BrianHimes.com » family

November

Brian — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:26:57 +0000

Ah, November. My favorite month of the year. The weather turns
cooler, the leaves start to fall and we get to celebrate what is
probably my favorite holiday of the year.

But more than that, November has always been special to me because
it’s birthday season for my family. My Dad, Grandpa, one of my
brothers and I all share this month. And, after I got married I added
three more birthdays to list: my father-in-law, brother-in-law and
sister-in-law. It’s a full month, but it’s a month of celebrating life
and everything we have to be thankful for.

This year I’m a little sad because it’s the first November since my
Grandpa passed. In fact, today is his birthday. I miss him. I wish he
were here to make jokes and enjoy the family gatherings.

But, even though I’m saddened by the loss of my Grandpa, I’m still
excited for this month. I’m excited about family. I’m excited about
giving thanks. And, I’m excited to relax and enjoy life.

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Weekend Update

Brian — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:20:15 +0000

It was a quiet relaxing weekend. I don’t have much to report but here’s what happened.

Erin and I were sitting around the house trying to decide how to fill our weekend when I received a text message from my Dad asking if I’d come down to work on my mustang. Not having better plans we packed up and headed down the Whittier. It was a fun impromptu visit and I made some good progress on the mustang. Maybe it’ll run again some day soon.
And Sunday, Erin and I spent the majority of the day just hanging around the house, watching movies and relaxing. It was nice to not have any commitments for once.

And that’s my weekend update. Short and sweet this week.

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Weekend Update: An Oldie but a Goodie

Brian — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:10:44 +0000

Since I seem to be suffering from a form of writers block, I thought I’d bring back an oldie but a goodie. Say hello to Weekend Update. It’s been a long time.

Here are a few highlights from the weekend.

Erin and I had an amazing dinner on Friday night celebrating Erin’s hard work. She’s been putting in 12+ hour days and deserved a nice break so we had a fancy, leisurely dinner at Arnie Morton’s in Burbank. Incredible steak, bacon wrapped scallops, asparagus, wine, coffee and a chocolate lava cake graced our plates that evening.
And, another great meal followed that. Saturday we had a BATH (BBQ at the House) for a friend who’s getting hitched later this month. It’s basically a guys shower, with less planning and a lot of meat.
Sunday Erin and I spent some time with my parents. We drove down and joined them for church and a little visit.
And finally, Sunday night was filled with an evening of music at the Hollywood Bowl. We saw The Swell Season, She and Him and The Bird and the Bee. It was a great concert and both the Swell Season and She and Him surpassed my expectations.

And that was my weekend.

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Amazing Tools for Communication

Brian — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:34:39 +0000

The past few weeks have been pretty rough for me with the hospitalization and passing of my grandfather.

He was an incredible man of God and a loving family man, both of which can be evidenced by his 6 children and 25 grandchildren.

When he was in the hospital I spent a few days traveling back and forth between my home in Burbank and the hospital, which was down in La Jolla. Many from my family made the trek, some coming from as far away as Colorado, Texas and New Jersey, but there were still those who were unable to get away. I am lucky to live relatively close and have an understanding boss who allowed me to take a few days off work.

It was during that time that I made an interesting, but not very profound, observation. My observation was that social media and mobile technology are amazing tools for communication. I told you it wasn’t very profound.

This was one of the first times in my life that communicating with other family members on a large scale was necessary and useful. It wasn't just about sharing what I ate for lunch.

I have always been a huge fan of social media and am usually one of the early adopters of new social media fads, but this was the first time it had REALLY been useful. One of the tools which I found most useful was, believe it or not, Facebook.

Contrary to popular belief, I am not the biggest Facebook fan. I much prefer to blog or tweet. However, Facebook allowed me, and others, to post updates that the entire family could see and comment on. And, since I have it available on my phone it was super easy to send out updates while in the hospital.

Now, I feel as though it is important to say that Facebook cannot replace the personal nature of a phone call or an in-person conversation; but, it can be a very powerful and useful tool in all types of situations. I am grateful to have had it as a communication tool over the past few weeks. It’s made things a little easier.

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Weekend Update

Brian — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:07:58 +0000

Friday Erin and I left work a little early to head down to my parent’s. From there we went to In-N-Out for dinner and then the church for my littlest sister’s baptism (she’s not really that little anymore). After the baptism a large group of us went to BJ’s to celebrate with pazookie. It was a great evening and a lot of fun.

Saturday morning the Jeffs (my brother and his friend) came over and we did a little automotive work. We replaced the throttle body, spark plugs and 3 engine mounts on my Focus in what must have been close to world record time. Now the Focus runs like new again.

Saturday evening Erin’s parents returned from their cruise so we went and visited with them, and had a little dinner.

Sunday morning I taught the Jr. High bible class again. This week we talked about Jesus being the resurrection and the life.

Sunday afternoon Erin and I cooked up our pumpkin dishes for that night’s pumpkin party. Erin made a Pumpkin Corn Chowder with Crab and Bacon and I made a Pumpkin Harvest Cider with Maple Whipped Cream. Both turned out well. Erin’s won the competition over all, and mine came in a close second place in it’s category.

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Weekend Update

Brian — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:37:42 +0000

Friday night the wife and I joined some friends for some good food and a bad movie. The food, carne asada, was good and the movie, Pocket Ninjas, was especially bad. When you reuse footage over and over to make up an 80 minute movie, odds are you don’t have much of a story to tell.

Saturday we went to the memorial service for the mother/grandmother of some good friends. It was a great celebration of her life.

Saturday night Erin and I went to dinner with Erin’s brother and his wife. We ate at Electric Lotus and then, on a whim, went up to the Griffith Park Observatory. It was a nice evening, and we got to see some cool stuff at the observatory.

Sunday morning I taught the Jr. High class and then Erin and I snuck out of church a little early to surprise my parents, grandparents and family at their church. They were quite surprised. We had a nice day with my family and attempted to get something accomplished on my never ending mustang project but fell short of making any progress.

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