Hello, There!

I guess it has been a while since I last posted here.

What can I say? I live in San Jose, CA now. I am married to Maria and loving it. I am back in school (West Valley Community College) going for an Accounting AA that I can take to a 4-year college and become a CPA.

I don't know what this blog will turn into, if it does anything at all. I hope to talk about my life and let my friends and family know what is happening. I also hope to talk a little bit about cool things in history, my writing projects, school and family life. Politics and religion may also be brought up from time to time.

For now, I want to let everyone in on a wonderful blog that I stumbled across some time ago. It is one of the few places I check EVERY SINGLE DAY. www.accordingtohoyt.com

Sarah Hoyt is awesome. I don't agree with her on everything, but what she writes is always facinating, timely, and worth a very close read. Even better, her commentators are almost uniformly entertaining as well. This is the only site where I read all the comments as well.

Anyway, I am back, and look forward to writing here more regularly.

Maria in Alaska

It's been a while since I've posted here. Maria, her mother Matushka Joanie, and I are currently in Homer, AK so my parents can meet Maria and her mom. They are all getting along very well, so I'm stoked. I've taken a few pictures and I'll post some when I get back home.

Look how far I've Come

A little over a year ago, I started tackling my weight problem, and shedding pounds. I'm not loosing weight nearly as fast as when I started, but they are still coming off. As of this morning I weigh 241 pounds, and I have lost 57 pounds. These pictures, taken on July 4, 2008 and March 21, 2010 vividly show the difference.

I still have a long weigh to go, but I am really getting there.

Maria and I

In 5 days

and

will meet.

Christ is Risen!

Well, Pascha has come. I thought I'd give a bit of an update on everything.

Pascha itself went well. I was in charge of smoking meat. This year I did lamb and pork loin. The loin was the same as last year, and came out really well again. Nice an moist, with good flavor. Everyone who tried the lamb raved about it. It was a really simple recipe that a friend of mine, Holly Jean Grow, gave me. Salt and pepper (I added a touch of cayenne for kick) and slathered in yellow mustard. That's it. but each slice was a bit of heaven.

I made the mistake of volunteering to cook the ham for the Pascha breakfast overnight. The smell of it, after not eating all day, kept me up most of the night. And when I did sleep, I had weird dreams of me, Maria, and a giant ham. But the ham turned out wonderfully, and the cherry-grapefruit glaze I made for it took it to a whole new level.

As of right now, I have only 12 days till I go to meet Maria. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not exactly sure what we will do while I'm there, but I know that I'll be having some long talks with her parents. It will be good to finally see with my own eyes someone who in so short a time has become so special to me.

Work is going OK, there's been some stress associated with working so early, and me not getting to bed early enough. But I've got some solutions to it and it should turn around soon.

All in all, life is treating me pretty well at this point. No complaints here.

Aaron

Mid-Lenten Report

Yesterday was the Sunday of the Cross, the midpoint of Lent. (for the non-Orthodox, Holy Week is separate from Lent; Lent ends on Palm Sunday. Holy Week makes Lent look like a stroll in the park) This Lent has been pretty easy for me, mostly because I have other things I'm fixated on.

So far, I've gone to all the services except for the ones on Saturday mornings, because I have to work. I have yet to really cheat on the fast, though I still eat too much. And I have been relatively good at my prayer goals this Lent. I still need to be better at evening prayers though.

I've lost 6 pounds so far, and the pants I bought a few months ago are starting to become uncomfortably loose. Today, I took my drill and drilled a new hole in my belt so I could cinch it tight enough.

We still have a long way to go, and the hardest part of Lent is still ahead of us, when we have the non-Lenten foods in our house again, but can't eat them yet. But the end is in sight, the goal is much closer. God willing, the second half will go as well as the first.