The world's longest post. Prepare yourself.

I used Windows Vista for the first time today. Brutal I tell ya. Brutal. It was like talking to one of my housekeepers. Except that my housekeepers want to understand me. Windows XP is the smart, if not very attractive girl who manages your bank accounts and business software well. She can be condecending, and is no help at all when you're not sure what to do, but she gets the job done. Unfortunately, she has like 900,000 hitmen hired to kill her, and I'm sorry, but no matter how careful you are. That's alot of hitmen.


OSX which runs on Apple machines is a hot girl with a black belt. (Apparently my reasons for marrying Sarah have just come out...) She's smart too, but alot better looking than Windows XP. She has a good sense of style, and while she will occasionally do something crazy, she certainly is very stable. She doesn't have anyone out to get her, but if she did, she'd be prepared.


Vista is a cheerleader with an overbearing boyfriend. Even if she did want to talk to you, which she doesn't seem to, her boyfriend wouldn't let her. Today, I tried to help a guest connect to our network in a room, which so far as I've seen, every windows and mac laptop have been able to do with little to no trouble. Plug in, and log in. That's about it. Here is a make believe transcript of the interaction I had with the Vista pc this morning.


_________________________________________________

Me: Good morning. Aren't you pretty!

Vista: Why thank you... I was just

Windows Security Manager: Don't talk to him!!!

Vista: But I was just...

Windows Security Manager: (addressed to me) She doesn't want to talk to you!!!

Me: Look. I'm working with her owner, and I just want to set up a network connection.

Vista: I think I can do that.

Me: Great. So let's try starting Internet Explorer 7...

Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Don't do it!!!

Vista: Oops. I forgot. What were we doing?

Me: Setting up a network. Is he bothering you?

Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Kill him! He's a virus I tell you!

Vista: You're a virus? (directed to me)

Me: He just said that to scare you. Seriously, this guy needs to get some work done...

Vista: I don't know...

Windows Security Manager: (hissing menacingly) Dooooooon't doooooo ittttttt!!!!!

Vista: I'm sorry, what were we talking about?

Me: AHHHHHH! You seriously just sent me back to that box again!?!

Vista: Hi!

Me: Ok. That's it. This is SIMPLE. Windows XP does this all the time. No problems.

Windows Security Manager: (addressed to Vista) If XP jumped off a bridge, would you?

Vista: (starts to cry)

Me: Don't cry. You're very pretty.

Vista: (sobs) Thank you.

Windows Security Manager: Get away from her!!!

And that's about it. I gave up and told him to try the wireless network downstairs. He might have better luck. He thanked me and said that he should've brought his macbook from home instead. Seriously. I'm not lying. He said that. But he did add that he brought the new pc because... Vista was so pretty.

I blogged before regarding the departments I'm in now. Life in both departments has been going very well, but I've definitely got alot on my plate now.

I was asked a few weeks ago to take on a new position at the hotel. It's a new position put in place by Hilton called a "journey ambassador." It's essentially a group of people who are proactive concierges. They actively seek out guests, and determine what their needs are. They of course go on to find ways to meet those needs, and basically take care of whatever the guest requires during their stay. They're "agents" of sorts.

Needless to say that while I could do the job, and would do it very well... I didn't want to do the job. It would distract from the program I'm in, it would put me back in the lobby, basically doing what I did as an asst. front office manager.

There was no benefit for me, and quite frankly, the hotel would lose me in other areas. The best solution I could find was for them to hire other people with potential, and have me train them. It would require much less time of me, and I would be able to make sure that they remained focused while at the same time setting goals, and promoting their needs in manager meetings. So I went to the General Manager, who had asked me to do it, and gave him my proposal in return. And to my pleasure, he agreed to everything I asked for. Even a $2.50 an hour bump in pay over what they had initially planned. My reasoning was that we want to create a "mystique" about this position. An exclusivity... to make it appealing to other employees, and give the Journey Ambassadors a sense of worth. To let them know we're behind them. Anyway. I now have my own department... which is pretty cool. At this point, I'm working on developing the program, hiring new Journey Ambassadors, and setting goals for the future. It's going well.

In other news, the director of housekeeping announced last week that he is returning to his previous hotel in Seattle, and his last day is tomorrow. Now, he is easily one of the best managers that I've ever seen, so it's a shame to see him leave. In many ways, he has been what I have looked forward to most about this training. I have, in the past several weeks learned a great deal from him, so there's no real loss... especially after the offer he made me a few weeks ago. He mentioned to me that he might be leaving for Seattle, but that the money there was much better, and the hotel was a corporate Hilton. There are only about 50 corporate Hiltons in the world, the rest are franchised. So the money put into those hotels is insane, both in salaries and upkeep of the building, but also in bonuses. In fact, the full bonus for a manager at the hotel, if they meet all of their goals, is 25% of their yearly income.

Before I get too far into things, I need to say that this isn't a done deal. They haven't even made a final offer. But my boss who is moving out there would be the one hiring me, and the one deciding the salary... so as long as he still thinks I would be good there, the offer should be on the table in the next month or so.

The income for the position they're hiring for is almost twice what I make now. But it's not just money that appeals to me. It's a union hotel, so instead of all the side work, mopping, and bed making that I do, I'd be mostly involved in the areas I've been able to have the most impact. Administrative management. Ah, it even sounds pretty.

But not because of what it is... That would be like saying your dream was parenthood. Parenthood is normally a very scary thing. Because we've all seen it done wrong. We've all seen some angry-yelling-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-fool carrying their screaming-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-toddler INTO an rated R movie... you get the picture. But when it's done right, it's the only way to manage effectively.

The idea of a manager who says they specialize in "administrative" things, usually means that they don't do any real work. On the other hand, the managers who are always working with their employees can in many cases win their workers' respect but in the end fail as managers because they were just another employee. With no general on the hill, the army flounders. It seems I've hit a point I'd like to make, so I will now begin to pontificate.

Managers who never dig in and help their employees are often the worst sort of managers. Because they're not doing what they should, which is make the employees' lives better. I have nothing against digging in. In fact, I enjoy it. But in the past few months of management training I have learned some amazing things, and among them, possibly most importantly, I have learned what I have the capacity to do and what it takes to help me do it well.

I've seen departments where the folks are happy with their pay, pleased with what's expected of them, and where valuable workers are acknowledged, and bad workers aren't pandered to. And those departments, with those people, are the best and brightest. The departments that everyone else is called to be like. I want that kind of department. I've been in it before. But I've never had it start that way... I seem to do best when I come into a department that is everything the one I described before is not. And I do what I can to make it different.

In little ways, in big ways, but all in ways that are so removed from the daily "shoveling" that some might be tempted to think that I'm one of those managers that removes themselves from the workers and does mystery work (aka "no" work)... But like I was saying, they might be tempted to think that I am too removed until their life starts getting better. One by one, hopefully their problems slowly begin to straighten out. Schedules fit their life better, they know more about the business they're in, they enjoy their job more, they have the tools they need, and hopefully they start taking an interest in the performance of the group as a whole in comparisson to the other departments, then competing companies, then the best competing companies, and finally against their own past outstanding performance.

I do pitch in when the laundry room floods due to a broken dryer, but simply burying yourself in the work of your people just makes you a really good whatever-they-are. And removing yourself from the work and disassociating yourself from the workers makes you a bad manager, not to mention a useless worker. A waste of money. Which is what most managers are. What I want to be is a good leader. Someone who fights alongside, but knows where we're going. And that is what appeals to me in the idea of a union hotel. I know that union crews often have their faults, but I am confident that like any other challenge, I could learn to motivate them, and make that hotel a better place.

ANYWAY... that's all just a possibility. But if it is indeed as good as it sounds, which they would fly me out to see... we may go that direction. For if we're making enough, visits can be more regular. And when one is flying, there really isn't that big a difference between Seattle and Colorado Springs to Chicago.

Florida is #1. Yet again at the expense of my Buckeyes...

Ow.

Florida University now holds back to back NCAA basketball championships, that sit next to their 2006 NCAA football championship trophy. They are a spectacular school, and have my admiration. I just wish they didn't have to beat my team to do what it is they do so well. Win.

Tonight's championship game was THANKFULLY nowhere near as humiliating as the football championship game was several months ago. In fact, OSU's star player Greg Oden, should've been the player of the game with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Not to mention the fact that he blocked, yes, blocked three dunk attempts. Not something you see every year, and he did it 3 times in one game. One championship game. This guy is total NBA, is 7 foot, leads his team... and he's a freshman... Oi.

All the same, the gators kept hitting the threes, and we didn't. Instead of a humiliation, this was a great game. But Florida proved decisively that they are the best team in the nation. They are the first team to ever win back to back championships with the same starting lineup. And no team has won b2b titles since Duke in 92... so that's not easy either.

What a year though. Our buckeyes go to 2 championship games and lose to the same school, and our Chicago Bears lose in their first superbowl in 20 years. Watch out Cubs! You're doomed to go to the world series and lose!

Anyway. I always say that I bleed Scarlet and Grey. Well... tonight there's alot of those colors all over the floor.

Rest in Peace, Merry...

Transparent theme on my mac

I've installed a transparent theme on my mac. In part, because even if the operating system is crap, I can't handle Microsoft Vista being in any way cooler than OSX...

For your viewing pleasure.

This broom will have to be my baby...

So I haven't done much writing lately. For no reason. It's not for lack of things to say. I guess I'd have to blame good old fashioned laziness. Or just the simple fact that I have to type to blog. If blogging could be done vocally, I'd record my day in the car on my way home... that'd be cool.

Anyway. This morning, I woke up and took care of Kiah for awhile. Let Sar get some z's. We've been able to take showers lately while he's awake. He stands at the tub and throws stuff at you. Peeks around the shower curtain, and talks alot. But other than that, he lets you get it done without being clingy or anything... so as Bill Murray once put it, "I've got that goin' for me."
After Sarah woke up, she let me go back to sleep for a few. I then downed two cups of Sumatra, and I'm ready for the day.

Adding to my energy level, I am listening to the Killers new album for the seventy-leventh time. I wasn't a fan of their first album, even though there were a few good songs on it. I really disliked the song "Mr. Brightside", which everyone else in the world loved, so that kind of soured me on them a bit more. Not to mention the rumors that they were just plain mean to fans and other bands. So when Ryan told me that I simply HAD to hear the new album, I agreed, but without enthusiasm. All of that enthusiasm has since been made up in my avid addiction to this new album. They have achieved a level of musical maturity that is simply amazing. Sam's Town is a themed album, as best I can tell, and relates a story. The first three songs are flat out amazing, and deserved to be played together as one long song. (Much like Rush's 2112 overature was on juke boxes, for those of you old enough to recall what a jukebox was...) (Or Rush for that matter... bloody canadians.)

Anyway. It's awesome. Go listen. Now.

In other news, my grandma Miller has been hospitalized as of late, and has been struggling to live it seems. Her heart has kind of given up on her, and she's been rallying this week, but we're not sure how much longer we'll have her with us. Thankfully, Sarah Kiah and I were able to visit her a few weeks ago on a trip out east.

On a personal note, I have lost a bit of weight. In part to my jobs in engineering and now, housekeeping. I'm hanging around 170 instead of 185, and I've been feeling a great deal better about my body. It's just nice to occasionally surprise yourself with a bit of discipline and accomplishment.

Like I said, I'm in housekeeping now. Also doing a stint in security on the weekends. So I'm taking care of both departments at the same time. Housekeeping has been as awesome as I hoped it would be so far. Security is boring, but a nice change from the norm. We had a Hilton inspection of the hotel last week. They come and make sure we can keep the name. Housekeeping did VERY well. 99% in every area. But the kitchens nearly killed the entire hotel with some very dirty areas of their operation, and some deplorable cleaning procedures. I will have my work cut out for me when I work the line with the chefs... but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I am still getting credit from the management for the fantastic service scores at the front of the hotel. Apparently, I get to ride that wave of goodness until the bellmen and valets start stinking, if they do, corporate will blame the front office manager for screwing up my hard work. So that's another win-win for me. Weird how these things work, but in all actuality, that perception of the situation will be pretty accurate. At the moment, the bell stand/valet staff are still following my procedures and mind set, and because of that, they're succeeding. If they abandon those standards and thought patterns, they'll start failing, and since it is the front office manager's job to make sure that they don't do that, it will be his fault if the scores fall. So the upper management will have made a correct assertation of the situation... shocking, but pleasant.

Communicating in housekeeping has been a challenge, as I knew it would. I bought a spanish english dictionary, and it has come in handy, but for the most part, I want to force the housekeepers into becoming more comfortable with their english, so that they can better understand their coworkers, managers, and our guests. It's not like they're hidden from the front of the hotel, and only interact with eachother. They are required to be able to assist guests with anything they need, and to do that, they have to speak english. (Some folks would really haul out the soap box for that paragraph, but I simply see it as a challenge, and I'm not looking at it on a national scale, simply on a local one.)

I went to see the movie "300" yesterday at the IMax with a group of guy friends. It was very good. Aside from a fairly weak ending, it was a very solid movie. Not to mention the impressive-ness of watching it on a GIGANTIC screen. I was pleased.

My birthday went well. We had some friends over the other night, and enjoyed a night of games and talk. It was cool.

Well, we're off to do some shopping this morning. So I'll let you go. Thanks for checking in, and I'll talk to you later.

-me.

Stuff about our life... and yeah, it's on my blog.

Hi there.
Welcome back.

Life has been interesting, full, and very positive as of late. My dreams and aspirations have been coming to fruition as of late. Sarah becomes a better wife, mother and woman every passing day.

Kiah has been ridiculously insane lately... he never stops twisting, turning, making faces, head-butting furniture, kissing, crying, talking in jibberish, biting, eating, trying to pull cords out of the wall, and generally causing havoc. That Sarah hasn't eaten him yet, amazes me.

Work has been going incredibly well for me. I am now in the engineering department, where I have been able to be useful once again in several areas I did not think possible. (And by "again" I am referring to my stint in the accounting department.) I've done an audit of every key that we have in the engineering department. All of which "should" correspond with its lock somewhere in the hotel. The problem has been, that the last time someone did an audit and reorganized the keys was 1986. The Challenger blew up that year... the Bears were in the superbowl... I was 6. So yeah, it's been awhile. The hotel has changed hands at least 4 times since then, and many of the rooms, titles, and keys have been changed long since. And have never been updated.

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me. At the same time, I've been revamping our preventative maintenance schedule and overseeing its execution by one of our engineers named Tracey. Yesterday I ran out of keychains, and decided to clean and paint the back room that I've been working out of. Because I can, because it's dark in there and the white walls and ceiling would really brighten it up, but most importantly, because I was bored. So I cleaned it yesterday and one of our guys who is a drywall genius mudded it for me. It looked great. Today I painted it, and when it dried, I retyped any memos that we needed, laminated them, and stuck them on the nice new wall. It's night and day from what it was just two days ago, and earned me some more brownie points with the engineering staff. They're so happy to have all the machines back there clean, and the room is so much brighter.

Sarah, Kiah and I are headed to Chicago and Ohio for the week starting tomorrow morning. It should be a great time to spend with our family and friends and we are very excited. After I get back, I am going to do a hotel wide fire drill evacuation. While I am planning to delegate a portion of it to our director of security, I will be overseeing and tracking the drill, which will be one of my major duties in engineering before I leave. My next departmental shift should take place in March. And will most likely be a split week between housekeeping and security. I am looking forward to both. Everything has been pie in comparrison to the front desk. I hate the front desk...

One last thing about work, I was able to overhear a discussion between our controller and our front office manager two weeks ago that was about me. In the midst of that conversation, they were discussing my performance in their departments, and Jo, the controller, said that corporate can't stop talking about me. They think I'm a "god" for bringing in the nearly 200k in aging accounts that I made my goal for my time in accounting. She said that they keep expecting them to live up to my performance every month, and that is "not possible." She was so proud, and annoyed... it really made me feel like what I'm doing is worthwhile, both for our hotel, and for Sarah, Kiah and my future... My name is known, and my old GM is now the senior VP of the company. He hired me to my current position, and has every right to brag about me as his hire. Currently, he's looking good, the hotel's looking good, and I'm looking good because of some amazing circumstances, timing, and initiative that some would attribute to blind luck and skill, but I know different.

A year ago, I was without a job, and had never even considered working in a hotel. You all saw it happen, and you've seen the steps of faith that we've taken this year. I can't help but say that this is 100% because of what God's been doing in my heart, my attitudes, and the attitudes of my superiors. At every job I've worked at, I've given it my all, only to be passed over by my managers. Ata-boy'd, but never given a raise... and at some jobs, it almost felt like the truly good people were punished by having to pick up the slack of the poor performers. (Jim V. knows exactly what place I mean...) But God has been blessing this job at every turn. I've given it no more than I've given any other job, but it's been noticed. I haven't changed my personality, but here it's appreciated. I've always tried to go above and beyond to boost moral and do my best, but here it's rewarded. In many ways, I feel like this job is direct result of trusting God to take care of us, being patient, and being open to doing something I'd never done before. And alot of prayer.

In addition to the work that God has done in us, for us and through us this year, I want to thank all of you for supporting us through the difficult times we've faced.

Jim... you and Paula were such a blessing to us in such a crazy time. We will never forget that. We love you.

Ryan, I have never been blessed with a shoulder like yours, and I don't plan on ever letting go of our friendship. You have been, and continue to be, my best friend.

Family Miller, you have been such a consistant source of love, support and acceptance for me. Knowing that you believe in me, gives me the strength to do the same.

Family Schmitt, your patience with what's been happening in our lives, your words of encouragement, and your support of Sarah when I'm at work have been invaluable to us.

Sarah, you've been the strongest, bravest, most amazing teammate I could ever ask for or imagine. I love you so much...

Google - Kiah...

How FRIGGEN awesome is this!!!!???

Comet McNaught

For any of you who are either into astronomy enough, geeky enough, or simply like the "astronomy picture of the day" website... you've been aware of comet McNaught. It's one of the brightest in ages, and has provided some beautiful pictures from around the world. One of the most stunning is the picture below. Taken in Perth, Australia during a fireworks show. The storm blowing in from the sea, and the fireworks on the left frame the comet travelling up the center of the photograph.

Back by popular demand...

"Mommy and the baby, sittin in a tree...""Mami and baby, standin near a tree..."

Mami, Kiah and I at Garden of the Gods...

"Out of my face! Papparazzi!"

Gonna eat the camera!!!

Photo Update.

Because it's needed. I sat down with some of the great pics

that we've taken recently, balanced them out, and combined a few... So for your viewing pleasure, I give you Jim, Sarah and Kiah!

This first pic was taken after I got home from work... I was changing, and Kiah was playing with my watch and necklace. He was having such a good time, I decided to snap some pics... I'm glad I did.

______________________________________________________


These photos are less than an hour old! Hot off the presses.
Sarah and Kiah were getting ready for his evening bath,
and decided to make some smiles!

______________________________________________________


Kiah has these little cereal puffs that he absolutely loves!
They're sweet potato or apple cinnamon flavored,
but better than the taste, he loves being able to feed himself.
He grabs them, and looks at them, and shoves em in his mouth...
He's so proud, and so are we!

______________________________________________________

Lately, I've been experimenting with black and white photos,
and I've really been pleased with the results.
Sarah and I took a few pictures of ourselves on the couch the other night,
and I like the look so much I made two desktop pictures
in case any family or friends want a Sarah and Jim desktop.
They are 1024x768. Email me if you want them cropped different.
The first is really artsy, and the second is a clearer version.
They are, of course, different photos, and nothing was blurred intentionally.
My hand wasn't that steady at the time, but I like the effect. Enjoy.

Updaticus Maximus...

Well, I'd like to thank those of you who have put up with my music posts.
Lately, it's what I've been motivated to write about, but I'm feeling guilty telling people that if they want to know what's actually going on in our lives, they need to check Sarah's blog.

Blogs go through phases, because the writers do. And this blog is going on 3 years... so it's seen some very different incarnations. For a long time, it was the emaciated refugees of my little brain... then it was a place to buy salmon... and for a long time, it was almost a Tom Waits fan site.

We seen some horribly painful times... we've seen some amazing things happen, and along the way, I have been so blessed to have all of you comment on what was said. Often times, I've enjoyed the comments section much more than the actual post. Especially when Erina posts.

So here's a bit on our lives right now. Kiah's started army crawling. It's really fun to watch, and we've been enjoying watching him explore the apartment. He loves going under the computer desk, and is especially fond of the metal trash can that we have under there. We have to keep our eyes open, but thankfully, he's still really slow, and grunts alot while he crawls. So he can't really "sneak" into anything.

Our friends Daniel and Lara have volunteered to start babysitting on Wednesdays now. So we can have a "date night" to look forward to. Last Wednesday, we stayed home and watched an entire show on tv without having to jump up, or change a diaper, or bounce Kiah to keep him from crying... it was nice. And then we went out for dessert at Chilis. It was really enjoyable. This Wed. I have an idea of a nice date... It's so nice to look forward to a set time to be together. What a gift!

Sarah's feeling under the weather today. Something with her throat that's been bothering her lately. She is at the doctor's office right now getting it checked out, and Kiah is taking his nap. Lately, Sarah's created a schedule for him, and it's starting to work. Last night, he gave me some trouble. Woke up around 11:00 and wanted to play. Finally got him back to sleep, and went to bed myself. But usually, he's been conforming. So that's really nice.

Oh, it was my mom's birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday mom! She's finally 39.

In work news, I got a raise. But we added Sarah to our health insurance, so my check was $2 less than normal... lol. That's the way it goes, huh? But you could look at it as we added Sarah to our insurance for only $2 a paycheck right? Otherwise, things are going splendidly. I've been enjoying accounting quite a bit. Unfortunately for me, they hired an assistant controller who is going to take my beautiful office. :( I love my office. And my non-sucky computer... but all good things must come to an end. I just wish that they would've hired her after I left the department at the end of the month...

I'm up for employee of the year. Statistically, I have a 1 in 11 shot. (January's team champion isn't at the hotel anymore...) But in reality, I think my odds are better. We'll see. If I do win, it's $500 buckaroos, and a nice little addition to the resumé. I'm on the committee that makes these decisions, but I couldn't vote for myself. It just didn't feel right. In other competitions, I can see doing it, but employee of the year seems like something I should leave to the other folks. If I'm good enough, it won't matter how I voted.

Sarah and I booked our flight to Chicago yesterday. So we should be out there in February, go to a wedding, and spend a few days with the family. Then head out to Ohia, and spend a couple days with the family out there. I am looking forward to it, but I'm still sad that our Ohia family hasn't seen Colorado yet. We gotta find a way...

Well, Kiah's waking up, so I'm gonna go get 'im. Later 'yall.

Jim

This is the best "I told you song" ever. Nothing rubs it in their face quite like "If we were still together you would never have been killed by that bear."

Killbear
by Hayden

The afternoon light
was reaching down to the site
As my old love stared
Into the fire with her new love there
Camping up North, the same place we shared

Behind the van
They heard the crashing of land
And they looked to see
A grizzly bear lurking amongst the trees
Searching their ground for something to eat

From what I'm told
My old love just froze
But her man got scared
He started to run, thinking she had begun
But he left her there, alone in the woods with the bear

So the bear all surprised
Looked right into her eyes
And decided that
She was it's prey or some kind of threat
So it followed it's instincts to deal with it

It charged up towards her
And stopped just before her
And stood up high
Swiped at her shoulder and dragged her by the torso
Around the site, And that's how my old love died

If I'd been there I wouldn't have run from the bear
That's the worst mistake
I would've yelled and banged pots
And made sure that my love wasn't taken that way

Christmas presents...

Oh, I didn't mention that Jessica and Kaitlin pitched in for Christmas, and got me a $25 gift certificate to iTunes. So here's what I got in 10 minutes flat.

I bought the album "Elk lake serenade" by Hayden. It's freeeekin awesome!
Everything I hoped for.













Second, I bought the Tom Waits modern classic "Mule Variations"
This one's a must have for the Waits fan...













Lastly, but not least-ly, I picked up the "In Moderation - EP" by the Soft Drugs. (Who were essentially Pedro the Lion, but with David playing drums instead of singing, and TW singing instead of playing keys. It's really good. I wish it had more songs.

Accounting, vomit and intelligent christians...

So I've made the transition to the accounting department. It's been a great experience so far. Very stable in comparrison to the front office. Similar duties every day, nobody screaming at me... can't go wrong with that.

Kiah however, has had a very "wrong" week and has fallen victim to a stomach flu of some sort. Vomiting... not vomiting... crying... farting... He's been pretty miserable. So we've had to hold him alot. Away from open flame. It's been a rough week. And now Sarah has it, so it's been pretty nasty for her as well. But I think that they're coming out of it now.

The blizzards have come and gone, but the snow and ice have been far too thick for the sun to melt, and the plows are incompetant here, so there's very little hope for those of us on the road. What the sun does melt, freezes again in new spots by nightfall... This has been some of the worst winter weather I've seen, but mainly because of the way it's not been dealt with.

Lastly, our good friend Joni has made my week with a link to an online forum of intelligent christians. PROVING THEY EXIST... RYAN! Just kidding... but it was a truly refreshing experience to see so many comments from such different directions, all together around the same central relationship. The article that I came in on centered around the culture of the church, and its openness to imperfect people and being a welcoming community. It focused on homosexuality as an example, but the conversation resulting from the article was fantastic.

Anyway, I highly recommend the Burnside Writers Collective.

New phones, new years and new jobs.

Well folks, here's to the first post of 2007.
I hope it's as good a year as 2006, but with no getting fired or pregnancy.
(We've had all of those we can handle for awhile, even though both led to some of the best things of the year... so... hmmm)

We got our phones yesterday, for many of you, we'll email you the numbers if we haven't already. We have signed up with Tmobile. I was with them before, and very happy with everything. We reviewed all the deals out there, and were most satisfied with Tmobile's plans, phones and flexibility. Their coverage is excellent (identical to cingular's) and they had some wonderful deals. Because of their Fav 5 service, they are having to use some really good phones as their "free" with plan phones. While many services have a pretty pathetic line of free phones, The four-six phones under $50 on Tmobile's line-up were very impressive. Sarah and I opted for the Motorola Pebl. It debuted near the time of the Razr, but hasn't been anywhere near as popular. Its reviews however far excelled the Razr. It is VERY stylish and small. Has a very unique opening movement, has similar controls to that of the Razr, but has almost a rubber-like coating to the shell. It's bluetooth, has speakerphone, and is a quadband worldphone. All in all, a very cool phone. To top it off, it comes in black, green, orange or blue. (And in some parts of California for some reason... pink. No kidding.)
Sarah and I got the black models through a deal service she has online. Normally, we would've paid Tmobile $50 each, and received $50 rebates in the mail. But with this deal, an additional $50 was taken off at purchase, but we still get the rebates, so they paid us $100 to take the phones off their hands. Nice of us. Needless to say, we're stoked. Call us up. We'll chat.

I have the next two days off. Which will be awesome, as we will spend them with Mami. We plan on going to Garden of the gods at some point... we've been to Denver this morning to get her luggage. (a story I chose NOT to tell. Baggage handlers are the devil) And we'll probably go shopping. (Japan's national past-time.) When I return to work, I will be working in the accounting department. I'm a bit scared, but all in all, I think I'll do ridiculously well. I seem to be ok when I really apply myself. So here's to that.

Well, I'm gonna get a snack and head to bed. I'm gettin' old.

Peace, love and happy new year!