Well Hello All F4 peeps,
Well the time has gone by fast I have been at my job for almost 6 months now and it is still crazy but I am getting use to it. Michelle is still working over the internet talking orders like you see on TV. Scott and Kyle got their Tonsils out in the first of Nov and they are both doing great they were up running around the next day as if nothing happened. So now they are eating more and have more energy. So for Thanksgiving we were going to Rexburg but the weather made us not go up there so we had dinner with my brother and his family. Then a very sad day happened on friday when Boise State Broncos lost to Nevada. There first lost in a long time. Michelle turned 28 so she is getting old LOL. Other than that we are doing about the same well hope everyone is doing great hope to hear for you all and hope everything is going well for you all
Jason and Family
Monday, December 6, 2010
2010 November: Bates
November has been an excellent month.
Fintan has strengthened his arms and can now hold himself up, so crawling is emminent. Orianna can now talk amazingly well (which she loves to d all the time). We got Christmas lights up. I got my Projector & screen mounted out in the office/garage, and dug through about half of the huge pile of dirt that has been in our driveway for 2 years.
ZebraStrut has been progressing nicely. We got our 5th member, and are now going to get the business license and figure out all that bureaucratic nonsense.
ExpoStrut (the first product we are doing under our ZebraStrut umbrella) is going well. The website is about 75% done, the iPad app is about 50% done, and the card reader portion is about 25% done. Our original schedule was to be finished by Sept 2011, so we are well ahead, even though at the moment we really only have 2 of the 5 people working (until Jan that is).
We went to Idaho the week before Thanksgiving and I built a wall in my parent's basement (well, I replaced a wall I'd previously built from junk in their basement with a reall 2x4/scheetrock/insulation wall). It went well, but I did crack a rib in the process. The worst part was that my dad said "you probably shouldn't do that. I cracked a rib that way once." To which I responded "Yeah, but you're old," approximately 10 seconds before I cracked my rib. Very embarrasing.
The other lousy thing was that our car died in Malad on our way up to Idaho. We'd paid it off just a few months prior, so that was very dissapointing. But, we are now the proud owners of a minivan. We can blend perfectly into any street in Utah. So, if you have any stealth operations you need to do here, you can borrow my van.
We stayed in utah for Thanksgiving. My boss helped me fry a turkey, and I am convinced it is the only way to do turkey now. It took about 30 min from start to finish, and you end up with a delicious fried turkey. Baking takes WAY to long, now that I know you can fry.
Wishing you all a happy holiday filled with fried foods,
The Bates Family
Fintan has strengthened his arms and can now hold himself up, so crawling is emminent. Orianna can now talk amazingly well (which she loves to d all the time). We got Christmas lights up. I got my Projector & screen mounted out in the office/garage, and dug through about half of the huge pile of dirt that has been in our driveway for 2 years.
ZebraStrut has been progressing nicely. We got our 5th member, and are now going to get the business license and figure out all that bureaucratic nonsense.
ExpoStrut (the first product we are doing under our ZebraStrut umbrella) is going well. The website is about 75% done, the iPad app is about 50% done, and the card reader portion is about 25% done. Our original schedule was to be finished by Sept 2011, so we are well ahead, even though at the moment we really only have 2 of the 5 people working (until Jan that is).
We went to Idaho the week before Thanksgiving and I built a wall in my parent's basement (well, I replaced a wall I'd previously built from junk in their basement with a reall 2x4/scheetrock/insulation wall). It went well, but I did crack a rib in the process. The worst part was that my dad said "you probably shouldn't do that. I cracked a rib that way once." To which I responded "Yeah, but you're old," approximately 10 seconds before I cracked my rib. Very embarrasing.
The other lousy thing was that our car died in Malad on our way up to Idaho. We'd paid it off just a few months prior, so that was very dissapointing. But, we are now the proud owners of a minivan. We can blend perfectly into any street in Utah. So, if you have any stealth operations you need to do here, you can borrow my van.
We stayed in utah for Thanksgiving. My boss helped me fry a turkey, and I am convinced it is the only way to do turkey now. It took about 30 min from start to finish, and you end up with a delicious fried turkey. Baking takes WAY to long, now that I know you can fry.
Wishing you all a happy holiday filled with fried foods,
The Bates Family
2010 November: North
We’ve had a good month here out East. A big story in the news lately has been the bad weather in the Utah/Idaho area; I guess you guys have had some pretty severe snow and cold over the last few weeks. I want you to know that I’m thinking of you. The day before Thanksgiving Becky, Sophie, and I went for a walk. It was around 2pm and it was so nice out that I left my jacket in the car. I thought of you all as I walked.
We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We were invited over by one of my classmates to eat with him and his family and another med student. It was a small gathering of friends and we enjoyed each others’ company.
On Tuesday before Thanksgiving I went and bought new tires for our car; cost: $700. It shouldn’t have taken more than an hour or so to change the tires and do an alignment, but the shop was slammed with people trying to prep for their Thanksgiving travels so I spent 4 hours in the waiting room! I was hoping to get some homework done, but instead I just sat around switching between Fox news and CNN. I took all day Wednesday to finish my homework, which made for a long day, but I haven’t had to think about school for the last few days which has been nice.
On black Friday we went looking for new cell phones, and possibly a new cell plan. I was not surprised to learn that any switch in plans would cost us more than we are paying now. We signed a contract at 2007 rates and everything is more expensive now. We decided to keep our current plan for awhile longer or until they kick us off because they are losing money on us. I was surprised to learn that none of the simple ‘text and talk’ phones they make these days are as nice as ours. Our phones are dinosaurs in the phone industry, 2 ½ years old. I thought that we’d find lots of new and exciting models for us to choose from, and, if we were looking for a smart phone we would have. I guess phone companies have decided that there’s no money in a simple cell phone, so they aren’t working on any new ones. So we decided to keep our old plan and our old cell phones. After that we went shopping for a couch. Up until now we’ve been using Becky’s old bed as a couch. A few weeks ago we agreed that it was time to buy a real couch. So on Friday we did. New couch: $500. All in all it was an expensive week.
One more thing: Becky and I read 3 books together this year, plus another one that we started but didn’t finish. They total up to more than 1400 pages! I just thought you (especially Derik) should know that.
We hope that you each got to take time to count your blessings. We live in a marvelous, wonderful time!
Stewart, Becky, and Sophie
We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We were invited over by one of my classmates to eat with him and his family and another med student. It was a small gathering of friends and we enjoyed each others’ company.
On Tuesday before Thanksgiving I went and bought new tires for our car; cost: $700. It shouldn’t have taken more than an hour or so to change the tires and do an alignment, but the shop was slammed with people trying to prep for their Thanksgiving travels so I spent 4 hours in the waiting room! I was hoping to get some homework done, but instead I just sat around switching between Fox news and CNN. I took all day Wednesday to finish my homework, which made for a long day, but I haven’t had to think about school for the last few days which has been nice.
On black Friday we went looking for new cell phones, and possibly a new cell plan. I was not surprised to learn that any switch in plans would cost us more than we are paying now. We signed a contract at 2007 rates and everything is more expensive now. We decided to keep our current plan for awhile longer or until they kick us off because they are losing money on us. I was surprised to learn that none of the simple ‘text and talk’ phones they make these days are as nice as ours. Our phones are dinosaurs in the phone industry, 2 ½ years old. I thought that we’d find lots of new and exciting models for us to choose from, and, if we were looking for a smart phone we would have. I guess phone companies have decided that there’s no money in a simple cell phone, so they aren’t working on any new ones. So we decided to keep our old plan and our old cell phones. After that we went shopping for a couch. Up until now we’ve been using Becky’s old bed as a couch. A few weeks ago we agreed that it was time to buy a real couch. So on Friday we did. New couch: $500. All in all it was an expensive week.
One more thing: Becky and I read 3 books together this year, plus another one that we started but didn’t finish. They total up to more than 1400 pages! I just thought you (especially Derik) should know that.
We hope that you each got to take time to count your blessings. We live in a marvelous, wonderful time!
Stewart, Becky, and Sophie
Thursday, November 11, 2010
2010 October: Bates
Happy October... in November.
Well, we had a great Halloween. Fintan was a Pumpkin long enough to take a picture, and Orianna was a fairy princess. Tamara's costume & mine were carefully picked to not offend anyone & avoid all faux-paux. I was the naughty Monk with a kiss on my cheek & she was a bar-wench with red lipstick.
We went to a few Halloween parties, but some relatives were nice enough to take video, so I will be lazy and link to their videos.
Orianna dancing to Thriller
Me failing a donut eating contest (something you never thought you'd hear)
& Tamara fairing no better than I did
Other big news includes starting yet another side-business (I know... I start lots of stuff and never finish), but it came as an accident. We decided to quit FashionGenome, but the 3 of us techies enjoyed working together so much that we couldn't help start something else. So we are going to try our hand at making iPhone/iPad apps.
I also am converting my garage into an office/workroom. I made this photobooth for things we need (pardon the audio, my thumb was on the mic).
I have sheet-rocked 1 room, and need to paint it, but it is pretty much done. We also are making a seamless wall in a corner of the garage for a photo-studio (rather than a small objects booth). I figure it's 900 square feet that I have wasted for 3 years, so it will be nice to put it to good use.
We wish everyone the best.
-The Bates Family
Well, we had a great Halloween. Fintan was a Pumpkin long enough to take a picture, and Orianna was a fairy princess. Tamara's costume & mine were carefully picked to not offend anyone & avoid all faux-paux. I was the naughty Monk with a kiss on my cheek & she was a bar-wench with red lipstick.
We went to a few Halloween parties, but some relatives were nice enough to take video, so I will be lazy and link to their videos.
Orianna dancing to Thriller
Me failing a donut eating contest (something you never thought you'd hear)
& Tamara fairing no better than I did
Other big news includes starting yet another side-business (I know... I start lots of stuff and never finish), but it came as an accident. We decided to quit FashionGenome, but the 3 of us techies enjoyed working together so much that we couldn't help start something else. So we are going to try our hand at making iPhone/iPad apps.
I also am converting my garage into an office/workroom. I made this photobooth for things we need (pardon the audio, my thumb was on the mic).
I have sheet-rocked 1 room, and need to paint it, but it is pretty much done. We also are making a seamless wall in a corner of the garage for a photo-studio (rather than a small objects booth). I figure it's 900 square feet that I have wasted for 3 years, so it will be nice to put it to good use.
We wish everyone the best.
-The Bates Family
2010 October: North
Well here it is, the 10th of November. November is 1/3 over and I’m just getting October's newsletter out. Things have been going really well here. I was worried that my grades would dip a little, or a lot, when Sophie came, but I got a B on my last block! I’m very pleased with that grade. Becky is being a super mother, taking care of herself and Sophie very well. I told her early on that her first priorities are herself and Sophie, and that the house work can wait, or I can do it. I’ve had to step up and do a little bit more, but for the most part Becky is taking her new responsibilities in stride. She is an excellent example to me of patience and hard work. I tell Sophie that she has a great mom.
Becky and I have started to think about where we want to end up for our 3rd year of med school. Most med schools are associated with big hospitals and so the 3rd year students just rotate in the hospital. But our school doesn’t have a big hospital next door so they farm us out to different hospitals in the state. We have our choice of about 25 different locations, all in WV, or very close to WV. A few weekends ago we traveled 5 hours North to Wheeling WV, then a little farther North to Weirton WV. Jason, those names might sound familiar to you. Weirton is only about 30 min. away from Pittsburg. Both Wheeling and Weirton are small towns. Wheeling is a big port on the Ohio river and from what I’m told, while the Church was headquartered in Kirtland OH, many of the Saints went down to Wheeling because of the port. I was surprised to learn that the reorganized church is very big in that area, and our church is very small. Wheeling only has one little branch, and it’s the only branch for several miles in any direction. I guess when Brigham took the Saints out West all their property and goods were given to the Saints who stayed behind. So the RLDS church got kind of a boost when we left. Jason, are you familiar with any of this? Did you run into any of this history while you were on your mission? This coming weekend we are traveling East to a little town called Petersburg WV. It is a small town, but it has a ward. If we end up there we will only be a couple of hours from D.C.
We celebrated Sophie’s first Halloween this year. We dressed up as a pumpkin patch. I’ll attach a photo for Rob to post. You can’t see Sophie’s costume very well, but Becky made her a cute little hat to match ours.
We hope all is going well for you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Stewart, Becky, and Sophie.
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