Fraize Dotcom

If you know where that quote came from, you win +1 Rob Reiner points.

Hai, Intarwebs! It’s me, Fraize – though you may hardly recognize me since I’ve been so absent from the blogosphere. I blame Twitter. No, really – I do! I’ve found I get my blogging yayas out by hitting my Twitter page and microblogging there, so I don’t visit the old Fraize Dotcom very often at all.

I could write several incredibly long posts about the recent goings on, but instead, I’ll just keep to a modified Twitter theme, and post some bullet-point versions of my last few weeks.

• After Sarah’s wedding, Heather and I decided to use the same place, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Centreville, as the backdrop for our wedding and reception. It’s pretty, close by everybody, and very easy going and nice people there.
• I headed up to New York City for a few days for the New York Gift Fair – a convention of people showing off their stuff in hopes the mighty ThinkGeek will buy some of it.
• While I was there, I met with the supercool and hipster-thick Buglabs. Their outreach manager took me on a tour and showed me where the magic happens.
• After that meet and greet, I headed off to NYC Resistor, a colony of hackers, and got introduced into a fascinating world of art hacks and fun mechanical and electronic projects. It was inspirational! Now I want to join the DC area version, HacDC, and make my own Reprap!
• I was supposed to stay until Wednesday, but crappy weather forced me to sneak home a day early. I avoided the ice storm with about a half hour to spare.
• I’ve been playing with Windows 7 lately, and I really really like it.
• Our gas furnace, which had been leaking gas lately, got a brand new solenoid valve. Of course, being brand new didn’t make it free from defects, so that unit also leaks gas. No heat in the house but that which glows from our collection of electronics. Ambient house temp: 69 degrees.

I’ve realized that Christmas time is about transitions. Shifts in mindset, attitude, location, and emotion. This idea started on Christmas day, but it began back in Early December as I began to shift my work patterns to fit my 2008 “endgame.” My department changes strategy from “make sure everything is in stock” to “adjust, tweak, shift, and manage the inventory we have left.”

The actual dawning of this concept came from Jennifer who tweeted:

“At what age do we switch from anxiously waking up early to begging to sleep in?”

After which I, having just opened a most welcomed gift from my Bonnie Heather, replied:

“At what age do you transition to underpants and socks being awesome Christmas gifts?”

We hung out at my parent’s house in Burke, went to Heather’s brother’s place, then my Grandmother’s place in Alexandria. The Penn family filled my Grandma’s condo with love, laughter, and a giant inviting pile of cookies. But, when it came to the inevitable “grandkids picture,” I was struck with the concept of transition again.

Every year, and at nearly every family event, my Aunts pull out their cameras, and demand that all the grandkids get together on the couch and pose for a picture. It had always been a bit tiresome, but we endured it as happily as we could.

Here’s one from 1996 *I think*.

And here’s the one from Christmas Day, 2008.

Everybody’s changed, but they’re still the same cousins I remember. Just now, they’re far more interesting! Even the youngest, Laura, at just 14 years old, is becoming a little adult, and it’s so fascinating to watch her grow-up.

Christmas came and went faster than I expected, though. Before I knew it, the euphoria of presents, and sugar, had worn off, and I was just a lump on a couch. Just now, I’ve transitioned to a lump on the couch with a few more games, gadgets and clothes. Plus, a really nice new set of underpants and socks.

I’ve had so much going on these past few weeks, I’m suffering from Information Paralysis – a condition where I’ve just locked up blogging about anything due to a fear that too much information would be ignored. That happens to me quite a lot, and that’s something I hope to get over.

So let’s get caught up a little bit, shall we?

Christmas has come and gone, and it was a very satisfying Christmas! Gift-wise, it wasn’t as strong as other years, but I guess that, as I get older, that matters less and less. I had a great time hanging out with my and Heather’s families, chatting and eating.

My mom, in particular, made a spectacular meal just after Thanksgiving. Heather and I just hunkered down in the living room with plates filled to near overflowing with turkey, venison, stuffing, greenbean casserole, corn, and piles of pie pie pie.

For my birthday, she bought me two tickets to see Spamalot, which we saw a few days after Christmas. Let me tell you, I wasn’t expecting much, but that show was spectacular. Funny, even for Heather who hasn’t yet seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail!

Tomorrow (Sunday) I leave for Las Vegas to go to the Consumer Electronics Show. It may sound like fun, but I can tell you it’s going to be a lot of work. There’s lots to see, and not much time to do it. Thursday, I’ll shoot down to Austin to visit my good friends Rich and Melissa, and their new baby Sophia. I’ll try and blog and shoot pictures and video like crazy in both places.

I spent this weekend playing games and visiting with Heather’s family. It’s Heather’s niece’s 1st birthday, so we congregated at Heather’s sister’s house for BBQ and cake. Good times, but Heather’s mom didn’t make it up from Florida. Sunday, though, we were able to hook up with them for Father’s day festivities which were held at Logans in Fairfax. More BBQ!!

I picked up Lost Planet again, after letting it collect dust for a while. I got past the boss level I got stuck in last time, and had a lot more fun with it this time. Unfortunately, I got some serious geriatric sega-thumb going on. The geriatric variety makes my arthritis flare up instead of giving me the blister. New age-bracket means new gaming injuries. Joy.

Today was an anniversary of sorts. One year ago today, I woke up in my bed at Rich and Mel’s apartment in Austin, loaded the last of my junk into my car, and drove to Robert Meuller Airport. There, I waited, listening to the piped in rockabilly, and staring at the red-white-and-blue tshirts bearing Texas flags and armadillos and various burnt orange horn-motif baseball caps for sale at the terminal gift shop.

My heart raced as I tried to find a way to stand casually. I wanted to look like I was the coolest person there, as if the arrival of the girl of my dreams was no big deal. Instead, my hands were sweating and my weight shifted back and forth. I was nervous and excited because Heather was coming down to Texas to take me home to Virginia.

When she came around the corner, she was wearing the biggest grin I had ever seen. I’m sure I looked like an idiot, with an equally big yet stupid grin on my face. When she finally made it past the security checkpoint, I grabbed her and hugged her for all I was worth. She was warm and smelled good, and held me close. Finally being with her was like a rebirth – the end of one life and the beginning of another.

It was important to me that she come down for the drive up. For one thing, it got me to see her two days earlier. For another, bringing her down to Texas, even for half of a day, tempered my leaving the place I called home for 9 years. Like a diver slowly changing depths, I repressurized to Virginia from Texas by making the transition slowly. We went to lunch at my favorite brew-pub with my best friends. They gave me a nice quiet send-off with hugs and smiles. It was bittersweet to be sure, but I was long ready to go.

It took us two days to get back to Virginia – stopping in Texarcana and Nashville for a night each. The road trip was long, but we had each other to talk to, and that was just fine.

One year later, I’m sitting in my easy chair again. I’ve gained a little weight, my hair has gotten longer, but I’m happier than I’ve been my entire adult life. I’ve found a place to be where I can live like I’ve always wanted. Every waking morning is beautiful, even when the sun’s behind the clouds. Sure, I miss my friends – Rich, Mel, Morty, Frank, Charlie, Marcella, Brandon, Lisa, Marc, Jen… I think about them a lot, but I had to go where my heart led me, and I’m a better man for it.

Man, I love how my mom and dad can go to the next hemisphere over, and I can keep an eye on them via a webcam.