Trip to Santa Barbara

Well, I just got back from a short trip to Santa Barbara. I've been there several times, but this was the first time I travelled by train. I have to say that the train is the way to travel. Not only do I not have to drive, or sit in a plane thinking about falling from the sky, but I get to relax and see the sights. It's a relatively short trip from Orange County, but there was plenty to see. We only stayed one night but it was enough. We got there Sunday morning and walked the beach. The artists had their work on display for sale (as they do on all Sundays). Not too much to tell. We checked into the room and relaxed for a few. Then it was time to go shopping. We saw lots of good stuff and made a couple of buys. Later that night, we had dinner at this great steak place. It's called something like "Hendrons" or something. It's on State St. I had a couple of appletinis to start and I am glad I did. They were terrific. Then the steaks and shrimp arrived. Wonderful. We were planning on a little dancing afterwards, but we ended up going back to our room. ... Then we woke up the next morning and got our free breakfast at the hotel. It wasn't "cheapy". Good food and the view was amazing. However, the thing that I took away most from the trip was the train ride. I am already planning on my next train trip. I'm thinking Texas.

August

Well, hello all. This is the first post in quite a while. I have been extremely busy with work lately. We are going through a major software transition and is taking up a lot of my time. I really hope that the past two years of planning, development, blood, sweat and tears is worth it.

The kids are doing well. The little one's vocabulary and sentence structure is amazing. Her grasp of things all around her never ceases to amaze me. She's also growing by leaps and bounds. Every time I turn around, she's grown. It's weird.

Tyler is doing pretty good. He spent a week at camp and got to play with a lot of kids who are in similar conditions (wheelchair, post cancer, currently under treatments, etc...). He said that Tony Hawk and Minnie Driver showed up. He can't wait until next year to do it again. And after I heard Minnie Driver showed up, I'm thinking of volunteering as a camp counselor. =P

DOOM3 - Well, what can I say. I'm really not much of a gamer. I grew up in the 70's/80's, so the old school NES, Atari, Intellivision is more my style. Not that the games today aren't as good - I actually think they are way better. My only problem is that there are so many more buttons, options, puzzles and heavy thought. I like to just scroll around and blow stuff up!!! Saying that, DOOM3 is kickin' my butt all over the place. The graphics and sound are amazing! The gameplay is good. And lucky for me, it's a fairly straight-forward FPS.

That's all for now. If you'd like, feel free to drop me a line.

Happy Fourth of July America!!!

Well, its the dawn of another great 4th of July. I'm ready for the beer, BBQ and fireworks that are sure to come. Unfortunately, due to fire hazard, fireworks are verboten for us town folk. So we will be heading to the local park where they put on a great, FREE, show for the residents. It's not the same as risking life and limb for some sheer pyro-joy, but it'll do. It will be spent with friends and family, as it should be, and we should all have a great time. After that, I plan on spending the rest of the weekend (Monday is a work holiday....yay!!!) relaxing and maybe catching a couple of shows on the tube.

Happy 4th all!!!

Also, a reminder to all that SciFi Channel is hosting it's annual Twilight Zone Marathon all day.

/bummed fireworks are illegal in my town.

Great Vegas Weekend

Well, just got back from Las Vegas. Took a drive up on Friday for my sister-in-law's 21st birthday. Friday, just the guys went out. We went over to "The Beach". Fun club. We met a large group of women there for a bachelorette party. They were pretty wild. Saturday night, we took out my sister to "Bikini's" at the Rio. It was pretty good. Fairly packed, fun atmosphere, but we were pretty tired. We went back to the hotel and ordered up some room service. Had to wait until 2:30 am for the food to be delivered. Well worth the wait!!!

Vegas Tips:

1) If you can spend a couple of dollars more than usual and not spend too much - stay at Paris. Great rooms and situated at the middle of the strip.

2) If you're single, and not wanting to get too formally dressed, go to the Beach. The beer-maids are great looking, the music is good and there are a lot of fun-luvin people there.

3) You don't have to pay to get into a club. If you walkthe strip long enough during the day, you can get free passes to a club or two from people handing them out.

Happy Father's Day

As a recent new father, I love Father's Day. I feel proud as a parent of such a wonderful daughter, Jordan, and my very talented son Tyler. Today I received as gifts 3 shirts, a new Mr Clean Car Wash/No Dry kit and an Ear and Nose Hair Trimmer. =) I plan on maybe doing a little BBQing, have a beer or two and maybe watch a movie with the family.

Today I searched for a Gmail invite

Well, as many of you have probably been doing for the past week, I too have been searching desparately for a gmail invite. Holy crap! I did a google on gmail invites and came up with one trillion hits (ok - a LOT!). I then found that some bloggers are getting invites. So, here is my first entry as a blogger. I know that this site will suck, but oh well. It could be fun and I just might learn something about myslef. I hope you will too.