Arriving In Cancun

 

Hello all. It's been ages since I've updated my blog, and a LOT of stuff has happend since my last update. I plan to go back and post those entries retroactively, so expect a lot of blasts from the past!

Right now, I'm on vacation in Cancun posting from my hotel room at the Westin Hotel. My son has a REALLY bad cough that has limited what we can do so far, so the last 2 days its been the beach and the pool, which has been great, but today, now that he is feeling a lot better, we're off to explore Isla Mujeres by golf cart, stopping where we like to explore and go snorkeling. More updates later!

SO MUCH has happened!

SO MUCH has happened since I last updated this blog, it will likely take me 12 updates to catch up! So forgive me if updates seem out of date or out of order. I would rather you hear the real story than a strictly sequential one. :) Please bear with me and email me at natepearce (@) gmail.com if you have questions!

In the meantime, my Facebook page has more recent updates.

A Family Tradition

 

My father was a bow hunter. Traditional recurve, not the fancy compound bows they shoot today. I asked my son what he'd like to do over the weekend a few weeks back, and he said "shoot arrows", so I guess its still in our blood.

Escondido Spring Renaissance Faire

I took the family to the Escondido Spring Renaissance Faire this weekend. We had a great time. We practiced our archery, fed a horse, met the Queen and bought a bunch of swords and stuff for my son's castle I'm building in the backyard.

Father & Son Art Project

Years ago, when Kerry and I were on a trip arund the world, we bought 2 sets of pastels in Paris. We gave one to my Mom who is a graphic artist and kept one. My son and I tried it out today, making our own version of Monet's Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

Lasik Surgery a Huge Success!

It's been a while since I updated my blog, so I thought I'd restart it with a doozie. I had IntraLase Lasik surgery done on both eyes yesterday and today have 20/15 vision in both eyes. I have to admit I was absolutely terrified of the concept of lasers "shaping" my corneas, but with the help of friends, family and the wonderful Dr. Feldman, I managed to hold it together for the 10 minutes the operation took. :) The procedure wasn't nearly as scary as I had led myself to believe, and I'm so relieved I went through with it.

To celebrate, I took the family downtown to get replacement (non-prescription) lenses for my Oakley's, and visit an old friend from North Carolina who happened to be in town. We met up at Seaport Village and I marveled at how much I could see without glasses. Last night I even looked up at the stars without glasses for the first time I can remember (I've had glasses since I was 6 years old).

Home Safe, and Learning to be Ambidextrous Again

Word came down to us Wed from our neighbors that our neighborhood was safe, and the fires had passed, so we packed up and headed home. It was a glorious sight to see Black Mountain, well... not black! We didn't see even a trace of the fires on the way home. I plan to have a look further North this weekend.

Somewhere in the hussle I managed to badly sprain my wrist, so I went to the Doctor yesterday. As the X-ray shows, there's no break, and the brace and meds are making it feel better every day. I expect to be back behind the wheel of my Mustang by Sunday. :)

What this injury has taught me is how over-dependent I am on my right arm. Before I went to Kindergarten, I was ambidextrous. That "freak" trait was literally beat out of me. Here's how it happened:

5 year-old Nathan: "Teacher, which hand is my 'right' hand?"
Teacher: "That's easy. Your 'right' hand is the one you 'write' with."
Nathan: "But I write with both hands..."
Teacher: -slaps my left hand hard and grips my right wrist firmly- "No you don't! You write with THIS hand!".

I was too scared to argue, so I never wrote or drew with my left again. I believe I could relearn it though, and being less than 100% on the tail end of a natural disaster disturbs me enough to give it a good shot. I don't want something as simple as a sprained wrist to take me out of action so easily. Wish me luck!

Family is Safe, Fires Everywhere

As the whole country must know by now, San Diego County has massive fires sweeping across it. My neighborhood had a mandatory evacuation yesterday morning. There's a great map here, updated by the good folks at KPBS, who recently lost their radio broadcast tower to the fires. My family and I evacuated the Rancho Penasquitos area (west of the 15, North of the 56) yesterday morning to my work at Sony Online just off Miramar road. A few hours later we moved to a hotel downtown San Diego, which thankfully has Wifi and cable TV. We have another room for tonight and tomorrow night if needed. My son is 5 and half, but taking the evacuation quite well.

The news sources I've been tracking:

• KPBS Fires
• SignOnSanDiego.com
• CBS 8
  
• Nate Ritter's Twitter feed (you can get Twitter feeds by SMS if you like)
• Google Earth Fire Detection Overlay (requires you have Google Earth installed)
• Cat Dirt Sez (Local Blogger)
  

Our Deepest Fear

Our Deepest Fear
By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

My Gym Is In!

It took a while, but I got my Home Gym put together! It's fantastic! Tonight I did bench presses, squats, leg extensions, leg curls, cable cross-overs, bicep curls and butterflys. Plus my usual 60 crunches and 20 leg lifts. Whew!