Beginning

As of August 13th, 2005 life as I had once known it has ceased to be and a bright new chapter has begun. I speak, of course, of fatherhood.

As many of you - friends, family and colleagues - have become familar with my postings, and lack-thereof as of late, you have no doubt already heard of the arrival of Liam Ray Fimmen and the spectacular changes he has inspired in the lives of his parents Ryan F. and Aby Algueseva. Without reservation, the life of Liam Ray will come to dominate this blog.

I figure, if I'm going to initiate my blog-site with the event of the birth of my first son, it might as well be accompanied by an emotional tribute to all those friends have have been so special to us over the past years. Without overlooking my family, I would really like to send a very special Thank You to our friends who have been very instrumental in supporting us throughout the past several months. A great many of you have overcome hurdles of distance and time to remind us of the significance & enduring importance of compassion, tenderness and forgivness - ideals, which hand-in-hand, can carry us through times of hardship and doubt. And, most importantly, let this be a message to those souls that have been at times closer to us than we could appreciate at the time - Distance and time cannot erase the unique connection we once shared. Only our own shortcomings may be to blame for the uncomfortable awkwardness that we attribute to the distance we have become to feel. We sincerely pray that this will not separate us indefinitely, and above all else, that this distance will not be fuel for animosity that may be mistakenly seen as a surrogate for simple neglegence. Both Aby and I continue to look forward to future encounters with dear friends that have, for far too long, been absent from our lives... and yes this means you - Tony & Maria out in Wales, and you too Commander (who can never seem to find our phone number - we still love you crazy Bagman), and Mike C. who's dealing one-eyed jacks on the Casino Queen, Andy Kling riding his bike all over the east coast, Meemo&Jeri keepin' it real in NYC, Turk (true love to you wherever you may lay your head), JP&Annie (always) , Braden L. and his new little Collin rockin out in Southern Illinois (my oringial stompin' grounds!) , and the list indeed runs on and on. Time is both infinite and time is also short, it is up to us as individuals to not squander what is given.

Peace and blessings to you all, and please please please do not restrain from contacting us. While we have heard from many of you in recent days and look forward to connecting with the remainder, we do indeed continue to cherish the friendships we have cultivated over the years and are excited for those to come.

With Love,
Ryan, Aby and Liam & Gibson too!

P.S. For those who have not yet seen burritohead.blogspot.com, you've gotta check it out. Clearly, if drewdogg thinks that smelling like mold is as bad as it gets, he's never changed a diaper.