Vancouver

The trip to Vancouver was great.  It was probably the nicest city I've ever been to.  The only problem is that it is really cold there, so I won't make it a regular place to visit.  The only real bad thing about my timing is that the U.S. Dollar is virtually worthless up there now, so my money didn't go very far.

Vancouver HuSiMeet

I met up with janra and mh, who proceeded to feed me aquadots.  After that, the details got fuzzy but I've been shitting blue face paint for the past week. and there's a weird squeaking noise when I cough.

Just kidding.  In reality, they are two really nice as well as intelligent people.  Mh actually reminds me a little of one of my cousin.  We had pumpkin ale and ate some good food at Steamworks.

Conference

The conference I attended was good.  This is the first time people have tried to recruit me for management positions, so that is cool.  I also learned quite a bit, and got to meet some of the guys that wrote the ITIL books.  They are all sort of like Wallace of the "Wallace and Gromit" series.  I also learned about some new software that should be able to help at work, and it looks like I'll be able to purchase that.

Also at the conference I got surprised by an old colleague from my time in Atlanta.  It was cool to see him, but he doesn't drink and is too..."mature"...now to stay out late.  Still, it was cool to see him.

The swag that I got kind of sucked, but mostly I'm bitter because I didn't win any of the contests.  This is mostly my fault due to the drinking and staying up late.  The only kind of cool things I got were $20 in iTunes cards and $10CAD in Starbucks cards.

Aussie Friend

I met up with a friend who used to work here in Houston with me and was working on a contract in Vancouver at the time.  He is recently married (it was sort of an arranged marriage) so he hasn't been completely happy about that.  Still, we were able to go out drinking Monday - Wednesday, and his wife only came along on Monday so we were able to get completely fucked up on the other two nights.  We went to a few places such as the Lennox Pub, Earl's, and one other that I forgot the name of but is a small hole in the wall bar across from the Roxy.  On the evening of Halloween, everything went crazy in town.  It was like the Canadian version of Mardi Gras.  It was fun just to walk on the streets and see the costumes, whether it was a guy dressed like Bender from Futurama, or some girl dressed up like a slutty tiger.

Mega-drinkies

One consulting firm that I do business with took a client from Intel, myself, and two guys that wrote some software I'm using hung out one night, with the consulting firm picking up the tab.  We went on a sort of unofficial pub crawl.  We started at the first place where we ate a little and drank all kinds of things that I never would have thought of.  For six people, the bill was still over $1,000 and we were only there two or three hours.  After that, one of the programmers had to go drop his laptop bag off at his hotel while we were on our way to a big club that the conference rented out.  So, the rest of us decided to drink 18-year-old scotch while waiting for him, so we had a few shots of that.  Then, we left to go the conference event.  You can't go from $25 shots to Jack Daniels and Coke, so I only had about three drinks there before I rounded up the other guys and left.  We then went to the Roxy and drank plenty more there.  The details become a little fuzzy at this point, but I remember the rep from the consulting firm paying for more and more drinks for more and more people.  That bill was probably a couple of thousand in the end.

Work

My job is already changing.  I've gone from being a technical guy where my technical opinions are valued to people asking me more process oriented questions.  I've gone from being at my desk 8 hours a day to being in meetings 4 - 6 hours a day.  When I'm at my desk, there are the streams of emails, half of which are probably other invites to meetings or are questions which would trigger the need for a meeting.

Also, the new guy I hired is working out well.  He's smart and nice, and just generally fits in well in the company.

Major Events

Yesterday was my 5th anniversary with my wife.  It's hard to believe we've been married five years already, but there it is.  Things are still going well, and we had a good time last night despite the background "music" of a screaming baby.  We stayed at home and drank wine and tequila while eating prosciutto and chocolates.

The 13th is my wife's birthday, so I'm not sure where we will be going, but we are going to go out for that night at least.  Still with the baby, but she normally does good in restaurants.

Baby Sofia Update

She's rolling around now, sitting up some (although she intentionally falls down so she can move), and even is able to move around slightly in her walker.  She's getting big and blabbering a lot more now in an attempt to talk.

Christmas

So we already put up our Christmas tree and ornaments, at least some of them.  The main reason is because there was a really good sale at this place nearby and because we didn't want to get screwed like last year with one step up from a Charlie Brown tree.  The other reason is because we're going to be out of town for a week after Thanksgiving, so it would be good to have it up before then.

Wedding

This weekend we have a wedding to attend on Saturday.  I just sent the future bride a message on Yahoo Messenger because I don't know how someone can have time this close to their wedding to be online.  In any case, that should be cool.  It seems like we have another wedding to attend soon, but I forget whose wedding it is and when it is now.

Skydiving

A friend of mine called me up to go skydiving.  I've never been, and will be busy, but that seems like a fairly random thing to do.  I told him no, but now I almost want to go.  I still won't, but the thought is there.

New Phone

I want a new phone, and am unsure if I should get an iPhone or a Windows Mobile based phone.  We'll see, because I won't get it for probably a few months still when my contract with T-Mobile runs out.  T-Mobile has shitty phones, and I might switch over to AT&T since they have good phones, if they can keep their price low enough.

Ciao Bitches

Anyway, I'm tired and need to get up and walk around, so I'll talk to you all later.  There's more I wanted to say but I really have to go.

One side note to Stacky and clock -- we bought an Ergo carrier and it is great.  Thanks for the recommendation.  We also bought some leg warmers for her rather than have her wear pants because it makes it easier to change her diaper.  You won't find leg warmers in your son's size, so if you are interested I'll ask my wife where she got them from (they had to be ordered online.)