PLAYOFFS!!

The 'Skins have made the playoffs. Highly improbable 4 weeks ago. But it happened. Off to Seattle to take on the Seahawks, who managed to lose to the measly Falcons (HAHAHA!). One step at a time.

NFL Network

Tonight's simulcast of the NFL Network could utterly backfire on the NFL. Instead of opening the eyes of the football world and fans nationwide, and compelling them to demand this channel from their cable providers - I see an opposite result. As anyone who has watched a game on the NFL Network will tell you, the play-by-play is horrible. No, horrible is too nice. Think "fingernails-on-chalkboard" painful.

The simulcast will make the broadcast available nationwide - to hundreds of millions of more people than could have seen the game (and associated broadcast deficiencies). Those who have been thinking they'd like this thing called the NFL Network will get a preview - free. And they'll realize they'd probably never watch it again - and most definitely wouldn't pay good money to watch it. With NFL history on display, and a network that will underwhelm even a granny in Iowa, the NFL Network may have just doomed itself to failure.

Everyday Criminal

Long story short - tonight we had Christmas with Angela's Mom's side of the family - around 15-20 grandkids (of which we are included), a few great-grands, and all the aunts/uncles/cousins/etc.

We left early to get Mia to bed and realized we hadn't garnered the appropriate keys to enter Angela's folks' home. So, stuck in the driveway, 30 minutes away from the keys and 60 minutes late from Mia's bedtime, I took on the mindset of "I can't be stuck in this car for another 45 minutes."

Only two doors in their house don't have deadbolts - one leading to the garage, and one leading from the garage into the house. For all you wannabe house enterers out there, the Ann Taylor credit card does not (!) work to open doors. But, the Safeway frequent shopper/discount card works wonderfully. If only car doors opened so easily.

As an aside, Smokey the dog just looked on in quiet, cold confusion as to what I was doing. He won't tell anyone....

Christmas time is here

No, "Peanuts" doesn't mark the beginning of the Christmas season. Only one masterpiece can accomplish that: Handel's Messiah. I have put off listening to it for the last few weeks, and now with one week (plus a day) to go, it was time to break out the violins and harpsichord. Blissful baroque.

Power Lunch

Bowl of chili, cup of tuna salad (protein in a cup!), and a bottle of super-duper antioxidant drink which probably cost me $3.50. It tastes like I'm drinking a peach. Mmmmm.

Mia says: "Mitt! Mitt!"

No, she's not stumping for Romney. She's in love with her kitten mittens. And with her expanding love of the English language (and her amazing ability to vocalize said language), she walks around the house saying, "Mitt, mitt, meow-meow-meow!!"

Dog knows not her time...

This one hits a little closer to home. While I was away at college, my parents obtained a small dog. A poodle, in fact. Not a toy poodle, not a put-my-foot-hair-in-a-bow poodle, or anything like that. Just a sweet, small dog. [I say "obtained" because I don't remember the exact circumstance, but she was a gift from a family and my parents weren't exactly soliciting for a dog at the time.]

This dog, Charlotte, had many quirks. She would "sing" whenever music played. She would "SING" when you sang "Old Macdonald Had a Farm." She would lick your arm up and down until it was sticky and you had to take a bath. Actually, she'd lick you anywhere you had open skin.

Soon, she became my grandmother's companion. Mimi was living alone, and Charlotte provided that friendship, companionship, and sense of responsibility that everyone craves. Charlotte was faithful, always obedient, and for the last few years slept at Mimi's feet.

So this quick and incomplete eulogy is all to say - after the fam (including Charlotte) returned home from visiting us over Thanksgiving, Charlotte sadly passed away. She had developed a cough/choke while at our house, and a check-up at the vet revealed nothing serious. Unfortunately, it was. Whether it could have been prevented, we don't (and will never) know. But we will miss Charlotte, her wacky ways, and her sweet love.

Yo, peeps!!

I'm always learning. It's the "college of life" as my Dad would say.

Example: Pronounce the word - bonhomie. Seriously, right now - say it out loud - bonhomie.

I would have said, "bon-home-y." Yes, laugh out loud at me. Maybe it's just my ghetto self, but I seriously would have pronounced a hard "h" and a long "o" and "e." Instead, it's supposed to be pronounced like, "bahn-uh-mee." Like bigamy (only different).

Anyway, here's the real scoop: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bonhomie

Man knows not his time...

...in a purely selfish perspective, this stinks for the Redskins.

In a purely eternal perspective, let us hope his newfound maturity included a realization of his need for a renewing of the inner man.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/27/AR2007112700538.html?hpid=topnews

God's Perfect Timing

My parents, sister, and grandmother were planning to come visit for Thanksgiving and then called Tuesday to say the trip was off. As can be expected, we were definitely bummed. Then, we got a call on Wednesday, saying the trip was back on, and they'd be driving up on Thursday.

We decided to delay our Thanksgiving dinner until Friday so we could all enjoy it 1) fresh and 2) together.

Needless to say, when the power went out on Thursday at 2:30pm (right in the middle of when we would have been cooking), we were quite grateful that my family's trip was delayed a day and we were only planning on Progresso soup and cheese toast for dinner. The power was restored around 6ish, I believe.

I feel for those in our area who missed out on being able to complete their Thanksgiving meals, and I'm grateful that ours went without a hitch on Friday. Having our family in town was the greatest thing we could have asked for, and words can't describe how happy I was that my grandmother could travel with them and see our home, our neighborhood, and especially our little girl.

Amelia was enthralled with "Aunt Abby" as usual, and she would hear the door open and say "Pa" for Grandpa coming in from outside. At night, when I'm putting her to bed, she usually says "Mama Mama Mama" and I let her know that Mama loves her and says "Goodnight." Now, Amelia would say "Mama," then "Aaaa" (for Abby), "Pa" (for Grandpa), and then start back with "Mama." She wants to make sure that everyone still loves her. Don't worry, we do.

"We didn't start the fire..."

And hopefully it will burn on and on and on.

Our oven died. Yesterday, to be exact. We cooked some salmon on broil, and then I hit "bake" and "350." Timer dings, and rolls are mushy. No fire. Hmmmmm.... Broiler works, oven doesn't.

Quick google search indicates I likely have a bad "igniter." Call to the appliance place, pick up the last one, install it (after a few frustrating minutes, realized I could take the entire burner assembly off), and BOOOM (thanks, John Madden), it's a burnin'.

I had to splice a wire (wire doesn't seem to be the right word) - and only had plastic wire nuts. Hopefully it won't melt!

Just a little bit of fun...

...with "Photo Booth"

Did you know...

...that Godiva chocolates is owned by the Campbell Soup Co. ? I thought my last truffle tasted a bit...tomatoey....

Amelia and I trekked out to the mall one day last week, partly because I had some shopping to do but mostly because it was too cold and rainy to do our routine outdoor activities, and we both needed a change of scenery!

Our first stop? The mall's indoor PLAYGROUND! Because we got there a little early (15 minutes before all the stores opened) we were the first and only ones there, so for a few minutes, Amelia had the place to herself. I took advantage of the opportunity to get some pictures. =D


Amelia LOVES cars! She spent about 15 minutes crawling around, climbing up and down, and playing on this one.



You can't really see them in this picture, but there are three big slides on this "airplane." It's definitely a favorite!

Amelia attempts to climb up one of the airplane slides -- it's no small feat in socks!


~posted by Ang

Just a few laughs

Hopes this doesn't violate any copyright laws....

Our Little Bumblebee

Our church does a "Trunk or Treat" every year on Halloween --a sort of fall festival for families. Though we don't celebrate Halloween, we enjoy participating in the Trunk or Treat and, this year, dressing Amelia up as a little bumblebee. :-) She had such a fun time (mostly because she was outside where she could really spot the airplanes!). This year there were circus swings, which Mia was very excited about! The swing looked a little big for her, but she rode in it like a champ and loved it!

The "10-Second Rule"

I think the 10-second rule should be extended to 15 seconds for a piece of fruit. Surely something in fruit is so healthy as to counteract any dirt on the ground.

And definitely it should be 30 seconds for chocolate. Very few things can keep chocolate from being good for you.

I like...

popcorn and Counting Crows, especially on a rainy day when I'm reviewing lots and lots of documents.

The long 'waited pics

Here they are. Sorry, but some you'll have to rotate on your own. =) Obviously, not all of these are from the beach, but I think you'll enjoy them just the same. And yes, she's getting cuter every day (and very polite - her "Thank you" is almost flawless!).

Daily Pic - 10-23-07

Wanna trade Lunchables??

Today I feel like an 8-year-old. My lunch consisted of: pizza, applesauce, and pop-tarts. The only thing that's changed is I'm drinking coffee....

[and yes, impatient little sister, I will post pictures. Soon....Maybe...]

Shirts vs Skins

JC in KC asked for a report on the (used-to-be) red hot Redskins.

1) This request coming from KC where LJ couldn't spell first down before this week. Nonetheless...

2) I'm impressed with Jason Campbell, and I think he will lead this team for a number of years.

3) Defense seems to have stepped up back to their 2005 form. Solid.

4) Turnovers killed us this week - end score could have been a lot worse (Crosby hit the upright from ~30 yards? Yikes!)

5) Playcalling is still questionable - who's really making the calls? Gibbs (Mr. I'm-stuck-in-1992) ? Or Saunders (Mr. I paired down my playbook from 750 pages to 50 manageble pages - oh, and I'm a genius, too). Local sports radio junkies are wondering why they signal to Campbell from the sidelines instead of using the radio direct from Saunders. Hmmmm....

6) 3-2 isn't bad for a team that was 5-11 last year. But we still have to play the Cowboys twice, and at New England.

I predict the Skins will go 6-5 the rest of the season, for a 9-7 record. Should be enough to get into the playoffs, with a first round victory over Carolina, and a second-round loss to Green Bay (just for Mike's sake, I think Green Bay makes the Super Bowl and gets bowled-over by New England, 38-17).

Big Shout

My car battery died on Tuesday. (sounds of sympathy from the peanut gallery)

No big deal, thought Mr. Self-Sufficient. I'll save a few bucks, buy the battery from Costco, and replace it myself. Besides, my faithful dad had given me clear and helpful instructions to protect me from zapping myself.

Negative wires - off. Yes, half-way there!

Positive wires - twist, turn, yank, pull, douse with WD-40, cover with Dr. Pepper, lather in Baking Soda, twist, pull, hammer, mangle the head of the bolt, mumble curses under my breath, give up.

Not to be deterred from victory, I come back the next night to try again. Another hour later, I'm still in the same spot. Although this time, I was so desperate that I cut the sheathing off the contacts, in hopes that it would help.

Then comes Saturday - we have friends from TN in town, and I ask the guy to help me out. We twist, turn, yank, pull. He has a dislocated shoulder, but that doesn't stop him from putting his might into it. Lo and behold, his dueling channel locks manage to yank the wires and the entire terminal out of the old battery. Meaning: the battery is free, but we still have to get the bolt out of the terminal.

Solution - sheer destruction. Hammer and flat-head screwdriver - chip away at the metal which has melted together and prevents any loosening of the bolt. Humans: 1, Vehicle: 0 !!

In goes new battery, crank 'er up, and better than new. Lesson learned? Let Auto Zone replace your battery for free.

Fast Food

Heard on the radio - when asked if he ever stopped at McDonald's or other fast-food, and what his thoughts were about it, Wolfgang Puck replied: "I'm never that hungry."

Unfortunately, some of us don't have the time (or patience) to be so discriminating in our choice of meals.

In the past month...

...ok, it's been over a month, so here's a rundown:

1) We took our yearly family vacation to Tybee Island (Savannah, GA) with the Davis family. Two years ago, there were no great-grandkids. Last year, there were three. This year: FIVE (thanks to the dynamic duo, Super Stephan and Mighty Marcus). As it happens with little ones around, it was sometimes more stressful than relaxing, but we enjoyed the water, the views, the walks, and the family. Mia traveled well, making the ~12 hour trip in one day, each way. Good for her!

2) We painted our living room, and partly up the stairwell to the third floor. Partly in that it's very tall and we didn't have time to finish. I have no motivation now - that's not good.

3) Work has definitely kicked back into gear, with Board meetings, more tasks, and lots of changes (and it's an election year, so the politicking is undeniable).

4) Mia has grown more and more - 2 inches, in fact, in the last 3 months. She's saying a number of words, signing a LOT of words, giving the sweetest smiles and kisses, and becoming much more independent. She loves the outside and takes Mommy on walks to the playground almost every day.

5) We're on a short vacation to Richmond. I have a conference tomorrow and Tuesday, and the girls decided to join me. We've done some exploring, retracing old steps, and now the little one is napping. We're sitting in a little corner alcove down the hall from our room, and thankfully there's free wireless internet (to keep up with Fantasy Football). Which leads to #...

6) ...the Redskins are 2-0 !!?? People questioned the signing of Jason Campbell when the 'Skins had two "viable" QBs. People questioned his ability, said he hadn't done all that well at Auburn throughout his career (although his last year was amazing) - I always thought he had potential. He's still learning the ropes, but he has poise, strength, and a HUGE arm. If you can overthrow Santana Moss 50 yards down field, you have a strong arm. Quite a change from our 35 year-old Brunell who couldn't hit 25 yards consistently.

So that's life in a nutshell. I'm sure pictures will be forthcoming, but in a few days.

S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E

Scrabble word of the day:



[It was worth 86 points!]

Summer Pics

It is HER car, after all....

It's never a good thing when you receive a call from an unknown area code and it's your wife on the phone saying, "Everything is ok, but...."

[5 minutes earlier]

Ang and Mia were enjoying a nice day on the town, doing some midday shopping. Ang put Mia in the car seat, and Mia had been such a wonderful shopper that when she asked for the "keese," Ang was more than happy to oblige.

[3 days earlier]

Mia was playing in the basement and found Ang's keys in her purse. She picked them up, found the new Pilot key, and started hitting buttons. Imagine her surprise when after a couple of button pushes, the horn honked. And again. And again. She really liked it.

[Back to 5 minutes earlier]

Mia quickly found that same button and excitedly pushed it. Twice. The horn honked (oh boy!). Oh no. It would have been fine, but Mom (Ang) was not in the car with Mia. Nor had Mom left any doors open. She was getting the stroller to put in the trunk (what do you call the back of an SUV?). Surely, it must have been another car. Oh no. It surely was our adorable little genius of a girl.

[Quick meteorological interlude]

After some sweltering days last week, it has cooled off nicely and today was overcast and 75ish. Thankfully.

[Back to "present"]

I jump in the car at work, call AAA, call the Sheriff's Office (AAA suggested it), and head down the road. I'm about 20 minutes away. AAA says it will be an hour (ugh!). Sheriff's Office says they don't carry slim-jims anymore, but in cases of emergency could break the window (hope this isn't an emergency).

Mia, now, is just having a blast. Playing, and happily strapped in her car seat. Ang tries to get her to press "the other button," which she does lightly, but not enough to open the doors.

Then, the fire truck shows up. Drives around, finally finds Ang, who incredulously asks, "Are you here for ME???" (As a matter of fact, yes.) And while they only had a minute or two to try to slim-jim the door open (so maybe they do carry them still), I drove up, clicked the clicker before I even got out of the car, and 30 seconds later the fire truck was gone, ambulance left, and deputy could go back to fighting crime.

And our sweet li'l Mia was just as happy as could be. Who needs OnStar - I am my own OnStar!!!

Barry Bonds

So my sis asked about my thoughts on Barry Bonds. Here's a quick rundown:

1) Did Barry use performance enhancing drugs? Yes
2) Did it help him hit more home runs? Yes
3) Does it negate the amazing feat? No
4) Is Bud Selig a doofball? Yes

Here's my thought. I think Bud realizes that baseball didn't do enough to prevent the use of performance enhancing drugs. Should they have? Maybe, maybe not. Surely the McGwire/Sosa home run race brought baseball back from the dead zone. And there was no condemnation of their efforts, or attempts to curb steroid use after their historic years.

So all in all, I think Bud feels a twinge of guilt. He realizes that he could have stepped up. He could have instituted better drug testing, made earlier attempts to set harsh fines for drug use (as he's done now). But instead, he sat on his laurels (is that the phrase??) and it's now turned into a huge controversy.

Asterisks. Speculation. Air of suspicion.

Thanks, Bud.

Mia's new toy ... er... safety device =)

Morning Time with Mia

The Great 1/2 Sandwich Scheme

I've realized why I like getting 1/2 a sandwich so much - because even
though you only pay for 1/2 a sandwich, you get an entire pickle
spear!! HAH! That's like getting TWICE the pickle for your money.

What a deal - it's like I'm fleecing the restaurateurs. Then again, I
forgot to eat my pickle today....

Waiting...waiting...not quite yet.

So, what random thoughts come to mind when you've been on hold with Delta for 70 minutes and 12 seconds...13...14...15.....??

1) Too bad I was on hold for 45 minutes the FIRST time I called, only to find out that I hadn't accomplished anything.

2) It takes at least two "supervisors" to fix some random problem that I created in their reservation system.

3) It's still worth the $120 I'm saving, plus getting my lovely wife and daughter home for Father's Day (they'll have been gone 2 weeks by then!!)

4) I have a hard time spelling the word privilege. I always want to spell it "privelege" (which is not correct - do not read this and say, "Well, Danny spelled it that way, it must be correct").

5) Sarah thinks I'm brilliant. I'll take it, whether she's just trying to get on my nerves or not. Then again, this is coming from the one who tried (unsuccessfully) to make cupcakes at 4am. I'll get back with you on this one....

6) It's hard to clean toilets without toilet bowl cleaner.

7) We're pushing 90 minutes here - this is almost getting absurd (I'll probably become a case study for issuing tickets).

8) I finally bought vertical blinds for our sliding glass door in our kitchen. But - it's really tall, and the tallest size ended up about 4 inches short - looks like a little boy (me, maybe?) whose slacks were just a bit too short and didn't fall to his shoes.

9) The Wall Street Journal is a great thing to have when you're eating out alone - keeps you from feeling quite so alone.

10) After 90 minutes - I got disconnected. Wow.

Wow.

Wow.


Addendum: After all that, they got the reservation details wrong!! AARRGGGHHH!!!!

Fitting right in

Today, the County Administrator introduced me as "The Rookie" to a new employee. It's fun being the new, young guy on board....

This mainly stems from the fact that now that I am a bureaucrat, I have joined the "BGA: The Other Tour." It's our golfer's group, and the County Administrator is the "Commissioner." I had the distinct privilege of playing my first ever BGA event the first weekend in June. It was a three-day golf adventure, and I learned that I have a lot to learn.

The first day was for fun, where I actually hit probably my best two shots of the weekend, and the next two days were almost pure agony (107 and 109, respectively). Regardless of my lack of good scores, I played relatively (read: relatively) well and had fun. I'm looking forward to working on that score.

Grateful

This is a bit late for Memorial Day, but the sentiment remains.

I've never watched "Deadliest Catch" before, but I flipped it on last night for a few minutes and marveled that someone would choose, much less enjoy, that job. Then I saw and ad for "Oil, Sweat, and Rigs" (or something) where these guys risk their lives working on oil rigs. I immediately thought of how grateful I am that I don't have to risk my life every day at my job.

And then I read through an article in Worldabout soldiers and their families from Ft. Hood, Texas. They've lost hundreds of men in the war and the strain is undeniable. My job is nothing compared to these men and women who risk their lives - not for fast cash like the crabbers in Alaska - but for the sake of our country. That is sacrifice, and these are the jobs we should be showcasing on primetime television.

I did WHAT??

Yesterday I got a laptop for my work computer. This way I can work at home, if needed, or possibly even telework, if it fits into my job description.

I was trying to customize for all of my settings, and decided I'd take it home to add some files from home that I might need. I plugged in my external HD, and as I've had to do before, went into "Disk Management" in order to assign a drive letter to the external drive. At the same time, I was talking on the phone with Ang and slightly distracted.

Slightly....distracted....

After I hit "OK" I had a bad feeling about what I had done. I had not, in fact, actually changed the letter of the external drive. No, I had changed the SYSTEM hard drive letter from C: to E: . Yes, the hard drive which my OS is loaded upon. Immediately the system began to run slowly, and still slightly distracted and a little flustered, I decided a restart would fix things.

Nope. Rebooting actually made it worse. Upon loading up, I could log-in, and then it would immediately log back out. And again. Even in "Safe Mode". Nothing worked.

I had it less than 12 hours and had toasted the operating system. Nice job, Senior Project Manager. Oh well, a quick trip to the IT dept. and it was brand new, once again.

Unbelievable

Hold on to your hats!!

One Year!

Some exciting photos from Mia's 1st Birthday party.



TIP: Click the icon on the bottom right, then click the link to see the full album, if you want to see bigger pictures.

Post'd AGAIN (!?!?)

I thought I had gotten away from being in the Post. But here I am again. Thankfully, nothing controversial (for the most part) and just a passing reference.

You can find me and my (former) boss on Page 2: Link here.

Our little Victor Borge

Why "24" is a DUMB show

Last season was the first that we jumped on the "24" bandwagon. And I wish it had been the last. This show is just absurd.

Forget the fact that Jack never eats, sleeps, goes potty (can you tell we have a baby?!), or loses battery power to his cell. Forget that he can singlehandedly kill bad dudes through glass panes with a little pistol, all the while escaping 25 rounds from an automatic bad-boy gun. Forget that everyone continues to act like we should kindly take the bad guys into custody instead of just blowing them away (which would keep them from finding a way to kill to good guys).

Forget all that. What is the most incredibly absurd is that in the same day that a nuke goes off in LA and kills 12,000+ people, half the swat teams in LA are dead, and the president has almost kicked the bucket ... the "couples" in CTU have to have relationship issues.

• "You hurt my feelings."
• "You looked at him the wrong way."
• "Do you have feelings for Doyle??"
• "I'm over you."

For the love of freedom, now is not the time to apologize for the divorce or get into petty arguments. THE FATE OF THE NATION IS IN YOUR HANDS!!!

You think anyone really thinks about those things when you're programming sat coordinates into the computer and tracking Hummers across the lonely desert via infrared stuff?? These people need to learn to compartmentalize!!

New Job

I may have told some of you that I had applied for a new job, so I guess I should follow-up with the results.

I had an interview on April 16th, and I didn't hear anything back until the 26th (talk about an agonizing 10 days!). But, after all my patience (more like impatience), the news was good. I got the job!!

In case you don't remember, I currently work as the staff assistant/legislative aide/constituent affairs specialist/research guru/policy analyst for a member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors (locally elected body in the metro area of Washington DC). I've worked for her since she took office in 2004. During that time, I've learned a TON about the County government, its structure, and the pressing issues facing the County.

A position came open in the County Administrator's office, which is responsible for oversight of all the County departments and provides direct service to the full Board. The position will entail many similar job functions of my current position, yet serving the corporate Board as a whole and not one member. In essence, I'm no longer in a political position, though I won't ever get away from the "politics" of the Board.

It's an amazing opportunity and it will be a great challenge, but I'm quite excited. I start on May 14th, so one week to go. I'll be training a new person starting Tuesday, so I have 3 days to teach her everything I know (hah!).

And yes, if your math appears better than mine, I only have 3 days to train her because on Thursday, I have a golf tournament. =)

Worthless?

Today I bought a salad a lunch for $13. I was hungry 2 hours later.

What a bummer....

Grief overtakes the Commonwealth

I'll tell you, there's an amazing sense of solidarity among the people of Virginia. And did you see Gov. Kaine's speech at the convocation on Tuesday?? Wow, I'm impressed (didn't get to see the President's speech).

A symbol of what everyone in VA is feeling right now:



Image from: http://notlarrysabato.typepad.com (a liberal blog, but one to watch every now and then)

I saw this story at breitbart.com: Court Backs Ban on Abortion Procedure

I saw this story at breitbart.com

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8OJ2HV82&show_article=1

Great news!!

http://www.breitbart.com

Hey Paco, Hold out your hat!

A plethora of pictures:

Spring 2007

Tired Arms

This is a bit o' silly fun.

Go to maps.google.com
Click on "Get Directions"
Type from "New York, NY" to "Paris, France"
Check out step #23

(HT: The Sports Guy)

Welcome Race Fans!

For all you die-hard Mariners lovers out there, a little story. Our family went to a sports bar/grill for dinner on Wednesday night, and while we were there the Boston/Seattle game came on.

Some significance: Dice-K vs. Ichiro. Does Dice-K really have the gyroball? How will this matchup of Japanese players stack up?

Even better was the performance by Felix Hernandez who almost tossed a no-no. But I digress. Early in the 2nd or 3rd inning, a BoSox player popped a soft liner over the Mariner's second baseman's head. He charged out, and made a leaping grab for an out.

I thought to myself: "Wow, that Joey Cora's still got it!!"

And then I woke up from 1996 and realized that I probably didn't know 3 players on the Seattle team. Some guy named Lopez made the catch. Good for him, but I sure miss Joey Cora....

A response...

...to the peanut gallery. Four words:

Budget time. Job interview.

The former has taken up my last month. The latter (preparations thereof) will take up the next week.

But, in the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, check this out:

Oops!

Sometimes it just doesn't come out right: "Mary's House of Hope was designed exclusively for pregnant women or
women with newborns by architect Tom O' Neil...."

Wonder how many children architect Tom O'Neil has??

Swinging

A well-placed duck

I think you get it.

"I support wasteful spending..."

So it goes like this....

I get a letter from the republican national committee (RNC). It says I'm a special guy and they want my opinion on issues that matter to me. It's a loaded survey, and the real point is trying to get people to give money and join the RNC (you get to answer a special question about who you support for president if you give money).

At the bottom, where it lists various levels of support, there's an additional check box: "No, I can't contribute right now, but I'm including $11 to cover costs to process this survey." WHAT???

It costs $11 to type a person's response into a database? And that takes what, 5 minutes? So some dude is getting paid $121/hr for sitting at a computer??

I had half a mind to send the survey back, not filled out, with a little note: "Instead of contributing to the RNC, I decided not to complete this survey and in fact save you $11. You're welcome."
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Nickname

I think only two people in the world (my brother and JC in KC) will appreciate my logic, but here goes.

While playing basketball this morning with my mad skills, I blocked a number of passes while on defense. I thought to myself- I'm like a "white Gary Payton" so that would make me the "white glove." and who wore a white glove? None other than michael Jackson.

So next time you're on the floor with me, watch out for michael Jackson, cuz I'm gonna be your nemesis.

(told you you wouldn't understand!)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Open Letter to AirTran

On my return flight from MEM-IAD with a connection in ATL, the first leg was flight 532 out of MEM at 6:00am on 03/05/07. Due to mechanical problems, we were 60-65 minutes late departing. We touched down in ATL at 9:03am. My connecting flight (Flight 78) departed at 9:20am. However, after deplaning and presenting myself at the departing gate, where the plane was still at the gate, I was not able to board. In fact, 4 other customers were also coming from MEM to IAD, and none of us were able to board.

The gate agent and customer service agents stated there was nothing they could do, as the flight had closed. Whether this was the case or not, I have a number of complaints about the situation.

1) There was no mechanic on site in MEM, and it took about 45 minutes for one to show up. The issue only took 5-10 minutes to resolve. I believe AirTran should have a better system in place for mechanical problems that arise in the early morning hours. This is especially critical as many business travelers need to make connections and choose to travel early in the morning.

2) AirTran was well aware that our flight was late departing and late arriving. I understand the intent of not holding connecting flights when there are additional flights that day. However, we landed 17 minutes before my connecting flight departed. My connecting plane was still at the gate when I arrived at the gate. AND, the next flight out was not for 4 more hours. I was at the gate about 5 minutes after the flight closed (which was 5 minutes BEFORE the departure time) and was forced to wait 4 hours. That is not acceptable.

In today's airline mentality, airline executives believe that "on-time departures" is what matters to passengers. Unfortunately, that is not really what passengers care about. We care about "on-time arrivals." AirTran has a policy of closing a flight 10 minutes before departure. Relaxing that policy to assist 5 late connectors - who were present BEFORE the flight's departure time - would not have adversely affected the "on-time arrival" of the connecting flight. In fact, often times a few minutes can easily be made up in air travel time or taxi time. Instead, this policy made 5 customers very upset at AirTran and will cause us to second-guess flying your airline again.

3) While walking through the concourse, I overheard a customer service agent mocking other passengers who had a similar situation as me and had asked for a free-flight voucher. The agent in essence rolled her eyes and stated that these people were nuts. I didn't approach her, but I think it is unprofessional for a customer service agent, especially in public, to speak negatively about a passenger or passenger's complaints. I, too, felt that I should receive some sort of compensation for my time and inconvenience, as I was at the gate for my connecting flight before the plane pushed back. I did not make that request, though.

One final point - business travelers have a reason for traveling. We aren't just casually trying to make it home. We have places to be, jobs to perform. A mere 5 minutes late (which was actually 5 minutes early!) caused me to be 4 hours late for work and miss a critical meeting. A situation like this doesn't impact an airline - it's part of your routine. But an impact like this can make a world of difference to someone on business. I don't get paid for the hours I don't work, so I am forced to use vacation time or other means to cover the time missed off of work. All because AirTran could not hold a flight 5 minutes for connecting passengers.

I sincerely thank you for reading this far  and hope that you will seriously consider your hard-set policy of closing a flight 10 minutes before departure, especially for a connecting flight which has landed and is deplaning.

Sincerely,
Danny Davis
A+ Member: **********

Update

It's been non-stop the last couple of weeks. First, it's budget time at work, so I'm at meetings 2-3 times per week until 9 or 10 or 11 at night. That kinda hampers one's desire/ability to blog.

We all had a great time at Angela's brother's wedding. My return home was a "deja vu" of my trip there (see post below). I thought about blogging about it, but it was just going to make me more frustrated. Maybe I'll post my letter to AirTran.

Virginia has again proven to be the leader in wacky weather during spring:
Wednesday: High - 75
Thursday: High - 72
Friday: SNOW and sleet!! Yeah, snow. 2 inches. And it was 32 for a high. 40 degree difference in one day, and snow on the ground. Yikes!

Finally, a picture of Amelia's first time in a swing at a park. She apparently LOVED it!

Always an adventure

I somehow always end up with great flying stories. So here it begins (I'm writing this on my blackberry at 20,000+ feet.)

I was scheduled to leave Dulles at 8:30pm, arrive in Atlanta at 10:30pm, and leave for Memphis at 11pm. During the day, I checked the flights, only to find that my 8:30 departure had already been pushed back to 9:30. However, the prior flight was also delayed, and scheduled to leave at 8pm.

I called up airtran and had them rebook me for the earlier flight. I decided to arrive early, which was good, because the plane left about 7:30pm. At the exact time we took off, though, a line of thunderstorms was making its way to Atlanta and up the east coast. The entire flight was very turbulent.

Coming in to atlanta, we were getting beat around, and the pilot had to plow the plane into the runway so as not to get blown off. Pretty nuts-o. Oh, and the normally hour and a half flight ended up as two and a half. I saw a picture of the radar after we had landed, and it looks like we landed right as the worst of it hit Atlanta. Great timing.

But the fun had just begun. I walk into the terminal to find that my flight to Memphis wasn't scheduled to leave until 12:30am (it was 10:15pm at the time). I called up my dad (who used to work for delta) and had him check out the remaining delta flights to Memphis. Sure enough, there was one flight left.

So, I headed to the next concourse over and asked the gate agent to help me out. He couldn't at first, thinking there weren't any extra seats. But, after waiting a bit, he hooked me up and I got on the delta flight (we backed out of the gate at 11:30pm). It took us 35 minutes to get off the ground, due to heavy traffic, so I can only imagine how late the airtran flight will be leaving.

I'm still in the air, so who knows when I'll get to Memphis, much less millington. But the good news is, I'm on my way. And the moral of the story is: it doesn't hurt to ask. For all I know, I may have never even left Washington if I hadn't rebooked that first flight....
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Blocks

The video says it all. =)

Fo' Shizzle, it Fizzled

Forecast During Weekend:
6 inches of snow minimum, a foot or more likely.

Updated Forecast on Monday:
3 inches of snow, 1/2 inch of ice (WIDESPREAD PANIC!)

Actual precipitation:
Inch of snow, maybe two. 2-3 inches of sleet. Little ice.

Bummer....I guess I'll go into work, since webmail's not working...

Crawling

[If the video doesn't load for you, click the "Google Video" button and go to Google Video to view it directly. Be sure to choose "Original Size" for the video - at full screen it's quite fuzzy.]

Recent Pics

Click below for a web album....

02-10-07

Progress towards Independency

Amelia started two new things this week:

1) Truly crawling. She can really go. She doesn't crawl just to crawl - there must be a purpose (a book, toy in the crib, my computer on the floor, something). Once she starts crawling to explore, we're toast.

2) Babbling words. Or, more like babbling one word - the most important word - DA-DA-DA-DA-DA. Pretty much anything boils down to da-da-da-da-da. Ask her to say Ma-Ma, and she says Da-Da. (haha!)

Videos of both to be posted shortly.

Talk about Growth!!

"Since 2000, the county has issued more than 35,000 building permits for apartments, townhouses and single-family homes. During that period, the county has added 100,000 residents, increasing its population by 59 percent, according to a University of Virginia study released last month."

That's where we live and work, btw.  :)

TOOTH!!

Yes, you read correctly. After 8+ months of waiting, lil' Mia has finally broken a tooth. Of course, it had to come one day after Grandma and Aunt Abby left!!

Here's a crude picture, but you can barely see it coming through (with a little help from Photoshop)....

We had a great time with Grandma and Aunt Abby. Two of the best pictures!!



And of course, some fun on the sofa with Daddy!

(I'm very ticklish on my neck!)

Starched

I noticed a rather odd phrase in the cleaning directions for my boxer shorts.

"Warm iron"

Now, I don't know about you, but [FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!] if someone wants his boxers ironed, I think he has a bit more to worry about than getting his undergarments pressed.

Been Post'd, Part Deux (plot twist!)

For the second time in two weeks, I've been in the Washington Post. This time, thankfully, I wasn't directly quoted. In fact, I wasn't even in the main article.

Background: The Post has been doing a year-long investigation of all emails/communications of the Board of Supervisors in Loudoun County, VA. Obviously, this was a difficult task, as my office alone had over 22,000 emails (something like that). As a result, they wrote this article.

While thankfully (and not surprisingly) my boss had done nothing improper in her capacity, she had fallen out of favor with some of her colleagues. The email found at this link will show you how much they dislike(d) her (start at the bottom of the email). And that's where I come in.

As one of my friends put it: "It was weird to read an article online and click a link about a friend's boss, only to have another friend's name mentioned in that email."

It is kinda surreal, actually, but all in a day's work.

Finally SNOW!!

It's January, and Oklahoma has already had two blizzards, and we are finally getting our first snow.

Just a couple inches, mind you, but enough to get excited about.

Mia doesn't quite know what to think...

Buns of Steel

You wouldn't expect something as integral to our daily lives as a toilet-seat to be made of cheap material. Nonetheless, I managed to break ours yesterday. Just split. Looks like it's cheap particle board.

Or, maybe it's those Godiva chocolates I found on my boss's desk that I keep eating....

I've been Post'd

I get my first quote in the Washington Post, and what do you know, but it sounds like I'm a 3rd grade student who doesn't know proper grammar.

"Where you have more interchanges, things work more quickly and there are going to be less accidents," Davis said. "It's pretty obvious that the more you keep traffic flowing, the less crashes there'll be."

Sounds pretty nice, except for the "less accidents" and "less crashes." I don't think I actually said that, probably her own words of my words....bummer.

Link.

Christmas Update

So, I've been a little busy watching great football games, but I finally made time to put up some pictures from our Christmas trip. We actually ended up taking more video than photos, but I left our video camera AC adapter in Savannah, so I'll wait for that to arrive before creating some short films for viewing.

For now - check out here to view our photos!!

Three's a crowd

From a friend / work colleague who just had a third child (names removed to protect the unaware):

"We can confirm (with the third child just being born), that zone is much harder than man-to-man. We're seriously outnumbered."

I just had to laugh....