Last Sunday marked the sixth year that Heather and I have been married. I know it's not a HUGE landmark, however it has gotten me looking back to where those six years have gone. So I decided to go digging through memories that have been stuffed away into boxes and other plastic containers and tucked away in both high and low places.
For those of you who don't know I returned home from my mission December 21st 2001. I had no job, no car, and really no plans. When I got home my older brother Matt used to get onto LDS chat every day and flirt with girls. So since everyone was gone to work each day I decided to check out the chat room scene. Around January 6th I met a girl with the screen name of "TempleBound." After an hour or so of chatting with me she was overly annoyed but at the same time addicted to the dopeness that is Shane. Almost daily we would talk and soon the instant messaging and chatting wasn't sufficient and she had to hear my voice. The smooth sound of my voice vibrated the muscles in her heart a sufficient amount that the phone calls began happening on almost a daily basis. Soon after pictures and letters began being exchanged. Above is one of the first pictures Heather mailed to me.
My brother and I had both had the desire to make a trip to the Houston temple together. So we made tentative plans without any expectations other than a nice little visit to the temple. However all the phone calls and instant messaging created this uncontrollable desire in Heather to need to meet me in person. She became almost obsessed with the idea. So before I knew it she was coming up with plans on how to meet me at the temple. So above is the photo taken the first time we ever met in person. I think it was that moment when we first met in person at the temple when I knew I wanted to marry Heather...
So on went our relationship of nightly phone calls until odd hours of the night and Heather at this point basically addicted to Shane developed a master plan to have her dad bring her out to San Antonio to spend a weekend with me. So I told her when the next single adult church dance was going to happen. So Heather used that as an excuse to convince her father to drive 5 in a half hours to San Antonio. So above is a picture taken on what was essentially our first date. Which consisted of walking around the River Walk as I got us lost looking for the Alamo, and stopping to eat at Fudruckers before her Dad met back up with us to go back to the flat lands of Buna.
Now we fast forward ahead a couple months to the picture above which was taken in Buna, Texas after we were enganged to be married, but prior to her moving to San Antonio. There were a couple months where we took turns driving 5 hours to spend the weekend with one another.
Soon after Heather moved to San Antonio and we spent about 6 months together before the big wedding day came. Above is a picture from our wedding day.
Seriously this is one of the first "family" pictures we took, and it was soon after we moved to Cedar Park which was November 2006.
Above is the first professional family photo we took, and that was done last year before Christmas.
And now skip forward to our Christmas 2008 photo we took this year, and I think we have finally decided on making this annual picture a family tradition. So now with baby number 2 on the way and a new year approaching us in one minute. I look forward to many more wonderful years with my beautiful wife Heather, my adorable daughter Hannah, and whatever God decides to bring us in 2009!
Christmas of 1999, I was a senior in high school, and I spent a lot of time with a family, originally from Utah. We would play basketball together, watch basketball together, and we would constantly talk trash back and forth about basketball. Me being a Jordan disciple, and he being a die hard Utah Jazz fan we were able to have some very interesting discussions. So seeing as how Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dominated the 90's, he received the brunt of my creative trash talking abilities. So when Christmas came around, the year after Jordan beat the Jazz to win their 6th championship. He invited me to his house for a little get together, I decided to write up a nice little Christmas poem as a special token of our friendship, as his family was about to move back to Utah. I recently discovered this masterpiece in a dusty box of memories in my closet.
I looked outside on a cold winter day and everyone was happy I could say It was December six, all the good boys were out collecting sticks, for a nice fire. But in the mountains there lived an evil sire, who went by the name of Karl Malone. He had a face and a heart of stone. Destroying Christmas was his only wish, but Michael "Santa Clause" Jordan, well all his shots went swish.
Now Jordan and his little elves have kept Christmas for five years so there were no children to shed any tears. But Karl Malone wanted to hear the children moan. So once again they did meat for that sacred prize to put happiness or sadness in the children's eyes.
In game one Jordan hit fifty. The kids thought that was quite nifty. Game two he rang in sixty three The children all screamed yippee! Karl Malone did steal game three The children wondered, "How could it be?" He repeated his rage in game number four, but in game five Jordan did soar he even dunked it on Karl Malones head which put all the children safely to bed.
Now if Jordan put it away in game six Christmas would again be safely fixed. However in game six Malone put up quite a battle one after one his shots went in with a rattle.
With only minutes to spare there was little hope The children began to mope, but wait! Jordan comes from behind to get the steal, Malone thought, "This can't be real." Seconds there were but a few. Jordan hesitated before he took off to fly, as he dunks it in Karl Malones eye.
Yes Jordan did soar, and the crowd did indeed roar Christmas once again came and Malone still had no game and all the Bulls fans got presents, but coal went to all the silly Jazz peasants.
I recieved an email earlier today from Bob Banta, of the American Statesman asking me to call him to answer some questions about Brandon. I pointed him in the direction of two closer friends instead. I contacted Bob at around 6:30 pm to find out that he had just finished writing the story and thanked me for my help. I asked him to email me the article when it went live. If you're interested here it is:
My friend Eric called me yesterday afternoon offering up four Longhorns basketball tickets on the 9th row. They were playing Texas Southern (whom I've never even heard of & still have no clue where the school is even located). So I called up one of my friends to see if he wanted to join me, and he ended up bringing his brother and his four year old son. We were supposed to meet at 6:15 at the Round Rock stake center, but he didn't show up till after 6:30. Then we had to drive down to 360 and Bee Caves to Eric Mott's office to pick up the tickets then on to the game which started at 7:00. So we didn't end up making it to our seats until half time where the Longhorns had a one point lead.
The game ended up being pretty good, and the seats where GREAT, right down on the 10th row in the corner. That's the closest I've ever sat to any basketball game other than a Highschool game. Also the first time seeing the Longhorns play in person.
A.J. Abrams had 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, but it was Pittman who provided the much-needed spark for the Longhorns (9-1).
A.J. Abrams was quite impressive to me, even though I only saw him play half the game, it was impressive to see this 5'7 or 5'8 dude weaving in and around guys working to get open, and he would go long periods of time without touching the ball and then as soon as the defense gave him any daylight the ball was dropping straight through the net. I only saw him miss 2 shots, and one of them it seemed like he never really wanted to shoot it in the first place.
I actually brought my camera with me and accidentally left it in the car because we were running late. Hopefully Eric Mott will think of me again next time he doesn't want to use his tickets.
William Brandon Vaughn
Sadly my day ended NOT so well. I got a phone call around 11:00 at night from a guy I play basketball with on Wed nights. He informed me that another friend of mine who I also play ball with on Wed nights died in a car accident last night. I believe he was only 19 years old, maybe 20. I didn't know very many personal details about him. I only really spent time with him on the basketball court, and most of our conversations revolved around basketball. I didn't even know his last name, but you know how some people just radiate goodness. Well that was Brandon, he was just an all around good dude. Seriously, I've been playing with him for about 2 years almost, and he was one of my favorite people that showed up each and every week. It was shocking news, and I just feel bad that I wasn't able to know Brandon better than I did. My heart goes out to his parents, especially his mom, and all of his friends. The world lost one of the good guys last night...
**UPDATE** I've talked to some more people and found out some more info, and I also learned his full name. I then was able to find some stories about the accident online.
"Two teenage boys were killed in a collision in Bastrop County Tuesday afternoon.
"According to police, William Brandon Vaughn, 19, and James Jackson, 18, both of Round Rock were traveling in a 2002 Ford Focus heading north on Highway 95 about 5 miles south of Elgin.
"The driver was passing other vehicles that were on the shoulder, when he lost control of the vehicle. The car then slid into oncoming traffic, hitting a 1996 Ford Explorer. The two occupants of the Ford Explorer received non-life-threatening injuries.
"Users of all current versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser might be vulnerable to having their computers hijacked because of a serious security hole in the software that had yet to be fixed Monday."
"The flaw lets criminals commandeer victims' machines merely by tricking them into visiting Web sites tainted with malicious programming code. As many as 10,000 sites have been compromised since last week to exploit the browser flaw, according to antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc.."
"Many security experts, meanwhile, are urging Internet Explorer users to use another browser until a patch is released."
So why not make the switch to a smarter more efficient Internet Browser today?
P.S.-- Click the title to hop on over to the entire article.
Today I recorded a small conversation with Hannah. Also you can check out her new hair cut. Heather had someone come by our house last night and cut it. I prefer it going down to her shoulders, but she is happy with it, and Heather likes it... so whatever.
This is old, from like Aug or Sept, but I wanted to share it anyways. Hannah loves to ride her scooter! She takes it with her almost everywhere we go. Here she is in action with one of her friends that lives in our complex.
"We asked the same question and it took us somewhere new. Gone were the lazy days of summer. A cool breeze swept the streets with leaves under foot and the familiar hustle of the city…welcome to autumn in New York."
So Heather was super sweet and nice and bought me the new Killers album last week, and I've been listening to it while I work and in my car while I drive. There's this song that I REALLY like on the album but I have no clue what it really means. So I was going to ask the infinite abyss of the interweb for help. I don't want anyone trying to tell me it is about him getting abducted by aliens either. Cause I'm not buying into any of that silly non sense. I'm especially interested in the chorus which is intriguing to me. If your interested in hearing the album just email me.
It started with a low light Next thing I knew they ripped me from my bed And then they took my blood type It left a strange impression in my head You know that I was hoping That I could leave this starcrossed world behind But when they cut me open I guess I changed my mind And you know I might Have just flown too far from the floor this time Cause they calling me by my name And the zipping white light beams Disregarding the bombs and satellites
That was the turning point That was one lonely night
The starmaker says it ain't so bad The dreammaker's gonna make you mad The spaceman says everybody look down! It's all in your mind
Now I'm back at home and I’m looking forward to this life I live You know it's going to harm me So hesitation to this life I give You think you might cross over You're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea You better look it over Before you make that leap
And you know I'm fine, but I hear those voices at night Sometimes, they justify my claim And the public don’t dwell on my transmission Cause It wasn’t televised
But it was the turning point O what a lonely night
The starmaker says it ain't so bad The dreammaker's gonna make you mad The spaceman says everybody look down! It's all in your mind
The starmaker says it ain't so bad The dreammakers's gonna make you mad The spaceman says everybody look down! It's all in your mind
My global position systems are vocally addressed They said the nile used to run from east to west They said the nile used to run… from east to west
And you know I'm fine, but I hear those voices at night Sometimes...
The starmaker says it ain't so bad The dreammaker's gonna make you mad The spaceman says everybody look down! It's all in your mind
The starmaker says it ain't so bad The dreammaker's gonna make you mad The spaceman says everybody look down! It's all in your mind
**MY THOUGHTS** I think he is talking about something that happened to him in his life, something where he was he made a decision to change his life. Then he makes mention to how sometimes he is tempted to go back to his old ways, and aren't we all. Maybe that's why I enjoy this song so much. I can remember when my father passed away it was a turning point in my life, and it changed me. Infact the day of his death I could describe it as an alien abduction as well. I think the Starmaker is like God telling you it ain't so bad, and the dreammaker is gonna make you mad cause in most cases dreams don't ever come true, at least not how you dreamt them to be, and the spaceman is like the natural man trying to deceive you, telling you it's all in your mind.
I received some devastating news today, just about as devastating as when I found out Arrested Development was going to be canceled. It seems like every time their is a television show that actually is quite superb with it's story telling abilities as Pushing Daisies is, and Arrested Development was they kick it off!
Pushing Daisies is by far my all time favorite show on TV right now. The stories are well written and well thought up, the set designs, and costumes are imaginative, and the acting is stellar. Now it will end without any closure at all. I'm searching the infinite abyss we call the interweb via google for any sort of way to try and help save the show, but I am beginning to realize that all hope is lost.
Saturday we took our family portrait for the year. We are trying to make this a tradition in the Guymon household. Portrait Innovation has a good package for $9.99. We always end up spending more cause they take such good pictures it's hard to chose only one pose. So anyways here's the picture we chose for the 9.99 package. Although Hannah looks happy in the photo, it was not so much the case, she was not too into taking photos, well really she was all the way up until the point that they actually called our name and pulled out the camera. Some how we still managed to get several good pictures to chose from. The best part is you leave with your pictures. They print them off right after you pay.
We walked out of Picture Innovations at 11:00, and Spicy Pickle was calling out names, it's hard to say no to Mesquite Turkey on Ciabatta bread with tomatoes, lettuce, avocados, and swiss cheese. So being that it is right next door, we walked right in the door and partook in the goodness. However we got home and the bread that was holding together the sweet goodness was not ciabatta, and it kind of ruined the experience, and didn't kill the craving...
After the not so fulfilling sandwich Heather was dividing up the pictures and gathered the pictures going to my mom, and my family, and she came into the bedroom and said, "Why don't we go see your mom today."
Of course I was down, so we asked Hannah, and she was excited about the idea, so we threw a few things together jumped in our Kia Sedona, and made the 1.5 hour venture down to good ol' San Antone to sneak attack my mom (I never told her we were coming).
In my opinion as far as following the election online CNN.com's website proved to be simple to use and read, the information and tools were simplistic yet innovative, and aesthetically pleasing. Take a look at the screen capture (click on it to enlarge) that I took at around 10:30 (CST). You can see how beautifully they present the information. I really loved the interactive map, which allowed you to roll your mouse over any state to be able to see what percentage of votes each person was receiving or did receive. It also used colors to show who was winning each state.
The picture above (click on it to enlarge) shows the black banner that was located at the top of the screen which presented a live scoring of the votes and also gave the needed information for the uneducated like myself by telling what the "magic" number was that each candidate was trying to get to first.
This screen capture above (click on it to enlarge) shows the main content area of their site, and the different interactive charts that they utilized to simplify the experience making it very easy & clear to obtain the information I was needing.
This was the first year I ever followed the election online, and I checked out a few other news sites as well, and CNN proved to be the best in my opinion, so I am definitely sure that in the future I will be tuning into CNN.com for my up-to-date election coverage.
I got home yesterday to Hannah telling me this sad story about how she wants to wear her Cinderella dress but that mom won't let her. So Heather over hearing corrected the story, so we told her to go ahead and put her Cinderella dress on. So she put it on, and she came out and I said, "Oh you look so pretty Hannah!"
Then she quickly corrected me and said, "Don't call me Hannah, call me Cinderella."
So then I corrected myself.
I then started to make myself a little something to eat and I sat down, and Hannah walked over to me and said, "Hi Prince, do you want to come to my room with me, and watch my movie, theirs lots of toys, you can bring your food, come on, it'll be lots of fun!"
(Also at some point after she called me Prince, and before we made it to her room, we danced together in the living room, and that was the original reason of going to her room, because she wanted to continue dancing in her room).
How can you say no to that? We were watching Big Bang Theory (I do have a DVR though), so it was kind of difficult, but she kept giving more and more features, letting me know I could sit on her bed and eat, and she even picked up my food and offered to carry it into her room for me. So I went along. So the rest of the night she continued calling me Prince, and I continued calling her Cinderella up until she said good night the The Prince, and I said good night to Cinderella.
The funnier part of the story, is she slept in the Cinderella dress, woke up and continued to call me Prince, when I left to work she gave me a hug and said, "Good bye Prince!"
Here's a sweet mix by DJ Earworm. Combining the Lyrics of Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" and the music of Radiohead's "Reckoner." Head over to his website to download it if you'd like.
Every night for the past couple nights we say our family prayers, brush Hannah's teeth (kill the sugar bugs), and then I give her a piggy back ride to bed. Once we are in her room she immediately picks out one of her Disney princess books and asks me to read it to her. After I am done with the book she asks me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (with hand motions) three or four times in a row. Then she will ask me to sing "Twinkle Little Star" at least once. After that she will either fall right to sleep, or continue playing in her bed until she goes to sleep.
Some nights I really don't feel like reading or singing the same songs, but I see her little face and she looks me straight in the eye, and she asks me in her cute little voice and I can't resist but doing her this little favor. I mean in all reality is the activity I would be doing instead of doing that any better? No way, because it would probably involve me laying on a couch watching some TV show I DVRed or a basketball game.
Speaking of that, it's about time for me to lace up the Nikes and head out to the church to play some basketball (as long as they don't kick us out).
The NBA kicked off the season last night with a double header on TNT. I was out in the second quarter of the second game. Which meant I was asleep before 10:00. I was quite upset, becasue the second game was REALLY the game I wanted to watch. OH well there are plenty of games left including another double header tonight on ESPN.
Tonights Match-ups: Phoenix at San Antonio 7:00pm (CT) Lakers at Clippers 9:30pm (CT)
I LOVE basketball season! (Heather... not so much)
On the 14th day of October the world was blessed (or cursed) with the presence of one Shane Michael Guymon. If by any chance you were having trouble figuring out what to buy a humble young boy from The Oak for such an occasion as spending 28 years on this old soil we like to call Earth then worry no more. I have managed to put together a list of great gift ideas for your viewing (perhaps buying) pleasure.
I've started to notice that my days have become recognisable to me by what shows I watch that paticular day. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it an epidemic? Should I be afraid? What side effects are involved? These are all questions running through my mind.
This is what I mean:
MONDAY: How I Met Your Mother, & Big Bang Theory TUESDAY: Fringe (more details coming soon), Greek, & 90210 (What? Why?) WEDNESDAY: Pushing Daisies (My ALL time favorite show on TV), & I go play basketball from 9:00 - 11:30 THURSDAY: The Office, 30 Rock, & Always Sunny In Philadelphia FRIDAY: Nothing, usually a day I throw a movie into the mix SATURDAY: Nothing, usually a day I throw a movie into the mix, or just spend time with Family & Friends SUNDAY: Football, The Simpsons, Family Guy, & Mad Men (The show I mostly look forward to on Sunday)
I totally meant to write this post like a month ago. Anyways... So we were at the mall (about a month ago) and we decided to buy a Auntie Anne's pretzel and we sat on a near by bench to decimate it. While enjoying my pretzel I turned to read a poster in the window of American Eagle which in huge sans serif font read, "DENIM AND A MOVIE." It took awhile for me to actually register what i read. So my first thought was oh that's cool, they are giving a way movie tickets if you buy a pair of jeans. However as I continued to sit and partake of my delectable pretzel my curiosity grew, not only because of the intriguing headline but also it seemed to be a decently designed poster, and I was enjoying the design aspect of the poster. So I read on, and the poster made the claim of giving away ONE FREE ticket for simply trying on a pair of their jeans. This heavenly claim seemed to good to be true. I then wanted to take in the entire copy of the poster. I wanted to figure out what the catch is. The mere cliche nature of American Eagle, and the "FAD"ness of it's atmosphere always gave me the vibe to stay away from a store like that. The last thing I need is a pair of strategically torn and faded jeans to make me look cool. However to be awarded a FREE movie ticket just to slide a pair on for a brief moment behind a dressing room door seemed too good to be true. Especially with movie like Pineapple Express showing on the big screen. So I told Heather I couldn't miss out on this offer. So I went into the store and sadly I struggled to find a pair of jeans to fit me. It's not like I'm fat, I was looking for a size 36? I finally found a pair and made my way to the dressing room, still expecting some sort of a catch. I tried the jeans on, I even ventured out the door and showed my strategically ripped and faded jeans to Heather, who was REALLY digging them. I took a look at the price tag which read $30.00. Sadly that is more money than I want to spend on a pair of jeans. So I gave them back to the guy and he handed me a crisp white FREE movie pass. The only catch being that I had to use it at an AMC movie theater. Which ended up being about 20-25 minutes away. So I called up Gabe, which was seriously about the only guy I know who I even thought would be interested in going to the movie with me. He took me up on the offer and we headed to see Pineapple Express that very night. The movie started at 10:30 and we didn't get back until almost 1:00 then had to drag ourselves out of bed early in the morning to make it to church.
Pineapple Express was hilarious! I didn't laugh as much as I did in Step Brothers, but it was still funny. Infact I think the best part about the movie was how well they mixed the action and fight sequences with the stupid humor. The movie went places I never expected it to go, but was very pleased when they did. Now of course the movie is rated R, so it is full of poor language, blood and a lot of weed smoking. So if you are able to get passed all of that the movie is well worth your time. I myself have always enjoyed the pot smoking comedies like Friday (I still can quote more scenes from Friday than any other movie) & Half Baked.
*Me wearing my brand spanking new American Eagle jeans!
The very next weekend the Cohen Brothers (My second favorite movie writer/director) latest movie hit theaters, and I had an overwhelming desire to see it. So I found myself once again at the mall headed to American Eagle. Only this time Heather had 30 bucks and really wanted to see my butt in those strategically faded and torn jeans for some reason. Only this time it took me about four pairs of jeans before I found the pair I tried on the previous week. All the others really seemed to fit awkward. The very first pair of jeans I tried on the guy who unlocked the door handed me a free ticket and I slid it in my pocket. The following three times I entered the dressing room he didn't give me anymore. However once I finally found a pair to buy I went to the register and after the purchase was completed and the debit card was swiped and approved she pulled out two more tickets and handed them to me with my new pair of jeans in a dark blue paper bag with a HUGE white silhouette of an eagle on the front. I walked the rest of the time through the mall feeling like a 16 year old ready to be adored by my other high school colleagues. I could sit in class and show off my strategically torn sections of my jeans. I imagined the different stories i could come up with as to how I might have ACTUALLY ripped them in those sections. Ok so maybe none of the daydreaming actually ever happened, in all reality all I was really excited about was the fact that I made it out of the store with not only two tickets for buying a pair of jeans (because the deal was if you try on a pair of jeans you get one FREE ticket, but if you buy a pair of jeans you get TWO FREE tickets). So now in a two week period I came away with FOUR FREE tickets, I was ecstatic, and got home rushed to the computer to see what the show times were for, "Burn After Reading". I realized it was another late movie, and called up Gabe to see if he was interested, and he wasn't quite as excited even when I told him I also had a free ticket for him as well. So then I invited a friend of ours who lives on the third floor. He however also turned me down (I'm not sure how people turn down a FREE movie but they do). So I decided to wait till the next weekend. The tickets were only good until September 21st (which also happened to be my brother Matt's birthday). So the following weekend would be the last opportunity to use the tickets. So that weekend came, and once again I called my friend Gabe up, who was actually on his way to Houston to help out the hurricane victims. So I once again asked my neighbor on the third floor who once again turned me down. So I called up two other people I know and they didn't answer their phones, and I didn't leave them a message and instead decided to fly solo. I really enjoy going to movies by myself anyways, it allows me to have a more unbiased opinion of the movie.
Burn After Reading was brilliant. The best part about it was all of the unexpected things that happened to each and every character. Right from the opening scene where you are in a CIA office and where three people are demoting a CIA employee and he isn't too happy to hear the news. He begins to blow up, and even his reaction in the office seemed to be unexpected, to me atleast, and humorous. After asking why this was happening the guy sitting beside him quietly said, "You have a drinking problem." To which he replied, "You're a MORMON, next to you EVERYONE has a drinking problem." I don't care who you are THAT'S funny! What proceeded was a well acted movie with a brilliant script that perfectly told the story of several different strangers that in the end all linked together to form key rolls in the clumsy story. I don't really want to ruin any of the movie, it's better when you are just apart of what is going on as it is all happening. The shock value is one of the best parts of the movie. Once again this movie is rated R so it has it's fair share of "F" bombs and other colorful language. It is mildly violent but mostly humorous and brilliant. This movie also has THE PERFECT ending to the story, which made the entire movie THAT much better.
If you followed the story, which as I scroll up has become quite lengthy, so I'm not exactly sure how many of my readers I have kept entertained, anyways if you have kept up you are probably wondering what about the last two tickets? Well I'm glad you were so observant, I came up with a brilliant plan to offer the tickets to my brother Matt who was turning 30 on the 21st. So I called him up and told him, and he didn't find my plan to be as brilliant as I did, rather he accused me of being cheap and trying to sneak my way out of actually buying him a gift (the nerve of some people heh?). Anyways Heather and I had already made plans to meet my Mom and brother Ethan in San Marcos at the outlet malls to hang out. So I told Matt I'd be giving the tickets to them, and for him to stop by my moms house later to pick them up. I called him on his birthday to find out if the tickets were used, and sadly the tickets never made it to him, he said he went to my Mom's house and no one gave them to him. Its sad that such a beautiful thing went to waste...
Here's how the story goes. It's around 7:30 in the morning and we are lounging in bed, I'm trying to soak in as many hours in my 600 thread count sheets as possible. Good Morning America is on TV and Hannah is laying inbetween us but slightly closer to Heather. All of a sudden she says, "I want to go to church!"
Heather and I begin trying to explain to her that it's not Sunday. As we say this she looks out towards the window and pointing her finger she exclaims, "Yeah huh! Look the sun is right there!"
She's a smart little cookie, and it was hard to argue with such wisdom, so as a compromise we decided to let her pick out a dress to wear for the day. While selecting a dress she also grabbed these pink glasses to wear because, "they match!"
Anyways go ahead and click on the picture to see the rest of the pictures we recently uploaded.
Google announced they are launching their FRESH take on the browser that they are calling Chrome. To introduce this browser they released this handy little comic book (which I read). I'm a little late on this... well not really, I've known about it for a few days now, I was holding off though until I actually was able to use it for myself. Only problem now is, the fact that they haven't released it for MAC or Linux yet, only for PC.
Pretty lame if you ask me. The only positive I can see from this is that maybe this will bring us that much closer to the end of IE6 (Internet Explorer 6).
So anyways PC people in the world go download Google Chrome and take it for a spin, it may just be your new favorite browser of choice!
Just found out about this, but a Hip-hop producer by the name of AmpLive (whom I've never heard of) remixed 8 songs from Radioheads latest album "In Rainbows" and got the bands permission to release his remixes for free. So if you love music like me, then click your way over to download the remixed album.
pink, slightly swollen, throbbing with pain, itchy, and a fair amount of gunk was the condition of my left eye at around 3:30 am when I awoke and then was unable to get back to sleep until after I accidently woke Heather up in what was seeming to be an endless search for the eye drop medication in hopes of bringing myself some sort of temporary relief for the remainder of the night. I finally fell back asleep around 5:30 or 6:00.
To all the irresponsible parents out there who allow their children who are infected with such highly contagious diseases like pink eye, please don't allow them to go swimming in the community pool at your apartment complex, or jump and hang from the necks of friendly neighbors such as myself, and then at the end of the night casually mention that your child has pink eye.
KEEP YOUR KIDS WITH CONTAGIOUS DISEASES TO YOURSELF!
Especially since this is the second time this week that it has happened, and from two different kids.
Since I try to remain as positive as possible and being that today was FUNday, I have to add that my day was spent in bed watching season 1 of Arrested Development (Thanks Amanda), which in all reality no one can consider that a BAD day now can they?
I meant to post something yesterday but got caught up in the day to day activities. Yesterday marked the 10th year that my dad Michael Guymon passed away. It's funny how the memory of that day sits on my mind as if it was yesterday. I can remember how the sky was partly cloudy, but the sun was shining bright in an almost insulting manner. The day, since then hasn't really been a memorable day. In the sense that I treat it as any other day. I suppose I feel like that's what he would want me to do. He stays fresh on my mind on a daily basis anyways. I frequently have vivid dreams about him. Some where I know he is dead and everything remains the same, and I even ask him in the dream about where he has been, and catching him up on things in my life. I have others where it is as if he never did die. I can still remember small details like exactly how it feels to hug my father...
I can't believe it has been 10 years.
I had planned on doing one of three things in memory of The Man: 1.) Drink a cherry coke fountain drink 2.) Drink a chocolate malt 3.) Eat a banana split
Sadly none of the three happened. It was a refreshing day though. When I say that I don't mean to sound as if something extraordinary occurred, but rather I just got caught up in the daily grind of life. I went to work came home (realized I left my cell phone at work) filled a cup full of Mountain Dew went out to the pool with Hannah, & Heather. I read an interesting article in a HOW magazine as Hannah swam. She kept filling this small little toy milk jug with water and bringing it to me to pretend to drink it, and she would giggle. Heather and I enjoyed one anothers company and just had small talk as Hannah played in the pool. We then went inside gave Hannah a bath and Heather left to attend a meeting for church, and I stayed home and kicked it with Hannah solo. I was watching the olympics as Hannah informed me that she needed to get ready for her ballet class. So she brought me her ballerina skirt, and then her "matching" shirt, and then she found her sparkly pink shoes and fluffy white socks. I helped her get ready and she kissed me good bye and off she went on her scooter to her room where she shut her bedroom door. A few minutes later she returned announcing, "I'M BACK!" She continued to run back and forth from her bedroom to me to announce different things until 9:30 rolled around and I decided she needed to go to bed. So we said a prayer (she said it) and off she went to bed where she played until Heather got home after 10:00. I don't think she went to bed until after 10:30 and I stayed up playing on the computer doing some design stuff. I went to bed around 11:30 or 12:00.
In some ways I feel like that is some what insulting to my father, in others I feel like that is how he would want it to be. I think I should of at least crossed one of those three items off my list though.
So four little pansy's in France decided to talk a little smack, and when asked about the American relay team Alain Bernard said, “The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for.” (full story)
And instead, "The oldest man on the U.S. swimming team pulled off one of the great comebacks in Olympic history Monday morning, lunging to the wall just ahead of France's Alain Bernard in a race so fast it actually erased two world records." (full story)
I was seriously on my feet yelling, "TAKE THAT FRENCHIES!!!" As my man Jason Lezak began walking down them Frenchies on the last leg of the race. As he touched the last wall I started to see that he had a chance, and I was on my feet cheering him on, and when he touched the wall before France I was almost in tears in excitement! Prolly one of the best comebacks I've watched on TV.
So Take That France! (If you didn't know I despise the Frenchies, especially when they talk trash about my country, I only allow myself one Frenchy to like and that spot has been filled by the lucky Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns). I wish I could of found a picture of the reaction on "Team France" after it happened, it was PRICELESS!
“IE 6 is a last-generation browser. This means that IE 6 can’t provide the same web experience that modern browsers can. Continued support of IE 6 means that we can’t optimize our interfaces or provide an enhanced customer experience in our apps. Supporting IE 6 means slower progress, less progress, and, in some places, no progress. We want to make sure the experience is the best it can be for the vast majority of our customers, and continuing to support IE 6 holds us back.”
We had just come inside from a "National Night Out" party our Apartment Complex put on with some free Bar-B-Que out by the swimming pool. We gave Hannah a bath, and we were all sitting down watching TV, and Hannah is munching on a brownie and saying, "I wanna watch 101 Dalmatians (only I can't spell how she really tries to pronounce it which is MUCH cuter)."
Heather says, "No! you are about to have to go to bed."
So lately Hannah is on this HUGE why kick, where she has to ask "WHY?" after everything you say. So of course casually as she is picking pieces of chocolate off of her brownie, she asks, "Why do I have to go to bed?"
So I jump in to play her little game and I say something like, "Cause it's time to go to bed."
Hannah: "Why?" Me:"Because after the sun goes down and it get's dark outside you have to go to bed." Hannah: (without looking up, but instead she remains focused on picking at her brownie she says in the most casual nonchalant tone) "That's not funny..."
I'm not really sure if that did it any justice, because when it actually happened, it was the funniest thing of the day. I just busted up laughing, and I think at first Heather was in some sort of shock, or perhaps it took a little bit to register and she just looked down at Hannah who just maintained focus, and Heather also started busting up with laughter. Finally after I laughed for a good minute straight Hannah seemed to realize that we thought what SHE did was funny, so then she kept saying, "That's NOT funny!" It's times like those that I wish my memory functioned more like a digital camera recording reality so I could just hook myself up to a computer and replay it over and over again.
As I am leaving home to go to work this morning, I am making my way from the bedroom where I gave Hannah a hug told her I loved her, and that I was going to work. I then made my way around the bed and extended a hug and kiss to Heather as well. I walk out of the bedroom and make my way to the kitchen with Hannah trotting almost fluttering behind me dressed in her baby blue Cinderella princess gown. I grab a plastic bag full of leftovers from the fridge and I give Hannah one last hug and kiss, and she tells me she is going to wait there for me to leave. I tell her I will see her later and open the door and walk out and right before the door closes I hear her shout, "I love your brown eyes!"
So I chuckle and open the door quickly to see no one standing in the doorway anymore, but I yell back, "I love your beautiful blue eyes."
Then I hear her say, "Thank you!"
Then with a smile on my face I make my way to my car and venture to work. I think it's going to be a great Monday today!
In my attempts to master the ways of the interweb I have spent the last year and a half reading books and websites to gain a Jedi-esque knowledge of the web standards as described by the W3C
"W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines. Since 1994, W3C has published more than 110 such standards, called W3C Recommendations. W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software, and serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web. In order for the Web to reach its full potential, the most fundamental Web technologies must be compatible with one another and allow any hardware and software used to access the Web to work together. W3C refers to this goal as “Web interoperability.” By publishing open (non-proprietary) standards for Web languages and protocols, W3C seeks to avoid market fragmentation and thus Web fragmentation."
(In other words I am a HUGE Geek!)
So recently I have been able to successfully validate both my XHTML and my CSS (Cascading Style Sheets.) In doing so I have been able to get my website ShaneGuymon.com to be featured on these websites:
I'd like to thank these websites and online galleries for adding my website to large quantity of standards compliant websites out their on this world wide web we all enjoy. As a small token of my gratitude I have added a section on my sidebar which is titled Featured On which has links to the different sites that have featured or showcased my website.
I don't own an iphone, and I probably NEVER will. That doesn't mean I don't get excited about the product and what it is doing as far as the advancements it's making in both mobil devices and how we interact in general. So if you haven't already heard all the buzz with the release of the iphone 3G and the opening of the App Store. There have been quite a few websites already giving their top 20 or top 50 apps that they've found thus far.
I met up with some friends on Friday night for a "Guys Night Out" type thing at Rudy's Bar-B-Que. A couple of the guys who had an iphone had them out showing off their recently downloaded apps, and one of my friends in particular sparked up some discussions about the iphone apps since he himself made a pretty darn good one that isn't being talked about enough. So after taking his app for a test drive after dinner I was able to see the potential this app could have in changing the way a person or family would shop. His app is called Save Benjis It's a cleverly simple application (You can watch a demo video on his website and get more info their as well on how it works and all the benefits it delivers), but basically, "Save Benjis, is a free application for the iPhone™ (and iPod Touch™), that provides you with the best internet prices while you shop in the real world. Compare prices and read reviews on your iPhone for over 15 million different products from over one thousand stores. When you find a better price using Save Benjis you can purchase the item using your iPhone with as little as one touch." So to put it in even simpler terms this application will 1.) Save you money and 2.) Find the best deal either online or at another store nearby.
So if you have an iPhone or even an iPod Touch click your way over to the Save Benjis website or just search for it in the iPhone applications in the iTunes store and download it. The BEST part about this iPhone app, is it's FREE! Let's also not forget that it will help you Save Benjis!
I recently designed a website for a friend & business partner of mine. His name is Jake Starr, he owns and operates JCS Branding along with his father. He approached Joel and I a few months ago about redesigning his website for him as a favor. He was nice enough to meet us in San Marcos and buy us lunch as he shared his rough sketches, ideas, and expectations for the redesign. We had to make a few changes to his original plan after evaluating his budget and primary goals as a business.
From that point on until Monday I spent my free nights and weekends at home working away on designing and coding his website. My friend Joel offered up a bit of help and designed some great links of featured areas of the website that run down the left side of the website.
JCS Branding is based in San Antonio, so we tried to translate both the name of the company, and where it is located into the design of the website, to help reinforce the services Jake offers his clients. Practice Cafe does quite a bit of business with Jake, he delivers great products and competitive prices along side top notch customer care and service. Jake is an honest down to earth guy and it shows in the manner in which he conducts his business. He's constantly helping us find the best products to exceed our expectations and goals for everything from pens, chap stick, coffee mugs, magnets, & more. He helps us know what materials, and merchandise will be best suited for our particular needs. So it was an honor to be able to work on designing a brand new website for him.
Please click your way over to his website by clicking on either one of the images or here. Also if you ever need your name or logo placed on ANYTHING and when I say ANYTHING I literally mean ANYTHING don't hesitate on contacting Jake Starr.
I hope that the website has exceeded his expectations and will help reinforce the values of his business while also facilitating it and reinforcing his company brand and identity. I also hope that his current customers, as well as future customers will also enjoy his website.
Let me know what you think about the website by leaving me a comment.
I'm so glad the Celtics didn't only beat the Lakers tonight but they just humiliated them the entire game. It was so nice to finally see Kevin Garnett win a championship. Although my boy Ray "Jesus Shuttlesworth" Allen got robbed for the Finals MVP, I was still satisfied to finally see Paul Pierce also get some much deserved love. Paul Pierce definitely played well not only in the Finals, but the entire season and especially in the play-offs. But my man Ray Allen was just superb against the Lake show. I mean he had his fair share of Kobe duty that he did a dang fine job with, not only that but he also had to go right back at Kobe on the other end of the floor and still managed to average 20 points a game. Tonight he hit 7 3's with that silky smooth jumper of his. I mean watching Ray Allen shoot is almost a work of art in and of itself, hearing the wet sound the the ball makes as it is swishing through the bucket is just indescribable! He totally deserved to be holding up that smaller but still shiny trophy at the end of the game.
As soon as I stepped through the door I heard a loud squeal and I saw Hannah circling around the table on her little scooter and she yelled with glee, "Daddy did you bring me my moneys?"
and I just started cracking up as I leaned over to give her a hug.
Now let me back this thang up a bit so my infinite abyss of devoted readers can understand the real humor in this statement. You see, Friday when I got home from work Hannah had this little insert from a Barbie DVD she has that had additional toys to coincide with this Barbie DVD. Well Hannah found one of the toys in particular to be a must have addition to her infinite abyss of toys that are accumulating in her bedroom and in various places throughout our home. She carried this piece of paper staring at this particular picture of this toy (as if she was Smeagal and it was The Ring) and showing it to us over and over and telling us we needed to go to the store and get it. So I told her that we had to have money to do that. So her reply was for us to go buy some money. When I told her it didn't work like that, then she said that I still needed to go get some money. So I told her that I had to go to work to get money. She seemed to understand that, but then all she kept talking about is how she wanted to go to work with me to get the money for the toy right then and their. So I told her I didn't have to go back to work until Monday. So now jump back to when I got home from work, and the first thing she asks me when she sees me come through the door is, Do I have her money?
I can't help but entertain the thoughts of conspiracy theories in regards to the NBA's involvement in how this whole NBA Finals has worked out, did they have this planned the entire time, were refs urged to make BAD calls to help one team over the other? Or if it really is just "The Perfect Storm." It's hard to think it just happened with how HUGE the NBA is taking advantage of this on a marketing level. I mean before the game they had a whole tribute to the history of the match-up. All over ESPN and NBA.com and anywhere else you find throwback pictures of Tragic and Bird. They've even gone so far as to make a "Split Face" commercial with Bird and Tragic (Magic) Johnson.
There is only one HUGE problem with all of this madness. The NBA is trying to artificially create the drama and emotion that existed back in the 70's and 80's between the two teams. They are trying to awaken the rivalry from the dust. Only those same emotions don't exist anymore. Not between the players and NOT between the fans. All though my hatred for the LAkers has NEVER worn off since those shining years of the 80's growing up rooting for Larry "LEGEND." My LOVE for BOSTON didn't stick around either. Although I am rooting for the Celtics, and have been the entire season because as far as the franchise is concerned I want to see them return to what they once were, however they aren't the same team anymore. The main reason I want the Celtics to win is because I have been a fan of both Kevin Garnett & Ray Allen for quite some time. So I am excited for both of them to "hopefully" get a championship. They both deserve it, but Kevin Garnett more so.
I think Scoop Jackson put it best from his Page 2 article he wrote for ESPN.com:
"The '80s takes it. Because of the one factor that existed then but doesn't now: race. The black versus white element of the rivalry in the '80s was just as important as anything geographical or basketball-related. That's what made a sports event transcend athletics and enter into America's social structure. Race -- built on the Bird/Magic non-basketball dynamic -- was the core reason we all were galvanized and fascinated. And though many would consider this a hindrance to what the rivalry was about, in truth it essentially made the rivalry beautiful. It made each race respect the other, forty-eight minutes at a time."
To add to that, I wouldn't say it was ALL race, but more so it was BIRD and Magic, I mean they were rivals in college battling each other for the College title, and then they both entered the NBA as rivals again competing for Rookie of the year. So although they are friends now, during their years on the court they HATED one another. If you were a Larry Bird fan you weren't a fan of Magic (you might of respected his game, but you HATED him.) Likewise if you were a fan of Magic Johnson then you HATED Larry Bird. Those emotions and sentiments between fans and players don't exist anymore.
So David Stern, please give it up man, just let the finals be what they are, a GREAT match-up between two GREAT teams, and not a rebirth of what ONCE was.
We are sitting on the couch watching the 2008 MTV Movie Awards and I notice Hannah is singing a song. This isn't abnormal or strange in any way because Hannah spends most of her day pransing around and singing songs she hears from cartoons or sometimes she makes them up. Well this song I looked down at her as she was sitting cuddling up beside me on the couch and she asked me if I wanted to sing it with her. So I asked her what the words were and she taught me the song. So if you'd like to hear it, her it goes...
Let's goooooo! Rocket soup with the Big Jet Sail away, sail away, saaaaaaail awaaaaaaaaaaay!
So the other day Hannah asked for a red popsicle and I wasn't able to find a red one in the freezer but she was happy to take an orange one instead. I decided I wanted a grape one. So we are both chillin on the couch eating our popsicles, when she decides that the grape one I am eating looks better so she takes it and holds it close to her chest as if she had just won a trophy and exclaims,
"This is my favorite for my tummy and my blue eyes!"
Hannah turned 3 on Sunday, and we had the birthday party on Saturday, Thank You! to all of you who showed up, Hannah had a REALLY good time, and she is still enjoying ALL of her presents especially her Rocket and Little Einstein's (thanks Lyndsee & Gabe!) I don't have much time right now, but I just wanted to share the photos we took during the party. Also I just wanted to tell everyone thanks for showing up, eating our food and cake, helping us spoil Hannah with all the presents, the turn out was much better than I was expecting, and there were WAY more presents than I thought there would be. In fact now I am thinking of throwing myself a party this October...
The WNBA has began a new advertising campaign that is being shown during the NBA Play-offs. What they do is they take one of their "Stars" from the league and have them say common stereotypes about the WNBA as if they were those same people saying those terrible things about girls basketball. At the end a voice over says, "They wouldn't say that... Would you?"
So essentially they are trying to guilt trip all the NBA fans into also watching a WNBA game. I'm not sure that is the right approach. I think if you want to PROVE the stereotypes wrong, their is a better way to go about it, that wouldn't come off as being a "guilt trip."
This is all hypothetical because most of the stereotypes are true. This isn't to say that the WNBA isn't competitive, and or entertaining. It's just that it is basically like going to a guys Varsity High School game. I mean I try watching a WNBA game and I see girls getting rebounds without even jumping? I don't need to see people dunk to be entertained, so it isn't about NOT being able to dunk (yes I know there are girls that can dunk, whoopidy doo dah!) I don't need to see behind the back passes. I'm perfectly happy watching a 7 footer knock down threes, or a guy like Tim Duncan, who is the definition of fundamental, knock down a 15 footer off the backboard. In the NBA you got clutch guys like Kobe Bryant who can manage to knock down BIG shots in the 4th quarter regardless of who is guarding him or how many guys are guarding him. The NBA is truly, "Where Amazing Happens."
There is no denying that their is a HUGE difference between the NBA (Which is full of a bunch of 6'6 - 7'0 tall athletic FREAKS) and the WNBA (which is full of a bunch of 5'0 - 6'5 tomboys), and it isn't just about dunks and behind the back passes. I'm not trying to say that girls can't play basketball, because they can. Just not at the same level or ability that a male can. Their bodies just aren't made for it. A guy can't have a baby, does that make him less of a human being? Their are other things besides child baring that women are good at. All I am really trying to say is you can't compare girls to guys in any way. Not in sports, not in any way....
I don't want to take this into a Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus discussion, but it's true.
The real point is, guilt tripping people into doing something is NEVER the way to go about getting things done. If they want fans, then they have to earn fans. The NBA didn't start out as globally or nationally successful as it is now. So go back and research how the NBA gained a fan base, and how they went about getting people into stadiums to watch the athletes play. I can bet you that they didn't try "guilt tripping" anyone into it.
For Moms Day I made a mix CD for Heather with a custom designed CD case. So anyways one of the songs I selected was a Bright Eyes song called "First Day of My Life" and it turns out this song has like the perfect words to describe a relationship it says:
"So if you want to be with me With these things there’s no telling We just have to wait and see But I’d rather be working for a paycheck Than waiting to win the lottery"
I suppose because a relationship is work, it's compromise, and it's sacrifices. I swear their are far too many people in the world that seem to have the "Waiting to win the lottery" mindset, and it's funny, so when it's worded the way he says it, it's so perfect and simple, "I'd rather be working for a paycheck." I've always been confused with people who seem to date for a year or more, it seems to me you should be engaged and if you aren't ready for that, then you probably NEVER will. So it's past time to move on to the next person, and keep waiting for that "lottery" of a person to drop into your life. (of course this is speaking about people who are out of highschool already...)
Anyways the whole song is good, and beautiful, just those lines REALLY stood out to me this week.
So they finally are allowing you to upload videos on Flickr, actually they've been doing it for a month now. I finally got around to uploading some yesterday. Here is one of my favorites that we took this past week. This video will allow you to see a different side of Hannah. Visit my Flickr account to view other great videos and be on the lookout for MANY more to follow!
Happy Mom's Day to all of you lucky women out there that have had the privilege of enduring through 2 minutes of bliss (if you're lucky), 9 months of losing your body and emotions, and another couple hours of pain and anguish.
For those of you who don't know I returned home from my mission December 21st 2001. I had no job, no car, and really no plans. When I got home my older brother Matt used to get onto LDS chat every day and flirt with girls. So since everyone was gone to work each day I decided to check out the chat room scene. Around January 6th I met a girl with the screen name of "TempleBound." After an hour or so of chatting with me she was overly annoyed but at the same time addicted to the dopeness that is Shane. Almost daily we would talk and soon the instant messaging and chatting wasn't sufficient and she had to hear my voice. The smooth sound of my voice vibrated the muscles in her heart a sufficient amount that the phone calls began happening on almost a daily basis. Soon after pictures and letters began being exchanged. Above is one of the first pictures Heather mailed to me.
My brother and I had both had the desire to make a trip to the Houston temple together. So we made tentative plans without any expectations other than a nice little visit to the temple. However all the phone calls and instant messaging created this uncontrollable desire in Heather to need to meet me in person. She became almost obsessed with the idea. So before I knew it she was coming up with plans on how to meet me at the temple. So above is the photo taken the first time we ever met in person. I think it was that moment when we first met in person at the temple when I knew I wanted to marry Heather...
So on went our relationship of nightly phone calls until odd hours of the night and Heather at this point basically addicted to Shane developed a master plan to have her dad bring her out to San Antonio to spend a weekend with me. So I told her when the next single adult church dance was going to happen. So Heather used that as an excuse to convince her father to drive 5 in a half hours to San Antonio. So above is a picture taken on what was essentially our first date. Which consisted of walking around the River Walk as I got us lost looking for the Alamo, and stopping to eat at Fudruckers before her Dad met back up with us to go back to the flat lands of Buna.
Now we fast forward ahead a couple months to the picture above which was taken in Buna, Texas after we were enganged to be married, but prior to her moving to San Antonio. There were a couple months where we took turns driving 5 hours to spend the weekend with one another.
Soon after Heather moved to San Antonio and we spent about 6 months together before the big wedding day came. Above is a picture from our wedding day.
Seriously this is one of the first "family" pictures we took, and it was soon after we moved to Cedar Park which was November 2006.
Above is the first professional family photo we took, and that was done last year before Christmas.
And now skip forward to our Christmas 2008 photo we took this year, and I think we have finally decided on making this annual picture a family tradition. So now with baby number 2 on the way and a new year approaching us in one minute. I look forward to many more wonderful years with my beautiful wife Heather, my adorable daughter Hannah, and whatever God decides to bring us in 2009!
