Breathlessly Awaited Update

Gentle readers: I apologize that it has been so long since I harangued the masses with a moving diatribe. Rest assured that my torment in light of this failure is complete.

News. Wifey's shower was this last Saturday. We are very grateful to all who planned, executed and attended the event. We received many nice gifts and are very thankful to everyone for their support of our soon-to-be-growing-by-a-member-family.

I have been working 7-5 every day and taking off on Friday at noon, which is nice. I left work at about 1 last Friday and helped dad frame his house until around 8. Then I worked for him on Saturday from about 7-1. I spent a lot of the day building walls so I was bent over with a nailgun, tacking stuff together. My hamstrings are hatin' me for that.

After I left the jobsite on Saturday I hooked up with Bro-in-law (BNL hereafter) and purchased a Ruger 10/22, semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle and a 4x scope. I also bought a bunch of clay targets and shotgun ammo at Wally World. Then we met up with the Painter, babyBrother and shot up some clay. I also sighted in my new gun. Then we went to the races where Dad and bluegrassBrother showed up.

Coincidentally my new boss also showed up. His wifey was due any day and they were hoping that the excitement and intensity of the races would inspire the little one to join this crazy world. Sunday they called and said she had delivered the baby at 9:30 so maybe it worked!

Sunday afternoon BNL and I went out and shot .22s again. We went through an entire brick (550 rounds) of ammo and I now have the 10/22 sighted in enough to nail a quarter at about 40-50 yards. Craig and I both have a quarter with a bullet melted into it and I also have a penny with a hole directly through the middle.




The first week I worked here I went biking with my coworkers over in Happy Jack. It was a beautiful area and I was inspired to camp there. So Memorial Day weekend we went camping with the Painter and their little family on that Sunday night. We all rode in the Xterra and it was packed to the gills. The next day we hiked around the Vedavoo area. Here are some pics of the adventure. Tonight I'm going to ride Turtle Rock trail with a coworker.

Mother's Day and my new job

We did mothers (and mothers-to-be) day in FC this weekend with Mom and Dad and G&G. Above is a pic of us from the weekend. I haven't posted a recent picture in quite awhile so I thought I'd share. Wifey is doing okay but I think she's getting sick of her current dimensions.

Well, I'm leaving my position at STP. It's kinda bittersweet because STP is the only place that I've worked since we've moved here (I've had three different jobs within the company). I have many good friends in my coworkers that I will genuinely miss working with. Despite that, I'm very excited about my new position. My last day with STP is the 18th. I start the new position on the 21st.

The new company is called Local Creative. They are based Locally and do Creative stuff: imagine! Seriously, they do web site design, print design, interactive media design/programming and other creative work. My official title is Digital Fulfillment Manager. That means that I will be handling all of the technology development that powers the websites and other media design that Local Creative produces. Initially it will be lots of hands on work programming in PHP and other languages and working with database design, etc. LC is a small company right now but as we grow I will be responsible for bringing in and supervising new digital technology talent as needed.

It was a hard decision to move out of a large, stable corporation to a small, fairly new company. But looking at the quality of work and dedication that the owner has put into LC convinced me that this will be a fun, flexible and exciting place to work. STP has been a great company to work for. I will actually miss my boss a lot as he was an excellent guy to work for (no, he doesn't read this blog and flattery wouldn't get me anywhere at this point anyway). It's probably rare that you can honestly say you really like your boss. All that being said, I never really made a conscious choice to get into marketing. I found opportunities at STP and took them, which led me into marketing but I am ready to get back to more creative pursuits. I think I will like my new boss too, I already respect him for his demonstrated ability and that goes a long way with me. The other guys I'll be working with seem really cool.

I know you're probably thinking: programming, creative? Yes, web programming and application development requires creative problem solving. Technology without creative regard for usability and efficiency is worthless (ohhhh, M$ Windows anyone?). I enjoy [trying my best to] blend the technology and design elements needed to create a seamless web experience for the user. Since this is a small company, I will probably be getting my hands "dirty" in some of the other design and print jobs that come in. That might be a nice break from lines of code.

The company itself is located in a renovated industrial building. It's an old old redbrick, complete with antique painted signs on the side. It manages to be trendy, historic and quaint all at once. Inside it has hardwood floors and the wonderful hum of dual-core processors and 24" widescreen monitors.I asked my new boss what kind of computer I would have and he said "what do you want?" I said I usually built my own at home so he let me compile a list of components from newegg.com (my fave computer parts company) and he ordered them for me. It's not everyday you get to build your own work computer and yes, I consider that a huge privilege. The goodies came in today and dropped in to assemble it. For my geek friends, here's what I built:

• Coolermaster case (I highly recommend these, built by people with good brains)
  
• Dual core 64 bit AMD proc (built by psionic supermutants, it's the only explanation)
  
• 2GB ram
• 256MB nVidia GeForce 7600GT
• 320GB 7200RPM SATA drive
• ASUS, dual Gigabit ethernet mobo that can handle up to 8GB RAM and 2 GPUs in SLI
• 500W PSU
• Logitech MX518 mouse

I'll be getting a DVD burner, 24" widescreen LCD (I think/hope) and an ergonomic keyboard. Basically this machine will outperform my home machine in just about all categories and that's saying something.

So there's your windy dose of news and nerd. Hope all had a happy mother's day.

It's A Girl (we think)

Well, you probably figured out by the title of this post that Wifey got an ultrasound today. Lots of our friends lately have had little baby girls so we were sorta hoping for a boy to mix things up a little. That being said, we were not disappointed to find that Wifey is, most likely, carrying a little girl. I have taken the liberty of posting the poor girl's picture right out here in public, girly bits and all, properly labeled and identified. Sorry kid but there ain't much to see anyway. If you're not offended by murky sonar images of naked babies, then scroll on down.


Below is the first portrait of our baby girl. It's kinda like one of those 3D magic-eye pictures. If you sorta squint at it, cock your head, and back up a few feet, you can almost make out a human-like face.


And the last pic is her foot. They measured a bunch of different bits of anatomy: spine, head, guts, etc. and finally determined that she ought to be a roughly-normalish kid. It's pretty fascinating to see everything where it's supposed to be, heart pumping and all. Miraculous. Speaking of the heart, I got to hear the little ticker on the ultrasound machine. Have you ever taken a two-liter bottle or a milk jug and upended it? The baby's heart sounds pretty much like that "BLUBG-BLUBG" sound that water chugging out of a bottle makes.


After looking at that little foot (not quite an inch long) I shudder to think how many pairs of tiny baby shoes wifey will come home with tomorrow. She was already eyeballing some tiny Puma's at the mall. I admit, they were pretty cute.

Now excuse me while I go talk to my shrink about living with two females in the same house.

Hired!

Well, we finally hired two people for my old position. One of them started this week (later nicknamed Dizzney) so I've been doing lots of training. The guy we hired doesn't have the technical (read: nerd) base that I do but he seems to have really good people skills and is catching on to stuff pretty quickly. I am very optimistic about turning the program over to him.

We have another guy starting in March that I will be training to take over another chunk of my old job. Turning the rest of this stuff over will be a huge relief since I have lots to do with my new position. I have been approached about speaking at a conference in Chicago in September. I get the feeling that my boss thinks it would be a very good idea for me to do that, which means that I have a lot to learn if I want to be able to speak confidently to a crowd of experienced marketeers. Public speaking scares me.

Wifey is doing well. We are hoping to get an ultrasound pretty soon so we can see if the baby comes with accessories.

I think this is the most boring blog post that I have ever written. The fact that you made it this far is astounding. Or maybe sad. I wanted to write something cool but I didn't have any interesting news so I tried to fudge it by talking about stuff that's going on at my job. That was probably more boring than just admitting that I didn't have anything cool to say. Maybe next post I'll try talking about the weather.

Why doesn't someone suggest something cool for me to post about so this blog doesn't continue to go downhill?

Maternity Clothes Shopping

Mom took Wifey to the mall last night to try on some maternity clothes. They have rudely (SHOUTING AT ME) demanded that I interrupt my busy day to post a pic or two from the trip. So, I posted the one above. While they were shopping, Natedawg, Fastlane and I went out for some mexifood and then Fastlane and I did some browsin' at the local B&N.

This AM I had a dentist appt. They usually preach their flossaphies (get it?) at me but today the dentist really gave me what for. He said if I didn't start flossing better I would have to get 6-7 teeth filled within 6 months. That was not happy news. I bought an electric toothbrush (because I don't have enough electronic stuff in my house) and am determined to change my evil ways. Anyway, I suppose I should put down this sugar-loaded energy drink and get back to work. Maybe chew some sugar-free gum or something. Teeth are good.

Just a picture

Some have asked us to post some recent pics. We don't have anything real recent...apparently we didn't even take any pictures on our anniversary. The photo above is the recent-est thing that I could find, taken last November out by BMOC and family's place.

We met a buddy from work and his GF at a mexifood place on Friday and then played ping pong at my house.

Saturday we went on a quick bike ride around Lions. Both bikes can fit in back of the new Xterra but it's not an idea situation. I will be watching ebay for a good deal on a bike rack. Or I might try to manufacture my own. I saw a parts-list pic and they aren't anything that sophisticated. The weather was nice this wkend but a bit on the windy side.

Sunday we met the Painter and his wifey for lunch at the Egg and I. We had them over for spaghetti on Sunday night.

PS: Sister has some pics of the Brookster up that are pretty darn cute. Yeah, shut up I read your blog.

General News

Well, we don't have much new going on. I've been playing serious catch-up at work after the conference and still doing two jobs. I have a few more good candidates so hopefully we can get someone to take some of my work load pretty soon.

Wifey went to the doc last week. We were hoping to find out if it's a boy or girl but it was still to early to bother with an ultrasound. So, I left the office and right after I left they let her listen to the heartbeat. I was disappointed to miss that.

Friday night we went over to BMOC's house for an excellent dinner and some ping pong and foosball. CJ and Dwilla, from the harvest crew, stayed with us from Sat to Mon night. We had a nice dinner with NateDawg and his wifey on Sun. On Monday I taught guitar lessons and then we went over to FastLane's for dinner. DeBrew, who was staying with them, shared some miraculous stories about babies that some of our friends have adopted from Egypt. It was a busy but fun weekend.

Oh, and I have been steadily adding stuff to the cheesy space game (see last post). Last year I created a similar game and it took a few months. I learned a lot about programming and this time around it took me one week to accomplish a similar result that actually functions a lot smoother. I like programming but it's hard to come up with projects that will push my knowledge and make me learn new things. I make video games because they are actually a lot more complex than most web programming tasks and it's easier to learn when I'm making something fun. I plan to add a lot more stuff to the game if I keep working on it. I may have a freelance job coming up though, that will sideline the game project in short order!

To all a good week.

Baby FAQs

Wifey is pregnant! We're spreading the news and below is the list of FAQs that we get:

How far along is Wifey?
As of this original posting and according to the doc, 9 weeks.

When is she due?
July 25th, 2007.

Are you going to find out if it's a boy or girl?
I was surprised how much I've been asked this. Yes. When the baby comes out I hope it's obvious. But, sarcasm aside, we will probably find out in advance by ultrasound.

Were you planning to have kids?
Yep.

Are you excited?
Yes. It's scary but exciting.

Has Wifey been sick?
Not so far.

Any cravings?
Beyond the usual, unreasonable lust for chocolate, popcorn or junkfood? Not yet.

I will post more FAQs as we have more news and more questions.

Dragged, kicking and screaming, into blogdom

I hate blogs. But then, I work in online marketing. So I "get" to read the sort of trite, garbage that would-be journalists post, lauding themselves as legitimate sources of news and entertainment or making other absurd claims.

What is the point of this blog? Not having to send you email to be sure. See, if you come here to read this I don't have to make sure that I included you on the email that had our latest pictures, etc. And if you don't come here to read this then it's your own fault.

Hopefully, I can pawn off this whole blog posting business on my wife. Either way you can expect to see approximately 8 posts before we abandon the project altogether. If I do most of the posts you can plan on a solid balance of jaded cynicism, geeky jokes that you probably won't get, and sarcasm, interspersed with occasional mania.

What was our blogging inspiration? Mostly the fact that everyone else is doing it. If I wasn't terminally lazy I would use a cooler blogging software like WordPress.

Anyway, enjoy and leave comments if you are bored at work.