On 12/9 we went went to the Prestonwood Baptist Church Christmas presentation. They are retooling the regular musical presentation so this year featured the 3 choirs the church has.  The adult choir features over 600 voices (yes 600) and is phenomenal to hear.  Then they added the teen and youth choirs to get the total over 1000 voices.  This has to be heard to be believed.  Keep an eye out for a TV presentation of this concert as it was filmed for future broadcast.

On 12/14 we went to my nephew Joiey's Christmas concert at Grand Prairie High School.  We arrived a few minutes late and were surprised when we walked into the  hall to the sound of a mariachi band playing.  Turns out this years Christmas concert was a dual performance with the Grand Prairie High School Orchestra and the High School Mariachi band.  This shows that the GP school system is responding to the changing makeup of its student body by creating a school mariachi band

On 12/16 we went to Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert at the AAC.  The group changed several things up this year including a different starting song, and much different songs in the free form 2nd half of the concert.  We had great seats 2 sections over, 2nd row lower balcony.  They also had a fire system implemented on a riser at the back of the floor section.  It was really cool being close enough to the fire to feel the heat and hear the hiss of the gas coming out of the jets.
They also have a name for their next album that they have been teasing for several years, Night Castle.

On 12/22 we went to the Choctaw Casino in Durant Oklahoma with Giles and Marilou.  We had a fun time there as Choctaw is a full fledged casino missing only alcohol.  While we were there one of the video slot machines Marilou was playing hung and several attendants were called over to service the machine.  They ended up resetting the machine.  Being the curious technical weenie that I am I had to watch this process.  I was surprised to see the Intel Inside® logo appear on the screen and the system begin a normal PC BIOS POST routine.  I was even more surprised to see the Starting Windows XP screen come up.  Turns out most of the video machines are running Windows, some of then even running several machines off a single PC.  We did well leaving with pretty much the same amount of money we took.  I actually won more money than Heather for a change.

On 12/24 my nephew Roger dropped a bombshell on us in the form of a gift certificate presented to his dad for a plane ticket to attend his graduation from NAVY boot camp.  
That's right Roger Joined the Navy.  He has enlisted with a specialty in the nuclear field.  He ships out in March and Graduates in June (I think)  This is great news and we are very proud of him. 

Today is the 5 year anniversary of my quitting smoking. Here is a post with more info on how I quit.

Here is a document I found in my Dr's office that details the body's healing that starts after you quit smoking. I am using this doc to chart my progress since quitting.

Good News for all Cigarette Smokers

You might think it’s too late to quit smoking, but here is some good news from the American Cancer Society: As soon as you snuff out that last cigarette, your body will begin a series of physiological changes.

1. Within 20 minutes: Blood pressure, body temperature and pulse rate will drop to normal.
2. Within eight hours: Smoker’s breath disappears. The carbon monoxide level in blood drops and the oxygen level rises to normal.
3. Within 24 hours: Chance of heart attack decreases.
4. Within 48 hours: Nerve endings start to regroup. Ability to taste and smell improves.
5. Within three days: Breathing is easier.
6. Within two to three months: Circulation improves. Walking becomes easier. Lung capacity increases up to 30 percent.
7. Within one to nine months: Sinus congestion and shortness of breath decrease. Cilia that sweep debris from your lungs grow back. Energy increases.
8. Within one year: Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a person who smokes.
9. Within two years: Heart attack risk drops to near normal.
10. Within five years: Lung cancer death rate for average former pack-a-day smoker decreases by almost half. Stroke risk is reduced. Risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancer is half that of a smoker.
11. Within 10 years: Lung cancer death rate is similar to that of a person who does not smoke. The pre-cancerous cells are replaced.
12. Within 15 years: Risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a person who has never smoked.

I was talking to a buddy the other day about hardware and I mentioned the new hardware I have coming to update my intranet web server and source server. He was shocked to hear that I am getting 2 Core 2 Duo 2.13ghz (x64) with 4gb RAM servers for an intranet website and a source code server that I run for my group.
I thought it was pretty cool too, that's a fire breathing machine to host an IIS server with a few sites averaging ~5-7k hits a day. We are getting a very good price and the current servers are at least 6 years old as are most of the drives so they are due to be replaced.

My Main machine
My test machines See below for specs on these
My Web/Source servers Compaq Proliant DL 380 2x700mhz ~1gb ram (both servers), 1 external Raid 5 chassis with ~400gb, 2 2500va UPS's.
My Virtual Server, backup server and IA64 server

Heather and I drove to Lindsborg Kansas this weekend to see Tarren play football
The drive easy, 6 hours pretty much due north and the weather was great

Tarren is attending Bethany College on a football scholoarship.
Tabor College beat the Swedes but we still had a great time.

This trip also added another state to my "Been there done that list" as far I can remember the list is,

Texas (duh)
Arkansas
Louisana
Tennesee
Missouri
Oklahoma
Kansas
Washington
New Mexico
Minnesota
Arizona
Nevada
North Carolina
Maryland
Pennsyvania
Virginia
Washington DC (ok, not really a state but I have been there)
British Columbia (ok, it's a Canadian Province, but I've been there too)
Colorado (for about 2 hours in the Denver airport during a layover)

We took Rusty to BooBoo's Buddies Dog park today. We took him about a month ago but the trip wasn't really noteworthy as we were the only people there. It was 95° that day and Rusty only ran around for about 5 minutes before he decided it was too hot for all this running around stuff and he was ready to go home.

This time was different, the temperature was in the low 80's and there was at least 10 other dogs already in the park when we got there. Rusty did great, running around dog doggin' meeting people and dogs. He didn't even pay any attention to the one dog that was aggressively defending "his" toys. Now that we know he will behave (alright, it is mostly me, Heather knew he would behave) we will be taking him back to the park for more fun.  Rusty did a great job of being a good ambassador for the Dobie breed.  He walked up to several people, leaned on them and "let" them pet him.  When we were ready to leave I went to retrieve him from 2 ladies he had recruited to pet him and one of them asked me if he was full blood Dobie, I responded yes, she said she was suprised as she thought the breed was always agressive.  I explained that Dobermans actually are very loving dogs that crave attention and would much rather get their head scratched than eat you.

I still can't help but get excited when my manager comes to me with new hardware. This time we made the jump to 64-bit whoo hoo!!!. Total hardware under my desk is;

Primary Machine:

Precision 380 (3.2ghz Dual Core x64, 4gb ram, 2x 250gb)
2x HP 1955 19" flatpanels NEC 21" CRT (flat)

Tertiary Machines:

Optiplex GX280 (3.0ghz hyper, 2gb ram, 120gb, 150gb, 80gb)
Optiplex GX270 (2.6ghz hyper, 2gb ram, 120gb)
Precision 340 (2.2ghz, 1gb ram, 80gb)
Precision 410 (2x700mhz 1gb ram, 2x 18gb)

Heather and I just got back from 4 days in sunny Las Vegas.

We drove instead of flying so we would have the truck to do stuff once we got there (and just like last vacation we left the truck parked the entire time) . The drive was pretty nice total of about 20 hours each way.  We overnighted in Alberquerque NM.  We drove over the Hoover Dam on the way in and the way back.  The dam was a lot smaller than I expected, still pretty cool though. 
Vegas was HOT, at least 105° every day we were there. The heat out there is (as is always stated) a dry heat due to low humidity. The problem with low humidity is that you don't sweat as much in a dry heat and can overheat if you are not careful.

We had a great time walking (and walking, and walking, and walking) up and down Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip). We saw a couple of shows and several of the free displays in the casinos.

We also did a bit of gambling :). I think we hit at least 10 casinos. We did pretty good Heather and I both hit some decent jackpots on the slot machines and as usual Heather won more than I. We had our best luck at Harrah's. We brought back 80% of the money we took to gamble with and gambled as much as we wanted to.  Same as the Winstar casino Vegas has gone coinless also.

We also did a day trip to the Grand Canyon. We drove out on a bus and made 2 stops at the canyon for a total of about 2 hours.  The canyon is 250 miles from Vegas.This was a really long day we were picked up at 7am and dropped off at 11pm.

Enough of the details about the drive though.  President Theodore Roosevelt was quoted in the video we watched on the way to the canyon stating that human communication (spoken or written words) cannot begin to describe the Grand Canyon and no amount of paint can capture its beauty. .  He also went on to state, "Leave it as it is. You can no improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.  I cannot agree more.  The canyon is beyond huge and everywhere you look you see something interesting.  I strongly recommend visiting the Grand Canyon to everyone.

On the way back home we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch  This was pretty neat.  The amount of paint built up on the cars is amazing.  The lugnuts on the wheels are unrecognizable blobs.

Heather and I went to Hyena's Comedy Night Club on Friday night. This was a fun evening as we haven't been to a comedy club since we were dating back in the stone age.  Only comment (not a bad one, just an observation) is that the language is a lot rougher than it used to be.  I guess you get jaded just watching the comedians on the Comedy channel where they are more reserved/censored

The headliner was Cowboy Bill Martin a local favorite who used to be on the Morning show for The Bone

I was mentioned on Raymond Chen's Blog today. Raymond Chen is a Developer in the Shell group and has a very widely read blog. Here is the post
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2006/05/25/607075.aspx

Heather and I went to our nephew Tarren's High School Graduation Ceremony tonight. This was a great evening filled with pride for Tarren's accomplishments.
But, was it weird to only see a ceremony with 150 or so graduates. Heather and I both graduated with over 500 graduates.

This reminds me of my own graduation from South Grand Prairie High School back in the stone age. I remember walking across the stage to shake hands with the principal Eugene Head and having him lean over to me, and say, "You almost made it". Huh? What do you mean ALMOST? I wasn't on the honor roll but I exceeded the graduation requirements with ease. After getting my stone tablet diploma I immediately opened it to confirm that I did graduate, which I did. To this day I still am not sure what he meant by that comment.

Most of the weekend was filled with Baseball. We had 3 games on Saturday and two on Sunday. Sunday's 2nd game was for the championship of our division in the tournament. We won the 2nd game by a score of 11-2
Great job Wolverines

We also had my company Picnic Saturday at Sneaky Pete's on Lake Lewisville. There weren't as many activities as last year (We really missed the jetski show from last year). The day was scheduled to be almost a 100° but there was a strong breeze coming off the lake that kept things quite pleasant.

Wow what a busy weekend, I'm glad to be back at work and taking it easy :).
First we did a bunch of work on the yard Saturday including laying down 30 squares of Saint Augustine sod to replace areas the dog ran bare or dug up during the winter.
Then we went to the Texas Rangers game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Hooray we won 6-5 and saw a great fireworks show after the game. I got a little sentimental during the fireworks as my mind was thinking about Smokey and the booms, at least they don't bother him anymore.

Sunday started off bright early over at Heather's mom's house doing honey do's. Since we had left Rusty at home all evening the prior day for the ball game we took him with with us. He wasn't sure what to make of the pool at first other than, "Man that's one big water bowl". We were standing by the pool talking with Sue out and she was asking if we were going to let him get in the pool. Almost on queue Rusty leaned over to get a drink and fell in the pool. He went down a bit then popped back up and we guided him over to the stairs so he could climb out. He was no worse for wear and wasn't scared by the water, although I didn't see him try to drink out of the pool after that.

Whoo Hoo, I finally entered the 21st century and got Verizon FIOS this weekend. This service is basically fiber optic to the house, then a multiplexer type of device that splits the fiber out to Phone, Data, and TV signals.

The Internet service is 5mb down and 2mb up which is basically what I had before.  Our e-mail addresses are through this site so that won't change.

The TV service is pretty cool, we have an HD receiver/DVR on the bigscreen in the family room. The DVR service is basically Tivo style service.  You can easily record series in the now and in the future, pause/rewind live TV, record one channel while watching another. Also video on demand with an extensive library of shows. Not too mention that the device can record 150 hours of regular TV or 80 hours of HDTV shows. The recording feature is really, really cool whatever you are watching is always being recorded so that you can rewind or pause. I found a Concert Replay on Mark Cuban's HDNET channel of GODSMACK. I watched it for about 15 minutes then we had to leave to run errands. I figured now is the time to play with the new features so I hit record and left. When we got back I went to the recorded shows menu and yep, there was the concert. I hit play and to my suprise the concert started at the beginning, seems the box was smart enough to save off the entire program.

Dad, Glenda, Bill jr, and Sue came over for Easter Brunch on Sunday. We had a great time.

We had our first doggie injury today. Seems that when Rusty was getting into his crate he caught one of his toes on the edge of the crate and spained a toe on his back right leg. This was Rusty's first injury with us and I can tell he is a bit of a ham about this. Heather called me in the morning to let me know that he was limping pretty bad and we had an appointment with the Vet. So I came home early to help get him to the vet. When he saw me come in he got up and made an big effort to make sure I was aware he foot was hurting.  He was standing with his leg completely extended out behind him. Not just a little extended either, we're talking perpendicular to his body, completely out behind him.  The doctor saw him, gave him some pain pills and said he will be fine afte a week or two. 

Here is a blog by a Windows devloper in the Media Player group describing how they have a little fun. http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/archive/2006/04/03/567458.aspx

You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those of us who
sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on..

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous  sketch, "Who's on First?" might have turned out something like this:

*Lou Costello calls to buy a computer from Bud Abbott's computer store*

We had Hunan for lunch the other day (mmmmm...... Orange Chicken ......) and that reminded me of this so I am passing it on so that you are never the same when having Asian food again.

You can add the phrase "in bed" to the end of any fortune cookie fortune and it will usually make more sense and become even funnier

My fortune that day?
You are next in line for a promotion, "in bed"

It's been just over 4 years (12/2/2001) since I quit my 20 year smoking habit and sometimes I am still amazed at the difference. For instance, taking a real deep breath, one of those where your whole chest expands out and you just feel, AAAAHHHHHHH, big difference from trying to take a deep breath when I was smoking.

And just in case you are wondering how quit, I used Zyban/Welbutrin. At the time my work's health insurance wouldn't cover Zyban (or any other smoking cessation program for that matter) and Zyban isn't cheap so I had to get creative. Since Zyban is just Welbutrin marketed under another name I told my doctor I was depressed about my smoking, so he prescribed Welbutrin to help with my depression. :) A week or so after starting the medication I woke up one morning and instead of having my morning smoke I said, hmmm..., I'll wait till I get to work for that first smoke, then I got to work and said, hmm, maybe after I get some coffee and get settled in, next thing I knew the day was over. 3 years later and I still haven't had that next smoke. Fortunately for others my work now covers smoking cessation programs.

Yeah those are crickets you're hearing, it's been a little quiet around here lately.

Got the Christmas lights down without going to the emergency room.

Found a new online game to spend time on. Knight Online World. KOL is an MMPORPG (massive, multi-player, online, role-playing game). This is a D&D style game where you play with/against players from all over the world. The best part about this game is the price, it is $fr.ee. That's right, free, the game itself is free, and there is no monthly fee (like World of Warcraft, Asheron's Call, Everquest). You can pay a monthly fee to get additional privileges and bonuses but you can play completely for free if you want.

I play on the Xigenon server (usually the least busy of the 3 near the top) as Homercleeze the Rogue (Homercleeze is from a Simpson's episode where Homer was a Greek character (may have been a god).

There's just something about listening to Keith Jackson call a football game that jazzes you up.

Oh yeah, not too mention when the game he's calling is your home team the University of Texas Longhorns winning the National Title by defeating the University of Southern California Trojans in the Rose Bowl.  The game was decided by an 8 yard TD run by QB Vince Young on a 4th and 5 with 19 seconds left to make the final score 41-38

Hookem Horns!!

Here's to the start of another great year, not too much going on but here are a few things.

Raked up about a zillion leaves from the back yard. Remember when we got this house how I was bragging about 25 trees in the back yard? What was I thinking :)

Went to the junkyard with dad and nephew Roger to find parts for Rogers dented Volvo.  It's been a while since I did any serious wrenching but I got back into it pretty easily.  One nice thing about the parts we were working on, all the bolts were a 10mm, made things much easier to only carry 2 sockets (deep and standard) and a single wrench to do pretty much anything I needed.  Junkyards have also changed, the cars were more or less neatly lined up, the ground was paved.