Happy Birthday Pid!!

Porter's 5 years old! Happy Birthday!!

We threw a party for him this weekend and took he and his friends to Fu's Garden -- they just happend to be having Lion Dances in honor of the Chinese New Year, so we figured that would be a great, unique party. And it was -- everyone had a blast!!

Katie made him a special Monster Truck cake, and we had take-out boxes filled with goodies instead of goodie bags. He had about 12 friends and their parents. Not too huge of a crowd compared to other parties, but plenty to have a great time. Food was good, cake was great, and he got lots of nice presents. Katie really went all out, and it showed -- lots of hard work and worry on her part, but it meant so much to Porter. You could tell by the look on his face. After the party, Mimi and Papaw came over to hang out for a little while, too.

On Sunday we got up early and headed to church. That afternoon we had tickets to the Rockets game -- they played Miami. Even though the seats were up high, the boys loved the game -- we could see all the action, and it was a real treat for them to see Shaq dunk. Add to that the popcorn and soda, and what more could you ask for?

And today we all got up around normal time and wished Pid a super happy birthday -- Katie had decorated the house for him, and she took him a special lunch (Chick-Fil-A) and cupcakes for the class snack. When I got home I found them all outside playing with the neighbors and riding on Porter's new skateboad. To cap off the day, we went out for a special dinner, at Porter's request: 59 Diner. He had his heart set on a corn-dog, curly fries and ketchup.

So our little boy's 5 -- his big brother's 6 1/2 -- the years fly by. They can't stay 5 and 6 forever, but I hope they always have that honesty and sense of joy.

Boys: I love you very much.

Foggy Start to the Day

Spent a little time on the road today for a quick trip to Tulsa and back. Day trip that I had scheduled originally for a sales lunch, but the lunch got changed at the last minute. I had already padded the day with meetings between the Tulsa-based ECM consultants and I, so the trip was still worthwhile.

Getting there this morning, though, was a tough one -- just as we got near Tulsa, the pilot found out that the airport was fogged in. We couldn't land and had to circle for 30 minutes. Once the visibility cleared a bit, we tried to get in, but had to pull back up at the last minute -- fog had gotten too bad yet again. Finally, after about an hour and a half, we gave it another shot -- and by the looks of the fog to my untrained eye upon landing, we were LUCKY!! I don't think we had 600 ft of visibility.

Anyway, the delay screwed my whole schedule -- but I was still able to meet with the folks I needed to meet with and get the things done that were must-do's for today.

Rest of the week is a jam -- need to get a preso put together for a Gov't Tech Conference in Austin that I'm speaking at next week [Tech Trends in Light of Recent State and Federal Regulation]. Also have a big week at my main client in HOU -- system install and initial config... which means we're very close to having something real to turn over to the client -- huge! Also need to make a trip to Dallas on Wed to meet with our consultants there.

And it's one week until Porter's birthday!!!! Can't wait -- Party this weekend...

In other news -- boys started back on their swim practice and I hear they are doing super. We're set for getting them on the official swim team starting in a few months. I am very proud of them both!

Austin Work Sessions

This weekend is the Austin work sessions to get ready for the new year. I got up early this morning -- at least early for the weekend, but basically the same time I do every day... I headed out around 8, about the same time Nana dropped by to say HI to Katie and the boys.

I swung by the office up at Greenspoint first, though -- I had promised to bring the laptop projector from Houston, and had forgotten to grab it while I was there on Thursday. Ended up not having the power cord in the bag, so I snagged one from another computer -- hope it works... Wonder who would return the projector w/o a power cord?!?!

Trip up here to Austin was uneventful. I stopped in Brenham for a soda; then in Elgin for sausage; then straight here. I met up with Craig, Eddie, Curtis and Marty and we went to Hula Hut for lunch. After that we were able to check into the rentals. From there, Craig and I headed back into town to hit Waterloo Records and Central Market for food to cook for dinner.

Everyone pitched in for dinner and we had a feast!! After dinner, we headed over to another of the houses so we could go over the draft presentations and get ready for the morning. My preso was VERY DRAFTY to say the least, and Curtis and I spent from 10 until just now getting it in order.

Now it's a brief beer before bed -- first of the night -- then we hit the ground solid in the morning -- big day, lots of work.

Problems with web hosting company

My web hosting company is driving me crazy!! Yesterday the servers were down due to a DOS attack that knocked out the router, and today I found my site had been defaced by some hackers -- they posted a bogus home page 'tagging' me. Bummer -- I'm not real pleased with the level of security they're providing, so I'm on the hunt for a new server...

2005 Holiday Recap

Today marked my first day back at work after the holidays -- had a great chance to take some extended time off -- so it makes sense to put down an overall recap of the holiday action.

I started the break on the Friday before Christmas. I had gotten tickets for the family to go to see the Nutcracker, and was looking forward to seeing if Porter would enjoy the show as much as I thought he would. I knew it would be iffy for Jackson and Katie -- they don't have the tolerance for music and movement. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not their bag. But I knew that the fact that it was a family event, and a holiday show would make it something special for all of us.

We headed downtown a bit early for a bite to eat at Treebeards -- the boys loved it -- and then made our way to the Wortham. They had an art installation outside of various 'interpretaive Christmas Trees' that we checked out, and the boys ran around looking at the waterfalls. The show was good, and Porter really enjoyed it; Katie had a good time, Jackson was a bit bored by the second act, and I felt like nodding off a few times myself!!

After the show we headed to Tom and Laura's for a family Christmas bingo party. Laura had invited her family and the Mullen crew, so it proved to be a full house. Tom ordered Bucca di Beppa for take out, so food was really good -- and no one had to slave over the stove! The boys won a few nice prizes / presents in bingo (shower radio and cereal bowls w/ Tony the Tiger and Tucan Sam).

Christmas Eve we hung out a bit early and then I took the boys to the Texans game. We met Tim, Tom and their crews for some tailgating along with Doug (a friend of Tom's) and his family. This was the boys' first NFL game, and we had a BLAST!! Makes me consider getting tickets next year, just for the fact that the tailgating was truly a family friendly time -- lots of dads out with their kids, throwing the ball, playing and getting ready for the game. Even though the Texans were the worst in the league, we all had a great time -- just doing it together. [Thanks to my buddy Jimmy for the tickets!!]

Later that night we headed to Tim's for his party -- this time with Christina's family + Mullen crew. As is tradition, Tim got fajitas from Molinas (mmmmmm) and we all played with the kids. Tim / Christina have a new room addition upstairs that is really impressive -- nice add-on. We left at a reasonable time (but early compared with the rest of the folks) and got home in time to get the boys to bed and get things ready for Santa. I ended staying up until 2AM wrapping and getting ready for the next morning. Like last year, I tuned into midnight Mass at the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.

Christmas morning, Jackson slipped into our room around 6:30 and went back to sleep for about a half hour. By 7, though, Porter was up and we were checking out what Santa had brought -- roller skates, a guitar and bongos for the boys, books, t-shirts, full stockings -- everything they asked for!! We opened presents after that, then had sausage and biscuits before heading outside to try out the skates!!

By noon we were heading over to Carolyn's for the afternoon to see her and the rest of the Mullen family. As always, things were crazy, but in a good way. By late afternoon, we were headed to Conroe to see Mom/Row and Myra/Kenneth/Trace. Once we got there we wasted little time getting unpacked and the boys headed straight to the stockings and tree to see what was in store for round three!! In all, everyone was very good to the boys, Katie and I over the holidays -- truly a blessing. What I enjoy most is seeing the excitement of Jackson and Porter getting just what they wanted, and Katie too. They all three deserve the best gifts.

We stayed at the lake for a few days, heading back home on Tuesday. By Wednesday we had the house put back together and presents organized and on Thursday we headed to the MFAH for a Jazz show by a New Orleans band. The boys were soooo tired, and we ended up leaving early -- but we all had a good time listening to the music and seeing the Basquiat exhibit again. That is one of my all time favorites now.

Friday was a party at the West U swimming pool for a friend of Jackson's, then the boys spent the night with Nana while Katie and I had a date!! We had a few beers at the G-Man (Katie deserved it) and then checked out the new Bombay Brassarie in the Village Arcade. It was Katie's first visit to an Indian resturant, and my first in Houston, but was it worth it?!?!? Superb food. We got the Tandori Chicken and the Chicken Vindaloo... a new favorite, with two thumbs up from Katie and I both. Saturday was New Year's Eve, and we spent it together as a family. Katie and I slept a little late, then went to Niko Niko's for lunch before picking up the boys -- then we just hung out at home watching the ball drop in NYC on our new HDTV that I had gotten that afternoon!! [I've been saving for it since I found out our other TV was going out... first one we've bought in 15 years, but worth the wait. Merry Christmas to Dad!]

Overall, the holidays were the perfect blend of spending time with Katie, Jackson and Porter; her family; my family; friends and enjoying the season. I am fully recharged and ready for the new year -- hoping that it has less of the things that were horrible in 2005, and more of the things that made it a great year for me personally. Wish us all luck in 2006!