One of the guys I work with takes a lot of heat on having an outdated cell phone. He claims he had to upgrade it's version of DOS and sent me a copy of this picture.

Jason turned me on to these videos callled Red vs. Blue. It's hilarious. The author took clips from the video game Halo and dubbed audio to make these videos.

I just heard the Def Lepard song Photograph redone as a country song. I'm all for covers. Just not this one.

I've added this Logitech Harmony remote to my wish-list of cool things to get someday. I know that $249 is a lot for a remote control, but my system has gotten so complex that it's a little painful for most. I've got 4 separate inputs going into my TV (S-Video, , Component, DVI and Line Input) not to mention changing settings at a receiver level. This remote hooks into your computer via a USB cable and can be programmed to perform a set of functions at a task level (i.e. Watch TV) that will take you through changing the settings for every component in your system, as opposed to having to manually go through the steps involved in that event (i.e. Switch to DVI input, Change Receiver Audio output, turn on TiVo, turn on TV, turn on receiver, etc.).

I've been messing around with two software packages lately that are both pretty cool. One is called Pluck and the other called GIMP. Both are free, both are pretty cool.

Pluck is an RSS news reader that lets you easily read all of the blogs you keep up with on a regular basis in one easy place. That's fairly standard though. The nice thing is, it integrates right into Internet Explorer and gives you a nice interface that lets you move between computers without having to reset up your feeds. It also has a concept called Perches, that let you have reoccuring searches across news services, ebay, etc on a given product, company or topic. It pre-fetches all of these things and gives you one place to go. I like it so far. Downside is that it doesn't work with Firefox yet, which is my browser of choice.

The second product is called GIMP and is basically an open-source photo-shop type image editor. I haven't used it to it's fullest extent, but so far it's got a good interface, good functionality and is fairly easy to use.

I also got a cool ASUS pocket wireless router that's about the size of a pack of cigarettes that I can plug into any hotel room or conference room and have an instant wireless network without those painful cables.

I just put some of the pictures from Phoenix online.

Cathie and I got at 6 this morning to get out to Sedona to sight-see. My breath was literally taken away when we rounded the corner and saw all of the beautiful red-rock formations. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We walked around Sedona for a while, picked up some souvenirs and then headed out on the Pink Jeep Tour. The tour was amazing. You're riding in this huge 4x4 jeep going through ridiculous terrain that a jeep just shouldn't be able to do. You're going up 60 degree angles, down 45 degree angles - crazy stuff. Our driver was a really interesting guy who shared all sorts of interesting facts about the terrain, the history, the water and the rock formations. The guy really knew his stuff - seemed like he'd be a neat guy to buy a beer and hear some great stories. He's been a guide in the rocky mountains various capacities for 14 years - grand canyon river guide, hunting guide and jeep guide.

Cathie and I got back to the Biltmore, hung out by the pool and had our "treatments". Cathie had a hot stone massage and I had a treatment that I'm not going to mention (no, it wasn't a high calonic) for fear of being mocked.

We fly out tomorrow on the 6:05AM flight to Detroit, which means we're going to have to get up around 4. Great. At least we'll be home in time for the Lions football game.

Last night we had an awards banquet at the Wrigley mansion (as in Wrigley's chewing gum fame). It was located up on a hill with the mountains surrounding it. We saw one of the most beautiful sunsets ever.


It's a great group of people on this team, and after working on this project for two years, a number of them have become great friends.



Matt, Ross (pictured above) are I have just started a competition that involves points for working out each day and for taking time praying and reading the bible each day. Pretty simple, but it just speaks to the friendship that we've developed that we're doing something like this together.

Cathie and I are heading to Sedona this morning to go on a Pink Jeep Tour which are supposed to be amazing.

I got up this morning about 6AM and hung out on my balcony watching the sun rise, drinking coffee and enjoying the weather. I had meetings from 8:30 - 12 and then hung out at the pool for a while. Cathie was at the pool and then had a facial and a pedicure. I had a stone massage this afternoon, which was great. It's like a normal massage, but with hot rocks stuck all over your body - but not in a bad way. I think I feel asleep at one point I was so relaxed. This has been a great getaway so far.

My Dad can't figure out why I keep a blog, and I started thinking about why I do it. Part of it is that I'm a person who loves stories, and I love to use this as a medium to share them. It keeps me from having to share the same story 400 times. On the downside, I don't know who reads it and when I share the stories, I'm either quickly interrupted and informed that they read it, or they placate me and nod their head, knowing the end of the story. To that note, I talked to a friend of mine, Mike Thompson, the other day. He told me "I know you, but you don't know me." I had no clue what this meant, and he explained that he'd been reading my blog and knew what was going on in my life. I told Mike to get a blog.

Cathie and I arrived in Phoenix yesterday. Cathie did her usual gig where she stays up until 5AM getting everything ready to leave - lists, itinerarys, backpacks, clothes - everything. We then got up at six and headed to the airport. Cathie rode in First Class while I was waaaaay back in coach. I had an exit row seat, which is normally good, excpet for this seat, which had the door protruding out in front of it and a small leak of very cold air. I was wrapped in blankets and my toes were numb by the end. I'd forgotten how much nice the first class flight attendants are to you. A friend of mine, Marge, upgraded both of us for our return flight. Thanks Marge!

This place is amazing. Our room is about 1000 square feet - huge! With a giant wrap-around private balcony that over-looks the pool, actually 7 different pools a a giant water slide and water fall. Everything about this place is beautiful. I took the above picture last night on our way to dinner, as the sun was setting. All of the grass here is manicured like a putting green. It's an entire campus, lots of pools, fountains, golf courses, etc.


I was in meetings from 12:30 - 5:00 yesterday while Cathie hung out by the pool. We had drinks and dinner with the team and then went swimming and hit the hot tub. I took this picture last night:

Hopefully today, we're done by noon today. We've got a big dinner tonight at the Wrigley mansion.

I just started watching the show Scrubs. I don't watch sitcoms. This is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. I'm laughing non-stop throughout the whole show. I need to check out season one when and if it comes out on DVD.

Cool new technology I'm trying out that I got from Erik. It's been a super-top-secret search technology from Amazon that was just put out there to compete with Google. The theory is that Amazon will drive Google and Yahoo crazy enough with this stuff until their stock price falls enough for Amazon to buy them up. Check out the toolbar and search engine at A9.

I just got back from Washington D.C. I'm not sure what's going on there, but it was nuts. All of the rental cars were taken at every rental car place, and when I tried to get on an earlier flight, there were over 1,000 people in line to go through security. I hate that airport. Plus they have these goofy terminal shuttles that must have been designed in comittee. I flew out at 7AM and back at 10PM. Back at the airport tomorrow at 8AM.

My ticket was upgraded, but Cathie's isn't. She gets my seat, I get hers. Hopefully I'm sitting next to crying children while she's in the lap of luxury.

Cathie and I are leaving for Phoenix tomorrow. We're staying at the Biltmore, which is an amzing spa/resort out there. While I'm entertaining a customer, Cathie will be getting spa treatments. My mom is coming tomorrow to stay with the kids through Friday, Jess is staying with the kids Friday night and my brother-in-law Ed and his wife Stacy are with the kids Saturday and Sunday, when we get back. Things almost fell through with the arrangements, but Ed & Stacy bailed us out at the last minute.

Remeber that whole I found some of your life site I mentioned earlier? Hope you had a chance to check it out, because it's now GONE. Not sure why, but all that's left is an apology note. Bummer. It was damn funny.

The InformationWeek 500 report is out....Xerox came in at #9 (up from #220 last year). We are top of the Consulting and Business Services Industry sector (see table below). This year's criteria include "crisp and efficient tech strategies that cut costs and optimize productivity...with a focus on corporate governance ...and ROI."

Here lies the Florabama Lounge and Package Store . I was down in Mobile Alambama last year and had a chance to visit the legend, which is often mistaken as a shanty. It's been made famous by lots of artisits, particularly Jimmy Buffett's lyrics. Buffett is a regular, playing there all the time.

When I first walked in, I thought it was a liquor store, and a dive at that. I knew I'd heard of the place before, but couldn't place it until I walked through the place and saw famous artist's all over the place, including autographed lyrics sheets from different artists that talk about the bar. The owners have comitted to opening it back up.

Ever lost your digital camera? If so, what pictures were on it? One guy who found it has decided to provide the world with 227 days of entertainment. I Found Some Of Your Life will post a photo a day and accompanying fictional narrative for the next 227 days using the photos found on a digital media card left in a cab.

I laughed hard at this. Emily was watching Dragon Tales and came up to Cathie and said:
Emily: "Mom, I can't watch this show. It has a bad word in it."
Cathie: "What word is that, Emily?"
Emily: "Fart. It says "I wish, I wish with all my heart, to fly in dragons with a land of farts."
Cathie: Hiding laughter. "Sweetie, it says "Land Apart, not land of farts'.