Got Hitched!!

So....

I finally did it! I got married to the one person in this world with whom I should have been married to all along... Heather.

We met on Wordfeud in September of 2010 and have since emailed, chatted, talked on the phone, Skyped, traveled to meet in person several times and eventually I moved back to So Cal from Austin, TX to be with her in June of 2011.

July 30th, 2012 we got married and made it official.

We traveled to Medford, OR for her Dad's family reunion. We left on Thursday, July 26th and drove from Mojave, CA to Medford with my son, Atom and her son, Nathan. Her two girls, Meghan and Aubrey, left a day earlier with Heather's parents in their trailer.

Friday we went rafting on the Rogue River as her Uncle owns a rafting company in Shady Cove, OR. and took us all out. It was interesting to say the least. We almost capsized with all four kids in the raft. Heather fell out and I jumped out to be in the water for the kids who I was sure would fall in. In a twist of luck, by jumping out of the raft I righted it and was sucked under the raft and missed the ring on the boat by just a couple inches. I floated down the Rogue for about a quarter mile before her brothers, Chris and Devin, turned their kayak around and caught me. We managed to get to the raft and they helped Heather and myself back into out boat and we continued on our merry way. We had dinner at the Standing Stone Brewery in Ashland, OR that night and then did some shopping. Word of advice, DO NOT ask the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company in Ashland if they have chocolate covered bacon... We felt like we killed their cat after we asked just an innocent question like that. The cousin's (myself and Heather included) stayed in Ashland and went to the Black Sheep Pub for some drinks. Kewl atmosphere!!!

Saturday we got up, showered and went into Jacksonville, OR for some more shopping and and haircut for my son and I, in preparation for the wedding. They have some nice stores there! Terrafirma is one I highly recommend. After shopping and some coffee and breakfast we headed over to Doc Griffin Spray park for a reunion lunch with sandwiches and beer; though I didn't drink until later. We wrapped it up and went back to our campsite to prepare for the last reunion meal; an old-fashioned BBQ! I did all of the BBQ'ing with a little help from Chris who gave me a welding glove for turning the chicken and veggies, thanks d00d! Dinner was good and we chilled out for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, we packed up the campsite and headed to Eugene, OR where we stayed Sunday night at the Hilton Garden Inn. I made sure they had Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Fruit and Champagne in the room waiting for us. Heather was surprised and love it! Nice room, King Bed and a Jacuzzi Tub with a seamless glass shower in the bathroom. We did some laundry and relaxed in the room.

Monday we got up and had breakfast at the hotel then we packed the van and left for town. Heather got her hair done at Just Hair while I went to the bank to get the rest of the money for the wedding. She looked so beautiful with her hair all done up like that. We got dressed at the salon and then headed over to our wedding locale, Voodoo Doughnuts. We meet her parents there who had the kids and my parents arrived slightly before the ceremony. Heather was wearing a very nice, short, wispy wedding dress with studded and shinny bracelets that matched her dress and shoes. I wore Tommy Bahama Cotton Linen pants with a dark grey v-neck tee shirt under a nice white button down Guess shirt. All of the men / boys wore daisy lays and the women / girls had either corsages or bouquets. It was time for pictures, which many were taken. then time for the wedding. We got married by a Voodoo High Priestess who worked for the shop. We said our own vows and it was done. After some more pics Heather and I left to got get our certified copy of the marriage license and then we took off on our honeymoon to Eureka, CA.

We took the 5 to the 42 to the 1/101 all the way down to Eureka.

Once we got there, we had reservations at the Eureka Inn but realized that the pictures on their website were not of the room they booked for us and they would not budge on the price for a renovated room. We canceled our reservation and went to the Red Lion who gave us a great deal on a suite.

Eureka was fun!! Los Bagels for Breakfast, shopping at the Irish Shop, Kokkopilau, a nice luggage shop and some candy store in the old town area. We headed to Arcata, CA for lunch at Hole in the Wall then ate it at the Arcata Community Forest; a nice redwood forest right out of town. More shopping in the Arcata plaza and we got some new Keen's at Pacific Outfitters. For dinner, we meet my parents who were passing through town, it was Lost Coast Brewery. I was in heaven!!! They make my favorite beer, Downtown Brown. Dinner was amazing!! 8-Ball Stout Beef Stew for me and Dos Tacos for Heather. We picked up some t-shirts and a kewl Downtown Brown tin sign.

We went back to the room and then woke up on Wednesday and hit the Samoa Cookhouse for breakfast. Another stop over at Los Bagels for some coffee and we hit the lazy road home stopping at some touristy shops and places along the way like the Gem Shop to get geodes for the kids and The Legend of Bigfoot store in the middle of the Humboldt Redwoods.

We got home late and slept good. Heather's mom dropped off the kids around 6:45am on Thursday and we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Last Saturday Heather and I went to Moorpark, CA and got our wedding bands tattooed and they look amazing!!! Thanks Rick!!

So that is the wedding story...

More later.

Dawg.

Slashdot and other news...

I know it's been a while since I have posted and I appologize. Life is busy and active. I guess things could be worse.

I have had several stories posted on Slashdot, which is kewl. Since I read it all day long it makes sense that I submit stories that I read elsewhere to it.

I am getting more invloved in Writing.Com (WdC) and my involvement with the Vigilante Angel Ranger Team.

Work is busy but okay. It can be tough being only one of two IT Desktop Guru's at a Major Bank's Mortgage Center supporting about 800 people. But, we get by.

I will be posting more now that some of the new hires have settled into their roles and getting adjusted.

Dawg...

Disneyland...

Now that I am back in California and working I can finally go back to Disneyland. I just got an Annual Pass and went last weekend with my fiancee, Heather.

Oh man! It was so much fun! Granted we didn't go early in the morning and stay all day but we got there at two and were able to do some fun stuff!

We got there later because we both coach her son's soccer team, The Ninja Turtles, and then we went to her two daughter's soccer game (They are still undefeated!) and then dropped them off at her Mom's and we left on our adventure.

When we got there I realized that the actual process for getting a pass has changed for the better. You can buy them from the ticket window and they can bill you every month for the pass until it is paid off. You just pay for the day and that gets credited to your account and then they bill you from $20-39 every month, depending on the pass you get.

We went straight to Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blasters and she totally kicked my ass! Then we went to Space Mountain which is all done up for Halloween, complete with Zombies! Next was some shopping and then dinner at Rainforest Cafe in the Downtown Disney District. Once we were done with dinner we hustled over to California Adventure and caught World of Color, which was amazing... Think of it as the Fountain Show at the Bellagio in Vegas on steroids! The last this we did was go on Haunted Mansion (My Favorite) and saw how they decorated it for Nightmare Before Christmas.

On the way back to the car we stopped at the Disney Store and did some more shopping.

All in all it was fun and I am glad to be back as a Pass Holder!

Migraines Suck!

I know it has been a while since I last posted and this has been for good reason. I have been busy and this is not a bad thing...

Life happens and as we get busy we tend to have to prioritize our needs and perform them as time allows. This is all well and good until something happens that throws a monkey wrench in the works and take you out for a day (of more in some cases).

Saturday was our U6 Boys Soccer Team's second official game of the season. Normally I would stay for my future step-daughters U10 Girls game but this time I had to jet back to be there for the Dish Network installer as we switched from DirecTV to Dish (Long story and a whole other Blog Post).

I got back and started watching a movie while waiting for the 2 hour window to expire for the install to arrive. The window was supposed to be from 1pm-3pm but they didn't arrive until 3:41pm.

Once they were there I went outside and basically walked them through their own install and told them to just reuse the "Perfect-Vision" cable from DirecTV since the how was already pre-wired for that. They did and they were still there for 2 hours.

During that time I must have developed a migraine but I didn't feel it at the time, all I felt was hot, clammy and just generally shitty.

At about 5:30pm I went to bed and was there until about 1:30pm Sunday. Vomiting and nose bleeds... It sucked.

Now I am okay but I really have to apologize to my Fiancee and her kids for being a grump.

More later.

Dawg

End of the PC?

Since HP's announcement that it intends to get out of the Consumer PC market many people are quick to call this the "End of the PC" epoch.

I don't think this is the case at all.

Let's look at the numbers:

• Apple has sold 28.7 million iPads since March of 2010
• Apple definitely has market share in the Tablet PC department

But...

• Apple has a fairly small share of the Notebook / Netbook market
• a very small number of people have an iPad or Tablet PC
• Compare the 28.7 million iPads sold to the over 400 million Windows 7 licenses Microsoft has sold since July of 2009.

The problem, it seems, is not that the Tablet PC is taking over the PC (Desktop / Laptop) market but that the issue is varied for the top PC manufacturers.

• The economy is surely to blame for the majority of the Consumer PC Manufacturer woes
• Microsoft is not releasing Windows 8 until late 2012 and this does seem to stagnate the market
• The latter has been killing PC sales since the mid-90's.

I think that we will be seeing our friend the PC for quite some time; at least until the Tablet PC gets faster and more affordable.

Until next time!

Dawg!

Feeling a little nostalgic…

I am feeling a little but nostalgic for some old school punk rock. I am listening to Snuff right now but was also listening to old Bad Religion and some Conflict.

If you haven’t heard of these bands then I suggest that you check them out.

Snuff (Nick Northern – Live): YouTube Video

Conflict (Against all Odds Part II) – YouTube Video

Bad Religion (Billy) – YouTube Video

There are soooooo many more bands that have influenced and shaped my life and psyche. Too many to name here….

Dawg!

Perseids

Last night we drove out into the Mojave Desert on a search for the best place to view the Perseid Meteor Shower but sadly, because of the Full Moon and the lackluster performance it was only a social gathering, which was okay.

I remember going out to Angeles Crest Hwy and watching the Perseids and the Leonids and they were way better.

More later...

Dawg.