Happy New Year’s Eve!

Well, Jeni and I didn’t get invited to any exciting parties this year (we are just SO unpopular as of late…), and we didn’t make any plans of our own, so we may just stay home and watch a movie. I suppose it beats hitting the road with a bunch of drunk drivers out there. Besides, now that we live in Redmond, it’s a MUCH longer drive to downtown, as compared to when we lived in North Seattle. But it’s not even 7:30 yet, so something might get us out of the house tonight.

Got my home machine rebuilt, all the major software titles installed, and tweaked my Start menu…it took large chunks of the last three days to do it. All I can say is THANK GOD for the image I made last year, and AutopatcherXP. I simply dropped an image I created last year of a totally clean OS install plus critical apps (which saved me countless hours of time right there), then booted up (disconnected from the ‘net, of course) and applied AutopatcherXP that I created a couple of months ago…which saved me MORE countless hours of downloading all the critical fixes from Windows Update. Autopatcher also includes Bootvis and several tweak utilities, as well as registry power tricks…what a great service from Jason Kelley, the guy who did Autopatcher, and it’s FREE: http://www.autopatcher.com. I just can’t give this guy enough praise. It took many more hours of installing other apps I use regularly, defragging, deleting stupid install temp files and stuff, but my image and Autopatcher saved me at least a day of my life, if not two. Now I have a nice new image, just as fast as what I initially created last year, and I’m set for the next year…until I rebuild this monster again.

Who am I kidding, I’ll rebuild it again in six months like I usually do…but at least next time it will be an even more complete image that I drop before building 🙂

Thanks to Nicole for pointing out how to drive more visitors to my blog. My gawd, I’ve only had this thing for a couple of weeks, and I’m already worried that nobody likes me. I guess I’m spoiled, considering my website never pushes less than a gig of transfer per month, I dunno… But Nicole’s always been more than happy to help me out when I need it, I suppose I should post in other people’s blogs…if nothing else than to let them know I visited.

This is getting sad…

I just spent much of the evening reading blogs. Primarily my co-workers and former team members…interesting bunch. Then I started reading blogs of people I don’t know. It didn’t take long to get bored with most of them, but I couldn’t help myself, I just kept clicking and reading. Hell, I could have been blowing sh!t up in UT2K4, but I also just rebuilt my main machine today, and it takes forever for defrag to finish, so gaming was out. So it’s me, Conan and this laptop…

Then I looked at my stats. Cripes, zero over the last week? Reminds me of my high school days.  So much for those f***ing gleams…

Stupid Pet Tricks

Just saw a stupid pet trick on Letterman a few minutes ago. Some young lady brought in a border collie that could "spell". Essentially, she spells out a command, the dog complies.

But it was obvious the dog anticipated commands…he usually finished the trick by the second or third letter. Makes ya wonder if the dog knows to sit when you DON’T spell it out…

The funny part is when Dave wanted to take a turn. He spelled G-E-T-A-C-A-B.

That dog immediately barked excitedly, like it was trying to get someone’s attention! Then it runs around the stage, barking, as if to say, "Where’s the f***ing cab?!"

Dammit, I missed the next stupid pet because I couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s over…well, almost…

We started out with lots of munchies (see below), and started ripping into gifts. Jeni’s big gift from me was a new Skagen watch (http://commerce76.datapipe.com/skagen/store.asp?area=FullProduct&productID=14) that I felt was closest to her style. Turns out that her mom gave her a necklace that matches it perfectly (no, we didn’t conspire…). On the way home, she was talking about the watch, and remarking how we couldn’t find one she liked when I took her shopping for her birthday…and I said, "Yeah, but we were looking at watches that cost less than $50". So she said, "Please don’t tell me this watch cost more than $50." So I said, "OK."

That kinda stressed her out a little 🙂

My favorite belt died about a month ago. She got me a new one with a great-looking buckle. She also gave me a DVD and new house slippers (my old slippers were literally ripped at the seams).

Jeni’s mom gave me a fantastic Kenneth Cole dress shirt…dark burgundy. I got a couple of other DVDs, a Starbucks card, some dress socks…really great gifts, not a stinker in the bunch. I married into a really good family. Well, her brother showed up after the gift-giving was over (again…), but I think we had a fine time.

Now it’s just a beer, It’s a Wonderful Life on TV, and (omg, not again…) blogging. I suppose I should get started backing up files and rebuild my home machine…nah, tomorrow…

I still can’t buy anything for myself…my birthday is Jan 19th, and I’m not allowed to buy anything until the 20th. OK, so I cheat sometimes…

Big Christmas day

Well, the Orphan’s party last night was a blast. Not many people showed up, but lots of food DID show up. Jeni made a huge pot of chicken soup, we still had clam dip for the Ruffles, our neighbor Linda brought over a shrimp tray (and a beautiful bowl gift of munchies as a present), homemade chocolate chip/raisin cookies and homemade fudge. Jeff showed up from California and brought his mom…she made this really good spread for chips. Great bread (rosemary garlic sourdough). Multiple flavors of beer and wine…I started with an Arrogant Bastard Ale, moved on to IPA, then ESB. Finished with a glass of great merlot.

Jackie and Karl showed up with a rescue Greyhound. She’s black with a puff of white on her chest, 17 months old, third of her litter…and a bow on her collar. They presented her as a "gift" for me. Color me stunned. She was very docile, spent most of the evening just laying down on the living room floor while we opened gifts. Of course, I’m finally told that I don’t have to accept her as a gift, it was mostly just for a joke on me, but I must say it was a little tempting…but I’m a black lab kinda guy.

Anyway, slept in a little this morning, having coffee and blogging (what’s wrong with me that I can’t get away from my keyboard for anything?). Sanju sent me a wink right after I logged on, haven’t IM’d with her in months. It’s still pisses me off how we simply jetisoned so many people last year, Sanju was one of our brightest n00bs on the team, and got along with everybody really well…she had a ton of potential to be one of our best.

Well, gonna get the shoes on, head to the mum-in-law’s house and open gifts…and eat more food. Hopefully, nobody will mind if we turn on the Kobe/Shaq fued at noon (oh, who the hell am I kidding…)

Happy Christmas Eve!

Slept in really late today. And I’m just relaxing right now, watching the Packers tie the game with the Vikings and only three minutes left. Afterward, I gotta get my lazy ass off the couch and hit the grocery store for some Xmas Eve food and cheer…we have a little party tonight for any Christmas Eve orphans who have no place to go, or have the time just to stop by for a few minutes during their night of visiting as many people as they can. If you’re one of those people (and can prove I know who the hell you are…), shoot me mail or call, and I’ll send you a URL with house directions. It starts around 6PM, but you can stop by anytime thru the rest of the evening…up until the reindeers come home…

Lots of relaxing, but also fitting in some fun. Went with some friends yesterday to Seahawks headquarters in Kirkland, had lunch (I had lobster and salmon stew or whatever in a bread boul). Tasted pretty good. On the way out of the cafeteria we saw Chris Gray in the hallway. Our guide showed us the entire facility, explained a lot of what goes on from day to day. It was cool to see the draft day War Room. All of coach Holmgren’s office doors were closed (he has two or three offices) but got to see Ray Rhoade’s office. Grant Wistrom and Chad Brown were rehabbing downstairs, they didn’t look too interested in seeing us walk around…they even seemed a bit peeved they wasted time making eye contact with us…but it was cool to see them. Then it was out to the bubble to watch practice…boy, is that organized. They split time back and forth, with the first string offense going against the second string defense and vice-versa. Then they quickly switch to 7-on-7. Then they run a special teams play or something else…basically, everybody gets reps and rests throughout the day. Wallace was the opposing quarterback for the first string defense…he’s got the loudest bark. Hasselbeck is almost as loud, but has a sharper tone. Dilfer had a bark that wasn’t as loud, but was very…how do I say…authoritative? Didn’t see Huard out there, only three red jerseys.

Ahh, field goal at the last second give GB the game and division championship. Boring first quarter, second half of the second quarter was great, rest of the game was good. Gotta type faster and wrap this up….

Rice’s ankles were both taped pretty heavy, but he was still able to dance out there, and caught a couple. Mili had severe problems catching balls, I think I saw him drop three in a row (to be fair, two were difficult, low throws, and he’s a huge guy who probably has a hard time bending over to tie his shoes). Saw one or two catches by Robinson and saw a TON of catches by Engram and lots of runs by Alexander…I have a feeling coach is going for a short-yardage, clock-control game this week. And boy, is coach Holmgren HUGE…you don’t really notice it on TV, but standing 20 yards away, watching him tower over Alexander and most other people (except Jeremy Stevens) really gives some perspective on his size.

Anyway, happy holidays, I gotta get some chores done…

Of course, the client can’t connect properly…

After creating my first entry, the gleam showed up in Messenger…but clicking it gave me a dreaded message that it can’t contact my space right now. So I wait for a minute or two and try again, at which time I get text prodding me to go sign up for a Space.  Jeez, c’mon…

It just took a little while…

…but Jay and the guys finally got my Space working.  YaY!  Darn storage bug or whatever…but I’ve got my handle, which is nice.

And now that it’s up, I’m ready for a vacation. Been busy…lots of work lately. My new main machine has been "almost ready" for about a week now, I just need to dump in my PCI videocard from my current machine, import my PST file, and I’m set to go. Just need to finish it before I leave.