Yesterday was my 35th birthday! It's been a fast year. So this is my mid-30s. I'm closer to 40 than 30 as of yesterday. I've done a good job these last few days of reminding myself of how young I still am and that there's much left to do. I worry that as time goes on, that I'll resent how much time is gone. That's possible. Only time will tell. ( Read more... )

Nicole's younger brother, Patrick, came to visit us here in Portland a couple weeks ago. He stayed with us on an air mattress in our living room which was probably better than our couch. What made it even more special is that his trip to visit us was what he asked his parents to help pay for as a Christmas gift. At first I thought it was odd that ( Read more... )

So the saga of my broken cell phone might be over. Two weeks ago, I had a replacement come in whose microphone didn't work, and last week a second replacement arrived in the mail but that one's power button didn't work. It's fun how ironic that is, that the exact problem I'm trying to fix with my original phone is what's troubling another ( Read more... )

We've been in this new apartment of ours for about a month and we're adjusting well. I still have a couple of boxes of junk left to unpack but it's mostly now just stuff that doesn't have a place to be. We've gotten rid of a bunch of junk and furniture so there's fewer and fewer places to put the remaining possessions we have. It's invigorating to ( Read more... )

So it's been a few weeks since the move to our new apartment and things are good. The move itself was pretty smooth. We had some help and managed to do everything in only a couple days. The new apartment itself isn't bad. It's an adjustment to get used to a tiny bathroom and that we get the afternoon sun which really heats this place up. The ( Read more... )

What a couple weeks it's been ( Read more... )

It's always so tough to get my entire immediate family and their significant others together for an evening out, but we managed to accomplish it last night. After catching Gravity in 3D at the local mega-plex, we all went to a diner for pie when Ryan officially dropped the bombshell that him and his fiancé are indeed moving to Ohio in only two ( Read more... )

It's been a busy couple weeks! The 16th was my one year anniversary with Nicole, and it was a quiet affair. We traded cards and flowers and had a great meal out at a swanky restaurant I've always wanted to go to but never could get seats. Every day around here seems to be more fun with her around and there's always something new to joke and laugh ( Read more... )

Wow, I can't remember the last time I went three whole weeks without making a single entry. Quickly, I'm going to mention a major milestone. This entry is my 1,001st entry here on LiveJournal. Back in October, I crossed the ten-year mark, so it really proves just how committed I am to this blog and how much of my own personal history is within this ( Read more... )

I'm back from my short four-day mini-vacation to visit Jaci in Sioux Falls, South Dakota! It was a fantastic opportunity to get away from Portland and my normal life to simply recharge my batteries. We'd been looking forward to it for months and it feels strange that it's already come and gone and all that traveling was over in the blink of an eye ( Read more... )