random ramblings of randomness

in an effort to teach myself the ways of the blog (or is it like the ways of the force: an apprentice must be taught by a master?) i have made several attempts to post an interesting video i have found on youtube to practice the art of videoposting. the concept is simple, find the video, copy the embed code, paste code into blog. the execution is confounding me. i find the video, i copy the embed code, and yet when i paste said code into blog, only a short portion of the code is pasted. i try to scroll thru the code on the youtube page, and it is missing there as well. i have tried it with two different videos. stunning conclusion to follow?



frequently at ups we ship packages containing hazardous materials. every hazmat package has to have diamond hazmat labels, hazmat shipping papers, and orientation arrows. there are certain classes of hazmat that are completely prohibited in the ups system. one of which being spontaneously combustible. as a loader, the only step between me and the customer is the driver so i am basically the very end of the chain. yesterday i see a package with diamond labels on it so i immediately look for shipping papers. there are none so normally it gets sent down to the clerk for him to fill them out. but then i look at the diamond label and discover its from the aforementioned prohibited class. i immediately stop the belt and call the supervisor over to take care of it. the ridiculousness of it is, this is the second time in just a few months where a prohibited hazmat package, without shipping papers (just to make things worse) has made it all the way to me and almost on the truck. that means the unloader never should have taken it off the truck, the scanner should never have scanned and p.a.l.'ed it, the sorter never should have put it on the blue feeder belt, the splitter at the head of the blue belt should never have pushed it to my side of the belt. but more than that, this package came from florida! it never should have been accepted by ups in florida, it never should have been put on the feeder truck in florida, and it never should have come across country to chico. this is a major dropping of the ball that has inccurred some heavy safety violation fines. and to think it has happened twice!!!

Lara's Stomach

The EFW weight in grams equals around 10lbs!

Lara's Femur

This due date is sooner that her head measurement.

Lara's Head

This is Lara's head. Note what the estimated due date is based on the measurements.

Holy Baby!

Today I had an ultrasound so my doctor could try to get an estimate on Lara's size (since Jaron was 9lbs 15oz, she wanted to not be as surprised). As the ultrasound doctor was taking measurements of Lara's femur, he stops suddenly and asks how tall I am. I'm 5'7", but I'm the shortest in my family. He looked quit surprised when the weight showed up on the screen. My mom made a comment about the ultrasound weight being off when she had me, it said I was under 7lbs and I was 7lbs 90z. The doctor then says that this baby will definitely be over 8lbs, and that according to the ultrasound, she's already 10lbs! The thing is, I'm not due for another 2 1/2 weeks...that's a lot more growing potential! The doctor explained that the measurements can be off by up to 25%...which means Lara is currently between 8 1/2lbs to 11 1/2lbs. We'll find out for sure when she finally comes.

Prop 8

i don't desire to fill the annals of this blog with politics. but there is just too much to say about it. the following was sent to me by my sister and if it doesn't outrage you, either you have no soul or you are already planning on doing it to someone else.

"My friend and former co-worker, who lives in the Orangevale/Fair Oaks area, just sent me this picture. This was done to her house and truck (that's a yes-on-8 sign on the back) late Saturday night with spray paint.Whether you agree or disagree with "Yes on 8," vandalism is NEVER OK. It doesn't help your cause any and just makes you look petty, childish, vindictive, criminal, degenerate, cruel, and callous (should I go on?). In this country shouldn't we be able to voice our opinions, stand up for our beliefs, and promote morality without fear of being attacked?

And for the record, yes, having less divorce is an excellent way to protect marriage and the family. But A) last I checked, divorce was not an issue on my ballot and B) me, my church, and other organizations are already doing everything we can to strengthen marriages. "

Blessings

When we look at our lives, we see that we have received many blessings. Dave and I have noticed we've received many blessings in our marriage since pretty much the first day we were married, and the blessings just seem to keep rolling in. When we had Jaron, we were able to borrow many of the items we needed from other family members. This time, we are not so fortunate. But this has not stopped us from receiving what we need and/or want.
When I was attending the baby and me classes, that our local hospital offers after you have a child, I met several other moms that I ended up keeping in contact with. One mom is Shannon. Shannon and I would go on walks together about 2 times a week until the doctor told me I couldn't do that anymore. Now we have play dates for our kids when we can. Shannon has a daughter that is about 6 weeks older than Jaron, and she knows that Dave and I want to have 4 kids (eventually). When I found out I was pregnant again, she told me she was saving her daughter's clothes to give to me whenever I have a girl. She has now given me the clothes she has saved and an infant carseat, baby swing, and jumperoo. I'm so greatful that we did not have to buy these things as it can get costly.
This week, we found out the crib we have was recalled. Our crib had an attached changing table, dresser and bookcase. We loved it and were sad that it was too costly to replace with a similar style crib (it would cost us an additional $300-400). I had been looking at how much it would cost us to buy a changing table when Shannon called to see how I was doing and to tell me how her trip went. I told her about what had happened with the crib recall and that the type of changing table Dave and I wanted would cost more than we were willing to spend. Shannon then tells me that the changing table she has she no longer uses (and it was the style we were looking for) and she would love to give it to me, but she needed to make sure her husband was ok with getting rid of it. After she talked to her husband, she called and said he thought it was a great idea to give it to us. Today he dropped it off for us too!
We want to thank Shannon and her husband Jeff for helping us out so much. We owe them big time for the blessing they have been in our life.

to blog or not to blog?

i have to say i'm grateful to my wife for starting a blog and using it to update friends and loved ones about our life. now i don't feel the obligation to do it myself. she's much better with the details than i am anyway. now i can dedicate this to spill my mind on any topic i so choose. we'll see what comes up.

i work for ups loading delivery trucks erly in the morning. it can be tedious at times and the mind has plenty of opportunity to wander and ruminate. one morning recently i was pondering on the current state of the election and i had a thought about obama's economic plan and what some commentators call "trickle up poverty". for those unaware, obama plans to "spread the wealth around" taking tax money for hardworking families and giving it to those that don't because apparently obama thinks socialism will work this time around. i realized that all this plan will do is encourage mediocrity. why should i work harder when they're just going to take all my money and give it to those to lazy to work for themselves. and then i took the thought a step further and realized that's exactly the union mind set. in a union situation, you don't get raises or promotions based on merit, it is completelty based on seniority, so there are no benefits to working hard. then i realized who one of obama's strongest supporters: the international brotherhood of teamsters, headed by jimmy hoffa's son, james hoffa. (sound like a mafia?, it should jimmy had strong mafia ties. why else do you think he is still missing today?) oh the joys of union politics.

Jaron was all bundled up to go on the walk for the Alzheimer's Association.

A Beginning

I've never blogged before and I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up, but here's a start. Dave and I have been married for almost four years. We moved to Chico, Ca July 2006. Just before we moved we found out I was pregnant with our first child, Jaron, who was born March 2007 at a whopping 9lbs 15oz, 21in long. He's a little firecracker and a wonderful addition to our family. I am currently pregnant with our second child, Lara, and I'm due in 3 weeks. Looking at genetics, I expect at least a 9lb baby again. Dave likes it that we have bigger babies because he does not feel he will break them when he holds them.
Dave is currently working on a degree in Psychology at Chico State. He has 3 semesters left, then we hope he will be moving on to Pharmacy school. He's busy working at UPS, taking 16-18 units at school, being the Secretary of Psi Chi, and church callings. We enjoy the time we are able to spend together. Someday life will be a little less chaotic...we remind ourselves that life is a journey, not a race.
Well, that's about it for now.

ruminations the first

as the first delving into the world of blog, i feel the obligation of publishing one of three things: 1) a background of myself, 2)a statement of purpose for the blog, or 3)some profound statements to make a lasting impression. i must apologize in advance for fulfilling none of the three. myself will be revealed in time as pertinent facts become pertinent, i wouldn't want to bore. i have no purpose of this blog except as way of communicating whatever ruminations come to mind. thirdly, i have no profound statements. it isn't even forseen if this blog will make it past this series premiere and if a network will pick it up for the regular season.