Christmas Time

Well, it's the end of the year; therefore it's time to update everyone on the past year's exploits.

The year began as it does for most people (I'd imagine), with a New Year's resolution to lose weight and get into better shape. I'll follow up this blog with one solely dedicated to my workout schedule and dietary regimen so as not to bore those of you who don't care. Basically the punch line is that I set a goal for myself to lose 65 pounds by year end, and I'm proud to say that it's currently December 10th, and I only have six pounds to go.

But enough about me let's talk about Booker...my dog (see the many pictures to the right of the blog if you still don't understand). He turned 1 year old on February 24th, so I had a birthday party for him. As crazy as he is by himself, those of you who know him can imagine what a hectic house I had that day with another half dozen dogs and a dozen people. Mom made a "safe for dogs" birthday cake, while I picked up a human cake from Costco...yellow cake, not Soilent Green. We barbequed brats and chicken, and mom put together goodie bags for all of the visiting pooches. Needless to say, Booker slept like a baby that night.

A week later we thought it would be fun to go back to the farm in Milford where I got him (about 45 minutes north of Reno) to visit his mom and the other dogs she lives with. I was surprised to see that Booker's sister, Zoe, was still living with Tom and Cindy. They opted not to sell her because as a newborn she got a cut across her face that became extremely infected, so much so that we all thought she was going to die. She made it though, but by the time she was able to leave the nest, she had already become too accustomed to life on the farm, so Tom and Cindy decided to keep her. See the photos on the right for Booker's family reunion.

As you can imagine, the dog and cat consume most of my life. In fact I spent a ridiculous amount of time this past summer building a dog kennel (which I finally finished) only to find out that Booker can jump higher than I had predicted when I designed the thing. I'll need to add a small extension on top to prevent the jumping out...ah the never-ending backyard projects. Anyway, I decided to have Booker neutered this last fall, a decision that he was not a part of. It didn't change his temperament at all, although he no longer humps the stuffed animals...Conor, I know you're disappointed.

I left Quad Knopf in May and started working for John Welsh's company Telesto, which turned out to be a better decision than I could have known at the time as Quad Knopf laid off a good chunk of their staff including their entire civil engineering department in the Reno office. Things are going great at Telesto. In a time when the residential market has slowed dramatically we are able to keep extremely busy with John's mining projects and civil projects brought in by the newest partner David Hagen. It's just nice to know that we can thrive while others have to close the door.

The summer came and went, and September was upon us yet again which means it was time for the rib cook-off. As I mentioned before, I had been sticking to a relatively strict diet, but with eight months to sort out the logistics I felt reasonably confident that consuming my weight in pork would not hinder my efforts. Never-the-less to watch me you'd swear I was trying to re-gain what I had lost. I emerged from the mass of pork eaters a week later to find myself a changed man; I was a ravenous animal devouring anything that had even the slightest hint of the Texas Outlaws Sauce on it. A couple of salads later I was back on track, just in time for Italian Festival, this is more of the same, but instead of taking place in Victorian Square and serving overpriced ribs, the City of Reno blockades Virginia Street through downtown so the Eldorado can set up their pasta tents (they're exactly what they sound like) and sell overpriced spaghetti and ravioli. Anyway I get excited about the Italian Festival every year, probably because I don't remember each previous year's experience. Don't get me wrong, the pasta and garlic bread is great, it's just the atmosphere that's lacking, the entertainment is terrible, and with everyone standing shoulder to shoulder attempting to eat their spaghetti without spilling their plate the whole experience seems to be more like looking for a contact lens in a mosh pit than enjoying a nice EXPENSIVE plate at a "high class" establishment. Maybe now that it's documented I just might not get so excited next year.

October rolled around and it was time for me to stop procrastinating studying for my California PE exam. As I've already passed the national exam a couple of years ago, all I needed to take was the California specific portions...the seismic and the surveying. I'm keeping my fingers crossed until they release the results in February, which makes it difficult to use a fork, but I'm getting by. Oh yeah, I turned 25 on the 30th of October, thanks to those of you that remembered me, those of you that didn't, don't feel too bad, I probably won't remember your birthdays either, in fact I'm taking you out of my Outlook contacts list after I’m done typing. Moving along Halloween was a bust; I put on my old baseball umpire uniform, as I had little time to prepare a costume because of the aforementioned exam. We spent the evening sitting around Stocking's house waiting for the "Fun Boy's" to finish their costumes. They originally wanted to go as 80's punk rockers, but when everything was said and done, they looked more like 80's flamers...see attached photo, it's a little grainy (camera phone...plus I was probably laughing too hard). By the time we left (around 12:45) there really wasn’t anything left to do, so I went home, while the Fun Boys went downtown to get stared at and spit on … that last part may not be true, when I’m not there I tend to imagine things.

Leaping into November, my conditioning increased so I could be in football shape for our yearly game on Thanksgiving Day up at Hidden Valley Park-TURKEY BOWL 2007. I'm happy to say that we had our best turn out yet, about 22 people. We opted to play "two hand touch" since Kyle had broken his leg two years earlier in a more manly game. That's not to say that there wasn't a fair amount of contact, being the fatty that I am I was stuck up at the line for two hours of bumping and shoving. My team won the first game 7 touchdowns to 1, but we lost the second one 2 touchdowns to 3. After the game I headed over to Randy and Juliette's house for Thanksgiving dinner, since they were out of town, Ryan and Caitlin were watching the homestead and asked if I wouldn't mind frying a turkey...I didn't mind at all. Since this was my first Thanksgiving without mom she thought she would help by making a pumpkin pie, and an apple pie, and oh yeah, a friend of Paige's also made us a pumpkin cheesecake...we get it, I'm fat. The food was great, and a great time was had by all.

It's now December, the year has come full circle, and I'm a little lighter, wiser, and in awe that I was able to go through an entire year without even thinking about enrolling in another graduate program.

Happy Holidays Everyone