We should be moving into our new house this weekend. Hopefully I will be able to start blogging more consitently then.

The new job is good. Sherry is good. I will explain more about each later. Thank you all for the comments, and I promise to do better with the posting.

I have added word verification to my comments since I was getting more and more spam comments.

Test it out and post me a comment. I am curious who is out there and who my silence has offended the most.

I think we have sold our house. We have verbally accepted an offer for 94% of our asking price. Less then we had said we would take, but after the decision was made we knew it was the right one... no since in getting greedy, I mean we are making 63% return on our investment. That is just sick!

And we will have close to 50% equity in our house in Jacksonville.

I have also had 5 moving companies come give me estimates and it is going to cost more then I had originally thought.

So I am half way through my relaxing week off. My last week and Symantec was uneventful and I am getting anxious to start my new adventure. Keep your fingers crossed that everything works out for the best, who knows what the future holds.

How real politics get done.

Sorry for not updating you guys, but the roller coaster was getting too much to handle.

We have decided on a house, and working on all the paperwork, but there is so much up in the air right now that I am a little too stressed to think properly on how to make this blog interesting :)

Basic details: much cheaper then the other houses we were looking at
Solid brick construction, built in the 50's, by a family acquaintance's father. I played tball with the current owner's son. It is the house that he (the father) grew up in. His father passed away late last year, so it is an inheritance.

The current owner remembers my father, and in fact was in the same fraternity at Georgia Tech, but a few years behind, and his youngest son is a freshman at Georgia Tech this year. He has been slow on selling the property due to a self proclaimed sentimental desire to have someone with "Ortega ties" being the next owner. I feel really good about this one. The house needs some updating but for the price we are getting it at, we will be able to redo the kitchen like we want and lighten up the den that is currently wood paneled. And has some plywood patches from previous window units.

It has hardwood floors through most of the house. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a generous master bedroom and huge closet with custom storage units. There is also some handicap features that we will need to undo, but we expect to have all of it come in under our budgeted amount and drastically reducing our current mortgage if we can sell our Norfolk home for what we are hoping.

Although I don't have any good pictures of the front of the house, here are some pictures that my mom took when she previewed the house a few weeks ago:
Verona House

After reviewing those pictures, I will say that they do not do the house justice, and I am excited to have a house that Sherry and I can once again go in and make our own... but I think we will be staying in this one a bit longer.

It is a few blocks from my mom's house, which is a good thing... who'd a thunk I would want to live so close to my mom at age 30?!?!

There are two houses there that we are significantly interested in. Will update the blog with progress and pictures this weekend.

So I just learned what the root of Lesbian is Lesbos (incorrectly I might add, as the people of Lesbos are called Lesbosians and not Lesbians). But the term comes from the writing of the ancient "muse" Sappho, of whom I had never heard. From the link below is the following paragraph:

Her style was sensual and melodic; primarily songs of love, yearning, and reflection. Most commonly the target of her affections was female, often one of the many women sent to her for education in the arts. She nurtured these women, wrote poems of love and adoration to them, and when they eventually left the island to be married, she composed their wedding songs. That Sappho's poetry was not condemned in her time for its homoerotic content (though it was disparaged by scholars in later centuries) suggests that perhaps love between women was not persecuted then as it has been in more recent times. Especially in the last century, Sappho has become so synonymous with woman-love that two of the most popular words to describe female homosexuality--lesbian and sapphic have derived from her.

I guess these are some of the interesting facts that my non-Liberal Arts education neglected me of.

More on Sappho here

I recieved this email from my Uncle... and it is worth heeding:

We all receive emails all the time regarding one scam or another; but last week I REALLY DID get scammed! Both VISA and MasterCard told me that this scam is currently being worked throughout the Midwest, with some variance as to the product or amount, and if you are called, just hang up.

My husband was called on Wednesday from "VISA" and I was called in Thursday from "MasterCard". It worked like this: Person calling says, "This is Carl Patterson and I'm calling from the Security and Fraud department at VISA. My Badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card issued by 5/3 bank. Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a marketing company based in Arizona?"

When you say "No". The caller continues with, "Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from $297 to $497, just under the $500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?"

You say, "Yes". The caller continues..."I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 800 number listed on your card 1-800-VISA and ask for Security. you will need to refer to this Control #". Then gives you a 6 digit number. "Do you need me to read it again?" Caller then says he "needs to verify you are in possession of your card. Turn the card over. There are 7 numbers; first 4 are 1234(whatever) the next 3 are the security numbers that verify you are in possession of the card. These are the numbers you use to make internet purchases to prove you have the card. Read me the 3 numbers." Then he says "That is correct. I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions? Don't hesitate to call back if you do."

You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA security dept. told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of $497.99 WAS put on our card.

Long story made short...we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA card and they are reissuing as a new number. What the scam wants is the 3 digit number! and that once the charge goes through, they keep charging every few days. By the time you get your statement, you think the credit is coming, and then its harder to actually file a fraud report. The real VISA reinforced that they will never ask for anything on the card (they already know).

What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from "Jason Richardson of MasterCard" with a word for word repeat of the VISA Scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up.

We filed a police report (as instructed by VISA), and they said they are taking several of these reports daily and to tell friends, relatives and co-workers.

So after much back and forth with the Mayview people I think we are going to walk away from the table... I am scared that the price we could get it for would be hard to get out of the house given the fact that I think we could outgrow the house in 3 years.

Back to Square 1.

As luck would have it, Pine Needle received another offer significantly higher then ours, so it looks as if we are not going to get that house. We have since then entered discussions with Mayview about buying their home. Will keep you posted.

So we placed an offer on the Pine Needle House (the most recent photos below, the bigger house). We offered 88% of their asking price and expect a response by tomorrow. The seller didn't flat out turn it down so that is a good sign.

The house is still on a septic tank so that is a bit of a concern, but we are ok with it, and accounted for future improvements in the offering price. We hope to get an acceptance or counter by tomorrow evening.

If this doesn't work out, we are still interested in the yellow house.

I found some pictures of the other house we like... it is about 600 square feet bigger and 30k more... the back yard is also a lot bigger, but the "curb appeal" is lower compared to Mayview.

MUCH better day today... we saw 11 houses and all of them were worth looking at versus the 0/16 that we went for yesterday... We have two that we are very excited about and the words "this is the one" came out of Sherry's mouth today.

Both of them are FSBO so I only have pictures of one of them, but here are a few of them:









Going to see 6 or so more tomorrow.

So we went out for two hours driving around with Mandy, Mom and Don and then stopped to have lunch. After which we met our realtor, Jenn, and started going through 16 houses that we had picked out from going through houses online. Not such much luck, turns out people want a lot of money for some really ugly houses.

For example:
This house here
had a freaking 10 foot 2x4 holding up the second floor ceilng and a hugh hole in the ceiling plaster on the 1st floor... and they still wanted nearing $400,000 for it... crazy crap.

So needless to say, day 1 didn't go so well. We are hoping to have more luck on day 2 on the other side of the river. Will keep you updated.

Seems that there is a case of virtual mugging being explored in Japan. Important nuggets of knowledge to know before reading this article:

- The game allows A LOT of people play in a virtual world together online.
- "Gamers" care deeply about this game, and will pay actual money to purchase items from other gamers
- Once an item is sold (in the real world) the seller and buyer meet up online and exchange the sold item.

The article

We have played a little poker at the last two family gatherings my immediate family has had. They have been impromptu games, and therefore required us to use makeshift chips... the first time we had to go buy tri-colored pasta, and the most recent time we had to go buy 5 sets of kid's play money.

So I figured it was time to get a tournament set, and here they are:





Thanks to my friend Hal for having the desire to constantly upgrading his own set, which allowed me to get these for a very reasonable price.

So I can't remember my childhood that well. My mom and youngest sister (maybe the older ones too) think it is repression. I think it is binge drinking in college. Whatever the case I do sometime recall things when I am given the proper retrieval key.

On Six Feet Under last week, the Fisher family dealt with the loss of a brother and a son. It caused me to remember some things about going through my father's death. I was only 14, and maybe I have repressed much of those memories, but while watching that episode I strongly remembered the feeling of not wanting to be seen.

I remember my friends from church youth group coming over a day or two days after the worst day of my life, and I remember running upstairs and "hiding"... I felt bad and appriciated how hard it must of been for them to come over, but I just wasn't ready to deal with people.

I also remember walking into a church full of friends and family and not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, and the crushing weight of everyone's eyes on me.

I was talking to my youngest sister, Mandy, about this last night, and she told me that she often thinks about walking out of the church, down the aisle. And remembering my Mom's brother Bob walking her and my oldest sister down the aisle. I don't remember who I walked with... either my Mom or my uncle.

No real point to my story... just wanted to write it down... in hopes of remembering more, maybe.

Sherry and I are heading to Jacksonville on the 20th for the week to look for our new home. We would like to live close to my new office (in Riverside), so we are concentrating our search in that area. I am getting very excited about moving back to my old stomping grounds and raising my child there.

An old Italian man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his tomato garden, but it was very hard work as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

Dear Vincent,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.

Love Dad

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Dad,

Not for nothing, but don't dig up that garden. That's where I buried the BODIES.

Love Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Dad,

Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love Vinnie

I don't know why Bill hasn't responded to the offer of 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand in marriage?

On June 2nd, 2005 Sherry gave me the best news of my life... I was going to be a father. We have kept it a secret until now just to be safe, but as we enter the 2nd trimester we will safe enough to let the world know!

Check out the baby blog for more info: http://mcdonaldbaby.blogspot.com/

My father-in-law sent this to me today... pretty cool:

Newspaper front pages from around the world

Sherry and I will be relocating to Jacksonville, FL in October as I start up a new job there. The just of the story is that I will be part of the executive management of in information technology company that installs the hardware and software to help a doctors office move their patient data through the process of check-in, diagnostics, analysis and review as efficiently as possible. Currently the setup is to support the parent company, VyMed Imaging, but the 1 year goal is to have products in place that are applicable to other high paper traffic industries such as law firms, insurance offices, etc...

Very exciting times.

Sept 23rd is my last day at Symantec.

Spent last night celebrating Regina's 30th birthday. We went to 32 Degrees for drinks, dinner and pool (billards, not swiming) followed by the James Taylor concert. Very different concert then Dave Matthews, very mellow. I actually laid down on the grass and almost feel asleep.

Very relaxing.

To give you guys the type of city I work in... it seems that there are too many scary turkeys (isn't that a South Park episode?) in the area, so the city is offering to "take care of the problem" if you ask nice enough.

News Story

So there was a competition to see who could write the best poker software. I was looking at the pictures after reading the article and noticed that there is a dude in the background with a GT shirt on. Representing!

Floyd Fest is coming at the end of the month to the little town where we spent the weekend of my 30th birthday. They sell lots of nice hemp stuff in the town's booming stores, there great cause you can "put your weeeed in it."

In an interview on news.com, iRobot co-founder Colin Angle (makers of the Roomba) said that they are looking into turning the automatic vaccuum cleaner into an avatar that you can control from a web page! Sounds pretty damn cool to me, but also very scary.

They are also coming out with Scooba, a self mopping robot.

Got this in an email today... kinda funny:

Was reading this rather interesting article on this person that made some "art" for the office on a wall out of Post-its.

We are going to see the Dave Mathews Band tonight! :) that makes me very happy.

We are going with Aimee and Mike. Shawn and Regina are going to be there too but in the snobby first row since their social butterflying has paid off and they met some rodie or something. Always having to one up us!

Lee and Andy are having their twins real soon. Lee's mother Mary came up to help out during the birth, since Andy is out to sea for work-ups (week long stints) with his Ship (he is in the Navy). Unfortunately, Mary broke her leg the other day while at the dog bark, when two crazies were chasing a ball and took out her legs while she wasn't looking. Needless to say, she isn't very mobile. So my mom has decided that she (and her BFF, Genie Ray) will come to take Mary back home.

The babies are scheduled to arrive this Friday (C section) so Mary will get to meet them before she leaves, Andy will be home, and my mom and Genie will get to meet them. Pretty amazing how this all works out.

As you can obviously see (unless you are receiving this via email) I have changed the look of the site. As a result I lost the comments, since I wanted to switch to the use the default comments that blogger.com provides. I know I can turn them back on if there is a strong demand, but I would have to go in by hand and change ever post which would be a pain in the butt.

I do want to know if you guys like the new look, so take a second and vote:

Which site do you like better?
The old one
The new one
Neither, you can do better

 

Free polls from Pollhost.com

So much for a life of luxury Yellow Jackets' starting cornerback Reuben Houston arrested...

Sherry threw a surprise birthday party for me on Saturday! It was great fun, stayed up till 2 am and didn't even puke! Regina brought in way too much food from Guadalajara, but it was oh soo good.

Earlier in the day we had a party over at Pearl's house for the family, so I basically racked up in the present department. Then Shawn took me guitar shopping to pick out my big 30 year old present. I picked out the Epiphone Masterbilt DR500, and have been putting in some decent hours on it so far. Shopping for it was quite an intimidating experience, considering you are basically saying, I think I am good enough to need to move up from the beginner guitar to the midrange guitar. But Adam, the sales dude, was very cool about it.

Thank you to everyone for the warm wishes and presents.

On Thursday night we went up the road to check out the Greek Festival. It was pretty cool, great food, fun music and old men dancing. We shall have to plan a more social event next year.

On Friday night we went out with Aimee and Mike Barham for dinner and then a couple of drinks at Scotty Quix were Shawn and Regina meet up with us... Regina's BFF Cathy was in town also.

On Saturday I got up and played golf with Shawn and Taylor Michael Pope. Yet another person who I will help learn to play golf and who will end up being better then me... I really should play more.

On Sunday I had a soccer game in the morning (see previous post) and then we went to Nanny Tureman's to help her celebrate her birthday. When we got done with that we went to Red Robin with Shawn, Regina, Jack and Pearl.

Pearl's last chemo treatment is Tuesday!! So we are going out to celebrate this weekend, since she will be feeling ill for Wed-Thurs, most likely. She is very excited.

I am playing in the Over Thirty Soccer Leaugue in Virginia Beach. It is a pretty competative leaugue since they mix up the teams every year. Going into this mornings game we were 2-2-1, but spanked the team this morning, 6-0. I had one shot on goal, but missed wide, and had one assist to a teammates finishing header. You gotta love it when you win.

Click link to see "I never copped a feel"

Pearl is almost done with her post-operative Chemo Therapy. She had a CEA test last week and the results came back early this week. When she was initially diagnosed she had 9.8 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) of blood. Normal results for adults should be less then 5 ng/mL if they smoke, and 3 if they don't (HINT HINT... YOU ARE STUPID IF YOU SMOKE). Levels higher then 10 are bad news.

Pearl's latest results were 1.8 ng/mL!

As for the rest of her treatment, she is so excited to only have one more chemo treatment left. This version of the therapy, which is different then the drug they used for the pre-operative therapy, has been much tougher on her system and typically causes nausea to the point of throwing up. She has handled it well, and true to her nature has shown very little signs of weakness. She chooses to have some pajama days, but is typically out in her yard tending to the flower beds and grass.

Her white blood count was a little low so she does need a shot to help bring that up. I don't know the information on that right now, but it can be pretty painful and she is getting it this weekend (happy mother's day, right!?).

All in all, the doctors and her are very pleased with how things are going.

My good friend Ryan McGraw has asked me to be in his wedding next March. I am very excited about it, and it doesn't hurt that the wedding is in Mexico (where Sherry and I got engaged). He is marrying a beautiful girl named Anne (who sometimes checks in with some comments on this site). You can check out some details and pictures on their wedding website (nice job on the flash, Anne) hosted on wedding window.

And since I am not just in the wedding but the best man, I get the honor of taking him to see boobies.

Going to Florida tomorrow, and very excited. 3 days at the beach hanging with the family... and two days off from work... can't complain about that.

Here are some photos of Olivia the newest member of the Mccammon family.

So my friend at work just showed me a site that translates any page into a eubonics readable site (it's called gizoogle):

Here is what my site would look like if I were cooler.

My friend from college, EN (short for Edwin Noah, but said as you would Ian), works for GE, setting up some big plants or something or other. Anywho, he was recently transfered to a city near Rome and sent out the email below.

A little backgroud, Ewa is his polish wife and they have been living in Italy for about 2 years now.

I've been assigned to Civitavecchia, on the coast, near Rome, for the next two weeks.

So I drove through Rome today, around it really on the GRA (The Rome Ring). Traffic was normal, but the attitude in Italy is hardly such. On Saturday night when the Pope died, we had just finished dinner and were walking through the old town to a bar and people were milling around outside of the church. I was with the English teachers and when I asked the barmaid if the Pope had just passed, she said "Si, dieci minuti fa." ~Ten minutes ago~. They were holding a mass/vigil for the Pope when he passed. EVERY tv channel showed nothing but footage from St. Peter's, Pope montages and related news.

On Sunday, the only thing on was Mass from St. Peter's Square. They suspended the soccer matches for the weekend. Rome added something like 40 trains a day funneling into the city. I could not get a reservation where I wanted and am therefore staying on the coast away from the city for work this week. MTV has been showing nothing but inspirational-type videos for the last two days, streaming text messages across the bottom.

I had immediately texted Ewa when I heard the Pope was dead. She heard the announcement in between songs, inserted insignificantly it seems, between country hits on the Armed Forces Network radio station in Frankfurt. Poland, according to Ewa's sister Hania, has shutdown. The mourning period has commenced and will remain until the funeral. Hania and her boyfriend, Sebastian, are considering coming here for the weekend.

Ewa is flying back from Frankfurt on Wednesday, into Rome. My sister Becky is traveling to Rome on Thursday to stay with us in Civitavecchia and she and Ewa are going to go to the funeral on Friday. I, of course, am working, but they will be in my thoughts. Even my atheist self was in tears watching the coverage on Saturday night. Truly the biggest scene to hit Rome in 27 years is happening in the next few days. It's a very interesting time to be here.

E.N.

More Georgia Tech and Norfolk news:
Norfolk is number 34 on the list of unwired (WiFi) cities
and surprisingly (and sadly)
GT is number 100 on the list of unwired colleges.

Just wanted to say happy birthday to my younger sister Amanda Jane! Can you feel the virtual love?

I hope you get your choice of cheese for your birthday. (the present is in the mail)

Apparently, someone wrote a program that notifies you when your laundry is done...

Check it out

Had a great time with almost all of my family last weekend. We celebrated birthdays and Easter and just got to spend some QT with everyone. Mandy was missed. I am excited that we get to see more of them over the next few months. Can't wait for the mini vacation in Alligator Point.

So I have comments, and a few friends and family that read this blog thing... so I would like to ask you guys to review Heidi's site and give us some CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM... it would help us make the site better, which means more money for Heidi, which means nicer Christmas present for Ben and Sherry!!

So please visit www.dig-itdesigns.com and give it the once over, kick the tires, what have you... then come back here and post some comments about idea to make it a better website... lacking information, confusing things... etc... if you prefer you can just email me your comments.

Thanks!

So I have gone and gotten myself addicted to a TV show. I am not afraid to say I love watching The West Wing. With my DVR (Digital Video Recorder), that I am paying an extra $10 buck a month for to rent the box through my cable company, I can record three different series since Bravo is showing them at an insane frequency. They play it 4 times a day. There are only 6 seasons with 22 shows each... They are going to run through them like nobodies business. But I don't mind, because I need to catch up.

Anyway... I just watch the couple of shows when Chloe gets kidnapped and the president steps down... pretty impressive television. Plus I like the fact that it makes me think about political issues, which is something I have never really cared that much about.

I think I should run for some small office here in Norfolk, I think I could do a really good job at it.... plus my wife would be a good advisor considering she is a political science major.

I make money if you guys click on the ads to the right... hint hint.

I just finished working on the round one of Heidi's site!

Check it out: www.dig-itdesigns.com and let me know what you think.

I am going to overhaul the photos section sometime next week, but for it is good enough for now as at least a place holder.

Here is a clip of a funny fat dude singing on his webcam... quite funny.

What are some things that you think could be automated at your work to make your life easier? Anything... even if it would just save 5 seconds per day. I want to work on some side projects I think, although I still have to finish up Heidi's website.

Post a comment below.

How about a common desire to learn? Do you guys want to learn how to make web pages (html, how to connect to remote computers to put your files on them in the right place so they show up on the web) I would be interested in picking a time and have a community learning session. Post some comments, please.

Well I wanted to check out Google's AdSense service. It tracks the number of times that people click on the ads and pays you for it... so feel free to click on any that interest you. Right now they are all about bball (trying not to say the real word), but hopefully it will be smarter then that at some point. Would be interesting if it had some Cancer links or specifically Colon Cancer links. But I have been talking about GT and bball a lot lately, so i guess it makes sense.

Type in some words to see them spelled out with images from the web:
Web of Letters

Georgia Tech got their clocks cleaned by Louisville yesterday, in case you missed it. It was a blow out after the first 4 minutes. I have never seen anything like it. The Cardinals hit their first 6 shots... 4 of them from 3-point range. They didn't miss a shot for the first 5 and a half minutes of the game.

I thought Coach Hewitt said it best:

"I'm not trying to tick anybody off, but if somebody tells me this is a four-seed, you're nuts, you're absolutely nuts. They're as good as anyone we've played this year.

I know Washington is a great team, but Washington got a bum steer having two No. 1 [seeds] in their bracket. Because these guys are a No. 1.

They just played an exquisite game today, ... We've beaten the best basketball teams in the country. But today we got beat by a better basketball team -- and a better-coached basketball team."

So good luck to the rest of the ACC and Louisville... I hope you prove your point and take down the #1 seed huskies later this week.

One more funny quote I read today:

"Despite an underachieving regular season, talented Tech was a wise-guy choice for a repeat Final Four appearance. For starters, the Yellow Jackets are from the ACC, God's gift to college basketball."

So the year is over, and with BJ Elder, Will Bynum, Luke Schenscher, Isma'il Muhammad, and Anthony McHenry all graduating it might be a rebuilding year next year... especially if Jarrett Jack goes pro. But to the 5 seniors I want to say good luck and thanks for two spectacular years of basketball.

So I have been trying to play more guitar this year (closest thing I had to a New Year's resolution). I am working on the following songs:
Stay or Leave - Dave Matthews
Taylor, Bubble Toes, and Flake - Jack Johnson

Plan to debut my talents at my sister's graduation when we are all sitting around doing nothing at the beach house.

Was thinking if I get any good, I should start making home recordings and posting them so you guys can help me get better.

Sherry's birthday is on the 24th, and last night she put together a wish list, she is going to be slightly mad that I posted this... but here is her Amazon wishlist.

The party is in the works. Save the date it is going to be on March 26th.

Just follow these instructions for some fun:

In order to join the group, just go to the game front page and click on the "Sign Up" button to create a team. After completing registration, or if you already have a team, click the "Create or Join Group" button and follow the path to join an existing private group.

Then, when prompted, enter the following information...
Group ID#: 67569
Password: bynum

A week ago, the "experts" were wondering if Georgia Tech could make the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Last night they announced the bracket and GT was #5, after an impressive ACC tournament run, which they came up 5 points short to Duke, missing a few open looks to tie the game before fouling during a scramble for the rebound.

We open with a game against George Washington at 9:30 pm on Friday night.

GO JACKETS!!

So I am pushing 200 lbs again... so I have made the executive decision to get back on the diet. That is all for now.

Lois (aka Mom) has dropped the Chalupa on a place for us to stay while we are attending Mandy's Graduation. Doesn't have a cute name that I know of (like touched by and Angle) but it looks real nice (Clark).

Here is where I will be drinking my margarettas:


More pictures can be found at the website

Well Done Mom

I heard an interesting story on NPR today. It was about a restaurant in Zürich, Switzerland that offers a unique dining experience. A blind pastor came up with the theme in which patrons are served a complete meal by a blind wait staff in a room completely void of light. Sounds like a pretty amazing experience, maybe I will make it back to Switzerland one day and take Sherry there. The name of the restaurant is the Blindekuh, or in English, Blind Cow.

For more info:
Listen to the Audio Postcard I listened to (from NPR, Window's Media format)
Read an article about the restaurant (from Pitara)
Visit their website (translated to English, thanks to Google Language Tools)

Ok, so Mapquest is by far one of the most useful things on the web. Google Maps blows it out of the water. The two best things are the local search and the fact that you can drag the map and the missing images will load on the fly, making navigation 300 times faster then clicking the links of Mapquest. I imagine that eventually Google will also link in their fly over arial map technology that they have to make it just plain sick (as if it isn't already).

Brenda and Steve took their six-year-old son to the doctor.

With some hesitation, they explained that although their little angel appeared to be in good health, they were concerned about his rather small penis.

After examining the child, the doctor confidently declared, "Just feed him pancakes. That should solve the problem."

The next morning when the boy arrived at breakfast, there was a large stack of warm pancakes in the middle of the table.

"Gee, Mom," he exclaimed. "For me?"

"Just take two," Brenda replied. "The rest are for your father."*

Some positive press for the product I worked on in San Francisco Symantec Mail Series Makes Midmarket Splash

I saw a link for a new magazine called "Make"... and it is something that I think I will start following. Seems pretty interesting to me. Comes with a nice blog too.

Congratulations and Holy Cow all wrapped up in one. Our friends Lee and Andy found out on Friday that their first child are actually children.



They have just moved here from California to start this family (plus Andy is in the Navy) and what a way to start it! I am pretty excited to be a part of the twins life... never really been around a pair for as much time as I am sure I will have the pleasure of being around these two. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Ok... Day 1 of my DVR and I am already loving it. I have set it up to record all the Law and Orders and all of Georgia Tech's remaining basketball games. I have also set it up to record the shows that I don't like to watch with Sherry so that she can consume them in the 1-3 hours that she has alone every day prior to my arrival home from work. (I will take this moment to declare my extreme distaste for the Gilmore Girls... why they hell would you want to watch a show about the snobby little girls that everyone hated but secretly wanted to be in college / high school, that have been spoon fed unrealistically quick / witty dialog by some hairy overweight man, sitting behind the current, as the show thrills millions of females... and pretends to not be a soap opera).

Anywho... if you have the means I highly recommend that you acquire one.

Didn't even know who Jef Raskin was... now I do. Sorry to hear of his passing, but am thankful for his contributions.

Happy 35th to Sarah... hope it continues to be a great day.

Skye says hi.

In case you were started to think about getting me a birthday present (June 11th... hint hint) you could consider this... the Vertical Mouse since I am on the computer all the time.

Jerry and Elizabeth Howes came over for dinner and cookies Friday night. They also brought along the newest addition to the family (although it has been 18 months so he is not that new). Shawn and Regina came over as well and we got to provide them with dinner (such a rare thing!!). He and Jack Tureman played around while the adults caught up. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the Howes for not preparing some of the tortellini with no sauce added. Should of thought of the mess factor, I will learn these things with time :)

After Jack Tureman left it was time for Jack Howes to show how to use the computer, and to show of Dad's current project and company website. All in all it was a very educational experience for everyone involved. Jerry is working on the new ride, Curse of DarKastle at Busch Gardens Williamsburg so hopefully we will get to see them more! He landed a pretty phat job when he relocated to Orlando.

Sherry's employer, Virginia Wesleyan College, got a new website today.

You can see her name in lights on the advancement staff page.

Check out #19 Norfolk / Va Beach on CNN's "Top housing markets" list.

We are thinking that we could already make 49% for our house... and it has only been 1.3 years :)

So Sherry's surprise was a trip to NEW YORK CITY! We went with Shawn and Regina (no Jack) and had a wonderful time.

Quick run down of what we did:

Saturday - fly to NYC, walk around town, walk to Rockefeller Center, walk to Central Park, go Ice Skating, check out "The Gates", walked down 5th all the way home (even though the girls had blisters), went to Pravda for the best meal of the trip, went to a Piano bar for drinks.

Sunday - get Metro fun card ($7 all you can ride...the way to do NYC), ride to Grand Central Station, take shuttle to Time Square, take Metro to WTC site, shopped, bought some fake purses and movies from some street vendors, went home and laughed at the shitty construction of aforesaid purses and movies, went to dinner at Saga after deciding that we didn't want to eat at City Lobster, walked home and stopped at Irish Pub cause it was too cold.

Monday - took Metro to FAO Shwartz, took Metro to China Town, walked around (in the rain) and checked out the sites, ate some Chinese Food in China town, went back to hotel and headed to airport.

All in all it was a great trip.

More photos can be found on Flickr.

Thank you soo much, Sherry. It was a wonderful surprise and you pulled it off beautifully.

Happy Birthday to the flouncy one. Sorry for the delay, but you failed to inform me of yesterday's importance until lunch time. (Thanks for the prayer)

Charges denied in lethal enema case

Newborn boy survives being thrown from car

to my sister Leigh for making the Dean's List... I always knew you were an artist.

We are looking at rental places to stay when my sister graduates in late April from FSU Library Science's department (with a masters!)

here is the list of places we are looking at... just figured you guys could use a break from work:

Wakulla Springs Lodge (could get a room that sleeps 4 from $79 to $99 a night, would need 2)

Sweet Magnolia Inn - They have a house but it only sleeps 4, they also have rooms so we could come up with a combo deal

A whole lise of rental homes here http://www.obrealty.com/rentals/index.php

the shore list is:
 Endless Summer
 Sand Castle
 Gulf Vista

In case you wanted to help with the search and email me good finds... we need to sleep 8, and are looking to stay the night of the 29th and 30th of April, and we need to be less then an hour from Tallahassee.

Here is an article on my sister-in-law Shelley (Sherry is mentioned too)... how funny is it that they write up articles on everyone that works there??!?!

Go grandma Go!

A man walked into the ladies department of a Macy's and shyly walked up to the woman behind the counter and said, "I'd like to buy a bra for my wife."

"What type of bra?" asked the clerk.

"Type?" inquires the man, "There's more than one type?"

"Look around," said the saleslady, as she showed a sea of bras in every shape, size, color and material imaginable.

"Actually, even with all of this variety, there are really only four types of bras to choose from."

Relieved, the man asked about the types. The saleslady replied:
"There are the Catholic, the Salvation Army, the Presbyterian, and the Baptist types. Which one would you prefer?"

Now totally befuddled, the man asked about the differences between them.

The Saleslady responded, "It is all really quite simple...
The Catholic type supports the masses.
The Salvation Army type lifts the fallen,
The Presbyterian type keeps them staunch and upright, and
The Baptist makes mountains out of mole hills."

Update on Pearl, she started what will hopefully be her last round of radiation this week (on Fat Tuesday). So far so good, although she was talking to another patient (which she does often... as you can imagine, each waiting room is an instant support group), and the other patient warned her that this type of chemical is pretty bad, so she is a little scared.

So pray up for the next few months, please.

Sherry has a surprise planned for me on this Valentine's day... I have to admit that I am quite excited about it... but don't want to get overexcited, cause I can think up some pretty crazy things. I don't think we are going out of town, and it is a two day thing. Day one is on Saturday... supposedly it is like the prep day, and then on Monday we do the actual thing. This is the first big surprise that I can think of that she has done, except for the 27th (?) birthday surprise at Boomers in FLL. It is very nice to switch responsibilities for this Hallmark Holiday.

Happy Birthday (late) to my friend Andrew. His birthday was on the 3rd. He says that he played games and didn't do much for his birthday, man we are old.

I have always liked them... here is one that my step-father sent me today via email. Thanks Don.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water And placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?"
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft.

The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity ... boiling water . Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter.

The email goes on to explain more, but I like people to come up with their own application / interpretations of analogies.

So in retrospect I say the following to T-Mobile ... take this egg and shove it, I'm going back to drinking my coffee.

I HATE T-MOBILE... what type of shitty ass organization (using the term loosly) can hold a damn contract with you and not allow you to see it. Or let you purchase something and not give you a damn receipt? Where to the find the high caliber ass munches to work at this place... talk about the epidome of dumbassdom.

Here is a copy of the letter I was about to send to them...

I have to say that I cannot believe your company is still in business... What a bunch of idiots I have been on the phone with all day long. But I blame them about 10% and the stupid policies that you have in place the other 90%. WHAT KIND OF COMPANY CANNOT REPRODUCE ESSENTIAL BINDING DOCUMENTS SUCH AS RECEIPTS AND SERVICE AGREEMENTS AT A CUSMTOMER'S REQUEST? One that doesn't value it's customers and has no desire to be around for very long. You have infuriated me to a level I don't think I have ever experienced before. Your managers must have their heads so far up their own asses that I am sure they have shit stains on their chests.

I will promise you that I will never give another dollar to your sorry excuse for a company once our legal obligations to one another are satisfied.

but luckily my wife (whom also tried to get through their bull headed bullshit on the phone) drafted a much more adult sounding letter (that has been faxed since their customer relations department has no way for a customer to get in touch with them) Nice Customer Relations, JACKASSES!!!

T-mobile Customer Relations,

I have been on the phone with customer service for the past hour. I would like to have a copy of my service agreement mailed to my home or faxed to me, whichever is more convenient for you. The customer service representative, Adam #4836164, was of no assistance to me whatsoever. He insisted that he is not authorized to send me my service agreement.

As a T-mobile customer for the past 3 years, I feel that I am entitled to review my service agreement at any time. My husband and I recently renewed our contract and upgraded our phones online. The phones we selected both have rebates and we are attempting to gather all of the information requested on the forms (one of which is the service agreement). Unfortunately, we did not receive a new service agreement with our phones. I assumed that I would be able to contact customer service and request that a copy of the agreement be mailed to my home address. I was quite disturbed when customer service insisted they could not do this. As a customer, I am entitled to be able to review my service agreement and my contract with T-mobile.

After speaking with numerous customer service representatives, I eventually ended up with Adam #4836164, who informed me that he was a manager and that he could not help me with my request. I also spoke with him about canceling my agreement with you - since I have not seen a copy of any agreement that we have and he refuses to supply me with the agreement. He was quick to tell me that I would be charged $200 for canceling the contract. How can I be charged to cancel a contract that you will not let me review?

After careful thought and consideration, I am making this last effort to request my service agreement and any contracts that you believe that I have entered into with T-mobile. If you refuse to supply me with copies of this information, I will terminate my "agreement" with you and will not be responsible for any charges you assume I owe.

I hope this issue is resolved as quickly as possible and that you take my complaint seriously. In the future, I would hope that your customer services representatives would be trained on how to supply customers with copies of the contracts and/or service agreements.

If you have questions or would like to discuss this any further, please contact me on my T-mobile cell phone at 757-xxx-xxxx.(removed for privacy)

Sincerely,

Sherry XxXxxxxx (also removed)

God I am so pissed... when I say "God" I mean, "God, please rain all of your rath down on this asshat of an organization and anyone that has had anything to do with it's policies and 'customer service'".

Here is an announcement of the project I have been working on (out in San Francisco). Always nice to see some news on the work you have been doing.

They mention some of the work I did also... "upgrade to the latest version with an easy-to-use upgrade wizard" when they are spelling out the cool features of the Web based Control Center.