February 27, 2003
Fun like a....

I should have posted about this yesterday, but I didn't. I'm sure you don't mind the delay.

A while back I went to a Corner Bakery restaurant for lunch. They had one of those fishbowls you can drop your business card in for a change to win something, so being the sucker I am I put one in. Fast forward to Wednesday >> It turns out I won the drawing and won a dessert basket full of good-good stuff like brownies, cookies, and other good-but-not-good-for-you treats. Damned if I wasn't the most popular cube to visit yesterday.

Leaving for the airport soon. My ride wanted to leave at 4pm, but my flight doesn't leave until 7pm. Good thing I've got some magazines and calligraphy stuff to work on. Oh, yeah... did I mention I'm taking a calligrphy course?

See ya in Meecheegan!

Posted by Austin at 04:03 PM
February 25, 2003
I Just Gotta Dance

So I went out Salsa dancing tonight with some people from work. I didn't know it was going to be dancing... I was expecting a few people to be drinking and enjoying some music, minus any sort of organized dancing. Nope. As soon as I walked through the doors and felt the latin beat I knew I could take my expectations and chuck 'em out the window.

It was actually fun. I've never felt so uncoordinated, but they did have a teacher there who teaches Salsa and other types of dances during certain nights of the week. Janine, I think you'd like this muchly. :-)

Posted by Austin at 10:53 PM
February 24, 2003
Not a Normal Monday

Today was a very interesting day. It started with me waking up and going downstairs to work out. While I ran up imaginary stairs for 22 minutes, I looked through the windows to see every commuter's worst nightmare - snow. It wasn't a huge storm, but once a flake hits the ground you can expect your commute time to double instantly.

So I had a class to go to at 8:00am. I left at 7:00am. I then find out that it will take me at least an hour to drive two-thirds of the way there. Being the quick-thinking driver that I am, I decide to avoid the highway and take local streets. It was a smart move... up until the point I got lost and wasted 20 minutes finding my way again.

At 8:30am I finally make it to the class. It turns out I'm not the only one late - so is the instructor. By 9:00am they find out the instructor had gotten into an accident, so they called upon a back-up instructor. At 10:00am the Microsoft Access training was in full swing, if not a little behind schedule.

I just got home about 45 minutes ago (without snow the commute goes a LOT faster), and it's not even 6pm yet! I don't know what to do with myself except to cook dinner and laze about in front of the TV. I'll keep you posted if my plans change. ;-)

Just thought you'd like to know how my day went. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Posted by Austin at 05:51 PM
February 23, 2003
Rule 240

If you're ever stuck in an airport because of a delayed or cancelled flight, just mention Rule 240 and see what magic might unfold...

...unless you're stuck due to weather or other acts of God. Then you're screwed...

Posted by Austin at 11:22 AM
Goo-Goo-tastic

The trip down to Texas was interesting and fun. Sam is a very cute kid... and a lot smaller than I expected. I'm not used to seeing newborns, but the kid was smaller than a loaf of Wonder Bread. The highlight of the weekend (besides the bris) was when Janine was holding Sam - he opened his eyes, looked at her, and scrunched his face and peered at her as to say "Who the hell are you?" Absolutely priceless.

There was a lot of sitting around and doing nothing, though. We all went over on Friday night to have dinner, but neither the new mommy or daddy really seemed to want to be too social - with the baby feeding every 30 minutes, it was hard for Jess to escape the baby room. Janine and I helped out by fixing the oven door and putting together the strollers. It was good to be there in support, and it was appreciated.

On the way home, United decided to once again screw up the flight from O'Hare to Midland. Here's the story - I was in my home city and a quick L ride from home, but Janine still had to make the jump to Michigan. They never seem to realize that if the plane that's supposed to take you from Point A to Point B is stuck at Point C, then you might be delayed... So after waiting with Janine for an hour and a half and watching the delay grow longer and longer we decided to just go back to my place and get her a flight the next morning. It was good to spend a little extra time with her... even if it meant waking up at 5:00am to get her to the airport.

FYI - The flight she was scheduled for last night didn't arrive into Midland until 10:57pm.... only 125 minutes late.

Posted by Austin at 08:02 AM
February 19, 2003
Clicky-Clicky!

I've found a new favorite webpage - Dave Barry's Blog! Now you can have the wit and sarcasm of his weekly columns in a quick, easy to read and continuously updated online form.

I'm not crying... I've just got something stuck in my eye. *sniff*

Posted by Austin at 09:49 AM
Today Is Your Birthday!

A wonderfully happy 23rd birthday salute to Janine!! Sorry I'm not there to celebrate it with you, but have a drink for me and I'll see you tomorrow at O'Hare!

And now, for all of you intellectuals, a little history lesson.

Posted by Austin at 07:58 AM
February 18, 2003
News Today

Pyra Bought by Google - Blogging World Searches for Answers
So our friends at Google look as though they're taking over our friends at Pyra Labs - yup, the same Pyra that brought you Blogger. Now I'm all for Google, but for some reason this little aquisition seems to be a little bit of a stretch for them. I'm somewhat afraid they're going to turn into a Yahoo!-style bitch who sells anything for a buck, but as long as they don't touch the search engine I'll be fine in my happy little world.

Joe Millionaire isn't, then is... sorta
I'm also going to admit that I've been a Joe Millionaire whore for the past few weeks. I was kinda pissed about the melee that happened last week with the show, but I knew there was at least one more episode in the wings so I wasn't expecting a decision back then. All I have to say is "Thank God for TiVo!" How else could you turn a 2-hour recap into a 30-minute show that won't make you wish the producers would curl up into a little ball and die.

I was pretty happy with the end result. He got the good girl (as opposed to the one who wanted to help "invest" the money), and the check at the end was forecast very early on by many. Like they'd just let them go without a nice little parting gift!

Paul the Man-Servant, by far, was the best person on the entire show. I think it says a lot when they pay Alex McLeod to be the "host" of the show, yet they end up using the Butler for all of the ads and introductions!

I get a nice mental picture of Paul bitch-slapping Alex. "You couldn't hold a hosting job at IHOP!"


That's it from me. I'll crawl back into my cubicle now.

Posted by Austin at 08:50 AM
February 13, 2003
Uncle Austin & Auntie Neener

I got the call at 3:40am this morning from the new mom herself! Here's the stats on the new bouncing baby boy:


- About 2:40am CST;
- 7 pounds, 7 ounces;
- 21 inches long;
- Lots of hair (just like his father);
- Bonnie says he looks just like Jessica;
- Both mother and son are doing fantastic!

The Bris is still being planned, but we're probably looking at next Friday. I'll hear back from the party planners (i.e. Dad & Bonnie) in a few hours so I can reserve flights, hotel and car in Dallas. Current indication is that we'll be down there Thursday evening thru Saturday.

We'll keep you posted!

Posted by Austin at 11:22 AM
Baby Alert!

Jessica had her baby! Seven pounds, something ounces and 21 inches long. Lots of hair, which isn't surprising considering he's Stephen's son. All other updates will have to wait until Austin's out of his meeting, since I don't remember many details from the phone call at 4:30 this morning.

Posted by Janine at 06:45 AM
February 09, 2003
NonProductive Weekend

This was a weird weekend. I got a lot done, but I didn't do a whole lot. Heck, I even set a personal record for the longest time staying in my PJs until I finally took a shower (7pm, baby!). Here's a short list:

- Beat the Sly Cooper game I got for Christmas,
- Did an unholy number of laundry loads,
- Paid bills,
- A few wedding-related jobs (both on-line and off-line)
- Went out drinking on both Friday and Saturday night
- Cooked all except one meal.
- Only left the apartment three times, and went outside twice.

I feel like a sloth for staying in so much, but looking back I did a lot of stuff that needed to be done. I don't know if this was a productive weekend or not... let's just call it a weekend and leave it at that. K?

Posted by Austin at 10:26 PM
February 06, 2003
Attack of Road Debris

It seems like anything and everything on the road tries to hit my windshield. Cars will inadvertently pick up pebbles and other assorted debris on the road and toss it right at my car. If I see it coming I'll usually do the duck-your-head-and-close-your-eyes reflex, and then... *whack*. Usually there's no permanent mark, but occasionally a gravel truck will drop a few good hunks of rock and I'll watch them bounce off the roadway and directly into the glass - leaving a nice new divot to my battle-scarred windshield.

Well, last night introduced a whole new type of ammunition - chunks of blown-out truck tire. Driving home from work I'm about to take an exit to get on the tollway when I suddenly notice a big black something rise from what looks to be the back of the car 70 feet in front of me. I watch as it arches 15 feet into the air, and I can see the impending impact with whatever it is.

My reflex kicks in, and then... *whump*. Not the usual sound a rock makes, but much louder. When I open my eyes and look out the windshield there's a nice black smudge right in my view. I could tell it was a hunk of tire 'cause I could see the tread marks imprinted onto the windshield.

I made it home just fine and was able to clean it off with some windex without a trace. No marks. No cracks. No divots. This morning, though, I was a little too aware of bits of debris being kicked up by other cars. I'm hoping my senses will go back to normal mode for the drive home tonight.


In other news, I think I've decided where we're going for our honeymoon... ;-)

Posted by Austin at 03:22 PM
February 03, 2003
Worst... Plane Trip... EVER!

I'm 17.5 hours late.

Because of all of the fog in Chicago yesterday my flight in to O'Hare last night was cancelled. Since it was the last flight of the day for United, and since I was only going to O'Hare, AND since it was a weather-related cancellation, I was "detained" in Michigan overnight. They couldn't put me on the first flight of the morning (a 7:30am flight that left and arrived on-time, mind you), so they put me on a flight that left at 10:50am EST. Thankfully I was able to spend the night with Janine... the only siver lining to this story.

Since there was more fog today, we didn't leave until 12:15pm, and we didn't land into O'Hare until 12:30pm... and THEN there's taxi time on the ground...

I was supposed to be in a 2-day class that started this morning. If I had gotten in at 11am, like this mornings flight should have, I could have gone to the class and joined in right after lunch. Now that I just got home, it seems pointless to go anywhere else.

I haven't eaten in 8 hours, so I'm quite hungry. I think some soup might be in order.

Oh, and one other thing - This was, by far, the longest delay I've ever had. It shattered the old record by 5 hours. Somebody call Guinness!

Posted by Austin at 02:27 PM