I’ve been recently having computer troubles. It’s been happening more and more frequently. This time my desktop and laptop both failed at the same time. The laptops hard drive decided it wasn’t going to function anymore while my desktop decided it didn’t want to start anymore. The laptop was easy enough to fix. I just had to erase everything, re-format the hd and re-install os X. Yay! It works! The desktop not so much. I fiddled and faddled with it and it just won’t do what I say. Sigh. So I decided that it’s time to upgrade. I’m headed to Oahu this weekend to pick up a new computer. I thought about it for a while and was feeling like I couldn’t justify it, but after days of my computer not starting up, I’ve set my mind to it and it’s decided, and since it’s decided, I don’t feel bad anymore. Now I’m just excited. After 5 years, I finally get a new computer. Sweet!

Hurricane Felicia has finally come. Of course it’s not a hurricane anymore. But it sure is raining out. I filled a 2 quart container full of water with the leak in our roof. Crystal light any one?

Leif turned one last week. I can’t believe it, one already. He so big now. Big enough to throw cars and balls off of our lanai. Sigh. BRB.

Anyway, he’s super cute. We took thousands of pictures of him too. His first year is very well documented. I think his first word might be either dad, pico or testicles. That’s my boy.

See the rest of the photos

My 30th birthday has come and gone. I didn’t have a big party or anything like that. Holly was home sick from work (for real) but still managed to make me delicious banana bread for breakfast. Gavin wished me a happy birthday many times. I received many face book messages from friends afar, which was nice. Mostly the day just went by. Gavin of course was dying to give me the two presents that he and granny got for me. Sometime in the afternoon, probably close to two o’clock, Gavin and I decided that we needed to make a cake so that he could properly give me my present. Holly was planning on making me my cake, but she was sick on the couch and I was in a baking kind of mood. Not having any form of chocolate in the house, and an abundance of rum and lilikoi, I decided I was going to have a lilikoi rum cake. I got hold of an abundance of fresh lilikoi juice from my landlord, who picked and juiced about 200 lilikoi that morning. Mmmmm. So good. The cake baked in the oven while I worked and played and lounged around. Holly made a nice simple dinner for us. Something we could eat easily and quickly and get to the important stuff. So the time for cake came. It turned out so delicious. So yum. A great balance of rum and lilikoi and cake in every moist bite. When it came time for presents, which was even before all the cake was consumed, Gavin informed me that he would tell me in which order to open the presents. The first one was something that looked something like a wonton made of tinfoil. “I’ve been saving this for you for a long time, dad” says Gavin. I unfold the taped tinfoil and inside I find 63¢. He is such a good kid. “There’s only one more dad, so I have to tell you to open this one” Gavin says with a smile. It’s larger than the tinfoil wonton and has no particular shape. I easily tear it open and find something I just would never suspect. Two pairs of safety goggles, two bags of 150-count rubber bands, and two wooden luger rubber-band guns. How awesome is that? Needless to say, there are now rubber-bands all over our house. Oh well. Leif will pick them up.

And that was my birthday. I couldn’t ask for much more than that. I got phone calls from my mother, father, and my sister. It was a good day.

For more 30th birthday fun though, I think I’ll go to Oahu to go to Gordon Biersch for dinner and then karaoke with my friends. Why not, right?

Today I found myself doing a lot of driving. I don’t mind driving in general, but driving back and forth all day and only having an hour or so between each time I have to leave gets tiresome. So I decided to take Leif to the beach to brake the routine up a little. He thoroughly enjoyed the beach. He wasn’t so fond of the sand like he was last time, but when I carried him out into the water he had a blast. He liked getting hit by the waves and splashing and watching me splash and all that. We stayed for about an hour then headed home. I expect he’ll fall asleep easy tonight, as will Gavin, who is currently playing at a friends house. We were told to bring his bathing suit because they set up their inflatable pool. We will have tired children tonight. 🙂

Well, we got the boy back. It is really nice having the family back together again. He was away from us for more than I like. But he’s back now. Leif is loving having his brother back. When we were picked up from the airport, Leif just laughed and cackled at Gavin in the back seat all the way to Wal Mart. What good kids.

Gavin is a very smart boy. He is very observant and picks up on things very quickly. For instance, while staying with granny, he picked up on her frequent comment to the cats on how they were so cute she can’t stand it. After hearing her announcing this many a time, he decided to try it out himself. He very lovingly told his granny, “Granny, I can’t stand being with you.”

I’ve decided that for my 30th birthday, I want to have a party at Gordon Biersch. It’s my favorite restaurant ever and I’ve had my birthdays there almost every year for the past 6 or so years. I appreciate it even more now that I make my own beer. I’ve called a few of my friends to let them know and hopefully I’ll have a head count at the end of the week.

While on Oahu, I made a very necessary stop at the beer store to pick up more beer ingredients. I’ve decided to make a German Marzén. Gordon Biersch Marzén is one of my all-time favorite beers. So I’ve decided to give it a go. My previous cream ale is bottled, but not ready to drink for another 5 days or so, and already I’m itching to make my new batch. I think I’ll make it this weekend. That way, I’ll have some overlap and won’t have to go without beer again. For shame.

At the library, a women and her daughter went up to the desk to apply for library cards. Looking over the application, Holly chuckled under her breath at the lady’s last name; Yankovic. Haha. She has the same last name as Weird Al. Oh wait. Is that Weird looking at the DVD rack? OMG! It is. Whoa.

So that’s that.