-labor. They are getting pretty strong, and M told me that he could come in a matter of hours or up to a week or so, because of how the contractions are coming. The other day I told M to tell Adrian to at least wait till next Thursday after my final at school. Anytime after that will be just fine. She said she has no control over it and I said I know. So I went up to M's tummy and pressed my mouth against her tummy and said to Adrian, "not yet please". I know he can't understand me, but it never hurts to try. So any day now we could be meeting our son Adrian, and that day will be the last day of our independence as a couple, and the first day in Our New Life.

Ah yes before I forget I thought I should mention that I am thinking about starting to write a short story. The topic is still up in the air until some things are finalized and approved but it should be fun to do. Recently I've feeling like I need to do something new. Like I've reached some sort of ceiling or maximum of sorts. Same thing goes for school, for instance this past Friday I started working on something that wouldn't be starting until the end of next quarter. The subject is called "PLC's" (Programmable Logic Controls). So what I've done is written a program for a PLC unit to control a bank of lights, which in the real world would be a bank of motors, and various controls. So instead of using mechanical means to control something we use (solid-state devices) to do the controlling and switching. It's pretty cool. So when we get to that part in my class I'll have a pretty good understanding of it, and I'll be able to help my class mates if needed. School is really awesome, I highly recommend it.

I hope everyone is doing well and I love you all very much. Catch you on the flip side.

M at 35 Weeks, any time now! 

Pay It Forward

Yesterday M and I went to take a tour of the birthing centre at St Joe's, and we got there about 30 minutes before the tour started. On the way to the parking lot we passed and elderly gentleman suffling across the parking lot on the driverside of the car. When we pulled into the parking spot I asked M if she had seen him shuffling. She said she had and how unstable he looked. I asked her if I should get out and see if he needs a hand. We decided that he looked like he knew where he was going. He had made his way on to the sidewalk next to the building and he stoped at one of the waist high pathway lights to take a breather. No more than a minute later as he was about to leave our field of view he fell over. I launced out of the car leaving the door open. I shouted out to the man and asked if he was alright, and in a some what unsure voice he replied "no not really". By then M had gotten to we where and I was about to help him up and realized he couldn't really support his own wieght. So I had M wait with him as I ran inside the birthing centre to get a wheel chair. When I came out M had helped him to sit up, so I brought the wheel chair over to him and picked him up and placed him in. We asked where he was headed and he said he was looking for his car. I asked where he had left it and he told me that he had just had his hearing checked. We took him inside so we could have the receptionist help us find out which biulding he had come from. The man told us his doctors name and the recptionist was able to tell us which bilding he had come from. So M and I wheeled him over to his car which was clear on the other side of a large building. On the way we talked with him and with his discription of his car we where able to locate it. I pulled the wheel chair up to the drivers side and helped him out of the chair. When he reached to put the keys in the door lock he missed three times, he took a moment and started to talk to us about his late wife, children and how he was a Ancient History teacher a Western for 23 years. He was a very sweet elderly gentleman, I felt bad that he had about a 25 min drive home, because he could barely support his own wieght. He said that he was better and we talked for a few more minutes and we went on our seporite ways. Afterwards I was talking with M about what we had done and I said that I felt really happy that we could help a complete stranger like that. It gave me a good feeling.

Later that evening we went over to our friend Diego and his wife's place to help them push thier van five blocks, from the shop it was at to thier house. Diego, his wife and myself pushed as M steered. The three of us pushed it about two blocks until someone came up to us and asked if he could help, he said he was going in our direction and it was no problem to help. So here's a complete stranger the three of us and M steering pushing the van across a main drag and to the bottom part of Diego's street. So the man said goodbye and wen on his way. Then it was just the three of us again until we got on to Diego's street when three guys came out of nowhere and insisted on helping. We got about 50 yards when one of the guys said he would get something to help us. He came back with two more people to help and made light work of pushing the van. It was really nice of those people to stop what they where doing and come and help us. People we had never met before helping out of the kindness of thier own hearts.

Pay it forward, pass the karma, simple and easy ways to make the world a little better, as you can see it dosen't take much. When it all boils down it only takes one person to be kind to make it all a little better. I think that His Holiness the Dalai Lama puts it quite nicely.

"Be kind whenever possible…It is always possible."

Adrian @ 33 weeks and at 5 lbs, my, my what a growing boy. 

Tomorrow Comes Today

All is well in the land of Washington. M is doing good since she has started going to physical therapy. She will be in her 33rd week on Tuesday, tomorrow, which means that it's four weeks till the 16th of December, and that means that Adrian could be born two weeks after that!!!!! Pretty wild huh? Well if you think that it is not, you might need your head looked at. M's mom has been sending us lots and lots of toys for the little man. It seems like every day is Christmas, but not for us, for him. Seeing the toys and playing with them makes me look forward even more to watching him grow up and getting to show him the world.

School is going real good for me. So far this quarter has been my favorite over all. Just something about what we're learning has gotten me really excited about school. So much in fact that I have put together a tour for my class mates and myself to visit Mariners Stadium (Safeco Field). It's been an on going project for the last two months or so. Rob our instructor suggested that we should try to go on a field trip to a place that utilized or produced electricity, and what we have been learning about in class being applied in real life.

So I went and started my search of who to contact to arrange some sort of trip to Safeco Field. I went and visited the company that owns the name of the stadium' s web site. I went ahead and filled out a general information request explaining what I was looking for and to get more info about a trip. About two weeks later they got back to me and told me that I would have to contact Mariners Stadium directly. Long story short I finally got a hold of someone at the stadium, which happened to be the head engineer there. I told him who I was, where I was from and what I was looking for. I told him that we where wondering if they offered tour of their electrical system, i.e.; lighting control, conduit runs, wiring runs, motor control cabinets, etc.... He told me that they could do i for us and he sounded really excited and looked forward to us coming down for such a tour. So on Tuesday Nov. 23rd 17 students, Rob our instructor, and myself will be getting a private 2 hour tour of Mariners stadium. We will also get to see how they operate the stadiums 1 million ton roof. Pretty cool huh? So all is well up here in the Pacific Northwest and until we meet again, adieu.

The arrow is pionting to the lunar eclipse that we could see outside of Anthony's on Lucia's last night out here. As you can tell I moved the camera while the picture was being taken. 

Here is M and Lucia outside of Anthony's  

Here is a picture of Nooksack Falls that I took a year ago. I don't have any of Lucia there when she was out here, but this what she saw. 

My, my aren't we the tall one. This is one of the smaller trees.

Lucia At the top of Sehome Arboretum, and Bellingham in the background. 

Lucia @ Bouelavard Park in Fairhaven 

Lucia has come and gone.

Lucia's trip is over, and she is already back east in Baltimore. M and I picked her up on Sunday the 24th and we dropped her off at the shuttle on the 28th. She was only out for three days, but it was a really awesome three days. M really enjoyed it, and I think it was also really good for her to spend the time off and with Lucia. It took her mind off of work which she needed like no one's business.

M took her all around Bellingham to show her why B'ham is so wonderful. Monday M took Lucia up to see the Old Growth Cedar forest, and Nooksack Falls north of town. The Cedar trees are hundreds of feet tall and wide. One of the trees there is so wide it takes 12 adults holding hands to go around the entire base of the tree. M also took Lucia to see Noocksack Falls which is right down the highway from the old growth forest. The falls aren't very wide, maybe 40-55 feet wide, but it's about 150-167 tall.

M showed Lucia around Old Fairhaven and boulevard Park, she also got to go up to Sehome Arboretum to get a birds eye view of Bellingham from the large watch tower at the top og the hill there. Lucia's last night here M, Rob, and my self took her out to dinner at Anthony's Restaurant on Bellingham bay. We all got the sunset dinner, which is a four course meal for the price of a normal entree'. It was quite good. Afterwards when we went out side to leave we all got to see the lunar eclipse. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful visit.

It was fun having her out here and I hope she comes back to visit soon.

Here I am on the road with a huge storm on the horizon behind me.  

Lucia's big adventure.

In one week and two days our friend Lucia will be coming out to visit. If I'm correct this will be the farthest west that she has ever been. M and I are very excited about her visit for one, we haven't seen her since out wedding, and two this will be the first time any of our friends have come to visit (hint, hint) ;-) . M has taken off the days that Lucia will be out here. Unfortunately I have school during those days but I'll be up late keeping her company whilst she adjusts to the time difference. I've heard that it generally takes one day for every hour lost, so that means by the time she gets back east she'll finally be on Pacific Time. M's really excited about her coming out here. It' will be good for her to have one of her life long friends out here to visit with. We'll keep Lucia busy with cleaning up the apartment, doing dishes, and laundry so she won't have to pay rent for her stay with us. Just kidding Lucia. You can stay rent free.

It would be great.

Mom and boy are doing good. Adrian has been doing a lot of stretching inside M in the last few days. On Monday she said that he stretched both his arms and legs at the same time, and it felt really strange. I commented, well yeah, that sort of thing would feel strange. Now that school has started back up again we don't get to see each other as much as we did during the summer. When we finally do get to see each other it mostly consists of how her day went and all the moving around Adrian has been doing.

Her days, to me sound alot more interesting than mine most of the time. I'll start telling her about my day and how my class was introduced to, (single phase, parallel, secondary transformers) or (cumulative compound motors). Generally speaking she gets lost after the third word or so of my descriptions. At least that's what she says. The more I talk about what I learned in class, and the more I explain the process and break it down, the better I am able to retain it all. I sometimes get so into a electrical topic I can go on for quite a while. For instance, on Wednesday I was a tour guide for the BTC Tour Day. It's where the local high schools have their students come in and get a tour of all the different programs at the Tech School. I had a lot of fun doing the tour. Five other students and me from the Electrician program set up a really cool display table. We had our tools out, circuit breaker boxes, duplex receptacles, switches, etc..... All the kids that we showed our lab to really enjoyed it, and so did we. It was a pretty cool experience.

On a sadder note. This Tuesday M went in to get her flu shot and was told by our midwife Susan, that as of December 31st she will no longer be able to afford the insurance costs. This means that she will most likely not be able to deliver Adrian. So if he comes after the 1st of January we'll mostlikely have to go with just a doctor. This has put M in a tailspin, so to speak. I mean we both have gotten attached to Susan, she is a very good Nurse Mid-Wife and a really nice and caring person. Unfortunately only way she could afford to pay the medical malpractice insurance costs is if she would take on a double work load.

So on Tuesday and Wednesday M called some people that Susan had recommended calling to take over her primary pre-natal care. M called the hospital down in Mount Vernon to talk to the mid-wifery department there, and had a nice conversation with them. I think ultimately what we'll do is stay with Susan for as long as we can, because for one reason Mount Vernon is a 35 min drive south and it's coverd as "out of service" meaning we have to pay more. Also the Birthing Centre up hear at St. Joes' is very modern and very close to us. It would be great if we could have Susan to be there for Adrian's delivery, but we can only hope he comes early................uh maybe not early. If she can't be there for the birth I would really like to invite her over after he's born so she can meet Adrian. It's the best way to show her how much she means to M and I.

This is a clipping I've had for a year or so. I got from school because of the mention of (watts) or the measurement of energy/heat. Also it's pretty funny, and at the time I might have actually done it myself. 

Buddha Looking On 

A funny feeling. 

Here are some pictures I took with our new digital camera. Enjoy! 

Here is M at 28 Weeks. She's doing really well, and so is Adrian. Last night he was streching out his legs and his arms at the same time. Only three more months sports fans.  

Pay-It-Forward

Another week goes by, and we get even closer to when Adrian will be joining us in the "other" side. I find myself during the week thinking about his arrival, and how much I look forward to it. It'll be, most likely, the happiest day in my life. Except for the day that I met my wife. Those two days are right up there at the top of the list. You'd think I'd be worried about money, finding a job, getting M into graduate school, or something like that. Oddly enough I'm leaning in the opposite direction of all that. I'm feeling impatient, like I can't wait for him to come. I want to do so much with him, show him the world that I know and love. All the experinces, feelings that goes with being alive. It's an interesting feeling, being the driving factor in helping shape a life. Not a god like complex, but just the simple fact of being there step, by step. This is the part of life where you really get to use all the life lessons that you learned while you where growing up. I guess it's the ultimate "pay-it-forward." Doing something good for someone and then passing the favor along to the next person.

I also wish that my Mom's parents Alvin and Louise, and my Dad's father Louis could be here just for a minute or two so they could see how well they raised their children. And how well they raised me. One thing I will make sure Adrian knows is how much he is loved by both M and I, and all of his family.

Catch you on the flip side.

Music from the corner of my Mind.

As I sit here, as I always do, trying to compose awe inspiring thoughts, sonnets, rifts, an epic perhaps? Anyway...... I was thinking about music and all the many different effects it has on people, places and time. Do you know what I mean? Music has a huge roll in how a persons mood is while they work, play, during sex, and the all popular driving your car. I've noticed we all become proud of the music we listen to. For example: the people that blare their rap music to the point they'll blow the windows out of their cars. Me for instance and all of us is guilty of doing it at one point or another turning up our own music in the car so other people can hear it outside. Showing off is just human nature especially when it comes down to our music.

When I had my radioshow on KUGS it was such a good feeling to be able to share my taste in music over the air waves in Bellingham. Every Saturday from 2-4pm I'd let the listeners in on my eclectic collection of all sorts of music. Some of there first music that I remember listening to was a Men At Work Album called "Men At Work." They where the 80's band from New Zealand. They lead singer Colin Hay recently did a song on the Scrubs TV Soundtrack, it's an acoustic version of the song "OverKill". He also did a song for the Movie Garden State called
"I Just Don't think I'll get Over You" it also is done acoustically. I think that since Zack Braff is in both Scrubs and wrote and directed Garden State he chose Colin Hay to do a song for his movie.

Music plays a big part in my life and if I didn't have music I would probably be a different person. Dave Brubeck , U2, Ben Folds Five, The Bare Naked Ladies, Ani Difranco, Tori Amos, and of course The Beatles and all the other great musical groups out there I thank you for everything. I want to ask a question to all those who visit this blog. What is some of your favorite music, Bands, memories, and experiences with music. Write what ever comes to mind and write as much as you want. It would be cool to see all the different responses I get. I'll leave you with the lyrics to a new song from the Barenaked Ladies new Album Everything To Everyone, it's called Aluminum it's one of my new favorite songs. when you read the lyrics add a light back beat to it and get your friend to help you sing the chorus parts (it's more fun that way). Enjoy!

Aluminum

How in every visible way you shine - As if the stars in
your wake align - Almost impossible to malign

But just below where you shine you burn - Although I
know it, I never learn - Just goes to show that I can't
discern

(chorus)
Aluminum to me - Aluminium to some - You can Shine
like silver all you want - But you're just Aluminum

Illuminating just waht you want to show - You'll never
rust, but I'll never know - You can't be trusted; I can't
let go

(chorus)
Aluminum to me - Aluminium to some - You can shine
like silver all you want - But you'r just Aluminum

Everytime you're here I forget - When you leave, you
leave only regret - Every time you're near I forget -
Everything

You're so lightweight, how can you survive - Recycling
moments from other's lives? - You're not as precioous as
you contrive

Aluminum to me - Aluminium to some - You can shine
like silver all you want - But your just Aluminum

School, School and even more School.

Well things are going good for M and I. School is working out for me alright, and as I have mentioned before the subjects get complicated really fast. If for some reason that when we are going over a certain lab and you get sidetracked for a minute or so you can easily get lost. The snowball effect is the best analogy for what happens if you get lost with the material, once it happens it's very easy for it to progress.

Since I have gone back to school I have decided to get more involved with the Associated Student Council. I'm now a student represenitive, and on Wednesday I signed up to be on the Teacher Tenure Recomindation Commitee. It sounded like something that would be very interesting to be a part of. Just to give a brief discription of it; we would read trough all the various recomendations sent in and then give our findings to the Student Council. It's funny that it took me almost 8 years since high school to get into something like this, and it turns out it's pretty cool.

Last Monday I volunteered to be a tour guide of my program for the big school wide tour that's going on in October. My friend Chris and I will set up different examples of the different things you learn while in the electrical program. We'll be covering everything from basic electrical circuits to reading voltage, amperes, to wiring a switch and plug to AC and DC motor controls. ( just a sec, need to take a breath) This week I also started my work study program. That means that I will be getting paid to work in the electrical lab and wire up transformers, recepticles, and three phase disconnects. I'm really excited about it all cause I get a chance to do some real hands on work with electrical componants and get paid doing it.

Here is a picture I ran through Photoshop. I made what you could see through the slats of the fence a negative style and then at the top of the fence I gave it a Sepia Tone. I have entitled the pic "A Nuclear Sunset" 

Me in my retro stage. 

From here to, well, lets see, there.!

I was in the store today shopping for groceries. There was a man shopping with his son who seemed to be around 10 or so. Anyway he had his son in one of those shopping carts that have a truck cab on the front of it. As the man was going throught the produce section he told his son that he needed to pull over and stop the truck. The boy did so and with all the sound effect that go with applying the brakes and pulling over. It was quite qute, and I found myself smileing at what the two of them had done. I thought to myself, "I can't wait to do that with Adrian." It makes me feel even more anxious for his arrival, actually I guess technically he is here, but not all the way. Don't you love my logic? I mean think about it. Arriveing implies that he is already somewhere meaning inside M. She might say something about what I'm going to say. It's like he's arriving on a plane or something, just not yet.

I have some news, our friend (Phantom Manifesto) from Bal'mer is coming out to visit us during the middle of October. This will be her first time on the west coast, and if I remember correctly the farthest west she's ever been. I'll use the above pseudonym, nom de plume for the time being until I ask her about useing her proper name here on the blog. Anyway she's coming out to visit. Both M and I are very excitied about her visit. We haven't really started talking about what all we'll do, but most important is just spending the time togeather. It's not too often we get to have friends and family to come out here. Actually all the friends who come out here are considered family because we've known them for a long time and for how close they are to us. It may sound funny but whats' wrong with that? Ok, how do I make the departure from this line of thought to my schooling? mmmm............. Let's see.

School is going good. (how's that for a segway?) The first full week of school is now over, only eleven remain. Right know we're learning about "Self -Excited DC Generators" and everything that pertains to there in. In my class there are twelve students, six groups of two to do motor labs, and eighteen labs to do, which mean each group of us gets to do three labs. Each of these labs gets progressivly more complex. We're beeing shown how controlling a field rheostat alows for more saturation in the field coils of the shunt generator and increases the field current and voltage. Therefore resulting in a more efficient generator. Now I must admit there is slightly more to it that just that, I just felt I should share a very little fraction of what I've gotten myself into. Oh yes it gets even more complicated, wait till I start learning about AC (alternating current) motors and generators.

Well all for now, and catch you all on the flip side.

A New Class In It's Self

Well folks, it's finally here, a new semester of school. I started back on this last Thursday and the first class only lasted 1 hour 45 min. It was basically everyone just catching up with each other, but I must admit it was fun to just sit and talk instead of getting back to just book work. On Friday we started in on the book work and we had a short lecture. For those who don't know what I'm studying in school I shall enlighten you. I'm enrolled in the Electrician program at The Bellingham Technical College. It's a two year program but technically it's only a year and three months long. I'm certainly in my 4th quarter out of a total of 5 quarters. When I finish I'll graduate with a A.A.S(Applied Associates Science) Degree. I'll be finishing up at the end of next March, but won't actually graduate till June, that's when the college holds their entire graduation.

This quarter we get to work on and with DC (Direct Current) and AC (Alternating Current) motors and generators. The class has been split up in 6 groups of 2 and each group is assigned three motor labs to complete and present to the entire class. I don't want to get too technical cause it can be a little confusing if your not familiar with the terms and electrical theory. Here is one example, it's the first lab that I have to complete and present with my friend Paul from class. First, we have a lab book that tells us what excitement we need for the lab, and then it tells you how to arrange them on the floor pan. Then it show you a motor schematic and then you have to connect the different components on the motors in certain ways ie. in series or parallel. So that they accomplish a desired effect on how the motor operates, and how you read the voltage and ampere outputs. Also you have to add different resistances, shunt fields, coils, and such all to see how it effects the out puts. It's all quite interesting, but you can't fully understand it unless you have all the theory understood. All that took until now to fully comprehend, but what you don't realize is at the time your learning quite a lot. Pretty cool huh?

The Electrician program at the Technical College has a 80 percent placement rate after graduation. The other 20 percent happens either before or a couple of months after graduation. Can't really say that about actual big colleges. I feel that I'm pretty lucky in that aspect. One of the jobs I've been thinking about going into is Low Voltage Security Systems Installations. Reason being is that I designed my own last quarte as some of you might already know, so hopefully that will work out in some form or another.

I finally really felt Adrian kick around in M the other night. All it took was for us to shine a small flash light through M's tummy to wale him up and move around. It's a pretty cool feeling to actually feel him moving around. We also had our first Birthing class last Tuesday evening. It turned out to be alot of fun, we met a lot of really nice people who are due with in a month of us. At first I was nervous about going to the class, maybe because of meeting new people I didn't know and sharing the feelings of having a baby. I mean to a certain point it seems a bit personal to share what your experiencing. After I got over that I just relaxed and enjoyed my self and so did M. It's a six week long class which is good because I want to learn as much as possible be fore the little man makes his big appearance. It's all so I can feel the most valuable during the delivery ,cause to be honest most dads feel quite useless during that time.

M and I where talking one day about when we're in the hospital, and she says to me that I will be in the room with her during the delivey. I said, with a little smile on my face, "of course I will be,......... passed out on the ground" She immediately shot me (THE LOOK) and I told her reassuringly "I'll be there don't worry."

One quick thought. I'm listening to the Soundtrack to the movie Garden State, there is this song by a group that's called Frou Frou and the song's name is "Let Go". It a pretty awesome song. Well so is the movie, if you haven't seen it DO! It's not too often a great movie like that comes around. Who knew that JD from Scrubs could write and direct such an awesome film, and to be produced by Danny Devito's production company Jersey Films. This album has a lot of great songs by some great artists on it, for instance there's Zero 7, Coldplay, Nick Drake, The Shins and many others. Even if you haven't seen the film the album is good enough to stand on it's own.

One last item of business, for those that would like to contact us at http://www.geocities.com/pixierestoration or you can either check out http://www.geocities.com/radioshowkugs and get that email address off of there or you might be able to find another one at if not try another route. Hope that helps some what.

Well that's all for now, catch you on the flip side.

Time Further Out (A Dedication Of Sorts)

I have been pulled into the never ending world that is called the (Week Long, Best Of CSI). It is quite addictive let me tell you. I had hoped to get some more work done for the business. Reason being it's at a stand still. The business I mean. Awww nevermind, right now it seems to be, well I'm tired. There you heard it first, I'm tired, I guess the correct remedy for this aliment is to get myself to bed, but in all actuality I can't. Ok here is the break down of everything, ready for it? Ok then here we go. First, our business is at a stand still due to uncertain circumstances, second, I'm going to be starting school back up in oh mmm 6 days, third, I have a son on the way. Due in January he is. I apologize to those who may be reading this, it all may seem like random ramblings of a tormented soul but it's not.

A certain song comes to mind right now. The title is called Fujiyama, and it was written by Dave Brubeck. The Song is off the album "Jazz Impressions Of Japan". It was released through Columbia Records. It's a very good song, I recommend that everyone should take a listen to it at their local music store. It begins with a alto sax solo with Dave playing lightly in the background, Eugene Wright strums his bass, and Joe Morello softly bangs a gong every other beat. The song has a slow beat and sounds to me to be lamentful in a way. Perhaps thinking of how things once were, of how my life out here in Washington started. All the many choices I've made, all the people I have met and lost. I find myself thinking about all the "what if's" and if I would change any of my decisions. NO, I wouldn't.

Sure I would have like to have done lots of things fly to the moon, meet the Dahli Lama, dive down see the Titanic in person, and also meet Dave Brubeck. If I did all those things I wouldn't be here, with the person I care so much about. If there is truly one person for me, she is the one for me. A person you can tell anything to, and still care about you the next day. Every now and then M and I talk about when I first came out here to the Great Pacific NW. It was right before spring break of 99'. We talk about all the places we visited all of her friends from the dorms on the Ridge on WWU's campus. Towards the end of us reminiscing I ask her if I ever told her what my grandfather told me the day before he passed away. (A little back story) I had told him that I was going out to Washington to visit M. He told me that "she must be one special girl to be flying out to Washington for." I told him that "yeah she sure is" He told me to have a great time.

The next morning my mom came into my room to tell me that he had passed away over the night. I was still very asleep when she told me. So when I got up out of bed she had to tell me again. It didn't take me by surprise too much because he had been sick for a long time. I called M out in Washington and told her that I may have to cancel my trip out to WA. I talked it over with my mom, cause I didn't want to miss the funeral. She told me that grandpa was really excited for me to fly out west, and it was something that he would have wanted. I think about him everyday. The lessons I learned from him I am going to pass to my son, and tell him about his grandfather who fought in WW II and thought Me how to be a better and loving person. Sorry it took so long for me to get to the point of my blog entry. I guess it turned into a small dedication to someone I miss.

I love you Grandpa where ever you are.

A penny for your thoughts?

As I sit here listening to the theme song to the CBS show Mr. Broadway, by who else Dave Brubeck. It's a very fast paced song with Paul Desmond at the alto sax, Joe Morello at the drums, Eugene Wright on the bass, and Dave Brubeck at the piano. Dave Brubeck seemed to do things with a piano that I as a person with little musical experience find to be absolutely amazing. For Mr. Broadway he had a 2/4 beat playing with the right hand and a 3/4 time on the left hand. This type of timing seems to be normal but other songs of his have 9/8 time, 5/4 time and the trickiest 7/4 time. The first time I heard a Dave Brubeck was on the Infinity commercial for the I-30 car. The song was Take Five, for the short duration of the commercial I felt relaxed and the world around me seemed to just melt away. The song was originally written for the drummer Joe Morello, many people would think it was written for him because of the 1.5 minute drum solo in the middle of the song. It turned out to be a really great ensemble piece.

Dave Brubeck's music for me is used every where. I have copied all his albums to our computer so I can have the music playing in the background. During the run of my radioshow on KUGS I used it as my background music because of how it's just instrumental, no vocals. It made things a little more mellow. The Song Take Five is M's and I song. You know how couples have certain songs that have special meanings? Take Five is special to us. Every now and then I put the Time Out album on and M and I will slow dance to the flowing melodies of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. One night we where working on our friend Tyrone's show "Wreck" that he put up in Fairhaven College. We all setting the set and the actors went to put their makeup on and M and I danced under a single lit stage light for about 12 minutes. It was quite enjoyable, it felt like the prom almost, but with out all the other people and the real sappy music and the disco ball. The only difference is that I got to go home with my date.

I hope one day our son will have the same appreciation and love for all the wonderful styles of music that are in this great world of ours. I have declared to M on many occasions that Adrian will be introduced and listen to Dave Brubecks songs. It may sound too early to be imposing tasks onto him, but I also don't want for it to be too late later down the road. Finally for those reading I hope my little wandering into the world of my minds eye hasn't bored anyone. As the title asks, A penny for your thoughts?

It's Alive! It's Alive!

It's alive! Today was the first time I felt the little man kick. I had put a pair of head phones up to M's tummy and piped some Enya through the head phones. I asked M if she could feel how he was moving to the music. She said that it felt like he was sort of moving his arms back and forth slowly. I told M that I'd like to do some experiments with different types of music. For example;
The Beatles, Dave Brubeck, Van Morrison, Edvard Grieg, even perhaps some light techno, but the essentials first. We probably won't try it for a nother month or so, but I 'm interested to see what happens and how he reacts to the different variations of music.

On Friday evening I went down to the Upfront Theatre which is Ryan Stiles's new little improv theatre downtown. I was given a call by the manager of the theatre to come down and meet the people and get a tour of the space. It's a really nice space, it seats about a hundred or so, and seems to sell out every weekend. When I was down there I really didn't think that I would get to meet Ryan Stiles, beacause he shows up when ever he wants, seeing how he owns the place. So anyway, I was in the lighting /sound booth talking to a person of the visiting improv group from Seattle, when Ryan Stiles pops in and says hi. It sort of cought me off guard, but he was really nice and friendly. When he is visiting he M.C.'s the show. The group that was prefoming that night was very funny, and at the end of the long piece they finish with improv games and thats when Ryan joins in with them. It was all very funny and made it a great ending to a great night. I do plan to go back and volunteer some more cause it was really awsome experience.

So as I sit here pondering away I can only think of one thing,.........Life if pretty good.:-)

It's been a long, long time.

Alots been going on in the last few months. First off I want to send my congrats to our dear friends Diego and his wife on thier new born daughter Zoe. I have a feeling that she'll grow up to be a wonderful person and have a great imagination. Also my wife and I have found out the gender of our child. It's going to be a boy!!!! Oh yes a boy he said a boy!! His name will be Adrian Conrad Sheridan. M and I sat down one day to decide the fate of our childs name. As some of you know we both have all of our parents lasts names. We were trying come up with different combinations of our four last names. We ended up with about eight different combos but only Conrad Sheridan sounded the better of the group. Both M and I had to make sure that later on in life Adrian wouldn't have to endure any ridicule or stress with having 50 last names. So with luck he'll be the talk of the town and one heck of a Theatre guy. (no pressure)

On to more new business, no punn intended. My wife and I have finally gotten our home business off the ground. Its titled Pixie Digital Photographic Restoration, "Recapturing your Memories one Pixel at a Time". We're going to offer photo restoration and all related services. I don't want to go too much into a new subject but most info you can find on the official web site for it. http://www.geocities.com/pixierestoration It's still very much under construction but the logo I came up with is pretty awsome. Thank you Adobe.

The summer theatre season is over at the Mt. Baker Theatre. Now my summer is really empty, but hopefully not for long. Yesterday I got a call from the Upfront Theatre, which is a new small theatre here in B'ham. The person who I talked to asked if I could come in on Friday and/or Saturday so that I could get to meet everyone there. For those who don't know this theatre is owned by Ryan Stiles, from (The Drew Carey Show, and Who's Line). Now it's not a paid position, it's volunteer, but it will keep me in the technical theatre mindset. It should be pretty awsome, and I'll keep everyone up to speed on that.

One last thing I'm going to use my Reel Songs web page to post around the house, baby and mommy pictures until I figure how to post pics on the blog here. http://www.geocities.com/radioshowkugs Well that's all for now but I won't keep the public hanging for long. Catch you all on the flip side.

Slow Summer

It's been a slow summer so far. I've been waiting for a call from a local custom photo lab in regards to a job interview from the begining of the month. I called them the other day for an update on thier decision on my interview. They said that they have been really busy and not really gotten a chance to make a final choice. Sooner or later I might hear from them. Who knows? Most of my days have been spent by doing dishes, looking for jobs online and watching T.V. School will be starting in a few months and then the baby will come shortly there after. And then it will no longer be a slow summer, fall or well it will no longer be slow.

Baby's first pictures

Here are a few of the pictures that turned out well. The baby waved at us. It was pretty cool. The ultrasound was done almost a week ago so it's hard to believe that the baby is already bigger. :-)

Jobs, Jobs Everywhere!

Recently around here has been quite exciting. Last week as some of you might know I got a phone call from Quicksilver Photo Lab seeing if I was interested in a part time job position. I called them back and told them that I was very interested in a job with them. I should be hearing back from them either Monday or Tuesday WOO HOO !!!!. In the mean time I have been preparing all my resume, reference and cover letter infromation for a job position at Mt. Baker Theatre. The position is for (Lead Tech), which is a sort of an assistant technical director job. I'll be turning in all that infromation on Monday, so this past week has been quite fun. M is doing good, getting a little more tired now-a-days, but besides that alls well. M's mom sent out a bunch her maternity clothes from when she was pregnant with M. Also my mom and dad will be out here in Bellingham in two weeks from their trip to Alaska. They'll only be out here for three days, but it will be a great three days when their out here. Our new life is turning out really good and will be getting even better between January 6th and 10th. Tomorrow will be a new day and will bring new adventures.

It's a Good Day

Today we went to meet the Nurse Mid Wife for the first time. She turned out to be a really nice and friendly person. We talked about when around the baby will be due. The nurse used a pregnacy wheel to determine the approx. date, from what we figured the baby will be born somewhere between January 6th and the 10th. It's all really exciting! When we got home we found that we had three new messages on the answering machine. The first message was from Quick Silver Photo Lab. The meassage was asking me if I would be interested in a part-time Job!! I couldn't beleave what I was hearing, because I had filled the application out over a year ago. So I called Quick Silver back as soon as the message ended. Their answering machine picked up and then someone actually answered, and I left a message with them. So hopefully I can get the job and work over the summer and save some money. Ah yes before I forget I would like to thank Diego for the heads up on the job at Mt. Baker. Thank You!

Ah, Friday.......

Friday is finally upon us and it couldn't have happened any sooner. Yesterday I went to Hardware Sales to fill out an application. Little did I know it would take almost two hours to complete. During my stay at Hardware Sales it became apparent that they were definitely hiring, especially with someone calling for help in the Electrical Dept. for almost 30 minutes. I just hope I get called back in for an interview. School is school, the photos I put up at the Bellingham Tech Art show will be coming down today at the closing ceremony. It was pretty cool to hear about what the many people had to say about my pictures. M is doing alright, she really hasn't had any morning sickness yet, but she has had her gag reflex tripped by post nasal drip(icky). That, thankfully, is all that has happened so far. I guess she has been pretty fortunate that it hasn't been worse.

It's an Electricians Life

Back at school for this week. Tomorrow all the students from the BTC electrician program will be going down to Seattle for the Seimens Product show. It's where you can go and check out all the new advances and products in the electrical and electronics field. The Seimens Show travels around the country on it's own company's train. And Seattle will be it's last stop on it's country wide tour, so it should be fun. M and I are doing well while we pick and choose names, which has become somewhat fun. If anyone would to check out the web site for the Seimens Show click on the link below.

Sunday Afternoon

It's Sunday afternoon, and for me it's my day to relax from school. For those people who have not been privy to the news of late, my wife and I are going to be parents. Yes that's correct I am going to be a father. We first found out the day before Mother's Day at excatly 5:45 am. I know because I was asleep at the time. At first we where making ourselfs see a negative test, but of course it was not false (both times). We chose to tell our parents on Mother's Day, which we thought would be a nice surpirse for our mothers. When I called my house back east my mom answered the phone. I asked her how she was doing and then asked her "How do you feel about being a grandmother?" She said that it would be nice, and then a few seconds later my dad soouts from the backgound "It's about time!" My folks were very happy for us. Then, it was M's turn. She had to wait till she got home from work to call her parents. She wasn't sure how they take it. When M called her mom answered and said to her mom "happy Grandmother's day!" C said "what?" pause, "what?" and then alittle later "how did that happen?" Which I thought was little silly. So all and all our familys have taken the news pretty good, and are really happy and excited for us. So far everything is going pretty good and it's turning into just another Sunday Afternoon.