Dang Kids

I hope everyone had a great labor day. Mer and I had some guests in town and we bad a blast. On Saturday, we went to Avila Beach. I can't remember the last time I went swimming in the ocean. The water was really cold when you first got in, but it felt great once you started treading water and riding the waves. We tried to celebrate their birthdays (one last Tuesday, and the other this Monday), but the cake mix we used was probably way expired because it didn't rise much like you would expect, and it was nasty. I ate the frosting though, don't worry.

Also, I have some advice for those of you who could use help making cookies.

Before going to the beach, we made waffles and I went to help with a move. I thought it was the same people we helped move the week before, but it was a sister who was moving stuff from her storage unit. Part of it included moving a king size mattress up two flights of stairs that were so small they reminded me of the apartments in Spain. It was like pushing a giant sponge through a birth canal. Happy birthday, Mattress.

Along for the ride to the move, I met the EQP's son. I think he's two or something. A cute kid for sure, but he had a cold. On Sunday, he and his family sat in front of us at church, and now Mer and I both have colds. I haven't decided on how to exact our revenge yet, but it will come, perhaps years later, when he least expects it.

School doesn't start for another couple weeks. I'm pretty much going crazy without any math/physics/engineering problems to solve. I've resorted to watching MIT lectures on dynamics, since people seem to agree that it's the hardest class on campus (or any other campus) and I'm taking it this quarter. My books should be here in the next couple days, and that should help too. Did I tell you my design and manufacturing class uses pro-engineer, and not solidworks? Well, it uses creo parametric 2.0 (judging by the book for the class), which from what I've been able to gather from the internet is basically the new pro-engineer. Anyways...

I'm only taking 12 units this quarter. I'm taking Engineering Dynamics (ME 212, 3 units), Intro to Design and Manufacturing (IME 144, 4 units), Mechanics of Materials I (CE 204, 3 units), and Aerospace Fundamentals (AERO 121, 2 units).

For Labor day, we had a ward breakfast. It was delicious. We were going to go on a hike later, but it was pretty warm and I was still a little red from Saturday (not hurting though) so we decided we'd go this next Saturday in the morning before it got hot. The trail for the Irish Hills by our place is literally a 15 minute walk away.

These pictures are from a while ago. I got some power tools from the Peterson Fire Relief fund and helped America with some gardening stuff. It was nice to be working outside.

Mer and I are still running. We're probably doing like 3.5 miles or so three times a week. Monday we did part of Ab Ripper X before going out. Today I'm really glad we only did part of it. Treats have been disappearing much slower than before with our new system. Sometimes I open the desert tray and think "it sure has been a while." "A while" is probably like "24 hours." I'm still weighing in between 190 and 195. It's all that darn muscle.

I've been working on solving my Rubik's cube faster (it was a birthday gift from Mer). I did it in one minute and 40 seconds today. I don't know what my best time was on the mission, but I feel like it was faster. I'll keep working on it.

Mer is on week two of work. She says it's pretty boring and is hoping they can get some projects for her. We'll be getting insurance benefits in about a month, which will be nice. I tried signing up for obamacare when we moved down and were out of work, but coveredcalifornia rejected us said we'd be getting medical information or something "soon." I just love our current health system.

So it turns out that this place isn't as quiet as we thought it would be. We don't have nearly as many sirens as we did in Hayward, but some of our neighbors have loud voices. It doesn't help that we have gaping windows on three of the four sides of our unit. The living room has the largest window that opens out to a path that goes from the street to the parking lot on the other side of our unit, passing a few units and their porches or balconies. We've had people singing and playing their guitar after 10 pm, some people just chatting on their porch with really loud voices, and of course, children screaming bloody murder in their game of hide and seek. Yesterday during dinner, we were pleased to hear a man's entire phone conversation as he walked back and forth again and again from in front of his unit to the parking lot, passing both our living room window and our patio area which features a large sliding glass door.

The best was this morning at 2:30 when I wake up to hear two men outside our bedroom window in a somewhat emotional conversation. From the voices, it sounded like an older brother trying to help his younger brother get back on the right track. It sounded a lot like the conversation Paul had with me when I was close to joining that biker gang in Dublin. Anyways, I know they had important things to talk about, but Merilee works at 8 am and we both have colds (and it's like 2:30 in the morning people!). I turned the light on, hoping they would notice it and leave. They didn't, so I went out and politely let them know that we were trying to sleep. Luckily, they weren't drunk and didn't get offended and promptly left. We usually hear people talking by that window since the parking lot is right outside, but most people aren't so loud and they usually don't linger. In this rant, I probably sound like a grumpy grandpa but sometimes you just have to stick your head out the window and shout back.

Since we've been meal planning, I've been making lots of food for Merilee when she comes home. It's a lot of work do cook every day. I'm glad I know how to follow a recipe (don't forget the advice on making cookies). You should have been there when I made Merilee 16 of these burritos. Goats love burritos.

Some Beach

For those of you who frequent my blog, you must be surprised by this post since it has only been a week since my last one. Well, I thought both of you would be interested since a few big things are finally happening/have happened recently. Yes, we're having a baby. It should arrive sometime in the next 20 years. Also, we found a Safeway here, but it says VONS on the outside of the store. Weird.

Safeway Website

VONS Website

Merilee had a few job interviews, both in person and over the phone. She got an offer this morning from a seed company called Bejo and later another offer by one called SMS Mastermind. The latter is some sort of mobile marketing company. We have until Monday to decide on one or none. I think I've said before that pay is less here than in the bay area, but at least most if not all the jobs she's been getting attention from give full employee benefits and partial family benefits.

Quick question, is it illegal to take a few buckets of sand from the beach? Mer and I are getting close to planting our patio garden, getting most of our information from a square-foot gardening book we are borrowing from America. We went to Home Depot, got some seeds and garden-box materials, and I decided it was time we got a power drill (though we haven't bought one yet). Anyways, we are also utilizing our broken pantry cabinet (one of the two had a busted bottom shelf from the weight of all the cans we put on it and it just fell apart even more during the move) as one of our garden boxes, and it's deep enough that we were going to fill some of it with sand before putting soil in. We tried to see how much sand we could fit in a bucket and a plastic trash bin, and borrowed some from Avila Beach. It wasn't really worth the effort and the shame so we will probably just buy the rest of our sand.

Monday was a big day because I had orientation and was able to register for classes and meet with advisors and department heads about my academic planning. I was also able to rearrange how my GE courses were articulated (which was super-weird, bee tea dubs) so I have no more lower-division GE requirements to fulfill. I might even be able to get out of a bio-engineering class they make people take (though it's a long shot and I have to wait two weeks before I hear back). 

I had wrestled with the decision of whether or not to switch to mechanical engineering and try to graduate faster. I would still get my master's degree in aerospace engineering, and it would take me four years total. Another advantage of majoring in ME as an undergrad is that ME is a more general major. Aerospace industry employers need more than just aerospace engineers, and having a background in ME probably would have had better career opportunities.

The disadvantage of that would be that my undergrad would not be in something that I was truly interested in (though it still probably would have been a fun major). Also, for me to possibly save time, I'd have to be taking an average of about 17.5 units per semester, make sure that the right courses were offered over the Summer, and with all of that, maintain a GPA high enough to get into their grad program (or that of any other school at that point). I haven't yet experienced the rigor of a Cal Poly workload, but a one like that sounds like a lot of stress for me and for Merilee.

It turns out that almost all the aerospace courses are offered once a year. Only accounting for prerequisites, I could graduate with a bachelor's in a little over two years. However, it will take me three years to finish undergraduate coursework. It sounds like the blended program truly takes only one year as long as the student is on top of his or her thesis. So if all goes accordingly, I will graduate in the Spring of 2018 with a master's degree in aerospace engineering. It sounds like forever to me with how slow Summer is going, but once classes start, it will fly by. At least I hope so. I'll be very light on units each semester because I have pretty much everything done except aerospace classes. Hopefully that means more time for internships/work/Merilee and I'll have a high GPA.

Previously I thought that VA benefits were one or the other. I could either have a fee waiver, or chapter 35 (which awards about $1,000 every month that I'm in school). In going through the process for the fee waiver, however, I discovered that that isn't always the case. Under plan B of the cal vet fee waiver, chapter 35 could still be used. My intention was to apply for plan A since plan B had an income restriction, and I had qualified for plan A since Dad died. I learned that the only income that mattered for plan B was the amount on the W-2 forms, not the AGI (as it says on the application). When I was told that, I felt like I had struck gold. An extra seven or eight thousand dollars a year would be great considering Merilee will be making less and I don't know if I'll be working at all. I was somewhat disappointed, however, when I talked to Cal Poly about paying my fees.

It seems like the fee waiver covers about 60% of my total registration costs (which I'm very grateful for, thanks Dad). The waiver covers state fees, not school specific ones. Many of them are ambiguous, and some of them sound pretty lame ("Student Success Fee"?), but I suppose those college resources that make a school desirable come at a cost.

After the 60%, these fees make up about 38%, and the remaining 2% is for class-specific lab fees. The total before the waiver is just over $3,000, meaning that I'll still have to pay about $1,200 each quarter, making me very glad that I am receiving both benefits instead of just getting the fee waiver (I had calculated the difference in value of the two benefits assuming that the fee waiver covered about $9,000 a year, not $5,500). Basically, I'm paying about $1,200 for each quarter, but then I get about $3,000 from the VA from chapter 35.

Have I mentioned that there's a lot of PT Cruisers in San Luis Obispo? I see at least 5 every day.

I'm almost done with the Summer reading program. Merilee is leaving on a trip next week so we are driving up to the Bay Area where her flight is leaving from. I'll sure miss her.

Keep Kids Alive, Drive

I had no idea how dangerous eagles were. I wish I had one that was loyal to me. A whole convocation of giant ones would probably solve all my problems.

I'm probably blogging right now because Merilee is at a Relief Society activity making/eating things made with lemon. I've been getting used to being around her all day now, whereas before, I was used to being productive by myself. Maybe I could finish filing some papers away, or finish reading a magazine I checked out from the library. I'm a few steps away from completing the summer adult reading program at the SLO library. I decided to try and start reading leisurely and figured it was a good place to start. Plus, the theme seems to be centered around science.

The last couple days, I've been organizing and doing some other random odd jobs, as well as cooking food while Mer looks for jobs. She's been a real champ and has applied to quite a few places by now. There seems to be a big gap between cost of living and salaries here, so it's hard to find something that seems reasonable to us (not that we're getting job offers either).

Since we moved here we've had two visits from ward leadership. The first was a counselor in the bishopric, who asked us to speak on the 24th. You should come. We also were visited last night by the EQP, who just got to know us a little. So far, we're feeling the love pretty strong. It's nice. Our apartment is pretty cool. I baked cookies yesterday or something.

In other news: I've been doing a pull-up every time I go in or out of the bedroom. Merilee and I ran Monday and today and I did half of an insanity CD yesterday. I've rededicated myself to fitness after I, with a Herculean effort, put my church pants on last Sunday. I was 190 when we got back Sunday night and I'm going to try and get down to 170. Weight isn't the most important thing but I am pretty chubby right now, so even if I get some more muscle, I can reach that weight without too much of a problem I think. So far I think I've been transitioning into it pretty well. Running with Merilee stops me from over-working my calves, and this week I'm only doing half of the insanity workouts so I can walk (and even run) the next day with Merilee. Hopefully, with consistency we'll be able to build up together and get some more serious running going. Maybe I'll even be able to fit into my suit for my talk.

I've also been trying to eat better and more regularly since we're home almost all day and have no excuse. I heard eating something small every few hours was good for you. Merilee got me a bag of Reese's minis for my birthday, so that's been helping with that. I said before that I made cookies but we shared with our neighbor, visitors, and I took a picture of them. That removes at least some of the calories, doesn't it? I should probably just accept the fact that I'm doomed and will never be as "skinny" as I was when we first got married.

Oh so I had my birthday. Thanks for calling. I almost ruined my step-father's 80 birthday surprise party that had been so carefully orchestrated by my mother. This included getting all his, and some of our, family together and planning activities. They called me when they were all together, sometime around 10 in the morning. They being my sister and her family, my brother, my mom, and Bob. Assuming the surprise had already been dealt that day (it felt later to me), I wished him a happy birthday and later asked if he liked his surprise. During the call, I was informed via text that he didn't know anything about it. You people. Luckily, it went right over his head. I also got to see Guardians of the Galaxy (awesome) and got a really cool photo-book from Merilee (thanks Bonnie for putting it together and for everyone who contributed to it. It was awesome!). I remind myself of a toddler with how pleased I am to read peoples' positive thoughts of me next to my face, some photos of which I never knew existed.

The New Jetsons Have Arrived in San Luis Obispo

If you're reading this, then you know that Mer and I survived the move. Though we've hauled all of our stuff down to SLO, we haven't completely disappeared from the bay area. In fact, we'll probably be seeing members of our old ward almost as much as our new ward until the quarter starts. Then goodbye until Thanksgiving. You're welcome.

We loaded up the u-haul Friday morning. It was really a Budget moving truck, but people call any moving truck a u-haul. We had tons of support from the ward, from movers to cleaners; it went super well. We have such great friends in Hayward. Merilee headed down before our friend Andrew and I did. She was driving the new car that we bought. Excuse me, did I say car? I meant spaceship. At least, it feels like a spaceship when you drive it. Needless to say, it was a great Fit.

She got there around 3 to sign some paperwork so we could actually move in when the truck arrived. Andrew and I pulled in with the truck around 4:00 pm and the three of us started unloading. I had told the Elder's Quorum to expect us there by 5:00 pm since I didn't know if it would be a slower drive in a 16' moving truck packed with belongings. It turns out I can go 80 in any vehicle, so we were a bit early. By probably around 5:30 pm, with some help from the Elder's Quorum, we had everything in the apartment and were able to drop off the truck the same night. It was a pretty smooth move if you ask me.

After that, we immediately started the drive back to the bay area. Some wonderful friends of ours were married on Saturday in the Sacramento Temple. Terry and Jennifer looked so great and so happy. We're so grateful that we were able to attend the ceremony. It reminded me of our sealing one year ago on this Saturday the 26th. They were amazing times, to say the least. But more importantly, every day since then has been even more of a blessing with Merilee.

I don't think marriage is anything like what people expect. It's like men trying to imagine the pain of birthing children, though hopefully marriage wouldn't be painful. I imagine Terry and Jennifer had hopes for happiness leading up to their wedding, but if it's anything like Merilee's and my experience, you don't know how happy your marriage can be until your in it. Satisfaction with most things wanes over time, but if the relationship is healthy, marital happiness only increases with time (says the man about to reach his first anniversary). There's not a lot of things that have that kind of satisfactory return.

Moving along... After the wedding we took pictures and went to dinner. There was a chance for people to speak and Merilee stood up and cried (naturally). We finally got back to Castro Valley around midnight to spend the night at Mer's sister America's place. We were pretty exhausted since we had left around 7:40 am to go on a YSA float trip that was 15 minutes from the temple. On Sunday we went to church in Hayward for the last time as members of that ward, got home-taught, said goodbye to America and her kids, then went on a double date with Andrew and a girl from the YSA ward named Morgan.

After all of that, our original plan was to drive back that night to SLO so we could maximize the amount of time I'd have to help unpack the apartment before having to drive back up to Hayward for my welding class on Tuesday. In the interests of safety, we decided to spend the night and leave Monday morning. We stayed that night at the same place that I'm staying while I'm wrapping up the class. I call it, the Hotel Monte, also known as Jonathan and Sarah's. They're such great hosts and the beds have no bugs!

So now I'm just in Hayward Tuesday through Thursday this week and next week. I might have to come back up again on the 5th of August for the final, but the instructor might have been mistaken when he said that. We'll both be up next week for Terry and Jennifer's reception on the 1st. Plus, we still have tickets to the Oakland Zoo that my mom gave us that we need to use, and then Merilee will be flying in and out of Oakland for a wedding in Utah later in August. Basically, you haven't gotten rid of us yet completely, bay area. With all this driving, it's a good thing that our spaceship gets like 45 miles per gallon.

Moving SLOly

First, this cat's face.

Auditioning for the role of Lord Voldemort.

Second, Merilee just told me that once she finishes her current book, she'll have nothing to read because all of the other books are packed up. We'll just have to make sure the fancy animal materials are still available.

We're getting things packed up for the big move on... the 18th or 19th? We're not sure. We were invited several months ago to a wedding towards the end of August but we just heard from some other friends that it was moved to the 19th of this month instead. We already have our move in/out date set but we could potentially be renting a moving truck for two days instead of one, since going down, unpacking, and making the trip back up and paying for gas will probably be as fun as it sounds.  I guess that is all assuming we're still invited to the wedding. That could be a potentially awkward conversation.

My welding class is pretty fun. There's a lot on the practical side of engineering that I guess I didn't/still don't know. We've been playing indoor soccer on Monday nights with the single's ward. It's my workout for the week since I've been lacking the motivation for the much needed exercise. I weighed in at 190 the other day. 

For the fourth, we had fun at the ward BBQ with some of our neighbors we invited. Then we made it to Bonnie's house to spend some time with her before we move away forever. It's been nice living close to friends and family and it will be sad once we leave. Despite missing people/being missed we're still pretty excited for the change. Everyone says that SLO is great, and I'm excited for school.

I Ate a Football

Even though there are a lot of Polynesians in our Ward, I don't find myself very often at a luau. This week however, I went to two.  40 pounds later, it was a tight fit putting on my church pants today.  One was for a graduation party, and the other was for a baptism. The food was great, but trying a side of everything at a luau is a herculean effort. I can say that I liked pretty much everything except the pig skin.  Apparently, it's supposed to be good.  Oh well.

Grades came out. I finished off my community college career with a 4.0 which is cool. Cal Poly should get my transcripts soon and then I'll be all set for the Fall. My welding class doesn't start until next week. That should be fancy.

Mer and I are getting ready for the move down to SLO.  We went down there for a job interview a week or so ago. She didn't get the job, but we did see a one-bedroom and probably will get the unit. The issue is the move-in date. We were offered a move-in date for July 18th. Our lease is up at the end of July so we'll have to see if we can get out two weeks early because we don't want to double pay.

Today for Father's day, I wore my dad's Tasmanian Devil (Taz from Looney Tunes) tie. I was expecting my class to make fun of me for it and then I could blame my dad for continuing to embarrass me from the grave. I ended up getting not one, not two, but three compliments from my students, which has never happened before. Oh well. I always thought that my dad's tastes were out of style but it appears they're back in.

Besides teaching Sunday School, I also had the Elder's Quorum lesson. I thought the topics for the lessons had pretty interesting timing with current events. I don't know if you've heard about it, not all the people I've talked to about it have, but there's been some recent news this past week about two members of the church facing disciplinary action from the church for apostasy.  The lessons were on the priesthood and priesthood keys, which was interesting because one of the members in the news was the founder of a website and organization that apparently wanted women to hold the priesthood and had even held demonstrations in SLC where women tried to enter the general priesthood session of general conference.

In class we of course talked about it, but it didn't occupy the whole discussion which was good. I really hope the media doesn't give this much more attention.  From the comments I've seen on Facebook and news websites, there's definitely a lot of different opinions about if and why women should hold the priesthood. I don't think it's worth much energy to engage others in the internet debate since those arguing for it seem to have very secular views of the church and don't believe in following the counsel of the Lord's anointed. Trying to do so would be like trying to play tennis on a volleyball court with a baseball bat against a stick of deodorant. It just doesn't make any sense, there's too much going on, and the discussion isn't on the right playing field.

Those with a Gospel perspective see priesthood ordination selection as God's decision communicated solely through his servants, the leaders of the church, whereas others see the issue as a women's rights cause to be settled through protest, coercion, and/or legal action. I don't see how someone can claim to be a faithful member of the LDS church after "fighting" the church, trying to harm it, and leading other members astray after receiving direct counsel to stop. In my opinion, you're either a liar, or you have no idea who you are or what you believe. It's not for any man or woman to say who gets to be ordained to the priesthood. As far as I know, that day when women are ordained could very well come. If it does, it will be through revelation to the Lord's anointed, not from any other person(s) or organization. 'Nuff said.

The following was typed up by my wonderful wife while I was in the bathroom. I didn't delete it because it's all true. I just try to hold myself back sometimes from saying all this stuff because I didn't want this to be come the weekly "Charles loves Merilee" blog and then all of you would just skip it. Anyways, here it is:

Old Picture of Merilee at 3 weeks. So cute.

In other news, I love my wife. She's the best. I love her lovely body. I love her kind heart. She smells good. She makes delicious things like plum pie, eclairs, apple muffins, pumpkin squares, and pudding pie. I cannot handle how wonderful she is. I love her whole self. She rocks my whole world.

I love my whole life. It's a special life. A wonderful, spectacular, and fantastic existence. I couldn't ask for more. My wife is not a goat. Nor will she ever be like unto a goat. Nor a rooster. Nor a newt.

(Almond) Butter Luck Next Time

So, it's been a while since I've posted an update. I've been busy with school and haven't really felt like sitting at the computer to type. The solution is that it is now Sunday and I am using a laptop. It's ultra fancy and lets me sit at the couch while I blog. Thanks to some support from Merilee's parents, we've been able to get one for school. I saw lots of students with them at Cal Poly, and figured that it was about time I broke down and got one instead of having to worry about when computer labs were available. By the way, here's a random picture of Merilee and I at an A's game. I have such a wonderful wife.

We got free tickets from a friend (thanks Marty!) and it turned out to be a Journey-themed (you know, like the band) fireworks game, so we stayed for that before heading home.  Did I mention we got free parking? It was a great date, with the only hiccups being the fact that the free pizza promised by Round Table wasn't actually free.  On our way home from the coliseum, we stopped by the one in Castro Valley, and apart from trying to convince us that we were crazy and somehow imagined the announcer telling us we would get free pizza for our ticket stubs, they were out of dough.  I'm wondering how they stay in business since we stopped by another day with the internet promotion on my phone and they were almost out of dough again, but somehow had enough for two personal sized pizzas.  It was only like 8:00 pm that night.  Anyways, the end of the story is that it still cost us about three dollars, for what they said was "tax." Looking at the receipts, tax was like 25 cents, but the "Free Personal Sized Pizza" code only gave you $4.75 of the original $6.  I'm not really sure how that's free, or why I'm complaining about paying $3 instead of $12 for delicious pizza.  I guess I just don't like being lied to.