Comment Log - 2009 Archive

November 21, 2009: A long week...
Just got back last night from a long week on the road.
We spent a couple of days in Kingman and Laughlin, dealing with the new house, and then headed off to Virginia to show up for a court hearing to straighten out some issues with our granddaughter visitation.
On the way there (actually we were in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport) I got a phone call, letting us know that the hearing was 'continued' until next year.  I called the court clerk to find out what was going on and they neglected to inform us (before we left for this 2500 mile trip) that things had changed (as late as last week) and the court date was pushed out to January of next year.
Needless to say, I wasn't extremely happy with the resulting change (as we were already on the road) and after a bit of 'discussion' Mary and I decided that we have had enough of this long distance frustration and would not pursue changing our existing court order...we'll live with the one we have now.
Basically, this means we withdrew our petition and went back to 'where we were'...yeah, no one "won", regardless of how the situation is going to be viewed, it's just that we decided that we were not going to play this game yet again (especially from this sort of distance) and are just going to stick with the existing agreement...as weak and mis-interpreted as it is by some.
So we are going to kick back, relax, and enjoy the remainder of the year with our family and give thanks to the things we have and can enjoy, not dwell on the negatives, and move into a new year that will certainly show improvement, happiness, and less frustration than this one has handed us.

October 19, 2009: Mary Visits Mike, Jeanette, & Madelyn
Mary flew to Arizona to visit the family while I'm still working nightshift for the outage.
Mary took some pictures that I just posted, check either Madelyn's Album or the Digital Photo Album to see them.

October 2, 2009: Visit Evan
Mary drove over to Visalia and spent the night in order to visit with Evan...since I'm working nightshift.
There are some pictures in the Digital Photo album.

September 26, 2009: Harvest Festival
Arroyo Grande celebrates the annual harvest the last weekend in September...
Mary and I attended the parade this morning and walked around the festival...see pictures in the Digital Photo album.

September 25, 2009: Fortune
Mary and I ate at the Panda Express (in SLO by Costco) this afternoon and here is the fortune I got.  What struck me odd is that it seems natural to act that way...but there are so many people that just don't get it.

How True!!!

September 19, 2009: Happy Birthday Kaylyn!!!
Today is Kaylyn's 4th birthday, we sure wish we could have seen her last weekend to celebrate her birthday with her, we'll have to make up for it when we finally get the opportunity...
I just posted pictures of our trip to Virginia last weekend when we were supposed to see Kaylyn, take a look at the Digital Photo album.

September 17, 2009: Round #2
Received our paperwork today, now for the next round to begin...  Check out all the details on my Facebook page (click on the link below).  As the judge said, this isn't a game...don't try to play like it is!!!

August 27, 2009: Madelyn
Madelyn turned 8 months old this week.  She sure is growing up fast and such a cute little girl.  We can't wait to see her again.

Such a Cutie!!!

August 21-23, 2009: Dodgers vs. Cubs
Jim and Mary spent the weekend in Los Angeles watching Baseball....  See pictures at the Digital Album.

August 17, 2009: More Photos...
I scanned some photos we had taken professionally while on our cruise.  See them at the Digital Album.

August 16, 2009: Happy Anniversary Mary & Jim
Mary and I took a cruise to Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) for our 36th Wedding Anniversary.  We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and the sights we saw.  See the hundreds of photos at the Digital Album.

August 7, 2009: Happy Birthday Eric and Jeanette! Page 2...
I finally got the rest of the photos up that Lauren took on Saturday when we were riding quads on the Dunes (thanks Lauren!!!).  We sure had a great time!  See the photos at the Digital Album.
I also added some additional photos of Madelyn that were taken over the weekend, check out her photos at Madelyn's Album

August 1, 2009: Happy Birthday Eric and Jeanette!
What a weekend!!!  We rented quadrunners and rode on the dunes for hours then came home and BBQ'ed tri-tips for the family.  We were celebrating Eric's birthday a day early and Jeanette's a week early.  See the photos at the Digital Album.

July 31, 2009: Magic Mountain
Jeanette, Mike, and Jim took a day trip to Magic Mountain.  We hit lots of rides and had a great day.  Check out photos and movies at the Digital Album.

July 26, 2009: Mid-State Fair
Jim and Mary went to the fair in Paso Robles yesterday.  We walked around and checked out the exhibits then stayed for the Styx/REO Speedwagon concert.  That was an excellent concert, we had a great time...check out photos and movies at the Digital Album.

July 25, 2009: Incredible Video
I found this video while doing some hard drive cleanup, it's a replay of a bowling pin reaction.  Watch the video VERY CLOSELY and pay attention to the pins in the far right side of the lane, you won't believe what happens to one.  This happened while Mary was bowling on her regular league.
Click HERE to see the video.

July 11, 2009: Happy Birthday Frank
Jim BBQ'ed some steaks Saturday night, the day after Frank's 55th birthday.  He said he wanted a good filet, so Jim bought a whole (uncut) filet at Costco and sliced it up into nice sized portions.  They came out pretty good, click HERE for photos of that event.

July 5, 2009: Independence Day Weekend
Mary and I drove to San Diego Thursday afternoon to meet Mike, Jeanette, and Madelyn for a fun filled weekend.  We went to Disneyland on Friday then Mike and I went to a ball game at Petco Park on Saturday.  After the ball game we went out to dinner to Vincenzo's Italian Restaurant and then headed down to the harbor to watch some awesome fireworks.  We all drove home on Sunday, after having a GREAT family weekend!!!
Thanks to Mike, Jeanette, and Madelyn for driving out from Arizona to spend the weekend with us.
Check out the 'Digital Album' for photos of the weekend.

June 28, 2009: Bass Lake!!!
We took off for Bass Lake Friday to camp out for the weekend.  Eric showed up after work and we spend Friday and Saturday at the lake.  Had a great time Saturday, we had the lake pretty much to ourselves and it was nice and quiet.  We came back on Sunday and attended a wedding/reception and now it's ready to go back to work....

 
Fun at Bass Lake / What we Came Home To

June 26, 2009: Busy Week...
This is a busy week for us, last Sunday was Father's Day (thank you Mary) and the week started off nice and smooth.  Tuesday night I attended initiation at the 5 Cities/Oceano Elks Club and am now a full-fledged Elk..  Wednesday was a little slow at work (because of the festivities at the Elk's Club Tuesday night) and yesterday was a bit busy because I had to get ready for teaching next week.  Now we get to relax because Mary and I are going up to Bass Lake to spend the weekend and camp.  We'll be meeting Eric and Lauren up there, it should be fun.

Sign on the Bar at the Elk's Club

June 20, 2009: Pismo Car Show
We went to the Pismo Car Show, for the first time in many years.  The weather was pretty yucky, but it was nice to walk around and look at all the nice cars and motorcycles.
Check out some photos I took in the Digital Photo Album (to the left).

June 20, 2009: Catch us on Facebook!
Mary and I are both on Facebook, you can find her by searching for "Mary Tinlin" and you can find me by searching for "Jay Tee".  It's nice to be able to keep up with the rest of the family this way, always updating photos and such.

The Family

June 16, 2009: Here we go again...
Gas prices are starting to shoot up again, last year they were $4.65 and today they are right at the $3.00 mark.  Here's the kicker, take a look at the price disparity in this area, the picture on the left is from Costco this morning, the right is from the Valero station right up the street from my house...I wonder why I feel like I'm being cheated here.

  
$2.99 at Costco / $3.19 at Valero

June 6, 2009: RIP
Today I received the information from the United States Navy concerning my father's burial at sea.  My dad was a career Navy man and spent a full 20 years in the service, his request was to be buried at sea so I honored that request and had his remains sent to the Navy for that purpose.  I was surprised to receive a letter from the Commanding Officer giving me details of the honorable ceremony, the flag used to honor his life and career, 3 bullet casings from the rifle guard, and a couple of CDs with photos and a movie of the ceremony.  A very fitting completion to his memory, so I thought I would share the ceremony for anyone that has interest.  The photos are on the Family Page, look at the top of the 'Family' page for a link to the web pages with the photos.  I hope to have an edited version of the movie of the ceremony up soon, as there were a total of 7 individuals honored during this particular ceremony.

June 6, 2009: Austin
A lazy Saturday and Austin decides she wants to get a little fun in.  I heard her in the family room making noise but couldn't figure out what was going on.  Check out the photos in the Pets Photo Album, here's one...

What's she looking for???

May 24, 2009: Strawberry Festival
Memorial Day weekend is when the Village of Arroyo Grande hosts the Strawberry Festival.  This is the 26th year, I don't think we've missed more than 1 or two.
We walked through the vendors with Lauren and Eric, and bought some stuff on Sunday.  Check out the photos in the Digital Photo Album.

May 23, 2009: Happy Birthday Dad
I was thinking about my dad today, he would have been 77.  We miss him, but I'm hoping he's in a more comfortable place with his mom.
We got the BBQ out and fired up the red oak for everyone that showed up.  We had Eric and Lauren spend the weekend and Becky, Frank, Jon, and Melissa showed up as well.  Check out the photos in the Digital Photo Album.

May 8, 2009: Travel and a Home???
Last weekend Mary and I drove to Laughlin, Nv. to relax for the weekend and to house hunt in Kingman.  The deals are really good right now and we were able to look at a bunch of houses.  We were thinking it will be so nice to get back into a 'real' house.  Although we like the manufacturered home, having a real house is a lot different and I'll get a garage to play in again!  I can't imagine living in one of those old trailers, our maufacturer home is quite large (bigger than most homes) but there just isn't room to "do things".  Anyway, we put an offer on a house that was priced a little above market value and they wouldn't budge, which is weird...they must not be desparate to sell, so we'll just take our time and keep looking.  I took a few photos of the Colorado River while we were at Harrah's in Laughlin, check them out in the Digital Photo Album.

April 26, 2009: Charity
We just got back from a wonderful charity event, raising money to drill a freshwater well in Africa.  Mary has a friend that was born in Kenya and is raising funds to sink a fresh water well at the school where she spent so many years; hiking to the river (1 hour each way) in order to bring fresh water back to the school.  We attended the event to help her achieve her goal and Millie ended up getting over $10,000 worth of donations!
It was very exciting to be a part of this great cause, not only because we were able to contribute but we had a great opportunity to meet Horace Grant (former NBA player for the Lakers and Bulls).  He was kind enough to spend time with Mary and I, talking about his time with the Bulls in Chicago (of course Mary had to bring up the Cubs, as it turns out he's a Dodger fan).  Lots of fun, a great feeling to help out such a great cause as this and was great to see Millie's face when they announced that we had donated over $10,000 during the event!
Interested in helping Millie out???  Go to this Web Page to donate!

April 17, 2009: Pictures...
It was tough finding time this week to work on the pictures we took while in Virginia visiting Kaylyn.  Now that it's my day off, here we go...  There's 2 pages that I create, one in Kaylyn's Photo Album and the other in the Digital Photo Album.

April 12, 2009: Happy Easter
We just got back from Virginia, had a wonderful couple of days with Kaylyn.  The trip was pretty good, weather wasn't the best...reminds me why I left there 30 years ago!  Too tired to deal with it now, I'll try to upload pictures tomorrow...

April 4, 2009: BBQ
My first BBQ of 2009, I threw some red oak in the pit and am cooking a nice chunk of top block...it sure smells good.  Wish it were a bit warmer, it's in the mid 60s...the best we can hope for on the Coast, at least it's not snowing!!!

April 2, 2009: Spring Training Pictures
I finally got a chance to post the pictures from our Spring Training trip last weekend, click on the Digital Photo Album to see them.

April 1, 2009: Time for more travel...
We flew back from Arizona Monday night, after enjoying a wonderful weekend with the kids and our granddaughter Madelyn.  We were able to catch 2 Dodger Spring Training Games, at the new field. That was a lot of fun.  I've got lots of pictures to post, just don't have time right now...maybe this weekend.
We get back 'on the road' next week for travel east to Virginia to see Kaylyn.  We are really looking forward to the trip, since we haven't seen her since December.

March 25, 2009: Slowly returning to normal...
Well, the outage is over...I'm back on dayshift...things are returning to 'normal'.  Can't believe it's been since the end of February since I've had time to make changes to the web site, but working 12 hour days (with only a handful of days off) really didn't give me any time for anything at home...  Come home - sleep - wake up - relax for an hour - go to work - repeat.
Mary did make a trip over to Visalia to visit with Eric and Evan, check out the pictures at the 'Digital Album' or 'Evan's Photo Album' at the left.

February 22, 2009: Happiness...
After so many recent events causing sadness and frustration, it's nice to know that it's the simple things that can break through that and make it all ok.  Just take a look at the joy in Madelyn's face, it sure makes life easier...  

February 19, 2009: Our Economy
The sorry state of our economy has finally hit home, after they made Mike take 2 weeks off in December without pay...they laid off a few more employees yesterday (including him).  The industry got hit hard and now he's part of a statistic.  What a shame, he's a hard worker and will bounce back.  Here's hoping it won't take long!!!.

February 15, 2009: Stuff...
I'm into my first month of nightshift for the outage.  We've been working 12 hour shifts the last 2 weeks and although it's a bit tiring I'm happy to have the opportunity to do it.  A week ago Mary returned from visiting with Mike, Jeanette, and Madelyn.  I put all the pictures she took in Madelyn's album (click on the link in the left column).  Only about a month and a half to go!!!.

January 20, 2009: A New Era
Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States this morning.  In my life, I've seen many President's elected...we've enjoyed the good times and suffered through the tough times.  You may not agree with his values but there is no doubt that our country is at the doorstep of change.  I hope we can turn the economy around and get out of the wasted war.  For some reason, I get a satisfaction from seeing the 'old' administration walk away from the burning building.
Many people only think of themselves, bask in their self-made glory, and beg for attention they will never get.  The only way to become a real member of the community of man is to help others, think of others, and work together with others to make this a better world.  If not, one will only be stuck in a reality that is truely their own...enjoy your small circle of reality, it will eventually burst as it is as fragile as your own ego.

January 18, 2009: Madelyn's Photos...
I received a bunch of photos from Mike and Jeanette, most of her visit with Jeanette's family and a few of her first real bath.  Use the "Digital Photo Album" or "Madelyn's Photo Album" links on the left of this page to see them.

January 17, 2009: Madelyn...
We video conferenced with Mike, Jeanette, and Madelyn this morning.  It's sure fun to see a couple of nice people enjoying their life, the life of their wonderful child, and each other.  I snapped this photo during our discussion
 

January 16, 2009: Winter Weather...
Why haven't I updated my CLOG??? (I call it CLOG for Comment LOG, I refuse to call it a BLOG because most people that use that term don't even know what it means...and it's so...techno-wanna-be)
Well, we've been having the most EXCELLENT weather on the left coast for over a week.  Here it is the dead of winter and we are suffering in the upper 70s and lower 80s.
I don't remember the last time I was able to ride my bike into work during January...it's been downright NICE!
OK, enuff of the grinding on others...we feel for our family members that are living in the sub-zero weather and wearing heavy coats just to go to the gas station...the rest of you, you got what you asked for!

January 4, 2009: Update!!!
I added LOTS of pictures from our trip to see our kids and grand kids over the Christmas Holiday.
We finally hit our home Friday evening after being out on the road for almost 2 weeks.
We had a great time visiting with Eric, Mike, Jeanette, and Madelyn.
Also, we had our 26th annual Christmas Tree Burn on the beach yesterday, we had a decent turnout and the weather sorta accomodated us (it didn't rain but was a bit chilly).
Check out all the new pictures at the Digital Photo Album.