The First Annual B-Dubs...

I've been wanting to host the first annual B-Dubs for a while.  After reading a friend's recent blog post that basically listed his various Top 5 lists for the year, I figured that now is the time.  So, without further adieu, here are the 2007 B-Dubs in order...no drum role needed...

Category:  Movies
1.  Bourne Ultimatum
2.  Blood Diamond
3.  God Grew Tired of Us
4.  Ratatouille
5.  Amazing Grace

Category:  TV Shows
1.  The Amazing Race
2.  Project Runway
3.  King of Queens
4.  The Office
5.  How I Met Your Mother

Category:  Beer
1.  Fireman's #4
2.  Pacifico
3.  Black and Tan (Guiness and Bass)
4.  Newcastle
5.  Modelo Espcial

Category:  Restaurant
1.  Moonshine (gourmet comfort food)
2.  Saccone's Pizza (the best Jersey style pizza not in Jersey)
3.  Magnolia
4.  Hula Hut
5.  Waterloo Ice House (25 cent wings and $2 draft Dos XX)

Category:  Music Artists
1.  Radiohead
2.  David Crowder Band
3.  Mute Math
4.  Neko Case
5.  (not enough data)

So, for next year, I am going to have to expand my musical interests so I can have more options when it comes to next year's musical category selections.  You can help by suggesting some new music for me to check out in the new year! 

There is a new online Christian social networking site and I personally know the folks that launched it! They have launched a site called FaithVine.com through the company Red McCombs Media. Thought some of you might be interested in checking it out some time. A couple of you might recognize some of the devotional content providers (Fritsche among others.) I think it's a cool site and I now know there is good content for the online junkies looking to connect with the Word and with other believers. Check it out! www.faithvine.com

After about 3 months, I am set to rejoin the ranks of full-time employment.  I have agreed to become the Product Development Manager - Hardware and Devices at a great company that creates Electronic Medical Records software and integrates lightweight medical devices with various hardware components like tablet PC's as well as various software components like charting software.  I will be responsible for owning the hardware and device development process, which means I will drive out the requirements from our internal clients and work with our hardware and procurement teams to deliver the solution.  Technically, I will be developing the integration points between the devices and the various components.  So, it is really a good marriage between my technical background and my business background.  This is something that I have been patiently hoping to find and am very blessed to be joining the incredible team there, including Rich Steinle, who hired me, and Tony Dicuffa, who I have worked with in the past.

My first day will be the first of May.  The only downside is that the office is located in the Arboretum area so I will be joining those who battle Mopac every day.  I am hoping to work out a schedule that will allow me to come in early or later so as to avoid the mad rush hour. 

There's much more I could write but I'll stop for now.  Next week, I will be tackling a long list of "stuff" that I'd like to get done before I start working again.  One of them will be reflecting over the past few months and might include a blog entry or two. 

I don't have much time to give the details right now but....I got a job!!!

I'll keep this brief, but I wanted to let everyone know that we lost our best friend yesterday. Bodie was hit and killed by a car yesterday and we are devastated. We never knew that we could love a dog so much. I know all of the dog owners out there know what we're going through. Please pray for peace and that we will be able to move on while hanging on to our memories of Bodie. Thank you.

It has been a few weeks since I've posted anything, so thought I would write a quick catch-up post for all of my..ahem...faithful readers (I know you're out there somewhere). Most of you knew that I decided to leave my job recently. I have been trying to take my time and be patient for God's leading as I consider what the next step is in my career. I have a couple of potential open doors that I'm considering right now which is exciting.

I have tried to enjoy this transitional period (with Jan's encouragement and support) by doing some fun things. At first I felt guilty to do this and found my self doing our taxes and reorganizing our filing cabinet. The latter task was kind of fun because it actually involved shredding a bunch of old documents, something that Dwight Shrute would definitely respect and appreciate. After that "fun" wore off, I finally got out and went camping at Enchanted Rock for one night which was great fun. ERock is really unique and so close to Austin. It is so random that there is this huge chunk of granite rock in the middle of the hill country! I need to take Jan there soon since she's never been there. Also, we finally got some really nice weather last week so I took my kayak out to Town Lake and enjoyed the 76 degree weather.

The fun didn't last too long, as this weekend I have been sick and had to confine myself indoors the whole time. I am pretty sure I am on the downhill side of this crap and look forward to stepping foot outside of the house tomorrow.
Reading "Rich Dad Poor Dad"

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2581868&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Pretty classy if you ask me.  This does not surprise given how the UT fans were treated up there last year.  I think I'll be a Michigan fan the rest of the year.  Heck, at least West Virginia only trashes their own town!  If I were the City of Austin, I would send the bill for all of the damage and police/fire fighter time straight to Columbus.  Ridiculous.

Contributor's Note (added 9/12/06): I should have read this closer as these events happened in Columbus and not Austin.  Still, it is stupid to burn things when your team wins, or loses for that matter, no matter where it is. 

Oh, the sheer embarassment and stupidity this guy must have felt...

I love Austin.  I love living in Austin.  Most of you who know me, know that.  Well, sometimes it is nice to have others agree with this sentiment.  Money Magazine voted Austin 2nd in Best Places to Live (Big Cities.)  To me, this seems like great news!  However, there's the other side of this that "let's the cat out of the bag."  Oh well, I think it's too late to keep too many people from discovering Austin and moving here.  I do wish there was something we could do to keep people from a certain other un-named state from buying up properties as investments.  But, then again, there's good and bad to that practice/phenomenon as well.  If we do ever move from here, it would be difficult to do so.  It's hard to duplicate such a cool city such as Austin!

This Sunday, UBC Waco will be meeting back in their old building for the first time since Kyle Lake's accident.  Jan and I are most likely going to go and support the church.  I'm really excited and I know that it will be a great event in the life of that awesome church as it goes forward. 

A friend of mine has been working on a really cool new web application, but not just for us to look at and admire it.  We can actually use it!  It is called Showtime Maps and it is a great way to find movie listings.  Right now, it works for the Austin and Los Angeles markets.  The interface is really cool because it uses a very clean map display to show what theaters are showing what movies.  Give it a try at http://www.showtimemaps.com and let me know what you think about it.

 

I'm excited to announce that after several months of "thinking about it" Jan has created her own blog and can be found here!  I kind of like her domain name personally. 

Okay, I have either fallen to social pressures of keeping up with the latest web community trend or I have a death wish, because I now have a MySpace space.  Check it out, but be careful - it can be kind of addictive.

I will continue to blog here, so no need to check both blogs. 

Commentary:  MySpace has to be one of the worst designed sites in regards to user experience and interface.  I guess you can get away with that sometimes when the concept itself becomes bigger than focusing on the actual user experience.  Just my 2 pennies.