I turned older on the 5th. I got some very nice music, cards, movies, shirts, an onboard temp gauge, and enough tacos to choke a burrow.

 

We had a pretty good party. More people than ever hosted. It was a weeknight, which worked out perfectly - everyone left before I was sleepy, which is almost never the case! I managed to cook 10lbs of ground beef for tacos, all of which was consumed. Fun!

 

Mebbe now that I'm nearing ancient, I should stop feeling that way through diet and exercise. I'll keep pondering this and most likely, continue to take very little action. Just typing this calls for a nap.

 

//bikerscum

Yay! Kelli and I headed to the airport ~10:30pm Friday night for our red eye flight to Houston. We'd land, get our car (which turned out to be absent of color), and make the ~110 mile drive to Orange, TX - home of grandma and grandpa.

 

Along the way we saw numerous humorous things. Of course we did. We were in TX. We got our stop in to a Sonic for breakfast. Anything served on Texas toast is a good thing. On the way we got some good pics of things like the vomit train, a sign for a sushi farm, and much to our surprise, China isn't that far outside of Beaumont. Click here for the series of pics.

 

Grandma's house was awesome. Cozy, quiet, totally relaxing. That is of course aside from the refrigerator I was recruited to move and the wireless network I set up with the supervision and assistance of brother Ian. Grandma had chicken gumbo on the stove in a pot big enough to boil babies. We all pretty much ate a lot of gumbo, which is never a bad thing. Never without an offer for a beer, I chatted with grandma and grandpa for quite a while. It was really super nice to just kick back and chat - low stress.

 

We went out Saturday night over into Louisiana to a place called Cajun Cowboy. I had never had crawfish in abundance before, nor outside of a gumbo. We ordered 3lbs to share between me, Kelli, Bob (Kelli's dad), Ian (Kelli's brother), and Laura, Ian's love flame. I lucked out in that Ian doesn't like seafood. The beer was flowing, boudin balls, onion rings, and fried okra arrived - then we ordered another 2lbs of crawfish. Total heaven - the only thing that would have made it better is some volume on the juke box. That was a fun place. We left there for like $50 (eat your heart out, Seattle) for the B&B, a shady, no signed bar that I've been hearing about for years. They serve the coldest beer - ever. When you order a beer, a mug is removed from a 28 degree cooler and a bottled beer is removed from a 33 degree cooler. The combination is pure magic. An ice halo lifts from the bottom of the mug and disappears as soon as it touches your lips. The coldest beer possible, but with no ice crystals by the time it crosses your lips. I ordered a round for everyone and it cost me $8. I'm moving.

 

In the morning breakfast was on. I happened upon a 5lb box of crawfish that I happily peeled for use in some eggs. I can't get enough of the stuff. We had a great breakfast after which I ended up with more gumbo (*shrug*). We got some pictures together and jumped in our car that was painted with a value, not a color, and made our way back to Houston to see Kelli's cousin and her new baby girl. Girls are a big deal when it comes to great granddaughters since Haley Gracie is the first.

 

Ian and Laura followed us to Houston with a stop at a weird mall to get gifts for the baby and for Logan. We had a nice visit with Traci with the all-entrancing Meet the Fockers (which I'd never seen) on tv in the background. Everyone is happy and healthy - we had a nice time, but it was certainly time for some Lupe Tortilla!

 

Lupe Tortilla, a place I may have mentioned in a post about our last trip to Texas, is a series of awesomeness that knows no bounds. We got to eat outside this time - the margarita was still good, the beer was still cold, and the food ... the food ... wow. I want to have it over and over. Even the mean chile that Ian got a hold of. I found another piece and we were miserable together. Fun! All the flavors were rich and distinct - our leftovers were really good in the hotel room later. Ian and Laura had to get back to Austin and we were on our way to visit Brandon, Christy, and Casseia in The Woodlands. As we parted ways, Ian let me rip The Sword, a band that he wanted me to check out. I've been rocking out at work ever since!

 

We made pretty good time up to and through The Woodlands. Unfortunately we were too late to see the baby, but had a very nice, low key visit with Brandon and Christy. It was very nice to see them since the last trip they were tired and hustling to get on a plane. We got to talk about vacations, business, racing, hobbies, and Akira the dog that would not stop talking to me. The best part was the trip up to Casseia's room to take a peak - my how she's grown. She's her own little person now. As we were all standing by the crib, Brandon was planning to work her binky back into her mouth. All of a sudden, a very, very loud talking book went off and we all jumped! Christy had managed to step on the button labeled "awaken sleeping baby - scare parents". Kelli and I were outta there, knowing that if Casseia woke up, Brandon & Christy would be awake with her for a lot longer than we were going to stay. Once we all made it to the common area upstairs, the laughter continued - Brandon had to come out and discipline his wife - funny in its own right. That whole thing was just way too funny - all of us on tip toes, super quiet, and then out of nowhere... Fun moment to share with our friends.

 

We got directions from Brandon to our hotel which happened to be the same one they stayed in when looking for or awaiting the finish of their house - I can't remember which. It was great to see our friends, even if for only a short time, and it was even better Casseia tussled a little bit, but did not wake up. We got to our hotel and watched some mindless tv, ate leftovers, and eventually fell asleep.

 

We had a 12:30pm flight, so no real need to hustle in the early morning. We drove right to the airport with no traffic trouble at all (I thought us lucky being that it was Monday morning). While there was no Papasitos in the terminal like we were hoping, there was a Popeyes. I know there's one in Federal Way, but I did not realize the biscuits were good enough to use as currency. We shared a little combo of chicken, biscuits, taters and gravy, and red beans and rice. I'm sad to report I couldn't put it all away. The flight was good, watching two movies we had planned on seeing but never did. They were both - well, let's say they did not exceed any expectation. The movies made the flight shorter so that was nice.

 

A fast weekend with a lot packed into it. I left out details on our trip to Gander Mountain, an outdoor store in Beaumont. I had my camera phone out and took 3 pictures - that's how many I needed to get the whole wall of guns. When you go to Texas, you really aren't in Seattle anymore. At all - and that might be the draw for me. =)

 

//bikerscum

I've been tagged! The pressure to post is huge.

 

- Young Assembler at Issaquah Trophy & Awards

- Screen Printer at Tiger Mountain Designs

- Busser / Pizza Builder at Godfather's Pizza

- Software Test Engineer at Microsoft, Calypso Medical, Nordstrom, Ramp Technology Group

 

- FASTER

- Dust to Glory

- Office Space

- Ice Age

 

- Snohomish, WA

- Bellevue, WA

- Kirkland, WA

- Redmond, WA

 

- The Office

- Boston Legal

- Grey's Anatomy

- Motorcycle Racing (MotoGP, WSBK, AMA, SuperMoto, MX/SX)

 

- Leavenworth, WA

- Ocean Shores, WA

- East Coast Power Tour (Boston to Baltimore)

- Houston & Dallas, TX

 

- Brain Dump

- Malletrivia

- Ramp Technology Group

- Superbike Planet

 

- Mexican

- Steak

- Dungeness Crab

- Booze

 

- Throwing a ball with Logan

- Playing War with Barrett

- Wandering Leavenworth with Kelli

- Any race track

 

- Audioslave [Audioslave & Out of Exile]

- Rage Against The Machine [Rage Against The Machine]

- Alice In Chains [Facelift & Dirt]

- Dave Matthews Band [Live At Folsom Field - Boulder, CO]

 

- 1986.5 Toyota Supra

- 1989 Ford Bronco XLT

- 1995 Kawasaki Ninja EX250

- 1995 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7

- **Old Tote Gote

 

- SVixen

- Christonicle

- Summer of Greg

- CatchMeRiding

 

*For those of you who were tagged by this post, you're now on the hook to post Four Things.

**Old Tote Gote was a humorous late addition after a "badass bike" discussion between Charles and myself.

It's official! Today marks my first day as a Ramp Technology Group employee. Somewhere in a previous, long winded approach to updating you all with details of my life, I mentioned I was sitting on a number of offers. Ramp has interesting work, the right people, and the right culture; we're also located in Bellevue, a swift 9 minute commute. Sign me up!

 

And that they did. I was pleased to receive an invite to the company's quarterly meeting, with the option of sitting in on a Scrum development methodology overview that occurred beforehand. Even though I didn't start until the following Monday, I got the invite - so this is what it's like to not be a contractor!

 

Scrum is very interesting, and I think using such a process (in conjunction with pieces of Agile and Extreme Programming techniques) will not only benefit Ramp, but the customer as well. I can start testing software and designing automation when the product is being thought of instead of after it's done. Yay!

 

I learned a lot about the company during the meeting, which continued on at The Parlor in Lincoln Plaza. Suffice to say Ramp folks know how to have fun! What a very neat way to get to know a new team of folks. I'll be happy here!

 

So here I am, all set up and ready to go. There are a number of interesting projects lined up here, so there will be no shortage of technology used, knowledge to gain, and information to share. Speaking of which, check out Ramp's blog: http://community.rampgroup.com/blogs/ramp_technology_group/default.aspx. Someday when I contribute something useful, I may end up on the page. Most likely, though, it'll be here. =)

 

//bikerscum

So I've been missing in action for long enough. My good friend Brandon sent a ping mail to find out where I've been, so here goes nothing.

 

Most recently, I've decided to move on from Nordstrom for a better career development opportunity. I put my resume on Monster and in 5 days had 132 views and was contacted by 14 companies via email and phone. Let's just say there's no shortage of technical work out there. 3 opportunities have presented themselves, one of which I accepted perhaps prematurely. While returning to Microsoft as a vendor would be a good opportunity, a direct hire with with these other two companies would be GREAT opportunities. I should receive an offer by noon today and another Wednesday of next week. Both companies build on Microsoft platforms, utilizing some neat technology. It's coming down to benefits, paid holidays, and paid vacation at this point. One threatens an 8% bonus which ain't bad either.

 

It's weird, but basically these decisions and the energy that goes into managing thirsty-for-answers recruiters and head hunters is consuming. The stress is large enough that I can't sleep or focus on any one thing - really the part that frustrates me is my inability to give my family the attention they need and deserve. Hopefully the job will get picked and we can return to a normal cycle of work/life balance.

 

Speaking of which, the new Coleman tent camper we purchased should help out in that arena. For those who haven't seen, it's a 17' trailer we can tow anywhere. Looks like a big box. When we get to our destination, we crank it up like a jack-in-the-box. The top raises, exposing canvas, plastic, and screen. Then ends pull out turning it into a 25' home on wheels. There are queen beds on either side, a dining area (where the table drops down for another twin size sleeping area), sink, stove, shower, heater. We won't be roughing it anymore! Can't wait to take it on a trial voyage without children this weekend.

 

School continues to putt along. Again I start a class tonight about business globalization - another UoP attempt at boring the snot out of high paying customers. Content prolly has nothing to do with anything, and the added stress of managing deliverables will again haunt me as I try to make time for everything.

 

Since I didn't have enough to do, I signed up for WMRRA novice (Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association). I'm going to race a couple of sprint races on my ZX-10R this year. Between the racing and marshalling for 2Fast Motorcycle Track Days & Instruction, I should hopefully get enough laps to make me smoother, more comfortable, more competent, safer, and in the end, faster. I have dreams of wild paint for my race bodywork and onboard camera, dvr, and a data acquisition system, but we'll see how many sets of tires I need first. I should have taken up frisbee - I hear I can get into that for like $15, and that includes lunch.

 

Kelli and I will be traveling to Texas next month for the food. Oh, er, I mean to visit her cousin's new baby. I'll finally get to see Grandma's house (Katrina and Rita pretty much blew it for me last time - no pun intended). We'll finally get to cross into Louisiana for beers on Lake Charles. Kelli's brother Ian claims the beer at the B&B is served colder than anywhere on the planet. When we come back into Houston, we'll plan something with Brandon, Christy, and Casseia (who I hear is rolling around on her own, and even sitting up!) - it'll be great to see our friends again so soon (since October).

 

I don't know how much longer I'll be able to stomach driving my truck around. The ZX-10R is off the street for good. I don't enjoy riding it unless it's on a track. I have very little control over my right wrist when I climb on that thing - the bike is like a whiff of tequila to my body. I just turn dumb... Dumb and street don't mix. I'm working on debt consolidation to save money in interest every month and to make my credit look a little better. Our goal is some land, hopefully in the Leavenworth area. My short term goal is a '06 Husqvarna TE450 that I can convert to supermoto for commuting and racing (and a 30 minute conversion back to a dirt bike to play with the family). I do need to ride on the street, just not a liter bike - and not rollin' around in a Yukon.

 

Never a shortage of hair-brained ideas, or plans on how to get every inch out of life. I'm still around, just not consta-blogging. Perhaps I'll remedy that, again.

 

//bikerscum

Just when I thought I had it all. I need to somehow own this, and perhaps send a copy of it towards Boston for Alex & Christina. Too funny to me, really.

 

//bikerscum

So my super sweet (to some) phone is starting to die. It took me about 3 calls to figure out what the problem was, and about 2 calls to decide what to do about it. I don't do well with technology that doesn't do what I bought it to do. Enter: Comcraptastic DVR. I heart Tivo.

 

It started sitting at my desk. I'd make a call, and continue doing what I was doing while it connected, rang, until someone answered. It dawned on me that I'd dial, then sit there forever, never hearing anything. After a while, it'll kick in. Very strange. So I'd make 3-4 calls in a row, prolly embarrassing myself to whoever is on the other end, then hang up. I'd call voicemail and sit and wait - sure enough, the speaker would come back in the middle of an archived message.

 

I wandered over to the T-Mobile store to see what they could do for me. Sure enough, there's a recall on my model Samsung. Does that matter in my case? Of course not. Why should it? It's me. The one year warranty expired in August (along with my phone), and they won't cover the busted state of my hardware.

 

"No problem", I think to myself. That's why I pay the $3-$4 per month for the insurance (in case of loss, theft, breakage, children, water hazards, etc). I call, they ask all the regular dumb questions (is it on, do you have signal, have you poured booze on it, thrown it against a solid stationary object, a solid moving object, or shot it with a modified Red Rider BB Gun). We get to the point where you hard reboot by taking the battery off and holding down the power button for 20 seconds. Call back in 24 hours if it still has issues.. Um, OK.

 

So I waited 20 minutes and called back. Kept referring the lady to the notes made on the account when she repeated questions, and once satisfied, said we'd have to go ahead and file a claim. No kidding. There were two questions I had at this point, but only got one answered. I wanted to know how much the deductible was and what replacement models were available to me (prolly a like phone, since this one is prolly retired - so tired in my case, I can't hear).

 

She mentioned she'd have to collect a $110 deductible for my replacement phone, and could take a Visa or MasterCard. I told her she could take neither, and that I can go hit up the phone upgrade program with T-Mobile, and for no more than they wanted for a deductible, I could have 90% of the models available to me, brand new.

 

So, in the future, after I purchase a new phone and something newer, cooler, and cheaper comes along, I will be cancelling this so called "coverage" and bite the bullet if I drop my phone in the lake. Makes no sense to hand them nearly $50 per year so that I can have a $110 deductible on a phone that cost me $250 when it was new.

 

Merry Christmas to me. I'll be enjoying a lot of features on my new Samsung t809.

 

//bikerscum

So pretty much my light hanging involved very little effort. The house looks nice and all, but I lacked extension equipment to well-hide plugs and not drape over the walkway, etc. Then I read about the 45k lights guy in Maple Valley. I was unable to navigate my family to the site last night. I plumb failed.

 

Then there's this article. Dude on the east coast has rigged his lights to music. Bellagio barely competes with his masterful display. I've put the video here for your viewing pleasure.

 

Am I less of a man? I have not achieved some great masterful lighted wonder for people to travel from afar to see. Have I failed my family? I need more lights and an air stapler!

 

Edit: Tom sent me a link to another edition of the superiorly-lit house on the east coast. I've put the video here for your viewing pleasure.

 

//'scum

Many years ago, I bought Charles a Red Rider BB Gun for xmas. The idea of only him having one was silly, so I bought two. He was pretty stoked with his new gift, so we stepped out on the porch at mom's house with the intent of plinkin' cans.

 

Charles' first shot scared me a bit. The can went in the air, up went the barrel of the Red Rider, and *tink* - first shot, first toss, deadly accurate. Had it been Indy, my surprise would have been bypassed, but Charles? (We won't get into how neither of us could hit a thing after that)

 

Good times. We were chatting about the memory today, and got into home security. It's a pretty worthless $30 rifle when it comes down to it. I mentioned the plastic butt might sting a bit if he swung it hard enough at a perp, and then came the idea of the 4" Henckel bayonet.

 

I use Photoshop for all my design needs. The obvious flaw (lack of bayonet mounts) on the Red Rider was really no exception for redesign. Click here for the full on Red Rider BB Gun with Henckel Bayonet Option.

 

//bikerscum