Will you marry me Janet?

YES!!!!!. We both had one foot firmly entrenched in the single life vowing that we would never marry again due to our poor experiences with the first marriages. I'm happy with my life and my kids come first. We'll be able to see each other a couple times per week or so is what we said. We'll we didn't know that we had met our perfect matches and had no clue what level of happiness we were about to achieve. Within the first couple weeks of getting to know each other we burned up the phone lines and rang up a few thousand text messages. Calling each other in the middle of the night to hear the other persons voice, to hang up then call back again because you didn't hear enough. Within two weeks we both knew that we would get married at some point. From there we have slowly brought our kids and families into the mix. My kids love Janet and are always asking when they will be seeing her next. Janet's kids have mentioned that they notice that she is happiest when she is around me. Even after seven months people notice that we are very very happy. At our christmas dinner we kept looking at each other and smiling all night long. That was the first time we had dressed up and gone out and we were both enjoying looking at each other. Someone commented in fun "Get a room you guys". I guess our happiness is pretty visible.

So the family, Janet and I were going to Mexico for vacation. Without question I wanted to propose to her at some point however I couldn't make up my mind on when. How much time before it's appropriate? How long should the engagement be? I wanted the proposal to be special and memorable and thought what a better time or location than on the beach in 90 degree weather in December in Mexico with my family there to celebrate with us. I worked with a local jeweler to get the ring I wanted and since it didn't exist they worked with me to make it. They poured a wax mold and I hand picked the diamonds. They were even nice enough to take our old wedding rings in trade. I was quite pleased with how it all turned out. So armed with a ring and a plan it was hard to wait until the perfect moment.

The Proposal: I was hoping that we would arrive at the hotel before the sun went down so that I could ask her right away. I didn't want to wait all the way through the next day until the sun went down. The timing was perfect. We arrived in time for us to all get our shorts on and get down on the beach. I told Janet before we got there that I wanted to go for a walk and watch the sunset. When it was close to the right time for our walk I made an excuse to go up to the room to get the ring and when I returned we went for the walk. We walked quite a while and when the sun was at a good point I said lets grab some sand and watch it go down. We started talking about how happy we are and how perfect things are in our lives. I snuck the ring box out of my pocket and proposed to her. I definitely caught her by surprise and after some tears and collecting herself she said YES!!!!

We sat and watched the sunset the rest of the way then walked back to celebrate with the family. They were all very happy and welcomed Janet to the family. They are all very happy for me and Janet and are excited that we have both found each other and so much happiness together.

It was a great week and I cant wait to see what the future brings.

I love you Janet Smith Jerome

Computing with my dad...

So recently I suggested my dad get an iPod that he could plug into his car for his commutes. He works 30-45 minutes from where he lives. I gave up on broadcast music and entertainment in the car years ago when I bought an XM radio. I couldn't stand the constant breaks for commercials. When I got home I felt like I just listened to a big long commercial. I heard that 1/3 of the hour is commercials however that doesn't take into consideration all of the DJ's talking time and such. When I got my iPhone I started listening to music from my iPhone in the car as well as podcasts. 5 months later I have so many podcasts that I listen to that I rarely get through them and to the music. So back to my dad, I guess my suggestion got him thinking and after a bit of a bit of research he decided to probably get one. I was thinking he would get the nano with the wheel and small screen then we got to talking and he was willing to spend a bit more if it was worth it. So we went over what the ipod touch had to offer with the bigger screen and applications and so forth. He ended up getting the touch and seems to really like it. Now he is learning about it and the iTunes software and loading it up with music and movies. So far he seems to really like listening to the podcasts and music on his commute. NO MORE COMMERCIALS.

We have been emailing back and forth about how to do certain things with the iPod and about music and podcasts and such. That brings me to the point of this blog and a stroll down memory lane. I remember when I was in high school and computers were just becoming almost affordable for some people. I remember when we got our first 386 computer from some place that is now out of business. (not counting the TI-99). It had dual floppy drives and probably had like 4 megs of memory (not gigs, megs) and probably a 40 meg hard drive or something. We used the heck out of that thing and when it was time to upgrade I bought it from my dad and he went out and got a 486 computer. That was smoking fast back then with probably 6 megs of memory and a 60 gig hard drive. We played and hacked on those things teaching each other things along the way. Then we started signing into BBS sites way before there was the internet. Basically people started building these computers that hosted a dos application (character based) where you can press different numbers to navigate around and look at information and sometimes download free software. Over a 2800 baud modem it was very slow but cool. Then came the 56K modems which was a major upgrade. Of course this is before cell phones so to be on the BBS you tied up the home line for hours. We would type code in for hours to have a little stick guy dance around on the screen too.

Then we wanted to connect our computers together. Even though there wasn't a lot we could do once they were connected we did it anyway. We had the in the same room from what I recall and worked on it for a long time. We had to install these cards and you had to connect right from one to the other, no hub. In those days you went from one computer to the next. It took a while to figure it out and get all the right equipment but we did it. Then I put my computer in my room and we stretched the cable through the hall and it still worked. In a whole different room. Very cool stuff back then.



Now today when we get together we have a family room full of laptops. Everyone has one even the kids. all wireless surfing the web consuming information and searching out answers. Need to know a sports score? Old days watch the game or read the answer in the newspaper, today espn.com baby. Old days, need to purchase something from a store look at newspaper ads and call around asking for price or if they had it, now google and surf your way to see who has the best deal and if the stores have one in stock. Buy it and have it sent or they'll set it aside and you can pick it up. Now we are all connected, emailing, blogging, and sharing pictures, movies and life.

I appreciate that my family is connected through technology. My parents are edging closer to retirement and my parents buy wii's, ipods, HDtv's, LCD tv's, laptops, high speed internet, portable phones, etc... They may not be able to squeeze every ounce of ability out of all the devices but they are in the game. They are far more advanced in this area than any other baby boomer I know.