Do you know why you get a bad smell and/or smoke when you short circuit electronics? It is because they put those things into the chips at the factory. It makes it much easier to know whether something is just not working right or fried. So you could imagine my surprise on Wed. night when I came out of the bathroom after dinner and there was a bad smell that was NOT coming from the room I just exited. I couldn’t place it at first, but it was familiar. When I walked into the living room Deb told me that the microwave wasn’t working right. Curious, I just heated up dinner with it and it was fine. So I go to check it out and sure enough the bad smell is getting worse as I approach it. That is when it hit me what the smell was, it was fried electronics. When Debbie went to use the microwave to sterilize some nipples for Marissa’s bottles, she let the bad smell out of the circuits.

This was bad. The microwave was dead, fini, done, toast, deceased.

So after a bit of online searching I went to Best Buy on Thursday and bought a new one. Thanks to our mothers (gift cards we got from each of them for Christmas) it only set us back $63. But I realize that all microwaves are pretty much the same. Unless you are looking for a specific feature, the only difference between them is price and looks. So I got the least expensive one that looks good in our kitchen (which basically means either black or stainless). I had the old one out and new one in in about 45 minutes. Not bad.

Now that Thanksgiving is almost over, and people are starting to come out of their turkey comas, I thought I would share with everyone what I am thankful for.

• Debbie, Dylan, and Marissa: They are the three most important things in my world. They are why I get up in the morning, why I work, why I am constantly striving to do better in everything. To be a better father, husband, and friend. If it wasn’t for them I would be wandering through life aimlessly.
• My health: I may not be the picture of health, being overweight and all, but I am relatively healthy and a great deal better off than many others.
• Grammy  aka Mona aka my mother-in-law. I know most people hate their mother-in-laws, but I got lucky and got a pretty good one who is always there when we need her.
• Friends. I may not get to spend a great deal of time with them, and most of them are far away and we only get to hang out on-line, but I know that I can rely on them when the shit hits the fan.

Of course I could list a bunch of not so serious stuff, but I won’t.

I am going to try to write a little update about what is going on with the family every Friday. We will see how this goes and how long I keep it up for.

Dylan had a good week. He only had 4 days of school thanks to MOnday being Veteran’s Day and they were all “Green Days.” He has been pretty good at home as well and love playing with and entertaining his little sister. He even got ready for Karate without a fuss this afternoon, which is a little unusual. Perhaps being a Green Belt has changed him, who knows.

Marissa is, well, Marissa. She is standing while holding on to the coffee table and scoots around on the floor. She doesn’t actually crawl yet, but she is getting there. We are convinced she is going to go straight to walking though. She has learned how to ‘clap hands’ and do ’so big’ raising her arms up. She also enjoys making a kissing sound and giving raspberries.

Debbie is back to work at Just For Kids. It seems that the teacher they hired for this year quit. Suddenly. One the day of the funeral for Leslie’s mother (Leslie is the director and owner of the school.) So they called Deb to sub for a week and asked her to stay. They agreed that she could work part time, until 12, instead of until 2 and that’s it. She is back at work.

Me, I got this new website up and running and imported all the photos. I am still going through the albums to clean them up, but everything is there. And I talked to the gentleman who took in Maxi, he is doing fine. That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend!

Wow, I didn’t realize how long it has been since I posted an update. It just goes to show how busy things have been. So here is a quick, high level update. Marissa is sitting up, though she needs help still to get into the sitting position. Dylan is doing very good at school, he has had all “green” days so far! The new job is moving along, a little slow, but it always is when you start. Debbie is feeling a bit overwhelmed, but that is due mostly to Marissa not getting on a schedule during the day, still. Deb is trying, but the little princess is no co-operating.

That’s it for now. I know I owe y’all some photo updates, I will get them uploaded soon, promise.

Whew, it has been a while since I posted anything, but it has been a bit busy. So here is a big post to catch up with what has happened over the past 2+ weeks.

Margaret Lisa……

….Debbie’s Aunt, finally succumbed to cancer last week. She had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer almost 10 years ago and after treatment was clean for 5 years, but it came back. She fought it like a trooper, and didn’t even tell anyone until relatively recently. She was always smiling and saw the good in everyone and will be dearly missed by everyone. Margaret was 48 and leaves behind her husband Mike, children Mike Jr and Christina, and 3 wonderful grandchildren.

Dylan Update

Kindergarten Kapers: Dylan graduated Kindergarten on Friday (even though he still is in school this week) and they had a show where all the kindergarten classes got together to sing for the parents. It was really nice and I will post some pics soon. We celebrated by going to IHOP for brunch afterwards and Dylan was rewarded with a new Optiums Prime bicycle, that he has already been riding like crazy. Congrats Dylan!

Karate Kid: Dylan hit a milestone in karate class as well, getting his first Green Tip. He needs 4 more to get his Green Dragon belt. Way to go! We also attended a Father/Son Father’s Day class at the Arrango Warrior (the karate school) where I got to go through some of the moves and use the equipment that the kids do in the class. I surprised myself by being able to do 15 push ups! It was great fun and I even got a cool t-shirt.

Marissa Leah is finally sleeping through the night! Yipee!

First it was Dylan who was sick. It started with an ear infection, which was treated and came back and was treated again. Then he had a nagging cough. This went on for 3 weeks. What this means is that Debbie was running around the house with a can of Lysol all day long and Marissa was pretty much quarantined to our bedroom to ensure that she didn’t get whatever it was. Now it is me. I got something over the weekend that had me coughing and a fever at one point. So I have been quarantined to the home office and Marissa’s bedroom, which isn’t done yet, sleeping on an air mattress. This has left Debbie in control of everything since she won’t let me go near anyone else in the house for fear of spreading whatever the germ is.

At first you might think this is cool, like a vacation from having to be a Daddy, but it sucks. It sucks ’cause I can’t hold my baby or hug my son. It sucks ’cause I can’t help out and feel useless.  This morning I felt better when I go up, but on the way to work I have been coughing, so time will tell if I got this thing beat yet. I hope so.

So, you want to know more about me. Are you really that bored? Okay, just remember, you asked for this. I am not forcing you to read this.

Born and raised on Long Island, in Franklin Square to be exact. Went to Sewanhaka High School (1986), Rochester Institute of Technology (1986-89), and Hofstra University (1989-1991) where I received a BBA in Business Computer Information Systems. Met my wife Debbie in the parking lot of Wendy’s in Franklin Square when I was working their in high school. We have been together since July 1987 and got married in August 1993. Bought a house in Levittown in 1999, had our first child, Dylan, in 2001 and our second, Marissa in March of 2007.

I am an avid computer game, case modder, and overclocker. I rip apart and build computers for fun. Love music, especially hard rock and heavy metal. Megadeth and Queen are my two favorite bands. I am an editor and webmaster over at GruntvillE.com where we talk about computer hardware and case mods. All in all, I guess I am a quite a geek. I am also a voracious reader, especially Fantasy books in the Forgotten Realms universe, I have read tons of them. Want to know more, drop me a line rich (at) cafeneves.com or you can check out my resume.

Download Rich Neves’ Resume as a PDF

Well, I have been unable to convince Deb to write something to post here, so I will tell you a little bit about her.

She is a wonderful, caring mother. And I am not just saying that ’cause she might read this one day, it is true. She is also a  terrific wife, and I don’t know what I would do without her. Deb doesn’t bake and cook quite as good as her Mom, but she does a damn good job and is better than most.

She is also a great teacher with a Masters Degree in Education from Hofstra University with a specialization in Early Childhood (N-3). She is also NYS certified to tech N-6.  Currently she is working at a private school in East Meadow called “Calling All Kids”, which is also where Dylan went for pre-school and summer camp in 2006 and 2007. And until I get her to write something, this about covers it.

It’s been over 5 years since Dylan was born, but apparanetly the baby shoulder that puts them to sleep still works. Marissa is doing great and Debbie is doing pretty good. Hopefully both will be coming home tomorrow but we will find out soon. They are at South Nassau Communitite Hospital if anyone wants to call and visitng hours are 1-8pm if you want to stop by.

Wow, I haven’t posted anything in a month! Well, here is the quick update, Debbie is in labor and we are at the hospital so the new baby should be here soon! I will keep y’all posted.

On the Battle of the Bulge front, I am down to 286lbs, so I lost 34.5lbs since Jan 2nd. Not bad!