Archive for November, 2006
Tuesday, November 28th, 2006
iPod Vending Machine
I found an iPod Vending machine at my local mall recently:
Yep, that’s right. You can buy any of the current iPods and several accessories right at this machine with your credit card. I was actually amazed it was in a hidden corner of the mall. I figured something like that would be put out right [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Computers, General by Patrick
Sunday, November 26th, 2006
Poor Moviegoing Experience
Maggie and I had a kinda odd moviegoing experience this weekend. We left the theater in pretty bad moods. And amazingly, it wasn’t about anyone that was in the theater watching the movie with us. It was all the theater and its staff.
We saw “Happy Feet“, a cute kids comedy about a penguin that [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in General by Patrick
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006
The untapped mind
Below is a video of Stephen Wiltshire, who has autism, drawing the city of Rome from memory after a 45 minute helicopter flight over the city. Oh, it was his first time to ever see it as well.
All I can say is, I really, really wish we could figure out how to tap more [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in General by Patrick
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!
So I broke the streak yesterday since I didn’t blog. But I’ve definitely gotten the grove back. Today was a great celebration with family and friends. I’m so very thankful for my beautiful wife and son. They show me everything I need to be thankful for. Love you guys!
No Comments » - Posted in Family, General by Patrick
Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
Brenden and Mr. Sandman
When Brenden first started sleeping through the night about 3 months ago, he was really good about being put down in his crib and he would go to sleep on his own. For some reason, about a month or so ago, Brenden decided this wasn’t acceptable. As soon as we put him in the crib, [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Family by Patrick
Monday, November 20th, 2006
Fun with Comic Life
With my new iMac comes a program called Comic Life which allows you to take your photos and quickly make comic book style pages with them. Here’s my first one which took a couple of minutes:
I know it’s not nearly as good as my friend’s comics, but hey, I can still try and get into [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Computers, Family by Patrick
Sunday, November 19th, 2006
Our first family photo
Today, Maggie’s friend Kelli took our first official family photos, one of which we are going to use to make cutesy Christmas cards with. This will be the first year we’ve done anything like that. I guess it’s really starting to sink in how much we are a family now. Here are a couple of [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Family by Patrick
Saturday, November 18th, 2006
Already back a year
I can’t believe we’ve already been back from New York for a year. It just seems like yesterday we were packing up the apartment and heading out on the road to come back to Texas. Man how times flies.
So here’s the next year back home amongst so many friends and our families. We really miss [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General by Patrick
Friday, November 17th, 2006
World of Warcraft – Hard Core Players
It’s been a long time since I’ve actually gotten to play, but I really enjoy the game “World of Warcraft”. Blizzard has done a good job of making a game that appeals to both the Hard Core and Casual players (I definitely fall in the latter category). When I do get time, I can generally [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Computers by Patrick
Thursday, November 16th, 2006
Don’t you hate it when…
You need to get up really early and your alarm clock doesn’t go off? That’s what happened to me this morning. I really needed to get up early so I could workout before work. The reason being I had a staff meeting at 11:30, leaving me no time in my day for a workout. Sadly, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General by Patrick
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006
Classroom Frustration
Since we’ve moved back to Texas, I’ve finally got back into taking the steps (and there are still a lot of them) to finish my degree. In fact, I’ll be changing majors from Computer Science to Business Administration. Quite a drastic change, but to be honest, at this point, I just want a degree. I [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in School by Patrick
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
Cool iTunes Smart Playlists
Here are a couple of links to some interesting iTunes Smart Playlist ideas:
Music Only Type Playlists
and
Playlist for packrats
The first link starts out with building a “Music Only” smart playlist, then expands on it by building a “New and Unlistened to” list and others to get you to rate your songs, and build out more interesting [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Computers, General by Patrick
Monday, November 13th, 2006
Dad gives his first bath
Tonight I gave my first bath to Brenden. Up until this point, Maggie had always done it. I don’t know, I was just scared of maiming the little guy. She did supervise, and the kiddo made it. We even had a little splashing fun. I’m still scared of the baby oil though.
1 Comment » - Posted in Family by Patrick
Sunday, November 12th, 2006
Brenden in his sweatshirt
And when I say his, I mean it. My aunt Patty runs a monogram shop and made this really cool sweatshirt for Brenden when he was born with his name and the year on it. She made him a ton of things with his name and birth date on them, including a very nice photo [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Family by Patrick
Saturday, November 11th, 2006
I’ve made the switch to OS X
About two weeks ago I ordered a new 20″ iMac Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM and an 256MB RAM upgrade to the video card. So I’ve since “switched” from a main Windows desktop to an iMac running OS X. Now, those that know me from back in high school will remember a time [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Computers, General by Patrick
Friday, November 10th, 2006
Getting back on the wagon
For those who followed my blog through the early parts of 2005, you know that I had started a new diet and exercise regimen. Just before we moved back to Texas from New Jersey, I had lost roughly 60 pounds or so. I’m sad and embarrassed to say that after returning back home, I lost [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in General by Patrick
Thursday, November 9th, 2006
Stephen King
This is a post a long time coming, like over a year ago long. For those that know me, they know I’m a huge Stephen King fan. ( I know, cue the crazy lady from Misery ) I’ve read just about every word the man has published. And that’s a lot of words.
Sometime in August [...]
No Comments » - Posted in General, NYC by Patrick
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006
Hands Down Fundraiser at Baja Fresh
During our first visit to The Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, they let us know about a support group for families of children with Hand Differences called Hands Down. They provide learning materials, meetings, a summer picnic and 3 camps for the kids. We are just getting involved, but so far we’ve been very [...]
Comments Off - Posted in Family, General by Patrick
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006
The Ten
“What happened in there?” (With apologies to ABC’s The Nine)
Well, I’ll tell you what happened. I was on my way to the gym, which is located on the top floor ( the 10th ) of a parking structure in Downtown Dallas. Ironically, the only way to get there is via elevator. Very slow and sometimes [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in General by Patrick
Monday, November 6th, 2006
Visiting NYC
Maggie, Brenden and I will be making a visit up to the New York City area in December. We’re hoping to see a lot of friends and I of course will be making my way to the Street Meat!
We’re going to be staying in a hotel near our old neighborhood. One I walked past everyday [...]