1994 to 2000 News:

I have added recent comments in italics.

I noticed something REALLY strange as I was adding this to my web site. My last entry in my old diary is EXACTLY 4 years ago. Wow, pretty weird that I added this old diary to my web site 4 years to the day since I stopped updating it.

Saturday March 4, 2000

Jose kept the kids tonight so Tess and I could go out. When we got home, I was holding Kyle and I told him “Kyle, I think you’re the best boy in the whole wide world.” Then Kyle said “And I think you are the best man I’ve ever seen in my whole life.” I really am the luckiest man alive. I have the best son in the world.

Tuesday May 18, 1999

Today we are going to see a cardiologist about Nicole’s heart murmur. I don’t think it’s anything serious. She seems to be extremely healthy. It turned out that the small hole in Nicole's heart had completely healed.

Tomorrow, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace opens. WOW. I plan to see it in a week or two, once the crowd dies down a little. I’m also going to take Kyle. It means a lot to me that he sees it. It is a connection to my childhood that I want to share with Kyle. He watches the Star Wars tapes and knows all the characters already. Kyle is such a smart boy. We are so lucky to have him and Nicole. I can already tell that Nicole is smart too. She is such a cute little baby.

We just refinanced our house at a rate of 6.625% and we are about to buy a new car. Things will be a little tight financially for a while but we have enough reserves to pull us though. This is the happiest time of my life. Things just seem to be getting better and better for me. I am so lucky am so thankful for the way my life has unfolded. I have nothing to complain about.

Wednesday September 18, 1996

We are expecting Kyle to arrive sometime in the last half of December. Both Tess and I are looking forward to having a baby to share our lives with.

Thursday July 11, 1996

I found out on Tuesday that I’m going to have a son. Tess had her first ultrasound. The baby looks healthy. You can see him touching his face and neck with his hand. It’s as if he’s feeling around to see what he is. I got kind of emotional when I called grandma to tell her she’s going to have a great grandson. I watched the tape of the ultrasound over and over. I’m really looking forward to meeting the little guy. We still haven’t picked a name.

Tuesday June 18, 1996

I think I’m getting worse and worse when it comes to updating this diary.

Well, Tess is about 4 months pregnant. We are expecting the new family member at the end of december. I’m really looking forward to having a child (several actually). Tess has been feeling terrible.

I picked up my masters degree diploma on Monday June 10. I’m finally done with school (I think). I put in many long hours toward my education and am relieved at the thought of no more school. I learned, worried, crammed, and fought my way though it on sheer determination.

We’ve been in our new house for over six months now and it’s really feeling comfortable. We have a lawn mower, grill, and a bird feeder.

Mom and Roy were in San Francisco last week. Roy went to a conference, and mom did some site seeing.

The Internet has been the hottest thing in town for the past year. All the Internet stocks have soared and everyone it trying to figure out what’s going to happen next.

Monday November 20, 1995

It’s just after midnight, and I’m now thirty years old, and I feel fine. All in life is good.

Sunday November 5, 1995

Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated late night. He was the prime minister of Israel. He was killed by an extremist Israeli who did not want to make peace with Palestine.

We closed on our new house on October 30. It is truly beautiful. Kristen is in town this weekend for a conference, and last night we took her to see the new house.

Tuesday September 19, 1995

The first day of classes for fall quarter 1995 is tomorrow. Two more quarters, and I’ll be done. (meaning that I will be done with my Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering)

Tess and I have signed a contract on our future home. It’s beautiful and I think we will both really enjoy living there. Our house has been listed for a couple of weeks now and lots of people have come to see it. I hope we don’t have too much trouble selling it.

Our old house did sell, and we were happy to be rid of it at the time. But it turns out that the value of the condo doubled (or many even tripled) over the next 5 years. It was run down at the time we sold and the condo association never seemed to agree on how to renovate it. I never thought they would agree, but they did. Some run down apartments near by were also torn down and replaced with nice upscale apartments. Live and learn.

November 8, 1994

For several months now, I’ve been putting wallpaper in the second bathroom. It’s going slow because I’ve been so busy with other things, but it’s going well. I bought the CD-ROM game “DOOM II” a week ago, and have been playing it quite a lot. It’s a hell of a game.

August 14, 1994

Tess bought a condo and I decided to move in with her. We are currently planning to get married in the Philippines on July 15. I’m at the condo now. I’ve been unpacking boxes all weekend. Things are still a mess - but I do have my computer set up. I bought a computer table so now I have room to work for the first time since I bought it. Tomorrow afternoon the washer and dryer I bought at Best Buys is going to be delivered. It will be the first time since moving to Atlanta that I won’t have to leave my house to do the laundry.

This is now Sunday. I got back from Arizona Friday afternoon. I did two two-week training there. I was there for the whole month. We trained the trainers at the CI school, some folks from 1st ID, and some National Guard people. The training went well, and I got to see some interesting sites. I saw Kitt Peak Observatory, Tombstone (the OK Corral), Bisbee (the Copper Queen), the Desert Museum, and Colossal Cave. It was fun, but I feel like I’ve lost a month of my life. Everything is the same as when I left.

I should be getting my car back from Kelly Collision tomorrow morning. It’s been two months since I’ve driven it. I hope I haven’t forgotten how.

June 20, 1994 - 7:30 AM

Mom called me five minutes ago to tell me that my granddad died. I’m relieved that his struggle is over. He didn’t die the way he wanted to die, but he didn’t realize it either. I’m not upset right now. I have mourned for him several times over the past two or three years. I’ll be going down to Savannah tonight or tomorrow. Granddad, more than any other person, was the role model I used to show me how to be a responsible, moral person. He has been gone for over a year now. His body just didn’t know that.

June 18, 1994

A lot happened this week. I resigned from Peachtree software to work full time for AGT beginning July 1. Wednesday night, I lost control of my car on Ga. 400 Highway, did a 540 degree spin and ended up sliding along the left median wall. My car now is at Kelly Toyota, and I’m driving a rental car. My Grandfather is near death in Savannah. In a few days I’ll be going down for the funeral.

This week will go down in my life as one of the most significant in my life. I got out of the accident without a scratch. If there were any cars behind me, I would have been severely banged up.

April 25, 1994

After going to Chicago, Tess told me she has decided to move back there. I hope the best for her. I will miss her a lot.

Obviously, she changed her mind.

March 18, 1994

Although it’s Friday, I’m going to be working tomorrow. There’s a lot to do and I want to make sure that I’m not the one holding things up.

I’ve been meaning to say what kind of computer I’m using (for historical purposes). It’s a 33/66 Mhz 486DX2 with VESA local bus video and SCSI controller with a 512 Mb hard disk and 16 Mb of RAM. I also have a CD player and a 15” NEC 3fgx monitor. It all cost me about $3800. I’m sure it will seem primitive in a few years, but I think it’s pretty good right now. I might put a DX4 in it sometime soon, but I’m not sure.

Now, ten years later, I bought a 2.8 GHz machine with a 80 GB RAID 1 disk array, a DVD writer and a ATI all in wonder 9800 Pro graphics card with 128KB of memory. All that just cost me $1600.