Xbox dead... Again.

Holly finished watching a movie on the xbox and we went to the grocery store for some supplies. When we got back we thought a game of scene it sounded fun. So I walk over and turn on the xbox, turn and walk back to the couch and when I sit down I see an error screen and one red ring. Crap. Only one isn't covered by the 3 year extension MS has on the warranty and I just got it back from being repaired 2 weeks ago from the 3rd party warranty we got from the NEX. Because of that I can't make a claim on my extra warranty. So we got a pro system from the air force BX. 60 GB HD and 4 games. Well it was supposed to have 3 but we got 2 blue dragons in the box. So we were a little lucky. I'm not sure what to do with the second copy, maybe I can return it for store credit at gamestop or something.

Out again

Well, there it went. No more power. Aleric noticed immediately and started whining and pointing at the fan which had stopped moving. I just took a cold shower which was nice. More later, hopefully when we get power back again.

Power's back!

15 hours without power. It wasn't too bad and we spent most of the time at a friends house. We were all laying in bed and I heard beeping downstairs and the fan kicked on. It's nice to have it back but I liked the silence and the lack of electronic distractions. I just wish food would stay good without it. Then we wouldn't need it. It was crazy to see how as soon as the power was gone, people came together and hung out outside talking and playing board games by candle light. It made me wonder if we wouldn't be better off without it.

Power outage

According to the radio, there was a hurricane somewhere close enough that it wiped out our power to the whole island! Not sure how long it's going to be out but we made the best of it by going to our friends house and sitting in the candlelight talking.

Annual Christmas Letter

Every year around Christmas I write a letter sort of recapping the events of the year. This time was a little tough since I already keep people up to date on what goes on via the blogs and anything I put in the letter will already be old news by the time they read it. However, I like writing the letter so I did it anyways. We are sending them out to everyone but, just in case we managed to forget someone who cares in our haste to get them out before Christmas I am posting the letter here on my blog as well. Most of this will be nothing new if you follow our blogs but if not it's a sort of highlight on the most important parts of the year. Expect to read mostly about the kids. If you don't end up getting one in the mail and you want one, just leave a response on this post and I'll make sure one gets sent out to you. They include a bonus Christmas card with a really cute picture of the kids, perfect for fridges and cubicle walls. :)

Dear family and friends,
This year has been surprisingly full of changes, much like last year. I say surprising because we were expecting life to start settling down, to become less turbulent. Luckily for us, we were wrong. Let me start by updating everyone about the most important change this year. We are now a happy family of four. On October 12th Auria Elise Glenn entered into this world at an astonishing 9lbs 14.5oz. At the time that I am writing this letter she is already two months old and absolutely adorable. Aleric is taking to the role of protective big brother like a duck to water. From the first time he saw her it was obvious that he was in love with his little baby sister. We can only pray that that sentiment persists as they grow older. He is now nearly 2 years old and although his vocabulary is limited to hello, bye bye, awie (auria), bubba (baby) and the occasional perfectly formed sentence (more on that in a second) his comprehension is amazing. We are now aware that he understands just about every word we say so we have to watch our mouths around him. It really comes in handy when you need something from the other room but your hands are full with laundry or a dirty diaper or something. Just ask him to run into the other room and off he goes happily retrieving whatever it is you asked for. He also now throws his cups and plates in the sink by himself and put his toys away when he’s done with them. This is all due to Holly’s influence I assure you. She tells me that he is a faster study than I am too, since she is still trying to get me to pick up my toys when I am done. When I mentioned the fully formed sentences I was talking about the time he asked me “Can I blow bubbles?” and “How do you do it?” in reference to the task of opening an empty spice container. This tells us that he can talk, just that he doesn’t want to. Holly is still taking care of our friends little girl Isabella who has become Aleric’s best friend. It’s the cutest thing to see how excited they get when they see each other each morning. Recently we met some neighbors at the park whose son is named Lyric, which is just close enough to Aleric that we were all confused when we heard our children’s names being called out. Seeing the two boys interact has been a lot of fun and has also made obvious how much having Isabella around has taught Aleric about sharing and patience. I just recently learned that patience pays off even when it comes to one’s career. I have now made it to the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class (E-5). I love my job and I have a wonderful lack of oversight in what I chose to do with my days. I think this is due to the fact that what I love to do and what I am supposed to be doing align so nicely. At this point, I am almost certain that I will be making a career out of the Navy despite the higher salaries available in the civilian work force. I would love to be able to tell everyone about exciting travels or amazing achievements this year but to be honest with you all, it couldn’t have been better due to the arrival of our new baby girl Auria and being able to watch Aleric grow up. It’s wonderful to be able to see the wonder in his eyes as he explores this world that we as adults often take for granted. That old saying of “Stop and smell the roses” forgets to remind one to look at the ants and feel the grass between your toes and smell the wet dirt after a tropical storm or to be transfixed by a flock of birds swooping in unison from point to point in a field. These are the true wonders of parenthood and of being alive. We wish you all a merry Christmas and a fulfilling and joyous new year.

The Glenns,
Jeff, Holly, Aleric and Auria

Our poor truck

Remember back when I navigated an F150 into my blind spot? Well holly just did something similar. She navigated a garage wall into hers. And hers was in the front of the car. Here are some pics of the aftermath.

A strange smell to a homeopathic remedy

So when Holly had to stop breast feeding, her body did not immediately agree with her. Apparently putting cold red cabbage in her bra has helped tremendously with the associated pain. Strange and slightly smelly, but effective.

Room with a view

Hospital rooms aren't normally known for their nice views, but my daughter's room has one of the best on the island. I thought I'd share with everyone. You can also get a glimpse of the second round of clouds from that storm I just mentioned in my last post.

One more thing

Yesterday was my final for the class I'm in right now. It went well and I feel confident about it. We were given 6 hours to finish and it took me 2, so I got to go home early and hang out with my family. I'd been home about an hour when Holly gets a call from the hospital saying they want to admit Auria for "Failure to thrive". Not a really happy term is it. Holly headed right up and I took Aleric over to Megan's house to hang out while we figured out what to do. Auria is doing well, check her blog for some cute hospital pictures. She's gaining weight and the doctors haven't yet decided if they want to run some tests on kidney and liver function yet. So I thought I was going to have to take leave but lucky for me, a HUGE storm rolled in and they told me not to worry about it. So I get a four day with no leave.

A messed up day

So, just to keep me humble, God has taught me a quick, stressful though relatively painless lesson. Today was supposed to be my frocking ceremony. Holly had an appointment so I took the prelude, which I know has expired tags, to work. This was a big mistake. I got turned around at the gate, had to park like 3 miles away and subsequently beg Megan to come save me. She did but it was all too late. I missed my ceremony and now have to wait until a makeup ceremony until I can wear my new rank. Sad, stress inducing but as I have to keep reminding myself, not the end of the world. Not even close really. I'm just a little more stressed than normal due to the dlpt today, which is a very important test as it decides about a quarter of my paycheck. So i'm sitting here waiting for the test and trying to relax by venting on the net. Let's hope it works.

My awesome wife

Ok, so i'm not sure how single guys even get by. I'm having my frocking ceremony tomorrow and I've been so busy this weekend that I didn't think about it until like 30 minutes ago. At that time, I discovered that my special white hat has gone mia. So holly racks her brain and manages to find one for me at our friend's house and ran out to get it. Keep in mind that now is 1am. It's a good thing my friends stay up so late. Oh yeah, and tomorrow is my dlpt too, so i'm a little keyed up right now and exhausted to boot. Ok, gotta get some sleep.

One big sleepy family

We just finished watching transformers. Awesome movie, I must say. The little ones loved it but couldn't quite make it through the whole thing. You should have seen aleric's face when he saw fast cars turn into robots then start fighting, it was like little boy (and big boy) heaven.

One good night

Tonight was a good night. I voted for what I am ashamed to say is the first time. I voted for McCain and i'm proud to say it. I like McCain and I like what he stands for. The normal political mud slinging matches didn't make me think any less of him. I wouldn't be able to handle knowing that I at least didn't help keep a man who's patriotism I seriously doubt from gaining office. I personally believe that McCain is not going to win. Too many people view him as more of the same, as old fashioned. I'm all too aware that I am part of the Apple and iPod generation. We want different, new and flashy. I think Obama is all of that, but that doesn't ensure good performance in office. Ok, done with that. On a totally non political note, I made the best lasagna ever tonight!

My xbox

I found a great deal on some games today and was excited to play them when I got home. I got tomb raider legend for the 360, chrome hounds which is a mech combat game and a game that Holly has been wanting for ages, Crash Bandicoot for the original xbox. I was most disappointed to discover that my 360 had gone dead somewhere between yesterday morning and this afternoon. Maybe this was a good thing, because Holly and I spent several hours playing Crash together, which is a pretty rare thing. That game is actually pretty fun in a really old school way that is exactly what she was looking for. I can be pretty laid back about the 360 going dead because we were smart and purchased a warranty extension when we got it. If we hadn't, this would have really sucked. The manufacturers warranty expired 2 weeks ago. Go figure. Well, hurray for planning for the worst.

Land snails

Here in Hawaii we have snails that if found in France might be used instead of cattle. I haven't heard one moo yet but I wouldn't be surprised.

Bring on the baby

Holly is pretty desperate to get this little girl out of her. Today she was feeling pretty good so she asked if I wanted to take a walk. Little did we know that we would be walking something long like, 6 miles or something, tonight. We walked for about 2 hours and covered 6 miles, as I alluded to in the previous statement. Now she's tired, and just maybe 6 miles closer to getting this baby out of her. Aleric is not tired. He loved the long ride and the stints of baby sprinting. He got to see some ambulances and police cars whiz by on the highway tonight. They didn't seem to phase him one bit. He has become something of a car fanatic over the last few weeks. Not just cars, just anything with wheels and an engine. I was pushing him around the store and he spotted some kids playing a racing game based on the movie Cars. He was completely mesmerized by it and started to freak when we walked away. All said, it's been a pretty good day. I even got to watch a few hours of documentaries with the captions on while Holly slept.

WARNING: Geek Content Follows

Figured out how to use AJAX for some neat tricks, it's really not that hard surprisingly. Messed around a bit in PHP for the first time in about a year, it's pretty nice and really makes some things easy. Still working on Java ServerFaces and javabeans though, I think it may be awhile until I get that stuff down.

Work and Life

Lately I have been really busy at work, and having a lot of fun with it. I've also been really busy at home. Holly has been so miserable that I feel bad going to work every day. I wish I could just stay home with her and let her sleep. Neither one of us can wait for Auria to be born. So today, I'm working hard, making some good progress on my current project (a web application, lot's of fun) and I get a phone call. These days any time I get a phone call my stomach leaps up into my throat and my heart skips a few beats. It could be Holly calling to tell me that it's time. I missed this call and got an email from an AF sergeant that I work with telling me to call Holly immediately. So I run to the phone and call her and she tells me that she fell down the stairs! Inside, I panic, outside I calmly ask her some questions. I never want to freak out because I don't want to make her freak out even worse than I'm sure she already is. I can't get home for at least 45 minutes and that's if I speed. So I run back to my office, let the appropriate people know that I'm leaving and why and dash to my car. When I say dash, keep in mind that if I park as close as I can, my car is still half a mile and about 200 stair steps away from me. So I get home as quick as I can and we take her to the hospital. We were there for almost 6 hours and thank God everything was alright. Both she and Auria are healthy and unharmed by the tumble. Yesterday we went to the doctors and Holly said she was exhausted and that she could really use some sleep. The doc gave her some sleeping meds that are safe for the baby so Holly's body can rest up. I guess that this medication is what caused the problem today, or at least that's all we can figure. It had some strange effects on her. Last night at 9:45 (two hours after we went to sleep) she had to get up to use the restroom. She's halfway there when she stops, says "Whoa, I've never seen that before!" shakes her head, then continues ambling toward the restroom. I didn't find out until today what she saw for the first time last night. I read the paper with all the information on the medication right after getting it and it said that sometimes if given to children with ADD or ADHD it can cause hallucinations. I guess Holly has ADHD or something because in her eyes, everything was edged in red and blue bubbles. Kind of a weird sight, probably would have made me stop and shake my head too. It made me think of an article I read in a science journal about a year ago about how your brain composites images from about 12 different layers of imagery. Each layer contains different information on the world around you and one of those layers was edges. I just found it interesting that she was only hallucinating on a single layer of vision, not all of them. I wonder if those scientists that are into that have ever checked out hallucinations and their effects on a person's image composition process. Ok, enough geek talk. Almost, just for posterity I'm going to post what I am currently researching so that in a month I will remember to check my google journal for all the cool notes I'm entering.
Dojo (AJAX toolkit), JSP, Java ServerFaces, JavaBeans, C#, ASP.Net

Sometime in November I might even get to study my language. That will be nice, it's been awhile since I got to study that.

My Wife

I have a great wife. She is a great mother and she does everything that a wife and mother should do. I just want to put that out there for all those who might be confused. I guess if you look at the way we run our family with the mindset that a woman belongs in the home, cooking and cleaning and being subservient then you might be inclined to wonder what is going on. See, in our family, I work, she stays home. So far so good for all of you out there right? Ok, try this. I cook, she cleans. We practice something called communication and joint decision making. That sort of eliminates the need for her to be subservient. I guess what I'm getting at is that in these times, you can't expect anyone to restrict themselves to those old roles. I like to cook, she feels compelled to clean. She likes to manage bills, I like to make the money. We both have found ways of doing what we're good at to contribute to the family.

I need to explain this because there are some out there who ceaselessly make Holly feel bad for the way that our family works best. They reduce her to tears, questioning her self worth and nothing that I say seems to be able to console her. These someones are important to her, she values their opinions and it hurts when they tell her she's doing things wrong just because it's not how they do it. Really, I want to ask them if they are happy the way they do it. I don't think they are, and since they're not happy I want to ask why they must force that unhappiness into their daughters life. Holly and I are happy together and we work well as a team. In fact, there is no one else on this Earth that I would rather tackle the challenges of life with. She has determination, intelligence, resourcefulness, confidence and compassion. She loves her family more than anything else and puts her whole self into everything that she does. The next time you feel the need to question the way we run our family or challenge MY wife's worth, talk to ME.

General Military Training

The Navy has this belief that its sailors are stupid. I'd like to say that's not true but then I read things like "If abstaining from sex or practicing monogamy are not an option for you right now..." in a monthly GMT. If the brass really believes that a statement like that could possibly be necessary then it's not just our sailors that need to be educated. I challenge anyone to give me an example other than a rape where monogamy or abstinence is NOT an option! I don't think our leadership is stupid but I do think that being pc seems to have made morals something to be ashamed of and that sickens me. It's infiltrated our GMTs which are supposed to be providing guidance to the many young, impressionable minds that join the Navy straight out of high school. Something like the above sited example just implies to these kids that it just might not be an option, that they might NEED to be having sex.

Papaw Rollie

This is Holly's grandpa Rollie. They are visiting from Oregon right now. We went to the USS Missouri yesterday and the USS Arizona on Saturday. So far it's been an easy trip.

Telepathy

For the following post I ask you to suspend disbelief.

Often times I have found myself wondering how my wife's brain works. What? I would ask myself, is going through her mind. I have a pretty good handle on how my mind works and where it's weaknesses are, but my wife's mental file structure has remained a bit of a mystery. The other night, I had a breakthrough. She said, "I'm hungry." so I asked her what she wanted me to do about it. She hadn't said anything and suddenly, out of thin air, I get this mental image of a desert in the pantry's top shelf behind some other boxes in the left corner. I didn't even know we had this desert in the pantry, let alone know where it was. She started to say, "Why don't you..." I cut her off, "don't say it, let me get it and see if I'm right."
So I went into the pantry, reached blindly into the upper left hand corner behind a row of cake mix boxes and retrieved the aforementioned desert. "Huh, it was actually there." I thought to myself. "Is this what you were wanting?" I prompted Holly. "Um... Yeah, how did you know?" I told her not to worry about it, because if I told her I could read her mind then she probably would start wanting me to do it all the time. I can't have that happening now can I? So, what did I learn about my wife's thought process? A lot. This one mental image allowed me to figure out how she knows where my wallet is when I think it has been lost to a black hole somewhere in the vicinity of Orion's Belt. It's not just my wallet though. I can ask her where anything is, no matter how small and she will tell me down to the smallest detail where I will find that object. You see, her mind works a lot like a relational database. It's filled with items, each item has several fields associated with it. The first one is an image of the object's surroundings. I believe this field is updated upon each sighting of the linked object. The next field is a priority marker, this one is used to help return the most relevant results first, saving time on the scanning process. The last one and the one that I find most amazing is the geolocation data that is stored. I'm not sure what format it is using yet, I'm going to need a few more examples to crack the code, but it works well. It could be a linked path from the objects closest to the user to the sought after object, or it could be in something even more sophisticated. All I know is it works. I think Holly is not the only woman who's brain works in this fashion so I figured I would share my deductions and hope that it will help others in some way.

Holly made a cake

So my friend Adam is having a birthday party today. He doesn't know it though. He's out on a fishing boat somewhere in the pacific several miles off the northern coast of oahu. His wife, Destiny, enlisted Holly's help in making a cake for when he gets back. This is that cake. It turned out even better than the model picture we found via google.

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Red neck scrabble

Holly and I just played a game of scrabble without spelling requirements. See If you can figure out what words these are supposed to be.
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My dad made it

So after a long and arduous journey, we made it to the top. And as though we weren't breathing hard enough, the view is breathtaking by itself.
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Got something done

I'm pretty happy with the day, even though it had to start at 3am... See, last night Aleric thought sleep was just an option. Wait, let me rephrase that. Aleric made sure sleep wasn't an option. He couldn't sleep which translates directly into we couldn't sleep. He woke up at around 2am and was sort of whining, that quickly escalated into him screaming bloody murder and pounding on his door. This is a bit unusual so I ran in there to see what was going on. He was shaking and practicly climbed up me like you see those baby bears fly up trees! I have no idea what is freaking him out, but none of us like it. Ok that was just the beginning of the day. We fell back asleep around 7am and slept until 9. That was not nearly enough. Now I'll tell you why I titled this entry "Got something done" It's because while he was sleeping again (around 1pm) I went out and worked on the prelude. The belts were squealing even though I just replaced them. Perhaps it was to spite me for replacing them. See, I think the car had become comfortable with its' old crusty alternator/ac belt. They had shared many miles and developed into a sort of symbiotic relationship which I apparently had unwittingly disturbed. Trouble is, I threw the old belts out and the car is going to have to learn to cope. So I tightened those belts up and they seem to be getting along much better now. I don't have to turn off the lights and AC everytime my rpms drop below 1k. That's nice. As a strange side effect, my dashlights have begun working more frequently too! I'm sure it's unrelated but perhaps the car has seen the light and realized that some change is for the best. So the day was a good one, despite the rocky start.

My Son

Click here

If you click on the above link you will see a post from my son about his new doll, or as he likes to call her, Bubba. He actually started calling her Bubba on his own this morning after we asked him what her name should be. Now if Holly or I say, "Go put Bubba in her stroller" he runs and gets her and puts her into her stroller. He also holds her and feeds her a bottle, shares his food, walks her around in the stroller and puts her into her pack and play when he goes to bed. All this with little to no coaching from either Holly or I. I am sure he is going to be a great big brother and a great little helper when Auria comes. Some people may find it strange that we got Aleric a doll, but Holly and I decided to get him one so that the adjustment big brother from only child won't be quite so jarring. He sure seems to have taken to the role like a duck to water. Let me know what you think by leaving a response.

The Best Time You Can Have on the Road

 

Daddy x2

Oh man, I almost didn't write a post about the most important thing to happen in over a year! I am going to be father of 2 in October!! We just found out 3 days ago. We are so excited. If the baby is a boy his name will be Xan Riley, if the baby is a girl she will be name Liliana Elise. The next 9 months will be interesting, but it's all worth it. I am so tired at the moment that I can't think of anything else to write. But I will write more later.

Utah

Well, I've been in Utah a week now and I still can't adjust to the time difference. Well, maybe can't is the wrong word. I haven't. My class doesn't start until 11 so I sleep in until 9 or 10 each day which means I end up staying up until 1 or 2 each night. It'll make going home easy. So far we've only had 3 days of class, due to snow days and miscommunications so this has really turned out to be a paid vacation. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the Navy? So far I've gone snowboarding, hit the casinos with some friends (don't worry, I played the penny slots for hours with $4) and seen a couple movies. It's been nice.

The Japanese Tourist Shaka

When doing all of the touristy things, we had no choice but to run into lots of tourists. This innevitably led us to noticing their odd, awkward shaka. Every pose included this strange hand position.

21st

Brandon and I have had a busy couple of days. Yesterday was his 21st birthday, so of course we went out and had some fun. First, at midnight we all went down to my neighbors house (it's her birthday too) and gave her a cupcake with 19 candles on it. That was one scary cupcake. Before she got her cupcake however, we had laid in wait in her house and when she came through the door Brandon and I roared, it was dark and it was awesome. She screamed for nearly an entire minute and then Holly came out with the flaming cupcake of doom to top it all off. That was when the scream became laughter, she thought it was awesome. I'm just glad she's got a good sense of humor.

Destiny (left) and her friend Cat

 

Next, about 18 hours later, we went down to the harbor and jumped on the Ali'ikoi for a nice relaxing ;) dinner cruise.

I was the DD so Brandon got to enjoy the tasty tropical drinks. Holly and I got him his first drink,

                       

and a key chain with a picture of all of us in it. Brandon was having a great time. He got up on the stage and danced the chacha and a congo line, it was hilarious. There was a Polynesian show which was a lot of fun to watch.

 

Not to mention the absolutely beautiful sunset that you see here. We even saw a whale, but weren't able to get a picture of it. Brandon and I were up on the observation deck and I saw a couple of Chinese people taking pictures of one another, I decided to take that opportunity to use my Chinese and asked them if they would like me to take a picture of them. It was fun and they were quite surprised.

Hiking at Manoa Falls

Brandon, Aleric, Ian and I all went up to Manoa falls today to do some hiking. I love that place. The forest has an awesome rainforest feel and I think that anyone who comes to this island should visit this place. It's like stepping into Jurassic Park only without the risk of a velociraptor eating you. Here are some pictures for you all to enjoy.

Well, this is just some pretty moss to show you how lush it is here.

I wonder if these berries are edible... Don't worry, I didn't try.

Fungus is cool... right?

Where is the Brontosaurus?

Brandon doesn't like to pose. But the next pic says he does.

                

"Just let me hide in here"      "A super cute baby and his uncle"

Brand New Software

I just discovered Microsoft's new bundle of Live software. It is really nice, I have to say, and I'm not a MS fanboy by any means. I am in fact writing this entry from the new Live Writer software. I am hoping this works as well as it seems to be. This is my brother Brandon, he is here visiting for a while. Obviously this photo was taken at our grandparents house since he is still wearing a sweater and clothing like that can prove lethal in Hawaii.