Ok, I finally gave in, and my wifey convinced me to get a friend for Baxter (our 3 year old black/brown medium haired cat).

So last Friday I had off and my wifey left work a little early. We made our way to 2 differnt petsmarts, and finally found Tobie! I don’t think he had a name, and he had a brother in the cage with him. They tried to get us to take both kitties. (No way!)

We kept Tobie and Baxter separated for the first day and then started letting him out while under our direct superviison. No major problems, just the usual dominance behavior and natural curiosity.

The first few days we had trouble sleeping with the meowing kitty in the guest bathroom. All freakin night and morning!

This is day 8, and the cats have been out together for the past day and a half. So far, so good. No major brawls!

LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, died Tuesday from complications stemming from injuries he sustained in an ATV accident, the band’s publicist said. Moore, 47, died “unexpectedly” at a hospital, publicist Ambrosia Healy said in a statement.

Moore was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, and had been rehabilitating at his L.A. home after the June 30 accident at his farm outside Charlottesville, Virginia.

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So, why are McCain’s actions any more excusable than Edwards’?…

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I don’t think I’ve ever spent any time in Denver.  I’ve been to Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, and some of the ski areas to the West but not specifally Denver.  The city is really great.  Our hotel is right in the middle of the city (very new Hyatt).  The streets are very pedestrian friendly and the weather has been great.

While our conference was going on there was additionally a sci-fi convention.  So everyday you would see a bunch of dorks in medivel cloaks or futuristic dork gear (very interesting). I had found a place on tv (I think on Tasty Treats on Food Network) that was in Denver.  So I made a note of it, and we made a reservation for last night.  The place was called “Vest Dipping Sauces”, and it was amazing!  The atmosphere was loud, but hip and urban.  The food was amazing.  I had a raw tuna mixed with seaweed salad and thai chilis and a ribeye for dinner (both were amazing).  My wifey had mussels for an appetizer and Korean BBQ scallops for a main entree (both were also very good.)  The unique factor to this place was that you got to pick 3 dipping sauces for your food.  They ranged from sweet to savory to spicy.  If you’re ever in Denver you should check this place out. (It’s in LODO near Coors Field).

All around Denver there is a huge buzz about the upcoming DNC convention.  It’s going to be right around the corner from where we are staying.  Everywhere they’re selling Obama t-shirts.  No McCain shirts - but come on, who wants to wear a shirt with McCain’s face on it??  I wish I could be here for it.  It would be amazing!  Oh well.  I’ll have to watch my guy Obama on tv instead.

Tomorrow were back home and back to work on Monday.  This week should be interesting.  I just hired a new marketing coordinator.  I’m confident she’s gonna be awesome!  We shall see.  At least I’m sure she’ll help to relieve some of my workload.

With work, SMPS stuff, and some travel we’ve both been very busy.

… and CONGRATULATIONS TO MY WIFEY!!!

She just started her first week at a new job. It’s back to what she wants to do and is in a much better work environment.

So nothing much in store for this weekend - just a relatively quiet weekend at home. Dinner with friends tomorrow and then some work and relaxation.

We had a great time eating beignets and crawfish every day and spent the nights wandering around Bourbon street.  The weather was warm and quite humid, but at least there were no major storms or hurricanes.  There were brief rain storms in the early afternoon, but every night was dry and clear.

Our hotel (sheraton) was right on Canal street and about 2 streets south of Bourbon, right on the border of the French Quarter.  We were about a 10 minute walk to Cafe du Monde and the Riverwalk.

We also went to my wifey’s old neighborhood to check out her old house and school.  The house was still intact and occupied, but her old school and apartment complex were boarded up. It was kind of depressing.  The apartment complex was completely in shambles. The windows were either boarded up or left open to expose the devasted interior.  The complex was gated off, but we found an opening where some workers appeared to just get started in doing some work.  Damn, this is three years later! Many of the other homes appeared to still have some storm damage.  Other homes had lived-in trailers in the front yards and driveways while some were being rebuilt.  From our hotel window we could see a few dilapidated buildings.

Overall we had a lot of fun.  I drank my share, and we ate some incredible food.  We were there for only 2.5 days, but I’m not sure we needed much more than that.

Of course I took some photos!

No more than an hour or two later after hearing about her fall we get another call to find out she had passed away. It was definitely better off for her. Her mind was lost due to her Alzheimers, and there’s no doubt she was in some form of pain.

We made our way to Maryland late on Friday night. The family wake is tomorrow, and the funeral is on Monday.

We stay for most of the day and then catch an evening flight back home. A quick weekend visit - unfortunately not for better reasons.

On a side note: I love my company - within a day of hearing the news from me they had ordered flowers. Unfortunately they sent them to our house (which we got on Friday before we left.) But then they sent another bouquet to the funeral home as well! How many employers would do that?

So a quick visit to Maryland and then back to steamy Arizona.

It’s sad when anyone dies, but at least my grandmother had a long life and lots of loving family.

]]> http://jame1030.com/2008/06/sudden-loss/feed/ http://jame1030.com/2008/06/i-really-didnt-love-america/ http://jame1030.com/2008/06/i-really-didnt-love-america/#comments Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:25:07 +0000 admin http://jame1030.com/?p=25

So tonight we drove our way South of the Border and did our annual trip to Rocky Point! This time we’re down here by ourselves. We’ve been so busy with work this year that we decided to try and go early this year and go when we really had a good chance to go.

I tore myself away from work this afternoon, and we got down here in a little under 4.5 hours.  I probably could’ve made it closer to 4, but I wasn’t driving too fast.  Really - I was just happy to get away from my office (notice I didn’t say work - that I will still have to spend some time doing this weekend.)

This year we’re at the Sonoran Sun Resort.  Like the other places out here, this place consists of numerous condos overlooking the sea.  This one is pretty nice.  It’s relatively brand new and has more of the amenities that Americans like in their travel accomodations.  Luckily for us they even had a restaurant that stays open till 10 (which was unheard of only 4 years ago).

Two and a half days at the beach will be nice.  Weather is supposed to be good too.

At least if I’ve got to do some work I can sit on our awesome balcony with a beer and a great view of the sea!

Time for bed, and at some time I’ll have to write another post.

In the meantime, check out some of my photos from the weekend [HERE]

Rocky Point in June for a few days and N’awlins for 4th of July.

Ok, July in New Orleans may be weather risky, but it should be fun!

My personal thought is that the rules are the rules and neither states should be counted with any favored apportionment… my first thought is to split the delegates 50-50 between Obama and Clinton from both of the states.

But out of this whole story with various arguments, it seems to me that the best compromise is…

In Florida:
Split the delegates as to their primary vote percentages; 50% to Clinton and 33% to Obama

In Michigan:
Split the delegates 50 - 50 since not all candidates were on the ballots

While not the re-vote that Hillary wanted, it’s still allows for a sensible compromise to the situation.

Eh… either way, Barack will still prevail!

Ann Arbor is a quaint college town.  There’s a lot of construction in town - I assume that is due to money at the University. 

It’s only about 9:45, but I’m beat.  I was up at 3am to make my 5am flight.  At least this weekend was a relaxing one with no work (for once) and I got in early enough to rest a little this afternoon.

We have a day and a half of meetings, and then I’m home by Wednesday night.  It’s not a vacation, but at least I’m away from the office for a bit and don’t really have any work to do… not too bad - I guess it could be worse.

Woh!

I’m trying to find a replacement for my old position, so far no luck. We interviewed several people, and I will hopefully have 2 more next week. The workload has been tolerable - yet very heavy at times.

Where the hell did the month of April go?

No other real news… just been busy working 60-70 hour weeks!

Luckily this weekend I get to relax a little before heading to Ann Arbor for a few days for some meetings.

At least we’re trying to plan a few small weekend getaways. So far we’re looking at Southern Cal for Memorial Day weekend, a long weekend down at Rocky Point, an extended stay in Denver in August (after we both attend a business conference), and hopefully a weekend (or two) for camping.

Ah - I found out where my DMB tickets are located… seems like they may be pretty decent. I swear, one of these days I will pay the big bucks and buy some front section seats.

I think tonight was the first night since I got my laptop that I haven’t lugged my laptop home to do some work. The past week has been so crazy. So it’s nice to get a little break - even if it’s only for 1 night.

But as you can see… I’m still on the computer.

I’m not sure if I can completely unplug.

And speaking of the “virtual leash” - crackberry much?

I swear, I can feel the phantom ringing on my belt all the time!

I turned on the tv and flipped through my pre-recorded shows. I’ll save Hardball and Attack of the Show for later. What’s on live tv?

Ah… South Park. Ha… this episode is pretty funny. The entire country has no internet!

My computer comes on and I log in. So I check my work email.

I’m waiting… and waiting… and waiting… what the hell?

I do all the usual motions of reconnecting to the router, checking all the cables on the router and modem, everything!

So I went to my last resort. I called the cable company.

Ahhh… it’s not on my end. The prerecorded voice comes on and says there’s an outtage in my neighborhood and techs have been sent. THANK GOD!

As the characters on South Park were starting to go crazy without the internet, I was too!

I’m sitting there calling the cable company again to make sure it’s still out. I was watching the clock seeing how long I could wait to try my browser again.

How am I going to check my work email??? How am I going to do any work tonight (even though I’ve worked each of the last 5 nights after a full day at work as well)? How am I going to look up some guitar music for “band night” tomorrow? What the hell am I going to do?

In a small way I was starting to worry. Ok, so I didn’t travel to Californie… Silicon Valley that is like Stan and his family, but it still sucked none the less.

I admit it, I’m an internet junkie.

Another reason I have to go to work in a bit is because on Monday I got a promotion.  I am now the marketing manager in my office.  With an office of about 115 people, they tend to keep us rather busy.

This week has been daily 12 hour work days and more night time work.  Luckily we’re looking to hire someone to fill my position somewhat quickly.  That should make my job much easier.

At least it’s Friday!  I will probably have to do some work over the weekend, but at least it’s almost the weekend. Today should be an easy day.  Alright, time to go to work and catch my conference call and start moving into my new office! :n)

I may end up getting a Blackberry from work, so maybe it’ll be a moot point anyway… we’ll see.