New Camera

For Graduation I wanted one thing, and one thing only . . . a new camera.  This week Cassie and I met my Dad, Mom, Kimberly and Jeremy for dinner.  It was Jeremy's last night in town and we needed to take some stuff down to Texas City so we crashed the party.  We showed up a little earlier than them, believe it or not the traffic was worse in bound than out bound on 45.  With time to kill I decided now was a great time to make the big purchase I have been waiting for.  I finally had time today to pull it out of the box and start playing, and man do I love it.  Expect tons more pictures in the future.  I had all of my pictures up on my mac account, but that has expired and I have been too busy to get them all on my web-site, but I will get it done soon so I can start publishing all the cool pics.  I ran down to Texas City to help Mom move some stuff and had the opportunity to take one last shot of Sammy before Mom decides to run over her again.

We had a good weekend.  It was the company Christmas Party last night.  One of the superintendents was stealing all of the attention by getting a little too friendly with some of the wives at the party.  I was reminded by many people not to make a scene at the Company party, so not to worry, I'm good till next year.  

Today Cassie and I went to lunch with some friends, and then to the Body World Exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science.  It was a really neat experience to see the inner workings of the human body.  Seeing what we are made of is just mind blowing and just reassures my belief in God.  Our body's are an amazing work of art, I know I appreciate mine more.  There were several eye opening features, but the most impressive was the set of lungs from a non-smoker and a smoker.  The smokers lungs were so dark and much smaller than the healthy lungs. You can only hope that every smoker who walks through there makes the decision so stop after seeing how harmful it is.

It's off to bed in preparation for an exciting week at work.  I discovered Saturday morning that I made a rather large screw up on a project that starts Monday, so I have very low expectations for tomorrow going well . . . can't wait to tell my boss what a dippy doo I am.

Have a great week, I'll hopefully get some more pics up soon.

12.3.08

Last night around 10:00 I was getting ready for bed and noticed a few bumps on my arms and chest that resembled mosquito bites, I thought nothing of it and jumped in bed, scratching a little, but tired so I fell asleep pretty fast.  FF to 2:30 a.m.  I awoke itching from head to toe.  My chest, my back, my legs, everywhere . . . I jumped out of bed and started searching the internet for something . . . Scabies!  Everything I found said scabies, so great.  By this time I was wide awake and there was no chance of me going back to bed.  I got dressed and headed to the office, I can assure you I was the first one to the office Today (Made it in by 3:30).

Throughout the day I had to listen to all the crap talk and bantering, but I made a doc

tors appointment for the afternoon.  I am currently wor

king on three different projects for work.  I have my full-time job (Chevron), the job I might be going to after this job (Shell) and I am also working on a charity project that Harvey is working on (the 99k house).  So things are really busy for me at work.  

Cassie came down to the office for lunch, which I was no fun at . . . I was tired and had tons of work to do so I pretty much just listened to her eat her crunchy pickles and chips (my most favorite things in the whole world incase you unfamiliar with my likes and dislikes).  She was pretty busy the rest of the afternoon, she made tons of calls for me and helped me get some stuff off my to do list (I'm really gonna like this marriage thing, I may not make her work after all).  She even had time to make a cool Christmas Wreath for the 230 door.

Around 3:00 I headed over to the Doctor's office where I waited for about 30 minutes (which was odd because the waiting was empty and yet there was still a wait)  Turns out there was no need to worry, just the Hives.  The doctor said it was either food, drugs or some type of allergy flare up.  So Im on the Benadryl . . . . and trust me it's working, im not sure how I'm going to make it through this post.

After I got home I had a delicious, low-cal (I'm still trying my hardest to get in decent shape for Hawaii)  cold pasta salad, and it really was good.  A friend of mine rates his wife's cooking on a 5 point scale (things get nasty when he gives her a 1 or 2 - you don't want to be there for the 0's), but I just told Cassie it was a keeper, to put it in the recipe box.

She also made some really good pecan bars for the guys at work, and they are loving them.  

Well it's time to finish Kung Fu Panda and get some sleep.  Have a good night, check back soon.

Thanksgiving

ready set go . . . 

So the day began early, I was up at 7, preparing the bird.  Last night I set the turkey up in a brine for the night, a salty mixture of vegetable stock and other good stuff to help make it juicy.  A few years ago I came across this on the Food Network and because I hate dry turkey decided to give it a try, I have been making it ever since. Turkey Recipe 

Cassie and her Mom and Sister showed up around 10:00 with the stuffing, cheese and olives, and green bean casserole.  We were busy getting the cheesy potatoes, turkey, sweet potatoes, rolls and everything else together.  

Everything was good eats.  We had some good desserts, pecan pie, pumpkin, buttermilk, cherry cheesecake, lemon cake . . .

After we all stuffed ourselves to the gill we sat down for a long game of Phase 10.  It was a cut throat game with drama galore (Cassie is dramatic enough by herself, pair her up with Mel and they could sell tickets).

Everyone had a great day, and were sitting back waiting for the Aggies to embarrass themselves in a national arena . . . I wish there were sick days in football, we would definitely be calling in sick this week.

Check out the rest of the Pictures

That's all for now, it's Christopher's Birthday . . . make sure you call him.

Thanksgiving Eve

let's play catch-up . . . 

Last week Cassie finished school and began "The Move", there was a brief moment there that I was concerned she may not make it through it all, but she did.  She took the week to finish packing up her apartment and getting it ready for storage.  Half of her life is going to San Angelo to the 12th floor of the Cactus, and the other half is now dispersed between my apartment and a storage unit down the hall.

Tuesday morning I woke up early on my day off (I'm still cranky about it, ask Cassie), and drove to College Station to pick up the U-Haul in time for the movers.  At about 8:00 a.m. I drove in to town and grabbed Cassie to go get the beast.  As soon as we pulled back in to The Enclave, the movers pulled in right behind us ready to go.  The first thing out of Cassie's mouth as well as all the mover's mouth was "It's not gonna fit" . . . blah blah blah, just shut-up and move the crap.  After some rather suggestive talk on how they should be spending their time they eventually got all of the nicely packed boxes and miscellaneous things, (that Cassie will never see again) into the Truck . . . and it fit (Thank you Josh, you were right, yes I said it you were right).  

And we were off.  Before we left I had to run by Bset Buy for a new toy.  I am used to the satellite radio in the truck and get rather irritated shuffling through radio stations on a long drive so I needed a solution to that problem.  I picked up a FM transmitter for the new ipod, and it is sweet.  This Griffin deal plugs into the cigarette lighter and has a wire that comes out an hold the ipod at the desired location.  Of course the first thing that goes through my mind is sweet now I can watch movies while I drive . . . needless this to say that inspired the over-protective mothering instinct in Cassie and the argument was on.  It ended with me winning (with a compromise, I got a comedy which I don't really have to watch) as always. (Cassie doesn't read this thing, so none of you big mouth's go and tip her off, ya hear).

Well the ride wasn't too bad, I had some new material for the trip and my side kick . . . her CAT!  The trix wasn't too bad, but she did let out a few howl's every now and then when she could tell I wasn't paying attention to her.  She didn't particularly care for my loud and obnoxious singing either, but she tolerated it, and atleast she didn't pee all over the place like the devil cat in her car.  So I followed Cassie in "Birdie"  and we made it in about 6 hours (there are always a few stops when traveling with that girl).

Today Mom and Dad drove down to San Angelo to see the sights, and let me tell you there are many.  Cassie had a great time touring them through the Cactus (wedding location) and Methodist Church.  It was also pretty convenient that we had a U-Haul filled to the brim and cold use the helping hands.  Everyone pitched in and we got the truck unloaded in about 45 minutes.

After a few errands and a few more land-mark visits we hit the road back to Abilene.  Today is Grampy's Birthday (82, but according to him 39), so we had a good dinner and some delicious homemade cake from Grammy's kitchen.  

Tomorrow Cassie, her Mom and Sister will be joining us for Thanksgiving Dinner, It should be a great experience for all, I will be sure to post some pictures.

I hope everyone is with the ones they love and take the time to remember what they are thankful for.  Each year we spend with Grampy we remind ourselves how fortunate we are to still have him in our lives.  Kimberly and Jeremy are at home in Texas City, and Christopher and Karen are doing their thing in Cincinnati.  It will be quiet without them . . .

11.9.08

Well gang it's been another great weekend.  It started off Friday night with some good times at a local hang out (that's all Im gonna say about that).  Friday night was late so I got to sleep in before Cassie got in to town.  She had to stay in College Station for her teacher test which she took Sat. morning and feels pretty good about.  As soon as she got in to town we packed the car and headed to Texas City for Kimberly's Wedding shower.  Cassie had a good time and I got to see some of the Family and good friends from Church.  Aunt Debbie also brought along a surprise. When I was much younger and going out to Aunt Debbie's and Uncle Rogers all the time, we took a picture in our working clothes.  

Hope you enjoy.  After the shower I picked up Cassie and we were off to a wedding.  A good buddy of mine Clayton who I know from school got married out in Jersey Village.  Today Cassie and I met her sister for breakfast. Mel came in to town for the weekend to visit her friend who lives in the same apartment complex as me so it worked out great.  After dropping Mel off at the airport we went to Whole Foods.  If you don't know this, Cassie's absolute favorite thing is grocery shopping.  Christopher sent me a rough draft of the floor plan for the new house, but there was some miscommunication and he thought the house would have an alley, which it wont . . . so it's back to the drawing board. 

This week will be busy, we have a lot going on at work getting ready for a 90 Day Safety Celebration and preparing for my time off for Thanksgiving.  I am also going to be helping with the bid process for a new job so that will be taking up any free time I might have had this week.

Feel free to leave a comment.

Parade of Homes

Yesterday Cassie, Kimberly and I drove down to Sugar Land to visit a Parade of Homes and we bought our new home.  

Well we can dream can't we.  We saw some amazing homes with amazing price tags, but it got us thinking about certain things we really would like to incorporate in our house.  I really liked the idea of the split garages and Cassie has decided that she will not consider any floor plans without a dedicated nook off the kitchen for recipes and bill paying.  I will post all of the pictures on my web-site under Pictures.

11.2.08

We are mid weekend and it's a great feeling to be sitting on the couch doing nothing.  Casse is sitting next to me on the couch writing in her blog and every time I look over she puts this huge smile on her face so I have a feeling she is typing about me.  We have had something to do nearly every weekend and the next few weekends will prove the same.  Next weekend we have a wedding for a college buddy of mine, and then Kimberly is getting married on Nov. 23rd.  Today I need to go and get fitted for Kimberly's wedding at the Men's Wearhouse, I am also going to take my suit pants and have them altered, I have been harassed at work because they are bunching in the back.  I guess it's a good problem.   Then it's off to Memorial Park for some running.

Cassie is preparing to move in.  We were playing with the idea of getting a larger apartment, but they are expensive.  Neither of us can see wasting $1800 a month on rent.  This is the main reason we want to get into a house and start investing in something we own.  We have decided to stick it out and get the house built before our lease runs out, or purchase a house if those plans fall through.  We got a storage unit inside the apartment complex for $45 bucks a month that we can store all of our extra junk for the short period of time and that is much better than the extra $600 it would cost to upgrade to a two bedroom.  Money we will be putting towards the down payment.

The House plans are coming along.  I talked with a good friend who built his own home a few years back to get some help with the process and got some really good information.  He had a lot of good advice about how to get the financing, and he volunteered to build the house for me if we couldn't get the planets to align on our own.  He is a very good resource that knows the industry very well and would build an exceptional home. Our goal is still to do it ourselves.  I know there are a few (not mentioning and names) that would prefer we got someone else to do it because of the stress and amount of time it will take, but Cassie and I are up for the challenge and really look forward to building something ourselves that we can be proud of.

That's all for now.  I am going to remain very lazy and enjoy the rest of the morning before going into work.  I have a small presentation to give tomorrow and I need to put together the handouts.  Let's pray I do a good job.  There will be some big dogs in the room, so it will be a good chance to get noticed.

that's right . . . I said a house

I know it's Wednesday, and it's kind of late to update you on the weekend, but I do not have near as much time as Christopher to type in my blog . . . especially at work.  This weekend I went up to College Station, and Cassie's Mom came in to town to relax and enjoy the weekend.  I finished up at my first gold tournament on Friday and drove to C.S. getting there around 7.  We went and had Jason's Deli, Cassie's ultimate favorite and a good choice considering Candy and I are both watching what were eating.   Candy is loosing tons of weight in preparation for the wedding in June so . . . hint, hint mom you have some competition.  I have been working on the weight loss challenge at work and I am determined to win the $250 bucks.  I have lost about 9 pounds since the beginning of the challenge on October 11th.  We are about half way through and I am in second place.  The only guy ahead of me is falling off the horse so I think the slow and steady approach is going to do me good.

House.

One of the main topics of this weekend was future living arrangements for Cassie and I.  My lease will be ending in June and Cassie is moving out of her apartment in a few weeks.  We originally decided we would just start looking or a town home in the Downtown area because I love having a short commute and living so close to all of the action.  Well we really couldn't find what we were looking for, everything was soooo expensive and very outdated.  I found a shack that was boarded up and in a not so great neighborhood and it was still $280,000.  I know that is way out of my budget and forget about finding something new, that's just outrageous.  

Over the weekend we discussed budgets and our needs quite a bit and in that process kept thinking how much cheaper it could be if only we were building it ourselves and eventually that stuck.  I have been dreaming day and night about the possibility of building a house ever since so the wheels are turning and we are beginning the process.  I have started searching www.har.com for any and everything available.  The hardest part is picking the location, we have to be far enough out of town to get a good deal, but I also don't want to sit in traffic everyday for an hour each way, so the decisions are hard.  The way I look at it though is if life were easy it wouldn't be worth living.  Cassie and I are making some huge decisions about our future and it's a great time in both of our lives.  So far I have sent Christopher some sketches and I think he is playing with floor plan ideas so who knows I might have a few sketches to throw up here in no time at all, and everyone can weigh in.

That's all for now.  I'm staying very busy at work so I have been putting in as many hours as possible, that and the weight loss challenge are starting to tire me out, but heck, I'm young and I can handle it.

The Josh (more on that later)

10.20.08

So I have decided to get better about writing these blog's.  I find myself looking forward to Christopher's blog's each time he updates and I figured what the heck, this would be a good way to keep everyone up to date.  Dad's half way around the country, Chris is on the other side of the country, Cassie is in C.S. and Mom and Kim are an hour away.  Sometimes it feels like it's just me in this big city, but I'm loving every second of it, you only get to be young once.

Work:  The past few weeks have been hectic to say the least.  Last Friday we moved our office across the street into the old Enron Day-Care center.  We have a pretty sweet little set-up.  Slides and monkey bars and it's all padded out there so we won't get hurt.  We have finally gotten the office unpacked, there is still plenty of organizing and cleaning up to do, but the crates are empty.  We have also started a little weight loss challenge among the guys in the office (we invited the ladies, but they didn't care to jump on the scale each week).  We opened it up to almost everyone, there is one superintendent that is way to competitive who would be taking ex-lax for the next month to make sure he won so he was eliminated from the get go.  The challenge is set up with a $50 buy in per person.  We have six people competing so someone will win about $250.  The ironic part about it is I was the one who suggested the challenge, and I'm the one with the least amount of weight to loose.  I am the only guy in the office under 200 pounds.  However at our last weigh in on Friday I was still in the lead with a loss of 3.1% lost.  My only saving grace is that we are doing it by % lost, not total amount of pounds lost.

Thats all for now, it's late and I've been working 11 and 12 hour days the last week or two so it's wearing on me . . .  I will update soon.