Nix Blog

7.19.2010

7/17/10

- Got to sleep in a little bit
- Got a call from potential home buyers who said that they wanted to come see the house today
  - Had to get the house cleaned up
    - Difficult to clean when Ryan is crawling around getting into everything
- Nielsen Family Reunion in Salem
  - Didn't make it because we had to get house presentable for potential home buyers
  - It sounded like a lot of fun.
- Got in a nap in the afternoon while waiting for home buyers
  - Difficult to sleep when it's so hot.
    - Even with the swamp cooler on high cool all night and day, the condo still gets up to 78 during the day
    - Can't wait until we live in a house with central air
- Trisha's Grandma's pool party
  - Missed because the potential home buyers still hadn't arrived
- Potential home buyers finally showed
- Chilled at home with Trisha during the evening
  - Played COD:MW2 while Trisha was napping
  - Watched some movies/TV
  - Goodnight

7/16/10

- Car problems in the morning
  - Altima has been having a tough time starting occassionally
  - Had to get it towed to the shop
  - Starter replaced
- Lunch while waiting for car to be fixed.
- Got to work in the early afternoon
  - Got a few tasks done that I needed
- Picked Trisha and Adam up for the surprise birthday party for Trisha's Grandma
- Dropped Ryan off at my parents for babysitting
  - Thanks Mom!
- Surprise party catered by Magleby's.
  - Tenderloin, Halibut, Salad
    - Delicious
  - Lots that I couldn't have
    - Fruit
    - Rolls
      - Magleby's rolls are epic. :(
    - Dessert
      - Magleby's chocolate cake is also epic. Looked so yummy
- Drove golf carts around the course
  - Way too dark to really see the course
  - Sprinklers were on
    - Got soaked
    - Still fun
- Went to go see Inception
  - Full review to come
  - Amazing movie... Definitely in Top 5. Needs further review
- Picked up Ryan from my parents.
  - Got there at 1:00 AM
- Bedtime
  - Too tired for journal update
    - Completed later
  - Goodnight

7/15/10

Journal

7/15/10
- Got up on time (!)
- No Breakfast
  - I think I'm going to stop saying this. It is beginning to be redundant
  - From now on, unless I specify breakfast, assume no breakfast
- Drive to work was... Well.. Great
  - Listened to X96 radio from hell (like usual)
    - Jeff Vice (Deseret News movie review guy) was reviewing movies that came out this week
      - Sirus
        
        Want to see it.
      - Mic Macs ;
        
        Want to see it
        
        Can wait until it comes out on DVD
      - Sorcerer's Apprentice
        
        Don't really care to see it.
        
        Maybe when it comes out on DVD
      - Inception
        
        Want to see it.
        
        Now!
        
        I was getting so mad to hear how good it was because I want to see it so bad.
- Lots to do in the morning.
  - As always, didn't get everything done that I wanted/needed
- Lunch at Burger King with Ryan Werner and Steve Snyder
  - Low carb burgers and a side salad
  - Not doing as well as I had hoped on not eating lunch (out) this week.
    - Still... It was only 6 bucks or so. Not terrible.
- Got a lot done in the afternoon, nothing very noteworthy
- Drive home was tolerable.
- Played some COD:MW2 when I got home with Adam and ate some dinner
- Did the dishes
  - A LOT of dishes
  - Had to hand-wash a bunch because they would not all fit in the dishwasher
- Bedtime
  - Too tired for journal update
    - Completed later
  - Goodnight

7.15.2010

My oldest nephew on my side of the family, Cameron, turned 12 today. Holy macaroni.

Congratulations on the achievement, Cam-dawg...

I'm glad that everyone in the family had the opportunity to test their broken parenting methods on you before their kids came along (including mine)...

How did you turn out to be such a good kid?!

Now... For a little birthday embarrassment. That's Cameron on the right.

7/14/10

Journal
- 7/14/10
  - Snoozed too many times.
    - Again.
    - I am a snooze button whore.
  - Had to hustle and get ready for work.
  - No Breakfast
    - No surprise
  - Traffic was tolerable
  - Work in the morning was hecktic.
    - Didn't get everything done that I wanted to.
  - Went to lunch at Thai Drift
    - Got my "usual"
      - Green Curry, Beef, no rice
    - Delicious
    - Thanks to Ryan Higgins for paying me back from when I paid for him a couple months ago.
  - Tons of work to do in the afternoon as well.
    - Didn't get everything done that I wanted to.
  - Investigated a few other free options to use for mind mapping on my PC other than Freeside
    - Tried Novamind, which was promising, but from what I could tell, you could not draw arrows.
      - Lame.
    - Settled on Freeplane, which is an offshoot of the freemind project.
  - Drive home was tolerable. Was able to stay awake with no problems.
  - Trisha prepared a DELICIOUS dinner
    - Baked chicken
      - AMAZING
    - Green beans
      - Good. Had to add tons of cheese and some butter. The brand I bought is kind of bland.
        
        Too bad I still have 4 more pounds of beans in the bag I bought
        
        Curse you Costco.
  - Watched some TV
    - So you think you can dance
    - Should have been cleaning
  - Played an addictive little game on my iPhone until bedtime
    - Angry Birds
      - Simple.
      - Pretty fun.
  - Goodnight

7.14.2010

7/13/10

Journal
- 7/13/10
  - Snoozed too many times and was a few minutes late to work
  - No breakfast, traffic wasn't terrible
  - Morning was busy and chaotic. I felt like I didn't get anything done.
  - Worked on James' wife's computer for a bit during lunch
    - Had to go buy a mini screwdriver set to open it up
    - Got a fresca on the way back
      - Delicious
      - Regret spending the $1.37 because we have diet coke and bottled water at the office
        Stupid that I regret spending a buck, but reality is just that
  - Got a couple awesome songs downloaded
    - Velvet Revolver
    - White Stripes
    - The Dead Weather
    - Crash Kings
    - 30 Seconds to Mars
    - The Temper Trap
    - Cake
    - 311
  - Worked on daily tasks during the afternoon
  - Had weekly staff meeting. Things looking up. Working towards stability.
  - Caved in on no lunch at about 4:00. Had some low carb hamburgers from mcdonalds
  - Tried to find correct RAM for the computer at staples and best buy. No luck.
  - Drive home was agonizing. I was exhausted and could not keep my eyes open. I was lucky to have made it home unscathed.
  - Nap
    - Required.
    - Very nice
  - Trisha made a yummy egg scramble for me for dinner.
    - I couldn't eat much due to late lunch.
    - Saved for breakfast
  - Watched good guys on TV
    - Ok show.
    - Premise surprisingly not getting old
      - Yet
  - Watched cupcake wars on TV
    - Good show.
    - Interesting new trend towards cupcakes
    - Watching was a Mistake
  - Went to the store with the change jar to get treats
    - Cupcakes
      - I did not eat any
    - Doughnuts
      - I did not eat any
    - Milk
      - Also for cereal tomorrow for Adam and Trisha.
    - Graham crackers
      - Amazing combo
        I did not eat any
    - Peanut butter
  - Took medicine
    - Forgot yesterday
  - So tired
    - Don't know if ill survive my nightly update routine.
  - Goodnight

7/12/10

Journal

7/12/10

Trisha slept at Jan's house with Adam.
Woke up relatively on time.
No breakfast. Traffic sucked
Lots of work to catch up on because of missing Friday.
Lunch at chili's with Ryan Werner
- He introduced me to ithoughts and freemind
Afternoon went by too fast, didn't get everything done that I wanted
After work, went to the Lindon aquatic center with Trisha, Ryan, Adam, Jan, her 2 boys and one of their friends
- Had a blast. Ryan did really well and loved the water.
Drove to Trisha's parents after pool
- Fixed their TV. Again.;)
- Roger is in the middle of painting and self installing the remnant carpet
  - Paint looks good
  - Carpet... Not so much. Hopefully he can work out the seams and corner.
- Left before Trisha so I could get to bed.
Ate dinner of green beans and asparagus pan fried in butter with salt and pepper.
- Delicious
- Not terribly filling
- Not looking forward to the smell of my pee in the morning.
Watched a couple episodes of Tosh.0
- One of my new favorite TV shows.
Checked email, Facebook, Twitter, news, and then decided to start my journal.
- Considering making this part of my blog, but not sure how to translate mind mapping to blogging. We'll see.
Started several mind maps
- Mind racing
- Need sleep
Goodnight.

7.13.2010

New Format

So I have come across (thanks to Ryan Werner) a note taking tool called mind mapping. I use an app on my phone which syncs with an app on my computer. So, no matter where I am, I can create or edit a mind map.

After thinking about it for a little bit, I figured that it could work as a good format for a blog/journal. My biggest concern is how do I convert an image with bubbles and thoughts branching off of each other into a blog post. Worst case scenario, it will be a good outlining tool for my daily activities that may be memorable.

This is a potentially bad thing, however. This means that I may include mundane tasks in my blog posts, simply because I was thinking about it at the time, or because it was somehow noteworthy to me, albeit not important overall...

I'll give it a shot in a little bit here and see how it translates.

Holy Absentia

If you have not noticed, I have been absent for 10 months. I'm gunna give this blog thing another swing. I have a new idea on how to organize my posts.. Probably going to include more posts, but shorter ones.

Wanna make a bet on how consistent I'll be? I don't...

Here goes nothing...

9.14.2009

Heber 2009 - Ryan's First Campout

This last weekend we went to Heber with my family to go camping. We went up to the girls camp owned by the LDS church east of Heber. It's a nice little facility and fairly cost effective. You are able to get 4 cabins with lots of bunks in each and a covered pavilion with a fridge, running water, bathrooms, showers, etc. We have made it a family tradition to go every year at the end of the summer.

We weren't sure that it would be a good idea to take Ryan at such a young age (he hit 4 weeks while we were there), but he took it like a champ. He didn't complain much and he's starting to get on a good sleep schedule and we had some help from some family members taking care of him.
There was also some doubt as to whether I would be able to go because of a software release we were doing at work, but because of some of the circumstances, we were able to move it to Saturday night/Sunday morning so I was able to make it.

We played some fun games and ate some good food whilst up there. We had a good breakfast and Fettuccine Alfredo and lots of snacks. I was on my diet while we were up there, which was surprisingly hard. There were so many treats and good things to eat, but I did a pretty good job. I had plenty to eat and plenty of treats that are low-carb compliant.

We survived without too much contention, which seems to happen frequently when my family gets together for some reason. I'm a debater, and I, of course, had to bring up some recent political topics and some religious topics as well. Growing up, I never would have imagined that the political and religious range of beliefs would vary so much in our family. It's not like there's even enough variance of a different religion, but degrees within the same religion difference. Same politically, I wouldn't consider myself liberal, but I am much more liberal than some of my family members. But regardless, even with those discussions, there wasn't arguing or anything like that, just a debate.

We played tons of games, which I really enjoy. We played a game called the Movie Game that Trisha and I taught to everyone that we recently learned from our neighbors. We played Nertz, which is a solitare type game, we played a poker type game called "between the sheets" (no, it's not strip poker, you sicko). We played Pick, which is a scrabble variant and a couple other games here or there.

All in all, a great weekend.