It happened
I checked my email the other day and like many, I had a new friend request on facebook. I wasn’t prepared, although, for who it was from! My Mom! Is this allowed? Barb, don’t you need my permission before signing up for social networks? What happens when you have more friends than me? What happens when my friends upload those embarrassing photos from the next party?
Well after all the kidding - I am proud of you barb. Way to stay up with the trends. Just don’t sign up for anything else without talking to me first!
Barbs house
For those of you who weren’t able to make Barbs christmas party this year you can still see some of the holiday cheer in the links below. They are submissions on HGTVs rate my space section. You can also vote on her space if you want to help her space and christmas other peoples spaces. Links below:
Speaking of links - this one is awesome.
Engaged!
For those of you who don’t know - amy and I got engaged this past weekend. We are looking forward to celebrating with everyone in the upcoming days and weeks.
Monterey and back
I am back and settled in after a nice getaway in california. I had always heard how amazingly beautiful Monterey and the surrounding areas (big sur, carmel, pebble beach, etc...) were, but, not until we went did I really understand. I did do one thing that I have wanted to do for a very long time, and that was to see a giant redwood tree. I have seen photos and heard stories about these giants but never seen one up close. We went on a tour of Big Sur and on the way home we made a quick stop at a nice redwood grove.
The trip was great and I was able to spend some quality time with both my parents and just relax for a few days. I was able to learn a bit more about my dads company and some of the challenges that a completely foreign industry to me faces. Also during the trip I had the pleasure of getting to know some of my dads coworkers who were in monterey for the annual John Deere conference. Below is a photo of the group at Hogs Breath Inn, apparently owned by Clint Eastwood. 
.
From left to right: Kim, Paul, Amy, Steve, Me, My Amy, My old man, and Barb.
ps. if you find yourself at hogs breath inn - do you and your table a favor and order up a few bowls of their castroville artichoke soup. You can thank me when you return.
update: more photos of the trip here and here - most notably this one.
Happy Birthday Barb!
I hope you have the great day that you deserve. Relax, kick your feet up and make dad do the dishes! (sorry dad)
Happy Birthday!
Birthday wishes
I wanted to thank everyone for all the gifts and cards. This is the first year that the majority of cards and birthday wishes I received were digital. I had an inbox full of ecards this year, as compared to very few in years passed. Ecards seem to be the way - you can do it instantly… its typically free - AND you can say so much more with a dancing frog!
My birthday was a busy one… in the morning I met a group of friends for our bi-weekly adverting brodown breakfast, then shot uptown to meet brian for the morning work session. We then hit Geronimo for their beer and burger lunch special. Returning to the office (read: my kitchen table) for a few hours of work before meeting our company accountant to setup our new scorp. We are changing our company name and company type from an LLC to an SCorp. After signing the dotted line we went to the NY Tech meetup where Amy and Robert (my business partner) joined us. After watching 6 tech startups pitch their company and a few handshakes of people we knew… the 4 of us went to Sea, a thai restaurant in the east village, for a birthday dinner.
A great day!
Big Floods in OKC
Here is the dam overflowing after a huge storm and flood at lake overholser near my parents house.
back and (almost) settled
After 15 days away from my 400 square feet of nyc concrete paradise I am almost settled back in. After I sit down to go through my bills, stack of magazines and unpack everything will be back to normal. Until that is, I move - just over a month from now.
Weekend in Boston
Amy and I had a great time in Boston with Barb and my Dad. It was great to see them and spend a few days hanging around a new city. My dad and I had a great time at the game, albeit we couldn’t see part of the game. For part of the game I was sitting right behind one of fenways most unique features - large polls in the middle of the fans line of sight. The art garfunkel show was really good, although he was feeling a bit sick apparently and almost canceled the show! The funny part is, as we were waiting for him to come out, barb leans over and tells us “The last show I tried to go to of his he canceled as we were sitting in our seats waiting for the show to start.” Flash forward 30 years and it almost happened to her again!
thanks
Thanks everyone who posted a comment on the birthday blog. It was very much appreciated! If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Birthday Blog.
An old friend
He knew me for over half my life, he saw me into my teens, he was there when I brought my first girlfriend home (and he bit her, I should have known then), he was there when I got the keys to my very first car, when I came home from high school graduation, and when I left for college, he was there everytime I came home to get my laundry my freshman year, when I was sad he would lick my face, and when I was happy he knew he could always get a treat out of me…
He saw three new additions to our family come into the house for the first time, for 15 years he never missed any leftover thanksgiving scraps, he was the watchdog that we could always count on, and the friend we will never forget. Buddy was a great dog, and will be missed dearly.
Goofy picture
While Susan was here we stopped by the disney store to see what kind of special items they had in store for her son and my nephew eli… We didn’t find much in the way of cool new toys for him, but we did find a great time. For those interested here are some more disney photos of susan and I.
She is here!
Late LATE last night my sister Susan made it into town from OKC. She is in town for a birthday gift from the family. The idea was for her to come and see a Yanks game and hang out for a relaxing weekend. Well it appears that the weather has a different idea, and we are stuck staring out the window in hopes of a shade of blue. Regardless of how things turn out I am glad she made it (ask her about her plane ride here if you see her) and look forward to a fun weekend whatever we do.
Update: I just called the Yankees office and was basically yelled at and then hung up on. But before I was disconnected I was told that “We have a whole day to get the game in, its not cancelled!” - click.
Update 2: The game was on! We went and sat in the misty wind blown game. I had beer and peanuts and we watched as the Twins edged out the Yanks for the majority of the game until in the top of the 8th where they blew the game open. Then Just as the yankees took the stick and bernie reached first - the rain started, and it didn’t stop. The final score was 6 - 1 Twins.