Got my new Canon scanner today, and in addition to being a better scanner for my business for doing photo montages and whatnot, I can finally work on archiving old photos for myself, and working on my Mom's much belated birthday photo montage. Unfortunately, the first two albums I sifted through mostly had photos of me. But I think it's all interesting, so I'll bore you guys with some of them.



Only in the seventies can a little boy get away with that. I'm not sure if the outfit is pink or red, but I used to think that it was my outfit that was making the rhino in the background get riled up. Today I discovered that my Dad had written in the back of the photo, "Who's the adorable little fellow?" or something like that. Fellow, he says.



This was during a birthday party, probably when I was 4 or 5. I specifically remember that I was trying to launch one of the little egg fellows and hoping that the photo would catch the egg in midair. I think it was one of the first birthdays that I remember, because I remember we got a lot of toys, including a bike that you pumped air into that made it go. The table behind my head sorta has an interesting story. I think it's that table anyway. Once someone was babysitting my brother and I and I hid under that table while my brother hid under the kitchen table. She freaked out and it was the last time she watched us.



My 2nd birthday. A picture of us when we were still a foursome. And that's my Dad, whom I haven't seen in 16 years or so, and have contacted briefly when Alex was born. You'll notice two cakes because my brother and I have birthdays only three days apart. For a long time we just shared a cake, or maybe it's after that that we shared a cake. And again with the pink outfit.

The Wii has this avatar creation thingy that doesn't work with anything yet other than Wii Sports, but already we've got our family up. I look like I have a receding hairline, but that's the closest to my haircut as it gets.

Days Like This

Every once in a while, one of those "clown" days just happen. Neither terrible nor great, just unusual, and a little more drama than I can handle. Days like this when I feel like everything spiraling in one direction while I'm looking the other way.

As some of you might know, we got hit a little harder than usual with the weather this week, some big ass cloud with a cold demeanor came along and dumped a measly 2-3 inches of snow, maybe, and then made it all problematic by freezing it all up. Back in Bellingham where I used to be, there is significantly more snow to contend with, so much so that a lot of people are stranded where they're at. But here, not so much. Well, depends on where you are, I suppose. A lot of people, including my wife, didn't go to work because it was difficult getting anywhere on these frozen roads.

But anyway, I suppose it started yesterday, when I decided that it might be fun to go to Bellevue Square. We headed out at around rush hour, but found ourselves in a parking lot situation on the road. After about 15 minutes of not budging, we just went to the local mall instead, watching the snow fall on the mall's outside Christmas tree. In one instance, Alex wandered inside the tree and I was shouting for him, not realizing that it was actually a photo booth with a Santa in there. Anyway, Alex was just so impressed with the whole deal - he kept saying, "Santa gave me a candy cane!" for a good portion of the evening.

When I watched the news later and realized that many people were still trying to get home, or that their cars were abandoned on the freeways, and that they were still on the interstate that I was trying to get on to go to the mall, I felt a little stupid. Like I was the one running into the burning building because I wanted a nap.

So, the snow froze, and we were out today, no biggie. The vet had called and mentioned that our cat, Tina, was doing pretty good, but the medication would have to be skipped because we had reached the limit that I had set. Well, I asked my wife to call in and ask how much the amoxicillin would cost, and it turns out it was just 15 dollars. So the vet was just assuming that we bought a sickly cat in to be checked out, only to leave without the medication that would help her be normal again. Anyway, after the 500 dollar limit, $15 is really not the issue. So yeah, we're smarting from that bill, along with my business taxes. Another 500 plus there. 1,000 in the hole in two days.

Anyway, Tina's doing okay, despite the lack of concern from one of her owners who showed a lot of indifference when she was informed (albeit incorrectly) that Tina could possibly be put down. I guess there are more important things to tend to, like Thanksgiving dinner with her father. Oh wait...

Back to the clown day, Alex and Zoe were doing fine, enjoying their snow day and playing with snow, and my wife and I had a rather brutal snow fight, whereby we didn't just lob snowballs at each other, we threw it at each other's faces. I popped some snow at her face and when she looked up, her glasses were white with snow, and they were on the inside of her glasses. Yeah, I felt like a jerk. She got me back. But then I got her back again. I think I might have damaged some nerves on her face too.

But yeah, Alex woke up kinda upset, and he was crying for a bit, so I tried to hug him and comfort him for a bit. But he was crying unusually harder than normal, so I was a little worried.

What's wrong, I ask.

Brgughhhhh, he answered.

So while my wife cleaned him up, I did the sheets and we had to tell Zoe to stay off the bed. He felt better afterwards, laughing and whatnot, especially after we gave him a freezer pop. Later on, he had some water and up it went again, all over the carpet.

"Not again!" he said.

So we cleaned him up again, and once again, he didn't have a fever, or dizziness, or any other symptoms, he just felt better afterward. I said to my wife, "Maybe it's me. Everytime he sees me he throws up."

We decided to try something lighter for dinner, but sure enough, we saw dinner again. We gave him a little water, but that was it. Nothing else for tonight.

Yeah, I had to steam clean the carpet tonight.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be better. Or at least cheaper.