Category: Blog Posts About Me

Christina, her mom, her mom’s friend, and I went to see “Shopping! The Musical” last night in San Francisco.  If you are into shopping this would be the musical for you, and to some degree even if you aren’t into shopping it was still humorous.

Tyler St. Patrick's Day Parade 2010 from Jeremy Person on Vimeo.

Christina and I took Tyler to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, CA this morning which he absolutely loved.

My sister had her second child, Austin Eugene Powell last night at 9:17 pm who came into the world at a perfect (and very lucky) seven pounds.  I was at church when she called me the first time and I only got to speak with her for a minute before she needed to go.  I went back into the classroom at church and learned of a prayer request for her.  About 3-4 minutes into the prayer requests our pastor started praying for my sister and at that exact moment my phone rang again and it was my sister which I thought was very awesome.

I called her back a few minutes later (shortly before 8 pm) and was able to talk with her for a good 20 minutes.  During that call, I learned she had gone to the doctor earlier in the day for a checkup and they found her to have elevated blood pressure so they admitted her at that instant and quickly decided to induce the labor.  When I spoke with her she had just received her epidural which went fine and a little over an hour later Austin arrived in the world.  Congratulations Lil’ sis and big Mike, I am very proud of you two.  I talked to everyone this morning and Evan, Austin’s big brother sounded very happy in the background upon meeting his new brother for the first time.  It doesn’t get much better than that…

OK I didn’t even come close to hitting some of my 2009 resolutions but it was still a great year. I think I am going to keep things shorter this year.

Some of my 2009 resolutions continue to be my 2010 resolutions:

• By the end of the year be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups.
• Run a mile in under six minutes, thirty seconds.
• Create three new websites.
• Make the bed every day.
• Do the dishes every day.

New for 2010:

• Write three books (in draft form).

Dear 2009,

You were so much better than 2008, and I didn’t expect for things to go from so bad to so good in only a year’s time.  I wrote to 2008 a little less than a year ago, and I’m honestly struggling to write my letter this year.  It is odd but when you are going through tough times the words seem to flow easily, but when things are going well it is much more difficult to write about life.  Instead, I just want to share the good times and hope I accomplished that in the video below.

In 2008 and 2009 I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on my blog sharing my life, what I found interesting, my thoughts, and I hope you have enjoyed it thus far.  My first post was on 4/10/2008 which means I have had my blog for 619 days (1 year, 8 months, 10 days). That means I am averaging 1.7 posts per day.  I thought this year it would be fun to put together a video which takes you through the entire year instead of having to explain it all via writing.

My favorite quote for the year was from Robert Schuler who said “Tough times never last, but tough people do.”  Note, you may want to start playing the video and let it buffer for a minute, since it is enormous (43 minutes long). Thanks to everyone who helped get me through 2008 and turn things around in 2009.

It was a smiley face if you turn it around the other way.  This is fantastic, I’ve had 3 birthdays so far!

Christina and I went to Gayle and Bill’s house out in Forrestville, CA on Saturday.  Christina was a good sport and I still owe her big for walking in what turned out to be a downpour of rain on our hike.  Their home backs up to miles and miles of woods so we hiked down to a stream and up to a lookout which was beautiful but the rain prevented us from going any further.  Maybe in the spring or summer we can go back and see it all with better weather.  The house is gorgeous and is being remodelled very nicely.  Gayle even made me a birthday cake (three green candles and two pink ones on the bottom for 32) which was super nice!

We went to Deacon Dave’s Christmas Lights last night in Livermore which was amazing!  In total this year he has 325,530 lights and I have never seen a residence decorate for Christmas to this extent.

What is Casa del Pomba?
Portuguese for “House of the Dove”, this is the private residence of Deacon Dave Rezendes. On December 4th, 1982, Deacon Dave was ordained a Roman Catholic deacon. When he was ordained, he dedicated his home to the Holy Spirit. The symbol of the Holy Spirit is the dove. Deacon is one of the clergy of St. Michael’s Church in Livermore. He is also the Bishop’s representative to the Deacon’s & Director of Deacon Personnel in the Diocese of Oakland. He also owns a security business in Livermore. A busy man!

Does Deacon Dave plan the display himself?
Heaven’s no! The Deacon names the theme each year, and does some planning and design. A team of advisors, who are specialists in various fields, takes the theme and runs with it! They are dedicated volunteers who share Deacon’s excitement for Christmas. They often have to be reined in because they come up with some humdingers of ideas!

Can we tour the inside of the home?
No, this is Deacon Dave’s private residence. He does have parties for St. Michael’s staff, his Christmas Crew, and families and close friends. Inside the home, there is at least one tree in each room, including the laundry room and bathroom! There are over 20 trees in all, all decorated by Deacon himself. Each one has a theme, either relating to the room it’s in or a favorite hobby of Deacon’s. Some of the themes are trains, Daffy Duck, religious, dove, teddy bears, peacocks, and Native American. The living room tree in the front window changes each year, to either represent the area or display theme.

Where did the Nativity Scene in the front window come from?
Deacon wants to remind people of the real reason for the season, so he has a lavish nativity crèche always in the front window. New pieces are collected each year. The angels hanging above are imported from Italy, and are handmade papier mache. Very delicate, they appear to be flying over the display.

How do you get the lights up in the trees?
The lights are placed in the trees using extension poles with hooks on the end. The lights in the trees in the back yard are placed in the trees using the same poles, but also standing on step ladders on the roof of the house.