The family got together tonight for a lazy Christmas Eve.   My sister admitted she had never seen "It's a Wonderful Life" so I made her watch as much as she could stand...which turned out to be around 30 minutes worth.   Oh, well, when I was watching Nick at Night as a kid, she was out having much more fun.  After a few beers, some snacks and a grasshopper, Mom preceded to school us young gamers in almost every game we played in Wii Sports.   Let's see, first she beat us all in a round of golf, then she took second in bowling (Eric and I took up the rear,) finally she met her match when Eric decided to get "serious" in some baseball. 

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Brown, its the new black.

It's time for a change.    The new year is coming soon and I am determined that it will be the start of a new era for me.   Sort of a Jake 4.0. (child me, college me and know it all me are probably good descriptions of the previous incarnations).   Since I haven't been feeling all that light and cloudy, the old site design had to go to make room for a new look that better matched the new me.

One more day before Christmas, have a very merry one everyone.

Today, we went to the lake and scattered Dad's ash's on what would have been his birthday.   It was a very simple scattering with just Jen, Mom and myself.  We let him go in the cove where his sailboat had been docked.      We were planning to just let the urn go from the dock but in yet another random act of kindness, the people that own the marina offered to drive us out a ways and do it from the middle of the lake.   In a final act of rebellion, dad's ashes sank much faster than normal which caused us to all burst out laughing.  After we got back to shore we opened a bottle of wine and talked about all of the good times we had enjoyed when we were young hanging out on those shores. 

It was a good day.  It was kind of a day of closure for each of us.  A turning point.  There will still be sad days but grieving will take on a new focus for me.   It's time to turn misfortuna into something positive.  I can see the signs up ahead in life and they have a clear message.... better days coming.

Just a few more days until Christmas.  I have finally finished my Christmas shopping.   Between ending a relationship and losing dad,  I have a lot fewer presents under the tree this year.   Its enough to really get you down in the dumps.    Luckily, everywhere I look there are people enjoying the season and it's easy to get caught up in it and really enjoy my favorite time of the year.

I have finished up trimming the tree and decorating the house for Christmas and think it turned out pretty well.   It's amazing that 7 or 8 years ago, I hated Christmas...even going so far as to joke about hanging a giant Grench on my door.   I think growing up a bit and learning a bit about life finally helped me really enjoy the season of giving.

I was very sorry to hear that James Kim was found dead today after the week long search for him and his family.  I had such high hopes, especially after hearing that his family was found earlier this week.   Ever since they were found, I have been dreading the news that was likely to follow.   Having recently experienced the same loss, I really hoped that this one would have a happy ending.   My thoughts as well as many thousands of other technology enthusiasts and I am sure a few luddites as well go out to the Kim family as they learn how to live with out their wonderful geeky father.

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It snowed and it snowed and it snowed. When all was said and done, we had around 9 inches of snow. That's lots for Oklahoma. Luckily, I had enough food to last a couple of days because I haven't left the house since Wednesday. I just sat inside by the fire and worked on thursday and friday. There was no chance my little car could even get out of the neighborhood. This snow has convinced me that I really need to get a second vehicle. I am thinking an older Honda CRV. Something not too expensive so I can feel ok if it get's a door ding. When I lived in mid-town, the streets had lots of traffic so the snow was typically gone in a day or so. Out here (west of tulsa), no one drives on the roads so they will probably have snow until monday. Plus, a little mini-ute would be handy when going to Lowes...there is only so much you can fit in a passenger seat :)

Mom had to go on a business trip today, so she came by and let me burrow her SUV while she is out of town. It's her first trip out of down since Dad died, so I am hopeful it will be a good diversion for her. She will be at her corporate office in Fargo so it will be COLD. Mom sells lightbulbs so she works from home normally. This trip will be a chance to work in a normal environment around humans instead of having to sit at home thinking of how different life is now