Of course, the title of this post is so much better when said aloud with the Gomer Pyle voice. But onto the reason for post: my family stinking rocks (especially my wife, Allison)!!!
I asked for 1 thing this Christmas: the Xbox 360. Granted, with hefty price tag, it would take my parents, Allison's parents, and Allison to work together to get this as my single present for the season. I've been reading articles all over the web about how Microsoft has short-shipped all stores. Walmart, Best Buy, EB Games, etc are supposedly only getting 30-50 360's for their first shipment. The problem with this is that hundreds and thousands of people pre-ordered thier new Xbox. A lot of stores were saying that they weren't even getting enough to fulfill their pre-orders, and reported that it could be as late as January or even April before someone could just walk in and buy one! Enter that deep, sad feeling you get when your hopes and dreams are DASHED upon razor sharp rocks. I wasn't expecting to get one when it was first released, but I was at least thinking I'd get one under the ol' Christmas tree. I was even going to wait in line with Jason Miller and his brother the night of the release...just to be a part of the excitement!
Well...my wonderful family and perfect wife pulled together and allowed me and early Christmas present! Allison surprised me this afternoon with a fun letter from everyone telling me I didn't have to wait with Jason and Adam for fun...I could really get one the night of release! How freaking awesome is THAT!!!! I'm lucky to have such wonderful families that would forsake the die-hard rules of Christmas present giving and let me get my present a full month in advance!
7 Comments
Published by John Nelson
on November 19, 2005 at 3:45 PM.
I asked for 1 thing this Christmas: the Xbox 360. Granted, with hefty price tag, it would take my parents, Allison's parents, and Allison to work together to get this as my single present for the season. I've been reading articles all over the web about how Microsoft has short-shipped all stores. Walmart, Best Buy, EB Games, etc are supposedly only getting 30-50 360's for their first shipment. The problem with this is that hundreds and thousands of people pre-ordered thier new Xbox. A lot of stores were saying that they weren't even getting enough to fulfill their pre-orders, and reported that it could be as late as January or even April before someone could just walk in and buy one! Enter that deep, sad feeling you get when your hopes and dreams are DASHED upon razor sharp rocks. I wasn't expecting to get one when it was first released, but I was at least thinking I'd get one under the ol' Christmas tree. I was even going to wait in line with Jason Miller and his brother the night of the release...just to be a part of the excitement!
Well...my wonderful family and perfect wife pulled together and allowed me and early Christmas present! Allison surprised me this afternoon with a fun letter from everyone telling me I didn't have to wait with Jason and Adam for fun...I could really get one the night of release! How freaking awesome is THAT!!!! I'm lucky to have such wonderful families that would forsake the die-hard rules of Christmas present giving and let me get my present a full month in advance!
Allison, Emma, and I went to the Razorback Basketball game tonight at Bud Walton Arena. Emma is a HUGE fan of the band...and that makes a band-nerd-turned-Dad extremely happy! We got there early enough to hear the pre-game songs and all the cheerleader chants. Emma danced the entire time! And whe
n I say dance, I mean she would grab the seats in front of her and shake her diapered-bootie throughout the entire song. As soon as the band stopped, she would turned and look at me and Allison and ask for more. It was really fun! All the people around us would watch her and laugh...she was quite entertaining (it's the Nelson in her!).During the Star Spangled Banner, she let Allison hold her and she held her hand over her heart, just like everyone else around her. When the Hogs made a basket and everyone clapped, she clapped. About 5 mi
nutes into the game, 2 couples came and sat down in the row in front of us, blocking Emma's original dancing area. It took a bit, but she finally moved to a different location after dancing in between the 2 girls' heads (which they tolerated very nicely). She would poke them in the back, then smile at them when they turned around. Here's a picture of Emma and her "friend". Notice the extreme close proximity of Emma to this girl. Yup...right there in her face!We had a ton of fun! It made us really want to get season tickets so we can enjoy many more fun times with Emma.
My Delima
The last couple of days, I've really been thinking about the process
of teeth brushing. My normal process is this: 1) turn on water, 2) wet toothbrush in water, 3) set brush down to open toothpaste container 4) pick up brush and and apply paste, 5) hold brush while trying to put the cap back on the toothpaste without knocking off the stuff on my brush, and then 6) actually brushing my teeth. Granted, this only takes like 20 seconds to do, but there's just so much MOVING required!
My Solution
Dispensers have been a huge success throughout history. Take PEZ for example. It's a head with a stick body that you violently rip the head backwards and take candy from it's "throat". Great concept! And how about the dish soap dispensing scrubbers that help you clean dishes without having to continually re-load your scrubber with extra soap...they've sold a few of those, I'm sure.
But I've never heard of a toothpaste-dispensing toothbrush! And why the heck not? It makes perfect sense! Push a button on the brush, and BAM! Toothpaste squirts up onto the bristles of the brush, and you're off! No messy cap. No 2-handed juggling to contend with. And let's not even get into how much water would be saved!
Someone needs to make this happen! Colgate? Crest? OralB? Let's get crackin'! Stop improving the design of the brush and let's get to integrating!
3 Comments
Published by John Nelson
on November 17, 2005 at 11:53 AM.
The last couple of days, I've really been thinking about the process
of teeth brushing. My normal process is this: 1) turn on water, 2) wet toothbrush in water, 3) set brush down to open toothpaste container 4) pick up brush and and apply paste, 5) hold brush while trying to put the cap back on the toothpaste without knocking off the stuff on my brush, and then 6) actually brushing my teeth. Granted, this only takes like 20 seconds to do, but there's just so much MOVING required!My Solution
Dispensers have been a huge success throughout history. Take PEZ for example. It's a head with a stick body that you violently rip the head backwards and take candy from it's "throat". Great concept! And how about the dish soap dispensing scrubbers that help you clean dishes without having to continually re-load your scrubber with extra soap...they've sold a few of those, I'm sure.
But I've never heard of a toothpaste-dispensing toothbrush! And why the heck not? It makes perfect sense! Push a button on the brush, and BAM! Toothpaste squirts up onto the bristles of the brush, and you're off! No messy cap. No 2-handed juggling to contend with. And let's not even get into how much water would be saved!
Someone needs to make this happen! Colgate? Crest? OralB? Let's get crackin'! Stop improving the design of the brush and let's get to integrating!
Ok, plans are being set to (finally) have a Blogger Party! Details are as follows:
Date: December 10th
Time: TBD...probably lunch-ish
Location: TBD...vote for a location!
Who's Invited: any blogger friends that will be around the Northwest Arkansas area
1 Comments
Published by John Nelson
on November 16, 2005 at 9:00 AM.
Date: December 10th
Time: TBD...probably lunch-ish
Location: TBD...vote for a location!
Who's Invited: any blogger friends that will be around the Northwest Arkansas area
That's right, folks! It's Christmas music time in Johnny's cubicle!
0 Comments
Published by John Nelson
on November 14, 2005 at 6:42 AM.
Allison and Emma went to Little Rock this weekend for a friend of Allison's wedding, and Allison was in the wedding party. I got to stay here and be a bachelor from Thursday evening to Sunday morning! Here's a rundown of my Thursday to Sunday events...warning: this is filled with testosterone.
Thursday night: watched the Matrix Revolutions...and I turned it up to 11. Then I played Halo 2 until about 1:30 AM. Went to bed...never ate dinner.
Friday night: Had a co-worker's wedding shower to go to in Rogers at 6:00. After work, I went to the new Supercenter in Rogers (Pleasant Grove exit) and played on the Xbox 360 demo in the store for 45 minutes. Went to the shower, left before they opened gifts (because I forgot to get them one...horrible, I know). Got home around 8:00, watched parts of Kingdom of Heaven, then played Halo 2 until 2:00 AM.
Saturday: Slept until 8:30, then went to my niece Grace's 9-year-old basketball game with my sister's family. I got a call from Sarah Eichler...she needed to get rid of some basketball tickets for the Razorback game that night. I took them and asked my brother-in-law if he wanted to go. He declined, staying at home to watch SEC football. I called me friend, Todd, and he said he would go. Then, during Grace's game, my sister asked if I would take her to the game. I called Todd and asked if I could de-invite him. He was OK with it. My sister was pretty stoked about going, as she's a big basketball fan (and I had no idea she was). I got home and ate some lunch (PB & crackers, some hash browns, and some sausage...yeah, it's great being a bachelor!). Then I cleaned the garage a bit, then blitz-krieg cleaned the house (vacuum, tidy up, make the bed). I finished watching Kingdom of Heaven (great flick!), then got ready for the game. Amy picked me up and we headed off to the game. The Hogs looked great, and we had a really great time together! On the way over, we talked about the fact that she and I are really close and talk alot, but have never really gone anywhere together, just the 2 of us. So that pumped us up even more. Got home after the game and played Halo 2 until about 12:30.
Today, I didn't do very much, but was super ready to see Allison and Emma again. It was nice having a few days to do uber-guy stuff and purge myself on some Halo, but I'd rather hang out with my girls. Tonight, we went to dinner with our Community Group at O'Charley's, then to Walmart to get some bicycles for South Church (a ministry to the needy of NWA) for their Christmas gift giving program (parents of needy families get to come in and "shop" for gifts for their kids for Christmas presents...it's really neat). Now, we're off to catch up on some TV and go to bed.
0 Comments
Published by John Nelson
on November 13, 2005 at 5:47 PM.
Thursday night: watched the Matrix Revolutions...and I turned it up to 11. Then I played Halo 2 until about 1:30 AM. Went to bed...never ate dinner.
Friday night: Had a co-worker's wedding shower to go to in Rogers at 6:00. After work, I went to the new Supercenter in Rogers (Pleasant Grove exit) and played on the Xbox 360 demo in the store for 45 minutes. Went to the shower, left before they opened gifts (because I forgot to get them one...horrible, I know). Got home around 8:00, watched parts of Kingdom of Heaven, then played Halo 2 until 2:00 AM.
Saturday: Slept until 8:30, then went to my niece Grace's 9-year-old basketball game with my sister's family. I got a call from Sarah Eichler...she needed to get rid of some basketball tickets for the Razorback game that night. I took them and asked my brother-in-law if he wanted to go. He declined, staying at home to watch SEC football. I called me friend, Todd, and he said he would go. Then, during Grace's game, my sister asked if I would take her to the game. I called Todd and asked if I could de-invite him. He was OK with it. My sister was pretty stoked about going, as she's a big basketball fan (and I had no idea she was). I got home and ate some lunch (PB & crackers, some hash browns, and some sausage...yeah, it's great being a bachelor!). Then I cleaned the garage a bit, then blitz-krieg cleaned the house (vacuum, tidy up, make the bed). I finished watching Kingdom of Heaven (great flick!), then got ready for the game. Amy picked me up and we headed off to the game. The Hogs looked great, and we had a really great time together! On the way over, we talked about the fact that she and I are really close and talk alot, but have never really gone anywhere together, just the 2 of us. So that pumped us up even more. Got home after the game and played Halo 2 until about 12:30.
Today, I didn't do very much, but was super ready to see Allison and Emma again. It was nice having a few days to do uber-guy stuff and purge myself on some Halo, but I'd rather hang out with my girls. Tonight, we went to dinner with our Community Group at O'Charley's, then to Walmart to get some bicycles for South Church (a ministry to the needy of NWA) for their Christmas gift giving program (parents of needy families get to come in and "shop" for gifts for their kids for Christmas presents...it's really neat). Now, we're off to catch up on some TV and go to bed.
I just got Crowder's latest album "A Collison". I've only listened to it a couple of times so far, but I have mixed feelings about it.
1) I think the music is genious. The mix of "O Brother Where Art Thou" style meeting with Crowder's sound is really incredible and it flows surprisingly well.
2) It's not music that creates good "background" music. For some reason, the words are jumping out at me, even above the great music. At work, having this playing in the background while trying to write an email to the heads of the company is extremely difficult. My brain keeps returning to the words of the songs, instead of the work-based tasks on my table.
So, I'm deeming this album (for my own filing purposes, of course) with the label: "Great music to drive to".
0 Comments
Published by John Nelson
on November 03, 2005 at 12:27 PM.
1) I think the music is genious. The mix of "O Brother Where Art Thou" style meeting with Crowder's sound is really incredible and it flows surprisingly well.
2) It's not music that creates good "background" music. For some reason, the words are jumping out at me, even above the great music. At work, having this playing in the background while trying to write an email to the heads of the company is extremely difficult. My brain keeps returning to the words of the songs, instead of the work-based tasks on my table.
So, I'm deeming this album (for my own filing purposes, of course) with the label: "Great music to drive to".
