Long time, no blog! (32 Photos, you've been warned)

The other day, for some reason (which escapes me at the moment) I decided to plug my most beautimus Sidekick 3 friend, Merlin, into my computer and see what sort of photos I had on my nearly full memory card. The bounty of photos I discovered made me glad to have such a loyal friend like Merlin, and also glad that Merlin has such a great photographic memory. Let's get started:

In July I started a new diet! It's called the O.E.M.F. Diet, which stands for "Only Eat Miniature Foods." It's been very effective, and I've lost about 30 lbs to date. Ok, ok, ok I'm kidding, I'm on the South Beach diet, and to tell the truth, it doesn't feel like a diet at all, and I really have lost about 30 lbs since July.

In August, we had a company barbeque. I'll spare you the details, here are the cliffs notes:

Then, in September, we noticed a pest problem around... Burrito Inc. 404!

Shortly after that (Or maybe long-ly after that) Monica and I found a solution to the pest problem...

For those of you wondering what Burrito Inc. is, here's a quick lesson:

Burrito
(This one is of the Breakfast variety. MMM delicious burrito)

Vero
(A Mexican lady who works at Orcutt Burger in Santa Maria)

VREO Inc.
(AKA Burrito Inc. to those of you who failed phonics in Kindergarten)

Ok, End of lesson.

Also in September, I had this hideous project I had to do. It was basically some nasty billing reconciliation, and it took me about two weeks, including a Saturday to finish it. I hear I'll be delighted with this honor again soon, cant wait.

And at some point I became the voice of VREO. I'm not exactly sure how this was decided (Other than Scott made both Monica and I read some paper in Brian's office and came to the decision that I should be the new voice of VREO...) but these days, what that gets me is the privilege of recording our Holiday out of office messages. I think we should hold auditions. Here, read this script Tei wrote for me into your PC microphone and email it to me, I'll pick a new voice of VREO...

I also got a hot new desk friend. He protects my things over the weekend. I really can't wait for that damned Transformers movie to come out. Chelsea, keep the links coming...

October was busy... Let's skip straight to my favorite part, my birthday:

I got cool presents (Like this Pirate Fish bumper decoration, and these awesome mugs that make me happy every day)

I made a nifty cat-o-lantern at Becca's house on Halloween night...

I got a super cool girl to come work with me, her name is MAC DEEEEE (don't hate me for posting this picture Heather, tee hee)

I made a Pirate Fish-o-lantern out of one of Jennie or Chelsea's pumpkins (I can't remember whose pumpkin it was...)

I also took this beautiful picture one day when I was sad. I remember that day. I'm not as sad as I was that day anymore.

I'm not sad anymore because I took up a new hobby: Squirrelicide.

Ok, I lie. The crows did this. Aaron and I just took pictures afterwards on one of our walks. I just really liked the juxtaposition of the dead squirrels and that pretty tree photo...

And also, there was Oktoberfest. I don't know if you guys can read this... but I can, and it scares me. Can't wait till next year!

Then, it became November. We decided to have the first-ever month-long Hatvember celebration, a tradition that I will carry on next year no matter where I happen to be.

November was interesting. We had more snaps than ever before...

We got some great lessons from our fearless leader about motorcycle safety and testing:

Apparently, he didn't know I always have a camera ready...

Doug asked me to give this leaf to you Celeste. I took a picture instead. I think he might still want to have your babies. I don't really know...

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Then, on Hatvember 19th I saved some Korean chicks. (Read my blog post from November 19th if you haven't already, it's a really good one.)

And *POOF* it became December. (Or Scarfcember, depending on who you ask. Yet another new tradition which I will carry on next year.)

December brought me a direct order from a candy wrapper:

More time to spend with my family, including my brother whom I ABSOLUTELY LOVE hanging out with.

And this interesting discovery at a local grocery store...

Why is it that on the soda aisle, right next to the SmartWater and Propel, you find this sign:

WTF do they mean by "New Age Drinks????"

This prompted me to go check and see if the sign on another aisle followed the same guidelines... I wandered around the store until I found this...

But I was completely disappointed to find that instead of a sign proudly displaying "OLD AGE DRINKS" these are supposedly "Adult Nutrition" whatever the hell that means.

I find it hard to believe that out of this entire store full of food, Ensure is the only thing that can provide an adult with nutrition. This tempted me to check the baby food aisle and see if that would be considered "BABY NUTRITION" but by this point, I'd lost interest in the signs after making another discovery...

Did you know that these fall under the category of "Adult Nutrition?" Neither did I... I never saw any "Nutrition Facts" on them... Maybe they're considered Feminine Hygiene, or First Aid... I didn't see any Band-aids around them tho... Just Ensure and Centrum Silver.

And last but not least, a few other fun discoveries at a different grocery store:

I heard, you are what you eat. This explains a lot.

And is anyone else worried that these don't say anywhere on the can what they are tender bits of? They claim to be vegan... but Michael Jackson claims he never had any plastic surgery... so who knows...

Oh yeah, and I think I finally decided on a name for my snake. I believe I'm going to name her Dharma. What do you guys think?

Currently listening: All The Stars And Boulevards By Augustana Release date: 06 September, 2005

Of mice and... uh... snakes

After tonight, I think I've decided that I may never get tired of watching reptiles eat. Photos follow that may make those of you who do not like to watch reptiles eat very uncomfortable.

I went to the pet store after work and found that, much to my dismay, they were out of live pinkie mice. Oh well. I've actually read it's better for the snake to feed them the ex-frozen variety, something about sanitation. So I opted for the icier variety of rodent and here's what I bought.

When I got home me and {insert cool snake name here} had a photo shoot, and the result is my new default profile pic. What do you guys think? After the photo shoot it was time for dinner. I had steak tips in portabello gravy with broccoli, {insert cool snake name again} had the rodent du jour.

I was impressed at how quickly she got down to business. All of my other snakes were shy eaters and would sometimes only eat in the middle of the night with all the lights out and a paper bag over their feeding enclosure. Not this gal tho, she's a piggy! In total, it took her about 3 minutes to consume the entire meal, and when she was done you could hardly tell she'd just eaten.

When I was resizing the pictures from dinner, I noticed that this mouse had some kind of prison tattoo. Monica, I'm going to need your expert opinion on this one...

And while I'm on the subject of miss piggy here, the best name suggestion I've gotten so far is "Lillith." Keep em coming, maybe I'll have a poll when I get a few that I like.

Currently listening: The All-American Rejects By The All-American Rejects Release date: 04 February, 2003

Meet me new first mate YARRR

And the winner for most slithery first mate ever goes to:

So, this guy (or gal I'm not sure yet...) came home with me today. Jaime suggested we go touring pet stores this afternoon, so we did. At that pet store where I used to sell baby Satans (chinchillas) they had this absolutely beautiful specimen of a corn snake. It's a Motley Lavender, and it looks like it might be a carrier for the ghost trait too since its coloring is so faint. Online from the most reputable breeder I know, these sell for about $150, so actually, even though I paid more than I intended to spend on a snake, I think I got an excellent deal. Jaime totally hooked me up too with tons of terrarium toys including this completely awesome thing called a Repti-Shelter.

Oh yeah, and Monica, I have to feed it tomorrow, you're more than welcome to come watch, and I still need a tiny zebbra for it to strangle, I just don't know where to get one.

So, when I get my pirate ship (for sailing across the bay from Baywood to Morro Bay for Thai food) I'll need to know what name to yell at my new first mate. Suggestions anyone?

Currently watching: Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) Release date: 05 December, 2006

Ahhh family

Now let me just start off by saying, it's been a rare occasion lately when I have an opportunity to hang out with my family, decide that I'm actually up for the trip, and then have a great time and come out of the experience completely glad that I talked myself into going in the first place.

This was one of those occasions. Completely glad I made the trek.

So now that that's out of the way, lets start out with a group photo:

The folks you see here, from left to right are: Aunt Candy, my mom, my cousin Trevor, Aunt Darlene, me (obviously) and my cousin Connor. This picture was taken after cookie time, which came right after pizza time (which came after what I hear was a really busy day.)

Next, we've got my cousin Chris, and his mom Aunt Candy:

Now, I did tell Chris that he's looking a little like an escaped convict lately (or the monopoly man) and he seemed to be ok with that. Actually, he provided me with further evidence to back up the escaped convict idea, right before we both suggested that Aunt Candy would need her step ladder if she was planning on kicking our butts for being anti-social and hanging out with Chris's enormous TV, PS2, and enough Crown & Coke to drown Greg Horton.

Moving on... Here's a great picture of my family. Mom, me and Brian. Actually this might be the best picture I've seen of the three of us in ages.

Is it just me or does my head look really small here? Do I have a small head? Now I'm going to be all self conscious about it. Hmm...

Right after that last shot I think we decided to show Brian some love for actually sticking around instead of taking off to play Ninja Burger with his pals. This is what that looks like:

Ok maybe that's borderline molestation, after all he is my brother and her son...

Anyway, moving on... (again)

Here's a pretty good shot of my cousins at the aquarium in Monterey. Celeste, did you clean that egg today? What? Well go clean it then. Jeeze.

They're too cute. I can hardly stand it. They all need more hugs.

(Hugs look like this...)

All hugs should be this sincere. Really, I'm not sure how I managed to put him down.

And last (but not least) my two favorite pictures out of the whole event:

Me and Dylan

And me and Connor

Now I need some good suggestions what to get them for Christmas... They like cowboys, I hear they make regular trips to the library (YESSS way to go Aunt Darlene!) and I'd like to get them something that's fun but also educational or imaginitive.

Currently watching: Interview with the Vampire Release date: 06 June, 2000