Jay-N-Gwendolyn

The weekend after I got back from Ohio, we went to Beaumont to celebrate Patricks Graduation. We drove up Friday night and stayed with Patrick. On Saturday morning was the graduation. He graduated from Lamar University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. After the graduation, we caravaned out to Galveston. We headed south to a secluded area of beach. Its a good thing too. For Patricks graduation, he had gotten a 16,000 roll of Black Cats firecrackers! Not to mention the few boxes full of other assorted fireworks. We spent the night sitting and eating around a bon fire, and blowing stuff up. What more could a new graduate ask for?

Sunday was mothers day, so we had breakfast with Gwendolyns family, and then headed over to my parents. We spent the afternoon with them, and took my mom out to eat. It was a great fun weekend.

Check out the photos here.

I’m not sure what to say or write now. As this post is one of the reasons I have not updated in weeks. I feel writing about it may make it all come back. Though maybe writing about it is a way to release all the feelings inside. So here goes..

On Sunday night, after returning from Galveston, my father calls me. He tells me that my uncle was killed in a car accident that morning. My mothers oldest brother, Frank Huber IV, was killed by another driver driving (speeding) on the wrong side of the freeway. Although not official, everyone assumes the other driver was drunk. As if that wasn’t bad enough, his wife Pat was only a few cars behind him, when the accident occurred.

We left early Wednesday for Cleveland. That afternoon was the first wake. I don’t think we were late, but by the time we arrived there was already a line out the door. I have to say Frank touched a lot of lives. He was very active and passionate about his hobbies. He had been involved in the Cleveland Soap Box Derby, where he participated as a kid, and then helped his own kids and nephews race. He also became the Scale Master, who did the weigh ins at the races. He also had a passion for MG cars, in which he attended many meets and runs. He had just purchased a new 1960 MGA only a month before. You can tell everyone there didn’t just know of Frank, they actually knew him, and I’m sure that Frank knew all of them.

Thursday afternoon and night we were at the wake again. I would say more people showed up that night than the night before. Friday was the day of the service and burial. We arrived early at the funeral home said our last goodbye, and drove to the church. The church service was really nice. What touched me most was the priest, talking how much Frank loved his cars. The reverend wanted to find a bible verse that might talk about cars, which of course there were none. So he found the closest thing. 2 Kings 2:11, in which Elijah is taken to heaven in chariot of fire. He then mentions that the song ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ come from that passage. He asks Franks family if it would be okay if we sung it, which they didn’t know he was going to do. He then brings out a guitar and sings and plays Swing Low. It was very touching. Another more touching moment was his son Tim, also picked up a guitar and singing ‘Worlds Apart’. I personally never know he can sing, and he sang beautifully. After the service, which filled the church, we went to the cemetery. The precession had to have been a mile long if not more. Once we reached the cemetery the clouds opened up, and down came the rain. As the reverend mentioned, it was a perfect for a Navy man. At the cemetery he was honnored by the US Navy, with a flag folding ceremony.

That night we spent at my uncle Bills house, with most of the family being there. We ate and drank, and remembered all the good times we’ve had with Frank, all saying goodbye to a truely great uncle, brother, husband, father, and son.

Some articles about the accident: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Well it’s been a busy past few weeks. Lets see if we can catch up.

The end of April marked our 2 year anniversary. We spent the weekend in Galveston, staying at the Mermaid and Dolphin bed and breakfast inn. Neither of us has stayed at a B&B before, so we weren’t sure to what to expect. The room we stayed in was the ‘Enchanted Nights VIP Queen Jacuzzi Suite’. The room was what I would expect any typical B&B room to look like, with antique furniture and beautiful decorations. As you can tell from the name of our room, we had a private jacuzzi for two on the patio of our room. Having that for just two days, really got us thinking about buying one for ourselves. Our room also had a claw foot tub, day bed, and 4 post queen bed. We both loved the room and inn, and would definitely stay there again.

Friday night we tried the Original Mexican Cafe. It was delicious. Afterwards we went for a walk down the strand. Amazingly Saturday morning we were both up around 8. The awesome part about that, was we actually got to enjoy the complementary breakfast. I have to say it was a delicious breakfast. I wasn’t really expecting much, so having something so good was a nice surprise. After breakfast, we went on a tour of the Moody mansion. It was pretty impressive. I love seeing old houses and all the special features they have, that you just don’t see in houses now a days. One of my favorite features were the built in shutters that folded into the wall. Gwendolyn really loved the wall coverings, from the stenciling to the wood trim. For lunch, we headed over to the Sunflower Bakery & Cafe. I wasn’t too sold of the food, but they did have an excellent bakery. We bought a cream puff, and giant cinnamon roll to go. We then headed back to the strand to do some real shopping. While we were there, we went to the Fiesta store and enjoyed some ice cream.

Once back at the B&B, we went for a bike ride. We rode our bikes about a mile to the sea wall, and then rode up and down the sea wall for another few miles. When we finished our bike ride we then drove back to the sea wall to enjoy a nice dinner at The Spot. We weren’t sure what we wanted to do afterwards, but we finally decided to go check out a mini golf course. The place was awesome. It reminded me of all the ones they have in Gatlinburg, TN, which we’ll be going to in a few weeks. So it was a great way to get some practice in. Among all the animatronic animals your ball had to dodge, at one point Gwendolyn found herself having to dodge a flying bird. While Gwendolyn was trying to putt, a bird flew straight into her back, and then aimed itself at me. I tried to swat at it with my club, but the bird swerved, and landed on the dragons head mocking us. The course was so fun, we decided to go again and try the ‘easier’ course which actually ended up being harder.

Sunday we made it a point to wake up early and get some of the mouth watering breakfast. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating today, so we didn’t get a chance to do much. We went to Murdoch’s Bathhouse on the sea wall, and then to Tom’s Thumb, a nursery Gwendolyn had heard about. We headed home afterwards, with our love for each other rekindled.

As always the photos are here.

We just got back from my parents house, and I just have to make a post now.  We went over there to celebrate Gwendolyn’s birthday.  We also haven’t been there since they’ve installed their new Bullfrog Spa.  Let me tell you, its the king of hot tubs.  With 4 seats, and interchangeable jet packs on each seat, you can customize your own spa.  Another feature I enjoyed was the mood lighting.  You can set the underwater light to a number of settings, changing its color, or having it cycle through colors at varying speeds.  Finally after spending about an hour in the spa, they had to force me out.  I’m still so relaxed as I type this.

When we came back inside, my parents said that they had a game for us to play.  I couldn’t think of what they could be talking about, and as it was getting late, I hoped it was a fast game.  We sat around the new kitchen table and they bring out a bunch of folded index cards with numbers on them.  They then say we are going to play Deal or No Deal!  The game was set up so they had 10 index cards (the briefcases) numbered 1-10.  Inside each card they had written an amount from $1-$100. (1, 2, 5, 10, 20,25,40,50,75,100).  Whatever money we won, was going to be our anniversary present, as our 2nd year anniversary is next Tuesday.  So to pick our ‘briefcase’ I thought of using one of the #’s 4, 2 or 9 (4-29 our anniversary).  I didn’t like only being able to choose one of those 3.  So I combined them:  4+2=6; 9-6=3.  We took briefcase 3.  To pick our next cases we went with #2.  Inside was $75!.  ouch.  Each turn my dad was playing Host, and the Banker.  My parents say he is really good at guessing what the banker will offer on the show.  I’d like to know how they come up with the bank offers myself. The banker offered us $22 on the first round.  No Deal.  the game then went as follows:

1. Opened case #4 = $50! Banker offered $17.  No Deal.
2. Opened case #9 = $40! Banker offered $24.  No Deal. We just lost 3 top amounts.
3. Opened case #8 = $2! Banker offered $27.  No Deal.
4. Opened case #10 = $10! Banker offered $36.  No Deal.
5. Opened case #6 = $25! Banker offered $38.  No Deal.
6. Opened case #7 = $1! Banker offered $55.  No Deal. It started to get more tempting now, and we had to debate if we should try one more time.
7. Opened case #5 = $5! Banker offered $75.

Now there was only case #1 and #3.  With the amounts of 20 or 100.  Although my parents did not know what was in what case, I saw my dad try to sneak a peak into case #1.  At this point he was saying we shouldn’t take the deal.  I just couldn’t decide if I should trust him or not.  He might be wanting us to win, or he might be trying to save himself some money!   I said I would rather lose $25 and take the deal, then to lose $55.  So we took the deal at $75!  As it turns out, we should have listened to my dad, as we held the winning briefcase!  What a fun game of deal or no deal.  That was way better than watching it on tv, even if they added dramatic pauses, and it was for much less.  We still had a great time getting 75 bucks!  Thanks mom and dad!

Just wanted to wish my lovely wife a Happy Birthday.  We had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday.  The past weekend, her family and mandy spent the weekend with us.  The girls went garden shopping, while the boys stayed home.  Gwendolyn found another mini metal chicken that matches the bigger one quite well.  I also gave Gwendolyn, two more funky (small) metal chickens for her birthday.  Our backyard is starting to look like a chicken coop.

I hope to get some pictures up soon.

I just wanted to say I think our April Fools joke seemed to have worked well.  I don’t know what the big deal is, it’s just a little ink. Now here’s some links to keep you entertained over the weekend:

• Fun Weeding Pictures
• World Beard Championships – This ones for Jonathan
• Top 10 Star Wars videos
• Hey Jude – Song by 2 year old
• Monkey Riding mini bike – Self explanatory
• Blind Boy – He can ‘see’ by hearing!

This weekend was great. It couldn’t have gone any better, even with an unexpected ending. Friday night Gwendolyn and I had to prepare for Saturday as we were hosting a party for Jake and Beth, who recently got engaged. Saturday morning was also spent doing the final set up and preparation of the food.

Around 7 oclock everyone was showing up, and the party instantly came alive. Everyone seemed to enjoy the fajitas we grilled. We also had a nice rum punch to go along with it. Our deck and newly crafted pick nick table seemed to be a great success, as the whole party was mostly spent outside.

A couple hours into the party, my good friend Jonathan wanted to show off his unicyling skills. So everyone flocked out to the front yard and watched him unicycle his way down the street. He sooned had another following from all the neighborhood kids. They came riding on bicycles wanting to race and ride around Jonathan. I personally think they might have thought Jonathan was a clown as he was wearing a bright yellow shirt and he does have the crazy hair. I of course had to give this amazing contraption a try. It looks so easy, how hard could it be right? Hard…very hard… After about 10mins I was able to get on it rather easily, but could not actually go anywhere. I think I may have gone possibly 2-3 feet unassisted. My dad on the other hand, who hadn’t ridden one in about 40+ years, got right on and cycled on down the road for about 20-30 feet. Not too shabby for an old fart!

Check out the rest of the photos from the party here.

Later that night when a few of us were left, something amazing happened. Jake, Brian and Myself came up with a great idea. Being that we all had too much to drink, we knew we would have to wait till the next morning, to act on it. But it was one of those things where if you actually slept on it, you might not have the balls to do it the next day. Alas, with too much to drink, we were going to have to wait. The next morning we woke up, the conversation still on the same topic of last night. We were a little more hesitant today, but we all thought it would be a really cool thing to do and we talked each other into just going for it! Before we could do it, we wanted to get some food, so we headed to Jasons Deli for a bite to eat. After lunch we went through what we thought we couldn’t do and now we are all marked as friends forever, as you can see once you follow the link below:

(more…)

Friday was a great day.  Having the day off, I made myself get up early to take Gwendolyn, who unfortunately did not have the day off, to work.  This lead to lots of play-time for Jay.  I started the day off watching the series finale of Breaking Bad, which is a new series I’ve been enjoying on AMC.  After that, I decided to finish another game.  For some reason Call of Duty 4 was calling out to me.  It was a good choice.  I was instantly drawn back into it, and finished the game in a few hours.   I loved the game and definitely one of the best FPS’s I’ve played in a while.  For the rest of the day I kept my self entertained with reading, oil changes, enjoying the back yard, and playing WoW.

That night Sarah picked up Gwendolyn from work and brought her home.  I tried to get them to do something ‘fun’ and life changing, but as nothing came to mind, so we ended up going to Rao’s for some ice cream.  I guess I can’t complain about ice cream.  We did have a wonderful night though, and we stayed up until the wee hours working on Gwendolyn and Sarah’s new crafting blog.   You can check it out at pinkieandgg.com.  Gwendolyn and Sarah did most of the work on the site, including the creating the title in photoshop, and uploading pictures of their first project together.   So be sure to bookmark it and check back often to see their creations.

Saturday Gwendolyn and Sarah, spent the day shopping.  Meanwhile I spent the day again reading and enjoying the day.  I met them for lunch at Jason’s Deli and enjoyed a nice lunch outside.  When the girls finally got back home we had some dinner outside.  Afterwards Sarah headed home, and Gwendolyn and I got ready to meet my parents for church.  We were going to meet my parents at Annunciation downtown, where Gwendolyn used to goto church.  It was a nice service, albeit a tad long.  Afterwards my parents followed us home, and we chatted for a bit before calling it a night.

Sunday morning started with one of my favorite breakfast’s, crepes!  Delicious strawberry crepes with whip cream and powdered sugar.  Gwendolyn’s family and Grandparents came over a little later.  They brought with them brisket for lunch, and a magnolia tulip tree for our back yard.  We all had a great time chatting, eating, and enjoying the beautiful day in our rapidly changing back yard.  When everyone finally left, I ended up crashing hard.  I know it was a sugar induced coma.

Check out the photos.

This weekend, we spent every minute outdoors. We took advantage of the lovely weather, and with the help of Gwendolyn’s family, we built a picnic table and did a lot of gardening. Gwendolyn and her parents freshened up our back garden and made two new flower beds on either side of our deck. They include a lovely spread of flowers and plants ranging from calla lilies to prim roses and bougainvillea to marigolds. The hydrangea is Gwendolyn’s favorite.

While all the garden work was being done, Patrick and I were busy designing and building a picnic table. It took us all day Saturday and Sunday morning to get the table and benches built. We had a basic design decided upon (pictured here), but made some customized changes to the top which gave us some problems when we actually started to put it all together. In the end, we got it all worked out, and we now have ourselves a nice-sized picnic table.

After all that hard work, Gwendolyn and I are ready to crash. We wish we had another weekend just to recuperate, but all the hard work was worth it. Our backyard looks great! Gwendolyn’s down in the garden right now, wrapped in a blanket, sipping coffee, and reading a magazine. I can’t get her to come in!

Many thanks to Mom, Dad, and Patrick for helping us get it all done!

View all the photos here.

Today is a mathematicians favorite holiday. 3-14, also known as pi (3.14 159265) day! So go grab a slice of pie and enjoy.

Time for some pi fun:

A great palindrome: “I prefer pi.”

Pi joke:
Pi say to e: Get real!
e says to Pi: Get rational!

Pi mnemonic (count each letter in each word for a digit of pie):
Pie
I wish I could determine pi
“Eureka!” cried the great inventor.
Christmas pudding, Christmas pie
Is the problem’s very center.

Another one done to Poe’s The Raven going over 700 digits: Near a Raven