Bangladesh

we got to relieve the people...

a lot going on

most of my blog titles are something like "it's been a while" or "overdue update", etc. i like to do my blogging in a batch style, as opposed to the more traditional (and effective) "little bit here and there" style. engage stream of consciousness:

the biggest news is probably that i resigned from CSC. having spent 4.5 years there, it was time to move on. the contract is coming up for recompete, which nobody feels to good about, and there are a lot of changes going on there which made my decision to look for something else easy. what made it even easier is that i got an email about my future job, applied, interviewed and was made an offer in the span of about 2 weeks. the company is Peopleclick, Inc, located in downtown Raleigh. they do online careers pages for a lot of companies out there. the position is Operations Engineer, which means for about a year i'll be learning how the applications work, troubleshooting, etc. eventually, i'll be productive and they'll give me a pager every now and then. with a full staff, which they have for the 1st time in a couple years, it will be every 2 months or something. not bad.

the job is really good. i'm excited for a lot of reasons.

1. i've been there for 3 weeks and have been busy all day, every day: very big change from CSC. i had to look for stuff to do there.
2. there seems to be upward mobility, or at least the potential for increased responsibility as i gain experience. also a big change from CSC, where i maxed out a while ago.
3. it's downtown so i can ride my bike! it's about a 6.5 mile round trip. it's just now getting cold, but i rode the entire 2nd week and enjoyed it greatly.
4. feeling that i'm really doing something, as opposed to trying to look like i'm doing something. i used to feel like i could skip a week of work and nobody would miss me. now, i have a few things i'm expected to do and if i slack off, they won't get done and it will be noticed right away.
5. i could go on and on.

my sister, Monica, has been with Peopleclick for a couple years now. maybe 3 or 4, i need to ask her. anyway, she kicks ass and has set a high bar for members of our family who work there, so i need to hold up my end of the bargain. so far, so good. i just need to really pay attention and take good notes so i don't need to be told things more than once (or twice).

as excited as i am about the new job, it is tempered against my sadness for leaving friends behind at the old job and my concern for their well being. i wish i could bring them all over to PC, but most of them live out in Durham/Wake Forest/Chapel Hill which isn't a desirable commute. probably at least an hour. so, if you're reading this and you know i'm talking about you, shoot me an email! i want to hear from you.

Andrea and i continue to settle into our life together. we both feel like we have so much catching up to do, in terms of just being married, but we need to be patient and just let it happen. that last comment pertains mainly to me since i've been the one to gripe about how we're not doing enough of this or that... we analyzed why that seemed to be the case and decided i came home from my old job everyday bored and unfulfilled and tried to get fulfillment from working around the house. now, i get home and i'm tired! so i've definitely slowed down a bit. but giving credit where it's due, it's a lot easier to slow down when you have a wife who picks up your slack every day. Andrea's been great about cooking every night and helping me clean up afterward, and just doing a little here and there, instead of both of us waiting until the place is a mess and needs a big cleaning. that is a huge deal to me b/c a lot of Saturdays i've felt the need to clean (FUN!!) and today, she's out doing errands and i built a fire in our new Chimnea and mowed the grass since the house is already clean!

my new hours are 9 - 6 and with the time change, it gets dark so early. last night Andrea had set up a little date night for us, but i'm always a baby about coming home and leaving right away. this is b/c i hate getting the dog all fired up that we're finally home and then leave him hanging. so, long story short, she called and asked if i wanted to meet her somewhere straight from work b/c she gets home a lot earlier than i and could take care of Krust for a while. that sounded good to me. she had me pick up a pizza and meet her at Fletcher park. when i got there, she had a little pick nick blanket set up with candles, beer and the dog!! it was a nice surprise. she totally knows how to make me happy. i need to try harder to do that kind of stuff for her. she deserves everything!

photos of the past month or so

The Dog

Old Man Stuss wants to know, "where's your Halloween spirit?":




here he is after destroying every room in the house after a thunderstorm. "destroy" is a bit extreme, but the fruit couch might argue that point:



note the guilty head tilt. i put him in a "down-stay" and walked out of the room. he hates that. we eventually made up, but this whole thunderstorm destruction cycle must be broken...or his legs will be. maybe i'll start with his teeth, then move onto the legs. i haven't decided yet.

Squirrel Patrol '07:



he actually caught a baby squirrel a couple weeks ago. if not for me intervening, it would surely have suffered a chaotic, less than desirable death. lucky for the tree rat, i was feeling soft hearted and commanded him to let it go, which he did. i will live to regret the decision.


OHIO

we went up to OHIO last weekend for my Dad's 60th Birthday. it was a surprise. we left around 6:15am Saturday morning, spent the day at my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jerry's and left Sunday after brunch. we had a great time! i have a lot of wonderful childhood memories from spending time at their place. here are a few pics:

My Homeland:



Robby, Alison (sibs) and me and my baby:


Hayride!!



on the way to the farm, we went through McConnelsville. my Mom's Mom (Grandma Glenna) lived there. Andrea shot this at a stop light. there's one in the middle of the town square, too. i had never read the plaque before. it's a WWI monument. neat.




group photo:



my Dad and his wife (Karel) on the front row with his parents, Grandma and Grandad, in between. back rows: Dad's kids/kids-in-law on the left, Karel's kids/kids-in-law on the right.

The man: Uncle Jerry

our new neighbors

Andrea and i were doing yard work a few Saturdays ago. you may remember Tropical Storm Gabrielle brewing in the Atlantic. i wanted to be prepared in case we got a lot of rain so i was on the roof cleaning out the gutters.

don't get me started on the gutters...they are worthless. the 1st time i cleaned them, we didn't have a hose. i pulled out all the big leaves and sticks, then Andrea handed me up a 2 gallon watering can, filled. my plan was to flush out the small stuff. we did this twice and the gutter, in addition to said small stuff, now held 4 gallons of water. thank goodness for the leaky seam, or that water could've been there forever!

during the gutter fiasco and subsequent yard duties, a moving truck pulled into the yard next door and several people started unloading. this is the house where Carlos and Sophie, the border collie we adopted over the fence, lived. we walked over to introduce ourselves, but they were pretty busy so we didn't hang around. over the course of the next week, i noticed a bunch of kids playing in the back yard. i love kids and ever since moving from Cary, where i was the adopted (creepy?) uncle, i've been jonesing.

these kids are great. 3 boys and a girl, ages 3 to 10. Zaria, the girl, is 3. she is adorable. the youngest male, DeShawn, is your typical 5 year old. at least, i think he's five. and he has braids! Markel (pronounced Mar-kell) reminds me of Chris Rock. he's funny. the oldest is Jeremy, aka, TJ. he's pretty quiet and introspective. at least, this is what i surmise after talking with them for a total of 1 hour.

when i hear them in the back playing, i go out with Krusty and they flock to the fence shouting "Krusty! Krusty!". it makes me feel good. they take turns throwing the ball for him and once they practiced throwing disc golf putters at my target over the fence. but what i really enjoy is talking to them, more importantly, listening to what they say. they are really funny.

Markel was asking me about Krusty...how long i've had him, where i got him, why i named him Krusty, etc. then out of the blue, he says "do you think it's wrong to kill nature?". i asked for clarification. "like spiders and stuff". i wanted to be a good example for him b/c kids are very impressionable and said "well, sometimes when bugs get in the house we squash them, but sometimes we catch them and let them go. i mean, i don't go around looking for bugs to kill or anything".

YEAH RIGHT! as the words were coming out of my mouth, i thought twice about saying it. i hope he doesn't see me out his window at night kicking the recycle bin scaring up roaches to squash. that's my nightly routine. i abhor roaches.

the conversation continued.

• markel - "do you think it's bad luck?"
• "to kill nature?"
• m - "yes"
• "i dunno. what do you think?"
• m - "i don't know either"

it was awesome.

Zaria is so tiny, she has to climb up the chain link fence to be able to throw the ball, but it goes right in Krusty's mouth every time. Andrea came home from work one day and stepped out back. Krust ran towards her to get some love and Zaria asked where he was going. "he loves his mama", i said. now, everytime she sees the dog, she asks "that dog loves his mama?". so cute! TJ was looking at me and said, "he loves is daddy, too". he's a good kid.

before i came out last night, a squirrel fell out of a tree and landed in the middle of our yard. they told me about it, complete with sound effects, and that got us talking about squirrels. in addition to roaches, i hate squirrels, too. maybe i'll explain why one day. suffice to say, i was upset the squirrel survived the fall, which they told me it did.

• TJ - "has Krusty ever killed anything?"
• "yep. two squirrels"
• t - "in this yard?"
• "no, no. it was in Atlanta a long time ago"
• t - "how did he do it?"
• "a squirrel got out in the middle of a big field and he saw it. he chased it down and shook it to death"
• t - "what about the other one"
• "we came over a hill and there were two. one got away and he got the other one. come to think of it, it wasn't dead after he attacked it so i had to kill it"
• t - "how did you do that?"
• (stomping the heel of my foot into the ground) "like that"
• t - "yeah, i guess that's how you'd do it"

it just goes to show that kids are kids, no matter what ethnicity, income bracket, nationality or anything else. they just want to be happy and have fun. maybe that's why i like spending time with kids b/c when i'm in that environment, it makes me appreciate the simple things, too.

Bob's forensic analysis of video

this is great. you should click over and read it from the source, but in case you're too lazy, here's a copy-n-paste:

Highlights include:

• Seth smiling and smirking his way through the whole affair, as he does with many things in life.
• Mrs. Updyke looking like the happiest bride in the world.
• Mr. Updyke, with beer in one hand and woman in the other, looking like a seasoned barbershop professional having a little fun.
• Me mostly sort of looking like I am in pain, which I was not. I was having the time of my life, but I was also trying to concentrate and not mess up.
• -02:57: Jerry assuring Seth he was playing the right note on his pitch pipe. Seth never grew to fully trust that pitch pipe. He always thought it was playing him the wrong starting note.
• -02:52: Me not sticking my opening note. If you’re going to be solid on any note, it should be that opener. And I swear I always hit it in our practices. Oh well. Everyone else stays right on key and I recover ok.
• -02:05: Jerry holding up his ring finger when we sing “Place a wedding band upon your hand.” This is the extent of what we could come up with, choreography-wise.
• -01:49: The crowd interpreting a pause as the end of the song and going wild.
• -01:02: Mr. Updyke leaning in to the mic and really emphasizing the crazy low note he hits here. People being greatly amuzed by this. (check out the look of horror on Andrea's face as I lean in...i think she thought i was passing out or something. then, when she sees all is well, she snaps back into a smile and continues singing. my personal favorite part of the whole video)
  
• -00:54: That’s right. Key change.
• -00:18: Seth taking us out with a cool-looking, commanding “bam!” hand motion that was actually a signal for “I’ve been holding this note for a long time and I am now out of breath.”
• -00:15: Seth, Andrea, and I coming in for some love and Papa Updyke shoving us away. He later explained to me that he was trying to get us to spread out and take a bow, but then came to the realization that it was too much to orchestrate. (in retrospect, it would've been nice to have mentioned my plans to you all. instead, it has a "Get the hell away from me!!" look about it. couldn't be further from the truth!)
  
• -00:09: The four of us celebrating the culmination of several months of work, and our shared musical bond, by warmly embracing each other.
• -00:04: Me getting a face-full of Updyke’s boutinerre, because he is so freaking tall.

i added my own thoughts in bold...

that'll do, Bobby. that'll do.

he promises to go back to writing about other stuff soon, which is good b/c he's got so much material. i promise to go back to not writing for weeks at a time, then pop in with the occasional rant about something dumb.

finally

by popular demand...

here's my first crack at posting a YouTube video. it's from our wedding reception on August 25, 2007. me, Andrea, Bob and Seth singing "Didn't Want To Fall".

sneak peek: Honeymoon pics

Warning: high resolution and unmodified. i.e., huge.

coming in for a landing in San Francisco, or "Frisco" as the locals like to call it:



sea lions at the wharf:


Frisco's infamous South Side Segways (SSS):


GGB:



Napa:


sunset from our B&B in Ft. Bragg, CA:


Andrea, the Mustang and some Redwoods:


a few of the Oregon coast: