12/12/03

04 July 2007

12/12/03

Finally, Friday is upon us. It's unique signature is visible upon the week's horizon.

This week, I have provided you with a different snapshot every day. Well, I don't have a new one today. I just couldn't muster it. So instead, I have delved into my treasure chest of old pictures to give you this:

I got this a couple of years ago from my elder brother. He usually had this threatening picture of Saint Nick up on his refrigerator door, and he had some sort of clever caption, written by himself, affixed somewhere nearby.

Oh yes, I believe it went something like, "Only good little girls and boys get to know what's in Santa's pipe".

Well, it's paraphrased, anyway. I'm sure my brother will write me tomorrow and let me know what it really said. And now, it's made its way on the the old Net. What do you think about that, eh?

Well, this week was my gift to you. And now, it's at an end. Sorry about the short entry today. It's been a long day, after all. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday. (or Sunday night, for all you blogjumpers out there)

12/11/03

Greetings on this fine Thursday. Warning: Extreme laziness today. Not much below.

Today, I had a day off. It was needed because I had a doctor's appointment to attend to at 4:00pm. Too bad, because I forgot about it entirely. My wife had to remind me about it about a gazillion times, (special note, gazillion also appears to be acceptable to Word's spellchecker) and I still forgot.

Now, something for the rest of you. MSNBC has a neat Digital IQ test. I took it, wife did too, as did my brother and parents. Go ahead and take that test and then come back here.

I won't tell you what I got, as that is unimportant in this case. And the fact of the matter is that it's entirely lop-sided on the downward cycle. If you haven't got a home network or if you don't know what bluetooth is, then you're in for a rough time.

Many MSNBC readers who completed this IQ test sent its creator a word or two. I found the following entry quite amusing:

Name: Ryan
Hometown: Mesa, Ariz.

Just like stereotypical nerds, the people who aren’t scoring high get all flustered and upset because it strips them of their geekness — the only thing that they have.

Digital IQ isn’t about who sets up the most elaborate wireless network ... it’s also about knowledge of Internet culture. Teen Girl Squad, anyone? (Kudos if you know what this is)

As for the “Web site designer” who says you suck for not using Mozilla ... he suffers from typical hypergeekism. To mimic the years of abuse from their peers in grade school, they continue to abuse themselves by using outdated and/or inferior technology so they can be L33T.

They love to make everything difficult. “Ha? Use an FTP Client? I do all my work command-line. Outlook? Are you crazy? I spent a few weeks writing my own JAVA app for that. I might share it with people on my Website. Check it out — new messages are in 0000FF.”

And don’t get me started on the “OMG, I HATE OFFICE AND MICROSOFT. Y R U USING IT, N00B???” people.

For the record, I got 120 on the quiz. Again, its more about culture than engineering, n00bz.

I simply found that refreshing. If you missed the Web site above, you can find that here.

Anyway. (do I say that too often?) Since I've provided you readers with a different picture every day of this week, I had better stick with the program and fuzz you another cam-shot.

Run phone_pictures.exe: ....cat....cat....cat....Wife....cat....

(something's definitely wrong here)

Ah, here we go.

Is this a house aflame? Nope. It's just my fuzzy camera phone ,and it appears that Frosty may have gotten himself in a jam.

Please, don't put Frosty on your roof. He just doesn't belong there. How is he going to get down?

14 days left! May your days be both merry and bright!)

12/10/03

No tricks tonight, just great news.

We finally know what it is. After weeks of waiting, Wife and I had our second ultrasound to determine the gender of our baby. We awoke early, around
6:00am, as our appointment time was at 7:00 and we needed to be there early.

When we arrived, the sun was barely rising over the eastern mountains. There was a definite chill in the air as I led her up to the building. We were both
excited, but neither of us wanted to admit that we were nervous, too.

When we walked into the doctor's office, I asked the receptionist if we should proceed directly to the ultrasound or wait here for the doctor.

"You don't have an ultrasound scheduled for today, I'm afraid", she said.

I then informed her that there must have been some mistake, as the doctor
told us that he would make sure we found out during the next appointment.
She was very stern with me, and told me that there was no possible way
that we could have our ultrasound today.

Heartbroken, we took our seats in the lobby and waited for the doctor to call
us in. My wife didn't say a word, but the look in her eyes told me exactly
how she felt. The poor thing was heartbroken!

Anyway, when we talked to the doctor, he informed us that he would work his magic and make sure we were scheduled in at 8:00am for the ultrasound.
Pure excitement!

We waited another hour, watching the Today show on the television in the lobby. It must have done a great job of distracting me, because I didn't feel nervous
again until they called my wife's name.

We walked together back into the ultrasound room, holding hands and breaths.
I nervously asked the nurse if she thought that we'd be able to know what it
was, she reassured us that we should have no problem finding out.

As she touched the wand to my wife's tummy, I glanced at the tiny screen to the side of us. I watched in wonder as this tiny being rolled around inside my wife. "Just get to the good part", I said to myself. I had hardly thought this when I realized I should be enjoying this moment, I should really experience the whole thing, and not just the penultimate moment.

Well, that moment finally came. She told us what it was, and we both looked at each other knowingly. We both knew it from the start, yet we were still so surprised and happy. Basically, any positive and wholesome emotion was felt at that moment in time.

So, just four little months left. We await his arrival with great anticipation.

12/09/03

Hah, well...I tricked you.

That's the problem. You see, I didn't intentionally mislead you. The date you
see affixed to this entry is in fact the day when Wife and I learn more about our new child. But the problem lies in the fact that I always (generally, can I say
that?) write these entries on the night before.

So that means the smashing update that I promised simply has not yet occurred.

Bummer. So, that means another short space of time for readers to wait.
But rest assured, I will most likely not make you wait until Wednesday
morning to learn of the news. I'll set to it right when I get home from the appointment.

The wind is howling outside tonight. It started to really kick up when I left for lunch earlier today. It's hardly a good thing when the vehicle you use weighs slightly less than you do. It's a remarkably good thing that I only have to
wander across the street on that scooter. Which, by the way, my friend is interested in purchasing. That would be a boon, says I.

So where was I. Oh yes, the wind. It actually makes it feel a tad bit wintry outside. That does make me feel better, as earlier this month, Mr.
Weatherman informed Arizona viewers that this month's weather would be unseasonably hot. Not warm, mind you, but hot. That's simply not the
way that anyone wishes to begin their holiday season, especially someone
like me, who at one point in his life, viewed ten feet of snow piled outside
his bedroom window on any given morning.

Well, we take what we can get here in the land of the sun.

16 days till Christmas. Might I recommend a gifts for you and yours?

This camera is smokin' I don't know if you can find a better deal on it, anywhere.

Let's take a surprise check at what my kitty is doing right now:

Dobby lookin shady...

Looks pretty shady to me.

Alright. That's enough for today. It's just sad when you have to draw upon the comedic prowess of your feline companion to keep your blog afloat on any given day. Today, my friends...is simply not going to be one of those days.

Good day to you. I'll see you tomorrow. (or less!)

12/08/03

Ahem, a new week.

This weekend was enjoyable, I must say. Wife and I got to spend some time with a few friends of ours. We ate at their place and then headed to Mesa to view the Mesa Arizona temple lights.

It was beautiful, as it always is. However this year, there seemed to be a few more lights around than usual. In fact, I was going to place a picture of the lights here on the site, but with my poor camera phone, it made the Christmas lights appear as if they were fire, and every tree around the temple grounds was engulfed in flames.

As you peruse the site this week, you'll be happy to note that the Media page has finally been updated. Go visit when you have a chance.

There's a few pictures there, one poor song, and the hope of a lot more content in the coming month. Please, please keep in mind one thing: I don't know too much about photography, I simply like taking pictures of random scenery too much. It'll get better, I promise. I haven't had a decent camera in ages.

I also changed the front page picture, but I'm still trying to get used to it. Maybe I was just too attached to the other one.

No shopping trips this weekend, though. No money this time around. We'll hit the stores as soon as Friday rolls around. Oh, that reminds me. We have a train around our tree now.

There you go, have a fuzzy picture, compliments of Sanyo.

It's one of the greatest things to have during the holidays. I highly recommend it. In fact, if you don't have one, start a fund, go shopping, look around, go nuts. Just make sure yours doesn't play a high-pitched "Christmas Favourite" as the box mentioned. Yeah, that's how the manufacturer spelled favorite. They must correlate Christmas time with Merry Olde England. And who doesn't? Disney sure does.

And that's it. No more for today, says I. Have a great week, we'll see you tomorrow.

Oh yes, you know what tomorrow is.