Happy 31st Birthday!

I've done wrong (New options on the poll)

A serious oversight has occurred. Yes it has. I forgot to put Panda Express and Sbarro on the original poll. I know that by splicing in a new poll below the original, it will allow people to vote who already voted for the original 10, but I figured it was fair since these two very worthy producers of pseudo-ethnic food missed three precious days of voting.

Absolutely unimportant

After a big week of important dates, I have to do something at least a little frivolous. I've added a new poll just to the right ⇒.

What is your favorite fast-casual restaurant? You know the type I'm talking about. That one you go to when you're too rushed and/or cheap to go somewhere nice, but can't handle another $1 burger or taco.

4 YEARS!

Some said I wouldn't make it. Some said it wouldn't last. "He'll run out of things to say in three months!" That's what they said...

OKOKo-KAY! Actually no one said those things about the blog. People have only had good things to say 'bout it if they had anything to say at all. It's been the craziest 4 years of our lives and the total insanity of all that's happened has just about been the only thing that's made reading my posts interesting. Some days I feel like nothing more than an innocent bystander.

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In honor of all kinds of crazy changes in our lives, I've made all kinds of crazy changes to the website. Now you'll find and "About Eli" page at the top, along with an "About Anne-Marie" page. These pages are works in progress. We've had a lot of fun working on them together and hope you enjoy them just as much.

Another change I'm really loving at the moment is the addition of "Reaction Boxes" at the bottom of each post. This is similar to Facebook's "Like" button. If you have no desire or time to comment on a blog post, just check one of the boxes. Right now the choices are "I love this, Boring & Nice Picture". I won't be offended if you click on "Boring", especially since I can't tell who clicked it. It'll only help me write a better blog. So hit me with your best shot. Fire away-ay-ay.

'Sides that there are a lot of aesthetic changes on the page. We have a nifty new argyle background, a three-column layout so you can have two sidebars for the price of one and yes a "going medieval" blog header. Haven't decided if I'm going to keep that last one, but it's at least good for the birthday-versary edition.

Here's to however many more years...

Yayyyy!

Reflecting on the 4 years since...

On the one-year anniversary of the day Anne-Marie was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, I wrote these words:

When we woke up on Friday, May 12, 2006, we had no idea what the outcome of the previous Wednesday's test would be. We scheduled a weekend at a condo in Sunriver, Oregon, to think about the results, regardless of what they were.

We both, by that time, were feeling physically ill due to the stress of the past few weeks. The drive to the 9:30 AM appointment at Dr. Shawn Morgan's office at Willamette Falls Hospital seemed to take forever.

We checked in and sat for almost forty minutes. They were running twenty minutes late. We got into the room and sat. Dr. Morgan was running later than ther rest of the staff. (I wonder now if he was in his office trying to psych himself up.) He walked in and, as he was sitting down, he said suddenly, "It looks like the results of the biopsy showed that it WAS cancer."

He immediately began to explain our options. I don't remember a thing he said except, "You're probably not going to remember anything that I tell you, but hopefully, between the two of you and my telling you over and over again, you'll remember some of this." Eventually, after many consultations with Drs. Morgan and Smith, we began to understand our options.

We left the clinic to go pack our things. We stopped at Biscuits Cafe for breakfast; we were finally able to eat.

As Anne-Marie got stuff ready at home, I found the phone list of people to call with the results. I made the list the day before because I knew that I wouldn't be able to think clearly enough when it came down to it. I made calls at home and halfway to Central Oregon.

It's been four years since that dark day and, while I remember it as if it had just happened, it seems so far away. I'll always remember that weekend at a little condo in Sunriver Resort. A broken wife and a terrified husband. In the cool of the evening, we walked the trails and talked it over. If you could have seen how strong she was, you would know why I admire her as much as I do.

While we can physically return to the same place, we can never re-live those precious times when we needed each other so much.

A year from now will be the 5th anniversary, and soon afterward the doctors will declare Anne-Marie completely cancer free.

PLEASE PARDON OUR DUST!

The new version of DARKSAYINGS will be here soon!

'80s Flashback #1: Soundwave

Here's the first post of a series I may or may not continue!
I ran across this on the web today. It's the 25th anniversary edition of a toy that I thought was totally cool when I was about six. It's Soundwave the Transformer. This robot/microcassette recorder was a part of the (very, very evill) Decepticon force. He comes with his subservient microcassette robots Ratbat, Buzzsaw, Ravage. And, yes, he also comes with Laserbeak, who we all know is one of the most pivotal characters in the Decepticons ongoing war with the Autobots.

It's funny that by the time my kids know what's going on, I'm sure they'll have no idea what a microcassette recorder is. And they might ask why, 25 years after they were cutting edge, you would want a fake one for 50 dollars.

I'll tell you why. Because it's nostalgic. Because it's awesome. Because it's more than meets the eye.