Turbo and Izzy.

Whoever invented the snooze button, although brilliant, really created yet another form of procrastination in a society where already not enough gets done...

This morning was yet another day where I hit my snooze button far more than I care to mention before getting out of bed. The plan (as of last night) was to get up a little bit early so that I could head over to Starbucks to pick up a drink for Lisa and I before she came over for breakfast at 8:30--the result?

7:30am-8:08am: Snooze button was hit an unmentionable number of times.
8:08am: Got out of bed to realize I had twenty-two minutes till Lisa arrived, "my b".
8:20am: Jumped in my car and drove over to Starbucks--ordered two venti hot chocolates and ran out.
8:28am: Got home, just in time.

All to make her smile...

A Child At Heart.

Stay tuned, pictures attached at the end...

Priceless Moments of the Day:

- So there we are, enjoying the beautiful scenery in the river valley on a gorgeous afternoon where the sun glittered off the snow. I was absorbing the magnitude of it all when I turn around to see Rachelle, jumping up and slamming her feet down as hard as she can on the river edge attempting to break the ground she was standing on (where is the logic in that?). I couldn't help but smile, afterall, it was hilarious and too cute. With each jump, she felt the need to jump harder and with each impact the ice cracked more and more. The two of us however were completely oblivious to this fact as I was standing there completely in my own little world. This little world quickly disappeared as the ice cracked as Rachelle took her last jump and into the water we both went. Completely and utterly priceless.
- There I was, setting up the camera so that the picture was perfectly lined up--I set the timer, pushed the button and ran across the park to get into the shot. Unfortunately, I had thought of everything but the ice that laid under the now. The Result? There's Rachelle in the shot, completely ready and smiling and if you look beyond the shot, you see me inevitably laying on the ground as I slid past the swings and onto the gravel behind.

Quoteable Quote:
"The trick to taking a good picture is to pretend that the camera is the hottest girl you've ever seen..."
(Evidently said by an individual of the male gender).

The other priceless moments were far too priceless for words to describe--to aid this short coming, I have included a few of the days favorite pictures--a picture is worth a thousand words.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day Highlights:

- For the first time ever, I was not the first one out of bed on Christmas morning which evidently means, more sleep for me!
- Pitching a tent (in a completely G rated sense) in the middle of the living room then crawling into it and having a nap.
- Taking a registered IQ Test (I suppose my nerdy side doesn't subside even on holidays) given to me by family. Most would consider this work or unwanted thinking, but I quite enjoyed it.

Note: I scored 140. At first the number meant nothing to me, afterall on the overall scoring system, I am not sure were that ranked comparitive with the rest of the population. After doing some reading I found that 2.2% of the population score above 130--I guess I now have an excuse for being a nerd.

- Organizing my camping gear (yes, believe it or not--there are some things I like to organize!).
- Creating a game with my nephew which is practically impossible to describe without you physically witnessing it. Let's just say it involved running, jumping, using the countertops as leverage as you hoist yourself up and swing your feet up to try and land a back flip.
- Bonding time with my brother David.
- Finding that the best way to get my nephew to smile in a picture is to either a) tickle him or b) say 'silly' words that make him blush and giggle. I stuck with the tickling while ironically my half sister resorted to option b.
- Hiding my dads video camera with my brothers as an attempt to prevent him from taping our every move throughout the whole day.
- Being surrounded by family while celebrating simply the greatest thing that has ever happened to us--our Lord and Savior.

Here are some pictures--enjoy!

City of Angels.

And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you? Would you tell me how could it be any better than this...

Klutz Magee--That's Me.

Mechanism of Injury:: Fall, direct impact against glass on elbow, flexed left arm.
Signs and Symptoms:
- No initial bruising or swelling, but after several hours, bruising and swelling became very apparent on the medial/posterior side of the joint.
- Pain with flexion and extension--especially when the arm is raised above the head or let rest at side.
- Pain and a "stiff" feeling in the 4th and 5th fingers.
- Overall pain without movement in joint capsule.

Google: fall+elbow+injury.
Thoughts: I should narrow down the search to elbow stress fractures.
Google: Elbow fractures.
Thoughts: After more reading, I decided to narrow the search further to what could more likely be the case.
Google: Olecranon fracture.
Thoughts: My stubborn side believes the pain is merely from the impact and resulting bruising of bone and will subside after a couple of days. However, presenting in the back of my head is this nagging voice that wants to eliminate the possibility of further damage before Christmas is upon us. The nagging voice is reinforced by what I read as my signs and symptoms directly line up with those presented in several articles. Will my stubborn side prevail or will I give in?

Action: If pain persists throughout the afternoon (and I have to feel pretty uncomfortable), I am going to do my absolutely favorite activity--sitting at a walk-in clinic twiddling my thumbs until I can put the nagging voice to rest.

One More Day With You.

There I was, caught taking a nap while studying. My b.

Bible Verse of the Day:

James 1:2-7 (The Message Translation)
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask bodly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind whipped waves."

The Girls.

Starring: Myself and Holly--the little Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier (who is irresistably cute!)

A Useless Rant.

Rewind:Then.

Uh-huh, yah--okay! Sounds good. How hard can that be? I'm sure I can do that myself!

Fastforward: Now.

Help, I need somebody--help! Not just anybody, help, you know I need someone...help!

Now that I look back, I see that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Alas, too much time has been invested at this point in time to turn back--therefore there is only one direction I can head and that my friend, is forward.

Flashback.

They say reinstalling MAC OS X is so easy a child can do it--and to that, I merely just laugh. I insert the CD, reset the computer as told while holding down the 'C' key (as directed). A black screen appears similar to the old school MS DOS systems.

"To continue booting, type mac-boot, otherwise, hit return"

I stare blankly ahead, "Mac-boot? What?". After several minutes of having a decent blank stare going, I decide to hit return...then nothing. I decide to turn to the internet's greatest resource--Google. I soon find a webpage that directs me through reseting my computers PRAM (Parameter RAM) to get me out of this 'situation'.

Note: At this point, I have no idea what "PRAM" means or what I'm doing--I dare not ask.

I proceed with the instructions, typing a bunch of computer 'garble' where I then close my eyes and press enter. Thankfully the computer turns back on but I am stuck in the same situation as before. If I reset the laptop, hold down "C" and hope to reinstall Mac OS X, I will merely return to the same screen. Sadly, at this point I did not have this knowledge so I again restarted the computer and back I went to MS DOS. This time I followed directions to not only reset my PRAM but my firmware and PMU too.

Note: At this point, I have given up any hope of knowing what any of these terms mean or even what I am doing.

At the end of several nights, I closed the laptop with hopes that tomorrow I'd be able to figure it out. The next couple of days I read several "threads" (Of course, before this I thought threads was used only to describe what constitutes the stitching in our clothing but in fact, the term thread is also used to describe what people calls posts online) and found that another person couldn't reinstall MAC OS X unless there software was up to date. So I ran my system updater as well as going online and downloading everything I could find off apple.com for my particular make and model...

After all was said and done I found that I couldn't use the CD I was using and that my only solution may in fact be to purchase a new copy of the operating system. My stubborn nature however will not give in and I will continue to look for a solution that does not cost such a pretty penny.

Sometimes I wish I was more computer savvy.

An Early Christmas.

Santa-Clause Wrapping Paper: $4.99
Over-Sized Red Velvet Bow: $1.99
No-Name Scotch Tape: $0.99

Your mothers' facial expression when you take the time to drive home for three hours to surprise her by wrapping yourself up like a Christmas present and standing on the front porch: Priceless

Till Kingdom Come.

...Holding you, touching you, feeling you, hold me too. I forgot, what it feels like, to be loved--to be loved back. Happiness, tenderness, peacfulness, mind at rest. I forgot, what it feels like, to be loved--to love back...

...You can take a picture of something you see--in the future, where will I be? You can climb a ladder up to the sun or write a song nobody has sung--or do something that's never been done...

...You are--you are...and nothing else compares. Oh and nothing else compares, nothing else compares...