a look back...

here's a look back over the highlights of 2007, as documented at thirdthoughts. it was a good year, some highs and lows but overall i have so much to be thankful for. here's to a happy and prosperous 2008! happy new year!

ps. haven't had a chance to post the holiday pics yet...look for an update soon

january

owen turns 4 - click here to see the birthday pics

our 14 yr anniversary!

feb

cold, snow, more cold

kelly's bd

went skiing at afton

storm alert!

march

ebay insanity

i turn 39

get xbox360

april

noelle at twinsfest

owen gets groove on

noelle chosen as wcco weather kid of the week

noelle's first communion

dad's bd

may

alaina's bd

business trip to colorado springs

mom's bd

kids on wcco morning tv - noelle weather kid of month!

business trip to north carolina

june

noelle's bd

dance recital

iphone released - i am among the first to not get one

july

grandma deweese passes away

vacation to twin lakes, mi

august

i-35w bridge collapse

business trip to battle creek, mi

t-systems contract with deluxe ends

mn state fair

sept

get new ipod

re-join deluxe corp

oct

bike marathon

hannah montana mania

halloween

nov

alaina goes to wolfridge

home entertainment system dies, brought back to life

becky's bd

dec

allie's bd

snowball

christmas

merry christmas!

looking forward to a few days off of work and enjoying christmas with family. merry christmas to all of my family and friends and God bless you all in 2008!

elf yourself

if you ever wanted to know what you or someone you know looks like as an elf, check out elfyourself.com

sounds of the season

i know you didn't ask, but here's a list of some of my favorite discs to spin around this time of the year. some are classics, some are variations of classics, but i highly approve of all.
more soon...

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

snowball 2007

my wife and i have been going to the snowball for almost 20 years now. it's an annual even that started out in the mid 90's at the calhoun beach club, then moved to the minnesota center, and most recently has settled at the st. paul hotel. for some reason i've never bothered to take pictures but this year i did. some of these were taken by jeff and i have reproduced them here without his permission. hopefully we will avoid any copyright infringment issues. at any rate, a great time was had by all. it was fun to get glitzed up and stay out late, something that happens only once a year. thanks also to grandma and grandpa for letting the kids sleep over.

happy birthday allie

happy birthday to my best friend and better half!

tis the season...

here's a pretty authentic looking santa having just gotten an earful from my son. "i want spiderman, superman, batman, batmobile, transformers, a power rangers helmet"...etc. christmas mania is in full swing at the price household. it's been a busy week already, a party at our ex-neighbors tuesday, the advent program at school tonight, and the annual snowball tomorrow night at the st. paul hotel. tomorrow is also allie's birthday so we're going to pretend the ball is a giant party just for her. things aren't slowing down anytime soon as relatives arrive in town as early as next wednesday. more soon...

customer service?

UPDATE
since i wrote this i was actually contacted by the manager of customer service. i didn't actually speak with her but she left me a vm and replied to my email. they have decided to refund me the full cost of the item, plus shipping. my faith in humanity is now restored. peace on earth and goodwill towards men abounds..

i am lazy and like to do my christmas shopping online vs. braving the crowds at the malls. most of the time, it works out great, you make your purchase, pay the shipping, and it shows up in a few days. recently, i purchased a christmas gift from a company who shall remain nameless (for now) for a person who shall also remain nameless. i cannot get into too much detail here for obvious reasons, but suffice it to say, as a customer i have been completely ignored. my package showed up at work, where i am having all of my items sent. i opened the box the standard way, the same way i open all of the boxes i receive, (and as part of my job, i get a LOT of boxes sent to me) with a box-cutter. well, the item was packaged in a way that left the item forced to the very top of the box, meaning all of the packing material, in this case air pillows, were underneath and to the sides of the item. i cut the tape on both sides to open the flaps and then ran my blade down the center of the box to cut that tape. big mistake. i ended up cutting into the item and leaving a giant scar right down the middle. ok, methinks, a quick call to customer service should get this sorted out. i called, jumped through the hoops on the VRU, got in line at the call queue, and then spoke to a customer service representative who must have been having a very bad day. i explained what had happened and that the item had been packaged poorly. she says "why did you use a blade to cut the box open?" excuse me? what am i supposed to do? use my super human hand strength to rip the cardboard open?? "no sir...i am sorry we can't help you". not wanting to let this go, i asked to speak to a supervisor. "fine" says she, and forwards me coldly and namelessly to yet another extension. ring...ring...ring... nothing. whatever, i thought. i'll call back tomorrow. at this point i send an email to customer service explaining in great detail what has occurred, hoping by chance someone will actually read it and respond. fast forward to tuesday. i call, jump through hoops (see above) get cranky csr number two. "nope..can't help. you can talk to leah..she's the supervisor but she's out of the office until tomorrow". ok, i get leah's number and call her yesterday. i get her voice mail (naturally) and explain in a calm manner what my problem is. i asked to be called back and leave two numbers i can be reached at. funny, no return calls. i think i am SOL! so this saga began monday...tomorrow is friday and so far, no email and no returned call. i am apparently stuck with a lovely christmas gift for someone that has a giant gash on it. at this point i don't even care...all i want is to be acknowledged. call me back, make fun of me, laugh and curse, just acknowledge me as a customer. what happened to the customer is always right?? needless to say, regardless of what happens, if anything, they have received the last of my business.

first snow of the year...

here's a timelapse of photos taken in my backyard between 10 am and 4 pm yesterday. surprisingly (not) it didn't quite live up to the perfect storm that the local news media had built it up as, but as far as first snows go, especially compared to recent years, it was a decent dumping and sort of validates the christmas music playing in every room of the house. unofficially, i'd say somewhere between 4"-6" collected on my driveway. after about 12 pulls the snowblower fired up and got its first use of the season. weather forcasters are calling for more flakes this week. time to stock up on bottled water and generators.

before the redsox had a nation...

i realize i am exactly one month off on the timeliness of this post, but i had been looking for this photo at my folks house all summer and my mom just recently found it. it is me at six years old, kickin' it old school-style at fenway park before a redsox game in the summer of 1974. i can't be certain if this photo was taken at my first ever baseball game or not, but it's got to be close. the second pic is me at fenway park in 2002, 28 years later and a little further down the right field line. i recently came across the box scores of the first game(s) my dad ever took me to. it was a doubleheader against cleveland on june 22nd, 1974 against the cleveland indians. the indians two starting pitchers were brothers, jim and gaylord perry. i don't know how many times in baseball history that has happened but thats got to be a rarity. the redsox got blown out the first game 11-0, but came back to win the nightcap 8-3. it's amazing how many things i actually remember about that day. taking the train into the city, seeing cleveland outfielder oscar gamble's huge afro, and luis tiant hitting fungo's a mile high before one of the games. i guess these are some of the reasons i turned out to be the huge baseball nut that i am. it's sort of a family thing...if i have to explain it, you wouldn't understand.

it's alive!...

in 2003 i bought a decent home theater system for the living room. it was a philips mx3900d with a 5-dvd/cd changer, dolby dogital and dts 5.1-chanel surround sound, 5 satellite speakers, a subwoofer, and 500 watts of total system power. not a top of the line unit by any means, but a nice fit for our budget and living room. i used it on wednesday night for my annual pre-thanksgiving viewing of the john hugh's classic, "planes, trains, and automobiles", and yesterday to dish out about 8 hours worth of jazz mp3's throughout the day. at some point last night, one of my children, (although they are all employing the "it wasn't me" defense strategy) put 2discs in one of the trays, hopefully by mistake. needless to say, the discs became jammed inside the unit and wouldn't play, nor would any of the disc trays open to eject said discs. not wanting to force the trays open for fear of breaking them, i scoured the web for any means of support i could find. miraculously i came across the "philips mx3900d service manual", not to be confused with the "philips mx3900d user's manual", which explains the following in no uncertain terms: "do not attempt to repair this unit yourself, you must take it to a philips authorized repair center". yeah - right, thats' gonna happen. i sorted through the service manual and came across the process for starting the system in diagnostic mode (a combination of depressed buttons while plugging the power in) and ran through several tests, including resetting the system nvram. none of these diagnostic tests seemed to work, (at the time i didn't know about the jammed discs, all i knew was that the disc's could not be read and that the trays would not open). i then saw the section that explained the somewhat intimidating dis assembly process and decided at that point that i was "going in". now i am quite comfortable when it comes to cracking open a computer to replace a hard drive, or install memory, but seeing seeing the dismantling instructions in the manual the thought of performing surgeory on my home theater system proved a little daunting. i figured that even if the unit was broken, at minimum i would get my discs back as there were 4 inside. i knew that today, being the day after thanksgiving, a traditionally light work day and where recent surveys show that 78% of employers give today as a holiday (sorry - off topic), would be an ideal time for this project. alex, a work buddy of mine, and a guy particularly skilled with all things mechanical, assisted with the dis assembly of the unit, unjamming the jam, and putting it back together. now it's up and happily reading and ejecting disc's once again! it feels good to fix something yourself (even with substantial help from a friend) rather than taking it someplace to get soaked from a repair shop.

happy thanksgiving!

disclaimer: i did not write this, it's a straight up, cut'n paste job from an email i received. apologies to the author and for the "all-caps" but thats how it came and i wasn't about to re-type it.

I AM THANKFUL:

FOR THE WIFE
WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,
BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME,
AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.

FOR THE HUSBAND
WHO IS ON THE SOFA
BEING A COUCH POTATO,
BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME
AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS.

FOR THE TEENAGER
WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES
BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME,
NOT ON THE STREETS.

FOR THE TAXES I PAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I AM EMPLOYED .

FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE
BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.

FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.

FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE

FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING,
WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING,
AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME .

FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING
I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT
BECAUSE IT MEANS
WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH. .

FOR THE PARKING SPOT
I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING
AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION

FOR MY HUGE ELECTRICITY BILL
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I AM Cool.

FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH
WHO SINGS OFF KEY
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I CAN HEAR.

FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING
BECAUSE IT MEANS
I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.

FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES
AT THE END OF THE DAY
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN
CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.

FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF
IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS
BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE.

AND FINALLY, FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL
BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE
FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING OF ME.

up to date...

after careful consideration and weeks of contemplation, i have decided to forgo the annual thirdthoughts web template overhaul indefinitely. i spent some time and researched some other options regarding changing the look of this blog, a habit i developed over the last few years. i factored in several key reasons as to why thirdthoughts should stay "as is" at least in the foreseeable future. it all boiled down to time, motivation, my convincing myself that i feel that the look has aged fairly well even after 15 months, and the fact that i'm probably the only one who cares either way. rather than put myself through hours of labor, editing, cutting, copying, and posting code, uploading pages and hoping everything renders properly, i decided to stay put. to prove that i haven't given up completely, i have updated information on the "about","interests", and "family", pages including some new photos of the kids on the family page. now, the edits are more subtle than drastic, but the information posted therein is as accurate and as up-to-date as possible. these changes, combined with the fact that i recently upgraded my web-package and increased my storage space to 10 gb, makes me feel that the current state of this site is at least adequate by my standards. it doesn't help that the time-warp that exists between thanksgiving and new years is nearly upon us and juggling work, family, and social activities usually occupies about 99% of my time. so, to you, gentle reader(s), accept my thanks for overlooking my laziness and general lack of creativity.

into, and out of, the wild

alaina returned from wolfridge friday night right on schedule. she apparently had a great time and took the pictures you see posted above. she brought all of us souvenirs either from the gift shop, or from nature. mine was a wolfrige fridge magnet so i'll assume it was from the gift shop.
speaking of wild things, i went to see "into the wild" this past weekend. i was really looking forward to it and was all set to right up a glowing review, because it was based on a book by jon krakauer, who is a brilliant adventure author. i have read, and thoroughly enjoyed several of krakauer's books including "into thin air" and "eiger dreams", but this movie, based on his book of the same name, and directed by sean penn, fell completely flat in my view. maybe the book is better, i would think it would have to be, but if you were considering going to this movie, save yourself 9 bucks because nothing happens....ever.

the great outdoors...

my oldest, and her entire 5th grade class, left this morning bright and early for wolf ridge for the entire week. wolf ridge is an environmental learning center located in finland, mn, which is just north of silver bay and west of lake superior. she and her classmates will spend the week studying science, ecology, recreating, and team-building. wolf ridge's mission statment goes as follows:

to develop a citizenry that has the knowledge, skills, commitment, and motivation to work together for a quality environment

they meet their mission by:

Fostering awareness, curiosity and sensitivity to the natural world
Providing lifelong learning experiences in nature
Developing social understanding, respect and cooperation
Modeling values, behaviors and technologies, which lead to a sustainable lifestyle
Promoting the concepts of conservation and stewardship

at any rate, she looked like she was heading off on a himalayan mountain expedition when she left this morning. she had a backpack, a rolling pilot case, and a huge bag which contained her snowsuit, boots, and sleeping bag. the weather report says daytime highs in the mid 30's in that area this week. although there were no electronic devices allowed on this trip (guess it's hard to learn about nature while playing with a nintendo ds) you were allowed to take a disposable or digital camera. she took my old 1 megapixel camera with a 64 mb memory card so we'll see what she comes back with. it's the first time she's ever been gone for any length of time so mom (and dad) are naturally a little uneasy. she's planning a mid-week call so we hope for a positive report from the north. more soon...

this is halloween...

this game is more fun than it really should be...

redox (domi) nation...

i have mixed feelings today. happy because my boston boys won the world series, but somewhat blue because it's all over until next april. i was hoping colorado could put up a better fight but they just didn't have the horses to run with the sox. i picked boston in 6, only because i didn't think they'd be able to win 2 of three at coors field - oops. now, just for clarification, i'm not one of these bandwagon guys that adopts a team simply because they are good, i lived in boston as a kid and went to my first ever game at fenway when i was 6, and still have relatives there...so, i'm legit. just so happens they are one of three mlb teams i can call my own, st. louis and of course minnesota being the other two.
read all about it at my favorite redsox site bostondirtdogs.

3 dimensional nightmare...

the kids and i survived the weekend just fine (like there was ever a doubt?:-). saturday i took them to see the re-released, 3D version of tim burton's "nightmare before christmas". i remember the original 1993 release of this film and don't recall it making much of an impact, at least on me. i have to say, seeing this in 3D makes all of the difference in the world. of course the kids thought it was awesome, despite my concerns that it might freak them out, especially owen. if he was freaked out, he put on a brave face and played it cool. there were no bad dreams that night (that i know of) so i think we pulled it off. in short, if you get a chance to see "nightmare" in 3D, check it out...besides, you get to keep the nerdy looking glasses, and they are not the cheapo cardboard kind either.

clock management...

this weekend i am playing mom, dad, peacemaker, warden, judge, jury, and executioner(minus the executioner), while allie is enjoying some time with her gal pals in a wisconsin cabin. it's not often that she is away on overnighters but she deserves the break and will give me a chance to bond with the kids in a way i don't always get a chance to. we have some activities planned, a movie, some homework, coerced piano practicing, and maybe some restaurant food, over the next 36 hrs. the goal is simple: we are in survival-mode until sunday afternoon and i just have to try to keep the wheels on the wagon and the inmates from running this asylum. more soon...

hannah mon-mania

when my wife heard that hannah montana was doing a concert at the target center in minneapolis she thought it would be fun to get the girls tickets. now my girls do not live and breathe hannah, as some apparently do, but they do like her and her music. to be honest i know virtually nothing about her but my wife follows this stuff pretty closely and being the daughter of billy ray cyrus, and a product of the unstoppable mass marketing force that is disney, it seemed like an ok thing to do. so a few saturdays ago, at the appointed hour, i logged into ticketmaster hoping to score a few seats. little did i realize that commoners like me and the thousands of other parents doing the same thing, had no chance at all at obtaining tickets as the concert "sold out" in a matter of seconds. as it turned out, hannah montana was the biggest concert of the season, and arguably the biggest concert in terms of ticket demand, EVER at the target center. the ticket brokers, and their "sophisticated" software sucked up all of the tickets almost instantaneously, where they appeared moments later at ebay and craigslist, before parents had a chance to buy them at face value. i had no idea that purchasing tickets would be this difficult but i found myself scouring the web to see if i could get tickets from a broker. as it turned out, the tickets were selling at about 3X's face value and i ended up sucking it up and getting three so my wife could take my girls. there were a lot of angry parents upset that brokers were profiting at the expense of parents who want to take their kids to the show, but i can actually see both sides of the argument. i wasn't thrilled that some ticket broker in new york city probably has some of my money now but its supply vs demand, free market society, blah blah. yes, it blew that i paid a small fortune for three tickets but i didn't HAVE to...nobody made me. thats what they cost and i paid it.
in the end, despite some logistical problems where people had to wait in line for the doors to open, the kids had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. would i do it again? probably not but it was part of the girls christmas and they know it was a once in a lifetime deal. sometimes you just want to do something for your kids and you shouldn't have to feel guilty about it.
believe the hype here or if you're really hardcore, check out the setlist here.

scheduled maintenance...

because thirdthoughts has nearly reached it's full capacity, it will be undergoing an "upgrade" in the coming few days. the upgrade will have nothing to do with content (we'll get to that later) but rather is to increase the webspace capacity on my web server. this may mean thirdthoughts will be temporarily offline for an unspecified but hopefully short amount of time. according to my web host, when upgrading a package all data is purged, meaning each and every page, file, etc. will be deleted and will have to be "re-upped" via ftp. i am taking great pains to see that nothing is lost and have backed up the entire contents of thirdthoughts on not one but two different computers. still, it makes one a little uneasy to think of the entire online content of the last 10 years of their life going "zap". this upgrade will ensure thirdthoughts being alive and well in the years to come with all of the witty banter, thoughtful insight, and weekly glimpses into my existence that you've come to expect over the years. see you on the other side.
the management

bytes

i realized to my shock that i have only 7 mb of web space free at the moment. i'll have to address that sooner than later.
please forgive my lack of recent posts. my days have involved getting up early and going to work, busting it all day and then going home to spend a little time with the kids before i watch baseball into the wee hours. speaking of which, it's not looking good for my redsox at the moment.
i've been so preoccupied that i spaced out on blog action day. but i haven't had a lot of time to think about global warming and our pollution problems much lately anyway. the only environment i've been able to focus on is my immediate one.
on to hump day!

a worthy cause...

the girls and i biked the 9.5 miles of the annual marathon for nonpublic education at minnehaha park this past saturday. it was a weird day weather-wise, unseasonably warm and muggy, but the rain held off for the most part. it's a mostly flat and very scenic ride, especially this time of the year. no wipeouts, blowouts or other unfortunate events this this time around as we completed the trek in about an hour with a short break at the midway point. thanks to my family members who contributed to the fundraiser.

just sayin...

this post could be mistaken as a rant or a whine...it is not. however, it would be a lie to say that this last week has not been a shock to the system. i have gone from idle to mach speed in the span of one week. i went from good morning america and afternoons with dr. phil to trying to dig out from a massive technical support back log. as it happened the weeks i was away caused work to just continue to pile up and now that i'm back, i'm a key member in trying to get everything caught up. it's a losing battle right now as i have spent about 99% of my time on unrelated projects that IT has deemed top priority. as i have stated before, work related stress is better than the stress of not having work, so i will continue to battle bravely onward, content with the fact that i have a job in which i can now occasionally vent about. the good news is that i am still somewhat under the radar as most end users in my facility have not yet realized that i have returned. i know this is a temporary solace but i have gained a fresh perspective and it's good to feel needed again.

einmal ist keinmal...

is german for: "once is nonce", i.e., "what happened once might as well have never happened at all"

i'm happy to report that i have accepted a position with my former employer. i will essentially be filling the same role (with some expanded responsibities), at the same location as before. i have to admit that it has been a frustrating past few weeks with all of the uncertainty that surrounds being between gigs, however, i am relieved and excited (at least for now:-) to get back into my routine.
more soon...

first day of falls...

today, the first day of fall, was an absolutely gorgeous day. we packed up the kids and headed down to minnehaha park where we hiked down along the stream and admired the scenery and the first hints of color in the trees. i snapped a few pics which you can see here. we threw the frisbee, kicked the soccer ball around and then had iced coffee and bought the kids ice cream. as close to a perfect afternoon as is possible.

mlb tv...

this idea has always intrigued me so when i saw that mlb.com was offering the rest of the regular season for 8 bucks i decided to pull the trigger. you can stream (400k or 700k) any out of market mlb game (no mn twins) being played in the majors. with the pennant races heating up and many teams still jockeying for post-season, and several key series being played this week, and me still being unemployed, all the stars seem to have sort of lined up. granted, this is for hard-core baseball junkies only as the stream quality isn't the best, and is even worse through a wireless network, it still allows you to watch most of the action in semi realtime. i watched the redsox beat tampa bay last night downstairs on my mac (which has a direct cable connection to my router) and then switched over to the yankee\bluejays game and watched the bluejays pull out an 14 inning affair in new york. then, from the comfort of my couch using my wireless connected laptop, i decided to watch a couple of innings of the colorado\san diego game before i finally decided that that was enough baseball, even for me.

all about perspective...

lost among the o.j., and brit\kfed "news" items is a really newsworthy story that i learned about today on gma. randy pausch is a charasmatic and upbeat 46 yr old computer science professor at carnegie mellon university in pennsylvania. he has pancreatic cancer and has essentially been given 3-6 months to live. he made his last ever public speech entitled "how to live your childhood dreams" regarded by the wall street journal as the "lecture of a lifetime", (see video). it's remarkable the attitude that he has taken while facing this devastating reality. the man has zero self-pity and has approached his destiny in the way i think that we would all like to if we had the same fate. anyway, sort of heavy for a friday, but i thought it was worth sharing.

hurry up and wait...

it may be another week or two but i expect to have some answers soon.

wanted: good home for iPod

i've decided to put my beloved 3rd gen 40 gb iPod up for sale on craigslist. i haven't upgraded since this was brand new in the january of 2004. i'm not one to jump on the latest gadget and constantly upgrade my gear, but i really like the look of the new iPod touch and hope to get my hands on one of these in the near future. first things first though, need a job first. speaking of which, things are happening very slowly but they are happening. more to report on that soon.

this is how i don't roll...

late last week we decided it was finally time to get the taurus's hail damage repaired. so i made arrangments to get it to the body shop this past tuesday which limited us to just one car, mine. under normal circumstances this is no big deal. yes, it's an inconvenience especially with the wife shuttling kids to school, dance, etc., but definitely doable for a couple of days. and then last night...my car wouldn't start. no clicking, no lights, clock, radio, nothing,...dead. my father-in-law stopped by this morning and we jumped the car and got it started. i promtly drove it to our local friendly repair shop where they are currently testing\charging the battery and possibley replacing it. now for the time being we are down to zero cars which is sort of a major inconvenience. we can limp by for a little bit, but i hope to have one, or more, of my vehicles back very soon.

fair enough...

as promised the family enjoyed a stellar day at the fair. we went, we saw, and we ate our way through the streets. i captured the following shots on my camera phone, which explains the low quality images.



here's a rundown of the local "celebrities" that we either met, or just saw there.

met...

john reger (wcco)

mike fairborne (wcco)

saw...

paul molitor

ron coomer

frank & amelia (wcco)

chef andrew

we lasted until about 5:30 and we were all completely beat by the end of the day. it's always a good time but i'm glad it only comes around once a year!

fair play...

tommorow we take our annual trip to the great minnesota get-together a.k.a. the mn state fair. we plan to get an early start and go pretty much all day or until the exhaustion starts to outweigh the fun. the weather is supposed to be great so it should be an ideal day to go. as the fair is mostly about eating we have a few must-have items that i know we'll try to find including, but not limited to, breakfast pizza and perfect pickels in the food building, sweet martha's cookies and the all you can drink milk booth. we always hit up the giant slide and the kids will no doubt want to check out the rides as well. then there's the swine and horse barn, 'lil farm hands, etc. it's always a flurry of activity from start to finish. one of the best parts of the fair for me is that the people watching is truly phenomenal. i'll report back soon...

holding pattern...

nothing too substantial to report on the employment front. other than my offcial employment with t-systems will conclude this friday, august 31st. still hoping to get an interview\offer from deluxe in the coming days\weeks. working from home has gone really well. i have painted my kitchen, washed the cars, and gotten some yardwork done during the week. aside from a couple of conference calls, i have a few other things on the to-do this week as well. we have the mn state fair this week and i have a potential round of gold golf planned. trying to take advantage of the down time because if all goes as expected it will be ending fairly soon. more news when there's more news...

fantana...

yesterday i took the family to the twins game where we witnessed a record-setting performance by twins ace johann santana. "mantana" struck out a club record 17 batters, and gave up only 2 hits (both to sammy sosa) in eight innings. for a baseball aficionado like myself, it was fun to sit back in my usual seat in section 123, row 12 behind the dish and watch this masterful performance. the twins anemic offense managed only 1 run (a solo shot by michael cuddyer) but it was enough to win and take the rubber game of the series vs texas.
on a side note, we had a slight brush with fame as my wife found herself directly under the left armpit of local and national celebrity, writer, and radio personality, garrison keillor, on the train ride back to fort snelling. i had a spectacular view of his ample ear hair as well. i tried to snap a discreet picture from my phone.
more soon...

things to do today...

many people have been asking if i have secured new employment yet and the short answer is, no. i do however, have several pending applications, most with my old company deluxe corp. things are moving excruciatingly slow, and i keep having to tell myself to be patient and take a deep breath. i am trying to think "big picture". that said, my last official day in the office is tomorrow. my boxes are packed and i'm ready to turn in my badge and secure key fob for remote access. unless anything happens, i will be working (on my tan) at home until the end of august. be sure that if anything changes, i will update here as soon as is humanly possible. more to come..

hazel...

congratulations teri! born Thursday 8/2 at 6:23 am, 8 lbs, 2.2 oz, 21.5 inches long

unreal...

on my way out of the twin cities on thursday our plane banked directly over downtown minneapolis and i got a first hand glimpse of the i-35 bridge that had collapsed. surreal is probably the best description, overused as it may be. you could see the river where the bridge had always been and where every one just assumed it would always be. when i think of the hundreds and hundreds of times, that not only i, but pretty much everyone i know have been over that bridge it's just incredible to realize that it could have been any one of us on it when it collapsed. i sent a text message to jeff due to the clogged cell circuits and he said he had been on the bridge an hour earlier. one of my friends wives took an alternate route to the twins game that night that would have put her on the bridge at roughly the time it went down. nearly everybody i know has a story. it's amazing that there weren't anymore fatalities than there appear to have been although there are still several missing at this point. there are talks about rebuilding soon with a target completion date of late next year.

oh, there's a lot of opportunities...

there has been a recent major turn of events in regard to my current career. the company i have worked for for the past 4 years has severed the contract that it has with the company we provide services to. as a result, we will no longer be providing technical services to it as of the middle of august. this fact, in turn, has facilitated my kicking my casual job search into high gear. i have hinted in the past about "riding it out" and "seeing where this takes me" and it appears i have both rode it out, and have seen where this has taken me. it's unfortunate on many levels, but such is the nature of the business, especially in the area of IT and how contracts work with outsource providers. that said, i have several "irons in the fire", "plates in the air" or whatever other cliche' one might want to use. i'm looking inside, outside, high, and low to try and determine what makes sense for me and my family. i'm definitely not one to panic, and i'm not, however, you can imagine the anxiety and stress that one endures while trying to maintain a professional demeanor at work while continuing with a business as usual approach, and looking for a long term employment at the same time.
i'll also be heading to michigan this week to participate in a rather ill-timed IT all-hands meeting with my current employer.
much more to come

mid-summer nights dream

i had a dream right before i woke up this morning so i remember it pretty well. the wife and i were flying in a hot air balloon, presumably from where we live in minnesota, to the east coast. i remember approaching new york city, seeing the tall buildings and central park down below. the statue of liberty was just off in the distance. when we attempted to turn around and return home we had some sort of mechanical problem and ended up landing on coney island. it gets a little fuzzy after that. according to dreammoods.com, the hot air balloon may mean:

To see or dream that you are in a hot air balloon, suggests that it is time to overcome your depression. The dream may be a metaphor indicating that you are losing your ground or your foothold on some situation/problem. Alternatively, it represents the process of? individuation and your quest to fulfill some spiritual needs. You feel the need to be elevated in someone's eyes.

hmmm...maybe, maybe not...

i hope this doesn't have some sort of obvious meaning or symbolize something embarrasing in my life or about my mental psyche that i've now just made public. any dream interpreters out there??
on a completely unrelated note, the family is heading over to the slice of shoreview tonight. playing in a softball tournament in shakopee tomorrow. more later.

all things considered, the price's had a really good summer 2007 vacation. that's how I remember it, and that's how it's going down. we swam, we cooked out, we went to town, we dined out, we went to multiple parks, we had bonfires & 'smores, i golfed, i fished (yes, and actually caught a 6" sunnie), i completed two books ("left for dead" by beck weathers, and "perfect i'm not" by david wells) etc. this time around the cabin had a microwave oven, and a 13" tv which received one channel and we immediately unplugged. on a tip from a local, i learned that a cell phone signal could be achieved by turning left at the gas station, proceeding down the road a quarter mile, crossing a bridge, and going up to the top of a hill on a gravel road, standing on one leg while wearing an aluminum foil hat and facing the north. it could be noted, however, that this years getaway was not without it's challenges. sunday morning about 4:30 am, we are rattled out of bed by a wicked storm. suddenly, all hail breaks loose and we start to hear object banging and rattling off the roof of our cabin. a look out the window confirms large, jagged hunks of ice falling out of the sky and bouncing off of our car like enormous popcorn kernels. i survey the damage later in the morning and sure enough, the car has been dinged-up pretty good. there was nothing i could do but make my way over to the golf course and get in my first 9 of 36 holes. i was able to catch 7 innings of this years mlb baseball all-star game, at the new parkview resort...a first for me while vacationing at twin lakes. we made a couple of trips into town for dinner (once at the very popular "ambassador") and visits with allie's relatives. we also visited mclain state park and walked the beaches of lake superior.the weather was warm & sunny at the beginning, cooler and cloudier towards the end of the week. all in all, a relaxing week and a great time. i'm sure we'll be back in a couple three years. the pics are here.

1909-2007

Margaret DeWeese, a.k.a. our "granny", has gone on to live with the Lord in her eternal home in heaven. Granny lived a long and fulfilling life and will be dearly missed on earth by her friends and family. Her health has been faltering in recent years but we will always remember her as a remarkably vibrant and outgoing lady. We all have many great memories of all of the stories she shared with us over the years. This woman has truly touched all of our lives! We take comfort in knowing that she is now at peace.

it's time to get away...

preparations for price family vacation 07 to twin lakes resort are wrapping up. it's been 3 years since our last visit to twin lakes (see pics). the plan is to leave bright and semi-early tomorrow am. i have much to do between now and then, including tying up a few loose ends at work, and packing up the wagon. as mentioned, cell ph. coverage will be spotty at best during the next week, which is not all bad.
it's funny how leaving your home to reside in a much smaller structure, with less amenities, no ac, phone, dishwasher, washing machine or television is considered a form of relaxation, but we do love it. this is as close to "roughing it" as i ever want to be. the plus side is your are right on the lake with a private beach area, you grill out at least once a day, campfires at night, get out on a boat, and i get to plant potentially dozens of golf balls in the high grass and woods of wyandotte golf course. i'm taking my antiquated fishing gear and plan to wet a line a few times. hopefully, i won't catch anything so i don't have to try to remove the hook from some poor fish's mouth. we'll see. the weather looks good for the most part, not extremely hot and a chance for a few showers during the week.

looking forward to a great trip, minus the lengthy car trip with the kids. it's possible, but not probable, that i publish a text-only post from my blackberry sometime during the week. post vacation coverage with pics on or around the 15th.

signing off for now!

independence day festivities...

while normal people are settling in on their blankets to enjoy the fireworks displays, here i sit at my computer updating my blog. i can hear all of the pops and bangs going on from my window. we did just come in from outside after firing up a dozen or so sparklers. at any rate, today was a glorious fourth and the weather for the parade was choice. it was hot & muggy, a perfect summer day. i played grill-master at my parents place and we spent all day with family. i took pictures at the parade until the batteries in my camera died, see the rest here.
more soon...

independence day...

tomorrow being the fourth day of july we will join the rest of the nation in celebrating our country's independence. traditionally this has meant heading down to my folks place in eagan, mn for the eagan\apple valley parade. we will have a chance to visit and catch-up with my parents who have been gone to boston for the past month, eat, and maybe see some fireworks on the way home. it's a short mid-week brake as i have to be back in the office thursday and friday before heading off for vacation on saturday morning.

do you have what it takes to become a united states citizen? i took the test here. i missed 6. i should have paid more attention in government class.

t-mobile personal coverage check

the prices are starting to gear up for vacation 07. this year it's back to twin lakes resort in the u.p of michigan. there is much to do before we depart saturday morning, but thats another topic. i was curious to see if i can expect to get cell phone coverage this year as 3 years ago, we got '0' service on either cell. now, not having a signal isn't the worst thing in the world as i really don't want to be getting work related emails and phone calls but it can be nice in case of emergency or if we forget and leave the sprinkler on. as a matter of fact we are taking very little in the way of technology, a few cd's, an ipod, and yes, a portable dvd player for the kids in the car. at any rate, i decided to check the t-mobile site to see if i would get a signal on my blackberry and what i can determine is that it may be possible. i do have a blackberry 7100t which apparently is an 850 MHz compatible handset which might be able to access their 850 MHz roaming coverage network. with the following exceptions of course:

This map predicts and approximates our wireless coverage area outdoors, which may vary from location to location and may change without notice. It may include locations with limited or no coverage. Our maps do not guarantee service availability. Even within a coverage area, there are several factors, such as: network changes, traffic volume, service outages, technical limitations, signal strength, your equipment, terrain, structures, foliage, weather, and other conditions that may interfere with actual service, quality, and availability, including the ability to make, receive, and maintain calls. Multi-band (850/1900 MHz) GSM/GPRS handset required for access to 850 Roaming Coverage.

right...so i guess they are guaranteeing that it may or may not work. thanks.