Christmas 2007

So far our first Christmas is going pretty well. It took Sean longer than expected to put all the lights up, but thanks to some cheap plastic hooks, Casa de Cochran is looking all Christmasy.

We've quickly discovered where our Yuletide talents lie. Vân is the official gift-wrapper. She's detail orientated, creative, and a million times more handy with tapes and scissors than Sean.

Apart from stringing up strands of electric wire with plastic hooks, Sean has proven useful in the arranging of gifts under the tree and in drinking egg nog, a task Vân gladly hands off.

Our Only National Religious Holiday

"WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me 'to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:'

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine."

G. Washington


Amen.

What really happened after the wedding

Tonight we present another

After a freak accident with air conditioning on their honeymoon cruise, newly weds Sean and Van found themselves shipwrecked on a deserted island in the pacific. With only their wits and love for one another, they survived against incredible odds.

Day 1.
Realizing that they may be stuck here for a long period of time, Sean set out to secure some food.

Meanwhile Van found some shelter.

Day 2.
Sean made an incredible discovery! Another secret hatch!



Unfortunately, it was completely empty.

Day 3.
On the third night, Sean heard a scary noise in the jungle which made him wonder if he and Van were really alone.


Day 4.
The next morning the couple found that they were NOT alone!



The entire beach was inhabited by man-eating chickens. Sean ran for his life.



Sean made it to safety. One former inhabitant of the island wasn't so lucky.


Day 5.
Now lost in the jungle, hunted by evil chickens, Sean hid in a tree.


Meanwhile, Van became worried that she wouldn't be able to find her new husband. She climbed to the top of a volcano crater and called upon Pele, the goddess of Fire.

When that didn't work, she got a little mad.


From on top of the volcano, Van was able to see another cruise ship! They were rescued! Soon a small lifeboat was sent to the shore to take them aboard.




Our brave newlyweds had survived their first adventure together as Man and Wife. It can only get easier from here on, right?

THE END

This Halloween was lame

Last night was our first Halloween as a married couple. We took our new obligation as candy-dispensers very seriously. After almost an hour at Smart & Final, I came home with a trunkful of candy. Not just any candy, mind you, the good stuff.

I was initially disappointed to find that none of the stores had any good Halloween DVDs. I was looking for Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, or maybe one of the classics like, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. 'Hmm, no matter,' I told myself. 'Surely there will be something on TV.'

With visions of snickers bars and fond memories of Halloween SNICK dancing in my head, I grabbed some dinner and met Vân at home. We took out the big bowls and made a perfect mix so that each trick-or-treater would get a fair share of chocolate and non-chocolate candy. Then we turned on the TV.

I was shocked, dismayed, and terribly angered to find that there was no Halloween specials on TV. No Are you afraid of the dark? marathons or cheesy monster movies. No Elvira, no Nightmare before Christmas - NOTHING!

Refusing to give my nostalgic preferences, Vân and I watched Charlie Brown and Garfield's Halloween Adventure on YouTube.

Yet there was one more disappointment that night - the total lack of trick-or-treaters. Our first didn't come till almost 8 and the last one came at 8:45. In total we had no more than 18 trick-or-treaters. 18! I remember when we used to have 90 when I was living at home.

What has gone wrong in our society? What has happened to Halloween? Have we forgotten the real reason for the season? Why is Halloween so un-commercialized!?!

These days there are mall parties and church fairs. These days parents are seriously terrified that their kids are going to extract anthrax from a spiked pixi stick or something.

It's so utterly and completely lame.

I miss the good ol' days of Halloween. Am I getting old?

The End of Summer

Labor Day usually marks the last day of summer here in America. But the blissful summer days really end in October. This year it ended on Sunday, October 28th as the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies, winning the fourth game 4-3.

Now, as the famous poem reads, there is no joy in Mudville for the baseball season is over. Many good and patriotic men and women now find themselves going through withdrawals.

I was lucky enough to go to a softball game last night. My wife, the little slugger, got the game-winning RBI in the first round of the finals. Her team, the Pirates, lost the final championship game, however, to Orange Eye Candy. It had been getting late, and I think the defense on both sides was tired. A nasty third and fourth inning left the Pirates trailing by several runs.

While the Pirates didn't win the plaque, they did win the hearts of the crowd who came up with the following cheer:

Give me an "R" - Arr!
Give me a "U" - Arr!
Give me an "N" - Arr!
Give me an "S" - Arr!
What does that spell? - ARR!!

Classic.

There's one more game left, the all-star game. Vân was chosen as the all-star female for the Pirates. After that it will be a long, cold winter...

Fox News ....grr!

For some odd reason, the first game of the 103rd World Series was not broadcast last night. ESPN radio was doing its job well enough, but someone in the TV business really dropped the ball, as they say.

As I desperately looked for a channel - any channel of my 500+ channels - which was broadcasting this important game, I caught a quick commercial on FSN that I shouldn't miss "the first game of the 2007 World Series tomorrow, Thursday Oct 25.". I was like, WTF? Thurs is game 2!

Now, granted, it probably wasn't the worse thing to miss this game. It was a Boston bonanza at Fenway, but nonetheless it was still one of the last games this year. Some of us start to go into baseball withdrawal in October.

Memo to the suits at FSN and ESPN: stop showing us crap like 'Ruffian' and 'High school football' when you could be showing us historic Fenway park where the best of the best are playing the greatest game ever played. You've got an obligation to bring us our American pastime, a part of our cultural identity for the last 100+ years.

Quick! What's the capitol of Maryland?

Give up? It's Annapolis. Yeah, I had to look it up, too.

Vân's going to be in Maryland next week for a business trip. I'm pretty bummed about that. I probably would be more bummed, but I'm going to be pretty busy next week. I'll be in the office a lot more because I'm subbing for some other teachers.

I'm set though: I got some bagels and bananas - these are vital to wifeless survival. I plan on eating at the Vietnamese restaurant by our house, Oodles of Noodles. It's going to be a phở-n week.

Next weekend we're heading up to the bay area again to visit Thong and Becca. They're having a home blessing. Right after that, however, Vân might have to fly over to Florida for work.

Sad quá. :-(

A Terabyte is (Almost) 1,000 GBs!

Last night Vân and I bought a 1TB external harddrive. Em's pretty excited about storing all our movies, pics, and music on there. She has this whole system about how it is suppose to work.

When we got it all hooked up, however, we found out it really only has 909 GB. What a rip off!