Mindless Juices

My new juice box

2006-09-12T13:34:00.000-04:00

I'm MOVING!!! I'm tired of the problems with Blogger. I've moved to WordPress. Please update your bookmarks to my new web home: The new and improved Mindless Juices, now with 100% of vitamins O & Z!!!

Happy Anniversary to us!

2006-08-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

Today is our anniversary. At least, for a little while longer. Thanks to Curtis and Rae, we enjoyed a GREAT steak dinner at Firebird's Grill, our favorite steak place. I got the meatloaf because it came with the sides I was craving. I figured, if some chef thought these sides went great with the meatloaf, then the meatloaf must go great with the sides. So, you could say I ordered the Spiced Pecan String Beans and Golden Mashed Potatoes with a side of meatloaf. Well, and it's not just meatloaf... It's Buffalo Meatloaf. Anyway, we also decided to spend our anniversary in Lynchburg, city of our engagement and wedding. We decided this only a couple of days ago. But, our friends still said, "No problem, come visit!" So, we took a pretty leisurely drive up and arrived at Nick and Kelli's. The ladies left for a baby shower for Kelli. Nick and I were hoping to be joined by other men who were not attending the shower, but they all had other stuff to do. So, Nick and I played a massive game of Mario Party 4. The maximum game length of 50 turns. We got turn 41 when the ladies returned and we had to leave for a cook out @ Tim and Annie's parents' farm. We paused it to finish later. Annie's dad and Tim (and I'm sure other people) converted the barn and area around it into a perfect outdoor wedding/reception area... complete with serving line, electric lighting and fans and an man-made lake & beach, though the beach washed away in the recent rains because they never finished landscaping the area above it. The mud washed down over the sand and washed it into the lake. Anyway, we ate lots and spent time with good friends and their family. It was pretty cool to be welcomed to this "event" considering we sort of crashed it as somewhat spontaneous guests of Nick & Kelli. The farm was beautiful, the company was great and the food was pretty much neverending. Then, we returned to Nick & Kelli's for some board games. After everyone left, Nick and I finished our massive game of Mario Party 4 with a lot of stars which, I hope, helped unlock more of the game for him. All in all, it was a pretty good, very fun, and relatively cheap anniversary... all because we've got some of the best friends in the world. Thanks to everyone who spent time with us or helped us spend time together this weekend.

More Random Thoughts

2006-08-24T11:25:00.000-04:00

Angela, did you notice I changed the sub-title on your link? Josh, it's good to be back. Nick, the nursery looks great! Rae & Curtis, thanks again for dinner the other night. As always, loved the company and the timing of your blessing couldn't have been better. Lastly, I've been playing Zelda: Majora's Mask. I never played Majora's Mask back in the day. It looked dumb. Actually, it looked like Nintendo used all the same graphics to simply make another game, slap the Zelda branding on it and make some more money. Well, they kind of did do that, but they also made a really cool game. It almost feels like they were brainstorming while creating TLoZ:Ocarina of Time and they had a few different ideas... two very good ones... one become OoT and the other became MM. TLoZ:MM has a neat concept. The game happens completely in three game days. I think one real time minute equals one game hour. At the end of three days, the moon crashes into the world and destroys it. You have to stop that, but you only have 72 game hours to do it. WHAT? a 72 minute game?!?! No... remember, you have the Ocarina of Time. You can slow down time, speed up time and even go back in time to the first day. Why would you want to replay the same three days over and over again? Well, because you influence the game. What you do on day 1 affects day 2 and day 2 affects day 3. Plus, you get to keep the masks and treasures with you as you travel back in time to the first day... you just can't keep ammo or money. But, you can bank your money and, lucky for you, the banker writes something on your head to know how much money you have in the bank whenever you make a deposit or withdrawl. So, even when you go back in time, the banker reads your head and tells you your balance. Also, on the three day thing, the citizens of the towns do the same thing every time you reset time. So, perhaps you want to save the old lady from getting mugged? Simply, reset time and stop the thief! So, the bar doesn't open until after dusk, just move time forward and walk on in! You spend three days questing for a mask, then you go back in time and talk to someone on the first day wearing the mask and reap the reward! And, you get a little handy book that helps you keep track of the events in the town and help the townsfolk. Lastly, you've got three days to do the dungeons and side quests. Because resetting time resets the dungeon, you kind of have to do the dungeon within the three days. But, if you slow down time, you have a lot longer than 72 minutes to solve all the puzzles and collect all the things that makes Zelda games GREAT! Try Googling Project64. It's an N64 emulator. With the latest video and audio plug-ins it runs pretty smoothly. Just make sure you have legal copies of those ROMS you plan on playing. :)

Nothin' says lovin' like $$$

2006-08-22T14:48:00.000-04:00

So, I was brought into my boss' office today. The expectation on me has been raised... because my salary has been raised!!! Yes, God has provided. I think it inappropriate to publicize how much I make or how much of a raise, but the important thing isn't how much. It is that God answered a prayer that we weren't all too happy praying. Most of the time (including this one), your money problems are your fault and the lesson God wants you to learn is good stewardship. I think He usually let's you flounder in your own mess until you decide to do something about it. Even then, He doesn't necessarily do too much other than prevent you from getting in over your head, even if it may feel like it. We've basically been broke thanks to adoption stuff and some poor stewardship on my part. On the first note, I hope that is the reason my hard work has been blessed by this unexpected gift of a raise. On that second note, I'm surprised my wife hasn't kicked me off of the money handling and taken over. However, as stated before, I'm really trying to refocus on the important things. One of them being good stewardship. Here's the thing: Our small group seems to have a lot of prayer power. A lot of the prayer requests in our small group have been being answered in very obvious ways. Sometimes, God's timing or ways aren't exactly clear to us, but lately, He seems to be taking a more simplistic approach in our lives. A sort of, "Ask and you shall receive." It's been great to see our good friends blessed over the past few weeks as one couple found a house and moved in with relative ease... another's mother seemed to pull a 180 out of depression and into joy and happiness... ministry areas are moving along nicely and the church is growing and changing lives. God is good... (go ahead, finish it, you know you want to!) So, the first order of business in being a good steward is to adjust our tithe. The second is the continue to make the most of this gift we've been given. It means I'll be eating tuna and PB&J for a little while longer. It means I'll probably still cancel my subscription to GameTap. It means, I need to continue to work hard at both the job and my family. The latter deserves more of me than I've given in a while.

I'll do it tomorrow

2006-08-21T13:25:00.000-04:00

So, I signed up to do an NCTI course through the company. NCTI is the National Cable School. When you have certifications through them, you can take them to any cable system in the country and, basically, they'll know that you know what you're doing... or, at the very least, can be taught how they do things. So, I signed up for this class in July 2005. You have a year to complete it. I had to pay for an extension because I procrastinated, then the summer hit (our busy time) and then I completely lost the focus in my life for a while. The saddest part is that I completed the rest of the book in one weekend. I cranked through at about 15 minutes per chapter. I flew through the course and completed all of the lesson exams online. Now, I just need to complete the final exam, but that is administered. So, I just talked to my trainer and I'll be taking that on Friday. Hopefully, that means that I'll start filling out the paperwork on the next course some time next week. This time, I won't procrastinate. The next few courses is stuff I already know (from on-the-job training). I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two, but I should be able to work through them easier. This first course I took was hard because I had to remember the difference between the two heads of a wrench and which way it's supposed to face when using it. I guarantee their are engineers, mechanics, and various other tradesman who build our homes, cars, seats, etc. who have NO IDEA!!! For both of you who read my blog, it's looking like things are slowing down a bit at work. Hopefully, that means I'll have a few extra minutes that I can sneak in a post.

TesTiNg, 1, tw0, tHree...

2006-08-09T11:20:00.000-04:00

So, who knows if this post will even go through. For the three people who read my blog, thank you missing me and "voicing" your "concern" regarding my absence. I have had a terrible time trying to post all sorts of interesting things on my blog. I had posts encompassing topics about family, about friends, about the adoption, about travling, about video games and about recent news. I tried a total of four times to post rather large posts. The first one was my fault. It didn't go through because I was on my Sprint Card wireless connection. The rest, well, they didn't go through because Blogger didn't work right. For whatever reason, they neither posted nor were they auto-saved as drafts. So, they were completely lost. And after wirintg for 5-10 minutes or 20-30 or 45-60... well, you just don't feel like writing anymore, especially not everything you just wrote. The wise thing to do would be to write it down in a text file and copy and paste into Blogger. But, I'm not that smart. Moreover, I think Blogger's software should work like it's supposed to. I shouldn't have to work around it, even if I can. Anyway, the main thing I want to write about is the fact that we are, as of this moment, not getting a baby this year. Everything was going SO well, I finally started letting my hopes get up a little bit. THAT was a mistake. Korea has closed its doors and, thus, caused me a great disheartening. I was looking forward to being a dad this year. The timing of getting a baby in the winter (the wife's and my slow time) along with the way the money works out with tax credits and reimbursements... well, it was all just so well planned. Now, a foreign government throws a wrench into it all. There are some silver linings that I need to cling to. First, it is possible they might re-vamp the adoption credit and raise it. That would help out with the finances. Speaking of, this extra time gives us a chance to try to save more and be financially better off. And, well, we have to believe that God has a plan for all this... His timing, you know? And, being that He's omnicient, I'm guessing that He might know something we don't. So, changing subjects, I went to FL this past weekend. I saw my immediate family. My little sister graduated college and she moved into her new place and that was enough reason to go spend a little family time. My mom really wanted me to go and, well, I'm proud of her. But, here's the neat thing: I had a really great time! Maybe it was because there was a decent amount of alcohol (we all stayed at my sister's, so if no one is driving, party on!) Maybe it was because it was such a short trip, no one had a chance to get on my nerves. But, I think it's because, finally, everyone is treating everyone else like an adult, even my parents. Whatever it is, I laughed pretty much non-stop from the moment my sister picked me up from the airport. It was well worth giving up my weekend to spend most of it in the airport and on planes.

Jersey, Part 2

2006-07-09T18:23:00.000-04:00

So, we're almost home after a rousing trip to Jersey. All in all, it was a very good trip. Thanks to a laptop, a GPS sensor, MS Street & Trips, an iPod, and a power inverter... We were totally prepared for a road trip. Some highlights of the relatively new tech, the GPS, were: On the way up, we found the next closest McDonald's because that's what we wanted. So, we passed a few exits knowing there was one only 20 minutes further along. We beat my aunt and uncle who were leading us from their house to the wedding, but we got separated. Apparently, my laptop and some satellites know their town better than they do. On the way back, we saw signs saying their was a wreck at exit 58 on I-95. The signs suggested exiting on I-295 about 15 miles before that exit. So, with that sufficient notice, we were able to come up with an alternate route that just bypassed THAT exit. It was only three miles out of our way and the 3 miles back in was a nice diagonal that dumped us off right on to the exit for I-85. On the way back, we found the Goodberry's in North Durham and stopped off for some concretes. It was absolutely great to see my family. So many of my cousins are finally getting their lives together. Of course, many of them had parents and friends who had parents that had very nice homes and lived just a few minutes from NYC. Why would you bother getting your life together enough to move out? Still, it was good to see that many of them are finding happiness. Apparently, I've been considered MIA by most of the family since 1997. All throughout college, I was trying to figure out myself and then, after we got married, we were trying to make sure we focused on being married. So, now that a lot of that is behind us, I think we're ready to re-join the ranks of the family... To a point. I mean, while my cousins may be stepping into adulthood, they still drink a lot, smoke a lot and occasionally indulge in some other smoking. Soon, we'll have our own little one. I want my family to open their minds and hearts and accept our child who doesn't look like us and has a history unlike anyone else in the family. However, I also don't want them to "corrupt" him/her as they have a tendency to do with each other. I suppose living in NC will help. I'd like to think that we'll do a good enough job of parenting that it wouldn't matter, but there's something weird about the "peer" pressure that family brings to the table. I don't know what it is, but it's only good when they're looking out for your best interest. And, most of the time, we're so caught up in our own self-love-affair, we too blind, deaf and dumb to pay any attention to our mother, aunts, sisters, & cousins screaming, "She's not good enough for you!" or our father, uncles, brothers & cousins shouting, "Your business partner is stealing from you!" Sometimes, they start pressuring you into their lives or out of their lives for fear of you repeating their mistakes. That's when things get crazy: Sure, some uncles know how to impart wisdom and tell you how they became workaholics and almost lost a marriage over it, but others will tell you to focus on the career because your wife will leave you anyway, so you'd better have enough money to pay the alimony. A college kid might not be ready to hear either of those... My advice would be, "YOU need to find the balance, and if family or career doesn't allow you to find a balance, then you need to decide which one will have to change, otherwise, you certainly lose one and may even lose both. And, you always have to re-evaluate the balance and make sure you really are balancing and you just don't think you are while things are falling apart around you. I'm still doing it and I will always be doing it. And you may not always be perfect at it, but you don't have to be. You just have to try and you just have to be either good enough to do it or smart enough to realize you can't and figure out how you can." But, it's weird going back to the folds of the family and looking at them with a different pair of glasses on. Sure, everyone's changed and grown, but I've realized how worthwhile being on my own, making my own mistakes and seeking my own assistance really helps you figure out who you are and what you're made of. Moreover, I've really come to appreciate the amazing woman who was crazy enough to marry me. We've worked hard to get as far as we have with our relationship. Yes, there's lots more, but I know we can work through the "more," too. That security, that foundation, that knowledge of what we've been through... That all translates into a real happiness that I see others in my family starting to find, even some of the older members who have been married for years or are recently retired. They're learning things that I learned along the way as wise men and women passed along knowledge and wisdom, and as I saw others stumble, struggle and overcome and learned to do the same. I'm not claiming to be wise beyond my years or any better than anyone else I know... But, I'm finally seeing the desire to be happy in my relatives and understanding why they do what they do to try and be happy. Now, I know I'm happy and I'll continue to work and do what I need to do to continue to be happy... But now, I want to help some of my relatives be happy, too, or happier. i.e. - My cousin wants to be in the music business. I want to help him break into the business. My uncle has a passion for his cooking and an entrepreneurial venture he is taking with bottling the family's curry sauce. I want to help him make that as successful as it can be. My other cousin has had seizures recently. I want to help her cope with those and let her know, at least, one of us has an idea of what she's going through. Another uncle is building a winter home in Barbados. I want to visit it in the summer. :) I have three cousins heading to college next year and will be taking the first step towards figuring "it" out on their own. I want to encourage them and let them know they can always call if they need something. And, another cousin has a fairly new relationship with someone who seems like a good fit and other people in the family who have known her longer think so, too. I want to encourage him to not give up when the going gets hard, but be sure she's worth it, too. But, the high point of my weekend may have been: My uncle, who put himself through medical school right after my grandparents moved to this country with basically nothing, had success with his work and eventually saved and opened his own practice which has been very successful, had two children who are successful in their own right... My uncle, a man I respect, and he is someone of whom the whole family is proud and admires... My uncle complimented me a few times this weekend about how I'd grown up and become the man I'd become. Maybe I am getting some of this right! Maybe I'm not as far behind the curve as I thought. I have a great wife, a great house, great friends and a great family. Life IS good... Sometimes you just need a change of scenery to realize it.

Ah, Jersey, how do I miss you?

2006-07-06T10:48:00.000-04:00

So, we're heading to Jersey for my uncle's wedding. THe last time we saw my extended family, it was for my cousin's wedding. Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay for a mini-family reunion at my other uncle's house. This time though, it looks like we're going to be able to do it. So, after a little stop in DC, we'll head up to Jersey and see the family. Many of them are aware of our plans to adopt, so I'm sure that will be a major point of conversation. I'm sure we'll have lots of "stupid" questions. These are the questions that people want to ask, but they don't know how to ask them. Like, "How much will your baby cost?" Well, the baby doesn't cost anything (okay, diapers, formula, clothes, etc... they cost a lot), but the lawyers, paperwork, and governments require much money to help you legally adopt a child from a foreign country. Meanwhile, I've been playing Pokémon XD for the GameCube. I know, I know... but it's actually fun on a TV with an ATI graphics card and surround sound. Unfortunately, the game is kind of hard if you start from scratch. So, I may purchase a Pokémon game for the SP. My friend Mike is the one to whom I owe this detrimental curse. However, he is in it with me, so until we "catch 'em all" I probably not be playing very many other video games. One exception might be TOCA Racing. This incredibly realistic racer is probably as close as I'll ever get to getting on a race track.

The Office

2006-07-02T07:57:00.000-04:00

These are my "office-mates," Sam & Chris. Do you want to take any guesses as to which one is which? I'll give you a hint, Chris is short for Christie... and Sam is sitting in the yellow shirt... and Christie is standing. They don't know I'm posting this picture on the internet, so if they ever find out, I may not be coming home. So, just in case: Dear, just remember, I love you, always. Anyway, these two make the office a home away from home. We watch each others' backs when it comes to covering for vacations or personal emergencies. But, more importantly, we're a team politically. For those of you who haven't worked in management for "big business," it can be political. It's nice to know that there are, at least, two other people whose best interest is the same as my best interest. So, when they go to meetings that I don't go to and I go to ones they don't go to, we're also saying the same thing, trying to acheive the same goals and able to alert each other to changes coming down the pipe. More importantly, I'm confident that these two will fight the good fight. And, for the first, time, I think that means that there may be some changes for the better. Hopefully, the timing will work out nicely for the arrival of our baby. Speaking of, we had to figure out how much time we'll be taking off for that time. I have a decent amount of time accrued that I can use. But, more importantly than that, I'm hoping I can actually go "back to work" without using up my leave time with a little combination of work-from-home and actually going into the office. I plan on staying home for as long as it takes to bond properly with my child. I'm reading a book that's basically all about that. I'm really looking forward to it. So, I'm writing this on my battery on my laptop which is going to die very soon. So, I'm going to wrap this up despite the fact that I wanted to write some more, hopefully more interesting stuff.

Lewis Black: Red, White and Screwed

2006-06-28T12:59:00.000-04:00

Lewis Black's HBO special is quite good. SO far, he's never dissappointed me with his specials. Sure they have their dry moments, but his good moments are so worth the wait. My particular favorite part is when he talks about being a Jew and the story of Christianity. I saved it in the hopes of converting to streaming video sometime soon. Just not tonight... Tonight, Tenna's coming over to check out our house. Hopefully, she likes purple and blue. I was thinking about it, and our house is simply perfect for a baby. I mean, the textured wall, the stripes, the bold colors... all very important to a babies mental stimulation. At least, I think so. Sooner or later, I'll need to move the office out of the upstairs bedroom to downstairs. I debated this move with myself to decide whether I was going to put up a fight with my wife over this move that was more ordered than requested. However, upon reflection of the situation, I realized why my wife is so brilliant and never really questioned her on the matter. Ultimately, it's the best place for the office to be. I can play my games as loud as I want without bothering my wife or coming child. Eventually, when we can afford it, we'll probably get a projector and screen. This means that a TV will probably end up downstairs JUST for game systems (or at least older game systems). The connections down there actually make for some interesting possibilities. As an example, with current gen consoles, two friends could bring over their Xbox 360s. One could hook up in the room downstairs, the other upstairs on the projector. They both can be networked by the CAT5 I ran between the two rooms. Resulting to multi-room multi-player gaming... yes, it's somewhat of a dream, but we are we without our dreams?

Random Thoughts

2006-06-23T16:45:00.000-04:00

So, there's a storm camped out over the Raleigh/Cary area and the amount of lightning strikes is INSANE. It looks like Florida. This all translates to lots of work and lots of upset customers over the next few days. I'm REALLY looking forward to it. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to meet my wife at a store. I won't name the store, but we're going to look at stuff. This is stuff we haven't ever really looked at before. I'm a little weary, but I'm not sure why. I think I'm worried about pushy salespeople, but I think that's only in TV shows and movies. We went out to dinner last night and I got to hang out with Callie, our friend's 11 month old. She is quite adorable and somewhat fond of me. She smiles at me and stuff. After dinner, I got to hold her for a while and that was nice. Which takes me back to Daddy Boot Camp. Thats right.... it sounds weird, but as part of our education requirement for the adoption, I (meaning Sabrina) decided to attend Daddy Boot Camp last Saturday. This event was overshadowed by the NHL playoffs, but it deserves a mention. So, what I learned is: I'm not nearly as bad off as about 20 guys whose wives were literally a month or two away from birthing. It seemed like these guys had never held a baby before, never even seen a diaper changed, and really had not taken even a minute to pay attention to anything regarding being a dad someday. So, I got a big confidence boost. I know how to hold a baby... I'm not a big fan of passing a baby, but I'm getting better at that and I get less nervous with older babies. I know how to change a diaper. I've changed a few in my day, however, most were almost 10 years ago. But, I think it's like riding a bike. I learned some stuff like: 1.) "They" don't suggest using baby powder anymore. Apparently, it gets in the baby's nose and lungs and that's not good. 2.) Babies have flat noses so they can breathe while breastfeeding. This is somewhat useless information for our first child, but still something I learned. 3.) You can lay a child on its back and "bicycle" its legs to work gas out... burp 'em. 4.) Clinical studies have shown that babies enjoy watching football and hockey (not so much baseball and golf). They like the motion and colors. The Daddy Boot Camp specialists are working on trying to prove that this happiness is increased exponentially as the size of the screen increases (for both babies and daddies). Other than that, I've announced our adoption to my extended family via our family websites on MyFamily.com. So far, there's only been one person who has gotten on the site and she wished us luck, etc. It was nice and I hope the word gets around. If not, I'm sure there will be some talk when we go up for a wedding in July.

Cup Crazy in Carolina!

2006-06-20T08:54:00.000-04:00

Well, guess what? That's right, The Carolina Hurricanes... my Carolina Hurricanes are the Stanley Cup Champions of 2006. After one hell of a year, this team deserves it. Why, you ask? In February, Erik Cole was boarded and suffered a massive neck injury. Specifically, he had three fractured vertebrae. He was on track to have a killer season. At the time, I think he had something like 25 goals in 50 games. It was a huge blow to the 'Canes' offense. Erik was our breakaway specialist and his chemistry with various lines was just starting to boil. Glen Wesley has played more playoff games than any other active player in the NHL WITHOUT winning a Stanley Cup... until last night. Cam Ward, this 22 year old rookie goalie, performed like a veteran throughout the season and the playoffs. His composure and skill was simply unbelievable. Keep in mind that his BACKUP, was the goalie for the Swiss national team in Torino. Moreover, Cam grew up admiring the Oilers... they were HIS team... he watched Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier win cup after cup. Ray Whitney used to be the stick boy for the Edmonton Oilers. Doug Weight was injured in game 5 and sat out for games 6 and 7. And, Rod Brind'amour who took the reigns from Ron Francis, our last captain who took us to the finals a few years ago... Rod led this team like no other captain has led. According to his teammates, he IS the leader of this team. On the ice, it's Rod Brind'amour who has either started or sealed almost every "come-from-behind" victory. During the playoffs, after Rod gave his captain's speech to the team, Peter Laviolette had nothing else to say; Rod had covered it all. And speaking of Peter Laviolette, he took our U.S. team to the Olympics... sure, they didn't do such a good job, but the honor of being the coach is huge. Also, keep in mind that he only had a matter of weeks, and in some cases, a matter of days to take individual hockey players and make them a team. My point is, the U.S. Olympic committee knew Pete was a fine coach and with a Stanley Cup under his belt, he's proven it. Last night, the 'Canes played their absolute best. Skating, passing, shooting, hitting and defense were all played the 'Canes way... hard & fast & accurate. The chemistry was as good as it ever looked throughout the season despite it being Cole's second game after returning, pulling Joe Vasicek and putting in Chad LaRose, Doug Weight being out on injury and a last minute line change to Eric Staal's offensive line. The Oilers played well and played hard, but it's tough to win three games in a row. The 'Canes had the energy and "the seventh man" of the fans at the RBC Center who remained standing throughout the entire game. Read some articles: Pay attention to the hospitality of Caniacs Cam Ward wins the Playoff MVP Trophy and honor Photos from Caniac fever sweeping the capitol Other blogs with pics: Nick's Angela's Josh's

Albie's Downpour

2006-06-14T14:13:00.000-04:00

So, tropical depression Alberto dropped a lot of rain on North Carolina. It has resulted in a lot of flooding in Raleigh and Cary. In fact, BOTH sides of the road that my office is on is actually closed off! Now, that may sound like I'm not going home today, but there's a parking lot on the corner that we can cut through and escape. Thank goodness... But some people weren't so lucky. A 13 year old boy drowned in a drainage pipe in Franklin Co. Also, Crabtree Valley mall is MORE than flooded, it's just screwed. I got this shot off a DOT traffic cam: Our next door neighbors had some vehicles in their parking lot that needed to get towed out because the flood waters were so high. We tried to order a pizza so no one had to go out in the mess and/or contribute to the traffic out there. Unfortunately, EVERYONE had the same idea and all three pizza joints nearby had 90-120 minute wait times. I ended up venturing out for me and my officemate. The waters are rising and getting out of this office MAY actually be difficult in not too very long. Wish me luck.

Just in time...

2006-06-10T15:53:00.000-04:00

For the game tonight, some more TRUE HURRICANE FACTS! 11.) If you ask Kevyn Adams what time it is, he always says, "Two seconds 'til." After you ask, "Two seconds 'til what?" he checks you into the boards. 12.) Faster than a speeding bullet ... more powerful than a locomotive ... able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... yes, these are some of Josef Vasicek's warm-up exercises. 13.) Time waits for no man, unless that man is Ray Whitney. 14.) Newton's Third Law is wrong: Although it states that for each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, there is no force equal in reaction to a Cory Stillman slapshot. 15.) Justin Williams once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink. Yes, these are just adapted Chuck Norris facts, but they're adapted well (if I do say so myself). The funny part is, you could put "Rod Brind'amour" in wherever you see "Chuck Norris" and "slapshot" in wherever you see "roundhouse kick" and you'd have some really great Rod Brind'amour facts... most of which would be completely true. Meanwhile, work is crazy resulting in a recent lack of posting. So, that's a big apology to my faithful reader. No, that's not a typo. You are the only one reading this. And, thanks. However, tonight, we are having a viewing of the game... yes, it's not a party... a party implies talking and socializing... tonight, there will be many people at our home, eating muchies and viewing the game. Instead of socializing, they will cheer on our Canes and yell at the referees' bad calls. Oh, Edmonton Oilers, don't worry... we lost the Stanley Cup two years ago... maybe in two years, you can win one, too. No, but seriously, Edmonton has won The Cup enough times... we're due and we're bringing it to NC, baby!

That's another...

2006-06-09T10:42:00.000-04:00

Carolina Hurricane's win! WOO! Woo, woo!!! We're up 2-0 in the series against the Oilers. In an unfortunate turn of events in game 1, a Oiler defensemen put a hit on a 'Cane in front of the Oiler net. The collision rolled into "Roli," the goalie, and injured his knee. That's a big blow to the Oilers game. It may have been a major factor in the 5-0 shutout in game 2. Now, we head to Edmonton and try to beat the Oilers on their home turf. For the road, I offer these TRUE HURRICANE FACTS: 1.) If you open up a can of whoop-ass, Bret Hedican will pop out. 2.) Before he goes to bed, the Boogey Man checks his closet for Mike Commodore 3.) Objects in Rod Brind'amour's mirror appear at the correct distances. 4.) Life is like a box of chocolates; You never know when Frank Kaberle is going to check you into the boards. 5.) Eric Staal *IS* allowed to ask about Fight Club. 6.) One time, Aaron Ward lost his keys. He then spent the next 30 minutes torturing himself until he gave up the location of his keys. 7.) Cam Ward does not sleep. He waits. 8.) Andrew Ladd is the reason Waldo is hiding. 9.) Matt Cullen can lead a horse to water AND make him drink. 10.) Glen Wesley can slam a revolving door.

The Green Tarp

2006-05-22T12:30:00.000-04:00

So, this weekend, my wife left me for a retreat called the Red Tent retreat. The Red Tent ministry is the name of a women's ministry at our church. So, while she was at the beach, I had my friend Mike over for some gaming. We mostly played HALO and NFS: Most Wanted. Now, for those of you don't know, NFS:MW is one of the greatest driving games ever made. EA made a great game when they made NFS: Underground and Underground 2. However, they went above and eyond when they combined the Underground style games with NFS:Hot Pursuit. Did that seem like a different language? Well, here's the deal: the new Need for Speed game has you making rides like Fast and Furious, but also getting chased by the cops. So, there you are with your sweet Porche Cayman, sprinting down the highway at 150 mph, holding off your fellow street racers with a little burst of NOS and, suddenly, "joining" the race on an on-ramp on the highway is the five-O. That's right, so now, not only do you need to win the race, you need to do it with the cops on your butt, setting up roadblocks, spike strips, sending out helicopters, etc. Drag racing, sprints, circuits, timed runs, and speed trap races PLUS narrow escapes by blowing up gas stations, knocking over water towers and giant donuts, driving on the golf courses, boardwalks and parks, and ducking underneath tractor trailers. Also, in more important news, I finally won a poker game!!! Yes, after almost a year and a half of playing poker, I won a game. We actually played twice. The first round was quick blind increases and the game moved quickly. I ended up in second place and won my buy-in back. The second round was a little more intense. The blinds grew at a slower pace, so the game was slower. I actually busted out twice for a total of three buy-ins. But, I guess third time is a charm. After my third buy-in (meaning I had the smallest stack), I managed to win a few pots. It may have actually worked to my advantage as the other players stacks gave them more confidence than they probably should have had. Anyway, I ended up winning with a J/6 beating a Q/9 as I picked up the 6 on 4th street. I won a whopping $15, but, after my three buy-ins, I only made $7.50. It will take a few more wins before I'm ready to spend any money on the internet.

My Amazing Wife

2006-05-17T13:08:00.000-04:00

So, most of you already know that I am married to an amazing, beautiful woman who I don't deserve. Still, she's mine and you can't have her. No, really, my point here is just to tell you a little about her. Here are some fun facts: 1.) I've known her 1 month less than she's been alive. 2.) She has a tremendous heart. 3.) She will be an amazing mother someday. 4.) She often wakes up early to make me lunch. 5.) She is VERY pretty. For now, let's focus in on #3. You see, we've been on a journey, of which many of you are aware (many thanks to an unexpected announcement from Benji at an appreciateion dinner). This journey is one of adopting a child from South Korea. It is our hope that we might have a child join our family before the end of this year. Recently, the news has left the realm of quasi-private to "OK for public consumption." So, I am happy to blog about it (finally!). There have been many moments along the way that I feel are truly blog worthy, but I can't remember them now and I'm sure I couldn't tell the stories nearly as well today as I could have told them months ago. However, here's what I know now: This whole adoption thing, like the miracle of birth, is a God thing. While it seems a little more obvious for traditional families, I believe God has already made a baby for us (or is going to soon) and that baby is in His will to be a part of our family. And, yes, we're going to have all the many wonderful and horrible times that every family has as they do life together. Also, I know that God can make money grow on trees... or more specifically, God can provide without you really understanding how He does it.

Movin' on up!

2006-05-15T15:44:00.000-04:00

Well, not really, but I moved my office back to my original spot. You see, I started in an office sharing it with another supervisor. Then, I worked on a special project where my duties were taken over by someone as I worked on the special project. When I returned, that someone took over my area and I took over another area. I could have had my office back, but it seemed like more work than it was worth. So, I took the cubicle outside my old office. A cube means no door which is annoying. It's also much louder. Recently, that someone moved onto another career with a different company. I took the opportunity to move back into my old office and here I am now. I still have files and some other things to move, but I need to get the keys to the filing cabinets in my old-new office. Meanwhile, I put down the Pergo flooring. I hope to snap some pictures and get them on the blog soon. I never remember to take pictures. The process was difficult, but overall satisfying. Home improvement projects suck while you're doing them. You wonder, "Why didn't I pay someone to do this?" But once they're done, you have to be pleased, assuming they turned out OK.

I see you, and raise...

2006-05-05T10:24:00.000-04:00

I'll be saying that a lot tonight. Why? Because I'll finally get to play some poker. Josh is having a poker night and I cannot wait to try some of my freshly acquired techniques and see if they can't take me all the way. Now, I'm due a win. Seriously, I've played quite a few $5 buy-in poker games over the past year. It's time for me to win one and make my money back. I'll be bringing my best friend to the game. He's been VERY busy with school and work and, well, I havne't exactly been very free myself. We've managed to hang out a couple times over the past couple of weeks as his classes have tapered off, but I'm looking forward to introducing him to more of my other friends and having a good time drinking and playing poker. Wish me luck!

This Week in Review

2006-05-04T10:30:00.000-04:00

'Canes won! We're moving on to the second round with a couple days to rest up. The "Habs" captain, Koivu, went out in Game 3 with an eye injury after an accidental high stick from Justin Williams. Montreal will probably forever hate Justin, but he called Koivu in the hospital and apologized. The replay shows a completely unintentional high stick. We'll be playing the Devils in the second round. My little sister roots for the Devils, so, hopefully, I can find some time to give her a call during the series. This past weekend was the Big Event at newhope. I put in a lot of hours, but it turned out well. Angela covered it well in her blog. I'm looking forward to hearing how all the hard work we've all put in over the past month has helped move the hearts of people and helped us drive our stake in the ground near Southpoint. One note: Todd, our sound guy that helped us setup, is, apparently, a freaking genius. Skipped some grades, graduated college early, masters degrees, etc. and he's been in the theatre A/V game since he was a kid. Upon being asked if it sounded good and he could make any recommendations, *HE* said (about Angela), "She's a rock star. Let her do her thing!" At the time, I had no idea how huge of a compliment that was for Angela, but now I know about Todd's talent, experience, and knowledge... if he couldn't make any suggestions, we've got ourselves a top notch sound person at newhope. While Angela says, "Steve taught me everything I know" that's hardly true. She's taught herself about compressors along with the rest of us and no one can teach how to listen. She's got a hell of an ear and she's good. Very good. If you're not sure about newhope, but you're an audiophile, come any given Sunday when Angela is running sound and you'll be impressed. I guarantee it. On a similar note, I received what I will take as a compliment from another Creative Vision genius. At Jessica and Kelly's wedding on Saturday, Andrew, bass player for WAM and aforementioned CV integration genius, turned to his wife, Sarah, and said, "Is Steve running sound?" Sarah turned around to look and saw me, indeed, running sound. Upon confirmation, Andrew told Sarah that he thought so, I have a distinctive style/sound. I'm assuming it's a good style/sound and I will let my A/V ego grow... just slightly. On another similar note, Jessica and Kelly's wedding was absolutely perfect. Now, I've been to/ run sound and/or lights at/ helped out at a lot of weddings. I can honestly say I have a great amount of experience with weddings. I can tell you that most don't run smoothly. Many have minor to major emergencies. Others have poor planning. Still others have issues well beyond the control of anyone other than God. Almost ALL of them have started late. Jessica and Kelly, on the other hand, had a completely perfect weddings. Jessica timed everything, covered everything, asked all the right questions with time to change anything, pre-lit the candles. Her wedding coordinator, Emily, synchronized watches with me and this is where it became perfect. The wedding ran completely smooth as other weddings I have been a part of that were well planned and organized... but this wedding STARTED ON TIME, TOO!!! Listen, it's a big accomplishment to pull of a perfect wedding. The reception was at the University Club, the top of the only many storied building in Durham. Kelly has a razor wit. He was celebrating well (meaning he was drinking, but I don't think he was drunk). I really like them and I feel like we became almost instant friends. Which is not normal, but happy. It should be noted, apparently, Jessica does not have a track record of instant friends. According to the toasts given at the reception, people have to grow on Jessica and the crowd even agreed. So, I feel very honored to have been so quickly brought into their circle of friends, even if it's only on the outside edge.

How did a guy like him...

2006-05-02T07:20:00.000-04:00

Did anyone else notice how cute my wife was yesterday? Personally, I think she was cuter than Kristen Bell. Why? Because Sabrina looks just as cute, but without Hollywood make-up and hair. You see, what you people don't know is my wife wakes up beautiful. That's just one of the reasons I married her. THEN, she puts on her cute for you all. Needless to say, I like the headband. I think it should make a comeback. So, please, feel free to comment on how I don't deserve her.

He shoots, he scores!

2006-04-27T12:26:00.000-04:00

The 'Canes began their comeback last night. After taking the Cananandandiens to OT, Eric Staal scored his first playoff goal and won the game bringing us back into the series. Montreal still leads 2 to 1 in the series and the next game is in Montreal, but Sunday, we'll be coming home. We found our feet. We found our goalie. Now, we just need to find our sticks. The 'Canes have not been handling the puck well. Montreal has excelled in this area and is cutting off passing lanes left & right. Luckily, despite our errors, Cam Ward (only 22 years of age) seems to be starting a hot streak just in time for a cold streak from Martin Gerber. Last hockey paragraph: I called the tieing goal. I told my wife that Rod Brind'Amour would either score the next goal or have an assist. The captain has a certain timing about him. While he has occasional goals/assists, he's the one that makes things happen after long periods of getting beat on, particularly if the other team has the lead for a long time or is scoring a lot. Roddy, in truest cpatain style, always leads the comeback. As we were down for a while and losing the series while playing on "foreign" ice, I just knew Roddy would find the back of the net. In other news, I finished my dental hygiene "volunteering." My next door neighbor, Kim, is studying to become a hygienist. She needed clients to practice and test on. She had a minimum number required to pass. I gladly volunteered. It's a good deal and a way to help out a friend and neighbor. So, my teeth are free of plaque (Kim is VERY good and gentle), freshly polished and coated with flouride. I received numerous compliments, but also stern finger shaking for not flossing. I hate flossing. I feel like it doesn't do anything and it takes too long. Sometimes I do it wrong and I hurt myself. There's no need for me to hurt myself.

Mr. Fixit

2006-04-26T17:09:00.000-04:00

I fixed my car today. Well, I fixed the speaker that wasn't sounding right on the passenger side. It did turn out to be a loose connection. It likely came loose on the "final" door slam before Mike and I hit the road after installing the rear speakers. It was a simple enough fix and now my car sounds significantly better. Seriously, what a difference 25% of your sound makes... hehe. So, a while back, when I was working at Circuit City, I asked one of the Road Shop guys which would you buy first if you could only buy one or the other: Speakers or a new head unit? The head unit (a.k.a. - "deck") seemed to be the consensus. Now, after installing new speakers on a factory head unit, I can tell you that there is NO WAY a head unit is the way to go, especially if you can increase the size of your speakers. For example, in the 1995 Civic, there are 4 1/4" speakers in the car from the factory. However, when you replace them with aftermarket, you install 5 1/2" speakers. This requires some minor modifications to your car, but all mods are hidden beneath speaker covers, so they don't even have to look all that pretty. That extra inch and a quarter of cone combined with separate tweeters built-in the Infinity speakers made a HUGE difference in both power and quality of sound using just my factory deck. Now, here's the important part: these speakers were in Sabrina's Integra and sounded just as good on an after market head unit with more power. In fact, I would be hard pressed to hear the difference between the two. In fact, the only difference I can tell is that "too loud" simply comes earlier on the volume scale of the after market head unit. Based on what I know about sound and electronics, as long as the "too loud" point is at 75% colume or below, you have sufficient power to make you happy while maintaining good quality. You hit "too loud" around 50% on the after market deck... and about 75% on the factory deck. So, the moral of the story: If you want to upgrade your mobile sound system, and care about SOUND, not features, then upgrade speakers first. Unless you have a desire for a CD player or Aux In, and even then, go cheap and put more money into getting better speakers. The only other features regarding a deck revolve mainly around amps. Many modern after market decks offer more/better tone control and various crossover and EQ settings. However, all of this means nothing if you don't have speakers with good frequency response and separate tweeters and woofers (and subs, if applicable). Wow, it sounds like I know a thing or two about sound, doesn't it? I don't, but I still think I might be smarter than the average bear. So, if you're an average bear buying mobile stereo equipment, listen to me.

My hamstrings feel like bacon bits

2006-04-24T10:12:00.001-04:00

So, I woke up Saturday morning with a bit of a mission. I headed downstairs to our hallway. I removed the last bit of carpet and pulled up the vinyl flooring. I then spent hours scraping the glue off as well as scraping the drips and drops our plaster and painting people dripped and dropped when they were building our house. I made the floor as smooth as possible. I even tried to fill the crack in the concrete. It's a minor crack and more aesthetically unpleasing than anything. However, the stuff I tried to use is just crappy. It must be designed for bigger cracks because I could barely get the stuff to go in the crack. And it stuck more to the plastic tube from which it was being dispensed than the concrete. The stuff would have been better in a tub so as to be applied like spackle... it would have saved us the trouble of buying a tube gun thingy. Anyway, after lots of scraping and a little filling, I started sealing. I pulled out the sealer and, although warned, was still taken aback by the strong smell. I mixed it well and began applying it. Mind you, there are two "closets" in which I had to apply this stuff. ALso, keep in mind that, in order to minimize impact to us, I started at the end of the hallway and had to shut the bonus room door very early on in the process (or else leave the house wide open for far too many hours). With that door shut, I had no cross breeze. Shortly thereafter, I had to shut the garage door for similar reasons. Shortly thereafter, I believe I got a buzz and even though I went outside for a good 10 minutes taking deep breathes and trying to clear myself of this unintentional huffing, I believe I ended up getting a little high. Now, I only say this because I woke up on Sunday with a KILLER headache. Now, I've NEVER had a hangover, but I imagine that's what it's like. I have never been more miserable from just a headache. It seemed only time made it go away. So, my advice, if sealing concrete, get a fan or two and wear an odor minimizing type mask. Meanwhile, the hallway is completely ready for Pergo. It is still backordered, so we're waiting impatiently. The hallway looks 10 times better than it did. It smells "better" too, if you prefer paint thinner to kitty litter. I do. I'm glad I listened to my friends who told me to seal the concrete. My last project this weekend was to install the Infinity speakers that we took out of Miles into my Civic. The front ones went in pretty easy. I already had a wiring harness for them and I just needed to cut out the plastic that prevented the Infinity speakers from fitting. THe back ones posed more of a challenge. I had bought the wrong wiring harness for those, so I needed to exchange them and I needed to drill new hole and, consequently, I needed new screws and nuts to secure the speakers. I went to Best Buy and Home Depot and my friend Mike came with me and helped install the second pair. Everything sounded good until, on the way home, we heard a buzzing come from the passenger front speaker. I dropped Mike home and checked it out briefly when I got home. I was hoping it was just a weird vibration, but it's not. It's either the speaker or the connections. If it's the connections, I'll be just fine. I can fix those. If it's the speaker, that will totally suck. But, man, it's nice to have tunes in my car again.

Huh? Look at that...

2006-04-21T11:28:00.000-04:00

So, I only today realized I was missing a Recent Posts list and Archive. So, I added it. I always thought my sidebar looked smaller than everyone else's, but I couldn't figure out why. It turns out I'm coming up on a year for having this blog. That means it's the longest I've ever continued to update any website I've ever had or been a part of.

All in!

2006-04-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

OK, so a number of my male friends have gotten into the poker craze that's hit the nation over the past couple of years. I can honoestly say that, while I was interested, I felt it as being a passing fad. I thought the same thing about the rise of NASCAR popularity. Like the WWF who rocked, then sucked, then rocked, then sucked... I imagined these trends to follow suit (no pun intended) for poker, and, specifically, Texas Hold-'em. Unfortunately, my interest grew from watching the occasional WSOP show on ESPN2. I was invited to a few poker games over the past year and I greatly enjoyed the company. Specifically, I loved the fact that my pastors would join us in a beer and some poker. This is just one more reason why newhope is a great church. Even more, I appreciated just hanging out with the guys, making crude jokes about who brought nuts for hours, listening to blues or jazz and just having a lot of fun. I've never won back my money, but I always do pretty good. I'm rarely the first one out and usually I'm in the final three. Well, I accidentally watched a show on FSN sponsered by fulltiltpoker.net. The main pro poker player on the show is none other than "The Professor," Howard Lederer. I really enjoy Howard's style of play. His willingness to help other players and run commentary has earned him his nickname. He explains things well and in such a way that I understand it well enough to apply it. So, after catching this show, Learn from the Pros, I realized there was a lot I DIDN'T know about the game. I headed over to fulltiltpoker.net to see what the website had to offer. I had no intentions of playing online. After reading several of the articales there, I NEEDED to try these lessons out. Unfortunately, our most regular game hasn't been very regular and, worst, I have not been able to attend due to prior commitments. So, I went ahead and started playing online. I really enjoy it and am learning how to apply the techniques from the articles. Now, i can't wait for another game for some real life action. I should say that I am NOT playing for real money. Fulltiltpoker.net has a whole play money thing and I'm playing there. I've done pretty well and I'm keeping track of my stats in a MS Excel file to insure I'm ACTUALLY improving. There's plenty of growing room in the play money area, but eventually, I might try my hand at the penny=dollar poker tables. I can play at the play money tables for a while as I build-up my bankrole and move into higher stakes play money tables. The better players are at the higher stakes tables, even with play money. To improve my game, I'll need to play with better players. Soner or later, and probably MUCH, MUCH later, I'll be playing at the high stakes play money tables and the only way to play with better players would be to play with real money. My thought was that if I can win a couple of real life games, I'll take just $5 of my "winnings" and play a little online for real money. The nice part will be that the penny=dollar real money poker tables SHOULD be a higher caliber player than high stakes play money and I should be able to improve my game with VERY little investment. If they aren't very good, then I'll win lots and actually make a few dollars online. The main reason for getting better at poker has little to do with money. Though it's nice to win some every once in a while, I'm hoping to raise the caliber of the guys that *I* play poker with. That is, with regards to their poker game... I'm not sure if I can raise the caliber of anything else with these guys. :) I'm hoping that we all get better and that makes the games even more interesting than they already are. I'd like to play more than just Texas Hold-'em and I'd like for the games to have a reputation of being "good." ... "If you want a good poker game..." or, better yet, others want to play with us because they want to raise the level of THEIR game. Of course, this is all assuming that all this work and research will actually result in my being a better poker player. Someone get a game going! I need to know!

Fine Felix

2006-04-17T17:31:00.000-04:00

Well, Felix came home last week, as most of you know. I spent all day Saturday detailing him. I used many of my new Zaino products. The real question is how well will they last? They brag that a car being used everyday, they will last 6 months with proper care. If they last that long, they're worth it. I'm hoping that since Felix lives in the garage, I'll get at least six months out of them. The process for an entire car is tiring. However, Felix looks good. I still have more to do, but I can tell you that Zaino wash does a nice job of minimizing water droplets on the car. The polish is difficult to see when you're applying it, so it's difficult to know when to reload your applicator. Lastly, the gloss enhancer is not as easy to apply as you might imagine. Did I mention that the Zaino system is supposed to reduce the dust build-up on the car by up to 60%? With the pollen these days, that's a nice little feature if it's true. It rained today and I'm very interested to see how Felix looks now. One other note, I'm using Mother's All-Wheel Cleaner. While it doesn't particularly clean the hard to reach areas just by spraying on and washing off per the instructions, it does seriously reduce future build-up of brake dust on your wheels. I believe continued use should make future wheel cleanings much easier. Products I have yet to test are Mother's Back-to-Black and Zaino's Leather Conditioner. As for the 'Canes, like our cats, they are ours, but will often be referred to as "mine" by one of us.

Fixed Felix?

2006-04-12T15:18:00.000-04:00

We'll find out today. We're going to pick him up... specifically, I am going to pick him after a repair, not replacement of the bumper. I realized that it *IS* the dealer doing the repairs after all. I don't think I can find someone more qualified or better at repairing these cars than them, so I need to be OK with a repair instead of a replacement. I've learned, and you should learn from my mistake, that there is sometimes a "don't have to get an adjuster to look at it if it's less than a certain amount" amount. ASK about this... you may want to get an estimate and decide to NOT have an adjuster look at the damages... if you're happy with your body shop selection and happy with their solution and the amount is low enough, then maybe you can get exactly what you want without hassle. I wish we would have done this and gotten a new bumper, but I'll live with a repair. The molding will be brand new. And, the repair is guaranteed for as long as we own the car. Since it's brand-spanking-new, I hope that ends up being a long time. Yes, the Canes lost... I blame it on my crew who are NOT Caniacs and did not care about being on-time. Without encouragement from me from the moment the puck drops, my Canes just could not beat the Devils. I am waiting for my little sister to call me to gloat. Of course, I can gloat back that I was, at least, at the game while she watched it on TV.

New toys

2006-04-11T14:14:00.000-04:00

Things are finally calming down at work, at least, in my area. That means, I'll still need to help other areas catch up and everyone should pray that we don't get any thunderstorms in this area for at least a couple of weeks. I know, I know, Raleigh has a water shortage... It can rain as long as there's no thunder and lightning. Meanwhile, I've been given some new toys. Specifically, a new phone and a new laptop from my wonderful company. My new phone is a Blackberry. Yes, that's right. If I manage this right, Sabrina won't actually need to be my PDA anymore. 'Cause, I actually have one now. It's very cool and I like it. There were doubts as my work never really stops, so I thought, this just allows more of it to follow me around. But, I've found that it actually allows me to keep my Inbox cleaner, handle issues faster and, all-in-all, helps me do my job faster and better. The interface is a little "clunky" and it's not particularly the best phone I've ever had. It's a lot more difficult to look up phone bumbers than it used to be. However, I can have a lot more info in the phone than I used to have, and, well, now I can Email from it. My other new toy is a new Dell laptop. There are two main features that make me happy. I now have built-in wireless networking. This is just convenient that I don't have to get one other thing out of my bag and wait for it to "load." Most importantly is USB... now, I know, USB isn't that exciting these days. But, my old laptop had USB 1.1. This one has 2.0. If you don't know the difference, it's about 10x faster. This is important when you need to move around 1 gig of files. The actual difference is from 20 minutes to about 2 minutes. Additionally, there are more USB ports. With the addition of my Blackberry, this was a need. Even prior, my mouse and printer took up my only two ports. Now, with my new port replicator (docking station), I have 5 USB ports! The only drawback to the laptop is a limited screen resolution. I like big desktops and don't mind little icons and text. I like a lot of work room. I have dual displays setup in my "office" (yes, I have a cube). My screen resolution is 1024x768. I prefer 1280x1024. But, c'est la vie. Lastly, at church, I recently ran into some frustrating dimmer packs. Unfortunately, the problem pack is up very high. The best solution is to switch the dimmer pack with one much closer to the ground. This is a daunting task. The dimmer pack isn't, but the unmounting at heights is. However, I tell you this not because of the work needing to get done, but because of what I was told on Sunday. You see, with the dimmer pack not working right, we were down 2 channels. The meant three actual lights were NOT working on Sunday morning. Yet, I got more compliments about lights than I do on most Sundays. Perhaps less *IS* more? Anyway, I'm the lights seemed better because Rob did a fantastic job on sound. I can honestly say I've never heard it sound that good unless Angela was running the board. Moreover, the WAM team worked particularly hard at particularly difficult music. They really brought their A game. Through all of this, I can only hope that we all, myself included, remember that we strive for such excellence to praise our God and to create an environment for the Holy Spirit to move and someone to, at least, consider God as more than they did before they arrived.

Car care, bumper, and lights

2006-04-07T12:46:00.000-04:00

So, my order from Zaino came in and I am very excited. It came with a letter that feels like it was written by Sal Zaino himself, though it obviously wasn't. There's a paragraph that ends with, if you have questions, just give me a call! Another section explains that the polish takes longer to dry in humid weather and then proceeds to state, there's nothing I can do about this. On the back, there's a local New Jersey number. I may have to call it because the accelerator that Nick got me for my birthday isn't mentioned in the two page detailed car care info. I think it just speeds up the polish process and adds to the potency of the polish. I still have to get Felix's bumper replaced. The dumb adjuster from the dumb girl's dumb insurance company thinks the damagers can be repaired despite the dealer already telling us it can't be and has to be replaced. Tonight, I plan on calling the dumb girl's dumb insurance company to see if I can still do the "fax the estimate if it's less than $1000" thing and bypass the adjuster completely. I should have done that to begin with... Last night, I went to the church to work on the lights. I only got about half of the work done because of a very stupid dimmer pack. One fuse was stuck in it and another fuse kept blowing. I promise you that everything is 10x more frustrating on top of a 28' or taller extension ladder. Also, someone stole my extension cord for one of my lights on the stage. I later found out that it was probably Benji. Still, it was part of the reason that I only got about half of what needed to get done, done. But, I woke up this morning feeling much better than I have over the past two weeks. I won't get to sleep in very much tomorrow morning because I have Adobe Premiere training @ 9am. Still, every little bit helps. I'm hoping to go home tonight and play video games and that might help, too. I played a little bit this week and I definitely felt better. Other chores needing to get done over the next month or two is: *Hang black curtains on wall behind our TV. - This requires me to sand and paint some PVC piping then figure out the best way to hang the curtains so they look good. *Put down Pergo flooring in the first floor hallway - This requires me to pull up the vinyl and quarter round and seal the cement. *Figure out how to fix the ceiling border in the office.

Never, ever

2006-04-05T18:12:00.000-04:00

I have never had to work this hard at my job. I am exhausted. My last post was about midway through all the work I've been doing. I'm passed stressed out, I think. I can't even take care of things that need to be taken care of like Felix's bumper and other paperwork that needs to get done. I'm sorry if I worried anyone with the last post. My intention was just a release that I was only able to get out electronically. Now, I just want to sleep for 12 hours and not think about work or cars or paperwork for a whole day. I just want to play video games and vegetate.

AAAAAAAAAA

2006-03-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

20 days

2006-03-22T11:51:00.000-05:00

That's how long it took for something bad to happen to our wonderful new car. Here's the thing, whether you believe in this or not, I believe this is a spiritual thing. You see, Sabrina and I are embarking on several aspects of our lives that, I believe, God is very happy about. We're trying to get our finances in order and we're both spending time working on bills and finances. We're watching less TV, but still getting our TV watched. (It helps there have been numerous repeats on lately). We're trying to be good stewards. Taking care of our car is one way I planned on being a good steward. We've upped our tithe trying to get it up to the Biblical 10%. We've managed to increase it about every six months. I'm feeling good about it and I feel that God is blessing us as we continue to increase our faith in Him. We're also trying to redo our entry area's floors. We were lucky or blessed or both that Lowe's is having a 20% off on their Pergo (what we want). Then, a credit card offer said they would give us 10% back on a purchase from a home improvement store. Saving 28% should help us out significantly financially with this project. Sabrina and I have been getting along particularly well lately, in my opinion. I've really been trying to focus on loving her like she deserves. So, for all of this, I think our car was hit because we're trying to do things right. Both of us are working hard to make sure our lives our good and Our lives are good and we're trying to make it all even better. Our car was hit because we're either being tested or we're being tested. Either way, I can't change the car being hit. I can't change the way it all went down. All we can do is handle it from here.

Happy Birthday to me!

2006-03-20T08:56:00.000-05:00

So, we begin by having to wake up early. Not a good start. We wake up and head to newhope for the WAM training day. The guest speaker Will talked for a while. I think he went almost 30 minutes over. So, that cut into our training time. Lucky for me, none for the lighting techs showed up. We spent the whole time swapping knowledge and having Angela teach us about the compressor. We also decided the next big knowledge hole in our equipment is the FX processor. I'm confident we have a lot more that we're capable of doing. Right now, we're just limited by the number of I/O's on the sound board... Correction, fully functioning I/O's. After that, we headed home we're God and the NHL planned an afternoon game for my Hurricanes to play. The DVR had already recorded half meaning I could fast forward through commercials. I watched the game and then promptly took a nap. I woke up and we headed to my party. We headed to Moe's with Funfetti cupcakes in hand. Nick & Kelli were the first to arrive. I didn't know they were coming!?! My wife wondered how I didn't see the Evite she sent everyone that she left up on our computer for the past three days. It was at that moment that I realized, I haven't touched the home computer in three days! Yes, not only have I not played video games, I haven't even touched the computer. Anyway, many, many people showed up and I felt loved. I had no idea how many people would show and I expected a weak turn out. I was truly, pleasantly surprised. As the gifts go, I got some car care products and some cash and some cash vouchers. I got very awesome cards. But, the highlight of the night was when Josh and Mamie decided to let me convince them to come over and play one game of Settler's of Catan. Even Sabrina played just so that we could have a fourth. I won, and, since it was my birthday, I didn't feel bad about the losers. It was a long game because Josh tended to take a little extra time to make his decisions. The girls would also sometimes forget to pass the dice to end their turn. The game ended a little later than I expected, but still with enough time to have a decent night's sleep, even for Mamie who had to be up early for church. I would like to say thanks for everyone who came to Moe's and thanks for birthday presents and thanks for good times.

So sorry, you lose

2006-03-16T18:21:00.000-05:00

I didn't get the job. It's OK. The first time I applied for a supervisor position, I didn't get it either. I think maybe I need one interview to figure out what I need to do. So, maybe the next time a position opens, I'll be more ready. Meanwhile, I am now going to try to be a contractor for a local company in town. It has nothing to do with cable and I already verified that it is not a conflict of interest. I'll just help them out when they need it in my time off. So, if you want, please pray that I get a meeting with the company next week and it works out. They do a lot of work with both secular and Christian organizations. Hopefully, God's plan for this is to help out a company who glorifies Him rather than move my career forward. Meanwhile, I haven't had a chance to play video games or wash the car. I've been staying up until midnight for TWC and I am tired. I could really use a day off, but it doesn't really look like there's one coming up... not even my birthday. Unfortunately, the WAM Tech Training day fell on my birthday. Moreover, we weren't able to get anyone smarter than me to teach the tech team something. So, we have to utilize my limited knowledge to try to teach the rest of the tech team. Unfortunately, they think I know a thing or two. I used to think I did, but I was humbled when we met professional A/V people a couple of years ago when we moved newhope Church into it's current Gimghoul residence. Relatively speaking, I know nothing. The rest of the tech team might say, relatively speaking, I know a lot. They simply underestimate themselves. I think every sound tech has surpassed me in knowledge. I pretend like I know something, but they are all better than I am. The only thing I might be good at (and this is why they THINK I'm better than I am) is figuring out what the problem is. But, that's because that's what I do everyday. I troubleshoot... I am a troubleshooter. That's my natural skill. It's a good one to have. It's applicable to just about every job, but, again, after seeing some professional troubleshooters, I am nothing. FYI, the professionals are very good about saying, "oooooh, you're smart" and making me feel like I figured something out when they probably knew what the problem was 10 minutes earlier.

The taxman cometh

2006-03-12T09:08:00.000-05:00

I finished our taxes yesterday. I woke up and I felt like I was on a mission to have an eventful Saturday. I was going to wash and wax Felix and do some other things that I needed to get done. So, I woke up and headed straight for the office. I started working on bills and then headed for taxes. I finished 'em!!! Woohoo! And, for the first time in a few years, we're getting a refund, which is greatly needed to help pay for Felix and other things. Also, starting yesterday was my birthweek. I'm excited as I suspect I will be having a get together at Moe's. I'm looking forward to having a little Steve time where all my friends are gathering for me. I used to not really care about that, but lately, it's become apparent that I really want that. That and car care products. Speaking of, I've been looking at Mother's car care stuff. They had a great website with tips and tricks and it looks like they have some great products. Yes, that's a hint. Lastly, I'd like to tell you that my wife got motivated by my Saturday morning get-up-and-go. She cleaned our office (well, as best one can). It looked great until I made a mess again. She also worked on some other things and then went shopping.

Wax on, wax off

2006-03-09T09:57:00.000-05:00

So, the day after I wax the new car, it rains, leaving little water spots all over the car. "Well, that's not so bad, I'll wash those off this weekend. It's supposed to be in the 80s." However, the next day, Sabrina comes home and her car is covered in bird droppings. OK, ok, "covered" may be an exagerration. But, there were a lot of droppings. It required me to wash the car again. This time, it was about 40 degrees out, so it wasn't too pleasant. Meanwhile, I've been reading up on car care. I've learned some tips and tricks and even used some. Here are the keys to cleaning & protecting a car: 1.) Clean your wheels, tires and wheel wells first. This minimizes dirt from them splashing up on the car. 2.) While this may be common sense: start at the top and work down and start at the front and work back. The back of your car usually has the most dirt and you want to keep your sponge/rag clean so you don't scratch your paint with a dirty rag. It also minimizes swirl marks. 3.) Remove the nozzle on your hose and run it over the top of the car. The sheeting action of the water will grab many of the water beads and reduce water spots, make drying easier and you'll use less towels to dry your car. 4.) Wax your car monthly or bi-monthly at least. 5.) Polish/Glaze your car when you wax it. Yes, it's different from waxing. And it's important to protecting your paint. I've gotta go. Conference call... ooh... big shot. Yeah!

What's in a name?

2006-03-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

As some of you may know, we got a new car. Felix got a nice wash and wax today. It took me almost 5 hours to detail the car, but I wanted to get a coat of wax on it sooner rather than later. Neighbor Steve lent me some plastic cleaner/protectant. I hate waxing cars, but I know it needs to get done. Hopefully, I can keep up with it and keep the car in good condition. Speaking of, my birthday is coming up and I was thinking about what I wanted. I decided that what I really wanted was car care products. "Why?" you ask? Because I haven't kept up with what's the good stuff. I know there are a lot of you out there and I'm sure some of you have some good ideas for what's good to use. I have been using Meguiare's Wax. I think they're very good. I may start using Meguiare's car wash, too, just to insure my wash doesn't clean off the latest wax job. I went to their website and they had a little thing that helps them market their products in a more personalized way to you. Link to my results. So, I figured, for the friends that thought, "I would get something for Steve, but I really don't want to spend a lot of money (or can't afford to)," I thought a less than $10 gift of leather wipes or hose protectant might be something someone would get. So, if you were thinking about getting me something, car care care products would be an excellent choice. Also, it looks like we may have some car audio details to work out. I've already got a Circuit City gift card that I haven't used. If you were looking for something simple to get me, a Circuit City gift card would do just fine, any amount... I can pool them together to help pay for the installs. This is all assuming that my friends would even get me presents for my birthday. I don't normally say anything or have a big party, but the whole car care idea had me thinking that maybe I could ask for some gifts that wouldn't really be asking for too much. Oh, my birthday is on March 18.

My American Idol

2006-03-04T23:55:00.000-05:00

Some of you heard about my cousin making it to Hollywood on American Idol. As my first set of pictures to be posted, I got some shots of John Munro at his audition and some in Hollywood. I'm not sure of the formatting at this point, so I'll number them: 1.) At his audition (not singing) 2.) At his audition (getting into it) 3.) At Hollywood (recognize the doors?) There are several other pics, but they could all just be my cousin anywhere with a group of people. There was no finalists in any of his pictures for you to recognize. Regardless, this is the scond cousin of mine to be on national TV for a few moments. My cousin Stuart was on the Real World. "The Miz" was drunk, beat him up (sort of) and threw him in a trash can. I'm a little prouder of John than Stuart. John is a very cool cousin of mine. He's got a good head on his shoulders and he was raised quite well. He used to play the piano. He's definitely got a voice. Most of my family does. In other news, Sabrina's out of town and I'm staying up MUCH too late watching sporting events and blogging. I have to be at church VERY early tomorrow and will be climbing ladders and working at great heights. It should be fun.

You can call me Mark

2006-02-25T13:47:00.000-05:00

so, last night, Sabrina and I went out to a club. Well, it was more of a lounge/club. It was actually pretty nice and a place I could definitely bring someone who was looking for that sort of atmosphere. It was on Duke's East Campus, so, you might be concerned since it's in Durham, but it's not as bad as people say/think. Anyway, my beautiful bride made herself even more beautiful and I looked OK, as usual. We headed out to The Siren's Lounge. Sabrina's friend Chris sort of rented out the place. I'm not sure exactly because there were people there that didn't know about the party, but we didn't pay a cover charge and he had a caterer bring in some food. Anyway, the place is a cigar bar/bar/club. Lounge is definitely a good description. The main room is the bar and they sell cigars as well as various types of alcohol. The atmosphere was soft lighting, classy, red and browns, wood grain with just a touch of modern with neon lights in the fridges chilling the cold liquors. The music was Top 40 hip-hop/dance. The bartenders were OK, but nothing special. Anyway, the best part of the evening (besides having the hottest girl in the place on my arm), was having the birthday boy, Chris, call me Mark for most of the time we were there. Now, Chris knows better, but he was euphoric with his party, drinking a little and trying to impress the chick he's seeing by playing the grand master of ceremonies for his party. I didn't mind. I also met some of my wife's co-workers which is always nice to put faces to the names. Lastly, I think it's important to note that the second best looking girl in the bar had a swarm of guys around her until her Vin Diesel wannabe boyfriend showed up. They walked by us once and even though my wife smiled at her, I saw her look sideways at my bride. She was threatened. Her boyfriend also gave my wife a second look. THAT is proof she was the best looking woman in that place. I'm not biased... well, I am, but I have proof.

Far be it...

2006-02-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

... for me to go against the grain. "If all your friends jumped off a bridge..." I say, geranimo. My DNA

Manhole covers

2006-02-23T17:22:00.000-05:00

Ever been asked why manhole voers are round? Well, it's a common interview question. Unfortunately, as more people learn about the question, they'll bother to find the answer. Luckily, I've known why they are round since before I was seven. I learned it on Mr. Wizard. He was a great man. No, I'm not going to tell why they are round. Ask around, search the internet, whatever. But, please don't post the answer in my comments. If you do, I will delete it. I appreciate the fact that at the end of my interview, I was told that I am one of few people to answer that question correctly. Also, does anyone know what it is an interviewer learns from the question," If you could be any type of animal, what would it be and why?" If not, then who cares to speculate on my answer: a lemur. They cool, they've got the whole island to themselves (more than any other animal) and my wife would still love me if I was a lemur. Yes, I actually gave this as my answer because it's the truth. I found out the position was posted externally as well as internally. So, no matter how well the interview went, I still may be a less qualified candidate. So, pray for me. As I said in the interview, while it is a step up for me, I really feel like I can do some good in this position. It will be a lot of work, but that translates to a lot of opportunity, in my opinion.

NY, NY

2006-02-22T15:15:00.000-05:00

So, we wake up and head out on Friday. I handed off all of my work responsibilities, save a few minor ones, and threw care to the wind. We drove up to Virginia to find out that God had allergies and was sneezing all over the town of Lynchburg... it was SO windy! We picked up our Impala and met up with Nick and Kelli and hit the road after a quick goodbye to Charlie. Now, one might wonder about a road trip with friends with whom you've never really spent an extended amount of time with. Sure, we've stayed with them before for the Vroom weekend, but we're talking road trip here... 8-10 hours in a confined space... However, it was actually quite nice. While it was difficult to find a good sleeping position (it always is), we all managed a little bit of rest along the trip. Conversation was the usual good, no pressure, easy-as-pie conversation. We played a little CD trivia that Sabrina's mom got her for her birthday. We listened to music and I believe, only one veto was used the entire trip. We went and saw "The White in White," Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical. The scenery was AMAZING. The lighting was AMAZING. Now, if you've ever been to newhope when I've run lights, you know that I'm a lighting tech moreso than any other type of tech. There's no possible way I could describe the scenery and lighting to do it justice. There were two moving curved walls with doors in them and another stationary curved wall upstage and it had a smaller wall that came out of it, but was replaced by another wall, but the smaller wall came out and rested on the turntable on the stage so it could rotate around and it had doors in it. Moving walls isn't a big deal. Les Mis builds and moves a gigantic barracade. However, the walls were made out of projection screen material and there were, at least, 4 projectors that projected down at such an angle that they completely covered every inch of wall and didn't have any shadows from actors or scenery cast on them. Additionally, the lights did not spill on to any of the screens in any significant way. They utilized the wall movement and projections in all sorts of different ways. It was truly unique and entertaining. We went to the top of the Empire State building. Sadly, it has reclaimed its reign as the tallest building in NY. It was very cold and very windy. In fact, at one point, I found out that the phrase "chilled to the bone" was a literal phrase. My bones actually HURT. Specifically, my shin bones and my jaw bones. Interestingly enough, it was only cold and windy on three sides. There was one side that was VERY pleasant, but it did not really have anything to look at. On the NBC studio tour, I learned a lot about the history of NBC. I was very surprised at the small sizes of the studios. I suppose growing up in FL and visiting MGM and Universal, you get used to the size of sound stages. I guess we always assumed that TV studios were smaller, but still very big. One interesting factoid is that the nightly news has a one minute video loop running behind it to make you think there's hustle and bustle. There's just a desk and a camera, no hustle, no bustle. Also, there is a guy that walks in with some papers. If you watch the news, keep your eye out for him. He'll come in about every minute. Oh, while the other three stood in the cold on the TKTS line, I was sent to wait in the "Wicked" cancellation line. I was the first in line for tickets to "Wicked" that night. Behind me was a nice older couple who own a travel agency in West Palm, Florida. I taught the wife how to second act. A couple left the matinee performance. They checked their coats, so they couldn't leave until they found someone to get their coats out of the room. Interestingly, there is a sign that says they will not open the room until after the performance, but apparently, that didn't apply to these two jerks who thought, "I won't even bother to stay for the rest and find out if my inclinations of dislike are fulfilled by the second act." Anyway, I knew there were two extra seats for the second act. I explained it to the wife, but her husband was nowhere to be found. She probably would have done it if she could have found him. Behind them were three rich college girls. How did I know they were rich? Two were in their first year in medical school. One was in her second year of law school. They were taking a weekend trip to NY and seeing a Broadway play. They were friendly and had seen a lot of plays. All in all, it was very good conversation while I was waiting. Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was on the way back. The girls were sleeping, more or less. It was relatively late. Nick and I were just chatting about our jobs, LEDs, million dollar ideas, blue collar vs. white collar... While there were many talks, there was little time for nothing but talking. So, it was a nice way to end the trip. All in all, I can honestly say that I would gladly take a road trip with Nick and Kelli. I am sure I would want them on a plane trip. I can only hope they fell the same way. Sabrina and I were usually the second couple down to the lobby. We were never late to anything (thanks to the flexibility of the schedule), but still, it's pretty unusual for us. It's very unusual for Sabrina. Upon arriving back to NC, I had an interview for my new job. That'll need to be another post.

Can we just be friends...?

2006-02-08T12:52:00.000-05:00

SO, Angela's post has me thinking about friendships. And I'm going to jump right in. My favorite friendships are the ones with some high shcool buddies. We got a variety of nicknames, but there were five of us. Initially, there were 4, but Brian Mistler joined the mix in seventh grade. We played little league together. We played soccer together. We hung out together. We played video games together. We grew up together. My favorite part about the friendships is that it doesn't matter how much time has passed or what has happened, it's always like nothing's really changed. We've been there for each other through dumping girls, getting girls, dreaming about girls, and getting dumped by girls, life's little let downs, life's great adventures, college(s) and careers... it's all just easy. Maybe all of us weren't there for everything, but one of us was always there for one who needed it. If we haven't talked in literally years, we catch up, but it's not awkward. There's a sort of unwritten rule that we're there for each other. I wish I could say it's like "Four Kings," but it's not. It's simpler than that. We haven't really done life together. We've kept in touch and we keep up on each other's lives through our parents who all still live in Florida. We just grew up together, but that was enough to make some ties that were, in my opinion, everlasting. Now, I love my wife and she truly is the best friend I've ever had. But, her friendship requires work as a necessity of the marriage. It doesn't make it bad. I'm happy to do it. But, it's a very different friendship from the ones I described. There's something truly wonderful about a friendship that requires work. In philosophy, Kant speaks of the morality of one's will. The example often used by my professor was one where you're sick in the hospital and two friends come to visit you. All other things being equal, one WANTS to come visit you and does NOT. I think the friend who did NOT want to visit me and still did is a better friend. That notion of sacrifice says more about his morality than the other friend. There's a lot more to it, but you get the gist. Friendships that ask you to work at them can be more rewarding for that reason. In marriage, there are times you'll do something you're not interested in doing because your spouse wants you to. You'll watch TV shows, you'll spend time when you'd rather be doing something else, you'll do chores you hate, etc., but you get a certain reward you don't get from hanging out with easy friends. No, not the kisses and the hugs, or the gifts or the words of appreciation. There's an internal reward of a feeling of doing something for the sole purpose of trying to make your spouse happy. THEN, the success of actually making your spouse happy has its own rewards. So, that's my little schtick on friendships. I'm not sure there are any other types. You either have the easy ones and they vary in degrees of acquaintances to lifelong friends, but they don't require much effort on your part. And you have ones that you have to work on. They vary in degrees of how much work you have to put in and they vary in degrees of acquaintances to lifelong friends, but they all require some extra effort and offer their own set of rewards.

Wish me luck

2006-01-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

I've been busy with work. I have a great team and a great new boss. That being said, I'm also applying for a position higher up. So, wish me luck! If I get the job, the raise would be significant and enough to maybe even buy Sabrina a new car...

I'm lovin' it

2006-01-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

OK, it's official, I am completely sold on GameTap. GameTap announces 3 new publishers GameTap & Intel Viiv... what could be sweeter? What the hell is Viiv? ... No, really (slightly geekier)? It's none of this that has me sold... It's the fact that, last night, I was playing Grandia II (a pretty sweet RPG) while sitting back in my office chair with my USB GamePad that Nick and Kelli got me with my feet up on the desk with the game full-screen mode on my 19" flat-screen. I've already beaten Beyond Good & Evil. Apparently, if I was born about 150-200 years ago, I should have been a Railroad Tycoon. And, I should not be a Splinter Cell spy no matter how much I enjoy it. So far, I think I've paid $10 to GameTap (of whose parent company, I'm a stockholder). I know Sabrina has played some BurgerTime. All in all, I think we're getting our money's worth.

Not even hockey

2006-01-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

Can you say cheap shot? http://www.nhl.com/news/2006/01/251328.html My friend CJ was at this game and I'm hoping he doesn't judge hockey by this action. He and I had a discussion about hockey vs. football. When I heard he was going to the game, Iwas quite surprised since he seemed pretty uninterested in hockey. Seriously, I'm hoping to get the video tomorrow (Sunday) and get it posted (somehow). Flat out, it was sad to see a professional athlete act like a child. I know, just about every professional league has had its recent strings of uncalled for violence, but it hurt to see it happen to your team. Luckily, Justin Williams was not injured. Godard was suspended two-games and charged $4K. This is apparently because Justin Williams wasn't injured. Still, what kind of chicken do you have to be to sucker punch a guy in the middle of a game?

Overstock.com - quasi-poor experience

2006-01-02T14:37:00.000-05:00

So, I ordered some of Sabrina's Christmas presents from Overstock.com. I get a little discount through my company perks. The discounts were enough to make it worth buying some of her presents from them. After filling up my shoppiong cart, I ran into a few difficulties with my credit card. I'm still not sure why it wouldn't go through, but after each attempt, my discount would dissappear from the shopping cart. Therefore, I would need to start over each time. There were several attempts made, but once I finally got my order to go through with my discount, I was quite happy. I received my confirmation page and my confirmation Email, I received my merchandise, but that's where the real trouble starts. I got two boxes in one day. I opened the first and found everything on my list minus one item. I assumed it was in the other box. I opened the other box to find a duplicate order, still minus the one item. At this point, I check my account with Overstock.com and find that they shipped me two orders and charged me twice. Well, I called and explained and, at first, the Tier 1 support girl didn't really seem interested in helping me. She did her job and I kindly requested to speak with someone who could help me. She escalated me to the next level of support and this girl WAS helpful. She was very understanding and gave me a solution with which I was happy. She noted my account, agreed to accept the return of my duplicate order without any fees and said she would send me labels to cover the shipping. Unfortunately, they took 2-4 business days to show up in my EMail. If I did not receive them, I was to call back. I didn't receive them. I called back, I requested them again, I still didn't receive them. I've now called a third time and requested. This time, I changed my EMail address, so maybe that will help. Luckily, the company seems to be working with me, but it seems like they have a broken system in their midst. Unfortunately, I'm paying for it with a loss of time. So, I wirte this only to say that you need to be very careful when initially ordering with them. Wait 20 minutes between attempts, should you have a failed attempt. Check your account 24-48 hours after ordering. I suppose that's a given these days, but I didn't realize it. As more and more business become internet successes, we really need to demand excellent customer service from these companies. So far, the majority of my internet purchases have gone off without a hitch. I only had one issue that the Better Business Bureau helped me resolve amicably. At the end of the story, I did receive two of everything I ordered from Overstock.com. They did a great job except for sending me the order twice and they're having a difficult time making it easy to send the duplicate order back to them. Otherwise, I think they did a good job. I would be willing to give them a second chance and, assuming they don't screw it up, I would continue to do business with them.

No one cares about hockey

2005-12-31T13:34:00.000-05:00

So, since my hockey post didn't go over well, I'll try to avoid the subject in that intensity. Meanwhile, I do need to tell you that Nick and Kelli came down for "Christmas." We went to dinner, went to a movie and went home for presents exchange and dessert. First, we went to dinner. We went to Firebirds at Southpoint mall. Unfortunately, it was the worst service we've ever had there. Sabrina and I ordered a steak and a salad to split. Usually, Sabrina eats most of the steak and I eat most of the salad. Unfurtunately, the salad didn't come out until after everyone else was done eating. There were a few attempts to get it out sooner, but they didn't work. Also, our drinks hit bottom and stayed there for a little while in the middle of dinner, especially mine since it was all I really had to eat. Then, it turns out that they ran out of glasses, so the waitress had to take ours to refill. Luckily, the waitress did her job and let the manager know about our rouch experience. He adjusted our bill a more than fair amount, in my opinion. Overall, our past experiences have all been so good that we won't let one little bad experience ruin our favorite steak. Plus, we were taken care of, so we'll pretend it didn't happen. Then, we went to see "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Disney did a surprisingly good job with C.S. Lewis' work. In conversation with Sabrina, she told me that C.S. Lewis was not particularly fond of his works being made into any sort of visual art. We are of the opinion that he wanted to excite people's imaginations and the visual arts would take away from our imaginations. Well, the movie fleshed out my imagination. It definitely didn't take it away. It's an excellent movie and worth seeing in the theatre. If you have kids, I would NOT recommend taking them to see it. There is a lot of violence... very Lord of the Rings/Braveheart. And, there are certainly scary aspects and a smaller screen may be the better way for kids to experience this movie and this story. On a side note, there was a mom who brought her very young kids to the late show, 7:45pm. She did not keep particular control and did not really seem to care how her children were disrupting other people's experience. Her very young son did not understand how to whisper. He asked a ton of questions and would askover and over again until his mom answered him, which she usually didn't do until he asked at least three times. I tried to be patient and it wasn't the child that really upset me, but the mom who was inconsiderate for bringing the children to a late show and, at least, not attending to the child to minimize the disruption he was obviously causing. Lastly, we headed home for dessert and presents. My wife made creme brule. It was excellent, as usual. We exchanged presents. I got a Logitech Gamepad... it will make playing some Gametap games more fun and easier to play. I am very excited about it. Although, currently, I'm starting to feel pretty tired... I had to stay up until midnight last night for work again... and I'm working today... I hope I have energy for the party tonight.

A Little Hockey

2005-12-28T14:57:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Eric Staal, NHL goal leader will face off with Dominik Hasek, #2 goalie in the NHL. Currently, Hasek is number two in his Goals Against Avg., Save %, Wins, and Shutouts. His save % is .928. Staal has 26 goals under his belt and 51 points total putting him third in the league. Martin Gerber will likely open for the Canes. His Save % is .912. He’ll be facing Daniel Alfredsson who is currently the #2 points scorer in the NHL with 52 points, 23 of which are goals. Additionally, on the front line, the Senators have to-be-Olympian Jason Spezza who has 47 points this season. Staal and Spezza will be teammates, both as alternates, on the Canadian Olympic team. Yeah, can you say good game? Ottawa has the stronger goalie and stronger front line. They are definitely the favorites, but it shouldn’t be an easy win for them. The Canes defense will have to come through big time if they want a win tonight. The Canes are coming off an OT loss to the Lightning, traveling to Ottawa, and have to play again tomorrow night back at home against the Flyers who currently have the same record in their last 10 games as Carolina. Both teams have 49 points after 35 games and a 7-2-1 record for their last 10. The Flyers have a better away record, but the Canes have a better home record. Yeah… another great game.

Catan

2005-12-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

So, the Settlers of Catan, originally from Germany, has taken the board game world by storm. Apparently, it's quite popular and if you haven't heard about it until me, it's actually a little surprising. First, the cons: It really requires three or more people. Games can go from as short as 30 minutes to as long as a number of hours. There is a certain amount of luck involved for those who like strategy. There is a certain amount of strategy involved for those who like luck. Now, the pros: There is a certain amount of luck involved for those who like luck. There is a certain amount of strategy involved for those who like strategy. Randomly generated board, so no two games are ever the same. Multiple ways to win, so you are never completely out of the game. There is trading among players for those charismatic people. There is trading with the "bank" for those hermits. There are expansion packs if you do ever get bored. There's theivery involved for those who like a little evil. There are some random penalties involved for those who like a little misfortune of fate. So, the first thing is that the board is laid out randomly. This means that the land cards which are next to each other (and therefore, determine which resources can be obtained by a single settlement/city) change each time. Next, the numbers that determine the likelihood of a land card producing a resource are also quasi-random. Lastly, the ports (which allow for favorable trading with the bank) also are placed randomly. So, the initial setup of the board changes every game. The quantity of the combos has got to be in the millions resulting in a different game EVERY time. HOWEVER, the randomness lends itself to game. After the initial randomness of the setup, the players get to choose the placement of their first two settlements in a VERY fair way. This allows for players to strategize. If there's a rock quarry land card near a rock port (allowing for favorable trades with rock resources), one may choose to build there. The game begins. Each player rolls the dice to start his turn. The number combo resulting on the dice determines which land cards produce resources. Any player with a settlement on a land card with the number of the resulting dice throw receives a resource for that land type. The turn proceeds with trading (with other players or the bank) and then building (of roads, settlements cities or development cards). Play continues just like that. There are rules about roads, settlements, development cards, etc., but I'm not teaching you the game, just getting your engine started, hopefully. The object of the game is to get 10 points. Now, each players starts off with two points, one for each initial settlement. So, the game is really to get 8 points, but that doesn't sound as good and it's harder to count up points if you don't count the first two settlements. You can build the longest road or the largest army or both. You can build more settlements and upgrade them to cities. You can purchase development cards and get instant victory points. *OR* you can do any combination of any of the above to earn your 10 points. There's a "robber" that allows players to steal cards from other players and hinder the resources created by a land card. You can "steal" the longest road or largest army points by building a longer road or a bigger army than the player currently possesing the title. And any player hoarding resources or just unlucky enough to have more than 7 cards in his hand when a seven is rolled on the dice (most common dice combo), has to reduce his cards by half until he is at or below seven cards. That can be an evil misfortune of fate late in a game. Strategy has players ganging up on the player in the points lead. Stealing longest road or largest army titles can turn the game quickly. A roll of 7 can lend some elements of fate that can stem the tide, reverse some fortunes, or simply level a playing field. And then, there's always the luck of the dice. No matter how few times probability statistics say a 9 or a 6 or a 5 should come up, it's always amazing how you play that game it's just 9 after 9 after 9 after 9... you get the idea. It's easy to wrap your head around when you're actually play I promise. As the game starts out simple and gets more complex as you play. For example, you don't have to worry about cities or longest road or largest army in the beginning. After your fisrt game, you'll have the rules & gameplay down pat and then it will only be a matter of strategy and luck.

NHL '06

2005-12-27T10:32:00.000-05:00

I got Sabrina NHL '06 for the Gamecube. I thought this was really just a present for her, but when I saw the Dynasty mode, I was intrigued. The thought of creating my own hockey franchise, managing and trading players and working the team up to stardom really got my engine started. I never would have guessed it. So, I'm starting slowly and just playing a season to get my skills up. I would really like to create some of the players that didn't make the Hurricane's line-up and get them in the game. Additionally, EA Sports obviously underestimated the Hurricanes this year. They have them ranked as one of the lowest teams in the game. Currently, the Hurricanes are ranked #2 in the Eastern Conference. They are obviously better than most of the teams out there, but EA doesn't have a number of stars in the game. They consider Stillman the star player. He's good, don't get me wrong, but Erik Cole and Eric Staal are going to be Olympians. Cole's breakaway speed is severely underrated. Staal's skills are completely wrong and far too low. They have Commodore moving at the speed of molasses and they're missing Ray Whitney, who apparently, makes a lot happen as the Hurricanes are 18 for 23 when he's on the ice. Their relatively small losing streak this season followed his injury. Lastly, the game auto-chooses HORRIBLE lines. What really blew my mind, was that the "best-choice" made by the game made five less than average lines and when I re-did them (to be closer to Peter Laviolette's actual lines), I made ALL the lines ABOVE average. Interestingly enough, I won my next game. Hmm... what a little chemistry will do for a team, huh? According to the press, that's actually Laviolette's theory, too. The 'Canes work hard to spend time as a team on AND off the ice. They try to have their families in the stands and have embraced the NHL's push to remember that professional sprts are about the FANS, not the teams, coaches, salaries, or players. EVERY professional league needs to take a queue from the NHL. Put in place some salary caps and quit charging fans an arm and a leg to see a game. Bring back players who LOVE to play and that's why they're playing. Get rid of attitudes and bring back teams. Shoot, maybe change some rules to make the games more interesting. The only other professional sport that seems to care about its fans is NASCAR... if they are sure to not let their new influx of fans make them too commercial, you'll see that sport continue to grow.

Christmas

2005-12-27T10:13:00.000-05:00

I asked for very functional things for Christmas this year. I find that when you don't your spouse to spend too much money on you, this is a much better solution than telling them you don't want anything. If you do that, they'll still buy you stuff you don't need. However, by asking for socks or gloves for work, you end up with an excellent feeling on Christmas day. Your spouse was able to buy you things and you can figure, you were going to buy these things anyway. That is not to say my wife didn't buy me anything fun. My favorite fun "toy" this year may surprise her. It's actually the super-bright LED keyring she got me. First, it's blue and I love blue light... cause it's blue and, if you haven't noticed, the URL is bluesteven. The keyring is cool, fun AND functional. I can't think of how many times I wish I carried a small flashlight on my belt. I don't because I already have my cell phone and usually have my Leatherman. Another thing on my belt would have people wondering if I live in a shed in the forest plotting on how to overthrow the government. So, this little handy light will come in very useful on my job and inside computer, which I tend to find myself inside a lot. My other fun "toy" from my wife is my board game, Settlers of Catan. Love Risk? This is better. Love Monopoly? This is better. Love strategy, luck, a randomly generated game board, multiple ways to win, and being declared "Lord of all..." if you do? This game is for you. It deserves it's own post and, will, hopefully get one today. My mother-in-law got me Luigi's Mansion, the launch title for the Gamecube. It's quite fun and easily playable in five minute chunks if you so desire with a feeling of accomplishment in those five minutes. I really wanted it to get all the inside jokes in Super Mario Sunshine that Angela lent me and Paper Mario: TTYD that Josh lent me. I promise to return both those soon. We joined the Mulders for Christmas dinner. The Elliotts (Rae's parents) came into town. Truth be told, prior to this festive holiday dinner, I was quite intimidated by Colonel Reverend Dr. Steven Elliott. Not because he is a reverend and a doctor and, recently, a colonel. No, but because in my relatively small interaction with him, he seemed reverent, contemplative, quiet and smart. He is still all those things, but he is no longer intidating. I have no great story, only that he's a fun guy to hang out with and I just needed to see him as a dad, grandad and father-in-law extraordinaire to appreciate that he's not just a pastor and Curtis' old boss. It helped that he played Settlers with Jordan (Rae's youngest brother) and Curtis and I. We played after dinner and late into the night. I was invited back on Monday and spent all afternoon playing more. They greatly enjoyed it and Curtis would love to see Settlers become a "poker night." I would, too. I left it over there for their enjoyment since it's not a very good game with only two players and Sabrina doesn't particularly enjoy it. Lastly, I got Sabrina NHL '06 for the Gamecube. This, too, deserves it's own post.

Untitled

2005-12-27T10:11:00.000-05:00

So, I've been trying to post for the past week, but I've been unsuccessful. Every time I start,I get interupted. It's always something truly more important like work or church or Sabrina, but still, I feel bad... no, worse, I feel like Josh. There's a number of things I want to post about, so, I think I will post them all separately and do my best to get them written today. Thus, I will have a mulitple post day to make up for my absence.

American Idol

2005-12-21T15:39:00.000-05:00

Now, I'm not really an American Idol fan. I tuned in when I heard a North Carolinian was doing particularly well and I rooted for Clay just because he was from Raleigh. But, this year, I have a particular interest. This year, I have family that made it to California. My cousin, John Munro, has made it to Hollywood. Unfortunately, I found, literally, just this minute, that John made it through the first audition in Hollywood, but was cut from the second. All in all, he says, he's glad he did it and it was a good experience. So, for those of you were hoping to help me root on my family to stardom... I'm sorry. Still, it was cool while it lasted.

Gaming History & Gametap

2005-12-08T23:57:00.000-05:00

Now, it's important to note that I had quite an impressive array of tech toys when I was growing up. My dad has always been into technology. Somehow, my parents were able to get us a Commodore 64 and an Atari 2600. I remember programming on the 64 and playing games on it and the Atari. Yeah, I really was programming when I was like 5 or 6... nothing impressive, but more than my older cousins could figure out how to do. Around that time, my aunt who enjoyed spoiling me bought me a Deluxe Edition Nintendo complete with Zapper and ROB the robot. Although we didn't get a Super Nintendo, my friends did and had quite the library of games. I did manage to get a hand me down Genesis somewhere along the way. My cousin and I actually won a TurboGrafx 16 when we entered a contest in a newspaper that, I suspect, barely anyone else entered, but required you to answer questions about various games of which he had beaten half the list and I had beaten the other half. He kept it. I got a Game Gear the Christmas after that. All throughout this, my parents bought a few computers and I played PC games. I played Wolfenstein-3D, which is DOOM's predecessor. I actually got bored with FPS games before most people even started playing them. My roommate in college had a Nintendo 64 and a Super Nintendo. Somehwere in college, I purchased a Playstation to play Final Fantasy 8 & 9 when they didn't release them for the PC like they did with FF7. I also bought a Nintendo 64 to play F-Zero and Zelda. After we got married, Sabrina and I bought a Gamecube and my good friend owns an X-box and a PS2. He'd bring them over and we'd play whatever the hottest 2 player games were at the time. Throughout this time, I was buidling my own computer systems and still am. I stay high enough in technology to play some of the most demanding games (with regards to computer systems) on the market today. So, I realize that my video game fanaticism isn't really that odd. They've just been a big part of my life. So, a few months ago, I was surfing the web in the hopes of finding some old games that I never had the money to buy as a kid or never had the computing power to play. We're talking some EGA (that's the way we used to refer to monitors) games, some old arcade games... anything to give me a nice throw back to the good ol' days of gaming and maybe even help me realize some little childhood dreams of playing the games I only looked at on the shelves. I mentioned to Sabrina that they should find a way to re-license these games and package them for people to purchase for less than $5. So, Sabrina and I joined Gametap. It's basically a desktop program/GUI to access a game library of over 300 games ranging from arcade to Commodore 64 to recent PC games like Splinter Cell and, of course, it's a monthly fee to do so . Basically, Sabrina was sold by the fact that they had Burgertime. It was the first game added to our favorites. I was sold by a number of pinball games I've wanted to play for years (turns out, I'm quite the pinball fan), a number of Atari 2600 games, and other recent PC games like Beyond Good & Evil. Gametap is owned by TBS, or Turner Broadcasting System. TBS is owned by Time Warner. I expect to eventually get a discount off this service if it succeeds. This is where you come in. Visit Gametap and peruse the titles. You may find a number of titles that you would gladly pay to play. Even if you don't but wouldn't mind playing a little, use this little pormotional code to extend your free trial from 2-weeks to 1 month. Just enter "digitallife" in the promotion code. It also knocks the first 3 months down to $10/mo. instead of $15/mo. I would personally love to see a service like this be successful, stick aound and continue to grow their library. The program is done very well as you can download the larger games (like recent PC games) in the background. So, you download a few arcade or Atari games (in seconds) and play those for 20-30 minutes while Splinter Cell downloads. It's great! Also, some of the little video clips that play while it's connecting to the server are hilarious. I should note that it does NOT force you to watch anything, it simply provides some video (with Gametap commercials sometimes) to watch while you're waiting for stuff. I found myself sitting at a menu with a game 100% ready to go and one click away from playing, but yet, I'm watching the funny videos. Give it a try for a month. I guarantee, you'll get at least a few minutes of glorious nostalgia.

To EQ, or not to EQ

2005-12-01T13:08:00.000-05:00

So, after speaking with my friend Mike for a little while yesterday, I realized how much I miss EQ II. I didn't think I did and I certainly enjoyed the break, but I've really only experienced the first half of the game. Still, I know my wife has been quite happy about having me for herself for those extra few hours a week. So, herein lies my problem. I've quite EQ, but my pre-paid year doesn't end until January of 2006. I can go back. Because of the need to buy a new car, I would not want to spend the money, but someone has offered the cost to me as a gift. So, with that, I would get to play for free. Now, it's a matter of time. I am extremely efficient when I play. I rarely get on without accomplishing a great deal more than your average player. Other people in the game have actually comments how rarely they seem me on, but how I would always seem to be keeping up pretty well. Still, I could never give the amount of time I needed to keep up with these people who played 20-40 hours a week with my <10. Eventually, I would start falling behind and evetually be too far behind to be in the same group or go to the same places in the EQ world. So, while Sabrina and I talk about it, I was hoping some of you could help me decide whether to go back or not.

From the road

2005-11-27T17:04:00.000-05:00

So, after a not particularly eventful weekend of visiting the family in Florida, we're heading back. There's not much to tell. Recently, my sister got engaged, so we got to see the ring up close. I saw most of the family that frequents FL and even some friends. For spending so much time together, especially for not having spent much time together in the weeks preceeding the trip, Sabrina and I managed to not kill each other. We had our moments of frustration with each other, but overall, spending something like 17+2+4+4+10=37 hours in the car together without any major crimes being committed is a special thing. I suspect that Sylvester is a major player (no pun intended). I highly recommend the investment into an iPod if you're planning a long road trip with your spouse. Also, you'll need an adapter to play your own Sylvester through your car's sound system. I also recommend renting a car. There's something nice about driving behind a dump truck and getting pelted with sand and not caring. You don't think about the about the mileage your putting on the car. You don't care about what kind of gas you put in the car (only one gas station at that exit when you're on empty and you've never heard of "Stix gas," who cares!?). Somehow, we managed with only two power connectors in the Chevy Impala we got. Typically, one was dedicated to Sylvester. So, the other was left to charge our device of choice. We made a concious effort to chare everything fully before leaving to allow for good battery life. This is also very important for a long road trip, especially if you're a geek like us. Oh, wait, there was the stop over in Atlanta, GA to visit our friends Jeremy and Kara. This was probably the best part of the trip. We got to see their house and have dinner. While family is nice to see and we saw Aunt Debbie's new house, they're still family, you know? It's somewhere between "wanting to" and "obligation" when you go to see them. So, it was nice to see friends. They cost us a lot of road time and next time, we'll plan better if we make this road trip in the future. Meanwhile, Thanksgiving was nice. Food was great. Leftovers were great. Sleeping in three different beds over 4 nights was rough and I'm glad I don't have to work tomorrow. I miss my bed. I believe I will feel quite refreshed on Tuesday when I get back. I hope you all had a happy holiday and I am hoping to post a Christmas list soon just in case anyone thought, "Hm, I have all this extra money, what should I do with it?"

Dragons & Cars

2005-11-21T15:48:00.000-05:00

We won't even talk about the 'Canes' loss last night. We will talk about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We went to see it on Saturday night. This was a giant mistake as it was also the night of the giant tree lighting at the mall. So, pretty much all of Durham was there and standing, not moving. So, after looking for a parking spot for a while, I dropped my wife off to let our friends know we WERE here, just looking for a spot. Well, after circling some more, I thought to check on valet. The first lot was full, but second was not. I paid to park and this was at 7:45pm when the movie was supposed to be starting. It then took me about 15 minutes to travel the approx. 1000 ft. to the movie theatre. In retrospect, I should have gone around the back of the building. Meanwhile, I arrived late, but still enojoyed the movie greatly. My only complaint, and I may have NEVER made this complaint about any movie before this: It could have been longer. It was almost 3 hours, but I caould have watched at least 30 minutes of the Quidditch World Cup and I could have definitely watched some of the slower, but funnier plot lines from the book that were left out. Meanwhile, my post about god taking care of us, while I'm sure is true, is not in the way I expected. The car from the guy at work doesn't look like it's going through. We're going to have to figure out some other way to purchase a car and get a good deal. So, if anyone knows of a way to do that, please let me know.

Swing... and a miss?

2005-11-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

Somehow, I don't know how, but somehow, without it making any sense, somehow BOTH my wife and I missed the fact that there was a televised Canes game on last night. They played the Rangers, who are my sister's recently acquired fiancé's favorite team. That means, it was incredibly important to watch the game so that, if we won, which we did, I could be sure to call him to rub it in and mention specifics. The good news: The Canes are playing the Rangers tomorrow @ 1pm. We've already set the DVR to record it. So, assuming we beat them down again, I can, at least, call him to rub in that we beat them twice, back-t0-back. Obviously, rubbing this in is VERY important. So, I hope we win again. Lastly, I am seriously considering getting a second DVR for our living room. I have enough inputs and cable signal to easily hook up another DVR to the one TV. This would allow us to tape up to four shows at one time. Now, you have to understand that some of Sabrina's shows come on at the same time and she's been watching shows like this since the days of the VCR. I'm not about to ask her to give up a show so that I may watch something I want to watch. Additionally, since we've gotten into hockey, many of the game cut into prime time, which these days, you have to have a DVR just to watch all the good shows in the networks. Anyway, the short of it is, between hockey games and my shows (CSI, Mythbusters, Family Guy, etc. {all which Sabrina will watch, but do not pre-empt her shows}), I would really enjoy having a second DVR. So, this brings up the question: Although most of you think we watch too much TV right now, would this REALLY be too much? Remember, we get every channel Time Warner offers in the Raleigh division. It's a lot of TV to choose from... all I'm saying is, why should I have to choose? What do you think?

I've been remiss

2005-11-15T11:44:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry. A whole week without posting... my wife explained how busy we've been. I've rarely been home much earlier than her. In classic Mindless Juices style, I have comments to make about Creative Juices. First, about the Fall lineup on TV: Really, the only thing I have to say is John Leguizamo single handedly saved E.R. for me. It sounds like he may have saved it for more than just me. The character is great and, man, ever, did we need a doctor who has some personality and knows something and leads the newbs. I mean, why did we really love E.R. before? It was watching Carter being mentored by Dr. Greene and watching a young doctor grow in knowledge and life. Second, I suggested the Lord of the Rings, but Sabrina couldn't even stay awake during the movies, I doubt she could handle the audio books. I would prefer fiction so that I can get involved in the story. I think non-fiction would have me stopping to pause and think ponder over what's being said... and probably often enough to completely annoy my wife. I know there's at least a few guys that read my blog, the question is, do they read anything else? If you do, please get me a recommendation. While I am a good sport, I don't think I'd be very interested in anything having to do shopaholics.

Intelligent Design

2005-11-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

What do you think? http://people.howstuffworks.com/intelligent-design.htm I didn't realize this idea had a name. Now, I know.

Nietzsche & Kierkegaard

2005-11-02T18:06:00.000-05:00

So, I was at a customers house and somehow she asked if I went to college. Of course, the follow-up question is my major. For anyone who doesn't know, I have a Bachelor's of Science in Philosophy. The answer to the question that inevitably follows is, you teach it. There's other things you can do, but mostly, you teach it. Just so you know what else you can do with it: Study medical ethics, get on an ethical board at a hospital and help doctors decide who lives and dies Study business ethics, help develop policies and make decisions with a major company Study the philosophy of law, help lawyers develop arguments Unfortunately, I fell in love with existentialism which may be less of a philosophy and more of a study of life and death. The easiest way to describe existentialism is to say it sort asks the question: What does it mean to exist? Kierkegaard went from the Christian perspective. Nietzsche leaned more towards what it meant if God did not exist. Both are extremely interesting studies of existence, meaning, and purpose. Meanwhile, the customer asked who my favorite philosopher was. I answered Kierkegaard, but I thought that Nietzsche definitely pulled up a second place finish. I could tell you about Kierkegaard, but most people think Nietzsche was a Nazi and claimed that God was dead. I offer a different thought: Consider the study of what does it mean if the concept of god does not exist. It means man is on his own. He is the only one to blame for atrocities and the only one to take credit for benevolence. He presents a case for what he calls the "über-man." Consider men like daVinci or Mozart... without God, these men acheived amazing things all on their own. Their inspiration and motivation can only be self. Moreover, what if someone prevented them from acheiving greatness? Then, the world today would be somehow less than it is. Therefore, assuming the above, the masses would need to raise up those who are great and insure that they are not prevented from acheiving greatness. Anyway, it's an interesting study of the nature of man. Particularly those who deny God's existence. It still calls them to a certain morality that is not based on divine rules. Some of the rules might actually be stricter in certain regards than the morality Christians tend to strive for. Moreover, whether you believe God exists or not, you likely believe you exist (see Descartes if you don't). If you exist, then it's safe to say that the study of man's existence is applicable to you.

Revolution, baby!

2005-10-31T18:58:00.000-05:00

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/nintendo-revolution.htm That is all... I really like How Stuff Works dot com. Have fun!

Funfetti

2005-10-28T15:24:00.000-04:00

Now, for those of you who have had the pleasure of eating any one of my wife's semi-famous desserts, you know that I am a VERY lucky man. Yet, despite all the wonderful things she's made me, Funfetti style cakes are still my favorite. In honor of our 9 years of kisses, I suggested a stop off to the grocery to make a Funfetti style cake. To my surprise, my wife said yes, so I went to the store and she made the cake. And we celebrated. Now, I have to talk about this Funfetti style because Funfetti is made by Pillsbury. Pillsbury makes Funfetti icing, which is just white icing with sprinkles. However, my wife, in her geniousness, used the Rainbow Chip icing from Betty Crocker for our Funfetti cakes. Well, Better Crocker came out with Rainbow Chip SuperMoist cake. It's basically Funfetti cake, but made by Betty Crocker. Now, I can't tell the difference between the two cakes. They're both moist and fluffy and sweet and fun. However, Betty Crocker definitely has the best icing. The Rainbow Chip icing accentuates the fluffy, rainbow fun of either cake. If you haven't tried a Funfetti style cake with Rainbow Icing, you're missing out.

God will take care of you

2005-10-28T12:20:00.000-04:00

So, I was quite bummed about finding out that Sabrina's car has reached the point of the-repair-costs-more-than-the-car-is-worth. On my way into work, I managed to stress myself out about affording a car payment. As I was walking into the building, I decided to stop and trust God. I was still visibly bummed and arrived to a room full of technicians and supervisors working on this project for TWC with me. They asked me what was wrong. I was trying not to bring my personal issues to work, so I didn't tell them immediately. After a while of them trying to make me smile (incredibly annoying), I told them why I was bummed. One of them offered to buy my wife's car, another offered to sell me his daughter's car. This is a great story: One month after buying his daughter a car, she moves out of his house and moves to Greensboro and moves in with her boyfriend who recently got out of jail. Daddy's not too happy, so he's taking back the car that's in his name. When he does, we'll take a look at it and, if we like it, we'll work something out. The deal would be phenomenal. So, hopefully, it will all work out. --Steve

I'll shower you with 1,000 kisses

2005-10-26T17:12:00.000-04:00

Today, my wife and I are celebrating 9 years of kisses. Yep. We've been a couple for 9 years. Yessir. It started 9 years ago today after a Homecoming dance we kissed and we've been doing it ever since. Really! It's true! I know, it's hard to believe that a girl as wonderful as my wife would have put up with, taken care of me, loved me and not killed me for 9 whole years. She's pretty special, and I know it. Unfortunately, I just tried calling her to tell her that the Jeff Corwin Experience was in Madagascar, my wife's favorite island country. I couldn't get a hold of her, but she loves lemurs. So, that's the moral of the story. After 9 years, I've learned that my wife loves lemurs... and she doesn't mind my kisses.

How we gonna pay-ay-ay-ay?

2005-10-26T12:55:00.000-04:00

"Rent" is the Hollywood production of the award-winning Broadway musical. Sabrina and I went to see Rent, the musical, in Roanoke a few years back and we loved it. We bought the soundtrack and sang the songs. It came out in high school and I remember the freaks of the drama freaks going ape over it, but I didn't get it. I mean, I knew Phantom and Les Mis and I was down with those. But, I never heard of Rent and I didn't get it. Boy, did I miss out... Rent, a rock musical, written by the late Jonathan Larson, is one of the most relevant, inspirational and moving plays written this century. It is precisely this that made it take off. It's backstory didn't hurt... The short version is that Jonathan, after spending years writing and trying to get Rent produced, passed away the night of the final dress rehearsal. He saw his work take life and gave an interview for the NY Times after the rehearsal. The next morning, his body was found in his apartment. His body had finally succomb to the disease that was plaguing him. Now, there were a ton of people that were crucial to launching this show, but Jonathan life is written in its pages (it's not a biography, but you get it). It may be the reason its so... good! Now, you have to understand that it's a show about being poor, living with AIDS, being a homosexual and rebelling. Some lyrics: "How can you connect in an age Where strangers, landlords, lovers Your own blood cells betray What binds the fabric together When the raging, shifting winds of change Keep ripping away Draw a line in the sand / And then make a stand Use your camera to spar / Use your guitar When they act tough - you call their bluff We're not gonna pay rent!" Now, you've got to hear it, see it... because I heard it in high school and I didn't get it. I saw it after that in the news, but wasn't listening. It is an experience and should not be missed. The movie comes out on 11/23 with a lot of original cast members playing their original roles. I can't wait to see it. Now, the disclaimer: If you were offended or think you would not enjoy some of the content mentioned in this post, maybe you shouldn't see the movie. However, if you can have an open mind and recognize that there are people living these lives no matter how you feel about their choices or lifestyles, then, you might really enjoy this little entertaining & creative window into their lives.

Hurricanes vs. Leafs

2005-10-21T12:38:00.000-04:00

Now, I've seen my share of hurricane force winds and I PROMISE you, the leaves don't stand a chance. Yet, somehow, this upstart team from "Canadia" manages to squeeze out a win over Carolina last night. Unfortunately, we only caught the end of the game. I was busy working on various things while Sabrina was out, but I went over to Curtis and Rachel's to allow Curtis to take home their babysitter and wait for my wife to arrive safely home via Angela's driving. While at the Mulders, I had nothing to do put sit on the couch and watch the game. The girls and Curtis arrived back home at the same time and we watched the end of the game. The 'Canes played well, but in the last minutes, our boy, Eric Staal accidentally high sticked a Leaf in the face. We played the last minutes of OT shorthanded and it was too much for our defense to hold off. If the penalty had happened later, I think we might have held them off and I'm confident we'll win any game that goes to a shoot-out. So, we loss, which was a bummer way to end the evening.

Wow... again

2005-10-19T13:20:00.000-04:00

So, 5 days since last post. I've been quite busy at work. I took over a new area and, although the guys are GREAT, I'm now in the rotation through the special project I was working on. The special project pretty much takes up your day when it's your day in the rotation. So, I've been busy and REALLY appreciating my downtime when I get it. I borrowed Paper Mario from Josh. Nintendo could make 100 games like this one and I'd want to play everyone. It's witty. There's a lot of open tasks to do. The game is simple, but has a decent amount of strategy involved. The better gamer you are, the more complex you can make the game and the easier (and harder) it gets. Josh says it's about 50-60 hours long, which is relatively short. Your Final Fantasy games are usually about 90-110 hours. So, a special thanks to Josh for lending me this game and making me smile and laugh.

Wow

2005-10-14T23:34:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's been 4 days since I posted! My apologies to my fans. Josh & Nick, I'm sorry. Meanwhile, I've gone back to my old job, but I'm running a new area. It's only been two days, but I can tell you, I think I've inherited a really great crew. I haven't met everyone, but so far, everything is going quite swimmingly and I haven't felt stressed about techs calling me at all. Of course, I like to think that some of this can be attributed to the management/leadership class that TWC is sending me to once a month. I like to think I'm taking things away from that class and applying them and that has something to do with how well things are going, albeit early on. Also, I like to think newhope plays a part in this, too. (To learn more about newhope, visit Sabrina's blog) Benji's latest series has been on Balance. While I don't feel like I struggle with this, per say, I believe everyone can use some more balance in their lives. I don't think you can have it all together... the universe doesn't really work that way. Conflict & stress lead to better things like resolution and relief. In philosophy, we called these "secondary goods." So, I think I've managed to keep things from getting too far out of balance. Now, I'm trying to focus more on God and let Him help me find the pivot point ("piVOT! piVOT!"). And lastly, and probably most influential, is my small group. As mentioned by my wife, we're studying Ephesians. This book is particularly interesting and the study guide we're using really pushes you to dig deep. Additionally, we have been blessed with a few scholars and educated types who are able to give us background and perspective. There is one theme (among many) that has been working on me as we study. It is one of peace... the Gentiles were granted the same path to Heaven as the Jews and there was obviously some conflict about this. Paul reminded the Ephesians that when they choose the path, they choose one of love and tried to help them understand what that looks like. As I look into my life, I wonder, "Do I live love? And even if I do, do I live it loudly?" Well, I'll start with trying to make sure I live it. So, I've tried to catch myself when I'm tempted to be unnecessarily negative or engage in idle chatter, especially with negative tones. It's not about avoiding negativity, but avoiding allowing myself to become negative and join in the gossip or the backstabbing or anything else of the like that just seems to be a part of this world. For me, it seems to all comes down to being judged. You see, for the past 9 years, I've been pretty content on my salvation. It was all I really needed to think about. Sure, I'd consider other philosophical and/or theological pursuits, but with regards to spiritual matters, all I really needed was to know that I was loved, forgiven and cleansed. But, I've recently been struck with the idea of arriving to heaven and being judged. I'm sure I've heard about it numerous times over the 9 years, but I guess I chose to ignore it or, at least, not dwell on it. So, while my ticket is reserved, will my attire be appropriate? And even though there is no dress code (so one could argue that it doesn't even matter), will I find myself in the rags I deserve or the suit given to me for a job well done? I don't know... I know that before I arrive, I'd like to try to be better than I am right now. I'd like to be the man God made me to be and quit slumming around in my own life. Don't get me wrong, it's a good life and God knows I needed it to get me to this time. I just hope I can walk the path I've chosen or if I can't then, at least, stand true. Hmm... got a little deep there. Guess I needed to flesh those thoughts out some.

Carpet Man

2005-10-10T16:30:00.000-04:00

So, this weekend, I finally got around to a chore I've been secretly dreading. You see, the only real issue we've ever had with our floor plan is that they have carpet down the first hallway of our home. Now, this would normally be nice, but the door to the garage opens to this hallway. So, after only one year, there was some obvious wear to the area in front of that door. Also, the carpet extends into the closets... One closet where shoes go. So, there were a few spots in there, too. And, lastly, the carpet extends into a "closet" where we have our cats' litter box. If you own cats, you find out that they miss sometimes. It's not often, but when it's carpet, all it takes is once. And, no matter what you do, they're kicking some of the litter out of the box. The point of this grossness isn't to make my wife mad at me for posting our literal dirt publicly. It's simply why carpet in this hallway doesn't work and especially doesn't work for us. The hallway should have been non-carpet from the start... Vinyl, hardwood, something other than carpet. So, I spent a decent chunk of Saturday pulling up the carpet. Now, I expected the tack strips to be glued to the concrete slab on which our house is built. Instead, I was surprised to find, they were nailed. I asked neighbor Steve and he tells me how they drive it in with a gun... literally, with gunpowder... "How does that not crack the concrete?" Something about it pulverising and dull points... I kinda stopped listening, I really only care if I get to shoot one. Anyway, I had to go to The Home Depot to purchase a "crow" bar. Except, they don't call them crowbars anymore. Now, they're everything else with the word "bar" after it. Super bar, Extreme bar, Special Bar... you get the idea. I picked one out and it worked very well. I was quite pleased. Although, it's skinny and flat all throughout (rather than just ath the ends). So, the middle isn't so much a round bar. It's not exactly ideal for use as a weapon for when Sabrina asks me to get check out "the noise." ...You know, the one that ends up being a serial killer in the movies... I was looking forward to having that type of crowbar, the kind that Tony Soprano would own. Still, the point was to get carpet up. I did. Now, we've already picked out some vinyl to go down and we'll be scheduling that soon. Still, if you're wondering why we're not inviting anyone over in the next few weeks, it's because I was too lazy to pull up the carpet earlier when it would have been easier to schedule.

Hockey Fans Unite

2005-10-06T12:25:00.000-04:00

Hockey is back and since my wife is getting into it, so am I. Like all sports, I'll watch it if I'm in the mood or if others want to watch it. I know enough about almost all of them to be entertained while watching. So, last night, the hockey season started. EVERY team played somewhere last night. I thought that was pretty cool. The 'Canes lost to the Lightning. Now, I used to be a Lightning fan, so I'm not too upset about this. I only became a 'Canes fan because I live in NC and, well, a lot of the Hurricanes live around here and have TW Cable. Still, if any other team is going to win, I would want it to be the Lightning. The 'Canes played a great second period. The Lightning scored a fluke goal in the second period that, I believe, really hurt the 'Canes' morale. They lost a lot of steam in the third period. Still, the 'Canes outskated the Lightning and with a little more teamwork and more time, they might be a contender. It's only one game, so we'll see how it plays out. The Lightning definitely played like a Stanley cup winning team. I may have to keep my eye on them, too. Cam Ward replaced Martin Gerber as goalie in the third period. Ward will start for the 'Canes first home game of the season. Ward played an excellent third against the Lightning and I think he's going to shut down the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Rumors

2005-10-04T18:36:00.000-04:00

I heard this rumor about TWC. Interestingly enough, it didn't come from anyone inside TWC. So, don't put too much into it. The rumor was that the phone companies are going to raise their DSL speeds real soon and TWC would be raising theirs again, too. Now, I haven't heard anything of the sort at work, but it occured that this COULD happen SOME day and that got me excited. Because I love getting free upgrades to my cable service... who doesn't? So, it made me happy.

"but you're just a line in a song."

2005-10-04T17:58:00.000-04:00

So, while at Nick & Kelli's, we watch the new G.I. Joe cartoon on Saturday morning. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about these re-makes. For example, those all annoying Power Rangers were a total rip off of Voltron. I had watched a few of the new Transformers, but I wasn't impressed. Still, a new G.I. Joe was a pretty interesting proposition. G.I. Joe was all about propaganda. Specifically, USA propaganda. But, it was good stuff. Joe's enemy wasn't communist or terrorists or anything, they were just bad guys... they were COBRA... well, I guess it would have been anti-serpent propaganda... Anyway, the idea was simple... the US was giving evil the beat down all over the world. Now, as you grow older, you realize that the idea of beating evil down isn't bad, but the lines between good and evil are really difficult to find in the real world. Still, COBRA is clearly evil and the Joe's need to stop them. So, I may give the new Joe a try. Joe is now a U.N. sanctioned agency... Which takes away from the whole US pride thing. Still, the Joe's were cool. And Scarlett is still hot... I've had a things for red-heads lately... dunno why...

Phoenix Ashes

2005-10-03T16:08:00.000-04:00

Last night, I watched Flight of the Phoenix on Cinemax On Demand. The movie is OK, but I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It was fine if you've got nothing better to do, but do NOT choose to watch this movie over anything else. You will be sorely disappointed. Luckily, I was waiting on laundry to finish and not sure what to do with the couple of hours before I expected my wife to call me. She never called, so I ended up playing Super Mario Sunshine that I borrowed from Angela & J.J. I am enjoying Sunshine, but it's starting to get hard. Also, I'm not sure how to beat the game. I'm pretty sure the answer is "save the princess," but then, it seems, that you only have to beat one area of the game. After some reading, I know that you don't save the princess by collecting all the shines because there are a number of secret and extra shines. Moreover, I found out that the reward for collecting all the shines is weak. So, I'm not even sure if I'm going to bother. It's fun to collect the ones I can, but I think I'm quickly arriving at, "Let me save the princess and beat this game already!" We'll see how it goes.

"Who's the big winner tonight?"

2005-10-02T18:53:00.000-04:00

So, we left for Lynchburg on Friday afternoon. It's a pretty easy road trip. Though, poor planning left me hungry in the middle and I needed to stop for cupcakes. We arrived at Nick and Kelli's. We met Charlie who is incredibly lovable and a very good dog. Then, we headed to TGI Friday's for dinner. I got a Cinnabon Cheescake to go, but still wasn't hungry enough to eat it when we got home. Also, there was Kelli's cake which had a much higher priority on the dessert listing and I was pleased to finally taste some of her beautiful cake. It was as tasty as it was well-crafted. If you've seen the pictures... well, that's some good cake. We called it a night. Tomorrow was a big day. On Saturday, we slept in. Kelli made awesome Belgium waffles and we headed to LU for the Homecoming football game. LU football is pretty bad. There were high hopes for the relatively new 5 year old coach. This season would be the first with nothing but his recruits and trained atheletes. LU lost to VMI. We left after the band played at half-time. We headed over to Five Guys. After a scrumptious burger, we headed back home to chill until the main event... the Vroom concert. First, the Cinnabon Cheesecake is VERY good. I ate it before we headed out for dinner. Nick's friend Rob drove down from Maryland (I believe). He was a very nice guy and it a good time meeting him and hanging out. Then, we all met Tim and Annie at dinner at Applebee's. OK, so upon insection of the Applebee's dessert menu, we learn that they have brought back to Apple Chimi Cheesecake. It is, by far, our most favorite dessert. We come to learn that the Lynchburg Applebee's never stopped serving it. None of the Applebee's that we've been to in the Triangle still serve this delectable delight. It was very upsetting to realize that the Lynchburg Applebee's is now the better than all of the Triangle's Applebee's combined. We split our dinner to leave room for a Chimi. It was wonderful. Then, it was off to the Vroom concert. The opening band was all right, but Vroom definitely rocked. They haven't played together in 2 and 1/2 years. They were pretty tight with only a few forgotten lines and riffs. They sounded great and it's a wonder they didn't get picked up and made into stars. Obviously, but sadly, God has a plan the men of that band that does not involve Vroom. At the concert, we ran into some friends that we hadn't seen in a while. Some of these people, I have really only been around for a few hours at best. Still, they were around for some of my best moments (like getting engaged) and were instantly a part of my life, even if it's in a relatively small way, they're still important. It was good to see them and know that they are doing well. After the concert, we met half the band and other friends at TGI Friday's. It was supposed to be quite the party, but half the people didn't show up. Still, it was a good time. Also, the waiter gave us nicknames. He instantly assigned Sabrina the name of "redhead." I was extremely thrilled about that. It may have been the best moment of the weekend. We drank a little and called it a late night. We headed home for our last night in Lynchburg and came home today. All in all, it was a very fun trip. We spent too much money on food, but it's hard not to indulge while on vacation. Thanks to Nick and Kelli, it felt like a vacation. They are really wonderful hosts and, as usual, it was incredibly relaxing and fun to hang with them... especially for an extended period.

"I'm just a notch in your bedpost..."

2005-09-29T14:43:00.000-04:00

Fall Out Boy's single "Sugar, We're Going Down" is in my head. I'm actually amazed that the song hasn't been overplayed, in my opinion. I've enjoyed it, but not enough to look into becoming a fan of the band. Normally, I reserve that for a band who can put out two singles that I like. This saves me a lot of money and music exploring... of course, I am subject to the music industries preferences and marketing, but I feel like I have enough influences (Donnie, Nick, Brad, my wife, etc.) to introduce new music to me. So, I've got to like two songs from a band for me to consider the band for fan-ability. Anyone already a Fall Out Boy fan? If so, what's the next song I should listen to? While I'm on the subject, anyone got any good bands/singles that I should check out?

My Wife's Hair

2005-09-28T12:31:00.000-04:00

So, this weekend, I helped Sabrina dye her hair red. She's tried it in the past and I always thought it looked good. Over the years, she's gotten more daring and this latest red was definitely closer to where I'd ultimately be most happy with a red-headed wife. It wasn't as subtle as past reds have been. But, it's not loud. It's strong, like my wife. So, upon her request, I helped her dye it. Specifically, I dyed it. I squirted the gel in and rubbed it in. I definitely feel I could have done a better job, but this WAS my first time. After she washed it out and the hair was still wet, I was convinced I did a phenomenal job. Then... she dried it. It was as if she was blowing the red out of her hair. Suddenly, I saw how poor of a job I did. Don't get me wrong, the color is great and in certain light, it looks like I did it perfectly. But, in other light, I see how I could have improved. Still, my wife is hot. Don't agree? Then you're obviously blind and I pity you. The next time she asks me to dye her hair, I'll do better and she'll be even hotter.

I've got so little to say

2005-09-16T08:59:00.000-04:00

I feel like I've been nothing more than working, sleeping and watching a little TV in there. On Sunday, Sabrina and I went to the House Party music festival with friends. We sat in VIP box 65. One thing my amazing wife forgot to mention was that the proceeds from House Party go to Habitat for Humanity to build a house for a family who I believe is local. Money above and beyond that house are going to hurricane relief funds for Habitat. So, all-in-all, freakin' great cause. Also, one thing I've learned since House Party: the tickets aren't actually from Time Warner. Apparently, a guy named Chad who works at Time Warner... his father or father-in-law has this VIP box. Occasionally (from what I understand, more often than not) no one in Chad's family plans on attending. Chad usually brings them in for various groups to auction off or he gives them to various people upon request. My boss heard about these tickets for House Party and thought of me. He snagged them and offered them... I am extremely grateful. After finding this out, I realized something: I am successfully living my Christianity out-of-the-closet. I'm not hiding it. I may not be shouting from the rooftops, but I'm not ashamed of it. Moreover, my co-workers know that I listen to Christian music. That means, they've heard the Christian music I played while I'm in the office. I can only pray that some seeds may have been planted. I should note that many of my co-workers consider themselves Christians. For some, only God may truly ever know. But, many of them don't really seem to live like Christians.... not that there's a way to live, per say, but I do believe there is the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you that shines through if you truly believe Jesus is your personal saviour from sin. In some cases (like mine), I think we sometimes only let him rent a room in our heart. So, he's not really living in me like I think I want him to. Still, he has enough of a presence for others to notice and that's a new realization for me. I'm happy about it and assures me that I have not been completely stagnant in my growth.

New "Job"

2005-09-10T00:20:00.000-04:00

I've signed up for a new "job" at work. I'm helping take care of concerned customers and figure out why we have so many and why they get handled so poorly throughout the day that they are upset enough to send letters. Yes, actually sit down and write letters. This new job function (temporary and, hopefully, good for me) requires evenings. So, I haven't blogged in a while. My wife launched her new site and it's much more interesting.

Green Day

2005-08-26T16:43:00.000-04:00

Green Day was awesome! Pyro, lights, sound, confetti, and rock 'n' roll, baby! It all rocked. They've been doing it for 16 years and they know what to do. I guess you learn how to pump up a crowd when you've been doing it that long. Now, I am, by no means, an original Green Day fan. I bought Dookie because of Basket Case. I, however, was not the typical kid and listen to the single track over and over again, but I listened to the whole album over & over again. This may have been because Dookie was like one of my only three CDs at the time. I quickly found out the Basket Case might just be the worst track on that album (still a great song, but only to point out how great the rest of the album is). Longview, Chump, Welcome to Paradise, & F.O.D. are all great songs. They played enough of the old stuff (including Brain Stew off the not-as-great Insomniac album) to make me quite happy. However, the crowd singing for those songs were much more subdued than for the American Idiot stuff. Tre Cool may be, arguably, one of the best rock drummers still playing. He puts on a great show and his stamina is uncanny. Although Nick will have to confirm, they played like 25 songs and Tre played beats through almost every interlude of introducing the band, Billie Joe's political rants, and the 16 "Raleigh!" shouts and consequent applause. Also, remember the almost 10 minute long Jesus of Suburbia where there really is no break... and they played quite a few songs back to back with a musical segue. Tre is the man! I, like Kelli, am getting old... not for the same reasons... my back is sore from head banging. NOt my neck, my back... between the shoulder blades. It's sad actually. It's sadder that I thought to took an Advil after the concert in an effort to be pre-emptive against the soreness. It's been two days and I'm still sore. Very, very old... Jimmy Eat World (or JEW, {hehehehe}) was good, but I would have liked more, too. Too little to really get into it. I mean, I get that the opening band can't give a better show than the main act, but the difference between the two left plenty of room for more from JEW {hehehehe}.

Let the relaxation begin

2005-08-23T16:19:00.000-04:00

Soon, I will be looking forward to not being bothered with work. Although my phone will be on, I will not have to answer it. Though my laptop will be on, I will not have to check Email. Soon, I will enter 48 hours of escape and I am looking forward to playing lots of video games and maxing my relaxing. Perhaps I will find the time to blog and let you all know how it is going... maybe between napping and lying on the couch watching CSI.

My weekend

2005-08-22T10:47:00.000-04:00

So, Jeremy and his wife Kara came in about an hour later than expected. We met them at their hotel, The Washington Duke. Funny moment: Jeremy asked, "So where's the Duke campus?" We informed him that he was on it. "They have a hotel on campus?" Yup... ah, Duke. So, we decided to go to Elmo's for a late lunch. We love Elmo's. We had a good time, but I half expected Jeremy to try to get me to work for his company. He definitely was leaning towards it when we spoke last and has mentioned it several times before. We talked about work, but he never tried to talk me into it or feel me out to see if I might be interested. We ate fast and headed back to our house for a quick tour. Then, it was back to the hotel. The visit was too short and too hectic, but it was still good to see them. We then ran a few errands. This was not in the plan for the day. I like knowing the plan. It has a lot to do with the fact that Sabrina makes plans for us a lot of the time. It only makes sense since her calendar is more packed than mine. Anyway, I don't like surprise plans. It wasn't too bad, but it did cut into my potential nap time before dinner plans with John and Alana (sp?). John's work made him run late for dinner. That was actually nice since we had a late lunch. After dinner, we played Settlers of Catan. It's a freaking awesome board game that I really want to own. Google "Catan" or click here. I tried to sleep in on Saturday, but didn't. We watched some TV and I played video games. That night, we went to Preston and Angie's. After dinner, we played Dread Pirate. Preston sort of ruled, so it wasn't too much fun, but could have definitely been... good potential. There wasn't enough time for another game since we needed to leave sort of early. We chatted for a while. I, unfortunately, wasn't able to make it to church because of a system upgrade at work. I volunteered to work on Sunday. It went pretty smoothly considering the size of the upgrade. Sabrina and I watched some more TV, I played some more video games and we read two chapters in Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince. All in all, it was a good weekend.

Luke... I'm your father.

2005-08-19T10:38:00.000-04:00

So, my good buddy Jeremy is coming to visit this afternoon. He is in town for Andrew Leroux's wedding. He is getting married at Duke Chapel. Jeremy is in the wedding party. He and Andrew were good friends in college and rommates for a while, too. Jeremy is a great guy! He's a great friend, a man of God, and a romantic... which is helpful when you need some help impressing a girl. During my freshman year of college, Sabrina came to Theta Xi's semi-formal, Sweetheart. Jeremy and my rommate, Jeff, got some swords from Jeff's dad (retired-Marine, I believe). They dressed up in suits and pretended to be our chauffers for the evening. I think Jeremy even had the hat. When we arrived, Jeremy and Jeff announced us and drew the swords and we walked under. It was very cool. The night was fun and memorable. As for the title, Jeremy's nickname in college was Luke because he looks quite a bit like Mark Hamill. I was looking forward to them ringing our doorbell, looking through the peephole and shouting up the stairs that, "Mark Hamill's on my front door!" just to make Jeremy laugh.

Cheesy goodness

2005-08-12T12:18:00.000-04:00

My all-time favorite fast-food food is the Cheesy Gordita Crunch from Taco Bell. Now, to understand my love for this "sandwich," I believe I need to provide a little history. I've never liked hard tacos. They inevitably fall apart and you end up requiring a fork. But, the crunch... oh, the crunch. Hard tacos definitely taste better than soft tacos which offer sanctuary from the mess. When Taco Bell invented the Double Decker Taco, I was thrilled. You get the crunch without the mess. And all thanks to a little refried bean "glue." Brilliant! Although, I've never been a refried beans man myself, the minor taste alteration was worth the cleanliness of the meal. Then, some time after introducing the gordita (in my opinion, simply a greek taco), they brought out the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. The soft taco was replaced by a gordita. The bean "glue" was replaced by cheese (mmm.... cheeeeese). They added some pepper jack sauce. And... {sigh} heaven... Seriously, I love Cheesy Gordita season. It's a limited time "sandwich" at Taco Bell, so I have to get my fill of it before they take it away from me for almost another year. There have been times when I've gotten tyerd of eating them before the season was up, and, yet, I am always dissappointed when I go to Taco Bell and it is no longer an option. Lately, my choice lunch has been a Cheesy Gordita Crunch and a Caramel Apple Empanada. With NC state tax, the cost is $2.79. One advantage of the gordita wrap over the soft taco is that it is much more filling. I bring Sprite's from home, so I don't pay for way-to-highly-priced fountain drinks. If you haven't tried this meal, you're missing out. If I'm wrong, it will only cost you $3.00. The Sprite website is kind of fun if you're bored. See link above.

I rock

2005-08-12T12:08:00.000-04:00

For those who do't like posts about work, I'll post something else today that is non-work related. Promise. So, in cable, we want to get to you tomorrow if we can't get to you today, unless you ask us to come later. So, they measure me and my team by how well we do that. Anyone who calls and can't get an appointment for the next day is considered a beyond. For the first nine months of our goal year, my area did not have a single beyond. Unfortunately, the streak could not last forever and I've taken some through the digital upgrade. Meanwhile, because of technicians moving on to bigger and better things, my team is two short and that makes for some difficult weekends. Last night, we had 20 customers who had to take a beyond. Of those 20, I have contacted 11 who have either cancelled or rescheduled their appointment to today. And the day isn't even over. I don't know if my management will appreciate the 11 (maybe more) customers that I worked hard to take care of sooner than later. It's always possible they will focus on the 9 (maybe less) that I didn't take care of sooner. Who knows? Either way, I feel good right now for having helped 11 people/families get their cable working before the weekend.

Rock 'n' Roll, Koochy Koo

2005-08-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

So, as Sabrina mentioned, there is a very big concert coming up... Green Day with Jimmy Eat World opening. Now, I've been to something like 16 shows. Not really the 27,000+ that Jordan's been to. Newsboys have given the best shows so far... coming down from the rafters on a UFO, spinning vertical raised drum duet, giant inflatable concert hall... they're gimmicks, but they're great gimmicks! I have requested the day of the concert and following day off from work. I hoping to make it a wonderful experience... I'll probably still work, but I'll do it from the comfort of my house and, preferrably, my bed. Wireless internet is a must if you have a laptop... Someday, I'll convince my wife to tell me how to do the stat tracking thing and start addressing my audience. Speaking of audiences, I have volunteered to participate in a drama this Sunday. With some grace from God, everything will go smoothly for Angie's first endeavor of leading the drama ministry at newhope. Hopefully, I'll get the script soon to start memorizing lines.

Geek Love

2005-08-09T13:47:00.000-04:00

So, Sabrina says that I shouldn't post about lovable geeks because I'm a guy and it's weird. But, you have to understand that I'm also a geek. And geeks stick together. We cheer for each other and want each other to get the girl. And there's honor amongst geeks, so we don't fight over girls. When was the last time you saw two geeks fighting over who was gonna get the girl? Meanwhile, I've been watching a lot of CSIs lately. Donnie started our DVR recording them and I've always watched them when I caught them, but never recorded them. Well, now there are a ton on our DVR from Spike TV. Since there's nothing else really on, it's nice to have something on the DVR to watch. Sabrina says she has a difficult time getting into it and I realized that it takes like 10 episodes to get into the characters. If you're not instantly hooked by the "science" or the crime, then it takes a little while before you get enough info on the characters to understand the little things that happen in each episode.

New lovable geek

2005-08-08T12:25:00.000-04:00

If you haven't started watching The 4400 on USA, you're missing out. Go rent or buy the first season. It was intended to only be a mini-series, but is now a series. So, the first season is relatively small. Meanwhile, there's a new geek who is pretty lovable. His name is Marco. He has a crush on Diana and it's not exactly a secret. Sometimes, I think she even flirts back with him a little bit.

Video cards & Servers

2005-08-08T11:54:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday, Sabrina was loving enough to give me a day of playing video games. I tried to make sure to contribute to the weekly maintenance of a clean house. I fixed up the living room and emptied the sink (except for things that needed to soak) into the dishwasher. Of course, we went to church and lunch with friends. After that, I invited my friend Mike over for some EQ and possible Halo action. First, we tried Halo. After updating to the latest version, we discovered that I must have used his Product Key at the last installation. I've misplaced my product key, but definitely have a legal copy and key. I just can't find it. So, we decided we just won't play Halo and we logged on to EQ. We headed over to an area where there is typically very few people, but for some reason, there were tons. Additionally, sometimes rare creatures spawn and they are often more powerful than the regulars. Well, ALL of the rare spawns were up and walking around. Unfortunately, they are too powerful for me and Mike to handle on our own and we NEEDED the regular creatures for our quests. We got a few things done, but not much before a message came across our screens: "We will be taking down ALL server in approximately 15 minutes. Please log off to avoid the loss of data. We apologize for this inconvenience. There is currently no ETA for when the servers will be restored." OK... Sony rarely takes down their servers unexpectedly. Almost all maintenance is planned and downtimes posted at least a day before the servers come down. They almost never take the servers down on the weekend, planned or unplanned. This is why EQ is a great game because Sony unsderstands that they need to work around the customer (in this regard). So, we go back to trying to figure out how to play Halo. We get a product key off the internet to use just for the night. We find one, it works, but when we join a game, Mike's screen looks like he's looking through a prism and all sorts of textures are screwed up. It's completely unplayable. We clean out his case, verify his fans are working (and no overheating is occuring). He updates his drivers. We remove the card and reset the BIOS. Nothing helps. No matter what we did, we had an intermittent bad output from the card. Now, Mike recently upgraded his MoBo and we're not sure if it's the AGP slot or the card itself, but needless to say, our gaming was done for the night. {sigh} The good news is, Sabrina and I spent the last two hours of the evening reading the sixth Harry Potter book. We read two chapters instead of our normal one and I greatly enjoyed that time. I highly recommend that couples read to each other. Bedtime is a good time. You get to react together and it's a way to share without the pressure of coming up with something the other person doesn't already know. It's great fun and a good time to get some cuddling in if you're into that.

Serving

2005-08-01T09:57:00.000-04:00

So, I've been trying to figure out God's plan for me serving at newhope. I was truly burnt out on the tech team and feeling very stretched. J.J. and my wife have graciously taken over (although it's put a lot of work on Sabrina for which I feel bad about). Still, they seem to be doing well, perhaps even better without me. I'm sure I never really learned how to handle myself as a leader in that regard. I think teaching technical stuff isn't my fortê. If someone doesn't get it after the second or third time, I get frustrated. While I continue to learn appropriate expectations and patience, I've been praying to find my place to serve. Then, something sort-of-happened. Angie Hairgrove (formally Yoder) has been some what pushed, but not reluctantly, into taking the reigns of the drama ministry at newhope. While I certainly don't feel I could lead anything, I believe I could be an asset and I'm pretty sure I want to be a part of this ministry. I loved working with Elle, but rarely got a chance to do so. I am definitely a student of a more traditional theatrical training where you are sure to face out, project, block out scenes and, all the while, develop your portrayal of the character. I think Angie's formal education sets the stage (no pun intended) for that more traditional approach to newhope drama. I've only worked with her once, but it was good. Once we encouraged her to boss us around (I believe good actors prefer to be bossed, but like to contirbute, too), it was an overall good experience. I have had the theatre bug since I was like 7. I've done more plays than I can remember at times and worked backstage for more productions than I could ever remember. The other thing is that I love singing, too. I tried out for WAM, but was told to keep working on it. Although that was a little let down, I did try to work on it and was thinking of trying out again. Still, I don't know if that's where I'm being called either. I love praising the Lord through song. I definitely feel... closer?... to Him when I'm singing praises. Meanwhile, I can easily do that from my seat in the congregation. Still, I've got the skill set to help on the tech team where help is often needed. Despite the fact that my knowledge and skill specifically at newhope is certainly less than others that have far surpassed my ear and skill in that building, I could probably still help as an able body to stand behind the board and make it sound... OK. I am pretty certain that my joy is lights. I think I like painting with lights. I studied what lights could do in high school and got to even utilize some of the cool effects throughout my theatre "career." Lighting is much more emotional than sound and can have a great impact on a message or a moment (see J.J. about Easter Sunday at the high school). With some more lights or intelligent lighting, I think I could really enjoy doing lighting design, but that's future and I would like to serve now. So, I pose the question: What do you think? Help me by letting God speak through you and give me some advice. I'll still be praying and trying to hear from the Man Himself, but I believe a foolish man does not hear God speak to him through others.

Catching up!

2005-07-29T12:21:00.000-04:00

Well, we're finally catching up at work. Of course, the storm last night gave us quite a fright and we did have a number of outages from which to recover. This weekend will still be a little rough, but by next week, we should be just about back to normal. That means, I actually have a few minutes to not think about work. I felt bad that I've had so much work stuff going on while Donnie was here. Still, he thought it was cool that I took care of stuff over the phone a lot of times. Sadly, he also thinks all I do is drive around and talk on the phone all day. Anyway, I'm looking forward to going bowling tonight with some YMCA'ers. Last night, I was a bit of a wet blanket... Donnie wanted to go out, but I had to move an LE 200 feet and it was quite hot yesterday. I was looking forward to a night of sitting on the couch in the AC. We watched some DVD's he had and Sabrina actually got into a CSI. It was pretty cool. Just as the story was climaxing and getting tense, the storm was rolling in. The thunder and lightning... well, it was better than my surround sound! I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, but it never fails that one of my guys will call me between 7:30am and 8:00am. Sleeping in happens so rarely for me... . I only feel bad for Sabrina can't sleep in either. Ah, sleep... it's my favorite pastime.

Suck my back!

2005-07-27T12:58:00.000-04:00

If you haven't already discovered Dane Cook, you need to. He's hilarious! I saw him once and I was hooked. I forced Sabrina to watch him and she cracked up laughing. Now, you have to know that my wife doesn't usually enjoy stand-up comedians as much as I do, but she loves Dane. Dane is the only comedian we have supported financially... in other words, we bought his stuff. DVD/CD combos which is exactly what every comedian needs to sell. We now own two DVD/CD combos. You may have seen him in some bit parts, but his stand-up is definitely the best. I just learned that he's from Boston, Mass. He seemed very much more of a New York/Seattle/Atlanta type of guy. Boston seems a little too laid back for Dane... they would've kicked him out. Listen, his website has some clips playing. Listen for a little bit and you'll laugh. If you ever get to see him on Comedy Central or something, watch... his antics are even funnier. Yes, this was a giant Dane Cook advertisement, but we just bought his new combo and I can't wait to watch it.

Putt-putt

2005-07-24T08:23:00.000-04:00

So, we went putt-putting at Adventure Landing last night. It was me, Sabrina, Kelli, Nick and Donnie. I was very much looking forward to it since my short game really sucked the other day. When I was living in Florida and my dad insisted on taking me out to play, I used to be able to read greens really well and two putt all the time. In fact,t he only problem I had was getting to the green, but onceI was there, it was all good. When I played the other day, I was three putting everything. But, I was getting to three green a lot better than I ever have in the past. Last night, I started finding my putting groove, but I'm going to need to work on my chipping as I'm still having a problem with that. I know, how interesting golf is... I can only imagine how enthralled you are by my personal golf game. Anyway, at Adventure Landing, every single hole is a par 2. It's a little annoying actually. None of the holes are tremendously challenging. It makes for good practice for a golf course, but a somewhat boring time playing putt-putt. All in all, it was a good night with friends. I always like spending time with Kelli and Nick. They are incredibly nice/sweet/fun people to be with... but mostly, it's easy to hang around them. I don't feel any pressures to be funny or have a witty story or to be cool. Also, Sabrina's mom is in town. We went to see March of the Penguins yesterday. It was really good. Baby penguins are incredibly cute. Mom is leaving on Monday and Donnie is staying for another week.

Mid-90's

2005-07-19T12:26:00.000-04:00

No, that's not what I shot on the golf course. We played at Lakeshore off of Lumley road. The weather was supposed to get to mid-90s. We all wished our scores would get there, too. Actually, on Saturday, I shot a 115. Still, I played some good golf. Off the tee, I was hitting pretty well, with the exceptions of my mulligans (only 2). I found some rhythm or "pace" as Josh kept saying. I think I'd like to try a graphite driver now. Meanwhile, Brad was lots of fun and quite good. He shot the best at 104. Josh repeated his personal best at 107. Josh's friend Johnny could drive the ball for miles, but had no control and end up at 115, too. PS - I'm sorry about not posting this sooner. I got interrupted and I had plans to post this days ago. I'm sure there was more that I planned on blogging, but I can't remember now. Old age...

Par for the course

2005-07-13T14:06:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I wish. So, I was invited by my across the street neighbor, Josh, to make a foursome for Saturday afternoon/evening. The price was right and I looked forward to meeting new people and embarrassing myself on the golf course. However, I had a wicked hook when I went out to the driving range a couple of weeks ago. I needed to fix it before I played 18 holes. Donnie wanted to go out to the driving range, so this was a good chance tofigure out what I am doing wrong and fix it. Unfortunately, I only curbed it slightly and still not enough to play 18 holes effectively. Moreover, I forgot to practice some chipping and putting. I think I need to go back, but I really don't want to spend that much money... at the same time, I want to get better. (sigh) Enter dilemma. Meanwhile, Donnie... well, I wish I could hit as consistently as he does. He "chunks" about as often as I do, but every ball he hits well goes straight or has a minor hook. Minor enough that I could play to it if I had it. So, I'm quite jealous. I was happy that with just a few small pointers, I think I helped his consistency out. He may only hit about 100-150 yards with a good balls rolling to 200, but they're straight. 150 yard drive with a good chip should get you on the green with two putts on any course. So, I have to play on Saturday and I'm not feeling very confident. I just hope I'm not a huge embarassment amongst the other guys with which I will be playing. Or, I hope I'm such a huge embarassment that it's incredibly funny and never annoying.

The Blogosphere

2005-07-12T14:34:00.000-04:00

Perhaps our own little world, but I do love it... perhaps because it's our own little world. So, Angela blogged from her honeymoon. To which Josh commented. To which Sabrina commented in reply. To which I posted. If Angela moves it forward, the circle will be complete. I like circles.

Cooler than 8 Mbps down

2005-07-05T12:27:00.000-04:00

So, tonight (if all goes well), TWC Raleigh will be digitally simulcasting all of the current analog channels (0-77). That means that if you have a digital box, your picture and sound will never be converted to analog on the TWC network. We receive most of the signals from the broadcasters digitally. Then, we downgrade them to analog and put them on the lines. We'll continue to do that for those customers who have regular cable ready TVs without a cable box. But, starting tonight, we'll also take those digital signals and send them to our digital boxes. The result is a digital picture and digital sound that should be clearer and better... better edges, better color depth. However, if you have a problem on your digital frequencies (especially on channels that you don't watch and, therefore, don't know you've got a problem), then you're gonna find out tomorrow. So, just in case there's a lot of people who have this problem, we're planning and working hard to be ready to handle the extra call volume. So, even though it means a lot of work for me and my technicians, I'm still REALLY excited about this offering. We can definitely see the difference between a digital channel and an analog channel on our 32" TV. I can only imagine how much I would dislike analog if I owned a bigger screen. Not to mention that I love my sound system (Onkyo Receiver & Polk Speakers & Sub) and I will love having digital sound. I'm sure that Sabrina's favorite part will be that we should be able to hold more shows on the Divo, our DVR. The digital channels take up less space than the analog... since they'll all be digital... Now, we're only waiting on the broadcasters to up their equipment to get better pictures and sound.

Muffler & Minesweeper

2005-07-01T11:50:00.000-04:00

So, I needed to get my car fixed. It's needed exhaust work since last year when it barely passed inspection. Apparently, it needed a new muffler. $220. What can you do? I hate cars. They are NOT an investment. A house is an investment, you make money on a house. You do nothing but lose money on a car. Meanwhile, I convinced my beautiful wife to let me sit in her air conditioned office while I waited for them to fix it. Wireless is a beautiful thing. I can do my job from anywhere I can get Sprint PCS and Alltel service. I took care of a concerned customer and got the IT department to fix one of my technician's cell phone from a parking lot at Duke. I feel like I shouldn't have to use a Personal Day, but I guess I should. So, after taking care of everything that was blowing up at work, I started surfing the EQ2 sites and then started playing Minesweeper. Yes, I enjoy it. Sabrina noticed and menioned that she blogged. I read hers and thought I should blog to. So, viola... sad, isn't it?