So I went through my postings from adopting William five years ago yesterday, and I found the story of bringing him home and how I felt then. I am still gushing from the experience.

Just telling Nadia yesterday that in 11 years we packed a lifetime of memories and still many more to come. Life is good!

Here's the posting from October 1, 2006 when he was placed in our arms forever. We love you William!

October 1, 2006
----------------------

Hello everyone!

We safely made it to Guatemala. After what seemed to be a long journey just to get here has now come to this point. Child in arms, US Embassy date tomorrow, and nothing but a bright future...

( Travel to Guatemala )

( We get William )

( Dealing with a mourning child )

( Day 2 better than Day 1 )

Somehow Facebook decided that it wanted to update this note and post it to my profile with the date of September 30, 2010. In fact, this actually happened four years ago. William has now been home four years, which in itself is hard to believe.

In any case, here's a repost of the entry from the day after his "Gotcha Day".

Happy Gotcha Day William!

October 1, 2006
---------------

Hello everyone!

We safely made it to Guatemala. After what seemed to be a long journey just to get here has now come to this point. Child in arms, US Embassy date tomorrow, and nothing but a bright future...

( Travel to Guatemala )

( We get William )

( Dealing with a mourning child )

( Day 2 better than Day 1 )

It's hard to fathom that nine years have passed since that fateful day. In keeping with the tradition of honoring those who lost their lives that day I pause to think of them the exact times when those planes hit and when the buildings came down.

I am especially sad today, however, because my aunt passed away suddenly yesterday, Sept. 10. We were at her bedside (my sister, my brother, my brother-in-law, and me) when she was taken off life support. My sadness only deepens now.

But I am trying to be strong for those who are still with us. Today I also remember to teach my kids love instead of hate, tolerance instead of intolerance, justice instead of injustice, and respect instead of disrespect. Without those seeds planted, the fruits of a better world can't be sowed.

That's my little part for today.

Six years ago, Alexander was placed into our arms forever. Not a day goes by when I don't cheerfully recall the events that led to the end of the journey to adopt him and started the journey to raise him. It seems like yesterday.

I won't recall the events here, but here is a link to the blog entry for that day.

Happy Gotcha Day, Alexander!

I have realized that I have more will power than I ever knew I had.

My recent weight loss has made me realize that I really can do anything I want. I just have to want to control the course of action. If pushed to make a change, I will do it. N pushed me to Weight Watchers, and by actually being forced to seize control of my eating habits and my weight I have lost 23 pounds in roughly 10 weeks with no end in the foreseeable future.

So now it makes me think what else can I achieve? But more importantly, what will be the impetus to do so? Will I be forced to do something or will I have fortitude to force myself?

So many decisions...

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I think it's fitting that I am returning with a post that chronicles a mild victory.

About two months ago, I signed up to donate blood to the Long Island Blood Center. I've given before, and it makes a heck of a difference to someone who needs it. It's my contribution to society, as small as it may be.

Now while I hate needles, I will submit myself to being poked, pricked, prodded, whatever needs to be done. But today, I wasn't feeling it. I could definitely feel my heart pounding harder than ever before, but not so much that I was going to pass out or go into cardiac arrest. Nevertheless, I didn't have a good feeling about it. But I managed to calm down a bit after a while, and I went a little early just to get it over with.

If you've ever given blood you know that they subject you to a questionnaire and series of tests -- a mini-physical if you will. So after filling out the questionnaire about whether I had been outside the country for any length of time in the last twelve months, I dutifully subjected myself to my mini-physical. Blood sugar normal. Temperature normal. Blood pressure.... er... let me get another monitor... er... sir, it's a little high... sit over here for a while to see if your pressure comes down. You must be nervous.

Well, this is great. I've been turned away for having too high a blood pressure, but it was 140/95 when I was rejected. I figured it was about the same again.

She measured me again, then she called over the registered nurse they had on staff in case of problems. She measured it again and said, "Sir, you're not giving blood today. You're going to see a doctor today."

172/125

O.... M.... G....

I'm not the type to think that I am going to die any minute, but these two numbers just stopped me in my tracks. This can't be right. I don't feel sick. It must be wrong.

So I made an appointment with my general doctor the next day, and sure enough it was still high at the doctors office. She had me go for an echo-cardiogram, blood tests (ironic), and urinalysis to see if there was anything really wrong. Everything came back negative.

My doctor prescribed medicine to lower my BP and told me to lose 10 pounds.

Crap. Two things that always seemed foreign to me: medicine and losing weight.

High blood pressure runs in my family. My mother had it when she was about my age, and her two sisters have it as well. She's successfully managed it throughout her life, but as for her weight, she isn't exceedingly heavy. I also didn't think I am exceedingly heavy either, but the "normal" weight for my height was 40 lbs. less than I weigh.

So my lovely wife signed me up for Weight Watchers Online for men. I resisted at first because I thought that I could regulate what I ate myself. But since that episode with the high BP, I decided to give it a try.

That was three weeks ago. Since I started the program, I lost 7 lbs. Might not seem like much, but 2 lbs. a week is a lot. Do I feel any different? Not really, but people started noticing. Is it lowering my BP? Hard to say since I am still on meds to control it.

But I am setting a goal. I want to be at 180 lbs. by New Years. 20 lbs in 16 weeks? I can do it. I know I can.

I have to.

Many many more years of happiness and all the best to you both!

So my paid account status with LJ is about to expire, and I am debating about whether to keep it up. So I need some opinions about why I should renew it. I know it's very cheap to renew, but like anything else, cost cutting is en vogue this year.

Why should I keep my status as an LJ paid user?

For those of you who might not know, the FORTRAN compiler (used by every engineer, computer scientist, and mathematician for more than four decades) was invented by John W. Backus and his team at IBM. Those of us in IT, engineering, computer sciences and mathematics owe him a debt of gratitude for making the computer a more useful tool. Thanks, John!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/obituaries/20cnd-backus.html?hp

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/445498/robotic_beer_launching_refrigerator/

I WANT ONE!!!

EDIT: So it looks like maxh42 already posted about this recently. *SIGH* Shows you how in touch I am with my LJ friends...