Alaskan King Crab

Looks like dinner tonight's Alaskan King Crab, woohoo!



Other than catching up with my gaming and my reading, nothing else much interesting going on right now. But I thought I'd blog anyway. For those of you WoW-ers, I'm at 34 or 35 now, and grinding to get my mage to 40 so I can get my mount! And I've finally saved up almost enough to buy the mount, provided I don't train for the next three times, hahaha. Oh well. Guess I'll have to do a few more money runs to make up the difference. ;)

Arizona 2005 Pics are Up

The trip was amazing, exciting, wonderful, and any other nice adjective I can conjure up. The only thing it was missing was that I didn't get to game, ha ha ha.

But anyway, click the picture at the left and it will open a new browser window that has thumbnails of our trip to Arizona. Don't feel like you need to view the whole thing, I wouldn't want to put ya to sleep :)

They're pretty nice pictures for a girl that's not that great with a camera. The scenery makes any amateur photographer look like a professional, I don't think you CAN take a bad pic of the red rocks in Sedona. Enjoy! 

Tucson

Saturday found us visiting family in Tucson, and then we were off to Sabino Canyon. Another gorgeous place of course. We caught a tram that ran all the way into the canyon, up to the top. It was the last tram of the day at 4:30pm and we decided that we'd hike back down the canyon since that was all the time we had that day.

It was a four mile hike with absolutely stunning views. Again, I'll post pics when I get settled back at home. My calves and shins were a bit worn out from the hikes the day before, but we made it. There's a lot to be said about just putting one foot in front of the other and plugging away. I guess I wax philosophical when hiking. :)

Sedona & Prescott

Two of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! We were at Fry's at 0425 am yesterday and it was a madhouse! Never doing that again, although I got a great digital camera with a lot of features at a good price.

But back to hiking. We hit Prescott first and it was chilly and mountainous and all pine forest. We took the Groom's Creek Trail for about an hour and twenty minutes and the scenery was so beautiful. Snapped a bunch of pics that I'll post when we get back.

Then we hiked Cathedral Rock in Sedona. It is impossible to not stare slack-jawed at the majestic red rocks. The hike was incredibly tough and I almost quit, but tenacity paid off because the summit view was beyond anything I've ever seen before. Pics won't truly do it justice but I tried. This has definitely been one of the best trips I've ever taken.

Can't wait to post pics tomorrow night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a wonderful turkey day today! I'm still full from lunch but I have to get another piece of Aunt Dora's homemade pumpkin pie. :)

Phoenix is such a gorgeous city, I'm already in love. Can't wait to move here! I think tomorrow we're going hiking in Prescott, Jerome, and Sedona - I'm so excited to see the red rocks.

Of course before we go hiking, we're actually going to brave the throes of people at four in the morning at Fry's Electronics day after Thanksgiving sale... They have a five megapixel digital camera for $127!! Hopefully they won't run out by five AM!

I'll post again tomorrow from my BlackBerry in the mountains!

Sudoku

Just in time for Thanksgiving travel, I have discovered the joys of Sudoku. I've been seeing around the past few months, but a "puzzle" with all numbers makes my eyeballs glaze over. Then I tried one. It's not so much about numbers as it is logic and deductive reasoning. Now I'm hooked. I picked up Astraware's Sudoku yesterday for my PocketPC, and I think I'll leave the GBA Micro and Sony PSP at home this trip! Between catching up on novels, doing some writing, and working a few Sudoku puzzles, I think I'll be pretty tied up!



The trick of the game doesn't have anything to do with adding, subtracting, or anything else hairy. All you have to do is make sure that the numbers go from one through nine, in each of the nine boxes with no repeats. And no repeats going all the way across a row, and no repeats going down a column. Sounds easy...actually even that doesn't really sound easy, hahaha. But I sat down and tried a VERY simple beginner Sudoku, and realized that if you use logic and reasoning with where you choose to put a number, you can work an entire puzzle without guessing at all!

That's the beauty of Sudoku -- you use your logic to deduce where to place numbers, not blind guessing like I originally thought. Some schools of thought also say that a true Sudoku puzzle has only one solution, and that that solution can be reached without ever having to venture a guess for a number. Interesting!

Word to the wise though, this is a time-taker-upper! But when dealing with airports and long car rides, hey, that's what I want. :)

Check out http://www.pocketpcsudoku.com for puzzles every day, and they don't even require any software. Print it out like you would a crossword puzzle and go on your merry way. The pocketpc software is pretty slick however, and with virtually unlimited puzzles, a solver (for those times when you can't get the stupid newspaper Sudoku to come out), and one that also hints so you can get a few extra clues about possibly where to look.

Enjoy!

Arizona Bound!

I can hardly contain my excitement this morning. We're leaving for a five day trip to Arizona on Wednesday! I've been putting together a list of "gotta do" stuff while we're there. Wednesday might be recruiter day in Phoenix, where we'll meet with some prospective recruiters, but maybe we can sneak in some sightseeing around Phoenix too.

Thursday is family day, I'll get to spend Thanksgiving with Chuck's family. I miss my dad, brother, and Julie so much this time of year, but Thanksgiving's a hard time to travel standby to Hawaii. At least I'll be able to be with a family on Thanksgiving though. Friday looks like we'll travel north of Phoenix to Sedona, Jerome, and Prescott. SO excited! Saturday looks like we'll go south to Tuscon and possibly out to Kitt Peak Observatory if we have enough time. Sunday is church with the family, and then leave Sunday evening, so possibly do a few last minute things on Sunday.



It's been a dream of mine to go to Arizona for YEARS. To see it past the PHX airport that I went to once when I was 18, heh heh. We're going to get some great hikes in as well, and I'm hoping to have some fun taking photos out on the trails.

This time I really am not taking my laptop, lol. But with my PocketPC and BlackBerry, I should be able to enter in quick blogs for Wednesday through Sunday, just for fun. The pics I'll just have to link on the site when we get back. :)

Hope everyone makes it through this week without killing relatives, and have a safe, happy, and blessed Thanksgiving. And eat like CRAZY! ;-)

Weekend Incoming!

Not much to talk about today. Have had head buried in code. That and interruptions. Got an idea for a non-fiction book, going to do some market research and if it pans out I'll pitch it. Looking for jobs in Phoenix. Market's ripe out there. Can't wait to get out of Tulsa most days.

This weekend it's gigs. Elephant Run both nights. You'll note that I pulled the link to the band that I sing with. If you want to go there, Google "Dynamo Hum Tulsa", it'll come up. I have a problem with some of the content that was posted on the site, and I don't think it's appropriate for me to post the link here anymore. 'Nuff said.

Discovered ginger and its properties as an anti-inflammatory and digestive aid. And it's just darn yummy too. Had several cups of ginger tea yesterday, as well as today. Been on a holistic-only kick, I haven't had anything other than herbs to treat ailments for well over two weeks now. It's amazing what the right mixture of pure herbs and teas can do.

This weekend aside from gigs I think it'll be another run to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before it hits DVD. Such an enjoyable flick. And of course gaming. Can't forget gaming. :)

Another PocketPC Article

*Yes!* I just got another article nod of approval for PocketPC magazine. Three weeks for the photos and review, and at least most of the article is done already so it'll be a cinch.



This suite of articles we're also going to pitch to PC Magazine, CNet and a few other key players. It'll be nice to have some nationally published bylines again, I've taken so much time off from writing to focus on programming lately that I was beginning to miss seeing my name in a magazine when I walk into Barnes & Noble :P (just kidding)

And yep, Shadoe, I did only hear C# mentioned once. But I was trying to be generous since they gave us software! :D

MSDN Ready Launch Tour 2005

I went to it yesterday afternoon with Chuck^2 and Shadoe and Exeter. Aside from hitting Barnes & Noble on the first break so we could get books to read the rest of the afternoon, the highlight was mostly making snotty comments in the back row. Actually me thinking snotty comments and Shadoe voicing the snotty comments. It was great, suddenly my thoughts had a voice! :D


Seriously though, I was a little disappointed. My excitement for it was because I wanted to know more about C# 2.0 and ASP.NET 2.0, and he ended up spending a bunch of time on SQL Server 2K5 instead. I think it was nearly an hour or so in before he even started UP Visual Studio 2005. And I maybe heard him say "C#" twice. The examples were all in VB.NET. Blech!

But at least we all got copies of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005. That's why I went in the first place. I didn't win any cool stuff, but I do still have the wicked cool MSDN "Ogio" backpack that Chuck won from the ASP.NET 2.0 conference that I didn't get to attend. Now if I could get my head out of WoW long enough to INSTALL Visual Studio 2005 I'll be in business.

Timesheet Extravaganza!

Just sounds more exciting than, "I gotta do my timesheet on Monday morning." So I've decided to make it TIIIIIIIIIMESHEET EXTRAVAGANNNNNNNZA (MONDAY MONDAY MONDAAAAAAAY). Oof. I think the Pop Tart went directly to my head this morning.

After being supremely bad the past month or so, I've decided to get back on the stricter "Chuck the personal trainer" kick again. It means I can't sneak out for ice cream every night before we game, hahaha. I can't complain too much, his food is really good when we're on the healthy diet stuff, and the exercises did make me lose I think two jeans sizes, so I'll go for it again. And once a week is splurge, so I'll just have to milk splurge day a little more now. :)



Beauty and the Beast at TCC was fabulous. I was really impressed with the entire cast, which was comprised almost entirely of Tulsans. Two of the main leads were from Broadway and with the actor's guild. Belle was a 17 year old junior at Jenks, and she's got a bright career ahead of her. She had a WONDERFUL voice, extremely talented. All in all, it doesn't look like there's a bad seat in that auditorium. We were in the balcony four rows up and center, and they were great seats. The mystery dinner was at The Polo Grill and it was amaaaaazing. Probably one of the best meals I've ever had. Highly recommend going there, if you can afford the splurge once, it was a bit pricey I think.

Friday w00t!

Well I've made it to Friday. The week's just flown by, I guess that's what happens when you actually enjoy a job. Course I'm not in "the grind" of leveling here at this job yet (ha ha) so we'll see how that shakes out.

Getting to eat authentic movie popcorn is I think the biggest perk yet. That and jeans. I heart jeans.

ThinkGeek.com should have my shipment in today. Here's what I ordered:


(Or as Chuck says, "Huh? There's no place like localhost?" *groans*)


It's been awhile since I got some new geek-wear. I think my last one was a black t-shirt I use while gaming that says "+20 Shirt of Smiting" :)

Have a killer weekend everyone! Frag and level!

Bleary Eyed

From staring at all this new code, so I thought I'd take some time out and blog. The gang here's really fun, and the project seems like it'll be cool once we get past the "SOA" and "Web Services" buzzwords, you know.

I haven't gamed in two days and I think I have the shakes, so I'll be getting in tonight and trying to level my poor neglected mage. I better get in, otherwise my guild might send the dogs out for me! Tomorrow's Friday and the week's really flown by.


Weekend plans include:

Mystery dinner at place I have no idea, but have to dress up.

Beauty and the Beast tomorrow night at TCC Theatre

Gaming. And lots of it.

Cleaning. And lots of it.

Finishing up the review I owe both the editor and the company for whose product I have been testing/reviewing.

Meeting up with friends Saturday for dinner and Sunday for lunch.

Finishing "My Friend Leonard" novel and starting the new Dean Koontz paperback, "Life Expectancy".

Studying for my 70-315 exam.

I think as always I've packed too much into the weekend. So this is how it'll REALLY go down:

Game.

Blow everything else off except dinner, play, and meeting friends.

Game some more.


Anyone going to Tuesday's Visual Studio 2005 Launch event besides me and the rest of the developers in Tulsa? You get a free copy of Visual Studio 2005 and a copy of SQL Server 2005. Free dev tools. I'm in.

Oh yeah, the other news flash. Exeter updated his blog. Wild, eh Shadoe? ;)

Where Have I Been?

I have had a wonderful vacation, and have moved on to a contract at DTAG. Yes, DTAG. For those not consulting in Tulsa, it's Dollar Thrifty Agency Group. (I think.) I swore a few years ago that I'd never work here because I'd heard it was the evil sweatshop with the dastardly mining pit boss et al. But I must say, this is probably one of the coolest places I've ever worked at.

For starters, it's jeans. Shorts. Cool t-shirts. "Active-wear" (what IS active-wear anyway?). I'm also working with people I've known since way back at Sabre, my first programming job, in 1996. Yesterday was my first day and it was like a family reunion, I knew so many people that are working here now. They have an English bulldog called "Vet" that runs around the office. The team is great and I'm working again with John, who I've known for 2.4 million years. :) I'm finally getting to do more work in C#, which I've really been looking forward to doing. I've had to support so many bass-ackwards systems in the past few years that I haven't been able to work a full C# only position in until now.

I have put in notice with Dynamo Hum. I love the band, but I'm moving to Phoenix after this contract, so it's time to start wrapping things up so I can move on. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, but thought it'd be best to give them a few months heads up or so to look for a replacement. I definitely have to videotape a gig before I go, I don't see me playing in bands any more. I'm getting so long in the tooth.

HA! :P