***drool***

Just finished reading...

Now that I've graduated (woohoo!) and have free time on my hands, I've been reading for fun again! I figure I'll blog about the books I read from now on ... if I like them ... and maybe if I don't like them. I just finished reading two books by Donna Tartt: "The Secret History" and "The Little Friend". Below are my blurbs about the books.

The Secret History
This was a really good book ... but in a really weird way. By the end of the first page, you are told by the main character, Richard, that he and the eccentric group of classmates kill one of their own group members. What you don't know is why, how, and what leads up to the murder.
Review in brief: Weird, but very good. "Classic."








The Little Friend
I really, really liked this book. The Dufresnes family lives in the shadow of the brutal murder of Robin, the family’s first child and beloved son. The suspect trail turns cold and no one is ever arrested, and the broken family is emotionally haunted by the tragedy. Over a decade later, Harriet, now an ornery, precocious 12-year-old, decides to find the identity of her brother’s killer and finds herself in more danger than she could have ever imagined.
Review in brief: VERY good! Read this book! My only complaint is that it does leave a few unanswered questions that make you wish there was another book that continued the story. Read a few pages at Amazon.com!

Geek Like Me!

I am *so* proud of Vicki! Last Friday night (...into Saturday morning) she and I attended the midnight charity screening of Serenity at the Addison Studio Movie Grill. Once we were able to pull ourselves away from watching Mike, the absolute fastest bartender either one of us has seen ( ... and Vicki's seen quite a few!), we mingled with our fellow Browncoats and had ourselves a right nice shindig.

Corina was nice enough to loan us her Jayne Hat, and I wore it for a while, but Vicki wore it for the vast majority of the evening. She looked so cute!! Click on Vicki's picture and browse through the pictures.


Pretty cunning ... don't ya think?!

Mentos + Diet Coke ...

You've probably seen the video online of the girl doing the Mentos & Diet Coke experiment (if not, click here). I stumbled upon a new M+DC video that IMHO is much, much cooler! Check it out...

Happy Serenity Day!

SERENITY NOW/EQUALITY NOW
47 Screenings In Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, United States

Joss Whedon's Serenity on the big screen.
On Joss Whedon's birthday.
To benefit Joss Whedon's favorite charity, Equality Now.
... And Vicki and I will be there! (Along w/ Corina's way-cool Jayne hat!)

• 9pm: Pre-screening shindig @ Addison Studio Movie Grill
  
• 12am: CAN'T STOP THE SERENITY, BABY!!!
  

I've been cited on Boing Boing!

One of the coolest websites -- Boing Boing -- cited some info I sent in regarding one of their posts! Now this may seem very minor to you, but this is really, really cool for me! Click the image below to see the original post.


Sweet! Needless to say, I emailed all the folks I know who read Boing Boing!

Proof!

As *proof* that I actually did graduate, I've scanned in the proofs for the professional graduation pictures that were taken at the ceremony back in May.







Still waiting on the school to mail me the actual degree. Can't wait to get it framed and up on my wall!

Hello! Photos!

As promised, I have uploaded my photos from the Vertigo USA concert.

Click on the images below to see the entire set.





















Click on the images above to see the entire set.

Vertigo USA!

Greetings all!

Last Friday, Fatima and I saw the U2 tribute band Vertigo USA perform at a local restaurant/bar called Firewater, and it was truly a *wonderful* time! The band was really good -- Bono (aka Alan) was really good at copying all of Bono's mannerisms. We sang at the top of our lungs for three hours. The band played several songs from the last two albums as well as several classics. Surprises included "Party Girl", "Ultra Violet", "Spanish Eyes", "Out of Control", and "Sweetest Thing".

I was able to shoot some small video clips of the Vertigo USA's performance. Below are Real Video links to these clips. These were shot using the compact video option on my camera, so they're pretty small; however, you can resize and it's a little easier to see. Enjoy!

Vertigo USA Video Clips

Bullet the Blue Sky

Mysterious Ways

God Part 2

In God's Country

Spanish Eyes

Where the Streets Have No Name

Party Girl



More photos will be posted soon ... promise!

Bats! (And a really great hotel!)

Last week, my co-workers and I attended the IOL Conference down in Austin. It was a really great conference -- lots of geeky educational stuff. What was really nice was that it almost completely related to instructional design, which is what I do. Usually, when you go to a e-learning conference, there is one -- maybe two -- tracks that apply to design ... which is fine. But this conference, each time slot had 4 or 5 difference sessions that we wanted to go to, which was great. So, we all kind of spread out and got the most out of it.

To kick off the conference, Wednesday evening we spent a lovely evening on what my fellow attendees called "The Bat Boat". We floated along the narrow strip of the Lake Travis that stretches up into downtown Austin, and once dusk arrived, we watched as millions of bats took flight from underneath the Congress Street bridge. What I found truly amazing was how organized these creatures were in this. They began by coming out of the left side of the bridge, then gradually moved to those coming out from under the middle area, then from the right. Very organized. And of course, I had my camera in had to document the event.

Click HERE to see the entire set.












Oh, and my hotel room (at the Hyatt Regency) had a really great view overlooking the river and the Austin skyline. Of course, I snapped a few (dozen) photos of the view from my room.

Click HERE to see the entire set.

Baseball!

Ok, I am a *little* behind on my postings -- Sorry! A lot has been going on over the past two weeks. So ... let's go way back to May 25, when my three co-workers -- Darren, Qin, and Corina -- and I were allowed to have a Morale Day. That afternoon, we spent the afternoon at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, enjoying a daytime game between the Texas Rangers and the LA Angels.

First off, we knew it would be a *great* afternoon when we walked up to the ticket booth about to purchase our $6 cheap seats, when a lady walked up to us and said she had four $36 tickets she needed to give away. Ummm ... ok. Thanks! As we walked in and checked out our seats, a song came on the radio ... "The heart is a bloom, Shoots up through the stony ground, ...." It was a beautiful day.

We spent the afternoon walking around the ballpark, taking it in from different vantage points. It was my first major league ballgame, so my goal was to see everything I could (and of course document it with my trusty ol' digital camera). We ventured over to where we originally were going to sit, back in the stands ... which, by the way, are covered, so on a 90 degree day are well worth the $6 price ... and got an up-close and personal look at the pitcher's dugout.

Ah, nachos, hot dogs, fish (Qin found a restaurant that actually had fish!), and huge drinks in plastic cups that don't have lids (not a good thing for me!).

And after the game, we (and about 500 other baseball fans) were allowed to run on the field around the bases. (This was especially cool b/c Darren, who has been to about a billion Ranger games, had never been out on the field, so it was completely new to him, too!)

Wonderful, wonderful day. I went home happy and exhausted, with a Rangers tatoo on my cheek.

Click on the images below to see the entire set.











Click on the images above to see the entire set.

Stuck in my head: Stars

(Thank you Pandora.)

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful song. Listen to it HERE.

Stars, "Elevator Love Letters"

I'm so hard for a rich girl.
My heels are high, my eyes cast low
and I don't know how to love.
I get too tired after mid-day, lately
I take it out on my good friends,
but the worst stays in or where would I begin?

My office glows all night long.
It's a nuclear show and the stars are gone.
Elevator, elevator, take me home.

I'm so hard for the rich girl,
Her heels so high and my hopes so low,
'Cause I don't know how to love.
I'll take her home after midnight
and if she likes, I'll tell her lies
of how we'll be in love by the morning.
I don't think she'll know that I'm saying goodbye...

My office glows all night long
It's a nuclear show and the stars are gone.
Elevator, elevator, take me home.

Don't go. Say you'll stay.
Spend a lazy Sunday in my arms,
I won't take anything away.

Don't go. Say you'll stay.
Spend a lazy Sunday in my arms,
don't take anything away...