A Couple of Links

I'm busy here in Waco. But I will share with you a couple of links that I stumbled upon today.

First, this is probably my favorite news story:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5766288?FSO1&ATT=HMA

And secondly, this website was brought to my attention by Clinton. It's a website where people can go submit their secrets for all to read. Get it off your chest, feel better, blah blah. It's a marketing campaign for Secret Deodorant. BUT, look at the secret I found on there!

http://www.secret.com/share/secrets.asp?id=3186

Technology

Last night I went to Lakeside Bible church, got to meet several people my age. College students of course. I'm not old enough to feel comfortable sitting at a table with a man and his wife and kids as I began the night doing. The college crowd was much more comfortable. As I said, this is a small church, so the college group was about 7 people. All of them were totally cool, people I could hang out with. We went to IHOP after church, apparently the place to hang out in Lake Conroe. Not as cool as Sonic or Whataburger, but a decent hangout nonetheless. I'm sad because I'll be gone for the next couple of Wednesdays and Sundays, so I'll be absent from this church.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired of technology. Working at my company, all of my time is spent near a computer or at least talking about them. When I come home, the thought of sitting in front of another one kid of makes me nausiated, so this is all I'm typing. I will now sit on the couch and shoot nerf darts for my cat to chase.

"Blow North Korea Off The Map" Party!

And all 191 of you countires are invited! Come on China! Frane, you can join us. Australia, you're always welcome! And what the heck, Principality of Sealand, we'll see you there! Yeah, World Party!

What is that crazy little North Korean man going to do next?

Happy 4th of July!

When I showed up to work this morning, I found out that we only had to be there till noon. So it's 3:00PM now and I'm already in College Station blogging. And this is after a nap! I love half days.

Other than that, have a great 4th of July and I know it's very cliche, but do remember how lucky you are to have the freedoms that we have here in the United States. People have a lot of complaints with the country and the government, but shut your mouth for a second and realize what a blessing it is to live free in a country as great as ours.

One Year and Counting

And so today marks mine and Penny's one year anniversary. Funny how one year's time can seem so short and yet it seems like I've known her forever.

One year and I love her more than ever.

Home again

I made it back home. 7 Hour drive from Falfurrias. Why? Because we hit Houston traffic at 5PM on a Friday...of a holiday weekend. Probably the number one worst time to come through H-town. I don't know how Anna is going to like me going to Waco in a couple of weeks. She's mad at me as it is. She's always mad at me, but especially since I left her her for the past 3 days. Kevin visited her briefly to check on her, but about 99% of the time was spent alone. And she got locked in the bathroom. She wasn't happy about being cooped up. Poor thing.

I wish she spoke English. I could tell her what is going on. And to stop getting in my bathtub...

On to Corpus Christi

First off, typically I won't be traveling this much forever. Right now is the busy time for us. Couple the fact that this is the time in which we do upgrades with the fact that there are a lot of conventions and such that we need to be at during the summer and the result is a busy traveling schedule for the company. Now add in the fact that I am new and they want me to be exposed to all of this, so they send me along on most travel oppurtunities that arise. And that my friends is why I'm in a different city every week. My stay in Montgomery was short. I came back from the Plano and Kerrville trip Thursday night plenty tired and ready for sleep, so I unpacked quickly, dumped my dirty clothes in the hamper, threw my clean clothes in the closet and went to sleep as soon as I could. Friday I left work early and after a short nap, I made my way to CS for the weekend. It was a great weekend. We celebrated Penny's birthday Sunday night, so I got to see and hang out with everyone, just like the old days (6 weeks ago). After work on Monday, I once again drove to College Station for the night to spend the evening with Penny on her birthday. I thouroughly enjoyed the time I spent with her, as always. Once I got home late Monday night, it was sleep time. After work on Tuesday, Kevin and I went and ate at the Magnolia Diner which had just opened right next door to my apartment. I'd been anticipating the opening ever since I moved in. The atmosphere was nice, the food was decent, but I was a bit disappointed. After going to Wal-Mart with Kevin it was already nearing after 10PM. So I quickly washed some clothes, which then caused a shift of dirty clothes to the closet floor and clean clothes in the hamper. Make-shift organization often causes a mess. After packing, I slept. I woke up this morning at 5:15, got ready and headed to Corpus with my coworker. I'll be here till Friday evening, which means I will arrive home late Friday night to a mess I still surely won't want to deal with. And in closing, that is why I haven't blogged...

Somewhere in the whirlwind of activity, I also changed cell phone providers. My motorola...ahem my third Motorola in a row gave out on me. Perfect time for me to compare phone companies. T-Mobile came out on top for me. I knew what phone I wanted, all the companies provided a similar one. And my research put T-Mobile over Cingular most notably on price and service rating.

My family just left, we went to eat at Fridays. I'm sorry I won't have anymore time to spend with them this week. I don't get down here as often as I'd like.

Alright... I am tired. But it's only 8:30, so I'm going to go to Barnes and Noble and hang out till I'm ready to come back and go to bed. They're open till 11, I won't be utilizing those hours to the fullest, I promise.

Holdin It Down In Plano

Yeah, I'm in Plano. This internet cost me...well the company $10. The stinkin' Marriott doesn't give free internet. Bums... Anyway, I'm put up in this Marriott in Legacy Park. Plano's got it goin on. I haven't got to get out too much. I've walked around here, eaten at a few of the restaraunts around the block. I was at the Fox Sports Grill tonight since I was on my own. Its good to see that there are some hockey fans here in Texas. All the diners were rooting for Carolina in tonight's Stanley Cup Game 7. Most lilkely because they want America to beat Canada in this Carolina Vs. Ottawa championship. It looks to me that it will have that outcome. It's currently 2-1 Carolina's favor in the 3rd. Anyway I'll be leaving here at noon tomorrow to go to Kerrville. I think I'll be sharing a room with the boss man, so I doubt I'll get too much internet access. It's been a busy day, met some comissioners and judges, including the guy responsible for getting those protestors off Bush's ranch. An interesting mix of liberals and ultra conservatives. Lunch was Mi Cocina. No, not the one in CS, a different chain that actually serves decent Mexican food. Especially if you like live bees in your tacos. Yeah, our food got comped because there was a bumble bee walking around my plate when they brought it out. Oh well, it's not like we pay for the meals anyway. Ottawa's got a powerplay now. Better get back to the game.

Kitten's Greatest Hits

Alright, I'm about to head out of town. But before I do, I decided to put up another video. This has been up for about a week and 112 people viewed it. I've made Kitten a star! The video of course is the classic, "Flying Kitten." Enjoy.

Business Trip

Hey kids, it's Friday, whoop! I haven't gotten to whoop too much since getting here, I just realized that. Anyway, I doubt I'll be able to blog too much either this next week. I will be in Dallas all week for work, so I can't promise any posts between now and then. Just a heads up for y'all. Hope summer school is going well for all you kiddos, I plan on being in College Station next weekend. And those of you that aren't in school, it's pretty awesome not having any homework, isn't it? Alright, keep it real and just roll it back like Wal-Mart.

Creativity

It's been a long week here in Montgomery county. Not that I've done all that much other then go to work. Maybe that's the problem. My cat is no longer in heat, which means I'm not nearly as irritated with her. Kevin recieved a rather nice BBQ pit from his dad, he brought it up here Monday and we assembled it last night. It's pretty nice, but when we were done, it was much past dinner time, so we had to settle for an IHOP dinner.

Now let me tell you a few of the people's names that I've encountered recently. First, there is Arizona Jean. If her last name was Company, it still wouldn't be cool... Secondly, of course, is Mary Christmas. And finally, the woman with the first name Queen and the last name Elizabeth. Ok, let me remind you that creativity is important, but people, please, you do not get points for creativity when you're naming your children.

Anyway, mainly I just wanted to post to avoid another lengthy abscence. So, I'm around. If you see a blue Civic driving down the roads of Montgomery, breifcase in the passenger seat, Beastie Boys in the CD player, that's me keepin it real.

"Life At The Ranch"

Sorry I didn't update last week, it was a hectic day with me driving 3-4 hours everyday. This next week won't be quite that bad. And by bad, I don't mean unenjoyable, I mean hectic. I'm still enjoying it.

Anyway, as some of you know, a couple of weeks ago I finished the editing of the documentary that we filmed before I moved out. This weekend brought the Screening and the World Premiere of the DVD, "Life At The Ranch." It was given good reviews and commanded applause from the first audience. Now, here it is for all the world to see. It's cut up into 3 parts due to YouTube's time restrictions. It's about 23 minutes total and the end seems to be everyone's favorite (including mine). So, enjoy and let us know what you think. If you wanna watch the DVD, which obviously is much better quality then you'll see here, other showings may be on the way.


Life At The Ranch: Part 1




Life At The Ranch: Part 2




Life At The Ranch: Part 3

The Scottish Uprising Will Not Be Televised

I went to a church this morning that is approximately 1.5 minutes from my apartment. I enjoyed it. An Aggie sat next to me, she was class of '02. After the service she (and her husband, and 3 other people) wanted to make sure I met the college pastor. They were all fully aware that I had graduated, but they thought that I should fellowship with people my own age. I'm not an old guy yet, there are plenty of '06ers that are still in school (and 'o5ers!). So I was invited to the college bible study tonight. In addition, he invited me to his Sunday School class next week. Now this is a small church, so his Sunday school class is not just college students. It a wide variety that streches from 7th Grade - College. A little too weird for me honestly... But I got my small loaf of bread and a cassette tape and came home.

At home, Kevin was getting some cable out of his Directv van. Apparently since he has that van in the parking lot and the complex uses Directv, the other tenants think that he works for the complex. Anyway, he had an easy job for a woman that approached him this morning, so he was readying a cable to take over there to her. As he was doing so, our Scottish neighbor walked over. He was ready to rant about Directv to Kevin. We'd talked earlier about how inconvenient it is that our apartment complex will only allow us to go through a specific provider for internet and phone and through Directv for cable. The fact that their company only offers slow internet irked me. Them not allowing an international call package irritated ol' Scotty who makes a lot of international calls. And the both of us agreed that the cable service they offer has its negetives. I like the channels we get, College Sports TV rocks my face. However, the fact that there is no guide on the screen and since we have a hodgepodge of stations, there's no guide online or in print that will help us out, we never know what is on any given station. Also, there's no box on our tv, so DVR is out of the question. Now those were the complaints that Scotty was ready to file with Kevin. As little tv as I watch, it hasn't been as huge of an ordeal for me. However, my Scottish friend exclaimed that the World Cup is coming up and since it's in Germany, the live broadcasts will be coming on early in the morning. Since Kevin could not help him, we suggested talking to the front office about it and I gave him a channel guide.
"If I am going to miss the World Cup, there will be a Scottish uprising over there," he said in his thick Scottish accent as he pointed to his apartment. "If you hear curse words being yelled in Scottish, you'll know where it's coming from."

So, while Germany has been taking extra precautions this year to help protect against hooliganism, they've forgot to secure Montgomery Trace apartments. Let's hope this is corrected by June 9th...

Confetti!

Chris' Tip of the Day:
The easiest way to make confetti? Leave a pamplet in the back pocket of your jeans when you wash them. When the spin cycle is done, it's like a little party in your washing machine. And stuck all over your clothes and towels... It's the easiest way, but realize that it is also the most inconvenient method...

Gettin Krunk

Just came in from playing ball in my parking lot. Not as easy as it has been. The parking lot down near my apartment is getting pretty crowded... My normal ball-playing spot was pretty convenient and quite accomadating, but now it's over.

Penny came and visited me this weekend, which I loved. We spent some time in The Woodlands and then in Conroe at the outlet mall. What do you do with a girl? Take her shopping is usually a pretty easy answer... Honestly, I needed some new clothes. Grownup clothes. And I got plenty. For dinner tonight, we ate at a nice little place here in Montgomery, the Heritage House Restraunt. It's the oldest restraunt in this historic city. It had good food, good service, and huge portions. I've learned that Montgomery is not short on good places to eat. My favorite part of the dining experience was the fact that our elderly waitress left the tea and water pitcher on our table so that she could easily fill people's glasses sitting near us. I opted to fill my own whenever I needed to. Penny's gone now, always the worst part of the visit... Kevin's coming up here tonight to bring a second load of stuff as he's finally moving in.

A little story from tonight. Penny's gone, I'm doing laundry, so I have some basketball shorts and a wife beater on, my music pumped up so I can dance around my house and get straight krunk. I push the load in the washing machine and head out to my car to get some shoes out of the back seat. As I walk out and close my door, I can still hear the beat bumpin inside my apartment. Just then, some people in the apartment across from me leave. It's my new neighbor's parents. I didn't know anyone was in there, I didn't expect to see anyone out there, I've been the only tenant in my entire building for the past 2 weeks, so seeing actual people was a surprise. The father looked at me with a slight scowl and said nothing. The mother faked a smile.
"Hi," I said, "Are y'all moving in there?"
"No," the woman replied. "Our daughter is moving in. Her friend will also be living there." The conversation abruptly ended.
Uncomfortable and overly aware of my appearance, I quickly said "I don't normally dress like this.." a little louder than I meant to. "I've been the only person here for two weeks so I didn't think anyone would be out here."
The woman nodded, flashed a quick smile and added, "That's the nice part about being by yourself." The man remained silent as he walked to his car and got in. The woman walked to the passenger's side. I shrugged, went to my car and then returned to my house for the rest of my dance party.

I asked for neighbors and now I got 'em. So far however, they've been a real inconvenience and apparently, they don't approve of the way I dress. They probably think I'm a young punk kid. I have a job! With a briefcase! And clients! Bah...so much for the first impression.

Mmm...Cheesecake

So, yeah it's 10PM and I'm just now getting home. It was a long day (which isn't necessarily bad). I got to hang out with the clients all day, learn some more stuff. It was all good. I got off work a little before 5, we had dinner in The Woodlands at 7, so there was no sense in me coming home between then, so I ran some errands and hung out at The Woodlands Mall. All kinds of interesting people in there. Somehow a group of 4 punks tried to have a quasi-thug look, but retaining their upper class preppiness all the while. They irritated me as they hung out between Banana Republic and Abercrombie, so I moved across the mall to another bench. Anyway, 7 rolled around and I got an abundance of good food, courtesy of my company at The Cheesecake Factory. We had so many appetizers, I filled up on that by the time my food came. And then was dessert. Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake is probably the best thing ever. It's even better than mashed potatoes. Anyway, as I was saying, a long day isn't necessarily bad. So far, all things have been good in Montgomery. I have been blessed with a job that I am liking and a nice little town to come home to. Of course I miss the comfort and friends College Station provides and the family in Corpus, but for now I can call Montgomery "home."

I bought the Lecrae album today in The Woodlands, I've listened to a couple of songs off of it, I was on the phone most of my driving time tonight. But as we already know, it was straight krunk.

Another thing that I think is awesome is a new CD of lullabies. These lullabies are put out by some company (Rock-A-Bye Records Maybe?) to soothe your child, you know typical lullaby stuff. The awesome part: they do it by toning down rock artists. Right now, they've released their first 5 (or so) records, including Metallica of course. Maybe that's something even I could fall asleep to.

And lastly, it's June 1st, which of course is the first day of Hurricane Season. Always an exciting time as we coastal people know. Happy Hunting.

Scotty

First off, a happy birthday to Kevin. He arrived at my door today, accompanied by Jason. They just stopped by to say hello. It was nice to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while. Especially here in Montgomery where familiarity is rare.

I did meet a Scottish man tonight, helped him move a few things in his apartment, which is across the parking lot. Tomorrow at work, a lot of clients will be in for a workshop. This will be a good opportunity for me to learn some things, meet some clients, and eat at the Cheesecake Factory tomorrow night. So I look forward to it.

In other news, I got a wireless router for my apartment since no one around me has wireless for me to steal. Well actually...no one lives around me... Anyway, I encrypted it so that people can't freeload off of me like I was accustomed to doing in Fox Meadows.

And finally, I've discovered that Lecrae has some skills that few can match. He's a rapper that gives all his glory to God. So yeah, he's a Christian rapper. If you think that's whack, give this guy a listen. Hard beats, smart rhymes while spittin the Truth through his lyrics the whole time. I'm kind of upset that I missed this guy when he came to College Station this past semester. I heard he was coming, but at the time had no idea who he was. Here's a portion of his testimony, hip hop style: Take Me As I Am. His crew, Clique 116 (for Romans 1:16) has several other members also commited to spreading the gospel through hip hop. Anyway, check em out. Reach Records.

That's it, I'm out. Keep on rockin and make sure you got clean underwear...

Liquor and Lillies

I'm easing in. It hasn't been too bad. 3 days of work the first week and now, this week will have only 4 thanks to Memorial Day. I had fun yesterday. It was good returning to the farm finally. It's been forever!

In other news, I found yet another notable store in Willis. It's a Liquor store that also sells flowers. I imagine they're trying to give men an excuse to stop there on the way home.

Wife: You didn't stop by the liquor store did you?
Man: No way honey! I stopped by the *hic* florist. I got you a 12 pack...err dozen roses!

Why is it in cartoons, hiccups are a dead giveaway that someone's been drinking. I think that's a much simpler sobriety test.

Anyway, not much else going on. I went to Wells Fargo and Philly Connection during my lunch break today. I'm branching out, trying new food places and learning the city some...well the Northwest side anyway. Tonight I'll be cooking some Sausage and Egg taquitos on my new electric griddle. Thanks Penny!

I got mail today! For the first time since living here, my mail box wasn't empty. And just when I thought I'd been giving out the wrong address. It wasn't much, just one piece of mail. But it was a check from IHS. Which marks not only my first piece of mail here in Montgomery, but also my first paycheck from a big person job. What a day! And now to celebrate, how about those taquitos?

My First Day and Other Lessons From Conroe

Well that was it. My first day is over. It wasn't bad. I don't feel like I accomplished all that much and I have no idea what tomorrow has in store for me (other than lunch with a client). I do know that over the next couple of months, I'll be traveling quite a bit around Texas.

Other than work, I've been doing some other learning. I've learned that people in Conroe are terrible drivers. On my first 4 days here, I daily saw at least one person blatently run a red light (it happened twice yesterday). That doesn't mean it turned red as they were driving under it. It means that it was red long before they got to the white line that you're supposed to stop at and sped through anyway. We don't do that where I come from! Welcome to Houston traffic, I'm very glad I live in Montgomery away from that. All I have to deal with is the speedsters.

Secondly, I learned that the people here sure love having shops that combine random products and services. For instance, on my way to work, I pass by a "Psychic." They have signs offering palm reading, tarot cards, all that nonsense. Surrounding this small building are numerous boats. And a sign sits below the sign reading "Psychic" that says "We Buy Boats!" That's got to be a good sign for the used boating industry. If a psycic is getting into the business, good things are sure to be coming... Right... Also, in Willis yesterday I passed a small shop that had two products. Liquor and Doughnuts. That's all. I can't imagine any reason that someone would decide to open Frank's (I don't remember the name) Liquor and Donuts. Well, maybe they want to provide for the morning commute and the after-work commute... Or maybe, heck, people like holes in their pastries? How about some holes in your liver as well?

The End Of Summer As We Know It

Well, today is my last day of summer. Ever. I guess tomorrow I will be thrown into adulthood. It's been a fun 22 years. Now I'm going to try something else. I'm a little nervous about the job, starting a real, meanigful careeer. I think I like all the people I'm going to be working with and the job. It's just different once you're actually in there everyday. I hope I'm a right fit mainly. It's exactly 15 minutes from here to work. I made the drive this morning at 7:30 to test it out. Then I came home and had a nap. Something everyone should do on the last day of summer. Those naps are going to become nearly extinct.

I'm mainly excited because my Penny is coming up to see me this evening! Apparently she misses me enough to drive the 45 minutes after work. I've missed her too. Well, it's time to do something... I haven't quite decided what yet. But here's what you can do. Read this comic.












The story of my life...