I’m alone. All alone. Corinne left this week to go visit her family in St. George, I get to stay home. Actually, I can’t complain because that means I have LOT of time to do homework etc. I guess my bishop is coming over to my house tonight for a few minutes, we’ve been in the ward for a while, but he’s never come over. Corinne will be home on Saturday. Can’t wait.
Got a lot to do this week. I mean, a LOT. Homework, a paper, writing, and a test. Whee! So again, I can’t complain becuase I don’t have to stress about coming home and spending time with the fam. Not that I should stress over that, but I do. I want to make sure they get the time they deserve.
Lots going on at work lately, things are good though. Hiring a new guy, interviewed him today. One more to interview tomorrow. Should have someone going by the end of the week.
It’s 8:45 on a Friday night and I’m STILL at work. Yeah…sucks. I’m VERY irritated right now. We found today that our main mail server had been hacked, and in researching it, we found that this server was ACTUALLY the very server that brought Webpipe.net to it’s knees last Febuary; recall from my previous posts that this was the crash that ultimately cost the last admin his job. So…all of the files and histories from the hack ARE STILL ON THE MACHINE! I could scream. After all this time, and a few different admins, nobody noticed. Additinally, it looks as if another hacker has had access to the box since…well, we’re not sure, but we know he’s accessed it recently. Not a good thing. I guarantee you I’ll be taking a day off next week for this one.
Jimmy, Corinne’s eldest brother, came up for a visit today. We hung out for a few hours and he and Corinne worked on some songs that she’s written. Speaking of which, Corinne has decided that she’s going to start writing music again. Jimmy and I both believe that Corinne has enough talent to REALLY make some good music. We hope to make a demo here for her soon.
School has kept me really busy, but things are pulling together. I put in about four hours tonight and I’m ready for bed. I showed up to work this morning only to find that the office was closed. I guess my boss called and left me a message yesterday, but I never saw a missed call. His message was there, but his call was not. Strange.
It snowed today for only the third time this year. I couldn’t wait to get home and take Milaena outside. I left work right on time and arrived with time to put the baby’s new snow suit, grab the camera, and head outside to take advantage of the quickly dying sunlight. Milaena had a BLAST in the snow. She’s touched the snow before (and eaten it), but never actually played in it. She made snow angels, ran around, fell down once or twice, and learned to eat the snow by just putting her head into it! It was GREAT!
After that, we headed to Costco to pick up a few odds and ends. We picked some more MiniDV tapes for our camcorder,
some bedding for the bed we’re planning to buy, and…well…bought a new bed. We got such a great deal on it, we couldn’t pass it up. We’ve been trying to buy a bed for the last few years and finally, we’re able to. I might actually start getting some good sleep from now on. Needless to say, we’re both really excited.
While I was wholly unprepared for the new year (focusing on classes that I *thought* started today, but instead start next week), my brief reflection on last year has yielded much to me. In 2004, I became the the proudest father of the cutest 1-year old ever born, I pulled to an end 40% of my schooling, I realized that I could accomplish great amounts of work when I put my mind to it, and I stregthened my relationship with the only woman with whom I wish to spend forever with; my wife.
While it seems like just recently that we were standing on a condo balcony with my friend Chris and his wife in Las Vegas, the pictures of that night tell me otherwise. The show me a darling six month old child while only a fraction of the beautiful hair with which she was born; they show me an overweight father (at 220 pounds); but they still show me happiness. Since those photos, Milaena has grown a LOT of hair (two haircuts worth), I am down to about 190 pounds, and I am still happy. Happy with life, love, experience, change, growth, and learning.
I realized recently that I am blessed to have the family that I do. While my recent recounting of my parent’s divorce was a tad painful and depressing, it helped me to realized all of the GREAT things that people have done for me instead of focusing on the things I lost all those years ago. In some measure, I don’t believe that the pain will ever wholly subside, but I have learned how to deal with it and cope with some of the challenges that I occasionally face. There are so many in my life that have, and continue TO, sacrifice for my welfare. To those of you reading this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I owe so much of what I am to you and all that you do for me; thank you for making 2004 a great year for me and for giving me hope for 2005.
