I've been off this forum for quite some time. It had got to the point where I didn't enjoy the conversations. I peeked back a couple of times and wanted to check up on OSC after his stroke. My thoughts and prayers go to him and his family.
It has been a good year for me. My work changed but stayed much the same. I still work for the same company but on a different contract. The work is different but is an area I wanted to pursue. I travel less and still work from home. I also have less conference calls. That's always good.
I'm still involved with FIRST LEGO League in Oklahoma. I run the local chapter of this organization. We are growing by leaps and bounds. We had our second annual Championship Tournament in December 2010. The team my kids are on (coached by my BIL) won the tournament and got an invite to the US Open in San Diego in May of this year. They are excited and have a lot of fund raising to do.
I still scuba dive. This has really turned into a passion for me. My wife got certified and I got my Advanced Open Water and Rescue Diver certifications. I am now working on Divemaster. I hope to be an instructor in 2012. My two oldest daughters are now 14 and are working their way through the Open Water Diver course.
We are buying a travel trailer this year and plan to spend a lot of time at the lake. This will be really nice since I can work from anywhere there is internet service. We are also going to take it to San Diego with us.
There is a potential for us to adopt two kids. My niece has had trouble with addiction for quite some time and may face prison time. This would leave her two kids for my parents to raise. They are 59 & 61 and I don't want them to have to to that. We told them that if she went to prison, we would take the kids but only if it were permanent. They said she would probably appreciate that. It's a tough situation, but I have four kids at home and I couldn't put them through "fostering" kids only to have to give them back. This would be difficult but we are the only ones in our family that would be financially and personally capable of taking them. Our prayer is that she changes her life and raises them right, but we are ready to step in if needed.
That's really about it. I hope everyone here had a good year too.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
Hi Brojack. It's good to hear from you. Thanks for the update.
Adopting two children from such a troubled background is going to be a challenge. My prayers are withyou.
Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
Thanks. Luckily, they are currently 2 & 4 years old.
Posted by iglee (Member # 12455) on :
Well, I can’t really welcome you back because I kind of just barely stuck my own toe in the water here myself, although I did lurk around a bit for a few years. But so far the water seems fine.
Hey, it’s way cool that you guys are scuba divers. You know what they say, A family that scuba dives together . . . . er . . . a . . . well, I can’t think of anything that rhymes with dives but your guys are way cool anyway.
I certified once way back in the late Jurassic when I was in high school. And one of my few regrets is that I didn’t keep up with it because I’ve always loved water sports, but oh well.
One of the noble things in this world is take in children who need a good home. I wish you all the best.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Brojack: It's really awesome to hear from you and what you are up to.
Scuba diving sure is grand isn't it? I would love to have worked as an instructor in some place like Malaysia or Thailand, but the only thing stopping me was realizing the pace of life I'd be living would be extremely slow, and I wouldn't really be able to retire when I was too old to do it.
Still, when I get settled into a career, scuba diving is back on the menu.
Posted by shadowland (Member # 12366) on :
Thank you for contributing this, brojack. I've lurked here for a long enough time that I recognize many of the old names, and it's always nice to see some of the older names pop up every now and then. I myself post much less than I had intended when I originally signed up, but I did want to make sure to post here and acknowledge that threads like these are greatly appreciated.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote: A family that scuba dives together . . . . er . . . a . . . well, I can’t think of anything that rhymes with dives but your guys are way cool anyway.
The family that dives together, thrives together!
The family that scuba dives together, has their lives together.
The family that scuba dives together, survives together.
The family that dives together, revives together.
The family that dives together, eats chives together.
The family that scuba dives together, hopefully won't get hives together.
And the winner is:
The family that scuba dives together, derives much pleasure.
Posted by iglee (Member # 12455) on :
Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
Nice to see you, brojack17. Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
I like the first one the best. It's going on my Facebook quotes now. Thanks for the kind words everyone.
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)