Caught playing with daddys waffle iron.

Jack and his dad driving a tractor we found on our bike ride.

If you have to return it by tomorrow, then it’s not really a week for
only $1.99. Is it? For better marketing that’s just as honest, they
should have a sign that says “Free DVDs!! Only $15.99.”
–sent from Jon’s T-Mobile Sidekick

Jack is walking down the hall at the airport like he owns the place

[Note: The chat feature isn’t working from the broadcasting laptop. You can only chat amongst yourselves as viewers.]

This post contains video of Jack’s live birthday video. Let me know how it works in the comments. We’ll be broadcasting on November 23rd from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM CST and November 27th from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM CST. We’ll see you then!

T-Mobile

Jack putting a ball down the rain gutter!

He found trouble!

T-Mobile

Jack playing on his early birthday present from his grandma and grandpa Mick!

…sounds like a good name for a Rock group.
–sent from Jon’s T-Mobile Sidekick

At the mall.

Jack in his new overalls from grandma Mary.

Hi dad!

Hes so strong!

Me and my baby.

…after two and a half hours browsing shops on South Congress Avenue in
Austin.
–sent from Jon’s T-Mobile Sidekick

All done!

We’re on the plane and headed to Phoenix! This is Jack’s first plane
trip.
–sent from Jon’s T-Mobile Sidekick

Off to Sea World in San Antonio today!
–sent from Jon’s T-Mobile Sidekick

My mom took this video while they were visiting last week. Thanks so much guys for entertaining Jack!!

Little devil!

T-Mobile

Jacks first trip to Costco while sitting in the shopping cart. He is such a big boy already!

I finally finished Jacks baby blanket.

How To Escape A Fart - Watch more free videos

Yep. That’s my plane to Japan. I’m leaving SFO right now.

–jinglejammer

Leaving in nine minutes on my flight to Nagoya, Japan with a stopover in

San Francisco.

–jinglejammer

He’s much more experienced now. Long live King Jack!

–jinglejammer

–jinglejammer

–jinglejammer

Thanks dad! We love you!

–jinglejammer

–jinglejammer

I just uploaded a Jack-load of photos. Check ‘em out now. There’s also some of everyone else in the family but you probably won’t notice them with Jack in all the other photos.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile

I just uploaded a new set entitled “Dogs in the Backyard”. The photos would look so much better if we actually had a lawn. That’s my next Spring project.

You can now receive an e-mail when I upload new photos to my Flickr account. This should be a lot easier than waiting for me to get around to posting an article/thumbnail on my blog. Check it out now at http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/notifications/?from=email. You’ll need to have an account and have me added as a contact first.

T-Mobile

Jack turned 100,000 minutes today at 12:44 PM. It was a surprise party for him and he didn’t even have a clue. I meant to get the video on the website quicker but I just learned that boys older than 100,000 minutes are quite a bit more fussy.

Hint: 100,000 What? By the way, the 12:45 PM (Texas time) surprise is not going to be posted live. The “event” takes place at 12:44 PM and the surprise will be posted ASAP after the event.

Stay tuned. I’ll be posting an extra-special entry on Sunday at 12:45 PM. I can’t say for sure what it will be but you’ll soon find out!

The next time you pickup a five-pound bag of potatoes, think about Jack Mick. He’s gained an amount of weight the same as a bag of potatoes since he was born. That’s right, he now weighs 13 pounds, 8 ounces! He’ll weigh a stone by the end of the weekend.

Of course this isn’t a video of my workday but I have had a few jobs that parallel this video pretty well. Thanks Sean for e-mailing this to me back on August 24th. I finally had a chance to listen to it today and thought it was blogworthy.

Dad, Bridgette, and I went on a hike today along Brushy Creek in our neighborhood. You can check out our route at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=608900. The farm just north of our route is where baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan lives.

Watch the video to see the results of hooking up a motorcycle wheel to a merry-go-round. So there are no surprises, you’ll be seeing the kids flung from the playground equipment once it goes really fast. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I thought this video was worth sharing…

This is Jack’s first trip to burger king.

There’s a new Grandpa Elf this year. Click below to meet him and have him wish you a Merry Christmas!

Grandpa Elf!

I’ve uploaded photos taken on December 8th and 9th. In this set you’ll find his second-ever sponge bath, an appearance by sister Leela, a blueberry belgian waffle from my new waffle maker, and playtime in his bouncy chair.

Below are my favorite lullaby songs that we’ve been playing for Jack on our combo lamp/iPod speakers in the nursery. See if you can guess which popular songs they’re made from. I can’t wait to figure out a way to electrically engineer these into every other toy he has that plays music.

My brand new Canon Digital Rebel XT showed up in the mail a couple days ago. I’ve uploaded my first “roll” of film used with the camera and it can be seen in this set.

My Flickr/blog has become so much more popular now that a baby has arrived. They must be right. You need to have some combination of “monkey, baby, or bikini” in order to increase your audience.

Anyways, I told my mom that it was getting to be difficult to keep up with the demand with my old Canon Powershot A70 camera. Because it’s just a point-and-shoot, it takes a few seconds after you click the button for the shutter to activate. I would be missing a lot of Jack’s precious and rare emotional moments. She declared that she needed plenty of Jack pics since she lives over 1300 miles away in Lake Havasu City and offered to buy me my first SLR. Thanks Mom for my new gear!! I promise I’ll put it to good use.

…and still very healthy.

I’ve uploaded the video I took with my camcorder on the last day of our stay in the hospital. Watch it now for a tour of the room we stayed in for over 48 hours after Jack came into our lives.

Go check out the uploaded video of Jack’s first visit to The Cheesecake Factory or photos from the same day. It was very successful especially after Grandma Mary bought a SlingRider for Jack to sleep in. We didn’t have to leave the restaurant at all and only had a short episode of crying. Oh yeah, I ordered the White Chocolate Caramel Latte Cheesecake for myself and give it three stars out of five.

I’m home alone with Jack for the first time while Rachael and her mom go shopping for nursing bras. I don’t think I can move. (taken with my cell phone)

This is Jack with his new grandparents. Click him to see more photos of his second day of life.

I just logged into my blogging software for the first time in awhile and saw all the comments. Thank you so much everyone!! You may have thought that your comment didn’t get through because it didn’t display right away but it was stuck in my “Moderation” folder. The website was setup so that I had to approve all comments that were not recently approved. I’ve now changed this so that they are approved right away. So in addition to your prayers for Jack and us new parents, please pray that I won’t be bombarded by blog spam. (If you’re not already a computer dork, you may not know what blog spam is but God does. Blog spam is just like spam or unsolicited messages in your e-mail but it appears as comments on your website.)

Again thank you all for the support, comments, and phone calls. We feel so blessed to have such a beautiful and healthy boy to share with this world. The photos are turning out great but you really need to meet this guy in person to know how truly awesome he is.

P.S. If you’re having difficulty or don’t know how to leave a comment, just add a comment to this post and I’ll help you out.

This is the sofa where i got five hours ofsleep last night . That’s all the sleep we’ve had since our five hour on saturday. Five hours is great! I hope jack keeps up the good behavior cuz this is more sleep than ben franklin. Also, we’re all still healthy and planning on going home tomorrow on my birthday. Best present ever!

Here’s a quick video of us at the hospital before Jack’s delivery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsX-KzHZrI

Here is a photo of Jack nine hours into life. Check out my Flickr page for even more photos.

(Gotta go, posting this from the hospital cafeteria.)

I can’t write much because I’m at the hospital with Rachael and the Internet is really slow. Besides I shouldn’t even be on the computer. I’m helping my wife give birth to our son!! See my Flickr page for updates. It’s at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jinglejammer.

The good news is that I’m not sick like I thought I was. The bad news - everyone else in Texas is feeling the same as me.

I’ve fallen behind this year with publishing my holiday wishlist. It used to be so much easier when my mom would throw down the JCPenney Christmas catalog in front of me during my after-school cartoon binge. I’d circle exactly what I wanted and Mom would make sure that Santa was notified. As I get older this process becomes more difficult. I make my own money now and if I see a bed tent I like, I’ll buy it for myself on the spot. For this reason, the last few year’s wishlists have contained only items that I can’t afford for myself or didn’t make it through the wife-approval process. This year I’ll try to be a little easier and more generic. The following are ideas for anyone interested:

• Anything from my Amazon wishlist
• Framed art or movie posters
• Rack for CDs/DVDs
• Accessories for my game room (i.e.)
• Accessories for my desk/office
• Pro Flickr account renewal
• Nice red wine glasses (how to buy)
• Tony Hawk Xbox 360 game
• Call of Duty 3 Xbox 360 game
• Lego Star Wars Xbox 360 game
• In-ceiling speakers
• Speaker stands for front speakers in home theater
• Charcoal BBQ grill
• Patio chairs
• Swatch
• Board games (the good ones)
• T-shirts from Tshirthell.com
• Beer glasses (for root beer of course)
• Rear speakers for my Honda Accord
• Universal remote control (not from the movie Click)
• Garage door opener (fastest and quietest one ever)
• Ladder
• Web cam (for laptop and/or desktop)
• Bluetooth headset (for a Motorola V600)
• Slim Devices Squeezebox
• The Book of Cool
• Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (or two)
• MonsterPod or GorillaPod
• Jimi wallet
• USB GPS key
• Wallet Notes from Magellan
• …or FoldzFlat pen
• Business card holder from Muji
• P-phone by Hulger
• ABC’s for Nerd Babies
• Anything for home automation
• Arnette Swinger sunglasses (not white)
• Fireproof safe
• Fireplace set

Rachael didn’t want my South Park character to be without a friend so she designed one to look like herself. This is more entertaining than the current season on TV. Thanks Rachael!!

Growing up in Arizona, I was never part of an Irish neighborhood. In fact, I never even saw a real Irishman (someone from Ireland and not just someone with orange hair) until I lived in San Francisco. This is most definitely an advantage. This is why…

I tell people my last name everyday when I’m ordering my Caramel Macchiato at the local coffeehouse or buying a Jumbo Jack from Jack in the Box. They get it wrong most of the time, calling out the order as “Mike!” or “Nick!” but they never laugh. Very few people laugh. However, every once in a while people laugh or aren’t even sure they’ve heard me correctly.

Perhaps this is because my last name is “a derogatory term for an Irishman, usually Catholic and sometimes drunk”. I can deal with it but I sure don’t know what I would do if someone ever introduces themself to me as Elijah Nigger?

My friend Steve Kaschimer told me about this cool site to design a South Park character. This is me as a South Park character. I’m listening to my iPod and drinking my alcoholic beverage with an umbrella. That pretty much sums me up when I’m not working. Design your own character at www.sp-studio.de/.

P.S. You’ll have to do a “Print Screen” command if you want to save/upload it like I have.

Watch this video to see a side of Faith Hill you’ve probably never seen.

I forgot to post these photos when I received them a month ago. They were taken when Rachael and I took the dogs to the Congress Avenue Bridge to see the world’s largest urban bat colony. Of course, we were approached by so many people because of my beautiful wife (and possibly our dogs too) throughout the night. A gentleman from Amsterdam asked if he could take a few photos of us with our dogs. He asked for my e-mail address so he could e-mail me the results. A few months passed and I hadn’t heard anything until one day these popped up in my inbox.

I’ve been working in Houston since September 18th on an internal project. This photo shows where I work everyday in relation to the Houston Skyline. It’s in the Deloitte building (Three Allen Center) at 333 Clay Street.

I’m working in ASP.NET programming an analytics website for clients in the Consumer Business industry. We basically take all the data from completed consumer retail surveys and show the relationship between different questions/answers. For instance, how does greeting a customer when they come through the front door affect their decision to make a purchase. This website has a graph that will, for example, show that out of the total population of responses 60% were greeted. However, of the population where the consumer purchased something, 85% were greeted. You can probably see where this could be helpful. You can also probably see why everyone at Jamba Juice annoyingly scrambles to greet you whenever you come into the store.

While in Houston, I wanted to find a few photos to show you around. While I haven’t posted my review yet of the city, this photo shows a little of how I see it.
Photographed by slight clutter.

We need to buy a new ladder for our house so we’re shopping around. What do you think about this one on QVC?

I just took an online test to find out if I’m a nerd, geek, or dork. I’ve always referred myself to a geek but I guess I’ve been wrong all along. If you take the test, don’t forget to leave your results in the comments.

————————
Pure Nerd
52 % Nerd, 21% Geek, 17% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the “dork.” No-longer. Being smart isn’t as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

Thanks Again! — THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

This was done back on August 2nd but I thought I would upload since I never did.

CalWIN is the project I was on since I started consulting a year and half ago and just rolled off of a month ago.  I just finished my role as the Training Environment Coordinator a little over a month ago and since then I’ve seen this description on my company’s intranet and figured that since the project was public sector that I would be allowed to share it here.  (It’s also over at Wikipedia but Deloitte’s description has a little more fluff.)   Also below I’ve copied my job description straight from my resume so you actually know how I contributed to the project.

The headline reads “Public Sector, Consulting Team Achieves Major California Milestone”.

The rest…

Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Public Sector practice has completed implementation of the CalWORKs Information Network (CalWIN), an automated client-server welfare application and one of the largest welfare systems ever implemented in the United States.

CalWIN will replace California’s Client Welfare Data System, a 31-year-old legacy system used by a consortium of 18 California counties. The counties in the consortium administer services for over 40 percent of California’s public assistance caseload.

“CalWIN was an enormous undertaking and our talented and dedicated Deloitte U.S. Firms’ team was critical to its success,” said Debasis Saha, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “Through the counties’ budget crises, project delays resulting from new legislation, and a myriad of other challenges we faced over the life of this project, our team persevered to deliver an outstanding solution.”

CalWIN is a custom-built application used by over 25,000 end-users who process 10 million transactions a day. It serves over 5.8 million clients seeking social services benefits in California.

Deloitte Consulting began work on CalWIN in February 2000. During the last 18 months, the project had an aggressive implementation schedule of one county go-live per month. The final implementation in July 2006 brought the total number of converted cases to over 2.3 million, with a case conversion accuracy rate of 99.9 percent.

Deloitte Consulting was responsible for the design, development and testing of the CalWIN application and for designing and managing user acceptance testing, conversion, end-user training and change leadership services.

The team constructed 19 different training courses for each of the 18 CalWIN counties, provided instructor-led training for thousands of CalWIN end-users, and conducted a train-the-trainer program for dozens of county trainers. The team also developed a state-of-the-art online User Manual containing over 1,000 separate procedures to help end-users perform CalWIN functions.

In addition, the Transition and Change Leadership team worked side-by-side with county staff to help prepare counties for implementation and to provide post go-live support, including project management, business process redesign, user readiness support, communications, application infrastructure setup, help desk and implementation issue resolution.

Congratulations to the 160-plus member CalWIN team for a successful implementation!

In my role, I…

“Prepared training environments for CalWIN users by populating database with training data from over 130 unique cases. Created, developed and maintained test scripts for training database exercises using Rational Robot. Reengineered data population procedure to move it from a manual process to a nearly automated process. Coordinated database restores and builds to multiple ILT environments with the Change Management Control Board (CMCB). Reviewed training schedule and developed timelines / strategy for pre-building data. Defined and implemented QA plan for all case data in addition to creating repeatable test scripts for quicker testing on future releases. Built and distributed case data sheets to all trainers and students. Monitored and tracked Help Desk calls from training sessions. Supported resolution of application issues.”

We built our first crib yesterday and it was easier than I thought. I remember watching all the old sitcoms where the dads somehow messed everything up during their first build. I don’t know if it’s because I read every instruction book I’ve ever gotten or if it’s the fact that this crib cost more than my XBox 360, but the install went smoothly. Take a look at the video below to understand what we were thinking to ourselves throughout the process.

Oh yeah, leave me a comment to let me know what you think about the new format. I feel it gives a better picture quality but it may take longer to download. If you want to see the YouTube version (the same format as before), click here. Otherwise, just click “Play Now” and the video should start.

What do these things have in common?

• the target ball in bocce
• the antagonist in a famous William Golding’s novel
• a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Robin Williams
• the mascot of a popular fast food chain
• a type of maritime flag flown from the bow of a ship
• the lowest face card in a deck of playing cards

That’s right!  They’re all named after our first-born son.  He’s not even born yet and they’re already naming cheese, playing cards, and movie characters after him.

Along with the rest of my paperwork that I had to fill out when transferring Deloitte offices from San Francisco to Austin, I had to fill out this mini questionnaire so I can be included in the Central Texas facebook.  The facebook is a way for everyone to get to know some of their officemates.  Here are my details:

Hobbies:  Blogging, RSS Feeds, Home Theatre
Languages spoken: English
Interesting Fact: I have over 250 Pez dispensers
Favorite food:  French Toast
Favorite movie:  Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Joe Dirt, Neverending Story, The Matrix
Favorite book: Getting Things Done by David Allen
Favorite vacation spot: San Francisco

I just thought I’d copy it here so you can get to know me as much as my employer.

We just bought some baby clothes at the outlet stores. Butters wouldn’t model them for us so we had to just lay them out on our bed to photograph.

I just uploaded new photos of Rachael’s belly at 25 weeks and 5 days. I tried getting a close-up of her belly button but it just ended up looking obscene.

This is the making of the family portrait photo below. No one knew that I was taking a video instead of a photo. They just kept waiting for the timer to activate and take the picture.

Rachael wanted to take a family portrait tonight while we had everyone together. Sorry Leela, but it looks like Butters blocked you in this one.

This one should have been posted a while back but I was slacking. Anyways, Ashley, Rachael, and I visited Hamilton Pool last week. The preserve is a natural pool that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago. For photos you can check out my Flickr account.

Someone just like dad who is putting together legos in the food court at the mall
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

I just read that the Thundercats are being redone as a new cartoon on the WB.  It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be anywhere near the original, however, according to my favorite movie blog (www.themovieblog.com).  Their leader is now Snarf (not Lion-O!) and they’re all teenagers who play in a rock band together when they’re not fighting crime.  You can find more details here.

We found the oasis, a restaurant on the edge of lake travis.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

We bought a sofa!
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Added on July 3rd: Actually we bought two sofas and a chair. You can find more details (and a better photo) at the product page here. We’re having it delivered on Wednesday.

My parents and dogs arrived today. Hopefully they’ll stay for a few weeks before driving back.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

We now have a breakfast table! (we’re eating grilled turkey and swiss)
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

I found where oprah keeps her ming!
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

We had to sleep in the living room last night because we couldn’t get the mattresses upstairs. Today we’re unpacking our boxes.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

We’re all moved in! Both the neighbors have already introduced themselves. Time to hit the showers.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

We just got our keys (in the envelope) and we’re off to the house!
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Waking up from a nap to catch dinner before everyone closes. I’m eating my favorite - pad thai.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Our walkthru went great so we went out to lunch. It was only 12 dollars for both of us. Austin is so much cheaper than california!
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Leela watching tv in the austin hotel room while we get ready for bed.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

We made it!
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Let’s try this again. It’s on time today.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

We missed our connecting flight because of a kamikaze bird and now we’re staying in phoenix. We’ll try again tomorrow.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

At the airport and ready for austin! Leela is fine but rachael is tired and hot.
Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

The photo update for our new house was e-mailed to me today. I put it on Flickr.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

This photo was taken on June 5th and we’re getting ready to move!! We were surprised to learn that the front yard landscaping will be taken care of by the time we move in. It really makes more of a difference than I thought.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Before the status meeting tonight at work we were working on our shadow animals. I thought flying birds and dogs were so 20th century so I spelled “poop” with my skills.
Posted via cell phone by spathak_100.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

Posted via cell phone by jinglejammer.

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Josh Kaufman has just updated his “Personal MBA” manifesto declaring that one can actually have an MBA education (or better) by reading no more than this list of 40 books. You can find the list on his blog over at Josh Kaufman: Inside My Bald Head. This is great, I only have 38 books to go. Just what an ENTP needs to keep his mind busy.

I’m just sticking with my goal (of posting at least one entry per week). I’m not writing anything else tonight because I’m going to bed with my wife right now - something I had always taken for granted until my new job required me to spend nights away from home.

When a Deloitte consultant is not staffed on a project and is working out of his/her local office, they are considered to be “On The Beach”. This is where I’m at. I’m right smack dab in the middle of a sand castle. It is always better to be staffed on a project because then you are being utilized and upping your utilization rate. This, in turn, affects your year-end performance reviews.

I’ll only be on the beach until Friday though. Next week I will be in downtown Los Angeles for software training and staying at the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles. My training is for IBM’s WebSphere, particularly getting an overview of WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker (WBIMB) Version 5. After that, back “on the beach” until I find out what my next project will be. I’ll have to fill in the details later of what WebSphere actually is and how I will be using it. It is basically a way to integrate different systems and processes among and across enterprises so that they can all share and use the same data. More to come on this piece of software as I spend every moment of next week learning about it.

I just posted more photos of the animals from around the house. There are a few really cute photos of their noses.

Yesterday Rachael and I took the dogs to the park. We wanted to spend some more time with them along with socializing them with other people and their pets. I figured the best place to do this would be the Golden Gate Park in the City. It’s actually larger than New York’s Central Park and even includes Bison on the land. We didn’t get to the Bison but instead ended up at the baseball fields. Plenty of well-behaved dogs were playing off their leashes as Rachael and I dreamed of the day we could do this with our dogs. We talked to a woman with a pitbull that was playing fetch so wonderfully with her husband. We asked her how she controls her dog around other dogs and she gave us a couple resources. First was Reunion Rescue, an organization that saves pit bull dogs from euthanasia and adopts them out. Second was B.A.D.R.A.P. (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls) which is a non-profit organization made up of a diverse and ever growing group of pit bull owners, rescuers, and supporters. These sites are amazing and have provided Rachael and me with a lot of hope for helping Butters and his dog-dog aggressiveness.

After the park, we drove north to the Golden Gate Bridge since we were so close anyways. It looked exactly as it should have and we spent some time exploring the hills surrounding it, looking for the best views. We found some great, romantic views but it wasn’t a great time to enjoy them with two smelly dogs in the backseat. All of the pictures attached are taken from Vista Point on the northeast side of the bridge.

I finally got the details about my start date at Deloitte Consulting. The first week is going to be in the San Francisco office, starting February 7th. For the second week, I’m off to Chicago for National SA (Systems Analyst) Training. I’m scheduled for my plane to arrive in Chicago on Saturday, February 12th and coming back home on Friday, February 18th. I’m looking forward to it even though it is work, after all. I’ll be staying in a nice hotel (Hyatt Regency Chicago on the Riverwalk) and plan on taking a look around downtown while I’m there. I was surprised to see that there isn’t much to do in the city; however I am comparing to San Francisco. I want to at least set aside some time for the Sears Tower Skydeck and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Hopefully, during this time I’ll be assigned to my next project and find out what the heck I’ll be doing for work the next few months. I’ll also be getting a new company laptop.

OK…this may sound a bit fishy but I can guarantee it works. I’ve already talked to a few people that have received their iPods. Anyways, without trying to begin my post like every scam out there I’m just going to tell you what I need. It shouldn’t hurt to try. In addition, you can get referrals and get your own free stuff.
According to http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64614,00.html and http://www.freeipodguide.com/?ops=reasons, it is legitimate. I have been skeptical for the past few months but after talking to people who have received their iPods, I’m giving it a try. Let’s see what we can do.

To help me get a free iPod, click here - http://www.FreeiPods.com/?r=14366697

To help me get a free iPod Shuffle, click here - http://www.FreeiPodShuffle.com/?r=14365671

To help me get a free Mini Mac, click here - http://www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=14366124

After reading the details and talking to me about it, you’ll understand that you are also eligible to get a free iPod or anything else listed on their site. I can assure you that if you complete an offer under my referral ID, that I will complete an offer under yours.

Also, after completing an offer, let me know in the comments below. I only need a limited number of referrals for each gift and it wouldn’t be efficient to go over that number.

Rachael has been using this photo of Scamper as her bookmark for quite sometime and I thought it would be a good idea to let him live on in the Internet world too.

Rachael and me on the Magnum rollercoaster at Cedar Point in Ohio this summer. I was having a blast, but I’m not sure about Rachael.

Rachael and I took the dogs for a hike the other day in the hills behind our house at Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. We had no idea the walk was going to be shared by a herd of cows. All four of us were pretty nervous as we walked right through the herd but we made it out alive.

Just added a new set of photos from Rachael’s recent trip to Las Vegas.