Things are looking good...

1) Pops is doing better. :-) He's in a regular room now and able to sit up and eat.

2) My chances of escape are getting better!!! I've got two more interviews next week.

3) Tyler loves t-ball...and it gives me an excuse to sit outside, relax and enjoy the nice weather!

4) And for you non-blogger types, you can comment on my blog without registering. Aren't you special?!

5) I'm going to get some ice cream now...

NVCC has redeemed themselves...

I was all grouchy yesterday because I needed to talk to my advisor at NVCC to find out what courses I needed to take to finish my Associate's and they informed me that now it's "required" to come in and actually meet with them. What kind policy is that for a school for the busy adult?! Especially if I just need information that would probably take 1 minute to give me over the phone... So now that I've 'broken the law' and spoke to my advisor, I'm happy. Two more classes and I'm done (with NVCC, that is). I'm taking Applied Calculus (shoot me) and Drawing I (hope they like stick figures). There's a method behind the madness...I believe Drawing I transfers to VCU.

And now here's the plan...
Finish up my Associate's --> Go to Strayer and get my bachelors in Web Applications --> Get my Masters at VCU in Visual Communication

South Riding Recap...

To start off, the first few songs were scary. I'm not really sure why, but we thought 'hey, it's a small place...we can get by with one monitor'. Wrong. Once we got the second monitor going, things went fairly smoothly. I say 'fairly' because we flubbed up a couple times. Yes, even I. ;-D And I forgot my tambourine so my non-singing songs were rather awkward, I was contemplating some Ashlee-Simpsonesque-jigs.

Despite all that, it did turn out to be a fun gig. Thanks to the 3/5ths of the FU army for coming out! You all rock.

And here's an extra-special treat for you all...I've got footage (thanks Greg)! Watch them now before Thom see's that I've broadcasted them and makes me take them down... :-D

Brown Sugar
I Will Survive

"I'm going to be an Indian!"...

I'm glad Tyler's first Little League team is the Indians. If he got on the Mets team...he'd still be asking "what's a Met?". What IS a Met, anyway?! But he's excited to be an Indian, he's convinced (althought I've told him otherwise) he's going to play the Cowboys...

The interview...cue dramatic music...

So, just got back from the interview. It went okay, I think. I got there late due to the insane Friday traffic on 495, but they didn't seem to mind. The company seems very laid back (a good thing). I felt very over-dressed in my suit! The one thing that really bothered me about the interview was my nerves. I think I was just all tense from the traffic that I got really nervous and not myself. I interviewed with 3 other people (one being via speakerphone), the two people that were actually there were fairly young and seemed like they'd be fun to work with.

All in all, it went well. Towards the end my nerves were calming down and the subject matter ranged from my knowledge of CSS to the latest Pixar movie. The traffic could be an issue, but they said the schedule was flexible (hallelujah!!!). Well, I'll worry about that IF I get a call back...

I got me an interview!...

I'm pretty happy about this considering I applied to about 5 jobs last week. This is the first one I applied to. The company seems okay, like everything else - it seems to have it's good and bad. Good: it's a web development firm (I'd actually get to work with people that know what a DIV tag is!! woohoo), bad: it's in Alexandria (helllooo, traffic).

But anyways, we shall see how it goes!

Get well soon Pops!!!...

Hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. Tyler had fun up in Maryland playing with all the boys and Mariah. My dad has apparently been funding the McDonald's Kids Meal program, which was a huge hit! Between the gazillion kids meal toys they opened and the easter egg hunt, they had a blast.

We went to the hospital to visit Pops, whom went to the hospital Friday night. Get well soon, Pops! We're thinking of you...

Web Developer vs. Designer...

Okay, I need someone else to tell me what to do here because I no longer trust my own judgement when it comes to this stuff. This all started last night when I decided that I was going to ask my company to pay for me to go to a design conference. After calculating the costs, I figured...with that much $$ they could send me to some classes (which would be better). That thought process then migrated into thinking what classes would I take...design or development? (Not so much 'design' classes but learning the latest design software.)

So, here's my question. Do I...

a) ...request to go to the design conference? This is a 4 day event that has all sorts of classes from design, design software, to freelance networking.
b) ...request to take design classes? I could probably sell this to them best because it's local, therefore less costly, and it relates most to my job.
c) ...request to take web development classes? This would be a tough sell because even though I maintain our website, we really have no need for dynamic/database driven stuff. But at some point I really need to learn this stuff, there seems to always be a need for developers...

Listen to me going on and on. All this and chances are they ain't sending me nowhere! Well, thanks for tuning in to my random babblings anyway...

Brush your teeth...

...Tyler does. Amazing how a Power Ranger toothbrush can establish good habits.

Another website up...

Well, I've added another website to my list (Virginia Association of Community Managers -->). Still not sure as to whether I could/should add it to my website since this was a project for work so I guess, technically, CMC created it. Thoughts?? I was never too keen on the design for this so I could go either way. I'm blaming it on their existing logo that I had to use...wasn't a big fan of it.

Hoping to have this charity website up in a few weeks as well. It's not near finished and only some links work but check it out here and give me some feedback.

Yea, now the sun is out...

Oh, there is little worse than being couped up in the office on a Monday when the weather outside is gorgeous.

Why couldn't it have been like this on Saturday?! Instead of enjoying a day of climbing, Adam and I ended up at the movie's watching a chick flick. We saw "Failure to Launch" and it was just okay up until the ending, then it turned horrible. Just once, I wanna see a chick flick when they don't end up together in some overly corny finale.

Well, Sunday I had no excuse for not being outside other than the fact that millions of kids across the globe are suffering because I'm behind on this charity website! So I stayed in, shut the curtains, downed a gallon of coffee, and managed to get some progress down on it.

The gym scene...

So, I'm at the gym yesterday when a fellow comes up and asks if I work near Tysons. I politely say 'no' and in the 3 seconds of silent awkwardness thereafter, in which he didn't go on his merry way, I'm thinking...'wait, is this guy trying to strike up a conversation?!'. Being that this is not an everyday occurence (or monthly, or annual...) and I'm not rude, AND he just didn't seem to take a hint when I wasn't being particularly conversational, I played along. After our brief conversation, no digits were exchanged but now in retrospect, I'm kicking myself...I meet an accountant...don't have my taxes done...what was I thinking?! ;-D

A night of hockey...

Took the two little one's (three, including Aunt Meagan) to a hockey game last night. Ty's has been to a couple so he was fine. Parker, on the other hand... :-/

My poor little guy was a little tired at first, this is him sleeping standing up in the elevator...


Having a baby changes everything??... couldn't be more true. Never would I have dreamed of leaving a hockey game when the score is tied with 2 minutes to go. But if I've learned anything from these 5 years it's that you pack up and leave when it's past a child's bedtime and they ask to go. Asking for trouble otherwise! Eh, they lost anyway... :-(




Nice seats...thanks Arch, Inc.!

New...

...website: mine

...gig: Fairfax Corner Summer Concert Series, August 12th (cross your fingers for better weather this year!)

...fav song (of the day): Dance Dance, Fall Out Boy

Fun at the playground...

The boys had a great time at the playground this weekend. It was really sweet, Ty's played with a 6 year-old blind boy. I'm sure he didn't realize the blind part. The boy, of course, was feeling his way around everything...by the end of our session, Tyler was feeling everything around him too.

Ice Age 2: Movie review...

Go see it. Excellent movie. Tyler loved it (as did I) and, as expected, he was the loudest laugher in the theatre. At one point, I didn't hear him laughing...I look over and he's keeled over because he's laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. He pulled through though. :-)