Texas again...

A second ago I was doing something else. And now I'm doing this.



I started this post last weekend. And now it's Thursday.



I set a bunch of goals for myself, back in February - some of them tied to a date in May. And now it's May 1st.



I was born in 1968, and in less than two weeks, I will be 40.



Whoa-ho what I want to know-ho is, where does the time go?



I remember in college having discussions about time in the abstract and the concept of "the acceleration of time." As the flow of information and speed of travel increases, the theory goes that time speeds up. All I know is that it seems to be flying lately. Jake is now taller than me if he's wearing cleats and I am barefoot. That means it won't be long until he is just taller than me.



I've been working at Adapt for over two years now.



We've been living here in Hidden Valley Lake for a few weeks shy of 4 years.



And those few weeks are going to fly.......................................................................by.



Is it just me, or are things moving faster and faster? Like the acceleration itself is accelerating.


Anyway, went to Texas again. Requirments gathering and design meetings. Great folks to work with. And people in Texas seem a little friendlier than people here. A lady in a massive truck stopped while I was taking this picture. Nobody would do that in California.



Here's what I look like at work...

And here's what work looks like...




This week I've been documenting everything we discussed last week. Also listening in to dozens of recorded calls.

I ate really badly on this trip. When you land at 11:30, your food options are pretty limited. Jack in the Box was a midnight gut bomb. Then the next day, no time for breakfast.

And I'm gonna do a whole post on food soon, so I'll stop there. But here's some pictures. There's a picture of a jalapen(y)o popper and my face after eating it. I was told it was the specialty and I had to try it. So I took my "no thank you bite," on Wendesday and I was still tasting it Thursday.

Took this one for Sis. A little slice of home/heaven at Houston Hobby. And sis was visiting and hanging with Jake while Rachel went to pick me up.

That's it for this one. More soon.

Last weekend...

...seems like a long time ago. But it's only been a week.

Jake spent the weekend with Lauren and Paul.

Rachel and I went to Ted...



...and Hookie's

We saw the Stokemen...

And they were fantastic. And the bass player had a really cool Gretsch Bass.

And I got a pick from Bill. And we met a girl who appeared taller than me who was really shorter than Rachel who was wearing home made platform shoes and really enjoyed dancing to the song Skankenstein. And a new band called The Cowboy Perverts played too. That's the bass player's new band. And it was really cool the way they trnsitioned people on and off stage. And the old lady singing sort of cabaret nightmare style in the video there was bounced, or maybe her friend was for doing a J inside at The Caspar Inn. Which is a really cool place and I really wish I had made the trip out then when the Detroit Disciples played there. Maybe they'll play there again.

And then The Cowboy Perverts were done and the singer went upstairs to sleep and came back down later in his boxer shorts, which were repeatedly pulled down by the hot female drummer, so the ladies in the place got some full frontal male nudity - the kind of thing Jim Morrison got arrested for in Florida.

Yes, it was that kind of night.

And we met a lot of really nice people over the weekend. Ft. Bragg is A-Okay in my book.

Now where did I put that book of mine?

As always, good trip to Ted's. And this time it was too windy to fly my kite. And there was no wind on our previous visit. So maybe next time will be just right?

I'll get another post up Sunday explaining why it seems so long ago that we were at Ted's. I'll give you a hint...

I was in Texas.

Pinch Hit...

So Jake is a little bummed out about baseball. He hasn't had much playing time. He feels like he is putting forth his best effort and it is not being recognized or rewarded. He knew going in that as a freshman, he probably would not be getting much playing time, and he has generally been dealing with it pretty well. But as the season grinds on, he's getting frustrated.

Hopefully, after what he did yesterday, he will see a little more action, and have a little more fun.

He got his first at bat of the season in the bottom of the 7th. He took a pitch, then another, and then went with the next pitch for a base hit to right.


He stole second...




...and went to third on an overthrow...

And the next batter ground out to end the game.

So Jake is batting 1.000 for the season. And maybe he'll get some more time in the field.

Feelin Allright...

Sorry for the lag in posts. I blame not Blizzard Entertainment, but myself, likfe getting busy, work getting busy, and Spring in the air.

So last weekend we had our first ever garage sale. Let's say we learned a lot. Like on Wednesday, when our neighbor was putting her stuff out, we thought she was crazy. I mean, she is crazy, but that action was not so crazy. It takes a much longer time than you might think to display all of your junk. Even when most of it is already "staged" in the garage.

We also learned why people write, "Please no early birds" on their signs. We set up a lot of stuff the night before, and planned on doing the rest in the morning. At a little after 6:00 AM, when Rachel was sifting through things, the first person showed up. And by 7:00, it was a steady stream. And we weren't even supposed to start until 9:00.

It was a lot of work, but we managed to have some fun. It was hot out, and Jake and Travis played water baloon baseball...

and we had a couple of pops with out neighbors...




and in the end, we were left with this...



And this...

We made somewhere around $500. Pretty sweet take, I think. And we got rid of a lot of stuff. And we are having Hospice come pick up the rest for donation. Unfortunately, the driver for hospice is on vacation this week, so even though it's neat, we are looking a little Sanford and Son-ish out front.

Oh, a weird thing- we had probably 50 movies for sale, and nearly all of them sold except for the scary ones. I found that odd. Nobody wanted Hostel or Wolf Creek or The Hills Have Eyes.

I think we'd probably do it again some day. And I think we'll know better how to prepare, how to advertise, and so on.

That evening, Frank and Marla came over for dinner. That was fun and yummy. Here I am doing carrots the way I do...

And that was that.

It's been days...

It's been days

Since I've been doin' well

Since I don't feel like Hell

--Train

OK, so it's been a while. I spent several days pretending I wasn't getting sick and the last several actually being sick. And working. And working in the yard. And e-filing my taxes. And I went 6 days without leaving our house. And it's been 8 days since I've shaved. And two days since I've showered. And I look like this now...

But then the phone rang today with lots of good news. My Uncle Dave had a great follow up visit with his oncologist and his treatments worked and he has a clean bill of health!

That's the most important one, so I'm going to pause and give thanks wherever it goes.

-PAUSE-

OK, and I also got a call and we closed the Credit Union opportunity. So I am going to get busy and remain busy for sometime. It's one of those job security things in a time when jobs are anything but secure. So it's good to know that I will be contributing. And the best part is it is building a product that we will resell moving forward and keep me valuable to our organization for, well, years, probably.

I am resting a little easier, and hopefully I will kick out this cold/flu/cough nastiness.

Houston we have...

...uh, nevermind, Houston, everything is groovy.

I did miss a flight - first time in 8 years or so, and only the second time ever. And I don't really know why. It seemed like we were moving along fine towards Oakland. But by the time we hit Vallejo, I started thinking out loud, "I'm not sure we're gonna make it." And I didn't. So I got on the next flight which had a two hour layover in Las Vegas.

And even though it is so much fun when you get to spin...

...I really wish I had made the first flight. Although I did pick up a CSI: Las Vegas T-shirt for Rachel.

Anyway - with the later flight and the hour drive to Lake Jackson from Houston, I didn't check in to my hotel until 2:30 AM or so. You know, radio has sucked for a long time, but it sure seems to suck a lot worse now than it did the last time I was stuck in a car without an iPod or XM radio. And it was weird that there was almost no traffic. I can't remember the last time I was the only car on the road. Anyway, with help from NeverLost(TM) I stepped out of my rental car at 2:30 or so AM, and my glasses fogged up from the humidity. And it was in the upper 70s. Weird.

And then I was wound up and couldn't sleep and worried about sleeping through my alarm and so I set out my clothes for the morning and packed up everything else so I would be ready to go while watching Larry King talk about UFOs and even then I still couldn't sleep and by this time it was after 4 and then I think I finally dozed off around 4:45 for a few hours of fitful sleep. And I woke up at 7:40 for a pre-meeting meeting with co-workers at 8:00 in the lobby.

Then off to Texas Dow Employee Credit Union where our goal was to close a deal. And it isn't officially closed- there are a few things that still need to happen, including a board presentation, but I think we did our job well. It felt more like a project kickoff meeting than a deal closing meeting.

Here is what we look like when doing our job well...

That's me, Mary Jo, and John.

Then we went to Fuddrucker's with a couple of the folks from our meeting. And then the flight home. Which was relatively uneventful. I slept through most of it. And I was a little irked that the flight attendant made me turn off and take off my Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones even though the Southwest Spirit magazine says they are OK ANYTIME. But other than that, I slept a lot.

And Rachel and Jake picked me up in Oakland and we stopped at a Denny's in Emeryville that I had only been to once before while at Cal after an all night poker game one Saturday night.

And then the drive home on new tires that Rachel picked up today at Big O.

Things are good. But I am run down and feel like I am going to get what Laurie had or something similar. We'll see tomorrow.