Site Format Changed (Finally!)
Well friends, I’ve decided to update the site to a more picture friendly website considering that most of my posts now involve pictures of our family. I’ve got to iron out the archives pages, but that will come soon. There are also some other cool features with this template as well, but the old one had to definitely go. You can do searches by category at the top of the site if your interested in finding specific posts that suit your viewing pleasure. Otherwise you can simply use the search drop down at the top and search by a key word.
On a side note, I left Speakeasy last month due to a significant economic change there. The primary drivers are a change in business direction and I decided it was best to take an exit and continue to further my career elsewhere. Right now I’m interviewing and am being fairly selective about it as well as reviewing a couple of start up opportunities. For those of you that know me, that’s how I got started in internet/hosting years back.
Hope you are all well, expect much more frequent updates. I may even begin to blog about my experiences about working at a company like Speakeasy and going through the various milestones of the BestBuy acquisition and post acquisition. Until then, be well!
Hello Friends and Family!
Been a while since my last post, but things are starting to slow down now some. We have a lot going on, including work related stuff. More importantly, however, is that we really feel like the Lord is calling us to begin to pray for the Middle East - specifically Iran. We had an incredible speaker come to our church this past Sunday named Tom Doyle. Maybe you’ve heard of him? We are not sure where the Lord is going to be taking us or what the next steps are, but we are beginning to pray none the less.
I’ll have some work related news to post either later this month or next, so please stay tuned!
Linley went to the doctor for her 2-month checkin and she weighed a whopping (and I mean whopping) 14.7lbs! Yeah, she’s like off the charts. Perhaps she’ll become Daddy’s little (or tall) basketball player. Ahh early retirement! Go ahead, say it outloud - I did!
We had a great Christmas with friends and family this year. Because we had the new baby Jenn’s family came up to Dallas for Christmas, so that was fun. We also had my Dad in from Scotland as well and greatly lifted our spirits for the Holiday season.
Ahh yeah, Jenn and I bought an elyptical machine and have been flogging that thing big time. I’m having to get ready for basketball season and I didn’t want to start running to save my joints. Been doing really well on that together. Slim and sexy, that’s me!
Below is a picture of Jenn and the Girls during Christmas. Will write more soon - i’ve got to update this website, ugh!
Vacation: First Day of travel - Destin, FL
Welp, we’ve left for vacation and drove about 8 or 9 hours today with our friends. We (along with 3 other families) have taken off to Florida. It’s good to get away - but with 8 adults and 7 kids (5 of which are 2 yrs old) I’m not sure that we are actually “getting away”; you know? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining - in fact I love being around all the children and away from work, it’s just that’s a lot of children!
It’s like I’m Clark W. Griswald on family vacation, but multiply that times 4 (minus the dog peeing on the picnic basket with all the sandwiches in it). So you’ve got 4 Clark’s leading the charge trying to figure this thing out - but we’ve got CB Radios!
We took pictures of Louisiana as we went through the bayou so that was fun. If I had the USB wire to my camera I would have posted some.
Good thing that our friend John and Cristi are house sitting for us while we’re gone, especially as we are trying to sell it. Thanks guys!
More to come as the days continue…
Still Here..
Been busy with family stuff as of late, so I haven’t been writing much. I posted some pics of Ella in the below post. She’s becoming the most darling thing I’ve ever seen. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.
Jenn is now in her 13′ish week of pregnancy. Baby’s doing fine and healthy. We don’t know the sex yet, but should in a few weeks.
We’ve got a vacation in Florida coming up in June and are excited to get a way finally. I haven’t had a vacation for quite some time, so getting away is going to be good.
Lost season finale is tomorrow tonight - I recommend that you watch it! If you’re behind and want to catch up, you can start with Season 1. You’ll need to watch about 3.9 Seasons worth of episodes, which is about 80-something episodes. Get busy!
Go Spurs Go? Not really; the “Go’in” has been tough and are down 3-1 to the Lake show. I know, I know - Barry was fouled at the end, but he’s got to create more contact. Pop - give the ball to Ginobili.
HD Format of the Future?
So as we are all aware by now there’s the whole Blu-Ray vs HDDVD debate on which HD movie/video format will win. While it seems to be clearer these days that Blu-Ray is going to be the winner with multiple studios announcing the allegiance to Sony’s Blu-Ray format, I’m not convinced that the future of HD content will even be on Blu-Ray. Why? Keep reading.
As I’ve stated before, I think that the wave of the future is going to be medialess - meaning that there will be no tangible media for movies and content. Look, it’s quite simply the trend that we see now. All your favorite movie rental places are coming out with a download or on-demand video service, such as Blockbuster & Netflix. Even Apple is starting to get in the game with their revamped Apple TV product, which lets you download some movies in HD format.
So how is this going to be accomplished? How are the big ISP’s going to manage that much bandwidth and streaming media over their networks? Well, I guess you could start by saying that they are commiting to better connectivity such as fiber-to-the-curb service by both AT&T and Verizon. But what about all that bandwidth moving through the internet and major backbones? It’s not! And I’ll tell you why. While I think that clearly the future for HD content is in fact medialess and will be streamed over major transit carriers, the way that it has to be done is via set-top boxes in a BitTorent model. About two years ago I wrote an article about ISP v2.0 and streaming media to a set-top box as a media center PC replacement. However, being that I work for an ISP (Speakasy) I don’t think that streaming media in it’s final state is going to go over the net. Rather, it’s got to be localized and supported by BitTorrent set-top boxes so that media can be delivered locally on last mile connections rather than upstream on the major carrier backbones. Here’s a great article over at Wired on Myka’s new BitTorrent set-top-box; it’s a pretty good read.
Watch folks, HD media v2.0, set-top-box v2.0, and ISP v2.0 will be born soon. All your content will go right into your living room without inserting or ejecting a tangible disc.
NCAA Finals: Memphis Loses on Free-throws
Funny - coach from Memphis all year long defends his team that they are ranked like 300 in all NCAA bball teams on free-throw percentage. He constantly says that it’s not a big deal. Welp, free throws lost them the game. Up by 2 points, shooting 2 free-throws with like 15 seconds left they miss two free-throws. Kansas ties the ball game up and takes it to over time. Kansas wins.
Lesson learned kids; free-throws wins championships, just like your high-school coach told you.
Reflection: Faith & Deeds
Over the past couple of months I’ve been doing a lot of reflection on my life, God’s Will for my life, and serving his greater purpose. This is something that I have really been convicted about:
“Because I have faith that God will always meet my needs and take care of me, I am able to be on mission for the Lord as he has called me to be.”
This stemmed from me innately trying to do everything on my own (even if in fact it is noble and honorable) and realizing that I’m missing what the Lord has for me in furthering his Kindom.
I’m Writing Just to Write
So it’s the last day of the month and I thought I would write an article to beef up a lack-luster March.
Ella is really growing up. Tonight at dinner she was singing “Elmo’s World” at the table with her little head bee-bopping back and forth. She’s really the cutest thing that I’ve ever seen. She also loves the movie “Sound of Music” - which she conveniently calls the movie “Dancin’ Babies”. No clue how she came up with that one, but she did.
She’s now counting to 10 and beyond (at least she’s attempting to). She counts fingers, toes, freckles, etc. She also knows her entire alphabet as well. Now I’m not a child development expert, but that seems pretty good considering she’s barely 2.
We’ve been looking at houses, but it’s nothing too serious. Uncle Sam and its housing crisis is trying to incentivise us in moving into a bigger home. I don’t know, we’ll have to wait an see. I am trying to find my wife a laptop as we both love the MacBook Pro that we bought - so if you know of anyone wanting to dump their Mac, give me a shout. I also haven’t done anything with my car that I got back from my Dad when he left for Scotland. I’m trying to give it to my church, but that’s proven to be difficult thus far.
Oh yeah, you know how you hear about some individuals having a Nintendo Wii controller break their TV? Yeah well, that happened to me. Our younger cousin was playing baseball and the controller slipped out of his hand… boom! Big huge crack on my DLP tv. Welp, got the TV replaced and the old one is still in my study. If you want a busted screen, but still a great working TV then give me a shout. No seriously… let me know.
Lots of other stuff going on… we are taking a trip to Florida in June’ish this year with a bunch of friends/family; that’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m working to lose about 20lbs before we go, so if you see me make sure that I’m eating right.
Ahh.. and in case you missed it, Jenn and I are pregnant! Well, Jenn’s pregnant; I’m not, technically speaking of course.
Yo!
Hey peeps. It’s been a month since I wrote last, sorry for such the long delay - that’s pretty uncharacteristic of me. So what have we been up to? Tons..
For starters Jenn and I have been busy busy catching up on ABC’s Lost. You see, ABC released all of their Lost seasons online and stream in HD. So we started watching them on my Mac and then decided to start renting the 3 seasons so we could catch up. Man, good series and we have hardly put it down. We are about half way through season 3, but are Tivo’ing the new season that started last Thursday.
I also got my old team back together and we are playing in a new basketball league this year. We’ve been playing together for about 5 years now so it’s a pretty good bunch. The Frisco league has some cool online features in that we can track everything online. You can go to our League Page here. I know, I know… our team name (Mike’s Team) is sort of lamo. But I couldn’t think of anything when I signed us up. I’ll change it later.
Ella is really starting to say a lot of sentences now. Every weekend I’ll go get us Donuts and when I tell her she says “Daddy, Nonuts?” Haha! Comedy I know.
My Dad, Mom, and younger brother are still in Scotland and are doing very well. I’ve also been traveling to Seattle as usual, but nothing new to report there.
Anyway - I’ll post a new video up in the next few days.. so stay tuned!
My Parents: Moving to Scotland
I’ll write a little more at another time, but my parents (after 6-years of wanting and working to move) are headed to Scotland to be missionaries. I really admire their drive, cause, and absolute reverence to God’s calling in their lives and the effect it is having on me, my family, and my friends has been incredible. Below is the first letter that I received from my Dad and stepmom.
What I’m Thankful For This Holiday… Best Video That Sums It Up
Amongst other things that I’m thankful for this Holiday season is our soldiers. The war in Iraq & Afghanistan often times can be a distant memory in many American lives. We take for granted the freedom that our soldiers provide us and the sacrifices that they make with their families. Because of that, I have the freedom everyday to see my wife & daughter. I have the opportunity to provide for them as well.
I’m not sure whom has seen this video that was published a few months ago by NBC, but it reminds me of the families that also sacrifice to provide American’s freedom as well. It makes all the issues that I have with the two wars we are in go away, which by the way I ultimately support. Seeing moments like these sums up what it means to sacrifice; especially to those that are lost to tragedy.
I’m grateful for the service of our soldiers and the freedom they provide me to be with my family. May grace be upon you, your spouses, and children.
Blogging Absence, But Kinda…
So, if you’ve been browsing this site over the past year and a half, you’ve noticed a bunch of articles. However, as of late I’ve been posting a lot of videos and pictures, but not a lot of real updates.
There’s been a lot going on with the family and myself as of late; especially with Ella growing, Jenn keeping our family in order, and myself with Speakeasy. The BestBuy acquisition has been good, but really keeping us busy up at work. I’ve been traveling a lot to Seattle and back. And Jenn and Ella are just bee-boppin’ like normal.
At any rate, I’ll be writing more. Updates on the family, life, and some articles like I used to do. Stay tuned for some more videos, too!
Hi, My Name is Michael and I’ve Been ‘Windows’ Free for 1 Day
.. ok so it’s not that dramatic, but I’ve finally made the transition from Microsoft’s Windows to Apple’s Mac OSX. After years and years of bondage, I have finally been set free! Now instead of troubleshooting, right-clicking, googling solutions, uninstalling, blue-screening, things just work. It’s true what they say; on a Mac, it just works.
I’ve even got my wife set-up on the Mac now. Hello new hottness!
Ella & Her Mini-Pool
Ahh yes, it’s time for some summer fun. Daddy gets to work all day while everyone else gets to hang out by the pool drinking lemonade…
Hey Mavs! You Couldn’t Have Won Anyway
By now, we are all aware of the recent 1st round exit made by the Dallas Mavericks. Only worse, they lost the Championship Finals last year to Miami after winning the first two games. So, compiled with last year’s momentum shift in the finals to this year’s best-team-in-the-NBA with an early embarrassing 1st round exit, this Mavs team is doomed in the future.
That said, now to my point. With the Warriors, whom owned the Mavs and sent them packing, there was no chance that they would win this series. You see, this series was the perfect story from the beginning. It’s the classic under-dog slash David-and-Goliath match up with an unparalleled ending. Don Nelson (David) comes into Big-D to slay Mark Cuban (Goliath) and his ultra-arrogant demeanor of an organization. Therefore, the Mavs weren’t just playing against a very good Warriors team, but they were playing against destiny. Ignore the fact that they had a tough time with the Warriors, but this story was already written from the beginning. How can you beat Destiny?
Sorry, Mavs. You had no chance at winning. It was classic old Gladiator enters the Arena for one last time to slay the evil emperor. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but what do you expect when you have an owner like Mark Cuban?
So, how do we right this wrong? Their’s no way that the Mavs keep this team together. Emotionally this team has lost in two colossal playoff series and therefore can’t win together. To match Avery’s coaching style, you have to go get a dominant 1st option player - preferably a big-man. That doesn’t mean Dirk should go necessarily, but he can’t be the team leader and needs to be the 2nd option. Ultimately, one of two things need to occur:
1) The Mavs get a true 1st-option guy, making Dirk the 2nd option. Don’t get me wrong, Dirk’s an All-Star for life, but he’s not going to lead this team (or Avery doesn’t know how to let him - which is even worse)
2) The Mavs trade Dirk to get a super-star in Big-D. Someone that can win, wants the ball, and can lead. Remember, we’ve got to change the culture here at the Mavs. What about Kobe, he’s not happy at all.
So, we know Dirk can’t beat Destiny, but perhaps someone else could?
It’s Mike: 1-Year Anniversary
Well, exactly 1 year ago today I started writing and blogging on my own server! I’ve written 167 articles during that time frame and can say that I’ve really enjoyed keeping up with my blog. It initially started out to simply write about life, technology, and work, but grew to so much more. It ended up being more about articles on items that I’m passionate about (excluding work for obvious reasons) such as Technology, Internet, Athletics, as well as a lot about my family, pictures, and videos. So I guess I would classify my blog as more of a multimedia type experience given the videos, content, and pictures that I have published. I even had fun with some photoshop to spice things up a bit (sorry Ella, I love you though!)
I’m also amazed at all the folks that visit my site as well. While I obviously don’t get many comments (55 to date), I am often told by friends, family members, and colleagues that they visit my blog frequently. So many thanks to all of you that read it and have a glimpse of the different aspects of my life and family. We are truly blessed by it all and love sharing in our experiences.
To my Ella - You are truly a blessing in my life. Watching you grow over the past 14 months has been amazing. Words cannot express the joy that I have when I am around you and when you smile, talk, garble, yack, clap, hug, kiss, slap, and gaze at me. You are an inspiration to your Mother and I and we will always love you, teach you, care for you, be an example of God’s word to you, pray for you, and provide you the best life we are physically able to provide. You love it when I sing to you, play with you, walk and talk with you, kiss and hug on you, and read to you. Your smile, your cute little curls, and your big-blue eyes will always be forever burned in my mind.
To my Wife, Jennifer - Since the day that I met you I have loved you. You constantly amaze me with your patience, gratitude, warmth, desire for Christ, and being the best Mommy in the world. I truly could not succeed at life without you and know with out a doubt that you are in fact my soul mate. Your encouragement and voice are always on my mind, bringing peace to me daily. It’s been a joy and blessing to be married to you for 5 years, 6 months! You are my best friend, my companion, my love, by sweetheart, inspiration, and motivation in Christ. Words can’t begin to express my thanks and all I know to say is “Thank you for loving me”.
Interesting Fact: “Rule of Thumb”
In the 1400’s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have “the rule of thumb”.
The Dreadful 30-something’s.. Dreadful?
As father-time continues to tick away on my life, I found that all the sudden I’m 30. Yeah, I’m 30-years old as of a couple of days ago. Most of my family and friends knew about it and made it a special day, but you always hear of these folks saying that turning 30+ isn’t the best of times. Hrm.. I wonder why? I feel fine, still exercise, poop the same as always, and don’t need fiber tablets to keep me regular (sorry for those that do - I mean no disrespect!).
Crazy as it may seam, I’m down with being 30. I mean, I wish I was still in my 20’s I guess, but it’s not that big of a deal. I guess ask me how I feel when I’m 40, 50, 60 - then we’ll see where I’m at. In the mean time, hello dreadful 30’s, I’m here to kick some hiney and take names 
Why the Democrats Shouldn’t Win
John Kerry, that’s why. I mean, the Dems are pulling out all the stops with the upcoming election. You even have the Democrats doing bone-headed things that back-fire on them. Take John Kerry’s remark about being stuck in Iraq if you don’t go to college. Geez. Someone needs to babysit these guys. I mean, after those comments Kerry’s not even going to campaign for other Dems because they don’t want him to.
Sorry guys, this country has too many conservative people to go through another Clinton debacle. Values and integrity will ultimately prevail, that’s why the Dems won’t win.
Here’s a message from our beloved troops:
Citgo = No Go; Hasta la vista Chavez
Oh baby, I’m pumped up now. As you all know by now, Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, spoke at the UN yesterday and called president Bush the Devil. Further, he called Bush an alcoholic and other misc names. I’m not sure that I really care what old Hugo says from his presidential suite in Venezuela land (as I could care less what he says), but I officially have an issue with him coming to the US and bashing our head of state.
So fine, we have some political issues going on here in the States with President Bush, but Hugo shouldn’t take that as an invite for himself to join in on his opinions. You’re not an American; at best you’re a wanna-be. You want to ramble on about how Bush is the devil, stole your tooth before the tooth-fairy could get there, and kicked your dog? Fine, go ahead. But do it from your own country. Oh Hugo, you must have thought that because we are having issues that we would side with you when you toss 2nd-grade comments at our President? Laf. You’re crazy (figuratively and literally speaking)! You think America is going to say ‘Amen’? Try again wacko.
However, I do find it funny that all the major news corporations are pointing to the fact that Citgo is a Venezuelan run company. It’s kind of like they are saying, “Hrm, I wonder if America will boycott Citgo ’cause Venezuela owns it.” Haha! Yeah, you guessed it. Jenn and I will never buy Citgo gas again for as long as we live. I bet the main guys in Houston are saying, “Oh crap, get your resume ready.” Yeah, I’d get my resume ready as well.
Hey Hugo - go home and cry to someone who cares. Good riddance and don’t come back.
Ok CNN, I Officially Have an Issue Now
So those of you that know me understand that I lean more on the conservative side with the Republican party. I’m also aware that as a member of this party my opinions may be naturally biased. Further, I’m also aware of how biased CNN is as a news organization against the Bush administration towards his policies and initiatives. I’ve tolerated some of their ignorant news casts here in the past, but recently have become tired of their recent antics.
She crawls, sits-up, stands, and cuts a tooth - All In One Week!
So Ella has really been growing lately. And by lately I mean within the past 7 days. She’s learned to crawl, sit-up, pull herself up into a standing position, and cut a tooth all in the same week. We took a video of her last Saturday night as evidence and man was it funny. We often forget that she tends to spit-up as well, so those of you with a faint heart consider yourself warned! Na, it’s really funny though. Check it out!
Thursday Night News Round-up
What’s Hot:
Pics of MP3.com liquidation. Say good-bye to the dotcom erra.
Golden Nintendo w/ Zelda. Oh the days.
MyKey is out. Only thing is if the batteries run out, you’re toast.
Finally more iPod car integrations. About time!
Remind me, what’s YouTube’s biz strategy again? Exit, Exit, Exit…
Pretty good iPhone design. Only it will never happen.