Emily's Texas Adventure - Days One & Two

Have arrived in Grapevine, Texas for the Thomson Reuters CS Users Conference. Am staying at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center with Rebecca. Everything here is of "Texan" proportions, i.e., everything is bigger in Texas. Unfortunately, we have arrived during the middle of the transition to the Christmas season, so everything is being redone as Christmas on a ranch, which is about as ridiculous as it sounds. The atrium has three giant white christmas trees decorated in peppers and cacti, as well as several flags.The hallway to our part of the hotel, with nutcrackers lining the walls.

Mosaic on the floor of the atrium, celebrating the Lonestar state.

Main restaurant in the atrium, where we watched election converage on a 100 foot TV screen.

Stuffed buffalo - there's stuffed wildlife everywhere

feeling the blahs

Have been feeling the blahs today. No idea why. Good job, good husband, good life. Just feeling blah.

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It's official. I am now a 10% shareholder with my company. No turning back now.

economic paniç

When I was in middle school I had to research the great depression, which included interviewing someone who had lived through it. I interviewed my grandmother. The family thinks that part of her crazy, stubborn ways are a direct effect of surviving the depression. So I'm a little worried that if the us devolves into another depression, I'm going to become the mirror image of my grandmother.

We are at Rivercrest Church today. Daniel is leading worship. As friendly as this church is i still feel out of place. Everyone smiles here

The bus is such a love/hate relationship for me - a mix of disgust, horror and fascination surrounds each ride.

Bald is Beautiful

It is done...Daniel's hair is gone.

Daniel has been growing his hair since last year with the intention of donating it to Locks of Love, in honor of his former teacher and colleague Carolyn Dowd. Last night in our tiny bathroom, we shaved his head, bundled the hair into two ponytails and packaged them to head to Florida, the Locks of Love headquarters. The deed was done and the Master Maestro is now bald.

Hopefully his hair will be put to good use!

Sweat Equity - Let the Painting Begin

The task: repaint the house in 3-4 days (i.e., Emily's vacation)

The players: Daniel & Emily + anyone who we can bribe or guilt into aiding us

The hazards: rain, recycled paint, Daniel hates painting...

Step One - Kiss the old paint goodbye

Front

Back

And then a bunch more steps...all leading to the finished (almost) product

Pre-Paint Ponderings

Tomorrow the house painting saga begins...a race to finish before vacation runs out, as well as a battle of Oregon's elements. Will it rain? Will the heat scorch us? Will we even have enough money to purchase painting supplies? Who knows?
We've decided to use MetroPaint, which is a recycled paint. I like the idea of using something that is both recycled and cheap! Check out http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=622 for the color samples. We've chosen 'Crater Lake', which is a dark blue, as the main color, with 'Mountain Snow' (obviously a white) as the trim.

Home Improvement - New Windows

The brand spankin' new Penguin windows have been installed. Our house is still chaos, the improvement was quite expensive, but it's wonderful! One major home improvement down, three billion more to go!

FRONT OF HOUSE BEFORE

FRONT OF HOUSE AFTER

OUR NEW FRONT WINDOW OUTSIDE & INSIDE

KITCHEN WINDOW BEFORE

KITCHEN WINDOW AFTER