Mike & Kristen's Blog

The Vibrator Play

2009-03-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

Last night, Kristen and I along with another couple went out to the Berkeley Repertory Theater. The Berkeley Rep is a small independent theater group that we've been trying to visit for a while. Our friends Randy and Mandy, from Texas, are out for work so we met up to catch a show. Our choices were "Crime and Punishment" or "In the Next Room." I wasn't sure about "In the Next Room," but I knew "Crime and Punishment" wasn't a comedy so I went with the alternative.

The play is hilarious. It's about a Victorian era doctor who cures women (and a man) of their "hysteria." He uses a new electronic "instrument" to induce an orgasm! The wild ride the characters have after their sessions are humorous. Everything was going great for this play until the last few minutes. Then things really got strange. Lets just say we saw way more than we bargained for from the leading man.

I imagine I'll probably need to see a hundred more plays to witness an ending like this again.

Elf Yourself!

2008-12-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Merry Christmas

2008-12-16T21:03:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! If our Christmas postcard lead you to our blog or if your one of our few repeat visitors welcome back! If you just stumbled onto our blog then welcome!

Scroll down to see a sampling of our adventures...

Halloween

2008-10-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

After years of out doing Kristen with my Jack-O-Lantern carving skills, Kristen finally stepped up to the plate and knocked one out of the park!

Blue Angels and Fleet Week

2008-10-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

During the annual fleet week in San Francisco, we went up to Grizzly Peak to watch the Blue Angels perform over the bay. Turns out the idea was better than the actual. Normally, we go to Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge to watch the Blue Angels. We didn't realize that the Blue Angels don't fly that close to Grizzly Peak so the jets were really just specs in the sky.

But, it was a really beautiful day to ride around with the convertible top down! I was even able to apply some good old fashion Boy Scout skills and help bandage up a little kid that cut his leg. I used my handy Chevron first aid kit that was in my trunk. This led to a rather long conversation with a complete stranger about crude and gasoline economics. I think I was a good ambassador for Chevron that day.

If you can make gasoline you can make beer

2008-09-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

After a year of talking about brewing some beer, I finally got around to doing it. I had some help from my friend Randy Miles. Randy and I did Chemical Engineering together at A&M. So you'd figure two chemical engineers should be able to brew beer. Turns out the process of brewing beer was actually pretty easy. Now, I can't say the art of making good beer is all that easy. Our beer was basically drinkable, but I think we'll need to refine our techniques before we quit our day jobs.

New Fabric

2008-08-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Check out the handy work we did today. Recovered all our kitchen chairs for less than $5, total!

2007 PFV

2008-07-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

PFV= Prejean Family Vacation

My amazing family (all of them!) decided to take a vacation together. We did the family vacation thing a few times when we were little, but this was the first one since my cousins & I have "grown-up." We had fun tubing the Comal & Guadalupe Rivers. I made some delicious adult beverages to enjoy along the way..yum! The ENTIRE family went to Schlitterbahn one day. It was kind of a fiasco getting the whole ticket situation organized, but once that was done we had a blast! The highlight of the trip for me was visiting with my maw-maw, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, & mom & dad every evening since I don't get to see them very often. I also learned how to make a "flaming dr.pepper"...thanks Mark. It's always nice to learn such a useful skill:) I can't wait for the next PFV (Hawaii anyone??)

-Kristen

Danny's Wedding

2008-07-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

In July, we went to Galveston, Texas, to attend a good college friend's wedding. Danny Jackson was my roommate for 3 years at A&M when we were going through the Corps together. He met Janet (his new wife) while doing is grad studies at Southwest Texas State. We had a great time celebrating their wedding and getting to know Janet.

Danny and Janet got married at this cool old chapel on Galveston Island. But now that I think about it cool isn't the right word to describe the chapel. Turns out the day before the wedding the chapel's AC unit broke. Unfortunately, they didn't get the AC fixed before the wedding so we crammed 100 people into a 100 year old church and nearly roasted to death. It didn't help things that all the groomsmen where doing shots together before the wedding so we were all sweating bullets standing up there. But I wouldn't have traded the day for anything.

It was also great to hangout with all our Corp of Cadets buddies from years ago. It was awesome to hear their stories and finally meet some of their wives/girlfriends. Danny and mine's good friend Patrick Ester was even able to go after his wife surprised him with tickets to come to the wedding.

One of the funniest parts of the weekend was after the rehearsal dinner all of the Danny's and Janet's friends went bar hoping in Galveston. We all had a great time enjoying adult beverages and reminiscing about old times. The highlight of the night was Kristen finally getting to experience the joy of being the designated driver amongst my old crew. Lets just say my sides where hurting the next day from the non stop laughter of our antics. I think our friend Matt even made friends with the McDonald's drive thru attendant...

Despite bringing our camera with us we failed to take a single picture of the weekend which was quite a bummer. Sadly, a few weeks later Hurricane Ike blew through Galveston. The old chapel that had survived the 1900 Hurricane also survived Hurricane Ike. Maybe FEMA can finally get that AC fixed???

5 Year Wedding Anniversary

2008-07-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it! July 5th, 2008, is our 5 year wedding anniversary! We remember that day so fondly. We sort of celebrated our anniversary a little early this year back in April when we went to Maui. But, that didn't stop us from doing a few special things in July.

First, Kristen made her own creation of our wedding supper. She did an awesome job recreating our reception meal. Which is really funny considering we didn't even get to eat at the reception since we're to busy partying with all our friends.

After our dinner, we went to a play at the California Shakespeare Theater. The play was at an outdoor amphitheater located in the Orinda Hills. It was a really fitting play called "An Ideal Husband." It is an Oscar Wilde romantic satire (I guess a classic romantic comedy). It was a really entertaining play set in a beautiful outdoor theater.

An awesome way to remember our wedding day!

Relay for Life

2008-06-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Kristen, Tifanie, Matt, and myself volunteered to walk the San Ramon Relay for Life. We thought this would be are really cool event. We volunteered through Chevron. Chevron gave us shirts, hats, and other stuff. But when we got there we were all 100% unimpressed by the Chevron presence. We were the only Chevron yahoos there. We made the most of the event. It was fun to just walk, talk, and get caught up. Tifanie used to work with me in the Long Range Planning group at the refinery. But she's moved to San Ramon to work in the Downstream Planning Headquarters and I've moved to the Refinery Short Range Planning group. We walked 2 miles and hatched the idea to start up a bocce ball team.

Relay For Life

Josh & Katie's Trip

2008-06-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends from Sulphur, Josh, recently came out to SF with is girlfriend Katie. We had a great time checking out San Fran, Napa, Giants game, and Muir Woods. It was made even better when Josh proposed marriage to Katie at the Mondavi winery. It was a great weekend. Some of our best times were just hanging out at my house getting caught up. We also had a lot of fun playing Monopoly.

Check out some pics

Can't wait for the big day.

Chevron Power Couples!

2008-06-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Look at these fine folks!! Future Chevron, AT&T, and teaching stars at our friends' Barbara and Greg's wedding.

Maui 2008

2008-05-11T19:54:00.001-07:00

We just got back from a 4 day trip to Maui. We had an awesome time! Maui is a 180 different than Oahu. It was more resort centric. We stayed at the Sheraton Maui, which was an excellent choice.

However, it wasn't 100% roses from the start. Our United Airlines flight was delayed 3 hrs prior to take off due to a leaking oil pump. This wouldn't normally bother me much except they didn't discover this leak until we were pulling out of the terminal for take off. So we were stuck on the plane for 3 hrs while the ground crew changed the oil filter. Luckily that was our only setback the entire trip.

After arriving in Maui, we got a rental car and started out for the Sheraton resort. It was on the west side of the island so we had a little bit of a drive ahead of us. On the way to the resort there was a lot of traffic so it took us a little over an hour to get there. The traffic and airline delay basically killed a day we had been counting on at the beach. But it was no big deal because we used the time to get settled into the resort. I guess since we got in later in the day the only rooms available where the suites. So our earlier misfortune turned out to be cool because we got upgraded to a suite. The suite was pretty cool. It came with a nice little living room set, kitchen table, and double porch.

The first night we went to Lahaina, which was 10 miles to the south of our hotel. Lahaina was a frequent stop on our trip. It has a lot of cool little restaurants and shops. The first night we went to Kimo's. We didn't have reservations so we "had to" sit out on there deck and have cocktails and watch the sunset. It's not a bad place to be for an hour waiting for a table. The cocktails hit us both pretty hard because all we'd had to eat all day was our Starbucks breakfast sandwiches and coffee. Needless to say we had a really good time at Kimo's!

Our first full day started out pretty crazy. At 3Am the evacuation alarm started going off in the hotel. But at 3:02 AM the all clear was sounded. Since we where on West Coast time and I'm used to getting up at 4:30AM, I was wide awake. Turned out to be not a big deal, because it gave me some time to get caught up with my sister who was wide awake at 9:30 AM Sulphur time. Kristen got up at 6:30 and we went off to the hotel breakfast buffet. The buffet came with our air/hotel/car deal we got through the travel agency. It was a nice buffet with all kinds of good things. The best part for me was watching all the little birds hoovering around the breakfast area (we sat outside under a big awning). They had been well trained to watch when people pushed their plates away or left their table. One bird even stole Kristen's french bread one morning! It was quite funny. But they were camera shy. When I had my camera out with a bait plate on the table they wouldn't come by.

The beach right outside of our hotel had was next to the Black Rock area which was supposed to be some of the best snorkeling on Maui. After all the fun we had last year with snorkeling we knew that snorkeling was one of our primary focuses on this trip. We headed out to the beach and decided to purchase a cabana from the hotel. This was really nice and worth it considering we spent all day on the beach. We snorkeled 4 times each time going to a different spot along the Black Rock cove. The water was fantastic! Not sure exactly what I saw but it was really cool. But after swimming all day we both paid for it at dinner and the next day. Our arms were on fire. We had sore muscles all along our forearms and shoulders. But it was well worth it.

For dinner we went back to Lahania. We went to IO's which was supposed to be a Hawaiian-Mediterranean fusion. The food was really good and they had a live Hawaiian contemporary singer there that was awesome. But we didn't listen too long because we were spent after spending all day at the beach and sharing a bottle of wine. We were ready for bed.

The next day we decided to get the cabana again. This worked out really great, because our muscles were still really sore and the current was much stronger. This limited our snorkeling a little. The second day were were graced with by the presence of this giant sea turtle just feet away from the shore. I practically swam into the turtle he was so close to use. Really cool! The second day we also discovered the pool side bar that was steps away from us. So we made several trips to the bar for the drink of the day! Repeating the phrase "Just charge it to the room!"

For dinner, we went to the Feast of Lele luau. This was a really cool adventure. It was a 5 course dinner timed with 5 act show that took us throughout the South Pacific. We both really enjoyed the open bar, acts, and show. Well worth the price of admission.

On our last day we had a 9:30 pm flight so we spent the morning at the hotel pool which was a lot of fun floating around the lazy river. Then in the afternoon we went to the Westin Spa. It very relaxing. I was really intrigued by the steam room. It was my first experience in a steam room and I found it to be very relaxing. Kristen really liked the tranquility room that was esstentally the waiting area before your treatments. It had an awesome view of the ocean and fruit/veggie infused water and gourmet teas. After the pampering, we went shopping in Whaler's Village (a little shopping area next to our resort) and Lahania.

From there our vacation was over. We made our way back to the airport and flirted briefly with getting bumped from our flight for a $600 United voucher. Our second trip to Hawaii was just as incredible as the first!

Check out more of our Maui pictures...

A's Game

2008-05-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Back at the St. Paul School Casino night (Kristen's school), we won 4 tickets with field passes to an Oakland A's game. So we invited our friends Matt and Tifanie to join us at the game. Non of us are huge or knowledgeable baseball fans, but we like any chance we get to hang out and drink beer. It was pretty neat to watch the players take batting practice up close, but out tour guide wasn't very enthusiastic. And, I think we put him off a little when none of us really had a favorite player. But it was a cool experience.

New Gig at Work

2008-03-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've started a new gig at work. It's a pretty exciting time for me. For the next month or so, I'll be the crude and gas oil scheduler. I'm responsible for working with our crude traders and schedulers in Houston to ensure the refinery has all the crude it needs. I'm also responsible for making sure all the intermediate imports and some product exports. Its a pretty fast paced job and a great learning experience. The only bummer about this new gig is that I have to be at the morning refinery coordination meeting at 6:40 AM, Monday thru Friday. I have to be coherent and prepared so that means getting to work between 5 & 6 AM, yuck! Its been pretty funny the past week when I talk during the meeting my voice is all scratchy and horse. So I've started talking to myself/sing along with the music in the car on the way in to get my voice back each morning before the meeting, LOL!

After that I'll transition to the Area Operating Planner. I'll be responsible to making the monthly business plan for the refinery. It's going to be a really incredible experience. I'll be working with the entire supply chain to optimize raw materials and products. This is exactly the kind of job I've been working for over the past few years. I'm really excited, wish me luck!

Maui Bound!

2008-03-29T19:06:00.001-07:00

We're headed to Maui in April!!! Keep a look out for pictures and the scoop.

Crawfish Boil!

2008-03-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

For over 5 years I've wanted to have a crawfish boil out here in California. After the 400 lb crawfish boil last spring at Klaire's graduation party I felt prepared to try one myself. For Christmas I got all the necessary equipment to do a crawfish boil. With all the equipment in hand I found several crawfish shippers on the Internet. I decided to go with the Louisiana Crawfish Company. We ordered 15 lbs. which were shipped overnight right to our front door. The crawfish arrived alive and very clean. We were really excited about the ease of the entire process. We had Matt & Tifanie over to enjoy the experience. We boiled crawfish, potatoes, and corn. Matt & Tifanie got a major kick out of the entire process. They blogged about it on their website. Their from Boston/Arizona so this crawfish thing was new to them. For me the crawfish needed a little more seasoning, but for a rookie boil I think everything turned out really well. Taking a step back, its really amazing to get live crawfish shipped straight to your door all the way in California from Louisiana.

Poor Aggie

2008-03-28T17:36:00.001-07:00

Aggie has finally recuperated from a rather rough patch he went through recently. It all started out when he wasn't eating and was very lethargic. After $600 worth of tests we found out Ag had an enlarged heart, slipped disk in his back, and about 20 bladder stones. The vet suggested not treating the heart and back issue. However, the bladder stones were a major problem requiring surgery. $2000 Surgery! We decided take Ag to another vet for a second opinion. We were very happy with the second vet, Dr. Johnson. He's Ag's new vet. His estimate wasn't much better by the way, $1200. Still way too much.

So we talked with a third vet (well in training) Kayla. We're both very impressed with Kayla. She was very helpful and professional. She suggested talking with the Southwest Louisiana Vet Clinic in Sulphur to get an estimate. This turned out to be a really good idea. They were very helpful and accommodating. Their estimate was only $600. Winner, winner! The next thing we knew Kristen and Ag where boarding a plane headed for Sulphur! (Aggie wishes to thank his Maw Maw for courtesy airline miles to help make this all possible!)

Ag's fully recovered now and full of energy! He's now on a special diet to prevent bladder stones from coming back. He's also on a special shot regime to help rebuild cartilage in his hip.

One more episode in the Poor Aggie Saga!

Jess's Visit

2008-03-01T17:22:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures from when Jess came out to visit. We had a great time! We braved torrential down pours in San Francisco to visit the Museum of Modern Art and Legion of Honor. We went to the Punchline to see Joel McHale from The Soup. The next day we did Napa. We had a great time visiting the wineries. After that Jess and I spent the day checking out Stanford and Berkeley. It was a great weekend! Visitors are always welcome!

Yes, We Can! - Si, Se Puede!

2008-02-08T21:16:00.001-08:00

Two very cool videos that pumped me up.

Back to the original design

2008-02-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

After a month of the black color scheme, I decided I like the original better.

Favorite Super Bowl Ad

2008-02-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

This was my favorite Super Bowl ad!

Peas in a Pod

2008-01-05T21:04:00.000-08:00

Kristen and Aggie love to nap!

Kooza! Cirque du Soleil

2008-01-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

In January, we went to Kooza, a Cirque du Soleil show, at AT&T park. Well, the tickets said AT&T park, but it was really next to it. It was a really neat combination of high flying acrobatics that you used to see at the Circus. It was a very interesting show.

Keelie's Cute Cheers

2007-12-29T21:32:00.000-08:00

Keelie is so cute!

Aggie's Travels

2007-12-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

We went home for New Year's! We had a lot of fun with Ag in the airport waiting on our next flight. We even made some friends with a few little kids. Kristen attracts those little kids like moth to a flame!

Cookie Explosion

2007-12-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Kristen went crazy making Christmas cookies before Christmas!!!

1 Year Anniversary

2007-12-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not but this little blog has been going for 1 year today (Dec. 23).

Here are some interesting stats.

There have been over 100 different visitors to this website.
There have been over 1,000 visits to the website.
People from over 10 states and 5 countries have visited.

We started this blog to help keep family and friends up on all our activities. Throughout the year we've gotten a lot of feedback on our site from our prime audience so thanks!!

We changed up the colors and layout so let us know if you like it. We'll try this out for a little while. Stay tuned for some fun Holiday posts...

Our Christmas Tree & Stockings

2007-12-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a look at our Christmass tree & stockings! Check out Ag's stocking "The Boss."

Homemade Marshmallows

2007-12-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

Check the pictures of our homemade marshmallows!!

Thanksgiving & Fried Turkey!

2007-12-09T20:58:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving, we fried a turkey and went to our friends Tifanie & Matt's house. It was a great day! Kristen played their Wii and fell in love with it! So now we're searching across every store in the Bay Area looking for Wii's (like everyone else in the area).

Holiday in Carneros

2007-12-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

We recently had some visitors from back home! Kristen's mom & dad (Tommy & Paree) and Art & Mary (family friends) came out for a long weekend before Thanksgiving. We had a great time! We did the "Holiday In Carneros" wine festival. We were able to purchase a commemorative glass at the first winery then go from winery to winery to try all their great wines! We went to 10 "wineries!" We even met the wine maker Ty Canton.

We started the day at 10 am at Etude. It was nice, but we were the first ones so they weren't quite ready for us. Next we went to Ceja, which was like visiting a close friend's house. I highly recommend them. Then we went to McKenzie-Muller. They normally don't do public tastings and it showed. I really enjoyed their wines (mostly reds), but the rest of the group were not big fans. Next we went to Bouchaine. I liked them right away, because they gave Mr. Tommy and Mr. Art a hard time for wearing ball caps. Their wines were great and their grounds were awesome. About this time we were starting to get hungry so we went went to the Larson Family Winery.

Larson had BBQ for sale so we loaded up on meat and carbs to help soak up all the wine. They had a major cowboy theme going, including a trail ride. After enjoying the food we went on the trail ride! By this time, everyone was craving our normal Carneros favorite, Homewood winery so off we went. Homewood is a great little winery, we always get to hang out with Dave the wine maker. This trip wasn't an exception. Next we went to what we called the "winery strip mall." Three wineries were setup in a series of warehouses. The facilities were not indicative of the wine. All three wineries, Tin Barn, Ty Canton, and 3rd winery (I can't remember its name) were great. I even bought a cabernet at Ty Canton (and he signed the bottle.)

With just 1 hr left before the day was over we hurried up to Robledo Winery. We were definitely the last ones there and they were ready to close down. But they served us wine and shared the day's stories. The wine was good, but I wish I could have been their during the "rush."

Overall it was a great day! I would definitely recommend Ceja, Bouchaine, Ty Canton, and Robledo to anyone going to the wine country.

The next day we did "the city." This wasn't the first time for any of us so we did somethings we've never done before. We went to the San Francisco Ferry Building. It was a really cool market place with many interesting stores and restaurants. Next, we went to Union Square. We checked out Macy's especially their Christmas section. Then it was off to "Top of the Mark." But when we got there it didn't open for another hour. So we walked around the area and then went to the Fairmont. Finally, it was off to the Top of the Mark, which was a really cool experience! Everyone ordered cool cocktails and checked out the sites above San Fran (but the fog kinda limited our view).

Lastly we went to Mr. Tommy's favorite place in the Bay Area (maybe even more than our house) the Pyramid Brewery. Everything was going great until Mr. Art & Mr. Tommy were teasing the waitress while she was picking up the table. Then all the sudden she dropped all the plates all over herself, completely covering her white uniform shirt with the night's entrees. Poor girl, she was mortified. Thankfully, she was a good sport and everything turned out ok...

It was another fun weekend with Mary, Art, Tommy, and Paree...

Make It Right NOLA

2007-12-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

Really cool way to help make a difference in New Orleans. Make It Right NOLA

We Bleed Maroon

2007-12-01T23:28:00.000-08:00

This song is by Granger Smith. He was in the Corps of Cadets with me, but in a different company. He quit during our Sophomore year to go to Nashville. Looks like he's doing ok!

This song is incredible!!

Aggie Football Intro

2007-12-01T23:22:00.000-08:00

This was the video entrance for the Texas A&M football this year. It was an awesome experience in person. It almost made me cry ;)

Getting my A&M fix

2007-12-01T23:18:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Aggieland!

2007-12-01T23:12:00.001-08:00

Les Miles Rocks

2007-12-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

I love the swagger of this guy!

Coach of the year

2007-11-11T11:01:00.001-08:00

Vote for Coach Matt Viator for D-IAA Coach of the Year!!! He's led McNeese State to a 10-0 start for only the third time in school history! Coach V was my high school football coach and McNeese State is the local state school from my hometown.

http://www.coachoftheyear.com/

Winter is here

2007-11-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

Blah, winter is here. Its been raining all day. We're about to go to Ikea! I can't wait.

5.6 Earthquake!

2007-10-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

We just had a 5.6 earthquake in the Bay Area.

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc40204628.htm

Our whole house vibrated for a good 30 secs.

Crazy!!

St. Paul School Casino Night

2007-10-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

We recently attended the St. Paul School Casino Night. I have to confess that I wasn't initially excited about going to the event. But I decided to give it a shot and besides the tickets were free!

The concept was easy. The admission ticket got you "$25" chips. They had "professional" dealers working all the games. There was blackjack, roulette, poker, and craps. Kristen and I started playing blackjack, but quickly lost interest because we were the only ones playing. I noticed that the craps table looked sort of popping and I thought now it would be a good chance to learn how to play craps. That turned out to be a wise choice!

Kristen and I started playing craps. The nice dealer started teaching us everything about craps. How to do the pass line, play the field, etc. Kristen had to stop playing to attend to some of her teacher duties, but I kept playing. I quickly lost all my money, but had a great time and learned something. So I asked Kristen for her bankroll. Somehow she relinquished her cash so I gave craps a second shot. This time the craps table was packed and people where having a good time. This time my luck had turned. I turned Kristen's $20 into over $140!! It was a lot of fun. At the end of the night everyone used their chips to buy tickets for raffle prizes.

The raffle contained a variety of prizes, Southwest $200 voucher, Disneyland tickets, Commuter Comfort pack (Fastrak, Noahs, and Starbucks gift cards), Oakland A's tickets and pre-game batting practice, A's stadium tour, restaurant gift certificates, etc. We used all our craps winnings to put tickets in for the Southwest voucher, A's tickets, A's stadium tour, and the commuter pack. We ended up winning the A's tickets/batting practice and commuter pack!!!

It was a great night. We won cool things and I learned craps!

Craps websites: remember always gamble responsibly ;)

http://www.crapshero.com/

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/craps.htm

http://www.ildado.com/craps_rules.html

http://www.goingtovegas.com/kpv-crap.htm

http://wizardofodds.com/craps/

http://www.crapdice.com/crapgame.html

New Stanford Stadium & Texas Aggies Game

2007-10-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we attend the Arizona State vs. Stanford football game. It was a good chance to check out the brand new Stanford stadium. Compared to the old stadium (and for that matter most stadiums in the US) it was really awesome. Everything in it was first class. It's a shame that there weren't more fans there. I'd guess the stadium was no more than 50% full. If they ever get a good thing going it'll be a great place to watch a game. ASU stomped Standford. The crazy part is that the very next weekend Stanford beat USC.

The weekend after the Stanford game, we went to the Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M game. I was able to get a few pictures before my camera battery died. The game was awesome! A&M came back from a 17 pt deficit, the largest in school history. This was my first game to not be in the student section. It was an incredible experience seeing the student section and even feeling them. I can't even express the difference in the game experience between A&M and Stanford. I loved every minute of it! The stadium was filled to capacity, over 86,000 fans.

Killing the fatted calf!

2007-10-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

So we went to Sulphur a couple of weekends ago to visit family and attend the Sulphur High Homecoming festivities. I've been traveling a lot for work and I was able to tie in a trip home. While we were in Sulphur Kristen's dad cooked some really good fried shrimp. Kristen's grandma also cooked a gumbo for us (sorry no pictures)! The Homecoming game was a great game and Sulphur won! Hopefully we can make this weekend a yearly event.

New BBQ Pit

2007-10-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the folks (you know who you are!) who bought us a gas BBQ pit for our birthdays. We've cooked lots of goodies, even a pizza!

Crocs

2007-10-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

I just purchased a pair of Crocs. I'll add a picture in the future. But, also check out an interesting article about the stock price for Crocs.

Energyville

2007-09-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Check out this fun little "game" from The Economist Group and Chevron. My high score is 665,000,000 ish. Can you beat me?

Fire And Passion

2007-09-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Coach Gundy of Ok. St. is showing the kind of fire and passion I was talking about in my previous entry. Check our here for more of a background explanation on this tirade.

Disappointed with Aggies!

2007-09-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm mad. I'm mad that Texas A&M (under Coach Fran) can't pass. Can't win a big game. The Thursday's night loss against Miami was just another horrible loss that Coach Fran can add to his belt. Its hard for me to understand why. He's supposedly has top recruiting classes every year.

Coach Fran's contract goes until 2012 so getting rid of him might be more expense than is tolerable for the A&M Athletic Department. So what to do? When I look across the college football landscape the programs that seem to be resurgent or dominant are led by young energetic coaches (Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Florida, USC). The ones that are struggling are led by old (some might say more experienced?) coaches (Michigan, Florida State, Texas A&M). Coach Fran seems to lack that young/energetic element on his staff. Since we can't get rid of Fran my hope is that we fire Les Koenning, offensive coordinator, and the entire offensive staff. My ideal staff would we one that incorporates the modern spread offense, because lets face it, that offense works. Just look at Appalachian State, Texas Tech, and Florida.

Well, my rant is over. I've aired my grievances. My hope is that we win the rest of our home games (4-0, with a win against Texas) and go 2-2 on the road. That would give us a 9-3 record. But, after seeing A&M struggle against Fresno State and Miami, we could easily finish the season at 6-6 or worse if we catch Baylor or Kansas on a good day.

Even if we land at 9-3, which is great lets remember why we (collective) got rid of RC Solcum. We were "tired" of those 8/9 win seasons, hovering around a #25 ranking. Supposedly, RC couldn't win the big game. Well, in my opinion, we're staring right down the barrel of a similar problem with Fran.

Well, lets see what happens. The future starts next weekend against Baylor....

I'm lovin' it

2007-09-16T19:06:00.001-07:00

A&M Gets it going!

2007-09-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

A&M finaly got it going. I've found this interesting.

Also, GO POKES! Last night I witness McNeese State (I-AA) put a whipping on ULL (I-A). Congrats to all the McNeese fans out there.

Just call me McLovin'

2007-09-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I said "Knocked Up" was the funniest movie ever. Ok, well I was wrong. "SuperBad" is by far the funnest movie I've ever seen.

Rockstar!

2007-09-12T22:18:00.001-07:00

My new toy (the Saab) goes really fast when this comes on the radio!

So many good things!

2007-09-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

So I've been very delinquent in my blog updates. Here's some of the latest news. I hope to add more explanation later. But here's the overview.

In July we went to a SF giants game. It was while Barry Bonds had tied the home run record. He could of broke it while we were there. Instead he had a couple doubles. He hit the record breaking home run later the next week. Wish we could have been there. Check out our clothes. Believe it not it was July!

Next was our birthday celebration week in August. We both made special cakes for each other. Kristen got Coach shoes and Coach sunglasses. I got an Xbox 360 and the game "NCAA 2008 College Football."

Next over Labor Day weekend, we were invited by our friends Matt and Tifanie to tag along while they had some college friends here for a wine country trip. We went to some new (to us) wineries that really rocked. We hit 7 wineries in 10 hrs. The last picture kinda sums up the day...

Also, I got a new car!!! A Saab 2.0T convertiable. It rocks! I'll take some pictures soon I promise.

Then a long lost friend, Jim Bob LaFleur and his girlfriend came to San Fran for the weekend. It was great to see him and his girlfriend. They really seem to have things going in the right direction!

Cape Cod!

2007-07-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

So we just (well, a couple of weeks ago) got back from Cape Cod. We rented a house with one of my college buddies, Patrick Ester and his wife Melanie. We all had great time. Check out some pictures.

One of the coolest things was whale watching. Check out the video that Melanie shot. Also check out some pictures I shot.

Here are some pictures of our day in Martha's Vineyard. Which was really fun! We both got some cool souvenirs. Kristen got a cool shirt. I got a fleece pullover. We got them both at the The Black Dog Tavern.

One day Kristen & I went off shore fishing. We were mainly fishing for flounder. As usual in my fishing career, I didn't catch a thing. But Kristen caught a SHARK and STINGRAY!

We went to a little winery on the Cape. The wine was marginal. (hehe, California as almost made us wine snobs.) But we had a good time with the Esters.

We also spent a day in Boston which was really fun. Kristen and I walked along the Freedom Trail, visited the Boston Commons and Public Gardens. Then we went to a Boston Red Sox game. It was a great atmosphere. The fans there are into every out. It was quite an experience!

Boston and Cape Cod where awesome! Even better was getting to hang out with Patrick & Melanie. We had a fabulous trip!

Check out some cool pictures the Melanie and Patrick took.

So much to talk about (Sulphur (poor Aggie), Crawfish Boil , Promotion, New Job, & Knocked Up)

2007-06-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know its been a while since I've updated my blog. Lets just say life has been hectic. So I"ll go in reverse order:

Last night, Kristen & I saw the movie "Knocked Up." That has to be one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. I'd say on par with Wedding Crashers & Old School. Maybe even better because it doesn't get caught up in a romantic comedy plot. Two thumbs way up!

While I was on vacation down in Sulphur, I found out I'd be getting a new assignment. Starting this week, I'll be in the refinery's Long Range Planning group. My official title will be "Long Range Planning Analyst." I'll be doing the monthly Lookback & Backcast reports. These are reports that detail how the refinery did compared to what was planned for each month. It's a pretty sweet move, maybe a little sooner than I had anticipated. This is exactly the kind of job that I hope launches me to a job in Houston.

Separately, I got a promotion a couple of months back that I forgot to talk about. I'm real excited about it! Thats one of the cool things about the refinery, you can get a promotion up a technical career ladder without changing jobs... (hmm, but I ended up changing jobs, hmm.)

Sulphur, Ok, we went back down to Sulphur for a week to celebrate Kristen's youngest sister's (Klaire) high school graduation.

It was a fun week. I got to hang with my family, friends, and Kristen's family. I also went on a plant tour of the Grace catalyst plant. It's the plant that makes the catalyst my plant uses in California. (Small world, huh?)

A really cool part of the trip was a crawfish boil for Klaire and her cousin Stephanie celebrating their high school graduation. We boiled 550 lbs of crawfish. It was really cool. I learned to boil crawfish! Check out these pics. The other really fun part was playing Flip Cup (you know the drinking game). The best part was seeing Kristen's grandma & mom playing Flip Cup with all of us!!

The only bummer of the Sulphur trip was another "Poor Aggie" story. His breath had been very bad for a couple of days so when I brought him to the vet to get the "ok to travel" clearance from the vet (he flies with us when we go to Sulphur) the vet said he maybe needed his teeth cleaned. So when we got to Sulphur we went to Kristen's family vet who looked at him and said we was way past "maybe" needing a cleaning. In fact, the vet removed 12 of Aggie's teeth. Poor Aggie. He already had a lot of teeth removed from A.R.F. before we adopted him. Now he's down to two K-9s and a few molars in the back.

Jason Mraz

2007-05-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

So I've just discovered this guy. I know I'm always about 3 years behind... Hope you enjoy.

Sold the Civic!!

2007-05-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

We sold the civic!! We posted it on Craigslist for $2500 on Sat morning. That must have been the right price. Because we had calls within seconds of the posting. We had probably over 25 people call. It was crazy. Basically, on Sat night we had to take the phone off the hook.

Now its on to the replacement. I'll share more as we figure it out. (But, just a hint. We're thinking Mini.)

Selling the civic

2007-04-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

We're trying to sell the Civic. It's been a good car, but it's time to upgrade.

Check out the ad on Craigslist.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/321284301.html

Aggie & Kristen love to nap

2007-04-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist this photo op. It's Kristen and Aggie napping on the couch.

Poor Aggie

2007-04-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Poor Aggie. The other day he came into the house limping a little. I didn't think much of it. But then I noticed he was really licking his paw. He sat down by my feet and then I looked down. There was a little black thing. Turns out it was his little claw. The thing had snapped right off. His poor little paw was bleeding.

Kristen sprang into "super mom", she got some gauze and tape and bandaged him right up.

When he first walked in he was hardly limping. Once the bandage was on he was really limping. Milking it for all that it was worth. The next day I got worried. I wasn't sure if he was limping because of the badge or something worse. So I tried to take the badge off. But Aggie wouldn't have anything to do with that. He was yelping like crazy. So I changed tactics and cut the bandage off. He tolerated that. The rest of the day he sat on the couch trying to look pitiful. That was a couple of days ago. He's no longer limping and back to chasing the birds in the back yard.

Aggie's new bed

2007-04-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

Check out Aggie's new bed. We got it for him for his up coming pet boarding stay.

Also, look at Bevo. He's missing one leg. Aggie is such a good dog!!

Turns out Aggie loves this bed!

Hawaii Trip

2007-04-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from Hawaii. We just got back. We'll add more pics and some captions soon...

Hawaii 2007

Update on the Civic

2007-04-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Ok so, it rained on Saturday. When I looked outside I noticed the red paint splashes on my civic were "dripping." Turns out that paint was water soluble so we just sat out there in the rain and washed the paint off the civic with puddle water.

Crisis averted!

The funny thing is our local auto body shop wanted $250 bucks to fix it. Haha, we got the last laugh!

PS. Thanks God for the rain!

Carquinez East Hike

2007-04-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

Kristen and I went on a hike on Friday. We did the Carquinez Strait East Trail. It was really awesome. The hill that we climbed is right above the town we live in, Martinez. You can see it in some of the pictures we took.

Carquinez East Hike

Splash of red

2007-04-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

So Kristen just noticed a new addition to my civic. A crazy red splash of paint. Not sure when or how it got there. Or how we're going to get it removed....

First Roses

2007-04-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

My backyard is blooming! The first roses of the season are out. They are so much work, but always worth it.

The Yard

King of Cars

2007-04-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I've recently discovered this show on A&E, King of Cars. It's a reality show about this car dealership in Las Vegas. The dealership is part business/frat/circus. It shows the "real" workings of a car dealership. It's all about "ups" and sales.

I especially love their opening.

2008 Presidential Election

2007-03-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

I added a few links to the side of the web page. It's a few of the presidential candidates I'm keeping an eye on.

What's on my iPod.

2007-03-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

A little peek into what's in my iPod these days.

Spring Bloom

2007-03-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a few more pictures of my yard. Some tulips I plant last year came back!

The Yard

Watershed Project

2007-03-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

Couple of weeks ago, I participated in a volunteer event through my work to help with the Watershed Project to restore native grasslands along the Bay. It was a pretty cool event. We planted about 300 new plants!

Judd Bares

2007-03-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

If your into country music give this guy a shot. He's a family friend from Sulphur.

Check out the spring bloom!

2007-03-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

Check out the spring bloom from my backyard!

2007_03_03

Kristen's Skills!

2007-03-04T12:45:00.001-08:00

Kristen's culinary skills are always impressive. She's made this crazy ice cream filled cake for an event at her school. Check out a piece that she saved for me. It was a chocolate cake filled with cookies & cream ice cream. Don't you wish your wife could cook like mine!

Equal Time

2007-03-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

In an effort for equal time. I'm also interested in Romney.

Obama's Selma Speech

2007-03-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

I'am watching Barack Obama's speech in Selma today. Wow! It was played on CNN. If you get a chance to watch it's worth the effort. Check the first 1/2 out right here.

4.2 Earthquake

2007-03-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, the Bay Area was hit with a moderate earthquake. It was a 4.2 mag earthquake located about 12 miles south of us in Lafayette, CA. It was the biggest earthquake we've felt since being here. Our whole house shook pretty good for 5-10 secs. Luckily, nothing broke or fell down. And most importantly there was no report of any major structural issues or injuries.

Cape Cod Trip!

2007-02-25T12:21:00.000-08:00

We just booked a trip to Cape Cod for a week of relaxation and reconnecting with Patrick and Melanie (some A&M friends who now live in Boston)!! We found a cool house at www.vrbo.com. Keep an eye out for pics.

Aloha

2007-02-24T12:18:00.002-08:00

We just booked tickets to Hawaii! We're going with another couple from out here (Matt & Tifanie). We got a great deal from www.travelzoo.com. Keep an eye out for pictures in the future!

Aloha!!!

Cool, Thanks!

2007-02-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you out there in the Internet who check my blog out. This week, I've had the biggest variety of visitors since I started blogging.

U.S. Visitors: Wakefield, San Leandro, Alameda, Lake Charles, Iota, Lachine, Overland Park,
International Visitors: Quilpué, Beijing, Toledo (France, not Ohio)

Ikea Excursion

2007-02-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

We ventured to Ikea today. Check out what we're checking out.

2007_02_10 (Ikea Excursion)

Night at the Oracle (It's a Good Time Out!)

2007-02-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to the Golden State Warriors (GSW) vs. Chicago Bulls NBA basketball game. Kristen's school had a fundraiser and the school basketball teams were supposed to play on the court before the game. However, for some reason the kids weren't allowed to play on the court before the game. The "parent in charge" told us it had to do with some of the NBA players wanting to get some extra practice time in. Since the kids couldn't play the GSWs are supposed to let the kids play on the court at some other game. The GSW also said they'd give everyone a free ticket to that game, as well. That could be cool!

Overall, it was a good game. It went into overtime after the Warriors were down by 13 points in the 4th quarter. Despite sitting in the rafters it was a nice experience, however, I think the price hurdle for the more expensive seats closer to the court would keep me from frequenting more Warriors games...

2007_02_09 (Golden State Warriors Game)

House Visitor

2007-02-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

Last week, Kristen found a guest in our washing machine, Stuart Little....

Don't worry, he was safely released into the wild without harm.

We're gonna be rich!

2007-02-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

Congratulations goes out to my lovely wife Kristen!!! She just got her California Teaching Credential!!

She rocks!!

Previously Mentioned PMP

2007-02-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to put out a note for anyone interested, my previously mentioned PMP went well!
I got excellent feedback now I just have to wait and see if a promotion and raise are in my future (cross you fingers!). I'll find out about a promotion and raise in late March (crazy Chevron system, which I should blog about some time).

I found them!!

2007-02-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

These are some great Career Builder ads.

I especially like these considering this is the time of year that people go through performance evaluations and promotions... (Wish me luck my initial PMP (performance management plan) is tomorrow, I'll also get preliminary feed back from 2006)).

Great Commercials

2007-02-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

I really like these and I'm looking for the Career Builder "Survival of the Fittest."

Cool

2007-02-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

Learning to use youtube.com

Fringale

2007-01-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

Kristen and I went to Fringale for dinner on Saturday night. It's a French bistro in SF. We ordered off the Dine About Town menu. It was a nice restaurant, but a little stuffy and crowded for my taste.

Kristen ordered the sole and I had the pork. Both entrees we very good. Also, my appetizer the beet and goat cheese salad was awesome.

Work Mishap

2007-01-26T22:18:00.000-08:00

Ok, well, I need to share a little mishap I had this week at work. It all started on Wed afternoon when I got hungry for some popcorn. I had one of those small snack size bags of popcorn. I set it to go for 3 mins (normally it takes just 1.5 mins) but usually I watch it the whole time. Normally, I stop the clock when the corn stops popping just like the directions say.

But this time I stepped away to grab a quick cup of coffee. However, when I got to the coffee pot there was no coffee and our process engineering manager was in the office. So I made the next batch of coffee and talked with him. All the while my pop corn was popping away. By the time I remembered the popcorn there was just 4 seconds left!

When I took the bag out of the microwave there was so much smoke I set off the smoke detectors in the office. I soon learned these detectors are connected to the central refinery fire department. Once the alarm went off the entire refinery fire department was sent out to check things out. They came lights and sirens blaring.

Needless to say, I've taken a lot of abuse over the past few days.

Lesson Learned: Don't leave the snack size popcorn unattended while popping or be prepared to face the teasing from everyone you know at work!

Rediscovered Wedding Pics

2007-01-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

Well thanks to Picasa we've rediscovered some really cool wedding pics. All of these pics are from friend's cameras. We had 2 CDs of photos.

This was a really awesome day! Thanks to everyone that helped make it so special!

Wedding Pics

Roy's

2007-01-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

We had dinner tonight at Roy's in San Francisco. Roy's is participating in Dine About Town in San Francisco. This was one of the coolest things we've done in SF. The food was awesome and the atmosphere was great! Our server Nolan was very helpful and attentive. I would recommend Roy's to anyone!

Picasa Web Album

2007-01-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

Check this out

Aggie's Pics

The Blind Side

2007-01-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

I just got finished reading The Blind Side:Evaluation of a Game by Michael Lewis. I give it two thumbs up!! (It came to me highly recommended from my long time buddy Josh S.)

The book covers two topics. First, Lewis discusses the impacts Lawrence Taylor and Steve Walsh had on the NFL. Walsh's impact on the offensive strategy of increased passing and Taylor's (and players like him) impact on the passing game. Walsh's answer to Taylor was by improved play and importance of the left tackle (protecting the passer's blind side).

Second, Lewis discusses the story of Michael Oher. Oher was a homeless inner city kid from Memphis that through complete chance ends up being adopted by a rich white Memphis family. As Oher's life in a white Memphis christian school crosses paths with Tom Lemming (major national football scout for both college and pros) Michael's life completely changes. Lewis discusses Oher's recruitment by all of the country's highest profile college football programs. Interesting in the discussion is the different recruiting styles demonstrated by Oher's biggest suitors (Saban at LSU (just before he jumps to Miami), Cutliff/Orgeron at Ole Miss, and Fulmer at Tennesse).

Oher is now the starting left tackle at Ole Miss...

My new niece

2007-01-04T16:22:00.000-08:00

This is Lady Josephine my new niece.

Picasa is cool!

2007-01-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

Took this photo last year (2006) when Mom & Jess came to visit (picture of Cal. coast along HWY. 1)

Disappointed

2006-12-30T19:12:00.000-08:00

Needless to say I am a little disappointed in Texas A&M's play in the Holiday Bowl. A&M was in several close games this year (8). They were 5-3 in those close games with a combined margin of defeat of 6 points. One could argue that A&M was minutes away from being undefeated or 4-8 (before the bowl game).

On Thursday night A&M looked like a team that was 4-8. I'll give it to Cal (which I saw in person against ASU) they looked good this year. Probably a BCS caliber team.

I was mostly upset with the poor tackling, poor offensive & defensive line play, and the poor passing schemes/execution of the A&M team. These are things that haunted A&M last year as well.

With 17 returning starters A&M is in good shape for next year. But, I'm worried that the rest of the Big 12 will be vastly improved next year as well.

In my opinion, Coach Fran is still on the hot seat. Minimum acceptable wins for next year is 9 with at least one win against Oklahoma or Nebraska. But next year's conference schedule will not be easy with road games against TT, OK, MO, & Neb.

For now it's time to root for the other Big 12 teams & LSU!!

Cool New Wineries (at least to me)

2006-12-28T10:05:00.000-08:00

I went with Kalya & Lindsey to some wineries the other day in Napa. We tried out three new wineries.

I highly recommend http://www.frogsleap.com/.

I also recommend http://www.honigwine.com.