I went into work yesterday morning. All seemed ok, people were busy with this, that or the other thing and it looked like a normal early morning for my workplace. I clocked in, got situated, and started walking back to my work area. A co-worker stopped me, asking me if I had heard about what happened to someone else who worked at our store. No one, I told him, mentioned anything to me. He then dropped a sentence than no rational person wants to hear:

“She was murdered in her home this last Thursday.”

“What?!” I said, though it came out choked, because I had to restrain myself from nearly screaming it out. I waited for him to tell me he was just kidding. This particular guy is awesome to work with, but a joker at heart. But he wouldn’t really kid around like this, I thought. I was right about that, as he proceeded to tell me that not only was she killed, by gunshot, but her daughter as well. This was done by her daughter’s ex, with whom they had secured a restraining order against quite recently. This guy then made sure no real justice could be meted out, by killing himself. The only life that was spared, thankfully, was her daughter’s two-year-old son, who was found crying in another room.

This incident, of course, is affecting all the employees in the building to varying degrees. It affected me greatly. This was an associate with whom I had worked side-by-side with on numerous ocassions. I’ve joked, told stories, argued and talked shop with her for a few years. I even helped train her in the position that she was currently working in when this happened. She was a no-nonsense, gruff lady and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, even if it hurt to do so. At the same time, she had a warm side to her that spoke volumes of her willingness to care about people and bring out the best in them. She wasn’t hesitant to point out a mistake, and she was also willing to admit to mistakes when she made them. She was a good leader, a great co-worker and spoke to me on occasion as a friend would.

I didn’t give her name here, out of consideration for her family as I do not know their wishes. All I can say is that my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to her family for their loss. I, personally, will miss her greatly.

For around two weeks or so, he had not been eating right. We tried to find out what the problem was, as he wasn’t eating food out of his containers. He would frequently hop to the floor and forage for anything he could find. We tried to get Kiwi to eat out of another container, just in case the other birds were bullying him out of his normal routine. Little did we know that he was suffering from a liver problem and it did not manifest itself in his droppings until a couple of days ago.

When the eating problem first came about, I took him to an avian veterinarian. She took samples, ran tests and couldn’t find the problem. She did give us antibiotic and anti-parasitic treatment just in the case that there was some other problem undetectable. During a week long regimen, he seemed to be doing better and gaining a little weight back. Afterwards, things began to decline for little Kiwi. However, all the while that this was going on, he was bright and alert and very active, despite a fluffed up appearance.

I took Kiwi in again today to get blood tests (which I had declined the first time, a bad move in hindsight) and X-ray imaging to further find a cause. Leaving him in the good doctor’s care, I went to do some errands. Two hours later, I was notified that after the anesthesia (needed for a panicky bird) and during the blood draw, his heart gave out. They tried CPR revival, but it did no good. I rushed in to the office, talked to the vet and said my goodbyes to his tiny, lifeless body. Afterwards, a necropsy revealed a deteriorating liver, not to mention an enlarged adrenal gland due to all the stress. We’ll know more when the blood tests come back in a few days, as we don’t know yet if any of the other birds are going to be affected by whatever caused the liver problem.

Our little Kiwi had his own distinctive personality, as all our birds have. He was, as Christine had said, “his own bird”. This English budgerigar had the biggest Napoleon complex of the flock, often rearing his beak at any of the birds that felt like getting near him. However, he had a gentler side towards his buddy, Alex the cockatiel, and he even made friends with the newer budgerigar, Bailey. In fact, it seemed that all the birds, even Thommen (our Eclectus parrot), wanted to be near him. A year and a half ago, I actually was making a music video with footage of Kiwi with the theme being “Everybody Wants You”. Unfortunately, the project got shelved when I needed more clips, and it was lost in the FileVault meltdown that happened around that time, so I can’t show it now, much as I’d love to. So I’ll put some pictures from the photo gallery here for you all to see.

After clicking on a pic, hit ‘P’ for previous pic, ‘N’ for next pic and ‘C’ to close lightbox window

I’m planning to bury him in the sideyard of our home on Saturday. It just doesn’t seem right treating him any other way.

When we adopted him, he was meant to be a partner for our female budgie, Colby. She died some time ago. I would hope that his spirit is flying with hers now.

Rest in peace, our little Kiwi.

Update: It seems that the liver problem was a hereditary condition, so that can’t be communicable to the other birds. The rest of the blood panel is still pending for psittacosis.

Jeff lost his sight as an infant due to retinoblastoma, a cancer of the retina. For the last several years, he fought a long and hard battle with cancer, which he lost yesterday evening. His wife survives him; she was sitting by his bedside. He also leaves behind their two children.

I have to thank my parents for exposing me to his music early on. For me personally, his influence in my musical life is as great as Stevie Ray Vaughan’s influence (with whom he shared some performances with, too!). I used to listen to his first two albums, See The Light and Hell To Pay, while living with them. I think now would be as good of a time as any to see about picking up those tracks again to kick out the jams!

Here’s my comment on this video on YouTube: We just lost an amazing musician. Jeff, the good man that he was and the talent that he possessed, will definitely be missed.

God’s roadhouse is in full swing, with the angels all a-rockin’!

This is a sad day for hard rock. Kevin DuBrow made his mark on the music world as the singer for Quiet Riot back in the early 80’s. This guy had one of the most recognizable voices in rock and metal. I have lots of memories tied to their music and his voice. Most notably is this little gem:

I only had one album by Quiet Riot. It was their QR III album, the last one with Kevin in the band (he was kicked out due to his infamous mouth) until the early 90’s. I highly suggest that one and, of course, Metal Health.

To Mr. DuBrow: I’m sad to see you go so soon.

“The sun never sets, for souls on the run… the wild and the young!”
– from the album QR III

Now for an update, since I’ve had some time to digest all that has gone on since then.  The Rieman family has, for the last year, been healing very well from their loss. Again, I regret that I hadn’t gotten to know him well when he was with us. From observing him on the few occasions, I found I enjoyed his company. However I found out that, besides me and the family, someone else had this regret too.

About a month or so ago, I recieved a strange phone call. A young lady, who’s name I later learned is Joy, was doing a search on Joel to find out what’s been going on with him. As many of us know, the internet seems to be bigger than the world itself, in regards to all the different kinds of information that you can dig up on someone. Sometimes it’s better than hiring a private detective! As I talked with her, she explained that she had once dated Joel and, even though things didn’t work out, remained good friends with him. She hadn’t talked to him for several years and wanted to see how he was doing after all this time. Anyways, through the magic of Google, she found his name in this blog… along with the heart-breaking revelation of his passing. The good thing that came out of all this is that I refered her to Joel’s mother, whom she called the next day. Plans were made for Joy to join the family on the anniversary of his passing, coincidentally just two weeks from then.

It’s unfortunate when time and distance keeps any of us from regular communication with those we care about. Even in our technologically advanced culture, the simple act of the written word or phone call is treated as an afterthought. I guess one lesson learned here is, even though many people say that you should always tell someone how much you appreciate them because you don’t know when you’ll get the chance again, there will always be something left unsaid, something left undone. It’s best to live for the here and now, put your trust in God to guide your mind and heart, and let come what may. There’s a reason that things happen the way they do, even if we can’t understand why, and we may never know the answer. All we can do is keep the faith in our hearts that things will work out for the best, even if it seems crazy at the time.

The other lesson is that blogs are good for more than the mere journalling of one’s thoughts. Cruise through a stranger’s blog and you may find interesting or useful info. I’ll have to remind myself to update the blogroll in the sidebar!

Cheers and blessings to all!!

This last Sunday I found out that my grandfather had passed away late Saturday evening, due to pneumonia aggravated by asthma. To me he was a strong-willed, intelligent individual that had a love for God’s creatures. He kept in close contact with his daughter and sons, especially in recent times. What stuck out most in my mind was his unswavering feeling of one’s origins and nationality. He embodied the age-old phrase “Be proud of who you are, not what people think you are.” Even though I know these things about him, I wish desperately that I could have gotten to know him better.

Rest well, Grandpa. May the memories of your life continue on in our family.

This is hard for me to write; I’ve never cried for a pet as much as I did last night. I am saddened to report that my cute bunny Pepper died last night due to complications from surgery.

I had brought her in to our small animal specialist vet for an Ovariohysterectomy (Spaying procedure). This is usually done for rabbits to curtail behavioral (territorial) problems and also to eliminate chances of ovarian cancer. (For unwanted pregnancies, it’s the male that would need to be neutered.) The procedure was done and I was called later and informed that the operation was a success. I was told that we could pick her up after 4pm. We got there at around 5:45 and she was still in legarthy from the surgery. We were instructed to keep Pepper warm when we got her home and give her medication before bed. We never got a chance to give her the medication because, as time progressed, she was still laying on her side. Christine listened for a heartbeat and found it rather faint sounding and weak. We had her wrapped up in a towel for warmth all this time, and I decided to move her to the heated waterbed. She seemed to have gotten much worse after a little time, and her limbs were starting to stiffen! I made the decision to get her to the emergency vet right away.

Just scant minutes after checking her in, we were told Pepper had passed on. After the initial breakdown and healthy tears, I instructed the vet to do a general autopsy. A full one would be overkill for something like this. Before writing this entry, I called and found out that there was significant internal bleeding… not quite enough for death. However, in combination with a reaction to anesthesia, it may have been enough to kill her. I will be calling the regular vet today for follow-up discussion.

In closing, I just want to say that Pepper was actually one of the best companions I ever had. I’m more of a cat person, as I grew up around them, and my wife is a bird person. Pepper was very loving, craved attention, loved being around us and I’ll miss that attention greatly. I passed by her cage this morning expecting her to be there, standing on her hind legs, looking at me with those large lovable eyes like she usually does every morning. When I’d cuddle her, she’d lick my hands and arms. I’ll miss that, and more.

Goodbye, Pepper.

We just learned that Christine’s cousin, Joel Rieman, had suddenly passed away recently. He was 29, with a birthday on Sepember 4th, so almost a year older than her. We are shocked by this, and our hearts and prayers go out to Suly and Doug Rieman and the rest of the clan.

I remember meeting him a few times, most notably at our wedding a few years ago. For me, he was a good-natured, funny, witty personality and he was an instantly memorable guy. He created quite an impression on me right off the bat. Christine says he was entertaining, caring, a good listener and fun to be around.

To Joel: We will miss you terribly!

Normally in my postings, if I ever talk about work, it’s in the most general terms and I don’t let on as to where and who I work for. It’s just a safe thing to do, considering that most companies are just barely putting together policies about their employees and “blogging”. Nevertheless, I have a few things to say about the recent shootings in the Glendale, AZ Wal-Mart.

If you looked at my profile, you may have noticed that I live in Glendale. I will say that I work nearby where the shootings occured. I heard about it around the same time the national media was notified. It hit really close to home for me, as it did for the others I work with. Even though I was very absorbed in my work that day, I couldn’t help but feel sadness and regret for the senseless loss of life in an otherwise beautiful day. I also felt anger at the person who would think to solve his problems with a loaded gun. It seemed so strange that something like this could happen in a well-to-do area. The regrettable fact is that these things can happen anywhere.

How a fifty-plus year old man, with a history of mental illness, could acquire a gun legally in this day and age is beyond comprehension. They say there is still no clear motive in the slayings of two cart attendants by this guy and, given that he may not be playing with a full deck, I guess we’ll never find out. There’s a family now without a son, who had a heart and mind full of ambition and promise. There’s another family now without a father, his heart and mind full of hopes and dreams for his kids. I prayed for their families that night, that they would be comforted in their loss.

It fills me with joy, however, to know that even in this day and age, two people can have the courage to track down a man who has acted with such violence. They had the good sense to get the information the police needed to apprehend this guy before he would harm or kill another living being. I honor and respect their decision to be nameless, as that is the spirit of the Good Samaritan. I salute them.

For anyone who reads this posting, my whole point is this: With anything you do in life, don’t be afraid to do the right thing. When you see something wrong, try to fix it. When you see someone wronged, do what you can to help and get them on their feet again. And when you witness a crime, don’t be afraid to get the information and report it. In doing so, you may inadvertently help save others from that same fate.