Corporate Challenge

I was up until 1:30am last Friday night going to See Transformers 2. A pretty crappy movie, imho. I was disappointed in the plot, the directing, and the confusion that ensued. In parts it was kind of like the people who made it were saying to themselves, “Ok, let’s have them do this.” And they didn’t stop to think how it would look to the audience, and that we would go, “That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

However, the action and special effects were out of this world! I wish we could have followed what was going on a little better. The first movie was definitely better.

Ok, back on topic: I had to get up Saturday morning at 5am to go to the final Corporate Challenge event. I slept in until 5:50, so my morning was pretty rushed! We met down at Longview Lake for the event at 7:30. We were the first pull to take place in our division, so we had to dig holes in the sand to put our feet in.

Here is us digging:

We dug in and pulled for all we were worth, and won the first tug! Then we won our 2nd pull 20 minutes later. Then we kept on winning until we were in the final round! (and the team we were pulling against had lost 1 round already against another team).

We were still undefeated. We pulled for all we were worth, but we thought that we were winning when the timer was running out, and when it ended it turned out that the other team had more of the flag than we did. During that round, I was pulling for all I was worth, but my grip was shot and the rope kept slipping through my gloved fingers.

But that was our first loss, so we got another shot. So we took a small break and then went at it again. This time we were ready! We pulled hard at the start, and then set in and held on for the duration of the time left on the clock. The other team kept trying to pull it from our grip but they couldn’t do it and we won the GOLD!

Yay for BATS and the Underdogs!!!

We finished 9th in our division (out of 27 teams).

Today is Monday, and I still have injuries from this event. Mostly in my legs. My left calf is still locked up, and it’s very painful to climb stairs… or walk… or jump even.

But the glory is worth it.

Michael Jackson is Dead

I know that everyone and their mom is probably blogging about this today, but I just wanted to say my piece/peace. We were out to dinner last night at Gordon Beirsch, in the Power & Light District, getting ready to head over to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert, and I looked over to check the scores on TV, and I saw a big scrolling, “Michael Jackson is Dead” on the bottom of the screen. That was the first I knew of what had happened.

I personally really liked many of Michael’s songs, especially “Purple Rain.” What a great song … oh wait , that was Prince.

I actually liked “You Are Not Alone” and “Black or White” the most. I could listen to those 2 songs all day, and they’re both on my iPhone’s iPod song list.

Michael, I’m not sure if I’ll miss you, but I’m glad you were here to be such a great influence on the music world. 50 years isn’t very long to live. You definitely burned out, rather than fading away.

Dishes

Here is another pic of Sariah that I think is cute. She was never that little!:

This was back when she knew only 1 mood: happy. Now she knows 2 moods: happy and grumpy. I was ok with the two moods, but once she learned how to differentiate between what she wanted and what she got, it got worse. ;)

Sariah’s likes:
Elmo
Cows
Mommy
Doggies
Kitties
Books
Playing outside
Oreo cookies (we’ve learned not to say cookie around her, or she HAS to have one)
Rob
Going bye bye
Walking on her knees
Pasta Pickups
Blue teddy bear
Pizza
Keyboards (piano and computer)
Playing with other kids
iPhones
Wind blowing in her face
Swimming
Helping with the dishes
Being tickled


Sariah’s Dislikes:
Bedtime
Naptime
Eating anything that she doesn’t recognize as tasty (ie: not cookies)
Church
Walking on her feet
Sharing with other kids
Watching “Daddy’s shows” on TV instead of Elmo



Neutral stuff she doesn’t care about:
Diaper changing
Loud noises
Playing in her crib while mommy and daddy sleep in

Crocs

So I bought some Crocs.  I bought a pair of Chocolate colored Yukon Crocs that I find very attractive.  They’re slightly dressy, and I like ‘em.  Well apparently my coworkers are part of the “Anti-Crocs Foundation” (ACF).  One of them told me that she actually finds my Crocs offensive!  Ha!  Crazy people. 

I just think they’re comfy, and they’re dressy enough to wear to work.  Why can’t these people just let it go?

Happy

Have you ever seen a happier kid in your life? This is Sariah, my daughter. And she’s the best.

Just look at her happy face. She’s like that most of the time. Almost all the time, actually. Last Sunday she was being REALLY happy during church (smiling, waving at people, laughing out loud), and my friend Tracy leaned over to me and said, “Is she like that all the time?” I smiled and told her “Yes, ALL the time.” Then Sariah suddenly got really grumpy, and stayed that way for the rest of the meeting. I even had to take her out a couple of times to quiet her down. Ahh, kids. *sigh*

iPhone update

Vacation skipped, iPhone obtained!

I Heart LAN Parties

I love LANs. I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s just something about the sound of whirring cooling fans and frantic mouse clicking, paired with the wonderful smell of sweaty palms and overheating microchips.

My wife doesn’t understand why I love these things so much. She has tried to understand. She’s even come to a LAN event or 2 and gamed with me. She just doesn’t get the same exhilarating experience out of it that I do. But you want to know what the best part about LANs is? It’s being able to yell this at the top of your lungs to a room full of people you’re trying to kill:

Yes, for those of you wondering, a “head shot*” is a glorious thing in the world of gaming. It’s the best way to frag someone. That guy above in the pic is also very funny. Here is a short video of him (but only watch the first 1/2, because at the end someone kills him in Counter Strike and he goes on a rant that has some words in it that shouldn’t be repeated):

Still, he’s a funny guy.

*A “Head Shot” is when you shoot someone in the head in a video game and instantly frag** them. I would give an example of how this is used in a sentence, but the term “Head Shot” is its own sentence. :)

**A “Frag” is a kill. To Frag someone is to kill them. Frag is a gaming term mostly used around children who you don’t want to use the word “Kill.” For example, you don’t want them to go to school and say, “I killed you!” to other children.

This post is dedicated to this weekend’s Cerner LAN.

iPhones are the Devil

So Sam and I have iPhones. We had the original iPhones back in the day, and then we were quick to upgrade to iPhone 3G iPhones as soon as they came out (I think we got ours the week after the original release date, so we could avoid the rush). When we did that upgrade, we were able to sell our old iPhones for the same price we bought them for, so that was great. However, now that the iPhone 3G-S’s are out, we want to upgrade again, but this time we will have to pay a lot for the upgrade, because Apple is evil. AT&T is also evil. Why do they do this to us? :)

Anyway, my friend Rob™ already upgraded to the new iPhone, and he can’t stop saying enough good things about how fast it is and how wonderful the new stuff on it is. Sam was originally against the idea of getting new phones, but once she saw how awesome they were, she agreed with me that we had to get one for each of us. I know what you’re thinking… “That’s a lot of money to spend on a phone.” But when you’re an iPhone user, you quickly realize that the iPhone isn’t just a phone, it’s a way of life!

And besides, it’s good to splurge every once in a while, right? We’ll just skip our vacation this year, and then we can “afford” it.