What the frick happened to the last 2 weeks? It's been exactly 2 weeks since my last posting (and yes Smelmooo - I made it back from Detroit alive!)

Detroit was good. I was there for work. Our office there is in an awesome old high-rise in downtown Detroit. The weather was great too (70s and mostly sunny). Of course there's pictures.

I got back from Detroit last Friday night, and then my wifey took me on a surprise trip up North for my birthday. She planned a night in Prescott, dinner at a recommended restaurant, and then a train trip on Sunday.

We had a nice, relaxing lunch up in Flagstaff and a scenic ride back South through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona... and of course there's photos.

Dinner that night was at 129 1/2 an American Jazz Grille. It was a small restaurant recommended by my wifey's coworker (thanks Krysti!) Maybe it was because we had reservations, but they sat us right up front next to the 3 piece jazz band. It was awesome! She had a Salmon dish and I had Duck. Both were amazing! We highly recommend this place (if you should ever happen to be in Prescott, AZ!)

The next day we went up to Clarkdale to ride the Verde Canyon Railroad. I had read about this railroad a few years ago and had been trying to find occasions to do the trip. So my wifey surprised me with the trip.

Their seasonal theme was "Ales on Rails." So I had a chance to try a few nice micro brew beers.



The weather was perfect and the leaves were starting to change with plenty of shades of yellows and gold... why yes, it's funny you should ask, there are pictures!

After getting back from a nice weekend away, my wifey left for Tampa (for work for a few days.)

And that led up to this past weekend...


Halloween party at Tina & Chad's. We dresed up as Gomez and Morticia Addams. I think we pulled it off... as well as a pair of Asians could do at least. The party was fun, and their house was nicely decorated. YES, YES, YES already... there are photos.

And finally last night we celebrated Paulina and my birthdays with a picnic at Tempe town lake. Forget it - here's the freakin' photos.

Labels: Detroit, halloween, photography, Prescott, sedona, tempe, verde canyon railroad, work

posted by jame1030 at 11:14 PM |   |  1 comments  |  links to this post

Tomorrow I leave on a work trip to Detroit. Yeah, Detroit.

On one hand . . .

It's a city I've never been to before. The office and hotel are in downtown Detroit. The hotel is about a 10 minute walk from the office and is located in Greektown. From what I've read, it seems like an interesting place. Seems like we'll get a good taste of Detroit.

On the other hand . . .

It's Detroit.
It's probably not on my list of places that I wanted to check out, and I'd imagine that this may be my one and only time ever in Detroit. Hopefully it's a good trip, and I come back with a new opinion . . . at least we get to catch up with the other offices. Everyone is pretty cool.

Labels: Detroit, Greek, travel, work

posted by jame1030 at 11:44 PM |   |  1 comments  |  links to this post

I'm sitting here at work staring out the window wondering when I should leave work today. I shouldn't even be here. It is one of our Friday's off. But instead I chose to come into work and try to get ahead of next week's onslaught of deadlines and demands.

I just came back from Fate for lunch, and now I'm stuffed. Hell, it's Friday - I even had a beer with lunch.

Today is a gorgeous day. So I had a nice walk back to the office.

But now I'm torn: Should I be a good employee and be useful and get a bunch of work done (since there are no distractions) or should I be a bum and just go home?

I don't want to be here.

I'll probably fart around for a little longer and then head out of here. I want to be out of here soon - the traffic is gonna be bad already.

At least my wifey is finally recuperating and has returned to the land of the living.

Labels: Fate, Friday, sick, wifey, work

posted by jame1030 at 2:14 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

Yeup... busy as usual. blah blah blah.

Work's been very busy... proposals and interviews@

We've been so busy since Rocky Point. Almost every weekend has been busy with things.

So what's new?

We bought a Nintendo Wii last Friday night. The thing is freaking cool! We love it! I guess we're a little out of shape - after a full weekend with a lot of Wii-time, we were both sore(head to toe)! How PATHETIC!


So far we only Wii Sports and Madden 2007. I want to get Tiger Woods Golf!

The boxing game is a good work out.


My new car is awesome. I was pissed: just before 2 weeks of owning the car, I got a large crack low on the passenger side! Fucker! Oh well, it's bound to happen sooner or later out here.

ok... I started this post a few days ago and never finished it (I probably fell asleep on the couch!)

So now it's late Friday night, and I'm chillin in front of the tv (as usual). I just finished playing a round of all the Wii Sports games (except for boxing - it wears me out!)

At work we just finished an interview for a major project across the street. Hopefully we win the job - it would be sweet!

Otherwise, the wifey is away all weekend and comes back on Monday. She and the girls are out on their bachelorette party weekend to Disney. So I have a bachelor weekend of lying around the couch watching tv, staying up late, plenty of Wii time, and all-around being a big sack of shit. (Sounds like a good weekend to me!)

Ahhh... back to the Wii!

Labels: car, Disney, jeep, wifey, Wii, work

posted by jame1030 at 12:41 AM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

Tonight is our last night at Rocky Point (Aka Puerto Penasco). I couldn't believe it, but this was our fourth year coming to Rocky Point. It's become our August tradition. The time of year works out well, because the college partiers are back at school and the families are getting set to start the new year up again. So rates are usually pretty decent and there really aren't as many visitors.

This new place, Las Palomoas is fairly new. The first phase is complete and the second (of 3) is halfway done. Each phase has a lazy river with pools and hot tubs in between. There is an infinity edge pool that overlooks the sea and a swim-up bar for drinks and snacks. Overall not a bad way to spend a few days away from Phoenix's hot summer weather.

We're staying for the second year at a business friend's condo. It's a very nice 3 bed/2 bath condo on the 11th floor overlooking the pools and sea. We were the "discoverers" of this gem, so we claimed the master bedroom suite to our selves. The bathroom is nice with tiled dual sinks and a soaking tub and a large standup shower.

We were slightly nervous about the weather holding out. All week long the weathermen kept saying rain for the entire 4 days. It hasn't been too bad. Friday was gorgeous. Saturday was gorgeous. Both days were sunny and temperatures in the upper 80's or low 90's. Last night the winds began to kick up. Up on the 11th floor the winds were unbelieveable!

The winds kept up this morning and the entire day was filled with clouds and occasional rain drops. It was still warm, so I spent much of the day outside on the patio looking out and reading my book. The internet connection has been sporadic, but seemingly strongest out on the patio. This patio is huge and runs the width of the entire unit (from master bedroom wall across the living room and across the second bedroom... probably a good 40-50 feet).

We tried fishing today, but the currents were way too strong. Maybe next time we'll find a decent spot. The next time I want to check out Las Conchas and also Cholla Bay. Hmmm... maybe if I get my Jeep that will be our next mission.

So usually I would be reporting all this crap when I got back, but I've run out of my reading material and have nothing left to keep me occupied. I could be inside watching movies, but it's always a game of how long it takes for me to start nodding off. Last night three of us tried to make it through the second Lord of the Rings movie on tv. Oh my god... it seemed like the longest film ever.

Anyway... that's about it. We're back home tomorrow. Check out by noon and then we'll be home by like 4.

It's nice all these days are just comp days for me. At least I get to keep my vacation days building for our big trip at the end of the summer.

Work told me to take Tuesday off too. I told them I had a bunch to do at work, and they told me I had to take Tuesday off to make up for some extreme hours last week. Last week was the work week from hell: I had 2 proposals due on Monday at noon that I worked Saturday and all night Sunday on. Then on Thursday we had a proposal due that hadn't been started on until Tuesday afternoon. I worked on it Tuesday night and pulled another all nighter on Wednesday night to get it done and sent to our partnering firm on Thursday morning for a Thursday midday deadline.... talk about dedicated, dead-line driven work hours. We will not be doing any over-nighters for a long time!

So work is crazy like usual, but at least we were able to take a long weekend off at the beach.

... as usual, photos to come later this week.

Labels: condo, Mexico, proposals, Rocky Point, travel, vacations, work

posted by jame1030 at 11:58 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

My wifey and I were a part of a charity event called Canstruction. Teams were assembled to build structures out of cans. All the food was then donated to a local food bank. I was assigned the duty of Event Photographer.

It was a long Saturday (8am to 6:30pm). It was way too early to be up on a weekend morning.

After the placement of about 60,000 cans, we had 12 structures built.

The media was out at our event. The television cameras were there. Newspaper reporters were there. It was amazing the coverage the event received.


The local newspaper was also going to run a story today. Lo and behold, they actually ran it. Unfortunately I don't have the article here. I'll post it later.

But the newspaper's website featured a short write-up and featured my photos (with credits)!!! The photos are my best work, but they still made it in the paper!

Check it out here

I hope to also post all my pics from that day (ok, not all 667 photos). Check back soon!

Labels: canstruction, charity, photos, work

posted by jame1030 at 12:16 AM |   |  1 comments  |  links to this post

Monday was Presidents Day, and I spent the day at work. This is nothing new. In my first year of employment at my current firm I've spent many holidays and scheduled Friday Offs at work. We work 8.5 hr days and get certain Fridays off. It works out so that every month we get 2 days off (including holidays).

At this point I'm not really complaining because they've been fairly good at giving me time off when requested. Certain circumstances have caused me to be very busy at work for the past 4 or 5 months...well, actually I've been super swamped since last July. We finally found a new person to replace a coworker that left 2 months ago. I'm hoping this works out. It will definitely help to lighten my load.

On Wednesday I got into a minor fender bender while on my way to work. I had a young girl rear-end me on the highway. My car didn't have much damage (mostly scatches), but hers was banged up good. The hood was crumpled. The front grill was pushed in. I think her radiator was damaged too. Oh well, not my fault. Now lets see how their insurance company is to deal with!

Ironically, two of my coworkers had accidents within 48hrs of my accident, and I almost had another accident this evening! This one was no my fault either.

The weekend is close. How did March come so quickly? It's crazy.

I'm starting to get tired of having dirt and dust everywhere outside our house. We really need to figure out what we're going to do with the front and back yards.

Ok, can this Anna Nicole thing just be over? I'm tired of the news going on and on about this crap. Does anyone really give a shit anymore?

Labels: car, news, work

posted by jame1030 at 12:50 AM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post