Well, I'd better update this thing. It's been a while, since I've had two kids, graduated from college, and moved twice. So, not a lot of time to update this thing.

So, I will leave you with one question about a spider: is it Itsy-Bitsy or Eensy-Weensy?

Haiku2 for royanrannedos
we can finally stop calling it this has been assassinated
@ aboutmylife.netblogger.comblogs.gnome.orgblogspot.comdeadjournal.comgreatestjournal.comlivejournal.commyspace.comspaces.msn.com
Created by Grahame

for those of you who are worried, assassinated comes from my book.

Well, yesterday we found out that we're having a little girl! :?) We're thinking of naming her Rachelle Elise Anderson. I'm all for classic names in good combos, not much for naming girls after former ugly men presidents. Reagan? Come on.

I can't believe I'm actually posting one of these.

1. Name:
2. Age/Birthday:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song:
6. Favorite Band/Rapper/Artist:
7. Favorite Book/Comic Book:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Favorite TV Show:
10. Favorite Video Game/Board Game:
11. Do we know each other outside of Livejournal?
12. Would you give me a kidney?
13. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
14. If you could change anything about your current life, would you?
15. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you?

Well, folks, I just got back from Lake Powell, where I was swimming in the water supply of most of Nevada and Southern California.  Lake Powell borders Utah and Arizona, and runs through beautiful red rock canyons normally unaccessible except by helicopter or long desert hike.   "Conservationists" have been trying to drain it for years.  Their solution to the water problem involves using pumps to take the salt out of the ocean.  I say, pick your pollution: a beautiful lake that draws tourists and provides access to the natural cliff faces, or a big cloud of coal smog from the energy required to run your pump.  Or, perhaps some nuclear waste.  Wait...you can send that to Utah as well.

On a lighter note, Stef and I had a great time at Lake Powell.  I almost made it up waterskiing for the first time, and I did get up on the wakeboard for about 10 seconds.  The first day there, I rubbed sunscreen on my own back.  This was a BAD IDEA.  I repeat, BAD IDEA.  By that evening, people were picking out shapes in the sunburn patterns that stretched between my shoulders, which looked like they'd been chewed on by ROUSes.  "I think I see the bat signal!"

I also got to feel my baby kick for the first time!  Stef grew quite a bit this week.   We find out the gender of the baby on the 14th, and we can finally stop calling it...it.  

This has been a nice vacation.  Now I can handle a couple more weeks of summer before school starts again. 

"If you're going to ask for worker's comp, let's make it worth your while!" *smack!**air punch*

-My manager, joking about buping my chair.

Because of the forest fires over all of the west, the sun looked like a giant red light setting behind the mountains. The whole valley is hazy, and is giving me a headache.

On the pregnancy front, Stef has muscle cramps around her sciatic nerve, meaning that her left leg is basically crippled with pain. I get to give massages and ice it down. I actually love taking care of her, most of the time. I grit my teeth and do the other times anyways, because I love her.

I'll see if the moon photographs better than the sun. It makes an eerie picture.

Houston, 2004

As I pulled into Houston, I quickly remarked that it had the climate of hell, or at least that of the human mouth.  Midnight felt like getting out of a hot shower.  I had driven three days down from Utah to work for Pinnacle Security, installing security systems after door-to-door salesmen sold them. 

I shared an apartment with five other technicians, and Pinnacle took around $475/month from my paycheck for it.  We figured that was about $2850 a month for our apartment, although it obviously wasn't worth that much.  Our day would begin, and we would drive out to whatever area the salesmen sold in and wait for them to make a sale.

Pinnacle hadn't done their homework.  Houston City required a permit for each security system, to the tune of $115.  That's probably why Houston was the lowest selling office that summer, although gas prices did go up, making it much more expensive for us to get to where we were going.  Of course, Pinnacle was going to reimburse us for gas…at the end of the summer.  

When the salesmen did sell a system, we'd leave our superheated cars and crawl around superheated attics, empty of air and full of cockroaches, mouse droppings, and the ever-present irritating insulation. 

I survived a month or so of this, but then my small Saturn died completely in the center lane of the highway on the way to the sales area.  I had just gotten out to push it when a Ford F-150 with a thousand pounds of rebar in the back slammed into the back of my car, ramming it into the intersection and sending me to my knees on the asphalt.  The bar between windows cracked three ribs, and I was rushed to the emergency room.

I tried continuing with the attic crawl after a week off, but one excruciating attic was enough to let me know that I was done.  So I took off like a bat outta...Houston.  Of course, with the weird combination of Texas and Utah health insurance laws, the other driver paid nothing for the accident. 

Pinnacle paid about a third of the salary I'd planned on for that summer in the bonus at the end.  I asked if I would still get it, since I was medically incapacitated.  They assured me I would.  Well, I was reimbursed for the gas. 

 

 

You know those rambling angsty journal entries, the ones that end up not making much sense at all?  The ones that tend to include "nothing is fun" or "my life is unfulfilling" or "I don't know what I want"?

An answer I have found works well:  Go and do the dishes.  Clean your room.  Forget the need for a perpetual entertainment glut and get something physically productive done.  Then look at it and enjoy the fact that it's clean.  That's helped me keep my grip on the reality that my life is actually rather excellent, even when I would psyche myself out of thinking so.

My wife has excellent stories from her earlier college days, especially of one horrendous roommate we'll call Agatha.  Aggie lived in her own little world where everything magically got done for her.  :?)  what a happy place! 

I search for location information for my work.  I have to find addresses in Minnesota, where they don't believe in addresses.  But I ran across this paragraph, which has enormous pun potential.

loon population stable; volunteers are needed

The loon population in Minnesota has remained stable during the last ten years, according to a report released by the Minnesota DNR.  The project, which summarizes observations submitted by hundreds of dedicated volunteers who counted loons on 600 lakes, is used by the DNR's Nongame Wildlife Program as an early warning system for detecting changes in the number of loons.

           

The project's report is available online: www.dnr.state.mn.us/ecological_services/nongame/projects/

mlmp_state.html .

           

Minnesota's common loon population is stable in both number of adults and number of juveniles observed on study lakes.  In order to maintain the loon monitoring program's effectiveness, the nongame wildlife program is seeking volunteers to survey loons on designated lakes in Kandiyohi,

"So, what type of loon do you consider yourself?"

"I ain't no common loon, that's for sure." *checks fish radar* 

We went to our first Pre-natal appointment yesterday, and they gave us ultrasound photos of our new baby! :?D It's much more interesting when it's your own child. 

Little Peanut 1
Little Peanut 2
Little Peanut 3

And what happened to the add image button?  has it been replaced with the add cheesy videos button?  oi. 

Wow. I just watched the Labyrinth for the first time last night.

Two questions:

1. What was Jim Henson smoking?

2. What on earth does David Bowie have down his tights?

I also find it funny that in the making of featurette afterwards, Jim Henson says something to the effect that this is a movie that means something.  He never specifies what....

Yar!

I applied for a Pell Grant, and I was denied because I'll supposedly have a bachelors degree before July 1st.  I don't graduate until December. 

Read the date more carefully people!  Now it'll be another month before it gets here.  Yar. 

Blech. 

Must...copy...information...

I can't afford to be sick...

heh,

I set my own hours at work, and I thought I'd worked six when I'd only worked four.  I'd sent in the status report and everything.  Had to turn around and go back into the office. 

My mind is just going...

Good Morning,

Here I am at work again, in an empty office.  Unfortunately, the server for our website is down right now, taking out most of what I can do for my job, and since I set my own hours, it means I'm going to be working later.

Oh well.  I've been working 8 straight hours/day for the past little while, and I really don't mind taking a little break.  :?) 

Morning sickness seems to be dying down, and Stef is feeling a lot better!  :?D  We have our first pre-natal appointment in a little while, and then we'll find out how many we're having.  Stef had a premonition of twins right after we conceived, and ever since I've been rather nervous.  I've heard about these premonition thingies, and this is one that would prove uncomfortable if accurate.  But I'd be fine with two, if it comes down to it. 

Perhaps I'll work more on my story. 

What a lovely, rainy Memorial Day Weekend.

Owing to an amazingly crazy wedding this month, I'm putting in insane hours copying and pasting tiny bits of information from one field to the next. It's making my brain feel like cheese.

But in a minute, I'm going to go deliver a sandwich to Stef when she goes on break from work! That will be excellent.

WOOTH! My last class finally posted grades and I ended up with a 3.91! :?) Of course, that will go up once my internship credit is added in when I graduate.

I even did well in the class I thought the best possible grade was a B (you know the type of class I'm talking about, the one with the picky/raunchy/insane teacher) with a grade of A-.

Yesterday was my anniversary, and if any of you are in Logan, I would reccomend Hamilton's Steakhouse. Stef and I had Prime Rib and Miso Salmon with desert for $30, and the service was excellent. One year! Awesome!

Prologue

Moonshadows

Tall bronze pole lamps stood about the room, but only the one nearest the door was still burning. The quick walk from the reception room had put Altyr in his bedroom ahead of his servants, something he appreciated. He had always felt awkward about some other man pulling his trousers on. He hadn’t grown up expecting it, and even three decades of that service hadn’t changed his attitude.

( Moonshadows )