The entrance to the back yard

Orange blossoms.

Orange ones.

In Thai, they call flowers "dokmai". In Spanish, "flores". In Japanese, "hana".

You're a Daisey if you do!

Our Orange tree

Pink Slips, Porn Stars, Rats, and Cousins - the last few weeks.

So the past few weeks have been pretty fun, and at the same time, pretty trying. Just yesterday, I received a notice that I'm being laid off. Thanks, Arnold! (Don't let anyone ever tell you that all politicians are the same, by the way.) I think my odds of being rehired are pretty good, but I still am very nervous and fear the worst.

Despite the proverbial ax looming over my neck on the job front, the last few weeks have been actually pretty fun. I've had lots of visitors. First, my old friend from my days at UND on the Student Senate, Ira Taken Alive, was in San Francisco for a convention, and we met up with Kym and Lars Teppo, and it was a great time. On the same day, I went to see the Wondercon Convention, where one of my co-workers, Age Scott, was showing the comic book that he does. That was pretty wild - see the pictures below. Then, I went back to the Hyatt in Downtown San Francisco to meet Ira again. On the way back, I bumped into the Chinese New Year Parade, and took lots of pictures. Happy Year of the Rat!

Finally, two weeks ago, my cousin Kala Larsen and her husband, Darren, came to visit. In addition to this, my other cousin, Adam "Flounder" Luebke moved to Davis, California. We did all sorts of things - see the pics below (and more to come.) It's always good to have visitors.

Go Badgers!

With the Teppo family, who also served with me on the UND Student Senate

With my old friend, Ira Taken Alive. We served on the student senate together at UND. I probably hadn't seen him for nine or ten years.

This is the guy who actually played Chewbacca!

The best picture I took at the Comic Convention - the Forrest Storm Trooper with a porn star. Sums it up perfectly.