Life Update August 2024
I feel I should give an update on my life. It might be a little long winded but I think anyone who is on my site would enjoy reading it.
Back in September of 2023 we sold our house so we could move to Oregon. We love Oregon (especially the coast) and wanted to know what it was like to live there. We felt it was the best choice for our family, even though we had no reason compelling us to live there. Unfortunately we couldn't find a place cheap enough in the greener part of Oregon, so we ended up in Hermiston, in Eastern Oregon.
It definitely has been quite the adventure. Our two oldest, Rory and Elizabeth, have now gone through almost an entire year at their new school. In a month, Rory will be going into the third grade, Elizabeth into the second, and our little Joan is so excited to start kindergarten. I am really thrilled for her.
1. Kristalyn and I at the Columbia River Temple. 2. Rory at the bowling alley. 3. Elizabeth in Depoe Bay. 4. Joan at home. 5. Mercy in the back yard.
I have been working still for EOG Resources as an iOS Developer. However, I did recently change employers. My contracting company wasn't quite cutting it for me, so I switched to MartianCraft. My contracting work still puts me with EOG though. I do enjoy being an iOS developer, and I work from home, I don't really have to be away from my family. It is hard at times to work, but it is so rewarding to be here with them.
We have been traveling a lot while here as well. The coast is now only 4 hours away and we take advantage of that when we can. It has been so much fun to explore this new area with our kids. We recently went to Depoe Bay and Newport. We drive frequently to Tri-cities, and we have hunted for various berries. We went up to the Blue Mountains east of us to get huckleberries; searching near McNary dam north of us for blackberries, and going to a U-Pick farm southwest of us for blueberries. It has definitely been a challenge learning how to travel in the car for long periods of time especially with our 2-year-old who is quite loud when she doesn't get what she wants. We are able to overcome the frustration and still make some amazing memories.
1. Astoria, OR. 2. Mercy having a good time on my shoulders. 3. Rory picking blueberries at a local U-pick.
Back in March 2024, I was inspired by a friend to get some radios for playing with amateur radio (aka Ham Radio). They were a couple of Baofeng UV-5Rs. I already had my license (formerly KG7SZY, now N2SRX) from 2015, but I never used it until this point. Since then I have been playing with it a lot, buying additional radios (TYT TH9800-D, Yaesu FT-70D) and antennas. I’ve joined the local amateur radio club and have made some friends there. It makes it a lot of fun when we travel to try to connect with local amateur radio operators everywhere we go. If any of you have any interest in amateur radio let me know below.
1. Me helping manage floats at a parade in Irrigon, OR. 2. A VHF radio I found at Goodwill for $50. Still works great!
Me testing out some handheld radios and how good they sound.
I also started training to get my private pilots license. Back in May 2024, my parent’s were visiting and I mentioned to my dad that I was interested in doing a discovery flight. He thought that would be fun so we went on that flight together out in Walla Walla. We had a great time.
1. Going over the plane with CFI Travis, making sure the plane is fit to fly. 2. Checking the fuel level of the Cessna 172. 3. Flying over Walla Walla and nearby. 4. View of the cockpit of the Cessna 172.
It took me till August before I was able to take my first lesson and presently I only plan on taking one lesson a month. It will take me a while (close to 3 years) but I’ll get there eventually and every month I will enjoy my monthly flight. In the meantime I practice on the Microsoft Flight Simulator on my Xbox, flying all over the world and trying out all kinds of aircraft.
We have also been playing lots of games with family over the internet. Baldur's Gate 3 has been a common one between my brother Ryan as well as with Kristalyn's brother Richie and his wife Manon. Her sister Becky and her husband Gregg have played a few board games with us over FaceTime. I have been watching Solo Leveling with my sister Haley as well as playing Elder Scrolls Online with her on occasion.
I have also been drawing a lot. I’m not very good at it, but I do find some peace in doing it. I definitely need a lot of practice still with seeing and drawing proportions properly. But I keep trying.
I’ll try to post some more details about our adventures as well as links to our vlogs when we post them. Feel free to share your comments with me, or find me on my Mastodon page and mention me there. I’d love to connect with you all.
I am glad I finally took some time to write this up and get it out. I know it is hard on some of my family that I am not on any of the big social networks. I will try to post on my blog more regularly. Please feel free to subscribe to my blog, it should send you an email any time I post. If any of you use RSS readers, you can copy this link to get the RSS feed. I hope you enjoy it!