Merry Christmas to all! Gwen and I just got back from Seaside. We were celebrating our first year of marriage. It's been a crazy year in a lot of ways, lots of changes and decisions. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd say our marriage is awesome...
    The biggest reason is the one that we heard the most, communication. I've learned to listen a lot better than ever. I've learned that if I don't know what her expectations are in any given situation, then we're already in trouble. And vis versa too, If I just expect her to guess what I want, or what I'm feeling, she probably doesn't know.  Almost every time we talk about the situation and convey our thoughts, we do well.
    The second reason we're doing well is something I can't take any credit for. Gwen doesn't treat any problem like a little problem. I admit, this can be frustrating at times. But in the long run it saves A LOT of trouble. So many times I'm content to let a little thing slide and not worry about it. I won't bring it up till I'm really frustrated and it's become a big problem. I think that a lot of relationships turn sour, not because of one or two big problems, but because of a lot of little ones. So we were proactive early on, and it has helped a lot as time has gone by.

Check this(4.8mb) out. I think I'll do something like that at my place.

    My one year anniversary is coming up on the 21st. It's really been an amazing year. I got married, moved twice, graduated from college, had three jobs and now we are having a baby. Needless to say, my life is a little different now.

    Gwen and I saw two movies this weekend, which is as many as we had seen together in the last year. First we saw Narnia, it was great. I liked how they could keep everything from the book in, seeing how the book is so short.
    Tonite we saw It's a Wonderful Life. It's fun (and cheap) to go see an old classic in a theater, it was even better than I thought it would be. So if you are bored and in Portland, you should go see it at the Laurelhurst theater this week.

Gwen and I went in to get our Oregon driver's licenses today. After some frantic last minute studying (QUICK, you are at an 11 way stop driving an 89 Accord with a bad muffler and you want to turn right on a three way street on thursday; do you have to give right of way to a bee flying south by southwest?) we both passed with scores of 93%.  After I got home I inspected my new card more closly. I turned it over to see just what vehicles I am alowd to operate, low and behold I find that I can operate "Any emergency vehicle operated by a firefighter." I read the line again to make sure I wasn't mistaken. Sure enough, If the local firestation (1/4 mile down the road) came to my door and asked me to drive the big red truck, I could!
   
    It gets better though, it says ANY vehicle. I have oft seen on the news figherfighters fighting run-away forest fires with helicopters. According to the state of Oregon, I am a helicopter pilot. I've played enough video games to know that flying a helicopter is as easy as moving a joystick around, so if someone happens to leave their helicopter running while they dash into 7-11 for a slurpee, I just may have to go on a little joy ride.
   
    The moral of the story is, next time you see a fire engine barreling down the street, pull over right away. If for no other reason than it may be Justin Bodeutsch at the helm. Furthermore, if you ever hear a loud whirling noise descending on your front porch, it's not the FBI coming to get you for that song you downloaded illegally, it's just me, literally dropping by.

    My mom and brother are in town for the weekend. Yippee! Among other things, my mom brought us these sweet silk robes from . Don't we look dapper...