Irregularly Andy

One more trip home

This weekend, I'll be making one more trip home to the place where I grew up and my parents have lived for pretty much all of my life. I say one more because I've been there twice in the last month in order to help my family clean out the house following my father's passing.

It has been quite emotional for me. I find myself quite in awe of my father's resourcefulness and ingenuity. I have brought some treasures back with me like a wooden folding chair (and the small-scale model that my father made before he made the final version), various wooden toys and puzzles, a wooden rocking horse that I'll perhaps see my own son or daughter (maybe) ride someday, even one of my father's interesting inventions for hunters... something of a wooden gun stand that he called a hoopah stick (inspired by the Kender weapon of similar name in the DragonLance series of books).

He also developed quite a compulsion for keeping things... Like years worth of old church bulletins and records of the work he did on jobs many years ago. Sometimes, he kept things for no good reason (except for maybe the pure pleasure of watching a collection of things grow piece by piece) but he also kept things for reasons which we will never understand... but I can only suspect that he had an ingenious & resourceful purpose in mind. Why else would someone save hundreds of the small plastic drink mix cups from packages of Crystal Light?

For the most part, though, my family seems to be doing pretty well. I am getting better... I do have my moments of sadness and sometimes anger, though... For example: Knowing his heart condition, and knowing what events lay ahead in the near future, why couldn't he have gone to the hospital earlier rather than let the flu do so much damage to his body in such a short period of time?... and... Why didn't I know earlier about his condition? Why didn't I call more often and talk to my parents? Why didn't I drop everything that first weekend that I heard he wasn't doing well and go see him before he died? Why did an optomistic monday night outlook turn into a Wednesday afternoon "could go at any time" outlook? I can only wonder about these things for now.

I am very glad though that I'll meet up with my father again someday. I wonder if he will get to invent things in heaven. I imagine there could be a fantastic workshop there. Maybe I'll even find out what he had in mind for those Crystal Light cups.

Posted by Andrew at 11:07 PM | Comments (2)

March 18, 2005

I hope that one of these can still happen...

Ack! These referral sites are going under, fast.

Can a couple folks please help me out with reaching one more referral on my iPod shuffle deal, and 2 more on my Nintendo DS deal?

The iPod shuffle site is run by the group that started freeiPods.com -- through whom I got my first free iPod... I trust them, and I suspect when the other flash-in-the-pan sites go away, this one will still be around.

The Nintendo DS site is run the the other big operation that came along right after the other one. They, too, have stayed the course, have a good quality system, and I have an order in on one of their other sites... I also expect them to stick around.

Here are my links...
freeiPodshuffle.com
(2 out of 3 referrals done) Still fully functional. Help?
ds4free.com
(2 out of 4 referrals done) Still fully functional. Help?
freephotoiPods.com
(2 out of 10 referrals done) Still functional, but I don't think it's ever going to happen...

Now dead:
freeSoundDock.com
(0 out of 6 referrals done) Now Dead.
techstuff4free.com
(0 out of [variable choice of reward] done) Now Dead.

Super Long shots:
freeMiniMacs.com
(0 out of 10 referrals done) Still functional, but I don't think it's ever going to happen...

Posted by Andrew at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2005

Kind of interesting... Something to play with.

I come in at around 80 when I do this little test... Hit reload to view it with a different random sentence.

typing test (c) CalculatorCat.com

Posted by Andrew at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2005

My Father

It's only been a little over an hour since I learned that my father passed away in the middle of the night, last night. I'd known since Saturday that his health had greatly deteriorated from the last time I'd seen him (at Christmas). He was in the hospital later that day, and although signs were a little hopeful and many people were praying, we found out around lunch yesterday that he could pass away at any time.

I had made the plan to head down (to Pennsylvania) on Friday, because my schedule isn't all that flexible, but it wasn't quick enough to make it to see him while he was still here on earth. I will be traveling home soon... I don't know yet if I'll leave today or stick with the original plan. There are some missing pieces of information that I still need to gather about all of that.

I want to thank those of you who were praying through this situation. My mother is apparently doing pretty well, and I'm doing fairly well, too... My sister (and her husband) who live closest to my parents have been very strong and have been on top of the situation.

I will probably write a longer piece about my father soon, but for now, I just think it's enough to say that there is absolutely nothing in my father's life that I can't hold up and say here is something that my Dad did with integrity, ingenuity, and drive.

I am sad that he wasn't able to witness my wedding while he was still walking upon this earth, and I'm not sure that now that he's in heaven (of which I'm certain -- not because he was a 'good man' -- which he was -- but that he knew Christ as his Savior -- and you could tell)... I'm not sure that he doesn't have better things to be paying attention to... but if he can observe the wedding later this year that he'll be pleased.

I love you, Dad, and I will always remember you and the example that you set for me.

Posted by Andrew at 07:10 AM | Comments (2)