The Nellie Spot

New Blog: The Winds of Change are Blowing

2006-09-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've seen lots of people changing up their templates recently on their blogs. Since I'm an avid-Google adopter, I've recently started using Google Pages, a website design application. It's OK, and Blogger/Blogger Beta is not integrated into very well yet.

All of this to say: I'm moving. That's right! I'm 1-upping everyone's template changes and switching to the new Blogger Beta and linking it off my new homepage! Take that, lemmings!

So, I guess you'll need to re-bookmark my site to 1) Google Pages or 2) my Beta blog.

I'm gonna miss the old Nellie Spot...but the winds of change are blowing, and I must float with breeze.

New "TV Addicts" Site

2006-09-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm a sucker for Beta projects. And since Google rarely ever gets any of their projects OUT of Beta, I have a LOT of beta projects I'm using.

Blogger Beta is out, and it allows tagging your posts, and some other things. So in the spirit of technological advances, I'm moving the TV Addicts blog to the Beta version (so you can search for your favorite shows!). Also, if you'd like to be part of the TV Addicts team, let me know. The more the merrier!

Check it out here.

Farmer's Market

2006-09-06T21:01:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, Allison, Emma, and I and Allison's parents went to eat breakfast at Common Grounds on Dickson, then headed up to the Fayetteville Square for the Farmer's Market. I don't know what it is about the Farmer's Market that I like so much, but I really love it. Rarely do I buy anything. It's great people-watching, and a subculture all to itself. It's fascinating. Below are some pictures I took of Emma while we were there. This was the first time she's ever had a Hog painted on her face. She sat extremely still for the lady, which was impressive. Of course, the lady also had her in a death grip around the throat, so I'm not sure if Emma could move, even if she wanted to. We also saw Murray & Megan Williams while we were there, which is always a treat. I also became fascinated with two girls playing in a tree. I snapped several pictures of them, which reminded me of wonderful childhood memories of playing in trees. I posted them in my photography group on Picasa Web Pages if you want to check them out.

Razorback Pep Rally!

2006-09-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we took Emma to the Razorback Pep Rally at the Greek Theater on the U of A campus. We were joined by Benton & Jenny Beth Walker, Brett & Jayme Walker, and Finley & Brooke Robinson. And of course the kids: Emma, Ben & Whitlee, Molly, and Elle & Silas (respectively).

Emma was SUPER stoked to see the cheerleaders and the band. When we got there, her eyes were crazy big and her mouth agape watching all the drunken frat boys make loud noises. Ah college...I'm glad I'm an adult now.

We took a lot of pictures (shown below), and had an absolutely great time. Emma danced her little heart out and watched the band and cheerleaders at all times. Benton pointed out the lead majorette at one point because she was spinning her baton around her neck and under her arms, without touching it! Kind of like a hula hoop, but much more impressive. She also twirled fire, which is always pretty awesome. All the kids called the Hogs with the raving lunatics that we are to consider "the future of this great country". By the time the rally was winding down, the kids were pretty wiped out from all the excitement and energy loss from dancing frantically for 45 minutes. All in all, it was a pretty great evening...one I'm sure Emma will be talking about nonstop for the next 2 weeks. Here are the pics: (you can see Ben Walker checking out Emma's panties while she's dancing in one pic...it's pretty awesome)

Go Hogs!

2006-09-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

Thank God it's college football season again! Granted, I know very little about football. I know there's a guy that throws the football, some guys that keep the other team from killing the guy throwing the football, and a guy trying to catch the football (or run the ball, in the HOGS' case). And the kicker...there's a kicker guy, too.

Regardless of my knowledge of college football, I sure do love watching and going to Hog Football games! I don't know why, really...we're not all that good (blame Nutt?). Tonight, Allison and I are taking Emma to the pep rally which should be lots of fun. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow on my Picasa Web Albums page. I'm still hunting for some tickets to tomorrow's game, so if you have any, call me.

The only thing I REALLY care to see at tomorrow's game is the intro video, where they spin the USC helmet around, then a giant Razorback hoof comes crushing down on it! That gets my blood going and makes me feel alive!!!! GO HOGS GO!

Biking: Round 2

2006-09-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

I went out for a ride again with some co-workers last night. Same loop as last time: 22 miles. This time, however, it was 20 degrees cooler (85 instead of 105), much less wind, and I had water with me. Needless to say, this ride was much easier than the last time.

I didn't fall, but that's due to the fact that I only stopped 1 time. Last time, I fell trying to get my left foot locked into the pedal, and when I lost momentum, I just fell over. I climbed all the hills successfully. All in all, I'd say I'm getting better. And that's good, since you can burn a crazy amount of calories in a long ride.

My next goal: 40 miles.

Rock You Like a Hurricane!

2006-08-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

That's right, I'm now a freaking Hurricane, baby!

Oh yeah...I just laid out, flipped it, and reversed it!

Contest: Name Our Baby!

2006-08-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Since the Johnson Slogans went over so well, I've decided to pull out a new contest. The kind of contests where you don't win anything at all for winning.

Allison and I are expecting a baby girl around October 13th. Allison wants her to come out sooner, but I've told the baby to stay in there until AFTER the LOST season premier. Selfish? Yes. Do I care? No...I want to see LOST from my house, not in the hospital. I digress.

The problem we are having is a name...we have tons of boy names picked out, but very few girl names. So here's your chance to name our next baby! Odds are highly against us actually using the name the winner picks. But until we name her something else, you can just keep hoping that we'll actually name her that.

So, what good girl names do y'all have for us? And no, Delilah cannot be submitted.

My Face Goes Mach 3

2006-08-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a man.

I'm a man with facial hair that has to be shaved.

I'm a man with facial hair that has to be shaved with a Gillette Razor.
And that's no Schick.

I'm a man that has used the Mach 3 since it's arrival on the market, and loved it. My face loved it. My facial hair hated it (because it worked very well). However, I've recently tried out the new Fusion razor. 4 blades on the main face, and 1 on the back to grab that difficult to reach under-nose area. The first few times, as usual, it hurt a bit to use it. My face wasn't accustomed to the blade. I had a little bit of razor burn, and for some strange reason, my face broke out a lot more (gotta love pimples!). But I'm a fair man, so I gave the Fusion a couple of weeks to see if my skin familiarized itself with the razor and become battle-hardend.

I'm here to tell you: my face goes mach 3. My face doesn't like fusion: the scientific kind, or the razor. So I have made the switch back to my mach 3, much to my face's delight. The smooth, wonderful feel of 3 blades was received so much better than the brutal 4 blades. Apparently, my face has a limit to the number of blades you can run across it.

How's THAT for a random post!

Johnson Slogan Roundup

2006-08-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had some great comments for the Johnson campaign! Though some weren't specifically for my imaginary run for city council, they were great taglines and mottos that Johnson should adopt! Here are the comments, without names (to protect the righteous).

John Nelson for a bigger, better Johnson

John Nelson says, "Stop Sucking, Johnson!"

Exit 69: The Best Johnson Ever!

Johnson, a natural city of woods.

No one likes a dirty Johnson. Keep YOUR Johnson clean and beautiful. Say no to litter. (my personal favorite!)

John Nelson: Seriously, John Nelson...

John Nelson: For Truthiness, Speed Traps, and The Johnson Way...

Nelson: Keeping Johnson Somewhat Normal Since A Couple Of Days Ago...

John Nelson: The Only City Council Member That Wear Chaps To Every Meeting...

Johnson: Where the trains aren't the only things that are long.

Johnson: We don't need no stinking stoplights!

Johnson: The only place in America where you can be mayor, chief of police, animal control, and code enforcement at the same time.

Johnson: Where sheet metal buildings never go out of style. (my 2nd favorite!)

Johnson: Small town America so small the cops don't have anywhere to hide.

John Nelson: Johnson needs a new member. (My 3rd favorite)

Make Johnny work for your Johnson.

J.T. Nelson: Hard on Johnson, good on you.

Farewell, Maynard

2006-08-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Many people don't know who Maynard Freguson was. However, most people have heard at least one song by him. Maynard was one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, and he died Wednesday night. The song you probably know? He's the trumpet player from Rocky's theme song.

As a trumpeter, I was required to listen to MF before joining the Jazz Band in Junior High and High School. I wasn't too big on jazz back then, but his masterful skills were something to stand in awe of. According to the MSNBC article, someone in his family, just after he died, said "Gabriel, move over to second trumpet". Now, that's geeky. Even as a trumpeter, I think that's geeky. However, if you've heard MF play, then you know he'll be giving Gabriel a run for his money.

This Can't Be a Good Thing...

2006-08-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

News article from MSNBC:

Polar Bear Genitals Shrinking Due to Pollution

City Council Campaign Slogans!

2006-08-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, though I may not REALLY be running for Johnson City Council, it sure is fun to act like it and to daydream about it! I just think it would be really fun to be able to list "City Council Member" on my resume!

Elton (via the Casa Verde Lounge) thought we should come up with some campaign slogans, which is a great idea! Here are a couple slogans I came up with:

"John Nelson for a bigger, better Johnson!"

"John Nelson says, 'Stop sucking, Johnson!'"

"Exit 69: The Best Johnson Ever"

Yes, I am going to go straight to hell in a handbasket...but it's oh so fun! If you have some good slogans for my totally fake campaign for Johnson City Council, leave them in the comments! If I use your slogan, I'll give you a free campaign button!

Our Little Princess Ballerina

2006-08-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

My sweet friends gave me a Baby Shower today and it was so fun. "Baby Girl" (she still doesn't have a name) received a lot of great gifts! They were also sweet enough to think of Emma and got her a fun gift as well. I brought it home for her and let her open it after her nap. I probably should preface this with that fact that Emma has been loving to play dress up and imagine herself doing all kinds of things. We are realizing that she has quite an imagination for a 2 1/2 year old. Anyway, inside was a new ballerina outfit, ballet shoes and a magic wand. She has only taken it off briefly since she opened it up. The crown (which is already broken) was a gift from my Mom this week. Here are the promised pictures of Emma in her new favorite dress up outfit. You might be seeing her in this again come October 31st!!

California, Day 2

2006-08-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it turned out to be a pretty spectacular day here in California! The training got over around noon, so I had the whole afternoon and evening to do just about anything. I tried to get a flight home for tonight, but it would cost too much to change my flight at the last minute, so I opted to stay here (for good reason, too!).

I was talking to Allison after training, and told her I didn't know what to do the rest of the day. She told me to go to Universal Studios. So I did! I got there around 1:00 PM, and spent the next 7 hours waiting in line for decent rides. My favorite? Revenge of the Mummy. It's a good time. Other fun attractions are Shrek 4-D, Terminator 2: 3-D, and Waterworld. However, if you happen to be going to Universal Studios soon, take this advice: don't eat and then immediately go ride Back to the Future. You'll vomit. Thankfully, I didn't, but I sure did want to! I hit most of the attractions there and left about 8:00 PM.

I decided to hang out at Universal City Walk for a while, since I wasn't very tired and didn't feel like going back to the hotel. I grabbed some Starbucks and watched people walk around for a while. Then hung out at EB Games, which is next to the cinema. Spontaneously, I decided to go see a movie: World Trade Center. It was pretty great, though nothing like what I expected. I'd recommend seeing it.

Now I have to pack so I can get home and see my girls! It's amazing how much you can miss someone (or many someone's) in such a short time of being gone.

California

2006-08-15T06:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm out in LA for a few days on business...new software training. Good times.

The only exciting thing I have planned is to go see the Dodgers play tonight against the Florida Marlins. Those who know me at ALL will scratch be scratching their head at this. I'm not a sports fan. Actually, I really don't like baseball all that much. But for some reason, I really enjoy going to a game every now and then. The atmosphere in the stadiums is just great. And it'll be a beautiful low-70s at the game, so it may very well be a perfect evening.

I get back Thursday evening, then head to Kansas City on Friday for a Promise Keeper's rally with my Dad.

The Fine Art of In-Office Lunching

2006-08-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

I don't go out to each much for lunch. I live vicariously through the Lunch Tour. It's too expensive to eat out everday for lunch, and I'm a bit "stuck" in the office for reasons I will not talk about here (because I'll cuss a lot and end up quitting my job...). So, I have been refining the fine art of lunching at the office.

First of all, my WONDERFUL wife has been getting up with me in the mornings. While I get ready for work, she fixes my lunch and does her quiet time. So, I'm saving money and eating healthier by her serving me by fixing my lunch everyday. As you can see from the picture, my mother-in-law took things to the next level: a lunch box. The lunch box was plain silver, but she gave me 2 sheets of classic Superman stickers to adorn on my new lunch box! Yeah...she rocks.

The finishing touches on the fine art of in-office lunching is what you do while you're eating. For the longest time, I would waste time by surfing the internet. I have chosen a new hobby during lunch: movie watching! I have some kickin' speakers hooked up to my iPod dock at work, and I just switch over the input line to my laptop and watch an hour of a movie on my monitor! It's pretty darn great! In fact, on a few occasions, co-workers have joined me to watch movies in my cube during lunch. My boss isn't quite sure how to react...he now just asks what movie I'm watching and goes on his way.

So, if you're a person who is bound and gagged to their chairs straight through the day, maybe you can adopt my style of in-office lunching. It's pretty great.

Saddle Sore

2006-08-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, I went for my first road bike ride with a coworker (Brian) and a coworker's husband (Doug). Brian gave me his old road bike and will be pushing me to go out frequently to get into shape. The bike is an older GT aluminum frame with shoe lock pedals. I rode the bike around the neigborhood a little to get a feel for the bike and the gear changing.

We met at Doug's house back behind Pinnacle golf course. Brian held the bike for me while I practiced unlocking my feet so I wouldn't fall when coming to stop. He also warned me that EVERYONE falls the first time. I was determined to disprove that. The results? They're coming.

Brian told me we'd ride between 10-15 miles. To me, that sounds like a really long way, but I was willing to try it out. I stopped a couple of times, mainly going up small but long hills. I stopped at the turn for about 2 minutes to rest, then started my way back toward the house. After a couple of miles of slow and steady climbing, I decided to stop for a break. Brian and Doug came back looking for me after a few minutes. When I felt like I could manage going on again, we started up the hill. And this is when I fell. The difficult part of the locking shoes for me isn't getting my feet OUT...it's getting my feet locked IN. Thankfully, the fall didn't hurt too bad. We continued on back to the house. At one point, Doug circled back to ride alongside me and chat. I asked him about how far this ride was going to be...he said 21 miles! When Brian said 10-15 miles, he meant 10-15 miles OUT, not round trip. Suprisingly, I wasn't as mad as I should have been. I actually felt relieved that I wasn't SOOO out of shape that I couldn't ride 10 miles! We finally made it back to Doug's house after an hour and a half and no broken bones or skinned legs.

It's crazy to think that my first time out was 21 miles. That's the same distance it is between my house and my office in Bentonville. That drive takes me 25 minutes going 70 (ish) on the highway! The next day, my legs didn't hurt at all, but I was a bit...um...saddle sore. I took every opportunity to stand up throughout the day and give my laurels a rest. :)

Johnson City Council

2006-08-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Josh Hale and I were talking a few days ago on the phone. He mentioned that his old school superintendent from Mena had been in Johnson for many years and was now going to run for mayor of Johnson. I think that's awesome.

Following that train of thought, it somehow came up that I should run for a position on Johnson's city council. Not sure which one of us mentioned it first. Of course, we were joking. Since that conversation, though, I can't stop thinking about how cool it would be to sit on the city council! My ex-neighbor is on the city council and she loves doing it. She also didn't have many qualifications for the position she holds. So, I'm seriously considering going up to city hall and inquiring about how to get on the ballad. I honestly have no clue what any of the positions actually do...but I'd love to have a position where I could voice opinion about the governance of my beloved little town!

The only 2 things I can currently think about as far as a platform would be:

Traffic: helping the Streets Dept actually think through their decisions. A great example would be the lack of a left turn signal at Main St and Carley that backs traffic up for miles after work.
Johnson's image: set limits of business building types that can be built in the city limits. For instance, at the rate we're going, Johnson will be 90% strip mall in the next 3 years. And that has to stop. It's shameful. Before long, when all the businesses go under, we'll be a town where you'll only see colored rock shops and broken down antique shops that sell crap.

Any other thoughts on how Johnson could change for the better?? ANd thanks in advance for your votes. You'll get a free "Nellie for City Council" button.

Bouncing Back

2006-08-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've found that the older I get, the harder it is to recover from breaking my normal routine. A couple of weeks ago, I had the concert itch and got off my sleep schedule. It took me a couple of days to bounce back.

Yesterday, Miller and I played tennis at 6:00 AM. I usually wake up between 6:45 and 7:00 AM. I actually did pretty well throughout the day...even played tennis again at 8:30 PM. Today? I'm fried.

Man, if I'm only 29, what's life going to be like in 5 years? 10? I'm pathetic.

Fantasia (Singer, not the Movie)

2006-08-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

A coworker of mine (Lisa) recently saw Fantasia Barrino at LAX airport. Fantasia was the winner of American Idol, Season 3. Lisa shares my ridiculous giddyness of all thins American Idol, so she called from the airport and told me she saw her. I didn't get excited...and there was major fallout! She did go over and say hi and ended up talking to her for about 30 minutes, which is pretty cool.

I was never a big Fantasia fan. Actually, I wasn't even a big fan of the entire season 3, for that matter. That's why I didn't get excited. Now had she seen Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Clay Aiken, or Kelly Clarkson...my reaction would have been different. She's still giving me a hard time about not getting excited. Apparently, I failed in my American Idol Cheerleader role. The picture is of Lisa (left) and her friend with Fantasia.

Gator Golf

2006-07-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

Our Wednesday night hangout group has been struggling to find creative things to do now that American Idol and LOST are on hiatus. I've recommended a Frogger tournament, but that hasn't gotten off the ground yet. So Josh recommended going to play Gator Golf (aka Putt Putt, for you sheltered folks out there). Great idea! So we all (Hale's, Nelson's, and Tokar's) headed to Gator Golf for a fun round of putt putt. Emma did pretty well...she didn't crank anyone in the shins with her club, so we considered the evening a success! She was pretty interested in playing...for the first 6 holes. Then she just wanted to play with Olivia and jump off the hole obstacles. The rest of us played the round, with Allison coming out the winner and Margo got lucky, getting a hole-in-one on #18 for a free game. Funny thing about Allison winning...she ALWAYS wins. Josh and I tied, 1 behind Allison. I swear...it's frustrating being the golfer of the group and NOT winning. Allison, for some weird reason (I call it LUCK), always beats me. Of course, I just say I let her win....it makes me feel better. Here are some pics from the evening.

Toad the Wet Sprocket

2006-07-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Travis recently completed his doctorate in Logistics. That's right...he just now got out of college...at the ripe age of 28. But now we'll have to call him "Dr. Tokar", which is totally bogus. Travis is moving his family to Ohio State University where they are silly enough to call him "Dr. Tokar" daily. To celebrate his successful 23 years of schooling, Todd and I took him to see Toad the Wet Sprocket in Kansas City Sunday night. The trip was in danger of being canceled, since Trav contracted a nasty flu Thursday night (the day before defending his dissertation). Sunday morning, Trav was feeling better, so we hit the road around noon after watching Tiger win the Open.

We listened to some Toad on the way up, as well as the soundtrack to Team America: World Police (F Yeah! There's no way I can recommend the movie since it's vile, but it's easily one of the funniest movies I've ever seen) to get our juices going. We pulled into Country Club Plaza around 4:00 and immediately searched for bathrooms. We found one at Barnes & Noble. The stand up was broken, and so was the A/C. Bathrooms and warm temperatures are NOT good bedfellows. Feeling much better, we went down to Cheesecake Factory and ate dinner. Travis gets freaking fish tacos...after being sick for 3 days. But he didn't hurl, so all's good. We loaded back up and went to the Uptown Theater where the show was. At 6:15, we got to our seats and people-watched until the show began.

There's so much that happened, but I'll hit the high points. On the playbill, we saw that Sister Hazel was opening for Toad. Sadly, no one could remember any of the Sister Hazel songs. The first band started playing, and Travis and I STILL couldn't remember any of their songs. After about 5 songs, the band (Luce) let us know that Sister Hazel would be up next. Travis and I start laughing really hard, as we thought THAT band was SH the whole time and felt bad that we didn't know any of their songs. In retrospect, Luce was really great. The accoustics in that theater were pretty horrible...made more for true theater shows, not concerts. Sister Hazel took the stage and played a ton of songs. The band was really great, and they're great entertainers. After they were done, we moved to the back of the theater to more comfortable seats. And to help Todd get away from Sister Hazel's #1 fan who was sitting next to Todd. I swear, this dude was LAME! First giveaway: clapping over the head. I'm pretty sure that went out in the early 90's. Then at the end of their show, he RAN up there to shake hands with the band. He was in heaven...Todd was in hell. So we moved.

Finally, Toad took the stage around 10:00 PM. The place went nuts. After the first song, the lead singer from Sister Hazel came out and sat down right in front of me. Not knowing his name, but wanting to touch a man who used to be wildly popular, I leaned over and told him thanks for a great show. He said thanks back. We're pretty tight now. He immediately left his seat. But I touched him. Mission accomplished. Back to Toad: they were really great. Lots of songs. They did utilize the theater's disco ball (as seen in the picture to the right), which totally RULED! They finished up around 11:15, and we headed to the car. After gassing up and getting enough sugar/caffeine into us to make it home, we headed back here to God's Country. Pulled in around 2:30 AM. I really should have taken Monday off...but instead, I was an utter zombie at work.

Sorry for the long post...here are some more pictures. Hope you still have some time left on your lunch break to do something more fun than read this!

Out of my Element

2006-07-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Last night, two really great bands played at the Gypsy in Fayetteville: the New Tragedies and the PaperHearts. Both have guys I skated with in college (that's an entirely separate story...) and I hadn't seen them in years. Todd Gill started/leads PaperHearts and Aaron Weidner and his wife formed the New Tragedies. Seth came down from KC, so I got to see him, too. It was good just to say hi and do some quick catching up.

So I'm not really the bar-attending type. Todd England was going to go with me to the show, but he totally stood me up for some girl (the NERVE!). But in all honesty, I would rather Todd finally get hitched, so if that means standing me up then that's fine....once. :) Without anyone specific to hang out with, I enjoyed my time off to the side people-watching (and bars are amazing places to observe people). I've never been to the Gypsy on Dickson street. I sat outside on the patio for about 45 minutes listening to a really great cover band and laughing at the drunken idiots surrounding me. The New Tragedies were supposed to start at 10:00 (ish), so I got there right around 10:00. After 45 minutes, I realized that the cover band wasn't going off stage for a while. I walked around and discovered that the Gypsy has an INSIDE, too! Lucky me! The band was just setting up. I talked to Seth for a while, catching up with him. Then caught Todd for a short while, too. The New Tragedies played a great show! They have a great style...pretty mellow, mixing incredible vocals. Aaron and Bev's voices compliment each other extremely well. They played several songs, then let the PaperHearts take the stage. They started around midnight or a little after, I think. Now, the PaperHearts are freaking amazing! They have like 5 members, and lots of instuments. Their style...I can't even explain. It's just awesome. The vocals / music / energy is combustible! I stayed until about 1:30, then couldn't take it any longer...I was so tired. It was a great show, and I would recommend seeing either of these bands play if you get the chance.

It's hot, yo!

2006-07-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not positive on this, but I think this may be the best time to share the gospel with everyone. Why is that, you ask? Because Satan has stopped roaming the earth and is seeking heat relief in hell.

Yeah, I'm lame...but you still laughed a bit. Or wanted to. Or didn't.

I've decided to implement the "winter car" rule for these hot summer days. You know the rule...in the winter, you go turn your car on 20 minutes before actually leaving to go somewhere so the car is defrosted/de-iced/desnowed and is warm & toasty. I'm reversing that rule for the summer: 20 minutes before I leave the office, I will be turning my car on and blasting the AC. That way, the only sweating time will be from the door of the office to the door of the car.

I wonder if I could just keep my car running all day long? How much gas would that use up? Maybe 20 minutes before leaving will be enough...

Potty Party Pics!

2006-07-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

Last week, we began potty training Emma. You can read about the details of this party thing here. So far, Emma's doing really great! Very few "accidents"...less than a handful, which is pretty darn impressive. She finally pooped on her potty today, so the next step is beginning! It's so cute to see her wearing little girly panties (though I HATE that word...makes me feel dirty). She's super proud of her "big girl panties", so she runs around in a shirt and panties all day long. I'll have to break her of that habit quickly. Here are some pictures of the "kick off" party we threw last week.

Weekend Recap: Baby Preparations

2006-07-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was pretty exhausting (especially for someone as out-of-shape as myself!).

Friday Evening
Helped Josh & Margo move into their new house, which happens to be about 10 miles from the dead center of nowhere. Seriously. It's about 7 miles from Devil's Den. Surprisingly enough, they have DSL internet capabilities out there. I'm impressed. Their place is really awesome...log cabin-ish on 10 square acres. This is their dream place, so I'm really happy for them. So happy, that I lost 6 pounds from sweating in 100 degree heat to move their stuff.

Saturday
I woke up with a mission: paint the nursery. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, and the room is finally painted. Allison taped and did some touch up on the baseboards. The room is a warm green, with white furniture...it's really cute! I'm also really glad to have that project out of the way. It's rare that I ever get a hankering to paint, so it worked out nicely.

Saturday Evening
Our friends Aaron & Allyn Elleman are out town (Vegas, baby!) and Allyn's parents are watching their 2 kids. Carley, the youngest, has some virus and hasn't slept much the past two days. Neither have the grandparents. So Allison and I picked up Davis (the older one) and took Emma & Davis to the athletic club pool for a while. Afterwards, I holed up in the office to hammer out the details of my FCM talk for the next morning. I went to bed around 1:30 AM.

Sunday
I went up to work to print some things out for my talk, and practiced my talk out loud as I was driving and in the conference room of my office, practicing with the presentation portion. My head was totally swimming all day and I'm not sure why. I was having an extremely difficult time thinking straight, which isn't ideal right before a talk in front of 50 kids. Anyway, I did my talk. I thought it was horrible, but the feedback I got was that it went well. If they are lying, then it's a sin and it's between them and God. I'll take the lie proudly.

Sunday Afternoon
Allison went to a baby shower for Martha Ayres and then to the grocery store. I put Emma down for a nap and played a couple of hours of Xbox. Then I put together a new bookcase for Emma's room (baby #2 gets Emma's existing bookcase). Then we loaded up and headed back to Josh & Margo's house to hang out and eat dinner. Hot dogs, chips, Mtn. Dew and apple pie...it was perfect! We watched Josh fish a little on their stocked pond, but didn't catch anything. Then a couple rounds of Boggle finished off our visit.

All in all, it was an extremely productive weekend. Exhausting, but productive.

College Ministry Talk

2006-07-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks now. But I'd like some prayer coverage. I get to speak at Fellowship's College Ministry on Sunday. Any prayer would be welcome. As outgoing as I am and not afraid of a crowd, it's a scary responsibility to convey God's Word to others.

New Template

2006-07-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, it looks like I've found a template that has all it's innards (no idea if that's a word or not). Now you should all (Mac-snob or Perfect Computers) see the graphics.

I'm not a huge fan of the sidebar, but I dig the little menu thingy at the top! It's nifty.

Template Issues

2006-07-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

I noticed yesterday that my template failed to load everytime I came here. I pinged the website where my CSS template resides, and it timed out. So...I went with a new template. Now? It works fine on my computer at work (all the graphics load fine). At home, hardly any of the graphics load. I've tried IE and Fx at home, and neither are rendering the page correctly/fully.

Would you mind commenting to let me know if you see the blue curved heading at the top of the page and the beige frames around the sidebar?

Potty Training

2006-07-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

It's that time! Potty Training time for Emma! Allison is taking the brunt of the training since she's at home with Emma during the day. We are going down the "Train in 1 Day" path. How is that possible, you ask? Even if you didn't, I'm getting ready to tell you:

Throw 1 giant kick-off party:

Decorated the house in a "beach" theme. Balloons, streamers, beach balls, etc.
Potty achievement posterboards to track her successes: stickers's & treats
Achievement rewards for multiple successes: Chuck E. Cheese / Movies / etc
Big girl panties (that word bothers me...)
Toys to play with while sitting on the potty waiting to go
Cake!!

Trainer / Trainee

Emma starts by teaching her doll how to potty over and over again
After several hours, she starts to mimmick.
Lots of VHS movies from the library on how to potty train. They're awful

So, after 1 1/2 days of training, Emma's doing great! Yesterday, she had about 5 successful attempts, and 3 not-so-great attempts. As of today, she's had like 7 successes and 0 accidents! Pretty amazing stuff! Allison mentioned that today, Emma actually went to the potty without being coaxed, which is a big step! We're so proud of our little potty-er!

I'll post some pics of the decorations...it was a pretty fun time!

Pirate Nickname Generator

2006-07-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen Pirates 2 yet, but I hear it's doing OK without my ticket purchases.

In celebration of all things pirate, MSN created a "Pirate Nickname Generator". One for guys, one for girls. I got a pretty lame nickname: Mad Bunch.

What's your nickname, matey?

PC / Mac Ad Spoof

2006-07-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

Under the Sheets

2006-07-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I got to spend a little creative quality time with Emma before her bath. She crawled up into the bed and wanted to pretend to sleep. I got under the covers with her and started snoring. She laughed, then I dove fully underneath the covers. She dove under after me. I held the covers up like a tent so we could see each other. Her eyes got really big...then whispered "crabs coming, daddy!". (her cousins we're staying with have pet crabs that they brought with them to the beach, so crabs are on her brain) I ran my hands all around the sheets like they were crabs, then tickled her a lot. We did this for about 10 minutes before Allison came to get her for her bath. We "hid" from her under the covers. Her eyes were SO big in anticipation for mommy finding us. And she laughed a huge laugh when Allison tore the covers back and yelled "found you!".

It was only 10 minutes under the covers...but what a wonderful memory. I started thinking how fun it was to be a kid hiding in a blanket fort, or under the sheets. And I thought how fun it was to have a puppy under the covers, desperately trying to shake the covers off and escape. And I thought how fun it is to be under the covers with the woman you love (no...I don't mean it like THAT)...laying under the covers laughing, talking, dreaming. So many great things happen under the sheets...I hope you all get a chance soon to hang out with someone you love there.

Blogging Florida: Post 2

2006-07-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

These posts are so not in sequential order. Today is the 4th of July (Happy Fourth, by the way!) and we started the day around 6:30 AM. At 8:00, Seaside had a parade. The only requirement to be in the parade? Living in a house during the 4th. So we could have walked in the parade. Thankfully we didn't. We did line up and watch the parade. Here is Emma with her beads and flag.

By the way, I'm posting a lot of our Florida pictures on the Picasa Web pages, so check them out!

Blogging Florida: Post 1

2006-07-03T12:19:00.001-07:00

We're finally at the beach! We left Friday morning, and stopped in Little Rock to play at Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. Allison's family met us there. We loaded back up and headed to Jackson, MS. Mapquest gave us some super crazy directions, but they got us to our hotel...after spending about 1 minutes on a dirt road that apparently Mapquest knows about. Crazy.

We left Jackson on Saturday and made it to Sea Grove Beach around dinnertime. We met Sam & Amy at our rented beach house. We loaded up and ate at Pickles in Seaside. Then we let Emma experience the ocean for the first time...and it was a bit of a mixed emotion. She hates the sand (I have to carry her from the boardwalk to the water's edge every time), but loves the ocean! More updates to come, but here are a lot of pictures for you to ooh & aahh over. It's OK to be jealous.

Picasa Web Albums

2006-06-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

I put some links on the sidebar to my Picasa Web Albums. To my understanding, this is Google's attempt to enter the Flickr market. It's nowhere close yet, but knowing Google, it'll rule shortly.

Go take a look...I think it's fun.

Ride `Em, Cowboy!

2006-06-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

During the TV season, we have some friends over every Wednesday night to eat, hang out, and watch Lost (and American Idol in the Spring). Now that we're, well, lost without our TV shows, we've had to get a bit more creative for our Wednesday gatherings. This past week, we decided to picnic at Gulley Park. The kids played on the playground, the guys tossed the frisbee, and the girls chatted. Easily one of the best pictures of the night is seen here...that's me and Josh riding the spring horse on the kids' playground. Thankfully, it has two massive springs supporting it. Notice how low it gets on MY side? Yeah...it's the whole "fat kid on the opposite side of the teeter-totter" effect. It was fun, and made for some great pictures. As you can see, Emma was a bit miffed by what we were doing. As was everyone else at the park.

In other news, I'm still in a blogging funk. I have about 5 posts that I want to write about, but just can't seem to muster up the motivation to do so.

In other, other news, we're going on vacation! Seaside (actually Sea Grove) Florida! I hate the beach. I hate the sand. I love the pictures-taking opportunities. I love the golf. I'm pretty sure I'll like the beach/sand much more after this trip, as I'll get to play with Emma on the beach. Lots and lots of shovelling and sandcastle building are in my immediate future. Should be fun. It'll be REALLY nice to get the heck away from the office for a while. I need a break. I need about a 2 month break...with pay. It's been since New York last Spring since I've been away for a full week. Sad, eh?

Everyone have a good week, whether you're working, relaxing, or vacationing. I'll try to post some pics while we're down there.

A Spin on Movie Piracy

2006-06-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Be forewarned...there is some strong language in this clip. However, the point is worth hearing a few F-bombs. If you don't want to watch the video, here's a recap:

An independent filmaker picks up a pirated version of his hit movie, tells people all the pains he went through to get the movie made, produced, and distributed, and let's us know that piracy is wrong. He then states the truest words: The real piracy is Hollywood. There's some stuff about how he makes $0.05 per DVD sold, and got 20% of net returns, but that his movie made millions. He turns around after hammering the movie company and tells the world to burn as many DVDs as they possibly can to get back at Hollywood. He finishes by restating the fact that piracy isn't some kid in his dorm room buring a movie each week...it's the movie studios raping the directors.
Interesting take on piracy.

No Shit / Big Ass Hill

2006-06-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

I love being a Daddy! My Father's Day highlights:

Quality time with my Xbox 360 (during Emma's naptime)
Quality time with the fam at the Springdale Aquatic Center
Family picnic in the backyard (hot dogs with Ruffles & French Onion Dip...yum!)
Doubles tennis at Tyson Park

Another reason I love being a Dad is because of the funny things kids say, in my case, what Emma says. There are 2 instances where I'm pretty sure she dropped some large profanity. Though I seriously doubt that she was actually saying the words, my depraved mind sure did translate them as such!

Instance 1: The fam is traveling to Hot Springs. Emma starts to freak out and gets her arms out of her carseat. I tell her that she needs to put her arms back in so Mommy doesn't get arrested. I also threw in (just for kicks) that Mommy doesn't need to give birth to this baby in prision, like she did with Emma. Emma's immediate response was "No Shit!" and giggled a little. What the? Allison and I look at each other and then back at Emma who is now looking out the window. We laugh really hard for a long, long time.

Instance 2: Last night, Emma and I (along with Belle) went on a date. We picked up Sonic and picnicked at Gulley Park. Driving up the giant hill (Township), Emma kept saying "Big Hill". I said, "yes, it's a biiiig hill". Then she busted out "Big Ass Hill". She said it a few times while I was laughing and mentally noting to blog the moment. Instead of correcting her, I redirected her and told her that we're getting ready to go DOWN the big hill, which brought on a whole new fascination with the hill.

We're not sure if she was really saying those words, or where she even heard them. I'm an occasional cusser, but at least have enough couth to not say things like that around my little spounge. Regardless, those moments make for some very funny stories.

Fun Anniversary

2006-06-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

I've been such a bad blogger lately. Lots to say, but I can't seem to get motivated to write them down. I'll try to get better quickly.

On Saturday, Allison and I celebrated our 6th year of marriage...which is really crazy to think about. That's longer than I was in college, and longer than I've been at Nestlé. Time has flown by, and I'm sure I'll be thinking the same thing on our 20th Anniversary. Allison got me a Super Soaker water gun! What a cool wife! We're vacationing here in a few weeks in Florida (hopefully sans hurricane) with my sister and her family. Her kids got water guns for the beach so Allison got me one so I could defend myself. I've already taken it outside and hosed down the dog a couple of times to get some practice. I'm stoked. I got her 2 statues that capture our current lifestage: a mother and young daughter holding hands, and another of a mother and a newborn baby. The first was to commemorate and celebrate the time we've had with Emma and the joy she has brought us. The second is to commemorate the coming of our second girl in October and the joys that she will bring to our family. Yeah...I'm pretty sweet and thoughtful. It's no water gun, but she seemed to like them, so I consider and it a successful gift.

We went to eat at Bordino's on Dickson Street. It's certainly in our top 10 favorite places to eat. Great atmostphere and excellent food. Allison got her staple spinach fettuccine and I savored a blackened New York Strip that was outstanding. We finished around 7:30 and didn't have plans outside of dinner. But since we had a baby sitter, we decided to drive around Fayetteville and look at houses (just for kicks). We drove up Mount Sequoyah as we haven't been up there for years. It wasn't dark enough for us to park at the overlook and make out, so we just looped around and hit the historic district houses. We stopped by Pam & Clark Nolen's house to see their completed front yard landscaping project. They were outside, so we stopped to talk for a while. Then onto the house to relieve the baby sitter. It was a great evening and tons of fun to hang out with Allison and reminisce about the great 6 years we've had.

Canon in D

2006-06-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

I can't get over how awesome this is. Take the 5 minutes to listen to this, and crank up the volume if you can.

Happy Anniversary to my Wife

2006-06-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary, Allison! It's been the greatest 6 years I could have imagined. You're my wife, my friend, a mother, and a Sister in Christ. You encompass everything I could and will ever love. Thanks for a great start to the rest of our lives.

(sorry for the copyright violation Brooke...it's the best picture I have of the both of us. Think of it as a shout-out)

Nelson's Crossing

2006-05-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of big posts in the works, including the American Idol / LOST Finale Party last Wednesday and then some pics of the Memorial Day Weekend. Until then, I'm going to fill up space by asking a question:

What the heck happened to the Painted Horse in front of the NWA Florist shop?? That horse is as monumental and landmarky as Old Main and Dickson Street! And it's gone! Maybe I'm over-reacting and it's been shipped off to a giant paint thinner place to get rid of the 2 tons of paint it has on it. Or maybe it's gone for good. Who knows? All I know is that it is greatly missed.

Maybe that building that houses the Florist and Golf USA has been bought out by the Nelson's Crossing development? It would be nice to get rid of that ugly building. They're putting in a Starbucks next to Red Lobster, so everything else can crumble to the ground, as long as I can get to my White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks. Since it's Fayetteville, maybe they'll put in a giant mosaic of the horse in the ground near the building. I wouldn't put it past Fayetteville to do something like that...they're tacky in their historical preservation sometimes.

In other news, Johnson city council & road crews remain idiots. As previously mentioned, they put in a new light. When on Carley road, turning onto Main Street, you can't see the light since it hangs directly above you. How did Johnson fix this? Move the stopping line back 20 feet! Of course! Ingenious, Johnson....ingenious.

Handcuffs

2006-05-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

I realized last night as I was attempting to get my dress shirt off that I have wide hands. The next logical thought was that I would never be able to escape being handcuffed due to this.

Johnson-opolis

2006-05-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

Allison and I have lived in the great metropolis of Johsnon about 5 years now, and there are some great things about the community. And there are some bad things. Here's my list:

Cons of Johnson-opolis

It's 1 sprawling speed trap with merciless patrolmen
Traffic. This deserves it's own post, but I will sub-bullet...

It's between 540 and the mall, so lots of traffic
Tyson's HQ employees travel through Johnson to 540...there are lots of them
The most ignorant traffic-light folks EVER. Have you seen the new light at Carley / Main? From Carley, you can't see the light if you pull up to the line since it's directly above you. Going toward the mall from 540, there is no protected left turn onto Carley, so traffic backs up to the highway waiting for the Tyson folks to come through the light.

Post Office isn't big enough to service all the residents, so most folks in Johnson have a Springdale or Fayetteville address.
Strip Mall Paradise. Seriously, can the city planners actually turn down a proposal for a new strip mall in the city?
The Train. This thing crosses the 2 major roads in Johnson (Main Street & Johnson Road)...at the same time, blocking all routes through the town. And there's a junction between the 2 streets, so it stops on the streets for 10 minutes while it changes tracks.

Pros of Johnson-opolis

It's not Springdale
It's not Fayetteville
Affordable housing (kind of)
The sno cone place at Johsnon Road & Main Street
Curt's Place
The Johnson City Park...this place is really great for a town its size
It's convenient location: close to the mall, Wal*Mart, Best Buy & soon Starbucks.
Quick access to I-540 (unless you're stuck behind the train)
Lots of friends live nearby
My sister and her family live around the corner
My neighbor's are increible Holiday celebrators.

4th of July: neighbors shoot bigger / more fireworks than the Mall.
Halloween: elaborate housing decorations, including sound effects.
Christmas: lights abound. On on some houses, they still abound even now.

The exit sign for Johnson says "Johnson Exit 69"...that's phallically funny. I know you're laughing.

Baby News

2006-05-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

That's right! Allison and I are having another girl! We went in for the ultrasound this morning and got a "dead on" shot of the baby's nether-regions! And there was no third leg...so it's a girl! Allison and I were both pretty sure it was a boy, and Emma kept saying it was a girl. Guess she was right!

The expected due date is October 15th. I will need a LOT of masculine activities lined up, since there is no hope of additional testosterone in my family.

An Invitation & Life Updates

2006-05-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

Man, I sure haven't posted in a while! It's been somewhat busy lately, but not so busy that I couldn't blog. My priorities have been realigned, and I'm back to blogging! I know you're thankful and joyful...you can thank me later.

First and Foremost: American Idol and LOST Finales are this Wednesday!!! Holy Sardines what am I going to do on Wednesday's without these shows??? Anyway, I sent an Evite to most people I have email addresses for, but I don't have a lot of YOUR addresses. So, without further adieu, I formally invite you to our house Wednesday night to celebrate American Idol and LOST. Festivities will begin around 6:30 with grilling out / eating. American Idol Finale begins at 7:00, ends at 9:00. LOST Finale begins at 9:15 and ends around 10: 45. Yeah, it's a late night, but these 2 shows are SOOOO worth staying up late for! So come if you can! Click here for directions to our house!

In other news, some of the things keeping us busy have been wonderful things! First, my favorite summer family activity has been set in motion! The Sno Cone place in Johnson has re-opened for the season! So, the family has re-established our "Sno Cones & Park" activities. This is where we go get Sno Cones, then eat them and play at Johnson Park as the evening cools off. It's so dang fun! I recommend the Tiger's Blood cone...it's tastey! One of the "traditions" Emma and I have when eating Sno Cones is to stick out our tongues and go "AAAHHHH" to show off the color of our tongue after eating a Sno Cone. The picture is a self-portrait...sorry about my horrible teeth...just try to focus on my cute daughter.

Our good friend Elizabeth Morris (Hale) got married today (Saturday). I will finally get some sleep now that she's hitched since Allison frequently asked me (usually while I'm trying to sleep) who we could set her up with. Congrats to Micah & Elizabeth...it's such a God-graced union...they're perfect for each other! The picture is from their reception after the wedding.

Tonight, Josh Ayres celebrated his 28th birthday at his house and with a ton of friends there. It's always so fun to see friends and hang out and eat together. Here, Todd is staring me down as I snap a picture of about half the attendees. The kiddos played in the Elmo sprinkler, the girls chatted indoors, and the guys hung out in the backyard playing Cornhole (which I got thoroughly whipped at).

Also, TV has been keeping me pretty tied up at the house. Alias is ending for good. American Idol's Finale is on Wednesday. LOST's finale is Wednesday. 24 finale is Monday. Those are all 2 hour finales...so I've got like 8 hours of incredible TV to watch this week! So exciting! As always, you can catch up on American Idol on the TV Addicts blog!

Flawless?

2006-05-12T15:29:00.000-07:00

I thought Macs were touted as bullet-proof and flawless? Perhaps not so true?

Emma's YouTube Videos

2006-05-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Just as a reminder to those who care: I have posted several videos of Emma on YouTube. Most are done with my camera's video capture, so the quality isn't super-great.

My favorites thus far are:

- Pole Dancer

- Safari Accident

- Band Leader

The Casa Verde

2006-05-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

Not many of you who read my blog are familiar with the Casa Verde. The CV is the house I lived in for a couple of years while in (and out of) college. For the most part, it housed the main student leaders on Student Mobilization on the Fayetteville campus. I have too many incredible memories from that time in my life to even capture it in a blog, but I'll list some of my favorites:

During my stay there, it was the first time I've ever read through the entire Bible, front to back, straight through.
I met the men that had the most influence on me spiritually. I am only where I am today because of them.
I was beaten regularly with a giant zucchini by a 6'5" bearded lumberjack genius.
Once, a few of us turned off the lights and danced to some stupid techno song. When the lights came on (mid-way through the song), I was caught with my pants down. Literally. I was slapping my bare cheeks to the rhythm of the song. Quite em-bare-assing (haha).
I asked Allison out on our first date from my room at the Casa
After my first kiss with Allison (several months after we began dating), I came home to Elton at the Casa, who immediately knew I had kissed her. His comment: "You kissed her, didn't you? You're beaming, and it's disgusting."
Finding an 8" mushroom growing through the bathroom floor behind the toilet.
Chess by candlelight with Ben Elkins and Harold Simmons
Playing guitar with all my roommates and friends
My first room at the Casa: the Pain Cave.
My first night at the Casa: 4 very naked men jumping on me while in bed just after I turned off the lights.
Scalding hot baths in a clawfoot tub
Sleeping with a meat cleaver beside my bed so I could defend myself from Craig Sharp when he would come lay on top of me (I was under the covers) after taking a shower in the mornings...usually naked or wearing just his towel. Very disturbing.
Alabanza's & Annual 5Ks with Yoohoo.
Snack Time: Elton's sister would make us incredible & elaborate snacks on Tuesday's (I believe). We would gather around the living room and thank God for her.

Now that I'm reliving some of these moments, I realize there was a lot of male nudity happening at that place. It's kind of disturbing. Regardless, my time at the Casa Verde was life changing. I would not be the man I am today without that group of men and brothers in Christ surrounding me with love and encouragement.

I bring all of this up for 1 reason: Elton has created a website for all former Casa Verde-ites! I'ts been great so far to chat with roommates and friends who are overseas / far away and haven't spoken to in quite some time! I present to you, The Casa Verde Lounge!

Anberlin

2006-05-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

My friend Todd introduced me to the band Anberlin recently. After sampling a bit of their music, I bought their newest album, "Never Take Friendship Personal", on iTunes. I rarely get an album and listen to it repeatedly...but I'm hooked on this band! The driving guitar rhythm, very melodic vocals and harmonies, and catchy songs are just flat out great! I've been listening nonstop to this album for about 3 weeks now, and it's just getting better! You can sample some of their music on the band's MySpace site.

Todd and I saw that they are playing at the Hive in Tulsa soon, so he and I are heading over there to see them. If you're interested, let me know and you can join in the fun!

Single Parenting: Days 2 & 3

2006-05-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

We had some significant adventures on day 2 & 3 of my single parenting. Friday morning, my Mom calls and says they need me to be a pallbearer for my great aunt's funeral on Saturday. She also mentioned that she would watch Emma and I could take her place with Dad at the golf tournament! I was in! So, in order to get to Mountain Home before Emma's naptime, I had to leave in about 30 minutes. I knew that wasn't going to happen. But I threw a ton of things together for myself and Emma to have for the weekend. The fun part was this: I had driven Allison to the airport and she left her car at my office in Bentonville. So! I called a couple of co-workers and asked if they could help a brother out...which they gratefully did. I took the keys up to Bville and the two guys (Scott & James) took the car to the airport. I went straight back toward Springdale and on to Mtn. Home while James drove Scott back to the office.

We got to MH around 2:45...almost 2 hours past Emma's regular naptime. So, we pushed on through the nap and went to Walmart. Mom and I got Em some food and cute summer clothes. Then we went home. Mom went to the visitataion while Emma and I walked over to the city park and played around for a while. On the way back to the house, I picked her up and waded into a big stream to some very safe rocks right in the middle of the stream. We sat there for a while throwing pebbles into the creek. This is the same creek I spent HOURS exploring when I was 10, so it was really fun to share that with her. After dinner, Emma went to bed and actually slept in my old twin bed in my old room. She was obviously tired, as she fell asleep in about 5 minutes. I went to bed around 10:45 in the outer room (my room has two parts: inner bedroom, outer playroom...it's the bomb, yo!). About 3:45 AM, Emma woke up. I got her into bed with me, where she and I slept on and off for about 30 minutes. I awoke to Emma poking me in the face saying "Daddy, WAKE UP!". I kept trying to get her to sleep, but to no avail...she was up for the day! We watched cartoons until 6:15 when Mom & Dad got up. Dad and I got ready to go play in the golf tournament while Mom watched Emma and got her some breakfast.

Golf was OK. It was chilly and kind of rainy toward the end. But hey...cold & wet golf is still golf! Plus it was fun hanging out with Dad...that's our quality time activity. I checked on Emma a couple of times by calling Mom. She went back to bed for her nap around 11:00 AM and slept for 2 hours...I was hoping for about 4. After we finished our round (of even par), we came home to change for the funeral. I didn't even end up being a pallbearer, which was fine. It's always good to see family, even under sad circumstances like this.

After the funeral, I decided to skip out of the rest of the weekend. I was really worried that Emma would repeat the previous night's schedule, and I couldn't handle that again. So, we packed up and headed home. You know a kid is tired when they repeatedly yell "NIGHT NIGHT DADDY! NIGHT NIGHT!" in the car. Of course, Emma refuses to sleep in the car, so I put her down about 30 minutes after getting home. I took like 5 minutes for her to fall asleep.

The great thing is this: in the morning, she'll get to wake up to Mommy's face! That'll make her super happy for the rest of the day (both her and Allison!).

All in all, it was a pretty fun single parenting excursion. It's nice to spend that much time with Emma, though it's sometimes draining. And it's absolutely the BEST when you walk into a room and she yells "DADDY!!!' and comes up for a big hug!

Single Parenting: Day 1

2006-05-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Allison, her sister, and her mother took off to Chicago on Wedesday to hang out, shop, and see the Antichrist...I mean, Oprah. They got really lucky: Vince Vaughn and the entire cast of Will & Grace were the guests! She's coming back Saturday to sleep off the tireless shopping excursion her mom & sister have taken her on. So what this all means is this: I'm a single parent. That's right! Mr. Mom!

It's been pretty easy so far (28 hours into my full-time parenting role). Today, Emma had "Kids Day Out" at FBC Springdale from 9:00 AM to 2:00 (followed by a lovely 3 hour nap). I have no problem feeding and putting Emma's clothes on. Now picking out clothes and fixing her hair are not so easy for me. (thankfully Allison laid out outfits for me to choose from and gave me a lesson in fixing her hair before she left). I have to admit, her hair and outfit looked pretty cute today! While she was at "school", I was going to play golf with Miller, but apparently, that whole "April Showers Brings May Flowers" saying is total BS because it rained out the game. So I sat at home and read about the new LOST game (if you're a follower, check out the new Hanso Foundation website!) and played a lot of Xbox 360. After Emma got up from her nap, we hung out for a while then went to McDonald's for a date. She ate literally 2 bites of a cheeseburger and 5 fries and chased it down with some Sprite. Then she played in the indoor playground for about an hour before we packed up and came home. She usually goes to bed around 8:00 - 8:30...but tonight? Not until about 9:30. Yeah, I'm an awesome Dad.

My problem lies within the fact that I have no earthly idea what to do with her all day tomorrow. It's supposed to rain, so there's not much hope of killing a couple of hours in the back yard. I can't do McD's again (another sign that I'm aging...I can't stomach that place like I used to). So, if you happen to have a great, clean indoor playground at your house, or have a bunch of child-loving pets, give me a call! We'd love to come over and hang out! I'm thinking we may do Chuck E. Cheese for lunch, then possibly a trip to Barnes & Noble (cool kids area to hang out in) followed by a trip to the "zoo" (aka PetSmart). If you're interested in coming, you're more than welcome!

We did have a "mommy" breakdown tonight after getting home from McD's. Emma likes to look at pictures on the computer. When the slideshow came to the first picture of Mommy, all hell broke loose! She ran around the house yelling and crying for her Mom. As a parent, there's no good way to remedy this...but to assure them that she's coming back and that you are here right now and they should enjoy hanging out with Dad for a while (she needs reminding of this quite often). Thankfully, Allison called from Chicago and talked to Emma on the phone, which calmed her down pretty quickly (thank the Lord).

I'll give an update tomorrow night, if I'm not passed out on the floor from exhaustion. Seriously, I love my daughter beyond words...but I am very accostomed to sitting in front of a computer all day talking to adults (who sometimes act like children, but at least you can understand most of the words they utter). This Mr. Mom thing is TOUGH! Nothin' but respect for you full-time Mommies out there! Word up, yo! Rather, Word to your mutha!

Musical Diversity

2006-05-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted all that much lately. There's a lot I want to blog about, but keep losing time to sit down and do it. So here's something that I've been wanting to share lately...

On my way to work, I usually tune into 104.9 the X for some "get up and go" music before heading into a hectic day of work. Not usually the kind of music you'd expect to be blaring from a freakin' minivan.

But something happens during the day between my morning commute and the trip home: I work with people and computers. It's even draining typing that out and thinking about it! So for my ride home, I've been tuning into 107.9 for a little relaxation. Nothing like a little Sting or Elton John to calm the nerves down after a long day of work. It seems like all minivans' radios should only be able to listen to golden oldies, as that's the image most closely associated.

Man...that really isn't nearly as funny written out and it is in my head.

Silver Dollar City

2006-04-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

Allison and I planned on going to Branson for the weekend and hitting up SDC and Celebration City with Emma. However, due to the amazing amount of rain we've had for the past week and expected rain for the weekend, we canceled. On Saturday (while I was at the office for 6 unappreciated hours), Allison and I looked at Sunday's forecast and decided we could make a trip on Sunday. So, we packed up the van (that still hurts a little to type 'van', but it's getting less painful) around 8:30 and headed to Silver Dollar City.

We got to the park and headed out to their new attraction area, The Grand Exposition. Lots of smaller rides, designed like a World's Fair in the late portion of the 1800's. The main reason we went there is because they had small kid rides that Emma could ride (and a pregnant mommy could ride, too). They had leaping frogs, ladybugs, elephants, and butterflies...all the same ride funcitons, but different creatures to sit in. To a 2 year old, it's all completely different and exciting! We rode them all, and I took a jaunt on the Electro Spin. Basically, they try to make you throw up by spinning you around and going side to side simultaneously. Emma even rode a ride all by herself, and had no issues with that whatsoever. She's fearless. We also rode the train (which should only be ridden during Christmas) and then played at Geyser Gulch before heading home. We were there for about 5 hours, which is about 2 hours longer than we thought we'd be there. Emma was a gem the whole day, cooperating with getting in her stroller, waiting her turn in line, and obeying us when not in her stroller. It was amazing. I wish THAT Emma would wake up everyday!

Thank goodness for all the rain we've had, but thank goodness God gave us 1 sunny day to go to Branson!

Starz Free Preview Weekend!

2006-04-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last night, Allison and I were flipping through our Dish guide, looking to see if anything worth watching was on. We rarely watch but 5 different channels, so we were excited / confused to see a bunch of Starz channels listed. Come to find out, it was a Free Preview weekend, which is always amazing stuff! Here's the list of movies we have scheduled to record:

Raising Helen
Liar Liar
National Treasure
American History X
Bewitched
XXX: State of the Union (not porn)
House of Flying Daggers
Rounders
Finding Neverland
Jersey Girl
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe
Hitch
Herbie: Fully Loaded
Life is Beautiful
Sin City
Two Brothers (for Emma)
Blade: Trinity
Hellboy

Google Calendar

2006-04-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

Google will rule the world someday soon, and I am OK with being a follower of the Google. I think Gmail mail be the best email system created, though it has (until recently) lacked the features that make MSN / Yahoo / AOL successful portals. The others have calendars / chatting / email / etc, and Google has just come alongside them with all new features, including the Google Calendar (unfortunately NOT called gCal...too close to iCal maybe?).

Anyway, Google Calendar is pretty nifty and is very similar to 30 Boxes that you see on my sidebar. But there's a 3rd party that just created a cool addon that let's you create a calendar event, then create a button so that others (like yourself) can click to add the even to you Google Calendar. Pretty nifty. Now if only more than 2 of my friends used Gmail / Good Calendar, things would be perfect.

As an example: you can click the button below to add the LOST / American Idol watch party event to your Google Calendar. That way, you'll know when I'm having a ton of fun at my house and can stop by.

Home Movies

2006-04-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

I finally took the plunge and signed up for a YouTube account. It's a free video hosting site, so it's perfect for sharing home movies that are too big to email. You can check out my profile and videos here.

Currently, I only have 3 videos up, and of course they're all about Emma. I also used my camera's video feature to capture them, so the quality's a little lacking. I have a permanent link on my sidebar under the "My Daughter" section.

Artsy Fartsy Wannabe

2006-04-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a photographer, and I don't have a crazy camera with lots of lenses. But I have found that I like to take pictures a lot. The more pictures I take, the more my eyes have begun looking at things around me through a lens. As I drive by a pasture with the days fading light, I regret not having my camera with me to stop and capture the magnificant beauty the light plays on the green grass and surrounding trees.

Since I'm taking these pictures, I figured I should start posting them to see what other people think (it's okay to think they suck, by the way). So, in an effort to become all artsy fartsy, I have created the Artsy Fartsy Wannabe blog. Stop by and tell me what you like / don't like / would suggest for future reference about the pictures.

Razorback Baseball

2006-04-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday, my brother-in-law gave us his tickets to the Razorback baseball game against Northern Colorado. I had never been been to a Razorback baseball game, Allison went once in college, and we both wanted to see how Emma would like it. So, we grabbed the tickets and called Josh & Margo to go with us. We had 4 reserved seats down the 3rd baseline, 5 rows up...so they were good seats.

We all got decked out in our Razorback shirts and headed to the game. It was a perfect night...about 75 degrees with a slight breeze. The field is absolutely amazing! The grass is perfect, and the stadium itself is really nice. Since it was a non-conference game, we had a few extra seats around us that Emma could run around in. The only thing Emma was interested in the whole time was the cheerleaders who came out and danced on the top of the dugouts. Of course, they only came out for about 2 minutes every other inning, so Emma was a bit sad when they were gone. It was a pretty boring game for the first 5 innings, so Emma and I went walking around the stadium to ease her restlessness. We got lucky, and the cheerleaders were all running around the concession area. Emma wouldn't take her eyes off them. So being the great Dad I am, I approach a few of them and ask if they would pose for a picture with Emma. How could any girl turn me down?? Especially when my daughter is so cute! Of couse, Emma gets all shy and just stares at them...she refused to crack a smile (as seen in the picture). We left after then 5th inning, but stuck around long enough to see the Razorbacks go up 1 in the bottom of the 5th. It was a good time, but there's not enough entertainment for a 2 year old. All in all, we had a great time.

The Humpty Dance

2006-04-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

I was driving home today, listening to random songs on my iPod, when Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance" came on. Of course, I had to crank it up, despite being a whitey! That bass groove is just incredible!

Everytime I hear that song, it reminds me of a story. When I was in 8th grade, our church went on a week-long retreat to Lake Tenkiller in Oklahoma. For me, it was a trip that could easily be made into a movie. Flirting with a girl who wasn't interested. Then flirting with a girl who was interested until I accidentally yanked off her bikini top in the lake after dunking her (in front of everyone...), the first girl giving me a laxative-laced gum that did its job quite nicely, and lots of other relational problems most 13 year olds encounter at church camp. In my rebellion to a week of living hell, I went to a local music store and bought Digital Underground's "Sex Packets" tape (yeah...tape). My sister was on the trip (she's 3 1/2 years older than me), and found out I bought the tape. She was FURIOUS with me and made me feel quite guilty for buying it (which I should have been...but wasn't really). So, in my overdramatic ways, instead of just throwing the tape away, I got a lighter and performed a spiritual sacrifice ceremony on the sidewalk. That's right...I burned it. Right in front of the whole youth group (who by this point all hated me after that week).

And I wonder why people think I'm weird!

2006-04-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

An Update

2006-04-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've been crazy busy at work, life, family, and yard work, so I apologize for not posting much lately. (as if you were actually getting frustrated that I wasn't posting something about my life)
Here's the skinny on my recent life events:

Yard Work: redoing the front landscaping...well, Josh Hale is doing it, really. I've helped out some. But since I never do landscaping, I consider my part busy and difficult. And seriously, I can't believe it's time to start mowing again. Not sure if I'm ready for that yet.
Computer Work: it's like there was a friend-wide computer breaking outbreak recently. I've made at least 20 phone calls to fix computers, and about 4 house visits.
Kid #2 (the official name) Preparations: lots of housing prep being done for Kid #2. I picked up a fold out couch from my parents house a couple of weekends ago for the office/spare bedroom. Our current spare bed will become Emma' official "big girl" bed, and then we'll move all of Emma's crib and baby stuff into the ex-spare bedroom / Kid #2's room. Allison's doing great, and looks fantastic. I love my wife pregnant, though this is the last time I want to see her pregnant. :)
Mountain Biking: I got a mountain bike recently from my friend Todd. I had it maintenanced and took a few outings on it to get myself into "real" riding shape. After 2 outings that were easy but killed me, I stupidly decided it was time to do the Lake Fayetteville Loop. I survived, but my butt and legs didn't like me very much the following 2 days.
Family: with all the other things going on, it seems like I haven't spent a ton of time with Allison and Emma. However, I have had some great quality time with Emma playing in the back yard and putting her down for bed. She's continually cracking me up with things she says and does. We even took her to see her first movie at the theater (Ice Age 2)...and she did great! It was very enjoyable, though she ate a TON of popcorn and candy. But she stayed in her seat the entire time! Impressive attention span for a 2.35 year old!

I'm Freaking Awesome!

2006-04-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

We just got a new printer at work. Instead of throwing away the crazy huge box, I decided to bring it home and make Emma a castle! There's 4 foot tunnel leading into the main part where she has a bunch of toys already in there. Who needs an architecture degree??? This building / designing stuff is wicked easy!

Crispy!

2006-04-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

Anyone else get totally fried on Saturday?

I'm already regretting my statement: "No, I don't need any sunscreen Dad...I need to get a little sun." That was before spending the next 4 hours baking in the sun on the golf course. Ouch.

OpenOffice

2006-03-31T09:16:00.000-08:00

I recently installed OpenOffce 2.0 on my secondary computer at work (yeah, I'm THAT cool). I haven't done much with it yet, but from what I can tell, this software is amazing! Granted, the world uses Microsoft's Office suite...and pays handsomely for it, too.

If you've never heard of OpenOffice before, it's like Firefox is to Internet Explorer: an alternate, open-code software suite that includes a word processor (MS Word), a spreadsheet (MS Excel), a presentation application (MS PowerPoint), a drawing application (not sure MS has 1 app that compares to this), and a database (MS Access). Each application is extremely similar to Microsoft's Office suite in the layout and performance...but OpenOffice 100% free (unless you want to donate to the efforts)! This is a great alternative to throwing down hundreds of dollars for MS Office software!

The greatest thing about the software (besides being free) is that you can save any document (word proc/sheet/presentation/db) as a MS Office compatible file (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .mdb) so that the rest of the world can open up the files on their computers.

Fragged

2006-03-31T07:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm the "tech guy" at the office. I'm the SNL guy who gets onto people for streaming internet radio during work (which slows everyone else down), who scoffs at people when they can't figure something simple out (it's called File > Save AS), and who repeatedly yells at people when they come whimpering to me that they lose a bunch of work becase they didn't take 1/2 second to hit the Ctrl+S button and save their freaking work. Now, I've also scoffed and laughed at people who have very fragmented disk drives. Granted, most computer users never think to defrag their hard drive, let alone on a regular basis to keep things running smoothly and quickly on their PCs, so I cut them a little slack in this department.

So what happens when MY computer is running slowly? I reboot first. Reboots fix most things. Then I check fragmentation of my hard drive. Today, my computer was CREEPING along. I rebooted. Same thing. I then go to my Disk Defragmentor and analyze my hard drive's fragmentation...and find a TON of red! Holy smokes!!! I've never even seen that much red before, let alone on MY computer! What the heck? So, I'm defragging at the moment, while simultaneously scoffing, scolding, and laughing at myself. It's certainly a case of Plank in the Eye.

Dwight Schrute's LOST Theories

2006-03-31T07:25:00.000-08:00

If you're a fan of either The Office or LOST, then you should read this post on Dwight's (from The Office) blog. It's his theories about LOST, and is pretty darn funny. Especially if you read it with Dwight's mannerisms playing in your head.

Goodbye vs. Buh-Bye

2006-03-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

I've recently noticed that I say "buh-bye" when ending a phone conversation, both at home and at work. (of course, I throw in the occasional "Toodles!" to friends, too)

I've also noticed how incredibly dumb sounding "buh-bye" is, both verbally and written. Why is it so hard to say "goodbye"? My friend Matt Martin always says goodbye, and each time it strikes me as odd sounding. But it's SO much better and grammatically correct than the backwoods "buh bye" that we all use.

So, in an effort to improve myself, I'm taking a vow to use the word "goodbye" in place of "buh bye". Call me and test me on it. Accountability is needed.

Goodbye.

Dallas

2006-03-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

The weekend before last, we traveled to Dallas to visit some of Allison's old-school friends from high school and college. We got to McAllister, OK and stopped at McDonald's to let Emma run around and burn off some of her 2-year-old energy that had been strapped down for 2 1/2 hours. There, Emma got to play on the indoor playground, while Allison and I were entertained / frightened by the inbred family birthday party. If only I had brought my camera in! We finally got to Dallas and went to Nathan & Melissa Darby's house. Allison and Nathan were best friends in high school. He's super cool and so is Melissa. Their daughter Alexis just turned 1 recently, so she and Emma had a good time hanging out together while the adults hung out. We all ate dinner at a local Mexican restaraunt (forgot the name, but they had great 'ritas!). After the kids went to bed, the four adults sat around and talked for a while. We were honored with a 30 mintue dissertation on Louis XIII Cognac by Nathan. I got to sniff the crystal bottle he acquired recently...and I'm still not brandy person. The girls went to bed, so Nathan and I fired up some Halo 2...until about 3:00 AM.

The next morning, Nathan and I headed to Frye's Electronics (think Disneyworld for tech nerds). We got home and packed up our stuff to go shopping. After picking up some great lunch at a hole-in-the-wall burger joint, we headed to Chris & Sydney's house so Emma could take a nap. Allison and Sydney roomed together at Baylor while Allison was there. Chris and I seemed to hit it off. I mentioned video games, and he was a gamer and gadgets guy, too. Either that, or he's the most accomodating person I've ever met. While the girls sat on the couch at talked, Chris and I played some serious N64 Mario Kart. Emma and thier daughter Ryley took good naps, so the adults got to hang out for a while...meaning I lost LOTS of races to Chris at Mario Kart. We packed up the kids and took them Sydney's parent's house. They offered to babysit Ryley and Emma while we all went to eat that night, which was really great! We stopped to pick up some wine before heading to Moni's Italian restaraunt (it's a BYOB place). We met Holly (Allison & Sydney's other roommate at Baylor) and her should-be-her-fiance-but-isn't-yet-and-no-one-knows-why-boyfriend, Doug. Doug majored in English...at Mississippi (odd place to learn English!). At Moni's, I was introduced to my 3rd favorite appetizer: gigantic rolls and bowls of Alfredo sauce. Simple...and incredible! The guys sat on one end and drank ourselves silly...or 3 sheets to wind, to be exact. We crashed at Holly's place that night and got up to eat breakfast with the whole group again the next morning. It's a great picture of the group, minus Emma doing her best retarded move. Afterwards, we drove back home to God's Country (aka NWA). Going into the weekend, I was a bit nervous meeting all these new folks (which is weird, since I'm pretty extroverted). Everyone I met was phenomonal and really fun!

Sorry that was such a long post. I even left out the fact that we went to IKEA and that it poured all day Saturday and Sunday. Oh wait...maybe I didn't leave that part out. Nevermind.

Cat Hurling

2006-03-22T08:11:00.000-08:00

I just watched a cat vomit outside my office window.

I thought it was having a seizure...then it just hurled.

Lovely, huh?

Thought I'd share.

Dust Bunnies

2006-03-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

As previously stated, I've been doing some computer work at my vet's office the last couple of nights. In the process, I decided to clean out the dust bunnies from the computers, as it was overflowing from the inside out. He fixes real bunnies, I fix dust bunnies. Now, I really can't harp too badly on the amount of dust collected on the inside front of the computer...it's a freaking vet clinic! I have 1 dog, and there is dog hair on everything in my house. I can only imagine how much pet dander is readily available at a vet clinic! So, I have no scolding words...just pure admiration.

PS. I will be posting about the family's trip to Dallas this past weekend, I just haven't had too much time to sit down and do it. (Don't worry, Syd, it's a-comin')

Busy Week Ahead

2006-03-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I promise I'll get around to updating everyone (meaning both of you) with the mundane details of my crazy fabulous life.

Currently, I'm doing some computer work for our vet. It's not difficult work in and of itself, but the computers are a bit dated, so I'm having to get creative on how to upgrade the software on them. I'm going into the vet's office after work hours, so it's just me and the pets, which is fun, but also kind of creepy. When I'm concentrating on something, and then the entire place erupts into loud barking / chirping / and meowing, it really freaks me out. Being the avid animal lover that I am, I am finding it difficult not to go in and pet the animals. I've resisted welll enough so far, except for 1 cat and 1 bunny that are boarding there over spring break.

Hollywood Bugs Me

2006-03-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

I watched fragments of the Oscars this year, mainly because I forgot they were on. The only real reason I wanted to watch was to see John Stewart host the show. And from what I've read online, he did a great job and threw plenty of jabs to the rich and reality-detached Hollywood elite.

But one thing has really chapped my hide lately: the fact that Hollywood keeps harping about us (the movie goers) NOT going to the movies. They blame us with pirating movies, waiting for the movies to come out on DVDs, etc. This, in turn, causes the box office numbers to fall drastically. The thing that chaps my hide is that the quality of movies coming out is crazy sub-par. Honestly! What was the last "great" movie you saw at the theater? What was the last movie you saw a preview for and said, "I'm taking vacation to go see the 1:00 PM showing of THAT!"? There really haven't been many "must see's" in a while.

But yet, Hollywood doesn't realize this. They think they're losing money because everybody and their dog are pirating (which, to some extent may be true, but cannot account for more than 2% of their total loss). If Hollywood put out better movies (quality vs quantity), brought down the price to compete against the cheapness of DVD rentals, and theaters enforced behavioral issues in the theater, I'm sure that theater attendance would rise drastically.

I just needed to say that. It's been bugging the heck out of me!

Power Outage = Rude Awakening

2006-03-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

Last night, as most of you know, NWA was hit by some severe weather, including tennis ball sized hail and an F3 tornado. Thankfully, there wasn't too much damage done by the tornado itself, but the storm in its entirety scuffed up Rogers & Vendorville pretty good.

I went to bed around midnight, after shooting some pictures of the lightning. I didn't sleep too much for the first hour, as lots of tiny hail and strong winds battered the house. Allison has been sleeping in the spare bedroom over by Emma's room for the past week while our master bathroom shower is being redone. There's a ton of odor from the caulk and dry wall powder all over the bedroom, which she doesn't think fun to sleep in nor is it good for the baby. So, I'm laying there, wondering if a tornado is coming, and trying to figure out how to get to my girls if there is one and where to take them once I get them. Being the great guy that I am, I fell asleep before I answered all the questions. Allison came in once, just after I fell asleep to voice her worries about the storm. At least, that's what she told me happened. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper.

About 1:40 AM, my cell phone rang. I had forgotten to turn the ringer down, so it was on the loudest setting, ringing like crazy in the dead still of the night. I jump out of bed and ignore the call, since it didn't have a matching name in my contact list. I assumed it would be the wonderful Nestle Help Desk letting me know that my office was not visible on the network. I went to lay down again (after putting the phone on vibrate, of course). 10 minutes later, the home phone rang with the same number on called ID. I picked up the phone and sure enough, it was the HD. I told them we had had severe weather and that the office was probably experiencing a power outage. They asked me to go in and troubleshoot the problem, just in case it wasn't a power outage. Good times. I reiterated my point, but they insisted. I told them I'd be there around 2:15 AM and would call them when I got there. I jumped in my trusty van, Geri, and headed up to Bentonville. I got to the office and saw no lights on, which isn't all that surprising. I get out and go inside. I tried the first light switch...nothing. I look behind me toward the kitchen and see the light from the Coke machine coming through the doorway. I go into the kitchen and flick on the light...success! Weird, though, that one half of the office has power, and the other doesn't. I meander through the dark office (which is freaking creepy) trying lights, but to no avail. I vaguely remember where I left my flashlight I use when working on the servers. Thankfully, I found it. The server room was smoking hot since the AC went out. Everything was beeping at me. I call Mr. Know-It-All at the Help Desk back. I very sarcastically stated that yes, the office had no power, as I had told him 30 minutes ago from the comfort of my own bed. His response? "Why, I guess there's nothing you can really do, huh?" ARE YOU SERIOUS?? At this point, the emergency lights POP and come on, helpfully showing my exit options. After checking to see if I had wet myself (which I hadn't, but seriously could have), I grabbed my laptop and started heading toward the front of the office. Then the emergency lights POP and go off again. I still hadn't wet myself. I get home around 3:30 AM and boot up the laptop, knowing there would be 20 emails about the fact the office had a power outage. I responded to the emails (only 10) and let them know it was really just an outage and that everything would be fine. I finally turned off the lights and went to bed just after 4:00 AM. What a crappy night.

Don't feel TOO sorry for me though. I did take the liberty of sleeping in until 8:00 and getting into the office at 9:00, which helped a lot. Sometimes it sucks to be the tech guy.

Lightning Crashes

2006-03-13T17:43:00.000-08:00

I'm always captivated by lightning. I love electrical storms...the randomness of the lightning bolt paths, the way it jumps from cloud to cloud and cloud to ground, the shadows of the huge clouds accentuated against their light. Last night, a good cloud passed by with lots of lightning. I sat on my driveway for about 30 minutes shooting in continuous mode trying to get a good picture of a lightning strike. I took roughly 300 shots and only got 2 decent shots. This is the best one of the two.

I Love Me Some Josh Hale!

2006-03-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

That's exactly what I said, folks...I love me some Josh Hale! Being a man who has not 1 ounce of ability to fix / repair / beautify anything involving my house. I can change light bulbs and dust ceiling fans...that's the extent.

As previously posted, Josh helped (and by helped I mean he did 100% of it himself) Allison and I put in a new back door (frame and all), and floored our attic. That was the prior weekend. This past Saturday, Josh called and said he was bored. He asked if he could come finish caulking the back door and then begin helping us revamp our landscaping. Without needing to think very long, we agreed to let him come over and do free work for us. He caulked the door and we moved to the front yard to work on the landscaping. He pulled out about 6 large shrubs that we hated, and trimmed up our Japanese Maple. Then we shoveled the rock filler from half of 1 bed to make room for regular mulch. We ran out of places to put the rocks, so we stopped. If you have a friend like Josh, be sure to give them a hug...it's super nice to have a helpful, servant-minded friend like that around.

On a second cool friend moment, a co-worker of mine who got promoted to a different sales account is back in town for a couple of days visiting the office. I run a lot of reports for him throughout the week for his account. He brought me a kick-butt 12" Predator figure to put in my cube! In this picture, Predator is telling you to stay away from my 100 Grand with Peanuts or he'll annihilate you. Predator now has a lovely resting spot on the window ledge above my cube. He's right above my lava lamp. I now realize that I have an extremely tacky cubicle.

2006-03-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

I ended up using a flash in this shot. I liked the sky as a backdrop. The blues contrasted against the reds in the blooms really brought out the red. I'm not a photoshopper guy, so all my editing is done with simple techniques (obviously) in Picasa.

2006-03-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Brett's photography of late, I decided to work on my macro portrait shots. Our Bradford Pear started blooming recently, so it became the focus of my attention. I should have used a flash on this picture, but I liked the subdued lighting.

Mind Blowing

2006-03-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

I use StatCounter to track the hits on my blog, just for kicks & giggles. Here's a chart showing the number of unique visitors (based on cookies) and repeat visits by day. It blows my mind that an average of 30 people visit my blog on a regular basis! I don't think I'm special, so the fact that anyone other than the 3 people I know would visit it is really quite amazing to me. Thanks for looking at my life! I hope it's mildly entertaining.

PS. Friday doesn't count, since it's only 8:30 AM.

Tagged like a Wild Bear

2006-03-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

1) What time is it? 10:45 P.M.
2) What is your full name? John Thomas Nelson the Incredible (no, seriously!)
3) What are you most afraid of? immediate heights. Like cliffs or towers. Really, it comes down to whether or not I can cause myself to die of a heart attack before hitting the ground. I'm pretty sure I could do that from a plane...not from a cliff.
4) Most recent movie you've seen? Sadly, I don't remember. Mustn't have been a very good movie.
5) Where were you born? Mountain Home, Arkansas
6) Favorite food? anything considered unhealthy
7) Ever been to Alaska? Nope, but I want to go and ride a dog sled.
8) Ever been toilet paper rolling? heck yeah! Even took my high school bible study guys a few times!
9) Loved someone so much it made you cry? Yes
10) Been in a car accident? only a couple of fender benders...my fault, of course
11) Courtons or bacon bits? both, with tons of cheese and ranch (or honey mustard)
12) Favorite day of the week? weekends and whatever day is a holiday
13) Favorite restaurant? Copeland's
14) Favorite flowers? the free kind
15) Favorite sport to watch? Golf
16) Favorite drink? Soda (Coke or DP). Though Yoohoo is a nice treat every now and then!
17) Favorite ice-cream? Mint Chocolate Chip with Magic Shell on top!
18) Disney or Warner Bros? Movies? I'd go with WB. TV, Disney
19) Favorite fast food restaurant? Sonic!
20) What color is your bedroom carpet? Beige
21) How many times have you failed your driver's test? Never
22) What do you do when your bored? Xbox / Read tech & friend blogs
23) Bedtime? 11pm-12am
24) Favorite TV show? 24, LOST, Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, American Idol
25) Ford/Chevy? No preference
26) What are you listening to right now? Myself typing
27) Favorite color? blue (all hues)
28) How many tattoos do you have? None. I'm WAY too much of a sissy to get one.
29) How many pets do you have? 1 (Belle, my bitch)
30) Five years from now I will be? Hopefully skinnier
31) What would you like to accomplish before you die? Travel Europe for a summer.

California Context Craziness

2006-03-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

While I was in LA a few weeks ago for work, a co-worker pointed out the way LA-liens refer to their highways and how dumb it sounds when you apply it anywhere but LA.

They refer to all the highways as "the". The 10. The 105. It seems fine when you're listening to the traffice reports in the morning there. But what if you applied that to NWA?

"How do I get from your house to the Nestlé office?"
"Well, first you go down Carley and turn West on the 412. Then you hit the 540 going North. You'll stay on the 540 until you get to exit 88 and then take the 72 East for about 1/4 mile, turn left onto NE McLain, then right onto NE Courtyard Loop."

In fact, I believe I'm going to start giving directions using "the" to identify all highways. I'm surprised Little Rock-ians don't already do this, as they feel they are the Arkansas equivalent to LA. :)

My Sister's Scary Shopping Experience

2006-03-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

My sister called this evening as the Nelson household was finsihing dinner. She told us that she went grocery shopping at the Springdale Wal*Mart Supercenter instead of her normal Fayetteville Supercenter. As she and her 2 sons were heading from the back of the store to check out, one of her sons heard a helicopter that sounded super close to the store. Amy got a bit spooked and gathered the kids around her. Then they heard the cops and firetruck screaming into the parking lot. She rushed back to the Lawn & Garden center and crouched down in the checkout stand with her kids as a man rushed into the store followed by a group of policemen. Apparently, the man running from police made it to the employee-only storage area in the back of the Supercenter before being shot in the back. Here's the local coverage of the story (which isn't nearly as crazy sounding as Amy's version). Everyone is OK, but she's pretty freaked out over the whole thing.

Just when it seems that the rest of the nation and Fort Smith are the only places with crime, we get our few moments of reality (another example is the Boston club beater who got shot down outside of my hometown, Mtn. Home a few months back).

An Unhealthy Fear

2006-03-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

I realized that I have an extremely random and unhealthy fear. Yesterday, driving home from work, I decided it was really nice outside and drove with my windows down and held a 75mph speed (about 5mph slower than normal). Any faster, and the roar of the wind is unbearable for me.

As I passed several cars in the right lane (a whole ranting post in itself), I re-discovered my unhealthy fear: being hit in the face/ear with a rock kicked up by a passing vehicle. Yeah, random. But who hasn't almost wet themselves when a semi throws a big rock up and it smacks their windshield? Same fear, just with the idea that a rock could directionally come through my window and rip my ear off.

Despite my unhealthy fear, I continued to drive with my windows down. I just bent my head in toward the middle of the car a bit more than usual. Does anyone else have any random, unhealthy fears? I'd love to hear them (mainly so I don't feel quite so ridiculous)!

An Adult-Only Weekend

2006-03-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

My parents were biting at the bit to keep Emma for a weekend, so we finally found a weekend that worked out well, which was this past weekend. Mom and Dad met Allison and Emma in Harrison (halfway between here and Mtn. Home) and did the drop-off. Emma is really good at exchanges, so she doesn't get all weepy and fussy when we drop her off with others.

Friday night, we went out with the Hales, the Tokars, the Eichlers, and Todd to celebrate my birthday (Feb 28), Sarah Eichler's birthday (Mar 2), and Travis' birthday (today). We met and ate at Fudrucker's, then headed back to the Eichler's house to play some games and hang out. We ended up playing some always fun Scattegories. Lots of laughing and randomness! We retired close to midnight.

Saturady morning, I got up around 7:30 to go visit with Dr. Davis, our vet. He needs some computer work done his office, so I went to see if it's anything I can actually do. It was neat (and sad) to be in the back of the vet's office where all the sick animals were. After that, we met Josh & Margo and Margo's parents at the infamous Sunset Grill for some breakfast. It was an hour wait for food, so we just sat around and talked for a while. If you've never been, I highly recommend Sunset Grill...they have great everything! I really like their cinnamon toast, which is doused in butter and 100% covered is sugar and cinnamon! Good stuff!

After breakfast, Josh & Margo and us went to Lowe's to get some home improvement items: a new back door, blinds for that door, and 5 4x8 sheets of 1/2" plywood to floor the attic. Since I am absolutely worthless as a fixer-upper, we successfully got Josh to volunteer for the job! We loaded everything up and headed for the house. Josh yanked out our existing back door and was getting ready to install the new one when we realized we got the wrong door type...we needed one that swung the OTHER direction. So, we loaded up the door and took it back to Lowe's, exchanged the doors, and came back to finish the job. I keep saying "we"...but I was pretty much there as the financier, moral support and as a tool gopher. After the door was done, Josh started cutting the wood to floor the attic. He did let me feel cool by letting me chalk the board using this cool device that stretches across the board like a measuring tape. Then you pop the string down on the board, and it leaves a perfect line for you to cut down! It's lots of fun! After lots of hammering and squatting and cutting, Josh finally finished the attic.

That night, Allison and I went to Copeland's to eat some dinner after hitting up Lowe's again for some miscellaneous items we forgot to get earlier. My good friend Blake got me a gift certificate to Copeland's for my birthday, so we utilized that. Tasty food! Their spinach and artichoke dip with fried bowtie pasta for scoopers is amazing! We then came home and watched this past Thursday's episode of ER and then LOST. I have to admit, this last episode of LOST may be the best one of the entire series! Good stuff on there!

On Sunday, Allison slept in until 9:45! I got up around 8:00 because some stupid birds were pecking at the window above our front door. I might have to get Travis to come over and shoot the birds like he's been doing at his house. The darn things are driving me nuts, and Belle just sits there staring at them every morning, jumping up and down every now and then to try and get them! I needed to do some work on my community group lesson, so I chilled in the office and worked on that until it was time to go to church. The service this morning was easily the best service I've attended. I'll try to write more about that later...it's worth recapping.

After church, we picked up some Arby's for lunch, and headed toward Harrison to pick up Emma. We thought it would be quicker to go through Rogers / Eureka Springs since we were already in Rogers. We were wrong. It's technically shorter than going from Rogers to Springdale to Harrison in miles...but the winding roads between Rogers and Berryville took forever!

When we finally met my parents in Alpena (they kept coming towards us to make up for our behind-schedule-ness), Emma was super-stoked to see us! It was really fun that she was excited...we got worried she might not be excited. We headed back home, listened to the Hogs beat the tar out of Georgia, and then went to Community Group. Now, I'm on my way to put Emma down for the night and begin about 2 hours of ironing. It was a good, productive, adult-only weekend. But I'm also super glad to have Emma back in the house.

American Idol Recaps

2006-03-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

I'm really digging American Idol this season! Well, I'm actually only digging about 5 contestants now, but they make up for the remaining drabs that are still there. If you're interested, you can see my harsh recaps of the shows on the TV Addits blog.

The Left Behind Video Game

2006-03-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

In what may be the worst idea ever, the Christians with a dream came up with the idea of creating a shooter video game (think Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto) with a Christian-focus. Based on the Left Behind books...and Christians wonder why we get a crappy reputation?

Success!!

2006-02-28T00:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I spent a few hours getting my first DVD copied to my iPod using the aforementioned process, but I finally got it to work! I now have the full version of Monster's Inc on my iPod in mpeg4 format. Monster's was the shortest flick I could find in my collection (except Emma's Dora the Explorer videos), so it got the initial test. I have to admit, the quality is quite good, both visually and audibly! And the 1 hour 22 minute file is only 122Mb, which is a drop in the bucket since I have like 25 Gb free on my iPod!

Now to just get my entire movie collection onto my iPod...then we'll be cookin!

Full Movies on iPod

2006-02-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

Well, this article just made my day! It's basically a step-by-step way to put full-length DVDs onto your iPod using completely free software! Nifty!

Of course, this assumes that you'll break the law to remove the copy protection from the DVD...but if you own the DVD in the first place, you're allowed to have a backup copy of that DVD...and you're just putting it on your iPod. Nifty, and again I say, Nifty.

AHA Heart Ball 2006

2006-02-26T20:10:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, Allison and I attended the American Heart Association's 2006 Heart Ball in Little Rock. Allison's Dad, Bob Shell, was being presented with a community recognition award for all he and his company do for the AHA. It was a pretty fun night, with tuxedos, gowns, fancy drinking, and silent auctions. Bob's introduction was incredible and truly showed why he deserved the award and recognition. He's a great humanitarian, family man, and overall just great. Most men should aspire to be like him in almost every way.

Here are a couple of pics from the evening. Left to right: Terral & Cathy Gammill (Allison's sister and her husband), Bob & Ginny Shell (Allison & Cathy's parents, my in-laws), then Allison and me. Snazzy group, eh?

Citizenship Revoked Over Dumb Questions

2006-02-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

You Failed the US Citizenship Test

Oops, you only got 6 out of 10 right!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

New Birthday to Celebrate!

2006-02-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

Around October 13th, we'll be celebrating a new birthday in the Nelson household! That's right! Allison and I went to see the heartbeat of our 0.24 centimeter baby last Friday! We're really excited about baby #2, though we are horribly out of luck on names. Yes, it's still early, but we have only 2 boy names and zilch for girl names.

It was fun telling our parents! We told my parents via video conference on MSN Messenger. Emma has a "I'm going to be a big sister" shirt, and we posed her in front of the webcam! They were excited, though maybe caught off guard a bit. Allison's parents were fun, too. We implemented the "big sister" shirt again when we dropped her off to go to Memphis. They were excited for us (though Ginny seemed a bit overwhelmed by the idea of babysitting 2 kiddos!).

My sister was probably the most excited, but a healthy gene pool of spastic reactions and drama help a lot. We actually implemented the big sister shirt for most announcements. When we ask Emma "What's in mommy's tummy?" she gets this little grin and whispers "bebe" then flashes a big smile. When asked whether she wants a boy or a girl, she says "girl". I'm not sure I can afford having 2 girls, but I wouldn't mind a bit.

Anyway, more updates to come on the growing baby situation!

L.A.

2006-02-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

I had a week-long meeting in LA this past week for work. Basically, it was about all our new products coming out in 2006 and the marketing/ad campaigns aligned with the products. Very fun stuff, but I can't tell you about any of them, or I'd have to kill you. Kind of like Willy Wonka's Everlasting Gobstopper.

I headed out there with some co-workers Monday afternoon. The meetings were held at the LAX Hilton, about 30 feet from the hundreds of 757's landing zones. The group from my office went to In & Out Burgers for dinner (which is literally at the end of one runway for the large planes). We ate some crazy great burgers, fries, & shakes while watching the planes land. Then back to the room to watch TONS of Olympic Curling. Hours of great meetings the next day with a dinner that night in the hotel. Back to room for more curling action. More meetings the next day. That night, my friend Scott and I were left alone to eat dinner because everyone else had dinner meetings (because they're important...we aren't). So, we called up our boss who is in LA all the time at our HQ and also grew up there. We asked for a good, hip place to eat that night. He recommended Joe's in Venice Beach. The last time Jack went there, he saw Steven Speilberg and Juilia Roberts eating there. So, we were in! Jumped in a cab and got to sit in the bar area on the restaraunt. We didn't see any famous people, but the atmosphere was incredible, the wine was great, and the food was spectacular. Neither of us could understand the menu (french/california cusine), but we saw the words "pork tenderloin" and "sirloin", so we ordered those 2 dishes, hoping they didn't suck. My pork was easily the best pork I've ever had. Scott's looked good, but I didn't ask to try any, thinking other patrons might think we're gay. After a great dinner and some wonderful desert wine, we called a cab to go back to the hotel. The cab driver is from London, has been to prison, been addicted to heroin (his 4 year "clean" anniversary was the next day), and had dabbled with meth, was a self-proclaimed ladies-man, and was a big believer in Karma. It was quite a lively discussion on the way back. More curling before bed.

The next day was the last of the meetings, only 3 hours. We went to a little sushi spot not far away and ate a ton of great Japanese food and sushi. We got to LAX at 1:00 PM, and our flight didn't leave until 5:15 PM. We chilled in the Admiral's Club (VERY swank if you've never been in one...air travel gets much more fun when in this place), and watched more curling for several hours. Some Starbucks coffee and onto the plane back to God's country.

Walkin' in Memphis

2006-02-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure anytime someone goes to Memphis, they have to either listen to or mention the song "Walking in Memphis".

A couple of weekends ago, Allison and I headed to Memphis for the weekend to celebrate her birthday and Valentine's Day. We dropped Emma off at Allison's parent's house and headed into the snow-filled city of Memphis. We wanted to eat some Interstate BBQ when we got there. They have a place inside the Memphis airport and ate some there on our honeymoon travels. Allison found that they have a real restaraunt, so we mapped it and headed there when we pulled into town around 7:30 PM (Friday Feb 10th). They were closed. Totally bummed and scared for our lives due to the shady-ness of the area, we got back on the road. Our second option was Huey's, apparently voted as the best burger in Memphis. We drove for about 45 minutes looking for a certain street, and missed it. We ended up downtown by the Pyramid, which is SO not close to where we meant to end up. However, I did stop to take a picture, since it was covered in snow and looked pretty nifty. We resigned to skip Huey's and head back to an On the Border we passed along the way. Time is now 8:30 PM. We head back up another road that ran parallel to the road we came down, and we quickly found Huey's. But it was closed, too. At this point, we were mad and hungry. We drove up to On the Border, got inside only to find out they closed the kitchen around 7:30 because they didn't have any customers due to the snow. Now we were REALLY mad. Back in the car, we end up next to our hotel at an IHOP at 9:00 PM. It takes about 10 minutes before anyone takes our drink order, another 5 minutes before the drinks get there, and another 15 minutes before they take our order. And they weren't busy at all. 30 minutes later, our food arrives...complete with curly black hair on our pancakes. It was a really horrible time. We got to the room and crashed, hoping that Saturday would be better.

We got up and went straight to the Pottery Barn Outlet and browsed for a while, not finding too much success. We headed back to Interstate BBQ to eat lunch. Quite tastey food! I did find some pork sludge on the inside of my drink glass, which put a bad ending to a great lunch. Then we spent an hour looking for another shopping center and went to the Apple store, which is really just a big fat tease. I really want the new Intel 17" iMac, but don't really have the $1,500 to drop on one. We did get to see the new iPod Nanos that are replacing the Shuffles...super cool. Allison ended up getting one later at Best Buy. A quick stop by Target to get a toaster oven / toaster thing for Allison, and we headed out to dinner. We ate at Paulette's, a cozy little fancy place. The food was great, the wine was great, and the company was fantastic. They are well known for their great deserts. We ambitiously got our own deserts and finished about half of each of them. We headed back to the hotel and crashed.

Sunday, we slept in and headed back to Little Rock. Allison and Emma stayed in the Rock while I drove back home. I spent last week in LA for business meetings, so they just stayed there a couple more days while I was gone. All in all, it was a great trip, minus Friday night's dining adventure.

Updates Coming

2006-02-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posed much lately. I'm in LA for business all this week....lots of new product information which is pretty nifty and fun.

I hope everyone has a great valentine's day and wicked cool rest of the week.

The Wonderfullest Girl in the World

2006-02-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Though every husband out there should say that I'm referring to THEIR wife, I'm actually referring to my own wife as the wonderfullest girl in the world. Since there are roughly more reasons for this title than there are numbers, I will limit my explanation to just one example.

Allison absolutely LOVES Valentine's Day. In fact, she says it is her favorite holiday. It also coincides with her bithday (Feb 11th), so it's twice as fun for her. She's so very creative that she is doing the 14 days of February for me...a little gift every day until Valentine's Day. It started off with a Hostess Apple Pie from the gas station and a card on my dash board on February 1st. The next day was a $5 Sonic gift card so I could go to lunch. Then a date over the weekend, and a few other "TV" dates (with frozen hot chocolate from NYC). Last night, I got a Valentine's Day card from Emma with Dora stickers on it, which just brought a ton of joy to my heart.

I'm excited to see what the remaining days hold, but most of all, I'm excited to see how much this most wonderfullest girl in the world has in store for me to show me how much she loves me. For reasons I will never understand, she actually likes me! And Dallas Theological Seminary says miracles died with the Apostles! BLAH! They're obviously not married or just dumb.

Allison, thanks for being so wonderful, thoughtful, and loving. I don't deserve it, or you. But I'm so grateful that you chose me to be your object of affection...it's extremely wonderful and extremely humbling. I love you!

Old School

2006-02-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

I have 2 major "blasts from the pasts" to report on!

Trumpet
I played trumpet from middle school to high school, and polished off a scholoarshipped year in the Razorback marching band. Yeah...I was an ultra-band-nerd (but to other band nerds, we refer to ourselves as band studs, though). My trumpet was stolen from a friend's car on campus and I then picked up guitar.

I've had a serious hankering to get a trumpet and start playing again. I have some friends (Martha & Georgia) who have played / are playing in the Arkansas Winds Community Band, which really made me want to play trumpet again! I just returned a guitar my Dad bought me years ago to him, since I wasn't using it and it was just taking up space in my closet. He emailed me the other day and asked if I'd be interested in a trumpet in place of the guitar! He has an old friend who is mega-trumpet dude and has a couple of trumpets...and he's giving Dad a great "friend" discount. So, instead of me trying to get a cheap, clunky trumpet, I'll be hitting up a Bach Stradivarius. I'm super-stoked and can't wait to start practicing so I can reuse some forgotten talent again!

Da Rollerblades
That's right, folks...the Chocolate's have returned to NWA with a dusty vengance! My first sophomore year of college (yeah...there was a 2nd sophomore year, too), I spent more time in my skates than I did regular shoes, and considerable more time in them than in class (thus the 2nd sophomore year). Literally, I spent between 8-10 hours a day in my skates. I upgraded to the Chocolates near the end of my rollerblading life, and stowed them away at my parents house. Well, they have made the trip back to Northwest Arkansas with me, and hopefully, they'll be used at least a few times before I deem myself too old and out of shape to really do that stuff again. More than likely, I'll just hurt myself the first time out and throw them away. Regardless, I'm pretty stoked to go old-school again.

The Dumbass Award

2006-02-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

That's right...I just won the dumbass award! Emma and I were in Gerry the Minivan inside the garage, getting ready to go eat with my sister's family.

I hit the button on my visor to open the garage door.

Allison walks out into the garage.

I back up trying to make room for her to get around the side of the van and get in.

CRASH!

The time between me opening the door and beginning to back up was about 3 seconds.

The door was about 2 feet off the ground at this point.

Now it's off the track and warped. We forced it down and locked it until we get it fixed.

I would like to thank my family and friends for this award I have just received. It takes a truly magnificient performance to achieve this award.

I will set the Dumbass Award on my mantle, next to the many other Dumbass Awards I have earned in my time on this earth.

Gadgetized

2006-02-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

For some weird reason, the wife has let me run rampant with the gadgets lately. Of course, she loves me (for another strange reason that I'll never understand) and wants me to have these things. Or, she just knows I'll think about them day in, day out until she just gives up and lets me get them. Regardless the reason, I'm super up-to-date on my gadgets. Here's the list, in order that I got them:

Canon SD550 Digital Camera
I had been wanting a new digital camera for quite some time. We got our first digital camera after we got married as a Christmas gift from my parents. 3 Megapixels was pretty nice in those days. Response time was lackluster, though. With an always-running 2 year old now, I was missing a ton of great pictures, without the ability to zoom in very well to get the good part of the picture. So, for Christmas, Allison got it for me (and the whole family, of course) off eBay for 15% less than Best Buy was offering...way to go little shopping-bargain-hunter wife! I've loved this thing...great pics, super fast response time, and easily navigatable with lots of features, packed into a small package!

Cingular's Palm Treo 650
I have a 30 second memory. I'm always forgetting events and meetings, at work, at church, and at home. And that's not good. I had looked into several PDA's on eBay and actually bought an old school HP iPAQ for $50. I got stoked, and then bummed when it wouldn't connect to the computer correctly. I sent it back, realizing I wouldn't find another deal like that for a long time.
However, my friend Todd got a Treo 650 PDA/Phone for Christmas and didn't want it. I told him to quote me a price and I'd talk it over with Allison. He gave me ridiculously low price, and I actually UPPED the price. I though Allison would pass out...but it was still a crazy great price. I stuck in my SIM card and synched it with Outlook the next day at work. Now, I'm a remembering FOOL! I love this thing, though it took some getting used to. I don't feel dumb anymore, which is a good thing.

Video iPod
I had a 20Gb iRiver H120 for about 1 1/2 years. I loved this thing, too. Granted, it was no iPod, but I got the MP3/WMA player with built in FM tuner and voice recorder for the same price as an Mp3 playing iPod of the same size...hands down, I liked it better. However, I filled that 20gb bad boy up pretty quickly. Also, the only downside to the iRiver is that it doesn't sync with your computer...it's 100% drag and drop. I got Allison a Shuffle for Christmas, and she loves it. While washing dishes this past Tuesday, I randomly dropped the question "Honey, can I get an iPod tonight?". I about dropped the dish I was cleaning when she said "Sure!". So, we went to Best Buy to pick one up, but struck out...none in stock except the 30Gb models. We went to Target to look there, and struck BLACK gold! That's right...I picked up the black video iPod in al it's sweet ebony beauty! I've never even played with an iPod until this point...and I gotta say, they're pretty amazing. I already have all my songs on there (4,000, which is drop in the bucket to what it'll hold), the music video of Kanye West's Golddigger, and a full episode of South Park! I bought an Agent18 cover to protect the crappy scrath-seeking screen that Apple put on the iPod. This thing actually gets me a little hot and bothered! I love it, though my thumb is extremely tired nowadays from scrolling through the song and album list. I can't wait to get The New Tragedies album on there (a skater friend of a skater friend's band...they're REALLY good).

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty techno-ful and wanted to share with the world how wonderful my great wife is! Actually, she's SO much better than this...I'll post more about that later, so stay tuned!