Da' bucket

A few additions to the bucket list and a few explanations

1. Learn to code/design a website, move this blog to said site. - I love computers, more importantly I love the internet and how you can present information in a seemingly infinite manner. The pages are there, they can grow, change and keep record of who you were. They aren't you but they are of you.

2. Return to Puerto Rico - There are two places I hold a bond to and that is Oregon and Puerto Rico. They are in my blood and it's only natural to want o be part of both.

3. Reach a point where I can become a certified interpreter in both American Sign Language and Spanish - Matthew 25:29 "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." I have been so blessed to be born into a family that has opened doors with me by simply using our native languages. This has given me far more than I ever deserved and for a time I hid that talent. My mission brought me clear perspective and an opportunity to share what I have in the service of others. I want to do that again because it makes me feel good.

4. Build/Own a business (and how will i love it if it ended up being a indoor soccer place with two fields! What's that...? I can already hear Brynn groaning). - It's either soccer of I finally open Oregon's premier Mexican Buffet.

5. Continue to blog, or journal keep for the rest of my life. - So far, so good. And now that Brynn has gotten on board we are hitting the web fierce and cat like, dropping truth bombs left and right.

6. Start a family and raise them well. - This would make me so happy to bring children in the world and raise them with my beautiful wife, Brynn.

7. Build a house (or remodel it), I want to work with my hands. - This is something I have alluded to in the past but growing up I was always my dad's assistant. The man can do it all and he made sure to bring me with him to show me the ropes. Which has led to my aversion to construction and remodeling. My plan was always to always let a professional do it. But the the general principles of maintain a home hasn't changed for so long and there is this growing need to be the one who is able to fix that leak in the faucet or rewire our house. I want be able to say, "I did that". Goodness knows that I will one day end up with quite a few tools (not hoping but it just will happen) and might as well learn how to use them.

8. Program my Quidditch game, NHL '94 style. - I love Quidditch and aside from soccer I could honestly say it my favorite sport. I love games sports games that put me in control of the teams making key decisions that begin an endless dynasty. And after seeing the many iterations of Quidditch that populate the video game sphere I think I have the most amiable solution to my lack of a good Quidditch video game.

9. Finally hold my version of Muggle Quidditch. - And why stop at video games when I can get out on the field and create mayhem. I still haven't figured out the snitch conundrum but I have an idea.

10. Gain a working knowledge of cars and begin to work on my own (provided they don't all leapfrog to the future, in the year 2000!). - Especially after this week I want to be able to prevent the occasional fire under the hood of my car.

11. Twelve books a year for an average of a book a month. Start knocking out books from the list of 1,001 books you need to read before you die. - Still working on it... like the nice little loophole? - I watch far too much television and movies and though there are many great stories told through those mediums I can tell you that nothing has ever gripped me like a book. The pleasure of finishing it, the need that gnaws at you to turn each page to behold what mystery hides behind the author's prose. I love books and they need to be part of my everyday life.

12. Read the scriptures every year. - You could say that this is the ultimate book (books) and by the far the most fulfilling. It doesn't give you the satisfaction of finishing a good story, it fills your soul with the nectar of spiritual fruit which bears you up when you walk amid the deserts of life.

13. Finish my four generation pedigree chart and hoard all the information I can get on them. Digitize all I get my grubby hands on. - I remember my mom and dad telling me stories as we grew up of the important events, places, and people. These people they had known and cast shadow today, specters of the past, glimmers in the future. My family can be together forever. But I want to know what they did, how they spoke, what made them tick. I want to preserve that so that when my kids get a big head they can remember that dad was always shooting his mouth off when they played Risk with him.

14. Art projects - "The circle of life", "Faceless", "Feet". Each of these represent titles and concepts of pieces I want to do but have yet not been able to materialize. One is part never ending sculpture and the others will be using photography as my medium.

A proposition about art

When we went to the Cox's house today we saw the most magnificent decoration in the world... HOMEMADE ART. What they had done was give some family members some canvases and asked them to paint. Now mind you the the family has something like six kids but what came out was so great because on one wall of their house are the "fruits" of their labor. Each of the kids and mom had painted a different piece of fruit on a piece of canvas including the great oranges that look like a) chili peppers or b) carrots. So here is our proposition, we only have two pieces of art hanging on our walls and we need your help to fill the wall. Heck I would love to go around and get different pieces of canvases to give to you if you want to help in this project since my artistic abilities are limited to my world renowned stick figures, will your painting be the next Mona Lisa?

Fancy Pants

Not winning any prizes for art photography anytime soon but here are some pictures of our new pieces that we picked up today from the frame shop. Had a little moment of panic when the tree frame's backboard was upside down (as annoyance at the frame shop grew) and then the big "Doh!" moment, we could move it ourselves. We're so special. Apologize for the flash on the second one, it was that or without the flash you'd have the pleasure of seeing me hanging upside down from the tree. Your choice. I figured you'd get the gist of it.

Snooty people

So I haven't posted in awhile because our laptop was acting out and we had to send it to the company to be fixed. So all we have is our iPod which is really annoying to type on but I figured I would suffer through it since it's still going to be awhile till we are reunited with our computer again.
This week has been a great one so far... I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off which isn't good for our funds but it's been good to have a lot of time with Clifford. Monday we visited some art galleries which was really fun and in the first one we bought two prints! Our first pieces of art! It was a larger store and the workers were pretty snooty which made me want to change my mind and not buy anything. Since we weren't buying several hundreds of dollars worth of stuff we got crappy service and had to wait forever for someone to check us out!
Tuesday we went out again and explored Lake Oswego. They are a bunch of fancy pants too!! We ended up going to ikea and Clifford saw the magic of it!! He was won over by the 50 cent hotdogs! We didn't buy anything but got some good ideas.
Wednesday Clifford "went deaf" for a class project. It's been really difficult since I don't know much sign. I really sympathize with the deaf and loved ones of the deaf. It's so hard to communicate. Also we watched tv with the sound off and closed captioning which really shows how much sound plays a huge part. It's been great to walk in different shoes but I will be grateful in ten minutes when he can hear again!
I went to the temple with my dad again yesterday! It's been great having him come because it's really gotten me motivated!! I had a goal to go more since we live like 5 min away!
We've made friends with a family in our ward. They were new the same Sunday we were! They are a lot of fun and we've been having game nights with them on Sundays. They have a darling eight month old girl and she really is sooooo cute! We played the Beatles Rockband and she was singing (or making noise haha ) along with her mom and dancing! She just wanted to be a part of it and it was soo cute!
Well I think that's all we've been up to!

Quick hits

While our laptop is vacationing in California we are stuck using Brynn's iPod to pump out a few tasty morsels here and there.

We've spent the past week parading around Portland as Brynn and I
 have had time together. Our intention was to go on a gallery tour this Monday and see what priceless works of art that are adorning this city
but it was no sooner than our first real store (we had been in a few before this one but it's the kind of place that sells seventy five dollar pillows, Owen Wilson serves as a picture frame's model, and old ladies who shop there drives a Mercedes that look like the Batmobile) than we had in hand our first pieces of art. That's right, we own art crazy! But let me tell you about service, if we are buying something for a significant amount of dough I expect someone to be there immediately. For such a high end place (they sell little "handmade" pumpkin pins that look as though a kindergartener had painted them for a whooping eighteen bucks) they ought to have at least a little bell. Yeeesh.
I also kidnapped Brynn and drove her off to IKEA where apparently dreams are made out of. I have to admit that going in I remained convinced that it was all some plot by the Swedish to brainwash our women by selling the trendy furniture but they may be onto something over there. Granted the room by room thing is cool at first (gets old by the second) i really dig the prices. Even has Wally World beat in some cases which is always a bonus. Not to mention they won me over with their cheap hot dog meal. Two bucks, two dogs, drink and chips... Who could ask for more?
Been spending the better part of twentn four hours Deaf for as part of research I need to do for a paper. Been a very interesting day with a few important details that have stuck out. One is the loss of communication with others and primarily with Brynn. It's hard because our interactions today have been limited to simple gestures and "I love you" signs. Any more than that and the process becomes laborious and stressful. I am eager to communicate but I can see between fingerspelling and teaching simple signs the strain that is put on Brynn. At times I've wanted to call it quits because all i want to is connect with her and then I can see on some level what my dad may feel like. Where there may not already sophiticated language in place simple feelings, ideas, and meanings get lost in translation. Lucky for me in eleven hours it's all over with but i cannot help but think of those who can't just simply remove their earplugs and again listen to the radio or share about your day. Maybe when I have time i will post the paper.
Got a job at Soccerplex which I'm really jazzed about. They called after in landed the job as a sandwich artisté at Subway (who convniently forgot to call me for over a week, making it easier on my concious to bolt) and it looks like I will in part help build a program. Hopefully this will give valuable skills for the future not to mention getting me back into the game i love so much.

Salem First Wednesday

Wandering the streets of Salem tonight for downtown's monthly First Wednesday celebration we learned a few things.

1. Art is crazy expensive... making us appreciators instead of owners.
2. Why buy it when you can make it yourself. In one of the stores they were selling fruit bowls made out of magazines, a short search on the Google Machina and we have the instructions to make our own set.
3. The hip hop gangsters need to get their act together when it comes to public performances. When you have a laptop, a soundboard, and some mikes you shouldn't spend an eternity setting up. We had time to stand and watch, peruse Borders, and complain as they weren't ready to go by the time we got kicked out of the mall (which closes at 8... what is the deal with that?)