BrianLee.us

OK, I just uploaded a ton of new photos from the last few months. Thery’re on the Photo Gallery page, or here:

Christmas 2007
Easter 2008
Collin’s 3rd Birthday
Halloween 2007
Luau 8-9-2008
Wings Over Meridian 2008
Kidfest 4-27-2008
Cruise to Mexico - May 2008
MS Museum of Natural Science - June 2008
Windsor and Natchez Trace 9-27-2008

Sorry for the long break in updates, just a mix of being busy and a procrastinator. I don’t remember a lot of what we did in the last couple of months.

We went to geyser falls with Amanda and David. It rained the whole day, but it was light rain so they didn’t close, and the park was almost empty so it was nice. I was on my bike, so the ride home was less fun, but a good day.

Last week I bought an iPhone. I’ve never been a fan of Apple products, but they’ve made a pretty good phone. I felt a little weird buying it, with all the crap I tend to give the marketing guys (their department is all/mostly Macs). I like the phone though.

Today we decided to go see some historical sites and just get out of the apartment for a while. We got on the Trace, planning to go to Nachez and eat lunch at a place called Mammie’s, but we were running behind and wouldn’t get there while they were open, so we stopped in Port Gibson and grabbed some Sonic. After lunch we went to see the Windsor ruins near there. It was a pre-civil war mansion that burned down some years later. The only thing left was an iron staircase (which was taken to Alcorn) and a bunch of tall columns.

When we left Windsor, we decided to check out Rodney. There are a few people living in the area, and there is a deer camp or two, but it’s pretty much a ghost town. After that we headed home. We wound up stopping at about half of the historical sites on the Trace. Indian mound, parts of the old trace, and Rocky Springs, another ghost town just off of the trace.

We took a bunch of pictures as always, and I swear I’ll get them posted eventually. Really. Eventually.

I don’t know what happened these last few months, I guess it’s just that the longer I go without an update the harder it is to do, because I have to fill in a bigger gap. Let’s see. In March Scarlet turned 28, can’t remember much else though. In April there was that storm that knocked out our power for a couple of days. We stayed at Scarlet’s parents’ for the weekend.

In May I turned 29, Scarlet and I had our 10 year anniversary, our friends Amanda & David got married, and the four of us went on a cruise to Mexico. I think it was the first time for all of us being out of the country.

In June I flew to Houston for a week for some training (first time flying). Also I bought my first motorcycle, a Yamaha V-Star 250. It’s kind of small, but you can’t beat the gas mileage (over 70 mpg), and it’s still fun to ride. Then last week we celebrated Collin’s 3rd birthday.

I’ve got pictures of most of it, and will get them up, umm, eventually.

Monday night Collin got sick. He seemed OK and we took him to daycare, but they called Scarlet to pick him up. He was sick all of Tuesday, and seems OK now but still throwing up some in the evenings. Scarlet too him to the doctor Friday. They said it was just a stomach virus and to let it run its course. I came down with it Wednesday night, and for the first time in almost 6 years I was sick enough to miss work Thursday. I was fully recovered that night, and it looks like somehow Scarlet didn’t have it bad.

Wow, it’s been too long since the last update, almost 2 months. I guess we’ve been busy with Collin mostly. He’s been running wild lately, into everything. Typical 2 year old stuff though I guess. Scarlet changed positions from candy manager to grocery manager. I think she likes it better, but it’s still retail. I’ve really been enjoying my new job. Once I found my way around and got to know who was who things were great. I’ve got some normal day-to-day things to keep up with, but I’ve also got time available to plan the projects we’re going to work on in the next few months. I hardly ever had time to plan in the past. It’s also taken me some time to get used to, but my whole day isn’t filled with emergencies now. Nice.

Let’s see, what else ?Late Jannuary we were all sick here. I had a bad cold (or maybe the flu), but was only really bad for a day or so. Scarlet had about the same thing, but it hit her longer than me. Collin had a little cough, and that turned into pneumonia. Once they diagnosed that and started his antibiotics he was running around the apartment like nothing was wrong later that day. I think we’re all better now.

Oh, and I got a new toy, err I mean uh, productivity improving tool that I definitely needed. It’s the Asus Eee PC, a 2 pound ultra-portable laptop that’s just a bit bigger than 2 DVD cases stacked up. I actually use a portable DVD player case as its laptop case. It’s a lot easier to carry around than than my other 9 pound laptop, and it boots up quicker too.

Also I fixed the video gallery, so maybe I can get around to adding some more videos and pictures now. We’ll see I guess.

Last Friday I went to my last Christmas party with Synergetics. It was lots of fun as always, and gave me a chance to say goodbye to all the people I’ve worked with these last 5 years.

Thursday I started my new job with Ergon. Mostly I’ve just been getting to know all of the servers and how everything is laid out. There’s a lot to take in, and the building feels like a maze at times, but I think I’m going to like it there.

Scarlet had to work today, and I’m home with Collin. Aside from the messes and destruction, he’s been pretty good. Just waiting for Scarlet to get home now so we can go have Christmas with her parents.

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. The biggest being that I’m switching jobs. I still have another week or so with Synergetics to finish a couple of projects and try to pass on some customer specific knowledge to the other techs there. I’ve really enjoyed working there, but deep down I’ve always known I wouldn’t be there forever. My new position is going to be with Ergon as the network manager.

Since I’m leaving Synergetics I’ll have to give back my company car at some point, so this weekend we went car shopping. I spent some time Thursday & Friday looking online at local dealers’ inventories and picked a dozen or so to check out on Saturday. We spent most of Saturday going to dealers checking out cars. At the end of the day it was down to a Mustang and a Trailblazer. The Mustang almost won, but the back seat was tiny and I couldn’t see myself getting Collin in and out of it every day. It is kind of nice to be driving a truck again.

I finished Call of Duty last weekend, without any more outbursts, in time for Tuesday when Rock Band came out. I picked up my pre-order at lunch, and after work got it all set up. I had time to play a few songs before Scarlet got back with Collin. Then Donna and Mike came over and we played for a couple of hours.

Scarlet had to work that morning, but otherwise Thanksgiving went pretty well. Collin stayed with my mom that night so I could get a head start on Christmas shopping Friday morning. Scarlet had to go in to work at 4. I got up at 2:30 and was in line at 3 at Best Buy, but they had already sold out of most of what I was after there. I went to Walmart and wandered around for an hour or so trying to find the things there that I wanted. Even an hour before the sales started it was getting crazy there, so I headed for Target. I had to wait 90 minutes in the cold for the doors to open at 6, but I was about 20th in line so I was able to get in and grab everything I was after. After that I grabbed coffee & donuts and met Scarlet & Amanda for their break back at Walmart. By that time the crowds had thinned out a lot and I was still able to get most of what I was after there without a problem.

Saturday Amanda & David came over for some Rock Band and a movie, and today we’ve just been sitting around in the realization that we’ve got to be back at work in the morning.

I needed something to take my mind off of Rock Band until it comes out, so i picked up Call of Duty 4. Looks great, plays great. It’s been fun up until the halfway point, where I’m stuck. Scarlet made me get off for a while, something about throwing the controller down being a bad influence. I’ll try again tomorrow.

This weekend I stopped by Best Buy to see if they had their Rock Band demo set up. They did, but it wasn’t working. Today I got a text message from Scarlet that her Walmart had one set up in the garden center. As soon as I got off work I was there. She had been there playing with it for about 45 minutes. She stayed around for another song or two with me before picking up Collin, and I stayed around for a song or two with whoever wandered by. It comes out 2 weeks from today. It could be the longest 2 weeks ever.