The Nellie Spot

Today, after Emma's nap, the whole family loaded up and headed to the Harber Meadows neighborhood for some Fall fun. We strolled around the neigborhood's large central park on our way to one of their community playgrounds that overlooks a really pretty lake. Belle had a good time at the playground, too, as she ran up onto the equipment and tried going up a couple of slides (quite funny to see, but ultimately she was unsuccessful both times).

We left the playground and strolled down the sidewalks toward a different lake so Emma could see some ducks (she's a big fan).
Allison and I paid careful attention to everyone's landscaping, as we're hoping to change up our house's landscaping in the Spring (with the wonderful, enthusiastic help of Josh & Margo Hale). The houses, landscaping, and general setting of the neighborhood is so amazing and cozy! We've wanted to live there since they started building home there. Maybe someday.

After seeing some ducks and lots of landscaping, we headed back to the main park in the center of the neighborhood. We stopped at a pile of leaves some kids had made earlier that afternoon and began playing in it with Emma and Belle. Emma is kind of prissy about touching things on the ground, so it took some coaxing and examples of how fun it is to play in a pile of leaves before she'd get in and get dirty with us. We covered her up with leaves (which she really didn't care for that much), and then she started covering me up with leaves (which she found MUCH more enjoyable!). After a while, we finally packed up and headed back to the car. What a great Fall day to hang out in the park!

As always, many more pictures can be found on Emma's blog.

Unlike Lafe, I will not be making up Forrest Gump-esque stories for my tag post. Since I have a horrible memory, I may not be able to elaborate much, but here it goes:

10 Years Ago
I was in my first year of college at the Universtiy of Arkansas. At this point in time, I wasn't horribly concerned with attending class, but was big into the social aspects of college. I was also in the Razorback Marching Band and was traveling a lot with the football team. That was the year we won the SEC West, played Florida in the SEC Championship (lost horribly), and played the Carquest Bowl in Tampa.

The spring semester of that year (1995-1996 class year) is when Ben Ponder (an friend from my hometown a couple of years older than me) came alongside me and began discipling me and got me involved with Student Mobilization. I ended up playing my trumpet in their worship band and met some of my best friends to this day.

5 Years Ago
I had just married my beautiful wife, Allison. I was in my senior year of college (I began psuedo-aggressive skating my 1st sophomore year and got kicked out of school on academic suspension and worked at Marketplace Express for a year, then got back into school with much more intensity and motivation). I was interning at Tyson's HQ in Springdale in the Compensation / HR Information Technology department. Allison worked full time at a local architect doing Interior Design. If you are a married guy, and you haven't lived off your wife for at least 1 year, I really recommend it. It's SOOO nice! But it's nicer to bring home the (lean) bacon, too.

1 Year Ago
Emma was crawling all over the place. About this time last year, we took Emma to a Pumpkin Patch and took a ton of pictures, which was really fun. I was (and continue to) worked for Nestlé as a Sales Technologist / Analyst.

Yesterday
Went to work at Nestlé, ate Krispy Kreme donughts for breakfast (oh so tasty!). Allison went out with some Bible Study girls to paint pottery. Emma and I went out on a Father/Daughter date to McDonald's and played on their indoor playground for a while. Played Xbox. Watched Alias.

5 Snacks I Enjoy
- Krispy Kreme donughts (chocolate glazed)
- Popcorn
- Butterfinger Crisp
- Peanut Butter & Crackers
- Gobstoppers

5 Songs I Know All the Words To
- Lots of worship songs / hymns
- Lots of Christmas carols (only 1 stanza, though...does that count?)
- Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby"
- Metallica's "One"
- "Shew Fly, don't bother me"
- "Little Bunny Foo-Foo"

5 Things I Would Do with $1 Million
- Build a house for my media room (yes, the emphasis is correct)
- Invest with the remaining $20

5 Places I Would Run To:
- I'm pretty sure there aren't any places I would run. Running is overrated.

5 Things I Would Never Wear (or Wear Again)
- Duct Tape
- A dress
- Spandex / Lycra
- A thong
- Polka dotted outfits

5 Biggest Joys
- Emma
- Allison
- Xbox
- Golf
- Personal Electronics

5 Favorite TV Shows:
- Lost
- Boston Legal
- American Idol
- 24 (despite what Cynical Seth may say)
- Desperate Housewives
- (Alias would have been on this list 2 years ago)

5 Favorite Toys
- Xbox
- Computer
- Golf Clubs
- Disc Golf discs
- Couch

5th Line From My 23rd Blog
Taken from an audio post 4 hours before going to pick up Halo 2 at EB Games with Miller, PK, Harkey, and several others: I rambled for 4 sentences, then summarized with this, my 5th line from my 23rd blog: "More to come". Genious.

This morning, we woke up, went to pick up Allison's parents (Papa & Gigi), and headed up to Bentonville to go to a Pumpkin Patch. After driving through the farmlands and woods to the pumpkin patch, we stepped out into the crisp Fall air, with the smell of hay and the smoke from a campfire. It was amazingly perfect.

We got out and played with a few of the horses by the stables. They had a couple of Belgian horses there. They look a lot like Clydesdales, but a bit smaller. Still, they stand about 6 1/2 feet tall. Emma really liked going over to a bale of hay and feeding them.

After 15 minutes of playing with the horses, we walked over to the main house where the horse-drawn wagon was getting loaded up to take us to the Pumpkin Patch. Emma wasn't all the excited at first. In fact, she was quite fussy and squirmy. That all changed when the horses started going. Then she was all laughs and smiles. We went down a tree-covered path beside a small creek up into a valley behind the house. We saw a couple of deer up in front of us. They quickly ran up the hill when we got close, but they were only about 50 feet away when we passed by. After about 1/2 mile, we pulled into an open valley set between very wooded hillsides. Hundreds of pumpkins were scattered around on the ground throughout the entire valley. The mixture of morning sunshine and shadows from the trees made the setting absolutely breathtaking! All the families and kids meandered through the valley looking at all the pumpkins and picking out the ones they wanted to take back with them. After about 30-45 minutes, we loaded up the wagon and began the trip back to the house. When we got back, the owners offered for everyone to hang around and play at the house. They had a few bunnies, shetland ponies, donkeys, and goats to play with. They also had an old carriage, tractor, and tire swing (shaped like a horse, of course) to play on and take pictures on. Emma spent a lot of time feeding hay to the ponies and donkey's. We had a big time!

We left the Pumpkin Patch and headed into downtown Bentonville. Central Street is one of my (and Allison's) favorite streets in NWA, especially between Walton and the square. It's a lot like Fayetteville's historic district with old houses and tree canopied streets. We stopped on the square and got out. We caught the tail end of the Bentonville Farmer's Market and played around the big water fountain in the middle of the square. We headed over to eat at the Station Café. They were voted as having the best cheeseburger in Bentonville...I would agree with the voters! Very tasty! Then we made the long trip back to the house and to nap time. What a wonderful, perfect morning!

For more photos, check out the Flickr flash in the upper right of the blog, and also on Emma's blog.

I took this of me and Emma this evening. It took me 4 shots to finally get us both in the picture. Makes me wish I had a rotatable viewfinder on my camera so I could see what's going to be in the picture. 

Man, it's really interesting to watch what the big tech companies are doing as far as planning for the future of their businesses. This article came out today about Microsoft and Yahoo partnering their instant messengers. Soon, you can send IMs from MSN users to Yahoo IM users. This is great for me, as I use both programs at work to talk quickly across the Nestlé organization and 3rd party vendors that support my office. Now, I'll be able to use 1 messenger. (Trillian doesn't work well on my network).

I believe the big companies are getting worried about Google, who I believe will rule the world one day, even more so than Microsoft does currently in the O/S realm. Google just dropped an IPO and now has about $7.1 Billion of on-hand cash to buy companies with. There have been rumors that they are moving forward with VOIP, they are now offering free wi-fi for the entire city of San Fransciso, and the biggest rumor about a Google-based operating system by 2010.

All this to say, it's interesting to see how Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, and possibly Apple start partnering with other companies to counteract the Google effect. And basic economics says that the more competition in the marketplace, the better for the consumer. And the parterning of MSN / Yahoo instant messengers is a great example.

Tonight is the night that I have been dreading for a while now. We are taking away Emma's pacifier. I felt okay about waiting until she was 2 to take it away (I know Sarah McGooden is rolling her eyes right now b/c she told me we needed to do it a long time ago), but the other day Emma showed me that she can now stick the whole paci in her mouth. So, the paci has now become a choking hazard. I know she can't swallow it, but I kept having visions of the paci getting lodged in her mouth. For the past few days I have been telling her that babies (like Carley) use pacifiers, but big girls like her and Grace (9 year old cousin that she adores) don't. She seemed to kind of understand. This evening I cut the top off of one of the paci's and left it on the table for her to see. She brought it to me and kept trying to put it in her mouth. I told her that it was broken and that we needed to throw it away. She willingly took it to the trash. I thought this was a good sign. She found another cut one and never picked it up. Emma has been coughing at night so we have been giving her some prescription/knock you out medicine before she goes to bed. I don't believe in giving drugs to make babies go to sleep, but in our case tonight it might actually be helpful. It will help the coughing, but I'm hoping it will also make her so sleepy she won't think about having the paci. I think the thing that worries me most is that she is such a great sleeper and I don't want this to change that. It has been 10 minutes since I left her room and she is crying instead of happily talking like she normally does. She is very attached to her blankie and she still has that. I still have my blankie (it lives under my bed, but I slept with it until John and I got married-I'm not ashamed) so I don't care if she always has a blankie. Say a prayer for us tonight and those of you who have lived through this I would love some advice. I know it is going to be a longer process than just tonight. Its one of those moments when you know you are doing the right thing, but it is breaking your heart on the inside.
Allison

Of course, I'm referring to Belle, my lab-mix dog! When the temperature drops, her energy level increases 10 fold for every degree below 55. Even after walks, she runs into the house with boundless energy. As if Fall needs more excitement!!!

As I walked to my car from the office yesterday morning, I opened the doors and was hit by the cool, crisp, light Fall temperature. To top off that incredible feeling, I could faintly smell smoke from a fireplace dancing on the breeze. It was such an overwhelmingly peaceful and invigorating moment! I love the fall! And so does my bitch!

I spent some time out in the front yard with Belle and Emma after work today. It was chilly, but they were both having such a good time (and thus, I was enjoying it, too). I posted a few new pics over on Emma's photo blog, so go check them out!

I saw this fun little thingy on Laura's blog, and have looking for an excuse to bust out my Metallica collection. You have to answer all the questions using song titles from 1 muscial artist. Here's mine:

Name: John Nelson
Artist: Metallica

1.) Are you a male or female? Eye of the Beholder

2.) Describe yourself: Sad But True

3.) How do you feel about yourself? Hero of the Day

4.) Describe your ex boyfriend / girlfriend: Creeping Death

5.) Describe your current boy / girl situation: The only One for me!

6.) Describe your current location: The Frayed Ends of Sanity

7.) Describe where you want to be: Wherever I May Roam

8.) Your best friend is: My Friend of Misery

9.) Your favorite color is: Fade to Black

10.) You know that: Nothing Else Matters

11.) What's the weather like? Ride the Lightning

12.) If your life was a TV show, what would it be called? Carpe Diem, Baby

13.) What is life to you? Unnamed Feeling

14.) What is the best advice you have to give? Fight Fire With Fire

15.) If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Phantom Lord