Dude I Know : Old News

- Old News -

4-9-02 : Gene and Amy's baby

Brenden was born on 4-7-2002, all is well, I have YET to see the little guy. Will give more details as I learn them. This now leaves Marcy as the sole pregnant person in the family. She is getting big now... and is due July 12th.

AJ Reunion - well, after a few last minute changes... I sent out the letter announcing the reunion. I have received mostly good comments about it, but have taken one or two bad comments as well. I was informed that Rockin Rodeo is now CLOSED and has will re-open as a NEW nightclub - Grahms Central Station (or something like that). Thus that is ONE change to the itinerary. I'm HOPING to have another meeting this weekend with Jake, Cass, Sandra, Kerwin, and a few others to patch some stuff up and get a few things clarified.

Everything SEEMS to be going pretty good right now. Spring is upon us.. thus 80-90 Degree days. My lawn is growing again (heheh guess that lawn fertilizer stuff really helps!!! ) Marcy and I painted the baby's room last week. That was an experience. I have learned that for a small room, painting the from the middle of the walls up (including the ceiling) ONE color, and painting the lower half of the walls another color does NOT require ONE gallon of EACH color. I have so much paint left over... it is SO not funny. All and all the room looks pretty good. I will post some pictures as soon as I can get my GRUBBY little hands on a digital camera again!

And today's PET PEEVE of the DAY -

ohh I'm in TOO good a mood to gripe today... maybe tomarrow.. maybe not. :)

4-2-02 : Gosh, I've been SLACKIN!

So much has happened since my last update.... I won't BORE you with the gory details, instead I will give a FAST overview.

San Diego Trip - WAS a blast!! Sea World was wonderful, I got to pet a StingRay! My ONE complaint.... San Diego, streets designed by people on CRACK!

Zevin - Seth (my cousin) and Misty-Dawn had their baby on March 9th. They named him Zevin. Marcy and I got to visit them the following weekend, and he is the cutiest baby! Full head of black hair. (I will get pics of him up as soon as I get some!!)

Gramps - Gramps gave us a scare a few weeks back when he had a heart-attack. He seems to be fine now, but we were all very concerned.

Easter 3-31-02 - Mom and Dad were doing a "show" up in Sedona, so a complete family gathering was out. Marcy, Uncle John, Grandma and Gramps and I all headed to Tom's house for a GREAT meal and good company.

Asa - Rick and Jenna has their baby on Easter Sunday at 4 AM! After leaving Tom's place we headed to St. Joseph's hospital to visit my Niece. Asa is very precious and like Zevin was born with a full head of hair (her's is a medium to dark brown). We all know the hair didn't come from Rick! (I will have pics of HER up as soon as I get some!)

Reunion info - I met with Andy, Jake, and Cass 2 weeks back and we finalized many of the details. I SHOULD have sent a massive emailing already... but I learned that we were planning our Reunion over Father's Day weekend. So now I'm scrambling to get a hold of the "committee" to change the day. What a pain in the keister! That email SHOULD go out tonight if all goes well!

Mindless Ramblings - I read a GREAT bumper sticker the other day... to go along with the "Jesus Loves you" bumper sticker we now have the "Jesus would have used HIS turn signal." The funny thing is the vehicle that I saw this sticker on was making a LEFT turn and NOT signaling! I laughed heartily! Ohhh one more really good Bumper Sticker I took note of recently - "I'm not going to work today.. the voices told me to stay home and clean my guns."

I'm sure I'm forgetting all sorts of stuff, but that will have to do for now!

And today's PET PEEVE of the DAY -

Cell phones in cars. In an ever growing population of drivers, we are bound to increase the amount of BAD drivers. So WHY then do we add new assinine things for people to do while driving?? When I was a kid the worst things people use to do to destract them from driving was eating or drinking or smoking. Today we have added a whole NEW jar of Nitro Glyricine to the fire in the form of Cell Phones. Is it possible to carry on a conversation while driving...? Yes. Is it possible to carry on that same conversation while holding a Cell Phone...? Yes... but you are now driving with ONE hand and in many instances you are NOT paying attention to the road. A few days ago I saw a guy driving, talking on a cell phone in one hand, and smoking with the other. This emmy award winner shouldn't be on the ROAD! Hands-Free cell phones I think are still dangerous, but I (at this moment in time) feel that they are a MUCH more acceptable risk. Why does the 69 year old lady in the "tank" next to me need to be talking on a cell phone? Isn't she home for 20 hours a day? Why does the teenager in his new sports car that mommy and daddy just bought him feel the need to talk to all his little friends while driving at 30 miles over the speed limit? Why are Mr. and Ms. Businessman/woman compeled to talk on the phone EVERYTIME they get in the car behind the drivers seat? How is it possible to use TURN SIGNALS if one of your 2 hands is holding a phone? How can you swerve to avoid a stray animal running in the road when you are discusing Uncle Bobo's drinking problem with Cousin Zeppo on the phone??? You can't! So now I'm getting stuck with HIGHER insurance rates and a greater chance of getting injured or killed in an accident because you want to HOLD a PHONE up to your fat little head while driving. Do us ALL a favor, buy a "hands-free" attachment for your Cell phone. They don't cost very much. Consider it your "contribution to society" for the year.

3-8-02 : From the mad-mind of Soren

The last few days have been interesting. Marcy and I have been scrambling to put together a weekend trip to San Diego which includes a visit to Sea World. Neither of us have been there in the last 10 years, so we figured it was time to make an appearance. I have spent much time scouring the internet for discounts and hotels. Through a school fundraiser we managed to get a "card" to get $6 off each ticket to Sea World... and my handy dandy internet savy has lead me to a FEW "best rate" Hotel sites. I started my search 2 days ago looking on both www.hotwire.com and www.priceline.com both are good. After fishing around I went with hotwire's site and managed to get a 3 Star hotel for $44 a night... NOT too shabby! The name of the Hotel is the RedLion Hanalei (you know like the guy the Brady kids met when they went to Hawaii...and he told them about that cursed idol... bla bla bla.. enough TV triva...), after visiting the hotels website www.redlion.com I found that their Normal rate is about $79 per night... so I got a decent deal! So we will be out of town from Suday to Tuesday of this week.

I've been attempting to make contact with some of my classmate from AJHS 1992... but I'm NOT finding much success. I was pleasently surprised to bump into Cass last night at Albertson's though. I was astounded to learn that she and I live less then a MILE from eachother! We briefly talked and decided that we MUST get together and continue arranging this REUNION that we keep talking about.

Last night we got some rain.... its strange how rain completely refreshes the world (or at least MY little corner of it). This morning I woke up and the world seemed CLEAN again. Droplets of water covered everything from tree leaves to my windshield to the ground I walk on everyday. It was one of those rain showers that was heavy enough to cover everything, but not so heavy as to saturate and make mud everywhere. Ahhh today should be a good day.

3-1-02 : Mike and Cyndy had their baby

Long time friends of mine (and frankly the reason I HAVE this site), Mike and Cyndy had a baby Girl on 2-27-2002. ONE week earlier than originally expected. I have NO clue as to the baby's name... they were considering Zoey Or Paige.

Seth and MistyDawn should be having theirs ANYTIME now....

Sickness... Marcy and I have both been hit by this weird "sinus-cold" bug that is going around. We both seem to get better.. then go back downhill again. I personally am sick and tired of bieng sick and tired...

Raspberries and Grapevine are actually GROWING I'm very excited about the thought that SOMEDAY I may actually have FRUIT to eat.

And today's PET PEEVE of the DAY -

Today I heard a story on the morning news of a Lady in Phoenix that started a fire in her home to "keep warm", then left and when she returned her home was on fire. She called the fire department who quickly responded and put the fire out. Upon further investigation (after hearing her story) they immediately assertained that there is NO fireplace in her home. About an hour later the fire department was ONCE again called out to her residency to put out a SECOND fire. I have only ONE thing to comment about this story..... the woman is now nominated for my FRUITCAKE of the YEAR award.

2-19-02 : Ultrasound results are in

It's a GIRL! Everything looks good, baby appears very health and as normal as can be expected. Due date is STILL July 12th. I had PLANNED on scanning and putting up some Ultrasound pictures tonight... but I have quickly learned that my Scanner will NOT work with Windows ME. Hmmm guess that's what I get for $50, 2 years ago. ARG!!

Marcy almost gets into car accident.... Well Marcy and I BOTH took off of work early today to go to TWO separate Doctor's Appointments. As Marcy left Gold Canyon the same way she always does, she headed down the highway from Gold Canyon which soon turns into the FREEWAY. While driving on the "highway" portion of that road way, she said the car in front of her suddenly and unexpectedly changed lanes. Marcy thought to herself, "what the heck..." and at the moment realized the that truck that WAS in front of her moved to avoid the IDOIT that was quickly driving DIRECTLY for her! That's right some complete and total MORON managed to get on the Highway going the WRONG WAY, and we set on reaching their destination with out any regaurd for the laws of the land or human life. Marcy very quickly reacted and darted into the lane adjectent to her. Once again another reason why SOME people should NO longer have a Driver's Lincense. Marcy wasn't sure... but I KNOW it had to have been a "snowbird" probably about the age of Methusala.

Reunion update - things are quite disappointing for me right now. I've been calling people, leaving messages, and NOT getting any responses. I sent Mr. Jason Kerwin some stuff to update last week (and I know he has had a very busy week as he MOVED last week) and it's still not up. My meeting this last weekend with Sandra and Jake feel though. Maybe it's just me, but I'm beginning to feel like a Salmon swimming upstream..... maybe I'm just grouch because tomarrow is my birthday.. I don't know.....

Interesting Fact about tomorrow - tomorrow at 8:02 PM, (in military time) the clock with read...
20-02-2002 20:02
Kinda interesting... take a moment and smell the roses and remember we are here but a brief time on this planet.

And today's PET PEEVE of the DAY -

"TURN SIGNALS" - Every car, truck, motor vehicle is equiped with them, and this is ONE feature on the vehicle that the Car Dealerships DON'T charge you extra for... TURN SIGNALS! I believe the driver's manual states that turn signals are to be used 50 feet PRIOR to turning or changing lanes. In my little neck of the woods, it seems like everybody has lost the common decency to use Turn Signals. I'm amazed at times at the Sheer laziness of society. Prehaps some of the daily traffic jams and numerous car pile up on our roadways could be avoided if people would take the 1/2 a second it take to flick that stupid piece of plastic so as to let everyone around them KNOW what their intentions are. This morons come in all shapes and sizes.... Age, Gender, AZ Resident, Snowbird... it doesn't matter. I would estimate that 60%-70% of the driving population in the East Valley (especially in Apache Junction) has NO clue what a "Turn Signal" is.

2-15-02 : Grrr arggg

Well for 3 days now I have had this incredible pressure building up in my head as my sinus build to a bursting point. I've been popping all sorts of vitamins, herbs, and homeopathics... and granted, I'm NOT DEAD, but I sure do feel aweful. Today I'm coughing... and coughing.. and coughing... I'm exaused from coughing!

The VNSA booksale was fun last weekend. Brandon, Seth, Misty-Dawn, Uncle John... most of the gang was there! Marcy and I managed to spend TOO much yet again! Prices seemed a bit higher this year then last year. MOST books that I bought ranged from $2-$5. Afterwards, we made our annual pilgramage to Red Devil Pizza. Unbeknownst to us, Red Devil now opens at 3pm on Sundays!!! The time of our arrival was approximately 1pm... ARG! So we ordered 2 Cheese and 1 Pepperoni "to go" (the "to go" counter WAS open...) We then drove to Papago Park to partake in our Pizza. We quickly learned that the bozos at Red Devil screwed up and gave us 2 Pepperoni and 1 Cheese... we were MOST disappointed as we all pretty much agreed that the CHEESE is the best.

Also on the 9th I had a meeting with Jake and Sandra to discuss our 10 year reunion. Cass was invited too... but never showed up (we see how you are Cass!!! heheh) Since then we have been working on prices, ideas, and contacting people. This week I have made 1 contact and found 3-5 phone numbers to follow up on.

2-7-02 : February excitement builds

February... always an interesting month with Valentine's Day and My Birthday coupled with the fact that the weather is usually beautiful and spring is rapidly approaching for us here in Arizona. Feb 2002 should prove to be a must challenging and very exciting time. I look forward to Marcy's sonogram on the 19th, as well as preparing my 10 year high school reunion. I would LOVE to report that things are going smoothly in the reunion department, but alas.. they are not. It seems every step of the way SOMETHING crops up to slow down the progress. There are STILL litterally a hundred plus people that have NOT been contacted yet... and I'm really really starting to get concerned about that. Preliminary plans are to have the reunion in Early/Mid-June. Yea, I know it's hot, but July and August are worse... and attempting a reunion in the spring or fall will be virtually impossible... NOT to mention I will probably be VERY busy in July this year with the baby arriving and all.

Feb 9th we will make our annual pilgrimage to the VNSA Book Sale at the Fair Grounds. It's the ONE booksale we don't miss as bargain abound and Marcy can fill her carnal need to read. I tend to pick up reference books or books on unusal subjects... like.... "Inventions the COULD have changed the world". This year I hope to find some books on Aquaria and Tropical Fish as that is my current Hobby of choice. I am also interested in literature on Nikola Tesla and the element Bismuth (2 subjects I am greatly interested in).

Aquarium project - still no progress, but I did show my impressive STAND to Jason Kerwin yesterday. I believe he was noticably impressed by the sheer SIZE of it.

I recently discovered a LEAK in my backyard "drip" system. I have narrowed down the area... now I have to dig a hole and figure out exactly WHY it's leaking.. then repair it.

Speaking of leaks.... I have now confirmed the my "guest" shower (located upstairs above my Kitchen) has some type of a leak. I took a shower the other night in there and discovered a puddle of water in the kitchen in the morning. I'm NOT thrilled about this and I'm NOT quite sure exactly how I'm going to fix it. The house is over a year old and my "warrenty" is up on MOST everything in the house now. Hmmm more "fun stuff" to deal with ARG!!

1-29-02 : A surprise visit!

On Sunday as Marcy and I sat upstairs playing around on our computers, my doorbell rang. I immediately figure it was another Salemen or prehaps a child wanting to sell me something, yet I still sprang from my chair and hurried down the stairs to answer the door. I peered out the pep hole and noticed 2 guys standing there. I opened the door and the first one spoke, "you don't recognize me do you?" And as soon as I heard that mid-west farmer accent I knew it was none other the Dustin Becker standing in front of me.

I haven't seen Dustin in about 5 years (and he made an unannounced visit back then too!). I did however just talked to him on the phone about 2 weeks ago, so he WAS fresh in my mind. We talked for about an hour then he had to go... many other stops on his agenda. We decided we would meet that night and talk some more. I called Gene Spaulding up and we all met at Sammy B's Pizza. It was GREAT to see Dustin and it has renewed my ambition and desire to have a GREAT 10 year High School Reunion. The Reunion site is starting to bustle again and I can hardly contain my excitement!

Baby update - Ok, so everyday of my life I'm asked ONE and ONLY one question. "Do you know what the baby is yet?" It seem to me that everyone has forgotten about ME and Marcy and the ONLY entitiy that exists in our lives is .. EL NINO... errr the baby. Even my mother asked me the other day... "do you know what it is yet?" As if I would NOT tell her as soon as we find out!! We are scheduling a sonogram sometime in LATE February. I WILL post on this site as soon as we know.

Update on Aquarium Project - all I need is TIME and MONEY... I know what I want.. I know where to get pretty much everything... now if someone could just foot the bill... hmmmmmm (RIGHT....)

1-12-02 : How the days go by

This week I planted some Blackberry, Black Raspberry, and Thompson Seedless Grape plants in my backyard. I don't know if they will survive the AZ summer heat, but I'm willing to take a chance. I carefully positioned them in my yard so that they will only get the MORNING sun and in an area that tends to be MOIST most of the time. I am hopeful.

Marcy decided that having LONG hair with split ends was enough to drive her batty. Since she can't get it dyed, she got it chopped. I personally prefer her with long hair... most of the last 10 years she has had long hair... but every 3 years or so, she does cut it short and she still looks great. This time is NO exception. Amy (cousin Amy) once again did a fantastic job cutting and styling Marcy's hair.

Yesterday I found an email in my "mailbox" from Jeff Wheeler. Jeff and I have been friends since elementary school and he was one of the people I quickly lost track of after high school. Over the past 10 years, I have OFTEN though about Jeff and wondered what he was up to, where he was at, and how the heck he was doing. I even attempted some Internet Email searches for him over the years... I quickly learned that there are about 100 Jeff Wheelers out there!!!! At any rate, I will get him registered on my reunion/alumni site soon ... and I hope to get together with him and catch up in the upcoming weeks.

Update on the "Aquarium Project".... I have been actively researching more and more on my aquarium and exactly how I'm going to set it up (when completed). Currently I'm having funding problems though.... (ahhhh well I'm low on spare cash, so the aquarium is on the back burner for awhile). December was a KILLER month for us and money. Betweeen Christmas, HomeOwners Association Dues, Car Registration, and all sorts of miscellaneous bills that seemed to crop up, we quickly found ourselves overbudgeted.

I still have the Christmas lights up. I just haven't found the time or the will power to get BACK up on the roof and start pulling them off. I KNOW I need to do it soon... before the EVIL HomeOwners Association starts droping me warnings. Today as I drove out of the neighborhood I took note that only ONE other house still had their Christmas lights up.... I guess I'm not the only SLACKER!!

1-1-2002 : Welcome to 2002!!

Well this year should prove to be one of the most INTERESTING ones in my life (so far). I anticipate joy and happiness for myself and my immediate family, increased aggression and terrorist stomping around the world, and a rising economy for the USA once again. As every year, I will do my best to enjoy eachday in it's fullest, and not triffling with the meaningless squabblings of my inner mind. I will attempt to keep perspective on myself, my family, and our place in this world... as it's easy to get lost in the "rat race" that is our lifestyle. I wish happiness for all my readers and a sense of "peace" thoughout your daily lives. Live each day... Give each day... Love each day...

[2001 Archived News]