She's still the one

Rebecca is still the one for me. She is awesome, here are some awesome facts about her.

1. Has a great Texas smile that is impossible to photograph adequately and can light up a room or even a grumpy husband.
2. Is an excellent chef and has shown me a thing or two about proper Southern cookin'.
3. Has impeccable taste for fashion, interior decorating, premium cuisine, landscape design, friends and associations, literature, beauty, and much more.
4. Can negotiate with a fierce business savvy I envy very much.
5. Is a tender loving parent, very selfless and patient with her daughter in extremely aggravating situations and stressful circumstances such as living in a single room for several months cut off from friends and family.
6. Shares her beautiful voice in a church choir for Christmas carols and sometimes at home too. She also can play many songs on the piano and loves to sing Swedish Christmas songs.
   
7. Has quilting skills and has been working on appliqué blocks here in Austin that are very intricate and impressive.
8. Knows what it is like to live in a high crime, low income neighborhood. What it is like to have your house broken into and possessions taken from you. She appreciates the basics like a safe home, clean clothes, full cupboards, electricity, and education and does not sweat keeping up with the neighbors.

The grass needs me

I miss the lawn and miss mowing it. Now that the weather is nicer in Utah, I am sure some epic mowing is taking place and I am missing it all. I actually asked a grounds keeper in Austin to let me push his mower around for a minute, he just pretended not to know English.

The Orem tenant is moving out as well, which means the lawn at Orem is in need of attention. I was thinking of getting a lawnmower for the Orem rental and just storing it in the shed. Once the tenant is out and locks are changed. I need to get the following done there:

• photos of the condition of the interior/exterior
• change the city,gas,electric utilities back over to me
  
• lock for the shed
• lawn mower and gas can for the shed
• someone to mow Orem rental while I am still in Austin
• bids to replace carpet
• bids for any other work for getting the house ready to rent
• advertise for new tenants
  

Christina and Hal sitting in a tree

Christina is in L O V E, love. I have never seen her this completely and totally swept away in love. She is so happy and it shows. I am excited for her and Hal to be together. Three months is a short engagement but it is better than a few weeks! I remember how happy I was to get married, when you got the right one, marriage is the best. It was so nice to meet Cyrl and Sae and their cute kids too. I am glad Christina provided a good reason for us to come see them, they are so generous and wonderful hosts. Spring Creek BBQ is what I would term a 'fine establishment' for excellent texas style BBQ. It is a franchise but a very, very good one.

Soft Launch /Sea World/ Austin creep

Finally able to tie a bow on this pig.... the project 2 has finally soft launched (therefore I might actually only have one job going forward). A nice email went out acknowledging my efforts to get the system ready for a soft launch, however I was identified as Harley Davidson. Oh well, one more reason not to name a son the fourth. Maybe now I can have some time with the family... I didn't bother asking anyone at work and just took a Saturday to go to Sea World San Antonio with Rebecca and Eleanor. Thankfully no fires erupted while I was watching whales perform acrobatics. I have been to the San Diego Sea World with Paul and now the San Antonio one. Sea World is one of the few parks that I would like to go back to many times. sea world > disneyland

The tickets were 42 online or 50 if you want to go twice, we did the 50 ticket option since it is very likely we will be in Austin past May 4th and have time to go again. They actually fingerprint scan you and require picture ID to enter sea world when using the two pass ticket because they don't want people buying the two pass and selling the second trip to someone else. So it is much more high tech than the blurry black and white photos taken at Lagoon to prevent the same thing.

Overall it has been a good weekend, some strange white dude approached us and swore a blue streak at Rebecca, Eleanor and I as we were heading out Saturday morning in the parking lot. He felt the need to complete his tirade with a double middle index send-off as we drove away. I have a tendency to replay my actions in emotional events like that, but I just can't see how me trying to calm him down would have ended well. At the time I felt I was responsible to get us away from him before things got violent. It was nice to have that encounter to remind us that we are not exactly living in the safest area of Austin, nice in that it is better have that then actually get mugged or killed. Signs in the adjacent parking lots remind drivers to conceal valuables in cars, lock all doors, and ALWAYS keep your eyes open for suspicious behavior. I think that is good advice anywhere you are even Happy Valley, Utah. I heard a story about Rebecca's home life in Dallas that shocked me, her home was robbed often, so often they would leave notes for the intruders. The thieves would steal everything, including on two (2) occasions, the copper plumbing under the house, how insane is that?! They had to put in cheap PVC so that it would not be worth the effort to take.

16 hour days plus weekends

I have been really really really busy. Rebecca misses me and I am in the same hotel room. I guess the upside is I can't really work more hours, just about every minute of my time is work/sleep/food/hygiene at this point. This experience has convinced me I would never want to work at home. With Eleanor screaming when put to bed while I am on conference calls or trying to focus on complex programming issues really disrupts the thought process. Since the hotel room is just that, one room, I can't close off the noise and I just have to push through the distractions. The upside is Rebecca and I will fully appreciate our comparatively huge house when we get back.

Texas Wedding

We are going to Buffy McDaniel's wedding today. It is at the Smith Family Chapel at Riverbend Church. Hopefully we will get to see Grandpa and Ross and lots of family at the wedding. I hope the wedding is not super long, Eleanor being sick might make this a little tough to pull off. I wish we knew what time the reception was so we could just drop in for that... I will take a camera this time, I keep forgetting it and then later wishing I had one.

We are in the Shoal Creek Ward and the LDS Church here is much the same as the ones in Utah except for much more diversity here in Texas (lots of blacks, hispanics, and asians).

Here is a list of places we have eaten at here in Austin; along with my rating of the restaurant:

*****	Marie Callendars - This is right by the hotel, walking distance. Somehow the food here is better than the same food at the MC in Utah. The pie? oh baby!
****	Quiznos - I love Quiznos, but Rebecca is right, we need to eat at places that we cannot eat at in Utah.
**	Subway - Bad food. Bad service. She put way too much jalapeño on the sandwich and didn't bother to ask if it looked alright. We were rushed through the line like cattle and the cashier would not give me the credit on my subway card because I was a split second too late handing it to him!
**	Parmer Cafe (work cafeteria) - A cafeteria and their food was pricy??! The convienient location does not compensate for a poor texture and flavor to the food. Powerful weak!
*****	Saltgrass Steakhouse - Loved my steak here, just plain loved it. I have had better steaks but they cost probably double the price of this place.
*****	Cheesecake Factory - Very very good place to go. An expensive place to eat but worth it. The reason is simple: Chocolate Truffle Raspberry Cheesecake.
*	Serrano's Mexican Grill - Flavorless, bland Mexican food that was served at a rediculously hot temperature.
****	Rudy's Country Store (BBQ) - We will be back here. BBQ is not healthy and I feel like crap after eating a 1/2 pound of brisket but it was still worth it.
*	Texas Roadhouse - Ate here in Waco on the way to Dallas, they offer A1 because their steak sucks without it (also their was a George Bush Jr./Dick Cheney mural on the wall. This was probably the biggest disappointment so far, Ruby River is probably a clone of this chain and they did a way better job.
****	Tin Star Taco Grill - Eater here twice, the fish tacos are very good.
****	Chipotle (burritos and tacos) - Very trendy popular place for lunch, has a very busy "Cafe Rio" style environment.
*	Taco Cabana - No one in Austin seems to eat here, there is a reason, it sucks.
*	Granato's Deli (at SLC airport) - Way overpriced, very slow service. I didn't get an olive with my dry flavorless sandwich and didn't bother to wait in line to try to get it after sitting down.
***	Luby's cafeteria - Same as always, good okra, I got liver and onions which blew Rebecca's mind.
****	Cracker Barrel - Good service we had a large group and only one order was screwed up Rebecca got two fillets and ordered one while Ross got one fillet and ordered two. Best fried okra so far
****	The Blackeyed Pea - Fried pickle appetizer is awesome! Comes with Ranch Jalapeño dip, yum! Fried okra was dissapointing, rolls were excellent.
**	Z-tejas (texmex) - Strange ingredients lots of presentation, but people go here for the alcohol not the food.
***	Thoma's Super Buffet - Lots of chinese/american food, no presentation, poor a/c. But an on-site sushi chef! the sushi is freshly made and good here.
***	Thundercloud Subs - The Austin version of Sensuous Sandwich, pretty good subs and Rebecca loved it... until I told her I pulled a hair out of mine.

*****	I recommend this place.
****	Good, but not fantastic
***	Meh...
**	Skip it, better off going hungry.
*	Avoid this place at all costs. Fake illness if you have to, just don't eat the food.

Overall the service is almost always incredible (even at chain restaurants) in Austin. The great service is noticeably better than just about all but the nicest Utah restaurants. I am not listing these to brag about how much fun we are having on this trip; more I am listing the reasons why my pants will probably not fit me ever again.

Eleanor has Croup

We are in a single room shaped kind of like an "L" at the residence inn. Eleanor somehow got croup so her poor little pathetic self is wheezing and coughing all through the night. WebMD says it should only last a few days. If you know of treatments for this that you personally have found to work on 14 month old kids, drop me a comment or send an email. I could tell it was hard for her to swallow the little bites of banana she ate, her poor throat must hurt. I can't imagine how hard it would be to have to witness you kid seriously hurt or how hard it would be to deal with a child who has life-threatening illness. Becoming a parent certainly has changed my perspective on life and how to treat others unselfishly.
Marriage has had that effect on me as well. I have a gained perspective from Rebecca that I doubt I would have found any other way. I am glad we don't always agree. She and I have opinions and hold our own in discussions. Rebecca definetly has motherly-instincts when it comes to Eleanor that I just don't, so we butt heads sometimes when she wants to get Eleanor something that I think is a waste of space and money.

Here is a link to list the info about croup:

http://children.webmd.com/tc/croup-topic-overview

How to reject a job offer

I turned client3 down. Here is a handy template for turning down job offers you may receive that is based on the rejection I made to client3.

< insert name of hiring contact >,

I thought about the open permanent position at < company > over the past few days. I gave serious consideration to the offer you made on < date of last meeting > and discussed it with my family. At this time, I have decided I would not accept a position at < company name > because it is not the right time for me personally to make an employment change. Thank you for understanding. Because < company name > has such a great work environment, I cannot imagine it will be very long before you are able to hire the right person and I wish you good luck with your search.

Sincerely,

< your name >

Things to avoid in turning down a job offer (or marriage proposal):

• listing specific negative reasons like "I don't think the job has good benefits" or "Your armpit hair is out of control!"


• listing specific personal concerns "I don't want to move" or "It is time I tell the police EVERYTHING"


• not being clear or indicating you have not made a final decision like "making this decision has been so hard for me" or "I have had so much fun with you, you complete me"


• burning the bridge "I would never work for this place, EVER" or "die... in a FIRE!"


• over-patronizing or kissing up "although I will not be accepting the position, I will be buying stock in < company name >" or "It is not you, it's me; you deserve waaaaaaay better, but you knew that"

You need to be respectful, kind, and clear. Try not to giggle and blush like a girl. I can't tell you how much fun it is to reject a company's offer rather than have companies reject me. It is a big ego boost and sweet, sweet revenge rolled up in a saucy burrito of dripping joy.

Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP LCD Monitor

I found out that the desktop computer in my office is in fact for me to use while I am at client2. It is a Pentium Duo with 3.5 GB RAM, the desktop is so much nicer than trying to run a local instance of BEA Weblogic 8.1 application server on a laptop processor with 2 GB of RAM. But the title of this post refers to the gigantic Texas-size monitor, it is huge. This LCD is the biggest I have ever used, which is appropriate since I am in Texas where everything is bigger.
I snapped a photo with my cell phone camera, so the quality is horrible, but I don't think client2 would let me bring a camera to work to take nicer pictures.

I was talking to Rebecca about client2's problems with hiring someone to work my position full time. I think one of the issues is that the environment is an outdated version of ATG Platform and ATG Service. Who would want to come manage an environment running Java 1.4.x BEA Weblogic 8.1 and ATG 2006.3 when

• Java 1.5 and Java 1.6 are already out


• Weblogic 9 and Weblogic 10 are already out


• ATG 2007.1 is already out

In this industry, you are putting yourself in a dangerous position by only knowing 5 year old technology and not using and learning the newest released technology.
Client2 shot themselves in the foot by heavily customizing ATG 2006.3 to the point that even loading the latest patch level of 2006.3, patch 6, would be a month-long process or more because all the changes would have to be carefully merged into the p6 out of the box code.

All that being said it would be very nice to work for client2, they have good benefits and it is a very nice environment (huge monitors, free magic genies, etc...) I know this because they have offered me a position here in Austin and want me to relocate to Austin. So I have to think about the pros and cons of moving from Utah and actually taking the job here in Austin as a permanent position. There are a lot of advantages, Austin is such a cool* place to be. I think Rebecca and Eleanor are game to stay, but I just don't know if it is the right move for us.

*Cool as in chic or trendy, I am pretty sure the temperature is not cool most of the time.

23rd and Gualalupe, Austin, TX

It is great to come to a place with so much to do, their is a sea world in San Antonio, we are SO going to that! Rebecca has never been to a sea world before. I have been working non-stop, so I have not been able to enjoy any SXSW band related activities. Pictures will be taken, I keep forgetting the camera. We went to 23rd and Guadalupe in Austin Saturday, and pictures could not do it justice, you have to go their and actually smell the drug violations taking place and hear the hippie, anti-establishment weirdo's try and sell/trade their art to really understand what it was like. It is amazing the place has been around since 1970's... the motto is "Keeping Austin weird since 1971" and they were not kidding! I think we might have to go back, everything that was for sale was handmade in Austin, TX they specifically forbid selling imported chinese trinkets. Their was a guy who drills a hole in penny's and nickles, quarters, or other coins and then runs a thin coping saw blade and painstakingly saws out around the profiles of the Presidents on the coin to create necklace pendants. Very minute, unforgiving detailed work. I didn't bother asking him how much those would cost. The Art Co-op was almost like a gallery and you felt weird asking to buy anything. It was a bunch of temporary tents setup between two buildings and was a ton of fun to go see.