Not dead

No, really! I’m not. I just get kinda busy. But I’m back, and that is what matters.
Mary and Nina were here last week and it was SO awesome to have one of my epic (yes, epic) siblings here to hang out with. Relaxing was the name of the game, and it was wonderful! I got to show Mary and Nina all the places that Amiee and I hang out. We also visited our Grandmother (we call her Nanny) and our uncle Glenn in NC, which is always fun. I’m not gonna lie, we dropped them off at the airport way too early for me. It’s always hard to say bye to my family because I see them infrequently. Anyways, I’ll see them, hopefully, sooner versus later. And to share the fun I’ve added some pictures from the trip.
Also, Amiee and I went out on Saturday for a date night. Olive Garden followed by a movie. The movie was Scott Pilgrim vs the World and it was so great! I found out a couple of weeks before the movie released that it was based, some what loosely at time, on a comic book series. I got the first 2 volumes (there are 6 in total) before seeing it, and that got me even more psyched to see the movie! The movie did a great job at condensing 6 books into 1 movie (Take notes M. Night! This is how it’s done!).
That’s about all I got right now. My life is still mostly just work for the time being. Till next time dear reader!

Waiting at work

Here I am, chilling at work waiting for my coworker to arrive so I can start and swiftly finish this less-than-fun work day. So I figured, I haven’t blogged in a while. Sorry about that, I do try to do it more regularly but getting back into the swing of things after vacation had been rough.
It’s gonna be an exciting week! My AWESOME sister (Mary) and here friend (Nina) are coming to visit! HUH-ZAH! This week is gonna be lots of fun! They’ll be here from the 4th through the 8th, only a few days but I’m been missing my family and an SUPER EXCITED to have one of my siblings down here! There’s gonna be alot of chilling while they’re here as they’ll start back to college soon after. So, again…. YAY!
A cool piece of news from this week, I submitted my request to Google for an invite to Google App Inventer (GAI). I’ve been thinking alot about learning to write apps for Android (and eventually iPhone), but the problem is I have no clue how to write code (or about life in general fort that matter)! Well, GAI is here to save my day! Since I’ve never done any coding before I have little-to-no familiarity with how prices of coder actually interact with each other. GAI will help me learn just that. Essentially I will be given boxes of pre-written code that I can drag-and-drop together to make an app. Granted, I probably won’t have complete freedom in app construction with this, but it’ll help teach me about coding. And after, I can move on to full developer tools on my desktop.
Well, it’s literally taken me all day to complete this blog entry. I started before noon and am finishing around 10:15pm. Huh. Since my sister will be here till next Sunday, I probably won’t get a post up until Monday. Until then dear readers!

Vacation details

7/4
(about) 9:30am- pulled out from Amiee’s parent’s house heading on our big trip! Excitment abounds!

3:16pm- finshed our lunch at Logan’s Roadhouse. Now where hanging out at the Highlands shopping center not far from Bristol while the ladies spend “a few minutes” in Ross.

4:16pm- Just past what could either be a school or a prison. My wife says prison because of all the razor wire. I just think it’s a school for particularly sneaky children. Who knows…

5:00pm- Hopefully our last stop before arriving. Grabbing milk so we’ll have it for the week.

5:30pm- Finally arrived! The trip took a lot longer than it should have. Google maps said about 3 hours, with all the stops it took about 7! O.o Anyways, VERY glad to be here! Place looks great!

6:26pm- Upon exploring outside the cadin we discover a massive amount of (mostly) ripe blackberries. Nomming ensues.

7:00pm- Finished unpacking and started relaxing and cooling off after the heat caused by unloading and unpacking.

7:59pm- Everyone is sitting on the pourch enjoying the magnificent veiw. God is so amazing! His mighty hands built this beuatiful land. It’s hard to get a sense of just how amazing and gorgeous this country really is. Road trips, even just a few hours from home can reveal such incredible views. And this is just the east coast! I would love, at some point, to see the mid-west and west coast. I’m sure my bros can attest to how wonderful they are!

9:20pm- Getting ready to go to bed. Been a long and fun day! May do little more than relax tomorrow, or we may all go on a hike! Either way it’s gonna be a great time!

7/5
8:51am- Finally up and showered. Breakfast was good. My lovey wife is still asleep, but I shall not begrudge her. It is vacation after all.

10:30am- We all decided to go for a drive and find a state park or something of the like.

12:55pm- Kinda lost. Amiee’s Dad (Mr. McCoy) couldn’t find what he was looking for so we’re heading back. We did however find a fantastic view. Makes me a little mad at myself that I forgot my camera.

1:10pm- Heading back? Not so fast! Mr. McCoy saw Hungry Mother State Park and thought it would be fun. The only problem being that Amiee and I don’t carry any cash and we were in seperate cars. Fortunatly The gentleman at the gate let us in so we could get some cash for entrance.

1:27pm- Whep, didn’t stay long anyways. Just went to the restrooms then off again (we got our money back since we weren’t here long), to Wal-mart then back to the cabin.

1:46pm- Still on our way back to the cabin and saw a sign for a town called Groseclose. EEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

2:15pm- Got back to the cabin (and happily so too). Spent the rest of the day in calm relaxation reading and spending time together. In other words using a vacation for what it should be used for!

7/6
11:20am- After waking up both myself and Amiee, the 2 of us decided to go on a picnic for lunch. It was quite a plesent stroll through the forest to a nice shady area to enjoy our lunch and each other’s company.

12:50pm- Got back from our picnic and have every intention of spending the day relaxing.

7/7
9:00am- Getting loaded up to go to a natural bridge. Brought my camera, expecting a lot of pictures!

9:14am- Just passed a feild. Normally this wouldn’t be of any note, but for the bath tub sitting in the center of this feild. It seems a bit too public for bathing to me, but what do I know?

11:10am- This place is AWESOME! They had a statue of a cowboy riding a friggin dinosaur!

2:28pm- They have a toy muesum here! At first I thought it would be colonial and civil war era toys. But, NO! These toys were the ones that my bros and I grew up with! M.A.S.K.! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Dino Riders! Mighty Max! And nearly innumerable others! I could go on forever about what was there, but I won’t bore you dear reader. Now to the wax mesuem!

3:03pm- Whelp, that was dull. We’re heading back to the cabin now to meet up with Megan, Chris and Ainsely (my sister-in-law and brother in-law with my gorgeous neice).

5:19pm- Ainsley’s here! Fun and silliness shall ensue!

9:54pm- Well, Ainsely’s running around giving everyone kisses (cuz she’s sweet), and when I go to get a kiss from her she turns around and kisses the WALL! -_-

7/8
1:58pm- We slept nice and late. After waking up we decide to go for a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We came upon Puckett Cabin, a woman who was born in 1937 and lived 102 years! Around her 50th year she became a mid-wife delivered over 1000 babies. This incredible life was marred by sadness however, as none of her 24 children lived past infancy.

4:04pm- Went to a couple of other places along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Mabry Hill and Meadow of Dan. Mabry Hill provided some GREAT pictures of both the secnery and of Ainsley, however Meadow of Dan was a bust for pictures. Oh, well. Now to Wal-Mart, then back to the cabin (I believe).

5:13pm- FINALLY back at the cabin. I enjoy seeing the places we’ve visited, but I think I’ve been on the road more during this vacation than the rest of my life combined!

9:17pm- Pretty zoned-out right now. Watching Baby Momma right now. And WOW, it’s dumb (though, not unexpectedly so). After this bed time, cuz I iz bushed! <later update>- movie actually got better by the end, rather enjoyed it.

7/9
5:23pm- Been a fun day. It’s Chris, Megan and Ainsley’s last full day at the cabin, so we went to Dixie Caverns (which Chris had wanted to do). I gotta say, now that I’ve been in a cavern…… I’ll NEVER do it again! It was quite lovely, but I was too focused on the cramped halls, tiny and steep steps and low ceilings. Nothing like finding out you have a minor clausterphobia like being in a cavern. I have no dwarven (think “mythical dwarf,” not “little person”) blood in me, and I proved that today! After, we went to Wendy’s. Amiee and I both enjoy some Wendy’s from time to time, but we realized that in the past week alone we’ve been to Wendy’s more than in the entire past year! Goodness! No wonder I’m so fat! Anyhow, after we got back I introduced my brother-in-law, Chris, to “the Princess Bride.” One of Amiee and my favorite movies! From there we’ll (probably) relax, have dinner and enjoy Ainsley’s company until they leave tomorrow. Ah, vacation. To bad it will end all too soon.

9:42pm- Just finished looking through all the pictures so far, and I got some REALLY good ones! 😀

7/10
10:04am- Everyone got up to eat a big breakfast and see Chris, Megan and Ainsley off. Afterwards we all talked and decided that instead of just sitting around all day, we just go ahead and pack and leave today. I’m gonna miss this place, it’s absolutly gorgeous here! But I miss my puppy and A/C too.

12:00pm- And we’re off!

2:16pm- Just passed that mecca of “red neck-ism,” Bristol Raceway. Meh.

5:38pm- Just left the In-Law’s after dropping off their stuff that we were carrying. Their dog Dixie came up to greet us and I have NEVER seen ticks so big! Several were almost as big as my thumb! Ick! >:-P I’ve decided that if ever I get the chance to ask God some questions, I’ll point at the tick and ask “why?” Now that Dixie’s cleaned of ticks it’s off to get our pup, Boo!

5:46pm- We’ve got Boo back! YAY! 😀

6:09pm- We’re home! Pretty tired, probably gonna unpack tomorrow. Now to chill with my wonderful wife and the pup!

7/11

7:52pm- As I finish this blog and prepare to post it, I reflect on this past week and how blessed I am to be able to go on the is vacation. I had a blast with Amiee’s family in VA and almost wish we were still there, but I am glad to be home (and have the internet and cellular reception back). We celebrated being back by seeing Twilight: Eclipse. Of course, it was quite bad. better than the first 2 movies in the series and (sadly) The Last Air Bender, but still bad. After this, I be working on the pictures for a while. Before I post this I am struck by one other feeling….. I REALLY don’t want to go back to work yet!

Vacation starts!

First off, happy Independance Day readers! Just a quick update to say that since we (my wife, her family and myself that is) are heading to the mountains near Marion, VA for vacation I’m gonna be on radio silence mode till we get back. Expect a full post about the trip by the 12th. Till then! 😀

ZOUNDS!

Whelp, here I am at work again…….
Man, it’s dull. So, I’ll blog and (fianlly) get back on track with my posts!
It’s been a pretty dull week. Mostly just work, then home, then work again the next day, etc, etc, etc…. been a good month at work, but that’s mostly due to this past Saturday (the 19th) and the sale. And as a side note: No. The fact you don’t call yourself is NOT a valid reason not to know your cell phone number. Do you know your address? Do you ever send mail to yourself? No? Then why should your cell phone number be any different Mr-guy-who-just-tried-to-pay-a-bill-without-any-way-of-identifing-his-account? *whew* I feel better now. That just happened, thanks for letting me rant!

Since I’m at work and SO painfully bored, I’ve decided to follow in the foot steps of one of my favorite bloggers (who wishes to remain unnamed, so I shall reffer to her as Jane Austin) and do a top XX list. I shall do a top 10 movies (in no particular order)! *trumpet sounds here*
1: Pan’s Labrnyth- AWESOME spanish fantasy flick! Directered by the amazing Del Toro and a slew of great actors (not one of whom I can name saddly. Epic fail!) and a great, if a little strange, story!
2: Lord of the Rings- Yes, I mean all 3. To me since they all continue into each other, you can’t (or shouldn’t) really consider them seperate movies. Thank you Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop for SUCH a great fantasy epic in Middle Earth!
3: The Dark Knight- with out question, my favorite comic book movie and one of the better movies I’ve seen.
4: Spiderman 2- Another great comic book movie. Actually, my favorite before The Dark Knight came out! Well acted, well directed and well written! Best of the Spiderman movies!
5: The Mighty- One seriously good, family friendly, story!
6: The Great Escape- Steve McQueen awesomeness + WW2 + giant escape from Nazi POW camp = EPIC WIN!
7: Howes Moving Castle- Classic anime! Crazy movie (good) movie!
8: Star Wars (original trilogy)- Not the new ones! NEVER the new ones! The original stand on their own (as they did when they first came out). And they changed special effects forever.
9: Superman- Another movie that changed special effects forever because of what they did in that movie. Oh, and Christopher Reeves was an AMAZING superman!
10: You’ve Got Mail- I’m gonna catch some flak, but I love this movie! And Tom Hanks is great!

Now, just so everyone knows this is a quick list. And while these are my favorites, there are so many that I love. If I were to list all the movies I love I’d never finish this post. Well, almost time to clock out from work. So, till next time dear readers!

P.S. Hi Mom!

WOAH!

Whelp, late again. I need to do better if I’m gonna keep up one blog, much less two!
WOAH! E3 was INCREDIBLE! Many awesome annoucements from all parts of the industry, but the thing that really got my attention was Nintendo’s unvieling the 3DS! SUPER EXCITED! I have loved my DS since I got it (a few months after launch). It may have taken a while to get a decent list of good games (and still suffer from a frightening amount of junk-ware) but it got there! Chances are I won’t get one at launch, but I swear to thee… I SHALL HAVE ONE!
eventually….
This past Saturday was a big day for T-Mobile. We ran our Father’s Day promotion, every phone free with a family plan activation. During that one day T-Mobile did over 110,000 activations company wide. Being a low volume store, we only did about 30 (I got 8). Some stores nearby ended the day with triple digits. Man, sometimes I’m reminded that I’m at the wrong location! Oh well, I’ll make due where I am. I am very happy to have this job and did effectively double my June commission check!
Today is new comic day (my FAVORITE weekly holiday)! I picked up a few things, but the one that really stood out was Superman #700. This milestone issue said goodbye (and good ridance, in my opinion) to the writer of both Superman and Action Comics from the past few years, and said hello to the ongoing writer, J. Michael Strazynski (one of my favorite writers right now)! Oh, this’ll be a GOOD year for Supes!
Well, till next time dear readers!

Guess we’re staying

After a bit of a hiatious I’m back. There was some things a-happenin’! We were looking at possibly moving to a new place. It was a house for rent in Anderson, SC. The pictures of the outside looked great! A few days after I went by to look at the outside, Amiee and I got to look at the inside and, well…. we’re staying were we are now. The inside was awful! The floor were horribly bowed and the kitchen was little more than a closet with appliances. We’ll be looking at another location, but chances are we probably will stay here. Not that it’s a bad thing, we like our apartment, we were just looking for a house versus an apartment. We’d love to have a yard for our little Boo to run around in.
We’ve cut back a bit on our tv recordings (easy, since it’s summer and most shows are on break) because we watch too much. Oddly enough, and proof that tv CAN be educational, we’ve found a great show called “It’s Me or the Dog.” It’s kinda like Super Nanny for dogs, and Amiee and I have been learning a lot about being proper puppy parents! Some things that we (I) do are very wrong! But we’re learning now and correcting OUR bad behavior so we can correct his bad behavior and be a happier family.
And OH! The excitment for me this week! E3 starts tomorrow! Gaming news galore! All sorts of expectations and pre-E3 annoucments! New Nintendo handheld, the 3DS! New Legend of Zelda revealed (as promised by Nintendo last year)! Actual name of Microsoft’s Project Natal! More video from Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty! And MORE on top of that! *whew* I’m kinda hyperventalating. Well, Microsoft’s conference is tomorrow then Nintendo the morning after and Sony after that. I may do a mid-week update about E3 (cuz I’m a power-dork and to make up for the lateness of updates). Either way, till next time dear readers!

Ok! Not late!

Thw title says it all! Not late with the new post like I thought I would be! YAY! I picked up Super Mario Galaxy 2 [SMG2] like I had planned, and it is every bit as AWESOME as I thought it was going to be! I’ve gotten to the second “world” already (“worlds” in SMG2 are groups of galaxies. Kinda weird, I know). Every level has such brilliant design, I wish that they all had more power stars (goals)! And using Yoshi is as much fun as it looks in the trailers and videos! It was pretty hard to put the game down, but I know myself and I needed a break for a little while.
My wife and I have been spending a little while each day these past fews days cleaning the apartment. The reason being simply that we’re having friends over for a party tomorrow, celebrating the end of school for my wife and the end of the semester for our friend! We’re pretty excited, especially since it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve hung out with any of our friends. But, that’s life for you when you become an adult (stupid responsibility!). We’ll grill some food, play some games and enjoy some awesome fellowship with great friends!
And, being the Google (almost) fan-boy I am, I can’t go without talking a little bit about the Google I/O this past week. There is SO much that happened that I don’t think I’ll cover it all here. Instead I’ll focus on the part that got me most excited, the Android Froyo (2.2) update! So many NEEDED updates for Android so it can continue increasing it’s share in the smart-phone market (both here and abroad). First the Just-In-Time [JIT] compiler, it speeds Android devices up 2x-5x! More security options to protect the data on the device. Flash 10.1 built into the browser. Wireless tethering, this could be carrier dependant as some carriers *cough-Verizon-cough* may choose to disable this feature. Crash reporting on apps, if an app “Force Closes” (read: “crashes”) you have the option to send an e-mail detailing what went wrong in the app so the developer can fix it. Next, there are 2 updates to the Android Market. First, Google added an auto-update option to the market. This allows any updates that become avalible to download automaticly for apps you’ve allowed to auto-update. Second, Google added an “update all” to the [my] Downloads page in the market. If you look in the market and notice you have a dozen updates you only need to hit one button and they’ll all update. Finally (and the coolest part of all) Android can save and run apps from the Micro-SD card now! I know I’ve been waiting for this one for a while now, and I’m not alone in that! Even better news! HTC (manufacturer of phones such as the myTouch 3G Slide and the Nexus 1) has stated that ALL their 2010 phones will update to 2.2 by the end of the year. Of course, I realize this very well may not happen as soon as their hoping. One very cool thing for any Nexus 1 owners out there, you’ll be getting Froyo any day now if you don’t already have it! Yup, the update for the Nexus 1 has already started rolling out! For those who don’t know, the reason the Nexus 1 is getting Froyo first (and already) is simply that updates come straight from Google and don’t have to go though a carrier or manufacturer first.
WOW! That’s a lot more “geek” than I normally put here, but as I said I am a Google (almost) fan-boy. Well, that’s all I got for now. Have a great week!

Ahhh…

A day off. It feels like it’s been a crazy week, but only work…. huh. A few bits of news though, I GOT MY NEW PHONE! It’s a myTouch 3G Slide and it’s just as cool as I thought it would be! First thing I gotta say about it, multi-touch is awesome! Using it in the browser and to switch from screen to screen is so nice! And speaking of screens, I’ve gone from only 3 packed with apps to 7(!) with my apps nicely spread out so I can still see my background image. The phone also has a feature called “Modes,” these modes are different backgrounds, app short cuts, widegts and ringtones that you can custimize and set depending on where you are and what you’re doing. So you can have a mode for working, one for being at home and maybe another for hanging out with a group of friends. It also has touch-to-focus, simply what you touch on the screen in the camera it focuses on (FANCY)! It runs android still (like my previous phone, the original myTouch 3G) but version 2.1. And on top of android the phone runs HTC’s proprietary sense UI, or to be exact a new version of it called expresso. I never thought I’d like something layer on android but I’m loving sense/expresso (being my first expirience with it) a lot. I tried Motorola’s Motoblur and wasn’t a huge fan, and don’t even get my started on Samsung’s touch wiz (not good)! Man, I could go on and on! But I’ll drop that topic and stop boring you, dear reader. However I’ll be continuing my geeky news as I preordered Super Mario Galaxy 2, it’s Mario in space (the sequal)! The first was one of the best games ever on the Nintendo Wii, I’m looking forward for the sequal to be even better! It launches a week from today. That being said, the post next Sunday may be late…. or on Monday….. maybe Tuesday…
Oh, and we started our connect group last week. And no one showed up. We only had one person sign up anyways. However, none of the connect groups filled up this semester, it is the summer after all.
Till next time reader! Have a great week!

Return of the Debo

Uh-oh! Looks like I’ve gotten a little behind again. Shame on me! Well, I do have an excuse in this case. Had some problems (now fixed) with my internet and was focused on an interview I had a few days ago. The problem with the internet stemmed from the fact that my high speed modem died. We had a eulogy for it after it was replaced by AT&T and all is well in the Debo house now. As for the interview, it was actually about a week ago. The interview went well but I was up against people with multiple years of management experience. And as it is with being a manager, you need experience as one to become one. They liked me, but thought “I wasn’t there yet.” Oh well, hopefully next time.

I saw Iron Man 2 this past Saturday with my wife. While I’ve read/heard mixed reviews, personally I thought it was GREAT! The action was better, the characters were more accurate to the source material and the final battle wasn’t as anti-climatic. I definitely liked Don Cheadle better than Terrence Howard in the role of James Rhodes/War Machine. And Robert Downey Jr. continues to completely embody Tony Stark/Iron Man. I do sort of wish that there wasn’t so much time spent on unifying the Marvel Comics movie properties (and in that vein, if you do see the movie dear reader, make sure you stay through the credits!).

Now to the “BIG NEWS!” I can finally talk about the phone I’ll hopefully be getting soon! The phone is the myTouch 3G Slide, the continuation of T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G franchise. The device runs on a ARM 11 600 mhz  processor with 512 mb in both RAM and ROM (to give you an idea how good these specs are, the iPhone 3GS also has a 600 mhz processor but only has 256 mb of RAM)! Comes with a 8 gb micro SD card and SWYPE preloaded! All that along with HTC’s new version of their proprietary Sense UI called Expresso. There’s plenty of other info about the phone online but here’s a link to some info: http://www.tmonews.com/2010/05/t-mobile-mytouch-slide-previewed/ Funny thing is you can already bid on a couple myTouch 3G Slides on eBay. Gotta love it.

Anyways, this should be the start a return to regular updates to this wonderful blog. As always, thanks for reading, I truly appreciate it! Till Sunday then!