Second verse... same as the first!

So, for the second year in a row, I've been denied the opportunity to go to the much-anticipated company retreat.  This time I highly suspect due to "budget cuts" and also due to the recent acquisition/merger.  Originally it was for the top 3% of the company's performers in each venue for sales, retention, and business markets.  Now, suddenly its not even the top 1% that were selected.

All I can say is that I am trying to look at this in a positive perspective, and instead turn my frustration into a constructive energy approach and take every advantage of my job benefits and other opportunities.  I'm no longer going to hold stock in anticipating winning any contests at work, or promises of a different job/responsibility within the company.  If it happens, it happens.  And I'll continue to do the best with what I have at hand and use the tools they give me to work with.

Also, I'm planning to enroll in an online learning course through an accredited school and have my work reimburse me then for the tuition after completion.  It may mean sacrificing some of my fun time during nights and weekends, but in the end we hope its for the best over the long run.

Wedding pics... finally!

We finally received our wedding photos just under our 2nd year anniversary.  Copies are now being distributed to all known interested parties.  However, here is a small sample of some of our favorites...

May the 4th be with you... always!

I had to celebrate the 4th of may (as in May the 4th be with you) in my own way at work with an early cinco de mayo team lunch...



This comes from a story about a little desert farmer names Lucas Cieloandandero who grew up to be a legendary warrior and star piloto...

Nice guys don't always finish first - the full story...

I know the universe doesn't revolve around me, but we were (mostly I was) so hoping to surprise the wife by winning a vacation contest at work for being in the top 1% of sales performers during 2011. It was an honor being nominated in the top 40 people in my department company-wide for the last 3 months and striving to be better - but for judging criteria I hadn't made the top 1% cut apparently. (Sigh, no sunny beaches in Florida.) Well, maybe next year.

What really got my goat was that 2 days later, another co-worker approached me and asked if I would trade shifts on my day off I had previously scheduled due to an emergency so that one of the finalists could be "satisfactory" in their attendance record enabling them to go on the paid trip.  After swallowing my pride, I conceded to switch shifts for this once.  Honestly, it felt like a kidney-shot after being shot in the chest.  I told the finalist that #1 I was totally jealous of them and #2 just to have fun for my sake.  It was nice that as a thank-you they brought a 12-pack of my favorite flavor root beer.  But it doesn't quite compare with an all-expense paid vacation.

I just hope Kharma comes around one of these days...

What is that music???

For those of you who have this burning question about the favorite genre of music chosen by the eldest kid at heart, here is an explanation...

The definition of a Mashup (Youtube vid) with Granny Teller
Definition of a Mashup or Bootleg (Wikipedia article)
The longer (and more informative) video - R!p-a-remix-manifesto

Sample favorite Mashups:
Stayin' Alive In The Wall (Pink Floyd vs Bee Gees Mashup) by Wax Audio
NorwegianRecycling - How Six Songs Collide
Robin Skouteris - One Hell Or Another
Bare Top & Bottom [rappy] - The Jungle Book vs. The Carpenters vs. Queen

If you like this, find more at:
http://www.mashuptown.com
http://mashupyourbootz.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Blue Ray DVD Star Wars complete saga midnight release party!

Hastings, Wal-mart, and lots of other places are having a midnight release party for the Blue-Ray DVD release of the complete Star Wars saga.  Along with the festivities, Sarah even prodded Russ into purchasing a more authentic-looking lightsaber for one of Russ's former costumes, and now his collection (and training) is more complete.  Russ has even been invited by the local 501st to attend (dressed up, of course) in one of his former Star Wars Halloween costumes for the local Hastings gathering.  He's elected to wear his personally-crafted Sith Lord costume.  We will bring the camera and hopefully get some snapshots of the promotion party along with some of the other 501st members.  May the force be with you!

Post-edit: Russ broke down in the middle of the excitement and bought himself a copy with all 41+ hours of extended features & feature-ettes.  It's only too bad we don't own a blue-ray player.  Yet.

Another one bites the dust...

A few days ago, Russ woke up early in the morning to blog about some things that were mulling around in his head.  He pulled out what he's been affectionately referring to as the mini-lappy (a fairly decently powerful netbook) that has survived his heavy gaming, role-play & regular use for the last 2 years.  In the middle of collecting his thoughts, a glitch somehow wiped out the master boot record for starting the PC into windows.  Needless to say, Russ got a little upset in not being able to access his files, books & web bookmarks, music, movies, photos & games on a regular basis.  He's attempted restoring the glitched data with recovery disks & flash drives - but so far, no dice.  His only consolation is that he's already upgraded to a nicer wider-screen-and-better-graphics laptop for only a few hundred dollars more and has already began backing up his new files & settings.  Lesson learned: Archive & update on a regular basis!

On a side note: There may still be hope.  Russ is still attempting other methods of resurrecting the missing boot file.  If successful, he will be donating his machine (after copying his files to an external backup drive) to his wife who seriously needs a laptop upgrade herself.  Not to mention so that the 2 of them can sit in bed & play their favorite multiplayer game side-by-side each other.