Friday morning and another beautiful day…

I went to bed a little bit earlier than everyone else last night, but shortly after I went to bed Nora came in. We chatted for a little bit and then off to sleep we went. She has her monthly now so she will be uncomfortable for a few days but she actually weathers the storm quite well. We have planned a trip to Costco today but of course that will depend on how she feels and whether she is up to it or not. I know that the 1st couple of days can be rather trying. It is now 8:45 AM, so we did sleep in a little bit but Nora woke up a couple times last night and of course woke me up to tell me that she could not sleep which in turn made my rest will be up tedious. Joyce wrote her assignment yesterday I thought quite nicely although the spelling is a little bit off but I don’t know if she wants to send it in with the spelling not being correct or if she wants to go back and correct it but I will ask her today. The printer is working very well so that’s a good thing. I haven’t been down to McDonald’s for coffee since Monday morning, but they also knew that that routine would change once my family arrived here. I made her cup of coffee but she went back to bed so I don’t know maybe it will be cold.

A beautiful Thursday morning, sunshine and a happy family

Yesterday was a busy day, we took care of Joyce’s school and also did some shopping at Walmart and then we came home. Nora has been busy trying to get a hold of Jenny and find out what went on when she left home. The rest of the day was spent with children on the Internet catching up with their friends. We had fried rice for dinner last night which was very good, our 1st actually cooked meal here since my family arrived from the Philippines. It was nice to have a woman’s touch in the kitchen again. Jenny finally called Nora later last night after we had gone to bed via Yahoo messenger and they talked for about an hour so that took care of that issue. We woke this morning to sunshine and expectations for a wonderful day. We will take Kenneth to the high school today and turn in the registration packet that we got yesterday. Nora took some of the chicken breast that we bought at Walmart yesterday out of the freezer that is what we will have for dinner today. I think the sleeping schedules are starting to even out and the jet lag is slowly going away. We will see how the day turns out and what we get accomplished. I will add to the journal later as time and events permit.

Today is Tuesday, Nora and the children arrive today

I must say it was a pretty restless night, I did not sleep all that well with the expectation of the drive to Portland to pick up my family from the Philippines. The car that I drove up was a very nice Chevrolet Impala four-door sedan. It seemed to get pretty good mileage and it was comfortable. The aircraft landed at 8:34 AM and it took about an hour and a half for Nora and the children to appear. Everything went very smoothly and no problems We stopped at the T and a truck stop and have breakfast then stopped at the farmers market north of Lebanon and bought some vegetables and from there went home. Maria came over for a short visit then Nora and I went to mega-foods and lots of groceries and went a couple other places and then back home. The evening was pretty quiet everybody’s tired and and in the midst of unpacking and investigating the house. They seem very happy. We’re going to bed now it has been a very long day.

Today is Monday and Nora's last day in the Philippines.

I woke about 5:30 AM this morning after having slept pretty well. I text to Nora, with no answer and called her and she answered about 5:50 AM. She’s very tired, but she won’t get very much sleep as she will be getting up at 3 AM Tuesday morning to go to the airport with the children. I went to McDonald’s this morning for coffee I left the house at about 5:55 AM. I was back home by about 7:30 AM made some oatmeal and cleaned up the dishes. I then stripped the bed and the laundry is washing when it’s all done I will make the bed again solo be fresh for Nora when she arrives tomorrow. Today I need to go to the bank and deposit the check from Gareth, also I need to make sure to stop at Rhodes Warden and get a copy of my insurance for the car rental place I need to go to the dollar store and buy the balloons and perhaps go to Safeway and buy some flowers to put on the table. At about 4:30 PM Delbert should pick me up and take me to Albany to the enterprise lot where I’ll pick up the rental car. Nora told me this morning that she would call me when she woke up in the morning which should be about noon I believe that would be 3 o’clock there it may be a little bit before noon. I do hope that everything goes smoothly for her and the children and that they don’t have any trouble at the airport.

Today is Sunday here in the United States and Monday in the Philippines Noras last day there

I slept quite well last night, did not wake up until about 5:30 AM, I text with Nora then called her and we just chatted for a while she still had many people in the house so not ready for bed yet. After that I got dressed and went down to McDonald’s for coffee.

After I got home I proceeded to finish the laundry and cleaned the bedrooms dusted and dusted the other things that were out here in the living room and dining room and also clean the mirrors in the bathrooms. Everything with the exception of the yard is as good as I’m going to do for now.

Tomorrow I will purchase the flower arrangement and the balloons at the dollar store and I got here. About 430 or so Del will come and pick me up and take me to Albany to pick up the rental car. I do need to go to the bank tomorrow and also stop by Rhodes Warden and get a copy of my insurance.

Well here it is Saturday morning and a beautiful day.

I woke up this morning at about 2 AM, and could not really get back to sleep after that. I started calling Nora at about 5:30 AM and she returned my call at about 5:45 AM. She is not sure if she will go to church today as it is raining quite heavily there in Marilao. I left the house at about 6:15 AM this morning to go to McDonald’s for coffee and stay down there until about 7:50 AM at which time I came back home. I noticed a garage sale a few houses down from me and I picked up a storage unit (made of wood) that will hold all my VCR tapes and some DVDs. I cleaned out the right side of my closet so that nor will have at least half, but I still need to remove the stuff that is on the shelf above the hanging rod. Today is Sunday and the Philippines, so Nora has today and tomorrow and tomorrow night she must go to bed early because they leave at 3 AM Tuesday morning for the airport. That is exciting. I have a few more things to do here at the house today, but the major cleaning will be done tomorrow and Monday.

Greetings and it is a very beautiful Friday.

Last night I actually slept pretty well, I heard a thunderstorm coming about 2:30 AM then I dropped back off sleep and from what the neighbors tell me it came right over the top of me and I never heard a thing and it rained from about 3 o’clock until probably 4:30 AM or so.

I woke up to a message on Yahoo from Nora, we chatted for a while, she has been packing her suitcases and she tells me that she’s happy and excited and sad and I told her all 3 are very understandable emotions at this time. After little bit longer of chatting back and forth we said goodbye and I went down to McDonald’s for coffee.

I came home, got my tools, and went down the moms to take the door off the refrigerator and change the gasket around. It seems to work a little better so maybe it will be okay. I also cleaned up the range and scrubbed out the kitchen sink… Lori is by no means a good housekeeper she didn’t clean anything except the cupboards.

I went down to Bi–Mart and bought the trays for the burners on the range, but they don’t fit very well so I will probably have to exchange them. I also bought a carbon monoxide detector and mounted on the wall back by the bedrooms. I still need to purchase a furnace filter.

I think once I get finished down at moms, I am going to come home and take a shower. I think this afternoon it is going to be very warm again.

Finally finished up down there, it is nearly 2pm and I am dripping wet.  Taking a shower now!!!

Thursday Morning… maybe it will rain today??

I woke up about 4:55 am and used the bathroom, then went back to bed but couldn’t really fall back to sleep so go up at 5:30. I am now at the computer, waiting for Nora to get ready for bed, probably in about ½ hour. I think maybe I will mow the yards at Mom’s place and here today, must also drop off the keys to Barb’s property management this morning. A little later after talking to Nora I will go go McDonald's for my morning coffee.

Today is Wednesday and a beautiful day it is

Well I cannot say that I slept well last night I didn’t hear the text that Nora sent me and therefore I didn’t answer it so, about 5:30 AM this morning she called me because she was worried when I did not answer her text. I explained to her that I was sleeping and was in the middle of a dream and could not understand why my phone was ringing and it took me a moment or 2 to answer it. She has her tickets, unfortunately the travel agency raised the price 6000 pesos from yesterday until today when she bought them. Their reputation as being a very corrupt nation is well-deserved I am glad that this saga of our life is almost finished the last money she should have to pay in the Philippines is the 750 pesos each to use the airport facilities... they call it a travel tax. I went down to Kevin’s Café and had breakfast and surprisingly Lindsey, Mike’s daughter, works there and bought me breakfast which I thought was extremely nice of her I met her boyfriend/stud and he seems like a nice gentleman also much better than her choices of men in the past. The carpet place is installing the carpet at mom’s house this morning. I stopped by Rhodes Warden and started the landlord policy on the house. That will cost us about $318 a year. I had them mail the information to Lollie and Gareth so that they can reimburse me half of the expense. I have heard nothing yet from Mark Moreland regarding the Toyota, perhaps today he will call with the bad news. Tuesday will be a great day, Monday afternoon I will have Del take me over to Albany to enterprise where I can pick up my rental car and then I will leave at 5 AM Monday morning for Portland airport.

Today is Tuesday and today Nora will have her tickets in her hand…

Well yesterday, the travel agent tried to put a little bit of salt in our ointment, by telling Nora that she could not use my Visa card to pay for the tickets. So I told her to give them enough money to hold the tickets until tomorrow and I will send you a money gram and then you can take Philippine pesos down and pay for the tickets.

So this morning, I transferred the necessary funds to my checking account and then went to Walmart where I purchased a money gram in the amount that she needed to complete the transaction at the travel agency and obtain the tickets for her flight on Tuesday morning. So this afternoon about 4 PM she will wake up and then I would imagine she will go to Manila about 10 AM to complete the transaction.

I told her to make sure and ask the travel agent about how much luggage she is allowed to take both check-in and carry-on. She may end up buying another bag or 2 if she is allowed more luggage on the aircraft. She will be flying via Delta Airlines. She is due to arrive in Portland Oregon at 8:35 AM Tuesday morning 30 August. I am excited!

I will probably hear from Moreland’s automotive today about how much it’s going to cost to get the Toyota back. Mark’s original estimate was about $1000 but I am actually expecting about $1500 hopefully, no more than that.

The folks installing the carpet at mom’s house should be there sometime around noon, I dropped a key to the house off at the store right after I had coffee this morning.

Stopped by the house mid-afternoon and saw that they had removed the old carpeting... the lady from the carpet store called and told me they would install Wedesday morning.

Nora left about 10am to pick up the funds and then head to Manila to pick up the tickets... Yea !!!

Enjoy your day.

Monday again, we are so close now...

Well, I woke up at 5am this morning, went to the bathroom then back to bed. Could not fall back asleep so here I am in front of the computer waiting to hear from my lovely wife Nora. Nothing too special is planned for today, a care package from Lollie is supposed to come today… she said it has chocolates in it so that might be interesting considering the warm weather. I just disassembled the speaker for my computer sound system and will later take it to Radio Shack and see if I can order another midrange speaker. I may stop at Pro Audio/Auto and see if they have access to such an animal. Maria told me this morning that in January she will return to the Philippines. She and Wayne are not getting along well at all. It is sad to me as she is really a nice lady. I decided to go to Pro Auto and see if Jim had a speaker, they tested mine out and decided that the tweeter had gone bad… they sold me a pair of tweeters (replacement) with crossovers built in for $19.95. I brought them home and installed using alumina weld epoxy and it seems to work just fine. Lollie and Gareth are having some computer problems again, the gray screen descending and then the sound is acting up also.

Today is Sunday a beautiful day with a couple of clouds in the sky.

I woke up this morning to the sound of an incoming Yahoo messenger message from Nora. I then called her via Yahoo and we chatted for about 10 min. she was just getting ready for bed and baby Denny was with her and he was so full of formula and so excited about playing that he threw up all over her and the bed so she had to change bedding and change her clothes and take another bath. The little guys seems to have a pretty nervous stomach. I lost about 6:15 AM to go down to McDonald’s and have coffee. I didn’t get home until about 9:15 AM, I was busy talking to people, reading the paper and whatnot. I do not have any particular plans for today, I may go to coastal Farm and home in Albany and by some licorice or maybe not. I haven’t really decided yet. Yesterday I did get the cut off valve installed in the main shower so that is done. I may go on the Internet shortly to see if I can find a dealer for Hardy plank, a variety of siding. But I won’t make any decision on it until Nora is here to help pick out a color and we may have to wait until next year to do it anyway. Other than looking around on the Internet I don’t have any particular plans I may play around with the new software program “acorn” that I purchased using my Apple in-store credit. I hope everyone has a nice day.

Blue sky and Saturday morning…

Well here it is the weekend I spoke with Nora this morning about 5:15 AM I woke up about 4:30 AM needing to use the bathroom then couldn’t seem to get back to sleep.

She had taken some medication earlier in the day and no longer has a fever but she has a persistent headache which bothers me.

She hopes to go to church in the morning when she wakes up but it will depend greatly upon how she feels.

I went down to coffee at McDonald’s at about 6 AM. Talked to Tim for little bit, he seemed to be a little bit more affable today. I left at about 8 AM to come home and have some toast and take my medicine.

I need to fold the last load of clothing that is in the dryer now.

I will go to the plumbing store this morning and by a short nipple cutoff valve for the children’s bathroom shower.

Sometime next week the Toyota should be finished, I hope that the head will be salvageable. If not, it will add another $250 at least to the price of the repair. Mark did tell me that he has never had one that could not be surfaced.

The 1st shopping trip that Nora and I take will probably be to Costco and that will be a little expensive I believe.

Thank God It's Friday!!

Well I made it through another week albeit a rather expensive one, but at least it’s finished for now.

Nora called me this morning before the alarm went off which was just fine. She says to me “honey, you know what?” I said to her no, what? So she tells me I have the visa! I could see the happiness in her words she is so relieved and so am I. She told me that she will go to Manila tomorrow to see the travel agent and buy the tickets for her and the children.

She knows what she has to do and she knows that wherever she enters the United States she will have to go through immigration and it will take a little time because there are 3 of them to do. I hope that she chooses to go through Guam or Hawaii or even a straight through flight to Portland would be good. I expect I will have a schedule from her by Monday perhaps even some time yet before I go to bed tonight.

I cleaned up the Mini Cooper washed the outside, the inside, the Windows, the door jambs then vacuumed everything inside and cleaned the floor mats. It looks pretty darn good. I am considering whether I want to wax it or not. Maybe no.

It is a beautiful day today I probably should call Mark and see if he plans to pick up the Toyota today or not. I also need to go down town to the carpet place and see about having mom’s home re–carpeted. Then I need to send Lollie and Gareth a bill for the money I’ve spent already on the house.

It is going to be nice weather all week long and from what I understand quite warm. I’m glad I have the majority of things that I need to do outside completed.

A very beautiful Thursday morning, blue sky and a blown head gasket.

Good morning everyone as the headline announced today is Thursday I went to McDonald’s this morning at about a quarter till 6 AM sat there had my coffee got into an argument with Tim and then left at about 7:45 AM to go down and pay the plumbing bill. While I was there I asked Frank to stop by and give me an estimate to run the black gas line over to where the new gas range will eventually go.

I also asked Frank about putting in a water recirculation pump under the kitchen sink which would allow us to have instant hot water at any faucet vice having to let the water run for so long before it becomes hot it will be an over time savings for us. The cheapest pump I have seen which looks pretty good and gets very good reviews is over $200.

The pickup didn’t want to start this morning, to give you a little history it has always used a little water and in the back of my mind I guess I always knew it had a seeping head gasket. I think it is no longer just seeping. I will call Mark Moreland today and get an estimate to repair it. I hope that the head is not warped.

When I talk to Nora this morning, and also yesterday morning she indicated that she will leave the Philippines at the end of the month… I wish it were next week. Well more money goes out again I guess. Today I need to call the car rental places and see what it will cost me to rent either a small van or a sedan to go pick up the family when they arrive in Portland.

Perhaps more will be added to this today I’m not sure if not, I hope you have a wonderful day.

Wednesday... Hot Water Day Yipeee!!

Well, today is Wednesday. The man from Northwest natural gas came down to mom’s house and put in a new part in the gas meter, turned on the gas, and made sure everything well only 2 things the hot water heater and furnace are working properly.

I have moved the filing cabinet and the water dispenser away from the Bosch on-demand system in preparation for South Santiam plumbing to install my new 50 gallon water heater. I am not certain when they will appear, but I assume it will be shortly after lunch.

Nora sent me a message on Yahoo messenger this morning and that was my wake-up call. We chatted for a few moments and then I got up, dressed, and went down to McDonald’s for coffee.

I was back home by 8 AM, made a call to Wells Fargo bank and got information that I needed and will conclude my business in about 3 days.

It is supposed to be warm today in the high 80s, that is nice. I have no plans other than to be at home while the installation of the new water heater takes place.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

I decided to buy the DropCopy app for the phone and another one that scans networks and allow you to assign icons and alias’s to them. I found out also that Dropcopy will not work in the background.

Frank from South Santiam Plumbing and his crew came about 1:20 and began the plumbing update. I now have an A.O Smith 50 gallon hwh and a new faucet in the front of the house. The estimate for the hwh was $$$$ but then there were some issues and the added job of replacing the broken hose bib (faucet). That brought the total amount to $200 higher so that is still reasonable as they were able to put the hwh exactly where I wanted it.

Tuesday and a beautiful one at that.

Good morning good morning today is Tuesday, 16 August in the year 2011.

What a great day it was yesterday with the news from the embassy of the approval of Nora’s visa. When I called her and told her she could hardly believe that it was true, she was so excited. I certainly don’t blame her after all, we started this journey in May of 2009 and then she see it finally come to reality is a very uplifting experience.

The visa coupled with the information from Dr. Thayer about my blood pressure has really lifted my spirits tremendously. I expect my family will be here before the end of the month and that will be a wonderful wonderful thing.

Frank, from South Santiam plumbing, came out yesterday and looked at the situation involving the Bosch on demand hot water heater and told me that he could install a tank style hot water heater in the same location. I’m going to have a 50 gallon hot water heater put in, it will be gas fired so the recovery time will be fast. I bought one with a 10 year warranty which according to what I read will be a better made hot water heater than the five-year warranty model.

They will be out to install it on Wednesday.

I believe that today a little bit later on, I will go down to mom’s house and repair the bad board that is near the steps on the rear deck.

Monday... the week begins afresh

Well here it is Monday morning and the time right now is 8:30 AM. I got home from coffee at about 7:45 AM and started looking at one of Lollies photo albums that she posted on Picasso.

At about 8:15 AM I called Dr. Thayer’s office to see if I could get in to see him this morning. They have a 15 min. appointment available at 11 AM so I will be there at that time. Cindy checked my chart and said that there was no report written up from the Lebanon hospital emergency room visit that I made Saturday.

No news yet from the embassy, but is 11:30 at night so that makes good sense, I did however, get a reply that they had received my e-mail.

I will add to this a little bit later after I see what Dr. Thayer has to say.

I just called Ries plumbing to see about an estimate to replace the on-demand hot water system with a conventional gas tank style water heater...

I am going to stop by the fire department and make sure my FireMed insurance is up to date...

Re-instated my firemed insurance and added the family to the list of eligible people. Went on over to see Dr. Thayer, he said that he is sure the dropping of the Hydra... medication (water pills) was the culprit and wrote me another prescription for another water pill that doesn’t have the same side effects. He also reassured me that there is no Arterial problem leading to the high blood pressure, rather he believes it is the stress and meds change that caused it… he read the EKG results and lab results from the ER and said all is good there.

Frank, from Santiam Plumbing came to the house and looked at the Bosch tankless and told me that he can install a water heater where I want it.

Del came over, wanted me to show him how to set up his voicemail on his phone, I showed him how and also sent him an email with the instructions on installing it and changing his password.

Called Nora at 4:10pm, she had just gotten up, we chatted for just a little and then I told her to have coffee and breakfast and call me back when she was finished. She said OK. I also informed her of the things Dr. Thayer told me so she feels better about all that stuff too.

I just got an email from the US Embassy 7:20 PM. Nora’s Visa was approved Aug 15, 2011.

Sunday... seems like Autum temperature wise...

Good morning everyone, today is Sunday I just got back from McDonald’s and it is about 8:18 AM now. Believe it or not I turned on the hot water faucet to do up the dishes and guess what? The hot water worked. The reason I’m going to replace it with a tank style is because it is not dependable and I need to have something dependable when the family is here.

Tomorrow is Monday and I will contact a couple of places to see about having a hot water heater installed in place of the Bosch on demand system that is now failing.

The system I have now is over 9 years old so I suppose there is such a thing as built-in obsolescence, but this Bosch system has always been undependable in the fact that when she set the water temperature, it sometimes will go to cold when you least want it to then you have to turn the water off and back on and hopefully it will recycle itself. The problem lately is that it does not recycle itself so you’re stuck with cold water.

Not a good thing when you’re in the midst of a shower.

It is overcast today and on the colder side outside. I turned the heater on in the house to bring the temperature up a couple of degrees.

Saturday... a good day

Well today is Saturday, it is overcast outside and a little on the cool side. I went to coffee about 6:15 AM after chatting with Nora little bit. I came home about 10 min. after 8 AM. I made some oatmeal for breakfast after taking my medication, a little bit of brown sugar and some milk topped off the dish. Lollie and I chatted, I helped her with some of her iPhoto stuff and also had her read the email that I sent regarding my ER visit today… Nora came on a little earlier that I expected and I told her of the visit to the ER also, she was worried and called and I explained it to her and assured her that I am ok. She was going to early mass at the church and maybe Joyce will go with her.

The end...

I have decided to end the online blog posting of my daily life in the desire to create a more private life and less exposure of myself and my family… there will be postings still, but not of such personal nature as has been the case in the past… Thank you for your patronage and interest… denny

Hump day is gone and the weekend Looms...

Good morning to everyone. This is Thursday morning, and Thursday evening in the Philippines. My lovely wife, Nora, will soon be getting ready to go to bed. I have sent her a couple of instant messages through Yahoo already this morning but she must be watching television because she has not answered me yet. My right foot is indicating that perhaps it has a little uric acid build up maybe from the one beer I had yesterday I’m not sure. But since cutting out the one medication that Dr. Thayer had me taking, I have not had another attack and I have been drinking beer. Nothing really pressing that I need to do today however, I may go down to mom’s house with a bucket and some rags and my commercial vacuum cleaner and begin cleaning the things that Laurie missed. As I told Gareth on the phone, there is probably about between 2 and 4 hours of work remaining. Yesterday the man from the Lebanon utility company came out to inspect the water meter and found that the meter itself had a cracked flange where it attaches to the main water line. It is on the city side so they will be responsible for it he said they have a lot of work right now so he’s not sure when they will get out to take care of it. He indicated that he does not want me to turn off the water if I want to replace my faucet gasket he would rather I call him. It’s not that hard to turn off the water a 90° turn of the valve does the trick. It’s 5:38 AM right now and I will wait until 6 AM to go down to McDonald’s for coffee. I will continue to try to get a hold of Nora in the meantime. It really does start my day off well if I get to speak to her… I miss her a lot. Well perhaps I will post this and add to it later on if anything happens that might be interesting. Have a wonderful day, take advantage of the opportunities presented to you, stay healthy and be careful. I called Apple to find out about fixing the issue regarding reading PDF files in Safari, we had gotten to the point of starting a remote viewing session when some alarm went off in the site he was in and we had to terminate the conversation and he is to call me back… odd stuff happening there. He called me back in about ½ hour and we continued… he solved my problem and for that I am appreciative. Wayne came over and convinced me to go to mom’s house and wash the windows and vacuum the cobwebs, he helped me and then after that, we loaded up the Organ and donated it to Teen Challenge and also gave them the console stereo… everything is now out of the garage at moms place. I then took Wayne out to lunch at the San Pedro mexican place next to Sum yan… $23 spent there. Came back home and tried to turn on the hot water, no luck so I went out to Reis plumbing and had the tech come over to trouble shoot the Bosch on-demand hot water system… wouldn’t you know, it worked just fine… that little diddie cost me $95 bucks… dammit I wish it would have acted up for him like it did me. He did clean a little sensor but I doubt that it was the problem… He had the same opinion of Bosch as do I now… Never again. Piece of Carp crap.

Wednesday and blue skies... cold though !!

Today is Wednesday, I had so nice clear blue with blue sky, however it is nippy outside. The weather was much more like fall weather than summer. Nora sent me a text message about 5:45 AM this morning, I was sleeping. I then called her and we chatted for a while she was watching television and getting ready to go to bed. I went down to McDonald’s and had coffee, it is now 8 AM and I’m back home. I have a few minor things that I must take care of today I need to get a new outside faucet handle to replace one at moms house. I probably should get a pail of hot soapy water and go down to moms and go from room to room cleaning the things that Laurie missed. Not too much but there are some things. I went down to Bi-Rite and got another faucet handle and some washers to fix the outside faucet at Moms place and the one here at mine. I had to make 3 trips to Bi-Rite to get everything but it is finished now and doesn’t leak so that was the desired outcome. I pulled the access cover off my water meter and found the whole thing swimming in water so I called the Utility company and they will send someone to look at it today… I went to LinnCo and closed out the Money Market account, also Karen reversed the returned charge of $27. That made me happy… I went to Wells and deposited the money in checking and will transfer it later. Then I stopped in at NAPA and saw Ben, while there I bought the oil and filter for the Toyota. After I got home, I dropped the oil, changed the filter then refilled the crankcase with Castrol 10-40, checked for leaks and now it is good to go... I got to chat for a little bit with Nora, it is after 9am there and her and Kenneth are on their way to Manila for the suitcase shopping spree… I probably will not be talking to her until tomorrow morning.

Chilly Tuesday morning... time passes albeit slowly.

Today is Tuesday, the sky is overcast and it’s a little on the nippy side. Actually the weather now is more like what you would expect to see in the fall of the year. I woke us morning at 5:30 AM and called Nora we chatted for a little bit that I went down to McDonald’s for coffee. I just got home and it’s 7:58 AM. McDonald’s was quite busy this morning. There are no pressing plans for today, Barbara should be here this afternoon to take a look at mom’s house and give me an idea of what she thinks it would rent for and if there are any improvements I need to do prior to contracting with her to take care of the rental. I haven’t decided what I’m going to make for breakfast but I think that probably oatmeal will be on the menu. I thought about going down to the big Jim’s Café, but really don’t want to spend the money. It’s not that I don’t have the money, but I know that once the family is here what money I have will be quickly depleted if I don’t keep a very watchful eye on it. Anyway we will see how the day unravels and will take whatever events come up and handle them in whatever way we can. Decided on having corn flakes and milk for breakfast… that and a cup of Hot Chocolate.

A dreary Monday morning... Shrub butchery time today !!

Today is Monday, I woke up at 5 AM and called Nora shortly thereafter. She was wondering why a woke up so early and I really didn’t have a good answer for her. We chatted for a little bit and she asked me to see if I could remember how long it took from the time we sent the documents for the children to the embassy and the time the embassy notified us that they had approved the visas. I will research that today. It’s cloudy this morning and a little on the brisk side, the dew is quite heavy and leaves a missed on your window. I just took the hose down to mom’s house and watered down the area around the shrubs in the front so that Myron will be able to pull the weeds easier. He plans to arrive about 9:30 AM. He’s bringing his gas trimmer and I guess I will use it to trim the tops of the shrubs and once I get it down to a manageable level he will take over from that point. I am going to trim them down to the bottom of the bedroom windows and the hedge, I am not sure about. I think that today I am going to take to cover off of the Harley and see how difficult it will be to remove the gas tank and empty the old fuel. That I think maybe later today I will go to Earls and see how much your battery will cost for the Harley. I would like to get it started. But most important I need to get the old gas out of it. Myron came about 9:35am and I went down and trimmed the top and end of the evergreen hedge, he was then going to trim the shrubs next to the house, pull the weeds and put down bark mulch… it will look much better then. I got up in the bed of Myron’s pu and trimmed the top of the hedge and the end facing the street. I then came home and did some stuff then after awhile I went back down and took my blower and cleaned up the garage and the driveway so now it looks really nice. I also turned over the sign that said ‘Tillie and Cecil’. Just blank white now. A little after 6pm, I went to Mega Foods and bought bread and soup and cheetos… 2 loaves of bread, 8 cans of soup and 1 bag of cheetos and 2 boxes of corn flakes… $26. Well, when Nora finally gets here I am sure my eating habits and shopping habits will change… for the better !!!

Sunday, a great day to rest and reflect on the past week's happenings...

Sunday! Well my sweetheart is asleep and when she wakes up it will be Monday morning and she will take the documents required to the courier service and they will be delivered to the United States Embassy. It is my hope that she will receive her visa within 5 to 10 days. Of course, the sooner the better. Today is a cloudy and quite chilly, not what one would normally expect for the 2nd week of August. Weather all over the United States has changed and shifted. I am having some cinnamon sugar covered toast for breakfast I haven’t done so yet but I will soon make a cup of hot chocolate to accompany it. I have nothing in particular to do today, although Ralph did call me to let me know that his son, Johnny, said he would possibly give me $8000 for the Harley. I am not too excited about that. I realize that I am going to need a bigger vehicle to accommodate the size of my family, but I don’t know how much I am willing to compromise or lose on selling my Harley to accomplish that end. I don’t have much to say on here today, I think I will go make my hot chocolate and see what kind of news is on the Internet. Have a great day, rejoice in the fact that our God is looking out for us. Got a couple of quick text messages from both Sean and Nick… Also had some Mushroom soup for lunch, tricky to heat up even in the microwave... The soup was pretty good. I am checking on some keyloggers and find that most are around $70 bucks but all seem to do about the same thing. Might be a good investment with the kids coming here and all. It is 4:21 PM and I tried to get hold of Nora, but no reply in YM or on the phone in YM so maybe she is still asleep. Actually I did finally get hold of her but it was about 7:30 her time. I went downtown and got some money from the bank and then stopped at the little Mexican restaurant across the tracks from Sum Yan and had a pretty tasty dinner for $11 including tip. Back home by a touch past 7pm… Nora sent me an IM that she is just leaving to go to SM and the courier place. I am going to take a shower and then go to bed… Nora must still be in town or maybe at the SM mall. Well it’s almost 10 PM and I have not heard anything further from Nora so I’m going to go to bed, and I left her a message to go ahead and text me when she got home.

Saturday morning, the weekend is here now !!!

This morning I woke up to the sound of an incoming instant message on YM. I looked at the clock and it was approximately 5:45 AM and of course the message was from Nora. I called her and we chatted for a little bit and then pretty soon she said that she was going to go to bed and I should go down to McDonald’s and have my morning coffee. By about 6:10 AM I was on my way to McDonald’s and stayed down there until about 8 o’clock and then came home, took my medication and now I’m updating this journal. It is a beautiful morning there are a few clouds in the sky but no rain is forecast so it should be a nice day. I don’t have anything in particular that I need to do today, with the possible exception of rearranging some things in the garage. I may have to go to town and try to locate some boxes. Lollie and Gareth should be either on Maui or on their way there for their last few days in Hawaii. Then they will be heading back home to Sacramento. I believe they have had a good vacation and really enjoyed this time on the islands. Perhaps someday Nora and I will be able to travel there, I don’t know yet. There is a tractor pull scheduled for about 11 AM today across highway 20 from the hospital, a few people that I know are going to go to it, it is a free event, but I doubt that I will go. Just got a letter (email) from Melissa with her work email and other contact information. We emailed back and forth a few times, I got her latest address and contact info so that was a good thing. I banged my shin earlier today and I think that maybe I broke a blood vessel or something cause it raised a little lump the size of a dime but it hurts even now… if it still is hurting on Monday I might have the Doctor look at it… Been watching some videos by a photographer named Mark Johnson and some of the techniques he uses to enhance and change photos are nothing short of amazing. Had a double batch of Oatmeal for dinner, a little brow sugar and a dash of milk and I was good to go. Chatted a bit with Nora after she woke up, she is planning on staying home today, except she will probably go to church or maybe not. They have races out at the track today or rather tonight… I don’t go cause it cost’s too much.

Friday and the end of the first week of August...

Today is Friday, 5 August in the year of 2011. When the alarm went off this morning at 5:58 AM, I awoke and called Nora to chat with her for a few moments before I got ready to go to coffee at McDonald’s. I washed my face and got dressed and then arrived at McDonald’s at about 6:15 AM or 6:20 AM this morning. About 7:15 AM Myron came in and we chatted for a bit and he told me that he wants to come over to mom’s house Monday about 9:30 AM and do the trimming of the hedges for me as a return of the favor of my buying his plane tickets for him. This morning, at about 10 AM I will take the loveseat in my pickup over to Wayne and Maria’s house and from there we will go to Albany to Melba’s apartment and deliver the loveseat to her. I don’t mind giving it to her. It doesn’t fit in with my furniture and I really don’t need it. I sent pictures to Joyce and also to Kenneth showing them what their beds look like and their bedrooms. It is cloudy today and somewhat cooler, it may rain but I don’t know for sure what the forecast is. Nora is so funny she wanted me to write UPS an e-mail asking them to deliver the documents today, I don’t have that kind of control, and I’m certain that there were thousands and thousands of packages delivered to the Philippines by UPS and ours is certainly not going to take a priority. They said they would deliver it by the close of business on Monday and I told her that’s fine that’s good enough. Wayne and Maria came by to pick me up and then we drove to Albany over to Melba’s apartment and carried the loveseat up a flight of stairs and put it in her apartment. She was very happy to get it and actually fed us some noodles and ham for lunch which was nice of her. She seems happy living there by herself and that is a good thing. After that we went to Home Depot and Wayne bought some cedar lumber 6 foot long 1 x 6 boards to complete his fence. I just got home a few minutes ago and it is 5:46 PM. The day turned out to be very beautiful blue skies and moderate temperatures.

Thursday, Myron has tickets and shrubs may get trimmed...

Well good morning to everyone! It is a grand day, let me start this entry by telling you that my wife went to the NBI office in Manila yesterday morning accompanied by her uncle. She was able to contact a relative who works at the NBI and happens to be an officer. I won’t bore you with all The steps that she had to go through but, suffice it to say, by 2 PM she had her clearance in hand and was on the way back home. Had she not had a relative working there, it would’ve taken 30 days or more to get this clearance. So when she called me at about 8 AM this morning, although she had up splitting headache she was very happy and so was I. It is a nice day out today. I went to coffee at about 7:30 AM this morning and Myron came in and was telling me that he had problems getting his ticket to go back to China. I offered to help him and so he came over to the house and I was able to go online and buy him a one-way ticket to Hong Kong for just a hair over $700. Not a bad buy. He is going to have a friend of his, named James, come over and look at the shrubs in front of mom’s house and tell me how much you will charge to cut them back and shape them so they are more presentable. I decided on a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast which is easy to cook in the microwave a minute and 30 seconds and it’s done to perfection a little dusting of brown sugar and a little dash of milk and I was good to go. Right now I am enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. I have no particular plans for today, I am thinking that early this afternoon a nap may be in order. I will continue today’s Journal if anything happens of interest outside of the laundry that I am currently doing. Take care, and enjoy the day. I just emailed some photos of Joyce’s room to her, I hope she enjoys them as much as Kenneth enjoyed seeing his. I just called Barb Alley’s company, I want to talk to her about managing the rental/lease of Mom’s home. Barbara is guy come out and look at mom’s house on Tuesday at about 10 AM. I went over to visit with Wayne and Maria, and stayed there for about an hour and a half and then I came home. One load of laundry in the dryer and the last load is washing now. The guy from Comcast cable was out and buried a new cable from the street to the house. That should take care of the signal loss that the other technician noted. I moved the loveseat out into the garage, and put the organ back where it originally was… house looks more normal now. Clothes are all clean and put away for now… another week done I guess. I just checked the deliver time for the documents I sent to Nora and it is now: Scheduled Delivery Updated To: Monday, 08/08/2011, By End of Day Last Location: Manila, Philippines, Friday, 08/05/2011 That is OK, but I would like to have had it delivered on Saturday as they said… but Monday is still good.

Yet another trip to Manila NBI... hopefully it will be successful.

Today is Wednesday and the people from Allied waste should be here to pick up the dumpster today. Nora sent me a text message this morning about 5:30 AM, she was going to bed. Tomorrow morning she and her uncle will go into Manila to NBI and talk to the relative that said he could help her get her background check completed in about 8 days. I wished her well, then I got up and got dressed and went down to McDonald’s for coffee. As I was sitting there, just before I left, I was talking to Pete, a friend of mine. He was telling me how much he enjoys reading this journal and told me I should become a writer… maybe I already am I don’t know. If people enjoy reading what I write then I’m happy. To me the journal is just a daily recount of my activities and the situations I find myself in. Some of them are interesting some are challenging and others would bring tears to your eyes. All just part of life and they all help shape us into the individual that we are we are in essence a summation of our experiences. I came home, then realized that I needed to go back down to the barbershop and get a haircut. I got it cut pretty short which is okay because it will grow out again but it will be more comfortable in The hotter part of the summer. Back home again now, and just fixed a couple pieces of toast for breakfast and starting out today’s Journal entry. I am finding that Dragon Dictate for Mac is still not up to the par of the full-fledged version that is used in the PC community. But I believe it is better than MacSpeech Dictate was. To each of you who read this I pray you have a good day and that at least some of your dreams come true… always remember we look backwards to gain knowledge from those experiences which put us where we are today. I went to see Laura at Heritage, but she no longer works there so I went to her new place on Airway road. She is coming out this afternoon about 2pm to look at Mom’s house and give me a market appraisal. After I saw her, I went to Wal★mart and got a bed covering set for Kenneth’s room. Looks much better for now. I just sent Ralph an e-mail with 4 pictures of my Harley and a specification sheet showing the improvements that I have made to it. I returned Gareth’s call and while talking to him, Laura called and was waiting for me at 2644 so I walked down there to let her in… she thinks the house is nice and recommended a couple things I could do and will email me a market analysis in the next day of two... Boy, had a corona and I tell you what, first thing up was a nap… dangit if that stuff don’t make a man tired sometimes… About 5:30 I went down to Papa Murphy’s and bought a chicken bacon salad and brought home for dinner. After eating that, Lollie called me and we chatted for awhile and then I talked to Gareth… They are headed over to Eric and Debbie’s condo for dinner tonight.

Tuesday and the documents are on the way...

I woke up this morning at about 4:30 AM and tried to call Nora a couple of times and then sent her a instant message letting her know that I was trying to call her. A few moments later I got a call from her and we chatted for a little bit. I told her I would take care of everything that she needed me to do here and send it off to her today. After we hung up, I attempted to go back to sleep but could not so ended up getting up earlier than I wanted to. I went to coffee at 6 AM Del came in about 6:45 AM and I approached him about going with me to take a couple of pictures of me in various places to satisfy the requirements of the Embassy interviewer. I then went to Walmart and had the pictures printed out, a total of 6 8 x 10 pictures. I then went to the UPS store and had copies made of the utilities bills that I would be sending to Nora. Then I asked him how much it would be to send the package of bills and photos to the Philippines, altogether it cost me $65 at the UPS store and $15 at Walmart. The good thing about this is that she will receive the package by Saturday which should make are quite happy. I then came home and decided to see if I could set up my HP printer. I got it set up as a wireless printer and was able to print from my computer to it and now I’m trying to figure out how to make it scan. I haven’t quite got that one figured out yet. I did go to the HP site and set it up as an E printer which allows me to send anything to the printer’s e-mail address and then it will be printed as long as the prayer is online and my wireless network is online. I will call heritage property management today and also Barbara Allee and see about listing moms house either for rent or lease. I will probably contract with AAA cleaners to have them re-stretched the carpeting and professionally clean it. Chatting with Nora, sent her an email of the photos that I sent to her today using UPS. Nora went to Marilao to get the NBI clearance using her former married name as per the request of the consular at the US Embassy, but was told that it would take 30 days to get it because the NBI computers had been down for a month… She told me that she has a relative that works for NBI in Manila and that he said he might be able to get her the clearance in about 8 days so she and Uncle will go to Manila NBI tomorrow to talk to him. I went down to have dinner and decided to stop at Taco Bell, I had their double cheese Gordita and it also had a soft taco and a beef burrito. That along with the 20 ounce drink was under $6. Not bad, but I cannot afford to do things like that all the time. The rest of the evening was spent basically watching a little TV and relaxing, I told nor I was in a go to bed and that I would not be calling her before she went to sleep.

1st day of August here and Visa day in Manila...

Today is Monday, and I woke up at about 3:30 AM this morning and text with Nora little bit and then she called me about 5:15am or so. She was going through her paperwork that she will take to the US Embassy tomorrow morning. She asked that I call her to wake her up at 3:15 AM Tuesday morning which will be about 12:15 PM today my time. I am apprehensive, hopeful, excited and nervous. This is essentially the last major step to getting her and the children over here. Providing that her visa application is approved at the interview, she will probably take the children Wednesday and go to the CFO seminar so they can have their visas stamped. After that it's just a matter of her going to the travel agency and buying the plane tickets to come here to America. Sometime this evening I expect to hear from her... I’m not sure how soon she will have the interview although I believe it will be sometime Tuesday morning between about 7:30 AM and probably noon. I was talking to some folks at McDonald’s this morning and I started this whole process back in May of 2009 it’s taken a lot longer than I thought it would, but looking back the only things that really slowed the process down was her having to go to DOT treatment for a year and then me not having filed my 2010 taxes. Other than that everything really went pretty well and I’m hoping that it will go well for her at the interview also. In a little while I’m going to go downtown to what used to be floor crafters carpeting and see if they will give me an estimate to have the carpet at mom’s house re-stretched. I hope it won’t be too expensive. It is another beautiful day outside blue sky and nice temperature. I just finished breakfast, I had a bowl of oatmeal with some brown sugar on it and a little dab of milk. It’s supposed to be heart healthy, and that’s the main reason I needed although I truly do like the taste. Well I suppose I had better get going and get my day started there’s a number of things I have to do including going to Walmart and getting some sheets and a comforter and pillows and pillow cases for Kenneth’s bed. I went down to the credit union and gave the reports to Karen and she will give them to the lady who was helping see if they can straighten out my credit report. I’m sure I will hear from them sometime later in the week. From there I went to the floor crafter place to get an idea of what time they can come out and give me an estimate on stretching the carpet at mom’s house. After that I stop by the high school to see what would be required in getting Joyce registered for school. They told me to go to the main office and ask for a packet which I will probably do tomorrow. I got home at about 9:30 AM and called Dawn from AAA cleaning and he is going to call me back and tell me when he can come and look at the carpet at mom’s house for possible cleaning and re-stretching. They should be here around 4pm tomorrow… The guy from AAA cleaning will be here maybe this afternoon, at least he said he would call me this afternoon... Just called Kurt, the plumber that Brian recommended to run the gas line under the house and over to the kitchen for the potential gas stove... I met the carpet guy at about 3 PM.at mom’s house, he looked around and ended up giving me a bid to clean the carpet is $175 for the entire house and into stretch all the carpet in the house and reattach it is $300 for a total of $475. That would put us into the house just shy of $1000 to put it into leasable/rentable condition again. I’ll see what Lollie wants to do about that. It’s another $250 dollars out of my pocket so we would both be out about $500.

The Last day of July

Well today is Sunday, the final day in the month of July. When Nora wakes up in the morning it will be Monday and she will have one day left before her interview. I spent most of the day yesterday waiting for the 24 inch iMac and a 27 inch iMac to complete their data migration. It took a total of about 10 hours to get everything completed. It appears to be working the way I want to now. I am using DragonDictate on this journal, however I can see that I am going to have to do some more voice training. I just did another voice training session for Dragon and will do another a little later on… seemed to do ok. I tried to start the lawnmower this morning with the intention of going down and mowing mom’s yard, but a combination of year old gasoline and a dirty spark plug made it necessary for me to go down and get some new gas and clean the plug. After that the lawnmower started just fine. So I went down and mowed the back and the front yards, it looks better than the dandelions. When I got back home I took the blade off of the lawnmower and sharpened it, that should make it cut a little bit better. I just installed version 4.2 of sound studio, because the old version I had which was 2.2.4 was not compatible with lion software. I also had to download a program called lame which allows sound studio to create MP3 files. Chatting with my Sweetie, she woke up a little bit later this morning… she is praying for tomorrow to go well, I am also. Fixing some soup for dinner now, Nora is eating and will soon be on her way to SM I believe… Just finished Text'd ing with Lollie on YM and then we did a FaceTime chat, they were in Starbucks and it was really noisy... Just finished my shower and chatting a little with Lollie, they will be going out to dinner in a few minutes... I chatted a little bit with Nora, watched some television and then went to bed.

First post from the new 27" iMac...

Well today was July 30. I finally got both computers to talk each other and ran the migration assistant. It took a little better than 9 hours for the transfer of all the files from the 24 inch to the 27 inch. And even at that there are some compatibility issues with some of the software that I had installed on the 24. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it but I had to start my journal all over again. I spoke with knowledge to little bit ago she went to church this morning and doesn’t have any particular plans for the rest of the day. I was chatting with her just a moment ago and she excused herself from the conversation saying she had something to do. The gentleman from Comcast came out this morning and it took them only about 5 min. to get my computer back online something about the cabling was bad, because he did not have to replace the modem and router so now I have wireless all through the house and all lights on the modems and routers are the correct colors. I drove to Sweet home this afternoon and bought a large vanilla milkshake, the 1st one I’ve had in over a year and I must admit I really enjoyed it. I can see by this entry that I don’t like the background color so I’m going to go into the inspector and change it to the car I had with the old journal I believe and out on the text was black and the background was a sort of an aqua green color. Anyway this is the 1st entry on my new 27 inch iMac I’m sure the days following will prove quite interesting discovering those things that don’t work perhaps there will be some updates I’m not sure.

Thursday and the 2644 place is done...

Today is Thursday it looks like it will be another beautiful day the sky is blue it was a little bit brisk about 53° this morning. Nora called me about 5:30 AM actually I was asleep and it woke me up which was okay because it’s always nice to hear from her. The children at her watching a soccer game on television and they were quite excited because the Filipinos were winning. Tomorrow morning she will go to St. Luke for her vaccinations plus apparently they want her to pay 450 pesos lab fee for urinalysis which I don’t understand why she would need. I think it’s just another gouge I come to believe that St. Luke is nothing but a money maker for the Philippine government. I went to coffee at about 6 AM and return home by about 7:35 AM I just move the dresser from the garage into Kenneth’s room, I will need help to set it up on its legs and I don’t believe we will be able to use the mirror the way it was designed so I will take the brackets off the back of the dresser and then perhaps just hanging a mirror on the wall. At 9 AM Mike is going to be coming from Albany to pick up the remainder of the stuff for moms garage, then I am supposed to meet Fred from Lebanon auto salvage at 10 o’clock but I’m going to change an appointment to next week. I went down to mom’s and proceeded to put things in the dumpster, Mike showed up about 10 minutes after nine and Larry had already come over to pick up his tool belt and he took a few other things that he thought was worth having. The only things left in the garage now are the roaster pan, the organ and seat and the console stereo. After we put everything else in the dumpster, Mike and I pushed it down here to my home where I loaded it up with the stuff from Kenneth’s room that Melissa had left. The dumpster is pretty near full now. It is now 11:37 AM and I am tired. I am going to take a break for an hour or so after which time I’m not sure what my plans are.

Wednesday, another day closer...

Today is Wednesday the 27th day of July in about a half hour it will actually be 28 July in Marilao. I woke up at about 5:30 AM this morning and called Nora they are experiencing the wet weather associated with the typhoon a lot of rain and wind, but hopefully by Friday, the day she wants to go to St. Luke’s and get her vaccinations, the typhoon will have died down to nothing. About 6 AM I left the house to go to McDonald’s for coffee and then returned home at about 7:30 AM. I then made a little journey and took care of some business. When I got home I cleaned out the back of the pickup with a broom and so now it’s nice and clean again. I have something coming today, a delivery, either Dragon dictate or perhaps something from Apple computer I’m not sure which. I’m hoping that Mike, the fellow who picked up stuff from moms garage yesterday will call me and let me know when he would like to come back and complete the job. Yesterday I put an ad on craigslist for the Harley and also an ad for the upright organ that is still at mom’s house. Perhaps later today I will take a picture or of the console radio/record player that is still there and put an ad on craigslist for that also. I’m asking $35 for the organ which is a steal. I need to call Dr. Thayer today and remind them that they need to reorder my toprol medication. Somehow they failed to include that in the order to EzScripts pharmacy. Other than that I have no specific plans for today, at some point this week I had hoped to go to the credit union and see if I can straighten out that little fiasco. Well I had a situation with my iPhone that I was finally able to fix, I had to jailbreak my phone but now I no longer have a restrictions password and I downloaded an application that allows me to run a program without unlocking my phone. The jailbreak only took about 30 seconds and now I can download any Cydia applications I want. And I really like that. I’ve gotten me extended warranty for my new Mac I also got the magic bar to connect the keyboard and the magic trackpad and my printer showed up today. Del just came over for a visit and stayed for about 45 minutes than he had some place to go and other things to do so he left. After that, I went to Larry’s house and asked if they were going to finish the house and they were concerned that Lori was not going to be paid and I told him that I would pay her $100 making a total of 400 labor for them. The dumpster came today and I put it in the garage. They will go down tonight finish the house, and make sure it’s completely empty and everything left will be in the garage.

Tuesday morning and much to do...

Today is Tuesday it is a bright and beautiful day the sun is shining in a nice blue sky. I spoke with Nora this morning I was actually hoping by the alarm on my phone, after which time I called her. She had a good day yesterday but did not go to the movie as Joyce did not want to go so they went back home about 3 PM. She told me that the teachers at Prenza high school would have Joyce’s transcripts ready by Friday. She also wants Kenneth to go to the college and get a copy of his transcripts. I went to coffee this morning at about 6:25 AM and returned home at approximately 8 AM, did the dishes from yesterday and made some oatmeal for breakfast. I also took the accessories use for my exercise machine and put them in the back of my closet. The lady from Creswell should show up before 10 AM this morning to pick up the stuff for moms house and I will let her look through the things that I am going to throw away that Melissa left here. It’s a lady indeed does show up I will call Allied and cancel the dumpster for tomorrow morning drop-off. That will save us $76. I may go to Wal-Mart today and pick up a bedding set for Kenneth’s room. I will also look at some plastic boxes to put all the Apple stuff that is now on the shelves in. Sometimes it amazes me all the stuff a person can collect over the years. Other than that, I don’t have too much planned for today. Well it is 10:00 AM and the skank from Creswell ain’t here so screw her. The Mike guy from Albany is doing a bang up job of getting stuff out of the garage at Mom’s place... I went down and took some of the stuff out of mom’s bedroom and put in the garage basically just trash. I also took four pictures of the organ and then came home and created an ad on craigslist, I’m going to sell it for $35 cash no haggling. I think I also will take a picture of that console music player and put it in craigslist for $25 cash, hell might as well make a few bucks on that stuff. I will still need the dumpster so I cannot save the $76 bucks but that is ok, it will be split between Lollie and I so that is not too bad. I just want to get done with the house and get it rented/leased. Chatted a bit with Nick this afternoon, that was a nice change.

Monday... a shade over a week and the "Interview" is happening...

Last night I did not sleep all that well the house retained a lot of the heat from yesterday at four clock this morning it was still 75° in the house. Having the quilt on top of the bed didn’t make it any easier. I got up at about 5 AM this morning. Chatting with Nora about 5:30 AM she spent a good portion of the day yesterday at the SM Mall in Marilao. She went the globe and also the smart to find out about getting out more affordable plan for a wireless connection for Jenny and from what she told me and what they offer I think staying with the plan we have which is unlimited time is a better idea. After that she went to the photograph place and had some of the pictures printed off of the Sim card from my camera. She also had new passport pictures taken which she is not very happy with she said they make her look fat and washed out with beady little eyes. I told her to go ahead and just get it fixed. After coffee this morning I need to go to the DMV and get new registration for the Mini Cooper and new plates, I am not going to put custom plates on it again, too much money. It is supposed to be a lot cooler today with the temperature in the low 70° or so. I believe I will mow the lawns this afternoon to get that done, of course first I will rake up the dandelions that I pulled out of the front yard. It is now 5:55 AM and I am going ahead down to McDonald’s for coffee perhaps I’ll buy a breakfast sandwich I am not sure yet. Nora told me that today she will go to Prenza high school and get Joyce’s records. Gonna cost me $114 to re-license the Mini Cooper. Dang it is getting expensive to drive. Well I got the credit reports from Experian, Equifax and Trans Union credit bureaus the only negative on any of them is from LinnCo credit union. After the lady comes to pick up the stuff from mom’s garage tomorrow, I will go to the credit union and see what we can do about changing the negative rating. I hired the neighbor guy that Mexican to do my yard weed the front and back and take care of the necessary backbreaking work so that I would have a baseline to start getting the yard in order again. Been chatting with Nora and Lollie… I enjoy talking to both of them, Nora has been telling me that there’s another typhoon working its way through the northwestern part of Luzon so that will probably dump a lot of rain in the Manila area and in the area that she is living. I just finished some chicken rotelle soup with a couple slices of whole wheat bread and a little butter and had comprised dinner, then I washed up the dinner dishes, clean the counter tops and am done for the night. I did not have any lunch today. Well, with the exception of two in butter cookies but that was it. I told Laura to go ahead and move the bed and put some pots down on the floor to catch the water, something we are or were quite used to doing when the rain comes hard. I hope it’s not raining too hard when she goes to Manila.

Sunday morning... the demise of the closet

Sunday morning. The sky is a little bit overcast and I have not checked to see what the forecast will be for today. It is quite doubtful that there will be any rain. I may go back out to the backyard and see if I missed any of the dandelions and if I did all pull them up and then I’ll take the ones that I pulled up yesterday out to the pickup load them up. I just finished speaking with Nora she had left me a message just a moment or two before telling me that she was very tired and going to sleep and that I should just leave her a message. I typed “goodnight honey” to her and a moment later she responded so we chatted for just a little bit then I called her and talk to her for a couple minutes and told her to have a good night sleep well and have nice dreams then we hung up. The fact of the matter is today’s the 24th here in America and soon will be the 25th for her there in the Philippines. The month of July is almost gone and her visa appointment is right around the corner. I pray to God that her visa interview goes well. The only thing that could give her any trouble but I know of would be to security clearance but even I don’t understand how that could really be a problem, but you never know what the counselor will decide. I’ve got the house almost done, I still need to clean out Kenneth’s closet and I have a few things to pick up off the floor in our room. I still need to figure out where to put the organ I’m not sure about that just yet I might put it back in Kenneth’s room for the time being. Well I am thirsty so I think I will go to McDonald’s and have coffee and after that I can come home, change clothes, and get on with the rest of the day. Had coffee, Ralph was there. I left about 7:30 AM to come back home at which time I started cleaning out the bedroom closet in Kenneth’s room. I’ve got that done, I used the filing cabinet as a storage place for some of the laundry accessories such as soft scrub and little paper things you put in the dryer to keep stuff from clinging together. I also stored some paperwork of my own in the second from the bottom drawer. It will serve a better purpose in the garage than it did in the closet. I vacuumed the closet floor so it is ready now for the transfer of clothing from my room or I should say Nora and I’s bedroom closet. But she wants me to wait until she gets here before we make the switch so I will. It’s 11 AM now I think I’m done for a while. I will post this for anyone who cares to read it. I decided to go to the front yard and pull out some of those pesky dandylions, my gosh there were a bunch of ‘em. The tool I use takes a little plug of earth with it when it gets the dandylion so I have all these little holes in the yard... Someday I want to have it tilled up and a new lawn put in. Maybe. Chatting with Lollie on FaceTime now, she is fixing their coffee drinks now and I hear her but cannot see anything of her, just the dining room table... I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some milk for lunch... It it 4:24 PM and I have been chatting with Nora for about 35 minutes now, she had to go to the CR for a little bit and will call me back when she is finished... She needs to go to Prenza High School and arrange to get all of Joyce’s records and then to SM Mall to check on the debit card for Jenny and also the rates for shipping a box home thru DHL. Just hung up from chatting with Nora, she will call before she goes to SM Mall...

A Beautiful Saturday morning and I have already done good work.

The picture is my Grandson 'denny russel', wonder where that came from?? The sky is blue and it is a beautiful Saturday morning. I have a few minor things to do inside the house a few things I need to put away and I want to put the mattress for Kenneth’s bed outside so that it can air out. It looks to me like I had better get the lawnmower out and mow the grass, and I may get out the machete and trim back to stump it used to be the cherry tree in the backyard. Last night I slept horribly, I don’t know why but since returning from the Philippines my sleep habits have been sporadic and not very restful. I woke this morning at 3 AM and could not go back to sleep, eventually I dozed off for about a half hour and then at 7:30 AM I gave up and got out of bed, took my shower and prepared to greet the day. I had called Nora at 3 AM to chat with her as I couldn’t sleep, but never did get an answer. I sent her a couple of instant messages and she called me at about 4:30 AM. She of course is worried about why I’m not sleeping and I told her that it was because I didn’t have my little brown sleeping pill next to me in bed. I just sent to Kenneth video that shows you how easy it is to enable FaceTime on the iPhone 3GS. I hope all work for him. It would be nice to be able to have that capability when Jenny has only that phone to communicate with us. Went to the back yard and picked up the stuff I pulled up a few days ago and put it in the Toyota then proceeded to hack the new growth out of the cherry tree stump, cleaned up the carport a bit and got a call from Freddy, he will be here in an hour or so for some liquid refreshments.

Thursday... 9 days to go

Well today is actually July 23 of the year 2011 in the Philippine Islands. Nine more days and Nora will appear at the US Embassy for her visa interview. It is my hope that it all goes well and she doesn’t have to do anything else. If it all works out the way it’s supposed to she will be told at the end of the interview that she will get her visa. Then as soon as she receives her Visa package she will be able to take the children and her and attend the CFO seminar which is a two-hour but likely one whole day seminar. Once they are finished with that their visa will be stamped and they will be allowed to board the aircraft when she has bought the tickets. That will be a great day and an even greater day will be when I go to Portland to pick her up. It is overcast outside today and I’m not sure what the weather forecast is, but it may rain or not. My plan for the day is to probably empty the bedroom that Kenneth will occupy and get it cleaned up in preparation for putting in the double bed from mom’s house. Had coffee at McDonald’s I left here about 6 AM and then got back home at about 7:50 AM. Just made some toast and Hot Chocolate for breakfast... hope it warms up soon, I have things to do. Just ordered my new 27” iMac and an HP Printer that is wireless and supports Airprint so we will be able to print from any device, iPad, iPhone or any other device... I just ordered a small bumps or to be placed at 2644 S. 11th St. it will come next Wednesday and each time it’s emptied there is a $76 charge. I have prepaid the first $76 using my debit card. When I get the receipt I will send that to Gareth and he can reimburse me for half of the fee. I just went down and got the Hollywood frame and also the headboard for the bed that will go into Kenneth’s bedroom. In a little while I will start emptying out that bedroom. Well everything except for the bookcase and the shelving has been removed from Kenneth’s room, I have the bed rails and the headboard in there and get a little while I will get out the bolts and nuts and attached a headboard to the rails then I will probably go down to mom’s house and get the mattress and box springs and bring them back up here I can put the box springs on but Nora wants me to air out the mattress. Had a great chat with Gareth and Lollie, they are finally moving and getting things done, Gareth is going to get some housework done now. Chatting with Nora, she seems pretty pre-occupied with baby denny and his antics... I made some chicken noodle soup for dinner accompanied with two pieces of toast w/butter.

Today is maybe "Fix the bedroom" day, I will work on Kenneth's room...

I overslept this morning I didn’t wake up until 7 AM and of course when I signed on to Yahoo messenger I had a ton of messages from Nora as I had not called her at six which I normally would do. She was worried about me, so I immediately called her and told her what had happened that I had drank a couple of beers and then took two Tylenol PMs and that I had just really slept soundly but was okay. She was happy about that and was able at that time to go to bed and go to sleep. She does worry about me a lot and that is greatly appreciated. I went down to McDonald’s at about 7:30 AM and just got home it is now 9:15 AM. I cut some dandelions out of the cracks in the pavement and while I was doing so discovered a nest of ants so I sprayed them with ant poison. I have the ability to eradicate them from around the home I will not put up with ants anymore. It is overcast today and I felt a mist in the air which tells me it probably will rain today, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. I put together a list of a few things that I needed to get and then went out to Wal-Mart to pick them up. While I was there I bought a remote control to let and also bought what I thought was a wireless Hewlett-Packard printer when I got the printer home and went to attach it to the computer I found it was not wireless. I packed everything up including the switch didn’t work and took it back to Wal-Mart and got a refund. On the way home I stopped at Papa Murphy’s pizza and picked up a good chicken salad for dinner tonight. After I got home I took the beer glasses out of the freezer in the refrigerator and the house and put them in the freezer and refrigerator in the garage. I have been talking to lolly and Gareth on face time both computer to computer and also computer to iPhone all seem to be working quite nicely. Earlier today I called Apple to find out if the new iMacs would be shipping with lion or if they would be shipping with snow leopard installed. They did not have an answer for me so I did not order one yet. I may tomorrow, but I’m not sure. Chatted a little bit with Dorothy and also Joyce... she is a good kid.. it’s tough there though.

Wednesday or otherwise known as "Refrigerator" day...

Good morning everyone. Today is Wednesday, July 20 and I have a cold. I really have no idea where this cold came from I seem to have missed a running nose part and gone right into the hacking cough stage. I may stop after coffee and get some cough medicine or some lozenges. I went to bed last night at about 9:30 PM. I woke up the first time at about 1 AM needing to use the restroom. And the rest of the time in bed was restless. I had a dream actually I had several dreams but in one of them I remember the address of 621 Franklin St. I don’t know why. If this cough would break up and I could expel some mucus it would help, but right now my throat really feels tight. This is probably one of the occasions where I’m glad Nora and the children are not around. If I can get rid of this cough/cold before they arrive it would be nice. I do know that Nora has a cold also she had complained about a runny nose and sore throat so maybe mine is a sympathy cold. At 6 AM I will go down to McDonald’s for coffee in the meantime I will see what kind of mail has come in overnight. After I return home from McDonald’s, I preceded to finish the work on the refrigerator by swapping the door to open on the correct side and installing all the shelving and drawers. It is now plugged in and cooling and this afternoon I will put the food from the other refrigerator into it and possibly move the other refrigerator out to the garage. I just ordered my free annual credit reports from the three reporting bureaus it will take about two weeks for them to arrive. I decided to go down to the substation and have a sandwich so I had a turkey bacon avocado sub, an 8 inch one. Have a glass of water to drink and a small bag of Lays chips. Came back home and emptied the refrigerator that was in the kitchen on the countertops and then put everything in the new refrigerator that I got from mom’s place. I took the old refrigerator out the front door and installed it in the garage and reloaded it lists the various drinks and whatnot that I had in there before. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of Larry or Laurie today, don’t know what they are doing but they are not working at mom’s house today. I saw that Maria was online so I chatted with her for a while and she suggested that I add her daughter Annalisa as a friend on both Facebook and Yahoo messenger which I did. I also saw while I was on Facebook that Donna was online and so I chatted with her for a little bit she is still feeling a lot of pain and hurt and has a long ways to go before her relationship with Hal will be healed if ever. Nora came on at about 6:45 AM her time so we chatted for a little bit and now she’s doing something and will be back a little bit later. She plans to go to SM mall today and check on the BDO debit card for Jenny. I got a lot done today the refrigerator saga is now complete, and the next thing that I need to complete is a cleaning of the room Kenneth will have. I will move the stuff into the garage temporarily then clean the carpet vacuum and really good then I will put together the bed from down at moms for him to use.

First post since returning to the States... It's good to be home...

Well I must admit that last night I slept like a baby, about 8:30 PM I took an Ambien and by the time I had finished my shower I was already sleepy so I went to bed, fell asleep almost immediately and did not awaken until 5:30 AM this morning. I feel very refreshed and wide awake. I went to McDonald’s for coffee this morning, chatted with the usual characters and then, I thought that the city of Lebanon utilities would be open at 8 AM, however they do not open until 9 AM. I then went back to mom’s house, and finished putting the doors on the refrigerator that I took down there yesterday so that it will be ready to go back in its place next to the stove after Larry and Lori finish cleaning the kitchen. While at McDonald’s I had the opportunity to talk to Nora, she was getting ready to go to bed so I told her to have sweet dreams and that I would talk to her when she woke up in the morning. It is now 9 AM and I am here at the house, will catch up on a little computer stuff and then go down to the city utility office and turn on the water at 2644. I just sent in an application to reinstate the water service at 2644, I had to pay a $10 credit search and fill out a long application document. On the way back home from the water company, I stopped at 2644 and finished putting on the doors to the refrigerator that will live there and then brought moms old refrigerator back to the house. I cleaned it up really good inside and out and will reassemble it later and then to make the switch with the one that is in our kitchen now. I just went through another fiasco with smile on my Mac trying to upgrade my PDF pen software to PDF pen pro. What a hassle, but I have it done now. I cleaned up mom’s refrigerator and tomorrow I will probably move it into the house and began reassembling it I will put most of it together in the garage but I want to bring it in-house without the doors attached, which will make it much easier to move. I do believe that Nora will really like this refrigerator I know I do. I will get the serial and model number and takedown to Brian at Kellenberger’s to see if we can order an icemaker for it. Got all the shelves put back together for the new fridge, dried the drawers so now tomorrow, I will prepare to change over the way the doors open and put it all in the house... after which I will swap over the food then take the other refer out into the garage for a cleaning also.

My last day in the Philippines... at least for now.

Jul 10, 2011

This is it... departure day, separation from my lovely bride and children... for at least a month, hopefully they will leave the Philippines on or about the 15th of Aug if all goes well...

Yesterday was a good day, but all day it rained so we stayed at home.

Last night sleep started off really good, but then Nora got up sometime early this morning to use the bathroom and when she returned to bed she couldn't fall asleep so it was tossing and turning and churning and thumping and banging... gosh she is terrible when she cannot sleep... I sometimes think at home maybe we will have to get twin beds so she don't keep me up. Maybe I will just tell her to drag her carcass out to the living room and sleep on the couch... after all, they are comfortable.

Anyway, we missed the 7am mass at the church so now she wants to go to the 8:30 mass... I could miss it but won't.

After we get back home we will see what the afternoon brings... if the weather clears, we might go to SM Mall.

~ Say what you mean
Mean what you say...

My last 'Full day' here... off to Oregon tomorrow

Jul 09, 2011

Saturday morning, 7:55 AM. This is my last Saturday here in the Philippines, tomorrow evening it's off to the airport and then a few minutes after midnight I depart to Seoul for a 10+ hour layover then we go to San Francisco for yet another 10+ hour layover and then finally take off for Portland and the 2 hour drive home... Been a very interesting and happy and frustrating year to say the least.

I bring home with me the fact that I am once again married and a father to grown children and Grandfather to one new grandson... I can honestly say that at 67 years of age this is a remarkable undertaking for me... I cannot say that my life is dull at this time... fading into old age with no pomp or circumstance just was not in my plans... I am young at heart and hopefully the good Lord will have at least another 35 years for me to play the game.

When it is finally time for me to check out of this life hotel, I will take with me many fine memories and hopefully I can leave good memories behind me also... I know my wife and children (present tense) will have a much better chance at a good life because of me having been in their life. I am far from perfect and need tuning up all the time but I ain't a half bad ride... After all, only one perfect man ever walked this earth and he and no-one else is my constant mentor... Thank you God for all you have allowed me to experience, the good and the bad have shaped me and give me reason to continue my quest...

Nora is currently having some of Gareth's famed ailment but she is going to Divine to buy food and will stop at the pharmacy and get some ducolax to take care of that... she is a very regular person so this is a little out of character for her.

Just about 15 minutes ago we had a heavy but short squall run thru, thoroughly dampening everything and causing our ceiling to leak once again... I won't miss that!!!

Sad/Happy I guess is the internal mood that I am experiencing at the moment, but I will be so busy once home that I won't have time to moan and cry about things...

If more happens worth writing about today I will surely let you know...

~ Say what you mean
Mean what you say...

Open an account for Jenny and deposit funds...

Jul 08, 2011

Yesterday was truly a good day, Nora did laundry, I helped her a little and so did Jenny.

We got a chance to talk to Jenny some and tell her the things that she needs to be careful of, especially letting people her know anything about her financial situation... unfortunately, if they know she has a budget, they will all try to borrow from her and that would cause big problems for her. We told her to keep any information about how much she gets and what she has available strictly to herself... no friends or relatives should know anything about her finances.

Today, Nora and I and Jenny will be going to open an account for Jenny at BDO bank so that I can set up a recurring transfer thru what ever means I choose to fund her budget each month... that way she doesn't have to get the entire amount into her hands at one time, rather she can debit the account on a weekly basis which leaves the brunt of her budget safe in the bank... easy to lose money.

I will be putting the abundance of the money I had sent over here in either Jennys account or Nora's. We will discuss that.

We slept good last night, it has remained cooler since the low pressure areas have been around.

Nora told me yesterday that she wants to buy the ingredients to make spaghetti, she knows it is one of my favorite dishes here that she makes. We will likely go to a movie also if there is something good showing. It will be our last one until she is in the States.

Weather looks a little on the hazy side, it seems to go to hell in the afternoons.

••• Went to SM Mall and opened an account for JennyLyn at the BDO bank and deposited 100,000p (we will use a lot of that to buy Nora and kids plane tickets... but safer in the bank than here at home.  She will be able to access her budget funds via a ATM card or going to the counter.

Have a great day everyone...

~ Say what you mean Mean what you say...

Thursday, clothes day, laundry etc... yuk!!!

Jul 07, 2011

Thursday already... Sunday will come quickly now. It is 7:36 AM now, I just finished my morning bath and am updating, as you can see, this daily journal...

Nora just brought me coffee, she woke with a pounding headache this morning, we had no water so I got up and went in the back factory and got a bottle full of water and then returned and gave Nora an excedrin... that usually gets rid of the headaches pretty fast... always works for me, much better than tylenol or asprin.

Today will be a day of laundry as there is really nothing much we can do until it is time for Nora's interview.

I see the neighbor lady building a pile of trash just on the other side of the short cement wall that separates our compound and the open field in front of this apartment. She will soon set it on fire and then the air will stink while it smoulders, trying to burn damp items and plastic bags and containers... The air here, that we breath is in my estimation quite dangerous with all the toxins that are released thru the burning of garbage, exhaust from all the ill-tuned vehicles and 2-cycle motor scooters... it is most of the time so bad that you really need to cover your mouth and nose with a rag to help filter out the smoke.

Yesterday was a pretty up day for everyone, the kids really like the visa page of their passports and Nora is so happy that they have them. Now just waiting for her to get hers and all will be good, I told her that I want her on a plane as quickly as is possible after they attend the CFO seminar for departing Filipinos that she and the kids must attend.

We will go to the Mall on Saturday, I need to print out Nora's confirmation email for her interview appointment and we will go to another movie I would imagine.

Today, Nora and I will set Jenny down and hopefully give her some insight on how to conduct her affairs while she is here, especially those concerning her budget... We plan to warn her from ever talking about how much money she is getting or has and to never loan anyone any money at all... people here have great intentions of repaying, but it never happens and Jenny will not have enough to give to anyone else. Alex and Ana would be on her to borrow just like they did me.

This will be some learning experience for her.

Well so much for this days entries which actually just a summation of yesterday and declaration of intent for today... WoWeeeeeeee !!!

••• A moment ago, just after I penned this days entry, the sky opened up and a Monsoon dumped a ton of water in an exceedingly heavy downpour... now it is stopped but more will come because of a large low pressure area that is passing over this region...

~ Say what you mean Mean what you say...

Hopefully the end at St. Lukes will be today...

Jul 06, 2011

Yesterday was a Great day, starting out with the email that informed us the children had been issued their Visa's... the day progressed pretty good I must say... Nora finally got thru to St. Lukes clinic so she will be going there this morning for her vaccinations and to be released from St. Lukes clinic.

Last night, I got online and connected to the US Embassy to make the Visa interview appt. for Nora, would you not believe it, the first opening they have now is Aug 2. That means that she will not receive her visa until at least Aug 7, then she has to go to the CFO seminar for departing filipinos (her and the kids) the seminar is only two hours but takes nearly a day to complete and costs an additional 650p per person... She attend the CFO seminar until she has the visa as they need to stamp it with a seal to prove she attended it... it is all tied together here, politics, graft and whatever else can complicate a process they have down to a fine art here.

Nora's latest worry is that her Taiwan police clearance will not be valid because it is from 2009... it should be valid because she has not left the Philippines since getting it but who knows what the consular will say. Her medical is only good for 3 months after the last sputum results were released (June 14) so she has to leave the country before Sept 14 or she will have to do the whole medical process over again... I am praying that all is OK,

Nicholas is back on FaceBook it appears and he sure seems nice. I have missed chatting with him and hope to renew that experience once I get home. I miss the little shit.

Hope that all goes well at St. Lukes clinic for Nora today, having that finished will be wonderful.

A chicken just walked in front of our doorway and took a shit... Gosh, I will really miss these wonderful experiences when I leave (NOT).

~ Say what you mean
Mean what you say...

Tuesday... waiting for St. Luke and the Embassy. Good news would be nice.

Jul 05, 2011

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY AMERICA... Even though here in the Philippines it is actually now the 5th. 15 hours difference in time.

All US government offices were closed yesterday here in the Metro Manila area so the US Embassy was also closed... nothing to get or hear from them... Hope that we hear from them today.

Nora will call St. Lukes clinic again today to see if she can get her vaccinations and finish there so I can hopefully schedule her for her Visa interview for next week.

I also hope that we hear about the childrens Visa's this week, the Embassy has had the paperwork for over two weeks now...

We slept pretty good weatherwise, but Nora is in worry mode now about the visa's so she was having trouble getting her mind to unwind and let her slip into restful sleep... she eventually did after beating the hell out of the sheets with her tossing vocanic little body all over the place...

Hope and pray that we get some positive news today, I want to be able to go to the Airport on Sunday with a positive note...

Yesterday evening, I gave Kenneth 2,000p to take to Marilao and pay the electric bill for last month...

••• Here is the kind of message you like to get from the Government...

We are pleased to inform you that immigrant visas were issued to Mark and Joyce Balisbis on June 30, 2011.  The visa packets will be delivered to the applicants’ designated address by guaranteed courier service.     Immigrant Visa Correspondence Unit Consular Section U.S. Embassy, Manila 1201 Roxas Boulevard 1000 Manila, Philippines Telephone: (632) 301-2000 Fax: (632) 301-2591 /mbp     -----Original Message----- From: ~ denny [mailto:gambuchi@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 1:14 PM To: Manila IV Correspondence Unit Subject: Balisbis,Mark Kenneth MNL2011699062 CR-2 pri date N/A -- Balisbis,Joyce Anne MNL 2011699063 CR-2 pri date N/A   Can you please report the current status of these two cases?    Thank you sincerely,   Dennis R Stanley     ~ Say what you mean Mean what you say...

My last Monday here in the philippines...

Jul 04, 2011

Here, it is already 4 July, and also it will be a good day, but the Holiday we Americans celebrate is yet to come in the USA. That my partiotic friends has yet to dawn. But celebrate it we will, as Americans of a Free Country... This is the first one I will have missed in many a year, actually since I was in VietNam so many years ago.

Here, they don't celebrate the fourth of July as we do as it is not Independence day here, they already had theirs...

Today is starting like yesterday, primarily a clear sky but some distant clouds and just a tad hazy...

We slept good considering the weather was cooler.

Alex is being tricky now about money, I told him the other day I don't like him talking to Nora about borrowing money, it is my money and he thinks that he can convince her to get me to loan the money... that is just plain chickenshit and backstabbing as far as I am concerned. Just now Nora asked me if I would loan her 2,000p and when I pressed her for the reason, it was to loan it to Alex... who faithfully promised her he would pay it back tomorrow... but tomorrow doesn't always come in a timely fashion... I don't like people who go behind my back to get something... and then he asked Ana to ask Nora, really manly of him...

I just finished coffee and an egg/toast sandwich for breakfast... just before that, I had a heart to heart talk with Joyce about her displays of stubborness that have been rising lately with Nora... I told her that I would not stand for any of the children disrespecting Nora or I and that even if they are mad there is no excuse for raising their voices to their parents... period. She acknowledged it and I made certain that she knew that I was not going to put up with it. Hopefully that will curb those outbursts... I also need to retrain Nora to not always elevate her voice when talking to her children or me for that matter...

Nora is buying fish for lunch or dinner from one of the walk-thru vendors that frequent the neighborhood on a daily basis...

Nora is to call St. Lukes clinic this morning about 10am to see when she can get her vaccinations and complete the remedical... shots are all she is lacking. Then I can schedule her a Visa interview appt.

I will continue this later should more happen worth penning...

••• Even though it goes against my better judgment, when Ana came to me and asked to borrow 2,000p until tomorrow morning and solemly promised me that it will be repaid tomorrow morning, I finally relented and loaned it to her...

~ Say what you mean Mean what you say...

Next Sunday is my last one here in the philippines...

Jul 03, 2011

Tomorrow is Independence Day, "The Fourth of Juy" in America, the day we celebrate the independence of the United States... a great Holiday that will be celebrated all over the country...

Today starts out with mostly blue skies and at 6:27 AM that is a good way to start out a Sunday morning.

Nora and I went to the Mall yesterday and we saw the movie 'Transformers' which was a well done movie of the Robotic based theme. It was hard for me to follow some of the story lines but I got the gist of it down pretty good... Nora really enjoyed it and we are sending the kids to see it today...

We stopped and had lunch at a Filipino version of Kenny Rodgers restaurant, I have yet to have a meal at the mall that I actually really enjoyed... I endure them as they are the choices available but at each setting I find myself comparing them to the cuisine that is available to me in the United States.. There really is no comparison though. I will soon be back to normal Progresso ingestion and utensils that make sense to me and not seeing people eat with their fingers which sufficed in years gone past but seems a little pre historic to me presently...

'Twill be an interesting transition for my family to make although they do eat with utinsils most of the time it is a fork and spoon with the noticeable absense of a knife... the particulars of a meas are not cut with a knife but rather kitchen shears... effective but different to me.

We slept good last night, the weather having cooled and the oppressive humidity having given us a break.

I finished yet another book, this one called 'Bubba and the Dead Woman', unlike it's title, it really was a descent book.

We will go to early Mass at the church this morning and scoot the kids off right after lunch...

Hoping you have a great day...

~ Say what you mean
Mean what you say...

Time is passing... quicker now as the day approaches...

Jul 02, 2011

Amour is a compelling and driving elixir of the good life, that which clouds the minds of men and women alike (and small dogs and bunnies too). The affection shown by my wife in the last few days has been nothing short of amazing... the reality of the pending separation I am sure is the driving force for this most welcome display. I would love to keep that feeling 24/7/365 to coin a modern but much overused phrase...

Today we shall venture forth once more to the world of overcrowded malls and human masses... a movie and Nora also gave me a list of at least a dozen things she wants to eat... amazing lady she is, but her eyes are always bigger than her tummy. We will eat lunch there, but not quite to the excess she envisions.

Yesterday I received the last of the 3 deliveries of cash from RemitHome, $3,000 total American funds a little over 120,000p in Philippines money... it varies daily, the last delivery was 50p down from the other two...

I wanted to have enough to hopefully pay for the airline tickets and any other fees that will mysteriously appear as we weedle our way thru the remaining hoops to getting my family home...

We did not get anything from the Embassy last week except for when I sent an email query as to the state of Kenneth's visa and was informed that it had been forwarded to a consular for review... I have no idea where it is in the queue as I am sure there are many to be sorted thru... Hopefully we will receive information in the coming week of a positive nature... I also hope to schedule Nora's Visa interview either she gets her vaccinations on hopefully monday or Tuesday at the latest. It will likely be for the 2nd week in July.

In this wonderful endeavor, the only certainty is uncertainty. But with high spirits and a raised blade I go forth to make my way thru the jungles of foreign governmental buearacuracy... sludging most likely in the quicksands that mire the real estate...

Chin up old chap... things ALWAYS could be worse...

~ Say what you mean
Mean what you say...