Someone is very unhappy. 

Here our nurse is measuring Adrian.  

Grandmom, Mom, and Adrian  

Adrian was born on Janurary 13th at 2:13 am, his weight is 8 lbs, 3 oz. and 21 3/8 inches long. 

Soon Enough

D-Date +5. Still no baby to report, so to all those who will probabyly continue to ask, I assure you that you will be called when the little man makes his appearence. Thursday is when M is scheduled to go in to get induced. M really dosen't want to have the procedure done but that's what the doctor said, and by the time she'll induced it will be a week and two days over her due date so it will be time for him to come out. Today should be M's last day at work before the baby comes, yes that's right she has still been going to work. With her home she'll have more time to concentrate on getting Adrian out. Since she's been going to work she's always busy, she'll have a few contractions at work, and while she's at home she has them but as soon as she goes to sleep they stop. (suck!)

My brother is visiting Seattle for the next week or so, he arrived on Saturday and is staying two blocks away from the Space Needle. He made the trip with his friend Niki, she's a friend of his from high school, And I have yet to figure their sleeping arrangments in their room. I talked with AOS yesterday and he sounds like their having fun time down there, and they have alot of places planned to visit. He probably won't be coming up to B'ham though, which sort of sucks cause I would have like to have seen him while he's out here. Although I think it will be good for him to do something on his own and to experience a new city.

Day by Day

M went back to work today, and told me on the way to school that regardless of what happens next Monday will be her last day. That is of course if Adrian comes before then. M is hopeing that by being on her feet all day will help the process a little bit. Well besides the fact that there is no baby yet we're both doing well, for the time being.

School is starting a little slow but it will pick up soon enough. Yesterday my friend Chris and I did the second of our four AC generator labs that we have to do this quarter. The experiment uses almost six different pieces of equitment, 2 DC Machines, 2 Three-Phase AC Generators, Phaseing Lamps, a watt meter, and a Snycroscope, just to name a few. Not to mention the use of 8 digital multi-meters to measure voltage and current. It was a pretty cool lab and it was very big, as in taking up alot of work space. At one point during the experiment we had one of the DC machines and AC generator sets running the other by producing a nice 208 volts AC. It was pretty awsome!

I guess I better go to class now, catch you later.

Today has come, and well, gone.

Today was technically the due date for Adrian to make his big appearance. As one can imagine M would have liked him to come today but he choose the later. When M went in for her appiontment with Dr. Covert Bowles he told her that things looked good and he scheduled her for an induction on the 13th if things continued the way they where. He told her that most of the time when he schedules the inductions the soon to be mother rarely make it that far, so let us hope that. M told me that since he has dropped he feels more heavy than before, and can't wait for him to come on out. A majority of the day has passed, and we'll see what the night and early morning brings us.

A new year, a new baby, and a new, well everything.

Wll it's the new year, and new things are bound to happen. Today is the third and that means that it's one day before M's due date. It's getting a little nerve racking waiting for Adrian to come along, even though M hasn't been having any sort of strong contractions. If Adrian dosen't come today M will be going in tomorrow to meet with Dr. Covert Bowles who will be delivering Adrian. I have yet to meet him, but from what M has told me about him he is a really nice person with almost 30 years of experience. Actually the last time we met with Susan she asked us if she was unable to do the delivery who would we like to have preform it if she could not. Since M had met him already the choice was not a problem. Except for the fact that Susan would not be able to help with the delivery.

Today is the first day of a new school quarter for me. This will be my fifth and final quarter in the Electrician program. We'll be learning more about motor control, solid state devices, and Programable Logic Control (PLC's). I have a feeling that it's going to be alot of fun, it might be alittle rough at first but it will mellow out in a week or two.

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.