Happy Holidays!
Posted on December 23, 2007 by Brian under Family, Life.
Well its that time of year again! The Holidays are upon us and the commercialization of a long standing religious tradition is once again blatantly thrown in our faces with TV spots, Radio ads and now Online Spam. The Christmas music has been playing since shortly after Halloween, the people flocked to the after Thanksgiving sales like the drones that they are, responding to the mass media that filled there brains weeks prior to the 2nd most commercialized holiday of the year. And now with one day left to shop the “Last Minute Sales” are flooding the airwaves enticing folks to spend even more money (that most of them do not have) to satisfy the cravings of friends and family all in the name of……..oh that’s right. Christmas isn’t about counting our blessings anymore, its not about family or tradition or spending time with loved one’s that may not have much time left on this good earth. No, its about products, selling, MONEY! I remember that when I was growing up, my family would look forward to Christmas not because it was a time to give gifts to everyone (we didn’t have a lot of money in those days and my parents did whatever they could and we were very grateful for what we got) but because it was one of the only times of the year that we would all get together as a family and spend a significant amount of time with each other. To this day we still hold that tradition strong. To us Christmas is about family, being thankful for the lives we have and for what we can share. I cringe every time around this year because I see more and more people falling out of this tradition and falling deeper and deeper into that pit that commercialization has dug in the souls of humanity. I weep for what the world brings, but in my heart I know that the family I have and the values we keep will hold us together through anything that life has to throw at us.
I hope that this makes you think and I wish everyone a very safe and Happy Holiday and a blessed New Year.
1 Comment
The First Ever Life After Marriage Newsletter
Posted on December 23, 2007 by Ching under Blog, Life.
Below is a copy of our first monthly email newsletter, borne mostly out of boredom but hopefull some of you will find some use for this. If you did not receive a copy of the newsletter and would like to receive it next time, please email newsletter@brubakers.us with SUBSCRIBE either in the subject line or the body of the message. We will gladly add you to the distribution list. I cannot promise that this will be a regular monthly recurrence because there may be times that I will be too busy to send one, but I can promise a similar newsletter at the end of 2008. 🙂 That’s all I can guarantee for now. Anyway, here is the newsletter that was sent today:
Well, we are snowed in as you can tell from this blog entry. Since I am bored out of my mind, with no homework and no work-work (Thank heavens I’m not on duty this weekend!), I have decided to create a monthly newsletter for our blog. If a monthly newsletter is too frequent for you and you do not really care to receive our updates, please read no further. Respond to this message with REMOVE in the subject and your email address will be promptly removed from this notification list. For the rest of you, welcome!
Since this is the very first email newsletter for our blog I felt a recap of our life together is in order. Before we begin, however, allow me to wish everyone merry Christmas! May you all have a wonderful and blessed holiday season, and a prosperous year ahead!
Though our blog didn’t begin until shortly after our marriage, life with Brian really began in early 2000. That’s when we moved in together. We lived in a two-bedroom townhouse at the northeast side of town with Brian’s brother Kevin. Incidentally, 2000 is also the year my nephew Logan was born.
A year after living together in the townhouse, Brian and I decided to become homeowners. We moved into our house in April 2001. Less than a month later, he proposed. We set the date for August 10, 2002. We chose the date because it is approximately three years into our relationship. You can find other 2001 highlights here.
These are all pre Life After Marriage events. I have been blogging about my life since before the word “blog” entered the vernacular so you could probably still find old journal entries floating around. You can try Google, but here are a couple of places that I was able to find if you’d like to read up:
- Chingay – this has stuff that I salvaged from the old Chingay.com web site. Many things are probably lost at this point. I never was any good at doing archives and backups.
- No. 2305 – a few things from my old Geocities. There was a period after Chingay.com and Chingay.net and Goldensushi.net when I didn’t have a domain and was using free hosting providers.
- I had a XOOM (pre-Chingay.com) and an Angelfire and a Crosswinds and a Scribble and all of those are pretty much gone. Always do your backups!
In 2002, I was laid off from my previous employer. Thankfully, I had another job lined up so I was only without work for a week. Someone up there is looking out for me. 🙂 To this day, I firmly believe that the closing of the Spiegel call center is the best thing to have ever happened in my life (career-wise, anyway). You get comfortable and without even knowing it you’re stuck in a rut.
1 Comment
Snowy Saturday Afternoon
Posted on December 22, 2007 by Ching under Family, Flickr, Life.
We had big plans for today that were foiled by the crummy weather. Brian and I were going to have dinner with his parents at Logan’s Roadhouse and then head to the Lake Afton Public Observatory (LAPO) for “Mars Madness.” This weekend Mars is the closest it has ever been to Earth. It won’t be this close again until May 2016. I’d never been to LAPO before so I was really looking forward to going. I wanted to see Mars’ polar caps and other surface features.
We knew that there was some bad weather coming so we thought maybe we could just go to dinner and then watch a movie. Brian didn’t want to brave the crowds at the movie theater, though. Our contingency plan was to go to dinner and then ride go carts at The Alley… But then, as the day progressed, I didn’t feel like doing that either. We finally decided we would just go dinner.
So at around four o’clock Brian and I decide to head out. Well, guess what. We didn’t get much further than the driveway. Bebot was stuck. At this point we had decided that we would call his parents to cancel on dinner. We weren’t going anywhere.
Brian tried to make the car go forwards and backwards and it wouldn’t budge. We were getting more and more stuck. Finally, we tried something different. I took the driver’s seat and he went outside to try to push the car foward, back into the garage. I had to stop, though, because I was freaking out. I didn’t feel like I was in control of the car and was afraid that I would slam Bebot into the garage.
I stepped out to try to convince Brian that this was a bad idea. Right then two guys in a truck drove by. They asked if we needed help. They offered to help push Bebot back into the garage. With Brian at the wheel and the two guys pushing, Bebot managed to get back into the garage safely. That was really nice of those two guys to stop. They really didn’t have to, but they did. We couldn’t have gotten Bebot back into the garage otherwise.
Anyway, we are stuck here for the day. There is nothing to watch on TV and barely any food in the fridge. Ugh. Pizza Hut is closed so it’s not like we can call for delivery. I guess I should be grateful we have power and Bebot is safely in the garage.
I really hope the snow goes away soon. I don’t think I can last another day locked up in the house. At the very least, we need to be able to get to mom and dads and on Christmas eve and Brian’s parents’ on Christmas day.
3 Comments
The 80’s Baby!
Posted on December 20, 2007 by Brian under Movies.
My co-workers and I had a lot of time on our hands today with the holidays closely approaching and what not. A lot of folks are off on vacation and the calls are somewhat slow. During the downtime we started talking about old 80’s movies and it had me thinking about the movies I had seen in the 80’s and the one’s I hadnt. So I found a list and decided to test my memory. If I have seen it the will be a “*” next to its name, otherwise its left balnk. Test your memory and tell me if you can equal my list!
8 Million Ways to Die*
9 to 5*
10 to Midnight
100 Ways To Murder Your Wife
18 Again*
3 ‘O Clock High*
48 Hrs*
9½ Weeks*
About Last Night*
Abyss*
The Accused*
Action Jackson*
Adventures In Babysitting*
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai*
Aenigma
After Hours*
Against All Odds*
Akira*
Always*
Airplane*
All About Ah Long
The Allnighter*
All of Me*
All The Right Moves*
Aliens*
Altered States*
Amadeus*
Amazon Women On The Moon
American Gigolo*
American Scream*
American Flyers*
American Werewolf*
Angel
Annie*
An Officer and a Gentleman*
The Apple
April Fools Day*
Arthur*
Autumn’s Tale, An*
Avenging Force*
Baby Boom
Back To School*
Back To The Beach*
Back To The Future*
Back To The Future II*
Bachelor Party*
Bad Boys
Bad Taste
Band of the Hand*
Batman*
Battle Beyond the Stars*
Beastmaster*
Beat Street
Beetlejuice*
Best of The Best*
Best Little Wh*rehouse in Texas*
Best Seller
Better Off Dead*
Beverly Hills Cop*
Beverly Hills Cop II*
The Beyond*
Big*
Big Business*
The Big Chill*
The Big Easy*
Big Shots*
Big Trouble in Little China*
Bill & Ted’s Exc. Adventure*
The Black Cat
Black Rain*
Black Widow*
Blade Runner*
Blame It On The Night*
Blind Date*
The Blob*
Bloodsport*
Blow Out*
Blue Lagoon*
Blue Thunder*
Blue Velvet
Blues Brothers*
BMX Bandits*
Body Beat
Body Double*
Body Heat*
Born on the 4th July*
The Boy who could fly*
Brainstorm*
Brazil*
The Breakfast Club*
Breakin’ [Breakdance]*
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo*
Breathless
Brewster’s Millions*
Brotherhood Of Justice*
Bull Durham*
The Burbs*
Caddyshack*
Can’t Buy Me Love*
Casualties of War*
Catholic Boys
Casual Sex?*
Cat’s Eye*
A Certain Sacrifice
Cherry 2000*
Children of the Corn*
Child’s Play*
The Chipmunk Adventure*
Chorus Line, A*
Christine*
Christmas Story, A*
Circuitry Man*
City of the Living Dead*
City on Fire
Class
Class of 1984*
Clue*
Cobra*
Cocktail*
Cocoon*
Color of Money*
The Color Purple*
Coming To America*
Commando*
Communion* <em>( I hate this movie)</em>
Conan the Barbarian*
CondorMan*
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Contraband
Creepers *
Creepshow*
Creepshow 2*
Critters*
Crocodile Dundee*
Crossing Delancey
Crossroads*
Crystal Heart
Dance Academy
Dance ’til Dawn*
Dangerous Liaisons*
The Dark Crystal*
Darkman*
D.A.R.Y.L.*
Day of the Dead*
Deadly Friend*
Dead Heat*
Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid*
Dead Poet’s Society*
Dead Zone*
Death Wish 2*
Death Wish 3*
Death Wish 4*
Delta Force*
Desperately Seeking Susan*
Detective School Dropouts
Die Hard*
Diner
Dirty Dancing*
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels*
Disorderlies*
Doctor Detroit
Doin’ Time on Planet Earth*
Don’t Tell Her It’s Me
Do the Right Thing*
Double Switch*
Dr. Alien
The Dragon that Wasn’t
Dream a Little Dream*
Dream to Believe
Dreamscape*
Driving Miss Daisy*
Drugstore Cowboy*
Earth Girls are Easy*
Easy Money*
Eating Raoul
Eddie & The Cruisers*
Edge of Sanity
Electric Dreams*
The Elephant Man*
ELVIRA, Mistress Of..*
Elvis & Me
Empire Strikes Back*
The Entity*
Escape from New York*
E.T.*
The Evil Dead*
Evil Dead II*
Explorers*
The Exterminator*
The Fabulous Stains
Fame*
Fast Times At Ridgemont High*
Fatal Attraction*
Fear City
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off*
Field of Dreams*
Firestarter*
First Blood*
Fish Called Wanda, A*
The Flamingo Kid*
Flashdance*
Flash Gordon* <em>(One of my altime favorite movies)
</em>Fletch*
Flight of The Navigator*
Flowers in The Attic*
The Fly*
For Keeps*
The Fog*
Footloose*
For Your Eyes Only*
Frankenweenie*
Friday the 13th*
Friday the 13th part II*
Fright Night*
From Beyond*
Full Metal Jacket*
F/X*
The Gate*
Gates Of Hell*
Gandhi -New*
Ghostbusters*
Ghostbusters II*
Ghost Writer*
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun*
Girls Of Summer*
Gleaming the Cube*
Glory*
Going Undercover*
Golden Child*
Good Morning, Vietnam*
Goonies*
Gotcha!*
Grandview, USA*
Grease II*
Great Balls of Fire*
Great Mouse Detective*
Gregory’s Girl
Gremlins*
HairSpray*
Halloween II*
Happy Together
Hardbodies *
Heathers*
Heaven Help Us*
Heavenly Kid*
Hello Again*
Hellraiser*
Hiding Out*
Highlander*
The Hitcher*
House*
House II*
House By The Cemetary
House of Games*
Howard The Duck*
The Howling*
The Hunger
Ice Pirates*
Igor and the Lunatics
Illegally Yours*
I’m gonna get you Sucka *
Indiana Jones Trilogy*
Inferno*
InnerSpace*
Into the Night*
Iron Eagle*
Irreconcilable Differences*
Jack’s Back
Johnny Dangerously*
Jumpin’ Jack Flash*
Just One Of The Guys*
K-9*
Kansas
Karate Kid*
Karate Kid Part II*
The Killer
Killer Klowns From Outer Space*
The King of Comedy*
The Kiss*
Krull*
Krush Groove
Labyrinth*
Ladyhawke*
Lady in White
Land Before Time*
Last American Virgin
The Last Dragon*
The Last Starfighter*
The Last Unicorn*
Lean on Me*
Legend*
Legend of Billie Jean*
Less than Zero*
Lethal Weapon*
Licence to Kill*
License To Drive*
Lifeforce*
Light Of Day
Like Father, Like Son*
Lisa
Listen to me*
Little Darlings*
The Little Mermaid*
Little Monsters*
Little Shop of Horrors*
Live and Die in LA*
The Living Daylights*
The Lonely Lady
Loose Cannons*
Lost Boys*
Loverboy*
Lucas*
Mad Max 2*
Mad Max 3*
Making Mr. Right*
Making the Grade*
Manhunter*
Mannequin*
Man with One Red Shoe*
Man with Two Brains*
Married to the Mob*
Mask*
Masquerade
Masters of the Universe*
Mausoleum
Maximum Overdrive*
The Meaning of Life*
The Mean Season*
Meatballs*
Micki & Maude*
Midnight Madness*
Midnight Run*
Millennium*
Miracles
Mischief
Mississippi Burning*
Modern Girls*
The Money Pit*
Monkey Shines
The Monster Squad*
Moon Over Parador*
Monty Python*
MoonWalker*
Moving Violations*
Mr. Mom*
Muppets Take Manhattan*
My Best Friend is a Vampire*
My Bodyguard*
My Mom’s a Werewolf*
My Science Project*
My Stepmother is an Alien*
Mystic Pizza*
Naked Gun*
Name Of The Rose*
The Naples Connection
Nat. Lampoons Vacation*
Near Dark*
Neon Maniacs
Never Ending Story*
Never Ending Story II *
Never Say Never Again*
The New York Ripper
The Night Before
Nightmare on Elm Street*
Nightmare on Elm Street II*
Nighthawks*
Night Of The Comet*
Night Of The Creeps*
Night Of The Demons*
Night Shift*
Nine to Five*
No Man’s Land -New*
No Retreat, No Surrender*
No Retreat, No Surrender 2*
North Shore*
No Way Out*
Oliver & Company*
Once Bitten*
One Crazy Summer*
One Dark Night
One from the Heart*
Options
Ordinary People*
Outrageous Fortune*
Outsiders*
Overboard*
Over The Top*
Oxford Blues*
Paperhouse
Pass The Ammo
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure*
Pennies From Heaven*
Penn & Teller Get Killed*
Phenomena*
The Pick-Up Artist -New
Pink Floyd: The Wall*
The Pirate Movie*
Plain Clothes
Planes, Trains & Automobiles*
Platoon*
Playing for Keeps*
Police Academy*
Poltergeist*
Poltergeist II*
Poltergeist III*
Porkys*
Predator*
Pretty In Pink*
The Princess Bride*
The Principal*
Private Benjamin*
Private School*
Prom Night*
Pulse*
Purple Rain*
Purple Rose of Cairo
Quest For Fire*
Quiet Earth*
Rachel Papers
Rad*
Raging Bull*
Raiders of the Lost Ark*
Rain Man*
Raise The Titanic*
Raising Arizona*
Rambo*
Ratboy
Raw Deal
Re-Animator*
Real Genius*
Real Men *
Reckless*
Red Dawn*
Reform School Girls*
Remo Williams*
Renegades
Repo Man*
The Rescue*
Return of The Jedi*
Return Of The Living Dead*
Return Of Living Dead II*
Return to OZ*
Revenge*
Revenge of The Nerds*
The Right Stuff*
Risky Business*
Road House*
The Road Warrior*
Robocop*
Rock & Rule*
Rocky III*
Rocky IV*
Romancing The Stone*
Rose Petal Place
Roxanne*
The Running Man*
Running Scared*
Rumble Fish
Ruthless People*
Sakura Killers
Santa Claus: The Movie*
Satisfaction*
Savage Streets*
Savannah Smiles*
Say Anything*
Scanners*
Scarface*
Screwballs *
Secret Admirer*
Secret of My Success*
See No Evil, Hear No Evil*
Seems Like Old Times*
The Sender
Seven Doors Of Death
Seven Minutes in Heaven
Shag: The Movie*
Shanghai Surprise
She’s Having A Baby*
The Shining*
Shock Treatment*
Short Circuit*
Silver Bullet*
Sixteen Candles*
Six Weeks*
Slamdance *
Sleepaway Camp*
The Smuggler*
Society
Solarbabies *
Some Kind Of Wonderful*
Something Wild*
Somewhere In Time*
Sorority Babes in Slimeball
Bowl-O-Rama
Soul Man*
Southern Comfort
Spaceballs*
Space Camp*
Space Mutiny
Spinal Tap*
Splash*
Spring Break*
Spring Fever *
St. Elmo’s Fire*
Stakeout*
Stand By Me*
Starchaser: Legend of Orin*
Starman*
Star Trek II:*
Star Trek III: The search for Spock*
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home*
Staying Alive*
Staying Together
Stewardess School*
Stop Making Sense
Strange Brew*
Streets of Fire*
Stripes*
The Stuff*
Suburbia*
Sudden Impact*
Summer Rental*
Summer School*
Superman II*
Superman III*
Superman IV*
Supergirl*
The Sure Thing*
Switching Channels*
The Sword and the Sorcerer*
T.A.P.S.*
Teen Witch*
Teen Wolf*
Teen Wolf Too*
Tenebre
Tequila Sunrise*
Terminator*
Terms Of Endearment*
Tex
Thief
Thief of Hearts
The Thing*
They Live*
This is Spinal Tap*
Thrashin’*
Three for the Road
Throw Momma From The Train*
Thunder Run
Time Bandits*
Times Square
To live and Die in LA *
Tokyo Pop*
Tootsie*
Top Gun*
Top Secret*
Tough Guys*
Toxic Avenger*
Trading Places*
Trancers*
Transformers: Movie*
Tremors*
Trick or Treat
Troll*
Tron*
Troop Beverly Hills*
Tuff Turf
Turk 182!*
Twilight Zone: Movie*
Twins*
Two Of A Kind
UHF*
Uncle Buck*
Uncommon Valor*
Under The Cherry Moon*
The Untouchables*
Urban Cowboy*
Used Cars*
Valet Girls
Valley Girl
Vamp *
Vibes*
Vice Versa*
Victor / Victoria*
Videodrome*
View to a Kill*
Vision Quest*
Voyage of the Rock Aliens*
Wall Street*
WarGames*
War Of The Roses*
Watcher in the Woods
Weekend At Bernie’s*
Weird Science*
Welcome to 18
When Harry Met Sally*
White Dog
White Nights*
Who Framed Roger Rabbit*
Who’s That Girl*
The Wild Life
Willow*
Winners Take All*
Withnail and I
Without a Clue*
Without a Trace*
Witness*
The Wizard*
Wizard of Speed and Time
Wolfen*
Woman In Red
Working Girl*
The Worst Witch*
Worth Winning
The Wraith*
The Wrong Guys*
Xanadu*
Youngblood*
Young Einstein*
Young Guns*
Young Sherlock Holmes*
Zapped! *
Zone Troopers*
2 Comments
Ching’s Wisdom Tooth
Posted on December 20, 2007 by Ching under Flickr, Life.
So I got my wisdom tooth pulled today. It is the one on my upper right instead of the lower left like I thought. It has been a few months since my check up so I couldn’t remember. I couldn’t remember why we were pulling it either. I just remember that I had scheduled the extraction because it was on my calendar. I just turned 30 and I am already forgetful.
I asked Doc why I was removing it again because it wasn’t really bothering me. He said we had found a cavity during my last check up. He offered to try to fix it, which would be challenging because of its location and angle of growth, or we could do an extraction. He said I chose to have it extracted so that is why we were removing it.
Though it wasn’t bothering me right now, we had concluded that the cavity would eventually start bothering me . I decided to schedule the extraction before I started getting toothaches. That sounded like me so we decided to proceed.
I had always wondered why they offered headphones at the dentist. Apparently, the sound of the extraction procedure bothers some people. I didn’t realize this until now but such was the case with me. I asked for the headphones.
The extraction went pretty quickly, actually. Doc did a good job of numbing the area so I didn’t feel anything but pressure. Now all I have to worry about is preventing dry socket. I’m not too worried because dry socket only happens in 5-10% of extractions and is more common on lower molar extractions. Thank the Lord, mine was an upper moral.
Anyway, the dental assistant offered to send the tooth home with me. I told her no because it is gross but I did ask for permission to take a couple of pictures of it. LOL.
Before the appointment and after I called Brian several times, but I guess he had no signal. I could not get him. I was worried so I called Jenni. Jenni agreed to come to the house and check on Brian. I guess she was coming from Derby because I beat her home. It worked out okay because we were out of Tylenol and Brian had to run to the store to get it. Instead of having to drive himself, Jenni just picked him up. [ Thanks, Jenni! You are awesome! ]
Jenni got to our house shortly after I arrived home. She offered to take Brian to the store to pick up some Tylenol. I’m supposed to take one as soon as the numbness wears off. I’m not sure when to take it, though. Brian says not to take Tylenol until I feel pain. I’m not sure why when the idea is not to feel any pain at all. I guess he thinks I may not need to take it. That would be nice. I have a pretty high threshold for pain, anyway, so maybe I will be okay. I will let you guys know how I’m feeling tomorrow. I’m taking the day off work so I can just veg out, relax, and recover.
Happy holidays to all!
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