I got to say it was a good day...
Got an extra hour due to daylight savings time (even though the kids woke up at ~6:30). I went to the gym at 8 - did a killer chest workout and some bike. Raiders beat the Titans 34-25. Hung out in the backyard with the wife and kids. Adam, Heather, Adrienna, and Baby Bricker (Adam, Jr.) came over at 4:00. I cooked up some steaks and chicken on the grill. Lisa whipped up some mashed potatoes. Added some rice, garlic bread, and salad... Took a couple hours to clean up the dinner and the house (after the kids got to it), but I got to say it was a good day....
More thoughts...
Never, EVER, let the wife pick out the Halloween costume
So...Here I am at Matias' first b-day party (in which everyone was
supposed to wear a costume because it coincided with Halloween weekend). And what do I have to wear? An 80's rocker costume - leopard pants (tights), leather shirt (actually vinyl), red scarf,.... At least I got to sling one of my guitars over the shoulder to (somewhat) hide the belly...(I was in the gym by 9:00 this morning...). How embarassing. I even made Lisa get out and pump gas (I wasn't going to be seen like this in public - in broad daylight)...
Good Reading
I finally got around to starting to read
Lighten Up by CW Metcalf. I had the opportunity to hear CW Metcalf speak at the Management Symposium last year while working for Sutter Health. His presentation is about maintaining a sense of humor to combat the stresses of work and life. It was a very funny presentation. What made if so riveting though was his drawing on personal experiences (he actually flatlined several times due to a number of illnesses) and how he was able to make it through by keeping a sense of humor. The book goes deeper into his personal experiences...
ITIL Hell...
ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a model for IT that is gaining in popularity in the US. ITIL provides ITIL provides a cohesive set of best practice processes, drawn from the public and private sectors internationally. That said, there is much left to interpretation...and that's where the issues are. Some use it as a framework for processes and use the "swimlanes" as a format for the processes. I'm OK with that. Others think that everything has to have its own process - and anything that doesn't fit into an existing process...needs a new process. I sat in five hours of meetings on Friday discussing two (that's right - 2) processes...I was in swimlane hell.....
Days fly by...
Man! When things are busy as they have been, days just fly by. I look at the clock...it's 5 already? But I just got here...I've still got tons to do...and it's beer-o'clock?
Data Center
I got a chance to check out the regional data center today. It's a 30,000 sq. foot DC that is in the same facility (different floor) as another VERY popular company - which will go unnamed. It will soon become an enterprise data center and will double in size. Although I was impressed with the security and neatness of the DC, I was not impressed with the number of devices. I expected much more. I imagine that, when the buildout of the second floor is complete, it'll be pretty impressive.
Poker
At almost any time of the day you can find poker on TV - usually Texas Hold 'Em. When did this get so popular? They've got announcers that put all kinds of emotion into it. Even nicknames for some of the players - my favorite is Mike "The Mouth" - I'd like to punch him in the mouth. He talks a lot and tries to be funny/intimidating...but he's neither. For the first time I saw "the cut" on TV. The cut for this particular tournament was 560. So, when the guy in 561st place gets eliminated, they announce that everyone else made the money cut. 560 gets $12,500 - 561 gets zilch. The place goes wild - especially, those guys with a "short-stack." I guess it's guys like me watching it on TV that made it so popular....
Short stories and observations...
Muffin in the backpackSo...I'm at the airport at 5:00am the other day. Instead of going upstairs where they only have Maxwell House coffee (it's like drinking hot water...what's the point?), I went to Starbucks and picked up a coffee and a blueberry muffin. I took a bite of the muffin and headed towards the terminal. When I got to the security checkpoint, I pulled my laptop out of the backpack and, since there was plenty of room, I put the muffin bag in the backpack. As usual, the security checkpoint was a zoo. So, after I got through, I grabbed my shoes and jacket and threw my laptop into the backpack. I put my shoes on and walked to the gate...sat down...what happened to my muffin? Did it fall out of my backpack? Did I even put it in my backpack? Then...I pulled my laptop out of the backpack and spied a brown bag at the bottom...oh, no...I pulled it out...my blueberry muffin was now a blueberry pancake...I tried to eat it but it just crumbled apart in my hands...
Aaron Neville sings God Bless America......during the World Series game 3 7th inning stretch - and nailed it! At first, I was thinking "is there something wrong with his voice?" Then, I realized he was putting his own signature on it. He tore it up! (that translates to he sang very well for all you non-hipsters).
130W BulbsI knew they had 'em for outdoors but never imagined that they had 'em for indoors. Well, in my hotel room they have 3 of them right above the mirror. And man do they throw off some heat. I think I've got a sunburn on my face... And if you spend a little "personal time" in the restroom, you need a shower after sweating it out in there....
It's dark up north...It's dark in the morning until 8:00am and at night before 5 - and it's only October. Kinda weird walking back and forth in the dark. Had the first big storm of the year yesterday too. Rain and upto 40-mph winds. Leaves were swirling around and upwards outside of my office. I thought we were going to have a tornado. The roads appear to be very slick too. Cars were spinning out and skidding all over the place. I guess I'm going to have to learn to leave a little more than 1/2 a car length between me and the car in front of me...shoul.d make Lisa happy....
Haven't posted in awhile...
but it's been a pretty busy weekend. Let's see...
Friday
Lisa arranged for the housekeeper to come on Friday so the house would be clean for the open house on Saturday. Well... the housekeeper didn't show up. So, Lisa had to start on the cleaning (she wanted the house in "show condition"). To help out, I took off work at 3:00 and took the kids to the pumpkin patch (I'll post pics later). The kids had a great time.
Saturday
More cleaning for Lisa so I took the kids to Davis. Vanessa came over to help out with the cleaning and they were done by 11:00 (good thing because the open house started at 12:00). I took the kids to four different parks in Davis. They were thrilled and wore out. We ate at Mountain Mike's Pizza in Davis - probably for the last time...not thrilled with the pizza...
Nobody showed up to the open house until after 2:30 - when 2 couples and a realtor came by. One of the couples was very serious about the house. We barbequed and veg-ed out Saturday night...
Sunday
We're exhausted. We hung around the house until the kids went down for a nap. Then, another family came by without an appointment. We let them in to look around anyway. They seemed pretty interested.
Adrienna's birthday party was Sunday evening. It was a kids birthday party at Davis Gymnastics Center. The kids had a great time running around on the mats and trampolines. At first I thought it was a weird place to have a birthday party but after seeing the kids, I changed my mind. We got home. The kids went to sleep. Lisa surfed the 'Net for a little bit then crashed. I packed...
Will post pics of the weekend later...
I had to post this...
...rendition of
Sir Mix-a-lot's Baby Got Back...
Cheezy cliche phrase of the day: At the end of the day
Meaning: When we're through - synonymous with "when all is said and done"
Example: So, at the end of the day, we expect our initiative to provide the stability and value-add that blah, blah, blah,.......
Bran Muffins...
...now I know what they do with recycled napkins. They make them taste worse then turn them into bran muffins. The one I had today had raisins on top...mmmmmmm...raisin and cardboard muffin... tasty! I think I'll just eat my shoe for dinner...
For lunch, I went to Jack-in-the-box for lunch. Instead of the sourdough burger, cheeseburger, fries, and coke, I had two fajita pitas and a diet coke. That filled me up for 45-minutes. I'm about to eat my cellphone now (it has a leather case - would that be considered beef?).
I know...only 2 days and I'm whining. It's hard going from 3500 to 2000 calories (estimated) a day. There had better be some chili when I get home (it's turkey chili - better check the calories vs. calories from fat...).
Salad is not a meal...
Preface: I've posted more than once that I've put on a few lbs. because of the traveling and eating out. Well, yesterday, I totally gorged myself: bagel & creamcheese for breakfast; Jack-in-the-Box for lunch; and a huge dinner with dessert. I was feeling fat and bloated all night. Then, a commercial came on for a diabetes medicine. At the end it showed a guy staring at the guy next to him eat a huge burger. He shakes his head and takes a bite of his salad. The message is, whatever medicine was being advertised and a healthy diet can combat diabetes and other health problems. So...I decided it was time for me to eat a little healthier........
Fast forward to lunch: I decided to go to Baja Fresh for lunch. Surely, there would be some tasty, low-fat salad. I wasn't disappointed. I chose the mahi mahi enselada with the green salsa (not the roasted duck with the mango salsa - I'm no caveman). It looked like a healthy portion. I took it back to my desk at work and consumed every last piece of romaine lettuce and tomato. Well...nice snack. Here it is 20-minutes later and I'm starving. Who can be satisfied with this rabbit food? Isn't there supposed to be chips with this? Where's the beef (and rice and pasta and bread and...)? OMG! I'm going to eat this Fresh Nap moist towelette. Napkins contain fiber don't they?
Oh, well... Only four hours 'til dinner. The good news is that the pico de gallo goes right through me and out my pores. So, I smell like I had a good mexican food lunch....
BTW. Cheezy cliche of the day: Draw a line in the sand... I guess it means to stand your ground - sometimes to dare someone to cross it, other times to not permit yourself to cross it. Either way, it's just sand...
Seven Years...
Seven years ago today, I married my soulmate - yes, she reads my blog. ;-) We've gone through a lot in 7 years: the kids, a couple of houses, a few jobs, ... But it has really been fun.
We started the day off a little bit on edge - the result of all the stress we're going through with the house, the move, the job, etc. That's OK. I am really busy at work and needed to get in early. At lunch, I looked around on the 'Net for a local florist. I found one a mile away so I called them up to see if they had fresh roses. It turns out that they just got some in that were still packed on ice. I raced over, picked up a nice bouquet of red roses and drove them back to the house (to tell the truth, with all that's going on, we both knew the anniverary was coming up but didn't realize it was coming upon us so quickly). Although she expected flowers, she was still surprised.
I got home at 5:15. Lisa was feeding the kids. AJ, Vanessa, and Matias were already there (AJ and Vanessa were babysitting - Matias was walking around the house). When the kids finished, Lisa went upstairs, got dressed, and we ran out of the house. We headed over to the
Rio City Cafe for a nice dinner and a complementary bottle of champagne.
All-in-all, it was a very nice anniversary.
Cheezy Cliche of the Day
"Where the rubber meets the road"Sometimes spoken as "When the rubber hits the road". Regardless, pretty cheezy and overused....
Didn't this phrase originate from some Goodyear tire commercial...?
Father Forgets....
...one of my favorite reads...
FATHER FORGETS
W. Livingston Larned
condensed as in "Readers Digest"
Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.
There are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.
At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Goodbye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"
Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stockings. I humiliated you before your boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Stockings were expensive-and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father!
Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped.
You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.
Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding-this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.
And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed!
It is feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: "He is nothing but a boy-a little boy!"
I am afraid I have visualised you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much, yet given too little of myself. Promise me, as I teach you to have the manners of a man, that you will remind me how to have the loving spirit of a child.
I Can See Clearly Now...
...the Lasik's done. Lisa had her lasik procedure done today. She's not going to be happy about the photo, but soon she'll be able to see it without contacts or glasses for the first time in a long time. That's her doctor in the pic with her (I hear Brian running out the door in Woodland to go schedule an appointment...). The procedure itself only took about 10-minutes. I got to sit in a viewing room to watch and listen. The doctor and nurses were great. They talked Lisa through the whole procedure. They had a TV that showed the magnified picture of the eye as they cut the lense, folded it back, performed the laser procedure (there's that word again...), and put the lense flap back into place. It was pretty interesting.
Now's the healing time. Lisa has to use a combination of wetting drops, antibiotic drops, and pain drops for a few days. She also has to wear protective lenses taped to her face while she sleeps and probably some goggles while around the babies (she couldn't be around the babies tonight except right before bed - they don't want to risk anything happening to her eyes). We also have to pick up some 100% UV protection sunglasses that she has to wear for at least 6 months. We could have picked up a $270 pair of Georgio Armani sunglasses at the doctor's office but...we think a $30 pair of Bolle's will do just fine......even a $100 pair of Oakleys or Ray Bans...but $270 for sunglasses? She can't exercise for at least 3 days. Since Lisa works up quite a sweat running on the treadmill, they recommend that she wait a little while longer. Knowing her...she's going to be on there with a sweatband on doing a fast walk on Tuesday and running by Friday. Oh, and no eye makeup for awhile... We'll go to the post-op tomorrow morning.
I can't wait until tomorrow and the next few days to see how well she can see.
Mitchell Loves the Garbage Trucks...
Aly just likes to get her picture taken...
Happy Birthday!!!!
To my brother Jay (Richard).
Not to worry...
That stench blowing in from Davis last night wasn't a busted sewer main or a water treatment plant disaster. It was our softball team playing our last game of an awful season. It's amazing that one season removed from our 8-1 season we can forget how to play defense. Usually, that bleeds over into our offense and it did last night. My walking in two runs was the icing on the cake. The final score was 15-9 i believe...but it wasn't nearly that close. Not really the way I envisioned possibly my last game ever for the team. I started this team 10, 12, maybe 15 years ago. It's been a fun ride. Hopefully, I can sub in when I'm visiting next year. Maybe I'll find a team up north....if anyone is looking for a slow-footed, soft-swinging, no-defense pitcher... ;-)
Hard at work...
In my temporary Sacramento workspace. Actually, they put me in a small cube in the center of the building but I took over this corner cube. There's a large window right behind me. I fully expect to get kicked out of this cube someday....
And, yes. I put on a pound or two (or 10 or 15). All this travelling and eating junk is bad for my waistline. Been doing a little better lately. I took off a couple but am still about 25 lbs. away from where I want to be.....
I like mine...Extra Cheezy
So...I caught myself using a couple of cheezy cliches today:
1) I've got to play the cards that I'm dealt
2) It is what it is
I was looking for an opportunity to use "when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade" but the opportunity never presented itself..... Best one I've heard this week is "Remember the golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules". mmmmmm......
If I keep this up, I'll be able to hold a conversation without ever committing to anything.....Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.....
I've been driving all night my hands wet on the wheel...
Woke up early this morning and left the house just after 6:00 to drive down to Fremont for work. I was visiting the NOC there and meeting and working with my manager and a few of my peer managers. It was a very long day talking about ITIL, engineer alignments, communications, and responsibilities - pretty productive though. We didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted as we had to work around scheduled meetings. By the time I got out of there it was 5:30. Traffic was terrible. 2-1/2 hours each way. Back in the day (that's my hip talk), I made that trip 2 or 3 times a week. I used to love it. I am not fond of the drive now. I'm a lot quicker to lose my patience with other drivers these days. Not to the point where I flip them off or run them off the road.....but close....
It's starting to get dark just after 7pm. I thought the contrast in colors as the sun set was pretty cool...well...looked better on the 1-1/2 inch by 1-1/2 inch camera screen....
Have you ever had one of those days...
...when the more you get done, the more it seems there is to do? I'm having one of those months. Everytime I complete a task, I get three more assigned to me. I am double- and triple-booked for most of the day. Half of my already depleted team is on PTO. It's just crazy... Better than doing nothing though - but just barely... ;-)
Time for night-night...got another looooonnnnnggggg day tomorrow...
Fixed...
I pride myself on my spelling, grammar and punctuation when writing. However, when on the Internet, the punctuation and grammer usually doesn't matter (just read the blog and you can tell...) - spelling still does (to me anyway). But the wife caught me... On yesterday's post, I spelled realtor - realator........ I think that's five stupid points for me. Oh, well...can't be perfect
all the time....
Laid back...
...and lazy weekend. Another open house, which means a trip to community park in Davis with the kids. They both are a little under the weather with the sniffles so I felt a little guilty taking them to the playground - but that's probably how they got sick anyway... Afterwards, we went to McDonalds for lunch then back to Sacto and picked momma up (our realtor was doing the open house this time). It was nap time and Aly didn't waste a second. We drove around for a couple of hours then back to the house and chilled for the rest of the night.
Sunday was football day. Got all of the chores done by noon. Then, played with the kids, barbequed some steaks, watched football and played video games for the rest of the day. Nice weekend away from the work grind....
Traveling woes...
Oh, man. I haven't posted in a few days. I've been traveling a bit lately and I'm exhausted. Chicago a couple of weeks ago...Seattle last week... I'm home for a little while now.
While I'm on the subject of traveling...a few gripes:
Sense of humor - I'm convinced that the ticket agents are humoring themselves - especially when some of us get to the airport early to request a seat change - preferably an exit row or bulkhead row. I think they save certain rows for the guys with the broadest shoulders. Sure you get legroom but, 24-inch wide shoulders in a 14-inch seat... On the way up to Seattle and back, I'm sitting next to Mr. Olympia and 'The Fridge's' twin. It is impossible to get comfortable... And do they purposely cross your seatbelt with the guy next to you. It's pretty awkward trying to wrestle your seatbelt from underneath someone's butt... Finally, apparently, the ideal time for a ticket agent to take a break is when they are the only agent and 15+ people are standing in line. Luckily, the next guy's shift starts in 10-minutes....
Armrests - Ahhhh…Life is good. You have the window seat or the coveted aisle seat and… You’re lucky enough to get first dibs on the armrest – yes, that 2-inch piece of metal, plastic, and vinyl that separates you from the person next to you (separates your trunk – not your @$$). You’re relaxed – almost comfortable. Oh, man… Then, you take your arm off of the armrest…just for a second – to adjust the air, to lean the seat back, to get your snack/drink, to turn the light off, … - BAM! You’ve lost the armrest. The middle guy gets it. WTH? Now, your arms are in your lap, or crossed, or hanging on the seat in front of you. You’re cramping up. You can’t stand it. You try to get the armrest back. After all, it was yours to begin with – right? But no, you snooze, you lose. Aaarggh!
Steel wool - So…you’ve lost the armrest. It’s done – over. But there’s no way you’re going to be uncomfortable for the whole flight – right? Wrong. It’s apparently an FAA rule to put anyone who has “steel wool” arm hair in the middle seat. Yep. That nasty, annoying, inflexible forearm hair that gives the guy an extra 2-inches on each side. You try to recover the armrest that was rightfully yours (see above) or even sit somewhat upward but you can't!...it touches you. The middle guy, sleeping comfortably because he has both armrests & some of each seat on either side, doesn't feel a thing. You’re still cramping up…the guy at the opposite end of your row is too…but the guy in the middle is living it up….. That's it! I'm taking my armrest back! Ugh! What? Does he sharpen the damn hair? I put bait on fish hooks that weren't that sharp. Oh, well. The flight's only an hour and 1/2...
Snacks - 1/2 a soda and 2 dry cookies slivers (they name it biscotti as if somehow that makes it better) is a teaser...not a snack...
Geez....
...meetings, meetings, and more meetings. It's a wonder how anything ever gets done (I guess that's what staff is for...).
It's been a wild week. And things only look to get busier. The good news is that I'm back in the gym and putting in some heavy work on the weights. Now...if I can only get in some cardio....
Happy Birthday to Scott D.!!! Not going to mention the age except to say man, you're old!!! ;-)
Let's see...what else? Went out to dinner last night. Found a little English pub and had bangers and mash and a Newcastle Brown Ale. It was the first time that I had bangers and mash - mmmmmm...... Can't think of much else. Too busy with work.....
Well I'll be...
The
Raiders finally win one!!! (sorry Nanny). It wasn't without drama though. The Cowboys had the ball inside the 10 with under 2 minutes to go but the Raiders defense held up - that's right...the Raiders
defense. There were still to many penalties at key time...if they keep it up, they're gonna have to call Rich Gannon out of retirement because they're going to need the 30+ points a game to win...
All this travelling and eating out has got me at maximum density... All that gym work the first half of the year gone to waste in a couple of months. So...back to the gym for me. My chest and arms are sore!! More poultry and fish and less beef and pork too... Oh, well...
Had a laid back day with the family...hung around the house doing laundry, watching football, and barbequing.
Saturday, Night Fever...
We took the kids to Davis this afternoon to see Nanny (Mic) and Jessica. Jessica was cheerleading for the JHS football team. It was good to see them again. With all that's going on, we don't get to see the people who were so much a part of the past couple of years. If I never said it before,
thanks Mic... and Jessica, too.Lisa and I
finally got another night out together. We went to Chevy's on the Sacramento River. It was a beautiful night to be eating on the outside deck - until the strawberry-banana margarita came. Drinking the frozen drink when it was 60-something degrees on the river with a breeze...well...Lisa got a little cold. So...we went inside for dinner and a drink. We had some good conversation too. It was nice going out... Ah, but all good things must come to an end... It started getting late (after 8:00pm) and we had to get home.
When we got home, AJ, Vanessa, and Matias were waiting. We got the scoop on the kids - we forgot to tell them a few key things, like we read their books upstairs on the bed. So, Aly grabbed a few books and headed upstairs...
