Spring break has started, but it's still a little too chilly to feel like it. Cloudy overcast skies and a temperature of 55 degrees isn't exactly bathing suit weather. Hopefully the drunken dallasites down on greenville brought a sweater for the st. paddy's day parade this morning. It's supposed to stay this way all weekend.

Friday was a little more busy than most. I got to work a little late and spent the entire day putting out little fires to tackle the mega-fire justin and I can't seem to find time to work on together. Hopefully, next week we'll have some help on the small stuff to focus our attention on it. A 3:00 trip to starbucks in coppell yesterday sparked some creative ideas and we're pretty excited about the direction things are heading. Now we're just hoping we get the chance to show our vision to the client before it's beaten to death internally or over-pontificated beyond recognition. While we want to cover all the bases, I'm also a big believer in getting the client just as excited about an idea as you are before over complicating it -- kind of the "promise a lot, deliver more" approach. I feel good about this one.

Mom and dad made it up to dallas yesterday afternoon after getting a late start. We had dinner together last night at la hacienda ranch in carrollton. It was a little uncomfortable on the way back... I crossed my fingers and hoped what happened last time we all went to the ranch didn't happen again -- coming home to find my dogs all bloody and beat up. Luckily, they've been getting along just fine since the incident and nothing was out of the ordinary. Everyone showed up at my house after dinner where we played a little pool (on my now officially completely paid off pool table) and I got to show off my electronic geek gadgets to my dad. I'm sure he's also convinced I'm a complete nerd after last night, but he did find the mp3 jukebox pretty cool. He left with about 40 of my cds he plans on taking home and ripping himself.

Jennifer and david leave for crested butte today for a week of skiing. I guess my parents are probably somewhere around centerville by now en route to houston with one extra passenger they picked up. Jessie and I will be making the same trip on friday. Haven't been home in awhile, so I figure my dad's birthday is a good enough reason as any. It will be interesting to see how jessie, myself, two dogs and a cat make the trip.

Today is yet another weekend to get some chores done. Here's a short list what I'm hoping to accomplish before the weekend ends:

Clean the house
Wash the car
Bathe the dogs
Wash and put away ALL of my laundry
Finish my painting

I'll work on world peace later.

Payday! New tires and an alignment today, then mortgage, water bill, phone bill, sears card, sprint... aw, crap! What the hell am I so excited about ? It's already spoken for.

I left the house yesterday and realized on the way to work I left my powerbook sitting on the couch. I managed to survive an entire day without it... maybe there's hope for me after all.

Can a straight guy wear a day-glo lime green shirt and not get made fun of? Not if you're my boss. He wore one yesterday and provided much needed office humor for a thursday. It was a stylin' shirt, don't get me wrong, but I wonder if he actually thought he could wear it and NOT catch hell... It wasn't just me poking fun, either.

The mom and dad are coming into town this afternoon to pick up the grandkid and take him back to houston for a few days while jen and david go skiing (again) with the church. Cullen will cash in on the spoiling at my parents the first half of the week and the other half at david's parents. I think this will be the longest jen has been separated from cullen. I'm sure there will be about a dozen phone calls a day coming in from colorado to check on the kid. I know my mom is just HATING the idea of spoiling him for a few days... yeah, right.

Tonight, jday and I will join them for dinner and then it's wherever, whatever after that. I should start planning my weekends a little better. Looks like we'll get some rain on sunday according to the forecast. Damn.

Sometimes people are out of line. Trying to be a leader is all and fine, but there's a way to go about it. Do it the wrong way and in the process you'll end up pissing people off. A situation arose yesterday that did just that. I won't say anything more about it, but let's just say I wasn't the only one a little ticked.

Last night was a night in front of the TV watching two very important and educational shows; survivor and celebrity boxing. Survivor was a complete surprise as the morons in the loser tribe voted out the only one in the tribe worth a damn. Celebrity boxing was very entertaining. There were three featured match-ups between hollywood has-beens, white rappers and political whistle blowers. It was pretty funny watching "bi-polar" aka Vanilla Ice get his ass whooped by "whatchu talkin' bout" todd bridges. Do you think Vanilla is trying to tell us something by calling himself "bi-polar"? Hmmm...

After the TV melee Jessie and I treated ourselves to dinner at Tin Star. For those of you who have never been, give it a shot sometime. Try the Salmon -- you'll be glad you did. Yum.

It's finally starting to feel like spring. The cold morning air yields to the sunshine in the afternoons and it's mild enough to go outside and neither fry nor freeze. I plan on taking some time to polish my golf skills by hitting balls on my lunch break and maybe even getting a round in with my dad next weekend when I go home.

Everything I sold on ebay is gone. Got rid of some unwanted stuff and pocketed around $240. Too bad it's being spent on tires for the altima. I'm sure I could think of more exciting things to spend it on... like airfare to vegas in may.

My nephew, Cullen is the cutest kid on the entire planet. I hope if I ever have one, he or she turns out half as cute as my sister's offspring. I stopped by after class ended early last night and paid a visit. Cullen was in a good mood and was showing off his uncanny drum playing ability. Jennifer taught him to point to different parts of his body and what they were. Jennifer would say "cullen -- where are your ears?" and he'd point to his ears. The kid knew every single one she asked him. :) The best part was when she asked him "cullen -- where is your elbow?" Cullen then said "ewl-bow" and pointed accordingly. Very cute. It's fun watching that kiddo grow up.

Work should be pretty busy today as Justin and I polish up our concepts we presented yesterday. I'll also be attempting to do everything within my power to not have to be in south ft. worth at 8:45 AM tomorrow. Ugh.

I knew this time would come. I even warned some people. Each day comes closer to May 16th and I find the nerd meter rising in anticipation of Episode II. I downloaded the trailer yesterday after watching it on FOX Sunday night. Quicktime is amazing. Even though the viewing area was about 10 times smaller than the TV, the trailer looked 10 times better in quicktime. You could really see the details not so clearly evident on TV. I'm trying not to spoil the surprise by staying away from any news regarding the new movie -- I didn't do that for the phantom menace and in hindsight, I wish I had. I kinda want it to be a surprise this year.

Put some stuff for sale on ebay last night to make up for some of the spending I've done in the past few weeks. I had a Jaz drive and some extra toys I didn't need, so what the hell... I'm a big fan of paypal and the "buy it now" feature, so I decided to auction them at a very low price and give someone else a good deal. Already, almost half of the items are sold and some buyers have even paid me already. I should dig through more of my stuff... god knows I've got more than enough crap I could stand to get rid of.

Libby started her internship at tb yesterday and she handled her duties like a pro. We stuck her in the middle of a cube farm between justin's office and mine. We're starting her off on some FP stuff to cut her teeth on while she's not mounting boards or giving foot massages to all the creatives. Just kidding.

Tonight it's another night of class and then one more on thursday; next week -- spring break! I remember what it was like to have those. At least I won't have to drive to the boonies twice next week. That's enough for me. I have to spend some time this week and next designing the fun run shirt for this summer's run.

Note to self: remember to give dave shit about taking vacation next week during UNT spring break... coincidence? I think not.

I also keep forgetting to post this little jewel I found. Enjoy. :)

Yesterday jessie and I made a trip over to central market in plano -- they just opened last wednesday and it was the first time I'd ever been. A little overcrowded with people pushing carts around and bumping into things, but beyond that I was very impressed with the variety of cool things to sample and buy. We took advantage of the sandwich bar and proceeded to get our fill of saturated fat for the week. Mmmmm... saturated fat.

I finally bought the barebones 7200 mac this weekend from some old fart in irving. He had a really smelly dog that tried to hump my leg, but for $40 it was a good deal and allowed me to set up another webcam for something even more exciting than the dogs -- my front lawn. I might move it someday if I can find another place to shine it and keep it networked, but for now it's just the "virginia pine drive cam".

Libby starts her "free reign" at tb today. As for me, it's back to babies and contact lenses.

Do you like Elvis imitators? Or are you like me and think they're kinda dumb. Either way, they don't rate very high on most people's entertainment scale. I got to see one first hand yesterday and found the experience rather disturbing. Long story...

The annual awards show took place at the MacArthur theater yesterday. I got nominated for a bright idea award for the tb brochure (which was nice), but walked away empty handed as the entire creative department carried out an actually really nice crystal award for the various accomplishments they made throughout the year. They did a much better job on the awards this year -- I actually would've like to won one. Oh, well. Maybe next year. I'm still confused as to what constitutes being part of the "fill in client name here" team. I wonder since often I work on projects in the conceptual and pitch phases and then get transitioned out when the sleeves get rolled up and everyone dives in. I've worked on several teams in my tenure at tb, but after thinking about it, I really wonder what teams I'm considered a part of. Strange how that works, really... Not that I'm complaining, though -- there's much more important things I take home with me from employment besides little pieces of glass. :)

Last night Jessie and I took ourselves over to a restaurant we've been wanting to try for quite some time -- Bahama Breeze. Good food. We had a few drinks (fu-fu AND fruity) followed by a nice dinner of seafood and steak. We especially enjoyed the drunk old fart in the bar who was having little too much dancing around in a grass skirt.

Tonight, jonathan, robin, jessie and I going out for dinner and drinks ala double date. We've been trying to get together for awhile now, but every weekend something always comes up. I need to spend some today thinking about where and what we should do. Email any suggestions here.

Crap! I gotta go order buffett tickets...

The ipod finally got here after homeboy delayed meeting with me for the fourth time. Now that I actually own one, all I can say is wow. This thing kicks major ass.

Went to one of the best ever stars game last night with jessie and greg. Considering how they've struggled all season, it was nice to see them pull out an overtime win against the LA kings. Marty Turco is truly coming into his own as a starting goaltender and if Belfour doesn't step it up next time he starts, he might have dallas saying "eddie who?"

Jessie and I were like two retards on a sugar high last night after work. For some reason, it was in the cards for us to inflict bodily injury to ourselves. Although jessie's might have been just a tad worse than mine... she shut her index finger in the car door and smashed the hell out of it. Ouch. I had to play doctor and ice the wound, but she was a sport and made it to the game despite the agonizing pain. :) As for me, well, I'm just an overexcited dumbass who jumped too high when the stars scored and smashed my kneecap on the seat in front of me. Maybe I'll give myself a papercut or two while I'm at it today.

Class tonight after a busy day of work. There's a lot to be done in a short amount of time and I'm trying to juggle. Libby agreed to intern for free yesterday and she starts monday. There goes any level of respectablility I had as a professor... once jim, dave and justin tell her all the dirt on "professor boba" I'm done for. Cripes.

Still ripping. I don't think I'll ever finish all my CDs. I added another 500 songs to the que throughout the course of the day. Jeez.

It looks like we might have an intern after all. Turns out the place libby was interning screwed her over and since she's forced to work for free, she's interested in working for us. I still wish we could find something to compensate her for her time, though. I talked to her after class and she's ready to start late this week or early next week.

Stopped off at Wal-Mart on the way home from class to find an ever elusive drink shaker. I broke the top on my nutritional drink mixer/shaker a few weeks back and I've been looking high and low for one ever since. I'm still looking...

Tomorrow it's another busy day capped off with a nice trip to the AA center for a stars game. Connie hooked us up with free tickets. Nice. Speaking of tickets, I gotta remember to buy buffett tickets this saturday...

Another day of ripping CD's while doing other more productive tasks. As I write this I'm up to 2,851 MP3s taking up 13.5 Gigs of space on the new hard drive. All those songs add up to nearly eight days worth of music. Interesting.

I still don't have my damn iPod. I got stood up again by the nerd who was traveling back into town when we were supposed to meet. Looks like I'll have to wait a little longer until I get the wonderful little gem from apple to get my groove on. Hopefully we can meet during our lunch break sometime this week. He better make the time to do so if he doesn't want negative feedback.

Yesterday, Jessie and I went to denton to judge an art contest at LCS. My dad and I took part last year, but since he was unavailable, Jessie stepped in took his place instead. We had a good time. On the way we had lunch at the tomato and swung by my old apartment deep in the heart of cement city aka, little mexico. I lived in that roach palace for more than two years while going to school and I still wonder what kind of crack I was smoking thinking that was an "okay" place to move into. By the time I graduated I was ready to move anywhere. I took some photos for posterity and counted my blessings to be where I am now. I like how the pool is now filled with dirt. Too bad it wasn't that way when I lived there -- every summer morning I woke up to sound little spanish-speaking brats splashing around at 8 AM. Oh, the bad, bad memories...

This week should be pretty hectic at the office. Justin and I are involved in a big pitch early next week and as usual, timing is short. It's good to be busy, though. We have a meeting first thing in the morning, therefore it's off to bed early tonight to get my beauty sleep. I need lots of it.

If it were about 50 degrees warmer, today would be beautiful. There's not a cloud in the sky and the sun is doing its best to melt the ice left over from saturday morning. It's not having much luck.

Jessie and I went to see "we were soldiers" yesterday since driving conditions made ft worth questionable. Good movie. Very intense visuals and plenty of respect was paid to the americans that lost their lives in the first major conflict between the NVA and USA. There's more vietnam movies than you can shake a stick at, but I'm surprised no one's gone the direction this movie took before. Randall Wallace knows how to write war movies; he wrote braveheart and pearl harbor, but he's also a damn good director, too. Highly recommended.

On the nerd front, I've been ripping CDs left and right as fast as my crippled ti book can go. I came to the realization this morning that it's going to take me at least another 4 or 5 days to finish my collection. I already have 160+ done, with at least another 60 or so to go. Another good thing to come out of this process is rediscovering dusty CDs that have been neglected over the past few years with the introduction of new tunes in the audio cabinet. Its also a testament to my vast musical tastes. I have everything from snoop doggy dogg to george strait and a little bit of everything in between. No foghat, though (sorry, chris).

I have to wait another day on the ipod... nerdy "let's get some wings at hooters even though I don't know you" guy can't make it back into town until tonight. Looks like monday night is the night I get what I paid for.

Last night was a night out with some former high school friends of mine. We got together for a few drinks at champps and afterward todd and I ended up at carson's palace in a last ditch attempt to find some nightlife in subzero temperatures. Last time I went there was halloween weekend and I won $250 in the costume contest thanks to the boba fett (insert comic laugh track here). Last night, I think everyone dressed up as rednecks. It was a very atypical crowd for carson's... well, maybe that's a GOOD thing...

It's been an interesting 24 hours.

This morning found the entire metroplex blanketed in a frozen cover of white crud. I use the word "crud" instead of "snow", because snow doesn't make your car door freeze shut like crud does. With wind chills in the single digits, it's turning out to be yet another wacky weekend of north texas weather.

A for yesterday, it was friday. And everyone loves fridays. The end of the work week brings better moods around the office and a more upbeat atmosphere than the other four days do. Yesterday was a little different since the weather was drizzly and cold. I guess everyone knew this crud was coming.

As for me, my friday started off pretty bad, but it got better. First I zapped the firewire port on my G4 rendering my new mega drive useless. I guess some static electricity fried the port or something... who knows. After ruben spent about three hours attempting to fix it, we determined it was indeed a hardware failure and requires servicing. Hopefully I won't have much trouble since it's got a year warranty from apple, but buying things on ebay like this tend to throw a wrench into certain warranty plans. Keep your fingers crossed. In the mean time I'm borrowing a PC bus card to run the firewire drive until I finish ripping the CD collection.

The alitima was finally fixed at the dealership yesterday and it only cost 50 bucks for the deductible. It was almost double that until I corrected surfer boy's mistake on my ticket. How a person writes down 76000 miles when the odometer only reads 55000 is beyond me. Oh, wait -- I get it. At 75000 the warranty doesn't cover those things. Now it makes since... idiots. Like I wouldn't catch that one. I'm not dealing with those clowns again.

After work, the creative crew found ourselves deep in the middle of the industrial district kicking back some cold canned beer at club schmitz. Jim, Jessie, Justin, Dave and I all made the trip after work where we proceeded to get a little loud and slurry together. Club schmitz is one of those places that's been around for a hundred years and they don't take "no crap from nobody". The beer is cold, dirt cheap and the beehive bitchy waitresses firmly believe in service without a smile. It was a very memorable evening and I think we all learned some things about each other -- some of those things will haunt me for years to come, but hey -- that's another story! :) Check out the dorks.

Today Jessie and I were planning a day trip to ft. worth to do something different for a change. Looks like mother nature has other plans. C'mon, spring... where ya at?