Ashley at 5th Grade Science Camp

Cameron at 5 weeks

Numerous people have been asking for more posts of Cameron, so here are some more pics of "Everyone's Current Favorite".

I don't understand the problem

So I went in for a vasectomy yesterday. Prior to that I had heard all the horror stories about the pain and discomfort, etc. All you guys that whine about that are pussies! Sure there is a little discomfort when you doctor injects the pain killers into your ball sack, and yes there is some discomfort after the procedure - a mild form of the kicked in the nuts feeling. But look at the benefits, once this is all over you no longer have to worry about getting your wife or girlfriend or whatever pregnant - that's a benefit at twice the cost.

Here is how it went down. Two weeks ago I went into Orange County Neurology for a consult. They put all the guys in a room to watch a humorous video about the procedure and to go over some of the associated risks. Then you meet the doctor (Dr. Shuerke - not sure on the spelling) and he makes sure that you are physically able to have the procedure. The day of the operation I went into the office and was taken back to procedure room, similar to an operating room just less fancy. I had two assistants to prep me for the main event; both female , both young or younger than me, and both attractive. The only scary part is when they broke out the Bic razor. They shaved my balls and then clean with an iodine solution.

They ladies left and the doctor entered. He started with the local anesthesia, which was like pulling the hair off your nuts. Then a small incision was made. From there he grab one tube and spliced it, then cauterized and capped both ends. He said reversal is possible, but my thought is - Hell No! He repeated the process on the other tube, threw in a suture and I was done.

Now here are my recommendations: Eat before the procedure, a jock strap is a good idea so you can throw it away when you are done healing, and have someone to drive you home. I found that I was fine using a bag of frozen corn to help reduce swelling and add in the comfort, but I only needed it for a couple of hours in the typical on 15/off 15 minutes scenario. I also found that a couple of glasses of Makers Mark helped to take the edge off. I slept fine, but I did have a pillow between my legs to give room to the now swollen boys. My final recommendation is that this a great excuse to have someone wait on you hand and foot, especially your significant other - take advantage of it.

Cameron is 2 weeks old today

Incredible! Cameron is 2 weeks old today. It amazes me that something so small can be so consuming. I guess after 10 years you tend to forget the requirements of a newborn child.

Pictures of Cameron

Here are some picture of Cameron Ashton Nelson. Born 12/29/2006. 7 lbs 5 ozs and 18 inches in length.

Less than 5 mintues old
Cameron and mommy
Cameron and big sisters Mackenzie & Ashley
Cameron, Mom & Dad
Cameron, 12 hours later
Cameron and Big Sister
Cameron and cousin Devin
Cameron with cousin Devin and Ken
Cameron and Aunt Jenny
Cameron and Grandpa

There are more pictures from the hospital photographer Here and Here

Pictures of Cameron (Ultrasound)

Good Karma

My wife sent me this chain letter. Instead of forwarding it on as another email, I am posting it on my blog. This will allow the entire online world to view. I am asking the universe to share this blog entry or something better (more on that later).

Good Karma
This is a nice reading, but short. Enjoy! This is what The
Dalai Lama has to say for 2006. All it takes is a few seconds
to read and think over. Do not keep this message. The mantra
must leave your hands within 96 hours. You will get a very
pleasant surprise. This is true for all – even if you are not
superstitious… or of whatever religious belief… Faith…

I N S T R U C T I O N S F O R L I F E

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
1. Respect for self,
2. Respect for others and
3. Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for
    your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
    

What I did not include is how many people you have to send this to to improve my life. I believe that sharing this with everyone will improve everyone's life, mine included.

I think these pictures are great!

Went Diving on Saturday with my new camera

I purchased a new camera for my Underwater Digital Photography class. I figured I should purchase something inexpensive to practice with before taking my Canon 30D underwater. So I bought a SeaLife DC500, and yet they have already come out with the DC600. I do recommend this camera, it is very easy to use and can be used on land as well.

On to the pictures (Note: I have not touched them up yet):


Mackenzie

A Happy Thanksgiving, and other stuff

Today was a great day. Mackenzie and I woke early so that we could go for a dive with some friends. The water was warm, the fish abundant, and I was able to get one step closer to completing my DiveMaster certification.

When we got home I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for Nicole, Mackenzie, and Ashley. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, gravy, the works. We had a nice time, sitting at our formal dinning room, eating dinner and enjoying each others company.

Nicole had to go to work tonight however. She only has 7 more days until she goes out on maternity leave. We have about 6 more weeks until Cameron Ashton will join us

Ashley just finished up with Gymnastics for this season, where she placed 8th for her age group at state. We are very proud of her. She will be moving up to the next level of gymnastics, Level 5. She is AMAZING to watch.

Mackenzie will be finishing up her fall softball season in the next couple of weeks. Most of her teammates will be playing for their high schools next year and Mackenzie plans to take that time to "have a life!" I say good for her.

As for me, well I am still working - not hard of course! Finishing up my Divemaster, and getting ready to become a volunteer diver at the Aquirium of the Pacific - I'll let you know how that goes!

I am almost done doing my annual putting up of Christmas Lights in the neighborhood. If I can get some pictures, I will upload them after we are all done.

The New Laptop

My new laptop came last Friday. I purchased a MacBook Pro, 2.33Ghz, 3 Gig of RAM, and 160 gig hard-drive - argh, argh, argh, argh! Once I opened it up, moved the files from my old Mac and old PC, I installed Parallels. Parallels allows you to install other operating systems, like Windows, and run them in a Window.

The goal of the new laptop was to consolidate my two laptops - a Dell and a MacBook Pro. It looks as though my plan will work beautifully. Among the many cool features of the MacBook is that it comes with a built in camera with some awesome software. Here is a picture I took in comic bok format.



One of the reasons I love the Macintosh is that it just works. The wireless networks display in your list of networks with ease, software installs and uninstalls with ease, it is simply easy.

One other decision I made was not to install Microsoft Office for the Mac. One of the reasons was that Office for the Mac is not optimized to run on the Intel Duo processor, or the Universal code. The other reason is that the open source software that is available now is fantastic. I am running Neo office, which is a Aqua version of OpenOffice and does not require the use of X11. I am also running Thunderbird and Sunbird to replace Outlook. So far, so good.

Went to the Monterey Bay Aqurium

I took the family to the aquarium on Monterey this weekend to see the male white shark. The shark was active. I was impressed by the size, or lack there of compared to the yellow fin tuna in the million gallon tank. I took quit a few pictures, I will post some once I get them processed in photoshop.

While the shark was impressive, the highlight was the feeding of the other pelegics in the tank. The feeding frenzy created by dumping 75 lbs of frozen squid and 50 pounds of frozen sardines was amazing to say the least. 300-500 lb tuna swimming at incredible speeds darting through the center of drifting dinner plate. In the middle of this is matriarc of the tank, the large black sea turtle. She just swim in the middle of the bait ball trying to get her piece of the wet treats. Really amazing.

No trip to Monterey is complete unless we eat at Bubba Gumps, which with did Saturday afternoon. A couple of 2 minute warnings was exactly what the doctor ordered. Accompanied by some hush puppies and 1 1/2 lbs of gralic shrip with cajun dipping sauce and I was in heaven.

Mackenzie and I dove one dive on Sunday morning at the "Breakwater", it is a jetty near the wharf that is home to numerous sea lions. The dive was ok only because visibility was poor. Saw numerous sea stars, halibat (babies), rock fish, etc. Water temp was around 58 degrees, pretty warm for the area this time of the year.

The Real America

Have you seen the new Great White Shark at the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

the folks at the Monterey Bay Aquarium have a new guest! He is a 5 foot Great White Shark. You may see him swim by on the camera below. For more information on him click here

Mac is SCUBA certified

Mackenzie passed, with flying colors, her SCUBA certification. My plan has worked, now I have a home grown SCUBA partner. It took a little extra work, well money, to get the certification, but I think it will be worth it for her.

Two weekends ago, we went to the beach so she could complete her #2, #3, & #4 ocean dives. But the ocean had other plans, surf, swell, current all were at levels prohibiting send my first born into the ocean. So we resceduled for last weekend.

When I went to the dive shop the night before the dives were suppose to happen, the word was that the dives would most likely be cancelled. Since I had already signed us up for a boat dive this coming weekend, we really needed to get Mac certified. I suggested going to Catalina on the Catalina Flyer/Express to Mackenzie's dive instructor, who was all for it. One problem, we had to get the shop manager to approve ~ it took a little work and for me to pay for the boat ride, we were heading to Catalina.

Saturday morning, alarm goes off at 4:00 - AM! Got Mac up at 4:15, left the house at 4:30, picked up the instructor at 4:45, got Long Beach around 5:30, left the dock at 6:15. We were at Catalina Landing by 7:05 in the Taxi at 7:15, at the dive site by 7:30, and in the water for the first dive by 7:45.

Now when we went into the water, there were a couple of people around the casino, but not too many. When we surfaced, there had to be well over 100 divers walking ~ most dive students. The problem with most students is that they are people that are more or less not comfortable in the water. Then they are strapped with 30-50 lbs of equipment, strapped with mask and fins, and told 'Get in the water'! It took about 15 minutes to get out of the water because of the people trying to get into the water.

Off with the tanks and I take them over to portable dive shop that is permanently parked at the casino to get air refills. 15 minutes later, we are wading through the crowd to get back in the water so Mac can complete dive #3 which is dive 2 for the day.

The visibility is great at Catalina, especially for California diving. We had about 50 foot visibility and the water temp at depth was around 60 degrees, not bad. Casino point is a protected marine habitat, and I am fairly sure the fish know it. There are some of the biggest calico bass there that I have ever seen. One disturbing note was the lack of kelp. I heard that a recent storm may have ransacked the kelp forrest there, as there was much less of the tall green stuff then the last time I visited. The good news comes from looking at the rocks, plenty of young kelp begining to sprout.

So back to Mackenzie, she reminds me of well me! At least as far as being comfortable in the water, she never had a problem with any of the skills, including; removing - replacing - and clearing her mask underwater, removing her bouancy compensator (weight intgrated) underwater, or maintaining proper bounancy. Her instructor was very impressed and had no problems signing off on her.

Hopefully in a couple of years when Ashley is old enough she will want to dive into the water as well. SCUBA is like swimming in an aquarium, it is a wonderful recreational sport, and anyone that lives near the ocean should experience the fun!

My Beer Personality

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Pictures from the Monterey Bay Aqarium

As promissed, here are some pictures from the aquarium.

Ashley ready to dive in

Mac and Ash in the water. Mackenzie is getting certified as a SCUBA diver now!

Yellowtail on the hunt in the kelp forrest!

Jellies

...one more

...ok, just one more

look it's Dori!

see? sea anenome!

The End!