The Valentine's Day Massacre

On Valentine's Day in the year 1929, The South Side Italian Gang led by Al Capone massacred eight members of The North Side Irish Gang led by Bugs Moran. Capone's gang dressed as cops and arrested the Irish gang members, led them to a garage, lined them against the wall and brutally murdered the unarmed men. Upon finding the massacred gang members, a nearly dead victim was asked, "Who shot you" to which he replied, "Nobody shot me"...in spite of the 14 bullet holes.

That is not the Valentine's Massacre I am referring to. I love my wife and I hope she knows it. I am fairly certain she does. I regret to admit that I am not the most romantic guy, or so she says. I apparently lack romanticism. I didn't used to...I used to be quite the creative romantic. With that said, I buy her flowers at least a dozen times a year, I buy her gifts and take her to nice restaurants. Those things all seem romantic...don't they? Nonetheless, I know what she means and I have resigned myself to the fact that I am not that romantic.

Or am I? I love Pooh. I love her dearly. I have put much thought recently into the debate of whether I am or not romantic. I believe I am. I just show it in different ways. I will do anything I need to in order to provide for her and The Lou. Isn't that romantic. I take my role as their provider and protector very seriously and I do well at it. It is not by chance that they never go without; it is by design and the result of hard work and effort. Is that not romantic? I want nothing more in the world than her happiness and want to do that which I can to see her happy.

Pooh is an magnificent Wife and a wonderful Mother to The Lou. This Valentine's Day we will probably not do anything too surprising or romantic. Dinner, Chick Flick, games and a gift. Some may consider that The Valentine's Day Massacre, but I hope she knows I am happy to call her "My Valentine" the last ten years and for the eternities to come.

Q Says, "Kew's Sucks!"

At the beginning of July I took a camera lens to Kew's Camera Repair in Provo, Utah. I had the simplest request; disable the stabilizing mechanism. They informed me they were very busy and would not have the lens ready until They told me that they could not have the lens ready until the end of July. I wanted to have my lens back by the 24th for our trip back East, but what could I do? There were no other camera repair shops around that I was aware of....so I left it in their capable and apparently extremely slow hands.

Long story short...I just got my lens back this week. In all fairness and honesty, I should disclose that the lens was actually ready two weeks ago. Nonetheless, I have missed several photo opportunities such as Sarah's birthday, Leah's birthday, the Bliss Family Reunion, our trip to Pennsylvania and Ohio, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and more. Luckily, I have my old lens to back me up, but the point is that Kew's Camera Repair Shop didn't know that and I could have really been inconvenienced even more due to their inability to manage a simple business.

Apparently, there is so much business in the photo equipment repair gig and so few who are able to deliver that Kew's feels they can take their sweet time to get work done. It is enough to make me want to open Q's Camera Repair Shop right next door to them and guarantee fast service. There surely is enough business to go around to cause Kew's to not care less. They are awful and they are fully aware of it and don't care!

The most insulting part is that they still charged Pooh for the service when she picked the lens up for me! Even though the charge was only $26, I believe I will issue a stop payment on that check and pay the $20 fee just to send them a message that this is unacceptable.

Bottom Line...DON'T TAKE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY EQUIPMENT TO KEW'S!

The Newest Utahrd!

Welcome to Utah, Mum! Where Life is Elevated! That's right. My Mum is now a Utahrd! Her possessions moved to Utah on December 1st, but she officially landed here on December 27th and we are happy to have her. This is great! I haven't lived near my parents for at least 16 years and I have always enjoyed the distance and separation. That sounds bad, but I have always made efforts to visit them often and we have always communicated via phone, email and text regularly. Nonetheless, I worried that I would feel closed in with family closer, but over the past few years I have wished my family was closer. I wish Pooh's family was closer too...even closer than they are. I think we will build a compound...hmmmm...

I know I need to be sensitive to this issue as my brothers, sister-in-laws and nieces will undoubtedly miss her and she them. While I am not happy for their loss, I am happy that it at least is my gain. We have already spent more time with my Mom in two weeks than we did almost all of last year! Pooh likes having family so close and I know The Lou is loving her Grandma being closer.

For the first time, Pooh was able to go grocery shopping in peace (sans The Lou) because she was able to drop her off at Mom's. Our house is now dog pee and puke free as we booted Scooter back to her house. This is proving to be the best of both worlds, because we don't have to deal with the frustrations of owning a cute and friendly, yet dumb dog, but The Lou can still visit him when she gets the urge to play with "Kootoo".

She has been the most needy tenant so far, but I am happy to bother with the little tasks she needs help with. It is indeed worth it to have her so close. Now I just need to convince the rest of my family to get up here. I think this may never happen, but one can dream.

Heeeeeeeee'ssssss Back!

That's right! I'm Back! Most of you are probably thinking, "Who is he and where has he been?" Never you mind. What is important is that I was here in the blogging universe and due to an unfortunate experience I took a slight leave of absence and now I am back...and it feels great!

I had some unsavory characters stalking me on my blog and for the safety of my lovely wife and precious little angel, I turned my blog private. I appreciate everyone that expressed disappointment in my doing so and interest in following my privatized blog. You truly made me feel like a celebrity and, as if my head isn't already huge, inflated my ego. Unfortunately, I went from 35 unique visitors a day to about 3-5 a week! This was truly saddening.

I have asked myself many times, "Why should it matter?" I am not a voyeur or a narcissist! I guess I too in this manner have become part of the reality programming world. I don't think this is all bad. I realize I am blessed. I have been given so much in life. A loving family. A belief and faith in God. Loyal Friends. American citizenship. A love for life. An appreciation for all that is good. And so much more! I enjoy sharing it, so sue me.

This time around, I have learned my lessons. I will work hard to keep my identity more secure. In all entries of this blog, I will be known simply as "Q". This is easy as most know me as such. My wife will be "Pooh" (explanation to follow). Last but not least, my daughter will be "The Lou". I have to explain that when I first married Pooh, I called her _______ the Pooh. She did not immediately appreciate this but has come to enjoy it as a term of endearment.

I truly have been blessed and if you follow this blog it is my hope and prayer that you will feel my appreciation for my Heavenly Father for all that he has given me. I hope you will also find a strengthened resolve to see all that is good in your lives. For God is truly good and he has blessed each of us with so much. I know he will continue to do so as we express our gratitude for these blessings and seek ways to share them with others. It feels great to be back in the blogging community and I am happy to have you along for the ride!

Mahalo Nui Loa!