morrowlife

Here are Shannon and me going to brunch on our wedding day. Great Art courtesy of our friend Burns Newby (probably), scanned from the wedding photo album he gave us way back when, and part of my famous Shannon and Event series.

I spent a few minutes today capturing some of these scanned images, so there are more of these to come. Priceless, no?

Had a fine weekend. Went out with friends on both Saturday and Sunday – Saturday to Boulder City, where my friends Bob, Helena, and Holly live; and Sunday to a place in downtown Las Vegas called Container Park. Went with Helena, Holly, Mark, Mark (but neither of them was my Mark), Holly (another one), Gina, and a couple other people whose names escape me right now. Just kind of hung out together and had a nice time. It’s been really good to get some friends.

Did a bit of work today. I discovered an incorrect version number and copyright date in the app Chris and I have been working on, so I fixed it and resubmitted it to Apple. Also started looking at Common Core Classroom. Also identified a bunch of work I need to do on PhotoDoc. Also spoke with a dear old friend from San Diego named Gary today. He found my website and may have some work for me. We chatted for a while and agreed to meet tomorrow here in Las Vegas. Apparently, he’s traveling here tomorrow. Even if there’s no work for me, I’m excited to get together and renew our friendship.

Ordered another Roku today. I’m simply not happy with the video solution I have for the office, consisting of a partially-broken second-generation Apple TV for netflix and a first-generation Apple TV running Linux and XBMC for locally-hosted content. So I’ll put the new Roku in my bedroom and move my old first-generation-but-still-working-fine Roku into the office. And everybody will be happy. Maybe there’s something else interesting I can do with the old 1G Apple TV.

And that about brings us up to date. It’s late already and my sinuses are acting up again, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: runaway reindeer!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Shannon and Mia getting ready for a Halloween party in October 2008. This kind of looks like a selfie, but that would be a bit misleading. There’s no mirror on the front porch of our old house in Manteca. This Great Art is courtesy of Katy’s [amazon asin=B000FKIJUI&text=”Casio EX-Z70″] camera, taken by Katy (probably), and part of my famous Shannon and Event series.

I could have included it in my famous Architecture series since it includes a portion of our old house, but I opted not to do that this time. No guarantees on future category-stretching Great Art, however.

Pretty good day. I got some work done, although nothing to show yet. I worked on the Business Casual website. I’ve been thinking of adding a splash page that would redirect people looking for PhotoDoc to the appropriate page and then show the Business Casual page for people interested in educational software. Got something working, but there were still some technical bugs and I decided I don’t like the plugin that I used to create the page. So I deleted the plugin and the page and I’m back to the drawing board. I’m now thinking of just including a very visible link to PhotoDoc from the Business Casual sidebar. What do you think, Loyal Readers? We’re giving the PhotoDoc website link to potential customers, so I don’t expect too many PhotoDoc searchers to look for the Business Casual website.

Another option would be to create a Common Core Classroom website, but I have way too many websites to try to keep track of already. So I don’t really want to do that. What should I do?

Had a nice phone conversation with my sister Julie. She noticed yesterday’s discussion on finding a meeting room and she called me to give me a rundown on her numerous experiences with that very thing. I feel a whole lot better educated and able to make intelligent decisions in that area. Thanks, Julie! It was also great just to chat, of course.

Also had a nice talk with my dad today. We didn’t talk business, other than a great idea he has for a new company. I’ll have to figure out a way to steal it from him. Also talked with Paul briefly. He seems to be doing fine.

Mark and I went to dinner with the Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives group from meetup.com tonight. It was fun! It was pretty much exclusively couples, which wasn’t a surprise to me, but everybody was very welcoming and we had nice conversations, along with excellent Greek food. I’d get together with those people again.

Speaking of meetup.com groups, I’ve scheduled myself for another 40+ Singles group happy hour. This one is on the patio of a Mexican restaurant (I think) not too far from here. It looks like a few of the folks I met last week will be going, plus a bunch I haven’t met. I hope it’s as much fun as the last one.

That’s pretty much it for today. More website work tomorrow and possibly one more update to the iOS app I worked on for Chris. Next week, I’m working on Common Core Classroom for sure. It feels good to be back to work.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: Brussels sprouts heist!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Shannon and me at a church activity sometime while we lived in Lardville. This Great Art is significant to me not because it’s a particularly good picture of either of us (left to the Loyal Reader to judge) or because it was a particularly important event (I don’t remember when it happened or even what it was, other than a Hawaiian-themed party), but because it’s the only picture I’ve been able to find so far featuring Shannon and me holding hands. My more astute Loyal Readers may recall that our hands were widely thought to be welded together, so I’m pretty surprised I haven’t found anything like that until now. My only explanation is that I took most of the pictures I’ve featured here on the Morrowlife blog and it would have been hard to also hold hands with Shannon at the same time. Although I didn’t take all the pictures, so that excuse only goes so far. At any rate, here it is at last. Great Art courtesy of our old friend Bob W, taken at a Hawaiian-themed church party in Manteca, California sometime during the past few years, and part of my famous Shannon and Event series.

Another thing this Great Art points out to me is that Shannon was a lot colder than I was. Possibly it’s because I was fat and she wasn’t. At any rate, I was wearing sandals and a Hawaiian shirt and she was pretty well bundled up. Didn’t make any difference – she was still the prettiest girl at the party.

Another quiet day today. We exercised, as predicted. We’re taking tomorrow and Sunday off. I’m planning to go for a walk around the park at some point tomorrow, just to keep things going. I think Mark will probably just rest.

Meals were pretty good today. I made waffles (batter prepared by Mark!) with strawberries (sliced by Mark!) and fresh whipped cream along with sausage, tangerine juice, and Mexican hot chocolate. Mark also had a Costco apple streusel muffin. We skipped lunch because breakfast was so late and so extensive. Dinner was barbecued chicken, which was cut up and served on cheese tortellini with marinara sauce over it, accompanied by a tossed salad. Once again, no complaints were heard from either Mark or me.

Spent a lot of the day on the phone again today. I love talking, but I should probably go dark for several hours during the day so I can get some actual work done. I’m really feeling a need to get started with that again.

I found today’s Great Art when Mark and I were looking for his immunization records. He’s applying for admission to UNLV and they needed proof he wasn’t a walking germ factory. We finally found the needed information, only to discover he was apparently behind on his tetanus shots. So we went over to Walgreen’s and got him the shot. Didn’t hurt me a bit.

I got to spend a couple hours on the phone with Sandy this evening. It was pretty late for her, but quite convenient for me. It was precious time and she really helped me work through a few things that have been troubling me. Thanks, Sandy! I appreciate the advice, the understanding, and the listening ear. You helped me feel like I’m not so alone.

Jacuzzified by myself this evening. Enjoyed it. Less sorrow than recently, more peace. That’s how it ought to be, I think.

Tomorrow morning, Ken and I are working on his pickup! He has a 1956 Ford pickup in many tiny pieces, most of which are in his garage. The body, frame, and engine are outside on the side of the house. He got the truck a few years ago and decided to restore it, so everything is brand new and beautiful. He just needs to get it all assembled. I suggested a little while ago that we should start spending a few hours together on Saturdays doing just that, and tomorrow is our first installment. That kind of thing is a lot more fun if you have somebody to work with. I’m excited to work on the truck and to eventually get it running again. It’s going to be pretty cool – a vintage look, but with modern comforts like power steering and brakes and air conditioning, to name just a few.

And that’s about it for this week. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: all-you-can-eat crab leg assault!

See you on Monday.

Here are Shannon and me standing just outside the front door of the Washington temple immediately after getting married. We were so young! We were so happy! And we were just taking the first step in what would be an amazing, joyful 35 years together. I knew she was the one for me, and for some reason she claimed to know I was the one for her too. Great Art courtesy of our old friend Burns Newby (or possibly taken by Robin, but Burns put a bunch of wedding/reception pictures together in a photo album he gave us, which I’ve started digitizing), partially obscured by another photo from the album because they’re glued down and I’m afraid of destroying them if I try to move them, and part of my famous Shannon and Event series.

My heart just burns with a strange combination of giddy happiness and deep grief when I look at this picture. The former because we were so, so happy for so, so long. And the latter because it was snatched away from us at what I believe was our very happiest moment. I’m getting closer to the point where I can accept that what we had was enough, but not yet. How I long for more!

She was such a doll. Whatever made her choose to fall in love with me?

Pretty uneventful day today. In fact, I’m struggling to come up with anything I did at all. Mark and I went to the gym again, of course.  Today was day four. This is the point where it gets hard, I think. I’m feeling a bit sore, I don’t see any results yet, and it would be really easy to quit going. But we won’t quit, and I think we’ll just have to tough it out for a few weeks, after which the results will start coming. We’ll feel better, we’ll look better, and we’ll be able to do much more than before. I’m trying to follow the advice I read in the excellent Zen Habits website and focus on how much better I feel after having done the thing I think I should do but don’t want to do. There are lots of ideas there on establishing new habits. Highly recommended.

Anyway. Other than exercising, I can’t think of a whole lot I accomplished. I spoke on the phone with Paul, Chris, Julie, and my dad. So that’s something very worthwhile. Mark and I went to Costco and bought a few things we needed and a few more we wanted. One of the “wanted” things was a mini-flat of strawberries. Also a half gallon of tangerine juice. I took a few of the strawberries, half a banana, a splash of tangerine juice, and a few ice cubes and used my [amazon asin=B00A78MXS2&text=Magic Bullet] to make a delicious smoothie. My astute Loyal Readers will recall how much I love smoothies. And this one was excellent. I think I’ll make another one tomorrow. Also maybe some waffles with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. And maybe some more strawberry-related dishes I can’t think of right now.

I grilled Omaha Steaks hamburgers on the barbecue tonight and served them on sourdough English muffins. Toss in some corn (the ultimate guy vegetable!) and a bit of jello I made a couple days ago and you’ve got a downright tasty meal. I received no complaints from either Mark or myself.

And that’s about all I accomplished. I start out every day with such big plans for all the work I’m going to do, and I just get nothing done, even though it feels like I’m busy all day. But I know I spend a whole lot of time goofing off. That’s just what I do. Maybe tomorrow I’ll goof off just a little less and work just a little more. We’ll see, won’t we?

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: bean can shooting!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Shannon, Andy, and Mark with Mark’s 12th birthday cake. He requested and received a cake featuring a short-lived internet comic character named Tako. He was an octopus who lived in a bucket and showed people how to cook. I guess you had to be there. In any case, the cake was a work of art. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera, taken in the breakfast nook of our house in Pennsylvania, and part of my famous Shannon and Event series.

Today was a quiet day at sea. I spent a lot of time on my balcony. I went out for meals, walking around the promenade deck a couple times, and taking a couple other walks around the ship. The morning started out with extremely smooth seas, extremely warm air, and extremely light winds. By the afternoon, it was windy and kind of cold outside and the seas were beginning to get a little rougher. The ship is still barely pitching and rolling, so it’s all good. I guess we may be heading into a bit of weather. The stupid internet service on this ship is so bad that it takes too much time to look up the weather, so whatever happens on Saturday for the trip home will be a surprise.

I’m really enjoying the balcony cabin. It’s a great place to sit and read and just be alone with my thoughts. Oh, today I saw a couple of whales a few hundred yards from the ship. The one I saw the most of was probably 30 feet long or so. He came up for air several times. Pretty cool! Then during lunch by one of the back windows, one of the folks at my table pointed out a school of about 20 dolphins that was jumping right behind the ship. Fun! So I saw some marine life on this trip.

I think today was the first day since Shannon’s death when I didn’t have a period of serious grief. I still spent time thinking of her while I walked outside, but it wasn’t grief-filled. It was more of a pleasant remembrance, mixed with love and some pangs of separation. I think it was an improvement and I’m grateful. I’m sure there will be many more ups and downs.

I may not be able to post tomorrow. I’m just about out of internet minutes. If I have to miss my Friday post, I’ll catch it up on Saturday after I get home.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: hot dog injury lawsuit!

See you tomorrow.