Mr. Fuggs and Pugitta

Well... it's finally over. We lost power at 3:30 am Saturday, September 13 and didn't get it back until late Wednesday evening. We didn't get internet back until late Thursday (the internet keeps going on and off -- so it seems they're still working on the lines).

In all it wasn't too bad. We suffered no damage to person or property, and the cold front that blew in really helped out a lot.

A few people saw power return within hours, while power came back on for others a day, or so, later. And, while we have power now a good portion of our subdivision still is without. The last update I heard is that a majority of the people who lost power still do not have it... so it will take some time.

I did lose my iPhone and Casio camera on that first Saturday. Like an idiot I had them in my pocket when I went outside with Faberge to clear out some gutters that were backing up with debris. We tried to dry them out, but they were too far gone. I had to purchase a replacement phone (which is just now back online) so my apologies to anyone who tried to reach me but couldn't. When they activated the new phone it erased all the text and voice messages I had, so I have no idea who tried to call.

I've uploaded the final photo pages. Some people are disappointed that they're not as "funny" as the Rita photos. Sorry about that. Maybe I'm just getting old (or nicer) but I didn't have much time to get crazy with the photos this go-round. Remember... during Rita I had power and internet the whole time, so we could make a lot of updates. When you have to update all your photos at once (when you finally get power) it's not a fun to come up with crazy captions. So be it. :)

Well... the sun has gone down and, for the most part, it's been an uneventful evening.

Alton and his sister showed up and stuck around for a while, but eventually left for back home. Not sure why, but oh well. It was nice while they were here.

Another photo set has been posted, but nothing too exciting. I would guess that there aren't going to be too many more photo postings on the hurricane until tomorrow, as things outside are a bit difficult to capture with the camera when it's dark outside. Nature is so sly sometimes.

Time to run off and eat some of CJ's stew (thanks to the LaRegina's canned food items -- they're the best).

Well... it's happening again. It was once Hurricane Rita, now it's Hurricane Ike. Only this time it's going to hit. Hopefully it's not going to be bad, but it will get windy and wet. We have some friends with us this time. Shane is joining us for this round, but Paul will not be joining us (so it wont be the same). But we have some new faces for the event. Faberge is here as is Alton and his sister (and their gay dog, Treasure). And, of course, no Hurricane party would be complete without the two pugs -- Mr. Fuggs and Pugitta. And, of course, a healthy stockpile of Beer and Beef Jerky (the two things that kept us alive during Hurricane Rita).

Sit back, enjoy the ride, and we'll try to provide updates every couple of hours, or so (provided we still have internet access/electricity/etc.)

Check out the photos from the Hurricane Ike Photos link to the left.

Last week I had the opportunity to fly out to the west coast. The trip was multi-part -- I had a few days in San Francisco and a few days up in Springfield (Eugene, OR area).

The trip started out well enough... I few out Monday and got a cab from SFO (San Francisco International Airport) to the Parc 55 Hotel in downtown San Francisco. Since I had a video shoot up in Oregon on Thursday and Friday I was able to make the trip to San Francisco with only a little added to the company budget. I had received an invitation from the guys at TechSmith (the makers of Camtasia Studio -- software that we use a lot at work for producing online video content for our Symantec University online project). TechSmith was interested in my input on some new products. So much so that they spent Monday night talking with me and a few other people about what we wanted to see in some of their new products. They provided a wonderful dinner and also provided gifts to us as a "thank you" for our time. One of the gifts was a new iPod Shuffle. The iPod Shuffle is VERY cool -- it's about the size of a book of matches, can clip onto anything, and holds a good amount of music. Perfect for when you're on the go and don't want to lug around a regular-size iPod... or for when you want to keep an iPod in your car without worrying about it getting stolen (the iPod Shuffle is so small that it can be hidden anywhere).

TechSmith also provided me with a floor pass to -- MacWorld!! One of the biggest Macintosh conventions around. It was great to see all the cool Mac development companies out there showcasing their latest. Hog heaven for a die-hard Apple fan. Later that night the TechSmitch guys invited me to a private dinner where I got to talk with the head product manager and three of his developers. It was a great experience, to say the least.

Unfortunately, I got some sort of bug while there and was... eh... let's just say I was getting dehydrated. A lot.

Wednesday I packed up and headed off to the airport and flew into the Eugene, OR airport. Got in my rental car and checked into the hotel in Springfield. The great thing about this location is that the hotel is just a three minute drive from the office. I stopped by the office to check out the room location where I would be doing the Thursday-Friday shoot. The Symantec office there is big. I think the building is a half mile long. Here is a photo taken from the second floor in the middle of the building looking west.

After checking out the room I headed over to the AT&T store just a few miles away and did something I've wanted to do for some time... I purchased an iPhone!! The phone was $399.00. But there's no sales tax in Oregon, so that saved a good chunk of change. I've been wanting to get an iPhone for a long time now, but Apple has a deal with AT&T, so if you want an iPhone you have to switch to AT&T. I had Verizon. I've been using a BlackBerry for a number of years now and have loved it. But, the problem with Verizon is that they don't have rollover minutes. So you have to get a phone plan that covers the most minutes you'll ever use in a single month -- otherwise, if you go over your minutes, they'll charge you $0.40 per minute.

I'll give you a breakdown. For most months I use about 300-400 minutes and about 250 text messages. There are, however, some months (especially when I travel) that I'll use 1,800+ minutes and 500 text messages. So I had to get the 2,100 minute package from Verizon, with 1,500 add-on text messages... and then I had to add DATA access so I could get eMails with my BlackBerry. I dropped down to the $30.00 DATA plan, which gives you limited DATA, but it was cheaper than paying $50.00 for unlimited DATA. In all, I was spending $160.00 per month to have phone, text, and limited data. Not cool -- especially when I don't always use all those minutes... they just go to waste (it's still cheaper than paying for overage minutes, though). I felt like I was trapped. But, Verizon has EXCELLENT service and really good customer support, so I really didn't want to leave them.

But, then along comes the iPhone... something I really want. And AT&T has rollover minutes. So, I got a 900 minute package, with 1,500 text messages and UNLIMITED DATA on my iPhone and I only pay $80.00 per month. That's HALF the cost. And the cool thing is that my eMail messages come up looking like real eMail messages (complete with attachments, graphics, etc.) and I can surf the web with a REAL web browser... seeing web pages exactly like I would if I were home on my computer. And the service is pretty fast too. But it's all UNLIMITED DATA!!! Very nice. The iPhone also has a built-in camera, it has visual voicemail (so I can see all my voicemail messages on the screen without having to call in to check them -- I just click on a message and hit play... and it has controls for pause, rewind, fast forward, etc. just like if you were playing back an audio file on the internet). There are too many cool things to say about the iPhone to list here, so I wont. Although I'm sure I'll talk about it a lot in the future. So far I've been VERY happy with it. My phone now operates just like my Macintosh... wonderfully and with total ease. Check out this introduction to the iPhone.

I spent the rest of the night on iChatAV with Clarajane... video chatting is much better than just talking on the phone. :) Gotta love that Apple technology.

Still, though... I was feeling worse and worse... and by this point I wasn't eating well at all. Didn't really feel like eating. So, I went to bed. I woke up the next morning still feeling like crud, but I went to the office and put in a full day of video shooting. I ran into a Symantec friend from Florida and he asked me to dinner with his team, so I accepted. That night I went to dinner at this place (can't remember the name offhand) and had THE best fish/potato/combo thing I've ever had in my life. It was to die for. I'm not sure how they did it, but they took fish, layered mashed potatoes on it and then some sort of crust on top -- amazing.

Towards the end of dinner, however, I was really starting to feel 'off'. Maybe it was not eating for two days, maybe it was a lack of water in my system, maybe it was too much coffee, or maybe it was the sudden intake of food that did it... either way I headed back to the hotel. When I got there I hauled some equipment into the room and sat down for a bit... but when I quickly stood up the rush made me feel dizzy and I started feeling light-headed. The next thing I remember I woke up from what I thought was sleep... until I realized I was on the tile floor in a huge pool of blood. I was dazed. I made my way up and looked in the nearest mirror and was horrified -- I looked like something out of the creep show. Blood was everywhere and was hanging off my hair, eyebrows, everything. I wasn't sure what had happened. I almost took a photo, but it was even too gross for me, so I didn't.

I started to clean myself up and fortunately discovered that it was just a gash in my forehead -- and, as you may know, any cut on you forehead will bleed like crazy. There's just a lot of blood up there. It was about this time that I started to vomit uncontrollably. This went on for a while. Fortunately, I was able to make it to either the sink or the toilet for most of the mess.

Then I started the cleanup. I just couldn't see leaving this kind of a mess for anyone to clean up. Besides, it looked like someone was murdered in that room so I didn't want to get questioned by the cops, so I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned. I tossed my clothes in the trash as they were drenched in blood (I later pulled them out, as I didn't want the maids to find blood-soaked clothes... again, don't need to be questioned by the cops -- HA!).

I called Clarajane and let her in on what had happened. She seemed okay, but she did freak out a bit. I can't blame her. I got some band aids and created some butterfly stitches which held up pretty well. I spent the rest of the night pretty much staying up and watching TV just trying to rest. I even too the time to take this wonderful photo (using my new iPhone, of course)...

It's no so obvious here, as the swelling and discoloration hadn't settled in fully... but by the next morning I was black and blue, like I had been in a boxing match. My lip got HUGE and my nose wiggled in places it never should have. The cut in these photos doesn't look so bad... so you can see why I wasn't as worried as everyone else who heard about it. I must have hit something on the way down to the floor... or maybe I just fell directly on my face. I'm not sure -- I was passed out when I was falling (fortunately). It really didn't hurt as much as you would expect. It was sore for days later, and the areas under my eyes look like I do drugs right now... but everything else is healing very well and I feel great right now. :)

Anyway... just another week-in-the-life, I suppose.

Another work week came to a close. And what does that mean? Friday night dinner. Usually, we have a nice-size group of people head on over to The Woodlands area and we all get together for dinner. Chris Perry and Rachael Wasdin (who are now an "item") couldn't make it -- they were "grilling steaks" -- so we had to do without them. Bummer. Friday nights are always better with Chris & Rachael around.

Regardless, we still had two standards: Shane and The Waz. And we were visited by what appears to soon be considered 'regulars', Casey & Shali.

Rather than our typical BW3s (Buffalo Wild Wings) or L3A (Los 3 Amigos) we decided to do Guadalahara. Their food is very tasty, even if it is a bit pricy. The margaritas are pretty good too, although they're a poor value (very expensive). Still, it was a good evening and a relaxing way to kick off the Sabbath.

Go HERE to check out the event.