Several Days

Yeah, Yeah - it has been a few days since I have posted. I finally finished that 'opinion' post that I started. You will find it below here. So - I need to go work out really soon and in order to make this a quick post I will bullet what is on my mind.

- Finding a surveyor for land sucks. Honestly 'sucks' is not even the work to describe it.
- :o) Edwin McCain's new album releases April 11! On March 1 he plays at Jammin' Java here in town.
- I love Justin very much. He is getting good at guitar. I am impressed with his progress.
- Federal Taxes suck. Justin and I have to pay an that ticks me off. I don't know why.
- General payroll taxes are not cool. They take too much away from cash flow.
- My Dad is a cool guy. I like his reliablity and down-to-earth'ness that only someone like him can provide.
- I have picked up doing Suduko puzzles. They are addicting.
- The politics at education organizations are WACK!
- GraySail needs Java Programmers. If you are one and you are reading this - CALL US!
- Chad Dowdy with Northwestern Mutual is an excellent financial planning resource.
- 'Cash Cab' on Discovery Channel is a cool show.
- Talk to your nail technician, she is really a nice person and although she may not speak good English she is a person that has stories to tell too.

So - those are the things on my mind. Gonna go work out and watch some American Idol why I do it.

Great Expectations

How do you watch a movie after you have heard great things about it?

My first real encounter with Great Expectations was when 'Independence Day' (1996 starring Will Smith, James Duval, Vivica Fox, and others). I was a freshman in high school and for some reason I did not go see the movie in theaters (not that Florence, SC had any sort of great theater to offer at that point). A number of months later, maybe even years later, after the movie came out on VHS (huh, what was a DVD?) my family rented it. Yes, the good old Blockbuster rental card. I had heard spectacular things about the movie. For me it is really where I first had a concious recognition of the economic and social concept of a 'Blockbuster Movie' (not the video store). I don't know if it was because I watched it at home in my family's living room, or because the movie was not really good - bottom line is that for me, Independence Day did, and has continually fallen way below my expectations. It left me feeling, 'Yeah, And?'

Last night I had the same problem. When I was out in LA I saw 'Batman Begins' and Justin did not. During that same time Justin saw 'Wedding Crashers' and I did not. The other week we added them to the top of our Netflix queue and over the weekend we watched 'Batman Begins' - it was just as good as it was the first time I saw it. A very good movie! Justin greatly enjoyed it too. Well, all the TV commercials told me and friends raved about how hilarious 'Wedding Crashers' was - "I laughed my ass off." It is "so ridiculously funny." Now, I love Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn - just about all their movies are good watches, and 'Wedding Crashers' was not an exception, but when it was over I was like, "Yeah, And?" Again - the hype around the movie really left me expecting more.

So, How do you watch a movie after you have heard great things about it?

I am really not sure how to answer that. My inclination is to say that we should all plug our ears and sing 'Row Row Row Your Boat' at the top of our lungs when someone talks about a movie that we have not seen, but that seems ridiculous - yet fun. OK, sing your song of choice. I don't care, but I have to make a point here quickly or this blog post will be for naught.

Know what makes your movie clock tick. Does it require certain celebrities? A certain cinamatic quality - lighting, sound, or camera work? What is that excited you about different genre types? Soundtrack possibilities? The level of character development?

For me I am coming to terms with the idea that I am not really crazy about big-budget movies. They often seem overdone, and the cast expenses out of this world. I like to see films with new faces, and existing stars that pursue new role types. (There are only so many action movies Nicholas Cage can make before he is starring in a re-make of something he did originally.) I don't listen to professional critics because I think they are silly. And should there be a big-buget film I want to see with action and incredible graphics - I will fork out the dough to catch it on the big screen. Besides that, watch a movie at your own house - or a friends house. It is more intimate that way. I will forever see any movie that stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Vince Vaughn is a plus, as is Will Ferrel. Johnny Depp will never cease to amaze me in his diversity as an actor and no foreign film will ever be better than Amelie was.

Ultimately I think my first attempt at a post with a clear opinion has failed. I figured this might be easy to write about. I was wrong.

Have an excellent day.

Yea, The Circus

The Greatest Show On Earth! Justin and I went to the circus tonight. It was spectacular. One, there are elephants. Two, you get to watch the kids be totally mesmerized by the show. Three, there are elephants. Four, you get to be mezmerized by the show too. Five, there are elephants. Six, they have great lemonade. Seven, Did I mention there were elephants?

Really, the best part is Bello. He is the head clown and I must say he was better tonight that he was a few years ago when we saw him. Seriously, a super talented guy. The only act that left me feeling disappointed was the trapeeze - wait let me correct myself - the 'sky surfers.'

Pre-show we had Palmetto Pig, you cant go wrong with that, and Post-show we stopped by walmart to pick-up supplies for tomorrow's hip-cool-activity. Furniture stripping! YEA! While there I also got a most excellent stuffed elephant (the ones at the circus sucked and were expensive. this one was only 4.97!)

Well, I am tired. I am gonna go to bed.

Friday In Sight

Man, I wish I had zero plans for the weekend. This week has been incredibly busy so far and next week promises to be just as full. Fortunately I am enjoying the things I am doing and I am not frustrated and fed-up like I was late in oh-five.

I actually got to go back and do something I enjoy today. Financial record keeping and analysis for GraySail. Working with numbers is so nice. They either add up or they don't. It is black and white and although sometimes it feels like it - the numbers dont yell at you and they dont have needs like clients do. (Not that I have any clients that yell at me.)

So, a quick thank you to Jebb. I appreciate the comment. And note - I am reading too. Glad you have selected Flickr!

Hi to Mom, Dad, Lori, Jeremy, & Jamie - just wanted to give you a quick shout-out. Hmmm..."shout-out"...when I hear that I think of Kit Hoover and ?Big Chocolate? from the original Cold Pizza on ESPN2.

Well, I am working on 2 'meaningful' or 'clearly opinionated' blog posts. I just don't have enough time to sit down and knock them all out at once. So, look for them to hit here soon.

Have a most excellent day/night/week/month/year!

Feels Good

Hmm... How many things can I list here - that are relevant to things I have been doing recently (things that are of a completely PG nature). Sorry, I saw that going down a bad path.

- To work out. Both last night and tonight I did 45 minutes of cardio and really enjoyed it. You just feel good after something like that. Also, as a precaution - I have iced down my knee afterward to prevent swelling and soreness.

- To write. My New Year's resolution was to blog more and keep a journal - both of which I have been doing rather successfully and they allow me to get out things I tend to keep inside.

- To be busy. At GraySail we are about to the point where we have to tell people, sure we will do the work - but it will be 3 months before we can start. I just like that feeling.

- To clean. A cleaner house really does make you a happier person. If I can only figure out how to keep it clean.

- To see acknowledgement. The 10:00 WACH news cast last night admitted to cutting off the end of 24 on Sunday. The chick also had a terrible night reading the teleprompter - and I enjoyed that!

- To have self control. American Idol is on right now. I watched it while I worked out, but that was it. Yes, it is recording on the DVR, but I am doing good and not being a slave to the TV.

OK - that is enough of that. There is a storm coming. It has been really windy for several hours now and I checked the radar a few minutes ago and the weather is about here. We are experiencing unseasonably high temperatures right now and it bothers me. I was it to get cold and stay cold. This is winter you know.

I need to try blogging about stuff that really has a point - as opposed to just blah-blahing about whatever (which I often do.) People used to comment on my blog posts, but now they don't - maybe if I blog about something decent they will have something to respond to. So, if you have something you want to hear my opinion on - please let me know.

I am gonna go for now. Byee.

WACH Disaster

Last night Justin and I were two of thousands of Columbia, SC residents completely baffled, pissed off, and outraged by WACH FOX 57 in Columbia, SC. At 4:30 pm the NFL game Panthers vs. Bears came on. During the entire game announcers were reminding viewers that the 24 season premiere would be airing upon conclusion of the game. Each and every commercial break offered viewers a teaser of what would be coming up on the show's 5th season debut.

As football often does, the game ran 10 minutes longer than expected and 24 started at 8:12 instead of 8:00. The first hour of the season opener was fantastic and as the second hour got going Justin and I were already talking about Monday night's episodes and the horrible wait that there would be after the conclusion of the 4 hour season opening.

Well, the show rolled into commercial break at 9:57 showing the classic 24 time ticker reading 8:49:57 - the first cliff hanger was only one commercial break away.

This is when all hell broke loose. Instead of airing the remainder of 24 - WACH FOX 57 aired the 10:00 news - WHAT? HUH? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? - No, I am not. It is true. Justin and I immediately got on the phone trying to call the station. I even sent e-mails to the FOX Broadcasting headquarters. I couldn't believe it.

I am pleased to know they screwed up though - as this article is linked on the front of the State Newspaper Web site.

‘24’ gets cut off in last 10 minutes

Other than ending on this poor note, the weekend was most spectacular. The trip to Summerville not only left us happy to have seen Justin's family, but also with a bunch of new furniture and a tractor selection. Details later.

Must get back to work...

Under Contract

Yesterday at 4pm Justin and I met up with Sammy Odom & his mother Julia to execute the Sales Contract on the 21 acre plot in Hopkins. Now I just have to find a real estate attorney and a surveyor. :-) The goal is to be able to close the week of Feburary 6th.

Yesterday was a good day - my meetings were productive and we made a good bit of progress with some CERRA stuff at work. Justin and I met up with McGee for dinner at Yesterday's and I had the sausage & shrimp grits - it was SOO good. :) I mucho liked it. Jeremy had the same thing and Justin had chicken & grits. It was a good evening.

I got some sad news from Lori yesterday, about Justin's grandfather's condition (his paternal grandfather). He is down in MUSC and during our visit to Summerville tomorrow we are going to go and visit.

But, I have some work I want to get done this morning. Lata!

Give Up

This new cooking phase I am trying has busted for the 3rd night in a row. Monday - the Spinach Ricotta Parsels were terrible. Tuesday - The Pineapple Chicken & Sweet Potatoes blew. Today - I turned on the slow cooker but forgot to plug it in, so we arrived home to raw meat sitting in the slow cooker.

TGI Friday's was our back-up tonight. We opted for te 3 courses for $12.99, which with tea and tip still turned out to be $40.00 (bummer). It was good though. Quite tasty indeed, and nice not to have to cook.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I have to be at Moore School at 9:30 to do OpenCms v6 training, and then at 10:30 we have a meeting about a potential project that sounds really neat. After that my day is free until 4:00 when Justin and I are scooting to meet Sammy Odom to finalize the sales contract on the property. :-)

I hate payroll taxes. Justin and I got our new pay stubs today that show our raises for the year. When I was estimating the net pay I was taking off 20% - in the long run I was $300 off in estimating what the taxes would be. Which is VERY uncool. I have about decided that it will just be late 2008 before we can worry about buiding the house, and well - that is just the way it will be.

After TGI's this evening Justin and I hopped in Barnes & Nobel to poke around. I almost bought a "Building Houses for Dummies" book since Justin and I are going to self contract the construction of the garage/apartment unit we plan to build on the property. To goal is to get this house rented (or sold) and move in there as soon as we can in order to save some money. I imagine that once we get the land cleared we will go ahead and put up a FSBO or FOR RENT sign in front of the house. Maybe even run an ad or two.

Friday I have a doctor's appointment and a meeting with a prospective client. Then Saturday Justin and I are going to Summerville to pick up some stuff. There is also a tractor place Justin wants to stop by. Apparently they have a really good deal on a tractor and accessories. His brother turned him on to it. NorTrac is the brand. As Justin correctly puts it - we have to have a way to maintain the land before we can build on it. He is correct. We do.

Well, it is getting well into the evening and I have to go exercise still. I will leave it at this for now. Have a most righteous day bra!

Three Links

These are three links I thought were interesting - thought you might find them interesting too.

THE OOZLEFINCH - Justin sent this to me. I thought it was interesting. Maybe you will too.

THE MOUSE - It was originally prototyped from a butter dish and Ban deodorant. I quote... "Hovey, the mouse project’s informal head, says he “hacked together” the first conceptual prototype in a weekend—using the ball from a bottle of Ban Roll-On deodorant and a butter dish purchased at the Palo Alto Walgreens (“the mouse parts store,” he calls it)."

COOL WEB SITE - Okay, maybe it is not the coolest Web site ever, but I think it is by the coolest person ever.

Sunday was a good day, and today is going pretty well. I must say - My Thai food last night was 'on point.' The chicken was so spicy it made Todd gag. (Sorry dude, I had to call you out.) Tonight I am fixing Spinach & Ricotta Parcels. Yummmm.

Crash

Today I enjoyed sleeping in. The day was rather leisurely actually. Justin and I piddled around the house before going out to run errands at World Market, and a little Bed Bath & Beyond. (Frank the Tank!) One of the most important stops of the afternoon was Fresh Market where we picked up two nice NY Strip Steaks that I fixed for dinner. With meat like that kosher salt and the grill were all they needed. I served them with a slice of garlic italian bread Justin picked out at Fresh Market, sauteed Asparagus, and plum tomoatoe halves stuffed with cheese and bread crumbs. It was a quite tasty meal. We opened a bottle of McMillian Resling (Southeast Australia). It was bad.

Our evening movie today was "Crash" - starring Brendan Frasier, Sandra Bullock, and more. Had Tony Danza in it actually. I thought it was a pretty decent flick. I found a good bit of it offensive. The entire plot twisted and turned around issues of racism. Tough to explain.

The guy that owns the property we want to buy called today. He got our offer. There were just one or 2 things he wanted to change in the text of the offer, and then he wanted to counter the price. Although he came down $4,500 from asking that is still $11K higher that our initial offer and $3,500 more than I want to pay for the land. At this point Justin and I just have to really think about it. Going into this offer we knew he would not accept the price we offered, but I was at least expecting to split the difference maybe. Even before the offer, we were totally prepared to pay our max for the property, but now I am wondering if we ought to reconsider totally. Justin and I just have to tak about it.

Gonna go play a game with Justin. Hopefully I can convince him to play canasta. I have not done that in a while.

Gobble Gobble!

Good Day.

Today was a good day. Things at work were productive, and all in all I am happy. Over the past few days my stomach has been bothering me, and as a result Justin humored me. I greatly enjoyed it. :-)

My morning meeting was cancelled today, which turned out to be good. I was able to get other things done. I saw considerable progress on the CERRA project we are working on. Joanne at Moore School gave me some good leads and is starting the process on additional work for them. Hoke and I communicated well today and although I was quite mean to Justin for a span of 45 seconds in the end it turned out well and his work was fabulous. I am very proud of the skills he has picked up over the past few months. He really produces really slick stuff.

A new episode of My Name is Earl comes on tonight. :-) I love that show. So witty.

Time for dinner though. I am going to carefully eat my pizza.

Byee!

New Year - New Post

Good gracious, lets hope that I will post more than just once this year. As wonderful as the holidays were - I am very glad that they are over. I hate being 'out of the groove.' So far, this week back at work has been pretty good. I have 2 meetings tomorrow though - so it will be interesting to see how I am able to prioritize my other to-do items.

Thank you to all my family and friends, you were too kind to me during this season of giving.

Justin and I are putting in the offfer on the Dry Branch property tomorrow. The offer is actually prepared, but we are sticking it in the mail come tomorrow.

Every new year comes with resolutions. These are mine, and I imagine that the top one is on countless other lists too...
1 - lose weight
2 - be nicer to Justin (especially at work)
3 - Get my PMP (Project Management Professional) Certification
4 - Save money (a certain amount I will not disclose)
5 - Buy Land
6 - Blog more
7 - Keep a journal - already started :)
8 - advance my culinary skills
9 - travel
10 - visit family more (especially Justin's side)

One person I never seem to thank enough or vocally appreciate is my Grandma Alston. She gave Justin and I $5,000 when we were running Justinsane Design. It allowed us to accomplish the tasks necessary to be able to somewhat sustain ourselves. Without that money Justin and I never would have had the chance to get the Colonial Center Web site gig and make a name for ourselves and the company. Should Justinsane Design have flopped during that second year neither of us would have gotten the jobs with GraySail that we have now. It is amazing how one single act can complete change the couse of someone's life and although I know she will never read this - now you know the story of her graciousness and I hope you will take a moment to thank whomever made a move that changed your life.

Time for bed - super sleepy. Check our flickr for some new pics.

Happy New Year!!