navigation:  ckmoore/journal/2004

Thanks for visiting my journal.  Every now and then I like to ramble on about the happenings in my life; partly so people I don't talk to very often can know what's going on, and partly so I can look back later and remember.  It probably won't be interesting, but hopefully you won't fall asleep reading it.

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So I've updated my site TONS - adding lots of pictures and applying a new design that I designed myself.  But for whatever reason, this is the first journal entry I've entered since starting the updating process.  Usually a journal entry is the first thing I update - b/c it's easy and doesn't take any time.  However, I was anxious to get pictures of my son up.  I've been at work now for almost 2 months... and I've learned a lot.  I'm really enjoying it, and I'm doing really well.  I'm very grateful that I landed a job that I like so much.  And it's only getting better - soon I get to travel for training courses and next June I'll get to move to Dallas for the 2nd year of my rotation for the program I'm in.

Kade is doing really well.  He's healthy and happy, and I post new pictures of him everyday in the pictures section.  At his last doctor's appointment (July 16th), he weighed 12 lbs. 8 oz., and he was 23 and 3/4" long.  He's grown so much!  I know I'm his Dad, so I might be biased, but he is the cutest baby I've ever seen.  Seriously.  Hayden, my sister's baby, is freakin cute too.  Hershey is doing really well adjusting to the move and all the changes.  She's at home all day by herself with the baby, so I feel really badly for her, but she's doing an incredible job managing the house, the baby, and me.  I love both of them so much.

We're taking a trip to Texas in 10 days!  We're both so excited to visit family and friends.  Kade needs to see his relatives too.  So everything is on the up and up.  I'm really happy with everything in my life right now.  I'm so lucky.

I've been at Raytheon for 1 month now!  Pretty crazy.  Andrea is on vacation so I'm kind of on my own -- and I seem to be doing really well; at least according to my colleagues.

July 4th was awesome.  We saw a great fireworks show off of Skyline.  Kade slept through all of it but 1 explosion, and he got scared.  He's adorable!

Independence Day is definitely one of my favorite holidays.  The fireworks are amazing and the food - burgers, hot dogs, etc. makes it a lot of fun.  Next year at home will be even better.

Lately I've been obsessed with the Cassini-Huygens NASA mission to Saturn and Titan, it's largest moon.  I find all of it fascinating.  I sometimes wish I'd become an astronomer, or a paleontologist =)  Either would suit me really well.  I find both topics so interesting.  I'm currently re-reading Jurassic Park again, and it rekindled my interest in dinosaurs.

Ok so maybe I've gone overboard with the pictures.  You should see the hard-copy of my journal.  It has even more.

Last night, my wife, my son, and I went to see Spider-man 2 at the DeAnza Drive-In Theater.  Drive-ins are awesome!  They should definitely have more.  The movie was pretty good!  Hershey loved it.  Kade was very well-behaved.  He didn't cry at all.

I want to make the drive-in a weekly activity.  It's great because we love to see movies, but we can't right now with Kade.  At the drive-in, it doesn't matter if he cries b/c were in our own car.  So next week, I want to see Harry Potter 3.  I think Hershey wants to see Dodgeball.  I think we should see both!  It's fun.

(Adapted partially from written journal)  Today is the first day of my *permanent* journal.  I got this idea from Daniel Johnston, who has kept journals for 30 some-odd years.  Seeing as how I recently had a son, got married, started my career, graduated from college, and moved my new family to Arizona for a year, I thought this might be a good time to start recording my life for later reflection and nostalgia.

Let's start with my son, Kade Christopher Moore.  He's a month and a half right now - and he's beautiful and wonderful and everything a proud father could ask for.

I don't even have to say anything about these.  Just look at him.  Amazing.

They were taken a few days ago.

KADE CHRISTOPHER MOORE
b. 17 May 04
I love him with everything I've got.

I got married on March 17th, 2004 in Plano, TX to Hershey Floresca Soliman.  She moved out to AZ with Kade and me on June 5th.  Together we've taken care of our boy and started a wonderful life together.  She is one hell of a wife and mother and I couldn't be more proud to be her husband.

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary from when we started dating yesterday (30 June).  We're still getting adjusted to living all the way out here and we're still settling in our new apartment.

We bought all sorts of furniture, a 65" TV, and a new car.  It's a Mercedes-Benz ML 320.  We love it!

We're afforded the opportunity to purchase such exquisite items because of my wonderful job at Raytheon.  I work as a Contract Administrator for the Strike Team - Tomahawk division.  I'll be rotating to other departments and locations though.  I'm getting trained by Andrea Fergerson.  Melvin Thornhill is another new employee who is also receiving training.  My boss was John Brauneis, but he got promoted to VP of Contracts - Raytheon Aircraft in Wichita, KS.  I wish i was being trained by him, because he's supposedly the best in the biz.  Yesterday I wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Air Force.  How cool is that?!?  Pretty unbelievable.  Speaking of, I should be working now.

I haven't updated since last week, but that's only because I had three tests last week that kept me pretty busy.  I'm just glad that week is over!  This week should be relaxing, but I do have a lot of job interviews coming up.  I have officially accepted my job offer at Raytheon, but just in case I something falls through I figured it would be a good idea to keep interviewing.  So far this week I've interviewed with Intuit, Stryker Endoscopy, and Sun Life Financial.  Tomorrow I have interviews with Bank of America and FactSet.  Later this week I have NewellRubbermaid, NY Life, Mervyn's, and Wells Fargo.  So I guess I'm still keeping myself busy even though this is supposed to be an easy week for me.

More news - my boss at Raytheon called yesterday and asked me if I could start working earlier.  My original start date was June 7th, but it has now been moved forward to May 24th.  This is going to put a lot of stress on me to get everything taken care of after graduation (May 15th).  Kade is due on May 13th, I have finals all week before that, and I still have to move out here with Hershey and all of our stuff.  So the tentative plan is to convince my professors to move my finals to an earlier date, spend all of my time in Texas in between my last final and May 24th, come out here and work for a week, drive back to Texas on May 28th, drive back to Tucson with Hershey and Kade on May 30th, and move in to our new apartment on May 31st-June 1st.  My mom and my sister have agreed to come out and help us, which is really nice!  I think it will be a lot of fun, even though I will be driving forever.

I'm going home for Spring Break in a couple weeks.  Lots of stuff to look forward to!

HIGH:  Oh man I took a nice nap today... and I'm also looking forward to talking to my fiancee tonight.

LOW:  FIN 422 (Derivatives and Risk Management) has to be the most incredibly boring class to ever exist.  And it's at 8 am.

Today was mostly uneventful, but I'm going to write about it anyway.  I actually went to my Friday classes, which is pretty unbelievable if you've known me for longer than this semester.  I had Rock and American Pop Music at 10, and Journalism at 1.  In between I did three pledge interviews for AKPsi.

After I got in from class, Evan and I went to No Anchovies for lunch.  Man I seriously think I could eat buffalo wing pizza for every meal.  It's amazing.

Since then I haven't done much, but I do have a new section on my site for friends.  I've only done 3 profiles at this point, but more are coming tomorrow.  Go check it out.

Well Evan, Casey, and Dave are waiting for me to get off the computer so we can go to the Shanty.  So I gotta go.

HIGH:  Buffalo Wing Pizza @ No Anchovies with Evan.  Man I could eat that everyday and be ok.

LOW:  For the 2nd straight time, I waited for Journalism to start and no one showed up.  I guess it was cancelled.

Ok, where do I even start!  Let's do it chronologically:

Back in June of 2003, my sister got married to Patrick Bennett.  I'll have pictures posted soon.  The wedding was awesome.  I was the usher.  It had a butterfly theme, and Shelley (my sister) released butterflies outside of the church after the ceremony.  We had lots of friends and family in town for the reception, and that was a lot of fun.

On November 17th, I became an uncle.  Hayden Alexander Bennett was born in Plano, Texas.  I was fortunate enough to be home while all this happened, and I got to spend a lot of time with Shelley and Hayden while I was home for Winter Break.

During this same time, I became engaged to my girlfriend, Hershey.  We are shooting for a wedding on November 9th, but we are actually getting married during March when I am home for Spring Break.  We are very excited!

I graduate on May 15th.  I have accepted a job offer from Raytheon, and I start working there on June 7th.  I will be in a program called "Contracts Leadership Development Program", which lasts 2 years.  The first year will be spent in Tucson.  The 2nd year I rotate to a different facility, either in San Diego, Boston, or Dallas.  After completion of the 2nd year, I can choose which location I want to work for.  Of course, I will choose Dallas to be with family again (mine and Hershey's).  I'm very excited and feel very grateful I've been given such a great opportunity with Raytheon.  I will post more details about this in a different section sometime.

On May 13th, my son, Kade Mason Moore, is due!  So this will definitely prove to be a hectic time for Hershey and me.  I have finals beginning on May 12th and ending May 14th, a baby due the 13th, and graduation on the 15th.  Then I have two weeks to get everything together and move back out to Tucson with Hershey and Kade so I can begin work on June 7th at Raytheon.

So this is quite a time for me!  I have a lot of new responsibilities to take on and I welcome the challenge of being a father, husband, and breadwinner.  I am really looking forward to beginning my new life.

HIGH:  Finally getting my bank account fixed.

LOW:  I accidentally ditched a pledge for an interview today.  It was an accident!