Christmas unwrapped

As I said yesterday, hope you all had a great Christmas. Here are some pics from our holiday spent together.

Our family room all dressed up for Christmas


Okay, so this is actually Christmas Eve, but don't they look great?


My beautiful wife. Don't believe the t-shirt ;)


My mother-in-law. I'm so fortunate to have in-laws I actually like :)


For a family man, this is what Christmas is all about.




And finally, the obligatory portrait of the author. My son took this shot.

Kinda sad that he's only four but takes better pictures than his old man does :)

I can't help but remember that there are thousands of Marines who weren't so fortunate this year to get to spend the Holidays with their families. I thank God for every day He gives me with my children. As much as they step on my nerves sometimes, I can't imagine not being able to see the joy on their little faces as they open their gifts and get excited for everyone else as we open ours. I resolve to try and see more of the world through their eyes in 2006.

Speaking of resolutions, what are some of yours?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone out there. May your holiday be less chaotic than ever and may you be able to spend more time with your family and friends. As promised, my lovely wife has posted pictures of the accident which almost ruined our hoidays. Please stop by and wish her well.



I honestly question whether or not I'll post again before the New Year. If I don't, then please allow me to humbly wish a safe and joyous new year to all of you, in addition to a Merry Christmas. May the new year bring with it all the promise of a rebirth and a "do-over" while reminding us that each year past only means that Jesus' return is one year (or month, or day, or hour, or minute) closer.

Peace on Earth and good will toward man(kind)... unless you try to hurt my family.

maybe next time

I hope to have more time later to post a better entry, but for now let me just say that Saturn makes an awesome SUV called the VUE (pronounced "view"). My wife was sitting at a stop light last week waiting her turn when some knucklehead tried to take the corner too fast (from the wrong lane), skipped the curb that acts as a median, and smashed into my family. Had my son been in the vehicle, this would not have a happy ending since the offending pickup destroyed his door (right behind my wife's head) and literally crushed his carseat, shattering every window and spraying my baby with glass. Still, everyone managed to walk away and now we just have to get through the insurance hassles associated with such a huge crash.

Does anyone know any good lawyers in the San Diego/Orange County area?

Having said all that, we spent yesterday afternoon car shopping while Grandma watched the kids so I didn't get to actually watch the Bengals clinch their first division title since my senior year in high school, or the Chargers dash the hopes of Colts fans every where for a perfect season. I did catch glimpses of the "game" between the 'Boys and the 'Skins. I say "game" because it looked more like a practice session for Washington. I also got to watch most of Da Bears and the Falcons. Man, that looked cold. So glad I live in San Diego.

Week in review

I was hoping to be able to come home a little early yesterday to get my weekend started just a bit sooner. Of course, that cursed me to still being there after 5 wondering when I'd get to go home. See, in my job I deal a lot with the retention branch at Headquarters Marine Corps. They're in Quantico, VA and they haven't been to work much this week. Something about some cold, white, slippery substance that makes driving dangerous and since we live in an age where a bunch of the work I do is over the internet... well, let's just say that it's good to live in SoCal.

Anyway, I did manage to get three more Marines reenlisted for another four years. Two of these guys rate bonuses for their willingness to stay in the Corps. While that's good news for them (I should work on commission) it's more papers that need to be signed by THE MAN and then submitted to the correct offices around base so these guys can get paid. That office is literally on the other side of the base, but since that puts me much closer to my house I don't complain too much. Of course when the Boss has to prioritize between conducting a court-martial or signing some paperwork, he takes the fun out of my job by opting for the legal proceedings. Oh well, maybe next week. As long as I can get these guys their bonuses BEFORE Christmas everything should be okay.

I'm sure the CO would rather be signing positive paperwork, but when you've got guys who are doing drugs, drinking and driving, and other crazy stuff, you gotta take action. Personally, I think these guys are just trying to cope with things they've done and seen over the last couple of years. I do it. I self-medicate with alcohol and video games. Not as much now, but I know exactly what they're doing. The big difference is that my choices are legal and relatively safe. I don't drink and drive and even though some of the later versions look to be getting more violent, I don't think there's much harm in playing John Madden 2003 football on my PC while everyone's still asleep upstairs.

So, as you can see, this has been a pretty slow week around here. I'll take it. I got my January issue of Model Railroader earlier this week. Thanks, Sis, for renewing my subscription. I devoured it in just a couple of days. I love the January issue because they index all the articles from last year, all the advertisers from last year, and they usually start a project that they'll complete in three or four months. This year's project is a 4' X 8' model RR set in Amish PA during the 1930's. How cool is that? There's a steam engine pulling a short train past a barn raising scene, complete with horse drawn buggies parked by the house. You can almost smell the lemonade.

Other than my best civilian friend and his wife telling us that they are moving on to bigger and better things, that's pretty much it for me. I'm happy for them and I know that they're being offered a golden chance that simply doesn't happen every day, but I'm still a little upset. I'm losing a good Christian friend, my wife is losing a good Christian girlfriend, and the Bug is losing his "fiance." Oh, they'll still be in the county, but not as close as they are now and that means that while we'll still get together on occassion, it won't be the same... unless I can get orders to Miramar or the Depot. Hmmm, there's a thought.

Have a great weekend and let me know how's things with you?

what happened?

Okay, so I guess this just isn't the year for the Eagles to climb all the way to the top of the NFC again and take the Trophy home in February. I suppose they could have lost even worse (ala UCLA) so at least that's a positive, right? Good thing the Chargers and Bengals are both doing well and Ohio State managed to get yet another ticket to the Fiesta Bowl. I believe that's three trips to Tempe in the last four years. They beat Miami there in 2002 for the Title (still dancing about that), then they went back in '03 and '04 for non-title games. I don't remember where they played this year, must have had something to do with the fact that I'd just received my orders to 1/5... I was a little distracted. Anyway, this year should be a great game against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Hope I get to watch it.

I got the lights hung on the house last week. I'd take a pic and post it, but I need to replace a fuse and about a dozen light bulbs first. I tell ya, with it getting dark so early out here (before I get home) it's hard to get stuff done outside during the week. The house looks kinda Charlie Brown-ish while our neighbors to either side are more like Snoopy. Jen's done a great job with the trees and other inside stuff. Plus, it's Christmas time and I've got some leave coming up, so I don't care. :-)

On a different note, I finally got my computer up and running again at work. Turned out I needed a new motherboard. That's good to know... what's a motherboard? Anyway, the computer guys fixed it up for me and now I'm back being productive (or at least looking busy) at work. Speaking of which, I should probably get going.

memories

This story caught my eye by the headline. I couldn't help but wonder if they were talking about an assault on the base where I was, or one of the other bases in the area. It wouldn't be the first time terrorist thugs had tried to storm in and take over. It happened at least three times while we were there. A couple of Marines and officers have been nominated for medals for valor because of their conduct during those attacks, too. Oh, there was a story a few months ago about this "huge protest" in the streets of Ramadi demanding that America leave Iraq forever. To tell the truth about that one; it was about 40-50 bad guys grouped in front of cameras to make the "crowd" seem much bigger than it was and as soon as Humm-Vee's rolled up to the scene, they scattered and seemingly vanished. Yeah, tough dudes alright. It's not the truth when you hear stories about American troops losing control of the city or being overrun by "insurgents" as they are often called. What's true is that sometimes the terrorists get a little too big for their britches and pick a fight with us-a fight they never win, by the way. Actually, that's a good thing. That's why we're there... flush out bad guys and bring them to justice, either through capture or death. We'd rather they tried to pick on us than the truly civilian population that just wants to be left alone to live their own lives. Hey, come to think of it, isn't that what freedom really is?