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I do miss you once in a while Blogger...

Fare thee well, Blogger...

Alright, I'm finally going to make this official... I have decided to start using VOX for my blogging and will no longer be actively updating this site. Please take note, my new site can be found here:

http://shawnc.vox.com

I have had enough friends and family join up with me on VOX that it's worth my while to continue there now and it's senseless to keep two blogs. Despite the fact that I really like the way I had set this blog up and I can't edit the look of my new one too much, I suppose I'll live.

The only important note for those who ever commented here is that on VOX, you can't comment unless you have an account. And at this point, VOX is still an invite only service. If you'd like to setup an account so that you could comment on posts, please just comment on this post with the email address you'd like me to send the invite to. Invites are added to accounts once every week or two so I'd be happy to oblige when I have them to give.

I hope this doesn't uproot anyone's habits too much. It shouldn't be any big deal to just start checking the other site instead of this one. It is often said that change is good. With all the features and capabilities that VOX has over Blogger, I'd say that change is definitely going to be just that, good. Thanks for a good past year of blogging though Blogger!

T.S. Chris

Well, there it is kids. The first one of the season that's headed in our general direction. Hopefully the hurricane center is right and it stays a tropical storm, which should be especially no big deal if it comes all the way across the state before it gets to us I would think.

Weekend Update

The weekend in general was fairly uneventful. Worked on a logo I'm creating for a friend's business, played some Halo 2, and watched the Cardinals get swpt by the Cubs (still can't believe that one...). We went to church yesterday, but missed our early class because Shannon wasn't feeling too good when she woke up.

In the evening we acquired a new house guest. One of our friends is having some issues with her counterpart and has come to stay with us for a bit as a result. We're happy to be able to help out. Truthfully, for me, I really like them together so I hope they are able to work it out, but I would also not want to see anyone in a relationship that isn't going to be good for them. We'll do what we can in the meantime.

In other news it looks like I'm moving forward with plans on getting to see Kamelot live again! They're going to be here in St. Petersburg on Saturday, September 16. This time at a much nicer venue. That should be great! Last November when we saw them in Seminole, they were great, but the venue left a little to be desired. Hopefully, the State Theater will make the experience good all around.

2 kinds of donuts and 3 kinds of ice cream make for a long Wal-Mart receipt

So I guess I haven't really had much to write about the last few days. Every once in a while it gets like that. You just have your everyday schedule and nothing of interest comes along. You get up, go to work, come home, eat, watch TV or work on the computer, maybe play some Halo 2, and then head to bed.

So let's see... the only things we've done in the last couple days to vary from that routine is on Monday night I picked up Shannon from work and took her to her favorite local Mexican restaurant, Tijuana Flats. I used to not like the place because I couldn't really find anything I liked. But then it happened. We went one time and the Blackened Chicken Quesadilla found me as I was looking through the menu. I've never looked back since. Every time we go, that's what I get. It's very, very good. Now, the other part to Tijuana Flats is their hot sauces. They've got a hot sauce bar that you can go to after you get your food and pick out a couple different ones or all of them to try. Some are mild and more for flavor, while others are barely tolerable for the heat. I've tried different ones each time but never found one that was what I was looking for until this time. They have clever names for all the sauces like their famous "Slap my a** and call me Sally!" or the one that finally liked, "Don't be chicken s***!". Hey, I didn't name them. But you can buy any of them online in their shop! I may be purhcasing a bottle here soon.

Then last night it was time to catch up and buy some groceries. We usually end up going once every 3 to 4 weeks. We went last night with the idea of getting just what we needed, but ended up with $144.49 at the bottom of the receipt the lady handed me after checking out. I would expect that if we had a lot to get since it usually ends up between $130 and $150, but I guess we didn't stick to "just what we needed" like we had wanted to. But it wasn't my fault. In fact, I distinctly remember the second box of donuts I bought reaching out and grabbing my arm and begging me to take him with me! What could I do? I had no choice. Oddly enough, the third type of ice cream we got had done the same thing. Ah well. It's food. It will get eaten. Probably the ice cream before the soup and lunch meat, but it will get eaten nonetheless.

Saturday Shannon will be babysitting twice in a row and will be gone most all of the day. And she's taking Chewy with her so I'll be a lone bachelor all day. So if anyone wants to get owned in Halo 2 that afternoon or evening, the offer is on the table.

A side note to anyone reading on Blogger here: Every post I write I'm still posting it on my VOX blog as well because I haven't made up my mind if I'm going to fully switch over to VOX. I've gotten a few friends on there which is good, but I just don't know that I can commit to it yet. I still never heard much of an opinion as to which anyone preferred, this one or the VOX blog. Feel free to comment and let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in getting a VOX blog since they are invite only at this point still, let me know and I'll send you one when I get some more invitations to give out.

Good to be home...

After the airline changed the flights I was on due to lightning in Philadelphia yesterday, I finally left Ottawa around 5:45 pm headed to Chicago O'Hare airport. They were an hour late in leaving Ottawa so when I finally got to Chicago I had 15 minutes to make it from one concourse to another to catch the flight. Thankfully they had suggested in Ottawa that I hang on to all my bags and not check any. I made it to the connecting flight while they were seating the last section. On a side note, the flight to Tampa was on Ted and I think I had more leg room on that flight than just about any other I've ever been on. And had the flight been over 3 and a half hours they would have had real dinner service and movies and all. I would recommend them if you had the chance.So I made it home finally around 11:30 pm. It's good to be back in a country where highway and street signs are visible more than 6 feet away and you actually get a sign to let you know what roads are coming up (street signage still being my only complaint of the trip).

Ottawa: Day 2

Not really a lot to report today. Went in about 10:30 am. Got to see the way they run their support department and found a few valuable ideas in all that. Went to dinner with our CEO from Sydney, Magnus, who just happens to be here to see March Networks tomorrow for totally different reasons. Had some completely crazy guy talking to us the whole meal. I couldn't even begin to go into anything he said because his stories were absolutely all over the map. Came back here to the hotel. Going to head to bed and then fly out tomorrow afternoon late after setting up one more piece of software for them. That about covers it. I'll get back into Tampa around 11:00 pm tomorrow night and then drive 45 minutes or so home. All in all, a good trip. I got to see some things, got some things accomplished helping them with our product, got to have a good chat with Magnus, and will have gotten to sleep in for two days in a row. Now that, is a good, quick trip.

Ottawa: Day 1

So I made it into Ottawa around 1:15 pm this afternoon. I got my rental car and made my way to the hotel. Along the way I came across my only complaint that I've got for here so far... highway signs. Two different times I missed roads I was supposed to turn on because there was like no warning that the road was coming up. We've got it too easy back home with seeing signs a couple miles in advance that a road is coming up cause it's not that way here. I made it to the hotel to check in. Let me just throw a quick pitch in here that this is probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever been in, if not the nicest. They said it's a 5-star hotel and I'm pretty sure they weren't kidding. Brookstreet Hotel, in case I didn't mention it before, is where I'm staying.

March Networks who I came to see is in the technology park that surrounds the hotel, so after I got settled into my room on the 17th (out of 18) floor I just walked over to their office. I worked with them with our equipment for a few hours and then the guy I'm working with, John Phillips, offered to take me downtown for dinner and to look around. So that's exactly what we did. We ate some excellent flatbread pizza at a restaurant called Honest Lawyers. Then we headed down the street to get what John called an authentic Ottawa dessert, Beaver Tail. I must say, the Beaver Tail was rather delicious! It was a chewy flatbread with cinnamon, sugar and lemon on the top. Really very good!

After that we kept walking around a bit and he let me get some good pictures of some of the buildings downtown. They've got a really pretty downtown in general. There's a lot of older gothic style buildings, but at the same time there's modern buildings throughout. The overall look of the downtown area is well kept and it looks like they put some time into the trees and flowers all around. There were also several areas around the downtown area that would be a street that was actually blocked off and wasn't used for traffic, but instead had all sorts of shops and restaurants on it. There's plenty to see and do just walking around there. I think this would be a really nice place to visit if I had friends and family with me and plenty of time to explore. Here's a few pics from this evening, and as always, there's more in the Photo Album:






Well kids, I'm about beat after having to wake up at 3:15 am this morning to get to the airport on time. So I'm headed to bed! Luckily John's got meetings in the morning so I don't have to be back over there until 10:30 am so I can get a little more sleep! Good night to all!

Having to pay for Internet access in airports is robbery...

Just checking in quickly from Newark, New Jersey... sitting in the airport with about an hour before we take off for Ottawa. Hopefully the flight there will be better than the one here. It has to be, it's just over an hour long!

Good Visit with Mom R

Well it's been a good time so far with Mom R so far! Thursday evening she got in somewhat late so we just went to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner and took it easy. On Friday Shannon and I both had to work so Mom R took Shannon's car and headed to Ocala to see her aunt and uncle. She found out that was a little bit longer of a trip than she thought, but she made it there and back just fine. That night we went out with Tommy and Megan for dinner and ice cream on St. Armand's Circle. Saturday we stayed in during the day and then closer to early evening we went to The Lobster Pot for dinner than I raved about a couple weeks ago. We had a good dinner there and then headed right down the street to Siesta Key Beach and enjoyed sitting down and hearing some waves with our feet in the sand. It was a good relaxing time. Then today we went to church and then came back and Shannon and Mom R went out to do a bit of shopping. I stayed in and got a few games of Halo in with Casey. Then we ordered some Pizza Hut and bought Fun With Dick And Jane on the Movies On Demand part of our digital cable. You know, that's actually cheaper than going to Blockbuster and I don't have to take it back a few days later! As for tomorrow, Shannon's taking the day off so she and Mom R can head up to the outlet mall and have some quality mother-daughter time. Here's a few pics from yesterday (and there are plenty others spread out in a couple different categories if you want to follow the Photo Album link in the right column):





Now, let me go off on a completely separate path here for a second. We've all heard of MySpace.com right? Well, I hate it. I can't hardly even stand to look at it. If it's not for the huge flashing ads on every page you look at, it for the horrible things these people are doing to HTML and the way web pages should look. Oh yeah, and the stupid blinking/blinging little gif images they put everywhere really gripe my goat too! All that being said, I chose to use Blogger here a year or so ago because I just couldn't stand the alternatives. I have no gripes at all with my blog here. In fact, I rather enjoy it. But, the one, and ONLY one, thing that MySpace has over Blogger is the ability to "network" with friends. Sure your friend can have a blog too, but there's no good way to find them if they do have one and you don't know it. And there's no way to associate you two as friends once you do. Reading a review of a certain site last week I heard a new site mentioned. VOX. I was intrigued enough by what they were saying about it that I checked it out. Well, here's the low-down. It's a blogging tool. But it's more than that. What they've done is take the clean, properly designed layouts of Blogger, and added the social networking ability of MySpace without making it a complete mess like MySpace is. Not only that, it give you some cool integrated tools built into your blog like the ability to upload videos, pictures, books, and music. So, like I've taken the extra effort to put the music I'm listening to lately on here, the book I'm currently reading, and I got a Photo Bucket album to house my pictures, VOX pretty much has all this built into it. I have two main complaints with VOX, but I really think they could be easily overcome. VOX does not allow you to change the actual layout you use. You can rearrange it and put the things, music, photos, neighbors, etc. where you want, but I couldn't go through and change the header image like I do here on occasion. The other beef I have is that they have a minimal amount of Google's text ads at the bottom of each blog. But, since they are Google's text ads, they're easy to look over. I haven't seen any big, obtrusive ads on anyone's blog so far and I don't think that I will. Soooo, I've said all this to say that if I end up thinking it's cool enough, I may just start blogging on that. We'll have to see. Right now though, VOX is an invitation only service and I had to go searching online to find someone willing to give me an invite. And since I just started my account, I don't have any invites to give anyone myself. Now, if you all feel like checking it out (and I'd really love for you to), head over to shawnc.vox.com and take a look. I really love some feedback either here, or on the VOX blog about which one anyone prefers, Blogger or VOX. Do yourself a favor and explore the VOX site itself while you're there. They have some pretty cool stuff. In the end, if I do start using VOX and I get some invites, I'd love to get some friends that may occasionally read me here, switch over to using VOX from their Blogger, or MySpace, or MSN Spaces, or XANGA, or whatever else is out there so I could get a little neighborhood going! But that's just a dream of mine...