Engaged

November 13th, 2009

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This past Tuesday, November 10, 2009, I finally did what a lot of friends and family were hoping for and proposed to Jess, my girlfriend of over 2.5 years. Actually, it was 2 years, 8 months (to the day in fact).

What follows, is the story of how I went about becoming the happiest guy imaginable.

The Ring

I wanted to make sure I had the ring before I started anything. To me, this was one of the most important parts. Jess and I had already looked at rings together about a month prior, so I knew what she liked and what she would want. Using that knowledge, I picked out the ring I would give her: a Scott Kay palladium solitaire ring. I went to the jeweler to have the diamond set in the ring, and once I saw the ring with the diamond set in it, I began to really get excited.

Getting the Families On Board

Monday night, the night before the proposal, I went over to my parents and told them I intended to propose to Jess “tomorrow night”. Their faces lit up and were very excited. My dad stood up instantly and hugged me and said “congratulations”; my mom said, “well it’s about time”, obviously indicating this was something the family had been anticipating and anxiously awaiting.

I said “good bye” to my parents, went outside to my car, and sat in my car in my parents’ driveway and called Jess’s parents, who live about 90 minutes north of us. I started the conversation by saying, “I’m sorry for doing this over the phone, this is something I wanted to discuss with you yesterday when we were up there, but someone, who goes by the name of ‘Jessica’ did not want to leave the house and I couldn’t talk to you guys alone.” I informed them of my intentions to marry their daughter, and asked for their blessing. Her dad said, “that would be wonderful!” Her mom said, “you know I won’t be able to sleep tonight now, this is exciting!” I then asked if they would be willing to drive down to San Diego the following night, and they agreed (once again I had apologized for such short notice, but they were excited).

With blessings from both families secured, I went about enacting my plan.

Putting the Plan in Action

Jess had school Tuesday morning, and work Tuesday afternoon. She actually wasn’t originally supposed to work on Tuesday, but picked up a shift, which worked in her favor as it allowed me to do everything I needed to do. Since she would be home for a period of time around noon, I knew I couldn’t do anything with the house until she went to work or else I would tip her off.

I went to work for the morning, but then I told her I was leaving around 12:30 to have lunch with a co-worker. At 12:30, I headed up to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up a bag of 100 tea lights and some champagne flutes (we had none). Then I went to the grocery store and picked up fixin’s for dinner, a bottle of her favorite champagne, a dozen roses, and two bags of rose petals.

I returned home around 1:30, narrowly missing Jess as she went to work just 10 minutes prior to my returning home. I set to work on getting everything done I needed to, starting with dinner. I browned the pot roast and got it cooking in the crock pot. I then thoroughly cleaned up the kitchen and front room.

With about 2 hours to go before she returned home from work, I began working on our bedroom. I started by cleaning everything up, and then made the bed. I cleaned off the dresser and night stands and Pledged it all so it was nice and clean. I finished everything up by vacuuming the entire condo; let’s just say the house had not been this clean in months.

I placed about 50 tea lights throughout the room: on the dresser, TV stand, night stands, anything I could. I put the dozen roses on her night stand, and two champagne flutes underneath the roses. I placed her favorite teddy bear, Rocky, which she’s had since she was five years-old on the center of the bed.

I opened the first bag of rose petals and dumped them on the bed. I originally was going to just randomly place them on the bed, but that didn’t look so good; instead, I shaped all the rose petals into the shape of a heart. Using the second bag of petals, I sprinkled them all over the dresser and night stands (wherever there wasn’t a candle basically). Finally, I poured the champagne into the flutes.

Then, the most important part: I placed the ring box on the bear so it looked like he was holding it.

The stage was set, I was all ready to go.

Waiting

Normally Jess leaves work around 5:30PM, but tonight she was running a bit late. I get a call at almost 5:50, she was just leaving. We had discussed dinner, and I said I had figured something out and that the chicken was thawing out (I can’t keep my lies straight, probably a good thing). I already had everything set up, the candles all lit, and at this point was just pacing back and forth in the house waiting for her to make the drive home. It felt like this was her longest drive home, I was just so anxious.

I saw her drive up and I went back into the bedroom where everything was set up, and waited.

The Proposal

She came inside and called out to me, “hi”, I answered from the bedroom, “Hi”.

She walked upstairs, saw the clean house, “Why is the house so clean? When did you get home to clean?”

“Oh, I got home about 4:30 and the house was bugging me so I cleaned.”

Walking into the kitchen because she smelled the pot roast, “wait, this isn’t chicken? Why aren’t we having chicken?”

“I told you I figured dinner out. Can you come back here?”

“Why? What are you doing back there?”

“Will you just come back here please?”

She walks into the bedroom and looks at me, “What’s going on? Why are you dressed so nicely?” I could see it in her face, she knew what was going on. She started to get excited and tear up a little.

I said, “I think this is something you’ve been waiting a while for, and was hoping it would happen soon.” I grabbed her hands and looked in her eyes, and began pouring my heart out to her, choking back the tears.

After professing my love for her, I took the ring box from Rocky and got down on one knee, opened the box and said, “Jessica, will you marry me?” Well actually, she didn’t let me finish, she shouted “OF COURSE!” before I could even finish asking her.

She was still staring me in the eyes and never once looked at the ring, I said, “okay well will you look at the ring?” She took a look and smiled even more. I put the ring on her finger (the perfect size mind you), stood up and she just attacked me with hugs and kisses. We hugged for such a long time, because it was such a momentous occasion, but also because she was admiring the shiny new diamond ring she had on her finger while hugging me.

We toasted to each other with the champagne I already had poured, and I then informed her that her family was already on the way down from Riverside, and they’d be having dinner with us at the condo. She started clapping and let out a giggle.

Sharing the Joy

She was so giddy and excited that she literally was jumping up and down and staring at her hand. With her still in her work clothes, I said, “Okay, time to change, we need to go see my parents.” She was just so excited to show it off, she just shouted, “OKAY!!”

We went to my parents and they popped another bottle of champagne and we toasted there, hugged and just shared in the happiness together. We left my parents around 7:00 so I could finish making dinner and we could meet her parents at the condo. The parents were anxious to meet each other, so we invited my parents over for dessert around 8:30. We would have had them over for dinner too, but we don’t have enough room to host that many people (yet).

Her parents got there around 7:20 (they hit traffic) and they gave us a gift. Jess asked, “Do you mind if I just open it?” I said, “Yes I mind. That’s ‘our’ gift, and our first one since becoming an engaged couple, so we can open it together.” They had gotten us a beautiful pair of Waterford crystal champagne flutes (these: http://bit.ly/2BYBSD ). Her mom said we could use them for the wedding itself, but that doesn’t mean we had to wait until the wedding to use them, we christened them right then with what else, MORE CHAMPAGNE!

Anyway, we had dinner and had just finished cleaning up when my parents arrived. What better occasion for the parents to meet, right? They hit it off and got along well. We all sat around talking for about an hour, while Jess’s and my phones were lighting up with calls, texts, emails, and Facebook notifications. At one point I had 8 unread texts, 19 unread emails, and phone calls kept coming in.

Unwinding

The parents all left around 10:00, and Jess and I unwound in front of our computers; both of us answering and addressing all the Facebook posts and comments we received.

Jess later told me that everything I had done was all she could have ever wished for, she could not ask for anything better. She loves her ring and she loves the way I proposed. And anyone she tells the story to just has the same response, “awwwww”, which is all she wanted from me for a proposal. Her favorite part was that I used Rocky as part of the proposal and he was holding the ring, she thought that was the cutest thing ever.

The funny thing is, she doesn’t remember anything I said to her during the actual proposal, she was too busy going “OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG” in her head to comprehend what I was saying.

We went to bed just before 11:00 and both just collapsed; it had been a whirlwind of a day. One happy day neither of us will ever forget.

And now the fun that is planning a wedding begins …

Long Absence

August 14th, 2009

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So I realize I’ve been absent from blogging on here for a while (nearly four months). It’s been a fairly busy few months, both personally and professionally. Allow me to bring you up to speed on what’s been happening lately.

SPARTA

Since I last blogged towards the end of April, some things have changed in our project. The last I mentioned, we had decided to use Cappuccino for our latest web app project. Well, unfortunately, we decided against Cappuccino upon further review. It was determined that we needed a little more flexibility than Cappuccino can provide us at the time. We haven’t removed Cappuccino from any future consideration, we just decided to go with a more “traditional” implementation for this particular web app.

That said, SPARTA work has been somewhat quiet lately. We’ve just been making continual progress on each of our projects. Now that the sale of the company to Cobham has been completed, things have quieted down considerably.

creanium.net

The last few months have seen creanium.net mature quite a bit. As you saw at the beginning of April, I got business cards made up. I’ve handed out quite a few since I got them, so I’m glad I ordered them.

I’ve registered the company with the IRS and County of San Diego, so I’m legally allowed to do business as “creanium.net Web Design”. I even opened a business checking account, I’m moving up in the world!

I’ve picked up quite a few new projects in the past few months. I’ll do separate posts in a bit about each of the projects I have done.

Personally

It’s been a pretty busy number of months personally. At the end of April, Jess and I drove up to northern California to celebrate Reagan’s first birthday!

Brian’s Bachelor Party and Wedding

At the beginning of June, a bunch of us guys went on a 4-day, 3-night Bachelor Party cruise in honor of my old roommate and best friend, Brian. We sailed on the Carnival Elation from San Diego. We were supposed to dock in Ensanada, but because of Swine Flu concerns, we went to Catalina Island instead. To sum it up, we had a blast! I’m still working on getting the photos posted.

Brian got married at the end of June and I had the honor and pleasure of being his Best Man. It was a beautiful and fun beach wedding in Dana Point. Photos have been posted so feel free to take a look!

This was the first of five weddings we have been invited to this year, so the fun was just beginning.

Minnesota

July gave us no reprieve from the busyness. We spent the 4th of July up in Riverside with Jess’s family and then watched the fireworks at Mt. Rubidoux.

In mid–July the whole family (Jess included) headed to Minnesota for my cousin Danika’s wedding (2nd of 5). As expected, we all had a great time out there and it didn’t last nearly as long as it should have. I could have used another 2 or 3 days out there. The wedding was a ton of fun and it was great being up in Minnesota again. Oh, and Jess’s highlight of the entire trip? The hour we spent at the Mall of America right before our flight home.

August

That brings us to August, which I cannot believe is just about half over already. This is probably our busiest month by far. It started off on the 1st with us celebrating Keira’s 3rd birthday with the annual party at my parent’s house. As always, it was a ton of fun with all the kids.

The following weekend was booked. Gaile’s (my sister-in-law) parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a party down at Michael and Gaile’s. But because we already had plans to attend a wedding that night (our 3rd of 5), we could only stay at the party for about 2 hours before heading downtown to Jess’s friend Stephanie’s wedding.

That wedding was a ton of fun, well probably too much fun for my own good if you catch my drift. ;)

My mom celebrated her 60th birthday this past Tuesday. We hosted the immediate family (well minus Mary) for a great birthday dinner in my mom’s honor. And we’re headed to my parents’ tomorrow for more celebrating.

Weight Loss

Around the middle of June, I realized that I had had enough and the excuses weren’t working anymore and I needed to start losing weight again. So I started eating better and using My Food Diary again, and then began riding my bike again and hitting the gym. So far I’ve been able to stay on top of it for the most part and I’ve lost nearly 20 pounds. Given my history, that’s quite an accomplishment in itself.

Now

So now you’re all caught up on my happening in the last few months. I may have left a few things out, not on purpose, just there’s been so much going on that I may have forgotten a few things.

I have a few articles for which I have ideas, I just need to write them out. So look for more articles in the coming days and weeks as I get them knocked out.

Minty Fresh

November 19th, 2008

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So I’ve actually been using Mint for the last 7 months, and I’m happy to report that I’m still using it. Not consistently every day or anything, but at least once a week I go in and check all my transactions. That’s remarkable considering all the times I tried to use Microsoft Money or Quicken (or even some of the lesser finance applications like Cha-Ching) and those forays lasted maybe 2-3 weeks before I got tired of using them and just quit.

What makes Mint different is the fact that it removes all the fat of Money or Quicken. The biggest difference between Mint and all the others is how they get their data. The others expect you to enter your transactions manually and then use the data the program downloads from your bank to reconcile those chargers; but Mint exclusively uses the data it gets from your bank.

So you log in to Mint, it downloads the latest transactions from your bank, then you go through and categorize your new income and expenses and that’s it.

You can set up a budget, and you can track all your expenses and see where your money goes. The beauty of Mint is its simplicity. It’s not bogged down by all the superfluous features of Quicken or Money. It gives you the basics of expense tracking, reporting, and budgeting, and that’s all I need.

(Oh, and it has what I consider to be the best user interface of any web application to date.)

Seven Years …

September 11th, 2008

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It’s amazing how quickly time seems to go by anymore, but when something big like the terrorist attacks happen, time seems to slow way down amid the chaos; it’s almost surreal.

I remember that day seven years ago today, rather vividly.

I woke up around 8:30, like it was any other Tuesday.  I had school that morning so I went into the bathroom to take a shower.  I had a radio in there that I used to listen to while I showered.  Instead of the normal morning radio show, the mayor of San Diego was on the radio, talking about city services would be shut down for the day and that police are now on high alert.  I thought to myself, “Umm, what’s going on?”

So I turned the radio off and went back into my bedroom and flipped on the TV.  I turned to the Today show and they just had a camera fixated on lower Manhattan where the towers used to be.  There was smoke billowing up, but that was all that was left.

Working for a defense contractor, we had several employees at the Pentagon that day; in fact one of our offices is not far from the Pentagon.  Once I had heard the Pentagon was also hit, I immediately called my boss (who lives here in San Diego) to see if everyone was okay.  Everyone at our office was accounted for, but we couldn’t reach the people we had at the Pentagon.  It wasn’t until several very tense hours later that we finally got an email that all our employees were safe.

I was just glued to the TV for the rest of the day.  School was canceled for the rest of the week, so I just sat there, watching everything, absorbing it, trying to find some kind of rational reasoning for all this.  I never found one.

We had just gotten back a few days prior from my uncle’s wedding in Minnesota.  So all the different scenarios started flying through my head.  What if our plane got hijacked?  What if we got stranded in Minnesota (or some other airport)?  Of course though, I stopped myself because I knew I was safe and that my family was all okay; we were one of many lucky families that were far enough away to be directly affected.

But for those families that have been ripped apart, the families of the passengers, the families of the workers in the buildings, the firefighters and police, my heart goes out to you.  I can only imagine the pain brought on by what happened only seven years ago …

It’s that time of year …

September 13th, 2007

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… for change.

I find it quite amazing. The excruciating heat wave we all had to endure last week finally broke, and instantly, it feels like fall. We literally went from summer to fall weather in a matter of 2 days. Not that I’m complaining, but it just kind of threw me for a loop.

I love this time of year, though. It starts cooling off (that is until the Santa Ana winds pick up), the days get shorter, the sun moves just a little bit south, everyone is going back to school, new shows start appearing on TV, the baseball season is winding down, football season is picking up; it just has that “autumn feel” that I just love.

With fall though, comes the end of summer. I will admit, I had a great summer this year! I was busy for most of it, but I was busy doing fun things (usually with Jess). And even when I was busy with work, I was loving the work I was doing! (More on that later). I’m a little sad to see summer end, as it means I’m getting busy with school again and have less time to go around. Yet, I’m ready for things to change and am looking forward to the cool fall nights and to winter when the rain starts to come again.

I guess that’s all for now. I just wanted to show my appreciation for this time of year and the weather. I love living in San Diego …

Jess

August 18th, 2007

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So as some of you may know already, I’ve been dating Jess for about the last 5 months. And if you don’t know already, I’ve been dating a girl named Jess for the last 5 months, heh.

Jess and I actually had been friends about 3 years before we began dating. She lived at home in Riverside that entire time. She moved down to San Diego in January of this year to attend the Design Institute of San Diego.

We started hanging out a bit once she was living just two exists away. In an effort to help her feel more comfortable in San Diego, I would give her tours of the different parts of the city. Driving around the city gave us time to talk more and get to know each other better.

So on a Saturday in March, we went to Disneyland for the day to celebrate a mutual friend’s birthday. We had such a great time, that on the way home, we talked and decided to start dating.

We’ve basically been inseparable ever since, seeing each other virtually every day.

I couldn’t be happier.

Progress Update

March 8th, 2007

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Well, this may come as a shocker (or probably not), but the horse has faltered a bit. After being on the plan and following things rather strictly for two weeks, a lot of factors conspired against me and I had to stop two weeks into my plan.

But, I started back up again on February 12th and am happy to report that I’ve been able to stay on it now for the past month. I’ve lost 7 pounds already, and am starting to notice things like my face and neck thinning out slightly (which is a good thing). It makes things much easier when I plan my day’s meals ahead of time using My Food Diary so I know exactly what I’m going to eat. So with a few exceptions, I’ve been able to keep track of my food and actually follow it fairly well.

I unfortunately had to stop the running plan after only 3 weeks because it was causing my ankles and knees to swell too much, plus I would get pains in my stomach most times I ran. So I figured before I try vigorous running again, I would work on losing the weight first. I’ve taken up biking as my cardio for the time being instead: low-impact, I can go just about anywhere, and it still gets me outside.

At this point I’m biking about 10 MPH on average. Yesterday I just completed a 9.7-mile bike ride that took me 58 minutes. I biked up through Carmel Mountain Ranch behind Costco (which, by the way, is uphill the entire way to Costco). I then came back around and rode past my complex and biked down to Evening Creek Elementary and then back home.

So as you can see, things are going fairly well. I’m actually enjoying working out and I’ve got a good handle on the food. Just thought I’d give a little update on what’s going on.

Back on the Horse

January 9th, 2007

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It sounds pretty cliche doesn’t it? My new year’s resolution is to lose weight and get into shape (again).

Many of you know already that I’ve tried it before last year, but after about 3 months, I fell off the horse. I let temptation get the best of me and I just lost my focus. So this time around I plan to have more willpower, determination, and focus. I won’t let peer pressure get to me and I plan to stick to my guns.

What will make this even easier is if I actually put together a real plan and stick to it. Brian (my roommate) likes to do things more on a whim, when he feels like it. While I think we’re all that way to some extent, I have to do things my way and plan things out; it’s the only way I can stick to it.

So how am I going to do it? Well, each morning, I take just 15 minutes (or less) to plan my meals and snacks for the day. That way I get no surprises throughout the day. I know what I’m eating, how many calories, and I am able to keep my meals balanced and spread out. This way, it’s much easier for me to keep calories in tact. And the fewer calories I eat, the more weight I’ll lose.

I use a great website called My Food Diary to track all my food and exercise each day. It would be very difficult for me to succinctly explain how My Food Diary has benefitted me. I’m just going to tell you to check it out for yourself and see all the services and information they offer.

The best part of My Food Diary is that they think of it as just a “diet,” it’s actually a lifestyle change and learning to make better choices in your life and stick to it forever, not just until you lose the weight. It has been a great website for me to get lots of information on eating and exercising properly. I’ve learned that a lot of what I thought was fact has turned out to be incredible myths.

Speaking of exercise, I also now have adopted a running plan, appropriately called “The Couch-to-5K Running Plan“. I got the information from Cool Running and I was also able to get some more invaluable information with regards to running and taking care of my body before, during and after each run. So I’ve put each day I need to run in my calendar, and am nagged politely reminded that I need to run and what I need to run that day. If I stick to my plan and progress as I should, I should be able to run a 5K by early March, which really isn’t all that far off.

So, I have some ambitious goals here. I’m sure I have a good start here by having a definite plan in place, both for eating better and exercising.

New Websites

January 8th, 2007

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Hey everyone (all two of you that still read this thing). Just wanted to get the word out and let you know that I’ve been busy lately making websites for family and friends.

Mike Tuck Fishing
The first one I did recently is for my brother-in-law’s fishing career. Mike came to me in early September and we immediately got to working on a website for him. Within just a couple weeks, we put together a rather nice website that he is happy to promote and share with others. He has even been able to land some sponsorships because of the website.

Always Clear San Diego
The next website I just completed a couple of weeks ago. It is a site for a friend of mine’s window cleaning business. I am very pleased with the outcome of the site as it is one of the cleanest and nicest-looking websites I have ever done (in my opinion). My main goal was to keep the site clean and straight-forward. I was going for a “glassy” look with the design, using transparent and glossy elements. I feel like I pulled it off very well. Feel free to check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

Mike and Mary Tuck
Finally, I just finished putting together a new website for my sister and brother-in-law just last week. I had created their website before, using code I built myself from scratch. Just like with my own site, I had gotten tired of trying to keep up with all the features available out there already. So I just replaced everything I had built on their site with WordPress. Mary had found a them for WordPress that she had really liked but it had its limitations. So, me being me, I tweaked the theme to better suit her styles and I think I improved it greatly and the site looks great. Again, check it out for yourselves and let me know what you think.

I’ve got some new websites in the pipeline so keep an eye out for future announcements.

Minnesota Trip

January 7th, 2007

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As you may have already read, in early November, our entire family came together in Minnesota to attend my Uncle Jamie’s funeral. It was quite the trip, and one I was glad I could make to pay my last respects and help support my family.

I flew out with my brother and sister-in-law and my niece Keira on Wednesday, November 1. We left San Diego around 6:30AM, had a layover in Phoenix, and got to Minneapolis around 3:30PM (Central Time). We got our rental car, checked into the hotel, changed, and headed to the memorial.

When we arrived at the memorial, I was absolutely blown away. The best way I could describe the scene is basically it was like people were lined up for a ride at a theme park. There people were lined up all around the mortuary. There was even a rope line set up that people in line would work their way through to see the family and to pay their respects. People were waiting for over an hour at times just to see the family. I have never seen that kind of community outpouring. It was extremely touching to see so much support and so many people there for Jamie.

On Thursday was his actual funeral. It was held at a local church and it was a wonderful ceremony and celebration of Jamie’s life. His brother gave a touching reflection of Jamie’s life. There was a slideshow that he had put together that was very moving. There was one part of the slideshow where a picture of Jamie then faded into a video from the same moment and it just came alive. The entire church lost it at that point, myself included.

After the funeral, the local VFW held a 21-Gun Salute in the parking lot of the church. It was a very somber and touching moment as well.

From there we headed to the local VFW post and had a great BBQ lunch. After lunch we headed back to my aunt Sheila’s and just hung out and kept her company throughout the night. From there we headed back to the hotel and crashed again.

Friday the family came together again down at Sheila’s to help her around the house. We cleaned out the garage and moved things around and basically got the house ready for winter. We actually had a good time getting everything together and done. With about 8 guys working, we were able to get things done rather quickly.

We got the whole family together for a big group photo in front of Jamie’s bar as we figured it would be quite a while before the whole family is together again. Not to mention the fact that Sheila is selling the bar, so it won’t be Jamie’s Pemberton Pub anymore. Because we knew it would be one of the last times we’d be at the bar, Mary and I went back that night to spend some time in the bar.

We left the bar and headed up to the hotel. The next morning, we got together one last time down at Sheila’s to say good bye. We then headed up to the airport and came home. Obviously we made it home safe and sound. ;)

In spite of the circumstances, it was really great to see the family again and spend some time with them. Another benefit that came from the trip was that since I flew with Michael and Gaile, and stayed in their hotel room, I was able to get some quality bonding time with Keira. It was such a great feeling to be able to play with her and make her laugh and just have a good time with her. I love that kid.

So there you go, that was our trip to Minnesota. Be sure to read on of my earlier posts for my tribute to Jamie.

I’ve also posted some photos taken by Michael and Gaile during the trip. Be sure to check them out in the Minnesota 2006 Photo Album.

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