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.