A weekend with my Dad

As most, or all of you know, my Dad passed away on February 17, 2007. We were by his side the night that he died, but he was in a coma, so it wasn't like we were really with him. But, one year ago today was the last day that I was really able to spend with him. I can't believe it has already been one year.

On January 5, 2007, the doctor told him that he only had a few months to live. Up until that day, we knew that he had a melanoma, and that things weren't looking especially good, but we didn't know how quickly things could happen. So when we found out that he only had a few months left, Melissa and I decided that we need to spend as much time as possible with him. So we made plans to fly up to Salt Lake for the weekend. He was in the hospital being treated for an infection, but he was himself for the most part. He felt bad that we couldn't be at the house, or doing other things, but I honestly didn't care. I was just happy to be there with him. I spent pretty much the entire weekend with him at the hospital, and I couldn't have been happier (considering the circumstances); we watched some golf, a BYU Basketball game and just talked a lot.

I didn't know that it would be the last time I would spend with him, but when I was leaving Sunday night, I remember giving him a big hug and telling him that I love him. As Mel and I were walking down the hallway, I mentioned, "what if that is the last time I see him alive?"

Considering he would pass away three weeks later, I am very happy that we decided to plan that trip right then, instead of waiting a few weeks. It turned out that he was really sick the next couple of weeks, and really wasn't quite himself. We were up there on the perfect weekend. I miss him a lot. Everyday. But I cherish every memory and every moment I spent with him.

Here is a picture I took of him that Sunday. It is Dad doing his favorite thing, playing with one of his grandkids (my nephew Court).

A monster, a handicam and a case of nausea. What's not to like?

We saw this movie on a week or so ago, on 01.18.08:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/cloverfield/

And I must say I quite enjoyed it, despite the case of motion sickness I experienced. It's a monster movie along the likes of Godzilla, but the entire movie is filmed on a handicam—just giving you that warning now. I won't say much else about the show, so as not to give too much away, but it was very enjoyable. It was made by the guy who created Lost, JJ Abrams. And, like Lost, you can just watch it once, and enjoy it on a very basic level, or if you so desire, you can delve deeper into the mysteries of the phenomenon by researching the subject online.

Hope you enjoy it.

2007, a year in music

Here is a list of my favorite albums of the year. Critics on various sites would disagree with a lot of my choices, but I don't really care. This is my list.

Album of the Year:
Neon Bible, The Arcade Fire

Thoroughly enjoyable, very damn good albums:
Our Love to Admire, Interpol
Icky Thump, The White Stripes
Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
Our Ill Wills, The Shout Out Louds
Wincing the Night Away, The Shins
Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, The Foo Fighters
Snakes and Arrows, Rush

The Best of the Rest:
A Weekend in the City, Bloc Party
Last Light, Matt Pond PA
Because of the Times, Kings of Leon
A Lesson in Crime, Tokyo Police Club
Nighttiming, Coconut Records
In Rainbows, Radiohead

(I am sure that more albums will come to my mind, or that I will purchase more music that was released in 2007. If that happens, I'll update this list)

My favorite movies of 2007

Here are my favorite movies of the year. Some made money, some didn't. Some got great reviews, some didn't. But these are the ones that struck a chord with me.

We saw our fair share of shows this year, but didn't quite make it to see every one. In fact, a few that we missed would have had a shot at making this list (including The King of Kong, Michael Clayton, Rocket Science and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead).

I really tried to narrow this list down to 10, but it proved too difficult. Here is the list, in no particular order

Oscar contenders:
•No Country for Old Men (probably my choice for best picture, with There Will Be Blood #2)
•There Will Be Blood (A tense, powerful film; Daniel Day-Lewis is my best actor)
•Sweeney Todd
•American Gangster
•Eastern Promises (Viggo Mortenson is so good in this)
•Atonement (very powerful, the performances were amazing)
•Juno

No shot at Best Picture Oscar, but great movies:
•The Bourne Ultimatum (Jason Bourne is a bad man)
•The Darjeeling Limited (probably my overall favorite movie of the year)
•Lars and the Real Girl (a great show, Ryan Gosling is exceptional in it)
•Gone, Baby Gone (underrated movie that I would nominate for best picture)
•Ocean's 13 (very good, much better than Ocean's 12)
•Zodiac (another underrated film that should be receiving more attention)
•The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•The Simpsons Movie (Simpsons; spider pig; enough said)
•300 (visually stunning; very fun)
•The Lookout (no one's heard of it, but it is great)
•We Own the Night (almost forgot about this one, but I really like it a lot)

Very good movies that didn't quite make the cut:
•The Savages (amazing acting performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney)
•Reign Over Me (Adam Sandler, yes, Adam Sandler turns in a solid dramatic performance)

Frank

Frank is our cat. We are pretty sure he is part Siamese and part bobcat, and could best be described as schizophrenic. One minute he is licking your face or rubbing his head against you, then the next minute he has his front legs wrapped around your arm as he is gnawing on your hand. We are not sure what causes these mood swings. It is especially confusing when you are just trying to pet him as he lays in your lap, and he turns his head to bite your hand. What cat doesn't want you to pet him. We could easily have named him Hannibal Lecter or Norman Bates. We do, however, love that he has a ton of personality. He doesn't run and hide when we have company. In fact, if you are new to our house, or if you happen to stay over, you become his new best friend.

Here are a couple pictures that illustrate my point of his bipolar disorder:

Dr. Jekyl


Mr. Hyde

The wifey

Santa brought Mel and me a kick a$$ new camera for Christmas, the Canon EOS Rebel XTi. It is awesome, although I feel stupid since I am currently using it to about 2% of it's full capacity. But that's okay, because even the pictures taken with the "Auto Focus" setting still look amazing. I think we'll be taking a class or two to try and get the most out of our new toy. Here are a couple of shots of m'wife that I am fond of.

Not all wedding parties are created equal.

A couple of months ago, my mom and brother were in town on vacation. So, the wifey and I showed them the sites. Now, there are certain things in San Diego that you can count on showing people: La Jolla Shores, Torrey Pines, Coronado, Point Loma, Balboa Park, etc. But, there are certain things that you just can't plan on, but somehow bring you as much joy as the Hotel Del.
One of those things happened to be an amazing wedding party that we encountered. We went out to Coronado to eat lunch at the Hotel Del, and just walk around. Afterwards we went to the other side of the island to see the cool view of Downtown San Diego. Now, the following pictures aren't the greatest, because I had to take them covertly. A couple of them were taken while walking right by the people. I didn't want 12 bridesmaids and groomsmen attacking me for making fun of them.
I guess my only regret is not choosing this color scheme for my wedding. But, alas, it's too late. For any of my single friends out there, feel free to take inspiration from this.

PS, the girl in the pink dress was the bride! Her groom is in the white suit with hot pink cumber bun. To quote Borat, very nice.

Signage

The wife and I ate at In N' Out the other day. Now, as a general rule, when I am going to eat at In N' Out, I am pretty focused on one thing: the Double Double (w/o onions), fries and Coke that I'm preparing to consume. But on this particular occasion, as I was nearing the In N' Out in Pacific Beach, I noticed an amazing sign. I've eaten at that location 2.4 million times, and I've never seen this sign before. So, I told the wifey, I NEED to take a picture of that. So, after consuming my #1 combo, I took a minute to take the following picture. Hopefully you'll appreciate it as much as I do. I have to say that although I agree with the message of the sign, I can't say that I would pay money to have huge sign produced and mounted on the side of my building. Perhaps I need to reevaluate my commitment? On a related note, I love reading and dissecting people's signs, billboards, etc. when I'm about town. It's one of my favorite things. Melissa can attest to this.

Enjoy (ps, I am not writing about the parking sign)

Company slogans

When you come up with a company slogan, I think it's important to be honest, straightforward, and basically state what your company does in a succinct manner. So today's winner comes courtesy of my sister. She is doing receivables for Insta-Chain, our family business, and one of their customers uses the following slogan:

"We Mount Anything"

Amazing. Nothing more needs to be said.

Sick (at work) day.

Today is one of those days when you feel sick, but not quite sick enough to stay home from work. If I was any worse, or if I didn't have anything to do at work today, I'd probably have called in. But I thought I'd give it my best shot.

However, that didn't stop me from going to my car for what amounted to a one hour nap, while listening to Okkervil River. I was so tired, but now I feel refreshed, although I still feel a tad poopy.

Naps are awesome.

Dad

So, Thanksgiving weekend was the first time I've been to Utah and, in turn, visited the cemetery since my Dad passed away. Last time I was there was on February 24, the day we left to come back home to San Diego. In April his headstone was installed as was his name on the Veterans Memorial, located just a few feet from his grave site. It was a pretty surreal site to see his name engraved on the granite, and it once again sunk in to me that it was all final. I knew that returning home was going to be hard, but I also knew that it would be good for me. I was really looking forward to see the grave and the memorial.
Probably one of the weirdest things was walking into the house for the first time and not seeing him in his white recliner, watching TV or reading a book. He'd always be in that chair, then, when we would walk in, he'd get right up and come greet us. It signified that we were home. So that was a little hard, but it was okay. Mom came rushing to the door when we came in, and it was so great to see her, and give her a big hug. It did feel good to be home again. I don't want her to feel like her house isn't home anymore, because it does feel like home, it's just a little different. I know that a lot of the family is having a very hard time with everything, but I just hope they don't forget about her, and that it is still home to them even though Dad/Grandpa isn't there any more. He is there in spirit anyway, watching over everyone.
We had a wonderful time up in Utah, but it went way too fast. It was definitely a melancholy trip at times, just remembering my Dad, and missing him a lot, but it was great to be able to spend a lot of time with the family and see a bunch of old friends again.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

Melissa and I spent Thanksgiving in Utah, and while we were there, we visited my Dad's grave a few times. One thing I noticed when I was there is that sometimes you might want to leave some flowers for a loved one, but you don't happen to have a vase with you. And, of course you don't want to just lay the flowers on the headstone, that's just not classy enough. So, what I learned is that you can just cut the top off of whatever you happen to be drinking (preferably in a can), put the flowers in that "vase" and leave it on the headstone.



I'd like to thank Ralph's relatives for teaching me that a can of Natural Ice makes the perfect vase for pink roses. Classy.

Rob vs. Melissa

So, I've been meaning to post this, but have been holdingoff for no apparent reason. I'd like to say that I've been busy, but I've only been mildly busy. Mostly I'm just lazy, and when I get home from work I sit on the couch and watch some TV shows or a couple of NBA games since I am still getting NBA Season Pass for free (Nice!). Anyway, I know that everyone and their dog have made the comparison between guys and girls, about how different they are, but I thought I'd make a comparison between my wife and me.

The situation I have chosen is during those times when one of us is out of the house for an evening. It doesn't happen too often, since we do most things together, but on occasion she has to work late, I go play basketball, or one of us goes out of town.

Now, when Melissa is gone, you can find me in one place: the couch. I'll get home from work, and lay on the couch with Frank (our psycho cat) for a couple of hours (see first paragraph). Then, at about 8 or 8:30, I'll decide that I'm hungry, and require some nourishment, at which time I'll make a run for IN N' OUT for a Double-Double or to Cotixan for some delectable Mexican food. Then, maybe I'll put in a movie.

Now, when I'm gone, you never know what will happen. I usually always come home to some furniture rearranged, things thrown away or something else. See, Melissa, when left alone, gets bored. So, a couple weeks ago, when I came home from basketball (I was only gone two hours, I thought It'd be safe), Melissa had managed to transform her hair from blonde, to a brownish gray! Not an easy feat. I wondered if she was trying to make herself look older, since she is always complaining about people thinking that she is about 15. Last year, I walked in the door to find her sitting in the corner, with books laying everywhere, because she was arranging books and the shelf collapsed. At any rate, it is always an adventure to come home from an extended absence, and I always look forward to it. That was the tell, now here is the show. Isn't she adorable?

Do they know it's Christmas?

So, one of the true gems of the Holiday season has to be the Band Aid song, Do they know it's Christmas? With Paul Young, Sting and even Bono, you can't go wrong. Enjoy.
Do%20They%20Know%20It%27s%20Christmas.mp3

The wife

It has come to my attention, from various sources, that m'blog makes me look like a single guy. And, come to think of it, there is nary a mention of my lovely wife, Melissa. Rest assured, I am taken, and I am a lucky SOB to have the lady I do. I usually do m'blog posting at work, and I have been meaning to write a post about my bride, but I keep forgetting to bring pictures that I wanted to post. Therefore, I am posting this now, to let all of you know out there, that I have an amazing, beautiful, funny wife.

Sorry to break all of your hearts.

Former Cougar

So, I ran across this link, courtesy of The Sports Guy about Owen Pochman, former BYU placekicker. Apparently his life is interesting enough to write a book. Wow!

http://www.justakicker.com/

Cool music.

As part of my blog, I'd like to regularly share songs that make a guy happy. Here is a song that just pleases me: Australia, by The Shins.

02%20Australia.mp3

It's been a while.

But, I thought I'd give this blog thing another try. Court, you have inspired me. I hope I don't bore the world with my posts.

Meanwhile, here is a picture of a guy on Halloween

Nike

So I feel as though I was in my own personal Nike ad this morning, as I went running in the driving rain and pelting snow. As I selected Metallica as my chosen playlist and stepped off the porch for my 2 mile jog to hell and back, I realized that I had underestimated Mother Nature. The hard pieces of snow, not quite hail, but definitely not flakes, pelted my face incessantly for the first mile, till I turned around and headed back home. No worries, young readers, I survived to tell this tale to you, and hopefully to Nike for their next commercial for running shoes (although I was wearing New Balances, but they don't have to know that).

Hello world of blog readers...

So, my name is Rob, and I don't have much to say today, other than it is a glorious day here in the SLC Punk. I was just outside for a video shoot, 75º and blue skies.

This is my first foray into the Web log world, so bear with me.

This will probably be a boring page.

sorry.

rob