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Happy (belated) New Year to everyone!

I suppose my year in review is a bit late, but hey, I was enjoying my Winter Break!  I didn’t feel the need to blog. It was nice having almost two weeks off to recharge the batteries. Farrah and I didn’t go anywhere particular or do anything specific. We just simply enjoyed the time off.

Anyway, let me see if I can summarize my last year in one blog post.

• Since the end of 2007, I’ve been lost in the idea of whether I should continue blogging or not. I’ve archived and deleted my Wordpress install on Janella.com at least a handful of times this past year. At times I feel the urge to create a long post, something seemingly unsuitable for Facebook or tumblr. This makes me think maintaining a blog is a must. But as I think about it more, it could really work well on tumblr. I just have a difficult time giving up control of the content. You know, what if the Tumblr goes under? Would I lose my data? I mean, Pownce went away. I’ll probably wrestle with this idea again this year.
• The big news for me this year was turning 40. I was in New York City when I turned 40. The trip was a present from Farrah. I must say New York was amazing. It wasn’t until later in the year that I felt a bit like a 40 year old.
• We went to Hawaii for Tiana's birthday in September. It was the first time we had been back since the wedding.  Farrah went again in October for Grandma's 90th birthday.
• We started exercising more. (This is when I started to feel my age!) We kick-started with personal training and are now doing it ourselves! I feel so much better.
• I changed jobs and companies in May of last year. The type of work is different from what I was familiar with, but it uses skills I have in my “toolbox”. The work environment is familiar but different: I work from home! We converted one of the bedrooms into my office. What was it before? The computer room. What makes it an office? Oh, the speakerphone does.
• I met up with good ol’ friends in Las Vegas. It was nice catching up. And man, Vegas has changed since I’ve been there last.
• We watched several good concerts: The Bridge School Benefit, Rachel Yamagata, and Morcheeba. Farrah and Lotte saw New Kids on the Block on their reunion tour. Man, I wish I could have gone (he says sarcastically).
• It was nice to get into politics last year. The political passion for the masses should exist in each election cycle. Hopefully, the future will be as bright as we envision.

I look back at the resolutions I made for last year. I managed to attempt all of them, but was only successful in maintaining one: the exercising.

What’s the resolutions for this year?

• OK, I need to try using the CPAP machine again.
• Lose weight - always a good thing.
• Cook more / eat out less when possible.
• Get rid of things, such as clothes, books, papers, old computer cables, etc.  Too much stuff just floating around.
• Write on blog entry a week. I twitter and tumblr more often then blog, but blogging has been lacking as of late. I think I need a particular weekday to post to get me going.
• Take more photos! Perhaps go out one day every two weeks for a photo assignment.
• Keep in touch with friends more - or at least talk to them via Facebook. This seems to be the medium of choice lately.
• Watch more movies! I’ve have not been watching movies much. I managed to watch several this Winter Break. I think I’d enjoy watching more good films, not necessarily in theaters though.

Well, that’s all the resolutions I can think of for now. Let’s see how I score next year.

Happy 60th Birthday and Happy Retirement

Yen and James welcome Timothy into this world. Congratulations!

Update: I just posted the photos we took.

As this entry posts, I will be in New York City with Farrah. First off, I want to thank everyone who celebrated my birthday the other night. I was really happy to see everyone.

Now, please tolerate my incoherent ramblings, as I try to purge my mind of the few thoughts I have regarding this milestone birthday, the fortieth year of my life. My thoughts sway to and fro of what has been and what is to come. I have been thinking more about the future, about what I want. I think that is a good thing. As I think I’ve stated before, I am not one to dwell on the past.

These past weeks, at times I have felt like David Bowman, the protagonist in 2001: A Space Odyssey, at the end of that film. If I recall the scene correctly, Bowman stands in a bright white room, wearing his orange spacesuit. He looks into the room and sees an old man. The old man, eating his supper, looks back at Bowman but he is no longer there. You then realize that the old man is Bowman himself. The scene repeats itself with an older version of Bowman looking at a younger version until he dies. But he is reborn as the Star Child, and… I don’t get that far in the way I feel though.

So I catch myself looking forward to looking back. I suppose we all do that at times, but I guess with the birthday it is amplified. You know, I think about those dreams: the education, the car, the house, the 2.5 kids, and the rest of the things everyone wants. It’s a matter of striving to get there, right?

I don’t think I’m required to have some huge revelation at this age. Perhaps I will, but it hasn’t happened as yet.

The 40-40 club.

In baseball, it is an exclusive club. You need to have stolen 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in a single season. Currently, only four players have done it. First was Jose Canseco. (Yes, I don’t believe it either.) Next was Barry Bonds. I’m pretty sure this was the pre-roid-juiced-up-mofo Bonds. But if Canseco was taking the juice back then, I guess you can never be certain.

But the 40-40 club holds a different meaning for me. It means I will be 40 years old in about 40 days. (BTW - I make this baseball reference mainly for Scott, a baseball fanatic who made me aware of the 40-40 club, and who will be joining me in this club shortly. Also to follow is BossaNova later this year.)

Ah, 40-40.

I am not feeling anxious as the fateful day approaches. At this point, it feels like any other impending birthday. But in my mind, I run through my life assessment checklist.  It’s a short checklist, starting with the big question, “What have you done?” and ending with “What would you like to do?”

Suffice it to say that I am very happy with my life.   I tend not to regret the decisions I have made. After all, the sum of the choices I have made represents the person I am today. I am pretty happy with myself - minus a few extra pounds.

I try not to look too far back, not wishing to question the choices I’ve made. I also try not to look too far into the future, not wanting to miss what is right in front of me.  So I try to stay grounded in the present, living in the moment.

There is still a lot of time for things to happen. 40 isn’t that old. Heck, 50, 60, and 70 aren’t old either. I have a co-worker who has parents in their 90s and they are still running around enjoying life. But when I look back at times, and it isn’t often, these 40 years can seem to have flown right by. It’s time to start checking off some of these items from the checklist.

I have done so many things, but there is so much more to do.

This is the second post about last weekend. As I mentioned previously, a great deal happened.

Last Saturday was Kristel’s college graduation celebration at Dynasty Restaurant in Cupertino Square. The event was celebrated with a dinner, sharing plenty of food with family and friends. I believe we had a total of twelve large courses, each one topping the other. Farrah and I have always enjoyed Dynasty Restaurant and this time was no exception.

At the party, Farrah had an opportunity to catch up with a former co-worker, Teddy, who recently came back to the states. Later in the evening, Kristel gave a heartwarming speech thanking everyone for sharing this moment with her, as well as sharing her feelings regarding the support her family has given her thus far. Nice speech Kristel.

Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera to capture any of these moments. After the fact, I wish I had done so. There were so many moments I could have captured. But for some odd reason, in the last several months, I have been very hesitant in taking photos. I think I am in a bit of a funk in this regard. I think I just need to pick up the gear and take photos.

Kayla went into the hospital this morning for surgery. The reason: to remove a cyst that had grown on the left side of her neck. The surgery lasted about 3 1/2 hours. Kayla is doing fine and resting in her nice hospital room with her mom this evening.

This morning we had breakfast with Yen and James at Hobee’s. They shared with us great news- they are engaged!!!

Congratulations to you both!

This morning we had to put Tigger to sleep.  He was 19 years old.

He hadn’t eaten on his own the last six days. We brought him in on Friday and found out his white cell count was up, his body temperature was down, and his hydration level low.   They gave him fluids and antibiotics.

I’m sure I was told this when I was in the military, most likely when I was overseas.  I was told to vary my routine.  I was told to take different routes to work.  I was told that if I frequently went into town that I was to vary the travel method and time going into town.  The speaker emphasized that we were creatures of habit and that this could be dangerous.  Clearly I’ve forgotten this lesson.

Right now, my habitual side is kicking in.  Someone is sitting in the seat I reserve (for myself) at //Panera.    I’ve never seen the dude here all the mornings I’ve been here.  He’s got papers sprawled out all over the table, showing he will be here for the long haul.  Doesn’t he know that’s my table?

He’s going to throw off my whole morning.  Yeah, if anything goes wrong today I’m going to blame him.