Teresa & Mat's American Wedding

Howdy y'all!

Teresa and Mat tied the knot ... again -- this time here in the good ol' U.S.ofA. And of course, my camera was there to capture all 149 special moments.

Click on any image below to see the entire set.





Click on any image above to see the entire set.

Pretty cunning, don't you think?

My pal Corina ... who is completely and totally in love with Jayne Cobb from "Firefly" ... was able to convince her Mom to make her her very own "Jayne Cap". Which I think is just one of the coolest things I've seen in quite some time. :P

despair.com offers words of wisdom...

The folks at despair.com offer some interesting insight on methods of "de-motivating" your staff. Enjoy!

Click on any of the images below to be "de-motivated"!


Principles of Organizational Storytelling


Disconfirmation, Pt. 1


Addressing Employee Complaints

The Three Amigos!

Greetings folks!

It has definitely been a busy week! The annual TxDLA conference took place the first part of this week, and my coworks and I flew down to good ol' San Antonio to take part in the event. Learned a lot, met some new folks, and had a bit o' fun in the evening hours.

Memorable moments from TxDLA:

• My very first presentation at a conference, and it went great! (Thanks to Darren!)
• Listening to 20-35 people singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" (Again, thanks to Darren!)
  
• The Three Amigos! (see photo link below)
  
• The Five Banditos! (see photo link below)

Unfortunately, each time we went out in the evenings, I forgot my camera. However, Sunny saved the day -- she snapped most of the photos linked to below. We had a great time. A little bit of alcohol was involved. And we have photos to prove it! Click on the photos below to see the entire set.



Click on the images above to see entire photo set.

Episode 6 is up (finally)!

Episode 6 of The IT Crowd is up ... finally! Enjoy!
Go here: http://tinyurl.com/llf6y


Aunt Irma Visits
The arrival of Jen's "lady time of the month" has unexpected consequences for the office. Jen's in a bad mood, Moss feels weird, Roy bursts into tears, and even Richmond's been feeling gloomy. The only cure is to have a big girly night out with scented candles and Dirty Dancing saves the day, before cutting a rug at the office party...

"Happy birthday, dear Joey..."

Last night, Roy and I had Joey over to celebrate his birthday, which is tonight. And even though he described blogging as "something teenagers do", I figured I'd share the photos with everyone. Enjoy.

Click on the images below to see the entire set.



Click on the images above to see the entire set.

The IT Crowd

Well, the folks in the UK have done it again. Another great British comedy is now on the air, following in the footsteps of "Faulty Towers", "Are You Being Served", and "Red Dwarf". This time, the new show -- The IT Crowd -- is about a two hilarious computer techs (Moss and Roy) and their not-quite-tech-savvy boss (Jen), and their life in the dungeon ... er, basement of Reynholm Industries. If you have any kind of tech background, I'm pretty sure you'll love this show.


Wikipedia's "The IT Crowd" description:
The IT Crowd is set in the offices of Reynholm Industries, a fictional British corporation in central London. It focuses on the shenanigans of the three-strong IT support team located in a dingy, untidy and unkempt basement - a stark contrast to the shining modern architecture and stunning London views enjoyed by the rest of the organisation.


Moss and Roy, the two technicians, are portrayed as stereotypical socially inept geeks. Despite the company's utter dependence on their services, they are despised by the rest of the staff. Roy's exasperation is reflected in his support techniques of ignoring the phone in the hope it will stop ringing, and using reel-to-reel tape recordings of stock IT suggestions ("Have you tried turning it off and on again?", "Are you sure it's plugged in?"). Moss's wide and intricate knowledge of all things technical is reflected in his extremely accurate yet utterly indecipherable suggestions, while demonstrating a complete inability to deal with practical problems like extinguishing fires and removing spiders.


Jen, the third member of the team, is hopelessly non-technical, despite claiming on her résumé that she has "a lot of experience with computers". As Denholm, the company boss, is equally tech-illiterate, he's convinced by Jen's interview bluffing and appoints her head of the I.T. department. Her official title is "relationship manager", yet her attempts at bridging the gulf between the technicians and the business generally have the opposite affect, landing Jen in situations just as ludicrous as those of her team-mates.


Click on the episode below to view the video.

• Episode 1 - "Yesterday's Jam"
• Episode 2 - "Calamity Jen"
• Episode 3 - "Fifty-fifty"
• Episode 4 - "The Red Door"
• Episode 5 - "The Haunting of Bill Crouse"

I'm still on the lookout for Episode 6 - "Aunt Irma's Revenge". Haven't found it yet, but I'll post the link once I do. Enjoy!

Cristina's Baby Shower & Uncle John's Birthday

Last weekend, my cousin Cristina had her baby shower, and after the celebration, we celebrated my Uncle John's birthday. (Yes, we definitely know how to celebrate!) As expected, my camera was present at both occasions, and I thought I'd share several of my favorite pictures with you guys.

Click on the images below to see the entire collection.






Click on the images above to see the entire collection.

Watch This Movie: MAD HOT BALLROOM

I cannot say enough about this movie -- this is definitely one of my favorite movies of all time. The movie is a documentary about these fifth graders in New York City who learn ballroom dancing and work toward the city-wide competition. The movie is WONDERFUL. I just cannot say enough. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

The official movie website has the trailer and several clips from the movie. You will love this movie. You will fall in love with each and every one of those kids! You will smile so much, your cheeks will hurt! I promise you!

Love it! Love it! Love it!

Movie Recommendation: Crash

The movie depicts several characters and brings them together through car accidents, shootings, and carjackings. Most of the characters depicted in the film are racially prejudiced in some way, and become involved in conflicts which force them to examine their own prejudices. Through these characters' interactions, the film attempts to show that racism is common in modern America.
-- Wikipedia

This is really a great movie, folks. It's already out on DVD. Go rent it -- it's just one of those movies that really moves you. If you're still not convinced, click here to view the trailer.

The Best Concert Photo Ever!

Whoever took this picture -- ***THANK YOU*** Click on the photo below to see a larger version of the image. Great photo of U2 and the fans in Houston in 2005.

... But wait! Can you spot the familiar face(s) in the front row?!


Click on image for larger view.

A few more holes in the head

So, for the past 29 years, I admit I have been too chicken to get my ears pierced. Well, I am proud to announce that I have finally gotten my ears pierced.

Allergy shots every week ... no problem.
Donate blood ... no big deal.
Donate plasma ... piece of cake.

But getting my ears pierced was just too much for me. I think it was because every time I actually thought about doing it and made it all the way to the store to get it done, there was always some baby there getter her ears pierced, and she would scream bloody murder. I always thought to myself, Forget it. That baby won't lie to me. This is gonna hurt.

But, I finally got up the nerve and got it done. (Of course, it helped that I took Roy along with me, and he had threatened to hold me down in the chair if I tried to chicken out.) And it wasn't bad at all.

Click on the images below for a larger view.



Click on the images above for a larger view.

Kinky for President!

Err ... I mean Governor. For those of you who don't know, beloved author, musician, and sharp-witted-cowboy Kinky Friedman is the Independent candidate for governor (of Texas). Kinky's "Why the Hell Not" campaign and political Kinkytoon provide a humorous alternative for voters.

Roy has been a big fan of Kinky's fiction and music for several years, and we recently almost got a chance to meet the man himself a few weekends ago in Grapevine. I say "almost" because we arrive at the restaurant where Kinky was doing his meet & greet, and there was a really long line to meet him. So we snapped a photo of Kinky and one of his fellow musician Little Jewford, and we called it a day.


Kinky Friedman



Little Jewford

And now for something completely random...

Roy's Famous Seafood Surprise

Click on the image above to get a closer view.
Figured I'd throw something just completely random at ya. Roy has this dish (which he's lovingly named "Roy's Seafood Surprise") that of the two times I've made myself taste it actually tastes pretty good.

Don't get me wrong -- Roy's a great cook.

But this one dish ... well, just looking at it takes away any type of appetite I might have had. He gets this "seafood mix" from the grocery store every once and a while, and he mixes up a concoction of spices and juices, and you end up with squid and calamari and olives and random fish in a nice, brown sauce.

Now, I have to stress ... again ... that Roy is really a fantastic cook! He makes the absolute best scrambled eggs and omelets (among other things) in the world!!

Newest Browncoat Update

Hello all. I'm sorry for taking so long to post. Figure I'd better catch you guys up on what's been goin' on.

A couple of weekends ago, my pal Vicki finished her Firefly/Serenity quest by watching the last of disc 4 and watching the movie. Here's a picture of her holding her very own copy of Serenity. *sniff* I'm so proud!

My Sister's Australian Wedding Photos (Finally)!!

So, it was April 2005 when I first promised to upload my sister's wedding photos "soon". In my opinion, "soon" can legitimately mean 9 months. Anyway, here they are. Click on any of the photos below to see the whole collection of photos. Enjoy!

Click on any photo below to see the whole collection.









Click on any photo above to see the whole collection.

Fort Worth Brahmas

Last weekend, Roy's pal Joey had a spare ticket to the Fort Worth Brahmas game. (Roy was then able to find a ticket for a seat right beside them, so I was able to tag along, too.) We had a great time! Click on any of the pics below to see more of our hockey adventure!

Click on any of the photos below to see whole collection.







Click on any of the photos above to see whole collection.

The Newest Browncoat...

We Browncoats welcome Private Vicki C. into our ranks. Yes, Vicki and I held our very own Firefly marathon this past Saturday. Vicki had seen the movie; however, she had yet to experience the wonder of Firefly, the series.



I believe this brings my convert count to 15. I believe I'm doing pretty good. Ain't nothin' in the verse can stop me.

My Office ... with a definite holiday flavor

Howdy folks. Well, now that I have my wonderful digital camera, I finally have some photos of my office. Click here to see my pictures.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Pictures!!

Greetings everyone! We're back from our holiday trip to San Angelo, and -- as expected -- I've taken numerous pictures with my brand new digital camera!

Click here to view my favorite shots!