Finally! The primate revolution has begun!
Not only am I excited about that, but 2 minutes ago was the first time in 3 days that I was able to breathe out of both nostrils. It was odd, but they kept taking turns on which one wanted to be plugged up for an hour or so. As much fun as it was tracking my breathing pattern, I hope both stay clear for a while. Maybe it was the temperature drop from a high of 93 yesterday to a high of 75 today, but I'm not going to question it.
Now that I am done writing about my nostril activity... back to work.
4/25/06: Finding your joy
As your day passes today, do yourself a favor and emphasize the things that made you smile. Commonly it seems people dwell on things that effected them negatively throughout the day, I am just as guilty of this as the next person. But I am slowly teaching myself, on this extended vacation we are on here in Texas, that things are only as bad as you let them be. Sure jobs may be stressful from time to time, and expenses may hang over your head, but if you take a step back and look at things from an outsiders point of view... Life is better then you could ever know. For instance, today I feel sick as a dog, and have been busy at work, and have a lot on my plate with colleges and still dealing with moving issues... but the things that really matter are what I am learning to look at. I have a beautiful girl waiting for me when I get home, I have wonderful parents who may be in China at the moment, but would be there if I needed them, a great brother and sister in law, a well paying job, and a great set of friends and memories... I could probably go on for a while but I guess that makes my point. It makes our short lived lives much more enjoyable if we keep the positive aspects in focus, and don't make the negative more then they really are...
4/21/06: Brief
Going to keep this quick today, I have to go practice my putting after tying Dana last night in Mini golf. I just wanna wish Mom and Dad a safe trip to China tomorrow! I'm sure we will be in touch and there will be tons of pictures too. love ya's.
P.S. This weekend... the fish are mine.
4/20/06: Celebrating the munchies
Happy "anti-short-term-memory day"... oh and it's now the official "Ace Young no longer has a camera to admire himself in day". He's probably crying in falsetto as we read this... poor lil fella.
To take a tangent, John Lapi and I failed at fishing last night. Caught one each but for the short time we were out it's not too bad I guess. He's back off to NY now and all the projects here were a complete success. For dinner, John, Dana and myself went to La Rosas last night and I have to throw up a warning flag... when ordering anything from a Mexican restaurant that says "Spicy" next to it, you never know what you are going to get. To make a long story short my ears felt like they were bleeding, and my taste buds will never be the same.
The hot weather is subsiding apparently for a little bit. It is predicted to drop to around 80-85 for this weekend with a 40% chance of rain. But it seems here 40% chance of rain is like saying there is a 40% chance my arm will fall off... because it never happens.
4/17/06: Here comes the heat!
A long Easter weekend spent relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. I honestly can't remember the last time we had a serious rainfall here, but I'm sure once hurricane season kicks in it will make up for some of it. today is predicted to be a high of around 93 degrees so Dana and I decided it was time to start using the air conditioning... needless to say we slept quite well last night.
We went swimming a few times this weekend, and the best part was we had the whole pool area to ourselves. Afterwards I chased down a lizard only to have it bend around and latch onto my knuckle. My goal is to collect them, and release them around the apartment so I have little surprises once in a while. If I can train them to attack it would be a bonus too. This one was already trained apparently...
Fishing has been slow going. I went out last night with Brack after driving down to Baybrook not realizing Academy Sports closes on Easter. I was able to hook into only one within the hour we were out. I had to head in and finish taxes that Hewitt Johnson failed to do while Brack kept fishing. Sure enough around 7:30 he called to tell me he caught 14 after I went in... just my luck.
Back to work for now, John Lapi flies in from NY tomorrow so there are a few projects I need to finish getting setup for. Lunch at Brians Texas BBQ tomorrow I assume!
4/07/06: Taunted by the fish...
Kari reminded me the other day of how I have been slacking with this site, I guess in a way other things have taken priority lately... but today is Friday baby so all that can go on the back burner.
So I have picked up going fishing quite a bit since I have been here. Technically it is more of throwing and retrieving different fake rubber things over and over... because you need to catch a fish to REALLY consider it fishing. Naturally, I went with Dana the other day and on her first friggin cast she caught a large mouth bass. I just don't get it! Sweet talking them apparently doesn't work and just makes me look like a moron when someone walks by. Although yesterday I did catch one with my fake minnow bait. He probably just swam into it by accident or something.
What else is going on? I won tickets to the Westside Clay Championship tennis matches for next week. Apparently it is one heck of a big deal around here and we are bound to see a celebrity or 2 at it. Andy Roddick and a few other well known players will be playing, which will be cool. All I had to do was call into a radio station and answer what a 10-48 police code stood for. Thank god for google and blackberries.
Besides that is has been good times in Houston. The 80-85 degree sunny days have become quite typical lately. Poor miss Dana is feeling a bit under the weather so I will be playing doctor this weekend. It is the curse of working in a elementary school with thousands of possibly infected little people... Ewww
4/4/06: Happy Birthday Jay!!
Happy birthday Jason! Send some cake unless it is icecream.
3/29/06: Yep
The sad thing is, this isn't a joke.
3/28/06: Kevin Sheehan
Apparently I am getting more and more Google hits here, which sadly I find a bit exciting. So to try and gain "i'm feeling lucky" status when searching my name, I will be throwing it in randomly once in a while... kinda like ( Kevin Sheehan ) that. I seriously need a life.
Speaking of which, this guy can't get back on the dating scene quick enough apparently.
It's been approx 1 year since this lil face came a knockin' at my window.
3/27/06: Here fishy fishy
Guess what time it is kids!?! It's everyone's favorite!! It's time for pictures of Ed, Donna, Dana and Kevin at the aquarium!!!
3/22/06: Media Server
So I have been implementing a plan to replicate files from servers in Canada and Newport Tn lately and running into issues with not having a long enough time window to transfer everything over. I researched and ended up installing a program called Veritas Continuous Protection Server (CPS). CPS allows replication of files, when and only when that file has been changed, as well as bandwidth use control. EXACTLY what I was looking for, and as a bonus a web based file restore add on so users can restore their own documents when they mistake the delete key for the enter key or something. While playing around with it one file catches my eye, not only because it is over a few Gig in size, but it is named "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.avi". Somehow, I don't think that is a spreadsheet or powerpoint presentation. I called her up to let her know before I deleted it in case she wanted to put it on CD or something 1st, but she wasn't in so c'est la vie. Needless to say, the backups just lost some weight.
On a side note, Ed and Donna come flying into Tx tonight at around midnight or so! Of course I will be working during the week but I am sure we will be up to some fun activities on the weekend. Hope all is well up north, or wherever you are from, I'm off for now.
3/17/06: Where have you been?
It's been a lil bit since I put anything on here, mainly because of some issues on the ftp server preventing the upload of images but I am going to try something different tonight. And if it works you will be able to click the following link and see some of the pictures from out Texas adventures featuring Tracy Razzano.
We had a great time, and no matter how hard I tried to get her flights cancelled they still sent her back. Oh well, until next time. Next week we have Poppa and Momma Razzano flying into town so the excitement is not over folks! We can't wait to see them and spend some time gallivanting around Houston. (Why in the world name would I use that word!?) For now I am off to enjoy the weekend with my newly employed girl! You heard right, a big congratulations goes out to Dana and she gets the "Special Plate" at dinner for not only getting a job, but a damn good one thru a company who is going to not only pay well, but pay our rent too! We are both excited about it and are glad she was patient on waiting for the right position in speech therapy. CONGRATS BABY!
3/10/06: Tray Day!
Tracy flies in tonight and just in time for a whole bunch of activities. Spring break down here seems to be quite the active time. Last night of course we went to see the Houston Rodeo and then the Maroon 5 concert, and I must say Houston puts on one hell of a show. Fireworks inside the arena, a Carnival outside bigger then the Saratoga county fair by far, and the best of the best when it comes to rodeo action. At first we went into the livestock area where they had basically tons of cows laying around sleeping on one another or scratching their butts on railings. Other animals all around of course like horses, chickens, pigs, wallabies, goats... you name it they had it. Along with about 50 different western clothing stores with the typical Cowboy hats, boots, belts, buckles, and jeans. The most surprising thing was the food stands they had set up. I don't think I have ever seen entire turkey legs being BBQ'ed at the fair before and handed out to people like ice cream cones. The fried Oreo/cheesecake/snickers/Twinkie/cookie dough stand made me realize why Houston is one of the fattest cities in America. Maroon 5 was great of course, except for the newborn baby 7 seats down from us. Who the heck brings a month old child to a rock concert?! All in all we had a blast!
Now this weekend we have a lot planned. A trip to Galveston, Kemah boardwalk, dolphin watching, the Houston Zoo, Leanne Rhymes concert... the list goes on. I will have pictures I am sure but for some reason I am unable to upload them to the FTP server for this site. I will see what I can do.
3/8/06: Bleh
I am quite drained, so my thought process is slightly hindered. I will keep it brief before I start getting too goofy. If it wasn't for the fumes I breathe in on my way to my office in the morning I would probably end up sleeping on my desk.
I have a 3 day weekend coming up, and we are hoping for some nice weather when Tracy comes into town. So far it looks like a high of 81-83 most of the time she will be here. I tend to ignore the threats of rain, because it is false information half the time. Today it was "supposed" to be thunderstorms, but looking outside there isn't a cloud in the sky. Perfect day to go climb the super-tower, but I am bound to fall asleep half way at this point. Speaking of which here is a picture of the one Isaac and I climbed and signed our names on top of.
3/3/06: Visitors!
One week until you know who comes to Pearland Texas for spring break!! Acutally, most of you probably have no idea who. So for those who are "Out of the loop"... it's Tracy! Dana's sister. So far the plans include concerts, zoo visits maybe, country line dancing? (god help me), Kema Boardwalk, Galveston shopping, dolphin boat tour, I could probably go on for a while but you get the point. It's going to be busy. Can't wait!
I have a bunch of stuff to get done before I get out of work, but before I end this I wanted to thank everyone who contacted me to wish me a happy b-day. As tough as it is sometimes being thousands of miles away from home, it is nice to hear from y'all. Thanks!
3/2/06: Self Celebration
So yeah, I got a bit out of hand with that dancing kid and the Midi music on here. Sorry bout that.
But yes it is my birthday, so I would like to thank my mom and dad... god.. the academy of course. To celebrate I climbed a 200 foot "super tower" here at work and it certainly gets the blood flowing. You could see fairly far out into the Gulf of Mexico, but the humidity kept visibility down a bit. I signed my name on the top with a sharpie marker and dated it. The entire time we had a massive hawk swooping down at us because it's nest was on the top. I felt like I was on american gladiator... without the safety harness. After 15 minutes of enjoying the view we headed down, sweating like pigs. If the 75 degree weather wasn't enough, we climbed a 200 ft ladder. Heck, it got me away from the desk :)
2/28/06: I'm turning 23!
Mentally, but either way I don't feel like I should be 27. Although many of you will certainly make sure I don't forget it I'm sure. So what have we been up to? Read on my friend...
Ice skating! I know, Ice skating in Texas you say!? Damn right. They even charge an arm and a leg because ice is expensive down here. Being that my skates were the $9.95 special at Wal-Mart when they bought them, my feet felt like they had a cilice belt wrapped around them. Either way we did have fun with it and nobody fell.
Saturday there was a 3 way webcam session in which I opened birthday gifts sent down from Dana's parents. I have pictures of it but not on this computer, otherwise I would post them now. But let me tell you, they are well worth the wait. I received a ton of presents to open, including workout clothes, a bunch of candy (Pez and Jelly Bellies of course), and a Drink recipe book. They are too good to me :) Thanks again y'all. Not much else happened besides Dana stepping in a massive fire ant colony while reading the paper down by the lake. From the balcony I saw her dancing and jumping around like her foot was on fire, and I guess more or less it was. Upon further research we have found that Texas fire ants are bad ass compared to most areas... so we are awaiting the after effects of it.
Monday consisted of a hardcore tennis rematch between Dana and myself. Believe it or not we are both seeing some progress in the few times we have been. We can hit it back and forth 4 times once in a while. I still don't think the rules say anything about Dana being able to hit it within the entire "doubles" court, and me only being able to use the "singles" court... but I guess that's how it is. For now I'm off to work!
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