Month of March, 2007

Quote of the Day

"Everything's bigger in Texas, except Erica."
- Jade

Canceled Flights Blow

Chris' flight on American Airlines tonight was canceled. There wasn't much explanation on why, not that it would make it any better. It was just canceled. They rescheduled him on a noon flight tomorrow. That's not exactly convenient for our schedule. Mostly I'm just super pissed off that my time with him was cut short. Damn airlines.

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Braydon

Last week I went to Waynesboro, Pennsylvania to visit my sister, Kristen's family. Most importantly, I went to meet my new nephew, Braydon. It was a fantastic couple days for me in that it was really relaxing and I got to spend quality time with my sister.

Braydon, who was five weeks old when I visited, could possibly be the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. (Yes, I'm biased.) Kristen was amazingly comfortable with me and Braydon which was shown by her handing him to me within three minutes of walking in the door. I got to hold Braydon a lot, which was really nice. My favorite part was feeding him. At this point in his life, he eats every four hours so I had quite a few opportunities to feed him. He gets so happy and content that he'll fall asleep during mealtime. Kristen has a few good tricks to keeping him awake enough to finish the bottle. Things like touching his leg, tickling his ear, or just holding him up to burp. Though I have to admit I kinda liked it when he fell asleep. It was just so peaceful.

I love my new nephew and can't wait to see him again. Right now we're scheduled to see each other in Texas in May. Hopefully he won't have gotten too big by then. I love the stage he's in.

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Flowers on the First Day of Work

Chris is the sweetest. He sent me flowers on my first day of work. It's so wonderful that he's been so supportive throughout this entire change for me. I'm a very lucky woman.

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Quote of the Day

"Let's focus more on intentional programming than on MAGIC."
- Heidmo

New-to-me Car

First impression of the new car - "Wow, it's in pretty good shape for a car so old."
Second impression of the new car - "We've got our work cut out for us."

So a couple weeks ago, I bought a 1975 Mercedes Benz 450SL hardtop convertible on the Internet. Yes, I bought it without seeing it in person. I know that it's a little crazy and a bit risky too, but it was worth the money. It arrived from North Carolina last week!

More pictures on Flickr.

Cosmetically the car looks better than I expected. However, after the first drive, I realized there will be plenty of work. The car came without license plates so its not exactly street legal right now. During the short test drive, I've already uncovered a whole host of problems.

The car immediately needed a new battery (easily fixed and so I've done that already). It seems to run pretty well, but I suspect it needs brakes. It may need some suspension work too...but that's a little harder for me to tell. The passenger side window doesn't roll down. The blinker doesn't work. The air conditioning does work, but the fan doesn't. The carpet, seats, headliner are all in good shape. I can't get the hardtop off yet so I don't know the status of the convertible top. Tires look better than expected, but the underside has some rust and chipping paint (probably obvious from the photos). The short drive I took went smoothly until I turned into the driveway. The engine started smoking a bit and there was some red colored fluid on the driveway. Red means it's probably transmission or power steering fluid. Because I was turning at the time, I'm guessing its power steering.

Overall, I'm very excited! And a little nervous, just because I don't know what I don't know. Chris is coming to visit this weekend and I will rely on his expertise to get things going with the car. I'd love to get it in good enough shape to get it inspected and street legal before it gets too hot here, but I suspect that's a bit too ambitious. Instead, I'll remember to enjoy the process since that's what a car like this is all about.

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Switching

I'm using my first MacBook. It's for work, which doesn't start until Monday, but they were nice enough to let me play with it for the weekend. I've been a PC user my entire life. In fact, I remember Dad bringing home the IBM PC junior when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. So I've been using PCs for a long time. Switching is going to be interesting, I'm sure.

I've only been playing with it for a few minutes, but I'm already impressed by a few things.
1. Pressing the power button while the computer is on does exactly what you'd expect it to do - bring up a dialog box asking if you want to restart, sleep, or shutdown. I don't think the PC power button does this, but it makes perfect sense.
2. Built in camera. So great and fun. The Internet and all my friends are going to get sick of all the pictures I'll be taking of myself.
3. Finding and connecting to a wireless Internet connection was WAY faster than on a PC.
4. The battery has lights on it that show how much power is left. You don't even have to turn on the computer to figure that out. So easy.

Just like everyone says, it seems like things with a Mac are just easier and simpler. Well, except the shortcut keys - I'm going to have to learn a whole new set for things like select all, copy, paste, etc. Though you know what they say, old dogs can learn new tricks.

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Karen Visited Phoenix

Last weekend, Karen, my older sister, came to Phoenix for the first time. Since she's been living in Germany ever since I moved to Phoenix, its just been too far for her to come. During this trip back to the States, she visited Kristen, Chris, and the new baby, Braydon. Then she went to Texas to see both sides of the family. At the end of the trip, she was able to come out and see me! It was the first time we've hung out just us since she was married almost three years ago.

Friday night we went to the bar at the Hilton Tapatio Cliffs on North Mountain. It has a beautiful view of the valley and at night its especially wonderful. We had a couple drinks and caught up on stuff. Saturday, we kicked around Old Town Scottsdale. We shopped, ate, and complained about the 90 degree weather, which was unseasonably warm even for Phoenix. Karen kept saying that she wished her husband could visit because she thought he'd like it so much. Since Saturday night was St. Patrick's Day, we met up with Jennifer and John at Casey Moore's in Tempe. I'm glad Karen finally met Jennifer, since she's such a good friend. Sunday we drove up north to Cave Creek and Carefree. It's was nice to show Karen the undeveloped desert and some mountains. Those things are what I really love about Arizona.

Sunday night Alison arrived and we all got to hang out. Alison stopped by as a part of her cross-country drive. She's taking two months to drive around the country and write a book along the way. I consider myself lucky to have her visit me during the trip. Sunday night the weather was gorgeous so we just sat on the porch and talked. Having a couple women around made me miss having roommates.

Monday I went to work, but Karen and Alison explored the city together. Then Monday night Karen flew back to Dallas for a couple days before heading back to Germany. It was a really nice visit.

My pictures
Karen's pictures

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First Day of Spring

Today is my last day at the company I've worked at for the past five and a half years. (Wow, that's a long time!) I've got a lot of mixed emotions as I assume many people have during times like this. I'm excited about the new opportunity and all the exciting new things I'll be doing. I'll miss all my friends and the environment I've grown very, very comfortable in. Mostly I'm just anxious about all the change that's happening right now. So anxious, in fact, that I was up at 4 o'clock this morning.

But what would life be if we didn't have some change? So I'm stepping forward and seeing where life takes me. On Monday, I'll be joining Integrum, a small company doing Ruby on Rails development for custom web applications. They're bringing me on as a project manager, mainly interacting between the customers and the developers. I feel like this is a really good fit considering my prior customer experience. Personally, I'm very excited about getting close to the technology...especially one as new as Ruby on Rails, which was first released in 2004.

I first became aware of Integrum when I attended BarCamp Phoenix on December 9, 2006. It was the first time for me to meet Josh Knowles. (There's even a picture of that meeting! Thanks, Matt.) It was also the first time I met Jade and Derrick also from Integrum. Since meeting in December, Josh and I have become good friends. When Integrum decided to hire a project manager, Josh mentioned it to me and you know how the rest of the story goes.

Making this kind of major career change wasn't taken lightly by me. There was a lot of thought and discussion. I had decided that if I were going to make a change, it would have to be something that got me close to the Internet, because that's what I'm truly passionate about. I'm confident that this is a GREAT opportunity for me and am looking forward to this adventure as it unfolds.

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After 8:30

Emailed my new "boss" about a start time since we hadn't talked about when I should show up at the office on Monday. His answer, "anytime after 8:30 is fine."

Is that really true? Could I show up at 10 and it would be fine? Or does he want me to show up somewhere closer to 8:30? How funny would it be for me to show up at 10 and point out he wasn't more specific?

OK, not all that funny.

I'm REALLY excited about the new job. It's going to be hard not to show up earlier than 8:30 on the first day.

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Jury Duty

I was called for jury duty today at the Phoenix Municipal Courts. I was looking forward to fulfilling my civic duty and hopefully experiencing some interesting court procedures. Alas, I didn't have the chance. The trials that were on the schedule today were resolved before the jury was called. So my civic duty entailed me lounging around the jury room for half the day.

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Can't Sleep

It's 5 o'clock in the morning and I've been tossing and turning since 3am. I'm not sure what this is all about. Normally, I don't have problems sleeping. Once I'm in bed, I'm asleep quickly and sleep through the night. Not tonight, apparently.

First and foremost, I'm going to blame the upcoming cold on waking me up. Ever since I got back from Texas, I've had a tickle in my chest. It's not officially an illness yet, but I can tell its coming. I think I overdid it in Austin. I wore myself out just enough to make me susceptible to illness then I got on an airplane. Bad idea all around. I sure hope it doesn't turn out to be bronchitis, but that's what it feels like at the moment.

Second, I'm going to blame my sleeplessness on excitement for the future. There's a lot going on. Karen is coming to visit tomorrow. Alison is coming later this weekend. I'll be visiting Kristen, Chris, and Braydon next week. And I start a new job on March 26th.

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SXSW 2007 Photos

SXSW was absolutely a ton of fun. I explained it to coworkers that it's like adult summer camp. I wish it wasn't over so quickly; I felt like I was just getting in the groove. At least there's next year to look forward to. Here are the photographic highlights.

Break Bread with Brad

Panels!!

Chris came for the weekend to celebrate my birthday.

Old Friends

New Friends

Phoenix Friends (and much silliness)

View the entire set.

SXSW

I'm essentially halfway through SXSW interactive 2007. I can't believe its going so fast!! Too fast, in fact. But I'm having a great time. I can't get over how much bigger it is than the last time I attended. There are SO many people. Pictures and details to come.

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Misheard

Him: "One more day until you're twenty."
Me: "One more day until I'm TWENTY? I love you!"
Him: "Haha, no, one more day of your twenties."

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SXSW 2007

On my way to SXSW Interactive 2007. I am SO EXCITED. It's been far too many years since I've attended SXSW. Grad school and then moving to Phoenix got in the way of attendance the past few years. It's pretty exciting to finally be going back. I know I'll be shocked by the size. I'm already overwhelmed by all the events.

Chris will be joining me in Austin for the weekend. I'm excited to have the chance to introduce him to a bunch of my blogging friends from all over the nation. Well, mostly California and Texas, but a few from other areas.

Sunday is my 30th birthday. I'm sure its going to be a blast celebrating it in Austin. Austin has always been a good city for me to celebrate in. (For a number of consecutive years during college, I celebrated new years eve in Austin. It was ALWAYS a good time.)

My goal for SXSW is to take portraits (decent ones at least) of all my old and new friends. So if you're in Austin, smile and let me take your picture.

Arizona Renaissance Festival

Last Sunday I went to the Arizona Renaissance Festival with Jennifer, John, and a few of their friends. It was a fun time! I especially enjoyed listening to this woman who was teaching an informal class about how to be a lady in the Renaissance times. I learned about the type of clothing women wore, which was all very fascinating.

More pictures on Flickr.

None of His Business

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight and they guy sitting next to me is blatantly looking at my computer. I turn to him and it takes him a few seconds to realize he's been caught in the act. I give him a look, you know, the school teacher look. He chuckles and says, "What? Its like reading someone else's newspaper." "Yes," I say, "It's just as rude as reading someone else's newspaper." Then I pack up my things and move across the room.

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Deuce's New Haircut

Autumn and Ky cut Deuce's hair. He looks so much older! Time flies when it comes to kids growing up.

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Taliesin West - Apprentice Tour

Last weekend Chris and I took David and Arianne to Taliesin West. While they took the main tour, we toured the apprentice shelters, since we took the main tour last year. Here are a few photos from the tour. The rest of the photos are here.

View the entire set.

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Quote of the Day

"The Boston show has been canceled. But I wouldn't worry about it, it's not a very big college town."
- This is Spinal Tap, which I watched for the first time tonight

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Chris & David at the Track

While I was hanging around my house all day in Phoenix, Chris was racing around a new track in Texas. The track is somewhere north of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, but it isn't open to the public yet. You get perks when you're well-connected, apparently.

I love that you can see both Chris and David's faces in the large size of this picture.

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Chris Heuer - Social Media Club

I had lunch with Chris Heuer, the President and co-founder of Social Media Club. He was in Phoenix for the Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference - The Revolution in Marketing Conference, "Exploring the Impact of Social Media." I didn't make it to the conference, but met up with Chris and quite a few others for lunch. Grid7 recorded the conference, so I'm sure I'll listen to some of the content eventually.

Social Media Club has been getting a lot of attention lately and I'm certainly curious to see where it is going. SMC's purpose isn't 100% clear to me, but it was clear that Chris is passionate about the web, people, and the bringing them together. I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this group to see what the future holds.

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Braydon & His Grandparents & Kristen as a Baby