is it march already?

it is. or at least by the time you read this post, it will be. march, otherwise known as my birthday month, is one of my favorite months. it's sort of a transistion month and could be really snowy and cold, or it could be 50 degrees and greening up. we'll have to see how this one shakes out.
at the last minute i ended up going to the minnesota gopher's mens hockey game friday night. they beat arch rivals st. cloud state 5-4. i got the tickets from a customer at work who i have done some work for. it's nice to get a perk, doesn't happen too often.
i have been kicking around the idea of trying to do some "mash-ups" (otherwise known as "bastard pop") which if you don't know, involves combining 2 or more individual music tracks into one original mix. i have some ideas but i don't know if i want to go down this road or not. it can be quite time consuming and some of the software you have to use is quite complex. it could be sort of a hobby, but then i don't know if i want to devote much time to this or not. something tells me probably not. i think the reason this concept appeals to me is that, one, i like music. two, it requires both creative skills and some technical skills (not unlike web design). we'll see if this idea gets off the ground or not.
i got to visit my grandma on saturday. she has recently relocated to the apple valley health care center, not far from my folks house. she does quite well for 95 but she has a few of the problems that anyone that age would. she has many people visiting her and can pretty much be free to come and go as needed.
this has turned into quite the lengthy post. i'll have more later...

think happy thoughts...

there seems to be a big black cloud around my world these days. not necessarily me personally but a lot of negativity surrounding people i know and that i am close to. not just immediate family but friends too. need a big smack of good news for a change. i know things will improve soon. may have started turning the corner already?
still haven't nailed down summer vacation plans but we seem to be leaning towards either a st.louis trip (six flags, zoo, water park, etc.) or a boston trip (relatives and hopefully a trip to fenway). the air fare to boston for 4 will be outrageously expensive. on the other hand, we can probably shack up with relatives for the week. we could drive the st. louis trip but the hotel for that long would add up too. i want to nail this down before too long.
looking forward to the tax return $$$...that will help. more later...

thinking differently? a little...

since i have been around computers and technology, roughly 1991 when i started in the art room at deluxe check as a corel draw "artist", i have been exposed to tons of different os apps, from ibm's os2, through all of the windows versions, 3.1, 95\98, nt, 2k and xp. i only dabbled into the macintosh world even though they were around. i will finally officially be thrust into the apple world as the secondary support guy. i got a power mac g-4 this week and have spent some time learning my way around. so far i have added a secondary hard drive, installed osx (and a few other apps) connected to our mac server, changed background and screensaver schemes (the important stuff!) and created a .mac account. i think i can now be reached at: skipprice@mac.com, as well as my other work and personal accounts. i must say it has been fun to experiment and learn on the fly but i have a long way to go to be comfortable supporting them fully. i have also been referring alot to my "macintosh methodologies in theory and practice" book, a.k.a. "macs for dummies". look for more updates on this topic as time allows.
i don't know if having a mac will change the world but it is sort of fun.

i "heart" valentine's day!

to be honest, i'm not really too sure what to make of this holiday. i will do and say all of the right things to make sure i don't get burned...but really?
maybe it's because allison and i celebrated our anniversary just a month ago. she's really my only "real" valentine, right? unless i don't really understand what that means, which is quite possible. well, enough on that. enjoy your valentine's day all you happy couples!
as promised i took my girls to the gopher womens basketball game yesterday. they beat up on purdue 71-49. i wasn't sure quite what to expect but i was shocked that the barn was full of some 13,000 fans! and this is the post-whalen era! it was quite exciting and i think they had a good time. after the game there was an awards program\pizza party where gopher player jamie broback showed up and spoke to the kids and signed autographs. alaina even won a door pize which consisted of a lyndsey whalen commemerative poster and some basketball cards.
looks like a nother busy week ahead at work....more later.

busy, busy, shockingly busy...

...enjoyed a great day of skiing this past friday. despite the fact the it was 50 degrees, we got out early and made the most of it. not being a snow or ski expert, i'd have to say that the conditions were close to ideal. it was light jacket weather, which was awesome becuase i've gone when it was face-numbing cold before. some of the snowboading bunch were going in t-shirts and tank tops. that may have been pushing it a little but it was still a great time.
came back to a boatload of work on monday. you know i'm busy when i'm posting updates from home, at night. there has been much activity in my building, people moving here and there, network printers to set up, software to certify, meetings. deadlines, blah, blah, blah.
taking my girls to a university of minnesota gopher women's basketball game this sunday. alaina has been involved in the st. anthony girls basketball program so we are going with the whole group as a sort of end-of-the-program celebration. should be fun.
enjoyed the superbowl this past sunday. a fairly entertaining game compared to some. thought the ads were sub-standard. pau mcartney was a safe if somewhat boring half-time act.
my time is up, you've been great. more soon.

winter = cold?

a couple of weeks ago it seemed like a good idea to take friday, february 4th off and go skiing. something i don't get to do very often, maybe once a year if i'm lucky. now they are saying it could be in the upper 40's tomorrow which doesn't make for ideal snow conditions. we are waiting to the last minute to decide if it will be worth it or not. one things' certain, i will be taking friday off! cleaning my garage would be a nice change of pace compared to the grind that this work-week has turned out to be. we'll see what happens - i'll update next week.