Ten Years of Service

For the most part, I am the type of person who wear something until it just isn't presentable or just falling apart. I still have hand-me-down clothes that my parents have worn; that means those clothes could be older (or old as) me!

But in this particular case, this was a special article of clothing. In the year 2000, I went on a church trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was my first trip away from home sans my parents. As I watched the terrain, I was amazed how the mountains had disappeared and everything was flat. I cannot recall when I noticed that I forgot to pack a pair of sandals!

I remember stopping by a wal-mart so everyone could grab last minute items before we arrived to the camp location. I definitely bought me a pair of sandals...for $1.99. It was the best 1.99 that I had ever spent.

I knew these sandals were deteriorating and that the strap would soon break away from the sole. It finally did, when I tripped and the sole caught on to something and ripped the strap away.

Now either bring me the duct tape! Or it is time to retire these babies.

January's Letter 2010

December began with giving Mom early birthday gifts. A BluRay player and all the Star Trek movies on BluRay. We watched the new Star Trek movie and Reuben commented that the sound was more clear. I wasn't even paying attention to the sound. I was all focused on the picture quality. When we watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, it was like I had never even seen the movie at all. You can see the stitching in the fabric! I am just amazed by BluRay. I decided to finally get BluRay because they were finally selling BluRay Discs at DVD prices and the players were at a reasonable price too. But BluRay has a short amount of time to catch on because On-Demand Streaming is becoming popular. Luckily, Mom's BluRay player has streaming Netfix. Which means she could watch almost any movie any time for 8.99 a month (not a plug).

Mom, Aunt Pam, Uncle Jim, Reuben and I went to P.F. Chang's for Mom's birthday. P.F. Chang's is an Americanized version of Chinese food; but it's still good. The waitress was fantastic and suggested our meal for us. We made a few modifications, but for the most part we didn't really have to read the menu. Dessert time came and we seemed to not want anything but eventually we gave in and a few of us got dessert.

I also gave Mom a birthday card that I bought her a few years ago but it got lost from moving stuff around. I found it and put it some where I would not lose it: my car's glovebox. The card is about the size of a LP Record sleeve (yes, I know what an LP record is). On the front it says "A long time ago...", in the Star Wars style font. Open the card and BAM, it plays the opening theme to Star Wars. Mom kinda jumped when she opened it. The inside reads "...you were born."

I attended Tech's winter graduation (the college of which I am an alumnus). I went to see four of my friends walk that long walk, but it turns out that there were ten people I knew that graduated. It was quite cold that day and there was some snow on the ground but not a lot. There were about 700 graduates total. I caught up with a good friend of mine, Robby, who's step-sister was graduating. And I got to sport my new suit.

Christmas was nice. It was the first time we attended the Aunt Pam's and Uncle Jim's Christmas party. There were a lot of people there, but they said they usually had more. They give presents to the kids, read the Christmas story, and even have a small music recital. I am not really the gregarious type but I enjoyed watching everyone. When I attend a party I usually hang around for an hour and then sneak out.

For Christmas I gave Mom a customized 2010 Calendar. It contained pictures of our family over the years. I went through six boxes of pictures, scanned about 200 pictures, and made it all in Photoshop. If you are reading this on my blog site, then you will see a sample from it. If not, go check it out. Like now.



I finally got to see a good friend of mine that I have not seen in 5 years. Leah has been in England going to school for the past few years. She developed a British accent. I asked if she could fake an American accent and she could not do it. I also got to meet her British boyfriend. If you want more details, check out the following post: http://tangentdave.blogspot.com/2010/01/from-across-pond.html

Oh yeah, Happy New Year! I hope you didn't miss Palindrome Day: 01-02-2010 and 01-11-10. Although, February 2nd would work to if you prefer the: DD/MM/YYYY format.

Until next time.

Wedding Etiquette

Rant

A friend of mine got married and I attended the wedding (and briefly the reception, which was fancy by the way). The bride and groom and the wedding officiant at the podium was well microhponed. No matter how good someone is microphoned, the shrill cry of a baby resonating throughout the stone floor and brick walls will always overpower the sound system.

I believe that small children and babies should not be brought to a wedding. Either do not bring them or they should have a nursery at the wedding.

I cannot remember, but I think a cell phone went off too. But cell phone etiquette is another blog.

As far as cameras with flash, it is up to the bride and groom. Usually the photographer gets dibs on taking pictures but it is always up to the wedding couple. I have been to weddings where it was like a red carpet event. Flashes everywhere.

As for my wedding, I do not want any flash photography from anyone except for the paid photographer and no young children or babies. I will have bouncers to enforce the request. But I am in jest. I will cross that bridge when I reach that destination. I will probably end up embarrassing myself by pausing the wedding to tell someone to take their baby outside, turn off their cell phones, or to turn off their flash. HA.

From Across the Pond

Back in 2005, a good friend of mine, Leah, went to England for school. It has been quite a long time since I last saw her. She came back to the States for a short visit but for some reason, I did not have a chance to catch up with her.

She must have been assimilated into the British culture because she has a British accent now; I wasn't surprised though. However, I still have no accent even though I have lived in the south for 13 years. I guess I don't blend in well.

I finally got to meet her British boyfriend, Ollie, and he finally got to meet me. He said that I was an enigma because I was always mentioned in Leah's stories; especially when it came to computers: "Oh, David would know how to fix that." In the above picture, Ollie is pointing at me because "I do exist".

While she was here in the States for her short visit, we looked at old photographs and yearbooks from high school. We looked at all our senior pictures and pointed out who was doing what these days. ie. if they were married, had kids, where they lived, where they work, etc. It was quite entertaining.

We caught up with some friends and spent New Years 2010 at some club playing billiards and darts.

It was fantastic to see her again and meet Ollie. Someday, I hope to visit them in England.