Fall

The new Fall television line-ups have officially been kicking off. So last night was my favorite night of television. Starting at 8:00 was an hour long episode of The Office on NBC. Where we found out that Jim and Pam have hooked up but are trying to keep it a secreat. Not to mention Michael was up to his shananogans by starting the episode off with hitting one of the employees in the parking lot.

After that I flip it to the "FX" chanel to catch another hilariouse comedy that not alot of people know about. It's called, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. The great thing about it, is they ahve been showing back to back new episodes. So that brings two hours of laughter into my life.

Other shows I'm watching:
How I met your mother (Monday)
Scrubs (New season hasn't started yet.)
Big Bang Theory (atleast the first episode.)
Psych

I also want to watch:
Life
Chuck
Las Vegas

hmmm, I'm drawing a blank and can't think of the others.... (I'll be updating this list as I remember.)

What are you watching this fall?

Landmark

I recently finished up a project for a dentist in Littleton, Massachusetts. I first did a Direct Mail campaign for him, which was followed up with a website. This in itself isn't that unusual at my job. In fact I have designed 10 direct mailers and 4 websites since I have been working with Practice Cafe. With two more Direct Mailers in the process of being printed, and another 3 Direct Mailers still in the design stages. I also have 4 other websites I am currently designing.

There are a few things that make this project different and special:

1.) This is the first website I hand coded in valid XHTML, & CSS. It is the first time I designed a tableless site solo.

2.) It was the first time I did the design of the site on the fly as I was coding it.

What do I mean by that? Well usually I would design a site in Photoshop or Illustrator. Then after I came up with how the site will look, I take my design and use it as a blueprint as I create the actual website.

So this time I just started designing and creating the site on the fly all in the code. I tried to rely as much on the power of CSS, and as little as possible on slices and images.

My only help in creating the website was this wonderful book called, CSS Mastery.

3.) I touched on it a bit in number one, however I believe this deserves it's own number. This is the first site I created that is valid. I'm sure there are quite a few readers out there that have NO clue what I am talking about. Well if you click on the link "valid" you will see that it takes you to a website that has a green bar that reads, "This Page Is Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional!" So this basically this is the first time I created a site on my own that I got a GREEN bar. Which means my code is correct, and should be understood by most if not all browsers.

Anyways I hope that Stephen Gianino is as happy with the results as I am. Also anyone living in and around the Littleton, MA area feel free to visit Stephen Gianino, check the website for a list of services, and any other info about his practice.

From A Cookie

Last Saturday I went and picked up some lunch at Panda Express and inside my fortune cookie was this fabulouse fortune dropping some knowledge:

"A financial investment will yield returns beyond your hopes."

Then Heather cracked open her cookie and Karatee chopped in the head with some more wisdom:

"You will soon recieve help from an unexpected source."

So whoever you are that is going to help me, SHOW YOURSELF! Also if anyone knows what this financial investment I am supposed to be making is, HOOK A BROTHA UP! I can seriously use some "returns beyond my hopes."

Chef-Boy-R-"G"

Sunday after church I decided to come home and get busy in the kitchen with some diced up tomatoes, chopped up bell peppers and a few knife fulls of butter. If you know me, then you know I don't cook, however I was feelin it, so I decided to let the family know that I can get down if I need to. Also who doesn't like a man to cook for them every once and again?

We followed it up with some steamed squash, with some shredded chedar cheese sprinkled over the top, and some mashed potatoes. I tried to do the entire thing solo, but Heather couldn't keep her BUTT out of the kitchen, so she did all the side items.

I'm not sure how Heather felt about the final product, but I was mighty pleased with the outcome. The only regret is I really wanted some onions sauted up in the mix. there's always next time though right?????

Who Cares

1.) What I was doing ten years ago: September 1997
I was a Jr in High School, I was just about to have my own car, my brother Matt was on his way to Russia for two years, and I was thinking I was the coolest kid in the world, too bad no one else agreed with me. (accept my mom, and she still thinks that way.)

2.) Five years ago: September 2002
Just putting my life back together after returning home from Brazil, I was engaged to Heather, and getting myself into my first Semester of College. Stressful times back then, too many BIG decisions to make in a small amount of time.

3.) One year ago: September 2006
I was in a job I really enjoyed for the first time in my life, but not getting paid enough to pay the bills, so it was always stressful to figure out how we were gonna make it from month to month. I was fresh out of College with an Associates Degree. A blessing in disguise is that, I was laid off a month later and luckily found the job I am currently at.

4.) Yesterday: September 15, 2007 (Saturday)
I woke up and hung out with Hannah for a bit in bed watching a mixture of Sportscenter and cartoons. Heather went to donate plasma and left at 7:30, leaving me and Hannah at home solo to play. So me and Hannah had a party until mom got home three hours later. (sad thing is I can't remember what all me and Hannah did.) at 9:45 we went to McDonalds for breakfast. I think we also went to the store. Then Hannah took a nap around 1:00. I left to rent "The Lookout." and I picked us up some orange chicken at Panda Express for lunch. When Hannah woke up we met this lady at a park, and I followed Hannah around baking in the heat for a good 2 hours while Heather sat in the shade chatting it up with a possible babysitting opportunity. When we got back we went and hung out at a friends house who have two kids around Hannah's age, and they played for a bit. We came home ate dinner together, and gave Hannah a bath, and then I watched The lookout, which was a decent movie, I enjoyed it. My only complaint is when reading the brief description on the back of the DVD box, it said their was this clever unexpected twist, and I kept waiting for it, and it NEVER happened. Even without a "clever" twist it was a good movie.

5.) 5 snacks I enjoy:
1.) Chips: Flaming Hot Cheetos (I just finished eating some.), Funions, & Baked Lays
2.)Frosty with French Fries
3.) Ice Cream (Baskin Robins Banana Split with lots of marshmello on top, or marble slab with a cone crushed into the ice cream.)
4.) A nice cold fountain drink (some of my favorites include: Vanilla Coke, Mountain Dew, Big Red, & Root Beer.)
5.) French bread with cheese.


6.) 5 Things I would do if I suddenly had $100 million:
I'd hook my family up, try to hook up a few friends, become debt free, buy a house, two decent cars, throw a decent amount into savings, and invest a little bit. Probably donate a large sum to my church to help out needful causes, and people. I'd definitely make sure that my mom, and my In laws were totally taken care of, especially my mom though, who definitely deserves to be retired, and debt free. I would no doubt continue to work, because I LOVE what I do, and I would not buy a HUGE house, or crazy things, you would probably NEVER know I had that much money, unless I told you.

7.) 5 locations I would like to run away to:
1.) My Moms house
2.) My Brothers & Sisters houses
3.) Brazil
4.) Bucky's House
5.) Utah (just to visit, NOT to live.)

(Although beyond this list here are places I would love to visit: New York, Rome, Scotland, Ireland, Egypt, Jerusalem, Africa, China, Russia, & Chile.)

8.) 5 bad habits I have:
1.) I'm a stacker
2.) I'm slow moving in the morning
3.) I'm very forgetful

I really can't think of any others, but I'm sure they are there...

9.) 5 things I like doing:
1.) Spending time at home, playing with Hannah, chilling with Heather
2.) Playing basketball
3.) Watching movies (at the theater.)
4.) Listening to GOOD music
5.) Work (or rather doing Graphic Design.)

10.) 5 TV shows I like:
1.) Scrubs
2.) The Office
3.) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
4.) How I Met Your Mother
5.) Sports

11.) 5 things I hate doing:
1.) Eating anything with mayo
2.) Sleeping past 9:00am
3.) Watching a crappy movie
4.) Driving with the windows rolled down
5.) manual labor

12.) 5 Biggest joys of the moment:
1.) Hannah
2.) My bed
3.) Music: Feist, Pinback, Imogen Heap
4.) Football
5.) Being home with my family

I'm NOT tagging anyone, because the last time I tagged 5 people NONE of them did it. I only did this because Heather wanted me to, or rather she tagged me.

On iTunes

Here's my playlist that I have on my itunes at work. Click on the image to the left to enlarge it and actually be able to read it.

What are you listening to these days?

Hot Fuzz

Heather rented Hot Fuzz for me a few days ago, but wasn't intrested in watching it, so Saturday night I set up shop in the living room while she stayed in the room, and I watched the movie.

I have to say I was rather impressed and found the movie very humorous, and the story was actually pretty darn good. It was far better than my expectations. Not sure what I mean by that, I suppose I thought it was going to be lacking in plot, but be a humorous shoot em up type movie with subtle splashes of dry humor.

Hot Fuzz was done by the same guys that did Shaun of the Dead, which was basically a parody movie with their own personal twist to add comic relief. I enjoyed it, so that's what made me want to check out this movie of theirs. I have to say I heard alot of sub par and negative reviews from some people about Hot Fuzz. They said that they were disapointed, but after watching the movie I am rather confused as to why. I felt Hot Fuzz was better than Shaun of the Dead. The only thing I can think of, was they were expecting Hot Fuzz to be another horror film with a splash of comedy. Also Shaun of the dead had more in your face comedic moments, and Hot Fuzz was more subtle, and it was more dry. As for my personal opinion I feel humor is best served DRY.

I have to say that the end of this movie, or the last 20-30 minutes is one of the best endings I've seen in quite some time.

Best line of the movie: "You're a doctor, deal with it!" (I edited it to keep my site family friendly.)

Fresh Kicks

Throughout my life I have always had a great love for shoes. In my ladder years of high school I began accumulating shoes, because for almost any occasion that would warrant a gift I would ask for a pair of shoes, then I got a few short-lived jobs during the summer and used a portion of that money to also purchase shoes. Currently I have roughly 20-25 pairs of shoes (I've never officially counted.) I've lost a few pairs, some I let people borrow and they were never returned, and others lived their full life. For some reason as of recent I haven’t had a pair of high tops, and that never really mattered until the recent series of unfortunate events. Four to five months before moving to Austin I badly sprained my left ankle playing basketball. Then in January I sprained the same left ankle (as if I had more than one left ankle.) playing basketball. It swelled up and became very bruised, since January I have tweaked it multiple times, and sprained it two other times, the last one being 2 weeks ago. At first I was going to simply purchase an ankle brace, but then thought if I just had a good pair of high tops that would also do the trick.

So this weekend on a pure whim, we made a trip to the NIKE Factory Outlet in Round Rock, to see what they had in their inventory. We were really on our way to HEB, when Heather decided to keep driving. I found these bad boys (pictured above.) I found a box for a size 11, opened up it up and the air was filled with that fresh smell of new shoes. I pulled out all the paper tightly stuffed inside the toe of the shoes, slipped them on my feet, laced them up and took a small walk up and down the isle. They felt good, comfortable, lightweight, and seemed to give adequate support. So I pulled them off my feet, jammed the padding back into the toe of the shoe, and placed them back on the shelf.

Heather was confused, she was asking, "I thought you liked them? Don't you want to get them?"

I replied, "I need to take the walk."

The walk:

Is a customary voyage that can take anywhere between 5 minutes to a month at sometimes. It's where I leave the item walk around elsewhere to see how much the item sticks with me. If it stays with me and I still have a desire for the item, then I return to purchase the item.

I wanted to use my "walk" time to go to the Adidas outlet, and check out what they had to offer. Although they had a fresh pair of black and white high top flavor. The price didn't sit as well with my bank account. The smell of that new pair of shoes was still thick on my mind, and I could still feel the way those all white Nike’s with a hint of silver accents was hugging my feet. So we made the voyage back to the NIKE store, where Heather and Hannah waited in the car while I returned for my new pair of shoes.

I'll be able to give an official report on their performance on Wed. but until then they are sitting pretty beside my bed.

Welcome Home!

P.S-Here's some pictures of our Labor Day weekend Bar-B-Que that the church had at the park. (Free food... I'm there!)