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November 21, 2005
The long awaited big screen TV!
Not a whole lot went on last week...just some busy work at the office, trying to slow things down some before my vacation this week. Paul came over Saturday to watch football games. The boys must have watched like 12 hours of football. Gracious. I escaped to the bedroom after awhile to watch some movies. :o)
Sunday we slept in, watched some of the Cowboys game, and then we went to this Home Theater Expo thing that Star Power was having so we could check out some HDTVs. I had a few in mind that I wanted to look at...and we went to Star Power 'cuz I know they would have good HD connections to their TVs so we could see their full potential. We ended up liking the new Sony 50" Grand WEGA 3LCD Rear Projection HDTV (KDF-E50A10). We also got the matching stand to go with it. :o) Wheeee! Star Power is delivering the unit tomorrow...they'll unpack and set it up for us. The stand was on order...hopefully they'll get it today or tomorrow and can deliver to us.
When I got home, I called Comcast to see about the whole deal with getting HDTV...the lady on the phone wasn't so friendly, so I got online and ordered the service...and got this guy who was very friendly. :o) The lady on the phone "doesn't think" that they could come out to install the Cable Card until after Thanksgiving...while the guy on chat said that they can come on Wednesday between 2pm and 5pm. That's perfect 'cuz we'll get to play with the TV some on Tuesday before installing the Cable Card.
So...what's left for me to do today, is to get the non-essentials off of our current entertainment center. When Greg gets home tonight, we'll need to move it over to the other side of the living room until my parents come to pick it up on Thursday (hopefully it'll fit in their van). I sure hope that the two of us can move it across the room...I just remembered that it took 4 of us to tilt it up when we were building it. Bleh...
In other news...we won our hockey game last night (2-1) against the Mantis. Everybody played really well. I got a really nasty bruise from blocking a slapshot during a penalty kill towards the end of the game. Ouchie. It's nice and purple today. :o/
Posted by alpha at 03:33 PM | Hockey , Memories | Comments (0)
August 26, 2005
Shorts Day
Wednesday Greg and I were off 'cuz Greg had oral surgery. I spent most of the morning sitting at the dentist's office waiting for him to be done. I managed to get away for an hour or so to go to the DPS to get my name updated on my driver's license. Glad that's all done. :o)
Last night I went to Lavendou for Restaurant Week with Marcy, her bro Jon, Luci, Trisha, Marilee, Lisa, and Mandi. We had a great time hanging out...good thing too 'cuz the dinner itself took 2 hours! The food was pretty good, especially that seafood crèpe appetizer that I had. Mmmmmmm! I had the sirloin for the main course, and then a raspberry soufflé for dessert (the raspberry sauce was super-sweet). It was delicious.
Today is Shorts Day at work. Wheeeee! :o) So I'm freezing my butt off in my shorts instead of in my usual work attire. Hopefully this day will go by quickly, 'cuz I'm more than ready for the weekend. Tonight we've gotta clean the house in preparation for my family coming over tomorrow to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Hee hee. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna go baby-shower-gift-shopping with Katie (for Marilee's baby shower), and then probably more cleaning and cooking. Greg's gonna be smoking a brisket and a prime rib for dinner. Mmmmmmmmm!
Posted by alpha at 08:15 AM | Family , Friends , Hockey | Comments (0)
August 22, 2005
*Organized*
This past Thursday night we went to III Forks for Restaurant Week with Chris & Christine. It was a good time. :o) The place was a lot louder than I had expected. We could barely hear each other talk. The food was pretty good though...I got the Chateaubriand, which was tasty. It's probably not a place I'd go to if I had to pay full price. :p
On Friday I worked from home to cover Expiration. Fun fun. The kitties were happy that I was home. :o) Slow-cooked beans in our new crock pot. They turned out pretty good for a first try. Had lunch with Abu at Palayok...which was kinda expensive for the food that you get. Anyway, it was a pretty relaxing day, which was nice. We watched the original "Bad News Bears"...it was interesting.
Saturday we did some yard work...fixed the fence gate (it got blown over by one of the storms that we had recently). Kinda just hung out the rest of the day.
Sunday we went to church, then to Chipotle for lunch...and then we went to Central Market and Sam's to see if they have any prime rib that isn't cooked (which they didn't). Afterwards, we went to Crate & Barrel to browse for things to buy with the gift card that Luci & Austin gave us for the wedding. :o) We ended up picking up a wine rack to put all of our alcoholic goodies. :o) It looks real nice, and we now look like alcoholics. Ha ha. :p
Sunday night I had my hockey game...and we played against the Sharks. I won a couple of faceoffs against Sue, which was quite an accomplishment for me since she was the one who had taught me how to take faceoffs. :o) Wheeee! Drew kept saying how well I played last night (he said it was better than last week's game). So that was cool. :o) Hee hee.
This upcoming Thursday I'm going to Lavendou for Restaurant Week with some of my hockey teammates. Should be fun. :o) Then Saturday my family's coming over 'cuz we're throwing my Dad a birthday part (his bday is the 29th). Hee hee. Busy busy!
Posted by alpha at 12:45 PM | Family , Fun Stuff , Hockey | Comments (2)
August 15, 2005
Not 1, but 2
On Friday, Greg and I both took off for the day to run errands in the morning, and then head down to the lakehouse. I had a surprisingly pleasant visit to the social security office to get my name changed on the social security card...it only took 45 minutes, which was way more efficient than I had expected. Then afterwards, I went to the post office to mail off my passport and documentation to change my name on the passport. Fun stuff.
We regrouped and left for the lakehouse at about 11:30 or so. We stopped by Niester's to pick up some sourdough bread (it's great bread...mmmmm), and then went to Hard Eight BBQ in Stephenville to have lunch. It was mightly tasty. :o) We took our time and got to the lakehouse at about 6:30 or so. Marshall & Laura showed up at about 7:30ish...and we all had dinner together. BJ & Christa showed up at about 10:30. It was a full house for the weekend.
Saturday we went up to the Guadaloupe River from the lake on the jet skis. It was a blast. It was a little rainy and windy at the beginning though, and Greg and I got tossed off the jet ski by the waves and wind. :p After much work to hop back on (rather, climb back on), we went on our way. The rest of the day was spent napping, relaxing, and hanging out. John's brother Neal and his girlfriend Sue also came over in the afternoon. We had tons of people at the house for dinner and everything. It was crazy. We called it a day after watching a part of a very unexciting Cowboys preseason game.
Sunday morning Chris came over to the lakehouse with his Dad at around 9:30. Chris helped his parents move down to New Braunfels (about half an hour away from the lake) on Saturday, and we were giving him a ride back home. We took off at about 10:30, and stopped in Lampasas for lunch. It was a relatively quick trip home and was fun. We got home at about 5:30 after dropping off Chris and checking out his new saltwater fish tank.
Sunday night I had my hockey game at 8:45. I think everyone had their game on last night. Each of our 3 lines scored a goal, and Renee and I teamed up and scored our overtime winning goal. It was freakin' awesome. I got 2 assists. :o) We won 4-3 in overtime. Anyway, it was a blast, and we had ice cream afterwards to celebrate. :o) Wheeeeee!
This week...not much planned. We're going to participate in Restaurant Week with Chris & Beta at III Forks on Thursday night. That should be fun. I've always wanted to go to III Forks. :o)
Posted by alpha at 10:51 AM | Family , Friends , Fun Stuff , Hockey | Comments (4)
August 01, 2005
Miscellaneously Fun Weekend
Had a miscellaneously fun weekend. Ya know, one of those weekends where it was fun all around...and wasn't because of any one thing in particular. :o)
Friday I had to go into work at 6am...which ended up being an early departure for me (at 3ish). :o) Went home, vegged awhile, and took a nap while I waited for Greg to get home. We hung out, watched a movie, and then I went to watch him play pick-up at ITC. Walked over to Sonic and got myself some dinner while I watched. It was pretty fun.
Lessee...Saturday Greg got up really early, and went to the store and went to look at motorcycles, etc. He called and woke me up, and asked if I could bring him his jeans so he could test ride this motorcycle at one of the dealerships. Anyway, he ended up coming back and then brought me with him to go look at the bike. It was a Ducati Monster 620...and to me, it looked kinda beaten up (it was dropped at least once). They wanted $3,995 for it. We decided against it and went looking some more.
We stopped by Plano Suzuki...and looked at the used 2002 Suzuki V-Strom that they had. It was a really nice bike...only 1 scratch and the panel looks to be replaceable. It comes with 3 hard saddle bags/trunks, which could easily cost $500. Anyway, he went and test rode that one...and really liked it. I think that's the one that we're gonna get to replace Yellow Fever. The guy's holding it for us, and we'll stop by after work to finish the paperwork.
Saturday afternoon we went over to downtown Grapevine to check it out and to do a wine tasting. We had lunch at Big Fish Seafood Grill and it was delicious. And then we stopped by the D'Vine Winery and did a wine tasting. That was a first for me, and it was a blast. :o)
Saturday night we went to Darcy and Stephanie's house for dinner. I've never really hung out with either of them, so it was interesting. :o) Darcy made chia-xiu (Chinese BBQ pork) as the main dish. Tastiness. We had a fun time hanging out, and I think I might have recruited Steph to play ice hockey again. She had taken some classes while she was in college, and really loved it. She even has some equipment still. Hopefully she'll be able to start playing...it'd be fun.
Sunday we took those pics of Yellow Fever, so we could send them to whoever's interested in buying it. I cleaned the office a bit, so the top of the computer desk is visible once again. :o) Greg made steaks for dinner, after which we went to my hockey team's practice/mix-up game. We had tons of fun, and I scored a goal on Vicki during the scrimmage. It was a well-placed drop pass from Heather (of the Sharks). It was just gorgeous. We had tons of fun, and it was nice to play with some of the other players that I used to play with at tournaments and stuff. Very fun. :o)
Posted by alpha at 12:04 PM | Family , Friends , Hockey , Photography | Comments (2)
May 12, 2005
Weird Day
It's been kinda a weird day for me. Work was pretty uneventful. My boss was glad to find out that I'm not out of the office tomorrow. :p Heh heh.
Here's a rundown of events of today...
- Marina sent me pics of the cakes that she had made for my Mom. They're beautimus. 1 is going to my Mom's office tomorrow, and the other to her church fellowship on Saturday.
- My high school friend Mirjam got engaged to her boyfriend Colby. He proposed while they were vacationing in the Netherlands (that's where Mirj was from).
- My high school friend Ruth and her hubby (and the 2 kids) are moving to Monterey, CA on June 6th.
- My friend Marilee from my hockey team is pregnant and is due in October. This makes the 3rd one on my team this year. First it was Leslie (who had her baby a few weeks ago), then it's Star (who's due in August), and now Marilee. I better watch out...it's like a virus that's going around...
- My Dad got the new camera that I had helped pick out and ordered on Tuesday. It's a Canon Powershot A95. He said it's cool, and have been playing with it all day. :p
- I received the package of reception decorations. :o) Pretty quick service. Looks like everything's intact.
- My specially ordered wetsuit has arrived. I'll either go pick it up tomorrow or Saturday. :o)
- Picked up my wedding dress from Lasting Impressions after work. I had the lady put it in my garment bag so Greg doesn't see it. :p
- Greg and I trimmed some bushes in front of our house this evening. It looks 10 times better than the shagginess that was before.
- My Grandma's funeral has been scheduled for May 29th. My parents are gonna fly back on the 22nd, and come back to Dallas on June 2nd, just in time for the reception.
See? Told ya it's been a weird day...
Posted by alpha at 10:35 PM | Family , Friends , Hockey , Memories , Wedding | Comments (0)
April 11, 2005
Long Time No Blog
So...it's been awhile since I last wrote. Plenty have happened since then...fasten your seat belts...
On April 2nd, we had our wedding shower at Jo's parents' house. It was the first time I had seen it since they remodeled everything. Looks really really nice! :o) Lots of our friends showed up, and we had a great time hanging out with everyone. Presents were opened, food was had...fun times. We got home at around 5:30ish. Paul was already over and was watching basketball games. We unpacked and organized all of our new loot. Hee hee. Yey!
We went to Chris & Beta's crawfish boil on Sunday, April 3rd. :o) It was great fun too! Their doggie Spunky looks bigger than the last time I saw her...Katrina & Trevor brought over their dog Hobie, and Mark brought over his dog Skyla. It was a doggie playground! My parents came and joined us for the boil, which was cool, since they never really come to hang out with us and our friends. I think they enjoyed themselves! I got home kinda late...prob about 8:30 or so.
Last Monday, I went to Jo's after work to pick up a cake that was made by one of her co-workers, Marina. It was delicious!! :o) Greg and I (and my sister and Matt) were all very satisfied with that. So Marina is going to make our wedding cake for our Dallas reception! It's gonna look something like this, but instead of the sugar calla lillies, we're gonna have fresh red roses and petals put on it. :o) It's gonna be so gorgeous. I can't wait. And the best thing is that she's doing all this for $150!!! She's gonna show up at around 4:30 or so on the day of the reception to put the cake together, and to put the border around the bottom layer. Yey I can't wait!!!
The rest of the week was kinda blurred...it went by really fast...and our new person was in town for training, so I had to make sure that he's okay and stuff. We all went out for dinner at Dickey's Thursday night, and that was fun. They had free beer at the Coppell location 'cuz they don't have their liquor license. Hee hee.
We went to the driving range after we got home from Dickey's...worked on my driver quite a bit since I just had the grips changed on my driver, 5-wood, and 7-wood (they were too big). I'm hitting 'em much better now. :o) When we got home, the garage door wouldn't open...turns out that the spring had snapped. :o( We decided that it was too late to worry much about it that night, so I took the info of the repair company that I had used the last time with me to work the next morning to set up an appointment.
Unfortunately, I found out that the garage door repair company that I had used went out of business. :o( It really was too bad, 'cuz they were really nice and helpful in showing me to fix the minor things. Anyway, I had to look for another company to fix the door. I ended up calling Action Garage Door 'cuz they had a good record with the BBB. They sent a guy out Saturday morning to take a look at the door...and then he gave me a quote of $259 to change out the spring!!! WTF!!! I flat out told him that I got it fixed 4 years ago for $127, and that I had a receipt to prove it. It just didn't make sense that the price could have doubled in 4 years. The repair guy disgruntally called the guy in the office to "see if there was anything he could do." The guy splattered off some sales pitch (they must do this often since it sounded rehearsed), and I told him to just give me the price. He called me on the phone and told me that they'd do it for $165.50, which is a whole lot more reasonable that $259!!! What a ripoff. I can't even imagine how much money they're making off of the unsuspecting public. Anyway, the repair guy got to work...banged around in my garage, showed me the rollers that needed to be replaced (he said it was gonna be $12/piece to change them out), and went on his way. I was so glad to get him out of my house. Later on, I looked up this company that sells garage door parts to do-it-yourselfers, and I'm buying some rollers for $1.99/piece + shipping. Good thing I didn't tell the repair guy to change them.
With garage door fixed, I quickly had lunch and then went off to meet with Luci & Jodie to go shopping. We stopped by the Stila counter, and the make-up artist there fixed me up with some make-up. I think it looks really nice...not too overly done, since I don't usually wear make-up. Anyhoot, $120 later, I think I'm pretty much all set with that for the wedding. There's 1 thing though that she had forgotten to ring up...the Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer...I'll pick that up next time when we go for this workshop class thing on the day of my bachelorette party. :o) The workshop itself costs $35/person, but we get it back in make-up, so it's a good deal. Hee hee. It's my gift to the bridesmaids for helping out with everything. I think it'll be a blast. :o)
After the make-up adventure, we went to look for a shirt for me for the bachelorette party. We ended up finding this blue button-down one at Express. :o) It's pretty nice.
I got home at about 5:30 or so, then Greg and I went bike-riding. We went down to the (small) lake that's near my house. We rode probably about 4 miles or so. It felt nice. :o) I had to get back in shape for hockey on Sunday! Hee hee. Afterwards, Greg grilled this perfect ribeye steak for dinner. Yum!!!
Sunday we slept in, I took a shower and then started cleaning the house. We got a lot of stuff done in the kitchen...consolidated some of our duplicate spices and things...cleaned out the pantry, etc. etc. The kitchen looks much roomier now. :o) Yey! Then we watched the Masters pretty much all afternoon. It was pretty exciting! Left at 8pm to go to my hockey game. We played against the Mantis...lost 0-1. They got this new girl who's pretty good...she played in the Charity Challenge. I think we played pretty well. :o) I ended up getting the "Game MVP" award for my team. Ha ha. I didn't think that I played *that* well. Anyways, the prize was awesome...it was this pillow with "Red Hot" stitched into it. :o) Hee hee.
Posted by alpha at 10:51 AM | Biking , Friends , Golf , Hockey , Wedding , Work | Comments (2)
March 28, 2005
*Cough*
Had a pretty good long weekend. Thursday night Greg and I went to Ft. Worth for the Charity Challenge on Ice VIII game. We took a picture with the Stanley Cup after making a $10 donation to the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas. It was cool to see it up close. As for the game, as expected, the girls beat the guys good...7-2. We left in the middle of the 3rd period.
Friday morning Greg took Benny to the vet. Our vet had an extremely rude receptionist, so we aren't gonna go there anymore. He took him to this other one down the street...who manhandled Benny and subsequently got scratched (ha!). Anyway, the vet was really strange...he wouldn't listen to the medicial history and just kept saying what he *thought* was the matter. Finally Greg convinced him to prescribe this med that Benny took the last time he had stomach issues. Miraculously, Benny was feeling better after a few hours.
Anyway, in the midst of all this vet excitement, I picked up my Mom and then went for my dress fitting. It went pretty well (and quick). Afterwards, we went and picked up my sister and we had dim-sum for lunch. Mmmmmmmm. We also took a tour of my sister's workplace. It's pretty cool. I'll know who to ask to get some iron fencing! Ha ha ha.
After that, I took my Mom to get her last shot for Hep B immunization (or was it Hep A). Then I drove her up to the golf course where we're having the reception, so she could see it. She got to meet Danny and his sidekick...they were so excited to meet my Mom (or rather, just another Chinese person) that they kept on blabbing. My Mom really liked the place, so that's good. Hee hee.
We then went back to my parents' house. My Dad was already home 'cuz his office closed early on Friday. He helped me print the labels for the reception invitations. We talked a bit about the trip and stuff, and I went home at about 6ish. Greg and I tried to go to the driving range that night, but we saw lightning in the not-so-far distance, so we went to Golf Galaxy to check it out...and then went home.
Saturday was rainy. We spent some time fighting the ants in the kitchen. It was ridiculous. They just wouldn't go away, and we can't use insecticide because of the cats. They just kept coming to take "food" from the ant baits. Ugh. Anyway, we had a quick lunch and went to Dallas Gold & Silver Exchange to take a look at wedding rings. We ended up finding some that we really like. Greg's is a platinum band that's really cool (I'll post pics later), and mine is a 1/3 ct. 10-round-diamond channel set ring. It's purty. :o) We were glad that we went there, 'cuz the lady was really nice and didn't try to force anything on us. Plus we can get free resizing/polishing/cleaning there...and they'd even clean my engagement ring! Very cool deal. Anyways, since we were buying both of our rings from them, they ended up giving us a $100 discount on the total. Pretty nifty. Highly recommended.
The rest of Saturday was spent stuffing envelopes and sealing envelopes, and watching NCAA basketball. Hee hee.
Easter Sunday we went to church, which was packed. Then we went to Souper Salad for lunch. That was fun. We hung out and watched some golf, then I went over to my sister's to do some reception planning, and to see her new apartment. :o) I think we have a general idea of what we wanna do at the reception.
Posted by alpha at 10:12 AM | Family , Hockey , Kitties , Wedding | Comments (6)
March 08, 2005
2-0
My hockey team went 2-0 this weekend for our Friday & Sunday games. Friday night we even scored 3 goals to earn us an ice cream party after the game on Sunday (it's a team thing). :o) Greg said Sunday's game (we won 1-0) was probably one of the best games he had seen us play. That's quite a compliment.
Oh, Katie, Tony, Greg, and I went out for Chinese food after the game on Friday too. It was mighty tasty. Sing Kee redid their interior so it looks much nicer now. :o) Good times...
Saturday I had to come in to work. They were running a system test so we had to come in to test and make sure that everything we need is up. Took a couple of hours. After that, I went and ran a bunch of errands...stopped by Babies 'R Us to buy some baby shower gifts for this lady on our hockey team, and went to Hobby Lobby to buy some card stock for work. Greg stayed home and waited all morning for his birthday present to be delivered. Hee hee. He was so giddy when he got it. It was funny. We tried to stop by Tom Thumb to meet with the cake decorator, but she wasn't there. So we went on to the driving range while I wait for my sister to get back from Allen (she went shopping with my parents) so we could go shopping for wedding stuff. We didn't end up going 'cuz she didn't get back until about 5...by then it was kinda late and we were hungry.
Sunday we went to church, then out to lunch at Olive Garden. I hadn't been there awhile. Tried one of their new dishes, and that was pretty good. Went to look at some rings at Jared, but Greg doesn't really wanna get his from there 'cuz of their oober-annoying commercials. Greg did find one that he liked a lot though. We'll see. Maybe he'd have to deal with contributing to those annoying commercials. :p As for me, I found one that I liked, but then found another that looked better on Bile Nile (plus it matches my ring). I'm gonna sit on it a few days to see if that's the one I want. :o)
Think that's about it for now. More updates later. :o)
Posted by alpha at 08:12 AM | Hockey , Wedding , Work | Comments (0)
March 04, 2005
TGIF!
Another week has flown by...
Today has been pretty nice. Had lunch with my mentor today...we went to this sandwich shop in the building next to us. It was really good, and it's within walkable distance. I need to go there more often. :o) Anyway, we brought the food back, grabbed a conference room, and planned out what we need to do for our presentation in the general meeting on the 18th. :o) It should be fun.
Tonight I have a hockey game. We're trying to finish up our season before Easter weekend, so we have to double-up one weekend and play both Friday night and Sunday night. :o) After the game, we're going out with some teammates for Chinese food. Mmmmmmmm...
Tomorrow I hafta be at work at 9:45am. Yuck. Hopefully it won't last more than a couple of hours. I get a full comp day for coming in to do the test. Ah well. After that, Greg and I need to go to Tom Thumb to meet with the decorator to see if she can give us a quote on our wedding cake. Then I'm off to go shopping with my sister for reception stuff. Fun fun. :o)
Sunday I think we're gonna go visit a jeweler to get Greg's ring size, so we can order a wedding ring for him. That should be interesting. I don't quite enjoy going to jewelry stores...maybe it's just too much "bling" for my liking. :p Hee hee. Then of course Sunday night I have my game. Yup...s'bout it!
Next Wednesday is Greg's birthday. His birthday present should be arriving tomorrow. :o) Yey! He's taking off next Thursday to go play golf, and then I'm taking off next Friday to use up that comp day that I'm earning tomorrow. Hee hee.
Oh, and next weekend we're going camping at Purtis Creek. We were gonna go this weekend, but all the sites were booked! Ha ha. Oh well. Next weekend is better for me anyways. :o) This will prob be the last time that we'll get to do it before it gets super hot.
Posted by alpha at 02:00 PM | Camping , Hockey , Wedding , Work | Comments (4)
March 01, 2005
Space Heater = Good
Haven't really felt like writing lately. Have had too much to do wedding-wise that I just hadn't been in the mood to write. :o)
Ended up having to work Friday night, for about half an hour at 1:30am. Yuck. It completely threw my weekend off 'cuz I didn't get enough sleep. Saturday morning I had to get up early to go cake tasting at Frosted Art with Greg, my sis, Jo, and Luci. It was a fun time, but I wish I wasn't so tired. And yes, 9am is way too early to be having cake. I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping 'cuz I was so tired. :o/ Greg went to perform at his MSO event at about 5ish. We hung out for a little while when he got home.
Sunday we went to church, then came home and chilled. I was still tired, so I was watching TV most of the afternoon. :o/ We went out to Oshman's to try to buy a birthday present for Greg's brother Paul but ended up buying some clothes for ourselves. Heh heh. Had my hockey game at 7:30. I didn't feel like I skated all that well (prob 'cuz I had been so tired all weekend. Blah.
Yesterday I had to be at work at 6am. Good thing was that there was no traffic, and I got to go home at 11:30am (that was for working Friday night). I ended up running a bunch of errands until about 1:30pm. Stopped by the dress shop to check on my dress, and the lady there said that it should arrive any day now. I scheduled my fitting for Good Friday while I was there. This way my Mom can come. :o)
Went to Tom Thumb to inquire about their wedding cake situation. The lady who was there told me that the decorator wasn't in yesterday, but that they do make wedding cakes. I need to go back to inquire about the prices, etc. No way I'm gonna spend $600+ on a wedding cake when I can probably get one for $150 that works just as well. It's all gonna be eaten anyways... :p
Also spent quite a bit of time standing in line at the post office. What I don't get is why out of the 5 available counters, only 2 people are working at them...while the line goes out the door. I never quite understood that about the post office. And then they complain that they aren't getting as much business. Well I wonder why. Duh.
Other than that, just worked on getting the files for the invitation labels and watched TV. Nothing real significant. Just the usual. Wish I wasn't so tired so I could have gone to the driving range with Greg. Oh well...
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention...it has been FREEZING in the office the past few weeks, especially for those of us in the back corner of the office. So we've been wearing our jackets at our desks, and it apparently paid off for me, 'cuz a space heater appeared on my chair when I came in this morning. I've been much warmer today. Hee hee. Yey!
Posted by alpha at 08:58 AM | Hockey , Wedding , Work | Comments (0)
February 23, 2005
Saga Galore
My beef with Sprint, is that the staff in their call center in India are completely clueless. I had them repeat everything I said back to me so I could know that they understood me, and yet I can still receive blatantly wrong information. Without going into much details (the story takes 10 minutes to tell in person), make sure you talk to someone from the UNITED STATES. Those people at least know what they're talking about. Better yet, just email and let the eCare people handle it for you...they apparently have the most power to actually fix a customer's problem.
Long story short, if you get a rep at Sprint that sounds Indian. Hang up and try again...
Let's see...what else...Friday night Luci came over and had BBQ and watched TV with us. Hee hee. It was a fun hang out time. :o) Saturday Greg went to rehearsal in the morning...we had a quick lunch and went over to Jo's to drop off her bridesmaid dress. Then we headed over to BB&B to work on our registry. We've filled it up quite a bit with a bigger (price range) variety of stuff. Hee hee. Fun times. Afterwards, since we were already in the area, we went to Toyko One for dinner to celebrate "3 months until wedding." Had a great time. Rented "Napolean Dynamite" (not my choice, but Greg HAD to watch it)...it had some funny moments, but definitely not the funniest movie I've ever seen. :o)
On Sunday, the weather was gorgeous. We went to the driving range, then bike riding around the Sherrill Park area, and then I had my hockey game that night. It was a fun game in spite of our loss. We actually scored more than 1 goal in the game! Ha ha. :o)
Monday's weather was gorgeous too. :o) We went out to Kohl's so I could get some shoes for the wedding, and I found some (the white ones) for $6.50 with the use of a coupon! :o) Wheeee! I'll look for other ones to match my Chinese dress for the reception. Hee hee.
Posted by alpha at 08:22 AM | Biking , Golf , Hockey , Wedding | Comments (2)
February 14, 2005
Weekend of Exercise
Left work an hour early on Friday to go to the Charity Challenge on Ice tryouts at the Farmers Branch Starcenter. It was fun, and got to see some people I hadn't seen in ages...but I skated like crap. Prob one of the worst performances I've had in awhile. Obviously it showed 'cuz I didn't make it to the final round. Oh well...not really up for another butt-kicking anyhow...
Anyways, Greg, Katie, and I went to have pizza in Lewisville after the tryouts. That was pretty fun. Tasty pizza as always. :o)
Saturday we went to lunch with my parents, my sister, Matt, and a couple of my parents' friends from out of town (they're from Alberta). We had dim sum, and it was rather tasty. Afterwards, Greg and I went to Sun & Ski Sports to buy some bike accessories. They were having a huge winter clearance sale, and we each had a $10 off a $50 purchase coupon...so we got some pretty good deals on some stuff. We also stopped by the Bicycles Plus store in Coppell to look at helmets and things. Came home, had dinner, and watched "Office Space" on TV. Hee hee.
Sunday we went to church, then met up with my sister and Matt to look at the golf course (our reception site). My sister hadn't been there, so she wanted to go check it out to see what decorations she wants to get for the reception. It was cool. Greg and I had lunch there at the golf course...it was a pretty day out...temps in the 70's and sunny. :o) We stopped by the Sprint store on the way home to check out some phones. Went home, picked up our bikes, and went over to Katie's to go bike riding. I think we rode about 5 miles around the UTD area. It was pretty fun, and was nice to be out when it was so pretty outside. Went home at about 5:30...I ordered our new phones online, and then left for my hockey game...which was another butt-kicking for some strange reason. The team just wasn't playing well together last night. It was quite a bit frustrating.
Anyway, about the cell phones...I called Sprint Saturday night, and found out that they'd give us the same deal on the phones as all the new subscribers ($150 upgrade rebate, $30 web special if ordered online). Plus the plan that we're on, actually costs $5 less a month now...so we'd get that updated. And they'd also give us a 5% discount per month for renewing our contracts. So I figured that was probably the best and simplest things to do (since Greg's Dad and nephew are both on Sprint...so we can do PCS to PCS for free). Hence we shall be receiving our new phones some time this week. Yey! :o)
Posted by alpha at 08:12 AM | Biking , Family , Hockey | Comments (0)
February 11, 2005
Tra la la...
Hum dee dum...I'm bored...2 hours left until I leave to go to my hockey tryout. Then it's 2 hours' worth of skating my bottom off. Fun fun. :p
*Yawn* Let's see...what else...my department's Director was here visiting yesterday and today. He just left to catch his flight back to Chicago. It was nice to have him around....we all went out to Jason's Deli for lunch yesterday and that was fun. Then he had 1-on-1 meetings with each of us. Yeppers.
Tomorrow we're going out to lunch (dim sum) with my parents. One of my Dad's friends is coming into town from Calgary, so we're all going out to eat together. Afterwards, Greg and I are prob gonna go look at biking equipment (helmets, gloves, water bottles, etc.) and go to Bed Bath & Beyond to add more stuff on our registry. Yep. Bridesmaid dresses should be arriving next Tuesday. Yey! :o) My wedding dress should be in soon too. Perhaps I should call and find out.
Posted by alpha at 01:14 PM | Family , Hockey , Work | Comments (2)
January 31, 2005
Weekend of Fun!
Wow I had a fun weekend! :o)
Friday night I was really tired, so I vegged in front of the TV and watched a couple of movies. Greg went to play pick-up, and I worked for about half an hour at 1am and earned myself another comp day. :p Wheee! Hee hee.
Saturday morning, I got up leisurely, and packed for Austin. We left at about noon or so, and stopped in Waco for lunch. Got to Austin at around 4ish...went by a couple of the Longhorn stores to see about Rose Bowl merchandise. I found this fleece that I really wanted, but they only had L, XL, and XXL...which is too big for me in men's sizes. Bought a shirt for my sis and a hat for me. :o) I'll have to look for the fleece later. Went and checked into the hotel. It was pretty nice. We called Aunt Martha and went over to hang out with her and Uncle Guy at the Embassy Suites that they and the team are staying at. That was pretty fun. There were a lot of Soul fans that came for the game. :o) We left after about an hour to go back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.
We got all dressed up (sorry forgot to take pics), and went down to the concierge to see if she had any recommendations for nice restaurants in town. She recommended that we go to Carmelo's Ristorante Italiano, and gave us a voucher for a free appetizer. The place was AWESOME! They had a guy playing the accordian to entertain. :o) It was a romantic, candlelit, white-table-cloth type of place. Right when we first sat down, we saw the table next to us get a flambe dessert. It looked sooo cool, and so I decided that I wanna have dessert more so than dinner (plus I was still a little full from lunch). We ordered our appetizer (bruschetta with salmon), got a couple of Caesar salads, and ordered dessert. :o) We didn't end up getting the flambe, but we did have a couple of pieces of pie. I got the Chocolate Derby Truffle (it looked like a chocolate dome...hee hee), and Greg got the Lemon Tort. It was delicious!!! OMG. I was so full of chocolate. We had sooooo much fun. We'll have to go back there again next time and try the main courses! :o) Hee hee.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel to change, etc. Checked back in with Aunt Martha, and found out that Mike had returned from their team walkthrough, and he and Uncle Guy (and one of the other coaches) were at Pappasitos having dinner. So we went over there, but just missed them. We went over to the Embassy Suites, and hung out with them in the lobby for awhile. Then up walks Ron Jaworski. I, of course, didn't recognize him, but Greg did (after a couple of seconds), and had this look of awe on his face. For those of you who don't know, Ron Jaworski was the QB for the Philadephia Eagles in Super Bowl XV. He's now on ESPN, and as it turns out, is the President of the Philadelphia Soul. Anyway, we met him and his wife...they were both extremely nice and he was very funny. :p He said that they were heading out to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl right after the Soul game on Sunday. Hee hee. How cool is that?!
Sunday morning we got up and packed up our stuff...and checked out of the hotel. We walked over to the Frank Erwin Center for the Soul vs. Austin Wranglers game. The Soul fans (and family) basically had an entire section to ourselves right behind the Soul bench. It was awesome. I think Aunt Martha said that she had reserved 148 tickets for the family and the Soul fans. :o) I think that's just incredible. We were sitting 4 rows behind Ron Jaworski and his wife, and other important people in the Soul organization. It was pretty awesome. The Soul beat the Wranglers 66-35. :o)
We drove home right after the game, so I could make it back in time for my hockey game at 7:30. :o) Traffic was surprisingly smooth, in spite of the rain. We got in at about 5:30, rested a little bit, and left for my game. We lost 5-2 to the Hornets, but at least we scored more than 1 goal! Greg said that I was skating really well last night too. :o) He's been trying to get me to glide better so I don't use as much energy skating. I think it's working, 'cuz I was skating really fast, but I wasn't really sweaty or anything (a little winded, but not sweaty). :o) Yey! I had a few really good shots in front of the net, but unfortunately, none made it into the net. Oh well. I'm so close that I can feel it. :o)
Anyways, there's my weekend recap. It was a wonderful weekend. :o) Tired today though 'cuz I'm working 6-3 today and tomorrow. Yuck. Hopefully not much goes on today that I can leave at 2:30. Hee hee.
Posted by alpha at 07:26 AM | Family , Fun Stuff , Hockey , Memories | Comments (7)
January 28, 2005
TGIF!
This week seemed to have lasted forever. It was weird. So I surely am glad that it's finally Friday. :o)
Not a whole lot has been going on. We finally watched "Spiderman 2" the other night. It was pretty good. Hee hee. I may have to add that to my wish list. :o)
Yesterday I found out who my mentor (for our mentoring program at work) is. It's one of the Directors that we have down here. She's really cool. I'm looking forward to it. Hee hee.
Oh I found out today that one of my friends that I played hockey with a few years ago has joined my women's team. :o) Yey!!! She's a great player...we can surely use her.
Ummm...what else...still 2.5 hrs before I get to go home. Next Monday & Tuesday I'm working the 6-3 shift. Yep.
I'm not sure what all we're doing in Austin this weekend, other than dinner and the game. I'm sure we'll go hang out with the team and Greg's family a bit. Should be a good time. :o)
Posted by alpha at 02:35 PM | Family , Hockey , Work | Comments (4)
January 24, 2005
Weekend Recap
Not much went on this past weekend. It was really too cold to do much outside. Sounds whimpy, I know, especially to the Chicago-ans that I talked to today...they got 11 inches of snow last night. Anyway, Saturday we went to Foley's to check out their china and things, and to see what nice stuff the department stores have...didn't really find anything we liked. So we went to Bed Bath & Beyond in Addison (the one that stocks the fine china). We signed up for our registry, and started putting things on it. We picked our china pattern (which turned out to be very expensive) and several other things. We'll need to go back to finish up on the stuff that we didn't want to put on the registry without having first looked at it in person. :o)
Saturday night we went to my hockey team's practice. It was a blast. It was Drew, Vicki, John, Marcy, Katie, Kelly (and Kelly's Mom), Rose (from Relentless), and Greg and me. We worked on individual stuff for a little while...I worked on my slapshot and did some skating practice with Greg. And then for the last half hour, the girls scrimmaged against the 3 guys. We first scrimmaged with the guys playing defense...so we could practice our offense, then we switched it around. It was a lot of fun (and very tiring). :p Afterwards, we tried to go to dinner at Pappasitos, but it was packed (45-55 minute wait), so we went to Desperados over by our house instead. It was much more peaceful there, and we had a good time hanging out and talking, etc. Didn't get home until after 11.
Sunday we went to church, then hung out around the house trying to stay warm. :p I played around in the registry some, and added some appliances that I know I want. Had the hockey game at 8:45 against the Mantis. We tied 1-1, but we played a lot more aggressive than we had been. So it was a good workout. :p
Posted by alpha at 12:49 PM | Family , Friends , Hockey , Wedding | Comments (0)
January 18, 2005
Back to Work
Ya know, I really don't enjoy working. It's not necessarily me not enjoying my current job (although there are aspects about it that make me enjoy it less), but I don't enjoy the concept of having to work. I think my 3-day weekend spoiled me. I enjoyed waking up whenever I felt like it...doing whatever I wanted for the day... So, today I declare that work is highly overrated.
Anyway, nothing really has gone on at work today. Kinda slow. I'm pretty much in meetings all afternoon. Fun fun. Hopefully I'll get to leave on time today.
I signed up for the girls team tryout (the one on Feb. 11 in Farmers Branch) for the Charity Challenge on Ice VIII. The Ticket is holding 2 preliminary tryouts of 30 skaters and 6 goalies each. Honestly I don't think they're gonna get that many, but who knows. Should be fun though. If nothing else, it's free ice time. Hee hee. :p
I sure am mighty tired. Hopefully this afternoon will go by quickly. :o)
Posted by alpha at 01:43 PM | Hockey , Work | Comments (6)
January 13, 2005
Yet another quiet night
Took forever to get home from work yesterday 'cuz morons were going 30mph on the highway because it had rained earlier. So irritating. Took Greg a long time to get home too. We left soon after to meet up with Chris & Beta at Players Bench to do some hockey shopping for Chris. Mainly we just showed him what he needs to get. He didn't end up getting anything, but he'll prob get skates at Oshman's this week 'cuz on Saturday, the rink where we're practicing doesn't have skate rental. After gawking at new hockey equipment, we headed over to Rockfish for some yummy seafood. :o) Mmmmmmmm...
We just relaxed awhile after we got home. I read some more of my PHP book, while Greg played Scrabble on PlayStation. It was quite nice. I was exhausted for some reason. This week seems to be lasting forever. Very weird. It felt like it ought to have been Friday like 3 days ago. Ugh. 1 more day and it'll be a 3-day weekend for me. :o) Yey!
Posted by alpha at 07:41 AM | Friends , Hockey | Comments (5)
January 12, 2005
Nerdin' it out...
Had a nice night last night, just relaxing and stuff. For some reason I was just really tired yesterday, so I wanted to just sit around and do nothing. The last half of my Amazon order arrived, with my new PHP book. I read that for a little while...and was kinda watching TV. Greg was playing on his PlayStation. It was pretty relaxing.
Tonight we're meeting up with Chris & Beta at Players Bench to show Chris some hockey equipment, etc. Then I think we're gonna go over to Rockfish for dinner. Mmmmmmmm. Fun fun! I can't wait. I wish I could make work disappear today and skip right to hockey shopping. Hee hee.
Posted by alpha at 07:40 AM | Hockey , Nerd | Comments (3)
January 11, 2005
A New 24 Addict
I think I have created another "24" addict. Hee hee. Greg actually watched last night's 2 episodes with me, and was quite into it. Yey! :o) The first 4 episodes have been pretty intriguing so far, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.
I was mighty tired this morning when I woke up. I was kinda on call for this morning's volume duties 'cuz supposedly Chicago had an ice storm last night...and Jeff didn't know if he'd be able to make it in safely. But since he didn't call at 5:30am, I assume that it was just fine. My body kept waking up all night in anticipation of the call though. It was weird. I think that's why I'm tired today.
This morning Gary brought in some chocolate chip cookies that his Mom had made. :o) His Mom makes great cookies, and she always gives some to Gary every time he goes home to visit...and he always brings them in to share with us. Mmmmmmm...
Today I think I'm gonna go out to lunch with the guys. I'm gonna need an hour-long diversion if I want to stay awake today. Hee hee.
Chatted with Chris for awhile last night. We're gonna go help him shop for hockey equipment Wednesday night. :o) Wheeeee! His first lesson went well, and he didn't fall (always a good sign). Hee hee. I'm so excited!!!
Posted by alpha at 09:37 AM | Family , Friends , Hockey , Work | Comments (2)
December 08, 2004
La Dee Dah
It's been awhile huh? Well the temperature's no longer 28 degrees...it's now getting up to 65 during the day. Pleasant. :o)
Last week I was off starting Thursday afternoon, through Monday of this week. It was kinda nice and relaxing. Didn't do too much. Ran some errands, etc. Worked on Greg's MSO site a bit...people can now log in and log out. I'll be building out the nav menus for the different groups next. Shouldn't be too difficult.
What else...Saturday had lunch with Jodie at String Bean. That was great fun. We were gonna go shopping afterwards, but called it off 'cuz we were both in food comas after lunch. :o) Greg and Paul went to Southlake Carroll's high school playoff game at Texas Stadium while I was gone. They came home not long after I did. I watched TV and looked for wedding invitations online. Paul stayed over Saturday night and went to church with us Sunday morning. That was pretty cool. :o)
Sunday night's hockey game was a lot of fun. I got to play forward again after having to fill in as defense for the past few weeks. Had quite a few shots on net, and had this beautiful pass to Katie (who was wide open). Heh heh. I was skating so fast that Drew asked if I had my Wheaties that morning or something. :p How funny. We ended up with a 1-1 tie, but lost during overtime. Still fun though.
Monday I went to lunch with my friend Louisa from high school/parents' church. It was cool. I don't think we've hung out in years. She mentioned this boy (Dave) that she's been dating for 2 years, and I had no idea. :p Ha ha. It was good catching up and all that. We went to try the Chaat Cafe upon Adam's recommendation. It was pretty tasty. :o)
Hmmm talking about food is making me mega-hungry. I think I'm gonna have some banana bread for breakfast. :o) Mmmmmmm...
Posted by alpha at 07:51 AM | Family , Friends , Hockey | Comments (0)
November 22, 2004
Rain, rain, go away
Man traffic was horrendous this morning! This rainy weather caused 3 accidents on 635...making it virtually impossible for me to go that way and be able to make it here at a decent time. So I took the George Bush Turnpike...it didn't end up being a whole lot faster, and it cost me $1.20. Oh well.
My whole body hurts. Last night I made the mistake of eating (a steak, no less) an hour before my hockey game. We were short on players (we had 9), so there were only 3 of us on defense (hence double-shifting). By the 3rd period I was feeling my dinner (stomach hurting like hell), and my right thigh was cramping. Then I made the mistake of blocking a shot with my left thigh (see similar incident from a few months ago), so my left thigh was throbbing. Ugh. At least we made it out of the game with a 0-0 tie. :o) Makes my suffering almost worth it. Ha ha.
Looks like I'm recaping my weekend backwards here. Lessee...Sunday morning was our last pre-marital class. Yey! :o) Our facilitators brought a really nice breakfast for us. Mmmmmm. Hungry just thinking about it.
Saturday night we went to Greg's orchestra concert. It was good. :o) Lots o' fun were had. My Dad really wants to go to their holiday concert in December. He kept asking about it. Very funny.
Friday I spent a good portion of it running around, getting our reception site settled. I went up to Pecan Hollow Golf Course to take some pictures for my Mom 'cuz she wanted to see what it looks like. While I was there, I ran into the site supervisor, Danny. Apparently Danny got the run-through about my reception Friday morning, from the facilities manager (Shannon) at the Plano Centre. So when he saw me taking pictures, he came out and introduced himself. It was pretty cool. We went through the set-up together, and figured out that we could seat 150 pretty comfortably in the dining room. Yey! :o) After the picture-taking, I went up to the Plano Centre to meet with the events coordinator (Jo) and the catering manager (Anne). Jo introduced me to the wedding coordinator (Claudia). Claudia, Anne, and I sat down to talk more about the details, etc. Then Anne went and got Shannon so he could tell me what all's included in our rental/service charge. I have a feeling that this might be their biggest event there, since the clubhouse is pretty new (remodeled and opened this April). Everybody was freakishly excited about the reception. It was really strange. :p Anyway, Claudia's gonna send me an itemized list of costs this week...and I'd sign the contract and pay the $75 deposit and everything will be official. :o)
Anyway, enough about my weekend. 2-day week for me this week. Yey! :o) It's supposed to get REALLY cold over Thanksgiving...gonna get down to freezing Tuesday night. Brrrrr! I'll be celebrating Turkey Day with my parents...Greg's going down to San Antonio with Paul.
Posted by alpha at 08:18 AM | Family , Hockey , Wedding | Comments (0)
November 15, 2004
Another week begins...
How exciting...it's gonna be raining all week. At least I'll be off on Friday. Wheeee! I can't believe that it's Thanksgiving already next week! Craziness. 2-day week for me next week! Yey!
Anyway, I got dumped with a HUGE project last Friday (at 11:45am, mind you). One that took a total of 10 hours to complete. Bettye, my counterpart in Chicago, took pity on me and helped out with a little bit of it. I worked on it from 11:45am to 4:45pm. Then I had another 3 hours left of work to do on it after I got home. So I went home, drained my brain a little bit, and got back to work. Greg was very nice (he knew that I was really stressed out at work) and went out to get Popeye's for dinner. :o) Worked from 8:30pm to 11:30pm. Then at 11:30pm, I had to start doing the volume stuff (for which I was previously scheduled)...until 2am. Just before I went to bed Friday night, I managed to figure out that I worked 15.5 hours that day. Ridiculous. I don't want to hear another word about having to work more just because I'm a salaried employee.
Saturday I slept in (for obvious reasons). I just kinda hung out and didn't do anything all day 'cuz I was so exhausted from the past week's drama at work. We left at about 6ish to go to the store to pick up some stuff for Chris & my combined birthday party (Chris' bday was on 11/12). :o) It was great fun. Chris' friend Judy's brother brought over the XBox and they were playing Halo 2 on the projector. It was ridiculously big. :p Great people, great food, great fun. :o) Funny cats. It had it all. :o)
Sunday we went to church. Then we hung out, and I slept for awhile. We tried to go to a pizza place for dinner, but apparently both pizza places that we usually go to (the one in Plano and the one in Lewisville) were both closed on Sundays. :o( We drove all the way to Lewisville to find that out. So we settled on going to Johnny Carino's instead. Tasty food, nonetheless. Afterwards I went to my hockey game where we lost 0-4 to the Hornets.
Posted by alpha at 01:53 PM | Friends , Hockey , Work | Comments (0)
November 11, 2004
Marathon Day
It's 8:12 and it's already over 2 hours into my day...I hafta stay 'til late tonight too 'cuz our Director is in town again (this time to do reviews), so we're all going out to dinner (supposedly anyway). We'll see. I brought a couple of DVDs to kill time between 3 and 5pm. Fun stuff.
I guess I haven't updated since the weekend. My birthday was really nice (especially so since Greg and I got engaged). :o) Saturday Greg and Paul went down to College Station for the A&M/OU game, then to Austin for the Texas/OSU game. They were gone all day and got on TV coverage twice in 2 different games. How funny. Anyway, Jodie, Luci, and I went wedding/bridesmaid dress shopping. It was loads of fun. We found both a wedding dress for me and a bridesmaid dress for them. :o) Quite an accomplishment I'd say. Hee hee.
Saturday night I went over to my parents' for dinner. I requested that they make dinner this time instead of going out to celebrate. It was a great time. My sister and Matt left soon after dinner, but I stuck around and watched the Mavericks game with my Dad, then talked to them some more about the wedding and reception and stuff. :o) My Mom came up with 60 people for her guest list. Good grief. We'll see what happens with that.
Sunday (my birthday) we slept in, and then went out on a motorcycle ride to go have breakfast at Denny's. That was pretty fun, and it was a beautiful day out. We also stopped by the golf course in Plano to check out their banquet facilities for the wedding reception. Looks like they could only hold 120 people though. My hockey game was at 7:30pm...Katie finally broke our no-scoring streak! Went out to Razzoo's with Greg, Luci, Katie, and Tony after the game to celebrate my birthday. It was fun. :o)
Monday Greg and I were off work again. We tried to get a hold of the people who are in charge of event planning in the City of Plano. Found the golf course guy, who referred us to a lady at the Plano Centre, who we emailed but never heard back. I don't think we did too much else that day. Just kinda hung out and relaxed.
This upcoming Saturday, Chris and I will be hosting a birthday party at Chris & Beta's house. :o) Wheeee! Fun fun! Hopefully people will be able to make it since it's a little bit late notice. I'm sure it'll be a great time. Hee hee.
Posted by alpha at 08:13 AM | Family , Friends , Hockey , Wedding , Work | Comments (0)
October 26, 2004
Record Time!
29 minutes from garage to parking lot this morning. :o) I think there were a couple of stalled cars on westbound 635, east of the 635/75 intersection, so they alleviated traffic somewhat. Hee hee. Wheeee!
I think Greg and I are gonna go vote during lunch today. Hopefully there won't be a really long line or anything.
This week is my last 5-day work-week. :o) How 'bout that! We got all the vacation schedules figured out and put on a nice-looking calendar (thanks to yours truly). I'm off next Thursday afternoon, through the following Monday for my birthday. Hee hee. Greg got next Friday & the following Monday off too. Yey!
This last weekend was good. I was over at my parents' house for most of Saturday. My sister and Matt joined us for lunch, we all chatted...had a good time. Then my Dad and I took pictures of some of the wood products that he had, so he could put them up on the website. Saturday night Greg and I took my parents out to dinner at Toyko One. He officially got permission from them to marry me! Ha ha ha. :p We had a great time. It's usually not just the 4 of us that get to hang out...my sister and/or Matt is/are usually around too. So that was good. :o)
Sunday we went to church for our class, and then to the mall to get Greg some new clothes. He bought this new pair of Timberland shoes that are really nice. :o) He wore them to work yesterday and said that they're very comfortable. Hee hee.
Sunday night I had my hockey game against the Hornets. Lost 0-2. Coulda been much worse. I think for the most part we kept up pretty well. Our coach Michael's back. :o) I like having him around. I know some of my teammates don't like his aggressive coaching style, but I always enjoy learning from him. Anyway, he and Drew (our goalie Vicki's boyfriend) both know how I can improve as a player (Drew used to coach my travel team), and I appreciate them volunteering their time to help us get better. :o) Oh oh! And Michael made it on the backup squad for the Ft. Worth Brahmas!!!!! He might get called when a player gets injured, etc. That's soooooo cool. :o) And he said that he's been practicing with some Stars players at Grapevine Mills. Hee hee hee. :o) Very awesome.
Posted by alpha at 07:20 AM | Family , Hockey , Memories , Work | Comments (0)
September 27, 2004
LJ redid their post msg page
Hmmmm...not sure if I like this new message posting page...
Anyways, the rest of last week was somewhat insignificant at work. Was stuck in a class about diversity ALL day Thursday, and was busy as hell on Friday as a result. Saturday Jodie and I went to First Chinese BBQ for lunch, and then went to see First Daughter. OMG Marc Blucas was sooooo hot in it. Ha ha. Oh, so cute. :o) After the movie, we stopped by the Chinese bakery so Jodie could get some pastries for J.D. to try. :o) By the way, Luci, that bakery we went to last time has egg custards on the weekends. :p
Shortly after I got back from the excursion with Jodie, I left to go over to my parents' for dinner. We ended up going to Tasty China. It surely was tasty. Hee hee. Then we went back to my parents' to hang out and such. Didn't get home until about 12:30am. Greg and Paul got back soon after me (they were in Austin for the football game).
Sunday morning Greg and I went to church and took the premarital test thing that's a part of our class. Got done really early, so we got to hop in on the service. We had a guest speaker, Dr. Tim Kimmel. The guy was hilarious. :p Then in closing, this guy Jeff Berry was there, and he performed this song on the piano. He was awesome. :o)
After church, Greg and I met up with Chris & Beta at Steak Kountry for lunch. It was a fun time. We need to do that more often. :o) Hee hee. We didn't take the motorcycle out there though this week 'cuz we thought that Paul was coming along, but he didn't. It was too late to change clothes and stuff to take the bike, so we drove instead. :p
Sunday night we had our playoff game against the Hornets (the 1st place team). We managed to hold on for most of the game. It was 1-0 Hornets counting down to the final seconds of the game. Then Luci got a breakaway pass and scored with 4.7 seconds left on the clock. It was awesome. She popped up the puck and it flew over the goalie's head, dropped right behind the goalie, and into the net. Ha ha. Talk about timely. :p That bought us a 5-minute 4-on-4 run-time sudden death overtime. Nobody scored during OT, and it went to a shootout, which the Hornets won eventually. It was fun, and we had ice cream afterwards. Hee hee.
Tonight I'm going over to Jodie's place for dinner and TV watching. Then tomorrow night Greg and I are going out with my high school friends to celebrate Ruth's hubby Kent getting back from Iraq safely. :o) Wheee! Hopefully this week will go by quickly...I'm off on Friday and next Monday. Can't wait. :o)
Posted by alpha at 07:29 AM | Family , Friends , Hockey | Comments (0)
September 22, 2004
*Stretch*
Not a whole lot to report. We chilled at home this past weekend. Greg had to play an encore performance (same program as the Saturday before) at Brookhaven College Saturday night, so I went to that. Sunday we went to our class, then off to Steak Kountry again for lunch. That was fun. The restaurant is filled with the after-church crowd on Sundays. It's very entertaining. :p We came home, watched football, and then I was off to my hockey game. We played pretty well this week against the Mantis...it came out to a 0-0 tie after OT. Had a few shots but none of them went in the net. Blah.
Oh! It was Katie's birthday on Sunday and her Mom came into town to visit. I finally got to meet her. They're so alike. Ha ha.
Monday night we had Katie over for burgers and a football game. :o) Hee hee. It's been awhile since she has come over (been 3 weeks since she started dating Tony). It was fun. We had Dreyer's Longhorns Football ice cream. Yummy goodness!
Yesterday was a rest day for me. Traffic was pretty light in comparison to last week's. Came home, had dinner, and watched TV. Nothing too exciting.
Hopefully today's gonna go by quickly too (my workdays have been flying by this week). Tonight I have hockey practice at 8pm. Wheeee. :o)
Posted by alpha at 08:06 AM | Hockey | Comments (0)
September 14, 2004
Vacation has come to an end...
Man I just remembered that I have to go to work tomorrow. Bleh. This is gonna be a marathon update...you've been warned! :o)
My time off has been nice. Friday I had lunch with Luci at First Chinese BBQ and it was awesome. :o) We walked over to the Chinese bakery afterwards and got some pastries, etc. It was a good time. Did some cleaning when I got home (note that this will be a common theme during my vacation). Went to Central Market with Greg when he got home from work, and bought some food to make for dinner. Tastiness.
Saturday morning Greg left early to go to symphony rehearsal. I slept in a little bit, then vacuumed in preparation for Jodie's arrival. Jodie and I went over to Ft. Worth, to the Bass Performance Hall, to see "Stomp" with my coworkers. :o) It was a great time. We went to a burger joint for lunch beforehand and got to chat a bit. Good times as always. The Bass Performance Hall is AWESOME inside...it's designed like an opera house, with boxes and stuff. It was very neat. "Stomp" was great (nothing like making music out of brooms and barrels and stuff). After the performance, we skidaddled and went to Milwaukee Joe's for ice cream. It was delicious! :o) They really need to open a store in Plano or something...somewhere closer. :o) Mmmmm!
We then all went to Greg's symphony concert Saturday night. That was fun. I brought my camera 'cuz I wanted to get a pic of the orchestra members all dressed up. They had a photographer there to take a pic for their program's centerfold. He had all this awesome sophisticated (ie. EXPENSIVE) equipment set up. So Jodie and I went and sat behind him. He striked up a conversation with me, and I showed him my camera. I realized how little I knew about cameras from talking to the guy. Ha ha. But he let me borrow the trigger of the 2,000 watts worth of studio lighting (ie. VERY BRIGHT FLASH) to take a couple of pictures. That thing was freakin' ridiculously bright. It was fun though. Hee hee. The music was good, and we were entertained by this really old lady who didn't realize how loud she talked (which, included some racial comments about the saxophone soloist)...we got a big kick out of it. Hee hee.
Sunday we had our first marriage preparation class. It went pretty well. We have homework to do for the next class (which reminds me...). Anyway, then my sister and I had a "marriage session" with my parents. Apparently, whatever went wrong with my parents earlier on in the week are now all fine and dandy. Oh well. Our session went well...and when my Dad realized that Greg and I are taking a class at church, he was like...oh, well then I don't need to speak as much to you about this. Ha ha. :p Then they got all excited because we're taking a class at church...one thing led to another, we were all discussing our wedding! Ha ha. It was pretty funny. My parents were REALLY excited...I had to calm them down and tell them that it's not official yet (no ring on my finger) and we won't be making any solid plans until that happens. But I wanted to give them a heads up so they wouldn't be surprised when Greg comes a-knockin' to ask for permission. Plus, I wanted to find out what their reaction would be. So it all went well, thank goodness.
Since the session with my parents went so well (and very long), I had to rush home to pack up for hockey. We lost to Relentless 0-2. I got to skate very fast during 1 of my shifts...that was fun. I hadn't done that in awhile. Hee hee. :p I had some shots on goal, but nothing went through the goalie, unfortunately.
Monday...I don't really remember what I did. I was on the computer for a good bit, trying to get someone to get my server back up. And once it did, I started transferring stuff over to Adam's server. :p I think I spent quite a bit of time doing that. Then went to the store and bought some food. Made queso for a snack and it was ready right when Greg was arriving home from work. He was happy to see food for him when he got home. :o) Hee hee. He made some sausages for dinner, and it was great. I watched the season premieres of "7th Heaven" and "Everwood." Yep. Cleaned a bit. That was about it. :o)
Today I got up reasonably early, got on the computer for a little bit, cleaned a little bit, and went off to lunch at Texadelphia with Chris, Adam, and Katrina. It was good to have lunch with the gang again. I think that's what I miss the most at my new job...I miss hanging out with my friends. :o/ After lunch, I came home and cleaned some more. Got a lot of boxes out of the way. Just a few more piles of papers left before we can move the couch into the office, and Greg's couch from storage into the living room. At least I've accomplished something during my time off though. :o) Hee hee.
Posted by alpha at 09:09 PM | Family , Friends , Hockey , Photography , Work | Comments (0)
September 03, 2004
In a protesting mood...
Someone annoyed my boss this morning (before she even got to work), and she went on a tirade checking every link on a site, so I got like 20 emails from her for things that need to be changed. But right now I feel like protesting and I'll just sit here listening to my 311 CD and updating my journal. :o)
Anyway, this week has flown by, thank goodness. It has been relatively quiet at work (obviously except for today). Looking forward to a 3-day weekend even though I have to work tonight. It should be a nice and short week for me next week. Monday off, and then I'm off Thursday afternoon, Friday, and the next Monday & Tuesday. Wheeee! Hopefully I'll get some much-needed cleaning/organizing done while I'm home.
Paul stayed over last night. His car got stolen from his apartment complex last Friday night, and the Dallas Police found it on Tuesday. It was completely trashed. So a friend of his dropped him off after work last night, we watched football and had a good time, and Greg took him to work this morning. Tomorrow late morning we'll be heading down to Austin for the first UT football game...so it all works out just fine. We'll be heading on down to the lakehouse after the game for the rest of the weekend. Should be great fun.
Last night my sister came over with her dog Mak. She wanted to show me her portfolio that has her drawings in it. It was pretty neat. She can really draw. I was impressed. :o) We'd make a good team 'cuz I can program and she can draw. Ha ha. She has an interview with a lady who owns a graphics design company on Saturday. Hopefully something comes out of that.
Other than that, I don't think a whole lot is going on really. My bruise has gotten MUCH nastier. It's mostly purple now. Really, it's gross. I'm sure I'll get comments on that at the lake this weekend. Ugh.
Great...now my Director has joined in the madness in sending emails about things that need to be fixed. Argh. Guess I better go. Fun stuff. Maybe these would make the day go by quickly. Y'all have a great and safe Labor Day weekend! :o)
Posted by alpha at 09:53 AM | Family , Hockey , Work | Comments (0)
August 30, 2004
Black & Blue Goodness
Weekends go by way too fast nowadays. Why can't the work week go by fast like that too? Actually, maybe it does. It's already the end of August. What happened to my summer?
Got a call from Jodie Friday afternoon with some good news. :o) Hee hee. I'll let her tell you all about it. And no, it's not that Jodie and J.D. are engaged or anything juicy like that. :p
Friday night I went out to dinner with Ruth (and her daughter Lily), Bena, and Mirjam. Friends from high school. :o) Ruth is pregnant with her 2nd girl and is due at the beginning of October. We're gonna throw her a baby shower. Hee hee. Anyways, we had a good time hanging out, and got to check out Bena & Josy's new crib (they just got married in May). It's very nice. They're living in Bena's parents' old house...they completely remodeled it and it looks fantastic. There's hope yet for my little pink-carpeted house.
Saturday we were supposed to go move Greg's stuff from storage to my house, but it was rainy and we really needed some time to make room for all of it. So I ended up going over to my parents' early to have lunch with them. It was mightily tasty. Then I helped them fix up my Dad's computer so it's getting emails from the proper email addresses for the company. :p Had a great time. We met up with Greg, my sister, Matt & his bro for dinner at the buffet place. Ate too much as usual, but it was fun hanging out with my parents. Hee hee.
Oh, by the way, an update on the 1st online sale we made on our website. It turns out that my Dad tried to process the lady's credit card on Friday and it didn't go through 'cuz the security code was wrong. So my Mom tried to call several times Friday to find out what it was supposed to be. She finally got a hold of the lady Saturday morning...the lady was all apologetic, thinking that it was completely her fault (even though we didn't get her order email until Thursday night) that the order was being processed late. Ha ha. It was pretty funny. Anyway, she gave us the correct security code and it went through just fine. My Mom shipped out the package Saturday morning...so it's now official that WE MADE OUR 1ST INTERNET SALE ON OUR WEBSITE!!! :o)
And the reason why my Dad didn't get the order email in the first place was that he didn't have Outlook checking the right accounts. Just what I had suspected. It's all good and fixed now. Ha ha.
Sunday I spent most of it sleeping (other than when we were at church). I was really exhausted for some reason. Greg cleaned out the garage a bit and cleaned out some empty boxes. Sunday night we had our hockey game against the Hornets, which was frustrating at best. I also now have a huge bruise (so huge that my left thigh now looks deformed) from stopping a slapshot with my thigh. It hurts to walk. :o/ Maybe I'll take a pic of it later for your enjoyment.
This whole week at work is going to be just me...again. Bettye is off for yet another week. I can't wait 'til I can take some of my vacation days. This whole you're-the-only-person-here thing is getting annoying. I mean, really, do they really expect me to work 7:15 - 5:30 with no lunch break? I'm hoping that there aren't any late stuff that comes out this week so I can take off at 4:30. Lame, I tell ya, lame.
Posted by alpha at 09:02 AM | Family , Friends , Hockey , Memories , Work | Comments (0)
August 24, 2004
7:45
I still think that 6:40 is entirely too early to have to be leaving for work...
Friday night we went to Adam's bday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a great time! We had Adam, Amy, Katrina, Darcy, Curtis, Peter, Zoe (Peter's daughter...so cute), Chris, Beta, Greg, and me. We hadn't gone out to dinner with such a big group of people in awhile, and it was so fun. We didn't stay to go to Dave & Buster's though 'cuz Greg had rehearsal Saturday morning.
Saturday morning I went to rehearsal with Greg to take some pics of the orchestra for the website. It was pretty fun, but I got done with everything (including loading the pics onto the laptop) with 45 minutes left of rehearsal, so the last part was a little boring. Played solitaire to kill some time. Pics turned out pretty well in spite of not being able to use a flash (hence disrupting the rehearsal tremendously).
Sunday we went to Oshman's and bought some new tennis shoes. Took advantage of their "buy 1 pair, get 50% off 2nd pair" deal. I bought a pair of Saucony...never had any of their shoes, but they sure felt nice. Plus they were cheaper than the others (not to mention that they didn't have a pair of the New Balance ones that I liked in my size). Wheeee!
We then went over to the mall to return/exchange my Dr. Martens. I had problems with my 1st pair that I had bought 3 weeks ago...where there was a hole punched in the insole of the right shoe. So I returned it and they had to direct ship another pair to me (they didn't have any in stock in my size). The 2nd pair had the same problem, but in the left shoe...and there was glue all over the inside of the right shoe. So I brought it back again and talked to the manager, who actually noticed that the 2 shoes weren't even in the same size. He was quite irked at the store that had shipped the shoes to me, and said that he would follow up on it with their home office and give me a call on Monday.
Sunday night we played a game against the Mantis...lost 0-2. We had Vicki in net for us...it's good to have her back. Marilee (our regular goalie) skated out as a D and she was good. :p
No call from the manager at Journey's on Monday. :o( I went to get Greg's car fixed (the door seal on the driver's side door was loose). The guys at Volvo of Richardson were great. I barely had a chance to get out of my car before they approached me to ask about the problem. Greg had called ahead to let them know that I was coming, and they were standing outside in the sun waiting for me. Now that's customer service. :p It was all fixed about a half hour later (they just had to glue it back on). Went grocery shopping and bought food for dinner, etc. Put gas in my car. Watched some TV...funny how time just flies when I'm not at work. :o)
For dinner we made sirloin steak on the grill, and had potatoes and green beans. It was mighty tasty goodness. :o) Fun stuff.
Posted by alpha at 07:42 AM | Family , Friends , Hockey | Comments (0)
August 16, 2004
Me no likes Mondays
Ugh...the weekend went by soooo fast, even though I really didn't do anything. Greg left to go down to San Antonio Friday night at around 7. I ate dinner and lounged around...and played on the laptop (a hand-me-down from my Dad). :p Watched "Monsters, Inc." Hee hee. Saw Nemo make a cameo appearance in it. That was pretty cool.
Saturday morning I had to get up at 5:45am to do the volume stuff for work. :o( :o( It was hella early 'cuz they were running a test (which would take down the systems) at 8. I finished at 7:30ish and was exhausted. Hung out on my bed and read some articles on XHTML and XML, watched the PGA Championship on TV, and fixed the Mesquite Symphony page that I've been working on so it'll display properly in IE and FireFox. Yep. That was about it. Took a nap. Went to my parents' for dinner. Played with my Dad's new laptop...and fixed it up so it could connect to his network at home. Yep yep. It was a late night for me.
Went to church Sunday morning. Came home, watched the PGA Championship some more, and played on the laptop a little. Customized the laptop to my liking, and deleted (and backed up) a bunch of my Dad's files. :o) Yey. Greg got home at around 6ish. I left for the hockey game at 6:45. We were pretty short on people this week, but we played okay. It was a 0-0 tie, and the Relentless wanted to play overtime. Lost during overtime. Oh well. Got a puck in the left toe and left thigh...I'm nicely banged up. :o/
Posted by alpha at 11:16 AM | Family , Hockey | Comments (0)
August 09, 2004
Is it Monday again already?
I'm really tired even though it was a pretty relaxing weekend. I ended up having to bring back the shoes that I had bought, 'cuz there was a hole (like a hole punch not punching through) in the insole of the right shoe. The mall was a zoo on Sunday afternoon. It was ridiculous. I could barely walk in and out of Journey's. Anyway, they didn't have another pair for my size, and couldn't call around to see if other stores had a pair (it ties up the phone line for credit card processing and stuff). So they ended up special ordering a pair for me, and it'll be sent to my house. :o) How 'bout that for customer service?
Sunday we went to church, and then I came home and sat around. My hockey game was at 8:45pm so it was kinda late. We lost 0-2 to the Hornets. Bleh. Then I went outside, and the Hornets were out in the parking lot hanging out. I stuck around a little bit to talk to them. Jennifer (their sub goalie) said that she enjoyed subbing for us much better than for the Hornets. Ha ha ha. :p Anyway, talked to Amber for awhile to do some catch up. Got talked into going to Austin to try out for the travel team over the weekend of August 21-22. Yep.
When I got home, I opened the garage door, and Greg came out and said to hang on a minute. He wanted to get my hockey bag and stuff out of my car before I park the car in the garage (it gets narrow in there and he didn't want to lift it over his head). :o) How sweet. Hee hee. Awwwwww...
Posted by alpha at 10:12 AM | Family , Hockey , Misc | Comments (0)