…I haven’t blogged in a while.

Over the weekend, I purchased the book: Retribution, by Max Hastings at Borders with a 40% off coupon that I had. The hardcover edition was $35, so the coupon really helped out, and Megan had a Borders gift card she let me use which, although a small gesture said alot to me. I don’t think I’d ever share a gift card I got as a gift with anybody, including Megan. Sometimes I have a hard time letting go of what I cling to as being mine. Nothing is really mine, and nothing is so important that I couldn’t give it to the person I love the most in this world. I felt like an ass for taking something I’d never give.

Anyways… I’m excited for this book as it deals in detail with the Pacific theater campaign of WWII and is written about topics usually overlooked by history texts. Such events as the Tokyo firebombings, Burma, and an in depth look at the island hopping and navy battles operations. This should prove interesting, and if I can judge the book by the (short collection of ) pictures alone, this book will be amazing. I have never read Hastings, so I am unfamiliar with his writing style, but I’ll make sure and blog about something I find in the book that is interesting.

    Over the weekend, I purchased the game Noby Noby Boy. This game was created by Keita Takahashi, of Katamari Damacy fame. Instead of rolling a ball around collecting things on earth to create a star, you are a boy whose body stretches and is able to stretch even further by eating things. Your stretch length can be reported to an online database, and the amount in meters that you stretch is then added to a cumulative score of meters of stretching by everyone in the world playing. You are trying to report enough meters so that you can contribute to the cumulative stretch to reach the moon. After reaching the moon, planet hopping will then begin and so on and so forth. It is a relaxing game with no enemies or time limits, a nice soundtrack, unique controls and charming graphics. For $5 on the PS3, you can’t go wrong.
  

Griffey is a Mariner again. Here’s a pic from Geoff Baker’s blog of him back in an M’s uniform and reported in for Spring Training:

He will be wearing number 24 again.

    In other news, I was in a car accident last week (this shortly after our other car no longer runs). Through this, I am learning about having more faith, and trusting that God will provide for me and my families needs. It’s amazing how many people have reached out to help. I was offered by a couple of people their own personal cars if I ever needed them. Sometimes it’s too easy to believe that I have things figured out, that I have taken the necessary precautions to provide for my family; however most of that faith is placed into material things I felt I needed, and when that is taken away, I began to realize in what I need to place my reliance in.

    It’s been an expensive past couple of months. Chuck got into some Lisinopril which treats high blood pressure in humans. He ate 12 of them. We had to drop him off to stay the night at the vet; he was fine. He slept more than usual, but his heart rate and blood pressure never lowered, so it was basically a very expensive hotel stay for him. The bills for this came shortly after paying the better portion of a grand to  uncle sam for taxes. On top of that are medical bills for both Megan and I having Dr’s. visits, pre-registrations for childbirth, and whatever other baby things we’ve needed. I think these things would normally frustrate me and stress me out more, but I am learning to again rely on God and rest in His care, and to have faith that He will provide.

The Lathrops have moved again. We’re now on the south side of Division ave, but still on Cushman Avenue. Easy to find. Right now I’m in the process of trying to make the would be spare room, into a girly baby room…which is not easy cosidering it’s maroon colored. We’ve been working pretty hard on the place and it’s still not done. Part of this is due to the fact that I got a PS3 for my birthday. And that I’m lazy. But I’m working on that. We did get a lot of stuff done this weekend and that was good.

A couple of weeks ago I got allergy tests done. This is done with syrums injected into the arm. I got about 20+ shots and was allergic to just about everything in the world. Especially dust mites in which the swelling took over my shoulder and turned into a little rash a couple of days later.

The baby has been moving alot and I’ve even gotten to feel it. This is the first time I’ve ever felt a baby move before, so the experience is pretty cool. I recommend getting your significant other pregnant so that you can experience it for yourself.

By the way, I plan on our baby’s room being really freaking sweet. One that I’ll even be jealous of, so come check it out when it’s done…if it gets done.

Foot and toes.

Leg and foot.

Last night Megan and I went to the library. Last time we went to the library, Megan rented a movie called “The Business of Being Born”. It was very informative in the areas of mid-wives and home births, and how some hospitals tend to operate. A good dvd to watch for anyone planning on becoming a parent someday. I had to stop watching though at one point. They were showing a shot of Riki Lake (you remember her, eh?) at home going through painful contractions. She was leaning against a counter one second wearing a hospital robe, and the next second she had flipped it off and was disgustingly topless. My eyeballs exploded and my scrotum sack retreated far up into my stomach. But other that kind of stuff, it was really informative.

I got the movies this time: Run Lola Run (haven’t watched it since I did with Aaron Carioto and Jason Hornby in high school), The Seventh Seal, and Rashomon (a Kurosawa film). So far, we’ve started Rashomon. About two weeks ago I watched The Seven Samurai which was amazing. I was a bit hesitant to even watch any Kurosawa films as his fanboys are always such nerds, but so far I really do like his films. I also found Radioheads: In Rainbows at the library. An album I have yet to even listen to.

Version 3.0 of the Zune software came out and it’s quite amazing and fun to play with and the latest iTunes also came out. I updated that for Megan but haven’t had the chance to play around with it too much yet.

I finally got into armor this last weekend in Kendo. It’s hard to see and having not worked out in over a month and a half now (no room to continue p90x in the current place we live at) I lost all of my endurance and training has been a real struggle for me the past couple of weeks. That and my feet keep getting tore up. I got a nice bruise on the top of my head from last week. I suck at Kendo so far in this advanced quarter, and the month or so off didn’t help any. 

Megan and I are getting ready to move again. We knew this current place was only temporary as it is for sale. We are going to be moving to the top floor of another Cushman 9 home in the hilltop area. Last weekend I went through some stuff and threw away a huge bag of stuff. It always feel great to do that. I’ll do some more of it through the next couple of weeks. 

It sucks fall is here already, but I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Hopefully it doesn’t rain when we start to move. 

A classic that I had forgotten about. Please enjoy.

So who’s into tea? I’ve been drinking alot of this stuff lately and love it. What are some good flavors that you’d recommend? I’m currently enjoying some Vanilla Almond tea with a tad of milk and some sugar. I use filtered tea packets over the loose leaves, but usually by nicer brands of it. 

I’ve also gotten myself into a couple of cool games for the Wii. One being No More Heroes, and the other Medal Of Honor Heroes 2 online. I usually play after Megan goes to sleep, so if you’re into first person shooters online, I like to play capture the flag. Using the Wii remote and nun-chuck is an excellent FPS setup.

On Saturday I woke up at about 10:30am. I rolled out of bed and called my parents. I had wanted to be out of the house by 10am to head up to Snoqualmie falls with them and Megan, but by 10am I was still stuck in a bad dream in which I had to pee really badly. The reality of the situation was that I really did have to pee so badly that my bladder, in an effort to survive explosion from overflow, decided to become the forefront of my dream subject matter. This also happened a couple of nights beforehand. Anyways, I started to get ready to leave. We didn’t make it out of the house until after 11:45. When we had made it to Division ave. I realized that wearing long pants was going to be a bad decision. So, we turned around and I changed. So, we actually didn’t leave the house till a little after 12pm. About 15 minutes out my dad called to see where the heck we were. We arrived at the parents house at about 12:30 and proceeded to Auburn where we ate at Jackpot Teriyaki. A family friend owns the resteraunt, and it was the first time I had eaten there. It was very tasty. There was a friendly old guy there with very hiked up pants, suspenders, and a white mustache. He had on a hat that said “Jesus is my boss”. He seemed like one of those guys you could have a long conversation with, even though you didn’t know who the heck he was.

After lunch we made it to Snoqualmie falls. It was a very nice day, so it was really crowded. We decided to do the 1/2 mile hike down to the observation area at ground level. Megan alluded to hearing an ambulance siren echoeing throughout the woods “kind of takes the feeling away from being outdoors and away from it all.” I added “not too mention the hundreds of people on this overcrowded trail.

Snoqualmie falls was fun, and as I learned from Megan, Snoqalmie fall is actually higher than Niagra Falls. It’s just not as cool, especially since Superman had never saved a kid at Snoqualmie falls as he had at Niagra.

Sunday was supposed to be my brother and his friends 6th annual softball game, but it got rained out. We hung out at his place anyways which was cool and had a BBQ. My parents were there too. Afterwards, Megan and I went up to Lynnwood and had dinner with her sister and her husband Aaron. Kathy is due to have a baby in a few days, so it was cool to see them pre-baby one more time. Then we watched the closing ceremonies for the Olympics. I have to admit that this years Olympics were one of the best I had ever watched. The venues that China built this year were all amazing looking. We bought a new antenna for our t.v., so on Saturday night I couldn’t stop watching the games. I stayed up until 3am watching ping pong.

Anyways, it was a good weekend.

My birthday was on the 16th. Megan and I had people over where we played games, ate pizza and cupcakes, and talked. It was a lot of fun. Later on in the evening we went to Parkland Putters and mini-golfed. If you have never been to Parkland Putters before, then you are missing out on a pretty good time. The 18th hole is an uphill shot into a PVC pipe. If you make it into the hole, you get either a trophy or a free 18 hole game. I have never made the shot yet. I did have a perfect putt that fell just short in front of the hole, but it didn’t go in; however a friend of mine, Rachel, did. She better treasure that trophy.

For my birthday, Megan got me a box of Allen and Ginter cards by Topps. Allen and Ginter make art cards featuring basball players and historical/current icons of today. It’s definitely a fun set. My favorite cards include: Joey Chestnut (hot dog eating champion), The Golden Gate Bridge, The Grand Canyon, and a David Wright autographed card.
 
Megan also allowed me to get a new t.v! Now we can actually watch t.v. shows and the Olympics. This can only be good.

Stuff I’ve dowloaded so far…

Artist/Album name:

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: So Divided

As Tall As Lions: Lafcadio, Into The Flood

Augustana: Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt

The Bravery: The Sun and the Moon

Ben Kweller: On My Way

Colbie Caillat: Coco

Coldplay: Parachutes

Copeland: Dressed Up & In Line

Danielson: Tri-Danielson!!! (The video for rubbernecker was brilliant), Ships

Death Cab For Cutie: Narrow Stairs

Hot Hot Heat: Happiness Ltd.

Jack Johnson: Sleep Through The Static

Joshua Redman Elastic Band: Momentum

Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures

Kanye West: Graduation

Keane: Somewhere Only We Know (EP w/B-sides)

The Killers: Sawdust

Minus The Bear: Planet Of Ice

Muse: Black Holes and Revelations

The New Amsterdams: At the Foot of My Rival, Story Like a Scar

Of Montreal: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

The Perishers: Victorious

The Police: Outlandos D’Amour

The Postmarks: The Postmarks

Queen: Classic Queen

Radiohead: Hail To the Thief

The Rocket Summer: Do You Feel

The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow

Simon & Garfunkel: Greatest Hits

Smoosh: Free To Stay

The Strokes: First Impressions of Earth

Tegan & Sara: So Jealous, The Con

The Terrible Twos: Jerzy The Giant

Thrice: The Alchemy Index Vols. 1-4, Vheissu

The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing

U2: War (Deluxe ver. 2008)

That should give at least a clue of the type of music that I am into…but I’m looking to branch out. Give me some suggestions, I’m open to them…unless it’s country or nu metal, in which case if you suggest that to me then you should punch yourself in the pee pee.

**Just added*

The National, Boxer

**Downloaded by your recommendations**

The Smiths, Louder Than Bombs — Although any songs involving Morrissey are unavailable.

Vacations are always too short.

Megan and I just got back from a week long trip to Massachussetts. For the first time in a while we had a family reunion. Megan and I also took off for the Cape (Cod) for a couple of days to spend some time together as part of an anniversary trip. It was refreshing. Our hotel room was free as we are a part of a points system with Priority Club. We stayed at a very nice Holiday Inn…which doesn’t sound nice, but it really was a nice hotel. The Cape can be expensive in the way of food. A simple milk shake and sandwhich meal and fries meal for the 2 of us at Cooke’s  cost us almost $30. Talk about highway robbery. And speaking of highways, we took 28 south, hopped onto 6A and drove all the way up to the very tip of Cape Cod (we rented a car for a couple of days). We ended up at a beach at about 6pm and played in the Atlantic Ocean a little bit. In Provincetown, we drove the town a bit and ended up walking on a jetty. The jetty as we soon found out was probably a mile long, stretching out toward the peninsula. We walked about half of it and turned around.

Being away from everything with just Megan was extremely relaxing. We didn’t have a schedule, a set place to go, we just hit highway 28 and drove. It was the ultimate in “getting away from it all”, and you’ve gotta love driving on a strip of land wedged between water.

Back with the rest of the family there were BBQ’s, swimming, Super Smash Brothers Melee, and good conversations. My family is filled with amazing cooks. My Aunt Michelle makes an amazing Quiche. We stayed with the Lathrops for the days we weren’t staying at the hotel on the Cape. Megan and I were very greatful to the Marbles and Lathrops for all of their hospitality. We ended up avoiding Boston this year, and it ended up being kind of nice. We usually end up taking the train into the city at least once on most trips, but this year it was nice to just stay away from all of the hassles of the big city. I feel so relaxed after coming back. We took some family portraits at Sears and took lots of pictures. If I ever get around to it, I’ll post some up here.

Other new things, I’m currently reading John Adams, written by David McCullough. David is an excellent storyteller and I highly recommend his 1776 book. John Adams is a little bit of a slower read, but it is still good nontheless.

I always like to read books involving New England history when I head over there. It gives you a different perspective on the place.

Also, if you haven’t already gone out and bought it, I highly recommend getting Coldplay’s new CD: Viva La Vida.

It is easily their best album yet as their last releases were only ‘good’. This latest endevour is excellent and they do more experimenting with music and different sounds, while still maintaining that Coldplay signature sound. The album has a very vintage/ancient feel to it. It’s a great CD to listen to when you’re surrounded by history as I was this past week. It will forever be the soundtrack to an amazing vacation, its epic sound frames the sight of an awesome thunder/lightening storm I viewed from a plane, and be the flowing backround music to the road trip up the Atlantic coastline with my wife. I will always have a deep sense of love for her whenever I hear it.