Update

It has been a busy and meaningful week so far, and it looks like there is no sign of things slowing down for me in the next month or so. A peek in to what has been going on in my life and what is coming up soon:

Prepare for Brain Dump.1) Grandma's Bday Party - Ha... I just called her Grandma. Thats funny. Well, last weekend, we celebrated my step-mom's Bday. Had a great time dancin' and hanging out. I did one of those little picture memory things for her for a present. Turned out pretty good.

2) Valentine's Day - Took my honeygirl on a surprise date... out for French Onion Soup, a brief shopping stop at the nearby Outlet Stores, then a movie, and then a really cool dinner show thing at Cafe de la Paz in Berkeley. They had a special Valentine's Day event with an Emmy Award winning Flamenco Dancer and a fabulous band. We had a great time.

3) Yesterday, I got together with Jim (of Jim and Jane in Chapter 7f) for the first time in over two years. We talked for just over an hour and he gave me a very sincere, heart-felt apology for how he treated my wife and I as we left our old church. It takes a man of a certain character to bust out with an apology three years after the fact, and so I applaud Jim for his courage. I was honest with him in telling him that I was a bit miffed that it took him so long to apologize (given that he felt he owed me one nearly five months ago), but I was immediately and pleasantly surprised to receive an additional apology for that! Then, this morning I was even more happy to find that he is already making good on some things he told me he felt that he needed to do to make things right. Thank you for your willingness to stick your neck out a bit Jim. I am very excited and encouraged that our relationship is on the mend.

4) Last night, my wife arranged babysitting and she took me on a surprise date night. We hit the streets around 5:30pm and she told me to drive towards the hills. Around 6:30pm, I was ready to kill her. She had told me to be ready to eat at 6pm and I had been. Now that hunger was progressing in to something that my mom has always called "Feed-The-Bitch-Syndrome" (for the obvious reasons). Just as I was reaching critical mass, my wife told me to the exit the freeway. We began searching for a street, found it, and then looked for an address. "Odd," I thought to myself. "Why are there so many Bail Bonds offices around here?" Seriously, there were at least four or five Bail Bonds offices on this street... and during our fourth U-Turn that we made looking for our final destination I saw a sign that said something about a Jail Visiting Center. A very weird place for a date night, no? We finally found the place and all I can say is, "WOW." Janice had heard of the restaurant through word of mouth. Its en route to Grass Valley... and its called, "Le Bilig". A seven year old girl greeted us at the door and showed us to our seats. We later found out that she is the owner/chef's daughter! They had a staff member out and so she filled in. How cool is that? The aroma of the fine cuisine that awaited us was making me drool. In the end, my wife and I ended up enjoying a fabulous meal together. GREAT GREAT GREAT PLACE. If you want have been looking for an out of the way place to go on a date that has handy access to a Bail Bond office... Go there. (Be prepared to drop some dough, but go.)

5) Today I met with the Associate Pastor of the church I'm attending currently. I will call him... Mark (to protect his identity, ya know?). What a good and genuine man he appears to be! We chit chatted for about an hour or so after doing some business together, and then I shifted the conversation toward my faith situation. We had a great, honest, intimate talk for another two hours! Just really, really good stuff. In case you are curious, we pretty much figured out everything: Life's Purpose, Free Will vs God's Sovereignty, why the sky is blue, the solution to world poverty, and Global Warming. Ok... well, it wasn't quite that productive, but it was good nonetheless. I was happy to discover that we both share a passion for the genuine, for bold and straightforward communication, and for Truth and Goodness. I'm looking forward to building a relationship with this guy.

6) Earlier in the week, I received an invitation from the pastor for this weekend... : "Wild Men's Weekend". A men's ministry outreach, it is being billed as, "A time to grow together as brothers, develop friendships, encourage one another, worship the Lord together, and of course have a fun and crazy time learning what it means to be a Wildman for Christ. Part Amazing Race, part Fear Factor, this will be a 24-hour multi destination trip around Sacramento and the Bay Area." I got the invite and figured, "Hey. They want a WildMan? They'll get a WildMan." Still hoping to rediscover my faith, I decided I'll go mix it up a bit and see what happens. Should be an interesting trip.

7) Next weekend, I am heading off for a five day trip to Washington, D.C. for the AIPAC Meeting I wrote about previously. With all that is going on in the world today, it is turning out to be a very timely conference. I think I'll take my laptop along so I can blog while I'm there...

8) I come back to town on a red-eye flight, work a regular day at the office, and then proceed to move my office to a new location for the first time in over five years. The last time I moved, I was all of me, a desk, and a computer. Now... well, I have a $900 moving bill for pro's to do it, a $5,000 bill for my phone systems, a $3,000 bill for my computer guy, and a stress headache that is.... PRICELESS.

9) And then... I need to get to work at the office to get caught up from all this crazy stuff!

Wish me luck!

Just one other thing... how cute is this picture of me and my little boy at IMAX together? We did the 3-D Safari thing as a family and friends last week. Look at the expression on his precioius little face! Predictably, all I seem to be thinking about is chowing down on the buttered popcorn in front of me.