Images in the Sky
When you look up at the clouds what do you see? I see Marin, Angela, myself, friends and family, and several vacations! Before you ask...there is just Diet Dr. Pepper in this cup! I have slowly been sorting through a bunch of photos that I have stored on my computer. I have a little over 5,500 pictures and a few video clips from the digital camera that add up to about 12 gigabytes of data. I have gone through and got rid of most of the duplicates and started organizing them into relevant folders. I have been using the new Picasa 3 for managing the photos. The newest version includes face recognition abilities.
Once you name a few, it will try to find others based on the facial features. I have noticed that it sometimes suggests the wrong person when it comes to children because their face changes so much, but it does well on adults.
As everyone, I always try to keep backups of files that are of importance. This use to be in the form of burning files to multiple CD/DVD's every so often. Of course you have to remember to do it. Another problem is that burned CD/DVDs do not last forever. I have had several issues trying to read back burned discs that were only several months old! Sometimes I could only end up reading the disc by placing in the original burner that I had used...weird!?
Over the summer I implemented a RAID 1 configuration for storing my videos, pictures, and documents. This works great to protect against a failed drive, but they will tell you to always keep a copy elsewhere in case the worst happens. There are plenty of online backup companies out there, but I'm not talking about them today.
Google Picasa 3 will let you sync your web albums! I have uploaded images to Picasa in the past, but typically reduced the quality to keep the file sizes low due to the 1 GB limit. You can now purchase additional storage at a dirt cheap price in my book. I just added 20 GB to my Picasa account for $5 per year! I dare you to find an online backup company that is cheaper and as trustworthy. So I now have 21 GB's of available storage to store my 11 or so gigs of photos (taking away about 1.5 GB of short video clips that will go to Google Video or YouTube). Luckily I have a decent ISP that will allows me 5 MB upload speeds. So it will only take about 6 hours to upload all of my photos.
Don't get me wrong...I'll still keep the RAID of course. In fact, I added another RAID 1 of 2 750 GB hard drives for Marin's movies and shows!
Taking it to the WiMAX
The other day I was running through a Vegas casino with a couple of buddies chasing after this terrorist with a machine gun and something strange caught my eye...it was an advertisement for a mobile Internet company in metro areas that do not require a contract and as low as $30/month. I know what you are thinking...month-to-month Internet for my laptop for $30!?! Crazy! I then proceeded with my mission at hand.
Okay, so it did happen in a game, but still! It's kinda cool on a couple of levels. The wireless Internet and in-game advertising. I assume it somehow updates the ads from the Internet as well so they are somewhat current?
The company offering the wireless Internet is Clear.com. They offer several different packages with or without a 2 year contract. They also are currently running some specials for reduced rates for the first 6 months. I have read some good and bad reviews, but for the price it is worth a shot if you are in the market for something like this. The idea is that you use WiMAX technology and is currently only available in certain metropolitan areas (at least by this company), DFW being one of them. The connection speeds are quite nice as well.
Below is a short video clip I made of the in-game advertising experience.
Christmas and Babies
We've got the Christmas tree up. We also taught Marin how to turn on the lights everyday when she gets home from preschool. We have a tree with the foot button that you just step on to turn them on so it is very easy for her. No luck on getting Eric to put up lights on the house this year...lazy. I also found my Christmas dinner plates in the attic and decided to lay those out on our formal dining room table. I bought them when we still lived in the townhouse and had a smaller table so there are only four plates in the set. Now that we have a table to seat six the 2 end chairs have no place setting. 
So I am currently looking for another set of plates to accommodate six. I tried to find 2 plates to match the set I already have but it is a discontinued pattern and hard to find. And when I do find them they are outrageously priced. I can't believe I am rambling about dishes...I must be getting old...
Babies are everywhere! I've had a couple of friends who have just had babies (one had twins! yikes!). We also have a couple of friends who are trying to get pregnant. And as I announced in an earlier post my best friend Christy is expecting her first baby in June. Geez...I have a feeling I will be buying lots of baby gifts soon!! Everyone keeps asking when Eric and I are going to have another one and I always say...SLOW DOWN! We are still learning how to manage Marin right now and have you seen the price of daycare? Think about how much it is with two kids enrolled! Marin will need to be close to public school age before we can think about numero dos!
Happy Thanksgiving, Ya’ll!
I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week! It is crazy how fast this month has flown by. I wrapped most of the Christmas presents last night since Marin is staying at her NeNe and Papa's house this week. I am glad to get that over with and be able to focus on the tree and other decorations this weekend. I asked Eric to put outside lights on the house this year but he is in lazy mode lately and doesn't want the hassle. I am still trying to persuade him but I don't know if he is going to give in...we'll see.
Not much going on in our world lately. Eric still hasn't been assigned a project. If they could just get him assigned somewhere within driving distance we'll be ok. He was recently offered an assignment in New Jersey. Can't really swing a $1200/mo apartment rental plus our mortgage...and I am not moving to New Jersey! There are a lot of places I would consider moving to and New Jersey will NEVER make that list!!
Marin's teacher at preschool said Marin is great at following directions with her coloring and she knows her ABC's better than most of the three year olds. Alert the media! We've bred a genius!! It's hard for me to comprehend the significance of her learning to color and say the alphabet but I guess when you are that age it is impressive to the teachers. So I gave her extra M&M's to reward her. You don't have to tell me...I already know I am horrible!
Thanksgiving...What am I thankful for this year? I am thankful that Eric and I are both employed. We have been through rough patches in the past few months but have managed to make it through with only minor "scratches". I'm lucky to have people I can turn to if need be but I hate to show weakness so I refrain from ever asking of help and did whatever possible to make it on our own. So thanks to those who graceously wanted to help us...we love you all. But we preferred to buckle down and make it work. Some people might say I'm too proud but I prefer to think of myself of just being strong-willed.
Christmas Shopping is Done!
If you know me well then you know I HATE Christmas shopping during December. Stores are crowded, people get crazy and rude...and I don't want any part of it. So not only do I shop early, I also do the majority of my shopping online. I can now sit back, wait for my packages to arrive and enjoy the holidays without the fuss. Amazon is truly still one of my favorite sites but I have been a big Ebay shopper lately as well. Eric made a wishlist site last year for our family. I don't think its going to get much use this year. I think the adults in my family are doing a Chinese (White Elephant?) gift exchange instead of drawing names. But I did put Marin's list up there for anyone wondering what she wants. There is a feature where you can click sold (shopping cart icon) so the next person to look at the list will see what she's already got. I am not trying to ask people to buy her presents 
. I just know people will ask what she needs or wants so instead of thinking about it on the spot or having to verbally go over a list I have it all organized in one place. (Just found out from Eric that it requires a log in to see it but he will get that fixed shortly where you don't need it.) UPDATE: If asked for a username/password, leave them both blank and click 'Login'.
This year Eric and I have to fill each others stocking with goodies since Marin can't wake up Christmas morning to see Santa only filled her stocking. I think she would get suspicious if ours are empty. Yes, we have decided to spend Christmas at home this year. Usually we go to East Texas but now that Marin is old enough to know who Santa is we thought it better that he deliver her gifts to our house and not try to make up some crazy stories about how he tracked her down at someone else's house. But I am planning to spend the week after Christmas in East Texas to make up for it. New Years is always more fun with fireworks and we have to go to the country for that.
My friend Christy is expecting her first baby! I know she is nervous about it so I just pray it is healthy. She is due in June so I have to plan a trip to Arizona this summer. Boy, is it going to be HOT! The last time I went to Arizona it was in March a few years ago and the weather was perfect. But the summers are killer. It is a dessert after all!
Marin got sick on Halloween so she didn't get to really enjoy the holiday. We took her to a community trick or treat thing at the civic center in Diboll but she felt pretty bad and I am pretty sure she has fever. But she still wanted to do it and then when I got her back to the house that night I gave her Children's Mortin and she started to feel better. She did get to ride the "tractor" (what she calls my dad's 4 wheeler) and she took a couple of swings at the Halloween pinata at my parents party. I only got one picture of her the entire night which was her swinging at the pinata but her jacket was on so you couldn't really see her costume. I might have her put the costume on again this weekend to take a picture for her scrapbook so years from now she doesn't question why I didn't have any photos from Halloween 2009! 
Fall, don’t go…I am not a friend of Winter!
I can't believe October is almost over. Fall is my favorite season of the year and it always seems to go by so fast.
Halloween is next week. Marin is going to be Tinkerbell. If you haven't already figured it out Tinkerbell is my favorite Disney character. I've sort of been pushing it on Marin. I did her room in Tinkerbell decor, she has Tinkerbell PJ's and t-shirts and now I am making her be Tinkerbell for Halloween. But she likes it, although if she knew there was a Dora the Explorer costume out there she would be throwing a fit to be Dora instead. I just can't take too much of that Dora but I tolerate it for Marin's sake. We are going to spend Halloween in East Texas again this year. My parents always have a party with a mini bonfire to roast hot dogs. It should be a lot of fun.
I've already done my jack-o-lantern and I don't think he is going to last until Halloween. We may have to toss him by the end of the weekend. He is starting to turn to mush. I thought they were supposed withstand a little longer that a week, but whatever. Marin's cousins came in town last weekend and we went to the pumpkin patch. She picked out a small one and painted it (and painted herself in the process). I was going to try and wash the clothes she was wearing but decided to just toss them because they were covered with the paint and they were old anyway. She sure does love to make a mess.
Eric's job is going ok. And I say "ok" in that he hasn't really done anything in the month that he has been there. He is waiting to get assigned a project. We are hoping he gets in on a project with JCPenney so he can work in Plano. We dodged having to move to Seattle or rather him commuting to Seattle which is what we discussed being the most realistic option since it was only a 9 month project. I am not about to quit my job and sell my house for just a 9 month commitment. I think he has meetings with JCPenney today and Monday to see if they want him on one of their current projects. I am crossing my fingers he gets in!
Anyway, I included some pics from last weekend:
I’m Done with Walmart!! D-O-N-E! DONE!
I have never really liked Walmart. If you work for Walmart I am sorry but it is the worst store ever!! Sunday I went there because they are the only store that sells the refrigerated raw tortillas that we like. All you have to do is put them on the griddle and get tortillas that taste darn near close to homemade. So because of this I had to succumb to doing my grocery shopping there. When I was done I wheeled my cart to the front to find that with like 20 registers they only had 5 people working to check people out. The lines were 10 people deep and that is not an exaggeration, I counted! Most had carts full of groceries. I only had a few items (maybe 25 things) so I went to the self checkout because otherwise I would have walked right out of there without getting anything. But I decided I would have wasted all that shopping time. I am a self proclaimed pro on the self checkout machine...EXCEPT at Walmart! I scanned my items very fast but when I tried scanning my coupons (yes I use coupons, God forbid I use coupons!) they would not take. I have scanned coupons at other places with no problems. If I would have been at Kroger or Albertsons I would have them scanned in 30 seconds and been on my way. But no...Walmart cannot have the same great technology as the other stores (even though they make billions a year)!! I had to have a worker come and tell me I wasn't folding the coupon in order for it to scan. Since when are you supposed to fold a coupon for the scanner to read it?! Then she proceeds to tell me since I am a coupon user I should go to the regular line....oh by then I was fuming!! Because if you are going to tell me that then A) walmart should not accept coupons at all at the self checkout!! and B) they should get a NORMAL amount of staff to work on Sundays so that the "regular" lines are not a 30 minute wait to check out!! I came home and told Eric never again will I go to Walmart. If we need something that only they sell then he is going to have to go. I am BANNING them!! I cannot tell you how much I LOVE my SuperTarget now. I will definitely be going there from now on because not only do they have competent people who work there they have enough to cover the registers. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the front of Target to checkout and they have someone just waiting for me. "Are you ready to checkout? I can help you right here." Music to my ears! Thank you Target! You are top shelf in my book!
Finishing it up
Yeah so Eric pretty much left you hanging on his Vancouver "series" blog. He didn't quite get you to Day Three, did he? Slacker!! I will finish it up for him...
So on the third and final full day we were there we decided to go bicycling through Stanley Park. This is a huge park. It took 1 hour to ride all the way around it. We rented the bikes from a place right across the street from the park. There were some awesome views of the Pacific Ocean. The weather was perfect...not too cool but not hot at all and we didn't really even break a sweat. If you ever go to Vancouver I highly recommend at least seeing Stanley Park and enjoying the beautiful natural setting. After the ride we were pretty dang tired seeing as how we walked all the way there (several blocks!) rode bicycles for an hour and walked back to the hotel. So we rested up and headed to the Gastown district for some tasty beverages. Yes, Eric had to go back to the Black Frog. After that it was time for dinner so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and I had made reservations at an Italian restaurant in Gastown called Al Porte Ristorante. It was very nice, not too extremely fancy. We had both been on a low carb diet since June so we decided to go for it. ALL IN! We both had Fettucine Alfredo. It was not the best we have ever had but after not having pasta for so long we devoured it. I had a melon martini there that was totally worth the $9 I paid for it. I mean it was heaven in a glass!! I read all the ingredients they put into it but I am not sure what ratios so I am going to have to experiment to get that perfect concoction. I am sure it is not healthy...well for one, its alcohol...and I am sure there is a lot of sugar in that melon liquor. But I don't care as long as I don't have it but every now and again. After that we went to "The White Spot" which was a restaurant/bar close to the hotel and we had some more drinks and went ahead and had a piece of chocolate cake. It was our 5 year anniversary trip...we deserved it!! We stuck together this long, we were due a huge sugar infested piece of cake. Of course, Eric only had a few bites as he is not big on sweets but he said it was good, which coming from him means something since he is a skeptic on anything chocolate. Then we knew we had to get up early and head to the airport so we just crashed for the night. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. Everyone should visit Canada at least once in their lifetime. Very nice people and very beautiful landscapes!
So if that wasn't enough, I am headed to Vegas next Saturday. Yes, Vegas again! Eric is staying behind with Marin since he just started his new job and cannot go. My parents go every October and invited me out there since a family friend's son is getting married while they are there. It is a cheap trip since I will stay in the same room with the parents and I had a credit with Southwest Airlines for the airfare.
So Saturday is mine and Eric's official 5 year anniversary, Oct. 3. We discussed what we wanted to do seeing as how my mom will be in town for her retirement seminar and can babysit that night for us. We already had our dinner date when we were in Vancouver so we wanted to do something a little more fun. So we decided to hang out with our friends at a bar and watch the Sooner vs Miami game. Eric is trying to get into football now...maybe not with my Sooners but he has been watching the Cowboys games. He is getting all the terminology down. He knew what "intentional grounding" was! He is a sports fan in the making!!
Vancouver: Day Two
On the second day, Monday, we decided to rent a car and see a few more sites that were not easily accessible via Vancouver’s public transportation. We made the reservation online the night before for a Toyota Camry Hybrid. What did we end up getting? A 2010 Ford Mustang GT convertible…sorry Kelli. The day started out very overcast, so Budget was really slashing prices on the convertibles. It cost us a little less than $15 more. I was still sticking with the hybrid, but they then mentioned that the Mustang was ready to go, but the Camry was getting cleaned up and would be a little bit of a wait…I give the rep props for being a grade A salesman. I also got the portable navigation unit for $12, but that was actually my idea from the beginning.
Nothing like getting in a car you have never driven and pulling out into downtown Vancouver Monday morning traffic! I suppose I did okay. The kicker is all of the pedestrians. We ended up making 3 rights turn to equivalate 1 left turn several times throughout the day.
Our first stop was the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was only about a 15 minute drive from downtown. On there way there we crossed over the Lions Gate Bridge (pictured above).
I guess it worked out that we rented a car from Budget because they gave us a free admission ticket for the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This was nice since tickets were $30 each! We hung out there for a couple of hours. It wasn’t too crowded being a Monday morning I suppose.
Next we hopped back in the car and drove on up to Grouse Mountain, which was only a few more miles up the road. You park at the base, then ride a lift about half a mile up. While we were paying for parking, we heard the announcement that the next lift up was leaving in 5 minutes…so ran on up and paid the $36 each for admission. The warned us before paying that we wouldn’t be able to see much due to the weather. The day before was nice! We decided to check it out anyways. On the 8 minute ride up the mountain, I realized that I forgot my jacket. There was about a 20 degree difference between the 70ish temperature at the base and the top of the lift. They were not kidding about not seeing much either. We stayed up Grouse Mountain for a couple of hours before I was getting pretty chilly.
After Grouse, we drove down Highway 99 a few miles before seeing a “scenic route” exit. So I took that which ended up heading up a mountain which is next to Grouse. About half way up we stopped at a scenic overlook. We continued up until it road dead ended. There was quite a bit of construction going on preparing for the 2010 Olympics. We then headed back down. It’s a little weird to go from 50 degrees and drizzle to 70 and sunny in just a few minutes. We stopped at the scenic overlook again on the way down, but this time it was so I could pop the top on the convertible. It was about 2 PM at this point and we were hungry. We headed to a Red Robin that we found via the Garmin GPS unit.
It was turning into a sunny day at this point, so we wanted to get some use of the convertible. We drove more around downtown and Stanley Park, which is downtown as well. Around 7 PM, it started getting dark. We turned in the car that night instead paying $30 for overnight parking.
Later that night we went back over to Black Frog for a night cap.
Day three to come…
Vancouver: Day One
Actually, we arrived in Vancouver on Saturday night around 7:30 PM. With a little help from Darren, we got a row to ourselves on the plane trip there, which only turned out to be a little over three and a half hours in the air. From the airport, we took the Canada Line train to downtown Vancouver and walked two blocks from the City Center Station to L’Hermitage, our hotel. After getting settled into the room, we walked down Robson and found a bar called Fogg ‘N Suds. We had some quesadillas and a few cold Coors Lights. Coors Light is apparently brewed in Canada as well because it is considered a domestic beer. I could tell a difference in the taste; however, Angela could not…the Coors Light that is…the quesadillas, awful. They tasted much different than the true Tex-Mex we were used to.
The next morning we got up and decided to walk to the closest casino which was about five blocks away. There was a car show in front of the casino that was about to start. I took a couple of pictures, but we didn’t actually go to the show. The casino, Edgewater Casino, was quite small in comparison to casinos we typically visit. It was two floors. The first floor were a few table games and slot machines and the second floor were just table games. I blew $20 on a slot machine. Angela turned her $20 into $55 on the machine next to me. So that made up for my loss.
Next we walked back to the hotel. On the way there we passed by what appeared to be a production set for a commercial.
That afternoon we walked around downtown Vancouver a bit more. We ended up walking over to Yaletown, a “trendy” area of downtown. We had two $15 burgers and $6 beers for lunch. On the walk back from the restaurant we passed a liquor/beer store. I was getting a little tired of paying top $ for drinks, so I figured I could pickup something for the hotel room. I decided against it when I saw the prices. A 12 pack of Coors Light was $25 (remember that it is considered a domestic beer)! I then looked at getting some Bacardi rum instead. A 750 ml bottle was $30, in Dallas I pay about $12-$14 for the same! At this point I accepted the fact that we would be paying out the nose for alcohol while in Canada.
Later that evening we decided to try out another casino (River Rock Casino) that was a little larger. We took the Canada Line train there. This casino was much larger in comparison to Edgewater; but it was no Vegas casino. We had the $20 buffet and played a little roulette. Angela lost her $20, but I turned mine into $40. I lost at roulette too, but turned my remaining $8 into $40 on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine (got the wheel spin). Technically, Angela won the $40 since she had pressed the button when we got the spin.
On the way back from the River Rock casino, we took the Canada Line train all the way to the Waterfront Station which is the last stop, it is only one more stop past our hotel. We walked around down there and stumbled across a bar called Black Frog. I liked it there since I could get rum and diet’s for $5, which was an awesome deal considering. BC’s talls in BC! After an hour or so, we left and heading back to the hotel. We pasted the steam clock which is right in front of Black Frog.
The link below are to some other photos from the trip. I’ll post day two tomorrow.
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| Vancouver |
