Hello, it's me again...

Well, Christmas day has come and passed and we are still more or less functioning. It was nice to take a few days off after the event. I don't think we accomplished anywhere near the amount of things we needed to in that time, but at least we were able to rest. That is something that I know Lori needs a lot of these days, so in all retrospect, it was probably well deserved and a good expenditure of time.

Can you believe it is almost 2006? I know I sure can't. Seems like I just finally got used to writing 2005 a couple months ago! I guess it's just another surefire sign that I am getting older. My chronological comparison continuum, is ever shrinking. For those unfamiliar with the CCC theory, it simply applies that time goes slower as you are younger, because you have less actual physical time to compare it with, whereas an old fogey like me has much more experienced time to compare with, so time as a whole is ever shrinking. And if you believe all that, I have some nice beachfront property in Arizona to sell you for a real deal.

Anyway, life is good for the moment, but will certainly let you know as soon as it changes. Love and Christmas blessings to all!

So good to be alive...

Well, I have finally overcome whatever crud was in my system. I can not remember the last time that I felt that sick. It was a good thing I was able to get some people to cover masses for me so I could literally sleep for three days straight! Let's hope that's the last of that for awhile.

On the up side, Lori and I had another baby appointment yesterday. You can read about it on the baby blog if you are interested.

Finally finished all my Christmas shopping today. I spent a bunch of the churches money getting presents and appreciation gifts for all my musicians and singers. Maybe I spent some money on some other stuff too. ;) But I'm not telling what!

Anyway, not much going on, just a little insomnia after three straight days of sleep, so keeping you all updated in a short and disfunctional fashion.

Night!
Adam

Sick of being sick...

Tis the season to be flat on your back with a mind splitting sinus cold and raspy voice! Yuck!

Definitely tired of being layed up in the man room. Been sitting here laying in bed ever since the concert got over on Thursday night. Supposed to be having kids over for our advent tradition, and I may make a cameo appearance to play the guitar for P&W, but that is probably about it. I was at least able to muster up enough strength to help Lori get a few things cleaned around the house. Lord knows it became quite the mess this week. So, anyway, just sitting here on my futon bored to tears so I thought a little blog would put the universe back in order. God bless wireless technology! I can blog and watch DVD's in horizontal comfort till the cows come home.

Not much else new going on other than being sick. The concert went off well and we are sooo glad that is over with. I originally had someone scheduled to cover my evening mass for today so I could take a break, not knowing I was going to be sick. I just got off the phone asking someone to cover my 7:30am mass, so hopefully I can at least manage to get up out of bed and make a face appearance if nothing else at the 10:30 mass. At this point I just need to get better, still have quite a few things that I need to get accomplished before Christmas. And we definitely can't afford for Lori to get sick as she would not be able to take anything for it. I can at least toss through the night with the help of some Nyquil, but she would be up the creek.

One interesting thing is that Lori did say that the baby was starting to feel a little more "heavy" in the last couple of days. She can feel it inside if she moves in the right way or lays on her tummy or something. I thought that was really cool. I can't wait till there is even more to tell. :)

That's about it for today. Going back to drug induced slumber for now...

Weak and wounded...

Here we are approaching the 11th hour for Christmas Concert 2005 preparation! Needless to say, both Lori and I are exhausted. Friday could not possibly be further away at this point. Why do we do it you ask? At this point, I don't know that I could honestly give you a pertinent answer that didn't have some abstract form of a four letter word in it. It usually becomes apparent in the reactions and comments occurring after the incident. I hope it does anyway, cause we are beat. I don't know how my beautiful wife is able to keep all this up as well as undergoing the tumultuous burden of living joy inside her tummy. Needless to say, words cannot express the sheer love and admiration I have for her this holiday season.

Christmas really is one of my favorite times of year despite what it may seem like as of now. I enjoy the REAL Christmas time. The weeks after the actual holy day. THAT is Christmas time. It would be nice if it were possible to educate the rest of the world on that slight oversight. The time of waiting and preparation has ceased, the holy day of our Lord and Savior's birth has come, and no more choir practices for two weeks. :) Seriously though, the real Christmas time is something I really enjoy despite the rest of humanity's desire to get the tree in the trash and the decorations down as soon as possible. That should be the real time of rejoicing! Maybe when we're not so caught up in the comings and goings of fads and commercialism, we'll be able to appreciate it a little more. But that is just the ramblings of a humble music minister...

Peace to all and all to Peace,
Adam

Happy Advent!

Well, starting to post with a little more regularity now. Christmas season definitely sucks away all those little free minutes I'm used to having and taking a second to relax and blog my thought away. Guess I finally felt like doing something cause I just got a nice package from home with a piano playing snowman, and nothing makes you feel more like blogging than a piano playing snowman. :) Anyway... Not much going here besides Christmas Concert Mayhem! We had to move our dress rehearsal up a week because of the High School's scheduling conflicts, so that was two days ago and very interesting. On the one hand, it was kind of nice getting it over and out of the way so we have a good idea of the space more than just two days before the concert. It would be nice to get back in there again before the actual date though. Oh well, mental notes abounding for next year.

Pregnant life is going good. My beautiful wife has successfully mastered the first tri-mester and we're hoping she can stop taking the anti-nausea medicine shortly. We just need to make sure she gets enough sleep in the next week and a half. Lori is already well into several books and I'm sure learning plenty of things I should also know, but I will probably wait until after the concert to start delving in to things with a passion. I can't wait until we can see a more physical sign of the baby. Lori still isn't really showing at all yet, so it is still kind of hard to believe sometimes. It will be really cool when she is all rolly-polly and the baby is doing a tumbling routine inside her. :) I think it will be cool anyway, Lori might have other thoughts by the time it's over.

On a slightly less pertinent topic, we are going to see the Narnia movie tonight! All I really wanted for my birthday was to be able to go see that on opening night! Which is technically tomorrow, so we are going to the 12:01 a.m. showing! I don't think it will be too packed as school has not let out yet, so I don't imagine a lot of younger folks will be there. Hopefully we can all stay awake for it after a long night of practices last night and a long day of Immaculate Conception masses. I'm sure I'll make it somehow. Good thing Starbucks is right next to the theatre. I really need to get some stock there. :)

Well, peace to all for now, seasons greetings and blessings abound!
Adam

Poor Ol' Tom...

Well, the clamor and the clangor of the holiday season is finally upon us. Needless to say, I have been much amiss in my duties as a blogger. Ever since we got back from Colorado life has just seemed too insane to concentrate on anything at all. I had my big groundbreaking ceremony for the new church this past weekend which went smashingly well. I can finally end my freaked out tirade of stress induced grumpiness and apathetic melancholy. :) I don't know why my wife puts up with me. That's why I love her so much.

Baby is growing nicely. We were able to actually listen to the heart beat at the doctor's on Monday. It's supposedly about the size of a lime right now (You know the song, go ahead and sing it). I was a little bummed that we didn't get any more baby blob pictures, but oh well. The sucky part is that we won't get any next month either. Next month they will do a blood test to determined possibilities of chromosomal disorders like down syndrome and some spinal thingy. Then in January we will do another ultrasound and hopefully be able to tell the sex of the baby. If it's a Ubowski, I doubt it will be shy, so here's looking at you kid!

Yeah, Thanksgiving! Definitely one of my favorite holidays. Nothing really commercialized about it, except the day after. Just family and friends getting together to share good times and good food. It would have been nice to be in Colorado for it, but there was no way the baby news could have waited that long. Oh well. We should have some good times here in Niceville though. Lots of friends gathered round and some food and singing. Good times, good times...
Well I hope everyone enjoys their special day and eats too much turkey and gravy and put on a good five pounds at least.

Poor Ol' Tom...
"gobble go-b-ble, GO-B! g...."

Geez!

Well here another week has lapsed without a blog entry. I suppose I have just had a really busy week. Pulled an all nighter Wednesday-Thursday in order to get my friend's website done before his debut as Aquaman on Smallville. Everything else has just seemed to blend together since that point. I remember writing a nice long blog on Monday and then having the internet suck it into oblivion as it did not post and I messed up my copy and save procedure. Maybe that led to my distaste for blogging for the week. I'll see if I can recall some of the tidbits that I so painstakingly tried to reveal earlier this week.

Not much really new. Sunday was Lori's birthday. My beautiful wife turned the ripe young age of 25. Seems just like yesterday that I was meeting her in college. It's really hard to believe that the first time I met her she wasn't even 18 yet! Wow! 7 years that we have known each other. Crazy times! I'm going to be pushing an ancient 27 this year so get the walker and the geritol ready for me honey! :) Birthday went off without a hitch. We celebrated with dinner at her parents house after a LONG Sunday and just vegged for the rest of the night.

Lori and I spent all day most just chilling. We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the new Target in Destin. It is really nice. It was so great to be able to only drive 15 minutes to experience the thrills of "cheap chic" rather than the normal 45 minutes it takes to get to the other Target store in out area. Not to mention that is really old and doesn't have a lot of stuff all the time. Plus it had a Pizza Hut and a Starbucks inside, so between shopping, pizza, and caffeine, we pretty much had the essentials of life covered.

The rest of the week is basically a big blur consisting of too many choir rehearsals and e-commerce programming, combined with a hint of sleep deprivation. Can't wait for our impromptu trip to CO next week though. It will be nice to get back in the mountains for a little bit. It will be Lori and I's engagement anniversary and we thought it a fitting trip considering the time issue of the coupon, the engagement of my brother, Mom's accident, and just a general sense of nostalgia for the mountains on the horizon. (Cue cheesy music)

Anyway, that's about all for this blog session. See some of you soon, and others, well whenever.

Peace,
Adam

Interesting week...

Needless to say this week has certainly been interesting. Thanks to all who prayed for my mom as she recovers from her accident. If you haven't seen a picture yet, send me an email, or I'm sure it will be up on the website soon. Anyway, spent the latter half of this week in a complete daze. Mom's accident kind of sent me out of focus for the week. Kind of like Columbine, 9-11, and Katrina all wrapped up into one, except for no Fox News security blanket to fall back on. Thank goodness for cell phones I guess. It really sucked too, cause Lori was out of town so I was kind of left to my own emotional support. Jazz helped a little. Dog's are good for that kind of thing. Just holding a little ball of fuzz is medically proven to be healing. Probably why they do such wonders for the elderly and children. Anyway, not much else to really say at this point. Totally having an insomniac week. For obvious and other reasons.

Well, I managed to make it through an entire Christmas rehearsal with out Lori there directing. It was actually kind of nice, because it gave me something I had to totally focus on for a little bit so my brain could shut up. On the brighter side of things, my brother is still engaged, so cheerio Nate! They're shooting for 7-7-07 as a date. So cool points for that, but still a long way to go. Lori and I definitely know how that goes. Will leave off for now as an empty dishwasher and full sink is calling my name. Going to try and get the house in some semblance of order before my loving wife gets home. :) Peace out.

Another Monday bites the dust...

Well here it is Monday, and I just feel like blogging. Not really much going on, but just had the undeniable urge to type into cyberspace. One great point of interest is that my little brother is now officially engaged. Nate and Mariesa are gettin' hitched! Date yet to be decided of course and probably not for some time yet, but definite excitement in the family household. Hard to believe how fast everyone is growing up. Lori's birthday is just around the corner and she'll be hitting the half way to fifty mark. I'm ranking higher at a lovely 27 in a couple months. They really are right about time going faster and slipping away when you get older. I really do believe it is all about comparative analysis. At the age of four, you've only really experienced time in an annual form recognizably for maybe a year, so naturally it seems to take forever for Christmas to come around. Even at the age of 16 it seemed like life was moving so slow. Once college was halfway through though, time just seemed to skip off like a rocket. The measure of a year is not quite as big as it used to be. The more that pass, the smaller it seems. I can only imagine how an 80 year old feels about time passing. Must seem like a blink of an eye by that point. I guess the more siblings that grow up also tends to make me feel older too. When my oldest sister got married a year and a half ago, it didn't really seem to phase me too much as far as time is concerned, but now adding another one to the mix seems to really be pushing the time clock. Maybe I'm just getting nostalgic in my old age. :)

Well, anyway, I've waxed and waned enough for one blogging endeavor! Off to my "honey do" list and more Monday fun. Peace to all.

Can't breathe...

Let me say just one thing about the panhandle of Florida. If you didn't have allergy problems before you got here, you will! Man, today is horrible. Of course, it doesn't help that I ran out of my usual daily addiction of Claritin D, so I wasn't able to imbibe my source of respiratory relief for the day. Counting down the minutes until I get off work so that I can go shopping for cookies and drugs. We're having a first Friday gathering of young adults before adoration and a gathering with the youth tonight late after the HS football game. That's what the cookies are for by the way, not the drugs. :)

Other than feeling like a bronchial disaster, there's not much new going on for the day. I'll be living the single life again the end of next week, so look forward to more witty sleep deprived connotations and conundrums. Hope all have a blessed weekend and enjoy your Columbus Day whether you have it off or not!

Peace,
Adam

Old and feeble...

Well, at least out of shape anyway. Went on a little mountain biking expedition yesterday with a few friends. We went on some trails back behind the Army ranger training camp. Needless to say, I was definitely not expecting the amount of hills that we encountered. Florida is supposed to be flat. Biking an hour and a half under normal conditions I have been able to handle recently, but you start throwing in sand, rough terrain (which I was prepared for), and some serious hills (so not!!!), then you have a heaving sweating puddle of what used to be a man walking his bike up the hill. It's been a while since I've had my body at that sports exhaustion point where you know you're about ready to toss your lunch. If we had been out on a sports field doing soccer or something, I would have probably just pushed it and gone for the whole reverse stomach maneuver, but since we were in the middle of the woods with no idea where I really was or how far to get out, I wussied my bike up some of the hills silently sucking away at my camelbak. The exhausting heat probably didn't help, but not going to make any excuses. I guess I will have to find some more hills in this area to train on so I can cowboy up the next time around. I think I'll wait a week or so before trying that again though. Spent most of today trying to remain horizontal. :) Oh well, that's why God invented motrin!

Anyhow, not much else new going on this week as of yet.
Keep you posted.
Peace!

Happy Thursday!!!

Why happy Thursday you ask? Well, really, why not? Thursday is a very under rated day in my opinion. Monday already has its own connotations while Tuesday is often referred to as another Monday. Even Wednesday has achieved status as the "hump day" and everyone knows TGIF. But what about Thursday? It is probably the most overlooked day of the week and I am going to make it my personal mission of the week to give Thursday the credit it deserves. Thursday is really the build up day to Friday. You don't just magically skip from Wednesday to Friday by some extreme fluke in the space time continuum. How do you get to Friday's end? By route of Thursday my friends. So in the tradition of Hallmark, the maker of mythical holidays, I now create Happy Thursday!

Oh by the way, let me know if you like the new blog look. Less green.

Lazy blogging...

What can I say? Blogging has not been on the top ten things for me to do lately, which is actually quite disappointing for me. I get so few chances to be witty and rhetorical in daily life, that my cyber expansion of thought actually does bring a sense of fulfillment on a certain level. Needless to say there has been plenty going on. I am currently involved in a very big web development undertaking. Doing a site for a friend who is about to hit the spotlight in a big way. Won't mention any names or anything cause I would prefer not to have my blog hit the search engines come opening day. Anyway, if you're truly interested, you know how to reach me.

Regardless, life just seem to be plugging along. Hope to get some good recording done in the next couple weeks once I wrap up this web project. Managed to organize a lot of my random notecards and scribblings into a condensed folder so the creative process should be able to flow a lot smoother now that I have some place to start.

Well, not much else to say for now, as I should really be working anyway, so toodles till next time (hopefully this millennia!).

Busy week...

Well, it seem just like yesterday since I wrote my last post. Unfortunately, it's been a whole freaking week. Things have just been really busy for some reason over the last few weeks. Things are going good though. The weather is starting to cool down a little, so we can actually start doing some outdoor activities. I'm trying to bike for at least an hour everyday, so we'll see how that goes. It might be a little tough this week, as Lori's car is in the shop and something wierd is going on with it. Some drama going on with the repais shop also. Anyway, didn't want to go too long without posting, but there is really not much else to tell. Have to get back to recording the Christmas practice CD's so we can have them ready by Thursday for practice. Until whenever the next time is.

Peace
Adam

Time warp...

Man, I can't believe it's been that long since my last post. Life has been crazy busy the last week and a half. Seems like there are always a million things going on whenever company comes into town. Fr. Antekeir happened to stop by all this week so we are enjoying his presence and sense of wit tremendously. Had dinner with him and Lori's parent over here tonight and had a BBQ feast of burgers and bratwurst that was to die for. Other than that there is not much of importance going on. I couldn't sleep so thought I would take care of some emails and catch back up on cyberspace chat. Yeah for you all. Anyway, that is really all I have to say for now, so be good, eat your vegetables, and chew with your mouth closed.

peace,
adam

UPS blows chunks...

No explanation needed. Just stating a fact of the day.

Christmas in September..

Grrr! Already stressed about Christmas in this neck of the woods. We have our first Niceville Catholic Community Choir rehearsal tonight for the annual combined Christmas concert. It should be a lot easier this year than last, but still going to be a project. I guess I don't have much to complain about though. I can only imagine the thousands of families who are going to still be homeless for Christmas in the wake of Katrina. I don't think the reality of it has hit me yet either. All I can do is sit and stare at the television in awe and horror. Another 200 miles east and we would be in the same boat as the rest of the western gulf coast. I honestly cannot imagine having everything you have ever known just completely wiped away in one fell swoop. It seriously boggles my mind, and it takes a lot to do that. The only thing we can do at this point is pray I guess. I wish we had a bigger house that we could maybe open up to some refugees for a while as there are bound to be quite a few in the months to come. Things like this make you appreciate the little things in life that we take for granted. Running water, toilet paper, those kind of things. Did you ever think you would hear the word refugee used to describe someone inside the continental US? I never did. The world is definitely a more somber place than it was last week.

Adam

In the aftermath...

Well, Katrina came and went through our area. There really wasn't that much effect in and around here as it was far enough west to not really cause any problems. There were a few power flickers and some gusty winds, but that is about the worst we got. Even the rain was not much to write home about. Unfortunately, I'm sure the same can not be said about the New Orleans area. I'm sure the area is quite devastated at this point. Lori and I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have everything just completely wiped away. We were kind of lamenting the fact that we never really got to see New Orleans either. We live close enough to drive, and had talked about doing it some time, but it seems that it will just never be the same now.

Not much else is really going on. Starting up practice for the Christmas concert allready this week and working hard on everything else as usual. Hope everyone else is good and having a blessed end to summer.

Peace,
Adam

Katrina cometh...

Well, the Russian Orthodox hurricane of the year is headed for us at the moment. People are already freaking out about gas as lines have been steady and long all day. Right now the track looks like it is hitting us dead on, but then it curls to the east at the last minute and hits Panama City. Let's hope it curls anyway. I really don't want to have to put up plywood again. Putting it up isn't too awful, but taking it down sucks, cause then you have to patch all the holes that you put in your siding and stuff. Not fun at all! At least if the hurricane is going to hit, it would be nice if it didn't hit on mine and Lori's only day off. It works out better when they hit later during the week, cause then we get snow days. :) Well, almost anyway. Not much else is new besides that. We'll keep you updated as things progress.

toodles,
Adam

Slave to the man...

Working real hard every night and day... nah nah nah...rollin' on the river...nah nah nah...

Just taking a moment at work to breathe and project some pent up creativity out into the world. Just got done with choir practice and am working on putting together my list of demands for my meeting with the church architect tomorrow. It's finally getting to that point where I get to create my ideal worship environment. At least technologically anyway. My brain is racked with all the little details that I have not really thought about until the last day or so. This meeting probably won't be that intense, but I still want to have a good idea of how I want things before I go in there so I don't look like a complete moron. I was hoping I would get to spend some leisure time in Pensacola tomorrow afternoon after the meeting going to some decent music stores, but have to come back in a timely fashion so Lori and I can play for a mass. Father Roy's mom passed away a week or so ago and he is saying a mass for her tomorrow for some closure as she did not desire a funeral of any sort. I don't think I want a funeral either. At least a traditional one anyway. I'd rather pay for everyone to go see Cirque du Soleil or something like that. That way all the money sunk into the project would at least be a worthwhile and memorable experience for those involved. But I'm sure my thoughts will change as the years go. I think...maybe...sure, we'll stick that. Hope all are well and I miss all those who are close to me yet so far away.

Dankeshane baby,
Adam