Excited about the 150th episode of NCIS tonight.

Time to catch my bus and get home!

Looking forward to lunch with some of my former coworkers

One more full day of work this week

Back to work.

Watching LOTR and playing Phase 10 and dice with Julie to ring in the New Year.

Thrilled that I can leave work at noon today!

Hoping they let us out early today.

One present I wasn't happy about...a cold on Christmas Eve.

Looking forward to a 4-day weekend.

Sad that Jacob seems to be sick again.

Ah, the first of two 3-day workweeks. :)

Just won a $90 book at the ISACA meeting.

Just got my cubicle nameplate...now where are those business cards?

Happy Birthday Jacob! (Is he one year old already?!)

Enjoying my new space heater at work...chilly feet no more!

Ah, the first of many half-day/jeans-day Fridays

Getting settled into my new job at Plains All American (http://www.paalp.com)

Upgrading my Storm to OS 5.0 (yes, it is the official Verizon release...not a hack)

Just ordered an HTC Pure and an LG Xenon from Wirefly.com...only $50.

Just finished reading "Heat Wave" by Richard Castle. I enjoyed it. I liked seeing where stuff in the series was reflected in the book.

So glad to be back in Houston

enjoying the semi-dreary weather in Baton Rouge

at the airport, waiting for my flight to Baton Rouge.

Hoping for an uneventful weekend.

Whoo-hoo!!! GO NOLES!!!!

Hoping the Noles can pull off a win against the Cougers

Just got my eyes checked out...will my vision ever level off, or just keep declining?

Just watched "Forever Strong" on my Netflix instant viewing queue...probably one of my favorites.

Excited to be watching the FSU game on ESPN360.com. Good find Julie!

and now...sleep

Crazy Samoans. Now driving on the left side of the road. I'm glad they were still driving on the right side when i was over there.

Boo. :( So close FSU.

Liking the way the Noles are widening the spread.

Excited to be home for my first Monday in a while.

Disney buying out Marvel Entertainment....i'm not sure how I feel about that.

enjoying my birthday with a pina colada and a steak & scallop hibachi dinner

already missing Julie and Jacob, as I head back to Pineville, LA.

Glad to be home

Enjoyed my weekend at home...now it is back to Pineville, LA.

In Houma, LA for the day

Back to work. At least I'm in Houston.

glad to be home and watching Big Balls

ready to get on the plane back to Houston

in Louisiana, eating a beignet, looking forward to being home with Julie and Jacob.

Back in Houma this week. Missing Julie and Jacob already.

it's Potter time (Janet, thanks for watching Jacob)

Listening to the thunder rolling outside.

Back in Houma, LA.

hangin w/Jacob and his cousin Grant @ the inlaws house

On our way to Dallas...with the sun in our faces

enjoying a long weekend in Dallas, no thanks to my crappy car

Sad that I only saw my baby boy in the morning yesterday.

Watching Flower Drum Song with Julie and Jacob.

just landed in ATL

waiting for my flight to ATL

Feeling better.

Passing a kidney stone is no fun

Just got certified for CPR.

Survivor: Samoa? I'll have to watch that.

glad Jacob is not sick anymore

ecstatic to find out my 20 cubic foot freezer will only cost me $354

glad that the pediatrician ok'd ibuprofen for Jacob. he's doing a lot better.

sad that Jacob is sick. A fever of 102 is no fun for a 5 month old.

ecstatic to see NCIS: Los Angeles is coming in the fall

my little boy is SO cute

having loads of fun at the allergist's office

got my free food by texting ROASTBURGER to ARBYS .. .yum

oh the joys of the Performance Review time of year

helped an escapee doggie find his way home

trying to be 'green' by using a mug at work, for my cocoa

celebrating Julie and grandpa Anderson's b-days

glad to finally have the CDs of the BNL concert we went to 2.5 yrs ago (thx Sherry and Rick)

just finished lunch at Carino's, where momma Julie's lunch was FREE!

waiting in a LONG security line at O'Hare

sad to be leaving a hotel with a free video game room, but so glad to be going home to Julie and Jacob

dining by myself at Harry Caray's...looking forward to a nice juicy steak

Jimmy John's for lunch...yum

time to go to bed after catching up with Sam Denton

hangin' at the Exchequer, waiting for my Chicago deep dish pizza....yum

hangin' at the Exchequer, waiting for my Chicago deep dish pizza....yum

in a smelly cab on my way to the hotel in downtown Chicago

on the plane, waiting to fly to Chicago

fixed my garage door opener....much better than manually opeing/closing the door each time

X-Men Origins: Wolverine = awesome movie!

going to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine tonight!

Hoping to win a video camera

I have made some entries on The Dirty Shirt, hoping to win a video camera they are giving away. It is a Creative Vado HD Pocket Video Cam.

Winning this would be great. Finally I'd be able to take good videos of Jacob, instead of the crappy videos that my camera takes.



He is such a cute kid, and deserves to have some quality home videos.

Cool idea, really

So, I am in the hospital reading through some old Popular Science magazines my friend Clint brought over. I saw one thing I thought was pretty clever. Have you ever decided that you want a soft drink and realized you didn't put one in the refrigerator? Here is a quick solution:
1. Poke hole in plastic container
2. Put soda can in container and seal it
3, Spray compressed-air duster through hole for about 20 second to get soda down to about 30 degrees F

I think I may just have to try that out.

New phone

Well, Julie and I officially left Sprint. Now we are on at&t, and we got some pretty good deals on Letstalk.com (and an extra bonus since my dad sent us a referral).

I ended up getting a Tilt, which you can see above. I like it a lot so far. Especially the fact that it has built-in GPS, which means I don't need to carry around my Bluetooth GPS puck anytime I want to use my TomTom software. :)

I was out of town this past week, and one evening I had some dinner at IHOP. While I was waiting for my food to come, I had started the SlingPlayer on my Tilt, and was watching our DVR at home. The waitress walked by and did a double-take, and asked if I was watching a movie. I told her that it was actually what my wife was watching at home, and she thought that was pretty cool. I think so too.

Retro Computer Ads

I just saw these on www.techEblog.com and thought it was pretty funny. Looking back is always interesting.

Good news got even better

Yesterday morning, I spoke to my "relationship partner" (the partner I can talk to about anything), and she gave me some great news. This was a tough few weeks to wait after the news that I was getting a promotion. She told me about my compensation and benefits...which I think are pretty decent. I was happy with the percentage raise and by bonus. It was my understanding that some of the associates getting promoted, that got rated the same as I did, did not get a bonus or did not get a great bonus. So, I guess I just consider myself lucky...and glad that I'll have the money to pay for the vacation we just took. :)

I'm still alive!

Yes, I know it has been a while since I have posted, and I assure that I am alive and well. I've been in LA (Louisiana, not the city in California) for work the past few weeks.

This week Julie and I are on vacation...which is so nice that I wish we could be on vacation all the time. :)

So, right now I am laying down on my bed in a Hampton Inn in San Antonio, after a long day of adventures. (You can see more about our adventures on our JustinAndJulie blog...when I write about them in the near future)

I have also been lusting after the new pocketPC from Sprint. I have the PPC-6700, but have been trying to see if complaining about it will make the Sprint service center techs give me a new PPC-6800, also known as the HTC Mogul. My most recent attempt this past Saturday only resulted in the rep saying they could send mine in for repairs, and I would get the new/fixed one on Friday. As the store I went to is located in Austin...I decided against it. The rep actually recommended that I go to forum.xda-developers.com and install a newer ROM. So I did, and I like the one I found...mainly because it allows you to intall some of your favorite apps in ROM. I'm still playing around with it, as I'm trying to add some apps of my own to the ROM.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Good 'ole Slingbox

Last night, Julie had to come pick me up from the Metro bus transit center, because both of the buses I catch to get there were running horribly behind. The last bus to the Park-n-Ride leaves the transit center at 7:14pm. The bus to the transit center didn't get to my stop until 7:10 or so. I had been waiting almost half an hour for it.

Anyway, Julie left to pick me up from the transit center and take me to the Park-n-Ride to get my car...and we both got to the transit center at the same time, which is sad because we live a good distance away. The plus side was that we were able to take the HOV lane.

As she left somewhat precipitously, she did not set up the DVR to record a show she normally watches at 8pm. (Here is where the Slingbox comes into play. ). On our way home she asked if I could set up the DVR to record that show...which I did. I was able to accomplish this amazing feat due to the fact that my wife is amazingly wonderful, and bought me a Slingbox for Valentines Day. The Slingbox connects to the audio/video of our DVR and our Internet router, and has its own infra-red sensors which you place on the DVR, which all combined...allow for over-the-Internet control (and viewing!) of what is on your DVR. Enjoy your cable/dish/whatever that you are paying so much money a month for, whenever/whereever you want!

Ah, I love technology.

Paintball

Where I work, the group I am in is split up into sub-groups. The staff are all split up among the partners. The partner's group to whom I belong is a fan of paintball. Prior to that first paintball game with his group, I had never played paintball before. I remember hearing some of my friends talk about their paintball experiences, back when I was in college. But, I had never been invited and didn't really have the inclination to play.

As the partner picks up the bill...when I heard that we were going to play paintball, I was pretty excited. I like to shoot, but have really only shot BB guns and 22s. I have a BB gun, but haven't used it in many many years. I haven't shot a 22 for just as long. The more exciting aspect of paintball is that you aren't just shooting at paper targets or soda cans....you are shooting at your friends/coworkers.

The first game I ever played was a scrimmage between members of our own group. The next one was our first battle against another partner's team. They claim we beat them 3-2, but we think it was really 4-1.

Well, last Wednesday was our most recent game (my third time playing). We played another partner's team...and, we won 4-1. They won the last game...mainly due to our time running out.

It is a pretty fun sport. I usually dress all in black and don't mind getting a bit dirty from crawling/diving/etc.

Here is a link to our most recent battles: http://picasaweb.google.com/robophill/PaintBall4407?authkey=KPw68lSHoX0

Strange Fear

I was driving down the road the other day, on my way home from work, and came across an interesting billboard. It had a cartoon-like drawing of a person's head with the hair standing on end and the mouth was sort of frowning...needless to say that it was depicting someone who was scared. The rest of the verbiage indicated it was advertising a vertical MRI.
The large bold lettering said: "AFRAID OF CLAUSTROPHOBIA?"...

So, apparently...if I am afraid of the fear of being in confined spaces, this is the MRI for me.

Would the proper medical term be "Claustrophobiaphobia"?

Ponder, my friends.

Good 'ole YouTube

I was recently made aware of a video on YouTube. Apparently, someone thought Mary Poppins would make a good horror film. The put together a trailer for what appears to be a rather dark movie about a nanny that comes out of the sky and makes strange things happen.

I got a big kick out of it. :)

Charbroiled Oysters

I am not the biggest seafood fan. As a matter of fact, other than shrimp, crab legs, and maybe halibut, I try to stay away from the stuff. The week of Jan 21st was a new milestone for me, I ate charbroiled oysters. I was in Houma, LA at a client for work and I went out to lunch with one of the Accounting Managers, the Controller, and the CFO. We went to one of their favorite local restaurants: Big Al's. The CFO ordered up some appetizers, which you have probably guessed, ended up being the charbroiled oysters. I was a little apprehensive about eating them, but I do like to at least try something once. Plus, I didn't want to offend the client. So, I took the two that were alloted to me and scooped out the meat (covered in cheese and seasonings) and ate it. It actually wasn't too bad.

I don't think this will be a trend for me, and I'm definitely not interested in eating the raw kind. I'll stick with shrimp and crab legs, which is the extent of my seafood palate.

Auto-flush

For the most part, I am all about the sensors on toilets, sinks, and paper towel dispensers in public restrooms. The only thing I really have to complain about, is the in relation to the toilet bowls (the urinals are fine). I don't know about the rest of you, but every now and then I lean one direction or another when going about my business. Then you get the stupid sensor deciding that you got up and flushes while you are still going about your business. Depending on how powerful the flushing action of the toilet, you may actually get a little sprayed in the process. I definitely don't like that.

My solution, take a square of toilet paper tissue and place it over the sensor. That way, no flushing until you remove the paper. :)

Search for the Late Night Milkshake

I'm not sure what the deal is, but when I travel and get in late to my destination, it is impossible to get a milkshake. Either the fast food restaurants are closed, or the restaurants are open, but they have already shut off and cleaned up the ice cream machine. Sometimes I just crave a milkshake after a flight, and have been very disappointed with their lack of availability.

I think if they do not offer milkshakes 24/7, then they should display the hours that milkshakes are available. They do it for the breakfast menu; "only available until 11am". I can understand that there are peak times for the demand of milkshakes, but it is listed as a regular item....it should regularly be available for consumption.

Anyway, just a little something that has been on my mind.

Not so warm

This past week has seen a dramatic downturn in temperatures. I was in Pineville, LA and at lunch on Thursday it was in the 70s. By the time I left the client site around 6pm, it had dropped to the 30s. I was prepared though, I had brought some warm clothes with me just in case it really did get that cold.

Some of my friends from Tampa were in Houston for work, and I think they really were glad to get back to the Sunshine State on Friday. That is one thing I liked about living in Tampa....but I do enjoy being able to wear a coat more than a few times a year. I don't enjoy having to shovel the driveway, therefore Houston was a better pick over Dallas, when we decided to move.

I saw on the news about all these places further north (which is practically anywhere), where snowstorms were causing lots of problems with the air and ground traffic. I did used to live in Idaho and Ohio, so I am no stranger to cold and snowy winters. It just means that I had a few reasons for not wanting to live in those types of climates.

The changing seasons are nice to see and experience. I think we'll stay here a while.