Wow, it sure has been a while since I have updated my blog. Life has been super busy the last month with work projects and personal life (yes, I know…the blog is part of my personal life). Figured it is time to start again as I am leaving tomorrow for a mini road trip with my Dad. We are heading to Phoenix - AZ for three days, then visiting the Grand Canyon, and finally ending up in fabulous Las Vegas. Arizona should be action packed, visiting with my good friend Tammy, catching a spring training ball game, and going to raw hide old west town. Vegas will also be full of excitement as Dan and Randy from Ohio are coming to town along with my buddy Chuck who is driving in from Santa Barbara.

So now on to the first marking that this trip is going to be GREAT. I went to go rent the car tonight and I reserved a Dodge Charger (basically a full size car). I go there and they have NO full size cars. All they got is a Cobalt and a piece of shit Chevy Aveo. Looking at my Dad and I in this car…not happening, it would be like a clown car. I am not really interested in either of those and have the attitude if I don’t get the car I want, I walk out and just take our Mustang. Must be my lucky night cause they have a Mercedes C300 available. I got it for a few bucks more than my other rental, score!!!! The car is awesome and full of tech gadgets, so yeah…I am pretty much in heaven right now. Have already thumbed through the owners manual and got my phone paired with the car. w00t! w00t!

I will try to update this daily during the trip, but may be difficult depending on Interweb access.

The Mercedes C300, Score!,
click to view more

This weekend is absoultely amazing here in Santa Barbara. It pretty much feels like summer and is FANTASTIC!!! Been really nice for walking along the beach or cruising in the mountains. Today, I took Dad out for a ride and we ended going up the 154. Stopped at Bradbury Dam Observation Point and got some sunshine. Dad even wanted to go down a trail (I am amazed)…had a good time out in nature. I am usually not big on leaving the life for drywall and electricity, but it was actually nice. I think the big difference that made it nice today was there were no annoying bugs because it is still winter time. I been out there in the Summer and it is pretty bad. The breeze was so nice today too. Hard to believe it is freezing everywhere else, haha…suckas!!!

Dad and I at Bradbury Dam - click to view more

I know, I know…it is has been forever since I last posted. Life has been busy and crazy with the holidaze and some projects at work, but now I am getting back to normal!

This week I had the opportunity to visit the Regan Ranch with one of my vendors. I am a die hard democrat, but could not pass up this chance. How often do you get to go to a President’s house and explore? The ranch is truly spectacular and I can see why the Young America’s Foundation is working on keeping the ranch as it was. It is a huge part of history and really captures that era. The first thing I learned is that adobe construction is very cool inside even when it is hot outside! The second thing I learned that Regan was a pretty frugal person in terms of furnishings and such, his own bed was so small his legs hung over. I would personally purchase another bed. The third thing I learned is that technology sucked back then for secret service (this was the 80’s). Compared to now, it is night and day!

Anyways, below is a photo from our visit and you can click to view more.

More posts coming soon as well!

Guard at Rancho del Cielo - click to view more

My Dad and I went for a drive the other day up by Refugio and went along the side road. The cows (they are happy Californian cows) were out in full force. Older and babies. They were probably wondering what we were doing out there as I was kind of wondering the same thing. None the less, I pulled over and watched the cows for a while. I found them quite relaxing actually. They graze, moooo, and graze some more. One of the cows seemed to escape and was on the other side of the fence. I guess the saying of that “Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” really does hold true…

For your enjoyment, we moooo’d at the cows.

Baby Cow Escaped, Mooooooooo

Been away at the Windows Connections conference that I go to every year. It is put on by Dev Connections and has various tracks on Exchange, Windows, SQL Server, SharePoint, Office, etc. For me, it is a week long of training on various topics and is really the only formal training I get all year. Helps me mentally prepare for what is coming in the future and for things I could and should be doing now in my current setup. The conference started on Monday, 11/10 and ended Friday 11/14. Time is from 8 - 6 daily, so it is a pretty long day of constant information flow.

John’s Posse (sounds strange, I know) was in full effect as usual. We all hang out after the conference and catch up on everything from tech to life. I also got the surprise of Steve from Acuity-VCT being in Vegas at the same time as he was on vacation. Had dinner with him and his wife on Wednesday evening. Tried to go to Steve’s favorite Chinese restaurant, but everything was closed. Odd that we could not find ANY chinese restaurants to eat at on the strip! MacGyver was in full action as normal (he even fixed the plane he was on).

I also missed the big fire in Santa Barbara on Thursday. Sounded pretty intense from what I heard. Glad none of my friends lost their homes and I am sorry to hear about those that did.

Back to work tomorrow. Viva el Micro$oft!

Dev Connections 2008, Click to View More

Ha, I been meaning to post this for a long time now. When I went on my trip to Chicago and Ohio, I was amazed by the toilets at the Chicago O’Hare airport. They have this system that after a flush, you wave your hand in front of this sensor and it put a new toilet seat protector on. Fascinating. It also counts down how many protector are left in the system. I wonder if it pages the janitorial staff when almost out? Most of them had about 40 or so left…wonder if they start at 100? Deep questions deserving some deep understanding. Anyways, here is the video I took below (I know, werid…but like I said, I was totally engaged in this whole process).

I have been JibJab’d by the nice folks in Ohio. I believe Ken is responsible for this.

This is a map that Josie made when I asked how to get to Ohio from Chicago.

Makes perfect sense!

Today was a fun day of driving and flying. I got up early and dropped Dan off at the Cleveland airport at 6:00 or so in the morning and then head to Chicago. Got to Chicago around 12:30 and had to wait an hour to check in (four hour minimum). I started to people watch, that is always fun.

Once checked in, I tried to go to some restaurants for lunch. Everything had a huge line…they have small restaurants like Chili’s Too, Johny Rockets, etc. I finally got in at a Fox sports bar and was happy. Ordered my food and then I had to use the restroom, so I asked the hostess if I could leave my table for a sec, she said sure and would cover my food. I got back and my food was gone and another group sitting at my table! Needless to say, I did not pay for that lunch. Then I could not find anywhere to get lunch at, so I ended up at Mc Donalds, yay. Don’t have that very often and now I remember why!

Four hours later I am in the air and flying home. Flight was nice and easy. Landed in Long Beach around 8 PM and got home to Santa Barbara at 10 PM or so. Feels good to be home, but had a great time and learned quite a bit from the great lands of IL and OH.

Jetting Above the Clouds, Click to View More

Today was a relaxing day in Ohio…nothing big planned. Got up around 10, had the Dan special for breakfast, he really has a great handle on canadian bacon. Steve called and asked if I wanted to go for a ride, of course I did. Dan took me to a gas station for the witness protection transfer and I was whisked away. First stop was an outlet mall that had a train you could ride. Was a beautiful day, about 82 degrees. I bought some Moosehead popcorn there…can’t pass up a deal buy 2, get 1 free.

After the outlet mall, we headed down the road for a while to do some sightseeing. I had no idea there were so many Amish folks in Ohio. Lots of horse and buggies. The country out there is absolutely beautiful….lots of farms, swamps, and natural gas pumps. I love the country roads…not very populated and everybody seems easy going. Peaceful to say the least.

The ride lasted for about a few hours and then was dropped off back at Dan’s for the fifth phase of witness protection transfer. My last night in Ohio…we ended up watching some football and just relaxing. Dan was quite the chef today and made his special Manhattan clam chowder with shrimp…was tasty! Also got caught up on laundry and packed up for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am dropping Dan off at the airport in Cleveland around 6 AM and then I drive to Chicago for my flight back to California that leaves at 5:30 PM….be home by 8 PM. Going to definitely be an adjustement back after spending a few days here in Ohio.

I really cannot thank Dan, Steve, Randy, Ken, Mike, Justus and the rest of the Acuity-VCT team enough for all of their hospitality during this trip. Is very nice to know there are still great people out there in the world and I think I have found some of the best out in Ohio.

See you all back in California real soon!

The Outlet Mall, Click to View More