Day 55... He Needs Some Help!

I went to Chipotle for lunch today.  As I got out of my car, I noticed that the guy walking in front of me had some really short pants on.  It made me chuckle a little.  I had to take a picture... but the picture doesn't really do the site justice.  I could clearly make out his ankles just above his orthopedic preacher shoes (he was not old, in fact I would venture to say that he was younger than me!)... I am too tall to get a really good picture, not to mention that it is not the easiest thing to take a picture of someone while in a crowded restaurant without anyone noticing.  Clearly there is no break in his pants... there should be break in the front where your pants hit your shoes... and my personal preference is for the back of the pant leg to be almost touching the ground.  I used to dress people for a living... customers came back to me and wouldn't buy clothes sometimes if I wasn't working!  So when I see something like this, I feel a little bit sorry for the person, but clearly it doesn't bother him, so I got to laugh a little inside.  :)

Day 54... More of My Dogs!

My dogs are the cutest dogs in the world.  They have their own room in our house, as I have told you before.  Every morning on our way out the door, we tell the dogs to go to their room and we close the gate.  This way they do not have to stay confined to a crate all day long, but they don't have free roam of the entire house.  This morning we sent them to their room... I looked back and this was the site I saw... how cute are they!?

Day 53... 30th Birthday Trip!

Lana surprised me last week with the news that she had planned a trip to Walt Disney World for my 30th birthday!  The trip is 11 days away and I am SO excited!  Yes, I have been to Disney World a million times, but I am still VERY excited!  All I know is that we are going, I don't know where we are staying and Lana tells me that there are a few surprises up her sleeve.  I can't wait to get to WDW... I have always wanted to be there on my birthday and this will be the very first time ever!  Can't wait!

Day 52... Dreaming...

Most people dream of White Christmases and such... but I dream of new cars!  I want a new car... I always do.  New is a really cool concept to me!  My dream car is a BMW... any series, just a BMW.  It can be the least expensive to the most expensive... although if I am paying, it will never be the most expensive.  Did you learn something new about me today?

Day 51... Picture Coming! UPDATED!

I did not take a picture because what I wanted to take a picture of was a work in progress all day.  Lana made a few more beautiful canvases for our house and my office.  I will take pictures of the finished products and post them for you to see real soon!  UPDATE:  Pictures are now here... the above canvas is for my office, although it is not quite finished.  It's A Wonderful Life is one of my favorite movies of all time, so the saying was quite appropriate.  The picture below is going in the dog room in our house.  Fun huh?

Day 50... All alone!

Tonight I was all alone.  Lana and her sisters, mom and step-mom were all scrapbooking until the wee hours.  So... I played with my iPhone all by myself.  Can you tell I was bored?  HA!

Day 49... I REALLY Love Zoe!

She is the cutest dog ever... besides my two other dogs.  Zoe loves to sleep in "the big girl bed."  That's what we call our bed.  When we say it's time for "the big girl bed," Zoe hops all the way to the bedroom and then waits for someone to put her up on the bed.  She is very patient waiting for everyone to get in bed.  I had to take this picture of her waiting for us to get in bed last night!

Day 48... Dora the Explorer

How can you not think that this picture is precious?!  Didn't you know Dora had a goatee?  Sometimes I like to embarass my wife in public places... well more than just sometimes, but I have been able to control myself lately.  I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to put on the Dora mask and pose for some pictures.  At least she was willing to take my picture!

Day 47... I forgot...

This has been a crazy week... coming down off the high of TCEA last week in Austin.  I have been running circles around myself, I feel like.  So Day 47 got left out!  So sorry to those of you that have been following the rambling blog for 47 days and are disappointed with today... I will get back on the horse, I promise!

Day 46... I Think I am Caught Up...

That's my girl in front of the Texas Capitol Building in Austin.  We stopped by on our way back to McKinney after the trade show in Austin.  We had a lot of fun walking around and taking pictures of the building, inside and out. 

Texans have ALWAYS been proud of their state... err Republic... well however you see it, they have been proud of it.  Way up in the top of the dome is our beloved Lone Star, around the five points of the star is the word Texas... just to be sure you know where you are.  Also, the hinges of all the doors are custom and says Texas Capitol... I'm telling you, don't mess with Texas, or Texans... they have some serious pride!

Day 45... Epic Snowfall

So the snow didn't happen on Day 45, but I had to share this picture that my sister-in-law took of our dogs out in the yard.  This was near the beginning of the snowfall... it would eventually be deeper than the dogs stood tall!  Areas of the DFW metroplex received 12.5 inches of snow... and I was in Austin!  Not a single flake fell in Austin.  I have always told Lana that I wanted to live somewhere cold where it snowed a lot, so of course I got to miss the historic snowfall in North Texas!

Day 44... The Finished Product

The booth became this over two days.  It was so much fun to be back in a "classroom!"  The coolest thing was that I had the use of any piece of technology I wanted for my classroom.  I used a SMART Board, SMART Response Clickers, and a SMART Table in my classes this week.  All in all I had a great time, and was happy to get to show off my talents to my coworkers.  Being right next to SMART Technologies, was a nice thing too... especially since I bleed blue and green!

Day 43... Gotta Have My Starbucks

Trade show in full swing, I made sure to hit Starbucks on my way to the convention center.  I was fortunate enough to have a Starbucks in the lobby of my hotel.  So, while waiting on my co-workers, I enjoyed a couple of minutes sitting down with a cup of coffee.  Sitting was not something I got to do much of in Austin!

Day 42... Austin Dinner

So, I am cheating just a little, but I really wanted to share this picture of dessert at Carmelo's in Austin.  It was a work of art... I love art, and I especially love functional art!  I went to dinner with two of my co-workers and we had great food and great conversation... the bottle of wine was a nice added touch!

Day 41... Austin

When I got to Austin this is what our booth looked like... it needed a lot of work!  Trade show did not open until Wednesday so there was no reason to panic.  This was a really cool process.  I got to see some amazing booths go from being nothing to being amazing in a really short period of time.  It is pretty amazing if you have never gotten to see it from that side.  This room would be my stage for the whole week.  It was a lot of fun and VERY EXHAUSTING!

Day 40... Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday found me still getting ready for the trade show in Austin.  Jake actually slowed down today and let us catch a picture of him at rest!  I am sure as soon as we were done taking the picture, he ran over to see what was going on... gotta love that dog!

Day 39... My Dogs are SO Cute!

While working on some things for a huge trade show in Austin, my dogs felt the need to be close by.  It was cold in the dining room and so Zoe cuddled up to Scrappy to keep warm.  Jake of course was circling me feet because he could not slow down.  I love my dogs!

Day 38... Home is Where Your Story Begins.

A couple of months ago, Lana went to a Scrapbooking retreat with some friends.  When she came home, she had made this canvas for our dining room.  The picture does not do it justice... it is a MASTERPIECE.  The quote says, "Home is where your story begins."  It is one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I just love that my wife is so creative and made this canvas for me.  I love walking in the front door and seeing this everyday!

Day 37... No Shoes with Wheels!

If you know me well at all, you know that I HATE this new trend of kids wheeling around public places on their Heelys!  When I had to stop by Mardel recently for some supplies for a trade show, I was greeted at the door with this sign.  It literally made my heart skip a beat!  I was so happy to see that a store has finally said what everyone else has wanted to say... Shoes with wheels are not acceptable!  I love kids, don't get me wrong, and I love when they are having fun, but there have been more than a few times when I wanted to trip a kid on wheels in the mall.  I said it... I know... you may think bad of me, but I haven't actually followed through on the thoughts!  Cheers to Mardel!

Day 36... CPAP in Action

So I posted earlier about my CPAP machine, and I posted the not so flattering pictures of me at the sleep study.  This is what Lana gets to see every night, me hooked up to the CPAP machine that keeps my airways open at night.  The good thing is that neither I nor the machine keep Lana up at night!  Here's to some restful sleep in my future... it's been a long time!

Day 35... Jake

Scrappy, our yellow lab, and Zoe, our Dachshund will pose for pictures... Jake on the other hand is another story.  He doesn't slow down for ANYTHING!  This was the best picture I could get of Jake.  Yep, the bone is bigger than him, but he loves it... and don't tell him that it is bigger than him, or that it belongs to Scrappy for that matter.  Jake is our classic middle child... he stays right by our side and "tells" on the other dogs when they are misbehaving.  Heck, he even gets on to them for us.  He is a great dog, although he does have some dog form of ADHD and OCD...

Day 34... Zoe Loves to Cuddle

Zoe, our miniature Dachshund loves to cuddle.  She loves to snuggle up in warm clothes fresh out of the dryer (see earlier post).  She loves anything soft and cuddly.  In an earlier post I showed you what happened to the dog bed we bought for their room before Christmas.  While picking up a perscription at CVS the other night, we happened upon these cute dog beds for $5.99... good deal.  So we bought two, one with pink stripes for Zoe and one with blue stripes for Jake.  Before you go feeling bad for Scrappy... he can't be bothered with dog beds, he only likes human beds.  Zoe loves her bed and Jake's bed.  She has dragged both of them all over the house.  It is a hilarious site.  Last night she curled up on her bed next to me while we watched American Idol... we love bonding over American Idol.  :)

Day 33... Kerri and I

Occasionaly, my sister-in-law Kerri and I will go to lunch together.  We are a pretty funny combination... not like make people laugh funny, funny because we can annoy the crap out of each other but we also love each other to death.  Today we went to Chili's for lunch and Kerri got a run in her pantyhose, so we went to Target afterwards.  As we were walking I stopped and told Kerri that she should get some of the fake Wayfarers.  She tried on a pair and then we decided we should try on some sunglasses and document the occasion.  We sent a picture to Lana and she replied that we are dorks.  We are, but we are lovable dorks!

Day 32... Monsieur Patate

As I mentioned earlier, I have this thing for Mr. Potato Head, or if you are in French speaking Canada, Monsieur Patate.  My new job has afforded me some fun and unique opportunities, one of which was a trip to Canada last year.  I went to Calgary to attend a training at SMART's world headquarters.  While there, myself and a fellow Education Consultant from my company got to meet some pretty cool people.  Since we didn't rent cars (we stayed right on the rail line about two stops from SMART), our Canadian friends volunteered to take us out and about at night.  One night we went to a big mall just south of Calgary, the largest mall in Alberta (it wasn't that big).  At the mall there was a Toys R Us... so I had to check.  Sure enough, there was a Mr. Potato Head that I did not have and the packaging was in English and French!  Too good to pass up!  While I realize this did not happen on Day 32, as the post would suggest, I did feel the need to share.  I was checking to make sure that the doors were locked before going to bed and I passed the guest bedroom where this Mr. Potato Head lives on a bookshelf and it brought back fond memories of a fun trip to Canada, so I snapped a pic!

Day 31... This Is It!

I am confused by all the people that were not aware of the 3-D tribute to Michael Jackson at the Grammys.  It was all over the radio and the glasses were available at Target.  The DJ's on the radio show that I listen to in the mornings were complaining about how they didn't know it was going to be in 3-D... I heard about it on their radio station!  As you can see... we were ready... and it was SO cool.  I am truly amazed by technology... everyday I see something new that just boggles the mind.  I sat in my own living room, watching MY t.v. and it was in 3-D!  So cool.

Day 30... Zoe Loves Laundry!

On Saturday, as Lana and I were cleaning and washing clothes... we were met with this sight!  Zoe buried herself in the warm clothes that had just come out of the dryer.  I went to fold the clothes and found her there.  Who can look at this picture and not think she is the cutest dog ever!?

Day 29... They Call It Commuting Revisited

Since taking my new job, my commute has changed drastically.  See my earlier post on commuting.  Friday I got back into the swing of my highly irregular commute.  We have offices in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin.  I commuted to Houston via plane on Friday for work.  It is funny being an air commuter, I never thought that I would be, but it is definitely fun.  Friday's trip earned me my first reward flight from Southwest Airlines!  Now, I can fly free to any destination that Southwest services... nice perk!

Day 28... Mulberry Street

One of my favorite books when I was little was, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss.  Even today it is one of my all time favorite books.  Marco is encouraged by his dad to keep his eyes open to see what he can see on his way to school.  Marco wants to have a great story to tell his dad when he gets home from school so he dreams up these outlandish tales when all he really saw was a cart and horse.  Today was a Mulberry Street day for me.  I saw nothing that I wanted to take a picture of today!  I guess I could have come up with an outlandish tale... turning minnows into whales, but I won't.