Eva Mia

Uncle Teddy

Well it has been some time since I got on here, so I figured why not when I am so happy in my life...

Since my last update I have changed my status to Uncle as my sister Mia has had her first child the most perfect Baby in the whole wide world Eva Mia Espinoza graced us with her presence on August 28th, 2009 at 6:44AM PST, she was 7lbs 6oz, and 19in long. The perfect size and man is she gorgeous. My family and I are just completely elated at this new addition to our small clan. Also so proud of my sister for doing this all on her own everything was completely natural and all is well.

They both got to come home yesterday and she is doing great, eating like a little animal and man she is so alert to everything when she is awake she is always looking around and she just does so good. When she cries though man does she know how to let it out, we are talking all hands on deck something is wrong kind of yell. It is really crazy, but she does not do it often at all most of the time she sleeps or just sits and is awake. Here are a few pics to share.

We are so happy and just in love with her.

Update...

Well it has been a minute since I have given an update on me, so I thought I would do so on this gorgeous lazy Sunday...

So I left off with my sister getting married, which turned out to be a pretty great event...All the Fam came excluding a few but hey their loss, it was quite emotional for me as many saw with the realization that my baby sis was leaving me but a very good happy event. They went to Hawaii for the honeymoon and although a little wet over there they were able to spend quite a few days in the sun and enjoy the beaches over there, she took many pics if you wanna check them out she posted them to her myspace ( http://www.myspace.com/103581795) so take a peek. Then it was time for her to come home...only change was it wasn't our home; she moved in with her new hubby currently to his parents home as he wanted to save up so they could get a nice apartment...

...so emotional time numero dos, my best friend in the wide world also wasn't going to live with me any longer. I am still quite emotional about the whole thing. My sister has always been there with me through thick and of course thin, never judging just consoling and being there, to make my crappy day better with inside jokes or just understanding my frustrations and now she isn't, and it has been a very hard transition. I see little things throughout the day that I would usually store in the back of my mind as Mia Tidbits (just silly stuff that only makes scense to her and I) and I would come home and we would laugh about these things. Stuff around the house that just reminds me of her and they would always make me call out to see where she was in the house so I could come and bug her whether she was doing homework or reading or just sitting in her dirty cavern of a room listening to music and I would come and sit with her. Now not having that ability any longer has been such a difficult change in my life. But she is happy and that is all that I can ask for, the transition will be long and hard as it has been thus far but I will move on slowly but surely...

Blech look at me crying like a little kid. lol onto some happier notes in this world of mine.

So work is going really well we are moving into Q3 of our fiscal year and it has been a good road thus far, I will be getting a raise soon and my bosses still are very impresses with my ability to handle a much larger workload I have not updated on my job in quite a while so since the last time I am still working nights :( However I have gotten a lot more responsibilties which has been a welcome change in my time at night. We have a pretty large client base in the United Kingdom and since they are 8 hrs difference from us when it is 12am it is 8am over there and they are just starting their day. So majority of our calls at night are UK based, so up until now we have had 3 account managers running the entire UK business including Customer Service the only thing we did was escalate all issues to these 3 or so people. Well since we are open 24hrs the company saw a need to increase CS with that LOB so they did a test pilot to move all customer related issues to our call center well guess what that falls on the back of Overnight Crew so for the last 4 weeks I have been the Liaison for the UK LOB (LOB= Line of Business) and man it is just that a whole different line of business I have been working the Epay aspect of our company for 2 years now and am VERY efficiant in this field well UK are very similiar except they only do Gift cards. So I have been heading this up and we have officially taken over all Customer service for the 10,000+ accounts in the UK thanks to my awesomeness :o) So it has been a whole lot of work but definately worth it.

Nothing else really to report...I have started going to play poker at a local Casino and have been successful on my 3 trips thus far.

My Mom is still really happy at her job with her boss Dr. Harker really treating her well.

So yeah that is the current update, fishing season is on again I went down to my spot yesterday and pulled out a couple nice sized bass. I was surprised but the weather is starting to get nice although our nights are still down to low 30's last night it was 34...so let's hope it starts getting warmer, currently it is a very comfortable 68 degrees a little breeze and I am loving it.

Well I am outta here,

cheers then,

-Ian

It's been a minute...

Hey there,

So I figured I would drop a little post on here as it seems pretty rare that I do anymore...I just A) Haven't had that much time. and B) I am a pretty boring person and don't have a whole ton going on in my life. lol

So here's a little update...

First as most may know my little Honda (Shakes) finally shook it's last time on 12/20/08 and so I was sharing a vehicle with my mother for a little bit, finally I got that issue resolved and got the car or truck I should say that I have wanted for a long time...(see pic to the right) I am a pretty active outdoors type person I love being outside and fishing and just being in the outdoors so I have wanted a nice truck so that I could haul around my fishing gear and hopefully in the next couple of weeks a boat and God answered my prayers and gave me this little guy his nickname being (little Hercules or little champ) either works as that's what it is...this little guy runs AWESOME and even though it is not a 4x4 I was running around in the sand and everything without an issue it is a 1993 Toyota Pickup with very low mileage and it was very well taken care of so I am STOKED!

So next order of update is of course the brownie update I am sad to say I believe that our brownies have left us as the weather in TC has gotten a little nicer I am thinking that just as spiders do once it gets nicer they have moved on there have no longer been anymore little footsteps above my head and people have not been complaining of their property getting thrown about...so sad day, to the brownies you are welcome at Coinstar Customer Service Center anytime, and when you do...the hunt will be on, but in a good sporting way. :)

Our last order of new business is probably one of the bigger ones...my little sister has decided to take the plunge and take her and her boyfriend Rueben's relationship 10 steps forward and tie the knot...now I know that to many this is something that they cannot believe especially after all of my jabber about being such a protective brother and all that I have heard plenty of "but Ian she is only 18!" and "Ian what are your thoughts on this?" Here is my answer to both: my sister has always been an old soul even when she was a toddler she would take care of me in a lot of cases shoot she even taught me how to tie my shoes lol, so for the age argument I would say my sister is much wiser than her years provide her. She is more froogle with decisions than I am but she would never make this decision without much council from myself as well as 3 other major influences those people being my mother and Ruben's parents. If she still is making this decision then ya know (here is answer to #2) that is my sister's affair and I am going to support and respect her decision if you were to tell me that she is just leaving and going to go off and just exclude us from her life than it would be a different tune but Rueben is a great guy he loves my sister with all of his heart and I would not approve this union if he didn't, and he did this the right way he man'd up and came to my mom first then me and asked for my sisters hand and said I want to make you sister a wedding. They are a match is the other thing they are both nerdy homebodies they love being at home watching a movie and just being lazy lol, he has great work ethic that I hope my sister learns. He is 19 years old and has run a restaurant and taco truck BY HIMSELF! and they were both very successful. So I know that my sister will be taken care of and he has a lot to offer her as far as her shortcomings in life. So for all that are asking that question I am fine with this and support my sister 100% as a matter of fact I am taking on the honor of giving my baby sisters hand in marriage I will be the one walking her down the aisle and when that Pastor asks who is giving this woman in marriage I will say with honor her mother and I do. I am excited for my sister and for all those who are unsure just please take my attitude on and make my sisters day a great one March 7th is right around the corner.

So that is all that is really going on, I won't be away so long next time, but not as frequent as I was before either.

Love ya'all

-Ian

The illustrious Brownie...

So I have now gotten some responses to my first "Brownie" post in regards to seeing some proof of this shard of leather that I found and although very convenient on my part, it has disappeared from the confines of my desk drawer...but going into more proof of the existence of these wile creatures my desk drawer was left open when I went to grab it last night something I know for a fact was closed and LOCKED! as I know that some people other than brownies like to "borrow" crap in my office. Blast it all back to square one. I have also gotten a few people asking me what brownies are so I have done a little research for you all that have not been graced with the movie Willow yet.

A brownie/brounie or urisk (Lowland Scots) or brùnaidh, ùruisg, or gruagach (Scottish Gaelic) is a legendary kind of creature popular in folklore around Scotland and England (especially the north, though more commonly hobs have this role). It is the Scottish and Northern English counterpart of the Scandinavian tomte, the Slavic domovoi or the German Heinzelmännchen.

Customarily brownies are said to inhabit houses and aid in tasks around the house. However, they don't like to be seen and will only work at night, traditionally in exchange for small gifts or food. They take quite a delight in porridge and honey. They usually abandon the house if their gifts are called payments, or if the owners of the house misuse them. Brownies make their homes in an unused part of the house. They were also known as the guardians of dragons[citation needed].
The ùruisg had the qualities of man and spirit curiously commingled. He had a peculiar fondness for solitude at certain seasons of the year. About the end of Harvest he became more sociable, and hovered about farmyards, stables and cattle-houses. He had a particular fondness for the products of the dairy, and was a fearful intruder on milkmaids, who made regular libations of milk or cream to charm him off, or to procure his favour. He could be seen supposedly only by those who had the second sight, though instances where he made himself visible to people not so Gifted have been rumoured. He is said to have been a jolly personable being with a broad blue bonnet, flowing yellow hair, and a long walking staff.
Every manor house had its ùruisg, and in the kitchen, close by the fire was a seat, which was left unoccupied for him. The house of a proprietor on the banks of the River Tay was even at the beginning of the twentieth century believed to have been haunted by this sprite, and a particular apartment therein has been for centuries called "Seòmar Bhrùnaidh" (Brownie’s room). When irritated through neglect or disrespectful treatment he would not hesitate to become wantonly mischievous. He was notwithstanding, rather gainly and good-natured rather than formidable. Though, on the whole, a lazy, lounging hobgoblin, he would often bestir himself on behalf of those who understood his humours, and suited themselves thereto. When in this mood, he was known to perform many arduous exploits in kitchen, barn and stable, with marvellous precision and rapidity. These kind turns were done without bribe, fee or reward, for the offer of any one of these would banish him forever. Kind treatment was all he ever wished for, and it never failed to procure his favour.
In 1703, John Brand wrote in his description of Zetland that:
“Not above forty or fifty years ago, every family had a brownie, or evil spirit, so called, which served them, to which they gave a sacrifice for his service; as when they churned their milk, they took a part thereof, and sprinkled every corner of the house with it, for Brownie’s use; likewise, when they brewed, they had a stone which they called ‘Brownie’s stane’, wherein there was a little hole into which they poured some wort for a sacrifice to Brownie. They also had some stacks of corn, which they called Brownie’s Stacks, which, though they were not bound with straw ropes, or in any way fenced as other stacks used to be, yet the greatest storm of wind was not able to blow away straw off them.”
The brownies seldom discoursed with man, but they held frequent and affectionate converse with one another. They had their general assemblies too, and on those occasions they commonly selected for their rendezvous the rocky recesses of some remote torrent, whence their loud voices, mingling with the water’s roar, carried to the ears of some wondering superstition detached parts of their unearthly colloquies. In a certain district of the Scottish Highlands, "Peallaidh an Spùit" (Peallaidh of the Spout), "Stochdail a’ Chùirt", and "Brùnaidh an Easain" (Brownie of the little waterfall) were names of note at those congresses, and they still live in legends which continue to amuse old age and infancy. Every stream in Breadalbane had an ùruisg once according to Watson the Scottish place name expert, and their king was Peallaidh. (Peallaidh's name is preserved in "Obair Pheallaidh", known in English as "Aberfeldy".) It may be the case, that ùruisg was conflated with some water sprite, or that ùruisg were originally water sprites conflated with brownies.
British folklore also included a figure, Billy Blind, much like the brownie, but appearing only in ballads.

Christmas

Well the year has almost come to an end, and just before it does the much anticipated Christmas day has come and gone oh so fast, it still amazes me to this day that so much emphasis is put on this day and it lasts the same length as any other day! 24hrs. But man oh man was this year great. For the first time in a long time nearly ALL my family got together and had a wonderful breakfast full of laughs and reminiscing of the old days when we were all just a hop skip and jump from one another and just living in our little world of family...This next year I hope brings all kinds of great new challenges and all kinds of barriers that have stopped us to get knocked down. It should be a good one!

Looking to the future with wide eyes and can't to see what's next...

Brownies...

So I work the night shift at my work, (8pm-7am) and there had been talk of peoples things being moved around in the office. Most people immediately start accusing fellow co-workers as they are all in cubicles and right next to each other. However myself my initial accusation as someone who has seen Willow is Brownies.

So I have been on the prowl all week and finally found a shred of evidence as I have heard tons of little footprints in our ceilings so that had me going but today I found a piece of brown leather that was tiny and very fine laying underneath a hole in our ceiling...

I shall capture thee Brownies that occupy Coinstar Customer Service Call Center.

One day...