I Think I Missed a Few…
- December 2009
Entering Month #3 of unemployment. Oh, that's right I never mentioned here on my blog that I lost my job at the end of September. It wasn't anything I did or didn't do. The Navy decided to cut a bunch of contract jobs across the country and mine just happened to be one of them. Anyway, December comes and I know that it's one of the hardest months for job searching. Ashley and I have resigned ourselves to the fact that we will not be exchanging gifts with each other, instead only giving Caleb the gifts we had purchased for him before I lost my job. But God is good and we received a gift that allowed us to get a few gifts for each other. I got Left 4 Dead 2 (expect a review of it soon) and a couple of GameBoy Advance games I've been wanting for a while. Ashley got a bunch of nice yarn for her knitting habit. Caleb got a bunch of toys and clothes. We had Christmas with her family and they got me a copy of the New Super Mario Bros. for the DS and an actual Buck knife. We didn't do anything special for New Year's Day. - January 2010
I realized that I had a few dollars in my PayPal account and decided to spend it on eBay. I bought a copy of Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (another review to expect soon), which gave me 30 days of playtime on LOTRO. Booyah! Unfortunately, nothing on the job search. I do keep hearing that the market is turning around, though, and I have more hope for February - February 2010
February has started of pretty well. We got our Income Tax Refund which was a lot bigger than we had expected. I have a phone interview next week for a job in LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) development which is my specialty. I've seen more jobs on my searches, so here's hoping I'll find one soon.
I've also started dabbling in PHP frameworks and am currently working in CakePHP to build my image site. If this works as well as it looks like it will, this may become my new preferred method of web development. I'm looking at building my comics and forums sites in Cake after the image site is up.
In more personal news, Caleb is now 18 months old. He runs (not walks) everywhere he goes and babbles sentences in his own little language, all the while learning new words almost everyday. The other day he said "Spongebob" and "two bowls." He is up to 3 feet tall and over 30 pounds (as my dead arm can attest to after holding him for more than a minute). As I write, he is dancing to the music (tobyMac) on my computer and playing with his plastic lightsaber (*sniff* I'm so proud!).
Ashley and I have been watching a lot of TV shows online (since we don't have cable) lately. We recently watched through Prison Break (yet another review in the pipeline). I am glad and sad that I missed this masterpiece of a show while it was still running. Glad because I didn't have to wait a week for new episodes. Sad because I would have loved to be part of it's fanbase during it's run (as I would have loved to be in Firefly's fanbase while it was running). We started watching Criminal Minds which is truning out to be quite an interesting show, though it is very dark (even compared to Dexter, which we also watch). There's been a few times when we had to turn on an episode of another, lighter show so we could go to bed. It's a great show, don't get me wrong, but be warned if you are going to watch it that getting into a criminal's mind as they do on the show has psychological consequences. We also started watching USA's new show, White Collar. So far, it's as good as the rest of their shows that we watch (Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight). I'm watching through the last half of Battlestar Galactica's third season and I'm loving what I'm seeing. My friend was right when he said that from season 3 on, it's like a completely different show from the first two seasons.
We watched the season finale of Heroes the other night and loved it. I hope NBC keeps this show for next season as the ending was quite exciting. I love that they've brought Sylar around to being a hero now and not in the way they tried in volume 3, when Angela and Arthur tried manipulating him. Now he's actually made the decision himself, which is the only way it was ever going to stick. It was weird watching Samuel, though, as it was during the holiday break that we watched Prison Break and I kept expecting him to break out T-Bag's southern drawl.
On the reading front, I've been reading a lot of Tom Clancy's work (Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Without Remorse, and Debt of Honor) and I finally took the time to read The Bourne Identity. Let's just say that the pen is obviously mightier than the camera for all of those that are also movies. Currrently, I'm reading The Bourne Supremacy and a new Star Wars book, Crosscurrent. It looks interesting for two reasons: 1) it follows the character from the game Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy, Jaden Korr and 2) it's the first Star Wars story I know of with time travel. Once I'm finished with those, I have Millenium Falcon to read on the Star Wars front and The Bourne Ultimatum on the other, then on to the rest of Clancy's Jack Ryan series that I own (Patriot Games, Executive Orders, Rainbow Six, The Bear and the Dragon, Reb Rabbit, Teeth of the Tiger).
So there's my big blog for the last two and a half months. I'm going to try to be a bit more active here on my blog and write a new post at least every week, if not more often, as I used to do. Actually, I won't try. I will do as Yoda said: "Try not. Do or do not. There is no try."
Christmas Stuphs
So Christmas has now come and gone. We had a good Christmas this year, especially when compared to last year. I thank God for my job and hope to never be unemployed over Christmas again.
Caleb made out like a bandit this year, but then again, he is a new baby and they tend to get spoiled. He loves his new toys and the ones that his Nana and Papa (Ashley’s parents) got him. The last picture in that link was him sleeping with his new caterpillar in his high chair.
My gifts this year were lots of candy and sweets, new sheepskin slippers, a KJ-52 CD, Brisingr, a new keyboard (pics below), some freaking comfy Wii pajamas and a Moutain Dew beanie. Ashley’s parents got me a Best Buy gift card and Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. We don’t have one so I either have to play at their house or at the base recreation center, but that’s no biggie.
Ashley actually got more video games than me this year. She got Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force for the DS, and a mystery game for the computer. She also got an eBay gift card, the new Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta book, Short Circuit on DVD, a Shea Cashmere gift set with cashmere socks and lotion, and the David Cook CD.
Aside from Christmas, we’ve had quite an interesting couple of weeks with all the snow up here. It’s been fun to just try to get to the Starbucks in our back yard.
Caleb is now eating stage 2 foods, which are thicker than the stage 1 foods we started him on last month. He had his first taste of Macaroni & Cheese yesterday for dinner and he loved it. He’s getting so much into eating his solid foods that he grabbed the spoon from Ashley one day to feed himself.
He also now has his first tooth! We tried to get a picture of it, but the flash just reflects off his saliva and drool so much that all you get is a big white spot where the tooth is. We’re thinking his second tooth won’t be too much longer as we can feel a bump where it would be.
Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Happy New Year, too!
The Twelve Wheeking Days of Christmas
For those who don’t know, wheeking is the shrill, whistle-like sound that a guinea pig makes.
Anyway, I arrived at my in-laws house last year around this time and when I walked in the door, I saw Ashley, her mom and her sister all sitting with papers in hand and big grins on their faces. First reaction: fear. What the heck do they have planned? Then they began singing. This was their song.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
A mound of timothy hay.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Six plastic Pigloos
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Seven sprigs of spinach
Six plastic Pigloos
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Eight shredded papers
Seven sprigs of spinach
Six plastic Pigloos
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Nine ducky bottles
Eight shredded papers
Seven sprigs of spinach
Six plastic Pigloos
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Ten bags a rustling
Nine ducky bottles
Eight shredded papers
Seven sprigs of spinach
Six plastic Pigloos
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Eleven Shred-a-Boxes
Ten bags a rustling
Nine ducky bottles
Eight shredded papers
Seven sprigs of spinach
Six plastic Pigloos
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Twelve hidey houses
Eleven Shred-a-Boxes
Ten bags a rustling
Nine ducky bottles
Eight shredded papers
Seven sprigs of spinach
Six plastic Pigloos
Five lettuce leaves
Four carrots
Three apple slices
Two nut logs
And a mound of timothy hay
Merry Christmas from CynicSoC and Bella!
Caleb’s First Christmas
Caleb has the Christmas spirit! See for yourself! Also, check out the video below!
7 Days Left
With all the holidays and leave I’m taking these next three weeks, that’s all I have to work for the rest of the year! W00t!
Anyways, off to bed with me. After I get shot.
Merry Christmas!
It’s finally come: Christmas Day! I hope you all had a great Christmas!
I’ve had a great one! I got news of a healthy baby a last week when we went to the hospital, a new Onyx Nintendo DS Lite, Brain Age, Lord of the Rings Online, a bunch of Mountain Dew stuff (pen, keychain, boxers), an original NES controller keychain, the new Audio Adrenaline Live CD+DVD combo, a Mustang themed 2008 calendar and a few other small items.
Ashley and I also got a bunch of gift cards to various places so we’ll be able to get her some Maternity clothes when she needs them.
Now… to find a job in the next couple weeks… That would make this a perfect Christmas season.
2 Days Left!
I hope you’ve finished your shopping! ![]()
Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this… all four of you.
Remember that it’s not about getting presents or even giving them. It’s about celebrating the reason we give the gifts: Jesus Christ. Without Him, there’s no Christmas and no reason to live.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Chistmas Time Again!
It’s that time of year again!
That time where you drive yourself crazy trying to find a parking spot close enough to the store or mall that you will make it to the door before closing the next day, only to have it stolen by some idiot on their cell phone.
That time where we forgo all normal fire safety guidelines and bring a tree inside our homes to put a bunch of lights and flammables called ornaments or garland on them.
That time of year where we spend $5 on a roll of decorative paper to wrap a gift when we know it’s just going to be torn off by the end of the year and thrown away (unless the person receiving the gift has OCD and neatly unwraps the gift, without tearing the paper and folds it up for later use, at which time it will probably be ripped to shreds by the person they give it to).
That time of year that we celebrate our one true reason for living as crazy of an existence as we do: Jesus Christ. I’m not saying the world is crazy because of Him (though the argument could be made… He DID create us…
), but rather that we are living because of Him. Be sure to take some time between the futile wrapping of gifts and keeping the tree from bursting into flames to remember Him and his gift to us. That gift is what our gifts to each other are supposed to reflect.
Also, don’t forget that you can have a copy of my two-page, double-sided, 8-point font wish list if you ask! 